GENEVA (Reuters) – Chad conducted its first evacuation flights from Sudan carrying more than 200 people, including dozens of children, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
Countries around the globe have rushed to extract foreign diplomats and citizens from the country after a conflict erupted between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, killing hundreds of people and turning residential areas into war zones.
The U.N. agency, which is assisting Chadian authorities with the arrivals, said in a statement that 226 people were on board two charter flights, including 39 children. The flights arrived in the capital N’Djamena late on Thursday.
IOM spokesperson Safa Msehli told Reuters that two more flights were arriving on Friday. She said the flights that landed in Chad on Thursday had students, elderly people, individuals with medical conditions and “extremely vulnerable families” on board.
(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Hugh Lawson)
