For fourteen days, the family of Abu El-Gassim Mohammed crossed Darfur on foot, fleeing the violent fighting that broke out in Al-Geneina, in the west of this region plunged into chaos since April 15 and the beginning of the war in Sudan between the regular army and the paramilitaries. This mechanic, a refugee in France since 2019, has had difficulty following the exodus of his wife, Zahya, and their five children by telephone, who had to separate into small groups to escape checkpoints manned by militiamen.
After two weeks of walking, the family finally found refuge in a camp for displaced people in El-Fasher, in North Darfur. “On the road, my wife was attacked by the janjaweed and threatened with weapons. The children are terrified. I’m afraid of losing them every moment, but they can’t leave the country, because because of the French embassy, they no longer have a passport”indignantly the father of the family.
In October 2022, Abu El-Gassim Mohammed launched a family reunification procedure with the French authorities to bring his relatives to Le Mans, where he resides. For many months, the request remained unanswered. Worse, after the outbreak of the conflict, the French embassy in Khartoum closed its doors hastily and the passports deposited by the family were destroyed.
Operation “Sagittarius”
From April 22, faced with the intensification of fighting in the Sudanese capital, France hastily organized the evacuation of its nationals. This delicate operation, baptized “Sagittaire” and having mobilized nearly 150 soldiers, made it possible to shelter more than 900 people of different nationalities.
On the eve of the evacuation, the diplomatic staff proceeded to destroy most of the material present in the embassy. The premises were littered with confetti of shredded documents, cut-out diplomatic plaques and smashed office phones or computers. In the heap were several dozen passports of Sudanese nationals awaiting visas, torn by hand.
“It was an emergency. We have followed the instructions in force to the letter: national security directives issued by the Quai d’Orsay in the event of evacuation. No document should be left behind, so as not to fall into the wrong hands”justifies a diplomatic source within the embassy.
About fifty Sudanese are now deprived of their identity papers, documents necessary for, failing to join France, at least to take refuge in neighboring countries. Several thousand people are still stuck while many Western chancelleries (United States, Sweden, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, among others) have also destroyed passports stored in their consular services in Khartoum. Only China has taken care to return the passports to their owners.
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