NOS News•
“This was the darkest scenario for Sudan,” said Dutchman Arthur Molenaar, who was evacuated from the country with his family. A fierce battle between rival groups has been raging in the East African country since mid-April, more than 400 civilians have already been killed.
Yesterday the rescue operation was launched in collaboration with France and Germany and the first Dutch people were evacuated. The 44-year-old Molenaar thought he would stay in the capital Khartoum for a while because of his work for the international aid organization CARE, but he soon chose to leave the country with his wife and three young children aged 11, 8 and 3.
Watch the story of Arthur and his family below, who filmed themselves how they fled from Sudan:
Arthur Molenaar films how his family flees Sudan: ‘Relieved that we are safe’
As soon as he saw which parties were fighting, Molenaar knew something was wrong. Since 2021 he lives in Khartoum with his family. Because his wife works for a French organization and has contacts at that embassy, they could be evacuated by the French army in the southeastern country of Djibouti.
“I received a message from the French embassy: only a link to a location 500 meters from my house and that we had to go now. I called the sender. He could not say much, but said: ‘trust me, this is your best option’.”
White flags from car
They had to hang white flags from their cars and stick the French flag on them. “The children drew French flags very quickly.” The location turned out to be the house of a Frenchwoman who was not there herself. Molenaar had to arrange for everyone who arrived to be received and for names and passport numbers to be noted and passed on. In the end, 73 people came, many of them children.
“My brain was active, I had responsibilities”, Molenaar looks back from a hotel room in Djibouti. “Now that we are here and suddenly have nothing to do, many emotions surface.” He is especially concerned about the people they left behind. “The Sudanese who are in the middle of this war and who have no way out, and I don’t know if all my Dutch and other friends are safe. It is very difficult to get in touch.”
In about two hours they drove from their home in the city to the airport north of Khartoum. “It was very strange, kind of like a ghost town. I don’t think I saw a woman. There were all kinds of soldiers and checkpoints.”
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Private photo
During the evacuation, everyone was well taken care of, the children received cookies and sweets -
Private photo
Molenaar’s daughters are waiting at the airport for the evacuation -
Private photo
In a hurry the seen left Sudan for Djibouti -
Private photo
A packed evacuation plane
A fighter jet came over, followed by anti-aircraft fire immediately afterwards, says Molenaar. And once they heard shots at quite close range, whereupon the convoy stopped for a few minutes. It didn’t do much for him. “Our standard of what constitutes danger has shifted in the past week and a half, because we’ve been hearing explosions all around us all the time.”
A few hours later, they were lined up on the ground in the military plane. Children could sit on chairs on the sides. To then land safely in Djibouti, where they were “incredibly well received” by the French army.
They are extremely strong. Of course there were tears, but they also just kept playing.
“They checked whether we had health problems, gave food and water, a place to sit, asked if they could do anything for us. All children received candy and biscuits. Two ladies from the Dutch consular service also took care of us, they for a visa and a hotel. They encouraged us, also very important.”
Leaving a pet
Suddenly the Dutch had to leave their place of residence. The cat had to be left behind. They were only allowed to take a few things each. “One of my daughters brought a rock with a picture of her friends on it.”
Molenaar is impressed by how his children deal with it. “They are very resilient. Actually, they have been very strong from the start. Of course there are also tears, but they have remained just children and have continued to play.”
Tomorrow the family will fly to the Netherlands, from where they left in 2013 to live first in Burundi, then in Jordan and finally in Sudan. But that still seems a long way off, says Molenaar. “We really live from day to day.”
2023-04-24 16:03:55
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