Diplomats flee fighting in Sudan as citizens struggle to escape

An Air Force Airbus carrying German citizens evacuated from Sudan lands at Berlin Brandenburg Airport in Schonefeld. Picture: dpa via AP

As foreign governments airlifted hundreds of their diplomats and other citizens to safety, Sudanese have desperately sought ways to escape the chaos, fearing that the country’s two rival generals will escalate their all-out battle for power once evacuations are completed.

In dramatic evacuation operations, convoys of foreign diplomats, teachers, students, workers and families from dozens of countries wound past combatants at tense front lines in the capital Khartoum to reach extraction points.