China hailed for success of Sudan evacuations

Hundreds of citizens, foreign nationals taken to safety

Like hundreds of Chinese citizens trying to escape the fierce fighting in Sudan, Zhang Yang and his co-workers resorted to one simple means of protection — the national flag of China, which proved more than effective.

Zhang, manager of a Chinese State-owned enterprise in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, said his team experienced nerve-wracking moments as they tried to leave the city on April 23.

They seized the window of opportunity created by a three-day cease-fire between the two warring parties — the army and a rival paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces — which have been fighting each other since April 15.

In close coordination with the Chinese embassy in Khartoum, the team of 25 worked out an evacuation route before taking a hired bus north to the border with Egypt, a journey of more than 1,000 kilometers.

However, the trip was fraught with uncertainties, with the team fearing the possibility of crossfire and being intercepted by either of the two warring parties.

Zhang said, "We were fully aware that possibly the best protection we could have was to show that we are Chinese nationals, and that we had to make this clear to everybody on our evacuation route."

The team encountered four checkpoints set up by both sides, but passed through them all after showing the soldiers the Chinese flag, he added.

The Egyptian border was reached on April 24, and a work team dispatched by the Chinese embassy in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, arrived the previous day to help the team clear customs and complete border entry formalities.

Now safely at home in Central China's Henan province, Zhang said the nation's growing international influence, the close coordination by its diplomatic missions, and a high level of attention from the top leadership were the key factors that brought them out of danger in such a short period.

China has evacuated more than 1,300 citizens from war zones in Sudan, adopting different strategies during the process, including the deployment of two naval ships that ferried 940 Chinese citizens and 231 foreign nationals to safety.

A strong emphasis placed by the nation's leadership on protecting the growing number of Chinese living and working overseas is behind the swift and successful evacuation missions, analysts said, along with increased national strength and the resolve to fulfill the commitment to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Liu Linzhi, an analyst at the China-Africa Institute, said the evacuations of Chinese and foreign citizens demonstrated the Chinese government's high level of efficiency and the increased coordination between different departments.

"The successful evacuations make good on the country's promise to put its people and lives first and to ensure the safety of its citizens no matter where they are," he said.

"Chinese citizens in Sudan have also displayed a high level of trust in the government during the crisis and have closely cooperated with diplomatic missions overseas, another key factor to ensure their safety."

Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a news briefing last month that most Chinese nationals had been evacuated from Sudan, and that the Chinese embassy in Khartoum would provide every possible assistance to the few remaining Chinese in the country.

The ministry was quick to act on instructions from President Xi Jinping after the armed conflict broke out, and it has worked day and night to protect the safety of Chinese nationals and organize evacuation operations, Mao added.