the story of a Spanish priest evacuated from Khartoum

First modification: 04/26/2023 – 15:53

The 72-hour ceasefire between the two generals vying for power in Sudan went into effect on Tuesday, but witnesses and the UN reported renewed hostilities after days of fighting that left hundreds dead. Thousands of people fled the country by land, sea and air. And hundreds of foreigners were exfiltrated. The Spanish priest José Javier Parladé, head of a Catholic institution in Khartoum, was evacuated on Sunday to Spain on a military flight along with about thirty compatriots. This was his testimony for RFI.

RFI: How were your last hours in Khartoum?

Jose Javier Parlade: We were completely isolated and there was no one there. It was one of the things that impressed us the most to see that there was no one. The Sudanese had gone to look for relatives in other quieter places. It was empty, not her, no food, no electricity, no water. Life was very difficult. That apart from the shootings, which have them frightened. There are permanent shelling shots.

People are trying to get as far away as possible from where there is so much fighting. The paramilitaries and the military do not have any conflict with the people. What happens is that since there are so many bullets there, you can find them. The only thing they do is if they see you leave the house they throw you back inside. They don’t want people on the street.

José Javier Parladé: The only house that had people was ours. I didn’t see any people around, people disappeared, they went to live, because of course, they all have relatives in the towns they came from then, well they all went to their relatives and there in the city, no one was left.

The day we were bombed, a family came to ask us for help and they told us that the streets were empty, but on the ground, dead everywhere, they said. It’s all full of dead on the ground.

RFI: Under what conditions did you decide to leave Sudan?

Jose Javier Parlade: For us they were tremendous hours. It all started on Sunday, on Sunday we did mass at 8 o’clock and the three priests and the nuns were there. After the mass, we went to have breakfast and at breakfast we began to hear an explosion, but very strong.

We all jump. It turns out that it was one or two bombs that had fallen, one on the church and the other on the veranda of the house.

The one in the church, because it caused a fire and we didn’t have water or how to put out this fire. There was not a very big fire in the house, so we did what we could, we took what we could outside. And at the end, when we saw that the flames were getting more and more Big, we already said, we’re leaving. That’s when we decided to get out of there, we had to go.

RFI: How did you manage to get out of the country if the Khartoum airport was blocked?

Jose Javier Parlade: We did not leave through Khartoum airport. 16 kilometers from the city, there is a military airport where two Spanish planes were: one for the Italians and one for the Spanish. They were military planes, people were sitting on the ground. And for the older ones there were seats all around.