They disembarked to be greeted with stems of flowers – or, if needed, wheelchairs and ambulances. A corridor created by Saudi forces in red berets ensured an orderly arrival in the King Faisal Naval Base for this largest evacuation to date from the grievous war in Sudan.
Each one of the passengers – some 2,000 of them, from some 80 nationalities – had a terrible story to tell of the fighting they fled.
“We couldn’t even sit on our balcony; the gunfire was everywhere,” recalled Nazli, a 32 year-old Iranian civil engineer who fled with her fellow engineer husband.
They’ve arrived in a country which until recently, was Iran’s avowed enemy. A recent Iranian-Saudi rapprochement meant Iranian diplomats were waiting on the wharf with others diplomats waving many different flags. “Maybe this can bring a moment of peace,” Nazli remarked with a smile.
“Please please help our family in Sudan,” cried Rasha, a Sudanese-American mother of four children – who spoke of hiding for three days, terrified. “I call on the world to protect Sudan,” she pleaded, underlining fears that once all the foreign nationals have fled, the fighting will intensify.
As soon as that boat – a civilian vessel chartered by the Saudi military – completed its mission, another evacuation boat, a Saudi warship, pulled up anchor to cross the Red Sea to Port Sudan, with us on board, in a journey of many hours.