RIYADH, 5 February 2008 — A group of 10 diplomats and employees, including the ambassador, from the Saudi Embassy in the Chadian capital N’Djamena was expected to arrive here in the next 24 hours after they were airlifted by a French military aircraft from an airbase in the war-torn African country yesterday.
“The evacuation plan was masterminded by the Saudi and French governments amid continuing fighting in the country,” Alain Guepratte, a spokesman of the French Embassy here, told Arab News yesterday. “The group was flown out to Gabon on the Atlantic coast.”
Guepratte said a special Saudi plane had already landed in Gabon to bring the Saudi diplomats and citizens home. The move to quickly evacuate the Saudi Embassy officials came after a bomb hit the residence of the Saudi ambassador to Chad, killing two relatives of an embassy employee.
The family took shelter there after fighting erupted between the government and rebel forces. All employees of the Saudi mission in Ndjamena with their families had gathered at the ambassador’s residence awaiting evacuation from the country.
Asked as how the Saudis were evacuated by French troops amid continuing fighting in the country, Guepratte said that “the Saudi Embassy personnel were first escorted and taken to a military base controlled by the French forces in Ndjamena.” “Then, the group was flown to Gabon under protection of French troops,” said the French Embassy official.
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