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'Lots of people are still there'
04/02/2008 12:23 - (SA)
Roissy Airport, France - Exhausted foreigners evacuated from strife-torn Chad told of dodging mortar fire and bursts from machine guns as they fled heavy street fighting in the capital Ndjamena.
A French military plane from Gabon's capital Libreville arrived at Paris's Roissy airport late on Sunday carrying 202 foreigners including 130 French nationals evacuated from Chad.
They were welcomed by Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Defence Minister Herve Morin.
"You couldn't not be afraid," said Fabien Lapouge, 28, who had been in Chad on an education mission. You heard mortar fire, submachine gun exchanges. I think it was very close to the presidential palace. I can't feel happy about being back because lots of people are still down there."
Another man recounted how he had seen a shell explode just 20m away.
In Roissy's immense Terminal 3, normally reserved for charter passengers, the evacuees passed through in dribs and drabs, escorted by dozens of Red Cross volunteers in orange jackets.
One visibly exhausted woman was carrying a baby wrapped in a survival blanket distributed by the Red Cross.
A woman accompanying her said: "It's scary. My husband stayed down there because he has a bakery with 30 employees and he couldn't leave them to cope by themselves."
Among the other foreigners on board the French plane were a Canadian, a Chadian woman, an Italian family and an Asian man. In all 27 nationalities were represented, the foreign ministry said.
Veronika Gomez from Spain cradled a five-month-old baby in her arms.
"I'm only dreaming of a bed and a good shower. I was given priority for evacuation because of the baby but my husband stayed down there," said the young woman whose husband works for the European Union.
Valerie Klein, who lived in Chad for two years, said the French authorities had not given her the choice of staying "because it was too dangerous".
"The army protected me very well," she said. "We were gathered together before the fighting broke out. But we still saw the street fighting, the tanks, the explosions, the rebels' all-terrain vehicles.
"I feel very sad. It's all very well for us, but what about the Chadian family I was staying with?"
Kouchner told journalists that the evacuees had been given "clothing, train tickets, an address" on their arrival at Roissy. They had not yet got over the terror of the past days, he added after meeting them.
- AFP
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