It was my best friend who left me on the battlefield May 5 at 24:12

In Africa, far from Japan, she lived a mundane life.
Work hard during the week, and on holidays, have tea while chatting with your best friends, or enjoy a picnic at your favorite place.
There was a lot of hope among the young people walking the streets that they would create the future of this country themselves.
Suddenly, the country becomes a battleground of conflict.
She returned home failing to fulfill her promise to her best friend that day.
(Social Affairs Department Reporter, Chieko Katsumata)

Fascinated by Sudan

Kaoi Nakasa, 37, is an official in charge of Sudan at the Japan support group JICA = Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Nakasa has been interested in helping in developing countries since childhood, so he studied Islam at university. After graduating, I worked for international organizations in Kenya and Somalia in Africa.

The turning point came in 2015. I studied abroad at a university in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

At that time, Sudan was under a dictatorship. Based on the precepts of Islam, there were many restrictions in life.

Most women wore hijabs that covered their hair, and women, in particular, were prohibited from wearing clothes that showed their body lines and were not allowed to wear jeans.

Nevertheless, as Mr. Nakasa became close to the people of Sudan during his 10-month stay, he gradually became attracted to the charm of Sudan.

Mr
. Nakasa: "Sudanese people have a national trait that is like 'friends of friends are family.' If the electricity was broken and I couldn't speak Arabic to negotiate with the landlord, my friends would rush to me right away, or if my roommate who had studied abroad with me returned to Japan and was looking for a room with low rent, my friend's relatives would offer me a vacant room for free. There was a grandmother who even gave me my share when I took the trouble to pay the fare on the bus, and she is a really warm, human connection person who naturally reaches out to those who need help. They used to say, 'You're family,' and they really helped me."

Long-awaited dispatch Meeting with a best friend

Next, I want to work for Sudan. Inspired by this desire, Mr. Nakasa moved to JICA last October. I was dispatched to the Sudan office, which was my long-cherished wish.

Based in Khartoum, I was in charge of promoting the insurance system to make it easier for Sudanese people to receive medical care, and worked hard to digitize application forms and create a system for payment of insurance premiums.

Sudan has changed drastically from six years ago. As dictatorships collapsed and democratization debates were taking place, more and more women were walking in the streets without wearing hijabs.

Even among the young people, there was a lot of hope that their country would be made by them.

Mr
. Nakasa: "Seeing all these changes, I felt that the future of this country was bright, and the people in Sudan I met at work were also working with hope to make the country better, and I myself felt rewarded to be involved in the process of changing one country."

It was during this time that I met Elaf Ibrahim (26).

While taking lessons twice a week as an Arabic teacher, I became close to him because of his cheerful and positive personality.

Elaf lost her father a few years ago and was the mainstay of the family, supporting her mother and four younger sisters. Even so, he always cared about Nakasa's life, and before I knew it, we were in a relationship where I could call him my best friend.

Nakasa said that he enjoyed meeting Elaf on holidays, eating together, having picnics at his favorite places, and laughing with nonsense stories.

Ms
. Nakasa: "I was also assigned to Sudan to work alone, but she also made a living on her own and was independent, so we sometimes talked about the politics of this country.

Everyday life suddenly lost

That routine suddenly changed on April 4. On this day, Mr. Nakasa had made an appointment to have dinner with Mr. Elaf's favorite restaurant.

On this day, during Ramadan, when Muslims fast during the day, Elaf invited me to share a meal with my family and other close people at sunset.

At about 15 a.m., just after getting dressed and sending a message to Elaf asking for the meeting time, I heard a dry gunshot from outside the window: "Bread, bread."

Mr. Nakasa received a call from his workplace to stay at home and spent an anxious day. Dinner appointments were forced to be canceled.

After that, Mr. Nakasa continued to wait at home amid sporadic gunshots. The electricity was also cut off, so we charged our cell phones with the generator and continued to check with Elaf about each other's safety.

Ms
. Nakasa: "Every day, we had casual exchanges such as how alive we were, whether we slept yesterday, and sometimes what we ate today. I was very grateful."

Despite his hope that the situation would be resolved as soon as possible, the battle intensified day by day. On April 4, it was decided to dispatch Self-Defense Force aircraft to evacuate, and it was decided to evacuate to Japan.

The first thing that came to his mind was his colleagues who remained in Sudan and Elaf.

When I told him to evacuate, I received a message from Mr. Elaf.

I'm very sad that I can't say goodbye in person. But I was very, very happy to see you with such a kind heart. May God guide us and we will meet in other countries when we are safe and the situation improves.

Mr
. Nakasa: "At that time, I didn't know if the evacuation would end safely, so when I saw this message, I realized that there was no certainty that we would be able to meet again. I replied to her, 'We promised to have dinner together on the 15th, and I'm sure we'll meet again and eat dinner that day as if nothing had happened somewhere.'"

The danger of abandonment of evacuation at that time when Sudanese

"I will definitely meet Elaf-san again someday and fulfill the promise I made for dinner that I couldn't do that day,"

said Nakasa, who began to prepare for the evacuation.

However, you suddenly hit a wall. We had to join the UN convoy to Port Sudan on the coast where the Self-Defense Force planes were waiting, but we had to collect gasoline for that.

One week into the fighting, the evacuees were running out of gasoline.

At this rate, we may have to give up the evacuation ... At that time, it was the Sudanese people I met at the site of the support who worked hard to secure it.

Mr
. Nakasa: "If you don't evacuate now, you may not be able to escape, so you should evacuate, so they collected gasoline. Even in times of crisis, the fact that they did what they could do as usual without regard for themselves was truly the kindness of the people of Sudan. I can't thank you enough."

The lives of the remaining staff are in danger

Can we give back to the people of Sudan? Now that he has returned to Japan, he is still seeking support for Sudan.

On that day, I was discussing with the other evacuated staff members whether they could somehow pay their salaries to the local staff who were left behind while the bank remittance system was shut down.

It is said that local prices have jumped more than fourfold. Without access to cash, there is a possibility that water and food will not be available before the conflict occurs.

What is even more concerning is whether JICA's support will be able to continue.

JICA started its activities in Sudan nearly 40 years ago. In cooperation with the local government, we have continued to support the construction of water purification facilities to provide a stable supply of clean drinking water and the spread of the medical insurance system.

However, the current armed conflict has effectively made it difficult to continue providing assistance, and there is no prospect of resumption.

Mr
. Nakasa: "I don't know if the system is continuing while the safety of the staff has not been confirmed in the current situation.

Director Sakane
: "What we have done is related to water and insurance, which are indispensable to people's lives, and I am worried that public services for people's lives will deteriorate if they stop. When we evacuated, many Sudanese people supported us and we were saved, so now we are testing our seriousness to see how much we value their lives and act. This will lead to a relationship of trust with the Japan when we are able to reopen our offices in the future, so we will do what we can in consultation with the government."

My best friend also evacuated to Egypt

Meanwhile, Mr. Nakasa receives news from Mr. Elaf.

On May 5, Elaf took his mother and sisters to neighboring Egypt.

Elaf and his colleagues took nine days to reach Egypt from Khartoum by bus and ferry.

Previously, bus tickets to the border, which used to cost about $1 each, went up to $50, and Elaf said he was at a loss because he couldn't buy tickets for the whole family. Even so, he borrowed money from relatives and family and managed to leave Sudan.

Elaf:
"I didn't expect to leave my home country in this way, so I don't think this is the reality yet. My 10-year-old sister asks if she can go home again because she has a lot of things she didn't bring, but she doesn't know if her home is still in its original state and she can't tell me that she has no chance of going back. I was fortunate enough to be evacuated, but many of my friends are still in Khartoum and in harsh conditions. Some people can't evacuate because they don't have money, and I feel guilty about this situation that I was able to evacuate."

Keep your feelings for Sudan

Mr. Nakasa was listening to Elaf's story with tears in his eyes. Since Elaf has no relatives to rely on in Egypt who evacuated, Nakasa immediately introduced him to his Egyptian friends from Japan.

Later, this group of friends arranged housing for the Elaf family and continue to support them to this day.

Like Elaf, the UNHCR = United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that about 15,<> people have fled Sudan so far. Many people are evacuating without friends or relatives or anyone to rely on.

As the situation worsens, support for those who have fled to neighboring countries and the many who are still in Sudan has become a major issue.

Until peace comes to Sudan again and we can have dinner with Elaf that day, Mr. Nakasa will keep his heart close to Sudan and continue to provide as much support as he can.

Mr
. Nakasa: "The people of Sudan are really warm and family-oriented and friends-oriented, and what they hope is that their former Sudanese daily life of spending time with such family and friends will return as soon as possible. I hope that such a day will come as soon as possible, and I will do everything I can."

Postscript

Many evacuees, including Mr. Nakasa who was interviewed this time, expressed a sense of crisis that interest in Sudan, a country far from Japan, would diminish after the evacuation of Japan people was over.

Once a conflict breaks out in some country, such as the war in Ukraine, its impact will spread throughout the world. The military clashes in Sudan are no exception.

I would like to continue to be interested in Japan from now on.

Chieko
Katsumata, a reporter from the Social Affairs Department, joined the Yamaguchi
Bureau and Sendai Bureau in Heisei 22,
and then went through the current Ms
. Nakasa was very worried until
her high school classmates returned to Japan.