The Foreign Service Journal, May 2008

Because of the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the capital, the embassy Emergency Action Committee decided at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008, to ask all Foreign Service National employees to go home immediately and all Americans to go home before sundown. A sundown-to-sunrise curfew was imposed and all Americans were asked to consolidate into the embassy housing compound. Post management then decided to close the embassy on Friday, Feb. 1. The next day, there were reports of fighting and high casualties between the Chadian government forces and rebels about 50 kilometers outside the city. Throughout the day, we were on a high-alert status and constantly monitored radio communications from our homes. Around 2 a.m. on Sat., Feb. 2, we were awakened with orders that all family members needed to get ready for evacuation within two hours. A Difficult Farewell My wife Sandy and I hurried to get the kids’ bags packed and woke them up. Even though we had tried to prepare them in advance for this eventuality, they were not ready for the reality. My 5-year-old son Nikhil broke into tears about not being able to take his new magic box with him, while my 7-year-old daughter Sonali couldn’t understand why Daddy wasn’t coming along. By 5 a.m., Sandy and the kids, along with all other family members of the American embassy staff, were driven off in a con- voy to board a military aircraft to Yaoundé. Because I was part of the embassy’s essential person- nel complement, I was scheduled to stay back along with several colleagues. It was still early Saturday morning, so ditor’s Note: Life in Chad, like most Foreign Service hardship posts, poses major challenges even on the best days. But it takes something like civil war for such countries to make the news even briefly. The following account of a recent evacuation from N’Djamena to Yaoundé is based on a letter the author e-mailed to friends and family back in February. M A Y 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 41 F O C U S O N A F R I C A T HREE D AYS IN N’D JAMENA A N EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE RECENT CIVIL WAR IN C HAD AND ATTENDANT EVACUATION OF EMBASSY PERSONNEL . B Y R AJIV M ALIK E Rajiv Malik joined the Foreign Service in March 2007 as a financial management officer; N’Djamena is his first post. Prior to joining the State Department, he worked in the private sector for many years, mostly with the Los Angeles Times , in various finance and management roles.