{"id":62594,"date":"2023-04-30T12:57:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T12:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/30\/sudan-crisis-the-football-coach-forced-to-flee-khartoum\/"},"modified":"2023-04-30T12:57:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T12:57:13","slug":"sudan-crisis-the-football-coach-forced-to-flee-khartoum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/04\/30\/sudan-crisis-the-football-coach-forced-to-flee-khartoum\/","title":{"rendered":"Sudan crisis: The football coach forced to flee Khartoum"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Coach Florent Ibenge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Florent Ibenge, coach of leading Sudanese football club Al-Hilal SC, went to bed on Friday a fortnight ago thinking about his team\u2019s next match in the battle for the league title, but woke up to find himself in a war zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could hear gunfire\u2026 I was in disbelief,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n

His home was right in the middle of where the conflict began in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum \u2013 he lived in between the presidential palace and the airport that had earlier been taken by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.<\/p>\n

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He was stuck and soon realised he was not able to reach his 14-year-old daughter, who had left the house early on Saturday morning to go swimming with her school club.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is training in a hotel that is one minute away from the airport. And from my house, I could see the air force shooting towards the airport. It was horrible because you can\u2019t move, you can\u2019t go and get your daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

They would not be reunited for a whole week, on the tarmac of the military airport, as they awaited evacuation.<\/p>\n

Once he realised she was relatively safe in the hotel and had food, Ibenge started to turn his fatherly attention to his team and his staff.<\/p>\n

But his calm and composed nature was truly put to the test.<\/p>\n

\u201cI first managed to get my assistant goalkeeping coach out of the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen a Burundian couple got in touch with my wife, asking if they could come over because fighters had entered their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had forced their way into his house and put a gun to his head while he was with his wife and his four-month-old baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was horrible. They stayed there for three days before they got an opportunity to escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe finally managed to call my wife and we told them to come straight away. When he arrived, he didn\u2019t even sit down, he slumped down there for hours. It was really horrible.<\/p>\n

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