UK announces evacuation flights from Sudan

UK citizens trapped by the conflict in Sudan are to be offered flights out after London announced an evacuation operation from the capital Khartoum on Tuesday.

The move comes after prime minister Rishi Sunak faced mounting pressure to rescue the roughly 4,000 UK nationals caught up in fighting between two rival generals. Ministers faced severe criticism in parliament on Monday over the contrast between the UK’s failure to offer a rescue plan to its citizens in the country and the rescue of hundreds of French, German and other citizens trapped in Sudan.

“UK military flights are due to depart from an airfield outside Khartoum, supported by senior diplomats from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office,” the statement said.

Britain’s effort comes as Sudan’s armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed a 72-hour ceasefire following what US secretary of state Antony Blinken described as “intense negotiations” amid deadly clashes in the country.

On Tuesday, the Sudanese army said that following a Saudi-American mediation to stop the fighting the armed forces had agreed to a 72-hour armistice effective from midnight.

The ceasefire was conditional on the rebels’ halting all hostilities.

The RSF said it was renewing its “absolute commitment to the declared humanitarian truce for a period of 72 hours”. It said it had agreed to the truce to “open humanitarian corridors for citizens”. Previous attempts at ceasefires since fighting started on April 15 did not hold.

More than 400 people have died, mostly in the capital Khartoum, after fighting erupted more than 10 days ago between the Sudanese armed forces, led by de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and forces commanded by his opponent, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Known as Hemeti, Dagalo is Sudan’s vice-president and commander of the RSF.

Conditions are dire, particularly in Khartoum, with electricity and water supplies cut off and dead bodies in many streets, with civilians fleeing areas affected by fighting.

The FCDO said places on its flights would be open to holders of UK passports.

“We are also working on other potential options for helping British nationals leave Sudan, including from other points of exit,” it added.

The United Nations said in a note on Tuesday that the secretary-general António Guterres continued to call on the parties to the conflict to stop fighting in heavily populated areas.

He urged the parties to “allow civilians safe passages to access food, water and other essential supplies and evacuate from conflict-affected areas”.

UK forces established a reconnaissance mission on Monday evening after landing an aircraft at Port Sudan, on the country’s Red Sea coast. A UK frigate, HMS Lancaster, is also in the Red Sea ready to help with the effort if required.

The UK, which has strong historic ties with Sudan, faces one of the biggest challenges of any overseas government in helping citizens in Sudan because of the size of the British citizen community in the country. Other European countries have mostly had to rescue only a few hundred nationals.

British embassy staff were successfully flown out, along with their dependants, over the weekend. The success of that effort raised questions about why there was no parallel effort to help the country’s citizens.

Monday’s Commons debate heard that around 2,000 UK citizens had been in touch with diplomatic staff to register for potential rescue from Sudan. However, MPs also queried how staff would find and contact citizens given the lack of power and internet access in many of the worst affected parts of the country.