Approximately 40 British civilians have arrived safely in Cyprus after being rescued from Sudan last night, a spokesperson for its foreign ministry said.
Three planes were due to have left conflict-torn Khartoum for Cyprus by Wednesday morning, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledging ‘many more’ would follow as he warned of a ‘critical’ 24 hours.
Around 260 people were expected to be flown out overnight on three flights, the first landing on Tuesday evening at Larnaca airport on Tuesday evening with around 40 people on board.
However the UK military is racing against time to evacuate all 4,000 British civilians still trapped in Sudan while the fragile 72-hour ceasefire holds.
The evacuations come as The Times reports that an NHS doctor was shot in the leg during the conflict, but has refuses to leave without elderly mother – whose temporary visa request was rejected.
Approximately 40 British civilians have landed safely in Cyprus after being rescued from Sudan (pictured: British Royal Air Force military transport carrying evacuees parked on the tarmac upon arrival at Larnaca airport in Cyprus)
Evacuees from Sudan board a bus after disembarking from a British Royal Air Force military transport at Larnaca airport in Cyprus
A woman holds her child at Cyprus’ Joint Rescue Coordination Center adjacent to the island nation’s main Larnaca airport, after arriving with approximately 38 British nationals aboard
Around 1,400 British military personnel are involved in the ‘large-scale’ evacuation of UK nationals from Sudan. Pictured: British soldiers at the Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus prepare to board a plane to evacuate UK civilians from Sudan
Pictured: A C-130 Hercules leaves for Sudan from the RAF base in Cyprus
The Foreign Office backtracked on their earlier advice and urged all British passport holders and their immediate family members to make the perilous journey to the airfield to board evacuation flights.
There are fears that the government’s late decision to rescue civilians – after choosing to only rescue diplomats – is ‘too little, too late’ for Britons due to how dangerous it is to travel through the various checkpoints to the airfield.
Rishi Sunak authorised the operation late on Monday night, Downing Street said, after he was accused of ‘abandoning’ thousands of civilians in the war-torn country.
UK defence secretary Ben Wallace told Channel 4 news ‘we can take, really, who turns up at the moment’ – adding ‘there is some risk that some of the planes are not full’.
Mr Wallace said the UK would take charge of the Wadi Saeedna airstrip near the capital from German forces, after Berlin said its final evacuation flight would leave on Tuesday night.
He said 120 British troops have already been supporting the operation there.
The UK military could be ready to use force if needed to protect the air base in the event it comes under attack during the airlift, although the troops are primarily there to help with logistics, the i paper reported.
A UK-born student attempting to flee Sudan said she does not have enough petrol to make the dangerous one-hour drive from the outskirts of Khartoum to the airstrip.
‘I’m trying to get there. But the problem is the vehicles that we have have no gas, and the petrol stations are empty,’ Samar Eltayeb, 20, from Birmingham, told the PA news agency.
‘There’ll be constant flights within the next few days, but if I can’t find gas to get there, then I’m stuck.’
Elizabeth Boughey, 61, told The Times she followed the initial advice and phoned up to out her name on the consulate list, but to no avail.
She and dozens of other international staff at Khartoum American School had to travel to the French embassy in the dead of night after hiding from heavy shelling and gun fire for a week.
While fellow staff member Alison Lethinen, a British-Finnish citizen, was shot in the foot by a stray bullet as she lay on the floor of her apartment.
Staff claim she was ignored by UK officials but the Finnish embassy was in constant contact.
Sam Bodley-Scott, who has worked in Sudan for years, and seven other expatriates were forced to escape Khartoum for the Egyptian border after being robbed by RSF soldiers.
British soldiers deployed to Cyprus board the C-130 Hercules aircraft bound for Sudan
Pictured: Around 400 Germans and nationals from more than 20 countries, including UK citizens, are evacuated in a flight from Khartoum
Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly met with Foreign Office teams coordinating the evacuation of British citizens from Sudan
Sir Nicholas Kay, a former British ambassador to Sudan, warned the situation during the ceasefire remains ‘precarious’ and at any moment, the fighting between the warring military factions could start again – thwarting any plans of a safe evacuation.
And MP James Cleverly admitted that it is ‘impossible’ to know how long their window of opportunity for safe evacuations will last.
Indeed, the sound of heavy gunfire and explosions filled the air in the capital of Khartoum and residents said warplanes were flying overhead.
Sir Kay warned that moving around Khartoum could be ‘very difficult’, with the bridges crossing the Blue and White Nile rivers being controlled by the armed groups, while Conservative MP Alice Kearns said it is now ‘a race against time’ to get Britons out of Sudan.
Some Britons said they have already lost hope in the Government after the Foreign Office decided to only evacuate diplomats. They are now making the perilous journey to Port Sudan to try and evacuate by sea.
The Foreign Office said yesterday priority will be given to family groups with children, the elderly and individuals with medical conditions.
It said British nationals should not make their way to the airfield unless they are called, and warned the situation remained volatile, meaning the ability to conduct evacuations could change at short notice.
But this advice was removed this afternoon, and the Foreign Office urged British passport holders and their immediate family members to head to Wadi Saeedna airfield to the north of Khartoum to board evacuation flights.
Other exit routes are being considered, with two UK Navy vessels having been prepared for a possible evacuation.
Mr Cleverly said he had made contact with the leaders of the rival military factions in Sudan, calling on them to allow British nationals and dual nationals to be evacuated safely.
But he admitted it was impossible to predict how long the window for the evacuation would remain open.
‘It is important to remember that ceasefires have been announced and have fallen apart in the past, so the situation remains dangerous, volatile and unpredictable,’ he said.
He added: ‘We have said that we are unable to provide escorts from where British nationals are to the airhead, they will have to make their own way there – as indeed has been the case for the nationals of other countries.’
Personnel of 40 Commando Brigade and the Joint Force Head Quarters prepare to leave Cyprus to rescue British civilians trapped in Sudan
The British soldiers board a C-130 Hercules aircraft en route to Sudan on Tuesday
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Denning and Duncan Maddocks from the 40 Commando leave Cyprus for Sudan
Five British nationals were evacuated by Saudi Arabia on a Royal Saudi Navy vessel. Pictured: British Consul-General in Saudi Arabia, Cecille El Beleidi, meets with British citizens in Jeddah
British embassy staff are pictured waiting for UK nationals arriving from Sudan in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
The UK government will begin evacuating British citizens trapped in Sudan today, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said after he was accused of ‘abandoning’ thousands of civilians in the war-torn country
Ash Alexander Cooper, former joint operational commander in the British Armed Forces, said the window of opportunity to evacuate trapped Britons is ‘really small’.
Cooper warned that while news of a 72-hour ceasefire is welcome, the last ten days of intense fighting ‘shows it might not hold for long’. He also said news of the ceasefire may not have reached junior commanders.
Cooper told Sky News: ‘Air, clearly, is the fastest way out but the capacity on planes or helicopters is more limited.
‘Land would be the fastest way to get people out if the window is really small but clearly that is quite dangerous, especially if news of the ceasefire hasn’t filtered all the way down to the most junior commanders on the ground.
‘At the highest level, if the commanders have agreed one thing that’s great – but as we understand communication is particularly difficult in country now, so the risk to life is still very high.
‘It is a risk calculus not just for those on the ground, but also for the British government.’
Five Britons were among scores of civilians who were evacuated from Sudan aboard a Saudi Arabian Navy vessel last night – but efforts are now focused on saving the thousands more UK nationals who are trapped there.
The Foreign Office said other exit routes are being considered, with two British military ships – RFA Cardigan Bay and HMS Lancaster – being lined up for possible evacuations.
On Monday night, British troops landed in Port Sudan, a fairly stable city in the northeast of the country, on a scouting mission to rescue UK civilians caught up in the conflict.
France, Germany and Saudi Arabia have each carried out hundreds of evacuations, including some Britons.
Evacuees from war-torn Sudan sit inside a military plane as they wait to be processed by members of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) upon their arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday
People evacuated from Sudan arrive at a military airport in Amman on Monday night
James Cleverly said Foreign Office officials have now started contacting British nationals trapped in Sudan directly and are providing them with routes for departure out of the country
Sudanese greet army soldiers, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan on April 16
Scores of Britons have accused the UK government of leaving them to fend for themselves in a country where corpses are now ‘littering the streets’.
‘Morgues are full, corpses litter the streets’ and overwhelmed hospitals often have to stop operations for security reasons, said Dr Attiya Abdallah, head of the Sudan doctors’ union.
The shortages in food and water in the country, where more than 400 people have died in a week of violence, has also seen some people being forced to kill their pets to save them from starving.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Sudan’s warring generals had agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire starting on Tuesday (10.00pm GMT on Monday), after 10 days of urban combat killed hundreds, wounded thousands and sparked a mass exodus of foreigners.
Nour Al-Ghanmi, from the Saudi Royal Naval Forces, carries a tray of sweets to welcome evacuees at Jeddah Port, Saudi Arabia, Monday, April 24
A nun followed by Italian Army soldiers disembarks from an Air Force plane carrying Italian citizens evacuated from Sudan landed at the Ciampino Military airport in Rome, April 24
It comes after the British Ambassador to Sudan, Giles Lever, emerged from his London home on Monday to assure stranded people that every effort was being made to evacuate them to safety. He said he had returned to Britain for a holiday from Khartoum and circumstances forced him to stay on and help from London.
Speaking outside his home in leafy Wimbledon, Mr Lever told MailOnline: ‘I came back here for a scheduled holiday at Easter and have been unable to return. I had been working solidly on the problems in Sudan for three months before I left.
‘I hadn’t seen my wife at Christmas and my holiday was approved by my boss. But I cannot get back there.
‘But it is incorrect to say that the embassy had been abandoned. There was a very senior diplomat, my deputy, in charge while I took leave.’
Germany and France have been at the forefront of evacuations among western nations, and have even rescued British civilians amid criticism the UK Government has been too slow in its response.
France confirmed it had extracted ‘significant’ numbers of foreign nationals from Sudan including Britons, while German Armed Forces evacuated 311 people Monday morning – with some UK civilians among them, The Telegraph reports.
A British businessman said: ‘The French have been absolutely incredible, amazing, I can’t thank them enough for saving my life.’
At least one French soldier has been left in a critical condition after being shot in the suburbs of Khartoum on Sunday night.
Five Britons were among those on board a Saudi Royal Naval vessel as it extracted its nationals from Sudan. A clip shows 199 people travelling on a ship as it arrives in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on the Red Sea.
April 20: Fire broke out after a house was hit in the Lamab district during clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum
A Dunkirk-style evacuation of thousands of British nationals from Sudan is also being considered by Rishi Sunak amid intense criticism of the UK’s failure to protect terrified families trapped amid the fighting
Giles Lever, the UK’s ambassador to Sudan, pictured outside his London Home
Pensioners Abdalla Sholgami and Alaweya Rishwan. Abdalla is a dual Sudanese British citizen and both are stuck in Khartoum – despite family members calling multiple times a day they have received no help
Saudi and other citizens arrive at the Jeddah naval port after being evacuated by the Saudi Royal Navy from Sudan
At least five Britons are among the 199 civilians rescued from Sudan aboard a Saudi Royal Navy ship
Egyptian evacuees from Sudan arriving in Cairo, Egypt, shortly after disembarking from an army aircraft
A handout photo made available by the South Korea Presidential Office shows 28 South Korean nationals arriving on a South Korean C-130J military transport aircraft after being evacuated from Sudan
Dr Reem Taha, a trustee of the UK Sudanese Junior Doctors Association, said 70 NHS doctors are among those stranded and communication in the area is difficult. She told The Mirror: ‘Internet services are poor and international calls are not going through. It is rapidly evolving daily. Some areas are under fire constantly.
‘They are NHS workers and we can’t afford to lose NHS doctors. We are worried about them. I think they have lost all hope.
‘The last communication I had from one doctor on Sunday was that he was thinking of fleeing through Egypt. But we don’t know any more.’
The ferocity of fighting in Sudan has created additional problems for evacuation, with Government sources admitting it is more dangerous than the rescue operation out of Afghanistan in 2021. At that time, Kabul was not yet in Taliban hands – allowing for more control over the extraction.
Destroyed military vehicles are seen in Khartoum, Sudan, on Thursday
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the military operation carried out by UK special forces to rescue a group of 30 people made up of British diplomats and their families out of Sudan
Smoke is seen in Khartoum, Sudan, on Saturday. The fighting in the capital between the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces resumed after an internationally brokered cease-fire failed
French soldiers evacuate French citizens, as part of the ‘Operation Sagittaire’ evacuation by the French army, in Khartoum, Sudan, on Sunday
The protagonists in the power struggle are General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (left), head of the army and leader of Sudan’s ruling council since 2019, and his deputy on the council, RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (right), commonly known as Hemedti
An aerial view of black smoke rising above the Khartoum International Airport on April 20 amid ongoing battles between the forces of two rival generals
The fighting between forces loyal to two top generals has put the nation at risk of collapse and could have consequences far beyond its borders. Pictured: A battle-damaged street in Khartoum, Sudan
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel
[ad_2]
Source link
hartford car insurance shop car insurance best car insurance quotes best online car insurance get auto insurance quotes auto insurance quotes most affordable car insurance car insurance providers car insurance best deals best insurance quotes get car insurance online best comprehensive car insurance best cheap auto insurance auto policy switching car insurance car insurance quotes auto insurance best affordable car insurance online auto insurance quotes az auto insurance commercial auto insurance instant car insurance buy car insurance online best auto insurance companies best car insurance policy best auto insurance vehicle insurance quotes aaa insurance quote auto and home insurance quotes car insurance search best and cheapest car insurance best price car insurance best vehicle insurance aaa car insurance quote find cheap car insurance new car insurance quote auto insurance companies get car insurance quotes best cheap car insurance car insurance policy online new car insurance policy get car insurance car insurance company best cheap insurance car insurance online quote car insurance finder comprehensive insurance quote car insurance quotes near me get insurance