Nearly 4,000 British passport holders in Sudan – amid warnings UK government is ‘very limited’ in its ability to help them | world News

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By Lucia Binding, news reporter @luciabinding

Monday, April 24, 2023, at 08:38, UK

It is understood that there are around 4,000 British passport holders in Sudan after Foreign Secretary James Cleverly warned that the British government was “extremely limited” in its ability to assist British subjects until the conflict was over.

It comes after governments around the world evacuated diplomats and staff in Sudan as rival generals grapple for a ninth day with no sign of a truce declared on a major Muslim holiday.

While world powers, including the US and UK, have flown their diplomats out of the capital, Khartoum, Sudanese citizens have desperately tried to flee the chaos, many of them risking dangerous routes to cross Egypt’s northern border.

Fighting flared up in Omdurman, a city across the Nile from Khartoum, according to residents, despite a hoped-for ceasefire to coincide with the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday.

More than 420 people have been killed, including 246 civilians, and more than 3,700 injured in a bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

The Rapid Support Forces claimed that the armed forces launched air strikes on the upscale Kfoury district, north of Khartoum.

There is “huge chaos and violence in Sudan,” Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s Secretary for International Development and Africa, told Sky News’ Kay Burley this morning, adding that “the absolute first requirement is to get a ceasefire”.

He said, “We will do everything we can and I mean everything to get our British compatriots out.”

“A very successful but complicated operation was conducted yesterday morning and the diplomats were extracted,” Mr. Mitchell said.

“We will do everything we can.”

“We have a definite duty of care for diplomats, but I must stress that these diplomats were in grave danger because weapons were on both sides of the British Embassy and the British Residency, and we got them out as quickly as we could, as the Americans had expelled their diplomats.”

He said the focus now was on getting British nationals out of Sudan.

“Since we entered crisis mode 24/7 on the situation in Sudan, it has always been a tension to facilitate the exit of our citizens as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Asked how this would happen, he said: “All I can say is that every option is explored in detail and the moment travel advice can be changed and moved, we will.”

Read more: How an elite team of British forces evacuated British diplomats from the war zone capital, and a British-Sudanese woman caught in deadly clashes in Khartoum tells of a harrowing ordeal

PHOTO: In this photo provided by the French Armed Forces, military personnel load the belongings of evacuees onto a plane at Khartoum Airport

Secretary of State James Cleverly chaired the sixth Cobra session on Sudan on Sunday night to discuss the “escalation” of violence in the African country.

Mr Cleverley said the government remained “fully committed to supporting” Britons in the country but said that until a ceasefire could be reached ministers were “severely constrained in our ability to provide assistance to British citizens”.

Senior opposition MPs said they were “extremely concerned” about the welfare of British nationals still in Sudan.

Irish nationals who remain in Ireland have been urged to stay home, with Michael Martin saying they will be told more information about air transfers.

“This will take a few days,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Minister Tanestee.

“I think we’re pleased with the preliminary result in the last 24 hours, but it’s a very fluid thing, and keep in mind the struggle is fierce.”

Violence affects operations at airports

The ongoing violence affected operations at the main international airport, destroying civilian aircraft and damaging at least one runway, with thick black smoke billowing over it. Other airports have also been forced out of service.

Image: Smoke billows from buildings during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum

US Special Forces quickly evacuated 70 US embassy workers from Khartoum to Ethiopia on Sunday, after a week of fighting that hampered rescue operations.

Other countries have also managed to turn away their citizens and diplomats even though US officials said it was too dangerous for a government-orchestrated evacuation of thousands of private citizens.

Meanwhile, France and Italy said they would take in all their citizens who wished to leave, along with those from other countries who were unable to join the evacuation.

Officials said President Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister had obtained security guarantees from both sides for the evacuation.

PHOTO: In this photo provided by the Italian Ministry of Defence, military personnel evacuate people from Khartoum Airport

On Sunday, two French flights took off from Khartoum to Djibouti, carrying about 2,000 passengers from different countries, and more are scheduled to be carried today.

While the German Foreign Ministry said that a military plane carrying 101 German diplomatic staff, family members and citizens of partner countries who were evacuated from Sudan via Jordan landed safely in Berlin.

An Italian C-130 military plane leaving Khartoum with evacuees landed on Sunday evening at an air base in Djibouti and about 100 people were picked up from Khartoum by Spanish military aircraft including 30 Spaniards – the rest from Portugal, Italy, Poland and Ireland. The foreign ministry said Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina.

Jordanian officials said that four planes landed at Amman Military Airport carrying 343 evacuees from Port Sudan, while Greece and the Netherlands organized other flights from Sudan.

Last week, militants attacked a US embassy convoy and stormed the home of the EU ambassador.

The struggle for power between the Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, dealt a severe blow to Sudan’s hopes for a democratic transition. Rival generals came to power after a pro-democracy uprising led to the ouster of the former strongman, Mr. Bashir. In 2021, the generals have joined forces to seize power in a coup.

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