UK government ‘coordinating an evacuation of British nationals from Sudan’
The UK government has announced it is “coordinating an evacuation of British nationals from Sudan”, as a US-brokered ceasefire between the warring Sudanese armed forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has officially started in Sudan, where hundreds have been killed and thousands have fled since the fighting began.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has said “The Government has begun a large-scale evacuation of British passport holders from Sudan on RAF flights. Priority will be given to the most vulnerable, including families with children and the elderly.”
The British Foreign Office 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.
Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) had said the US and Saudi Arabia mediated the truce. US secretary of state Antony Blinken had announced the agreement first and said it followed two days of intense negotiations. But the two sides have not abided by several previous temporary truce deals.
Blinken said the US would coordinate with regional, international and Sudanese civilian interests to create a committee that would oversee work on a permanent ceasefire and humanitarian arrangements.
Key events
Cyprus said on Tuesday it had activated a humanitarian rescue mechanism for the evacuation of third-country civilians through the island from Sudan.
“The Republic of Cyprus intends to offer facilities to friendly countries for the repatriation of their nationals through Cyprus,” Reuters reports the Cypriot foreign ministry said in a statement.
Cyprus has facilitated humanitarian evacuations before. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from Lebanon through Cyprus in 2006 during an escalation of violence with Israel.
Dan Sabbagh
Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s defence and security editor, has this update on the type of aircraft being used.
The Ministry of Defence said RAF transport planes were on their way to the Wadi Seidna airfield north of Khartoum to begin picking up Britons. A rescue will involve A400M Atlas planes, with a passenger capacity of up to 200, and C130 Hercules with a capacity of around 120, an official said.
However, any airlift will be limited by the size of the airfield which the UK said yesterday can carry only two Atlas sized planes at a time, and it is likely to be shared with countries other than the UK while the ceasefire agreed overnight holds.
The Sky New Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall is near RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, and has said, given the flight times from the Mediterranean island to Sudan, he would expect the first planes evacuating British passport holders to arrive there mid-afternoon at the earliest. He told Sky News viewers:
We’ve seen one aircraft take off so far. It was an Airbus A400 M. So those who are familiar with it, it’s one of the larger transport aircraft, one of the newer transport aircraft in the RAF fleet. It was one of the aircraft or the type of aircraft used over the weekend to evacuate British diplomats from Sudan. And we understand that the UK will be using C130. Hercules as well so I would expect to see more flights take off from here as the morning wears on.
It’s around about a three-and-a-half-hour flight down to the Khartoum area. So I would expect that, if they are returning here, and that is yet to be confirmed, then we’re probably looking at the first returning flights late afternoon here, mid-afternoon your time.
But this is going to be a very complex operation partly because of the sheer number of people that they need to extract. We understand it’s around 4,000 British passport holders trapped in Sudan. Some of those, as I’m sure you know, will have decided to take matters into their own hands and make their way by road down to Port Sudan. But a lot are still stuck in Khartoum, and it won’t be simple on the ground when the aircraft land there.
Associated Press is carrying this update on the latest situation in Sudan, where people it has spoken to have suggested that the 72-hour ceasefire is not holding universally.
Samy Magdy reports the the Sudanese military, commanded by Gen Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the rival Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, both said Tuesday they would observe the ceasefire. In separate announcements, they said Saudi Arabia played a role in the negotiations.
“This ceasefire aims to establish humanitarian corridors, allowing citizens and residents to access essential resources, healthcare, and safe zones, while also evacuating diplomatic missions,” the RSF said in a statement.
The army announcement used similar language, adding that it will abide by the truce “on the condition that the rebels commit to stopping all hostilities”.
But fighting continued, including in Omdurman, a city across the Nile River from Khartoum. Omdurman resident Amin Ishaq told AP there were clashes early on Tuesday around the state television headquarters and around military bases just outside Omdurman.
“They did not stop fighting,” he said. “They stop only when they run out of ammunition.”
“Sounds of gunfire, explosions and flying warplanes are still heard across Khartoum,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors’ Syndicate. “They don’t respect ceasefires.”
Alicia Kearns, the chair of the UK parliament foreign affairs committee, has reiterated the Foreign Office warning that Britons should shelter in place until called to come forward for evacuation. She told viewers of Sky News in the UK that there was a risk the 72-hour ceasefire would not hold:
This is still incredibly complex. We have two warring factions. These are not well organised, well managed, well trained armed forces. You could have renegade factions within it. You will have individuals who will be high on the joy of looting who could commit further crimes.
And that is why British national need to stay where they are only come forward when they are contacted by the Foreign Office, because a plane is waiting for them and they really do have to move them safely.
Kearns also suggested that the UK government might investigate the use of sea routes in addition to an airlift. She said:
At this point they are going to continue to use the airstrip just north of Khartoum. However, we know that that airstrip has been degrading, it’s not high quality, and the Foreign Office did suggest that they may look at other routes depending on how things go forward.
And we know there are French ships and UK ships within the region. So they may just be waiting to bring those forward should the airlift either not be able to get enough people out at speed, or if there are problems that arise with that.
Patrick Wintour
In a tweet, the Rapid Support Forces claimed Sudan Armed Forces were still flying aircraft in breach of the ceasefire terms, confirming in their eyes that SAF has more than one decision centre and is unable to enforce the ceasefire. This is the fourth ceasefire of the war.
Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton is the chair of the UK parliament’s foreign affairs select committee, and she has been doing the media round in the UK this morning.
She told Sky News she felt “enormous relief” at the news that the evacuation process was beginning, but cautioned to hold all those involved “in our hearts” because “as we all know the ceasefire did not hold on Saturday for more than three hours.”
With regard to how many British passport holders might be evacuated, she said “the numbers don’t necessarily add up” with trying to get around 4,000 people out in 72 hours. However she said:
We know that not everyone who has registered with the Foreign Office of those numbers actually wants to be evacuated.
So look, they’ve said they want to get passport holders out. They’re going to prioritise women, children, the vulnerable, those with medical needs. That is absolutely the right thing to do. But it is a race against time.
And we just have to hope that during this period of the ceasefire, the diplomatic work doesn’t stop. The goal now has to be what happens next. How do we make sure that this doesn’t transition back to conflict, but transition to some sort of formal peace talks or negotiation beyond that.
Rosa Prince in this morning’s London Playbook from Politico has this assessment of the political side of developments in the UK over the last few hours. She writes:
Pressure had been growing on the UK government to act, following the removal of embassy staff at the weekend and as other nations pressed on with their own extractions. Family members of some stranded Brits had complained they felt abandoned. The FCDO pushed back, saying there were more British nationals needing assistance than those from most other countries, and it was simply unsafe to move large numbers of people, including children and the elderly, without a cessation in the fighting.
A Foreign Office official said ambassador Giles Lever had been instrumental in helping to broker the ceasefire thanks to his personal connections to senior figures in both the government and RSF. Lever has taken a certain amount of heat since it emerged he was in the UK for the Easter holiday when the crisis broke out
Staff from the FCDO, MoD and Home Office have been making calls through the night to the thousands of Brits across Sudan who registered in the last few days that they need assistance to escape. It is not known how many military and other personnel are now on the ground but during the much smaller diplomatic extraction at the weekend, as many as 1,200 troops were on standby.
The official told Playbook those working on the evacuation were keen to avoid a scenario in which people panicked and ran for the planes. They will be told there is sufficient time to get everyone out, and alternative routes to the planes will be made available.
Analysis: planned airlift fraught with danger amid fragile truce
Patrick Wintour
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reports:
The planned airlift of British citizens is fraught with dangers, notably the fear that the 72-hour ceasefire will break down, meaning British nationals are travelling to the designated airfield while fighting has restarted. There have also been regular reports of robberies of foreigners during the fighting, requiring a degree of leadership from the two factions to keep troops under control.
There is also concern that British nationals once they know the airfield to which they are to travel will press ahead without waiting to be called, risking there is a rush for the planes. The prioritisation process in Afghanistan proved difficult partly because politicians at the Foreign Office struggled to stick to clear criteria and responded to lobbying by Downing Street or MPs acting in the wake of their constituent’s pleas.
It has also been made clear that Home Office staff will assess hard cases in which those arrive lacking the correct paperwork. Dual nationals will be permitted on the flights; non-citizen dependants will not be treated as a priority, risking families will be divided at least temporarily. The UK aid minister Andrew Mitchell has already told MPs that no one will be deported back to Sudan while the fighting is under way.
Sky News Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall is in Cyprus, where the British mission to evacuate diplomats and their families was launched from on Sunday. He has tweeted that an RAF A400M military transport aircraft appeared to set off for Sudan earlier.
SUDAN: UK has announced more evacuation flights are underway for British passport holders trapped in Sudan. Priority will be given to elderly and families. We just saw an A400M take off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus: pic.twitter.com/tqnWnCf9J1
— Alistair Bunkall (@AliBunkallSKY) April 25, 2023
He said there is around a three and a half hour flight time between RAF Akrotiri and its destination.
Former joint operational commander of the British armed forces Ash Alexander-Cooper has been speaking to the media in the UK, and said that a 72-hour ceasefire, if it holds, is not a large amount of time to evacuate the number of people wanting to leave the country, and that “every minute and every hour counts”. He told viewers of Sky News:
If we’ve learned one thing from Afghanistan and that withdrawal – although the situations are different – is that every minute and every hour counts. We can’t be complacent and hope that the ceasefire lasts longer than 72 hours. We must plan that every hour is our last and do everything we can.
He also suggested that, while British nationals might be spread far and wide across Sudan, there would be coordination among the rescue attempts.
This is not a solely a British effort, you know. We work very closely in partnership with our allies, the US and others who have a bigger presence in the region. So I would imagine that there’s a lot of coordination going on between the Brits and all those other countries in the EU, the US and elsewhere, to ensure that if there’s capacity or options to help get people out, if there’s space, then we’ll be working very much hand in glove with them.
What are other countries planning for their own citizens?
Here is a roundup from Associated Press of some of the international efforts to evacuate citizens from Sudan as fighting has taken hold over recent days:
US: White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that Washington has begun facilitating the overland departure of private US citizens who want to leave Sudan with the use of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets.
UK: Britain’s Africa minister, Andrew Mitchell, has said about 2,000 UK citizens in Sudan have registered with the embassy. The country this morning announced an evacuation would begin.
Egypt: Egypt’s state-run MENA news agency says the country is urging the more than 10,000 Egyptian citizens in Sudan to head to Port Sudan and Wadi Halfa in the north for evacuation. Buses carrying an undisclosed number of Egyptian citizens crossed into Egypt from the Arqin border crossing on Monday.
France: Officials say France has evacuated 491 people, among them citizens from 36 countries including Irish citizens. Others included three wounded individuals, the German ambassador and several other foreign ambassadors.
Germany: Four German military transport planes flew more than 400 people from Sudan to Jordan from where they’ll head to their home countries.
Canada: Canada’s foreign minister says Ottawa is working with “like-minded countries″ to help at least 1,600 citizens formally registered in Sudan flee the country.
Italy: Italian air force C-130 transport aircraft airlifted 200 people out of Khartoum airport Sunday.
Spain: Spain said it had evacuated approximately 172 people from Djibouti so far.
The Netherlands: A pair of Dutch air force C-130 Hercules flew from Sudan to Jordan Monday carrying an undisclosed number of Dutch and other evacuees.
Turkey: The Turkish government says it’s evacuating “hundreds” of its citizens by land to Ethiopia, from where they are scheduled to be flown to Istanbul.
South Africa: The South African government says at least 77 South African nationals, including embassy staff, are on their way out of the Sudanese capital.
Kenya: Kenya’s foreign ministry says 29 Kenyan students have crossed into Ethiopia and are en route to Nairobi. Another two aircraft are expected to ferry 300-400 Kenyans to Jeddah.
Here is a map of Sudan from our graphics team, which indicates the main routes by which people are fleeing the country.
The UK government’s Foreign Office has published more detail about how the evacuation of UK passport-holders from Sudan will be carried out. It continues to warn against travel to Sudan for security reasons, and cautions people specifically against joining independent conveys. Its advice reads:
The British Government will support the departure of British passport holders from Sudan from 25 April on a prioritised basis.
Seats will be allocated on a priority basis, starting with family groups with children and / or the elderly or individuals with documented medical conditions. We can only evacuate British passport holders and immediate family members (defined as a spouse/partner and children under 18 years old) with existing UK entry clearance. Travel within Sudan is conducted at your own risk and plans may change depending on the security situation.
We will contact those who are eligible for evacuation directly – please do not make your way to the airfield unless you are called.
If you have already registered your details, we will try to contact you and you do not need to contact us again. If you have not registered yet please use this link: register your presence in Sudan.
If you have registered with the FCDO and have now left Sudan please call us on this number +44 (0)190851666.
We are continuing to work up other options to assist British nationals wanting to leave Sudan, including at other points of exit.
British nationals may be aware of unverified reports of independent convoys planning to depart Khartoum towards Port Sudan. The British Embassy has no involvement with these convoys and any British nationals who attempt to travel in one would do so at their own risk.
British nationals will also have seen that we have now evacuated the embassy due to the specific threat to diplomats. We will no longer be able to provide in-person or in-country consular support.
Here are the tweets from UK government officials announcing the move. Foreign secretary James Cleverly said:
The UK government is coordinating an evacuation of British nationals from Sudan. We have started contacting nationals directly and providing routes for departure out of the country.
The UK government is coordinating an evacuation of British nationals from Sudan.
We have started contacting nationals directly and providing routes for departure out of the country.https://t.co/71LU7TgtCC
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) April 25, 2023
The British prime minister also tweeted. Rishi Sunak said:
The Government has begun a large-scale evacuation of British passport holders from Sudan on RAF flights. Priority will be given to the most vulnerable, including families with children and the elderly.
I pay tribute to the British Armed Forces, diplomats and Border Force staff carrying out this complex operation. The UK will continue to work to end the bloodshed in Sudan and support a democratic government.
The Government has begun a large-scale evacuation of British passport holders from Sudan on RAF flights. Priority will be given to the most vulnerable, including families with children and the elderly.
I pay tribute to the British Armed Forces, diplomats and Border Force staff…
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) April 25, 2023
UK government ‘coordinating an evacuation of British nationals from Sudan’
The UK government has announced it is “coordinating an evacuation of British nationals from Sudan”, as a US-brokered ceasefire between the warring Sudanese armed forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has officially started in Sudan, where hundreds have been killed and thousands have fled since the fighting began.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has said “The Government has begun a large-scale evacuation of British passport holders from Sudan on RAF flights. Priority will be given to the most vulnerable, including families with children and the elderly.”
The British Foreign Office 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.
Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) had said the US and Saudi Arabia mediated the truce. US secretary of state Antony Blinken had announced the agreement first and said it followed two days of intense negotiations. But the two sides have not abided by several previous temporary truce deals.
Blinken said the US would coordinate with regional, international and Sudanese civilian interests to create a committee that would oversee work on a permanent ceasefire and humanitarian arrangements.
