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RAF plane lands in Sudan as UK assesses options for further evacuations RAF plane lands in Sudan as UK assesses options for further evacuations
(about 1 hour later)
Armed forces minister says ‘job isn’t done’ in evacuating as many as 4,000 Britons and dual nationals trapped in war zoneArmed forces minister says ‘job isn’t done’ in evacuating as many as 4,000 Britons and dual nationals trapped in war zone
An RAF plane has landed at a port city in the north-east of Sudan as a British minister said that the UK was evaluating further military options for rescuing non-diplomats from the country by land, sea and air. The British military is assessing a highly fraught operation to rescue some of the thousands of British nationals stranded in Sudan after the Foreign Office was deluged by cross-party criticism for missing a window of opportunity on Sunday to evacuate more than just British diplomats and their families.
A C17 Globemaster is on the ground at Port Sudan with some troops who may form part of a second rescue organised by the UK, following Sunday’s controversial evacuation of British diplomats from the capital, Khartoum, but not other UK nationals. An RAF plane has landed at Port Sudan in the north-east of the country with some troops to look at the option of taking nationals who have attempted to drive – some in UN-protected convoys - from Khartoum and elsewhere. The landing ship RFA Cardigan Bay and the frigate HMS Lancaster are also being lined up as options to help people out of the war-torn country as the UK desperately considers its restricted options.
James Heappey, the minister for the armed forces, said in a briefing that the UK recognised “the job isn’t done” when it came to rescuing the 4,000 or more British and dual nationals trapped in Sudan. There are an estimated 4,000 British nationals and dual nationals in Sudan. One British national trapped in their home told the Guardian they were not receiving any messages from the Foreign Office, describing the evacuation operation as “a shitshow”.
“Work is under way in [the Ministry of Defence] and has been all weekend and the back end of last week to give the prime minister and Cobra options for what else could be done to support the wider community of British nationals in Sudan,” the defence minister said. France has airlifted 491 people from 36 countries, including 12 EU nations, to Djibouti since Sunday, according to the foreign ministry. They included two Greeks and one Belgian who had been wounded, as well as the German and Swiss ambassadors, it said.
A storm gathered on Monday over Britain’s decision to rescue only its diplomats when other countries such as Germany had been evacuating both diplomats and nationals, prompting British ministers to say that evacuation efforts had not been abandoned. James Heappey, the minister for the armed forces, said in a briefing that the UK recognised “the job isn’t done” when it came to rescuing the 4,000 or more British and dual nationals trapped in Sudan. The development minister, Andrew Mitchell, under pressure from his own backbenchers in the Commons, also insisted that all options were being considered, adding that the UK was not following the US policy of rescuing only its diplomatic staff.
Heappey said that discussions in government were continuing “at pace” and that Rishi Sunak would be given options to help Britons trapped in Sudan “as and when they arise”, but added that there was a concern that the military situation was highly unstable given the fighting between government and RSF rebel forces. He also said the UK government’s advice to nationals had changed from “Stay at home” to asking them to exercise their own judgement on whether to flee – but those who do so will be acting at their own risk.
A frigate, HMS Lancaster, is also available nearby and could participate in any maritime rescue, if one were organised. Although the long journey from Khartoum to Port Sudan is not being recommended by British officials and is fraught with danger, convoys have been able to make it to the relatively safety of the city. He did not deny that the UK ambassador Giles Lever and his wife, the deputy ambassador, had both been out of the county since April 14. He insisted the development director had been in post, and that the UK, as the pen-holder for Sudan at the UN, had not been caught flatfooted by the speed with which the crisis had escalated.
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, on Monday warned that the violence in Sudan “risks a catastrophic conflagration within Sudan that could engulf the whole region and beyond” and called on Security Council members to exert maximum leverage. There were also reports that even during the period UK was advising residents to shelter in their homes, UK diplomatic staff were attaching themselves to UN convoys leaving Khartoum, ignoring the official advice from their own employers.
Heappey said Sunday’s rescue involving two RAF planes – an Airbus A400M and a Hercules C-130 – operating via the Akrotiri base in Cyprus “went without a hitch.” Planes landed via an airfield at Wadi Seidna, which is about 30km north of Khartoum, and the UK worked with France and Germany to fly in and out this weekend. The violence in Sudan has pitted army units loyal to its military ruler, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. Battles have been raging in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman, and a series of ceasefires have failed to hold.
He said the Ministry of Defence continued to look at arranging further evacuations by air, road and sea – although nothing had yet been decided – but that the Wadi Seidna airfield was small and only able to handle two A400M-size aircraft at any one time, limiting the number of people that could be evacuated at any one time. In the Commons, Mitchell was repeatedly challenged to explain how other countries had evacuated their nationals, and whether the UK had wasted a window of opportunity to extract large numbers on Sunday, during a brief lull in the fighting.
The UK development minister, Andrew Mitchell, had earlier said in a round of interviews on Monday morning, Mitchell said he could not give a timeline for when it would be possible to rescue British nationals. “The situation is absolutely desperate and a ceasefire is required,” he said. “The only advice that Britain can give to people is to stay indoors because that is the safe option.” The French foreign ministry had reported that after meetings between emissaries of the two warring camps in Abu Dhabi, calls from around the world and strong advice from Saudi diplomacy and the presidency of South Sudan, the two rivals left a brief space on Sunday to allow the various evacuation plans to be put in place. It is not clear whether a second pause can be negotiated.
Asked why diplomats but not citizens had been evacuated, Mitchell said “we have a specific duty of care, a legal duty of care, to our own staff and our diplomats” and that there had been “a very specific threat to the diplomatic community” in Khartoum.
However, he added: “Many of the Brits there are very creative and know the situation on the ground, and if at their own risk they determine there is a way for them to leave their own homes then of course they will take it.”
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The Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Alicia Kearns, said the Foreign Office did not appear to have learned lessons from the evacuation from Afghanistan, judging by its communications with British nationals in Sudan. The Foreign Office points out is that it is dealing with a larger number of nationals than most other countries, and in the case of France, one special forces soldier was shot and is gravely ill.
“We have a moral obligation to tell British nationals as soon as possible that is the judgment that has been made, because they then need to make their own decisions,” Kearns told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.She agreed it was unacceptable that British nationals who had registered with the Foreign Office had received just two computer-generated messages in the past week. But Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said time was running out, while Labour warned that the UK’s handling of the crisis suggested the Foreign Office had learned nothing from the Afghanistan fiasco. A succession of MPs raised cases of stranded constituents who had heard nothing from the UK government. There are 400 UK nationals and 4,000 dual nationals in Sudan.
European countries, China and others from around the world raced to extract thousands of their citizens from Khartoum on Monday during an apparent lull in fierce fighting. France and Germany said they had evacuated about 700 people, without giving a breakdown of their nationalities. A German air force plane carrying evacuees landed in Berlin early on Monday. Mitchell told MPs that movement around the capital “remains extremely dangerous, and no evacuation option comes without grave risk to life”. “Khartoum airport is out of action. Energy supplies are disrupted. Food and water are becoming increasingly scarce. Internet and telephone networks are becoming difficult to access.”
Several countries sent military planes from Djibouti to fly people out from the Sudanese capital, while other operations took people by convoy to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which is about 500 miles (800km) by road from Khartoum. From there, some have boarded ships to Saudi Arabia. The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, warned that the violence in Sudan “risks a catastrophic conflagration within Sudan that could engulf the whole region and beyond” and called on Security Council members to exert maximum leverage.
Indonesia said more than 500 of its citizens had been evacuated to the port and were awaiting transport to Jeddah, across the Red Sea. China, Denmark, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden said they had got nationals out, while Japan said it was preparing to send an evacuation team from Djibouti. Heappey said Sunday’s rescue involving two RAF planes – an Airbus A400M and a Hercules C-130 – operating via the Akrotiri base in Cyprus “went without a hitch”. Planes landed at an airfield at Wadi Seidna, which is about 30km north of Khartoum, and the UK worked with France and Germany to fly in and out this weekend.
Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the Commons defence committee, called for a “clearcut plan” to get British passport holders out. “If that plan does not emerge today, then individuals will then lose faith and then start making their own way back,” he told GB News, saying that could lead to “some very difficult situations”. Asked why diplomats but not citizens had been evacuated, The UK development minister, Andrew Mitchell, said, “We have a specific duty of care – a legal duty of care – to our own staff and our diplomats” and that there had been “a very specific threat to the diplomatic community” in Khartoum.
The violence in Sudan has pitted army units loyal to its military ruler, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. Battles have been raging in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman, and a series of ceasefires have failed to hold. Eiman Bribo, who was visiting her extended Sudanese family with her husband and two children from Swansea, said she believed the UK had discriminated in not taking all nationals. “We are all citizens of the UK, but they took the ones they believe are more important and they are first-class citizens, and left us who are second-class citizens behind. I saw the airplane in which they evacuated the staff of the embassy and some other people on the TV … It was a huge plane. It could have been enough for all of us.”
She said she had chosen not to leave Khartoum with her Sudanese relatives because she believed her family would be evacuated by the UK. “I emailed an address on a link sent by the government and made a telephone call when they didn’t get back to me. The answer was disappointing. With very cold manner, a lady on the other side said to me, ‘I’m afraid I have no idea when you will be evacuated.’”
Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the Commons defence committee, called for a “clear-cut plan” to get British passport holders out. “If that plan does not emerge today, then individuals will then lose faith and then start making their own way back,” he told GB News, saying that could lead to “some very difficult situations”.
Some Sudanese people have expressed anger that western countries have seemingly prioritised evacuating their people over trying to stop the fighting.Some Sudanese people have expressed anger that western countries have seemingly prioritised evacuating their people over trying to stop the fighting.