Sudan rescue flights cannot continue forever, trapped Brits are warned
Sudan rescue flights cannot continue indefinitely, thousands of trapped Brits are warned: RAF evacuates hundreds more people but anger grows amid fears the ceasefire will break TONIGHT
- Rescue flights from Sudan could halt with threats the ceasefire may end tonight
- Families told they must make their own way to evacuation point despite violence
- Are you a British national affected by violence in Sudan? Please contact [email protected]
Thousands of British nationals trapped in Sudan have been warned rescue flights cannot continue indefinitely, with fears the ceasefire could break as early as tonight.
Plans drawn up by the RAF seek to extract 500 Britons each day from an airfield north of the capital Khartoum, before fighting resumes.
HMS Lancaster is sailing towards Port Sudan in the northeast of the country, one of the few stable locations from which civilians have been able to flee, The Times reports.
It is thought several hundreds people could be rescued via the Type 23 frigate’s large flight deck, but Britons in the capital Khartoum face a 500-mile drive to get to the port city.
Some 4,000 British national were known to be caught up in Sudan at the start of the hostilities. It is unknown how many have been evacuated at present.
The race is on to evacuate as many of the 4,000 British civilians trapped in Sudan as possible before the 72-hour ceasefire ends tomorrow
Noor, eight, hugs her mother Susan after she arrived at Stansted airport
Africa minister Andrew Mitchell yesterday reiterated the ‘critical message’ that British nationals who want to be brought to safety must make their way to the Wadi Saeedna airstrip in Khartoum.
But many are still frantically trying to get there amid a shortage of fuel, street fighting and military checkpoints, and have told of their anguish at having to navigate the situation alone.
A UK-born student attempting to flee said she did not have enough petrol to make a dangerous one-hour drive, while another man has said he has been left with no choice but to embark on a four-hour walk to get to safety.
Sudanese-British citizen Tarig Babikir, 42, said he has been forced to leave behind family members and described ‘complete chaos’ on the streets of Khartoum.
Before setting off on his dangerous journey to the airstrip, he said: ‘It all goes down to your instinct, you have to figure out where the fire’s coming from and try to find a different route.
‘I’m going to go through national army checkpoints and paramilitary checkpoints, and most likely I’m going to encounter some armed gangs as well.
Tarig Babikir, 42, a Sudanese-British citizen, has said he has been left with no choice but to embark on a four-hour walk to get to safety
HMS Lancaster is sailing towards Port Sudan in the northeast of the country, one of the few stable locations from which civlian have been able to flee
‘I’m carrying no cash as you can get robbed on the streets, and I’m going to hide my cell phone.’
‘It’s complete anarchy right now, complete chaos. Anyone can rob you, anyone can shoot you.’
Eight flights are expected to have left by the end of today to lift people to safety as the military races against time to rescue citizens while a fragile ceasefire holds.
The race is on to evacuate as many of the 4,000 British civilians trapped in Sudan as possible before the 72-hour ceasefire ends tomorrow, with a total of eight flights carrying Britons expected to leave Khartoum by the end of today.
The UK Government, which has been criticised for not evacuating British civilians sooner, said 400 people have been evacuated so far – a fraction of those still trapped in the country.
Many boarding have been forced to leave family members behind, with one British man able to flee with his pregnant wife and their six-year-old son, but forced to leave behind his elderly mother.
The RAF is evacuating British citizens on flights from Sudan to Larnaka airport
Samar Eltayeb, 20, a student from Birmingham, compared scenes in Khartoum to a horror movie and said she had no petrol to drive to the airbase
‘British soldiers checked all our papers. I brought my mum with me but she does not have a British passport. I tried to persuade the British soldiers to let her on the plane too but they would not let her,’ Wathig Ali told the BBC.
‘It was heart-breaking that I had to say goodbye to my mum.’
He said as he awaited a plane out of the country: ‘I feel for my pregnant wife – she is acting brave. Escaping this nightmare hasn’t been done yet. I hope the nightmare will end soon.’
Britons have described seeing thieves and killers roaming the streets, while the corpses of civilians killed in the fighting laid scattered on the ground in scenes that have been compared to a dystopian horror film.
Wathig Ali was able to flee Khartoum with his pregnant wife, Haifa, and their six-year-old son, Oday, but forced to leave behind his elderly mother
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly reiterated to UK nationals that they must make their own way to the airstrip, despite the ongoing violence.
‘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, a student from Birmingham who is an hour drive away, said.
‘It was something else, I can’t even describe it,’ a British citizen evacuated from Sudan told the BBC in Cyprus. ‘It was bad, it was very bad. I don’t even want to remember it.’
Meanwhile, Wahied Hassan, 68, from Coventry, and his 66-year-old wife Fatima, only managed to reach the airstrip after Hassan said he had ‘begged’ a friend to give them a lift.
British nationals sit inside an RAF aircraft, after being evacuated in Khartoum
The couple had been visiting family in Khartoum, and were among the first to arrive back in Britain.
Hassan said he received a call from the British embassy on Tuesday morning, asking him to reach the airfield in 30 minutes and bring only small belongings.
‘On our way to the airfield, we saw so much trouble, a lot of checkpoints… militia threatening people, scaring people, abusing people verbally and physically.
‘It’s very scary to be honest. Very scary. I’m so lucky.’
The government and armed forces have defended the lack of escort for British citizens attempting to get to the airstrip.
Wahied Hassan, 68, from Coventry, and his 66-year-old wife Fatima, only managed to reach the airstrip after Hassan said he had ‘begged’ a friend to give them a lift
Brigadier Dan Reeve, the head of the British military operation in Sudan, was quoted by the BBC as saying it would not be safe to bring people together in one location in Khartoum as there had been instances of convoys being attacked.
‘This is not a race to get it wrong,’ he said, adding that around 500 British nationals a day could be evacuated.
The government has estimated around 4,000 Britons were in Sudan.
The first Britons evacuated – many of them children – breathed a sigh of relief as they landed at London Stansted Airport in Essex this afternoon after a terrifying week of violence in Sudan.
Many told reporters of their mixed feelings to the UK government’s response – with all grateful to be safe but some expressing frustration at the lack of support and comparable slowness of British authorities compared to other countries.
Shereen Soliman got out with her two young children who had been on a three-week holiday visiting family in the country when violence erupted.
Parents held their children tightly as they made their way on to the tarmac at Stansted airport – 24 hours after they had risked their lives to reach the British troops waiting for them at the Wadi Saeedna airbase in Khartoum
British evacuees disembark from a charter flight at Stansted airport in Essex after flying from Cyprus on Wednesday
Asked by the BBC about how she felt about the British authorities’ handling of the situation compared with the French and the Germans, she said: ‘They were slower than the others, but still they saved us.
‘That’s what matters, right?’
Her children, Karim, 10, and Diyalam, 8, spoke of seeing armed men in the streets and hearing explosions and gunshots.
Shereen said: ‘I had to leave my parents, my siblings, the whole family there. So I’m very worried about them.
‘I really feel sorry for Sudan because it’s my home, my country. I wanted my kids to feel safe there.’
Relatives of those trapped have described their anguish as they wait for news that their loved ones have managed to make it across the capital and to the airfield safely during what Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said is a ‘critical’ 24 hours.
‘I feel sick to my stomach, it’s a horrible waiting game,’ Esra Osman, whose mother Hamra is travelling through Khartoum to reach the airbase told MailOnline.
‘We’ve just spoken to my mother on the phone and she’s sounding scared and stressed. There are so many checkpoints and it’s so dangerous.’
British nationals have been evacuated to Cyprus and then the UK as the Government races to evacuate thousands before the window of opportunity closes.
Relatives hugged evacuees after they disembarked from a charter flight at Stansted airport in Essex after they fled Sudan
British civilians, many of whom are children, are pictured safely onboard an RAF aircraft after being evacuated from Sudan
Children, many of whom will have heard gunfights raging on the streets outside their relatives’ homes, clung to their parents as they were helped onboard the British aircraft.
Are you a British national affected by violence in Sudan?
Please contact [email protected]
The first evacuation flight to touch down on British soil landed at Stansted airport at 2.30pm on Wednesday afternoon after departing from Larnaca airport in Cyprus in the morning.
But it’s not clear how long the evacuation flights can go on for – or whether Britons will be able to reach the airstrip – as street battles erupted between Sudan’s army and paramilitary force again today.
There are fears that many Britons will not be able to reach the airfield due to how dangerous it is to travel through the various checkpoints set up since the war began more than a week ago.
Britons have told how taxi drivers have said no amount of money would convince them to drive to the capital, while the lack of petrol is also hampering efforts to escape.
Air strikes and artillery have killed at least 459 people, wounded more than 4,000, destroyed hospitals and limited food distribution in the vast nation where a third of its 46 million people were already reliant on humanitarian aid.
Foreigners fleeing Khartoum have described bodies littering streets, buildings on fire, residential areas turned into battlefields and youths roaming with large knives.
Four-year-old Lamar (right) looks at her emotional father Mohamed Elamin and her sister Lujain, aged six, after they disembarked from a charter flight at Stansted airport in Essex after being evacuated from Sudan
Britons evacuated from Sudan arrive on a flight from Cyprus into Stansted airport in Essex
The evacuees broke down in tears when they were reunited with their loved ones who had been waiting in anguish for news of their return
British evacuees disembark from a charter flight at Stansted airport in Essex after flying from Cyprus following their evacuation from Sudan
British evacuees disembark from a charter flight at Stansted airport in Essex today
Fleeing Brits depart flight ZT4820 after it arrives at a private terminal at Stansted from Larnaca, Cyprus, today
A flight carrying Britons lands at London Stansted Airport in Essex on Wednesday
A British government official comforts a little boy as he is evacuated from Sudan
An elderly British woman is helped onboard the RAF aircraft before being evacuated from Sudan
British soldiers greet a family as they board an RAF plane before being evacuated from Sudan
British nationals get evacuated with the assistance of Britain’s Rapid Deployment Team, in Khartoum, Sudan, on Tuesday
The UK is now in temporary control over the Sudanese airstrip, having taken over from Germany after Berlin completed its own evacuation mission with 700 civilians and diplomats rescued from at least 30 countries.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said British troops are prepared to use force if needed to protect the air base in the event it comes under attack during the airlifts.
Announcing the completion of Germany’s evacuation efforts, the country’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin would not leave civilians ‘to their own devices’, in an apparent swipe at the UK’s approach which saw only diplomats being evacuated over the weekend.
She said that ‘unlike in other countries’, Germany’s evacuation had included all its nationals and not just embassy staff.
Mr Sunak defended the UK’s efforts, saying it was ‘right’ that diplomats were prioritised ‘because they were being targeted’.
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 – all without a military escort.
British families are risking their lives to reach an airbase where UK evacuation flights will take them away from the war wreaking havoc in Sudan. Pictured: RAF plane landing in Cyprus on Wednesday
A plane carrying British nationals evacuated from Sudan, arrives at the Larnaca International Airport, Cyprus, on Wednesday
British nationals depart from an RAF aircraft, after being evacuated from Sudan
Fighters ride in the back of a technical vehicle in the East Nile district of greater Khartoum on April 23
Earlier this week, Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke into five prisons and released detainees, including ousted president Omar Hassan al-Bashir and other top officials from Kober prison, Sudan’s police said.
Police said the raid on Kober led to the killing and injury of several prison officials, adding that the RSF released all who were held there.
Some Britons have said the journey to get to the Wadi Saeedna airfield outside of Khartoum – where the fighting has been fiercest – is so dangerous that they have made the difficult decision to stay in Sudan.
A British national departs from an RAF aircraft, after being evacuated from Sudan, at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, on Tuesday
British nationals wait after being evacuated from Sudan, in RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, on Tuesday
Evacuees from Sudan board a bus after disembarking from a British Royal Air Force military transport at Larnaca airport in Cyprus, on April 25
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visits the Crisis Centre in the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office to speak to staff working on the ongoing situation in Sudan on Tuesday
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
Personnel of the United Nations Mission board the French frigate Lorraine as they evacuate from Port Sudan on Wednesday
Members of the Saudi Navy Forces assist evacuees arriving at King Faisal navy base in Jeddah on Wednesday following a rescue operation from Sudan
Saudi Navy personnel assist civilians being evacuated by Saudi Arabia from Sudan, to escape the conflict, at Jeddah Sea Port in Jeddah on Wednesday
Damaged buildings are seen following clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in South Khartoum locality, Sudan, on Tuesday
Damaged buildings are seen following clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in South Khartoum locality, Sudan, on Tuesday
Mr Sunak authorised the rescue operation of British civilians on Monday night, Downing Street said, after he was accused of ‘abandoning’ them.
The Government had decided to only airlift British diplomats and their families from Sudan over the weekend.
Mr 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’.
The Government is considering other options, including a possible seaborne evacuation from Port Sudan, some 500 miles from the capital. HMS Lancaster and the RFA Cardigan Bay have been sent to the region.
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
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