British Secretary of State James Cleverly said on Tuesday that the government was “coordinating the evacuation of British nationals from Sudan”. File photo by Peter Foley/UPI | License photo
April 25 (UPI) — Britain began evacuating about 4,000 of its citizens from Sudan on Tuesday, taking advantage of a lull in fighting following a three-day U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
“The UK Government is coordinating the evacuation of British nationals from Sudan. We have started to contact citizens directly and plan exit routes,” said Foreign Secretary James Cleverly. In a post on Twitter.
Priority will be given to family groups with children, the elderly and the sick during the operation from the airfield north of the capital Khartoum, and people will be told not to go to the airport until contacted, and when they do so at their own risk, according to the Foreign Office. travel bulletin.
“We are continuing to consider other options to assist British nationals wishing to leave Sudan, including at other points of departure,” the bulletin said.
Flight tracking services showed the first aircraft, a Royal Air Force Lockheed C-130J Hercules transport, departing the airfield just after 5:00 a.m. EDT for a three-hour flight to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. The plane stayed on the ground for about an hour.
Britons have been told to be wary of independent convoys planning to leave Khartoum for Port Sudan, where a Royal Navy frigate is based off the Red Sea coast, and the Foreign Office says the British embassy is not involved with the convoys or any British nationals. who join one of the convoys do so at their own risk.
All British diplomatic staff were evacuated from the country on Monday in a military operation that increased pressure on the government to free thousands of people stranded in the former British colony.
Rescue missions by German and French military forces have allowed more than 1,000 European Union citizens to escape 10 days of fighting between warring factions of Sudan’s military government in the past two days, in which at least 420 people have been killed.
A three-day ceasefire between the rival Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Force came into effect at midnight Sudanese time after intense negotiations mediated by the US secretary of state. Antonius Blink.
The United States, home to about 16,000 citizens, evacuated its diplomatic staff on Sunday and deployed navy ships off the coast of Port Sudan to assist Americans arriving there, according to the Defense Department.
According to the US State Department’s latest security alert issued on Tuesday, the US government and international partners are assisting US citizens in Port Sudan.
“There are opportunities to leave Sudan in Port Sudan. For those able to depart Port Sudan by ferry, US government officials are also hosting citizens in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,” the alert said.
But U.S. officials stressed Monday that it was not standard practice to send U.S. troops to remove U.S. citizens from trouble spots, and the U.S. had no immediate plans to evacuate Americans.
“Due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and the closure of the airport, it is not currently safe to conduct a US government-coordinated evacuation of private US citizens,” the alert said.
“However, we remain committed to assisting U.S. citizens remaining in Sudan,” it said, advising Americans in the country to submit information using an online form so authorities can inform them of options to leave Sudan if security conditions allow.
