UK to halt evacuation flights from Sudan

Workers inspect a plane after landing at Wadi Seidna airfield near Khartoum. Credit: AFP

UK to halt evacuation flights from Sudan The government said Saturday at 18:00.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said operations would end after a «significant downturn». among British citizens seeking to flee the war-torn country.

So far, Downing Street has rejected calls to expand evacuation rights beyond British passport holders and their immediate families.

It's happening against the backdrop of criticism of the pace of the evacuation from the UK, which bought more time after three, an extension of the ceasefire by a day was agreed.

Concerns have been raised that the current approach could lead to families being separated or leaving some members behind, with Labor urging ministers to use a longer window to extend evacuation rights until it's already "too late".

Updated guidance on the website of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) urges those wishing to leave Sudan to arrive at Wadi Saidna airfield before 12:00 local time on Saturday to prepare for the last flight.

The UK launched a large-scale airfield evacuation operation on Tuesday, with British troops taking control of the facility from Germany after Berlin completed its own evacuation.

The Royal Air Force said it had evacuated 1,573 people since Tuesday .

The government said: «The government has decided to stop flights tomorrow due to reduced demand, as well as the risk of renewed conflict in Sudan.»

Foreign Secretary James Cleverley called on the stranded British on Thursday. go to the airfield immediately, as the evacuation could be halted by combat. “Now is the time to act, because when the truce ends, my ability to give the limited guarantees that I can give now may disappear and we will not be able to evacuate,” he said. he said.

Passports remained

As the embassy in Khartoum was closed and British diplomats evacuated, the government acknowledged that the visa applicants' passports were left behind when diplomats evacuated the British embassy in Khartoum during heavy fighting over the weekend, but declined to say how many people were injured.

A UK Government spokesman said: “Any documents in the possession of the UK Government are kept in a secure location. Access to the British Visa Application Center in Khartoum, which is at the center of the fighting, is not secure and therefore we cannot obtain any of the passports currently held there.

“We acknowledge that this is an extremely difficult situation . We will continue to monitor the situation closely and the UK Government is working to find solutions for those affected.”

The governments of the Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland have also acknowledged that passports were left at their embassies when staff were evacuated.

>The plane was hit by gunfire

A plane landing at a Sudanese airfield where British troops were leading the evacuation was fired on Friday, injuring a crew member, the Sudanese army said.

A Turkish evacuation plane landed safely at the Wadi Seidna airbase, north of the capital Khartoum. The Sudanese army damaged fuel supplies, the Sudanese army said in a statement, blaming paramilitary operational support forces for the incident.

RSF denied responsibility for the incident, saying the charge was an attempt to cover up the Sudanese military's own actions .

«It is not true that we have targeted any aircraft in the skies over Wadi Seidna in Omdurman, which is an area not under the control of our forces and we have no forces in the vicinity of it,» the statement said. . » />

Additional information about the injured crew member is not provided in the statement, which states that the damaged aircraft is under repair.

The incident threatened to halt British airfield rescue efforts after officials had previously warned that evacuation could be «potentially impossible» if fighting continued nearby.

Rival generals army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Powerful paramilitary leader Mohammed Hamdan Daghlo, known as Hemedti, has been fighting for control of Sudan since April 15.

The 72-hour truce reached on Tuesday allowed evacuation flights from Wadi Seidna to continue despite continued clashes in some areas.

Both sides agreed another three-day truce from Friday amid reports of ongoing fighting.

The government plans to continue evacuating the Red Sea city of Port Sudan if flying to Khartoum, becomes too dangerous, although it requires a long journey across the desert from the capital.

The Royal Navy frigate HMS Lancaster is sailing for Port Sudan, where France and Saudi Arabia have already delivered evacuations by sea, whose passengers included the British.< /p>