Rishi Sunak is chairing an emergency Cobra meeting on rescuing British nationals from fierce fighting in Sudan as two warships were preparing to assist a possible evacuation.
RFA Cardigan Bay and HMS Lancaster were being lined up as options to help people out of the war-torn country, where at least 2,000 UK citizens remain after British diplomats were rescued.
Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell told British nationals to “exercise their own judgment” when deciding whether to flee, but warned “they do so at their own risk”.
As the UK pins hopes on getting a ceasefire, he continued to tell Britons in Sudan to shelter indoors, while citizens of other European nations were flown to safety.
Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chair Alicia Keans warned “time is running out” as she urged ministers to get on with evacuations “now”.
Meanwhile, Downing Street confirmed British ambassador to Sudan Giles Lever and his deputy were out of the country when violence broke out in Khartoum.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I think it was around the time of Ramadan, that they were out of the country at that point.
“There were very senior staff still in the country and both those who were in country and the ambassador have been working around the clock to aid efforts.”
Any mission would be highly complicated, however, with Port Sudan more than 500 miles from Khartoum.
Mr Mitchell told the Commons 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,” he said in an urgent statement.
“We continue to advise all British nationals in Sudan to stay indoors wherever possible.
“We recognise circumstances will vary in different locations across Sudan, so we are now asking British nationals to exercise their own judgment about their circumstances, including whether to relocate, but they do so at their own risk.”
Ms Kearns, a Tory MP, called for swifter action.
“Time is running out. We need to do the evacuation now,” she said.
“Trust at this point is being stretched, trust that we will evacuate them and get them to a place of safety when they are in need.”
Downing Street said the UK will “pull every lever possible to help bring about a ceasefire and equally to support British nationals trapped by fighting”.
Some British nationals have said they felt “abandoned” after diplomats were rescued in a night-time evacuation mission, and were organising dangerous private evacuations.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the Government to move quickly to help British nationals, telling journalists in south London: “There’s deep concern about those that are still there and in fear and real concern about what’s going to happen to them.
“I do want the Government to do everything it can at pace to help them get out of that difficult situation.”
There’s no doubt this was a highly complex and dangerous mission – well done to all involved.
Attention must now turn to establishing safe exit routes for the few thousand UK passport holders still in Sudan. https://t.co/xSJl7RodG7
— Tobias Ellwood MP (@Tobias_Ellwood) April 23, 2023
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said more than a thousand people have been extracted through the combined efforts of member states.
About 50 Irish citizens have been evacuated from Khartoum to Djibouti with the support of France and Spain, with more evacuations planned, deputy premier Micheal Martin said.
William, a UK citizen in Sudan, told the BBC he was forced to “go private” and leave Khartoum on a bus arranged by his Sudanese employer because “we’ve had absolutely nothing but nonsense from the Government”.
Iman Abugarga, a British woman who has been sheltering in Khartoum, said she feels “absolutely” abandoned by the British Government.
“It is shameful how they have mismanaged this situation,” she told the Telegraph.
The escalating violence in Sudan is horrifying.
I pay tribute to the bravery of the UK armed forces helping to evacuate British nationals and diplomats from Sudan, and I desperately hope that those still stuck in the conflict are brought to safety as soon as possible.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) April 24, 2023
Mr Sunak said on Sunday there had been a “complex and rapid” evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Khartoum, a city gripped by an internal battle for control between rival generals.
Hundreds of people have died and thousands hurt in a bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.
The prospect of airlifting large numbers of people out of Sudan has been complicated by the fact that most major airports have become battlegrounds, while movement out of the capital has proved perilous.
The current explosion of violence comes after two generals fell out over a recent internationally brokered deal with democracy activists, which was meant to incorporate the RSF into the military and eventually lead to civilian rule.
