British diplomats and their families have been evacuated from Sudan, the Prime Minister confirmed on Sunday.
Threats had been made against embassy staff and their families, prompting a ‘rapid and complex’ extraction.
The military airlift of a dozen British diplomats as well as their families from the embassy in the capital, Khartoum, had been in the works since Saturday night and involved more than 1,200 military personnel.
The evacuation comes after Brits trapped in Sudan accused the government of ‘abandoning’ them during a bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.
Oliver Dowden said on Sunday morning that the situation was ‘complex’ and rapidly moving but Labour’s Jon Ashworth questioned ‘why our Government is not acting in the same way that other governments are acting’.
There are still several hundred other Britons living in the country, however, and ministers and Whitehall officials have stated that a wider evacuation has not been possible at this stage.
The Prime Minister confirmed the evacuation of British diplomat staff in a statement on Sunday
A building damaged during fights between rival factions in Sudan. British diplomats have been extracted from the country
The Prime Minister paid tribute to the bravery of those behind the ‘difficult’ military operation to get British diplomats out of Sudan, where internal fighting is going on.
Rishi Sunak tweeted: ‘UK armed forces have completed a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan, amid a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff.
‘I pay tribute to the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who carried out this difficult operation.
‘We are continuing to pursue every avenue to end the bloodshed in Sudan and ensure the safety of British nationals remaining in the country.
‘I urge the parties to lay down their arms and implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ensure civilians can leave conflict zones.’
British diplomats have been evacuated by military personnel from the capital of Sudan following violence
A drone view shows smoke rising over buildings a week after fighting began in North Khartoum, as seen from Omdurman, Sudan, April 22, 2023
Smoke is seen rise from buildings yesterday during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan
The US military evacuated American diplomats and their families from Sudan, the country’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said early Sunday as fighting between rival commanders that has killed hundreds of civilians continued
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a tweet: ‘Due to escalating threats against foreign diplomats, the UK has evacuated embassy staff from Sudan.
‘Our top priority remains the safety of British nationals.
‘We are working around the clock to broker international support to end the bloodshed in Sudan.’
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said the operation to remove British Embassy staff from Sudan involved more than 1,200 personnel from the British Army, Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (RAF).
‘This morning, UK Armed Forces undertook a military operation alongside the United States; France and other allies,’ Mr Wallace said in a written statement.
‘They have evacuated British Embassy staff and their dependents from Khartoum due to the escalating threats against diplomats.
‘The operation involved more than 1,200 personnel from 16 Air Assault Brigade; the Royal Marines and the RAF. I am grateful to all our partners.’
Trapped civilians from the UK said it had taken five days for the embassy to contact them with a telephone number they could use to register with the foreign office.
A teacher told the Times that several people had been unable to dial through and were forced to ask family in the UK to call the number on their behalf.
‘The first five days were ridiculous, and farcical actually. I couldn’t believe they would continue to not do anything,’ William said.
People carry water during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden leaves BBC Broadcasting House on Sunday morning. He said the situation was ‘rapidly moving’
British ambassador to Sudan, Giles Lever and his deputy were abroad when the violence began and have not been able to return.
Irritated senior figures in Whitehall have likened the situation to the chaos of the Afghanistan evacuation in August 2021. A source said: ‘It’s Kabul all over again.’
William said the capacity of the embassy to help was ‘tiny’.
‘There is someone who we have direct contact with, but there is scarcity of anybody above her in the embassy,’ he added.
A source inside the foreign office retaliated to the criticism, arguing that Lever’s presence in London had been essential.
Fighting broke out last weekend, with army units loyal to Sudan’s military ruler, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, pitted against Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is deputy head of the ruling council.
More than 400 people have been killed, including a United Nations worker and an American citizen. A number of westerners have also had their homes and compounds ransacked.
The Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said the situation was ‘rapidly moving’ as he highlighted the differences between the likely British response in the African nation compared to the Afghanistan evacuation in 2021.
Asked on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme whether the UK was preparing to evacuate Sudan of British nationals, Oliver Dowden said: ‘The situation in respect of Sudan is clearly a rapidly moving and complex situation.
‘Our priority is to support British nationals. Now, the Ministry of Defence is acting in support of the Foreign Office but clearly you wouldn’t expect me to comment for security reasons on the current situation in terms of movement on the ground.’
Pressed on whether there are plans to evacuate Sudan of UK citizens, Mr Dowden added: ‘This is a very different situation, for example, to the situation that you saw in Afghanistan for a number of reasons.
‘First of all, this situation has arisen very rapidly and, secondly, we just don’t have the kind of scale of resources on the ground that were there in Afghanistan.
Smoke billows over residential buildings in eastern Khartoum on April 22, 2023, during ongoing battles between the forces of two rival generals
An aerial view shows a mosque, as conflict between the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army continues, in Omdurman, Sudan April 21, 2023
‘Clearly, we need to make sure that we support our British nationals. At the moment, the advice to British nationals is to make sure they stay indoors, that they stay safe and get in contact with the Foreign Office.’
Shadow work and pensions secretary Jon Ashworth said people are ‘deeply, deeply troubled and alarmed’ about what is happening in Sudan.
He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: ‘As to the question around evacuations and so on, it does seem a legitimate question as to why our Government is not acting in the same way that other governments are acting.
‘I hope we can have a clarification from the Foreign Office, perhaps in Parliament in the coming days, on that front.’
Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, acknowledged it would be ‘probably the most complex evacuation’ she could think of in her lifetime given there was no UK military on the ground.
Ms Kearns noted the United States had used a helicopter base on their embassy to start their evacuation and highlighted some of the difficulties.
She also told Times Radio: ‘We do need to be getting British nationals out. There is looting, there is sexual assault going on, there is violence on a daily basis. This is not a safe situation.
‘I have a constituent whose loved ones are living in Sudan who want to get out, who have a UK visa. This is very complex, but we do need to evacuate British nationals.’
Across the Atlantic, US troops swooped in on helicopters to evacuate embassy staff from Sudan’s battle-torn capital, President Joe Biden said Sunday, as other nations sought to help their citizens flee deadly fighting between rival generals.
France on Sunday also launched evacuation operations from the northeast African nation, where ongoing fighting has entered its second week.
Ferocious battles between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group – which has seen fighting with tanks in densely populated Khartoum and air strikes launched by fighter jets – have killed more than 400 people and left thousands wounded.
Biden, who said the US military ‘conducted an operation’ to extract US government personnel, condemned the violence, saying ‘it’s unconscionable and it must stop’.
Just over 100 US special operations troops took part in the rescue to extract fewer than 100 people, which saw three Chinook helicopters fly from Djibouti, staying on the ground in Khartoum for less than an hour.
France’s foreign ministry said Sunday a ‘rapid evacuation operation’ had begun, and that European citizens and those from ‘allied partner countries’ would also be assisted, without giving further details.
Fighting continued Sunday with the crackle of automatic gunfire echoing across Khartoum and Sudanese military aircraft roaring overhead, witnesses said.
Frightened residents, many low on water, food and other essentials, have huddled inside their homes in the chaos-torn city where buildings have been gutted, lampposts are lying on the ground, and smoke has been rising from shops set on fire.
Beyond Khartoum, reports of the worst violence have come from Darfur, a western region that suffered a conflict which escalated from 2003 leaving 300,000 people dead and 2.7 million displaced.
A U.N. update on Saturday said looters had taken at least 10 World Food Programme vehicles and six other food trucks after overrunning the agency’s offices and warehouses in Nyala, south Darfur.
Sudan’s sudden collapse into warfare dashed plans to restore civilian rule, brought an already impoverished country to the brink of humanitarian disaster and threatened a wider conflict that could draw in outside powers, four years after the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising.
There has been no sign yet that either side can secure a quick victory or is ready to talk. The army has air power but the RSF is widely embedded in urban areas.
Burhan said on Saturday that ‘we all need to sit as Sudanese and find the right way out to return hope and life,’ his most conciliatory comments since fighting began.
Earlier in the clashes, he declared the RSF a rebel force, ordered it to be disbanded, and said a military solution was the only option. Hemedti said on Saturday he could not negotiate with Burhan.
Since Bashir’s overthrow and after a 2021 coup, Burhan and Hemedti held the top positions on a ruling council that was meant to hand over to civilian rule and merge the RSF into the army.
The World Health Organization reported on Friday that 413 people had been killed and 3,551 injured since fighting broke out. The death toll includes at least five aid workers in a country reliant on food aid.