Thousands of British citizens trapped in Sudan should stay indoors and wait for further information as fighting rages around them, Development Minister Andrew Mitchell warned today.
About 2,000 UK nationals are stuck in the African nation amid growing anger at the Government.
British diplomats were hauled out of the country early on Sunday and flown to an RAF base in Cyprus.
Mr Mitchell said today: “The diplomats were in the most terrible position.
“They were in extreme jeopardy, there was fighting all around them.
“We made the decision that we had to get our diplomats out.”
Mr Mitchell confirmed about 2,000 British nationals were thought to be in Sudan, adding: “The advice essentially is to stay indoors and await further information.
“The situation is absolutely desperate and a ceasefire is what’s required.”
He insisted: "We will do everything we can, and I mean everything, to get our British citizens out.
"Our intention always has been to facilitate the exit of our own citizens as soon as it is safe to do so."
Mr Mitchell was unable to say when that might happen, but said "every single option is being explored in detail".
Asked why diplomats, but not citizens, were evacuated, he said that "we have a specific duty of care, a legal duty of care, to our own staff and our diplomats" and that there had been "a very specific threat to the diplomatic community" in Khartoum.
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