Evacuation flights from Sudan are set to end tomorrow – James Cleverly has announced.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is urging those left in Sudan to travel to Wadi Saeedna airfield before 12pm local time on Saturday in order to be processed for the last flight.
UK evacuation flights from Sudan will end tomorrow due to reduced demand. British nationals still wishing to leave must get to Wadi Saeedna airfield by 12pm Sudan time tomorrow. The UK has successfully evacuated more than 1500 people.
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) April 28, 2023
Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, said rescue operations would cease following a “significant decline” in the number of British nationals coming forward to flee the war-torn country.
It comes after criticism of the pace of the British evacuation – While at first there was also concern that UK diplomats were being evacuated while British nationals were left stranded.
Some 1,573 people on 13 flights have been evacuated – however, thousands of Brits still remain trapped.
Dowden denied the Government would effectively “abandon” those who have been unable to make the potentially dangerous journey to the airfield with its decision to cease flights.
He said: “I wouldn’t accept that characterisation. The first thing I would say is that every single British national that has come forward and their eligible dependants have been put safely on to a plane.
“We are seeing those numbers declining significantly and, just like other countries, as those numbers decline we have put an end date on this.”
He said “consular assistance” will remain available at exit routes from the country after the end of evacuation flights.
Downing Street has so far rejected calls to widen the eligibility for evacuation beyond British passport holders and their immediate family.
Concerns have been raised that the current approach could see families split up or some members left behind, with Labour calling on ministers to use the longer window to extend eligibility for evacuation before it is “too late”.
