The ministers warned that British evacuation flights from Sudan would stop on Saturday as demand from British citizens declined, but they would not be open to British citizens who do not have a passport.
Oliver Dowden, Deputy Prime Minister, said the British military and British officials carried out “the longest and largest evacuation of any Western country”.
So far, some 1,573 British citizens have been deported on 13 flights.
All remaining passport holders who wish to be evacuated must go to the Wadi Saidna airstrip near Khartoum by 6 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday, Dowden said.
He told broadcasters on Friday night: “What we’re saying now is that it’s within the next 24 hours, so tomorrow at 6am UK time people should expect us to stop these flights… That’s 24 hours away.” to the airport to make sure they can take advantage of it.”
He said there had been “a significant reduction in the number of enrolled British subjects”, adding: “Every enrolled British subject and their dependents have been put on the plane.”
The ceasefire, extended Thursday night, is due to expire at the end of the weekend, which could make it impossible for evacuation flights to continue in the event of an outbreak of violence.
Ministers have so far decided not to allow people who live in the UK but do not hold British passports to fly with the British Army, leaving people, including NHS doctors, stranded in war-torn Sudan.
David Lammy, the Labor Party’s shadow foreign secretary, was furious at the decision and called for an expansion of the eligibility criteria. He said: “It cannot be right that NHS doctors and other British residents who have kept us safe during the pandemic are being denied the opportunity to evacuate the conflict in Sudan.
“At the same time, British citizens remain in detention because the government refuses to evacuate their dependent immediate family members. We do not underestimate the magnitude of the challenge facing the brave officers of the British Armed Forces and the FCDO working around the clock, but the three-day extension of the ceasefire provides an opportunity to get more people to safety while air travel is operating at full capacity. .
“All British citizens, close relatives of detained British citizens and British residents trying to escape Sudan should be eligible for evacuation flights. The government must act before the end of the ceasefire, otherwise it will be too late.”
When asked about the statement in court, Mr Dowden suggested that an exception could be made specifically for NHS doctors. He said: “We will contact the Sudan Medical Association shortly to see what support we can offer them.”
State Department teams are confident they have been able to contact everyone who expressed interest in the evacuation flight, but they don’t know how many have already left the country by other routes, such as overland to Egypt or Ethiopia.
Government insiders also believe that some Sudanese-British dual citizens will choose to remain in Sudan in the hope of a peaceful resolution to the current conflict, which began as a result of bitter disagreements over a protracted transition from military rule.
Western allies and multinational organizations are pressuring the two generals who started the war to extend the truce and make it permanent, and to hold political talks on how to share power.
Source: I News
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