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LONDON – The United Kingdom said yesterday it will end evacuation flights from Sudan for its citizens and their relatives today, after airlifting over 1,500 people out of the conflict-hit country so far this week.
The flights from the Wadi Saeedna airfield near the Sudanese capital Khartoum, which Britain began on Tuesday, will cease at 1700 GMT today, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told UK media.
In a separate statement, the Foreign Office said British nationals and their eligible immediate family wanting to leave should arrive at the airfield by 1000 GMT today for processing.
Dowden said officials had seen “a significant decline” in the number of British nationals coming forward for evacuation over the last 24 hours.
“People should expect within the next 24 hours, so by six o’clock UK time tomorrow, for us to cease those flights,” he added.
Dowden denied London was abandoning any Britons or their dependents in Sudan, insisting “every single British national that has come forward and their eligible dependents have been put safely onto a plane”.
He noted that the UK will maintain consular support in the East African country at exit routes to the north to south as well as at the eastern city of Port Sudan.
The Foreign Office said 1,573 people – the vast majority British nationals and their eligible dependents – had been evacuated so far since evacuation flights started late Tuesday.
The airlifts began after Sudan’s warring parties agreed to an initial three-day US-brokered ceasefire, which has since been formally extended, though fierce fighting has resumed.
The Foreign Office vowed to “continue to press all diplomatic levers to secure a long-term ceasefire and end to the bloodshed in Sudan”.
“Ultimately a stable transition to civilian rule is the best way to protect the security and prosperity of the Sudanese people,” it added. – AFP, April 29, 2023