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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Tobi Thomas

Last UK rescue flight from Sudan to take off on Wednesday

British nationals outside a hotel in Port Sudan
British nationals outside a hotel in Port Sudan. Photograph: Reuters

The final UK rescue flight from Sudan is expected to take off on Wednesday, the government has said.

The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said British nationals who wanted to leave the country need to make their way to the Coral hotel in Port Sudan by 10am local time (9am BST), adding that there would be no further British evacuation flights from the city.

It was previously thought the evacuation airlift had ended on Monday when planes left Sudan for Cyprus.

So far, 2,341 people have been evacuated on 28 flights, according to the government, which described its evacuations as “the longest and largest operation of any western nation”.

Downing Street said 1,195 were British nationals, with other nationalities, including Sudanese dependants of British nationals, also helped to leave. The government also confirmed that, as of Monday, 18 Sudanese clinicians had left the country as part of the UK evacuation.

In updated guidance on its website on Tuesday, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “The UK government will run final evacuation flights from Port Sudan on 3 May. If you plan to leave Sudan, you should arrive at the Coral hotel in Port Sudan by 10am on 3 May to be processed to travel.

“After that, no further British evacuation flights will operate from Port Sudan.”

Callout

Cleverly tweeted: “After the successful evacuation of 2341 people on 28 flights, the last UK flight is expected to leave Port Sudan tomorrow. I urge British Nationals still wishing to leave the country to go to the Coral Hotel in Port Sudan and continue to follow our Travel Advice.”

Earlier, the foreign secretary said a British military presence remained at the country’s main seaport on the Red Sea coast as the situation remained dangerous.

As well as officials and military personnel in Port Sudan, the warship HMS Lancaster is off the coast to support Britons.

The international focus is shifting to preventing a wider humanitarian catastrophe in the region and Cleverly warned that any further fighting would hamper relief efforts.

The UN said the Sudanese army chief, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his rival, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, had agreed to send representatives to the negotiation table in an attempt to establish a more stable truce.

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