Britain starts Sudan evacuation effort with Sunak's call for 'many more' flights

Britain urged all its nationals to head to the airstrip in the Sudanese capital Khartoum as the first British evacuation flight with 40 nationals landed in Cyprus earlier on April 25.

"Travel within Sudan is conducted at British nationals' own risk and plans may change depending on the security situation," Andrew Mitchell, the UK's minister for Africa said.

Britain, which has estimated that about 4,000 of its nationals are in Sudan, said military flights would depart from an airfield outside Khartoum, and would be open to those with British passports.

Meanwhile the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that more than 1,000 people in Sudan have contacted British overseas officials in the country. Sunak added that there would be "many more" evacuation flights that will rescue British nationals from the conflict-ridden nation.

"We will have more flights this evening and we will have many more into tomorrow,” Sunak said.

A 72-hour truce brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia is set to be in place starting Tuesday, 10:00 PM GMT (Wednesday, 3:30 AM, IST).

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Cyprus's foreign ministry said the first British civilians evacuated from Sudan had arrived on the island on Tuesday, with about 40 civilians on board a plane belonging to Britain's Royal Air Force.

Sunak's spokesman earlier said flights would continue for as long as possible and British nationals would be taken to Cyprus, with the government facilitating their travel on to Britain.

Cyprus, a former colony and home to two sprawling British military bases, said it had activated a humanitarian rescue mechanism following a British request and would offer reception facilities for the evacuation of third-country civilians.

Sunak said that Britain was exploring other options for evacuations, including Port Sudan.

"We can't guarantee the long term sustainability of the airfield that we're currently using. So we're also exploring and standing up other alternative routes for safe exit from Sudan," Sunak said.

Sudanese and foreign nationals are streaming out of the capital of Khartoum and surrounding battle zones.

The impending ceasefire will be thethird of its kind announced in recent days by Sudan's warring sides. The two previous ones either failed outright or led to a brief halt in fighting during which foreign missions managed to find a window to evacuate their citizens via air and sea routes.

(With inputs from agencies)

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