'The Endgame Is Here Now. We Feel We Need To Get Out'

Britons trapped in war-torn Sudan accuse government of abandoning them after UK armed forces rescue diplomats

- ANDY GREGORY

British citizens trapped in Sudan have accused the government of abandoning them in a country feared to be on the brink of a prolonged civil war, as diplomats were evacuated by the British military.

Rishi Sunak announced yesterday that UK armed forces had “completed a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families”, following “a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff”.

“We are continuing to pursue every avenue to end the bloodshed in Sudan and ensure the safety of British nationals remaining in the country,” the prime minister said.

All diplomatic staff and their families were evacuated, The Independent understands, in an operation involving more than 1,200 personnel from the Royal Marines, Royal Air Force and the 16 Air Assault Brigade, the army’s rapid-response paratrooper unit.

But there are believed to be hundreds of Britons still stuck in the northeast African nation, where at least 400 people have been killed since violence erupted eight days ago between forces loyal to the two rival generals of Sudan’s army and the RSF paramilitary force.

“The endgame is here now. We feel we need to get out,” a teacher named William told Sky News yesterday, as British diplomats followed the lead of those who have already been evacuated to the US and Sudan’s close ally Saudi Arabia – a move that has intensified fears of a drawn-out conflict to come.

Multiple British citizens have complained of an absence of contact from the embassy, alleging that it had taken five days for the embassy to contact them with a telephone number they could use to register with the Foreign Office.