Brits could be left behind in war torn Sudan after deadline for last flight

29 April 2023 , 14:00

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Brits aboard an RAF aircraft in Sudan as they're evacuated from the active warzone (Image: MOD/AFP via Getty Images)

British nationals could be left behind in a country gripped in the chaos of war after the deadline passed for the UK Government's last flight out of the country.

The UK Government is preparing to halt all flights out of war-torn Sudan within hours, but it's believed that a number of Brits are still trapped after refusing to undergo the perilous journey through an active warzone.

They were given a deadline of 12pm local time today, which was around 11am GMT, to be at the airstrip.

"You have another 24 hours if you are eligible to make your way to the airport and we will get you on a plane," Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said yesterday.

Up until now, 1,573 people have been evacuated on 13 flights from the Wadi Saeedna site near the capital.

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A Brit Royal Marine tends to an evacuee at the Wadi Seidna airport (MOD/AFP via Getty Images)

Current estimates say the number of Brits left behind could be in the thousands.

While the Government has denied it will be "abandoning" them with its decision to cease flights, it's unknown how else they will manage to escape.

For those who remain, they will face scenes like those seen yesterday as heavy explosions and gunfire rocked the capital and its twin city of Omdurman.

Khartoum is burning amid a ceasefire for humanitarian reasons (AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite the extension of a fragile truce between the country's two top generals, isolated battles broke out.

After two weeks of fighting that has turned Khartoum into a war zone and thrown Sudan into turmoil, a wide-ranging group of international mediators - including African and Arab nations, the United Nations and the United States - were intensifying their pressure on the rival generals to enter talks on resolving the crisis.

So far, however, they have managed to achieve only a series of fragile temporary cease-fires that failed to stop clashes but created enough of a lull for tens of thousands of Sudanese to flee to safer areas and for foreign nations to evacuate thousands of their citizens by land, air and sea.

The Sudanese Armed Forces are fighting with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In a sign of the persistent chaos, Turkey said one of its evacuation planes was hit by gunfire outside Khartoum with no casualties on Friday, hours after both sides accepted a 72-hour truce extension.

Fierce clashes with frequent explosions and gunfire continued Friday in Khartoum's upscale neighborhood of Kafouri, where the military's warplanes bombed its rivals, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, residents said. Clashes were also reported around the military's headquarters, the Republican Palace and the area close to the Khartoum international airport.

All these areas have been flashpoints since the war erupted on April 15. Explosions also rang out across the river in Omdurman.

Civilians run from armoured personnel carriers in Khartoum (AFP via Getty Images)

Doctors in the Sudanese capital said the RSF has been abducting medical personnel to treat its wounded fighters - a sign the paramilitary was struggling to get medical support.

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One doctor forwarded to The Associated Press a voice note shared on a chat group for Sudanese healthcare workers, warning them not to wear medical uniforms or hand over identification listing a profession if fighters stop them on the street.

Nada Fadul, a Sudanese-American infectious disease physician at the University of Nebraska who is working with community health leaders in Sudan, said she knows of five doctors taken by the RSF from Khartoum streets since the start of the fighting.

One abducted doctor said he was forcibly taken to an unknown location in Khartoum earlier this week. There, he saw dozens of wounded fighters, a stockpile of medical supplies and two other kidnapped doctors working. He spent three days treating fighters with gunshot wounds, burns and other injuries before he and the others were released on Wednesday night, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for his safety.

Ryan Fahey