Sudan war: government says evacuation effort from warzone 'extremely successful', but UK mission not over yet

My colleague Alex Nelson has just written a piece on the airfield, which British forces are using to evacuate UK citizens from Sudan. Alex writes:

"Wadi Saeedna is on the northern outskirts of Omdurman, a city located on the western bank of the River Nile and linked to Khartoum by several bridges to its south-east. 

"Though the distance between central Khartoum and Omdurman is only a few kilometres, one Twitter user has said the airfield is “almost impossible to reach” from central Khartoum, given that street fighting and clash points in the conflict are rampant.

"They added that they had heard other countries from the same airstrip, like Germany, France and Ireland, are sending authorities to escort citizens from their homes.

"But British nationals have been told to make their own way to the site, with some fearing they will not make it due to a petrol shortage. Nationals have been warned that all travel within Sudan is 'conducted at your own risk'.

"A UK-born student attempting to flee Sudan said she does not have enough petrol to make the dangerous one-hour drive from the outskirts of Khartoum to the airstrip.

"'I’m trying to get there. But the problem is the vehicles that we have have no gas, and the petrol stations are empty,' Samar Eltayeb, 20, from Birmingham, told the PA news agency. 'There’ll be constant flights within the next few days, but if I can’t find gas to get there, then I’m stuck.'

Read Alex's full piece here.

A woman whose grandparents are stuck in Khartoum, has described the Sudanese capital as a "bloodbath". Speaking to NationalWorld's sister site LondonWorld, Azhar Sholgami said a nurse who had gone to look after them told her that she "could smell and see dead bodies that had been on the road for days".

Abdalla Sholgami, 85, a retired businessman from north London, and his wife Alaweya Rishwan, 75, are trapped in their home opposite the British embassy in central Khartoum.

Azhar, a research student at Cornell University, says the couple have run out of water and food and her family is worried sick.

“We’re just contemplating are they okay, are they alive, do they need any health support,” she told LondonWorld over a video call from New York.

“We had a nurse with them who escaped in the first day or two and the moment she got back home she called us, she said they don’t even have a drop of water for medication.

“We don’t know if an air strike has hit their house, there’s snipers all over their area. It’s been an awful experience.”

Azhar’s parents, who are also in Khartoum tried to reach their house but gave up on Monday as their car was shot by several snipers.

Read LondonWorld's full story here.

Four flights have now left the Wadi Saeedna airstrip, airlifting 301 people in total.

Downing Street said the flights have been “full or close to full”, with no “significant issues” being faced by the evacuees who have been told to make their own way to the airfield. However people with relatives in Sudan have spoken of the danger and difficulty of trying to get from Khartoum to the airfield.

More than 2,000 British nationals have registered in Sudan under evacuation plans, but thousands more could be in the country.

Another RAF flight was preparing to depart on Wednesday afternoon, with a further three flights expected later in the day.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the operation in Khartoum is “running smoothly”, while there is currently “no issue with capacity”.

The official said the “majority” of the people on the planes were British nationals but that some will be citizens of allied countries.

The first flight carrying British nationals evacuated from Sudan has landed at Stansted Airport.

The Ministry of Defence has released images of armed forces personnel helping Britons evacuate.

Speaking to National World, one family has opened up about their harrowing experience of having difficulty reaching British assistance in Sudan.

Sami Atabani, who lives in Cambridge, has been going backwards and forwards with the UK Foreign Office for days now - despite being on a trip to Toronto this week -  trying to work out how best to help seven family members from Khartoum get to safety.

"The Foreign Office told me the only evacuation route is the airfield north of Khartoum, despite me telling them that it was impossible for the family to make there without risking their lives," he said. "I requested that they are met by consular officials at the border with Egypt but was told the government is only providing assistance from the airfield in Khartoum."

You can read the full story from my colleague Amber Allott here.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has confirmed that 536 people have been rescued from Sudan, in what it describes as a "fast-moving situation”.

Six flights have so far left the war-torn country as of 9pm on Wednesday (26 April) evening.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said that the UK "cannot guarantee" how many more flights carrying nationals will leave Sudan at the end of the 72-hour ceasefire.

More than 530 people have been lifted to safety so far by UK officials. The ceasefire is set to come to an end on Thursday (27 April) evening.

Good morning, and welcome to NationalWorld’s live blog on the evacuation of Sudan. These are the main news updates from overnight:

Britons still trapped in Sudan have been told to “move now” amid continued warnings that evacuation flights may not continue when the ceasefire ends this evening.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, James Cleverly said the UK has been saying through “all its communication channels” that “now is the time to move”. He continued: “We have the aircraft, we have the capacity and we have a ceasefire that comes to an end tonight, so we are saying to people if you want to have our support to fly out of Sudan, do so now.”

He later repeated this message on Sky News, explaining: “The ceasefire that we had called for in conjunction with our international allies has made [evacuated] considerably easier. We cannot predict exactly what will happen when that ceasefire ends, but what we do know is it will be much, much harder, potentially impossible.

“So, what we’re saying to British nationals is if you’re hesitant, if you’re weighing up your options, our strong, strong advice is to go whilst the ceasefire is up and running. There are planes, there is capacity, we will lift you out. I’m not able to make those same assurances once a ceasefire has ended.”