Sudan – live: Final evacuation flight for fleeing Britons leaves as violence resumes

The deadline for British nationals to reach the evacuation airfield in Sudan has passed as the Government prepares to cease flights out of the war-torn region within hours.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden will chair a Cobra meeting on Saturday afternoon to discuss the security situation in Khartoum in advance of the final flight taking off at 6pm UK time.

Some 1,573 people on 13 flights have been evacuated from the Wadi Saeedna site near the capital but thousands more British citizens may remain.

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Hundreds of Americans fleeing Sudan have reached the east African nation’s port Saturday in the first US-run evacuation, completing a dangerous land journey under the escort of armed drones. American unmanned aircraft, which have been keeping an eye on overland evacuation routes for days, provided armed overwatch for a bus convoy carrying 200 to 300 Americans over 500 miles or 800 kilometres to Port Sudan, a place of relative safety, US officials said. The US, which had none of its officials on the ground for the evacuation, has been criticized by families of trapped Americans in Sudan for initially ruling out any US-run evacuation for those among an estimated 16,000 Americans in Sudan who wish to leave.

Warring sides in Sudan are more open to negotiations and have accepted the conflict that erupted two weeks ago cannot continue, a UN official said on Saturday, a possible flicker of hope even as fighting continued.

Volker Perthes, UN special representative in Sudan, said the sides had nominated representatives for talks which had been suggested for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, or Juba in South Sudan, though he said there was a practical question over whether they could get there to “actually sit together”. He said no timeline had been set for talks.

The prospects of negotiations between the leaders of the two sides have so far seemed bleak. On Friday, army leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said in an interview he would never sit down with the RSF’s “rebel” leader, referring to General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who said he would only talk after the army ceased hostilities.

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Gunfire and heavy artillery fire has persisted in parts of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, residents said, despite the extension of a cease-fire between the country’s two top generals, whose battle for power has killed hundreds and sent thousands fleeing for their lives

The Foreign, Common and Development Office said shortly after 9pm UK time that the final flight was yet to leave the airfield near Khartoum, despite it being previously scheduled for 6pm.

Foreign secretary James Cleverly said: “The UK has brought more than 1,888 people to safety from Sudan thanks to the efforts of staff and military working around the clock to deliver this evacuation - the largest of any western country.

“We continue to press all diplomatic levers to secure a long-term ceasefire and end the bloodshed in Sudan. Ultimately a stable transition to civilian rule is the best way to protect the security and prosperity of the Sudanese people.”

Some 1,888 people on 21 flights have been evacuated from Sudan - the vast majority of them British nationals and their dependents, the Government said.

The final UK evacuation flight from Sudan departed from the Wadi Saeedna airfield near Khartoum at 10pm local time on Saturday, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.

A statement on the Government’s foreign travel advice for Sudan website said: “The UK Government is no longer running evacuation flights from Wadi Saeedna airfield.

“The last evacuation flight departed the airfield at 2200 Sudan time on 29 April.”

It comes as a Government minister said the evacuation mission has been “extremely successful” but cannot last “forever”.

The deadline for UK nationals to reach the site in order to be processed for the last flight passed at 12pm local time, after the Government confirmed it was winding down its rescue operation.

At least 1,888 people on 21 flights have been evacuated from Sudan - the vast majority of them British nationals and their dependents - but thousands more British citizens may remain.

Speaking to the BBC, Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell said the operation has been “extremely successful”, but stressed: “We can’t stay there forever in such dangerous circumstances.”

Fighting has broken out again in Khartoum despite the extension of an armistice between the country’s two warring generals having been brokered in the early hours of Friday.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “The UK has brought more than 1,888 people to safety from Sudan thanks to the efforts of staff and military working around the clock to deliver this evacuation - the largest of any western country.

“We continue to press all diplomatic levers to secure a long-term ceasefire and end the bloodshed in Sudan. Ultimately a stable transition to civilian rule is the best way to protect the security and prosperity of the Sudanese people.”

Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman and Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said she had received reports that elements of the Sudanese Armed Forces had blocked some British nationals from accessing the air base ahead of the final flight’s departure.

She told The Observer: “I’ve had some messages saying the Sudanese Armed Forces have been stopping people from crossing through Khartoum to get to the airstrip.

“I think we need to look into that and see if that’s got any truth to it.”