Return from hell: First British civilians land back in UK after 'chaotic' evacuation from war-torn Sudan
26 April 2023, 06:07 | Updated: 26 April 2023, 16:07
The first plane carrying British civilians back from war-torn Sudan have landed in the UK after a "chaotic" evacuation.
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The plane landed in Stansted Airport on Wednesday afternoon after leaving Larnaca in Cyprus.
There were children on the flight, a Foreign Office spokesperson said.
Downing Street said a total of 301 people have been rescued from Sudan so far amid conflict between the army and paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces.
A woman on board one of the flights to the UK called the evacuation mission "chaotic", telling Sky that British teams were "disorganised".
But Home Secretary Suella Braverman insisted the country had been "pivotal" in securing the ceasefire in the first place.
Suella Braverman said decisions around the Sudan evacuation are "very carefully reached" on the basis of "sensitivity issues" when asked why escorts were not being provided for UK nationals trying to reach the air base.
During a visit to Northamptonshire, the Home Secretary said: "There's an extensive programme of support that's put on by the UK Government to support British nationals, British passport holders and their dependents in Sudan right now.
"The particular decisions, the precise details of what that operation include, are all very carefully reached on the basis of operational factors, sensitivity issues around the particular circumstances in Sudan."
It comes after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace suggested that Brits trapped in Khartoum should take a cab from Sudanese capital to an airfield 30km outside the city if they can't get a car.
Speaking to LBC, Mr Wallace explained that the airport in the city had been damaged before evacuations began meaning Brits had be flown from an airfield further out, behind a number of checkpoints.
Asked by Iain Dale how evacuees are supposed to travel the 30km to the airfield if they don't have access to a car or fuel, Mr Wallace said: "Well at the moment, I mean, we have said make your way to the airfield, because that's what the Germans have done, and what others had done, and that had seemed to work. And it does seem to work.
"But of course, it's not going to be that easy, but it is functioning. People are managing to get through, and if people take their car they can leave it at the airfield - it's more benign where the airfield is.
"So, they need to get through the checkpoints, we've seen so far the checkpoints are helpful, both the Sudanese armed forces and indeed the other faction... in fact we've seen reports of them holding people and helping them, and saying 'don't go at night, go later'."
Sudan situation remains ‘dangerous and volatile’, says Foreign Secretary
But in cases where people are completely on foot or on their own, Mr Wallace suggested that they get a taxi out of the city, despite the bloody power struggle between the Sudanese army and a rival paramilitary force that has erupted in the city.
"Khartoum is a place that [you] can access taxis and things like that", he said.
"They still run, the taxi drivers will in anything, actually, and people are getting there."He added: "We do have the ability to go and get people, but the danger starts when you start drawing attention to them.
