UK Touts ‘Very Successful’ Sudan Airlift after Final Flight

A member of the medical team from the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment is seen during the evacuation of British citizens, at Wadi Seidna airport, Sudan April 27, 2023.(UK MOD /Handout via Reuters)
A member of the medical team from the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment is seen during the evacuation of British citizens, at Wadi Seidna airport, Sudan April 27, 2023.(UK MOD /Handout via Reuters)
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UK Touts ‘Very Successful’ Sudan Airlift after Final Flight

A member of the medical team from the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment is seen during the evacuation of British citizens, at Wadi Seidna airport, Sudan April 27, 2023.(UK MOD /Handout via Reuters)
A member of the medical team from the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment is seen during the evacuation of British citizens, at Wadi Seidna airport, Sudan April 27, 2023.(UK MOD /Handout via Reuters)

The UK vowed Sunday to maintain support for Britons trapped in Sudan but said conditions had grown too dangerous to continue evacuation flights.

The final Royal Air Force (RAF) flight left the Wadi Saeedna airfield north of Khartoum late on Saturday, four hours behind schedule, taking to 1,888 the number of Britons and their relatives evacuated since Tuesday.

"The evacuation that we've conducted is the longest and largest evacuation of any Western nation," Transport Secretary Mark Harper told Sky News.

"And so we've taken out 1,888 British nationals and their dependents, which I think is a testimony to a very successful evacuation effort.

"And we will continue providing consular support from Sudan," he said, noting that the Foreign Office had set up an office in Port Sudan for those seeking to escape by sea to Saudi Arabia.

The UK government denies it has abandoned anyone in Sudan, after it was accused by opposition parties of repeating the mistakes of its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

One Turkish aircraft was shot at in Sudan last week, Harper said, "demonstrating that that evacuation was not without risk, and we therefore can't stay there indefinitely".

"But we were clear with British citizens about the need to get to the airfield to evacuate."

Some 2,000 Britons in Sudan had signed on to a Foreign Office list, and anyone eligible was given until Saturday morning to reach the airfield for processing and boarding of the final flights.

After strong criticism at home, the government late Friday allowed Sudanese doctors working in Britain's crisis-wracked National Health Service to join the flights.

Sudanese doctor Abdulrahman Babiker, who works in a hospital in the northern English city of Manchester, was one of those refused a place at first before he was allowed to join an RAF flight to Cyprus.

"I am happy that I am finally in a safe place, away from a war and on my way back to the UK," Babiker told the BBC.

"At the same time I feel down that my family -- my dad, mum, brother and sister -- are still endangered by this deadly fighting in my country," Babiker added.

"I am thinking about them now and trying to work out what I can do to help them escape the danger zone."



France Calls for Immediate End to Israeli Airstrikes on Lebanon, UK Calls for Ceasefire

French President Emmanuel Macron (L) speaks with caretaker Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2024. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron (L) speaks with caretaker Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2024. (AFP)
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France Calls for Immediate End to Israeli Airstrikes on Lebanon, UK Calls for Ceasefire

French President Emmanuel Macron (L) speaks with caretaker Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2024. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron (L) speaks with caretaker Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2024. (AFP)

France called on Saturday for an immediate end to Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, also saying that it was opposed to any Israeli ground operation in Lebanon.

In a statement following a call with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also called on Hezbollah and Iran to refrain from any action that could destabilize the region further.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he had also spoken with Mikati on Saturday, following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

"We agreed on the need for an immediate ceasefire to bring an end to the bloodshed. A diplomatic solution is the only way to restore security and stability for the Lebanese and Israeli people," Lammy said.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told Mikati Egypt rejects any violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, a presidency statement said on Saturday.

In a phone call, Sisi also said that Egypt fully supports Lebanon "in these delicate times".

The statement made no mention of Israel's killing of Nasrallah.

Egypt will send medical and humanitarian aid to Lebanon, added the statement.