Follow the latest news from the Sudan crisis here
A Conservative MP has told the House of Commons how British nationals were “beaten and robbed” as they travelled to catch flights to flee Sudan.
Richard Drax, who is an MP for South Dorset, raised the concerns as he suggested UK military personnel could have been sent to escort citizens to the Wadi Saeedna airfield in Khartoum.
But Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said it was impossible to provide an armed escort given people were travelling from several points around Sudan’s capital and surrounding areas to reach the airfield.
During the British evacuations, the longest and largest by any western nation in Sudan, 2,341 people were moved on 28 flights, according to Downing Street.
MPs were also told at least 22 of the 24 National Health Service doctors identified as being trapped in Sudan were evacuated by the UK.
People have been trying to escape the country after fighting between rival generals.
“Several constituents, mainly with military backgrounds, and myself were concerned and interested to hear of British citizens being beaten and robbed on the way to the airport to get out of Sudan,” Mr Drax said during Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office questions.
After he suggested the possibility of a military escort, Mr Drax asked: “Was that happening or were British citizens told to get to the airport with no escort at all?”
Mr Cleverly replied: “The military practicalities of providing what to all intents and purposes would be an armed escort from multiple points around Khartoum and the surrounding areas to a single point of exit proved insurmountable — and that is true of our international partners as well as ourselves.
“So no country in the world was able to provide that level of security arrangements. We kept under review the safety of the various routes from within Khartoum to Wadi Saeedna, and we advised that accordingly.
“I’ve a huge amount of admiration for the military personnel who sustained the longest airhead of any western nation at Wadi Saeedna and are currently supporting British nationals and others in their evacuation through Port Sudan.”
Evacuees from Sudan arrive in Abu Dhabi - in pictures
For Labour, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy raised the plight of NHS doctors seeking to escape the country.
“Last week, Newsnight reported that there were at least 24 National Health Service doctors who were British residents but not yet on evacuation flights," Mr Lammy said.
“Can the Foreign Secretary confirm that all 24, and any other NHS doctors who would be evacuated, were taken safely back to the UK — the Africa minister (Andrew Mitchell) is helping him — so they can do their jobs in the creaking National Health Service that we now have?”
Mr Cleverly replied: “My understanding, and the Africa minister has given me the most up-to-date figures on this, is that 22 of the 24 that were identified have been directly evacuated by us.
“It should be remembered that British nationals and others may well have made their own routes out of Sudan.
"We keep in close co-ordination both through the NHS and through direct conversation with us to ensure that we provide as full a service for those seeking evacuation as possible.”
Final UK evacuation flight to leave Sudan on Wednesday
The final UK evacuation flight is expected take off from Sudan on Wednesday, Mr Cleverly has announced.
He urged British nationals still wanting to leave the war-torn nation to make their way to Port Sudan.
It was previously thought the evacuation flights had ended on Monday when planes left Sudan for Cyprus.
British nationals arrived back in the UK on Tuesday afternoon.
The evacuees arrived at Birmingham Airport at 4.58pm on Tuesday on a Titan Airways Airbus A321 after a four-hour, 40-minute flight from Larnaca, Cyprus, having been taken out of Port Sudan on Monday.
They were the last of 2,341 people evacuated by the government from Sudan on 28 flights since fighting began in the African nation three weeks ago.
They were met at Birmingham Airport by members of the British Red Cross.
The latest from the crisis in Sudan - in pictures
UK mission ‘not over’ despite end of evacuation, Foreign Secretary says
The British mission in Sudan is “not over yet” despite the end of the evacuation flights, Mr Cleverly said.
He said the situation remained dangerous and officials were still in Port Sudan to help Britons seeking to leave the country.
“There is still an ongoing humanitarian situation," Mr Cleverly told GB News.
"We still have a presence at Port Sudan, both a military presence and a number of other government officials, to help British nationals and their dependents leave the country.
“We will ensure that we maintain a presence to support British nationals, because the situation in Sudan, sadly, is still volatile and it is still dangerous."
Red Cross aid flight arrives in Port Sudan - video
Red Cross aid flight arrives in Port Sudan
As well as officials and military personnel in Port Sudan, HMS Lancaster is off the coast to support them.
Mr Cleverly said the evacuation from Sudan would have a “significant” cost for taxpayers.
But he told LBC Radio: “What we have found increasingly now, as people use those land routes to Port Sudan, in many instances they are less in need of an air evacuation from Sudan itself.
“There are a number of options available from Port Sudan, including a ferry across to Saudi Arabia.
“At the moment we have a warship just off the coast of Port Sudan, we have a cross-Whitehall team of officials in Port Sudan to help British nationals leave the country.
“We can scale that up, or indeed scale that down, according to circumstances.”
The international focus is shifting to preventing a wider humanitarian catastrophe in the region and Mr Cleverly said any further fighting would hamper relief efforts.
The UN said Sudanese army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his rival Gen Mohamed Dagalo, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, have agreed to send representatives to the negotiation table in a bid to establish a more stable truce.
The two generals were allies in an October 2021 military coup that halted Sudan’s fraught transition to democracy, but they have since turned on each other.
“Where there is live conflict, our ability to provide … humanitarian support is massively degraded," Mr Cleverly told BBC Radio 4.
“We have given aid to Sudan, we are giving support to countries in the region.
"We will continue to push for an extension of the ceasefire and a permanent end to the conflict because that is the best way to maximise the effectiveness of our humanitarian support."
