Britain ramped up an airlift of its citizens out of war-torn Sudan to Cyprus on Wednesday, racing to evacuate as many as possible in a 72-hour ceasefire window between warring factions which was rapidly closing.
British officials said that possibly “multiple hundreds” could be flown out on Wednesday though what was expected to be a flow started with a trickle.
By mid afternoon around 400 people had been evacuated since Britain started its airlift late on Tuesday. One early afternoon evacuation flight to the airport of Larnaca in Cyprus carried 80 people, another 74, while another was expected later in the day with an unknown number of passengers.
In London, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said eight flights would have left Sudan by the end of Wednesday.
“This is just the beginning of an operation,” British High Commissioner to Cyprus, Irfan Siddiq, told reporters.
“We have 1,000 British nationals that we have contacted directly and about 2,500 already registered with the foreign office registration system so we expect a lot more to come through.”
Britain began the evacuation on Tuesday, following other nations in pulling people out of Sudan where clashes between the army and the RSF paramilitary group have killed at least 459 people since April 15.
Diplomats said that about 170 who had arrived on the East Mediterranean island overnight had already been placed on a repatriation flight to the UK.
The British government had estimated that around 4,000 Britons were stuck in Sudan.
“The effort is for a smooth operation for people arriving, then leaving as soon as possible,” said Theodoros Gotsis, a spokesperson for Cyprus‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Siddiq, a former British ambassador in Khartoum, said he was confident that “multiple hundreds” could be airlifted on Wednesday. For safety reasons, he said, authorities were encouraging people in Sudan to make their way to the airport, if possible, and board the aircraft provided.
“The situation on the ground in Khartoum is extremely volatile. We simply don’t have the means to escort people to the airport,” he said.
“This latest ceasefire does seem to be holding to some extent and that’s why we have encouraged people to make their way to the airport, if they can, to get onto the aircraft we have provided.”
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