UK troops fly to Sudan as authorities works on evacuation plan for Britons

A group of British troops has flown to a port in japanese Sudan on a reconnaissance mission because the UK works out choices to assist evacuate British nationals stranded within the crisis-hit nation, Sky News understands.

The troopers landed at Port Sudan, on the Red Sea, on Monday.

Flight monitoring web sites confirmed a C-17 transport plane heading within the path of Sudan.

It doesn’t imply any rescue is imminent, nonetheless, as the federal government is figuring out what are the perfect choices to current to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to assist hundreds of British nationals beneath hearth within the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

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The greater than 500-mile path to Port Sudan from the capital Khartoum is lengthy and troublesome.

A British warship – HMS Lancaster – can be in or close to the area and could possibly be used to assist with any rescue, in response to Whitehall sources.

There can be the choice of extra airlifts, utilizing Royal Air Force flights from a British airbase in Cyprus to a Sudanese army airfield outdoors the capital.

This was the route used over the weekend to rescue British diplomats and their households.

However, any resolution to order new evacuations will rely upon the extent of threat that the federal government is keen to take.

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There are understood to be round 4,000 British passport holders in Sudan, and the UK may ask allies to assist its residents.

The US and France have a bigger army presence within the space.

James Heappey, the armed forces minister, stated the army was working up a variety of choices to current to the prime minister as strain mounts on the federal government to behave.

British forces extracted all British diplomats and their households from the town throughout a daring weekend raid.

“But of course the job isn’t done,” Mr Heappey stated.

Mr Heappey added: “Work is under way in this building and has been all weekend and all of the back end of last week to give the prime minister and Cobra [the emergency committee meeting of top ministers and officials] options for what else could be done to support the wider community of British nationals in Sudan.

“Those choices are being developed at tempo.

“The prime minister will be given the option to take any of the options that we present him with as and when they arise and that’s been the rhythm of things all weekend long.”