Let all UK residents join evacuation from Sudan, Labor urges Government

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All UK residents should be eligible for evacuation from Sudan, Labor said, as people could be left behind if the country relapses into fighting.

The government has rejected calls to widen evacuation eligibility beyond UK passport holders and their immediate families - and faced national and international criticism over its response.

Warring parties in the northeast African country on Thursday evening agreed to a further three-day extension of the ongoing ceasefire, giving more time to people trying to leave the country.

It is feared that many people eligible to be airlifted out of the country do not come forward because they would have to leave family members behind.

< p>"It is not fair that NHS doctors and other UK residents who have worked to protect us throughout the pandemic are being denied the opportunity to evacuate the conflict in Sudan," said shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

"At the same time, British nationals remain stranded as the government refuses to evacuate their immediate dependent family members."

Thursday evening the RAF had airlifted by plane nearly 900 people from an airfield near the capital Khartoum. On Friday afternoon, the Foreign Office did not provide an updated figure.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged all British nationals wishing to flee Sudan to come forward "on as quickly as possible," despite the extension of the truce.

He said that if and when fighting resumes, it may become impossible for people to leave the country.

But Labor's Lammy said: "We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge we face from the brave British Armed Forces and FCDO officials working around the clock, but the three-day extension of the ceasefire -the fire offers the opportunity to get more people to safety while the airlift is underway and there is capacity.

"All UK nationals, close relatives and dependents stranded British nationals and British residents seeking to flee Sudan should qualify to board evacuation flights. The government must act before the ceasefire ends and it is too late."

Foreign Affairs Committee Chair and Tory MP Alicia Kearns is also among those calling on the government to 'widening eligibility.' She said the government should allow elderly people dependent on children British citizens to be admitted.

A power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Suppo...