UK starts evacuation flights for citizens trapped in Sudan

London. Britain on Tuesday said it had launched a large-scale evacuation of its citizens trapped in Sudan, where 10 days of urban combat have led to hundreds of deaths.

It came after a US-brokered 72-hour ceasefire between Sudan's warring generals officially took effect, and following criticism in the UK that the government had abandoned British citizens trapped in the country.

London has faced pressure to act after unfavourable comparisons to the chaotic evacuation of Britons when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021.

"The government has begun a large-scale evacuation of British passport holders from Sudan on RAF (Royal Air Force) flights," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

"Priority will be given to the most vulnerable, including families with children and the elderly."

Britain carried out a military operation Sunday to withdraw its diplomats as deadly battles raged in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

But citing the dangers on the ground, it had held off on extracting its citizens more widely despite Western allies evacuating hundreds of their own passport holders.

The government says that some 4,000 Britons with dual nationality and 400 with UK-only passports are in Sudan, while 2,000 people have registered with the foreign ministry seeking help to get out.

The foreign office said that UK military planes operating from an RAF base in Cyprus were due to depart from an airfield north of Khartoum.

The Sudanese airbase at Wadi Seidna has been secured by German forces, who are handling the coordination of flights sent by Britain and other countries.

"The evacuation is ongoing, we're planning further flights," a German armed forces spokesman told AFP in Berlin, adding that "our aim is to fly as many people out as possible".

"We are working closely with our German allies on this," Sunak's spokesman confirmed, while urging Britons only to come to the airfield if contacted.

All UK passport holders are eligible as well as their partners, children and parents -- but only if those relatives have an existing right of entry to Britain, the Foreign Office said.

Pressed on other options such as Royal Navy warships, Sunak's spokesman said: "We are looking at every possible option to ensure those who want to leave are able to do so."