The UK government has informed Britons in Sudan that they are on their own to reach the country’s evacuation point, with the first flight having already carried passport holders out.
The British armed forces are currently engaged in an operation to evacuate a number of its people from Sudan, where serious combat has erupted between government forces and a competing paramilitary group.
The decision represents a significant shift from the government’s prior stance, in which only embassy workers were evacuated in a military operation and other British people in the country were urged to hide in place.
Some claimed they felt abandoned by the administration and wondered if Khartoum would become a second Kabul.
Estimates place the number of British citizens in the country at around 4,000, with British armed troops beginning an evacuation of some Britons stranded in the country on Tuesday from an airport near Khartoum.
According to The Times, over 2,000 of these nationals have contacted the country’s Foreign Office to request assistance in leaving the country.
While the government appears to be eager to pull out individuals who are caught in the country once they reach the airfield, it has reportedly advised its citizens that they are on their own until they reach the spot, which is roughly 18 miles north of the city.