As the UK evacuates its ambassadors and faces pressure to save thousands of British citizens, a French special forces member was critically injured while helping French officials depart Khartoum.
A French special forces soldier has been seriously injured after being shot while helping French government officials escape from Khartoum, according to Britain’s Africa minister Andrew Mitchell. The incident highlights the danger of trying to evacuate people from war-torn Khartoum. Meanwhile, the UK has evacuated its diplomats as the embassy and residence were caught between two warring factions in Sudan. Two British warships may be heading towards Sudan to be able to take part in a rescue mission if one is launched, and some evacuation flights are leaving a small airfield near Khartoum as the international airport is out of action for such plane movements. Two thousand British citizens are believed to have registered with the Foreign Office as part of the plans for an evacuation operation, and the number of UK nationals in Sudan, some with dual citizenship, is believed to be possibly as high as 4,000. Ministers are facing growing pressure to launch rescue operations to get thousands of British citizens out of the country as fears grow that the violence could escalate rapidly.
