Britain finally seems to be reacting to the Sudan crisis, writes Andrew Smith - Head of Africa at TorchlightAI
As fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan enters its 11th day, international efforts are continuing at pace to evacuate foreign nationals from the east African country.
This criticism reached a crescendo yesterday as other countries, including France, Germany, Italy, staged evacuations. So has the UK been too slow to rescue trapped British citizens? The numbers are crucial, as more people make evacuation planning and logistics more complex and lengthier. The RAF planes involved in the evacuation - a A400M Atlas and C-130 Hercules - have a capacity of 200 and 120 people respectively, meaning a large number of flights over many days will be needed to evacuate everybody.
It is also unclear where UK nationals in Sudan are located. Most are believed to be in Khartoum, but others will be in places such as Darfur, which is also witnessing intense SAF-RSF fighting, and where many humanitarian organisations operate. The UK, US, EU, UN and others have been heavily involved in efforts to facilitate a transition to a civilian-led government in Sudan since the ousting of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
However, the SAF and RSF have raised tensions before to secure concessions from civilian groups involved in Sudan’s democratic transition, only to then de-escalate the situation.
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