MIDDLE EAST – NHS doctors and UK nationals face dangerous route to Sudan evacuation site

Amid ongoing airstrikes and artillery fire in the Sudanese capital, NHS doctors and British nationals face a treacherous route to reach an air base north of Khartoum ahead of an evacuation deadline.

Hundreds of people were told to find their own way to an evacuation center at Wadi Chetna air base, about 14 miles (20 km) north of Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman. They had to face constant fighting as the Sudanese armed forces continued to attack positions in the two cities, while members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces remained hidden among civilian buildings.

Ahmad al-Mubti, a human rights defender and resident of Omdurman, said: “The army seems to be going after individuals or groups of two or three RSF soldiers. Things get dangerous because they can’t tell where they’re going and the Air Force [SAF] Pursuing them, he tries to destroy them by destroying them to the ground.

Airstrikes and street fighting continued across the capital, despite a nominal ceasefire that was supposed to last until Sunday night. On Friday night, a religious school was attacked in Omdurman, and residents in central Khartoum reported hearing clashes between SAF and RSF forces. A second airstrike hit a district in southern Omdurman early Saturday morning.

Akram Ahmed, from Wat-Nawabwai, near the El-Said Abdulrahman mosque where the airstrike took place, said: “This morning we heard a loud sound of airstrikes, which woke people up and sent them running. Last night, two students were injured when part of an anti-aircraft missile hit the mosque. The school, a boarding school, is now vacant.

Airstrikes and fighting have terrified residents of both cities.

Despite the volatile security situation, NHS doctors, British passport holders and residents have been advised to navigate the streets, avenues and bridges that have become an urban battleground since fighting broke out two weeks ago.

Those wanting to board the evacuation flights had until Saturday noon local time to reach Wadi Chetna and check-in for the flight before the airlift was shut down – that deadline has now passed. BBC reported The Department of Health and Social Care sent a message to NHS doctors in Sudan on Friday night advising them to travel to a military base with a difficult air route.

British Ambassador to Sudan Giles Lever earlier told people it was “absolutely important” that they leave via the air base and urged “all British nationals to go to the evacuation center at Wadi Saidna airfield as soon as possible”.

Sherin Tadros of Amnesty International pointed out British nationals should travel 11 hours from Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, according to previous instructions from the Foreign Office. “Now you’re asking them to go back 800 km (500 miles), to a base near Khartoum (and near the heart of the fighting),” he said. HMS Lancaster is a British warship in Port Sudan.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said late on Friday that more than 1,500 people had been evacuated and there had been a “significant decline in the number of British nationals”, meaning it was time to end the operation.

The latest airlifts come amid a fight to ensure NHS doctors on leave to stay in England board evacuation flights with their dependents, following pressure from the Medical Association. Doctors with this immigration status were advised to bring their relatives and proof of NHS employment when fleeing Sudan. During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, many were visiting family when the sudden fighting broke out.

Earlier, the British Medical Association asked Foreign Secretary James Wise to allow the expulsion of NHS doctors who are prevented from leaving because they do not have UK passports.

Abdulrahman Babikar, the Sudanese registrar at Manchester Royal Infirmary, told Newsnight that he was refused a flight back to the UK after arriving at Wadi Saidna air base.

He said he worked in the UK during the Covid crisis and felt “absolutely betrayed” by the ban on work visa holders, despite repeated lobbying by medical groups and unions.

Babikar had already been evacuated and boarded a flight that landed in Cyprus on Friday night, the BBC reported.

Doctors and nurses from around the world work in the NHS, including 1,253 from Sudan, according to data collected by the House of Commons library.