Defence secretary Ben Wallace suggests Brits trapped in war-torn Sudan could get a taxi to flee capital
25 April 2023, 21:44 | Updated: 26 April 2023, 00:34
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has suggested that Brits trapped in Khartoum amid fierce fighting should take a cab from Sudanese capital to an airfield 30km outside the city if they can't get a car.
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Speaking to LBC, Mr Wallace explained that the airport in the city had been damaged before evacuations began meaning Brits had be flown from an airfield further out, behind a number of checkpoints.
Asked by Iain Dale how evacuees are supposed to travel the 30km to the airfield if they don't have access to a car or fuel, Mr Wallace said: "Well at the moment, I mean, we have said make your way to the airfield, because that's what the Germans have done, and what others had done, and that had seemed to work. And it does seem to work.
"But of course, it's not going to be that easy, but it is functioning. People are managing to get through, and if people take their car they can leave it at the airfield - it's more benign where the airfield is.
"So, they need to get through the checkpoints, we've seen so far the checkpoints are helpful, both the Sudanese armed forces and indeed the other faction... in fact we've seen reports of them holding people and helping them, and saying 'don't go at night, go later'."
Read more: Britain finally seems to be reacting to the Sudan crisis
But in cases where people are completely on foot or on their own, Mr Wallace suggested that they get a taxi out of the city, despite the bloody power struggle between the Sudanese army and a rival paramilitary force that has erupted in the city.
"Khartoum is a place that [you] can access taxis and things like that", he said.
"They still run, the taxi drivers will in anything, actually, and people are getting there."
He added: "We do have the ability to go and get people, but the danger starts when you start drawing attention to them.
His comments come as the evacuation of thousands of British nationals began on Tuesday - with two more RAF flights heading to the war-torn country at night.
One RAF plane has already collected people from an airfield near Khartoum, with priority given to families with children, the elderly and people with medical conditions.
A flight landed in Cyprus, where Britain has key military bases, by 7pm UK time.
But Brits stuck in the North African country have expressed concern over the lack of guidance from the British government amid evacuation orders. At least 2,000 were thought to be in the country.
Asked by Mr Dale how long Brits will have to travel without escort to the extraction site, Mr Wallace said: "What listeners need to understand is it's very hard to give advice that is a perfect fit for everyone.
"Different parts of Khartoum are not warzones. Some are, some aren't. Some are functioning perfectly normally."
He explained that diplomats and their dependants were pulled out first because the diplomatic quarter, or area, is situated between the two warring factions' headquarters.
Mr Wallace said that the UK would take over facilitation of the airfield from Germany tomorrow, and that evacuations would continue as long as they have permission from the Sudanese and the security situation allows them to do so.
Asked about why Britain appeared to be reliant on waiting for Germany to vacate the airfield, Mr Wallace said only one person can facilitate at a time, and it wouldn't stop British planes arriving for pick ups.
Sudan situation remains ‘dangerous and volatile’, says Foreign Secretary
He said allies are working to help each other out, with the British effectively giving out permissions from tomorrow - though the airstrip remains under the control of the Sudanese forces.
He added: "If we all tried to, like, elbow each other out the way, it would be chaos".
