…By Henry George for TDPel Media.
An NHS doctor, Abdulrahman Babiker, has expressed feeling betrayed by the UK after being turned away from an evacuation flight from Sudan.
Dr. Babiker travelled to Sudan to visit his family for Eid, but has been unable to return to the UK despite frantic evacuations amid the fighting between the army and a rival paramilitary group.
While he has a work permit, he does not possess a UK passport.
The Foreign Office has prioritised the evacuation of British nationals from Sudan.
The Government has already removed diplomatic staff and their families, while separate evacuation flights have removed 897 UK nationals as of Thursday afternoon.
Dr Babiker had queued for 16 hours to be evacuated from the site north of the capital, but was turned away because he did not have a UK passport, which is necessary for boarding the UK Government-chartered evacuation flights.
Dr Nadia Baasher of the Sudanese Junior Doctor’s Association said there were at least 24 NHS doctors in a similar situation, having returned home to celebrate Eid.
Meanwhile, fighting has continued in Khartoum for the last two weeks, leading to the deaths of hundreds of people.
More than 2,000 British nationals in Sudan have registered under the evacuation plans.
However, Downing Street has rejected calls to widen the eligibility for evacuation beyond British passport holders and their immediate family.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said, “there is an element of discretion for people on the ground as you might expect, given the circumstances and the challenging situation people will be facing.”
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has urged British nationals wishing to leave to proceed to the airport as quickly as possible to ensure their safety, while the UK government calls for the full implementation of the latest ceasefire agreement by the generals.