A small British army reconnaissance crew is in Sudan to evaluate evacuation choices, BBC Information understands.
The federal government is “each single attainable choice” to get UK residents out, minister Andrew Mitchell informed MPs on Tuesday.
Tons of have died after clashes between rival army factions broke out on 15 April, primarily in Khartoum.
About 2,000 UK residents have requested assist however any evacuation carries “grave” dangers, the federal government has warned.
On Sunday, the UK airlifted diplomats and their households out of Sudan in a particular army operation – however the authorities stated stated there might be a complete of as much as 4,000 British nationals nonetheless stranded there.
The BBC understands a small army crew has landed in Port Sudan, greater than 500 miles from the capital, to asses potential choices for the evacuation of UK residents nonetheless stranded in Sudan.
No selections have been made about extracting residents however defence sources say that work is beneath approach to supply the prime minister with choices.
It is understood that two Royal Navy ships are already within the area – the frigate HMS Lancaster which was already at sea, and provide ship RFA Cardigan Bay which is in Bahrain the place it has been present process upkeep.
Mr Mitchell stated anybody trapped in Sudan ought to keep indoors the place attainable however can “train their very own judgement about whether or not to relocate”, including that they “accomplish that at their very own danger”.
He stated they’re being despatched “no less than each day updates” from the UK authorities, amid criticism from some who really feel they’ve been deserted in Sudan.
British physician Iman Abu Gargar informed the BBC she was capable of go away with the French evacuation as a result of Irish passport holders, together with her son, had been capable of be a part of.
Talking from Djibouti, which lies to the east of Sudan, she claimed to have seen a whole lot of troopers from different European international locations however felt left behind by the UK.
Dr Gargar, who was compelled to depart her father behind, stated: “There have been solely tough selections to make. I hope no-one has to make the selections I needed to make.”
Amar Osman, a British citizen who lives in Edinburgh, informed the BBC he feared his household will die in Sudan except they’ll get themselves out after turning into trapped north of the capital.
He added: “It is getting worse by the minute, so we’re considering of evacuating by street to Egypt. I am doing all of it on my own. I am getting the cash collectively, I am getting all my household collectively. There’s six of us.”
Responding to questions from MPs, Mr Mitchell confirmed that neither the UK’s ambassador to Sudan or the deputy head of mission had been within the nation when the battle started.
A crew of 200 officers is working across the clock within the Overseas Workplace to supply consular help to those that want it, he added.
Downing Avenue has confirmed that the UK is working with EU international locations and the US on “shared challenges” in Sudan, with a number of evacuations led by different international locations already beneath approach.
An EU diplomatic supply informed the BBC that greater than 1,100 EU residents have now been evacuated, out of round 1,700 considered within the nation.
Overseas Secretary James Cleverly earlier warned assist for UK nationals stays “restricted” within the absence of a ceasefire.
Some MPs have put stress on the federal government to hurry up efforts, together with Alicia Kearns, the Tory chairwoman of the Commons Overseas Affairs Committee, who informed the Commons that “time is working out”.
However the authorities has restricted choices out there to it, the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason writes, and is constant to make use of diplomatic channels to push for a ceasefire to make any operation simpler to execute.
A profitable operation to rescue diplomats and their households was carried out over the weekend, after gun battles broke out across the embassy in Khartoum.
The BBC understands that UK particular forces troops landed in Khartoum on Saturday alongside the US evacuation crew.
Navy autos had been used to rescue embassy workers and transport them to an airport exterior the capital, earlier than they had been flown to Cyprus.
Round 1,200 personnel from the British military, Royal Navy and Royal Air Drive had been concerned within the rescue, and a C-130 Hercules and Airbus A400M transport plane had been used.
Defence minister James Heappey stated the embassy rescue mission “went with no hitch” regardless of its complexity however that the “job is not finished”.
The Ministry of Defence is engaged on choices to assist British nationals in Sudan which will likely be introduced to the prime minister, he added.
The scenario on the bottom is at occasions “extraordinarily harmful”, he stated, and the “window through which the setting is permissive isn’t lengthy sufficient through which to do the army choices”.
Mr Heappey admitted the UK had been caught out by the fast deterioration in Sudan, including: “It’s honest to say that no one within the UK authorities nor actually within the wider worldwide neighborhood noticed preventing of this ferocity breaking out in the way in which that it did.”
Round 400 UK nationals in Sudan maintain solely a British passport, whereas about 4,000 extra are twin residents, Mr Mitchell informed the Commons, including folks would “be handled in the identical approach” regardless of their standing.
One other Cobra assembly – an emergency response committee made up of ministers, civil servants and others – is predicted in a while Tuesday to debate the scenario.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres informed a gathering of the UN Safety Council that the scenario in Sudan is worsening and the nation is on “the sting of the abyss”.
“The violence should cease. It dangers a catastrophic conflagration inside Sudan that might engulf the entire area and past,” he stated.
Communications in Sudan have been restricted as a consequence of web blackouts. The web monitoring group Netblocks stated on Sunday that connectivity was at 2% of regular ranges.
The web in Khartoum has been down since Sunday evening, in keeping with a BBC reporter within the nation earlier on Monday, amid stories that one remaining supplier had been taken down by one of many teams concerned within the preventing so as to cease its rival from streaming programmes onto nationwide TV.
State TV, which has broadcast materials supportive of the ruling military junta, was largely off air on Monday.