Chair of foreign affairs committee says up to 4,000 stranded British have not been told if they will be rescued
The UK Foreign Office does not appear to have learned the lessons of the evacuation from Afghanistan, judging by its communications with British nationals in Sudan, the Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee has said.
Alicia Kearns estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 UK nationals were stuck in Sudan, of whom at least 1,000 have asked for help to leave.
The UK airlifted its diplomats out of Sudan on Sunday, leaving UK citizens behind awaiting further instructions.
Kearns said if the UK decided that it could not attempt to rescue the remaining nationals, it needed to communicate that decision to them so that they were not left waiting for an operation that would not happen.
“We have a moral obligation to tell British nationals as soon as possible that is the judgment that has been made because they then need to make their own decisions,” Kearns told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.
