RAF planes arrive in Khartoum for large-scale evacuation of British nationals

A Royal Air Force plane has landed in a military airfield north of Sudan’s capital Khartoum as part of a UK mission to evacuate British passport holders en-masse from the conflict-stricken country.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly made the announcement on Tuesday that it would fly British nationals back to the UK.

Diplomats and embassy employees were already flown out of Sudan on Sunday.

The decision falls in line with other countries pulling their citizens from the region that has descended into chaos following 10 days of deadly fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary.

In the hopes of establishing dialogue, a US-brokered ceasefire announced by the head of US diplomacy went into effect at midnight Tuesday.

An upheld truce between the two warring sides however remains tenuous, as previous ceasefires have not been honoured.

“After intense negotiations over the past 48 hours, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to implement a nationwide ceasefire beginning at midnight on April 24 (2200 GMT Monday), which is expected to last 72 hours,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Monday.