British High Commissioner to Cyprus Irfan Siddiq assured that they are absolutely committed to working around the clock to do what they can to get British nationals back safely to the UK from Sudan. The High Commissioner visited the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Larnaka, Wednesday, and was briefed about the evacuation operation of British nationals from Sudan, in cooperation with the Cyprus authorities. He said that they have been working around the clock over the last few days to find solutions, adding that over the last 24 hours three flights landed in Cyprus with around 240 passengers and the first flight departed from Cyprus to take the bulk of them back to the UK. "This is just the beginning of an operation. We have a thousand British nationals that we have contacted directly, about two and a half thousand registered with the Foreign Office's registration system, so we are expecting a lot more to come through. We have got plans for a number of more flights to come through today. This is an ongoing operation", the High Commissioner noted. Replying to a question he said that the situation in Khartoum is extremely volatile and they don't have the means to escort people to the airport. He added that the latest ceasefire does seem to be holding to some extent and that is why they have encouraged people to now make their way on their own steam to the airport if they can, to get on to the planes that they have provided. "We really can't offer more than that, particularly looking at the safety of our people on the ground as well", he noted, adding that it is not feasible for the three and half-four thousand Brits who are there located in multiple locations to be escorted by UK armed forces to the airport. Asked why the first flight only had 39 people on board, the High Commissioner explained that it was not meant to be a passenger flight but a logistics flight going to set up for this operation. "It was meant to come back just with the staff who had gone out but because we had some British nationals already at the airport, they took the opportunity to bring 39 of them back", Siddiq said. He said that the numbers of nationals going to the airport and coming to Cyprus have been unpredictable explaining that some of the flights that have come through have been fully packed, some have had a few spaces because people haven't been able to come through as expected. "We are expecting a lot more today because I think after yesterday's experience there is people's confidence that this route is working. We are lining up multiple flights today. So, I hope that we'll have multiple hundreds coming through today", he noted. Asked if they are confident that the four thousand Brits who want to come back will be able to come back before the end of the ceasefire, the High Commissioner said that they only had about 2,500 registered on their system but think that there are more Brits there, adding that some of them may have found other routes. Replying to a question about some issues with the registration forms due to bad internet connection, the High Commissioner said that the registration form was simply to inform their planning, stressing that they have already sent out message saying to all Brits who want to leave, to make their way to the airport. "They do not need to register to make their way to the airport. Their registration was to inform our planning. There may be Brits who aren't registered with us. That does not mean they can't travel. Of course, they can. As long as they turn out to the airport with their passport they will be put on a plane", he noted. In another question Siddiq explained that in the initial phase when they weren't sure about capacity, they were proactively contacting people to encourage them to come to the airport, adding that now that they feel more confident that the situation is one where they can make this route work, they sent out a travel advice. "So, this was a staged process of initially just asking a number to come to make sure that the system would work and that we weren't overloading it. Now that we are confident that it is working all Brits are invited to come to the airport", he noted. He said that there is not one type of aircraft and that they are using a range of aircraft and the capacity on them varies. He also said that the first aircraft was not meant to bring passengers but the second and the third both brought around approximately a hundred which is around the capacity of those planes. "I am not going to going into operational details of which aircraft we are using. We are using the aircraft we have available that are fit for purpose to bring as many Brits back as we can. These are all military aircraft", the High Commissioner said. He expressed his gratitude to the Cyprus Republic for the support and assistance, explaining that the logic for why they are coming here, is that they are flying out of Akrotiri. He explained that they have military facilities and capabilities on the British Bases that they are utilizing to get out to Khartoum. "We are flying into Larnaca because the government of the Republic of Cyprus has a well - established plan, going back to 2006 when we had the major Lebanon evacuation to help facilitate the reception and the onward commercial transfer of all of this people, which is why we are coming here rather than Akrotiri and is working well so far. We are very grateful to the Republic of Cyprus for this support", he said. The first flight departed Cyprus for UK this morning with 170 passengers.
Source: Cyprus News Agency