As foreign countries evacuate hundreds of their citizens from the escalating violence in Sudan, the UK government has been accused of not doing enough to extract its own nationals.

The conflict has killed 420 people and trapped millions of Sudanese citizens without access to basic services.

Elite British troops were involved in a covert mission to evacuate British diplomats and their families from the capital Khartoum under cover of darkness, Sky News revealed.

But the UK government has faced criticism over the level of assistance it is providing for the 4,000 or so other UK passport holders still in the country.

So what are other countries doing to rescue their citizens from the crisis?

The US

US special forces evacuated all US government personnel and their dependants from their embassy on Saturday using helicopters that flew from a base in Djibouti and refuelled in Ethiopia.

Washington reportedly is not planning to coordinate an evacuation of other Americans but is looking at options to help them leave.

France

Meanwhile, a French plane carrying around 100 people left Khartoum on Sunday for Djibouti with a second plane carrying a similar number also expected to take off, France said. Operations resumed on Monday.

The plane also carried the European Union delegation along with some other nationalities.

The two warring factions – the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group – each accused the other of attacking a French convoy.

Other EU countries

The Irish government also confirmed it is sending in a team to evacuate its citizens from the crisis.

Germany’s air force has also been involved in evacuations, extracting a total of 313 people from Sudan so far.

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‘We need to get out’

Italy said its nationals and people from Vatican City would be taken out of Sudan on Sunday night.

Switzerland

Switzerland says it has closed its embassy in Khartoum and transported staff and their families out.

“This was made possible thanks to a collaboration with our partners, in particular France,” the Swiss foreign ministry said on Twitter.

Middle Eastern countries

Saudi Arabia took 91 Saudis and about 66 people from other countries out from Port Sudan by naval ship to the Suadi port of Jeddah, across the Red Sea.

Qatar thanked Saudi Arabia for helping evacuate Qatari citizens. Sudan’s army accused the RSF of attacking and looting a Qatari embassy convoy heading to Port Sudan. It was not clear if it was the same group that left for Saudi Arabia.

Kuwait said all citizens wishing to return home had arrived in Jeddah.

Egypt says it had around 10,000 nationals in neighbouring Sudan, 436 of whom had been evacuated.

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Russia

Russia’s ambassador in Khartoum told state media that 140 out of roughly 300 Russians in Sudan had said they wanted to leave.

Evacuation plans were made but were still impossible to implement because they involve crossing frontlines, the ambassador said.

He added there were about 15 people, including a woman and child, stuck in a Russian Orthodox church close to heavy fighting in Khartoum.

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