Why do British nationals expect to be evacuated from places like Sudan ?

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By the British government?

Those who are there at the request of/working for the British government, of course you'd expect them to be looked after, but people who've gone for their own reasons, tourism or private work, surely the risks of going to an unstable region are considered before you go? People went, presumably, for some sort of personal gain, why is it the government's (taxpayer's) job to reduce them? Why not their employers or their personal insurance, or themselves?

I'm obviously wrong, as it's so accepted that government should, but why?

I kind of agree with you, and don’t even get me started on the idiots who went to Ukraine to “help”.
However, it’s kind of reassuring to know that the government WILL help in these circumstances and I think in this case they were ALL diplomats. Why they hadn’t sent their spouses and kids home ages ago though I don’t know

It’s hardly just British nationals. Irish nationals are also being evacuated by the Irish government, and so are other nationalities. It’s clearly widely considered the responsibility of governments.

No the diplomats and their families have been evacuated. It's other British nationals who are complaining they're not being looked after

Yes, maybe the question should be why do people be expected to be evacuated by their home government? I know it's not just the British.

I completely agree, OP. It's not somewhere that has ever been completely danger free.

The diplomats have basically been evacuated by their employer. So if they are employed by a multinational company, they should be looking to their employer.

Proper international charities (like the Red Cross or MSF) id hope the government's would give a helping hand if required.

Because there wasn't an actual bloody war raging when they arrived!
Because they are terrified and they are our responsibility?

I have a colleague there with his family. They went for a holiday with family at Eid.

The same reason the NHS looks after you if you catch a tropical fever on holiday. Part of the citizenship deal.

This about sums it up for me.

It's literally one of the jobs of an embassy / FCO to help UK citizens if it kicks off in a particular country.

It's the very least I would expect.

Do you think it would be good for morale and for the image of UK plc if its citizens were captured by rebels and paraded and killed on the internet for the world to see?

And that's putting aside the humanity of it.

You can't deny people help because it's their own fault for being there in the first place.

With that argument you could deny smokers and drinkers cancer treatment or refuse to fix the broken leg of someone who was playing sport.

But you need travel insurance to get you home first!!

Sudan has either had Civil war or been on the brink of Civil war for at least five decades. Even when there's no officially declared war, there's been conflict between North and South and government and rebels. It may have escalated, but it hasn't come from nowhere. It must be awful for them, but it's a choice they made, knowing the region was unstable.

It’s the civil contract between citizen and government. It’s the whole reason you have a passport and there’s an embassy. If you get in trouble abroad, the government has a responsibility to assist, and you have a right to claim that assistance. Even middle-aged women caught drug-smuggling in South East Asia get supported by the government: not pulled out of jail, but the govt sorts out legal counsel and makes representations on their citizens’ behalf.

it’s what you get for being a British citizen, along with the rights to live in our country and other such rights. It’s why removing Shemima begum’s citizenship was such a big thing: not only does she no longer have the right to come back here, but the government can wash its hands of her

The NHS doesn't look after you until you get home. You're at the mercy of the local medical services and your personal insurance/ funds until then. So yes, perfect example.

Have commercial flights stopped?

While I have every sympathy for people in this position and hope they make it home soon they must have know it was a risk to go. I know Eid is important but they must have travelled in the last few weeks and having family there surely they knew the situation?
It is reckless at least to travel somewhere so unstable even if actual war hasn’t yet broken out.

Maybe they can’t leave by usual routes https://airspace-africa.com/2023/04/17/major-airlines-affected-by-closure-of-sudanese-airspace-following-clashes-between-military-and-paramilitary-group/?amp

That’s why I said fever, not broken leg or whatever. It would be perfectly possible to come home on a normal plane unwittingly having picked something up.

my point is: the NHS treats you even if what you have is “self inflicted by holiday” - same with FCO help.

As pp has said, it is partly in the government’s interests to get their people out. It is best for the country as a whole to care for its citizens, even the irresponsible ones. Assessments are not made on how much people have contributed to a car accident by their own irresponsible behaviour before being rescued.

This.

Funnily enough, it was common not to dump uk citizens abroad in areas of conflict before the Tories came along. Mind you, yesterday morning in Kuennsberg they had no intention of rescuing the diplomats either, and seemed quite surprised the US were! Utter fools, the lot of them.

All governments look after their own nationals if they are caught up in conflict in a foreign country.

If we carry the OP's principle to its limits, then people who rock climb and get injured should not be entitled to NHS care. They knew the risks but did it anyway.

Mountain rescue has the same approach. They help no matter how much the person’s irresponsibility is responsible for the harm that came to them. They always reply to comments that people should pay if they’ve been irresponsible or shouldn’t have been helped by saying they’re there to help everyone who needs it and that’s that. I’m sure they mutter under their breathe and offer tips on how to keep yourself safe to people - but they really don’t want people to not contact them for help because they been silly.

The operation to rescue Embassy staff was already well underway by the time LK aired yesterday morning. For obvious reasons, not every member of Parliament will have been read into the plans and timetable.

No insurance policy covers for war and Sudan wasn't on the list of countries advised against all travel either prior to this very sudden outbreak of what is essentially, intra armed forces conflict.

Now having got out embassy staff but having made no arrangements for ordinary citizens, they are now on their own.

Other countries seem to have done a far better job & we have learned nothing from previous evacuation disasters.