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?

When one is in a country where there is trouble it can be difficult to get an accurate updates of the situation in another city or even another suburb.

This is not just a UK thing. The US has also said they will not be supporting evacuation of non-embassy civilians. They have been advising all citizens to leave the country for days (weeks?) before the evacuation, though, so anyone still there has chosen to ignore government warnings.

it is a bit like people who refuse to evacuate fire or hurricane zones. Fair enough for them, but it is unreasonable to expect emergency services to risk their own lives to rescue them when the predicted disaster strikes and they have second thoughts

Basically this! Not just the UK, but all governments. It's one of the reasons why embassies exist.

Never saw it but I wonder if he was saying that no rescue was planned to cover up the fact rescue was planned? If so I think this is one of the very, very few occasions that its acceptable for a politician to lie to the public.

France is taking its citizens out too, and other European nationals, nearly 400 so far. It's not just a British thing. Personally I'm happy for my taxes to be spent on this.

I think people were hoping the proposed ceasefire for Eid would go ahead. Then those able could of made a dash for safety.

The bbc says international employers are putting people on coaches and sending them to Egypt obviously the consulate can support them when they get there.

Bullshit.

For two reasons.

1. British embassies are notoriously shit at looking after Brits abroad and always have been no matter who is in government.
2. Notoriously shit means significantly slower and less responsive than other governments. They have never dumped people abroad, just been very slow to respond.

But I don’t think it was on a govt “don’t travel “ list was it?

so if it wasn’t then I’d assume that generally it was safe to travel to and if the uk government got their travel advice wrong then yes I’d like to think they’d pull citizens out.

There was a military coup in October, PM reinstated in January and then ousted again. Outbreaks of fighting ever since?

The "war" started on 15 April, but it didn't creep up unexpected.

@Northernlurker , Sudan has been dangerous and unstable for ages - why anyone would choose to holiday there - even if they have family there - is hard to understand.

Yesterday I spoke to a humanitarian aid worker who’s been there several times in very recent years for work, but he said he won’t be going again for the foreseeable. He said on his last visit - even before the recent dire conflict - a bullet whizzed right past his head - he has young dcs to think of.

Why are they our responsibility? They went there of their own volition and for their own reasons.

Inkblue, it was RAF aircraft using an airfield elsewhere in the country.

They are supposed to be UK citizens, that should count for something? though i expect the reasons why the UK wont help and was very slow off the mark, is due to the colour of their skin.

Err. probably just ever so slightly, at least for scheduled operations.

https://samchui.com/2023/04/15/khartoum-airport-closed-and-multiple-aircraft-destroyed/#.ZEY6qHbP25c

And from the navigation warnings world (via Eurocontrol), paraphrasing their text to avoid tech speak:

"On behalf of Sudan CAA, due to security reasons navigation services within all of Khartoum's airspace and above 24500' over Southern Sudan is not available"

FWIW at least one British airline ordered one of their flights heading for somewhere in southern Africa to turn back when over southern Egypt a few days back to avoid overflying Khartoum airspace as soon as news got out that this had all kicked off.

I was trying to be diplomatic rather than point out the obvious in facetious way …

YANBU. They probably will get some help but they are not priority and rightly so.

Because the government website literally states that in a crisis support will be given up to and including emergency repatriation flights in exceptional circumstances. So I guess the issue is what counts as an exceptional circumstance. Personally I’d think the current situation counts especially as people did not travel against government advice

Uk govt. looks crap as so many other countries are evacuating their citizens including Saudis, UAE, Jordon, Ireland, US, France, Germany etc - but UK has form for this sort of thing. It's embassy staff are ''first'' and ''only''. Even though consulates are supposed to be abroad to help their own citizens as that's their job. Disgrace.

This. They are UK citizens so have protections from the UK govt. I don't mind taxpayer money being spent on this. If I or someone I love was in that situation I would want them helped out of it, regardless of whatever reason they went there in the first place.

Umm ... looks like my diplomacy detector wasn't up and running this AM.

Not sure where facetious comes into it but hopefully the background factual info will be of interest to some.

Why are smokers dying of lung cancer our responsibility? - They could just not smoke.
Should we not spend taxpayer money on the NHS?
Why are poor single parents our responsibility? - They could just not have children.
Should we not give them benefits?

Come off it. You are part of a country that is bigger than you.

It seems like part of the problem in the case of Sudan is that some British citizens were told to prepare for evacuation. Some have declined alternative options awaiting this so now are left worse off. This is completely unacceptable.
https://twitter.com/drjavida/status/1650354901581438978?s=46&t=Lmd6rsGs2S-Kkl6NWQiJ-A

What about if there was an earthquake or other natural disaster like the Boxing Day tsunami? Consular assistance services are to help citizens stranded abroad for whatever reason, except I would imagine drug smuggling. They are outposts of homeland government.

Because it's not a race to the bottom.

Governments shouldn't just do the bare legal minimum for those they sent to that country and then shrug at the rest of them.

If you were working in another country, and then a war broke out and you were terrified and in danger, and there were literally no flights or safe way to an airport to get out, you would turn to your government to help you and in any non-distopian world you should be offered it.