The final Royal Air Force flight carrying evacuees from war-torn Sudan landed at Larnaca airport on Thursday night, with the commander of the British Forces in Cyprus paying tribute to all those involved in the successful evacuation via the island.
The commander of BFC and Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) administrator Peter Squires on Friday extended the Forces’ gratitude to military and civilian personnel, as well as the government of Cyprus.
‘I’m incredibly proud of what we all achieved, thank you’ – a message from Commander @bfcyprus on the evacuation from Sudan. 🇨🇾 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/7TOQ4m3DLs
— BFCyprus (@bfcyprus) May 5, 2023
“As the UK’s operation to bring people to safety from Sudan draws down, I want to thank everyone involved, including military and civilian personnel, the families that support them, and of course our friends and partners in the Republic of Cyprus, for what has been an incredibly busy period for so many of us,” he said shortly after the final flight landed in Larnaca.
In his statement, Squires said that since the conflict began on April 15, more than 2,400 people from the UK and over 20 other nations including Cyprus, have been evacuated to safety.
“We supported Cyprus and the British High Commission in the delivery of the ESTIA plan, setting up the facilities at Larnaca airport to receive evacuees from multiple nations, supporting their welfare and onward movement,” Squires said.
“It has been a monumental effort involving every part of our organisation to some degree. The operation has epitomised collaborative working among different branches, units, services, departments and nations.”
During the operation, BFC supported over 1,500 additional military personnel, providing everything from accommodation and food to military equipment.
RAF Akrotiri also facilitated over 165 additional flights and received the first diplomatic evacuees.
Extraordinary efforts
Earlier in week, US Ambassador to Nicosia, Julie Fisher, expressed her country’s gratitude to the Republic of Cyprus and the United Kingdom for their “extraordinary efforts” to help remove people, including Americans, from Sudan.
“We are deeply grateful to our Cyprus and UK partners for their exceptional efforts helping evacuate individuals, including Americans, from Sudan,” Fisher tweeted.
“Our partnership with the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, the Defence Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the British High Commission in action in support of our citizens”.
The humanitarian rescue mechanism ESTIA was activated to evacuate third-country civilians through the island from Sudan, following a UK request.
RAF planes picked up evacuees from the airstrip and flew them to Larnaca airport, where their documentation was checked.
The RAF planes then refuelled before returning to Sudan to pick up the next batch waiting at the airstrip.
Clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group began on 15 April.
Hundreds of people have since died, and thousands have been injured in the conflict.
Airlifting large numbers of people out of Sudan has been complicated by major airports becoming battlegrounds, and movement out of the capital has been perilous.
