TIG Post

Tag: British nationals

  • Niger: First evacuees from the UK land safely in France

    Niger: First evacuees from the UK land safely in France

    The first British nationals to be airlifted out of Niger have safely reached Paris.

    Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, reported that 14 Britons were on the French flight on Wednesday.

    A “very small number of British nationals” were still present, according to the Foreign Office.

    Following the military coup last week, violence has erupted in the nation of west Africa.

    Countries like France and Italy have booked flights for their own nationals, some of whom were also relocated from other nations.

    As of yet, the UK has not organised its own flights.

    The UK government had earlier recommended British citizens to keep indoors and report their locations.

    Less than 100 Britons were thought to be present in Niger.

    Those who had asked to leave Niger and had been able to get to the airport in time for this flight were the first to be evacuated.

    The UK ambassador and a core team remain in Niger to support the extremely limited number of British nationals who are still there, according to a statement from the Foreign Office. We are appreciative to the French for helping with this evacuation.

    “Our advice continues to be if you’re there and need assistance getting out, get in touch with the embassy,” said Mr. Dowden. “We still have staff on the ground and we will work to provide that assistance.”

    The government has announced a temporary staff reduction at its embassy in Niamey, the capital of Niger. Additionally, the US has instructed all non-emergency employees at its embassy to depart.

    German nationals in Niger, who are also believed to number less than 100, have been asked to board French-organized flights out of the country, while the Spanish government has announced that it is evacuating about 70 of its residents.

    On Wednesday, while visiting three African nations, including Nigeria, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly declared: “The UK government’s priority remains the safety of British nationals and helping them get out of the country to safety.”

    The French embassy has come under attack as a result of protests against France, the previous colonial power in Niger, that have been sparked by the coup.

    Early on Wednesday, 262 travellers from Niger landed in Paris, while Italy also booked a flight, which brought 87 refugees to Rome.

    According to the Reuters news agency, the aircraft was carrying 36 Italians, 21 Americans, and one British citizen.

    The uranium-rich nation of Niger has been a crucial ally of the West in the struggle against Islamic extremism in the Sahel. There are military outposts for both France and the US.

    Since Niger’s independence in 1960, President Mohamed Bazoum has been the first democratically elected head of state. Last week, his guards held him.

    In the event that the president is not freed and put back in office within a week, the west African regional organisation Ecowas has threatened to deploy force.

    However, military organisations in Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso, three nearby former French colonies, issued warnings that any forcible action would be seen as a declaration of war.

    There are worries that Niger’s new government may turn away from its Western friends and towards Russia, similar to how Burkina Faso and Mali have done following their own military coups.

    Three months ago, airlifts were coordinated out of Sudan as a result of conflict there between rival factions.

    While the flimsy ceasefire held, a negotiated short-term ceasefire permitted UK evacuation flights to depart from an airport near Khartoum, and about 2,341 individuals were transported to safety on 28 UK flights.

  • Two missing British men in Ukraine – Officials say

    Two missing British men in Ukraine – Officials say

    As reported by Ukrainian police, two British nationals have vanished in the country’s eastern Donetsk region.

    The two men, 48-year-old Andrew Bagshaw and 28-year-old Christopher Parry, were volunteering, according to the police, and were last seen on Friday travelling to the town of Soledar, where there had been frequent fights.

    The Foreign Office stated that it was “supporting the families”.

    According to Mr. Bagshaw’s parents, they “love him dearly” and are “immensely proud of all the work he has been doing.”

    Since Friday, communication with the two men has been completely cut off.

    Mr. Parry, who is from Truro in Cornwall, recently assisted residents of Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region in their evacuation as part of his humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

    He mentioned having a “drive to help, as the people here are so lovely” while speaking to BBC Cornwall over the holidays from Ukraine.

    As he spent time close to the front line, he talked about the “continuous” bombardment and coming into contact with a drone “within about 10 metres of my face.”

    The Cheltenham resident Mr Parry discussed how to raise money for vehicle repairs, petrol and equipment to aid evacuate civilians in his internet crowdfunding page. He also provided examples of how to assist children and families in leaving the front line.

    His parents described the work he has been doing as “delivering food and medicines and assisting elderly people move from near the battlefront of the war” in a statement given to the media in New Zealand, where Mr. Bagshaw resides.

    The Bakhmut police department reported receiving a missing person’s report at 17:15 local time on Saturday and issued a request for any information that would assist in locating the two males.

    The men were in Kramatorsk, where there had recently been rumours of strikes.

    They were last spotted travelling towards Soledar, a tiny village in the east. After a protracted conflict with Ukrainian forces, the UK’s Ministry of Defence stated on Tuesday that Russia was “likely” in charge of the majority of Soledar.

    As the war enters its eleventh month, the British Foreign Office has issued an advisory against any travel to Ukraine due to recent attacks on a number of different cities.

    The document states that there is a “real risk to life” and advises British nationals who are still in Ukraine to leave right away.

    oing missing or being taken prisoner in Ukraine.

    Five British citizens who were being held by forces with Russian support in September last year were freed after Saudi Arabia claimed to have arranged for the exchange of 10 detainees between Russia and Ukraine.

    This meant that after being detained for months, Aiden Aslin, John Harding, Dylan Healy, Andrew Hill, and Shaun Pinner could all go back to their homes.

  • British nationals murdered in Ethiopian air crash

    British nationals murdered in Ethiopian air crash

    Boeing’s “greed” that prioritised profits over safety “stole” the lives of three British nationals died in a jet disaster, an inquest has found.

    On March 10, 2019, six minutes after taking off from Addis Abeba in Ethiopia, flight ET302 crashed, killing all 149 on board as well as eight crew members.

    In Horsham, West Sussex, an inquest into the deaths of three British passengers — Joanna Toole, 36; Samuel Pegram, 25; and Oliver Vick, 45 — got under way earlier today.

    Their families have called upon the coroner to record a verdict of unlawful killing, saying Boeing played ‘Russian roulette’ with people’s lives.

    The ET302 crash happened less than five months after another Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed into the Java Sea in October 2018, killing 189 people.

    The two crashes caused a two-year worldwide grounding of the Max 8. The manufacturer was charged with conspiracy to defraud the US in January 2021.

    It’s alleged some software was concealed from regulators during the certification process, and that software has since been blamed for both the Ethiopia and Java Sea crashes.

    A delay in the publication of the Air Accident Investigations Branch’s (AAIB) report into the crash meant the families have waited more than four years for answers.

    The report found there was no fault on behalf of the pilots, no impact to the aircraft from striking birds or any other external event.

    Speaking at the inquest, Samuel’s father Mark Pegrim said: ‘How he was lost and that it should have been avoided makes it harder to bear.

    ‘People who were responsible just carry on with their lives.

    ‘The dishonesty and deceit they have shown is the complete opposite of Sam’s values.’

    Mr Pegrim said they wanted to bring justice for all of the families on board the flight.

    ‘It was designed with fatal flaws,’ he added. ‘Boeing then continued to fly after the first crash.

    ‘This should not have happened – too many lives have been lost.

    ‘I urge you to reach a verdict of unlawful killing. They were not just negligent but broke the law.

    ‘Boeing lost their way – for profit, corners were cut, warnings were ignored and authorities and airlines were deceived.’

    Samuel’s mum Deborah added: ‘Boeing played Russian roulette with people’s lives and they should be held responsible for the deaths.’

    Loved ones of Joanna Toole, of Exmouth, Devon, described her as someone who loved animals and ‘really cared and was very passionate about conservation’.

    Her dad Adrian Toole said: ‘All her potential was cut short. I am sure evidence will convince you it was no accident.

    ‘It was a disaster that happened in a faraway place – but shows another crash was inevitable. And another Max 8 could have come down in the UK.’

    Joanna was employed to represent the UN and her family said her life’s ambition was to improve the lives of animals.

    Mr Toole added: ‘She had a rare combination of empathy for both animals and people.

    ‘The death of a child is like losing a part of yourself and I started dying on March 10, 2019.

    ‘The 149 passengers killed were not a typical cross section of travellers.

    ’22 of the dead were associated with the UN and nine were working in other humanitarian areas.

    ‘It was a disaster that went beyond personal tragedy and set back all the good work those people were engaged in.’

    Oliver Vick’s mother Cheryl, of Wargrave, Berkshire, said the family had flown ‘without fear’ for several generations and always subscribed to the statistics that flying was the safest form of travel.

    She added: ‘Boeing betrayed them, four generations of trust. And betrayed everyone on those flights.’

    She accused those responsible of ‘deliberately’ putting profit above safety and for causing what she described as a ‘devastating and avoidable crash’.

    She said her son was ‘stolen from us by Boeing fraud and a deep betrayal of the world’s flying public’.

    Paying tribute, she described Oliver as a devoted father and said his death had left their world ‘a sadder, emptier place’.

    She added: ‘He was a sure believer it was possible to make the world a better place to improve the lives of people near and afar.

    ‘He had an unwavering focus on making the world a better place for as many people as possible.

    ‘We are so proud of the man our boy became. The grief, shock and horror will always be with us.

    ‘No day can ever be the same again without my beautiful boy.’

    The inquest continues.

  • It is ‘hide and seek’ in Sudan – father tells children

    It is ‘hide and seek’ in Sudan – father tells children

    As their home in Sudan got caught up in a gunfire, a father pretended to his kids that they were playing “hide and seek” as they dove for shelter.

    In the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, Munzir Salman’s family was at home when two military factions who are currently engaged in combat began firing at each other from opposite sides of their home.

    I was in the center, the 37-year-old claimed. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the first time I’ve heard gunfire around me, and it was horrifying.

    I had to maintain my composure for my three children because I am a single parent. I had to explain to them that it was a game, so I described it as a game of hide-and-seek.

    ‘It was an experience they had never been through before, it was very scary but I tried to make it a game for them.

    ‘I explained the danger before trying to make it like Tom and Jerry where the people outside were Tom and we were Jerry.’

    Munzir, a British-Sudanese builder with dual citizenship, told his story while waiting to fly to the UK via Cyprus.

    British-Sudanese dad shows gunshot damage to his home caught in the fighting

    British nationals have faced dangerous journeys to the Wadi Saeedna airstrip in the hopes of being able to board an evacuation flight out of the country.

    Eight flights were expected to have left by the end of Wednesday to lift people to safety as the military races against time to rescue citizens while a fragile ceasefire holds.

    British nationals have faced dangerous journeys to the Wadi Saeedna airstrip in the hopes of being able to board an evacuation flight out of the country.

    Eight flights were expected to have left by the end of Wednesday to lift people to safety as the military races against time to rescue citizens while a fragile ceasefire holds.

    Foreign secretary James Cleverly told UK nationals on Tuesday that they must make their own way to the airstrip.

    Munzir, whose wife died in 2020, had to take the trip with three children, 11-year-old Siddig, eight-year-old Shaden and six-year-old Yasmin.

    It was only 20 miles from the family’s house to the airstrip but the violence around them meant they travelled 60 miles to get there.

    The dad added: ‘It was hard to explain to the children that it’s a dangerous journey.

    ‘The first part was that the RSF were trying to spot us as we travelled through neighbourhoods. They spotted us four times but because they saw I had children they let us go.’

    The first British evacuees from Sudan touched down on home soil at Stansted Airport at around 2.24pm this afternoon after taking off from Cyprus this morning. Around 100 people were counted off the plane.

    According to the government’s own estimates, there are at least 2,000 UK nationals in Sudan, though there have been suggestions the number could be above 4,000.

    What you need to know about the war in Sudan

    How did the war start?

    The current fighting is the result of a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

    The paramilitary group, which was originally created by dictator Omar al-Bashir to crush a rebellion in the western region of Darfur, cooperated with the army to overthrow the autocrat in 2019.

    This was supposed to precede Sudan’s transition to a democratic government, a move backed by western nations.

    The north African country saw more than two years of power-sharing between the military and civilian leaders but a coup brought this to an end in October 2021.

    Sudan was left with the army’s general, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, as Sudan’s de facto ruler and the RSF’s general Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, as vice-president.

    What sparked the recent escalation?

    The Sudanese people and the international community continued to push for a new transition to democracy after the coup.

    The plan was to get Sudan to a point where civilian parties would have control over the military, which the RSF would be dissolved into.

    But there has long been tension surrounding the details of this arrangement, namely the proposed timeline – the army wanted the integration complete in two years but the RSF insisted on waiting 10.

    Nevertheless, negotiations looked hopeful with a final deal due to be signed earlier this month, before a new phase of fighting broke out on April 15.

    The army pointed the finger at the RSF for mobilising troops to key strategic sites in the capital of Khartoum and the RSF claimed it was just responding to the army’s alleged plot to seize full power with Bashir loyalists.

    What now?

    More than 420 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded since the conflict escalated, according to Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health.

    Paramedics, frontline nurses and doctors have told the Wold Health Organisation they are often unable to reach the wounded because of attacks on ambulances and health facilities.

    Some 20 hospitals are no longer functional and 12 others are at risk due to lack of medical supplies and health care workers.

    Multiple countries, including the UK, are working on evacuation plans for its citizens with the Government promising to prioritise the vulnerable ‘starting with family groups with children, the elderly or people with documented medical conditions’.

    World leaders have urged the two warring generals to de-escalate the violence and return to negotiations.