Babak Belurs

Kamis, 27 April 2023

Teachers across Derby and Derbyshire picket schools in fifth day of strike action - Derbyshire Live

Teachers were once again taking to the picket lines outside schools across Derby and Derbyshire this morning in pursuit of better pay and conditions. Members of the National Education Union (NEU) have been taking part in their fifth day of strike action and a sixth is due to take place on Tuesday (May 2).

Waving placards and acknowledging the car horns sounding from passing motorists, teachers were gathered outside many of Derby's main secondary schools - Allestree Woodlands, Bemrose School, Chellaston Academy, Lees Brook Academy, Littleover Community School, St Benedict Catholic Academy and Landau Forte College. Schools from the north of the county in Glossop and Chesterfield to the south in the Swadlincote area also took part in the action.

Once again it has meant thousands of pupils, particularly those in the year groups seven to 10 have found themselves at home studying online if lessons have been provided and if they have access to computers. Secondary schools with limited staff numbers have concentrated on trying to hold classes in person for essential year groups 11 and 13, who are about to take their crucial GCSE and A-level results, respectively.

Teachers on the picket line at Bemrose School were in a defiant mood saying they would continue striking as long as it takes to “get an offer from the Government in line with inflation and fully funded”. Mollie Selby, who teaches geography and sociology, said that teachers in England could not understand why they had been offered less money than their counterparts in Scotland and Wales.

She said: “Are we worth less - we came into this profession to teach children and protect them and the way we have been treated is insulting. We want any pay offer to not come from school funds or there is no point.”

RE teacher Hannah Saul added: “Support for this strike is growing. We have more and different teachers on the picket line and also more parents are behind us contrary to what is being said in the media.

"We need the tools to teach and funding needs to improve in schools so we can do our jobs properly. It’s a hard decision to strike but one we feel we have to do.”

The blame for the strike situation is being laid by NEU bosses at the door of Education Secretary Gillian Keegan. They claim the issue is far wider than pay. Nick Raine, NEU senior regional officer, said: "She is failing to address the multiple problems damaging our children's education - around teacher recruitment and retention problems, and inadequate school funding.

"She is refusing to return to the negotiating table. It is this inaction, this silence which has left NEU teacher members in England’s schools and sixth form colleges to reluctantly take two more days of national strike action."

Unions want above-inflation increases, plus extra money to ensure any pay rises do not come from schools' existing budgets. Most state school teachers in England had a 5% pay rise last year. The independent pay review body has recommended a 3% rise from this September.

After the February strike, the Government made a new pay offer for school teachers, which included a £1,000 one-off payment and a 4.3% pay rise for most staff in September. The starting salary for teachers in England is also due to rise to £30,000 a year by September.

The Department for Education described it as a "fair and reasonable offer" and said that schools would receive an extra £2.3bn over the next two years.

But all four unions involved in the dispute rejected the offer, including the NEU, said it was still not fully funded, meaning schools would have had to make cuts elsewhere to afford it. Ms Keegan has said that the offer is no longer on the table, so the decision will now be made by the independent pay review body.

Once the picket line duty was over, teachers were heading for a regional rally starting at The Spot in Derby and marching to Cathedral Green for speakers, stalls, music and food.

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2023-04-27 07:35:07Z
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Sudan: Now is the time for British nationals to move, urges foreign secretary - BBC

Ministry of Defence handout of British evacuation missions from Sudan

By Andre Rhoden-Paul & James Gregory

BBC News

British nationals who want to leave Sudan have been told "now is the time to move" by the foreign secretary.

James Cleverly said the UK government cannot know what will happen when the ceasefire ends on Thursday at midnight local time (22:00 GMT).

He said people have been able to reach the airfield north of capital Khartoum "in good order" for evacuation, with help from the Sudanese army.

The UK has airlifted 536 people from the east African country.

However, that is a fraction of the thousands of British nationals thought to be in the country.

Mr Cleverly told the BBC he was not able to give an exact number on how many British citizens were currently in Sudan, but urged those who wanted to leave to do so before the ceasefire ends.

"Now is the time to move. We have the aircraft, we have the capacity," he told BBC Breakfast.

"But none of us know what will happen after the ceasefire ends tonight."

Sudan evacuation remains a race against time

The evacuation route from Khartoum to the airfield is being facilitated by the Sudanese army, he added.

"People are successfully getting to the airbase," he said. "It's distressing of course, but they are getting there in good order."

Mr Cleverly said it was not helpful to compare the UK's evacuation response with that of other nations, adding that many British nationals living in Khartoum were widely distributed around the city.

"Where a country has a community which is tightly located - an ex-pat bubble - it is much easier to evacuate en masse," he said.

He said that attempts by some countries to provide support on the route from Khartoum to the airfield had been "prohibitively difficult".

Mr Cleverly has warned there are no guarantees further evacuation flights will leave Sudan once the ceasefire has ended.

"What we do know is it will be much, much harder - potentially impossible," he said.

The 72-hour truce, agreed by Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), began on Tuesday and is due to end on Thursday night.

The US said it was in direct contact with the two warring generals to see if the ceasefire could be extended. The Sudanese army said it was willing to send a representative to talks about extending the truce, but there has been no response from the RSF.

Since fighting erupted on 15 April, the country has been gripped by a power struggle that has seen at least 512 people killed, according to the Sudanese health ministry.

Meanwhile in the UK, the first flight from Larnaca airport in Cyprus - where evacuees were flown from Sudan - landed at Stansted Airport on Wednesday. There were 250 people on board.

Emotions ran high as among arrivals, following a treacherous journey which started when they left their homes and made their own way to an airstrip north of Khartoum under the control of British troops.

"The British government has been marvellous - I feel very proud that I have made it here," Nemar, from west London, told reporters.

"We're safe. We're in no danger - I'm back and no longer scared," said Shama.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has called the UK's response too slow, accusing the government of "being asleep at the wheel".

Mr Cleverly defended the pace of the UK's evacuation response, telling BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, "we wanted to ensure we didn't put British nationals into increased danger".

"There is a risk to staying put; there is also a risk to moving around in the middle of a conflict," he said.

More than 2,000 British nationals in Sudan have registered with the Foreign Office under evacuation plans.

Only British passport holders and immediate family members with existing UK entry clearance are eligible for evacuation.

But Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said elderly people who are dependent on their children - who themselves have British status - should also be admitted to the UK.

She told the BBC: "In the same way we treat children who are dependent on their parents, we should respect that some elderly people are dependent on their children.

"I think it is important that we are bringing people out who would otherwise be left destitute and really vulnerable."

The foreign secretary said Sudanese nationals without travel documents were being blocked at checkpoints by the Sudanese army.

"Where we have families where a British national has a Sudanese national as a spouse or extended family, it makes the extraction more complicated," said Mr Cleverly.

Addressing MPs on Thursday, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy urged "swift action" to allow British nationals to travel with their close Sudanese family members - with reports some are being excluded from safe passage.

Downing Street has said that eligibility requirements had been set out "very clearly" and had not changed, but that there was "an element of discretion" for those working on the ground in Sudan.

"We obviously empower people on the ground to make decisions," the prime minister's official spokesman said.

Other evacuation routes out of Sudan are also being worked on. According to tracking websites, HMS Lancaster has arrived at Port Sudan, nearly 500 miles from Khartoum on the Red Sea. But with UK nationals being told to make their own way to departure points, any potential evacuations from there would be complicated by fuel shortages and the volume of people on the roads.

On Thursday, Downing Street said there were no current plans to create a specific resettlement scheme for those fleeing the country.

Meanwhile, the UK has been accused of delaying Germany's efforts to evacuate its citizens from Sudan with its own mission to rescue British embassy staff at the weekend.

The UK Ministry of Defence has denied it was responsible for any delay. The foreign secretary said he would look into Germany's claims.

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Rabu, 26 April 2023

Met chief clashes with senior Tory amid furious scenes in Commons - The Guardian

A senior Conservative attacked the honesty and competence of the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, in furious scenes at a Commons committee, while the police chief denounced the “pillorying” of his force.

Lee Anderson MP, the deputy chair of the Tory party, accused Rowley of not being “very honest” and claimed he was bungling his job. Rowley denounced the “personally offensive” attacks and accused Anderson of not knowing the law.

The clashes came during a session of the home affairs committee and a month after a damning report by Louise Casey that found Britain’s biggest force to be riddled with prejudice and incompetence.

Another Tory MP, James Daly, accused Rowley of previously being part of the senior leadership that had turned a “blind eye” to the “negligence” and “incompetence” that plunged the Met into its current deep crisis and left it a “national disgrace”.

The critical comments are a warning sign that the patience Rowley says he needs to turn the Met around may have run out among some lawmakers.

Rowley became commissioner in September 2022, having retired in 2018 after a career in several forces. He first joined the Met in 2011 as an assistant commissioner.

Anderson, who under Rishi Sunak became deputy chair of the Tory party, asked Rowley whether he had seen instances of racism, homophobia and misogyny during his career.

The commissioner said he “had always been tough” on standards and when pressed for an example, said he could not recall a specific one, leading Anderson to say: “You must have walked around with your eyes closed.” Things deteriorated from there.

“It would appear you are in denial,” Anderson said.

Rowley pleaded for support from politicians for his reform efforts, but Anderson said: “You’ve got to be honest. To sit there and say you can’t remember when you’ve witnessed these incidents, I don’t think that is very honest at all.” Rowley replied: “People don’t misbehave in front of senior officers in that way.”

Pressed more, he did admit to seeing incidents that “weren’t fit for today’s standards”, but declined to give detail.

Worse was to come as Anderson accused the commissioner of being too lax on protesters outside parliament, with each accusing the other of not understanding the law.

Anderson said Britain’s top officer – originally from inner-city Birmingham – should leave his “ivory tower”, and went on to say: “You might want to believe, commissioner, that you’re doing your job correctly, but I don’t think you are. I feel like I’m wasting my time with you.

“Five years out of the force … There’s probably people listening to this today [who] wish it was a lot longer, and I’m one of them.”

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Rowley interrupted: “I’m not going to sit here, if you want to be personally offensive then write it in newspapers … but I’m not going to answer these questions.”

Rowley also said: “We have made much progress over the last few decades … but it is not enough. And we are doubling down on standards, more ferociously than has been done for five decades.

“But the vast majority of our people are good people and the debate which turns this into pillory of the police root and branch is not something I’m going to accept.”

Some will see the clashes as a symptom of a more brutish Conservative party, others as forceful attempts to stop Rowley dodging fair questions.

A series of disastrous scandals becoming public this year have not menaced Rowley’s grip on the commissionership so far, since he argued he was in post to lead the clean-up.

But the personal nature of the criticism suggests some in the Conservative party are not buying it, raising the prospect that the committee’s report may be troubling for Rowley.

These were some of the most bitter scenes a Met chief has faced at the hands of MPs in recent memory. A Met chief’s evidence about phone hacking was derided by MPs in 2011, some of whom laughed openly.

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2023-04-26 16:07:00Z
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Andrew Bridgen kicked out of Conservative party after Holocaust vaccines tweet - Evening Standard

The North West Leicestershire MP lost the Tory whip earlier this year for making the controversial comments.

But he has now been thrown out as an ordinary member of the party.

A Tory spokesman said: “Mr Bridgen was expelled from the Conservative Party on April 12 following the recommendation of a disciplinary panel."

He has until May 12 to appeal the decision.

Mr Bridgen claimed his expulsion was “under false pretences”.

He said he would still be standing as a candidate at the next election, fuelling speculation that he could join Laurence Fox's Reclaim Party.

“Above all else this is an issue of freedom of speech,” Mr Bridgen said.

“No elected Member of Parliament should ever be penalised for speaking on behalf of their constituents and those who have no such voice or platform.

“As a vocal critic of the vaccine rollout amongst other issues such as net zero, illegal immigration, and political corruption the Party has been sure to make an example of me.

“I am grateful for my newfound freedom and will continue to fight for justice, speech, and liberty. I will continue to serve my constituents as I was elected to do and intend to stand again at the next election."

Earlier this year, Mr Bridgen tweeted: “We know the ‘vaccines’ are causing serious harms and now it’s becoming increasingly clear how they are doing it. No wonder so many people are ill since vaccination.

“As one consultant cardiologist said to me this is the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust."

Sharing a news article about the rise in excess deaths Britain is seeing as the NHS battles staffing shortages and strikes, he wrote: "Is the failure of the NHS also responsible for the current excess deaths in all other countries that administered the gene therapy mRNA ‘vaccines’?"

More than 650,000 deaths were registered in the UK last year- 9 per cent more than 2019.

NHS delays, an increase in flu cases and the aftermaths of the pandemic have been blamed for the rise.

Mr Bridgen's comments were condemned by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former Health Secretary Matt Hancock

He was also suspended from the House of Commons earlier this year over his “careless and cavalier attitude” to lobbying rules and suggesting the woman investigating him could be bribed with a peerage.

He made multiple approaches to ministers and public officials on behalf of Mere Plantations, a UK-based reforestation company with forests in Ghana, for which he was initially paid £12,000 a year as an adviser, a report by the Standards Committee found.

It stated that Mr Bridgen then attempted to influence Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone during her investigation by claiming he heard a “rumour” she would only receive a peerage if she ruled against him because he was an outspoken critic of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

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2023-04-26 13:06:07Z
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Selasa, 25 April 2023

Murdoch firm ‘paid secret phone-hacking settlement to Prince William’ - The Guardian

Rupert Murdoch’s media business secretly paid Prince William a “very large sum of money” to quietly settle a phone-hacking claim, according to new court filings.

The Prince of Wales received the previously undisclosed payment in 2020 after bringing a legal claim against the owner of the Sun and the News of the World.

Details of the settlement were given in legal documents submitted by his brother, Prince Harry, as part of his own legal battle with the publisher, which returns to the high court on Tuesday.

Harry told the court his attempts to seek an apology from Murdoch’s company over phone hacking were carried out with the approval of his grandmother the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The royal claims there was a secret agreement struck between royal family and “senior executives” at Murdoch’s company at some point before 2012. As part of this supposed deal the princes would delay legal proceedings against the newspaper group in return for receiving an apology at a later date.

Harry said the royal family did this after being scarred by the “Tampongate” incident when the Sun obtained a recorded phone call between Prince Charles and Camilla while the couple were having an affair in the 1980s.

Harry said the royal family was desperate to avoid a repeat of this coverage. The filings state: “The reason for this was to avoid the situation where a member of the royal family would have to sit in the witness box and recount the specific details of the private and highly sensitive voicemails that had been intercepted by [the News of the World royal reporter] Clive Goodman.

“The institution was incredibly nervous about this and wanted to avoid at all costs the sort of reputational damage that it had suffered in 1993 when the Sun and another tabloid had unlawfully obtained and published details of an intimate telephone conversation that took place between my father and stepmother in 1989, while he was still married to my mother.”

Harry says News UK failed to uphold its side of the secret agreement when he sought this apology in 2017. He claims meetings were arranged involving Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of Murdoch’s News UK, and Robert Thomson, the global head of Murdoch’s global News Corp business, but they went nowhere.

As a result, Harry decided to launch legal proceedings against the publisher of the Sun and the News of the World. He alleges the company targeted him with widespread illegal activity for much of his life, including hacking his voicemails and illegally obtaining personal information in the name of journalism. Many of Harry’s allegations relate to claims of illegal behaviour at the Sun while Brooks was editor in the 2000s. News Group Newspapers insisted there is no secret agreement.

Although News UK has admitted phone hacking took place at the News of the World, it has always maintained no wrongdoing took place at the Sun. Brooks was found not guilty of phone hacking at a criminal trial in 2014.

A spokesperson for the company said “the Sun does not accept liability or make any admissions to the allegations”, emphasising that many of Harry’s claims dated back 20 years.

Murdoch’s media empire is fighting hard to avoid being dragged into another high-profile court case, just weeks after paying more than $700m (£560m) to settle a US defamation case against Fox News. It is trying to stop Harry’s case from going to trial, arguing that he waited too long to bring the case and should have suspected he was a phone-hacking victim at an earlier date.

Claims that Murdoch’s company privately reached a settlement with Prince William was included as part of Harry’s legal case that there were secret deals between the royal family. There are no further details about what William alleged took place and whether it related to the Sun or the now defunct News of the World, which was closed down at the height of the phone-hacking scandal in 2011. A A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said it would never comment on an ongoing legal case. Kensington Palace declined to comment.

It had long been known William and Harry had been the victims of phone hacking, after Goodman was found guilty of hacking royal voicemails at a trial in 2007. At that time Murdoch’s business said Goodman was operating alone and the newspaper had been let down by a rogue reporter.

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When the Guardian revealed that in reality hacking was widespread in the News of the World newsroom, the Sunday newspaper was shut down and the scandal threatened to derail the entire company, with hundreds of victims agreeing settlement deals at a total cost of about £1bn.

Harry is now fighting three separate legal battles against three media groups, all alleging illegal activities were used to target him in the name of journalism.

Last month he turned up in person for his case against the publisher of the Daily Mail, with a judge currently considering whether that case should be allowed to go to a full trial.

A separate trial against the publisher of the Mirror and Sunday Mirror is due to start in a fortnight, with Harry set to break with royal protocol by giving evidence in the witness box.

If Harry is successful in this week’s hearing against Murdoch’s company then he is seeking damages in excess of £200,000, with a high-profile trial scheduled for January 2024.

The royal’s lawyers told the court News UK had engaged in “years of deliberate concealment, destruction of evidence, cover-up at the highest level and false denials even given under oath”.

They said: “The invasion of his personal conversations and relationships caused distress, as his privacy was constantly violated and his safety jeopardised. [Prince Harry] is appalled by the tactics used by journalists to interfere with and ruin his relationships, and feels sick knowing that these actions were conducted unlawfully.”

His lawyers said Harry was bringing the case because “crime should not be allowed to pay”.

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2023-04-25 11:13:00Z
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Hosepipe ban extended in Cornwall and Devon and won't be lifted until December 'without drought-breaking rainfall' - Sky News

A hosepipe ban has been extended to include Cornwall and new parts of Devon as the region continues to experience lower than average levels of rainfall.

South West Water (SWW) said it was taking action to "break the cycle of drought" after reservoir levels fell to their lowest recorded level last year with some water storage already lower than this time in 2022.

Around 390,000 homes will be affected by the restrictions. The ban is set to remain in place until 1 December but may be lifted "sooner" if the area receives "drought-breaking rainfall".

Confirmed breaches could result in a £1,000 fine - although the company does assure its customers this will be used as a last resort for people who "persistently ignore the rules".

The ban only applies to households not businesses, with a number of exemptions available for Blue Badge holders and households with pets like fish.

Activities covered by the ban include using hosepipes to water gardens or clean cars.

Last year, Cornwall experienced the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the region. Since then, Cornwall, Devon and the Isles of Scilly have all remained in official drought status, as declared by the Environment Agency.

In a statement on its website, SWW said: "Our water resources across the region remain under pressure and as we go into the summer period we have taken the necessary action to safeguard supplies and break the cycle of drought following lower than average levels of rainfall last year and throughout February."

The company also hopes to protect certain habitats and wildlife that rely heavily on water in the environment.

An existing hosepipe ban was only in place for Cornwall and a small part of North Devon.

Reservoir levels are recovering across the area, but still remain lower than last year.

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2023-04-25 08:48:08Z
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A British doctor was shot saving his family in Sudan. Now, he’s trapped and supplies are dwindling - The Independent

A British doctor trapped in Sudan has been shot in the leg as he “risked his life” to rescue his elderly mother, his daughter has revealed.

The doctor, who retired recently after working in the NHS for over 30 years, was visiting his family in Khartoum for Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr when fierce clashes between the country’s two top generals erupted in the city on 15 April.

His daughter and mother, who requires constant care, had been without water and electricity for five days at his brother’s house close to the airport, when he felt he had to move them to a safer place.

Speaking to The Independent, his daughter – a British doctor based in London – told how her father drove to the house at dusk last Thursday through the streets of the capital, past bodies strewn across the roads.

Calling herself Dr A to protect family in Sudan, she said: “They started shooting at the car first. My father kept going, but then he stopped because the shooting was coming from all directions.

Fire breaks out during clashes between Sudan’s military and powerful paramilitary in Khartoum

(Anadolu Agency/Getty)

“When he got out he started to feel faint. He felt an intense heat on his leg, but because of his intense fear and adrenaline, he didn’t pay attention.”

She said Sudan’s paramilitary, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), thought her father was a member of the Sudanese army because he was driving a Land Rover, a make of car often used by the national force.

He eventually convinced them he was just a medic trying to rescue his family and made it to his brother’s house, said Dr A. His second daughter – also a doctor – opened the door and noticed blood on his clothes.

They took him inside and dressed the wound, before making the dangerous journey back to the home where his mother usually lives.

Sudanese army soldiers, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, sit atop a tank in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan

(AFP/Getty)

It has been too risky for any of them to get to a pharmacy or hospital, so Dr A’s sister in Khartoum has been forced to treat him at home with some leftover antibiotics.

Dr A, who is a British-Sudanese dual national like her father and sister, said: “He was shot in the thigh, so the wound is quite superficial. But the actual car has gunshots where the headrests and backrests are. If my dad had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even a slightly different position, then he would be dead.”

Her biggest concern is her family’s dwindling supply of food and medicines, and intermittent running water and internet connection.

Dr A, who also has extended family living in Sudan, said: “Everything is chaos. The situation in the country is very desperate.”

Smoke fills the sky in Khartoum amid increasing violence and dwindling supplies

But despite the escalating violence and scant supplies, the British government and embassy has done little to help, she said.

She only spoke to someone from the Foreign Office on Saturday, a week after the fighting began, she said. Even then, they merely told her to register her family’s names on the list of people who need to be evacuated.

When Dr A asked about the plight of her grandmother who does not have dual citizenship, she was told to fill out a form but they could not guarantee a temporary visa.

This has made her family’s situation “particularly difficult” because “my dad cannot leave my grandmother”, she said.

People fleeing a street battle between the forces of two rival Sudanese generals are transported on the back of a truck in Khartoum

(AFP/Getty)

Dr A called the Foreign Office again on Monday morning and she said they did not know what was going to happen.

Up to 4,000 UK citizens are believed to be stranded in Sudan amid deadly street fighting and a shortage of food, water and electricity.

Meanwhile, British diplomats and their families were evacuated from the country in a “complex and rapid” operation overnight, said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Warships RFA Cardigan Bay and HMS Lancaster are being prepared for an evacuation from Port Sudan, according to The Times.

Passengers disembark in Madrid after fleeing Sudan on a Spanish Air Force aircraft

At the heart of the conflict are two generals: Sudanese army chief General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and RSF’s leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo who initially joined forces in a coup in 2021 just two years after the ouster of long-term autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

The pair became heads of the country’s new ruling Sovereign Council. However, tensions spilled into violence as they clashed over details of a transition agreement to civilian rule that was supposed to be signed last month and would have seen RSF forces merged into the military.

More than 400 people have already been killed and thousands injured, according to the latest tally from the World Health Organization, while there are fears the true toll is much higher.

Dr A said: “The British government should’ve had a robust plan from the beginning – don’t remove diplomats and leave everyone else not knowing what happens next.

“We’ve been let down and abandoned by the British government. It’s very frustrating and makes you quite angry. If a country can’t protect its own citizens then who will?

“My father is a hardworking man who earned his citizenship and served in the NHS throughout the dangerous time of the pandemic. It’s a testament to him that he tried to save his mother and risked his life for it.”

A government spokesperson said: “The safety of all British nationals in Sudan continues to be our utmost priority. We recognise that this is an extremely worrying and distressing situation for those trapped by the fighting.

“We are urgently exploring all routes for British nationals to leave Sudan should they wish to.

“Our advice to British nationals continues to be to stay indoors wherever possible and contact the Foreign Office to register your local and contact details.”

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2023-04-25 08:01:09Z
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Kamis, 27 April 2023

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