EXCLUSIVE: British ambassador to Sudan was on holiday as crisis hit

EXCLUSIVE: British ambassador to Sudan emerges from London home and reveals he was on holiday when crisis erupted and it was ‘too dangerous to return’

• British ambassador to Sudan Giles Lever emerged from his London home today 
• He tried to assure stranded Britons every effort is being made to evacuate them 

The British Ambassador to Sudan emerged from his London home today to assure stranded Britons that every effort was being made to evacuate them to safety.

Wearing a fleece and jeans, Giles Lever, who has experience of defying the Taliban while he was stationed in Kabul, said he had returned to Britain for a holiday from Khartoum and circumstances forced him to stay on and help from London.

Speaking outside his home in leafy Wimbledon, Mr Lever told MailOnline: ‘I came back here for a scheduled holiday at Easter and have been unable to return. I had been working solidly on the problems in Sudan for three months before I left.

‘I hadn’t seen my wife at Christmas and my holiday was approved by my boss. But I cannot get back there.

‘But it is incorrect to say that the embassy had been abandoned. There was a very senior diplomat, my deputy, in charge while I took leave.’

Giles Lever, the UK’s ambassador to Sudan, pictured outside his London Home

The Indonesian Embassy in central Khartoum is now the scene of a damaged battle-ground

READ MORE: WHAT IS HAPPENING IN SUDAN? OUR Q&A EXPLAINS IT ALL

Mr Lever said he had been working 20-hour days since his return liaising with the Foreign Office and other officials to help those Britons stranded.

‘It is a war zone there and no way I can return because there isn’t a means to get into Khartoum with the airport being decommissioned.’

He denied his own safety or that of diplomatic colleagues, had been given precedence over that of fellow Britons.

‘It is physically impossible to work from there or even get back there.

He added: ‘There are people working around the clock to get British people out and to safety.

‘I have been working in the crisis centre and talking to Ministers.

 ‘If you go into the crisis centre you will find people there at 2am and at any time making efforts to organise evacuations.’

A diplomatic source said the situation in Khartoum had become ‘extremely dangerous‘ for Britons

and people from other nations with British troops expected to land in Sudan within days.

Foreign nations pushed on April 24 with frantic evacuations of their citizens from chaos-torn Sudan, where heavy fighting raged for a 10th day

Passengers from Sudan disembark from a Spanish Air Force aircraft at Torrejon Air Base in Madrid

Turkish citizens to be brought to Turkiye wait to complete official proceedings at Metema border gate

A diplomatic source said the situation in Khartoum had become ‘extremely dangerous‘ for Britons

and people from other nations with British troops expected to land in Sudan within days.

‘Even the official residence of the Ambassador is dangerous as a bomb hit his home and landed in the garden after he had left on holiday.

‘There are fears that it could explode and it would be dangerous to be there. These are very worrying times.

‘It is not correct to say diplomats have put their own safety first. This is a crisis which is being dealt with through expertise and experience.

‘The personal safety and health of British people on Sudan is of prime importance.’

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