UK Home Office 'tells Sudanese citizens told to collect passports from Kenya'

The UK Home Office has told several Sudanese citizens trying to flee the country to collect their physical passports from other countries, including South Africa and Kenya.

On Sunday, it was reported that several Sudanese citizens who had their passports stored at the British Embassy in Khartoum have received emails that they must collect their passports from Nairobi, Kenya. 

Some Sudanese citizens are also reportedly being told to go to Pretoria in South Africa to get their passport - over 3800 miles away from Khartoum - but that their application for a UK visa will be cancelled should they do so.

The UK Home Office has recently been under fire by human rights groups for failing to organise safe and legal routes to the UK for people fleeing Sudan, as they did with those fleeing Ukraine. 

“It is clear that any shred of compassion for Black and Brown refugees has well and truly disappeared.”

We spoke to @TownsendMark about the racist treatment of Sudanese refugees + the UK’s segregated refugee system👇🏽 https://t.co/uoJcuN0tHW

— Migrants' Rights Network (@migrants_rights) May 7, 2023

While 300,000 visas were issued for Ukrainians - including 94,000 for a family reunification scheme and 193,000 for its home sponsorship scheme - no such safe passages have been announced for Sudanese citizens fleeing the country. 

A document from the UK Home Office to Sudanese citizens awaiting their travel documents stated: “If required, we are able to provide you with a letter confirming that your passport is securely stored at the VAC in Nairobi”. 

The email also said that it could provide “a digital copy of your passport, that you can use in support of travel out of Sudan to another location”.

The New Arab contacted the Home Office for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

BREAKING - The Home Office is emailing Sudanese citizens whose passport was at the British Embassy in Khartoum at the outbreak of hostiles to say that their passport is in Nairobi, Kenya, and that they must collect it there.

They offer to provide a digital copy of it to allow… pic.twitter.com/1PFKAxzey4

— Alex Tiffin (@RespectIsVital) May 7, 2023

The final evacuation flight from Khartoum to the UK departed last week, further limiting the options for fleeing persecution for Sudanese people.

There have been several reports since the evacuation that families were separated amidst confusion, with only a select few being allowed to board the aircraft. 

Last week, The Guardian reported that families were presented with “a choice about whether to split up and allow their children to fly to safety or to stay together in a war zone”. 

British officials in Sudan presented families with terrible choices based on their citizenship or passport status: Split up and allow their children to fly to safety, or stay together in a war zone.

My piece for @guardian https://t.co/ddMvyRfKTI

— Ruth Michaelson (@msrmichaelson) May 4, 2023

It is not yet clear why certain cases have been treated differently, nor is there any sign of an announcement outlining an effective scheme scheme to provide safe passages to Sudanese people.