UK begins evacuating citizens from Sudan after Germany allows use of airfield

First RAF flight leaves amid ceasefire as Britain begins belated evacuation of 2,000 trapped nationals

• Sudan crisis - latest updates

A first British evacuation flight from Sudan has landed in Cyprus after Germany gave permission for the UK to fly a plane from an airfield north of Khartoum it has been controlling to coordinate its own rescue.

Two more RAF flights were expected to leave overnight, although the numbers airlifted to safety were far fewer than the 2,000-plus Britons believed to have been trapped in the country when a civil war broke out nearly two weeks ago.