An operation to evacuate people from Sudan has been “extremely successful”, a UK government minister has said, as that country ended its evacuation operation.

Some 1,888 British nationals have been rescued from Sudan, the government said.

The UK Foreign Office said the last flight left the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, at 22:00 local time (21:00 BST) on Saturday, the BBC reports.

“We can’t stay there forever in such dangerous circumstances,” said UK Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell.

A 72-hour ceasefire broke down on Saturday, with armed factions stepping up their battle for the capital, the BBC reports.

Bombers and heavy artillery are targeting parts of Khartoum, while the Sudanese army claimed it was attacking the city in all directions to try to drive out the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Meanwhile, a joint statement on Saturday from Nigeria’s ministries of Foreign Affairs, as well as Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, said Nigerian evacuees are currently in Egypt but will land in the country at a yet unstipulated time.

“In the time being, the first batch of Nigerian evacuees who have arrived at Aswan are expected to be airlifted to Nigeria in the coming hours by the Nigerian Air Force and Air Peace airline, who have been on standby for the operations,” the statement read.

The statement signed by the Foreign Affairs Amb. Janet Olisa and Nasir Sani-Gwarzo of the Humanitarian Ministry said over 600 Nigerian evacuees from the Sudan have been taken to Egypt and that more were expected to join them Saturday.

“The ministers noted that the first batch of 13 buses conveying 637 evacuees had arrived at the identified safe borders at Aswan, Egypt, and are undergoing necessary documentation and clearance before admission into the Egyptian territory for their eventual evacuation to Nigeria,” it added.

“The movement of the second batch of 29 buses will commence on Saturday, 29th April 2023.”

Equally, they dismissed the outcry over the $1.2m earmarked by the Federal Government for the evacuation process.

“The outcry over the negotiated sum of $1.2 million for the buses hired for the exercise is uncalled for,” the Federal Government noted. “The amount in question was negotiated in a condition of war and where there are competing demands for same bus services by other countries also trying to evacuate their citizens.”