All articles tagged with #foreign office
In 2004, the UK Foreign Office advised against military action to overthrow Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, considering it not a serious option due to potential casualties and regional instability, and instead suggested re-engagement and exposing Mugabe's malpractices, with military intervention deemed unlikely and legally unsupported.
The UK government confirmed a cyber hack in October, with reports suggesting a Chinese cyber gang, Storm 1849, accessed Foreign Office data, though officials have not confirmed Chinese state involvement and are investigating the incident.
Sudanese-born NHS doctor Abdulrahman Babiker, who has a UK work permit, has been refused entry onto evacuation flights from Sudan to the UK, despite needing to return to work at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. The Foreign Office says it is prioritising British nationals, but people in Dr Babiker's situation are allowed to enter the UK but must make their own way there. Dr Babiker is one of at least 24 NHS doctors in a similar position, having been caught in Sudan while on a short trip there, many of them for the Muslim celebration of Eid.
UK citizens in Sudan have criticized their government for failing to evacuate them amid intense fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces. While hundreds of foreign nationals have already been evacuated, the UK has faced growing criticism from many of its citizens who say they have been essentially abandoned. The UK Foreign Office said over the weekend that it had managed to evacuate embassy staff from the capital Khartoum, but it is feared that hundreds of other citizens remain trapped.
Three UK citizens, including a charity worker and a traveller, are being held in Taliban custody in Afghanistan. The UK foreign office is working to secure contact with them, while a non-profit organisation, the Presidium Network, is providing support to two of the detainees. The third man is a British holidaymaker who travelled to Afghanistan despite the Taliban's return to power. The Presidium Network believes they are in good health and being well treated, and that their arrests came in relation to a misunderstanding over a licensed weapon in one of the detainee's rooms.
The German government has approved an additional €12bn ($13.01bn) worth of military support to Ukraine, including €3.2bn to be disbursed in 2023 and credit lines for the period between 2024 and 2032 amounting to some €8.8bn. The funding will allow Ukraine to directly buy armaments with the support of the German government. Germany has made available more than €14.2bn in support for Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.