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MoD works on evacuation plan for 22,000 Britons in Zimbabwe

British military commanders are reviewing contingency plans for the evacuation of up to 22,000 Britons from Zimbabwe after months of rising violence and food shortages.

The Ministry of Defence has been asked to look urgently at what logistical help it could provide amid real concerns in Whitehall about Zimbabwes slide into chaos. Diplomatic sources said that the review was focusing on a civil contingency plan, which included seeking help from neighbouring countries. There is no plan to send in troops. Military evacuation from a third country would only be used as a last resort, one source said.

Under existing plans, Britons would be advised to take routes out of Zimbabwe into South Africa and to head for a former military base at Artonvilla in Limpopo province. The MoD has been asked to consider whether it could help in the airlift of Britons from the region. The diplomatic sources said that if the MoD were unable to do so, chartered commercial aircraft would fly the evacuees to Britain.

At the last count there were between 17,500 and 22,000 British nationals still living in Zimbabwe. If there was an evacuation they would be entitled to bring their families and dependants with them, which is what happened when we evacuated British passport holders from Lebanon last year, an official said.