Zimbabwe: UK maps evacuation plan for citizens

Britain’s elite SAS commandos have conducted reconnaissance missions along Zimbabwe’s border to ready for a possible evacuation of British citizens, the Daily Telegraph newspaper said on Thursday.

Citing unidentified defence officials, the daily said military planners were finalising road and air evacuation plans for an estimated 20,000 British citizens, mostly White farmers. A Foreign Office official denied the government was moving to implement contingency plans in Zimbabwe.

The daily said the plan would involve 250 paratroopers who had been involved in a two-month training exercise with South African troops since October.

The exercise will include Royal Air Force transport aircraft, which would be used to fly British citizens from Harare airport, the officials said. Evacuations could also be made by road into South Africa. The Defence Ministry dismissed the report, saying the exercise had ‘‘nothing to do’’ with the situation in Zimbabwe.