The British Foreign Office had “gone ballistic”, Philip said, and refused to recognise any “kangaroo court” judgement. They had a jet on standby in London to fly some lawyers down to contest the Sudanese People Liberation Army ("SPLA" aka "the rebels") if they wanted to take this all the way and use this situation to gain some sort of political leverage. He further added that since the British were one of the biggest “supporters” of the rebels, they would be wise not to bite the hand that feeds them. The immediate bad news, however, was that Philip had not actually returned to rescue us. The Foreign Office had told him to bluff the rebels out by putting pressure on them, and this meant that we would stay in their custody until they either let us go
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