Sudan fighting: Army rules out negotiations with paramilitary force rsf
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00:00 Let's cross to regional correspondent Bastien Renouil in Nairobi.
00:05 Bastien, the last couple of days we've been playing this sort of guessing game as to whether
00:10 or not ceasefires that had been announced would hold around sunset.
00:16 It's sunset on Thursday.
00:18 This time there is no suspense.
00:20 Yeah, no suspense.
00:23 There is no ceasefire today.
00:26 My contacts in Khartoum tell me that they can still hear gunshots, they can still hear
00:31 explosions.
00:32 They've seen planes and helicopters in the sky all day long bombarding some part of the
00:37 city, even some residential areas where Rapid Support Forces members are trying to hide
00:44 among civilians.
00:45 But for now it's very difficult to know what exactly the situation is on the ground because
00:50 you know that as journalists we cannot access the fighting areas.
00:55 And both the Rapid Support Forces and the army are giving conflicting information.
00:59 We don't know who is controlling which building, which institution.
01:03 It's very difficult to understand what is the situation right now in Khartoum.
01:08 It seems a bit easier to understand 200 kilometers north in the city of Meroe.
01:13 It's a very important city because there is a military airport in this city.
01:17 It seems that since yesterday afternoon the army is in full control of the airport and
01:22 of the city.
01:24 And maybe finally let's speak about the region of Darfur.
01:28 The big cities of Nyala and El Fashir have been under constant fire since last Saturday.
01:35 It seems that this afternoon it was possible for civilians to go out to get a bit of food,
01:40 a bit of bread.
01:42 But they tell me that they can still hear gunfights outside of the cities, in the neighborhoods
01:47 outside of El Fashir and Nyala.
01:49 So you understand that the situation is still very difficult for civilians in many cities
01:54 around the country.
01:55 Yeah, and the UN Secretary General in the past hour, Bastien, putting the number of
02:02 those who have fled the fighting in the west of the country in Darfur to neighboring Chad
02:07 between 10 and 20,000.
02:10 Concern is particularly high in that part of the country.
02:17 Of course, yes, most of these people were already internally displaced people as far
02:22 as I understand.
02:23 You know, Darfur is a war-torn region since 2003.
02:26 There is an internal conflict between Arab tribes and local African tribes.
02:33 And you know that Omar al-Bashir and the Janjaweed militias, the rapid support forces, have been
02:38 accused by the ICC of committing a genocide in this region, of having committed war crimes.
02:45 And the situation is actually getting worse for all these civilians.
02:49 And it's the same in Khartoum, actually.
02:52 The fighting are terrible for the population.
02:55 Most people are stranded into their apartments since Saturday.
02:59 Some do not have food, do not have water, do not have any electricity since then.
03:03 So many people are trying to escape from Khartoum.
03:05 Thousands of people have tried to reach the neighboring state of Jezera.
03:09 They are trying to go to the Wad-Medani city, where there's no fighting.
03:14 But it's very difficult to leave Khartoum right now.
03:17 So millions of people are still stranded in the capital.
03:21 And they can just wait for a ceasefire.
03:24 But this ceasefire does not come for now.
03:27 One final point, Bastien.
03:28 In the last 24 hours, and you've reported on this, Egyptian soldiers who'd been stationed
03:35 inside of Sudan, they appear to have been evacuated from the northern city of Merau.
03:42 And 27 others who were captured by the rival RSF were taken to the capital and handed over
03:51 to, if we understand correctly, to the Sudanese Red Cross.
03:55 Absolutely.
03:57 So it's still very difficult to understand everything, because I was saying before there
04:04 is a communication war ongoing between the army and the rapid support forces.
04:09 But as far as we know, yes, more than 100 of them have been sent back to Cairo.
04:13 They're safe in Egypt right now.
04:15 And some of those were taken to Khartoum.
04:18 They are now with the Red Crescent.
04:21 But it's difficult to understand when they'll be able to leave Sudan, if it will be possible
04:26 in the next hours or not.
04:27 But as far as we understand from local sources in Egypt, Egypt threatened the rapid support
04:33 forces if they did not release these pilots, these army members.
04:39 So it's difficult to understand what were the conditions of the transfer to the Red
04:43 Crescent.
04:44 But it seems that they're now in the hands of the Red Crescent and that it will be possible
04:51 for them to go back to Egypt as soon as possible, as soon as possible to organize evacuations
04:56 from Khartoum, which is still difficult for now.
04:58 We know that many European countries have tried to organize evacuations.
05:02 And for now, it's not possible.
05:04 So many people stranded in Khartoum are still waiting for that.
05:08 Egypt's role in this conflict is something that we'll be talking about in the France
05:13 24 debate.
05:14 We'll be crossing live to eyewitnesses in Khartoum.
05:16 Bastien Renouy, many thanks for that live update.