<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/3NGTQIFBQZPC7OQKUM2VW2PENI-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424685" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/3NGTQIFBQZPC7OQKUM2VW2PENI-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/3NGTQIFBQZPC7OQKUM2VW2PENI-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/3NGTQIFBQZPC7OQKUM2VW2PENI-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/3NGTQIFBQZPC7OQKUM2VW2PENI-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/3NGTQIFBQZPC7OQKUM2VW2PENI-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/3NGTQIFBQZPC7OQKUM2VW2PENI-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sudanese refugees, who fled the violence in their country, wait to receive food supplies from a Turkish aid group (IHH) near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad May 7, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra</figcaption></figure>



GOUNGOUR, Chad, May 9 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;When a power struggle between Sudan&#8217;s rival military leaders shattered a tenuous peace in her village in Sudan&#8217;s western region of Darfur, Halime Yacoub Issac&#8217;s first instinct was to take her five children and run.



But four days after seeking refuge in neighbouring Chad &#8211; a country with its own dire humanitarian crisis &#8211; she had yet to receive any assistance and was just hoping they wouldn&#8217;t starve.



&#8220;We&#8217;re entirely dependent on food Chadian families give us,&#8221; Issac told Reuters, sitting in a rare patch of shade near the border village of Goungour with other newly arrived women and children, some of them orphans.



Nearby, hundreds of families were camped out under trees or had built flimsy shelters out of sticks and bedsheets that swayed in the wind.



The battles between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that erupted in the capital Khartoum in mid-April have now engulfed large parts of Sudan, killing hundreds, wounding thousands and unleashing a humanitarian disaster that could not have come at a worse time.



Africa&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/AFRICA-HUNGER/lgpdkknwlvo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">was already facing</a>&nbsp;a deepening set of crises – from drought to floods and a growing list of armed conflicts – that has seen demand surge for life-saving humanitarian assistance.



Now, according to an internal U.N. estimate obtained by Reuters, 5 million additional people in Sudan will require emergency assistance, half of them children.



By October, some 860,000 people are expected to flee to neighbouring countries including Chad, placing additional strain on nations already facing some of the world&#8217;s most under-funded humanitarian crises. (For a FACTBOX please click&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3740DW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>)



Yet a Reuters analysis of United Nations funding data for&nbsp;Africa&nbsp;shows financial support from key donor governments is dropping off.



Securing additional money is a long shot, 12 aid workers, diplomats and donor government officials told Reuters. More likely, they said, funding gaps will grow as Europe focuses on Ukraine, post-Brexit Britain turns inward, and some lawmakers in the United States, the world&#8217;s largest donor, target budget cuts.



&#8220;There is going to be less funding this year,&#8221; the World Food Programme&#8217;s (WFP) new executive director, Cindy McCain, told Reuters during a visit to Somalia this month. &#8220;I pray that there won&#8217;t be. But the reality of it is that there is going to be less.&#8221;



Every day, hundreds of Sudanese trek across the desert scrubland and dry riverbeds that make up large sections of the country&#8217;s 1,400-km (870-mile) border with Chad. Some 30,000 have arrived so far, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, which expects it will need to establish five new camps to accommodate them.



Aid agencies are rushing to distribute emergency food and register new arrivals, but resources are tight. Even before the latest crisis, U.N. humanitarian appeals for&nbsp;Africa&nbsp;faced a $17-billion funding gap this year, risking leaving millions without lifesaving assistance.



Desperation is growing among the refugees. Chadian soldiers used whips on Sunday to beat back dozens of women who had started grabbing bags of provisions in Koufroune, another border village, when they saw that supplies brought by a Turkish aid group were running out.



&#8220;You&#8217;ve got this huge arc of misery across this part of&nbsp;Africa, and Sudan is just the latest crisis to be added to that in humanitarian terms,&#8221; Andrew Mitchell, Britain&#8217;s minister of state for development and&nbsp;Africa,&nbsp;said during a trip to Kenya this month.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-donors-pull-back">DONORS PULL BACK</h2>



Between 2020 and this year,&nbsp;Africa&#8217;s needs reflected in U.N. appeals grew nearly 27%. But as wealthy countries began looking inward to shield their citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic, many cut back on humanitarian activities abroad.



Britain, for example, announced in 2021 it would temporarily reduce its aid budget to 0.5% of gross national income from 0.7% to pay for the pandemic response. Last year, it spent a third of its overseas aid budget housing refugees inside the UK, a British aid watchdog said in March.



&#8220;There&#8217;s no question that very large amounts of money have been lost,&#8221; Mitchell said, asked about Britain&#8217;s aid budget.



Between 2020, when the UK was the third-biggest contributor to U.N. humanitarian appeals in&nbsp;Africa, and 2022, its contribution dropped by 55%.&nbsp;Mitchell declined to say how much the UK would contribute for 2023.



Funding for U.N. appeals does not reflect all donor money for&nbsp;Africa, but relief agencies and government officials say it is indicative of broader contribution trends.



Britain isn&#8217;t an outlier &#8211; and Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine last year has accelerated the exodus, humanitarian officials say.



Between 2021 and 2022, the continent&#8217;s humanitarian needs rose by nearly 13%. But leading donors, including Canada, Sweden, Japan, Norway, and the Netherlands, all scaled back funding for&nbsp;Africa, the U.N. data showed.



The United States has in recent years stepped in to fill gaps. Washington nearly doubled its contribution for the U.N.&#8217;s&nbsp;Africa&nbsp;appeals between 2020 and 2022. Last year, it provided nearly $6.4 billion, or over 56% of all funding.



That looks set to change, however.



Most of Washington&#8217;s added support has come via supplemental budget appropriations from Congress, initially for pandemic relief and last year to mitigate fallout from the Ukraine war.



But U.S. lawmakers are now embroiled in a fight over the debt ceiling, with many Republicans focused on cutting budgets, not expanding them.



&#8220;With this Congress, it&#8217;s unlikely there will be more supplemental funding,&#8221; said one U.S. official involved in humanitarian response, who was not authorised to speak to the media.



Without it,&nbsp;overall&nbsp;U.S. humanitarian spending will fall by nearly 20% to $10.5 billion in 2023, with a further decline to $8.5 billion next year.



The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



For aid agencies, that&#8217;s meant belt-tightening.



WFP has cut rations in Nigeria, Central&nbsp;African Republic, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Without additional financing, the agency told Reuters, it will halt all assistance for over 700,000 refugees and internally displaced people in Chad this month.



Sudan was hosting over 1 million refugees, mainly from South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Syria, before the outbreak of fighting last month. A third of Sudan&#8217;s own 46 million citizens also relied on aid,&nbsp;according to the U.N.



But the lack of funding has forced WFP to cut back on nutrition interventions for mothers and young children since last year. Now, the violence has brought some humanitarian operations to a standstill.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36O3PT&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aid workers have been killed</a>, food&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3712OL&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aid looted</a>, and WFP says it&#8217;s running out of stocks.



UNHCR is appealing for an additional half billion dollars for Sudan. But the U.N.&#8217;s joint appeal for the country &#8211; a request for $1.75 billion that predates the latest violence &#8211; is only 15% funded.



&#8220;I&#8217;ve been briefing our donors constantly since day one,&#8221; said one international aid official, who asked not to be named for fear of antagonising benefactors. &#8220;They all say it&#8217;s great that you&#8217;re committed to helping the Sudanese people, but it stops there.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">&#8216;CATASTROPHICALLY UNDERFUNDED&#8217;</h2>



Humanitarian agencies are rushing to reallocate resources to Sudan fallout. With record numbers of&nbsp;Africans already going hungry, it&#8217;s a zero-sum game.



Aid workers off-loaded jugs of cooking oil and sacks of grain onto the dusty ground in eastern Chad last week, as crowds of Sudanese refugees waited patiently nearby.



But that food had been earmarked to help needy Chadians make it to the next harvest and will need to be replenished. Just 4.6% of Chad&#8217;s own U.N. appeal has been financed this year.



WFP says it has scraped together enough provisions to support 20,000 new refugees for one month, but it&#8217;s expecting five times that number.



Food prices in local markets are sky-rocketing due to demand from refugees, and malnutrition admissions at health centres have spiked.



&#8220;It&#8217;s an extra strain on the entire Chadian population,&#8221; said Pierre Honnorat, the WFP director in Chad. &#8220;It&#8217;s becoming very, very hard.&#8221;



A similar scenario is playing out in South Sudan, where some 35,000 people have arrived from Sudan. Most are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3716X7&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">South Sudanese who fled north</a>&nbsp;to escape their own country&#8217;s violence.



&#8220;We left our homes in South Sudan. We left our homes in Sudan. We&#8217;ve left our homes everywhere to come sit in a desert like this,&#8221; said Suzan William, who had been working as a nurse in Khartoum when the fighting broke out and was waiting for food near the border.



Elsewhere in&nbsp;Africa, other disasters, including a looming&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36Z3TR&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">famine</a>&nbsp;in Somalia, are also vying for money.



Concerned about support from traditional donors, aid agencies are courting new sources &#8211; notably Gulf States &#8211; but they are struggling.



&#8220;I&#8217;m really worried for 2023, honestly,&#8221; Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters.



&#8220;The only fully funded operation in the world now is in Ukraine. All other operations are catastrophically underfunded.&#8221;



(Joe Bavier reported from Washington and Emma Farge from Geneva; Additional reporting by Zohra Bensemra in Koufroune, Chad, Denis Elamu in Renk, South Sudan, Aidan Lewis in Cairo, David Lewis in Nairobi, Edward McAllister in Dakar, and Ayenat Mersie in Mogadishu;Editing by Alexandra Zavis and Daniel Flynn)

Fleeing Sudanese seek refuge in Chad

Sudan deepens crisis in Africa as UN sees 5 million more needing aid

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233476-16829606582023-05-01t165718z_528330424_rc2sp0apd7t1_rtrmadp_0_sudan-politics-drone-820x462.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-424655" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233476-16829606582023-05-01t165718z_528330424_rc2sp0apd7t1_rtrmadp_0_sudan-politics-drone-820x462.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233476-16829606582023-05-01t165718z_528330424_rc2sp0apd7t1_rtrmadp_0_sudan-politics-drone-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233476-16829606582023-05-01t165718z_528330424_rc2sp0apd7t1_rtrmadp_0_sudan-politics-drone-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233476-16829606582023-05-01t165718z_528330424_rc2sp0apd7t1_rtrmadp_0_sudan-politics-drone-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233476-16829606582023-05-01t165718z_528330424_rc2sp0apd7t1_rtrmadp_0_sudan-politics-drone.jpeg 929w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Drone footage shows clouds of black smoke over Bahri, also known as Khartoum North, Sudan, in this May 1, 2023 video obtained by REUTERS Social Media | Reuters</figcaption></figure>



The International Rescue Committee anticipates “a secondary humanitarian crisis” as refugees pour into neighboring countries escaping the escalating conflict in Sudan.



The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered its 24th day on Monday as yet another cease-fire fell by the wayside earlier in the week.



U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a Senate hearing on Thursday that fighting is “likely to be protracted as both sides believe that they can win militarily and have few incentives to come to the negotiating table.”



Around 45 million people remain in Sudan, facing acute shortages of fuel, food, water and medical access. Multiple ceasefires have quickly dissolved into further violence, making it difficult for international bodies and NGOs to get humanitarian aid into the vast, sprawling country.



The IRC estimated that as of Wednesday, the conflict had displaced around 334,000 people within Sudan itself, while almost 65,000 were estimated to have moved over borders as refugees to neighboring countries.



“These countries are already of course struggling following ongoing conflict, and the failure of six rainy seasons in the Horn of Africa, which has already left many people food insecure or malnourished,” Madiha Raza, IRC senior global communications officer for Africa, told CNBC.



According to the IRC, 30,000 refugees have crossed the border from the Darfur region in western Sudan into Chad since April 15.



A further 15,000 have fled to South Sudan, many of whom are returnees that had previously fled their own country’s conflict south of the border, while several thousand have also crossed into Ethiopia.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="405" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107236306-1683291060248-GettyImages-1252565485.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424656" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107236306-1683291060248-GettyImages-1252565485.jpg 720w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107236306-1683291060248-GettyImages-1252565485-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107236306-1683291060248-GettyImages-1252565485-160x90.jpg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">DARFUR, Sudan &#8211; May 2, 2023: People inspect a destroyed medical storage in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province, as deadly clashes between rival generals’ forces have entered their third week. -/AFP via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



“These countries are refugee hosting communities and countries that need more support from the international community to be able to take and support the refugees that are coming over in the thousands,” Raza added.



The U.N. Refugee Agency has planned for a figure of 800,00 refugees if the conflict continues as expecting. These numbers include those traveling in dire conditions to neighboring Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia.



“People are coming over traumatized, hungry. It’s extremely hot, and there’s an acute lack of water in those areas. It’s about 50 degrees centigrade (122 Fahrenheit). People are arriving extremely dehydrated and thirsty,” Raza said via videolink from Nairobi, Kenya.



She said a lack of fuel, food and pharmacy equipment has further driven up prices in a country that was already struggling before the escalation of violence.



“People within the country that are trapped inside don’t have the means or the access to get very basic provisions, so absolutely, we were anticipating a secondary humanitarian crisis,” Raza said.



“The longer this goes on, the longer it’s going to take to recover from economic shocks in countries which are susceptible to extreme instability.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-darfur-in-the-crossfire-again">Darfur in the crossfire again</h3>



According to the IRC, most of the refugees crossing into Chad are women and children and are from Darfur. The organization is providing mobile health clinics, nutrition, protection and water, with many hospitals in the western region having been attacked or looted.



“People from farther afield are not actually able to cross because they’re getting attacked, killed or injured,” she added.



Darfur has been in the crossfire of conflict since 2003, after non-Arab groups rose-up against the Arab-led government of now-deposed dictator Omar al-Bashir. In response, Bashir sent in brutal Arab militias, known as the “Janjaweed.”



The Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti,” emerged from the Janjaweed militia, and various Arab groups have seized on the instability created by the conflict in the country’s capital Khartoum to launch violent attacks.



The RSF has been in conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, since April 15, after a fragile power-sharing agreement between the two military factions broke down.



The two generals had been overseeing a planned transition back to civilian rule following a military coup in October 2021 that ousted civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and dissolved the country’s government.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233218-1682935652205-gettyimages-1252457207-AFP_33E82DM-820x547.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-424657" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233218-1682935652205-gettyimages-1252457207-AFP_33E82DM-820x547.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233218-1682935652205-gettyimages-1252457207-AFP_33E82DM-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233218-1682935652205-gettyimages-1252457207-AFP_33E82DM-135x90.jpeg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233218-1682935652205-gettyimages-1252457207-AFP_33E82DM-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233218-1682935652205-gettyimages-1252457207-AFP_33E82DM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/107233218-1682935652205-gettyimages-1252457207-AFP_33E82DM-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sudanese refugees from the Tandelti area who crossed into Chad, in Koufroun, near Echbara, sit near temporary shelters on April 30, 2023 for an aid distribution. Gueipeur Denis Sassou | Afp | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Sudanese trying to escape the country cannot cross into Chad through Darfur because the area is currently held by different armed groups, explained Raza, meaning the movement of people into Chad from Sudan has “slowed down just because people from further afield are not able to make that journey.”



Fighting in Khartoum has also spread to other regions around the city such as Bahri and Omdurman.



Decades of conflict in Sudan has stifled the country’s growth, and pushed over half the population into poverty.



Several bloody civil wars hit Africa’s third-largest country, then overseen by Bashir, who ruled the country for over 30 years.



Both leaders now vying for control of the state’s military capabilities were generals under the Bashir regime, and rose from the ashes of his leadership after a coup unseated Bashir in 2019 following months of protests.

107233218-1682935652205-gettyimages-1252457207-AFP_33E82DM

‘Secondary humanitarian crisis’ expected in Sudan as refugees pour into neighboring countries

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RLYRZDLMXJP6ZLMSEIW7X63ZIQ-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424629" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RLYRZDLMXJP6ZLMSEIW7X63ZIQ-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RLYRZDLMXJP6ZLMSEIW7X63ZIQ-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RLYRZDLMXJP6ZLMSEIW7X63ZIQ-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RLYRZDLMXJP6ZLMSEIW7X63ZIQ-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RLYRZDLMXJP6ZLMSEIW7X63ZIQ-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RLYRZDLMXJP6ZLMSEIW7X63ZIQ-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: President of Sudan Abdel Fattah al-Burhan addresses the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 22, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, May 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan pledged to take Sudan to civilian rule, but after going to war last month with his former partner in a military coup, that looks a distant promise.



As his warplanes rain strikes on the capital and his troops battle the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of rival general Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, Burhan has shown no inclination to compromise.



&#8220;There is no other option but the military solution,&#8221;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AS8N35N0DP&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">he said</a>&nbsp;five days into fighting that he was believed to be initially directing from a presidential guesthouse near the airport.



The war comes after Burhan had already turned Sudan&#8217;s fortunes upside down twice by removing veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir during a popular uprising in 2019 and then by halting a democratic transition in 2021 by ousting a civilian government.



A career soldier in his 60s who served Bashir loyally for decades, Burhan rose through the ranks in wars in South Sudan and Sudan&#8217;s Darfur region. Few expected he would one day rule as head of a &#8220;Sovereign Council&#8221; established after Bashir fell.



Hemedti, whose powerful RSF had operated alongside the army during the war in Darfur, stepped in as Burhan&#8217;s deputy on the council. Despite occasional tensions, they presented a united front and in 2021 dissolved government in a coup.



Their relationship, never close, fell apart as they&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36V25J&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">jostled</a>&nbsp;for an upper hand, squabbling over the terms of a promised transition to democracy and the RSF&#8217;s merger into the regular armed forces, which Burhan wanted to accelerate.



With ties worsening before clashes broke out on April 15, Burhan was already making preparations for war as his air force scoped out bombing targets, military sources have said.



No reconciliation seems possible.



&#8220;We will get to you and hand you over to justice, or you die just like any other dog,&#8221; Hemedti said of Burhan the day fighting&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36I0DX&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">began</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-no-dissent">NO DISSENT</h2>



The 2021 military takeover made Burhan the latest in a long line of coup leaders to rule Sudan for most of its history since independence from Britain in 1956.



As he headed the ruling council with Hemedti as his deputy, Burhan was still vowing to hand over power, telling Reuters civilian rule was the &#8220;natural situation&#8221; and repeating a commitment as recently as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2UN0S2&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">February</a>&nbsp;to hold elections this year.



But pro-democracy activists were always sceptical. They accuse him and other military leaders of killing protesters and say his coup was aimed at prolonging army rule, charges he denies.



In July 2022 he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AC6N2WP01J&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">removed</a>&nbsp;the five civilian members of the Sovereign Council, saying the army would not participate in internationally led efforts for a dialogue with them on the way forward.



Those who have met Burhan describe him as terse and quick-tempered. His language betrays a vehement aversion to criticism. In April 2022 he threatened to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2W007J&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">expel</a>&nbsp;the U.N. envoy, who had recently commented on the country&#8217;s political turmoil, accusing him of &#8220;lying, blatant lying&#8221; and saying &#8220;we will kick you out&#8221;.



After Bashir loyalists had staged a protest in November 2022 he said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N32906R&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">speech</a>&nbsp;at an army base: &#8220;We&#8217;ll cut out the tongue of anyone who speaks against the military&#8221;.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SERVICE IN DARFUR</h2>



Born in 1960 in a village north of Khartoum neighbouring Bashir&#8217;s home village, Burhan studied at a Sudanese army college, then in Jordan and at Egypt&#8217;s military academy.



Analysts say his attitudes to governing were shaped by his 41 years of army service. For much of that time, Sudan was a pariah to the West and on a U.S. terrorism list under Bashir, who hosted Osama bin Laden in the 1990s and is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes.



During a war against rebels in Darfur, Burhan held the rank of brigadier general and worked in a district that saw fierce fighting, getting to know Hemedti.



In a grim precursor to their new conflict against each other, the army and RSF are accused of grotesque war crimes including massacres and rapes during the Darfur war.



When Bashir was overthrown in 2019, Burhan was only the fourth most senior figure in the military and holding an administrative position, yet he was among the generals who went to confront him, he has said.



&#8220;I told him the leadership of the armed forces had decided the situation was getting out of hand and therefore he should step down,&#8221; he told the BBC.



During Bashir&#8217;s last year in power, Burhan began to develop ties with foreign states that could be important as the conflict develops. He was at the forefront of tentative moves to normalise ties with Israel, a move applauded by Gulf states.



And in March 2021, he received Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Khartoum, solidifying a relationship with Cairo that remains his strongest outside alliance.



(Writing by William Maclean and Angus McDowall; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

FILE PHOTO: World leaders address the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York City

Veteran soldier leads Sudan’s army against rival general

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/World-Bank-board-elects-US-nominee-Ajay-Banga-as-president-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424614" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/World-Bank-board-elects-US-nominee-Ajay-Banga-as-president-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/World-Bank-board-elects-US-nominee-Ajay-Banga-as-president-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/World-Bank-board-elects-US-nominee-Ajay-Banga-as-president-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/World-Bank-board-elects-US-nominee-Ajay-Banga-as-president-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/World-Bank-board-elects-US-nominee-Ajay-Banga-as-president-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/World-Bank-board-elects-US-nominee-Ajay-Banga-as-president-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: U.S. nominee to head World Bank, Ajay Banga, stands with officials during his visit at the headquarters of Ivorian electricity company of Yopougon in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, March 7, 2023. REUTERS/Luc Gnago/File Photo/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) &#8211; The World Bank&#8217;s board of governors on Wednesday elected former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga to a five-year term as president, ushering in an Indian-born finance and development expert to revamp the lender to tackle climate change and other global crises.



Banga, 63, was nominated for the post by U.S. President Joe Biden in late February and was the sole contender to replace departing World Bank chief David Malpass, an economist and former U.S. Treasury official who served in the Trump administration. He starts the new job on June 2.



The election came after World Bank board members interviewed Banga for four hours on Monday. Malpass&#8217; last day at the bank will be June 1. The decision came in a vote by 24 of the board&#8217;s members, with Russia abstaining, instead of the usual consensus-based process, a source familiar with the process said.



Biden congratulated Banga on his &#8220;resounding approval&#8221; to run the World Bank, which he described as &#8220;one of humanity’s most critical institutions to reduce poverty and expand prosperity around the globe.&#8221;



&#8220;Ajay Banga will be a transformative leader, bringing expertise, experience, and innovation to the position of World Bank President,&#8221; Biden said. &#8220;He will help steer the institution as it evolves and expands to address global challenges that directly affect its core mission of poverty reduction — including climate change.&#8221;



Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Banga brought the &#8220;right leadership and management skills&#8221; to the job, and would play a critical role in pushing forward with additional reforms, including by forging partnerships between the public and private sectors and nonprofit groups.



&#8220;Ajay understands that the challenges we face – from combatting climate change, pandemics, and fragility to eliminating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity – are deeply intertwined. He has effectively built a broad global coalition around his vision for the Bank over the course of his candidacy,&#8221; Yellen said in a statement.



Katie Malouf-Bous, interim head of Oxfam International’s Washington office, said the bank needed &#8220;serious reform&#8221; to tackle the widening gap between rich and poor, but that would require huge new public investments and &#8220;guardrails around private finance that has run riot for too long.&#8221;



One senior U.S. official said Banga&#8217;s election came at a critical moment marked by emerging debt distress in lower- and middle-income countries and ongoing problems in food and energy markets as a result of Russia&#8217;s war in Ukraine.



&#8220;It is a challenging moment, but it&#8217;s a moment where the World Bank remains more vital than ever, and where getting the evolution of the World Bank is absolutely critical,&#8221; the official said.



The bank already loans out hundreds of billions of dollars to developing countries but is working to increase its lending to help them address overlapping global challenges such as climate change, conflict and brace for future pandemics.



&#8220;The Board looks forward to working with Mr. Banga on the World Bank Group Evolution process … on all the World Bank Group’s ambitions and efforts aimed at tackling the toughest development challenges facing developing countries,&#8221; the bank said.



The World Bank has been led by an American since its founding at the end of World War Two, while the International Monetary Fund has been led by a European.



Banga, who was born in India and spent his early career there, has been a U.S. citizen since 2007.



Banga has met with officials from 96 governments since his nomination, the source said. He visited eight countries during a three-week world tour to meet with government officials, business leaders and civil society groups, flying a total of 39,546 miles (63,643 km). (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Mark Potter)

FILE PHOTO: US World Bank nominee Banga set for vote Wednesday after 4-hour interview

World Bank board elects US nominee Ajay Banga as president

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/GettyImages-1252469522-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424580" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/GettyImages-1252469522-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/GettyImages-1252469522-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/GettyImages-1252469522-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/GettyImages-1252469522-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/GettyImages-1252469522-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/GettyImages-1252469522-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">OMDURMAN, SUDAN &#8211; APRIL 30: In this handout image provided by the Ministry of Defence, The final days of evacuations from Wadi Seidna Air Base in Sudan, sees the last evacuees and military personnel boarding an RAF aircraft bound for Cyprus, on 30th April, 2023 in Omdurman, Sudan. RAF flights are continuing between Wadi Seidna airport in Sudan to Larnaca International Airport, following three evacuation flights that took place late overnight between Tuesday 25 April and Wednesday 26 April. The UK government assisted by the British Military has evacuated British Citizens from Sudan. The Ministry of Defence has been working to support the Foreign, Commonwealth &amp; Development Office in evacuating civilian UK nationals from the airport. The operation involved more than 1,200 personnel from 16 Air Assault Brigade, the Royal Marines and the Royal Air Force. (Photo by MoD Crown Copyright via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, May 3 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Air strikes were heard in Khartoum on Wednesday, a Reuters witness said, even as warring factions agreed to a new seven-day ceasefire from Thursday, undermining chances for a lasting truce that would help ease a deepening humanitarian crisis.



United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths arrived in Port Sudan to &#8220;reaffirm&#8221; his commitment to the Sudanese people. His spokesperson said improving humanitarian access through guarantees of safe passage would be a priority.



The conflict has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36V347&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">created</a>&nbsp;a humanitarian crisis, with about 100,000 people forced to flee with little food or water to neighbouring countries, the United Nations said.



Aid deliveries have been held up in a nation where about one-third of people already relied on humanitarian assistance. A broader disaster could be in the making as Sudan&#8217;s impoverished neighbours grapple with the influx of refugees.



Previous ceasefire agreements between the army and a paramilitary force, whose power struggle&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N36S2E8&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">erupted</a>&nbsp;into full blown conflict in mid-April, have ranged from 24 to 72 hours, but none have been fully observed.



Tens of thousands of people, like Omdurman resident Salma, have left Khartoum area and its adjoining cities, fearful of both airstrikes and soldiers from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).



She says she can hardly sleep at night.



South Sudan&#8217;s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that mediation championed by its president, Salva Kiir, had led both sides to agree a weeklong truce from Thursday to May 11 and to name envoys for peace talks. The current ceasefire was due to expire on Wednesday.



It was unclear, however, how army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo would proceed.



Army jets have been bombing RSF units dug into residential districts of the capital region.



Conflict has also spread to Sudan&#8217;s western Darfur region where the RSF emerged from tribal militias that fought alongside government forces to crush rebels in a brutal civil war dating back 20 years.



The commanders of the army and RSF, who had shared power as part of an internationally backed transition towards free elections and civilian government, have shown no sign of backing down, yet neither side seems able to secure a quick victory.



Fighting now in its third week has engulfed Khartoum &#8211; one of&nbsp;Africa&#8217;s largest cities &#8211; and killed hundreds of people. Sudan&#8217;s Health Ministry reported on Tuesday that 550 people have died and 4,926 have been wounded.



Foreign governments were winding down evacuation operations that sent thousands of their citizens home. Britain said its last flight would depart Port Sudan on the Red Sea on Wednesday and urged any remaining Britons wanting to leave to make their way there.



FACTBOX-The struggle for power in Sudan<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N2RL0D9&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



ANALYSIS-Sudan risks long conflict as entrenched rivals struggle for control<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36V347&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FACTBOX-Countries rush to evacuate foreign citizens from Sudan<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36V3B2&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FACTBOX-Sudan&#8217;s Bashir and allies out of prison<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36T3MM&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



INSIGHT-How Sudan&#8217;s military factions set path to war as mediation stalled<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N36S2E8&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, William Maclean)

Sudan Evacuation

Air strikes heard in Sudan’s capital after more truce pledges

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Y2QBXNDLWZPH5GNMQK3PGYN2TA-820x461.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424560" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Y2QBXNDLWZPH5GNMQK3PGYN2TA-820x461.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Y2QBXNDLWZPH5GNMQK3PGYN2TA-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Y2QBXNDLWZPH5GNMQK3PGYN2TA-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Y2QBXNDLWZPH5GNMQK3PGYN2TA-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Y2QBXNDLWZPH5GNMQK3PGYN2TA-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Y2QBXNDLWZPH5GNMQK3PGYN2TA-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Drone footage shows birds in the foreground as clouds of black smoke billow over Bahri, also known as Khartoum North, Sudan, in this May 1, 2023 video obtained by REUTERS</figcaption></figure>



Sudan&#8217;s <a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36K23G&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warring military factions</a> agreed to a new and longer seven-day ceasefire from Thursday, neighbour and mediator South Sudan said, even as more air strikes and shooting in the Khartoum capital region undercut their latest supposed truce.



Previous ceasefire pledges have ranged from 24 to 72 hours but there have been constant truce violations in the conflict that erupted in mid-April between the army and a paramilitary force.



South Sudan&#8217;s foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that mediation championed by its president, Salva Kiir, had led both sides to agree a weeklong truce from Thursday to May 11 and to name envoys for peace talks. The current ceasefire was due to expire on Wednesday.



It was unclear, however, how army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary Rapid Support forces (RSF) leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo would proceed.



On Tuesday, witnesses reported more air strikes in the cities of Omdurman and in Bahri, both on the opposite bank of the Nile River from Khartoum.



Al Jazeera television said Sudanese army warplanes were targeting RSF positions, and anti-aircraft fire could be heard from Khartoum.



India&#8217;s embassy in Khartoum was stormed and looted, Sudan&#8217;s army said in a statement, citing a report from the ambassador. Saudi Arabia&#8217;s foreign ministry said early on Wednesday that the building in Khartoum that houses its cultural mission was similarly vandalised and looted by an armed group. No casualties were reported.



Army jets have been bombing RSF units dug into residential districts of the capital region. Conflict has also spread to Sudan&#8217;s western Darfur region where the RSF emerged from tribal militias that fought alongside government forces to crush rebels in a brutal civil war dating back 20 years.



The commanders of the army and RSF, who had shared power as part of an internationally backed transition towards free elections and civilian government, have shown no sign of backing down, yet neither seems able to secure a quick victory.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-region-at-risk">REGION AT RISK</h2>



<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36V347&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prolonged conflict</a>&nbsp;could draw in outside powers.



Fighting now in its third week has engulfed Khartoum &#8211; one of Africa&#8217;s largest cities &#8211; and killed hundreds of people. Sudan&#8217;s Health Ministry reported on Tuesday that 550 people have died and 4,926 injured.



Foreign governments were winding down evacuation operations that sent thousands of their citizens home. Britain said its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36Z2FY&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">last flight</a>&nbsp;would depart Port Sudan on the Red Sea on Wednesday and urged any remaining Britons wanting to leave to make their way there.



The conflict has also created a humanitarian crisis, with around 100,000 people forced to flee with little food or water to neighbouring countries, the United Nations said.



Aid deliveries have been held up in a nation where about one-third of people already relied on humanitarian assistance. A broader disaster could be in the making as Sudan&#8217;s impoverished neighbours grapple with a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36Z2WI&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">refugee influx.</a>



&#8220;The entire region could be affected,&#8221; Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said in a Japanese newspaper interview on Tuesday as a Burhan envoy met Egyptian officials in Cairo.



The U.N. World Food Programme said on Monday it was resuming work in the safer parts of Sudan after a pause earlier in the conflict, in which some of its staff were killed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">&#8216;THE SITUATION IS A CALAMITY&#8217;</h2>



Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had delivered some aid to the capital from Port Sudan, a road journey of about 800 km (500 miles).



Some 330,000 Sudanese have also been displaced inside Sudan&#8217;s borders by the war, the U.N. migration agency said.



&#8220;The situation is a calamity,&#8221; Hassan Mohamed Ali, a 55-year-old state employee, said during a stopover in Atbara, 350 km (220 miles) northeast of Khartoum, en route to the Egyptian frontier.



&#8220;We suffer from power and water cuts, our children have stopped school. What&#8217;s happening in Khartoum is hell.&#8221;



Displaced Sudanese families have also made their way, sometimes on foot under scorching desert sun, hundreds of kilometres (miles) to Chad and South Sudan.



About 800,000 people could eventually leave, according to the U.N.



More than 40,000 people have crossed the border into&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36Z0GB&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Egypt</a>&nbsp;over the past two weeks but only after days of delays. Most migrants have had to pay hundreds of dollars to make the 1,000-km (620-mile) journey north from Khartoum.



It took Aisha Ibrahim Dawood and her relatives five days in a rented car to get from Khartoum to the northern town of Wadi Halfa, where the women and children crammed into a back of a truck that brought them to a queue at the Egyptian border.



&#8220;Our suffering is unprecedented,&#8221; she said.



EXPLAINER-What is happening in Sudan? Fighting in Khartoum explained<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36Z0GB&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



ANALYSIS-Sudan risks long conflict as entrenched rivals struggle for control<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36V347&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Cradle of Sudan&#8217;s uprising becomes transit point for those fleeing war<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36X0BE&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



In flight from Sudan, refugees in Chad give birth alone without shelter<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36X05F&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Sudan&#8217;s conflict&nbsp;<a href="https://tmsnrt.rs/3VmBUAO" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://tmsnrt.rs/3VmBUAO</a>



Syrians in Sudan flee war for second time<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36Z4XW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Reporting by Mohamed Noureldin; Additional reporting by Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo, Emma Farge and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Geneva, Duncan Miriri in Nairobi and Ayenat Mersie in Dollow, Somalia; writing by Angus McDowall, Mark Heinrich and Cynthia Osterman; editing by Nick Macfie, Andrew Cawthorne and Grant McCool)

Drone footage shows dense smoke rising from fires near capital Khartoum

Sudan’s warring generals extend theoretical truce but keep fighting

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Air-raids-tank-fire-shake-Sudans-capital-region-despite-truce-pledge-820x461.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424508" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Air-raids-tank-fire-shake-Sudans-capital-region-despite-truce-pledge-820x461.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Air-raids-tank-fire-shake-Sudans-capital-region-despite-truce-pledge-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Air-raids-tank-fire-shake-Sudans-capital-region-despite-truce-pledge-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Air-raids-tank-fire-shake-Sudans-capital-region-despite-truce-pledge-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Air-raids-tank-fire-shake-Sudans-capital-region-despite-truce-pledge-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Air-raids-tank-fire-shake-Sudans-capital-region-despite-truce-pledge-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Plums of smoke rise amidst clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army, in Bahri, Khartoum North (filmed from Omdurman), Sudan April 28, 2023, in this screen grab from a social media video. Video Obtained by REUTERS</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, April 28 (Reuters) &#8211; Strikes from the air, tanks and artillery shook Sudan&#8217;s capital of Khartoum on Friday and the adjacent city of Bahri came under heavy bombardment, witnesses said, even though the army and a rival paramilitary force agreed to extend a truce by 72 hours.



Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands have fled for their lives in a power struggle between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that erupted on April 15 and disabled an internationally backed transition toward democratic elections.



In persisting ceasefire violations that the United States called worrying, heavy gunfire and detonations rattled residential neighbourhoods of the capital region where fighting has been concentrated over the past week.



Thick smoke was rising above two areas of Bahri.



&#8220;The situation this morning is very scary. We hear the sounds of planes and explosions. We don&#8217;t know when this hell will end,&#8221; said Bahri resident Mahasin al-Awad, 65.



&#8220;We&#8217;re in a constant state of fear for ourselves and our children.&#8221;



Sudan&#8217;s army has been directing air strikes with jets or drones on RSF forces spread out in neighbourhoods across the capital where many residents are pinned down by urban warfare with little access to food, fuel, water and electricity.



In a statement, the RSF accused the army of violating a U.S.- and Saudi-brokered truce pact by carrying out air strikes on its bases in Omdurman, Khartoum&#8217;s sister city at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers, and Mount Awliya.



The army blamed the RSF for violations late on Thursday.



A Turkish evacuation plane came under fire as it was landing at Wadi Seyidna airport in Omdurman on Friday but there were no injuries, Turkey&#8217;s defence ministry said.



Shortly before, Sudan&#8217;s army accused the RSF of firing at the plane, damaging its fuel system which was being repaired after the aircraft managed to land safely. The RSF denied attacking the plane, accusing the army of &#8220;spreading lies&#8221;.



Lulls in the fighting in parts of Khartoum earlier this week allowed some residents to leave and foreign evacuations to pick up, but fighting has otherwise rumbled on through announced ceasefires. Analysts have questioned the ability of both sides to enforce respect for truces among their troops.



Violence has also resurged in the Darfur region, where conflict has simmered since a brutal civil war erupted two decades ago, and threatens to compound instability across a volatile swathe of Africa between the Sahel and the Red Sea.



U.N. humanitarian office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said at least 96 people had been killed in Darfur since Monday by inter-communal violence rekindled by the army-RSF conflict.



&#8220;It is deeply alarming that inmates have been released from or escaped from a number of prisons, and we are very worried about the prospect of further violence amid a generalised climate of impunity,&#8221; she told a briefing in Geneva.



The Sudan Doctors Union said on Friday that at least 387 civilians had been killed and 1,928 injured in the fighting since April 15, which has also caused a humanitarian crisis.



Relief agencies have been largely unable to distribute food to the needy in Africa&#8217;s third-largest country, where a third of its 46 million people were already reliant on donations.



MORE EVACUATIONS, REFUGEES



Saudi Arabia said two more evacuation ships had arrived in Jeddah, across the Red Sea from Sudan, on Friday carrying 252 people in all from various countries.



Dodging the fighting wherever possible, Sudanese civilians have been fleeing Khartoum, one of Africa&#8217;s largest cities which had long been untouched by Sudan&#8217;s string of civil wars.



Among Sudan&#8217;s neighbours, Egypt said it had taken in 16,000 people, 20,000 had entered Chad and the U.N. refugee agency said over 14,000 had crossed into South Sudan, which won independence from Khartoum in 2011 after decades of disastrous civil war.



A UNHCR spokeswoman said some had walked from Khartoum to South Sudan&#8217;s border, a distance of over 400 km (250 miles).



The army and RSF said earlier they had agreed to extend the ceasefire to midnight on Sunday to prolong one that expired on Thursday night. That earlier truce induced relative calm in some areas, allowing diplomatic evacuations to gather pace.



Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan&#8217;s office said on Friday he had received calls of support for restoring calm from several regional leaders including South Sudan&#8217;s president and Ethiopia&#8217;s prime minister, the Saudi foreign minister and a diplomatic grouping that includes the United States and Britain.



Friction had been building for months between Sudan&#8217;s army and the RSF, whose joint 2021 coup toppled a civilian coalition government and came two years after a popular uprising ousted veteran Islamist autocrat Omar al-Bashir.



Both the army and RSF were required to cede power to civilian parties under a transition plan meant to be finalised earlier this month but the process foundered over timing issues, including when the RSF would be absorbed into army ranks.



(Reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz, Eltayeb Siddig in Khartoum, Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Emma Farge in Geneva, Denis Elamu in Juba, Ayenat Mersie in Nairobi; writing by Mark Heinrich; editing by Robert Birsel, William Maclean)

Plums of smoke rise in Bahri

Air raids, tank fire shake Sudan’s capital region despite truce pledge

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/B3KIBEH6WFMIPPJZG6ZCK3OOO4-820x461.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424500" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/B3KIBEH6WFMIPPJZG6ZCK3OOO4-820x461.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/B3KIBEH6WFMIPPJZG6ZCK3OOO4-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/B3KIBEH6WFMIPPJZG6ZCK3OOO4-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/B3KIBEH6WFMIPPJZG6ZCK3OOO4-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/B3KIBEH6WFMIPPJZG6ZCK3OOO4-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/B3KIBEH6WFMIPPJZG6ZCK3OOO4-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sudanese people, who fled the violence in their country and newly arrived, wait to be registered at the camp near the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad April 26, 2023. REUTERS/Mahamet Ramdane</figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) &#8211; The African Union, United Nations and so-called Quad countries welcomed the 72-hour extension of a ceasefire by Sudan&#8217;s warring parties on Thursday and called for its full implementation.



&#8220;We also welcome their readiness to engage in dialogue toward establishing a more durable cessation of hostilities and ensuring unimpeded humanitarian access,&#8221; according to a statement from the Quad &#8211; the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia &#8211; as well as the United Nations, the African Union and African trade bloc IGAD. (Reporting by Pitas Costas and Doina Chiacu;)

Quad countries, UN, Africa groups welcome Sudan ceasefire extension

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="540" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/G3EDLMB6BVPT7CFDSC5XQNDFQM-820x540.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424494" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/G3EDLMB6BVPT7CFDSC5XQNDFQM-820x540.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/G3EDLMB6BVPT7CFDSC5XQNDFQM-300x198.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/G3EDLMB6BVPT7CFDSC5XQNDFQM-137x90.jpg 137w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/G3EDLMB6BVPT7CFDSC5XQNDFQM-768x506.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/G3EDLMB6BVPT7CFDSC5XQNDFQM-1536x1012.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/G3EDLMB6BVPT7CFDSC5XQNDFQM-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan April 17, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, April 28 (Reuters) &#8211; Alarmed that movements of rival military factions in Sudan could bring bloodshed, a group of mediators pushed for last-ditch talks between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo two weeks ago.



But neither of Sudan&#8217;s two most powerful men showed up to the meeting, convened at presidential offices in central Khartoum at 10 a.m. on April 15, three of the Sudanese mediators said, in details revealed for the first time here.



Instead, fighting was breaking out across the country.



At about 8.30 a.m. shooting started at the Soba military camp in the south of Khartoum, according to three eyewitnesses and an advisor within Dagalo&#8217;s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).



Reuters could not establish who fired the first shot, but the violence escalated quickly across Africa&#8217;s third-largest country, an illustration of just how far the two sides had gone in the preceding weeks to prepare for all-out war.



Through interviews with nearly a dozen sources in the military, the RSF, officials and diplomats, Reuters has reconstructed several key events in the build up to the violence, which has so far killed at least 512 people, prompted tens of thousands to flee and deepened the country&#8217;s already grave humanitarian crisis.



The armed forces did not respond to requests for comment for this story. The offices of Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, and Burhan did not respond to requests for interviews.



A week before the fighting, on April 8, Burhan and Hemedti met for the last time at a farm on the outskirts of Khartoum, a diplomat briefed on the meeting and two of the mediators said.



At the encounter, Burhan asked for the withdrawal of RSF forces from al-Fasher, a city in Hemedti&#8217;s stronghold of Darfur in Western Sudan, and a halt to flows of RSF troops into Khartoum, which had been taking place for weeks.



Hemedti in turn asked that forces from Burhan&#8217;s close ally Egypt be withdrawn from an air base called Merowe, fearing they could be used against him, the two mediators and the diplomat said.



The men also spoke privately and appeared to agree to deescalate, the two mediators said. But despite plans to talk again the next day, no more meetings took place.



Over the next week, behind the scenes, each was steadily preparing for the worst.



Burhan&#8217;s air force was studying where the RSF was gathered, using coordinates provided by the army, two military sources told Reuters, describing plans that have not previously been reported. The RSF, meanwhile, had been locating more and more gunmen at Soba and other camps across Khartoum, the same military sources said.



The air force, which has bombed positions in the capital since fighting erupted, studied the location of RSF camps for more than a week before the battles began, the two military sources said. The army also established a small committee of senior generals to prepare for a possible conflict with the RSF, the same sources said.



On Saturday, April 15, the first volleys of the war woke RSF troops stationed at Soba, Moussa Khadam Mohamed, an advisor to Hemedti, told Reuters in an telephone interview.



Looking beyond the walls of the camp, they saw the army had positioned cannons in the vicinity, he said.



&#8220;We observed a force gathering at the base,&#8221; as well as around Hemedti&#8217;s home in Khartoum, he said.



Both the army and the RSF were quick to blame the other publicly for sparking the violence and attempting a power grab.



Reuters could not independently verify the events Mohamed described.



A temporary truce this week was agreed under pressure from the United States and Saudi Arabia, who along with the United Nations and the African Union are concerned that Sudan could fragment, destabilising a volatile region.



The lull allowed thousands of Khartoum residents and foreign visitors to flee the capital. Although the truce was extended late on Thursday, air strikes and anti-aircraft fire again rocked the city.



RIVALRY AT THE TOP



Hemedti, previously a militia leader in Darfur, was an enforcer for former president Omar-al Bashir and became rich from the gold trade.



He and Burhan, a career army officer, were not always at odds.



Both commanded men in Darfur where as many as 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million displaced in a conflict that escalated in 2003 and rumbles on to this day despite several peace deals.



Assuming the top two positions on Sudan&#8217;s ruling council after Bashir&#8217;s 2019 overthrow during a protest movement, they mostly presented a united front in a power sharing arrangement with the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), a political coalition that arose from the uprising.



By that time, the RSF had grown into a force estimated at 100,000 and formalised under legislation passed by parliament



In October 2021, the two men staged a coup.



Hemedti, however, quickly came to see that takeover as a mistake that had enabled Bashir loyalists to regain some influence, he has said in speeches and televised interviews. The coup led to weekly mass street protests and cut short a tentative opening of Sudan&#8217;s stagnant economy.



As Hemedti bet on an internationally-backed framework agreement for a civilian government, apparently eyeing a future political role for himself, ties grew strained over the chain of command in the new transition and plans to integrate the RSF into the regular army.



In the buildup to the fighting, Hemedti insisted the integration of the RSF should be stretched over 10 years, in line with details of the framework transition plan signed in December, several Sudanese and diplomatic sources familiar with the talks said.



However, the army was pushing for a shorter time frame, with General Shams El Din Kabbashi, Burhan&#8217;s hardline deputy within the army, pushing for just two years.



Reuters could not reach Kabbashi for comment.



A senior diplomat involved in mediation efforts in the final weeks before the fighting said there seemed to be space for agreement between Burhan and Hemedti, though the RSF leader showed exasperation.



&#8220;There was a lot of rage, frustration, the narrative of &#8216;I&#8217;m the only one protecting the democratic transition'&#8221;.



The army chief was insisting that Hemedti would report to him, while Hemedti was saying that only an elected parliament could decide the chain of command. Neither wanted to back down first, the senior diplomat said.



DARFUR TO POWER



The RSF&#8217;s Mohamed, echoing comments made publicly by Hemedti, and the civilian FFC, both say there was a third group at play, souring relations between the army and the paramilitary force.



&#8220;There&#8217;s a bloc inside the army that rejects democracy,&#8221; Mohamed said, adding that RSF intelligence had monitored meetings of Bashir allies opposed to the transition.



Mohamed and the FFC say this bloc is made up of supporters, including Islamists, of Bashir, who ruled Sudan for decades. Pro-Bashir forces started making a comeback after the 2021 coup. They have publicly opposed the December framework agreement for elections and civilian rule.



&#8220;The agreement threatened the space that the elements of the defunct regime found after the October 25 (2021) coup, so they fuelled the conflict between the armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces and are now working to continue it after the outbreak of the war,&#8221; Khalid Omer Yousif, a senior FFC member and former cabinet minister, told Reuters.



FFC members have accused the pro-Bashir group of spreading rumours and exerting internal pressure within the army.



Representatives of Bashir&#8217;s National Congress Party did not respond to calls requesting comment for this story



Since his overthrow, Bashir has been in prison, with spells in hospital. He was convicted on corruption charges and is now being tried over the 1989 coup that brought him to power.



Before the outbreak of violence, Bashir was transferred from the sprawling Kober prison to a military hospital, the army said on Wednesday, along with five senior loyalists, including one who, like Bashir, is charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court.



Days before the fighting broke out, Bashir sympathisers attacked pro-democracy groups near the prison. Last weekend, thousands of inmates were released in unclear circumstances.



Among them was a former minister in Bashir&#8217;s government who is also wanted on war crimes charges by the ICC, and other top members of his movement.



Mohamed Tahir Ayla, prime minister at the time Bashir fell and once touted as a potential future president, recently started making public appearances after keeping a low profile for several years.



At a gathering of supporters a few days before the fighting started, he brought an inflammatory message, promising &#8220;martyr after martyr&#8221; to defend Sudan&#8217;s land and religion.



Reuters could not reach Ayla or Bashir, or establish whether they have had any role in the collapse of the transition plan and the conflict.



&#8220;There is no place for the framework agreement,&#8221; Ayla said, in a video of the gathering viewed by Reuters. &#8220;We are more prepared now than before to take up arms, and take what is ours by our own hands&#8221;.



(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum and Nafisa Eltahir and Aidan Lewis in Cairo; Writing by Michael Georgy and Aidan Lewis; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum

How Sudan’s military factions set path to war as mediation stalled

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/UROZOPX5TZLJ5KMTWAI7Y3PWLA-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424431" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/UROZOPX5TZLJ5KMTWAI7Y3PWLA-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/UROZOPX5TZLJ5KMTWAI7Y3PWLA-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/UROZOPX5TZLJ5KMTWAI7Y3PWLA-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/UROZOPX5TZLJ5KMTWAI7Y3PWLA-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/UROZOPX5TZLJ5KMTWAI7Y3PWLA-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/UROZOPX5TZLJ5KMTWAI7Y3PWLA-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Joint Forces board the C-130 bound for Sudan to evacuate British embassy diplomats and their families, in RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus April 25, 2023. LPHOT MARK JOHNSON/Pool via REUTERS</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, April 25 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;As foreign governments scramble to evacuate their nationals from Sudan, those with nowhere to go say they feel forsaken, and fear the exodus of expatriates could mean worse bloodshed to come.



More than a week of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N36S1BQ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deadly fighting</a>&nbsp;between rival wings of the Sudanese military has prompted many governments to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36S0M7&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evacuate expatriates</a>&nbsp;by air, sea and land.



But as embassies close and diplomats and U.N. staff leave on special flights and buses,&nbsp;many&nbsp;Sudanese say they are being left to fend for themselves.



&#8220;Why is the world abandoning us at a time of war?&#8221; said Sumaya Yassin, 27. She accused foreign powers of only being &#8220;concerned with their interests&#8221; as she spoke by phone in Khartoum, even after U.S. mediation helped broker a 72-hour ceasefire announced on Monday.



The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AKBN2WC0A2&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">power struggle</a>&nbsp;between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces has killed hundreds since April 15, and turned residential areas into war zones.



Germany and France said on Tuesday they had each evacuated more than 500 foreigners as Britain began a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AS8N34H0I1&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">large-scale evacuation</a>&nbsp;of its citizens.



In Khartoum, a man who gave his name as Ahmed said civilians might pay a heavy price in a country of 46 million people with a history of long and bloody civil wars.



&#8220;Sudanese people are afraid that there might be unethical practices in the war against civilians and using civilians as human shields,&#8221; he said on Monday, as behind him people boarded a bus leaving Khartoum.



&#8220;These are our fears after the evacuation of expatriates.&#8221;



Foreigners have themselves been caught in the violence. Embassies have been attacked, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AT9N31400X&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. diplomatic convoy</a>&nbsp;came under fire, a French commando was wounded during an evacuation mission, and an Egyptian attaché was killed driving to his embassy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-u-n-not-leaving">U.N. &#8216;NOT LEAVING&#8217;</h2>



Tens of thousands have spilled into Egypt, Chad and South Sudan. But for ordinary people, the cost of getting out is spiralling.



A bus fare to Egypt has risen nearly six-fold to the equivalent of some $340, said a man in Khartoum who gave his name as Karam, wearing a backpack as he waited near a bus stop: &#8220;And every day there&#8217;s a change, an increase.&#8221;



The United Nations has reported acute shortages of food, clean water, medicines and fuel.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36M4NM&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Most hospitals</a>&nbsp;have been damaged or closed by the fighting, which has trapped people in their homes and led to looting.



Community groups, websites and apps have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N36P07I&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sprung up</a>&nbsp;to mobilise medical help and find basic supplies.



At least five aid workers have been killed since fighting began and the two U.N. agencies who lost staff, the International Organization for Migration and the World Food Programme, have suspended activities, a blow to the third of the population who depended on aid before the fighting began.



On Monday, hundreds of diplomats and aid workers arrived in Port Sudan on the Red Sea after a 35-hour road journey from Khartoum.



U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he had authorised the temporary relocation of some U.N. personnel.



&#8220;But let me be clear: The U.N. is not leaving,&#8221; he tweeted. &#8220;We will continue to carry out our work inside &amp; outside the country.&#8221;



Sudan&#8217;s streets deserted as foreigners flee, lab seizure causes biohazard risk<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36S0HR&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FACTBOX-Countries rush to evacuate foreign citizens from Sudan<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36S0M7&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz and El Tayeb Siddig in Khartoum; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Military operation to evacuate British embassy diplomats and their families from Sudan

Sudanese fear worse to come as foreigners head out

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1252156799-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424427" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1252156799-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1252156799-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1252156799-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1252156799-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1252156799-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1252156799-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">NAIROBI, KENYA &#8211; APRIL 24: Students disembark from a Kenya Air Force plane carrying 39 students evacuated from Southern Sudan, after it landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on April 24, 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya. 19 Somali students, 19 Kenyan students, and one Saudi Arabian citizen were among the 39, who were received at the airport by Kenyan Defense Minister Aden Duale. A 72-hour ceasefire has started in conflict-torn Sudan, after days of brutal fighting between army and paramilitary troops, with foreign nations rushing to evacuate their citizens. (Photo by Donwilson Odhiambo/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, April 25 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The conflict between Sudan&#8217;s army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has triggered a rush to extract foreign diplomats and citizens.



Several countries have evacuated nationals by air, while some have gone via Port Sudan on the Red Sea, about 800 km (500 miles) by road from Khartoum.



This is the status of some countries&#8217; efforts:



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-germany">GERMANY</h2>



As of Tuesday morning, a German evacuation mission had brought a total of 500 people from more than 30 countries to safety, including Belgian, British, Dutch, Jordanian and U.S. citizens as well as Germans.



Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said efforts were under way to get the remaining Germans out, but did not say how many were left.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FRANCE</h2>



France has evacuated more than 500 people from Sudan, comprising more than 200 French citizens as well as Americans, Britons and others, President Emmanuel Macron told his government.



Paris has also sent a warship to Port Sudan to help pick up evacuees,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AP6N35O03R&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">two diplomatic sources</a>&nbsp;said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">ITALY</h2>



Italian military planes flying from Djibouti evacuated 83 Italians and 13 others overnight, including children and the Italian ambassador.



Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said some Italian NGO workers and missionaries had decided to stay in Sudan, while 19 others had been taken to Egypt two days ago.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BRITAIN</h2>



<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N36S155&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Britain</a>&nbsp;said it would begin a &#8220;large-scale&#8221; evacuation of its nationals on Tuesday, with priority given to families with children, the elderly and the infirm. Foreign minister James Cleverly said Britain was working closely with its international partners.



The government estimates there are around 4,000 Britons in Sudan. It evacuated its diplomats and their families on Saturday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">JAPAN</h2>



All Japanese people who wished to leave have been evacuated, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.



Forty-five left on Monday night on a Japanese military flight, and eight others left with the help of France and other groups, he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CYPRUS</h2>



Cyprus said on Tuesday it had activated a humanitarian rescue mechanism to allow third countries to use its facilities to evacuate foreign citizens from Sudan.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CHINA</h2>



Most Chinese nationals have been safely evacuated in groups to neighbouring countries, China&#8217;s foreign ministry said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">UNITED STATES</h2>



U.S. forces evacuated American and some foreign diplomats on Saturday.



Washington said on Monday that several dozen Americans were travelling overland in a U.N.-led convoy to Port Sudan, and that dozens more had expressed an interest in leaving.



It said it was positioning naval assets to assist evacuations if necessary.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">UKRAINE</h2>



Ukraine said it had rescued of its 87 citizens &#8211; most of them pilots, aircraft technicians and their families &#8211; among a total of 138 civilians, who also included citizens of Georgia and Peru.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SOUTH AFRICA</h2>



South Africa said it expected the last 12 of its nationals known to be in Sudan to have left on Tuesday.



Sudan fighting abates overnight, allowing more people to flee <a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N36S1BQ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Compiled by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Kenyan Students Evacuated From Sudan

Countries scramble to evacuate foreign citizens from Sudan

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="615" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CYYYKPYV6FI3ZH4K6T37EXSVXE-820x615.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-424406" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CYYYKPYV6FI3ZH4K6T37EXSVXE-820x615.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CYYYKPYV6FI3ZH4K6T37EXSVXE-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CYYYKPYV6FI3ZH4K6T37EXSVXE-120x90.jpg 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CYYYKPYV6FI3ZH4K6T37EXSVXE-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CYYYKPYV6FI3ZH4K6T37EXSVXE.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Spanish military plane and military vehicles are seen departing on tarmac as Spanish diplomatic personnel and citizens are evacuated, in Khartoum, Sudan, April 23, 2023. Spanish Defence Ministry Handout/Handout via REUTERS</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, April 24 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Sudan&#8217;s sudden&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N36Q038&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slide into conflict</a>&nbsp;between the army and a paramilitary group called Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has stranded thousands of foreigners, including diplomats and aid workers, and countries are working to evacuate their nationals.



Several evacuations are by air. Others are via Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which is about 650 km (400 miles) northeast of Khartoum, but about 800 km (500 miles) by road.



This is the status of some evacuations:



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-united-states">UNITED STATES</h2>



U.S. special forces evacuated all U.S. government personnel and their dependents, along with a few diplomats from other countries, from the embassy on Saturday using helicopters that flew from a base in Djibouti and refuelled in Ethiopia. They were not fired on.



Washington does not plan to coordinate an evacuation of other Americans but is looking at options to help them leave.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BRITAIN</h2>



British armed forces staged a &#8220;complex and rapid evacuation&#8221; of all diplomatic staff and their families from Sudan, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday. The defence minister said they acted alongside the United States, France and other allies.



Sunak said the government was pursuing every avenue to end the bloodshed and ensure the safety of British nationals; they were urged to shelter in place and let British officials know where they were.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FRANCE</h2>



A French plane carrying about 100 people left Khartoum on Sunday for Djibouti with a second plane carrying a similar number preparing to take off, France said, adding that operations would resume on Monday.



The plane also carried the European Union delegation along with some other nationalities.



Earlier, the warring army and RSF each accused the other of attacking a French convoy.



The army said the RSF had fired on the convoy, wounding a French national. The RSF said it had been attacked by aircraft during the evacuation, leading to a French national being wounded, and it had returned the convoy to its starting point.



France&#8217;s Foreign Ministry has not commented.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">GERMANY</h2>



The German air force has flown out 311 people so far from an airfield near Khartoum, the German military said. The first 101 people landed in Berlin on Monday on aboard an Airbus A321 from the Al Azrak base in Jordan, which is being used as a hub. Germany had said it had roughly 200 citizens in Sudan.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">ITALY</h2>



Italy said its nationals would be taken out of Sudan on Sunday night along with some people from Switzerland, Vatican City and other European countries.



Italy&#8217;s foreign minister said some 140 Italians would be evacuated, plus around 60 people from other countries.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">EGYPT</h2>



Egypt said it evacuated 436 of its nationals out of about 10,000 in neighbouring Sudan.



It said one of its diplomats had been wounded by gunfire, without giving details.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SAUDI ARABIA AND GULF STATES</h2>



Saudi Arabia on Saturday took 91 Saudis and about 66 people from other countries out from Port Sudan by naval ship to Jeddah, across the Red Sea.



Kuwait said all citizens wishing to return home had arrived in Jeddah.



Qatar thanked Saudi Arabia for helping evacuate Qatari citizens. Sudan&#8217;s army accused the RSF of attacking and looting a Qatari embassy convoy heading to Port Sudan. Neither the RSF nor Qatar have commented on that and it was not clear if it was the same group that left for Saudi Arabia.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">RUSSIA</h2>



Moscow&#8217;s ambassador in Khartoum said that 140 of roughly 300 Russians in Sudan had said they wanted to leave. Evacuation plans could not yet be implemented because they involve crossing front lines, the ambassador said. He added there were about 15 people, including a woman and child, stuck in a Russian Orthodox church close to heavy fighting in Khartoum.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SWEDEN</h2>



Sweden said on Monday that all its embassy staff in Khartoum, their families and an unspecified number of other Swedes had been evacuated to nearby Djibouti. Military planes and personnel would continue to help evacuate foreign nationals as long as the security situation allowed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">OTHER COUNTRIES</h2>



Jordan said four planes carrying 343 people, including Jordanian nationals and residents of Palestine, Iraq, Syria and Germany, had departed Sudan.



Libya&#8217;s embassy in Khartoum said 83 Libyans including diplomats and their families, students and airline and bank employees had reached Port Sudan for onward travel home.



Spain said it evacuated diplomatic personnel and citizens, as well as others from Europe and Latin America. Five Mexicans and two family members were aboard that flight, according to Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.



India said it had sent a naval ship to Port Sudan and two military planes to Jeddah as part of its preparations and was telling citizens to avoid unnecessary risks.



Tunisia said it would start evacuating citizens on Monday from Khartoum.



Lebanon said it was working to evacuate 51 citizens from Port Sudan.



South Korea said on Friday it was sending a military aircraft to evacuate its 25 citizens in Sudan.



Japan said three planes had arrived in Djibouti to transport Japanese nationals.



Canada said it was suspending operations in Sudan and had extracted its diplomats.



Ghana and Kenya said they were working to help their nationals get out.



Nigeria said had asked for a safe corridor to evacuate 5,500 nationals, mostly students.



Norway and Ireland each said they were involved in efforts to evacuate citizens. The Netherlands said a handful of its 150 nationals in Sudan had left on the French plane.



Fifteen Danish citizens have been evacuated in a French-led rescue operation while another six citizens rejected an offer to be evacuated, Denmark&#8217;s foreign ministry told Reuters on Monday.



UPDATE 6-Foreign states rush high-risk Sudan evacuation, some foreign citizens hurt<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N36Q038&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Reporting by Reuters Cairo bureau and other newsrooms worldwide; Writing by Angus McDowall and Andy SullivanEditing by Alex Richardson, Frances Kerry, Grant McCool, Philippa Fletcher)

Spanish military plane and military vehicles depart on tarmac as Spanish diplomatic personnel and citizens are evacuated, in Khartoum

Foreign states evacuate citizens from Sudan

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/107220710-1680673592628-gettyimages-1180313082-56201573023836_pic_hd-820x462.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-424096" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/107220710-1680673592628-gettyimages-1180313082-56201573023836_pic_hd-820x462.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/107220710-1680673592628-gettyimages-1180313082-56201573023836_pic_hd-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/107220710-1680673592628-gettyimages-1180313082-56201573023836_pic_hd-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/107220710-1680673592628-gettyimages-1180313082-56201573023836_pic_hd-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/107220710-1680673592628-gettyimages-1180313082-56201573023836_pic_hd.jpeg 929w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron are meeting this week. Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



European officials are traveling to China in the hope of persuading Beijing to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and cool its recent kinship with the Kremlin.



The 27-member bloc walks a tightrope, looking to develop economic ties with China but also reaffirming a close political and cultural relationship with the United States. This has became particularly difficult with the U.S. administration ramping up its anti-Beijing rhetoric and, even more so, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.



“It is clear that our relations have become more distant and more difficult in the last few years,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said in a speech Thursday ahead of her trip to Beijing this week.



“We have seen a very deliberate hardening of China’s overall strategic posture for some time. And it has now been matched by a ratcheting up of increasingly assertive actions,” she added.



Von der Leyen is traveling to Beijing alongside France’s President Emmanuel Macron this week. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met China’s President Xi Jinping last week. Europe’s top foreign affairs diplomat, Josep Borrell, is heading to China next week.



“A lot of Europeans [are] going to China,” Borrell said Tuesday, adding that they have a clear message.



“Its position on Russia’s atrocities and war crimes will determine the quality of our relations with Beijing. In the meantime, the European Union stands united and our transatlantic community remains also united,” he said.



China has failed to condemn Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine. In a visit to Moscow in March, China’s leader Xi Jinping referred to his Russian counterpart as a dear friend.



Beijing in February proposed a 12-point peace plan for the Ukraine war. The plan fails to specify whether Russia needs to leave Ukrainian territory for a deal to be completed. Ukraine has made it clear it will not agree to any peace deal that does not involve regaining full control of its territory, including Crimea which the Kremlin annexed in 2014.



“Europe has converged quite a lot to the position of the United States,” Niclas Poitiers, a research fellow at Bruegel, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” Monday, adding that Brussels wants to reduce dependencies on China. The EU was heavily reliant on Russia for energy and it now wants to avoid similar mistakes with other parts of the world.



“Overall, there is a consensus that we need to do something about our overreliance on China and ensure they don’t blackmail small member states,” Poitiers said.



A recent example of the increased convergence between the U.S. and the EU is the decision in the Netherlands to go ahead with export restrictions to China, following a move stateside aiming to curb Beijing’s access to the most cutting-edge microchip production.



In addition, the United States has also became Europe’s main provider of liquefied natural gas (LNG) last year as the bloc looked to phase out Russian hydrocarbons.



There’s also an increased, though natural, cooperation between EU nations and the U.S. on security matters given most of them are also members of NATO.



“U.S. &#8211; European Union relations have never been stronger or more important to advance our shared interests,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Brussels Tuesday.



Blinken is meeting his fellow NATO counterparts this week, where they will discuss further support for Ukraine as well as ramping up financial contributions to the military alliance.



But moving closer to the U.S. is not an easy decision for European leaders. In 2022, China was the largest source of EU imports and the third largest buyer of EU goods, highlighting the economic importance that Beijing has for Europe. This is particularly relevant when economic growth in the EU is vulnerable to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

107220710-1680673592628-gettyimages-1180313082-56201573023836_pic_hd

Europe’s relationship with China reaches critical juncture after Xi-Putin meeting

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="562" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246737066-820x562.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-422891" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246737066-820x562.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246737066-300x205.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246737066-131x90.jpg 131w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246737066-768x526.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246737066-1536x1052.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246737066-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO &#8211; FEBRUARY 02: Pope Francis wave to public as he leads the mass at Martyrs Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo on February 02, 2023. (Photo by Chris Milosi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



KINSHASA, Feb 3 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Pope Francis wraps up an emotional visit to Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday and heads to neighbouring South Sudan, another nation struggling to overcome decades of conflict and grinding poverty.



The 86-year-old pontiff, on his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34A3NQ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">third visit to sub-Saharan Africa</a>&nbsp;since his papacy began in 2013, was given a rapturous welcome by huge crowds in the Congolese capital Kinshasa but also confronted the reality of war, poverty and hunger.



On Wednesday, he heard&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34H0IG&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">harrowing stories</a>&nbsp;from victims of conflict in eastern Congo who had witnessed the killings of close relatives and been subjected to sexual slavery, amputation and forced cannibalism.



The pope condemned the atrocities as war crimes and appealed to all parties, internal and external, who orchestrate war in Congo to plunder the country&#8217;s vast mineral resources to stop getting rich with &#8220;money stained with blood&#8221;.



Eastern Congo has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34G5B9&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plagued for decades by conflict</a>&nbsp;driven in part by the struggle for control of deposits of diamonds, gold and other precious metals between the government, rebels and foreign invaders. The spillover and long fallout from neighbouring Rwanda&#8217;s 1994 genocide have also fuelled violence.



Francis returned again and again to the theme of conflict fuelled by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34G0PP&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;the poison of greed&#8221;</a>, saying the Congolese people and the wider world should realise that people were more precious than the minerals in the earth beneath them.



After a meeting with Congolese bishops in Kinshasa on Friday morning and a farewell ceremony at the airport, his plane is scheduled to take off at 0940 GMT, heading for Juba, the capital of South Sudan, where it is expected to land around 1300 GMT.



The pope will be joined for the whole of his visit to South Sudan by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, leader of the global Anglican Communion, and by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields.



It is the first joint foreign trip by the three Christian leaders, who have called it a &#8220;pilgrimage of peace&#8221;.



South Sudan broke away from Sudan to become independent in 2011 after decades of north-south conflict, but civil war erupted in 2013. Despite a 2018 peace deal between the two main antagonists,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34I3AT&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">violence and hunger</a>&nbsp;still plague the country.



Francis has wanted to visit the predominantly Christian country for years but each time planning for a trip began it had to be postponed because of instability on the ground.



In one of the most remarkable gestures of his papacy, Francis knelt to kiss the feet of South Sudan&#8217;s previously warring leaders during a meeting at the Vatican in April 2019, urging them not to return to civil war.



FACTBOX-Pope Francis heads to Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34I3AT&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



UPDATE 9-&#8216;Hands off Africa,&#8217; Pope Francis tells rich world<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34G0PP&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



UPDATE 3-Pope hears harrowing tales of Congo violence and says: &#8216;Enough!&#8217;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34H0IG&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



UPDATE 1-Shun ethnic rivalry and corruption, pope tells African youth<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34I0IA&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



EXPLAINER-What is driving the violence in eastern Congo?<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34G5B9&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



EXPLAINER-Why has peace eluded South Sudan?<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3411GL&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Pope Francis in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Pope wraps up Congo visit, heads to volatile South Sudan

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1461605456-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-422883" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1461605456-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1461605456-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1461605456-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1461605456-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1461605456-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1461605456-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO &#8211; FEBRUARY 02: (EDITOR NOTE: STRICTLY EDITORIAL USE ONLY &#8211; NO MERCHANDISING). Pope Francis meets with young people and catechists from across the Democratic Republic of Congo on February 02, 2023 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. On the third day of his Apostolic Journey to the DRC, Pope Francis held a lively encounter with young people and the local Church’s catechists. The meeting took place in the Martyr’s Stadium in Kinshasa on Thursday morning, and the Pope thanked the Congolese youth for their shows of affection and dancing. (Photo by Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



KINSHASA, Feb 2 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Pope Francis on Thursday urged young people in Democratic Republic of Congo to forge a new future without the ethnic rivalry, corruption and distrust that have fuelled so many bloody conflicts in Africa.



Addressing more than 65,000 young people in Martyrs Stadium, Francis spoke of forgiveness and reconciliation, themes that have dominated his visit to Congo,&nbsp;where armed conflict has killed and displaced millions of people over the past decades.



But Thursday&#8217;s speech, focused on what he called &#8220;ingredients for the future&#8221;, struck a more hopeful tone than his previous ones as he spoke of potential new horizons for Congo rather than of its bloody past and present.



The speech was interrupted so often by applause and cheers that at one point an organiser took a microphone and shouted &#8220;let the pope speak&#8221; before he could continue.



&#8220;Beware of the temptation to point a finger at someone, to exclude another person because he or she is different; beware of regionalism, tribalism, or anything that makes you feel secure in your own group,&#8221; he told them.



&#8220;You know what happens: first, you believe in prejudices about others, then you justify hatred, then violence, and in the end, you find yourself in the middle of a war,&#8221; he said.



Congo has some of the world&#8217;s richest mineral deposits, but its abundant resources have stoked conflict between ethnic groups, militias, government troops and foreign invaders.



Eastern Congo has also been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34G5B9&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plagued by violence</a>&nbsp;connected to the long and complex fallout from the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda.



&#8220;To create a new future we need to give and receive forgiveness. That is what Christians do,&#8221; he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-do-the-right-thing">DO THE RIGHT THING</h2>



In urging the young people in the packed stadium to &#8220;do the right thing&#8221;, Francis also asked them not to repeat the mistakes of previous generations. He singled out &#8220;corruption, which never seems to stop spreading&#8221;.



He led the stadium in an impromptu chant of &#8220;no to corruption&#8221; in French, Congo&#8217;s lingua franca.



The theme struck a chord with many young people in the stadium, who denounced their own leaders as corrupt and complained of routinely having to pay bribes to receive what should be ordinary services.



&#8220;The pope is right,&#8221; said Joel Muhemereri Amani, 21, an art student. &#8220;Because the country is going badly, imagine, to enter somewhere you have to corrupt the police. And I hope that the government, the police will change in this respect.&#8221;



Genovic Lobombo, a medical student, said he had come up against corruption during his time at university. &#8220;In order to succeed, you have to give money,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Corruption reigns here.&#8221;



The United Nations says African economies lose nearly $150 billion to corruption each year.



&#8220;Look, corruption is a scourge that exists in many countries of the world,&#8221; said Patrick Muyaya, minister of communication and government spokesman, after the pope&#8217;s speech.



&#8220;There are structural problems linked to the organisation of the country. So we are going to work so that all those who work can earn money by the sweat of their brow,&#8221; he told Reuters.



The 86-year-old pope,&nbsp;who arrived in Congo on Tuesday,flies to neighbouring South Sudan on Friday.&nbsp;He will be visiting jointly with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of Scotland Moderator, in what the three Christian leaders have described as an unprecedented &#8220;pilgrimage of peace&#8221;.



South Sudan, the world&#8217;s youngest country, is also grappling with conflict and hunger following a civil war that was fought mostly on ethnic lines and killed 400,000 people.



(Additional reporting by Sonia Rolley; Writing by Philip Pullella and Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Nick Macfie, Alexandra Hudson)

Pope Francis Travels To Democratic Republic Of Congo And South Sudan

Shun ethnic rivalry and corruption, pope tells African youth

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="549" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/4UP5FT3K4RK75GUSFPSPC3PD7M-820x549.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-422823" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/4UP5FT3K4RK75GUSFPSPC3PD7M-820x549.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/4UP5FT3K4RK75GUSFPSPC3PD7M-300x201.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/4UP5FT3K4RK75GUSFPSPC3PD7M-134x90.jpg 134w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/4UP5FT3K4RK75GUSFPSPC3PD7M-768x514.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/4UP5FT3K4RK75GUSFPSPC3PD7M.jpg 1176w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Congolese police talk to demonstrators calling on authorities to enforce an agreed withdrawal of M23 rebels from occupied territory in the region, within Goma in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Djaffar Sabiti</figcaption></figure>



GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Jan. 31 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;A focus of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34G0PP&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pope Francis&#8217; visit</a>&nbsp;to the Democratic Republic of Congo is a meeting on Wednesday with around 60 victims of the decades of violence in the east of the country who have made the cross-country journey to see him.



The pontiff had hoped to travel to the eastern city of Goma but cancelled the stop following a resurgence of fighting in the mineral-rich region, where more than 120 armed groups are fighting for control of land and natural resources.



Millions have been killed, and millions more have been displaced by the violence in the east since the 1990s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-driving-the-violence-in-eastern-congo">WHAT IS DRIVING THE VIOLENCE IN EASTERN CONGO</h2>



The conflict in Congo goes back decades, making it difficult to isolate a few causes, said Jason Stearns, director of the Congo Research Group. At the start, rebellions abroad with rear bases in Congo, local struggles over land, resources, and identity – especially over the status of groups speaking Rwandan languages, and the weakness of the Congolese state were the main causes, he said.



The state has a large responsibility because it has done little to dismantle, demobilize, or defeat any of the 120 armed groups in the east, he said.



Competition for control of the region&#8217;s rich natural resources has also contributed to the violence.



Pierre Boisselet from Kivu Security Tracker, which monitors unrest in the region, said: &#8220;The conflict has reached a stage where it seems to be self-sustaining because, over the decades, a class of professionals in violence has been formed, both among local and foreign armed groups and the states of the region.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHO ARE THE MAIN ACTORS IN THE VIOLENCE</h2>



Myriad armed groups are involved in the violence, some with a few dozen members while others have hundreds of armed combatants, sometimes along ethnic lines. The most active in recent years include:



*&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2XI4BQ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The M23</a>. The name refers to the March 23 date of a 2009 accord that ended a previous Tutsi-led revolt in eastern Congo. The group says the government has not kept its promise to fully integrate Congolese Tutsis into the army and government.



It seized swathes of territory in a resurgence since March 2022, displacing over 500,000 as they advanced to the gates of Goma, leading to the cancellation of the pope&#8217;s visit there.



* The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), is an armed group run by mostly ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda after taking part in the 1994 genocide. They are seen as M23&#8217;s main rival. Rwanda has accused Congo of using the FDLR a proxy, while Congo has accuse Rwanda of backing the M23. Both sides have denied the accusations.



* Fighters from the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, commonly known as CODECO, are drawn mainly from the Lendu farming community, which has been in conflict with Hema herders. They are seen as one of the most violent against civilians. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo blamed the militia for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3442FO&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a mass grave with 49 bodies</a>&nbsp;including 12 women and six children found on Jan. 19.



* Islamic State-linked militia, known locally as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N2SL44A&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)</a>&nbsp;is another violent group operating in the region. It has killed and maimed scores in village raids and bombings. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for some of ADF&#8217;s violence. The group is suspected of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3483AG&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">killing 20 people</a>&nbsp;in a raid last week, and 14 others in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3412E0&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">church bombing</a>.



(Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Congo police scatter protesters denouncing slow M23 rebel pullback

What is driving the violence in eastern Congo?

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107184415-1674739123002-gettyimages-1246549300-SOUTH_AFRICA_YELLEN-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-422818" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107184415-1674739123002-gettyimages-1246549300-SOUTH_AFRICA_YELLEN-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107184415-1674739123002-gettyimages-1246549300-SOUTH_AFRICA_YELLEN-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107184415-1674739123002-gettyimages-1246549300-SOUTH_AFRICA_YELLEN-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107184415-1674739123002-gettyimages-1246549300-SOUTH_AFRICA_YELLEN-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107184415-1674739123002-gettyimages-1246549300-SOUTH_AFRICA_YELLEN-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107184415-1674739123002-gettyimages-1246549300-SOUTH_AFRICA_YELLEN.jpeg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Janet Yellen, US Treasury secretary, during a news conference with Enoch Godongwana, South Africa’s finance minister, at the National Treasury in Pretoria, South Africa, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Waldo Swiegers | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, new Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have all embarked on African tours within the past month.



Yellen met with South African officials including President Cyril Ramaphosa last week, just days after the country’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor stood alongside Lavrov and vowed to strengthen bilateral relations between Pretoria and Moscow.



Yellen’s three-country African tour, which also included stops in Senegal and Zambia, was presented as an effort to build trade and investment ties with the continent, accompanied by discussions about sustainable energy and food security initiatives and debt relief.



Yellen noted last week that Africa would “shape the future of the global economy,” signaling the U.S. motivation to re-engage with the continent of 1.4 billion people, but she also said Friday that she had discussed adherence to Russian sanctions in each of the three countries visited.



Earlier in the week, Pandor refused to reiterate any calls for Russia to withdraw troops from Ukraine, and took a subtle swipe at Western attempts to influence other countries’ choice of allies. South Africa was one of 17 African nations to abstain from the U.N. vote in March to condemn Russia’s war of aggression.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="405" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107183561-1674642597553-GettyImages-1246470281-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-422819" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107183561-1674642597553-GettyImages-1246470281-1.jpg 720w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107183561-1674642597553-GettyImages-1246470281-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107183561-1674642597553-GettyImages-1246470281-1-160x90.jpg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">PRETORIA, South Africa &#8211; Jan. 23, 2023: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) meets South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor (R) during his official visit in Pretoria Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Perhaps more controversially, South Africa last week announced a joint military exercise with Russia and China next month, coinciding with the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, which drew concern from the White House.



U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also toured sub-Saharan Africa last year, while U.S. President Joe Biden held a U.S.-Africa Summit in December, perceived as an effort to recoup some of the economic and trade influence Washington has lost to China over the past decade or more. Blinken also stopped off in Egypt on Monday on the first leg of a planned tour of the Middle East amid a renewed spate of Israel-Palestinian violence.



Diplomatic analysts told CNBC last week that the flurry of diplomatic activity should not be seen as a “scramble for Africa,” but rather a demonstration that the continent’s economic and geopolitical bargaining power means it now firmly occupies a seat at the table.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-african-governments-resist-taking-sides">African governments resist taking sides</h3>



In the backdrop of Yellen’s trip is Washington’s concern about its waning influence on a continent that has increasingly pivoted toward bilateral relations with global powers that do not exert pressure to adopt certain geopolitical positions.



As such, China has massively expanded its economic presence on the continent in recent years, while Russia has been able to build military and diplomatic influence in certain regions, particularly those beset by civil conflict or insurgency.



Chinese involvement on the continent began in earnest with Beijing’s backing of liberation movements challenging colonial rule, with commercial engagements intensifying from the late 1990s and culminating in the formalizing of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013.



The Biden administration’s U.S. sub-Saharan Africa strategy was published in August 2022, and frames China’s view of Africa as “an important arena to challenge the rules-based international order, advance its own narrow commercial and geopolitical interests, undermine transparency and openness, and weaken U.S. relations with African peoples and governments.”



Prior to President Biden’s U.S.-African Leaders Summit in December, Thomas P. Sheehy, distinguished fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), highlighted that over the decades since the Cold War, China’s presence and influence in almost every African nation has increased significantly, while U.S. influence has “flatlined.”



“China is Africa’s largest two-way trading partner, hitting $254 billion in 2021, exceeding by a factor of four U.S.-Africa trade. China is the largest provider of foreign direct investment, supporting hundreds of thousands of African jobs. This is roughly double the level of U.S. foreign direct investment,” Sheehy said.



However, he highlighted that most African leaders remember with concern the U.S.-Soviet proxy wars conducted on the continent during the Cold War, and are therefore reluctant to become part of a global power struggle. As such, many African nations desire a strong relationship with both the U.S. and China, and U.S. diplomacy will be more effective when not framed as an “us-or-them” proposition.



The administration’s strategy paper alleges that Russia views Africa as “a permissive environment for parastatals and private military companies, often fomenting instability for strategic and financial benefit.”



This refers primarily to private military contractors such as Russia’s notorious Wagner Group, which has been increasingly active in politically unstable nations such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan and the Central African Republic.



“Russia uses its security and economic ties, as well as disinformation, to undercut Africans’ principled opposition to Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine and related human rights abuses,” the paper adds.



Eleonora Tafuro, senior research fellow at the Russia, Caucasus and Central Asia Centre at Italy’s Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), told CNBC last week that there was an increasing realization among Western powers that African nations have “their own agency” and it is up to them to decide whether relationships with China, Russia or Turkey, for instance, are in their interests.



“It’s very easy to fall into comparisons with the Cold War and talking about a scramble for Africa, but I think it’s certainly true that the U.S. in particular is trying to make up for certain disengagement,” Tafuro said.



“Africa is not a region that the U.S. wants to be or should be absent from if it wants to keep being a superpower, so I think there is this realization in Washington that it has to be present or at least it has to give the impression that it is present — of course it is present in economic and security terms, especially with some African partners, but it has to show it.”



The increasing appeal of China’s apparent separation of trade and investment from geopolitical requirements was evident in South Africa’s refusal to be “bullied” into adopting a position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a sentiment shared across much of the continent.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">China and Russia building influence</h3>



Alex Vines, managing director of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, said in a report last week that China had positioned itself as a contrast to Western governments in its African investments.



“It characterizes its loans as mutually beneficial cooperation between developing countries, promising not to interfere in the internal politics of those it loans to,” Vines said.



“In this respect it presents itself in contrast to Western countries, who are accused by China and some African governments of arrogant, democratic posturing — often by former colonial powers that looted African resources during the 18th and 19th centuries.”



Some Western politicians have voiced fears that China’s loan financing in Africa amount to “debt trap diplomacy,” in which unmanageable debts are racked up so as to allow Beijing to request access for resources as collateral.



China staunchly denies this, and Vines highlighted that while some African nations with extensive Chinese loans — such as Kenya and Zambia — are suffering spiraling debt burdens, their situations “cannot be entirely blamed on Chinese loans.”



“Meanwhile, other African countries have created realistic, manageable debt arrangements with China without the tremendous risk and uncertainties that characterized some major BRI projects,” he highlighted.



Vines also noted that the deluge of loans made during the initial boom of the Belt and Road initiative poses a problem for China, as it may struggle to collect repayments while maintaining its image as a friend of developing nations.



What’s more, the BRI projects were “largely uncoordinated and unplanned,” he said, with competing Chinese lenders offering credit to African nations, challenging the notion of a coherent centralized “debt trap” policy from Beijing.



“However, the idea that China may use debt strategically, to expand its influence in the African content and secure access to resources, cannot be completely dismissed,” Vines said.



“China is an emerging superpower in strategic competition with the U.S. Building stronger economic relationships in Africa would be a logical step in its aspirations to be a global power.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Mahama: Western arms to Ukraine ‘probably a good thing’</h3>



In a Q&amp;A session in London on Friday, former Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama noted the resistance among African nations to be drawn into the conflict by Western powers.



“Europe and NATO, I would say, have been occupied with the Ukraine-Russia war, and several times again we are called on to choose which side we’re on,” he told an audience at Chatham House.



“When Tigray and Ethiopia are fighting, we don’t ask you ‘who do you support?’ When two African countries are fighting, we don’t ask anybody in the world ‘who do you support?’ We try to intervene and resolve it. I think that the priority should be how to resolve the conflict.”



Although he called for the conflict to be addressed via international bodies such as the U.N., Mahama did go some way to condemning Russia’s invasion, a step many governments on the continent have been reluctant to take.



“Of course, I don’t believe that it is right for one country to make an incursion into another because if we condone that then you don’t know where it is going to end, so after Ukraine, who else?” Mahama said.



In contrast to South African Foreign Minister Pandor’s loaded remarks on how Western arms supply to Ukraine had changed South Africa’s position, Mahama — who served as president of Ghana from 2012 to 2017 — seemed to view the intervention as necessary.



“NATO and the West will continue to pour in arms to help Ukraine to hold its own, which probably is a good thing, to defend themselves, but this war is not winnable. If eventually it will be solved by dialogue, why would you eat up more human lives before we sit and talk?” he said.



Ghana was one of 28 African nations to vote in favor of the U.N. resolution condemning Russia’s invasion, and Mahama noted that Accra retains strong ties with the U.K., U.S. and France with regards to military training and anti-terror support.

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