serious business now, a call to action to protect those who thought they knew the risks that came with their jobs. rosalind jordan elders, era, washington, colonel, man, you can always catch up at any time on our website. it is that is al jazeera dot com ah top stories around to 0. the new and potentially more transmissible variant of corona virus has continued to spread with cases now found in more than 10 countries . health officials around the world say on the crone which has been called a variant of concern is likely to be far more prevalent than that president of south africa where the variant was 1st identified says it could be linked to a stock rise in infections and criticize the imposition of travel vans we are deeply disappointed by the decision of several countries to prohibit travel

from a member of sodom, african countries including our own following the identification of the army corn variant. this is a clear and completely unjustified departure from the commitment that many of these countries made at the meeting of the g. 20 countries in rome last month. cases have now been found him on 10 countries and a number have added travel restrictions from 22, g, m, t, all foreigners abad. from entering israel for 2 weeks. it's also re introducing mobile phone surveillance for people who are infected with a variant. similarly, morocco has halted all incoming flights for 14 days. the french interior minister says his country won't be held hostage by the you case, domestic politics. when it comes to migration, charles domina was speaking at an emergency summit in color after 27 people died,

trying to cross the english channel last week. he says france wants to work with the u. k, but it's neighbor must take responsibility by making itself less economically attractive for migrants. the british i'm secretary didn't attendance on those meetings after invitation was withdrawn by the french voting is on the way in honduras to choose the next president over 5000000. hundreds eligible to those to replace president one, orlando hernandez is time in office has been played by chronic on employment allegations of corruption and waves of fleeing migrants. leftist candidates tomorrow, castro is hoping to asked the ruling right wing national party. its candidate is the current mare of the capital city to go seek out there's the top stories to stay with us if you can next up is talk to to 0 on the back with more news after that. thanks for watching bye for now. aah! along

with the following the military takeover incident on october 25th. that by gender, lot of that that will hand and the house arrest or prime minister up the lamb duke . it took me of the amount of negotiations to reach a political agreement. the deal was signed on november 21st at the presidential palace between alba han and hom, dog. but there is another significant figure in the company's political dynamics. general mohammed hum down doc loop, commonly called him 80, his general hands deputy into sovereignty counsel. but he is also the leader of what's perhaps the strongest division, the rapid support forces. i am going to say that in cartoon,

although general douglas appears to play a role behind the scenes, many in sudan and across the region of him, the most powerful figure in the country. but whether his whole council, as you also may be between the army and political party, would you like to become the company's leg? press? the deputy chairman of the settlement, the council, sudan mohammed, come down to talk to a general mamma come down douglas, thank you for talking. talk to her big brother machine. you are welcome and we are pleased to have you here. general what was happening behind the scenes on october 25th. how did the military take over happen, and how did you make the decision for the power crap? as it is over here? what happened on october 25th was the ultimate outcome of

a long process since it changed started in sudan. during such process, many discussions were made and many initiatives proposed by various parties, the prime minister himself proposed to initiatives. during our meetings in the transitional partners council or the sovereignty council, with a cabinet of ministers, we made maximum efforts, but we couldn't reach a breakthrough. at that point, we were left with 3 options. the best of which was the move we had taken. such a move was completely agreeable to the prime minister. we did not make such a move on our own. the prime minister was an agreement with us as to the decision we had adopted. however, for him, the decision should have been endorsed by the freedom unchanged coalition. as i said, we were left with 3 scenarios. freedom and change coalition, endorsing the dissolution of the government, which was next to impossible. and the 2nd scenario was the move we had taken. and

the 3rd was the collapse of our country. we adopted the best option available. we made the right decision from our perspective at that time, and we prevented the collapse. so general, you have been very open about your views on political parties in the transitional government and several times you have demanded the prime minister after the hum duke to dissolve the government. doesn't it seem that it was already set up an please? can you specify your own role in this military takeover? benevolent oliver nor a loveseat. we had several meetings with all the political party. we extended all advice possible from the beginning till the end. we did not spare any efforts.

regretfully, it was the fault. some sudanese are putting the blame on us. on the contrary, we are not to blame. we believe we had taken the right move. during the past 30 years, the country was under the grip of a single par to redeem what we so is that our country was taken by another great. i said it in public. we were left again to a single grip roller and the move we had taken has put an end to this. the change was great. it was started by all the sudanese people, especially the youth who are present more than 60 percent of our population. regretfully such change was hijacked by a single party who was part of the deal we had signed with other parties to such party gripped all the powers and its hands and sidelines, all other parties. it was even worse than the former single party redeem. according

to the deal was signed, the prime minister has helped he had immediately roll and the parties were to respond. despite the advice will afford the full major parties manipulated old powers. the prime minister and other small parties were an agreement with us even before signing the deal. we wished to reach an arrangement on the governors of provinces. the pushed us to sign the deal earlier without finalizing this issue. after the signing the back down and the issue of governors are still pending for more than a year. are we blamed? simply because we are the ones in the uniform. so then is the country of all of the sudanese, not only ours. so did you decide to come back a militaristic, over based on that the prime minister was not able to control his own government rated with him. she was,

she was and it is not the issue of prime minister losing control according to the deal. the freedom of change coalition was brought on board. so his hands are tied if he cannot make a decision of his own accord without the freedom and change coalition, endorsing such a decision. the prime minister had no leeway. and that was the problem. freedom and change coalition. what again asked all the agreements made from liberating exchange rate to lifting the subsidy. the prime minister should be vocal on this issue. he should admit which side was supporting him over the past 2 years. it was us, you repeat that said that you are committed to the goals of the revolution. yet your forces are accused off participating in the killings of the protesters in front of the minute headquarters in 2019 have the been held

accountable for what they have done. so would you. this is a good question. all i can say is there is a pro committee active on this issue working on the investigations till date. the findings are not established yet. i cannot comment on the proceedings of an independent committee, and we hope that results are out soon. consider the fact that you are so powerful in this country. do you believe that the committee could be fully independent, living? it is an independent committee, totally independent. so general, your forces have also been accused of arresting politicians, detain an activist, and also or pressing protestors want streets over the past month. have your forces been involved in any killings of the civilians through the protests that took place

last month. and the i listen, there is an organized campaign targeting that, that support forces. it's aimed at demonizing, these forces, we cannot establish those behind this malicious campaign. but according to the law that i would support forces to support the regular authorities. they have no power to arrest or use force again, as for testers, the rapid support forces are deployed at various parts within the capital. they also have several camps within and around that capital city. so general douglas, just weeks before the military take over, some tribes in is to down. they have blocked the ways and barricaded the roads to cotton. so it's through done ports with were completely cut off from the capital. why didn't you interfere? why didn't you stop them in doing so?

because many said that you deliberately let them to do in order to paved away for the military take over human luna, dia this is part of the malicious campaign. this is the 1st the issue of the east of so dan is not new since the signing of the dual bag limit for peace, the east was in total rejection of the agreements. second, we have worked hard on this issue. held several meetings more than 50 meetings with the concerned parties. i personally managed to bring them closer to ideal. i even tried with a special committee led by general shamperdeen, but she assisted by other ministers and advisors to engage with them in dialogue. such dial it should be added to the public for them to lay out their demands with the aim of reaching an agreement. it was followed by a meeting with

a supreme council for peace. but we reached a deadlock. after that, the province was cut off. it was an unprecedented move, which was initiated by the freedom and change coalition. not the people of the east . they blocked the roads, the railway lines and the food was sealed off for 4 months. even when the oil facilities were brought to a whole. we did our best to reach an amicable solution through dialogue. we cannot be part of this problem. so general, tell us about what happened in the days that led up to november 21st. the day that the agreement has been signed between the prime minister after hampton and general alper hand. so what are you involved in the negotiations when you consider shooting since october 25th, we have covered a long distance along the road. many initiatives were proposed by various parties within sudan and without but with

a trade that we are committed to the cause and the goals of that of lucian. we do not wish to see it straying, of course, as they said, we should not read the country from a single party at all and bring a similar one. doctor abdullah ham dukes role is to ensure that of lucian would remain on course. many claim that i do a review of the office from the beginning, but this is not true. we had hoped to have him as the 15th member of the sovereignty council. but we saw it was necessity to have him do as a prime minister to avoid any sanctions from the international community. the general albert han and his team exerted huge efforts, especially of the last 3 days before the recent agreement was made. were part and parcel of this agreement, of course, and this agreement will ensure. so dan is back on the right course. again. general, you negotiated an agreement with

a prime minister after le handle was on the house arrest. why should sudanese people accept it? if it looks to be a forced agreement, but let me be dated with our loan and let them see if from the moment the correction move was taken from duke was kept in his own residence, not a house arrest. he kept his own guards. on the day we were supposed to meet him, the wives of ministers who had been arrested, stormed the area. that's why i'm duke was moved to the protocol palace for his own safety. after that he returned to his residence in the following days with no money, but with cautious movements. he was being visited by delegates and other politicians. we were in contact with him too. i personally visited him together with general albert hon. even official delegations were able to meet him if he were put to a house arrest, he wouldn't have been able to receive these delegates or make calls with foreign

officials, like the united states secretary of state. we had his safety and mine, i made that volatile situation where any act of violence was not ruled out. general . we see your footprints everywhere. and this country as a mediator between on groups between the tribes political parties, even the border disputes. and you have the powerful, rapid support forces, which many says that it has never lost a battle. you're coming from a very humble background. so can you tell us, how did you build such a powerful empire renewed really so a little hard as to the 1st part of the question. we thank god for guiding our steps to the right move. secondly, i thank all parties involved, especially that i appealed to them, old. i thank them for accepting my mediation role. that could,

it does not go to me alone. i am assisted by some others. we once fought again as each other, but we later came to realize that we should join hands to build our country. that's why we agreed we should reach a compromise. we can build our country by actions, not by hopes. in addition to the job agreement for peace, we managed to reach the south sudan. during the talks with our groups, we managed to bring all views together. president silva occurred an opposition leader rack, much as to the rapid support forces. as you know, old battles involve victory and defeat. i cannot see us as victorious. we fought against our fellow sudanese. i'm old parties are losers. we hope we learn from the past and turn such last into positive efforts towards building our country

. we should all abandon racial, tribal and provincial divisions. general, do you believe that you have ever killed and some people or do you feel any regret for the killings that you had to do? and i'm adding no cooler. all the batches we fought were against armed rebels. i know those rebels of my fellow sudanese. no sight is victorious, lost is suffered by old. no doubt. i feel deep regret, especially when you look at the number of the fallen, the widows and orphans. we could have all avoided these bitter consequences. we shouldn't have engage and fighting, and the 1st place, every drop of blood would be spared. and we should join hands to bel, our country. however, i can say i fought against arm dribbles, not on innocent civilians. so general, you have participated in the war in yemen. send the troops to fight on the side of

the last question. why did you accept to do that? and are you are to still in yemen? if so, why that are mother area and another dollar. it was not my personal decision, it was the states, it was made on the coalition to restore legitimacy in yemen. it was also made under the former redeem. and after toppling the redeem, we were supposed to honor all the past agreements, domestic and international. these forces were not dispatched under my orders. they were sent under international agreements made with the state, considering the fact that you're one of the most powerful men in this country. i'm sure if you didn't find sending the truths to yemen, moral, you will do that. so right there would be a dilemma of mine is still god, i do not see myself as a mighty influential man. i am a simple man,

sudanese citizen and the 1st place it is true. i am the vice president of the sovereignty council. but i am a simple sudanese man. secondly, that decision was made on the original agreement involving all the arab countries. not so dana low. almost all the other countries were part of it. above all, our forces are not fighting inside them and now they are inside the soldier. re been borders fighting in defense, the 2 holly masks general some say that your, your troops salary is not being paid by the state. so how do you pay the salaries done and where do you make that money from the and the day? this is also part of the malicious campaign. aiming at demonizing, the rapid support forces. how can i afford to pay those soldiers? these forces are part of the armed forces. those soldiers,

like any other regular force, are paid by the finance ministry. and you can verify this with the finance minister or his under secretary. so do you confirmed that your troops are not being financed by your own resources? then the more it across at a very you could say i have my own sources of income. i have my own trade business . i have for my pit degree of merchants. i like any other businessman can lend a helping hand to the armed forces of the police as a token of appreciation. the rapid support forces our regular forces with their own duties restrictions, rights and obligations. not my personal militias. i cannot afford it, but some people say that you didn't only build a military empire, but also business empire by using the powerful, rapid supple forces into countries. so what do you agree with?

good, i'm here for here. this is not true. we have a long history in trade. i personally started my own business in 1919. we were among the 1st to discover gold in sudan. we used metal detectors and ventured out in the desert, searching for the gold. in double armour, for example, we like any other sudanese citizen, applied with the mining minister for a license. we paid the relevant fees and satisfied all the formalities. after that, we set up a plan which was running for a while. that's why people have moved heaven an air claiming we sees tons of gold, and then we handed over the plan to the government with the 11 kilograms of gold in our position at that time. in addition, there are thousands of foreign plants operating in the area, producing hundreds of cables of gold every month. general. your forces also have

been accused by the rights groups and the worst of waivers in there for off killings, ratings and burning the widow. so what makes them qualify to be a part of the security make up into that a 100 feet or 4 lower. the warnings are for an attacks on the villages was in 2003. while the rapids support forces were foamed in 2013. this is living proof that we are targeted with a malicious propaganda. on the contrary, we were part of the solution in the fall, as we held the displaced return home. when our forces are deployed across the fall to maintain security, i advise you to pay a field trip and see for yourselves you will see all the regular forces fulfilling the duties their forces. the police and the rapid support forces go to the food and see for yourselves who is guarding the people and who is protecting their

seasonal harvest. so general, why are your forces part of the army yet? they have their own uniforms, the on cars, the on a basis, even their own commander in chief. but the head of the army says that you are one unit. so how's death? all the arms in the world have their own uniform. according to the law, we are part of the regular army. we are reporting to the chief commander of the armed forces. it is true, we answer to the chief command of the armed forces, adding to that, each branch of the armed forces have their own unique uniform, special forces, then century naval and air forces. and this is more me and all armies worldwide. but in reality, people say that your forces do not get the orders from the head of the army,

but from you, because i'm going, this is not true. i am the commander of that app to support forces. i receive orders from the chief commander of armed forces, an intern id, lay these orders to that up. it's support forces and all is documented through official correspondence general already to integrate your forces into the army as part of the security sector reform. and if so, how will that happen? and most importantly, when she went to florida with the, the form is an ongoing process. and we are part of the army. but these rumors are circulated by people with agendas. the latest political agreement spoke about with one unified national army and reform will entail all the branches, the army, and the rapid support forces, the police and security forces. we are marching ahead with reforms. in addition,

that up it's about forces are not a unique phenomenon in sudan. many other countries have similar forces. so general, the prime minister was very much clear when i had an interview with him regarding the security sector reform. if they insist on your forces to be fully integrated into the army based on a certain time line, would you agree with that or would you go against the decision of the prime minister and the government? reason was it a who am i la and the will, will flood me. the prime minister is not concerned with the form to the security potters. he is responsible for certain duties under the transitional periods. we are now concerned with the major for tasks. the economy, which means the livelihood of our people, security,

peace and elections. we are all running the state a fair and consultative manner, not top to bottom orders. in addition, speaking about security arrangements comes before the regular forces. this is the priority general. there are reports or for hundreds of people being killed and injured. several villers being burnt in west are 4. so what happened there? and what are your forces also involved in such act? oh, hanging near the mother to begin with the figure. hundreds is not true. lives were lost on both sides, military men and civilians. at the end of the day they are all human beings. however, a maximum of 14 or 15 persons were killed on both sides. this happened because some did not honor the written undertakings of non aggression. the rapids bought for 2

or linchpin to security guards in the country and the country men on the part of any conflict in talking if some are accusing the rapids support forces of any violations, lead them, prove it. are you going to run for president at the end of the transitional period in the elections of 2023 and her minute. her mental and also a bit at our top priority now is to take our country to say soul to see a true transition to democracy. not empty slogans. and to lead our people to free and transparent elections. we do not have any personal interests. we wish to brave the road to safety, especially we are surrounded by many troubled countries from libya, with europe here. our key concern is to cruise to safety donald hummer. tom don

douglas, thank you for pub. thank you very much. ah ah. african stories of resilience and courage. i get younger than i right. well enough aware been one of us is one of them, a little boy that tradition and dedication to live without a little more global buffet. of course, let me go. jewel, you another short documentary, sky, african filmmakers on the white 9. and the book maker,

africa direct on al jazeera, bold and untold stories and asia and the pacific. analogies here. ah, hello norm taylor london, the top stories on how to 0, the new and potentially more transmissible variant of corona virus has continued to spread with cases now found in more than 10 countries. health officials around the world, se omicron which has been called a variant of concern, is likely to be far more prevalent than that. the president of south africa where the variant was 1st identified says it could be linked to a stock rise in infections and criticize the imposition of travel bands. we are deeply disappointed by.