this is bbc news, the headlines: sri lanka's president says he will replace the heads of the police and security forces after admitting even he was kept out of the loop over prior warnings ahead of sunday's bombings. some of the victims have been laid to rest as the number of those killed reaches 321. north korean leader kimjong—un has set off for his first summit with russian president vladimir putin. the two will meet in the russian city of vladivostok. it comes just two months after the breakdown of talks between kim jong—un and us president donald trump. nine activists who helped to organise mass pro—democracy protests in hong kong in 2014 are in court to be sentenced. the nine — who were convicted earlier this month — could face up to seven years in prison. they were found guilty of breaking rarely—used public nuisance laws dating.

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. iam in i am in the grounds of the presidential palace here in khartoum, sudan. my guest ‘s general abdul fatah al burhan in his first interview with international tv since he took over the running of the country after the four of the president after 30 years in power but the protesters are re— intensifying their demonstrations because they see the ministry —— military is not handing over to a civilian led government soon enough. is there a stand—off between the military and the protesters and where does sudan go from here?

general abdul fatah al burhan, welcome to hardtalk. the protests this is the briefing. and sit ins are being escalated and intensified. you reached a my stalemate, haven't you? my name is mike embley. 0ur my name is mike embley. our top stories. sri lanka's president admits he was told of intelligence before that yesterday attacks and promises a shake of of police and security. the grieving is a good buy at the first funeral as dozens of children are confirmed among the 321 dead. i didn't expect they would die. i'll never see them again. i can't have tilden like this anymore. in other news, his packed up and on his way. the north korean leader kim jong when sets off a rush of with but you have now warned the protesters against setting up road his does make for his first —— for locks. you are saying things can't continue like this because as you

his does make for his first —— for his first summit say, security is a responsibility of the state. i give it to you, general, but it sounds like you are making a threat to the protesters. will you guarantee that you will not ask any of the armed forces to use force to remove these roadblocks? you can guarantee that absolutely? because protesters i've spoken to are quite concerned, some of them, that the situation could change. the force —— the forces of freedom and

change were now represent the protesters, the sudanese professional association which led the protests, and the political parties are now demanding an immediate handover in a matter of days to a civilian transitional government. will you do that in a matter of days? so you're waiting for a consensus from the protest movement? and then you would hand over power? and could that be a matter of days, weeks,

months? because we have heard reports that you said you want the military council to lead the transitional government for two years. are you now saying that's not the case? but they don't want you to be here for 40 they don't want you to be here for a0 yea rs. professor they don't want you to be here for a0 years. professor mohammed yusuf, spokesperson unofficially for the sudanese professional association, says he wants the military council to step down and hand over power to a civilian — led presidential council with perhaps some representation of the military in perhaps the defence post. is that a cce pta ble perhaps the defence post. is that acceptable to you ?

are you in control of the army, general burhan, because there are so many factions in the army for so many factions in the army for so many years led by 0mar al—bashire. so do you control all the factions in the army? the forces of freedom and change they one of our key demands is they will not enter into any consensus transitional government with groups that participated in president 0mar al—bashir‘s regime. as things stand, there are those who are associated with the old regime who are on your military council. why? because there

are real feelers, you military council. why? because there are realfeelers, you acknowledge, the deep state is still in place even though president 0mar al—bashir has been removed from power. you acknowledge those fears? the deep state, the system you've created. you've cut off the head... because one member of the sudanese professional association has told reporters here in khartoum, the objectives of the revolution can't be achieved totally and completely in the face of the backstage

manipulations, remnants of the regime. those fears are justified. do you see yourself as a servant of the protesters, that you will do their bidding, that the military is subservient to the protesters? 0ne one very clear demand that you get from the street protesters is that they have a complete rejection not

only of omar al—bashir‘s former regime but political islamism. they don't want islam in politics. can you guarantee that you will purge your army of those who still have sympathies for the islamists, in case they try to mount some kind of counter coup? so it's possible that the islamists could still be a major political player in sudan? how long do you envisage the transitional period taking? the

sudanese professional association says four years to a transitional government. agree with that? and what composition of a transitional government do you envisage in those two yea rs ? government do you envisage in those two years? who takes the lead? would you yourself seek a leadership role? because the idea is that there would bea because the idea is that there would be a residential council to replace the military council, which would be civilian- the military council, which would be civilian— led and there would be a

government made up of a technocratic cabinet with a technocrat as prime minister. is that a vision that is a cce pta ble minister. is that a vision that is acceptable to you ? would you serve on the presidential counsel? do you have the power and authority to stop any other generals in the army from trying to assert themselves. there is a view amongst some

observers here, western diplomatic sources, who have said that perhaps you shouldn't have a hasty hand to civilian rule because there is instability in the sudan. you've got armed militias in darfur, blue nile. south kordofan. is that if there is a handover, could stability be maintained in the sedan?

you mentioned darfur and i have to put it to you that your deputy in the military council, the leader of the military council, the leader of the rapids of port force here in sedan, hemeti, is associated with the darfuris with the conflict there, that the a0 leagues now is there, that the a0 leagues now is the successor of the arab permission militia. the janjaweed, and this is creating a lot of ms —— discontent. but what about him specifically, hemeti, who is darfuri two. and leaves the forces, and is your number two? what about your role as

well, general burhan, because you've had a long career in the military, you served in south sudan before secession in 2011 and also in macro in darfur. and one darfur leader has described you as also being as he put it, and i quote, a bloodied murder of the people of sudan in darfur since before 201a. what's your response to that?

but do you feel, and i have to say of course you've not been named in any capacity by any international body because we have had names sent by the international criminal court, president bashir, you don't appear on any list like that but can i ask you, can you fully defend your actions in darfur? ina in a statement, the justice and equality movement have made a demand that all the war related detainees in de paul be released. and he says not releasing them is a call for the continuation of the war and a further rupture of the country, sudan. have you released all detainees?

can they ask you now to the circumstances of the removal of omar al—bashir, what made you and your senior army colleagues decide that it was time for bashir to go? was there any danger at any time that force was going to be stepped up against the protesters? was that something that 0mar al—bashir at the time was asking for? and did you personally tell him no, that's not acceptable? there are reports that

you are one of three army officers who personally told president basheer that he was no longer in power. can you confirm that? what did you say to him? and what did he say? he said ok. just like that? yes. was he arrested immediately? what did you do with him? because i'm hearing reports from reliable sources here in khartoum that he is ina sources here in khartoum that he is in a state of shock at what is up and, that he is depressed, that he's refusing to eat here in prison.

how can we verify that he is in prison, because, again, so many people in sudan are saying that we don't really believe he is in prison. canno verify it personally? —— cani? prison. canno verify it personally? —— can i? but isn't it your responsibility of the current leader of sudan, because one senior western diplomatic sources said to me you must show yourself better than the regime you've replaced. you can't just replace 0mar al—bashir, his vice president, his other associates, his brothers and not charge them, not have them visited or inspected by the international red crescent, for example.

what should happen to 0mar al—bashir? because he stands accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. and amnesty international say he must immediately be handed over to the icc, the international criminal court, for due process to be followed. his case must not be hurriedly tried in saddam's notoriously dysfunctional legal system. justice must be so. will you hand him over to the icc? —— must be served. so he will not be handed over to the icc?

do you have the mandate to decide that, because what if the transitional government or a subsequent democratically elected government says we don't abide by what general burhan says, we want to see 0mar al—bashir delivered to the icc and the sudanese professionals association says that as an option they want to leave open. you couldn't stop that, could you? so you accept its not a guarantee that you can make? could you pre—empt this, perhaps, by allowing him to go into exile somewhere, because the president of uganda has said he would give him shelter. is that a possibility?

when will you put him on trial? when can we see him on trial? and would it be, the court case, would it be under international supervision? in terms of what the international community can do to help sudan at this transitional period, one thing that you are seeking is a removal of the sanctions by the united states of america, because sudan is on the list of states that sponsors terrorism, but the americans are saying that is too premature. you've talked of sending a delegation and it's they won't accept it.

we have also had reports that the united arab emirates and saudi arabia have pledged to give sudan, to give you, $3 billion. they know you because, of course, you been a judge of sorting out the sudanese soldiers who have served in yemen and that helps the coalition there against the rebels in yemen. but we have heard chanting on the streets saying to saudis we don't want your money. has that money been sent to you and have you accepted?

have you received the money? is it on its way? but if it comes you would accept it? finally, years of independence for sudan from britain in 1956, for all but ten of those years sudan has been ruled by the military. the former prime minister, one of the old est former prime minister, one of the oldest and biggest parties in sudan, says the military had become hinged to the idea of takeover, so we must have a civilian military charter that makes the military subject to civilian democratic control stop ah

you, general burhan, committed to taking, finally, the army out of sudanese politics? well, they want you to step down, though, the street has made it very clear that they don't want the army to stay in power and you've become accustomed to rolling. you are ready now? yes. straightaway? yes. a matter of days. general abdul fattah al burhan thank you very much indeed for coming on hardtalk.

there is a change on the way, it's certainly going to feel a lot cooler, but not really until the end of the week. today, wednesday, it's actually not going to be too bad. temperatures could still get up to around 20 degrees but some of us will need our brollies. there are showers on the way, there could be some thunderstorms too. a lot of cloud on the satellite image, these are weather fronts, they are heading in our direction and for the rest of the week, we will see a succession of weather fronts approaching us and those will be giving showers. we can still see quite a lot of orange and yellow, that is basically the temperature of the atmosphere. it's what we call the air mass. some warmth there but the colder current of air across

the north atlantic, that won't reach us until probably friday, that's when we will really notice the temperatures tumbling. here's first thing in the morning on wednesday, temperatures of ten in the south, six in the north. showers going right from the word go across cornwall and devon. much of the west country into wales as well. some just about nudging into the midlands by around lunchtime. but by two or three in the afternoon, notice that the south coast is actually clear of the showers so the sun may come out again. quite a changeable day from showers, back to sunshine. those showers will continue to drift northwards into the lake district, eventually later on in the afternoon. those temperatures still managing to get up to around 20 degrees but where you have the cloud and the showers, it's going to feel quite a bit cooler. maybe around 1a or 15 degrees. you can see those blobs of blue, the showers move northwards as we head into wednesday evening. eventually, that warmth or what is left of it will waft away towards the east and this colder air will reach us. thursday and friday, that's where we see those temperatures tumbling away. here is thursday, again showers in the forecast, a little bit more widespread, and some of us that didn't have the showers on wednesday may get them on thursday.

temperatures only 13, 1a, 15 degrees. throughout the country, whether you're in the south or the north, may be some sunshine thrown in there. here is friday's weather forecast. breezy as well, showers, could be the odd crack of thunder as well, really feeling quite cool, i suspect by the time we get to the weekend some northern areas might be struggling to even make double figures. the outlook into saturday and sunday is a showery one. temperatures in the south of around 12—1a degrees. 00:27:20,954 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 maybe 10 or 11 in the north.