general hemeti, thank you very much our top story: australia's court of appeal will shortly deliver a ruling on the case of cardinal george pell, indeed for coming on hardtalk. the most senior catholic found guilty of sexually abusing children. thank you. the appeal comes after pell was sentenced to six years in december for sex with a child under 16 and four counts of committing an indecent act with a child. the italian prime minister has resigned, but will stay on as head of a caretaker government. hello there. he's blamed the collapse of his government on the far—right it looks like we're going league party. to see a return to some summery weather finally. high pressure establishing and this video is trending on bbc.com. itself over the near some are calling it "the great mattress migration of 2019". continent will send southerly winds our way and we'll tap this was the unscheduled show into the warmth which will be at an outdoor air—bed cinema in colorado. building over the continent. strong winds whipped today, though, it looks through the event sending dozens like we still have some weather of blow up mattresses into the air. front, weather systems to contend with which will bring wet and windy weather, mainly to the that's all. north and west the uk. you can see this deep area of low stay with bbc world news. pressure slowly making inroads as the day wears on. but we start for many of us with high pressure, plenty of sunshine around this morning. one or two showers that will develop

ahead of this rain band, the odd heavier one but it turns wet and now on bbc news, zeinab badawi is in khartoum with hardtalk. windy for northern ireland, much of northern and western scotland. welcome to hardtalk, with me, zeinab badawi, gusts of wind 50, maybe 55mph in exposure and a breezy day from the presidential palace in khartoum. further south and east. many here are talking about the "new sudan," after the signing of that better chance of seeing sunshine here with 22 or 23 historic agreement between degrees, the high. the military and civilians. during wednesday night, my guest in this exclusive the weather front moves south and east, fizzling out as it does. interview, his first in the western but patchy rain across central media, is the man who signed portions of the uk would blustery on behalf of the military, showers following on behind, genuinely a clear and dry night and has been described as the most across the south and east. powerful person in sudan. you can see double—figure values he is general hemeti, for all starting thursday morning. leader of the heavily armed, so we've got a north—south divide on thursday. low pressure to the north, well—equipped rapid support forces. high—pressure building to the south. that weak weather front now, they have been accused will continue to fizzle out of killing or injuring hundreds but we'll see further fronts pushing of civilians during to northern ireland and parts protests in june and july. of scotland and northern england can he and the military be trusted to stick to the power—sharing deal? to the north general hemeti, welcome to hardtalk. of scotland.

it will be quite windy here but fgurther south and east, better chance of seeing light winds and more sunshine. the near continent, 2a, maybe 25 degrees but the high teens further north. this area of high pressure starts to establish itself over the near continent. southerly winds dig in and start to push weather fronts to the north of the uk. so there'll be a gradual process on friday where we will see the clouds thinning and breaking and the rain diverted towards the north of scotland. as one of the most senior members of the sudanese military, can you guarantee that this historic power—sharing agreement will be elsewhere, variable cloud but some implemented now and in the future? good spells of sunshine and we're really tapping into the warmth over the near continent. high temperatures in the low 20s even further north. into the start of the weekend, it looks like those weather fronts will be away from the uk. so most places should be dry, with variable cloud. to the south, south—east. a much warmer day for all. the low to mid 20s celsius in the north, perhaps high 20s in the south—east side so it's certainly warming up across the board with temperatures

probably best across the south and east. it looks like this fine spell will last, for many of us, until into next week. let me tell you what the american secretary of state, well, i think that's right. at the mike pompeo, said on the 15th of august. very least, one would expect if the that he joins the sudanese people in their call for a transitional government is going government that is "truly civilian—led." do you accept that the power and authority is with the civilians, not the military?

few outside sudan had heard of you, general hemeti, until the revolution. you have been described as the most powerful person in the sudan. is that how you see yourself?

hello, you're watching newsday. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: cardinal george pell is to remain injail — the reason i say you are the most australia's court of appeal dismisses the appeal powerful person in the sudan is that you lead the rapid support forces, against his conviction for sexually abusing children. which are well—equipped and heavily armed. and under the terms of this italy's government in turmoil — agreement, security sector reforms the prime minister resigns, blaming deputy pm matteo salvini mean that your militia has to come and his right—wing league party under the command of the for the coalition‘s collapse. sudanese army. will you answer to the commander—in—chief of the sudanese army? i'm rico hizon in london. also in the programme: we investigate claims of exploitation and abuse from migrant workers who came to japan under a government—sponsored scheme. and — fancy a trip into space?

virgin galactic says they'll be issuing boarding passes as soon does the rsf have a separate budget and command? but who do the forces of the rsf answer to? you, or the commander—in—chief of the sudanese army?

how many soldiers are there in the rsf? we hear70,000. what about sudanese soldiers in yemen? you hear people in the country saying they are not happy about sudanese soldiers fighting in the saudi—emirati coalition. would you withdraw sudanese troops from yemen?

there are also reports that members of the rsf are not sudanese. omer ismail from the washington—based enough project has said that "sudan is now occupied, because the troops that hemeti is using to control and monopolise power, most of them are not even sudanese. they are recruited from chad, mali and niger." do you have non—sudanese members of the rsf, no non—sudanese?

i want to ask you specifically about what happened principally injune, when after the initial euphoria of the removal of president omar al—bashir, troops opened fire on protesters. unarmed, peaceful civilians. one protester here in khartoum told me that the army was seen as saviours, now they are seen as killers. what was the role of the rsf, the rapid support forces, in that attack onjune the 3rd on civilians?

but the rapid support forces were specifically blamed. let me tell you what one

leading sudan expert, alex de waal, said. he said, "general hemeti's forces rampaged through khartoum, beginning with the camps of the protesters, burning the tents, often with people inside, more than 100 killed, many were raped. the rapid support force terrorised khartoum." these are the accusations about your force. but why didn't you stop the attacks on civilians? we also saw some deaths in omdurman

and el obeid at the end ofjuly. why didn't the rapid support forces protect civilians? because you are the rapid support forces — you were slow to respond then.

he so who do you think, then, is behind the violence in sudan? you seem to suggest there is a conspiracy. do you think that supporters of the former president omar al—bashir might be involved?

you were once a very close ally of omar al—bashir, and you are from darfur, and you led a militia there, formed a few years ago. and you helped omar al—bashir to subdue the rebels in darfur. are you proud of your actions in darfur? do you regret some of the things that happened there, which have been attributed to your forces?

although you have not been indicted by the international criminal court, i have to say that human rights watch in 2014 and 2015 in a report said that the rapid support force burnt and looted homes, beat, raped and executed villagers, supported by the sudanese army, and it accuses you of overseeing civilian abuses, including torture, extrajudicial killings and mass rapes. do you have a case to answer in darfur? because it sounds like you do.

president omar al—bashir has been indicted by the international criminal court over his alleged actions in darfur. what do you think should happen to him? do you think he should be handed over to the icc? but do you believe there should be accountability for all the victims of the conflicts in sudan, historic as well as those people

who have been killed since december 2018? do you accept that there should be? what can you do to ensure there is accountability for all those victims of the conflicts in sudan, including those who died in the recent protests? you know now people like yasir arman, the deputy leader of the revolution united front, says there is still conflict in parts of the sudan, like darfur still, south kordofan, blue nile state, and he says we don'tjust want democratisation.

he says peace and democratisation go hand—in—hand. how can you as a senior military leader here in sudan ensure that there is peace, and that those people living in the conflict—ridden areas of sudan are part of this new sudan? you are a businessman, and there are again a lot of reports about where your wealth comes from. where does your money come from? you are in control of the gold mines, the most profitable gold mines in the country, according to a study by alex de waal, a sudan expert based at tufts university in the united states. you also receive money for soldiers you sent to fight in yemen. so just tell me, what is the source of your immense wealth?

do you receive money personally from saudi arabia and the united arab emirates because you co—operate with them in the war in yemen?

are you sudan's biggest gold trader, controlling the most profitable mines?

western diplomats here in sudan, as well as civilian political activists and so on, say that you have the ambition to lead the sudan. 00:24:25,919 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 do you?