andrew harding, thank ou ve communities. andrew harding, thank you very much _ communities.y much indeed. _ earlier i spoke to marti flacks — who spent four years working with the us special envoy for sudan on the peace agreement with south sudan. she started by telling me about the challenges in getting help to civilians. it's taken some time for humanitarian aid to start getting to the places it's desperately needed in sudan. and there's a few reasons for that. the international aid community has a long history of providing assistance in sudan, but the places where we're seeing active fighting like khartoum are places that they haven't historically had to have an active assistance presence. and remember, khartoum has never seen fighting on this scale before. and so it's taken some time for them to reposition their personnel and their assistance to places like khartoum. but also, as you mentioned, port sudan, the sudanese egyptian border, where we're seeing tens of thousands of people make the difficultjourney to try and leave the active fighting zone, but find themselves d

andrew harding, bbc news.elmoniem, who lives in khartoum, and she started off by telling me what's happening there at the moment. today we finally managed to get out of our house and go find a safe place, and we are staying with family. and it was devastating because since saturday, we haven't left our home. so today when we were out, it was the most dead i've ever seen khartoum. i mean, even during ramadan or holidays, or whatever, there's always lines, there's always a business or a shop open. —— there's always life. but today, there was absolute nothing — even the stray dogs that are usually all over the city, there were none, there was nothing. it was just a shock, it was very painful to see because this is my hometown, and to see it in such a state is... i don't know how we can ever recover from this, because, like you've said, this is the first time a conflict like this has been brought to the centre, to our capital. you know, wars or conflicts usually happen outside, on the periphery. but this is right

anchor: our africa correspondent andrew harding has more from pretoria.r: i'm afraid it is a farcical situation. th south african justice system looking like it is made a big mess. today's parole board hearing should never have gone ahead in the first place. that is because the prison authorities received a letter three days ago on tuesday of this week explaining to them that oscar pistorius has not actually served according to their calculations half of his time in prison. in fact that time will come next august of 2024. i spoke to the uncle of oscar pistorius who was mystified saying it was clear to him that he had served half of his sentence and said he would be getting legal advice on how this confusn could have arisen. what seems to have happened is because he was initially sentenced once and that was appealednd he was sentenced again and spent some time in prison and sometime unde house arrest and then a longer period which is what he is still doing in prison. there is confusion about exactly when his sentence should be considered to have started an

andrew harding, bbc news.ing is with us from johannesburg now, and our state department correspondent, barbara plett usher, is in washington. let's start with barbara, because this news in the last hour that the military is preparing something, may be a possible evacuation, barbara, how realistic is that at the moment? the state department has been saying it is not realistic in the past couple days, although it has intensified efforts to get people out, especially on monday, when a us embassy envoy was attacked in khartoum. they have been saying it is too dangerous for people to exit the country, but it is looking at all possibilities, so if there is is this pentagon deponent of trips and acquittance to djibouti, that is something the paragon has not confirmed where it is but it has said it is sending additional resources to the region, to facilitate an evacuation, should circumstances require, then the options might increase. at the moment, as andrew was reporting, the airport is closed, so if there was going

here's our africa correspondent, andrew harding, toxplain what happened.r: earlier today, south afran officials insist that he had served half his sentence and qualified for parole. the parole hearing went ahead. the paralympic athlete gave evidence expplaining what he felt he behaved while in prison and deserved to be set free. a victim also testified arguing that he should not be released because he had not shown sufficient remorse. then suddenly, officials came out and revealed some stunning news that in fact this who parole hearing should not have gone ahead, that they had received three days ago near legal advice explained that because of theay that you calculate the number of days in prison, he is not actually do to qualify for parole until next gust. 2024. so he remains in prison for now. there is some sense of real shock and frustration, with the way this has been handled. there's an element of, none of this should've taken place today. this is a confusion because oscar was actually sentenced twice. his initial sentence was appealed and therefore t

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.litary is preparing for a possible evacuation of american embassy staff from the sudanese capital. our correspondent barbara plett—usher has more. the pentagon says that it is deploying these extra troops and equipment in the region near sudan. it doesn't say where. according to reports they are being sent to the us base in djibouti, and that is where they will be put into position to secure and facilitate any evacuation of us personnel if circumstances require, as is the and are gone. now, the circumstances become more and more alarming, especially since monday when a us embassy convoy became under attack in khartoum. the state department as confirmed separately a us citizen has been killed in sudan. hasn't given any more information about that. it has intensified efforts to try to figure out how to get its people out, saying it has been too dangerous so far to do so, but checking into all of the options. the airport in khartoum is closed. if the americans were to attempt an air evacu

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.o, as british diplomats and officials are helped out of sudan, what about the other british civilians who are left behind? 0ur diplomatic correspondent, caroline hawley, explains the challenge. as you've just heard, british nationals who are stuck in sudan are becoming increasingly frustrated. and fearful. some have told us that other countries are providing more support and information. the advice to them is to stay indoors, make sure they have up—to—date travel documents and register online. the foreign office says it has teams working around the clock in london as they did here during the afghanistan evacuation which took out 15,000 people, but was chaotic and heavily criticised. then, we saw british soldiers at the airport, but officials say the situation in sudan is different because there are no uk troops on the ground and no secure air base to use. today's high—risk operation had to be carried out rapidly. the embassy is close to the international airport, but that's out of acti

andrew harding has this report.out of sudan, the first plane carrying british nationals landed back in cyprus this evening. the rescue mission began early in the morning, several raf planes setting off for sudan capital khartoum not know if a ceasefire in the city would last days or even hours. it has been incredibly challenging because of the changing nature. we have had to work up complex plans involving numerous royal air force aircraft and a great number of military personnel who have been flown in from the uk over the last few days. sudan's ceasefire came into force in khartoum overnight. look how dark it is. after ten days of war, there is no power. precious little food or water left. by dawn many sudanese were already on the move, hoping to use the intermittent pause in fighting to catch buses heading out of the city. british evacuees soon began making their own way to the airport. including this woman, mightily relieved. at some point i started to feel like we had been abandoned by the government, especially

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.er, we spoke to our state department correspondent barbara plet usher who told us more about ceasfires. antony blinken have announced a ceasefire. read days. he said during that time, he would work together with all parties, international and sudanese, to establish a committee to negotiate a permanent cessation of hostilities and to deal with humanitarian consequences of the conflict. he did not explain what he thought this ceasefire might hold when others have disintegrated or have not been kept well. he said he was urging both generals to ceasefire, there had been 48 hours of intense negotiations to get to this point, and the goal of course is to get to a more stable cessation of hostilities so that ultimately that process which was interrupted by the fighting, that process of trying to transition to a civilian government, could resume. fist civilian government, could resume-— civilian government, could resume. �* . resume. at the same time, a number of — resume. at the same time, a n

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.litary is preparing for a possible evacuation of american embassy staff from the sudanese capital. our correspondent barbara plett usher has more. the pentagon says that it's deploying these extra troops and equipment in the region near sudan. it doesn't say where, but according to reports, they're being sent to the us base in djibouti and that's where they will get into position to be able to secure and facilitate any evacuation of us, personnel if circumstances require, says the pentagon. now, the circumstances have become more and more alarming, especially since monday, when a us especially since monday, when a us. embassy convoy came under attack in khartoum. the state department has now confirmed also separately that a us citizen has been killed in sudan, hasn't given any more information about that, but it has intensified efforts to try and figure out how to get its people out, saying that it's been too dangerous so far to do so. but checking into all of the options, the airport

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.spoke to our state department correspondent barbara plet usher who told us more about ceasfires. the most recent one was the temporary cease fire over the muslim holiday of eid, which was shaky, to say the least. and now the secretary of state, antony blinken, has announced another one, an extension of that one in effect, for three days. he said there would be a cease fire. he said during that time he would work together with all parties, international and sudanese to set up a committee to be able to try and negotiate and implement a permanent cessation of hostilities and also to deal with the humanitarian consequences of the conflict. he did not explain why he thought this cease fire might hold when others have disintegrated or have not been kept very well. he did say that he was urging both generals to cease fire, that there had been 48 hours of intense negotiations to get to this point. and the goal, of course, is to get to a more stable cessation of hostilities so that ultimately t

andrew harding, bbc news, port sudan. uk evacuations from an air—strip near khartoum have now ended. in the last hour, another flight carrying british nationals fleeing sudan, landed back in the uk from cyprus, at stansted airport in essex. and an extra evacuation flight has been arranged from port sudan tomorrow. 0ur correspondent, sanchia berg is at the foreign office here in london. just give us more details about what we know about that flight potentially taking off tomorrow. we potentially taking off tomorrow. - understand it will be taking off tomorrow from port sudan international airport and anyone who wants to get on that flight has to go to the british evacuation handling centre at the airport, and this is the critical bit, before noon sudanese time tomorrow. so it is worth reminding people who is eligible to get on that flight. it is british nationals, they are dependents and non—british nationals currently working as clinicians within the nhs. the foreign office wouldn't tell me whether this was absolutely the

andrew harding, bbc news, port sudan. and andrew has just arrived injeddah in saudi arabia.us this update. as the fighting intensifies in khartoum, people are fleeing either north to egypt, but increasingly fleeing quite a long journey, people talking 16—30 hours to get to the coast, to get to port sudan and then hoping to get on these... well, there's a range, a flotilla, if you like, of warships, saudi arabian warships and other nationality�*s ships, a lot of ferries as well, just ordinary passenger ferries which have been coming over here to jeddah. the saudis are making a big show of their humanitarian effort here, they're very keen to show that they are very invested in the humanitarian operation in sudan and for those leaving, they are given a 30—day visa on arrival here in saudi arabia. but most counties, when we came back just this morning from a long trip across the sea, across the red sea to port sudan, when we came back with about 50 people, a range of nationalities. the danger is that elsewhere across sudan, the legacy of a long war against the south, the civil w

our africa correspondent, andrew harding, has been speaking to some of them. we are crossing the red sea, heading towards the coast of sudan. a night—time rescue mission organised by saudi arabia's navy. it's not quite dunkirk, but many warships and ferries are now involved in this giant evacuation. tight security as the lights of port sudan gleam on the horizon. we head to shore on a smaller tug boat, to the edge of a country consumed by conflict. we arejust coming in now to port sudan. it's a huge place and a big city. it is the focal point now of the evacuation effort for the whole country. we are told the area around it has been secured for now. on sudanese soil and long after midnight, a small crowd has been selected from the thousands still waiting here. nepalese, bangladeshis, pakistanis. how are you feeling tonight? a bit relieved. finally on the way home. yeah... it's been a long journey? yeah, from khartoum and then i was staying here, so yeah, it's been a long way. and a lot of people still waiting? yes. most of these men have lived in sudan for yea

andrew harding, bbc news, port sudan.w has just arrived injeddah in saudi arabia, and gave us this update. as the fighting intensifies again in khartoum, people fleeing either north to egypt, but increasingly fleeing. quite a long journey. people taking 16 to 30 hours to get to the coast, to get to port sudan and then hoping to get on these. well, there's a range a flotilla, if you like, of warships, saudi arabian warships and other nationalities, ships. a lot of ferries as well. just ordinary passenger ferries which have been coming over here to jeddah. the saudis are making a big show of their humanitarian effort here. they're very keen to show that they are very invested in the humanitarian operation in sudan. and for those leaving, they are given a 30 day visa on arrival here in saudi arabia. but most countries when we came back, for instance, just this morning from a long trip across the sea, across the red sea to port sudan, when we came back with about 50 people, a range of nationalities, fundamentally, the battle

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.'s have a look at some of the latest pictures that have come into the newsroom. this is a french military plane landing on a french air base in djibouti. france has been evacuating europeans from sudan, as rescue operations to evacuate foreigners continue by road, air and sea. i'm joined now by former major general and military logistics expert tim cross, who served in the british army from 1971 to 2007, including in the iraq and kosovo wars. thank you forjoining us. you have done several tours in the balkans and iraq, talk to us about the challenges in the evacuation operations. challenges in the evacuation operations-_ challenges in the evacuation o erations. ,., ., , operations. good evening, the first thin to operations. good evening, the first thing to say — operations. good evening, the first thing to say is _ operations. good evening, the first thing to say is there _ operations. good evening, the first thing to say is there has _ operations. good evening, the first thing to say

thank you for - bringing us the latest on that, our africa correspondent, andrew harding.nak has held an emergency meeting of cabinet ministers to discuss assistance for british nationals trapped in sudan. government officials say they're doing "everyone possible" to support those still trapped inside the capital khartoum. earlier we spoke to arshad malik — the country director for sudan with the charity save the children. he talked about the impact that the conflict is having on children and what support is in place for those who need it. at the moment, we still are trying to keep our staff safe as much as we can. like, the city of khartoum has been under a kind of lockdown since the 15th of this month because of the ongoing crisis, and we are at the moment monitoring the situation. our staff have reported safe but we are extremely concerned about the situation children are facing and communities otherwise. we have reports of internal displacement in multiple locations within khartoum state, but also in other states including gezira, sennar, white nile, river nile and som

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.tood the us used three helicopters to airlift their embassy workers, but the circumstances for the french and british military were more challenging because of the location of their embassies. here's the british defence secretary ben wallace again. the location of our embassy was right between the two headquarters. the us embassy is further south of the town on the edge. secondly, the us had access to basesin edge. secondly, the us had access to bases in nearby to other countries we do not, so we had to learn from a further distance which obviously procured the use of helicopters or rotary wing, but we had a smaller footprint and i think that has a b challenge but i'm very confident our men and women in the armed forces have done an amazing job and people are safe and sound on the way home. —— a big challenge. 0ur correspondent caroline hawley can give us more detail on foreign nationals. 0n the evacuation, what we know from british government officials is that 1200 military personnel

with the latest, here's our africa correspondent andrew harding.n war—torn khartoum this morning, dramatic moves to rescue at least some trapped foreigners. overnight, american military helicopters flew into sudan, heading for the capital in the centre of the country. in a short but successful operation, nearly 100 us embassy staff and their families were airlifted to safety. there are reports of a convoy also leaving by road from the french embassy, and within the last hour, confirmation that british embassy staff have been extracted from the city. the prime minister announcing the news in this tweet, saying... the diplomats that were working in the british embassy in khartoum have been unable to discharge their functions because of the violence in that city. so both to fulfil our duty to protect them as their employer, we are relocating them to other embassies in the region. footage here of an earlier convoy taking people out of khartoum and heading towards a port on the red sea coast. but while many foreign governments are prioritizing the evacu

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.ome more information for british nationals still in sudan — the uk's foreign offices has tweeted... the situation in khartoum is of obvious concern to sudan's neighbours, our correspondent kalkidan yibeltal is in the ethiopian capital addis ababa. i asked him if african nationals are also being evacuated, as well as those from western nations. that has not been happening, as many would have wanted. the only source we are hearing is in countries in the west or evacuating. urban circumstances which southern african... were evacuated... working along that convoy. possibly could launch operations, but so far, the one we saw is the western countries and countries in the gulf and asia. there either nationals are trying to launch an operation to that effect. it seems that largely, african nationals living in sudan are left behind. when fighting broke out —— fighting broke out, various leaders were quick to criticise the break—out of violence as well as the african union, and originally, there

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.vents, we'll talk to tom bateman on egypt's border with sudan, but first to cyprus and our correspondent caroline hawley in larnaca. caroline, bring us up to date on efforts made to bring britons out. cyprus is now a major hub in a race around the clock to take advantage of this window of opportunity of a ceasefire to get people safely out. about two and a half hours ago, the first military cargo plane with the first military cargo plane with the first evacuees arrived here in larnaca carrying just a few dozen people, and they have been processed here behind me. at the red cross, who gave them food and toiletries, said there were 45 people in all, 17 under 12 and some babies. we understand they will be staying the night here in larnaca and they will go on to the uk by charter flights although it is not yet clear those have been arranged. we know there are two more flights planned tonight with, we are told, about 260 people in all, with more flights tomorrow but why other number so low?

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg. white house has demanded that warring parties in sudan adhere to an immediate ceasefire as the united states works to evacuate its citizens. white house national security adviserjake sullivan told journalists that the united states is facilitating the evacuation of its citizens. we have deployed us intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to support land evacuation routes which americans are using. and we're moving naval assets within the region to provide support. american citizens have begun arriving in port sudan, and we are helping to facilitate their onward travel. this tragic violence has already cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. it is unconscionable, it must stop. the belligerent parties must implement an immediate and unconditional cease—fire, adhere to the international law, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the will of the people of sudan to return to a path of civilian rule. thousands of british nationals are still trapped in suda

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.of british nationals are still trapped in sudan, with frustration growing about the lack of help from the government. the foreign office minister andrew mitchell has defended a major military operation to evacuate only embassy staff and their families over the weekend. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, james landale, is here with more. thanks, fiona. so, what is the situation regarding uk nationals caught up in this crisis? well, its estimated there are at least 4,000 britons in sudan which is, of course, a former british colony. that is far fewer than the united states which has 16,000 nationals in sudan. but it is far more than many european and other countries which have, or had, just a few hundred nationals there. it is the difference in those numbers that are shaping the different responses. the logistic troblem different responses. the logistic problem will _ different responses. the logistic problem will be _ different responses. the logistic problem will be finding - different resp

andrew harding, bbc news.kidan yibeltal who is monitoring the situation from addis ababa in neighbouring ethiopia. thank you forjoining us. i remember reporting on civilian war in sudan 25 years ago. the situation there has always been tens and always has been dangerous and difficult for the people who live there, but why the sudden surge in violence? yes, you are right. sudan has long suffered violence and particularly since 2019, it has been going through a period of turmoil politically and insecurity turmoil. in 2019, there was a public uprising, anti—government protests that ended up ousting the long—time leader of the country and at the time there were hopes that the time there were hopes that the country could be transitioning towards democracy. after his ousting there were efforts to bring in a civilian transitional government but in 2021, the two generals who are fighting now overthrew the transitional administration, and they were thought of allies. general abdel fattah al—burhan what sort of the lead

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.ry, ben wallace, says sudan was on the path to peace and hopes that can resume. 0ur involvement is obviously limited to trying to engage for the safety of our british nationals but, ultimately, what we want is for peace to return. there was originally a peace programme where two factions, the, obviously, the sudan armed forces and another military faction were working towards integration. that broke down and that's what's caused the conflict and we both urge those parties very much to get back to the talks and back to peace. and, you know, sudan, it was on the right path, and i think we need to continue to support that whatever way we can and i know that the un and the international community will be doing their best. let's get more analysis from our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley. 0n the evacuation, what we know from british government officials is that 1200 military personnel from the army, the navy and the raf were involved in evacuating diplomats and their families. we do

our thanks to andrew harding.e watching the crisis unfold and are making decisions over whether to evacuate their diplomatic staff. the uk's new deputy prime minister 0liver dowden spoke to the bbc a short while ago about the situation. clearly, it is a complex and fluid situation. it is the case that the ministry of defence is acting in support of the foreign and commonwealth office. now, you would not expect me right now for security reasons to comment on ongoing movements on the ground. but that is the current situation. what i would say to british nationals who are in that country, they should follow the advice which is to stay indoors, to make the foreign office aware through their website of their location. what i would say is, the situation in sudan is very different to, for example, what you saw in afghanistan. clearly, we don't kind of have the level of personnel and so on there that we had in that situation. the current advice for british nationals is to stay at home, to make the foreign office aware of

andrew harding reports.few dozen saudi arabian diplomats and their families arrive home safely to a warm welcome. they've made a long and risky journey by car, then by boat across the red sea. this is what they left behind. more frenzied bombardments in sudan's capital, khartoum. huge explosions across the city centre. and among the millions still trapped here, hundreds of british citizens. having waited for over a week to be rescued, they're desperate and increasingly frustrated. as brits, we're still very much in the dark and it's very difficult to put much faith in the statement that something at some point something will be facilitated. we understand it is a fast evolving situation but, to be honest, we'vejust in many senses been completely abandoned here. unverified footage from khartoum. it's no wonder many foreign governments are still struggling to rescue their diplomats and other citizens. no ceasefire has yet held. the humanitarian is getting bleaker. in several parts of khartoum in the capital, th

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.ol. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams is here to tell us what�*s at stake. huw. what do we know about the two military men at the centre of this crisis, general abdel fattah al—burhan and mohamed hamdan dagalo, a former warlord known as hemeti? both served under the previous president, omaral—bashir, until they tuned on him in 2019, after months of pro—democracy protests. they have large numbers of troops at their disposal. general al—burhan has the regular military — around 120,000 strong. while hemeti has the rapid support forces, as many as 150,000, with a fearsome reputation for violence. why are they fighting now? well, they were both part of a transitional administration that was supposed to pave the way for a democratic government. but in 2021 general burhan staged a military coup, putting all of that on hold. last year there was another agreement on transition, but by now the two men had become rivals, unable to agree on how their armed forces can be merged into a single

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.he european union says more than 1,100 eu citizens have now been brought out of sudan, with estimates of hundreds more eu citizens still in the country. but those figures are changing constantly, as eu countries struggle to assess the numbers involved. 0ur europe correspondent nick beake has the story. while the british government negotiates accusations it's failed its citizens, the french military have been rescuing some uk civilians, as well as other europeans, including the molenaar family from the netherlands. they painted a french flag on the back of their car then ran the gauntlet through the streets of the sudanese capital. tonight, we made contact and heard their story. there was a message from a colleague, ourfriend of the french embassy. with a link with an address, saying, "go there." i called him, asked him what it was, and he said, "this is your best option out. i advise that you take it." safe now with his family in neighbouring djibouti, arthur says the french deserve gr

andrew harding, bbc news. negotiations with junior doctors in england to try to avert any more strike action. almost 200,000 operations and appointments had to be cancelled last week during a four—day strike. now a senior conservative mp has called for ministers and unions to take a leap of faith to try to resolve the situation. 0ur health editor hugh pym is here. is there likely to be a leap of faith? ,, ., :, , ., , faith? seen a doctor is really hope so. a faith? seen a doctor is really hope so- a group _ faith? seen a doctor is really hope so- a group of _ faith? seen a doctor is really hope so. a group of heads _ faith? seen a doctor is really hope so. a group of heads of _ faith? seen a doctor is really hope so. a group of heads of royal - so. a group of heads of royal colleges came together today to urge both sides to get to the table and if necessary bring in an independent body like a cath to broker some sort to that's because they say they were so concerned about the impact of further strikes, so con

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg.lmost every smartphone in the uk will sound an alarm at 3 o'clock this afternoon when the government tests a new emergency alert system. it'll be used to warn people about serious risks that could threaten lives, such as flooding, wildfires, and even terror attacks. dan johnson reports. loud beep. brace yourself for the 3 o'clock alert! up and down the country this afternoon, almost every smart phone will make this noise. loud beep. tell me what you think? something different. loud beep. 0k, not that bad, i thought it was going to be worse. it's not too bad. you think that is all right? do you think people will get taken by surprise? yes, for sure. every phone will be doing that? pretty much. what do you think that will be like? a little bit annoying. why do you think that will happen? i am a little suspicious. why is it coming out now? and you think what is coming out now in the world and it makes you think... you think there could be a threat? that's what makes me think, why bring it

andrew harding starts he coverage. take an offer sudan, the first rif flights left on the dangerous rescue mission. british forces gathered earlier at their airbase and cyprus to begin the plan, for a task which could last hours or even days. while a precarious cease-fire holes. that sees car -- cease-fire overnight, look how dark it is, after 10 days of war. there is no power and precious little food or water left. by dawn, many sudanese were already on the move, hoping to use the pause in fighting to catch buses heading out of the city. but the fighting here hasn't stopped all together. this allen west recorded by a 19-year-old dual british sudanese national. she i still in hiding with 23 relatives. across this vast country, many foreigners and locals have been making their own risky journeys to safety, some driving to the red sea coast. a british navy frigate is already headed to a port here. others have had it the opposite direction, here to neighboring chad, one of the many conflict riddled nations bordering sudan.

andrew harding, bbc news, johannesburg. >> joining me now for the view from the united states is our department correspondent. the united states has been evacuating its own embassy staff have a picture of the secretary of state monitoring those operations over the weekend. what are they doing about the private citizens who are still trapped in sudan right now? barbara: we are talking about an estimated 16,000 people. that is the number of officials gave to congress last week. only hundreds have been contacted from the -- the embassy and dozens wanted to leave, according to mr. blinken. many of those in sudan are dual nationals. the state department is giving them information about the most safe way to leave. that is an overland route, they will not launch an air rescue. the pentagon is flying drones to monitor threats and identify potential routes. the main route seems to be out to port sedan, and the navy has put two ships on standby to help if needed. the pentagon has put up a d confliction cell in its headquarters to keep tabs with what allies are doing and let the warring general

our correspondent, andrew harding, has the latest.w: taking offer sudan, the first flights left this evening on a dangerous rescue mission. british forces have gathered early with their airbase in cyprus to prepare the planes for a task that could last hours or even days. flying british citizens out of khartoum, one of the -- while the precarious cease-fire holds. that cease-fire came in force in sudan's capital overnight. look how dark it is. after 10 days of war, there is no power, and precious little food or water left. by don, many already on the move, hoping to use the pause in fighting to catch buses heading out of the city. the fighting here has not stopped together. [gunfire] this sound was recorded by a dual british and sudanese national. she is still in hiding with 23 resident -- relatives. across this vastountry, many foreigners and locals will make their own risky journeys to safety. some dried into the red sea coast. a british navy is already heading to the court here. others heading into the opposit direction, here to ne

our africa correspondent andrew harding watched the operation in jeddah.streaming slowly off this ferry in the saudi arabian port ofjeddah. their ferry has just arrived from the long, difficult journey that they've taken from sudan, from port sudan, across the red sea, about a 12—hour ferry ride. you can see up on deck, still lots of people waiting for their turn to disembark. we're not quite sure how many there are. we've been talking to lots of people from all over the world. it's so bad, you know, so bad. and a lot of innocent people that are dying every day. you know, you must be very relieved to find safety. yeah. and we need to stop this war immediately, you know? this is not going to help everybody in sudan. just over there, there are embassy staff, consular staff from all over the world, too, waving their flags and waiting to greet their citizens. people from britain as well were expecting incredibly relieved scenes here. people telling us of the difficulties they've had, the two day drive in many cases from khartoum over to the red sea coast. and

negotiations to try to broker some kind of a peace deal to end this conflict but as our correspondent, andrew hardingher countries who intervene. and the united states who have more direct lines of contacts, perhaps money and pressure that they can bring to bear are the key players for now but a lot of african countries, very worried about this because as we said before, sudan border seven countries, many of them with their own huge security challenges, places like libya, the central african republic and chad and ethiopia. and they all have a lot to win or lose depending on what happens inside sudan. we have seen over decades, frankly, in sudan, the fighting men do not put any priority on the humanitarian situation, the impact on civilians. mostly we have seen that in the fringes of sudan and south sudan over many years, in places like darfur, on the border areas, we have seen horrific numbers of civilian casualties and we continue to see that, grim reports from north and south darfur, the western edges of sudan, close to chad but as you can see now, they have brought that conflict to the streets of

our africa correspondent, andrew harding has the latest. it is still very unstable in khartoum.rning, there were some positive signs. people said dawn had been unusually quiet, been unusually quiet, then we heard the announcement from the head of the army, essentially the head of sudan, general al burhan, who said that as you are mentioning there, french, german, others, they said they could bring their planes into the airport immediately to evacuate diplomats and others into the city. very quickly after that, we were talking to people in khartoum who were describing intense, perhaps the most intense bombardments right in the city centre, and of course the airport in khartoum is itself in the city centre. that seems to have continued all day. i was speaking to a businessmen just half an hour or so ago, and he was describing massive explosions close to where he was sheltering in the city. he said it felt like russian roulette. he was just waiting for the next bomb to land on him. very, very tense, very worried communities in the centre of khartoum. of course, millions of people s

andrew harding reports. escaping from sudan, saudi arabia and diplomats made it home safely. huge explosions across the city centre.

our correspondent andrew harding filed this report from jeddah. the dock site here in port sudan. you can see here 52, we believe, 52 evacuees from yemen, from oman, from pakistan. they're heading out shortly to a saudi arabian warship, which is more just off the coast. we've been talking to many of these people. they look exhausted. they look uncertain about what's to come. they are, of course, enormously relieved now to be safe. it's been a difficultjourney for many of them and a long wait here in port sudan, where so many thousands of people have been drawn because of the promise of a trip to safety across the red sea. but a lot of these people are saying we've left ourjobs, we've left our property behind, and we have no idea if we will ever be able to come back and reclaim that life. live now to kholood khair, founder and director of the khartoum based think tank confluence advisory. i understand you havejust made it out of sudan. i actually boarded one of these saudi ships heading forjeddah, a 20 hour trip. saudi ships heading forjeddah, a 20 hourtrip. but saudi ships heading