Geoff: The U.S. Announced a
72-hour ceasefire to begin
tonight in Sudan between the
army and a rival paramilitary
group.
Meantime, the U.S. Also says it
is facilitating the frantic
evacuation of civilians from
Sudan.
Drones and other military assets
are flying over the land route
from Sudan's capital, Khartoum.
The U.S. Does not have any
military personnel on the
ground, since evacuating embassy
staff to Djibouti over the
weekend.
Those civilians are fleeing
street battles that have killed
more than 400 people in fighting
that started 10 days ago.
Nick schifrin starts our
coverage.
Nick: Sudan's capital is
collapsing.
Warfare in the streets.
Jets flying over civilian
neighborhoods, and the airport
and civilian airlines billowing
smoke.
Khartoum as a city of 5 million.
Now it is marked by widespread
destruction and depravity.
>> Everybody is pretty much in
lockdown and in their homes,
just using what they have to
sustain and get by.
Nick: We spoke with her via
Skype.
>> It is dreadful.
There are a lot of people out of
water, electricity.
For it comes and goes.
It is pretty bleak.
People are injured and people
can't get their loved ones to
the hospital or clinics.
Nick: Shanta -- she sent us this
photo of a bullet that landed in
her backyard.
>> Today was the most intense
day for us in regards to where
we live and where the fighting
took place.
That happened exactly over our
rooftops.
I mean, my kids came running to
me and said mom, look, we have
warplanes.
Nick: For children in happier
days, her three-year-old, her
six-year-old son, and
eight-year-old daughter doing
their English work together,
introducing themselves.
>> I have a six-year-old who
drew a tank yesterday, and
things like what he would see in
the sky, which was pretty sad.
You don't want your kids to be
living in such an and varmint.
.
The civilians are bearing the
brunt of what these two
individuals are doing right now,
which I think is a power
struggle, just to be in power.
Nick: Those two individuals, a
military leader, who is supposed
to lead a transition to civilian
rule, and the leader of the
paramilitary rapid support
forces, former infamous John
jewelweed militias that
committed the genocide in
western Sudan's door for region.
More than 2 million people were
killed.
They are fighting for the
capital and the country, and
likely will not stop until one
wins.
Italy and other governments, but
not the U.S., have managed to
airlift hundreds of their
citizens to safety.
Most Sudanese must try to board
buses whose drivers are gouging
the desperate.
>> The fare is around less than
$100.
Now it has reached up to $500.
We hope to come up by tomorrow
morning, take off and go to
Egypt, praying that nothing will
happen on the way.
Nick: Her family will take an 18
hour bus ride north to Egypt.
Others drive northeast to port
Sudan on the red sea, where we
spoke to dahlia after a 24 hour
bus ride and multiple military
checkpoints.
>> We spent close to 48 hours
calling no less than 50
different companies to find a
bus that would take us.
Nick: She is a former journalist
turned baker and political
commentator who accuses the U.S.
And international community of
accommodating these forces to
try to transition to civilian
rule.
>> The rs F was made up of a
group of gunmen, paramilitary
mercenaries, who tortured and
terrorized it for so long.
They are taking their message of
torture and terrorism into the
capital.
And we the people are the ones
caught in the middle.
Again, I have never been forced
to leave my house.
I have never been forced to pack
an emergency bag.
The idea that I may not come
back for any time soon is just
killing me.
The fact that I am leaving
behind my home, my family,
friends.
This is my country.
I don't want to leave.
But we have to.
>> We have dashed hope, but we
do have aspirations and dreams
to return to a democratic
civilian rule in Sudan.
Want peace, we want justice, we
want freedom for all.
That is pretty much it.
Nick: To discuss this conflict
in Sudan, and U.S. Policy toward
Sudan at this moment, we turn to
Delaware Democrat senator Chris
coons, of the senate
appropriations and foreign
relations committees.
Thank you very much.
Welcome back to the newshour.
First, cease fire announced this
afternoon by U.S. Secretary of
state Antony blinken, can this
hold?
There have been multiple
cease-fires that have not held
in the past.
Sen. Coons: I'm hopeful that
this cease fire will hold.
But we need to be skeptical, and
continue to apply both pressure
and encouragement to the leaders
of these two warring factions.
And to continue to work with the
U.N. And our other partners in
the country to organize
additional convoys that will
allow more folks who want to
leave the country to do so
safely.
Nick: Staying on the politics,
how can the U.S. Help not only
ensure the cease fire holds, but
that it comes a genuine
resumption of political
negotiations to transition back
to civilian rule?
Sen. Coons: We have been
engaging actively, both
diplomatic and military leaders
from the United States have put
in a series of calls to both of
these two warring faction
leaders.
And we, over the last few years,
since the Sudanese civilian
population rose up and bravely
overthrew the long-term
dictator, Omar al-bashir in
2019, we have engaged with and
supported civil society groups
in Sudan.
I think we need to continue to
do so.
We have a significant Sudanese
American joint national
population in Sudan, and ads per
community here in the united
States.
Sudan has a large country, about
the size of Alaska, a country of
45 million people, with lots of
potential, lots of agricultural
and mineral wealth.
And we need to do everything we
can to help avert the tragedy of
it descending into a civil war
or a proxy war.
Nick: The U.S. Is not the only
actor incident.
Egypt packs the Sudanese
military.
China has influence because of
economic investment.
As you have pointed out, is
there not a problem of a lack of
U.S. Leverage in this moment?
Sen. Coons: We have relatively
limited leverage because, as I
just referenced, for decades,
this was a country on the state
sponsor of terrorism list while
Omar al-bashir was the dictator
of Sudan.
This was the country that
harbored Al Qaeda, that Osama
bin laden was in, and that
helped facilitate their attacks
on the uss Cole and naval
vessel, attacks on U.S.
Embassies in both Nairobi and
Dar es salaam.
This was decades ago.
Our hope was after the civilian
overthrow of Bashir, was that
there would be a movement toward
a democratically elected
government.
In my last visit to Khartoum, I
shared a dinner with the then
prime minister.
Unfortunately, since then, there
has been a military coup.
As you have been reporting, just
the last few days, the
resumption of violence of active
fighting in Khartoum and across
the country.
We have some leverage, both the
encouragement of the possibility
of robust humanitarian and
development assistance, and the
possibility of targeted
sanctions on those who may
facilitate and foment further
violence.
Ongoing engagement by the united
States, by other regional
leaders, the African union,
Kenyan president ruto who is the
leader of igad.
They can and should play a
constructive and positive role.
Nick: Let's go back to the
evacuation you referenced.
There is some 16,000 Americans
in Sudan, an estimate.
Today, national security advisor
Jake Sullivan pointed out U.S.
Drones and other military assets
are flying above Sudan.
U.S. Warships are sailing off
the coast.
The U.S. Is helping Americans
who reached the border to travel
further.
As you can see, there are other
countries, Italy, Spain, Saudi
Arabia, among others who have
for new -- who have figured out
a way to go into Sudan and
evacuate their citizens.
Why can't the U.S.?
Sen. Coons: None of them have
evacuated anything like 16,000
people.
Let's be clear, this is not a
country where it is easy or safe
to go in, take control of the
airport in Khartoum, and fly
military scale missions to
evacuate thousands of people.
Each of the countries you
referenced have evacuated
handfuls of people.
We have evacuated something like
140 American citizens.
Both through the special forces
operation to evacuate our
embassy over the weekend, and
through the U.N. Led Overland
convoy that arrived in port
Sudan, I think earlier today, if
I'm not mistaken.
There will be other convoys.
We are working in close
partnership with the U.N. And
other countries to make
available whatever means of
evacuation are reasonably
possible.
There is a big difference
between evacuating the Americans
who work in our embassy and with
said, and providing for a
evacuation of people.
That has never been our practice
to provide evacuation support
for all citizens in a country.
Nick: Sorry to interrupt, but do
you fear the administration is
too gun shy when it comes to
evacuations because of the chaos
of the kabul evacuation?
Sen. Coons: This is apples and
Oranges.
In kabul, we had thousands and
thousands of U.S. And allied
military troops on the ground.
We have decades of experience
operating in Afghanistan, and we
had an understandable moral
obligation to help evacuate
those who had fought alongside
us in the 20 years that we were
at war in Afghanistan.
The situation in Sudan is
fundamentally different.
This is not a permissive
environment.
.
The cost -- the Khartoum airport
is not a military airport.
For us to secure it and operate
safely, regular flights out of
it would take a significant
insertion of American armed
forces.
Something I certainly would not
recommend or support.
This is closer to what happened
in Ukraine or Syria or Yemen or
Libya, where as those countries
were invaded or descended into
civil war, we evacuated U.S.
Citizens who served at our
embassy and provided support for
other Americans who sought to
evacuate.
But not through a big,
large-scale, coordinated
military operation.
Nick: Senator Chris coons,
Democrat of Delaware, thank you
very much.
Sen. Coons: Thank you, Nick.
♪♪