WEBVTT

00:02.466 --> 00:04.733 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
AMNA NAWAZ: Hundreds of
thousands of Sudanese are
fleeing to neighboring
countries to escape

00:04.733 --> 00:08.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
violence that's killed
more than 400 people in
the last week-and-a-half.

00:08.566 --> 00:13.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And, as Nick Schifrin tells
us, aid agencies are warning,
the humanitarian situation is

00:15.533 --> 00:18.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
increasingly dire because
of a political fight that's
been brewing for years.

00:18.533 --> 00:22.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, the
U.N. agency that coordinates
humanitarian affairs

00:22.966 --> 00:26.433 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
warned that it had to
pull back from parts
of Sudan, as a country

00:26.433 --> 00:31.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
of 45 million copes with
shortages of water, food
and access to medicine.

00:31.233 --> 00:36.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
The U.S. and others are trying
to end the fighting between
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan,

00:38.233 --> 00:41.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
the head of the armed forces,
and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo,
known as Hemedti, the leader

00:41.166 --> 00:46.133 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
of the paramilitary
Rapid Support Forces,
or RSF, comprised of
former militias that

00:48.700 --> 00:51.533 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
committed the genocide
in Western Sudan's Darfur
region that killed more
than two million people.

00:53.000 --> 00:54.966 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
The two men were supposed to
help return the country to

00:54.966 --> 00:59.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
civilian rule demanded
by the 2019 pro-democracy
popular uprising.

01:01.733 --> 01:04.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
One of those who participated
in that uprising is
writer Muzan Alneel,

01:04.533 --> 01:06.633 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
who joins me now from Khartoum.

01:06.633 --> 01:09.533 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
Muzan Alneel, thank
you very much. Welcome
back to the "NewsHour."

01:09.533 --> 01:13.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
As we just said, there's a
humanitarian crisis. What
are the conditions that you,

01:13.600 --> 01:16.266 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
your neighbors, and millions
of Sudanese face today?

01:16.266 --> 01:18.766 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
MUZAN ALNEEL, Sudanese
Researcher and Writer:
The situation right now
is that, for 11 days,

01:18.766 --> 01:23.766 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
we have been under heavy
fighting, and there are
around 10 million people
living in this city,

01:26.333 --> 01:29.033 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
most of them under the
poverty line, most of them
without any stable access
to electricity or water.

01:30.900 --> 01:33.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
The electricity network is
followed by the e-banking system
that many depend on to get

01:33.700 --> 01:38.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
food or be able to evacuate
their families from Khartoum.
It has also fell apart. The

01:40.633 --> 01:44.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
telecommunication has fell
apart. People are just trying
to survive this. We see

01:44.300 --> 01:49.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Sudanese people restoring to
popular and mutual aid, which is
the only thing that they have.

01:49.266 --> 01:54.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And the street is being
used now by the people
to form networks in their

01:56.266 --> 01:59.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
neighborhoods to know where the
water is, to be able even to
run some of the health centers,

02:01.566 --> 02:03.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
instead of those hospitals
that are impossible
to reach right now.

02:03.566 --> 02:06.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
NICK SCHIFRIN: And those
popular efforts, they're led
by the resistance committees,

02:06.933 --> 02:11.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
right, the same committees that
helped the revolution in 2019,

02:11.333 --> 02:15.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
sustain it through the coup
in 2021 up until today, right?

02:15.333 --> 02:18.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
MUZAN ALNEEL: The tactics that
we learned from the resistance
committees that we are using to

02:18.933 --> 02:23.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
network, to have mutual aid, to
be able to evacuate ourselves
and evacuate our families

02:23.933 --> 02:28.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
and our loved ones, and even
help evacuate and help provide
food and medicine to people.

02:30.933 --> 02:33.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
The concept of mutual aid
mutual is what sustaining the
people, not the international

02:35.100 --> 02:39.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
aid diplomats who called for a
realistic approach by partnering
with the -- with the criminals

02:41.966 --> 02:44.433 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
NICK SCHIFRIN: Well,
let me ask about the
politics of this moment.

02:44.433 --> 02:48.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
The last time we spoke a few
years ago, our segment was
followed by an interview I did

02:48.633 --> 02:53.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
with the then-U.S. special envoy
to the region, who argued that
the generals who are fighting in

02:56.100 --> 02:59.600 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
the streets right now had
to be at the table, part
of the negotiation process.
Do you think that the

03:02.166 --> 03:05.433 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
U.S., the international
community accommodated
them, helping lead to the
violence we see today?

03:05.433 --> 03:08.566 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
MUZAN ALNEEL: That was
definitely accommodating
them, legitimizing them,

03:08.566 --> 03:11.700 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
giving them the platform
that they needed to have

03:11.700 --> 03:16.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
all their international
deals and their stronger ties
with the within the region.

03:19.133 --> 03:22.066 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
We were asked to be
realistic after a massacre
and accept those war
criminals. We were asked

03:22.066 --> 03:26.400 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
to be realistic after a
coup. And we are even, I
think, will be asked to
be realistic after a war,

03:26.400 --> 03:30.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
because I'm hearing news of
some sort of negotiation, that
they want to bring them back

03:30.900 --> 03:35.900 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
into -- into ruling or
bring back whatever kind
of political process they
called it, that, basically,

03:38.333 --> 03:41.366 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
to bring back the same
old agreement that
brought us all that we are
going through right now.

03:41.366 --> 03:43.966 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
NICK SCHIFRIN: What's
been your response,

03:43.966 --> 03:47.700 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
as you have seen U.S.
special operations forces
fly into the capital to
evacuate U.S. diplomats?

03:49.666 --> 03:52.066 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
We have seen the U.N.
have to pull back,

03:52.066 --> 03:57.066 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
other countries spend
time at the airport with
their militaries trying
to pull out civilians,

03:58.533 --> 04:01.733 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
as millions in Sudan face these
dire humanitarian conditions.

04:01.733 --> 04:04.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
MUZAN ALNEEL: My priority are
the people most in need. And

04:04.800 --> 04:06.833 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
those are the poorer
of the Sudanese people.

04:06.833 --> 04:10.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And they are getting help from
themselves and from mutual aid,
from resistance committees,

04:10.733 --> 04:14.033 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
and from neighborhood networks
that are forming themselves to

04:14.033 --> 04:16.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
govern themselves and somehow
provide for themselves.
That's what I focus on.

04:16.966 --> 04:21.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
So, when I think about
whatever evacuation
efforts that are happening,

04:21.100 --> 04:24.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
good for them. Flee out of
a war zone. It's not good
to be out in a war zone.

04:24.700 --> 04:28.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
It's not good if your country
is turned into a war zone, and
you have nowhere else to run.

04:28.500 --> 04:33.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
But the fact that they didn't
even consider to bring any sort
of medical support with them,

04:35.066 --> 04:38.933 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
any sort of medical
equipment or medicines
that are in -- we're in

04:38.933 --> 04:42.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
dire need. They were sending
airplanes and not even
sending medicines to us. Like,

04:44.533 --> 04:47.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
it's absurd to even follow
what they're doing. There isn't
one place that will tell you,

04:47.500 --> 04:50.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
these are the needs and
here's where you can,
like, send your donation.

04:50.333 --> 04:54.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
No, it's a -- it's
decentralized. And everyone's
trying to figure out what's

04:54.900 --> 04:57.900 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
happening in their
neighborhood. And that
is what's working for us

04:57.900 --> 05:02.033 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
right now. There is no
U.N. agency that is here
to support. There is no

05:02.033 --> 05:05.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
international organization
that is here to support. We
are supporting ourselves.

05:05.400 --> 05:08.566 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
So, try to support us, but
please use all the meeting

05:08.566 --> 05:10.466 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
rooms you have to get
them to stop the war zone.

05:10.466 --> 05:12.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
NICK SCHIFRIN: Muzan
Alneel, thank you very much.

05:12.900 --> 05:14.266 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
MUZAN ALNEEL: Thank you.