Global News Podcast - Sudan: Hundreds of thousands flee Darfur refugee camp

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Hundreds of thousands flee Sudan's largest refugee camp in Darfur, after deadly attacks by RSF paramilitaries. Also: ‘God’s architect’ Antoni Gaudí is on the path to sainthood, and the new film inspired by a penguin.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Andrew Peach and in the early hours of Tuesday 15 April these are our main stories. Hundreds of thousands of people flee Sudan's largest refugee camp in Darfur after days of attacks by paramilitaries. On a visit to the White House, the President of El Salvador insists he doesn't have the power to return a man mistakenly deported from the US and jailed. And Parliament in Hungary approves constitutional changes, stigmatising gay people. Also in this podcast, the Pope puts God's architect, Anthony Gaudí, on the path to

sainthood and... I think this experience has shown me you never know how much love is inside of you, like how much love you have to give and how loved you are until the day you launch. The latest celebrity space tourists, including the American pop star Katy Perry, come back down to Earth. It was estimated that half a million people had been living in Zamzam, Sudan's largest camp for people trying to flee the civil war, which is two years old today. According to the UN, hundreds of civilians are dead and 400,000 have fled the camp following an attack by paramilitary rapid support forces which took control of Zamzam in Darfur.

The RSF claimed it was being used as a base for fighters aligned with the Sudanese army. Our Africa correspondent Mayani Jones told me more about the camp. There was a famine declared there in August. So the people in Zamzam camp were already living very difficult lives and these lives have become even more difficult this weekend. They've had to move once again. 10,000 of them have arrived in the town of Tawila. It's about 70 kilometers away from Zamzam. That would usually take you six hours in a car. It certainly took them a lot longer to do that by foot. And so at the moment, they are in need of absolutely everything. I mean, Meta-Saint-Francisco, who used to be based in the Zamzam camp,

but had to leave because they were constantly having staff getting caught up in the violence. They said that, you know, people who arrived in Tawila, extremely dehydrated, traumatised, stressed. They've supplied what they could. They've provided them with some food, some buckets, some basic amenities, but the need is absolutely enormous. And there are no facilities there in Tewila at all, I presume? Yeah, MSFI in Tewila, they don't have much of a presence there. They say they've kind

of given the internally displaced people the absolute basics, but no, they don't have much of a presence there. They say that kind of given the internally displaced people the absolute basics, but no, there isn't much there for them. And it's a Norwegian Darfur, Northern Darfur, which is in the control of the RSF, which is feared by many civilians. So they're still not safe. They still haven't found safety. And why are the paramilitaries, the RSF, attacking our capital? So for the past year, the rapid support forces have been trying to breach Al-Fasher. It's the capital of the state of North Darfur. It's the last state's capital in Darfur that they don't hold. It's held by the Sudanese military, their rivals. And so recently the Sudanese army gained some ground in

the east of the country in the capital Khartoum. Since then the RSF have redoubled their efforts to try and recapture al-Fasha so that they would control the entirety of Darfur, which is in the west of the country. And basically what this means is that the country is essentially divided in two, with the east and the north controlled by the army and the West and some of the South controlled by the rapid support forces. And there are concerns that if El Fasher falls into the hands of the RSF, that that could leave the civilian population there incredibly isolated, cut off from the rest of the world, finding it more difficult to get help. And

there are also concerns there have been, you know, accusations of summary execution of sexual violence carried out by the RSF. And so there are concerns that if those civilians find themselves under them, they will suffer some grave human rights abuses. Because in recent months it's been the Sudanese military who've been taking territory. The RSF now very much pushing back, still posing a formidable threat. Absolutely. They're not backing down, despite the fact that they've lost that territory. They still hold pockets of Khartoum, so the battle there isn't completely won, and they certainly want to make sure that they control a lot of Darfur.

Now, the way they put it is that they've liberated Zamzam, they're liberating these areas. But many rights groups and many civilians say that far're liberating these areas. But many rights groups and many civilians say that far from liberating these places, they are exacting their own cruel and inhumane punishment and that they are carrying out extreme levels of violence against the civilian population. Our Africa correspondent, Miany Jones. The Hungarian parliament has voted through a constitutional amendment to ban LGBT gatherings and recognise only two sexes. It had already passed a law banning pride marches on the grounds of protecting

children. On Monday protesters and some opposition MPs gathered outside parliament in Budapest. Let's get more from our correspondent Nick Thorpe. This was the 15th amendment to the 2011 constitution and one of the most controversial. By 140 votes to 21, the governing Fidesz party majority made it possible for the police to ban the annual Pride march in June because it's judged to portray or promote homosexuality. Protesters tried and failed to prevent MPs entering parliament to take part in the vote, but a heavy police presence made sure they could get into the building. The mayor of Budapest, Gergely Koracony, later told protesters outside the building that this year's pride would go ahead anyway and would be bigger and freer than ever before.

Lúcia Duditz is from the Hata Society, Hungary's oldest and largest LGBT rights organisation. She told us the new law won't stop them from marching. LGBTQI people have always been part of society. We cannot be ignored, we cannot be erased and we are going to march for our freedoms and we know that a lot of people are going to march with us in solidarity to show to the government and to everybody else that we are a valuable part of our communities. The actual attitude of Hungarian society have increased and they have accepted LGBTQI people more and more. At the same time it is sadly a big mental pressure to hear your community being demonised like that in everyday discourse by the government.

Last month, the US deported more than 200 Latin American migrants to El Salvador to be held in jail there. The Trump administration has claimed the deportees are gang members and pose a threat to US national security. It's now known that one of them was sent in error. The US Supreme Court has ordered he be brought back. But on Monday, during a meeting with Mr Trump in Washington, El Salvador's President, Naia Buckeli, called the man a terrorist and said he wouldn't be returned to the US or freed from prison. How can I return him to the United States? Like, I smuggle him into the United States or whatever it is. Of course, I'm not going to do it. I mean the question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I don't have the power to return him to the

United States. So you can release him inside of the United States? Yeah, but I'm not releasing, I mean we're not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country. I mean, you just turned the murder capital of the world to the safest country in the Western Hemisphere and you want wants to go back into the releasing criminals so they can go back to being the murder capital of the world. That's not going to be bad. Our North America correspondent Nomiya Iqbal is in Washington. Kilmar Garcia, who's from Maryland which is not far from here in DC, he did actually come to the US

illegally when he was a teenager but he did get a work permit in 2019 and a judge ruled that he couldn't be sent back to El Salvador due to persecutions by gangs. However, the Trump administration has claimed that he is a member of MS-13, a gang in El Salvador, which the Trump administration has also designated a terrorist group. And so they have deported him along with many others. The problem Mr. Gussie's lawyers say is that there's no evidence and even if there is evidence which the administration says there is, he should get due process, he should be in a court, he should have the right to challenge the evidence and so

this is the background of this particular case and that was a big issue for certainly reporters given that Mr. Bichelli had his moment today in the Oval Office with Mr. Trump. So it's one of these sort of fireside moments as you say with them the two of them in the the yellow seats in the Oval Office with reporters then invited to ask questions and what we got was Donald Trump doubling down on the idea of sending more and more people to El Salvador. Yes, and bear in mind the Supreme Court last week ruled that the Trump administration needs to facilitate Mr Garcia's return, but the administration is saying, well, it's not

up to us, the ball is in El Salvador's court. And sat next to Mr Trump is Mr Bukele, who has called himself the world's coolest dictator, he is very prolific on social media. Him and Donald Trump are ideologically aligned. They both need each other. Mr. Bukele wants to open up El Salvador to tourism. He has this mega prison, this controversial prison, where lots of criminals and many people who have not been given due process are housed. And that's what makes him hugely popular with people in El Salvador. And Mr. Trump needs that for his hardline deportation policy. So both men need each other and they are ideologically aligned.

And when Mr. Bichelli was asked about Mr. Garcia, he said, what am I going to do? Smuggle him back into the US? Smuggle a terrorist? So as far as he's concerned he's not going to release Mr Garcia and so it looks like Mr Garcia is still going to remain in that prison for the foreseeable future. Nomi Ibar with me from Washington.

On Monday an all-female crew of six, including the pop star Katy Perry, touched back down on Earth after reaching the edge of space on the Blue Origin rocket owned by Jeff Bezos. And here's the moment the women blasted off from the desert in Texas. Five, four, command engine start, two, one, ignition. The flight, which lasted less than 11 minutes, carried the women to the Carmen Line, the internationally recognised boundary of space, where they experienced three minutes of weightlessness before beginning their descent back to Earth. And as they touched down, the crew could be heard screaming with excitement.

Air cushion, they'll kick up the dust. It's a very soft, soft landing despite the sporty push-ups. So there it is. Soft landing despite the sporty push-ups. There it is. Our science correspondent, Victoria Gill, told me more about the mission. I think we need to make a distinction here that this is not really space exploration. It's space tourism.

So in the spectre of the kind of commercial race to provide people with the transportation for space if they just want to buy it as a trip or if NASA now have private contractors with Elon Musk's SpaceX. This is part of that picture and it's still a really challenging and difficult thing. So in terms of the billionaires space race to provide this as a commercial opportunity for whoever wants to pay and go is significant. But, you know, I've spoken to a few space scientists and people from space agencies who are kind of a little frustrated, I suppose, by the fact that the celebrity element of this is possibly getting more attention than some of the people who are doing work for the good of humanity in space.

You know, even that this crew are now being given the tag that they are now an astronaut, the global treaty for outer space defines an astronaut as an envoy for humankind. This is a very brief trip, 10 minutes 21 seconds to be exact. Is it space exploration? I think that's up for debate. Right and obviously it might only ever be for massive music stars and people engaged to billionaires because even if this becomes more commonplace over time, it's still hugely expensive. This is something that, yes, is not available to us all. Blue Origin states its aim, it's kind of opening up the availability of travelling to space for everyone. You can go on their

website and you can click I want to go to space and book yourself a trip and they ask for a deposit, a fully refundable deposit of a hundred and fifty thousand US dollars. So that sort of puts it into perspective as far as you know this being something that's available to us all. And you've talked a bit about some of the ethical concerns, the environmental concerns that people have about the whole idea of space tourism. Every time you send a rocket up you're burning fuel at incredibly high temperatures that is producing chemical reactions that release pollutants into the environment. One of the things that Blue Origin said about this trip was that because the fuel is hydrogen and oxygen your only product is

water vapour. Well I don't think that's true I've spoken to a few chemists who would dispute that because when you're burning things at high temperatures in the atmosphere you're gonna get other pollutants from those atmospheric gases like nitrogen as well but also water vapour is not supposed to be in the stratosphere so that does pollute all of those atmospheric layers. Our science correspondent Victoria Gill. And still to come in this podcast... We thought, yes, the penguin should be the catalyst that raises these bigger questions about whether you engage with society, whether you care about the world around you or whether you

retreat into sort of a cocoon. A new film inspired by a penguin in South America. in cinemas now. But how much do you know about the game's creator, software developer Marcus Person? Find out about The Man Behind Minecraft on Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring the minds, motives and money of some of the world's richest individuals. Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of the American tech giant Meta and the world's third richest person has been in court in Washington. Meta, which owns Facebook, is accused of abusing its market power when it bought Instagram and WhatsApp. The case has been brought by the Federal Trade Commission, the US competition consumer Watchdog. And if the FTC wins the case, Metta's owner, Mr. Zuckerberg, could be forced to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. North America technology correspondent Lily

Jamali told me about the first day of the trial. From the Federal Trade Commission side, this of course is the competition and consumer watchdog here in the US. They're saying that Metta, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp and Instagram, decided that competition was just too hard and that it would simply be easier to buy out their rivals than compete with them. So that's what we heard from the FTC lawyer, Daniel Matheson, today. Metta, for their part, is saying that this whole lawsuit is misguided, that there is plenty of competition out there against Meta in the social media space.

See ex-formerly Twitter, see YouTube, see Snapchat, and the FTC is kind of pulling out a grab bag of legal theories to try to break them up. Right. Are they suggesting it's politically motivated in some way? I haven't seen any mention of the politics in court, but there is absolutely a political overtone to everything that is happening. This case was brought during the first Trump administration when Donald Trump had a much more contentious relationship with Metta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. relationship with Metta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

He had recently been kicked off of Metta's platforms after the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol and he was upset. And at this point, what we're seeing is a much more friendly relationship. Mark Zuckerberg and Trump getting off on a much better foot this time. And apparently Zuckerberg lobbying Trump to have this case dropped. Lily Jamali reporting. Now can you guess who this person is describing? Can't help but be awed by its majesty, its size and its slight kookiness. It's got a futuristic feel in a 70s way. It's like the first cathedral on Mars. It's a BBC journalist telling the story of the Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona, the visionary, unfinished work of the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who died nearly a

century ago. At the time of his death, the Sagrada Familia had been under construction for 44 years and was only a quarter completed. Asked about the protracted construction the architect is reported to have said, my client is not in a hurry. Now the Vatican has announced that Gaudí has been declared venerable, the first stage on the path to sainthood. Andrea Gagliaducci is a Vatican analyst at the Catholic TV network EWTN. My colleague Sean Lay asked him about Antoni Gaudi's significance for Roman Catholics. Well, he is the architect who started the construction of Sagrada Familia, that is the

biggest temple in Barcelona, that was the last of the Gothic cathedral or the first of the cathedral of a new kind of Gothic cathedral. So it was a huge war. And so the significance is all there, because whenever you go to Barcelona and you look at Sagrada Familia, you see the life and the mystery and the devotion of one big architect, and all the Catholics know about that. Will Barber Yeah, the mystery, of course, is why it took so long and why he died without his vision being completed. In fact, I think only a quarter completed at the time of his death in 1926. And curiously, he almost acquired his faith. I mean, obviously, formerly he had been baptized a Catholic by his family.

He was in a very Catholic country. But he almost found his faith in the Sacra da Familia, didn't he? Well, yeah, he actually lived in the Sacra da Familia. You know, when he started this huge project and he used to breathe and think with the temple. So the temple grew with his faith somehow. It's 43 years of work. So whenever you go to Sagrada Familia, you see that it's a sort of a church that moves around you. And everything is a symbol. Everything symbolizes something, every facade, every column, every altar, every

movement. It's all there. But you know, the fun story is that Sagrada Familia not only was Gaudi's life, but converted people. There was this Japanese architect, Tsuro Soto, that actually, when he started studying the Sagrada Familia and all the works of Gaudi, he was Japanese, a non-believer, he converted to Catholicism and now is the architect that is completing the Sagrada Familia. This first stage has taken 40 years to get to, with the Pope placing Gaudi on the path to potential beatification and eventually a declaration of sainthood. What still has to be established before that can take place?

You need that people pray for his intercession for a miracle. And then every miracle is checked first into a medical commission, because they must decide if the miracle is not scientifically explicable somehow. Then after that, it has to go to a commission of theologians, and after that to the meeting of the members, and only after that it's brought to the Pope. So at some point you could become Saint Anthony Gaudí. How long do you think Catholics may have to wait for that moment? A minimum of seven years I would say because

it's at least three years to make all the checks for every miracle, so two miracles, six years. But then it can be forever. Now Britain's gambling regulator has charged 15 people who are accused of using confidential information to place bets on the timing of last year's general election. The scandal added to a string of problems for Rishi Sunak's re-election bid, which was ultimately unsuccessful. Here's Ella Bicknell. In some countries, political betting is prohibited, but in the United Kingdom it's common practice. That's not limited just to who will win a general election. You can take a punt on all sorts of things, from the colour of tie worn by the Prime Minister

on polling day to the first animal to be used in a campaign stunt. And because Britain's parliamentary system gives the Prime Minister the power to call a snap general election, you can also bet on the date it is held. Earlier today, I spoke with His Majesty the King to request the dissolution of Parliament. The King has granted this request and we will have a general election on the 4th of July. This information is kept strictly secret, known only to those in the Prime Minister's inner circle, until its formal announcement. kept strictly secret, known only to those in the Prime Minister's inner circle, until

its formal announcement. Britain's gambling regulator has now charged 15 people under suspicion of using that advanced knowledge of the election date to gain an unfair advantage in the betting markets. They include former Conservative Member of Parliament Craig Williams, who was a close aide to the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Did you have any information when you made the bat? I really made a huge error of judgement, that's for sure, and I apologise and I'll be... But did you have any inside information when you placed that bat? I will not be expanding on that statement.

A former police officer tasked with protecting government ministers has also been charged. The allegations surfaced in the run-up to the election and caused a political firestorm. Mr. Sunak was repeatedly questioned on the matter. But you're happy for them to go into the election and represent you and the Conservative Party? Well, Fiona, as you said, these investigations are ongoing. But what I can tell you is if anyone has found

to have broken the rules, not only should they face the full consequences of the law, I will make sure that they are booted out of the Conservative Party. The Gambling Commission's investigation is ongoing, with all 15 defendants scheduled to appear in court in June. The Conservative Party say current staff members allegedly involved have been suspended. The party is under new management and they believe anyone working in politics should act with integrity. Elebignol reporting. 50 years ago a British man called Tom Michelle was working as a teacher in

South America when he rescued a penguin from an oil slick. He went on to write about that experience with Juan Salvador the penguin and now the book's been turned into a film The Penguin Lessons starring the actor Steve Coogan. Tom and Steve have been talking to my colleague, Sarah Montagu. Tom first on how he found The Penguin. I was walking along a beach at the end of a holiday when I was in Uruguay,

and I saw thousands of dead penguins on the beach. And I suddenly saw a penguin move. And I thought, well, that's extraordinary. Perhaps if I take it back to the flat where I'm staying, I can clean it and then put it back in the sea. And I cleaned it and then I decided I was going to put it back in the sea and it wouldn't go. And I tried and I tried and it kept coming out and following me. And this little voice was saying, if you wash seabirds in detergent, they lose their waterproofing and they can't cope in the water. And I'm going back to Argentina tomorrow, so what can I do but take it back to

Argentina with me? Which meant smuggling it through customs and I was caught going through customs and I explained very patiently that look, penguins are migratory birds and this is an Argentine penguin and all I'm doing is repatriating while it recovers. Stop sir, what is in your bag? Show me now. I rescued him from an oil slick and now he thinks he's my friend, but he's not my friend. Now, Steve, Tom wrote the story. You came across it, I think, in lockdown, is that right? Well, Jeff Pope came across it. Jeff Pope, the writer of the screenplay, who I've written with before,

and he said, would you be interested in playing this part? My only problem was that the way Tom was portrayed in his own book, he comes across as quite a nice bloke. And I thought, nice man rescuing a penguin, I think what we need to do is just make him a little more recalcitrant and less inclined towards penguins, or indeed children. So if anyone thinks Tom is impatient,

or self-indulgent or narcissistic, that's pure artistic licence and no reflection on the man himself. That's absolutely fine by me because in many ways the story's not about Tom Michelle, the story's about the penguin. And all I was really interested in is that the penguin story is right. And in fact the film does a very faithful reproduction really of the penguin story. The penguin sort of reproduction really of the Penguin story. The Penguin sort of saves Tom Michelle in the story. Yeah, I mean we...

Yes, well he does. The way I play him is that he's cynical and slightly disillusioned. We thought, yes, the Penguin should be the catalyst for change. The Penguin raises these bigger questions about whether you engage with society, whether you care about the world around you, or whether you retreat into a cocoon. Steve, for you, this is more on the whimsical side. Ostensibly it is, but you know, it's set against the backdrop of a fascist dictatorship.

Again, because it seems, from lots of people's perspective incredibly bleak that there's a temptation to withdraw from the world whereas really ultimately you have to engage with not only the people in front of you but with the world at large and I think that when things seem to be going in the direction where you feel like your voice is insignificant you can affect the immediate world around you and I think that's what I hope the takeaway from the film is. The actor Steve Coogan. That's all from us for now. There'll be a new edition of Global News to download later. If you'd like to comment on this edition, do drop us an email. We love hearing from

you. GlobalPodcast at bbc.co.uk. You'll find us on X2 at BBC World Service using the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Mark Pickett, the producer was Alison Davies, the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Andrew Peach. Thanks for listening and until next time, goodbye. In the fall of 2001, while Americans were still grappling with the horror of September 11th, envelopes started showing up at media outlets and government buildings filled with a white lethal powder, anthrax. But what's strange is if you ask people now what happened with that story, almost no one knows. It's like the whole thing

just disappeared. Who mailed those letters? Do you know? From Wolf Entertainment, USG Audio, and CBC Podcasts, this is Aftermath, the hunt for the anthrax killer. Available now.