Natasha Booty
BBC News

Kenyan students say their government is taking undue credit for helping them to escape Sudan when in many cases it is they themselves who have plotted and paid their way to safety.

A tweet by an official saying Kenyan diplomats had "facilitated" a group of almost 30 students to reach Ethiopia has caused upset.

Image source, roselinenjogu/ Twitter

Speaking to the BBC anonymously, one of the students pictured in the tweet above says they paid $300 (£240) out of their own pocket to get from Khartoum across the Ethiopian border to Gondar.

It was only when the students presented themselves to the Kenyan embassy in Gondar that they received assistance.

On their way, they say they had no choice, but to pay bribes to Sudanese policemen and "managed to escape the [paramilitary] Rapid Support Forces along the road amid criminals on the move".

"Honestly it wasn't easy... We didn't eat for two days - the focus was on running for our dear lives. I'm glad that I took the risk to escape the war zone, but I feel sad and let down by the embassy [in Khartoum] because I thought it would have our backs in such a crisis."

The BBC has contacted Kenya's Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs for comment.

A member of staff there says Kenyan citizens trapped in Sudan should contact its emergency hotlines on +249 900 19 48 54 or +254 114 75 70 02.

Thousands have fled the Sudanese capital since fighting began, but some say they feel safer at home.

Jennifer McLellan is awaiting contact from officials as the UK begins a "large-scale" evacuation.

Dr Fathi Jamil's diabetic relative needed regular treatment but fighting disrupted hospital care.

A 72-hour ceasefire has come into effect but there are reports of gunfire and shelling.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa's president says the governing African National Congress (ANC) party wants the country to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Cyril Ramaphosa called the decision prudent, given that - as he put it - the court had treated some countries unfairly.

But it is a process that could take up to two years. Proposed amendments to the law would be open for comment to all South Africans before going forward to parliament to be debated.

The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for crimes against humanity during his war on Ukraine.

He is said to be responsible for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

As an ICC member, South Africa would be under obligation to arrest Mr Putin if he attends a Brics countries' summit South Africa in August.

Marina Daras
BBC News

Image source, AFP

A controversial plan in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte to demolish slum dwellings and deport illegal migrants mainly to nearby Comoros has been halted by a court ruling.

Set to start at 06:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the clearance of the shantytown known as Talus 2, near the main city of Mamoudzou, was stopped at the last minute on the grounds that the relocation plans lacked a legal basis.

The préfet, the highest state representative on the island, said he would appeal against the decision.

Extra police officers and soldiers had been sent from the French mainland to boost the local security forces to 1,800 officers.

Their presence raised tensions and clashes erupted on Sunday between young locals and police in the district of Tsoundzou, outside of Mamoudzou.

Nicknamed “Wuambushu”, meaning "take back" in the local language, the operation has been criticised by human rights organisations and trade unions across France and elsewhere.

The Comorian government, which continues to claim ownership of Mayotte, sees the proposed slum clearances and deportations as a “grave violation of international rights” and vowed to do everything they can to prevent it.

The French authorities are planning to deport all illegal migrants back to their home country, a large majority of them being from the Comoros, only 70km (43 miles) away from Mayotte.

But on Monday, the Comorian authorities refused to allow the docking of a boat carrying some of them and suspended passenger traffic until further notice.

Read more on the background to this story:

• France's plan to crack down on Indian Ocean migration

April temperature records could be broken in Spain, Portugal and north-western Africa this week. Tomasz Schafernaker explains what's driving the heat.

Many Africans have been studying in Khartoum and are now looking to get out.

Natasha Booty
BBC News

"We're still hopeful," says a 22-year-old Nigerian student in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, who has been waiting since 06:00 (04:00 GMT) for a bus to flee the city.

Temperatures there can reach 43C (109F) in the midday heat and drinking water is hard to come by; yet she says many fellow Nigerians are waiting outside in full sun to make sure they do not miss their chance to get home.

Evacuations are set to go ahead on Tuesday, the head of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NDC) told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme on Monday night.

Asked why the Nigerian authorities took so long to announce evacuation plans, the NDC said they first had to secure permission from both military factions for safe passage.

As the fighting in Sudan continues, Bristol families are speaking of their pain at being separated.

Natasha Booty
BBC News

Image source, Mu’mia Dawe

"I'm exhausted and weak," says 25-year-old Mu’mia Dawe, who is sheltering in a mosque in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, without food, water or medication while suffering from flu and fever symptoms.

She is among a group of Kenyan students who say their calls to their embassy are going unanswered. I spoke to her on Monday about her situation.

Part of her campus at the International University of Africa in Khartoum has been occupied by one of the rival military forces fighting in the city.

After many days of waiting for help as intermittent gunfire and explosions ring outside, the students are facing tough decisions.

Days ago some desperate students decided to flee to the Ethiopian border with their own money, she tells the BBC.

Reports of their escape from the capital aired on Kenyan TV and gave Dawe's family false hope - so they are so disappointed to learn she is still stuck in Khartoum, she says.

For now, she is sticking close to a group of friends - but as exasperation and fear set in, some say they want to try their luck at escaping too.

Dozens of bodies of people who are thought to have starved themselves are uncovered in a forest.

A Scottish woman who has family in Sudan has spoken of her worry for them.

Delhi launched Operation Kaveri earlier this week to rescue about 3,000 Indians stranded in Sudan.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Twitter

Ethiopia’s government and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebel group are scheduled to begin peace talks in Tanzania, but there are no details about the format of the negotiations or who will mediate.

According to Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper, Kenya and Norway are said to be facilitating the negotiations.

The US and the European Union are also reportedly interested in participating in the peace process.

Demeke Mekonnen, Ethiopia's deputy prime minister and foreign minister, is in Tanzania although it is unclear whether he is part of the government delegation for the talks.

The OLA has been fighting government forces in Oromia region since it split from a former rebel movement called the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in 2018.

The talks in Tanzania come about six months after the Ethiopian government reached a peace deal with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to end a bloody two-year war in the northern region of Tigray.

Wycliffe Muia
BBC News, Kenya

Let's go back to what's happening on the ground in Sudan now. There are reports of sounds of gunfire in Khartoum, despite a 72-hour truce between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Sporadic clashes have also been reported in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman.

Local media say the RSF also took control of the city of Wad Banda in West Kordofan state on Tuesday morning.

The RSF in a series of tweets has accused the army of violating the truce by "continuing to attack Khartoum with planes". The paramilitary group called on the international community to intervene and put pressure on the army to abide by the terms of the ceasefire.

Image source, Getty Images

There are also reports of gunfire inside Port Sudan prison. An army spokesman told Sky News Arabia that the RSF was responsible for "storming prisons".

Khartoum residents say the internet has been partially restored. However, the connectivity remains intermittent despite the reconnection of state provider Sudatel, according to NetBlocks, an organisation that monitors internet access.

Tom Bayly
BBC News

Image source, AFP

A French court has halted the controversial clearance of a slum mainly housing illegal migrants on the Indian Ocean island territory of Mayotte.

Demolition had been due to begin on Tuesday.

The archipelago - one of France's overseas territories - has seen an influx of migrants, particularly from neighbouring Comoros.

Around 2,000 members of the French security forces had been deployed to Mayotte for the operation, sparking sporadic clashes around the main city of Mamoudzou.

The local administration has said it will appeal against the court ruling.

African governments have also been getting their diplomats and other citizens out of Sudan, amid growing fears of a civil war - as the army and RSF paramilitary vie for control.

South Africa, Kenya, Mali, Ivory Coast and Uganda are among countries that have announced the evacuation of some of their nationals, with Eritrea offering to open its airspace for “emergency evacuations".

A Kenyan air force plane carrying students from the International University of Africa in Khartoum arrived in Nairobi on Monday night.

Uganda has evacuated more than 200 citizens by road from Khartoum to the northern Ethiopian town of Gondar, from where they will take a flight to Kampala.

About 9,000 refugees have also crossed into South Sudan in recent days.

Meanwhile, the UN has relocated some of its staff from Sudan to neighbouring countries. And dozens of foreign aid workers operating in Sudan's western Darfur region have been evacuated to the capital of neighbouring Chad, N'Djamena.

Noon Abdelbassit Ibrahim and her relatives are among the thousands of Sudanese to leave the country.