People in Merowe celebrate following the reports that Sudan's army had entered the central city of Wad Madani, Sudan, Saturday. Associated Press / Photo by Marwan Ali
NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Oduah.
SOUND: [SINGING]
We begin today’s World Tour at celebrations in the North African nation of Sudan.
Soldiers and civilians danced in the streets of the key city of Wad Madani on Sunday, one day after Sudanese armed forces recaptured it from rebel forces.
Wad Madani is less than a hundred miles south of Sudan’s capital of Khartoum. It is a major crossroad, linking several states through key supply highways.
Fighting began between Sudan’s armed forces and rebels from the Rapid Support Forces—or RSF—in April 2023. The violence has killed more than 28,000 people and sent millions of others fleeing in what’s now the world’s largest displacement crisis.
Adil Ali is one of the displaced residents who celebrated the recapture.
AUDIO: It took a long time to do it but it happened. We were displaced for over a year and we've lost everything when RSF took over Madani, but now we can start from the beginning and return home.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the RSF and its allies have committed genocide in the conflict.
SOUND: [AIRPORT]
Paris-Pakistan flights — We head next to Paris, where a Pakistan state-owned airliner made its first descent in over four years.
The flight took off from Islamabad and arrived in Paris on Friday.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency suspended the airline’s authorization back in June 2020 over safety concerns after one of the airlines’ planes killed nearly 100 people after plunging onto a street. The Pakistani airline also faced allegations that nearly a third of its pilots had falsified their licenses.
Abdullah Hafeez is a spokesman for the airline. He says the safety analysis has been strict and the airline has proven it’s ready for business once again.
ABDULLAH HAFEEZ: One has to understand the fact that they were very stringent, they were very strict in actually analysing the safety parameters of that airline, and they found it to be at par with any best service in the world, so in that sense, now with the certification that we have, I think the apprehension should not be there, and PIA is a safe airline.
Pakistan International Airlines is still barred from operating in the United States and the United Kingdom.
SOUND: [STREET]
Mayotte Storm — Next, to Mayotte, one of the poorest oversea regions of France. Mayotte is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, situated between Madagascar and Mozambique.
Tropical Storm Dikeledi passed about 60 miles south of Mayotte, bringing heavy rains and prompting the highest alert level. The damage was not as severe as last month’s Cyclone Chido.
The cyclone killed at least 39 people and injured more than 5,000.
Massa lives on the island.
MASSA: [FRENCH] I'm afraid, I'm afraid. We're only in the middle of the rainy season, so we don't know what's going to happen between now and February or March.
She says she’s worried, since the rainy season is far from over. Mayotte is densely populated with more than 300,000 residents.
SOUND: [PROTEST]
El Salvador protests — We end today in El Salvador where protesters are demanding the release of some of those arrested under the president’s war on gangs.
About 2,000 people joined the march in the capital of San Salvador on Sunday.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele launched his war on gangs back in 2022 as homicides escalated. Authorities have swept up more than 83,000 people in arrests since then.
Sebastiana Avelar said security forces detained her husband in 2022 and her son nearly a year later.
SEBASTIANA AVELAR: [SPANISH] It's something heartbreaking to live without them, not knowing how they are; I don’t know anything about them.
She says she’s heartbroken living without knowing how they are faring.
President Bukele has said his administration has released some 8,000 innocent people.
El Salvador documented a record low of 114 homicides last year.
That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Oduah in Abuja, Nigeria.
WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.
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