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Sudan, April, 2023, another country, another evacuation, another set of pictures of exhausted, relieved British passengers touching down on safe soil.

But what about the tens of millions left behind and the country they call home?

What's their history and how does their future look?

To put it simply, once all British nationals are safe,

does what happens in Sudan matter to us?

And if so, why?

Step inside the briefing room and together we'll find out.

First, a geography and history primer.

James Cotnell is the presenter of Newsday on the BBC World Service

and he was formerly our correspondent in Sudan.

It's often seen as the bridge between the African and the Arab worlds. So in the northeast

corner of Africa, Egypt and Libya to the north, South Sudan to the south. It's seen as a gateway

between those two parts of the African continent. It's rich in terms of agriculture.

It's been described as the breadbasket of the Arab world. It had oil in the past. It's got a lot

of gold now. So it has resources, but it's a very, very poor country, certainly by British

standards. It's almost entirely Muslim now, that there are some Christian

communities and people who follow traditional religions in the Nuba Mountains. But religion

and what should be the state religion has been vital parts of Sudan's drama and crises over the

last many decades, actually. How many people live there and how are they distributed around the country?

It's close to 40 million now, I think.

The majority of them probably live on it, one of its big geographical features.

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