As Sudan’s crisis deepens, its neighbor South Sudan is ill-prepared for a human tide, warns IOM chief of mission

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Updated 02 May 2023
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As Sudan’s crisis deepens, its neighbor South Sudan is ill-prepared for a human tide, warns IOM chief of mission

  • Around 95 percent of those who have arrived from Sudan so far are South Sudanese nationals, says Peter Van der Auweraert
  • He confirms uptick in arrivals of third-country nationals — including Kenyans and Somalis — using South Sudan to return home

AMMAN, JORDAN: Before Khartoum descended into violence on April 15, the Sudanese capital had been a refuge for people escaping conflict in the nation’s remote fringes, from Darfur to the Nuba Mountains, and from South Sudan, before the latter became an independent country in 2011.

Now, as the death toll mounts, and thousands of Sudanese grab whatever they can carry and flee their homes, neighboring countries look on with trepidation, having faced political upheaval, conflict and mass displacements of their own in recent years.

Many fear the violence now raging in Sudan could easily spill over into neighboring states, triggering a wider regional crisis — one that Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, has warned could “engulf the whole region.”

In a part of the world already heavily dependent on foreign assistance, wracked by economic fragility, conflict and extreme weather events, policymakers and aid agencies fear a far larger humanitarian emergency could soon emerge if the fighting and displacement continue.

Before the latest conflict erupted in Sudan, the UN’s International Organization for Migration, or IOM, office in South Sudan had been preparing for the imminent rainy season — readying its flood response and pre-positioning food and other essentials.




Sudanese soldiers loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan sit atop a tank in Port Sudan. (AFP)

Now, IOM’s representative for South Sudan and acting humanitarian coordinator, Peter Van der Auweraert, has had to shift his team’s attention to the thousands of people now flooding across the border from the country’s northern neighbor — Sudan.

“(We are trying to) play this balancing game whereby we don’t divert our attention away from the preparation for the rainy season, which would be to the detriment of the people already here in South Sudan, and at the same time allocating sufficient human resources to the response at the border for the people that are arriving, but also preparing for the large increase in numbers that we are expecting to arrive in the coming period,” Van der Auweraert, who was posted to the country in February 2021, told Arab News.

Despite the split that took place between Sudan and South Sudan in 2011, the populations of both countries have maintained close ties. More than 400,000 Sudanese refugees live in camps in South Sudan, while about the same number of Sudanese migrants live and work south of the border.

Many of them arrived about a decade ago, fleeing violence in the troubled Darfur region, and have since established themselves in South Sudan. Others came for economic reasons. In the country’s capital, Juba, it is common to meet Sudanese traders.

“When people are forced to flee a conflict, they tend to go to places where they have networks, where they know people,” said Van der Auweraert.




Many fear the violence now raging in Sudan could easily spill over into neighboring states. (AFP)

Likewise, Sudan hosts about 1.5 million South Sudanese. Around 800,000 of them are refugees, while the remainder are a blend of registered and unregistered migrants. With Sudan now in crisis, these communities are trying to come back.

Any such mass return would likely place even greater strain on efforts to supply aid to the more than 2 million displaced people in South Sudan who have fled their homes because of civil strife.

At the time of writing, just a little over 3,000 South Sudanese have returned from Sudan — an indication, according to Van der Auweraert, of just how perilous the mere seven-hour drive from Khartoum to the border town of Renk can be for those fleeing the conflict.

Leaving Khartoum alone “while bullets are flying around” is a “major challenge for those trying to flee in taxis and buses,” he said. Those who made the journey described scenes of lawlessness and criminality. Many say they were robbed along the way.

“They’ve had to hand out money to different people to make sure that they can continue their journey,” said Van der Auweraert.

“They’re being threatened. They’re being robbed. That’s in addition (to the fact that) when people decided to flee, they had already gone through quite traumatic experiences in Khartoum itself.

“They’re seeing images of street-to-street fighting and they’ve seen dead bodies in the street and friends with houses destroyed or people who had been shot. So people are arriving in a state of mental and physical exhaustion.”

“Around 95 percent of those who have arrived from Khartoum, Darfur, and other regions are South Sudanese nationals. The remaining 5 percent are Sudanese refugees seeking refuge in South Sudan.




“Around 95 percent of those who have arrived from Khartoum, Darfur, and other regions are South Sudanese nationals. The remaining 5 percent are Sudanese refugees seeking refuge in South Sudan,” said Van der Auweraert. (AFP)

“And also we’ve been seeing an uptick in the number of third-country nationals — Kenyan and Somali students — Somali students trying to use South Sudan as an entry point to go back to their home countries.”

While Van der Auweraert is confident the return of South Sudanese nationals to their home country will be manageable “one way or another,” despite the fact it will be “chaotic and there will be difficulties,” his biggest worry remains the “adverse economic impact of the crisis on a country and communities that were already struggling.

“We are a country with a very high level of extreme poverty. And when you add in this economic crisis, and on top of that, the fact that the humanitarian funding is unlikely to increase significantly in the coming months because of the global crisis, the crisis in Ukraine, and other places in the world that are going to need assistance, if we combine that with the rainy season, I’m really worried that we will see extreme human suffering in some parts of the country.”

The crisis in Sudan has immediate and tangible consequences for the wider region. Northern parts of South Sudan rely heavily on basic food imports from Sudan, which will be disrupted by the unfolding crisis.

“We are seeing a rapid increase in prices in the northern part of South Sudan,” said Van der Auweraert. “In the disputed Abyei area, we’ve seen a tripling of the prices in a week’s time since the Sudan crisis started. And we’re not talking here about cars. We’re talking about essentials for people.”

The devaluation of the South Sudanese pound has also contributed to inflation and price hikes in the southern part of the country, which relies heavily on imports from Uganda and Kenya.




“When people are forced to flee a conflict, they tend to go to places where they have networks, where they know people,” said Van der Auweraert. (Supplied)

“This is problematic,” said Van der Auweraert. “Because you’re looking at a context where there’s about 12.5 million South Sudanese living in South Sudan (of which) 9.4 million are judged to actually be in need of humanitarian assistance. So you’re in a situation where people are already highly vulnerable and they’re just getting an additional economic shock.

“So that is really something that we are watching very anxiously on the humanitarian side, because we are only 25 percent funded when it comes to our ongoing humanitarian appeal. And this was before the crisis.”

IOM has a 2,700-strong team working in South Sudan, 90 of whom are international staff. However, humanitarian aid workers have become targeted in Sudan, with three World Food Programme employees killed and many others injured in the initial days of the conflict in North Darfur, prompting the agency to suspend operations in the country.

A UN update on April 22 said looters had taken at least 10 WFP cars and six of its food trucks after storming the agency’s offices and warehouses in Nyala in South Darfur.

Van der Auweraert said he and his team are “very concerned about the plight of our colleagues.”

He added: “A lot of internationals like myself have people that they know personally who are stuck in Khartoum. But at the same time, of course, as humanitarians, we are motivated to help people. So the morale is high, certainly among the front-line workers.”




A woman carries her belongings as she flees fighting in Khartoum. (AFP)

Morale remains high amid South Sudanese humanitarians as well, “but they are facing a big challenge because (they) have family members who are stuck in Khartoum,” said Van der Auweraert.

“We have quite a lot of South Sudanese colleagues that have their wives and husbands, children, their parents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, who never left when the country became independent, or who fled (South Sudan) in 2013- 2016, when we had internal conflict here, to Sudan and they didn’t come back since then.

“I have a good local friend of mine. His kids are in the university in Khartoum. So for our national staff, in addition to having to step up in terms of the work, there is also the personal anxiety around what is going to happen to their families in Khartoum. So their feelings are definitely mixed.

“I have to say, I see a lot of sad and worried faces around me, because South Sudan and Sudan are independent countries, of course, but the populations are intertwined in a real sense.

“(Our national staff) know that, if it’s difficult for countries like the US and the EU, France and the UK to get their nationals out, they’re also aware and there’s 1.5 million South Sudanese and the South Sudanese government will not be in a position to bring people back. They cannot bring 1.5 million people back. It’s impossible to organize that.

“So, of course, they are concerned about their family members. I already have one South Sudanese colleague whose brother was killed in the crossfire in Khartoum. So unfortunately, we will probably see more of these types of cases. And that, of course, weighs on the national colleagues here.”

Van der Auweraert said he hopes the international community will show “the same level of solidarity to the the people of Sudan and the people in the countries around Sudan as they have been showing to Ukraine, in terms of funding and support.

“And, of course, (I hope) that the international community puts its political weight behind bringing peace to Sudan. That is the only way (out). Because it’s already a complicated neighborhood. And we don’t need another big country descending into a long war.”
 


Israeli strike kills 12 after hitting civil defense center in Lebanon’s Baalbek, governor tells Reuters

Updated 2 sec ago
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Israeli strike kills 12 after hitting civil defense center in Lebanon’s Baalbek, governor tells Reuters

Eight others, including five women, were also killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack

CAIRO: An Israeli strike killed 12 people after it hit a civil defense center in Lebanon’s city of Baalbek on Thursday, the regional governor told Reuters adding that rescue operations were ongoing.
Eight others, including five women, were also killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack on the Lebanese city, health ministry reported on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lebanese civil defense official Samir Chakia said: “The Civil Defense Center in Baalbek has been targeted, five Civil Defense rescuers were killed.”
Bachir Khodr the regional governor said more than 20 rescuers had been at the facility at the time of the strike.

‘A symbol of resilience’ — workers in Iraq complete reconstruction of famous Mosul minaret

Updated 49 min 5 sec ago
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‘A symbol of resilience’ — workers in Iraq complete reconstruction of famous Mosul minaret

  • Workers complete reconstruction of 12th-century minaret of Al-Nuri Mosque
  • Tower and mosque were blown by Daesh extremists in 2017

High above the narrow streets and low-rise buildings of Mosul’s old city, beaming workers hoist an Iraqi flag into the sky atop one of the nation’s most famous symbols of resilience.

Perched precariously on scaffolding in high-vis jackets and hard hats, the workers celebrate a milestone in Iraq’s recovery from the traumatic destruction and bloodshed that once engulfed the city.

On Wednesday, the workers placed the last brick that marked the completed reconstruction of the 12th-century minaret of Al-Nuri Mosque. The landmark was destroyed by Daesh in June 2017 shortly before Iraqi forces drove the extremist group from the city.

Known as Al-Hadba, or “the hunchback,” the 45-meter-tall minaret, which famously leant to one side, dominated the Mosul skyline for centuries. The tower has been painstakingly rebuilt as part of a UNESCO project, matching the traditional stone and brick masonry and incorporating the famous lean.

“Today UNESCO celebrates a landmark achievement,” the UN cultural agency’s Iraq office said. “The completion of the shaft of the Al-Hadba Minaret marks a new milestone in the revival of the city, with and for the people of Mosul. 

“UNESCO is grateful for the incredible teamwork that made this vision a reality. Together, we’ve created a powerful symbol of resilience, a true testament to international cooperation. Thank you to everyone involved in this journey.”

The restoration of the mosque is part of UNESCO’s Revive the Spirit of Mosul project, which includes the rebuilding of two churches and other historic sites. The UAE donated $50 million to the project and UNESCO said that the overall Al-Nuri Mosque complex restoration will be finished by the end of the year.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay celebrated the completion of the minaret by posting “We did it!” on social media site X.

She thanked donors, national and local authorities in Iraq and the experts and professionals, “many of whom are Moslawis,” who worked to rebuild the minaret.

“Can’t wait to return to Mosul to celebrate the full completion of our work,” she said.

The Al-Nuri mosque was built in the second half of the 12th century by the Seljuk ruler Nur Al-Din. 

After Daesh seized control of large parts of Iraq in 2014, the group’s leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of its so-called caliphate from inside the mosque.

Three years later, the extremists detonated explosives to destroy the mosque and minaret as Iraqi forces battled to expel them from the city. Thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting and much of Mosul was left in ruins.


US hands Lebanon draft truce proposal -two political sources

Updated 14 November 2024
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US hands Lebanon draft truce proposal -two political sources

  • The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Hezbollah

BEIRUT: The US ambassador to Lebanon submitted a draft truce proposal to Lebanon’s speaker of parliament Nabih Berri on Thursday to halt fighting between armed group Hezbollah and Israel, two political sources told Reuters, without revealing details.
The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, but efforts have yet to yield a result. Israel launched a stepped-up air and ground campaign in late September after cross-border clashes in parallel with the Gaza war.


UN inquiry member warns Gaza conflict becoming ‘factory for terrorism’

Updated 14 November 2024
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UN inquiry member warns Gaza conflict becoming ‘factory for terrorism’

  • Chris Sidoti warned conflict was likely to worsen further
  • Despite diminishing hope, he remained committed to the work of investigation and advocating for accountability

NEW YORK: Former Australian human rights commissioner, Chris Sidoti, expressed deep concerns on Thursday over the escalating conflict in Gaza, describing it as an “Israeli terrorism creation factory.”

Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, Sidoti said ongoing violence was planting seeds for future hostilities and emphasized the disproportionate impact on children.

“Kids aren’t terrorists,” Sidoti said, repeating the statement to journalists.

“On Oct. 7, 38 Israeli children were killed, one of them under the age of two years. Since then, at least … 13,319 children have been killed in Gaza, of whom 786 were under the age of one. In addition, 165 children have been killed in the West Bank.”

Sidoti, one of three members of the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, warned that without intervention, the conflict was likely to worsen further.

“When the current Israeli Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu talks about finishing off Hamas, I wonder about what the 1 million children in Gaza will be doing in 20 years’ time. The conflict in Gaza is an Israeli terrorism creation factory and there is no sign of it finishing,” he told The Guardian Australia.

“People are still being killed, in particular, kids are still being killed in very large numbers, and the likelihood is it will get worse before it gets better.

“There is no end in sight. To help these kids, to help Israel, it’s got to stop. Then, there is a possibility, but until it stops, there is no chance,” he added.

He expressed concern over the long-term trauma faced by children affected by the conflict.

“The kids who are traumatised by the loss of parents, siblings, aunties, uncles, grandparents, cousins, can’t go through what they have had to experience without this having a severe impact on them and their lives forever.”

The commission’s latest report, delivered on Oct. 30, painted a dire picture of the situation on the ground, citing systematic destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system, attacks on medical personnel, and the targeting of children.

“Israeli security forces have deliberately killed, wounded, arrested, detained, mistreated, and tortured medical personnel and targeted medical vehicles, constituting the war crimes of willful killing and mistreatment,” the report stated.

The inquiry also documented abuses of Israeli and Palestinian hostages, with Sidoti adding: “The commission finds that the majority of hostages were subjected to mistreatment, and that some were subjected to physical violence.

“The commission received credible information about some hostages being subjected to sexual and gender-based violence while in captivity, including sexualised torture and abuse against men and women when they were held in tunnels. One released female hostage reported that she had been raped in an apartment,” he said.

“We found there was strong evidence of torture, of significant mistreatment, and a wide variety of human rights abuses that, in both cases, constituted war crimes. The practices were clear and systematic on both sides,” Sidoti added.

Reflecting on the broader conflict, Sidoti said the violence “started long before Oct. 7, 2023, it’s been going on for 85 years ... The parties are not willing to find a way to resolve it.”

Despite diminishing hope, he remained committed to the work of investigation and advocating for accountability.

“We just have to keep at our work — investigating, reporting, encouraging and enabling accountability — and know that at some point in the future, there will be accountability, that those who have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity will be brought to justice,” he said.

“A resolution requires a willingness from parties to sit down and solve this. But one thing this fighting has done over the last 13 months has been to cement the position of extremists on all sides, and even the outside.”


US targets Syrian company with sanctions over IRGC, Houthi funding

Updated 14 November 2024
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US targets Syrian company with sanctions over IRGC, Houthi funding

  • Some 26 companies, individuals and vessels associated with the company were targeted in Thursday’s action

WASHINGTON: The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Thursday on companies, individuals and vessels associated with a Syrian conglomerate that Washington said was funding Iran’s Quds Force and Yemen’s Houthis.
The Syrian conglomerate, the Al-Qatirji Company, is responsible for generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Quds Force and the Houthis through the sale of Iranian oil to Syria and China, the department said in a statement.
“Iran is increasingly relying on key business partners like the Al-Qatirji Company to fund its destabilizing activities and web of terrorist proxies across the region,” said department official Bradley Smith said.
The Al-Qatirji Company had already been under sanctions for its role in facilitating the sale of fuel between the Syrian regime and Daesh, the department said. Some 26 companies, individuals and vessels associated with the company were targeted in Thursday’s action, it added.