UNITED NATIONS: Almost seven months of war between Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary group have left a wave of destruction with over half the population in need of humanitarian aid and raised fears of a repeat of the deadly ethnic conflict in Darfur 20 years ago.
“What is happening is verging on pure evil,” the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the African nation said Friday.
Sudan has fallen out of the spotlight since it was engulfed in chaos starting in mid-April, when simmering tensions between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open warfare.
But Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the resident UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, told a United Nations news conference that “the situation is horrific and grim” and “frankly, we are running out of words to describe the horror of what is happening.” She stressed that “the Sudan crisis has few equals.”
Fighting is continuing to rage despite the warring parties signing a statement after peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, pledging to protect civilians and provide unimpeded humanitarian access to the 25 million people who require assistance, she said. The warring generals made a commitment to establish a Humanitarian Forum, with UN participation, Nkweta-Salami said. And after its launch on Monday, the UN hopes that their commitments in Jeddah will be implemented.
She said the decimated health sector — with more than 70 percent of health facilities in conflict areas out of service — was extremely worrying giving outbreaks of cholera, dengue, malaria and measles; reports of escalating violence against civilians; and fighting spreading to Sudan’s breadbasket.
“What we see is rising hunger,” the humanitarian coordinator said, and high levels of malnutrition among children.
The UN is targeting about 12 million people for aid — about half those in need. But its appeal for $2.6 billion for the 2023 humanitarian response in Sudan is just over a third funded, and Nkweta-Salami urged donors to provide additional money.
She stressed that access to things like hotspots along with protection of civilians are key challenges.
Nkweta-Salami was asked about her comment that “what is happening is verging on pure evil,” and whether she was worried that ethnic-based violence in Sudan’s vast western Darfur region would lead to a repetition of the conflict there in 2003.
It began when rebels from Darfur’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency, complaining of oppression by the Arab-dominated government in the capital, Khartoum. The government responded with a scorched-earth campaign of aerial bombings and unleashed militias known as the Janjaweed, who are accused of mass killings and rapes. Some 300,000 people died in the Darfur conflict, 2.7 million were driven from their homes, and Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the Janjaweed.
Nkweta-Salami said the UN is very worried about fighting in Darfur today and continues to raise the alarm and engage the warring parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians.
“We will continue to hope that we don’t find ourselves treading down the same path,” she said.
But fears are mounting that the horrors of Darfur 20 years ago are returning, with reports of widespread killings, rapes and destruction of villages in the region.
Nkweta-Salami said she was particularly alramed by violence against women, “and in some cases young girls being raped in front of their mothers,” as well as the harrowing stories about attacks and human rights abuses from refugees who fled Darfur to neighboring Chad.
The UN has heard of crimes against Darfur’s Masalit ethnic community, which “are really egregious violations of human rights,” she said, “and it must stop.”
Over half of Sudan’s population needs humanitarian aid after nearly 7 months of war, UN says
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Over half of Sudan’s population needs humanitarian aid after nearly 7 months of war, UN says
- Sudan has fallen out of the spotlight since it was engulfed in chaos starting in mid-April
- Fear a repeat of the deadly ethnic conflict in Darfur 20 years ago
Adopted orphan brings couple ‘paradise’ in war-ravaged Gaza
- Farhat, 45, and her husband Rami Al-Arouqi, 47, adopted the well-behaved and chubby baby in January
- “At first, we had mixed feelings of both joy and fear, because it is a huge responsibility and we had never had a child,” said Arouqi
GAZA CITY: In their home in war-devastated Gaza City, Iman Farhat and her husband cherish the “paradise” brought by their newly-adopted baby, one of many orphans in the Palestinian territory after more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Wrapping five-month-old Jannah in a brightly colored blanket, Farhat gently sang as she rocked her to sleep.
“I chose Jannah just as she was,” the new mother said smiling, explaining the couple simply wanted to adopt a young child without preference for gender or physical appearance.
“Her name was Massa, and I officially changed her name from Massa to Jannah,” which means “paradise” in Arabic, she added.
Farhat, 45, and her husband Rami Al-Arouqi, 47, adopted the well-behaved and chubby baby in January.
“At first, we had mixed feelings of both joy and fear, because it is a huge responsibility and we had never had a child,” said Arouqi, a Palestinian Authority employee.
The couple already owned a cat.
“The idea of adopting a child had crossed our minds, but it was cemented during the war” which “wiped out entire families and left only orphans,” he added.
In September, the United Nations children’s fund, UNICEF, estimated there were 19,000 children who were unaccompanied or separated from their parents in Gaza, Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF’s spokesman for the Palestinian territories, told AFP.
Data for the number of adoptions in Gaza was not immediately available.
The war sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel left more than 69 percent of Gaza’s buildings damaged or destroyed, displaced almost the entire population and triggered widespread hunger, according to the United Nations.
Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 48,446 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.
Farhat and her husband said that before Jannah’s adoption, she was taken care of by the SOS Children’s Villages — an international NGO which looks after children in need.
After the NGO’s premises in the southern Gaza city of Rafah were destroyed in the war, the organization had to move to nearby Khan Yunis where “they could not house all the children in buildings, so they set up tents for them,” Farhat said.
Her husband Arouqi told AFP that another motive for adopting a child came from the idea that “Palestinians should stand by each other’s side.”
“The whole world has abandoned and let us down, so we shouldn’t let each other down,” he added.
Once the pair took Jannah home, “our life was turned upside down in a beautiful and pleasant way,” he said.
“Her name is Jannah and our world has truly become a paradise.”
A fragile truce took effect on January 19, largely halting the devastating fighting between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants.
The ceasefire’s first phase ended last weekend.
While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the deal’s second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.
UK warns Israel cutting Gaza electricity could breach international law
- Netanyahu government cuts power supplies a week after suspending food, medical aid into the enclave
- Pressure mounts as Israel, Hamas attempt to renegotiate ceasefire agreement
LONDON: The UK has warned Israel it could have broken international law after Benjamin Netanyahu’s government halted electricity supplies into Gaza.
The move came ahead of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, and a week after Israel also blocked food, fuel and medical aid from entering the enclave.
The two sides have been attempting to renegotiate the terms of the ceasefire, with Hamas wanting to move on to the second phase, but Israel insisting on the release of more hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 before any further negotiations take place.
Hamas is believed to still have 24 living hostages, as well as the bodies of another 35 people.
In a post on social media platform X, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said: “I have now signed an order to cut off electricity to the Gaza Strip immediately. Enough with the talk, it’s time for action!”
A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: “Humanitarian aid should never be contingent on a ceasefire or used as a political tool.
“A halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza, including basic needs such as electricity, risks breaching Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.”
The suspension of aid into Gaza will have a detrimental effect on the lives of the 2 million people in the enclave, with fears mounting that cutting electricity will hinder the ability of locals to operate Gaza’s desalination plants, disrupting the supply of safe drinking water.
More than 48,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel began military operations against Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack.
The initial phase of the ceasefire deal, agreed on Jan. 17, has so far seen the release of 25 hostages from Gaza, with Israel releasing about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
EU official says reports accuse Assad regime of mass killings in Syria
- Anita Heber, foreign affairs and security policy spokesperson, says the EU has reports confirming the accusation
DUBAI: A top EU official on Monday claimed that remnants of the regime of ousted leader Bashar Assad were responsible for the recent mass killings in two of the Syrian Arab Republic’s coastal cities.
Speaking to Al Arabiya Television, Anita Heber, the EU’s foreign affairs and security policy spokesperson, said the body has reports confirming this charge.
Heber said the transitional authorities in Syria have moved to contain the situation, and she called for those responsible to be held accountable.
She also stressed that Europe was working toward a comprehensive political transition in Syria.
Syria’s interim president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, has vowed he would find those who killed the Alawite civilians this past week.
In its latest report, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 973 Alawite civilians were killed execution-style by either security personnel or pro-government fighters in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus since March 6.
The UN’s rights chief Volker Turk said the killings “must cease immediately,” while the Arab League, US, Britain and several governments have condemned the violence.
Palestinian Authority says Israel’s Gaza electricity cut ‘escalation in genocide’
- UK govt urges Israel to lift Gaza electricity 'restrictions'
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Authority on Monday said Israel’s decision to halt the electricity supply to Gaza was “an escalation in the genocide” in the war-ravaged territory.
The Palestinian foreign ministry said in a statement that it “strongly condemns the Israeli Ministry of Energy's decision to cut electricity to the Gaza Strip, considering it an escalation in the genocide, displacement and humanitarian disaster in Gaza”, which is controlled by Hamas and not the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.
Th British government also urged Israel to lift the Gaza electricity “restrictions”
Syria defense ministry ends operation on coast: state news
- Days of violence saw mass killings and deadly clashes
DAMASCUS: Syria’s defense ministry announced on Monday the end of a major security operation in coastal provinces, after days of violence and mass killings that sparked international concern.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said nearly 1,500 people have died in the violence since Thursday, the majority civilians of them killed by security forces and allied groups in the heartland of the Alawite minority to which deposed president Bashar Assad belongs.
In a statement on official news agency SANA, defense ministry spokesman Hassan Abdul Ghani said security forces had neutralized security threats and “regime remnants” in Latakia and Tartus provinces on the Mediterranean coast.
“Having achieved this, we announce the end of the military operation,” Abdul Ghani said.
He hailed “the success of our forces... in achieving all the objectives set” for the operation.
“We were able... to absorb the attacks of the remnants of the toppled regime and its officers” and push them from “vital” locations, Abdul Ghani said.
Clashes broke out last week between the security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad, with the Observatory reporting 231 security personnel and 250 pro-Assad fighters killed.
Including at least 973 civilians, many of them Alawites, killed by the security forces and allied forces, the overall death toll according to the Observatory reached 1,454.
Abdul Ghani said that “the security apparatuses will work in the upcoming phase to consolidate our work to ensure stability and preserve residents’ safety and security.”
He also pointed to “new plans to continue fighting the remnants of the toppled regime and work on eliminating any future threats.”
Interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group led the offensive that toppled Assad in December, had vowed to “hold accountable, firmly and without leniency, anyone who was involved in the bloodshed of civilians.”
“There will be no one above the law and anyone whose hands have been stained with the blood of Syrians will face justice sooner or later,” he said.
