GENEVA: Talks between a United Nations envoy and delegations from both warring parties in Sudan have proven an encouraging first step, the UN said Friday as the discussions neared a close.
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese regular army under Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s personal envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, invited delegations from the army and the RSF for talks in Geneva, focused on humanitarian aid and protecting civilians.
The discussions have been taking place under the so-called proximity format, with Lamamra meeting separately with each delegation at a time, in different rooms.
The two delegations were not scheduled to meet each other.
The discussions began on July 11 and are set to conclude on Friday.
Former Algerian foreign minister Lamamra and his team have held around 20 meetings during the talks.
“The personal envoy is encouraged by the willingness of the delegations to engage with him on critical matters related to the situation in Sudan, on which he seeks the necessary cooperation of the warring parties,” UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a press briefing in Geneva.
“He now counts on the parties to promptly translate their willingness to engage with him into tangible progress on the ground, both in the implementation of existing agreements and through possible unilateral commitments.
“The discussions held in Geneva have been an encouraging initial step in a longer and complex process. The personal envoy will remain in close contact with the leadership of the two warring parties.”
The two delegations were comprised of senior representatives of the warring parties and included humanitarian, security and military experts.
The conflict in Sudan has left tens of thousands dead and displaced more than 10 million people, according to the UN.
A recent UN-backed report said nearly 26 million people, or slightly more than half of the population, were facing high levels of “acute food insecurity.”
The two sides have been routinely accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling residential areas and targeting civilians.
UN: Talks with Sudan warring parties ‘encouraging’
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UN: Talks with Sudan warring parties ‘encouraging’
- War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese regular army under Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces
- The conflict in Sudan has left tens of thousands dead and displaced more than 10 million people, according to the UN
Switzerland announces reopening of embassy in Iraqi capital Baghdad
“By reopening the embassy, the federal council aims to strengthen bilateral relations with the populous country and deepen cooperation in economic, security and migration matters,” the statement read.
UAE president pardons Bangladesh citizens jailed for protesting
DUBAI: United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has pardoned the Bangladeshi nationals who were convicted in July after staging a protest, UAE news agency WAM reported on Tuesday.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed “has ordered a pardon for the Bangladeshi nationals involved in last month’s protests and disturbances across several emirates,” the statement said.
The decision includes cancelling the sentences of those convicted and arranging for their deportation.
The UAE attorney-general has issued an order to halt the implementation of the sentences and commence deportation procedures.
The attorney-general also called on all residents of the UAE to respect the country’s laws, stressing that the right to express opinions is protected by the state and its legal framework.
UN hosts talks in Tripoli to resolve Libya’s central bank crisis
- The representatives agreed to submit a draft agreement to their respective chambers for review, with the goal of finalizing and signing the agreement on Tuesday
TRIPOLI: The United Nations Support Mission in Libya said it held talks in Tripoli on Monday to help resolve a central bank crisis that sparked a blockade of oil production and threatens the worst crisis in years for the major energy exporter.
The standoff was triggered when Western factions moved last month to oust veteran governor Sadiq Al-Kabir and replace him with a rival board, leading Eastern factions to shut down all oil production.
In its statement, UNSMIL said the consultations were concluded with ‘significant’ understanding and the two sides agreed to submit a draft agreement to their respective chambers for review, with the goal of finalizing and signing the agreement on Tuesday.
Oil prices edged higher on Monday, recovering some losses from late last week, as Libyan oil exports remained halted and concerns about higher OPEC+ production from October eased.
Representatives from Libya’s House of Representatives and High Council of State on one side and the Presidential Council on the other participated in the talks hosted by UNSMIL which lasted from morning until late into the night, the statement said.
Libya’s central bank (CBL) is the sole legal repository for Libyan oil revenues and it pays state salaries across the country. If those functions are compromised by the current crisis, Libyans will soon feel the pinch.
If the struggle for control is prolonged, all state salaries, transfers between banks and letters of credit needed for imports will become impossible, freezing up the economy and Libya’s international trade.
Eastern factions, including the House of Representatives (HoR) parliament led by speaker Aguila Saleh and the Libyan National Army (LNA) under commander Khalifa Haftar, oppose the Tripoli-based Presidency Council’s bid to oust CBL governor Al-Kabir.
The eastern side’s oil blockade will gradually starve the CBL of new funds, as well as reducing condensate available for power plants, meaning long electricity blackouts may soon return.
As a result of the oilfields closures, the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) said total production had plunged to just over 591,000 bpd by Aug. 28 from nearly 959,000 bpd on Aug. 26, amounting to losses of over $120 million over the three days. Production was at about 1.28 million bpd on July 20, NOC said.
The crisis threatens to end a four-year period of relative peace in the OPEC member that for a decade has been split between eastern and western factions that have drawn backing from Russia and Turkiye, respectively.
As the state crumbled between rival factions, the CBL and National Oil Corporation (NOC), the state energy producer, were held off limits, ensuring some governmental functions continued.
Syria Kurds release 50 Daesh-linked detainees: official
- The SDF, dominated by Kurds but also includes Arab fighters in its ranks, had already in the past released dozens of Syrians accused of being linked to Daesh from their prisons after obtaining guarantees from tribal leaders
HASAKAH, Syria: Syria’s Kurdish authorities on Monday released 50 Syrian prisoners accused of belonging to the Daesh terrorist group as part of a general amnesty deal, an official told AFP.
Thousands of detainees suspected of belonging to Daesh, including hundreds of foreigners, are being held in prisons run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the armed wing of the semi-autonomous Kurdish-led region in northeastern Syria.
The administration in July granted general amnesty “for crimes committed by Syrians in accordance with the law on combating terrorism as well as crimes that undermine the security of the region.”
Reber Kalo, an official with the Asayish security forces, told AFP that “under the amnesty, 50 people accused of belonging to the terrorist organization Daesh were released on Monday,” using the Arabic acronym for Daesh.
This is the second group to be released out of a total of the 1,000 to 1,500 people expected to benefit from the amnesty.
The amnesty deal, according to the official, only applies to “Syrians and does not include foreigners, and is limited to those whose hands are not stained with blood,” stressing that “no one who participated in the fighting will be released.”
“There will be other waves of releases in the coming months,” he said.
The general amnesty was decided on in response to the “recommendations of the meeting of Syrian tribes and components held on May 25,” reads a July statement from the administration.
An AFP photographer in the northeastern city of Hasakah saw the prisoners being handed over by Kurdish security forces to tribal leaders.
The SDF, dominated by Kurds but also includes Arab fighters in its ranks, had already in the past released dozens of Syrians accused of being linked to Daesh from their prisons after obtaining guarantees from tribal leaders.
Daesh seized control of large swathes of Syria in 2014, launching a reign of terror before being defeated in 2019 by a United States-led international coalition aided by the SDF.
Since then, the autonomous administration has been holding around 56,000 people, including 30,000 children, in 24 detention centers and two camps — Al-Hol and Roj — in northeastern Syria.
Among them are Daesh fighters and their families, as well as displaced people who fled the fighting.
Turkish military destroys 20 targets of Kurdish militant group PKK, ministry says
- The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union
ISTANBUL: Turkiye carried out air strikes in northern Iraq on Monday and destroyed 20 targets of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding many militants had been “neutralized” in the attack.
The term “neutralized” when used in such expressions most often means “killed.”
The operations were conducted in northern Iraq’s PKK bases in Asos, Gara, Hakurk, Metina, Qandil and Zap, the statement said.
In a statement on X, the ministry said the targets included caves, shelters, bunkers, depots and facilities.
The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union.
