KHARTOUM: Heavy rains have triggered building collapses that have killed nine people in northern Sudan, as the country reels from almost 16 months of fighting between rival security forces, a medic told AFP Tuesday.
“Nine people have died as a result of their houses collapsing,” said an employee at a hospital in Abu Hamad, a small town in Sudan’s Nile state, some 400 kilometers (nearly 250 miles) north of Khartoum.
“Many injured people continue to arrive at the hospital,” the source added.
Each year in August, peak flow on the Nile is accompanied by heavy rains, destroying homes, wrecking infrastructure and claiming lives, both directly and indirectly through water-borne diseases.
The impact is expected to be worse this year after more than a year of fighting that has pushed millions of displaced people into flood zones.
“Heavy rains caused most of the houses to collapse and all the shops in the market collapsed,” a witness in Abu Hamad told AFP by telephone.
Last week, a flash flood caused the deaths of five people in Port Sudan, on the Red Sea coast.
Aid groups have repeatedly warned that humanitarian access, already hampered by the war, will be made near-impossible in some areas as the rainy season hits.
Sudan faces what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in recent memory, as fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shows no sign of abating.
Some 10.5 million people have been forced from their homes, while the main battlegrounds teeter on the brink of all-out famine.
The war has already pushed the nearly half a million residents of the Zamzam camp outside the besieged Darfur city of El-Fasher into famine, a UN-backed assessment said last week.
Heavy rains kill nine in war-torn Sudan
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Heavy rains kill nine in war-torn Sudan
- “Nine people have died as a result of their houses collapsing,” said an employee at a hospital in Abu Hamad, a small town in Sudan’s Nile state
- The impact is expected to be worse this year after more than a year of fighting that has pushed millions of displaced people into flood zones
Poll monitors accuse Tunisia’s election authorities of bias
- Under President Kais Saied, NGOs have increasingly been targeted for their work, which spans from aid for migrants to human rights to local development efforts
- Tensions rose last week after the electoral authority published a final list of candidates that included Saied and only two challengers, dismissing a court order requiring that it reinstate three others it had previously barred from running
TUNIS, Tunisa: Election officials in Tunisia doubled down Monday on their decision to deny accreditation to some election observer groups, who said the move shows that the October presidential contest in the North African country won’t be free and fair.
The Independent High Authority for Elections, or ISIE, said in a statement that several civil society groups that had applied for accreditation had received a “huge amount” of foreign funding of a “suspicious origin” and therefore had to be denied accreditation to observe the election.
Though ISIE did not explicitly name the groups, one of its commission members said last weekend that it sent formal allegations against two specific groups to Tunisia’s public prosecutor, making similar claims that they took funding from abroad.
The two organizations, I-Watch and Mourakiboun (which means “Observers” in Arabic) are not the first civil society groups to be pursued by authorities in Tunisia. Under President Kais Saied, NGOs have increasingly been targeted for their work, which spans from aid for migrants to human rights to local development efforts.
Saied has throughout his tenure accused civil society groups of having nefarious motives and being puppets of foreign countries critical of his style of governance. He has alleged that NGOs that receive funding from abroad intend to disrupt the North African nation’s social fabric and domestic politics.
Some of the groups targeted have increasingly criticized authorities’ decisions to arrest potential candidates and bar others from running over the past several months. Other groups, including I-Watch and Mourakiboun, have applied for accreditation to act as independent election observers for the October 6 vote.
In a statement, I-Watch blasted ISIE’s efforts to call its funding into question and called it “a desperate attempt to distract public opinion by hiding the violations it committed and its failure to implement law.”
Siwar Gmati, a member of the watchdog group, told The Associated Press that any foreign funding that I-Watch received for specific projects in the past was provided in accordance with Tunisian law and disclosed transparently.
“We haven’t asked donors for funding relating to this electoral monitoring mission” she said, denying ISIE’s claims.
Financial disclosures published on I-Watch’s website show some of its past programs have been bankrolled by groups such as Transparency International and Deutsche Welle Akademie (DW) as well as the European Union and the US Embassy.
Gmati said I-Watch no longer accepts US funding and is currently engaged in two projects with the EU it received funding for last year.
The quarrel with prospective election observers is the latest in a string of controversies that have plagued ISIE in recent months, during which critics have accused it of lacking independence and acting on behalf of the president. Last week, dozens of Tunisians critical of the commission’s role protested outside its headquarters.
Tensions rose last week after the electoral authority published a final list of candidates that included Saied and only two challengers, dismissing a court order requiring that it reinstate three others it had previously barred from running.
The electoral commission argued that it didn’t receive the court’s ruling by the legal deadline. Critics called the dismissal politically motivated and a court spokesperson told local radio that ignoring a court order in such a way was unprecedented in Tunisia.
ISIE denied I-Watch’s application to observe the election in July and the NGO appealed and requested for clarifications in August. Despite ISIE’s public statements, Gmati said that it had not yet responded directly to I-Watch’s requests.
I-Watch called ISIE’s public statements a “flimsy pretext” to exclude election monitors from observing the Oct. 6 presidential vote.
“It has clearly become involved in the presidency’s program and has become a tool of the dictatorship,” the watchdog group said of the election authority.
The conflict between Tunisia and election observation groups is the latest matter to stain this year’s election season in Tunisia, where presidential candidates have been arrested, barred from participation or denied a place on the ballot. It marks a departure from elections the country has held since it became a bastion for democracy after toppling its longtime dictator in the 2011 Arab Spring. Observers have previously praised Tunisia for holding free and fair elections.
Since Saied took power, however, things have changed for Tunisia’s once-vibrant NGO scene. In 2022, he targeted civil society groups that accept foreign funding, and has said that nobody has the right to interfere in Tunisia’s politics and choices.
Flooding kills more than 20 people in Morocco and Algeria
- Meteorologists had predicted that a rare deluge could strike North Africa’s Sahara Desert, where many areas receive less than an inch of rain a year
RABAT, Morocco: Torrential downpours hit North Africa’s normally arid mountains and deserts over the weekend, causing flooding that killed nearly two dozen people in Morocco and Algeria and destroyed homes and critical infrastructure.
In Morocco, officials said the two days of storms surpassed historic averages, in some cases exceeding the annual average rainfall. The downpours affected some of the regions that experienced a deadly earthquake one year ago.
Meteorologists had predicted that a rare deluge could strike North Africa’s Sahara Desert, where many areas receive less than an inch of rain a year.
Officials in Morocco said 18 people were killed in rural areas where infrastructure has historically been lacking, and 56 homes collapsed. Nine people were missing. Drinking water and electrical infrastructure were damaged, along with major roads.
Among the dead in the region, where many tourists go to enjoy desert landscapes, were foreigners from Canada and Peru.
Rachid El Khalfi, Morocco’s Interior Ministry spokesperson, said in a statement on Monday that the government was working to restore communication and access to flooded regions in the “exceptional situation” and urged people to use caution.
In neighboring Algeria, which held a presidential election over the weekend, authorities said at least five died in the country’s desert provinces. Interior Minister Brahim Merad called the situation “catastrophic” on state-owned television.
Algeria’s state-run news service APS said the government had sent thousands of civil protection and military officers to help with emergency response efforts and rescue families stuck in their homes. The floods also damaged bridges and trains.
Palestinians’ UN proposal demands Israel leave Gaza and the West Bank in 6 months
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press on Monday that International Court of Justice rulings “should be accepted and should be implemented”
UNITED NATIONS: The Palestinians have circulated a draft UN resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the West Bank within six months.
The proposed General Assembly resolution, which was obtained by The Associated Press, follows a ruling by the top United Nations court in July that said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.
In the sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over the lands it captured 57 years ago, the International Court of Justice said Israel had no right to sovereignty over the territories and was violating international laws against acquiring the lands by force. It also said Israeli settlement building must stop.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon denounced the resolution and described it as a “reward for terrorism.” He called for the resolution to be rejected.
“Let it be clear: Nothing will stop Israel or deter it from its mission to bring home the hostages and eliminate Hamas,” he said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press on Monday that International Court of Justice rulings “should be accepted and should be implemented.” As for the General Assembly resolution, he said, it’s up to the 193 UN member nations to make a decision.
The draft UN resolution comes as Israel’s military assault on Gaza enters the 11th month after being triggered by the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 and as violence in the West Bank reaches new highs.
The proposal, if adopted by the 193-member General Assembly, would not be legally binding but the extent of its support would reflect world opinion. There are no vetoes in the assembly, unlike in the 15-member Security Council.
A council diplomat said the Palestinians are aiming for a vote before world leaders of the General Assembly start their annual high-level meetings on Sept. 22. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions on the draft resolution have been private.
The proposal demands that Israel comply with international law, including by immediately withdrawing all military forces from the Palestinian territories.
The draft resolution not only demands an end to all new settlement activity but the evacuation of all settlers and the dismantling of the separation barrier Israel constructed in the West Bank.
And it calls for all Palestinians displaced during Israel’s occupation to be allowed “to return to their original place of residence” and that Israel make reparations “for the damage caused” to all people in the territories.
Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed, the future of which should be decided in negotiations, while it has moved people there in settlements to solidify its hold. It has annexed east Jerusalem in a move that isn’t internationally recognized. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but maintained a blockade of the territory after Hamas took power in 2007.
Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 40,900 Palestinians have been killed there. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
Meanwhile, settler violence in West Bank has reached new highs, and Israeli military raids on West Bank cities and towns have grown more devastating, killing 692 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis within the territory also have increased.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state. The international community generally considers all three areas to be occupied territory.
Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the Security Council last month that he planned to introduce a General Assembly resolution in September to enshrine the ICJ ruling. “We are sick and tired of waiting,” he said. “The time for waiting is over.”
The proposed resolution includes other demands, including for Israel to be held accountable for any violations of international law, sanctions against those responsible for maintaining Israel’s presence in the territories, and for countries to halt arms exports to Israel if they’re suspected of being used in the territories.
Successful ‘polio pause’ prompts renewed calls for permanent Gaza ceasefire
- Destruction of water and sanitation services caused the highly infectious virus to re-emerge
- With most primary roads destroyed, families and aid agencies faced perilous journeys to vaccination sites
LONDON: The UN’s polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has been deemed a success, even though it was conducted in “the most dangerous and difficult (place) on the planet.” However, Palestinian civilians remain at significant risk of injury, illness and death amid the ongoing conflict.
A pause in the fighting between the Israeli military and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in and around the vaccination sites has been critical for the immunization campaign. However, elsewhere in the war-torn territory, the fighting continued.
On Sept. 7, just as medical teams were wrapping up the second phase of the vaccination campaign, Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip killed scores of people — including children.
The vaccination campaign was launched in Gaza after an 11-month-old baby was diagnosed with the viral disease in August, marking the first case in the Strip for 25 years, raising fears it could spread to neighboring countries.
Adele Khodr, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at UNICEF, described the three-phase campaign as one of “the most dangerous and difficult vaccination campaigns on the planet.”
“Even with a polio pause, the vaccination campaign faces grave danger and immeasurable obstacles, including damaged roads and health infrastructure, displaced populations, looting and disrupted supply routes,” she said in a statement on Sept. 4.
“Children have suffered enough,” she added, warning that the reemergence of the virus is now “threatening other children in the region.”
Polio, which spreads through contact with the feces, saliva or nasal mucus of an infected individual, attacks nerves in the spinal cord and the brain stem, leading to partial or total paralysis within hours.
It can also immobilize chest muscles, causing trouble breathing, even leading to death.
Wild poliovirus cases have fallen by more than 99 percent since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries, to six reported cases in 2021.
Of the three strains of wild poliovirus, Type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and Type 3 was eradicated in 2020. As of 2022, endemic Type 1 remained in just two countries — Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In Gaza, overcrowding, a lack of clean water and hygiene materials, a deteriorating health system, and the destruction of sanitation plants have all contributed to the reemergence of Type 2 in the water supply.
According to UNICEF, the first phase of the polio vaccination program, which ran from Sept. 1 to 3 in central Gaza, reached more than 189,000 children under the age of 10.
The second phase was carried out in southern Gaza, particularly in Khan Younis and Rafah, from Sept. 5 to 8, targeting approximately 340,000 children under 10.
The third phase, which was launched on Sept. 9, is scheduled to run until Sept. 11, targeting some 150,000 children in the north.
IN NUMBERS
- 680K Children in Gaza targeted under the UN’s polio vaccination campaign.
- 92% Primary roads damaged or destroyed, obstructing vaccine distribution.
- 70% Water and sanitation plants damaged or destroyed, contributing to outbreak.
(Source: UN, World Bank)
Coinciding with the vaccine’s rollout on Sept. 1, the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote on the social media platform X that “ultimately, the best vaccine for these children is peace.”
However, the area-specific truces that allowed the rollout to take place have done little to provide the children of Gaza with hope of a lasting end to the violence.
While vaccination sites have not been targeted, Gazan families, wearied by 11 months of war and worsening humanitarian conditions, had to make the perilous journey with their children to these locations amid the ongoing bombardment.
Khodr praised the families for turning out “in high numbers” at vaccination sites, “despite relentless attacks on schools and sites sheltering uprooted children, exhausting displacement orders forcing families to relocate time and again, and widespread hunger levels that have at points pushed parts of Gaza to the brink of famine.”
Not only has the journey to vaccination units been long and exhausting for Gazan families, but also for humanitarian teams delivering and administering the vaccines.
With 92 percent of Gaza’s primary roads damaged or destroyed, according to the World Bank, civilians and medical workers were all forced to use a single route — Al-Bahar Street.
“Unfortunately, only one road in Gaza remains operational, and it’s Al-Bahar Street,” Fady Abed, the Gaza communications officer for the medical NGO MedGlobal, told Arab News.
“This is the sole road servicing about 1.9 million displaced people in Al-Mawasi, western Khan Younis, Rafah and Deir Al-Balah.”
An April report by the World Bank and the UN highlighted that severe damage to road networks and the communications infrastructure has hampered the delivery of much-needed basic humanitarian aid to people across Gaza.
When he spoke with Arab News on Sept. 5, Abed of MedGlobal had just returned to Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza from working in Khan Younis.
Describing the logistical challenges his team has been facing, he said the journey between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis, normally no more than 15 minutes, now takes over an hour.
Abed also said transportation has been a major challenge due to fuel shortages. “There is no fuel for cars,” he said. “Drivers have resorted to mixing vegetable oil with diesel to keep vehicles running, which results in harmful smoke emissions.
“To vaccinate your child, you risk them suffocating from vehicle fumes.”
And since the vaccine must be kept cold at all times, MedGlobal could only carry as many doses as they expected to administer. Abed said his team “avoided carrying large quantities of the vaccine to prevent it from spoiling after being kept outside coolers for too long.
“At one point, the number of children arriving at the vaccination unit exceeded the available doses. Members of our team had to make the long, arduous journey back and forth to replenish the supply while families waited.
“This was frustrating for both our team and the families, who were exhausted yet eager to have their children vaccinated.”
Israel mounted its Gaza operation in retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, which saw 1,200 killed and 250 taken hostage. At least 40,900 Palestinians have been killed and more than 94,450 injured since the conflict began, according to Gaza’s health authority.
Around 90 percent of the population has been displaced at least once, fleeing from one Israeli-designated “safe zone” to another.
The Israeli bombardment has devastated much of Gaza’s infrastructure, bringing the health sector and sanitation services to their knees and causing the resurgence and spread of multiple infectious diseases.
According to UN figures, the conflict has damaged or destroyed 70 percent of Gaza’s water and sanitation plants.
In late July, Gaza’s health authority declared the enclave a “polio epidemic zone,” attributing the resurgence of the virus to the damage caused by Israel’s bombing campaign.
UNICEF’s Khodr called on the warring parties to continue to respect the polio pauses. Achieving at least 90 percent vaccination coverage in Gaza would stop the virus from spreading, she said.
“Preparing for this ambitious campaign and securing these pauses was not easy but it demonstrates that it is possible to allow supplies into the Strip, silence the strikes and protect civilians.”
Effective UN Security Council measures needed to stop Israeli attacks on civilians, PM Mikati says
- Al-Fajr Forces join Hezbollah in attacks on northern Israel
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened with ambassadors from Western nations and representatives of international organizations on Monday to discuss recent events in southern Lebanon, including Israeli aggression against its Civil Defense workers.
Mikati emphasized the necessity for the UN Security Council to adopt more effective and decisive measures in addressing violations and attacks by Israel on Lebanese civilians.
He also asserted that “the response from the Security Council must be prompt and robust, aimed at safeguarding innocent civilians and the Civil Defense personnel who are striving diligently to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population.”
Mikati urged “the Security Council to assume its responsibility in upholding international law and security by holding accountable those responsible for targeting Lebanese civilians.”
He reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to peace and stability and the protection of its people, and added that international cooperation and support were crucial for achieving lasting stability in the region.
The prime minister’s comments came as Al-Fajr Forces — the military wing of the Al-Jama’ah Al-Islamiyah movement — joined the military escalation involving the Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
The group’s move heightened tensions on Monday along the southern front in Lebanon.
Explosions were reported on the Israeli side after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israeli military positions, while the Israeli army intensified its airstrikes on southern towns.
The recent escalation of confrontations has signaled a return to the precarious situation which had existed prior to Aug. 25.
An Israeli attack on the town of Froun in Lebanon resulted in the deaths of three Civil Defense paramedics, Qassem Bazi, Mohammed Hashim, and Abbas Hamoud, while two others sustained serious injuries.
Israeli army radio announced that Hezbollah had targeted northern Israel with three waves of rocket fire, resulting in damage to a building in Kiryat Shmona, and added that the group had “launched about 100 rockets towards northern Israel in the past 24 hours.”
Hezbollah announced on Monday that it had targeted “the Ma’ayan Baruch site with missile fire, achieving a direct hit.”
Sirens were activated in the Manara settlement in Upper Galilee, as well as in Kiryat Shmona and its surrounding areas.
The Israeli military reported “the detection of two drones that infiltrated from Lebanon, with one of them landing in Nahariya.”
The Israel Fire and Rescue Authority said that “a multi-story building in Nahariya, located approximately 14 km from the Lebanese border, sustained a direct hit.”
Rescue teams assessed the damage and conducted searches.
Shahar Toledano, whose apartment was hit by the drone, reportedly told Israeli media: “I was sitting with my insurance agent. Suddenly, we heard one siren go off and then one after the other. We rushed into the bunker, and heard a very loud boom.
“The windows were blown away, and shrapnel went everywhere. We are used to the sound of explosions, but not such explosions.”
A siren went off in Arab Al-Aramsha, located near the border with Lebanon, while Hezbollah confirmed that it had “targeted the headquarters of the Golani Brigade and Egoz Unit 621 in the Shagra barracks north of Acre with suicide drones.”
In addition, Al-Fajr Forces later announced that it had “targeted and directly hit Beit Hillel sites near Kiryat Shmona with rockets.”
Hezbollah went on to announce that it had “intercepted an Israeli warplane, bombed the new Western Brigade Command headquarters in the south of the Yaara barracks, and targeted Israel’s Al-Marj military site with artillery shells.”
In the later hours of Monday, Hezbollah claimed a series of new operations had targeted “the surveillance equipment at Al-Ramtha site in the occupied Lebanese Kfar Shuba Hills, Habushit and Jal Al-Alam.”
