ZAGREB: Croatia on Thursday recommended its nationals postpone non-essential travel to Serbia, alleging Belgrade had expelled five Croatian women citing security reasons.
The Croatian foreign ministry alleged “inappropriate and unfounded actions of Serbian authorities toward Croatian nationals,” in a statement.
Other Croatians had previously been accused of taking part in a recent wave of protests against Serbia’s nationalist government in an separate case.
Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman on Wednesday said he would send a protest note to Serbia over the “detention of five Croatian women” there who all returned home safely.
He said the five attended a workshop involving NGOs organized by Austria’s Erste Bank foundation and were “detained without any explanation.”
He said Zagreb will inform the European Union delegation in Belgrade about Serbian authorities’ actions, “which put Croatian citizens in a humiliating position.”
Serbia’s foreign ministry said it was “inappropriate” for a Croatian official to “accuse Serbia of endangering the freedom of movement and speech of several Croatian nationals.”
The latter were “treated in Belgrade by the competent state bodies in line with legal procedures and usual international practice,” it said in a statement without elaborating.
Serbia’s interior ministry did not reply to AFP’s request for comment.
Ana Kovacic, an art historian from Zagreb who took part in the two-day workshop, told the newspaper Jutarnji list that it was attended by around 15 people from Bosnia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Romania and Slovenia.
After it ended, the participants were taken from their hotel to a police station where they were interrogated, she said.
They were given a document to sign saying that they were “threatening the security of the Republic of Serbia,” should leave the country within 24 hours and were banned from entering it for a year.
Croatian and Serbian human rights groups condemned the actions of the Serbian police, who they said “arrested and deported several persons” from those countries, describing those arrested as “activists.”
Two workshop participants from Albania also told local media in their country that they suffered the same treatment.
The Albanian foreign ministry said on Thursday it had summoned the Serbian ambassador over the case.
It “expressed regret and serious concerns regarding the detention” of the two, describing them as “representatives of civil society who participated in a seminar in Belgrade.”
Serbia has been rocked by regular protests since a deadly disaster at a train station in November ignited longstanding anger over corruption.
High-ranking Serbian government officials, without providing evidence, have claimed in their statements that the student blockades and protests are “influenced by Western intelligence agencies” with the aim of “overthrowing President Aleksandar Vucic.”
At the end of December, tabloid media close to the Serbian authorities accused a group of Croatian students of participating in the protests.
Ties between two former Yugoslav republics remain frosty since Croatia’s 1990s war of independence against Belgrade-backed rebel Serbs.
Croatia issues Serbia travel warning after saying nationals expelled
https://arab.news/px4nx
Croatia issues Serbia travel warning after saying nationals expelled
- The Croatian foreign ministry alleged “inappropriate and unfounded actions of Serbian authorities toward Croatian nationals“
- Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman on Wednesday said he would send a protest note to Serbia
What is behind the biggest surge in internal displacement ever recorded?
- Aid agencies have recorded an unprecedented rise in displacement within countries across every global region
- More than 83 million people were internally displaced by the end of 2024 — the highest figure ever documented
DUBAI: The world is witnessing a historic surge in displacement — not across borders, but within them. Ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Sudan, coupled with the escalating frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters, continue to drive millions from their homes.
By the end of 2024, more than 83.4 million people in the world were internally displaced — the highest number yet recorded.
According to the 2025 Global Report on Internal Displacement, that figure has nearly doubled in just six years — the equivalent of displacing the entire population of Germany.
More broadly, the latest figures from UNHCR’s Global Trends Report 2025 show that the total number of forcibly displaced people worldwide — including refugees, asylum seekers, and those internally displaced — had reached 122.1 million by the end of April 2025, up from 120 million the year before.
“We are living in a time of intense volatility in international relations, with modern warfare creating a fragile, harrowing landscape marked by acute human suffering,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, responding to the figures.
“We must redouble our efforts to search for peace and find long-lasting solutions for refugees and others forced to flee their homes.”
While Grandi highlighted the urgent need for global solutions, experts tracking internal displacement say the crisis is becoming increasingly entrenched within national borders.
“Internal displacement is where conflict, poverty, and climate collide, hitting the most vulnerable the hardest,” Alexandra Bilak, director of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, said in a statement.
The latest figures reveal internal displacement is no longer just a humanitarian issue, she said, but a complex political and development challenge that continues to be overlooked.
“The data is clear — it’s now time to use it to prevent displacement, support recovery, and build resilience,” Bilak said.
The global surge in internal displacement was felt across every region in 2024, according to the Global Report on Internal Displacement.
An internally displaced person is someone forced to flee their home to escape conflict, persecution, or disaster. But unlike refugees, they remain within their country’s borders.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the epicenter of this global surge, home to 38.8 million internally displaced persons — making up almost 46 percent of the global total.
All 23 countries in the region that experienced conflict-related displacement also suffered from disaster-induced movements, compounding already dire humanitarian needs.
In the Middle East and North Africa, conflict-related displacement also surged — particularly in the Gaza Strip, where conflict has raged since October 2023. About 2 million Palestinians were forced from their homes, according to the Global Report on Internal Displacement.
The Americas likewise showed a dramatic increase, with 14.5 million people forced to flee within their national boundaries. The US alone accounted for 11 million disaster-related movements — nearly a quarter of the global total for such events.
In South Asia, disaster displacement nearly tripled, to 9.2 million, the region’s second-highest figure in more than a decade.
Conflict was the primary driver of internal displacement in 2024. In Sudan, the situation has deteriorated dramatically since fighting erupted there in April 2023.
“It has become the largest and most devastating displacement, humanitarian and protection crisis in the world today,” Tarik Argaz, a UNHCR representative, told Arab News.
As of mid-2024, more than 12.4 million people had been displaced in Sudan — including 8.1 million internally and more than 4 million who had fled to neighboring countries. These figures are based on UNHCR’s operational data collected during the continuing crisis.
By April 2025, the scale of displacement had grown further. According to UNHCR’s Global Trends Report, Sudan now represents the largest forced displacement crisis in the world, with a combined total of 14.3 million displaced people — including refugees and internally displaced people.
“Security remains the major challenge in many regions of Sudan,” Argaz said. “Access to different areas continues to change due to the dynamic nature of the conflict.”
Disasters also triggered a record 45.8 million new internal displacements — the highest since 2008. An overwhelming 99.5 percent of these were caused by climate-related events, particularly storms and floods.
Argaz said climate change and displacement are becoming increasingly interconnected.
“Adverse effects of climate change and disasters have contributed to increased forced displacement over past decades,” he said.
“As extreme weather events and environmental conditions worsen with global heating, they are contributing to multiple and overlapping crises, increasing poverty and loss of livelihoods.
“The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimates that over 25 million people are forced to move due to disaster-related causes each year.
“The majority of people forcibly displaced by persecution, conflict and violence today live in countries that are highly vulnerable and ill-prepared to adapt to climate change.”
INNUMBERS
• 83.4 million By the end of 2024, more than 83.4 million people in the world were internally displaced — the highest number yet recorded.
• 9.2 million In South Asia, disaster displacement nearly tripled, to 9.2 million, the region’s second-highest figure in more than a decade.
Despite ongoing challenges, UNHCR continues to provide lifesaving support — including shelter, healthcare, psychosocial services, and cash assistance — while also working with regional partners to coordinate a broader response to displacement.
In a rare sign of progress, 9.8 million forcibly displaced people returned home in 2024, including 1.6 million refugees — the most in more than two decades — and 8.2 million internally displaced persons — the second highest yet recorded.
However, many of these returns occurred under difficult political and security conditions.
A large number of Afghans, for example, were forced to return to Afghanistan in 2024, often arriving in dire circumstances. In countries such as Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, and South Sudan, new displacements unfolded even as others returned.
“Even amid the devastating cuts, we have seen some rays of hope over the last six months,” said UN High Commissioner Grandi, referring to the recent reduction in aid funding by the US and other major Western donors.
“Nearly 2 million Syrians have been able to return home after over a decade uprooted. The country remains fragile and people need our help to rebuild their lives again.”
Internally displaced persons should be afforded the same rights and freedoms as all other citizens and habitual residents of their country, Argaz said.
“Our advocacy efforts have been instrumental in supporting the protection of internally displaced persons on various fronts — from access to documentation, education, healthcare, and livelihoods, to promoting economic inclusion and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, which are often the root cause of displacement,” he said.
Internally displaced persons often face a range of protection challenges that vary depending on the context.
These typically include limited access to basic necessities such as shelter, food, water, and healthcare — particularly during emergencies and in protracted displacement situations.
Many are also vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, including gender-based violence.
Long-term solutions such as return or local integration are still out of reach for millions.
“The cost of inaction is rising,” Bilak said. “And displaced people are paying the price.”
NATO strikes spending deal, but Spain exemption claim risks Trump ire
- The country is only set to hit the alliance’s current target of two percent this year after a 10-billion-euro ($11.5 billion) injection
BRUSSELS, Belgium: NATO on Sunday signed off on a pledge to ramp up defense spending before its upcoming summit, but Madrid insisted it would not need to hit the five percent of GDP demanded by US President Donald Trump.
The claim by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sets up a potential clash with Trump, who has pressured allies to commit to that headline figure when they meet for the two-day gathering starting on Tuesday in The Hague.
Spain had been the last holdout on a compromise deal that sees allies promise to reach 3.5 percent on core military needs over the next decade, and spend 1.5 percent on a looser category of “defense-related” expenditures such as infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Multiple diplomats at NATO said the agreement — set to be unveiled at the summit — had gone through with the approval of all 32 nations and that there was no exemption for Madrid.
But within minutes Sanchez came out saying he had struck an accord with NATO that would see his country keep respecting its commitments “without having to raise our defense spending to five percent of gross domestic product.”
“We understand the difficulty of the geopolitical context, fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defense investment, if they so wish, but we are not going to do it,” he said.
NATO diplomats now fear that Spain’s position could undermine its carefully choreographed show of unity with Trump in The Hague, which already risks being overshadowed by the US decision to strike Iran.
“Not ok,” one diplomat said, on condition of anonymity.
Madrid’s claims came after Sanchez on Thursday threw a last-minute grenade into preparations for the gathering in the Netherlands by taking a strong stand against the agreement.
In a blistering letter to NATO chief Mark Rutte, Sanchez said that committing to a headline figure of five percent of GDP “would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive.”
That prompted a warning from Trump that “Spain has to pay what everybody else has to pay.”
“NATO is going to have to deal with Spain,” he told reporters on Friday, calling the country “notorious” for spending less on defense than other alliance members.
The outburst from Madrid’s center-left leader also sparked fury from other NATO members desperate to keep Trump — who has threatened not to protect allies spending too little — on their side.
The pledge is seen as key both to satisfying Trump and helping NATO build up the forces it needs to deter Russia.
After several days of wrangling involving Sanchez and Rutte, officials said Spain on Sunday signed off on the pledge.
Diplomats said that language around the spending pledge in the summit’s final declaration had been slightly softened from “we commit,” to “allies commit.”
They insisted the fundamentals of the deal remained intact and that it applied to Spain.
But government sources in Madrid said the linguistic tweak meant only those countries that opted-in were covered by the promise and that Rutte was set to send a letter to Sanchez saying that Spain will have “flexibility.”
Sanchez is facing a difficult balancing act of aligning with NATO allies and cajoling his junior coalition partner, the far-left alliance Sumar, which is hostile to increasing military spending.
Spain has been one of the lowest-spending NATO countries on defense in relative terms.
The country is only set to hit the alliance’s current target of two percent this year after a 10-billion-euro ($11.5 billion) injection.
UN chief warns of cycle of retaliation after US bombs Iran
- ‘The people of the region cannot endure another cycle of destruction,’ Guterres said Sunday
- IAEA chief noted that no one had been able to assess the underground damage at Fordo nuclear facility
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned Sunday against yet “another cycle of destruction” and retaliation following the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which he said marked a “perilous turn” in the region.
“I have repeatedly condemned any military escalation in the Middle East,” the secretary-general told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
“The people of the region cannot endure another cycle of destruction. And yet, we now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also called for restraint as he voiced fears over “potential widening” of the conflict.
“We have a window of opportunity to return to dialogue and diplomacy. If that window closes, violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels and the global non-proliferation regime as we know it could crumble and fall,” Grossi said.
Speaking to the Security Council by video link, he said there were visible craters at Iran’s key Fordo nuclear facility, “indicating the use by the United States of America of ground-penetrating munitions.”
But Grossi noted that no one had been able to assess the underground damage at Fordo.
He added that “armed attacks on nuclear facilities should never take place and could result in radioactive releases with grave consequences within and beyond the boundaries of the State which has been attacked.”
Athens’ ancient theater closes for three-year restoration
ATHENS: For visitors to Athens, the ancient Odeon of Herod Atticus is the must-see theater at the foot of the Acropolis. Artists revere it for the majestic stage where legends have performed. And for the Greek capital’s residents it is the touchstone of their summer cultural calendar.
The Odeon of Herod Atticus recently opened the 70th season of the annual Athens Epidaurus Festival, a cherished annual tradition for many Greeks. But this edition marks the last before the theater that’s more than 18 centuries old shuts down for maintenance and restoration work that is expected to last at least three years.
While theater and dance grace its stage, music is its cornerstone. Renowned artists who have performed here include Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Coldplay, and Greece’s own Maria Callas.
Its closure will be a profound loss for spectators who have long enjoyed first-class performances under the stars in one of the world’s most iconic open-air theaters.
“When (people) think of the Athens cultural scene, everyone thinks of the festival and Herodion,” said Katerina Evangelatos, the festival’s artistic director since 2019, calling the theater by its commonly used Greek name. “It has become a synonym of the festival. It is the heart of the festival.”
Seven soldiers killed in clash with Al-Shabab terrorists
KAMPALA: At least seven Ugandan soldiers have been killed in Somalia, an army spokesperson said Sunday, part of the ongoing fight against the Al-Shabab terrorist group.
The soldiers were part of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia, or AUSSOM, tasked with combating Al-Shabab.
Recent attacks have stoked fears of a terrorist resurgence in the Horn of Africa nation, especially coming as AUSSOM struggles with insufficient troops and funding shortfalls.
The losses came during a three-day siege over a town in the Lower Shabelle region, a Ugandan Defense Ministry statement said, adding the town was recaptured from Al-Shabab.
“Unfortunately, we lost seven soldiers during the battle,” said Ugandan People’s Defense Force spokesman Felix Kulayigye,
AUSSOM, which replaced the previous ATMIS deployment, currently has 11,146 soldiers — although it stated in April it required an additional 8,000.
Somalia has long struggled with the violent insurgency, although the Al-Qaeda-linked group had been forced onto the defensive in 2022 and 2023 by Somali forces backed by African Union-led peacekeepers.
Recent attacks in key towns have provoked worries of the organization’s resurgence, with the militants targeting President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s convoy in capital, Mogadishu in March.
