DUBAI: Fighting around Sudan ‘s largest oil refinery set the sprawling complex ablaze, satellite data analyzed by The Associated Press on Saturday shows, sending thick, black polluted smoke over the country’s capital.
The attacks around the refinery, owned by Sudan’s government and the state-run China National Petroleum Corp., represent the latest woe in a war between the rebel Rapid Support Force and Sudan’s military, who blamed each other for the blaze.
International mediation attempts and pressure tactics, including a US assessment that the RSF and its proxies are committing genocide, have not halted the fighting.
The Al-Jaili refinery sits some 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Khartoum, the capital. The refinery has been subject to previous attacks as the RSF has claimed control of the facility since April 2023, as their forces had been guarding it. Local Sudanese media report the RSF also surrounded the refinery with fields of land mines to slow any advance.
But the facility, capable of handling 100,000 barrels of oil a day, remained broadly intact until Thursday.
An attack on Thursday at the oil field set fires across the complex, according to satellite data from NASA satellites that track wildfires worldwide.
Satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC on Friday for the AP showed vast areas of the refinery ablaze. The images, shot just after 1200 GMT, showed flames shooting up into the sky in several spots. Oil tanks at the facility stood burned, covered in soot.
Thick plumes of black smoke towered over the site, carried south toward Khartoum by the wind. Exposure to that smoke can exacerbate respiratory problems and raise cancer risks.
In a statement released Thursday, the Sudanese military alleged the RSF was responsible for the fire at the refinery.
The RSF “deliberately set fire to the Khartoum refinery in Al-Jaili this morning in a desperate attempt to destroy the infrastructures of this country,” the statement read.
“This hateful behavior reveals the extent of the criminality and decadence of this militia ... (and) increases our determination to pursue it everywhere until we liberate every inch from their filth.”
The RSF for its part alleged Thursday night that Sudanese military aircraft dropped “barrel bombs” on the facility, “completely destroying it.” The RSF has claimed the Sudanese military uses old commercial cargo aircraft to drop barrel bombs, such as one that crashed under mysterious circumstances in October.
Neither the Sudanese military nor the RSF offered evidence to support their dueling allegations.
China, Sudan’s largest trading partner before the war, has not acknowledged the blaze at the refinery. The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
China moved into Sudan’s oil industry after Chevron Corp. left in 1992 amid violence targeting oil workers in another civil war. South Sudan broke away to become its own country in 2011, taking 75 percent of what had been Sudan’s oil reserves with it.
Sudan has been unstable since a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime dictator Omar Al-Bashir in 2019. A short-lived transition to democracy was derailed when army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo of the RSF joined forces to lead a military coup in October 2021.
Al-Bashir faces charges at the International Criminal Court over carrying out a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s in the western Darfur region with the Janjaweed, the precursor to the RSF. Rights groups and the UN say the RSF and allied Arab militias are again attacking ethnic African groups in this war.
The RSF and Sudan’s military began fighting each other in April 2023. Their conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country.
Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll in the civil war.
Fighting in Sudan’s war sets ablaze the country’s largest oil refinery, satellite photos show
https://arab.news/8695b
Fighting in Sudan’s war sets ablaze the country’s largest oil refinery, satellite photos show
Appeal in Algeria against jail term for writer Sansal
Sansal was arrested in November and stood trial for undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity
ALGIERS: The prosecutor’s office in Dar El Beida near Algiers has appealed against a five-year jail sentence imposed on French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, the Algiers bar association told local media.
Sansal, whose case has been at the heart of a diplomatic storm with France, is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as of Islamists.
“Boualem Sansal and the prosecutor’s office appealed the day before Eid Al-Fitr,” marking the end of the month of Ramadan, which was celebrated Monday in Algeria, said Mohamed Baghdadi, an article on the TSA website said.
The writer’s French lawyer Francois Zimeray told AFP on Wednesday that Sansal had appealed, but that this did not prevent him from being pardoned if the appeal was withdrawn.
Sansal was arrested in November and stood trial for undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity, after saying in an interview with a far-right French media outlet that France unfairly ceded Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial era.
The statement echoed a long-standing Moroccan claim, and was viewed by Algeria as an affront to its national sovereignty.
On March 27, a court in Dar El Beida sentenced him to a five-year prison term and fined him 500,000 Algerian dinars ($3,730).
According to his French publisher, Sansal is 80 years old.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron urged his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune to show “mercy and humanity” toward Sansal.
Baghdadi was quoted by TSA as saying that a pardon is “only possible once the final sentence” is pronounced.
“The case can be judged quickly” and a pardon granted afterwards, Baghdadi added, emphasising that Tebboune is “sovereign in his decisions.”
The date for the appeal has not yet been set, according to TSA.
Sansal’s conviction and sentence further frayed ties between Paris and Algiers, already strained by migration issues and Macron’s recognition last year of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which is claimed by the Algeria-backed pro-independence Polisario Front.
Israeli action in Gaza leaves more than 39,000 Palestinian children orphaned
- 17,000 children have lost both parents
- Child labor, exploitation fears due to lack of adequate education, social support
LONDON: The Israeli onslaught in the Gaza Strip has orphaned thousands of Palestinian children — many of them losing both parents — which has left them with no means of support and no access to education.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday that at least 39,384 children in the Gaza Strip have become orphans during the 534 days of Israeli attacks since October 2023, with 17,000 children losing both parents.
The PCBS reported that these children face a harsh reality, struggling to survive without support. Many are forced to live in tattered tents or destroyed homes, with little access to social services or psychological support.
Palestinian children, including orphans, endure profound mental disturbances daily, such as depression, isolation and fear, due to a lack of safety and proper guidance, the PCBS said. It warned that they are vulnerable to child labor and exploitation in a harsh environment due to the lack of adequate education and social support.
The education system in the Gaza Strip has been devastated by the conflict, which has destroyed 111 schools with another 241 severely damaged.
Additionally, 89 schools operated by UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) have been bombed or damaged, preventing 700,000 students from accessing education for the current academic year, the PCBS added. Some UNRWA schools have been turned into humanitarian shelters for entire communities in Gaza.
Israel resumed intense bombing of Gaza in March and launched a new ground offensive, ending a ceasefire lasting nearly two months. At least 1,066 people have died in Gaza since Israel resumed its military operations, according to the local health ministry.
UN envoy slams Israel’s ‘repeated and intensifying’ attacks in Syria
- “Such actions undermine efforts to build a new Syria at peace with itself and the region, and destabilize Syria at a sensitive time,” said Pederson
- He called on Israel “to cease these attacks which could amount to serious violations of international law”
GENEVA: The United Nations envoy for Syria on Thursday condemned Israel’s intensifying attacks in the country, warning they were destabilising the Syrian Arab Republic at a sensitive time.
Geir Pedersen decried in a statement “the repeated and intensifying military escalations by Israel in Syria, including airstrikes that have reportedly resulted in civilian casualties.”
“Such actions undermine efforts to build a new Syria at peace with itself and the region, and destabilize Syria at a sensitive time.”
His comment came after Syria accused Israel on Thursday of mounting a deadly destabilization campaign after a wave of strikes on military targets, including an airport, and a ground incursion killed 13 people.
Israel said it responded to fire from gunmen during an operation in southern Syria and warned interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa that he would face severe consequences if its security was threatened.
Israel has carried out an extensive bombing campaign against Syrian military assets since Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime strongman Bashar Assad late last year.
It has also carried out ground incursions into southern Syria in a bid to keep the forces of the new government back from the border.
Pedersen called on Israel “to cease these attacks which could amount to serious violations of international law and respect Syria’s sovereignty and existing agreements, and also to cease unilateral actions on the ground.”
He urged “all parties to prioritize diplomatic solutions and dialogue to address security concerns and prevent further escalation.”
Jordan’s King Abdullah calls for end to Israeli war in Gaza during Germany visit
- He thanks Germany for supporting humanitarian response in the Palestinian enclave
- Jordanian leader warns against Israeli military operations in the Occupied West Bank
LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan called for an end to the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip and urged for a return to a ceasefire agreement during a media conference on Thursday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.
He said that the “Israeli war on Gaza must stop, the ceasefire must be restored and humanitarian response efforts must resume,” Petra agency reported.
Jordan is sending aid to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, he added, urging the international community to end the tragedy there.
He thanked Germany for supporting the humanitarian response in the Palestinian coastal territory, where more than 50,000 people have been killed since late 2023 during the Israeli military campaign.
He also warned against Israeli military operations in the Occupied West Bank, which have resulted in the extensive destruction of towns and refugee camps, displacing thousands of Palestinian families. The Jordanian leader highlighted escalating attacks on Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem, increasing tension in the region and undermining peace efforts.
King Abdullah said that a two-state solution is essential for ensuring peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis, as well as for the entire region, Petra added.
'Serious negotiations'
Scholz called for a return to “serious” negotiations to end the Gaza conflict as Israel pushed on with a renewed assault targeting Hamas in the territory.
“What is needed now is a return to the ceasefire and the release of all hostages,” Scholz said, urging a return to “serious negotiations with the aim of agreeing a post-war order for Gaza that protects Israel’s security.”
Speaking alongside King Abdullah II in Berlin, Scholz also urged for more humanitarian aid for Gaza.
“No humanitarian aid has reached Gaza for a month,” he said. “This cannot and must not continue.”
He added that “a sustainable peace that stabilizes the situation in the West Bank as well as Gaza can only be achieved through a political solution.”
Israel resumed intense bombing of Gaza on March 18 before launching a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire.
At least 1,066 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed military operations there, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
*Additional reporting from AFP
Amnesty urges Syria to probe sectarian massacres as war crimes
- Many from Assad’s Alawite minority have feared reprisals for his brutal rule
- The massacres “must be investigated as war crimes,” Amnesty said in a statement
BEIRUT: Rights group Amnesty International on Thursday called on the Syrian Arab Republic's government to ensure accountability for sectarian massacres targeting the Alawite minority last month, saying they may constitute war crimes.
Several days of violence starting on March 6 saw the worst sectarian bloodshed since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime president Bashar Assad, with massacres largely in the Alawite coastal heartland.
Many from Assad’s Alawite minority have feared reprisals for his brutal rule.
Amnesty said that “the Syrian government must ensure that the perpetrators of a wave of mass killings targeting Alawite civilians in coastal areas are held accountable.”
The massacres “must be investigated as war crimes,” it said in a statement.
Truth, justice and reparation are “crucial to ending cycles of atrocities,” it added.
The United Nations human rights office has said that “perpetrators raided houses, asking residents whether they were Alawite or Sunni before proceeding to either kill or spare them accordingly,” with men shot dead in front of their families.
Online footage, which AFP was unable to independently verify, showed men in military garb shooting people at close range.
Amnesty’s secretary-general, Agnes Callamard, said: “Once again, Syrian civilians have found themselves bearing the heaviest cost as parties to the conflict seek to settle scores.”
Interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) led the offensive that toppled Assad in December, has vowed to prosecute those behind the “bloodshed of civilians” and has set up a fact-finding committee, which has yet to announce its results.
Amnesty said authorities must “ensure independent, effective investigations of these unlawful killings and other war crimes.”
The Syrian authorities have accused armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking the new security forces.
Callamard said evidence indicated that “government affiliated militias deliberately targeted” Alawite civilians “in gruesome reprisal attacks,” with people killed “in cold blood.”
“For two days, authorities failed to intervene to stop the killings,” she said.
The violence has sent more than 21,000 fleeing to neighboring Lebanon, the UN has said, with thousands more seeking refuge at a Russian air base on the Mediterranean coast.
Amnesty said the Syrian government must “take immediate steps to ensure that no person or group is targeted on the basis of their sect.”
