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Sudan government denounces US sanctions as ‘immoral’

Sudan government denounces US sanctions as ‘immoral’
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People gather to greet Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, along a street in Port Sudan, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
Sudan government denounces US sanctions as ‘immoral’
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People cheer as Sudan's de facto leader, armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan arrives at the market in Port Sudan on December 29, 2024. (AFP file)
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Updated 17 January 2025

Sudan government denounces US sanctions as ‘immoral’

Sudan government denounces US sanctions as ‘immoral’
  • Washington had slapped sanctions on Burhan, accusing the army of attacking schools, markets and hospitals and using food deprivation as a weapon of war
  • US earlier imposed sanctions on Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, accusing his group of committing genocide

PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s army-aligned foreign ministry rejected as “immoral” US sanctions declared on Thursday against army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, saying that they “lack the most basic foundations of justice and transparency.”
In a statement, it said the sanctions “express only confusion and a weak sense of justice,” after 21 months of war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, in which the foreign ministry said Burhan was “defending the Sudanese people against a genocidal plot.”
On Thursday, the US treasury department announced sanctions against Burhan, accusing the army of attacking schools, markets and hospitals and using food deprivation as a weapon of war.
It came a week after the US slapped sanctions on RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, accusing his group of committing genocide.
Sudan’s foreign ministry on Thursday said the US’s “flawed decision cannot be justified by claiming neutrality,” saying it amounts to “support of those committing genocide.”

12 million people uprooted

Since April 2023, the war between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands, uprooted more than 12 million people and pushed hundreds of thousands into famine.
Both sides have been accused of targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas, with the RSF specifically accused of ethnic cleansing, systematic sexual violence and laying siege to entire towns.

“Taken together, these sanctions underscore the US view that neither man is fit to govern a future, peaceful Sudan,” outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement in which he voiced regret at his failure to end the brutal war.
The United States previously had steered clear of sanctions on the two leaders so as to preserve diplomacy with them.
But Blinken, who leaves office on Monday, said the army had repeatedly failed to join peace initiatives, although he hoped President-elect Donald Trump would keeping trying on Sudan.
“It is for me, yes, another real regret that when it comes to Sudan, we haven’t been able on our watch to get to that day of success,” Blinken said at a farewell news conference.
There have been “some improvements in getting humanitarian assistance in through our diplomacy, but not an end to the conflict, not an end to the abuses, not an end to the suffering of people,” he said.
The war erupted over a failure to integrate the army and the RSF, with joint US and Saudi diplomacy succeeding only in limited humanitarian agreements including on the entry of aid.
More than 24.6 million people — around half of Sudan’s population — face “high levels of acute food insecurity,” according to a recent review by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

Genocide in Darfur

The United States last week said that the RSF has committed genocide in Darfur through systematic killings and rapes of the ethnically African people there.
The atrocities are an echo of the scorched-earth campaign by the RSF’s militia predecessor, the Janjaweed, also accused of genocide two decades ago in Darfur.
The US special envoy on Sudan, Tom Perriello, pointed to actions taken last time in Darfur — “naming and shaming” of perpetrators, a “tremendous global activism” and the prospect of African Union intervention.
“Most of those tools are either off the table completely or seriously diluted right now,” Perriello said at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Perriello, a former Democratic congressman who also leaves office Monday, said the United States was also no longer the same “major bank for the world” that can spell dire economic consequences through sanctions.
US options are “much weaker in a world where people can go to other countries and get billion-dollar checks without having any conversations about human rights and democracy,” he said.
Perriello also voiced shock that regional power South Africa welcomed RSF leader Dagalo on a visit and that there was not “much of an outcry from South African civil society.”
But he said African powers increasingly focused on domestic issues and “want to be seen as economic powerhouses of the future, not necessarily the moral police.”
The Sudan conflict has brought in a series of foreign players, with the United Arab Emirates facing repeated charges of arming the RSF.
Perriello saluted the role of Egypt, saying he was surprised to work so closely but that Cairo exerted pressure on the Sudanese army in the interest of decreasing refugee flows.


Lebanon says Israeli strikes kill one and wound seven

Lebanon says Israeli strikes kill one and wound seven
Updated 5 sec ago

Lebanon says Israeli strikes kill one and wound seven

Lebanon says Israeli strikes kill one and wound seven
  • Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire, which followed more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed militant group that culminated in two months of open war

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanon’s health ministry said Thursday that Israeli strikes in the south had killed one person and wounded seven, while the Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah and its allies.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, however, insisted Israel’s strikes targeted “civilian facilities,” condemning what he said was a breach of a ceasefire negotiated last year.
“The repeated Israeli aggression comes as part of a systematic policy aimed at destroying productive infrastructure, hindering economic recovery, and undermining national stability under false security pretexts,” Aoun said.
Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire, which followed more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed militant group that culminated in two months of open war.
The Lebanese health ministry, which earlier said six people had been wounded, said one person was killed in a strike in the eastern town of Shmistar.
One person was wounded in Bnaafoul, in the Saida district and six in Ansar, in Nabatieh district, it added.
An Israeli army statement said it had “struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure... in the Mazraat Sinai area in southern Lebanon.”
It also said it had struck facilities used by Green Without Borders, an NGO under US sanctions that Israel considers to have “operated under a civilian cover to conceal the presence of Hezbollah in the border area with Israel.”


UN rejects Houthi espionage allegations as ‘disturbing’ and dangerous, urges release of detained staff

UN rejects Houthi espionage allegations as ‘disturbing’ and dangerous, urges release of detained staff
Updated 4 min 37 sec ago

UN rejects Houthi espionage allegations as ‘disturbing’ and dangerous, urges release of detained staff

UN rejects Houthi espionage allegations as ‘disturbing’ and dangerous, urges release of detained staff
  • Spokesman Stephane Dujarric says calling aid workers ‘spies’ or ‘terrorists’ endangers UN staff lives everywhere and is unacceptable

NEW YORK: The United Nations has on Thursday rejected accusations by Yemen's Houthi authorities that UN staff were involved in espionage, calling the claims "extremely disturbing" and warning they put lives at risk.

“We categorically reject any and all accusations that UN personnel or UN operations in Yemen were involved in any form of espionage or in any activities that were not consistent with our humanitarian mandate,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“Accusations, calling UN staff spies or, as we’ve seen in other contexts, calling them terrorists — all that does is it puts the lives of UN staff everywhere at risk, and it's unacceptable.”

Dujarric's comments came in response to a wave of detentions by Houthi authorities targeting UN and NGO workers in Yemen. At least 53 UN staff members remain arbitrarily detained, some held incommunicado for years, according to the UN.

The Houthi rebels have in recent weeks accused the UN of spying for the United States and Israel, exhibiting political bias, and failing to condemn Israeli military actions. These allegations emerged after an Israeli airstrike in September killed several senior Houthi officials in Sanaa.

Following the strike, Houthi officials claimed that some of the detained UN employees were engaged in espionage, and that diplomatic immunity “should not be a cover” for such activities.

In a statement from its Houthi-run foreign ministry, the group claimed the UN’s silence on the Israeli attack demonstrated “double standards” and alleged complicity.

Dujarric pushed back strongly against those narratives, insisting the UN’s presence in Yemen was solely humanitarian. “The work that we do in Yemen and we do everywhere where we do humanitarian work is guided by our basic principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence,” he said. “The reason our humanitarian colleagues are in Yemen is to help the Yemeni people.”

The UN has repeatedly condemned the detentions and raids on its premises in Houthi-held areas, and Secretary-General Guterres has called for the immediate and unconditional release of all UN personnel, NGO workers, and detained diplomatic staff. Human Rights Watch has also criticized the arrests, stating that no credible evidence has been presented to support the espionage allegations, and warning that such actions are obstructing critical aid operations in the war-torn country.

The Houthis’ accusations have drawn wider scrutiny of their treatment of aid workers and engagement with international agencies. In September, they accused UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg of “political complicity” for condemning the detentions while allegedly ignoring what they termed Israeli “aggression” in Yemen.

Despite the criticism, the UN maintains that its operations remain grounded in neutrality. “We will continue to call for the end to the arbitrary detention of our colleagues,” Dujarric said. “They need to be released, alongside the NGO workers and those from diplomatic missions.”

Yemen’s conflict, which escalated in 2015 after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. UN-led efforts to broker peace have repeatedly stalled amid growing regional instability.

 


Jordan’s crown prince commends UK prime minister for official recognition of Palestinian statehood

Jordan’s crown prince commends UK prime minister for official recognition of Palestinian statehood
Updated 16 October 2025

Jordan’s crown prince commends UK prime minister for official recognition of Palestinian statehood

Jordan’s crown prince commends UK prime minister for official recognition of Palestinian statehood
  • Crown Prince Hussein and Keir Starmer discuss latest developments in the Middle East during meeting at 10 Downing Street on Thursday
  • Crown prince emphasizes need for full implementation of Gaza ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, and unrestricted deliveries of humanitarian aid to territory

LONDON: Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan praised UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday for the British government’s recent decision to officially recognize Palestinian statehood.

During their meeting at No. 10 Downing Street, the crown prince stressed the need to support the Palestinian people in their efforts to secure their rights and establish an independent state.

Regarding the latest developments in Gaza, the crown prince highlighted the need to ensure full implementation of the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, as well as unrestricted deliveries of humanitarian aid to the territory.

Starmer and Crown Prince Hussein also discussed the latest developments in the wider Middle East, and the latter called for joint efforts to restore regional stability to be stepped up, the Jordan News Agency reported.

The UK government announced its recognition of the State of Palestine in the run-up to the UN General Assembly in September. Several other Western countries took a similar step around that time, including France, Canada and Australia.

Jordan’s ambassador to the UK, Manar Dabbas; the director of the Office of the Crown Prince, Zaid Baqain; and the UK’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, also attended the meeting.


Tunisian aid workers go on trial for helping migrants

Tunisian aid workers go on trial for helping migrants
Updated 16 October 2025

Tunisian aid workers go on trial for helping migrants

Tunisian aid workers go on trial for helping migrants
  • Tunisian and international rights groups condemned the trial, saying it criminalized helping refugees and migrants
  • The defense team requested the trial be postponed and that a testimony from the UNHCR be heard

TUNIS: Six aid workers from a group that helps migrants and refugees went on trial in Tunisia Thursday accused of assisting irregular migration into the country, a key transit point for those seeking to reach Europe.
The accused work for the Tunisian Refugee Council (TRC), an aid organization that partnered with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to screen asylum applications in Tunisia.
Migration is a sensitive issue in Tunisia, which saw a series of racially motivated attacks after President Kais Saied warned in 2023 that “hordes of illegal migrants,” many from sub-Saharan Africa, posed a demographic threat to the Arab-majority country.
Tunisian and international rights groups condemned the trial, saying it criminalized helping refugees and migrants.
The defendants include TRC head Mustapha Djemali, an 81-year-old Tunisian-Swiss national, and project manager Abderrazek Krimi, both of whom have been detained for more than a year and a half pending trial.
Four other employees were charged in the case but have not been held in custody.
They are all charged with “sheltering” migrants and “facilitating illegal entry” into Tunisia, according to a lawyer.
The defense team requested the trial be postponed and that a testimony from the UNHCR be heard, lawyer Mounira Ayari told AFP.
She said the defense also requested a provisional release for Djemali and Krimi, as their pre-trial detention had already exceeded the 14-month legal limit.
But the court later rejected that request and adjourned the trial until November 24, the lawyer added.
She said Djemali “suffers from serious health issues.”
His daughter, Yusra, said he could barely stand, adding: “It’s hard to see him like this.”
The family said initial fraud and money-laundering charges against Djemali had been dropped.
The defendants were arrested in May 2024 along with about a dozen humanitarian workers, including members of French group Terre d’Asile and anti-racist organization Mnemty, who are awaiting trial.
Djemali and Krimi “were arrested solely for their legitimate humanitarian work,” said Antonia Mulvey, who heads the Geneva-based Legal Action Worldwide.
She called the trial “arbitrary” and a “violation of Tunisia’s international obligations.”


Palestinian PM pitches $65 billion five-year plan to rebuild Gaza

Palestinian PM pitches $65 billion five-year plan to rebuild Gaza
Updated 16 October 2025

Palestinian PM pitches $65 billion five-year plan to rebuild Gaza

Palestinian PM pitches $65 billion five-year plan to rebuild Gaza
  • Mohammed Mustafa addresses UN heads of agency, and diplomatic heads of mission from his office in Ramallah

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Authority’s prime minister met on Thursday with UN and diplomatic officials to present a plan for Gaza’s reconstruction, despite uncertainties over his government’s role in the war-shattered territory’s future.

“I would like to believe that 12 months from now, the Palestinian Authority will be fully operational in Gaza,” Mohammed Mustafa said.

Mustafa said the Palestinian Authority had crafted a five-year plan for Gaza that would unfold over three phases and require $65 billion across 18 sectors, including housing, education, governance, and more.

The authority has not had a role in Gaza’s governance since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007, though it still provides some services in the territory.

The Gaza peace plan set out by US President Donald Trump does not rule out a Palestinian state. Also, it suggests allowing a role for the Palestinian Authority once it has completed a set of reforms.

The plan builds on what was agreed at a summit of Arab countries in Cairo in March 2025, and Mustafa said that “police training programs initiated with Egypt and Jordan are already underway.”

“Our vision is clear,” Mustafa told an assembly of Palestinian ministers, UN heads of agency, and diplomatic heads of mission from his office in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“Gaza shall be rebuilt as an open, connected and thriving part of the state of Palestine,” Mustafa said.

He also said that technical discussions were ongoing with the EU over “secure crossing operations, customs systems, and integrated policing units.”

The EU is one of the largest donors to the PA.

Above all, the post-war reconstruction plan aims to make way for a single Palestinian government.

The process will “reinforce the political and territorial unity between Gaza and the West Bank, and contribute to restoring a credible governance framework for the state of Palestine,” said Mustafa.

His remarks came as International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged all parties to continue moving toward sustained peace following a ceasefire in Gaza, saying it would benefit the entire region. 

Georgieva, speaking during the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, said on Thursday she was relieved when the recent ceasefire was reached for the sake of all the people affected by the two-year war in the Palestinian enclave.

She said lowered tensions would be good news for the economies of Egypt and Jordan, where the IMF has programs, and Lebanon and Syria, which have asked for help and support from the global lender. 

“It is important because everybody concerned encourages this direction of sustaining a lasting peace, and yes, it would benefit the region,” she said. 

“There will be a peace dividend for everybody.”