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UN accuses Sudan paramilitaries of blocking Darfur aid

UN accuses Sudan paramilitaries of blocking Darfur aid
Nearly 25 million people are facing dire food insecurity across Sudan, according to the United Nations. (AFP)
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Updated 10 February 2025

UN accuses Sudan paramilitaries of blocking Darfur aid

UN accuses Sudan paramilitaries of blocking Darfur aid
  • The Rapid Support Forces controls nearly all of Darfur, a western region the size of France
  • Nearly seven million people in Darfur are facing crisis levels of hunger, UN-backed agency says

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: The United Nations on Monday accused Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of blocking aid to the war-torn country’s famine-threatened Darfur region.
The RSF, which has been at war with the regular army since April 2023, controls nearly all of Darfur, a western region the size of France.
Since May, it has besieged North Darfur’s El-Fasher and attacked displacement camps nearby.
“The persistent restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles” imposed by the RSF’s humanitarian agency “are preventing life-saving assistance from reaching those in desperate need,” said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan.
“The world is watching, and it is unacceptable that the humanitarian community in Sudan... is unable to deliver essential aid,” she said in a statement.
Famine has been declared in five areas of North Darfur and is expected to spread to five more by May, according to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
Nearly seven million people in Darfur are facing crisis levels of hunger, IPC figures show.
The UN on Monday urged simplified bureaucratic procedures and an end to undue interference, “including demands for logistical support or mandatory engagement with selected vendors.”
Since the war began, humanitarian workers have reported obstruction by both sides, looting of aid and threats against relief staff.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
Nearly 25 million people are facing dire food insecurity across Sudan, according to the United Nations.


Algeria’s Sonatrach resumes exploratory drilling in Libya, NOC says

Algeria’s Sonatrach resumes exploratory drilling in Libya, NOC says
Updated 35 min 55 sec ago

Algeria’s Sonatrach resumes exploratory drilling in Libya, NOC says

Algeria’s Sonatrach resumes exploratory drilling in Libya, NOC says
  • “The company plans to complete drilling at an expected final depth of 8,440 feet,” said the NOC
  • Libya is one of Africa’s biggest oil producers

TRIPOLI: Algeria’s oil and gas firm Sonatrach resumed its exploratory drilling in Libya’s Ghadames basin in mid-October, Tripoli’s National Oil Corp. (NOC) said in a statement on Thursday.
The well is located in contract area (95/96) in the Ghadames Basin, near the Libyan-Algerian border, NOC said in the statement. It is also approximately 100 km (62.14 miles) from Wafa field.
“The company plans to complete drilling at an expected final depth of 8,440 feet,” said the NOC.
It said that Sonatrach halted its activities and left the site more than 10 years ago “due to unstable security situation at that time.”
Libya is one of Africa’s biggest oil producers, but output has been disrupted repeatedly in the chaotic decade since 2014, when the country split between rival authorities in the east and west following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Qaddafi.


Arab-Islamic states condemn Israel’s move to impose sovereignty over West Bank

Arab-Islamic states condemn Israel’s move to impose sovereignty over West Bank
Updated 30 min 43 sec ago

Arab-Islamic states condemn Israel’s move to impose sovereignty over West Bank

Arab-Islamic states condemn Israel’s move to impose sovereignty over West Bank
  • The statement reaffirmed that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories

ֱ and several Arab and Islamic countries condemned on Thursday the Israeli Knesset’s approval of draft laws seeking to impose so-called “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank and illegal settlements. 

They called it a flagrant violation of international law and UN Security Council Resolution 2334, a statement from the Saudi foreign ministry said. 

The statement reaffirmed that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories.
It welcomed the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion, which reiterated the illegality of the occupation.
The opinion also underscored Israel’s duty to ensure humanitarian access to Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, through the UN and its agencies, including UNRWA.
The countries warned against Israel’s unilateral actions and urged global powers to stop its violations and support a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.


Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era general in charge of notorious Sednaya prison

Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era general in charge of notorious Sednaya prison
Updated 57 min 58 sec ago

Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era general in charge of notorious Sednaya prison

Syrian authorities arrest Assad-era general in charge of notorious Sednaya prison
  • Akram Selum Abdullah detained in Damascus countryside
  • Ex-military police commander ‘responsible for executions,’ Interior Ministry says

LONDON: Syrian authorities this week arrested a former military official accused of executing detainees at Saydnaya prison during the regime of Bashar Assad, the Sana news agency reported.

Akram Selum Abdullah, who was a major general during the Assad era, was captured by personnel from the counterterrorism branch in the Damascus countryside, the Ministry of Interior said.

Abdullah was commander of the military police at the Ministry of Defense from 2014 to 2015, a force accused of committing serious violations against detainees in Sednaya prison, a facility near Damascus that was run by the ministry.

The ministry accused Abdullah of being “directly responsible for carrying out the executions of detainees inside Saydnaya military prison … during his tenure as commander of the military police,” the report said.

Amnesty International has described the prison as a “human slaughterhouse,” where an estimated 30,000 people were detained since 2011. Of those, only about 6,000 have been released, with rest still missing.


40 African migrants dead in shipwreck off Tunisia: judiciary

40 African migrants dead in shipwreck off Tunisia: judiciary
Updated 23 October 2025

40 African migrants dead in shipwreck off Tunisia: judiciary

40 African migrants dead in shipwreck off Tunisia: judiciary
  • “Initial investigations indicate that there were 70 people on board the vessel,” said Chtabri
  • Tunisia is a key transit country for thousands of African migrants seeking to reach Europe

TUNIS: Forty migrants from Africa were found dead on Wednesday following a shipwreck off Tunisia while 30 were rescued, a judicial spokesman told AFP.
“Initial investigations indicate that there were 70 people on board the vessel,” said Walid Chtabri, spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Mahdia.
“Forty bodies, including infants, were recovered, and 30 people were rescued,” Chtabri added.
Tunisia, whose coast is some 145 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa, is a key transit country for thousands of African migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea each year.
Over 55,000 irregular migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, according to the UN Refugee Agency’s latest figures.
The majority of them had departed from Libya, while nearly 4,000 left from Tunisia, the agency said.
The central Mediterranean route is considered particularly dangerous, with 32,803 people dead or missing since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
With the European Union’s mounting efforts to curb migrant arrivals, many irregular migrants feel stranded in Tunisia.
In 2023, Tunisia signed a 255-million-euro ($290 million) deal with the European Union, nearly half of which was earmarked for tackling irregular migration.
The deal, strongly supported by Italy’s hard-right government, aimed to bolster Tunisia’s capacity to prevent boats leaving its shore.
Tunisian President Kais Saied earlier this year called on the IOM to accelerate voluntary returns for irregular migrants to their home countries.


Israel launches series of strikes on east Lebanon

Israel launches series of strikes on east Lebanon
Updated 23 October 2025

Israel launches series of strikes on east Lebanon

Israel launches series of strikes on east Lebanon
  • Two Israel strikes targeted the Hermel range in the country’s northeast
  • The Israeli military meanwhile said it had targeted Hezbollah sites in east and north Lebanon

BEIRUT: Israel launched a series of strikes on mountainous areas in eastern Lebanon on Thursday, with the Israeli military saying it struck Hezbollah targets.
“Israeli warplanes launched a series of violent strikes on the eastern mountain range” in the Bekaa region near the border with Syria, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said.
It also said two Israel strikes targeted the Hermel range in the country’s northeast.
The Israeli military meanwhile said it had targeted Hezbollah sites in east and north Lebanon, including a “a military camp and a site for the production of precision missiles” in the Bekaa.
The military said in a statement that it “struck several terrorist targets” in the Bekaa, including “a camp used for training Hezbollah militants.”
It added that it “struck military infrastructure at a site for the production of precision missiles.”
It also targeted “a Hezbollah military site in the Sharbin area in northern Lebanon.”
Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that brought to an end more than a year of hostilities with the militant group Hezbollah that culminated in two months of open war.
As part of that deal, Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah was to dismantle its forces in the region.
Under US pressure and fearing an escalation of Israeli strikes, the Lebanese government has moved to begin disarming Hezbollah, a plan which the militant movement and its allies oppose.