DUBAI: Bahrain on Monday accused Qatar of seizing 15 boats from the kingdom with 20 fishermen on board, in the latest spat between the neighbors caught up in a diplomatic dispute.
In a statement on its website, Bahrain’s interior ministry said Qatar had seized three Bahraini boats with 16 aboard in the past two days.
Coast Guard commander Ala Siyadi said in the statement that this took to 15 the overall number of boats seized and 20 the number of fishermen.
The Bahraini authorities did not specify when the other four people were detained, but the ministry said some boats had been seized in 2009.
Bahrain joined a Saudi-led bloc of nations in breaking diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of links to extremists and getting close to Iran.
The gas-rich emirate flatly rejects the allegations and the diplomatic row, the worst seen in the Gulf for decades, shows no signs of abating.
Bahrain accuses Qatar of seizing 15 boats with 20 fishermen
Bahrain accuses Qatar of seizing 15 boats with 20 fishermen
WHO alarmed by health workers, civilians ‘forcibly detained’ in Sudan
- The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency
GENEVA: The World Health Organization voiced alarm Tuesday at reports that more than 70 health workers and around 5,000 civilians were being detained in Nyala in southwestern Sudan.
Since April 2023, Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million more and devastated infrastructure.
“We are concerned by reports from Nyala, the capital of Sudan’s South Darfur state, that more than 70 health care workers are being forcibly detained along with about 5,000 civilians,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the detainees are being held in cramped and unhealthy conditions, and there are reports of disease outbreaks,” the UN health agency chief said.
The RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction allied earlier this year, forming a coalition based in Nyala.
“WHO is gathering more information on the detentions and conditions of those being held. The situation is complicated by the ongoing insecurity,” said Tedros.
“The reported detentions of health workers and thousands more people is deeply concerning. Health workers and civilians should be protected at all times and we call for their safe and unconditional release.”
The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency.
In total, the WHO has recorded 65 attacks on health care in Sudan this year, resulting in 1,620 deaths and 276 injuries. Of those attacks, 54 impacted personnel, 46 impacted facilities and 33 impacted patients.
Earlier Tuesday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “alarmed by the further intensification in hostilities” in the Kordofan region in southern Sudan.
“I urge all parties to the conflict and states with influence to ensure an immediate ceasefire and to prevent atrocities,” he said.
“Medical facilities and personnel have specific protection against attack under international humanitarian law,” Turk added.
