CAIRO: The Arab League Council, chaired by Djibouti Foreign Minister, Mahmoud Ali Yusuf, held an emergency meeting in Cairo to discuss the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The meeting was attended by Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Arab foreign ministers or their representatives, with the Saudi Arabian delegation led by Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubair.
The meeting aimed to discuss the repercussions of President Donald Trump’s decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem and implement the Arab League’s ministerial resolution on Sept. 9, 2017, which stipulated that the council should be resumed within a month to evaluate the situation and agree on future measures.
In his address to the opening session, Aboul Gheit warned that the attack on the city of Jerusalem would not be accepted by Arabs, Muslims or Christians, and would push the region into an abyss of religious conflict, violence and terrorism.
“Our meeting today, a few weeks after our last meeting, is a message that will reach those who are interested in the Arab position and will show that we stand united in the face of any attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause with the final status issues,” the Arab League secretary-general said.
He added: “This message will show that we have a unified voice and that our common Arab position on the issue of Jerusalem has become clear to all. It was included in resolution 8221, issued on Dec. 9 last year.”
Aboul Gheit said that the meeting represented an opportunity to re-evaluate the situation. He also shed light on the international momentum achieved, starting with the 128-member vote to reject the US decision at the UN General Assembly and more recently the positive European position announced on Jan. 22.
He said this represented a platform that “can and should be built upon by expanding the circle of countries that reject Trump’s decision, developing their positions and mobilizing them to support the recognition of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Aboul Gheit said that there were indications that this was not about the Jerusalem file alone, but about the US position on all the final-status issues and on its commitment to the two-state solution as a formula for ending the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
“We have followed with great concern the US decision to reduce its annual funding toward United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) budget by $65 million. The US share represents one third of the agency’s budget, which represents a threat to the refugee issue.”
Aboul Gheit said that the refugee issue, like the Jerusalem issue, had been agreed as part of the final-status issues that could not be forfeited, fragmented or liquidated, adding that international moral responsibility for the tragedy of the Palestinian refugees has been established since 1948 and there was no possibility of disengaging from their obligations.
The Foreign Minister of Djibouti called on Arab countries to take decisive steps at this critical juncture in the Palestinian issue and to confront situations that threatened the rights of the Palestinian situation regarding Jerusalem.
“The Arab League Council is mandated to carry out its historical responsibilities in the face of this challenge that threatens the existence of a Palestinian state,” he said, stressing that the US decision to transfer the embassy to Jerusalem and recognize it as the capital of Israel violated international resolutions.
He said that the US administration was determined to proceed with its blatant bias toward the occupation, not only through its decision to announce the transfer of the embassy before the end of next year to Jerusalem, but by announcing a series of other punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority and by reducing its contribution to the UNRWA budget.
Ministers also discussed the possibility of holding an extraordinary Arab summit in Jordan.
Arab FMs meet to discuss US decision to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel
Arab FMs meet to discuss US decision to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel
Sudan Quintet urges ‘those with influence’ to halt weapons flow, deescalate conflict ahead of Ramadan
- Group of 5 organizations condemns ‘increasingly destructive means of warfare’ in Sudan’s civil war, warns that civilians bear the brunt of fighting
- UN spokesperson describes ‘horrific’ situation on the ground, expresses ‘deep alarm’ at escalating attacks on civilian and humanitarian infrastructure
NEW YORK CITY: A group of five international and regional organizations on Wednesday called for an immediate end to flows of weapons and fighters into Sudan, and for coordinated action to deescalate the war in the country and protect civilians as the third anniversary of the start of the conflict approaches.
The so-called Sudan Quintet — comprising the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, the EU and the UN — said those with influence over the warring factions must act to “halt the flow of weapons, fighters and other forms of support that sustain violence and contribute to the fragmentation of Sudan.”
In a joint statement, the Quintet expressed “grave concern at the continued escalation of the conflict” and called for “the immediate halting of any further military escalation, including the use of increasingly destructive means of warfare.” Civilians are bearing the brunt of the fighting, it warned.
The conflict began in April 2023 when tensions between rival military factions the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalated into full-scale war in the capital Khartoum and spread across the country.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people; US intelligence officials and independent analysts have suggested the true death toll could be in the hundreds of thousands.
The conflict has also triggered what the UN describes as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. More than 33 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and more than 13.6 million have been displaced by the fighting, 9.3 million of them within Sudan and about 4.3 million to neighboring countries.
The Quintet said the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Kordofan region and Blue Nile State was particularly alarming, citing reports of deadly drone strikes, the tightening grip of sieges around major population centers, and attacks on critical infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and humanitarian assets.
It also highlighted issues such as forced displacements, severe constraints on humanitarian access, and attacks on aid convoys. These developments “underscore the urgency of immediate action to prevent atrocities,” it said.
Recalling “the horrors witnessed in El-Fasher” and earlier warnings that went unheeded, the Quintet said civilians “must no longer bear the cost of ongoing hostilities.” The organizations stressed that the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure was a fundamental obligation under international law, and that the principles of international humanitarian law applies to all parties to the conflict.
“Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected, international humanitarian law must be respected, and safe, rapid and unhindered humanitarian access to all areas in need must be ensured,” they said.
“Serious violations of international humanitarian law cannot go unaddressed,” they added, and perpetrators must be held accountable.
With the start of the holy month of Ramadan only a week away, the Quintet urged all sides to embrace efforts to broker a humanitarian truce and “immediately deescalate hostilities” so as to prevent further loss of life and enable life-saving assistance to reach those in need.
The organizations reaffirmed their commitment to the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Sudan, and said they remain committed to efforts to facilitate a Sudanese-owned, inclusive political dialogue with the aim of ending the war and paving the way for a peaceful political transition.
The situation on the ground in Sudan continues to be “horrific,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday as he expressed “deep alarm” at “the escalating attacks that we’re seeing in the country, where aerial strikes are placing civilians at grave risk and directly hitting humanitarian and public infrastructure.”
A drone strike on a mosque in the city of Al-Rahat in North Kordofan state at dawn on Wednesday killed two children and injured 13, all of them students attending a school at the mosque.
This followed drone strikes on a primary school in the town of Dilling in South Kordofan late on Tuesday, where injuries were also reported. The same night, a World Food Programme warehouse in Kadugli, the state capital of Kordofan, was struck by a suspected rocket attack that caused significant damage to buildings and mobile storage units.
In recent days drone strikes been reported in other parts of South Kordofan, North Kordofan and West Kordofan, Dujarric said, all of them close to key supply routes connecting the city of El-Obeid in North Kordofan with Dilling and Kadugli in South Kordofan.
“This is endangering civilians, including humanitarian workers,” Dujarric told reporters in New York. “The fact that we have to reiterate almost every day that civilians, civilian infrastructure, places of worship, schools and hospitals cannot and should not be targeted is a tragedy unto itself.
“Yet we have to keep reminding the parties of this almost every day, and that they need to respect international humanitarian law amid these deeply concerning developments.”
