Sudan’s Bashir vows rural development as new protests loom

Sudanese protesters chant slogans during a demonstration against President Omar al-Bashir in the capital Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman on January 29, 2019. (AFP)
Updated 03 February 2019
Follow

Sudan’s Bashir vows rural development as new protests loom

  • The veteran leader has been on a charm offensive with rallies across the country in a bid to head off weeks of protests
  • Demonstrations erupted in Sudan in December after a government decision to triple the price of bread

KHARTOUM: Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir on Sunday pledged to bolster rural development, as he seeks to face down anti-government demonstrations that have rocked cities and villages.
The veteran leader has been on a charm offensive with rallies across the country in a bid to head off weeks of protests seen as the biggest threat to his 30-year rule.
Addressing hundreds of villagers in North Kordofan state at a televised event he promised to bring clean drinking water to rural areas “across Sudan” and open a new hospital in the region.
The speech came after he inaugurated a new 340-kilometer (210 miles) highway linking North Kordofan to Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum.
“Building such a road in present economic conditions is not an easy thing to achieve,” said Bashir, after being escorted to the stage by dozens of men on camels.
“Along this road we will bring electricity to boost the region’s growth.”
Demonstrations erupted in Sudan in December after a government decision to triple the price of bread unleashed frustrations at years of deteriorating living conditions and growing hardship.
Officials say 30 people have died in protest-related violence, while rights group Human Rights Watch says at least 51 have been killed.
Bashir’s attempts to rally support have so far failed to halt the wave of discontent, with the group leading the demonstrations calling for fresh protests over the next few days starting Sunday night.
Bashir and other senior Sudanese officials have repeatedly said that the government can be changed only through elections.
The leader, who came to power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, is considering running for a third elected presidential term in polls due next year.


UN says women and children at least 56 percent of Gaza war dead

Updated 5 sec ago
Follow

UN says women and children at least 56 percent of Gaza war dead

The United Nations was clarifying a fresh breakdown of the death toll in Gaza, after Israel slammed the world body for “parroting... Hamas’s propaganda messages“
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier on Tuesday said the new breakdown as “the most comprehensive” provided to date

JERUSALEM: Women and children make up at least 56 percent of the thousands killed in the Gaza war, the UN said Tuesday, amid controversy over the toll based on numbers from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The United Nations was clarifying a fresh breakdown of the death toll in Gaza, after Israel slammed the world body for “parroting... Hamas’s propaganda messages.”
“Anyone who relies on fake data from a terrorist organization in order to promote blood libels against Israel is antisemitic and supports terrorism,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X, formerly Twitter, late Monday.
Due to a lack of access, UN agencies have since the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7 relied on death tolls provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
This has drawn criticism from Israel, but the United Nations says the ministry’s tolls before the war were deemed reliable, and that it will strive to verify the figures “when conditions permit.”
The ministry said Tuesday that at least 35,173 people have been killed in the territory due to Israeli military operations since the war erupted.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Gaza authorities have consistently said women and children make up a large majority of those killed in the Palestinian territory.
But a fresh breakdown provided by the health ministry and published by the UN last week appeared to cast doubt on that assertion.
The ministry said that as of April 30 it had fully identified nearly 25,000 of those killed, with identification elements missing for the remainder of the nearly 10,000 others who had died.
Of those fully identified, it said 40 percent were men, 20 percent women and 32 percent children, while another eight percent were elderly — a category not broken down by gender.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier on Tuesday said the new breakdown as “the most comprehensive” provided to date.
He told reporters in Geneva that by applying the same ratio to the unidentified and assuming women represent half of the elderly, it could be expected that at least “56 percent women and children” were among the more than 35,000 dead.
And that did not take into consideration the likelihood that more women and children were likely to be among the thousands believed to still be under the rubble “because they are the ones typically staying at home,” he said.
So from a “minimum statistical calculation,” he said, “you come to 60 percent women and children.”
Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said the new breakdown did not contradict previous estimates that women and children made up more than two thirds of those killed.
What had been provided by the health ministry now was simply “more detail about a sub-section of the overall tally of 35,000 deaths,” he said.
“These are not mutually exclusive.”

Why armed groups still dominate Libya, 13 years since the fall of Qaddafi

Updated 6 sec ago
Follow

Why armed groups still dominate Libya, 13 years since the fall of Qaddafi

  • Libya is divided between the UN-recognized government in Tripoli and the Haftar administration in the east
  • Hundreds of thousands of Libyans remain internally displaced or in need of humanitarian assistance

DUBAI: Muammar Qaddafi’s capture and killing by rebel fighters near his hometown of Sirte on Oct. 20, 2011, failed to usher in the era of stability and democracy that Libyans had hoped for when mass protests erupted earlier that year.

Instead, despite the best efforts of the UN Support Mission in Libya, the country remains deeply insecure, divided by two rival administrations, and fragmented among a plethora of armed groups vying for control.

“The fracturing of the Libyan body politic, with the emergence of dual governments and empowered militias, has posed perhaps the most significant challenge,” Hafed Al-Ghwell, a senior fellow and executive director of the North Africa Initiative at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, said in a recent op-ed for Arab News.

Efforts by the Arab League and African Union did little to help UNSMIL bring about elections and national reconciliation. (AFP/File)

“An enduring stalemate remains underpinned by a lack of consensus on constitutional and electoral frameworks, deepened by the entrenchment of local and international stakeholders in the status quo.”

Libya is split between the UN-recognized Government of National Accord of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah based in Tripoli, which controls barely a third of the country, and the Government of National Stability of Gen. Khalifa Haftar based in Benghazi.

The latest effort to bridge this divide culminated in the creation of a joint committee by the House of Representatives and the Government of National Unity-aligned High State Council, which aimed to pave the way for national elections. These, however, are still yet to take place.

A meeting in Cairo under Arab League auspices in March and efforts by the African Union to organize a national reconciliation conference in early February also did little to help UNSMIL bring about elections and national reconciliation.

“Rapidly evolving from a need to stabilize post-revolution Libya into addressing deep-seated political divisions and external interference, (the UN’s) mandate has consistently proven ill-suited to the complexities of the Libyan context,” said Al-Ghwell.

“It has devolved into merely managing failure, rather than being a well-orchestrated attempt at resurrecting democratic governance in a post-Gaddafi Libya.

“Its emphasis on mediation and political dialogue, while noble, has failed to account for the leverage that will be necessary to fully enforce ceasefires, manage the transition to governance or curb the influx of arms and mercenaries bolstered by self-interested external meddlers.”

On April 16, Senegalese diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily tendered his resignation as the UN’s special envoy for Libya, saying he was unable to support the country’s political transition while its leaders continued to put their own interests above finding a solution.

In western Libya, prominent militias engage in their own state-sanctioned activities. (AFP/File)

“Under the circumstances, there is no way the UN can operate successfully. There is no room for a solution in the future,” Bathily said in a statement at the time, announcing the delay of a national reconciliation conference originally scheduled for April 28.

“The selfish resolve of current leaders to maintain the status quo through delaying tactics and maneuvers at the expense of the Libyan people must stop.”

As the country’s finances are split between the two governing powers, which are backed by competing foreign players, the matter of their legitimacy in the eyes of Libyans and the international community remains an issue.

Foreign involvement is arguably the main reason why Libya has been unable to move on and establish a unified, stable administration. By sponsoring their preferred side in the conflict, experts say external actors have periodically added fuel to the fire.

Indeed, experts believe Libya has become little more than a playground for competing foreign interests, with the spoils of war — oil, arms contracts, and strategic influence — up for grabs.

Gen. Khalifa Haftar of Government of National Stability. (AFP/File)

To further these aims, various outside interests have sponsored militias inside Libya, thereby compounding and prolonging the fragmentation of the nation’s security apparatus.

Haftar commands the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, also known as the Libyan National Army. Although multiple armed groups serve under its banner, many operate under their own command structures and engage in their own raids and patrols across eastern Libya.

Meanwhile, in western Libya, prominent militias such as the Stability Support Apparatus, Misrata Counter Terrorism Force, Special Deterrence Forces (known as Radaa), 444 Brigade, 111 Brigade, Nawasi Brigade, and Joint Operations Force engage in their own state-sanctioned activities.

These include intelligence gathering and surveillance, street patrols, border security, and overseeing migrant camps.

Mohammed Younes Al-Manfi, the chairman of the Libya Presidential Council. (AFP/File)

“In today’s Libya, armed groups are the only entities capable of projecting power and maintaining territorial control,” Jalel Harchaoui, an associate fellow at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute, told Arab News.

“These groups lack a limpid chain of command and do not always follow the authority of the central state or manage their personnel in a clear and organized manner. They are inherently informal, often flawed, and dysfunctional.

“Despite their shortcomings, they are powerful when it comes to controlling territories and using force.”

Although these armed groups have been tasked with improving the nation’s overall security situation, they frequently clash with one another. This violence has shown little sign of abating, despite international efforts to establish a unified government and security apparatus.

Fifty-five people were killed in August 2023 when Radaa and the 444 Brigade engaged in running street battles in Tripoli. In February this year, at least 10 people, including members of the SSA, were shot dead in the city.

During this year’s Eid Al-Fitr celebrations, clashes broke out in the capital between the SSA and Radaa militias. Although this most recent bout of violence incurred no casualties, it raised fresh concerns about the country’s perilous security situation.

While the humanitarian situation in Libya has somewhat improved since the UN-facilitated ceasefire agreement of October 2020, civilians continue to bear the brunt of political and economic instability.

Libya is split between the UN-recognized Government of National Accord in Tripoli and the Government of National Stability of Gen. Khalifa Haftar based in Benghazi. (AFP/File)

Militia skirmishes have resulted in the internal displacement of some 135,000 people. Another 300,000 are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to UN reports from 2022.

The dire humanitarian situation was made worse by the devastating storm that pounded the Libyan coast in September last year. Storm Daniel burst two dams in the eastern city of Derna, with the resulting torrent of water flattening everything in its path.

The storm killed at least 5,900 people and displaced more than 44,000, according to the US Agency for International Development.

“Achieving stability in Libya requires a long-term strategy that would take many years and involve significant commitment from key foreign states,” said Harchoui.

“This would demand dedication and the willingness of countries like the US to challenge their regional partners, such as Turkiye, the UAE, and Egypt. It’s a major undertaking by all means.”

The SSA and Radaa are not under the direct authority of Libya’s interior or defense ministries. Nevertheless, they receive public funds and operate independently under a special status granted in 2021 by the prime minister and the presidential council.

Armed groups in Libya are often accused by the UN and human rights groups of committing war crimes with impunity. A report published by the UN last year found that these militias had engaged in murder, rape, arbitrary arrest, and slavery.

A 2023 report by Amnesty International also found that groups like the SSA, LAAF, and several others had committed acts of sexual violence, abductions, mock executions, and had restricted freedom of expression.

Libyan civilians have no power to hold these groups to account — particularly those backed and legitimized by the state.

Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. (AFP/File)

An initial step toward achieving stability, Harchaoui believes, is recognizing that armed groups have infiltrated government institutions to become integral parts of the Libyan state and are “increasingly involved in corrupt and illegal activities.”

He said: “Tackling corruption should therefore be the initial focus, as this would slow the expansion of armed groups into areas beyond physical security, like government administration, finance, oil, and wealth extraction writ large.

“Once corruption is addressed, further steps can be considered.”

There are, however, multiple factors behind the Libyan military’s inability to rein in the country’s many armed groups.

Chief among these is that Libya’s “political leaders, economic institutions, and foreign states still need the protection of these armed groups for day-to-day operations,” said Harchaoui.

“This protection is needed for activities like oil production, diplomacy, contract signing, and counterterrorism intelligence gathering.”

These operations, he says, allow these groups to become more entrenched and powerful — and, in turn, make it more difficult to reduce their influence.

“This paradox means that continuing to rely on these groups for daily operations only strengthens them, preventing the ultimate goal of replacing them with formal forces some day in the future.”

Foreign involvement is arguably the main reason why Libya has been unable to move on and establish a unified, stable administration. (AFP/File)

There were some green shoots of change in July 2023 when the two rival administrations agreed to set up a committee to oversee the sharing of Libya’s significant oil revenues.

In a statement at the time, UNSMIL said it “welcomes the decision announced by the Presidential Council to establish a High Financial Oversight Committee to address fundamental issues of transparency in the spending of public funds and fair distribution of resources.”

Nevertheless, far from emerging from the Qaddafi era with greater openness, economic growth, and productive engagement with the international community, Libya continues to endure lawlessness and institutional collapse, becoming something close to a failed state.


2 Houthi drones, 1 missile destroyed over Red Sea, says US

Members of the HMS Diamond's Bridge team shoot down a missile fired by Houthis from Yemen, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP)
Updated 23 min 2 sec ago
Follow

2 Houthi drones, 1 missile destroyed over Red Sea, says US

  • The intercepted drones and missile caused no harm to the US-led marine coalition or international commercial ships in the Red Sea

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthis launched two drones and one ballistic missile over the Red Sea on Monday, but all failed to reach their targets after being destroyed by the US Navy, in the latest round of Houthi attacks on ships in international commercial lanes.

US Central Command said the Houthis fired a drone from their controlled areas in Yemen at 3:41 p.m. on Monday, which was shot down by US Navy forces before reaching its intended objective.

Nearly three hours later, US military forces shot down one inbound anti-ship ballistic missile and a drone fired by the Houthis over the Red Sea, according to CENTCOM.

The intercepted drones and missile caused no harm to the US-led marine coalition or international commercial ships in the Red Sea.

This comes as the Houthis said on Monday that US and UK warplanes conducted an airstrike on Hodeidah airport in the western province of Hodeidah, the latest round of military actions by the two nations against Houthi targets in Yemeni territory under their control.

The Houthis have seized a commercial ship, sunk another and claimed to have fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at more than 100 ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait, Gulf of Aden and recently in the Indian Ocean since the beginning of their campaign in November.

The Houthis claim that they only target ships linked to or sailing to Israel in order to pressure the latter to end its war in Gaza, and later attacked US and British vessels after those countries launched strikes against Yemen.

On Monday, a Yemeni government official told Arab News that a team of UN experts who visited the Belize-flagged and Lebanese-operated MV Rubymar that sank in the Red Sea after being hit by Houthi missiles in February suggested that it is impossible to retrieve the ship and bring it to shore or remove its cargo of 22,000 tonnes of ammonium phosphate-sulfate NPS fertilizer, disappointing Yemeni and international environmentalists who have long warned of an ecological disaster in the Red Sea.

The Houthis on Sunday allowed a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross and a group of journalists to visit the seized Galaxy Leader ship and its 25 crew members off the coast of Hodeidah.

The ship was taken by the Houthis in November, during the early stages of their ship attacks.

“The ICRC has visited crew members who were detained following the seizure of the Galaxy Leader vessel in Yemen. During this humanitarian visit, ICRC passed on family messages to the crew members,” the ICRC delegation in Yemen told Arab News.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has urged the Houthis to free a Yemeni teacher who has been held in a notorious Houthi prison center for over six months.

The international rights group said in a petition addressed to the militia’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdul Sallam, that the Houthis abducted Moujib Al-Mikhlafi, a middle-aged educationist and human rights trainer, in October last year while he was traveling to the province of Ibb to give a teacher training course.

The Houthis stormed his home and stole his electronics and paperwork, abducted him on the same day, held him for 21 days, and then threw him into a security and intelligence jail in Sanaa, where he was tortured and refused treatment, according to the group.

“We urge the Houthi de facto authorities to immediately release Moujib Al-Mikhlafi. Pending his release, the authorities must ensure he is protected from torture and other ill-treatment and that he has access to legal representation, regular family contact, and adequate healthcare,” Amnesty said, adding that his family said that his health has worsened in recent months and that he requires medical care for diabetes and high blood pressure.

The Houthis have not put Al-Mikhlafi on trial or explained why they are keeping him.   

 


UN official calls for Syria support ahead of donor conference

Updated 14 May 2024
Follow

UN official calls for Syria support ahead of donor conference

  • Existing financing “is clearly not enough to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people,” said David Carden, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis
  • Aid groups have warned of donor fatigue after 13 years of war in Syria

MURIN, Syria: A UN humanitarian official visiting northwest Syria on Tuesday urged the international community to fund crucial aid programs in the war-torn country ahead of an upcoming pledging conference in Brussels.
The Idlib region, Syria’s last main bastion of armed opposition, hosts about three million people, many of whom are displaced from other parts of the country.
Existing financing “is clearly not enough to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people,” said David Carden, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, from Murin in Idlib province.
Aid groups have warned of donor fatigue after 13 years of war in Syria, with the international community now focused on conflicts elsewhere.
Syria’s humanitarian response plan for 2024 requires more than $4 billion but is only six percent funded, Carden told AFP.
Insufficient resources are also impacting the UN’s ability to truck aid across the border from Türkiye and support those who need it in the county’s northwest.
Ahead of the Brussels conference later this month, Carden said that “we need continued support for the Syria program.”
“We need to do everything we can to ensure that the people in Syria can get back on their feet and start reliving their lives,” he said.
“After 13 years of conflict people are tired of handouts.”
Janne Suvanto of the World Food Programme, who was part of the delegation visiting Idlib, said “the food security situation in northwest Syria is very bad.”
“There are over 600,000 people who are severely food insecure,” he told AFP.
About 90 percent of Syrians live in poverty, according to the United Nations.
Civil war erupted in Syria after President Bashar Assad crushed peaceful anti-government protests in 2011.
The conflict has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions after spiralling into a devastating war involving foreign armies, militias and militants.


225 refugees return to Syria from Lebanon after reassurances it is safe to do so

Updated 14 May 2024
Follow

225 refugees return to Syria from Lebanon after reassurances it is safe to do so

  • Lebanese General Security chief says 330 people were on list of returnees but some decided not to go because they might face legal issues or are wanted by the security forces
  • UN Refugee Agency says all refugees have right to return home and ‘we work steadfastly with countries to try to ensure all returns are voluntary and in safety and dignity’

BEIRUT: A total of 225 refugees, including women and children, voluntarily returned to Syria from Lebanon on Tuesday after being assured it was safe for them to do so, as part of a repatriation campaign organized by the Lebanese General Security. Previous operations of the same kind were put on hold in 2020.

The returnees, some of whom were registered with UNHCR, the UN’s Refugee Agency, traveled by land from Wadi Hamid in the town of Arsal and entered Syria through Al-Zamrani and Al-Qaa border crossings. They then headed to the Syrian towns and villages from which they had been displaced by the war, taking with them agricultural equipment and livestock in cars and trucks rented in Arsal.

Their convoy was accompanied in Lebanon by two security teams. The head of the General Security’s Operations Bureau, Brig. Gen. Jamal Jaroush, and the commander of the participating force, Col. Ghayath Zeaiter, worked in coordination with Syrian authorities, which provided security for the convoy after it crossed the border and made its way to villages in Western Qalamoun, Damascus and the surrounding countryside.

“The number of Syrians registered on the General Security lists for return was 330,” Brig. Gen. Mounir Akiki of the General Security told Arab News.

“Since the return is voluntary and not mandatory, and must be safe, we submitted a list of those willing to return to the relevant Syrian authorities and it turned out that some of them have legal claims (against them) or are pursued by the security forces. The refugees were notified of this matter and some of them changed their minds about returning. However, others decided to return despite this and resolve the pending issues on Syrian territory.

“Not all returnees are registered on UNHCR lists. The UNHCR lists that were handed over to the Lebanese General Security include about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, including 706,000 people who were registered after 2015. However, the total number of Syrian refugees is about 2.1 million. In addition to those registered with UNHCR there are Syrians who entered (Lebanon) clandestinely, with no precise figures about them, only estimates, as well as seasonal workers with legal residency.”

Dalal Harb, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, told Arab News: “In Lebanon, UNHCR works very closely with the General Security Office. The GSO is facilitating, on behalf of the Government of Lebanon, the return of Syrians who expressed their wish to return and registered with GSO to do so.

“While the GSO-facilitated return movements are not a UNHCR process, UNHCR is involved and works closely with GSO and others in reaching out to and counseling refugees, when possible, and being present at the departure points prior to their return.”

Asked about the role of the UN agency in encouraging or discouraging the return of Syrians to their home country, and checking whether they were doing so of their own free will, Harb said: “On the day of a GSO-facilitated return movement, UNHCR is present at the different staging points to observe the process and provide on-site assistance to refugees.

“During the last GSO returns, UNHCR spoke to some of the families returning as they were preparing to leave. Many of the families, who confirmed that they would be returning as part of the GSO-facilitated return movement, said they themselves had decided to return. UNHCR did not speak to all individuals returning.

“UNHCR maintains that every refugee has the right to voluntarily return to their country. We work steadfastly with countries to try to ensure all returns are voluntary and in safety and dignity.”

The Lebanese parliament was due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the issue of Syrian refugees. There has been a growing debate in Lebanon of late about their presence in the country amid reports of a rise in crimes linked to refugees, including murders, kidnappings and thefts. This has led to widespread calls among the Lebanese people for the refugees to return home.