CAIRO: Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets throughout Sudan on Monday to call for disbanding former President Omar al-Bashir's party, the political organ he used to control the country during his 30 years of autocratic rule before being ousted in April.
Separately, Sudan's transitional government and a main rebel faction signed a political declaration amid peace negotiations that began last week, taking a new step toward ending the country's yearslong civil wars. The two sides also renewed a nationwide cease-fire for three months.
The protests in Khartoum and other parts of the country coincided with the anniversary of an uprising in 1964. That push ended six years of military rule in Sudan following a wave of riots and strikes.
Sudan's current transitional government came to power after a similar campaign of mass unrest, which eventually led the military to overthrow al-Bashir. The country is now ruled by a joint military-civilian administration, which must navigate a delicate path toward eventual democratic elections in just over three years.
Monday's protests renewed demands to step up an independent investigation into the deadly break-up of a protest sit-in camp in June, which resulted in dozens of causalities among the protesters.
Police blocked off main streets Monday leading to the presidential palace and the military's headquarters in Khartoum — the site of June's deadly dispersal — ahead of the marches, according to Asil Abdu, an activist and a resident of the capital.
A statement by the police warned against "creating a state of chaos," which it said could lead to "unfavorable consequences."
Videos circulated online show protesters marching in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman. Protests also broke out in other cities such as Atbara, the northern transport hub where the uprising began in December.
The protesters demanding al-Bashir's National Congress Party be disbanded were called for by the Sudanese Professionals' Association, which spearheaded the uprising against the former president.
The SPA has called for the appointment of regional governors and the formation of a legislative body. Creating that interim parliament was part of an August power-sharing agreement signed between the pro-democracy protesters and the country's powerful military.
The transitional government had previously said it would postpone appointing the governors and the legislative body until after achieving peace with the country's rebel groups. That would be a crucial step, since the transitional government is looking to slash military spending in order to revive the battered economy. The uprising against al-Bashir initially began against economic issues, but escalated into calls for his downfall.
Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi, a member of the Sovereign Council and a government negotiator, said Monday that they had agreed on the agenda for the negotiations with the Sudan Revolutionary Front, an alliance of rebel groups from the western Darfur region.
The talks are taking place in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, which itself gained independence from the north in 2011 after years of fighting.
The transitional authorities have set a six-month deadline for making peace with the rebel groups.
Sudan activists call for protest to disband old ruling party
Sudan activists call for protest to disband old ruling party
- The transitional government has previously said it would postpone appointing the governors and the legislative body till achieving peace with the country’s rebel groups
UN reports a 35 percent increase in people affected by violence in South Sudan
- There is a 35 percent increase in the number of victims reported from the previous quarter
- Violence caused by ethnic tensions and disputes over resources such as land has increased in various parts of the country
The UN Mission in South Sudan, or UNMISS, documented 233 incidents of violence affecting 862 people. Of that, 406 were killed, 293 were injured, 100 were abducted and 63 subjected to conflict-related sexual violence, it said in a report released Monday.
It was a 35 percent increase in the number of victims reported from the previous quarter.
South Sudan is to hold elections later this year, the first since a 2018 peace deal between President Salva Kiir and his former rival, Riek Machar, that ended a five-year conflict that killed hundreds of thousands.
Violence caused by ethnic tensions and disputes over resources such as land has increased in various parts of the country in recent months, particularly in the oil-rich region of Abyei.
The head of UNMISS, Nicholas Haysom, said it is “doing all it can to prevent violence and build peace in the affected areas” and urged the South Sudan government to intervene and “resolve underlying grievances and build peace.”
It said it has conducted at least 10,000 peacekeeping patrols by land, air and boat over the past year.
South Sudan, one of the world’s youngest nations, also suffers from drought and flooding, making living conditions difficult for residents.
The World Food Program in its latest country brief said South Sudan “continues to face a dire humanitarian crisis” due to violence, economic instability, climate change and an influx of people fleeing the conflict in neighboring Sudan.
Israel hits Hezbollah arms depots in Syria: war monitor
- Strikes have increased since Israel’s war with Palestinian militant group Hamas, a Hezbollah ally, began on October 7
BEIRUT: Israeli raids hit warehouses storing weapons for the Lebanese Hezbollah group in Syria Tuesday, a war monitor said, as a Syrian military source said air defenses had intercepted several missiles.
Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war broke out in 2011, targeting Iran-backed forces including Hezbollah as well as Syrian army positions.
The strikes have increased since Israel’s war with Palestinian militant group Hamas, a Hezbollah ally, began on October 7.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the latest strikes near the capital Damascus Tuesday had destroyed weapons and ammunition, causing secondary explosions and fires.
A military source quoted by Syrian state media said Israeli “air aggression” had targeted several military positions near Damascus.
“Our air defenses took action and shot down several missiles,” the source added.
The Britain-based Observatory said it was the second such strike in two days, coming after raids on Sunday hit another Hezbollah weapons depot and a separate site near Damascus.
Earlier this month, an Israeli strike reportedly killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard and two other people in Banias on Syria’s Mediterranean coast.
The Israeli army said last week it had hit about 4,500 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Syria over the past five months.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria.
Israeli airstrikes kill 20 in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
- In Deir Al-Balah, a town in central Gaza about 14 km (8.6 miles) south of Gaza City, the sounds of explosions mixed with thunder, and rain added to the miseries of displaced families in tent camps
CAIRO: Twenty Palestinians were killed in the early hours of Tuesday in Israeli air strikes on Rafah and central parts of the Gaza Strip, Gaza health officials said.
In the southern Gaza city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, where over 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter, 14 people were killed and dozens others wounded in strikes that hit several houses and apartments, Gaza medical officials said.
Six more people died in another air strike on a house in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, they added.
In Deir Al-Balah, a town in central Gaza about 14 km (8.6 miles) south of Gaza City, the sounds of explosions mixed with thunder, and rain added to the miseries of displaced families in tent camps.
“We are no longer able to distinguish between the sounds of thunder and bombings,” Shaban Abdel-Raouf, a father of five in Deir Al-Balah, said via a chat application.
“We used to await the rain and pray to God if it was late. Today we pray it doesn’t rain. The displaced people have enough miseries,” he added.
The conflict, now in its sixth month, began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s assault has killed more than 31,000 Gazans, according to Palestinian health officials.
Negotiations for a ceasefire in the war were due to resume on Monday with an Israeli delegation heading to Qatar.
“We are looking forward to the good news from Qatar. Will it happen this time? Will they seal a deal? Over 2 million people in Gaza are praying they do,” said Abdel-Raouf.
UN Security Council calls for immediate halt to Houthi attacks on Red Sea vessels
- Council members reiterated the need for full compliance with all UN resolutions designed to end the violence in Yemen and preserve the peace process
- The Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting international shipping since November and say their assaults will continue until Israel ends its war on Gaza
NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council on Monday condemned “in the strongest terms” Houthi strikes against international maritime traffic in the Red Sea and demanded that all such attacks “cease immediately.”
The Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November and say their assaults will continue until Israel ends its war on Gaza.
The attacks highlighted by the council included one on March 6 on the Barbados-flagged merchant carrier True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden, which left two Filipino nationals and a Vietnamese citizen dead and several crew members injured. It was the first fatal strike against shipping by the Houthis.
Another was an anti-ballistic missile attack on Feb. 18 that targeted the Belize-flagged, UK-owned cargo ship Rubymar and caused it to sink. The vessel was carrying 21,000 tonnes of fertilizer, raising fears of environmental damage to the Red Sea, including its coral reefs and marine life.
Council members reiterated the importance of the “full implementation of Resolution 2216” and subsequent resolutions that call for an end to the violence in Yemen and to all unilateral actions that threaten the political process in the country.
They emphasized the need for “practical cooperation, including with the government of Yemen, to prevent the Houthis from acquiring the arms and related materiel necessary to carry out further attacks,” and reiterated that all member states must adhere to “their obligations in regards to the targeted arms embargo.”
The council also demanded the immediate release of the Japanese-operated cargo ship Galaxy Leader and the 25 members of its crew, who have been unlawfully detained by the Houthis for more than 100 days.
Members emphasized the importance of Red Sea maritime routes to humanitarian operations in Yemen and beyond, and to the local fishing industry and the Yemeni people whose livelihoods it supports. They reaffirmed that “the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms by merchant and commercial vessels of all states transiting the Red Sea and Baab Al-Mandab, in accordance with international law, must be respected.”
With that in mind, council members warned of the adverse effects of a “March 4 Houthi decision purporting to require ships obtain a permit from their ‘Maritime Affairs Authority’ before entering Yemeni waters, on the freedom of commercial navigation and humanitarian operations, including into Yemen.”
Last week, UN officials expressed concern that parties involved in the conflict in Yemen might engage in “risky military adventurism” that could push the country into a new cycle of war.
“Although we have tried to shield the peace process from regional developments since the war in Gaza, the reality is (that) what happens regionally impacts Yemen, and what happens in Yemen can impact the region,” Hans Grundberg, the UN’s special envoy for Yemen said during a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the latest developments in the country and the Red Sea. “The current trajectory gives cause for serious concern.”
Council members stressed the importance of efforts to enhance regional and international cooperation to counter threats to peace and security in the region, and called for a deescalation of hostilities in the Red Sea to help preserve the peace process in Yemen.
They commended the internationally recognized government of Yemen on its efforts “to preserve the maritime environment,” and called on all UN member states, organizations and agencies to support that work.
The council also emphasized the need to “prevent further regional spillover of the conflict, and its impact on the security and the stability of the region and beyond,” and reiterated “the necessity to address the root causes contributing to regional tensions and to the disruption of maritime security in order to ensure a prompt, efficient and effective response.”
Israeli airstrikes target Damascus countryside, Syria says
- Iran has been a major backer of President Bashar Assad during Syria’s nearly 12-year-old conflict
AMMAN: Israel early on Tuesday launched missiles at several military targets outside the Syrian capital Damascus resulting in some “material damage,” Syria’s defense ministry said.
Syrian air defenses intercepted Israeli “missiles and shot down some of them,” the ministry added in a statement.
Iran has been a major backer of President Bashar Assad during Syria’s nearly 12-year-old conflict. Its support for Damascus and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Tehran’s extraterritorial military power.
Those strikes have ramped up in line with flaring regional tensions since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, with more than half a dozen Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers killed in suspected Israeli strikes on Syria since December.
As a result, the Guards have scaled back deployment of their senior officers in Syria and have planned to rely more on allied Shiite militia to preserve their sway there, Reuters reported in February.