CAIRO: The Arab League will meet Monday to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hossam Zaki, the Cairo-based organization’s deputy head, told AFP the session will be held at the level of foreign ministers.
The United Arab Emirates, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, abstained Friday in a vote on a resolution, vetoed by Moscow, demanding Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
Syria, Algeria and Sudan, for their part, are linked to Russia by military accords.
A number of Arab countries are heavily dependent on wheat supplies from both Ukraine and Russia, and any shortages of the staple grain have potential to stir unrest.
If those supplies are disrupted, raising bread prices, “the Ukraine crisis could trigger renewed protests and instability” in the region, according to the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
On the humanitarian front, thousands of Arab students became stranded in Ukraine — many of them having already fled violence back home — and have been appealing for help in escaping the crisis.
Arab League to meet over Ukraine war
https://arab.news/b39mj
Arab League to meet over Ukraine war
- Syria, Algeria and Sudan are linked to Russia by military accords
- A number of Arab countries are heavily dependent on wheat supplies from both Ukraine and Russia
UN rights chief Shocked by ‘unbearable’ Darfur atrocities
- Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Nearly three years of war have put the Sudanese people through “hell,” the UN’s rights chief said on Sunday, blasting the vast sums spent on advanced weaponry at the expense of humanitarian aid and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has left tens of thousands of people dead and around 11 million displaced.
Speaking in Port Sudan during his first wartime visit, UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said the population had endured “horror and hell,” calling it “despicable” that funds that “should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population” are instead spent on advanced weapons, particularly drones.
More than 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and two-thirds of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
In addition to the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, Sudan is also facing “the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including through the arming of civilians and recruitment and use of children,” Turk added.
He said he had heard testimony of “unbearable” atrocities from survivors of attacks in Darfur, and warned of similar crimes unfolding in the Kordofan region — the current epicenter of the fighting.
Testimony of these atrocities must be heard by “the commanders of this conflict and those who are arming, funding and profiting from this war,” he said.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur.
“We must ensure that the perpetrators of these horrific violations face justice regardless of the affiliation,” Turk said on Sunday, adding that repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute “war crimes.”
He called on both sides to “cease intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.”
Turk again warned on Sunday that crimes similar to those seen in El-Fasher could recur in volatile Kordofan, where the RSF has advanced, besieging and attacking several key cities.
Hundreds of thousands face starvation across the region, where more than 65,000 people have been displaced since October, according to the latest UN figures.
