Senior UK officials discuss Gaza crisis on sidelines of COP28 in Dubai

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Britain’s King Charles III met with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad in Dubai. (QNA)
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Dubai. (10 Downing Street)
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Dubai. (10 Downing Street)
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad in Dubai. (QNA)
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Updated 02 December 2023
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Senior UK officials discuss Gaza crisis on sidelines of COP28 in Dubai

  • ‘We must work toward a two-state solution,’ Rishi Sunak tells Qatar’s emir
  • Hamas ‘could have no future’ in Gaza, PM’s office says

LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, Downing Street said.

Sunak thanked the emir for Qatar’s important role in “facilitating the humanitarian pause in Gaza, which saw the release of dozens of hostages and the vital passage of further aid,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

“The leaders deeply regretted the collapse of the pause and reiterated the importance of ongoing efforts to secure the release of all hostages and ensure humanitarian assistance reaches those in need in Gaza,” it said.

In the long term, “we must work toward a two-state solution which guarantees the security and prosperity of both Israelis and Palestinians,” Sunak said, adding that “Hamas had demonstrated that it could not be a partner for peace and could have no future in Gaza.”

Sunak also met Jordan’s King Abdullah II and reassured him that Britain would continue “to press Israel on the need to adhere to international humanitarian law and contain settler violence in the West Bank.”

“The prime minister recognized the vital role Jordan has played in addressing the crisis in Gaza and the generosity they have shown in providing significant humanitarian support to Palestinian civilians, including the provision of military field hospitals,” the statement said.

Sunak reiterated the UK’s commitment to working toward a lasting resolution to the conflict that would deliver “dignity, peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

Sunak and King Abdullah also agreed on the importance of close cooperation between their countries, especially in trade, defense and clean technology.

During talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Sunak reiterated “the UK’s support for the humanitarian response in Gaza, with planeloads of UK aid, including warehouse facilities and forklift trucks, sent to Egypt to preposition on the border with Gaza.”

He thanked El-Sisi for Egypt’s efforts to get vital aid into Gaza, its role in helping secure the release of hostages and support in evacuating British nationals.

“He said the UK stands ready to provide further support, recognizing that there must be no forcible displacement from Gaza and that aid must be able to reach people across the Gaza Strip,” the Downing Street statement said.

Sunak and Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also discussed the conflict with Hamas and the end of the humanitarian pause in Gaza earlier on Friday.

The prime minister “once again emphasized the need to take all possible measures to avoid civilian casualties and significantly increase the flow of aid to Gaza,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the UK’s King Charles III met Sheikh Tamim on the sidelines of the annual summit to discuss “the friendship and cooperation between the two countries and peoples, as well as the means to enhance them,” the Qatar News Agency reported.

They also exchanged views on the most prominent issues on the summit’s agenda and discussed developments of joint interest.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron held talks with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman on the latest developments in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as ways to reduce escalation and bring about a ceasefire.

During the meeting, Sheikh Mohammed said his country, along with its mediation partners, was committed to its efforts to return calm to the region and that the resumption of bombing of the Gaza Strip after the truce had complicated mediation efforts and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis.

He expressed Qatar’s “firm position in condemning all forms of targeting civilians and that killing innocent people, especially women and children, and practicing the policy of collective punishment are unacceptable, under any circumstance,” the news agency reported.

He also stressed the necessity of opening humanitarian corridors to ensure relief and aid reach the stricken Palestinians.


African Union: Sudan war is world’s ‘worst humanitarian crisis’

Updated 6 sec ago
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African Union: Sudan war is world’s ‘worst humanitarian crisis’

  • The Sudanese army has been at war since April 2023 with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces
  • The Sudanese army controls the east and north of the country while RSF holds most of Darfur region
ADDIS ABABA: African Union officials on Tuesday branded Sudan’s civil war the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world” and warned it was leaving hundreds of thousands of children malnourished.
The Sudanese army has been at war since April 2023 with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a conflict that has displaced around 12 million people, according to the AU and the International Rescue Committee.
It “has hampered access to humanitarian relief, led to shortage of food and aggravated hunger,” Mohamed Ibn Chambas, chairman of an AU panel on Sudan, said Tuesday on X.
“Children and women are continually abused, and the elderly and sick lack medical assistance,” he added.
“This is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.”
A senior AU official for child welfare, Wilson Almeida Adao, said in a separate X post that hospital admissions for malnutrition rose by 44 percent in 2024, with over 431,000 children receiving treatment.
“We witness reports of grave violations, including attacks on schools and hospitals, forced recruitment of child soldiers, and the denial of humanitarian access,” he said.
The Sudanese army controls the east and north of the country while the RSF holds most of the stricken Darfur region, where the United Nations on Monday accused it of blocking aid.
For the AU, “only inter-Sudanese political dialogue, not the military option, can end this war,” said Chambas.

Syria’s Sharaa calls Trump Gaza plan ‘serious crime’ bound to fail

Updated 2 min 23 sec ago
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Syria’s Sharaa calls Trump Gaza plan ‘serious crime’ bound to fail

  • Trump had said the US would take over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and develop it economically after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere
DUBAI: Syria Arab Republic’s new president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, said in remarks broadcast on Monday he believes US President Donald Trump’s plan to resettle Palestinians from Gaza and take over the Strip “is a serious crime that will ultimately fail.”
Trump had said the US would take over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and develop it economically after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere. He said Palestinians would not have the right of return to Gaza under his proposal.
In an interview with a UK podcast, Sharaa, an Islamist whose militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham was once an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, said Trump’s proposal would not succeed.
“I believe no power can drive people from their land. Many countries have tried to do it and they have all failed, especially during the recent war in Gaza over the past year and a half,” he said.
Sharaa, declared president for a transitional phase after his group’s fighters led the overthrow of Bashar Assad, said it would be neither “wise nor morally or politically right” for Trump to lead an effort to force Palestinians out of their land.
“Over 80 years of this conflict, all attempts to displace them have failed; those who left have regretted their decision. The Palestinian lesson that every generation has learned is the importance of holding on to their land,” he added.
Egypt, Jordan and other Arab nations have strongly opposed any attempt to push Palestinians over the border.
They fear any mass movement across the border would further undermine prospects for a “two-state solution” – creating a state of Palestine next to Israel – and leave Arab nations dealing with the consequences.

Syria Kurds say aim to empty northeast camps of Syrians, Iraqis this year

Updated 11 February 2025
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Syria Kurds say aim to empty northeast camps of Syrians, Iraqis this year

  • Kurdish-run camps and prisons hold about 56,000 people, many with alleged or perceived links to Daesh
  • Al-Hol is northeast Syria’s largest camp, with more than 40,000 detainees from 47 countries, living in dire conditions

QAMISHLI, Syria: Syria’s semi-autonomous Kurdish administration aims to empty camps in the country’s northeast of thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqis, including suspected relatives of Daesh group fighters, by the end of the year, an official said.
“The autonomous administration is working to empty the camps” of Syrians and Iraqis “in 2025... in coordination with the United Nations,” Sheikhmous Ahmed, an official in the Kurdish administration, said late Monday.
Kurdish-run camps and prisons hold about 56,000 people, many with alleged or perceived links to Daesh, more than five years after the group’s territorial defeat in Syria.
The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spearheaded the military campaign that ousted the jihadists from their last scraps of Syrian territory.
Al-Hol is northeast Syria’s largest camp, with more than 40,000 detainees from 47 countries, living in dire conditions.
According to 2024 figures, there were more than 20,000 Iraqis and 16,000 Syrians in Al-Hol.
An Iraqi security source said that about 12,000 Iraqis had left Al-Hol camp since 2021, while around 17,000 remain.
Last month, the Kurdish administration said it would facilitate the voluntary return of residents of Al-Hol and other camps to their areas of origin.
Ahmed said some Iraqis had already departed Al-Hol, while “for Syrians, the decision is still being studied.”
The “return and exit mechanism” is being coordinated with the UN refugee agency and other organizations, he said, noting the “very large number” of people affected.
No solution has been found for other foreign nationals.
Ahmed said the presence of other foreigners in Al-Hol “is an international matter linked to the countries that have oversight in Al-Hol camp and also the fighters” imprisoned by the SDF.
Some countries have repatriated nationals from Al-Hol, but most “have not carried out any withdrawal,” he added.
The push comes amid talks between Syria’s new authorities and the SDF over the group’s future, and as clashes rage in the north between the force and pro-Ankara factions.
Ahmed said the initiative was launched “after the fall of the regime of Bashar Assad” in December, noting that Syria is now “heading toward reconstruction.”
The official denied recent US aid cuts were the reason for the push, adding that UN-affiliated and local organizations were still providing support and the administration was “continuing to provide services to the camps.”
Human Rights Watch has warned that recent US aid suspensions could worsen “life-threatening conditions” in camps in Syria’s northeast.


UN chief: Renewed hostilities in Gaza must be avoided at all costs

Updated 11 February 2025
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UN chief: Renewed hostilities in Gaza must be avoided at all costs

  • Hamas on Monday announced it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice
  • It claimed Israeli violated ceasefire agreement in Gaza, raising the risk of reigniting the conflict

GENEVA: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Hamas to continue with the planned release of hostages on Tuesday, a day after the Palestinian militant group announced its intention to halt the exchange.

“We must avoid at all costs the resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to an immense tragedy,” he said in a statement.

Hamas on Monday announced it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over what it called Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, raising the risk of reigniting the conflict.

Hamas was to release more Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and other Palestinians held in Israeli detention as had happened over the past three weeks. An Israeli delegation returned from Doha for talks on the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Monday, amid growing doubts over the Egyptian and Qatari-brokered process to end the war in Gaza.

“Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement and resume negotiations in Doha for the second phase,” Guterres added.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Hamas should release all hostages held by the militant group in Gaza by midday Saturday or he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and “let hell break out.”

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump must remember that the only way to bring home Israeli prisoners is to respect the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.


Governments need to regulate AI tech, says Klaus Schwab at World Governments Summit

Updated 11 February 2025
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Governments need to regulate AI tech, says Klaus Schwab at World Governments Summit

  • World Economic Forum founder urges education to counter ‘fear’
  • Govts have ‘big responsibility’ in shaping ethical regulations, rules

DUBAI: Governments need to provide an ethical regulatory framework for the artificial intelligence sector, and provide public education to counter fears of the emerging technology.

This is according to the World Economic Forum’s Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab who was speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Tuesday.

“We are living in a transition into a new time that will change everything. How we communicate, how we work and how we live,” he said.

“Governments have to be an agent of change in lighting speed … They need to provide the necessary infrastructure to sustain change at this rate.”

Schwab urged governments to work together to create what he said was the necessary ethical policies around new technologies so they can serve humankind.

“What we are seeing today as international efforts, is not enough. We need a coordinated global process to make sure that those technologies are constructive,” he added.

“Many people are afraid of the future because the progress is so fast. Not understanding new technologies can create fear. It is our job to educate and allow people to understand this technology, so it is not feared,” he explained.

He added that AI should not be treated and regulated like nuclear technology. “It is an enabling technology, governments have a big responsibility in shaping these regulations and rules.

“Government people today have to be governance architects to create a systems approach to define a system-oriented attitude,” he said.

Schwab added: “The future is shaped by us, so let’s look with optimism into the future. Let’s look at our future with constructive optimism.”