WASHINGTON: Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday he regretted his inability to end the brutal war in Sudan and voiced hope that President-elect Donald Trump’s administration will keep trying.
“It is for me, yes, another real regret that when it comes to Sudan, we haven’t been able on our watch to get to that day of success,” Blinken said at a farewell news conference.
There have been “some improvements in getting humanitarian assistance in through our diplomacy, but not an end to the conflict, not an end to the abuses, not an end to the suffering of people,” he said.
“We’ll keep working at it for the next three days, and I hope the next administration will take that on as well,” he said.
Blinken last week determined that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, at war with Sudan’s army since April 2023, had committed genocide.
Blinken said that the army “has also committed war crimes, and it continues to target civilians” and regretted its refusal to engage in a series of ceasefire talks.
Blinken says feels ‘real regret’ at failure to end Sudan war
https://arab.news/4gyq8
Blinken says feels ‘real regret’ at failure to end Sudan war
- “It is for me, yes, another real regret that when it comes to Sudan,” Blinken said
- There have been “some improvements in getting humanitarian assistance in through our diplomacy”
Baghdad airport reopens after weather disruption
- A thick fog has blanketed the capital Baghdad and several areas in Iraq, drastically reducing visibility since the early morning hours
BAGHDAD: Baghdad International Airport reopened Thursday after a 12-hour halt due to bad weather, the transport ministry said.
Authorities announced at around 12:30 a.m. (2130 GMT) they had temporarily shut Baghdad airport to air traffic because of poor weather conditions and fog that drastically reduced visibility.
Other airports, Najaf in central Iraq and Sulaimaniyah in the northern Kurdistan region, were also closed.
The transport ministry said at midday Thursday the “airspace has been reopened” at Baghdad and Najaf airports, according to the official INA press agency.
Heavy rains over the past two days caused flooding in several areas in Iraq, particularly in the autonomous Kurdistan region.
Floods in the north killed at least three people, including a child, according to local authorities. A key bridge connecting the northern city of Kirkuk to Baghdad also collapsed.
Authorities hope the heavy rains will help alleviate water shortages in drought-stricken Iraq, after water reserves in artificial lakes hit their lowest levels in the country’s recent history following a dry season.
Iraq, heavily impacted by climate change, has been ravaged for years by drought and low rainfall.
