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”
US envoy Witkoff meets Netanyahu in Jerusalem: Israeli official
- Witkoff’s talks with Netanyahu on Tuesday marked his second encounter with the Israeli prime minister in less than a fortnight
JERUSALEM: US envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, an Israeli official said, during a visit that followed the reopening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt.
The official told AFP that the meeting was taking place in Jerusalem, but declined to provide details on the agenda.
It came as the United States was expected to hold talks with Israel’s arch-foe Iran later this week.
An Arab official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the meeting was likely to take place in Turkiye on Friday, following diplomatic interventions by Ankara, as well as Egypt, Oman and Qatar.
Witkoff’s talks with Netanyahu on Tuesday marked his second encounter with the Israeli prime minister in less than a fortnight. His previous visit took place days before the Rafah crossing was reopened.
Israeli media reported at the time that Witkoff and fellow US envoy Jared Kushner had pressed for the reopening of the crossing.
