Pope Francis says Sudan’s war ‘most serious humanitarian crisis’

Pope Francis delivers the Angelus noon prayer in st. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Jan. 26 (AP)
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Updated 02 May 2025
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Pope Francis says Sudan’s war ‘most serious humanitarian crisis’

  • A drone attack on a hospital in El-Fasher killed at least 70 people
  • Pope Francis appeals to warring parties in Sudan to cease hostilities

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis said during Sunday prayers that the horror of the Holocaust can not be “forgotten or denied” as he also highlighted current suffering caused by Sudan’s civil war.
Speaking on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, he called on the entire world to “work together to eliminate the scourge of anti-Semitism as well as all forms of religious discrimination and persecution.”
Turning to Sudan, Francis said it was the “most serious humanitarian crisis in the world.”
“I renew my appeal to the warring parties in Sudan to cease hostilities and agree to sit at a negotiating table,” he said at the Sunday Angelus service.
The conflict in Sudan between the army and the Rapid Support Forces militia has triggered a huge humanitarian disaster, killing tens of thousands of people, uprooting more than 12 million and causing widespread starvation in parts of the country.
A drone attack on a Saudi-run hospital in El-Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region killed at least 70 people and wounded 19 others, according to the World Health Organization on Sunday.


Syria says 120 Daesh detainees escaped prison; Kurdish website said 1,500 escaped

Updated 20 January 2026
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Syria says 120 Daesh detainees escaped prison; Kurdish website said 1,500 escaped

  • The Syrian ministry said Syrian army units and ministry special forces entered Shaddadi following the breakout

CAIRO: Syria’s Interior Ministry ​said on Tuesday that about 120 Daesh detainees escaped from Shaddadi prison, after the Kurdish website Rudaw reported that a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, ‌Farhad Shami, said ‌around 1,500 Daesh ⁠members ​had ‌escaped.
The Syrian ministry said Syrian army units and ministry special forces entered Shaddadi following the breakout. It said security forces had recaptured 81 of the escapees ⁠after search and sweep operations in ‌the town and surrounding ‍areas, with efforts ‍continuing to arrest the ‍remaining fugitives.
Earlier, the Syrian army said “a number of” Daesh militants had escaped a prison that had ​been under SDF control in the eastern city of Shaddadi, ⁠accusing the SDF of releasing them.
After days of fighting with government forces, the SDF agreed on Sunday to withdraw from both Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, two Arab-majority provinces they had controlled for years and the location of Syria’s main oil fields.