UNITED NATIONS: International medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Thursday told the United Nations Security Council that the Sudanese people have been met with “indifference and inaction” amid nearly two years of war.
“Two years of unrelenting violence have plagued Sudan, two years of devastation, displacement and death, millions uprooted, tens of thousands killed,” MSF Secretary General Christopher Lockyear said at a Security Council meeting.
“Two years of suffering met with two years of indifference and inaction.”
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a war between the nation’s army, led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhane, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) helmed by General Mohamed Hamdane Dagalo.
“The war in Sudan is a war on people, a reality that grows more evident by the day,” Lockyear said, accusing the parties of not only failing to protect citizens but also “actively compounding their suffering.”
Lockyear critiqued the Security Council’s repeated calls for a ceasefire, calling their actions “hollow.”
“Whilst statements are being made in this chamber, civilians remain unseen, unprotected, bombed, besieged, raped, displaced, deprived of food, of medical care, of dignity,” he said.
The ongoing violence led MSF last month to suspend all activities in the famine-stricken Zamzam IDP refugee camp.
“This Council’s failure to translate its own demands into action feels like abandonment to violence and deprivation,” Lockyear said.
In UN meet, MSF slams ‘indifference’ toward war-torn Sudan
https://arab.news/zzjj5
In UN meet, MSF slams ‘indifference’ toward war-torn Sudan
- “Two years of unrelenting violence have plagued Sudan,” MSF Secretary General Christopher Lockyear said
- “Two years of suffering met with two years of indifference and inaction“
Baghdad traders protest new customs tariffs
- The demonstrators gathered outside the General Customs Directorate on Sunday, chanting slogans against corruption and rejecting the new fees
BAGHDAD: Hundreds of traders and owners of customs clearance companies protested in central Baghdad on Sunday, demanding that Iraq’s government reverse recently imposed customs tariffs they say have sharply increased their costs and disrupted trade.
The new tariffs that took effect on Jan. 1 were imposed to reduce the country’s debt and reliance on oil revenues, as oil prices have fallen.
Iraq faces a debt of more than 90 trillion Iraqi dinars ($69 billion) — and a state budget that remains reliant on oil for about 90 percent of revenues, despite attempts to diversify.
But traders say the new tariffs — in some cases as high as 30 percent — have placed an unfair burden on them. Opponents have filed a lawsuit aiming to reduce the decision, which Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court is set to rule on Wednesday.
The demonstrators gathered outside the General Customs Directorate on Sunday, chanting slogans against corruption and rejecting the new fees.
“We used to pay about 3 million dinars per container, but now in some cases they ask for up to 14 million,” said Haider Al-Safi, a transport and customs clearance company owner.
“Even infant milk fees rose from about 495,000 dinars to nearly 3 million.”
He said that the new tariffs have caused a backlog of goods at the Umm Qasr port in southern Iraq and added that electric vehicles, previously exempt from customs duties, are now subject to a 15 percent fee.
“The main victim is the citizen with limited income, and government employee whose salary barely covers his daily living, those who have to pay rent, and have children with school expenses — they all will be affected by the market,” said Mohammed Samir, a wholesale trader from Baghdad.
Protesters also accused influential groups of facilitating the release of goods in exchange for lower unofficial payments, calling it widespread corruption.
Many traders, they said, are now considering routing their imports through the Kurdistan region, where fees are lower.
The protests coincided with a nationwide strike by shop owners, who closed markets and stores in several parts of Baghdad to oppose the tariff increase.
In major commercial districts, shops remained shut and hung up banners reading “Customs fees are killing citizens.”
