US says supports gas deals with Kurdistan region after Iraq lawsuit
“We encourage Baghdad and Irbil to work together to expand domestic gas production as soon as possible
Updated 28 May 2025
AFP
WASHINGTON: The United States said Tuesday it supported American energy companies’ contracts with Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region after the Iraqi government filed a lawsuit against them.
Regional prime minister Masrour Barzani announced the signing of the two deals valued at tens of billions of dollars during a visit to Washington, in which he met Friday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio in his meeting “commended” the deals with US companies, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
“We encourage Baghdad and Irbil to work together to expand domestic gas production as soon as possible. These types of economic partnerships will benefit both the American and Iraqi peoples and help Iraq move toward energy independence,” she said.
“We also believe that US and Iraqi interests are best served by having a strong, resilient Iraqi Kurdistan region within a sovereign and prosperous federal Iraq
“As far as the nature of the lawsuits, obviously we are looking forward to continuing these kinds of deals. We expect these kinds of deals to flourish, and expect and would hope that they would be facilitated,” she said.
Sudan’s RSF targeted civilians with disabilities in El-Fasher: HRW
Updated 3 sec ago
AFP
KHARTOUM: Sudanese paramilitary forces killed, abused and targeted people with disabilities during and after their takeover of El-Fasher, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday, calling it the first time it had documented abuse of “this type and scale.” The Rapid Support Forces, which have been fighting Sudan’s regular army since April 2023, captured the military’s last stronghold in western Darfur in October after an 18-month siege. Reports later emerged of mass killings, abductions, rape and widespread looting. Last week, the UN’s independent fact-finding mission on Sudan said the assault on El-Fasher bore “the hallmarks of genocide.” “Human Rights Watch has documented abuses against people with disabilities in armed conflict around the world for over a decade,” said Emina Cerimovic, the group’s associate disability rights director. “But this is the first time we have documented this type and scale of targeted abuse.” HRW interviewed 22 survivors and witnesses from El-Fasher and found that RSF fighters singled out civilians with disabilities as they tried to flee. “The Rapid Support Forces treated people with disabilities as suspects, burdens or expendable,” Cerimovic said. She added that fighters accused amputees of being injured soldiers and “summarily executed them,” while others were mocked as “insane” or “not being a complete person.” A 29-year-old nurse said fighters executed a young man with Down syndrome whose sister had carried him on her back. “After killing her brother, they tied her hands, covered her face and took her away,” said the nurse. The nurse also described fighters ordering a woman carrying a blind teenage boy on her back to put him down. “She said ‘he cannot see’,” the nurse said. “They immediately shot him in the head.” Another witness said he saw fighters kill “more than 10 people,” most with physical disabilities. Others were beaten, detained for ransom or stripped of essential devices such as wheelchairs and hearing aids, leaving many unable to escape, HRW said. Conditions in displacement camps also remain dire, with “bathrooms and other facilities... inaccessible” to people with disabilities, witnesses told HRW. On Tuesday, the UN Security Council sanctioned four RSF commanders over atrocities in El-Fasher. The wider conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 11 million and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
