CAIRO: A city in Sudan’s western region is facing a “devastating tragedy” as the remaining population of about 260,000 people, half of them children, remain trapped after being besieged by a paramilitary group, the United Nations warned on Wednesday.
El-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, has been at the epicenter of fighting for over a year between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support forces, or RSF.
The UN’s children’s agency says least 600,000 people have been displaced from El-Fasher and surrounding camps in recent months, but inside the city there are still 260,000 civilians — including 130,000 children — living in “desperate conditions” after been cut off from aid for more than 16 months. It says an estimated 6,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition are at risk of death.
The paramilitaries have imposed a siege around the city, cutting off supply lines, UNICEF said in a statement. El-Fasher has become “an epicenter of child suffering, with malnutrition, disease, and violence claiming young lives daily,” it said.
“We are witnessing a devastating tragedy – children in El-Fasher are starving while UNICEF’s lifesaving nutrition services are being blocked,” said Catherine Russell, the agency’s executive director.
“Blocking humanitarian access is a grave violation of children’s rights, and the lives of children are hanging in the balance,” Russell said.
UNICEF said it is calling on Sudan’s government “and all other concerned parties” to ensure “sustained, unimpeded, and safe access to reach children wherever they are in Sudan.” It also wants an immediate and sustained humanitarian pause in El-Fasher and across other conflict-affected areas and unimpeded humanitarian access for the delivery of food, medicines, water, and other essentials.
The war broke out in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere across the African country.
El-Fasher is the military’s last stronghold in the sprawling Darfur region. The RSF has been trying to seize the city since April 2024 and has been the focus of a bombing campaign during which more than 1,000 children have been killed or maimed, according to UNICEF.
The Sudan war has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 14 million people and pushing parts of the country into famine, and disease outbreaks. The war has killed tens of thousands, and marked by atrocities including mass killings and rape, which the International Criminal Court is investigating as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Besieged Sudan city ‘epicenter of child suffering,’ UNICEF warns
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Besieged Sudan city ‘epicenter of child suffering,’ UNICEF warns
- El-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur faces a 'devastating tragedy with the population besieged by a paramilitary group, UN’s children’s agency says
Lebanon PM publishes long-awaited banking law draft
- The law stipulates that each of the state, the central bank, commercial banks and depositors will share the losses accrued as a result of the financial crisis.
- Depositors with a limit of $100,000, over the course of four years
BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam published on Friday a long-awaited banking draft bill, which distributes losses from the 2019 economic crisis between banks and the state.
The draft law is a key demand from the international community, which has conditioned economic aid to Lebanon on financial reforms.
In a televised speech, Salam said “this draft law constitutes a roadmap to getting out of the crisis” that still grips Lebanon.
The draft will be discussed by the Lebanese cabinet on Monday before being sent to parliament, where it could be blocked.
The law stipulates that each of the state, the central bank, commercial banks and depositors will share the losses accrued as a result of the financial crisis.
Depositors, who lost access to their funds after the crisis, will be able to retrieve their money, with a limit of $100,000, over the course of four years.
Salam said that 85 percent of depositors had less than $100,000 in their accounts.
The wealthiest depositors will see the remainder of their money compensated by asset-backed securities.
“I know that many of you are listening today with hearts full of anger, anger at a state that abandoned you,” Salam said.
“This bill may not be perfect... but it is a realistic and fair step toward restoring rights, halting the collapse.”
- ‘Banks are angry’ -
The International Monetary Fund, which closely monitored the drafting of the bill, had previously insisted on the need to “restore the viability of the banking sector consistent with international standards” and protect small depositors.
The Associations of Banks in Lebanon criticized the draft law on Monday, saying in a statement that it contains “serious shortcomings” and harms commercial banks.
“Banks are angry because the law opens the door to them sharing any part of the losses,” said Sami Zougheib, researcher at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank.
He told AFP that banks would have preferred that the state bear full responsibility.
The text provides for the recapitalization of failing banks, while the government’s debt to the Central Bank will be converted into bonds.
Salam said that the bill aims to “revive the banking sector” which had collapsed, giving free rein to a parallel economy based on cash transactions, which facilitate money laundering and illicit trade.
According to government estimates, the losses resulting from the financial crisis amounted to about $70 billion, a figure that is expected to have increased over the six years that the crisis was left unaddressed.
Since assuming power, Salam and President Joseph Aoun have pledged to implement the necessary reforms and legislation.
In April, Lebanon’s parliament adopted a bank restructuring law, as the previous legislation was believed to have allowed a flight of capital at the outbreak of the 2019 crisis.
The new bill stipulates that politically exposed persons and major shareholders who transferred significant capital outside the country from 2019 onwards — while ordinary depositors were deprived of their savings — must return them within three months or face fines.
The draft law could still be blocked by parliament even if the cabinet approves it.
“Many lawmakers are directly exposed as large depositors or bank shareholders, politically allied with bank owners, and unwilling to pass a law that either angers banks or angers depositors,” Zougheib said.
Politicians and banking officials have repeatedly obstructed the reforms required by the international community for Lebanon to receive financial support.
