ROME: The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said Wednesday that its two top staff in Sudan had been ordered to leave the war-torn country by the foreign ministry.
The country director and emergency coordinator “have been designated as persona non grata, and asked to leave the country within 72 hours, without any explanation,” the Rome-based agency said in a statement.
WFP and senior UN officials were engaging with Sudanese authorities to protest the decision, which came “at a pivotal time,” it said.
“Humanitarian needs in Sudan have never been greater with more than 24 million people facing acute food insecurity and communities impacted by famine,” it said.
“At a moment when WFP and its partners need to be expanding their reach, this decision forces WFP to implement unplanned leadership changes, jeopardizing operations that support millions of vulnerable Sudanese facing extreme hunger, malnutrition, and even starvation,” it said.
The expulsions were announced days after paramilitaries seized the key city of El-Fasher in the western region of Darfur.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), locked in a brutal war with the army since April 2023, had launched a final assault on the city in recent days, seizing the army’s last positions.
The capture of El-Fasher has sparked fears of mass killings reminiscent of the region’s darkest days.
Analysts say Sudan is now effectively partitioned along an east-west axis, with the RSF running a parallel government across Darfur while the army is entrenched along the Nile and Red Sea in the north, east and center.
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WFP says two top staff to be expelled from Sudan
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WFP says two top staff to be expelled from Sudan
- The expulsions were announced days after paramilitaries seized the key city of El Fasher in the western region of Darfur
UPDATE 9-Iran foreign minister says progress made in nuclear talks with US in Geneva
* Araqchi says progress made on the main guiding principles
* Iranian media say parts of Strait of Hormuz to be temporarily closed
* The talks involved officials from both Iran and US
* US President Trump said he was involved indirectly
GENEVA: Iran and the United States reached an understanding on Tuesday on main “guiding principles” in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.
Oil futures fell and the benchmark Brent crude contract tumbled more than 1 percent after Araqchi’s comments, which helped ease fears of conflict in the region, where the US has deployed a battle force to press Tehran for concessions.
“Different ideas have been presented, these ideas have been seriously discussed, ultimately we’ve been able to reach a general agreement on some guiding principles,” Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks concluded in Geneva.
BOTH SIDES HAVE ‘CLEAR NEXT STEPS’
The indirect discussions between US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside Araqchi, were mediated by Oman. The White House did not respond to emailed questions about the meeting.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi said in a post on X “much work is yet to be done” but Iran and the US were leaving with “clear next steps” .
Just as talks began on Tuesday, Iranian state media said Iran would temporarily shut part of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, due to “security precautions” while Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards conducted military drills there.
Tehran has in the past threatened to shut down the strait to commercial shipping if it is attacked, a move that would choke off a fifth of global oil flows and drive up crude prices.
Responding to comments by Trump that “regime change” in Iran might be the best course, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, warned that any US attempts to depose his government would fail.
“The US President says their army is the world’s strongest, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes be slapped so hard it cannot get up,” he said, in comments published by Iranian media.
Speaking at a disarmament conference in Geneva after the talks, Araqchi said that a “new window of opportunity” had opened and that he hoped discussions would lead to a “sustainable” solution that ensured the full recognition of Iran’s legitimate rights.
Earlier, Trump said he himself would be involved “indirectly” in the Geneva talks and that he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal.
“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. “We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s.”
The US joined Israel last June in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. The US and Israel believe Iran aspires to build a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel’s existence. Iran says its nuclear program is purely peaceful, even though it has enriched uranium far beyond the purity needed for power generation, and close to what is required for a bomb.
IRAN SAYS IT WILL ONLY DISCUSS NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Since those strikes, Iran’s Islamic rulers have been weakened by street protests, suppressed at a cost of thousands of lives, against a cost-of-living crisis driven in part by international sanctions that have strangled Iran’s oil income.
Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran’s missile stockpile. Tehran says it is willing only to discuss curbs on its nuclear program — in exchange for sanctions relief — and that it will not give up uranium enrichment completely or discuss its missile program.
Khamenei reiterated Iran’s position that its formidable missile stockpile is non-negotiable and missile type and range have nothing to do with the United States.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday the success of the Geneva talks hinged on the US not making unrealistic demands and on its seriousness on lifting the crippling sanctions on Iran.
US B-2 BOMBERS STRUCK NUCLEAR TARGETS
Tehran and Washington were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks in June last year when Washington’s ally Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, and was then joined by US B-2 bombers that struck nuclear targets. Tehran has since said it has halted uranium enrichment activity.
Iran has joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forgo atomic weapons and cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel, which has not signed the NPT, neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons, under a decades-old ambiguity policy designed to deter surrounding enemies. Scholars believe it does.
* Iranian media say parts of Strait of Hormuz to be temporarily closed
* The talks involved officials from both Iran and US
* US President Trump said he was involved indirectly
GENEVA: Iran and the United States reached an understanding on Tuesday on main “guiding principles” in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.
Oil futures fell and the benchmark Brent crude contract tumbled more than 1 percent after Araqchi’s comments, which helped ease fears of conflict in the region, where the US has deployed a battle force to press Tehran for concessions.
“Different ideas have been presented, these ideas have been seriously discussed, ultimately we’ve been able to reach a general agreement on some guiding principles,” Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks concluded in Geneva.
BOTH SIDES HAVE ‘CLEAR NEXT STEPS’
The indirect discussions between US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside Araqchi, were mediated by Oman. The White House did not respond to emailed questions about the meeting.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi said in a post on X “much work is yet to be done” but Iran and the US were leaving with “clear next steps” .
Just as talks began on Tuesday, Iranian state media said Iran would temporarily shut part of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, due to “security precautions” while Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards conducted military drills there.
Tehran has in the past threatened to shut down the strait to commercial shipping if it is attacked, a move that would choke off a fifth of global oil flows and drive up crude prices.
Responding to comments by Trump that “regime change” in Iran might be the best course, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, warned that any US attempts to depose his government would fail.
“The US President says their army is the world’s strongest, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes be slapped so hard it cannot get up,” he said, in comments published by Iranian media.
Speaking at a disarmament conference in Geneva after the talks, Araqchi said that a “new window of opportunity” had opened and that he hoped discussions would lead to a “sustainable” solution that ensured the full recognition of Iran’s legitimate rights.
Earlier, Trump said he himself would be involved “indirectly” in the Geneva talks and that he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal.
“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. “We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s.”
The US joined Israel last June in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. The US and Israel believe Iran aspires to build a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel’s existence. Iran says its nuclear program is purely peaceful, even though it has enriched uranium far beyond the purity needed for power generation, and close to what is required for a bomb.
IRAN SAYS IT WILL ONLY DISCUSS NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Since those strikes, Iran’s Islamic rulers have been weakened by street protests, suppressed at a cost of thousands of lives, against a cost-of-living crisis driven in part by international sanctions that have strangled Iran’s oil income.
Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran’s missile stockpile. Tehran says it is willing only to discuss curbs on its nuclear program — in exchange for sanctions relief — and that it will not give up uranium enrichment completely or discuss its missile program.
Khamenei reiterated Iran’s position that its formidable missile stockpile is non-negotiable and missile type and range have nothing to do with the United States.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday the success of the Geneva talks hinged on the US not making unrealistic demands and on its seriousness on lifting the crippling sanctions on Iran.
US B-2 BOMBERS STRUCK NUCLEAR TARGETS
Tehran and Washington were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks in June last year when Washington’s ally Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, and was then joined by US B-2 bombers that struck nuclear targets. Tehran has since said it has halted uranium enrichment activity.
Iran has joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forgo atomic weapons and cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel, which has not signed the NPT, neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons, under a decades-old ambiguity policy designed to deter surrounding enemies. Scholars believe it does.
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