Sudan violence ‘may amount to crimes against humanity’: UK

Sudan violence ‘may amount to crimes against humanity’: UK
Violence in Sudan's Darfur region shows "the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing and may amount to crimes against humanity," UK foreign minister David Lammy said. (AFP/File)
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Updated 25 April 2025
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Sudan violence ‘may amount to crimes against humanity’: UK

Sudan violence ‘may amount to crimes against humanity’: UK
  • Lammy called on the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to “de-escalate urgently“
  • “Last week, the UK gathered the international community in London to call for an end to the suffering of the Sudanese people”

LONDON: Violence in Sudan’s Darfur region shows “the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing and may amount to crimes against humanity,” UK foreign minister David Lammy said.
Lammy called on the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to “de-escalate urgently” and said in a statement issued late Thursday that Britain would continue to “use all tools available to us to hold those responsible for atrocities to account.”
Paramilitary shelling of the besieged city of El-Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, has killed more than 30 civilians and wounded dozens more, activists said on Monday.
El-Fasher is the last major city in the vast Darfur region that still remains in army control.
Lammy said that reports of the violence in and around El-Fasher were “appalling.”
“Last week, the UK gathered the international community in London to call for an end to the suffering of the Sudanese people.
“Yet some of the violence in Darfur has shown the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing and may amount to crimes against humanity,” he said.
He called on the RSF to “halt its siege of El-Fasher,” adding that “the warring parties have a responsibility to end this suffering.”
Lammy also urged the Sudanese Armed Forces to allow safe passage for civilians to reach safety.
International aid agencies have long warned that a full-scale RSF assault on El-Fasher could lead to devastating urban warfare and a new wave of mass displacement.
UNICEF has described the situation as “hell on earth” for at least 825,000 children trapped in and around El-Fasher.


Jordan eyes new economic partnership with Syria during official visit

Jordan eyes new economic partnership with Syria during official visit
Updated 26 May 2025
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Jordan eyes new economic partnership with Syria during official visit

Jordan eyes new economic partnership with Syria during official visit
  • Chambers of commerce discuss greater cooperation in key sectors
  • Talks aim to revive Jordanian-Syrian Joint Business Council

DAMASCUS: The Jordan Chamber of Commerce has used a visit to the Syrian Arab Republic to lay the groundwork for a renewed economic partnership, with a focus on deepening cooperation and supporting Syria’s reconstruction and economic recovery.

During an official visit to Damascus on Monday, Senator Khalil Al-Haj Tawfiq, head of the Jordanian delegation, said his country was mobilizing its capabilities and private sector expertise to aid Syria’s economic development, the Jordan News Agency reported.

The JCC held talks with the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce to explore collaboration across key sectors, including trade, transport, logistics, agriculture, industry, food, banking and shipping.

The two sides agreed to draft a comprehensive road map to guide future cooperation, with an emphasis on investment, joint ventures and reconstruction initiatives.

“Our delegation seeks to launch a new phase of economic cooperation that serves both countries’ interests,” Tawfiq said.

“We are committed to facilitating trade and transport and enhancing private sector engagement to support Syria’s path forward.”

The Jordanian delegation, comprising leaders from the commercial and service sectors, will also hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials and business representatives over three days.

The talks aim to revive the Jordanian-Syrian Joint Business Council and set the stage for an upcoming economic forum in Amman.

FSCC President Alaa Ali welcomed Jordan’s support, highlighting the strong historic ties between the two countries, the report said.

He called for boosting product competitiveness and reevaluating trade agreements, particularly in light of recent moves to ease international sanctions on Syria.

Ali praised the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Jordanian and Syrian governments to establish a Higher Coordination Council, describing it as a vital step toward enhanced economic integration.

The visit was coordinated with Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Jordanian Embassy in Damascus and marks a significant step toward rebuilding economic bridges between the two neighbors.


Departing Gaza aid foundation chief says group not neutral in conflict

Departing Gaza aid foundation chief says group not neutral in conflict
Updated 26 May 2025
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Departing Gaza aid foundation chief says group not neutral in conflict

Departing Gaza aid foundation chief says group not neutral in conflict

CAIRO: The head of a US-backed foundation set to supply aid in Gaza quit unexpectedly on Sunday, a day before the group was due to begin operations.

Jake Wood, executive director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the past two months, said he resigned because he could not adhere “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.”

His departure underscores the confusion surrounding the foundation, which has been boycotted by the UN and the aid groups supplying aid to Gaza before Israel imposed a total blockade on the enclave in March.

The groups say the new system will undermine the principle that aid should be overseen by a neutral party. Israel, which floated a similar plan earlier this year, says it will not be involved in distributing aid but it had endorsed the plan and would provide security for it.

Last week, under growing international pressure, Israeli authorities allowed a trickle of aid into the Palestinian enclave, but the few hundred trucks carried only a tiny fraction of the food needed by a population of 2 million at risk of famine after nearly three months of blockade.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which would use private contractors working under a broad Israeli security umbrella, said it would begin deliveries on Monday, with the aim of reaching 1 million Palestinians by the end of the week.

“We plan to scale up rapidly to serve the full population in the weeks ahead,” it said in a statement.

The Switzerland-registered foundation has been heavily criticized by the UN, whose officials have said the private company’s aid distribution plans are insufficient for reaching the more than 2 million Gazans.

The new operation will rely on four major distribution centers in southern Gaza that will screen families for involvement with militants, potentially using facial recognition technology, according to aid officials.

But many details of how the operation will work remain unexplained, and it was not immediately clear whether aid groups that have refused to cooperate with the foundation would still be able to send in trucks.

Hamas condemned the new system, saying it would “replace order with chaos, enforce a policy of engineered starvation of Palestinian civilians, and use food as a weapon during wartime.”

Israel says the system is aimed at separating aid from Hamas, which it accuses of stealing and using food to impose control over the population, a charge rejected by Hamas, which says it protects aid convoys from gangs of armed looters.

While the aid system is worked out, Israel has continued to carry out strikes across the densely populated Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 people on Monday, according to local health authorities.


Jordan raps Israeli minister’s visit to Al-Aqsa compound

Jordan raps Israeli minister’s visit to Al-Aqsa compound
Updated 26 May 2025
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Jordan raps Israeli minister’s visit to Al-Aqsa compound

Jordan raps Israeli minister’s visit to Al-Aqsa compound
  • Extremist marchers scuffle with residents and hurl insults at Palestinians as they celebrate Jerusalem Day

AMMAN: Jordan condemned a visit by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday during celebrations marking Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in 1967.

“The practices of this extremist minister and his continued incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque ... do not negate the fact that East Jerusalem is an occupied city over which Israel has no sovereignty,” said a statement from the Foreign Ministry of Jordan, the custodian of the site.

Ben Gvir has long pushed for Jewish prayer rights at the flashpoint site. 

Most countries consider East Jerusalem to be occupied territory and do not recognize Israeli sovereignty over it. 

The annual “Flag March” on Monday drew thousands chanting, dancing and waving Israeli flags shortly after Ben Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Witnesses said a large rally in Jerusalem descended into chaos as far-right Israeli Jews confronted and assaulted Palestinians, fellow Israelis and journalists.

A spokesperson for the Palestinian presidency based in the West Bank condemned the march and Ben Gvir’s visit to Al-Aqsa.

Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, “repeated incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and provocative acts such as raising the Israeli flag in occupied Jerusalem threaten the stability of the entire region,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.

Violence broke out in the walled Old City of East Jerusalem shortly after midday, witnesses said, when young marchers began harassing the few Palestinian shopkeepers who had yet to shutter their stores ahead of the rally.

The marchers, mostly young Israelis who live in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, then began to target Israeli left-wing activists and journalists observing the rally.

The demonstrators shouted nationalistic slogans and called for violence against Palestinians.

A Palestinian woman and journalists were spat on by a group of young settlers, and nearby Israeli police did not intervene, a Reuters witness said.

No arrests were reported as of late afternoon.

A police officer at the scene said young Israeli marchers could not be arrested because they were under the age of 18.

Moshe, a 35-year-old Israeli settler from the West Bank and supporter of the current right-wing government, walked through a Palestinian neighborhood of the Old City with a rifle slung over his shoulder and his daughter on his shoulders. 

It was a “very happy day” because all of Jerusalem was “under the government of Israel,” he said, declining to give his last name.

Left-wing opposition leader Yair Golan, a former armed forces deputy commander, described images of violence in the Old City as “shocking.”

He said in a statement: “This is not what loving Jerusalem looks like. This is what hatred, racism, and bullying look like.”

“We will keep Jerusalem united, whole, and under Israeli sovereignty,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting held in East Jerusalem earlier on Monday.

Clashes flared throughout the day as left-wing Israeli activists intervened to escort Palestinians away from young far-right Israeli Jews threatening passersby, witnesses said.

Journalists covering the rally were repeatedly harassed and, in some instances, assaulted, the Reuters witness said.


Algeria presidential hopefuls jailed for fraud

Algeria presidential hopefuls jailed for fraud
Updated 26 May 2025
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Algeria presidential hopefuls jailed for fraud

Algeria presidential hopefuls jailed for fraud
  • Businesswoman Saida Neghza, former minister Belkacem Sahli, and a relative unknown named Abdelhakim Hamadi were sentenced to 10 years in prison each on charges of paying to obtain the signatures needed to run for the presidential elections

ALGIERS: Three former presidential hopefuls were among dozens of defendants sentenced to prison on charges of electoral fraud, a judicial source said.

Businesswoman Saida Neghza, former minister Belkacem Sahli, and a relative unknown named Abdelhakim Hamadi were sentenced to 10 years in prison each on charges of paying to obtain the signatures needed to run for the presidential elections last September, the source said.

On May 8, the public prosecution had requested penalties of 10 years in prison and a fine of one million Algerian dinars ($7,600) in a trial that lasted for just nine days.

About 70 other people, including three of Neghza’s sons, were also sentenced to between five and eight years in prison.

The majority of them were members of local councils and were accused of giving their electoral signatures to the would-be candidates in exchange for cash payments.

None of the three hopefuls were ultimately able to register their candidacy in the election in which Abdelmadjid Tebboune won in a landslide.

Those wishing to run for the presidency are required to gather 600 signatures from elected officials in 29 out of Algeria’s 58 provinces.

Alternatively, they can gather 50,000 signatures from regular constituents registered to vote, provided that there are at least 1,200 in each province.

In early August, the public prosecution announced that 68 people had been arrested on charges of “buying signatures” for three presidential hopefuls.


Jordan, Norway urge immediate ceasefire and renew push for two-state solution

Jordan, Norway urge immediate ceasefire and renew push for two-state solution
Updated 26 May 2025
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Jordan, Norway urge immediate ceasefire and renew push for two-state solution

Jordan, Norway urge immediate ceasefire and renew push for two-state solution
  • In separate meeting, FM Safadi and Eide stressed urgency of ending humanitarian crisis in Gaza

AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah II met Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide in Amman on Monday, with the two sides calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and renewed efforts toward a two-state solution.

The meeting was also attended by Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah, the Jordan News Agency reported.

King Abdullah highlighted the need to end the war on Gaza, ensure the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid, and work toward a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state framework.

Discussions also covered rising tensions in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as developments in the Syrian Arab Republic.

In a separate meeting, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Eide stressed the urgency of ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, warning that failure to act risks further destabilizing the region.

Safadi and Eide also both condemned Israeli military actions and settler incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, calling them violations of international law. (Jordan News Agency)

Both ministers condemned Israeli military actions and settler incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, calling them violations of international law.

Safadi praised Norway’s leadership in supporting Palestinian statehood and economic development, particularly through its role in the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee.

He also welcomed Norway’s stance at the recent Madrid Group meeting, where it reaffirmed support for a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The two ministers discussed broader regional issues, including the need for a political resolution in Syria, and voiced support for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ UN80 reform initiative aimed at strengthening global multilateralism.

At a joint press conference, Safadi condemned the use of starvation as a weapon in Gaza, calling it a “war crime,” and warned of the destabilizing impact of Israeli policies aimed at displacing Palestinians.

Eide echoed these concerns and called the situation in Gaza a stark reminder of the need to implement the two-state solution.

Both sides pledged to continue working together and with international partners to advance peace, uphold international law and support Palestinian rights.