Frankly Speaking: Fugitive motor mogul Carlos Ghosn ready to stand trial in ‘a fair and neutral jurisdiction’

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Updated 19 July 2021
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Frankly Speaking: Fugitive motor mogul Carlos Ghosn ready to stand trial in ‘a fair and neutral jurisdiction’

  • Former boss of Renault-Nissan-Mistubishi Alliance talked about the fight to clear his name, Lebanon’s crisis and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030
  • As the latest guest on the “Frankly Speaking” series of video interviews, Ghosn criticized Japan’s “hostage justice” system

DUBAI: Carlos Ghosn, the fugitive motor-industry mogul, wants to stand trial in a country he regards as more neutral than Japan, he told Arab News.

Ghosn, who fled Tokyo 18 months ago, said: “I think the end of it has to be in a trial, but a trial that takes place in a country which has no stake in what is being tried. The only thing I’m asking is for a jurisdiction to be fair and neutral and not to be politically motivated. That’s all.”

In the course of a wide–ranging interview, the former boss of Japan’s Nissan and France’s Renault talked of how he was “abandoned” by the French government after it “surrendered” to Japan; his advice on how Lebanon — where he is currently seeking refuge from international law enforcement — can get out of its dire economic and political crisis; and his views on the Vision 2030 reform strategy in Saudi Arabia.

In conversation on the “Frankly Speaking” series of video interviews with leading policymakers and business people, he also gave his view on the intense rivalry between Nissan and Toyota in the Middle East.

Ghosn’s most savage criticism was of the Japanese legal system, after he was arrested and imprisoned on charges of financial irregularity at the Nissan Motor Co., where he was chairman.




Carlos Ghosn arrives for a pre-trial hearing at the Tokyo District Court in Tokyo on June 24, 2019. (Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP file)

“Prosecutors prevailed 99.4 per cent of the time, which is unheard of and unseen, quite frankly. Even though I’d been living in Japan for 18 years, I never suspected this kind of score,” he said.

“But having gone through the system and seeing the kind of intimidation — confession seeking, pressures, violation of human rights etc. — I am even surprised that they get only 99.4 per cent of confessions. I wonder how the other 0.6 per cent were able to resist when you look at the arsenal of arguments and things that they put against you.”

Japan’s justice system has been labeled “hostage justice” by the UN, he said, adding: “I’m ready to go to Japan the day they change their ‘hostage justice’ system.”

He said that he “felt bad” for people on trial in Japan, including his former lawyer, Greg Kelly. “I was lucky to be able to get out before the systems locked me down for God knows how many years, but I feel bad for Greg Kelly,” he said.

Japanese prosecutors charged Ghosn with a variety of financial crimes, including inflating his salary, but he said his remuneration had been agreed by the Nissan board of directors on several occasions. “I deduced from this that they were happy, particularly knowing that dividends were paid, the company was growing, the company was profitable,” he said.




French carmaker Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn arrives on Feb. 17, 2016 at the French National Assembly, before addressing the Economical and Financial commissions during a hearing. (AFP file)

Ghosn — a French citizen as well as holding Lebanese and Brazilian nationality — was also scathing about the actions of the government of President Emmanuel Macron, which appeared to want to appease Tokyo over the future of the Nissan–Renault alliance.

“Instead of somehow getting good support, I was just abandoned, after two or three weeks of obvious conflict between France and Japan,” he said.

“But then the French surrendered, and they said it very clearly — you know we want to preserve the good relationship between Japan and France, we want to preserve the good relationship between Nissan and Renault, and we trust that Japanese justice will solve this problem with Carlos Ghosn,” he said.

Ghosn has lived in Lebanon since December 2019 with his wife Carole, and is subject to a “red notice” from Interpol at the request of the Japanese government. Lebanon does not extradite citizens.

“Lebanon asked for Japan to transmit the accusation and the charges so they could look into them and eventually try me in Lebanon. But Japan has refused to do so,” he said.

Although there was “zero chance” of him becoming involved directly in Lebanese politics, including considering any offer to become the next president, Ghosn said that he was aware of “the misery brought on the country by the financial collapse, the economic recession with all its social consequences.”




A portrait of ousted Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn is seen on a publicity billboard in his support at a street in Beirut on December 6, 2018. (Joseph Eid / AFP)

He would “support, help, guide, advise whoever is interested to limit the suffering that people around us are going through,” he said.

“Having turned around many companies, I know by practice that whatever solution you bring when you have to turn around a company, or a country, five percent is the strategy, and 95 percent is execution,” he said. “So somehow those who will save the country are those who are in power and put in power by the Lebanese people, because frankly, the methods and the strategy to get out are pretty simple, and they have been (tried) in many countries (and) many companies.”

He also offered his view on the Vision 2030 reform strategy in Saudi Arabia. “I think that makes a lot of sense — transforming a country from being overly reliant on a couple of resources, to have different sources of revenues, and different sources of income, and different sorts of activity for employment,” he said.

Ghosn cautioned that the challenge for Saudi policymakers lies in the implementation of that strategy. “The success of this depends on how disciplined it’s is going to be — the execution, how focused (it is) going to be, the people in charge of delivering on this, and how serious they’re going to be about gathering the maximum level of talents into transforming the reality of Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Arabia is a very rich country. It benefits from a lot of resources, but I think the people in charge of the country know that it’s not going to last forever. So, in my opinion they’re doing the right thing and I hope that will be successful,” he said.

From his perspective as a global expert in the motor business, he said that the difference between the Nissan business and the dominant Toyota operation in the Kingdom lay in the strength of the distribution network Toyota has built there in partnership with the Abdul Latif Jameel group.

“They have probably one of the best distributors in the world located in Saudi Arabia, so it’s going to be very difficult to fight if they (Nissan) don’t have people even approaching this level now,” he said.




This courtroom sketch illustrated by Masato Yamashita depicts former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn attending his hearing at the Tokyo district court on January 8, 2019. (JIJI PRESS  via AFP/file)

He added that he thought the Nissan–Renault–Mitsubishi alliance, which he was developing in the global motor industry, was doomed to fall apart.

“Frankly everything I’m seeing today makes me see the alliance as a zombie — that means it looks like it’s living matter, but in fact, inside nothing is happening. So, I’m not very optimistic when it comes to the future of this alliance. I hope I’m wrong but I will bet you that within the next five years this whole thing is going to totally unravel,” he said.

Ghosn cooperated in the making by Saudi media company MBC of a full–length documentary, “The Last Flight,” describing his dramatic escape from Japan in a large musical-instrument box on board a private jet, and analyzing the events leading up to it, which was released last week.

“I think there was a clear motivation from MBC to do it. They were the first one to come to me and say we would like your cooperation to do something like this, and they were very straightforward and honest about it,” he said.

Ghosn is planning further publicity initiatives, on top of legal action against his former employers.

“I want to leave something in order to help re-establish my reputation, on top of what I’ll be doing from a legal point of view. But I have no intention to come back to the high-flying life I had before,” he said.

_____________________

Twitter: @frankkanedubai


UN warns of renewed conflict in Syria but offers hope with sanctions lifting

Updated 7 sec ago
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UN warns of renewed conflict in Syria but offers hope with sanctions lifting

  • The new Syrian government, led by Ahmad Al-Sharaa, has said Syria’s heritage of coexistence must be preserved at all costs, but the country faces massive challenges

UNITED NATIONS: The top UN official for Syria warned Wednesday of the “real dangers of renewed conflict and deeper confrontation” in the war-battered country but also hoped for a better life for its people following decisions by the US and European Union to lift sanctions.
Geir Pedersen noted the fragilities in the multiethnic country and “the urgent need to address the growing polarization.” He pointed to violence against the Druze minority in late April following the killings in Alawite-minority areas in March.
“The challenges facing Syria are enormous, and the real dangers of renewed conflict and deeper fragmentation have not yet been overcome,” he told the UN Security Council.
But Pedersen said the Syrian people are cautiously optimistic that President Donald Trump’s announcement last week that the US will lift sanctions and a similar EU announcement Tuesday will “give them a better chance than before to succeed against great odds.”
Speaking by video from Damascus, Pedersen called sanctions relief, including by the United Kingdom last month, as well as financial and energy support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye “historic developments.”
“They hold major potential to improve living conditions across the country and to support the Syrian political transition,” the UN special envoy said. “And they give the Syrian people a chance to grapple with the legacy of misrule, conflict, abuses and poverty from which they are trying to emerge.”
Former Syrian President Bashar Assad was ousted in a lightning rebel offensive late last year after a 13-year war, ending more than 50 years of rule by the Assad family. The new Syrian government, led by Ahmad Al-Sharaa, has said Syria’s heritage of coexistence must be preserved at all costs, but the country faces massive challenges.
Today, 90 percent of Syrians live in poverty, with 16.5 million needing protection and humanitarian assistance, including nearly 3 million facing acute food insecurity, Ramesh Rajasingham, the UN humanitarian division’s chief coordinator, told the council.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that Syria is potentially “on the verge of collapse,” warning that would lead to civil war and the country again becoming “a playground” for the Daesh group and other militants.
Pedersen told the Security Council that IS has been escalating attacks in areas of Syria in recent weeks, with signs of more coordinated operations using improvised explosive devices and medium-range weapons.
Rubio said there’s no guarantee that “things are going to work out” by lifting sanctions and working with Al-Sharaa’s transitional government, but if the US didn’t try, “it’s guaranteed not to work out.” He said Trump’s announcement of sanctions relief has led regional and Arab partner nations to help stabilize the country.
“No one should pretend this is going to be easy, because it’s not,” Rubio said. But if Syria could be stabilized, it would mean broader stability in the region, including Lebanon, Jordan and Israel, he said.
“It is a historic opportunity we hope comes to fruition,” Rubio said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make it succeed.”
John Kelley, political coordinator at the US mission to the United Nations, told the council that “US government agencies are now working to execute the president’s direction on Syria’s sanctions.”
“We look forward to issuing the necessary authorizations that will be critical to bringing new investment into Syria to help rebuild Syria’s economy and put the country on a path to a bright, prosperous and stable future,” he said. “The United States also has taken the first steps toward restoring normal diplomatic relations with Syria.”
Syria’s transitional government is urged to take “bold steps” toward Trump administration expectations, Kelley said, including making peace with Israel, quickly removing foreign militant fighters from the Syrian military, ensuring foreign extremists such as Palestinian militias can’t operate from Syria, and cooperating in preventing the resurgence of the Daesh group.
Syria’s deputy UN ambassador, Riyad Khaddour, praised Trump’s “courageous decision” to lift sanctions as well as his meeting with Al-Sharaa. Khaddour also touted actions by the European Union, UK, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates “to support Syria as it moves forward with confidence and hope.”
“The new Syria” is seeking to become “a state of peace and partnership, not a battleground for conflicts or a platform for foreign ambitions,” he said.


Israeli army said ‘eliminated’ attacker who killed pregnant woman

Updated 22 May 2025
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Israeli army said ‘eliminated’ attacker who killed pregnant woman

  • A resident of the Israeli settlement of Bruchin, 37-year-old Tzeela Gez died after she was shot in her vehicle

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military announced Wednesday it “eliminated” the perpetrator of an attack that left one pregnant woman dead in the occupied West Bank last week.
In a joint statement with Israel’s internal security agency and the police, the army said that its forces were approached by an armed man in the West Bank town of Bruqin Saturday, near the site of last week’s attack.
They said the man was “running toward the forces while holding a backpack suspected to be rigged with explosives, shouting at them,” as they were conducting search operations.
An intelligence assessment said that “Nael Samara, the terrorist who was eliminated, was the terrorist who carried out the shooting attack adjacent to Bruchin on Thursday, May 14, 2025, in which a pregnant woman, Tzeela Gez, was murdered.”
A resident of the Israeli settlement of Bruchin, 37-year-old Tzeela Gez died after she was shot in her vehicle as she headed to the hospital to give birth.
Her baby was delivered by C-section, but was still in serious condition Tuesday, according to the father.
“We will catch the killers as we always do, we will fight them and we will defeat them,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office later that day.
Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir had earlier said “we will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable.”
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the West Bank has seen a surge in violence.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law.


The UN says no aid that has entered Gaza this week has reached Palestinians

Updated 22 May 2025
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The UN says no aid that has entered Gaza this week has reached Palestinians

  • Food security experts have warned that Gaza risks falling into famine unless the blockade ends

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza: The UN said Wednesday it was trying to get the desperately needed aid that has entered Gaza this week into the hands of Palestinians amid delays because of fears of looting and Israeli military restrictions. Israeli strikes pounded the territory, killing at least 86 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Under international pressure, Israel has allowed dozens of aid trucks into Gaza after blocking all food, medicine, fuel and other material for nearly three months. But the supplies have been sitting on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the majority of supplies that had entered since Monday had been loaded onto UN trucks, but they could not take them out of the crossing area. He said the road the Israeli military had given them permission to use was too unsafe. Talks were underway for an alternative, he said.
A UN official later said some trucks had left the crossing area, heading for warehouses in Gaza, but there was no immediate confirmation they arrived. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
Food security experts have warned that Gaza risks falling into famine unless the blockade ends. Malnutrition and hunger have been mounting. Aid groups ran out of food to distribute weeks ago, and most of the population of around 2.3 million relies on communal kitchens whose supplies are nearly depleted.
At a kitchen in Gaza City, a charity group distributed watery lentil soup.
Somaia Abu Amsha scooped small portions for her family, saying they have not had bread for over 10 days and she can’t afford rice or pasta.
“We don’t want anything other than that they end the war. We don’t want charity kitchens. Even dogs wouldn’t eat this, let alone children,” she said.
Aid groups say the small amount of aid that Israel has allowed is far short of what is needed. About 600 trucks entered daily under the latest ceasefire.
Israeli warning shots shake diplomats
Israeli troops fired warning shots as a group of international diplomats was visiting the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Footage showed a number of diplomats giving media interviews as rapid shots ring out nearby, forcing them to run for cover. No one was reported injured.
The Israeli military said their visit had been approved, but the delegation “deviated from the approved route.” The military said it apologized and will contact the countries involved in the visit.
Israeli troops have raided Jenin dozens of times as part of a crackdown across the West Bank. The fighting displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Netanyahu says population will be moved south
Israel has said its slight easing of the blockade is a bridge until a new distribution system it demands is put in place. The UN and other humanitarian groups have rejected the system, saying it enables Israel to use aid as a weapon and forcibly displace the population.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters the plan will begin “in coming days.”
He said in a subsequent phase, Israel would create a “sterile zone” in the south, free of Hamas, where the population would be moved “for the purposes of its safety.” There, they would receive aid, “and then they enter – and they don’t necessarily go back.”
The plan involves small number of distribution hubs directed by a private, US-backed foundation known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Armed private contractors would guard the distribution.
Israel says the system is needed because Hamas siphons off significant amounts of aid. The UN denies that claim.
Initially, four hubs are being built, one in central Gaza and three at the far southern end of the strip, where few people remain.
A GHF spokesman said the group would never participate in or support any form of forced relocation of civilians. The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the group’s rules. said there was no limit to the number of sites and additional sites will open, including in the north, within the next month.
The trickle of aid is jammed
Currently, after supplies enter at Kerem Shalom, aid workers are required to unload them and reload them onto their own trucks for distribution.
Antoine Renard, the World Food Program’s country chief for Palestine, said 78 trucks were waiting. He told The Associated Press that “we need to ensure that we will not be looted.”
Looting has plagued aid deliveries in the past, and at times of desperation people have swarmed aid trucks, taking supplies.
A UN official and another humanitarian worker said the Israeli military had designated a highly insecure route known to have looters. The military also set a short window for trucks to come to Kerem Shalom and rejected a number of individual truck drivers, forcing last-minute replacements, they said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid for Gaza, did not immediately respond when asked for comment.
Hospitals surrounded
Israeli strikes continued across Gaza. In the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israel recently ordered new evacuations pending an expanded offensive, 24 people were killed, 14 from the same family. A week-old infant was killed in central Gaza. In the evening, a strike hit a house in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, killing two children and their parents, according to hospital officials.
The Israeli military did not comment on the strikes. It says it targets Hamas infrastructure and accuses Hamas militants of operating from civilian areas.
Israeli troops also have surrounded two of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the facilities, hospital staff and aid groups said this week.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others. The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third believed to be alive, after most were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.


War-displaced Sudanese return to collapsed cities, disease and dwindling aid

Updated 21 May 2025
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War-displaced Sudanese return to collapsed cities, disease and dwindling aid

  • Humanitarian agencies face security threats, access restrictions and deep funding cuts while trying to support returning populations
  • Areas reclaimed by the SAF often lack clean water, electricity, shelter and healthcare, forcing returnees to survive in dire conditions

DUBAI: As Sudan’s civil war grinds through its second year, a new chapter is unfolding — the slow and uncertain return of families to towns and cities recently recaptured by the Sudanese Armed Forces from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

But as they do so, aid agencies say, they are finding not assurances of normalcy but scenes of devastation, disease and dwindling humanitarian support.

Nowhere is this more visible than in the capital, Khartoum. Once the heart of Sudan’s political and economic life, it was among the first cities to be consumed by violence when a violent factional struggle erupted on April 15, 2023.

Fighters loyal to the army patrol a market area in Khartoum on March 24, 2025. (AFP photo)

Following months of intense urban warfare and the occupation of the city by the RSF, Khartoum was retaken by government troops in early March.

Since then, an estimated 6,000 returnees have arrived in the city each day, according to state police. Most return with few possessions and even fewer options, compelled by necessity rather than optimism.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that roughly 400,000 people returned to Khartoum and surrounding states such as Al-Jazirah and Sennar between December and March.

The figures mark the first recorded decline — a modest 2.4 percent — in Sudan’s displaced population since the conflict began. Yet for many, the homecoming is fraught with hardship.

“Many of those returning home from abroad or from elsewhere in the country remain with critical needs, often coming back with only what can be easily carried, or returning to find their previous homes unsafe for dignified living,” Natalie Payne, program support officer in IOM’s emergency response team, told Arab News.

Much of Khartoum’s infrastructure — homes, schools, hospitals, power grids, and water treatment facilities — lies in ruins. In many neighborhoods, rubble clogs the streets, health clinics are shuttered, and there is no running water or electricity.

A man walks in the shrapnel-riddled ward of a hospital in Khartoum on April 28, 2025. (AFP photo)
Sudanese people gather at a camp for displaced people, in Port Sudan, on April 15, 2025. (AFP)

With no functioning schools or job opportunities, families are forced to rely on the overstretched aid system for survival.

Across Sudan, the needs are immense. Payne said IOM has recorded large-scale gaps in access to food, basic household goods, clean water, healthcare, and sanitation — not only for returnees but for communities that hosted them during the war.IN NUMBERS:

• 24.6 million People facing acute food insecurity in Sudan (World Food Programme)

• 12.5 million People displaced (inside and outside) since April 2023 (International Organization for Migration).

• 13.2 percent Proportion of humanitarian funding received for Sudan’s $4.2 billion UN appeal in 2025 (OCHA).

• 17 million Children out of school in Sudan (Oxfam).

Livelihood support is also urgently needed to help people rebuild some measure of stability.

However, international agencies face mounting challenges in responding. The war has displaced more than 11.3 million people inside Sudan and forced nearly four million more to seek refuge in neighboring countries — including Egypt, Chad, and South Sudan — making it the world’s largest displacement crisis.

Displaced Sudanese sit at a shelter after they were evacuated by the Sudanese army to a safer area in Omdurman, on May 13, 2025, amid the ongoing war in Sudan. (AFP)

At the same time, the conflict has sparked what the UN calls the world’s worst hunger crisis. Famine has already been declared in 10 areas, and aid officials fear this number will grow without immediate intervention.

“Given that the fighting has destroyed health, water, and sanitation infrastructure, IOM looks to operate mobile clinics, rehabilitate primary health care centers, and rehabilitate water infrastructure at gathering sites, as well as major border entry areas, such as the Askheet and Argeen border crossing point in Northern state between Sudan and Egypt,” said Payne.

To operate in insecure or hard-to-reach areas, aid agencies partner with local organizations that have access and trust. One such partner is Sudan Zero Waste Organization, a grassroots NGO based in Khartoum, which is helping prevent disease outbreaks in communities of return.

In a statement to Arab News, SZWO said cholera cases are rising in the capital and nearby Jebel Aulia due to a lack of safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

“Many returnees are being affected by cholera as a result of contact with the affected ones due to lack of awareness, lack of clean water access, and improper hygiene practices,” the organization said.

SZWO is collaborating with NGOs and UN agencies to rehabilitate water points and hygiene facilities. It also plans to scale up community kitchens to combat food insecurity and distribute cash to the most vulnerable households.

A victim of unexploded ordnance lies on a bed at a hospital in Omdurman on April 28, 2025, as the Sudanese army deepens control in the city. (REUTERS)

Long term, it hopes to support local healthcare centers in newly accessible areas, though it acknowledges that needs are currently far greater than capacity.

Meanwhile, global humanitarian funding is drying up. The UN’s Humanitarian Needs Response Plan for Sudan in 2025 is seeking $4.2 billion to reach nearly 21 million people. As of mid-May, only 13.2 percent of that amount had been secured.

Humanitarians also face logistical challenges, particularly during Sudan’s rainy season, which runs from June to October. Flooded terrain makes it difficult to reach remote or newly liberated areas, many of which are in desperate need of food and medical assistance.

“Access in Sudan is restricted at different times of the year due to adverse weather conditions,” said Payne. “Shocks throughout the rainy season can lead to increased needs with limited opportunities to respond.”

A van drives down a street in the capital Khartoum's southern neighborhood of al-Kalakla on April 29, 2025. (AFP)

And while some areas are stabilizing, violence is flaring elsewhere. Port Sudan, the de facto wartime capital and humanitarian hub, recently came under attack — prompting the UN to warn that continued hostilities there could disrupt aid operations across the country.

Other areas remain perilously unstable. West Kordofan and West Darfur have seen renewed fighting. In North Darfur, the SAF-held capital of Al-Fasher is under siege, and the nearby Zamzam and Abu Shouk displacement camps — already gripped by famine — have come under attack.

These offensives have pushed new waves of displacement, with an estimated 450,000 people recently fleeing the region.

Displaced Sudanese sit at a shelter after they were evacuated by the Sudanese army to a safer area in Omdurman, on May 13, 2025, amid the ongoing war in Sudan.

Beyond Sudan’s borders, neighboring countries are also straining under the weight of the crisis. According to UNHCR, more than 2,000 people are crossing into Chad every day, with rising numbers arriving in Libya and Uganda.

Host countries, many of which are grappling with their own economic or security challenges, are running out of resources.

“Countries and communities receiving refugees have nothing to offer but a big heart,” Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR’s regional refugee coordinator for Sudan, told Arab News.

“In Eastern Chad today, we have more refugees than nationals. South Sudan, itself mired in poverty, is further struggling to meet the needs of Sudan’s refugees. If we do not put an end to this conflict, its repercussions will expand to other countries.”

A Sudanese refugee completes her biometric registration with UNHCR teams in the Tine transit center, in Tine, Wadi Fira province, Chad, on April 9, 2025. (AFP)

Within Sudan, the influx of returning and displaced populations into devastated neighborhoods is stretching local resources to breaking point. The economic collapse, lack of essential services, and ongoing violence have created perfect conditions for a humanitarian catastrophe.

Balde said while returns from abroad have begun, the conditions are far from ideal.

“We have started seeing people returning, but these returns happen in adverse circumstances,” he said. “Some people consider going back home or some families have decided to divide the family into two, sending some members first to go and see what properties they have left.”

Internally displaced people walk along a street in Juba, South Sudan, on Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

He added: “People need support, but it needs to be balanced because there are returns that are not in large numbers versus the large number of refugees outside the country. I don’t know whether we will still see this large number of people returning if we continue hearing about all these attacks.”

Ultimately, aid agencies say the success of any return initiative hinges on far more than food or tents. It depends on a sustained ceasefire, political will and a long-term commitment from donors to rebuild essential infrastructure — from hospitals and schools to power stations and roads.

Until then, Sudan’s returnees in Khartoum must remain in a bleak and dangerous limbo while the SAF and RSF slug it out in other parts of the country.
 

 


Netanyahu says ready for Gaza ‘temporary ceasefire’

Updated 21 May 2025
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Netanyahu says ready for Gaza ‘temporary ceasefire’

  • Netanyahu's remarks came hours after Israeli troops fired what it called 'warning shots' near a delegation of foreign diplomats visiting the occupied West Bank
  • A European diplomat said the group had traveled to the area to witness the destruction caused by months of Israeli military raids

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday he was open to a “temporary ceasefire” in Gaza, as international pressure intensified over Israel’s renewed offensive and aid blockade in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
“If there is an option for a temporary ceasefire to free hostages, we’ll be ready,” Netanyahu said, noting that at least 20 hostages were confirmed alive.
But he added the Israeli military aimed to bring all of Gaza under its control by the end of its current operation.
“We must avoid a humanitarian crisis in order to preserve our freedom of operational action,” he said.
His remarks came hours after Israeli troops fired what the army called “warning shots” near a delegation of foreign diplomats visiting the occupied West Bank, triggering global condemnation and fresh diplomatic tension.
The Palestinian foreign ministry accused Israeli forces of “deliberately targeting by live fire an accredited diplomatic delegation” near the flashpoint city of Jenin.
A European diplomat said the group had traveled to the area to witness the destruction caused by months of Israeli military raids.
The Israeli army said “the delegation deviated from the approved route” and entered a restricted zone.
Troops opened fire to steer the group away, it said, adding no injuries were reported and expressing regret for the “inconvenience caused.”
Gazans are not receiving aid
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called on Israel to investigate the shooting and to hold those responsible “accountable.”
The incident came as anger mounted over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Palestinians are scrambling for basic supplies after weeks of near-total isolation.
Palestinian rescue teams said overnight Israeli strikes had killed at least 19 people, including a week-old baby.

No one is distributing anything to us. Everyone is waiting for aid, but we haven’t received anything

Umm Talal Al-Masri, displaced Palestinian in Gaza City

A two-month total blockade was only partially eased this week, with aid allowed into the territory for the first time since March 2, a move leading to critical food and medicine shortages.
Israel said 100 trucks with aid entered Gaza on Wednesday, following 93 the day before which the United Nations has said had been held up.
Humanitarian groups have said that the amount falls far short of what is required to ease the crisis.
Umm Talal Al-Masri, 53, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, described the situation as “unbearable.”
“No one is distributing anything to us. Everyone is waiting for aid, but we haven’t received anything,” she said.
“We’re grinding lentils and pasta to make some loaves of bread, and we barely manage to prepare one meal a day.”
The army stepped up its offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat Gaza’s Hamas rulers, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.
Israel has faced massive pressure, including from traditional allies, to halt its expanded offensive and allow aid into Gaza.
Kallas said “a strong majority” of EU foreign ministers backed the move to review its trade cooperation with Israel.
EU pressure on Israel
Sweden said it would press the 27-nation bloc to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador.
Pope Leo XIV described the situation in Gaza as “worrying and painful” and called for “the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid.”
Israel’s foreign ministry has said the EU action “reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing.”
Germany defended a key EU-Israel cooperation deal as “an important forum that we must use in order to discuss critical questions” over the situation in Gaza.
In Gaza, Israel resumed its operations across the territory on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.
Gaza’s health ministry said Tuesday at least 3,509 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,655.