How armed groups are using fire to displace communities in Sudan’s troubled Darfur 

Special How armed groups are using fire to displace communities in Sudan’s troubled Darfur 
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Updated 23 May 2024
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How armed groups are using fire to displace communities in Sudan’s troubled Darfur 

How armed groups are using fire to displace communities in Sudan’s troubled Darfur 
  • Satellite images show fires have ravaged settlements surrounding the westen city of Al-Fashir in recent weeks 
  • UN officials have accused combatants of setting fires to sow fear and ethnically cleanse tribal communities 

LONDON: Fires in western Sudan, reportedly set by militiamen, have torn through hundreds of settlements in recent months, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes, while those who remain live in constant fear of attack.

A recent report by the Sudan Witness project of the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience found that a total of 201 villages and settlements in western Sudan had suffered fire damage since the start of the war.

April was the worst month on record, with 72 communities impacted by fires set deliberately or as a byproduct of the fighting that has raged between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023.

The report, published on May 12, highlighted a surge in the number of fires to the north and west of the city of Al-Fashir in North Darfur State, which has seen escalating violence.

Analysts believe the fires are being set deliberately to displace the population of these areas.

“When we see reports of fighting or airstrikes coinciding with clusters of fires, it indicates that fire is being used indiscriminately as a weapon of war,” Anouk Theunissen, project director at Sudan Witness, stated in the report.

He warned that “the trend is worsening and continues to lead to the mass displacement of Sudanese people.”

Sudan Witness investigators pieced together open-source NASA satellite imagery and social media content to map the pattern of fires since the onset of the Sudanese conflict more than a year ago. They primarily focused on Kordofan and the troubled Darfur region.

Until the end of April 2024, at least 311 individual fires broke out in the two provinces. The assessment also revealed that 51 settlements of various sizes have suffered multiple fires since the war began.




Investigators have pieced together open-source satellite imagery, left, and social media content to map the pattern of fires in Kordofan and Darfur since the onset of the Sudanese conflict more than a year ago. (AFP file)

Expressing horror at the violence unfolding in Al-Fashir, UN human rights chief Volker Turk described the situation in the city as “hell on Earth” and renewed calls for the warring parties to end the hostilities.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at least 58 civilians had been reported killed and 213 others injured in Al-Fashir “since fighting dramatically escalated.”

INNUMBERS

• 201 Villages and settlements in western Sudan which have suffered fire damage since April last year.

• 311 Individual fires that had broken out until the end of April 2024 in Kordofan and Darfur.

During a press briefing in Geneva on May 17, she said “these figures are certainly an underestimate,” warning that the fighting between the two parties and their allied armed militias was taking “a deeply devastating toll on civilians.”

She said Turk had held phone conversations with both sides to urge them to cease hostilities, to ensure the protection of civilians, and to warn them that fighting in Al-Fashir “would have a catastrophic impact on civilians and deepen intercommunal conflict with disastrous humanitarian consequences.”

Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, has been under siege by the RSF for several months, trapping an estimated 1.8 million residents and internally displaced people, according to UN figures.




This picture taken on June 16, 2023, shows bodies strewn outdoors near houses in the West Darfur state capital El Geneina. (AFP/File photo)

Anticipating the worst, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, warned in late April of a potentially imminent massacre in Al-Fashir. 

“As I’ve said before, history is repeating itself in Darfur in the worst possible way. And an attack on Al-Fashir would be a disaster on top of a disaster,” she said during the UN Security Council Stakeout on the Situation in Sudan.

“It would put 500,000 internally displaced persons at risk, people who traveled from across Darfur to seek refuge. And that’s on top of the 2 million Sudanese who call Al-Fashir home.”

Cut off from the outside world, the people in Al-Fashir are now at imminent risk of famine. Yet the UN says it has received just 12 percent of the $2.7 billion it had requested from donors to head off mass starvation.




Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gedaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP)

Since the outbreak of conflict in Sudan last year, at least 15,500 people have been killed, more than 33,000 injured, and some 6.8 million displaced inside the country, according to UN figures.

“Half of the population, 25 million people, need humanitarian aid,” Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told AFP news agency.

“Famine is closing in. Diseases are closing in. The fighting is closing in on civilians, especially in Darfur.”

Health infrastructure in Al-Fashir has also not been spared. On May 19, the RSF launched a barrage of artillery at the city’s Women’s, Maternity and Neonatal Hospital, injuring nine people and causing significant damage to the facility, according to the Sudan Tribune.

A recent report by the New York-based monitor Human Rights Watch accused the RSF and its allied militias of committing “crimes against humanity” and “genocide” in West Darfur.




The RSF has said its fighters are not involved in what it describes as ‘a tribal conflict’ in Darfur. (AFP file)

The report, published May 16, emphasized that the hostilities in El-Geneina alone from April to November last year left thousands dead and forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands more.

The RSF has said it is not involved in what it describes as a “tribal conflict” in Darfur. 

Even the use of fire as a weapon of war is nothing new in Sudan. The Sudan Witness project published a map in October last year plotting multiple fire incidents in the country since the start of the conflict.

The map revealed that the highest concentration of fire incidents was in the southwest of the country, with 68 villages in the Masalit-majority Darfur region having been set ablaze by the RSF and its allied militias, according to media reports.

Masalit tribes were among the rebel groups that fought the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militia — the forerunner of the RSF — during the war in Darfur that started in 2003, leading to reprisals and ethnic cleansing.

Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s minister for development and Africa, warned in December that the latest reported targeting and mass displacement of the Masalit community in Darfur “bears all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing.”

Alice Nderitu, the UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, warned on Tuesday that Sudan is exhibiting all the signs that genocide could — and may already — be taking place.




Alice Nderitu, UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide. (Supplied)

“The protection of civilians in Sudan cannot wait,” Nderitu told a meeting of the UN Security Council. “The risk of genocide exists in Sudan. It is real and it is growing, every single day.

“In Darfur and Al-Fashir, civilians are being attacked and killed because of the color of their skin, because of their ethnicity, because of who they are. They are also targeted with hate speech and with direct incitement to violence.”

Nderitu said the burning and destruction of villages and settlements around Al-Fashir is intended to cause displacement and fear, rather than accomplish any specific military objectives.

“It is imperative that all possible actions aimed at the protection of innocent civilian populations, in Al-Fashir as in the entire territory of Sudan, are expedited,” she said. “It is urgent to stop ethnically motivated violence.”
 

 


Two Israelis, one pregnant, wounded in occupied West Bank: authorities

Two Israelis, one pregnant, wounded in occupied West Bank: authorities
Updated 36 sec ago
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Two Israelis, one pregnant, wounded in occupied West Bank: authorities

Two Israelis, one pregnant, wounded in occupied West Bank: authorities
  • Bruchin is an Israeli settlement built on West Bank land without the Israeli authorities’ approval which was retroactively legalized by the Israeli government

JERUSALEM: Two Israeli civilians including a pregnant woman were wounded on Wednesday when shots were fired at their vehicle in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities.
An Israeli army statement said “a terrorist opened fire on an Israeli vehicle” near Bruchin, an Israeli settlement in the center of the Palestinian territory considered illegal under international law.
“Two Israeli civilians were wounded” in the attack and are being treated, the statement added.
The Beilinson hospital said a woman taken there was pregnant.
“Medical teams are currently fighting in the traumatology ward to save the life of the woman and that of her fetus,” a hospital spokesperson said.
Emergency services had earlier said the woman driver, who was aged about 30, was “in a critical state with gunshot wounds.”
A male passenger around the age of 40 was “in a grave state,” emergency services added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “deeply shocked by the horrific terrorist attack against a woman in advanced pregnancy and her husband.”
“This abhorrent incident precisely reflects the difference between us, who desire and bring life, and the reprehensible terrorists, whose goal is to kill us and destroy life,” he said in the statement released by his office.
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 an upsurge in violence.
Bruchin is an Israeli settlement built on West Bank land without the Israeli authorities’ approval which was retroactively legalized by the Israeli government.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law.


US-backed aid group to start work in Gaza by end of May

US-backed aid group to start work in Gaza by end of May
Updated 26 min 30 sec ago
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US-backed aid group to start work in Gaza by end of May

US-backed aid group to start work in Gaza by end of May
  • The newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will instead distribute aid in Gaza from so-called secure distribution sites

UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON: A US-backed humanitarian organization said on Wednesday that it would launch operations in Gaza by the end of May and has asked Israel to allow aid to start flowing into the enclave now under existing procedures until it is set up.
No humanitarian aid has been delivered to Gaza since March 2, and a global hunger monitor has warned that half a million people face starvation, a quarter of the enclave’s population. Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, aid deliveries have been handled by international aid groups and UN organizations.
The newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will instead distribute aid in Gaza from so-called secure distribution sites, but said Israel’s current plan to only allow such a few sites in southern Gaza needed to be scaled up to include the north.
“GHF emphasizes that a successful humanitarian response must eventually include the entire civilian population in Gaza,” the foundation’s executive director, Jake Wood, wrote in a letter to the Israeli government.
“GHF respectfully requests that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) identify and deconflict sufficient locations in northern Gaza capable of hosting GHF operated secure distribution sites that can be made operational within thirty days,” he wrote.
He asked Israel to facilitate the flow of enough aid “using existing modalities” until GHF’s distribution infrastructure is fully operational, saying this is essential to “alleviate the ongoing humanitarian pressure, as well as decrease the pressure on the distribution sites during our first days of operation.”


Iran says to hold nuclear talks with Europeans this week

Iran says to hold nuclear talks with Europeans this week
Updated 14 May 2025
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Iran says to hold nuclear talks with Europeans this week

Iran says to hold nuclear talks with Europeans this week
  • Friday’s meeting will follow the latest round of Oman-mediated Iran-US talks on Sunday, which Tehran described as ‘difficult but useful’

TEHRAN: Iran will hold a fresh round of nuclear talks with European powers in Turkiye later this week, its Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

The talks with Britain, France and Germany would be held in Istanbul on Friday, ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.

French diplomatic sources gave the same information, but there was still no word from Berlin or London on the meeting which was originally slated for earlier this month but postponed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the talks would be held “at the level of deputy foreign ministers.”

The European nations — known as the E3 — were among the world powers that negotiated the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal along with China, Russia and the United States.

Donald Trump, in his first term as president, effectively torpedoed the accord in 2018 by unilaterally withdrawing the US.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran, backing nuclear diplomacy but warning of military action if it fails.

Iran has held several discreet meetings on the nuclear agenda with the E3 since late last year — most recently in February in Geneva — ahead of indirect negotiations with Washington that began on April 12.

“While we continue the dialogue with the United States, we are also ready to talk with the Europeans,” Araghchi said.

“Unfortunately, the Europeans themselves have become somewhat isolated in these negotiations with their own policies,” he added, without elaborating.

“We do not want such a situation and that’s why we have continued our negotiations” with them, he said.

Friday’s meeting will follow the latest round of Oman-mediated Iran-US talks on Sunday, which Tehran described as “difficult but useful” while a US official said Washington was “encouraged.”

Iran and the United States have so far held four rounds of talks, the highest-level contact in years between the long-time foes, since the US abandoned the 2015 nuclear accord.

Western countries, including the United States, have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire atomic weapons, while Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

European governments are currently weighing whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 deal, which would reinstate UN sanctions in response to Iranian non-compliance — an option that expires in October.

On Tuesday, Trump criticized Iran’s leadership, regional role, alleged mismanagement, and threatened to slash its oil exports if nuclear talks fail.

“Iran’s leaders have focused on stealing their people’s wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad,” said Trump at a Saudi investment forum.

He reiterated his willingness to “make a deal with Iran” but threatened to impose “massive maximum pressure,” including driving Iranian oil exports to zero if talks failed.

Araghchi dismissed the remarks as a “very deceptive view” of Iran and blamed US sanctions, pressure and both military and non-military threats for hindering the country’s progress.


Jordanian King discusses Gaza with UK national security adviser

Jordanian King discusses Gaza with UK national security adviser
Updated 14 May 2025
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Jordanian King discusses Gaza with UK national security adviser

Jordanian King discusses Gaza with UK national security adviser
  • King Abdullah emphasized the urgent need to reinstate the ceasefire in Gaza
  • He commended the UK’s role in promoting stability in the region

LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan met UK National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell at Al-Husseiniya Palace to discuss regional developments on Wednesday.

King Abdullah highlighted the significance of the relationship between Amman and London and the cooperation in various sectors, including defense, during the meeting that Crown Prince Hussein also attended.

He emphasized the urgent need to reinstate the ceasefire in Gaza, resume the flow of humanitarian aid and rebuild the Palestinian coastal enclave without displacing its residents, the Petra news agency reported.

They discussed the current events in the occupied West Bank and new developments in Syria. King Abdullah commended the UK’s role in promoting stability in the region, Petra added.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, the director of the King’s office, Alaa Batayneh, Ambassador to the UK Manar Dabbas, Director of the General Intelligence Department Maj. Gen. Ahmad Husni, and British Ambassador to Jordan Philip Hall.


UN peacekeepers say Israel hit Lebanon base with ‘direct fire’

UN peacekeepers say Israel hit Lebanon base with ‘direct fire’
Updated 14 May 2025
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UN peacekeepers say Israel hit Lebanon base with ‘direct fire’

UN peacekeepers say Israel hit Lebanon base with ‘direct fire’
  • UNIFIL said it was ‘concerned by the recent aggressive posture of the Israel Defense Forces involving UNIFIL personnel and assets’
  • Included an ‘incident in which a direct fire hit the perimeter of a UNIFIL position south of the village of Kfar Shouba’

BEIRUT: The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon protested on Wednesday at “direct fire” by the Israeli military at one of its positions, the first since a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.

UNIFIL sits on the international committee created to supervise the ceasefire agreement that kicked in on November 27 and ended more than two months of all-out war between Israel and the pro-Iranian militant group.

In a statement, UNIFIL said it was “concerned by the recent aggressive posture of the Israel Defense Forces involving UNIFIL personnel and assets.”

That included an “incident in which a direct fire hit the perimeter of a UNIFIL position south of the village of Kfar Shouba,” which it said took place on Tuesday.

The force said it “observed two shots fired from south of the Blue Line,” in reference to the de facto border between Israel and Lebanon.

It was the first time since November 27 that Israel has directly hit a UNIFIL position, it said.

At the height of the fighting last October, the peacekeeping force accused Israel of having hit its positions or peacekeepers at least 20 times.

As well as the “direct hit” on Tuesday, UNIFIL said there were “at least four other incidents involving IDF fire near its positions” and “other aggressive behavior by the IDF toward peacekeepers performing their operational activities.”

It said that on Tuesday that peacekeepers patrolling alongside the Lebanese army “reported being targeted by a laser from a nearby IDF position.”

“UNIFIL protests all such and we continue to remind all actors of their responsibility to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN assets and premises at all times,” the statement read.

According to the terms of the ceasefire, the Israeli military is required to withdraw completely from southern Lebanon while Hezbollah must dismantle its military assets in the region and withdraw north of the Litani river.

Israel has largely completed its withdrawal, though it insisted on keeping its forces at five points inside Lebanon that it considers strategic and has repeatedly launched strikes inside the country.

The ceasefire is based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which requires that UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army be the only armed bodies in southern Lebanon.