CAIRO: More than 136,000 people have fled Sudan’s southeastern Sennar state since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began a series of attacks on towns, the United Nations said on Thursday, the latest wave of displacement caused by Sudan’s almost 15-month long war.
They join nearly 10 million people driven from their homes since war broke out between the RSF and the regular army. The war has sparked accusations of “ethnic cleansing” and warnings of famine, mainly in RSF-controlled areas across the country.
The RSF on June 24 began a campaign to seize the city of Sennar, a trading hub, but quickly turned to the smaller towns of Sinjah and Al-Dinder, prompting an exodus of civilians from all three, mainly to neighboring Al-Gedaref and Blue Nile states.
Images on social media showed people of all ages wading across the Blue Nile.
Activists in both states say there is little shelter or food aid for the incomers. In Gedaref, they faced an onslaught of heavy rain while stranded in the state capital’s main market with no tents or blankets after schools that had served as displacement centers were emptied by the government, the local resistance committee said.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration said in a statement that since June 24, an estimated total of 136,130 people had been displaced in Sennar.
The state was already home to more than 285,000 people displaced from Khartoum and Al-Gezira states, meaning that many of those leaving over the last two weeks were likely to have been displaced for the second or third time. It also said that villages in Gedaref state, one of several possible targets for the RSF campaign, had also seen an exodus.
To the west of the country, local activists said at least 12 people were killed by artillery fire on a livestock market on Wednesday in the city of Al-Fashir which has seen a months-long fight for control between the RSF and the army and allied armed groups.
It has caused an exodus of tens of thousands west to Tawila and Jebel Mara, areas controlled by one of Sudan’s largest rebel groups led by Abdelwahid Al-Nur, who on Thursday offered to use his troops to secure Al-Fashir if both sides withdraw.
In a statement, Nur said that Al-Fashir, which along with nearby Zamzam camp is one of 14 locations flagged by monitors as approaching famine, could then resume its role as a hub for humanitarian aid delivery.
The army did not comment on the offer when asked by Reuters, while an RSF source said that the force accepted the offer in principle and hoped that the army and allied forces would accept the offer and exit the city.
More than 136,000 displaced by spread of war in southeast Sudan, UN says
https://arab.news/w5733
More than 136,000 displaced by spread of war in southeast Sudan, UN says
- They join nearly 10 million people driven from their homes since war broke out between the RSF and the regular army
- The UN’s International Organization for Migration said in a statement that since June 24, an estimated total of 136,130 people had been displaced in Sennar
Hamas says spokesman killed in Israeli strike on Gaza
The group said in a statement it mourned the loss of Abdul Latif Al-Qanou who was killed in what it called a “direct” strike on a tent he was in, in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.
A fragile ceasefire that brought weeks of relative calm to Gaza ended on March 18 with Israel resuming its bombing campaign across the territory.
According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 855 people have been killed since.
Qanou is the latest Hamas official to be killed in recent Israeli strikes.
Israel’s military said last week it had killed the head of Hamas’s internal security agency, Rashid Jahjouh, in an air strike.
Days earlier, Hamas had named the head of its government in the Gaza Strip, Essam Al-Dalis, and interior ministry head Mahmud Abu Watfa, among a list of officials it said were killed in strikes.
The Israeli military confirmed it had killed Dalis, a member of Hamas’s political bureau who became the head of its administration in Gaza in June 2021.
Hamas has also confirmed the deaths of Salah Al-Bardawil and Yasser Harb, both members of its political bureau.
“The occupation’s targeting of the movement’s leaders and spokespersons will not break our will,” Hamas said Thursday.
Israel parliament passes judicial reform law, opposition challenges
- The opposition, which swiftly filed a petition with the supreme court challenging the vote, views these judicial reforms as signs of Netanyahu’s authoritarian shift toward an illiberal democracy
JERUSALEM: Israel’s parliament Thursday passed a law expanding elected officials’ power to appoint judges, defying a years-long movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial reforms that saw massive street protests.
The approval comes as Netanyahu’s government, one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history, is locked in a standoff with the supreme court after beginning proceedings to dismiss Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Ronen Bar, head of the internal security agency.
The opposition, which swiftly filed a petition with the supreme court challenging the vote, views these judicial reforms as signs of Netanyahu’s authoritarian shift toward an illiberal democracy.
The legislation was approved by a vote of 67 in favor and one against, with the opposition boycotting the early-morning vote.
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has 120 lawmakers.
The overall judicial reform package had sparked one of the largest protest movements in Israel’s history in 2023 before being overtaken by the war in Gaza.
The war began following the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
Yair Lapid, leader of the center-right Yesh Atid party, announced on social media platform X that he had filed an appeal with the supreme court against the law on behalf of several opposition parties, just minutes after the parliamentary vote.
According to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who sponsored the bill, the measure was intended to “restore balance” between the legislative and judicial branches.
In his closing remarks ahead of the vote, Levin slammed the supreme court for what he described had “effectively nullified the Knesset.”
“It has taken for itself the authority to cancel laws and even Basic Laws. This is something unheard of in any democracy in the world,” said Levin, the key architect of the judicial reforms.
“But our supreme court didn’t stop at trampling the Knesset; it placed itself above the government. It can annul any government action, compel the government to perform any action, cancel any government appointment.”
Levin said with the new bill the country was “opening a new page.”
“It is hypocrisy and one-sided to say that the Knesset is forbidden to act while the court is allowed to act in the middle of a war,” Levin said.
“The days of appeasement and silencing are over, never to return. I am proud to stand here and demand justice, and I am even prouder to deliver justice.”
Currently, judges — including supreme court justices — are selected by a nine-member committee comprising judges, lawmakers, and bar association representatives, under the justice minister’s supervision.
Under the new law, which would take effect at the start of the next legislative term, the committee would still have nine members: three supreme court judges, the justice minister and another minister, one coalition lawmaker, one opposition lawmaker, and two public representatives — one appointed by the majority and the other by the opposition.
The government’s judicial reforms package, first unveiled in early 2023, had triggered massive street protests that effectively divided Israeli society.
Netanyahu’s detractors warn the multi-pronged package could pave the way for authoritarian rule and be used by Netanyahu to quash possible convictions against him in his ongoing corruption trial, an accusation the premier denies.
Protesters had rallied weekly against the government reforms since they were unveiled.
Rallies have once again erupted in key cities, and on Wednesday thousands protested against the bill before it was approved in parliament.
Netanyahu had slammed the opposition on Wednesday during a speech in parliament.
“You recycle the same worn-out and ridiculous slogans about ‘the end of democracy’. Well, once and for all: Democracy is not in danger, it is the power of the bureaucrats that is in danger.
“Perhaps you could stop putting spanners in the works of the government in the middle of a war. Perhaps you could stop fueling the sedition, hatred and anarchy in the streets.”
Algerian court sentences writer Boualem Sansal for five years
- He was arrested in November and stood trial for undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity, after saying in an interview with a far-right French media outlet that France unfairly ceded Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial era
ALGIERS: An Algerian court on Thursday sentenced French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, whose case has been at the heart of a diplomatic storm, to five years behind bars, an AFP journalist inside the courtroom said.
The author is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as of Islamists.
He was arrested in November and stood trial for undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity, after saying in an interview with a far-right French media outlet that France unfairly ceded Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial era.
The statement, which echoed a long-standing Moroccan claim, was viewed by Algeria as an affront to its national sovereignty.
A court in Dar El Beida, near Algiers, sentenced “the defendant in his presence to a five-year prison term” with a fine of 500,000 Algerian dinars ($3,730).
Last week, prosecutors at an Algiers court requested a 10-year prison sentence for the novelist whose work has remained available in Algeria despite his criticism of the government.
Though Sansal was relatively unknown in France before his arrest, the trial has sparked a wave of support from French intellectuals and officials.
French President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed the accusations against Sansal as “not serious,” but had expressed confidence in Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s “clarity of vision” on the matter.
Macron has repeatedly called for the writer’s release, citing his fragile state of health due to cancer.
Sansal’s French lawyer, Francois Zimeray, condemned the decision in a post on X as “a sentence that betrays the very meaning of the word justice.
“His age and his health make every day he spends in jail even more inhuman. I appeal to the Algerian presidence: justice has failed, let humanity at least prevail.”
Algerian news site TSA has written that the trial was “not just about the fate of one man but also the immediate future of relations” between Algeria and its former colonial ruler.
Ties between the two countries have been strained over migration issues and since Macron recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara in July last year.
Western Sahara is mostly controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed pro-independence Polisario Front, which seeks a UN-backed self-determination referendum that has never materialized since a 1991 ceasefire.
At his trial last week, Sansal said he had not foreseen the potential repercussions of his comments on Algeria’s borders with Morocco.
He also denied any intent to harm Algeria, saying he merely “expressed an opinion” in the name of “freedom of expression,” according to Algerian newspaper Echorouk.
Algeria has blamed the French right and far right for fueling the dispute, arguing that French diplomacy is now led by hard-liners favoring its regional rival, Morocco.
In an apparent attempt to ease tensions, Tebboune said in an interview on Saturday that the case was “in good hands” and described Macron as his “sole point of reference” for repairing strained ties.
Prior to Thursday’s sentencing, analyst Hasni Abidi said the author might be granted a presidential pardon during upcoming Muslim or national holidays.
Italy pledges 68 million euros in aid for Syria
- EU countries have also suspended a range of sanctions against Syria, including restrictions related to energy, banking, transport and reconstruction
ROME, March 27 : Italy has earmarked some 68 million euros ($73.20 million) to finance humanitarian projects and rebuild infrastructure in Syria, Rome’s foreign minister told lawmakers on Thursday, saying it was crucial to support the transition in Damascus.
“An initial package has been earmarked for humanitarian initiatives in the hospital and health sector, in infrastructure, and in strengthening food supply chains,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told a parliamentary hearing.
“New cooperation projects will start in the coming weeks. And we also intend to organize a business forum aimed at reconstruction,” he added.
Earlier this month, donors at a European Union-led conference pledged 5.8 billion euros to help Syria’s new authorities with the challenges of the transition.
EU countries have also suspended a range of sanctions against Syria, including restrictions related to energy, banking, transport and reconstruction.
The new authorities this month issued a constitutional declaration that retains a central role for Islamic law in the country.
Tajani said the constitutional declaration represented a “positive step” and a “progressive and cautious” easing of sanctions should continue to foster institutional consolidation and economic recovery.
Police use force to break up protests at university in Turkiye’s capital
- At least 1,400 people were detained first six days of the protests, the interior minister said Tuesday
- A group of students gathered to read a statement near the university gates, pro-opposition broadcaster Halk TV and local media reported
The demonstrations began last week following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu, jailed on corruption charges many see as politically motivated, is also accused of supporting terrorism. The government insists the judiciary is independent, but critics say the evidence is based on secret witnesses and lacks credibility.
Early Thursday, student demonstrators tried to march and gathered to read a statement near the gates at Middle East Technical University, pro-opposition broadcaster Halk TV and local media reported. They were met by security forces who deployed pepper spray, water cannon and plastic pellets. A standoff ensued where the students hid behind a barricade of dumpsters until the police charged to detain them.
Melih Meric, a legislator with the Republican People’s Party or CHP, was seen soaked with water and suffering from pepper spray exposure. “My student friends only wanted to make a press statement, but the police strictly did not allow it, this is the result,” Meric said in social media videos.
Officials have not said how many people were detained.
Ozgur Ozel, the leader of party to which Imamoglu belongs, had promised that lawmakers would stand alongside protesters in the hope of lowering tensions. He also warned Tuesday that if the police provoked demonstrators he would “make a call for 500,000 people to (come to) the place that will disturb” the authorities the most.
At least 1,400 people were detained first six days of the protests, the interior minister said Tuesday.
Demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands have swept across major cities, including opposition-organized rallies outside Istanbul City Hall. Other major protests have been held in Istanbul’s districts of Kadikoy and Sisli districts in recent days.
Erdogan has accused the opposition of “sinking the economy” by calling for a boycott of companies it says support the governmen. The president said those responsible for hurting financial stability would be held “accountable.”
Meanwhile, Imamoglu, speaking from prison via social media Wednesday, denounced police violence against protesters, “I cannot call them police because my honorable police would not commit this cruelty to the young children of the nation,” he said.
Imamoglu has been confirmed as the main opposition party’s candidate for presidential elections due in 2028 but which could come earlier. He has performed well in recent polls against Erdogan, for whom his election as mayor of Turkiye’s largest city in 2019 was a major blow.
