CAIRO: US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser held talks Wednesday with Egypt’s president that focused on regional tensions and the ties between Washington and its Mideast ally, the Egyptian leader’s office said.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry attended the talks, which came after Sullivan paid visits to Saudi Arabia and the UAE for talks focused on finding an end to the war in Yemen.
El-Sisi’s office said in a statement the talks also addressed efforts to revive peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians amid rising tensions between the Jewish state and Hamas.
The region has seen an increase in fighting in recent weeks, with tensions fueled by Israeli settlement construction and heightened militant activity in the northern West Bank.
Egypt has long played a role as mediator between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. El-Sisi’s government brokered a cease-fire after an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas erupted in May.
The statement said the talks also touched on the situation in Libya as the chaos-wrecked North African nation heads toward elections late this year.
The US, Egypt and other Western nations are pushing for holding presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya as scheduled on Dec. 24, hoping the vote will end a decade-long chaos in the oil-rich nation.
El-Sisi and Sullivan also discussed a decade-long dispute over a massive dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile River.
Ethiopia says the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is crucial for its economic development. Egypt and Sudan, downstream countries, say the project is a threat to their water security and have called for a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam’s reservoir.
El-Sisi urged the international community to play “an effective role” to resolve the dispute. “Egypt will not accept damage to its water interests,” he said.
The Biden administration sees the dam dispute as potential flashpoint in the turbulent Horn of Africa but has sought to take a back seat to the African Union in finding a resolution.
Sullivan told the Egyptian president that the US wants to see a diplomatic solution to the Ethiopian dam issue, but also recognized Egypt’s concerns about access to Nile River waters, according to the Biden administration official.
The two sides also discussed promoting Iraq’s stability and regional integration, addressing Lebanon’s financial crisis, promoting a return to constitutional order in Tunisia, and supporting a civilian-led transition of government in Sudan, the official said.
Egypt’s El-Sisi, Biden adviser Sullivan hold talks on regional tensions
https://arab.news/zc77s
Egypt’s El-Sisi, Biden adviser Sullivan hold talks on regional tensions
- Sullivan emphasized President Biden’s support for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians
- He said the US wants to see a diplomatic solution to the Ethiopian dam issue
One killed in southern Lebanon by Israeli strike: state media
BEIRUT, Lebanon: One person was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon late Monday, after a wave of intensive air attacks in the region over the weekend, state media reported.
“A raid by an enemy Israeli drone on a vehicle in the area of Qaqaiyat Al-Jisr left one dead,” the National News Agency (ANI) said, attributing the toll to the Lebanese health ministry.
Israel launched air strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing eight people, in response to rocket fire that hit its territory for the first time since a ceasefire took effect on November 27.
No party has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, which a military source said was launched from an area north of the Litani River, between the villages of Kfar Tebnit and Arnoun, near the zone covered by the ceasefire agreement.
The agreement stipulates that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers may be deployed south of the Litani River, with Hezbollah required to dismantle its infrastructure and withdraw north of the river.
But the war has severely weakened Hezbollah, which remains a target of Israeli air strikes despite the ceasefire.
Over the weekend Lebanese officials held discussions with Washington and Paris to prevent Israel from bombing Beirut, a source told AFP on Monday on condition of anonymity.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that following rocket fire on Metula, a town in northern Israel, “Metula’s fate is the same as Beirut’s.”
Palestinian children denied access to quality education by Israeli violence and repression
BEIRUT: A lost generation of Palestinian children is being denied an education by Israeli violence and repression, experts said on Monday.
In the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem, constant fighting has paralyzed movement and more than 800,000 young people had their access to school restricted in 2024, according to a new report by the Occupied Palestinian Territory Education Cluster, which includes UN agencies.
In Gaza, where almost every school has been reduced to rubble by Israeli bombing, children had just begun to return to classes in bombed-out buildings when Israeli airstrikes resumed on March 18. Nearly half of the 400 people killed that day were children.
“The ability of Palestinian children to access quality education in the West Bank or in Gaza has never been under more stress,” said Alexandra Saieh, global head of humanitarian policy and advocacy at the charity Save the Children.
The Palestinian Ministry of Education recorded more than 2,200 incidents of violence targeting the education system in the West Bank in 2024, according to the new report. These included attacks on schools by armed settlers and the detention of students or teachers by Israeli security forces.
At least 109 schools were attacked or vandalized. More than half of Palestinian students reported being delayed or harassed on their way to school, and many were physically assaulted. Every day, children in the West Bank run the gauntlet of Israeli roadblocks, checkpoints and settler attacks on their way to school.
"Checkpoints are also increasing risks of violence for students, their caregivers and teachers from Israeli forces or from settlers who, in some areas, have taken advantage of the fact that cars are not able to move to damage them and attack passengers,” the report said.
Since January, thousands of Israeli troops have swept through refugee camps and cities and demolished houses and infrastructure, including roads children use to get to school.
Putin thanks UAE’s president for facilitating exchange of thousands of Russian, Ukrainian prisoners of war
- Vladimir Putin, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan held phone call on Monday
- Sheikh Mohamed stresses UAE’s support for initiatives to resolve crisis in Ukraine
LONDON: Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the UAE’s mediation efforts — which have facilitated the exchange of thousands of war prisoners from Russia and Ukraine — during a phone call with the UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
The UAE’s mediation has resulted in the release of 3,233 prisoners of war from Russia and Ukraine since 2024. Last week’s exchange saw the release of 175 prisoners from each side.
Putin and Sheikh Mohamed on Monday discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation and reaffirmed their strategic partnership to benefit their countries, the Emirates News Agency reported.
Putin expressed his appreciation to Sheikh Mohamed for the successful mediation efforts made by the UAE, the WAM added.
Sheikh Mohamed thanked the Russian government for its cooperation in successfully facilitating the war captives exchange initiative. He emphasized the UAE’s commitment to humanitarian efforts and support for initiatives to resolve the crisis in Ukraine and mitigate its impact.
The two leaders addressed various regional and international issues, with the UAE’s president reiterating his nation’s commitment to fostering peace globally, as well as advocating for initiatives to resolve conflicts.
Clashes displace 15,000 families in Sudan’s North Darfur: UN
- The town is one of the northernmost urban centers in the vast desert between Sudan and Libya, where the RSF and an army-allied coalition of armed groups known as the Joint Forces have battled for months
KHARTOUM: Fighting in Sudan’s war-torn North Darfur state displaced around “15,000 households” from the town of Al-Malha within 48 hours, the United Nations’ migration agency said Monday.
From Thursday to Friday, the clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army and its allied militias forced the families to flee “primarily to other locations” within the same area, said the International Organization for Migration.
Since April 2023, the war between the RSF and the army has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted over 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
In North Darfur alone, nearly 1.7 million people are displaced and around two million people face extreme food insecurity, according to UN figures.
The RSF claimed on Thursday to have seized Al-Malha, which lies at the foot of a mountainous region 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of the North Darfur state capital El-Fasher.
At least 45 civilians were killed in the attack, according to a toll shared by activists in El-Fasher.
In their statement, the RSF said they had “encircled the enemy... leaving more than 380 dead” in Al-Malha.
The town is one of the northernmost urban centers in the vast desert between Sudan and Libya, where the RSF and an army-allied coalition of armed groups known as the Joint Forces have battled for months.
El-Fasher is the only state capital still under the control of the army, which this week recaptured the presidential palace in Khartoum, some 800 kilometers away.
Following months of army gains in central Sudan, analysts say the RSF is determined to consolidate its hold on Darfur, where the Joint Forces have intercepted key supply lines from Chad and Libya since last year.
North Darfur is facing one of Sudan’s worst mass starvation crises, with famine already declared in three displacement camps around El-Fasher.
According to UN projections, it is expected to spread to five more areas, including the state capital itself, by May.
Tunisia probes ride-hailing apps for money laundering
- Tunisian authorities said they have seized about 12 million dinars ($3.8 million) from accounts linked to multiple ride-hailing apps
TUNIS: Tunisia has launched an investigation into alleged money laundering and tax fraud involving ride-hailing applications, the interior ministry said on Monday.
Authorities also said they were suspending the apps.
“The financial division of the National Guard has uncovered suspicions of money laundering and tax evasion among operators of private taxi ride-hailing apps,” the ministry said in a statement.
The statement did not name the apps, but a source familiar with the matter told AFP the main company under scrutiny was the Estonia-based Bolt.
The ride-hailing app, operating in more than 500 cities from over 45 countries, is widely used in Tunisia, where public transportation infrastructure is inadequate.
Tunisian authorities said they have seized about 12 million dinars ($3.8 million) from accounts linked to multiple ride-hailing apps.
They said the companies had been removed from the commercial registry and their offices shut for allegedly operating without proper licenses and using fraudulent authorizations.
They were also accused of using bank accounts to illegally funnel funds abroad.
Tunisians have increasingly relied on ride-hailing services amid a deteriorating public transportation system.
Even the capital Tunis, home to over two million people, has suffered from years of public transit underinvestment and neglect.
President Kais Saied has repeatedly denounced corruption within the public transportation sector.
