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JUBA: As the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region escalates, the UN has urged immediate action to prevent a potential genocide, but experts say that intervention has been hampered by the ongoing fighting, donor fatigue and attention on other humanitarian crises around the world.
According to recent reports, Arab militias, supported by paramilitary forces, have allegedly attacked civilians fleeing El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, near the border with Chad.
The situation has reached a critical point, with the UN’s human rights office declaring El-Geneina “uninhabitable” and infrastructure severely damaged. Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has called on the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, to end the killings and stop vilifying people on the basis of ethnicity.
Bakheet Suliman Adam Abdallah, a human rights advocate hailing from Al-Fashir in Darfur and a member of the Tame tribe, which is predominantly Muslim, has disclosed distressing details about the ongoing conflict in the region.
In a telephone interview with Arab News recently, he said he witnessed widespread acts of murder and targeted violence executed by various militias. “Being black-skinned automatically designates you as one of the primary targets,” he stated.
Furthermore, Abdallah revealed that following the outbreak of war, community leaders in Al-Fashir endeavored to quell the internal clashes between the RSF and Sudan Armed Forces, or SAF, resulting in the division of the city into two zones.
Finding himself in the eastern part under RSF control, he said he was harassed and falsely accused of espionage on two separate occasions solely based on his skin color. “They held a gun to my head, detained me at the gate for two hours, looted all my money, and confiscated my phone.”
Abdallah said that as the violence escalated, and with RSF soldiers forcefully entering people’s homes, he felt he could not continue his human rights work. Consequently, he decided to flee through South Sudan and seek refuge in Uganda.
With citizens having no weapons to defend themselves, a growing number of desperate Sudanese youths have approached SAF bases in recent days to volunteer for combat.
William Carter, who is Sudan country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Arab News recently that “the situation is very challenging.” His organization has been unable to deliver aid due to the ongoing fighting in the region. “Our organization had to suspend its work in Darfur, and some staff members have even become refugees in Chad,” he added.
While people like Abdallah have called for the UN to launch a peacekeeping mission, there is little chance of any external intervention.
“That’s not only because of the lack of political support but also among the parties involved,” Dr. Jair van der Lijn, a senior researcher and director of the Peace Operations and Conflict Management Programme at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, told Arab News recently.
“Right now, the appetite for large-scale peace operations among Security Council members is low, and finding troop-contributing countries would be challenging,” Van der Lijn added.
Previously, the world body’s peacekeeping force, UNAMID, or UN – African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur, was deployed in 2007 to protect civilians and address the conflict, in which between 80,000 and 400,000 casualties were reported. The mission concluded on Dec. 31, 2020, after making progress in stabilizing the region.
However, there remains an urgent need for aid. “There is not enough humanitarian assistance at this point, also to the refugee camps,” Van der Lijn added. “Donor fatigue and competing humanitarian crises divert attention and resources away from Africa.”
ABU DHABI: The UAE’s Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) has begun issuing licenses to owners and breeders of livestock to regulate grazing and all other related activities in Abu Dhabi in aim to protect natural rangelands and promote sustainable traditional grazing practices, state news agency WAM reported.
The licensing policy has been introduced to ensure the recovery of vegetation cover and to promote the sustainability of biodiversity.
It also gives the rangelands an opportunity for natural regeneration and ensures their continuity for future generations the report added.
Applicants can obtain a grazing license if they are over 21, a UAE citizen, and hold a valid animal log wealth certificate approved by the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA).
Owners and breeders of livestock can apply to EAD for a license in accordance with the procedures and requirements specified by the agency and after paying the prescribed fees.
Applicants must also attach a copy of their identity card, and a copy of an approved and valid animal log wealth certificate stating that the applicant owns livestock and that it is registered in the Animal Identification and Registration System by the concerned authorities.
The license applicant must identify the persons who will accompany and care for the livestock and provide a copy of their Emirates ID.
Licensees will be allowed to graze their livestock in open wild areas.
But they are required to stay at least 2km away from protected areas, forests, residential, military, petroleum and private areas, and all roads and places with restricted access.
Livestock are prohibited from grazing unaccompanied and the license is valid for one grazing season only.
Licensees must adhere to a number of environmental conditions, which include not introducing exotic plants, animals, or any harmful substances into the grazing areas.
LONDON: Media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists has renewed its plea to the Israeli military to respect the work of journalists and called for an independent investigation into an incident involving an Al-Araby TV crew and Israel Defense Forces.
According to the Qatari network, on July 3, TV reporter Amid Shehadeh and camera operator Rabi Munir had their filming equipment destroyed.
CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna condemned the IDF’s actions, saying: “The Israeli military’s destruction of Al-Araby TV’s news equipment while the broadcaster’s journalists hid in fear shows how the military has continued to imperil reporting on its actions.”
He also urged the IDF to halt attacks on journalists, and investigate those responsible for the incident.
According to a statement posted to Twitter by Al-Araby TV, the crew were covering an Israeli military operation against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when an IDF vehicle shot at their equipment, destroying a transmitter and knocking a camera off a tripod.
Shehadeh and Munir sought refuge in a nearby house, alongside two Turkish photographers from the Anadolu Agency and a third from Ruptly, a Russian state-owned video news agency based in Germany.
The journalists remained trapped until the Red Cross and Red Crescent escorted them to safety.
Footage of the incident, published by the news website The New Arab, captured the moment when shots were fired and the crew’s transmitter burst into flames.
In its statement, Al-Araby TV expressed outrage at the attack, labeling it a “blatant targeting of journalist crews” and a “clear violation of international human rights norms and standards that guarantee the safety of journalists.”
The IDF’s two-day assault, part of a series of military incursions into Jenin following attacks by Palestinian militants, forced thousands of people to flee their homes, and left 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead.
In a rare condemnation of Israel, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced on Thursday the country’s excessive use of force in its largest military operation in two decades and called for Israel “to abide by its obligations under international law.”
In a similar incident that raised concerns about the actions of the Israeli military, Hazem Nasser, a camera operator for Jordan’s Al-Ghad TV, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries after being shot by Israeli forces while reporting on a raid in Jenin on June 19, according to AFP.
In a separate episode on June 8, two photojournalists, Momen Somrain and Rabi Al-Munir, were shot with rubber bullets by IDF soldiers while reporting on the demolition of a terrorism suspect’s house in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
LONDON: Five of the 10 least peaceful countries globally are in the Arab world, according to the Global Peace Index 2023, which nonetheless said the Middle East and North Africa recorded some of the largest improvements in security and peace.
Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Iraq were ranked 162, 161, 156, 155 and 154 respectively out of 163 countries.
But Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan scored “high” in terms of peace, ranking 21, 35, 48 and 62 respectively. The top three spots were held by Iceland, Denmark and Ireland respectively.
The 17th edition of the GPI, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, is considered the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness.
The rankings are based on data analysis of peace, conflict and economic security metrics for 99.7 percent of the world’s population.
The 2023 GPI found that overall, the world became less peaceful for the 13th time in the last 15 years, with the Ukraine conflict driving increasing levels of insecurity, and conflict-related deaths growing by 96 percent.
The GPI said nationally, the largest improvements in peacefulness worldwide took place in Libya for the second year running, followed by Burundi, Oman, Cote d’Ivoire and Afghanistan.
Three major metrics were combined to produce a GPI score: ongoing conflict, safety and security, and militarization.
In the MENA region, a notable reduction in the number of wars led to major improvements in the “ongoing conflict” and “militarization” metrics.
“Terrorism impact”, “internal conflicts fought” and “deaths from internal conflict” also saw improvements in the region.
Israel “experienced the largest deterioration in peacefulness in the MENA region, falling eight places to 143rd in the GPI,” the report said, adding that the country’s overall peacefulness figure had not fallen so low since 2010.
Qatar maintained its rank as the most peaceful country in the region, a position it has held since 2008.
Yemen’s status as the least peaceful country in the Arab world was recorded for the third consecutive year, owing to its civil war.
Oman jumped 18 spots annually in its ranking at 48, with the GPI crediting its “militarization” data, which tracks metrics including weapons imports and military expenditure.
The GPI highlighted a major shift in terrorism trends away from the MENA region, which until 2015 recorded the most deaths from terrorism.
“In the last eight years, the epicenter of terrorism has shifted out of South Asia and MENA and into sub-Saharan Africa and especially the Sahel,” the report said.
The full rankings for Arab countries in the 2023 GPI are: Qatar (21), Kuwait (35), Oman (48), Jordan (62), the UAE (75), Tunisia (81), Morocco (84), Algeria (96), Bahrain (108), Djibouti (112), Mauritania (114), Saudi Arabia (119), Egypt (121), Palestine (134), Lebanon (135), Libya (137), Iraq (154), Sudan (155), Somalia (156), Syria (161) and Yemen (162).
LONDON: The family of Hezbollah financier Mohammed Ja’far Qasir has been living in extravagance amid a severe and prolonged economic crisis in Lebanon, a report exposed on Thursday.
The prominent Hezbollah leader, who reportedly helps fund Hezbollah’s terrorist activities by selling Iranian oil, has been using the wealth he accumulated through access to the huge funds of the Iran-backed party to finance the indulgent lifestyle of his wife and daughters, Hezbollah defectors told Sawt Beirut International.
The sources claim Qasir’s wife, Mahasin Murtada, influences her husband’s decisions and intervenes even in secret matters of the party’s affairs, such as money and arms smuggling.
Murtada, according to the same sources, hardly spends time in her country, Lebanon, and in the summer of 2022, she and her daughters spent a whole month in Europe, shopping at luxury brands.
One of her daughters posted a photo on social media carrying a Valentino purse worth some $2,000 — 10 times the average income in Lebanon.
Fatima Ayoub, Murtada’s daughter, is married to Mohammed Qasim Al-Bazzal, a key financier for Hezbollah, and flagrantly shares on social media photos of her overpriced outfits, indifferent to the economic crisis in Lebanon.
The spendings of Qasir’s wife and daughters are not limited to clothes and trips to Europe but also extend to cosmetic procedures and plastic surgeries, insider Hezbollah sources revealed to Sawt Beirut International.
The extravagant lifestyle of Qasir’s family is common among the households of other Hezbollah leaders.
Previously leaked accounts revealed the level of corruption and nepotism among Hezbollah’s higher circles. While the party spares no effort in undermining and dividing state institutions and obstructing any attempt to advance them, Hezbollah’s leadership maintains a dividing line between their life of opulence and the Lebanese people’s life of poverty and suffering.
RIYADH: Red Sea Global has announced the installation of 750,000 solar panels in a huge boost for the development’s sustainability drive.
The giga-project has also constructed five solar stations as it gears up for the first phase of its opening, which will see 16 hotels, retail, and entertainment venues come online and powered entirely by renewable energy.
RSG is also implementing the world’s largest battery storage facility at a capacity of 1,200 megawatts per hour, which will enable the company to achieve 100 percent grid independence.
The tourist destination is set to operate 50 resorts by 2030, with up to 8,000 hotel rooms and over 1,000 residential buildings spread across 22 islands and six inland areas.
Along with the giga-project of NEOM, RSG has put sustainability as a key tenet of its development, in line with Saudi Arabia’s target to reach net-zero for carbon emissions by 2060.
John Pagano, the CEO of RSG, said ensuring that the world’s largest tourism destination is fully powered by renewable energy falls within such commitment, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Pagano added that the installation of electroluminescent panels at the five solar stations had been completed as part of the first phase of the Red Sea Project, and the complete independence of the venture from the national grid makes it not only the largest, but also the first of its kind in the world.
All vehicles transporting visitors to the Red Sea Tourism Project will be fully powered by solar energy, starting with their arrival at the Red Sea International Airport and continuing through their movements within the sites and between the nearby islands.
According to the SPA, RSG is also investing in human capital, and has provided vocational training scholarships to 500 people in cooperation with the Human Resources Development Fund, of which 50 people have received training in renewables.
The company aims to provide specialized training to a total of 10,000 Saudi citizens by 2030.
Alongside this, RSG is working to ensure half of its workforce are Saudi nationals.
In May, while speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of Arabian Travel Market 2023 in Dubai, Tracy Lanza, global head of brand development at RSG, revealed the company was edging closer to hitting that target.
“The goal is 50-50 and we are nearly there, and I can say from a marketing standpoint, our team is at 67 percent and growing. We also have the largest percentage of Saudi women, I think, at the company,” said Lanza.