https://arab.news/849hn
CAIRO: Bloodshed in Sudan’s long-troubled Darfur region has left at least 14 people dead over the last three days, two activists said Tuesday.
Adam Haroun, a local activist, said clashes erupted Sunday in West Darfur province after Arab gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed a trader in the remote town of Fur Baranga.
The killing sparked a series of reprisal attacks between Arabic and African tribal groups and looting, said Adam Regal, spokesman for a local organization that helps run refugee camps in Darfur.
The violence continued Tuesday and the death toll was likely to rise, Haroun said.
On Monday, the governor of West Darfur declared a two-week state of emergency and introduced a night-time curfew across the state.
Analysts see an uptick in violence in recent months between different tribal groups across Sudan’s far-flung regions as a product of a power vacuum and tensions caused by political turmoil.
In late March, at least five people were killed in clashes in West Darfur. Last October, over 170 people were killed in clashes in Blue Nile province, situated in the remote southeast corner of the African country.
Sudan has been steeped in chaos since a military coup, led by the country’s leading Gen. Abdel- Fattah Al-Burhan, removed a Western-backed government in October 2021, upending its short- lived transition to democracy.
Also Tuesday, the United Nations said it was “deeply concerned” after a video surfaced on social media showing a man calling for the UN special representative in Sudan to be assassinated.
“I request a fatwa,” said the man, who identified himself in the video as Abdelmoneim. “I volun- teer myself to assassinate Volker (Perthes).”
The remarks were made during what appeared to be a small conference held by an umbrella group consisting of Islamist factions affiliated with Sudan’s ousted president, Omar Bashir.
“The language of the incitement and the violence will only deepen divisions on the ground,” Stephane Dujarri, the UN spokesman, said during Tuesday’s briefing.
Under intense international pressure, Sudan’s ruling military and various pro-democracy forces signed a preliminary agreement in December pledging to reinstate the transition to democracy. But after months of wrangling, cross-party talks brokered by the UN and other international actors, Sudan’s political factions have yet to agree to a final deal.
Sudan’s Islamists have remained staunchly opposed to the deal.
The conflict in Darfur first broke out in 2003 when rebels — mostly from the region’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community — launched an insurgency, complaining of oppression by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.
The then-government, headed by Bashir, responded with a campaign of aerial bombings and scorched earth raids by janjaweed militias. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes in Darfur over the years.
ISTANBUL: Four Turkish soldiers were wounded in artillery and rocket attacks by Kurdish militants on bases in northern Syria, prompting a counter attack, Ankara said on Sunday.
Turkiye’s defense ministry said the attacks were carried out by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which spearheads the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and also the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkiye and Western nations deem a terrorist group.
Turkiye has carried out several cross-border military incursions into northern Syria in recent years and has dozens of bases there.
The four soldiers were sent to hospital, the ministry said. “Ample response is given to the terrorists with strong attacks on targets,” it added.
Earlier on Sunday Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said “we could never be safe while there is an armed terrorist organization” in the north of Syria and Iraq.
“Hopefully in the upcoming term we will increasingly continue our efforts in this direction,” he added in a speech in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa, referring to elections set for May 14.
JERUSALEM: Iran’s exiled crown prince is scheduled to come to Israel this week on a visit that reflects the warm ties his father once had with Israel and the current state of hostility between Israel and the Islamic Republic.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah to rule Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, said Sunday that he will be delivering “a message of friendship from the Iranian people.”
He is set to participate in Israel’s annual Holocaust memorial ceremony on Monday night, said Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, who will host him. He is also set to visit a desalination plant, see the Western Wall and meet representatives of the local Bahai community and Israeli Jews of Iranian descent, she said.
Gamliel praised the “brave decision” by Pahlavi to make what she said would be his first visit to Israel. “The crown prince symbolizes a leadership different from that of the ayatollah regime, and leads values of peace and tolerance, in contrast to the extremists who rule Iran,” she said.
Pahlavi left Iran at age 17 for military flight school in the US, just before his cancer-stricken father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi abandoned the throne for exile. The revolution followed, with the creation of the Islamic Republic, the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran and the sweeping away of the last vestiges of the American-backed monarchy.
Pahlavi, who still resides in the US, has called for a peaceful revolution that would replace clerical rule with a parliamentary monarchy, enshrine human rights and modernize its state-run economy.
Whether he can galvanize support for a return to power is unknown. His father ruled lavishly and repressively and benefitted from a CIA-supported coup in 1953. The late shah also had close diplomatic and military ties with Israel.
That ended in 1979, when the Iranian revolution’s leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, declared Israel an “enemy of Islam” and cut all ties. Today, the countries are arch-enemies. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat, citing the country’s calls for Israel’s destruction, its support of hostile militant groups on Israel’s borders and its nuclear program. Iran denies accusations by Israel and its western allies that it is pursuing a nuclear bomb.
“I want the people of Israel to know that the Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people. The ancient bond between our people can be rekindled for the benefit of both nations,” Pahlavi said on Twitter.
CAIRO: Simmering tensions between Sudan’s ruling factions reached breaking point on Saturday when trucks with mounted machine guns and tanks began rolling through the streets of Khartoum, a city of 5.2 million people, and airstrikes and artillery fire bombarded neighborhoods from all sides, starting fires and wreaking destruction.
Fighting soon spread across the country, from Merowe in the north to El-Obeid in the south.
For Egypt, the situation in neighboring Sudan amounts to more than just a security crisis at its doorstep. On Saturday afternoon, a Twitter post surfaced that showed several Egyptian soldiers being held captive near Merowe. Numerous reports had been circulating about the Egyptian military’s presence at Merowe airport, which served as a base for joint military exercises for the two armies.
كتيبه من الجيش والقوات المصرية تسلم نفسها لقوات الدعم السريع بمروي⭕
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In statements to the media, Ibrahim Al-Shwaimi, a former Egyptian assistant minister of foreign affairs, clarified that the detained troops were carrying out joint training exercises with the Sudanese military, and were not party to the conflict.
Egypt’s concerns over Sudan’s stability comes as no surprise given Cairo’s long history of hot-and-cold ties with Khartoum. While Egypt has invested millions in development projects in Sudan, many issues such as territorial claims over the eastern section of the Egypt-Sudan border and the use of the Nile’s water remain contentious.
“Egypt seeks the stability of Sudan, the unity of Sudanese lands, the preservation of state institutions in Sudan, and the strength of its armed forces. The stability and strength of Sudan are the protection of Egyptian national security, the protection of approximately 1,200 km of common borders with our brothers in Sudan and the prevention of terrorist infiltration into our lands,” Egyptian parliamentarian Mahmoud Badr told Arab News.
“In all cases, the great Egyptian armed forces are able to maintain security in the southern direction, as they protected it in the western direction before, and we wish the Sudanese people goodness and stability.”
In just two days of violence, dozens of Sudanese have been killed and more than 600 wounded. Civilians are caught in the crossfire, with children trapped inside schools, and hospitals completely overwhelmed by the growing number of casualties.
Multiple civilians, including three workers from the UN’s World Food Programme, have been killed. The country’s airports were shuttered and its main telecommunications provider and TV channels shut down their services on Sunday.
This latest explosion of violence is the climax of several months of political tension and days of military mobilization. The clashes stem from events which transpired several years ago, after former Sudanese President Omar Bashir was deposed during a 2019 revolution and replaced by an interim government.
Two years later, Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized power and implemented a military junta.
Fast forward to today — during the 2021 coup, April 2023 was set as the date for Sudan’s transition to a civilian-led government. However, a rift between former allies Al-Burhan and Dagalo grew wider as the two argued over the timetable for and hierarchy of the RSF’s full integration into the Sudanese military.
A few days before the current violence, RSF forces began to mobilize across the country. Now, both sides are blaming each other for lighting the Sudanese powder keg. The information blackout makes accurate reporting difficult: The RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces alternately claim that they control large swaths of cities and other Sudanese territory.
تدمير مدرعات من القوات المعتدية على قواتنا في الخرطوم
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On Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received a phone call from his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir. The two discussed the recent situation in Sudan as well as the political and security roles of Egypt and South Sudan in Sudan.
The two leaders stressed the seriousness of the situation and the ongoing military clashes, calling for an immediate ceasefire and affirming their “full support for the brotherly Sudanese people in their aspirations toward achieving security, stability and peace.”
They also expressed the readiness of Egypt and South Sudan to mediate between the Sudanese parties, while cautioning that additional violence could lead to a further breakdown in the security situation in Sudan.
Separately, Sameh Shoukry and Ali Al-Sadiq, the foreign ministers of Egypt and Sudan respectively, held a phone call on Sunday to discuss the developments in Sudan and efforts to end the crises.
Shoukry conveyed to his Sudanese counterpart Egypt’s “deep concern over the continuation of the current armed confrontations, as they pose a threat to the security and safety of the brotherly Sudanese people and the stability of their country.”
The call also touched on the conditions of the Egyptian community in Sudan and the importance of preserving the security and safety of all Egyptians in Sudan.
They also emphasized that the consolidation of security and stability is the guarantee of the completion of the political transitional path and the achievement of construction and development in Sudan.
For its part, the RSF issued a statement offering assurance that Egyptian citizens in Sudan were safe, referring presumably to the soldiers in its custody. It added that the force was ready to hand Egyptian citizens over to their leadership as soon as the security conditions calmed down.
Khaled Mahmoud, an Egyptian writer and journalist specializing in Sudanese affairs, told Arab News that although the conflict may be limited in scope now, it has the potential to turn into a long-drawn-out crisis.
“The conflict may extend over time and not end or be resolved within hours or days … similar to the Libyan or Syrian situation. It may extend geographically and move to other regions in Sudan. The matter may turn into a regional war by proxy and Egypt may get involved in one way or another in that war, and that is why Cairo wants to anticipate all this and treat the crisis from the beginning,” he said.
Sudan, Africa: Battles erupted yesterday between Sudan’s army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces.
At least 70 people in Sudan’s capital are dead and 400 are injured as rival military factions fight to control the country, UN officials said. pic.twitter.com/gMhDGYrA4s
Badr said the latest crisis had placed Sudan in a delicate situation and he expressed hope that a ceasefire would end the conflict and prevent it from spreading.
Separately, Egyptian political analyst Ammar Ali Hassan weighed in on the crisis in a Facebook post. “Egypt has nothing to do with the conflict between Hamidati (Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo) and Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and any Egyptian presence there took place in agreement with the official authorities — that is, Al-Burhan and Hamidati together,” he said.
“There is no wonder in Egypt’s continuous work for a stable Sudan, because this is in its interest.”
By Sunday evening, witnesses and residents said the Sudanese army had carried out airstrikes on RSF barracks and bases, including in Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum, and managed to destroy most of their facilities.
They said the army had also wrested back control over much of Khartoum’s presidential palace from the RSF after both sides claimed to control it and other key installations in Khartoum, where gun battles raged all day.
ALGIERS: Syria’s chief diplomat has started a visit to Algeria and Tunisia as part of efforts to revive diplomatic relationships in the Arab world, more than a decade after his country was globally isolated amid President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on mass protests against his rule.
Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad was welcomed on Saturday in the lounge of Algiers airport by his Algerian counterpart Ahmed Attaf.
In remarks broadcast by Algerian public television. Mikdad insisted that “relations between the two brotherly countries exist and will continue to exist … beyond the vicissitudes of the situation.”
He added: “My visit will be an opportunity for discussions between the two countries on the latest developments in the region. We need to strengthen this bilateral relationship.”
Algeria is one of the few Arab countries that did not cut off relations with Syria during the civil war that followed the 2011 uprising.
Mikdad notably praised Algeria’s help after the devastating Feb. 6 earthquake that killed tens of thousands in Syria and Turkiye.
He was also bearing a message from Assad to his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the Algerian official APS news agency reported.
Assad consolidated control over most of the country in recent years and Syria’s neighbors have begun to take steps toward rapprochement.
Mikdad also made a recent trip to Egypt in a step toward normalizing ties.
He is scheduled to head to Tunisia on Monday, where he is to reopen Syria’s embassy.
Tunisian President Kais Saied announced earlier this month that he had directed the country’s Foreign Ministry to appoint a new ambassador to Syria.
His move was reciprocated by the Syrian government, according to the SANA news agency.
SULAIMANIYAH: At least two people have been killed and two others wounded in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region, officials said Sunday, blaming a drone strike carried out by Turkiye.
The strikes near the town of Penjwen, close to the Iranian border, targeted a vehicle carrying Turkish Kurdish fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, one official said.
The PKK, which Ankara and its Western allies classify as a “terrorist” organization, operates rear bases in Iraq’s north.
Haval Abubaker, regional governor of Sulaimaniyah, expressed his “concern” about the “attacks” in a telephone call with Masrour Barzani, prime minister of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan.
“According to preliminary elements of the investigation, two people were killed and two others injured by these attacks,” Abubaker said in a statement, which did not name the victims or mention any link to the PKK.
Since 1984 the PKK has waged an insurgency in Turkiye that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, and Ankara has long maintained military positions inside northern Iraq where it regularly launches operations against them.
Abubaker expressed “hope that these attacks will stop, to preserve the security of the region,” according to his statement.
On April 7, drone strikes also blamed on Turkiye targeted the surroundings of Sulaimaniyah airport, when the commander of the Kurdish-led and US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces were present, as well as US troops.
Ankara denied any involvement.
Turkiye regards the SDF and its main component, the People’s Protection Units or YPG, as an offshoot of the PKK.
In July, artillery strikes blamed on Turkiye hit a park in Iraqi Kurdistan killing nine, which Ankara denied responsibility for and blamed the PKK.