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DUBAI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on Wednesday named his eldest son Sheikh Khaled crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital.
Sheikh Mohamed, who is ruler of Abu Dhabi, also appointed his brother Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan vice president of the UAE alongside Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. He named his other brothers Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al-Nahyan as deputy rulers of Abu Dhabi.
The new crown prince, Sheikh Khaled, 41, is already a member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Office. He has overseen many of the emirate’s biggest recent development projects.
Sheikh Khaled is the chairman of several boards, including the UAE Genomics Council, the executive committee of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and the Advanced Technology Research Council. He is married, with a son and two daughters.
The new appointments follow a reshuffle this month at the top of Abu Dhabi’s two biggest sovereign wealth funds. Sheikh Tahnoun, who is also the UAE’s national security adviser and controls a large business empire, was named chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed also replaced himself with Sheikh Mansour, owner of Manchester City football club, as chairman of Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s second-biggest wealth fund.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the first president of the UAE and the driving force behind its creation in 1971, ruled from then until his death in 2004. He had appointed his eldest son Sheikh Khalifa as his successor, and Sheikh Mohamed took over when Sheikh Khalifa died in May 2022.
KHARTOUM: Residents of Sudan’s capital reported renewed heavy gunfire on Thursday over central Khartoum and some other areas as many tried to flee the city on the eve of the Eid holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Khartoum and its sister cities Omdurman and Bahri have been rocked by fierce battles this week between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that have shut the city down, stranding many and causing food supplies to run short.
Early on Thursday, smoke and fires that had risen from the city in previous days had abated, live TV feeds over Khartoum showed, before the fighting erupted once again.
Gunfire was heard in Bahri and residents reported violent clashes west of Omdurman where they said the army had moved to block the arrival of RSF reinforcements.
Both sides said earlier they would respect a 24-hour cease-fire that was due to come into effect at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) on Wednesday, but was quickly broken by renewed fighting.
The RSF issued a statement about the breakdown in the truce, saying it came under attack in Omdurman and inflicted losses on the army in response, including shooting down two helicopters.
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Reuters could not independently verify the RSF’s claims.
Some of the most intense fighting has been focused around the compound housing the army HQ and the residence of Sudan’s military ruler, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
The army controls access to Khartoum and appeared to be trying to cut off supply routes to RSF fighters, residents and witnesses said.
International powers, struggling to evacuate citizens after the airport and several districts housing embassies were caught up in the violence, have been pushing repeatedly for truces, to little effect.
More people have been leaving the capital with most able to pass but some stopped at checkpoints, according to residents and social media posts.
“There’s no food, supermarkets are empty, the situation isn’t safe, honestly, so people are leaving,” said Khartoum resident who gave only his first name, Abdelmalek.
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POWER STRUGGLE
The fighting has been raging since Saturday morning, cutting power and water supplies in many places during the final days of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.
The power struggle between Burhan and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, was triggered by an internationally-backed plan to form a new civilian government and integrate Hemedti’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into the regular military.
It has dashed hopes for progress toward democracy in Sudan, risks drawing in its neighbors and could play into regional power plays. Sudan sits strategically between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Africa’s volatile Sahel region.
Burhan heads a ruling council installed after the 2021 military coup and the 2019 ouster of veteran autocrat Omar Al-Bashir, while Hemedti, who analysts say may command more than 100,000 fighters, was his deputy on the council.
At least 270 people have died and 2,600 have been injured, Sudan’s health ministry estimates. Nine hospitals have been hit by artillery and 16 had to be evacuated, the Sudanese Doctors’ Union said, with none operating fully inside the capital.
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Residents also say prices for petrol and for fresh food have been hiked sharply by some sellers.
The two military factions are also fighting in other parts of Sudan, including the western Darfur region, site of a brutal conflict that escalated after 2003 and displaced more than 2 million people.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will discuss the situation on Thursday with the heads of the African Union, Arab League and other relevant organizations, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
“People in Sudan are running out of food, fuel, and other vital supplies. Many urgently need medical care,” Dujarric said.
Even before the conflict, around a quarter of Sudan’s population was facing acute hunger. The World Food Programme halted one of its largest global aid operations in the country on Saturday after three of its workers were killed.
TUNIS: A Tunisian investigative judge ordered on Thursday the imprisonment of the leader of Ennahda party Rached Ghannouchi, the prominent critic of President Kais Saied, the politician’s lawyer told Reuters.
The move against Ghannouchi, who was arrested on Sunday, came on suspicion of plotting against internal state security, after an investigation that lasted eight hours, she added.
“It was a ready decision to imprison Ghannouchi only because of Ghannouchi’s expression of his opinion,” lawyer Monia Bouali told Reuters.
Ghannouchi’s official Facebook page published a comment by him after the judge’s decision, which said: “i am optimistic about the future.”
Tunisian authorities on Tuesday banned meetings at all offices of the opposition Ennahda Islamist party and police closed the headquarters of the Salvation Front main opposition coalition.
Ennahda fears the move will pave the way for banning the party and comes a day after police detained Ghannouchi and three senior officials, the party said.
RIYADH: The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council arrived in Aden, the interim capital, along with a number of council members on Wednesday, Al-Watan Adan reported.
Rashad Al-Alimi and the council member had held a series of consultative meetings with Saudi and other regional partners. The meetings discussed local developments and efforts to achieve peace and stability in Yemen.
In a statement he made to Yemen News Agency (SABA), Al-Alimi expressed his sincere congratulations to the people inside the country and abroad on the nearing end of the holy month of Ramadan and the advent of Eid Al-Fitr.
He also congratulated them on the anniversary of the great victory that saw the liberation of the interim capital, Aden, from the Iran-backed Houthi militias, commending “the heroes of the resistance and the armed forces as well as our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their role in achieving this historic victory and for their continuous reconstruction initiatives for the city, along with their humanitarian and developmental interventions across the country.”
TUNIS: The arrest of Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi, the closure of the Ennahda main opposition party headquarters and banning of meetings held by opposition groups, represent a troubling escalation by the Tunisian government, the US State Department said on Wednesday.
Tunisia banned meetings at all offices of Ennahda and police closed the headquarters of the Salvation Front main opposition coalition.
Ennahda fears the move will pave the way for banning the party and comes a day after police detained Ennahda leader Ghannouchi, the most prominent critic of President Kais Saied.
SANAA: More than 80 people were killed and hundreds injured in war-torn Yemen on Thursday after a charity distribution sparked one of the deadliest stampedes in a decade, Houthi officials said.
The latest tragedy to strike the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country came days ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Fitr which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
At least “85 were killed and more than 322 were injured” after the stampede in the Bab Al-Yemen district of the capital, a Houthi security official said.
“Women and children were among the dead,” he told AFP on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
A second health official confirmed the toll.
An AFP correspondent in Houthi-controlled Sanaa said the incident took place inside a school where aid was being distributed.
Hundreds of people had gathered to receive handouts, according to witnesses.
The dead and injured have been moved to nearby hospitals and those responsible for the distribution were taken into custody, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the rebel’s Saba news agency.
The ministry did not provide an exact toll but said “dozens of people were killed due to a stampede during a random distribution of sums of money by some merchants.”
The Houthi rebel’s political chief Mahdi Al-Mashat said a committee has been formed to investigate.
A Houthi security official said three people had been detained on suspicion of involvement.
Videos circulating on social media showed bodies lying on the ground of a large complex as people clamoured around them.
AFP could not independently verify the footage.
Families rushed to hospitals amid heavy security deployment but many were not allowed to enter as top officials were also visiting the dead and wounded.
Large crowds descended on one hospital entrance, an AFP correspondent in Sanaa said.
Security forces also deployed heavily around the school where the incident took place, according to the correspondent. They blocked relatives from entering the facility to locate their loved ones.