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KHARTOUM: At least 200 people were killed in two days of ethnic clashes in Sudan’s southern Blue Nile state, official media said on Saturday, up from an earlier toll of 150.
Clashes in Blue Nile, which borders Ethiopia and South Sudan, broke out last week after reported disputes over land between members of the Hausa people and rival groups, with residents reporting hundreds fleeing intense gunfire and homes and shops set ablaze.
Fighting peaked on Wednesday and Thursday to some of the worst in recent months, prompting the provincial governor to declare a state of emergency on Friday.
“Two hundred people were killed” in three villages in the Wad Al-Mahi area, some 500 km south of the capital Khartoum, said local assembly chief Abdel Aziz Al-Amin.
“Some of the bodies have not been buried yet,” he told state television, calling on “humanitarian groups to help” local authorities bury the dead.
Governor Ahmed Al-Omda Badi had ordered a “state of emergency … in the whole Blue Nile state for 30 days,” according to a Friday provincial decree.
Abbas Moussa, the head of the Wad Al-Mahi hospital, told AFP on Thursday that “women, children and elderly” people were among the dead.
Several hundred people had demonstrated in the Blue Nile capital, Damazin, earlier that day, shouting: “No to violence.” Some demanded Governor Badi be sacked, accusing him of not protecting them.
From July to early October, at least 149 people were killed and 65,000 displaced in Blue Nile, according to the United Nations.
The Hausa have mobilized across Sudan, claiming they are discriminated against by tribal law which forbids them to own land in Blue Nile because they were the last group to arrive there.
The issue of access to land is highly sensitive in impoverished Sudan, where agriculture and livestock account for 43 percent of employment and 30 percent of GDP, according to UN and World Bank statistics.
Sudan has been grappling with deepening political unrest and a spiraling economic crisis since last year’s military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
A surge in ethnic violence in recent months has highlighted the security breakdown in Sudan since the coup.
A total of 546 people were killed and at least 211,000 forced to flee their homes in inter-communal conflicts across the country from January to September, according to the UN.
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.
IRBIL: The UN expressed concern on Wednesday over the Iraqi authorities’ swift closure this week of a displacement camp that had housed more than 300 families with alleged ties to the militant Daesh group.
The UN office in Baghdad said in a statement that the closure the previous day of the camp known as Jadah 5 in the town of Qayyarah in the country’s north was done “without adequate notification or preparation.”
Aid workers, who had also criticized the closure as hasty and chaotic, said authorities had notified camp residents on Monday that they had to leave by Wednesday — a day before the beginning of the Muslim celebration of Eid Al-Fitr, the holiday that follows the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Initially, the Migration and Displacement Ministry had set a closure deadline for May. Jadah 5 was one of the last remaining camps for the displaced in Iraq, which still has some where 1.2 million people internally displaced after years of conflict.
Aid groups have pushed back against their closures, fearing that vulnerable families, including many women and children, would struggle to integrate in their hometowns and would be stigmatized for their perceived or real affiliation with Daesh militants. Camp residents had said they fear violence from militias and tribes if they go back to their towns of origin.
“The humanitarian community is concerned by the impact of the closure of the camp,” the UN office said and reiterated the UN’s long and principled support for “voluntary, informed, safe and dignified return of all” internally displaced persons.
Ali Abbas, a spokesman for the ministry, said that each family was given 1,500,000 Iraqi dinars (about $1,030) to find new housing. He did not explain why the deadline was pushed up.
Iraqi authorities in late 2020 began a push to close all displacement camps across the country, hoping it would boost reconstruction efforts that have lagged, years after the defeat of Daesh.
Most camps have since been closed, except for those in Iraq’s northern, semi-autonomous Kurdish region and also Jadah 1 in Qayyarah, which houses Iraqi detainees with Daesh ties who were formerly held in neighboring Syria’s Al-Hol camp.
International organizations have cited rampant violence and lawlessness in Al-Hol and called for countries with citizens housed there to repatriate them.
RAMALLAH: A Muslim man who walked from his native France to Jerusalem has spoken of the warm welcome he received from Palestinians when he joined them for prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Neil Dauxois, 26, the son of an Algerian mother and French father, walked 3,900 kilometers from his home in the city of Lyon. His grueling journey took 10 months, during which he passed through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkiye, Cyprus and Jordan.
After reaching Jerusalem he prayed with thousands of Palestinians at Al-Aqsa, Islam’s third-holiest site, last weekend on the last Friday of Ramadan, and again on Monday which was Lailat Al-Qadr. Also known as the “Night of Power,” this is the holiest evening of the year for Muslims, on which they celebrate the night on which the Qur’an was sent from Heaven to the world.
“Sometimes it was overwhelmingly good and sometimes challenging,” Dauxois told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency shortly after arriving at Al-Aqsa, as he described his journey.
He was welcomed at the mosque by hundreds of Palestinians who enthusiastically greeted him and took photographs with him that they shared on social media.
“I was astonished when I got here,” Dauxois said. “People were hugging me and kissing me. They welcomed me with sincere hospitality. I am delighted to be here and I cannot describe my feelings.”
He said his aim had been to reach the mosque and perform itikaf there during Ramadan. Itikaf is the Islamic practice of remaining in relative seclusion in a mosque or other place during the last 10 days of Ramadan with the intention of solely focusing on worship.
When he arrived at Al-Aqsa, Dauxois was carrying a large black backpack with the words “France to Jerusalem on foot” written on it in Arabic and English.
“It is amazing to see how this young man came from France to Al-Aqsa on foot,” said a worshipper at the mosque as he stood alongside the Frenchman.
Dauxois admitted that cold weather had made it difficult to continue walking through some regions, but said his journey had been “an extraordinary adventure full of humanity and hope.”
He added: “I could not express one-tenth of all I felt, and on my way I met many people of different religions who opened their doors to me. Without the help of these people, my journey would have been impossible.
“When I was in Turkiye, people were very kind and hospitable. If it weren’t for their help, I would have given up.”
Many of the Palestinians who greeted him invited him to stay with them in their homes in Jerusalem or the West Bank.
Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the former grand mufti of Jerusalem, told Arab News that the Frenchman’s journey to Al-Aqsa should inspire Muslims worldwide to visit the mosque and pray there throughout the year.
“Al-Aqsa is not for the people of Palestine alone but for all the people of the world, just like the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah,” said Sabri.
“We encourage Muslims from all over the world to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque at all times of the year, especially during the month of Ramadan.”
Dauxois acknowledged that his freedom to attend the mosque was a privilege denied to many Palestinians, as a result of Israeli restrictions, and offered them his support.
“I know the situation here (in Jerusalem and Palestine),” he said. “I have many Palestinian friends who cannot visit this place.”
His next goal, he added, is “to go for Hajj to Makkah in a month and a half.” He said that people in Saudi Arabia “are also following me; I would love to receive their help on my next journey.”