US envoy accuses warring Sudanese factions of ‘cowardice’

Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 14 August 2024
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US envoy accuses warring Sudanese factions of ‘cowardice’

Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks in Geneva, on August 14.
  • 2 sides using starvation as weapon of war, says Tom Perriello
  • Washington-brokered talks begin today despite govt’s absence

LONDON: Warring factions in Sudan have been accused of “cowardice” by the US special envoy to the country as key peace talks begin today in Geneva.

The use of starvation as a weapon of war by the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces and the opposition Rapid Support Forces showed that the two sides “lacked courage and honor,” Tom Perriello told The Guardian.

After 15 months of fighting, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have been displaced, and the country — once a breadbasket of the planet — is facing the world’s largest hunger crisis.

More than 25 million people in Sudan are classified as facing acute hunger, and a camp for the displaced in Darfur has officially declared a famine, The Guardian reported.

The US-brokered talks in Geneva aim to end the war. But despite the RSF agreeing to attend, the government’s SAF has said it will not take part.

Perriello was described by The Guardian as “venting his frustration” at persistent efforts by the two warring parties to block humanitarian aid, and disrupt domestic crop harvests.

“It is not only a clear violation of international humanitarian law by both sides, it’s just cowardice,” he said.

“It is shocking to see the lack of courage and honor, particularly where there are people who don’t seem to want to fight militarily, but would rather use starving women and children as their arsenal.”

The government and RSF risk losing all legitimacy in a postwar Sudan if they continue to deploy starvation as a weapon, Perriello added.

“Whatever claims of legitimacy either side wants to make are clearly undermined in the eyes of the Sudanese people and the world when they’re taking these actions.”

His comments come as fears mount over the potential for famine in Sudan’s Darfur.

Up to 800,000 people in Al-Fashir, the region’s capital that is under siege, are suffering from a “severe lack of food and water,” The Guardian reported.

Perriello demanded that Sudanese military permit UN aid to cross into Darfur from neighboring Chad.

The government’s absence from the Geneva talks will not prevent them from taking place, he added.

Getting any relief into Al-Fashir is “very close to impossible” under existing circumstances, said Claire Nicolet of Medecins Sans Frontieres, one of the few aid agencies still operating in the city.

The UN has also condemned the warring factions for “blocking, looting and exploiting humanitarian assistance.”

A statement from the international body said: “The extent of hunger and displacement we see in Sudan today is unprecedented and never witnessed before.

“The Sudanese armed forces and RSF must stop blocking, looting and exploiting humanitarian assistance.”

Some experts have accused the West of inaction and fence-sitting over the war.

Kholood Khair, a Sudanese political analyst, said that Sudan had become diplomatically “deprioritized.”

He added: “The RSF wants Western engagement, but for the SAF it’s the complete opposite.

“For them it’s a badge of honor to be hated by the West; that means you have to incentivize them differently.”


Hezbollah says Israeli army ‘unable’ to occupy any Lebanese villages

Hezbollah says Israeli army ‘unable’ to occupy any Lebanese villages
Updated 10 sec ago
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Hezbollah says Israeli army ‘unable’ to occupy any Lebanese villages

Hezbollah says Israeli army ‘unable’ to occupy any Lebanese villages
BEIRUT: Hezbollah said on Monday that the Israeli military has been incapable of occupying even a single village in Lebanon since launching cross-border ground operations six weeks ago.
Israeli troops on September 30 began what the military called “localized and targeted raids” against Hezbollah in Lebanon’s southern border area, a week after escalating air strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
“After 45 days of bloody fighting, the enemy is still unable to occupy a single Lebanese village,” Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif told a news conference in south Beirut, a stronghold of the movement and a repeated target of Israeli air raids.
Hezbollah, armed and financed by Iran, had on October 23 issued a similar statement that said Israel’s army “has not been able to fully establish its control or completely occupy any village” in southern Lebanon.
Israel has said its aim is to make its northern border safe for the return of tens of thousands of Israelis displaced when Hezbollah began cross-border fire, which it described as support for Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza, more than a year ago.
On November 3, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops at the Lebanon border that the operation aimed to push Hezbollah back over the Litani River.
He said a second goal was to stop any attempt to rearm and the third was “to respond firmly to any action taken against us,” according to his office.
On Monday Hezbollah spokesman Afif said the group’s fighters had repulsed Israeli troops in Khiam, about six kilometers (four miles) from the border.
He added that the Israelis also failed in attempts “to penetrate on several fronts at Bint Jbeil,” about 17 kilometers southwest of Khiam.
Footage verified by AFP last week showed massive detonations in the village of Mais Al-Jabal, between Bint Jbeil and Khiam. Similar aerial scenes have been captured from several border villages since Israel sent in ground troops.
Hezbollah accuses Israel of seeking to create a “no man’s land” on the frontier.
Afif denied that Israeli strikes on Lebanon had diminished the group’s missile stock.
He asked how that could be the case “when we targeted the suburbs of Tel Aviv several days ago” and employed for the first time Fateh missiles.
The group announced on November 6 that it had begun to use Fateh-110 Iranian-made surface-to-surface guided missiles.
In a March report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies described Hezbollah as “probably the most heavily armed non-state group in the world,” with an estimated 120,000-200,000 rockets and missiles.
Asked about ceasefire prospects, Afif said that since the election of Donald Trump last week to the United States presidency, there were “contacts between Washington, Moscow, Tehran and other capitals.”
But he said, “according to my information nothing official has reached Hezbollah or the Lebanese state.”
Israeli strikes killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders but Afif said the group remains “ready for a long war.”

‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking

‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking
Updated 17 min 19 sec ago
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‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking

‘Only $1 mn’: Iraqi PM adviser suspected of bribe-taking
  • Corruption is endemic in the state institutions of oil-rich Iraq

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s anti-corruption agency on Monday announced an investigation into a prime ministerial aide over an alleged audio recording in which he referred to a bribe as being too small.
Corruption is endemic in the state institutions of oil-rich Iraq, but the top echelons of power often evade accountability.
The aide, Abdel Karim Al-Faisal, denied the accusation and has denounced on Facebook the “fabricated” audio clip.
In the recording obtained by Iraqi media, a man alleged to be Faisal criticized his interlocutor, during a phone call, for the bribe being “only $1 million.”
The Commission of Integrity anti-graft body said in a statement it was acting under a directive from Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in opening “an investigation into an audio recording attributed to the head of the Commission of Advisers to the Prime Minister’s Office.”
It added that it was acting “in coordination with a criminal court judge handling anti-corruption cases.”
AFP was not able to authenticate the recording.
In the past few weeks several leaks of alleged recordings have shaken Iraq.
Last month, the chief of the tax bureau, Ali Alawi, was suspended for 60 days after an investigation opened following such a leak. An audio recording attributed to him led to accusations that he had granted tax reductions.
He was also placed in detention, a source with the Commission of Integrity told AFP, under cover of anonymity.
The former head of the integrity commission himself was fired, only to be given an advisory post at the justice ministry.
This came after judicial authorities in September had announced a probe into the integrity commission chief over alleged audio recordings attributed to him and related to suspected bribery.
It is not unknown in Iraq for public officials to try to settle scores by trading accusations.
One of the country’s biggest-ever corruption cases involved the theft of $2.5 billion in public funds from 2021 to 2022.
At the end of August, the judiciary issued arrest warrants for a businessman alleged to be the main suspect in that case, and for a former government official.


Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears

Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears
Updated 29 min 48 sec ago
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Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears

Israel’s strategic affairs minister to meet Blinken as Gaza deadline nears
  • The meeting will come amid hopes of a truce in Israel’s war in Gaza suffering a setback with Qatar suspending its mediation role in the negotiations

WASHINGTON: Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday in Washington, the State Department said, as a deadline set by Washington to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza nears.
The meeting will take place at 5 p.m. ET (2200 GMT), according to the department’s public schedule, which did not offer further details.
Hopes for a truce in Israel’s war in Gaza suffered a setback, with Qatar suspending its role as a mediator in negotiations. Israel separately said on Monday there was progress in talks about a ceasefire in its war in Lebanon.
The US government said in an Oct. 13 letter that Israel had 30 days to take specific steps to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel’s military assault in the last 13 months has displaced nearly the entire population, caused a hunger crisis and led to allegations of genocide at the World Court, which Israel denies.
Since that letter, Blinken has urged Israel to substantially increase humanitarian aid. Earlier this month, he spoke to Dermer and discussed a diplomatic solution in Lebanon as well as ending the war in Gaza, according to the State Department.
Some analysts say Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration may no longer have enough leverage after Republican Donald Trump won the US presidential election. He is set to take office on Jan. 20.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 43,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel’s separate military operations in Lebanon have killed over 3,000 and displaced over a million. Israel says it is targeting Lebanese Hezbollah militants. 


Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years

Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years
Updated 11 November 2024
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Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years

Tunisian ex-presidential candidate’s jail time now 35 years
  • Zammel, a former lawmaker, businessman and head of a small liberal party, received around seven percent of the presidential vote

TUNIS: Former Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel was sentenced on Monday to two years and eight months in prison, raising his cumulative jail time to 35 years following previous trials.
Zammel, one of only two candidates allowed to stand against President Kais Saied last month, was arrested in early September, on the same day that the electoral authorities had approved his candidacy.
A court in Marouba, near the capital Tunis, “increased by two years and eight months” his sentence, after he was convicted of falsifying endorsements to stand in the election, his lawyer Abdessatar Messaoudi said.
Zammel, 47, has now been handed down cumulative sentences of 35 years in jail, Messaoudi said, adding that the former candidate was being prosecuted in 37 different cases.
Each endorsement alleged to have been falsified is grounds for opening a new case, he added.
Zammel, a former lawmaker, businessman and head of a small liberal party, received around seven percent of the presidential vote, whereas Saied won more than 90 percent, according to the Tunisian election board, ISIE.
Saied was democratically elected president in 2019 but two years later staged a sweeping power grab, dissolved parliament and revised the constitution.


Lebanon PM urges global support for state, not factions

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) upon his arrival in Riyadh. (AFP)
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) upon his arrival in Riyadh. (AFP)
Updated 11 November 2024
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Lebanon PM urges global support for state, not factions

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) upon his arrival in Riyadh. (AFP)
  • “Lebanon is going through an unprecedented historical and existential crisis that threatens its present and future,” Mikati said

RIYADH: Lebanon’s prime minister on Monday urged the international community to support the state, not factions operating in the country, and in a thinly veiled swipe at Iran, urged countries to stop interfering in its affairs.
At a summit of Arab and Islamic countries, Prime Minister Najib Mikati demanded that countries stop “interfering in its internal affairs by supporting this or that group, but rather support Lebanon as a state and entity.”

He warned that his country was suffering an “unprecedented” crisis that threatens its existence, as Israel wages war on Hezbollah.
“Lebanon is going through an unprecedented historical and existential crisis that threatens its present and future,” he told the summit in Riyadh.