UN Security Council falls short of meeting aspirations, says Arab League chief
Ahmed Aboul Gheit: It has become universally acknowledged that the Security Council, in its current form, no longer mirrors the realities of today’s world
Aboul Gheit: A glaring example of this is the months-long Israeli aggression against Gaza, marked by relentless killing, destruction, starvation and displacement
Updated 25 September 2024
Gobran Mohamed
CAIRO: The current structure of the UN Security Council no longer reflects the realities of the modern world, Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the Summit of the Future in New York City on Tuesday.
Speaking on the second day of the event, he said the council as it stood did not effectively fulfill its mandate in addressing contemporary conflicts.
“It has become universally acknowledged that the Security Council, in its current form, no longer mirrors the realities of today’s world. It has fallen short in serving the goals of multilateralism effectively and in addressing the conflicts that ravage our planet,” said Aboul Gheit.
“A glaring example of this is the months-long Israeli aggression against Gaza, marked by relentless killing, destruction, starvation and displacement, without the Council being able to take decisive action. Even when a resolution was eventually passed, regrettably, the Council has not been able to enforce it to this day.”
He added: “The current structure and performance of the Security Council do not align with our shared aspirations. We anticipate genuine and transparent reform that will restore confidence in the institution and reflect the realities of the modern world.”
Aboul Gheit stressed the urgent need to strengthen collaboration with the UN to address the root causes of the current crises in the Arab region and beyond.
He said: “I must emphasize that any reforms to the Security Council and international financial institutions must ensure that the Arab world has a consistent and influential voice in global decision-making processes.”
He emphasized that these global issues converged at a critical juncture — the need to preserve multilateralism and strengthen collective action on the international stage.
Among the most pressing concerns he highlighted were rising temperatures and climate change, the widening gap between the developing world and wealthier nations — particularly in relation to climate finance — and the equitable sharing of the burdens of climate adaptation.
Aboul Gheit also pointed to the persistent crises of extreme poverty and mounting debt, as well as the serious challenges posed by emerging technologies, especially artificial intelligence, according to spokesman Gamal Roshdy.
Palestinian health ministry says Israeli air strike kills 5 in West Bank
Updated 14 sec ago
The Israeli military did not offer details Israeli forces carry out frequent raids on Palestinian towns
JENIN, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian health ministry said an Israeli air strike on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday killed five people, with the Israeli military confirming it carried out an attack in the area. “There are five martyrs and a number of injured as a result of the occupation’s bombing in Jenin camp,” the Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement. The Israeli military did not offer details but said it had carried out “an attack in the Jenin area.” Israeli forces carry out frequent raids on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Violence in the territory has soared since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023. Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 830 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the health ministry. Palestinian attacks in the territory have killed at least 28 Israelis over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
Israeli foreign minister sees a majority in government to support Gaza agreement
Gideon Saar said a majority in the Israeli government will support a hostage deal
Updated 24 min 55 sec ago
Reuters
JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday he believed there would be a majority in the government to support a Gaza hostage deal if one is finally agreed, despite vocal opposition from hard-line nationalist parties in the coalition.
“I believe that if we achieve this hostage deal, we will have a majority in the government that will support the agreement,” he said in a press conference in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
British-Kuwaiti ties date back to 1899 Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement
Updated 50 min 51 sec ago
Arab News
LONDON: Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah visited the UK on Tuesday for the first time since becoming head of state in December 2023.
Sheikh Meshal accepted a personal invitation from King Charles III to visit the UK, marking another milestone in the 125-year relationship between the two countries, the Kuwait News Agency reported.
It is Sheikh Meshal’s first visit to the UK as a monarch; however, he traveled to the UK four times as crown prince.
In September 2022, he represented the late Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in offering condolences on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
He attended the coronation ceremony of King Charles III in May 2023, and in August, he met former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak during the 70th anniversary celebration of the Kuwait Investment Office in London.
The emir’s visit highlights the strong historical ties between Kuwait and the UK, which date back to the 1899 Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement, as well as mutual respect, shared interests and cooperation on regional and global issues, KUNA added.
How Middle East conflicts are exacerbating global hunger and jeopardizing a generation
Children in Sudan and Gaza face malnutrition, resulting in stunted growth, developmental delays, and cognitive challenges
During famine, many succumb to cholera or malaria as malnourished bodies have depleted resistance, experts warn
Updated 14 January 2025
Sherouk Zakaria
DUBAI: Conflicts in the Middle East have intensified the global hunger crisis, leaving more children vulnerable to malnutrition and developmental issues, potentially jeopardizing the future of an entire generation.
Globally, almost 160 million people are in need of urgent assistance to stave off hunger, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, a global partnership that measures food insecurity.
While economic turmoil and climate extremes are among the top drivers of rising hunger worldwide, it is the conflicts in Gaza and Sudan that are the primary causes in the Middle East and North Africa region, according to the Global Report on Food Crises.
These conflicts, which have triggered mass displacements, disrupted supply chains and led to a significant drop in agricultural production, have deepened existing food insecurity for millions of people in an already climate stressed region.
In 2024, more than 41 million people were acutely food insecure across the MENA region, according to the latest figures of the World Food Programme.
There are no official figures on hunger-related deaths in Sudan. (AFP)
Almost half of these were in Sudan, where 24.6 million people are facing acute malnutrition, including 638,000 living in famine conditions and 8.1 million teetering on the brink of mass starvation.
The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which broke out on April 15, 2023, has displaced at least 10 million people, making it the world’s largest internal displacement crisis.
The IPC’s declaration of a famine in Sudan marks only the third formal famine determination since the international famine monitoring system was established two decades ago. Previous classifications were made in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017, and South Sudan again in 2020.
Children are bearing the brunt of Sudan’s hunger crisis.
Timmo Gaasbeek, a food security expert who has worked in Sudan, said that it is often infants and young children who are among the first to succumb to malnutrition and starvation during times of famine.
“Young children, and the elderly, are more vulnerable than adults, and will be at higher risk of death due to different diseases like diarrhea or malaria,” Gaasbeek told Arab News.
“In famines, most people die of diseases that their bodies have no resistance to because of hunger, rather than of lack of food itself.”
As of November 2024, an estimated 4.7 million children under the age of five, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, were suffering from acute malnutrition in Sudan, according to WFP.
Palestinian health authorities and the World Peace Foundation expect the number of children who have succumbed to hunger in Gaza to be far higher than official estimates. (AFP)
Even in areas where famine has not been declared, persistent hunger and malnutrition can also ultimately result in death. “Even a 35 percent deficit in energy intake can be fatal if sustained long enough,” Gaasbeek said.
“Millions of people in Sudan are currently at this level of hunger, or worse.”
Widespread hunger in Sudan has been compounded by a sharp economic decline, high food prices, and weather extremes combined with poor sanitation, which has triggered a deadly cholera outbreak, creating what has been dubbed “the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.”
As of December, the IPC had declared famine in five areas, including Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam in North Darfur. People in five other areas of North Darfur, including the besieged Al-Fasher, could face starvation by May. A further 17 areas are at risk of famine-level malnutrition.
As a result of the fighting and other logistical challenges, it took three months for a WFP aid convoy to reach Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, home to 500,000 people and the first area where famine was declared in August.
“The combination of fighting around North Darfur’s capital Al-Fasher, and impassable roads brought on by the rainy season from June to September, severed incoming transport of food assistance for months,” WFP said in a statement at the time.
Access was only made possible after Sudanese authorities agreed to temporarily open the Adre border crossing from Chad into Darfur until February 2025.
This aid was a drop in the ocean, however, as the destruction of Sudanese farming has set the country back years.
An internally displaced women sits next to a World Food Programme truck during a food distribution in Bentiu. (AFP)
Gaasbeek said that it would take about 800,000 tons of food aid in 2026 and 400,000 tons in 2027 to minimize hunger-related deaths in Sudan, which can only happen if the war ends before the start of the next planting season in June 2025.
“The key to stopping hunger in Sudan is getting more food into the country,” he said.
About two thirds of grain consumed in Sudan is produced locally, and commercial imports provide about a third. However, those two aspects are affected by the war and economic collapse.
“Commercial imports are maxed out at the moment as consumers have limited purchasing power and numerous logistical and financial challenges hindering food distribution,” Gaasbeek said.
“Companies have limited resources to import more. This means that the only thing that can make a difference this year is an increase in food aid imports.”
He estimates that if aid deliveries remain limited, some 6 million people could die from hunger in 2025. “If the conflict continues unabated, or worse escalates further, both food production and imports would stagnate, requiring very high levels of food aid to prevent mass starvation.”
While there are no official figures on hunger-related deaths in Sudan, Gaasbeek estimates that hunger and disease killed about 500,000 people in 2024 — about one percent of the population.
INNUMBERS
• 18.2m Children born into hunger in 2024 — or 35 every minute — according to Save the Children.
• 5 percent Rise in the number of children born into hunger in 2024 compared to a year earlier, according to UN FAO.
“It is not unrealistic, especially that the deaths of children are not very visible,” he said.
On Jan. 6, the UN launched a $4.2 billion call for funding to assist 20.9 million of the 30.4 million people across Sudan who are now in desperate need. More than half of them are children.
In late December, the Sudanese government rejected the IPC’s conclusions that famine was now rife in Sudan, accusing the organization of procedural and transparency failings and of failing to use updated field data.
The IPC had requested access to other areas at risk of famine in South Darfur, Al-Jazirah and Khartoum to gain data on the situation, but the government has been accused of stonewalling such efforts.
Sudan is not the only hunger hotspot in the MENA region.
The war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, has displaced some 90 percent of Gaza’s two million people and has led to high levels of acute food insecurity, with half the population expected to face extreme malnutrition.
On Nov. 9, the Famine Review Committee issued an alert warning of “imminent famine” in the besieged northern Gaza, where the World Health Organization estimates some 75,000 inhabitants remain.
With some 70 percent of Gaza’s crop fields destroyed, and with shops, factories and bakeries damaged or destroyed, domestic food manufacture has all but collapsed, according to the IPC. (AFP)
Many of the displaced are battling frigid winter temperatures in squalid tents, frequently flooded by heavy rain in south and central Gaza, without consistent access to food or medical services.
Early in the conflict, Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, severely limiting the amount of humanitarian aid that was permitted to enter. Tighter restrictions have been imposed on northern Gaza since last October, as Israel intensifies efforts to weed out Hamas fighters.
In December, Israeli authorities allowed only two aid convoys to enter northern Gaza, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, exacerbating the hunger crisis.
With some 70 percent of Gaza’s crop fields destroyed, and with shops, factories and bakeries damaged or destroyed, domestic food manufacture has all but collapsed, according to the IPC.
As in Sudan, the burden of food scarcity has fallen on vulnerable children. In June, the WHO recorded 32 deaths from malnutrition, including 28 children under the age of five.
“Over 8,000 children under five years old have been diagnosed and treated for acute malnutrition, including 1,600 children with severe acute malnutrition,” WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said at the time.
However, Palestinian health authorities and the World Peace Foundation expect the number of children who have succumbed to hunger in Gaza to be far higher than official estimates.
A woman bakes bread in a traditional clay oven at a makeshift displacement camp in Khan Yunis. (AFP)
More than 96 percent of women and children in Gaza cannot meet their basic nutritional needs, as they survive on rationed flour, lentils, pasta and canned goods — a diet that slowly compromises their health, according to the UN children’s fund, UNICEF.
For children, the impact of malnutrition on development can be irreversible.
“It affects their mental capacities and can put them at risk of physical challenges including stunted growth, delayed puberty, weakened immunity and increased risk of chronic diseases, vision and hearing impairments,” Dr. Yazeed Mansour Alkhawaldeh, a former health specialist at Medecins Sans Frontieres, told Arab News.
“Such circumstances can impact children’s cognitive and emotional development as well, resulting in a lower IQ and poor academic performance. They are also more prone to develop anxiety, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.”
They also discussed a hostages-for-prisoners exchange deal
Updated 14 January 2025
Reuters AFP
CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and US President Joe Biden discussed in a phone call on Tuesday the ongoing mediation efforts by Cairo, Doha and Washington to reach a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza.
They also discussed a hostages-for-prisoners exchange deal, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Egyptian leader said "the two presidents reviewed the latest developments in the negotiations and stressed the importance of the concerned parties' commitment to overcoming obstacles and showing the necessary flexibility to reach an agreement".
