Sudanese factions tackle forming single army in transition talks

Power jostling between the head of the RSF, Mohamed Hamadan Dagalo, and army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan (C), has been a source of recent tension. (File/AFP)
Power jostling between the head of the RSF, Mohamed Hamadan Dagalo, and army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan (C), has been a source of recent tension. (File/AFP)
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Updated 26 March 2023

Sudanese factions tackle forming single army in transition talks

Power jostling between Mohamed Hamadan Dagalo, and army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan (C), has been a source of tension.
  • Integrating the RSF and placing the military under civilian authority are central demands of civilian groups that helped overthrow Omar Al-Bashir

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s military and civilian political leaders began talks on Sunday on a proposal to bring the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under the army’s control as they try to finalize an agreement for a new transition leading to elections.
Integrating the RSF and placing the military under civilian authority are central demands of civilian groups that helped overthrow long-time autocratic ruler Omar Al-Bashir four years ago and shared power with the military until an October 2021 coup.
The talks this week follow a framework deal agreed in December between the military and the civilian Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) alliance, which aims to turn the page the coup which led to mass protests and cut Sudan off from much international financial support.

Sudan’s army has a long history of staging military takeovers and has amassed substantial economic holdings. It wants to see the RSF, which by some estimates has up to 100,000 fighters, integrated under its control.
The two sides are expected to formally adopt the deal on April 6 and launch a new civilian government on April 11.
The agreement had left several sensitive issues, including the security reform and transitional justice, for further discussion.
Power jostling between the head of the RSF, Mohamed Hamadan Dagalo, and army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, along with uncertainty over how and when the RSF could be merged with the army, has been a source of recent tension.
Dagalo has put himself at the forefront of the planned transition toward democracy, unsettling fellow military rulers and triggering a mobilization of troops in the capital Khartoum in recent weeks.
“The process of security and military reform is not easy but it is important and our goal is a single army,” Dagalo said at the launch of the talks on Sunday, adding that the RSF would not abandon “the choice of democratic transformation.”
Dagalo, widely know as Hemedti, is the deputy leader of the ruling council that took full power after the 2021 coup.
Burhan, the council’s head, asserted on Sunday that the country’s army would be brought under the leadership of a new civilian government, restating pledges that it would withdraw from politics.
“The process of security and military reform is a long and complicated process and one that cannot be bypassed,” he said.


Houthis refuse to release imprisoned Bahais

Houthis refuse to release imprisoned Bahais
Updated 10 June 2023

Houthis refuse to release imprisoned Bahais

Houthis refuse to release imprisoned Bahais
  • On May 25, armed Houthis raided a Bahai gathering in Sanaa and seized 17 people

AL-MUKALLA: The Iran-backed Houthis have rebuffed demands from local rights groups in Yemen to release 17 members of the Bahai sect.

The group have upped their verbal assault against the religious minority, accusing them of being “infidels and Western stooges.”

On May 25, armed Houthis raided a Bahai gathering in Sanaa and seized 17 people, including five women.

They have denied requests from relatives and sect members to meet them or at least reveal their whereabouts.

The UN Human Rights Office demanded that the Houthis immediately release the detained Bahais and allow religious minorities to follow their rituals freely, blaming the Houthis for inciting the local population against the Bahais.

“We remind the de facto authorities in Sanaa, that they must respect the human rights of people living under their control,” Jeremy Laurence, its spokesperson, said in a briefing in Geneva. “Human rights guarantees minorities, among other things, the right to profess and practice their own religion and the right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial tribunal.”

The UN office said that on June 2, the Houthi mufti, Shamseddin Sharafeddin, threatened to execute Bahais if they did not repent and accused them of being traitors.

The Abductees’ Mothers Association, a Yemen-based umbrella organization representing thousands of families of civilian war captives, reiterated their demands for the release of the Bahais, condemning the Houthis for forcibly disappearing them and preventing the group’s attorney from meeting them.

“We hold the Houthi group fully responsible for their lives and safety. We call upon the office of the UN envoy and all human rights organizations to urgently work for their release, uncovering their whereabouts, especially the women, and returning them safely to their homes,” the organization said in a statement.

Other local and international human rights organizations had previously expressed concern about the fate of the imprisoned Bahais and the Houthis’ escalating crackdown on minorities and dissidents.

But the Houthis responded to those appeals by stepping up their verbal attacks on the Bahais. Houthi media outlets have published numerous articles accusing Bahais of attempting to undermine Islam and Muslims.

“The Bahai is an artifact of Crusader colonialism with its numerous names and historical phases, as well as one of the poisoned arrows of Zionism and global Freemasonry,” said one article published by the Houthi-run version of the official news agency SABA on Saturday.

“Today, a new activity has emerged in our Yemeni arena that comes as part of the war that targets our principles, concepts, and total affiliation with Islam. It is the activity of the Bahai faith. This satanic newcomer moved to our country, defaming Islam openly and clearly, and waging a misleading intellectual war against Islam,” said another paper published by SABA on Thursday, quoting the Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi.


Egypt begins requiring visas for all Sudanese after detecting ‘unlawful activities’: MFA spokesman

Refugees from Sudan queue to enter Egypt at the Argeen crossing. (AFP)
Refugees from Sudan queue to enter Egypt at the Argeen crossing. (AFP)
Updated 10 June 2023

Egypt begins requiring visas for all Sudanese after detecting ‘unlawful activities’: MFA spokesman

Refugees from Sudan queue to enter Egypt at the Argeen crossing. (AFP)
  • More than 200,000 Sudanese have entered Egypt since fighting erupted in April

CAIRO: Egypt instituted a new policy requiring all Sudanese entering the country to obtain visas prior to entry, after detecting “unlawful activities” including the issuance of fraudulent visas, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid told Reuters.

The decision is a reversal of a longstanding exemption for children, women and elderly men.

More than 200,000 Sudanese have entered Egypt since fighting erupted in April, Abu Zeid said.


Unclear if ‘pirates’ threatened Turkiye ship crew: Italy media

Unclear if ‘pirates’ threatened Turkiye ship crew: Italy media
Updated 10 June 2023

Unclear if ‘pirates’ threatened Turkiye ship crew: Italy media

Unclear if ‘pirates’ threatened Turkiye ship crew: Italy media
  • The ship, Galata Seaways sailing under a Turkish flag, was then escorted to Naples, where Italian investigators were questioning the crew and others aboard
  • Interviews with the crew have so far not backed up that version of events, according to Italian med

ROME: The crew of a cargo ship boarded by Italian special forces may not have been threatened by knife-wielding “pirates” as initially reported, Italian media said on Saturday.
On Friday, Italy’s defense minister said marines had dropped onto a vessel off the nation’s coast after reports that that “stowaways” used knives to threaten the crew.
The ship, Galata Seaways sailing under a Turkish flag, was then escorted to Naples, where Italian investigators were questioning the crew and others aboard.
According to Friday media reports and statements from the defense ministry, the ship captain radioed for help after knife-wielding migrants, who had secretly boarded the vessel hoping to reach Europe and were discovered by the crew, tried to take some of the crew hostage.
But interviews with the crew have so far not backed up that version of events, according to Italian media on Saturday.
The captain has told investigators that he alerted the authorities after he saw two men with knives try to enter the ship’s machine section and, failing to do so, then rejoined the other stowaways, according to reports by ANSA news agency and La Repubblica daily.
“For the moment, it is not clear what the clandestine passengers wanted to do with the knives,” La Repubblica said, citing “informed sources.”
“Thus it is not clear whether there was a diversion attempt or not,” La Reppublica wrote, adding that no-one has yet been charged with piracy over the incident.
The three migrants who were found to have knives on them have been charged with arms possession, but have not been jailed, according to ANSA.
The 15 stowaways came from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Four of them — two men and two women — have been hospitalized, according to ANSA.
One of the women is pregnant, the other is weak, one of the men could have a fractured ankle, and the other is suffering from hypothermia.
“When we were discovered, we were afraid that we’d be arrested and repatriated,” ANSA quoted one of them telling investigators.
The Galata Seaways is a roll-on roll-off cargo ship designed to carry vehicles and was sailing under a Turkish flag with reportedly 22 crew members.
It set off from Topcular in Turkiye on June 7 and was headed for Sete in southern France.
Scores of people fleeing war and poverty in Asia, Middle East and Africa try to enter European Union countries each year.


Iran police kill 9-year-old, caught in crossfire, after his father stole a car

Iran police kill 9-year-old, caught in crossfire, after his father stole a car
Updated 10 June 2023

Iran police kill 9-year-old, caught in crossfire, after his father stole a car

Iran police kill 9-year-old, caught in crossfire, after his father stole a car
  • Boy’s photo was shared on social media, with people expressing sorrow for his death

Dubai: A boy was shot and killed by police after his father stole a car in the southwestern Khuzestan province and drove off with him, Iranian authorities said.
Ruhollah Bigdeli, chief of police in Shushtar County, said — via Iran’s official police website — that officers tried to stop the “stolen vehicle by shooting at it,” but the boy was caught in the crossfire and died on the spot.
Police said they issued the man several warnings before they started shooting, adding that he had a criminal record, including car theft and drug smuggling.
The Iranian Jamaran news website identified the boy as 9-year-old Morteza Delf Zaregani. They spoke to the father who accused the police of not issuing any warning before shooting.
Morteza’s photo was shared on social media, with people expressing sorrow for his death.
In November, 9-year-old Kian Pirfalak, was killed in a shooting that his mother blamed on security forces.
Pirfalak was shot and killed while passing with his parents through a street in the southwestern city of Izeh, in Khuzestan province, filled with demonstrators, during nationwide protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country’s morality police.


Turkiye investigates fatal explosion at munitions factory which killed 5

Turkiye investigates fatal explosion at munitions factory which killed 5
Updated 10 June 2023

Turkiye investigates fatal explosion at munitions factory which killed 5

Turkiye investigates fatal explosion at munitions factory which killed 5
  • Investigation launched into cause of explosion

ANKARA: Five people were killed in an explosion at a military factory in Ankara’s Elmadag district early on Saturday. 

The bodies of the victims have been recovered and judicial and administrative investigations into the cause of the explosion are underway. Vasip Sahin, the governor of Ankara province, said initial investigations suggest the blast was caused by a chemical reaction. 

According to the Turkish Ministry of Defense, the explosion occurred in the manufacturing unit of the Machinery and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE), a subsidiary of the ministry. 

Fatal accidents have previously occurred at the factory, which produces rockets and explosives for the defense and interior ministries.

In 2018, Health and Safety Labor Watch (ISIG), a civil watchdog, issued a report about workplace fatalities at the factory after an explosion on May 24 that year left one worker dead and six others injured. The official investigation blamed the explosion on a technical fault, ruling out sabotage. ISIG criticized the factory for not having sufficient workplace security measures in place. 

On May 20, 2013, an explosion at the factory left two workers dead. 

Petrol-Is, Turkiye’s petroleum, chemical and rubber workers union, has long demanded improved working conditions at the same factory. Workers staged a three-day strike in November 2012 to draw the government’s attention to the situation.

In July 2013, Petrol-Is claimed there were serious issues with the factory, that its technological infrastructure had not been modernized, and that more explosions could occur. Work at the factory was temporarily halted at that time so improvements could be made.