ICRC calls for ceasefire in Sudan to be respected

ICRC calls for ceasefire in Sudan to be respected
People shop at a market in southern Khartoum on May 3, 2023. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been present in the country since 1978. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 04 May 2023
Follow

ICRC calls for ceasefire in Sudan to be respected

ICRC calls for ceasefire in Sudan to be respected
  • Red Cross spokesperson: ‘It is vital for humanitarian actors to be able to move as soon as possible’
  • As fighting continues, damaging infrastructure, hospitals and health facilities have already used up their stocks

PARIS: As fighting rages around the Sudanese capital, the country is close to collapse, with water and electricity infrastructure severely damaged and the health sector hard hit.

Drug shortages are being felt throughout the country, and most hospitals in the capital are no longer functioning. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been present in the country since 1978, has reorganized and relocated its field teams, which are struggling to work in “normal” conditions.

An eight-ton shipment of humanitarian relief supplies, including medical equipment to help local hospitals and Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers treat people injured in the fighting, arrived in Port Sudan from Amman, Jordan, on Sunday, yet it is impossible to release and distribute the shipment.

“We are still not in a position to continue the operation, to distribute these resources to the most affected towns and locations. For the time being, we do not have the capacity to give information about the transfer of these materials, especially because of the security situation, which remains unpredictable,” Imene Trabelsi, ICRC spokesperson for the Near and Middle East, told Arab News in French.

Communication has also suffered between teams on the ground and regional offices and headquarters.

“The situation on the ground is serious. As the fighting continues, hospitals and health facilities have already used up their stocks. Doctors and nurses cannot access hospitals or their facilities because the security situation does not allow it,” Trabelsi said.

“Currently, there are no health professionals to treat the people who need help. Not to mention the shortage of water and electricity supplies, which makes it almost impossible for hospitals to operate.

“In the most affected areas, we have been able to support the Sudanese Red Crescent, our main partner in Sudan. Over the last two weeks, we have been delivering kits for war injuries from hospitals in Darfur. We have tried to deliver these kits to a number of hospitals. The need is great and the situation is dire, but we have not always been able to do so because of the security situation, which does not allow for a proper humanitarian operation.

“There are no exact figures, but the World Health Organization estimates that only 16 percent of the health infrastructure in Khartoum is still operational,” she said.

Faced with the virtual paralysis of the health sector, the ICRC is appealing “for a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds to be fully respected and for the various parties to the conflict to assume their responsibilities with regard to security guarantees for humanitarians, in the interests of the population.”

Trabelsi said: “It is vital for humanitarian actors such as the Red Cross to be able to move as soon as possible. In order for us to move and support the sector, we need the parties to the conflict to understand their legal obligations in this kind of situation. These obligations are to take all possible precautions to protect civilian lives but also to protect infrastructure vital to the survival of the civilian population and to humanitarian work and to provide the necessary security guarantees so that humanitarian actors can do their work safely.

“We are not talking about a choice; we are talking about a legal obligation according to international humanitarian law that is applicable in conflict zones, which is the case of Sudan.”

This article originally appeared on Arab News en Francais


Prince Harry challenges UK government’s decision to strip him of security detail when he moved to US

Prince Harry challenges UK government’s decision to strip him of security detail when he moved to US
Updated 59 min 1 sec ago
Follow

Prince Harry challenges UK government’s decision to strip him of security detail when he moved to US

Prince Harry challenges UK government’s decision to strip him of security detail when he moved to US
  • Duke of Sussex wants protection when he visits home, claims it is partly because an aggressive press jeopardizes his safety and that of his family

LONDON: Prince Harry is challenging on Tuesday the British government’s decision to strip him of his security detail after he gave up his status as a working member of the royal family and moved to the United States.
The Duke of Sussex said he wants protection when he visits home and claimed it’s partly because an aggressive press jeopardizes his safety and that of his family.
The three-day hearing scheduled to begin in London’s High Court is the latest in a string of Harry’s legal cases that have kept London judges busy as he takes on the UK government and the British tabloid media. It was not clear if he would attend Tuesday’s hearing.
Harry failed to persuade a different judge earlier this year that he should be able to privately pay for London’s police force to guard him when he comes to town. A judge denied that offer after a government lawyer argued that officers shouldn’t be used as “private bodyguards for the wealthy.”
Harry, the youngest son of King Charles III, said he did not feel safe bringing his wife, former actor Meghan Markle, and their two young children back to Britain and was concerned about his own safety after being chased by paparazzi following a London charity event.
Harry’s animosity toward the press dates back to the death of his mother Princess Diana, who died in a car wreck as her driver tried to outrun aggressive photographers in Paris. Harry, whose wife is mixed-raced, cited what he said were racist attitudes and unbearable intrusions of the British media in his decision to leave the United Kingdom.
The 39-year-old prince is challenging the decision by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures to provide his security on a “case by case” basis after moving in 2020 to Canada and then California, where he and his family now reside.
He said the committee unfairly nixed his security request without hearing from him personally and did not disclose the makeup of the panel, which he later learned included royal family staff. He said Edward Young, the assistant private secretary to the late Queen Elizabeth II, should not have been on the committee because of “significant tensions” between the two men.
The Home Office has argued that any tensions between Harry and the royal household staff was irrelevant and that the committee was entitled to its decision because he had relinquished his role as a working member of the family.
The case is one of five that Harry has pending in the High Court.
The four other lawsuits involve Britain’s best-known tabloids, including a case that alleges the publisher of the Daily Mail libeled him when it ran a story suggesting he had tried to hide his efforts to continue receiving government-funded security. A ruling is expected in that case Friday.
Three other lawsuits allege that journalists at the Mail, the Daily Mirror, and The Sun used unlawful means, such as deception, phone hacking or hiring private investigators to dig up dirt about him.


Indonesian rescuers race to find 10 missing after eruption

Indonesian rescuers race to find 10 missing after eruption
Updated 05 December 2023
Follow

Indonesian rescuers race to find 10 missing after eruption

Indonesian rescuers race to find 10 missing after eruption
  • Volcano still erupting on Tuesday morning, hampering the rescue efforts of more than 200 personnel

AGAM, Indonesia: Hundreds of Indonesian rescuers were racing Tuesday to find 10 hikers who went missing after a volcano eruption that killed 13 people.
Thirteen dead hikers were found Monday near the crater of Mount Marapi on the island of Sumatra, with rescue officials announcing 11 deaths the same day and two more on Tuesday.
Others were found alive and carried down the mountain in arduous rescue efforts hampered by further eruptions and bad weather.
The volcano spewed an ash tower 3,000 meters — taller than the volcano itself — into the sky on Sunday.
“The total number of people who have died is currently 13 people. The 10 missing hikers are still being searched,” Abdul Malik, head of Padang Search and Rescue Agency said, adding the bodies of the two additional dead hikers were found late Monday.
Five of the dead had been brought down the mountain for identification while eight bodies had been found and were being brought down in bodybags, he said.
Images shared by national search and rescue agency Basarnas showed a rescue team of six in orange jackets and hard hats carrying a body down the side of the volcano.
The volcano was still erupting on Tuesday morning, according to officials, hampering the rescue efforts of more than 200 personnel.
Rescuers were attempting manual evacuations, walking to the top of the volcano and evacuating the victims on stretchers because of ongoing eruptions and poor visibility, said Hendri, a local rescue official who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Ahmad Rifandi, head of Marapi’s monitoring post, said Tuesday it had observed five eruptions from midnight to 8 a.m. local time (0100 GMT).
“Marapi is still very much active. We can’t see the height of the column because it’s covered by the cloud,” he said.
Volcanic ash was still falling around an information post at the base of the mountain where Marapi was not visible, according to an AFP journalist.
The head of Indonesia’s volcanology agency, Hendra Gunawan, said Marapi has been at the second level of a four-tier alert system since 2011, and a three-kilometer exclusion zone had been imposed around its crater.
He appeared to blame hikers on Monday for going too close to the crater, saying the agency recommended no human activities in that zone, and emphasized that “severe impacts” were reported for victims within one to 1.5 kilometers from the crater.
Officials said the hikers had registered through an online booking system, but others may have been on illegal mountain routes.
Relatives were still waiting for updates at the information center at the base of the mountain.
“I will stay here until I hear some news,” said Dasman, father of missing hiker Zakir Habibi, who made a two-hour drive from Padang city to the base of the mountain in hope of good news.
“I still hope my son survives,” he said on Monday.
A total of 75 hikers were listed by officials as hiking on the mountain since Saturday, with some of the 49 initially accounted for suffering burns and fractures.
The search will carry on for seven days, rescue officials said.
Those killed were severely burned and forensic workers were preparing to identify the dead by dental and fingerprint records, or based on marks on their bodies, said Eka Purnamasari, an official from the West Sumatra police medical unit.
Locals described the carnage when the volcano burst to life on Sunday.
“The villagers were shocked because of the thundering noise, then there was a jolt and also a boom. The villagers were very traumatized by the eruption,” said Adrizal, head of local village Nagari Lasi.
Mount Marapi, which means “Mountain of Fire,” is the most active volcano on Sumatra island.
Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where tectonic plates collide.
The archipelago nation has nearly 130 active volcanoes.


Myanmar junta chief calls for political solution with ethnic groups

Myanmar junta chief calls for political solution with ethnic groups
Updated 05 December 2023
Follow

Myanmar junta chief calls for political solution with ethnic groups

Myanmar junta chief calls for political solution with ethnic groups
  • Junta reeling from coordinated offensives near the borders with China, India and Thailand
  • Myanmar has more than a dozen ethnic minority armed groups, many of which hold territory in the country’s border regions

YANGON: Myanmar’s junta chief has called on ethnic armed groups battling the military across the country to find a political solution, state media reported on Tuesday.
The junta is reeling from coordinated offensives near the borders with China, India and Thailand, in what analysts say is the biggest threat to its rule since it seized power in 2021.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing “warned that if armed organizations keep on being foolish, residents of the relevant regions will suffer bad impacts,” according to the Global New Light of Myanmar.
“So, it is necessary to consider the lives of the people, and those organizations need to solve their problems politically,” he said.
Myanmar has more than a dozen ethnic minority armed groups, many of which hold territory in the country’s border regions and have battled the military since independence from Britain in 1948.
In late October three groups launched a joint offensive across northern Shan state, capturing towns and seizing vital trade hubs on the China border.
More than 250 civilians, including children, are feared to have died since the launch of the offensive in October, according to United Nations field reports.
Over 500,000 people have been displaced across the country, the UN said.
Galvanized by the offensive, “People’s Defense Forces” formed after the coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government have launched renewed attacks on the military in the north and east.
Last week PDF fighters said they controlled parts of the capital of eastern Kayah state and were battling to dislodge junta troops from the city.


WHO says it was told by Israeli military to leave southern Gaza warehouse within 24 hours

WHO says it was told by Israeli military to leave southern Gaza warehouse within 24 hours
Updated 05 December 2023
Follow

WHO says it was told by Israeli military to leave southern Gaza warehouse within 24 hours

WHO says it was told by Israeli military to leave southern Gaza warehouse within 24 hours
  • Israel killed 15,900 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza
  • Twelve hospitals still remain operational in the south part of the Gaza Strip, according to the WHO

GENEVA: WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that the Israeli army had told the UN health agency to empty an aid warehouse in southern Gaza before ground operations in the area made it unusable.
“Today, WHO received notification from the Israel Defense Forces that we should remove our supplies from our medical warehouse in southern Gaza within 24 hours, as ground operations will put it beyond use,” Tedros wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“We appeal to Israel to withdraw the order, and take every possible measure to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and humanitarian facilities,” he wrote.
Hamas militants from Gaza launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and has conducted a relentless air, artillery and naval bombardment alongside a ground offensive, killing around 15,900 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Israel’s army on Monday sent dozens of tanks into southern Gaza as part of expanded action against Hamas, as communications was cut across the besieged territory.
The number of operational hospitals in Gaza has dropped from 36 to 18 in less than 60 days, according to the WHO, with three providing only basic first aid and others offering partial services.
Twelve hospitals still remain operational in the south part of the Gaza Strip, according to the WHO.
At a press conference earlier on Monday, the WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed Al-Mandhari, said the intensification of military ground operations in southern Gaza risked depriving thousands of people of health care.
“We saw what happened in the north of Gaza. This cannot serve as a model for the south,” he said.
 

 


Man who posed as agent and offered gifts to Secret Service sentenced to nearly 3 years

The affidavit to support the arrest of Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali is photographed on April 6, 2022. (AP)
The affidavit to support the arrest of Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali is photographed on April 6, 2022. (AP)
Updated 05 December 2023
Follow

Man who posed as agent and offered gifts to Secret Service sentenced to nearly 3 years

The affidavit to support the arrest of Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali is photographed on April 6, 2022. (AP)
  • Taherzadeh pleaded guilty to conspiracy, a federal offense, as well as two District of Columbia offenses: unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device and voyeurism

WASHINGTON: A man accused of pretending to be a federal agent and offering gifts and free apartments to Secret Service officers has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison.
Arian Taherzadeh, 41, was sentenced to 33 months in prison Friday. He and a second man, Haider Ali, were indicted in April 2022, accused of tricking actual Secret Service officers, offering expensive apartments and gifts to curry favor with law enforcement agents, including one agent assigned to protect the first lady, prosecutors said.
Ali, 36, was sentenced in August to over five years. Attorneys for the two did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Monday.
Prosecutors alleged Taherzadeh falsely claimed, at various times, to be an agent with the Department of Homeland Security, a former US Air Marshal, and a former US Army Ranger. He used his supposed law-enforcement work to trick owners of three apartment complexes into letting him use multiple apartments and parking spaces for fake operations, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Taherzadeh pleaded guilty to conspiracy, a federal offense, as well as two District of Columbia offenses: unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device and voyeurism. He was also ordered to pay restitution of more than $700,000.
The case was thrust into the public spotlight when more than a dozen FBI agents raided a luxury apartment building in southwest Washington in April 2022. They found a cache of gear, including body armor, guns and surveillance equipment, as well as a binder with information about the building’s residents, prosecutors said. Taherzadeh also installed surveillance cameras in his apartment and made explicit content that he showed to others, prosecutors said.
Taherzadeh provided Secret Service officers and agents with rent-free apartments — including a penthouse worth over $40,000 a year — as well as electronics, authorities said. In one instance, Taherzadeh offered to purchase a $2,000 assault rifle for a Secret Service agent who is assigned to protect the first lady, prosecutors said.
The plot unraveled when the US Postal Inspection Service began investigating an assault involving a mail carrier at the apartment building and the men identified themselves as being part of a phony Homeland Security unit they called the US Special Police Investigation Unit.
Taherzadeh’s lawyer has previously said he provided the luxury apartments and lavish gifts because he wanted to be friends with the agents, not try to compromise them.