Coronation puts close bonds between King Charles III and the Arab and Muslim world in the limelight

Coronation puts close bonds between King Charles III and the Arab and Muslim world in the limelight
Throughout his life King Charles has represented the UK during visits across the Middle East.
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Updated 06 May 2023

Coronation puts close bonds between King Charles III and the Arab and Muslim world in the limelight

Coronation puts close bonds between King Charles III and the Arab and Muslim world in the limelight
  • While still the Prince of Wales, Charles made dozens of official visits to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, and Jordan
  • Charles has a track record of empowering Muslim communities both in Britain and around the world

DUBAI: As the UK prepares for the coronation of King Charles III on May 6, royals from around the world are readying to attend the ceremonial swearing in of Britain’s new monarch.

Following tradition, the coronation will take place at Westminster Abbey where Charles will be anointed with holy oil and crowned with the 17th century St Edward’s Crown, molded to fit his head.

Thousands are expected to gather at the abbey and its surrounding streets in London to witness the historic event, its glorious pageantry, and to swear allegiance to their new king.

Among them will be a who’s who of Arab royalty; ruling families who have shared close bonds with the House of Windsor over seven decades during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II and whose members the new British king knows well.

Charles’ affinity for the Arab world, and the Middle East more broadly, has created a bond with the region. So too has his curiousness for Islam, a fact that has led him to study the faith in depth and embrace many of its tenets.

Islamic art adorns many of Britain’s royal palaces. Charles has been an enthusiastic participant in interfaith dialogue between leaders of the monotheistic faiths and he handed an OBE honor to Saudi citizen Mohammed Abdul Latif Jamil, who curated the Islamic Art exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Such is his enthusiasm for the Middle East, that Charles has told friends among Gulf royalty that some of his most profound experiences in life have been spent in the deserts of the Hijaz where prophets once roamed and where the history of the region and its great faith was forged.

The coronation will be attended by national an d international heads of state, royal families, and their representatives from around the world including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Kuwait.

Echoing the relationship his late mother Queen Elizabeth forged with the Middle East, King Charles is expected to continue the close bond during his reign, one he is renowned for.

For example, he considered Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah a personal friend, and following his death in January 2015, Charles flew to Riyadh to express his condolences in person to his successor, King Salman, and to pay his final respects to his friend.

Charles last visited the region with his wife, the Queen Consort Camilla, in November 2021 where he went to Egypt and Jordan to discuss and fortify inter-religious dialogue.

In Jordan, he also visited Syrian and Palestinian refugees who most rely on Saudi and British donations to make do.

In total, Charles has made 12 official visits to Saudi Arabia, seven to both the UAE and Kuwait, six to Qatar, and five to Jordan.

His admiration and love for the Middle East is even reflected in his watercolor paintings where he often draws inspiration from Wadi Arkam and Diriyah in Saudi Arabia as well as Aqaba in Jordan.

The then Prince of Wales, established many charitable foundations in the Middle East, notably The Prince’s Foundation, which is dedicated to “realizing the Prince of Wales’ vision of creating communities for a more sustainable world.”

The foundation is focused on education, the appreciation of heritage, and creating equal opportunities for youth in the UK and abroad. It runs satellite programs in more than 20 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt where it has built centers.

In Jeddah’s old city, Al-Balad, it has established an arts and crafts center, allowing students to participate in the Ministry of Culture’s restoration projects there.

At the Tantora festival in AlUla held in winter from Jan. 10 to March 21, 2020, the foundation portrayed an exhibition titled “Cosmos, Color, and Craft: The Art of the Order of Nature in AlUla.” It also ran a series of hands-on workshops in cooperation with the Royal Commission for AlUla.

The new king, although not having executive powers, holds the title of defender of the faith and supreme governor of the Church of England. For many, his interest and warm views on Islam are a hopeful sign.

After the 9/11 attacks on the US, Charles, who long immersed himself in Islam, studying the religion’s textiles, gardens, and architecture, doubled down on his views opposing Islamophobia.

Quoting the Holy Qur’an during his visit to Pakistan in 2006, he said: “Only they pay attention who have hearts; only they believe or see signs who have hearts.”

Charles, who also serves as the patron of the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, learned Arabic for six months prior to his Gulf tour in 2016.

In 2020, he visited the Palestinian territories for the first time and wished Palestinians “freedom, justice, and equality” while repeatedly urging the British government to do more to better the conditions and living standards of Palestinians.

While his ascension to the throne means he will no longer be able to freely express his views, he has made his opinion on the Middle East and Islam clear.

With more than 3 million Muslims in the UK, Islam is the second-largest religion in the country, and its new monarch’s views on it are well known.

Following the news of Queen Elizabeth’s death on Sept. 8, prayers and sermons were held throughout the country in her honor. A Friday sermon was held in Cambridge’s Central Mosque where Islamic scholar Abdul Hakim Murad reiterated and read some lines from one of Charles’ speeches. He said: “Whether we are monarchist or not monarchist, or care about this or not, it does matter that in a time of mounting Islamophobia, there are some people who wish to stand with us.”

Charles was once quoted as saying, “Islam can teach us today a way of understanding and living in the world which Christianity itself is the poorer for having lost. At the heart of Islam is its preservation of an integral view of the universe.”

In 2006, at Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the leading university for Islamic teachings, the then Prince of Wales said: “We in the West are in debt to the scholars of Islam, for it was thanks to them that during the Dark Ages in Europe the treasurers of classical learning were kept alive.”

In 2010, during a speech at the University of Oxford, Charles said: “The Islamic world is the custodian of one of the greatest treasuries of accumulated wisdom and spiritual knowledge available to humanity.”

At a time when Islamophobia and xenophobia are on the rise throughout the West, the new British monarch is empowering Muslim communities, his stance unparalleled in any other Western political figure.

Charles was one of the handful who publicly opposed the European ban on the burqas and condemned the Danish cartoon insulting the Prophet Muhammad. 

King Charles III: Official trips to the Arab world 

  • 1

    Prince of Wales embarks on first GCC tour visiting Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia

  • 2

    Saudi Arabia: Prince Charles meets with British forces deployed for the Gulf War

    Timeline Image December 21-23, 1990

  • 3

    GCC: Prince Charles meets with royal families of UAE, Sultan Qaboos of Oman and Saudi Arabia’s King Fahad and Crown Prince Abdullah. 

    Timeline Image November 17-23, 1999

  • 4

    Saudi Arabia: Visited with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and received a white Arabian stallion and a pair of swords as a gift. 

    Timeline Image March 24-26, 2006

  • 5

    Kuwait: Participated in the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Kuwait’s independence.

    Timeline Image October 30-31, 2011

  • 6

    Saudi Arabia: Attended the Janadriyah festival, wore traditional Saudi clothes and participated in the Ardah dance, attracting global attention

    Timeline Image February 17-19, 2014

  • 7

    Qatar: Visited the Museum of Islamic Art, the National Heritage Library, and the Anglican Centre at the Religious Complex

  • 8

    UAE: Met with Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, then-Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi

  • 9

    Bahrain: Met with King Hamad at Bustan Palace in Manama

  • 10

    Jordan: Visited Za’atari Refugee Camp

  • 11

    Saudi Arabia: Toured AlUla and the historical Hejaz Railway

    Timeline Image Febraury 10-12, 2015

  • 12

    UAE: Visited Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi

    Timeline Image November 7-9, 2016

  • 13

    Palestine: Visited Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus

  • 14

    Jordan: Visited Al-Maghtas, where Jesus was baptized, and collected water from the Jordan River

    Timeline Image November 16-17, 2021

  • 15

    Egypt: Toured the Giza pyramid complex, Al-Azhar Mosque, and the Bibliotheca Alexandria

    Timeline Image November 18-19, 2021

  • 16

    Prince Charles visits the National Library in Doha, Qatar

    Timeline Image February 20, 2014

  • 17

    Saudi Arabia: King Salman welcomed Prince Charles on a two-day private visit to the Kingdom

    Timeline Image February 10, 2015

 


Erdogan positioned to extend rule in Turkiye runoff election

Erdogan positioned to extend rule in Turkiye runoff election
Updated 28 May 2023

Erdogan positioned to extend rule in Turkiye runoff election

Erdogan positioned to extend rule in Turkiye runoff election
  • Turkiye is the world’s largest host of refugees, with some 5 million migrants, of whom 3.3 million are Syrians, according to Interior Ministry data

ANKARA: Turks vote on Sunday in a presidential runoff that could see Tayyip Erdogan extend his rule into a third decade and intensify Turkiye’s increasingly authoritarian path, muscular foreign policy and unorthodox economic governance.
Erdogan, 69, defied opinion polls and came out comfortably ahead with an almost five-point lead over his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the first round on May 14. But he fell just short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff, in a race with profound consequences for Turkiye itself and global geopolitics.
His unexpectedly strong showing amid a deep cost of living crisis, and a win in parliamentary elections for a coalition of his conservative Islamist-rooted AK Party (AKP), the nationalist MHP and others, buoyed the veteran campaigner who says a vote for him is a vote for stability.
Kilicdaroglu, 74, is the candidate of a six-party opposition alliance, and leads the Republican People’s Party (CHP) created by Turkiye’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. His camp has struggled to regain momentum after the shock of trailing Erdogan in the first round.
The election will decide not only who leads Turkiye, a NATO-member country of 85 million, but also how it is governed, where its economy is headed after its currency plunged to one tenth of its value against the dollar in a decade, and the shape of its foreign policy, which has seen Turkiye irk the West by cultivating ties with Russia and Gulf states.
The initial election showed larger-than-expected support for nationalism — a powerful force in Turkish politics which has been hardened by years of hostilities with Kurdish militants, an attempted coup in 2016 and the influx of millions of refugees from Syria since war began there in 2011.
Turkiye is the world’s largest host of refugees, with some 5 million migrants, of whom 3.3 million are Syrians, according to Interior Ministry data.
Third-place presidential candidate and hard-line nationalist Sinan Ogan said he endorsed Erdogan based on a principle of “non-stop struggle (against) terrorism,” referring to pro-Kurdish groups. He achieved 5.17 percent of the vote.
Another nationalist, Umit Ozdag, leader of the anti-immigrant Victory Party (ZP), announced a deal declaring ZP’s support for Kilicdaroglu, after he said he would repatriate immigrants. The ZP won 2.2 percent of votes in this month’s parliamentary election.
A closely-watched survey by pollster Konda for the runoff put support for Erdogan on 52.7 percent and Kilicdaroglu on 47.3 percent after distributing undecided voters. The survey was carried out on May 20-21, before Ogan and Ozdag revealed their endorsements.
Another key is how Turkiye’s Kurds, at about a fifth of the population, will vote.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) party endorsed Kilicdaroglu in the first round but, after his lurch to the right to win nationalist votes, it did not explicitly name him and urged voters rather to reject Erdogan’s “one-man regime” in the runoff.

’MORE ERDOGAN’
Polls will open at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) and close at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT). By late on Sunday there should be a clear indication of the winner.
“Turkiye has a longstanding democratic tradition and a longstanding nationalist tradition, and right now it’s clearly the nationalist one that’s winning out. Erdogan has fused religious and national pride, offering voters an aggressive anti-elitism,” said Nicholas Danforth, Turkiye historian and non-resident fellow at think tank ELIAMEP.
“More Erdogan means more Erdogan. People know who he is and what his vision for the country is, and it seems a lot of them approve.”
Turkiye’s president has pulled out all the stops on the campaign trail as he battles to survive his toughest political test. He commands fierce loyalty from pious Turks who once felt disenfranchised in secular Turkiye and his political career has survived the failed coup and corruption scandals.
Erdogan has taken tight control of most of Turkiye’s institutions and sidelined liberals and critics. Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 2022, said Erdogan’s government has set back Turkiye’s human rights record by decades.
However, if Turks do oust Erdogan, it will be largely because they saw their prosperity, equality and ability to meet basic needs decline, with inflation that topped 85 percent in October 2022.
Kilicdaroglu, a former civil servant, has pledged to roll back much of Erdogan’s sweeping changes to Turkish domestic, foreign and economic policies.
He would also revert to the parliamentary system of governance, from Erdogan’s executive presidential system, narrowly passed in a referendum in 2017.

 


Miseries pile up for West Bank refugees as UNRWA workers’ strike continues

Miseries pile up for West Bank refugees as UNRWA workers’ strike continues
Updated 28 May 2023

Miseries pile up for West Bank refugees as UNRWA workers’ strike continues

Miseries pile up for West Bank refugees as UNRWA workers’ strike continues
  • Environmental and health disaster feared as piles of garbage accumulate on streets
  • The UNRWA administration requires urgent intervention to resolve the dispute with the staff and restore life to normal in the camps

RAMALLAH: Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank face a summer littered with waste due to an ongoing strike, sparking fears about disease outbreaks.

Piles of garbage have accumulated as more than 3,600 UN Relief and Work Agency workers have been on strike since Feb. 20.

Camp residents, who number about 960,000, continue to complain about their dire living conditions, which has also affected healthcare provision and impacted the education of 50,000 students.

The UNRWA claims that it does not have enough funds to raise the salaries of its workers and meet their demands.

The lack of garbage collection, combined with the halting of healthcare services, could lead to an environmental and health disaster with summer approaching, locals fear.

Youssef Baraka, from the Jalazoun refugee camp near Ramallah, told Arab News: “The refugee always pays the bill ... and we live in difficult conditions due to the continuation of the strike.

“Our children are without education, and our patients are without treatment.”

He said that individual efforts were being made to help patients with treatment and provide medical supplies, and that residents were trying to rid camps of garbage themselves where possible.

Taysir Nasrallah, from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, in the northern West Bank, told Arab News that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had set up a committee to meet with the UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini to find a quick solution to the crisis.

“The UNRWA administration requires urgent intervention to resolve the dispute with the staff and restore life to normal in the camps,” he told Arab News.

The UNRWA was set up in 1949 by the UN General Assembly to assist and protect Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Walid Masharqa, from the Jenin camp, said rubbish was piling up and sewage was seeping into the streets, while many basic medicines for chronic diseases are not currently available to residents.

“What is the fault of the Palestinian refugee, in the existence of wars and other humanitarian disasters in the world, for UNRWA to spoof its services to the Palestinian refugees?” Masharqa said to Arab News.

The Palestinian Authority is not allowed to provide services to refugees in the camps, he added.

Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UNRWA in the Middle East, told Arab News that talks were continuing with the PA and the Palestine Liberation Organization to solve the strike problem.

Abu Hasna expects all parties to reach a solution soon.

He said that the UNRWA had approved an allowance of $268 for 300 of its employees in East Jerusalem due to its high prices, and employees in the West Bank were demanding the same.

But he said the UNRWA budget was unable bear the additional cost, as its funds have an annual deficit of $70 million.

Abu Hasna referred to the tremendous Saudi support for UNRWA, as it funded it for over 10 years with $1 billion, built entire cities and neighbourhoods and dozens of schools in the Gaza Strip, and saved UNRWA several times from collapse.

“King Salman personally established support for UNRWA since he was the governor of the Riyadh region and president of the Association for the Support of the Palestinian People, and the position of Saudi Arabia in strong support for UNRWA is considered a motivating factor for other countries to support UNRWA,” Abu Hasna told Arab News.

 


Iraq unveils $17bn transport project linking Europe and Mideast

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani attends a meeting with Transport Ministry representatives in Baghdad on Saturday.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani attends a meeting with Transport Ministry representatives in Baghdad on Saturday.
Updated 27 May 2023

Iraq unveils $17bn transport project linking Europe and Mideast

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani attends a meeting with Transport Ministry representatives in Baghdad on Saturday.
  • Once completed, the $17 billion project known as the ‘Route of Development’ would span the length of the country, stretching 1,200 km from the northern border with Turkiye to the Gulf in the south

BAGHDAD: Iraq on Saturday presented an ambitious plan to turn itself into a regional transportation hub by developing its road and rail infrastructure, linking Europe with the Middle East.
Once completed, the $17 billion project known as the “Route of Development” would span the length of the country, stretching 1,200 km  from the northern border with Turkiye to the Gulf in the south.
Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani announced the project during a conference with Transport Ministry representatives from Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates.
“We see this project as a pillar of a sustainable non-oil economy, a link that serves Iraq’s neighbors and the region, and a contribution to economic integration efforts,” Al-Sudani said. While further discussions are required, any country that wishes “will be able to carry out part of the project,” the Iraqi parliament’s transport committee said, adding the project could be completed in “three to five years.”
“The Route of Development will boost interdependence between the countries of the region,” Turkiye’s ambassador to Baghdad Ali Riza Guney said, without elaborating on what role his country would play in the project.
War-ravaged and beset by rampant corruption, oil-rich Iraq suffers from dilapidated infrastructure.
Its roads, riddled with potholes and poorly maintained, are in terrible condition.
Those connecting Baghdad to the north cross areas where sporadic attacks are still carried out by remnants of the Daesh group.
Al-Sudani has prioritized the reconstruction of the country’s road network, along with upgrading its failing electricity infrastructure.
Developing the road and rail corridor would allow Iraq to capitalize on its geographical position, with the aim of making the country a transportation hub for goods and people moving between the Gulf, Turkiye and Europe.
Work has already started to increase capacity at the commercial Port of Al-Faw, on the shores of the Gulf, where cargo is to be unloaded before it embarks on the new road and rail links.
The project also includes the construction of around 15 train stations along the route, including in the major cities of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and up to the Turkish border. The Gulf, largely bordered by Iran and Saudi Arabia, is a major shipping zone, especially for the transportation of hydrocarbons extracted by countries of the region.
Zyad Al-Hashemi, an Iraqi consultant on international transport, cast doubt on the plan to develop the country into a transportation hub, saying it lacks “fluidity.”
“Customers prefer to transport their goods directly from Asia to Europe, without going through a loading and unloading process,” that would see containers moved between ships and road or rail, he said.
Transport is a key sector in the global economy and Iraq’s announcement is the latest in other planned international megaprojects, including China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” announced in 2013 by its President Xi Jinping.
The planned works in that project would see 130 countries across Asia, Europe and Africa connected through land and sea infrastructure providing greater access to China.

 


Officials: UN chief ‘shocked’ by letter from Sudan’s military ruler demanding removal of UN envoy

Officials: UN chief ‘shocked’ by letter from Sudan’s military ruler demanding removal of UN envoy
Updated 27 May 2023

Officials: UN chief ‘shocked’ by letter from Sudan’s military ruler demanding removal of UN envoy

Officials: UN chief ‘shocked’ by letter from Sudan’s military ruler demanding removal of UN envoy
  • “The Secretary-General is shocked by the letter he received this (Friday) morning,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said
  • According to the official, Burhan accused Perthes of “being partisan,” and that his approach in pre-war talks between the generals and the pro-democracy movement helped inflame the conflict

CAIRO: The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “shocked” by a letter from Sudan’s military ruler, demanding the removal of the UN envoy to the country, Sudanese and UN officials said Saturday.
The letter by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, Sudan’s top military official and head of the ruling Sovereign Council, comes as Sudan plunged into further chaos after worsening tensions between military rivals exploded into an open fighting last month.
“The Secretary-General is shocked by the letter he received this (Friday) morning,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “The Secretary-General is proud of the work done by (UN envoy) Volker Perthes and reaffirms his full confidence in his Special Representative.”
Dujarric didn’t reveal the contents of the letter. However, a senior military official said Burhan’s letter asked Guterres to replace Perthes who was appointed to the post in 2021.
According to the official, Burhan accused Perthes of “being partisan,” and that his approach in pre-war talks between the generals and the pro-democracy movement helped inflame the conflict. The talks had aimed at restoring the country’s democratic transition which was derailed by a military coup in Oct. 2021.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media.
Perthes declined to comment neither on the letter.
Burhan accused Perthes last year of “exceeding the UN mission’s mandate and of blatant interference in Sudanese affairs.” He threatened to expel him from the country.
The ongoing fighting broke out in mid-April between the military and the powerful Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Both Burhan and Dagalo led the 2021 coup that removed the western-backed government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
The fighting centered in the capital of Khartoum, which was turned into a battleground along with its sister city of Omdurman. The clashes also spread elsewhere in the country, including the war-wracked Darfur region.
The conflict has killed hundreds of people, and wounded thousands of others, and pushed the country to near collapse. It forced more than 1.3 million out of their homes to safer areas inside Sudan, or to neighboring nations.
Sexual violence including rape of women and girls, a common practice in Sudan’s wars and political upheavals, were reported in Khartoum and Darfur since the fighting began.
The Combating Violence Against Women Unit, a government-run group, said on Friday it received reports of at least 24 cases of sexual attacks in Khartoum, and 25 other cases in Darfur.
The unit, which tracks violence against women across the country, said most of survivors reported that the attackers were in RSF uniform and in areas in Khartoum controlled by RSF checkpoints.
The RSF didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Both warring parties have agreed on a weeklong cease-fire, brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia. However, the truce, which is scheduled to expire Monday night, did not stop the fighting in parts of Khartoum and elsewhere in the county.
Residents reported sporadic clashes Saturday in parts of Omdurman, where the army’s aircrafts were seen flying over the city. There was also fighting reported in Al-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur.
Burhan’s letter came after the UN envoy accused the warring parties of disregarding the laws of war by attacking homes, shops, places of worship and water and electricity installations.
In his briefing to the UN Security Council earlier this week, Perthes blamed the leaders of the military and the RSF for the war, saying that they have chosen to “settle their unresolved conflict on the battlefield rather than at the table.”


Yemeni government resumes airlifts from Sudan

Yemeni government resumes airlifts from Sudan
Updated 27 May 2023

Yemeni government resumes airlifts from Sudan

Yemeni government resumes airlifts from Sudan
  • Crackdown on Bahai community condemned by human rights organization
  • Thousands of Yemenis, including students, have been stuck in Sudan since April 15, when violence erupted between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

AL-MUKALLA: A Yemenia Airways plane carrying 192 Yemeni evacuees landed at Sanaa airport on Saturday as the Yemeni government resumed emergency flights to evacuate more than 1,200 Yemenis stuck in war-torn Sudan.
The Yemen embassy in Sudan said that the plane carrying 192 people, including 14 newborns, departed Port Sudan at 8:38 a.m., bound for Houthi-held Sanaa. Another plane carrying roughly the same number of people was scheduled to travel to government-controlled Aden later on Saturday.
Thousands of Yemenis, including students, have been stuck in Sudan since April 15, when violence erupted between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The first set of stranded Yemenis were evacuated by the Saudi navy and transferred to Jeddah, where they were provided with free lodging for two nights before being transported to Yemen by bus.
Yemen’s Foreign Ministry said that seven Yemenia planes would transport 1,250 stranded Yemenis from Sudan to Yemen between Friday and Monday, adding that 750 Yemenis had already been airlifted from Sudan, while 800 were transported from Port Sudan to Saudi Arabia on Saudi ships. The Yemeni government said it would cover all flight costs and assist citizens in extending their passports, obtaining birth certificates for their children, and having their university and high-school certificates authorized.
Thrilled Yemenis published photos on social media as they exited Port Sudan airport.
“After one month and one day of exhaustion in Port Sudan, we are eventually evacuated from Sudan to Sanaa airport,” Fawzy Jamoom wrote on his Facebook page while boarding the plane to Sanaa on Saturday.
Separately, Yemeni government officials and human rights activists criticized a Houthi attack on a gathering of Bahais — a Yemeni religious minority — in Sanaa on Friday and urged the militia to immediately release them and end their persecution of religious minorities and opponents.
Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani said in a tweet that the Houthis attacked a Bahai sect’s annual gathering in Sanaa, arresting 17 people, including five women, and raiding Bahai homes.
“This heinous crime verifies that the Houthi militia, under Iranian direction, continues its escalation, targeting, and systematic terrorism of religious minorities, particularly the Bahai community, and persecution of its adherents on the basis of their faith,” the minister said.
Since late 2014, he added, the Houthis have arbitrarily abducted Bahais, tortured them, ransacked their homes, seized their offices and other properties, and incited the public against them.
A video that circulated online showed armed and masked Houthis storming a gathering. Women’s screams can be heard in the video.
The Geneva-based SAM Organization for Human Rights and Liberties also condemned the Houthis’ “barbaric and brutal” assault on a group of Bahais, as well as the militia’s other violations of human rights in Sanaa and other areas of Yemen under their control.
“The Houthi group’s daily violations, the most recent of which was the assault on the Bahai community meeting, are merely a microcosm of the deteriorating human rights situation in the areas it controls,” the organization said.