‘We were really hoping Sudan would have a chance to stabilize and prosper,’ EU envoy for the Sahel tells Arab News

Special Emanuela C. Del Re spoke to Arab News on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Riyadh. (AN photo by Abdulrahman Binshulhub)
Emanuela C. Del Re spoke to Arab News on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Riyadh. (AN photo by Abdulrahman Binshulhub)
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Updated 11 June 2023
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‘We were really hoping Sudan would have a chance to stabilize and prosper,’ EU envoy for the Sahel tells Arab News

Emanuela C. Del Re spoke to Arab News on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh.
  • Emanuela C. Del Re “very saddened by the crisis,” but underscores need to help countries, especially those in “a very difficult condition”
  • She made the comments on the sidelines of anti-terrorism conference in Riyadh, which she said would be “valuable for a long time”

RIYADH: Although the conflict in Sudan is viewed by many in the international development sphere as a major setback, the EU’s special representative for the Sahel believes donors and aid agencies must not lose hope but continue to remain engaged.

Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Riyadh on Thursday, Emanuela C. Del Re said there were great hopes that Sudan would stabilize and prosper following the toppling of longtime dictator Omar Al-Bashir in 2019.

However, after the military’s removal of Abdalla Hamdok, head of the short-lived transitional government, in October 2021, followed by the sudden outbreak of violence between the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on April 15 this year, those early glimmers of hope were quickly dashed.

“I was very saddened by the crisis in Sudan. There was a moment in which we were really hoping that the country would have a chance to stabilize and to prosper,” Del Re said.

Recalling the mass protests that prompted the military to move against Al-Bashir, she said the international community had been inspired by the energy and ambition of Sudan’s urban youth who led the revolt and had been eager to help them realize their goals.

“It was a moment in which the students of the universities … were proposing a new society,” she said. “At that time, there was a lot of support by the international community and the leadership was willing to create a new renaissance for the country.”

Amid clashes between the regular army, led by Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the RSF, led by Al-Burhan’s deputy-turned-rival Mohamed “Hemedti” Hamdan Dagalo, Del Re said there was a risk the world would give up on Sudan’s transformation.

“It is particularly sad because it is having an impact on the global public opinion, making people think that no matter how much you invest, there will always be something happening that may completely destroy what you have been building,” she said.

“We must not lose optimism, but continue to believe that we need to help the countries, especially if they are in a very difficult condition.”

One particularly vulnerable demographic among the displaced in Sudan are women and girls. Stories of harassment, violence and rape are already pouring out of the country, where armed men are able to act with impunity amid the state of lawlessness.

Asked what the EU was doing to bring some sort of pressure to bear upon the feuding factions to make sure their forces do not target women and girls, Del Re pointed to the union’s record on protection and on helping to secure a ban on the practice of female genital mutilation.

“Of course, we are doing a lot,” she said. “We always engage in and fund projects that are aimed at protecting women and girls, and all our projects have obtained good results in Sudan.

“For instance, at one point, it was a very great success that with the pressure of the international community, female genital mutilation was introduced in the criminal code as a crime.”

Since the violence in Sudan began almost two months ago, security analysts have raised concerns about the conflict’s potential spillover across the Sahel, an area of the African continent encompassing parts of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.




Saudi Arabia Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Member of the Council of Ministers, and Envoy for Climate of Saudi Arabia Adel Al-Jubeir receives the special representative of the European Union for the Sahel region, Claudia C. Del Rey, where they reviewed aspects of cooperation between KSA & EU, as well as issues of common concern. (Supplied)

Possible knock-on effects include the proliferation of light weapons, involvement of mercenaries and, more immediately, the massive cross-border displacement of civilian populations, which could trigger a new global refugee crisis.

The EU’s contribution to the work of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh comes, to a large extent, in the form of funding for counterterrorism and counter-radicalization initiatives.

“The role of the EU is very important because the EU is composed of 27 countries and their contribution to the issues of terrorism is very consistent,” Del Re said. “We spend per year something like 500 million euros in activities dedicated to combating terrorism.

“If you look at the total amount, 60 percent of the money that we spend in the missions and activities and actions is dedicated to Africa and to the Sahel. We are particularly interested in tackling terrorism for the benefit of the continent of Africa and in the world in general.

“We know very well that unless we have a balance in power and also an opportunity for all populations, of course we will not be able to fight against this very serious phenomenon.”

Part of this is the EU Strategy for Security and Development, which introduced a new “integrated vision” for the Sahel in 2021 related to security.

“We have to act on all the sectors to make sure that society develops a strong resilience against all sorts of security threats, terrorism, of course, and you can only do this by working on education, health and access to basic services,” Del Re said.

“If we can help the Sahel countries develop a sound welfare system, this would be the start of a change. At the moment, the real threat that comes from terrorists is not only violence, which is already causing a lot of casualties. Because there is a vacuum of power and institutions, the terrorists are able to create an alternative system of welfare, which is absolutely fake.

“Of course, this is the biggest challenge and danger, because if the territory is controlled by terrorists, this means it will be very difficult to regain it. And the populations lose, in particular, young people, who are recruited by being given a small amount of money, being promised a career.

“They are given a pistol that would give them the sense of power because the young people often feel very much marginalized and humiliated.”




Rashid Hassan of Arab News interviewed Emanuela C. Del Re, EU special representative for the Sahel, on Thursday in Riyadh. (AN photo by Abdulrahman Binshulhub)

To protect displaced communities and host nations in the Sahel, Del Re said the EU was donating funds to support humanitarian programs, with a particular focus on Chad — a country that as of June 5 had accepted 113,332 people who had entered from Sudan.

As one of the most poorly equipped nations to offer sanctuary, Del Re said Chad was already hosting Sudanese citizens displaced by previous crises.

“The EU is helping in terms of humanitarian aid, especially in Chad,” she said. “This is our duty and our help in terms of humanitarian aid is particularly consistent. We are one of the biggest donors at the global level and in particular in the Sahel.”

Commenting on the GCC-EU Conference on Countering Extremist Ideology and Radicalization, which ended on Wednesday at the GCC General Secretariat in Riyadh, Del Re said the main aim was to identify the causes and possible remedies for radicalization.

“I highlighted the perception we have, for instance, of a specific region like the Sahel in Africa, where terrorism is actually multifaceted, with very different identities, and we need that to redefine our strategy to fight against it,” she said.

“The most important thing that emerged is the need to work on the root causes of terrorism, from poverty to lack of education and lack of access to basic services, work to create a good system of governance that can reinforce the social contract and make sure that people can develop their own skills, that we have employment for young people and prevent them from be recruited by extremists.”




Special representative of the European Union for the Sahel region, Claudia C. Del Rey, participates in the conference between the European Union and the Cooperation Council in Riyadh on combating extremist ideas and ideologies. (Supplied)

Del Re said the ministerial meeting on Daesh in Riyadh served to highlight the terror group’s evolving strategies as well as clarify the ways in which the international community could confront the continuing threat.

An extremist group which began life as an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, ISIS — another name for Daesh — seized vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014 before the coalition was able to dislodge its fighters from their final holdouts in 2019.

The group’s members and sympathizers were also responsible for several mass-casualty attacks in Europe, prompting governments to overhaul their security policies and revamp screening protocols for migrants and refugees.

“The meeting in Riyadh was a very important moment that will really be valuable for a long time,” Del Re said.

“Not only was the participation incredibly rich, but we had the presence of Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, showing the fact that we are all together, motivated, engaged to defeat the challenges of Daesh.

“It is important to increase the cooperation between like-minded countries because it is the only way by which we can really create a barrier against terrorism that is very urgent to be created in this historical moment.”

 


Lebanon education bosses move to ban book with Israeli flag on cover

Lebanon education bosses move to ban book with Israeli flag on cover
Updated 6 sec ago
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Lebanon education bosses move to ban book with Israeli flag on cover

Lebanon education bosses move to ban book with Israeli flag on cover
  • Legal measures planned against those who committed fraudulent copying, printing, and distortion of textbook

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Ministry of Education has warned schools in Lebanon against adopting copies of the book “National Education and Civic Upbringing” with the Israeli flag on its cover.

The book, which was reprinted by an unidentified publishing house for sale in the markets, had a picture of the UN building printed on its cover with the Israeli flag appearing among the flags of other countries.

The ministry monitored the copying and reprinting of textbooks issued by the Educational Center for Research and Development, including “National Education and Civic Upbringing.”

However, printing and distribution of official schools is restricted to the Educational Center for Research and Development based on the constitution and the Taif Agreement.

The press office of Education Minister Abbas Al-Halabi said that he had decided to take legal measures and prosecute “all those who committed fraudulent copying, printing, and distortion of the unified education textbook and violated the exclusive right of the Educational Center for Research and Development to reproduce the national textbook series.”

The minister called on the security authorities to take action to prevent this, which was mainly caused by the economic conditions, the decline in the value of the Lebanese pound against the dollar, and the failure of any company or publishing house to participate in the tenders designated for printing the national book.

Dr. Hiam Ishaq, head of the Educational Center for Research and Development, told Arab News that legal prosecutions had previously taken place against publishing houses that produced textbooks illegally some time ago, and warnings and rulings were implemented against them.

However, the owner of this publishing house repeated the violation — this time with a grave error related to the existence of an Israeli flag on the cover of the book.

The preparation of the textbook is subject to educational specifications stipulated in the documents of the Educational Center for Research and Development.

Dr. Ishaq said that the National Education textbook ranges from the first grade of basic education to the high school grade.

 “The National Educational Center for Research and Development announces tenders for applicants from publishing houses wishing to print the textbook and the Ministry of Education buys it from them,” Ishaq said.  

“But with the collapse of the Lebanese pound, and the fact that the state deals in the Lebanese pound only, no publishing houses applied this year to print the textbook.

“Previously, UNICEF printed textbooks for the past two years, but it informed us that this year it had no budget for this matter.

“It used to ask students in public schools who received textbooks for free to recycle them by giving them to students who would move to the same grade, with the exception of practical books that could not be recycled.

“In light of the chaos, publishing houses decided to print the textbooks and sell them, and this is against the law and violates intellectual property and the legal right to production.”

According to Ishaq, the National Educational Center for Research and Development is turning to the e-book for publication— a project that has moved to the application stage.

“The problem lies in the fact that not all public-school students have a device to use this application, and we may resort to a PDF version of the lessons required of the students.”

 


Aswan governorate launches tourism app for ‘the best winter resort in the world’

Aswan governorate launches tourism app for ‘the best winter resort in the world’
Updated 41 min 4 sec ago
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Aswan governorate launches tourism app for ‘the best winter resort in the world’

Aswan governorate launches tourism app for ‘the best winter resort in the world’
  • Attia claimed that Aswan is “one of the best governorates in the field of tourism, and the best winter resort in the world”
  • The new app, he explained, allows tourists to access “all necessary information, such as tourist places, hotels, and hospitals”

CAIRO: The Egyptian Governorate of Aswan in Upper Egypt has rolled out a new app to serve tourists.
According to Aswan Gov. Major General Ashraf Attia, the application been well-received so far. “It has significantly contributed to facilitating (tourists’) trips, saving both time and effort,” he said in a video published by the Information and Decision Support Center of the Council of Ministers and on his official Facebook page.
Attia claimed that Aswan is “one of the best governorates in the field of tourism, and the best winter resort in the world.”
The new app, he explained, allows tourists to access “all necessary information, such as tourist places, hotels, and hospitals.”
He continued: “The reaction we have received from tourists who have downloaded the application has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly during meetings with tourists in floating or fixed hotels, or during tours. The program has achieved great success.”
Bassem Halaqa, the head of the Tourism Workers Syndicate, highlighted the assistance the application has provided to Russian tourists, who currently make up the majority of visitors to Egypt, saying it had “significantly eased navigation” around Aswan.
“It underscores the importance of Russian tourists in supporting and revitalizing the tourism sector due to the close geographical proximity between Russia and Egypt, the availability of economical flights, and balanced prices for the services they receive,” he said.
Halaqa noted that Russia is cold for most of the year, and Egypt serves as a “warm haven” for Russian tourists.
“They particularly enjoy Aswan and the beaches of the Red Sea in Hurghada or Sharm El-Sheikh,” he said. “Some (like) to take day trips to visit the antiquities in Aswan and Luxor or travel to Cairo and Giza.”
Halaqa said that proposals to allow closed residential buildings to be converted into hotels are currently under consideration at the Ministry of Tourism. The initiative will focus not only on luxury tourism, but on two- and three-star accommodation as well, he added.


US exhibit of sphinx with African features angers Egyptian experts

US exhibit of sphinx with African features angers Egyptian experts
Updated 48 min 1 sec ago
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US exhibit of sphinx with African features angers Egyptian experts

US exhibit of sphinx with African features angers Egyptian experts
  • An exhibition at the Leiden Museum in the Netherlands recently caused a stir by linking hip-hop music with pharaonic coffins and statues, aiming to show the influence of ancient Egypt on artists of African descent

CAIRO: A statue of a sphinx featuring a head with African characteristics has sparked anger in Egypt after it was placed on display at a leading US museum.

The installation, crafted by American artist and activist Lauren Halsey, is on show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York as part of an exhibit that opened in April 2023 and is due to close in October.

Leading Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass described the sculpture as “a distortion of history and a complete falsification.”

“It is a shame that the museum, which is well-versed in the history of Egypt, allowed its trustees to carry out this farce,” he told Arab News.

Mahmoud Darwish, professor of archaeology at Minya University, said: “Unfortunately, there has been no move to address the controversy.”

The 36-year-old Halsey plans to display the artwork at various locations in the US, Darwish added.

Hussein Dakil, an archaeology expert, said the controversy raises questions about the “cloning” of ancient artifacts.

He said the practice violates Egyptian law, but cannot be enforced internationally.

However, Dakil said that international agreements such as the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention could offer a framework for resolving such issues.

“Countries, including Egypt, can demand compliance with the UNESCO convention, offering a potential solution for removing and preventing such replicas,” he said.

This is not the first time that the intersection of contemporary culture and ancient Egyptian artifacts has raised eyebrows.

An exhibition at the Leiden Museum in the Netherlands recently caused a stir by linking hip-hop music with pharaonic coffins and statues, aiming to show the influence of ancient Egypt on artists of African descent.

Photos of Beyonce as Queen Nefertiti and a video of Rihanna dancing in front of the pyramids have also sparked a backlash.

The latest controversy comes on the heels of a Netflix documentary about Cleopatra featuring a dark-skinned actress in the title role.

The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities condemned the casting, saying that Cleopatra was “light-skinned with Greek features,” and criticized the film as an attempt to endorse an “Afrocentric” perspective.

 

 


Lawsuit filed to halt Mubarak sons from contesting elections

Lawsuit filed to halt Mubarak sons from contesting elections
Updated 51 min 46 sec ago
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Lawsuit filed to halt Mubarak sons from contesting elections

Lawsuit filed to halt Mubarak sons from contesting elections
  • The lawsuit accuses them of illicit gains, and seeks the recovery of smuggled funds from across the world
  • Apart from preventing their candidacy, Ismail’s legal action calls for the recovery of funds that have allegedly been smuggled abroad

CAIRO: Abdel Salam Ibrahim Ismail, director of the National Center for Citizenship and Human Rights Support, has filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the sons of Egypt’s late President Hosni Mubarak, from running for any high-ranking office in the country.
The lawsuit accuses them of illicit gains, and seeks the recovery of smuggled funds from across the world.
Ismail said that he filed an urgent lawsuit in which he demanded the cancelation of the justice minister’s decision to refuse to open a probe against Mubarak’s sons, in accordance with Article 44 of Law 20 of 1977.
Apart from preventing their candidacy, Ismail’s legal action calls for the recovery of funds that have allegedly been smuggled abroad.
He said that these funds belong to the Egyptian people and should be reclaimed, whether they are in the form of real estate, liquid assets or deposits in Egyptian or foreign banks.
Ismail added that these funds should be handed over to the Ministry of Finance to contribute to the state’s general treasury.
He said his lawsuit is driven by a sense of responsibility toward safeguarding the Egyptian people’s money.
“This request of mine has nothing to do with the approaching presidential elections in 2024, but rather a citizen’s care for the Egyptian people’s money that was plundered by symbols of Mubarak’s state,” Ismail said.
However, Ammar Ali Hassan, a researcher in political sociology, raised doubts in a post on X, pointing out that neither Alaa nor Gamal Mubarak had applied for any political positions.
“What would happen if the court permitted them to run for office, potentially opening the door to their political participation,” he said.
The legal saga traces its roots back to May 2015 when an Egyptian court sentenced Mubarak and his sons to three years in prison.
They were also fined about 126 million Egyptian pounds ($4 million) and ordered to return about 21 million Egyptian pounds.
This ruling followed their conviction for embezzling public funds in the widely known “presidential palaces” case.
The court of cassation upheld the ruling, making it final in January 2016.
A legal expert, who chose anonymity, highlighted the complexities in the case.
He said Law 22 of 2014, enacted during the era of interim President Adly Mansour, stipulates that anyone running for the presidency must not have been convicted of a felony or a crime against honor or trust, even if their reputation has been restored. The interpretation of this law remains a point of contention among legal experts.


Turkish authorities warn unregistered Syrians to leave Istanbul

Turkish authorities warn unregistered Syrians to leave Istanbul
Updated 55 min 18 sec ago
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Turkish authorities warn unregistered Syrians to leave Istanbul

Turkish authorities warn unregistered Syrians to leave Istanbul
  • The government needs ‘new strategy because current harmonization plan not paying off,’ analyst says

ANKARA: Against a backdrop of increasing anti-migrant sentiment in Turkiye, the Ministry of Interior has instructed unregistered Syrian residents of Istanbul that, unless they leave the city by Sunday Sept. 24, they will face “severe sanctions.” Syrians who had previously registered in other Turkish provinces are required to return to their original places of registration.

In recent months, Turkish authorities have intensified their efforts to crack down on illegal migrants in Istanbul, which currently hosts more than 500,000 Syrian refugees, the most of any city in Turkiye. Many of the refugees were registered in locations outside of Istanbul, but came to the city in search of employment.

Syrians who fled the provinces in which they were registered after the devastating earthquake in February and were subsequently granted travel permits to Istanbul are exempt from the ministry’s orders.

Sinem Adar, an associate at the Center for Applied Turkey Studies in the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, noted that similar restrictive measures have been imposed in the past.

“In 2019, the Ministry of Interior told Syrian refugees who were not registered in Istanbul to return to the districts where they were initially registered,” she told Arab News. “The fact that a similar measure is now being implemented — four years later — is a sign that the earlier efforts were not successful.”

As of Sept. 14, Turkiye is home to approximately 3.2 million Syrians with temporary protection permits, down 19,100 from the previous month’s figures.

According to Adar, public pressure and its own policies mean Turkiye’s ruling government is keen to repatriate at least some of the Syrian refugees as soon as possible.

“Ankara has been trying to create a safe zone in Northern Syria,” Adar says, “while also attempting to foster a reconciliation with Bashar Assad.”

Turkish President Recep Erdogan promised ahead of elections back in May that he would repatriate a million Syrian refugees. He has also unveiled plans for the development of new residential, agricultural and industrial projects — financed by Qatar — in northwest Syria, where Turkish troops are stationed, to accommodate the resettlement of Syrian refugees from Turkiye over the next three years.

This initiative — dubbed “The Aleppo Model” — will also encourage businesses in Turkish provinces bordering Syria to engage in commercial activities within Syrian safe zones, thereby generating employment opportunities for local residents. However, progress remains sluggish due to the protracted reconciliation process between Ankara and Damascus.

“Unfortunately, a Syrian’s fate relies on procedural arbitrariness,” Omar Kadkoy, a migration policy analyst at Ankara-based think tank TEPAV, told Arab News. “The mere fact that a documented Syrian is present in a province other than that (in which they were initially registered) does not constitute sufficient grounds for deportation (in either) domestic or international law. The authorities, however, could arbitrarily link one’s presence outside the province of registration to other activities, like being a threat to the public, for which deportation could qualify as a legal procedure. So, an apprehended Syrian relies on luck instead of rule of law to appeal the decision.”

Official statistics show that around 554,000 Syrian refugees have returned to their homeland voluntarily, but Adar said it is difficult to discern whether they all truly chose to return, as there have been allegations of refugees being pressured to sign up for “voluntary” return, as well as reports of increased deportations. “Forced return cannot be excluded,” she said.

As many in Turkiye grow increasingly resentful of the large number of refugees in the country amid its ongoing economic crisis, Syrian refugees are once again being made scapegoats by nationalist campaigns ahead of local elections in March 2024. “Gitmeliler” (They Should Go) has been trending on social media site X.

According to analyst Kadkoy, this is a recurring theme. Similar events occurred before the local elections in 2019, he noted.

“The public are living through the effects of unorthodox monetary policy, the pandemic and the recent earthquake on the economy, and blame Syrians for the economic woes,” he said.

The government, in response, “tightens measures against Syrians as a quick relief. This is insufficient and unsustainable,” he continued.

“The local elections are six months away. We are likely to see similar measures in other provinces as well. These measures are short-term fixes.”

He said the government “must seriously discuss and work on a new strategy because the current harmonization plan is not paying off.”

The analyst added: “This is particularly important since the prospects of large-scale voluntary repatriation are rather low without political transition in Syria.”

Adar underscored the delicate balancing act the ruling Justice and Development Party faces as it attempts to address societal discontent by returning some refugees to Syria while maintaining harmonious relations with Turkiye’s Arab population.

Several Turkish journalists and a number of other citizens have been detained recently for their anti-refugee social media posts, accused of inciting hatred and hate speech. Three journalists were arrested on Saturday morning.

“Ramping up measures against Syrian refugees while simultaneously punishing anti-refugee views is a strategy aimed at appealing to various interests,” Adar said.

The recent serious assault of Kuwaiti tourist Mohammed Al-Ajmi in the northeastern city of Trabzon, which left him comatose with four broken teeth, was a reminder of rising anti-Arab sentiment in the country, stoked by the influx of Syrian refugees.