Plight of Sudanese people ‘right at the top of our agenda,’ UK’s permanent representative to the UN tells Arab News

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Updated 24 September 2023
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Plight of Sudanese people ‘right at the top of our agenda,’ UK’s permanent representative to the UN tells Arab News

Plight of Sudanese people ‘right at the top of our agenda,’ UK’s permanent representative to the UN tells Arab News
  • Barbara Woodward describes difficulties of delivering aid as a major impediment to addressing humanitarian crisis
  • As 78th UNGA session get under way, she urges Sudan’s rival leaders to to stop fighting and restore civilian rule

NEW YORK CITY: The humanitarian situation in Sudan continues to deteriorate rapidly as the conflict that erupted on April 15 shows no sign of abating.

The power struggle has recently been claiming the lives of civilians in ever greater numbers, while challenges of access are making it increasingly difficult for aid workers to reach the millions of Sudanese in need.

In May, despite signing a pledge in Jeddah, in which the two feuding generals agreed to allow the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance, the restoration of essential services, and the withdrawal of forces from hospitals and clinics, Sudan continues to be a highly insecure operational space for aid workers.

Since the beginning of the hostilities, 19 humanitarian-agency staff have been killed.




Humanitarian organization leaders said Sudan, is ‘no longer at the precipice of mass atrocities; it has fallen over the edge.’ (AFP)

Bureaucratic barriers, such as customs, visas, and permits, continue to hinder the ability to deploy humanitarian teams into the country and onward to parts where needs are most acute. More than 220 international aid workers were awaiting visas to enter the country in July, with applications pending for weeks on end.

Barbara Woodward is the UK’s permanent representative to the UN and the penholder of the Sudan file at the Security Council. The penholders’ role is to lead the negotiations and drafting of resolution on a particular issue.

In an interview with Arab News in New York City, Woodward said: “The plight of the people of Sudan, 25 million of them in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, is really right at the top of our agenda.”

She noted that the task of gaining humanitarian access to Sudan was the worst in the world, and that obstacles to delivering aid constituted one of the major impediments to addressing Sudan’s humanitarian crisis.

“We can’t get that humanitarian aid to people because convoys are being attacked, and bureaucratic obstacles are being pushed in the way, such as customs, visas, and permits,” she added.

Woodward pointed out that despite enormous efforts, the warring parties had not fulfilled their commitments to facilitate humanitarian access, leaving the international community deeply concerned about the fate of Sudan’s population.

And she highlighted the gravity of the situation, expressing concern for the people in Sudan, those who had fled, and the continuous reports on atrocities.

She said the UK was working to address the crisis through financial aid and diplomatic actions, adding that the UN Security Council meetings the British had called were only one part of a comprehensive strategy.




Regional leaders agreed to establish a ministerial mechanism to coordinate efforts to resolve the conflict. (AFP)

Woodward said: “About 25 million people are in need of aid. Nearly 5 million people are displaced, including some who were already displaced, and about 42 percent of the population need food aid.

“There’s the second group of people, about 1 million people, who have fled Sudan into Chad and into South Sudan primarily. They are of course in need of attention.

“That’s why we’ve split the UK aid package of $33.5 million, with a portion for Sudan, about $27.2 million, and then $6.3 million especially directed to South Sudan and Chad, including for reports we have had on grievous body violence.

“And then, this is not just a pure humanitarian mission. The reports we’ve heard of atrocities — of breaching international humanitarian law, violence, ethnic violence, sexual violence — are creating another layer of humanitarian problems. Those are all made worse because, as I said, we can’t get in humanitarian aid,” she added.

Sudan’s Darfur region had been scarred by a two-decade conflict that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and more than 2 million displaced.

Two months into the current war, Martin Griffiths, the UN humanitarian chief, painted a dire picture of the Darfur states, particularly South Darfur, describing “babies dying in hospitals where they were being treated, children and mothers suffering from severe malnutrition, camps for displaced persons burned to the ground, girls raped, schools closed, and families eating leaves to survive.”

He said: “Hospitals and water facilities have come under attack. Humanitarian warehouses and offices have been ransacked. Aid workers have been killed.”

Griffiths noted that reports of mass killings in the restive province “should spur the world into action,” adding that “the world cannot allow this to happen. Not again.”

SUDAN CONFLICT FACTS

• 5m Civilians displaced by the conflict so far.

• 20m+ People experiencing acute food insecurity.

• 6m+ People just one step away from famine.

• 3.2m+ People who have received some form of assistance.

On what action the world should take, Woodward said that bilateral action was imperative, adding that the UK’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly had personally engaged with military leaders.

She pointed out that the UK’s second approach had been to focus on active participation in local and regional peace initiatives, such as those involving the Quad (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK, and the US) and the African Union core group on the Sudan crisis, of which the UK was a member.

“And then, of course, there’s what we can do here at the UN. As the penholder, the UK has been responsible for calling seven Security Council meetings in the last five months to try and draw attention to the situation in Sudan and try to press hard for the parties to end the fighting so we can get aid to the people of Sudan and try and get Sudan to end the fighting and move back to civilian rule,” Woodward said.

The leaders of more than 50 international human rights and humanitarian organizations recently agreed that Sudan was “no longer at the precipice of mass atrocities; it has fallen over the edge,” and warned of inaction in the face of the disaster unfolding “before our eyes.”

Tirana Hassan, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said: “In the face of mounting atrocities in Sudan, the Security Council has neglected its responsibility to robustly respond.

“The world’s foremost body on international peace and security should not remain silent in the face of grave international crimes.”

Addressing concerns about the Security Council's response to the Sudanese crisis, especially in comparison with the Ukraine conflict, Woodward drew a distinction, saying that the Ukraine war was initiated by a permanent member of the Security Council.

She noted that the situation in Ukraine had a different dynamic, citing Russia’s role in calling what she called spurious meetings related to Ukraine and its use of the veto.




The power struggle in Sudan has recently been claiming the lives of civilians in ever greater numbers. (AFP)

According to Woodward, while there have been numerous meetings on Ukraine, it “should not detract from the fact that we are very, very cognizant of the appalling plight and the circumstances that the people of Sudan face at the moment and the fragility of the situation there.”

There has been no dearth of regional and international efforts to resolve the Sudan crisis. Many meetings have been convened separately by the AU, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and the Arab League.

The IGAD also established the Quartet group of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan, which during a meeting in July resolved “to request the East Africa Standby Force summit to convene in order to consider the possible deployment of the EASF for the protection of civilians and to guarantee humanitarian access.”

In May, in Jeddah, the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces signed the Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan — the Jeddah Declaration — in recognition of their responsibilities under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. A few days later, they inked agreement on a seven-day ceasefire, one of many that did not hold.

Then, at the end of May, the Saudi US-facilitated talks were suspended after the SAF withdrew, accusing the RSF of failing to implement the ceasefire.

The talks reportedly resumed on July 15, before the SAF again announced the return of its delegation from Jeddah owing to a lack of agreement on several issues, including their position that the RSF should evacuate civilian homes and public facilities in Khartoum.

In July, Egypt hosted the Sudan’s Neighboring States Summit, bringing together the heads of state and governments of the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, and South Sudan, with the aim of finding a solution. The leaders agreed to establish a ministerial mechanism comprising foreign ministers of Sudan’s neighboring states to coordinate their efforts to resolve the conflict.




“My message for the Sudanese people would be that we are desperately trying to get you the humanitarian aid that you so urgently need,” said Barbara Woodward. (AFP)

The AU has many a time stated that such multiplicity of approaches does not serve the will of the Sudanese people. The AU peace road map calls for the establishment of a coordinated mechanism to ensure all regional and global efforts are harmonized and impactful.

Woodward said: “The problem we have, I think, is not so much the proliferation of initiatives, which shows just how willing people are to support the cause of the peace in Sudan. It’s the fact that the two parties will not stop fighting.

“A unified initiative should of course lead to an end of the fighting and the establishment of some sort of civilian rule. Those are the two key elements.”

She pointed out that the Jeddah agreement was a promising initiative that aimed to facilitate humanitarian access. Although both parties had fallen short of their commitments, she expressed hope that the initiative would gain traction again.

Woodward said the international community was working tirelessly to deliver aid and monitor violations of international law, while remaining committed to ending the fighting and restoring civilian rule.

“My message for the Sudanese people would be that we are desperately trying to get you the humanitarian aid that you so urgently need.

“We are doing our best to monitor the violence and the violations of international humanitarian law, so that we can call the parties to account, and we want to see the end of fighting and we want to help the restoration of civilian rule back in Sudan,” she added.

Her message to the Sudanese military leaders was unequivocal: “Stop fighting.”


Israel says it foiled Iranian plot to target, spy on senior Israeli politicians

Israel says it foiled Iranian plot to target, spy on senior Israeli politicians
Updated 27 September 2023
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Israel says it foiled Iranian plot to target, spy on senior Israeli politicians

Israel says it foiled Iranian plot to target, spy on senior Israeli politicians
  • The Shin Bet security service alleged that an Iranian security official living in neighboring Jordan had recruited three Palestinian men in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
  • The targets included National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Yehuda Glick, an American-born far-right Israeli activist

JERUSALEM: Israel arrested five Palestinians in a plot allegedly hatched in Iran to target and spy on senior Israeli politicians, including Israel’s far-right national security minister, the country’s internal security agency said Wednesday.
The Shin Bet security service alleged that an Iranian security official living in neighboring Jordan had recruited three Palestinian men in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and another two Palestinian citizens of Israel to gather intelligence about several high-profile Israeli politicians.
The targets included National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — a firebrand Israeli settler leader who oversees the country’s police force in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultranationalist government — as well as Yehuda Glick, an American-born far-right Israeli activist and former member of parliament.
The plan was foiled by Israeli intelligence officials, the Shin Bet said, without offering evidence.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations.
Ben-Gvir, who draws inspiration from a racist rabbi, has provoked outrage across the wider Middle East for his particularly hard-line policies against the Palestinians, anti-Arab rhetoric and stunts and frequent public visits to the holiest and most contested site in the Holy Land. The hilltop compound in Jerusalem, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is at the emotional center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Glick is a leader in a campaign that pushes for increased Jewish access and prayer rights at the sacred Jerusalem compound, the holiest site in Judaism home to ancient biblical Temples. Today, the compound houses the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there. Glick survived a 2014 Palestinian assassination attempt.
The Shin Bet did not elaborate on the identity of the Iranian official in Jordan who allegedly orchestrated the plot. He is not in custody and apparently remains at large.
But the Shin Bet accused three Palestinian men in the West Bank — identified as 47-year old Murad Kamamaja, 34-year-old Hassan Mujarimah and 45-year-old Ziad Shanti — of gathering intelligence and smuggling weapons into Israel. The security service also said that it charged two Palestinian citizens of Israel over their involvement in the plot. It did not specify how the men planned to target Ben-Gvir and the other politicians.
Ben-Gvir claimed that the Palestinian suspects had conspired to “assassinate a minister in Israel,” without clarifying whether he meant himself or another minister. He thanked Israeli security forces for uncovering and capturing what he called the “terrorist squad.”
Ben-Gvir, who has pushed for harsher treatment for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, also vowed to double down on his hard-line policies in response to the revelations. “I will continue to act fearlessly and even more vigorously for a fundamental change in the conditions of the terrorists’ imprisonment,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Israel has considered Iran to be its greatest enemy since it became a Shiite theocracy during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran is a main patron of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which Israel considers the most potent military threat on its borders, and also backs Palestinian Islamist militant groups in the Gaza Strip.


US targets Iran drone procurement network, accuses it of aiding Russia

 The US has accused Tehran of supplying Russia with drones to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. (File/AFP)
The US has accused Tehran of supplying Russia with drones to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. (File/AFP)
Updated 27 September 2023
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US targets Iran drone procurement network, accuses it of aiding Russia

 The US has accused Tehran of supplying Russia with drones to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. (File/AFP)
  • “Iranian-made UAVs continue to be a key tool for Russia in its attacks in Ukraine, including those that terrorize Ukrainian citizens,” Treasury said

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a network it said was helping procure sensitive parts for Iran’s drone program, and accused Tehran of supplying Russia with drones to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The network has facilitated shipments and financial transactions in support of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) procurement of a critical component used in Iran’s Shahed-136 drones, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The move is the latest in a series of recent sanctions on Iran. Wednesday’s action targets entities and individuals in Iran, China, and other countries.
“Iranian-made UAVs continue to be a key tool for Russia in its attacks in Ukraine, including those that terrorize Ukrainian citizens and attack its critical infrastructure,” Treasury official Brian Nelson said in a statement.


More than 100 dead, scores more injured in Iraq wedding inferno

More than 100 dead, scores more injured in Iraq wedding inferno
Updated 53 min 45 sec ago
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More than 100 dead, scores more injured in Iraq wedding inferno

More than 100 dead, scores more injured in Iraq wedding inferno
  • The fire ripped through a large event hall after fireworks were lit during the celebration
  • civil defense authorities say prefabricated panels inside hall were 'highly flammable'

QARAQOSH: At least 100 people were killed and more than 150 injured when a fire broke out during a wedding at an event hall in the northern Iraqi town of Qaraqosh, officials said early Wednesday.

At the main hospital in the predominantly Christian town east of Mosul, an AFP photographer saw ambulances arriving with sirens blaring and dozens of people gathering in the courtyard to donate blood.

Others could be seen gathering in front of the open doors of a refrigerated truck loaded with black body bags.

Citing a “preliminary tally,” Iraq’s official INA news agency reported that health authorities in Nineveh province had “counted 100 dead and more than 150 injured in the fire at a marriage hall in Hamdaniyah,” as the town is also known.

The casualty toll was confirmed to AFP by health ministry spokesman Saif Al-Badr.

Badr said most of the injured were being treated for burns or oxygen deprivation, adding that there had also been crowd crushes at the scene.

In a statement, civil defense authorities reported the presence of prefabricated panels inside the event hall that were “highly flammable and contravened safety standards.”

The danger was compounded by the “release of toxic gases linked to the combustion of the panels,” which contained plastic.

“The fire caused some parts of the ceiling to fall due to the use of highly flammable, low-cost construction materials,” the statement said, with “preliminary information” suggesting fireworks were to blame for the blaze.

Wedding guest Rania Waad, who sustained a burn to her hand, said that as the bride and groom “were slow dancing, the fireworks started to climb to the ceiling (and) the whole hall went up in flames.”

“We couldn’t see anything,” the 17-year-old said, choking back sobs. “We were suffocating, we didn’t know how to get out.”

Emergency crews were seen sifting through the charred remains of the event hall early Wednesday, inspecting the scene by flashlight.

In a brief statement, Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani called on the health and interior ministers to “mobilize all rescue efforts” to help the victims of the fire.

The health ministry said “medical aid trucks” had been dispatched to the area from Baghdad and other provinces, adding that its teams in Nineveh had been mobilized to care for the injured.

Safety standards in Iraq’s construction sector are often disregarded, and the country, whose infrastructure is in disrepair after decades of conflict, is often the scene of fatal fires and accidents.

In July 2021, a fire in the Covid unit of a hospital in southern Iraq killed more than 60 people.

And in April of the same year, exploding oxygen tanks triggered a fire at a hospital in Baghdad — also dedicated to Covid patients — that killed more than 80 people.

Like many Christian towns in the Nineveh Plains, northeast of Mosul, Qaraqosh was ransacked by jihadists of the Daesh group after they entered the town in 2014.

Qaraqosh and its churches were slowly rebuilt after the group’s ouster in 2017, and Pope Francis visited the town in March 2021.


US condemns attack by Yemen’s Houthis that killed Bahraini troops near Saudi border

US condemns attack by Yemen’s Houthis that killed Bahraini troops near Saudi border
Updated 27 September 2023
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US condemns attack by Yemen’s Houthis that killed Bahraini troops near Saudi border

US condemns attack by Yemen’s Houthis that killed Bahraini troops near Saudi border
  • Pentagon said the attack threatens the ‘longest period of calm’ since the Yemeni war began
  • Three Bahraini soldiers were killed in the attack and a number were wounded

LONDON: The US Department of Defense has strongly condemned an attack on Monday — reportedly carried out by the Iran-backed Houthi militia on the Saudi-Yemen border — that killed Bahraini service members and injured others.

The Pentagon said in a statement on Wednesday: “Such unacceptable attacks threaten the longest period of calm since the war in Yemen began.

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to the people of Bahrain, to our partners in the Bahrain Defense Force, and to the government of Bahrain.”

Bahrain’s military command said that a drone attack by Yemen’s Houthis killed two Bahraini soldiers, one of whom was an officer, at Saudi Arabia’s southern border early on Monday.

The military’s statement, which was carried by the state-run Bahrain News Agency, said “a number” of Bahraini soldiers, who had been patrolling the area as part of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, were also wounded in the strike.

A third Bahraini service member died on Wednesday, BNA reported.

The drone attack represents a major escalation in offensive actions after more than a year of relative calm in Yemen, during which peace efforts gained momentum.

Houthi officials last week completed five days of talks in Riyadh on a potential agreement toward ending the conflict, the first public visit by a Houthi delegation to Saudi Arabia since hostilities commenced.


US to admit Israel into visa waiver program

US to admit Israel into visa waiver program
Updated 27 September 2023
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US to admit Israel into visa waiver program

US to admit Israel into visa waiver program

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration is set to announce on Wednesday that it will admit Israel into the United States Visa Waiver Program (VWP), allowing visa-free entry by Israeli citizens from Nov. 30, officials said.
The decision, which Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday was expected, is a win for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist government, whose relations with Washington have been strained over its judiciary overhaul plan and its policies toward the Palestinians.
For admission to the program that allows visitors to stay for up to 90 days without a visa, Washington requires countries to meet requirements on issues such as counterterrorism, law enforcement, immigration enforcement, document security, and border management.
Countries must also treat all US travelers equally, regardless of other passports they hold.
In Israel’s case, that means free passage for Palestinian Americans at its airports and on journeys with the occupied Palestinian territories.
Some Palestinians have protested against Israel’s entry into the VWP, citing what they say are decades of discriminatory treatment of Arab Americans and harassment at Israel’s borders.
In a pilot period since July 20, Israel has eased access for Palestinian Americans through its borders and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Between 45,000 and 60,000 Palestinian Americans live in the West Bank, a US official estimated. An Israeli official put the figure lower, saying that of 70,000 to 90,000 Palestinian Americans worldwide, 15,000 to 20,000 are West Bank residents.
There are 40 countries in the VWP, with nations added infrequently, Croatia being the most recent in 2021.
A group of 15 US senators wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sept. 8, voicing serious concerns that Israel was not in compliance with requirements for reciprocal treatment of all US citizens.
On Tuesday, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee on Tuesday filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security, seeking to block Israel's entry to the programme.
A US judge in Detroit denied an emergency motion on procedural grounds, saying the department had not been provided proper notice of the lawsuit.
In Aug. 2021, the White House had said it was working with Israel towards its inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program.