Sexual violence rife in war-torn Sudan capital: Human Rights Watch

Sexual violence rife in war-torn Sudan capital: Human Rights Watch
RSF fighters are seen on patrol in this screenshot image taken from a video posted on social media by the paramilitary group. (X: @RSFSudan)
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Updated 29 July 2024
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Sexual violence rife in war-torn Sudan capital: Human Rights Watch

Sexual violence rife in war-torn Sudan capital: Human Rights Watch
  • New HRW report recorded testimonies from 42 health care workers and first responders on sexual violence since war erupted in April 2023
  • Though sexual violence has been primarily identified as a systematic weapon used by the paramilitary RSF, army soldiers were also linked to some cases

PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s warring parties have committed widespread sexual violence against women and girls aged between nine and 60, and prevented survivors from accessing health care in the capital, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
In a new report titled ‘Khartoum is Not Safe for Women’, the rights watchdog recorded testimonies from 42 health care workers and first responders on sexual violence and forced and child marriage since war erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Between April and February 2024, 18 health care providers alone treated a total of 262 survivors of sexual violence in greater Khartoum, which includes the city of Omdurman just across the Nile River.
But according to first responders, the number of reported cases is only a fraction of the real figure, with most survivors unable or unwilling to seek emergency care.
The RSF “have raped, gang raped, and forced into marriage countless women and girls in residential areas in Sudan’s capital,” said Laetitia Bader, HRW’s deputy Africa director.
“The armed group has terrorized women and girls and both warring parties have blocked them from getting aid and support services, compounding the harm they face and leaving them to feel that nowhere is safe.”
The 88-page report also details “conditions that could amount to sexual slavery.”
Though sexual violence has been primarily identified as a systematic weapon used by the RSF, there have also been reports of sexual violence at the hands of army soldiers.
HRW says there has been “an uptick in cases” reported since the army “took control of Omdurman in early 2024.”

Across Sudan, survivors have reported debilitating physical injuries as a result of sexual assault, including by several fighters at once.
Among those treated by health care workers HRW spoke to, “at least four of the women died as a result” of their injuries.
Women whose assault results in pregnancy have little to no access to abortion care and are at risk of further violence and social repercussions. Some have been abandoned by their families, HRW said.
With the army imposing an effective siege on RSF-controlled areas — restricting even medical and humanitarian relief supplies for over a year — local volunteers in emergency response rooms have played “the leading role in responding to sexual violence.”
Volunteers themselves have been routinely targeted by both sides, with RSF fighters even committing “sexual violence against the service providers,” HRW reported.
The rights group said the RSF’s widespread sexual violence constitutes “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” while both sides’ attacks on health care are considered “war crimes.”
They called on the African Union and the United Nations to “urgently deploy a civilian protection force” in the northeast African country.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people across the country, with some estimating the toll to be as high as 150,000.
It has also caused the world’s largest displacement crisis, with over 10.7 million people displaced within Sudan — currently on the brink of famine — while over 2 million more have fled across borders.
 


Iran says will not send forces to confront Israel

A billboard bearing a picture of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on Beirut.
A billboard bearing a picture of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on Beirut.
Updated 58 min 49 sec ago
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Iran says will not send forces to confront Israel

A billboard bearing a picture of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on Beirut.
  • “There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani
  • He added that Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories “have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression”

TEHRAN: Iran will not deploy forces to Lebanon or Gaza to confront Israel, its foreign ministry said on Monday, as Israeli strikes target its allies in the region.
“There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani, adding that Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories “have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression.”
Israel has in recent days been mounting heavy air strikes in Lebanon against the so-called “axis of resistance,” a network of Iran-aligned militant groups in the region, including in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
An Israeli strike on Beirut Friday killed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that has been armed and financed by the Islamic republic for years.
“We have not received any request in this regard from any side, on the contrary, we are informed and are sure that they do not need the help of our forces,” Kanani told reporters in Tehran.
Kanani nonetheless vowed that Israel “will not remain without reprimand and punishment for the crimes it has committed against the Iranian people, military personnel and the resistance forces.”
Also on Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Hezbollah’s office in Tehran “to pay tribute” to Nasrallah, according to the government’s website.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of the state, has vowed that Nasrallah’s death “will not be in vain,” and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said it would bring about Israel’s “destruction.”
Iran has also vowed to avenge the killing of Abbas Nilforoushan, a top commander of the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign operations arm, who died alongside the Hezbollah leader.


Hezbollah says it is ready for any Israeli land invasion in Lebanon

People watch a televised speech by Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem in a cafe in Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 30.
People watch a televised speech by Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem in a cafe in Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 30.
Updated 30 September 2024
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Hezbollah says it is ready for any Israeli land invasion in Lebanon

People watch a televised speech by Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem in a cafe in Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 30.
  • “We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement,” Qassem said

BEIRUT: Hezbollah fighters are primed to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, the group’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said on Monday in his first public speech since Israeli airstrikes killed its veteran chief Hassan Nasrallah last week.
Israel will not achieve its goals, he said.
“We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement,” he said in an address from an undisclosed location.
He was speaking as Israeli airstrikes on targets in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon continued, extending a two-week long wave of attacks that has eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about 1,000 Lebanese and forced one million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government.
Nasrallah’s killing, along with the series of blows against the organization’s communications devices and assassination of other senior commanders, constitute the biggest blow to the organization since Iran created it in 1982 to fight Israel.
He had built it up into Lebanon’s most powerful military and political force, with wide sway across the Middle East.
Now Hezbollah faces the challenge of replacing a charismatic, towering leader who was a hero to millions of supporters because he stood up to Israel even though the West branded him a terrorist mastermind.
“We will choose a secretary-general for the party at the earliest opportunity...and we will fill the leadership and positions on a permanent basis,” Qassem said.
Qassem said Hezbollah’s fighters had continued to fire rockets as deep as 150 km (93 miles) into Israeli territory and were ready to face any possible Israeli ground incursion.
“What we are doing is the bare minimum...We know that the battle may be long,” he said. “We will win as we won in the liberation of 2006 in the face of the Israeli enemy,” he added, referring to the last big conflict between the two foes.
Israel, which has also assassinated leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza war, says it will do whatever it takes to return its citizens to evacuated communities on its northern border safely.
It has not ruled out a ground invasion and its troops have been training for one.
“The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. In order to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops deployed to the country’s northern border.
Other militants hit
Hours before Hezbollah’s Qassem spoke, Hamas said an Israeli airstrike killed its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, along with his wife, son and daughter in the southern city of Tyre on Monday.
Another faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said three of its leaders died in a strike in Beirut’s Kola district — the first such hit inside the city limits.
The wave of Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon are part of a conflict also stretching from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, to Yemen, Iraq and within Israel itself. The escalation has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked into the conflict.
Multiple fronts
The latest actions indicated Israel has no intention of slowing down its offensive even after eliminating Nasrallah, who was Iran’s most powerful ally in its “Axis of Resistance” against Israeli and US influence in the region.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Tehran would not let any of Israel’s “criminal acts” go unanswered. He was referring to the killing of Nasrallah and an Iranian Guard deputy commander, Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan, who died in the same strikes on Friday.
Russia said Nasrallah’s death had led to a serious destabilization in the broader region.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain called for a ceasefire, although they added that its support for Israel’s right to self-defense was “ironclad.”
Close ally the United States has shown unwavering support for Israel despite concerns over heavy civilian casualties.


Libya’s eastern parliament approves new central bank governor, deputy

Libya’s eastern parliament approves new central bank governor, deputy
Updated 30 September 2024
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Libya’s eastern parliament approves new central bank governor, deputy

Libya’s eastern parliament approves new central bank governor, deputy

CAIRO: Libya’s eastern-based parliament agreed on Monday to approve the nomination of Naji Mohamed Issa Belqasem as the new governor of the central bank, part of efforts to end a crisis which has slashed the country’s oil output.
In a televised session, the parliament also approved Mari Muftah Rahil Barrasi as his deputy.
The two names were nominated in a recent UN-facilitated meeting. Belqasem was previously the central bank’s director of banking and monetary control. 


Hezbollah’s deputy chief speaks in first address after Nasrallah’s killing

Hezbollah’s deputy chief speaks in first address after Nasrallah’s killing
Updated 30 September 2024
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Hezbollah’s deputy chief speaks in first address after Nasrallah’s killing

Hezbollah’s deputy chief speaks in first address after Nasrallah’s killing
  • Naim Qasim appears in televised speech, telling Lebanese to be “reassured, victory is our ally”
  • This is Qassem's first speech since Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Israeli airstrike

RIYADH: Lebanon’s Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qasim appeared in a televised speech on Monday, telling Lebanese to be “reassured, victory is our ally, we need a bit of patience”

In his speech Qassem vowed to fight on, saying the group was prepared for a long war in his first speech since the leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed, and addeed that the group would choose a new secretary-general based on the mechanism within Hezbollah.

Qassem’s speech on Monday comes days after Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Friday.

Qassem added that despite the killing of Hezbollah’s top military commanders over the past months, Hezbollah was now relying on new commanders.
“Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities,” Qassem said.

“There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post.”

Israel has in recent days escalated its attacks on Lebanon and the intensifying Israeli bombardment over two weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah officials.

Hezbollah’s deputy leader vowed to continue fighting Israel and said the militant group was prepared for a long war after much of its top command was wiped out, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
In his speech Qassem said that if Israel decided to launch a ground offensive, Hezbollah fighters are ready to fight and defend Lebanon.


Israeli airstrikes kill 12 in Gaza, but ground fighting less intense

Israeli airstrikes kill 12 in Gaza, but ground fighting less intense
Updated 30 September 2024
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Israeli airstrikes kill 12 in Gaza, but ground fighting less intense

Israeli airstrikes kill 12 in Gaza, but ground fighting less intense
  • Airstrike kills journalist and her family, medics say
  • At least 12 killed so far on Monday, health officials say

CAIRO: Israeli airstrikes pounded areas across the Gaza Strip on Monday killing 12, including a journalist and her family, medics said, although the intensity of the ground offensive has subsided as Israel steps up its fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Palestinian health officials said Wafa Al-Udaini, who wrote articles about the war in English advocating the Palestinian viewpoint, was killed when a missile struck her house in the central city of Deir Al-Balah, also killing her husband and their two children.
There has been no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Udaini’s death raised the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the Israeli offensive since Oct. 7 to 174, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.
In another strike, a Palestinian was killed and several were wounded in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, while in the northern town of Beit Hanoun an airstrike killed one man and injured others, medics said.
While later on Monday, an Israeli air strike on a house in Nuseirat, one of Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, killed six people, health officials said.
Some residents said fighting and Israeli military activities in Gaza have declined slightly in the past week as Israel has escalated its military offensive against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Friday. The group announced Nasrallah’s death on Saturday.
While the intensity of the ground offensive has been lower, Israel has kept up its airstrikes in the enclave, they added.
Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel for almost a year, in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza.
In the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities released 12 Palestinians, including Khaled Al-Ser, head of the surgery unit at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, medics and Hamas media said. Palestinians freed by Israel have complained of torture and ill-treatment in Israeli jails, charges Israel denies.
Israel and Hamas have been fighting since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing about 250 hostages, going by Israeli tallies.
Most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced by the war, in which more than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities.