UN chief calls for end to flow of weapons into Sudan

Outgoing African Union (AU) Commission chairman Moussa Faki (R) and Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres (L) look on during a meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa on February 14, 2025, where an updated communication on the situation in Sudan was given. (AFP)
Outgoing African Union (AU) Commission chairman Moussa Faki (R) and Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres (L) look on during a meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa on February 14, 2025, where an updated communication on the situation in Sudan was given. (AFP)
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Updated 14 February 2025
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UN chief calls for end to flow of weapons into Sudan

UN chief calls for end to flow of weapons into Sudan
  • Antonio Guterres: ‘This flow is enabling the continuation of tremendous civilian destruction and bloodshed’
  • UN, along with national and international partners, will launch major humanitarian plans next week

NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for an end to the external flow of weapons into Sudan, which is “enabling the continuation of tremendous civilian destruction and bloodshed.”

He also called for the protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers, and for unrestricted access to aid in areas of need.

“Let’s (be) clear about basic principles,” said Guterres. “Civilians, including humanitarian workers, must be protected.

“Rapid, safe, unhindered and sustained humanitarian access must be facilitated in all areas of need.

“The external support and flow of weapons must end. This flow is enabling the continuation of tremendous civilian destruction and bloodshed.”

Guterres was speaking in Addis Ababa at a high-level meeting on Sudan, where he emphasized that the country’s crisis, which has displaced millions and caused widespread suffering, requires an unprecedented response.

Next week the UN, along with national and international partners, will launch two major humanitarian plans to assist those affected by the conflict: the 2025 Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, and the 2025 Sudan Refugee Response Plan.

They collectively aim to raise $6 billion to support an estimated 21 million people in Sudan and up to 5 million refugees in neighboring countries.

Guterres called for urgent international action to alleviate the deepening humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country.

“Now the international community must show the same level of support to the Sudanese people in their moment of despair as the Sudanese people once showed to their neighbors in distress. “Your pledges today, in this room, will be the expression of that support,” he told donors.

Having served as the UN high commissioner for refugees, Guterres shared his personal experiences of working in Sudan, where he witnessed the hospitality of Sudanese people toward internally displaced populations as well as refugees from countries such as Eritrea, Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

He also praised the efforts of countries hosting Sudanese refugees, noting that 3.3 million Sudanese have sought refuge in these nations despite their own challenges.

War has been raging for 19 months between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

A report by the Sudan Research Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine puts the number of deaths in Khartoum state alone at 61,000.

Of these, 26,000 were directly caused by violence, while the leading cause of death across Sudan was preventable disease and starvation.

The death toll is even higher in other parts of the country, particularly in Darfur, where reports of atrocities and ethnic cleansing have been widespread.

Aid workers have warned that the conflict in Sudan has resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with thousands more at risk of famine.

The UN and other aid organizations have cited 20,000 confirmed deaths, but due to the ongoing fighting and disorder there has been no consistent tracking of casualties.

Last May, US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello said some estimates suggested as many as 150,000 people may have been killed.

Guterres warned that Sudan’s crisis continues to be “of staggering scale and brutality” and is worsening by the day, with violence spilling over into neighboring regions and humanitarian access remaining a major obstacle.

The Sudanese people “are crying out for an immediate ceasefire” and protection from further harm, he said.

Guterres assured attendees that the UN special envoy for Sudan is actively engaged with the warring parties to implement measures that could help achieve these objectives, including through the full execution of the Jeddah Declaration, which was signed by the US, Saudi Arabia, and representatives of both warring sides on May 20, 2023.

It was intended to facilitate a week-long ceasefire and the distribution of humanitarian aid in Sudan, but a day after it came into effect, clashes erupted again.

With Ramadan fast approaching, Guterres appealed to the international community to take decisive action, invoking the holy month’s spirit of peace, compassion and solidarity.

He urged leaders to provide generous support to the humanitarian response, advocate for respect of international law, and push for an immediate cessation of hostilities to help bring peace to Sudan.

“We must do more — and do more now — to help the people of Sudan out of this nightmare,” he said.


Israeli team heads to Qatar for Gaza truce talks

Displaced Palestinian children push into a queue to get a portion of cooked food from a charity kitchen in Beit Lahia in Gaza.
Displaced Palestinian children push into a queue to get a portion of cooked food from a charity kitchen in Beit Lahia in Gaza.
Updated 57 min 4 sec ago
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Israeli team heads to Qatar for Gaza truce talks

Displaced Palestinian children push into a queue to get a portion of cooked food from a charity kitchen in Beit Lahia in Gaza.
  • Ahead of the negotiations, Israel disconnected the only power line to a water desalination plant in Gaza
  • Hamas denounced the move as “cheap and unacceptable blackmail”

JERUSALEM: Israel’s negotiating team left for Qatar Monday for talks aimed at extending the fragile Gaza ceasefire, after Israel cut the Palestinian territory’s electricity supply to ramp up pressure on Hamas.
Ahead of the negotiations, Israel disconnected the only power line to a water desalination plant in Gaza, a move Hamas denounced as “cheap and unacceptable blackmail.”
The first phase of the truce deal expired on March 1 with no agreement on subsequent stages that should secure a lasting end to the war that erupted with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
There are differences over how to proceed — Hamas wants immediate negotiations on the next phase, but Israel prefers extending phase one.
Hamas accused Israel of reneging on the ceasefire deal, saying in a statement Monday Israel “refuses to commence the second phase, exposing its intentions of evasion and stalling.”
An Israeli official familiar with the negotiations told AFP the country’s team had left for Doha. Media reports said the delegation was led by a top official from the domestic security agency Shin Bet.
Israel has halted aid deliveries to Gaza amid the deadlock, and said Sunday it was cutting the electricity supply.
“We will use all the tools at our disposal to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after” the war, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said.
The move echoed the early days of the war when Israel announced a “complete siege” on the Palestinian territory, severing the electricity supply which was only restored in mid-2024.
Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanoua said Israel’s move will impact its hostages still held in Gaza.
“The decision to cut electricity is a failed option and poses a threat to its (Israeli) prisoners, who will only be freed through negotiations,” Qanoua said in a statement on Monday.
Germany and Britain both criticized Israel over its latest decisions.
Germany foreign ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said Gaza was “again threatened with a food shortage” and that cutting off electricity was “unacceptable and not compatible with (Israel’s) obligations under international law.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s official spokesman told reporters: “We’re deeply concerned by these reports and urge Israel to lift these restrictions.”
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority also slammed Israel, calling the move an “escalation in the genocide” in Gaza.
The sole power line between Israel and Gaza supplies its main desalination plant, and Gazans now mainly rely on solar panels and fuel-powered generators to produce electricity.
Hundreds of thousands now live in tents across Gaza, where temperatures currently reach a night-time low of about 12 degrees Celsius (54 Fahrenheit).
Top Hamas official Izzat Al-Rishq called Israel’s decision “to cut off electricity to Gaza, after depriving it of food, medicine, and water” a “desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance.”
Gaza residents told AFP the electricity cut will only worsen their situation.
“The decision to cut off electricity is proof of a war of extermination,” Dina Al-Sayigh said from Gaza City.
“The occupation never stops killing Palestinian civilians, whether by bombing, missiles or by starvation.”
Hamas has repeatedly demanded that the second phase of the truce — brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States — include a comprehensive hostage-prisoner exchange, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire and the reopening of border crossings to end the blockade.
Spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP Hamas wanted the mediators to ensure Israel “complies with the agreement... and proceeds with the second phase according to the agreed-upon terms.”
Former US president Joe Biden had outlined a second phase involving hostage releases and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.
US envoy Adam Boehler, who has held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, told CNN Sunday a deal could be reached “within weeks” to secure the release of all remaining hostages, not just the five dual US-Israelis, most of whom have been confirmed dead.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the October 7 attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed dead.
Boehler told CNN a “long-term truce” was “real close,” but later Sunday he told Israel’s Channel 12 that Washington would back any Israeli decision, including a return to war.
In late February, US President Donald Trump issued what he called a “last warning” to Hamas, threatening further destruction if it does not release all remaining hostages.
The initial 42-day phase of the truce, which began on January 19, reduced hostilities after more than 15 months of relentless fighting that displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
During phase one, 25 living Israeli hostages and eight bodies were exchanged for about 1,800 Palestinians in Israeli custody.
The truce also allowed in much-needed food, shelter and medical assistance.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, while Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,467 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.


Israel urging UN agencies, aid groups to replace UNRWA in Gaza, envoy says

Israel urging UN agencies, aid groups to replace UNRWA in Gaza, envoy says
Updated 10 March 2025
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Israel urging UN agencies, aid groups to replace UNRWA in Gaza, envoy says

Israel urging UN agencies, aid groups to replace UNRWA in Gaza, envoy says

GENEVA: Israel is actively encouraging UN agencies and other aid groups to take over the work of the UN Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, Israel’s ambassador said on Monday, after banning the agency on Israeli territory in January.
“We, the State of Israel, are working to find substitute to the act, to the work of UNRWA inside Gaza,” Daniel Meron, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told reporters.
He declined to give specifics but said Israel was “encouraging the UN agencies and NGOs to take over each one in its own field that they specialize in.”


Adopted orphan brings couple ‘paradise’ in war-ravaged Gaza

Rami Arrouki and his wife Iman Farahat interact with their newly-adopted five-month-old orphaned baby Jannah.
Rami Arrouki and his wife Iman Farahat interact with their newly-adopted five-month-old orphaned baby Jannah.
Updated 10 March 2025
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Adopted orphan brings couple ‘paradise’ in war-ravaged Gaza

Rami Arrouki and his wife Iman Farahat interact with their newly-adopted five-month-old orphaned baby Jannah.
  • Farhat, 45, and her husband Rami Al-Arouqi, 47, adopted the well-behaved and chubby baby in January
  • “At first, we had mixed feelings of both joy and fear, because it is a huge responsibility and we had never had a child,” said Arouqi

GAZA CITY: In their home in war-devastated Gaza City, Iman Farhat and her husband cherish the “paradise” brought by their newly-adopted baby, one of many orphans in the Palestinian territory after more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Wrapping five-month-old Jannah in a brightly colored blanket, Farhat gently sang as she rocked her to sleep.
“I chose Jannah just as she was,” the new mother said smiling, explaining the couple simply wanted to adopt a young child without preference for gender or physical appearance.
“Her name was Massa, and I officially changed her name from Massa to Jannah,” which means “paradise” in Arabic, she added.
Farhat, 45, and her husband Rami Al-Arouqi, 47, adopted the well-behaved and chubby baby in January.
“At first, we had mixed feelings of both joy and fear, because it is a huge responsibility and we had never had a child,” said Arouqi, a Palestinian Authority employee.
The couple already owned a cat.
“The idea of adopting a child had crossed our minds, but it was cemented during the war” which “wiped out entire families and left only orphans,” he added.
In September, the United Nations children’s fund, UNICEF, estimated there were 19,000 children who were unaccompanied or separated from their parents in Gaza, Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF’s spokesman for the Palestinian territories, told AFP.
Data for the number of adoptions in Gaza was not immediately available.
The war sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel left more than 69 percent of Gaza’s buildings damaged or destroyed, displaced almost the entire population and triggered widespread hunger, according to the United Nations.
Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 48,446 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.
Farhat and her husband said that before Jannah’s adoption, she was taken care of by the SOS Children’s Villages — an international NGO which looks after children in need.
After the NGO’s premises in the southern Gaza city of Rafah were destroyed in the war, the organization had to move to nearby Khan Yunis where “they could not house all the children in buildings, so they set up tents for them,” Farhat said.
Her husband Arouqi told AFP that another motive for adopting a child came from the idea that “Palestinians should stand by each other’s side.”
“The whole world has abandoned and let us down, so we shouldn’t let each other down,” he added.
Once the pair took Jannah home, “our life was turned upside down in a beautiful and pleasant way,” he said.
“Her name is Jannah and our world has truly become a paradise.”
A fragile truce took effect on January 19, largely halting the devastating fighting between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants.
The ceasefire’s first phase ended last weekend.
While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the deal’s second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.


UK warns Israel cutting Gaza electricity could breach international law

A man walks outside Southern Gaza Desalination plant, which stopped working earlier after Israel cut off electricity supply.
A man walks outside Southern Gaza Desalination plant, which stopped working earlier after Israel cut off electricity supply.
Updated 10 March 2025
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UK warns Israel cutting Gaza electricity could breach international law

A man walks outside Southern Gaza Desalination plant, which stopped working earlier after Israel cut off electricity supply.
  • Netanyahu government cuts power supplies a week after suspending food, medical aid into the enclave
  • Pressure mounts as Israel, Hamas attempt to renegotiate ceasefire agreement

LONDON: The UK has warned Israel it could have broken international law after Benjamin Netanyahu’s government halted electricity supplies into Gaza.
The move came ahead of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, and a week after Israel also blocked food, fuel and medical aid from entering the enclave.
The two sides have been attempting to renegotiate the terms of the ceasefire, with Hamas wanting to move on to the second phase, but Israel insisting on the release of more hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 before any further negotiations take place.
Hamas is believed to still have 24 living hostages, as well as the bodies of another 35 people.
In a post on social media platform X, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said: “I have now signed an order to cut off electricity to the Gaza Strip immediately. Enough with the talk, it’s time for action!”
A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: “Humanitarian aid should never be contingent on a ceasefire or used as a political tool.
“A halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza, including basic needs such as electricity, risks breaching Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.”
The suspension of aid into Gaza will have a detrimental effect on the lives of the 2 million people in the enclave, with fears mounting that cutting electricity will hinder the ability of locals to operate Gaza’s desalination plants, disrupting the supply of safe drinking water.
More than 48,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel began military operations against Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack.
The initial phase of the ceasefire deal, agreed on Jan. 17, has so far seen the release of 25 hostages from Gaza, with Israel releasing about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.


EU official cites reports accusing Assad regime of mass killings in Syria

EU official cites reports accusing Assad regime of mass killings in Syria
Updated 10 March 2025
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EU official cites reports accusing Assad regime of mass killings in Syria

EU official cites reports accusing Assad regime of mass killings in Syria
  • Anita Heber, foreign affairs and security policy spokesperson, says the EU has reports confirming the accusation

DUBAI: A top EU official on Monday claimed that remnants of the regime of ousted leader Bashar Assad were responsible for the recent mass killings in two of the Syrian Arab Republic’s coastal cities.

Speaking to Al Arabiya Television, Anita Heber, the EU’s foreign affairs and security policy spokesperson, said the body has reports confirming this charge.

Heber said the transitional authorities in Syria have moved to contain the situation, and she called for those responsible to be held accountable.

She also stressed that Europe was working toward a comprehensive political transition in Syria.

Syria’s interim president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, has vowed he would find those who killed the Alawite civilians this past week.

In its latest report, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 973 Alawite civilians were killed execution-style by either security personnel or pro-government fighters in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus since March 6.

The UN’s rights chief Volker Turk said the killings “must cease immediately,” while the Arab League, US, Britain and several governments have condemned the violence.