Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Communal violence and civilian deaths in Sudan fuel fears of widening conflict

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Fighting reported in far south and communal clashes in Darfur, amid power struggle between generals

The deaths of dozens of civilians in fighting in the far south of Sudan and an outbreak of communal violence in the restive Darfur region have fuelled fears that communities across the frontier regions of Africa’s third biggest country are being drawn into the bloody contest between two rival generals.

Fighting in the southern state of North Kordofan between militias aligned with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group and local brigades of the Sudanese army has centred on the strategically important state capital, El Obeid.

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Sudan: warring sides commit to protect civilians and allow aid in but fail to agree ceasefire

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Negotiations in Jeddah will continue, but US says two parties remain ‘quite far apart’

Sudan’s warring parties have signed a commitment to protect civilians but have not yet agreed to a ceasefire in talks described by US diplomats as difficult.

Representatives of the army and paramilitary forces, whose nearly one month of fighting has killed more than 750 people and displaced thousands, signed the agreement as they kept negotiating in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

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Gaza Strip fighting intensifies on third day despite Egypt ceasefire efforts

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Clashes between Israel and militants leave 29 dead so far, with airstrikes targeting homes of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders

Fighting between Israel and militant groups in the blockaded Gaza Strip has intensified for the third day despite ceasefire efforts brokered by Egypt, in the worst bout of violence in the region in months that has killed 29 people in Gaza, including at least 10 civilians, and one civilian in Israel.

The latest conflagration began in the early hours of Tuesday, when Israel launched surprise airstrikes targeting the homes of three senior commanders in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful group in the strip after Hamas, despite a fragile ceasefire in place since a day of cross-frontier fire last week.

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Conflict and climate disasters combine to create record rise in displaced people

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War in Ukraine and Pakistan’s ‘monsoon on steroids’ among events driving surge on ‘scale never seen before’ as 71m people displaced

The number of people around the world who were forced to flee their homes leapt by a fifth last year, as a “perfect storm” of Russia’s assault on Ukraine and climate disasters brought displacement on an unprecedented scale.

By the end of 2022 the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) – those forced from their homes but remaining within their country of residence – reached 71 million, according to figures published by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), up from 59.1 million in 2021.

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Shireen Abu Akleh: friends and family call for justice on anniversary of killing

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Israeli forces admit ‘high possibility’ Al Jazeera reporter was shot by sniper at West Bank refugee camp

Family members, friends and colleagues of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was almost certainly fatally shot by an Israeli sniper, have renewed calls for justice on the first anniversary of her killing, during a week of memorials and events celebrating her life.

Abu Akleh, a household name in the Arab world who worked for Qatar-based Al Jazeera, was shot in the head in the slumlike refugee camp on the outskirts of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on 11 May last year while covering an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) raid. International outrage at the reporter’s death was fuelled by scenes of violence at her funeral in Jerusalem, when Israeli police attacked pallbearers, almost causing them to drop the coffin.

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Gaza: fighting continues in defiance of reported ceasefire

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Tit-for-tat rocket fire follows claims that Egyptian officials brokered pause in conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants

Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the blockaded Gaza Strip have continued fighting despite reports of ceasefire negotiations, in a bloody episode of violence that has left 21 people in Gaza dead and brought daily life in Tel Aviv to a standstill.

An Egyptian state-run station with close ties to the security agencies said on Wednesday evening that Egyptian officials – who frequently mediate in the conflict – had successfully brokered a pause in the fighting. But the tit-for-tat fire continued late into the night, suggesting the truce had not held.

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Tunisia police officer kills five in shooting near Africa’s oldest synagogue

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Attacker reportedly first shot dead colleague and stole ammunition before heading towards synagogue

A police officer killed three other police and two visitors near Africa’s oldest synagogue, the Tunisian government has said, amid an annual pilgrimage to the island of Djerba that draws hundreds of Jews from Europe and Israel.

The officer at a naval installation in Djerba shot a colleague and seized his ammunition on Tuesday and headed towards the Ghriba synagogue, the Tunisian interior ministry said.

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Sudan’s doctors turn to social media as health infrastructure crumbles

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With hospitals struggling amid the violence, medics are using helplines on messaging platforms to reach those in need

Sudanese doctors are turning to social media to reach patients as hospitals and heath facilities struggle to function or close completely in the violence. Volunteers have set up 24-hour helplines on messaging platforms including WhatsApp, staffed by hundreds of doctors and specialists.

Only 16% of hospitals in the capital, Khartoum, are operating at full capacity, according to the World Health Organization. Last week at least four people, including a child, were killed in an airstrike outside East Nile hospital in north Khartoum, while Médecins Sans Frontières reported that El Geneina teaching hospital, in west Darfur, was looted on 28 April. Doctors in the country are reporting death threats and on Monday two volunteers who were working to reopen a hospital in Bahri were released after being held for days by the army.

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Saudi oil group Aramco to pay more to state despite profits drop

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World’s largest energy company’s first-quarter profits fall by 19% to $32bn after dip in oil prices

The Saudi government looks likely to reap greater revenues from the state-backed oil group Saudi Aramco despite the company posting a near-20% fall in quarterly profits.

The world’s largest oil and gas company said on Tuesday its profits had fallen by 19% in its first quarter compared with a year earlier, to nearly $32bn (£25bn), caused by a drop in oil prices.

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Israel bombs Gaza Strip, killing three Islamic Jihad leaders and nine civilians

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Hamas and Islamic Jihad vow to retaliate after Israeli launches overnight strikes despite ceasefire

Israeli airstrikes on the blockaded Gaza Strip targeting the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad have killed three senior operatives and at least nine civilians, including three children, according to the Israeli army and Palestinian officials.

A total of 40 jets took part in Operation Shield and Arrow, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said, conducting strikes that lasted about two hours starting at 2am (12am BST) on Tuesday.

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Sudan medical volunteers detained after being seized from ambulance

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Mohamed Ahmed and Mohamed Jamal went missing last week while working to reopen a hospital in Bahri

Activists in Sudan have expressed outrage after two medical volunteers were seized from the ambulance they were driving in northern Khartoum and detained for days by army intelligence officers, as airstrikes and clashes continued across the capital.

Mohamed Ahmed and Mohamed Jamal went missing last week while working with other volunteers to reopen the Haj al-Safi hospital in Bahri, which had been forced to close amid heavy fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

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Iran hangs two men for blasphemy as executions rise amid unrest

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Deaths take number of prisoners executed to at least 203 since start of this year, says human rights group

Iran has hanged two men convicted of blasphemy, according to authorities, carrying out rare death sentences for the crime as the number of executions soars across the Islamic Republic after months of unrest.

The country remains one of the world’s top executioners, having put to death at least 203 prisoners so far this year, according to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights. But executions for blasphemy remain rare, as in previous cases the sentences have been reduced by authorities.

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Saudi-Iranian detente is fragile but potential for the Middle East is huge

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Should rapprochement solidify it could augur well for Yemen, Lebanon and Syria – and spell disaster for Israel

Tehran’s embassy in Riyadh has reopened for the first time since 2016, the Iranian foreign ministry quietly confirmed in April, in the latest of a series of gestures showing that the two Middle East powers are determined to dial down a rivalry that has disfigured the region for 40 years.

All kinds of signs, trivial and large, suggest the rapprochement is genuine: civilian flights between the two countries are to resume; an Iranian won an $800,000 Saudi Qur’an-reading competition; Iranian steel is making its way to Saudi markets; officials from the two countries were seen embracing after the Saudi navy rescued 60 Iranians trapped in Sudan; and Ibrahim Raisi is expected to announce a visit to Riyadh soon, the first by an Iranian president since 2007.

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Arab League readmits Syria as relations with Assad normalise

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Syria’s membership of Arab League suspended in 2011 after bloody crackdown on street protests

Arab League foreign ministers have adopted a decision to readmit Syria after more than a decade of suspension, consolidating a regional push to normalise ties with President Bashar al-Assad.

The decision, which means Syria can resume its participation in Arab League meetings immediately, also calls for a resolution of the crisis resulting from the country’s civil war, including the flight of refugees to neighbouring countries and drug smuggling across the region.

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Eritrea accused of forcibly repatriating civilians caught up in Sudan fighting

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More than 3,500 refugees are said to have been forcibly deported over the border in recent weeks

When fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group in Khartoum in mid-April, Eritrean brothers Abdel and Dahlak* said goodbye to each other in the Sudanese capital.

Dahlak, the younger of the two, had some savings, so could afford to flee the city on a bus with other Eritreans. He headed east towards refugee camps in the vicinity of Kassala, a town near the Eritrean border that is home to a large Eritrean community.

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Home Office accused of being ‘unashamedly racist’ towards Sudanese

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Experts believe the UK has adopted a segregated immigration policy which favours those fleeing Ukraine

The Home Office has been accused of operating an “unashamedly racist” refugee system after refusing to offer people fleeing fighting in Sudan a safe and legal route to the UK, in stark contrast to the schemes offered to those escaping the war in Ukraine.

With the final evacuation flight from Khartoum to the UK having left last week, a lack of options from the UK government has crystallised concern that it has adopted a segregated immigration policy. No safe and legal routes have been made available to help Sudanese refugees flee and there is no sign of an announcement outlining a new scheme to deal with the fallout of the conflict.

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Iran executes Swedish-Iranian for alleged terrorism

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Habib Farajollah Chaab allegedly behind attack that killed dozens of people in southern province of Khuzistan in 2018

Iran has executed a man who was allegedly behind an attack that killed dozens of people at a military parade in the southern province of Khuzistan in 2018, state media have reported.

Habib Farajollah Chaab had been sentenced to death for being “corrupt on Earth”, a capital offence under Iran’s strict Islamic laws.

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Sudan’s warring sides arrive in Saudi Arabia for talks as fighting rages on

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US and Riyadh confirm talks amid reports of more airstrikes and gun battles in Khartoum despite threat of sanctions

Sudan’s rival factions have arrived in Saudi Arabia for direct talks, after three weeks of clashes in the capital, Khartoum, and the south-western region of Darfur that have killed at least hundreds and wounded many more.

Representatives of the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were in Jeddah on Saturday for “pre-negotiation talks” aimed at establishing a durable ceasefire that would allow aid to reach millions of desperate civilians trapped by the fighting.

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Sudan’s neighbours have little to offer refugees, warns UN

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Thousands of Sudanese are crossing borders into countries already severely stressed by drought, conflicts and food insecurity, say UN officials

The UN is in a race against time to get food supplies to Sudanese refugees crossing the border into Chad before the rainy season begins, as neighbouring countries struggle to cope with the numbers of people fleeing the civil war.

More than 110,000 people are now estimated to have crossed into other countries as patchy ceasefires fail to stop deadly clashes between Sudanese army troops and a paramilitary rival that have killed hundreds and forced more than 330,000 from their homes.

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‘Not safe for us’: Sudanese in north Africa warn fleeing relatives of danger

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People who sought route to Europe before fighting erupted in Khartoum speak of police brutality, torture and homelessness

Ever since fighting erupted in his home town of Nyala, the state capital of South Darfur in Sudan, in mid-April, Khaled’s mobile phone has not stopped ringing. Family members, friends and acquaintances want to know how to reach north Africa and which country is best for departing for Europe.

The 17-year-old, currently living in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, wishes he could tell them that the journey is simple and that countries like Tunisia and Libya are welcoming and safe.

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