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Year-long war dims Sudan’s Ramadan festivities

Year-long war dims Sudan’s Ramadan festivities

THE feasts and festivities of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan have been muted in Sudan this year with millions of people displaced from their homes and struggling with hunger as a war between the army and paramilitaries nears the one-year mark. "All what we were accustomed to, how we eat, drink, meet people in Ramadan, ... all of that is no longer available," said Mohamed Ali, who broke his fast in a displacement centre in Port Sudan on the Red Sea, to which many have fled from the capital Khartoum and other active war zones. In the past, Ramadan in Sudan…
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US pushes peace talks to avert ‘point of no return’ in Sudan

US pushes peace talks to avert ‘point of no return’ in Sudan

The United States hopes for a relaunch of talks aimed at ending the conflict in Sudan and opening up humanitarian access soon after Ramadan ends in mid-April, Washington's newly appointed envoy said on Thursday. Saudi Arabia and the United States led talks in Jeddah last year to try to reach a truce between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but the negotiations faltered amid competing international peace initiatives. "We need to restart formal talks. We hope that will happen as soon as Ramadan is over," Tom Perriello, who took up his role as U.S. special envoy to…
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Sudan’s army claims control of national broadcast building

Sudan’s army claims control of national broadcast building

SUDAN'S army said it had taken control of the state broadcast headquarters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in what would be its most significant advance against its paramilitary rival in nearly 11 months of war. The broadcast building lies in Omdurman, a city across the River Nile from Khartoum that forms part of Sudan's wider capital and has seen heavy fighting around military bases, bridges and supply routes. Battles have continued despite a call by the United Nations Security Council for a truce to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid into Sudan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on…
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Sudan army general rules out Ramadan truce unless RSF leaves civilian sites

Sudan army general rules out Ramadan truce unless RSF leaves civilian sites

A top general from Sudan's army has ruled out a truce in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan unless the paramilitary group it is battling leaves civilian and public sites. The statement by Yasser al-Atta, a deputy commander of the army, comes after the army claimed advances in Omdurman, part of the wider capital, and an appeal by the United Nations Security Council for a truce during Ramadan, which begins this week. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said it welcomed the ceasefire call. Atta's statement, issued on the army's official Telegram channel on Sunday and based on comments he made the previous day…
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US pushes for UN Security Council action to end war in Sudan

US pushes for UN Security Council action to end war in Sudan

THE United States pushed for the United Nations Security Council to take action to help end a nearly year-long conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The United States says the warring parties have committed war crimes and the RSF and allied militias have also committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The U.N. says that nearly 25 million people - half Sudan's population - need aid and some 8 million have fled their homes and hunger is rising. "It is clear that this is an urgent matter of peace and security that demands greater attention from the…
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Army ban on cross-border aid endangers lives in Darfur, say activists

Army ban on cross-border aid endangers lives in Darfur, say activists

MILLIONS of people in Sudan's Darfur region are at risk of dying of hunger after a decision by the Sudanese government to prohibit aid deliveries through Chad, an advocacy group for internally displaced people said. The order, a digital copy of which Reuters has obtained, effectively shuts down a crucial route for supplies to the vast Darfur region, controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the army's rivals in a 10-month civil war. "The failure to receive urgent humanitarian aid puts millions of displaced people in Darfur at risk of death from hunger, which makes denying food and relief to…
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Sudan’s warring sides commit abuses, including strikes on fleeing civilians, UN report says

Sudan’s warring sides commit abuses, including strikes on fleeing civilians, UN report says

BOTH sides in Sudan's civil war have committed abuses that may amount to war crimes including indiscriminate attacks on civilian sites like hospitals, markets and even camps for the displaced, the U.N. human rights office said. Efforts have so far failed to end the 10-month-old conflict that pits Sudan's regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Thousands of people have been killed and some eight million forced to flee their homes, making it the country with the largest displaced population in the world. "Some of these violations would amount to war crimes," Volker Turk, the U.N. High…
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Sudan Armed Forces are on a path to self-destruction – risking state collapse

Sudan Armed Forces are on a path to self-destruction – risking state collapse

IT is now 10 months since the outbreak of civil war in Sudan in April 2023, pitting the Sudan Armed Forces against the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group. The war, which erupted after relations between the two wings of Sudan’s security apparatus broke down, rapidly spread beyond the capital, Khartoum. HARRY VERHOEVEN, Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University More recently, the Sudan Armed Forces have suffered numerous setbacks at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces. For months, army units have struggled to break their grip on much of the capital. The…
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A Sudanese journalist describes the horrors of a war she cannot cover

A Sudanese journalist describes the horrors of a war she cannot cover

YOU cannot become a war correspondent overnight. That’s a reality I’ve been wrestling with for the past 10 months of bitter fighting in Sudan – a conflict that I am personally caught up in, where I’m no longer just a journalist and impartial witness, but a victim as well. HAWA RAHMASudanese journalist covering human rights, peacebuilding, and community issues War correspondents have training and protective gear. They have sympathetic editors and a distance from the story. I don’t have any of those defences. I have, instead, a tormented conscience. Unable anymore to do my job as an independent reporter, it…
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Pope Francis appeals for an end to Sudan’s civil war

Pope Francis appeals for an end to Sudan’s civil war

POPE Francis appealed to Sudan's warring factions to put an end to a 10-month conflict that has seen millions displaced and prompted warnings of famine. "I ask again the warring parties to stop this war, which causes so much damage to the people and the future of the country", Francis said during his Angelus message. "Let's pray so that avenues of peace will soon be found for the future of beloved Sudan", he added. Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to end the civil war in Sudan that pits the country's armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). In his…
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