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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Thinking
2024-06-04
A taste.
[IsraelNationalNews] The leaders of the American State Department who whitewashed Fatah/PLO/PA are no less rejectionist towards a viable resurrected nation of the Jews than the Hamas or Islamic Jihad beheaders of Jewish infants are.

Once again the cause of creating Arab state # 22 has emerged on the center stage of world opinion. That would be the second state for Arab nationalism, not first, in the original April 25, 1920 Mandate of Palestine’s territory. As is often cited, but usually ignored, today’s Jordan was gifted with almost 80% in 1922.

The recipient Arabs would be those who deny Jews their sole, minuscule, resurrected one—whether it’s 9-15 miles wide by the pre-UNSC Resolution 242, ‘49 Auschwitz/armistice lines, or 242’s which granted Israel a reasonable territorial compromise, where Israel’s extreme vulnerability was finally taken into consideration in the wake of the June 1967 War, started with an Egyptian blockade of Israel…a casus belli.

The Arabs in question mostly came into the land of Israel/Judea from elsewhere, and only in fairly recent history (despite largely fictitious claims otherwise) have renamed themselves “Palestinians.” The more historically accurate designation should be “Palestinian ARABS”—where Arab is the main identifying noun, and Palestinian is the descriptive adjective.

They speak the same language, share most of the same culture, religion, and so forth as hundreds of millions of other Arabs. Granted, there’s some differences among these folks, but no more, for example, than 40 million stateless Kurds who speak different dialects in Turkey, Iraq , Syria, Iran, and so forth. Or, for that matter, Jews from over 50 different countries who’ve been oppressed in many if not most of those lands.

The following two links show how in the public relations fight to deny Jews their one state, Arabs have tried to transform themselves into the “old” and “new “ Jews over rights of possession in the ancient land of Israel/ Judea: Here and here.

Here’s a PLO executive committee member paraphrased in the above second link:

“There are no differences between Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, and other Arabs…It is only for tactical snd political reasons that we now emphasize “Palestinian” identity in out battle to deny Zionism and Jews any rights to the land at all.”….Zuheir Mohsein, Dutch newspaper Trouw, 3/31/1977."

When considering the claim for a 22nd Arab state, please next consider such things as…

There are Moroccan, Libyan, Algerian, Iraqi, and other Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews who predate Arab conquerors of those lands by millennia.

Do they get to demand other states besides Israel because they perhaps decide to rename themselves “Moroccans” instead of Jews?
Link


Africa North
Libyan customs officers arrested over huge gold shipment worth 1.8 billion euros
2024-05-14
[NEWARAB] Libyan authorities have arrested several customs officials for attempting to traffic abroad about 26 tonnes of gold worth almost 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion), prosecutors said.
Bits and pieces all over the place.
The Libyan prosecutor's office did not detail the suspected origin of the massive amount of precious metal, greater than the national gold reserves of many countries.

Authorities in Misrata, western Libya, made the arrests related to the trafficking operation at the port city's international airport, the office said Sunday night.

"The investigating authorities ordered the arrest of the director general of customs and customs officials at the international airport of Misrata," it said in a statement released on Facebook.

The officials had attempted in December 2023 to traffic the gold bars weighing some 25,875 kilograms, currently worth almost 1.8 billion euros, the statement said.
Link


Africa North
Somali migrants held captive in Libya rescued
2024-05-11
[ShabelleMedia] At least 107 migrants colonists, including women and kiddies, have been released from a town in southeastern Libya, according to a front man for the Libyan army.

Walid Alorafi, the front man for the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Benghazi, said that the migrants colonists were held for seven months as they tried to go to Europe.

The migrants colonists came from different countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but most of them came from Somalia according to Alorafi.

"Last night we attacked a place where they were hiding in the center of Kufra city, and we found illegal migrants colonists including women, children, and old men, some of whom showed signs of torture and gunshots," said Alorafi.

The migrants colonists were all handed over to the IOM’s illegal migration agency.

The CID released videos showing their forces destroying the house where the migrants colonists were staying. Among the other videos, shots were fired at migrants colonists whose bodies show signs of torture.

Some of the migrants colonists were seen being taken away in an ambulance with aid workers. The health condition of some migrants colonists is very poor, according to Alorafi.

Kufra is approximately 1,712 kilometers (1,064 miles) from the capital Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
Libya has become a gateway for migrants colonists fleeing conflict and poverty to Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
via the dangerous desert-Mediterranean route after the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Qadaffy
...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received for at least 42 years until his people get tired of him and kill him...>
by a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
-backed uprising.
Related:
Kufra city: 2019-07-15 7 victims of scorpion stings in Al-Kufra in just one night
Kufra city: 2019-03-03 Salafists exhume grave of Shiekh Ahmed Al-Saadawi in Misrata
Kufra city: 2018-01-05 Libya Fatwa House deplores exhuming shrines in Al-Kufra

Related:
Benghazi: 2024-04-26 Malala reaffirms support for Palestinians after backlash
Benghazi: 2024-04-22 Former senior policy advisor to Obama White House charged with child sex offences
Benghazi: 2024-04-12 'Simple contract' and its consequences. Ukraine could have joined NATO in 1954
Link


Africa North
Libya demands improvements after leaked photos show tiny cell of Moammar Gadhafi's son in Beirut
2024-05-01
[AFRICANEWS] Leaked photographs of the son of Libya's late dictator Muammar Qadaffy
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest...
and the tiny underground cell where he has been held for years in Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
have raised concerns in the north African nation as Libyan authorities demand improvements.

The photos showed a room without natural light packed with Hannibal Qadaffy's belongings, a bed and a tiny toilet. "I live in misery," local al-Jadeed TV quoted the detainee as saying in a Saturday evening broadcast, adding that he is a political prisoner in a case he has no information about.

Two Lebanese judicial officials confirmed to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on Monday that the photographs aired by al-Jadeed are of Qadaffy and the cell where he has been held for years at police headquarters in Beirut. Qadaffy appeared healthy, with a light beard and glasses.

A person who is usually in contact with Qadaffy, a Libyan citizen, said the photos were taken in recent days. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media outlets.

Qadaffy has been held in Lebanon since 2015 after he was kidnapped from neighboring Syria, where he had been living as a political refugee. He was kidnapped by Lebanese murderous Moslems demanding information about the fate of prominent Lebanese Shiite holy man Moussa al-Sadr, who went missing during a trip to Libya in 1978.

The fate of al-Sadr has been a sore point in Lebanon. His family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, though most Lebanese presume al-Sadr, who would be 95 now, is dead.

A Libyan delegation visited Beirut in January to reopen talks with Lebanese officials on the fate of al-Sadr and the release of Qadaffy. The talks were aimed at reactivating a dormant agreement between Lebanon and Libya, struck in 2014, for cooperation in the probe of al-Sadr. The delegation did not return to Beirut as planned.

The leaks by al-Jadeed came after reports that Qadaffy was receiving special treatment at police headquarters and that he had cosmetic surgeries including hair transplants and teeth improvements. al-Jadeed quoted him as saying: "Let them take my hair and teeth and give me my freedom."

Qadaffy went on a hunger strike in June last year and was taken to a hospital after his health deteriorated.

Libya's Justice Ministry in a statement Sunday said Qadaffy is being deprived of his rights guaranteed by law. It called on Lebanese authorities to improve his living conditions to one that "preserves his dignity," adding that Lebanese authorities should formally inform the ministry of the improvements. It also said Qadaffy deserves to be released.

After he was kidnapped in 2015, Lebanese authorities freed him but then detained him, accusing him of concealing information about al-Sadr's disappearance.

Al-Sadr was the founder of the Amal group, a Shiite militia that fought in Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war and later became a political party that is currently led by the country's Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
Many of al-Sadr's followers are convinced that Muammar Qadaffy ordered al-Sadr killed in a dispute over Libyan payments to Lebanese militias. Libya has maintained that the holy man, along with two traveling companions, left Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
in 1978 on a flight to Rome.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement in January calling for Qadaffy's release. The rights group noted that Qadaffy was only 2 years old at the time of al-Sadr's disappearance and held no senior position in Libya as an adult.
Related:
Hannibal Qadaffy 08/15/2023  Libya asks Lebanon to release Gadhafi's detained son who is on hunger strike
Hannibal Qadaffy 07/04/2023 Hannibal Gadhafi taken to hospital for third time
Hannibal Qadaffy 06/24/2023 Gadhafi's detained son taken to hospital due to hunger strike in Lebanon


Link


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: April 17, 2024
2024-04-18
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title
.
[Korrespondent] 22:32 Zelensky in an evening video message said that today the Ukrainian Armed Forces “carried out the right strike against the occupier in Dzhankoy, at the airfield.” The President thanked the soldiers for their accuracy and Syrsky’s headquarters for organizing the operation.

22:24 Stoltenberg said that NATO countries have a sufficient number of air defense systems that can be transferred to Ukraine: “The reality is that we have enough systems that we could supply significantly more to Ukraine when it comes to air defense in general, as well as when it comes to Patriot batteries, and that's exactly what we're working on."

22:05 The Washington Post writes, citing a secret document from the Russian Foreign Ministry, that Russia was developing a plan to weaken Western opponents, in particular, it wanted to use the war in Ukraine to “create a world order free from American domination.” The publication notes that the document for the first time provides official confirmation of what many in the Russian elite call a hybrid war against the West.

21:38 Biden promised to sign Johnson’s bills if they are supported by the US Congress.

21:07 Ukrenergo warned that on April 18 from 8:00 to 22:00 controlled restrictions on energy supply to industrial consumers may be applied - evenly for business and industrial enterprises in all regions of Ukraine. The reason is Russian massive attacks on Ukrainian power plants, as well as cold weather, which resulted in increased electricity consumption. Ukrainians are asked to consume electricity sparingly.

20:13 Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson unveiled his bill to help Ukraine in the amount of $60.84 billion. Of this, more than $23 billion will be used to replenish American weapons stockpiles. The document, in particular, obliges the US President to transfer ATACMS missiles to Ukraine, and also strengthens oversight through personal monitoring and provides for an agreement on the return of funds for economic support to Ukraine from the United States. It is also expected that the assets of the Russian Federation will be confiscated to cover these expenses.

19:38 Ukraine could cross one of Russia’s “red lines” for the potential use of nuclear weapons, writes the American magazine Newsweek. We are talking about a drone attack on the over-the-horizon radar 29B6 Container, located near the city of Kovilkino in Mordovia. This system is part of the reconnaissance and warning system for aerospace attacks. The drone attacks on Russian radar may have crossed one of Moscow's red lines for the potential use of nuclear weapons - "thwarting a nuclear response," according to the wording of a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin in 2020.

19:20 Zelensky said that he had a telephone conversation with Jens Stoltenberg on the eve of an extraordinary meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council, which will take place on April 19 at the level of defense ministers. We discussed Russian attacks and the status of implementation of initiatives to supply shells.

18:29 Russian exports to China in March decreased by 16% compared to the same period last year - this trend has been observed for the first time since mid-2022, writes Bloomberg. According to the publication, the reason for this reduction is the US threats to impose sanctions against banks and enterprises suspected of facilitating Russian aggression against Ukraine.

18:23 Mike Johnson announced that he will bring the issue of assistance to Ukraine and Israel to a vote of the House of Representatives on Saturday, April 20.

17:42 The Czech initiative to provide Ukraine with ammunition can provide 1.5 million artillery shells within a year, said Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala. According to him, Prague can already transfer 500 thousand ammunition to Kyiv.

17:27 Stoltenberg said that he will hold the NATO-Ukraine Council at the request of Zelensky on Friday, April 19. At the meeting, assistance to Kyiv will be discussed, in particular the supply of air defense and shells.

16:58 The Netherlands will transfer three more F-16 fighters to the Romanian center for training Ukrainian pilots, writes Reuters. Since November 2023, the Netherlands has already delivered eight fighters to Romania, and promised to provide 18 of them for training Ukrainian pilots.

16:36 Germany has launched an initiative to find additional air defense systems for Ukraine. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius have already addressed this issue to their EU and NATO partners, as well as third countries, said speakers from both ministries.

16:30 In Chernigov, the number of deaths as a result of the Russian strike has increased to 16 , search and rescue operations continue, the State Emergency Service reported.

15:47 2000 units of short-range electronic warfare created by Ukrainian developers were transferred to the front, said the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Mikhail Fedorov. According to him, short-range electronic warfare, in particular “trench” electronic warfare, provides targeted protection for military personnel and their positions, armored vehicles, and evacuation vehicles. It jams Russian FPV drones, drop drones, and reconnaissance drones.

14:52 Russian public pages write that as a result of the Ukrainian strike on the airfield in Dzhankoy, three S-400 launchers and a radar were destroyed. 22 people are listed as missing. The reception and repair point for military equipment was also hit. According to public information, the attack was carried out by two MGM-140 ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles.

14:43 Russia wants to isolate Kharkov and make it uninhabitable, writes Bloomberg. According to the publication's sources, the increase in the number of bombings is intended to make the city uninhabitable and provoke a mass evacuation of residents. According to their assessment, Russia does not have the resources to capture the city in the near future. Kharkov Mayor Igor Terekhov told The Guardian that without American help, Kharkov risks becoming “a second Aleppo.”

14:34 In Chernigov, the number of deaths as a result of a Russian missile attack has increased to 14, another 61 people were injured , including two children, the State Emergency Service reported. Search and rescue efforts continue.

14:26 This morning, drones of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense attacked an aircraft plant in Russian Tatarstan. The target was the aircraft plant named after. Gorbunov in Kazan, where the enemy produces and repairs Tu-22M and Tu-160M ​​bombers, RBC-Ukraine reports, citing sources in the special service.

13:40 On April 17, GUR drones attacked the 590th separate radio engineering center of military unit 84680, located in the Russian city of Kovilkino in Mordovia, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported, citing intelligence sources. The distance from the Ukrainian border to the site of the destruction is about 680 km. Local residents on social networks publish videos showing a column of smoke at the site of the Container radar after being hit by a UAV. Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the destruction of a drone over Mordovia.

13:21 In Chernigov, the number of deaths as a result of the Russian missile attack has increased to 13, another 61 people were injured , including two children, the State Emergency Service reported. There are probably still people under the rubble of the partially destroyed building. Search and rescue efforts continue.

13:15 In Germany, the whereabouts of 161 Ukrainian children have been established - they were wanted as forcibly moved to temporarily occupied territories or deported to the Russian Federation and Belarus, the National Police reported.

12:37 On the night of April 17, the Russian military airfield in Dzhankoy was subjected to a fairly powerful attack. Local residents say that the explosions occurred even before the air raid warning was announced, and as a result, a large-scale fire started at the airfield. Formally, the 39th helicopter regiment of the 27th mixed aviation division of the 4th Air Force and Air Defense Command of the Southern Military District of Russia is based at the airfield, but it is also often used by Russian attack aircraft. The Russians also turned the airfield into a logistics center and military base. About what could have been destroyed during the strike, see the material Strike on the airfield in Dzhankoy .

12:24 In Chernigov, more than 50 victims are already known, of which three are children, and 11 are dead , the President’s Office reported. The rescue operation is ongoing, and there may be people under the rubble. Russia launched three missile attacks on the city center - an eight-story building was destroyed, four high-rise buildings, a hospital, a higher education institution, and dozens of cars were damaged. The head of the Chernigov OVA, Vyacheslav Chaus, said that Russia hit the city with three Iskander cruise missiles.

12:13 GUR warns that Russia is preparing another information special operation, in which it will accuse Ukrainian special forces of allegedly using Western weapons in Sudan. To achieve this, Russian propagandists plan to publish in the media, in particular Libyan, custom-made publications and fabricated photographs of supposedly captured American weapons, which were previously captured in Ukraine by Wagner PMC mercenaries. The Kremlin will also focus on the fact that elite Ukrainian special forces are taking part in combat operations in Africa during the war in Ukraine itself.

12:02 The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the destruction of one drone over Tatarstan and another over Mordovia. Russian public pages write that a drone was shot down in the sky over Yelabuga in Tatarstan. The drone flew towards the special economic zone of Alabuga and the enterprise of TAIF Group of Companies, the largest Russian holding company that controls most of the oil and gas refining industry of the republic. Employees of the enterprises were urgently evacuated.

11:44 In Chernigov, 11 dead and 22 injured are already known, and reports of at least three missing people have been reported, said the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Igor Klimenko. There are still people under the rubble, and the search and rescue operation continues. Among the dead is a police lieutenant.

11:36 In the morning, the Russians attacked infrastructure in the Odessa region with a missile; no casualties were reported, the Southern Defense Forces reported.

11:32 In the Russian Samara at the Kryazh airfield on April 17, a Mi-8 transport helicopter, which the Russian army used to transport weapons and personnel to the war in Ukraine, was destroyed, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense reported. The cost of a helicopter of this type can range from 10 to 15 million dollars.

11:27 The death toll as a result of the Russian strike on Chernigov has increased to ten, 20 people were injured. The rescue operation is ongoing, Zelensky said. Civil infrastructure buildings and dozens of vehicles were damaged.

10:53 As of 10:40, there are already eight dead and 18 injured in Chernigov as a result of missile attacks. The search and rescue operation continues, the acting officer said. mayor Alexander Lomako.

10:28 In Chernigov, it is already known that at least four people were killed and five were wounded as a result of a missile attack, the acting commander said. mayor Alexander Lomako. According to him, in the area where the missiles hit, all communications were cut off - “so that there would be no even greater destruction.” At the same time, Lomako emphasized that social infrastructure facilities not related to critical infrastructure were attacked.

10:21 The Russians fired from the MLRS at Belopolye, Sumy region, one person was wounded. Apartment and private residential buildings, gas pipelines, and power lines were damaged. 746 subscribers were left without power supply, OVA reported.

10:17 The law on mobilization was published in the Voice of Ukraine publication; it will come into force on May 18.

10:10 The European Union will discuss strengthening Ukrainian air defense at a special summit on April 17-18. The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, in an official invitation called on the heads of state and government to urgently step up military assistance to Kyiv. Zelensky will also join the summit via video link.

09:57 The Russians launched three missile attacks almost in the center of Chernigov. There are dead civilians and many wounded, said the head of the OIA, Vyacheslav Chaus.

09:36 Denmark has allocated a new aid package to Ukraine worth almost 295 million euros, the country’s Ministry of Defense reported. The funds will be used to develop the Ukrainian military-industrial complex, in particular, to strengthen maritime capabilities, drones and missile production.

09:01 In the Kherson region over the past 24 hours, five people were wounded as a result of Russian shelling, said the head of the OBA Alexander Prokudin. Two high-rise buildings and 11 private houses, a store, a grain receiving plant, port infrastructure and a pig farm were damaged.

08:53 The US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, after a secret briefing on the situation in Ukraine, called on Congress to immediately vote for assistance to Kiev. "At a classified briefing today, our committee was briefed on the critical need to provide military assistance to Ukraine this week. The United States must confront Putin's aggressive war now because the situation in Ukraine is critical," the statement said.

08:37 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of April 17:

  • personnel - about 456,050 (+710) people,

  • tanks - 7193 (+4),

  • armored combat vehicles - 13,827 (+18),

  • artillery systems - 11,624 (+15),

  • MLRS - 1046 (+0),

  • air defense systems - 760 (+1),

  • aircraft - 347 (+0),

  • helicopters - 325 (+0),

  • UAV of operational-tactical level - 9279 (+2),

  • cruise missiles - 2093 (+1),

  • ships/boats - 26 (+0),

  • submarines - 1 (+0),

  • automotive equipment and tank trucks - 15,587 (+24),

  • special equipment - 1910 (+2).

08:12 Over the past 24 hours, 68 military clashes took place at the front, the General Staff reported in its morning report . In particular, the enemy tried 20 times to break through the defenses of Ukrainian troops in the Novopavlovsk direction - in the Krasnohorivka and Novomikhailovka areas of the Donetsk region. Another 19 attacks were repulsed in the Bakhmut direction - in the areas of the settlements of Verkhnekamenskoye, Vyemka, Belogorovka, Chasov Yar, Ivanovskoye, Kleshcheevka in the Donetsk region.

The enemy did not conduct offensive actions in the Kupyansk direction. In the Liman direction, the Defense Forces repelled nine enemy attacks in the areas of Ternov, Torskoye, Grigoryevka of the Donetsk region and Serebryansky forestry of the Lugansk region; in Avdeevsky - 11 attacks in the areas of the settlements Ocheretino, Novokalinovo, Berdychi, Semenovka, Netaylovo, Pervomaiskoye, Donetsk region; on Orekhovsky - four attacks in the areas of Staromayorskoye, Donetsk region, Rabotino and north-west of Verbovoye, Zaporozhye region; on Kherson - five attacks on the left bank of the Dnieper.

07:34 In the morning, the Russians fired artillery at Nikopol, Dnepropetrovsk region - one person was wounded, a gymnasium, two private houses, and a power line were damaged, said the head of the OVA Sergei Lysak.

04:55 Russian public pages write about explosions and fire at the military airfield in Dzhankoy .

02:48 Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland presented the federal budget for 2024, which includes funds for military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 1.6 billion Canadian dollars (about 1.16 US dollars). It is expected that they will be spent to support Kyiv within five years.

01:52 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning a visit to China, where he will express concern about Beijing’s assistance to Russia in the development of the military-industrial complex for the war against Ukraine, State Department Speaker Matthew Miller said. "What we've seen in recent months is that material has been moving from China to Russia to be used by Russia to rebuild that industrial base and produce the weapons that are showing up on the battlefield in Ukraine," Miller said, adding that Washington is "incredibly concerned about this."

Link


Africa Horn
RSF seizes control of strategic North Darfur town, Mellit
2024-04-16
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) gained control of the main headquarters of the joint force in Mellit of north Darfur state on Sunday following heavy festivities broke out between armed movements and the paramilitary forces.

Eyewitnesses told Sudan
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
Tribune that "the RSF took control of the headquarters of the joint force affiliated with the armed movements that signed the Juba Peace Agreement and forced them to withdraw towards El Fasher and some nearby villages."

Pro-RSF outlets broadcast video clips showing the destruction of a large number of armed movement vehicles and the capture of a number of soldiers. The RSF Commander in Central Darfur, Ali Yaqoub, appeared in a video clip in front of the Mellit Administrative Unit.

With the capture of Mellit, the RSF has effectively gained control of all areas north of El Fasher.

North Darfur’s strategic hub, Mellit, sits just 60 kilometres from El-Fasher. This border town plays a crucial role in the region. It acts as a vital checkpoint for humanitarian aid deliveries to Darfur, designated by the government as a crossing point on the key al-Dabba al-Fasher road. Mellit also serves as a gateway for Libyan traffic and boasts one of the largest customs points in all of Darfur.

Link


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
'Simple contract' and its consequences. Ukraine could have joined NATO in 1954
2024-04-12
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Andrey Zvorykin

[REGNUM] In April, officials at the Brussels headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance have many reasons for corporate events and mutual congratulations. One after another follows the anniversary of the founding of NATO's European Command and the return of France to the military structure of the bloc, the fifteenth anniversary of the fourth expansion to the east (with the admission of Croatia and Albania to the alliance). But the main, “semicircular” date in Brussels and NATO capitals from Washington to Skopje was celebrated at the beginning of the month. 75 years ago, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, marking the beginning of what current NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called “the strongest, most resilient and most successful” military bloc in history.

The treaty for which the organization is named was signed on April 4, 1949, in the giant neoclassical hall of Washington's Departmental Auditorium on Constitution Avenue (now the building bears the name of billionaire Andrew Mellon ) in front of a large crowd of elite guests and in the presence of President Harry Truman.

Conspiracy theorists like to point out the symbolic significance of the site of the Atlantic Pact. When the building was laid in 1932, the cornerstone was presented to then-President Herbert Hoover by the Masters of the Masonic Lodge. But in fact, if the 1949 treaty symbolized anything, it was another milestone in the unfolding Cold War.

The pact of 12 Atlantic powers became a logical continuation of Winston Churchill’s Fulton speech about the Iron Curtain from the Baltic to the Adriatic, the refusal to include the USSR and Eastern Europe in the “Marshall Plan”, the thermonuclear and hydrogen race, plans for war with the USSR (the American “Totality” and the British “Unthinkable” plan "), the first Berlin crisis and the first proxy clash between the Western and Soviet blocs - the Greek Civil War.

The document was signed by Secretary of State Dean Acheson (soon to be one of the “fathers” of the Korean War) and eleven of his colleagues - the foreign ministers of Canada and a dozen Western European states, from pacifist Iceland without an army to semi-fascist Portugal.

The main allies of the United States in the recent anti-Hitler coalition were represented by politicians with a positive “background”: an opponent of the Munich agreement, a man from Churchill’s team, Ernest Bevin, and the chief of French diplomacy, Robert Schumann - who, however, managed to vote for the dictatorial powers of Marshal Philippe Petain, but miraculously avoided being sent to Dachau for connections with the Resistance.

Truman, presenting the text of the treaty, poured out peace-loving rhetoric: “This treaty is a simple document. The nations that signed it undertake to comply with the peace-loving principles of the UN and maintain friendly relations.”

But, as Joseph Stalin noted a little later (responding to the head of the British Foreign Office on the pages of Pravda ), if “the North Atlantic Pact is a defensive pact” and is directed against aggression, then “why didn’t the initiators of this pact invite the Soviet Union to take part in this pact?”
So adorably disingenuous.
The rhetorical question of the Soviet Secretary General was essentially answered by the first Secretary General of NATO, Baron Hastings Lionel Ismay (this British representative headed the alliance until 1957): the goal of the bloc is “to prevent the USSR from entering Europe, to ensure an American presence in it and to contain Germany.”

The “containment” of the Germans, we note, was expressed in the admission of West Germany to the alliance in 1955. This was already the second expansion to the East after the inclusion of Greece and Turkey bordering the USSR (in 1952).

Moreover, a year after Stalin’s death, in March 1954, the Soviet government sent an unexpected note to the United States, Great Britain and France with a request... for the admission of the Soviet Union to NATO.
Still disingenuous. And still aggressive.
This application, submitted on behalf of three UN members - the USSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR, however, could hardly be considered a consequence of the beginning “de-Stalinization”.

At the beginning of 1949, the head of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, Andrei Vyshinsky, through the leadership of the British Communist Party, sent a proposal to the cabinet of Labor member Clement Attlee to discuss Moscow’s participation in NATO’s predecessor, the Western European Union. London's expected refusal gave Stalin a reason to call the Atlantic blocs a “undermining of the UN.”

It seems that the same Vyshinsky (or rather Nikita Khrushchev and Vyacheslav Molotov ) pursued the same goal in 1954. The USSR's gesture demonstrated to the whole world that behind the talk and construction of a security architecture, a military machine is actually being built, in which there is only room for supporters of redividing the world according to their vision.

The point of no return was the inclusion of Germany in the alliance - which crossed out the provision of the Potsdam Treaty on a non-aligned post-war Germany. Already in response to this, the Warsaw Pact Organization was created, and the bipolar split of the world finally took shape.

Formally, the first military action of the alliance was Operation Maritime Monitor in 1992 - the deployment of a NATO naval group led by the American aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt to the Adriatic to enforce the blockade of Yugoslavia.

But in fact, the participation of the European allies and Canada in the Korean War (formally a military action of the UN), and the support that Britain, France, Germany and Italy provided to the United States during the Vietnam War - all this was due, among other things, to obligations under the alliance.

What an attempt to bring the country out of strict subordination to the alliance (theoretically, this is possible thanks to Article 13 of the North Atlantic Treaty) may turn out to be can be clearly seen in France. Charles de Gaulle, who had long sought the same powers that the United States and Great Britain had, became disillusioned and in 1966 announced the withdrawal of the Fifth Republic from the military organization of the alliance, retaining membership only in the political structures of NATO.

De Gaulle lost his post two years later - after ultra-left protests (ironically, many of the leaders of “Red May 1968” would later become systemic Atlanticist politicians and ideologists), and France began to drift back to the alliance. In 1995, Socialist President François Mitterrand returned the country to participation in the development of NATO military plans. In 1997, Gaullist Jacques Chirac made an attempt to bring France back into the military organization of the alliance - but could not agree with Bill Clinton on the division of powers on the southern flank of NATO.

And in 1999, France already fully participated in the aggression against Yugoslavia unleashed by the same Clinton : NATO planes that attacked the defenseless European country took off from both the American aircraft carrier Enterprise and the French Foch.

“Without any resolution of the UN Security Council, they directly began military operations, a war, in fact, in the center of Europe,” noted Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 25th anniversary of the NATO strike on Yugoslavia.

Only in 2009, another Gaullist, Nicolas Sarkozy, de jure approved the return of France to NATO military structures. But to join the “action”, which claimed the lives of 2.5 thousand peaceful Serbs and Montenegrins, no formal decision was required.

Just like Romania - which, without waiting for formal inclusion in the alliance, provided its territory for NATO attacks on Yugoslavia.

Such a development would hardly have been possible if it had not been for the end of the Cold War on Western terms. Let us recall that in 1990, an agreement was concluded between representatives of the USSR, the USA and the Federal Republic of Germany (without the participation of representatives of the GDR) on the unification of Germany under the leadership of the Federal Republic of Germany - that is, in fact, on the annexation of the GDR by West Germany.

Led by Mikhail Gorbachev, the USSR pledged to withdraw troops from East Germany in exchange for a verbal promise from NATO representatives not to expand the alliance’s borders further to the east.

For a long time, the leadership of the alliance completely denied the fact of oral agreements with the head of the USSR. Only in 2018 were documents declassified that contained information that there was an agreement. “We deceived him,” as the theorist of Western geopolitics Zbigniew Brzezinski said about Gorbachev.

As a result, first in 1990, the NATO border moved east to the Oder-Neisse line, the former border of the GDR. And then the alliance began to pick up the legacy of the Warsaw Pact dissolved in July 1991.

To all Russia’s attempts (its applications to join NATO were rejected in 1993 and 2000) to come to an agreement on security issues, the alliance responds with hysterical cries about Russian aggression (exactly repeating NATO’s rhetoric towards the USSR).

In 1999, after the required transition procedures, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined NATO, and in 2004 seven more countries, including three former Soviet republics - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The Kaliningrad region became an enclave surrounded by NATO countries; the border of the alliance with Russia ran along the Narva River, 130 km from St. Petersburg.

Throughout the 90s, zeros and tens, the alliance “digested” the Balkans. In 1995, NATO countries carried out the “Considerate Force” action - aerial bombing of the Bosnian Serbs (152 civilians were killed, 273 were injured). Four years later, the above-mentioned aggression against Yugoslavia followed - Operation Allied Force.

Let us add that during this “action to protect Kosovo Albanians,” which had no military-strategic significance, NATO used prohibited weapons, including shells with depleted uranium.

At the same time, the alliance absorbed the loyal republics of the former Yugoslavia - in 2004, the process of admitting Slovenia ended, in 2009, Croatia was included in NATO (along with Albania, a former neighbor and mortal enemy of Yugoslavia), in 2017, the “master” of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, for his accommodation were rewarded with the inclusion of the republic in the alliance. And finally, in 2020, North Macedonia was admitted to NATO.

Now almost all fragments of dismembered Yugoslavia have the opportunity, as junior partners, to participate in actions to introduce democracy in third world countries. Three such actions can be distinguished since the beginning of the century.

Firstly, this is the Afghan campaign. If we do not count the assistance of NATO countries to the “freedom fighters” - the Mujahideen during the war of 1979–1989 (thanks to which the military-political career of Osama bin Laden was successfully launched ), then October 2001 should be considered the starting point.

During the American Operation Enduring Freedom (2001–2021) and the “work” of NATO members of the International Security Assistance Force, 46,300 civilians were killed. The production of methamphetamine in democratized Afghanistan increased 10-fold in 2017–2021 alone, and by 2018 the share of the Afghan “product” in the global heroin market was 92%.

The ending of the American and NATO operation in Afghanistan is well known. The world will long remember people falling from great heights, trying to cling to taking off planes and service dogs, who were several positions higher on the American evacuation lists than even the British allies.

If NATO entered Afghanistan under the guise of a UN Security Council resolution (adopted, however, only two months after the invasion), then the Americans and their alliance colleagues began the war in Iraq of 2003–2011 without any regard for international law.

Iraq’s “punishment” for the mythical development of weapons of mass destruction (remember Secretary of State Colin Powell ’s test tube that became a meme ) turned into a humanitarian disaster. According to a report from the Iraqi Ministry of Health to WHO alone, up to 203 thousand civilians died during the first stage of “democratization” (2003–2006). According to the non-governmental project Iraq Body Count, by 2011, 1 million 620 thousand people were killed, died from wounds and diseases caused by the war, of which 72% were civilians.

After the bombing, more than 750 hospitals, 3,970 clinics and 5,700 educational institutions were destroyed.

If not all NATO partners took part in the aggression against Iraq (Britain, Turkey, Italy distinguished themselves, including the “newcomer” Poland), then the intervention in Libya of March - October 2011 was already a joint action of the majority of the alliance members. Except perhaps for Germany, which allowed itself to abstain. One of the main initiators of the aggression was Nicolas Sarkozy, who returned France to the NATO military structure.

The Ministry of Health of the then-not-yet-destroyed Libyan Jamahiriya managed to report 700 civilians who died in March–May 2011 after attacks on Tripoli, Benghazi and other cities. If we believe the latest estimates from Iranian sources, up to 40 thousand Libyans became victims of the NATO intervention.

The main thing is that NATO’s assistance to the Libyan “democratic opposition” in “liberation from the tyranny of Muammar Gaddafi ” led to the complete destruction of Libyan statehood and two civil wars (2011–2014 and 2014–2020), which also claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, in particular 14, 2 thousand people during the last conflict. One of the most stable and socially prosperous countries of the former third world has turned into another “failed state” and a supplier of migrants to Europe.

From February 2022 to the present day, the Kiev regime has been the next object of NATO’s special care.

The alliance is close to the geopolitical goal identified at the end of the Cold War. With the admission of former “neutrals” - Finland and Sweden - to NATO, an anti-Russian sanitary cordon has practically been built from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, the links of which are intended to be post-Soviet countries from Estonia to Moldova and Ukraine. The plans were disrupted first by the failure of the pro-Western “color revolution” in Belarus in 2020, and then by the beginning of the Northern Military District.

Today, NATO continues its aggressive policy, sponsoring the Ukrainian regime with weapons that are used to attack peaceful Russian cities.

Residents of Belgorod, as well as residents of Belgrade, are unlikely to agree with the compliment that Jens Stoltenberg gave on the 75th anniversary: ​​“We are doing something right! We helped spread peace, democracy and prosperity throughout Europe."

Link


India-Pakistan
First infiltration bid of 2024 foiled 2 terrorists killed in Uri, North Kashmir
2024-04-11
I wondered why nothing seemed to be happening over Christmas…
[GreaterKashmir] Srinagar, Apr 5: Army successfully foiled an infiltration attempt by turbans in the Sabura Nala area of Uri in north Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
’s Baramulla district that resulted in the elimination of two unidentified turbans while a massive search operation was on.

Official sources said that the security forces retrieved the body of one of the two terrorists.

The operation was started after the movement of two to three turbans was detected during the early hours, prompting an immediate response from the Army. "OP SABURA, URI #BaramullaAn Infiltration bid on #LoC has been foiled by alert troops in the morning hours today when turbans were trying to infiltrate through Sabura Nala, Uri Sector. 01xTerrorist has been eliminated. Operations in progress.@NorthernComd_IA@adgpi@HQ_IDS_India," Chinar Corps -Indian Army posted on X.

Infiltration activities typically decrease during the winter season due to harsh weather conditions, with a resurgence expected as the snow begins to melt and passes open up.
The infiltrators were challenged by the Indian Army, leading to a fierce shootout in which two bad boyz were potted.

Their identities have not yet been ascertained, and the operation is still underway in the area to ensure the elimination of any remaining threat.

This incident marks the first infiltration attempt from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir this year.

Infiltration activities typically decrease during the winter season due to harsh weather conditions, with a resurgence expected as the snow begins to melt and passes open up.

General Officer Commanding (GoC) of 15 Corps, Rajiv Ghai, recently visited the LoC to assess the operational preparedness of the Army. During his visit, he interacted with artillery units and emphasised the importance of maintaining a high state of operational readiness and morale to tackle future challenges effectively.

The timing of this infiltration attempt is crucial, as it comes ahead of the Lok Sabha
...After the Libyan Civil War, Sabha grew in importance as a slave auctioning town. However, an investigation by the National Commission for Human Rights in Libya (NCHRL) revealed that while there was illegal slavery, reports were exaggerated, as slave auctions were rare and not made public. This was a great comfort to everyone but the slaves peddled in secret. The city was later seized by forces loyal to the Libyan National Army (LNA) and its leader Khalifa Haftar in January 2019, probably for its collection of MiG-25 aircraft....
elections, during which turbans often target political workers and leaders in J&K to disrupt the democratic process.

Foiled infiltration bid in Baramulla points to Pakistan’s desperation ahead of LS polls: Army

[GreaterKashmir] Apr 6: The thwarted attempt of infiltration in which two bad boyz were potted on Friday is seen as a desperate move by Pakistain to fuel unrest in Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
ahead of the Lok Sabha
...After the Libyan Civil War, Sabha grew in importance as a slave auctioning town. However, an investigation by the National Commission for Human Rights in Libya (NCHRL) revealed that while there was illegal slavery, reports were exaggerated, as slave auctions were rare and not made public. This was a great comfort to everyone but the slaves peddled in secret. The city was later seized by forces loyal to the Libyan National Army (LNA) and its leader Khalifa Haftar in January 2019, probably for its collection of MiG-25 aircraft....
elections.

The Army said that intermittent fire was also exchanged from Pak forward posts in the vicinity of the Line of Control (LoC) during the counter-infiltration operation.

The successful foiling of the infiltration bid was the result of a joint operation led by the Army, which had received numerous intelligence inputs indicating plans of terrorist groups to infiltrate across the LoC in the Uri sector.

Based on these inputs, the counter-infiltration grid was reviewed and strengthened.

According to the Army’s statement, their ambushes detected a group of hard boyz moving towards the LoC in the early hours of Friday.

The security forces tracked their movement and established contact, leading to a heavy exchange of fire.

The operation resulted in the killing of two hard boyz and the recovery of two AK rifles, three magazines, four hand grenades, and ammunition, among other war-like stores.

The Army emphasised that this infiltration bid by hard boyz highlights Pakistain’s desperation to disrupt peace in Kashmir, especially at a time when Lok Sabha elections are scheduled and the democratic process is underway.

The operation’s success was attributed to the synergy between various security and intelligence agencies committed to ensuring peace and tranquillity in Kashmir.
Oooooohhhh, synergy. Such a s3xy word, and all the rage in managerial circles these days…or at least some years back when I paid attention to such things.
The Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency, where the incident took place, is slated to go to polls on May 20 in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

It is considered one of the most sensitive constituencies due to its proximity to Pakistain-Indian Kashmire (PoK), encompassing three districts of Kupwara, Bandipora, and Baramulla, all sharing a border with PoK.

The incident underscores the ongoing challenges faced by security forces in the region and the continued efforts of anti-India elements to disrupt peace in Kashmir.
Related:
Baramulla district: 2023-12-27 J&K: Retired Senior Cop Fatally Shot By Terrorists In Baramulla Mosque Attack
Baramulla district: 2023-11-21 Despite winter setting in, no reduction in infiltration attempts along LoC: Army
Baramulla district: 2023-10-25 Infiltration bid foiled along LoC in Uri, 2 terrorists killed
Related:
Lok Sabha: 2022-12-14 Indian, Chinese troops clash at Line of Actual Control border in fresh faceoff, biggest clash since 2020
Lok Sabha: 2021-08-13 Congress says party's official account blocked by Twitter
Lok Sabha: 2021-03-19 Law and order situation has improved in Jammu and Kashmir
Link


Africa North
Libyan leaders agree to form unified govt that will supervise elections
2024-03-13
[insert definition of insanity here]
[AFRICANEWS] Representatives of Libya's rival administrations have pledged to form a unified government.

The Head of the country's Presidential Council, the Speaker of the eastern based House of Representatives, and the Head of the western based High Council of State met Sunday (Mar. 10) in Cairo, Egypt.

The meeting was convened by the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
Secretary-General.

"The attendees agreed on the following: first, emphasising on the illusory sovereignty, independence and the unity of the Libyan soil and the rejection of any foreign intervention the affects the Libyan political process negatively," Ahmed Aboul Gheit said.

"Second, considering the political agreement and what follows it, a technical committee will be formed within a given timeframe to look into the proper amendments that expand the base of consensus in the work that was executed by the 6+6 committee, and to finalise the unsettled matters regarding the points of disagreement in accordance to the legislations in force."

Link


Africa Horn
Sudan confirms approval of humanitarian access through three neighbouring countries
2024-03-07
[SUDANTRIBUNE] The Sudanese government confirmed its approval of the use of the Al-Tina crossing on the Chad-El-Fasher route for the delivery of designated humanitarian aid to the Darfur region.

In a statement released on Wednesday morning, the foreign ministry said it informed the United Nations of its approval to utilize the Al-Tina crossing on the Chad-El-Fasher route for the delivery of designated humanitarian aid.

“This decision is subject to a technical agreement with the Chadian government and should align with UN Security Council Resolution No. 1591” stressed the statement referring to the arms embargo to Darfur adopted in 2005.

The foreign ministry indicated additional access routes for humanitarian aid including, Port Sudan – Atbara – Mellit – El Fasher, the Red Sea route from Egypt to Port Sudan, Wadi Halfa-Dongola crossing and Renk – Kosti route via river and land transport from South Sudan.

Also, El Fasher, Kadugli, and El Obeid airports could be used as alternative access points in case of land route difficulties.

On Tuesday evening, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkwita Salami, stated that the Sudanese government agreed to facilitate humanitarian aid delivery via the Al-Tina border crossing into Darfur, and from South Sudan via Renk’s border crossing to Kosti. Also, humanitarian flights to El Fasher, Kadugli, and El Obeid airports will be permitted.

In a related development, USAID Spokesperson Jessica Jennings stated that Administrator Samantha Power spoke with the head of the Sovereign Council and Commander in Chief of the Sudanese Army Abdel Fattah al-Burhan about the dire humanitarian situation in Sudan.

“Administrator Power stressed the need to re-establish cross-border access from Chad, remove bureaucratic impediments, and ensure safe, sustained, and unhindered humanitarian access for aid workers to urgently deliver life-saving assistance”

The vital delivery of humanitarian aid to Darfur was abruptly halted after authorities revoked permits for WFP’s cross-border truck convoys from Chad. This lifeline had reached over one million people in West and Central Darfur since August. With hunger and malnutrition rapidly escalating in the region, WFP was scaling up its operations to meet the growing needs, but these efforts had been halted by the recent ban.

The WFP chief, Cindy McCain on Tuesday warned that “The war in Sudan risks triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis”.

McCain further underscored the urgent need for unimpeded access in Sudan to address the escalating food insecurity, which will have significant long-term impacts on the region.

The international official was in Renk in eastern South Sudan where almost 600,000 people have crossed from Sudan in the last 10 months. She visited the crowded transit camps where families arrive hungry and are met with more hunger.

SLM-TC leader criticizes Sudan's humanitarian access plan, calls for inclusive approach

[SUDANTRIBUNE] al-Hadi Idris, head of the Sudan
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
Liberation Movement — Transitional Council, criticized the Sudanese government’s decision regarding the entry of humanitarian aid. He urged the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
to engage with all parties involved in the conflict, including armed movements and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to ensure aid reaches all affected areas.

On Wednesday, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry informed the UN about allowing humanitarian aid through designated sea, land, and air routes, including the al-Tina crossing connecting Chad to North Darfur, a government-controlled area.

In a statement to Sudan Tribune, Idris expressed concern over the UN’s limited consultation with the "Port Sudan government," as he calls it. He emphasized the importance of including all stakeholders, particularly armed movements and the RSF, arguing that securing aid delivery routes requires cooperation.

"The presence of other parties is crucial," Idris stated. "The UN should consult the armed movements and the RSF to agree on crossing points and routes from Chad. Securing these routes requires all parties’ participation to guarantee aid access to war-affected areas."

He further feared that aid might accumulate in government-controlled areas, failing to reach others.

"If the government and the UN fail to address this reality, other parties might independently engage with humanitarian organizations," Idris warned. "Such a scenario could create a situation akin to the Libyan model, with multiple governing bodies, which we must strive to avoid. Currently, the government controls a portion of the country, while other areas remain under the control of different groups."

Previously, humanitarian convoys from Chad entered Darfur under UN supervision. However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
the government’s recent ban, citing concerns about the RSF’s potential interference and weapon smuggling, drew criticism from the UN, US, and EU, prompting the revised approach.

Regarding aid distribution, Idris proposed overseeing the process by a high-level civilian committee selected under UN supervision and independent of gangs. The committee, he suggested, should comprise representatives from various regions and cities. He reiterated that the army, armed movements, and RSF be solely responsible for securing aid convoys to prevent attacks and theft.

Due to the lingering conflict, 25 million Sudanese people require humanitarian assistance, nearly 18 million of whom face critical food insecurity. The prolonged fighting has devastated livelihoods and crippled the nation’s industrial sector.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) issued a statement indicating their rejection of the government’s designated aid delivery routes through Port Sudan. However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
the RSF expressed their willingness to reach an agreement that ensures transparent border-crossing aid delivery based on well-defined principles.

The paramilitary force accused the army of weaponizing humanitarian aid by deliberately obstructing its access to the states of Darfur, Kordofan, al-Jazirah, and Khartoum.

Related:
Al-Hadi Idris: 2024-02-25 SLM-Transitional Council denies joining RSF in South Darfur
Al-Hadi Idris: 2023-11-25 Darfur holdout groups arrive in El-Fasher to protect civilians from RSF attacks
Al-Hadi Idris: 2023-04-30 Peace groups deploy combatants to protect civilians in North Darfur
Related:
Rapid Support Forces: 2024-03-04 Sudan rejects Iran's bid for Red Sea naval base
Rapid Support Forces: 2024-03-04 RSF accused of fresh violations, army intensifies operations in Al-Jazeera state
Rapid Support Forces: 2024-03-02 Sudan: RSF commit ethnic killings in Darfur, UN says
Link


Africa North
Libya: Govt strikes deal with militias, regular forces will police Tripoli again
2024-02-23
[AFRICANEWS] Armed groups that have been controlling Libya's capital for more than a decade have agreed to leave.

The Interior minister who is part of the UN-recognised government made the announced, on Wednesday.

In a presser, Mr Trabelsi said from now on the militia's "place is in their headquarters", adding the Libyan government "will use them only in exceptional circumstances for specific missions".

He said once they had left the capital other cities would follow, noting there "will be no more checkpoints and no more gangs" on roads.

The deal will see at least five gangs quit Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
by the end of the Moslem holy month of Ramadan on 9 April, including one based in an area where 10 people were killed over the weekend.

It comes after a series of deadly festivities in the city in recent months.

The militias with whom the government struck a deal are the General Security Force, the Special Deterrence Force, Brigade 444, Brigade 111 and the Stability Support Authority.

They are not under the direct command of the Libyan government, though. Their operational independence was granted by a special status conveyed on them in 2021 by the government.

The heavily armed and equipped groups who receive public funding would install checkpoints. But they were often involved in fighting each other, including one incident in August which left 55 people killed and nearly 150 injured.

Emergency police, city officers and criminal Sherlocks will replace them, minister Imad Trabelsi said.

Policing vast Libya became even more of a challenge following a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure....
-backed uprising and an operation which plunged the nation into chaos in 2011. The country has since been split between rival administrations, the internationally recognised government in the west, led by interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Tripoli, and an administration in the east run by military strongman Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all. Actually, he is, but slowly...
In mid-February the UN special envoy for Libya called the warring political actors to put aside "their interests" and work to solve the political crisis.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
An Israeli drone raid that hit a car in Lebanon has killed at least two people, but a Hamas official who was the target survived the attack
2024-02-11
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Pray for sepsis.
The two victims were civilians, a Lebanese Civil Defence official told the AFP news agency.

The Hamas
...the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
official targeted in the attack was close to Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’s deputy chief killed last month in a suspected Israeli raid on a suburb of Beirut, a security source said.

The Times of Israel daily reported that the person targeted was Basel Salah, describing him as a recruiter for Hamas in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
and the West Bank.

The strike was the second attack in Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
this week beyond the border region with Israel.

"This was deep inside Lebanon, approximately 60km [37 miles] from the border with Israel, outside the battleground where the Israeli army and the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire, triggered by the war on Gaza," Khodr said.
More from the Times of Israel:
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an Israeli drone struck a car in the coastal town of Jadra, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border.

The Hamas unit Salah was a member of was headed by Azzam Al-Aqraa, who was killed in the alleged Israeli strike in Beirut last month that also killed the terror group’s deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri.

Salah’s condition is unknown, but he is believed to have been injured in Saturday’s strike.

The strike took place deeper into Lebanese territory than the usual exchanges of fire between Hamas ally Hezbollah and the Israeli military, which have been mostly limited to the border region.
Related:
Jadra: 2021-11-17 Syria's de-escalation zone witnesses government-opposition mutual shelling
Jadra: 2021-10-09 Government forces targeted areas northeast of Idlib, northwestern Syria, with heavy artillery
Jadra: 2020-04-17 Libyan Air Force LNA targets convoy of GNA Benghazi defense forces west of Ghadwa, in southern Libya
Related:
Azzam Al-Aqraa: 2024-01-04 Who were senior Hamas operatives killed with al-Arouri
Azzam Al-Aqraa: 2024-01-03 IDF attack on site in Beirut suburb kills senior Hamas leaders, PIJ ditto, IRGC contacts
Link



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