Hemedti Proposes Federation as Part of Solution to Sudan Crisis 

Burhan arrives in Port Sudan on Sunday. (Reuters)
Burhan arrives in Port Sudan on Sunday. (Reuters)
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Hemedti Proposes Federation as Part of Solution to Sudan Crisis 

Burhan arrives in Port Sudan on Sunday. (Reuters)
Burhan arrives in Port Sudan on Sunday. (Reuters)

Head of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo "Hemedti" proposed on Sunday a comprehensive political solution to the crisis in the country.

The statement came as fighting between the RSF and the army, headed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, enters its 20th week with no side claiming victory while millions have been driven from their homes in the capital and other cities.

The United Nations has warned of a "humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions", with rising hunger, collapsing healthcare, and wrecked infrastructure.

The two sides blame each other for starting the war on April 15, after weeks of tension over the integration of their troops into a single force as part of a transition to democracy.

The two sides led the country together since toppling Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and pushing civilian politicians out of the government in a coup in 2021.

In the statement released late on Sunday, Hemedti appeared willing to negotiate with the army over the shape of the future Sudanese state, going beyond the technicalities of a permanent ceasefire which have hindered Saudi and US-sponsored mediation efforts.

"Efforts to end the protracted crisis must be directed toward achieving a lasting ceasefire, coupled with comprehensive political solutions that address the root causes of Sudan's wars," the statement said.

Under his "Sudan Reborn" plan, Hemedti committed the RSF to previously floated principles such as federal, multicultural rule, democratic elections, and a single army.

He said the initiative was being proposed after "war was imposed on him."

"Sudan must be founded as a real republic where authority and power belong to all Sudanese," he added.

He called for fair and free elections within a "real democratic federal system based on the separation and partnership of powers."

The initiative must include the "forces that resisted and toppled Bashir's ideological regime."

The initiative excludes members of the National Conference and members of the former regime, as well as groups and figures that "secretly or openly undermined change and the shift towards democracy in the years that followed the regime’s ouster."

Meanwhile, Burhan arrived in Port Sudan on Sunday seemingly ahead of a foreign tour.



Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

More than 100 patients including children will be transferred out of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in a rare medical evacuation from the Palestinian enclave during the Israel-Hamas war, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.

The WHO says fewer than 300 patients have been evacuated from Gaza since early May, when Israel expanded its military offensive southwards and took over the southern Rafah Crossing with Egypt, which had been used for medical transfers.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the patients, including children with trauma injuries and chronic diseases, would depart in a large convoy via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

Under arrangements made by the WHO, the patients will then fly to the United Arab Emirates from Ramon Airport in southern Israel, and some will travel on to Romania, he said.

"These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza," Peeperkorn told a press conference.

Asked whether Israel had approved the transfer, he said he was hopeful it would be facilitated by Israeli authorities.

He said more than 12,000 people were awaiting transfer, adding: "We cannot continue the way we do now."

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for Palestinian affairs, says it actively facilitates the departure of seriously ill or injured patients, adding that the scope of such evacuations was determined by the capacity of organizations and countries to receive them.

As of last week, it said 10 groups of patients had been evacuated through Israel and it was willing to coordinate more.

Peeperkorn was part of a WHO convoy that on Nov. 3 provided some relief for the busy al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in northern Gaza which he said were barely operational because of medical and staff shortages.

"For al-Awda we are very concerned because the hospital needs urgent fuel and medical supplies, otherwise it might become non-functional over the coming week," he said of the hospital in Jabalia, just north of Gaza City.

Israel accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians, including in hospitals, in the war that began after the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023.

In a night-time raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital last month, an Israeli military official said around 100 Hamas fighters were captured, some posing as medical staff, along with weapons. Hamas rejected the accusations.