Burhan Hopes IGAD Summit on Sudan Will Be a Success

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, holds talks with IGAD’s Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu in Djibouti on Sunday. (Sovereign Council)
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, holds talks with IGAD’s Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu in Djibouti on Sunday. (Sovereign Council)
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Burhan Hopes IGAD Summit on Sudan Will Be a Success

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, holds talks with IGAD’s Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu in Djibouti on Sunday. (Sovereign Council)
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, holds talks with IGAD’s Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu in Djibouti on Sunday. (Sovereign Council)

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, held talks in Djibouti on Sunday with President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who is currently chair of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and IGAD’s Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu.

They agreed on the need for sustainable ceasefire in Sudan.

On his way back to Sudan, Burhan met with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki at Asmara International Airport where they tackled the latest developments in Sudan.

A statement from the Sovereign Council's media office said Burhan spoke with Djibouti’s President about the repercussions of what he called the violations and crimes committed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces against the citizens and their destruction of the state infrastructure.

He expressed hopes to find a solution to the current crisis in Sudan.

“We hope the upcoming IGAD summit on Sudan will be a success and find a solution to the crisis so that security and stability can be restored,” the statement quoted him as saying.

Sudan announced on Sunday that the IGAD will meet soon, but a date has not been set yet.

Two weeks ago, Burhan met with Kenyan President William Ruto in Nairobi to discuss the security situation in Sudan. The leaders agreed to work to convene an urgent IGAD summit to find ways to accelerate a solution to the crisis.

In Djibouti, Omar Guelleh expressed his country's readiness to provide any assistance and suggestions of solutions to end the conflict.

He also voiced full support to the proposed initiatives and the roles played by Saudi Arabia, the US and IGAD to resolve the crisis.

For his part, Gebeyehu wrote on his X account that the meeting with Burhan focused on the role played by IGAD in facilitating discussions on the conflict.

The Sovereign Council said Burhan and Gebeyehu discussed the progress of the indirect negotiations held in the Saudi city of Jeddah.



Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure, as they sought to suppress small militant units that have continued to hit troops with mortar fire, the military said on Friday.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had killed around 100 Palestinian fighters since Israeli troops began their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, which continued as pressure mounted for a deal to halt the fighting.

It said seven small units that had been firing mortars at the troops were hit in an air strike, while further south, in Rafah, four fighters were also killed in air strikes.

The Islamic Jihad armed wing said it fired rockets toward the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other Israeli towns near Gaza. No casualties were reported, the Israeli ambulance service said.

The continued fighting, more than nine months since the start of Israel's invasion of Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack, underlined the difficulty the IDF has had in eliminating fighters who have reverted to a form of guerrilla warfare in the ruins of the coastal strip.

A Telegram channel operated by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in Gaza, said fighters had been waging fierce battles with Israeli troops east of Khan Younis with machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.

Medics said at least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in eastern Khan Younis.

US PRESSURE

US President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, both urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a proposed ceasefire deal as soon as possible.

However there has been no clear sign of movement in talks to end the fighting and bring home some 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still being held in Gaza. Public statements from Israel and Hamas appear to indicate that serious differences remain between the two sides.

Local residents contacted by messenger app, said Israeli tanks had pushed into three towns to the east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al-Zanna and Al-Karara and blew up several houses in some residential districts.

The military said air force jets hit around 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets were fired into Beersheba in southern Israel.

Even while the fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, in the northern part of the enclave, Israeli tanks pushed into the Tel Al-Hawa suburb west of Gaza city, residents said.

A Hamas Telegram channel said fighters targeted an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot an Israeli soldier.

Medics said two Palestinians were also killed in an air strike in western Gaza city.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from armed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.