US Urges Sudan Fighters to Halt Advance On Aid Hub

Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019.
Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019.
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US Urges Sudan Fighters to Halt Advance On Aid Hub

Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019.
Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019.

The latest clashes between Sudan's army and paramilitary forces pose dire threats to civilians and relief efforts, the United States warned Saturday as it urged fighters to avoid an aid hub sheltering tens of thousands of people.

Nearly half a million displaced people have sought refuge in Sudan's Al-Jazirah state, more than 86,000 of them in its capital Wad Madani, according to United Nations figures.

But fighting between Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) overran the city on Friday, leading the UN humanitarian agency to suspend aid work in the state "until further notice."

"Wad Madani has become a safe haven for displaced civilians and is an important hub for international humanitarian relief efforts. A continued RSF advance risks mass civilian casualties and significant disruption of humanitarian assistance efforts," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement, AFP reported.

"We urge the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan to cease their advance in Gezira State immediately and to refrain from attacking Wad Madani," Miller said.

The war which started in April between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has claimed more than 12,190 lives, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

Over 5.4 million people are internally displaced, while about 1.3 million have fled abroad, according to UN figures.

RSF fighters had been advancing towards Wad Madani for weeks, down the highway from Khartoum 110 miles (180 kilometers) to the north.



Lebanon's New President Says to Ensure State Has Exclusive Right to Carry Arms

This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
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Lebanon's New President Says to Ensure State Has Exclusive Right to Carry Arms

This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)

Lebanon's newly elected President Joseph Aoun told lawmakers on Thursday that he will work to ensure the state has the exclusive right to carry arms, in his first speech at parliament after he was elected.

His comments were seen partly as a reference to Hezbollah's arsenal, which he had not commented on publicly as the former army commander.

In a first round of voting Thursday, Aoun received 71 out of 128 votes but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to win outright. Of the rest, 37 lawmakers cast blank ballots and 14 voted for “sovereignty and the constitution.”
In the second round, he received 99 votes.

In his speech in parliament, Aoun also pledged to carry out reforms to the judicial system and fight corruption.

He promised to control the country’s borders and “ensure the activation of the security services and to discuss a strategic defense policy that will enable the Lebanese state to remove the Israeli occupation from all Lebanese territories” in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military has not yet withdrawn from dozens of villages.

He also vowed to reconstruct “what the Israeli army destroyed in the south, east and (Beirut’s southern) suburbs.”

Thursday’s vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.

Aoun said he would call for parliamentary consultations as soon as possible on naming a new prime minister.