German Foreign Minister Urges 'Pressure' on Sudan Warring Sides

A handout image posted on the Sudanese Armed Forces' Facebook page on August 31, 2023, shows army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) gesturing as he walks among other army members during a tour of a neighborhood in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea state. (Sudanese Army / AFP)
A handout image posted on the Sudanese Armed Forces' Facebook page on August 31, 2023, shows army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) gesturing as he walks among other army members during a tour of a neighborhood in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea state. (Sudanese Army / AFP)
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German Foreign Minister Urges 'Pressure' on Sudan Warring Sides

A handout image posted on the Sudanese Armed Forces' Facebook page on August 31, 2023, shows army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) gesturing as he walks among other army members during a tour of a neighborhood in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea state. (Sudanese Army / AFP)
A handout image posted on the Sudanese Armed Forces' Facebook page on August 31, 2023, shows army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) gesturing as he walks among other army members during a tour of a neighborhood in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea state. (Sudanese Army / AFP)

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock set off for east Africa on Wednesday to push for sanctions to force Sudan's warring parties to start peace talks.

Baerbock will go to South Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti, where she will also discuss ways to protect shipping in the Red Sea from attacks by Yemen's Houthis.

Baerbock had been due in Djibouti on Wednesday but was delayed as her flight failed to receive clearance on time to overfly Eritrea.

No reason was provided for the refused approval, but Baerbock has already had ministerial flight problems. She was forced to cancel a trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji last August because of a defective plane that only took her to the United Arab Emirates.

Baerbock had been due to meet her Djibouti counterpart as well as the leader of East African bloc IGAB on her arrival.

Ahead of her visit, she said Sudan would be a focus of talks.

Since April 2023, the war in Sudan pitting forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commonly known as Hemeti, who commands the Rapid Support Forces, has killed more than 13,000 people and displaced 7.5 million.

Images from Darfur have brought back grim memories of the genocide 20 years ago, Baerbock said.

"Together with my partners in Djibouti, Kenya and South Sudan, I will explore possibilities to bring generals Burhan and Hemeti finally to the negotiating table, so that they don't drag the people in Sudan deeper into the abyss and destabilize the region any further," she said in a statement.

"For me it is clear that we must raise the pressure on both sides -- through sanctions, by holding them accountable for their violations against the civil population and by influencing their supporters abroad."

Previous mediation attempts have yielded only brief truces, and even those were systematically violated, AFP reported.

Beyond political talks, Baerbock will hold meetings with members of Sudan's civil society.

"Sudan will only find long-term peace with a civil democratic government," she said, emphasizing that the conflict should not become a "forgotten crisis".

Sudan's army-aligned government this month spurned an invitation to an east African summit organized by the IGAD East African bloc and subsequently suspended its membership in the group for engaging with Daglo, commander of the rival forces.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including the indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, torture and arbitrary detention of civilians.



Israel Strikes Syria After Projectiles Fired, Holds Sharaa Responsible 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israel Strikes Syria After Projectiles Fired, Holds Sharaa Responsible 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel has carried out its first airstrikes in Syria in nearly a month, saying it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel and holding interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible. 

Damascus said Israeli strikes caused "heavy human and material losses", reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party and stressing the need to end the presence of armed groups and establish state control in the south. 

Israel had not struck Syria since early May - a month marked by US President Donald Trump's meeting with Sharaa, the lifting of US sanctions, and direct Syrian-Israeli contacts to calm tensions, as reported by Reuters last week. 

Israel has bombed Syria frequently this year. Israel has also moved troops into areas of the southwest, where it has said it won't allow the new government's security forces to deploy. 

The projectiles Israel reported fired from Syria were the first since longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was toppled. The Israeli military said the two projectiles fell in open areas. 

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he held the Syrian president "directly responsible for any threat and fire toward the State of Israel". 

A Syrian Foreign Ministry statement said the accuracy of the reports of shelling towards Israel had not yet been verified. 

"We believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilize the region to achieve their own interests," the Syrian Foreign Ministry added, as reported by the state news agency. 

A Syrian official told Reuters such parties included "remnants of Assad-era militias linked to Iran, which have long been active in the Quneitra area" and have "a vested interest in provoking Israeli retaliation as a means of escalating tensions and undermining current stabilization efforts". 

Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets circulated a claim of responsibility from a little-known group named "Martyr Mohammed Deif Brigades," an apparent reference to Hamas' military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024. 

Reuters could not independently verify the statement. 

The Syrian state news agency and security sources reported Israeli strikes targeting sites in the Damascus countryside and Quneitra and Daraa provinces. 

Local residents contacted by Reuters said Israeli shelling targeted agricultural areas in the Wadi Yarmouk region. They described increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli incursions into villages, where residents have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops. 

An Israeli strike also hit a former Syrian army base near the city of Izraa, a Syrian source said. 

Israel has said its goals in Syria include protecting the Druze, a religious minority with followers in both countries. 

Israel, which has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Middle East war, bombed Syria frequently during the last decade of Assad's rule, targeting the sway of his Iranian allies. 

The newly-appointed US envoy to Syria said last week he believed peace between Syria and Israel was achievable. 

Around the same time that Israel reported the projectiles from Syria, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile from Yemen. 

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they targeted Israel's Jaffa with a ballistic missile. The group says it has been launching attacks against Israel in support of Palestinians during the Israeli war in Gaza.