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.



Iraqis Stranded in Beirut Face Black Market for Return Tickets

Iraqi citizens wait outside Iraqi Airways office in Beirut (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Iraqi citizens wait outside Iraqi Airways office in Beirut (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Iraqis Stranded in Beirut Face Black Market for Return Tickets

Iraqi citizens wait outside Iraqi Airways office in Beirut (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Iraqi citizens wait outside Iraqi Airways office in Beirut (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Iraqi Airways office in Beirut has become a daily destination for stranded Iraqi citizens desperately seeking tickets and empty seats on flights home, after Baghdad suspended air travel amid escalating regional tensions sparked by Israel’s assault on Iran.

From tourists who had planned family vacations, to patients seeking treatment or workers on business trips, hundreds of Iraqis have been stuck in Lebanon for over a week with no clear path home.

The Iraqi Ministry of Transport halted air traffic across all airports last week—except Basra International Airport, which resumed limited daytime operations on Sunday—as a precaution following the Israeli strike on Iran, a move mirrored by other regional countries impacted by the conflict.

Iraq’s airport authority said it had set up an emergency operations room and designated Basra as the sole return point for citizens stranded abroad. The decision has triggered flight bottlenecks and chaos, with Basra now receiving planes from multiple countries.

“It’s a mess,” said Mustafa, one of the many Iraqis stranded in Beirut. “We were supposed to fly back with my family of six, but our flight was suddenly cancelled, and we were given no details about an alternative.”

Efforts by Asharq Al-Awsat to reach the Iraqi embassy in Beirut and airline officials for clarification went unanswered.

Video footage circulating online shows chaotic scenes at Beirut airport, where frustrated Iraqi travelers jostle and argue over limited tickets to Basra.

“There’s no transparency,” Mustafa added. “The plane can hold 280 passengers, but only 60 official tickets are sold. The rest are offered by black market brokers for as much as $1,200 each. These tickets should have been issued by the airline for free.”

For a 60-year-old Iraqi woman who came to Beirut for medical treatment, the wait has turned into a painful ordeal.

“I was scheduled to return to Baghdad three days ago after finishing my treatment,” she told Asharq Al-Awsat while sitting outside the Iraqi Airways office. “I’ve been coming here every day since, waiting for help. I’m ill and in pain—this delay is unbearable.”

On Tuesday, Reuters quoted Ali Jumah, Iraq’s civil aviation representative at Basra airport, as saying: “The airport is now open from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. by order of the Ministry of Transport to help evacuate Iraqis, Arabs, and foreigners. Despite the airport’s limited capacity, our staff and crisis cell are working around the clock.”

The Ministry of Transport confirmed it had deployed Iraqi Airways to operate international routes via Basra to repatriate stranded travelers, regardless of nationality.

The ministry said 19 evacuation flights were conducted on Monday and Tuesday alone, and it is prepared to increase capacity to bring back all Iraqis abroad.

Iraq has nine civilian airports, with Baghdad International Airport handling around two million passengers in 2021, making it the country’s busiest. Basra ranks fourth by passenger volume.