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Iranian-Kurdish Female Fighters Train in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region

A group of Iranian Kurdish women, who have joined Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, take part in a training session in a military camp in Erbil, Iraq July 9, 2019. (Reuters)
A group of Iranian Kurdish women, who have joined Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, take part in a training session in a military camp in Erbil, Iraq July 9, 2019. (Reuters)
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Iranian-Kurdish Female Fighters Train in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region

A group of Iranian Kurdish women, who have joined Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, take part in a training session in a military camp in Erbil, Iraq July 9, 2019. (Reuters)
A group of Iranian Kurdish women, who have joined Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, take part in a training session in a military camp in Erbil, Iraq July 9, 2019. (Reuters)

Over 300 female volunteers from the Kurdistan Freedom Party in Iran (PAK), led by General Hussein Yazdanpanah, completed their combat and tactical training in one of the party's camps east of Erbil province in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

PAK field commander Rebaz Sharifi announced that the volunteers completed their four-month training on light and medium weapons and are ready to take up the tasks that will be assigned to them.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharifi said the fighters will be tasked with defending south of Erbil as well as secure the party’s headquarters and bases.

He explained that the training was supervised by party veterans and field commanders, who have gained extensive experience during their more than two-year war against ISIS in Nineveh.

The commander noted that weapons and military vehicles that the party’s fighters are using are the spoils of wars against ISIS and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), denying receiving any financial assistance from external or internal parties, including the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

“Unfortunately, the Regional Government has not provided us with any aid or funding. Otherwise, the performance of the party's fighters would have been much better,” asserting that the party entirely depends on itself.

Officially, the forces are not part of the Peshmerga, but they share duties, noted Sharifi, adding that they receive separate funding and training.

“Our party represents an anti-Iranian regime force fighting for the independence of Kurdistan Iran, but our duties of national defense and safeguarding the dignity of the Kurdish people is what we have in common with the Peshmerga.”

He also announced that PAK fighters are fully prepared logistically to participate in any battle against the Iranian regime.

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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)

Geneva has hosted a third “roundtable” of meetings involving Sudanese political and civil groups aimed at bridging the gap between the country’s warring parties. These talks, coordinated by the French organization Promediation, follow similar meetings held previously in Cairo and Geneva. The primary goals are to negotiate a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians.

The two-day meetings, which began on Monday, include representatives from the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces (Tagadum), the pro-army Democratic Bloc coalition, and armed movements aligned with the bloc. However, some groups have announced their boycott of the meetings.

The Democratic Bloc has shown conflicting stances on attending the Geneva talks. Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the bloc and a member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced his group’s decision not to participate.

Omar Khalafallah, a leader in the Democratic Unionist Party and another bloc spokesperson, refuted Zakaria’s statement, insisting that the bloc would attend the meetings to promote a national vision.

A source within the Democratic Bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meetings revealed significant internal divisions in the coalition. The JEM, led by current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, appears to be charting its own course, which the source described as a form of defection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharif Mohammed Osman, a leader in Tagadum and the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, explained that the meetings seek to achieve consensus on ending the war through negotiated solutions, starting with a humanitarian truce to ensure aid delivery and the opening of safe corridors.

These measures are considered preliminary steps toward a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he underlined.

A wide array of civilian leaders are participating in the talks, including key figures from Tagadum, such as Sudanese Congress Party leader Omar Al-Dukair, Federal Gathering Party leader Babiker Faisal, and head of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council Al-Hadi Idris.

Osman expressed optimism that the participants would issue a unified final statement addressing the peaceful resolution of the war and agreeing on a humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery.

In October, Cairo hosted a similar meeting, which resulted in a final statement signed by the participating groups, except for the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi faction and the JEM – Jibril Ibrahim faction, which refused to endorse the Cairo declaration despite attending the discussions.

Promediation, a French organization supported by the French and Swiss foreign ministries, has played a consistent role in Sudanese affairs. Since June 2022, it has organized roundtable discussions, initially focusing on negotiations between Darfuri armed movements before expanding its scope to include Sudanese political and civil forces in the wake of the war.