Rai Calls for Freeing Lebanon From 'De Facto Influence'

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai speaks during Sunday’s mass in Bkirki. NNA
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai speaks during Sunday’s mass in Bkirki. NNA
TT
20

Rai Calls for Freeing Lebanon From 'De Facto Influence'

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai speaks during Sunday’s mass in Bkirki. NNA
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai speaks during Sunday’s mass in Bkirki. NNA

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai called on Lebanon’s political parties to support the government in implementing reforms and “free the state's decision from the influence and interference of de facto forces.”

During Sunday’s mass sermon in Bkirki, Rai said rival parties should cooperate to help the government achieve the required reforms.

“We all have the duty to distinguish between what is positive, and cooperate to promote it; and what is negative, to work together to correct it,” the patriarch stressed.

“This is what we expected from last Wednesday’s consultative meeting at the Presidential Palace, to study the draft economic rescue plan, before its submission to Parliament in its full form,” he added, referring to last week’s meeting that gathered the heads of political blocs to discuss the cabinet’s reform plan.

As he welcomed the move taken by the government, Rai emphasized that the government had local and external obligations.

“Internally, it has a duty to look into citizens’ urgent affairs and take swift measures to solve their financial, health, environmental, and living problems, in addition to unemployment, hunger, and poverty,” he said.

He continued: “Externally, the government should accelerate the completion of the reform plan and submit it to Parliament for approval, in order to be able to conduct constructive negotiations … especially with the International Monetary Fund.”

The Maronite patriarch finally urged the political parties to “encourage and support the government in achieving the required reforms” both locally and externally, and “free the state’s decision from the influence and interference of de facto forces and strengthen Lebanon’s relations with its surroundings and with the international community.”



RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
TT
20

RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled a displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday, killing eight civilians and injuring others, a local rescue group said.

The bombardment hit Abu Shouk camp, which hosts tens of thousands of displaced people on the outskirts of El Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur.

El-Fasher remains the last major stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region not under the control of the RSF, who have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, AFP reported.

"The Abu Shouk camp witnessed heavy artillery bombardment by the RSF... killing eight people," the camp's Emergency Response Room said in a statement.

In recent weeks, El-Fasher, which has been under RSF siege since last year, has been locked in intense fighting between warring sides in a region also gripped by famine.

Thursday's offensive comes just days after a series of attacks by the RSF targeted another battleground region of Sudan.

More than 450 people, including 35 children, were killed in several villages of North Kordofan, southwest of the capital Khartoum, according to a statement released this week by the UN's children agency.

"No child should ever experience such horrors," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Violence against children is unconscionable and must end now."

On Sunday, the RSF claimed to have killed more than 470 army personnel near the town of El-Obeid, also in North Kordofan, in a statement posted to its Telegram channel.

Independent verification of casualties in Sudan remains difficult due to restricted access to its conflict zones.

Now in its third year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement crisis.

In December last year, famine was officially declared in three displacement camps near El-Fasher, namely Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam, according to the UN.

Since the Sudanese army regained control of the capital Khartoum in March, the RSF has shifted its operations westward, focusing on Darfur and Kordofan in a bid to consolidate territorial gains.

In April, RSF fighters seized the Zamzam displacement camp, located near Abu Shouk.

The assault forced nearly 400,000 people to flee, according to UN figures, effectively emptying one of the country's largest camps for the displaced.

Sudanese analyst Mohaned el-Nour told AFP the RSF aims to redefine its role in the conflict.

"Their goal is no longer to be seen as a militia, but as an alternative government in western Sudan, undermining the legitimacy of the authorities in Port Sudan."

He added that the recent surge in violence in North Kordofan was likely intended to divert the army's attention from El Fasher, where the military is trying "at all costs" to maintain.