Hamdok: No Red Lines in Sudanese Peace Negotiations

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok (Reuters)
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok (Reuters)
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Hamdok: No Red Lines in Sudanese Peace Negotiations

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok (Reuters)
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok (Reuters)

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has affirmed that no red lines should be set in the country’s peace process. His comments were made a day before talks between the government and Abdelaziz al-Hilu’s Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-N al-Hilu) were resumed.

The government received an official invitation from the South Sudan mediation team to resume peace talks via videoconference on Tuesday.

Spokesman of the government delegation Mohamed Hassan al-Taishi said the scheduled negotiations are set to tackle three issues.

“These are cessation of hostilities, humanitarian issues and resumption of talks on the Declaration of Principles signed between the two sides in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.”

In a statement on Monday, Taishi noted that the government is ready and keen to continue the dialogue to break the stalemate in negotiations with the SPLM-N.

He stressed that it aims at achieving just and comprehensive peace, which addresses the issues of war and peace in Sudan.

Previous rounds of negotiations were stalled due to the SPLM-N al-Hilu’s adherence to its long-standing position regarding a secular state against the right to self-determination for the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile regions.

The government delegation had made several proposals to overcome the existing differences over the religion-state relations, but the two parties failed to reach a joint agreement to address the issue.

Hamdok received a letter from the resistance committees, urging the government to speed up with the peace process, as well as many current issues.

It is noteworthy that these committees led to the popular movements to overthrow ousted President Omar al-Bashir’s regime.

They called for mass demonstrations on June 30 to pressure the transitional government to implement the revolution’s goals.

According to a statement by the Premier’s office, the letter expressed the country's immediate need for peace, being the most important issue for achieving social peace through continuous dialogue.

Hamdok urged the resistance committees to refrain from undermining the achievements made by the revolution, pointing out that toppling the isolated regime with all its violence and tyranny was a major and significant step.

He said the letter submitted by the committees include an integrated work program, which comes in line with the revolution’s goals.



Israeli Strikes Kill 15 in Gaza as Hospital in North of the Region Makes Distress Call

 Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 19, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 19, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 15 in Gaza as Hospital in North of the Region Makes Distress Call

 Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 19, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 19, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Israeli forces killed at least 15 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including a rescue worker, health officials said, as tanks deepened their incursion in the area and blew up homes, according to residents.

Medics said at least 12 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the area of Jabalia, in northern Gaza, earlier on Wednesday. They said at least 10 people remained missing as rescue operations continued. Another man was killed in tank shelling nearby, they said.

In the Sabra suburb of Gaza City, the Palestinian civil emergency said an Israeli air strike targeted one of their teams during a rescue operation, killing one staff and wounding three others.

The death raised the number of civil emergency service members killed since Oct 7, 2023, to 87, it said.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on the two incidents.

Adding to the challenges facing the healthcare system in north Gaza areas, the civil emergency service said their vehicles were hardly operational because of shortages of fuel and equipment, citing Israel's continued refusal to allow them to bring the needed supplies.

In Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said one man was killed and others wounded in an Israeli air strike on the eastern territory of the city.

Residents in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun, where the army has operated since early last month, said forces blew up dozens of houses in the three areas, adding to fears Israel was seeking to clear residents to create a buffer zone, something Israel denies.

Israel said it sent forces into the two towns and refugee camp to fight Hamas gunmen launching attacks and to prevent them from regrouping. It said it had killed hundreds of them since Oct 5.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad armed wing claimed they killed many Israeli soldiers in anti-tank and mortar fire as well as ambushes by explosive devices during the same period.

Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of three medical facilities barely operational in the north of the enclave, said the hospital came under Israeli fire on Tuesday.

"The healthcare system is still operating under extremely harsh conditions. Following the arrest of 45 members of the medical and surgical staff and the denial of entry to a replacement team, we are now losing wounded patients daily who could have survived if resources were available," said Abu Safiya.

"Unfortunately, food and water are not allowed to enter, and not even a single ambulance is permitted access to the north. Yesterday, the hospital was bombed across all its departments without warning, as we were trying to save an injured person in the intensive care unit," he added.

Speaking during a visit to Gaza on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas would not rule the Palestinian enclave after the war had ended and that Israel had destroyed the group's military capabilities.

Netanyahu also said Israel had not given up trying to locate the 101 remaining hostages believed to be still in the enclave and he offered a $5 million reward for the return of each one.

Qatar, a key ceasefire mediator alongside Egypt, said it informed Hamas and Israel it will stall its mediation efforts unless the two warring parties showed "willingness and seriousness" to reach a deal.

Hamas wants a deal that ends the war, while Netanyahu vowed the war can only end once Hamas is eradicated.

The 2023 attack on Israel, which shattered Israel's aura of invincibility, marked the country's bloodiest day in its history, with 1,200 people killed and over 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel responded with its most destructive offensive in Gaza, killing nearly 44,000 people and wounding 103,898, according to the Gaza health ministry, and turning the enclave into a wasteland of rubble with millions desperate for food, fuel, water and sanitation.