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Abkhazia to Open Embassy in Damascus

Abkhazia and Damascus agreed Monday on mutual exemption of visas for the citizens in both countries
Abkhazia and Damascus agreed Monday on mutual exemption of visas for the citizens in both countries
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Abkhazia to Open Embassy in Damascus

Abkhazia and Damascus agreed Monday on mutual exemption of visas for the citizens in both countries
Abkhazia and Damascus agreed Monday on mutual exemption of visas for the citizens in both countries

Abkhazia and Damascus signed an agreement Monday on enhancing bilateral relations and on mutual exemption of visas for the citizens in both countries for bearers of diplomatic, official, and private passports.

The announcement came during the visit of an Abkhazian delegation to Damascus, chaired by head of the Administration of the President Alkhas Kvitsinia and Foreign Minister Daur Vadimovich Kove, who will participate in the opening ceremony of the Abkhazian Embassy in Syria on October 6.

Kvitsinia met Monday with President Bashar Assad, Prime Minister Husein Arnus, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid Moallem. The delegation conveyed greetings from President Aslan Bzhania and wishes for peace and prosperity to the people of Syria. Kvitsinia noted that the people of Abkhazia support to the people of Syria in their desire to protect the country from terrorism and to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The delegation’s meeting with Moallem tackled bilateral relations and means of enhancing them in different areas.

Members of the Abkhazian delegation also expressed the importance of the historic decision by the two sides to establish diplomatic relations as a basis of cooperation in all fields, particularly in economy, trade, and investment.

Syria recognized Georgia’s two Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent states back in 2018, a step which was condemned by the international community.

Since the Russia-Georgia 2008 war, the regions have been recognized as independent states only by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria.

The move came one day after Moallem received a copy of the credentials of Turki Mahmood al-Busaidi, the extraordinary and plenipotentiary Ambassador of Oman to Syria, to become the first Gulf ambassador who returns to Damascus since the war erupted in the country in 2011.

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MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan's Capital

FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
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MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan's Capital

FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

Medical aid agency MSF said on Friday it has been forced to suspend its activities at one of the few remaining hospitals in southern Khartoum due to repeated attacks, cutting off yet another lifeline for those who remain in the Sudanese capital.
War has been raging in Sudan since April 2023, sparked by a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, triggering the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis.
The hospital, which lies in territory controlled by the RSF, helped treat the victims of frequent airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces, as well as hundreds of malnourished women and children in an area where two neighborhoods have been judged at risk of famine, reported Reuters.
"In the 20 months MSF teams have worked alongside hospital staff and volunteers, Bashair Hospital has experienced repeated incidents of armed fighters entering the hospital with weapons and threatening medical staff, often demanding fighters be treated before other patients," MSF said in a statement.
"Despite extensive engagements with all stakeholders, these attacks have continued in recent months. MSF has now taken the very difficult decision to suspend all medical activities in the hospital."
The fighting in Sudan has cut off up to 80% of hospitals in conflict areas, where millions who cannot afford to escape the violence remain. Civilians face frequent air and artillery fire and hunger as supplies are blocked by both warring parties and prices skyrocket.
Medical facilities, including MSF-supported ones that have suspended operations, have frequently come under attack by RSF soldiers demanding treatment or looting supplies. Bashair Hospital has served more than 25,000 people, MSF said, including 9,000 hurt by blasts, gunshot wounds, and other violence.
"Sometimes dozens of people arrived at the hospital at the same time after shelling or airstrikes on residential areas and markets," MSF said in the statement, citing an incident on Sunday where an airstrike one kilometer away drove 50 people to the emergency room, 12 of them already dead.