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Hariri Pays Unannounced Visit to Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) meets with Lebanese former Prime Minister Saad Hariri (L) at Vahdettin Mansion in Istanbul. (AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) meets with Lebanese former Prime Minister Saad Hariri (L) at Vahdettin Mansion in Istanbul. (AFP)
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Hariri Pays Unannounced Visit to Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) meets with Lebanese former Prime Minister Saad Hariri (L) at Vahdettin Mansion in Istanbul. (AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) meets with Lebanese former Prime Minister Saad Hariri (L) at Vahdettin Mansion in Istanbul. (AFP)

Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri paid an unannounced visit Friday to Turkey for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that came with his crisis-hit country struggling to form a government.

The two-hour "private" meeting at Erdogan's Istanbul residence focused on regional security issues and "deepening and strengthening" ties, the Turkish presidency said, without providing details.

Hariri's office said he and Erdogan also discussed "ways to support the efforts to stop the collapse and rebuild Beirut as soon as the new government is formed in Lebanon".

Hariri was renamed to the premiership post of a third time in October, almost a year after stepping down under pressure from an unprecedented protest movement.

Lebanon is reeling from an economic crisis whose impact was compounded by the coronavirus pandemic and the aftereffects of a Beirut port blast that killed more than 200 people and ravaged the capital in August.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited Lebanon in August and September, pushing for political reform.

After Macron's first visit, Erdogan accused the French leader of pursuing "colonialist" aims in Lebanon, according to AFP.

Erdogan's office said the Turkish leader reaffirmed his support for the "unity and peace" of Lebanon, which was once part of the Ottoman Empire.

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UN Appalled by Extrajudicial Killings in Khartoum

A Sudanese army soldier gestures from the back of a vehicle as it drives past damaged cars lying along a street in Khartoum on Thursday (AFP photo) 
A Sudanese army soldier gestures from the back of a vehicle as it drives past damaged cars lying along a street in Khartoum on Thursday (AFP photo) 
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UN Appalled by Extrajudicial Killings in Khartoum

A Sudanese army soldier gestures from the back of a vehicle as it drives past damaged cars lying along a street in Khartoum on Thursday (AFP photo) 
A Sudanese army soldier gestures from the back of a vehicle as it drives past damaged cars lying along a street in Khartoum on Thursday (AFP photo) 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Thursday said he was appalled by reports of widespread extrajudicial killings of civilians in Khartoum following its recapture by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on 26 March.

“I am utterly appalled by the credible reports of numerous incidents of summary executions of civilians in several areas of Khartoum, on apparent suspicions that they were collaborating with the Rapid Support Forces,” said Turk.

He then urged the commanders of the Sudanese Armed Forces “to take immediate measures to put an end to arbitrary deprivation of life.”

The UN Commissioner said his Office has reviewed multiple horrific videos posted on social media since 26 March, all of them apparently filmed in southern and eastern Khartoum.

“They show armed men – some in uniform and others in civilian clothes – executing civilians in cold blood, often in public settings. In some videos, perpetrators state that they are punishing supporters of RSF,” he said.

The RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has been battling the army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, since April 2023.

Last week the army said it had retaken full control of Khartoum after weeks of attacks on the capital by the paramilitaries, though Daglo said his forces had only “repositioned.”

On Thursday, Sudan's paramilitary said they downed an Antonov military plane, the fourth this month, belonging to the Sudanese army near Al Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State.

The RSF published a video that they said showed the plane wreckage. It said in a statement that the plane dropped “dozens of barrel bombs on innocent civilians in Al Fasher and other Sudanese cities.”

Meanwhile, an activist group said that the RSF killed at least 85 people in one week during attacks south of the capital Khartoum.

“For the seventh consecutive day, the Janjaweed militias continue their violent attacks on villages... west of Jebel Awliya, resulting in the deaths of more than 85 people and the injury of dozens,” said the Sudanese resistance committee, referring to the RSF by the name of its precursor.

Bashir’s Deputy Released

Also on Thursday, Sudanese authorities released former First Vice President Bakri Hassan Saleh and Youssif Abdel Fattah, a former minister.

Saleh and Abdel Fattah are among some 30 officials who are standing trial for their involvement in the June 30, 1989 coup, that brought former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir to power.

SAF leader Abdel Fattah al Burhan issued the decision based on a judicial ruling that stated the two men need to receive treatment due to deteriorating health conditions.