Sudanese Delegation in Chad to Discuss Ties, Dispute with Ethiopia

Ethiopians who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, carry their belongings from a boat after crossing the Setit river on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Hamdayet village in eastern Kassala state, Sudan, November 22, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah
Ethiopians who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, carry their belongings from a boat after crossing the Setit river on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Hamdayet village in eastern Kassala state, Sudan, November 22, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah
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Sudanese Delegation in Chad to Discuss Ties, Dispute with Ethiopia

Ethiopians who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, carry their belongings from a boat after crossing the Setit river on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Hamdayet village in eastern Kassala state, Sudan, November 22, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah
Ethiopians who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, carry their belongings from a boat after crossing the Setit river on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Hamdayet village in eastern Kassala state, Sudan, November 22, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council in Sudan Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, arrived in the Chadian capital Saturday with an accompanying delegation including Foreign Minister Omar Qamar al-Din and Head of the General Intelligence Service Jamal Abdul Majid.

Hemedti briefed Chadian President Idriss Deby on the progress of implementing the peace agreement signed between the Sudanese transitional government and the armed movements, the FM said in press statements.

Qamar al-Din said both sides discussed the situation in the Central African Republic and Libya, as well as the border dispute between the Sudanese and Chadian tribes and mechanisms to address them.

They further discussed means of bolstering bilateral cooperation and political and security issues that would push forward both countries and people’s interests.

The official report did not mention the goals of the successive visits of high-ranking Sudanese officials to N’Djamena. However, media reports said the border dispute between Sudan and Ethiopia topped the discussions.

Khartoum seeks regional support for its positions, especially since Addis Ababa will host the African Union Summit in February.

Hemedti's visit to N’Djamena came five days after a similar visit that was headed by a member of the Transitional Sovereignty Council Ibrahim Jaber and his delegation, which included Minister of Defense Lieutenant-General Yassin Ibrahim Yassin and Qamar al-Din.

Parties discussed the course of bilateral relations and means of boosting cooperation to serve both countries’ interests, according to a Sovereign Council statement.

Over the past few weeks, Hemedti visited South Sudan and Eritrea, which indicates undisclosed consultations.

The spokesperson of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Alfaki Suleiman said that Khartoum is carrying out extensive diplomatic efforts to explain the situation on its borders with Ethiopia to regional countries.

It seeks to clarify its position, which rejects war and adheres to controlling all Sudanese lands, including areas where the Sudanese army has been redeployed.

Ethiopia, however, has accused Sudan of assaulting its territory and exploiting the war it was fighting in the Tigray region.

On Friday, Suleiman told reporters that his government did not want to increase tension by issuing media statements.

Sudan did not want an escalation that would lead to a war with Ethiopia, he stressed, noting that its army was only deployed after the withdrawal of the Ethiopian forces that were stationed in its territory due to the fighting in Tigray.



With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
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With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)

After weeks of Israeli bombardment left them with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Palestinians have ended up in a former Gaza prison built to hold murderers and thieves.

Yasmeen al-Dardasi said she and her family passed wounded people they were unable to help as they evacuated from a district in the southern city of Khan Younis towards its Central Correction and Rehabilitation Facility.

They spent a day under a tree before moving on to the former prison, where they now live in a prayer room. It offers protection from the blistering sun, but not much else.

Dardasi's husband has a damaged kidney and just one lung, but no mattress or blanket.

"We are not settled here either," said Dardasi, who like many Palestinians fears she will be uprooted once again.

Israel has said it goes out of its way to protect civilians in its war with the Palestinian group Hamas, which runs Gaza and led the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that sparked the latest conflict.

Palestinians, many of whom have been displaced several times, say nowhere is free of Israeli bombardment, which has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

An Israeli air strike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in the Al-Mawasi area on July 13, the territory's health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas' elusive military chief Mohammed Deif.

On Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said Israeli military strikes on areas in eastern Khan Younis had killed 14 people.

Entire neighborhoods have been flattened in one of the most densely populated places in the world, where poverty and unemployment have long been widespread.

According to the United Nations, nine in ten people across Gaza are now internally displaced.

Israeli soldiers told Saria Abu Mustafa and her family that they should flee for safety as tanks were on their way, she said. The family had no time to change so they left in their prayer clothes.

After sleeping outside on sandy ground, they too found refuge in the prison, among piles of rubble and gaping holes in buildings from the battles which were fought there. Inmates had been released long before Israel attacked.

"We didn't take anything with us. We came here on foot, with children walking with us," she said, adding that many of the women had five or six children with them and that water was hard to find.

She held her niece, who was born during the conflict, which has killed her father and brothers.

When Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7 they killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the air and ground offensive Israel launched in response, Palestinian health officials say.

Hana Al-Sayed Abu Mustafa arrived at the prison after being displaced six times.

If Egyptian, US and Qatari mediators fail to secure a ceasefire they have long said is close, she and other Palestinians may be on the move once again. "Where should we go? All the places that we go to are dangerous," she said.