Khartoum, ICC Agree to Try Bashir

Bashir during a court appearance in Khartoum. (Reuters)
Bashir during a court appearance in Khartoum. (Reuters)
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Khartoum, ICC Agree to Try Bashir

Bashir during a court appearance in Khartoum. (Reuters)
Bashir during a court appearance in Khartoum. (Reuters)

Head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan has revealed an agreement between Khartoum and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to try ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath television on Thursday night, Burhan said judicial authorities in Sudan agreed with the ICC to try Bashir and other wanted figures in Sudan or any other place agreed upon.

“The ICC did not request extraditing Bashir to The Hague but rather trying him to achieve justice,” he stressed.

Burhan also renewed his country's stance on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute and the importance of reaching a binding legal agreement on its operation and filling.

He also called on Addis Ababa to withdraw from al-Fashaqa region, saying Sudan was not seeking war against Ethiopia.

However, he stressed his country’s right to defend its land, adding it was ready to confront any escalation despite its willingness to coordinate a solution to the dispute.

Moreover, Burhan said the transitional government has started to reap the benefits of Sudan's removal from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

"Khartoum has taken the first step to restore the country’s position in the regional and international community despite the challenges facing the transitional phase."

He further denied any internal differences between civilians and the military in the government and between him and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Burhan pointed to the development of relations with the United States, albeit at “slow pace,” and the intelligence bilateral cooperation.

Asked about the normalization of relations with Israel and the exchanged visits between officials, Burhan replied that relations have been recently limited to intelligence work aimed at addressing terrorism in Sudan and abroad.

He denied any visit by a Sudanese official to Tel Aviv but for the first time revealed that an Israeli delegation had visited Khartoum, headed by Minister of Intelligence, as well as other technical delegations, without naming them.



Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
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Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)

A notorious desert refugee camp in Syria has closed after the last remaining families returned to their areas of origin, Syrian authorities said on Saturday.

The Rukban camp in Syria's desert was established in 2014, at the height of Syria's civil war, in a de-confliction zone controlled by the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.

Desperate people fleeing ISIS extremists and former government bombardment sought refuge there, hoping to cross into Jordan.

Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government rarely allowed aid to enter the camp and neighboring countries closed their borders to the area, isolating Rukban for years.

After an opposition offensive toppled Assad in December, families started leaving the camp to return home.

The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based organization, said on Friday that the camp was "officially closed and empty, all families and residents have returned to their homes".

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on X on Saturday that "with the dismantlement of the Rukban camp and the return of the displaced, a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime's war machine comes to a close".

"Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert," he added.

At its peak, the camp housed more than 100,000 people. Around 8,000 people still lived there before Assad's fall, residing in mud-brick houses, with food and basic supplies smuggled in at high prices.

Syrian minister for emergency situations and disasters Raed al-Saleh said on X said the camp's closure represents "the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people".

"We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety," he added.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their places of origin since Assad's fall, after they were displaced within the country or abroad.

The IOM says the "lack of economic opportunities and essential services pose the greatest challenge" for those returning home.