Sudan’s Burhan, Hamdok Meet with Senior Military Commanders

 Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Abdalla Hamdok during their meeting with senior army commanders in Khartoum on Monday, April 26, 2021. (AFP)
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Abdalla Hamdok during their meeting with senior army commanders in Khartoum on Monday, April 26, 2021. (AFP)
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Sudan’s Burhan, Hamdok Meet with Senior Military Commanders

 Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Abdalla Hamdok during their meeting with senior army commanders in Khartoum on Monday, April 26, 2021. (AFP)
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Abdalla Hamdok during their meeting with senior army commanders in Khartoum on Monday, April 26, 2021. (AFP)

Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok held Monday a meeting with senior army commanders at the General Command headquarters in Khartoum.

The ministers of cabinet affairs, defense, finance, foreign affairs and communications and information technology attended the meeting, which was the first between Hamdok and leaders of various military units in the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

“This meeting is the beginning of a dialogue that targets developing the military institution in a professional national army all the Sudanese are proud of,” Hamdok noted.

He told a press conference that his visit to the army commanders “came late” but represents an “extension of the partnership between the military and civilian components in this complex transition.”

“The partnership aims at laying the cornerstone for building a firm and stable democratic system.”

The December revolution allowed the Sudanese to implement a national project, the PM said, stressing that one of the most important requirements of the transitional phase is building a unified and professional national army.

Hamdok further viewed the partnership between civilians and the military as an “advanced model” that can set an example for the whole of Africa.



Netanyahu: Israel Retains Right to Resume Gaza Fighting

FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
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Netanyahu: Israel Retains Right to Resume Gaza Fighting

FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

Israel retains the right to resume war in Gaza with US backing should the second stage of the ceasefire prove pointless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

"If we must return to fighting we will do that in new, forceful ways," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

"President (Donald) Trump and President (Joe) Biden have given full backing to Israel's right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile," he said.

The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will go into effect Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT), mediator Qatar announced Saturday, as families of hostages held in Gaza braced for news of loved ones, Palestinians prepared to receive freed detainees and humanitarian groups rushed to set up a surge of aid.
The prime minister had warned earlier that a ceasefire wouldn’t go forward unless Israel received the names of hostages to be released, as had been agreed.

The pause in 15 months of war is a step toward ending the deadliest, most destructive fighting ever between Israel and the Hamas militant group — and comes more than a year after the only other ceasefire achieved. The deal was achieved under joint pressure from Trump and the outgoing administration of President Biden ahead of Monday's inauguration.
The first phase of the ceasefire will last 42 days, and negotiations on the far more difficult second phase are meant to begin just over two weeks in. After those six weeks, Israel’s security Cabinet will decide how to proceed.
Israeli airstrikes continued Saturday, and Gaza's Health Ministry said 23 bodies had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours.