UN Mediation Efforts in Sudan Faces Hurdles

People march on Pennsylvania avenue during an anti-coup protest after military took over the government of Sudan on 25 October, in Washington, DC, USA, 30 October 2021. EPA/GAMAL DIAB
People march on Pennsylvania avenue during an anti-coup protest after military took over the government of Sudan on 25 October, in Washington, DC, USA, 30 October 2021. EPA/GAMAL DIAB
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UN Mediation Efforts in Sudan Faces Hurdles

People march on Pennsylvania avenue during an anti-coup protest after military took over the government of Sudan on 25 October, in Washington, DC, USA, 30 October 2021. EPA/GAMAL DIAB
People march on Pennsylvania avenue during an anti-coup protest after military took over the government of Sudan on 25 October, in Washington, DC, USA, 30 October 2021. EPA/GAMAL DIAB

Sudan's army chief, Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok are hampering the mediation efforts of the UN Special Envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, to resolve the political crisis in the country, sources in Khartoum said.

According to the sources, Hamdok stipulates that the dismissed government with its entire staff must return to their posts, all detained ministers and political leaders must be released, and calls for full commitment to the constitutional document before entering into dialogue with the army.

As for Burhan, he wants to form a government of technocrats.

However, the Forces of Freedom and Change, which includes the main national parties, supports Hamdok's demands and adheres to his return as head of the civilian government.

British ambassador Simon Manley stressed the urgent need for the top UN rights body to discuss the situation in Sudan since the army's October 25 power grab.

"We request that the Human Rights Council hold a special session this week to address the human rights implications of the ongoing situation in the Republic of Sudan," he said in a letter.

"A special session is needed because of the importance and urgency of the situation."

The Forces of Freedom and Change took a unanimous decision to bring down the "military coup," demanding justice for the martyrs and the injured.

The Central Council, the highest political body of the Forces, held a meeting at the National Umma Party in Omdurman, discussing the current situation.

The Council issued a statement demanding the return of the prime minister and his government to carry out their duties under the constitutional document, the immediate release of all detainees, and a return to the constitutional system that existed before October 25.

It affirmed its categorical rejection of any dialogue or negotiation with the army leadership.

Meanwhile, a South Sudan delegation, led by presidential advisor Tut Gatluak, met with Burhan and Hamdok to mediate between the military and the civilian leaders.

Burhan received a message from the President of South Sudan, General Salva Kiir Mayardit, dealing with Sudan's security, stability, and peace.

The Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) stated that during his meeting with Gatluak, Burhan lauded the significant role of South Sudan to support and ensure the success of the transitional period and its keenness to protect the achievements of the December Revolution and aspirations of the Sudanese people.

Gatluak said President Salva Kiir is monitoring the recent developments closely and with great concern, calling on all the parties to overcome the current political crisis.

He announced that the South Sudan delegation would hold several meetings with Hamdok and the Forces of Freedom and Change to discuss the root of the problem and bridge differences among all political parties.

Meanwhile, authorities rearrested Ibrahim Ghandour, head of Sudan's disbanded former ruling National Congress Party, a day after his release. Other Islamist allies of former president Omar al-Bashir were also released from prison.

Their release following the coup had come under criticism from opponents of military rule.

Burhan also dismissed the Public Prosecutor and seven prosecutors, while sources said that releasing these people came from the Prosecution without any official confirmation.

The government spokesman's office, still aligned with civilian authorities who were removed last week, said in a statement that the releases of the Bashir-era figures "represent a setback against the state of institutions and the rule of law."

"This step makes clear the political cover for the coup and its real ideological orientation," the office said.

Military authorities did not respond to the request of the office of lawyer Ali Mahmoud Hassanein to interview detained civil leaders.

The US Embassy in Khartoum said it monitored a military raid on a resistance committee in the al-Shajara al-Hamdas neighborhood in Khartoum on October 31 resulted in an unknown number of arrests and injuries.

Movement in and around Khartoum has improved since October 30, said the statement, noting that the Embassy has received unverified reports that several bridges are open while others remain blocked by the military.

"Military checkpoints remain in place, and protesters continue to form their own roadblocks in and around Khartoum. The Embassy has received reports that the road connecting Egypt and Sudan has been blocked by protesters."

"The road to Port Sudan is reportedly no longer blocked by the Beja Tribal Council, but it is not yet confirmed that the route is accessible," it reported.



Israeli Fire Kills 30 in Gaza, Medics Say, as Attention Shifts to Iran 

Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Fire Kills 30 in Gaza, Medics Say, as Attention Shifts to Iran 

Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)

Israeli gunfire and strikes killed at least 30 people across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, local health authorities said, as some Palestinians there said their plight was being forgotten as attention shifted to the air war between Israel and Iran.

The deaths included the latest in near daily killings of Palestinians seeking aid in the three weeks since Israel partially lifted a total blockade on Gaza that it had imposed for almost three months.

Medics said separate airstrikes on homes in the Maghazi refugee camp and Zeitoun neighborhood in central and northern Gaza killed at least 14 people, while five others were killed in an airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Eleven others were killed in Israeli fire at crowds of displaced Palestinians awaiting aid trucks brought in by the United Nations along the Salahuddin road in central Gaza, medics said.

The Israel army said it was looking into the reported deaths of people waiting for food. Regarding the other strikes, it said it was "operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities" and "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm."

On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said 397 Palestinians among those trying to get food aid had been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since aid deliveries restarted in late May.

Some in Gaza expressed concern that the latest escalations in the war between Israel and Hamas that began in October 2023 would be overlooked as the focus moved to Israel's five-day-old conflict with Iran.

"People are being slaughtered in Gaza, day and night, but attention has shifted to the Iran-Israel war. There is little news about Gaza these days," said Adel, a resident of Gaza City.

"Whoever doesn't die from Israeli bombs dies from hunger. People risk their lives every day to get food, and they also get killed and their blood smears the sacks of flour they thought they had won," he told Reuters via a chat app.

'FORGOTTEN'

Israel has been channeling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through a new US- and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.

It has said it will continue to allow aid into Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, while ensuring aid doesn't get into the hands of Hamas. Hamas denies seizing aid, saying Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the population in Gaza.

The Gaza war was triggered when Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli allies.

US ally Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, displaced almost all the territory's residents, and caused a severe hunger crisis.

The assault has led to accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies.

Palestinians in Gaza have been closely following Israel's air war with Iran, long a major supporter of Hamas.

"We are maybe happy to see Israel suffer from Iranian rockets, but at the end of the day, one more day in this war costs the lives of tens of innocent people," said 47-year-old Shaban Abed, a father of five from northern Gaza.

"We just hope that a comprehensive solution could be reached to end the war in Gaza, too. We are being forgotten," he said.