Blinken Says Int’l Support for Sudan Hinges on Return of Civilian-Led Gov’t

Sudanese protest against the military coup that ousted government last month, in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
Sudanese protest against the military coup that ousted government last month, in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
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Blinken Says Int’l Support for Sudan Hinges on Return of Civilian-Led Gov’t

Sudanese protest against the military coup that ousted government last month, in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
Sudanese protest against the military coup that ousted government last month, in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised that Sudan would regain the international community’s support if the transitional government led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was reinstated.

"If the military puts this train back on its tracks and does what's necessary, I think the support that has been very strong from the international community can resume," said Blinken during a press conference in Nairobi.

He hinted at the suspension of $700 million in financial assistance that was allocated to Sudan following last month’s coup that hindered the transitional process towards democracy.

The process kicked off in 2019 after the ousting of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir who had been in power for 30 years.

The US administration has intensified its diplomatic efforts to put the civilian-led transition process in Sudan back on track.

Washington has sent US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee to Khartoum.

She held meetings with representatives of the civil authority including Hamdok and representatives of the military led by Army General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Phee tweeted that she was grateful for the opportunity to meet with Hamdok, who is under house arrest at his residence in Khartoum, to discuss ways forward to restore Sudan's democratic transition.



Israel Kills Dozens in Gaza, Sends Tanks into Southern Areas, Medics Say

A Palestinian boy looks on at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
A Palestinian boy looks on at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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Israel Kills Dozens in Gaza, Sends Tanks into Southern Areas, Medics Say

A Palestinian boy looks on at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
A Palestinian boy looks on at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 60 Palestinians overnight, including in a school sheltering displaced families, medics said, as Israeli tanks advanced in areas of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

Israeli tanks carried out a raid on several areas in eastern and central Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, before partially retreating, leaving at least 40 people killed and dozens wounded, according to the official Voice of Palestine radio and Hamas media.

In Gaza City, at least 22 Palestinians were killed, the medics said. One Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City killed 17 people, while another hit the Al-Amal Orphan Society, which also houses displaced persons, killing at least five others, the medics said.

The escalation came after Iran launched a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel's campaign against Tehran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and Israel vowed a "painful response" against its enemy.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, locked in nearly a year of war with Israel, celebrated as they watched dozens of rockets en route to Israel. Some of those rockets fell in the Palestinian enclave after being intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defenses, but caused no human losses, witnesses said.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel almost a year ago, in support of its ally Hamas in the war in Gaza, which began after the militant group staged the deadliest assault in Israel's history on Oct. 7.

The assault, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, triggered the war that has devastated Gaza, displacing most of its 2.3 million population and killing more than 41,600 people, according to Gaza health authorities.