Sudan Appoints New Director of General Intelligence

 Sudanese protesters against the military rule in Omdurman. (AFP)
Sudanese protesters against the military rule in Omdurman. (AFP)
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Sudan Appoints New Director of General Intelligence

 Sudanese protesters against the military rule in Omdurman. (AFP)
Sudanese protesters against the military rule in Omdurman. (AFP)

Sudans’s sovereign council has appointed Ahmed Mufaddal, formerly deputy director, as the new director of the general intelligence service, official sources told Reuters on Saturday.

This came as Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok Prime Minister said Saturday he has replaced the country’s police chiefs after at least 42 people were killed in a crackdown on protests following October’s military coup.

Military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power and detained Hamdok on October 25, but after international condemnation and mass protests he reinstated the premier in a November 21 deal.

Hamdok said he had sacked the director general of the police, Khaled Mahdi Ibrahim al-Emam, and his deputy Ali Ibrahim.

In their place, he appointed Anan Hamed Mohamed Omar with Abdelrahman Nasreddine Abdallah as his deputy, the premier said in a statement.

Medics have accused security forces of targeting protesters in the "head, neck and torso" with live ammunition, as well as with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas canisters.

The police have denied reports they opened fire using live bullets.

Dozens of political activists, journalists, protesters and bystanders watching the rallies have been arrested in recent weeks, and remain in custody.

Hamdok has recently stressed he partnered with the military in order to “stop the bloodshed”.



Israel Flouting International Law with Forced Evacuations in Gaza, UN Says

Palestinians waiting in queue to receive bags of flour and other humanitarian aid distributed by UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians waiting in queue to receive bags of flour and other humanitarian aid distributed by UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Flouting International Law with Forced Evacuations in Gaza, UN Says

Palestinians waiting in queue to receive bags of flour and other humanitarian aid distributed by UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians waiting in queue to receive bags of flour and other humanitarian aid distributed by UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)

The UN Human Rights office accused Israel on Friday of violating international law by forcibly displacing Palestinians in Gaza under "mandatory evacuation orders".

The Israeli army has issued what the UN describes as 10 mandatory evacuation orders, covering large areas across Gaza, since it resumed its war against Hamas on March 18, breaking a two-month-old ceasefire amid rows over terms for extending it.

"These evacuations fail to comply with the requirements of international humanitarian law," UN human rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement on Friday.

Israel's mission to the UN in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel has previously denied violating humanitarian law in Gaza, blaming Hamas fighters for harm to civilians by operating among them. Hamas denies this.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister have been indicted alongside Hamas leaders by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on war crimes charges, which Israel rejects.

"Israel is not taking any measures to provide accommodation for the evacuated population, nor ensure that these evacuations are conducted in satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition," Al-Kheetan's statement added.

Over half of northern Gaza appears to be under such orders, it said, while those who have been newly displaced from the south of the enclave in the Rafah area and forced to go to coastal Al Mawasi were not guaranteed safety there.

"We are deeply concerned about the shrinking space for civilians in Gaza who are being forcibly displaced by the Israeli army from large swathes of territory," it added.

Since Israeli airstrikes resumed on March 18, at least 855 Palestinians have been killed and 1,869 injured, according to the UN, which cited figures from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.