Sudanese Parties Demand Expanding UN Initiative

Protests in Khartoum calling for the return of civilian rule (AFP)
Protests in Khartoum calling for the return of civilian rule (AFP)
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Sudanese Parties Demand Expanding UN Initiative

Protests in Khartoum calling for the return of civilian rule (AFP)
Protests in Khartoum calling for the return of civilian rule (AFP)

The Central Council of the Freedom and Change Forces in Sudan has called for expanding the UN initiative to solve the political crisis in the country.

The Council called for involving the Troika countries (US, UK, and Norway), the EU, and the Arab and African neighboring countries in the efforts to establish civilian authority.

The Council met with the head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), Volker Perthes, to discuss the political process.

Council members handed Perthes a document on the shape of the government during the transitional period to achieve a breakthrough and end the army's rule.

The Council wants to enact a new constitution that restores the path of democratic transition away from the army's involvement in politics.

In a press conference, spokesman Wajdi Saleh said that the Coalition, which includes various political parties and civil society organizations, decided to deal positively with the international initiative.

Saleh asserted that the Coalition appreciates the international actors who announced positions against the October 25 coup.

He called for the continuation of the peaceful popular movement until its goals are achieved.

Saleh added that security and military reforms are essential for a civil democratic transition, stressing the need for establishing the new constitution to unify the armed forces by implementing the security arrangements stipulated in the Juba Peace Agreement.

The Agreement calls for merging the forces of armed movements into the national army.

The spokesman stressed that the army's acceptance of the UN initiative only gains credibility when the state of emergency is lifted, all political detainees are released, and attacks and violence during the peaceful protests are stopped.



Report: France Issues New Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Report: France Issues New Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)

Two French investigating magistrates have issued an arrest warrant against ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes, the second such move by France's judicial authorities, a source said on Tuesday.

Assad, who was ousted late last year in a lightning offensive by opposition forces, is held responsible in the warrant issued on Monday as "commander-in-chief of the armed forces" for a bombing in the Syrian city of Daraa in 2017 that killed a civilian, a source close to the case, asking not to be named, told AFP.

This mandate was issued as part of an investigation into the case of Salah Abou Nabout, a 59-year-old Franco-Syrian national and former French teacher, who was killed on June 7, 2017 following the bombing of his home by Syrian army helicopters.

The French judiciary considers that Assad ordered and provided the means for this attack, according to the source.

Six senior Syrian army officials are already the target of French arrest warrants over the case in an investigation that began in 2018.

"This case represents the culmination of a long fight for justice, in which I and my family believed from the start," said Omar Abou Nabout, the victim's son, in a statement.

He expressed hope that "a trial will take place and that the perpetrators will be arrested and judged, wherever they are".

French authorities in November 2023 issued a first arrest warrant against Assad over chemical attacks in 2013 where more than a thousand people, according to American intelligence, were killed by sarin gas.

While considering Assad's participation in these attacks "likely", public prosecutors last year issued an appeal against the warrant on the grounds that Assad should have immunity as a head of state.

However, his ouster has now changed his status and potential immunity. Assad and his family fled to Russia after his fall, according to Russian authorities.