Sudan's Burhan Says Army Will Only Hand Over Power to Elected Gov’t

Head of Sudan’s Sovereign Transitional Council General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AFP)
Head of Sudan’s Sovereign Transitional Council General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AFP)
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Sudan's Burhan Says Army Will Only Hand Over Power to Elected Gov’t

Head of Sudan’s Sovereign Transitional Council General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AFP)
Head of Sudan’s Sovereign Transitional Council General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AFP)

Head of Sudan’s Sovereign Transitional Council General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said in controversial statements from Darfur that the army will only hand over power to an elected civilian government or if a national consensus is reached.

His remarks were made on Wednesday while presiding over a meeting of the Permanent Ceasefire Committee of the Juba Peace Agreement in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.

Burhan considered completing the security arrangements necessary to avoid destabilizing acts and called on the joint force to protect citizens in Darfur and deter outlaws.

Burhan underscored the importance of directing arms to protect the borders and ensure the safe return of refugees and displaced people to their villages, in light of the regional turmoil.

Upon his arrival in Khartoum, Burhan met with the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Sudan and head of the UN Integrated Transitional Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) Volker Perthes.

The meeting touched on the current political situation in Sudan, as well as the security situation in the Darfur region, Volcker said in a press statement.

Discussions also tackled the UN-facilitated ongoing political consultation process to reach consensus and end the crisis.

The UN envoy stressed the need to provide a suitable environment to make the ongoing political consultations process successful by ending the violence that accompanies the demonstrations.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.