Arab Delegation Visits Russia Monday

The Kremlin in Moscow (EPA)
The Kremlin in Moscow (EPA)
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Arab Delegation Visits Russia Monday

The Kremlin in Moscow (EPA)
The Kremlin in Moscow (EPA)

The Arab League said a delegation of the Contact Group on Ukraine would start a visit Monday to Moscow to meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, then head to Poland to meet with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

The delegation will include Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Iraq, and Sudan.

The Group held a virtual coordination meeting at the ministerial level last Saturday to prepare for the visit to Moscow. The schedule includes visiting Warsaw the following day to meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

The meeting of Arab officials with the Foreign Ministers of Russia and Ukraine comes about a month after the Arab League recommended forming an Arab Contact Group on Ukraine at the ministerial level to follow up and conduct the necessary consultations.

The Group was also assigned with contacting the concerned parties hoping to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

During an emergency meeting at the level of delegates held at the General Secretariat of the Arab League in Cairo last February, the Council expressed “great concern” over the developing events in Ukraine and “their serious military and humanitarian consequences.”

The organization, which held an emergency meeting at Egypt’s request, said it supports “all efforts aimed at resolving the crisis through dialogue and diplomacy to preserve the security and safety of peoples in this important region of the world.”

It also emphasized the need for continued cooperation and coordination between Arab countries to maintain the security and safety of the Arab communities currently in the region, facilitate the crossing of those wishing to cross to neighboring countries, and maintain the security and safety of members of Arab diplomatic missions.

The meeting stressed the importance of respecting the principles of international law and the UN Charter and supporting efforts to ease tension in Ukraine.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
TT

Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.