Yemen Presidential Council Sets Priorities, Vows to Restore State

The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council meets on Saturday. (Saba)
The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council meets on Saturday. (Saba)
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Yemen Presidential Council Sets Priorities, Vows to Restore State

The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council meets on Saturday. (Saba)
The Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council meets on Saturday. (Saba)

The new Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council convened with the government for the first time on Saturday.

The meeting, held in Riyadh, set the priorities of the council for the upcoming period and the means to implement its duties.

Chaired by Rashad al-Alimi, the council includes seven other officials.

Official sources said the council's priorities are seeking the "highest level of consensus" in line with the current critical state of affairs in Yemen. The council will rely on consensus between local forces and political and societal groupings to operate with the aim to restore the state and ease the suffering of the people.

The council stressed that achieving economic stability and easing humanitarian suffering are its top priorities, reported the state news agency Saba.

Alimi expressed his confidence that national efforts and unity will succeed in translating into action the outcomes of the intra-Yemeni consultations that were held in Riyadh earlier this month.

The consultations represent a new phase of work towards easing the suffering of the people by the Iran-backed Houthi militias.

The council's hand is extended to just and comprehensive peace, he stressed, adding that it will not hesitate in defending the security of Yemen and its people.

It will defeat any Iranian agenda aimed at undermining Yemen's Arab identity and turning it into a source of threat to the Gulf, he continued.

Alimi said: "We realize the amount of challenges ahead of us, but we are determined enough to forge ahead."

"We are relying on the cooperation of all sides, on the local, regional and international levels, to fulfill our national duties" he declared.



Sudan’s RSF Kill More Than 30 in a New Attack on a Darfur City, Activists Say 

People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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Sudan’s RSF Kill More Than 30 in a New Attack on a Darfur City, Activists Say 

People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked a city in the western Darfur region, killing more than 30 people, an activist group said, in the latest deadly offensive on an area that is home to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

The RSF and allied militias launched an offensive on el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, on Sunday, according to the Resistance Committees, an activist group. Dozens of other people were wounded in the attack, said the group, which tracks the war.

The RSF renewed its attack on Monday, shelling residential buildings and open markets in the city, the group said. There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

El-Fasher, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, is under the control of the military, which has fought the RSF since Sudan descended into civil war more than two years ago, killing more than 24,000 people, according to the United Nations, though activists say the number is likely far higher.

The RSF has been attempting to seize el-Fasher for a year to complete its control of the entire Darfur region. Since then, it has launched many attacks on the city and two major famine-hit camps for displaced people on its outskirts.

The city is now estimated to be home to more than 1 million people, many of whom have been displaced by the ongoing war and previous bouts of violence in Darfur.

The attacks on el-Fasher have intensified in recent months as the RSF suffered battlefield setbacks in Khartoum and other urban areas in the county’s east and center.

Sunday’s violence came less than a week after a two-day attack by the RSF and its allied militias on the city and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps killed more than 400 people, according to the United Nations.

Last week’s attack forced up to 400,000 people to flee the Zamzam camp, Sudan’s largest, which has become inaccessible to aid workers, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.