Cairo Warns of Impact of Food, Energy Crises on Climate Change

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (Asharq Al-Awsat- File Photo)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (Asharq Al-Awsat- File Photo)
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Cairo Warns of Impact of Food, Energy Crises on Climate Change

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (Asharq Al-Awsat- File Photo)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (Asharq Al-Awsat- File Photo)

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the president-designate of the upcoming UN climate change conference, has warned of the impact of challenges posed by the global food and energy crises on climate change.

In remarks published by Bloomberg news agency on Sunday, Shoukry said his country will prevent all what could impact the level of ambition and might lead to distractions of the climate change priority.

Egypt will host the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference 2022 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in November.

As the first African country to host a COP meeting in six years, Shoukry affirmed that Cairo also wants to focus on how developing nations can get funding to adapt to the changing climate and to finance the green energy transition.

“The conference is going to be held in a difficult geo-political situation, with the world facing energy and food challenges,” he said in written answers to questions.

The FM stressed that his country wants to ensure there’s no backtracking on past commitments to slow the pace of climate change — even as global leaders grapple with food shortages, an energy crisis and high inflation.

The main focus of COP27 is to “raise ambition” and confirm “no backsliding or backtracking on commitments and pledges” made in past summits, he said.

The plummeting cost of renewable power should lead to large investments into cleaner forms of energy, Shoukry said.

But the current geopolitical situation suggests the switch to renewable power will take longer than the global community anticipated at the COP meeting in Glasgow last year, he explained.

He underscored the importance of listening carefully to African concerns and to ensure the African priorities, such as adaptation and resilience.

He added that negotiations on finance should take into consideration “the needs of communities across Africa, who are suffering more than any other continent from the impacts of climate change.”

Shoukry also affirmed that the job of the COP presidency is to align and converge the views and to overcome this divide, noting that achieving a breakthrough in finance remains of high importance for many of the developing and African countries.

Egypt was the first in the Middle East and North Africa to issue a sovereign green bond worth $750 million in 2020, tapping investors keen to fund clean transport, water supply for cities and the management of wastewater.

It submitted in June a new and updated climate targets to the UN as part of its attempt to contribute to slowing the pace of climate change and aims to double the share of renewables in the power mix to 42% by 2035.

“While we recognize that governments play a central role for the success of international efforts to deal with the climate crisis, the current challenge requires the concerted efforts of all stakeholders,” Shoukry said when asked about whether protests will be allowed at Sharm el-Sheikh.

“All stakeholders have to have a role at the COP, and the appropriate space to express their views at both the formal and the informal tracks.”



RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
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RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled a displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday, killing eight civilians and injuring others, a local rescue group said.

The bombardment hit Abu Shouk camp, which hosts tens of thousands of displaced people on the outskirts of El Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur.

El-Fasher remains the last major stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region not under the control of the RSF, who have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, AFP reported.

"The Abu Shouk camp witnessed heavy artillery bombardment by the RSF... killing eight people," the camp's Emergency Response Room said in a statement.

In recent weeks, El-Fasher, which has been under RSF siege since last year, has been locked in intense fighting between warring sides in a region also gripped by famine.

Thursday's offensive comes just days after a series of attacks by the RSF targeted another battleground region of Sudan.

More than 450 people, including 35 children, were killed in several villages of North Kordofan, southwest of the capital Khartoum, according to a statement released this week by the UN's children agency.

"No child should ever experience such horrors," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Violence against children is unconscionable and must end now."

On Sunday, the RSF claimed to have killed more than 470 army personnel near the town of El-Obeid, also in North Kordofan, in a statement posted to its Telegram channel.

Independent verification of casualties in Sudan remains difficult due to restricted access to its conflict zones.

Now in its third year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement crisis.

In December last year, famine was officially declared in three displacement camps near El-Fasher, namely Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam, according to the UN.

Since the Sudanese army regained control of the capital Khartoum in March, the RSF has shifted its operations westward, focusing on Darfur and Kordofan in a bid to consolidate territorial gains.

In April, RSF fighters seized the Zamzam displacement camp, located near Abu Shouk.

The assault forced nearly 400,000 people to flee, according to UN figures, effectively emptying one of the country's largest camps for the displaced.

Sudanese analyst Mohaned el-Nour told AFP the RSF aims to redefine its role in the conflict.

"Their goal is no longer to be seen as a militia, but as an alternative government in western Sudan, undermining the legitimacy of the authorities in Port Sudan."

He added that the recent surge in violence in North Kordofan was likely intended to divert the army's attention from El Fasher, where the military is trying "at all costs" to maintain.