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Mangoush Not First Woman to Chair Arab League FMs Session

(L to R) Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs Najla Mangoush, and Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki attend a meeting of the Arab League Foreign Ministers in the Egyptian capital Cairo on September 6, 2022. (Photo by AFP)
(L to R) Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs Najla Mangoush, and Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki attend a meeting of the Arab League Foreign Ministers in the Egyptian capital Cairo on September 6, 2022. (Photo by AFP)
    Cairo - Iman Mabourk
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Mangoush Not First Woman to Chair Arab League FMs Session

(L to R) Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs Najla Mangoush, and Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki attend a meeting of the Arab League Foreign Ministers in the Egyptian capital Cairo on September 6, 2022. (Photo by AFP)
(L to R) Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs Najla Mangoush, and Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki attend a meeting of the Arab League Foreign Ministers in the Egyptian capital Cairo on September 6, 2022. (Photo by AFP)

An ordinary session for Arab League foreign ministers kickstarted on Tuesday in Cairo with Libya heading the meeting after taking over from Lebanon to chair the talks.

The session is being led by Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush, who indicated in a tweet that she is “the first woman to chair the meeting of Arab foreign ministers.”

“I am overjoyed and proud that Libya has regained leadership of the ministerial meeting of the Arab League for the first time in 9 years, and I am honored to be the first woman to lead the healing of Arabs on the land of Egypt,” tweeted Mangoush.

“We hope that this will be a good start for our country to return to its pioneering role at the heart of the Arab family,” added Mangoush.

Despite Mangoush’s claims, she is not the first woman to head a meeting for Arab League foreign ministers. Two women had chaired Arab League meetings before.

In July 2014, Morocco's Minister-Delegate of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Mbarka Bouaida chaired an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers held in Cairo.

Morocco chaired the 141st Arab League session and Bouaida was chosen to stand in place of former Moroccan Foreign Minister Salah Mezouar, who could not attend the session at the time due to his travel abroad.

As for the second woman to chair a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers, she was Mauritanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vatma Vall Mint Soueina.

Soueina chaired a session held in March 2015 to prepare for an Arab League summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Five Arab women have held the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The first female Arab foreign minister was Mauritania’s Naha Mint Mouknass, who was appointed in the government of Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf between 2009 and 2011.

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Winter Rains Pile Misery on War-torn Gaza's Displaced

With many residents of Gaza displaced by the war, often living in cramped tent camps, the coming winter is a cause for concern - AFP
With many residents of Gaza displaced by the war, often living in cramped tent camps, the coming winter is a cause for concern - AFP
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Winter Rains Pile Misery on War-torn Gaza's Displaced

With many residents of Gaza displaced by the war, often living in cramped tent camps, the coming winter is a cause for concern - AFP
With many residents of Gaza displaced by the war, often living in cramped tent camps, the coming winter is a cause for concern - AFP

At a crowded camp in Gaza for those displaced by the Israeli war on the strip, Ayman Siam laid concrete blocks around his tent to keep his family dry as rain threatened more misery.

"I'm trying to protect my tent from the rainwater because we are expecting heavy rain. Three days ago when it rained, we were drenched," Siam said, seeking to shield his children and grandchildren from more wet weather.

Siam is among thousands sheltering at Gaza City's Yarmuk sports stadium in the north after being uprooted by the Israeli bombardment.

He lives in one of many flimsy tents set up at the stadium, where the pitch has become a muddy field dotted with puddles left by rainfall that washed away belongings and shelters.

People in the stadium dug small trenches around their tents, covered them with plastic sheets, and did whatever they could to stop the water from entering their makeshift homes.

Others used spades to direct the water into drains, as grey skies threatened more rain.

- 'Catastrophic' -

The majority of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, by the war that began with Hamas's attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 44,235 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

With many displaced living in tent camps, the coming winter is raising serious concerns.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, told AFP that "tens of thousands of displaced people, especially in the central and south of Gaza Strip, are suffering from flooded tents due to the rains", and called on the international community to provide tents and aid.

International aid organizations have sounded the alarm about the deteriorating situation as winter approaches.

"It's going to be catastrophic," warned Louise Wateridge, an emergency officer for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees currently in Gaza.

"People don't have anything that they need," she said from Gaza City. "They haven't had basic, basic, basic things for 13 months, not food, not water, not shelter," she added.

"It's going to be miserable, it's going to be very desperate."

The rainy period in Gaza lasts between late October and April, with January being the wettest month, averaging 30 to 40 millimetres of rain.

Winter temperatures can drop as low as six degrees Celsius (42 Fahrenheit), AFP reported.

Recent rain has flooded hundreds of tents near the coast in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, as well as in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south, according to Gaza's civil defense.

- 'Nothing left' -

Auni al-Sabea, living in a tent in Deir el-Balah, was among those bearing the brunt of the weather without proper accommodation.

"The rain and seawater flooded all the tents. We are helpless. The water took everything from the tent, including the mattresses, blankets and a water jug. We were only able to get a mattress and blankets for the children," said the displaced man.

"Now, we are in the street and we have nothing left," said the 40-year-old from Al-Shati Camp.

At the stadium, Umm Ahmed Saliha showed the water that pooled under her tent during morning prayers. "All of this is from this morning's rain and winter hasn't even started properly."