Dagalo Accuses Sudanese Parties of ‘Obstructing’ Peace

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo addresses troops at a camp west of Omdurman. SUNA
General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo addresses troops at a camp west of Omdurman. SUNA
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Dagalo Accuses Sudanese Parties of ‘Obstructing’ Peace

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo addresses troops at a camp west of Omdurman. SUNA
General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo addresses troops at a camp west of Omdurman. SUNA

The leader of Sudan's Sovereign Council, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah Burhan, said on Friday that his country is passing through exceptional circumstances imposed by the reality of the transitional period.

On the occasion of Eid al-Adha, Burhan called for spreading a spirit of forgiveness in the country to enhance national unity.

“There is a need to exert efforts for building state institutions during this transitional phase,” he said.

For his part, his deputy chairman, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, warned that some parties plan to obstruct peace.

Dagalo said the parties seek to incite strife and to settle their own scores to destroy the country.

“The international community wants to achieve peace in Sudan. However, unfortunately, some parties inside the country do not want peace,” he said.

Also on Friday, Chairman of Sudan’s opposition Umma Party Sadiq Al-Mahdi rejected to extend the transitional phase.

In a sermon delivered on the occasion of Eid al-Adha from Wad Nubawi mosque in Omdurman, he spoke about the "failure of the transitional period.”

After months of protests in Sudan, negotiations led last year to a joint civilian-military transitional government to govern the country for a period of 39 months.

In his evaluation of the transitional period, al-Mahdi disapproved Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok’s request to place Sudan under "UN tutelage.”

The NUP leader also criticized the PM’s acceptance of the principle of paying compensation to US victims of terror attacks committed by the ousted regime in order to remove Sudan from the list of countries that support terrorism.

The Umma Party leader said that the communist faction of the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) recently established an alliance with the SPLM-N led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu and formed a secularist bloc with external support from the right-wing American evangelical groups that seek to divide Sudan.

"This secularist bloc, with its declared policies, would provide the Islamist bloc with more reasons to justify its existence and actions,” he said.

Leader of the Original Democratic Unionist Party Muhammad Uthman al Mirghani expressed on Friday his support to the transitional government “until holding free and fair elections to allow the Sudanese people chose their representatives.”



US Shifts $100 Million in Military Aid from Israel and Egypt to Lebanon to Bolster Ceasefire

Lebanese soldiers drive in Qana, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect, southern Lebanon, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
Lebanese soldiers drive in Qana, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect, southern Lebanon, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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US Shifts $100 Million in Military Aid from Israel and Egypt to Lebanon to Bolster Ceasefire

Lebanese soldiers drive in Qana, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect, southern Lebanon, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
Lebanese soldiers drive in Qana, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect, southern Lebanon, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)

The Biden administration in its final days is shifting more than $100 million in military aid from Israel and Egypt to Lebanon as it tries to bolster a ceasefire agreement it helped mediate between Israel and Hezbollah.
In separate notices sent to Congress, the State Department said it was moving $95 million in military assistance intended for Egypt and $7.5 million for Israel toward supporting the Lebanese army and its government. The notices were dated Jan. 3 and obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Most of the money will go to the Lebanese Armed Forces, which have a critical role in standing up the ceasefire that was agreed to in November following an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah that battered much of southern and eastern Lebanon for two months.
It is intended to help the LAF deploy in the south of the country and supplement the role of the UN peacekeeping mission patrolling the so-called Blue Line, which has separated Israel and Lebanon since the end of a monthlong Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
“Successful implementation (of the ceasefire) will require an empowered LAF, which will need robust assistance from the United States and other partners,” the State Department said in the notices, both of which used nearly identical language to explain the funding shifts.
Both Israel and Hezbollah agreed to pull their forces out of southern Lebanon before the end of January, with compliance to be overseen by the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers.
“US security assistance to the LAF increases its capacity as the country’s only legitimate military force and defender of Lebanon’s territorial integrity, enables the LAF to prevent potential destabilization from ISIS and other terrorist groups, and enables the LAF to provide security both for the Lebanese people and for US personnel,” the State Department said.
Pro-Israel members of Congress and others have in the past complained about any diversion of US assistance to Israel, although it was not immediately clear if there would be objections to such a small amount of shifted money.
At the same time, some of those who have been forceful advocates of Israel and critics of US assistance to the Lebanese military have often complained that it has been infiltrated by Hezbollah. The notices rejected that claim.
“US support to the LAF reinforces the LAF as an important institutional counterweight to Hezbollah, which receives weapons, training, and financial support from Iran,” the State Department said. “The LAF continues to be an independent, non-sectarian institution in Lebanon, and is respected across all sectors.”
In a third notice, also sent to Congress on Jan. 3, the department said it was going to provide $15 million to Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces to ensure that they become the primary law enforcement entity in the country and assist the LAF in controlling areas in the south.
That money will primarily be used to rebuild police stations, improve radio communications and purchase vehicles, the notice said.
The third notice also informed lawmakers that the administration would provide $3.06 million to the Palestinian Authority police to support its operations in the West Bank and $2.5 million to Jordan's Public Security Directorate to support its response to public demonstrations.