UN, EU Partnership to Combat Terrorism In Sudan

Protesters in Sudan. (AFP file photo)
Protesters in Sudan. (AFP file photo)
TT

UN, EU Partnership to Combat Terrorism In Sudan

Protesters in Sudan. (AFP file photo)
Protesters in Sudan. (AFP file photo)

A partnership between the United Nations, the European Union and Sudan was launched Monday to combat terrorism through a Capacity-Building Workshop that focuses on countering the financing of terrorism.

The two-day workshop, organized by the National Organization for Combating Terrorism in coordination with UNDP and the EU was held at the premises of the Higher Academy for Strategic and Security Studies in Sudan’s Soba.

“This program helps Sudan to detect and arrest terrorists, and helps the Commission to curb terrorism, and also to establish capacity-building activities in coordination with the African Union and the IGAD,” Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office, told participants in a video message.

He said this initiative affirms Sudan’s commitment to work together with the EU and the UN in the combat of terrorism.

Voronkov explained that Sudan has started the transition phase, and the project of the National Counter-Terrorism Capacity Building comes at the request of the Sudanese authorities to support it in fighting terrorism and money laundering.

Deputy Head of the European Union mission to Sudan, Daniel Weiss said that the combat of terrorism financing remains a top priority for the European Union, as was announced by EU leaders last November.

“Therefore the European Union is pleased to support this workshop within the framework of the Sudan Counter-Terrorism Partnership between the United Nations and the European Union,” Weiss said.

Ambassador Sayed Al-Tayeb, representative of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said the noble goals of this program aim to achieve the efforts adopted by the Sudan government for raising awareness, building knowledge and motivation to combat terrorism, as well as developing strategies and programs to translate these hopes into reality



France Highlights Its Role in Brokering Lebanon Ceasefire Deal

 Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
TT

France Highlights Its Role in Brokering Lebanon Ceasefire Deal

 Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)

France’s foreign minister underlined his country’s role in brokering an agreement that ended fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group alongside the US, saying the deal wouldn’t have been possible without France’s special relationship with its former protectorate.

“It’s a success for French diplomacy and we can be proud,” said the minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, speaking hours after the ceasefire went into effect Wednesday.

“It is true that the United States have a privileged relationship with Israel. But with Lebanon, it’s France that has very old ties, very close ties,” the minister added. “It would not have been possible to envisage a ceasefire in Lebanon without France being involved on the front line.”

France will be involved in monitoring the ceasefire, Barrot noted, with 700 French soldiers deployed as part of the 10,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, that has been patrolling the border area between Lebanon and Israel for nearly 50 years.

The minister said France will also work to strengthen Lebanese troops that will deploy in the south of the country as part of the ceasefire, although he didn’t specify what that might include.