Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS to Hold 1st Ministerial Meeting in Marrakech

Morocco has co-chaired the Global Counter-terrorism Forum for three consecutive terms and currently hosts the United Nations Office for Counter-terrorism and Training in Africa. (AFP)
Morocco has co-chaired the Global Counter-terrorism Forum for three consecutive terms and currently hosts the United Nations Office for Counter-terrorism and Training in Africa. (AFP)
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Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS to Hold 1st Ministerial Meeting in Marrakech

Morocco has co-chaired the Global Counter-terrorism Forum for three consecutive terms and currently hosts the United Nations Office for Counter-terrorism and Training in Africa. (AFP)
Morocco has co-chaired the Global Counter-terrorism Forum for three consecutive terms and currently hosts the United Nations Office for Counter-terrorism and Training in Africa. (AFP)

The Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS will hold its first ministerial meeting in Marrakech on Wednesday, at the joint invitation of Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The meeting aims to address ISIS’s growing threat in Africa and efforts to combat this threat in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Blinken will not attend the meeting after he tested positive for COVID-19 last week.

The meeting is another step in the pursuit of international commitment and coordination in the fight against ISIS, with a particular focus on Africa and the growing terrorist threat in the Middle East and other regions, Morocco’s Foreign Ministry stated.

The ministers will review the stabilization efforts in areas affected by ISIS, including the field of strategic communication against the group and its supporters’ radicalization propaganda and the fight against foreign terrorist elements.

Earlier this year, the Coalition announced the creation of the Africa Focus Group. This step will be followed up in the upcoming meeting, with additional directives and concrete answers to confront the rise of terrorism in Africa.

As the host country of the annual meeting and the co-chair of the Africa Focus Group, the meeting underscores Morocco’s leading role at the regional and international levels in the fight against terrorism and efforts to maintain peace, security and stability in Africa.

It also acknowledges Rabat as a credible partner in establishing regional peace and security.

The meeting further reflects the confidence in Morocco’s unique approach, developed under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, in the fight against terrorism.

Morocco has co-chaired the Global Counter-terrorism Forum for three consecutive terms and currently hosts the United Nations Office for Counter-terrorism and Training in Africa.

It organized in June 2018 the meeting of the Political Directors of the Global Coalition against ISIS, which addressed the terrorist threat in Africa.



UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)

UN officials on Monday asked for $6 billion for Sudan this year from donors to help ease what they called the world's worst ever hunger catastrophe and the mass displacement of people brought on by civil war.

The UN appeal represents a rise of more than 40% from last year's for Sudan at a time when aid budgets around the world are under strain, partly due to a pause in funding announced by US President Donald Trump last month that has affected life-saving programs across the globe.

The UN says the funds are necessary because the impact of the 22-month war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - that has already displaced a fifth of its population and stoked severe hunger among around half its population - looks set to worsen.

World Food Program chief Cindy McCain, speaking via video to a room full of diplomats in Geneva, said: "Sudan is now the epicenter of the world's largest and most severe hunger crisis ever."

She did not provide figures, but Sudan's total population currently stands at about 48 million people. Among previous world famines, the Bengal Famine of 1943 claimed between 2 million and 3 million lives, according to several estimates, while millions are believed to have died in the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-61.

Famine conditions have been reported in at least five locations in Sudan, including displacement camps in Darfur, a UN statement said, and this was set to worsen with continued fighting and the collapse of basic services.

"This is a humanitarian crisis that is truly unprecedented in its scale and its gravity and it demands a response unprecedented in scale and intent," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said.

One of the famine-stricken camps was attacked by the RSF last week as the group tries to tighten its grip on its Darfur stronghold.

While some aid agencies say they have received waivers from Washington to provide aid in Sudan, uncertainty remains on the extent of coverage for providing famine relief.

The UN plan aims to reach nearly 21 million people within the country, making it the most ambitious humanitarian response so far for 2025, and requires $4.2 billion - the rest being for those displaced by the conflict.