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Sudan Tripartite Mechanism: Efforts Ongoing to Add More Parties to Political Agreement

The Tripartite Mechanism pledged to continue engaging with non-signatories of the political framework agreement and encourage them to join efforts to reach a final political deal leading. (SUNA)
The Tripartite Mechanism pledged to continue engaging with non-signatories of the political framework agreement and encourage them to join efforts to reach a final political deal leading. (SUNA)
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Sudan Tripartite Mechanism: Efforts Ongoing to Add More Parties to Political Agreement

The Tripartite Mechanism pledged to continue engaging with non-signatories of the political framework agreement and encourage them to join efforts to reach a final political deal leading. (SUNA)
The Tripartite Mechanism pledged to continue engaging with non-signatories of the political framework agreement and encourage them to join efforts to reach a final political deal leading. (SUNA)

The Tripartite Mechanism, which facilitates dialogue between Sudanese parties, pledged on Monday to continue engaging with non-signatories of the political framework agreement and encourage them to join efforts to reach a final political deal leading to the formation of a transitional civilian government in the country.

In a statement on Monday, the Mechanism, consisting of the African Union, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and United Nations, welcomed the parties’ agreement on a roadmap and timetable for drafting the final political agreement and the formation of a civilian government in April.

A meeting was held on Sunday at the Republican Palace between military leaders, the Forces for Freedom and Change and other parties and facilitated by the Tripartite Mechanism.

Officials agreed on the final dates for the political process, starting with the signing of the final agreement on April 1, the signing of the constitution on April 6, and formation of the institutions of the transitional authority on April 11.

The Mechanism said parties agreed to form committees to finalize the drafting of a final political agreement and preparations to finalize a draft transitional constitution with all relevant stakeholders. Participants also agreed to continue engaging with non-signatories and encourage them to join efforts to reach a final political agreement and will continue its efforts to this end.

The Mechanism said it hopes the Sudanese parties will reach during the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, a final agreement on solutions to pave the way for the formation of a civilian-led government and end Sudan’s current crisis. Ramadan is set to begin this week.

Currently, the parties to the framework agreement will nominate their representatives to the committees to begin drafting the final agreement.

The Mechanism had invited leader of the Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement, Jibril Ibrahim, the leader of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM), Minni Arko Minnawi, and members of the original Democratic Unionist Party, which all operate under the "Democratic Bloc", to participate in the meeting. But, they refused to attend.

Bloc spokesperson Moataz Al-Fahal said in a press conference Monday that the group had made many concessions to reach a political declaration with Forces of Freedom and Change Central Council (FFC-CC), despite its reservations, because it was keen on resolving the crisis.

Al-Fahal charged that the invitation that was extended to them to attend the meeting with the military and FFC forces aims to break up the unity of their bloc.

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Trump Administration Ends Some USAID Contracts Providing Lifesaving Aid across the Middle East

A USAID flag flutters outside, as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)
A USAID flag flutters outside, as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump Administration Ends Some USAID Contracts Providing Lifesaving Aid across the Middle East

A USAID flag flutters outside, as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)
A USAID flag flutters outside, as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)

The Trump administration has notified the World Food Program and other partners that it has terminated some of the last remaining lifesaving humanitarian programs across the Middle East, a US official and a UN official told The Associated Press on Monday.

The projects were being canceled “for the convenience of the US Government” at the direction of Jeremy Lewin, a top lieutenant at Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency whom the Trump administration appointed to oversee and finish dismantling the US Agency for International Development, according to letters sent to USAID partners and viewed by the AP.

About 60 letters canceling contracts were sent over the past week, including for major projects with the World Food Program, the world’s largest provider of food aid, a USAID official said. An official with the United Nations in the Middle East said the World Food Program received termination letters for US-funded programs in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Some of the last remaining US funding for key programs in Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and the southern African nation of Zimbabwe also was affected, including for those providing food, water, medical care and shelter for people displaced by war, the USAID official said.

The UN official said the groups that would be hit hardest include Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon. Also affected are programs supporting vulnerable Lebanese people and providing irrigation systems inside Syria, a country emerging from a brutal civil war and struggling with poverty and hunger.

In Yemen, another war-divided country that is facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, the terminated aid apparently includes food that has already arrived in distribution centers, the UN official said.

Aid officials were just learning of many of the cuts Monday and said they were struggling to understand their scope.

Another of the notices, sent Friday, abruptly pulled US funding for a program with strong support in Congress that had sent young Afghan women overseas for schooling amid Taliban prohibitions on women’s education, said an administrator for that project, which is run by Texas A&M University.

The young women would now face return to Afghanistan, where their lives would be in danger, according to that administrator, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Trump administration had pledged to spare those most urgent, lifesaving programs in its cutting of aid and development programs through the State Department and USAID.

The Republican administration already has canceled thousands of USAID contracts as it dismantles USAID, which it accuses of wastefulness and of advancing liberal causes.

The newly terminated contracts were among about 900 surviving programs that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had notified Congress he intended to preserve, the USAID official said.

There was no immediate comment from the State Department.