Cairo, Juba Discuss Efforts for Permanent Ceasefire in Sudan

FILE – Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry – Reuters
FILE – Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry – Reuters
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Cairo, Juba Discuss Efforts for Permanent Ceasefire in Sudan

FILE – Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry – Reuters
FILE – Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry – Reuters

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has discussed with South Sudan’s Acting Foreign Minister, Deng Dau, efforts to promote and support a permanent ceasefire in Sudan.

In a telephone call, Shoukry and Dau reviewed the efforts the two sides exert towards reaching a permanent ceasefire in Sudan, based on the Egyptian-South Sudanese initiative that was agreed upon during the phone call of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and President Salva Kiir on April 16.

During the call, Shoukry emphasized that Egypt and South Sudan are among the most affected by the ongoing conflict in Sudan, especially that they share long borders with Sudan, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid.

“The FM also stressed that the interests of the brotherly Sudanese people remain the primary concern and goal behind the two countries' efforts,” the spokesperson added.

Both sides agreed to intensify communication and coordination in the coming period.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry updated the list of assembly points where Egyptian citizens are evacuated from Sudan. It said the new assembly points are the Egyptian Consulate General in Port Sudan and the border crossings of Qastal and Arqin.

The Ministry announced the end of the evacuations from the Wadi Seidna Air Base, north of Khartoum, for security reasons.

It called upon those who are currently in the base to leave as early as possible and to head to one of the three following areas: the Egyptian Consulate in Port Sudan and the Qastal and Arqin border crossings.

On Friday, Abu Zaid said in a statement that 454 Egyptian nationals were evacuated.

A total of 1,072 Egyptians returned to Egypt from Sudan on Friday, bringing the figure to 6,399 since the beginning of the crisis in the southern neighbor.

He said Egypt operated four flights on April 28 as part of the ongoing airlift operation to transport Egyptian nationals from Sudan.



Israeli Military Sets up Roadblocks in Southern Lebanon, Announces It Won’t Withdraw by Deadline

 This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road at the entrance of the village of Houla along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)
This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road at the entrance of the village of Houla along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)
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Israeli Military Sets up Roadblocks in Southern Lebanon, Announces It Won’t Withdraw by Deadline

 This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road at the entrance of the village of Houla along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)
This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road at the entrance of the village of Houla along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)

Israel's military Saturday set up roadblocks across border towns and roads in a strategic valley in southern Lebanon, a day before the deadline for it to withdraw from the area under an agreement that halted its war with the Hezbollah group.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, confirmed that it will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by Sunday as outlined in the ceasefire agreement.

The deal that went into effect in late November gave both sides 60 days to remove their forces from southern Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to move in and secure the area, along with UN peacekeepers. Israel says Hezbollah and the Lebanese army haven’t met their obligations, while Lebanon accuses the Israeli army of hindering the Lebanese military from taking over.

In a statement Saturday, the Israeli military said the agreement is progressing. But it said in some sectors, “it has been delayed and will take slightly longer.”

The Lebanese military has said that they had deployed in areas following Israeli troops’ withdrawal, and in a statement Saturday accused the Israeli military of “procrastinating” in their withdrawal from other areas.

Washington appears to support an extension of this withdrawal phase.

While Lebanese army soldiers are dispersed across the south’s western sector, Israeli troops remained in control of most of the southeastern sector.

Members of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said Israeli tanks and bulldozers have unexpectedly moved and set up several roadblocks, apparently in an attempt to prevent displaced Lebanese people trying to return to their villages.

In Mais al-Jabal, peacekeepers from a Nepalese battalion watched in their position along the UN-mandated Blue Line as an Israeli jet flew overhead following the sound of what they said was an Israeli controlled demolition of a building.

There are no residents left in that town and the vast majority of the buildings seen by Associated Press journalists were reduced to rubble or pancaked after intense Israeli shelling and airstrikes, following by clashes during its ground invasion. The few that stood had their walls blown out and are badly damaged. The piles of rubble and debris on the road make it impossible for civilian cars to enter the town that once was home to a few thousand people.

The scene is similar in neighboring towns, including Blida and Aitaroun, where almost all the structures have collapsed into mounds of rubble and no residents have returned.

The peacekeepers tried to appeal for permission to move across the roadblocks, but were not authorized to do so. An AP crew that had joined UNIFIL on patrol was stranded as a result.

“There is still a lot of IDF (Israeli army) activity going on in the area,” said Maj. Dinesh Bhandari of UNIFIL’s Nepalese battalion in Mays al-Jabal overlooking the Blue Line. “We are waiting for the deconfliction and then we will support to deploy the LAF (Lebanese army) in that position.”

When asked about weapons belonging to Hezbollah, Bhandari said they had found caches of weapons, munitions and mines in some structures during their patrols.

Israel says it has been taking down the remaining infrastructure left by the Hezbollah, which has a strong military and political presence in the south. Israel since its ground incursion into Lebanon said it also targeted a tunnel network, and has conducted large-scale demolition of buildings in a handful of border towns.

Lebanese officials have complained that the Israeli military is also destroying civilian homes and infrastructure.

In a call with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pointed to the “destruction of villages adjacent to the southern border and the bulldozing of lands, which will hinder the return of residents to their areas,” according to the state-run National News Agency. France, along with the US, is a guarantor of the ceasefire deal.

Some 112,000 Lebanese remain displaced, out of over 1 million displaced during the war. Large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs were destroyed in Israeli bombardments.