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Taqaddum Warns of ‘Catastrophic’ Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan

Internally displaced Muslim devotees wait to break their fast at a courtyard during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Gedaref on March 13, 2024. (AFP)
Internally displaced Muslim devotees wait to break their fast at a courtyard during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Gedaref on March 13, 2024. (AFP)
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Taqaddum Warns of ‘Catastrophic’ Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan

Internally displaced Muslim devotees wait to break their fast at a courtyard during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Gedaref on March 13, 2024. (AFP)
Internally displaced Muslim devotees wait to break their fast at a courtyard during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Gedaref on March 13, 2024. (AFP)

The Sudanese Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum) appealed for the international community to urgently intervene to aid the people caught in the fighting between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

It called on it to agree on routes to deliver humanitarian aid to all affected regions in the country.

Headed by former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, Taqaddum met overnight on Saturday to discuss the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the ongoing war that erupted on April 15.

It also addressed the weak international response to the humanitarian crisis.

Hamdok underscored the importance of humanitarian assistance and the impact of the war on Sudanese people inside the country and abroad.

Taqaddum called on the warring parties to guarantee the delivery of aid. The gatherers agreed to form a platform to coordinate the humanitarian response, attract foreign support and draw the world's attention to the catastrophe in Sudan.

Taqaddum is expected to issue a "joint appeal" that sets the operational steps to confront the humanitarian crisis and unite international efforts to support the Sudanese people during the crisis.

Taqaddum member Khaled Omar Youssef described the humanitarian situation in Sudan as "catastrophic", warning that famine is imminent if the war continues.

The meeting stressed the importance of the formation of a broad team that would coordinate efforts, urge the international community to provide humanitarian aid and remove the obstacles that are hindering relief efforts.

He warned that the war has "divided the Sudanese people in an unprecedented way".

Millions of people are paying the price, but the humanitarian crisis and its impact must not be sources of division and differences, he declared.

International and regional efforts on Sudan are focusing on addressing the humanitarian file and reaching a ceasefire between the army and RSF.

The army had previously approved the delivery of aid, but limited the routes for their delivery through airports, marine ports and land borders in regions held under its control.

Meanwhile, the RSF, which holds four major states in Darfur and Al-Jazirah, has demanded the delivery of aid to regions under its control through an agreement between relevant parties and international organizations.

The army has been accused of obstructing the delivery of aid to hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in conflict zones in Darfur and the capital Khartoum.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned last week that almost 18 million people in Sudan are facing acute food insecurity - the highest number ever recorded during a harvest season.

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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)
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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.