عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

France to Host Humanitarian Conference for Sudan

Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019. - AFP
Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019. - AFP
TT
TT

France to Host Humanitarian Conference for Sudan

Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019. - AFP
Sudanese military personnel are positioned near a bridge gate during a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 15, 2019. - AFP

France is to host a humanitarian conference to provide aid to war-torn Sudan in April, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said on Wednesday.

"We will host a humanitarian conference in Paris on April 15 for Sudan and neighbouring countries to help resolve this dramatic humanitarian crisis," he told the lower house of parliament, without providing more details.

"It should not become a forgotten crisis."

War that broke out in April last year between Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, his former deputy and commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has killed thousands and sparked a humanitarian disaster.

Around 25 million people -- more than half the population -- need aid, including nearly 18 million who face acute food insecurity, according to UN numbers.

The fighting has caused 1.6 million people to flee abroad, many to neighbouring Chad and Egypt, and displaced 6.1 million from their homes within the country, the United Nations says.

The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that the lean season during summer could trigger catastrophic levels of hunger.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

More than 1,000 Syrians Have Withdrawn Asylum Applications in Cyprus, Hundreds Return Home

Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)
Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)
TT
TT

More than 1,000 Syrians Have Withdrawn Asylum Applications in Cyprus, Hundreds Return Home

Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)
Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)

More than 1,000 Syrian nationals have withdrawn their applications for asylum or international protection because they intend to return to their homeland, while another 500 have already gone back, a Cypriot official said Friday.

Cyprus’ Deputy Minister for Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides said after talks with European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner that the development comes in the wake of the fall of the Assad government in Syria last month.

Cyprus has adopted tougher polices in the last few years to stem the arrival of thousands of migrants either by boat from neighboring Lebanon or Syria or from Türkiye via the island’s breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. Cypriot officials had said that the percentage of irregular migrants relative to the population had been as high as 6% — six times the European average.

The tougher policies have borne fruit, according to Ioannides. Speaking earlier this week, he said some 10,000 irregular migrants left Cyprus last year, either through voluntary returns, deportations or relocations to other European nations, making the island the European Union’s leader in departures relative to arrivals.

New asylum applications in 2024 amounted to 6,769 – a 41% drop from the previous year and about a third of those filed in 2022.

Ioannides had said the drop in new asylum applications has enabled authorities to more quickly process outstanding applications and offer the necessary support to those who qualify for international protection.

The minister said arrivals by boat in recent months — particularly from Lebanon — have dropped to nil, thanks to increased patrols and cooperation with neighboring governments and European and international authorities.

Last May, the EU unveiled a 1 billion euro ($1.03 billion) aid package for Lebanon to boost border control to halt the flow of asylum seekers and migrants from the country across the Mediterranean Sea to Cyprus and Italy.

But Cyprus has been called out for breaching the rights of migrants. Last October, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Cyprus violated the right of two Syrian nationals to seek asylum in the island nation after keeping them and more than two dozen other people aboard a boat at sea for two days before sending them back to Lebanon.