Sudan's paramilitaries seize a key area along with the border with Libya and Egypt
Sudanese paramilitaries at war with the country's military for over two years claimed to have seized a strategic area along the border with neighboring Libya and Egypt.
The Rapid Support Forces said in a statement Wednesday that they captured the triangular zone, fortifying their presence along Sudan' s already volatile border with chaos-stricken Libya.
The RSF's announcement came hours after the military said it had evacuated the area as part of 'its defensive arrangements to repel aggression' by the paramilitaries.
On Tuesday the military accused the forces of powerful Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter of supporting the RSF's attack on the area, in a 'blatant aggression against Sudan, its land, and its people.'
Hifter's forces, which control eastern and southern Libya, rejected the claim, saying in a statement that the Sudanese accusations were 'a blatant attempt to export the Sudanese internal crisis and create a virtual external enemy.'
The attack on the border area was the latest twist in Sudan's civil war which erupted in April 2023 when tensions between the Sudanese army and RSF exploded with street battles in the capital, Khartoum that quickly spread across the country.
The war has killed at least 24,000 people, though the number is likely far higher. It has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who crossed into neighboring countries. It created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and parts of the country have been pushed into famine.
The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BreakingNews.ie
an hour ago
- BreakingNews.ie
At least 60 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza as ceasefire prospects inch closer
At least 60 people were killed across Gaza by Israeli strikes, health staff say, as Palestinians face a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ceasefire prospects inch closer. The strikes began late on Friday and continued into Saturday morning, among others killing 12 people near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more living in apartments, according to staff at Shifa hospital where the bodies were brought. Advertisement Six others were killed in southern Gaza when a strike hit their tent in Muwasi, according to the hospital. The strikes come as US President Donald Trump said there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, the president said: 'We're working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.' A man carries the wrapped body of a child who was killed along with others in an Israeli strike that targeted a school in northern Gaza, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) An official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Israel's minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, will arrive in Washington next week for talks on Gaza's ceasefire, Iran and other subjects. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. Talks have been on and since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March, continuing its military campaign in Gaza and furthering the dire humanitarian crisis. Advertisement Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half of them believed to be still alive. They were among some 250 hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 2023, sparking the 21-month-long war. The war has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children. There is hope among hostage families that Mr Trump's involvement in securing the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran might exert more pressure for a deal in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding a wave of public support for the Iran war and its achievements, and he could feel he has more space to move toward ending the war in Gaza, something his far-right governing partners oppose. Advertisement Hamas has repeatedly said it is prepared to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war in Gaza. Mr Netanyahu says he will end the war only once Hamas is disarmed and exiled, something the group has rejected. Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centre in Khan Younis, southern Gaza (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) Meanwhile, hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza. After blocking all food for more than two months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May. Efforts by the United Nations to distribute the food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys. Palestinians have also been shot and wounded while on their way to get food at newly formed aid sites, run by the American and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Gaza's health officials and witnesses. Advertisement Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Israel's military said it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites.
BreakingNews.ie
3 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
At least 49 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza as ceasefire prospects inch closer
At least 49 people were killed across Gaza by Israeli strikes, health staff say, as Palestinians face a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ceasefire prospects inch closer. The strikes began late on Friday and continued into Saturday morning, among others killing 12 people near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more living in apartments, according to staff at Shifa hospital where the bodies were brought. Advertisement Six others were killed in southern Gaza when a strike hit their tent in Muwasi, according to the hospital. The strikes come as US President Donald Trump said there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, the president said: 'We're working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.' A man carries the wrapped body of a child who was killed along with others in an Israeli strike that targeted a school in northern Gaza, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) An official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Israel's minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, will arrive in Washington next week for talks on Gaza's ceasefire, Iran and other subjects. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. Talks have been on and since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March, continuing its military campaign in Gaza and furthering the dire humanitarian crisis. Advertisement Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half of them believed to be still alive. They were among some 250 hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 2023, sparking the 21-month-long war. The war has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children. There is hope among hostage families that Mr Trump's involvement in securing the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran might exert more pressure for a deal in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding a wave of public support for the Iran war and its achievements, and he could feel he has more space to move toward ending the war in Gaza, something his far-right governing partners oppose. Advertisement Hamas has repeatedly said it is prepared to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war in Gaza. Mr Netanyahu says he will end the war only once Hamas is disarmed and exiled, something the group has rejected. Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centre in Khan Younis, southern Gaza (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) Meanwhile, hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza. After blocking all food for more than two months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May. Efforts by the United Nations to distribute the food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys. Palestinians have also been shot and wounded while on their way to get food at newly formed aid sites, run by the American and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Gaza's health officials and witnesses. Advertisement Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Israel's military said it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Struggling in politics? Consider a war – the media will help
'You furnish the pictures. I'll furnish the war,' was the storied response of the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst to Frederic Remington after the illustrator was sent to Cuba to cover an insurrection and cabled back to the boss that there was little going on. Much has changed since that famous (if true) exchange of the late 19th century, in the heyday of sensationalism known as yellow journalism. But one thing that hasn't changed is that there's nothing like military conflict to capture the attention of the public, with plenty of help from the media. And the media – whether a tabloid newspaper or a cable news network – benefits, too. These days, Donald Trump's recent strike on Iran has proved the point once again, with the media's attention intensely focused on Operation Midnight Hammer, as it was dramatically dubbed. First the emphasis was on the threat of attacks to Iran's budding nuclear arsenal, then on the possibility of all-out global war, then on the strikes themselves and then the announcement of a supposed ceasefire. All to the greater glory of Trump, at least as he tells it. For those who are trying to bring public attention to other important matters – even matters of life and death – that's a frustrating reality. Jennifer Mascia knows this all too well. She is a founding reporter for the Trace, a non-profit news site dedicated to tracking the epidemic of gun violence in America and trying to do something about it, through exploring solutions. When elected officials in Minnesota were shot earlier this month – the former state House speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed, and the state legislator John Hoffman and his wife were wounded – it was a huge story. Huge, but fleeting. 'Pitted against a global conflict, domestic news doesn't really stand a chance,' said Mascia, who previously contributed to the now-defunct Gun Report at the New York Times, begun by the then columnist Joe Nocera. That's true for domestic news that, in an earlier era, would have commanded the media's attention for many days, if not weeks. The Minnesota violence was even more newsworthy because of an early manhunt and disinformation swirling around the apparent assassin's political leanings. Still, coverage seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye. 'The Trump era has all but ensured that important news will get smacked out of the news cycle in favor of the latest development in Trumpworld,' Mascia wrote to me in an email, after we had talked by phone. Mascia is quick to clarify that she's not suggesting that the media ignore what the chaotic president is doing. 'It's important that we cover Trump's constitutional breaches. We shouldn't become numb or complacent in the face of eroding democracy,' she said. But it was remarkable to see how quickly the Minnesota shootings faded from media attention. A CNN contributor herself, Mascia is often called in to provide perspective for 'Day Two' of coverage after the initial reporting of gun-related news. But often these days, she notes, there is no Day Two. By then, the media has moved on. 'Maybe if the Israel-Iran war wasn't going on, we'd still be talking about it,' she said. 'Anderson Cooper would be broadcasting from Melissa Hortman's funeral. But instead, he's in Tel Aviv.' And, of course, this extends to all sorts of other subjects, not just gun violence. Those who try to focus attention on voting rights, the rule of law, crucial supreme court decisions, widespread citizen action such as the vast 'No Kings' protests – to mention just a few – may get a modicum of attention. But nothing compares to a show of military force. And Trump, always attuned to how he's being perceived, is well aware of that. 'A spectacular military success,' he crowed after the strikes. 'A historic success,' echoed his defense secretary. Pete Hegseth couldn't countenance being asked actual questions and claimed the press was trying to distort the story 'for their own political reasons to try to hurt President Trump or our country'. Was the administration's bragging accurate? Perhaps not, said intelligence reports that indicated the strikes may have only added months to the time Iran needs to produce the material for a nuclear weapon. But no matter. The strikes – from the lead-up to the aftermath – sucked up all the oxygen in the media universe for many days. Even by Thursday early afternoon, the top four news articles (plus one photo) on the Washington Post mobile app, for example, were Iran-related. And Fox News, of course, remained largely a cheering section. Whatever the effect on world peace, military conflict sure is good for ratings, as William Randolph Hearst knew in his bones. 'Historians point to the Spanish-American war as the first press-driven war,' noted a PBS article accompanying the film Crucible of Empire. It wouldn't be the last. Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture
