Crucial water facility destroyed in war-torn African nation
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have destroyed the main water quality testing laboratory in Khartoum state, Sudan, inflicting a major blow to critical infrastructure amid the continuing civil war, according to a senior official.
In an interview with the Sudan Tribune on Wednesday, Mohamed Ali al-Ajab, director general of the Khartoum State Water Corporation, said the RSF wrecked the al-Mugran laboratory, which previously analyzed Nile and groundwater samples for both public and private clients. The lab, worth an estimated $1 million, was the largest of its kind in the area.
"The authority has lost approximately 454 vehicles, whether they were cars, mobile tankers, cranes, or excavators," Ajab said.
According to the director, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has delivered spare parts worth $77,000, with an additional $223,000 shipment expected.
All of Khartoum state's water stations have been severely disrupted since fighting broke out in April 2023 between the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Only one station continued working throughout the conflict, according to Ajab. Six of 12 major plants have since partially resumed service.
However, Khartoum North (Bahri), a key facility with a daily capacity of 300,000 cubic meters, remains only partly functional.
Ajab detailed massive damage to Bahri's electrical systems, citing the loss of over 17km of cable, 61 control panels, nine transformers, and three pumps that were reportedly thrown into the Nile River.
Estimates of fatalities have varied since the outbreak of the fighting, though research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine suggests that over 61,000 people were killed in the state of Khartoum alone during the first 14 months. Local media have reported a death toll as high as 130,000.
In March, the director of Sudan's National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), Ghalia Garelnabi, announced that the RSF had looted all archaeological gold from the National Museum in Khartoum. Opened in 1971, the museum housed artifacts spanning Sudanese history from the Stone Age to the Islamic period. Experts called the assault a "historical catastrophe," with an estimated 90% of the collection destroyed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Canada News.Net
6 days ago
- Canada News.Net
Crucial water facility destroyed in war-torn African nation
The director of Khartoum State Water Corporation has said over 450 service vehicles were also lost The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have destroyed the main water quality testing laboratory in Khartoum state, Sudan, inflicting a major blow to critical infrastructure amid the continuing civil war, according to a senior official. In an interview with the Sudan Tribune on Wednesday, Mohamed Ali al-Ajab, director general of the Khartoum State Water Corporation, said the RSF wrecked the al-Mugran laboratory, which previously analyzed Nile and groundwater samples for both public and private clients. The lab, worth an estimated $1 million, was the largest of its kind in the area. "The authority has lost approximately 454 vehicles, whether they were cars, mobile tankers, cranes, or excavators," Ajab said. According to the director, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has delivered spare parts worth $77,000, with an additional $223,000 shipment expected. All of Khartoum state's water stations have been severely disrupted since fighting broke out in April 2023 between the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Only one station continued working throughout the conflict, according to Ajab. Six of 12 major plants have since partially resumed service. However, Khartoum North (Bahri), a key facility with a daily capacity of 300,000 cubic meters, remains only partly functional. Ajab detailed massive damage to Bahri's electrical systems, citing the loss of over 17km of cable, 61 control panels, nine transformers, and three pumps that were reportedly thrown into the Nile River. Estimates of fatalities have varied since the outbreak of the fighting, though research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine suggests that over 61,000 people were killed in the state of Khartoum alone during the first 14 months. Local media have reported a death toll as high as 130,000. In March, the director of Sudan's National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), Ghalia Garelnabi, announced that the RSF had looted all archaeological gold from the National Museum in Khartoum. Opened in 1971, the museum housed artifacts spanning Sudanese history from the Stone Age to the Islamic period. Experts called the assault a "historical catastrophe," with an estimated 90% of the collection destroyed.
Winnipeg Free Press
24-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
With no access to education beyond the 6th grade, girls in Afghanistan turn to religious schools
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — For six hours every day after school, Nahideh works in a cemetery, collecting water from a nearby shrine to sell to mourners visiting loved ones' graves. She dreams of becoming a doctor — but knows it is a futile dream. When the next school year starts, she will be enrolling in a madrassa, a religious school, to learn about the Quran and Islam — and little else. 'I prefer to go to school, but I can't, so I will go to a madrassa,' she said, dark brown eyes peering out from beneath her tightly wrapped black headscarf. 'If I could go to school then I could learn and become a doctor. But I can't.' At the age of 13, Nahideh is in the last grade of primary school, the limit of education allowed for girls in Afghanistan. The country's Taliban government banned girls from secondary school and university three years ago — the only country in the world to do so. The ban is part of myriad restrictions on women and girls, dictating everything from what they can wear to where they can go and who they can go with. With no option for higher education, many girls and women are turning to madrassas instead. The only learning allowed 'Since the schools are closed to girls, they see this as an opportunity,' said Zahid-ur-Rehman Sahibi, director of the Tasnim Nasrat Islamic Sciences Educational Center in Kabul. 'So, they come here to stay engaged in learning and studying religious sciences.' The center's roughly 400 students range in ages from about 3 to 60, and 90% are female. They study the Quran, Islamic jurisprudence, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, and Arabic, the language of the Quran. Most Afghans, Sahibi noted, are religious. 'Even before the schools were closed, many used to attend madrassas,' he said. 'But after the closure of schools, the interest has increased significantly, because the doors of the madrassas remain open to them.' No recent official figures are available on the number of girls enrolled in madrassas, but officials say the popularity of religious schools overall has been growing. Last September, Deputy Minister of Education Karamatullah Akhundzada said at least 1 million students had enrolled in madrassas over the past year alone, bringing the total to over 3 million. Studying the Quran Sheltered from the heat of an early summer's day in a basement room at the Tasnim Nasrat center, Sahibi's students knelt at small plastic tables on the carpeted floor, their pencils tracing lines of Arabic script in their Qurans. All 10 young women wore black niqabs, the all-encompassing garment that includes a veil, leaving only the eyes visible. 'It is very good for girls and women to study at a madrassa, because … the Quran is the word of Allah, and we are Muslims,' said 25-year-old Faiza, who had enrolled at the center five months earlier. 'Therefore, it is our duty to know what is in the book that Allah has revealed to us, to understand its interpretation and translation.' Given a choice, she would have studied medicine. While she knows that is now impossible, she still harbors hope that if she shows she is a pious student dedicated to her religion, she will be eventually allowed to. The medical profession is one of the very few still open to women in Afghanistan. 'When my family sees that I am learning Quranic sciences and that I am practicing all the teachings of the Quran in my life, and they are assured of this, they will definitely allow me to continue my studies,' she said. Her teacher said he'd prefer if women were not strictly limited to religious studies. 'In my opinion, it is very important for a sister or a woman to learn both religious sciences and other subjects, because modern knowledge is also an important part of society,' Sahibi said. 'Islam also recommends that modern sciences should be learned because they are necessary, and religious sciences are important alongside them. Both should be learned simultaneously.' A controversial ban The female secondary and higher education ban has been controversial in Afghanistan, even within the ranks of the Taliban itself. In a rare sign of open dissent, Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Abbas Stanikzai said in a public speech in January that there was no justification for denying education to girls and women. His remarks were reportedly not well tolerated by the Taliban leadership; Stanikzai is now officially on leave and is believed to have left the country. But they were a clear indication that many in Afghanistan recognize the long-term impact of denying education to girls. 'If this ban persists until 2030, over four million girls will have been deprived of their right to education beyond primary school,' UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement at the start of Afghanistan's new school year in March. 'The consequences for these girls — and for Afghanistan — are catastrophic. The ban negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation.' The importance of religious education For some in this deeply conservative society, the teachings of Islam are hard to overstate. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. 'Learning the Holy Quran is the foundation of all other sciences, whether it's medicine, engineering, or other fields of knowledge,' said Mullah Mohammed Jan Mukhtar, 35, who runs a boys' madrassa north of Kabul. 'If someone first learns the Quran, they will then be able to learn these other sciences much better.' His madrassa first opened five years ago with 35 students. Now it has 160 boys aged 5-21, half of whom are boarders. Beyond religious studies, it offers a limited number of other classes such as English and math. There is also an affiliated girls' madrassa, which currently has 90 students, he said. 'In my opinion, there should be more madrassas for women,' said Mukhtar, who has been a mullah for 14 years. He stressed the importance of religious education for women. 'When they are aware of religious verdicts, they better understand the rights of their husbands, in-laws and other family members.' ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Winnipeg Free Press
16-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Israel didn't give permits to these Bedouin villages to build bomb shelters. So they built their own
BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) — When the sirens wail in the southern Israeli desert to herald an incoming missile, Ahmad Abu Ganima's family scrambles outside. Down some dirt-hewn steps, one by one, they squeeze through the window of a minibus buried under 10 feet (three meters) of dirt. Abu Ganima, a mechanic, got the cast-off bus from his employer after it was stripped for parts. He buried it in his yard to create an ad-hoc bomb shelter for his family. Abu Ganima is part of Israel's 300,000-strong Bedouin community, a previously nomadic tribe that lives scattered across the arid Negev Desert. More than two thirds of the Bedouin have no access to shelters, says Huda Abu Obaid, executive director of Negev Coexistence Forum, which lobbies for Bedouin issues in southern Israel. As the threat of missiles became more dire during the 12-day war with Iran last month, many Bedouin families resorted to building DIY shelters out of available material: buried steel containers, buried trucks, repurposed construction debris. 'When there's a missile, you can see it coming from Gaza, Iran or Yemen,' says Amira Abu Queider, 55, a lawyer for the Sharia, or Islamic court system, pointing to the wide-open sky over Al-Zarnug, a village of squat, haphazardly built cement structures. 'We're not guilty, but we're the ones getting hurt.' Communities lack public services Al-Zarnug is not recognized by the Israeli government and does not receive services such as trash collection, electricity or water. Nearly all power comes from solar panels on rooftops, and the community cannot receive construction permits. Residents receive frequent demolition orders. Around 90,000 Bedouins live in 35 unrecognized villages in southern Israel. Even those Bedouin who live in areas 'recognized' by Israel have scant access to shelter. Rahat, the largest Bedouin city in southern Israel, has eight public shelters for 79,000 residents, while nearby Ofakim, a Jewish town, has 150 public shelters for 41,000 residents, Abu Obaid says. Sometimes, more than 50 people try to squeeze into the three square meters of a mobile bomb shelter or buried truck. Others crowded into cement culverts beneath train tracks, meant to channel storm runoff, hanging sheets to try to provide privacy. Shelters are so far away that sometimes families were forced to leave behind the elderly and people with mobility issues, residents say. On Oct. 7, 2023, 21 Bedouins were killed and six were taken hostage, according to local leaders. Seven Bedouin, including children, were killed by missiles during the Hamas barrage on the first day of the attack, Abu Obaid says. While no Bedouins were killed or injured during the 12-day war with Iran, during Iran's April 2024 attack on Israel, a Bedouin girl suffered a severe head injury from missile shrapnel, one of the only civilian injuries. More than 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 251 taken hostage during the attack. In Israel's ensuing war in Gaza, more than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and militants. People want an escape plan Engineering standards for bomb shelters and protected rooms are exhaustive and specific, laying out thickness of walls and types of shockwave-proof windows that must be used. The Bedouins making their own shelters know that they don't offer much or any protection from a direct hit, but many people say it makes them feel good to go somewhere. Inside the minibus, Abu Ganeima says, the sound of the sirens are deadened, which is comforting to his children. 'Our bomb shelters are not safe,' says Najah Abo Smhan, a medical translator and single mother from Al-Zarnug. Her 9-year-old daughter, terrified, insisted they run to a neighbor's, where they had repurposed a massive, cast-off truck scale as the roof of a dug-out underground shelter, even though they knew it wouldn't be enough to protect them from a direct hit. 'We're just doing a lot of praying.' When sirens blared to warn of incoming missiles, 'scene filled with fear and panic' unfolded, says Miada Abukweder, 36, a leader from the village of Al-Zarnug, which is not recognized by Israel. 'Children screamed, and mothers feared more for their children than for themselves. They were thinking about their children while they were screaming, feeling stomach pain, scared, and crying out, 'We are going to die, where will we go?'' says Abukweder, part of a large clan of families in the area. The feeling of not having anywhere to go or hide, many say, is almost as terrifying as the missiles themselves. Some shelters were donated but aren't enough Immediately after the Oct. 7 attack, Israeli security services placed around 300 mobile bomb shelters in Bedouin areas, Abu Obaid says. Civil service organizations also donated a handful of mobile shelters. But these mobile bomb shelters are not built to withstand Iran's ballistic missiles, and are grossly inadequate to meet widespread need. Abu Obaid estimates thousands of mobile shelters are needed across the far-flung Bedouin communities. The Home Front Command, the Israeli military body responsible for civilian issues, says bomb shelters are the responsibility of local authorities and property owners. There are no local authorities responsible for unrecognized Bedouin villages. The Home Front Command says that due to the ongoing wars, it is assisting local communities, including the Bedouin, with dozens of temporary bomb shelters in coming months, though communities have received demolition orders, rather than shelters, in the past weeks. Israel's Arabs — roughly 20% of the country's 10 million people — are citizens with the right to vote but often suffer discrimination. Bedouins are Israeli citizens and some serve in the army, but they are the poorest members of the country's Arab minority. More than 70% live below the poverty line, Abu Obaid says. Abu Obaid says Bedouin residents aren't asking Israel to finance their bomb shelters; they are simply asking the state to give them construction permits so they can build homes with adequate shelters. Because of the lack of permits, many people are forced to risk of building illegally. But few are willing to build reinforced rooms or shelters because of the high cost of construction. 'People don't even want to try it,' Abu Obaid says. 'It's very expensive, and then two weeks later the state comes and says you have to destroy it.'
