Category: Literacy

Wali (governor) of the Darfur region Minni Minawi has expressed his frustration over the fact that the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have still not joined a joint peacekeeping force in Darfur as stipulated by the Juba Peace Agreement, which was signed exactly two years ago yesterday when Minawi held his speech.

Addressing roughly 1,800 new graduates from a military course in El Fasher for the joint force, Minawi expressed his regret for the delay in the deployment of joint security forces in Darfur and strongly criticised the leaders of the SAF and the RSF for failing to implement the protocol of the Juba Peace Agreement that stipulates the creation of a joint force for the protection of Darfur.

“We have been waiting for the arrival of army and RSF forces to complete the force […] and carry out its tasks,” said Minawi.

The speech was held on the anniversary of the final signing of the Juba Peace Agreement in the South Sudanese capital in 2020. In line with the peace deal, a new joint peacekeeping force was set up in Darfur with the aim of protecting civilians in the troubled region and uniting the different rebel movements and government forces.

The first batch of security forces graduated at the start of July, officially forming the new force. To many’s frustrations, however, the country’s most prominent and influential armed forces, the government’s own forces, have not yet joined.

The SAF are led by Chairman of the Sovereignty Council Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhanand the RSF are led by Vice-Chairman of the Sovereignty Council Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’ Dagalo, the two most influential military and political leaders in Sudan, especially since their military coup on October 25 last year.

‘The forces of the movements are ready, where are the regular forces?’ – Minni Minawi

“The forces of the movements are ready, where are the regular forces?”, Minawi said, addressing El Burhan and Hemeti.

“Security will only be effective in Darfur once these forces come together in one place under one administration and meet the call of the homeland and the people,” he explained, and said that the forces of the rebel movements cannot operate in isolation from the regular forces because “the nature of the security forces is common” and requires cooperation.

Herders and farmers’ conflict

Minawi called on the rebel movements, the SAF, and the RSF to deploy any number of forces in the coming days to avoid conflicts when Darfur’s herding tribes are expected to migrate with their livestock.

Disputes between herders and farmers occur regularly in Darfur this time of year. As the rainy season ends in September and the herders need fresh pastures, they let their camels and cattle graze on farmlands that have not yet been harvested. Each year, farmers complain about livestock destroying their crops.

In the past, there used to be clearly marked pasture tracks and traditional tribal procedures for compensation of lost crops, but this has changed during the regime of Omar Al Bashir. The regime supported the ‘Arab’ herding tribes in the region, whilst looking down on non-Arab ‘African’ farmers.

Arab tribesmen were recruited by the previous regime of dictator Omar Al Bashir to join the Janjaweed militias. Al Bashir employed these Arab militias to repress a revolt over ethnic marginalisation in the region, mainly targeting non-Arab African farmers in what became known as the Darfur Genocide. Non-Arab herding tribes have also been targeted.

Minawi said that he holds the state responsible for any loss of life as a result of friction between farmers and shepherds, disputes over land, and thefts if they do not send reinforcements or join the peacekeeping force soon.

The wali further urged the UNITAMS Head Volker Perthes and the international community to support the joint force and the implementation of the peace agreement to bring stability and development to the region.

Slow implementation

Many international parties and Darfur’s own population, especially its displaced people, have repeatedly pressed for the rapid implementation of the Juba Peace Agreement.

In June, the UN Expert on Human Rights in Sudan, Adama Dieng, said that the “implementation of the security arrangements envisaged in the Juba Peace Agreement needs to be accelerated and more joint security forces deployed in hotspot areas in Darfur to protect civilians and including Internally Displaced People, including women and children” as he expressed his concern “in relation to intercommunal conflicts and large-scale attacks against civilians in Darfur”.

‘The implementation of the security arrangements envisaged in the Juba Peace Agreement needs to be accelerated’ – Adama Dieng

The slow implementation of the security arrangements stipulated in the Juba Peace Agreement has been a point of critique and discontent for many displaced in Darfur, whose safety is still under severe threat.

Some of the promised security arrangements include the demilitarisation of the many gunmen and militias and the integration of rebel movements into the armed forces.

Armed forces in Darfur

The presence of regular armed forces in Darfur is controversial. Members of both the SAF and RSF are often associated with violence against local farmers and displaced people.

Several recent attacks have been attributed to the RSF, which have grown out of the ‘janjaweed’ herding militiamen that carried out the genocide against Darfuri farmers under the Al Bashir regime.

The RSF have also been accused of multiple human rights abuses, including sexual violence, and of exploiting, inflaming, and blaming ‘inter-tribal conflicts’ in Darfur. Since the ousting of Omar Al Bashir and the subsequent military coups, violence in Darfur has again increased.

Lack of funds and equipment

Three months after the force’s formation, however, not only the lack of government involvement is a problem. Complaints emerged about the lack of funds and weapons to prepare it for emergency interventions. Minawi said that the equipment is in Port Sudan and will arrive at a later time.

Source: Radio Dabanga

The authorities in Khartoum tried to disperse the sit-in in Old Omdurman near El Azhari square yesterday, after the Eid prayers, by firing tear gas at the worshipers.

One of the protesters said that the participants managed to maintain their positions despite the attempts. The El Azhari sit-in blocked the bridge to Shambat in Khartoum North (Bahri).

Activists performed the Eid prayer in four sit-in arenas: El Jawda sit-in south of Khartoum city centre, the sit-in at El Musassasa in Khartoum North, and the two sit-ins in Omdurman, at el Rousi in El Fitihab and the one near El Azhari.

According to a tweet by well-known journalist Dalia Eltahir in the early hours of this morning, the Resistance Committees of El Deyoum El Shargiya announced the lifting of the sit-in in front of the El Jawda Hospital. The Old Omdurman Committees announced the lifting of the El Azhari sit-in as well.

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, members of the Central Reserve Forces (also known as Abu Tira) allegedly fired tear gas at worshipers during Friday prayers at a Khartoum mosque, after the imam’s sermon denounced the killing of protesters without justification.

Source: Radio Dabanga

Rampant exploitation of nature is a threat to the billions of people across the world who rely on wild species for food, energy and income, according to a new report from United Nations biodiversity experts published Friday.

From fishing and logging to the use of wild plants in medicines and perfumes, societies across the planet are deeply dependent on species that have not been tamed or cultivated in farming, with annual global legal and illegal trade in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

But as humans drive alarming biodiversity loss – and climate change threatens to accelerate the destruction – the UN’s science advisory panel for biodiversity, known as IPBES, called for “transformative changes” in our relationship with wild species.

“Billions of people in all regions of the world rely on and benefit from the use of wild species for food, medicine, energy, income and many other purposes,” it said, adding that overexploitation and environmental degradation threaten resources, particularly for the most vulnerable.

The report, which took four years to produce and has been written by 85 experts from different specialist fields, comes as the UN steers a crucial international process to lay out a framework for protecting nature in the coming decades.

IPBES, which has previously warned that a million species are at risk of extinction, said promoting sustainability and halting overexploitation was “critical to reverse the global trend in biodiversity decline”.

The report recognises the fundamental role that these animals and plants play in people’s lives and in particular the crucial role of indigenous communities in protecting nature.

“The use of wild species is absolutely crucial for humanity and nature,” report co-chair Jean-Marc Fromentin said, adding that UN experts estimate “about 40 per cent of humanity” relies in some way on wild species.

“It’s much bigger than you think.”

They are a “key issue for food security” around the world and also play a huge economic role, he said.

Overall, 50,000 species are used for food, energy, medicine, material and other purposes around the world, the report said, with more than 10,000 different types harvested for human consumption.

Wild plants, algae and fungi provide food and income for one in five people globally, the report said, while some 2.4 billion people rely on wood for cooking.

An estimated 70 per cent of the world’s poor depend directly on wild species and businesses linked to them, the report found.

But it is not just rural communities in developing countries that use these species.

“City dwellers in rich countries might not notice it, but wild plants are used in medicines or cosmetics, you eat wild fish and there is a good chance that your furniture comes from wild trees,” said Fromentin.

Wild trees account for two thirds of global industrial roundwood, while trade in wild plants, algae and fungi is a billion-dollar industry.

Even foraging remains an important activity for people in North America and Europe, with notably high rates in Eastern Europe, according to the research, which said there is “growing demand for wild foods” for high-end restaurants.

But IPBES said global trade can become disconnected from sustainable local supply, with surging demand risks species and ecosystems, and said there was an “urgent” need for effective policies.

One major issue is illicit trade in wild species, estimated to be worth between US$69 billion and US$199 billion a year, which IPBES said was the third largest illegal market after human trafficking and drugs.

While this largely targets trees and fish, the report said even smaller scale trade in rarer animals and plants, like orchids, can have devastating effects, warning it often pushes species beyond their limits.

But the report highlights that letting the natural world thrive is even bigger business.

Tourism for example that is based on observing wild species, was a key reason that protected areas globally received eight billion visitors and generated US$600 billion every year before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, fisheries that are well managed often have increasing abundance of fish, compared to areas that are unsustainably fished.

IPBES said overexploitation is the main threat to wild marine species and a key threat to land and freshwater ecosystems.

The report authors said the concept in many societies that humans are separate from and dominant over nature has “led to major environmental crises, such as climate change and biodiversity decline.”

Following the example of indigenous peoples, they said a more “respectful” relationship with the planet could be based on seeing humanity as “a member or a citizen of nature among others.”

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

WHITE HOUSE — President Joe Biden will be traveling to Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia next week to push for Israel’s deeper integration into the region, urge Gulf countries to pump more oil to alleviate the global energy crisis and offer assurances that the U.S. is not deprioritizing the region despite its focus on the war in Ukraine and strategic competition with China.

In Israel he will meet caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Israel’s security amid a resurgent Iran, including the integration of its air defense capabilities with Gulf Arab countries.

In the West Bank, Biden will reiterate support for a two-state solution and seek to reset relations with the Palestinian Authority after the Trump administration slashed aid and closed the American consulate in Jerusalem that served as the U.S. mission to the Palestinians.

Biden will attend the GCC+3 Summit in Jeddah with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, where he will lay out his vision for U.S. engagement in the region.

He is set to meet King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, to repair ties with Saudi Arabia – a country he once called a pariah.

Observers will be watching how Biden might balance those interests with a foreign policy doctrine that centers on the supremacy of democracies over autocracies, especially in light of the killings of journalists Jamal Khashoggi and Shireen Abu Akleh.

Here are key issues to watch:

Energy production

As the U.S. and other countries face soaring fuel prices and high inflation triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine, Biden has little choice but to engage oil producing countries in the region.

However, prices have jumped so steeply that it’s highly unlikely producers can pump enough oil to sustainably lower prices, said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, the Baker Institute fellow for the Middle East.

Oil prices have remained high despite a June agreement to boost crude output by 648,000 barrels per day in July and August by the group known as OPEC+, members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, including Russia.

“I just don’t see that the Saudis and the UAE are willing to break out of the OPEC+ framework,” Ulrichsen told VOA. “They have their own relationship with Russia to think about.”

Market dynamics are unlikely to change any time soon, observers say, a reason why the administration has been downplaying expectations that the visit could lower gas prices and alleviate inflation, underscoring instead that the focus will be on regional security rather than energy.

Israeli integration, Iran containment

The U.S. has for decades pushed for an integrated air defense system between GCC member states and Israel – a proposal with renewed prospects given the growing cooperation between Israel and key Gulf states, especially the United Arab Emirates.

“Bilaterally we’re talking with nations across the region about air defense capabilities specifically and what we can do to assist with their defense and then, exploring the idea of being able to kind of integrate all those air defenses together,” John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, told reporters Thursday.

The increasing alignment is motivated by fear of an expansionist and resurgent Iran. U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said earlier this week that Tehran is potentially weeks away to accumulating enough highly enriched uranium to fuel a nuclear bomb.

Talks aimed at breaking an impasse over how to salvage Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal ended last week without much progress.

Israel-Saudi thaw

With Jerusalem and Riyadh both unnerved by Iran, the Biden administration has been quietly working toward diplomatic normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Given the kingdom’s clout in the Muslim world, it would be the most significant expansion of the Trump-era Abraham Accords, whereby the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan recognized Israel, overriding the Arab world’s commitment to withhold normalization until Israel agrees to end its occupation of Palestinian territory.

During the trip, Biden will fly directly between Tel Aviv and Jeddah and back, a first for a U.S. president after Trump’s historic 2017 flight from Riyadh to Tel Aviv. There are currently no direct commercial flights between the two countries.

While normalization is unlikely to happen any time soon, observers see Biden’s flight as another signal by the Saudis that it’s inevitable.

Israeli businesspeople are already visiting the kingdom, said Steven Cook, senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Having it be acknowledged publicly would be helpful for the Biden administration to point to as an indicator of progress, Cook told VOA.

Observers believe Saudi recognition will not be given while King Salman remains in power. However, “it is no secret that the new Saudi leadership sees great benefit in a relationship with Israel,” said Yasmine Farouk, a nonresident scholar in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to VOA, referring to the crown prince.

Yemen cease-fire

Ending the seven-year proxy war in Yemen between the Saudi-led coalition and the Tehran-backed Houthi militias has been a goal of the Biden administration. The conflict has turned the country into a breeding ground for jihadist groups like al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and led to a humanitarian disaster with over 300,000 people killed.

Biden is expected to encourage the Saudis to lift the remainder of the blockade of the Houthi-controlled northern Yemen and make the cease-fire – enacted in April and renewed until August – permanent.

Brian Katulis, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said he is concerned about the potential of a Houthi drone or missile attack reigniting the conflict.

“The tinderbox in the Middle East today is such that it could blow up at any moment,” he told VOA. “I fear that that could happen while President Biden is in the region.”

Values vs. interests

How Biden handles the killings of journalists Jamal Khashoggi and Shireen Abu Akleh will be a test of his ability to balance commitment to American values and U.S. geopolitical and economic interests.

Many will be watching how strongly he raises issues of press freedom as well as the rights of women and minorities as he deals with some of the world’s most repressive and authoritarian leaders.

Saudi columnist Khashoggi was gruesomely killed with the approval of the Saudi crown prince. A U.S. judge presiding over a lawsuit from Khashoggi’s fiancée has given the administration until Aug. 1 to decide whether to grant immunity to the crown prince. The White House declined to say whether it would.

“I cannot comment from here on that, because it’s a legal determination,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told VOA.

Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist, likely died by an Israeli bullet according to international experts with access to the investigation.

Kirby declined to confirm, when asked by VOA whether Biden plans to address their deaths while he is in the region. Kirby also sidestepped the question of whether Biden will frame his summit speech around the “battle between democracy and autocracy” theme that centers his foreign policy doctrine.

Biden is learning it isn’t that clear-cut, said James Jeffrey, chair of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center.

“That’s to his credit, but that means he’s got a lot of baggage because he hasn’t formally renounced this thing,” Jeffrey told VOA, recalling Biden’s Summit of Democracies in December.

“What has it done since then? Has anybody even mentioned it since it occurred? I rest my case.”

Source: Voice of America

The recent school closures and lockdowns have forced children, especially girls around the world from the classroom – and millions may never return.

The most marginalised and underserved – children with disabilities, minority populations, low-income families and girls – have been pushed further to the margins.

COVID-19 laid bare existing inequalities within the education system that we can no longer afford to ignore. Without quality education, the next generation faces the threats of child labour, poor health, early marriage and intergenerational poverty. Drastic action is needed.

Determining how to make every cent of education funding work for girls is more important than ever. I am pleased that this report and policy documents provide important recommendations for the different actors supporting better financing for gender equality in education.

Currently, the recent G7 and GPE financial commitments do not go far enough to meet the ambitious targets and address the massive financing gap facing the education sector.

The unprecedented disruption to education is an opportunity to change the status quo and introduce new, gender-responsive measures to transform our education systems.

Ensuring every girl can go to school depends on governments’ ability to provide stimulus spending at scale to reenroll girls, provide them with remedial learning support and increase overall investment in education. If leaders act with the urgency and ambition that the crisis demands, they can help millions of girls and lay the foundations for a gender-just recovery from the pandemic.

This change will require sufficient technical capacity at all levels, sufficient gender-disaggregated data, and because it needs the involvement of a number of government departments, sufficient political will.

We have clear and urgent opportunity to build back equal. This report calls for bold actions from brave leaders;

1. Build strong, well-performing systems by investing in what works and rooting out corruption and waste,

2. Support innovation in how education is delivered while better supporting the teaching profession, and embracing technology,

3. Prioritise inclusion, to make sure that the most marginalized especially girls, poorest, youngest and children with disabilities, receive a quality education.

4. Mobilise sufficient finance through domestic finance and increasing international support, including innovative finance.

We must continue to use our collective power of the partnership and development diplomacy to bring partners together to catalyze change and mobilize greater investments.

Source: Plan International