Day: February 26, 2022

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Amin Awad of Sudan as assistant secretary-general to serve as UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine.

Guterres announced the appointment on Friday while meeting reporters at the UN headquarters in New York after the Security Council meeting on Ukraine concluded.

Awad has served in a range of senior roles with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which brought with him over 30 years of experience in the field of humanitarian affairs, strategic action, planning and development, according to a press note issued by the UN chief’s office.

Awad’s appointment came as Ukraine is faced with increasing humanitarian needs amid its growing tensions with Russia.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Russia, as expected, vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Friday that “deplores in the strongest terms” the country’s “aggression” against Ukraine and demanded the immediate withdrawal of its troops.

Eleven of the council’s 15 members voted for the motion, which was co-written by the United States and Albania.

China, India and the UAE abstained.

The resolution was always doomed to fail because of Moscow’s veto power as a permanent member of the council.

Still, the debate offered the chamber an important opportunity to voice its condemnation of President Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch a full-scale offensive against Russia’s neighbor.

“Let me make one thing clear,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote. “Russia, you can veto this resolution, but you cannot veto our voices, you cannot veto the truth, you cannot veto our principles, you cannot veto the Ukrainian people.”

The wording of the draft text put before the Security Council was watered down in the hours before the vote to gain more support.

The word “condemns” was replaced by “deplores” and a reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows members to take military action to restore peace, was deleted.

The resolution reaffirmed the sovereignty of Ukraine and called for Russia to “immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine.”

Ultimately, almost 70 countries co-sponsored the resolution.

Russia, which currently holds the rotating Security Council presidency, will likely face another vote on a similar resolution before the wider UN General Assembly which could be passed by a substantial margin, although it would be non-binding.

“Make no mistake, Russia is isolated. It has no support for the invasion of Ukraine,” said Britain’s ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward.

Before the vote, Thomas-Greenfield described the attack as “so bold, so brazen, that it threatens our international system as we know it.

“We have a solemn obligation to not look away … At the very minimum, we have an obligation to object,” she said.

“Vote yes if you believe Russia should be held to account for its actions. Vote no or abstain if you do not uphold the charter and align yourselves with the aggressive and unprovoked actions of Russia.

“Just as Russia had a choice. So do you,” she pleaded.

Russia, which currently holds the rotating Security Council presidency, will likely face another vote on a similar resolution before the wider UN General Assembly which is formed of all 193 member countries.

Moscow does not have a veto there and the resolution could be passed by a substantial margin, although it would be non-binding.

The General Assembly held a similar vote in 2014 condemning Russia’s seizure of Crimea, which obtained 100 votes in support.

Moscow had earlier vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning its actions in Crimea. Thirteen countries supported it with China abstaining.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Sudan’s Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council Friday met with the Secretary-General of a Russian security body advising President Putin on military cooperation with foreign countries.

According to the official Sudan News Agency SUNA, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemetti” and Nikolai Patrushev head of the Security Council of the Russian Federation discussed “joint cooperation between Sudan and Russia in all fields and at all bilateral and international levels”.

The two sides further stressed the “activation” of all previous agreements in the fields of economic, diplomatic, political and security, exchange of expertise, training, capacity-building and technology transfer, added the agency.

The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a constitutional deliberative body that prepares decisions of the Russian President on issues of state security, military-technical cooperation with foreign states and international security cooperation.

Hemetti posted on Twitter photos of his meeting with Alexander Novak Deputy Prime Minister but he did mention his meeting with Patrushev.

The top Russian security official used to meet with international officials in Moscow or abroad to discuss security issues or cooperation.

The purpose of the meeting was not clear as the Sudanese army generals used to directly discuss cooperation or weapons sales with the Russian officials.

It is worth mentioning that RSF has been cooperating with the Russian Wagner in Sudan for long years before being separated from the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

The deputy head of the Sovereign Council also met with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister to discuss political and economic cooperation between the two countries.

He also attended the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding between the Union of Chambers of Commerce in Sudan and the Russian Business Council.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Thousands of Sudanese including political leaders took to the streets on Saturday to support anti-coup protests spearheaded by the Resistance Committees and to express solidarity with the victims of the violent repression.

The protesters including the elderly and families of the martyrs of the revolution gathered in Al-Steen Street in a rally organised under the slogan “We are all with you” to voice their rejection of the military coup and support regular anti-coup protests organised by the youth groups across the country.

The demonstrators raised Sudanese flags and pictures of the victims of the popular protests since the outbreak of the revolution that toppled former President Omer al-Bashir and pictures of political detainees.

The crowd chanted slogans such as “Power for the people and the military to their barracks”, “the people are stronger and setback is impossible.” Also, they chanted slogans calling for justice for the martyrs and the release of detainees.

Several political leaders took part in the rally including leaders of the Forces for Freedom and Change Babikir Faisal, Omer al-Diguair Abdel Qayoum al-Sharif. Were also present Aicha Musa former member of the Sovereign Council, Sarah Nugdalla of the National Umma Party, Neimat Malik of the Communist Party, the leader in the Republican Party, Asmaa Mahmoud Mohamed Taha and the Political Secretary of the Sudanese Communist Party Mohamed Mukhtar al-Khatib.

The Sudanese security forces did disperse the protest.

Similar demonstrations under the slogan “We are all with you” took place in other states including Madani in Gezira state, Atbara in River Nile state, and El Obeid in North Kordofan.

The solidarity rally took place 24 hours before the signing of a political declaration by the Resistance Committees reflecting their political vision for a democratic national state in Sudan.

83 people were killed and hundreds were wounded as a result of the excessive use of violence against protesters by the security forces.

Source: Sudan Tribune

A Sudanese military spokesman on Friday denied purported change at the army’s leadership, describing such reports as “rumours”.

Nabil Abdallah Sudan Armed Forces Spokesman said in a radio interview that the purpose of this rumour is to undermine confidence between the people and their armed forces.

He called for not paying attention to these reports because they come from “parties that do not care about the homeland or the citizen”.

Alaraby Aljadid, a UK based news outlet, reported on February 24 that al-Burhan has informed Egyptian officials about his fears from recent moves by his Deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemetti”, including his recent visit to the UAE.

The report further said that Hemetti’s recent foreign visits take place while “suspicious internal movements” are taking place involving the Rapid Support Forces and other armed groups that have strong ties with the Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council.

“Al-Burhan suspected that Hemetti is preparing a coup, with internal and external parties, to replace him by another figure from within the military institution,” stressed the report.

The SRF leader is seen as the UAE ally in Khartoum. Also, his companies are based in the Gulf country.

The coup against the civilian transitional government and the killing of demonstrators have made al-Burhan unpopular in the country.

However, the leader of the notorious militia is also unwanted in Sudan due to the role of his notorious militiamen in the war crimes against civilians during the counterinsurgency campaigns in Darfur waged by the former regime, and bloody crackdown of the pro-democracy protesters.

Source: Sudan Tribune