World
Death toll in Sudan tribal clashes rises to at least 220
Authorities order a nighttime curfew in Wad al-Mahi and deploy troopers to curb the violence.
The loss of life toll from days of tribal combating in southern Sudan has risen to at the very least 220, making this one of many deadliest episodes of ethnic violence lately.
Combating in Blue Nile province, which borders Ethiopia and South Sudan, reignited this month over a land dispute. It pits the Hausa individuals, who’ve origins throughout West Africa, in opposition to the Berta group.
The tensions escalated on Wednesday and Thursday within the city of Wad al-Mahi on the border with Ethiopia. The unrest added to the woes of a rustic mired in civil battle and political chaos.
Fath Arrahman Bakheit, director common of the Blue Nile well being ministry, stated on Sunday that officers have counted at the very least 220 useless. He stated the determine may very well be a lot increased as a result of medical groups haven’t been capable of attain the epicentre of the combating.
Bakheit stated the primary humanitarian and medical convoy reached Wad al-Mahi late Saturday to evaluate the scenario, together with counting the “enormous variety of our bodies” and the handfuls of wounded.
“In such clashes, everybody loses,” he stated. “We hope it ends quickly and by no means occurs once more, however we’d like robust political, safety and civil interventions to attain that purpose.”
Footage from the scene confirmed burned homes and charred our bodies. Others confirmed girls and kids fleeing on foot.
‘Take a impartial stand’
Many homes have been burned down within the combating, which has displaced about 7,000 individuals who’ve fled to the town of Rusyaris. Others have gone to neighbouring provinces, based on the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
General about 211,000 individuals have been displaced by tribal violence and different assaults throughout the nation this 12 months, it stated.
Authorities ordered a nighttime curfew in Wad al-Mahi and deployed troopers to the world. Additionally they established a fact-finding committee to research the combating, the state-run SUNA information company reported.
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, stated individuals are sad with the response from the federal government.
“Persons are demanding the governor of the area to resign due to the dealing with of the scenario,” Morgan stated.
“They are saying that the safety forces haven’t been unbiased and that a few of them took sides within the battle,” she stated. “They’re demanding that the safety forces take a impartial stand and finish the violence.”
The combating between the 2 teams first erupted in mid-July and killed at the very least 149 individuals by early October. It triggered violent protests and stoked tensions between the 2 ethnic teams in Blue Nile and different provinces.
The newest combating comes at a essential time for Sudan, just some days earlier than the primary anniversary of a navy coup that additional plunged the nation into turmoil.
The coup derailed the nation’s short-lived transition to democracy after practically three many years of repressive rule beneath Omar al-Bashir, who was eliminated in April 2019 by a preferred rebellion.
In current weeks, the navy and the pro-democracy motion have engaged in talks to attempt to discover a method out of the scenario. The generals agreed to permit civilians to nominate a first-rate minister to guide the nation by way of elections inside 24 months, the pro-democracy motion stated final week.
The violence in Blue Nile is prone to decelerate such efforts. Protest teams, who reject the cope with the ruling generals, have been making ready for anti-military demonstrations on Tuesday, the anniversary of the coup.
World
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World
China increases aggressive moves against Taiwan as island prepares to inaugurate new president
KAOHSIUNG — Virtually every day, the People’s Republic of China does something unprecedented — its coast guard briefly boarding a Taiwanese tourist boat, flying military aircraft ever closer to Taiwan or increasing harassment of Taiwanese fishing boats in the South China Sea.
“This is a problem,” says Dean Karalekas, author of “Civil-Military Relations in Taiwan: Identity and Transformation.” “Because these unprecedented actions are creating a new normal. Beijing hopes that we (the West) will sit by and watch as they take over Taiwan, just as we did when they used these same salami-slicing tactics to take over the South China Sea.”
The world began noticing more of China’s hostile actions following the visit to Taiwan by former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2023, but the strategy has been in place for some time.
“China’s plan to ‘normalize’ military encroachments was planned long before Pelosi’s visit,” Taipei Times columnist and political commentator C. Donovan Smith told Fox News Digital. “The military exercises were far too complex and logistically complicated to have been planned in the short span of time between the announcement of her trip and her arrival in Taiwan.”
TAIWAN ELECTION: RULING PARTY CANDIDATE WINS TIGHTLY CONTESTED PRESIDENTIAL RACE, UPSETTING CHINA’S AMBITIONS
Surrounding Taiwan in a mock “quarantine” and performing missile “tests” in 2023 was also intended to push Taiwanese voters toward politicians and parties more friendly to China. But, as has been the case in the last three elections here, Beijing’s ploys were ineffectual. Taiwan in January elected the incumbent vice president, William Lai, to take over from two-term President Tsai Ing-wen. Both Tsai and Lai are members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The incoming Taiwan president has repeatedly pledged to make no changes to policies in place over the last eight years. Beijing, however, sees William Lai (Lai Ching-te) as a “splittist” and a supporter of Taiwan independence. Lai previously did voice support for independence but has tried to walk that back. China, however, does not forgive nor forget. Many political experts believe Beijing will ratchet up pressure as Lai enters office later this month.
A recent example of China’s attempts to establish this “new normal” is changes to airspace rules. China is close to finishing a massive new airport serving Xiamen in Fujian Province. Just 6.2 miles away, however, sits the island of Kinmen, which has remained a part of the Republic of China (ROC), better known as Taiwan, since 1949.
Kinmen Airport is strategically important for Taiwan. In 2015, the two sides worked out a deal to change a flight path that was a bit too close for Taiwan’s comfort. But in February, Beijing unilaterally backed out of the deal, announcing that, from May 16, new air routes would begin operating to “further optimize airspace” around the area.
FOR CHINA’S MILITARY PLANNERS, TAIWAN IS NOT AN EASY ISLAND TO INVADE
Few China watchers think China picked the day arbitrarily, says Karalekas.
“Beijing has a pattern of testing new leaders of enemy states. They tested Bush with the EP-3E spy plane incident. They tested (then-Japanese prime minister) Naoto Kan with the Senkaku boat collision. We can expect them to test Lai by creating some sort of mini-crisis around the time he takes office on May 20.”
“I think China is really ramping up threats,” Eric Hsu told Fox News Digital. Hsu lives in southern Taiwan’s biggest city, Kaohsiung, has worked on historical restoration projects and hosts a podcast on Taiwan history.
He says he isn’t only worried about military hardware, but also what he termed, “brainwashing videos and moves by KOLs,” (Key Opinion Leaders, a term used to describe internet influencers).
Hsu places much of the blame at the feet of local opposition parties seen by many as more friendly to Beijing. Describing the current domestic political situation, he said Taiwan faces “not just an enemy at the gate, but also enemies within.” South Taiwan is a DPP stronghold, but not everyone in the south agrees that the opposition parties are the problem.
Another resident of Kaohsiung, a self-employed businessperson and mother, Ms. Lin, thinks the DPP hasn’t been sincere in reaching out to China.
“They’ve had eight years, and now they will get at least another four,” Lin told Fox News Digital. “What Taiwan needs are brave leaders, people willing to try new solutions, and I don’t see any such people in the current DPP leadership.”
TAIWAN PRESIDENT-ELECT CHOOSES NEW FOREIGN, DEFENSE MINISTERS AS CHINA ANNEXATION THREATS INTENSIFY
The main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), denies it is “China-friendly” and instead says it is “peace-friendly.” Chinese dictator Xi Jinping has met with the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou twice, first in Singapore in 2015 when Ma was in office as ROC (Taiwan) president. It was the first time since the end of WWII top leaders from China and Taiwan sat in the same room. Each side in 2015 chose to ignore official titles and address each other as “Mr. Xi” and “Mr. Ma.” On April 10,, “Mr. Xi” and former Taiwan president “Mr. Ma” met again, this time in Beijing.
Some experts see such meetings between the KMT and China favorably, arguing that any dialogue is good and – if nothing else – provides a way for China to save face as it continues its policy of mandatory “reunification,” which China now says may need to be achieved by force. Others in Taiwan and abroad see Ma’s meetings as straying far too close to an acceptance of the idea that Taiwan is a part of China.
As it stands, the ruling DPP says it’s content with the status quo, including keeping Taiwan’s official name, the Republic of China. The KMT is generally more in favor of talks with Beijing under a mutual respect “consensus” idea that boils down to agreeing that both sides are “China,” but each side is free to interpret what this “one China” means.
The problem with the KMT’s thinking, central Taiwan-based newspaper columnist and political commentator Michael Turton told Fox News Digital, is that “Xi’s goal is the complete subjugation of Taiwan, just like Hong Kong. Two of China’s ambassadors abroad have already indicated that Taiwanese opposed to Beijing rule will be shipped off to concentration camps. Given this goal, how can there ever be dialogue with mutual respect?”
World
Brussels, my love? Champage cracked open to celebrate the Big Bang
In this edition, we zoom in on dwindling press freedom in Europe and check how Europe is doing 20 years after the big bang enlargement.
This week, we are joined by Olena Abramovych, Brussels correspondent for Ukrainian TV, Ricardo Borges de Castro, analyst in European and global affairs and Polish journalist Dorota Bawolek.
Panelists reflect on the big bang enlargement of the European Union that took place 20 years ago when leaders of 10 new countries presented their flags to Pat Cox, then president of the European Parliament. Despite the bumps along the way, the panel agreed it was a success.
“Even though you can say that the story has not always be rosy, over the past 20 years it has been a great story”, Ricardo Borges de Castro said.
The panel also marked International Press Freedom Day by focusing on the dwindling press freedom in the EU.
“It is very worrying and at the same time, unfortunately, not very surprising”, said Dorota Bawolek, who suffered attacks both online and offline for her reporting, and experienced censorship.
“Democracy in Europe is not living its best days at the moment. And media and media freedom is one of the victims of it”, she said.
Watch “Brussels, my love?” in the player above.
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