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Sudan War Drives Ine Million Children From Homes – UN

Published

2 years ago

June 17, 2023

The conflict in Sudan has displaced more than one million children, 270,000 of them in the Darfur region, the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) has said, warning more were at “grave risk”.

Fighting has raged in Sudan since mid-April between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

As well as the more than one million displaced, at least 330 children have been killed and more than 1,900 wounded, UNICEF said in a statement on Thursday.

“Many more are at grave risk”.

The United Nations agency said an estimated 13 million children were in “dire need” of humanitarian assistance.

“Children are trapped in an unrelenting nightmare, bearing the heaviest burden of a violent crisis they had no hand in creating — caught in the crossfire, injured, abused, displaced and subjected to disease and malnutrition,” said UNICEF Sudan representative Mandeep O’Brien.

It said the situation in Darfur, already scarred by a two-decade war that left hundreds of thousands dead and more than two million displaced, was especially concerning.

“The situation in West and Central Darfur, in particular, is characterised by active fighting, severe insecurity and looting of humanitarian supplies and facilities,” UNICEF said.

Daglo’s RSF have their origins in the Janjaweed militias which former strongman Omar al-Bashir unleashed on ethnic minorities in the region in 2003, drawing charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Its paramilitaries have been accused of carrying out the Wednesday killing of West Darfur state governor Khamis Abdullah Abakar hours after he made remarks critical of the paramilitaries in a telephone interview with a Saudi TV channel. The RSF has denied any responsibility.

The United Nations said “compelling eyewitness accounts attribute this act to Arab militias and the RSF”, while the Darfur Lawyers Association condemned the act of “barbarism, brutality and cruelty”.

“All those responsible for this killing must be held to account including those who bear command responsibility,” Jeremy Laurence, spokesman for the UN rights office, told reporters in Geneva.

– ‘Ominous reminder’ –

The US State Department said the atrocities unfolding in West Darfur were “primarily” the work of the RSF and provided an “ominous reminder” of the region’s previous genocide.

“The United States condemns in the strongest terms the ongoing human rights violations and abuses and horrific violence in Sudan, especially reports of widespread sexual violence and killings based on ethnicity in West Darfur by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

“The atrocities occurring today in West Darfur and other areas are an ominous reminder of the horrific events that led the United States to determine in 2004 that genocide had been committed in Darfur.”

Miller said up to 1,100 civilians had been killed in the West Darfur state capital, El Geneina, alone.

“While the atrocities taking place in Darfur are primarily attributable to the RSF and affiliated militia, both sides have been responsible for abuses,” he added.

Now in its third month, the fighting has claimed more than 2,000 lives, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

The International Organization for Migration says the fighting has driven 2.2 million people from their homes, including 528,000 who have fled to neighbouring countries.

With mediation efforts at a standstill after repeated abortive ceasefires, the fighting has raged on unabated.

In Khartoum North, just across the Blue Nile from the capital, the regular army carried out air strikes drawing anti-aircraft fire from the RSF, witnesses said.

Across the Nile in Omdurman, an air strike hit the Beit Al-Mal neighbourhood, killing at least three people and damaging several houses, the neighbourhood “resistance committee” said.

The RSF said the strike killed 20 people, some inside a mosque, and accused the regular army, which has a virtual monopoly of the skies, of carrying out multiple strikes on residential neighbourhoods.

Headline

Argentina’s President Suffers Crushing Defeat In Provincial Elections

Published

31 minutes ago

September 8, 2025

Editor

Argentina’s President Javier Milei vowed Sunday to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections.

The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023.

He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the centre-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse.

A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda.

“We will deepen and accelerate it,” he said at a muted election night event in the resort of Mar del Plata, where he took the stage in silence, in marked contrast to his usual dramatic entrance to rock music.

With 91 percent of the votes counted, the centre-left Fuerza Patria coalition had taken over 47 percent of the vote against nearly 34 percent for Milei’s ruling La Libertad Avanza (LLA), official results showed.

Buenos Aires’s votes are telling as a bellwether for Argentina. The province contributes more than 30 percent of Argentina’s GDP and accounts for 40 percent of all eligible voters.

The 13-point gap between Milei’s party and the left was far greater than opinion polls had predicted.

Turnout in the election was high, at around 63 percent.

The result poses major concerns for Milei, coming just six weeks before the midterm elections.

Some members of his party downplayed the extent of the defeat, pointing out that the LLA had nonetheless increased its share of legislators in Buenos Aires.

The government went into the election under a cloud following a corruption scandal at the National Disability Agency involving the president’s sister and right-hand woman, Karina Milei.

In a sign of the anger among many Argentines over the affair, Milei and his sister were pelted with stones on the campaign trail outside Buenos Aires in late August, with skirmishes breaking out among supporters and opponents.

The ruling party’s election drubbing comes three days after Milei suffered a major setback when Congress overturned his veto of a law increasing allowances for disabled people.

On the economic front, the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” is struggling also, despite success in fighting inflation and erasing a fiscal deficit.

Last week, his government began selling treasury dollars to stem the depreciation of the local currency, the peso, which had been accelerating in recent weeks despite high interest rates.

“We must learn from this (election defeat),” LLA candidate Diego Valenzuela told AFP, claiming that the result “was due to not engaging in economic populism, which is new in Argentina.”

His remarks were aimed at the Peronists, accused by Milei of leading South America’s second-biggest economy to ruin through excessive spending and protectionism.

Headline

Published

37 minutes ago

September 8, 2025

Editor

The trial of a South Korean woman accused in New Zealand of killing her children, stuffing their bodies in suitcases and leaving them in a storage locker began on Monday.

The case caused widespread shock in New Zealand when the bodies of Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, were found in an abandoned storage locker by an Auckland family in August 2022.

Police believe Hakyung Lee killed her children in June or July 2018, a year after her husband’s death, and then returned to South Korea.

She was extradited from South Korea in November 2022 at the request of the New Zealand police.

Appearing before the Auckland High Court on Monday morning, New Zealand media reported Lee refused to answer Justice Geoffrey Venning’s calls for a plea.

Despite the silence, Venning said he took Lee’s actions to be a not guilty plea, and continued with the case. He told jurors he expected an insanity defence to be presented.

Lee has elected to represent herself in the trial.

Two defence lawyers, Lorraine Smith and Chris Wilkinson-Smith, are serving as standby counsel.

The prosecution is expected to open its case on Tuesday.

Headline

Generation Z Protests In Nepal Over Social Media Ban, Corruption

Published

42 minutes ago

September 8, 2025

Editor

Thousands of young Nepalis marched in the capital Kathmandu on Monday, demanding that the government lift its ban on social media platforms and end the culture of corruption pervading the country.

Several social media sites, including Facebook, YouTube, and X, have been inaccessible in Nepal since Friday after the government blocked 26 unregistered platforms, leaving users angry and confused.

Popular platforms such as Instagram have millions of users in Nepal who rely on them for entertainment, news, and business.

Waving national flags, Generation Z demonstrators started the protest with the national anthem before unleashing chants against the social media prohibitions and corruption.

“We were triggered by the social media ban, but that is not the only reason we are gathered here,” said student Yujan Rajbhandari, 24.

“We are protesting against corruption that has been institutionalised in Nepal.”

Another student, Ikshama Tumrok, 20, said she was protesting against the “authoritarian attitude” of the government.

“We want to see change. Others have endured this, but it has to end with our generation,” she told AFP.

Since the ban, videos contrasting the struggles of ordinary Nepalis with the children of politicians flaunting luxury goods and expensive vacations have gone viral on TikTok, which is still operating.

“There have been movements abroad against corruption, and they (the government) are afraid that might happen here as well,” said protester Bhumika Bharati.

The cabinet decided last month to give the affected companies seven days to register in Nepal, establish a point of contact, and designate a resident grievance handling officer and compliance officer.

The decision came after a Supreme Court order in September last year.

In a statement on Sunday, the government said it respected freedom of thought and expression and was committed to “creating an environment for their protection and unfettered use”.

Nepal has restricted access to popular online platforms in the past.

The government blocked access to the Telegram messaging app in July, citing a rise in online fraud and money laundering.

It lifted a nine-month ban on TikTok in August last year after the platform agreed to comply with Nepali regulations.
AFP