Day: May 6, 2023

Representatives of the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group began their first face-to-face talks in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. According to the Saudi state news agency SPA, the talks between the two military rivals were held in the city of Jeddah. On Friday, Saudi Arabia and the US welcomed the start of the “pre-negotiation talks” between the two conflicting parties to end their fighting that has killed hundreds. A joint Saudi-US statement urged the Sudanese rivals to “take into consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks towards a cease-fire and end to the conflict.” The statement called for sustained global support for the talks to end the conflict in Sudan and for an expanded negotiation process that should include engagement with all Sudanese parties. Fighting between two rival generals – army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo – broke out on April 15, leaving more than 550 people dead. A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the two sides concerning the integration of the RSF into the armed forces – a key condition of Sudan’s transition agreement with political groups. Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021 when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a “coup.” The transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, was scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Ukraine said on Saturday that 45 soldiers returned home in a new round of prisoner exchange with Russia amid the ongoing war. The recent prisoner exchange took place on Saturday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories said in a statement. ’42 of those released are men and three are women. They are all soldiers of the Azov Brigade which was formed nine years ago,’ the ministry said. Earlier on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said three Russian pilots were returned from captivity in Ukraine. “As a result of a difficult negotiation process, three Russian servicemen – pilots of the Russian Aerospace Forces who were in mortal danger in captivity- were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” said a ministry statement. The previous prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine took place on April 16, with the two countries announcing swaps from the ongoing 14-month conflict on a monthly basis.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Kuwait signed a memorandum of understanding on Saturday to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a powerful regional bloc led by China and Russia. The document was inked on the sidelines of a meeting of the SCO foreign ministers on May 4-5 in Panaji city, India, the state news agency KUNA reported. ‘Kuwait’s joining of SCO as a dialogue partner is the first step towards joining the organization as a full member in the future,’ said Kuwaiti Ambassador to India Jassim Al-Najem. He added that the accession of some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as dialogue partners to the SCO ‘confirms the growing importance of the organization.’ On March 29, Saudi Arabia agreed to join the SCO as a dialogue partner in preparation for full membership. The SCO was founded in June 2001 by China, Russia, and the Central Asian states of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance is recognized as the world’s largest regional organization, with eight members, four observer states and several dialogue partners, including Trkiye. Pakistan and India became full members in 2017. Iran, an SCO observer state since June 2005, had its permanent membership approved in September 2021 and signed a memorandum of commitment a year later for its full accession.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The head of private Russian military company Wagner said on Saturday that he has sought authorization to transfer combat positions in Ukraine’s city of Bakhmut to Chechen forces. In a statement on Telegram, Evgeny Prigozhin said his group cannot continue fighting due to ammunition shortage and he asked Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu to issue the relevant authorization. Prigozhin thanked Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov for agreeing to replace Wagner units in Bakhmut with Akhmat special forces, saying some 2 square kilometers (0.7 square miles) of the city territory remain under control of the Ukrainian troops. For his part, Kadyrov said in a separate statement on Telegram that several units have already departed for the city. Prigozhin has been complaining about shortage of ammunition and unwillingness of the Russian military chiefs to supply his group with necessary combat means for several months. Russian forces have been trying for months to capture Bakhmut, a transport and logistics hub in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which is part of the largely Russian-speaking industrialized Donbas region.

Source: Anadolu Agency

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for redoubling efforts to achieve lasting peace and security in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes region. Speaking at a high-level summit on Congo and the region in Burundi’s commercial capital Bujumbura, Guterres reiterated that both local and foreign armed groups in Congo must lay down their arms. ‘I encourage the signatory countries, the African Union, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region and the Southern African Development Community to redouble their efforts,’ said Guterres. The meeting attended by several regional leaders was convened to review progress and challenges on implementing the Regional Oversight Mechanism of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for Congo and the region, signed in Ethiopia in 2013. Guterres said the signing of the framework agreement 10 years ago raised many hopes. ‘It marked a turning point, in which countries in the region made concrete commitments to end recurrent cycles of violence, particularly in eastern DR Congo, and build lasting peace and security … unfortunately, the current crisis underscores how far we still have to go,’ he said. There are more than 100 armed groups in Congo, including Congolese and foreigners. The groups accused of committing serious human rights abuses, including sexual violence, pose threat on the stability of the entire Great Lakes region. The Addis Ababa framework agreement was aimed at ending recurring violence in Congo and resolving conflict, tackling instability, and building sustainable peace in the region – with the UN, African Union, International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, and the Southern African Development Community, acting as the guarantor institutions. Appealing to armed groups to join the Congolese government process of demobilization, disarmament and reintegration, the UN chief called on ‘political and community leaders to put an end to hate speech and incitement to violence.’ Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said ‘certain signatories have violated the Addis Ababa framework agreement,’ reiterating claims accusing Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group fighting his government in the east. Rwanda, which was represented at the summit by Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente, has constantly denied the charge. More than 500,000 people have fled their homes since the resurgence of the M23 in November 2021, according to the UN. Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye called for ‘African wisdom to find African solutions to African problems.’ South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Moussa Faki Mahamat, the African Union Commission chairperson, attended the meeting among others.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay on Saturday congratulated Britain’s newly crowned King Charles III following the country’s first coronation service in nearly 70 years. “We attended the coronation ceremony of King Charles III of the UK. I extend my congratulations to King Charles III, the Royal family, the people and the government of the UK. I believe that Trkiye-UK relations will become even stronger in the new period,” Oktay said on Twitter. In the country’s first coronation service in nearly 70 years, Charles III was crowned on Saturday along with Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, the site of nearly a millennium of coronations in Britain since 1066. During the coronation service, conducted by the archbishop of Canterbury, the senior bishop of the Church of England, Charles was crowned with the historical St. Edward’s Crown, making him the 40th British monarch to take the traditional Oath of Faithful Service.

Source: Anadolu Agency