Report reveals ‘acute rise’ in deaths and injuries since 1 May as Taliban exploit departure of foreign troops 26 July 2021 | By Emma Graham Harrison Afghan security officials inspect the scene of a road side bomb blast that killed six civilians on the outskirts of Jalalabad. Photograph: Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA Record numbers of civilians have been killed and injured in Afghanistan in intense fighting since 1 May, when international forces began their final drawdown and the Taliban launched a major offensive. The heavy toll so far comes largely from battles in rural areas, according to the UN. If the conflict were to spill into more densely populated towns and cities, the consequences could be catastrophic, it says in its report, The Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict. Swathes of the country have fallen to the insurgents since they launched their offensive two months ago to coincide with the original deadline authorities set for US and other forces to leave the country. The UN report is the first nationwide account of the impact of the fighting on civilians. It notes near-record levels of casualties in the first six months of the year, with insurgent groups responsible for well over half of the deaths and injuries. It also says the “acute rise” in the two months since 1 May is of particular concern. In that period 783 civilians were killed and 1,609 injured, almost equivalent to the toll during the first four months of the year, and the highest figures for May and June since the UN began keeping records in 2009. They are also likely to be the worst since the Taliban were toppled from power in 2001. “I implore the Taliban and Afghan leaders to take heed of the conflict’s grim and chilling trajectory and its devastating impact on civilians,” said Deborah Lyons, the UN secretary general’s special representative for Afghanistan. Afghan security forces exchange fire with Taliban militants in Shiberghan city, Jawzjan province. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock “The report provides a clear warning that unprecedented numbers of Afghan civilians will perish and be maimed this year if the increasing violence is not stemmed.” Nearly two-thirds of the casualties were caused by insurgent groups, including the regional Isis franchise, the UN said. About a quarter were the responsibility of the government and its allies. The others could not be clearly attributed to any group. No civilian casualties were attributed to actions of international forces for the first time since the UN began keeping records. The conflict is now almost entirely between Afghans, it said. Women and girls have been particularly badly hit by the violence. Casualties for both groups reached record highs over the six months of the year, a trend the report described as sickening. The most shocking single incident was perhaps an attack on a girls school in Kabul in which at least 85 people were killed and more than 200 injured, the majority of them schoolgirls. The increase in civilian casualties ends a four-year period in which they had steadily declined between January and June, despite increasing instability nationwide. Improvised mines were the leading cause of casualties, responsible for more than one in three deaths and injuries. Recent fighting appears to have led to more being placed on roads and inside homes in areas the Taliban seized. Women and children who fled fighting in Helmand province wait to see a doctor at a mobile clinic. Photograph: Elise Blanchard/AFP/Getty Images Because they tend to be activated by whoever happens to step on them or dig them up, they are indiscriminate and may be illegal under international law, the UN said. We “documented many incidents where the devices were emplaced on the roads leading into areas under the control of anti-government elements, as well as left in and around civilian homes in villages from which they had recently departed,” the report said. Fighting on the ground caused the second highest number of casualties, and if the battle for control of Afghanistan moves into urban areas the figures could climb further. “Much of the battlefield action during the most deadly months of May and June took place outside cities, in areas with comparatively low population levels,” the report said. “The UN is gravely concerned that if intensive military action is undertaken in urban areas with high population densities, the consequences for Afghan civilians could be catastrophic.” Targeted killings of civilians by insurgents was the third leading cause of casualties, followed by Afghan army airstrikes. The number of airstrikes over the first six months of the year more than tripled from 2020 levels to more than 4,250 missions, and civilian casualties from these attacks doubled. The UN also raised concern about destruction and looting in areas that came under Taliban control in May and June. Targets included “civilian homes, schools, clinics, electricity and mobile phone towers, city water supplies, bridges, shops, and residential apartment buildings,” the report said. “The vast majority of incidents of intentional destruction of civilian property … were attributed to or done with the complicity of Taliban fighters after they took control of a new area.” Lyons called on the Taliban and Afghan leaders to “intensify your efforts at the negotiating table, stop the Afghan-against-Afghan fighting. Protect the Afghan people and give them hope for a better future.” © 2021 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (modern)

Thousands who are fleeing the ongoing conflict between government forces and M-23 rebels reach the entrance the Democratic Republic of Congo eastern city of Goma, Feb. 7, 2024. The decades-old conflict in Congo’s mineral-rich east has “drastically deteriorated” since early 2022 and gotten even worse since last October, with sharp increases in sexual violence, the number of wounded and child recruitment, the top Red Cross official in the country said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, File) BY EDITH M. LEDERER UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The decades-old conflict in Congo’s mineral-rich east has “drastically deteriorated” since early 2022, and gotten even worse since last October, with sharp increases in sexual violence, the number of wounded, and child recruitment, the top Red Cross official in the country said Wednesday. Francois Moreillon called Congo a “double-edged crisis,” with the last 30 years of conflict weakening the capacity of government, including at local levels, to deliver basic services such as water, education and food. When it came to protecting civilians, Moreillon said the crisis was “extremely acute.” Eastern Congo has struggled with armed violence as more than 120 groups fight for power, land and valuable mineral resources, while others try to defend their communities. Some armed groups have been accused of mass killings. The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, known as the ICRC, said “all indicators are going through the roof” since Oct. 1 when fighting resumed between Congolese government forces with their allies, and the M23 rebel group. Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, along with the U.S. and U.N. experts, accuses neighboring Rwanda of giving military backing to M23. Rwanda denies the claim, but in February it effectively admitted that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to safeguard its security, pointing to a build-up of Congolese forces near the border. Moreillon told several reporters at the office of the ICRC’s U.N. envoy that the number of displaced Congolese rose from 5.6 million in early 2022 to nearly 7.4 million now, which makes Congo “one of the most serious crises for displacement on the planet.” He said another escalating indicator is the level of sexual violence. In Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, he said the number of incidents of sexual violence in the first half of 2024 rose 90% compared with 2023 — from 7,500 incidents last year to around 15,000 this year. Moreillon cited the case of a woman the ICRC cared for who had been raped twice and explained that women in groups went to fetch wood “taking condoms with them to try to convince the rapist to wear them while they were raped.” This was not just to prevent getting pregnant or sexually transmitted diseases, but also to prevent them from being ordered to leave the house if their husbands learned they were raped, he said. Moreillon said sexual violence can not only be a weapon of war but also a product of decades of war where “anyone with a gun feels he can do whatever he wants” — and the fact that there is impunity for these crimes “does not help.” The ICRC has also witnessed an increase in child recruitment, with estimates that it’s increased roughly 80% in some areas. “That could be only the tip of the iceberg,” he said. A key reason is that fighting has gotten so intense that armed groups need new recruits to replace dead combatants, he said, and children can either be convinced or forced. Several kids he interviewed said they joined because they thought they would get respect, he said. When families don’t give their children to armed groups they are “taxed” and then hand them over to the recruiters. Another indicator is the number of wounded civilians seeking treatment, Moreillon said. The ICRC supports three hospitals in eastern Congo including one in Goma where it had to increase the number of surgical teams from two last year to three this year who are working day and night, he said. Last year, Moreillon said, 1,050 cases were treated at the Goma hospital, and just in February this year the ICRC treated 350 cases — a third of last year’s caseload in just one month. “So that’s a clear indicator of the severity of the intensity of the conflict,” he said. The ICRC head in Congo said what has changed is that more sophisticated weapons are being used combined with increased fighting in crowded urban settings. He said 45% of those wounded by weapons are civilians, and about 40% of the wounds are caused by shrapnel which wasn’t the case last year when most wounds were caused either by bullets or knives. What about deaths? Moreillon said it’s very difficult to get figures, but if the number of wounded “is drastically increasing” this must also be the case for the number killed. Moreillon appealed to donors to help the Congolese in need, saying his budget for Congo this year — 85 million Swiss francs ($95 million) — is only 22% funded. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

UN’s hunger monitoring system finds ongoing famine in Zamzam camp and is likely to persist until October. A woman and baby are seen at the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, Sudan [File: Mohamed Zakaria/Handout via Reuters]. The war in Sudan and restrictions on aid deliveries have caused famine in at least one camp for displaced people in Sudans’s North Darfur region, according to a report by the global authority on food security. Thursday’s United Nations-backed report, linked to an internationally recognised standard known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), found that it is plausible that parts of North Darfur – especially the Zamzam camp – are experiencing “the worst form of hunger”, known as IPC Phase 5. IPC Phase 5 is determined in areas where at least one in five people or households severely lack food and face starvation and destitution, which would ultimately lead to critical levels of acute malnutrition and death. This marks just the third time a famine determination has been made since the system was set up 20 years ago. The IPC partnership includes more than a dozen UN agencies, aid groups and governments that use the IPC as a global reference for analysis of food and nutrition crises. The report shows how starvation and disease are taking a deadly toll in Sudan, where more than 15 months of war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have created the world’s biggest internal displacement crisis and left 25 million people – or half the population – in urgent need of humanitarian aid. In its report, the Famine Review Committee (FRC) found that famine was ongoing in the Zamzam camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) and likely to persist there at least until October. Zamzam has a population of 500,000. It is near the city of el-Fasher, home to 1.8 million people and the last significant holdout against the RSF across Darfur. The RSF has been besieging the area and no aid has reached the sprawling camp for months. The FRC said it is plausible that similar conditions were affecting other areas in Darfur including the displaced persons camps of Abu Shouk and Al Salam. On Thursday, Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym (MSF), decried what it called “repeated attacks on healthcare facilities” in el-Fashir. “The organisation calls for all parties to respect healthcare facilities and the civilian population and to allow the urgent delivery of food and medicines to the area,” MSF said in a statement. The group warned that children in the area are “at death’s door” due to restrictions on food and medical supplies. The Reuters news agency reported that some Sudanese have been forced to eat leaves and soil, and that satellite imagery showed cemeteries expanding fast as starvation and disease spread. A Reuters analysis of satellite images identified 14 burial grounds in Darfur that had expanded rapidly in recent months. One cemetery in Zamzam grew 50 percent faster in the period between March 28 and May 3 than in the preceding three-and-a-half months. The analysis was used by the FRC as indirect evidence of increasing mortality. © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network

The International Religious Freedom Roundtable & Alliance Against Genocide Working Group is circulating a letter to the United Nations Security Council requesting a UN/African Union Peacekeeping Mission to stop the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The Working Group is seeking "sign-ons" to the letter through August 10, 2024. Please read the full letter below and sign-on here: https://forms.gle/vQv5rvcrtj4CEDT2A Summary of the letter: While acknowledging the positive steps taken by UNSC Resolution 2736, such as demanding the lifting of the siege of El Fasher and opening humanitarian corridors to leave El Fasher, the letter highlights critical gaps in the resolution. It calls for a specific deadline for the Rapid Support Forces to lift their siege and the creation of enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance. The letter advocates extending the arms embargo on Darfur to the entire country and imposing sanctions on violators. The letter calls for authorizing UN/AU Mission police to arrest persons charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. Supporting proposals from Human Rights Watch and Genocide Watch, the letter urges the drafting, passing, authorization, and funding of a robust UN and African Union peacekeeping mission. United Nations Security Council 405 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10017 Re: Urgent Appeal for Stronger Action in Sudan & Addressing Gaps in UNSC Resolution 2736 Dear Members of the UN Security Council: We, the undersigned, are a group of individuals and organizations that advocate for human rights and religious freedom around the world. We represent diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds but are united in our goal of promoting freedom of religion and human rights for all. We are writing to you to express our concern regarding the deteriorating situation that is currently unfolding in Sudan. We appreciate the passing of UN Security Council Resolution 2736 on June 13, 2024. The resolution addresses some of the concerns that we have about Sudan. The ending of the siege of El Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces, protection of civilians, and opening of humanitarian corridors so people can leave El Fasher are key elements in the resolution. However, we have significant concerns about what the resolution failed to address. Regarding the resolution’s call for lifting of the siege of El Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), we have two questions. First, what is the deadline for lifting the RSF siege? UNSC Res. 2736 contains no specific deadline for when this siege should be lifted. How much time does the RSF have to lift this siege? Respectfully, we urge the Security Council to set a deadline for the RSF to lift its siege of the beleaguered city. Second, where is the enforcement mechanism to enforce the lifting of the siege? Resolution 2736 did not authorize any enforcement by the United Nations or African Union if the RSF refuses or fails to lift its siege. We also have two other concerns. The resolution failed to address the brazen flouting of the arms embargo currently in force for Darfur. The arms embargo should be extended to all of Sudan. The Security Council should call for sanctions on UN members that violate the embargo. The resolution also fails to call for accountability by both the RSF led by General Hamdan and the Sudanese Armed Forces led by General Burhan. The war crimes and crimes against humanity against the civilian population by both forces should be tried in the International Criminal Court, the courts of Sudan, and courts with universal jurisdiction around the world. Human Rights Watch has called for the African Union to work with the United Nations to deploy a Civilian Protection Mission to Sudan. Genocide Watch has called for such a UN/AU peacekeeping mission since July 2023. We, the undersigned, agree with these proposals made to the UN Security Council and the AU Peace and Justice Council. We encourage you to authorize, mandate, and fund these proposals for a strong UN and AU peacekeeping mission in Sudan. We ask that a new UN Security Council Resolution be drafted, debated, passed, and implemented in time to save the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people now trapped by the civil war in Sudan. We thank you for your consideration in this critical situation. Sincerely, Gregory H Stanton, Founding President, Genocide Watch Scott Morgan, Co-Chair, Africa Working Group, IRF Roundtable Areeka Khan, Sudan Task Force Leader, Genocide Watch Rebecca Tinsley, Founder, Waging Peace Hilly Moodrick- Even Khen, Director, Ariel University Center for the Research and Study of Genocide Simon Billenness, Executive Director, No Business With Genocide Lauren Homer, President, Law and Liberty Trust Rafal Pankowski, Co-Founder, NEVER AGAIN Association Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D., Executive Director, World Without Genocide Marcus Steiner, CEO, Crane Center for Mass Atrocity Prevention Fadel Abdulghany, Executive Director, Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) Kyle D Abts, Executive Director, International Committee on Nigeria Ann Buwalda, Executive Director, Jubilee Campaign Soumava Basu, President and Founder, Council for Global Cooperation (CGC) Gloria Samdi Puldu, President, Leah Foundation Farhad Shamo Roto, Founder and President, Voice of Ezidis Abid Shamdeen, Co-founder, Nadia's Initiative Y Phic Hdok, Co-founder, Montagnards Stand for Justice (MSFJ) Rev. Dr. Marian Edmonds-Allen, Executive Director, Parity Rev. Neal Christie, Executive Director, FIACONA Lareina Kiser, Communications Director, Prayer Pioneers Sara Pierson, Just Law International Minh Le, AFJV, Author of Drawn Together Tanya Nguyen-Do, Coordinator, Friends of Thien Am Zen Monastery Sydney Kochan, Government Relations & Special Projects Coordinator, Jubilee Campaign Teresa Merk, Legal Assistant, Compliance Aiden John Carlton, Middle East Research, Genocide Watch Bekir Hodzic, Podcast Manager, Genocide Watch Grace Harris, Africa Research, Genocide Watch Trinity Huynh, Research and Advocacy Team, Genocide Watch Brooklyn Quallen, Lead Alliance Coordinator, Genocide Watch Lea Gruber, Legal Team, Genocide Watch Sue Taylor, Congressonal Working Group, International Religious Freedom Roundtable Claire Kedeshian, International Religious Freedom Roundtable Edward D'Agostino, International Religious Freedom Roundtable Please sign-on to the letter here: https://forms.gle/vQv5rvcrtj4CEDT2A

"South Sudan July 2012" by EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 By Sabrina Nelson South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in July 2011, following a referendum in which 99% of South Sudanese vote in favour of secession from Sudan. The new state was led by President Salva Kiir, a former rebel leader and an ethnic Dinka, and Vice President Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer. Many hoped independence would bring the country long-standing peace and stability following decades of neo-colonial domination by Khartoum, civil war, and genocide. But independence brought more ethnic civil war despite putative peace deals and ceasefire efforts. President Kiir and Vice President Machar’s power struggle and exploitation of ethnic hatreds devolved into genocidal civil war in December 2013. Kiir’s government forces and Dinka militias violently clashed with Nuer forces loyal to Machar. 400,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the constant war. The peace agreements in 2015 and 2018 did not end the ethnic conflicts. Civilians continue to be massacred on a scale so large it is genocidal. 86% of those killed or injured are victims of attacks by ethnic militias or army troops. Though a peace deal promised creation of a Hybrid Court to try war crimes and crimes against humanity, it has never been established. Machar and Kiir signed a power-sharing agreement in August 2018 in an attempt to bring about peace in the country. Another peace agreement followed, but its implementation has not happened. Unification of Kiir and Machar’s forces into a national army and demobilization of smaller militias has not occurred. Although the peace agreement was supposed to be implemented in February 2023, President Kiir’s government extended the transitional period by two years. South Sudan is due to hold presidential elections in December 2024. South Sudan is plagued by political instability, food insecurity, grave human rights abuses, ethnic violence, deaths from endemic diseases, and the displacement of over two million civilians. Conflict in the country has resulted in 2.4 million refugees and 2.3 million internally displaced. An estimated 9.4 million people require humanitarian assistance. 7.1 million civilians face acute food insecurity. Foreign aid remains totally insufficient to meet basic needs. With the outbreak of war in Sudan in April 2023, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons fled to South Sudan. Many were South Sudanese refugees who had previously fled to Sudan when civil war engulfed South Sudan in 2013. Grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including widespread rape and extrajudicial killings, are being committed against civilian populations with total impunity. Growing insecurity due to the ongoing civil war has resulted in a steady increase in mass rape and gender-based violence. Women and girls have been victims of rape and other atrocities, mainly perpetrated by members of armed groups such as the South Sudan People's Defence Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO). Children are being abducted and recruited into the armed forces, with girls often subjected to sexual slavery. Since 2013, ethnic massacres of civilians have become normal. Nuer and Dinka men and women have been subjected to hate speech and torture by both Nuer and Dinka armies. This ethnic targeting of civilians constitutes Genocide. Due to continuing civil war, ethnic massacres, and non-implementation of peace agreements, Genocide Watch considers South Sudan to be at Stage 9: Extermination. Genocide Watch recommends: The African Union should work with the South Sudanese government to establish a Hybrid Court for South Sudan to try individuals suspected of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The South Sudan People’s Defense Force and Nuer SPLA-IO forces should be integrated into a small, single disciplined and well-trained national army. All ethnic militias should be disarmed and demobilized. U.N./A.U. forces should oversee and support upcoming elections to ensure that they are free and fair. Church and civil society leaders should engage in dialogue to encourage inter-ethnic unity and peace.

30 July 2024 | UN News Peace and Security UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe | A view of the UN Security Council as members vote in favour of the draft resolution on the Central African Republic sanctions regime. The UN Security Council on Tuesday lifted the arms embargo on the Central African Republic (CAR) government forces, while calling on all nations to take all necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply of all types of weapons and related materiel to armed groups operating there. The arms embargo was established in 2013 against the backdrop of a brutal intercommunal conflict, when the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power leading to the mostly Christian militias fighting back. Civilians bore the brunt of the conflict, with several thousands killed and many forced from their homes. Unanimously adopting resolution 2745 (2024), the Security Council also authorised Member States to “seize, register and dispose” of prohibited items – weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment and spare parts – destined for armed groups and associated individuals operating in the CAR. Member States are required to notify the CAR Sanctions Committee within 30 days of disposing such items. The Security Council also extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts, which supports the CAR Sanctions Committee, until August 2025. The Council also “expressed [its] intention” to review the Panel’s mandate and take appropriate action regarding its further extension no later than 31 July next year. The 15 ambassadors also requested the Panel to “devote special attention” to the analysis of illicit transnational trafficking networks that continue to fund and supply armed groups in the CAR and threats relating to explosive ordnances. The Panel is required to provide a midterm report by 31 January 2025, a final report by 15 June 2025, and progress updates as appropriate. © United Nations

August 6 2024: Reacting to the continued failure to take meaningful steps by African and global human rights bodies since armed conflict erupted in Ethiopia’s Amhara region a year ago, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah said: “Millions of Ethiopians are being denied justice despite having their lives shattered by conflict. Human rights violations have continued unabated, with no progress towards individual accountability, in the Amhara region since the latest armed conflict began a year ago. Reports of atrocities in the Tigray region, which first emerged three-and-a-half years ago, and abuses amid the ongoing prolonged armed conflict in Oromia have largely gone unaddressed.  Human rights violations have continued unabated, with no progress towards individual accountability, in the Amhara region since the latest armed conflict began a year ago. -Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa “Despite claims of commitment to justice, mainly through so-called transitional justice mechanisms, Ethiopian authorities have failed to halt these violations. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s recent speech to parliament stating that his army does not commit massacres, demonstrates the government’s ongoing denial of past and present crimes. “African and global human rights bodies were established to prevent and respond to gross human rights violations and crimes under international law, and to ensure those responsible for such crimes are held accountable – including by raising above attacks against Justice and accountability. What we have witnessed in Ethiopia is an utter failure to fulfill these duties, setting a dangerous global precedent that perpetrators can evade justice for international crimes. It is long overdue for the African and global human rights bodies to bring Ethiopia back to their agenda, including setting up public and private engagements on the situation in the Amhara region. -Tigere Chagutah “It is long overdue for the African and global human rights bodies to bring Ethiopia back to their agenda, including setting up public and private engagements on the situation in the Amhara region. United Nations (UN) member states must act to reinstate Human Rights Council scrutiny of the situation in Ethiopia and relevant UN and African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) special mechanisms must take urgent steps to investigate alleged crimes in the Amhara region.” Background On 4 August 2023, the Ethiopian government declared a national six-month state of emergency following increased violence in the Amhara region between Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and the Fano militia. The Fano militia and the Amhara Special Forces fought alongside the ENDF against Tigrayan forces from November 2020 until a Cessation of Hostilities agreement was signed on 2 November 2022. Prime Minister Abiy addressed the Federal House of Representatives on 4 July 2024 where he denied ongoing and past mass atrocities committed by government and allied forces. © 2024 Amnesty International

How International Pressure Can Stop the Genocidal Violence By John Prendergast and Anthony Lake | July 31, 2024 A damaged army tank in Omdurman, Sudan, April 2024 (El Tayeb Siddig / Reuters) In the next four months, two and a half million Sudanese could die of hunger-related causes. That’s twice as many as Pol Pot’s regime starved in Cambodia over four years, and two and a half times as many as died in the 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia that inspired the charity recording “We are the World.” As Martin Griffith, the United Nations’ top humanitarian official, recently put it: “I don’t think we’ve ever had this kind of number at risk of famine.” The explosive expansion of graveyards in Sudan’s Darfur region and the genocidal violence marking the battles for its main cities are the visible tip of a mountain of human suffering. Even as wars rage elsewhere in the world, there is no parallel to the intensity and scope of conflict in Sudan. Since civil war erupted in April 2023, ten million Sudanese have fled their homes. One out of every eight internally displaced persons in the world is Sudanese, and more children have been displaced from their homes in Sudan than anywhere else. And yet the world seems to hardly notice the agony of Sudan and its people. Donors have contributed only 31 percent of the $2.7 billion the UN has requested for Sudan—a shortfall that is worsening the hunger crisis. Occasionally governments will announce sanctions or world leaders and international organizations will make statements expressing concern. For the most part, however, they are not taking meaningful action to stanch the bloodshed. No country is doing enough to end the suffering, but some countries are actively fueling and benefiting from Sudan’s civil war. Egypt, Iran, and Turkey have provided military support to Khartoum, despite evidence that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) engages in indiscriminate bombing and torture, and that it uses starvation as a weapon of war. Russia initially backed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the other party to the conflict, which has roots in the Janjaweed militias that committed genocide in Darfur two decades ago. But Moscow is now playing both sides; in May, it entered an agreement with the SAF to establish a Russian logistical support base on the Red Sea in exchange for weapons and equipment. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, which has historical links to the SAF leadership, spent months undercutting efforts to restart negotiations between the warring parties that had stalled in late 2023. It took until this July for the United States to gain Saudi agreement to restart the talks, which will take place in August in Geneva. The outside actor that bears the most responsibility for the starvation and ethnic cleansing, however, is the United Arab Emirates. As the RSF perpetrates genocidal attacks on civilians in Darfur and other regions, Abu Dhabi is delivering arms to the militia. Meanwhile, unscrupulous companies smuggle Sudanese gold into Emirati markets, fueling the conflict. The UAE has been able to act with impunity, as its oil reserves, its strategic importance as a counterweight to Iran, and its role in diplomatic efforts to end the war in the Gaza Strip make Western leaders hesitant to lean too hard on Abu Dhabi. Given the UAE’s large role in stoking the crisis in Sudan, it is imperative that outside actors compel the Emirati leadership to change course. Even if the United States and its partners remain unwilling to take bold action, such as by imposing sweeping network sanctions or investing in new peacekeeping forces in Darfur, public and private actors can make use of other points of leverage over the Emirati leadership, including its trade in conflict gold, its financial interests in sports teams and leagues, its purchase of U.S. weapons, and its reliance on Washington lobbyists. If it faces sufficient pressure, Abu Dhabi might conclude that its support for the RSF is more trouble than it’s worth. CONFLICT GOLD Gold has been a major driver of the war in Sudan. The RSF is more deeply involved in the gold trade, but both sides have smuggled and sold large volumes of gold to fuel their war machines. The UAE currently benefits from this trade. Statistics for 2023 are not yet available, but in 2022, the UAE imported 39 tons of gold from Sudan, valued at more than $2 billion, and direct shipments of Sudanese gold continue today. Bad actors also smuggle Sudanese gold into Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda—all of which end up selling much of it to the UAE. According to UN trade data, over 60 tons reached the UAE through these routes in 2022. In a May 2023 business risk advisory, the U.S. State Department noted that the UAE receives “nearly all” the gold exported from Sudan. The UAE is a global hub for gold laundering and by far the biggest destination for gold trafficked from Africa. A recent report from the Swiss nongovernmental organization Swissaid estimated that 405 tons were smuggled from sub-Saharan Africa to the UAE in 2022, making the UAE the biggest importer of illicit African gold that year. Industry experts say that large volumes of smuggled gold that are never declared in their countries of origin suddenly become legal when transmitted through the UAE, solidifying the nation’s leading role in gold laundering. Between 2020 and 2022, the London Bullion Market Association, an influential global gold-trading organization, and the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body that combats money laundering, pressured Abu Dhabi to address gold and money laundering. In response, the Emirati leadership took some steps toward reform, requiring refiners to be audited according to international standards. But important loopholes remain, particularly in the country’s gold souks, where gold is traded for cash. Tougher action against the illicit gold trade would make it more difficult for the UAE and Emirati companies to profit from the war. The London Bullion Market Association should coordinate with other governments to push the UAE to allow independent monitoring of its gold souks—similar to the independent review missions that disrupt the trade of blood diamonds in what is known as the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. Without independent monitoring of the gold souks, local reforms will do little to dent the trade in conflict gold. Finally, the United States and the European Union should sanction more of the firms that buy and sell conflict gold from Sudan. In June, the U.S. Treasury Department blocked seven Emirati-based companies’ access to the U.S. financial system on the suspicion that they violated U.S. sanctions on Sudan. This is a good step, but to sway Emirati leaders’ thinking, the United States and the EU must ramp up existing sanctions, targeting the entire network of companies and individuals in the UAE involved in smuggling gold from Sudan. Because the owners frequently change the names of companies and use fake corporate directors to stand in for the individuals actually in charge, sanctions must be far-reaching to work. FULL-COURT PRESS Disrupting the trade in Sudanese conflict gold may be a particularly effective way for outside actors to peel the UAE away from backing the RSF, but it is not the only method at their disposal. Like Saudi Arabia, the Emirati government has invested heavily in sportswashing—laundering its reputation by financing, either directly or through private companies, sports leagues and teams around the world. Some of the biggest European soccer clubs, such as AC Milan, Arsenal, Manchester City, and Real Madrid, have received Emirati backing. So has Formula One, the international car racing league; Baseball United, a Dubai-based league whose ownership group includes former U.S. Major League Baseball players; and a number of U.S.-based sporting organizations, including the National Basketball Association, Ultimate Fighting Championship, and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. Fans would be rightly dismayed to learn that the sponsors of their favorite athletes are also underwriting genocidal violence. If even a few sports teams, leagues, players, and fans were to use social media to call out the UAE’s contributions to Sudan’s crisis, the public embarrassment could make the UAE think twice about its policies. The United States should also reconsider the billions of dollars in arms it sells to the UAE each year. Members of Congress and civil society groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have raised alarms about the UAE arming the RSF and urged countries that provide weapons to the UAE to do extra due diligence to make sure those shipments do not end up in Darfur. Representative Sara Jacobs, Democrat from California and the ranking member on the Africa Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a bill in May 2024 that would prohibit U.S. weapons sales to the UAE until the U.S. president certifies that Abu Dhabi has stopped arming the RSF. The ban would affect both U.S. government and private sales and would include firearms, artillery, ammunition, missiles, bombs, explosives, military vehicles, and aircraft, among other types of equipment. If momentum builds behind the bill, the signal that Washington is making this problem a priority could send a useful warning to the UAE. Finally, U.S. congressmen, journalists, and human rights advocates should call out American firms that Abu Dhabi has hired to influence U.S. policy and shape public opinion to its liking. For example, the strategic advisory group FGS Global has two contracts with the Emirati government totaling $5.6 million, plus expenses, for 2024–25. Likewise, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, a prominent Washington law firm, subcontracted a D.C.-based lobbying firm to advise the UAE on military sales in 2023 and itself collected $3.8 million in fees from the UAE over six months the same year. As long as the UAE aids and abets the RSF, Washington lobbyists and law firms that do work for the UAE government are helping enable atrocities. DIAL UP THE PRESSURE Nearly two decades ago, amid the genocide in Darfur, the global activist coalition Save Darfur set its sights on influencing policy in China, which at the time was by far the largest investor in Sudan. Save Darfur accused China of ignoring the atrocities in Darfur and launched a campaign criticizing Beijing’s lack of action as it was preparing to host the 2008 Olympic Games. In early February 2008, Steven Spielberg, who had been hired as an artistic director for the games’ opening and closing ceremonies, resigned in protest of China’s links to the genocide. Rising international condemnation had an effect: by late February, Beijing joined the international chorus pressing Khartoum to allow humanitarian aid into camps for internally displaced civilians, which prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths by starvation. As the Spielberg episode showed two decades ago, pressure from unexpected sources can make a difference. Today, advocacy groups, companies, sports teams, athletes, policymakers, and anyone with a public platform should use all the tools available to them to prevent an escalating famine and genocide in Sudan. The UAE is deeply entangled with the RSF and bears heavy responsibility for the crisis, but this means it also has enormous leverage—if Abu Dhabi is induced to use it—to shape RSF decisions. On the other side, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which have influence over the SAF, can help press for a cease-fire and an end to these forces’ obstruction of life-saving aid. Without a lot more pressure on the warring parties and their benefactors in the region, an already dire humanitarian crisis in Sudan will only get worse. It should not take images of starving Sudanese babies filling the news for companies, athletic groups, and governments to put principle above profit or expediency. ©2024 Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

July 24 2024: ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Eritrean authorities have suspended all flights by Ethiopian Airlines to the East African nation effective Sept. 30, the airline said on Wednesday. Flights from Ethiopia to Eritrea had resumed in 2018 after two decades, following a peace deal between the two neighbours that earned Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed a Nobel peace prize a year later. "Ethiopian Airlines has received a notice from the Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority through a letter... indicating the suspension of all Ethiopian Airlines flights to Eritrea, effective September 30, 2024," the airline said in a statement posted on its official Facebook page. "The specific reasons for this suspension have not been disclosed to us," it said. Eritrea Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hanna Atnafu, a spokesperson for the airline, told Reuters the flight suspension came as a surprise. "What is shocking and saddening to our airlines was just 15 days ago, on July 8, there was a letter sent to (us) requesting, to increase our weekly flight frequency from 10 flights to 15," Hanna said. State-owned Ethiopian Airlines is ranked the largest in Africa by revenue and profit by the global industry body International Air Transport Association. Copyright 2024 © U.S. News & World Report L.P.

Entre el 27 de julio y el 2 de agosto de 2024, el régimen secuestró al menos a 10 sacerdotes y un diácono La Prensa, 3 AUG 2024 La Iglesia Católica ha sido amenazada y asediada en los últimos cinco años por la Policia y operadores políticos del régimen. LA PRENSA/Cortesía El régimen Ortega Murillo emprendió una ola de persecución y arrestos contra religiosos, especialmente de la Iglesia católica, que dejó como resultado al menos 10 sacerdotes y un diácono arrestados entre el 27 de julio y este 2 de agosto. Los sacerdotes detenidos son: Ulises René Vega Matamoros, Edgar Sacasa Sierra, Jairo Pravia, Víctor Godoy, Marlon Velázquez (quien fue rector de la Universidad Católica Juan Pablo II de Managua), Antonio López, fray Silvio Romero (de Juigalpa), el diácono Ervin Aguirre, Raúl Villega (misionero de origen mexicano), Fray Edilio Javier Cruz y Francisco Tercero. A consideración del periodista especializado en temas religiosos, Israel González Espinoza, el régimen Ortega Murillo está recrudeciendo la represión contra la Iglesia católica, aunque el hostigamiento, las amenazas y la vigilancia permanecieron aún después del destierro de 19 religiosos, entre los que se incluyó a monseñor Rolando Álvarez, obispo de Matagalpa, el 14 de enero de 2024. "Pareciera que la intención es dejar sin sacerdotes a los feligreses de las diócesis de Estelí y Matagalpa. De lo que sí se puede hablar es de una intensificación de la persecución religiosa. Las parroquias siguen asediadas, los sacerdotes siguen bajo vigilancia, no se permite expresar libremente la fe por medio de procesiones, a menos que sean muy vigiladas. Por lo tanto, se está evidenciando que el régimen utiliza la crisis en Venezuela para hacer de las suyas en Nicaragua", dijo González Espinoza. La activista Haydeé Castillo coincidió en que la dictadura aprovecha el interés de la comunidad internacional en la situación de Venezuela para arremeter contra la Iglesia católica. "El régimen secuestró arbitrariamente a sacerdotes, diáconos, monseñores y laicos. Esta es una situación que no termina (...) Nicaragua es una cárcel y en estos días se incrementó la cantidad de personas que están en casa por cárcel", dijo Castillo. El periodista refirió que, si bien es cierto la Iglesia católica guarda silencio sobre las agresiones del régimen, la dictadura la ve como "un enemigo" por la cercanía con la población. "En Nicaragua la voz de la Iglesia sigue siendo muy importante para los nicaragüenses, por eso es que el orteguismo la ve como un enemigo, como algo que hay que disminuir su presencia en el espacio público. A pesar de que no existen declaraciones públicas de la situación del país, sigue acompañando a la gente y eso le molesta mucho al régimen", dijo González Espinoza. Falsa tranquilidad Un sacerdote, consultado bajo condición de anonimato por temor a represalias, aseguró a LA PRENSA que luego del destierro de monseñor Rolando Álvarez, obispo de la Diócesis de Matagalpa, se creó una "falsa tranquilidad", , pero la persecución contra la Iglesia católica se mantiene. "Lo que hubo fue una falsa tranquilidad. Mucho se pensó que yéndose monseñor Rolando Álvarez iban a cesar las hostilidades contra la Iglesia, pero no fue así. Era una aparente tranquilidad para dar una nueva embestida contra la Iglesia y en este caso, en la Diócesis de Estelí", dijo el religioso. El 7 de marzo de 2024, la vocera de la dictadura, Rosario Murillo, al felicitar al cardenal Leopoldo Brenes, aseguró que quedaron atrás los "días de campanas y cristales rotos". "Hemos venido dejando atrás los días de campanas y cristales rotos, esos días terribles cuando intentaron romper el sentido de familia y comunidad, así como también la alianza de reconciliación y unión. Intentaron, pero no pudieron ni podrán. Ese tiempo ha quedado atrás", dijo Murillo. Por su parte el sacerdote consultado bajo condición de anonimato advirtió que la dictadura está interviniendo en asuntos propios de la labor pastoral de la Iglesia católica. "Es una estrategia bastante sucia por parte del régimen, que es grave, porque ya impide funciones de la labor pastoral de la Iglesia. Esto sube y baja, pero no se queda solo así. El régimen necesita tener a su gente en efervescencia", consideró el sacerdote. Dictadura prohibió casi 8 mil procesiones entre 2023 y 2024 El Grupo de Expertos de Derechos Humanos de la Organización de Naciones Unidas (GHREN por sus siglas en inglés), en un informe presentado el 22 de julio, aseguró que el régimen Ortega Murillo prohibió al menos 7,976 procesiones religiosas entre 2023 y 2024, en el marco de las celebraciones de Semana Santa. El informe abarca los hechos ocurridos desde abril de 2018 y hasta el 31 de marzo de 2024, período en que se documentaron violaciones y abusos sistemáticos del derecho internacional y de los derechos humanos cometidos contra miembros de la Iglesia católica y de otras denominaciones religiosas. Según el informe, en 2023 en total se prohibieron al menos 3,176 procesiones, sin incluir aquellas usualmente realizadas durante el Viernes Santo y la Cuaresma. Además, detalla que se registraron al menos 21 detenciones en este período. En 2024 el régimen prohibió al menos 4,800 procesiones o actividades religiosas y se contabilizaron ocho personas detenidas. Translation by Genocide Watch: Between July 27 and August 2, 2024, the regime abducted at least 10 priests and one deacon. The Ortega Murillo regime has launched a wave of persecution and arrests against religious figures, particularly from the Catholic Church. This crackdown led to the arrests of at least 10 priests and one deacon between July 27 and August 2. The priests arrested are: Ulises René Vega Matamoros, Edgar Sacasa Sierra, Jairo Pravia, Víctor Godoy, Marlon Velázquez (who was the rector of the Catholic University Juan Pablo II in Managua), Antonio López, Fray Silvio Romero (from Juigalpa), the deacon Ervin Aguirre, Raúl Villega (a missionary of Mexican origin), Fray Edilio Javier Cruz, and Francisco Tercero. According to Israel González Espinoza, a journalist specializing in religious affairs, the Ortega Murillo regime is intensifying its repression against the Catholic Church. Harassment, threats, and surveillance have persisted even after the banishment of 19 religious figures, including Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, bishop of Matagalpa, on January 14, 2024. "It seems that the intention is to leave the parishioners of the dioceses of Estelí and Matagalpa without priests. What we are witnessing is an intensification of religious persecution. The parishes remain under siege, the priests are constantly surveilled, and the faithful are not allowed to freely express their faith through processions unless they are closely guarded. The regime is clearly using the crisis in Venezuela as a distraction to pursue its own agenda in Nicaragua," said González Espinoza. Activist Haydeé Castillo agreed, noting that the dictatorship is exploiting the international community's focus on Venezuela to attack the Catholic Church. "The regime arbitrarily kidnaps priests, deacons, monsignors, and laypeople. This situation is ongoing (...) Nicaragua is becoming a prison, and the number of people incarcerated has increased," said Castillo. González Espinoza added that although the Catholic Church remains largely silent about the regime's aggressions, the dictatorship views it as an enemy due to its close relationship with the population. "In Nicaragua, the voice of the Church remains crucial for Nicaraguans. This is why Ortega sees it as an enemy and aims to diminish its presence in the public sphere. Despite the lack of public statements on the situation, the Church continues to accompany the people, which greatly bothers the regime," said González Espinoza. False Tranquillity A priest, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, told LA PRENSA that after the banishment of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, a "false tranquillity" emerged, but the persecution against the Catholic Church has persisted. "There was a false tranquillity. It was widely believed that with Monsignor Rolando Álvarez's departure, the hostilities against the Church would cease. However, this was not the case. It was merely an apparent calm before launching a new onslaught against the Church, this time in the Diocese of Estelí," the priest said. On March 7, 2024, the spokesperson for the dictatorship, Rosario Murillo, congratulated Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, claiming that the "days of bells and broken glass" were behind them. "We have been leaving behind the days of bells and broken glass, those terrible days when they tried to break the sense of family and community, as well as the alliance of reconciliation and union. They tried, but they could not and will not. That time is behind us," Murillo said. For his part, the priest consulted on condition of anonymity warned that the dictatorship is intervening in matters of the pastoral work of the Catholic Church. "It is a very dirty strategy by the regime, which is serious because it impedes the Church's pastoral functions. This interference ebbs and flows, but it doesn't stop. The regime needs to keep its people in a state of agitation," the priest said. Dictatorship Bans Almost 8,000 Processions Between 2023 and 2024 The United Nations Group of Experts on Human Rights (GHREN), in a report presented on July 22, stated that the Ortega Murillo regime banned at least 7,976 religious processions between 2023 and 2024, particularly during Holy Week celebrations. The report covers events from April 2018 to March 31, 2024, documenting systematic violations and abuses of international law and human rights committed against members of the Catholic Church and other religious denominations. According to the report, at least 3,176 processions were banned in 2023, excluding those typically held during Good Friday and Lent. Additionally, at least 21 arrests were recorded during this period. In 2024, the regime banned at least 4,800 processions or religious activities, with eight arrests reported. © 2024 Editorial La Prensa S.A.

RSF militia, mired in civil war for 15 months, accused of sexual violence, including rape and torture, in Khartoum. Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces in the East Nile province. Accounts from women and girls in areas of Khartoum seized by the RSF indicate many were abducted, tortured and imprisoned as sex slaves. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP. By Mark Townsend and Mahika Ravi Shankar Gunmen from a notorious militia roamed Sudan’s capital gang-raping “countless” women and girls, some as young as nine, according to an investigation documenting the shocking prevalence of sexual violence in Khartoum during the country’s civil war. Some of the attacks by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were so brutal that women and girls died “due to the violence associated with the act of rape”, according to the research by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Accounts from women and girls in areas of Khartoum seized by the RSF indicate many were abducted, tortured and imprisoned as sex slaves. Mothers were raped attempting to protect their daughters. Women in war-torn Sudanese city forced to have sex in exchange for food. Some girls told RSF fighters they were married and not virgins in an attempt to avoid being attacked, added the report. “The RSF have raped, gang-raped, and forced into marriage countless women and girls in residential areas in Sudan’s capital,” said Laetitia Bader, HRW’s Horn of Africa director. Shortly after the civil war erupted between the RSF and the Sudanese military 15 months ago, the RSF overran parts of Khartoum and its sister cities, Omdurman and Khartoum North. Access to the capital has since been hampered by fighting, but HRW researchers interviewed 42 care providers, social workers, lawyers and emergency volunteers in Khartoum to establish how women and girls had been treated. At least 262 survivors of sexual violence were documented, aged between nine and 60. On several occasions, emergency volunteers were themselves raped by RSF fighters as they tried to help survivors of sexual violence, the report said. Collectively, the testimony reveals a hellish existence for huge numbers of women and girls in the Sudanese capital. One 20-year-old woman told researchers: “I slept with a knife under my pillow for months in fear from the raids that lead to rape by RSF. It is not safe any more to be a woman living in Khartoum under RSF.” Smoke rises over Khartoum. Shortly after the civil war erupted 15 months ago, the RSF overran parts of Khartoum and its sister cities, Omdurman and Khartoum North. Photograph: AP. A midwife in Khartoum told researchers of the constant anxiety women faced: “We are afraid all the time from RSF raids into our homes. We can’t sleep from this fear. Daily there is a raid on a house, they try to rape women.” At least four women and girls died from their injuries after being raped with many others hospitalised, said the report. One teenage girl was shot in the thigh after being raped by a group of RSF soldiers and died in hospital “from heavy bleeding caused by the bullets”. Bader urged the African Union and United Nations to deploy a civilian protection force to prevent further war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report also accused soldiers belonging to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of sexual violence against the people of Khartoum. Although fewer cases were attributed to the state military, researchers documented an “uptick” in cases after SAF took control of Omdurman in early 2024. Men and boys have also been raped, including in detention, according to the report. HRW said both sides had blocked survivors’ access to critical emergency healthcare and had attacked healthcare workers, a war crime. It said SAF was “wilfully restricting humanitarian supplies”, including medical supplies, by imposing a de facto blockade on aid entering RSF-controlled areas of Khartoum since October. Neither side, added the report, had taken “meaningful steps” to prevent its forces from committing rape or attacking health workers or even to independently and transparently investigate crimes committed by their forces. However a statement from Babikir Elamin, spokesperson of the Sudanese government’s foreign ministry, contested the report’s findings, adding: “As far as Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are concerned, this report contains unsubstantiated allegations that have obviously never been cross-examined or put forward to SAF to respond to. “We categorically deny the defamatory suggestion by the report’s author that SAF or the Government of Sudan condones sexual violence at any time. “Equally there is no truth in accusing SAF of targeting health care providers. The report offers no evidence to prove this accusation. Currently working hospitals and health facilities in areas controlled by SAF are confined to areas controlled and protected by SAF, including around 400 out of 540 governmental hospitals. “Contrary to the claims in the report that SAF blocks delivery of medical supplies, it is SAF who protects, guards, and often undertakes delivery of these supplies including using air dropping.” A number of accounts given by survivors revealed that they were raped by as many as five RSF fighters. The RSF also “regularly abducted” women and girls and confined them in homes, according to the report. Some women were detained for weeks. Many were beaten, tortured, and denied access to food in conditions researchers said constitute sexual slavery. “Two girls, sisters, we supported told me that RSF raped them and the other women in the house every day, for the three days they spent in detention,” said a service provider and women’s rights defender. She added that the sisters were held in a big house alongside a large number of women and girls from South Sudan and Ethiopia. “They described being beaten, deprived of food, and forced to wash the clothes of the forces every day,” stated the report. Health professionals interviewed said they were “shocked” by the targeting of young girls. At least three pregnancies of 15-year-old girls resulting from rape by the RSF and one case by the Sudanese military, in Khartoum North, were documented in the report. The RSF wrote to HRW last week to reject claims that it occupies any hospitals or medical centres in Khartoum, but did not offer any evidence it had conducted investigations into allegations of sexual violence by its forces. Elamin, the foreign ministry spokesperson added: “SAF is an ancient national army, almost a hundred years old, whose leadership as well as file and ranks are highly disciplined, professional and well versed in international humanitarian law and the best known military norms and rules. “Protecting civilians, especially women and children, is on the top of the SAF and government of Sudan’s priorities.” He added that the government had a robust “unit for protecting women and children under its ministry of social development and welfare” and pointed out that a number of organisations including the Campaign to Counter Violence Against Women, have never accused SAF of such heinous crimes. Elamin also contested the report’s reference to “warring parties” as “unfair and misleading.” He said the army could not be compared to an “externally backed militia, made up essentially of mercenaries” that employs the same tactics and brutalities used by ISIS [Islamic State]. © 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

The opposition, which is contesting Maduro's re-election, held protests on Saturday. Nineteen people have been killed and many more arrested at rallies. Marie Delcas, 4 JUL 2024 Relatives of those arrested during protests against the results of Venezuela's presidential election wait for news of their loved ones outside a police headquarters in Caracas, 1 AUG 2024. Alexandre Meneghini/ Reuters Nicolas Maduro doesn't mince his words or his threats. "I'm going to put them all in high-security prisons so that they pay for their crime, all of them!" said the Venezuelan president on Thursday, August 1. His re-election on July 28 was deemed fraudulent by the opposition. The crowd gathered outside the presidential palace applauded. "We've captured 1,200 of them, we're going to capture 1,000 more," said Maduro. Throughout the country, spontaneous protests and sporadic violence followed the proclamation of his victory. Nineteen protesters – and one National Guard soldier – have been killed, according to the human rights organization Provea. Their families did not receive condolences from the president, who instead promised to punish the "criminals who destroyed hospitals, bus stations, police stations and Socialist Party offices." And 27 statues of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Maduro never leaves the small screen. For the past five days, the president has been giving a series of speeches, all broadcast live. In front of his ministers, the crowds and the press, he castigates the opposition as putschists, fascists, criminals and even "Nazis." Enabling anonymous condemnations With opposition leader Maria Corina Machado calling on Venezuelans to take to the streets mid-morning on Saturday, August 3, "to peacefully defend their vote," the head of state urged his compatriots not to be manipulated. He cautioned that the police had intercepted communications indicating a planned attack. Supporters of the president will also be marching in the capital in the early afternoon. "I'd like to go to the opposition demonstration, but I'm afraid," sighs Ariadna, a dance instructor. She lives in a modest neighborhood "where there are still Chavistas who vote for Nicolas Maduro" and prefers not to give her last name. "Denounce the criminals!" This order came from Mr. Maduro, who, from the presidential balcony on Friday, called on his compatriots to use the VenApp app. Originally launched in 2022 to improve the delivery of public services, particularly water and electricity, VenApp has since been reprogrammed to enable anonymous reports against "enemies of the people." During a press conference on Friday evening, the president claimed to have received over 5,000 denunciations. Indictments for Terrorism Far from the presidential palace, in the Boleita district of Caracas, a small, anxious crowd gathers outside the Zona 7 detention center of the Bolivarian National Police. The sun beats down mercilessly, and the few spots of shade offer refuge for the elderly. Here, no one wants to reveal their real name or that of their son or daughter, husband, or nephew detained on the other side of the gray wall. Luisa, 42, slept on the sidewalk, hoping for news of her 18-year-old daughter, who was arrested on Monday evening at the end of a demonstration. "She managed to call me very briefly from a borrowed phone. She was crying and begging me to get her out of there," says Luisa. Her daughter, a saleswoman in a clothing store, had never been involved in politics. On Sunday, she voted for the first time in her life. A tearful woman shakes her head, indicating she doesn't want to say anything. "How can you not die of anguish when you hear Maduro say he's going to let them all rot in jail?" her neighbor explains. Mauricio fears that his nephew, arrested as he was leaving the garage where he works, will be transferred and incarcerated at the Yare 3 prison, south of Caracas, "with real criminals." Within three days of their arrest, the defendants must be brought before an examining magistrate, who can order their detention for forty-five days before eventually charging them. According to Mr. Alvarado, "in four days, more than 500 people have been charged with terrorism in Caracas, an unprecedented number." Nicolas Maduro is hated here. Radicalization of the Discourse On Friday, five days after the vote, the National Electoral Council (CNE), claiming to have been the victim of an "unprecedented cyber attack," issued its second bulletin, based on a 97% vote count. Unsurprisingly, the results confirmed Nicolas Maduro's victory with 51.95% over the united opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, who garnered 43.18%. The vote count minutes requested by the opposition and observers have yet to be published. The previous day, Washington announced that the opposition—asserting Mr. Gonzalez had won 67% of the vote compared to Mr. Maduro's 30%—had provided "irrefutable proof" of fraud. "The United States thinks it is the electoral authority of Venezuela and the entire world," retorted Nicolas Maduro, denouncing a coup d'état led by "the USA, the international far-right, and savage capitalism." Billionaire Elon Musk, owner of Network X, and Zionism are also among his alleged opponents. "Nicolas Maduro is radicalizing his discourse on the enemies of the revolution," explains Manuel Azuaje, a professor of philosophy at the Central University of Venezuela. "It shifts the debate." © 2024 Le Monde.