GENEVA (3 October 2025) – UN experts* today expressed grave concern at reports of indiscriminate killings, mass displacement, sexual violence, enforced disappearance and obstruction of humanitarian assistance in Sudan, warning that the scale and severity of the violations may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. “We cannot allow Sudan to descend further into a nightmare of violence, hunger, and despair,” the experts said. “The deliberate targeting of civilians, combined with the use of starvation, sexual violence, disappearance and displacement as weapons of war, is creating a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions,” they said. “Entire communities are being uprooted, families torn apart, and women and girls subjected to horrific levels of sexual violence.” According to UN estimates, over 11 million people have been displaced, including 8.6 million internally displaced persons and over 3 million refugees, rendering Sudan the site of the world’s largest displacement crisis. El Fasher and other parts of Darfur remain under siege, where civilians face relentless bombardment, deliberate starvation tactics, and widespread destruction of homes and essential infrastructure. Aid delivery has been obstructed, leaving people without food, water or medical care. The experts noted that nearly 2 million internally displaced persons have attempted to return to what remains of their homes, despite extremely complex and dangerous conditions, including landmines, destroyed infrastructure and lack of basic services. “Durable solutions must be urgently pursued — whether return, local integration or resettlement — to ensure that displaced persons can rebuild their lives in dignity and safety,” the experts said. The experts underscored that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with their affiliated groups, have been implicated in grave violations. “Reports of widespread conflict-related sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, torture, sexual slavery and forced marriage, are harrowing. Women and girls, particularly those displaced or from ethnic minority groups, are bearing the brunt of these atrocities,” the experts said, urging immediate access to comprehensive medical, psychosocial, and sexual and reproductive health care services for survivors. States and those with influence over the warring parties must act swiftly to reduce tensions and stop the violence, including through strong and coordinated diplomatic pressure, the experts said. “There can be no justification for standing idle while atrocities continue,” they said. “Starvation is being weaponised as a method of warfare, in clear violation of international law,” the experts said. “We are shocked by reports of civilians forced to eat animal fodder to survive, women and children being denied access to humanitarian food banks, and families digging graves along the roads as they attempt to flee.” The social fabric is being torn apart under the weight of starvation, trauma, and repeated displacement. Without urgent action, the damage to Sudanese society may be irreparable.” They condemned the targeting of aid workers, the detention of humanitarian staff and credible reports of sexual exploitation and abuse against those seeking refuge. “Every day that passes without decisive action means more lives lost, more futures destroyed,” the experts said. “The international community must not look away from Sudan’s suffering, rather establish a roadmap to a lasting peace built on democracy, human rights and freedoms. We urge all parties to the conflict to immediately cease hostilities, respect international humanitarian and human rights law, and grant full and unhindered access to humanitarian assistance.” They called on States to ensure accountability for violations, through universal jurisdiction and international mechanisms, and provide urgent support for displaced persons that uphold their dignity, safety and rights. “The people of Sudan cannot afford more broken promises,” the experts said. “Silence in the face of Sudan’s suffering is complicity — the world must act now.” The experts have repeatedly expressed concerns with the authorities over escalating human rights violations in Sudan amid a climate of impunity. *The experts: Paula  Gaviria, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons   K.P. Ashwini, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance Morris Tidball-Binz, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Ben Saul, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Alice Jill Edwards, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Reem Alsalem, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences Claudia Flores (Chair), Ivana Krstić (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada Tanck, Haina Lu, and Laura Nyirinkindi, the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls Gabriella Citroni (Chair-Rapporteur), Grażyna Baranowska (Vice-Chair), Aua Baldé; Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, and Mohammed Al-Obaidi,  the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances

By Maggie Michael and Amr Alfiky . Yemenis who have fled the Houthi-controlled area of this divided country paint a grim picture of life under the militant group. People are forced to attend rallies and chant death to America and Israel, pay crippling taxes and hand children over to become soldiers, they say. A Yemeni man walks past buildings on the outskirts of Aden damaged during the civil war. The most populated areas of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, are controlled by the Houthis. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky ADEN, Yemen - Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi paramilitary has been lionized at pro-Palestinian protests around the world and on social media for its missile strikes on Israel over the Gaza war. In May, even U.S. President Donald Trump lauded the Houthis’ grit. “We hit them very hard,” Trump said, in announcing the group had agreed to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea following weeks of U.S. strikes on them. “They had a great capacity to withstand punishment … You can say there’s a lot of bravery there.” At home, many who have lived under Houthi rule have a starkly different view. In interviews with hundreds of Yemenis who have fled the Houthi-controlled part of this divided country, people described a militant group that silences critics, drives people into starvation, and has used international food aid to force parents to hand over children to be soldiers in its armed forces. “People are between a rock and a hard place,” said Abdul-Salam, a 37-year-old farmer who lives in a displaced persons camp in Yemen after fleeing the Houthi-controlled part of the country. “The Houthis would give you a choice: be with them and take a food basket to stave off hunger, or get nothing.” Like many interviewed for this story, Abdul-Salam spoke on condition that only his first name be used, saying he has family members still living under the Houthis. A restaurant located below a damaged building in the province of Lahj, in the government-controlled part of Yemen. According to locals, the building was targeted during the civil war, which has ruined the country’s economy and infrastructure. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky A girl, with her mother, bites on a piece of bread at a camp for displaced people in the city of Al-Khokha. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky Interviews with Yemeni civilians and dozens of aid workers, as well as a review of internal UN aid agency documents, reveal how the Houthis maintain their iron grip. They levy an array of taxes on their impoverished subjects, manipulate the international aid system and imprison hundreds. Human rights and aid organizations have faced waves of arrests: In late August, the World Food Program said 15 staff members were detained after Houthi authorities forced their way into the organization’s offices in Sanaa, the capital. This brings to 53 the number of aid workers currently being held in detention. “People can’t breathe,” said Abu Hamza, who fled Houthi-controlled territory a few years ago. He spent a year in underground prison cells for speaking out against the Houthis during social gatherings, he said. “We are ruled by a militia cloaked in religion.” Reuters wasn’t able to confirm all aspects of Abu Hamza’s account and those of others the news agency spoke to, but their stories about Houthi persecution were often similar and largely consistent. Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthis’ media office, said Yemenis know that the group’s position on Gaza has subjected it to an “American-Zionist demonization campaign in which their tools in the region, such as the Saudi and Emirati regimes, and others, participate.” Hunger is pervasive across Yemen, a country torn by a civil war that erupted in 2014. The leading global hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, announced in June that more than 17 million out of Yemen’s 40 million people were facing “high levels of acute food insecurity.” Abdul-Salam, a farmer, poses for a picture inside his shelter in a displaced persons camp in Marib, which is located in the government-controlled part of Yemen. The Houthis, he said, gave people a choice: support them and get food or get nothing. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky Funding from donor countries for humanitarian projects in Yemen has been decreasing, in part due to ongoing diversion of aid by the Houthis. The situation worsened earlier this year when the country’s biggest source of humanitarian relief funding dried up after the Trump administration slashed foreign aid, ending many operations around the globe funded by USAID, Washington’s aid arm. The White House didn’t respond to questions about Trump’s views on the Houthis or the aid cutbacks. The State Department said the Houthis’ “failure to allow the safe delivery of life-saving assistance is driving the rise in hunger in northern Yemen.” Since the October 2023 attack by Hamas, Israel has delivered devastating blows to Hamas in Gaza and to Hezbollah in Lebanon, both part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance. It also targeted the Houthis, including an attack in August that killed the Houthi-appointed prime minister and several ministers. The Houthis also say dozens of civilians have been killed. But these strikes failed to deter the group from launching drones and missiles into Israel. The Gaza war has empowered the Houthis, experts say. The group “realized it could exploit the Gaza war and became fond of its new regional and international image,” said Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen, a senior researcher at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies. On the ground, she said, “popular anger toward the Houthis” has risen because Yemenis bore the brunt of Israeli retaliatory strikes. Houthi spokesperson Amer rejected the idea that the group has exploited "the Gaza events.” This ignores “the fact that our official slogan since the first day of our movement has been ‘Death to America and Death to Israel’,” he said. PERSONALITY CULT The Yemeni conflict has a multinational dimension. The Saudis and the United Arab Emirates back the internationally recognized government. Iran backs the Houthis. Riyadh views the Houthis as an Iranian proxy that poses a security threat given their control over territory on Saudi Arabia’s southern border. Inside Yemen, many define themselves as northerners and southerners, along a pre-1990 dividing line, when Yemen was two states. The Houthi movement is rooted in the Zaydi sect of Shi’ite Islam, which once ruled the northern part of Yemen, which was an isolated and impoverished zone. Formally called Ansar Allah, or “Supporters of God,” the Houthis are popularly named after the family that formed and led the religious revival movement. Leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, in his 40s, has led the group for two decades and through a civil war that erupted in 2014 after the Houthis seized Sanaa. The Saudis, worried by Iran’s growing influence, led a loose coalition of Sunni states with Western backing against the Houthis. A divided country A long-running civil war has split Yemen into a Houthi-controlled area backed by Iran and a government-controlled area backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The war has shattered the economy and left many of Yemen’s 40 million people in poverty. By the time the war abated, tens of thousands of Yemenis were dead and the economy was ravaged. The Houthis emerged with uncontested control of the north. The rest of Yemen is now governed by a patchwork of rivalrous militia leaders and proxies who are loyal to the Saudis and the UAE. These groups make up a ruling Presidential Leadership Council, a body that is internationally recognized but which analysts say is riven with competing political and regional interests, and reliant on Saudi funding. Talk of government divisions “is exaggerated,” Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said in response to questions. While “there are divergent views, there is a consensus on the main goal: restoring the state and ending the Houthi coup.” A Yemeni man prays next to a tank in the city of Marib in November last year. Marib is located in the part of Yemen controlled by the government, which is made up of competing militia leaders and proxies loyal to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky Al-Houthi, who never appears in public, delivers weekly speeches via TV screens to huge rallies in Sanaa’s main square. There, crowds chant the Al-Sarkha, which means “The Scream” in English: God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam! Al-Houthi rules through a small circle of trusted figures and family members, according to Yemen experts who study the group. And through fear: Thousands of Yemenis have been detained, held incommunicado and tortured by the Houthis, according to human rights organizations and several former detainees interviewed by Reuters. “The Yemeni people know that our movement is a return to the Quran and its values, not a family movement,” said Amer. The Houthis also conduct intense indoctrination campaigns, dozens of displaced people told Reuters. Government workers are forced to attend weekly sessions in which lectures by al-Houthi are played, they said. His words and images are displayed on giant billboards across Sanaa. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi appears on a screen as people, mainly Houthi supporters, gather to mark the Prophet Mohammad's birthday at a square in the city of Sanaa last month. REUTERS/Stringer/File photo Abdul Malik, a schoolteacher, said he fled Houthi-controlled territory in January last year, after a Houthi school supervisor suspended him from his teaching job for refusing to attend indoctrination sessions. “Without a salary, life was impossible," said Abdul Malik, 40. “To make things worse, the Houthis would visit my home, demanding donations to fund their weekly pro-Gaza rallies.” “The allegations of torture in prisons are false and have no basis in truth,” Houthi spokesperson Amer said. So are allegations that people are forced to attend rallies, donate to rallies in support of Gaza and attend lectures in their places of work, he said. Accusations that the Houthis are an Iranian proxy are an attempt by the Saudis and Emiratis “to justify their aggression against the Yemeni people in service of the Americans and the Zionists,” Amer said. CONTROLLING THE AID Between 2015 and 2024, the UN raised $28 billion for humanitarian needs in Yemen. About a third of the funds, some $9 billion, went to the UN’s World Food Program to feed as many as 12 million people a month – the majority in Houthi-controlled areas. Other UN agencies, including UNICEF and the World Health Organization, have poured hundreds of millions into health facilities, fuel supplies and nutritional programs. People stand in line to receive vouchers at a food distribution center supported by the World Food Program in Sanaa in 2020. REUTERS/Stringer/File photo Workers prepare food baskets for aid beneficiaries at a food distribution center supported by the World Food Program in Sanaa in 2020. REUTERS/Stringer/File photo But aid often hasn’t reached the people for whom it is intended. International aid was a lifeline for Fawaz, who spoke to Reuters in a Yemeni displaced persons camp where he now lives after fleeing the Houthi areas in 2021. He worked as an accountant before the war. After the fighting wrecked the economy and cost him his job, the 47-year-old father of eight said he was forced to sell his wife’s gold jewelry to feed their family. He tried to register his name on the list of aid recipients in the Houthi-controlled province of Hajjah. The Houthi local authorities, he said, gave him a choice: If he wanted a food basket, he would need to join their militia, take part in weekly rallies and chant “Death to America.” When he refused, a Houthi supervisor dubbed him an “enemy” and determined he was “not eligible” for aid, said Fawaz. He lost a leg after fleeing the Houthis and trying to cross into Saudi Arabia to find work. His limb was torn off when a land mine exploded as he moved through a minefield near the Saudi border, he said. The Houthis have effectively hijacked much of the humanitarian aid supply chain, according to dozens of displaced people, local UN field monitors and aid workers. The lists of eligible aid recipients, for instance, include many names of people who don’t exist, or “ghost beneficiaries,” they say. Those who receive aid are often Houthi loyalists such as militia fighters. One aid worker told Reuters that of the nearly 9 million people registered to receive aid in Houthi-controlled areas, “we didn’t know who five million were.” This undermining of the aid process led the WFP to freeze the distribution of food baskets in 2023 in Houthi-run areas. The 2023 aid pause in northern Yemen “was linked to the inability to reach an agreement” with the Houthi authorities on measures to accurately target aid beneficiaries, a WFP spokesperson said, adding that the organization “resumed limited emergency distributions to the areas most at risk” to prevent famine. “Currently, all WFP operations have come to a halt in the northern governorates in Yemen,” the spokesperson said. Houthi spokesperson Amer said WFP is “an American arm” and that “humanitarian work is, in fact, a political, military, and intelligence operation aimed at subjugating the Yemeni people.” The Houthis have also exercised control over the collection of food security data, which forms the basis for hunger assessments by the IPC, the global hunger monitor. These projections help donor countries decide how to apportion funding. When UN organizations collected data for an IPC survey in 2023, the Houthis handpicked many of the data collectors, according to three food security analysts involved in the operation. The Houthis also determined which households would be surveyed, they said. This has enabled the Houthis to magnify the hunger problem, Reuters reported last year. While some governments facing a hunger crisis have tried to minimize the extent of the problem, the Houthis have done the opposite , exaggerating it in an effort to draw increased humanitarian funding. A Yemeni woman holds her malnourished baby in the city of Al Khokha. The leading global hunger watchdog announced in June that almost half of Yemen's population was facing "high levels of acute food insecurity." REUTERS/Amr Alfiky A malnourished child lies in bed at a hospital in Al Khokha, located on the Red Sea in the part of Yemen run by the government. People who fled Houthi-controlled areas say the group steals food aid and uses it in various ways to control the population. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky To minimize Houthi intervention in the latest IPC analysis, UN agencies gathered data remotely via phone calls to aid recipients to assess hunger levels. Asked about efforts by the Houthis to control data collection, spokesperson Amer said any information collected from residents was “part of a country’s national security and it is the state’s responsibility.” The IPC didn’t comment for this story. When faced with access constraints, the UN sometimes turns to third-party contractors to monitor aid distribution and collect data on aid beneficiaries for better targeting. In Yemen, the job of these monitors was to oversee aid distribution centers, quiz aid recipients and report back to UN agencies and donors about any violations. But the Houthis have effectively shut down several of these watchdogs, raiding their offices and detaining their staff. A dozen staffers at third-party monitoring companies contracted by the UN told Reuters they were too scared to do their jobs for fear of retaliation by Houthi authorities. Adnan al-Harazi, CEO of Prodigy Systems, one of the main monitoring companies, was taken from his office in January 2023, placed in solitary confinement and accused of espionage for a foreign country. In June 2024, he was sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to 15 years in prison. Some monitors now stay home and make up the answers to standardized questions used to assess whether aid beneficiaries are receiving humanitarian assistance, one monitor told Reuters. “Threats to the safety of Third-Party Monitors (TPMs) are unacceptable and have raised serious concerns about their ability to carry out their work effectively,” the WFP said. The Houthis have detained local aid workers as well as local U.S. embassy staff. This screenshot of a picture posted on a Houthi Telegram channel shows a group of U.S. government staffers detained in 2021, who last year were forced to appear in blue jumpsuits on TV and confess to espionage. A Houthi spokesperson said the detentions were part of security measures to protect the country and the people. The U.S. State Department said the accusations were false. The Houthis are also currently detaining over a dozen current and former local U.S. government staff based on “false accusations,” the State Department said. The staff have been accused of espionage. Within the aid community, opinions differ on whether to continue humanitarian operations in Houthi-controlled areas. At least a dozen current and former UN staffers told Reuters that by not setting clear red lines for the Houthis, UN aid agencies had effectively become complicit in the group’s systematic diversion of aid. The staffers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that despite the repeated breaches by the Houthis, the UN continued operations, allowing large-scale aid diversion to continue. Three current and former WFP staffers and three third-party monitors told Reuters that UN organizations have known for years that food security data is corrupted, but have nevertheless continued data collection and analysis. “WFP has always acted immediately if credible evidence of diversion and theft has emerged and responded publicly as needed,” the UN organization’s spokesperson said, outlining a series of measures WFP has taken “to improve targeting and beneficiary list management.” The organization has “repeatedly taken swift action when necessary – including pausing operations – to ensure vital assistance reaches its intended recipient, effectively, with meaningful impact, and free from any interference.” Women carry piles of firewood to use for cooking at a displaced persons camp in Aden. Some families said they live on one meal a day. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky A cooked meal sits on the ground inside a shelter at a displaced persons camp in Aden. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky An internal study commissioned by the WFP, dated January 2024, lists many of the forms of aid abuse that Yemenis complained to Reuters about: the “confiscation and diversion of food to feed fighters”; the “withholding of food as a pressure tactic” to recruit fighters; people having to perform “unwanted activities to receive aid, such as chanting the Houthi slogan.” WFP said the document “was never released as an internal or external report or study, as it did not meet scientific standards.” ‘DIRECT ENTRY TO HEAVEN’ Tens of thousands have fled Houthi-controlled territory to escape hunger, poverty, incarceration, or conscription of their children into the military. Their situation remains bleak: They have little food or work in the displaced persons camps where they now live in the area of Yemen controlled by the government. In the camps, many live in makeshift tents or rudimentary structures. There is little escape from the extreme summer heat and humidity, and the flies. Piles of garbage litter the camps and the air is filled with a foul smell from pools of stagnant water. Ismail, a father of five, and his wife collect plastic bottles in Aden to sell to recycling shops so they can feed their children. The family fled the Houthi-controlled area of Yemen in 2023. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky In the port city of Aden, the government struggles to deliver basic services following Houthi attacks on oil terminals. Reuters interviewed displaced families in Aden, as well as in the provinces of Lahj and Marib, who fled Houthi areas and now live on one meal a day. “If we have breakfast, we don't have lunch. If we have lunch, we don't have breakfast,” said Ismail, a father of five. He said his only source of income is collecting plastic bottles to sell to recycling workshops. Information Minister al-Eryani blamed the Houthis for the harsh conditions in areas under government control, saying they were “stealing” humanitarian aid. Fola al-Hadi, a mother of four, fled the Houthi area to Aden in 2021. Like many other mothers, she spends much of her day gathering scraps of food and begging for money. “We visit restaurants every day,” she said. “We walk for hours to collect leftovers.” While life is tough, she said she can sleep at night now that there’s no longer a risk her children will be taken to fight for the Houthis. She feared they’d return home in coffins, she said. Fola al-Hadi (center), a mother of four, begs for a bag of cooked rice at a local restaurant in Aden. Like many mothers, she spends much of her day gathering scraps of food to feed her family. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky Since at least 2009, the Houthis have systematically recruited children for their armed forces, human rights groups say. During the Gaza war, the number of new child recruits increased significantly, according to Human Rights Watch . The UN also says that some government forces have recruited children, but in smaller numbers. Abdel-Moghni al-Sinani was forcibly recruited by the Houthis at age 10. He said he was imprisoned, beaten and indoctrinated. He received military training and was tasked with delivering supplies to other child soldiers, he said, speaking to Reuters in the Marib displaced persons camp, in the government-controlled area of Yemen. His Houthi instructors prepared the children for death. The road to heaven, they were told, passed through the group’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi. “They told us that we don’t have to pray,” said al-Sinani, who is now 18. “Once we receive the master’s blessing, we will be granted direct entry to heaven.” Houthi spokesperson Amer said the child-soldier accusations are “baseless” and “are just fabrications.” The Yemeni government’s al-Eryani said there have been “individual cases” of child-soldier recruitment by the army, but that the government was “working to hold accountable any individual violations that may occur.” Abu Hamza fled the Houthi areas with his family in 2021 after taxes levied on his business plunged him into debt. In this portrait shot, he stands on the roof of a building in a displaced persons camp in Marib province late last year. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky WFP said it had found “no verifiable evidence” to support the claim that food aid has been used to force parents to hand over children to become soldiers in the Houthi armed forces. Dozens of families who fled Houthi-controlled areas say they were hit with heavy taxes and levies by the Houthis. Abu Hamza, an army veteran and father of five, set up a small grocery in Sanaa to support his family. But the taxes levied on his business cut into his income. He borrowed until he was 5 million rials (about $20,000) in debt. Across the road from his grocery in Sanaa, he said, a scene repeatedly played out: Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid that carried the WFP logo were being driven in and out of a school run by Houthi members. “The aid was stolen in broad daylight,” he said. The taxes kept mounting. As he grew desperate, Abu Hamza said Houthi authorities pressured him to attend Friday rallies, where thousands of people fill the streets. They also asked him to “join their forces and go fight.” Amer said the Houthis haven’t imposed any new taxes since they took over Sanaa in 2014. By 2020, Abu Hamza was bankrupt. He began selling his furniture and other belongings, including a dagger with a golden handle – a family heirloom passed on by his father. When that money ran out, he would walk to an area far from home so his neighbors wouldn’t see him. Then he’d stand in front of a mosque and put his hand out asking for money. In 2021, he fled with his family to Marib. “The more I remember, the more my heart sinks,” he said. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved

At last, the world notices persecution of Nigerian Christians The Washington Post October 10, 2025 By Robert Royal Massacres of Christians merit U.S. pressure on Nigeria’s government for strong countermeasures.   A Catholic worshiper during a 2020 march in Abuja, Nigeria. Bishops gathered Catholics and members of other denominations to pray for security and to protest violence against Christians. (Kola Sulaimon / AFP) The world tends not to pay much attention to the persecution of Christians, even though Christians are attacked and repressed in more countries  than any other religious group. But sometimes the persecution is so extreme that it gains, at least briefly, some purchase on public attention. The steady slaughter of Christians in the West African nation of Nigeria is one such case. In recent weeks, the violence has prompted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to introduce legislation holding accountable Nigerian officials who facilitate Islamist jihadist attacks on Christians, and HBO talk-show host Bill Maher  excoriated the news media and others for largely ignoring the bloody persecution of Christians. According to a report issued in August by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), an African nongovernmental group that documents human rights violations, in the first seven months of this year alone, more than 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria. Christians of various denominations and moderate Muslims regularly die at the hands of Boko Haram, Fulani militants and other violent actors. Numbers vary and are difficult to verify, but between 2009 and 2023 in Nigeria, Intersociety reports  at least 52,000 Christians killed, 18,500 abducted and unlikely to have survived, and more than 20,000 churches and Christian schools attacked. Mixed in with religious motives involved in these dire statistics, of course, are conflicts over land, abductions for ransom (especially of Catholic priests), and other points of conflict. But the specifically anti-Christian targeting in the great majority of these cases defies other explanation. Yet in March, amid U.S. congressional criticism, the Nigerian government said violence in the country was “not driven by religious bias or targeted against any particular religious group.” Though officially there is no state religion , Nigeria is a member the Organization for Islamic Cooperation , which calls itself “the collective voice of the Muslim world.” And the Nigerian government does little — often seemingly nothing — to protect Christians from Islamist militants. Which is why it is puzzling that in 2021 the Biden administration removed Nigeria from the list of Countries of Particular Concern over religious liberty. The Trump administration should, at a minimum, return Nigeria to the CPC list. In July, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urged just such a move , which can carry with it  significant economic and diplomatic consequences. The Western coalition that brought pressure to bear on the Islamic State terrorists in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East shrank the group’s territory to virtually nothing by 2019. But ISIS affiliates such as Islamic State West Africa and Boko Haram have carried on the jihadist cause, in particular waging a campaign of persecution and slaughter against Christians across much of Africa. The problem is most serious in Nigeria, the most populous African nation, with about 242 million people , with Muslims a slim majority . Historically, Muslims were mostly concentrated in the northern half of the country — where 12 states have embraced sharia law  — while Christians largely occupied the south. Local police forces, in violation of federal law, harshly treat Christians for sharia violations , imposing punishments that include the death penalty, amputations and beatings. Police enforce on Christians sharia regulations about dress, public eating and drinking during Ramadan. As observers note, though, such treatment is not universal: In Nigeria’s west, where more-moderate Muslims dominate, Muslim-Christian relations are largely peaceful and toleration generally prevails. According to Open Doors , a U.S. group that tracks Christian persecution, 82 percent of Christians killed around the world from October 2022 to September 2023 met their end in Nigeria. It is imperative that the United Nations and the European Union, and especially the United States, with its powerful leverage, apply pressure to Nigeria. If a such a large country, roughly divided evenly between Muslims and Christians, continues to be the scene of thousands of Christian deaths every year, without serious consequences, that not only enables a grave injustice but also suggests to Muslim extremists everywhere that they can act with impunity. Robert Royal is the author of “The Martyrs of the New Millennium: The Global Persecution of Christians in the Twenty-First Century.” Copyright 2025 The Washington Post

(Minneapolis, MN; October 9, 2025) World Without Genocide will host a webinar, Ten Stages of Genocide and Today’s Crisis in Sudan: Stage 9 – Extermination , on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, from 7:00 – 9:00 pm CT. Dr. Gregory Stanton, founder and president of the international organization Genocide Watch , will speak about his model of the Ten Stages of Genocide in studying, preventing, and responding to mass atrocities. He will then discuss the current crisis in Sudan, where millions face extermination, famine, and displacement in one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes. This webinar is open to the public: $10 general public. $5 seniors and students (over age 12, please). $25 for 2 Continuing Legal Education credits for Minnesota lawyers. Continuing education credit for Minnesota teachers, social workers, and nurses. Registration is required by Tuesday, October 28, 5:00 pm CT at www.worldwithoutgenocide.org/stages World Without Genocide promotes action to protect innocent people, prevent genocide, prosecute perpetrators, and remember those affected by genocide. World Without Genocide is formally associated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications and is in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Foreign manipulation of information and electoral interference were the key topics of the event hosted in Dakar on 2 October by AfricTivistes and International IDEA. By Enzo Martino Foreign manipulation of information and electoral interference were the key topics of the event hosted in Dakar on 2 October by AfricTivistes and International IDEA. Supported by Global Affairs Canada, this was the first in a series of four national consultations held under the project Combatting election related Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) . The initiative aims to strengthen the capacities of civil society and state institutions to recognize, analyse, and counter FIMI, with fundamental democratic rights at the core of every stage of the process. Participants brought together a wide range of expertise, including policymakers, diplomats, journalists, and researchers, to discuss the growing threat of digital interference in Africa’s democratic processes. Representatives from the European External Action Service (EEAS), the Embassy of Canada, and the Ministries of Communication of Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, along with members from Code for Africa and International IDEA attended this event. The event marked an important milestone for the project, being the first national study launched within its multi-country framework. Although the report focuses on Senegal, it draws from International IDEA’s global methodology on FIMI titled “ Analysing Enablers and Incentives of Election-Related Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference: A Global Methodology ”, which is designed to help civil society conduct in-depth, context-based analyses of foreign manipulation and interference during elections. The approach identifies enablers - the political, technological, social, and legal vulnerabilities that make manipulation possible - and incentives, the motivations that drive foreign (and sometimes domestic) actors to exploit them. By combining data collection with local expertise, this framework empowers national actors to propose legal, institutional, and civic responses that strengthen democratic resilience while safeguarding fundamental freedoms. As a pan-African organisation that promotes and defends democratic values, human rights and good governance through civic tech, AfricTivistes applied this framework to Senegal’s context to produce the first national analytical report on FIMI based on IDEA’s global methodology. Presented during the event, the report offers a deeper understanding of how foreign actors influence Senegal’s information landscape during election periods. The report emphasizes Senegal’s status as West Africa’s most resilient country against FIMI, with a score of 60 out of 100 in the European Union Institute for Security Studies 2023 index . Yet, as the findings reveal, resilience does not equal immunity. Three main areas of vulnerability are identified: technological, media, and institutional: The lack of robust regulation of digital platforms has created technological weaknesses, allowing personal data to be exploited and disinformation to spread, particularly during elections. The 2019 presidential election serves as a case in point, with evidence of foreign interference from entities in Israel, Nigeria, and France through micro-targeting (wherein highly customized messages are disseminated to influence individuals) and data-driven campaigning to shape online narratives. The fragility of the media ecosystem, where economic dependence on political and foreign funding has deepened editorial polarization and eroded public trust. External actors have exploited institutional gaps to influence the national media space, taking advantage of limited regulation and moderation of online political content and foreign information sources. This has enabled the soft power of actors such as Russia and China to expand steadily. Foreign information manipulation is not only an external threat but also a domestic governance challenge, one that demands stronger collaboration between public institutions, media actors, and civil society. Cheikh Fall, President of AfricTivistes, reflected on this during the event, underscoring the organization’s broader mission: “We cannot safeguard our democracies if our citizens no longer know what to trust,” said Fall. “By confronting manipulation with knowledge, collaboration, and rights-based governance, we build a more transparent and resilient Africa.” To reinforce Senegal’s democratic infrastructure, the report proposes several actionable measures. These include establishing a national media regulation authority to promote transparency and pluralism while protecting freedom of expression and developing independent media financing models to reduce foreign dependency. It also calls for the integration of media literacy programs into civic education to empower citizens and journalists alike to recognize and respond to manipulation. The report also advocates for the creation of early-warning mechanisms and cross-institutional coordination frameworks to enable real-time monitoring and response to FIMI. Importantly, all recommendations are grounded in respect for fundamental rights, emphasizing that combating disinformation must never justify censorship or arbitrary restrictions on expression. A recurring theme among speakers was the role of transparency and trust as foundations of a resilient democracy. Representatives from the Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy reaffirmed the government’s commitment to protecting the national information space, while AfricTivistes’ leadership emphasized the importance of collaboration between state and civil society. In his keynote address, Adama Sow explored the notion of information sovereignty and democracy, urging a collective, context-driven response to the digital challenges of the 21st century. The subsequent panel, moderated by Sow, brought together experts including Dr. Sylla Sow, Papa Ismaïla Dieng, and Sebastian Becker, who discussed practical ways to anticipate and counter manipulation during electoral cycles. Panellists also stressed the urgency of developing an African policy framework for regulating privately owned digital platforms, noting that global tech companies like Facebook now command budgets exceeding those of entire national ministries.  Sebastian Becker, Associate Programme Officer for Digitalization and Democracy at International IDEA, noted that: the resilience of democracies depends not only on strong institutions, but also on informed citizens and responsible media ecosystems.” He added that the methodology “places civil society at the centre of this defence, equipping them with the analytical tools needed to understand and anticipate manipulation. This national dialogue in Dakar marks the beginning of a broader regional process. In the months ahead, similar consultations will be held in Côte d’Ivoire, North Macedonia, and Moldova, each contributing to a comparative analysis and a shared set of policy recommendations to protect electoral integrity worldwide. Over the next year, the project will continue to engage with civil society organizations and electoral stakeholders in crafting democratic responses to the complex challenges of information integrity in the country.   © 2025 International IDEA.

Videos show Sudanese Army's use of chlorine gas, a war crime France 24 October 9, 2025 By: The FRANCE 24 Observers / Quentin PESCHARD Khartoum, Sudan The FRANCE 24 Observers team verified videos and photos documenting chemical weapons attacks by the Sudanese army. They were filmed in September 2024 at the al-Jaili oil refinery north of Khartoum, occupied at the time by the Rapid Support Forces militia. © Observers On May 22, 2025, the US accused the Sudanese army of using chemical weapons in its war against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. The US presented no evidence to support the allegations, which the Sudanese army denied. But the FRANCE 24 Observers team has documented two incidents in September 2024, north of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, where  video evidence shows that barrels containing chlorine were dropped from the air. International law bans the use of chlorine gas as a weapon.  “On April 24, 2025, the United States determined … that the Government of Sudan used chemical weapons in 2024.” This is how the US State Department opened its May 22, 2025, statement announcing economic sanctions against the Sudanese government, which is under military control. No further details were provided to support the decision. Khartoum  denied the allegations  the following day. The New York Times  had cited US officials in January as saying that the Sudanese army had used chemical weapons “that appeared to use chlorine gas” against the RSF (Rapid Support Forces) militia on at least two occasions in 2024. The officials gave no details. Following the US sanctions announcement, several Arabic-language media outlets echoed these accusations . Unverified rumours  and posts  have circulated in Sudan, including claims of chemical weapons use in Khartoum. But until now, no documentary evidence of the army’s use of chlorine gas – or any other chemical weapon – has been made public. Using open-source investigation techniques (OSINT), the FRANCE 24 Observers team in Paris examined two incidents in September 2024 in and near the al-Jaili oil refinery, north of Khartoum, which the army was attempting to recapture from the RSF. After reviewing images of the attacks gathered by the Observers, five experts confirmed they were consistent with aerial drops of chlorine barrels. Only the Sudanese army possesses the aircraft needed for such bombardments. The Observers team also traced the origin of one of the chlorine barrels used in the attacks. Imported from India by a Sudanese company that provides supplies to the Sudanese army, the chlorine was intended, according to the Indian exporter, “solely for treatment of drinking water”. Chlorine is a much-needed humanitarian product in Sudan, critical for purifying water in a country prone to cholera outbreaks. The military use of chlorine would place Sudan among the few regimes to have deployed this rudimentary lethal gas since World War I, during which it was used on a large scale . More recently, during the Syrian civil war, the world chemical watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), found “ reasonable grounds ” to conclude that Bashar al-Assad’s regime used weaponised chlorine in rebel-held areas. The two documented attacks in Sudan would also constitute a breach of the country's  international obligations  under the Chemical Weapons Convention , which it ratified in 1999. The use of “asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases” on the battlefield is also classified as a war crime under the 1998 Rome Statute , which defines offences that the International Criminal Court (ICC) can prosecute – though Sudan does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction. At the time of publication, neither the Sudanese army nor the government had responded to FRANCE 24's requests for interviews. The al-Jaili refinery was the target of chemical attacks: RSF Following the announcement of the US sanctions in May, pro-RSF accounts on social media circulated images which they claimed showed the Sudanese army’s use of “ chemical weapons ”. Some of these posts  alleged that the attacks had taken place at the al-Jaili refinery in September 2024. The facility, which processes crude oil, is located 60 kilometres  north of Khartoum . Operated in peacetime by the state-owned Khartoum Refinery Company, it is the largest refinery in Sudan  and critical to the country’s fuel supply. The al-Jaili refinery is located 60 km north of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. © France Médias Monde graphic studio   The country's civil war has disrupted the normal operation of the refinery. The RSF occupied it  soon after the war began in April 2023, and a petroleum workers’ union said in May 2024 that it had been out of service  since July 2023. The Sudanese army recaptured the facility on January 25, 2025, after months of heavy fighting . On September 13, 2024, at the height of the clashes over control of the refinery, the RSF issued a statement accusing the Sudanese army of targeting the site with “an aerial bombardment by warplanes”, using “missiles suspected of being fitted with toxic gas, causing injuries and severe respiratory distress among dozens of workers”. In the previous days, videos had circulated on pro-RSF accounts showing two yellow and green barrels found near the refinery. A video published on Instagram on September 5, 2024 showed a barrel lying on sand , with a caption in Arabic: “The Sudanese army’s air force strikes civilians with weapons banned under international law, loaded with toxic and chemical gases.” Videos posted on September 13, 2024 showed a similar barrel beneath a tree . Other posts from the same day showed workers receiving oxygen treatment. Screenshots from videos published on September 5 and 13, 2024, show metal barrels which, according to those posting the footage, were used to carry out chemical attacks. © Observers The Observers investigated the images to verify the RSF’s claims. Our team was able to geolocate the two barrels. The first was in a military base that had been occupied by the RSF, five kilometres east of the refinery. The second was within the refinery itself. September 5: A barrel and a yellow cloud in an RSF-held base On September 5, 2024, a pro-RSF account  posted a one-minute video on Instagram showing an arid landscape surrounded by buildings. A visibly damaged barrel can be seen, bearing a yellow label with the words: “Oxidising agent 5.1.”  This video, posted on Instagram on September 5, 2024, shows a green and yellow barrel bearing a label reading “Oxidising agent 5.1.” The Observers team geolocated it to a military base 5 km east of the al-Jaili refinery. A second video , posted on May 23, 2025, following the announcement of US sanctions, shows the same barrel from a different angle. A man first films a small crater in the ground, then a barrel a few metres away. He says: “They fired something we don’t understand—maybe tear gas, maybe something else ... It released something yellow. We don’t know what it is.” This video, posted by a pro-RSF account on May 23, 2025, shows the same barrel and a crater a few metres away. Another video documents the moment when this “something yellow” is said to have escaped from the barrel. It shows a cloud of that colour , filmed at the same location as the crater and the barrel. Although the only available version of the video dates from May 2025, it was likely filmed just before the barrel footage. A logo on the video indicates that it was originally posted by a pro-RSF propaganda account on X , now deleted but still active on TikTok . In this video filmed at the Garri military base, 5 km east of the al-Jaili refinery, a bright yellow cloud can be seen spreading through the air. All three videos were filmed inside the Garri military base, located 5 km east of the al-Jaili refinery. In both the video showing a yellow cloud (left, top and bottom) and the two videos showing a yellow and green barrel lying on sand (right), features can be matched with satellite images of the Garri base. These include distinctively shaped warehouses, a mosque and its minaret, and a power line. © France Médias Monde graphic studio The Observers also obtained images of the incident that were not posted on social media. Filmed from different angles, they show men in RSF uniforms, confirming that the base was under militia control at the time of the incident and therefore a strategic target for the army. Metadata from the photographer’s phone indicate that the images were recorded September 5, 2024 at 8:07 in the morning.  In this image, taken on September 5, 2024 and provided to the Observers, several men wearing the RSF's beige uniform can be seen in the area where the green and yellow barrel landed. Metadata from the photographer’s phone confirms the image was recorded at 8.07am that day. © Observers   A barrel designed to carry chlorine gas Although those who filmed the barrel claimed it had released “some kind of tear gas,” experts say it contained a much more dangerous substance: chlorine. “These are clearly chlorine cylinders,” said Dan Kaszeta, a specialist in chemical defence. “This type of container is used  all over the world for water treatment.” Unlike many other chemical weapons, chlorine is widely used in industry. When released into the air, however, it causes rapid suffocation and can be lethal. “It is what we call a dual-use good – its use determines whether it becomes a weapon,” explained Matteo Guidotti, a chemist and chemical weapons expert. Frederik Coghe, a ballistics expert and professor at the Royal Military Academy of Belgium, confirmed that the images from the Garri base show an industrial chlorine barrel. The footage of the barrel also shows a date, “20/5/24”, and a circular metal plate bearing a serial number: “GC-1983-1715.”  This composite of screenshots from the video of the barrel shows its serial number as “GC-1983-1715.” The final digit, difficult to read, is a “5” with its upper bar partially erased. © Observers The Observers traced this “GC-1983-1715” barrel to an Indian exporter, Chemtrade International Corporation. The company confirmed that the barrel was tested for the last time on May 20, 2024, the date indicated on the barrel. A shipping document indicates that it was part of a consignment of 17 cylinders filled with liquid chlorine that were loaded onto a vessel in Mumbai on July 14, 2024 for delivery to Port Sudan. An e-mail received by Chemtrade indicates that the cargo was delivered in Port Sudan on August 17, 2024. The Indian supplier said the Sudanese importer had assured them the cylinders would be used “solely for drinking water treatment.” A low-hanging yellow cloud – ‘consistent with chlorine gas’ Witness reports of a yellow gas leaking from the barrel and video footage showing a cloud of that colour spreading in the area further support the hypothesis of a chlorine attack. This video, initially posted by a pro-RSF propaganda account, shows an intense yellow cloud spreading inside Garri military base. Three experts consulted by the Observers confirmed that the cloud is consistent with a chlorine leak. “Its colour is almost identical to what was observed in Aqaba, Jordan,” said Guidotti. On June 27, 2022, a chlorine container fell  from a transport ship at Aqaba port, causing a massive release of gas that killed at least 14 people and injured 256 others.  The colour of the gas at the Garri base, and the way it stays close to the ground, closely resemble footage from a chlorine gas accident on board a ship in Aqaba, Jordan in 2022. © Observers “The colour of the cloud is consistent with what we would expect to see if chlorine gas was used, with a distinctive greenish-yellow colour,” added N. R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services (ARES), a technical intelligence consultancy specialised in arms and munitions. “The cloud also exhibits the characteristics of a gas that is denser than air, hanging low over ground. That, too, is consistent with chlorine gas,” he said. September 13: A ‘toxic substance’ inside the refinery Other videos shared by pro-RSF accounts on September 13, 2024  – eight days after the first incident – show a similar barrel, this time beneath a tree. Men present at the scene filmed the object from several angles. One of them denounced what he described as the same type of attack as the one at the Garri military base. “Last night the plane attacked us, guys. They dropped a gas cylinder on us…. Thanks to God, we’re fine for now, nothing has happened. But it was without any doubt an airstrike.” In this video published on September 13, 2024, a green and yellow barrel is visible. In a caption to the video, the account that published it claimed: “The air force bombed the homes of employees and workers at the Khartoum refinery with explosive barrels.” Another video  showing the same barrel, filmed by a second man, alleged that the consequences of the attack had been far more serious: “Last night, Friday September 13, the air force bombed the al-Jaili refinery. We, the workers and employees… were bombed inside the refinery by the air force. This barrel contained a toxic substance that escaped and spread in the air. Now several of us are in hospital, unconscious, in a very critical condition. Several may die.” [To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.] Footage shared on social media on September 13  shows at least six men – some wearing refinery uniforms – receiving oxygen treatment. There is, however, no indication of deaths or serious injuries linked to the incident. In this video, published on September 13, 2024, a man films at least six people in work uniforms being treated with oxygen. He says: "More than 20 employees fainted due to the use of this toxic gas … These workers are civilians who belong neither to the Rapid Support Forces nor the army." In the videos, beige uniforms marked “KRC” are visible. These are the uniforms of refinery staff, identical to those seen in archive photographs. The acronym stands for Khartoum Refinery Company, which manages the al-Jaili site. © Observers The videos showing uniformed men affected by the incident were filmed at the refinery’s staff clinic .  Buildings visible in the background of the videos showing workers affected by the September 13, 2024 attack match those that can be seen near the clinic. © Observers Other images provided by witnesses allowed the barrel-under-the-tree footage to be geolocated inside the refinery itself , among corrugated-roof buildings that appear to be workers' housing quarters.  Videos showing the barrel under a tree contain elements that are visible on satellite images of the al-Jaili refinery. © France Médias Monde graphic studio   ‘People were unconscious, or struggling to breathe’ The Observers spoke with a former engineer who was inside the refinery on September 13, along with many other workers . For his safety, his name has been withheld. Now living abroad, he provided evidence of his employment at the al-Jaili refinery, as well as screenshots showing that he had reported the incident to contacts on the morning of  September 13. By phone, he said: “It was early, around 8am. I was in my room, where we were housed. I heard a plane coming, and then there was a huge noise, like something falling. I went outside with two friends, and I saw a lot of smoke. Luckily I wasn’t near the zone. After 30 minutes, we went to see the place where the projectiles had fallen. The people near them were unconscious, or having trouble breathing, and coughing. We helped them, with the security staff, and took them to the refinery’s clinic.” The engineer’s account is consistent with the images and witness statements posted online. He also said that some of the victims died after the incident. The Observers team was unable to confirm this allegation, and no other sources mention any deaths in connection with the two incidents. Chemical weapons specialist Dan Kaszeta also expressed caution about these assertions and the symptoms shown in the oxygen-treatment footage: “The symptoms of chlorine gas exposure are relatively generic, with few clearly identifiable signs. In reality, it is very difficult to kill someone with this gas when it is dispersed in the open air, in this way. It is mostly used as a strong irritant, to force opponents out of shelters and make them vulnerable to conventional bombardment. That was how it was mostly used in Syria: during one chlorine attack in Douma, there were many deaths, but that was because the barrel exploded at the top of a building, asphyxiating those inside.” The state of the barrels 'consistent with a drop from high altitude' Accounts of an airdrop are corroborated by the videos of the event, in which several people refer to “air force bombardments”. Jenzen-Jones also considers this scenario plausible: “Either a helicopter or a fixed-wing aircraft could feasibly be used to deliver a chlorine payload contained in an industrial gas cylinder. Chlorine cylinders are generally stable and rigid, so they are fairly simple to transport and deliver out the back of a relatively slow-moving aircraft of either type. The impact with the ground is generally enough to rupture the types of industrial pressure vessels that contain chlorine gas. The challenge for the user is that this kind of delivery makes it very difficult to target a specific military objective.” Visual clues also support the idea that the chlorine barrels found at the Garri military base on September 5 and inside the al-Jaili refinery on September 13 were dropped from the air. For example, the barrel at al-Jaili brought down branches from the tree above it as it fell. In this image of the barrel found inside the al-Jaili refinery on September 13, 2024, a broken tree branch is visible above the barrel, probably crushed when the barrel fell from the sky. © Observers   The barrel found at the Garri base shows soil embedded in several dents, suggesting they were caused by a violent impact with the ground. In these stills taken from videos showing the barrel found on September 5, 2024, at the Garri military base, soil can be seen lodged at both ends of the cylinder. © Observers The Observers showed these images to Frederik Coghe, a ballistics expert and professor at the Royal Military Academy in Belgium. His assessment: “All the containers sustained significant deformations and damage consistent with a drop from high altitude. At least one container shows major lateral abrasion, indicating a high horizontal speed at the moment of ground impact. To obtain this type of deformation, the containers must have been dropped from a transport aircraft or a helicopter flying at high speed. Faking these deformations would not be easy.” This analysis was echoed by Trevor Ball, a former US army explosive ordnance disposal technician who now runs an open-source investigation account on X : “The condition of these cylinders is consistent with the kind of damage one would expect following an airdrop. The cylinders are deformed, but mostly intact. […]  In cases involving barrels of chemical substances dropped from aircraft, the crater size can be very small depending on altitude dropped, soil, and if the cylinders directly hit the ground or another object, such as a tree, first.” The Sudanese army is the only force in the country with the aerial military capacity to carry out airdrops of chlorine barrels which weigh more than a tonne . RSF forces only have drones  for bombings, which cannot carry loads exceeding 130kg . While the army recently targeted cargo planes at the RSF-held  Nyala airport  in South Darfur, these aircraft were used solely for transporting troops and military equipment. There has been no documented evidence of the RSF conducting airstrikes with planes or helicopters, or using such aircraft for combat purposes. 'The explosion of any chlorine gas container will kill them slowly and silently' Airdrops of these barrels were documented on social media by pro-RSF accounts from September 2024, but were also reported by outlets and channels favourable to the army. On September 14, 2024 , the day after the barrel fell inside the refinery, a pro-army media outlet claimed: “Army aviation is attacking groups of militia fighters in the housing units of engineers and technicians at the al-Jaili refinery.” A Telegram channel that supports the Sudanese armed forces and counts nearly 300,000 followers also reported air strikes on al-Jaili on September 13 . That same channel had earlier announced strikes on the refinery  on September 4, only hours before the incident at the Garri military base. Other posts on the Telegram channel hinted that toxic gas had been released at the refinery. “Heavy artillery fire and air bombardments on the al-Jaili refinery by Antonov aircraft and fighter jets. The environment will become unbearable there with the build-up of gases resulting from burning oil and chemical substances… The explosion of any chlorine gas container will kill them slowly and silently,” read one message from the channel on September 10 . Two days later , on the eve of the al-Jaili incident, the same account boasted: “Resounding success in the testing of small ‘boum-ban’ in the area. The ‘claws’ [a nickname for RSF fighters] did not last more than 120 seconds.” The term “boum-ban” (البمبان in Arabic) is used in Sudan to describe tear-gas bombs  and appears to be an oblique reference to munitions employing gas. Men at the Garri base on September 5 used the same local term when talking about the chlorine barrel. A video posted by a pro-RSF account on May 23, 2025, showing the barrel that fell at the Garri base on September 5, features a commentator saying: “They fired something we don’t understand, maybe a ‘boum-ban’, maybe something else.” Two incidents compatible with chlorine attacks, according to five experts Our investigation has found that industrial chlorine containers were dropped from the air on at least two occasions in the vicinity of the al-Jaili refinery, on September 5 and 13, 2024. At the time, the refinery was the scene of heavy fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese army. This map shows the locations of the two incidents around the al-Jaili complex in September 2024, where barrels of chlorine were dropped. © France Médias Monde graphic studio According to RSF statements and pro-army posts , the army regularly bombarded the refinery and its environs in September 2024. Videos  posted at the time show fires and substantial damage inside the complex. The army has consistently denied carrying out strikes on al-Jaili, instead accusing the RSF of destroying the refinery while occupying it by setting deliberate fires. Five specialists in chemical weapons and ballistics consulted by the Observers all said that the images from Garri on September 5, 2024, and from the al-Jaili refinery on September 13 are compatible with chlorine gas attacks. They noted, however, that these indicators fall short of conclusive proof, and said that definitive verification would require immediate access to the sites. Guidotti noted: “Half-an-hour after a bombardment, it is already too late to collect evidence of a chlorine attack, because the gas disperses naturally within minutes if there is any wind. In practice, this is probably the hardest kind of chemical weapon to identify — we saw that during the Syrian civil war. The only real solution would be blood tests on exposed people.” Kaszeta expressed similar caution: “These videos are not definitive proof. A yellow cloud, for example, can be mimicked with a coloured smoke grenade. There was one case in the Syrian civil war of a fabricated incident supposedly involving chlorine. I suspect that these two events [were chlorine attacks], but you can’t say more than that.” Jenzen-Jones struck a slightly different tone:  “In this case the evidence is fairly convincing and points towards attacks using chlorine gas as a weapon. The repurposing of toxic industrial chemicals in combat is a trend that we have observed in recent decades. In Syria, most prominently, there was an extensive series of attacks which weaponised chlorine by dropping industrial containers from the air. It is perhaps, unfortunately, unsurprising to see this method of warfare adopted elsewhere.” Sudanese government: 'There is no evidence of chemical or radioactive contamination in Khartoum State' The Observers contacted the Sudanese army and government for comment. We also attempted to reach the US State Department to determine whether the sanctions announced in May 2025 were based on the incidents of September 5 and 13, 2024, at al-Jaili. A State Department spokesperson declined to comment, saying: “As is standard practice, we do not comment on alleged intelligence reports or discuss internal deliberations.” After the US sanctions were announced on May 22, 2025, the army-controlled Sudanese government said it had formed a committee  to investigate the accusations of chemical weapons use. The Sudanese health ministry , however, published a report in early September stating there was “no evidence of chemical or radioactive contamination in Khartoum state,” where the al-Jaili refinery is located. “If the use of chemical weapons is confirmed, those responsible – both the perpetrators and decision-makers – could face criminal liability, including before the International Criminal Court if the UN Security Council so decides,” said Julia Grignon, an international law specialist and scientific director at the Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l’Ecole Militaire , a research institute affiliated with the French Ministry of Defence. “That has been done before: an arrest warrant was issued in 2009 for former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.” Sudan does not recognise the ICC’s authority: despite the warrant, al-Bashir was never extradited and remains detained in his country . But how did these Indian industrial chlorine barrels end up in Sudan, to be used as chemical weapons? To answer that question, the Observers traced their path. Our investigation found that they were initially purchased by a company with ties to the Sudanese army, importing products manufactured by firms specialising in military equipment and weaponry. https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20251009-chemical-weapons-sudan-part-1-investigation-attacks-chlorine-al-jaili-refinery  This article has been translated from the original in French . Copyright © 2025 France24

A Nigerian man deported from the US to Ghana has told the BBC that he is now stuck in a hotel in Togo, after he and five others were secretly transferred to the neighbouring country by Ghanaian officers. By Thomas Naadi Togo's capital city, Lomé, is near the Ghanaian border. A Nigerian man deported from the US to Ghana has told the BBC that he is now stuck in a hotel in Togo, after he and five others were secretly transferred to the neighbouring country by Ghanaian officers. The man said they were informed they would be moved from a military camp to better accommodation, but were then "dumped" in Togo. The BBC has approached Ghana's government for comment. The US government deported the Nigerian man - along with other West African nationals - as part of its crackdown on immigration. Ghana's Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa previously said the government had accepted the deportees in the spirit of "pan-African empathy". The Nigerian, who has requested anonymity for safety reasons, alleged that Ghanaian officers took him and the five other deportees into Togo through a back route. He further claimed that this was done after bribing local police, and without informing Togolese authorities of their entry. "They did not take us through the main border, they took us through the back door. They paid the police there and dropped us in Togo," he said. The Togolese authorities have not commented on the alleged presence of the deportees on their territory. Four of the group - three Nigerians and a Liberian - then checked into a hotel in Lomé, the Togolese capital, which lies just across the border from where they were abandoned. With no documents of their own, he said they relied on the hotel staff to receive money from relatives abroad to cover their bills. "We're struggling to survive in Togo without any documentation," he said. "None of us has family in Togo. We're just stuck in a hotel," he added. "Right now, we're just trying to survive until our lawyers can help us with this situation." He said that while in Ghana they had been asking for better living conditions since the environment at the military camp where they were placed was "deplorable". "Life there was really hard, so we asked for a better place, better medication, better healthcare and better water," the Nigerian told the BBC. He said that days later, immigration officials arrived at the camp, saying they were taking six of them to a hotel for more comfort, but they ended up across the border in Togo. "When we arrived, we asked what we were doing at the border, and they told us they wanted us to sign some paperwork so they could take us to a hotel, but we didn't sign anything," he added. The Nigerian told the BBC that the language barrier in Togo made it difficult to communicate. Togo's official language is French, while he spoke English. He also said that his deportation had affected his family in the US. "I have a house in the US where my kids live. How am I supposed to pay the mortgage? I don't know how they'll manage while I'm gone. My kids can't see me, and it's just so stressful," he lamented. He said he was a member of the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement, an activist organisation advocating for a breakaway state in south-west Nigeria for the Yoruba ethnic group. Although the movement is not banned, it has been in the crosshairs of the Nigerian government, with 27 people arrested last year for being involved in its campaign. Because of his affiliation with the group, the man told the BBC he fears that returning to Nigeria could lead to his arrest and torture. He was part of a group of West Africans deported to Ghana last month, which also included nationals of Togo, Liberia and The Gambia. They had previously been held in a US detention facility before being flown out on a US military plane in shackles, their lawyers said. US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the BBC that all of those deported to Ghana were "illegal aliens", who had "received due process and had a final order of removal from an immigration judge". She added that many were "heinous criminals with rap sheets that included injury to a child, robbery, aggravated assault, and fraud". The Nigerian admitted that he had been convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in the US in 2020 and served a two-year sentence. However, he said he was under a US court-ordered protection that should have shielded him from deportation from the US. Ghana's President John Mahama has said that: "Ghana will not, and I repeat, will not become a dumping ground for deportees, nor will we accept individuals with criminal backgrounds." The US government's "third-country deportation" policy has faced criticism, with several countries pushing back against the strategy, including Nigeria . The deal for Ghana to take in nationals from various West African countries was announced by President John Mahama three weeks ago. He said he had been approached by the US to accept the deportees, and had agreed because there was free movement of people in West Africa. Foreign Minister Ablakwa has since said Ghana received no financial reward for accepting the deportees. Opposition MPs have demanded an immediate suspension of the deportation agreement until it is ratified by parliament, but the government has said it plans to accept another 40 deportees. Lawyers for the deportees have started legal action against both the US and Ghanaian governments, saying their rights were violated. Copyright © 2025 BBC.

Pukpuk treaty commits the two neighbours to greater military cooperation, although the text is yet to be released. By Lyndal Rowlands Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape sign the Pukpuk treaty at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday [David Gray/AFP] Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG) James Marape have signed a mutual defence treaty in Canberra, with the leaders saying the text of the agreement will be available soon. Marape told reporters on Monday in the Australian capital that the treaty was drawn up “out of geography, history and the enduring reality of our shared neighbourhood”. “It is about one bigger fence that secures two houses that has its own yard space,” Marape said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The Papua New Guinean leader disagreed that the pact was drawn up due to broader geopolitical issues, in an apparent reference to the military interests of countries like China and the United States in the Pacific region. “This treaty was not conceived out of geopolitics or any other reason,” Marape said. “We maintain friendships to all enemies, we advocate peace wherever we engage, in as far as foreign relations concern,” PNG’s leader added. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the treaty “makes very explicit” that there will be “interoperability” between the two neighbouring countries’ “defence assets”, adding that “our greatest asset is our people”. The ABC reported that this meant the two countries would share the same rights as current members of the Five Eyes agreement, which Australia shares with Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the US. Marape’s office said last week that the agreement will create a path for 10,000 Papua New Guineans to serve in the Australian Defence Force, as his country also aims to build up its own defence force to 7,000 troops. Papua New Guinea has a population of some 12 million people, of which about 40 percent live below the poverty line , in stark contrast to its richer neighbour, Australia. The signing of the Pukpuk treaty comes weeks after Papua New Guinea celebrated 50 years of independence from Australia, which assumed control of its northern neighbour as a colonial power in 1902, after both countries were colonised by the UK. In August 2013, Australia signed a memorandum of understanding with Papua New Guinea, which saw thousands of migrants arriving in Australia by boat detained on Manus Island in offshore detention. The controversial detention centre closed in 2017 , leaving hundreds of refugees stranded. Australia is also seeking to sign a security agreement with Fiji, after a similar agreement covering both security and climate change with Vanuatu stalled last month. Australia also recently signed a landmark treaty with Tuvalu, the world’s first agreement offering visas to help people facing displacement due to the climate crisis to resettle. Climate change remains a key security concern for many countries in the region, with Australia bidding to host the 2026 UN COP climate change meeting, alongside its Pacific neighbours. The bid has yet to materialise as Turkiye is also formally campaigning to host the same meeting. © 2025 Al Jazeera Media Network

Zoran Milanovic cites 'genocide against the people of Gaza' main reason, accuses government of siding with Israel instead of recognizing Palestine Talha Ozturk Zoran Milanovic cites 'genocide against the people of Gaza' main reason, accuses government of siding with Israel instead of recognizing Palestine . BELGRADE, Serbia Croatian President Zoran Milanovic on Tuesday refused to meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who is on an official visit to Zagreb, citing Israel’s ongoing actions in Gaza. Milanovic said on social media that he did not understand why Saar had been invited and why Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman, and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic chose to meet him. He stressed that such a visit is unacceptable while Israel’s “genocide against the people of Gaza” continued. “If I had met with someone from that government, it would mean accepting Israel’s violence, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes,” Milanovic said. He criticized Croatia’s government for supporting Israeli officials instead of taking steps to recognize the State of Palestine. “Comparing Israel’s attacks on Gaza with Croatia’s war in the 1990s is a huge mistake. Croatia then defended itself. Israel is brutally attacking Gaza and killing tens of thousands of people,” he said. Saar was met with protests in Zagreb ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Plenkovic. Anadolu Ajansı © 2021

Summary Protests appear inspired by unrest in countries such as Nepal Many mobilised online, mainly through gaming app Protesters complain of public services and inequalities Prime minister says dialogue is only path forward Writing by Ahmed El Jechtimi and Alex Dziadosz; Editing by Aidan Lewis [3/3] A man with a Moroccan flag draped over his shoulders gestures, as demonstrators attend a protest for social justice, near the parliament building, in Rabat, Morocco, October 3, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed El Jechtimi Purchase Licensing Rights RABAT/CAIRO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Youth-led unrest that spread across Morocco last week revealed deep-seated anger over poverty and public services behind a storyline of ambitious infrastructure projects and modern stadiums opening ahead of the 2030 World Cup. The protests in major cities – inspired by similar revolts in Nepal , Madagascar and Peru – devolved into riots in rural towns and remote cities. Three people were shot dead as they tried to storm a security headquarters, and over 400, opens new tab were arrested, before the violence eased. The unrest was the most widespread since the 2011 Arab Spring protests, which prompted King Mohammed VI to devolve some powers to parliament. It was also the most violent since the 2016 protests in the Rif region. The protests expose a challenge for authorities as they try to maintain order and the pace of economic development while burnishing Morocco's international image ahead of the World Cup, to be co-hosted with Spain and Portugal. DEMANDS FOR BETTER HEALTHCARE, EDUCATION Morocco has set itself apart from other non-oil Arab economies by pouring billions into roads, rail, ports, renewable energy and manufacturing. Poverty has been cut almost in half, according to the country's statistics agency, and living standards in parts of the northwest coast rival Europe. Central bank data projects GDP growth of 4.6% this year from 3.8% last year. Last month, S&P credit rating agency gave Morocco, one of Africa's most diversified economies, a coveted "investment-grade" label. But protesters complain that the prosperity has not been evenly distributed. Their main demands have been better healthcare and education, often drawing an explicit comparison to the rapid pace of tournament preparations. One refrain – "We do not want the World Cup. Health first" – was deployed at a hospital in the southern coastal town of Agadir last month after eight women died there in childbirth. Naji Achoui, a 24-year-old medical student who joined a demonstration outside Morocco's parliament in Rabat, said he was motivated by working in an emergency room that lacked basic equipment such as a CT scanner. "I see poor people suffering every day because of the dire conditions in public hospitals," he said. Research from CESE, the country's economic and social council, last year found a quarter of Moroccans between 15 and 24 years old are not in education, employment or training. Jihane Ratma, 19, who studies management in Sale, near Rabat, pointed to the school system's failures. "We reject violence, but both the youth that protest peacefully and those engaging in riots are all victims of public policies," she said. PROTESTERS MOBILISE ONLINE Reactions to the protests suggest officials were initially wrongfooted. At first, rallies were banned and police thwarted attempts to gather. By the time authorities pivoted to engagement , hundreds of cars and dozens of buildings, including banks and a police station, had been ransacked or torched. "The government and members of parliament buried their heads in the sand, leaving the security forces to deal with the fallout of failed policies," Mohamed Agdid, a retired police official, told Reuters. The confusion was likely compounded by the anonymous character of the group calling itself "GenZ 212" – a reference to Morocco's dialing code – which mobilised protesters online using gaming app Discord, TikTok and Instagram. Membership in its Discord server surged from 3,000 to 188,000 in just a week. PRESSURE ON RURAL AREAS The protests took a particularly violent turn in rural areas such as Ait Amira, an agricultural town in Morocco's southern breadbasket region. Over three decades, the population there has more than quadrupled, from 25,000 to around 113,000, as seasonal laborers poured in to work on nearby farms. Services have not kept up. Joblessness is rife and illegal construction is booming. Even the language has changed, with Amazigh supplanted by Moroccan Arabic. "Ait Amira was a tinderbox waiting to explode," Khalid Alayoud, a sociologist and activist, said. Such problems are accompanied by a deepening loss of faith in conventional politics. Trust in political parties dropped to 33% in 2023 from 50% a year earlier, according to a survey by the Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis, a think tank. Since the violence calmed, officials have struck a conciliatory tone. Employment Minister Younes Sekkouri acknowledged the "sincerity" of the protesters' demands, and Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch – whose resignation many protesters demanded – said dialogue was the only path forward. Many are waiting to see what the king will say when he addresses parliament's opening this month. Protesters have steered clear of red lines, including the monarchy. In one statement, GenZ 212 quoted a 2017 speech by the king in which he admonished officials to "either discharge your obligations fully or withdraw from public life." © 2025 Reuters

Tom Bennett Jerusalem October 10, 2025 Anadolu via Getty Images After days of negotiations, US president Donald Trump announced this week that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of his peace plan for Gaza. The Israeli military says that a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory took effect at 12:00 local time (10:00 BST) on Friday, and that it has begun to withdraw from parts of the Strip. The first phase of Trump's plan is expected to see the release of all 20 living Israeli hostages in exchange for around 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,700 detainees from Gaza. Increased amounts of aid will also enter the Strip. Negotiations are then expected to follow over the details of the latter phases. Here is what we know. What happens over the next 72 hours? The commencement of the ceasefire means a 72-hour countdown has begun, during which Hamas must release all 20 hostages who are believed to be alive. They must be handed over by 12:00 local time (10:00 BST) on Monday. The exact details of their release remains unclear, but in previous handovers hostages have been collected by the Red Cross, which has transferred them to Israel. From there, they have been airlifted to Israeli hospitals for check-ups and on to be reunited with their families. The bodies of deceased hostages will also be returned, though it is unclear how long this could take. It is thought that at least 26 hostages are deceased, with the fate of two other hostages unknown. The agreement states that the handovers will take place "without any public ceremonies or media coverage". Previous hostage handovers have involved highly choreographed Hamas ceremonies - something the Israeli government wants to avoid. During this process, we expect to see the release of about 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails and 1,700 detainees from Gaza. The identities of those to be released have not been officially published, though an Israeli spokesperson said one of the most high-profile prisoners, Marwan Barghouti, will not be released as part of the swap. As of Friday, about 600 humanitarian aid trucks are expected to enter Gaza daily. A famine was declared in part of the territory for the first time back in August by UN-backed experts, who said that more than half a million people were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death". Israel has repeatedly denied that there is starvation in the territory. A multinational force of around 200 troops overseen by the US military will monitor the ceasefire, according to a senior US official. The force's makeup is likely to include troops from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The official said their role would be to oversee and observe the ceasefire and "make sure there are no violations or incursions". A second senior US official said no US forces would be on the ground in Gaza. As part of the ceasefire, the Israeli military said it has "begun positioning" its troops along the line detailed in the agreement, which, according to a spokesperson for the prime minister's office, leaves it in control of 53% of Gaza. A map shared by the White House last week indicates this is the first of three stages of Israeli withdrawal, with these intended to occur during the latter phases of Trump's peace plan. What happens next? If completed, the first phase of Trump's 20-point plan would be followed by negotiations over the details of the later phases – but many of these points could be hard to reach an agreement on. The proposal, which you can read in full here , says that if it is agreed by both sides, the war would "immediately end". It says Gaza would be demilitarised and all "military, terror and offensive infrastructure" would be destroyed. It also says Gaza would be initially governed by a temporary transitional committee of Palestinian technocrats - supervised by a "Board of Peace" headed and chaired by Trump and involving former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Governance of the Strip would eventually be handed over to the Palestinian Authority - which administers the West Bank - once it has undergone reforms. Hamas - the armed group that has run the territory since 2007 - would play no future role in its governance, directly or indirectly, according to the plan. Hamas members would be offered amnesty if they committed to peaceful co-existence, or would be provided safe passage to another country. No Palestinians would be forced to leave Gaza and those who wished to leave would be free to return. A "Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energise Gaza" would be created by a panel of experts. What are the sticking points over the later phases? There are likely to be multiple points of contention during the negotiations over later phases of the deal. Lyse Doucet: This is a huge moment but just the beginning Hamas has previously refused to lay down its weapons, saying it would only do so once a Palestinian state had been established. The group also made no mention of disarming in its initial response to the plan last weekend, fuelling speculation that its position had not changed. And though Israel has agreed to Trump's plan in full, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to push back on the Palestinian Authority being involved in a post-war Gaza, even as he stood on the podium next to its president last week. Hamas has also said it expects to have some future role in Gaza as part of "a unified Palestinian movement". Another sticking point is the extent of Israeli troop withdrawal. Israel says its first withdrawal will see it retaining control of around 53% of Gaza. The White House plan indicates further withdrawals to around 40% and then 15%. That final stage would be a "security perimeter" that would "remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat". The wording here is vague and gives no clear timeline for full Israeli withdrawal - something Hamas is likely to want clarity on. © BBC 2025. All rights reserved.

Teklemariam Bekit Editor BBC Tigrinya and Yemane Nagish BBC Tigrinya October 9, 2025 Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000 (AFP via Getty Images) Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of preparing to wage war against it in collusion with an opposition grouping, in the latest sign of escalating tensions between the two neighbours over control of the Red Sea. Ethiopia's accusation is contained in a letter sent by its Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos to UN chief Antonio Guterres, warning that the collusion had become "more evident over the past few months". Eritrea has not yet commented on the letter, but its relationship with Ethiopia has become increasingly strained in recent months. Ethiopia has been rallying support to regain access to the Red Sea, causing alarm in Eritrea as it took control of the coastline at independence in 1993. If Gedion's allegations are true, it means that Eritrea is waging a proxy war against Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government, to prevent it from launching a military incursion into Eritrea to seize ports along the Red Sea. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought for control of the border town of Badme from 1998 to 2000, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of people. After Abiy took office in 2018, he ended tensions by building a strong alliance with Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki. However, relations between them have since soured, with access to the Red Sea becoming a major flashpoint. In the letter seen by AFP news agency, Gedion alleged that Eritrea and a hardline faction of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) were "funding, mobilizing and directing armed groups" in Ethiopia's Amhara region, where militiamen known as Fano have been battling the federal government. "The hardliner faction of the TPLF and the Eritrean government are actively preparing to wage war against Ethiopia," AFP quoted the letter as saying. BBC Amharic has contacted the Ethiopian foreign ministry to confirm the authenticity of the letter, but it has not yet responded. The letter is widely circulating on social media among Ethiopian government supporters. A TPLF faction, led by Debretsion Gebremichael, controls the government in Ethiopia's Tigray region, which borders Eritrea. It accuses Abiy's government of failing to fully implement a peace deal reached in 2022 to end conflict in Tigray, and says another TPLF faction, led by Getachew Reda, is colluding with Addis Ababa. Eritrea fought on the side of the Ethiopian army in the conflict, but was not part of the deal and is now accused of forming an alliance with the Debretsion-led TPLF faction. In his response, Debretsion said the foreign minister's letter contained "fabricated stories and smear campaigns" intended to divert attention from the federal government's failure to honour the peace agreement. 'No-one can handle another war' - Tigrayans fear fresh Ethiopian conflict Joyful Ethiopians and Eritreans embrace at rare border reopening 'I lost my leg on the way home from school' At the same time, Ethiopia has been hit by an increasingly brutal conflict in its Amhara region, after the Fano militias - previously allied with Abiy's government against the TPLF - rejected moves to disarm them and said they were defending the Amhara ethnic group from government atrocities. The Fano appear to be expanding their agenda to topple Abiy's government, and are carrying out more deadly operations. Ethiopia's privately owned Addis Standard newspaper reported that the foreign minister's letter accused Eritrea and TPLF hardliners of supporting Fano's efforts to capture the town of Woldiya in the Amhara region in September. TPLF commanders and fighters participated directly in the operation, the newspaper quoted the letter as saying. Debretsion said the claim was "entirely unfounded", and the federal government was, in fact, training new militias to destabilise Tigray. "The letter issued by the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs represents a dangerous inversion of history - an attempt to portray the aggressor as the victim and the victims as the aggressor," Debretsion added. For his part, Ethiopia's foreign minister said Eritrea was attempting to destabilise Ethiopia as it felt threatened by Addis Ababa's bid to gain access to the Red Sea, the newspaper reported. Since October 2023, landlocked Ethiopia has been pushing for renewed access to the Red Sea, arguing that it had erred in relinquishing control of ports to Eritrea at the time of its independence. In Ethiopia's parliament on Monday, President Taye Atske Selassie described the Red Sea and River Nile as "great water resources, which are essential to our country's existence". This led to a sharp rebuke from Eritrea's Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel, who dismissed the rhetoric as "too crass and pathetic to sell". He added that the Ethiopian ruling party's "obsession" with the Red Sea and River Nile was "bizarre and mind-boggling by all standards". © BBC 2025. All rights reserved.