The UN human rights office also reported rampant sexual violence in the region, including against young boys and girls. Displaced people ride a an animal-drawn cart, following attacks by the rebel Rapid Support Forces on the Zamzam displacement camp, in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15 [File: Reuters] More than 480 civilians have been killed in attacks in Sudan’s North Darfur region in two weeks this month, with some attacks ethnically motivated, according to the United Nations. The UN human rights office said on Friday that it had listed at least 481 civilians killed in North Darfur since April 10 and that “the actual number is likely much higher”. It also reported rampant sexual violence in the region, including against young boys and girls, calling the assaults “horrifying”. “The suffering of the Sudanese people is hard to imagine, harder to comprehend and simply impossible to accept,” said UN rights chief Volker Turk in the statement. North Darfur has become a key battleground in the war that erupted on April 15, 2023, between Sudan’s army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by al-Burhan’s former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. Tens of thousands have been killed in the war, which has triggered what the UN describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. ‘Widespread reports of sexual violence’ One of the latest bloody assaults occurred in the Zamzam displacement camp between April 11-13. That attack killed at least 210 civilians, including nine medical professionals, according to the UN rights office. Turk described reports of “women, girls and boys being raped or gang-raped there or as they tried to escape”. t least 129 more civilians were killed between Sunday and Thursday this week in el-Fasher city, Um Kedada district and the Abu Shouk displacement camp, said the UN. Some of the latest attacks were “ethnically motivated”, with specific communities targeted, it added. “The rising number of civilian casualties and the widespread reports of sexual violence are horrifying,” said Turk. In addition, the UN said “dozens of people were reported to have died due to lack of food, water and medical care” in detention facilities run by the RSF or “while walking for days in harsh conditions in an attempt to flee violence”. ‘Dire conditions’ The fighting in North Darfur has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians , many of whom had previously fled their homes during the conflict, according to the UN’s rights office. The displaced “face dire conditions amid continued restrictions on access to lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” it said. Despite the growing crisis, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) earlier on Friday warned it may be forced to scale back its food support within weeks due to funding shortages. Rations in areas at risk of famine have been reduced to 70 percent of a standard WFP ration (equal to 2,100 kcal per day), the organisation said. The aid response is also jeopardised by continued attacks targeting humanitarian workers and medical personnel, said Turk. “The systems to assist victims in many areas are on the verge of collapse,” he said, “medical workers are themselves under threat, and even water sources have been deliberately attacked.” The UN’s assessment comes a day after the UK’s Foreign Minister David Lammy warned violence in Darfur bears “the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing and may amount to crimes against humanity”. Lammy called on Sudan’s army and the RSF to “de-escalate urgently” and said the UK would continue to “use all tools available to us to hold those responsible for atrocities to account” SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

'I saw many die with my own eyes': As Sudan’s civil war spirals, refugees recall witnessing pogroms, mass killings and barbarism Fathia Arbab Ishaq, 8, lost a leg after being shot when RSF fighters raided her camp CREDIT: Simon Townsley By Ben Farmer Abdullah Mufadl has survived not one, but two pitiless ethnic massacres as his country has been convulsed by civil war. Firstly he saw thousands of his Masalit neighbours killed when his home town of El Geneina was overrun by Arab militiamen early in Sudan's catastrophic conflict. Then five months later it happened again, when militiamen once more went on a murderous rampage in the suburb of Ardamata where he had taken refuge. Abdullah Mufadl and his daughter Suhaiba survived two massacres during the early stages of the Sudanese warCredit: Simon Townsley/The Telegraph As many as 17,000 died in the two killing sprees. Many of the survivors are now destitute and traumatised, living in limbo in refugee camps near the Chadian border town of Adré. Ask around in the 100,000-strong Adré transit camp for anyone who witnessed these massacres, or who lost relatives, and a queue quickly forms. “I saw many die with my own eyes,” says one woman. “I lost 14 from my family: both sons and cousins,” says another. “Everyone here has suffered,” says a man. Sudan's slide into war between the de facto president, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, has turned almost the whole country into a battlefield. In the Darfur region, it has also renewed ethnic purges which beset the area 20 years ago. Hemedti's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allies are accused of trying to wipe out, or drive off, non-Arab and Black African groups like the Masalit in order to take their land. A similar massacre is now feared to be imminent in El Fasher, the besieged capital of north Darfur, after the RSF captured and razed the nearby Zamzam refugee camp last week. At least 300 people died during the fall of the camp and some 400,000 fled, either into El Fasher itself, which has been encircled, starved and bombarded for a year, or to the nearby town of Tawila. Survivors have reported civilian men being lined up and shot, women being raped, and homes and markets being burned down. El Fasher is the last army stronghold in Darfur and the last obstacle to the RSF consolidating its control in the region. The RSF has denied accusations of atrocities and said the Zamzam camp was being used as a base by forces loyal to the army. America says what is happening is a genocide. In the last days of Joe Biden's administration, the United States said the RSF and its allies had “systematically murdered men and boys – even infants – on an ethnic basis, and deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence. “Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.” Many survivors are now destitute and traumatised, living in limbo in refugee camps near the Chadian border town of Adré CREDIT: Simon Townsley Marco Rubio, Donald Trump's new secretary of state, in January added: “By its very definition, this is a real genocide. This is the ethnic targeting of specific groups for extermination, for elimination.” Britain typically leaves courts to determine a genocide, but has said atrocities are being conducted. David Lammy, Foreign Secretary, said earlier this month that those sheltering in El Fasher were facing “unimaginable violence”. The Sudanese army and its allied militia are also widely accused of atrocities, including killing civilians in air strikes. Sudan's slide into war has turned almost the whole country into a battlefield Credit: 2025 © Simon Townsley Ltd/Simon Townsley Mr Mufadl, aged 42, sold shoes in El Geneina before the war. Tensions were already high. The current bloodshed in Darfur continues decades of clashes in competition for land, water and resources between Arab herders and non-Arab farmers. The city already held large camps housing Masalit and others who had fled their homes 20 years earlier when the government used Arab militia called the Janjaweed to wage a brutal counter-insurgency campaign against rebels protesting that Khartoum was neglecting the area. The Janjaweed later evolved into the RSF paramilitary group within the army and in 2020, the army signed a peace deal with rebel groups in Darfur. Yet, when the long-running rivalry between Gen al-Burhan and Hemedti, flared into open fighting in Khartoum on April 15, 2023, it was only around 10 days before the war again reached Geneina, 700 miles away. RSF forces and other aligned Arab militia fought the army garrison, then turned on Masalit neighbourhoods where young men had armed themselves for defence. Mr Mufadl said: “They came and shot everyone. They did not distinguish between a woman, or a man or a child. They shot everywhere.” “Civilians took refuge in schools and government buildings.” The purge continued for seven weeks and killed several thousand civilians, as the Masalit tried to fight back and defend their neighbourhoods, according to an account by Human Rights Watch. The tipping point was the killing of the state governor, Khamis Abbakar, himself Masalit, on June 14. Masalit defences crumbled and fighters and civilians alike tried to flee to either Chad, or the Ardamata neighbourhood where the Sudanese army had a base. Their desperate convoy was constantly ambushed and raked with gunfire as it retreated through Arab-controlled neighbourhoods. Men were separated out and executed. Many drowned, or were shot as they tried to reach safety across the swollen Kaja wadi. “It was very crowded, there was shooting and ambushes everywhere. There were dead everywhere,” said Mr Mufadl who took the six-mile road to Ardamata. “The rains had come and the wadi was full of water. They drowned old men and old women. A very big number were killed on the road to Ardamata. We dug five or six mass graves. In each hole, we put many people. We were not able to bury anybody until the night came.” Huwaida Adurahman Adam and her daughter Fathia Arbab Ishaq were also among those who fled El Geneina that desperate day. Fathia, now aged eight, had already in 2021 lost a leg after being shot when RSF fighters raided her camp. Mrs Adam said that as she fled, she saw men hauled out of the convoy and executed. She said: “We were mixed with men. They were separated from us, they took them to one side and shot them. I saw this with my own eyes. “They want to take our land. They said we will not let any Masalit live here. We don't want any black people here.” As many as 17,000 Masalit were butchered in the towns of El Geneina and Ardamata Credit: Simon Townsley/The Telegraph The United Nations estimates that overall, somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000 died in Geneina. When survivors arrived in Ardamata, they hoped the army would protect them. But in early November, history repeated itself. The RSF began shelling the garrison on Nov 1 and on Nov 4 troops pulled out leaving refugees like Mr Mufadl again at the mercy of the militia. Adam Ismail, a staff officer in the army who had been serving in the garrison, said the army retreat had been so chaotic and rapid that he and 200 comrades had been left behind. He woke in his position on the southern flank to be told officers had fled without him. He said: “Nobody informed us. We left immediately. I was very scared and I was very sorry such behaviour had occurred by my commanders. We thought we would die. When we moved north to see the defensive positions, no one was there. We soon fell into an ambush.” He was shot in the leg above the knee and left for dead. He lay in open ground for three days, before becoming so desperate that he took the gamble of giving himself up to RSF fighters. “Some nomad boys had found me and given me some water,” he recalled. “I saw there was an RSF checkpoint nearby and I said to the boys 'tell them there's a Sudanese soldier lying shot and wounded for three days'. “When I sent the boys over, I expected anything could happen to me. I had two choices: I can die there in the field, or call to them and take my chances. It was risky, but that was the choice.” Fortunately for him, they turned him over to the Red Crescent aid organisation. He later found three quarters of his detachment had died. With the army gone from Ardamata, civilians like Mr Mufadl were again forced to flee through a gauntlet of RSF ambushes, this time heading to Chad. He said: “Immediately [after the army left], they started to shoot civilians. They went to the civilians and started shooting randomly. “It was the same as Geneina all over again. Some of them were killed in very brutal ways. Some of them were buried alive. Everyone fled out again.” Up to 2,000 are thought to have died in Ardamata. As survivors from Zamzam make it to Chad in the coming days, further reports of massacres that took place there are likely to emerge. The situation in El Fasher, where mainly members of the Zagawa and Fur tribes are sheltering, is meanwhile expected to become more desperate because of the arrival of large numbers into an enclave which was already starving. Few in Adré's camps believe they can safely return home to Darfur while the RSF are in control. Some still have relatives across the border, but say they live completely at the mercy of militiamen. Many say Arab families are living in their homes, or have taken their land. There is no work in the refugee camps. Many young men conclude their best chance is to join armed militia fighting alongside the Sudanese army to try to evict the RSF from their land. Col Yassin Ahmad Arbab, an intelligence officer with the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), a former rebel group now aligned with the army, said his group had many recruits. He said: “We are ready to fight and die.” © Telegraph Media Group Holdings Limited 2025

Some 41,000 refugees have crossed from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) into Uganda since January, many of them having witnessed killings, “sexual violence and other traumatic experience during their flight,” said the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday. © UNHCR/Yonna Tukundane Refugees from the DR Congo arrive at a reception centre in Kabazana, Uganda. Every day since the end of last month, around 600 Congolese have been crossing the border into Uganda – which hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa – bringing the total sheltering there to nearly 600,000, out of a total of  1.8 million . This “risks overwhelming the country’s capacity as it also responds to the needs of over 70,000 Sudanese refugees who have arrived fleeing the two-year long war in Sudan,” says UNHCR . Many of the new arrivals – mostly women and children – come by foot or local transport, while there have been “increasing reports of men traveling separately from their families to avoid being forcibly recruited by armed groups,” said UNHCR. Children are particularly vulnerable, with many arriving in “a weakened state amidst a high prevalence of malaria and malnutrition.” Resources under strain Transit is overwhelmed, with Nyakabande, one of the main transit centres, reaching six times its capacity. Critical shortages of bathing facilities and latrines are putting people at dire risk of deadly diseases, with most already suffering poor health. Since January, up to nine children under five have  reportedly died from malnutrition-related anemia in Nyakabande and Matanda transit centres. Aid cuts The funding crunch is significantly impacting the humanitarian response, with UNHCR having to scale back on some standard protection activities, such as legal aid for refugees, in order to prioritise the most critical needs. While the Ugandan authorities, UNHCR, and partners are working to strengthen support to the newly arrived refugees, vital services across the country have had to be deprioritised, including health facility closures and the loss of some 250 health workers. “Urgent funding is critical” in order to allow Uganda to maintain and expand these services, the agency said. Copyright © United Nations

Like the Pulwama attack, this one at Pahalgam is intended is to provoke anti-Muslim fury in India, make the Modi government restore its punitive approach in Kashmir, and release the suppressed fury in the youth that Pakistani establishment hopes will make Kashmir fall into Pakistan’s lap. A relative wails during the funeral procession of Adil Hussain Shah, a daily-wage worker, who died when militants indiscriminately opened fired on a crowd of mainly tourists on Tuesday, in Indian controlled Kashmir. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin) Of one thing all readers of this article can be sure: the terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam was not the handiwork of Kashmiris, or of any dissident organisation located in Kashmir. The reason for this is simple: for the Kashmiris this would be the equivalent of cutting their own throats with a blunt knife. The attack is an expression of the frustration that Pakistan’s hard core of Islamist hawks is feeling at the failure of their four-decade-long attempt to wean Kashmiris away from their allegiance to India. These hawks are able to justify their stranglehold on power only by stoking animosity with India and their hopes had been raised when the Modi government read down Article 370 in 2019, turning Kashmir into a Union Territory that was ruled directly from Delhi. The relative peace that followed in J&K was the peace of the gun which Pakistan’s planners rightly believed would not endure forever. But the vigorous participation of the people in the assembly elections last October and, more significantly, their decision to concentrate their vote so that only one party – the National Conference – would sweep the Valley and thereby prevent the BJP from forming its first-ever government in the region, upset all their hopes and plans. So Pakistan reacted with predictable frustration and rage. From 2020 till September 2024, all but a handful of attacks took place in Jammu. After the election results were announced, beginning on October 9, however, there were eight attacks in the Kashmir valley in 25 days, beginning at Anantnag, on October 9, a day after the results were announced, and ending on November 3 in Srinagar. All but one of these were on civilians – migrant workers and the doctors who were attending to them suffered. The dastardly attack at Pahalgam on April 22 has driven these vicious preceding attacks out of peoples’ minds, But they are eloquent testimony to Pakistan’s frustration that even five years of ruthless suppression and broken promises by the Modi government have not increased disenchantment in the Valley sufficiently for them to give up their desire to remain in India and fight for the full democratic rights that the constitution promises them. The reasons why Kashmir still wants a solution to the dispute that allows it to stay within India – despite the misery imposed upon them by 35 years of incessant violence – is their conviction that this is not only the best way to protect  Kashmiriyat , but also their awareness that it gives them access to India’s huge market. This has enabled Kashmir to aim for economic prosperity. Its people are among the most highly educated in the country. What Kashmiris want In an Oxford Union debate against  the BJP’s Baijayant Panda six years ago, the late Sitaram Yechury had provided all the human development indices for India and Kashmir. In every index, Kashmir was 10% or more above the national average. The reason is not that it has been better governed than any other part of India (although this may well have been true during the long premiership of Bakshi Ghulam Ahmed, while Sheikh Abdulla was in prison) but because it has consistently attracted tourists from all over the world, and most importantly, is the part of the country where a good education is the most highly prized goal in every family. Jammu and Kashmir is the country’s single example of export-led growth. So if there is any place in the world that values a complete and peaceful relationship with its neighbours, it is Kashmir. That is the centuries old economic base of the syncretism between Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism that has been the hallmark of J&K. This is the reason why hundreds of Kashmiris turned out in 2014, many at the risk of their lives, to save the tourists who were trapped by the state’s worst flash flood in modern history that year. And it is also the reason why till now, in 35 years of unrest punctuated by armed insurgency, there has been only one attack on tourists – specifically on pilgrims headed for Amarnath, on August 1-2. 2000, by the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. That had also taken place in Pahalgam, and provoked much resentment among Kashmiris who saw it as an attempt to scuttle the ceasefire that the entire Hibzul Mujahideen unit headed by Abdul Majeed Dar had declared barely a week earlier . Dar, of course, was assassinated a year later by killers the ISI sent from Pakistan. As two opinion polls carried out  in 2002 and 2009-10 by MORI (now renamed IPSOS) and Gallup have shown, more than 90% of the people of the Valley want only peace and a return to democracy, and fewer than 6% would prefer to be a part of Pakistan. Not surprisingly, therefore, Kashmiris have been totally against the militancy and have been yearning for a return to democracy. They demonstrated this by turning out en masse  to vote in the October elections last year, despite the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019. The main reason for the survival of syncretism in Kashmir is its Sufi-Reshi Islam, and its physical and political isolation from the plains of India during the British Raj. This shielded it from the communal fury unleashed by Partition, which survives in a diluted form till today. While this syncretism has been eroded in the past 35 years, especially by the concerted attack that forced Kashmiri Pandits to flee from the valley in1990, it still remains strong within the rest of the population. The second reason is Kashmir’s umbilical economic connection with the rest of India. The revenues it garners from tourism is the life blood of Kashmir. In 2023, Jammu and Kashmir  received more than 21 million tourists . Of these 446,000, or almost half a million, visited the Amarnath Shrine in just the two months of July and August. The starting point of this pilgrimage is Pahalgam. That is no doubt why the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and its ISI backers in Pakistan picked it as the place to commit their second mass murder. It is possible, indeed likely, that the Modi government and BJP will try to take political advantage of this attack in the rest of the country by demonising Muslims, as they did after the Pulwama attack. This is all the more likely now because Narendra Modi and Amit Shah know from the results of the 2024 elections that their political base is beginning to crumble. This would be the height of folly, because it is precisely what the LeT, the ISI, and hard core elements in Pakistan would like Modi to do. Timing The timing of the Pahalgam attack is not accidental. It was timed to coincide with the arrival of US vice-president J.D. Vance in India. Twenty five years ago the first mass terrorist attack on Kashmiri civilians took place on March 20, 2000, the exact date on which President Clinton arrived on a state visit to India. That was the massacre of 36 Kashmiri Sikh males, young and old, by terrorists dressed in Indian army uniforms. The intention behind that massacre was to convince the world that the Indian army had killed its own people in a sort of ‘false flag’ operation. Of course, Sikhs who survived the massacre told reporters that they had harboured suspicions about the identity of the killers when they had visited the village earlier because the Indian army uniforms some of them were wearing, and particularly their boots, had seemed wrong. Barry Bearak of the  New York Times  was able to interview one of the killers, Mohammad Suhail Malik of Sialkot, Pakistan, whom the Indian army had captured. He admitted that he had participated in the massacre on the direction of the LeT. Like the Pulwama attack, this one at Pahalgam is intended is to provoke anti-Muslim fury in India, make the Modi government restore the kind of hard, punitive approach in Kashmir that has been relaxed to a great extent since the October election, deepen disenchantment with India and release the suppressed fury in the youth of the region that the Pakistani establishment hopes will make Kashmir fall into Pakistan’s lap. If the Modi government decides to fall into this trap, it will bring war in Kashmir and an explosion of anti-Muslim violence in India several steps closer. This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable,  click here . Copyright © The Wire

Rubio said the State Department's bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor was being axed after pushing for an arms embargo against Israel US Secretary of State Marco Rubio before a bilateral meeting with his French counterpart in Paris on 17 April 2025 (Julien de Rosa / Pool / AFP) The US State Department on Tuesday revealed a sweeping restructuring plan that will cut positions and scale back human rights offices, as part of US President Donald Trump's approach to remake American diplomacy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio billed the plan as a major shake-up to streamline the department, which many US conservatives say has been overtaken by so-called "woke" ideology. "The Department is bloated, bureaucratic and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great-power competition," Rubio said in a statement, referring to the US rivalry with China. "The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America's core national interests," he added.  One of the key changes will be eliminating the office of the undersecretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights. The division is to be replaced by a new office of "coordination for foreign assistance and humanitarian affairs". The office is slated to take over the work of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as well, which was shuttered by the Trump administration earlier this year. More than 80 percent of USAID's programmes have been cancelled, and hundreds of USAID workers posted abroad with their families were dismissed. While other bureaus that work on human rights and refugees are still included in Rubio's new plan, they will be subordinated to the new office on foreign assistance and humanitarian affairs. In a Substack post describing the State Department's new structure, Rubio said the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor had pushed for an American arms embargo against Israel and was attacking "anti-woke" leaders in Poland, Hungary and Brazil. Rubio also accused the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration of facilitating "mass migration around the world, including the invasion on our southern border."  Offices axed Overall, the plan would reduce the number of offices within the State Department from 734 to 602 and end 700 Washington-based positions for Foreign Service and Civil Service employees, according to a State Department internal fact sheet. Other offices that would be axed by Rubio include the Bureau of Energy Resources, the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, the Office of International Religious Freedoms, the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Office of Global Women's Issues, among others. The blueprint, however, stops short of the more sweeping changes that the New York Times and other news outlets reported Rubio was considering earlier in April. The reports said Rubio's plan included abolishing the entire agency in charge of policy in Africa and closing US embassies in sub-Saharan Africa. Under that plan, the State Department would also implement a regionalist approach to diplomacy, creating four new offices for Eurasia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Indo-Pacific to oversee global affairs. The New York Times reported earlier this month that at least 10 embassies and 17 consulates could be closed across the globe. The Middle East was generally unaffected by the closures, but a draft did call for reducing costs at the US embassy and consulate in Baghdad and Erbil, respectively. Rubio called the previous report "fake news." Earlier in April, the White House's Office of Management and Budget introduced a proposal to gut the State Department’s budget by almost 50 percent, and eliminate the department's funding for the United Nations. The State Department document released on Tuesday did not mention UN funding. Copyright © 2014 - 2025. Middle East Eye. All rights reserved.

From war-torn Gaza to the occupied West Bank, we are grateful for what he did on earth to champion the oppressed  A portrait of Pope Francis is displayed in the Franciscan church in the Old City of Jerusalem on 21 April 2025 (John Wessels/AFP) Not long ago, my cousin in Palestine located our grandfather’s baptismal certificate, which states that he was baptised in a church in his Palestinian village in 1885.   He lived an incredible life, witnessing two world wars and a sequence of Arab- Israeli wars, including Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. A farmer who rode on horseback and rolled his own cigarettes, he contentedly cultivated his land and nurtured his olive trees - never leaving Palestine, even as several of his children migrated to the United States .  I’m grateful to have this documentation and the certificate of his baptism, especially since Palestinian existence is always under attack.  For Palestinian Christians, it’s both laughable and offensive when people try to erase our community’s presence in Palestine.  Palestinian Christians are an important minority who have been betrayed not by Palestinian Muslims, but by Christian leaders around the globe. This is why the passing of Pope Francis hits us especially hard, because he was a rare western Christian leader who recognised and acknowledged our existence, both lovingly and compassionately. Born in the US, I was exposed to several different denominations of Christianity before finally settling on one that felt right. Because hearing Arabic during church services mattered to my family, I was baptised into the Lebanese Maronite Church, but my family attended Orthodox services.  I also attended Catholic school from kindergarten through the 12th grade, and I remember being fascinated by the nuns who ran our school, many of whom had traveled the world and served people in the poorest regions. They had a strength and resolve I couldn’t help but admire.  Compassion and spirituality I briefly attended an Orthodox church, but in my 30s, I was drawn to the Quakers, a denomination that met my spiritual needs. I liked their direct and practical approach to their faith.  During Easter, I was reflecting on the Good Friday masses I used to attend, and how much they moved me. Although I spent time in various churches over the years, I always felt that Pope Francis was a special man, combining his logic and reason with compassion and spirituality.  I am particularly saddened by his passing because as a Palestinian Christian, so many other “Christian” leaders have utterly failed our small community.  May we always remember that Christianity is, at its core, not about prosperity or power, but rather a religion of mercy Adamantly pro-Israel, they have been silent on the brutality of the Israeli military, its vicious occupation of Palestine, and its war on Gaza , which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. They have contributed to the erasure of Palestinian Christians in the global conversation, framing the occupation of Palestine as a conflict between Jews and Muslims - some kind of medieval holy war.    During a visit to a local church, which I attended not long ago out of curiosity, the pastor welcomed a special guest: another Christian pastor who lived in the Middle East, in a “mostly Muslim country”. He had single-handedly, through the power of his faith, converted dozens of Muslims over to Christianity, we were told. The congregation burst into applause, and I walked out. By enthusiastically joining such casually Islamophobic conversations, many Christian leaders in the West have not only forgotten what the Bible teaches about love and compassion; they have also forgotten about us, the Christians of Palestine who have nurtured the faith for centuries and kept it alive.  What a terrible betrayal, to know that people who support the genocide in Palestine attend mass every Sunday and “pray for peace”. Held in the light Pope Francis was a rare leader who cut through the fog of war. How affirming it was to hear him speak about the horrors of what we watched on our phones and computers every day, listening to the shock in his voice as he described the bombing of children in their tents. I was startled to learn not long ago that it had become part of Pope Francis’s evening routine to phone the Christians sheltering in Gaza - not to preach to them, but to let them know he was thinking of them.  How simple. How compassionate. How Christian. For a community that has been forgotten and neglected by most of the world, including other Christians, this was a blessing indeed.  An essentially good man who was comfortable articulating the nuances of spirituality and the complexities of human life, the Pope never strayed from showing love and compassion to those who needed it most. He was not as progressive as many wanted him to be; I acknowledge this. But as a Palestinian Christian, to know that he spoke of us often - and did not back down from acknowledging our struggle - I saw how he bravely went further than any other leader of any western nation or church.  I miss him, and I hold him in the light.  We, the Palestinians who have baptised people into the faith for more than 2,000 years, are grateful for what Pope Francis did on earth to champion the oppressed. Christians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank have held masses in his memory.  May we always remember that Christianity is, at its core, not about prosperity or power, but rather a religion of mercy.  We have never needed this more than today. Copyright © 2014 - 2025. Middle East Eye. All rights reserved.

UN Photo/Loey Felipe I A wide view of the Security Council Chamber. (file photo) The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the deadly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday that killed at least 26 tourists and left many more injured, calling for accountability and international cooperation to bring the perpetrators to justice. In a press statement issued on Friday, Council members expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the Governments of India and Nepal. They also extended wishes for a speedy and full recovery to those injured in Tuesday’s attack in which a group of gunmen fired on tourists visiting the Himalayan region, which both India and Pakistan claim sovereignty over. “Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security,” the ambassadors reaffirmed. They underscored that such acts are “criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.” They stressed that the perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors must be held accountable and brought to justice. They urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with all relevant authorities. Ambassadors reaffirmed the need for States to “combat by all means” threats to international peace and security resulting from acts of terrorism, in accordance with the UN Charter and other obligations under international law. Following with deep concern Meanwhile, the UN continues to follow the situation in the region “with very deep concern”, said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. “We again urge both the Government of India and the Government of Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the situation does not deteriorate further,” he said during the regular news briefing in New York on Friday. India and Pakistan both administer parts of Kashmir but claim the territory in its entirety. Source URL: UN Security Council condemns Jammu and Kashmir terror attack © 2025 United Nations.

25 April 2025 Rescue workers dig through the rubble of a bombed building in Kyiv, Ukraine. © Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine/Anastasiia Honcharuk As Ukrainian cities struggle to recover from this week’s deadly missile and drone strikes, frontline areas remain under relentless attack, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Friday, warning of ongoing displacement and deepening humanitarian needs. “ Attacks on frontline regions (are) increasing   and it's always civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war ,”   said   UNHCR  Representative Karolina Lindholm Billing. Since January, more than 3,500 newly displaced people have transited through a centre in Pavlohrad towards central Ukraine; in total, more than 200,000 people have been evacuated or displaced from frontline areas between August last year and the start of 2025. Last to leave Last month, more than 4,200 evacuees arrived at a transit centre in the northeastern city of Sumy where UNHCR and partners provide humanitarian support. These numbers are only a fraction of all those made homeless by the violence and mandatory evacuation orders issued by Kyiv in the face of ongoing Russian aggression. The majority of those being moved are the elderly with low mobility or disabilities, families with few resources and children. In many cases, they stayed until the end because they didn't want to leave everything they had behind, UNHCR said. Cities and civilians targeted On Thursday, UN aid agencies led condemnation of Russian missile-and-drone attack on Kyiv that killed 12 people and injured 84 , one of a wave of attacks across the country that point to an intensification of the conflict since the start of the year - and growing humanitarian needs for refugees. “Those deadly Russian attacks have intensified alarmingly since January,” said Ms. Billing, speaking to journalists in Geneva via videolink from Kyiv. “More than 1,000 people have been directly affected as their homes have been damaged or completely destroyed. Civilian infrastructure were also hit in several other regions yesterday, including in Kharkiv, where I myself woke up around 2 am in the morning to the loud sound of explosions .” According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, civilian casualties in Ukraine were 70 per cent higher in March this year compared to 12 months earlier. Supporting lives and livelihoods The war has left four million internally displaced since 24 February 2022 when Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine. Many of those uprooted have yet to find affordable housing and a new job - which is why support from humanitarian organizations is so crucial, the UNHCR official continued. “One of the main things we deliver as part of the emergency response are emergency shelter materials that help people cover broken windows, roofs and doors,” Ms. Billing said. Since 2022, UNHCR has supported around 450,000 people making repairs on their homes. The UN agency also provides psychological first aid and legal support to those who have lost their identity documents and emergency cash assistance to help people cover most basic needs.    Funding impacts But more support is needed to sustain a timely and predictable response to the many calls for assistance the agency receives from the affected people and the authorities. Last year, US funding for UNHCR accounted for around 40 per cent of its overall contributions. For 2025, UNHCR has appealed for $803.5 million to address the emergency situation in Ukraine. Today, that appeal is just 25 per cent funded. During the winter period, the agency had to put some of its programmes partially on hold, impacting psychosocial support, emergency shelter material and cash assistance.  Source URL: Ukraine: Continued Russian assaults drive civilians from frontline communiti ies © 2025 United Nations.

25 April 2025 People shelter in a school compound in Mandalay, Myanmar following the March earthquake. © UNOCHA/Myaa Aung Thein Kyaw One month since Myanmar’s earthquake disaster, tens of thousands of survivors still live in makeshift tents with little to protect them from pre-monsoon storms and mosquitoes. The UN World Health Organization ( WHO ) is just one of the UN agencies working to help the most vulnerable in worst-hit central areas, but much more help is needed. “When it rains, they can't sleep, and when the rain stops, they still can't sleep because they feared the wind might have their only shelter away,”  said Dr Thushara Fernando, WHO representative in Myanmar. In an update from Yangon, the WHO medic warned that the risk of waterborne disease “is becoming a reality”  for all those still living under plastic sheeting with stagnant water all around. A cholera outbreak  was already reported in Mandalay just a few months ago. Survivors “feed their babies, they eat, they drink in their tents; they don't have even a simple mosquito net to sleep under in the night,” Dr Fernando continued. “Water sources are contaminated, temporary toilet facilities are overwhelmed, and acute watery diarrhoea has been reported in two areas,” he continued. Two major earthquakes hit central Myanmar on 28 March killing at least 3,700 people . About 5,100 more were injured and 114 are still missing, according to WHO. The true toll is likely much higher because of underreporting. Aftershocks continue Survivors and aid teams have experienced more than 140 aftershocks – some as high as magnitude 5.9 – which have added to widespread trauma and impeded humanitarian assistance. To help, the UN health agency has delivered around 170 tonnes of emergency medical supplies to help 450,000 people for three months. WHO is also coordinating more than 220 emergency medical teams in earthquake affected areas and it has launched a targeted dengue prevention initiative in coordination with national and local partners. This includes the distribution of about 4,500 rapid diagnostic test kits for frontline responders and hundreds of insecticide-treated nets to protect people in the hardest-hit areas, such as Mandalay. The March 2025 earthquake caused widespread destruction Mandalay. © UNFPA Critical moment The WHO medic said that the agency continues to help deliver a range of services, albeit at a “very limited” scale. This includes trauma care, mental health and psychosocial support, along with maternal and child health services and non-communicable disease prevention. “ Without urgent, sustained funding, the risks of secondary health crises will erupt ,” said Dr Fernando. Echoing those concerns, the UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) noted that early signs of acute watery diarrhoea “are already emerging” in worst-hit areas. Access to food and essential services have been disrupted, causing worsening nutrition conditions, “especially for young children”, the UN agency’s Eliana Drakopoulos told UN News . “With low immunization coverage and the monsoon approaching, the risk of preventable disease outbreaks is rising fast,” Ms. Drakopoulos added. “Urgent action is needed.” Source URL: Destitution and disease stalk Myanmar’s quake survivors © 2025 United Nations.

By Areig Elhag The world still looks away as if Sudan does not qualify as a crisis that is worth acting on (File/AFP) Two official statements that were issued last week reflect the international community’s position on the crisis in Sudan. One was from the G7 foreign ministers and the second followed the London conference on Sudan , which included participants from Western, Arab and African countries, alongside major international and regional organizations. While both statements called for a ceasefire, the protection of civilians and unhindered humanitarian access, they differed significantly in tone and approach. The G7 statement used strong, direct language and placed clear blame, particularly on the Rapid Support Forces. This offered a clear message that the Sudanese army has been able to gain some sort of legitimacy within Western countries. In contrast, the London conference joint co-chairs’ statement was more diplomatic and vague, avoiding direct accusations or outlining real enforcement mechanisms. In my view, both models fall short: one talks tough but offers no tools for change, while the other hides behind process and delays. Both approaches also reflect a broader failure: that of managing the crisis instead of resolving it, while ignoring the deep suffering of the Sudanese people. These are not the first documents issued since the war erupted in April 2023. Rather, the international community is merely continuing its familiar pattern of hesitant and superficial engagement. Former US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield last year described the situation in Sudan as a “man-made” catastrophe and expressed “shame” over the continued suffering of civilians without decisive international action. This failure also reveals confusion among world powers about the nature of the Sudanese crisis, which has moved beyond being just a humanitarian emergency. It has become a sharp reflection of the absence of international will when it comes to crises in African or developing countries. Sudan has been abandoned before. The tragedy of Darfur is one example . History is now repeating itself under a new name and amid a new silence. It is painful that, when Sudanese people flee their country in search of safety, they are met with closed doors and indifference, while there is little international pressure on those responsible for the war. Even when accepted as refugees, they remain unsafe, exposed to violence and theft, as seen in refugee camps in Ethiopia. While the world pours resources and attention into other conflicts, Sudan is pushed into the shadows. There are many reasons for this silence. Many believe the international focus shifted toward more “visible” wars, such as those in Ukraine and Gaza (the Gaza war started after Sudan’s war), making Sudan less of a priority. These wars have drawn extensive media and political attention. In comparison, Sudan’s pleas, mainly voiced through UN agencies, have received little serious response. In today’s world, it seems that attention and aid depend not on the level of suffering, but on how loud the crisis is politically. This is especially disturbing when all the signs of a catastrophe are already there: famine, mass displacement, sexual violence and ethnic cleansing. Yet the world still looks away, as if Sudan does not qualify as a crisis that is worth acting on. As a Sudanese myself, that forces me to ask some reasonable questions: Is there discrimination in how humanitarian crises are treated? Is global solidarity conditional on race, geography or political convenience? We must name this for what it is: aid discrimination, selective empathy or, simply, racism. Last September, at the UN General Assembly, I interviewed Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf. Reflecting on the discussions at the summit, he and other African leaders expressed concern that African issues are not treated as a priority. “Even though all countries are equal, the agenda is often shaped by the interests of Western powers,” he said. This sentiment reflects a broader frustration: many Africans feel that the West lacks a clear and respectful vision for its relationship with the continent. For Africans, especially Sudanese, true justice and democracy require treating every life with equal value regardless of geography. Take Sudan as an example. According to the latest UN data , this African country is currently facing one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world. About 25 million people, half the population, urgently need assistance. Some 25.6 million face acute food insecurity, including 8.5 million in emergency conditions. Nearly 13 million people have been displaced, including 8.6 million internally displaced and 3.8 million refugees or returnees. Sudan has become the biggest source of forced displacement in the Horn of Africa. It is also the largest child displacement crisis globally, with more than 90 percent of the country’s estimated 19 million school-aged children deprived of formal education. In North Darfur, the situation is even more alarming. There are signs of a looming famine, widespread reports of ethnic and sectarian violence and horrific crimes like rape and murder, all happening without serious international action. Even local emergency response groups, which try to serve communities, are now being targeted instead of protected. In my reporting on Sudan for Alhurra TV, I have spoken with many officials from nongovernmental organizations and UN agencies. They all agree that the humanitarian situation is deteriorating rapidly and that the world’s response is far too slow and shallow. Yet G7 countries continue to issue statements about their inability to find a political solution, while offering no meaningful action or initiative. And here lies the great contradiction: the same countries that have slashed humanitarian funding for Sudan are the ones calling for peace and solutions. And without providing pressure, accountability or support. What we are witnessing is not just a political or a humanitarian crisis, it is a moral test for the world. If silence continues to be the international response, then we must rethink what solidarity, justice and even humanity really mean. Areig Elhag is a journalist and researcher based in Washington. © 2025 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY

The aftermath of an earlier Russian attack on built-up areas of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The latest strikes are reportedly the heaviest by Russia since its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. © UNOCHA/Viktoriia Andriievska 24 April 2025 I  Peace and Security         Grim details continued to emerge on Thursday in the aftermath of a wave of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital and other cities overnight, with early reports indicating that at least nine people were killed and dozens injured. Reports indicate that the latest Russian strikes damaged 12 buildings in the capital, causing widespread damage to homes, businesses and key services, while  phones have been heard ringing from the rubble. Other Ukrainian cities targeted included Zhytomyr - due west of Kyiv – and the northeastern cities of Sumy -   where a daytime missile strike killed at least 34 people on 13 April -  and Kharkiv - where the authorities reported 24 drone and missile strikes in total. “The casualty count is expected to rise as emergency teams continue search-and-rescue operations ,” said  the UN aid coordination office, OCHA . The development follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s reported decision on Wednesday to reject a US-led proposal to seek a peace deal with Russia that would have involved ceding territory lost during the war. In theory, this would include the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in addition to Crimea, which Russia annexed illegally in 2014. “Last night’s large-scale attack by the armed forces of the Russian Federation on residential areas in Kyiv and surrounding regions is yet another appalling violation of international humanitarian law ,” said the UN’s top aid official in Ukraine, Matthias Schmale. Children and a pregnant woman were among the more than 70 people injured by Wednesday night’s reported missile and drone strikes. “This senseless use of force must stop…   Civilians must never be targets”,  insisted Mr. Schmale, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine . Spike in civilian attacks Echoing that message, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF , appealed for an end to the use of explosive weapons in civilian areas which have caused a marked rise in attacks on civilian areas this year. According to the UN human rights office, OHCHR , at least 164 civilians were killed in March and 910 injured across Ukraine. This represents a 50 per cent increase from February 2025  (129 killed; 588 injured), and a 71 per cent increase compared with March 2024 (129 killed; 498 injured). On Tuesday and Wednesday, OCHA reported that drone and glide bomb attacks had struck densely populated areas “throughout the country”, while fighting in front-line regions has killed more civilians. Cities targeted included Zaporizhzhia, where a glide bomb strike on Tuesday left one person dead and injured more than 40 others, including seven children and a pregnant woman, OCHA said. Several apartment buildings were damaged in the attack on the city which is near to the front line and home to 630,000 people, including many displaced from other regions. The UN aid office also reported overnight drone strikes on Wednesday in the regions of Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Poltava and Odesa, damaging a hospital, homes, warehouses and an energy facility. © 2025 United Nations.

Hindutva pages call for ‘Muslim massacre’ on social media post-militant attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam. Following a brutal attack by militants on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing more than 25 people, Hindutva groups and social media accounts have started sharing anti-Kashmir and anti-Muslim rhetoric. From calls for genocide of Muslims to economic boycotts in Kashmir, X spaces and pages have been conducting discussions advocating for the “massacre of Muslims.” Statements like “Cut their hands and hang their bodies in Lal Chowk,” along with Islamophobic slurs, were used in the space titled “Islamist Terrorist Attack in Pahalgam Kashmir #BoycottKashmir” by social media pages such as Shivani Vaid, Neeraj Singh Dogra, and Blood & Iron. Most of these pages have massive followings and used the space to make statements like, “Every Kashmiri was involved in this massacre. Every Kashmiri did this.” People who conducted X Spaces also called for the massacre of Kashmiris, with references made to The Kashmir Files. Misinformation and fake news were also spread. Various Islamophobic slurs were used in the discussions. “Why are Rohingyas and Bangladeshis settled in Jammu?” one speaker said. “Hum bhi pant utaar kar dekhenge aur marenge.” (We will also take down their pants and kill them.) “This is India’s October 7,” said another speaker. The demand for a separate Union Territory for Jammu was also raised by many speakers. There were also comments against the government, demanding answers as to why there was no security at the location where the militant attack took place. “Why are people going to Kashmir? The government sent tourist packages for Kashmir and promoted those people,” said another speaker. Abuses were also hurled at those who tried to reason with the hate speech being delivered in the space. “This is a religious war. Their (referring to Muslims) population is increasing, and that is why the war is increasing,” said a speaker who goes by the handle Katz4Blue. The brutal attack on tourists is being mourned by the whole country. However, hate mongers have used the moment to spread misinformation. Calls for the massacre of Kashmiri Muslims and statements advocating “bulldozer justice” were made not only in this space but also by many right-wing Hindutva nationalist groups. Meanwhile, at a time when the government should be trying to find the culprits, state BJP pages like Chhattisgarh BJP are sharing AI Ghibli images with captions like, “They asked for religion, not caste.” Social media was filled with Islamophobic and warmongering posts, with Hindutva pages unleashing hate comments across platforms. Many handles urged the Indian government to take the “Israel way” in tackling the situation. None of the posts included messages of consolation for the victims who lost everything in this brutality. Instead, anti-Muslim propaganda and narratives have taken over both social media and mainstream media. The posts have received massive backlash from many social media users, who called the politicisation of the attack and the attempt to turn it into a Hindu-Muslim conflict disgusting. © Maktoob Media |