UN envoy: Sudan's new deal saved the country from civil war

Here is a full copy of a news report published at abcnews.go.com

Written by NOHA ELHENNAWY Associated Press (AP)

Dated and published at abcnews.com on Friday 26 November 2021, 20:53

UN envoy: Sudan's new deal saved the country from civil war

The U.N. envoy to Sudan says a deal struck to reinstate the country's civilian prime minister after a military coup is imperfect but has saved the country from falling into civil strife

The Associated Press

Thousands of protesters take to the streets to renew their demand for a civilian government in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021. The rallies came just days after the military signed a power-sharing deal with the prime minister, after releasing him from house arrest and reinstating him as head of government. The deal came almost a month after the generals orchestrated a coup. Sudan’s key pro-democracy groups and political parties have dismissed the deal as falling short of their demands for a fully civilian rule. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

CAIRO -- The deal struck in Sudan to reinstate the prime minister following a military coup is imperfect but has saved the country from sliding into civil strife, the U.N. envoy to Sudan said on Friday.

Special Envoy Volker Perthes was speaking of the agreement between Sudan's military leaders and Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, who was deposed and put under house arrest following the coup last month that stirred an international outcry.

The military takeover threatened to thwart the process of democratic transition that the country had embarked on since the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

The deal, signed on Sunday, was seen as the biggest concession made by the country's top military leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, since the coup. However, the country's pro-democracy groups have dismissed it as illegitimate and accused Hamdok of allowing himself to serve as a fig leaf for continued military rule.

“The agreement of course is not perfect,” Perthes told The Associated Press. “But it is better than not having an agreement and continuing on a path where the military in the end will be the sole ruler."

Both signatories felt compelled to make “bitter concessions” in order to spare the country the risk of more violence, chaos and international isolation, he added.

“It would not have been possible to exclude a scenario which would have brought Sudan to something close to what we have seen in Yemen, Libya or Syria,” Perthes said. He spoke to the AP via videoconference from Khartoum.

Sudan has been struggling with its transition to a democratic government since the military overthrow of al-Bashir in 2019, following a mass uprising against three decades of his rule.

The deal that Hamdok signed with the military envisions an independent Cabinet of technocrats led by the prime minister until new elections are held. The government will still remain under military oversight, although Hamdok claims he will have the power to appoint ministers.

The deal also stipulates that all political detainees arrested following the Oct. 25 coup be released. So far, several ministers and politicians have been freed. The number of those still in detention remains unknown.

“We have a situation now where we at least have an important step towards the restoration of the constitutional order,” said Perthes.

Since the takeover, protesters have repeatedly taken to the streets in some of the largest demonstrations in recent years. Sudanese security forces have cracked down on the rallies and have killed more than 40 protesters so far, according to activist groups.

Further measures need to taken to prove the viability of the deal, said Perthes, including the release of all detainees, the cessation of the use of violence against protesters and Hamdok's full freedom to choose his Cabinet members.

On Friday hundreds rallied in Khartoum and other Sudanese provinces to demand a fully civilian government and protest the deal for the second straight day. It came after thousands protested on Thursday.

One of the marches was led Siddiq Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, a leader of Sudan's prominent Umma Party, which has split with other pro-democratic groups over the deal to reinstate Hamdok. He told journalists that protesters must remain steadfast in their calls for the generals to surrender power . Al-Mahdi was among those who were arrested during the coup and was let go in recent days.

He refused the idea of further negotiations.

“As things currently stand, there is no opportunity for things to move forward,” he said.

View original: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/envoy-sudans-deal-saved-country-civil-war-81404904

Russia’s secretive military operations on rise in Africa

Article by and from AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY

Dated Wednesday 14 August 2019 

Russia’s secretive military operations on the rise in Africa

Private Russian military and security operations in Africa are on the increase with little of this being researched or making news headlines.

However, a new report by CNN which took a month to complete said a Russian tycoon by the name of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close confidant of President Vladimir Putin, has been instrumental in the growth of Russian private security operations on the continent.

According to the US, Prigozhin has helped fund the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company based in Saint Petersburg, which allegedly participated in the Kremlin’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election.

CNN claims that Prigozhin is also connected with PMC Wagner, a Russian security contractor with presence on the ground in Syria and eastern Ukraine.

But it’s the Russian maverick’s reputed military actions in Africa that have been highlighted, including in Sudan, Libya and the Central African Republic (CAR), as he attempts to recoup financial losses in Syria and eastern Ukraine.

He has allegedly played a major role in many of Russia’s 20 military agreements with African states where he provides security and weapons training on behalf of Moscow.

“In return, his group of companies, headed by a firm called Concord, receives exploration permits and the rights to exploit precious metals found throughout Africa,” said CNN which sent correspondents to the CAR where they found that a radio station and a major military training base are run by a group of 250 Russian contractors.

None of the contractors would say who paid them although one claimed to be the security adviser for CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra. 

View original article at: https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/russias-secretive-military-operations-on-the-rise-in-africa-2019-08-14

US ‘has intelligence Hamza bin Laden is dead’ - US offers $1 million reward to find Osama bin Laden’s son

Article from The Telegraph.co.uk

By NICK ALLEN, Washington

Date: Wednesday, 31 July 2019 8:58PM

US ‘has intelligence Hamza bin Laden is dead’

The United States has received intelligence that Hamza bin Laden, the son and possible successor of the former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is dead, according to reports.

There were no details of how, or where, the reported death occurred, or whether the US had itself confirmed the information, NBC News reported.

Asked whether Hamza bin Laden was dead, Donald Trump, the US president, said: "I don’t want to comment on it. I don’t want to comment on that."

Three US officials confirmed the intelligence had been obtained, but gave no details of whether the US was involved in causing Hamza bin Laden's death, NBC News reported.

Five months ago the US state department announced a $1 million reward for information on his location, and described Hamza bin Laden, who is aged about 30, as an "emerging al-Qaeda leader."

In a statement at the time the US government added: "He has released audio and video messages on the internet, calling on his followers to launch attacks against the United States and its Western allies, and he has threatened attacks against the United States in revenge for the May 2011 killing of his father by US military forces."

Osama bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy Seals in May 2011 in a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Hamza bin Laden was not discovered at the compound.

He is believed to have been the 15th of Osama bin Laden's roughly 20 children.

Hamza bin Laden spent his early childhood with his parents in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Afghanistan.

Following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks he was sent to Iran.

After his father's death he became known as the Crown Prince of Jihad, calling for jihadists to unite, and for the overthrow of the Saudi royal family.

In one of the recordings he released after his father's death, Hamza bin Laden said: "If you think that the crime you perpetrated in Abbottabad has gone by with no reckoning, you are wrong."

He reportedly married the daughter of Mohammed Atta, the leader of the September 11, 2001 hijackers. And Ayman al-Zawahiri, his father's successor as leader of al-Qaeda, described him as a "lion".

Al-Qaeda was believed to be hoping to use his name as a propaganda tool as it sought a resurgence in the wake of the destruction of the caliphate of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

View the original article here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/31/us-has-intelligence-hamza-bin-laden-dead/

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Article from The Telegraph.co.uk

By BEN FARMER, Islamabad; GIANLUCA AVAGNINA, video producer

Date: 01 March 2019 2:39PM

US offers $1 million reward to find Osama bin Laden’s son

A favourite son of Osama bin Laden who has tried to take on his father's mantle of international jihadist leader has had his Saudi citizenship removed and a $1m reward put on his head.

America offered a bounty for information leading to the capture of Hamza bin Laden after the man sometimes called the Crown Prince of Jihad has become a rising star in al Qaeda.

The son of the group's late founder was now emerging as a leader in his father's network after issuing a string of exhortations to attack the West, the United States said.

The measures followed the warning last month by the head of MI6, Alex Younger, that al Qaeda was undergoing a resurgence.

As the bearer of the world's most notorious terrorist name, and son of the man behind the 9/11 attacks, his pedigree as jihadist royalty potentially makes him a potent propaganda tool for al Qaeda.

The group is thought to be trying to capitalise on the destruction of the Islamic State's caliphate to again become the world's pre-eminent jihadist group, analysts have said.

But his lineage alone may not be enough to propel him to the top of the organisation without concrete achievements in jihad.

Film: First video of Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza as an adult

“Whether he is ’the chosen one’ still needs to be seen, but he has become more prominent in the group’s media releases during the last three years,” said Tore Hamming, a jihadist specialist at the European University Institute.

“His last name is a major advantage. His father, Osama, still commands incredible respect within the Jihadi movement, not just in al-Qaeda, but more broadly. Hamza was always favoured by his father and he has been groomed by the most senior people in al Qaeda.”

The young bin Laden is thought to be aged around 30 years old and is possibly hiding in Afghanistan, Western officials believe.

Eight years after his father was shot dead in a special forces raid on a compound in Abbottabad, in Pakistan, America has now issued a reward for information about his son.

“Hamza bin Laden is the son of deceased former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and is emerging as a leader in the al Qaeda franchise,” the US State Department said.

Hamza is believed to be the 15th of bin Laden's 20-odd children and spent his early childhood with his parents, first in Saudi Arabia and then in Sudan and Afghanistan in the 1990s.

After the 9/11 attacks, when bin Laden became the world's most wanted man, several wives and children including Hamza were sent for their won safety to live in Iran.

Letters discovered in the Abbottabad compound after the May 2011 raid that killed the older bin Laden show Hamza had a close bond with his father and wanted to follow in his footsteps. His father in turn appeared to be grooming him for a leadership role.

At one point Hamza complained of living “behind iron bars” and wanting to join his father's holy war against the West.

“What truly makes me sad, is the mujahideen legions have marched and I have not joined them,” he wrote.

By the time of his father's death, Hamza had left Iran, but was not living in his father's compound. Instead he was reportedly kept in a separate safe house and was to be sent to Qatar for education.

“Hamza is one of the mujahideen, and he bears their thoughts and worries,” his father wrote in one letter.

He has since gone on to swear revenge for his father's death. “If you think that the crime you perpetrated in Abbottabad has gone by with no reckoning, you are wrong,” he warned in one recording.

Image: The poster released by the US State Department

His status in al Qaeda was underlined when he was introduced by the network's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, as a “lion”. His jihadist pedigree has been further burnished by reports he married the daughter of 9/11 lead hijacker Mohammed Atta.

In one 2015 audio message, he called on jihadists in Syria to unite, claiming that the fight would pave the way to “liberating Palestine.” He has also called for the overthrow of the Saudi royal family.

Saudi Arabia on Friday said it would revoke his citizenship.

The US reward for information on Hamza bin Laden's head however remains far lower than the rewards on other al Qaeda figures, said Daniel L Byman of the Brookings Institution think tank.

Al-Zawahiri, who has a $25m reward for information, undoubtedly remains leader of the organisation, he said.

“It’s a bounty for a prominent figure but it’s not a huge bounty compared to his father or previous top-level figures.”

“The thing about him is that there isn’t much to know. He’s very young, he spent a lot of time in hiding in Iran… and he doesn’t have major operational credibility that other figures have,” he said.

“Right now he’s at best a figurehead...while seasoned leaders are trying to recapture their brand, which was much stronger under his father. With that in mind using the Bin Laden name is sensible, the question is can he build on this and go from the son of an important person to an important person in his own right.”

View the original article here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/01/us-offers-1-million-reward-find-osama-bin-ladens-son/