Israel-Palestine war explodes on Sat 7 Oct. Sudan voices support for Palestinians' legitimate rights

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: "We are at war," says Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu, after a surprise Palestinian attack saw hundreds of rockets hit Israel from Gaza on Saturday, 7 October 2023. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him [Revelation 6:8 KJV]. God’s Word says Israel will not lose. Here below is a news summary from BBC News online Oct 7 and a report from China View Oct 8 'Sudan voices support for Palestinians' legitimate rights' followed by a page copied from the website of the late great American evangelist The Reverend Billy Graham entitled 'ARE WE IN THE END TIMES?' 

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Snapshot of BBC News LIVE Summary online 

Saturday, 7 October 2023:

• "We are at war," says Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu, after a surprise Palestinian attack saw hundreds of rockets hit Israel from Gaza
• Dozens of Israelis are believed to have been captured by Palestinian militant group Hamas which has launched its biggest attack in years
• "We are at war," says Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu - with 250 people in Israel reported killed
• Israel has responded with a wave of air strikes on Gaza, killing more than 230 people, officials say
• The violence continued on Saturday evening - with Tel Aviv and other central Israeli cities hit by a new barrage of rockets and Israel saying they are fighting militants in 22 places
• Hamas commander Mohammed Deif says the group had "decided to say enough is enough"
• US support for Israel is "rock solid", says President Joe Biden, pledging to make sure "they can continue to defend themselves"
• Dozens of gunmen from the Islamist militant group Hamas appear to have infiltrated southern Israel
• About 545 people have been injured in the attacks, with at least 22 Israelis dead, according to Israeli officials
• A senior commander from Hamas claims thousands of rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel
• Mohammed Deif says the Palestinian militant group had "decided to say enough is enough"
• The Israeli military says it has begun striking targets in the Gaza strip in response "to the barrages of rockets"

Monday, 9 October 2023, 13:43 BST:

• Israel's defence minister orders a "complete siege" of the Gaza Strip and the cutting off of food, fuel, electricity and water supplies
• It comes two days after shock attacks in Israel by Hamas militants left hundreds of civilians dead
• Nine US citizens are now confirmed dead, while more than 10 British citizens are feared dead, or missing
• Rocket attacks from Gaza targeting Israel continue, with explosions heard in Jerusalem
• Israel says it has regained control of its communities near Gaza - but some militants remain active
• More than 700 people have been killed in Israel since Saturday, including 260 people massacred by Hamas gunmen at a music festival
• Dozens of people were also kidnapped and Hamas claims four of the hostages were killed by air strikes in Gaza
• More than 500 people have died in Gaza since Israel began striking the area

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Report from ChinaView.cn - Xinhua
Editor: huaxia
Dated Sunday 8 October 2023, 17:30 - here is a full copy:

Sudan voices support for Palestinians' legitimate rights

KHARTOUM, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sudan on Saturday voiced support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people in response to the developments in the Palestinian territories earlier on the day.

"Sudan renews its support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people in their independent state and calls for commitment to the decisions of the international legitimacy and the protection of innocent civilians," the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The decline in international concern with the Palestinian issue, including the absence of progress relating to the two-state solution, has led to continued violence and tensions in the region," said the statement.

It added that today's incidents confirmed that the absence of a solution to the prolonged conflict in the area would push the region into a new era of instability.

The ministry further expressed concern about the developments in Palestine, stressing the need to resolve the Palestinian issue in accordance with decisions of international legitimacy and to enable the Palestinians to establish their independent state.

Earlier on Saturday, Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), launched a surprise attack on Israel, which included the firing of thousands of rockets and the infiltration of dozens of militants into the Israeli towns bordering Gaza.

In response, Israel launched tens of airstrikes against Hamas sites and residential buildings in Gaza. The fierce confrontation has led to hundreds of deaths on both sides. 

View original:

http://www.chinaview.cn/20231008/9ec33e9411d54089a6e74457f10e5aa1/c.html

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POSTSCRIPT from Sudan Watch Editor: Here is a page from the 'PeaceWithGod - Find Your Purpose & Hope' website of the late great American evangelist The Reverend Billy Graham.

ARE WE IN THE END TIMES?

So many people are looking for signs of the end times. They’re seeking answers because they see so much suffering around them and the world seems broken. The evangelist Billy Graham once said,

“We are like people under [a] sentence of death, waiting for the date to be set. We sense that something is about to happen. We know that things cannot go on as they are. History has reached an impasse. We are now on a collision course. Something is about to give.”

Mr. Graham was also confident the Bible speaks directly to this question.

“I believe that this world, as we know it, will come to an end. … This is not fanciful imagination but the clear and repeated testimony of the Bible.”

So what does the Bible say about the end times? Are we in the last days?

“…In the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).

How much does this sound like our present world? Can you see these things around you?

Billy Graham went on to say, “We see the storm clouds gathering and events taking place that herald the second coming of Jesus Christ.” If the end times announce the return of Jesus, what did He say about the last days?

He said in Matthew 24:6-7, “And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world.”

We experience more than a dozen major earthquakes every year. Millions die of hunger annually and many live under the constant threat of war. But wait, you can still find hope in this.

God will not allow evil to win and He offers you peace in this world and beyond. Billy Graham said, “The end will come with the return of Jesus Christ. … That is why a Christian can be an optimist. That is why a Christian can smile in the midst of all that is happening. … We know what the end will be: the triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

God has smiled on us and Jesus’ victory is certain. God’s peace is shared with everyone who desires a relationship with Him.

Look beyond the end times and begin your life with Jesus today.

View original: https://peacewithgod.net/are-we-in-the-end-times/

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South Sudan’s men’s basketball team will be at the Olympics for the first time thanks to Luol Deng OBE

Report from Mail & Guardian - mg.co.za
By Lethabo Nxumalo
Dated Friday, 6 October 2023 - here is a full copy:

Luol Deng: South Sudan’s great rebound

Hope: Luol Deng (centre) trains young players at the Manute Bol basketball court, built by the two-time All-Star NBA player’s foundation in South Sudan’s capital Juba. Photo: Akuot Chol/AFP

In 2024, South Sudan’s men’s basketball team will be at the Olympics for the first time. The 13-year-old nation qualified for the Paris event after a 101-78 win over Angola at the Fiba World Cup.

In the jubilant locker room after that decisive game, among the elated, perspiring, screaming and dancing players, stood Luol Deng. 

The two-time All-Star NBA player is a class act; a consummate professional on and off the court, a humanitarian whose work has won him multiple awards, including the Order of the British Empire. 

To tell the story of South Sudanese basketball is to tell the story of Deng’s capacity to dream and build.

In 1990, his father Aldo Deng was arrested after a coup in Sudan and the rest of his family fled the country. They eventually settled in London where young Deng joined the British basketball system.

An American scout spotted him and took the lanky 14-year-old into the cold winters of New Jersey, where he enrolled in Blair Academy. By his senior year, Deng was the second-highest ranked and most sought-after high school basketball player in the entire country.

He chose to go to Duke University, known for its prestigious basketball programme, from which he went on to a successful NBA career.

Deng, who was mentored by another South Sudanese basketball great, Manute Bol, never lost sight of his roots. A year after turning professional, he set up the Luol Deng Foundation, which coordinated emergency relief and surgical missions for refugees and people living with disabilities. 

The foundation also placed a strong emphasis on education and wellness, using basketball as a vehicle for positive change.

Its work would provide the blueprint for Deng’s later work on developing basketball in independent South Sudan.

In 2010, a year before South Sudan’s independence referendum, Deng returned to his homeland. He donated his salary to enable people in the diaspora to travel and vote in the referendum. His next undertaking was developing basketball in South Sudan. Deng serves as the president of the South Sudanese basketball federation.

Building a basketball culture in the newly independent, war-traumatised country was daunting. Infrastructure was sorely lacking. In 2015, Deng’s foundation built the Manute Bol Court in Juba. 

It still stands as one of only six outdoor basketball courts in the country — four are still under construction. But Deng appears motivated by challenges. Under his leadership, the men’s basketball team has found its footing on the continent and world stage.

The team is made up of primarily immigrant players whose families left the country during the long war, dispersing to different regions of the world as refugees. They reached the quarter-finals of the 2021 AfroBasket and breezed through their World Cup 2023 African qualifying group, winning all but one of their 12 games.

Their 11-1 win-loss record was a first in the history of the competition. It included two major upsets against the 2021 AfroBasket champion Tunisia and Africa’s most tenured team, Egypt.

Despite not progressing beyond the group stages of the recently concluded Fiba World Cup, South Sudan left the tournament ranked number one in Africa and 31 in the world. And, of course, having qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

“This is a significant achievement for us as a nation that is only 13 years old,” says Orom Mackmot, vice-president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation.

The feat is all the more remarkable considering that South Sudan only became a member of Fiba in 2013.

Recognising that “basketball, and sports in general, have the capacity to change a nation”, as Mackmot points out, South Sudan is expanding its investment in developing teams and leagues. To rectify a gap between the men’s and women’s national basketball team, which has yet to compete in the AfroBasket women’s tournament, the federation has created the South Sudan Women’s League to build a talent pipeline.

Assembling a women’s national team “is a bit of a struggle because a lot of the players are in collegiate basketball so it’s hard to get everyone in the same place at the same time”, says national forward Christina Deng (no familial relation to Luol Deng). 

Launched last year, the second edition of the women’s league is under way with round one and two fixtures scheduled till the middle of October.

Deng’s foundation is collaborating with the Jr NBA for the under-16 league programme.

It’s a long game in which everyone can win. “Basketball can not only bring unity but also improve the lives of players and their families through education, by awarding scholarships. If they don’t make it as pro athletes, they can become doctors, lawyers, and so forth, helping the nation at large,” says Mackmot. 

This article first appeared in The Continent, the pan-African weekly newspaper produced in partnership with the Mail & Guardian. It’s designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp. Download your free copy here

Tags: All-Star NBA, Basketball, Fiba World Cup, Luol Deng, Olympics, Order Of The British Empire, South Sudan

View original: https://mg.co.za/africa/2023-10-06-luol-deng-south-sudans-great-rebound/

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Sudan: Ex-Ghana goalkeeper Fatau Dauda agrees $770,000 a year's deal to join Sudan national team

Report from GhanaWeb - ghanaweb.com/
Dated Friday, 6 October 2023

Fatau Dauda agrees $770,000 a year's deal to join Sudan national team

Ex-Ghana goalkeeper Fatau Dauda (pictured) has agreed to a life-changing deal with the Sudanese national team to be their goalkeeper’s trainer...

Full story: 

https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/SportsArchive/Fatau-Dauda-agrees-770-000-a-year-s-deal-to-join-Sudan-national-team-1857884

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Sudan: Chief of Arab Rizeigat Mahameed clan to mediate between warring tribes in South Darfur

“Sheikh Musa Hilal will lead the initiative as head of the council and native administration* leader, along with other native administration notables and community figures from Darfur and some other states of Sudan”. A Revolutionary Awakening Council spokesperson said that “the root causes of the clashes need to be defined and addressed, to stop them forever”.

Read more in this report from Radio Dabanga - dabangasudan.org/en
Dated 29 September 2023, 13:17 MISTERIYA - here is a full copy:

Musa Hilal to mediate between warring tribes in South Darfur

Musa Hilal (File photo)

Mahameed clan chief and former Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal yesterday announced a reconciliation initiative between the Beni Halba and Salamat tribes that have been fighting each other for nearly two months.

In early August, clashes broke out between Beni Halba and Salamat tribesmen in South Darfur’s Kubum. Several efforts to reconcile the cattle herders failed so far.

Both tribes are ‘Arab’ cattle herders. The stronghold (dar) of the Beni Halba lies in Ed El Fursan. The Salamat settled in Um Dukhun more than two decades ago.

Musa Hilal, chief of the Arab Rizeigat Mahameed clan, former janjaweed leader, and head of the Revolutionary Awakening Council (RAC), yesterday announced a reconciliation initiative to put an end to the fighting that has left hundreds of tribesmen dead.

RAC spokesperson Ahmed Abakar told Radio Dabanga that “Sheikh Musa Hilal will lead the initiative as head of the council and native administration* leader, along with other native administration notables and community figures from Darfur and some other states of Sudan”.

He said that “the root causes of the clashes need to be defined and addressed, to stop them forever”.

The spokesperson added that the war “now taking place in Khartoum and some states is political, not tribal,” and called on the Sudanese “to not take it as an entry point for hate speech, tribalism, racism, and social segregation”.

* The Native Administration was instituted by British colonial authorities seeking a pragmatic system of governance that allowed for effective control with limited investment and oversight by the state. The state-appointed tribal leaders were also responsible for executing policies, collecting taxes, and mobilising labour on behalf of the central government. According to the Darfur Bar Association (DBA), the Native Administration during the 30-year rule of dictator Omar Al Bashir did not represent the real community leaders.

View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/musa-hilal-to-mediate-between-warring-tribes-in-south-darfur

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