CAIRO: Egypt’s acting minister of health, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, said in a statement that the total number of coronavirus disease vaccine doses supplied to the North African country has reached 72 million.

Abdel Ghaffar, who is also Egypt’s minister of higher education and scientific research, explained that around 38 million doses have been administered so far, leaving around 34 million jabs available.

He added that during the coming period, Egypt expects around 26 million more doses, including Sinovac, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, bringing the total to about 98 million doses.

Egypt also expects to receive materials for the manufacture of the Sinovac vaccine in the country’s Vaccera factories in due course.

The minister stated that work is underway to expand Egypt’s regional vaccination center capacity, with 1,079 centers currently operational, including 180 travel centers.

He stressed that the coming period will witness an expansion in the provision of mobile outlets dedicated to vaccinating citizens in crowded places such as malls, train stations and metro stations. 

Abdel Ghaffar also announced that Egypt received its first shipment of Moderna jabs, coming in at a total of 784,280 doses, on Sunday morning at Cairo International Airport, meaning the country now has access to vaccines produced by all major, reputable international manufacturers.

In a statement, he said that the shipment was provided by Canada through the COVAX initiative, in cooperation with GAVI, as part of the country’s plan to diversify and expand the provision of vaccines to citizens.

Dr. Awad Taj El-Din, advisor to the president of Egypt for health and epidemiological affairs, confirmed on Sunday that Egypt spent around $400 million to secure its vaccines, and he expressed his thanks to all the parties working in support of Egypt.

He pointed out that the country was finalizing deals with international institutions for the local manufacture of various vaccines at factories in Agouza and 6 October City, which would see it become one of Africa’s largest centers of vaccine manufacturing.

GENEVA: Dozens of countries called Monday for the UN Human Rights Council to host a special session on Sudan, following a deadly crackdown on mass rallies against last week’s military coup.
In a letter to the council president sent on behalf of 48 countries, British ambassador Simon Manley stressed the urgent need for the top UN rights body to discuss the situation in Sudan since the army’s October 25 power grab.
“We request that the Human Rights Council hold a special session this week to address the human rights implications of the ongoing situation in the Republic of the Sudan,” said the letter, seen by AFP.
“A special session is needed because of the importance and urgency of the situation.”
The request came after top General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan dissolved the government, declared a state of emergency and detained Sudan’s civilian leadership.
Tens of thousands of people turned out across the country for demonstrations on Saturday against the coup.
At least three people were shot dead and more than 100 wounded during Saturday’s demonstrations, according to medics, who said at least 12 people had been killed since the coup.
Police forces denied the killings, or using live rounds.
In his letter Monday, Manley said the call for a special session was being led by Britain, the United States and Norway, along with Germany and the government of Sudan, ousted in the coup.
In all, 48 countries had signed on to the request, including 18 of the Human Rights Council’s 47 member states.
Calling a special session outside of the thrice-yearly regular meetings requires the backing of at least a third of the membership, so at least 16 states.

BEIRUT: Pressure is mounting on Lebanese leaders to remove a Cabinet minister whose comments on the war in Yemen have triggered a diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia, even as the minister at the center of the crisis said that resigning from the government was not an option.

The Kingdom, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain have recalled their ambassadors from Lebanon, while also instructing Lebanon’s envoys to leave. The UAE has banned its citizens from traveling to Lebanon.

The decisions follow remarks that Information Minister George Kordahi gave in an interview that was recorded before his appointment, saying the Iran-backed Houthis were defending themselves and that the war in Yemen should stop, with a video of the interview emerging last week.

In a televised speech on Sunday, amid the deepening crisis, Kordahi addressed those who had been urging him to quit. “Resigning from the government is not an option,” he said.

Lebanon has been calling US and French officials, asking them to intervene and help them find a way out of the crisis caused by his comments, which go against the country’s official position on the Yemen conflict.

King Salman called Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Sunday to express his appreciation for the measures that Kuwait had taken on Kordahi’s statements, reflecting the solidarity of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, according to Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Lebanon.

Al-Sabah said that “the measures of his country reflect the unity of GCC countries and the depth of relations among their peoples,” the embassy added.

King Salman also called King Hamad of Bahrain and “expressed his gratitude for the measures Bahrain has taken regarding the statements, reflecting Saudi-Bahraini solidarity and unity of the GCC countries.”

He reiterated “the depth of relations between the two brotherly countries and the solidarity among GCC countries.”

Lebanon’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Fawzi Kabbara, announced on Sunday that he had returned to Beirut.

He said that “restoring Lebanese-Saudi ties would be possible if Lebanon agrees to the conditions.”

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi in his Sunday sermon called for “decisive action,” suggesting that he wanted Kordahi to resign.

He said: “We are hoping that President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and everyone else involved in the case will take decisive action to save Lebanese relations with the Gulf. The most important achievement that political forces can make is not to be dragged into the game of states, especially during this critical phase in the region.”

He also said Lebanon had opted for “partnership” to establish peace, moderation and neutrality, and the state of law that was protected by a “just and fair” judiciary.

“The crisis between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia in particular, and the Gulf countries in general, has multiple and accumulating causes and harms the interests of Lebanon and the Lebanese,” he warned.

Mikati is in Glasgow for the COP26.

According to sources, he is expected to hold “several international and Arab meetings on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the current crisis between Lebanon and Gulf countries” on the sidelines of the summit.

The Lebanese-Saudi Business Council condemned Kordahi’s statements as well as those from former Minister Charbel Wehbe and other officials they said had harmed the country’s relations with its Arab neighbors, “especially ones who have stood beside us during the difficult times – mainly Saudi Arabia.”

It urged that the necessary measures be taken to remove Kordahi who, it said, had caused “an unprecedented rift” with Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, because of “irresponsible statements over which he did not bother to apologize or resign” to maintain Lebanon’s relations with Gulf countries and protect national interests.

“Things should go back to the way they were and Lebanon should be brought back to its Arab and Gulf environment to protect the diaspora in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, and the interests of farmers, industrialists, exporters, traders, contractors and those who need today, more than ever before, to protect their interests against absurdity and deterioration,” it said.

The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, Walid Bukhari, quoted Gebran Khalil Gebran on Sunday in a tweet: “A sinner would not commit a sin without a hidden will. Gebran Khalil Gebran uttered those words, and they were heard by the whole world. He is the master of words.” He left Lebanon on Saturday.

Former MP Mustafa Alloush, who is vice president of the Future Movement, said the situation would have been different had Kordahi resigned two days after what had happened. “But today, I am certain that harming Lebanon’s relations with Saudi Arabia was intentional. Hezbollah is continuing its project by increasing hostility with Arab states,” he told Arab News.

“But the whole case has to do with a long history of anti-Saudi statements and positions by Kordahi, former minister Wehbe and MP Gebran Bassil, along with the lack of addressing the Captagon-smuggling issue from Lebanon into the Kingdom, and Hezbollah’s continuing insults to Saudi Arabia and threats to its security.

“Whether Kordahi resigns now or not, this is no longer relevant. The Lebanese government has become a hostage and the proof is that the positions of Mikati and the Lebanese Foreign Ministry were not decisive nor firm. Mikati had to be firm and order the removal of Kordahi and threaten to dissolve the government.”

The Foreign Ministry reiterated in a statement on Sunday that Lebanon’s “great concern (was) to have the best relations with its Gulf and Arab brothers.”

The ministry also referenced the position of Oman’s Foreign Ministry calling on everyone to “show restraint, avoid escalation and address the dispute through dialogue and understanding to preserve the supreme interests of states and peoples and maintain stability, security and cooperation, on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs.”

A committee formed at Mikati’s request to resolve the Kordahi crisis has so far failed to find a solution. It recommended waiting on the results of the international calls being made.

ADEN: The Arab military coalition in Yemen said on Sunday that more than 218 Houthis were killed in airstrikes around Marib city, the internationally recognized government’s last northern bastion.

“Twenty-four military vehicles were destroyed” and more than 218 Houthis were killed in strikes in the past 72 hours in two districts, according to the coalition.

In recent weeks, fighting has intensified around the city of Marib in the province of the same name.

The coalition has said it has killed some 2,000 Houthis around the city in almost daily strikes since Oct. 11.

The latest bombing was carried out in Al-Jawba, about 50 km south of Marib, and Al-Kassara, 30 km to the northwest.

The Houthis began a major push to seize Marib in February and, after a lull, renewed their offensive since September.

The airstrikes took place as at least 12 civilians, including children, were killed in a car bomb blast near the airport of Aden on Saturday.

“Twelve civilians were killed in an explosion” in the vicinity of Aden airport and “there are also serious injuries,” said an official.

Another security official confirmed the toll.

A spokesman from the Southern Transitional Council — part of Yemen’s government — said the blast was caused by a car bomb explosion.

“A car bomb was detonated, killing a number of our peaceful citizens, including children, and wounding a number of other civilians,” STC spokesman Ali Al-Kathiri said in a statement.

The explosion comes almost three weeks after six people were killed in a car-bomb attack that targeted Aden’s governor, who survived.

AFP footage on Saturday showed people pulling out a body from a vehicle that had been completely destroyed, as firefighters put out flames nearby.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for Saturday’s blast, which is the deadliest in the area since December last year, when an attack targeting Cabinet members ripped through Aden’s airport.

At least 26 people, including three members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, were killed and scores were wounded when explosions rocked the airport at the time, as ministers disembarked from an aircraft.

All Cabinet members were reported to be unharmed, in what some ministers charged was a Houthi attack.

Also on Saturday, three children were killed and three more were critically wounded in a neighborhood of Yemen’s third city Taez, by mortar fire.

“The Houthi militia targeted the Al-Kamp neighborhood with … shells, which led to the death of three children,” the Saba new agency said.

One of the wounded children has had his legs amputated and all three “are in a critical condition,” it added.

A security official said that the three children killed were brothers.

A doctor at Taez hospital confirmed the report to AFP, and said the toll could rise.

Taez is a city of 600,000 people in the southwest of Yemen.

KHARTOUM: Sudanese anti-coup protesters on Sunday manned barricades in Khartoum a day after a deadly crackdown on mass rallies, as a defiant civil disobedience campaign against the military takeover entered its seventh day.

Tens of thousands turned out across the country for Saturday’s demonstrations, marching against the army’s Oct. 25 intervention, when Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan dissolved the government, declared a state of emergency and detained Sudan’s civilian leadership.

The move sparked a chorus of international condemnation and punitive aid cuts, with world powers demanding a swift return to civilian rule and calls for the military to show “restraint” against protesters.

Volker Perthes, UN Special Representative to Sudan, said on Sunday he had met with detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is under armed guard by the ruling military junta.

“He (Hamdok) remains well but under house arrest,” Perthes said.

“We discussed options for mediation and the way forward for Sudan. I will continue these efforts with other Sudanese stakeholders.”

At least three people were shot dead and more than 100 people wounded during Saturday’s demonstrations, according to medics, who reported those killed had bullet wounds in their head, chest or stomach.

Police forces denied the killings, or using live bullets.

At least a dozen people have been killed since protests began, according to medics treating the wounded, but a senior US official has said they estimate that 20 to 30 people have died.

“No, no, to military rule,” protesters carrying Sudanese flags chanted as they marched around the capital and other cities, as forces fired tear gas to break
them up.

More than 100 people were also wounded on Saturday, some suffering breathing difficulties from tear gas, the independent Central Committee of Sudan’s Doctors said.

Sudan had been ruled since August 2019 by a joint civilian-military council as part of the now derailed transition to full civilian rule.

US President Joe Biden has called the coup a “grave setback”, while the African Union has suspended Sudan’s membership for the “unconstitutional” takeover.

The World Bank and the US froze aid, a move that will hit hard in a country already mired in a dire economic crisis.

But Burhan — who became de facto leader after former President Omar Bashir was ousted and jailed in 2019 following huge youth-led protests — has insisted the military takeover was “not a coup.”

Instead, Burhan says he wants to “rectify the course of the Sudanese transition.”

Demonstrations on Saturday rocked many cities across Sudan, including in the eastern states of Gedaref and Kassala, as well as in North Kordofan and White Nile, witnesses and AFP correspondents said.

As night fell Saturday, many protests in Khartoum and the capital’s twin city of Omdurman thinned out.

But on Sunday morning protesters were back on the streets, again using rocks and tires to block roads.

Shops remain largely shut in Khartoum, where many government employees are refusing to work as part of a nationwide protest campaign.

Soldiers from the army and the much-feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were seen on many streets in Khartoum and Omdurman.

Security forces have set up random checkpoints on the streets, frisking passers-by and randomly searching cars.

Phone lines, which were largely down on Saturday, were back apart from intermittent disruptions.

But internet access has been cut off since the army’s takeover.

Sudan has enjoyed only rare democratic interludes since independence in 1956 and spent decades riven by civil war.

Burhan was a general under Bashir’s three decades of rule, and analysts said the coup aimed to maintain the army’s traditional control over the northeast African country.