AL-FASHIR: Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Monday his government was working toward bringing peace to war-torn Darfur as he met hundreds of victims of the conflict who demanded swift justice.
Hamdok’s one-day visit was his first as prime minister to the devastated region, where a conflict that erupted in 2003 has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced.
He met victims of the war in the town of Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur state, which houses several sprawling camps where tens of thousands of displaced have been living for years.
“We want justice! Send all criminals of Darfur to the ICC (International Criminal Court),” chanted a crowd who met Hamdok as he visited camps in Al-Fashir, an AFP correspondent reported.
Hamdok assured them that his government was working toward peace in Darfur, a region of the size of Spain.
“I know your demands even before you raised them,” Hamdok told the crowd.
“We will all work together to achieve your demands and ensure that normal life returns to Darfur,” he said as the crowd chanted “No justice, no peace in Darfur!.”
The Darfur conflict flared when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the then-government of since-ousted president Omar Bashir, accusing it of marginalizing the region economically and politically.
Khartoum then applied what rights groups say was a scorched earth policy against ethnic groups suspected of supporting the rebels — raping, killing, looting and burning villages.
About 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the conflict, the UN says.

Bashir, who the army ousted in April after nationwide protests against his rule, has long been accused by the Hague-based ICC of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the conflict.
“We want those criminals to be given to the ICC. Without that there won’t be peace in Darfur,” Mohamed Adam, a prominent leader representing the victims of Darfur, told Hamdok.
The protest movement that led to the ouster of Bashir said it was not against handing over the deposed autocrat to the ICC.
The military generals who had initially seized power in the aftermath of Bashir’s fall have refused to deliver him to The Hague.
Sudan’s current transitional authorities would need to ratify the ICC’s Rome Statute to allow for the transfer of Bashir to
the court.
“We have no objection in handing over Bashir to the ICC,” said Ibrahim Al-Sheikh, a leader of umbrella protest movement the Forces of Freedom and Change.
“All the members of the Forces of Freedom and Change agree on that.”

GAZA CITY: As Palestinians await further developments on talks of possible elections, the positive noises emanating from Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas have not put minds at ease. Abbas met with Hamas’s approval last week to hold legislative polls no more than three months before the presidential election.
For the second time in seven days, the Central Election Commission (CEC), headed by Dr. Hanna Nasser, met with Hamas and other Palestinian leaders in Gaza to brief them on Abbas’s position and to discuss further details.
But it is enough worry many Palestinians who recall many failed past experiences, the most important of which was the Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation agreement in 2017 and the municipal elections that were agreed upon and were supposed to take place two years ago.
The overdue polls come amid the backdrop of recent electoral stalemates in Israel, and the political upheaval in Lebanon.
Ibrahim Abrash, a professor of public law and political science, told Arab News that talk about successful elections in Palestine was “premature” given so little progress had been made in the recent past.
The CEC’s actions came in response to a call for a general election launched by President Abbas on Sept. 26, which, Abrash believes, was due to “people pressure” rather than any actual desire to go to the polls.
“The political class and parties do not want to hold elections, and every party is satisfied with his hand,” he said, adding that a genuine and sincere intention to go to the polls would require national dialogue sessions to agree on the electoral laws, and to establish mechanisms and procedures to ensure a healthy, transparent and fair election.
“Without this, the elections will fail, and the ordinary Palestinian will be the one who suffers.”

Legislative elections have been held twice previously in Palestine, the first in 1996 for the Legislative Council and the Presidency following the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, and the second in 2006, preceded by the presidential elections in 2005 following the death of President Yasser Arafat.
The former presidential candidate and head of the National Initiative Movement, Mustafa Barghouthi, identified several obstacles that could hinder Palestinian elections, notably Israel’s refusal to allow them to be held in occupied Jerusalem, its arrest of candidates in the West Bank, and the potential collapse of the current national talks, and the failure of Hamas to allow elections in Gaza.
Barghouti told Arab News that the current movement was a “precious opportunity” that should be treated as a form of popular resistance to the stale state of Palestinian politics, that, if successful, could lead to elections that reflect the will of the Palestinian people.
Following the meeting with the CEC on Sunday, Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh said that the talks discussed details that would ensure a successful electoral process.
Talal Abu Zarifa, a member of the political bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said that ensuring the holding of elections and respecting their results called for the provisional leadership framework to be convened to discuss electoral law, especially full proportional representation, as well as discussing the issue of freedom of candidacy.
CEC Executive Director Hisham Kuhail told Palestine Radio that legislative elections would need 120 days following the issuance of the presidential decree, and that the public should “therefore expect the elections in February 2020.”

CAIRO: Egypt’s army said on Monday it had killed 83 militants in clashes in the restive Sinai Peninsula, where a Daesh affiliate has waged a long-running insurgency.
Security forces killed 77 extremists, who were found with stacks of weapons and ammunition in north and central Sinai, the army said.
Six other “highly dangerous” militants were killed in shootouts in the region, the army said in a statement on a nationwide anti-militant operation between Sept. 28 and Nov. 4.
About 61 “criminals, wanted individuals and suspects” were arrested, it said.
Security forces also destroyed dozens of hideouts and vehicles as part of the ongoing operation, according to the statement.

Security
Egypt has for years been fighting an insurgency in North Sinai that escalated after the military’s 2013 ouster of the then-president following mass protests.
In February 2018, the army and police launched a nationwide operation against militants, mainly focused on North Sinai.
The operation also targets other areas including the Western Desert along the porous border with Libya.
The latest army figures brings the death toll of suspected militants in the Sinai region to more than 830.
About 60 security personnel have been killed since the start of the offensive.
Following the death of Daesh chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi late last month, the group’s North Sinai affiliate has pledged allegiance to his successor, Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Quraishi.

BAGHDAD: Protests threatening the oil industry and blocking access to Iraq’s ports have cost the country “billions,” Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said on Sunday.
The embattled leader issued a long statement in response to weeks of demonstrations against the government that have been met with a brutal response from the security forces, killing more than 250 people.
Abdul-Mahdi said the protests have delayed the arrival of goods and this has contributed to an increase in prices paid by citizens, the poor in particular.
He also said demonstrations have affected the growth of the economy and delayed the submission of the budget for 2020.
Last week, President Barham Salih said Abdul-Mahdi is willing to resign amid the crisis once political leaders agree on a replacement.
But the prime minister made no mention of standing down, instead focussing on the economic damage of the protests.
He said the Baghdad International Fair was delayed because of the demonstrations, and that sick people’s lives have been put at risk because medical clinics have been forced to close and ambulances obstructed.
He called on anti-government protesters to reopen roads saying “it’s time for life to return to normal.”
The prime minister differentiated between peaceful protesters, who he said had turned the demonstrations into “popular festivals” that bring the nation together, and “saboteurs” who had used the demonstrators as “human shields” while attacking security forces.
He also called for markets, factories, schools and universities to reopen after days of protests in the capital and across the mostly Shiite south.
Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square and across southern Iraq in recent days, calling for the overhaul of the political system established after the 2003 US-led invasion.
Protesters have also taken over a large tower in the square that was abandoned after it was damaged in the war.
Thousands of students have skipped classes to take part in the street rallies, blaming the political elite for widespread corruption, high unemployment and poor public services.
Earlier Sunday, protesters blocked roads around their main protest site with burning tires and barbed wire, unfurling a banner at one roadblock reading: “Roads closed by order of the people.”
They appeared to be borrowing a tactic from Lebanon, where similar anti-government demonstrations have been underway since Oct. 17, and have repeatedly blocked major roads in order to ramp up pressure on authorities.

(With AP)

LONDON: Turkey on Sunday thanked Qatar for supporting a widely-condemned invasion of northern Syria.

Doha acted in defiance of the Arab League last month when it voiced support for the Turkish operation against Kurdish forces in north-east Syria.

Other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, condemned Turkey’s “aggression” as a threat to regional peace and security and a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

The operation, which came after Donald Trump withdrew US troops from the region, was also denounced by European countries and aid groups.

Qatar however defended Turkey, saying Operation Peace Spring was in response to an “imminent threat” from Kurdish groups. One of the few other voices of support came from the hardline Palestinian militant group Hamas.

On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu personally thanked Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim for supporting the operation during a meeting in Doha. In a tweet he described Qatar as a “brotherly” nation and conveyed the greetings of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”

Turkey and Qatar have grown closer since Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain launched a boycott of Qatar over its links to extremist groups and cooperation with Iran. Ankara boosted its military presence in Qatar and as Doha promised support for Turkey’s economy.

The Turkish operation was launched on Oct. 9 to push back from its border Kurdish fighters, who it considers terrorists for their links to decades of insurgency inside Turkey.

A truce deal signed last week between Ankara and Moscow demanded Kurdish fighters withdraw from the border, handing the Turks a 120 kilometer-long stretch of Syrian territory.

The deal includes joint Russian-Turkish patrols along other parts of the frontier that started on Friday.