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Worldnews

Sudans Aid Workers Fear Crackdown Under Strict New Army Rules

Aid workers fear arrest and worsening of hunger crisis that already threatens millions of people. Aid workers and activists are fearful that new regulations announced by Sudan’s army-backed government will lead to a crackdown on local relief volunteers, exacerbating the catastrophic hunger crisis affecting 25 million people across the country. A directive announced by Khartoum state on its official Facebook page this month said all relief initiatives in the state must register with the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), a government body that oversees humanitarian operations in Sudan. The HAC was given expanded powers to register, monitor and – critics argue – crack down on local and Western aid groups by former leader Omar al-Bashir in 2006, according to aid groups, local relief volunteers and experts. “HAC is trying to monitor and restrict the work of ERRs by forcing us to register, … and I fear they will arrest volunteers if we keep working but don’t register,” Ahmed*, a local volunteer in Khartoum, said, referring to the Emergency Response Rooms, grassroots committees that are spearheading the humanitarian response in Sudan. Khaled Abdelraheem Ahmed, the HAC commissioner for the state of Khartoum, confirmed the new directive to Al Jazeera. He said registration requires paying a fee of roughly $800 and submitting a list of names of the employees or volunteers in each relief initiative. “[Nobody] is allowed to carry out humanitarian activities without registering,” Abdelraheem said. The new directive is raising concern among ERRs. They have been instrumental in feeding, protecting and rescuing civilians from attacks since the civil war erupted between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023. The ERRs maintain a public stance of neutrality in an effort to preserve humanitarian access irrespective of who controls the areas they operate in at any given time. Still, they have been attacked by both sides throughout the war. Local activists, foreign aid workers and experts now suspect that the HAC is trying to register ERRs in Khartoum to try to monitor and coopt their activities and profit from their already meagre budgets. Any constraints or impediments to their work could have devastating consequences for civilians in Khartoum, said Kholood Khair, a Sudan expert and the founder of the Confluence Advisory think tank. “In Khartoum, it’s one meal a day for a lot of people in a lot of areas,” she told Al Jazeera. “If people start missing that one meal because [ERR] volunteers are not turning up because they don’t feel safe enough to [show up and feed them], then obviously that means that famine levels will go through the roof,” Khair added. Experts and aid workers previously told Al Jazeera that they consider the HAC an outfit for military intelligence. Al Jazeera contacted army spokesperson Nabil Abdullah to comment on the accusations against the HAC. He did not respond before publication. The head of the HAC, Najm al-din Musa, previously denied allegations that the commission was involved in aid diversion, telling Al Jazeera that they were “lies”. The HAC has long been accused of imposing bureaucratic impediments to prevent international aid groups from reaching regions outside the army’s control. It often forces aid agencies to apply for multiple – seemingly endless – permissions from various ministries and security branches as a way to significantly delay or outright block access to regions outside the army’s control and in urgent need, aid workers previously told Al Jazeera. This practice has led experts, global relief workers and human rights groups to accuse the army of using food and aid as a weapon of war. Hamid Khalafallah, an expert on Sudan’s grassroots movements and a PhD candidate at Manchester University in the United Kingdom, believes the HAC is further politicising aid by forcing ERRs to register. “[The HAC] wants to control the programming of [the ERRs] and make sure that it matches their priorities, … which are obviously politicised and follow the guidelines of the de facto [army] government,” he told Al Jazeera. In addition, local relief workers and experts fear that if ERR members in Khartoum register with the HAC, then their names could be handed over to intelligence branches, exposing them to unwanted harassment or arrest. Shortly after the army recaptured most of Khartoum in March, a number of “hit lists” circulated over social media, Khalafallah said. The lists accused hundreds of civilians who did not have the resources to flee from the RSF while it controlled Khartoum of cooperating with the group. The names of some ERR members were on the lists. The army has created some of its own humanitarian committees called “Karama” (Dignity), which have been providing some services to civilians in Khartoum, four local relief workers told Al Jazeera without providing details. The relief workers did say that the Karama committees have not tried to obstruct the work of the ERRs. Local volunteers still worry that the Karama committees were designed to help the army build a loyal constituency through aid provision. “The [army] wants the services to go through the people they appoint. They will handle distribution of food, medicare and whatever else,” said Salma*, a local volunteer from one of the ERRs. “It’s a type of propaganda,” she told Al Jazeera. ERR volunteers worry that if they register with the HAC, then they will be prohibited from aiding their communities if they ever come back under RSF control. This could significantly harm the trust that ERR volunteers have built with their communities since the start of the war, they said. Others worry that the HAC will try to restrict and impede the work of ERRs once they register as part of a broader ploy to empower Karama committees at their expense. However, experts and international aid workers both said the army is not doing enough to repair basic services in a city that has been destroyed by the RSF. In contrast, the ERRs have been effective in acting quickly to mitigate the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan because volunteers do not need approval from a state authority before making life-saving decisions, Khalafallah said. “This requirement [to register] with HAC is absolutely damaging for ERRs because the work they do is based on being totally independent and … [on having a model] where accountability looks downwards to the beneficiaries,” he said. The ERRs are struggling to raise enough money to support their communities. They now worry they will be forced to cough up money to the HAC if they have to register with it. “We know that HAC will take a cut from our budgets. … This is the main problem [with registering] really,” said Noon, a local volunteer. The HAC has a long history of shaking down aid agencies for money. Even before the war, they forced aid groups to hire HAC staff to deliver aid and sit in on job interviews. One foreign relief worker who did not wish to be named said international aid agencies who have supported ERRs since the start of the war will likely continue to do so quietly whether they register or not. However, the source warned that United Nations agencies may make concessions to the HAC. “What the UN agrees to [with the HAC] will have an impact on everybody else, and it will undermine the position of everybody else,” the source said. Daniel Tengo, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson for Sudan, told Al Jazeera that the UN has not decided whether it will maintain or cease support to ERRs that do not register with the HAC. He added that OCHA is in touch with ERRs and waiting for them to make a decision. “OCHA is aware of the recent communication from Khartoum HAC and has reached out to the coordination body of the Emergency Response Rooms to better understand the implications,” he said. “ERRs confirmed awareness of [HAC’s directive] and indicated that internal discussions are ongoing on how best to respond,” Tengo told Al Jazeera. Local relief workers in Khartoum explained that each ERR in Khartoum will deliberate among its own members and then share their opinion with other ERRs. In the end, they will reach a unanimous decision. “Maybe we will find another creative solution,” said Salma* “We are just trying to find a way to keep working without creating more fights and problems,” she told Al Jazeera. *The names of local aid workers have been changed due to safety concerns. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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News_Naija

Court Okays Arrest, Detention Of Six CBEX Promoters

The Federal High Court in Abuja has approved the request of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to arrest and detain six promoters of Crypto Bridge Exchange over an alleged investment fraud amounting to over $1 billion. Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order on Thursday after listening to submissions from the EFCC’s lawyer, Fadila Yusuf. The six individuals named in the ex parte motion filed on April 23 are Adefowora Olanipekun, Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko, Seyi Oloyede, Avwerosuo Otorudo, and Chukwuebuka Ehirim. The EFCC sought the court’s permission to arrest and keep the suspects in custody while investigations continue and possible charges are prepared. In the motion, the EFCC asked for two things: permission to issue arrest warrants and an order to remand the suspects in EFCC custody during the investigation. Yusuf told the court, “The defendants are at large, and a warrant of arrest is required to bring them in for proper investigation and prosecution.” She explained that the EFCC had received intelligence linking the suspects to criminal acts and that the commission had a constitutional duty to investigate and enforce the law. According to an affidavit submitted with the motion, the EFCC said it received information in April 2025 about a fraudulent investment scheme involving the suspects. The commission said the fraud was carried out through ST Technologies International Limited, in partnership with CBEX. The suspects were accused of promoting CBEX, convincing people to invest in cryptocurrency through their platform while promising extremely high returns, up to 100%. “The victims were required to convert their digital assets into USDT, a stablecoin, and deposit them into the suspects’ cryptocurrency wallets,” the affidavit stated. At first, investors could monitor their investments through the CBEX platform. But after over $1 billion was deposited, the platform was suddenly shut down, and victims could no longer access their funds. Further investigations revealed that although ST Technologies was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, it was not licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission to run any investment business. The EFCC also told the court that the suspects had abandoned their known addresses in Lagos and Ogun states. The agency said, “A warrant of arrest is necessary to place the suspects on a red watch list and ensure they are apprehended to face justice.” The commission added that its investigation had shown a clear case of fraud and urged the court to grant the application in the interest of justice. After reviewing the case, Justice Nwite ruled, “I have listened to the submission of learned counsel for the applicant. “I have also examined the affidavit evidence and the exhibits attached, along with the written address. “I am of the view, and I so hold, that the application is meritorious. Consequently, the application is granted as prayed.”

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Worldnews

What Are Germanys Taurus Missiles That Ukraine Wants?

German Chancellor Merz’s recent comments cause speculation Berlin will finally send the weapons to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held talks with Germany’s Friedrich Merz in Berlin, days after the newly installed chancellor said Kyiv’s Western allies had lifted range restrictions on their missiles and would allow Ukraine to use them to strike deep inside Russian territory. Merz made the announcement on Monday as Russia carried out heavy aerial bombardments on Ukraine and both sides launched tit-for-tat drone attacks. That comment sparked hope in Kyiv and put renewed attention on the possibility of Germany supplying Ukraine with Taurus missiles, which the war-wracked country has long requested. However, Merz, in a joint appearance with Zelenskyy on Wednesday, promised the Ukrainian leader that Germany would help his country develop long-range missiles on its territory. He did not make any commitments regarding the Taurus. Germany has been a key backer of Ukraine and is the second biggest supplier of military aid after the United States. However, former Chancellor Olaf Scholz was reluctant to supply Kyiv with Taurus missiles because he did not want Germany to be directly involved in the Ukraine war. He agreed to provide Leopard 2 battle tanks in January 2023 after pressure from his NATO allies. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that if Western countries allow Ukraine to use their long-range weapons to strike inside Russia, it would put NATO “at war with his country”. Since taking office on May 6, however, Merz has deepened efforts to retain Western support for Ukraine amid efforts by US Donald Trump’s administration to end the war. Trump has been critical of the US aid to Ukraine under his predecessor Joe Biden. But recent intensified Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine have angered Trump, who has called Putin “crazy”. Ukraine believes the Taurus would be a game-changer in the war. Here’s what to know about the weapons: The Taurus is a German-Swedish low-cruise, long-range air missile that can accurately deliver heavy explosives to targets as far away as 500km (300 miles). It was manufactured in 1998 through a joint partnership between the German missile company MBDA Deutschland and Sweden’s Saab Bofors Dynamics. A powerful warhead allows the missile to penetrate and cause significant damage to deep or hard targets, such as underground bunkers, communication facilities, ammunition storage warehouses and ships. The missile can also travel over long distances without GPS support. Although Ukraine already uses Western-provided missiles from the US and the United Kingdom, some experts and Ukrainian officials believe this projectile would be the strongest Western missile to be used by Ukraine if Germany gives a green light because the others have only half of the range of the Taurus and cannot carry as much ammunition. Scholz’s left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD)-led coalition government was cautious of escalating the war and possibly drawing in Germany, and by default, NATO. That’s because Moscow has warned several times that if Ukraine uses any Western missiles inside Russian territory, it would be perceived as those countries directly entering the conflict. It’s also due to the SPD’s stance against war. Germany – which currently provides Ukraine with short-range rockets, including the M142 HIMARS MLRS and MARS II MLRS – and other weapons-providing Western allies initially restricted Ukraine from using their weapons inside Russia but allowed Kyiv to hit Russian targets within Ukraine. In November, former US President Biden, however, lifted restrictions on US weapons, allowing Ukraine to use them in Russia’s Kursk region. That came at a time when Kyiv had launched a surprise offensive on the region on its border. Some experts said lifting the restrictions was a major help to Ukraine. It has since lost most of the territory it had seized but does continue to hold some Russian land. In March 2024, Russia tapped a top-secret conversation among Germany’s military brass in which officials discussed whether they might be able to persuade Scholz to send the Taurus to Ukraine and whether the missile could blow up the Kerch Bridge connecting Russia to Ukraine’s occupied Crimea region. Berlin appeared ready to change its tone under Merz’s new administration. As an opposition member, Merz, who heads the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), had pressured Scholz to send the Taurus to Ukraine and for Germany to take a stronger stance against Russia. During his election campaign, Merz promised to support Ukraine more concretely, including by sending long-range missiles. However, his coalition government includes the SPD. On Wednesday, Merz promised Zelenskyy German support in producing long-range missiles on Ukrainian territory in what appeared to be a compromise position. The chancellor promised that financing for the project would be discussed subsequently at the Group of Seven summit to be held in Canada in June. Analyst Michael Bociurkiw of the Atlantic Council think tank told Al Jazeera the pledge was still “pretty significant”, adding that it was one of the first real pledges from Germany to Ukraine. “I think it’s a recognition of Ukrainian capabilities,” he said. On Monday, Merz had spoken to the public broadcaster WDR about the range restrictions enforced by NATO members and said there were “no longer any range restrictions for weapons that have been delivered to Ukraine – neither by the British, nor by the French, nor by us, and not by the Americans either”. Merz did not explicitly say that Germany would send the Taurus to Ukraine, but his comments sent many analysts into a speculative frenzy. On Tuesday, Merz clarified that he was specifically referring to his support for Ukraine’s right to strike deep inside Russia. “Hence yesterday in Berlin, I was describing something that already happened months ago,” Merz said. Merz’s comments, however, attracted criticism from the SPD and from within his own CDU. Some said his statements and actual reality are contradictory. CDU lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter said in a post on Tuesday on X that Germany was “irrelevant” in the long-range missile conversation because it has refused to send Ukraine the Taurus and he saw no willingness to do that under the current coalition. “Therefore, we should also avoid making contradictory statements on this matter. … I continue to see no unity in the coalition and no political will to act appropriately and with strength and consistency in response to Russia’s massive escalation. Such statements are therefore overall unhelpful because they highlight Europe’s weakness to Russia,” he wrote. Also on Tuesday, SPD head and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said at a news conference that there had been no policy change regarding delivering German weapons to Ukraine or the restrictions on their use. Expert John Foreman, who is affiliated with the UK think tank Chatham House, said even if Germany sends the Taurus at this point, its effects might be more of a symbolic victory for Ukraine rather than a tactical one. A Taurus delivery would arrive “too late to change the overall trajectory of the war”, Foreman told Al Jazeera, adding that Germany would have to supply a significant number to make a difference. “Russia has learned a lot about the transparency of the modern battlefield over the last three years and has become more adept at dispersal, air defence and camouflage to complicate targeting,” he added. Moscow has yet to comment on Germany’s move to collaborate with Ukraine in developing long-range missiles in the country. Russia has consistently warned that Western-provided weapons striking inside the country would be seen as an escalation, one that Putin said in September could attract nuclear retaliation. But Merz’s move attempts to circumvent that threat. After Merz’s election victory in April and his continued assuredness of his willingness to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova repeated that Russia would take a Taurus strike as Germany’s “direct” involvement in the war. The Kremlin has also reacted to Merz’s comments this week, according to the Russian news agency TASS. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Merz “has confused everyone, if not himself”, after the vice chancellor denied that such decisions had been made. Peskov warned Berlin against an escalation, saying it would be an “extremely dangerous decision” that goes against ongoing peace efforts. “It is literally several steps towards additional confrontation,” he said. Zakharova added that Germany would “drive itself deeper into the hole in which the Kyiv regime it supports has long been”. “It is doubtful that the head of the German government was or is authorised by anyone to make such statements on behalf of other countries,” she added. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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Worldnews

Russia Proposes New Round Of Istanbul Talks; Ukraine Pushes For Memorandum

The renewed diplomatic push comes under growing pressure from Trump and heavy bombardments. Russia has proposed a new round of direct talks with Ukraine in Turkiye’s Istanbul on Monday with the goal of securing a lasting ceasefire, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says, after heavy bombardment of its neighbour and aerial exchanges in the past week. “We hope that all those who are sincerely, and not just in words, interested in the success of the peace process will support holding a new round of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Istanbul,”  Lavrov said in a statement on Wednesday. Kyiv responded a short time later, saying it had already submitted its version of the memorandum on peace to the Russian delegation. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov urged Moscow to share its version without delay: “We are not opposed to further meetings with the Russians and are awaiting their ‘memorandum’, so that the meeting won’t be empty and can truly move us closer to ending the war”, he said. “The Russian side has at least four more days before their departure to provide us with their document for review,” he added. The Moscow proposal followed a rare meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul on May 16, the first direct contact in more than three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The talks resulted in an exchange of 1,000 prisoners of war each, but failed to produce a ceasefire, which remains a key demand of Ukraine and its Western allies. Moscow has insisted that certain conditions must be met before halting military operations. Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s delegation, said on Telegram that he had contacted Umerov to suggest a date and venue for the next meeting. “Let me emphasise: right there, on the spot, we are ready to begin an essential, substantive discussion of each of the points of the package agreement on a possible ceasefire,” Medinsky said, adding that he expected a reply from Ukraine. Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari in Moscow said the Russians had been preparing this for the last few days after a meeting with Turkish officials on Tuesday. At the top of Russia’s agenda is “likely to be a list of demands, about what a possible ceasefire deal would look like. Russia has made it very clear that they are not going to back down by ensuring their security is a top priority,” she said. Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Kyiv, added that from the Ukrainian perspective, Russia is making “maximalist demands” by blocking Ukraine from joining NATO, asking Kyiv to withdraw troops from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, and imposing limits on the size of the Ukrainian military – all of which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said is off the table. The renewed diplomatic push from Moscow comes after growing pressure from United States President Donald Trump. Speaking on Wednesday, he suggested that Russian leader Vladimir Putin might be stalling the peace process. “We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not, and if he is, we’ll respond a little differently,” Trump said, likely referring to imposing more sanctions on Moscow as Ukraine’s European allies have done recently. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Trump appeared “not sufficiently informed about what is really happening in the context of the Ukrainian-Russian confrontation”. Trump, who has previously expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of sanctions, said he was reluctant to impose new penalties on Moscow, fearing they could derail the fragile ceasefire efforts. “If I think I’m close to getting a deal, I don’t want to screw it up by doing that,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. Trump warned on Tuesday that Putin was “playing with fire” and suggested “really bad” things would have already happened to Russia were it not for his intervention. On Monday, Trump lambasted Putin, describing him as “absolutely crazy” after Moscow launched its largest aerial attack of the war on Ukraine, killing at least 13 people. It was a rare rebuke of Putin from the US president. In the meantime, Lavrov spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday to discuss preparations for a next round of direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said. The ministry said Lavrov briefed Rubio on Russia’s efforts to implement agreements reached after a phone call between Putin and Trump on May 19. Putin previously said Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on drafting a memorandum for a future peace accord, but nevertheless has resisted any move towards an immediate, unconditional ceasefire. Meanwhile, Germany and Ukraine announced plans to jointly develop long-range missiles as part of their deepening defence cooperation. “Our defence ministers will sign a memorandum of understanding today regarding the procurement of Ukrainian-made long-range weapons systems,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said during a joint news conference in Berlin with Zelenskyy on Wednesday. “There will be no range restrictions, allowing Ukraine to fully defend itself, even against military targets outside its own territory,” he added. Merz had announced two days earlier that Ukraine’s Western allies had lifted range restrictions on the weapons they have been supplying. The Kremlin has previously warned that any long-range Western-provided weapons, such as Taurus missiles, striking inside the country would be seen as an escalation. Follow Al Jazeera English:...