Thursday 20,Febr-2025 {HMC} Kenya’s foreign ministry said Wednesday it is ready to support peace efforts in Sudan, a day after Khartoum accused Kenya of violating its sovereignty by hosting a meeting of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Force, RSF, in the capital, Nairobi.

In a statement, Sudan called Kenya’s move to host Tuesday’s meeting “tantamount to an act of hostility,” particularly as it preceded a planned announcement of a parallel government by the RSF.

RSF Deputy Commander Abdel-Rahim Hamdan Dagalo led the Sudanese delegation at the government-owned Kenyatta International Conference Center in Nairobi, stating a significant announcement would be made on Friday.

Kenya’s foreign ministry said the country hosts many Sudanese refugees and has a history of facilitating dialogue “without any ulterior motives.”

However, Macharia Munene, a professor of international relations at the United States International University-Africa, said Kenya risks international isolation due to this “foreign policy blunder.” He argues that Kenya’s foreign policy has become a “one man show” with the president leveraging his friendship with RSF’s Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, popularly known as Hemedti, without considering “Kenya’s national interests.”

While Hemedti was not present at Tuesday’s event, he enjoys a close friendship with Kenya’s President William Ruto and his brother has met the president on several occasions.

The ongoing conflict in Sudan between the military and the RSF has killed more than 24,000 people and driven over 14 million people — about 30% of the population — from their homes, according to the United Nations. An estimated 3.2 million Sudanese have escaped to neighboring countries.

Sudanese authorities on Tuesday said recent attacks by the RSF had killed more than 400 civilians, including infants after the paramilitary was “overwhelmed by its devastating defeat” by the Sudanese army.

Haydar Abdul Karim, a Sudanese peace activist and freelance journalist now residing in Kenya, told The Associated Press that regional governments should not take sides.

He urged countries to refrain from supporting the formation of new governments or alliances, and instead focus on pressuring the two warring factions to sit down and negotiate and not try to support one faction over the other.

Source AP

Thursday 20,Febr-2025 {HMC}  A joint report by the World Bank, UN, and EU estimates that rebuilding the Gaza Strip will require $53.2 billion over the next decade, highlighting the severe economic toll of the Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave.

Titled Gaza and West Bank Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA), the report detailed widespread damage across nearly all sectors of the Palestinian economy, along with the urgent need for recovery and reconstruction.

“Damages to physical structures alone are estimated at about $30 billion,” the report said, adding that housing was by far the hardest hit sector, accounting for 53% of total damages, followed by commerce and industry at 20%.

The report also noted that economic losses from reduced productivity, foregone revenues, and operating costs are estimated at $19 billion, with health, education and commerce bearing the biggest toll.

According to the report, nearly all economic activity in Gaza has ceased, causing prices to surge by over 300% in one year, with food prices alone soaring up by 450%.

Gaza’s economy is expected to contract by 83% in 2024, reducing its contribution to the Palestinian economy to just 3%, despite being home to 40% of the population, it said, adding that the West Bank is also facing economic hardships, with a projected contraction of 16% this year.

A ceasefire agreement between Israeli and Palestinian resistance fractions took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed nearly 48,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

US President Donald Trump has announced a proposal to “take over” Gaza and resettle its Palestinian inhabitants to develop it into what he called “the Riviera of the Middle East,” an idea vehemently rejected by the Palestinians, Arab countries, and many Western nations, who say it amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Egypt said it has prepared a “comprehensive” plan to rebuild Gaza without displacing its Palestinian inhabitants. Cairo is scheduled to host an emergency Arab summit on March 4 to discuss the plan that counters Trump’s proposal.

Arab leaders will convene in Riyadh on Feb. 20 to discuss their response to Trump’s proposed plan for Gaza and to coordinate a collective Arab stance on the US initiative.