Rahma Adam's family arrived in Omdurman, displaced from El Fasher, after an arduous journey during which they left their home and their source of livelihood, while still not knowing the fate of father Abdel Rahman Idris and his son Idris, who were missing during the war in North Darfur.
Like other displaced families, she found herself facing the burdens of food, housing, and treatment in a new city, and life was more complicated, as illness prevented the mother from working, and the provision of food and treatment depended on what her children earned from the market.
Asharq Al-Awsat followed the family diaries. She noticed that Tariq was selling household supplies on a small “pallet,” while his sister, Mawada, was selling light foods, such as falafel, beans, and spices, continuing her mother’s work. As for Manal, she stopped her university studies because the family was unable to afford transportation.
El Fasher suffered a long siege last year imposed by the Rapid Support Forces, which led to thousands of families fleeing and losing contact with their members, including Rahma’s family, who arrived in Khartoum without knowing the fate of the father and his son.
Puntland state television reported on Tuesday that security forces from the semi-autonomous Somali region rescued the tanker MT Honor 25, a Palau-flagged oil products tanker that was seized by pirates in April, according to Reuters.
State television said that the pirates who were holding the tanker were arrested and would be brought to trial.
Puntland officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The tanker was hijacked on April 21, about 30 nautical miles off the coast of Puntland, with 17 crew members on board, including 10 Pakistanis.
The Puntland Ministry of Information said in a statement that a rescue operation was successful in freeing the ship and arresting 16 pirates. The statement said: “Before the operation began, pirates on board the ship killed five crew members. Among the dead were three Pakistanis, a person from Myanmar and an Indian.” The statement indicated that four other crew members, three Pakistanis and one Indian, were injured.
This rescue operation comes in the wake of a similar anti-piracy operation carried out by “Puntland” last week, when the region’s maritime police forces announced that they had freed the oil tanker “Cebu 1”, which is subject to US sanctions, and which was hijacked by Somali pirates last August.
Piracy has resurfaced off the coast of Somalia in the past few years, raising concerns about shipping traffic through the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean.
A previous wave of Somali piracy between 2008 and 2014 led to disruptions in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, cost the global economy billions of dollars in losses, and caused hundreds of millions of dollars to be paid in ransom for the release of ships and their crews.
The Egyptian government decided, on Tuesday, to extend the registration period in the electronic “real estate tax” system for another 3 months, after complaints of technical problems that prevented thousands from registering, in response to popular, parliamentary, and media appeals.
The Ministry of Finance announced the extension of the registration period for the real estate tax application until the end of next December, instead of the end of September, while benefiting from the previously announced incentives, which are a 25 percent discount on residential apartments, and 10 percent on non-residential units.
The “real estate tax” is imposed on residential and commercial units at certain rates in accordance with Law No. 196 of 2008, to which several amendments were made to push owners to comply with the tax, the most recent of which was last April, when the House of Representatives approved amendments expanding the rule of exemption from this tax for those whose residential property value does not exceed 8 million pounds (about 154 thousand dollars) instead of 2 million pounds, in order to take into account inflation.
The Egyptian Ministry of Finance’s statement revealed the broad response to the new electronic real estate tax system, which was launched last June, as “citizens registered more than two million real estate units on the mobile application within 100 days, 1.5 million citizens also created electronic accounts, and we received 1.2 million tax returns,” according to Finance Minister Ahmed Kajok, saying: “Thank you to everyone for the interaction and trust.”
Experts previously appreciated the government’s approach to the “real estate taxes” file, whether with regard to incentives or payment facilities, noting that the main goal of this tax is to limit real estate wealth in Egypt.
The Minister of Finance added: “We will work with all seriousness and effort to develop the mobile application, simplify and facilitate it, improve (the system) and enhance its ability to accommodate large numbers wishing to register and benefit from the facilities,” continuing: “There will be a large and effective increase in the number of technical support to help citizens and overcome any obstacles facing them.”
Asharq Al-Awsat monitored many complaints related to the registration process through the application, and one citizen described it on Facebook as “not a friend of the user.” Egyptians residing abroad also complained of their inability to use the application, which requires an Egyptian phone number.
Kajok indicated that the Ministry will work to include observations, suggestions and comments received from citizens, the media and social networking sites.
