On Friday, the United Nations condemned the bloody escalation in the use of drones in Sudan this month, noting that it documented the killing of more than 300 people as a result of these attacks.
She called on the international community to intensify its efforts to limit the flow of drones to both sides of the war in Sudan, especially those that cause harm to civilians.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said, in a statement carried by Agence France-Presse, that “the increasing use of drones, which has already caused the majority of civilian deaths related to the conflict in Sudan this year, is extremely worrying and is causing a horrific toll.”
He added: “Dozens of civilians were killed and the infrastructure and vital services they depend on were destroyed, which led to an escalation of displacement and a deepening of the humanitarian crisis that was already extremely dangerous.”
Humanitarian workers estimate that the war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023 has resulted in the deaths of more than 200,000 people and displaced more than 13 million others, causing the largest hunger and displacement crisis in the world.
The United Nations Human Rights Office stated that during the first three weeks of October, it documented the killing of at least 306 people and the injury of hundreds as a result of drone strikes.
The office explained that these raids, which were attributed to both the army and the Rapid Support Forces, targeted civilian facilities and infrastructure, including homes, markets, hospitals, and places where displaced people took refuge, in addition to electricity generation plants and water sources.
Volker Türk urged both parties to the conflict to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law, including refraining from targeting civilians.
He said: “Broader peace efforts must directly address the continuing flow of weapons that are fueling the conflict, and must press to stop the transfer of weapons that are being used in clear disregard for international humanitarian law obligations to protect civilians.”
Tunisian police fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the Tadamon neighborhood in the capital, on Thursday evening, following the death of a man they had arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, on a day that also witnessed clashes with police in at least two towns in the south of the country, according to what Reuters reported.
The clashes come amid a worsening economic, social, and political crisis in Tunisia, and the authorities’ fears about the possibility of widespread violent protests, especially in light of growing anger over deteriorating living conditions and poor public services.
The man's family said that he died as a result of violence at the hands of police officers after he was arrested, demanding that those responsible be held accountable.
While local media previously reported that he died after swallowing narcotic substances. It was not immediately possible to obtain a comment from the Ministry of Interior.
Protesters closed roads in the Tadamon neighborhood, burned rubber tires, and threw stones at the police. Security forces responded by firing tear gas, while seeking to secure a National Guard post in the area.
Earlier on Thursday, police clashed with protesters in the town of Jebniana in the south of the country, following the death of a man whose relatives say he died during a security chase.
Protesters in Jebniana burned a police car. The city of Aqarib, also located in the state of Sfax, also witnessed similar clashes.
In the city of Sfax, students protested on Thursday against the death of a female student after a heart attack. Her colleagues said that the ambulance teams were late in reaching her, pointing to the lack of medical facilities in the university residence, and called for a strike in the colleges of Sfax, today, Friday.
Thousands of Tunisians participated in a protest in the capital, last Saturday, in the largest demonstration against President Kais Saied in years, accusing him of undermining democracy and miserably failing to manage the economic crisis, in an increasing challenge to his rule.
Saied expanded his powers in 2021 and 2022, after he dissolved Parliament, dismissed dozens of judges, and began ruling by decree, steps that his opponents described as a coup.
Human rights organizations say that President Saied has intensified the campaign of restrictions on civil society, journalists, and opposition leaders. Saied rejects these accusations, says that he is not a dictator, and accuses his opponents of creating economic crises with the aim of fueling social unrest.
After about 12 years of holding its sessions outside the capital, between Tobruk and Benghazi in the east of the country, the Libyan House of Representatives is close to testing the possibility of returning to holding its sessions in Tripoli, in a move linked to arrangements led by its new presidency, amid the continuing political and institutional division in the country.
Al-Saliheen Abdel Nabi was re-elected as President of the Council, raising questions about the possibility of resuming its sessions in the capital, after the emergence of changes that occurred in the political and security scenes, locally and regionally, that may create conditions for the return of the legislative institution’s meetings to Tripoli, after years of being held in the east of the country.
A member of the Libyan House of Representatives, Fahmi Al-Tawati, suggested that a session of the Council be held in Tripoli soon, considering that the possibility of it being held is “great,” in a step that may pave the way for the return of the legislative institution’s meetings to the capital, after about 12 years of absence.
However, in his interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Tawati suggested that the potential session might be chaired by the First Deputy Speaker of the Council, Tariq Al-Ashtar, in coordination with Al-Salehin Abdul Nabi, without setting a final date for its holding, or revealing the details of the arrangements related to it.
In another indication of possible preparations, an informed source in Tripoli explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that “Tariq Al-Ashtar held meetings with political and security leaders in the capital during the past days, without revealing their results, or the nature of the understandings that were discussed.” He pointed out that maintenance work is being carried out in the hospitality palace complex in Tripoli, which was taken as its headquarters by the General National Congress, the first legislative council in Libya after the fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, which opens the door to questions about the connection of these works to the possible arrangements to host a session of the House of Representatives.
The possibilities are not limited to holding a session headed by Al-Ashtar, as political analyst Hossam Fneish believes that holding it under the chairmanship of Abdel Nabi himself is “on the table,” in light of the moves aimed at creating political and security conditions, especially with talk of an upcoming visit by the Council President to the capital.
Fneish links these possibilities to the recent security movements in western Libya, including the meeting of the head of the interim “national unity” government, Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba, with the leaders of armed formations, considering that it may fall within efforts to provide a suitable environment for the session to be held, and to facilitate the Council’s return to the capital.
The current circumstances differ, according to Fneish, from those that previously surrounded the objection to holding Council sessions in Tripoli, against the backdrop of the war that the capital witnessed (2019-2020), and the position of former Council Speaker Aguila Saleh towards it, at a time when changing the parliamentary leadership may provide room for new understandings.
Local reports have long circulated news of an expected visit by Abdul Nabi to Tripoli, perhaps in the middle of next week, and linked the visit to possible progress in a meeting between leaders from the two authorities in eastern and western Libya under Turkish sponsorship, without official confirmation or denial about it.
From Fneish’s perspective, the approval of the head of the Supreme Council of State, Mohamed Takala, to appoint Fawzi Boukhazam as governor-designate of the Central Bank of Libya may contribute to improving the political climate and opening the way for broader understandings between the divided Libyan institutions, despite the continuing disagreements regarding the management of the next stage.
Meanwhile, observers believe that the agreement reached by the actors from eastern and western Libya within the “4+4” committee at the end of last August regarding holding sessions of the House of Representatives in Tripoli, Sebha and Benghazi, is a strong basis for this step, especially if it is accompanied by political and security understandings that guarantee the participation of representatives, according to Fneish in statements to Asharq Al-Awsat.
Fneish places international movements among the factors helping to prepare the atmosphere for holding the House of Representatives session, especially the initiative of the US President’s Advisor for African Affairs, Massad Boulos, which aims to unify the two authorities in eastern and western Libya, in addition to the recent American threats in the Security Council session to impose sanctions on those obstructing the political process.
The Boulos initiative, according to its details leaked over a period of months, is based on the sharing of power between the two sides of the division in the country, as Saddam Haftar, the commander of the “National Army” in the east of the country, assumes the presidency of the “Presidential Council,” while Al-Dabaiba is the head of a “unified” government, and it is an initiative that has not witnessed actual steps on the implementation path until the moment.
Among these moves, the holding of a session of the House of Representatives in Tripoli remains, according to observers, subject to the completion of political understandings and the provision of the necessary security guarantees, in addition to resolving the arrangements related to its presidency and the participation of members, in order to determine whether the step will break the barrier of questions and consultations and lead to an actual return to the Council’s meetings in the capital.
