Sudanese Ambassador Muhammad al-Ghazali al-Tijani Siraj stated that the recent developments in Sudan will not affect the agreement on establishing a logistics center for the Russian fleet on the Red Sea in Sudan.
In a statement to the Russian newspaper "Izvestia", published on Friday, the ambassador said, in response to a question about the possibility of postponing or reconsidering plans to establish the center, that "this issue was discussed during the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Sudan in February."
He continued, "The difficulty is that the agreement must be ratified by a legislative council, but it has not yet been formed. We do not have a parliament now, because Sudan is still in a transitional phase, and when it ends, we will have an elected government that can refer this agreement to Parliament for ratification."
In response to a question whether the current events will affect that, the ambassador said: "No, this will not affect the agreement. Perhaps the dates will be postponed because the political settlement in Sudan must be resumed in order to complete the democratic transition process."
It is reported that Russia and Sudan agreed in December 2020 to establish a logistics center for the Russian fleet on the Red Sea coast.
Saudi Arabia publishes the details of the "Jeddah Declaration" signed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan & Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo
The moment the two parties to the conflict in Sudan signed the "Jeddah Declaration"
Representatives of the Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, signed a new agreement under which the two parties commit themselves to facilitating humanitarian work in Sudan.
The text of the Jeddah Declaration reads:
“We, the undersigned Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces, affirm through this declaration our basic obligations under international humanitarian law to facilitate humanitarian action in order to meet the needs of civilians. We affirm our firm commitment to the sovereignty of Sudan and the preservation of its unity and territorial integrity.
We realize that adhering to the declaration will not affect any legal, security or political status of the signatory parties, nor will it be associated with engaging in any political process.
We welcome the efforts of the Friends of Sudan who are using their good offices and relations to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including adherence to the Declaration and its immediate implementation.
None of the points listed below supersede any obligations or principles under international humanitarian law and international human rights law that apply to this armed conflict, in particular the Second Additional Protocol of 1977 to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, which all parties must fulfill.
Obligations
1. We agree that the interests and safety of the Sudanese people are our primary priorities and reaffirm our commitment to ensuring the protection of civilians at all times, including by allowing safe passage for civilians to leave areas of active hostilities on a voluntary basis in the direction of their choice.
2. We affirm our responsibility to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including the obligation to:
Distinguish at all times between civilians and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives.
Refrain from any attack likely to cause incidental civilian harm which would be excessive in comparison to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.
Take all possible precautions to avoid and minimize harm to civilians, with the aim of evacuating civilian centers, including civilian dwellings. For example, civilians should not be used as human shields.
Ensure that checkpoints are not used to violate the principle of freedom of movement for civilians and humanitarian actors.
Allow all civilians to voluntarily and safely leave areas of hostilities and any besieged areas.
Obligation to protect the needs and necessities indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, which can include foodstuffs, agricultural areas, crops, and livestock. Looting, looting and destruction are also prohibited.
Commitment to evacuation, refrain from possession, respect and protect all private and public facilities such as medical facilities, hospitals, water and electricity facilities, and refrain from using them for military purposes.
Obligation to respect and protect medical transportation such as ambulances, and to refrain from using them for military purposes.
Obligation to respect and protect medical personnel and public facilities.
Respecting and not violating the right of civilians to pass and travel by roads and bridges inside and outside Khartoum State.
Take all possible measures to collect and evacuate the wounded and sick, including combatants - without discrimination - and allow humanitarian organizations to do so, and not to impede medical evacuations, including during active hostilities.
Refrain from recruiting and using children in hostilities.
Refrain from engaging in enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention of civilians.
Refrain from any form of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including sexual violence of all kinds.
Treat all persons deprived of their liberty humanely and give key humanitarian organizations regular access to persons in detention.
3. We recognize that humanitarian activities aim to alleviate human suffering and protect the life and dignity of non-combatants or those who have ceased to fight. We agree on the need to allow essential humanitarian operations to resume and protect humanitarian workers and assets, including:
Respecting the basic humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence of humanitarian operations.
Allow and facilitate the rapid and unhindered passage of humanitarian aid, including medical and surgical equipment, and ensure the freedom of movement for aid workers necessary to perform their duties. This includes:
(1) Facilitate the safe, expeditious, and unhindered passage of humanitarian personnel through all available routes (and any existing humanitarian corridors) as required by needs, into and within the country, including the movement of humanitarian aid convoys.
(ii) Adopting simple and prompt procedures for all logistical and administrative arrangements for humanitarian relief operations.
(3) Adhere to regular humanitarian breaks and quiet days as needed.
(4) Refraining from interfering in major humanitarian operations and not accompanying humanitarian workers when they carry out humanitarian activities, taking into account the amended directives and procedures for humanitarian action in Sudan.
Protect and respect humanitarian personnel, assets, supplies, offices, warehouses and other facilities. Armed actors must not interfere with the activities of humanitarian operations. While respecting the principle of the neutrality of humanitarian actors, armed actors must ensure the security of transport corridors and storage and distribution areas. It is also prohibited to attack, harass, intimidate, or arbitrarily detain individuals, or to attack, destroy, or steal supplies, facilities, materials, units, or relief vehicles.
4. Make every effort to ensure that these obligations - and all obligations of international humanitarian law - are fully disseminated within our ranks, and that focal points are designated to engage with humanitarian actors to facilitate their activities.
5. Enabling the responsible humanitarian agencies, such as the Sudanese Red Crescent and/or the International Committee of the Red Cross, to collect the dead, register their names and bury them in coordination with the competent authorities.
6. Take all necessary measures to ensure that all persons subject to our instructions, direction or control comply with international humanitarian law, in particular the obligations contained in this Declaration.
7. In furtherance of the principles and commitments set forth in this Declaration, we commit to prioritizing discussions with the aim of achieving a short-term ceasefire to facilitate the delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance and the restoration of essential services, and we further commit to scheduling subsequent broad discussions to achieve a permanent cessation of hostilities.
The declaration was signed in Jeddah on (May 11, 2023 AD), in cooperation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America.
“Egypt is not just a large museum of mummies” An Egyptian leader Saad Zaghloul : Cairo
The energies and human capabilities of the Egyptian people can be described as a great and inexhaustible wealth, and that Egypt has the largest balance of great figures in various fields, and Saad Zaghloul is only one of its examples.
As soon as the history books of the region are opened in any era, the stereotype that shows Egypt as just a large museum of mummies and the treasures of a unique, bygone civilization dissipates, confirming that civilization in this country has not stopped over time, despite the circumstances and ordeals that try to besiege it, stop its development and quench its breath. .
Saad Zaghloul and the revolution of 1919 are a shining example of this, and an expression of the integrated image of the Egyptian people and its great men in their first exemplary peaceful revolution at that time, which found its manifestation later in the non-violence revolution led by Mahatma Gandhi in India.
On this day in 1919, the Egyptian leader Saad Zaghloul, after returning from his exile in Malta, sent a memorandum to the so-called peace conference that took place in Paris in the aftermath of World War I, during which he protested against the conference's recognition of British protection over his country.
Despite denial and neglect, the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 remains one of the world's first successful examples of civil disobedience and nonviolence.
A revolution against the British occupation of Egypt and Sudan flared up shortly after the armistice was signed in World War I.
At this time a delegation of Egyptian nationalists, led by Saad Zaghloul, the British governor of Egypt, demanded that Francis Reginald Wingate abolish the British protectorate in Egypt and allow Egyptian representatives to attend a peace conference in Paris.
Saad Zaghloul advanced the popular movement demanding the full independence of Egypt, and used civil disobedience tactics, and the leaders of the Wafd Party visited cities and villages, and collected signatures on a petition to grant Egypt independence.
The British responded to this by arresting the leader Saad Zaghloul and two other leaders of the "Wafd" and banishing them to Malta, and this step sparked that unique revolution.
The 1919 revolution in Egypt lasted for months in the form of civil disobedience to the British occupation and strikes by students and lawyers, as well as postal, telegraph, tram and railway workers, and Egyptian government employees joined them.
Saad Zaghloul was returned from exile after a short time, while the fruits of that major peaceful uprising appeared later in the recognition of Egypt's independence in 1922 and the promulgation of a new constitution in 1923.
The struggle in Egypt for freedom and independence continued for three years, from the beginning of 1919 until the beginning of 1922, and the Egyptians did not compromise on their rights and insisted on complete independence and did not make any concessions.
In those immortal pages of Egypt's history, leader Saad Zaghloul launched a loud cry against injustice, and sent a letter to the US President at the time, Woodrow Wilson on June 6, 1919, in which he protested, in a delicate diplomatic way, against the Americans' betrayal of the principles they speak about in public and simply abandon behind the scenes. Pointing to "spreading the US government's recognition of British protection over Egypt all over the world," noting that the Egyptian people adhere to those principles "which were proclaimed in the name of the American people as the basis for a democratic and lasting peace," and sought to embody them in their country in a peaceful manner.
In his letter to the American president, Zaghloul stressed that the bullets of the British army are unable to shake the firm belief of the Egyptians in their ability to achieve their independence and freedom for their country.
The Egyptian leader conveyed his cry to the American president, saying: "The Egyptians could not imagine that the principles that promised the world a new era of political freedom and political equality would perpetuate the slavery of an entire nation."
In that letter, he recorded the violence, injustice and oppression practiced against the Egyptians, noting the “policy of systematic revenge by the British military authorities throughout the country,” and that Egyptian cities and villages were subjected to “the most egregious operations of extortion. Some villages were burned.” Entire people, and thousands of families homeless.People who do not salute British officers are court-martialed.The Qena district magistrate refused to attend court to avoid submitting to such humiliation.Whips are used more freely, notables are ill-treated and imprisoned.Women are abused, and in one case a husband is shot dead forces while trying to defend his wife's honour."
Saad Zaghloul concluded his resounding cry by saying: "All because the Egyptian people dared to demand their political liberation!"