Day: June 7, 2024

ISLAMABAD — The United Nations informed Taliban leaders Friday that it is working to finalize the agenda for a crucial two-day international conference on Afghanistan, and it is aiming for it to be accepted by all sides.

Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, met with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul and discussed the matter, Muttaqi’s office said in a post-meeting statement.

The two sides “exchanged views on the detailed outlook and necessary coordination” for the June 30 U.N.-convened conference, which Doha, Qatar, will host.

The gathering, referred to as “Doha III,” will be the third in Qatar’s capital on the subject since U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres initiated the process with special envoys on Afghanistan to promote an effective world approach to the Taliban-governed country, which is facing dire humanitarian, economic, and human rights crises.

“At the outset, Mrs. Roza Otunbayeva said that her team is working on the agenda of the 3rd Doha meeting and trying to arrange an agenda that could be recognized by all sides,” the Taliban foreign ministry stated.

While emphasizing the importance of a conference agenda “that may be acceptable to all sides,” Muttaqi was quoted as pledging “to work closely with the concerned sides regarding the matter.”

The U.N. did not immediately comment on its envoy’s meeting with the chief Taliban diplomat.

Otunbayeva’s contact with de facto authorities came amid growing calls for the U.N. to ensure Afghan women’s representation at the table in the Doha meeting, with the rights of women and girls at the center of discussions.

Rights activists have criticized the U.N. for inviting the Taliban to the Doha meeting and allegedly working hard to persuade them to attend the event. De facto Afghan authorities did not participate in the first two Doha gatherings, saying the U.N. had failed to meet their conditions for doing so.

The Taliban informally stated late last month their intention to join the June 30 discussions in Doha, however, promising to make a formal announcement after receiving from the U.N. the final agenda of the event.

On Thursday, about a dozen rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, jointly sent a letter to the U.N., the Security Council and member states, sharing concerns the Taliban’s participation in Doha is being sought at the cost of the rights of Afghan women and girls.

“While members of the international community are moving perilously close to accepting the legitimacy of Taliban rule, Afghanistan’s women, who are bravely fighting back and paying a devastating price as a result, are not,” the letter reads.

Heather Barr, women’s rights associate director at Human Rights Watch, told VOA the letter highlighted several concerns, including reports that women’s rights would neither be on the agenda nor fully represented at the conference.

“The situation in Afghanistan right now is already the most serious women’s rights crisis on the planet, and it is steadily worsening,” Barr stated. She criticized stepped-up U.N. contacts with the Taliban ahead of the Doha meeting.

“The context for this seems to be the U.N. twisting themselves into a pretzel to try to placate the Taliban and convince them to attend. That effort is in direct conflict with the U.N.’s core obligation to uphold human rights, including the rights of Afghan women and girls.”

U.N. officials have defended their invitation and engagement with the Taliban, saying that “they are the de facto authorities in Afghanistan” and underscoring that the world body is persistently urging Kabul to uphold the rights of women and girls.

The Taliban had asked the U.N. in the run-up to the second Doha meeting, in February, that their delegates would be accepted as the sole official representatives of the country, meaning that Afghan civil society representatives, women’s rights activists and members of opposition groups would not be present.

De facto Afghan authorities also sought a meeting between their delegation and the U.N. at “a very senior level,” saying it “would be beneficial” for both sides. The Taliban also opposed the planned appointment of a U.N. special envoy to coordinate international engagement with Kabul in line with the latest U.N. Security Council resolution on Afghanistan.

However, Guterres rejected the Taliban conditions, saying they would have “denied us the right to talk to other representatives of the Afghan society and demanded a treatment that would to a large extent be similar to recognition.”

No foreign country has recognized the Taliban as legitimate rulers of Afghanistan since they stormed back to power in August 2021 as all the U.S.-led NATO troops withdrew from the country after their two-decade-long presence.

The Taliban have imposed sweeping curbs on women’s right to education and public life at large in line with their strict interpretation of Islam. Afghan girls ages 12 and older are banned from attending secondary school, while women are prohibited from public and private workplaces, barring health care and a few other sectors.

Women are not allowed to undertake road trips unless accompanied by a close male relative and are banned from visiting parks, gyms and other public places.

The elusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, insists he is governing the country in line with local culture and Islamic teachings, rejecting international criticism of his policies as an interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.

The Taliban, who are ethnically Pashtun, have also dismissed international calls for giving representation to other Afghan ethnicities in the government, saying all groups are represented in it.

GENEVA — The International Organization for Migration warns that the number of internally displaced people in Sudan soon will top 10 million, as conflict and acute hunger spread throughout the country.   

Mohammed Refaat, the IOM’s chief of mission in Sudan, calls the crisis unfolding in Sudan a “catastrophic human tragedy.” He told journalists in Geneva on Friday that he was speaking from Port Sudan “with a heavy heart and a profound sense of urgency.” 

“Today, I am not just a representative of a U.N. agency, I am a voice for millions of Sudanese whose lives have been forever altered by the ongoing crisis. Families have been torn apart, communities devastated, and the future put on hold. The human toll of this crisis is huge,” he said.   

The IOM says that more than half of the 9.9 million people displaced inside Sudan are women and more than a quarter are children. Additionally, it says more than 2 million people have fled as refugees into neighboring countries, mainly to Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt. 

Refaat observed that before rival generals of the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces went to war in mid-April 2023, displacement was largely concentrated within Darfur and Kordofan states. Since then, he said displacement has spread widely across all 18 states, with the majority, 36 percent, from the capital, Khartoum. 

He said that 70 percent of people uprooted from their homes are trying to survive “in areas at risk of famine,” noting that most of those places are in the Darfur region, “which is currently the most difficult for humanitarians to reach.” 

“The humanitarian situation has entered a new and alarming chapter, the outbreak of fighting in Al Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, putting over 800,000 civilians at risk,” he said. “Movement restrictions are choking the lifelines of those in the state, with crucial roads out of Al Fasher blocked and preventing civilians from reaching safer areas and limiting the amount of food and humanitarian aid coming into the city,” 

The Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Program issued a joint report on 18 world “hunger hotspots” Thursday in which they cite Sudan, along with Mali, Palestine, and South Sudan, as countries that “remain at the highest alert, and require the most urgent attention” to prevent famine. 

According to the report, “18 million people are acutely food insecure, including 3.6 million children acutely malnourished, and famine is rapidly closing in on millions of people in Darfur, Kordofan, Al Jazirah, and Khartoum.” 

“Conflict and displacement also continue at an alarming pace and magnitude in Sudan, where time is running out to save lives and the lean season looms,” the report warns. 

Sudan historically has been a major transit and destination country for migrants. It traditionally has been a haven for many fleeing war, hunger and hardship from neighboring countries. 

The IOM’s Refaat notes that the recent war has exacerbated the situation, however, “leaving many migrants and refugees stranded with limited access to support and services.” 

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warns that the health system in Sudan is collapsing. It notes about 65 percent of the Sudanese population lacks access to health care, just 25 percent of needed medical supplies are available and “only 20 to 30 percent of health facilities remain functional, at minimal levels” in hard-to-reach areas. 

“At least two-thirds of the states are experiencing simultaneous outbreaks,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, noting that vaccination for measles has declined “due to the conflict.”   

“Over 11,000 cases of cholera have been reported from 12 states and this is likely to be an underestimate, and there are also outbreaks of malaria and dengue,” he said, adding that many people are suffering from mental health, non-communicable and chronic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and kidney failure for lack of treatment. 

The IOM says that the prices of food, water and fuel are skyrocketing, making those essential goods unaffordable. This, at a time when “the world’s worst internal displacement crisis continues to escalate, with looming famine and disease adding to the havoc wrought by conflict,” it said in a statement Thursday. 

Refaat said, “Aid agencies have struggled to keep pace with the growing needs.  Funding shortfalls are impeding efforts to provide adequate shelter, food, and medical assistance.” 

“Serious concerns are mounting about the long-term impact of the displacement on Sudan’s social and economic fabric,” he said, emphasizing that the IOM’s $312.5 million appeal to provide aid for 1.7 million people this year is only 19 percent funded.

Mounting deaths and regional escalation have failed to bring closer a ceasefire and the release of hostages

Joe Biden insisted it was “time for this war to end and the day after to begin” as he promoted a three-phase peace deal. Hours later, Benjamin Netanyahu shot it down as a “non-starter”. One week on, an agreement looks as remote as ever.

More than 36,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, says its health ministry. More Israeli hostages seized in the murderous raid by Hamas on 7 October have died. On Thursday Israel bombed a UN school in central Gaza, killing at least 33 of the thousands of displaced people sheltering there, including 12 women and children, according to witnesses and hospital records. The Israel Defense Forces said it was a “precise” strike on Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters using it as a base. What is clear is that the IDF is fighting in places where it was supposed to have eliminated Hamas, while civilians are forced to return to those areas by the assault on Rafah.

Continue reading…