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Holes in the ground, clods of earth next to headstones, dislocated concrete outlines: the Thiaroye military cemetery near Dakar bears the marks of recent excavations meant to unearth the truth behind a WWII-era massacre by French colonial forces. In November 1944, around 1,600 soldiers from several west African countries were sent to the Thiaroye camp after being captured by Germany while fighting for France. Discontent soon mounted over unpaid back pay and unmet demands that they be treated on a par with white soldiers. On December 1, French forces opened fire on them. The circumstances surrounding the massacre, the number ofIsl riflemen killed and their place of burial all remain unclear. An AFP team recently visited the camp's cemetery, where archaeologists are conducting landmark excavations to find and examine the remains of those interred there. **media[382436]** Rows of 202 graves, marked with white headstones and cement demarcations, are covered with shells. It is not known who exactly is in all the graves, or if there are even bodies at each marker. The researchers have so far only been able to excavate a very small percentage of them. The cemetery was created in 1926 by colonial France to bury African soldiers. Some researchers believe that riflemen killed in the Thiaroye massacre were buried there. Unearthed burial containers, since covered in blue plastic, bear testament to the archaeologists' work. Senegal alleges it was difficult to access the French colonial archives to study the massacre in full. This is why Colonel Saliou Ngom, the director of the Senegalese army's archives and historical heritage, believes it was necessary to "make the underground" speak. The archaeologists have so far carried out their initial excavations under one of two large baobabs, enormous trees that can indicate the site of buried bodies. The baobab is "a calcareous tree, that is one that likes limestone", history and geography professor Mamadou Kone, technical adviser to the Armed Forces Museum, told AFP. "Where there are bones, there are often baobabs", he said. The researchers submitted an official report on October 16 to Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye describing the massacre as "premeditated" and covered up, with a death toll that had been grossly underestimated. The French colonial authorities at the time of the massacre said up to 70 World War II riflemen were killed. But the researchers said the most credible estimates put the figure closer to 300 to 400, with some of the men buried in the Thiaroye cemetery. One of the archaeologists who led the dig, Moustapha Sall, explained that seven graves were excavated out of a first group of 34. "Archaeologists found seven skeletons. This is a very important step in the search for historical truth," Colonel Ngom said. According to Sall, "one skeleton contains a bullet in its left side in the location of the heart." "Others lack a spine, ribs or skull. Some individuals are buried with iron chains on their shins," he added. "This means they suffered violence." The graves where the bodies are located are more recent than the remains themselves, Sall added. "One hypothesis is that the graves were made after the (initial) burials or that it was staged to make it appear they had been properly buried," Sall said. The next key step, Sall explained, will be taking DNA samples to help determine the individuals' origins. "The preliminary results do not allow us to answer all the questions," he said. Ballistics experts will additionally provide information on the military equipment, he added. Meanwhile, the Senegalese government has ordered ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to better explore the depths of the cemetery's subsoil. "We have been searching for the historical truth for 81 years," Colonel Ngom said. "If the subsoil provides us with (this truth) there is nothing more significant." President Faye, who has committed to preserving the soldiers' memory, has announced he has approved "the continuation of archaeological excavations at all sites likely to contain mass graves". In November 2024, as the atrocity's 80th anniversary approached, French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged that French colonial forces had committed a "massacre" in Thiaroye.

More than half of Sudan's population is in need of humanitarian aid, the head of the Danish Refugee Council said, as fighting ravages the northeast African nation.Since breaking out in April 2023, the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 mn and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises."We see a situation where more than 30mn people are in need of humanitarian assistance. That is half of the population of Sudan," Danish Refugee Council Secretary General Charlotte Slente told AFP by phone this week after a visit to a border region in neighbouring Chad."The suffering we see is unimaginable." Sudan had a population of around 50mn people in 2024, according to the World Bank.The aid official's comments came after a field visit to an area in Chad that borders Sudan's western Darfur region, which has seen fierce fighting of late.Violence has escalated dramatically in recent weeks, with the RSF seizing control of the key town of El-Fasher — the army's last stronghold in Darfur — after an 18-month siege and reports of atrocities multiplying."There are violations that cross all international humanitarian laws," she added.Slente said the NGO had seen evidence of mass killings and sexual violence in Sudan.**media[382270]**"We see detentions, we see abductions, forced displacement and torture," she said.She accused the international community of not doing enough."Statements have a very limited impact both on the ongoing humanitarian needs on the ground, and they have not been able to stop the violence," she said.She warned that there were other cities still under siege that were not receiving the same level of attention.The town of Babanusa, the last army stronghold in West Kordofan state, has been under siege for several months, as have North Kordofan state capital El-Obeid and South Kordofan's Kadugli and Dilling."The international community must stop managing the consequences of this conflict and must start preventing the atrocities," said Slente.

Residents of the southern Sudanese city of El-Obeid have said they are living in fear as paramilitaries appear to prepare for an assault, with the army reporting shooting down a drone targeting the city on Saturday.The North Kordofan state capital, about 400km southwest of the national capital Khartoum, is a regional hub and a strategic prize for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with Sudan's army since April 2023.While the RSF announced Thursday it had accepted a truce proposal put forward by mediators, the UN subsequently said it saw "preparations for intensified hostilities", issuing a warning about the deteriorarting situation in the Kordofan region in particular."We are especially worried after what happened in El-Fasher," Soaad Ali, from El-Obeid's Karima neighbourhood, said referring to the RSF's capture of the last army stronghold in western Darfur after an 18-month siege.That takeover was followed by reports of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions and looting, triggering fears the conflict could spread into oil-rich Kordofan.El-Obeid, which hosts an airport, sits on a key supply route linking Darfur and Khartoum.Last month, the RSF captured Bara, north of El-Obeid, forcing more than 36,000 people to flee that town and four others in North Kordofan in less than a week, according to the UN.The group said last week it had massed forces in Bara to retake El-Obeid, "advising civilians to steer clear of military targets"."We are living in fear," said a resident of El-Obeid's Qubba neighbourhood, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons."Officials try to reassure us, but... after what happened in Bara, our fears are growing."The fall of El-Fasher two weeks ago gave the RSF control of all five state capitals in the vast western region, in addition to parts of the south.The army controls most of Sudan's north, east and centre, including Khartoum.Since El-Fasher's fall, more than 80,000 people have fled the city and surrounding areas, according to the UN.The General Coordination for Displaced People and Refugees in Darfur, an NGO, said that more than 16,000 people had arrived in Tawila and were in dire need of food, water and medical care.El-Fasher had a population of around 260,000 before the RSF takeover.Little is known about the fate of thousands still trapped in the city, which has been largely cut off from communications.Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Sudan, told AFP that many families arriving in Tawila came with "children who are not their own".The children, she said, "have lost their parents on the way, either because they've... disappeared in a chaos, or they've been detained, or they've been killed".Survivors said that women and men were separated on the way out of El-Fasher, and that hundreds of men were detained in nearby towns.Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Saturday visited displaced people from El-Fasher in Al-Dabba city, about 1,000km north.

Over 36,000 Sudanese civilians have fled towns and villages in the Kordofan region east of Darfur, according to the UN, as the paramilitary warned that its forces were massing along a new front line.In recent weeks, the central Kordofan region has become a new battleground in the two-year war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).Central Kordofan is strategic because it is located between Sudan's Darfur provinces and the area around the capital Khartoum.The widening of the war comes just over a week after the RSF took control of El-Fasher -- the army's last stronghold in Darfur.The RSF has set up a rival administration there, contesting the pro-army government operating out of the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.In a statement late Sunday, the UN's migration agency said an estimated 36,825 people have fled five localities in North Kordofan between October 26 and 31.Residents on Monday reported a heavy surge in both RSF and army forces across towns and villages in North Kordofan.The army and the RSF, at war since April 2023, are vying for El-Obeid, the North Kordofan state capital and a key logistics and command hub that links Darfur to Khartoum, and hosts an airport.The RSF claimed control of Bara, a city north of El-Obeid last week."Today, all our forces have converged on the Bara front here," an RSF member said in a video shared by the RSF on its official Telegram page late on Sunday, "advising civilians to steer clear of military sites".Suleiman Babiker, who lives in Um Smeima, west of El-Obeid, told AFP that following the paramilitary capture of El-Fasher, "the number of RSF vehicles increased"."We stopped going to our farms, afraid of clashes," he told AFP.Another resident, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisal, also said "there has been a big increase in army vehicles and weapons west and south of El-Obeid" over the past two weeks.Awad Ali, who lives in al-Hamadi on the road linkinig West and North Kordofan, said he has seen "RSF vehicles passing every day from the areas of West Kordofan toward El-Obeid since early October".Kordofan is a resource-rich region divided administratively into North, South and West Kordofan.It "is likely the next arena of military focus for the warring parties," Martha Pobee, assistant UN secretary-general for Africa warned last week.She cited "large-scale atrocities" perpetrated by the RSF, adding that "these included reprisals against so-called 'collaborators', which are often ethnically motivated."She also raised the alarm over patterns echoing those in Darfur, where RSF fighters have been accused of mass killings, sexual violence and abductions against non-Arab communities after the fall of El-Fasher.At least 50 civilians, including five Red Crescent volunteers, were killed in recent violence in North Kordofan, according to the UN.Both the RSF, descended from Janjaweed militias accused of genocide two decades ago, and the army face war crimes allegations.The United States under Joe Biden in January this year concluded that "members of the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan".But international action on Sudan has largely been muted and peace efforts have failed so far.The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 million more and created the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.

Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday under the protection of Israeli occupation forces. The Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing the Jerusalem Governorate, reported that 648 settlers entered the mosque compound and performed Talmudic and provocative rituals in its courtyards while under the protection of occupation forces.The Al-Aqsa Mosque has faced increasing incursions by settlers since the start of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, a development viewed as a serious escalation and a violation of the sanctity of the mosque.

Survivors fleeing the Sudanese city of El-Fasher told AFP on Saturday that paramilitary fighters separated families and killed children in front of their parents, with tens of thousands still trapped following the city's fall. Germany's top diplomat Johann Wadephul described on Saturday the situation in Sudan as "apocalyptic" while fresh satellite images suggested mass killings were likely ongoing, five days after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized El-Fasher. At war with the regular army since April 2023, the RSF pushed the military out of its last stronghold in the vast Darfur region after a grinding 18-month siege. Since the takeover, reports have emerged of summary executions, sexual violence, attacks on aid workers, looting and abductions, while communications remain largely cut off. "I don't know if my son Mohamed is dead or alive. They took all the boys," Zahra, a mother of six who fled El-Fasher to the nearby town of Tawila, told AFP in a satellite phone interview. Before reaching the nearby RSF-controlled town of Garni, she said RSF fighters stopped them and took her sons, aged 16 and 20. "I begged them to let them go," she said, but the fighters only released her 16-year-old son. Another survivor, Adam, said two of his sons, aged 17 and 21, were killed in front of him. "They told them they had been fighting (for the army), and then they beat me on my back with a stick," he told AFP. In Garni, RSF fighters saw the blood of Adam's sons on his clothes and accused him of being a fighter. After hours of investigations, they let him go. The survivors' full names have been withheld for their safety. The UN says more than 65,000 people have fled El-Fasher since Sunday but tens of thousands remain trapped. Around 260,000 people were in the city before the RSF's final assault. "Large numbers of people remain in grave danger and are being prevented by the Rapid Support Forces and its allies from reaching safer areas," Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said. The group said that only 5,000 people had managed to make their way to Tawila, about 70 kilometres to the west. The numbers of people arriving in Tawila "don't add up, while accounts of large-scale atrocities are mounting", MSF's head of emergencies Michel Olivier Lacharite said. Several eyewitnesses told MSF that a group of 500 civilians, along with soldiers from the military and the army-allied Joint Forces, had attempted to flee on Sunday, but most were killed or captured by the RSF and their allies. Survivors reported that people were separated based on their gender, age or presumed ethnicity, and that many were still being held for ransom. Darfur is home to a number of non-Arab ethnic groups, who make up a majority of the region's population, in contrast to Sudan's dominant Sudanese Arabs. Hayat, a mother of five who fled the city, previously told AFP that "young men travelling with us were stopped" along the way by paramilitaries and "we don't know what happened to them". The UN said on Friday the death toll from the RSF's assault on the city may be in the hundreds, while army allies accused the paramilitary group of killing over 2,000 civilians. Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab suggested on Friday that mass killings were likely continuing in and around El-Fasher. The lab, which uses satellite imagery and open-source information to document human rights abuses during wars, said fresh images from Friday showed "no large-scale movement" of civilians fleeing the city, giving them reason to believe much of the population may be "dead, captured, or in hiding". The lab identified at least 31 clusters of objects consistent with human bodies between Sunday and Friday, across neighbourhoods, university grounds and military sites. "Indicators that mass killing is continuing are clearly visible," the lab said. At a conference in Bahrain on Saturday, Wadephul said Sudan was "absolutely an apocalyptic situation, the greatest humanitarian crisis of the world". The RSF said on Thursday that it had arrested several fighters accused of abuses during the capture of El-Fasher, but UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher questioned the group's commitment to investigating atrocities. Both the RSF -- descended from the Janjaweed militias accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago -- and the army have faced war crimes accusations over the course of the conflict. The US has previously determined that the has RSF committed genocide in Darfur. Meanwhile, the army has drawn on support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey. El-Fasher's capture gives the RSF full control over all five state capitals in Darfur, effectively splitting Sudan along an east-west axis, with the army controlling the north, east and centre. UN officials have warned that the violence is now spreading to the neighbouring Kordofan region, with reports emerging of "large-scale atrocities perpetrated" by the RSF. The wider conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly 12 million and created the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.

Israeli colonists on Thursday stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem under heavy protection from Israeli occupation police.According to the Palestinian news agency (WAFA), eyewitnesses reported that dozens of colonists entered the mosque compound in groups, conducted provocative tours, and performed Talmudic rituals while being guarded by Israeli forces.Extremist colonist groups had earlier called for incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday and Thursday.The holy site has witnessed a rise in such incursions since the start of the ongoing war, widely described as a campaign of genocide, marking a serious escalation and a violation of its sanctity.

The National Committee for International Humanitarian Law at the Ministry of Justice and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reviewed ways to enhance cooperation and joint coordination in the field of military training and the implementation of programs directed toward the armed forces. This came during a meeting that brought together the National Committee for International Humanitarian Law and a delegation from the ICRC, led by the Head of the ICRC delegation in Qatar, Basma Tabaja, along with Representative of the Armed Forces to the ICRC, Ahmed Moharram, and the Legal Advisor at the ICRC Mission in Damascus Bassel Almajd Representing the National Committee for International Humanitarian Law were members of the Committee and representatives of the Ministry of Defense Brigadier General Abdullah Ibrahim Al Fadala, Rapporteur of the Committee Khalid Mohammed Al Khamis Al Obaidli, and Assistant Rapporteur Alaa Ismail Al Musleh. The meeting comes as part of the Committee's ongoing commitment to promoting the principles of international humanitarian law and building national capacities in the military field, in a way that contributes to strengthening respect for humanitarian rules during armed conflicts.

More than a year of siege in the western Sudanese city of El-Fasher has forced some civilians to turn to animal skins for food as the country's war grinds on.El-Fasher is the last major holdout in the vast western Darfur region against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the regular army since April 2023.With the RSF's nearly 18-month siege cutting off humanitarian aid to the city -- home to 400,000 trapped civilians -- El-Fasher has run out of almost everything."After not eating for three days, three of my neighbours and I roasted cowhide," said Salah Abdallah, 47."Even then, it was difficult to get firewood to light a fire."Soup kitchens, until recently run by volunteers, have closed for lack of supplies.A civilian group documenting the civil war's abuses, the El-Fasher resistance committee, posted a video on social media on Wednesday showing rolls of animal skin sizzling on a small wood fire."The people of El-Facher are now eating cowhide to survive because there isn't even any animal fodder left," the committee wrote.Livestock feed, once used as a meal of last resort, has become scarce and exorbitantly priced.On X, a user who shared the video said they were "old skins" used to stave off hunger.Since August the RSF has stepped up its artillery and drone bombardments in an attempt to take the strategic city.In recent weeks the paramilitaries have seized control of several sectors of El-Fasher, and are wearing down the army's last strongholds bit by bit.After fleeing his Awlad Al-Rif neighbourhood in El-Fasher, which fell to the RSF in recent weeks, Salah Adam found refuge in a reception centre in the city's Daraja Oula quarter."My family left the city three months ago. I stayed behind to keep an eye on our home," the 28-year-old university student explained."In the first two days after the soup kitchens shut down, I shared one bowl of corn porridge without salt with another family," he said, adding that he had not eaten since Wednesday."I will leave the city, no matter the danger."According to satellite images analysed by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab, the RSF have dug nearly 68 kilometres of earthwork embankments around the city. A corridor just three to four kilometres wide is the only exit.The war in Sudan was triggered by a power struggle between two former allies: General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the army commander and de facto ruler of Sudan since a 2021 coup, and General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, head of the RSF.The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and pushed nearly 25 million into acute hunger.According to the United Nations, more than one million people have fled El-Fasher since the war began, accounting for 10 percent of all internally displaced people in the country.Among them is Ibrahim Osman, who now lives in Tawila, around 70 kilometres west of the city."I had decided not to leave it at all, despite the never-ending bombardment, but the fear of dying of hunger pushed me to leave," the 36-year-old said.The population of the city, once the region's largest, has decreased by about 62 percent, the UN's migration agency said.If El-Fasher falls to the RSF, the paramilitaries will have control of the entire Darfur region, where they have sought to establish a rival administration.The army holds the country's north, centre and east, while the RSF holds sway in the west and parts of the south.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) affirmed that the UN's decision to reduce its peacekeeping forces by a quarter in 11 operations worldwide in the coming months due to budget shortfalls will impact the force's activities in southern Lebanon. In her remarks to Qatar News Agency (QNA), UNIFIL Spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said: "We are still studying what the peacekeeping budget shortfalls will mean for UNIFIL, but we know we will have to make some difficult decisions. We are finalizing our plans, but we know this will directly impact our activities and require adjustments." "Nonetheless, we will do everything possible to mitigate the effects and will work closely with Lebanese authorities and our troop-contributing countries to implement any changes in the least disruptive way possible," she added. Concluding her remarks to QNA, she affirmed the commitment to continuing to implement the core tasks stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 1701, and to continuing coordination with the Lebanese authorities and contributing countries to limit the repercussions of the resolution on the mission's work. The United Nations is preparing to reduce the number of peacekeeping forces worldwide by 25 percent over the coming months, or between 13,000 and 14,000 soldiers and police, due to funding shortfalls following the US halving of its contribution. The reduction includes missions in countries including the Congo, Lebanon, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

Israeli occupation forces carried out an incursion today into the Quneitra countryside in southern Syria, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). SANA reported that a unit of Israeli forces, consisting of five military vehicles, entered the vicinity of the town of Saida al-Hanout in the Quneitra countryside before withdrawing shortly afterward. The agency added that Israeli occupation forces conducted another incursion yesterday into the town of Tal al-Ahmar al-Sharqi, also in the Quneitra countryside, using four military vehicles accompanied by two tanks and a number of soldiers. The forces carried out a field deployment lasting about an hour before withdrawing toward Tal al-Ahmar al-Gharbi. The Israeli occupation continues to violate Syrian sovereignty in contravention of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, United Nations resolutions, and international law. Syria has condemned these repeated aggressions and called on the international community to take a firm stance to halt them.

Three Palestinians were killed Saturday, including one elderly man who was shot by Israeli forces east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to medical sources. The sources confirmed that the elderly resident of Al Qarara succumbed to gunfire targeting civilian gatherings. Another Palestinian died from injuries sustained near an aid checkpoint southwest of Khan Younis, while medical teams recovered the body of a man who had gone missing following an Israeli airstrike on Al Qarara the previous day. Civil defense crews also retrieved the bodies of more than ten victims from the Al Mughraqa area and the Turkish hospital zone in central Gaza's Netzarim region. Local reports indicated several injuries after Israeli artillery targeted civilians on Al Ajarma Street in Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza. Meanwhile, thousands of displaced Palestinians continued returning from the south to the north of the Strip for a second consecutive day, following the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel that took effect Friday afternoon. QNA's correspondent observed heavy foot and vehicle traffic along Salah Al Din Street and the coastal Al Rashid Road, as families made their way back to inspect their homes, many of which were damaged or destroyed during the recent ground offensive in Gaza City. The correspondent further reported that the scale of devastation became clear as residents reached their neighborhoods, only to find entire blocks flattened. Residential buildings, infrastructure, and key landmarks were obliterated, especially in Gaza City, which bore the brunt of the incursion. The ceasefire agreement, brokered in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, came into effect Friday afternoon, ending a wide-scale Israeli assault on Gaza that began on October 7, 2023. The offensive resulted in over 67,000 deaths, approximately 170,000 injuries, mostly among women and children, and a famine that claimed the lives of 460 people, including 154 children.