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When the oil price crashed in the mid-1990s, reaching lows of below $20 per barrel after it had peaked during the Iraq-Kuwait conflict, it was a huge challenge for exporting nations. It exposed economies that were heavily reliant on an unpredictable, fluctuating global price for a single commodity. Since then, policy-makers in the Gulf have learned valuable lessons about how to dampen the boom-and-bust cycle and rebalance their economies.Three decades on, a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), struggles to find fault with the progress made. Its latest report on the six nations of the Gulf Co-operation Council (December 2025) commends policy in all areas of economic policy: monetary, fiscal and trade and business-related matters.There are several policy areas that mitigate dependence on global commodity prices:Long-term, global investments through a sovereign wealth fund,Counter-cyclical fiscal policy, making investment decisions based on potential for economic development rather than trophy assets,Encouragement of diversification through nurturing universities, research centres and entrepreneurial growth, including in hi-tech, supporting digitalisation and AI,Reducing bureaucracy and encouraging trade. The GCC has committed to these disciplines. The report’s title refers to ‘enhancing’ resilience to global shocks – many of the key reforms are in place, and in some cases have been established for many years.The region has been less affected by tariffs and trade disputes than some other parts of the world. Energy is exempt from the tariffs, and the Gulf economies do not have huge exposure to the US consumer market. The IMF notes that growth prospects for the global economy are subdued, including for the oil and gas sector. But low-to-moderate growth with moderate oil prices and low inflation is a healthy place for Gulf economies to be, given their strengths, including low debt and fiscal surpluses or low deficits, with the exception of Bahrain. Five GCC nations are in the top 30 most competitive nations, with the UAE in fifth place and Qatar in ninth.It is still the case that oil and gas exports remain the primary export earner in the region. The oil price has remained remarkably stable for the past year, typically around the $60-70 mark, despite significant price rises in commodities such as precious metals. It is likely to remain reasonably stable, as the forces that could send it sharply upwards or down are in balance. There has been something of a glut in supply, while economic growth has slowed and there is tension between the US and Venezuela, an oil producer.Diversification initiatives have been helped by governments in the region prioritising digitalisation and use of artificial intelligence (AI). The IMF reports that the GCC ‘is close to or on par with advanced economies as indicated by the Enhanced Digital Access Index (EDAI)’, scoring well on digital infrastructure and affordability.The report notes the overseas assets held by Gulf nations, although these do vary. Gross international investment assets range from 90% of GDP in Bahrain to 760% of GDP in Kuwait as of 2023.Two features that are somewhat more negative, highlighted in the report, are linked: The extent to which the public sector continues to be the dominant provider of employment, and to be the main source of investment. The IMF would like to see more private sector-led development. Growth figures for the non-hydrocarbon sector have been healthy, and more growth is projected, ranging from 2.5-4.5%, helped by the region hosting major international events especially sporting events. The share of exports that non-hydrocarbons account for varies considerably: From just 5-7% of GDP in Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, to as high as 60% in the United Arab Emirates, reflecting the development of trading and manufacturing hubs especially in Dubai.The level of public sector employment in the region, while higher than ideal for a balanced economy, does mean that oil wealth is to some extent spread throughout the economy, and not confined to the elite. This supports domestic demand. But the IMF would like to see the wage gap between the public and private sectors reduced.For many years the Gulf nations have been welcoming to immigrants, and have a well-developed work visa system. This has helped economic development in a region with high per-capita income but a small indigenous population. The region is well positioned to attract talent from all parts of the world, especially as the US and Europe have become less welcoming to immigrants.The Fund also recommends further development in local financial markets. There is scope to expand the depth of credit and bond markets. Nations that have a higher proportion of local currency debt, and diverse investor bases, have more stable bond yields and market liquidity during periods of stress.Regional trade could be boosted, for example by reducing non-tariff barriers such as content requirements, and bottlenecks in logistics and trade financing. There is scope for increased trade both within the Gulf Co-operation Council members, and with neighbouring regions, such as Africa and south Asia.Monetary policy, by following the US and pegging currencies to the dollar, has been slightly restrictive, with interest rates above the estimated neutral level, which helps keep inflation low.Overall, while the overall economic outlook for the world is still ‘tilted to the downside’, the report says, the Gulf nations are well-positioned.The author is a Qatari banker, with many years of experience in the banking sector in senior positions. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was in no hurry for peace and if it did not want to resolve their conflict peacefully, Moscow would accomplish ⁠all its goals by ⁠force.Putin's remarks on Saturday, carried by state news agency Tass, followed a vast Russian drone and missile attack that prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to say that Russia was demonstrating its wish to continue the war while Kyiv wanted peace.Zelensky was due to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida to seek a resolution to the war Putin launched nearly four years ago with a full-scale invasion of Russia's smaller neighbour.The White ⁠House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Putin's remarks.Russian commanders told Putin during an inspection visit that Moscow's forces had captured the towns of Myrnohrad, Rodynske and Artemivka in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk, as well as Huliaipole and Stepnohirsk in the Zaporizhzhia region, the Kremlin said on the Telegram messaging app.Ukraine's military rejected Russia's assertions about Huliaipole and Myrnohrad as false statements.The situation in both places remains "difficult" but "defensive operations" by Ukrainian troops are ongoing, ⁠the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a statement on social media.The Southern Command of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Telegram that "fierce fighting" continued in Huliaipole. "However, a substantial part of Huliaipole continues to be held by the Defence Forces of Ukraine."Verifying battlefield claims is difficult as access on both sides is restricted, information is tightly controlled and front lines shift quickly, with media relying on satellite and geolocated footage that can be partial or delayed.Zelensky meanwhile said he would push a new peace plan for Ukraine when he sits down with Trump in Florida, bolstered by the backing of European leaders but with his capital Kyiv still reeling from a massive Russian bombardment.The US president has been non-committal on the revised 20-point proposal for ending the nearly four-year conflict, while Putin has offered no indication that Moscow would find it acceptable.Trump has made ending the Ukraine war a centrepiece of his second term as a self-proclaimed "president of peace", and he has repeatedly blamed both Kyiv and Moscow for the failure to secure a ceasefire.The meeting, to be hosted by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence at 1pm (1800 GMT), will be their first in-person encounter since October, when the US president refused to grant Zelensky's request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.And the Ukrainian leader could face another hard sell this time around, with Trump insisting that he "doesn't have anything until I approve it”.The talks are expected to last an hour, after which the two presidents are scheduled to hold a joint call with the leaders of key European allies.The revised peace plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, would stop the war along its current front lines and could require Ukraine to pull troops back from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarized buffer zones.As such, it contains Kyiv's most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions.It does not, however, envisage Ukraine withdrawing from the 20% of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls – Russia's main territorial demand.Before landing in Florida, Zelensky made a stopover in Canada during which he held a conference call with European allies, who pledged their full support for his peace efforts and vowed to maintain pressure on Moscow.The Ukrainian leader said he hoped the talks in Florida would be "very constructive".He also told reporters that he would press Trump on the importance of providing security guarantees that would prevent any renewed Russian aggression if a ceasefire were secured."We need strong security guarantees. We will discuss this and we will discuss the terms," he said.Ukraine insists it needs more European and US funding and weapons – especially drones.Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to "torpedo" a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state news agency Tass that Moscow would continue its engagement with US negotiators but criticized European governments as the "main obstacle" to peace."They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia," Lavrov said, adding that the ambitions of European politicians are "literally blinding them”. 

Myanmar heads to the polls today as it battles a civil war that has ravaged parts of the country as well as one of Asia's worst humanitarian crises.Already one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries, Myanmar has been hammered by a conflict triggered by a 2021 coup in which the military ousted an elected civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.Myanmar's ⁠humanitarian crisis is one of the ⁠most severe in Asia, driven by the intensifying civil war and repeated natural disasters, including a massive earthquake in March.The ruling junta has previously suppressed information about a severe food crisis gripping the country by pressuring researchers not to collect data about hunger and aid workers not to publish it, Reuters has reported, besides cracking down on journalists since the coup.Myanmar is one of the world's most under-funded aid operations, with only 12% of required funds received, the United Nations says.US cuts to humanitarian aid are having a crushing impact on people, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar has said.The UN estimates that 20mn of Myanmar's 51mn people need aid as soaring ⁠inflation and a plunging currency push about half the population below the poverty line.More than 3.6mn people have been displaced from their homes, with over 6,800 civilians killed in the conflict triggered by the coup, according to UN estimates.With mounting violence forcing increasing numbers of people to flee, more than 12mn in Myanmar will face acute hunger next year, including 1mn who will need lifesaving support, according to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).More than 16mn people across Myanmar are acutely food insecure, meaning that their lack of food threatens lives and livelihoods, the WFP estimates.They are the fifth-largest group needing aid anywhere in the world, making Myanmar "a hunger hotspot of very high concern", the agency said.More than 540,000 children across the country are expected to suffer this year from acute ⁠malnutrition – life-threatening wasting that can have severe and lifelong effects – a 26% increase from last year, the WFP said.One in three children under the age of five is already suffering from stunted growth, according to the WFP.Myanmar's economy – once deemed as one of the region's most promising – has struggled in recent years, reeling from the civil war, natural disasters and mismanagement.However, despite the challenges, Myanmar's economy is showing some signs of improvement and its GDP growth is estimated to rebound to 3% in the next fiscal year, the World Bank said this month.The projected growth is driven by post-earthquake reconstruction and continued targeted assistance for the hardest-hit areas, although inflation is expected to remain above 20%.With electricity supply deteriorating, exposing millions of people to chronic blackouts, households and businesses are increasingly embracing solar energy for reliable power.Russia, which has been building ties with the junta, signed an investment agreement ⁠with Myanmar in June that it said could open up new opportunities for Russian energy companies in the south Asian country. 

The Kremlin has denied that three-way talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States were on the cards, as diplomats gathered in Miami for talks on ending the conflict.On Saturday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said that Washington had mooted the trilateral format, which would mark Moscow and Kyiv's first face-to-face negotiations in half a year, but expressed scepticism that they would lead to progress."At present, no one has seriously discussed this initiative, and to my knowledge, it is not in preparation," Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters, according to Russian news agencies.He warned that Changes made by the Europeans and Ukraine to US proposals for an end to the war in Ukraine did not improve ⁠prospects for peace."This is not a forecast," he was quoted as saying, though he said he had not seen the exact proposals on paper yet. "I am ⁠sure that the proposals that the Europeans and Ukrainians have made or are trying to make definitely do not improve the document and do not improve the possibility of achieving long-term peace."Ukraine and European leaders say that Russia cannot be allowed to achieve its aims after what they cast as an imperial-style land grab.After revealing the US three-way proposal, Zelensky told journalists on Sunday that he was "not sure that anything new could come of it", and urged the United States to step up pressure on Russia to end the war.However, the Ukrainian leader struck a more upbeat note Sunday, adding that "constructive" talks between US, European and Ukrainian negotiators were "moving at a fairly rapid pace", while cautioning that "much depends on whether Russia feels the need to end the war for real"."Unfortunately, the real signals coming from Russia remain only negative: assaults along the frontline, Russian war crimes in border areas, and continued strikes against our infrastructure," Zelensky posted on X.Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev arrived on Saturday in Miami, where Ukrainian and European teams have also been gathering since Friday for the negotiations, mediated by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.Dmitriev "will return to Moscow, make his report, and we will discuss what to do next", Uskakov said.The top Kremlin aide also told Russian journalists Sunday that he had "not seen" the revised US proposal to end the conflict.Washington last month stunned Ukraine and its European allies by presenting a 28-point plan to end the war widely seen as caving in to the Kremlin's key demands, which has since been redrafted following Kyiv and Europe's involvement.While little is known of the latest version, Kyiv is likely to be expected to surrender some territory – a prospect resented by many Ukrainians – in exchange for US security guarantees.Moscow's troops have been steadily advancing at the eastern front in recent months, with Putin on Friday hailing the Russian army's territorial gains – and threatening more in the coming weeks.The last time Ukrainian and Russian envoys held official direct talks was in July in Istanbul, which led to prisoner swaps but little else in the way of concrete progress to stop the fighting.Russian and European involvement in Miami marks a step forward from before, when the Americans held separate negotiations with each side in different locations.However, the extremely strained relations between the two sides after nearly four years of Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II have cast doubt over the prospect of direct Ukraine-Russia talks.Moscow, which sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, also argues that European involvement in the talks only hinders the process.According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in an interview published Sunday, Putin however expressed his willingness to talk with France's Emmanuel Macron on the conflict.Macron held several calls with Putin in the run-up to and during the early months of the conflict, in an attempt to press the veteran Kremlin leader on the war.Putin has "expressed readiness to engage in dialogue with Macron", Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti. "Therefore, if there is mutual political will, then this can only be assessed positively."In response, Macron's office said Putin's stated willingness to talk was "welcome", but stressed that any discussion with Moscow would be conducted "in full transparency" with Zelensky and European allies.Meanwhile, Zelensky said on X that "over the past week, Russia has launched approximately 1,300 attack drones, nearly 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and 9 missiles of various types against Ukraine" with the Odesa region and the south of the country "hit particularly hard".On Saturday Moscow claimed the capture of two villages in the northern Sumy and eastern Donetsk regions, while Ukraine said it had destroyed two Russian fighter jets in the occupied Crimean peninsula.Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine, triggering the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.Putin casts the war as a watershed moment in relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after ⁠the Soviet Union fell in 1991 by enlarging the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) and encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence. 

Pope Leo urges Lebanese leaders to persevere with peace effortsLeo says religions must unite to help stabilise countryLebanon faces economic crisis, conflict spillover, and migration wavesPope says prayer gives strength even amidst 'sound of weapons'Leo to visit Beirut port blast site Pope Leo urged leaders from Lebanon's many diverse religious sects Monday to unite to heal the country after years of conflict, political paralysis and economic crisis that have prompted waves of migration abroad.Leo, the first US pope, met members of diverse communities, and called on them to show that people of different traditions "can live together and build a country united by respect and dialogue".The Pope, who is on what he has described as a mission of peace, has urged Lebanon's leaders to persevere with peace efforts in the aftermath of last year's devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah, and continued Israeli strikes.The 70-year-old pontiff, elected in May, is visiting Lebanon until today on the second leg of his first overseas trip, which started in Turkiye.At Beirut's central Martyrs' Square near its large, blue-domed mosque, the Pope told religious leaders they must be "builders of peace", working to confront intolerance and overcome violence.Lebanese representatives of the Alawite and Druze communities, which have suffered through bouts of sectarian violence in neighbouring Syria this year, spoke at the event.In the crowd, Alawite Mohammed Saleh said his community needed peace, protection and dignity. "We ask him humbly to remember in his prayer the Alawite community in the Middle East," Saleh said.Leo also visited the tomb of St Charbel, a Catholic saint, before heading to Harissa, a Catholic shrine on a mountaintop overlooking the Mediterranean just north of Beirut.Before speaking at the shrine, Leo heard testimonies from people living in Lebanon. Loren Capobres, a Filipina migrant in the country for 17 years, told Leo about her experience living through war.The Pope said stories like hers show the need to "take a stand to ensure that no one else will have to flee from his or her country due to senseless and cruel conflicts".Lebanon has been rocked by the spillover of the Gaza conflict, as Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group went to war, culminating in a devastating Israeli offensive.The country, which hosts 1mn Syrian and Palestinian refugees, also is struggling to emerge from a severe economic crisis following decades of profligate spending that sent the economy into a tailspin in late 2019.About 15,000 young people gathered for an event with the Pope Monday evening outside the Maronite Catholic headquarters.Israel says its continued strikes since last year's ceasefire agreement are to prevent Hezbollah from re-establishing military capabilities and posing a renewed threat to communities in northern Israel.Leo's schedule for today includes a prayer at the site of a 2020 chemical explosion at the Beirut port that killed 200 people, an outdoor Mass on the Beirut waterfront and a visit to one of Lebanon's few mental health facilities. 

Satellite images from Sudan have played a crucial role in uncovering the atrocities committed during paramilitaries' takeover of the last army stronghold in the western Darfur region.In an interview with AFP, Nathaniel Raymond of Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) said the aerial images were the only way to monitor the crisis unfolding on the ground in the city of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.On October 26, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting a brutal war with Sudan's army for more than two years, claimed full control of the city they had besieged for nearly 18 months.Close-up satellite images have emerged showing evidence of door-to-door killings, mass graves, red patches and bodies visible along an earthen berm -- findings consistent with eyewitness accounts.On October 28, HRL published footage from El-Fasher's maternity hospital showing "piles of white objects" that were not present before and measured between "1.1 to 1.9 metres" -- roughly the size of human bodies lying down or with limbs bent.It said there were "reddish earth discolourations" on the ground nearby that could have been blood.The following day, the World Health Organisation announced the "tragic killing of more than 460 patients and medical staff" at the hospital.The images released by HRL, which had been tracking the situation in El-Fasher throughout the siege, became "a spark plug for public outrage", said Raymond.Since the start of the siege, HRL has been alerting the United Nations and the United States to developments on the ground, with its reports becoming a reference point for tracking territorial advances in the area.Population movements, attacks, drone strikes and mass killings have been closely monitored in the city, where access remains blocked despite repeated calls to open humanitarian corridors.Satellite imagery has become an indispensable tool for non-governmental organisations and journalists in regions where access is difficult or impossible -- including Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.Several companies specialising in satellite imaging scan the globe daily, hindered only by weather conditions.Depending on the sensors onboard, satellites can clearly distinguish buildings, vehicles and even crowds.HRL then cross-references the images with other material including online footage, social media and local news reports, according to Yale's published methodology.Raymond said that after El-Fasher's fall paramilitaries "started posting videos of themselves killing people at the highest volume they ever had", providing more material for analysis.The team cross-checked these videos with the limited available information to identify, date and geolocate acts of violence using satellite imagery.Raymond said the lab's mission is to raise the alarm about the atrocities and collect evidence to ensure the perpetrators of war crimes do not escape justice.He referenced similar aerial images taken after the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, which eventually helped bring charges against former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic.An international tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment for war crimes and genocide.The images from El-Fasher have triggered international outcry.The prosecutor's office at the International Criminal Court said on Monday that the atrocities there could amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.The public outrage was followed by a significant reduction in the amount of footage posted by paramilitaries on the ground, according to the HRL.Of the videos still being shared, "very few, if any, have metadata in them", said Raymond, who noted that the researchers had to count the bodies themselves.He said they were not counting individual remains but tagging piles of bodies and measuring them as they get bigger.He added, however, that the researchers' workload has not decreased with the reduction in videos. Instead, they are now focusing on the grim task of tracing "the perpetrator's transition from killing phase to disposal"."Are they going to do trenches? Are they going to light them on fire? Are they going to try to put them in the water?"

Sudan's defence minister said on Tuesday that the army would press on with fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after the country's security and defence council met to discuss a US proposal for a ceasefire."We thank the Trump administration for its efforts and proposals to achieve peace," Hassan Kabroun said in a speech broadcast on state television, adding that "preparations for the Sudanese people's battle are ongoing.""Our preparations for war are a legitimate national right," he said, following the council meeting in Khartoum.No details of the US truce proposal have been made public.The war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more over the past two years, has spread to new areas of Sudan in recent days, sparking fears of an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.After mediating in other conflicts in Africa and the Middle East in recent months, the US administration under Donald Trump is now pushing for a ceasefire in Sudan.The army-aligned authorities had rejected an earlier truce proposal under which both they and the paramilitaries they are fighting would be excluded from a transitional political process.The latest discussions follow an escalation on the ground, with the paramilitary RSF appearing to prepare an assault on the central Kordofan region after it captured El-Fasher, the last army stronghold in the vast Darfur region.People forced to flee El-Fasher have described to AFP intimidation and violence from the RSF.Mohamed Abdullah, 56, told AFP he was stopped by RSF fighters while fleeing El-Fasher on Saturday, just hours before its fall."They demanded our phones, money, everything. They kept searching us thoroughly," he said of the RSF.On his way to Tawila, about 70 kilometres to the west, he saw "a body left on the street that looked like it had been eaten by a dog".Trump's envoy to Africa, Massad Boulos, held talks in Sudan's neighbour Egypt on Sunday with Cairo's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and then on Monday with the Arab League.During the discussions, Abdelatty stressed "the importance of concerted efforts to reach a humanitarian truce and a ceasefire throughout Sudan, paving the way for a comprehensive political process in the country", according to a foreign ministry statement.According to the Arab League, Boulos met the regional body's chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit and briefed him on recent US efforts in Sudan to "halt the war, expedite aid delivery and initiate a political process".The so-called Quad group, comprising the United States, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, has been engaged in months of diplomacy aimed at securing a truce in the more than 30-month conflict in Sudan.In September, the four powers proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition to civilian rule, but the army-aligned government immediately rejected the plan at the time.In the aftermath of the RSF's assault on the key city of El-Fasher, reports emerged of mass killings, sexual violence, attacks on aid workers, looting and abductions during the offensive.The International Criminal Court on Monday voiced "profound alarm and deepest concern" over the reports, adding that such acts "may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity".Speaking at a forum in Qatar, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the warring parties to "come to the negotiating table, bring an end to this nightmare of violence -- now"."The horrifying crisis in Sudan... is spiralling out of control," he added.At a protest in Sudan's capital Khartoum, which is under army control, children took part in an anti-paramilitary protest on Monday.One pupil held up a handwritten sign that read: "Do not kill children, do not kill women.""The militia is killing the women of El-Fasher with no mercy," read another sign.Both sides in the brutal war have been accused of committing atrocities.Meanwhile, the Sudanese army has received support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran, according to observers.The fall of El-Fasher gave paramilitaries control over all five state capitals in Darfur, raising fears that Sudan would effectively be partitioned along an east-west axis.The RSF now dominates Darfur and parts of the south while the army holds the north, east and central regions along the Nile and Red Sea.

Darfur city fell to paramilitary force after long siegeFate of many of those who remained in El-Fasher is unclearWitness says he saw bodies strewn along the roadAt a clinic in Sudan's North Darfur where dozens of bony children lie on cots and men with bandaged wounds await surgery, patients described a desperate escape from the city of El-Fasher as it was captured last week by a paramilitary force.They are among up to 10,000 people who arrived in the town of Tawila after fleeing the capture of nearby El-Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces, and are now being treated at the clinic run by international aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres. Famine-stricken El-Fasher was the final stronghold of the Sudanese army in the vast, western Darfur region before it fell to the RSF after an 18-month siege. Witnesses have reported mass killings following the RSF takeover and many of El-Fasher's residents are unaccounted for. The city's capture marked a turning point in a two-and-a-half-year-old war between the RSF and the army. The siege had cut off food supplies, forcing many locals to eat animal feed as they sought shelter from drones and shelling.**media[377473]**In addition to those who reached Tawila, more than 60,000 others are believed to have escaped El-Fasher, according to the International Organisation for Migration, though their whereabouts are unclear. As many as 200,000 people may still be trapped inside the city, according to estimates of the city's population towards the end of the siege. The head of the RSF has called on his fighters to protect civilians and said violations will be prosecuted. Rights groups and U.S. officials have accused the RSF and allied militias of ethnic cleansing in Darfur earlier in the conflict.The dire conditions inside El-Fasher were described by two patients at the MSF clinic, in accounts obtained by a local journalist who has previously provided verified material for Reuters.**media[377472]**One, who gave her name as Fatuma, said she was entrusted with the care of three children orphaned when their parents and brother had been killed by a drone strike as they fetched a meal.The youngest, a thin infant just 40 days old, lay crying in her arms. His sister, sitting nearby, had suffered a leg injury when shrapnel hit her as she ran into a dugout shelter.**media[377468]**Fatuma took the children out of the city on a donkey cart with other injured people just before El-Fasher fell, but came across RSF soldiers on the road. "They made us lay the baby on the ground and made all of us get down on the ground, and took everything we had," she said. She was eventually able to bring the baby to the MSF clinic.Some 170 other children arrived in Tawila unaccompanied, said Sylvain Penicaud, MSF project coordinator, and all the children screened by the agency were malnourished. "People are arriving extremely emaciated," he said. On Monday, a global hunger monitor found that El-Fasher had been experiencing famine prior to its fall, conditions expected to persist until January. Mouna Hanebali, another member of the MSF team, said the clinic received almost 1,000 trauma cases stemming from attacks on the road, but also from inside El-Fasher. The city's last-standing hospital was under constant attack and deprived of antibiotics and gauze, leading to unstable fractures and infected wounds that need new surgeries. A second patient, Abdallah, said he had escaped El-Fasher amidst intense shelling and gunfire on the day of the takeover."People left in chaos, carrying children, some in wheelbarrows, some on donkey carts, some on their feet," he said. "No one walking around was untouched, everyone was injured." Abdallah, awaiting surgery in the MSF clinic after being shot multiple times, said he saw what he estimated to be more than 1,000 bodies on the road.**media[377471]**"Some were killed by thirst, some by exhaustion, some by their injuries, the bleeding," he said. Reuters could not independently verify his account.With only a fraction of those who remained in El-Fasher arriving in Tawila, medical supplies are still plentiful but water and latrines less so, the MSF staff said. Cholera had ravaged Tawila during the rainy season, and Penicaud said a new case had been recorded on Sunday, though it was unclear if it was isolated or the result of a new outbreak of the disease.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for a halt to fighting in Sudan, warning that the crisis was rapidly deteriorating after paramilitaries overran a key city.Guterres urged the warring parties to "come to the negotiating table, bring an end to this nightmare of violence -- now"."The horrifying crisis in Sudan... is spiralling out of control," he told reporters on the sidelines of the World Summit for Social Development in Doha.At the end of October the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the Sudanese army since 2023, seized control of the strategic city of El-Fasher, following an 18-month seige.Reports have emerged of executions, sexual violence, looting, attacks on aid workers and abductions in and around El-Fasher, where communications remain largely cut off."El-Fasher and the surrounding areas in North Darfur have been an epicentre of suffering, hunger, violence and displacement," Guterres said."And since the Rapid Support Forces entered El-Fasher last weekend, the situation is growing worse by the day," he added."Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped by this siege. People are dying of malnutrition, disease and violence."Guterres also said there were "continued reports of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights".The UN chief also warned against violations of the ceasefire in Gaza that halted two years of war in the Palestinian territory.Hamas reported fresh Israeli strikes in Gaza on Saturday, after Israel said three bodies it received from Gaza did not belong to hostages.That came after Israeli attacks killed more than 100 people last Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run territory's civil defence agency. Prior to that, strikes on October 19 killed 45 people, the agency said.Guterres on Tuesday said he was "deeply concerned about the continued violations of the ceasefire in Gaza."They must stop and all parties must abide by the decisions of the first phase of the peace agreement."

The prosecutor's office at the International Criminal Court warned Monday that atrocities committed in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.The ICC prosecutor's office (OTP) voiced "profound alarm and deepest concern" over reports from El-Fasher about mass killings, rapes, and other crimes allegedly committed.After 18 months of siege, bombardment and starvation, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of El-Fasher on October 26, dislodging the army's last stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region."These atrocities are part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region since April 2023," said the OTP in a statement."Such acts, if substantiated, may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute," the founding text of the ICC.The UN said more than 65,000 people have fled El-Fasher, including around 5,000 to nearby Tawila, but tens of thousands remain trapped.Before the final assault, roughly 260,000 people lived in the city.Since the RSF takeover, reports have emerged of executions, sexual violence, looting, attacks on aid workers and abductions in and around El-Fasher, where communications remain largely cut off.The RSF traces its origins to the Janjaweed, a predominantly Arab militia accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.Reports since El-Fasher's fall have raised fears of a return to similar atrocities.

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.

Organised by the Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities (RACA) in partnership with the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies (CHS), the conference on knowledge management: enhancing humanitarian action effectiveness kicked off Tuesday. With the participation of a distinguished lineup of experts and specialists from Qatar and beyond, the conference aims to explore ways to develop knowledge management in the humanitarian and development sectors, and to showcase leading regional and international experiences in this field. In his opening remarks, Director of Licensing and Support at RACA Rashid Mohammed al-Nuaimi highlighted that the conference comes as part of RACA's ongoing efforts to enhance response efficiency and the effectiveness of humanitarian interventions, especially during times of crisis. He noted that the application of knowledge management in the humanitarian field still requires deeper understanding and adaptation to local and regional contexts. He also called for greater investment in this area and the establishment of institutional systems and practices to anchor knowledge management as a strategic asset that supports innovation, good governance, and improved performance in humanitarian organisations. Al-Nuaimi added that through this conference, RACA seeks to promote a shared understanding of knowledge management concepts within the humanitarian and development context, to identify and analyse key challenges, and to benefit from local and international experiences in developing effective and sustainable strategies for the sector. The Director of Licensing and Support at RACA said that the conference aligns with the humanitarian and charitable sector strategy 2025-2030, which aims to empower nonprofit organisations in Qatar with tools for institutional excellence, while strengthening innovation and integration across their operations. Director of CHS Dr Ghassan Elkahlout praised the ongoing partnership between CHS and RACA, noting that the conference serves as a scientific and professional platform for exchanging expertise and building a deeper understanding of the role of knowledge management in improving humanitarian response. Dr Elkahlout said knowledge exchange among humanitarian work actors is a key pillar for policy development, enhancing field work efficiency, and improving humanitarian institution governance. The first day of the conference featured panel discussions on global concepts and standards of knowledge management in humanitarian work, where participants underscored the importance of building an institutional culture grounded in knowledge and innovation, and of developing systems that support the quality and sustainability of humanitarian efforts. The conference will continue showcasing Qatari experiences in humanitarian knowledge management and decision-making support, along with practical applications in knowledge management and discussions on localising global best practices to suit the specific needs of Qatar's and the region's humanitarian sectors. RACA aims, through this conference, to consolidate Qatar's position as a key hub in the development of humanitarian practices and the enhancement of their efficiency, by building institutional systems that adopt knowledge management as a strategic tool for innovation and performance improvement. This approach aligns with the humanitarian and charitable sector strategy 2025-2030 and contributes to achieving Qatar's National Vision for Sustainable Development. (QNA)