Foreign
In Sudan, some women, girls are choosing suicide to avoid rape
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It is tragically appropriate to take stock of two decades of war and genocide in Sudan and to commit to ending the violence against civilians, including the raping of women and girls.
Since 2003, the leaders of Sudan and others throughout the world have been failing to protect the women and girls of Sudan. Without hope or protection, they have nevertheless continued to choose life, but the horror and trauma of rape, gang rape and other sexual violence as a weapon of war is pushing more of them to commit suicide.
In 2003, Mukesh Kapila, while serving as the United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, was one of the first such officials to recognize this millennium’s first genocide and to report the mass rapes against the women of Darfur. He recently told PassBlue that “the continuing criminality and inhumanity is a story of impunity foretold.”
After all, Kapila says, today’s perpetrators are “the direct ideological descendants of the Janjaweed.” He fears that “never again” is becoming “again and again” not only in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan but in far too many other places in the world.
Many of the atrocities in Darfur have been and continue to be committed by the Janjaweed militias, which in 2013 metastasized into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), when the former Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir formalized the militias into parallel forces to fight the armed rebel groups with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
After Al-Bashir was overthrown in a popular uprising in April 2019 and the military establishment refused to hand over power to a transitional civilian administration in October 2021, the SAF and the RSF ruled jointly until April 2023. Since then, they have been at war against each other and against the people of Sudan.
Although the SAF and RSF signed the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan in May 2023, the civilian toll has been staggering: more than 20,000 people have been reportedly killed, tens of thousands more injured and more than a hundred thousand more may have died of starvation and preventable diseases.
In October 2024, the International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan concluded, inter alia, that while there are documented cases involving the SAF, “the majority of rape and sexual and gender-based violence was committed by the RSF — in particular in Greater Khartoum, and Darfur and Gezira States.”
Stephen Rapp, a former US ambassador-at-large for war crimes and ex-prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, was the first to achieve convictions of sexual slavery and other sexual and gender-based violence as crimes against humanity in an international tribunal.
“Sudan teaches us that impunity breeds further impunity,” he wrote to PassBlue. “The guilty parties commit their atrocities against the most innocent because they have seen that they can do so without consequence.”
Rapp fears that “crimes against women and girls will not only continue but may even increase in brutality until the international community prioritizes accountability in Sudan and breaks the cycle of impunity as it did in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.”
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In June 2024, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to protect civilians in Sudan. But the text downplayed the sexual and gender-based violence by expressing alarm at the incidences only once, in the preamble. On Nov. 18, the Security Council was ready to adopt another resolution that would have demanded the RSF to immediately halt all attacks against civilians and for both the SAF and the RSF to “take all feasible precautions to avoid and minimize civilian harm.” Having abstained in June, Russia surprisingly vetoed the draft resolution in November.
Without enforcing binding resolutions adopted by the Security Council and longstanding warrants issued by the International Criminal Court, including against Al-Bashir, there will be no end to war, to genocide or to rape in Sudan. It is no longer possible to deny that despite two decades of sanctions and referrals to the court; peacekeepers and special envoys; fact-finding missions and human rights commissions; and nonbinding declarations and binding resolutions, the world continues to leave Sudanese civilians at the mercy of inhumane and iniquitous forces.
So, it is tragically appropriate on the 25th anniversary of this International Day to acknowledge that the women and girls of Sudan have been raped and murdered for 21 of those 25 years.
Hala Al-Karib, the regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, presciently warned the Security Council in October 2023 about women and girls committing suicide, noting that “life after experiencing violence and torture at the hands of the RSF is unbearable.”
A year later, in October 2024, 130 women in Al Gezira State, central Sudan, reportedly committed mass suicide to avoid being raped by the RSF. Since then, news of women committing suicide by drowning themselves in the Nile have flooded social media. Al-Karib and her colleagues corroborated several cases of women killing themselves in the river rather than being raped, as well as “other cases of women drinking local hair dye after being raped by RSF in front of their male family members in one of the Al Gezira villages.”
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Al-Karib noted that the rapes and massacres in El Fasher in North Darfur and in El Geneina in West Darfur “left hundreds of women and teenage girls suffering from physical agony, injuries and trauma.”
More recently, Dominique Isabelle Hyde, director of external relations for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, reported that when 180 Sudanese attempted to flee from El Geneina, almost all were murdered, and most of the women were raped. Of the 17 people that survived the massacre, one woman died in childbirth and six women committed suicide, leaving “only 10 that arrived safely in Chad.”
Even when Sudanese refugees reach relative safety in neighboring Chad, many women and girls are sexually exploited and abused by the men sent to protect them. The Associated Press recently reported allegations that “humanitarian workers and local security forces have sexually exploited them in Chad’s displacement sites, offering money, easier access to assistance and jobs.”
Niemat Ahmadi, the founder and director of the Darfur Women Action Group, highlighted in the Security Council in April and in November the failure of the international community to protect the women of Sudan against sexual violence, “leaving them without option or hope for protection.”
As the UN promised when it adopted the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, it must recommit to the protection of women and girls and ensure accountability for perpetrators of crimes against them.
The Security Council can do this, Ahmadi says, by calling on all parties to stop targeting civilians and to stop all rapes and other sexual violence. She urged the Council to make all forms of sexual and gender-based violence “an explicit criterion for imposing sanctions” and “central to all criminal accountability processes.”
Finally, she also urged the Council to demand “the full and meaningful participation of Sudanese women in all processes regarding the future of Sudan.”
As for the rest of the world, let us “UNiTE” to stop rape and other sexual violence against women and girls in Darfur, in the rest of Sudan and everywhere where women pay the price of war. When such protection of civilians and the pursuit of justice and accountability prevail in Sudan, women and girls will choose survival over suicide. They will have hope for a future, where their dignity and worth as human beings and the sanctity of their lives as civilians are preserved.
This is an opinion essay.
www.passblue.com
Counter-terrorism police are involved in an investigation into a mass stabbing on a train in eastern England, which left nine people suffering with life-threatening injuries.
A man with a large knife is believed to have been shot with a Taser by police after going on a bloody rampage on a high-speed train after it left Peterborough station in Cambridgeshire.
British Transport Police (BTP) said two people have been arrested over the stabbings, which happened on the 6:25 pm (1825 GMT) train service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross on Saturday.
“Officers immediately attended Huntingdon station alongside paramedics.
“Armed police from Cambridgeshire Police boarded the train and arrested two people in connection to the incident, who have been taken to police custody.
“Ten people have been taken to hospital, with nine believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries. One is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. There have been no fatalities.
“This has been declared a major incident and Counter Terrorism Policing are supporting our investigation whilst we work to establish the full circumstances and motivation for this incident.”
BTP Chief Superintendent Chris Casey said: “This is a shocking incident and first and foremost my thoughts are with those who have been injured this evening and their families.
“We’re conducting urgent enquiries to establish what has happened, and it could take some time before we are in a position to confirm anything further.
“At this early stage it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.
“Our response is ongoing at the station and will be for some time. Cordons are in place and trains are not currently running through the area, and there are also some road closures.
“I thank the public for their patience and their cooperation this evening which has already greatly assisted our policing response. We will update you again as soon as we have more information.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the incident as “deeply concerning” and urged people to follow police advice.
Witnesses have spoken of seeing a man with a large knife and passengers hiding in the toilets to escape the rampage, The Times newspaper reported.
One told the paper there was “blood everywhere” and people were getting “stamped” on by others as they tried to flee.
The witness said: “I heard some people shouting we love (you).”
The Sun newspaper said another witness described the attack as “like something from a film,” adding: “It was a terrible scene, really violent.”
The attack is understood to have started shortly after the LNER train left Peterborough station.
Nigerian Tribune
Burkina Faso’s Transitional Legislative Assembly on Tuesday approved the dissolution of the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission which has been in place for more than 20 years.
This formalises a bill adopted in July by the country’s military rulers, led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré. The junta had described the commission as a “waste of money” and susceptible to what it said was “foreign influence”.
Under the new law, the Ministry of Territorial Administration will now be in charge of organising elections.
When it seized power in September 2022, the military promised to restore a civilian government within 21 months.
But in May last year, the junta extended the period of transition by five years and announced that Traoré would be allowed to contest the next presidential election.
The military leaders have reduced ties with Western countries, including former colonial power, France, and forged a closer strategic and economic partnership with Russia.
President Donald Trump has directed the United States military to resume nuclear weapons testing, ending a 33-year break.
The announcement came on Thursday on Truth Social, minutes before he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea.
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump posted. “Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.”
The move appears aimed at both Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia recently carried out a series of nuclear-related tests, though the Kremlin said none involved actual nuclear explosions. “Until now, we didn’t know that anyone was testing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Russia would only test in response to another country doing so.
No nuclear power other than North Korea has conducted explosive testing in over 25 years. The U.S. last tested in 1992, Russia in 1990, and China in 1996.
China’s Foreign Ministry urged Washington to honor its long-standing moratorium on nuclear testing and maintain “global strategic balance and stability.”
According to Reuters, it remains unclear whether Trump’s order refers to underground explosive tests or missile flight tests.
Speaking later aboard Air Force One, Trump said testing was necessary to keep pace with rival powers. “With others doing testing, I think it’s appropriate that we do also,” he said, adding that test sites would be announced later.
He dismissed concerns about rising nuclear risks, saying U.S. weapons were “well locked up,” and repeated his call for global denuclearization. “We are actually talking to Russia about that, and China would be added to that if we do something,” he said.
The decision follows China’s rapid nuclear buildup, doubling its arsenal from 300 to about 600 warheads since 2020, and Russia’s recent tests of nuclear-capable weapons, including the Poseidon underwater drone and Burevestnik missile.
In the U.S., Trump’s announcement drew swift criticism. Representative Dina Titus of Nevada said she would introduce legislation to block the move. Daryl Kimball of the Arms Control Association called Trump’s decision “misinformed,” warning it could “trigger a chain reaction of nuclear testing by U.S. adversaries, and blow apart the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
According to Reuters, experts say resuming underground nuclear tests in Nevada would take at least three years to prepare.
(Reuters)
China will slap port fees on U.S.-owned, operated, built, or flagged vessels on Tuesday as a countermeasure to U.S. port fees on China-linked ships starting the same day, China’s transport ministry said on Friday.
The move came shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump said there is no reason to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping in two weeks in South Korea as planned, adding on social media that the U.S. is calculating a massive increase in tariffs on imports from China. Trump said China has been sending letters to countries saying it planned to impose export controls on rare earths production.
There are relatively few U.S.-built or U.S.-flagged vessels conducting international trade, but China will ensnare more ships by applying levies to companies with 25 percent or more of their shares or board seats held by U.S.-domiciled investment funds, analysts said.
‘Quite an impact’
U.S.-based shipping company Matson told customers on Friday it is subject to the new China port fees and has no plans to change its service schedule.
Also likely affected are CMA-CGM’s U.S.-based American President Lines and Israel-based Zim, which appears to have more than 25 percent of its shares owned by U.S. entities, Lars Jensen, CEO of consultancy Vespucci Maritime, said on LinkedIn.
The China fees also could apply to vessels owned by Poseidon’s Seaspan, said Jensen, an expert on container shipping.
“This could be quite an impact as it means that the more than 100 vessels owned by Seaspan, and chartered by a variety of major container lines, would now be subject to fees in China in addition to the fees in the U.S. for their Chinese-built vessels,” Jensen said. Also starting on Tuesday, ships built in China – or operated or owned by Chinese entities – will need to pay a fee at their first port of call in the United States.
Vessels owned or operated by a Chinese entity will face a flat fee of $50 per net tonnage per voyage to the U.S. China-owned carrier COSCO, including its OOCL fleet, is the most exposed with fees of around $2 billion in 2026, analysts said.
Maersk Line Limited, APL, Zim, Seaspan, and COSCO did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the fees.
China calls U.S. fees discriminatory
The U.S. fees on China-linked vessels, following a probe by the U.S. Trade Representative, are part of a broader U.S. effort to revive domestic shipbuilding and blunt China’s naval and commercial shipping power.
“It is clearly discriminatory and severely damages the legitimate interests of China’s shipping industry, seriously disrupts the stability of the global supply chain, and seriously undermines the international economic and trade order,” the Chinese ministry said.
The USTR’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a separate statement released later on Friday, Beijing’s commerce ministry said the Chinese countermeasures were in “justified” self-defence aimed at safeguarding fairness in the global shipping and shipbuilding markets.
Over the past two decades, China has catapulted itself to the No. 1 position in the shipbuilding world, with its biggest shipyards handling both commercial and military projects.
Last year, Chinese shipyards built more than 1,000 commercial vessels, while the U.S. constructed fewer than 10, according to military and industry analysts.
The Chinese fees on U.S. vessels could hurt the U.S. less than the U.S. fees might harm the legion of Chinese ships.
The fees announced by China, like those put in place by the U.S., “add further complexity and cost to the global network that keeps goods moving and economies connected, and risk harming their exporters, producers, and consumers at a time when global trade is already under pressure,” said Joe Kramek, president and CEO of the World Shipping Association.
Rates rise over three years
For U.S.-linked vessels berthing at Chinese ports starting Tuesday, the rate will be 400 yuan ($56.13) per net metric ton, the Chinese transport ministry said.
That will increase to 640 yuan ($89.81) from April 17, 2026, and to 880 yuan ($123.52) from April 17, 2027.
For vessels calling at Chinese ports from April 17, 2028, the charge will be 1,120 yuan ($157.16) per net metric ton.
Tensions between China and the United States have deepened since September, with the two superpowers struggling to move beyond their trade tariff truce — a 90-day pause from August 11 that ends around November 9.
Retaliatory tariffs in the U.S.-China trade war this year have sharply curtailed Chinese imports of U.S. agriculture and energy products.
Korea Times
The White House lashed out at the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday (US time) after it awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and overlooked US President Donald Trump.
“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said on X.
“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”
Since returning to the White House for his second term in January, Trump had repeatedly insisted that he deserved the Nobel for his role in resolving numerous conflicts – a claim observers say is broadly exaggerated.
Trump restated his claim on the eve of the peace prize announcement, saying that his brokering of the first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza this week was the eighth war he had ended.
But he added on Thursday: “Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that, I did it because I’ve saved a lot of lives.”
Nobel Prize experts in Oslo had insisted in the run-up to Friday’s announcement that Trump had no chance, noting that his ‘America First’ policies run counter to the ideals of the Peace Prize as laid out in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will creating the award.
An Ebola outbreak that has plagued southern Congo in recent weeks is starting to be contained, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, with no new cases reported since the U.N. health agency’s last update on Oct. 1.
“As of Oct. 5, 2025, 10 days have passed without any newly reported cases, indicating potential control of transmission in the affected areas,” the agency said during a news conference.
The agency said a total of 64 cases, including 53 confirmed and 11 probable, have been reported in Congo’s Kasai Province as of Oct. 5. The WHO also reported 43 deaths, including 32 confirmed and 11 probable.
Congolese authorities announced an Ebola outbreak in Congo’s southern Kasai province on Sept. 4, the first in 18 years in the remote part of the country located more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the capital of Kinshasa.
Health authorities and organizations had recently sounded the alarm, warning they lack the funds and resources to mount an effective response to the crisis.
The WHO said improved logistics and field operations, including helicopter and ground deliveries of medical supplies and the decontamination of three health facilities, have helped contain the outbreak over the last week.
“This steady decline in transmission and improved case management reflect the impact of coordinated interventions led by the Ministry of Health with support from WHO and partners,” the agency said.
The WHO still advised caution, as almost 2,000 contacts — people who may have been exposed to the disease — are being monitored and a “single missed contact could reignite transmission chains, especially in areas with high population movement or limited community surveillance.”
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