Sudan army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan has visited Qatar, South Sudan and Egypt in recent weeks. AFP
Sudan army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan has visited Qatar, South Sudan and Egypt in recent weeks. AFP
Sudan army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan has visited Qatar, South Sudan and Egypt in recent weeks. AFP
Sudan army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan has visited Qatar, South Sudan and Egypt in recent weeks. AFP

Sudan's Al Burhan heads to Eritrea to shore up regional support


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Sudan's military leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan was on Monday visiting neighbouring Eritrea, his fourth foreign trip in two weeks.

Gen Al Burhan, also Sudan's army chief, is seeking to rally regional support at a time when the army is locked in a civil war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

He has already visited Egypt, South Sudan and Qatar.

Gen Al Burhan will hold talks with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki on issues of common interest between the two states, his office said without giving further details.

Sudan and Eritrea are bound by close economic and political ties. Sudan was also home to hundreds of thousands of Eritrean and Tigrayan refugees during the civil war in Ethiopia between 1974 and 1991. Many of them remain in Sudan to this day.

The war, which began in April and is centred in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, has created a major humanitarian crisis, with more than five million people displaced.

The conflict between the RSF and the army is widely seen as a fight for political and military supremacy between Gen Al Burhan and his former ally and deputy, RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo.

Diplomacy drive

Gen Al Burhan's foreign visits are helping confirm his legitimacy as the nation's ruler at a time when the RSF is coming under increasing criticism for its alleged wholesale abuse of civilians in Khartoum and Darfur. Its members are accused of looting, sexual attacks and targeting civilian members of ethnic African communities in Darfur.

The International Criminal Court is investigating suspected war crimes by the RSF and its Arab allies.

On Saturday, Gen Al Burhan again lambasted the African Union for what he said was its unwelcome meddling in Sudan's affairs. He did not elaborate, but the general has in the past warned the AU against sending peacekeepers to Sudan, threatening to fight them if they arrive.

He has also warned foreign powers against equating the army with the RSF, whose forerunner is a notorious Darfur-based militia, known as the Janjaweed, in their public announcements, repeatedly declaring that the RSF was a mutinous force and dissolved it in a decree last week.

Sudan's AU membership was suspended in 2021 when Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo jointly seized power in a coup that toppled a civilian-led government and derailed Sudan's democratic transition.

Neither the army nor the RSF has been able to gain a battlefield edge after nearly five months of fighting, with the lightly armed RSF fighters entrenched deep in the capital's residential areas. The army relies on heavily on artillery and air strikes, unable to dislodge them or wrestle back control of the streets.

Gen Al Burhan, seeking to compensate for the army's insufficient manpower, had called on retired servicemen and able-bodied men to join his army in the fight against the RSF. Hundreds are known to have volunteered in the fight against the RSF.

On Saturday, he instructed his commanders to integrate them into the armed forces.

The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan

Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm

Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km

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The biog

Place of birth: Kalba

Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren

Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken

Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah

Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”

Nepotism is the name of the game

Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad. 

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

India cancels school-leaving examinations
Brief scores:

Southampton 2

Armstrong 13', Soares 20'

Manchester United 2

Lukaku 33', Herrera 39'

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Torque: 1,130Nm
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UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Boulder shooting victims

• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65

Keep it fun and engaging

Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.

“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.

His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.

He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.

MATCH INFO

Everton 0

Manchester City 2 (Laporte 45 2', Jesus 90 7')

Updated: September 11, 2023, 2:29 PM`