Perhaps the most salient point at Monday’s international aid conference for Sudan was made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said it was the world’s duty “not to forget what is happening” there. Sadly however, the brutal conflict raging for the past 12 months in Africa’s third-largest country has been out of sight and out of mind for far too many.
The Paris event ended with global aid pledges worth $2.1 billion. Although the gravity of the famine, displacement and poverty gripping Sudan make this commitment an important one, the fact remains that the war is not only continuing unchecked but risks fragmenting into an uncontrollable and unstoppable conflagration that will make aid efforts - let alone rebuilding - more difficult than they should be.
The unravelling of Sudan’s war into a series of localised conflicts fought by different factions with varying allegiances is truly a nightmare scenario. The International Crisis Group this month suggested that the civil war’s two main protagonists - army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and Rapid Support Forces’ leader Gen Mohamed Dagalo - “may find it increasingly difficult to maintain control of affiliated militias”. This “potential fragmentation” of the civil war, Crisis Group warns, “is also ominous because of how it would endanger efforts to resolve the conflict through high-level negotiation between the two leaders”. Elsewhere, the fighting is “already rapidly degenerating into inter-ethnic wars, particularly between the Darfuri Arabs and Sudan’s riverine peoples, as well as Arabs and non-Arabs in Darfur”.
Sudan is also awash with illegal firearms - about five million according to a 2022 government estimate. With many of these in the hands of various armed groups loyal to local leaders instead of an organised chain of command, many will agree with UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi’s assessment given to a French broadcaster on Monday that the presence of “local commanders, warlords and very complex negotiations on the ground” is a “a powerful obstacle to delivering aid”.
Aid efforts are also at risk because of a widespread breakdown of law and order in various parts of the country, as well as the threat to international shipping in the Red Sea posed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. In February, the militants’ attacks forced one humanitarian NGO, the International Rescue Committee, to find longer and more expensive shipping routes to deliver live-saving aid.
The scale of the aid challenge is daunting. Already the forced displacement of nearly two million Sudanese to neighbouring countries poses a major challenge to regional stability. The internal displacement of more than six million people has put Sudanese agriculture under severe strain, exacerbating the famine that is already taking place.
Diplomatic efforts have to be better and more effective. Talks so far have been fitful and largely unproductive. Participants at the Paris summit yesterday urged the UN Secretary General's personal envoy for Sudan, Algerian diplomat Ramtane Lamamra, to push for “coherent mediation”. It is true that the presence of Mr Lamamra and other new figures, such as US envoy Tom Perriello, IGAD special envoy and South Sudanese lawyer Lawrence Korbandy, as well as an African Union team headed by Ghanian lawyer Mohamed Ibn Chambas, may will kick-start a disjointed diplomatic approach that has so far delivered little.
But they will have to redouble their efforts to make it clear to the two warring sides that the longer Sudan’s agony goes on, the harder it will be to end it. They must convince the rival leaderships that this is now an unwinnable war that - if it continues to disintegrate into a toxic mix of rival militias and ethnic conflicts - will soon be out of their control to stop, even if they wanted to. The Sudanese people cannot afford to wait any longer for all warring sides to come to their senses.
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Sonchiriya
Director: Abhishek Chaubey
Producer: RSVP Movies, Azure Entertainment
Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Manoj Bajpayee, Ashutosh Rana, Bhumi Pednekar, Ranvir Shorey
Rating: 3/5
UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
Meatless Days
Sara Suleri, with an introduction by Kamila Shamsie
Penguin
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
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England's lowest Test innings
- 45 v Australia in Sydney, January 28, 1887
- 46 v West Indies in Port of Spain, March 25, 1994
- 51 v West Indies in Kingston, February 4, 2009
- 52 v Australia at The Oval, August 14, 1948
- 53 v Australia at Lord's, July 16, 1888
- 58 v New Zealand in Auckland, March 22, 2018
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Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Also on December 7 to 9, the third edition of the Gulf Car Festival (www.gulfcarfestival.com) will take over Dubai Festival City Mall, a new venue for the event. Last year's festival brought together about 900 cars worth more than Dh300 million from across the Emirates and wider Gulf region – and that first figure is set to swell by several hundred this time around, with between 1,000 and 1,200 cars expected. The first day is themed around American muscle; the second centres on supercars, exotics, European cars and classics; and the final day will major in JDM (Japanese domestic market) cars, tuned vehicles and trucks. Individuals and car clubs can register their vehicles, although the festival isn’t all static displays, with stunt drifting, a rev battle, car pulls and a burnout competition.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
The five pillars of Islam
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Marathon results
Men:
1. Titus Ekiru(KEN) 2:06:13
2. Alphonce Simbu(TAN) 2:07:50
3. Reuben Kipyego(KEN) 2:08:25
4. Abel Kirui(KEN) 2:08:46
5. Felix Kemutai(KEN) 2:10:48
Women:
1. Judith Korir(KEN) 2:22:30
2. Eunice Chumba(BHR) 2:26:01
3. Immaculate Chemutai(UGA) 2:28:30
4. Abebech Bekele(ETH) 2:29:43
5. Aleksandra Morozova(RUS) 2:33:01