World
12 killed in multi-vehicle crash in Turkey’
A multi-vehicle crash in southern Turkey's Hatay province killed at least 12 people and injured 31 others, including three seriously, officials said.
A truck crossed into opposite lanes after the driver lost control late Saturday, colliding with nine cars and two minibuses, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Many of the vehicles were parked by the roadside near a gas station as friends and relatives said goodbye to men leaving to carry out mandatory military service.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that fires broke out on the Iskenderun-Antakya highway. The minister tweeted that 22 ambulances and three medical rescue teams were sent to the scene in Topbogazli.
“May God have mercy on our citizens who lost their lives, I express my condolences to their relatives,” he tweeted. “We will do our best to ensure that the injured regain their health as soon as possible.”
Hatay was one of the worst hit of the 11 Turkish provinces affected by a Feb. 6 earthquake that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria. At least 50,783 died in Turkey, according to the government.
The private Demiroren news agency said that the truck was carrying excavated earthquake rubble and hit another truck before crossing the highway at around 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).
Witness Ali Sarrac said that some of those killed had burned to death, Anadolu reported. Images showed burning vehicles as emergency teams tried to keep people away from the blaze.
Nuclear watchdog growingly worried over Ukraine plant safety
The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog is expressing growing anxiety about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, after the governor of the Russia-occupied area ordered the evacuation of a town where most plant staff live amid ongoing attacks in the area.
The plant is near the front lines of fighting, and Ukrainian authorities on Sunday said that a 72-year-old woman was killed and three others were wounded when Russian forces fired more than 30 shells at Nikopol, a Ukrainian-held town neighboring the plant.
“The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous," International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said in a warning that came Saturday before the latest report of attacks.
“I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant.”
Grossi’s comments were prompted by an announcement Friday by Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of the partially-occupied Zaporizhzhia province, that he had ordered the evacuation of civilians from 18 settlements in the area, including Enerhodar, which is located next to the power plant, which is Europe's largest.
The settlements affected are about 50 to 70 kilometers (30 to 40 miles) from the front line of fighting between Ukraine and Russia, and Balitsky said that Ukraine had intensified attacks on the area in the past several days.
The region is also widely seen as a likely area where Ukraine may focus its anticipated spring counteroffensive.
The Ukrainian General Staff said Sunday that the evacuation of Enerhodar had already begun.
According to an update posted on Facebook, the General Staff said the first residents evacuated were those who took Russian citizenship following the capture of the town by Moscow early in the war.
They were being taken to the Russia-occupied Azov Sea coast, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) to the southeast.
Grossi said that operating staff of the nuclear power plant, whose six reactors are currently all in shutdown mode, hadn't been evacuated as of Saturday but that most live in Enerhodar and the situation has contributed to “increasingly tense, stressful and challenging conditions for personnel and their families.”
He added that IAEA experts at the nuclear site “are continuing to hear shelling on a regular basis.”
“We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequence for the population and the environment,” Grossi said. “This major nuclear facility must be protected. I will continue to press for a commitment by all sides to achieve this vital objective.”
Elsewhere, Russian shelling on Saturday and overnight killed six civilians and wounded four others in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, according to a Telegram update published Sunday by the local administration.
Five civilians were wounded in the eastern Donetsk region, the epicenter of the fighting in recent months, local Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko reported on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces overnight attacked the largest port in the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula with drones, a Kremlin-installed local official said on Telegram early Sunday.
According to the post by Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of Sevastopol, 10 Ukrainian drones targeted the city, three of which were shot down by air defense systems. Razvozhayev said that there had been no damage.
Chinese youths devoted to BRI projects in Bangladesh
In Dasherkandi village, located around the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, local children happily swam in the clean river under the scorching sun. Deng Mingze, deputy manager of the Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant project, felt elated as he observed this scene.
"Things were completely different before," explained the 33-year-old Chinese engineer from PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited, adding that untreated sewage went straight into the river, making it so dirty in the past.
The Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant, financed by the Export-Import Bank of China and constructed by HydroChina Corporation, a subsidiary of PowerChina, started operation in April 2022. It marked the first modern large-scale sewage treatment plant in Bangladesh, capable of providing modern sewerage services to approximately 5 million people in Dhaka.
From then on, all water that flows into the river has been treated, making the river clear and visible to the naked eye, Deng said, citing that children frequently play in the area.
However, the project was not without its challenges. During the busiest period of construction, Deng and his colleagues worked from 6 a.m. until late at night for nearly six months.
As the saying goes, "no pain, no gain." Deng recalled that despite difficulties throughout the project, he became stronger mentally and more capable.
"As young people, we should have adaptability, innovation and problem-solving skills while working on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects to demonstrate the positive spirit of the Chinese youth to the world," he stressed.
In Keraniganj, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Zhang Yadong, an engineer from China Railway Group Limited, is working alongside his local colleagues on Bangladesh's largest BRI rail project.
Zhang arrived in Bangladesh right after his graduation in 2016, and he vividly remembers his initial struggles. "The first difficulty I encountered was having a meeting with the quantity surveyor to discuss measurements independently. It took me a long time to communicate with him due to differences in our understanding of the measurements," he said, adding that "it was a small thing, but I was really nervous at the time."
Using this experience as a foundation, Zhang has grown from an assistant economist to a commercial executive, working on key projects such as the 172-km Padma Bridge Rail Link Project that connects over 20 districts in Bangladesh.
Jill Biden: Charles' coronation was 'just amazing to see'
First lady Jill Biden, who represented the United States at Saturday's coronation of Britain's King Charles III, said there was “such beauty in the pageantry of the ceremony” and it was “just amazing to see.”
“You can't imagine that moment where you actually see the crown being placed on the head of the king and then on the head on the queen,” she said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press after the ceremony in London. “It's really surreal to see and experience that moment.”
Charles' wife, Camilla, also was crowned queen during Britain's first coronation in 70 years. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last September after a seven-decade reign.
An American president has never attended a British coronation and President Joe Biden asked the first lady to represent the U.S. in his place. The White House said Jill Biden's appearance marked the first time that a U.S. first lady was present for a British coronation.
She brought one of her granddaughters, Finnegan Biden, 24, on the trip.
“It's my honor to represent the people of the United States and I wanted to be here,” Jill Biden said. “It was so meaningful to me that I could bring Finnegan here, that we could travel together and experience this together and it's meant a lot to both of us.”
The first lady spoke as she and Finnegan headed to afternoon tea following the coronation at Westminster Abbey.
“We thought that was something that was so British,” she said of their tea time. “It was something we really wanted to do together.”
She said sitting and watching the ceremony led her to think about the importance of traditions.
“I felt as I sat there, I felt this sense of decorum and civility that binds together people of all nations,” she said.
Read more: Jill Biden in UK for King Charles' coronation, visits No. 10
At the coronation, Jill Biden sat beside Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine. Jill Biden said they talked about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that Zelenska thanked her again for the support from the United States.
Jill Biden said she paid close attention to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby's message that people everywhere seek hope and joy.
“And I thought that was such strong message because I think that is true,” she said. "And it's true for all people everywhere, but I think it was important at this moment that the clergy brought that in to this moment in history.”
The first lady attended a Buckingham Palace reception Friday that was hosted by Charles. She said Charles recounted to her his most recent telephone conversation with President Biden and asked her to “give my best to your husband.”
She said she and Princess Kate chatted as mothers about the lengths to which they go to keep their children quiet in church, feeding them pieces of candy and such.
“She said she didn't know if her son could sit still for two hours and we just had a good laugh over it,” Jill Biden said. “It's just something, I think, that's common to a lot of us.”
S. Korean, Japanese leaders to meet again to improve ties
The leaders of South Korea and Japan are to meet Sunday for their second summit in less than two months, as they push to bolster cooperation following years of fraught ties over historical issues.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is to arrive in South Korea on Sunday for a two-day visit, which reciprocates a mid-March trip to Tokyo by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The exchange of visits between the leaders of the Asian neighbors, the first of its kind in 12 years, signals that both nations are serious about strengthening ties in the face of shared regional challenges such as North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal and China's increasing assertiveness.
“I hope to have an open-hearted exchange of views with President Yoon based on our relationship of trust,” Kishida told reporters before his departure to Seoul. "Since March, there have been various levels of communication in areas including finance and defense, and I plan to further develop this ongoing trend.”
Yoon’s spokesperson, Lee Do-woon, told reporters Thursday that Sunday’s summit was expected to focus on security, economic and cultural cooperation. South Korean and Japanese officials said Yoon and Kishida will discuss North Korea's nuclear program and South Korean-Japanese economic security and overall relations.
In their summit in March, Yoon and Kishida agreed to resume leadership-level visits and other talks. In recent weeks, the two countries have also withdrawn the economic retaliatory steps they had earlier taken against each other in previous years when their history row rekindled.
Ties between Seoul and Tokyo have long suffered on-again, off-again setbacks over issues stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The most recent sticking point in their ties was 2018 court rulings in South Korea that ordered two Japanese companies to financially compensate some of their aging former Korean employees for colonial-era forced labor. The verdicts angered Japan, which has argued that all compensation issues were already settled when the two countries normalized ties in 1965.
In an escalation of tensions, the two countries later downgraded each other's trade status, while Seoul also threatened to spike a military intelligence-sharing pact. Some activists and residents in South Korea staged campaigns to boycott Japanese products, as well.
The strained South Korea-Japan ties complicated U.S. efforts to build a stronger regional alliance to better cope with rising Chinese influence and North Korean nuclear threats.
In March, however, Yoon’s conservative government took a major step toward mending the ties by announcing it would use local funds to compensate the forced labor victims without demanding contributions from Japanese companies. Later in March, Yoon traveled to Tokyo to meet with Kishida.
Read more: S. Korean, Japanese officials meet ahead of leaders' summit
Yoon’s push drew strong backlash from some of the forced labor victims and his liberal rivals at home, who have demanded direct compensation from the Japanese companies. Yoon has defended his decision, saying greater cooperation with Japan is required to tackle a set of challenges such as North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, the intensifying U.S.-China strategic rivalry and global supply chain problems.
Some observers say if Kishida offers fresh apologizes over Japan’s colonial wrongdoing during his Seoul visit, that would likely help Yoon win greater domestic support for his policy on Japan. After his March summit with Yoon, Kishida only said during a joint press conference that Tokyo upholds the positions of previous governments, which expressed apologies or regrets over Japan's colonial past.
Asked whether he would discuss the forced labor victims with Yoon, Kishida said in his pre-departure comments: “We will frankly exchange our views on this."
Seoul and Tokyo have a slew of other sensitive history and territorial disputes, mostly related to the Japanese colonization. In a reminder of the delicate nature of their ties, diplomats between the two countries last week spatted over a South Korean lawmaker’s visit to disputed islets located in the waters between the two countries. Earlier, Seoul protested Kishida’s offering of religious offerings to a Tokyo shrine that it views as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression. __
Police: 8 killed in Texas mall shooting, gunman also dead
A gunman killed eight people and wounded seven others – three critically – in a shooting at a Dallas-area mall before being fatally shot by a police officer who happened to be nearby, authorities said Saturday.
Authorities did not immediately provide details about the victims, but witnesses reported seeing children among them. Some said they also saw what appeared to be a police officer and a mall security guard unconscious on the ground.
The shooting was the latest episode of gun violence to strike the country. It sent hundreds of shoppers fleeing in panic.
Allen Police said in a Facebook post that nine victims had been taken to hospitals. Medical City Healthcare, a Dallas-area hospital system, said in a written statement it was treating eight between the ages of 5 and 61.
Dashcam video that circulated online showed a gunman step out of a vehicle outside the mall and immediately start shooting at people on the sidewalk. More than three dozen shots could be heard as the vehicle recording the video drove off.
An Allen Police officer was in the area on an unrelated call when he heard shots at 3:36 p.m., the police department wrote on Facebook.
“The officer engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat. He then called for emergency personnel. Nine victims were transported to local hospitals by Allen Fire Department,” the agency wrote in the Facebook post. “There is no longer an active threat.”
Mass killings are happening with staggering frequency in the United States this year: an average of about one a week, according to an analysis of The AP/USA Today data.
The White House said President Biden had been briefed on the shooting and that the administration had offered support to local officials. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has signed laws easing firearms restrictions following past mass shootings, called it an “unspeakable tragedy.”
A crowd of hundreds of people who had been shopping stood outside, across the street from the mall, Saturday evening. Officers circulated among them asking if anyone had seen what happened.
Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through the headphones he was wearing.
“It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside,” Payton said.
Read more: Police: 5 people killed in shooting at home north of Houston
People in the store scattered before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then a lockable back room, he said. When they were given the all-clear to leave, Payton saw the store had broken windows and a trail of blood to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodied clothes were laying nearby.
Once outside, Payton saw bodies.
“I pray it wasn’t kids, but it looked like kids,” he said. The bodies were covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground, he said.
“It broke me when I walked out to see that,” he said.
Further away, he saw the body of a heavyset man wearing all black. He assumed it was the shooter, Payton said, because unlike the other bodies it had not been covered up.
Tarakram Nunna, 25, and Ramakrishna Mullapudi, 26, said they saw what appeared to be three people lying motionless on the ground, including one who appeared to be a police officer and another who appeared to be a mall security guard.
Another shopper, Sharkie Mouli, 24, said he hid in a Banana Republic store during the shooting. As he left, he saw what appeared to be an unconscious police officer lying next to another unconscious person outside the outlet store.
“I have seen his gun lying right next to him and a guy who is like passing out right next to him,” Mouli said.
Stan and Mary Ann Greene were browsing in the Columbia sportswear store when the shooting started.
“We had just gotten in, just a couple minutes earlier, and we just heard a lot of loud popping,” Mary Ann Greene told The Associated Press.
Employees immediately rolled down the security gate and brought everyone to the rear of the store until police arrived and escorted them out, the Greenes said.
Read more: Teenage boy kills 8 children, guard at school in Belgrade
Eber Romero was at the Under Armour store when a cashier mentioned that there was a shooting.
As he left the store, Romero said, the mall appeared empty, and all the shops had their security gates down. That is when he started seeing broken glass and people who had been shot on the floor.
Video shared on social media showed people running through a parking lot while gunfire could be heard.
More than 30 police cruisers with lights flashing were blocking an entrance to the mall, with multiple ambulances on the scene.
A live aerial broadcast from the news station showed armored trucks and other law enforcement vehicles stationed outside the sprawling outdoor mall.
Ambulances from several neighboring cities responded to the scene.
The Dallas office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded.
Allen, a suburb about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of downtown Dallas, has roughly 105,000 residents.
54 people killed in street clashes in India’s Manipur
The death toll in the Manipur clashes has risen to 54, according to authorities, despite unconfirmed estimates of several scores.
Life in Imphal Valley returned to a nervous routine on Saturday as businesses and marketplaces reopened and automobiles resumed their journeys. The security presence, which had been boosted by the deployment of additional army personnel, fast response teams, and central police forces, was evident at all important places and roadways, reports Times of India.
Even though security personnel were stationed in large numbers, most businesses and marketplaces in Imphal and other areas opened in the morning.
Officials added that of the 54 deaths, 16 bodies were kept in the morgue of the Churachandpur district hospital and 15 bodies were at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal East district.The Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Lamphel, Imphal West district, recorded 23 deaths, according to officials, the report also said.
Meanwhile, police stated that five hill-based terrorists were killed and two India Reserve Battalion jawans were injured in two separate confrontations in Churachandpur district on Friday night.
The police claimed four terrorists were killed in a clash between security forces and militants at Saiton in Churachandpur district.
Militants opened fire on security troops in Torbung, leading to them to react. According to police, one insurgent was killed and two IRB jawans were hurt during the exchange of fire.
According to a defence spokesperson, 13,000 people were evacuated and sent to safe shelters, some of which were army camps, as the army took "firm control" of Churachandpur, Moreh, Kakching, and Kangpokpi districts.
The violence began in the Torbung region of Churachandpur district on Wednesday during the 'Tribal Solidarity March' organized by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) to protest Meiteis' demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, it said.
The march was organized by tribals, including Nagas and Kukis, after the Manipur High Court ordered the state government last month to provide a proposal to the Centre on the Metei community's claim for ST status within four weeks.
During the march in Torbung, an armed crowd reportedly attacked members of the Meitei community, prompting retaliatory assaults in the valley regions and escalating the violence across the state, according to police.
Meiteis make up around 53% of the population and reside mainly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals, including Nagas and Kukis, make up another 40% of the population and live mostly in the hill areas that surround the Valley.
Prince Harry, minus Meghan, attends King Charles' coronation
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, came alone for his father's coronation ceremony as his wife, Meghan Markle, and their children stayed back at home in California.
The king's younger son, who quit as a working royal in 2020 and later relocated to the United States, has not been seen in public with the royals since the publication of his memoir "Spare" earlier this year, in which he was harshly critical of his father, stepmother Queen Camilla, and brother, the Prince of Wales, reports The Guardian.
Relations between family members are thought to be exceedingly strained, and there was considerable discussion about whether Prince Harry would even attend the coronation. According to sources, Meghan's choice to stay absent was influenced by the fact that the coronation happened on their son Prince Archie's fourth birthday, it said.
The prince, who arrived in the UK on Friday, entered Westminster alone, surrounded by younger royals and sporting medals pinned to his suit jacket. He was placed two rows behind his elder brother and directly between Jack Brooksbank, the husband of the Duke of York's daughter Princess Eugenie, and Princess Alexandra, Elizabeth II's 86-year-old first cousin.
Read: Charles III crowned in ancient rite at Westminster Abbey
The first row was designated for the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children.
Last September, Harry sat in the second row of Westminster Abbey, right behind Charles, for the Queen's funeral, it also said.
During the ceremony, when the crowd paid their respects to the king, Harry was spotted, along with the other royals there, saying, “God save King Charles. Long live King Charles. May the King live forever.”
Despite the fact that he is no longer a working royal, Harry is still fifth in line to the throne, behind the Prince of Wales and his three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, Harry and Meghan's children, are sixth and seventh in line, the report also mentioned.
Harry and the king's brother, the Duke of York, who is also no longer a working royal, will be missing from the parade behind the gold state carriage transporting the newly crowned king and queen from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace following the ceremony.
Harry is likely to attend only the abbey ceremony before travelling to the United States, the report concluded.
Burials held in Serbia for some victims of mass shootings
Heart-wrenching cries echoed as funerals were held in Serbia on Saturday for some of the victims of two mass shootings that happened just a day apart this week, leaving 17 people dead and 21 wounded, many of them children.
The shootings on Wednesday in a school in Belgrade and on Thursday in a rural area south of the capital city have left the nation stunned with grief and disbelief.
Though Serbia is awash with weapons and no stranger to crisis situations following the wars of the 1990s, a school shooting like the one on Wednesday has never happened before. The most recent previous mass shooting was in 2013 when a war veteran killed 13 people.
The shooter on Wednesday was a 13-year-old boy who opened fire on his fellow students, killing seven girls, a boy and a school guard. A day later, a 20-year-old man fired randomly in two villages in central Serbia, killing eight people.
Classmates and hundreds of other people cried unconsolably as one of the girls killed in the school shooting was laid to rest in Belgrade in a small white coffin that was covered with heaps of flowers. Overwhelmed by grief, the girl's mother could barely stand on her feet. One girl collapsed during the service amid screams and sobbing.
While the country struggled to come to terms with what happened, authorities promised a gun crackdown and said they would boost security in schools. Thousands lit candles and left flowers near the shooting site in Belgrade, in an outpouring of sadness and solidarity.
“My soul aches for them,” said Vesna Kostic, who came to pay respect outside the school on Saturday. “I keep looking for a cause, a reason why this has happened to him (the shooter), why this has happened to us.”
Serbian media reported that four of the eight children killed in the school shooting, as well as the Vladislav Ribnikar school guard, would be buried at cemeteries in Belgrade on Saturday, the second day of a three-day mourning period for the victims.
Some 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the south, a mass funeral service was being held in the small village of Malo Orasje for five young men who were gunned down in the shooting rampage on Thursday evening.
Sobbing mourners lined up to light candles while waiting for the coffins to be placed on five benches outside the village church for a service.
“Five graves! He (the killer) shut down five families,” one villager told N1 television. “How could this happen?”
Serbian police have said that the suspected shooter stopped a taxi after his rampage and made the driver to take him to a village further south, where he was arrested on Friday. Officers later said they found weapons and ammunition in two houses he was using there.
The suspect, identified as Uros Blazic, was questioned by prosecutors in the central town of Smederevo on Saturday, state media reported. He faces charges of first-degree murder and unauthorized possession of guns and ammunition.
The motive for both shootings remained unclear. The 13-year-old boy, who is too young to be criminally charged, has been placed in a mental clinic. His father was arrested for allegedly teaching his son to use guns and not securing his weapons well enough.
The suspected village shooter wore a pro-Nazi T-shirt, authorities said, and complained of “disparagement,” though it was unclear what he meant. Populist leader Aleksandar Vucic promised the “monsters” will “never see the light of day again.”
The wounded in the two shootings have been hospitalized and most have undergone complicated surgical procedures. A girl and a boy from the school shootings remain in serious condition, and the village victims are stable but under constant observation.
The school shooting left six children and a teacher wounded, while 14 people were wounded in the villages of Malo Orasje and Dubona. The dead in Dubona included a young, off-duty policeman and his sister.
Authorities released a photo showing the suspected shooter upon arrest — a young man in a police car in a blue T-shirt with the slogan “Generation 88” on it. The double eights are often used as shorthand for “Heil Hitler” since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.
Apart from the gun crackdown, officials have announced stepped-up monitoring of social networks and the media. Already by Saturday, several people had been questioned for posting threats or videos supporting the killers on social networks, the Tanjug news agency reported.
Serbia's education ministry outlined a crisis plan for the students of Vladislav Ribnikar school to gradually return to classes next Wednesday. A team of experts, backed the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, will offer support and oversee the process, a ministry statement said.
Experts have repeatedly warned that decades of crises and economic hardship, coupled with corrupt institutions and a high level of intolerance in public speech and politics, could push some people over the edge.
The populist-led Balkan country has refused to fully face its role in the wars of the 1990s, war criminals are largely regarded as heroes and minority groups routinely face harassment and sometimes physical violence.
“The question now is whether our society is ready to reject the model of violence,” psychologist Zarko Korac warned. “When you glorify a war criminal you glorify his crimes and you send a message that it is legitimate.”
Sudan envoys begin talks amid pressure to end conflict
Sudan’s warring sides were beginning talks Saturday that aim to firm up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, the United States and Saudi Arabia said.
The negotiations, the first between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, since the fighting broke out on April 15, were taking place in Saudi Arabia's coastal city of Jeddah, on the Red Sea, according to a joint Saudi-American statement.
The talks are part of a diplomatic initiative proposed by the kingdom and the U.S. that aims to stop the fighting, which has turned Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas into battlefields and pushed hundreds of thousands from their homes.
In their joint statement, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. urged both parties to “actively engage in the talks towards a cease-fire and end to the conflict, which will spare the Sudanese people’s suffering.”
The statement did not offer a timeframe for the talks, which come after concerted efforts by Riyadh and other international powers to pressure the warring sides in Sudan to the negotiating table. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan welcomed the rival sides to Jeddah, saying on Twitter that he hopes the talks would restore “security and stability” in Sudan.
Since a 2021 coup that upended Sudan's transition to democracy, the kingdom has been mediating between the ruling generals and a pro-democracy movement. After Sudan's top two generals — commanders of the military and the paramilitary — turned on each other after months of tensions and the latest fighting broke out in April, Jeddah became a hub for those evacuated by sea from Sudan’s main sea port of Port Sudan.
Officials from the military and the RSF said the talks would address the opening of humanitarian corridors in Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman, which have been the centers of the battles.
They would also discuss providing protection to civilian infrastructure, including health facilities that have been overwhelmed and suffer from dire shortages of both staff and medical supplies, one military official said.
An RSF official they would also discuss a mechanism to monitor the cease-fire, which is one of a series of truces that failed to stop the fighting. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks in Jeddah.
Meanwhile, Sudan's pro-democracy movement said the talks would be “a first step” to stop the country’s collapse and called on leaders of the military and the RSF to make a “bold decision” to end the conflict.
The movement, which is a coalition of political parties and civil society groups, had negotiated with the military for months to restore the country’s democratic transition after a 2021 military coup led by army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who also chairs the ruling sovereign council, and his deputy in the council Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.
On Saturday, Dagalo tweeted his first comment on the talks, welcoming the initiative to establish a firm cease-fire and open humanitarian corridors. “We remain hopeful that the discussions will achieve their intended goals,” he said.
At least 550 people have been killed, including civilians, and more than 4,900 have been wounded as of Monday, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate, which tracks only civilian casualties, said Friday that 473 civilians have been killed in the violence and more than 2,450 have been wounded.
The fighting capped months of tensions between Burhan and Dagalo. It plunged the country into further chaos and forced foreign governments to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese were displaced inside Sudan or crossed into neighboring countries as the fighting dragged on in urban areas.
The U.N. refugee agency estimated that the number of Sudanese fleeing to neighboring countries would reach 860,000, and that aid agencies would need $445 million to assist them.
On Saturday, a bus carrying Sudanese fleeing the fighting, overturned in Egypt’s southern province of Beni Suef, leaving at least 36 Sudanese, including women and children, and two Egyptians injured, local authorities said.
Tens of thousands of Sudanese have crossed into Egypt since the fighting broke out.