UN CHIEF SAYS FASTING SHOWED HIM ‘TRUE FACE OF ISLAM’
UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said joining Muslims as they fast during Islam’s holy month of Ramadhan showed him “the true face of Islam”. “The sense of peace, the sense of solidarity, the sense of generosity that I witnessed in the communities hosting refugees, and also the resilience, the courage of the refugees themselves was extremely inspiring,” he said. “And it remains a very important inspiration of everything I do today as Secretary-General of the United Nations,” he added. Asked about his annual visit to refugee camps or settlements as UNHCR Chief, where he fasted in solidarity, Guterres said: “When I became Secretary-General, I thought that this tradition should be maintained – now, not focused on refugee communities, but focused on the Muslim communities that are suffering”. On Ramadhan, Guterres said: “I think this is the moment for us to be all united for peace. Peace is the most precious thing that we can have in the world”.
SAUDI OFFICIALS TO HOLD PEACE TALKS WITH HOUTHIS IN SANAA
Saudi officials plan to travel to Yemen’s capital Sanaa next week to discuss a permanent ceasefire with Houthi fighters, as momentum builds to deescalate tensions in regional hotspots. The Saudi delegation will travel with officials from Oman and could announce a final Yemen peace deal before the April 20 Eid holiday marking the end of Ramadhan, a report said on April 7, citing sources familiar with the matter. Oman has traditionally played a mediator role in Yemen, brokering prisoner swaps and back-channel negotiations between Riyadh and the Houthis. The Oman-mediated talks are one of several initiatives underway to end fighting that has killed hundreds of thousands and pushed the impoverished nation to the brink of famine. Meanwhile, a Saudi Arabian-led military coalition lifted eight-year-old restrictions on imports headed for Yemen’s southern ports, in a sign that peace talks are progressing with the Houthi group in the north.
LEBANON TO FILE COMPLAINT AT UN SC OVER ISRAELI ‘AGGRESSION’
Lebanon intends to lodge an official complaint with the UN Security Council over the deliberate Israeli aggression that took place on April 7. The ministry said Israel had violated Lebanon’s sovereignty by bombing areas in southern Lebanon. “Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Abdallah Bou Habib instructed the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations in New York to submit an official complaint to the UN Security Council regarding the impact of the Israeli bombing and deliberate aggression at dawn today [Friday] in areas in southern Lebanon,” said a ministry statement. It called the Israeli aggression “a flagrant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and a flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 … (that) threatens the stability that the Lebanese south used to enjoy.” UN Security Council Resolution 1701 calls for a full cessation of hostilities and Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon. On April 7, the Israeli military launched airstrikes in Lebanon hours after it struck the Gaza Strip. In a statement, it said it struck targets belonging to the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in southern Lebanon.
ACADEMICS CUT TIES WITH GWU, CITING DIRECTOR’S ROLE TARGETING MUSLIMS
Two US professors have withdrawn their affiliation from George Washington University’s (GWU) programme on extremism, following a report that the programme’s director had been involved in a coordinated campaign to label several Muslim organisations as being linked to terrorism. “Before affiliating I should have done my due diligence about the director’s research and professional activities; I didn’t and I regret that. To be extremely clear: I condemn in the strongest possible terms Islamophobia,” said Hilary Matfess, an assistant professor at the University of Denver and former fellow at GWU’s extremism programme. A day after Matfess publicly announced her withdrawal from the programme, Cynthia Miller-Idriss also announced that she would do the same. Last month, The New Yorker published a lengthy report in which it alleged that Alp Services, a Geneva-based private intelligence firm headed by Mario Brero, pitched a campaign to the UAE to smear several Muslim organisations in Europe, including the UK-based, Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW).
INCLUSIVE REFORM TO UNSC IS URGENT NEED: TURKISH PRESIDENT
The order that confines the fate of humanity to the say of five countries “is not sustainable, said the Turkish president on April 4, urging for an “inclusive and encompassing” reform to the UN Security Council. “The current order, which traps the fate of humanity between the lips of 5 countries, is not sustainable. There is an urgent need for the UNSC to be reformed with an inclusive and encompassing understanding,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan at an iftar dinner held with foreign ambassadors and diplomats in Türkiye. He said Türkiye is now “harvesting the gains” of its entrepreneurial and humanitarian foreign policy, with several countries rushing to extend help to Türkiye after the February 6 earthquakes in country’s south.
CAIR SUES PRISON FOR DENYING RAMADHAN ACCOMMODATIONS TO INMATE
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it sued the Virginia Department of Corrections and officials at a correctional facility for their refusal to provide Ramadan accommodations to a Muslim inmate. The Green Rock Correctional Centre in Chatham has denied accommodations to Alexander Crichlow during the month-long religious observance, CAIR said. Crichlow, a Muslim who converted to Islam in January, fasts from before dawn until sunset during Ramadhan. Since January, he has repeatedly asked prison officials to provide him with the same Ramadhan accommodations as dozens of Muslims at Green Rock, including receiving breakfast before dawn, a double serving of dinner at sunset and permission to gather daily for evening prayers with other Muslims. “But prison officials reportedly refuse to accommodate Critchlow because he converted to Islam after their arbitrary deadline to sign up for Ramadhan accommodations, which fell on November 18, 2022 – over four months before Ramadhan,” CAIR said in a statement.
TÜRKIYE RESCUES 135 REFUGEES ILLEGALLY PUSHED BACK BY GREECE
The Turkish Coast Guard rescued refugees April 5 who were illegally pushed back by Greek forces. Thirty-two irregular migrants were rescued off the coast of the Foca district of the Aegean province of Izmir after they were pushed back into Turkish territorial waters. The website of Turkish Coast Guard Command said officials took action after learning there was a group of migrants in a boat off Foca. The foreign nationals were sent to the provincial migration management directorate after processing. Coast guard teams rescued 59 migrants separately after receiving information about groups of migrants in rubber boats off the coast of Ayvalik district in Balikesir province. Turkish teams also rescued 44 migrants from Afghanistan found in a rubber boat off the coast of Ayvacik district in the northwestern province of Canakkale. Their boat was drifting because of engine failure and they requested help, according to the Turkish Coast Guard Command.