KHARTOUM: Sudan’s army chief AbdelFattah al-Burhan has called for dialogue to bring peace in Sudan as fighting persisted with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Saturday.

In an interview with Al Arabiya TV, al-Burhan said: “The biggest loser in this war is the Sudanese people. We all need to sit as Sudanese and find the right way out to restore hope and life.”

He added, “living conditions in Sudan are deteriorating and we share the international community’s concern towards Sudanese citizens.”

LOS ANGELES: An exhibition of work by female artists on women in the Middle East opens in California this weekend, as a fierce battle over women’s reproductive rights grips the United States.
“Women Defining Women in Contemporary Art of the Middle East and Beyond” brings together the creations of 42 female artists, depicting what curators say are the personal and universal stories of women in Islamic societies, and aims to challenge stereotypes about this part of the world.

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi cleric who escaped from prison and went on the run for two days died on Thursday as security forces closed in on him, authorities said.
Saad Qambash, once head of Iraq’s Sunni Waqf, was jailed for four years earlier this month for fraud.
His escape triggered a decision by Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani to sack a security chief in Baghdad and close the detention facility in the capital’s Green Zone from which the senior cleric had fled on Tuesday night.

RAMALLAH: Despite ongoing Eid Al-Fitr celebrations, Israeli military forces continued to storm Palestinian towns and arrest people in many parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem amid violent confrontations on Saturday.

Palestinian observers expect an escalation in tension and violence after Eid, which began on Friday and continues until Sunday.

KHARTOUM: Sporadic shelling rang out late on Friday in Sudan’s capital even though warring factions announced a truce, while one force said it was willing to allow airports to reopen for the evacuation of foreign nationals.
The United Nations, US, UK, Japan, Switzerland, South Korea, Sweden and Spain have said they were making preparations or attempting to remove their personnel after almost a week of violence.