Sudan rejects US request to discuss taking in Palestinians under Trump's Gaza plan
According to an Associated Press report, the US and Israel contacted officials in Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland about resettling uprooted Palestinians. The contacts suggested both countries are determined to press ahead with Trump's proposal despite international outrage and massive practical difficulties – or at least use the plan to force other actors in the region to come up with their own ideas for Gaza when hostilities finally end.
Two officials from war-torn Sudan confirmed to the Associated Press that the Trump administration had approached the military-led government about accepting Palestinians.
One said the contacts began even before Trump's inauguration with offers of military assistance in the army's fight against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, assistance with postwar reconstruction and other incentives. Both officials said the Sudanese government rejected the idea. 'This suggestion was immediately rebuffed,' said one official. 'No one opened this matter again.'
Under Trump's plan, Gaza's more than 2 million residents would be permanently displaced to allow massive reconstruction as a high-end 'international' leisure and business destination. Experts said any forced resettlement was illegal under international law.
Initially, Egypt and Jordan were suggested as destinations for displaced Palestinians, but both strenuously opposed the plan.
Palestinians in Gaza have also rejected the proposal and dismiss Israeli claims that the departures would be voluntary. Arab nations have offered an alternative multibillion-dollar reconstruction plan that would leave the Palestinians in place.
The White House says Trump 'stands by his vision'.
Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a secret diplomatic initiative, US and Israeli officials also described to the Associated Press news agency contacts with Somalia and the breakaway Somaliland region. They said it was unclear how much progress the efforts made or at what level the discussions took place.
Outreach from the US and Israel to the three potential destinations began last month, days after Trump floated the Gaza plan, according to the US officials, who said that Israel was taking the lead in the discussions.
Israeli officials and the White House have declined to comment on the efforts. The offices of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Ron Dermer, the Israeli minister who has been leading Israel's postwar planning, also had no comment.
Netanyahu has hailed Trump's proposal as a 'bold vision', while Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister and a longtime advocate of what he calls 'voluntary' emigration of Palestinians, has recently said that Israel was working to identify countries to take in Palestinians.
International legal experts have told the Guardian that, given the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, any such emigration could be unlawful and potentially constitute a war crime.
Sudan was among the four Abraham accord nations that agreed to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 but was plunged almost immediately into a civil war marked by widespread atrocities, including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the UN and rights groups.
US officials, seemingly aware that few Palestinians would be keen to relocate to such a precarious state, attempted to sweeten any deal by offering a range of incentives to Sudan's government, including an offer of assistance to the army in its fight against the RSF which, in turn, is backed by the United Arab Emirates, a significant US ally.
The proposal, if accepted, would have meant the US backing a side it has accused of war crimes and joining the same side in the conflict as Russia, at a time when Vladimir Putin is contemplating the American proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Before the revelations, Sudan had already indicated it would not entertain any attempt to resettle Palestinians in a country coping with the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The head of Sudan's army and de facto president, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – subject of the US sanctions – last week told a summit in Cairo that his country 'categorically rejects' any plan that aims to transfer 'the brotherly Palestinians from their land under whatever justification or name'.
The Guardian has contacted Sudan's ministry of foreign affairs for comment.
Somaliland, a territory of more than 3 million people in the Horn of Africa, seceded from Somalia more than 30 years ago, but it is not internationally recognised as an independent state.
An American official involved in the efforts confirmed to the Associated Press that the US was 'having a quiet conversation with Somaliland about a range of areas where they can be helpful to the US in exchange for recognition'.
An official in Somaliland, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media, said his government had not been approached and was not in talks about taking in Palestinians.
Somalia is an even more unlikely destination. Mogadishu has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinians, and joined the recent Arab summit that rejected Trump's plan. A Somali official told the Associated Press the country had not been approached about taking in Palestinians from Gaza and there had been no discussions about it.
In recent years, Somalia has developed strong ties with Arab states and with Turkey. Much of the country is ruled by al-Shabaab, an extremist Islamist militia allied with al-Qaida.
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Metro
20 minutes ago
- Metro
South Park's latest savage Trump takedown scores 6,200,000 viewers in days
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The new episode aired after the official Homeland Security X account posted a screenshot from the South Park teaser, using it as a recruitment advertisement with a link to join the law enforcement agency. The official South Park X account responded to the post, asking: 'Wait, so we ARE relevant?' Their reply referenced the White House's response to the first episode of this season, in which they claimed the show was 'fourth-rate' and no longer had any cultural capital. South Park fans would beg to differ, as many took to social media to hail the second episode as an instant classic. @mmpadellan posted a series of fire emojis, declaring: 'These guys are NOT holding back.' More Trending @harpforcongress added: 'I have been watching South Park since 1997. I have never seen them bury someone the way they buried Kristi Noem tonight. Trey and Matt are laser focused on the entire GOP. Buckle Up!' 'South Park truly never misses! Thank you Matt Stone & Trey Parker!!!' wrote @TheAliaLink. A version of this article was originally published on August 8. View More » South Park season 27 episode 2 is available on Paramount+ in the UK. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Trump's honours list includes a British 70s sitcom actor you may have forgotten MORE: The five banned South Park that are too offensive for streaming MORE: Five things we learned from Trump's meeting with Zelensky ahead of Putin summit
The Independent
20 minutes ago
- The Independent
With tariffs, a DC takeover, and Putin summit, Trump is now fully unleashed. And the world's tolerance for pain put to the test
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BBC News
21 minutes ago
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JD Vance - The 'Scots-Irish hillbilly' taking a break in Scotland
When JD Vance stepped onto Scottish soil on Wednesday he became the second inhabitant of the White House to visit the country in a vice-president is believed to be staying in Ayrshire, just north of Galloway, the area he says his forebears left in the 17th while his boss, President Donald Trump, is half-Scottish - his mother was born in Lewis in the Western Isles - Vance's claim to Caledonian blood has come under some this is important because in his own way the vice-president is a follower of the modern creed his Maga allies claim to hate - identity politics. That's loosely defined as people of a particular group - perhaps racial, sexual or social - putting that group's goals ahead of traditional party as Vance once put it: "To understand me, you must understand that I am a Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart." He made that claim in his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, a bestseller which was subsequently turned into an Oscar-nominated film starring Glenn Close and Amy book describes a childhood spent surrounded by poverty and substance abuse in Appalachia, the broad mountainous region which extends across the eastern USA from Canada to the Deep South. It's estimated that about 90% of the area's early European immigrants came in the 17th Century from the lands which stretch along both sides of the Scottish-English border. These included Ayrshire, Galloway, Dumfriesshire and the areas now known as the Scottish Borders. Vance claims his ancestors were from Galloway and were part of this terms Scots-Irish, Scotch-Irish and Ulster-Scots relate to people who left Scotland, settled as part of the Ulster plantation and then moved on to North today includes pockets of extreme poverty and its inhabitants are often offensively depicted as "hillbillies" - simple, unsophisticated and poor. Vance's memoir is an attempt to reclaim that tradition. He writes: "I may be white, but I do not identify with the WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) of the Northeast. "Instead, I identify with the millions of working-class white Americans of Scots-Irish descent who have no college degree. "To these folks, poverty is the family tradition... Americans call them hillbillies, rednecks, or white trash. I call them neighbours, friends and family."The book sets out Vance's developing political ideas as it charts his move towards conservatism. And though he was at the time a critic of Donald Trump, the book explains why poor rural voters in places like Appalachia were becoming attracted to the Maga movement. But while Vance makes explicit links between his family heritage and his political views, others are more sceptical. Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Prof Angelia Wilson of the University of Manchester said Vance has used his Scots-Irish heritage to craft his image."What we know about his background is often what he wants us to know about his background and his construction of the narrative has been very much based on the American dream," she said."Everybody who is white and working class in the American south claims to be of some sort of Scotch-Irish heritage. There is some absolute truth there."There's also a bit of cultural construction happening because it was those in the north-east, those 'damn Yankees' that claimed to be Wilson believes the administration Vance is now part of does not especially represent the heritage he likes to embrace."The values that he may have grown up with, that might ring true with Scottish stereotypes about being financially conservative and valuing families and community and helping those in need, are certainly not values that Trump and Maga talk about now."So he is now not a man of Scottish values," she said. Prof Ewan Hague of DePaul University in Chicago is an expert in white racial identities and the cultural relationships between Scotland and America. He believes Vance's identification with the Scots-Irish community has actually brought him definite political benefits."He can align himself with the Trump voters," he says. "In 2016, he was strongly against Donald Trump. I think that's well known. "I think part of it is these are the kinds of self identities that Trump has that have really moved towards sort of supporting Trump. The sort of lower income rural white population. "And so by emphasising that as part of his core identity, JD Vance, I think, can tap into those connections. And these ideas of strength, self-reliance, very kind of "small c" conservative connection to family and patriotism and nation. "The Scots-Irish becomes a kind of shorthand for a lot of the things that we're seeing from the kind of cultural perspectives of the current administration." If this all sounds a little politically cynical, it should be said there are many things to celebrate about the links between Scotland and the United the past 26 years, Tartan Day has grown into a huge celebration. Set up to mimic the traditional St Patrick's Day celebrations enjoyed by the Irish-American community in cities across the USA, it brings celebrities, pipe bands, business leaders and politicians out on the streets of New York every is seen as a key way of promoting Scotland across North from different parts of the political spectrum have said Scots should make every effort to get along with President Trump as a means of getting any political and economic advantage out of his recent trip to his mother's Vance trip is another opportunity to do that, though this visit promises to be a much more low-key, private all, he may well at some point succeed his boss into the West Wing. A future President Vance would see himself as the second chief executive in a row with Scottish may question just how Scottish he is or how much that even means. But if it's how he sees himself, it is a factor this week and for the future.
