Peter Everington obituary
Turning to his strong Christian faith, he felt a call to build bridges between Britain and the Arab world. This led him to switch his degree course to Arabic, and after graduation, in 1958, he became an English teacher in newly independent Sudan. Over an eight-year period, he worked in secondary schools in Port Sudan and Khartoum and at the Higher Teacher Training Institute in Omdurman, and he revisited the country many times subsequently.
While teaching in Northern Ireland prior to Cambridge, Peter had become involved in a movement called Moral Re-Armament (MRA), later renamed Initiatives of Change, which encouraged conflict resolution. Peter attempted this kind of work in Sudan – divided between the Muslim north and the Christian south – by supporting figures on either side who wanted to bring peace to the wartorn country.
One of these was Joseph Lagu, a guerrilla leader who later became vice-president of Sudan before going into exile in London. There, Peter and Lagu worked closely together from the mid-1980s onwards, supporting peacebuilding efforts. In 1996 Peter was awarded the Order of the Two Niles for services to Sudan.
Born in Hendon, then in Middlesex, to Stella (nee Hilleary) and Jack Everington, a lawyer, Peter grew up in Radlett, Hertfordshire, and went to Marlborough college in Wiltshire. He did military service in Hong Kong, and a stint teaching at Mourne Grange preparatory school near Kilkeel in Northern Ireland before going to Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Returning from Sudan to the UK in 1966, he decided to work full-time with MRA. In 1972, he married Jean Robertson, and they spent the first two and a half years of their marriage in Iran. Back in the UK from the mid-1970s, with the couple eventually settling in Acton, west London, Peter was involved over the next two decades in running a student exchange programme for the British-Arab Universities Association.
In 2017, a Khartoum-based cultural organisation published, in English and Arabic, a memoir by Peter entitled Watch Your Step, Khawaja: A British Teacher in Sudan 1958-66.
In recent years, Peter was a lay preacher at his local Anglican church, St Dunstan's. He also volunteered with Ealing and Acton Support Enterprise (Ease), a charity working with asylum seekers. A cricket lover, he was a member of the MCC.
He is survived by Jean and their son, John.
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Sky News
7 hours ago
- Sky News
'It is truly monstrous': Inside the besieged Sudanese city where families are forced to eat animal feed to live
Al Fashir is being suffocated to death. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has held the capital of North Darfur hostage in a 14-month siege - blocking food or fuel from entering the locality and forcing starvation on its 900,000 inhabitants. The entire city is currently a militarised zone as Sudan 's army and the Darfur Joint Protection Force fend off the RSF from capturing the last state capital in the Darfur region not currently under their control. Rare footage sent to Sky News from inside al Fashir town shows streets emptied of cars and people. The city's remaining residents are hiding from daytime shelling inside their homes, and volunteers move through town on donkey carts distributing the little food they can find. 'It is truly monstrous' Journalist Muammer Ibrahim sent Sky News voice notes from there. "The situation is monstrous," he says. "It is truly monstrous. "The markets are emptied of food and partially destroyed by shelling. Civilians were killed at the market, just a day ago. People have fled market areas but there is also shelling in residential areas. Every day, you hear of 10 or 12 civilians killed in attacks." His voice sounds shallow, weakened by the dire conditions, and gunshots can be heard in the background. "The intense fighting has meant that people cannot safely search for anything to eat, but there is also nothing for their money to buy. The markets are depleted. Hundreds of thousands here are threatened by a full-blown famine," he says. "There has been a full blockade of any nutritional supplies arriving in al Fashir since the collapse of Zamzam camp. It closed any routes for produce or supplies to enter." The RSF ransacked the famine-ridden Zamzam displacement camp 7.5 miles (12km) south of al Fashir town in April, after the military reclaimed Sudan's capital Khartoum. The United Nations believes that at least 100 people were killed in the attacks, including children and aid workers. The majority of Zamzam's half a million residents fled to other areas for safety. Hundreds of thousands of them are now squeezed into tents on the edges of al Fashir, completely cut off from humanitarian assistance. The capture of the camp allowed the RSF to tighten their siege and block off the last remaining supply route. Aid convoys attempting to enter al Fashir have come under fire by the RSF since last year. "Already, between June and October 2024, we had several trucks stuck and prevented by the Rapid Support Forces from going to their destination which was al Fashir and Zamzam," says Mathilde Simon, project coordinator at Medicins Sans Frontieres. "They were prevented from doing so because they were taking food to those destinations." "There was another UN convoy that tried to reach al Fashir in the beginning of June. It could not, and five aid workers were killed. "Since then, no convoy has been able to reach al Fashir. There have been ongoing negotiations to bring in food but they have not been successful until now." Families are resorting to eating animal feed to survive. Videos sent to Sky News by volunteers show extreme suffering and deprivation, with sickly children sitting on thin straw mats on the hard ground. Community kitchens are their only source of survival, only able to offer small meals of sorghum porridge to hundreds of thousands of elderly men, women and children facing starvation. The question now is whether famine has fully taken root in al Fashir after the collapse of Zamzam camp and intensified RSF siege. 'Malnutrition rates are catastrophic' "The lack of access has prevented us from carrying out further assessment that can help us have a better understanding of the situation, but already in December 2024 famine was confirmed by the IPC Famine Review Committee in five areas," says Mathilde. "It was already confirmed in August 2024 in Zamzam but had spread to other displacement camps including Abu Shouk and it was already projected in al Fashir. "This was more than eight months ago and we know the situation has completely worsened and malnutrition rates are absolutely catastrophic." Treasurer of al Fashir's Emergency Response Rooms, Mohamed al Doma, believes all signs point to a famine. He had to walk for four hours to escape the city with his wife and two young children after living through a full year of the siege and offering support to residents as supplies and funding dwindled. "There is a famine of the first degree in al Fashir. All the basic necessities for life are not available," he says. "There is a lack of sustenance, a lack of nutrition and a lack of shelter. The fundamental conditions for human living are not living. There is nothing available in the markets - no food or work. There is no farming for subsistence. There is no aid entering al Fashir."
The Independent
4 days ago
- The Independent
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But the money appears to have come from stretching its initial settlement over a longer timeframe, with experts warning the programme faces months of uncertainty until a new multi-year deal is announced. October's review said the programme had 'demonstrated impressive results', giving survivors of sexual violence access to medical, psychological and financial support to rebuild their lives. It also highlighted a need for PSVI to lean into current crises, including ongoing conflicts in Sudan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Sources in the foreign aid sector expressed hope the government will agree a new budget for the scheme when the funding picture becomes clear after Rachel Reeves' autumn Budget. But they warned that it faces a period of chaos and uncertainty because of Sir Keir's foreign aid cuts, leaving huge uncertainty about what will come next and even fears it could be axed. It is believed the programme faces at least six months of limbo at a time when it is more important than ever to invest. Tory former foreign minister Andrew Mitchell said British leadership in 'truly awful places' was being put at risk by the cuts. The MP said: 'After all the great British leadership - in truly awful places - where women are abused and their lives blighted by the use of rape and violence as weapons of war, it surely cannot be that a Labour government is going to turn its back on preventing sexual violence in conflict and the great programmes the last Conservative government set up and supported.' PSVI was founded in 2012 by former foreign secretary Lord Hague with the support of Hollywood actress and former UN special envoy Ms Jolie. It came after an End Sexual Violence in Conflict global summit in London, at which Ms Jolie promised to help ensure governments are held to account over ending sexual violence in warzones. At the time, Ms Jolie said: 'We are here for the nine-year-old girl in Uganda, kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery. "We are here for the man in Bosnia, years after rape, still stigmatised, unable to earn enough money to buy bread for his family. "We are here for all the forgotten, hidden survivors who have been made to feel ashamed or been abandoned. "And for the children of rape - we want the whole world to hear their stories and understand that this injustice cannot be tolerated, and that sorrow and compassion are not enough." As well as October's review lauding the initiative, the government's recently appointed special representative on PSVI said the scheme has helped Britain secure its place as 'a global leader in addressing conflict-related sexual violence'. Its funding has helped more than 55,000 survivors access legal aid and other justice services in the past three years as well as providing more than 3,000 survivors with medical, psychosocial and financial support to rebuild their lives. But Sir Keir's aid cuts have put the PSVI at risk as its funding ends on Thursday, and the prime minister is facing calls to restore the scheme. Dr Paul Kirby, an academic specialising in gender and armed conflict, said: 'The global coalition against sexual violence in conflict is already reeling from the destruction of USAID. 'The UK government has compounded the crisis by neglecting PSVI during its first year in power, and then with unprecedented aid cuts, from which there will be no relief this parliament. Reducing protections for people around the world in the name of homeland defence is a false economy and a waste of progress made in the last decade.' The government said it is providing £3.85m to fund the programme for the next year after allocating up to £12.5m for the previous three years. An annual review of PSVI will be published later this year, officials said. It comes after the Foreign Office last week accepted that its cuts to foreign aid will likely see global deaths rise, with the spending reduction having the biggest impact on women and girls' education and on projects across Africa. Sir Keir in February took an axe to the foreign aid budget as he bowed to pressure from Donald Trump to boost Britain's spending on defence. The prime minister told MPs he would fund the rise in defence spending by cutting funding for overseas aid from 0.5 per cent of national income to 0.3 per cent by 2027. The move, which Sir Keir told MPs he was not 'happy' with, will allow him to meet the target of spending 2.5 per cent of Britain's GDP on defence also by 2027.
Reuters
4 days ago
- Reuters
Explainer: The two rival governments that could split Sudan
CAIRO/DUBAI, July 31 (Reuters) - Sudanese paramilitaries are forming a parallel government to the one controlled by the country's army, pushing Sudan further towards de facto division, political analysts say. After more than two years of war that has caused waves of ethnic killings, famine and massive displacement, Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are currently fighting for control of al-Fashir - the army's last foothold in the western Darfur region, an RSF stronghold. A coalition led by the RSF announced the members of a parallel government last week. While it has not yet established institutions or been recognised, analysts say a potential breakaway of its territory could precipitate another split in Sudan, following the 2011 secession of South Sudan. Sudan's army and the RSF worked together in 2021 to oust the civilian politicians who took over from President Omar al-Bashir's toppled government two years earlier. But in April 2023, war broke out between them over a push to integrate RSF fighters into the armed forces. The RSF took over swathes of the country, though the army pushed them out of the capital Khartoum and towards the west earlier this year. Throughout the war, the RSF has called the internationally recognised army-led government illegitimate, and has taken steps to create its own, parallel administration. In May, the army installed a prime minister, Kamil Idris, who has in turn begun appointing ministers to a new "Hope Government". His cabinet's formation has been hindered by disputes between army leaders and the heads of former rebel groups who have joined the war against the RSF. Some cabinet members also have ties to Bashir's former party, reflecting the army's need for Islamist support. From its wartime capital of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, Sudan's army has maintained control of Sudan's northern and eastern states. Earlier this year, it also regained its central states and Khartoum, where it says it will relocate. The RSF quickly seized most of Darfur with the exception of al-Fashir, where fighting continues, causing mass hunger. The paramilitary also allied with the SPLM-N rebel group, which controls swathes of South Kordofan state on the border with South Sudan. The oil-rich West Kordofan and North Kordofan states are also still being fought over. More recently, the RSF has taken control of the northern "border triangle" with Libya and Egypt, expanding the international borders of the territory it controls. In February, the RSF formed the "Tasis" coalition with several Sudanese political factions and rebel groups, aiming to build what they said would be a single government for all of Sudan. In May, the coalition signed a constitution establishing a parliament and cabinet. Then in July, the coalition announced the formation of a presidential council led by RSF head Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, with the SPLM-N's Hilu as his deputy. The council also included regional governors and a prime minister, former government official Mohamed Hassan al-Taishi. Analysts say the formation of the parallel governments could lead to a Libya-like stalemate or even worse fragmentation as other armed groups claim their own territories and follow the RSF's lead. Both governments could also struggle to secure the international cooperation they need to rebuild Sudan's shattered economy and infrastructure. No states have so far moved to recognise the RSF's parallel government, which the U.N. and African Union have condemned. Militias have also proliferated across RSF territory, helping the paramilitary push forward but also proving hard to control. The seat of the RSF government, Nyala, in southern Darfur, has seen growing crime, including kidnappings, as well as protests by residents and soldiers. It has also been targeted frequently by army air and drone strikes. The army's coalition, including former rebel groups and tribal militias, is similarly fragile. And while the army has international recognition, with support from regional powers such as Egypt, many countries remain hesitant to deal with it because of the 2021 coup and the influence of Islamists. Like Dagalo, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is under U.S. sanctions.
