, and rsf that has comm committed atrocity crimes. that's why arms transfers have been halted to the uae unless the united states congress can be assured that the uae will no longer provide materiel support that aids and abets the killing spree of the rsf. i hope that the senate will come together on this important question, and i hope the president and the biden administration will agree that securing those assurances from the uae is essential to our goal of achieving peace and stability in sudan, just as the president indicated we should be doing. mr. president, thank you, and i yield the flo test: . mr. van hollen: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. van hollen: i have five requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted.

i am hearing that the rsf presents is not much so in that area. can you speak about what you seen in terms of the border issue there and why there isn't any aid being brought into the nuba mountains and how that is correlating to the famine in that area? >> >>, good question. we got a question on the original drivers of the conflict, and in on the nuba mountains. who was to take the question on peacekeeping? >> if you would like to start, i am happy to follow-up. [laughter] it's particularly interesting now because we have the resolution in the past year that creates a mechanism for getting assessed contributions from the united nations to the african union in a way of actually. -- so it can be an african union-lad effort, but using -- african union-led effort but easing funding that comes from the u.s. exciting options here. >> if we are talking about physical protection in therefore,, we are talking about protection in a condition where there is no departure. it is hard for us to talk about -- it has never happened comparatively. in the civil wa

and the rsf is succeeding. we must, and can't, do more to address these threats against sudanese civilians. one of the greatest threats is the ongoing telecommunications blackout. over 30 million civilians have been unable to access the internet for almost 12 months. it has left them severed from the outside world. this council should send an independent technical assessment team to create a plan to repair, restore and protect networks across sudan. president, excellencies, you have the power to break the blackout in sudan and stop the belligerents from hiding their atrocities from the world. it is sudanese civilians and civil society that continue to keep eyes on sudan. the international community must urgently support sudanese civil society in safe documentation for accountability purposes. for the saf and rsf , they continue to commit serious rights violations. this council risks complicity if they continue to allow belligerents to set their own standards for civilian protection. general fattah al-burhan ent

creta secured unprecedented access to the rsf—controlled city of aljunaynah, in western darfur.bout the ethnic cleansing the group is alleged to have committed were met with denial by the rsf chaperones. they wanted to show their sense of control. film—maker sara creta travelled to the sudan—chad border in may 2024, where she saw people fleeing to survive. women, children, elderly, travelling almost with nothing, sometimes on barefoot, trying to reach safety. and one million people are now living in chad, in camps in the middle of the desert. this community endure so much and yet they are so strong and resilient. creta secured unprecedented access to the rsf—controlled city of aljunaynah, in western darfur. questions about the ethnic cleansing the group is alleged to have committed were met with denial by the rsf chaperones. men, women and children and taking more than 250 hostages. this triggered a huge israeli military offensive in gaza, which has killed more than 43,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the hamas—run health ministry. throughout the conflict, palestinian

by analysing videos like this one, we confirm the troops are wearing rsf insignia on their arms.of locals. the rsf denied those seen in the clips with their troops and said you can easily obtain their uniforms and then commit crimes against civilians. and we located this video by matching it up with satellite imagery using distinctive features like these you can see in the coloured boxes. in videos we verified to be from the same incident, fighters also filmed their hostages, including the elderly. we've blurred their faces and some appear to be in bloodstained white robes, and in other videos the troops mock and humiliate them. we've been told by a resident of the town that the fighters have been demanding ransoms for their captives, and many are still being held, but we haven't been able to confirm this ourselves. the conflict in sudan, which continues to this day, has killed at least 20,000 people, according to the un. in september, in what they've called one of the world's largest displacement crises. marriage matchmaking and government organised speed—dating events the searc

the rsf accused of terrorising non—arab communities. they deny it was their deed.uffered so much when this war started. _ some people supported the army, some supported the rsf. but we, the displaced, are neutral. what can you do to protect people? we've got to do much better. ultimately, it's about getting a peace process going, putting the international pressure on the parties. now, that's not easy, but we've got to be here. it's also about food and delivering much more to prevent famine from spreading, to prevent people from dying. lyse doucet, bbc news, darfur. in the last few minutes, the final count in ireland's general election has been completed. fianna fail, led by the former taoiseach micheal martin, has been confirmed as the largest party, with 48 seats. sinn fein has 39, and fine gael 38. martin's, fianna fail and fine gael are widely expected to return as the lead parties in government. coalition negotiations are expected to go on into the new year. queen camilla won't be attending all the events of the qatari state visit to london this week due to a l

the rsf accused of terrorising non—arab communities. they deny it was their deed.ow that sometimes you must feel that the world has forgotten you. more people pushed from place to place. they need everything but this war. translation: we've suffered so much. - when this war started, some people supported the army, some supported the rsf. but we, the displaced, are neutral. what can you do to protect people? we've got to do much better. ultimately, it's about getting a peace process going, putting the international pressure on the parties, now that's not easy, but we've got to be here. it's also about food and delivering much more to prevent famine from spreading, to prevent people from dying. lyse doucet, bbc news, darfur. ijust want i just want to show the pictures from angola because air force one has just touched on in the last little while and we are waiting to seejoe biden, and he's bound to be asked by reporters while c is on the trip about why he has granted a presidential pardon to his son, hunter, 20 weeks away from being sentenced for gun violations and d

the rsf accused of terrorising non—arab communities. they deny it was their deed.sometimes you must feel that the world has forgotten you. more people pushed from place to place. they need everything but this war. translation: we've suffered so much. - when this war started, some people supported the army, some supported the rsf, but we, the displaced, are neutral. what can you do to protect people? we've got to do much better. ultimately, it's about getting a peace process going, putting the international pressure on the parties. now, that's not easy, but we've got to be here. it's also about food, and delivering much more, to prevent famine from spreading, to prevent people from dying. lyse doucet, bbc news, darfur. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. vietnam property tycoon, truong my lan, will hear the verdict in her appeal against the death sentence later today. she was found guilty in april for masterminding the world's biggest bank fraud, amounting to a total biggest bank fraud, amounting to a total of $aa billion. she is asking to avoi

the rsf accused of terrorising non—arab communities. they deny it was their deed.that this situation is very, very hard, very tough. i know that sometimes you must feel that the world has forgotten you. more people pushed from place to place. they need everything but this war. translation: we've suffered so much. - when this war started, some people supported the army, some supported the rsf. but we, the displaced, are neutral. what can you do to protect people? we've got to do much better. ultimately, it's about getting a peace process going, putting the international pressure on the parties, now that's not easy, but we've got to be here. it's also about food and delivering much more to prevent famine from spreading, to prevent people from dying. lyse doucet, bbc news, darfur. she has also written an article on our website about her travels. the uk's home secretary, yvette coooper,promised the uk's home secretary, yvette coooper, has promised to �*restore order�* to the migration system — but acknowledged it would take time to turn things around. her words in the

and while both saf and rsf control some of the minds, the rsf controls the vast majority, and over the past decade, its leadership has frankly funded a lot of itself by taking that goal and illegally smuggling it to then raise money for arms, for propaganda, and to fund their efforts. the united states department of treasury has identified gold operations as a vital source of revenue for the rsf. this has been documented by the united nations that this -- these revenues go directly into fueling this conflict. and while the true scale of this whole illicit gold network is obscured, the truth is, most of this gold is ending up in companies in the uae. reports that further link not only this gold going to the uae, but also the notorious russia wagner group has been using these funds to support this group for not only other proxy wars but also to help russia in ukraine. there have been recent steps to desi desi designate in the uae. we must stop all of the revenue that's going to funding, again, the conflict where more people are displaced and die every day than gaza and ukraine combined.

creta secured unprecedented access to the rsf—controlled city of aljunaynah, in western darfur. the ethnic cleansing the group is alleged to have committed were met with denial by the rsf chaperones. they wanted to show their sense of control. the wanted to show that they were the peacekeeper, that they were the protectors. however, their claims were in contrast with what i was, you know, aware of and what people were just telling me. especially, you know, locals. they have described a completely different reality. the judges said that the film conveyed the real tragedy unfolding in darfur. at great personal risk, creta had brought an under—reported story to a global audience at a critical time. on the 7th of october 2023, the palestinian militant group hamas launched a deadly attack on israel, killing around 1,200 men, women and children and taking more than 250 hostages. this triggered a huge israeli military offensive in gaza, which has killed more than 43,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the hamas—run health ministry. throughout the conflict, palestinian journalist

creta secured unprecedented access to the rsf—controlled city of aljunaynah, in western darfur.ns about the ethnic cleansing the group is alleged to have committed were met with denial by the rsf chaperones. they wanted to show their sense of control. they wanted to show that they were the peacekeeper, that they were the protectors. however, their claims were in contrast with what i was, you know, aware of and what people were just telling me. especially, you know, locals. they have described a completely different reality. the judges said that the film conveyed the real tragedy unfolding in darfur. at great personal risk, creta had brought an under—reported story to a global audience at a critical time. on the 7th of october, 2023, the palestinian militant group hamas launched a deadly attack on israel, killing around 1,200 men, women and children and taking more than 250 hostages. this triggered a huge israeli military offensive in gaza, which has killed more than 43,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the hamas—run health ministry. throughout the conflict, palestinian

when we got the command directive from the rsf, it was good and that we had not had that before and he personally signed off on it but it is a tool, not an end. that tool is there and creates greater accountability. how do we turn that into results? how do we change the behavior? on that, again, we have a long way to go. >> i think we have five minutes if that's possible if that is in track with your time, mr. perriello. >> sure. >> we will go to the audience because i see a few hands. we have the ability to take questions online. introduce yourself with name and organization when asking your question. i think we will start here. >> thank you. my name is -- >> wait for the microphone. sorry. >> my name is hassan and my question is about the accusation of the egyptian army supporting the rsf. can the u.s. verify this in any way, shape, or form? what is the u.s. position on that if proven true? and help us understand how uae is allegedly supporting rsf in sudan while egypt is supporting the sudanese army while at the same time right before these accusations, aid was in egypt to extend ec

we recognize this and introduced a regional sustainment framework, or rsf. it's a creative way to expand the cooperation within the boundaries of current u.s. law. it provides opportunities for allies and partners to help maintain and repair u.s. military systems closer to the point of their need. similarly, korean companies have found a number of ways to deepen our mutual cooperation, including participating in ammunition ships, and acquiring a shipyard. the momentum is there. but we must do more. this is a moment to deepen our partnership and strengthen our industries even further. ship building is only one potential area of cooperation, but there are others, as well. the u.s. national defense strategy rightly emphasized that we can enhance production capacity and address the critical capability gap by working together. the ongoing conflict in the middle east and europe have shown how critical a strong and resilient defense industrial base remains. the ability to produce defense capabilities at both speed and scale is absolutely vital. korea, the u.s., and

lot of our other colleagues, who are in prison, but you know, the committee to protect journalists, rsf, reporters without borders, and icfj, the international center for journalists, actually created this coalition, brought in 84 different media freedom groups and you guys were part of it. you know, this helped. i don't know if i would be here in front of you if we di't have that kind of help. and it is both before you go to jail, during, and then i think the other part, we were talking about this backstage, right, your anger, suppressed anger comes out after the crisis. i think even after. - i was so surprised to hear the same thing from maria. i controlled my feelings and emotions when i was in prison because i wouldn't have helped myself there. and i felt no anger. i felt no desperation. i was just hopeful or i was falling apart. but when i came back, i have all this spectrum of emotions right now. there is anger, but it's, i want to do something and i'm emotional. every time i see someone, i want to hug. and margaret, we gave each other so many hugs backstage. all spectrum of good

what i mean is we talked about the rsf and that's great, an important part of all this. we need a people to work with partners to maintain, repair, overhaul forward. we didn't army pre-position stock. >> we done things like that, reposition the gear were going to need we also need to create production capacity. one thing we've done at hanwha is built of factories that produce for word and we're look finding ways to help the army produce in australia the things that it will need when it's time to face china head on. so i think we need to kind of re-create and rebuild capacity. it's great we have incentives to get shipyard. i was chief operating officer so i know shipbuilding is great to have incentives to build commercial and naval in the single yard, but we don't to build the ships were trying to build no. we have to virtually create geographically dispersed capacity overseas. as we are thinking about it we need to think about doing it where we're going to need it which is in the pacific rim. that's my thought when you think about allies can contribute to the industrial

in addition, facilities at rsf we leased over a 20 year period were set to expire at the end of 2023 and extended through the end of the rate payer. to address these calculation discrepancies, recology san francisco company proposed to provide credit adjustments for rate year 24 and to reduce the rates for rate year 25. the difference for rate year 24 are proposed as credits since the rate year ends today. the adjustment to rate year 24 include reduction to the tipping fee of 1.78 percent or $4.29 off of the 24109 set in the rate order for 2024. that represents total adjustment of approximately $2.4 million. the majority that adjustment is incorporated into the collection rate adjustment since rsf drives most of the tipping fee revenue from the collection operations. the amount represent ing public and account customers is approximately $235 thousand. the tipping fee change along with reversing the impacts of the revenue and lease differences within the collection companies result in a 1.91 percent reduction in rates from their 2023 level. the credit adjustment for rate payers would

in addition, facilities at rsf we leased over a 20 year period were set to expire at the end of 2023d through the end of the rate payer. to address these calculation discrepancies, recology san francisco company proposed to provide credit adjustments for rate year 24 and to reduce the rates for rate year 25. the difference for rate year 24 are proposed as credits since the rate year ends today. the adjustment to rate year 24 include reduction to the tipping fee of 1.78 percent or $4.29 off of the 24109 set in the rate order for 2024. that represents total adjustment of approximately $2.4 million. the majority that adjustment is incorporated into the collection rate adjustment since rsf drives most of the tipping fee revenue from the collection operations. the amount represent ing public and account customers is approximately $235 thousand. the tipping fee change along with reversing the impacts of the revenue and lease differences within the collection companies result in a 1.91 percent reduction in rates from their 2023 level. the credit adjustment for rate payers would be 1.91 perc

we have made some progress on that in the last few weeks with the saf and with the rsf to a lesser extent. in terms of war crimes and genocide, we've been making determinations already about atrocities and war crimes. we're looking at the question of genocide and whether we complete that review in the time -- >> trying to be respectful. the time has expired. you did not see it coming, i've heard that over and over. perhaps we were getting different intelligence briefings, but i certainly saw it coming and your own employees in the embassy saw it coming when they sent the dissent cable to you, a cry for help that kabul is falling and the embassy will fall soon. i don't know how you can say that, honestly, sir, with a straight face. the chair recognizes -- >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate your work as leading this committee. but secretary blinken, how many u.s. citizens are still in afghanistan? >> i can't give you an exact number, because we never know for sure. there are several -- >> do you believe they're voluntary? you were going to say there's several thousand. >> new york o,

the army has denied targeting civilians and accused its rival, rsf, of hiding in residential areas. human rights and political groups in sudan have condemned strikes by the military. they have accused them of committing horrific massacres against civilians. however, the sudan's armed forces have denied targeting civilians. now in khartoum, the capital, they are accused of targeting a petrol station in which dozens of people were killed and many more injured in the western region of darfur. they are accused of targeting a busy market and hospitals. now, this is a region that is largely controlled by the rapid support forces. the country's military has intensified air strikes in recent weeks as it tries to reclaim territory that it had lost to the isf. both groups have been accused of committing war crimes. sudan is currently the largest humanitarian crisis in the world since war broke out in april last year. more than 11 million people have been displaced and there is no end in sight to the fighting. in nairobi, hundreds of people have had tear gas fired at them as they protested aga