Region

CAIRO — The Egyptian foreign ministry has summoned Sweden’s envoy over protests in Stockholm that desecrated the Koran, Cairo said on Tuesday, adding to a wave of diplomatic condemnations across the Muslim world.

The charge d’affaires at the Swedish embassy in Cairo was informed “of the Egyptian government and people’s complete rejection of the unfortunate, repeated incidents of copies of the holy Koran being burnt or desecrated in Sweden”, a foreign ministry statement said.

Egypt has publicly condemned recent incidents in the Swedish capital where copies of the Muslim holy text were burnt or stamped on, warning of “escalating Islamophobia and hate crimes”.

Last month, Sweden-based Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika burnt pages of the Koran outside Stockholm’s main mosque.

And last week, he stepped on the Koran but did not burn it in a protest near the Iraqi embassy.

Both acts have triggered widespread condemnation across the Muslim world and beyond.

Swedish authorities had allowed the demonstrations on free-speech grounds but said their permission did not signal any approval of the action.

In an interview published last week, Momika — who describes himself as an atheist — defended his actions and said they were meant to highlight discrimination against minority groups in Iraq.

“I will keep burning Korans as long as I am legally allowed to,” he told French magazine Marianne.

Al Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world’s most prestigious educational institution, has called for boycotting Swedish products.

In its latest statement Friday, Al Azhar condemned “repeated provocations” by Swedish authorities, charging that Stockholm had granted permission for the protests “under the false slogan of freedom of expression” while supporting extremism and Islamophobia.

The events have raised diplomatic tensions throughout the region, with Swedish envoys also summoned in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Sweden’s ambassador has been expelled from Iraq, while Iran said it would not allow a new Swedish ambassador into the country, after repeated protests at embassies in both Baghdad and Tehran.

ALGIERS — Wildfires raging across Algeria during a blistering heatwave have killed at least 15 people and forced mass evacuations, the government said on Monday.

As temperatures hit 48 degrees Celsius in parts of the North African country, it recorded 97 blazes across 16 provinces, fanned by strong winds, said the interior ministry.

The fires injured 26 people and raged through residential areas, it said, adding that most had been put out.

Some 1,500 people were evacuated from the Bejaia, Bouira and Jijel provinces east of the capital Algiers, according to the ministry.

The three provinces in Algeria's Mediterranean coastal region have seen the worst of the fires.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Monday expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased, noting both civilian and military victims.

The interior ministry said that 7,500 firefighters and 350 firetrucks were mobilised to fight the flames, aided by aerial fire-fighting support.

Operations were under way to extinguish fires in six provinces, it added, calling on citizens to "avoid areas affected by the fires" and to report new blazes on toll-free phone numbers.

"Civil protection services remain mobilised until the fires are completely extinguished," the ministry said.

In the north-eastern province of Tizi Ouzou, 15 fires were extinguished late Sunday, according to civil protection forces.

Fires regularly rage through forests and fields in Algeria in summer, and this year have been exacerbated by a heatwave that has seen several Mediterranean countries break temperature records.

In neighbouring Tunisia, temperatures on Monday neared 50ºC.

Tunisia’s state energy supplies STEG announced planned half-hour to one-hour power cuts in a bid to preserve the network’s performance.

Last week, a major blaze raged in a Tunisian pine forest near the border with Algeria.

A border crossing had to close temporarily, according to Tunisian officials who confirmed 470 hectares of forest had been burned.

In some other North African countries such as Morocco and Libya, temperatures were relatively normal compared to annual averages.

Algeria’s state energy firm Sonelgaz on Sunday reported a peak in electricity consumption at 18,697 megawatts.

In August 2022, massive blazes killed 37 in Algeria’s north-eastern El Tarf province.

It was preceded by the deadliest summer in decades, with 90 people killed in such fires in 2021, particularly the Kabylie region.

In a bid to avoid a repeat of previous years’ death tolls, the authorities had announced a series of measures in the months leading up to peak summer heat.

Tebboune in April announced the acquisition of six medium-sized water-bombing aircraft.

This was followed by the interior ministry similarly announcing the imminent acquisition of one such aircraft and the leasing of six others the following month.

And in May, authorities said they were preparing for wildfires by constructing landing strips for helicopters and fire-fighting drones.

Scientists rank the Mediterranean region as a climate-change “hot spot”, with the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning of more heatwaves, crop failures, droughts, rising seas and influxes of invasive species.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces on Monday announced the seizure of nearly a million captagon pills in the possession of a "foreign trafficker", as the country grapples with the ballooning drug trade.

Authorities in Iraq — a key conduit for the amphetamine-type drug — regularly announce such operations in which large hauls of captagon are seized, often coming from Syria with which it shares 600-kilometre porous border.

National security forces in Baghdad arrested "a foreign narcotics trafficker" and seized large quantities of the drug hidden in a truck that he was "planning to drive to a northern province", according to a statement.

The statement did not specify the suspect's nationality.

On July 16, the interior ministry reported the discovery of a rare captagon manufacturing lab in the country's south.

It was the first such announcement of its kind in a country where drug consumption had spiralled in recent years but where production remains virtually nonexistent.

Days earlier, the authorities had announced the dismantling of an “international drug trafficking network” and the arrest of three of its members.

They seized during the operation two million captagon pills in the southern province of Muthanna on the border with Saudi Arabia.

Governments in the region have recently upped efforts to crack down on trafficking after oil-rich Gulf states — the key target markets for captagon — expressed their displeasure over the trade.

WAD MADANI, Sudan — One Sudanese child has been killed or wounded every hour on average during the country’s brutal war that has now raged for 100 days, the UN children’s agency said on Monday.

The army led by Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and the paramilitary forces of Mohamed Hamdan Daglo have been locked into a battle to “win or die” since April 15.

UNICEF said it had documented “2,500 severe violations of children’s rights — an average of at least one an hour” since the fighting began.

The agency said at least 435 children had been killed and 2,025 injured, but added that the true figure was likely far higher.

Another 14 million children are in need of humanitarian support, according to the agency.

“Every day children are being killed, injured, abducted and seeing the schools, hospitals and the vital infrastructure and life-saving supplies they rely on damaged, destroyed or looted,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations.

“Parents and grandparents who lived through previous cycles of violence are now having to watch their children and grandchildren experience similar horrific experiences.”

‘Brink of collapse’ 

At least 3,900 people of all ages have been killed across Sudan in the conflict, according to a conservative estimate.

More than 3.3 million have fled their homes, 700,000 of them to foreign countries. Millions more have been plunged into hunger.

Now, over half of Sudan’s 48 million people need humanitarian aid to survive, but the UN and aid groups are struggling to help due to a lack of permits from the authorities and of funding from international donors.

According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, Sudan is “on the brink of collapse, grappling with an unprecedented series of crises”.

“Sudan was already facing an overwhelming and vastly neglected humanitarian crisis before the war broke out. The first 100 days of fighting have brought it to catastrophic levels.”

The situation is expected to worsen during the rainy season which heightens the risk of flood, famine and the spread of diseases including malaria and cholera.

‘None will return’ 

Sudan’s war has sparked fears it will de-stabilise the wider region.

One of the top army commanders, Yasser Atta, fiercely criticised Kenya on Sunday over a proposal to consider sending African peacekeepers to Sudan.

“Let Kenya send its army and the armies of the countries that support it, along with all other mercenaries. None of their men will return,” he declared to his forces.

Some of the fiercest fighting has raged in the capital Khartoum, where the army has launched air strikes to try to dislodge the paramilitary RSF.

The army has also tried to cut off supplies to the RSF from the southern region of Darfur, a major stronghold of the paramilitaries and of Daglo.

On Monday, the army announced the closure of the highway linking Khartoum and Darfur because “it is used by rebels to transport looted goods to civilians and to bring mercenaries to Sudan”.

“Any vehicle using that route will be a military target,” the army added.

The conflict has been complicated as some of the country’s myriad rebel groups have joined the fray.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, led by Abdelaziz Al Hilu, on Monday besieged Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, residents said.

YAZD, Iran — A Zoroastrian priest dressed in white carefully added wood to a fire that has burned for centuries inside an Iranian temple, sacred to one of the world's oldest religions.

The fragrant holy fire, kept in a large bronze goblet, "has been burning for more than 1,500 years", said Simin, a tour guide welcoming visitors to the Zoroastrian fire temple in Iran's central Yazd province.

Zoroastrianism dates back some 3,500 years, but centuries of persecution have dwindled its numbers and a fast-changing modern world has left it struggling to adjust.

Founded by the prophet Zarathustra, it was the predominant religion of the ancient Persian empire, until the rise of Islam with the Arab conquests of the seventh century.

Today, the Zoroastrian community is estimated at around 200,000 people who live mainly in Iran and India.

They venerate fire as a supreme form of purity.

Alongside water, air and earth, the elements must not be contaminated by human activity, according to their faith.

Only Zoroastrian priests are allowed in the Yazd sanctum, covering their faces to prevent vapour and breath from contaminating the sacred fire, as they take turns during the day to keep the flame burning.

The fire "can never die out", said the tour guide.

Visitors can only observe the rituals from behind tinted glass.

In Iran, Zoroastrian leaders say the community nowadays counts about 50,000 members. The latest national census, conducted in 2016 and excluding converts, put their number at 24,000.

Over the centuries, faithful have undergone forced conversions, with many of their temples destroyed, libraries set ablaze, and much of their cultural heritage lost.

But "our religion still occupies a place in the history of the world, and it will continue to exist", said Bahram Demehri, a 76-year-old faithful from Yazd.

"The essence of Zoroastrianism, like other religions, is based on monotheism, prophecy, belief in the afterlife and benevolence," he told AFP.

'Joy' at the core 

Zoroastrians believe that "good thoughts, good words, good deeds" are the key to happiness and spirituality.

A messiah called Saoshyant will one day return and save the world by fighting wrongs, they believe.

Their teachings are embodied in Faravahar, an ancient symbol of a man emerging from a winged disc while holding a ring, which is carved on the pediments of ancient Persian temples.

"Joy is essential in the practice of our religion," Simin, the tour guide, noted, mentioning multiple religious celebrations.

One of those festivals, Nowruz, marks the new Persian year and is celebrated to this day by Iran's overwhelmingly Shiite Muslim majority.

Tehran recognises Zoroastrians as a religious minority, granting them freedom of worship and representation in parliament, which also reserves seats for other minorities including Armenians, Assyrians and Jews.

Some other religious minorities, like followers of the Bahai faith — Iran's largest non-Muslim group — are not recognised by the state.

But for Zoroastrians like Demehri, "the laws protect us", he said.

"Zoroastrians are active members of Iranian society," and include "university professors and government employees", Demehri added.

They are, however, barred from careers in Iran's armed forces and cannot run for president.

Waning traditions 

Some Zoroastrian rituals were lost as followers were forced to practise their faith discreetly.

A funerary rite known as "dakhma" was banned in Iran since the late 1960s for sanitary reasons.

It involves exposing the dead bodies atop a platform known as "the tower of silence" to be devoured by scavenging birds.

Instead, Zoroastrians have opted to lay their deceased to rest in cemeteries.

Other traditions are challenged by modernity, with many followers scattered around the world.

Among the community's most famous exiles is legendary Queen lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, born to a Zoroastrian family originally from India.

Zoroastrian priests have sought to open centres abroad, including in California in the United States, where a sizeable diaspora community lives.

Demehri noted efforts to "modernise the rites" and simplify them for younger generations.

"It is difficult to ask young people who love pizza to eat our traditional tasteless bread during celebrations," he said.

BAGHDAD — Iraq has offered to mediate between warring parties in Yemen in an effort to end the country's years-long war, Iraq's top diplomat said at a press conference on Sunday.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein put forward the proposal during a visit from his Yemeni counterpart.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, before a Saudi-led military coalition intervened the following year on the side of the country's internationally recognised government.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the fighting or from indirect causes such as lack of food in what the United Nations has called one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

A six-month truce brokered by the United Nations expired in October last year, but fighting has largely remained on hold.

"Currently, there is an unofficial truce. In practice, there is some form of ceasefire... We hope this situation leads to dialogue between all Yemeni parties," Hussein emphasised during a press conference with Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Bin Mubarak.

"Iraq is ready to help in this matter. We have good relations with all parties. We can use our influence for stability and security in Yemen, and we can act on a regional level," he stated.

Baghdad has consistently tried to highlight its role as a regional mediator, and hosted several rounds of relatively low-level talks between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia from April 2021.

In March, Riyadh and Tehran announced a resumption of diplomatic relations in a surprise deal brokered by Beijing. The reconciliation raised hopes for peace in Yemen.

“Unfortunately, for now, we have not seen any direct impact of this agreement on the situation in Yemen,” the Yemeni minister said in his speech.

“But we remain hopeful,” he added. “We believe the time has come to put an end to this war in Yemen.”

In April Riyadh’s ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al Jaber, travelled to Sanaa as part of a plan to “stabilise” the truce. Although no deal was struck, Jaber later said warring parties are serious about ending the conflict.

DUBAI — Authorities in Yemen have identified a suspect in the killing of a World Food Programme (WFP) official in the southern Taez province, a security official has told AFP.

Moayad Hameidi, the head of the UN food agency’s office in Taez, was killed in a shooting on Friday in the nearby city of Turbah, the Rome-based WFP has confirmed.

“The perpetrator of the criminal assassination of the United Nations employee in the city of Turbah in Taez [province]... has been in the city of Taez since 2017, after fleeing Aden due to security operations against Al Qaeda operatives,” the security official said late Friday.

Speaking on condition on anonymity, the Taez province official was unable to confirm whether the suspect belonged to the terrorist group.

Aden has been the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognised government since Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa in 2014.

The conflict escalated the following year when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of the government.

Fighting has eased over the past year, although sporadic attacks continue.

An arrest warrant has been issued for the suspect, according to an interior ministry telegram seen by AFP.

Taez is controlled by the government but is surrounded and blockaded by areas under Houthi control.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and militants loyal to the Daesh group have thrived in the chaos of Yemen’s war.

The Saudi-led coalition as well as the United States and UAE-backed forces have clamped down on jihadist militants in Yemen.

In an initial statement on Friday, the WFP said it was “deeply saddened” by the death of its employee.

The agency later announced that “Moayad Hameidi, a Jordanian national, died shortly after being transferred to hospital”.

He “was shot and killed by unknown gunmen on Friday afternoon in Turbah”, it added.

“A dedicated humanitarian, Hameidi, had worked for WFP for 18 years, including a previous stint in Yemen as well as time in Sudan, Syria, and Iraq.”

WFP’s Yemen country director, Richard Ragan, said: “Any loss of life in humanitarian service is an unacceptable tragedy.”

The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said in a tweet: “Our deepest condolences go out to Moayad’s family, friends, and colleagues. And we mourn his tragic loss with the humanitarian community in Yemen.”

In 2018, Lebanese aid worker Hanna Lahoud, who worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross, was killed by unknown assailants in Taez province.