“Trump est temporaire”: le gouverneur de Californie vedette américaine de la COP30

En l’absence de Donald Trump à la COP30 au Brésil, c’est son principal opposant démocrate, le gouverneur de Californie Gavin Newsom, qui a attiré la lumière mardi avec une défense sans ambiguïté de l’action climatique, en attendant 2028.”Trump est temporaire”, a lancé mardi Gavin Newsom à Belem, ville d’Amazonie brésilienne qui accueille la conférence de l’ONU sur le climat, sans aucune délégation fédérale américaine pour la première fois de l’histoire des COP.”Donald Trump redouble d’imbécillité”, a-t-il déclaré en critiquant la marche arrière du gouvernement fédéral sur l’énergie et le climat, et le second retrait américain de l’accord de Paris, moteur de la coopération mondiale sur le climat.Toute la journée, le virulent opposant à Donald Trump, considéré comme l’un des candidats les plus sérieux à la présidentielle de 2028, a répété que ses reculs étaient une “abomination”. Il a multiplié les réunions et les événements de haut niveau, avec le gouverneur de l’Etat brésilien du Para, avec un ministre allemand, avec le président brésilien de la COP30… goûtant aux spécialités culinaires amazoniennes, jus d’açai et cupuaçu, un fruit local.Interrogé par l’AFP lors d’une visite dans la ville, il a affirmé qu’un président démocrate réintégrerait les États-Unis dans l’accord de Paris “sans hésitation”. “C’est un engagement moral, c’est un impératif économique”, a-t-il poursuivi.A chaque étape, Gavin Newsom a vanté comme un modèle sa Californie, qui indépendante serait la 4e économie mondiale, et dont l’électricité a été “100% propre” (sans fossiles) neuf jours sur dix cette année.- “Avec humilité” -Les villes, les provinces, les régions de nombreux pays sont très présents à cette COP pour démontrer que l’action climatique au niveau régional ou local complétait celle des Etats – même s’ils n’ont pas de siège dans les négociations onusiennes, réservées ici aux gouvernements membres de la Convention des Nations unies sur le changement climatique (CNUCC).Egalement présente, la gouverneure démocrate du Nouveau Mexique, Michelle Lujan Grisham, a affirmé que “lorsque le gouvernement fédéral s’engage, nous en faisons plus, et quand il se désengage, nous en faisons plus”.L’absence de représentant de l’administration Trump est en tout cas un soulagement pour ceux qui craignaient que les Etats-Unis ne viennent torpiller les négociations, comme en octobre à l’Organisation maritime internationale (OMI) où un accord sur une taxe carbone a été coulé après des menaces américaines sur certains pays.”C’est une bonne chose”, a dit Christiana Figueres, ancienne cheffe de l’ONU Climat au moment de l’accord de Paris, mardi à Belem. “Ils ne peuvent pas prendre la parole.”Le retrait de l’accord de Paris décidé par le président américain sera effectif en janvier 2026, mais les Etats-Unis restent membres de la CNUCC et garderont leurs sièges aux COP.”La position de Trump est excessive”, a dit à l’AFP Abe Assamoi, représentant de la Côte d’Ivoire à la COP, “parce qu’on sait que les changements climatiques sont une réalité”.”L’absence des Etats-Unis ne compromet pas la COP”, a souligné le Premier ministre portugais Luis Montenegro, jeudi dernier à Belem. Mais à long terme, le réengagement du pays, deuxième émetteur mondial de gaz à effet de serre, sera “indispensable”, poursuit-il.D’où la venue du gouverneur californien, “avec humilité”, pour convaincre les pays qui perdent confiance dans les Etats-Unis à cause des va-et-vient sur le climat, de George W. Bush et la non-ratification du protocole de Kyoto à Donald Trump.Quant à ses concitoyens, pour faire du climat un sujet moins partisan, Gavin Newsom a concédé qu’il cherchait encore la bonne recette.”La grande majorité de mon public ne sait pas ce que Celsius veut dire, quand on parle de 1,5°C. Cela fait combien en Fahrenheit?” s’est-il interrogé en fin de journée. “Les émissions de gaz à effet de serre, elles flottent dans le ciel, elles atterrissent? Nous avons besoin de meilleures métaphores.”

‘Trump is temporary’: California governor Newsom seizes COP30 spotlight

With US President Donald Trump skipping the UN’s climate summit in the Amazon, California Governor Gavin Newsom grabbed the spotlight Tuesday and unleashed a barrage of attacks on the fossil fuel agenda of his political nemesis.The well-coiffed Democrat — seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate — blasted Trump for twice leaving the Paris climate accord and for “doubling down on stupid” through his support of Big Oil.Newsom said a future Democratic administration would rejoin the Paris Agreement “without hesitation.””It’s a moral commitment, it’s an economic imperative,” Newsom said in response to a question by AFP in Belem, the Brazilian Amazon city in northern Para state hosting the climate summit known as COP30.It is “an abomination that he has twice, not once, pulled away from the accords.”After returning to office in January, Trump withdrew the United States from the landmark Paris deal for a second time — the first was during his first term — and he has sneered at the idea of human-caused planetary warming, calling it a “con job.”Newsom’s first appearance of the day came alongside Helder Barbalho, governor of Para, where he touted California’s green credentials between bites of tropical fruit and sips of acai juice — noting that the Golden State, the world’s fourth-largest economy, is now two-thirds powered by renewables.He then launched into a whirlwind of meetings and press events with officials from Germany’s Baden-Wurttemberg state, Brazil’s minister for Indigenous Peoples and the Brazilian president of COP30 — all the while trailed by large media scrums normally reserved for national leaders. – Not part of negotiations -Still, there are limits. Regional leaders have no part of official negotiations at COP30, which opened Monday with urgent calls to stay the course on climate action.New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, who also attended events Tuesday, acknowledged these constraints.”Certainly our meetings with leaders at the UN and others was to demonstrate that we’re interested in any possibility that does more about that direct negotiation and representation,” she said. Her aim in coming, she added, was to show that “when the federal government leans in, we do more, and when they lean out, we do more. It’s both.”But Christiana Figueres, an architect of the Paris agreement, said the summit was better off without Trump’s government showing up.”I actually think it is a good thing,” she said, suggesting that while the United States may work behind the scenes with petrostates including Saudi Arabia, “they can not take the floor” and directly bully other nations.  – ‘Trump is temporary’ -Even without a seat at the table, US states and cities have concrete power.A recent analysis by the University of Maryland found that if these governments ramp up their efforts — and a climate-friendly president is elected in 2028 — US emissions could fall by well over 50 percent by 2035, approaching the 61-66 percent reduction targeted by Biden’s administration.”The president can’t throw a switch and turn everything off — that’s not how our system works,” Nate Hultman, who led the report, told AFP.The market-driven green shift remains a strong factor including in US states with climate-hostile leadership, like Texas, the country’s renewable energy generation leader last year, added Hultman, who previously worked for Democratic presidents.Even so there are questions over how far state-level action can go without federal support. Trump’s Republicans recently passed a law bringing an early end to clean energy tax credits, seen as a potentially crippling blow to the renewable sector.  Beyond pushing for more drilling at home and declaring war on green energy, Trump’s administration recently torpedoed international efforts to impose a carbon tax on shipping by vowing reprisals against countries that backed the plan.Newsom urged nations to hold firm against further intimidation efforts, saying it was vital to remember “Trump is temporary” and that “you stand up to a bully.”

US stocks end mostly higher despite drop in Nvidia

Wall Street stocks mostly rose Tuesday as optimism over a likely end to the US government shutdown offset weakness in some leading technology equities.After Monday’s rally, US stocks opened mostly lower on lingering unease about the stratospheric valuation growth of major players in artificial intelligence.Those worries ebbed a bit as the session progressed, with some large tech equities finishing in positive territory. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.3 percent, the only one of the three main US indices to retreat. “There’s definitely concern over valuations but that valuations don’t mean the market’s going to sell off,” said Tim Urbanowicz of Innovator Capital Management, adding “it just leaves a lot less room for bad news.”Japan’s SoftBank announced it sold $5.8 billion worth of shares in US chip giant Nvidia last month. SoftBank did not give a reason for the Nvidia stock sale in its earnings statement.Shares in Nvidia, whose processors are prized by companies training and operating AI models, fell 3.0 percent.”For the wider investment community, when big investors cash out of their AI positions, they will take notice, and this is why the stock is declining today,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group.More broadly, Brooks said tech stocks were no longer providing market momentum.”Without momentum helping US indices move higher, volatility could take hold, so we are not expecting stocks to move in a straight line for now, and the market correction may not be over,” she said in a note to clients.Some market watchers viewed Tuesday’s strong rise in the Dow as evidence of a rotation to industrial names from tech.Investors have been cheered by the progress on legislation on Capitol Hill to reopen the government.On Monday night several Democratic senators broke ranks to join Republicans in a 60-40 vote passing legislation to reopen the government, which would trigger a release of US economic reports on labor, consumer prices and other key benchmarks in the coming weeks.Tuesday’s session was held on Veteran’s Day, a US holiday, resulting in lower volumes than normal.Europe’s main stock markets climbed Tuesday.London’s top-tier FTSE 100 index reached a fresh record high as a weakening pound boosted multi-nationals earning in dollars, while Paris won solid gains in a day that is also a public holiday in France.- Key figures at 2110 GMT -New York – Dow:  UP 1.2 percent at 47,927.96 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 6,846.61 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 23,468.30 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 1.2 percent at 9,899.60 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.3 percent at 8,156.23 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.5 percent at 24,088.06 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 50,842.93 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 26,696.41 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 4,002.76 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1588 from $1.1557 on MondayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3168 from $1.3175Dollar/yen: DOWN at 154.10 yen from 154.15 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.99 pence from 87.72 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.7 percent at $65.16 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.5 percent at $61.04 per barrelburs-jmb/jgc

Le Premier ministre indien qualifie l’explosion meurtrière à Delhi de “complot”

Le Premier ministre indien Narendra Modi a qualifié mardi de “complot” l’explosion la veille d’une voiture au cœur de la capitale, qui a fait au moins huit morts.Jusqu’à présent, la police n’a évoqué aucune cause pour expliquer la déflagration qui s’est produite lundi près du Fort Rouge, un monument emblématique depuis lequel les Premiers ministres …

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La rivalité Chine-USA s’invite au Web Summit de Lisbonne

Les rivalités géopolitiques et commerciales entre les États-Unis et la Chine étaient au cœur des discussions du Web Summit, qui réunit depuis mardi à Lisbonne les acteurs de la tech mondiale. Au moins 71.000 participants de 157 pays, dont plus de 2.700 start-up et 1.800 investisseurs, sont attendus dans la capitale portugaise jusqu’à jeudi.Pour cette première …

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Son DG démissionnaire appelle la BBC à “se battre” pour défendre son journalisme

Le directeur général démissionnaire de la BBC Tim Davie a appelé mardi le groupe à “se battre” pour défendre son journalisme, après les menaces de Donald Trump de poursuivre en diffamation le groupe audiovisuel public britannique pour un montage trompeur de l’un de ses discours.”Nous devons nous battre pour défendre notre journalisme”, “nous sommes une …

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Plus de la moitié des électeurs se sont déplacés pour les législatives en Irak

Les Irakiens ont voté mardi pour élire leur Parlement, avec une participation ayant dépassé 55% selon la commission électorale, un taux inattendu pour ce scrutin surveillé de près par Téhéran et Washington.L’Irak a connu une stabilité inhabituelle ces dernières années, après plusieurs décennies de guerre et de répression sous Saddam Hussein et depuis l’invasion menée par les Etats-Unis en 2003 qui l’a renversé.Le pays souffre toujours cependant d’infrastructures médiocres, de services publics défaillants et d’une corruption endémique.Les premiers résultats sont attendus dans les prochaines 24 heures. Selon la commission électorale, plus de 12 millions de personnes ont voté, sur plus de 21,4 millions d’électeurs.Le taux de participation marque une forte hausse par rapport au record historiquement bas de 41% en 2021, malgré un sentiment général d’apathie et de scepticisme, ainsi que le boycott du scrutin de cette année par l’influent leader chiite Moqtada Sadr.Sur le terrain, plusieurs électeurs ont cependant dit avoir voté dans l’espoir d’un changement. “Nous sommes confrontés au chômage et les gens sont fatigués, nous avons besoin de progrès”, a confié à l’AFP Ali Abed, 57 ans, dans la ville de Mossoul (nord).”Tous les quatre ans, c’est la même chose. On ne voit ni des visages jeunes ni de nouvelles énergies” capables “d’apporter un changement”, a déploré de son côté un étudiant à l’université, Al-Hassan Yassin.Les électeurs étaient appelés à départager plus de 7.700 candidats, dont près d’un tiers de femmes, pour occuper 329 sièges de députés aux mandats de quatre ans.Les femmes doivent obtenir au moins un quart des sièges du futur Parlement, selon un système de quotas, tandis que neuf sont réservés aux minorités.Seuls 75 candidats indépendants étaient en lice, la loi électorale étant perçue comme favorisant les grands partis. – Postes bien définis -Il s’agit du sixième scrutin depuis la chute de Saddam Hussein.Les élections ouvrent la voie à la désignation d’un nouveau président – poste largement honorifique réservé à un Kurde – et d’un Premier ministre – traditionnellement chiite – choisi après de longues tractations. Un sunnite occupera le poste de président du Parlement.Depuis la chute du sunnite Saddam Hussein, la majorité chiite longtemps opprimée en Irak continue de dominer, la plupart des partis conservant des liens avec l’Iran voisin.L’actuel Premier ministre chiite, Mohamed Chia al-Soudani, qui mise sur un second mandat, devrait remporter un large bloc, sans toutefois obtenir la majorité. Il était arrivé au pouvoir en 2022 grâce au soutien d’une alliance regroupant des partis et factions chiites tous liés à l’Iran.- Absence de Moqtada Sadr -Le prochain Premier ministre sera élu par la coalition qui parviendra à rassembler suffisamment d’alliés.Lors des dernières législatives, le courant du leader chiite Moqtada Sadr avait remporté le plus grand nombre de sièges avant de se retirer du Parlement à la suite d’un différend avec les partis chiites qui ne soutenaient pas sa tentative de former un gouvernement et qui se sont plutôt regroupés entre eux.Cette année, M. Sadr a refusé de participer à une “élection bancale, dominée par les intérêts sectaires, ethniques et partisans”, appelant ses partisans à boycotter le scrutin.L’analyste politique Hamzeh Hadad a estimé auprès de l’AFP que la hausse de la participation au scrutin constituait “une avancée positive pour l’Irak” et montrait que “l’influence de Sadr se limite véritablement à ses partisans”.”Cela prouve qu’aucun dirigeant politique ne peut empêcher la tenue d’élections démocratiques en Irak”, a-t-il ajouté.Les partis sunnites se sont présentés séparément, l’ancien président du Parlement Mohamed al-Halboussi étant donné favori.Dans la région autonome du Kurdistan, la rivalité entre le Parti démocratique du Kurdistan (PDK) et l’Union patriotique du Kurdistan (UPK) reste vive.- Téhéran et Washington à l’affût -L’Irak, proche allié de l’Iran et des Etats-Unis, cherche de longue date à maintenir un équilibre fragile entre les deux ennemis.L’Iran espère préserver son influence chez son voisin après avoir vu ses autres alliés régionaux (Hezbollah libanais, Hamas palestinien, Houthis yéménites) affaiblis par des frappes israéliennes depuis deux ans. Téhéran a en outre perdu un allié majeur avec la chute de Bachar al-Assad en Syrie fin 2024.Et l’Irak est sous pression des Etats-Unis (qui maintiennent quelque 2.500 soldats dans le pays) pour désarmer les groupes pro-iraniens.L’administration Trump a nommé un envoyé spécial pour le pays, Mark Savaya, d’origine irakienne, qui a insisté sur la nécessité de voir l’Irak “libéré des ingérences étrangères malveillantes, notamment celles de l’Iran et de ses supplétifs”.

Iraqi voters turn out in numbers as region watches on

Iraqis voted for a new parliament Tuesday, with an unexpectedly high turnout of more than 55 percent, at a pivotal time for the country and the wider region.Iraq, which has long been vulnerable to proxy wars and is closely watched by Iran and the United States, has recently regained a sense of stability.But, even as it tries to move past two decades of war since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, the country of 46 million suffers from poor infrastructure and public services, mismanagement and corruption.Iraq’s electoral commission said more than 12 million people took part out of 21 million eligible voters, despite influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr calling on his supporters to boycott the vote.The unexpected turnout is a sharp jump from the record low of 41 percent in 2021, belying a sense of apathy and scepticism.Preliminary results are expected within 24 hours of polls closing, but Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who hopes for a second term, is expected to secure a large bloc but fall short of a majority.Many boycotters told reporters the elections wouldn’t bring meaningful change to their daily lives and said that the vote was a sham that only benefits political elites and regional powers.No new leadership contenders have recently emerged, with the same Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians remaining at the forefront.- Failed boycott? -Analyst Hamzeh Hadad said the higher turnout, even if still lower than the scores of 62 percent in 2010 and 2014, “is a positive step for Iraq” and shows Sadr’s “influence is really limited to his followers”.”It means no political leader can hold back democratic elections in Iraq,” he added. The ballot this year was marked by the absence of Sadr who retains a devoted following of millions among Iraq’s majority Shiite population.In 2021, Sadr secured the largest bloc before withdrawing from parliament following a dispute with Shiite parties which culminated in deadly fighting in Baghdad.IN the years since US-led forces ousted Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, Iraq’s long-oppressed Shiite majority has dominated, with most parties retaining ties to neighbouring Iran.By convention in post-invasion Iraq, a Shiite Arab  holds the powerful post of prime minister and a Sunni Arab that of parliament speaker, while the largely ceremonial presidency goes to a Kurd. Sudani is likely to win but, with no single party or list expected to achieve an outright majority, must win over a coalition that can secure enough allies to become the largest bloc.Sudani rose to power in 2022 with the backing of the Coordination Framework, a ruling alliance of Shiite parties and factions all linked to Iran.Although they run separately, Shiite parties within the Coordination Framework are expected to reunite after elections and likely pick the next premier.Sudani has touted his success in keeping Iraq relatively unscathed by the turmoil engulfing the Middle East.Sunni parties contested separately, with the former speaker Mohammed al-Halbussi expected to do well.In the autonomous Kurdistan region, the rivalry between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan remains.- Delicate balance -On the ground however, Iraqis said they cast their votes hoping for a change. “We have unemployment and people are tired, we need progress,” said Ali Abed, 57, in the northern city of Mosul.But the next prime minister has also another difficult task. He will have to maintain the delicate balance between Iraq’s allies, Iran and the US, even more so now that the Middle East is undergoing seismic changes, with new alliances forming and old powers weakening.Even as its influence wanes elsewhere, Iran hopes to preserve its power in Iraq — the only close ally that stayed out of Israel’s crosshairs after the heavy losses Iran’s other allies have incurred in Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza since 2023.Tehran has meanwhile focused on other interests in Iraq — challenging the US with powerful Tehran-backed armed groups, and keeping the Iraqi market open to products from its crippled economy.Washington, which still wields influence in Iraq and has forces deployed there, conversely hopes to break Iran’s grip, and has been pressuring Baghdad to disarm the pro-Iran groups.

Ukraine, China mineral dominance on agenda as G7 meets

G7 foreign ministers were gathering in Canada on Tuesday for talks expected to focus on Ukraine, as the club of industrialized democracies seeks a path towards ending the four-year-old conflict.Options to fund Kyiv’s war needs against invasion by Russia could feature prominently at the talks in Canada’s Niagara region on the US border.The diplomats are meeting after US President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies in October, slamming Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the conflict.Trump has also pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine.Ukraine is enduring devastating Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure, but Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand stopped short of promising concrete outcomes to aid Kyiv at the Niagara talks.She told AFP a priority for the meeting was broadening discussion beyond the Group of Seven, which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.”For Canada, it is important to foster a multilateral conversation, especially now, in such a volatile and complicated environment,” Anand said.Representatives from Saudi Arabia, India, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, Mexico and South Korea will also be at the meeting held a short drive from the iconic Niagara Falls.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold bilateral talks with Anand on Wednesday, the second and final day of the G7 meeting.Anand said she did not expect to press the issue of Trump’s trade war, which has forced Canadian job losses and squeezed economic growth.”We will have a meeting and have many topics to discuss concerning global affairs,” Anand told AFP.”The trade issue is being dealt with by other ministers.”Trump abruptly ended trade talks with Canada last month — just after an apparently cordial White House meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.The president has voiced fury over an ad, produced by Ontario’s provincial government, which quoted former US president Ronald Reagan on the harm caused by tariffs.- Sudan, Critical minerals -Italy’s foreign ministry said there will also be discussions on Sudan, gripped by a war since April 2023 that has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.Delivering aid to the war-ravaged African country will be a focus of the talks, which come hours after UN humanitarian coordinator Tom Fletcher met with Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on getting life-saving supplies to civilians. The G7’s top diplomats are meeting two weeks after the grouping’s energy secretaries agreed on steps to counter China’s dominance of critical mineral supply chains, a growing area of concern for the world’s industrialized democracies.Beijing has established commanding market control over the refining and processing of various minerals — especially the rare earth materials needed for the magnets that power sophisticated technologies.The G7 announced an initial series of joint projects last month to ramp up refining capacity that excludes China.While the United States was not party to any of those initial deals, the Trump administration has signaled alignment with its G7 partners.A State Department official told reporters ahead of the Niagara meet that critical mineral supply chains would be “a major point of focus.””There’s a growing global consensus amongst a lot of our partners and allies that economic security is national security,” the official said.

UN aid chief hails talks with Sudan army leader

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher held Tuesday what he called “constructive” talks with Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to ensure life-saving aid reaches all corners of the war-ravaged country.Since April 2023, the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 12 million, creating one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.”I very much welcome the constructive conversations I had with President Burhan… aimed at ensuring that we can continue to operate everywhere across Sudan to deliver in a neutral, independent and impartial way for all those who are in such dire need of international support,” Fletcher said, in a video released by Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council.The UN official’s comments came after he met with Burhan in Port Sudan, the de facto capital since the war began.Fletcher arrived in Sudan on Tuesday for a week-long mission, pledging to “back peace efforts, uphold the UN charter, and push for our teams to get the access and funding they need to save lives across the battle lines.” During the meeting, according to thae army-backed council, Burhan “stressed the need for UN agencies to respect Sudan’s sovereignty and national interests, in light of what happened in the city of El-Fasher”.Fletcher also met Egyptian diplomats to discuss ways of scaling up aid, according to a statement from Cairo’s foreign ministry. Burhan also met World Food Programme deputy executive director Carl Skau, who praised their “honest and constructive discussion”. Sudan’s army-aligned government expelled two senior WFP officials last month, declaring them “persona non grata”, despite the agency warning that 24 million Sudanese face acute food insecurity.- Fighting persists –  The talks come two weeks after the RSF captured El-Fasher, the last army stronghold in western Darfur.Reports of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions and looting have since emerged.Burhan had previously vowed his forces would “take revenge” and fight “until this land is purified”.Last Thursday, the RSF said it had agreed to a truce proposal put forward by the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. But attacks have persisted.On the day the paramilitaries backed the truce, they shelled a hospital in the besieged city of Dilling in South Kordofan, killing five. Explosions were heard in the army-controlled capital Khartoum the following day.The UN migration agency said nearly 39,000 people have fled fighting in several towns across the oil-rich Kordofan region since El-Fasher fell. On Monday, the RSF deployed forces to the strategic city of Babanusa in West Kordofan, threatening to “fight until the last moment.”In North Kordofan, residents told AFP they fear an imminent assault on El-Obeid, a key cross roads between Darfur and the national capital Khartoum.Sudan’s army-aligned government has yet to respond to the truce proposal.- ‘Grinding to a halt’ -Since El-Fasher’s fall, nearly 90,000 people have fled, while tens of thousands remain trapped in “famine-like conditions as hospitals, markets and water systems collapse,” according to the UN migration agency. Last week, the Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared famine in the city.Famine has also been confirmed in Kadugli, South Kordofan, with 20 more areas across Darfur and Kordofan at risk. Last year, the IPC declared famine in three displacement camps near El-Fasher.Amy Pope, director general of the International Organisation for Migration, warned that without safe access humanitarian operations “risk grinding to a halt at the very moment communities need support the most”.UN Women’s Anna Mutavati said on Tuesday that women fleeing El-Fasher “have endured starvation… displacement, rape and bombardment”, with pregnant women giving birth “in the streets as the last remaining maternity hospitals were looted and destroyed”.Analysts say Sudan is now effectively divided with the RSF dominating all of Darfur and parts of the south while the army holds most of Sudan’s north, east and centre.