QUOTES

‘These developments increased the complexity of macroeconomic challenges and called for decisive domestic policy action supported by a more robust external financing package, including from the IMF.’

– The IMF, which noted that the difficult external environment generated by Russia’s war in Ukraine was subsequently aggravated by the conflict in Gaza and Israel, as well as tensions in the Red Sea, have been challenging for Egypt. It completed the first and second reviews of Egypt’s Extended Fund Facility arrangement and approved an augmentation of the original programme by $5bn.

‘The taking of hostages. The purposeful withholding of humanitarian assistance to civilians. The targeting of civilians and of civilian infrastructure. The indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas. The use of civilian objects for military purposes. The collective punishment of an entire population.’

– Foreign Minister Micheal Martin, confirming that Ireland would intervene in South Africa's genocide case against Israel, in the clearest signal to date of its concern about Israeli operations in Gaza since 7 October

‘The Senegalese people have lit a beacon which will usher in a new hope in the journey of rebuilding Africa by opting for peaceful change of government as opposed to violence.’

– President Cyril Ramaphosa, on Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s election victory in Senegal