By Bo Erickson, Trevor Hunnicutt and Gram Slattery

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - World leaders who accepted the invitation of President Donald Trump to join his new peace board were greeted in Washington on Thursday with a mix of fanfare and personal flattery.

While the U.S. president has been chummy with world leaders in the past, he has typically leaned in to a good-cop-bad-cop routine, alternating between praise and threats as his interests dictate. On Thursday, those in attendance saw Trump at his most convivial.

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A Tunisian court on Thursday sentenced lawmaker Ahmed Saidani to eight months in prison over social media posts mocking President Kais Saied, a ruling that opponents say signals an intensifying crackdown on critics.

Once a supporter of Saied’s policies against political opponents, Saidani has become a vocal critic, accusing the president of seeking to monopolise all decision-making while leaving others to bear the blame for problems.

Feb 19 (Reuters) - Belarus, a close ally of Russia rarely invited to international gatherings, said on Thursday it had intended to attend the inaugural meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace in Washington but failed to receive the necessary visas.

Belarus has long been subject to Western sanctions over its human rights record and punitive measures were intensified after President Alexander Lukashenko allowed his country's territory to be used for Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

A Turkish journalist with German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) was jailed by an Istanbul court Friday on charges of "insulting the president", an NGO said a day after his arrest by 30 police officers.

Alican Uludag was arrested in Ankara on Thursday evening following a warrant issued by the Istanbul public prosecutor's office, which said it had opened an investigation into him for "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and "disseminating false news" in connection with "certain posts" on X.

A familiar scene returned to Khartoum as men gathered in the streets of the war-scarred Sudanese capital to break their fast on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

It was here that fighting first erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The conflict then swept across the country, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing millions.

For close to two years, the Sudanese capital -- composed of the three cities of Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri -- was ravaged by war until the army recaptured it last March.

Feb 19 (Reuters) - Several foreign dignitaries attending the first meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace for Gaza made offers of aid on Thursday. These include:

UNITED STATES: pledges to make a contribution of $10 billion to the border peace, said President Donald Trump

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: pledges $1.2 billion to the Board of Peace, said Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan

QATAR: pledges $1 billion to the Board of Peace, said Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Five countries have committed troops for an international security force for Gaza, the commander of the force said on Thursday during a meeting of President Donald Trump's newly created Board of Peace.

"The first five countries have committed troops to serve in the ISF - Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania. Two countries have committed to train police - Egypt and Jordan," International Stabilization Force commander Army Major General Jasper Jeffers said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The United States will give the United Nations money to strengthen it and help make it viable, President Donald Trump told the opening meeting of his Board of Peace on Thursday.

The U.S. is the biggest contributor to the U.N. budget, but under the Trump administration it has refused to make mandatory payments to regular and peacekeeping budgets, and slashed voluntary funding to U.N. agencies with their own budgets.

PARIS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - France said on Thursday it was surprised that the European Commission had sent a commissioner to the Board of Peace in Washington saying it did not have the mandate to represent member states, its foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Pascal Confavreux said as far as Paris was concerned, the Board of Peace needed to recentre to focus on Gaza in line with a United Nations Security Council resolution and that until that ambiguity was lifted, France would not take part.

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that various U.S. allies have contributed over $7 billion to relief efforts in Gaza.

Speaking to the initial meeting of the Board of Peace, which Trump created, the U.S. president said that it looks like Palestinian militant group Hamas will disarm.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Gram Slattery; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)