Day: August 21, 2022

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Int’l community condemns hotel attack in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU— The international community on Saturday condemned the terrorist attack on a popular hotel in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, Friday evening, with 12 people killed and several others wounded.

In separate statements issued in Mogadishu, the United Nations, the European Union, and Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) expressed solidarity with Somalia in the fight against terrorism after the latest attack on Hayat Hotel. “The UN wishes a speedy recovery for the injured, and expresses its solidarity with all Somalis in their fight against terrorism,” the UN in Somalia said.

IGAD Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu expressed deep condolences and sympathies to the families of those killed and wounded in the attack, saying the east African bloc will continue to enhance regional and international cooperation to defeat terrorism in all its forms.

The EU on its part strongly condemned the cowardly attack on the Hayat Hotel and shared its heartfelt condolences with those affected by the violence, noting that the attacks will not derail efforts to help and stabilize Somalia.

The police said the extremists armed with rocket-propelled grenades detonated two explosives outside Hayat Hotel Friday evening before storming inside the building where they engaged the security forces in an hours-long siege that entered its second day Saturday evening.

According to the Somali National Television, security forces had secured 95 percent of the hotel building by Saturday evening. “Ninety-five percent of the building has been secured. There are casualties including fatalities and the police will give details soon,” the broadcaster reported.

The Somali National Army (SNA) backed by the African Union Mission in Somalia drove al-Shabab out of Mogadishu in 2011, but the terror group is still capable of conducting attacks, targeting government installations, hotels, restaurants, and public places.

Source: Nam News Network

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DR Congo investigates suspected Ebola case

KINSHASA— The Democratic Republic of Congo is investigating a suspected case of Ebola in its violence-wracked east, the World Health Organization said, just weeks after the end of a previous epidemic.

The DRC early last month declared its latest Ebola outbreak over, more than two months after the virus re-emerged in the northwestern Equateur province.

There were four confirmed cases and one probable case — all of whom died — in what WHO said was the country’s 14th outbreak since the disease was discovered there in 1976.

Now the authorities fear that a 46-year-old woman who died on Monday in the eastern province of North Kivu could have contracted it too.

She was treated in hospital in the town of Beni “initially for other ailments, but subsequently, exhibited symptoms consistent with Ebola virus disease”, WHO said in a statement.

Samples have been sent to a lab for testing.

“WHO is already on the ground supporting health officials to investigate the case and prepare for a possible outbreak,” WHO’s regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said in a statement.

The government on Saturday urged caution and said a “stock of vaccines” was available in North Kivu.

Ebola is an often fatal viral haemorrhagic fever. The disease was named after a river in Zaire, as the country was known when it was discovered.

Human transmission is through body fluids, with the main symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea.

The DRC’s deadliest epidemic killed 2,280 people in 2020.

WHO said Friday that two existing treatments dramatically reduce deaths from Ebola.

Over 120 militias roam the DRC’s mineral-rich but volatile east, where attacks on civilians are routine.

Source: Nam News Network

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Guinea junta makes interim prime minister’s appointment permanent

CONAKRY— Guinea’s ruling military junta on Saturday appointed acting Prime Minister Bernard Gomou to fill the position on a permanent basis, replacing Mohamed Beavogui, who has been absent since last month.

The junta named Gomou to serve as acting prime minister on July 17. Officials said Beavogui, who was appointed by the junta a month after it seized power in a coup in September, was receiving medical treatment.

Gomou previously served as commerce and industry minister in the transitional government. His appointment as prime minister was announced in a statement read on national television.

The junta has faced deadly protests in recent weeks over its plans to stay in power for the next three years and is in negotiations with West African neighbours over a possible shortening of that timeline.

Source: Nam News Network

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Death toll from heavy rains, floods in Sudan rises to 79

KHARTOUM— The death toll from recent heavy rains and floods in Sudan has climbed to 79, the country’s National Council for Civil Defense announced.

The number of injuries stood at 30, and “tens of thousands of homes have been damaged, particularly in central Sudan’s Gezira State, with over 35, 000 homes completely or partially collapsed,” the council said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the council held an emergency meeting to sort out all available accommodating materials and promptly distribute them to the most affected states, including River Nile, Gezira, Kassala and Sinnar.

The Sudanese Meteorological Authority meanwhile warned against unprecedented rains in most states across the country in upcoming months, urging the citizens to take precautions, particularly those living in low areas which are susceptible to floods.

The Sudanese army has sent troops and rescue equipment including helicopters and boats to support local search and evacuation operations in the Al-Manaqil area in the Gezira State, said an army statement.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, nearly 136,000 Sudanese people have been affected by the floods and heavy rains in the country since June.

Sudan often witnesses floods caused by heavy rains from June to October.

Source: Nam News Network