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Lava destroys homes in DR Congo after volcanic eruption

Details: Written by northsouth; Category: Africa; Published: 24 May 2021; Hits: 1041

KINSHASA - Lava from a volcanic eruption in DR Congo has destroyed homes on the outskirts of Goma but the city of two million has been mostly spared after thousands fled in the night.

Residents said there was little warning before the dark sky turned a fiery red, leading to fears that the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo could cause the same kind of devastation as the last time in 2002 when hundreds died.

There was no official word on deaths or injuries amid the scramble to flee the city late on Saturday.

The UN peacekeeping mission said that it did not appear the lava was flowing towards Goma based on reconnaissance flights but untold thousands still set off in search of safety.

Some boarded boats on to Lake Kivu while others attempted to reach Mount Goma, the highest point in the area. At least 3,000 fled across the nearby border into Rwanda.

On Sunday, residents ventured out to assess the damage after a night of panic. Smoke rose from smouldering heaps of lava in the Buhene area near the city.

“We have seen the loss of almost an entire neighbourhood,” said Innocent Bahala Shamavu. “All the houses in Buhene neighbourhood were burned and that’s why we are asking all the provincial authorities and authorities at the national level as well as all the partners, all the people of good faith in the world, to come to the aid of this population.”

Elsewhere, witnesses said lava had engulfed a highway connecting Goma with the city of Beni. However, the airport appeared to be spared the same fate as 2002 when lava flowed on to the runways.

Goma is a regional hub for many humanitarian agencies in the region, as well as the UN peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO.

While Goma is home to many UN peacekeepers and aid workers, much of surrounding eastern DR Congo is under threat from a myriad of armed groups vying for control of the region’s mineral resources.

Ethiopian army implicated in brutal war crime, Telegraph

Details: Written by northsouth; Category: Africa; Published: 21 February 2021; Hits: 1098

LONDON - The ground of the Tigrayan village is soaked with blood and dozens of bodies lie strewn in the grass, according to a report by the British daily The Telegraph.

Groans can be heard from a seriously wounded man squirming on the floor between two corpses.

Chatting as they wander through the aftermath of what appears to be a mass execution of civilians in the Tigray region, soldiers laugh and joke among themselves.

Off to one side they spot a young man who seems to have survived by pretending to be dead.

“You should have finished off the survivors,” the cameraman says in Amharic, Ethiopia’s lingua franca, in an apparent rebuke of the perpetrators of the massacre.

These are scenes from a video clip obtained exclusively by The Telegraph showing the first evidence of what appears to be a war crime carried out by the Ethiopian army. Around 40 bodies in civilian clothes can be seen in the four-minute clip.

Ethiopian and Eritrean forces have for months been battling troops loyal to the former Tigrayan regional government in a war that has left thousands dead and millions on the brink of starvation.

The Ethiopian federal government has imposed a mass communications black-out in Tigray, meaning little is known about the conflict and making it hard to verify a flood of accounts of war crimes from survivors.

The video footage seen by The Telegraph, which is too graphic to publish, has circulated online in shorter form among local journalists and bloggers - deemed rare proof of the alleged brutality of Addis Ababa’s forces.

The Telegraph was able to geolocate the video to Debre Abay monastery in central Tigray - about 175 miles west of Tigray’s capital, Mekele. It has also confirmed that the clip has not been doctored.

Although the timing of the apparent massacre was not possible to ascertain, a pro-Tigrayan blog reported Ethiopian soldiers had killed 100 civilians at the same monastery on January 5.

Experts who were sent the footage called on the Ethiopian government to launch an immediate investigation.

“This is disturbing footage to watch and I would expect the Federal Government to allow the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission full access to establish the facts and to ensure that there is proper accountability for these killings" said Dr Alex Vines, Africa Director at Chatham House.

Ethiopia’s state-run Human Rights Commission (EHRC) confirmed to The Telegraph that they were examining the shorter clip of the massacre that has circulated online.

The video emerged after The Telegraph published dozens of Tigrayan refugees’ accounts of killings, artillery bombardment and looting in Tigray in November.

For the video and more information, visit: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/19/should-have-finished-survivors-ethiopian-army-implicated-brutal/?WT.mc_id=e_DM1339119&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_FPM_New_ES&utmsource=email&utm_medium=Edi_FPM_New_ES20210219&utm_campaign=DM1339119

Suicide bomber kills 24 in explosion at Pakistan train station

Details: Written by Super User; Category: Asia; Published: 09 November 2024; Hits: 91

By James Crisp

QUETTA, PAKISTAN - A suicide bomber killed at least 25 people and wounded at least 50 others in an explosion at a crowded railway station in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Saturday.

Nearly 100 passengers were on the platform at about 8.45am local time for the Jaffar Express train to Peshawar from Quetta, which is the capital of the turbulent province.

Belongings, including bloodied clothes, were seen scattered across the devastated platform, which had its steel roof blown apart by the force of the blast. Six of the wounded were in a serious condition and three are in intensive care.

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, which targeted soldiers. Fourteen soldiers, five civilians and six railway workers were killed.

Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, said the armed separatist group “will pay a very heavy price for it”.

He added his security forces were determined to stamp out “the menace of terrorism”.

Commissioner of the Quetta Division, Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat, confirmed the death toll, and that the incident was a suicide bombing. Railway authorities were told to suspend train services, he said, and appealed for blood donations to help the wounded.

He warned the public not to use the railway station because “in such incidents, there is a risk of twin attacks”.

“Right now, we have cordoned off the city and are conducting snap-checking,” he said, “Gatherings have been banned.”

Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran and is Pakistan’s largest province, has had many attacks from armed separatist groups in the poor but resource-rich region.

The BLA, which wants independence from Pakistan, is the biggest of several ethnic groups fighting the Government, which it accuses of exploiting its oil and gas reserves.

In August, the banned BLA claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks that killed 39 people. It is designated a terrorist group by the UK and the US.

Train services between Quetta and Peshawar were restored on Oct 11 after they were suspended for more than a month and a half when a key railway bridge was destroyed by the BLA.

Pakistan has seen an increase in terrorist attacks this year. Last week, a bomb blast near a school and hospital in Balochistan’s Mastung district killed eight people, including five children.

Previous attacks have targeted energy projects with foreign, mostly Chinese, financing because the terrorists believe residents don’t benefit from the profits.

The government’s military operation to suppress the rebellion has led to accusations of human rights abuses, including torture, disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

“Since the beginning of 2024, we’ve really seen a surge of violence in Balochistan. So many attacks on security forces,” journalist Saadullah Akhter, who witnessed the aftermath of the attack, told Al Jazeera.

“But this is the first time that the centre of Quetta has been targeted and it is very shocking to many people.”

China offers Africa billions in fresh financing, promises one million jobs

Details: Written by Super User; Category: Asia; Published: 06 September 2024; Hits: 143

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday pledged $51 billion in fresh financing to Africa, support for 30 infrastructure projects across the resource-rich continent, and promised to create at least one million jobs.

In a speech at a major China-Africa cooperation summit, President Xi promised delegrates from more than 50 African nations that the $19 trillion Chinese economy will unilaterally improve access to its market for African trade.

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit, held in Beijing this year, sets a three-year agenda for ties between the world's second-largest economy and the world's fastest-growing continent.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the summit, Xi said China is ready to launch 30 clean energy projects in Africa and also support the continent's nuclear energy goals, helping address a power deficit that has long held back Africa's broader industrialisation objectives.

China is also prepared to carry out 30 infrastructure connectivity projects in Africa and put in place a China-Africa network featuring land-sea links and coordinated development, he said.

"We are ready to assist in the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area, and deepen logistics and financial cooperation for the benefit of trans-regional development in Africa," Xi added.

China would extend 360 billion yuan ($50.72 billion) in financial assistance to African states, 210 billion of which would be disbursed through credit lines and at least 70 billion in fresh investment by Chinese companies, with smaller amounts in military aid and other projects, he said.