United News of Bangladesh

A total of 443 people have died as a result of rains in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province last week while 63 persons were missing, a local official said on Sunday. "The past days have been focused on immediate rescue missions and efforts aimed at saving lives and surveying the damage. While this still continues as a priority, the work to lift the province out of this rubble is intensifying," Kwazulu-Natal Provincial Premier Sihle Zikalala told media. Zikalala said South African police and national defence forces have deployed pilots and crews to help with the rescue operations.

A migrant boat has capsized off the Libyan coast, leaving at least 35 people dead or presumed dead, the U.N. migration agency said Saturday. The shipwreck took place Friday off the western Libyan city of Sabratha, a major launching point for the mainly African migrants making the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean, said the International Organization for Migration. The IOM said the bodies of six migrants were pulled out while 29 others were missing and presumed dead. It was not immediately clear what caused the wooden boat to capsize. The tragedy was the latest to involve migrants departing from North Africa to seek a better life in Europe. This past week alone, at least 53 migrants were reported dead or presumed dead off Libya, according to the IOM. “Dedicated search and rescue capacity and a safe disembarkation mechanism are urgently needed to prevent further deaths and suffering,” the IOM said. Read: It’s not over: COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in US Investigators commissioned by the United Nations’ top human rights body found evidence of possible crimes against humanity committed in Libya against migrants detained in government-run prisons and at the hands of human traffickers. Earlier this month, more than 90 people in an overcrowded boat drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, days after they left Libya, according to the Doctors Without Borders aid group. Migrants regularly try to cross the Mediterranean from Libya in a desperate attempt to reach European shores. The country has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. Human traffickers in recent years have benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling in migrants across the oil-rich country’s lengthy borders with six nations. The migrants are then typically packed into ill-equipped rubber boats and set off on risky sea voyages. Read: Sri Lankan protesters mark new year near president’s office At least 476 migrants died along the Central Mediterranean route between Jan. 1 and April 11, according to the IOM. Once back in Libya, the migrants are typically taken to government-run detention centers rife with abuse and ill-treatment.

At least seven people died after a boat capsized in east Ghana's Volta Lake, police confirmed late Friday. Ebenezer Tetteh, the spokesman for the Eastern Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service, said the boat with 20 passengers got caught in a heavy storm and capsized in the early hours of Friday. READ: Trawler capsizes in Meghna: 2 bodies recovered,1 missing "Seven people got drowned, one person was missing, and the rest were rescued," Tetteh stated. He added the deceased bodies were retrieved and deposited at a private mortuary on the island, and investigations would be carried out to unravel the cause of the accident.

Heavy rains and flooding have killed at least 341 people in South Africa’s eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, including the city of Durban, and more rainstorms are forecast in the coming days. The death toll is expected to rise as scores of people, including whole families, are missing, officials said Thursday. The persistent rains have wreaked havoc in the province, destroying homes, collapsing buildings and washing away major roads. Also read:32 die in Zimbabwean bus accident The damage to Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area is estimated at $52 million, eThekwini Mayor Mxolosi Kaunda said Thursday. At least 120 schools have been flooded, causing damage estimated at more than $26 million and bringing officials to temporarily close all schools in the province. At least 18 students and one teacher from various schools have died in the floods, Education Minister Angie Motshekga said. “This is a catastrophe and the damage is unprecedented. What is even more worrying is that more rain is expected in the same areas that are already affected,” Motshekga said in a statement issued Thursday. Police used stun grenades to disperse residents in the Reservoir Hills areas of Durban who were protesting what they said was the lack of official assistance, according to South African media reports. The South African National Defense Force has deployed troops to assist with rescue and mop-up operations. Also read:South Africa's Durban area hit by heavy floods, 45 dead The floods have knocked out water and electricity to large parts of Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area and it will take at least a week to restore those services, according to officials. President Cyril Ramaphosa visited is convening an emergency Cabinet meeting to declare the floods a national disaster so that funds can be released to help repair the damage. He visited several areas hit by the floods and mudslides on Wednesday. Fourteen crocodiles that were swept away from a farm in the Tongaat area north of Durban have been recaptured, according to wildlife officials.

At least 32 people died Thursday night when a bus carrying members of the Zion Christian Church was involved in an accident in Chipinge, southeastern Zimbabwe. State broadcaster ZBC reported Friday that about 40 others were seriously injured in the accident which happened near the Jopa Market at around 11 p.m. READ: 8 die in India bus accident This marks a bad beginning to the Easter weekend.

Prolonged rains and flooding in the Durban area of South Africa have claimed the lives of at least 45 people, damaging the port, major highways and surrounding areas in KwaZulu-Natal province, according to local officials. South Africa's military has been deployed to Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area on Tuesday to assist with rescue operations as residents flee flooded areas. Some people have been swept away by surging waters, say officials. Durban port, the largest and busiest shipping terminal in sub-Saharan Africa, has been inundated with floodwaters that carried away shipping containers and left them in a jumbled pile. Authorities are providing shelter for several hundred people whose homes and possessions were washed away by the floods and technicians are working to restore electricity to areas where power had been knocked out. READ: Dams needed to boost Australia's flood resilience: PM Emergency services have for several days been responding to urgent calls for help from people stuck in their houses but the number is beginning to decrease, emergency services spokesman Robert McKenzie told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “There are still cases of collapsed buildings where operations are still continuing,” he said. “Most of our power stations have been flooded and our teams are working hard to restore power to the affected areas," Moxilisi Kaunda, mayor of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality, told a press briefing Tuesday. “Our teams are on the ground to try and return the situation to normalcy," he said. "We continue to assess the damages, we cannot be sure of the extent of the damages at the moment.”

Rwandans have begun a solemn commemoration of the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu who tried to protect them were killed. President Paul Kagame on Thursday laid a wreath at a memorial site where more than 250,000 people are buried in the capital, Kigali. The ceremony marked the beginning of a week of somber events. Read: Seeing Bucha atrocities is turning point for media, viewers Kagame said he opposes any attempts to rewrite the history of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The killings were perpetrated by extremist Hutu over a period of 100 days.

Cyclone Emnati crashed into the southeastern coast of Madagascar in the early hours of Wednesday, ripping roofs off houses and raising fears of flooding and food shortages in a region still recovering from the destruction inflicted by another tropical storm just weeks ago. More than 30,000 people were moved to safe accommodation before Emnati arrived and Madagascar's National Office for Risk and Disaster Management estimates more than 250,000 people could be impacted by the latest cyclone. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries from Emnati, but local authorities reported extensive damage to houses and other buildings in at least one southeastern city. Read:Congo court sentences dozens to death over UN expert murders Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa renowned for its wildlife and unspoiled natural treasures, has now been hit by four major tropical storms in the last month, killing nearly 200 people already and compounding issues of food insecurity. A drought in the south of the country left around 400,000 at risk of starvation last year, according to the U.N. World Food Program. A string of aid agencies warned that Emnati will be a double blow for the eastern and southeastern regions that were hit by Cyclone Batsirai early this month. Batsirai ultimately left more than 120 people dead and displaced 143,000. More than 20,000 houses were destroyed or damaged by Batsirai, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, and more than 21,000 people remain displaced. The U.N. humanitarian office said before Emnati arrived that it was in “a race against time” to protect people again. Emnati made landfall around midnight local time in the district of Manakara Atsimo in the southeast, with average sustained winds of 135 kph (84 mph) and gusts as strong as 190 kph (118 mph), Madagascar’s Department of Meteorology said. Six regions in the southeast are on red alert, most of them already hard-hit by Batsirai. “We can’t go out so it’s hard to see what happened but from what I can see from the gendarmerie barracks, there’s a lot of damage. Many houses no longer have roofs,” said Lt. Col. Harinaivo Randriamihajamanana, the commander of the Gendarmerie Group in the Fitovinany region and based in the city of Manakara. “We have not received any calls because the telephone communication has been very disrupted. We have had no electricity and water since yesterday (Tuesday) morning.” The Emnati system had weakened as it worked its way over the Indian Ocean toward Madagascar, the meteorology department said, but it warned that flooding was still likely. Manakara resident Gabriel Filiastre said his family joined others in taking refuge inside the main hall of a hotel where he works as Emnati hit. Read:Soldiers declare military junta in control in Burkina Faso “My house is completely flooded," Filiastre said. "We couldn’t sleep inside. It’s a wooden house. I saw a lot of houses around our house that are destroyed. For us, this cyclone did more damage than the one before.” “Even in the hotel there is a lot of damage. One of the walls collapsed ... the roof tiles have been blown away and some of the ceilings of the rooms have collapsed. We need help." The U.N. World Food Program and other aid organizations have warned of the risk of critical food shortages due to crops being destroyed and transport links disrupted. Forecasters have also predicted eight to 12 more cyclones in the Madagascar region before the cyclone season normally ends in May. Emnati is expected to cross the southeastern part of Madagascar and spin out to sea again, according to the meteorology department, meaning it should miss mainland Africa, where previous cyclones have also caused deaths and destruction.

A military court in Congo has condemned about 50 people to death nearly five years after the murders of United Nations investigators Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan in central Congo’s Kasai region. The President of the Kasai Occidental Military Court, Brig. Gen. Jean-Paulin Ntshayokolo said Saturday that of the 54 defendants, one officer is sentenced to 10 years for violating orders and two others were acquitted. Those sentenced to death will serve out life sentences, as Congo has observed a moratorium on the death penalty since 2003. Sharp of the United States and Catalan of Sweden were assassinated on March 12, 2017 in the Kasai Central region while on a field visit with representatives of Kamwina Nsapu, a militia active in Kasai whose customary chief Jean-Pierre Mponde was killed by Congolese army troops in August 2016. Sharp, the panel’s coordinator and expert on armed groups, and Catalan, a humanitarian expert, embarked on the field visit from Kananga, the provincial capital of Kasai Central, toward the locality of Bunkonde. The two U.N. experts were investigating the violence in Kasai on behalf of the U.N. Security Council. Their bodies were then found in a shallow grave two weeks later. READ: After suicide bombing, Congo officials fear more attacks The Congolese government obtained a cellphone video showing them being killed and blame members of the Kamwina Nsapu militia. Col. Jean de Dieu Mambweni was sentenced to 10 years Saturday of failing to assist a person in danger. No other military leaders were sentenced. The military court, however, acquitted journalist Trudon Raphaël Kapuku and police officer Honoré Tshimbamba. Both were arrested separately in 2018 and have spent 4 years in prison. Thomas Fessy, Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher on Congo, said that despite the verdicts, there are still more questions than answers nearly five years after these murders. “The investigation and ultimately this trial have failed to uncover the full truth about what happened. Congolese authorities, with U.N. support, should now investigate the critical role that senior officials may have played in the murders,” he said via Twitter. Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ann Linde, also said investigations must continue. “Crucial that investigation concerning others involved continues to further uncover truth and bring justice. We encourage authorities to fully cooperate with the U.N. mechanism,” she said via Twitter.

More than a dozen mutinous soldiers declared Monday on state television that a military junta had seized control of Burkina Faso after detaining the democratically elected president following a day of gunbattles in the capital of the West African country. The military coup in a nation that was once a bastion of stability was the third of its kind in the region in the last 18 months, creating upheaval in some of the countries hardest hit by Islamic extremist attacks. Capt. Sidsore Kaber Ouedraogo said the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration “has decided to assume its responsibilities before history.” The soldiers put an end to President Roch Marc Christian Kabore’s presidency because of the deteriorating security situation and the president’s inability to manage the crisis, he said. It was not immediately known where Kabore was, and the junta spokesman said only that the coup had taken place “without any physical violence against those arrested, who are being held in a safe place, with respect for their dignity.” A soldier in the mutiny, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of situation, told The Associated Press that Kabore had submitted his resignation. The new military regime said it had suspended Burkina Faso’s constitution and dissolved the National Assembly. The country’s borders were closed, and a curfew was in effect from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Ouedraogo said that the country’s new leaders would work to establish a calendar “acceptable to everyone” for holding new elections without giving further details. After the televised announcement, crowds took to the streets, cheering and honking car horns in support of the takeover. People hoped that the coup would ease the devastation they have endured since jihadist violence spread across the country. “This is an opportunity for Burkina Faso to regain its integrity. The previous regime sunk us. People are dying daily. Soldiers are dying. There are thousands of displaced,” said Manuel Sip, a protester in downtown Ouagadougou. The army should have acted faster in ousting the president, he said. After the overthrow of strongman Blaise Compaore in 2014, several people told the AP they no longer cared if they had a democratically elected leader. They just wanted to live in peace. The communique read aloud on state broadcaster RTB was signed by the country’s apparent new military leader, Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba. He sat beside the spokesman without addressing the camera during the announcement. Read: At least 6 reported dead in crush at African Cup soccer game United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on coup leaders to lay down their arms. He reiterated the U.N.’s “full commitment to the preservation of the constitutional order” in Burkina Faso and support for the people in their efforts “to find solutions to the multifaceted challenges facing the country,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The U.N. chief said the military takeover was part of “an epidemic of coups around the world and in that region.” The U.S. State Department in a statement expressed deep concern about the dissolution of the government, suspension of the constitution and the detention of government leaders. “We condemn these acts and call on those responsible to deescalate the situation, prevent harm to President Kaboré and any other members of his government in detention, and return to civilian-led government and constitutional order,” spokesperson Ned Price said. In a statement, Kabore’s political party accused the mutinous soldiers of trying to assassinate the president and another government minister and said the presidential palace in Ouagadougou remained surrounded by “heavily armed and hooded men.” The coup “is a signal of frustration and exasperation on the heels of a growing struggle to stem the threat of militants, cope with the degraded security structure, and an attempt to restore faith in the institution of the military,” said Laith Alkhouri, CEO of Intelonyx Intelligence Advisory, which provides intelligence analysis. Gunfire erupted early Sunday when soldiers took control of a major military barracks in the capital. In response, civilians rallied in a show of support for the rebellion but were dispersed by security forces firing tear gas. On Monday, groups of people celebrated again in the streets of the capital after reports of Kabore’s capture. Kabore was elected in 2015 after the popular uprising that ousted Compaore. Kabore was reelected in November 2020, but frustration has been growing at his inability to stem the jihadist violence. Attacks linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have killed thousands and displaced more than an estimated 1.5 million people. The military has suffered losses since the extremist violence began in 2016. In December, more than 50 security forces were killed and nine more died in November. Mutinous soldiers told the AP that the government was out of touch with troops. Among their demands are more forces in the battle against extremists and better care for the wounded and the families of the dead. Read: 4 killed, 1 hurt in ‘ambush’ shooting at house party near LA About 100 military members have planned the takeover since August, according to one of the mutinous soldiers. The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS said in a statement that it was following events in Ouagadougou with “great concern.” The bloc has already suspended Mali and Guinea over military coups. Those coup leaders appear in no hurry to return their countries to civilian rule. Burkina Faso has also seen its share of coup attempts and military takeovers, although it experienced a period of relative stability under Compaore, who ruled for 27 years until his ouster in 2014. In 1987, Compaore came to power by force. And in 2015, soldiers loyal to him attempted to overthrow the transitional government put into place after his ouster. The army was ultimately able to put the transitional authorities back in power, who led again until Kabore won an election and took office.