Day: May 20, 2022

OUAGADOUGOU— Loud Christian prayers ring out each day like a song as relatives of men trapped a month ago in a mine in Burkina Faso try desperately not to give up hope.

It has taken the rescue team 31 days to reach the first rescue chamber in which the missing miners might have sought refuge from the flood waters that engulfed the Canadian-owned Perkoa zinc mine after unexpected torrential rains on April 16.

But when the chamber was opened this week, none of the men – six Burkinabès, a Zambian and a Tanzanian – were there.

Now their families’ hopes rest on a second chamber located right at the bottom of the 710m mine.

Also known as survival rooms, they are sealed off and can offer safety with oxygen and are stocked with water and snacks.

The relatives – about 20 women – sit on mats and wooden chairs shuffling rosaries in their hands in an open area set up for them in the town of Réo, about 12km from the site of the mine.

The authorities arrived on Tuesday to announce the bad news about the first refuge chamber, located between 560m below ground.

Journalists were asked to leave to give them more privacy; a Muslim cleric joined the officials and ended with prayers to calm the gathering as shock set in.

But gasping and sobbing could be heard – one woman cried so hard and for so long that she looked like she was going to vomit.

‘We won’t give up’

But Edith Moné, a wife of one of the missing miners, said she will stay here with the other women, who act as a support group for each other.

“When I go home and I see my children, I remember how they used to greet my husband when he would come back from work, and how he used to behave with them. I dread going back home now. I flee the house because I cannot handle it.

She looks fragile, with eyes weary from crying: “We will stay here until our husbands get out of the hole.”

She still has hope and faith that her husband will make it out alive, but admits she is ready to face the worst: “If our husbands pass away, we will have no choice than just being courageous and bear it.”

Aisha Kinda, who is pregnant, told me that the women came to this field on May 5 – initially to protest and ask about the whereabouts of their husbands.

She says she is praying for a miracle: “I need him in our lives. He used to make me laugh, I miss it all.”

All mining work at the site, located about 120km west of the capital, Ouagadougou, has been stopped – everything is focused on rescue efforts.

A stony path that leads to the mine’s entrance is usually busy with heavy vehicles and workers.

For now, it is just rescue workers leaving and entering the mine, which looks like a black hole.

More than a month after the tragic event, a 24-hour-a-day rescue mission has been under way using specialised equipment that has been brought in from Ghana and South Africa.

Millions of litres of water has so far been pumped out of the mine, allowing the rescue workers to reach the first refuge chamber.

After the thunderstorm the waters settled at about 520m below ground.

Conditions have been difficult for the engineers trying to locate their missing colleagues, working in very humid conditions.

While hope is focused on the rescue chambers, there has been no actual sign of life so far.

“We’ve brought in experts from all over the world. We’ve got people from Australia, from South Africa, from Canada,” Ricus Grimbeek, the CEO of Trevali Mines Corporation, which owns Perkoa mine, said about rescue efforts.

But he admitted that the nature of the accident meant things were difficult.

“We’ve got to be realistic, that refuge chamber is not designed to be inundated with lots of water. It is more designed for rock falls and noxious gases.”

On Tuesday, the company said search crews would continue to work at maximum capacity until the missing individuals were found.

“This is devastating news, and we would like to offer our deepest sympathies to our colleagues’ families and friends during this difficult time,” Grimbeek said.

Burkina Faso’s Minister of Mines, Jean Alphonse Somé, confirmed that the search was far from over.

“The government is committed to continue the pumping work a bit deeper and further in the bowels of the earth, to find out if our eight brothers have found another refuge outside the one we expected them to be in,” Somé said.

So while many have drawn their own conclusions, no-one is going to give up until the eight miners are found alive or dead.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Cameron’s National Day on May 20 has been marked by running battles between government troops and separatists who imposed a lockdown, crippling business in English-speaking western regions. The military says at least 28 separatists who vowed to disrupt celebrations in English-speaking regions of the majority francophone nation were killed in violent battles. President Paul Biya is attending commemorations.

Cameroon’s military sings at a ceremony to commemorate May 20 in the capital, Yaounde, pledging loyalty to state institutions and expressing the readiness of troops to defend the country’s territorial integrity.

The government said the parade marking Cameroon’s 50th National Day was attended by at least 30,000 civilians, led by President Paul Biya. The government said it reduced the time for the military parade to 45 minutes for strategic reasons.

However, opposition political parties, including the Social Democratic Front, said the ailing 89-year-old Biya could not stand up for two hours to honor the military during its parade, as has been the tradition in Cameroon.

The government said the National Day celebration was successful in Cameroon’s French-speaking regions. Separatists said they imposed a lockdown in English-speaking western regions to protest May 20 celebrations, also known as the day of National Unity between the English-speaking minority and the majority French-speaking nation.

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, which Cameroon officials call a leading separatist group. He says fighters stopped government troops from transporting French speakers to English-speaking western regions to give the impression that English speakers are happy with the central government in Yaounde. Capo says in the process many government troops were killed.

“Previously, we have seen the Cameroon government drive into our territory her own citizens to stage public celebrations of the 20th May,” said Daniel. “For this year, 2022, we have targeted the Cameroon forces, killing 24 of them. Across Ambazonia, our forces have signaled their presence to our populations by firing shots in the air to send a message that today [May 20] everyone should stay at home and observe a rejection of the Cameroon union with Ambazonia.”

Ambazonia is what separatists call the state they say they are fighting to create.

The government has denied its troops were transporting French speakers to English-speaking regions. The military says it lost six troops in battles within the past week and that 28 separatists who tried to disrupt May 20 activities were killed in several northwestern towns, including Oku, Kumbo, Bamenda and Nkambe.

Colonel Samuel Tabot Orock is a commander of government troops fighting separatists in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s English speaking North-West region. Orock says the military made sure everyone who came out for celebrations was protected.

“Let the world, and Cameroon in particular, understand that the military in Bamenda know that the secessionist fighters will be doing everything in their powers to disrupt a successful 20th May celebration, that is why we are taking every single measure as far as security is concerned to make sure there is a hitch-free 20th May celebration in Bamenda,” Orock said.

Orock said running battles between government troops and separatists crippled activity in many northwestern towns and villages.

The government said prior to the day at least 35 people separatists suspected of preparing to commemorate the day were abducted by separatists in several towns of the South-West region including Mutengene and Tiko.

Bernard Okalia Bilai, the governor of the South-West region, spoke by telephone from Buea, capital of the region.

Bilai says local administrative authorities and civilians report separatists who abduct and threaten to kill people accused of disrespecting lockdown calls to the military. He says civilians have understood that separatist claims that fighters can create an independent English-speaking state in Cameroon are unfounded.

On May 20, 1972, Cameroon organized what it called a constitutional referendum, during which a majority of its citizens voted to abolish the federal system of government that had existed since 1961 in favor of a unitary state. Separatists say there has been an overbearing influence of French in English-speaking western regions since the 1972 referendum.

Source: Voice of America

TUNIS— A boat mishap off the Tunisian coast has claimed four lives with 10 other migrants missing.

According to the coastguard of the North African country, the illegal migrants were attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy, when the incident occured.

The coastguard managed to rescue 44 people from the overcrowded boat which sank off Louza in Sfax governorate, reports said.

The Mediterranean crossing is a dangerous sea route that predominantly sub-Saharan Africans have sought to reach Europe.

Drownings have become a yearly affair even as rescue agencies and Western nations seek to discourage the perilous journey across the sea.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Elmar Brok, the head of the EU electoral mission, told reporters Friday that as Zimbabwe prepares for next year’s elections, it must amend its electoral laws so that all parties have a fair chance of winning at the polls.

Brok and his team were assigned to Zimbabwe by Brussels to share their findings after their first visit to Zimbabwe during the July 2018 elections.

In an interview with VOA, Brok, a German national, said the mission gave Zimbabwean officials 23 recommendations for “genuine” electoral reforms.

“It has to do with even playing field, the impartiality of the [state] media, equal treatment of the parties, a proper voters’ registration, there is a multipart liaison committee, there will be proper conducting of elections, the conduct on election day – the transparency – and then counting and the collection of the counting to the final results. If that is transparently clear, no loopholes, then it’s the best way to have peace in the country, because nobody says there was something wrong with the elections, to get the credibility of elections.”

Zimbabwe officials would not comment Friday on Brok’s statement.

Earlier, though, Raphael Faranisi, the acting permanent secretary in Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, said the government is looking forward to June 7, when Harare and Brussels officials meet.

“This will be yet another opportunity to candidly assess progress to date and plan for the future, based on realistic expectations. I have heard concerns expressed with respect to development in Zimbabwe. But I just want to put it on record that, in terms of the reforms that we have carried out, the challenge is: I just want you to give me three, four countries on our continent that have really done better than us. For those that have been following closely development in Zimbabwe, we are on that reform trajectory and it’s not reversable.”

For years, Zimbabwe’s elections have been marred by violence, voter intimidation and allegations of rigging, leading to disputed results.

When President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeded Robert Mugabe in 2017, Mnangagwa promised to improve how elections are held but the opposition continues to accuse the ruling Zanu-PF party and the government of manipulating the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

Source: Voice of America