Day: September 17, 2022

CAIRO, At least seven people were killed and seven others injured yesterday, after a minibus collided with a heavy truck, in northern Egypt’s Behaira province, said a source from Egyptian ambulance authority.

The minibus hit the truck from behind when the minibus driver changed his course from left to right in the same lane to take a U-turn. There were 14 people on the minibus when the accident occurred, said the source, who required anonymity.

Ambulances were sent to the scene of the accident on the Cairo-Alexandria road and the injured people were transferred to a nearby hospital, he said.

In Egypt, traffic accidents are common and claim thousands of lives every year. Most of the accidents are caused by speeding, poor maintenance of roads, and lax enforcement of traffic laws.

Over the past few years, Egypt has been upgrading its road network by building new roads and bridges, and repairing old ones to reduce traffic accidents.– NNN-MENA

Source: Nam News Network

UNITED NATIONS, The UN General Assembly is back in person after the pandemic disruption but in a world as full of crises as ever, with the war in Ukraine set to pit the West against Russia.

Some 150 world leaders will descend on New York for a week of diplomacy, with all required to come in person to speak save one — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, granted an exception as he leads the fight against Russian invaders.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking ahead of the summit that formally begins Tuesday, said that the world’s divisions “are the widest they have been since at least the Cold War.”

“Our world is blighted by war, battered by climate chaos, scarred by hate and shamed by poverty, hunger and inequality,” Guterres said.

“As fractures deepen and trust evaporates, we need to come together around solutions.”

The General Assembly voted Friday to let Zelensky speak by video. Seven nations voted against including Russia, saying that the right should be extended to all leaders, with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping, not planning to travel to New York.

Several US adversaries are expected, however, including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, defying loud protests from their opponents in the United States.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday will co-chair a summit on food security with the African Union, European Union and Spain as high global prices — worsened by the invasion of major grain producer Ukraine — bring new hunger around the world.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said that he will seek “dialogue with our partners from the South to avoid planting this idea that it’s the West against the rest.”

And with Covid concerns lingering, the United Nations is still limiting the size of delegations and requiring the wearing of masks in the towering headquarters on the East River.

Prime Minister Liz Truss, who took office two days before the death of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, will fly after the funeral to the United Nations on her first foreign trip since taking office.

The UN summit will also mark a fresh occasion to build momentum on global action on climate change, amid mounting signs that the planet is descending into dangerous levels of warming.

“We have run out of time to waste,” said Ambassador Walton Webson of Antigua and Barbuda, heading the Alliance of Small Island States.

“Our islands are being hit with more severe and more frequent climate impacts and recovery comes at the cost of our development,” he said.

Guterres said he will use the week to speak frankly with leaders amid guarded hopes for further progress on climate during the next climate summit, COP27, in Egypt in November.

Source: Nam News Network

ADDIS ABABA, The Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) Moussa Faki Mahamat has appointed Mohammed El-Amine Souef, of the Union of Comoros, as his Special Representative to Somalia and Head of the AU Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

This new appointment is effective from Sept 1.

Until his appointment as Special Representative of the Chairperson of the Commission (SRCC), Souef served as the Head of the Regional Office in Gao of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

A former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Union of Comoros, Souef also worked as the Head of Regional Office with the Head African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).

In pursuit of his mandate as SRCC to Somalia and Head of ATMIS, Souef will maintain close and constant interaction with the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and other Somali stakeholders in supporting the implementation of the Somali Transition Plan and broader state-building processes in Somalia.

He will also work closely with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and its Member States, as well as with relevant bilateral and multilateral partners, including the United Nations (UN) and the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the European Union (EU).

In a similar vein, the Chairperson extended his deep appreciation to Francisco Caetano Jose Madeira from Mozambique, the immediate past SRCC to Somalia and Head of AMISOM/ATMIS, for his meritorious service to the AU during his over 6-year tenure.

While wishing the new SRCC and Head of ATMIS, a successful tenure, the Chairperson calls on all relevant national, continental and international actors, to closely collaborate with Souef in promoting peace and stability in Somalia.

Source: Nam News Network

MATADI (DRCongo), At least seven people were killed and 16 others badly burned when a tanker truck exploded in a village in western Democratic Republic of Congo, a provincial chief said. 

The blast occurred overnight Thursday in the village of Mbuba, about 120 kilometres west of the capital Kinshasa, Kongo Central provincial governor Guy Bandu tweeted. 

Mbuba lies on the busy RN1 highway linking Kinshasa to the ports of Matadi and Boma. 

More than 50 people were killed in a fuel-tanker blast in the same village in October 2018. 

“It is high time to take bold and drastic measures to strengthen transport regulations, especially for flammable products, to end to this cycle of accidents,” the provincial governor tweeted. 

Later in the day, Bandu gave the toll of seven dead and 16 badly burned in the latest blast, stressing that the figures were provisional. 

Mabiala Khonde, a civil-society representative in the area who passed the scene of the accident, said the truck had toppled over and was leaking fuel.

“People were running to collect the fuel,” he said from Matadi. “Several minutes after we heard an explosion”.  

Source: Nam News Network