SAINT-DENIS DE LA REUNION: Local authorities said Sunday that the likely death toll from cyclone Chido’s passage across Mayotte was “definitely several hundred” though the disruption means reaching an exact count will be difficult.
Rescue workers and supplies are being rushed in by air and sea, but their efforts are likely to be hindered by damage to airports and electricity distribution in a territory where even clean drinking water was already subject to chronic shortages.
A previous toll shared with AFP by a security source had confirmed only 14 deaths.
“I think there will definitely be several hundred, perhaps we will come close to a thousand or even several thousand” deaths, prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said on broadcaster Mayotte la Premiere.
He added that it would be “very difficult to reach a final count” given that most residents are Muslim, traditionally burying their dead within 24 hours.
The mayor of Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, had earlier told AFP that nine people were gravely wounded and fighting for their lives in hospital, while 246 more were seriously injured.
“The hospital is hit, the schools are hit. Houses are totally devastated,” he said, adding that the hurricane “spared nothing.”
Mayotte’s 320,000 residents had been ordered into lockdown Saturday as cyclone Chido bore down on the islands around 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of Mozambique with gusts of at least 226 kilometers per hour.
Electricity poles were hurled to the ground, trees uprooted and sheet-metal roofs and walls torn off improvised structures inhabited by at least one-third of the population.
Information from the locked-down population, in shock and largely cut off from water and electricity supplies, is slow to filter out, a source familiar with the recovery effort told AFP.
One local resident, Ibrahim, told AFP of “apocalyptic scenes” as he made his way through the main island, having to clear blocked roads for himself.
Interior Minister Retailleau will travel to Mayotte on Monday, his office said, alongside 160 soldiers and firefighters to reinforce the 110 already deployed to the islands.
Medical personnel and equipment were being delivered from Sunday by air and sea, said the prefecture in La Reunion, another French Indian Ocean territory some 1,400 kilometers away on the other side of Madagascar.
A first aid plane landed in Mayotte at around 3:30 p.m. local time (1230 GMT) with three tons of medical supplies, blood for transfusions and 17 medical staff, authorities in La Reunion said, with two military aircraft expected to follow.
A navy patrol ship was also to depart La Reunion with personnel and equipment including for electricity supplier EDF.
Pope Francis, visiting French Mediterranean island Corsica on Sunday, urged people to pray for Mayotte’s residents.
Just northwest of Mayotte, the Comoros islands, some of which had been on red alert since Friday, were also hit, but suffered only minor damage.
Cyclone Chido later slammed into Mozambique, bringing gale-force winds and heavy rain when it made landfall early Sunday around 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the northern city of Pemba, weather services said.
Buildings were damaged and power knocked out in some areas of Mozambique’s northern coastal provinces of Nampula and Cabo Delgado early Saturday, authorities said.
But by the afternoon Chido was traveling over the inland province of Niassa and had weakened, said the president of the National Institute for Risk and Disaster Management, Luisa Meque.
UNICEF said it was on the ground to help the people impacted by the storm, which had already caused some damage.
“Many homes, schools and health facilities have been partially or completely destroyed and we are working closely with the government to ensure continuity of essential basic services,” it said in a statement.
Cyclone Chido is the latest in a string of storms worldwide to be fueled by climate change, according to experts.
The “exceptional” cyclone was super-charged by particularly warm Indian Ocean waters, meteorologist Francois Gourand of France’s Meteo France weather service told AFP.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Friday it was similar in strength to cyclones Gombe in 2022 and Freddy in 2023, which killed more than 60 people and at least 86 in Mozambique respectively.
It warned that some 1.7 million people were in danger, and said the remnants of the cyclone could also dump “significant rainfall” on neighboring Malawi through Monday, potentially triggering flash floods.
Zimbabwe and Zambia were also expected to see heavy rains, it added.
‘Definitely several hundred’ killed as Cyclone Chido devastates Mayotte
https://arab.news/7c2c2
‘Definitely several hundred’ killed as Cyclone Chido devastates Mayotte
- A previous toll shared with AFP by a security source had confirmed only 14 deaths
Belarus opposition leader freed from jail after US mediation
- His wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said the US helped broker the deal and thanked US President Donald Trump
- Tikhanovsky, 46, had been imprisoned for more than five years
WARSAW: Belarus’s top jailed opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky was freed alongside over a dozen other political prisoners on Saturday in a surprise release hailed as a “symbol of hope.”
His wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who took the mantle of the opposition after his jailing, said the United States helped broker the deal and thanked US President Donald Trump.
Tikhanovsky, 46, had been imprisoned for more than five years.
He planned to run against incumbent Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election, but was arrested and detained weeks before the vote.
Svetlana — a political novice at the time of his arrest — took his place in the polls.
She posted a video on Saturday of her embracing Tikhanovsky after his release with the caption: “FREE.”
“It’s hard to describe the joy in my heart,” she said in a post on X.
Thirteen others were released, including Radio Liberty journalist Igor Karnei, who was arrested in 2023 and jailed for participating in an “extremist” organization.
They have now been transferred from Belarus to Lithuania, where they are receiving “proper care,” Lithuanian foreign minister Kestutis Budrys said.
The announcement came just hours after Lukashenko met US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Minsk, the highest profile visit of a US official to the authoritarian state in years.
Belarus, ruled by Lukashenko since 1994, has outlawed all genuine opposition parties and is the only European country to retain the death penalty as a punishment.
The eastern European country still holds over 1,000 political prisoners in its jails, according to Viasna.
Swedish-Belarusian citizen Galina Krasnyanskaya, arrested in 2023 for allegedly supporting Ukraine, was also freed, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said.
The release comes amid a broader warming of relations between the United States and Belarus’s chief ally Russia under Trump.
Since taking office, the Republican has engaged in direct talks with Vladimir Putin, ending his predecessor’s policy of isolating the Russian president.
Tikhanovsky was for years held incommunicado, and in 2023 his wife was told that he had “died.”
In a video published by Viasna on Saturday, he appeared almost unrecognizable, his head shaven and face emaciated.
Tikhanovsky was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years in prison for “organizing riots” and “inciting hatred” and then to 18 months extra for “insubordination.”
A charismatic activist, Tikhanovsky drew the ire of authorities for describing Lukashenko as a “cockroach” and his campaign slogan was “Stop the cockroach.”
Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in the 2020 election, a result that sparked massive opposition protests which authorities violently suppressed.
The Belarusian autocrat claimed a record seventh term in elections earlier this year that observers blasted as a farce.
Fellow Belarusian political activists and foreign politicians welcomed the release.
Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the “free world” needed Tikhanovsky.
“My sincerest joy goes out to you, Tikhanovskaya and your entire family,” he wrote on X.
Former Belarusian culture minister Pavel Latushko, who supported the 2020 protests against Lukashenko, said all those released had been jailed illegally and hailed Tikhanovsky’s release as an “important moment.”
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen hailed Tikhanovsky’s release and called for Belarus to free its other political prisoners.
“This is fantastic news and a powerful symbol of hope for all the political prisoners suffering under the brutal Lukashenka regime,” she said on X.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Tikhanovsky’s release was “fantastically good news.”
“At the same time, we must not forget the many other prisoners in Belarus. Lukashenko must finally release them,” he said on X.
Pakistan recommends Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
- Some analysts in Pakistan said the move might persuade Trump to think again about potentially joining Israel in striking Iran’s nuclear facilities
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government has decided to formally recommend US President Donald Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for his “decisive diplomatic intervention” during last month’s India-Pakistan military standoff, it said on Saturday.
The statement came after Trump took credit for a peace deal negotiated in Washington between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda and complained he had been overlooked by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for his mediating role in conflicts between India and Pakistan, as well as Serbia and Kosovo.
Trump campaigned for office as a “peacemaker” who would use his negotiating skills to quickly end wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Both conflicts are still raging five months into his presidency.
Indian officials have denied that Trump played any part in their country’s ceasefire with Pakistan.
In a post on X, the Pakistani government said President Trump demonstrated “great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship through robust diplomatic engagement with both Islamabad and New Delhi which de-escalated a rapidly deteriorating situation last month.”
It continued: “This intervention stands as a testament to his role as a genuine peacemaker and his commitment to conflict resolution through dialogue.”
The military standoff between the two nuclear-armed neighbors was triggered by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denied complicity.
The four-day standoff raised fears of wider conflict between the South Asian rivals who have fought multiple wars, including two over the disputed region of Kashmir. Trump offered to mediate the Kashmir dispute between the neighbors.
On Friday, the US president predicted that Washington would be able to negotiate trade deals with both India and Pakistan.
“We did a very great job with India and Pakistan, and we had India in, and it looks like we’re going to be making a trade deal with India,” he told reporters in New Jersey. “And we had Pakistan in, and it looks like we’re going to be making a trade deal with Pakistan. And it’s a beautiful thing to watch.”
The Pakistani government said it acknowledged and admired Trump’s offers to help resolve the longstanding Kashmir dispute that lies at the “heart of regional instability.”
“Durable peace in South Asia will remain elusive until the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning Jammu and Kashmir,” it said.
The government added this it hopes Trump’s “pragmatic diplomacy and effective peace-building” will help resolve various ongoing crises in the Middle East.
“Pakistan remains hopeful that his earnest efforts will continue to contribute toward regional and global stability, particularly in the context of ongoing crises in the Middle East, including the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza and the deteriorating escalation involving Iran,” it said.
Eight dead in Brazil hot air balloon accident
- “Eight fatalities and 13 survivors,” governor Jorginho Mello said
- An investigation was launched
SAO PAULO: At least eight people were killed Saturday when a hot air balloon with 21 passengers caught fire in southern Brazil, said the governor of Santa Catarina state, where the incident occurred.
“Eight fatalities and 13 survivors,” governor Jorginho Mello said on X.
Videos taken by bystanders and carried on Brazilian television showed the moment when the balloon erupted in flames above the coastal town of Praia Grande. The weather conditions were clear.
The basket carrying the passengers plummeted dozens of meters to the ground in flames.
An investigation was launched to determine the cause of the accident.
Praia Grande, on the Atlantic coast, is a popular destination for hot-air ballooning in Brazil.
That was the second fatal balloon accident in the country in just a few days. Less than a week ago, a woman died during a ride in southeastern Sao Paulo state.
Suicide blast kills 20 anti-militant fighters in Nigeria
- Police have confirmed 10 people were killed and said the overall toll could be higher
- They have also overrun military bases, killing soldiers and carting away weapons
KONDUGA, Nigeria: A suicide attack in Nigeria’s Borno state by a woman allegedly acting for Boko Haram insurgents has killed at least 20 anti-militant fighters, militia members told AFP on Saturday.
Police have confirmed 10 people were killed and said the overall toll could be higher.
Boko Haram and its rival, the Daesh West Africa Province (Daesh-WAP), have in recent months intensified attacks on villages in Borno and neighboring states.
They have also overrun military bases, killing soldiers and carting away weapons.
Late on Friday, a woman allegedly detonated explosives strapped to her body at a haunt for vigilantes and local hunters assisting the Nigerian military in fighting “militants” in the town of Konduga, the militia told AFP.
“We lost 20 people in the suicide attack which happened yesterday around 9:15 p.m. (2015 GMT) while our members were hanging out near the fish market,” said Tijjani Ahmed, the head of an anti-militant militia in Konduga district.
Konduga is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern state of Borno.
Surrounding villages have been repeatedly targeted by suicide bombers said to be acting for Boko Haram, a group of armed Islamic militants that has been active in the area for at least 16 years.
Konduga town itself had seen a lull in such attacks in the past year.
“Eighteen people died on the spot, while 18 others were injured. Two more died in hospital, raising the death toll to 20,” Ahmed said.
Sixteen were wounded, with 10 of them nursing severe injuries in two hospitals in Maiduguri, he said.
The dead were buried in a mass funeral on Saturday, an AFP reporter saw.
Corpses wrapped in white cloths — some covered in bamboo mats — were laid out in rows on the ground on wooden biers ahead of the burial.
The alleged bomber was dressed as a local heading to the crowded nearby fish market.
She detonated her explosives as soon as she reached the shed used by the militia fighters as a hangout, said militia member Ibrahim Liman.
He gave the same toll as Ahmed.
Borno state police spokesman Nahum Daso told AFP that 10 bodies had been recovered from the “suicide attack.”
He said the toll could be higher as “details are sketchy.”
Konduga’s fish market, which is usually busy at night, has been the target of a series of suicide attacks in the past.
“I was in the market to buy fish for dinner when I heard a loud bang some meters behind me,” Konduga resident Ahmed Mallum said.
“I was flung to the ground and I couldn’t stand. I just lay down,” Mallum said.
The conflict between the authorities and Boko Haram has been ongoing for 16 years.
In that time, more than 40,000 people have died and around two million have been displaced from their homes in the northeast, according to the United Nations.
The violence has spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight armed militant Islamic groups.
Where does India stand on the Israel-Iran conflict?
- Middle East situation shows India deviating from its traditionally pro-peace foreign policy, experts say
- Indian foreign ministry called both sides ‘to avoid any escalatory steps,’ engage in dialogue
NEW DELHI: India is on a path of non-involvement in the growing conflict in the Middle East, experts said on Saturday, as they warned Delhi’s silence could have serious implications for the region.
Israeli attacks on Iran started on June 13 when Tel Aviv hit more than a dozen sites — including key nuclear facilities and residences of military leaders and scientists — claiming they were aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
After Iran retaliated with ballistic missile strikes against Israel, the two countries have been on a tit-for-tat cycle of bombing.
Israel’s attacks on Iran have reportedly killed at least 639 people and wounded 1,329 others, while Iranian missile strikes have killed 24 people and injured hundreds more in Israel.
India has yet to join other Asian nations — such as China, Japan, Pakistan and Indonesia — in condemning Israel’s initial strikes against Iran.
It was also the only country in the 10-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization which did not endorse a statement issued by the bloc, condemning Israel’s military strikes on Iran. SCO is a political and security body that includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Central Asian nations.
In a statement, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs urged “both sides to avoid any escalatory steps” and engage in dialogue and diplomacy “to work towards de-escalation.”
“India enjoys close and friendly relations with both the countries and stands ready to extend all possible support,” the ministry said.
Talmiz Ahmad, an Indian diplomat who served as ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE, described the statement as “a very low-key remark and is meant for the record.”
“India is not interested in engaging itself with serious matters pertaining to regional diplomacy. India is not interested in pursuing ways in which we could promote security and stability,” he said.
Historically, India’s ties with countries in West Asia — a region that includes the Middle East — have been bilateral and transactional, lacking engagement “with the region in a collective sense.”
“With regard to the Israeli-Iran issue we have taken a position of non-involvement … (but) silence in this matter where Israel has initiated a conflict that could have potentially horrendous implications for the region, is another and is something which India should be very concerned about,” Ahmad said.
“There is no justification whatsoever for India to be so indifferent to the flames that are now gathering speed and strength right in our neighborhood.”
India is Israel’s largest arms buyer and Israel is India’s fourth-largest arms supplier. According to a report from Reuters, India has imported military hardware worth $2.9 billion over the last decade.
Delhi also has strategic interests in Iran and has invested around $370 million in a port development project in the Iranian port of Chabahar, aimed at hastening trade and connectivity links to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Moreover, there are over 10,000 Indian nationals living in Iran, the majority of whom are students. Delhi has prioritized safely evacuating them since Israeli attacks began last week.
Peace in the region should be within India’s strategic interest, according to Delhi-based foreign policy scholar and researcher N. Sai Balaji, who highlighted the 9 million Indians living and working in West Asia.
“Not only that these (9 million) Indians contribute to billions of dollars in terms of remittances (but) India’s energy needs are met from West Asia,” Balaji told Arab News. “Any conflict with Iran or any conflict in West Asia does not only destabilize its financial stability in forms of remittances but also energy security.”
He said the Indian government was “taking sides clearly by not calling out the aggression of Israel.”
“India is not only abdicating its historic responsibility but also changing its foreign policy to accommodate Israel,” Balaji added.
Sudheendra Kulkarni, who served as an advisor to India’s former premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said the country had shifted its traditional approach in foreign policy.
“India has always stood for peace in the world … Therefore, it is deeply painful that Narendra Modi’s government has deviated from this traditionally pro-peace foreign policy of India,” Kulkarni told Arab News.
“It is wrong for the government to keep silent in the face of Israel’s naked aggression against Iran … Under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, Israel is the aggressor. It has violated international law. Iran is the victim. Iran has the right to defend itself.”
