Ethiopia and Eritrea accuse one another of launching war

By TOE | Posted TOE Ethiopia and Eritrea each accused the other of starting a war of aggression on Friday as an internal Ethiopian conflict threatened to escalate into a regional war. Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing rebels in its northern Tigray state, who launched attacks against federal forces last month. The two countries severed diplomatic relations, and over the past week, Eritrean troops have been seen in northern Tigray with Ethiopia launching drone strikes against their forces. A foreign security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP they estimated 5,000 to 8,000 Eritrean soldiers were present in Tigray. Eritrea’s conduct is “a blatant act of aggression that engages Ethiopia’s inherent right to self-defence”, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos wrote in a letter to diplomats. Eritrea’s information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, responded on X that it was facing “an unprovoked war of aggressio...

Fires burn out of control in Peru, hitting crops and archaeological sites

Peruvian authorities scrambled to roll out a plan to fight fires raging out of control across the nation, razing crops, damaging archaeological treasures and leaving several regions in a state of disaster on Thursday.

Firefighters said battling the blazes has grown increasingly difficult.

“We’re tired,” said a volunteer firefighter in the forests of the northern Amazonas region who declined to give his name. “We put the fire out, it lights back up. We put it out, the fire breaks out again.”

Firefighters in the area retreated from the flames on Thursday.

“They’re out of control,” said Arturo Morales, another volunteer firefighter. “We need help.”

President Dina Boluarte on Wednesday declared a 60-day state of emergency in the San Martin, Amazonas and Ucayali regions, allocating extra resources to stop the fires from spreading.

“We’re rolling out everything we have,” Boluarte said in a speech. She called on farmers to stop burning grasslands, which she said caused flames to spread out of control.

Forest fires in Peru are frequent from August to November, either caused by farmers or those who are looking to illegally take over land, according to the government.

Around 240 fires have broken out this season in 22 of the country’s 25 regions, though more than 80% had been controlled by Wednesday.

Some, however, are threatening to spark up again with dry weather, winds and their remote locations making them difficult to access.

The flames have already reached seven archaeological sites, according to the culture ministry, and are threatening the Indigenous Shipibo-Konibo community in the Amazon.

In total, nearly 2,300 hectares (5,680 acres) of farmland have burned and 140 people have been injured, according to official data through Wednesday.

South America is currently being ravaged by fire from Brazil’s Amazon rainforest through the world’s largest wetlands to dry forests in Bolivia, breaking a previous record for the number of blazes seen in a year.

SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/M6Oqh3E

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Myanmar earthquake death toll rises as fresh tremors further complicate rescue efforts

Israel says situation on Lebanon border ‘not sustainable’