Anger mounts as Sudan’s army takes in Darfur paramilitary defectors

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By Eltayeb Siddig, Nafisa Eltahir and Khalid Abdelaziz Reuters and Posted by TOE Last month, Ali Rizkallah, a commander in the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, was welcomed to Sudan’s capital ​Khartoum and given a uniform and a rank in the armed forces he had spent about  three years fighting . The army-affiliated government hailed his defection — the latest in a series of ‌high-level switches that have been reshaping Sudan’s alliances and boosting the military in  one of the deadliest conflicts  of the century. But many others have balked at the sight of Rizkallah and other former RSF figures feted in public, holding press conferences and sometimes literally embracing their former rivals. They fear that the defectors will evade justice for alleged crimes committed under their command. ‘I CAN’T FORGIVE THEM,’ SAYS DARFUR WOMAN “These RSF soldiers, even if they seek God’s forgiveness, I can’t forgive them because of what I ​...
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Cyclone Gezani leaves 59 dead in Madagascar, displaces more than 16,000

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Flooding and fierce winds have pushed Madagascar’s death toll from Cyclone Gezani to 59, with more than a dozen people still unaccounted for, the country’s disaster agency said on Monday.

It is the latest in a string of tropical storms to batter the southern African island in recent months, underscoring its vulnerability to increasingly extreme weather fuelled by climate change.

At least 59 people had been killed countrywide by the cyclone, which slammed into Madagascar on February 10, the National Office for Risk and Disaster Management (BNRGC) said, while more than 16,000 people have been displaced by storm waters.

A previous report had put the death toll at 43.

Most of the fatalities were reported in the port city of Toamasina on the east coast, formerly known as Tamatave, Madagascar’s second‑largest urban centre with around 400,000 inhabitants.

Another 15 people remain missing nearly a week after the cyclone struck, according to BNRGC.

The damage to housing was extensive, with some 25,000 homes destroyed, 27,000 others flooded and more than 200 classrooms partially or completely wrecked, it said.

Gezani made landfall last week with winds topping around 250 kilometres (160 miles) per hour, prompting the government to declare a national emergency.

AFP images showed a trail of destruction across Toamasina, with streets in the city centre still swamped by muddy floodwater and debris strewn between shuttered shops and damaged homes.

Residents queued for food at a primary school turned relief hub, while health workers screened families for malaria as the city began the slow clean‑up and took stock of the cyclone’s toll.

The World Food Programme warned Friday that “the scale of destruction is overwhelming,” with the city running on roughly five percent of its electricity and without water.

China and France have sent support for search‑and‑rescue efforts.

The storm largely spared neighbouring Mozambique, skirting about 50 kilometres (30 miles) off its coast and causing far less damage, though authorities reported at least four deaths.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday offered condolences and prayers for “the people of Madagascar, who have been struck by two cyclones in quick succession”.

In early February, Madagascar’s northwest was hit by Tropical Cyclone Fytia, which killed at least seven people and displaced more than 20,000.

SOURCE: AFP AND AGENCIES



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/6XvgZkK

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