Day: January 6, 2023

Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman is set to arrive in Egypt’s Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday to participate in the 2nd Green Middle East summit.

The summit is held in tandem with UN climate conference COP27, which opened in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday.

A statement by the Saudi Royal Court said bin Salman had left for Sharm el-Sheikh to take part in the summit, which will be attended by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, along with a host of world leaders.

The summit is intended to lay out a roadmap for regional climate action, assessing the consequences of climate change and presenting solutions.

The first edition of the Green Middle East summit was held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in October 2021.

Notably, these initiatives aim to plant 50 billion trees in the region and reduce carbon emissions by more than 10%.

* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report

Source: Anadolu Agency

Germany’s industrial output increased 0.6% month-on-month in September, above market forecast, according to official data released on Monday.

The figure rebounded from a downwardly revised 1.2% contraction in August, German statistical authority Destatis said in a statement.

The market estimate for September was a 0.2% monthly rise.

Production of consumer and capital goods grew 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively, compared to a month ago.

Output of intermediate goods, on the other hand, decreased 0.1% from August.

The “extreme shortage” of intermediate products continues to weigh on industrial production, according to Destatis.

“Enterprises still have difficulties completing their orders as supply chains are interrupted because of the war in Ukraine and distortions persist that have been caused by the COVID-19 crisis,” read the statement.

On an annual basis, Germany’s industrial production climbed 2.6% in September.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Saudi Arabia announced Monday the crash of an F-15 fighter jet belonging to air forces during a routine training mission due to technical failure.

Defense Ministry spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said “an Air Force F-15 fighter plane crashed at the training ground at King Abdulaziz Air Base in the east of the country, the pilot and co-pilot survived the accident through ejection seats,” according to the Saudi Arabian official news agency SPA.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Ugandan Air Force attacked and destroyed a big camp of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced Sunday.

The attack was conducted with the authorization of the Congolese government.

“Ugandans and other East Africans: This is to inform you that on Friday, with the authorization of the DRC government, the Ugandan Air Force attacked and destroyed a large ADF terrorist camp,” Museveni said on Twitter.

He noted that it was important for them to know the capacity Africa which possesses that can help it address chronic security challenges.

“The enemy, in desperation, has now fled beyond the boundary of our operations. The ignorant terrorists do not know that within just minutes — not hours — we can reach (them) with deadly fire, many areas, far beyond the line of the limit of exploitation,” said Museveni.

“Hence, on Friday, they got their deserved reward. Wherever they go, we shall reach them, as long as the Congo government allows us to operate with them,” he said, congratulating Ugandan and Congolese troops.

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda launched joint military operations to flush out the ADF in the east of DR Congo in late 2021.

But the operations have been criticized for doing little to improve the security situation, prompting calls by civil society groups to end them.

In the latest attack attributed to ADF rebels, two people were wounded by gunfire Sunday during an ambush that targeted a civilian vehicle on the Mbau-Kamango road in Beni territory, North Kivu, the Congolese military said.

The ADF have been attacking and killing civilians in eastern DR Congo for over two decades. The group killed more than 1,300 civilians last year, according to the UN.

The joint operations in North Kivu and Ituri provinces were launched following a triple suicide bombing in Uganda’s capital city Kampala in which seven people were killed and dozens injured.

The ADF pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2019.

Last year, the US placed the ADF on its list of “terrorist organizations” affiliated with ISIS.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Germany and the US will supply Ukraine with armored personnel carriers for its war against Russia, German public broadcaster ARD reported Friday.

The announcement came following a phone call between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden on Thursday, according to a chancellery statement.

Berlin will also provide Ukraine with a Patriot anti-aircraft battery for air defense.

More specifically, Germany is to supply the Ukrainian armed forces with the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, which was developed more than 50 years ago for the German army, while the US will send Bradley combat tanks.

These are the first Western-style armored personnel carriers to be received by Ukraine. It is not known when and how many of the tanks will be sent to the warring country.

The Hamburg-based news magazine Der Spiegel reported that up to 40 Marder light tanks would be delivered to Ukraine.

So far, Eastern European NATO countries have only sent Soviet-made battle tanks to the war zone. However, Ukraine has already received anti-aircraft, armored transport and armored recovery vehicles from Western manufacturers.

Reacting to the plan to send Marder light tanks to Ukraine, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck described the planned delivery as a good decision.

“Since the beginning of the war, we have increasingly expanded our support in cooperation with our partners. It is logical that we are also taking this step,” he said.

“Ukraine has the right to defend itself against the Russian attack and we have a duty to help it,” he added.

Germany has supplied Ukraine with weapons and military equipment worth €2.25 billion since the war began on Feb. 24, including self-propelled howitzers (heavy artillery pieces), Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, and the Iris-T anti-aircraft system, which can protect an entire city.

Ukraine has also pressed Germany to send Leopard 2 combat tanks, however Scholz has so far refused to supply them on the grounds that no other NATO country has made such tanks available.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Ukraine’s “threats” to resume its nuclear program were largely the reason for Moscow’s “special military operation,” Russia’s former president said on Monday.

One of the reasons for conducting the “special military operation” were the “threats” by Ukrainian leaders that hinted resumption of the nuclear program, which Kyiv relinquished under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, Dmitry Medvedev, who currently serves as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote in a message on the country’s VK social network.

“What do we see in contrast next to our own borders? Poor puppets from an inferior state, now weeping bitterly about the decision taken under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 to withdraw the nuclear arsenal located on their territory and inherited from the USSR,” Medvedev said, following statements describing South Africa’s accession process to the Nonproliferation Treaty.

Later, Medvedev said that Ukrainians always perceived Kyiv’s accession to the international treaty as a forced step decided “under harsh pressure from Washington,” adding that this was the case even though Ukraine “did not have the means to support the ‘might’ (nuclear weapons) that had fallen to it by chance.”

He further said Ukrainian leaders, from former President Leonid Kravchuk to current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have expressed that “they would be happy to use it (nuclear weapons) against us (Russia) and their own citizens (Ukrainians).”

The Budapest Memorandum was signed by Ukraine, Russia, the UK, and the US on Dec. 3, 1994 to provide Ukraine with security assurances in connection with its accession to the Nonproliferation Treaty.

The memorandum has been under question by Zelenskyy, who said Ukraine tried three times to convene consultations with guarantor states under the format, with him also conducting a fourth attempt during a speech at the annual Munich Security Conference on Feb. 19.

“I am initiating consultations in the framework of the Budapest Memorandum. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was commissioned to convene them. If they do not happen again or their results do not guarantee security for our country, Ukraine will have every right to believe that the Budapest Memorandum is not working and all the package decisions of 1994 are in doubt,” Zelenskyy said during the speech, according to a transcript by The Kyiv Independent.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The US administration has “privately” encouraged Ukrainian leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia, according to The Washington Post.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have warned that the “Ukraine fatigue” among some allies could worsen if Kyiv continues to shut down negotiations, the daily reported on Saturday.

The request by American officials is not aimed at pushing Kyiv to the negotiating table, but they called it “a calculated attempt” to ensure that Ukraine “maintains the support of other nations facing constituencies wary of fueling a war for many years to come.”

US officials told the daily that Ukraine’s position on negotiations with Russia was wearing thin among allies that are worried about the economic effects of a protracted war.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is only prepared to enter negotiations with Russia if its troops leave all parts of Ukraine, including Crimea and the eastern areas of Donbas, de facto controlled by Russia since 2014, during an interview to Czech television.

Last month, Zelenskyy signed a decree that declares Russia’s annexation of parts of Ukraine null and void, and also signed another decree earlier on Sept. 30 that stated the “impossibility of negotiations” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A 45-year-old survivor of a Tanzanian plane crash that left at least 19 people dead recalled his ordeal, as details emerge about bad weather conditions and heavy downpours that could have led the pilot astray.

“I don’t know how I survived, only God knows. I found myself helpless the moment the plane landed in the water. The cabin crew opened an emergency door where I climbed and stood on the plane body waiting for help,” Richard Komba told Anadolu Agency from his hospital bed where he is recuperating from shock.

According to him, the passengers who sat in the front aisles frantically struggled to flee the gushing water that perpetually poured into the plane.

“I consider myself very fortunate to be seated on the back of the plane and as soon as the cabin crew opened the emergency door, I pulled myself out,” he recalled.

When PrecisionAir flight number PW494 from Dar es Salam to Bukoba – a town nestled on the shores of Lake Victories – began to shake violently, Komba said he thought it was just turbulence. The pilot then announced the landing could be rather bumpy.

“All of a sudden the plane jerked dangerously once and then again,” he said. Moments later, as it approached the airport the plane crashed into Lake Victoria.

According to Komba, it was all well when the plane left the port city of Dar es Salaam around 6:15 a.m. local time (0300GMT).

“We traveled well but when we approached the lake regions the weather abruptly changed and the pilot alerted us through the plane’s intercom that the weather condition in the area was poor and it was heavily raining, he decided to go back to avoid that situation,” he said.

According to Komba, passengers waited for a long time before they were certain it was safe to climb on a wooden boat used by fishermen.

Komba who managed to crawl out of the submerging wreckage said he heard fellow passengers screaming for help.

24 people rescued

Officials said they have retrieved all bodies from the scene and the identification process is now underway.

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said an independent inquiry will be conducted to establish whether some of the rescuers are among the dead.

Authorities have said at least 24 people have been rescued.

Albert Chalamila, a regional commissioner for Kagera, said the rescue team has succeeded in pulling the plane wreckage from shallow water. There were 43 people aboard the Precision Air plane, said Chalamila.

Bukoba Airport is located on the lake’s shore, and the crash site is just a few hundred meters from the runway, according to local officials.

Meanwhile, Hashimu Rashidi, 37, a fisherman who pulled seven people from the plane wreckage, said the rescue operation had been difficult due to a lack of proper equipment and special training.

“Although I was among the first people to rush to the accident area, I did not know what to do. The plane’s emergency door was flung open by the passengers who were terribly shocked and did not say anything, when more boats started to arrive. We decided to pull one passenger after another and put them in the boat,” Rashidi said.

“I personally pulled seven passengers including a woman who had been injured on her right leg,” he added.

Sitting on her hospital bed, visibly shocked Levina Theonest Lutinda with her one-year-old son, said she was among a few passengers who were the first to be rescued.

“I sincerely thank the fishermen who saved my life and my child’s life, I have much respect for them,” she told Anadolu Agency.

Source: Anadolu Agency