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In Uganda, the unbearable wait for families after a high school massacre
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Steph Deschamps / June 18, 2023
In a morgue in western Uganda, distraught families waited on Sunday to know the fate of their loved ones after the jihadist raid on a high school that left dozens of students horrifically dead.
At least 41 people were killed on Friday night, mostly students, in the worst attack of its kind in the country in years.
The attack targeted the Lhubiriha high school in Mpondwe, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Ugandan army and police officials have incriminated members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist militia that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
The victims were attacked with machetes, shot and burned alive in an attack that shocked Uganda and drew strong international condemnation.
The assailants fled towards Virunga Park in Congolese territory, also kidnapping six people after their deadly raid, according to the Ugandan army and police, who have promised to free the hostages.
Many victims were burned beyond recognition when the assailants set fire to a locked dormitory in the high school, complicating victim identification.
At a morgue in Bwera, a town close to the scene of the attack, families wept as the bodies of their loved ones were placed in coffins and taken away for burial.
But many other families are still without news of their missing loved ones.
The remains of many of the victims of the high school fire have been transferred to the town of Fort Portal, where DNA tests are due to be carried out.
The attack on the school is the deadliest in Uganda since the double bombing in Kampala in 2010, which left 76 dead in a raid claimed by the Somali-based Islamist group Shebab.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the attack as “appalling”, while Washington, a close ally of Uganda, and the African Union also condemned the bloodshed and offered their condolences.
Seventeen students were burned to death in their dormitory and 20 female students were stabbed to death, said Ugandan First Lady and Education Minister Janet Museveni.
A security guard and three other people were also killed, officials said.
The army will hunt down “these evil people and they will pay for what they have done”, said Mrs. Museveni on Saturday.
But questions have been raised about how the assailants managed to thwart surveillance in a border region with a strong military presence.
The school is less than two kilometers from the border with DR Congo, where the ADF are active and are accused of having killed thousands of civilians since the 1990s.
Major General Dick Olum told AFP on Saturday that intelligence services had reported an ADF presence in the area at least two days before the attack, stressing the need for an investigation.
According to the officer, the assailants had detailed information about the school.
Uganda and DR Congo launched a joint offensive in 2021 to drive the ADF out of their Congolese strongholds, but these operations have so far failed to put an end to the group’s attacks.
In June 1998, 80 students were burnt alive in their dormitories during an ADF attack on the Kichwamba Technical Institute near the border with DR Congo.
More than 100 students were kidnapped.
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Sylvie Claire / July 21, 2024
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone on Friday, with the former US president claiming to have promised the Ukrainian president to “end the war” between Ukraine and Russia should he return to the White House. “As your next president of the United States, I will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
Donald Trump frequently claims that he would be able to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine very quickly on his return to power, but never provides details of how he would achieve this. Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the phone call, during which he congratulated the billionaire on his official nomination the previous day as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
Donald Trump’s frequent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his criticism of other Nato countries, is causing concern among Ukraine’s Western allies. In February, he threatened that, if he returned to the White House, he would no longer guarantee the protection of Atlantic Alliance countries against Russia if they did not pay their share, even claiming that he would “encourage” Moscow to attack them. The former American president also used his power over the Republicans to block a $61 billion military aid package for Kiev for months in Congress, which was finally adopted at the end of April.
In his posting on X on Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said he had “agreed with President Trump to discuss, in a face-to-face meeting, the steps to be taken towards a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
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Former Ukrainian far-right MP murdered in Lviv: “All leads are being investigated, including Russia”
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Steph Deschamps / July 21, 2024
In a message on Telegram, the Ukrainian National Police said she had succumbed to her injuries in hospital after being the target of an assassination attempt.
“I always say that no place is safe in Ukraine,” lamented Lviv mayor Andriï Sadovy, denouncing a ‘heinous murder’ and offering his condolences to the victim’s relatives.
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, the attack took place on Friday evening, at around 7.30pm, when an unidentified individual fired at Irina Farion, seriously wounding her in the head. “All surveillance cameras are being checked, witnesses are being interviewed and several districts (of Lviv) are being examined. All leads are being investigated, including the one leading to Russia”, reacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X on Saturday.
Interior Minister Igor Klimenko told a briefing in Lviv on Friday evening that the suspected killer could have been lurking around Irina Farion’s home for several days.
According to him, investigators are currently focusing on the possibility of a murder motivated by a “personal grudge” linked to the victim’s activities, but are not ruling out a “commissioned assassination” either.
The 60-year-old language teacher and linguist was a member of parliament for the nationalist Svoboda party between 2012 and 2014.
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Sylvie Claire / July 18, 2024
At least six people died in a shopping mall fire on Wednesday in Zigong, southwest China, and thirty others were rescued, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said. “Rescue teams are continuing their search,” the media outlet added.
Images broadcast by the channel and others shared on social networks show thick black smoke rising from a building overlooking a shopping street in this city 1,600 kilometers from the capital Beijing, in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The fire broke out in the early evening in a shopping mall at the foot of a 14-storey building, CCTV reported.
“At 8:20 pm, the fire was extinguished and 17 people were rescued. Others are still trapped, and rescue operations are continuing”, said the station in an initial report on the situation.
Fires and other fatal accidents are frequent in China, due to the sometimes lax application of safety standards. In January, at least 39 people perished in a store fire in central China. According to the authorities, the fire started in the basement of a store when workers “broke the rules” during construction work. At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for lessons to be learned from the disaster to prevent further tragedies. The same month, a fire in a residential building claimed at least 15 lives.
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