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Flood: UN worried over situation at two Libyan dams as death toll hits 11,300 with 100,000 missing

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The United Nation has expressed worry over the situation at two Libyan dams.

The condition at the dams came following the devastating floods a week ago in Libya.

The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Sunday said it was concerned about two more dams which were reportedly dealing with massive amounts of pressure.

The dams in question are the Jaza Dam – between the partly destroyed city of Darna and Benghazi – and the Qattara Dam near Benghazi, the OCHA said.

However, there have been “contradictory reports” over the dams’ stability, the UN agency said.

Both dams were in good condition and functioning, according to authorities.

Pumps were being installed at the Jaza Dam to relieve pressure on it, the OCHA cited authorities as saying.

Derna was badly hit after the severe storm last weekend, mainly due to the breach of two dams.

The storm killed thousands of people and thousands more are still missing.

The authorities do not yet have exact figures. The city had about 100,000 inhabitants before the disaster.

Confusion over the death toll continued on Sunday after the OCHA initially spoke of 11,300 dead and a further 10,100 missing.

Additionally, an estimated 170 other people had been killed elsewhere in eastern Libya, according to the UN agency.

The OCHA attributed the figures to the Libyan Red Crescent but a spokesman for the aid group voiced astonishment at the numbers and rejected them.

“The official numbers are issued by the agency authorised by the Libyan authorities,” Tawfiq al-Shukri said.

In a later version of its situation report, OCHA dropped those figures, instead citing the World Health Organisation (WHO) figure of 3,958 people dead and more than 9,000 still missing.

Late on Sunday Othman Abdel Jalil, the health minister in one of Libya’s rival governments, told a news conference that the number of people buried so far was 3,283.

The Libyan official reiterated his call to the media to follow the official numbers which are given daily by the Health Ministry.

“We regret that we saw a lot of statements being made by local officials and some came from international sides during which they gave numbers which can cause panic among the people,” the official said.

He added that he regretted to see that the UN on its site put the number of dead in eastern Libya at 11,300.

“I don’t know where they got this from,” he said. “When I got in touch with them they mentioned it was from the Red Crescent, but when I talked to the Red Crescent they said that did not talk to them.”

The minister said the UN based its report on information coming from a man who claimed to be speaking on behalf of the Red Crescent and that he lived outside Libya.

Conflicting accounts have emerged from Libya, which is divided between warring administrations in East and West.

Earlier in the week, the mayor of Derna had said it was possible up to 20,000 people had died there.

The WHO said nearly 4,000 people who were killed in the floods had been identified.

A group of Libyan data analysts and researchers also said there had been around 4,000 confirmed deaths in a count on Saturday.

A powerful storm dubbed Daniel hit Libya on Sept. 10 after earlier lashing Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey.

Two dams broke in the mountains above the port of Derna, washing away large areas of the city of around 100,000 people.

Al-Shukri of the Libyan Red Crescent said on Sunday that the search and rescue situation in Derna was “better” now with the engagement of several Libyan and foreign teams.

While he did say that survivors had been hauled up from under the rubble through Saturday, he declined to give specific figures.

Concerns are growing about water safety in Derna.

Detected cases of diarrhea totaled 150 in the city on Saturday due to contaminated drinking water.

But the director of Libya’s National Centre for Disease Control, Haider al-Sayeh, said Sunday that field teams from the centre managed to reduce the cases, and advised locals to avoid well water and use bottled water.

The head of the internationally recognized Tripoli-based government, Abdel-Hamid Dbeibeh, ordered the provision of drinking water to flood-affected areas, his administration said Sunday. His government does not have actual control over the eastern part of Libya.

Abdel Jalil said Sunday that a vaccination campaign has been launched to protect all those living in Derna and working in it, including military, medical staff and journalists.

The minister also announced that a “horrific traffic accident” took place on Sunday which led to the death of four Greek rescue workers who were on their way to Derna.

Abdel Jalil said 15 others were wounded in the accident, of which seven were in critical condition and eight were stable.

He said the Greek team had consisted of 19 rescue members.

In total, the accident killed seven people, as the aid workers’ vehicle crashed into a car carrying a Libyan family, according to Jalil.

The Greek military initially confirmed three deaths late on Sunday night.

Two other members of the rescue team were missing, it said in a statement on Facebook.

Three of the family of five died in the accident, while the other two were seriously injured.

Libya has been in turmoil since the overthrow of dictator Moamer Gaddafi in 2011.

Countless militias are still fighting for power and influence in the oil-rich country. The conflict is further fuelled by foreign states. All diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict peacefully have failed.

 

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Ex-VP Sambo dumps PDP, joins APC

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Namadi Sambo, a former vice president during the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has the Peoples Democratic Party for the ruling All Progressives Party, on Wednesday.

He had earlier on Friday last week  joined the PDP in Kaduna State.

An APC stalwart, Imran Muhammad, confirmed Sambo’s defection in his X account.

 

 

 

 

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Allen Onyema alerts public on deliberate smear campaign as Air Peace begins Abuja London-Heathrow flights October

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Barrister Allen Onyema, the Chairman/CEO of Air Peace, has raised the alarm over deliberate smear campaign by some Nigerians, in cohoot with a section of the media, aimed at damaging the airline’s reputation.

He stated this in Lagos on Wednesday while also announcing that Air Peace has secured approval to commence Abuja- London flight from October this year.

Onyema told journalists that “Air Peace has done a lot for our fatherland and we will continue to do it because we see it as a calling, not to make money.”

This comes amid a public spat between the airline and former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, over a check-in issue in Lagos.

According to him, rather than spreading falsehood against the organisation as is being done by some interests, Air Peace  deserves support and respect from Nigerians.

“We demand to be applauded. We demand to be appreciated by our country.

“Nigerians should jettison this pull-him-down syndrome. Both government agencies and citizens must stop trying to destroy their own,” he said.

Onyema warned that destroying local businesses harms the country “If you destroy any indigenous business that provides massive job opportunities, you don’t know where the next suicide bomber, armed robber, or kidnapper will come from.”

On a positive note, he said the Abuja -London’s Heathrow Airport flight will begin from October 26.

“Our daily flights to London are going well. Come October 26, we start Abuja-London. The British authorities have granted Air Peace Heathrow.

“That is a testament to their belief in what we are doing,” Onyema said.

He thanked the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo and President Bola Tinubu for supporting the airline’s international growth.

 

 

 

 

 

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I bombed Iran nuclear facilities for the peace of tomorrow -Female IDF navigator

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A female navigator in the Israeli Defence Force, IDF, simply identified as Maj. Shin, has said she undertook a recent attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities to safeguard her country and people today and for the future.

According to her, though the mission was an emotional one, she was convinced that Iranian regime was an existential threat that must dealt with.

“I felt the responsibility in the cockpit to remove a real and existential threat to the State of Israel,” says Maj. Shin, identified only by the first Hebrew initial of her name, in rare public remarks for a female member of an IAF air crew.

“We’re doing this for the peace of tomorrow. For our home. That is our mission,” she adds.

Maj. Shin flew over 1,500 kilometers (about 1,000 miles) from Israel in what she describes as a “complex and powerful aerial operation designed to ensure that our children will have a better and safer future.”

 

 

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