Day: August 2, 2022

— The number of people killed in flash floods in the eastern Ugandan city of Mbale has jumped to 22, including a group of partygoers who became trapped in a minibus, police said.

Two rivers burst their banks at the weekend after the city was battered by heavy rainfall, leading to mudslides that inflicted widespread damage and left hundreds of residents homeless.

A combined force of police, the army and the Red Cross were continuing to search for the missing in the muddy floodwaters that have swallowed up homes, bridges, shops and roads.

“The death toll of those killed by floods in Mbale has reached 22. Ten others are in critical condition,” Ugandan police spokesman Fred Enanga said.

Some of the victims were found trapped in a minibus, he said, adding: “These were mainly relatives and friends who were going to a party but were swept off the road by the floods.”

The media saw five dead bodies being pulled from the submerged minibus as search teams hunted around the ill-fated vehicle for more possible victims.

Enanga said residents have been advised to relocate to safer areas as the rains continue to lash the city, which lies about 300 kilometres northeast of the capital Kampala.

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, who visited the scene of the flooding, had suggested the disaster may have been avoided if people had not encroached on the river banks.

Mbale District, which is home to Mbale city, has a population of over 500,000, according to the 2020 census, and is one of Uganda’s densely populated areas.

Source: Nam News Network

Ugandan police are deploying a standby force to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after UN peacekeeping troops opened fire on a border post, killing two people and wounding 15, including an 8-year-old Ugandan girl.

Uganda says it has deployed a team to monitor ongoing tensions in the eastern DRC resulting from a deadly shooting involving MONUSCO soldiers.

The incident that has been described in a statement by the UN Special Representative Bintou Keita as unspeakable and irresponsible happened in the town of Kasindi in the DRC’S Beni territory close to Uganda.

The statement said that during the incident, soldiers from the Intervention Brigade of the MONUSCO force from Tanzania, returning from leave, opened fire at the border post for unexplained reasons and forced their way through.

Fred Enanga, the Uganda Police spokesperson, described the incident.

“So, one of the bullets strayed and hit an eight-year-old juvenile called Bira Jackline,” he said. “She’s getting treatment at Bwera hospital. The stray bullet hit her shoulder and it was retrieved. So, she’s out of danger.”

In his statement, Bintou said the perpetrators of the shooting were identified and arrested pending the conclusions of the investigation, which has already started in collaboration with Congolese authorities.

Bintou added that contact had also been established with Uganda so that legal proceedings can be initiated urgently with the participation of victims and witnesses.

MONUSCO, the peacekeeping mission in the DRC, was in 2010 given the mandate to carry out offensive operations.

In another statement, U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres said he was saddened and outraged by the incident and demanded accountability.

With ongoing tension between DRC locals and MONUSCO, Enanga said authorities are monitoring the situation.

“We’ve been closely monitoring what happened from the other side of Bunagana and DRC,” he said. “We don’t want the violence there to affect our borderline. We have a standby team monitoring.”

Trade between DRC and Uganda slowed down since March due to the resumption of fighting between DRC government forces and M23 rebels who took over the town of Bunagana. Uganda has since March registered 41,164 asylum seekers comprising 21,235 households.

Source: Nam News Network

Two people have been killed and several injured after UN peacekeepers returning from leave in Uganda opened fire to force their way through a border into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bintou Keita, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission, has described the troops’ actions as unspeakable and irresponsible.

She said arrests had been made and an investigation opened.

A video shared on social media shows troops in a UN convoy trying to cross the border from Uganda into eastern DR Congo – and an argument can be heard.

Then suddenly there are loud bursts of gunfire from the convoy and people scatter in all directions. The UN troops drive into DR Congo still shooting.

Over the last week there have been violent protests in DR Congo against the UN’s Monusco mission, which many feel has failed to protect people from armed attacks in which 20 people died.

Source: Nam News Network

As the Joint Security Agencies, we want to use this opportunity to warn passengers about drivers of taxis and bodas who use fake number plates, which are fixed on the empty plate, to enable them carry out robberies and go undetected. After the commission of the crime or robbery, they remove the fake number plates and dispose them.

It therefore, becomes difficult to trace for the wanted car with fake number plates under the Automated Number Plate Recognition System. Our task teams and traffic officers, are now required to routinely check registration plates to confirm if they are genuine. Cloned plates are used by criminal to disguise its identity, hide the fact that it is stolen or avoid paying fines generated by camera systems.

The cloning and defacing of genuine number plates affects road safety and provides cover for criminal. Therefore, all culprits glorifying the usage of fake number plates will face very severe consequences.

Source: Uganda Police Force

The World Health Organization is urgently appealing for $123.7 million to provide emergency aid for millions of people facing an unprecedented food and health crisis in the Horn of Africa.

U.N. aid agencies report more than 80 million people in the greater Horn of Africa are facing a level of hunger not seen in decades. They warn up to 20 million people, about half children, already are on the verge of starvation across Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

WHO assistant director-general for emergencies response, Ibrahima Soce Fall says this acute food insecurity crisis also has triggered a health crisis in the region. He says malnutrition is soaring and disease outbreaks, including measles and cholera are increasing.

Speaking on a line from Dakar, Senegal, Fall says the important role health plays in the response to famine crises often goes underrecognized. Consequently, he says health care is less available just when people need it most.

“It is very unfortunate that people’s access to healthcare is more restricted because they are on the move in search of food, water, and pasture and they may also have to make hard choices like between buying food and going to see a doctor.”

Fall says WHO’s multi-million-dollar appeal will be used to prop up the healthcare systems in seven affected countries: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

He says a focus of the appeal is to make sure severely malnourished children who are sick get the care they need.

“The level of vaccination has dropped off because of the insecurity, the displaced population. And, of course, the disruption of vaccination during the COVID pandemic. So, more children are at risk and are already dying. We are already in a health crisis. It is not only a nutrition crisis…The number of children dying from diseases. So, the situation is already catastrophic, and we need to act now.”

Fall notes the competition for dwindling resources has become more intense since war broke out in Ukraine in February. However, he says it is not conscionable for international donors to just fund the crisis in Ukraine and not act to prevent people from dying from hunger and disease in the Horn of Africa.

Source: Voice of America