Many Death recorded in Cameroon Landslide
Scores of persons not less than 13 have been reported dead in Cameroon’s capital of Yaounde after a deadly landslide struck.
The tragedy occurred following heavy rainfall across the city on Sunday that also left many injured, homes destroyed and as well as missing in the Mbankolo area.
BBC News gathered from the country’s state media that at least 13 people have died from the disaster, with the figure expected to rise.
Rescue operations are continuing at the site, with the number of those who are unaccounted for after the disaster still not clear.
In November last year, a landslide in the capital killed at least 14 people attending a funeral.
The landslide is coming hours after flood alerts were issued in several states of Nigeria, attributing this to the rapid release of water from a dam in River Benue, which flows from Cameroon.
African leaders’ divergent views on the Israel-Gaza conflict
As reactions continue to trail the Israel-Gaza conflict that has resulted in the destruction of properties and lives in the past few days – 7th October 2023, African leaders have shared divergent takes on the crisis.
The deadly confrontations have seen the Palestinian Hamas militant group launch a surprise assault and Israel retaliating.
African leaders, however, called on warring parties in the Israel-Gaza conflict to halt and come to a round table.
The reaction has not been entirely uniform, with Zambia, Kenya and Ghana more explicitly condemning Hamas and backing Israel, and Sudan, Djibouti and South Africa being clear about their support for the Palestinians.
The African Union highlighted in statements in French and English that the confrontations were underpinned by the “denial of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, particularly that of an independent and sovereign state”.
“The chairperson urgently appeals to both parties to put an end to military hostilities and to return, without conditions, to the negotiating table to implement the principle of two States living side by side, to safeguard the interests of the Palestinian people and the Israeli people,” AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki added.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni also called for warring parties to return to the “two states solution” in a statement on 7 October, where he said he regretted the violence.
However, Sudan’s foreign ministry backed the Palestinians in the wake of renewed confrontations.
South Africa called for an “immediate ceasefire”.
Meanwhile, Nigeria warned that“the cycle of violence and retaliation that the current escalation has assumed only serves to perpetuate an unending cycle of pain and suffering for the civilian population that bears the brunt of every conflict”.
Kenya’s PresidentWilliam Rutourged the warring parties to de-escalate as “casualties continue to rise”.
Zambia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Stanley Kakubo backed Israel in a statement condemning the Hamas attacks. Additional source: BBC.
Residents scramble for elephant meat in Kenya crash
Some residents in the coastal city of Mombasa, Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, have scrambled on an elephant killed by a bus along the National park.
Several passengers are said to be injured, and the elephant died on the spot, while the injured people were taken for treatment at a nearby hospital, local media in the country told the BBC.
The bus is said to have been travelling from the coastal city of Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi, on Saturday night when the accident happened along the Tsavo National Park, which straddles both sides of the highway.
Rangers and officials of the Kenya Wildlife Service later arrived at the scene to defuse the situation.
Two Tanzanians missing in attack-hit Israel region
Tanzania’s ambassador to Israel, Alex Kallua, has raised an alarm over the missing of two of the country’s students.
Israel and Palestine have been at loggerheads with Hamas over the weekend, which has led to the death of many and the destruction of properties.
Ambassador Alex Kallua told BBC News that his mission has been in contact with approximately 350 Tanzanians around the country, most of them students.
“We understand that there are two students missing in south Israel where the situation is not okay. The two were on their internship pursuing agri-business studies,” he said.
Around 350 Tanzanians are living in Israel, including around 260 students pursuing agricultural programmes, according to the embassy.
IMF ‘hopeful’ Zambia to announce debt deal with creditors before Thursday
The International Monetary Fund’s or IMF Africa Director Abebe Selass said he is “hopeful” that Zambia and its official creditors would announce a finalised debt restructuring deal before Thursday, October 12, 2023.
“We’re very hopeful that the authorities and the creditors will be in a position to make an announcement very, very soon,” Abebe Selassie told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Marrakech.
Zambia became the first African country to default in the COVID-19 pandemic era in 2020, and its restructuring under the G20’s Common Framework process has been beset by delays.
Zambia clinched an agreement in June to restructure $6.3 billion in debt owed to governments abroad, including China and members of the Paris Club of creditor nations. To formalise the debt deal, Zambia has to sign a memorandum of understanding or MoU with these official creditors.
Zambia’s Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said in late September that he expected the MoU to be “finalised and executed before the end of the year.”
Last week, Zambia’s international bondholdersformally started debt talks with the government, three sources told Reuters, a key step in restructuring more than $3 billion of overseas bonds.
