Didn't get nearly as much pre$$ as the Russian airliner that was bombed out of the sky about the same time:
"Death toll unclear in South Sudan cargo plane crash" New York Times News Service November 05, 2015
NAIROBI — A cargo plane that was also carrying soldiers and civilians crashed Wednesday along the banks of the Nile just minutes after taking off from South Sudan’s capital, Juba, killing most of those on board, according to UN and government officials.
There were conflicting reports Wednesday on the number of fatalities.
A spokesman for the Red Cross in South Sudan said the organization had recovered 36 bodies from the wreckage, including those of children.
“Some were underneath, some were outside, scattered,” said the spokesman, Maju Hillary. He added that there could be more bodies buried under the debris.
South Sudan’s military spokesman, Colonel Philip Aguer, said the aircraft’s pilot has reported that there were only 12 passengers on board upon takeoff.
A presidential spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, told Reuters that the plane was carrying 18 people, including six foreign crew members, and that all but three had died in the crash.
At least one adult and a toddler reportedly survived the crash, government officials said.
Photographs showing debris from the aircraft scattered along the banks of the Nile were posted on social media sites on Wednesday.
Images showed the tail of the fuselage protruding out of a canopy of banana trees and forest.
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Related:
"The Soviet-built Antonov AN-12 had taken off from South Sudan’s capital, Juba, on Wednesday and was headed for the Paloich oil fields with a crew of six when it crashed, according to South Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority. Thirty-seven people died in the crash, said officials."
Will miracles never cease? Are they sure it wasn't ISIS?
They should look on the bright side; they are not refugees trying to get into Israel.
While we are over there, let's swing through some more of Africa:
Judges hear Oscar Pistorius case arguments
Africa’s vulture populations are under threat
Speaking of vultures.
"8 killed as rival Somali militias clash over food distribution to refugees" Bloomberg News November 17, 2015
MOGADISHU, Somalia — At least eight people were killed in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, when two rival progovernment militias clashed near a food-aid distribution center, a local official and a policeman said.
Most of the dead were civilians, authorities said.
A local police officer, Ahmed Sandhere, said by phone that the violence erupted after the armed groups disagreed on how to distribute the aid and provide security for shipments. The area is home to thousands of internally displaced people uprooted by Somalia’s civil war and droughts.
Therefore, they did neither!
Regional military forces have been deployed in Somalia to bolster the weak UN-backed Somali government against the al-Shabab insurgency, and are working in concert with the African Union military mission.
Last week, a watchdog group said Kenyan troops in Somalia are heavily involved in the smuggling of about 150,000 tons of sugar a year into Kenya.
Kenyan soldiers and a progovernment militia based in Somalia’s port city of Kismayo make $13 million a year from taxing the illegal sugar shipments, Journalists for Justice said in a report. It didn’t break down the share of profits that each party allegedly makes.
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I suppose it is just as well. Sugar kills the appetite.
"Forced from lair, Boko Haram raiding villages, survivors say" Associated Press October 30, 2015
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Boko Haram extremists driven out of forest camps are attacking remote northeast Nigerian villages, killing scores and kidnapping hundreds of women and children, survivors said Friday.
Some villagers said they trampled on the corpses of neighbors to flee from the militants, who arrived on horseback and motorcycles and were armed with guns, swords, and machetes.
The cavalry to the rescue, huh?
Refugees say the attacks started a week ago in 20 villages along the border between Borno and Yobe states, but they had to walk for days through the bush to reach Jakana, a village 25 miles west of Maiduguri, before they could report them.
Nigeria’s air force has been bombarding camps in Sambisa Forest, Boko Haram’s stronghold."
Also see: Heavy losses for Boko Haram reported
"Nigerian troops have rescued 338 captives, almost all of them children and women, from Boko Haram camps in a northeastern forest, the military said Wednesday. Thirty extremists were killed Tuesday in attacks on two camps on the fringes of the Islamic insurgents’ holdout in Sambisa Forest, according to a Defense Headquarters statement on social media. Separately, troops ambushed and killed four suspects on a bombing mission in northeastern Adamawa state, it said. The military posted photographs."
And who could doubt that?
Related: At least 32 killed, 80 wounded in Nigeria explosion
But the government is winning.
"UN peacekeepers accused of abuse" Associated Press November 12, 2015
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations says it is investigating new allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers in violence-ridden Central African Republic.
A UN official said the allegations involve three underage girls. The allegations also involve two pregnancies, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because details have not been made public.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic said in a prepared statement that it learned of the new allegations Wednesday and will send a team to the location on Thursday ‘‘to gather the facts, sensitize the troops involved, and to take immediate preventive and disciplinary measures.’’
Why would anyone want U.N. troops coming to the "rescue?"
The United Nations is already investigating at least 16 other cases of possible sexual misconduct by UN troops and police in the country, where the force has been active since September 2014. A series of earlier allegations led Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in August to ask the head of the peacekeeping mission to resign.
Wednesday’s statement cited the new head of the peacekeeping mission, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, as calling any abuse ‘‘utterly abhorrent,’’ and it said he pledged ‘‘to ensure that justice is served in each and every case.’’
The statement does not say what country or countries the peacekeepers are from.
The mission has 9,300 troops and 1,800 police trying to calm violence between Christians and Muslims. Hundreds more UN peacekeepers are expected to arrive before the transitional government holds elections next month.
I'm sure they will be met with kisses.
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"UN condemns Burundi killings, threatens possible sanctions" Associated Press November 13, 2015
UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday condemning killings in Burundi and threatening sanctions, while international leaders urgently called for the government and opposition to meet amid fears the African nation is at risk of genocide.
Then I'm sure this will be a story the Globe sticks with for a while.
Witnesses say the killings are a government crackdown on opposition members. Statements by government officials last week echoed language used in the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, where about 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and Hutu moderates were slaughtered in a campaign orchestrated by Rwanda’s Hutu-extremist government.
Forget the French involvement.
Like Rwanda, Burundi has a history of tensions between its Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups. At least 240 people have been killed in Burundi since protests began in April against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s ultimately successful quest for a third term.
‘‘We know how high the stakes are,’’ Britain’s UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said after the council vote. ‘‘We know that in the worst case what we’re talking about is a possible genocide, and we know that we have to do everything that we possibly can to prevent that.’’
Because it isn't one of their own like in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine.... sigh!!
The French-drafted council resolution asks UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to deploy a team to Burundi to work with the government, African Union, and other partners to ‘‘develop options to address political and security concerns.’’
Meanwhile, a joint statement by the United Nations, European Union, and African Union called for a meeting of representatives of Burundi’s government and opposition in Addis Ababa, where the AU is based, or Uganda. A regional bloc has nominated Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to mediate Burundi’s crisis.
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Related:
"At least nine people were killed in an overnight attack at a bar in the latest violence in Burundi’s capital, witnesses said Sunday, as security forces went door-to-door to disarm civilians in neighborhoods seen as opposition strongholds. International concern is growing about the security situation in this African nation, which been hit by unrest after the president’s decision to extend his time in power."
Sorry to cut that short, but.... I need to get some food.
NDUs: 450 illegal tamales found in LAX luggage
Could have exploded.
Bolstered by attacks, Boko Haram becomes deadliest terrorist group, responsible for 6,664 deaths last year, more than any other terrorist group in the world, including the Islamic State, which killed 6,073 people in 2014, according to a report released Wednesday tracking terrorist attacks globally.
And who is it behind the mind-f*** numbers?
The Institute of Economics & Peace, whatever agenda-pushing front they are.
"Eighty civilians, including 57 children, were killed in just one county in war-torn Unity state between Oct. 4 and 22, according to a group of humanitarian organizations monitoring civilian casualties in South Sudan. Twenty-nine of the children drowned after running into swamps to hide from attacks in Leer County. There were reports of widespread use of sexual violence, said the Protection Cluster, representing 60 local and international organizations."
