Diplomacy ‘best way forward’ in Niger, force still on table: Nigeria

A street vendor pushes his cart past burned cars outside the headquarters of president Bazoum’s Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism in Niamey on August 7, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 09 August 2023
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Diplomacy ‘best way forward’ in Niger, force still on table: Nigeria

  • President Bola Tinubu weighed in for the first time since the soldiers behind the coup in Niger defied the bloc’s Sunday deadline to reinstate elected president Mohamed Bazoum

NIAMEY, Niger: Nigeria’s president, who is also head of the West African bloc ECOWAS, has not ruled out military intervention in Niger but believes diplomacy is the “best way forward” to resolve the crisis, his spokesman said Tuesday.
President Bola Tinubu weighed in for the first time since the soldiers behind the coup in Niger defied the bloc’s Sunday deadline to reinstate elected president Mohamed Bazoum or face the possible use of force.
Meanwhile efforts by ECOWAS and the United States to parlay with Niger’s new rulers have made no headway ahead of a crisis summit in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday.
“No options have been taken off of the table,” Tinubu’s spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said, while adding that Tinubu and other West African leaders favor diplomacy.
The United States said it still held out hope for reversing the coup but was “realistic” a day after a top US envoy made no visible progress in an unannounced visit.
“We do have hope that the situation will be reversed but at the same time, we are making clear, including in direct conversations with junta leaders themselves, what the consequences are for failing to return to constitutional order,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Earlier, the soldiers who seized power in Niamey on July 26 blocked a mission by ECOWAS ahead of the summit.
In a letter, the coup leaders said that public “anger” triggered by ECOWAS sanctions meant the delegation’s safety could be at risk.
ECOWAS — the Economic Community of West African States — imposed trade and financial sanctions on Niger after the rebel soldiers toppled Bazoum.
The bloc also gave Niger a seven-day ultimatum to reinstate Bazoum or face potential use of force, but the coup leaders defied the warning.
A source close to ECOWAS said Monday that military intervention was not being immediately envisaged and that the path to dialogue still appeared open.
The bloc sought to send a delegation to Niamey on Tuesday ahead of the crisis summit due to be held in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, on Thursday.
But the coup leaders’ letter, dated Monday, said: “The postponement of the announced mission to Niamey is necessary, as is the reworking of certain aspects of the (delegation’s) schedule.”
The schedule “includes meetings with certain personalities which cannot take place for obvious reasons of security given the atmosphere of the threat of aggression against Niger,” it said.
ECOWAS is struggling with a cascade of coups that since 2020 have now hit four of its 15 members.
In Mali, Burkina Faso and now Niger, all of the takeovers have been fueled by jihadist insurgencies that have claimed many thousands of lives, forced at least two million from their homes and dealt crippling blows to some of the world’s poorest economies.
On Monday, Victoria Nuland, a veteran US envoy, met with Niger’s military rulers for more than two hours but came away empty-handed.
She described her talks as “extremely frank and at times quite difficult.”
She said she offered the coup leaders “a number of options” to end the crisis and restore relations with the United States, which like other Western nations has suspended aid.
“I would not say that we were in any way taken up on that offer,” she told reporters before her departure.
Niger’s new strongman, General Abdourahamane Tiani, did not attend the meeting, and Nuland was unable to see Bazoum, who has been detained since July 26.
The military leaders in Mali and Burkina Faso have expressed solidarity with Niger, saying that any military intervention would be seen as a “declaration of war” against them.
Algeria, which shares a long land border with Niger, has also cautioned against a military incursion, which President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said would be “a direct threat” to his country.
Bazoum, 63, was feted in 2021 after winning elections that ushered in Niger’s first-ever peaceful transition of power.
He took the helm of a country burdened by four previous coups since independence, and survived two attempted putsches before he himself was ousted.
His support was a key factor in France’s decision last year to refocus its Sahel anti-jihadist mission on Niger after withdrawing from Mali and Burkina Faso.
France has 1,500 troops in Niger and the United States has 1,000 personnel, most of whom are deployed at two major air bases.
Mali and Burkina Faso sent letters Tuesday to the United Nations and the African Union, calling on them to prevent “military intervention against Niger” where the security and humanitarian consequences of such action “would be unpredictable.”


Who is Colombian Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay who was shot during a campaign rally in Bogota?

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Who is Colombian Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay who was shot during a campaign rally in Bogota?

  • Uribe Turbay, 39, who has announced he intends to run for president next year, was in serious condition following surgery, a day after the shooting
  • He launched his presidential bid in March and has become a prominent opposition voice against the government of President Gustavo Petro

Conservative Colombian Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot and seriously injured during a campaign rally in the capital, Bogota. The brazen attack captured on video shook a nation that decades ago regularly saw kidnappings and killings of politicians and high profile people.
Uribe Turbay, 39, who has announced he intends to run for president next year, was in serious condition following surgery Sunday, a day after the shooting, and doctors said he was going through “critical hours.”
Here’s what to know about the conservative politician:
Presidential contender
A member of the right-wing Democratic Center party, Uribe Turbay has become a prominent opposition voice against the government of President Gustavo Petro, the first leftist politician to become the leader of Colombia. Petro cannot seek reelection in 2026.
Uribe Turbay, whose family had also suffered political violence, launched his presidential bid in March. In October last year, he had posted a video on social media announcing his intention to run, choosing the mountains of Copacabana in the department of Antioquia as a backdrop.
The country will hold a presidential election on May 31, 2026.
“A place with deep meaning for me,” he said in the video. “It was here that my mother was kidnapped by Pablo Escobar and was killed when I was about to turn five.”
His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was abducted by the Medellin Cartel and killed in 1991, one of Colombia’s most violent periods.
The attack on Uribe Turbay on Saturday shocked the nation and revived memories of an era when political violence affected Colombian public life.
Prominent political family
Uribe Turbay entered politics early, being elected to Bogota’s City Council at age 25 in 2012. In 2016, he was appointed the city’s secretary of government by then-Mayor Enrique Peñalosa.
In 2022, he became senator after being invited to run by former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, no relation.
Uribe Turbay was born into a prominent political family. He is the grandson of former President Julio César Turbay Ayala, who served from 1978 to 1982, and the paternal grandson of Rodrigo Uribe Echavarría, a former director of the Liberal Party.
He was not considered a front-runner in next year’s race, according to recent polls, and was still facing competition within his political coalition. In his pre-campaign messaging, Uribe Turbay focused heavily on security, seeking to inspire investments and promote economic stability.
‘Reserved prognosis’
The senator is going through what authorities have described as “critical hours” after undergoing surgery at a private clinic in Bogotá.
“He survived the procedure; these are critical moments and hours for his survival,” said Bogotá Mayor Carlos Galán early Sunday after receiving information from the medical staff at the Fundación Santa Fe clinic.
“His condition is extremely serious and the prognosis is reserved,” the clinic added hours later in a new medical report.
Police arrested a 15-year-old boy for the shooting, whom they considered the perpetrator. Authorities have not disclosed a motive.
Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office condemned the attack, saying the country “cannot allow a return to dark times when violence sought to silence ideas, candidacies or political leadership.”


How conflict, climate shocks and collapsing aid budgets are pushing millions to the brink of starvation

Updated 47 min 19 sec ago
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How conflict, climate shocks and collapsing aid budgets are pushing millions to the brink of starvation

  • Global hunger has reached an unprecedented tipping point, as rates of acute food insecurity and malnutrition rise for the sixth consecutive year
  • Nearly 60 percent of chronically hungry people are women and girls, reflecting a stark reflection of systemic gender inequality

DUBAI: There is more than enough food in the world to feed the entire global population, yet 733 million people still go hungry, including 38 million children under five years of age, according to the latest aid agency data.

Global hunger has reached an unprecedented tipping point, with 343 million people across 74 countries deemed acutely food insecure, Stephen Anderson, a representative of the World Food Programme in the GCC, told Arab News.

“This figure represents a 10 percent increase from the previous year and is just shy of the record number seen during the pandemic,” he said. 

Anderson said that WFP is supporting about 123 million of the most vulnerable — but nearly half of them (58 million) are at risk of losing food assistance due to funding shortages.

The 2025 Global Report on Food Crises delivers a stark warning — that without urgent action, today’s crisis could spiral into a full-blown catastrophe across some of the world’s most fragile regions.

UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Joyce Azzam said that hunger is no longer a problem of supply — it is a matter of justice.

“Hunger today isn’t caused by a lack of food — it’s caused by a lack of fairness,” Azzam told Arab News. “We’re still treating it like a temporary emergency instead of the ongoing crisis that it is.”

Azzam described hunger not as a side-effect, but as a symptom of broken systems, deep inequality and prolonged neglect.

“Unless we confront those root causes — not just with aid, but with bold policy and deep empathy — this trend won’t just continue, it will accelerate.”

The GRFC report, based on consensus among partner organizations, echoed recent WFP findings, revealing that 295.3 million people across 53 countries faced acute food insecurity in 2024.

It shows an increase of 13.7 million people facing acute food security from 2023, marking the sixth consecutive year of rising hunger.

“The year 2024 marked the worst year on record since GRFC tracking began in 2016,” Anderson said.

Catastrophic hunger — known as “Phase 5,” which indicates “extreme lack of food, starvation, death, destruction and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels” under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification — doubled to 1.9 million people, 95 percent of whom are in Gaza and Sudan.

Famine was officially declared in Gaza in 2024. Conditions have now worsened as a result of an 11-week aid blockade imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2.

Since then, at least 29 children and elderly people have died from starvation-related causes, according to Palestinian health authorities. Aid agencies fear the real figure could be far higher.

Azzam said that events in Gaza reflect a broader pattern in which hunger is being weaponized.

“In these regions — hunger is being used as a weapon. It’s deliberate. And it’s devastating,” she said, recalling her own life growing up amid the Lebanese civil war. “Hunger during conflict is about so much more than food. It’s about dignity being stripped away, day by day.”

As of the latest assessment in March 2024, the IPC Famine Review Committee classified the entire population of Gaza as being in IPC Phase 3 or higher, meaning everyone is in crisis, emergency, or catastrophic food insecurity.

More than 500,000 people — roughly one in every four Gazans — were assessed to be in IPC Phase 5.

Sudan faces a similarly dire scenario. Famine was officially declared in multiple regions of the country as a result of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Since the start of the war in April 2023, which has devastated infrastructure, disrupted agricultural production and severely limited humanitarian access, nearly 12 million people have been forced from their homes, leading to widespread displacement.

The deteriorating situation has exacerbated food insecurity, leading to famine conditions in August 2024.

In Yemen, the hunger crisis has also intensified in 2025, with the WFP warning that more than 17 million people — nearly half the population — are facing acute food insecurity. This figure is projected to rise to 19 million by the end of the year.

“Protracted wars also inflate food prices and we see this in Yemen where staple costs rose 300 percent since 2015, paralyzing markets,” Anderson said.

More than a decade of conflict has devastated the country’s economy, healthcare system and infrastructure, leaving more than half the population reliant on humanitarian aid.

However, soaring needs continue to outpace funding and resources.

“These funding gaps have forced WFP to cut rations for 40 percent of the people we served in 2023, as was the case in Yemen and Afghanistan,” Anderson said.

Malnutrition in Yemen is also surging, particularly among women and children.

WFP and UNICEF report that 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished — more than 537,000 of them severely so — while 1.4 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are also affected.

In the western coastal region of Hodeidah, malnutrition rates have exceeded 33 percent, with dwindling aid and funding cuts forcing the WFP to scale back food distributions.

Children and pregnant or breastfeeding women are among the hardest hit in food-insecure regions. According to the WFP, 60 percent of the people who are experiencing chronic hunger are women and girls — a number that reflects systemic inequalities.

“When food becomes scarce, women and girls are the first to feel it — and the last to be prioritized,” Azzam said. “We cannot address hunger without addressing gender. Period.”

She added: “That’s not just a statistic — it reflects deep, structural inequality. In many households, women skip meals so their children or husbands can eat. Pregnant and breastfeeding women are especially vulnerable, and often face severe malnutrition without access to basic healthcare.”

This is echoed in the GRFC report, which found that 10.9 million pregnant or breastfeeding women across 22 countries are acutely malnourished.

Azzam also pointed out that hunger has particularly devastating effects on adolescent girls, who are often pulled out of school — not only because of poverty, but because they are expected to support their families, care for siblings, or earn an income.

In some of the most desperate situations, families may even marry off their daughters to reduce the number of mouths to feed and gain short-term financial relief.

“Hunger also increases the risk of gender-based violence,” Azzam said. “When resources are scarce and systems collapse, exploitation and abuse rise — especially for women and girls.”

Other factors driving food insecurity include climate-related disasters, such as droughts and floods intensified by the El Nino effect, a natural climate phenomenon that occurs when surface ocean temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean become unusually warm.

In 2024, this phenomenon affected 96 million people across 18 countries, more specifically in southern Africa, southern Asia and the Horn of Africa, the GRFC report found.

In the Horn of Africa, successive droughts between 2020 and 2024 — followed by severe flooding — have devastated pastoral livelihoods, Anderson said.

Somalia, for instance, saw its cereal output plummet by 50 percent in 2023. In the Sahel, erratic rainfall and advancing desertification have also taken a toll. “Niger’s millet production dropped 30 percent,” Anderson added.

These environmental shocks are now colliding with conflict. “In Mali and Burkina Faso, climate and insecurity are trapping communities in hunger cycles,” he said.

Azzam, who holds a PhD in environmental management, warned that the world is witnessing a “dangerous unraveling” of the systems that once sustained vulnerable communities.

“When fragile communities are hit by climate shocks — floods, droughts, desertification — they don’t just lose crops. They lose soil, homes, water sources, entire ways of life,” she said.

Azzam called for urgent investment in “climate-smart, locally-led solutions,” including regenerative agriculture and sustainable water systems.

Economic shocks, including inflation and currency devaluation, have compounded the problem, pushing some 59.4 million people into hunger.

“Combined with economic instability, many are left with no choice but to migrate, abandon their land or depend entirely on aid — a cycle that leaves little room for recovery,” Azzam said.

If current trends continue, “entire regions could become uninhabitable,” leading to mass displacement, overcrowded urban centers and increased conflict over dwindling resources, she said.

“Most tragically, we’ll see children growing up malnourished, undereducated and cut off from opportunity — a lost generation shaped by crisis,” she added.

To make matters worse, significant cuts to humanitarian spending by the world’s biggest state donors have led to the suspension of nutrition services for more than 14 million children in vulnerable regions, according to the GRFC report.

“The Global Report on Food Crises reflects a world dangerously off course,” said Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, responding to the findings.

In light of these alarming trends, the GRFC called for a comprehensive humanitarian reset — urging ceasefires in conflict zones such as Gaza and Sudan, investment in resilient local food systems, debt relief, and scaled-up climate adaptation to protect the most vulnerable.

“Without urgent, committed action, the gap between those who need help and those who receive it will only grow,” Azzam said. “And in that gap, lives are lost — not because we couldn’t act, but because we didn’t.”
 

 


Two charged with murder after death of Yemeni teenager in Sheffield hit-and-run

Updated 08 June 2025
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Two charged with murder after death of Yemeni teenager in Sheffield hit-and-run

  • Victim’s family said teenager had come to UK from Yemen in hope of a better future

LONDON: Two men have been charged with murder after a 16-year-old boy died in an alleged hit-and-run in Sheffield last week, it was reported on Sunday.

Zulkernain Ahmed and Amaan Ahmed have also been charged with three counts of attempted murder following the death of Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Al-Yazidi, South Yorkshire Police said.

Al-Yazidi’s family said the teenager had come to the UK from Yemen three months ago, hoping for a better future. He had been learning English ahead of starting college in September and was described as someone who would “light up their faces with a big smile.”

He was walking along the road in Darnall on Wednesday when he was struck by a grey Audi.

Police believe the car first hit the rider of an electric bike before continuing on and hitting Al-Yazidi. He later died in hospital from his injuries.

An 18-year-old man riding the e-bike was seriously injured but is expected to recover.

The two suspects are due to appear at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

A 46-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman, arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, remain on bail.

Saleh Alsirkal, a relative who runs a shop in Darnall, said Al-Yazidi had dropped in shortly before the collision, after attending a hospital appointment.

“He was a kind boy,” he told the BBC. “He just wanted to look after his family. His dad brought him over to change his life, to get a better future for his son, but this has happened and destroyed everything.”

Local councillor Qais Al-Ahdal said the teen was widely liked and respected in the area.

“We’ve really lost someone who is good in the community,” he said. “Praised by everyone unanimously, he was a really good kid. May God have mercy on his soul,” adding that the Darnall community was united in grief.


54 migrants rescued from Mediterranean oil platform

The Open Arms vessel: rescuing migrants and refugees at sea. (Supplied)
Updated 59 min 21 sec ago
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54 migrants rescued from Mediterranean oil platform

  • On Friday, one of the migrants gave birth to a boy, while another woman had given birth days before

ROME: Over 50 migrants were headed to the Italian island of Lampedusa on Sunday after a charity ship rescued them from an abandoned oil platform in the Mediterranean, where one woman gave birth.
The vessel Astral, operated by the Spain-based NGO Open Arms, rescued the 54 people, the group said in a statement.
The migrants had been trapped on the oil platform for three days after their rubber boat shipwrecked following their departure from Libya on Tuesday, Open Arms said.
On Friday, one of the migrants gave birth to a boy, while another woman had given birth days before.
Two other young children were among the group, Open Arms said.
Later Sunday, the charity said that, following the rescue of those on the oil platform, the Astral came upon another 109 people, including four people in the water.
That group, which included 10 children, had also departed from Libya, it said.
Open Arms said they provided life jackets to the migrants before they were rescued by another charity ship, the Louise Michel, which street artist Banksy sponsors.
The Louise Michel, a former French navy vessel, was transporting the migrants to a safe port in Sicily, Open Arms said.
It is not unusual for migrants crossing the Mediterranean on leaky and overcrowded boats to seek refuge on offshore oil platforms.
As of June 1, some 23,000 migrants had reached Italy by sea this year, according to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR.

 


Spanish government raps Colombian assassination attempt

Updated 08 June 2025
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Spanish government raps Colombian assassination attempt

  • The Colombian Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that "a minor under 15 years of age was arrested carrying a Glock pistol-type firearm (9mm)," and President Gustavo Petro called for an investigation into who had ordered the attack

MADRID: Spain on Sunday condemned the attempted assassination of a Colombian rightwing opposition senator and candidate in next year's presidential election, saying "violence has no place in our societies."
"Spain conveys its best wishes for a speedy recovery to the victim and all its solidarity to his family and friends, as well as to the Colombian people," the Spanish Foreign Ministry added in a statement.
"The government of Spain strongly condemns the assassination attempt against Colombian senator and presidential pre-candidate Miguel Uribe," the ministry posted on the social media site X.
Colombia's Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said a suspect had been arrested after the shooting and that authorities were investigating whether others were involved.
Sanchez said he had visited the hospital where Uribe was being treated.
The Colombian Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that "a minor under 15 years of age was arrested carrying a Glock pistol-type firearm (9mm)," and President Gustavo Petro called for an investigation into who had ordered the attack.
The 39-year-old senator, a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Center party, was shot during a 2026 presidential campaign event in a public park in the Fontibon neighborhood in the capital, according to a party statement condemning the attack.
The party said in a statement that "armed subjects shot him from behind" and described the attack as serious, but did not disclose further details on Uribe's condition.
Videos on social media showed a man, identified as Uribe, being tended to after the shooting.
He appeared to be bleeding from his head.
Uribe's wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, wrote on her husband's account on X that he was "fighting for his life."
People gathered outside the Santa Fe Foundation hospital where Uribe was being treated, some staged candlelight vigils and prayed, while others carried Colombian flags.
The government is offering some $730,000 as a reward for information in the case.
Colombia's presidency issued a statement saying the government "categorically and forcefully" rejected the violent attack, and called for a thorough investigation into the events.
President Petro sympathized with the senator's family in a message on X: "I don't know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost and a homeland."
Petro said in a speech on Saturday night: "For now, there is nothing more than a hypothesis."
He said that failures in security protocols would also be looked into.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the US "condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted assassination" of Uribe, blaming Petro's "inflammatory rhetoric" for the violence.
Uribe, who is not yet an official presidential candidate for his party, is from a prominent family in Colombia.
His father was a businessman and a union leader.
His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by an armed group under the command of the late cartel leader Pablo Escobar.
She was killed during a rescue operation in 1991.
Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a conflict between leftist rebels, criminal groups descended from right-wing paramilitaries, and the government.