World

BELEDWEYNE, Somalia — Flash flooding in central Somalia has killed 22 people and affected over 450,000, the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said Sunday, after the Shabelle River burst its banks, forcing tens of thousands out of their homes.

Heavy rainfall earlier in the week sent water gushing into homes in Beledweyne town in Hiran region, submerging roads and buildings as residents grabbed their belongings and waded through flooded streets in search of refuge.

"Initial estimates indicate that the flash and riverine floods across Somalia have affected at least 460,470 people, of whom nearly 219,000 have been displaced from their homes mainly in flood-prone areas, and 22 killed," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

The floods "have left a trail of destruction... inundating homes and farmland, washing away livestock, temporarily closing schools and health facilities, and damaging roads," the agency said in a situation report.

The disaster comes on the heels of a record drought that has left millions of Somalis on the brink of famine, with the troubled nation also battling an Islamist insurgency for decades.

Residents told AFP earlier that the floods have become a familiar ordeal to many of them, with experts saying that extreme weather events are happening with increased frequency and intensity due to climate change.

Fartun Ali, not her real name, said it was her fifth time fleeing flash flooding in Beledweyne.

"Whenever the river breaks the banks, we flee," the 35-year-old mother of eight told AFP.

East and central Africa often suffers from extreme weather during the rainy seasons.

Earlier this month, 135 people were killed and more than 9,000 left homeless after heavy rains lashed Rwanda, triggering floods and landslides in several parts of the hilly nation.

More than 400 people lost their lives due to torrential downpours, floods and landslides last week in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

In May 2020, at least 65 people died in Rwanda as heavy rains pounded the region, while at least 194 deaths were reported in Kenya.

At the end of 2019, at least 265 people died and tens of thousands were displaced during two months of relentless rainfall in several countries in East Africa.

The extreme downpours affected close to two million people and washed away tens of thousands of livestock in Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

BERLIN — Germany will support Ukraine as long as needed, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday as President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Berlin for the first time since Russia's invasion.

"I have said it many times, and I repeat it here today: We will support you for as long as it is necessary," Scholz said during a joint press conference.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday called Germany a "true friend and reliable ally" in his country's battle against Russia, as Berlin unveiled a huge new military package for Kyiv on his visit to the EU giant.

Zelensky's trip to Germany followed meetings in Rome with Italian leaders and the pope, and comes as Kyiv is preparing a much-anticipated counteroffensive.

"In the most challenging time in the modern history of Ukraine, Germany proved to be our true friend and reliable ally, which stands decisively side-by-side with the Ukrainian people in the struggle to defend freedom and democratic values," he wrote in the guestbook at the German president's official residence.

"Together we will win and bring peace back to Europe," he added in the entry, before heading into talks with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Ukrainian forces have been training troops and stockpiling Western-supplied munitions and hardware that analysts say will be key to reclaiming territory captured by Russia.

Once accused of reticence in supplying military gear to Ukraine, Germany has since become a major contributor of tanks, rockets and anti-missile systems.

On the occasion of Zelensky's visit, Berlin unveiled its biggest armaments package for Ukraine yet, including tanks, missile defence systems and combat vehicles worth 2.7 billion euros.

Zelensky said he "discussed the current situation and the intensive cooperation between Germany and Ukraine" with Steinmeier.

He was later greeted by Chancellor Olaf Scholz with military honours before heading into talks behind closed doors.

He is also expected to head to the western German city of Aachen, which this year is awarding him and the Ukrainian people the Charlemagne prize, an honour awarded for efforts to foster European unity.

Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki are due to attend the ceremony in Aachen.

A meeting with the European leaders could help prepare the ground ahead of an EU summit in Reykjavik next Tuesday, followed by the G-7 gathering of world leaders in Hiroshima, Japan.

‘Historical shame’ 

Zelensky’s visit rounds off over a year of choppy relations with Germany, which is now one of Ukraine’s biggest armaments suppliers, but only after much pressure from Kyiv.

In a clear show of its backing for Kyiv, Berlin on Saturday said it would send Ukraine more firing units and launchers for the Iris-T anti-missile system, 30 additional Leopard 1 tanks, more than 100 armoured combat vehicles and over 200 surveillance drones.

“We all hope for a rapid end to this terrible war by Russia against the Ukrainian people, but unfortunately this is not in sight,” Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement.

“This is why Germany will supply all the help that it can, for as long as necessary,” he said.

Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, hailed the announcement, saying it indicated that Russia was “bound to lose and sit on the bench of historical shame”.

Early on in the conflict, Kyiv had accused Germany of being too accommodating to Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Berlin’s reliance on Russian energy had proved tricky.

Kyiv had also snubbed a visit by Steinmeier in the weeks following the invasion, which in turn delayed Scholz’s first trip to the war-torn country.

Both Steinmeier and Scholz have since visited Ukraine.

As Kyiv prepares its offensive to retake ground in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south, Germany’s continued military backing will likely prove vital.

High-tech German-made Leopard 2A6 tanks sought by Kyiv have already been put to use at the frontlines, and the medium-range Iris-T missile defence system from Germany is also helping to bolster Ukraine’s protection against Russian strikes.

‘Reborn stronger’ 

On the front line, near the eastern flashpoint town of Bakhmut, both sides claimed to be making progress.

“Our soldiers are moving forward in some areas of the front, and the enemy is losing equipment and manpower,” commander of the Ukrainian ground forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said on social media on Saturday.

Russia said its forces were still pushing inside Bakhmut.

“In the Donetsk direction, assault detachments liberated a block in the northwestern part of the city of Artemovsk,” the defence ministry said, referring to Bakhmut by its Russian name.

Western allies have delivered increasingly powerful weapons to Ukraine. Britain this week announced it was sending Storm Shadow missiles, becoming the first country to send longer-range arms to Kyiv.

Russia described it as “an extremely hostile step” and on Saturday accused Kyiv of using the British missiles to target civilian sites in eastern Ukraine, wounding six children.

In Rome, Zelensky said he discussed with Pope Francis the fate of “tens of thousands of children” that Kyiv says were deported to Russia, as well as his plans for peace.

Zelensky also thanked Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “for helping to save lives”.

“I am convinced that Ukraine will win and be reborn stronger, more proud and more prosperous than before,” said Meloni in response.

BANGKOK — Thai opposition parties dominated the early vote count in Sunday's national elections, in what was shaping up as a huge rejection of nearly a decade of military-backed government.

The election campaign played out as a clash between a young generation yearning for change and the conservative, royalist establishment embodied by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, the ex-army chief who seized power in a 2014 coup.

With ballots counted from around half of the 95,000 polling stations, the reformist Move Forward Party (MFP) was on nearly five million votes followed by Pheu Thai on 4.2 million.

Prayut's United Thai Nation Party lay third on 1.7 million, though it is not yet clear how the popular vote will translate into parliamentary seats.

And in a kingdom where coups and court orders have often trumped the ballot box, there have been fears the military could seek to cling on, raising the prospect of fresh instability.

Pheu Thai, the party of billionaire former premier Thaksin Shinawatra now fronted by his daughter, Paetongtarn, had urged voters to deliver them a landslide to see off the threat of military interference.

A landslide did not appear to be on the cards and the kingdom looks set for a period of political horse-trading as opposition parties try to form a governing coalition.

The Election Commission is not expected to officially confirm the final number of seats won by each party for several weeks.

But without an overwhelming majority MFP and Pheu Thai face a battle to secure power, thanks to the junta-scripted 2017 constitution.

The new premier will be chosen jointly by the 500 elected MPs and 250 senate members appointed by Prayut's junta — stacking the deck in the army's favour.

In the controversial last election in 2019, Prayut rode senate support to become prime minister at the head of a complex multiparty coalition.

After casting her ballot in Bangkok, Pheu Thai's main candidate Paetongtarn showed no signs of nerves.

"Today is going to be a good day. I have very positive energy about it," the 36-year-old told reporters, smiling broadly.

Protest legacy 

The election is the first since major youth-led pro-democracy protests erupted across Bangkok in 2020 with demands to curb the power and spending of Thailand's king — breaching a long-held taboo on questioning the monarchy.

The demonstrations petered out as COVID-19 curbs were imposed and dozens of leaders were arrested, but their energy fuelled growing support for the more radical opposition MFP.

As he arrived to vote in Bangkok, MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, said he expected a "historic turnout".

"Younger generations these days care about their rights and they will come out to vote," he told reporters.

While MFP sought support from millennial and Gen Z voters — who make up nearly half the 52 million-strong electorate — Pheu Thai drew on its traditional base in the rural northeast where voters are still grateful for the welfare policies implemented by Thaksin in the early 2000s.

Prayut also urged voters to turn out in large numbers as he cast his ballot on Sunday.

The former general made an unashamedly nationalist pitch to older voters, painting himself as the only candidate capable of saving Thailand from chaos and ruin.

But he lagged badly in the polls, blamed for a sputtering economy and feeble recovery from the pandemic, which battered the kingdom's crucial tourism industry.

Rights groups accuse Prayut of overseeing a major crackdown on basic freedoms, with a huge spike in prosecutions under Thailand's draconian royal defamation laws.

The country has seen a dozen coups in the last century and has been locked over the last two decades in a rolling cycle of street protests, coups and court orders dissolving political parties.

The Shinawatra family's bitter tussle with the royalist-military establishment has been at the heart of the drama, with Thaksin ousted in a 2006 coup and his sister Yingluck unseated by Prayut in 2014.

An unclear or disputed result this time could lead to a fresh round of demonstrations and instability.

Adding to the uncertainty, rumours are already swirling that MFP could be dissolved by court order — the same fate that befell its predecessor Future Forward Party after it performed unexpectedly well at the 2019 poll.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will embark next week on a “diplomatic drive to push UK priorities on the world stage”, attending summits in Iceland and Japan, his office said on Saturday.

Sunak will undertake “a packed tour of international engagements”, heading to a Council of Europe meeting on Tuesday in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik before visiting Tokyo and then Hiroshima for a G-7 gathering.

He will focus on driving economic growth and investment in the UK, as well as shoring up support for Ukraine and addressing “critical global challenges like illegal migration”, Downing Street added.

Sunak, who became premier in October, departs Britain under growing domestic political pressure following disastrous local election results last week that saw his Conservative Party routed.

Meanwhile, the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation shows little sign of abating, with inflation remaining stubbornly high and fuelling industrial action as workers demand pay increases to match rising prices.

A general election is due next year and Sunak has tied his fortunes to several key aims, including halving inflation and curbing illegal cross-Channel migration in small boats.

“I will be travelling from Reykjavik to Hiroshima to drive global action on our most pressing priorities,” he said in a statement.

“Many of the challenges we are dealing with, from inflation to migration, must be solved by working closely with our international partners.”

‘Complex threats’ 

The 46-nation Council of Europe, founded in 1949, seeks to uphold democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Britain, which remains a member despite having quit the EU, is seeking to reset ties with key European neighbours, following strained relations under Sunak’s recent predecessors.

“He will use his engagements at the summit to discuss the importance of strengthening Europe’s borders — tackling illegal migration and the threat posed by Russia to safeguard our security and prosperity,” his office said.

In Tokyo, Sunak will hold bilateral meetings and announce new UK-Japan defence and technology collaboration, as well as hosting a business leaders’ reception to seek new inward investment.

A day later he will travel to Hiroshima, the first visit by a British prime minister to the city, for the G-7 gathering.

Calling Japan a “vital economic and defence partner for the UK in the Indo-Pacific”, he said the meeting was coming “at a pivotal moment” for the Western alliance as it faces “complex threats to global peace and prosperity”.

“The UK will galvanise international action on economic coercion by hostile states and shore up support for Ukraine, as they prepare for escalating military action against Russia’s war of aggression,” Downing Street added.

Sunak is expected to hold a number of bilateral meetings alongside the summit sessions, it noted.

ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned his conservative supporters on Friday they could face reprisals should his secular rival rise to power in momentous weekend polls.

Erdogan has been trying to rally his base ahead of elections Sunday that put his Islamic style of rule in the largest Muslim-majority member of NATO on the line.

Opinion surveys suggest challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu has a slight advantage and is within a whisker of breaking the 50-per cent threshold needed to avoid a runoff on May 28.

The opposition was helped by the withdrawal of a third-party candidate on Thursday who was hurting Kilicdaroglu's efforts to hand the Turkish leader his first national electoral defeat.

Erdogan was uncharacteristically coy about predicting the outcome of Turkey’s most consequential election of modern times.

“The ballot box will tell us Sunday,” he said in response to a direct question from a TV presenter about whether he would win.

The 69-year-old tried to raise the stakes for his faithful during a rally in a conservative Istanbul district that forms one of the hotbeds of his support.

Kilicdaroglu’s opposition alliance was driven by “vengeance and greed”, he warned.

“Do not forget,” he told the flag-waving crowd. “You may pay a heavy price if we lose.”

He later added that Western governments were using the opposition to impose their will on how Turkish society worked.

“Hey, the West, it’s my nation that decides!” he cried.

The message appeared to resonate with religious voters such as Sennur Henek.

“Erdogan is our chief and we are his soldiers,” the veiled 48-year-old said.

But Erdogan’s other daily speeches hint at a growing realisation that he might not be able to pull out one of his trademark come-from-behind wins.

The Turkish leader has been slowly losing support from key segments of the population that rallied around him during the more prosperous decade that followed his rise in 2003.

Some polls show young people who have known no other leader supporting Erdogan’s rival by a two-to-one margin.

Kurds who once put trust in his efforts to end their cultural persecution are now also overwhelmingly backing Kilicdaroglu’s campaign.

And an economic crisis — Turkey’s worst over two decades and one most blame on Erdogan’s unorthodox financial beliefs — has led other groups to lose faith in his government.

This has left the president with few options but to try and rally his most hardcore nationalist and religious supporters to show up and vote in large numbers.

The “incendiary rhetoric is designed to rally Erdogan’s base to get out and vote, but also to cast doubt on official results should things not go the president’s way”, said analyst Hamish Kinnear of the Verisk Maplecroft risk consultancy.

‘I am ready’ 

Kilicdaroglu appears to sense the undercurrents of discontent running through Turkish society.

The former civil servant has tried to run an inclusive campaign that ignores Erdogan’s personal attacks and focuses on pledges to restore economic order and civil liberties.

He has surrounded himself with economists trusted by Western investors and some former Erdogan allies who could help peel away the president’s nationalist vote.

The drama of Turkey facing a stark choice between two leaders with contrasting visions has been accompanied by heightened security concerns.

Kilicdaroglu’s party told AFP that the opposition leader wore a bullet proof vest at his two rallies on Friday because of a credible threat on his life.

He made an uncharacteristically brief speech at an evening campaign stop in Ankara during which thousands waited for him under pouring rain.

“Are you ready to bring democracy to this country? To bring peace to this country? I promise, I am ready too,” he said.

Diluting powers 

Kilicdaroglu said his immediate goal after the election would be to launch a process aimed at stripping the presidency of many of the powers Erdogan amassed after a failed 2016 coup.

The bloody putsch attempt was a watershed moment in Turkey’s history.

Erdogan responded with a purge that jailed thousands of soldiers for life and stripped tens of thousands of Turks of their government jobs.

Kilicdaroglu wants to hand power that Erdogan won through a contested constitutional referendum the following year back to parliament.

That would require the opposition to win Sunday’s parallel legislative election.

Polls suggest that Erdogan’s right-wing alliance will edge out the opposition bloc in the parliamentary ballot.

But the opposition would win a majority if it secured support from a new leftist alliance that represents the Kurdish vote.

PARIS — The family of a Frenchman released this week after he had been jailed by Iran said on Saturday he was “relieved” to be back in France.

On Friday, Benjamin Briere, whose ordeal in Iran lasted two years, and French-Irish citizen Bernard Phelan, held since October, were freed from their prison in the north-eastern city of Mashhad, the French foreign ministry said.

There had been grave concerns about the health of the men, both of whom had been on hunger strikes to protest their conditions.

Briere, 37, was first detained while travelling in Iran in May 2020 and later sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage.

“We were able to hold him in our arms at 1930 [17:30GMT] on Friday May 12 after three years of hell,” Briere’s family said in a press release.

“He is, like all of us, relieved, calm, and he is trying to realise that he’s really here, with us.

“He is, however, very weak, physically and morally, a return to normal life will be long and certainly difficult, but now he is in good hands,” they added.

The pair were among some two dozen foreigners jailed in Iran, who campaigners see as hostages held in a deliberate strategy by Tehran to extract concessions from the West.

Four more French citizens, described previously as “hostages” by the French foreign ministry, are still in prison by Iran.

A fifth individual, French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah was released from prison in February but appears still unable to leave the country.

Several US, German, British, Swedish and other European citizens, such as Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele arrested in February 2022, also remain detained.

“All our thoughts now turn towards the five other French hostages still held in Iran,” Briere’s family said.

“Our thoughts are also with other families of European hostages held in Iran, with whom we share this heavy and painful battle.

“We send them strength and courage, and we continue to fight alongside them,” they added.