FREETOWN: At least 312 people were killed and more than 2,000 left homeless on Monday when heavy flooding hit Sierra Leone's capital of Freetown, leaving morgues overflowing and residents desperately searching for loved ones.
An AFP journalist at the scene saw bodies being carried away and houses submerged in two areas of the city, where roads turned into churning rivers of mud and corpses were washed up on the streets.
Red Cross spokesman Patrick Massaquoi told AFP the death toll was 312 but could rise further as his team continued to survey disaster areas in Freetown and tally the number of dead.
Mohamed Sinneh, a morgue technician at Freetown's Connaught Hospital, said 180 bodies had been received so far at his facility alone, many of them children, leaving no space to lay what he described as the "overwhelming number of dead".
Many more bodies were taken to private morgues, Sinneh said.
Images obtained by AFP showed a ferocious churning of dark orange mud coursing down a steep street in the capital, while videos posted by local residents showed people waist and chest deep in water trying to traverse the road.
Fatmata Sesay, who lives on the hilltop area of Juba, said she, her three children and husband were awoken at 4:30 am by rain beating down on the mud house they occupy, which was by then submerged by water.
She managed to escape by climbing onto the roof.
"We have lost everything and we do not have a place to sleep," she told AFP.
Local media reports said a section of a hill in the Regent area of the city had partially collapsed, exacerbating the disaster.
Other images showed battered corpses piled on top of each other, as residents struggled to cope with the destruction.
Meanwhile disaster management official Candy Rogers said that "over 2,000 people are homeless," hinting at the huge humanitarian effort that will be required to deal with the fallout of the flooding in one of Africa's poorest nations.
Freetown, an overcrowded coastal city of 1.2 million, is hit each year by flooding during several months of rain that destroys makeshift settlements and raises the risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera.
Flooding in the capital in 2015 killed 10 people and left thousands homeless.
Sierra Leone was one of the west African nations hit by an outbreak of the Ebola virus in 2014 that left more than 4,000 people dead in the country, and it has struggled to revive its economy since the crisis.
About 60 percent of people in Sierra Leone live below the national poverty line, according to the United Nations Development Programme.
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Sierra Leone death toll rises to 312 after massive floods: Red Cross
Sierra Leone death toll rises to 312 after massive floods: Red Cross
Campaigning starts for Bangladesh’s first national election after Hasina’s ouster
DHAKA: Campaigning began Thursday for Bangladesh’s first national elections since the 2024 uprising that ousted longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The major political parties held campaign rallies in the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere ahead of Feb. 12 election, which is seen as the most consequential in Bangladesh’s history as it follows Hasina’s ouster and is being held under an interim government with voters also deciding on proposed political reforms.
The interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has pledged to hold a free and fair election, but questions were raised after his administration banned Hasina’s former ruling Awami League party. The Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have historically dominated the country’s electorate.
There are also concerns about the country’s law and order situation, but the government says they will keep the voting peaceful.
Yunus assumed office three days after Hasina left the country for India on Aug. 5, 2024, following the deaths of hundreds of protesters and others in a violent crackdown.
With the Awami League excluded from the election, a 10-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party, is seeking to expand its influence. Jamaat-e-Islami has long faced criticism from secular groups who say its positions challenge Bangladesh’s secular foundations. A new party formed by student leaders of the uprising, the National Citizen Party, or NCP, is also part of the alliance.
Tarique Rahman, BNP chairman and the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is widely seen as a leading contender for prime minister. His party has drawn strong support rooted in the political legacy of his mother, who died last month. Rahman returned to Bangladesh last month after 17 years in exile in the United Kingdom.
Rahman launched his campaign in the northeastern city of Sylhet with an address to thousands of supporters at a rally Thursday. He is scheduled to visit several other districts in the coming days.
In Sylhet, Rahman criticized the Jamaat-e-Islami party for using religious sentiment to get votes. He said that if elected, he would uphold national sovereignty and work for women and young people.
“Now we must establish the right to vote, rebuild the nation, and make it economically self-reliant,” he said.
Jamaat-e-Islami and the NCP began their campaigns in the capital, Dhaka.
“There are terrorism (crimes), extortion, corruption and forcible possession, (our fight) is against them to establish a just Bangladesh, and alongside to build a safe Dhaka for women and children,” said Nasiruddin Patwari, a leader of the National Citizen Party.
The election will also include a referendum on a national charter, with the interim government seeking voter support for what it describes as a new political course built on reforms. The charter was signed last year by 25 of the country’s 52 registered political parties. The Awami League opposed the idea and several other parties declined to sign the document.
Rahman’s return has reenergized his supporters.
“Under his leadership, in the coming time we want to see a self-reliant Bangladesh and organizing this country through a democratic process,” said Ali Akbar Rajan, a BNP supporter, at Rahman’s rally in Sylhet. “He will emerge as a successful statesman, that is what we hope for,“
The July National Charter, named after the uprising that began in July 2024 and led to the fall of Hasina, is currently nonbinding. Supporters of the charter say a referendum is needed to make it legally binding and a part of the constitution. Only Parliament can change the constitution in Bangladesh.
The interim government says the charter would bring more checks and balances to avoid authoritarian administrations, including by giving the presidency more authority to balance what had been a powerful prime minister position. It also proposes term limits for legislators, and measures to prevent conflicts of interest, money laundering and corruption.
The major political parties held campaign rallies in the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere ahead of Feb. 12 election, which is seen as the most consequential in Bangladesh’s history as it follows Hasina’s ouster and is being held under an interim government with voters also deciding on proposed political reforms.
The interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has pledged to hold a free and fair election, but questions were raised after his administration banned Hasina’s former ruling Awami League party. The Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have historically dominated the country’s electorate.
There are also concerns about the country’s law and order situation, but the government says they will keep the voting peaceful.
Yunus assumed office three days after Hasina left the country for India on Aug. 5, 2024, following the deaths of hundreds of protesters and others in a violent crackdown.
With the Awami League excluded from the election, a 10-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party, is seeking to expand its influence. Jamaat-e-Islami has long faced criticism from secular groups who say its positions challenge Bangladesh’s secular foundations. A new party formed by student leaders of the uprising, the National Citizen Party, or NCP, is also part of the alliance.
Tarique Rahman, BNP chairman and the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is widely seen as a leading contender for prime minister. His party has drawn strong support rooted in the political legacy of his mother, who died last month. Rahman returned to Bangladesh last month after 17 years in exile in the United Kingdom.
Rahman launched his campaign in the northeastern city of Sylhet with an address to thousands of supporters at a rally Thursday. He is scheduled to visit several other districts in the coming days.
In Sylhet, Rahman criticized the Jamaat-e-Islami party for using religious sentiment to get votes. He said that if elected, he would uphold national sovereignty and work for women and young people.
“Now we must establish the right to vote, rebuild the nation, and make it economically self-reliant,” he said.
Jamaat-e-Islami and the NCP began their campaigns in the capital, Dhaka.
“There are terrorism (crimes), extortion, corruption and forcible possession, (our fight) is against them to establish a just Bangladesh, and alongside to build a safe Dhaka for women and children,” said Nasiruddin Patwari, a leader of the National Citizen Party.
The election will also include a referendum on a national charter, with the interim government seeking voter support for what it describes as a new political course built on reforms. The charter was signed last year by 25 of the country’s 52 registered political parties. The Awami League opposed the idea and several other parties declined to sign the document.
Rahman’s return has reenergized his supporters.
“Under his leadership, in the coming time we want to see a self-reliant Bangladesh and organizing this country through a democratic process,” said Ali Akbar Rajan, a BNP supporter, at Rahman’s rally in Sylhet. “He will emerge as a successful statesman, that is what we hope for,“
The July National Charter, named after the uprising that began in July 2024 and led to the fall of Hasina, is currently nonbinding. Supporters of the charter say a referendum is needed to make it legally binding and a part of the constitution. Only Parliament can change the constitution in Bangladesh.
The interim government says the charter would bring more checks and balances to avoid authoritarian administrations, including by giving the presidency more authority to balance what had been a powerful prime minister position. It also proposes term limits for legislators, and measures to prevent conflicts of interest, money laundering and corruption.
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