SYDNEY: Indigenous residents forced the closure of Australia’s famed Uluru national park Tuesday, after blocking tourists from accessing the sacred site amid fears over the spread of coronavirus.
About 30 members of the local community physically blocked dozens of tourists arriving from virus-hit eastern Australia from accessing the park entrance, said Glenn Irvine, manager of Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation, which handles local community issues.
Locals said they were blindsided by the arrival of 43 tourists on a flight from Brisbane, Queensland and decided to take action.
“We were of the understanding that the flight was canceled,” Irvine said.
“We asked for the national park to be closed,” he added. When that did not happen, “members of the community gathered at the park gate.”
After crisis talks with local authorities Tuesday, the park remained closed.
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park said in a statement: “We have the utmost respect for Uluru-Kata Tjuta’s traditional owners and are continuing to work in good faith with them and all other parties to keep Mutitjulu residents safe.”
More than 395,000 people visited the park in the 12 months to June 2019, according to Parks Australia.
Irvine said there was now tacit agreement that the tourists — who remained nearby — would be tested for the virus and no more groups would come from COVID-19 “hotspots.”
Queensland has recorded just over 1,000 cases of the virus since the pandemic began and new cases have been relatively rare.
But even in areas where tourism is a mainstay of the local economy, many Aboriginal groups are fearful that any outbreak could badly hit remote Outback communities.
Travel to the Northern Territory, including Uluru — once known as Ayer’s Rock — has been severely restricted since the pandemic began.
Those measures were recently eased, but visitors from Australia’s COVID-19 hotpots are still required to quarantine for 14 days.
Brisbane is currently included on that list.
Overseas travelers remain banned from entering Australia except for some very closely prescribed cases.
Australia recorded 453 new cases Tuesday, taking the total to 18,728 with 10,787 recoveries. The death toll is now 232, after 11 more fatalities.
Aboriginal group blocks access to Australia’s Uluru over coronavirus fears
https://arab.news/yv4y6
Aboriginal group blocks access to Australia’s Uluru over coronavirus fears
- Locals said they were blindsided by the arrival of 43 tourists on a flight from Brisbane
- Travel to the Northern Territory, including Uluru, has been severely restricted since the pandemic began
Campaigning starts in CAR election
- Both of Touadera’s top critics on the ballot paper, ex-Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra and the main opposition leader Anicet-Georges Dologuele, had feared they would be barred from the election over nationality requirements
BANGUI: Campaigning has kicked off in the Central African Republic, with the unstable former French colony’s voters set to cast their ballots in a quadruple whammy of elections on Dec. 28.
Besides national, regional and municipal lawmakers, Centrafri-cains are set to pick their president, with incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadera in pole position out of a seven-strong field after modifying the constitution to allow him to seek a third term.
Thousands of supporters packed into a 20,000-seater stadium in the capital Bangui on Saturday to listen to Touadera, accused by the opposition of wishing to cling on as president-for-life in one of the world’s poorest countries.
In his speech, Touadera, who was first elected in 2016 in the middle of a bloody civil war, styled himself as a defender of the country’s young people and insisted there was work to do to curb ongoing unrest.
“The fight for peace and security is not over,” the president warned the packed stands.
“We must continue to strengthen our army in order to guarantee security throughout the national territory and preserve the unity of our country.”
Both of Touadera’s top critics on the ballot paper, ex-Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra and the main opposition leader Anicet-Georges Dologuele, had feared they would be barred from the election over nationality requirements.
Touring the capital’s districts alongside a traveling convoy, Dologuele warned that the upcoming vote represents “a choice for national survival; a choice between resignation and hope.”
“Our people have experienced 10 years of this regime. Ten years of waiting, promises and suffering,” he added.
