Pompeo: US continues to support Sudan as floods ravage country
Pompeo: US continues to support Sudan as floods ravage country/node/1733456/middle-east
Pompeo: US continues to support Sudan as floods ravage country
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Workers with the Sudanese antiquities authority line a stone wall with sandbags to mitigate flood water damage to a structure in the ancient royal city at the archaeological site of Meroe, in the River Nile State's al-Bajrawia area, 300Km north of the capital, on September 9, 2020. (AFP)
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Flood water fills a ditch in the ancient royal city at the archaeological site of Meroe, in the Sudanese al-Bajrawia area in the River Nile State, 300Km north of the capital, on September 9, 2020. (AFP)
Pompeo: US continues to support Sudan as floods ravage country
Floods in Sudan have killed more than 100 people this summer and swamped over 100,000 houses
On Thursday, authorities declared an economic emergency following a dramatic plunge in the value of the national currency
Updated 12 September 2020
Arab News
LONDON: The US will continue to support the Sudanese people, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday as flash floods continue to ravage the country.
Pompeo said he called the country’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Friday to express his condolences for those who died in “Sudan’s recent flooding and to discuss our assistance for the response.”
Floods in Sudan have killed more than 100 people this summer and swamped over 100,000 houses, putting further strain on an economy already struggling.
I called @SudanPMHamdok yesterday to express my condolences for those lost in Sudan’s recent flooding and to discuss our assistance for the response. The United States will continue to support the Sudanese people through this difficult time.
On Thursday, authorities declared an economic emergency following a dramatic plunge in the value of the national currency, the Sudanese pound.
The “deterioration of the currency has been dramatic,” Information Minister Faisal Saleh said. He accused loyalists of ousted President Omar Al-Bashir of trying to undermine Sudan’s transition to democracy.
“The government’s treasury is empty,” he said.
As of Thursday, at least 103 people had died and at least 500 had been injured because of flooding that has struck since July.
Libya says UK to analyze black box from crash that killed general
Updated 9 sec ago
TRIPOLI: Libya said on Thursday that Britain had agreed to analyze the black box from a plane crash in Turkiye on December 23 that killed a Libyan military delegation, including the head of its army. General Mohammed Al-Haddad and four aides died after a visit to Ankara, with Turkish officials saying an electrical failure caused their Falcon 50 jet to crash shortly after takeoff. Three crew members, two of them French, were also killed. The aircraft’s black box flight recorder was found on farmland near the crash site. “We coordinated directly with Britain for the analysis” of the black box, Mohamed Al-Chahoubi, transport minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU), said at a press conference in Tripoli. General Haddad was very popular in Libya despite deep divisions between west and east. The North African country has been split since a NATO-backed revolt toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Haddad was chief of staff for the internationally recognized GNU, which controls the west. The east is run by military ruler Khalifa Haftar. Chahoubi told AFP a request for the analysis was “made to Germany, which demanded France’s assistance” to examine the aircraft’s flight recorders. “However, the Chicago Convention stipulates that the country analizing the black box must be neutral,” he said. “Since France is a manufacturer of the aircraft and the crew was French, it is not qualified to participate. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, was accepted by Libya and Turkiye.” After meeting the British ambassador to Tripoli on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Taher Al-Baour said a joint request had been submitted by Libya and Turkiye to Britain “to obtain technical and legal support for the analysis of the black box.” Chahoubi told Thursday’s press briefing that Britain “announced its agreement, in coordination with the Libyan Ministry of Transport and the Turkish authorities.” He said it was not yet possible to say how long it would take to retrieve the flight data, as this depended on the state of the black box. “The findings will be made public once they are known,” Chahoubi said, warning against “false information” and urging the public not to pay attention to rumors.
