London: Afghan translators who worked with the British military and fear reprisal attacks from the Taliban have arrived in the UK as part of a relocation scheme, campaigners said on Wednesday.
The Sulha Alliance for Afghan interpreters told AFP the first group of translators landed in Birmingham, central England, on Tuesday evening, adding they expected the arrivals would go into Covid quarantine for 14 days.
The government declined to comment on the reports about the departure of the flight over concerns about the safety of the relocating Afghan translators and their families.
At the end of May, Britain announced it would accelerate plans for the relocation of Afghan staff who worked with the military and their families ahead of a planned withdrawal of US-led NATO forces.
Under a relocation scheme for former and current Afghan staff, more than 1,300 workers and their families have been brought to Britain.
More than 3,000 Afghans are expected to be resettled under the accelerated plans, the government said.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has said the government has a “moral obligation” to relocate staff and to “recognize the risks they faced in the fight against terrorism and reward their efforts.”
Retired Col. Simon Diggins, the former British attache in Kabul and now a campaigner for the Sulha Alliance, said the translators would receive four months of support after which he said, “the real struggle begins.”
Afghan translators and other local staff who worked with Britain and other NATO members such as the United States, Germany and France have clamoured to be relocated for fear of Taliban reprisals.
In the two decades since the US-led invasion, dozens of Afghan translators have been killed or tortured in targeted assaults by the radical Islamist group.
Even more have been injured in attacks on foreign troops during patrols in armored vehicles.
Campaigners have criticized what they say are confusing relocation schemes by NATO members, which they claim have allowed many translators to fall through the gaps and will struggle to evacuate all necessary staff before the western alliance’s withdrawal.
Afghan translators fleeing the Taliban land in Britain
https://arab.news/jbx7m
Afghan translators fleeing the Taliban land in Britain
- In the two decades since the US-led invasion, dozens of Afghan translators have been killed or tortured in targeted assaults by the radical Islamist group
Fourth pair of Filipino conjoined twins to undergo separation surgery in Riyadh
- The Manuel twins and their parents met with the Saudi ambassador to Manila
- Kingdom’s flagship program for conjoined twins has separated over 140 children
MANILA: Conjoined twins Olivia and Gianna Manuel will travel to Riyadh for separation surgery, becoming the fourth pair of Filipino twins to be treated under the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program, the Kingdom’s Embassy in Manila said on Tuesday.
The 20-month-old girls from the town of Talavera in the central Philippine province of Nueva Ecija were born in April 2024. They are joined from the chest to the abdomen, a condition known as omphalopagus.
Saudi Ambassador Faisal Ibrahim Al-Ghamdi received them on Monday, “ahead of their departure to the Kingdom,” the embassy said in a statement.
“The family of the twins conveyed their profound gratitude and appreciation to the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this generous gesture and the medical and humanitarian care extended to their daughters.”
Olivia and Gianna’s mother first learned about the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program last year when she was still in the hospital with the girls, closely monitored by doctors for three months after they were born.
“From the time I gave birth to the twins, I already started searching about conjoined twins,” Ginalyn Manuel told Arab News.
In the beginning, she followed updates on Akhizah and Ayeesha Yusoph, the second pair of Filipino twins to be selected for separation surgery under the program.
But at the time, she could not find anyone who was able to help connect her to the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, which runs the conjoined twins initiative.
“Then in May, I saw the Misa twins. The mother posted that they were about to fly and she was thanking Saudi Arabia and the embassy,” Manuel said.
Maurice Ann and Klea Misa are the third pair of conjoined twins from Lubang, a municipality on the Philippine island of Mindoro, who flew to Riyadh earlier this year in May for a separation surgery.
Through their social media posts, Manuel tried again to make online connections, eventually finding the right people to link her up with KSrelief.
“Then in July, (KSrelief) sent us an email asking for the medical records of my twins, and that started the whole process,” she said.
Conjoined twins are a rare phenomenon, estimated to occur once in every 50,000 to 60,000 births.
Saudi Arabia is known as a pioneer in the field of separation surgery. KSrelief was established by King Salman in 2015 and is headed by Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, one of the world’s most renowned pediatric surgeons.
Since 1990, he and his team have separated more than 140 children from 27 countries who were born sharing internal organs with their twins.
The Misa twins, who are joined at the head, are currently being prepared for their surgery in Riyadh.
The first pair of Filipino conjoined twins, Ann and Mae Manzo, were separated under the program in March 2004. They were joined at the abdomen, pelvis and perineum.
They were followed by the Yusoph twins, who were joined at the lower chest and abdomen and shared one liver. Their successful separation surgery was conducted in September 2024.
