VIENNA: The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Chernobyl next week as the organization ramps up efforts to “prevent the danger of a nuclear accident,” a statement said Friday.
Chernobyl, the scene of the worst nuclear disaster in history, fell into Russian hands on the first day of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, and suffered a power and communications outage.
Russian soldiers withdrew from the plant at the end of March, Kyiv said. Since then, the situation has gradually returned to normal, according to daily reports from the IAEA based on information from the Ukrainian regulator.
However, in mid-April, Ukrainian authorities said they could not restore radiation monitoring at the site.
Rafael Grossi will arrive on April 26, the anniversary of the 1986 disaster, with a team of experts from the UN body to carry out radiation checks and deliver essential kit.
“Based on our scientific measurements and technical evaluations, we will be able to better understand the radiological situation there,” he said.
The plant’s staff, who were forced to work non-stop for weeks, are now on rotation. But damaged bridges and de-mining activities have made it difficult to operate in the area, Ukraine told the IAEA this week.
Grossi praised staff and said he looked forward to being able to speak with them.
“They have been through more than we can imagine, and they deserve our full respect and admiration for preserving the safety and security of the site despite the dire situation,” he said.
During their visit, the experts will also repair remote monitoring systems that stopped sending data back to the agency’s headquarters in Vienna.
In March, Grossi traveled to Ukraine to lay the groundwork of an agreement for providing technical help. He visited a nuclear power plant in the south of the country, before meeting senior Russian officials in Kaliningrad.
“The military conflict is putting Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and other facilities with radioactive material in unprecedented danger,” he warned at the time.
Ukraine has 15 reactors in four operating plants, as well as waste repositories such as Chernobyl. The IAEA plans further inspections in the coming weeks.
The Zaporizhzhia power plant, the largest in Europe, is still occupied by the Russians. Artillery strikes in early March caused a fire in nearby buildings and raised fears of a catastrophe.
IAEA chief to visit Chernobyl next week
https://arab.news/ppnwg
IAEA chief to visit Chernobyl next week
- Chernobyl fell into Russian hands on the first day of the country's invasion of Ukraine, and suffered a power and communications outage
- Rafael Grossi will arrive on April 26 with a team of experts from the UN body to carry out radiation checks and deliver essential kit
Uganda partially restores internet after president wins 7th term
- “The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report
KAMPALA: Ugandan authorities have partially restored internet services late after 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni won a seventh term to extend his rule into a fifth decade with a landslide victory rejected by the opposition.
Users reported being able to reconnect to the internet and some internet service providers sent out a message to customers saying the regulator had ordered them to restore services excluding social media.
“We have restored internet so that businesses that rely on internet can resume work,” David Birungi, spokesperson for Airtel Uganda, one of the country’s biggest telecom companies said. He added that the state communications regulator had ordered that social media remain shut down.
The state-run Uganda Communications Commission said it had cut off internet to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks.” The opposition, however, criticized the move saying it was to cement control over the electoral process and guarantee a win for the incumbent.
The electoral body in the East African country on Saturday declared Museveni the winner of Thursday’s poll with 71.6 percent of the vote, while his rival pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine was credited with 24 percent of the vote.
A joint report from an election observer team from the African Union and other regional blocs criticized the involvement of the military in the election and the authorities’ decision to cut off internet.
“The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report.
In power since 1986 and currently Africa’s third longest-ruling head of state, Museveni’s latest win means he will have been in power for nearly half a century when his new term ends in 2031.
He is widely thought to be preparing his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to take over from him. Kainerugaba is currently head of the military and has expressed presidential ambitions.
Wine, who was taking on Museveni for a second time, has rejected the results of the latest vote and alleged mass fraud during the election.
Scattered opposition protests broke out late on Saturday after results were announced, according to a witness and police.
In Magere, a suburb in Kampala’s north where Wine lives, a group of youths burned tires and erected barricades in the road prompting police to respond with tear gas.
Police spokesperson Racheal Kawala said the protests had been quashed and that arrests were made but said the number of those detained would be released later.
Wine’s whereabouts were unknown early on Sunday after he said in a post on X he had escaped a raid by the military on his home. People close to him said he remained at an undisclosed location in Uganda. Wine was briefly held under house arrest following the previous election in 2021.
Wine has said hundreds of his supporters were detained during the months leading up to the vote and that others have been tortured.
Government officials have denied those allegations and say those who have been detained have violated the law and will be put through due process.
