NAIROBI: The US military said it had killed two fighters from the Al-Shabab militant group in an airstrike in a remote part of Somalia’s southern Jubaland state on Sunday.
The United States has been carrying out air strikes in Somalia to try to defeat Al-Shabab, an Al-Qaeda franchise seeking to implement its interpretation of Islamic law and overthrow the country’s Western-backed central government.
The strike took place near Libikus in the Lower Juba region, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in a statement late on Monday.
“The command’s initial assessment is that two Al-Shabab terrorists were killed in action,” AFRICOM said. “No civilians were injured or killed given the remote nature of where this engagement occurred.”
Rights activists have accused the United States of shrouding its Somalia operations in secrecy, potentially undermining accountability for incidents involving civilian deaths.
US says it kills 2 Al-Shabab militants in Somalia airstrike
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US says it kills 2 Al-Shabab militants in Somalia airstrike
- The United States has been carrying out air strikes in Somalia to try to defeat Al-Shabab
Germany says UN rights rapporteur for Palestinian territories should quit
- Albanese has said that her comments are being falsely portrayed
- “I have never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity’,” Albanese said
BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday called for the resignation of the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, over comments she made allegedly targeting Israel at a conference.
“I respect the UN system of independent rapporteurs. However, Ms Albanese has made numerous inappropriate remarks in the past. I condemn her recent statements about Israel. She is untenable in her position,” Wadephul wrote on X.
Albanese has said that her comments are being falsely portrayed. She denounced what she called “completely false accusations” and “manipulation” of her words in an interview with broadcaster France 24 on Wednesday.
Speaking via videoconference at a forum in Doha on Saturday organized by the Al Jazeera network, Albanese referred to a “common enemy of humanity” after criticizing “most of the world” and much of Western media for enabling the “genocide” in Gaza.
“And this is a challenge — the fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support,” she said.
Albanese said that “international law has been stabbed in the heart” but added that there is an opportunity since “we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy.”
Wadephul’s French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot on Wednesday made the same call for Albanese to resign over the comments.
“France unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks made by Ms Francesca Albanese, which are directed not at the Israeli government, whose policies may be criticized, but at Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable,” Barrot told French lawmakers.
Albanese posted video of her comments to X on Monday, writing in the post that “the common enemy of humanity is THE SYSTEM that has enabled the genocide in Palestine, including the financial capital that funds it, the algorithms that obscure it and the weapons that enable it.”
In her interview with France 24, which was recorded before Barrot’s statement, she contended that her comments were being misrepresented.
“I have never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity’,” Albanese told the broadcaster.
