BRUSSELS: NATO foreign ministers will seek to narrow divisions over Ukraine’s membership bid at a meeting in Oslo this week, with allies at odds over calls to grant Kyiv a road map to accession at their July summit.
NATO has not acceded to Ukraine’s request for fast-track membership as Western governments such as the US and Germany are wary of moves that they fear could take the alliance closer to entering an active war with Russia.
However, both Kyiv and some of its closest allies in eastern Europe have been pushing for NATO to at least take concrete steps to bring Ukraine closer to membership at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12.
“It would be very sad if in any way anyone could read the outcome of the Vilnius summit as a victory of Russia in precluding Ukraine to join NATO one day,” Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Friday.
Last week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made it clear that Ukraine will not be able to join the alliance as long as the war against Russia continues.
“To become a member in the midst of a war is not on the agenda,” he said. “The issue is what happens when the war ends.”
NATO agreed at its 2008 summit in Bucharest that Ukraine will join eventually.
However, leaders have since stopped short of steps such as giving Kyiv a membership action plan that would lay out a timetable for bringing the country closer to NATO.
On the sidelines of their Oslo meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, foreign ministers are also expected to touch on the search for a new NATO chief, with Stoltenberg due to step down in September.
Meanwhile, President Tayyip Erdogan’s election victory in Turkiye has brought fresh momentum to efforts to break a deadlock over the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership, held up by objections from Turkiye and Hungary.
Any progress in Oslo is unlikely, however, as Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will not be there, Sweden said, although talks between him and Sweden’s Tobias Billstrom will nevertheless take place “soon.”
NATO seeks to narrow differences over Ukraine membership bid
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NATO seeks to narrow differences over Ukraine membership bid
- NATO has not acceded to Ukraine’s request for fast-track membership
- Western governments are wary of moves that could take the alliance closer to entering an active war with Russia
Floods in Mozambique displace more than 300,000 people in one province, governor says
- The premier of one of the provinces in South Africa impacted by weeks of heavy rains said that the damage there could be around $250 million
MAPUTO, Mozambique: More than 300,000 people have been displaced by flooding in a province in Mozambique, its governor said Monday. Authorities had already announced that around 40 percent of the Gaza province has been submerged by floodwater following weeks of torrential rain in parts of southern Africa.
Mozambican President Daniel Chapo has canceled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, because of the severe flooding impacting central and southern parts of the country, according to the state-run daily newspaper Noticias.
Gaza governor Margarida Mapandzene Chongo said around 327,000 people were being housed in dozens of temporary shelters like schools and churches. They had fled or been evacuated from flooded or flood-threatened areas of the southern province that has a population of about 1.4 million.
Humanitarian organizations said earlier this month they feared around 200,000 people would be impacted by the extreme weather in Mozambique, but it appears that number has been exceeded. Inocencio Impissa, a Cabinet minister and spokesperson for the government, said nearly 600,000 people had been affected in the two provinces of Gaza and neighboring Maputo.
Chongo said authorities were now calling for the evacuation of everyone from the lower parts of Gaza’s provincial capital of Xai-Xai as more flooding threatens that city of around 115,000 people that lies next to the Limpopo River. Streets in Xai-Xai resembled rivers as floodwater surged through parts of the city, according to videos on the city’s official Facebook page.
Images from the nearby town of Chokwe that was the site of earlier evacuations show floodwater almost entirely covering houses and other buildings, with only the tips of some of their roofs visible.
Weeks of heavy rains have left more than 100 people dead in Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, with major rescue efforts still underway in Mozambique and South Africa. Mozambican authorities said the severe flooding in northern South Africa was now impacting Gaza — which borders South Africa — as rivers flowing into Mozambique had burst their banks.
Chongo said “the situation is likely to worsen” in Gaza because of heavy rains in southern Zimbabwe that would also ultimately flow toward her province.
Mozambique, a nation of 34 million people on the southeastern coast of Africa, has borne the brunt of devastating cyclones and a crippling drought in recent years. Several provinces have been hit by these floods, with conditions in three of them described by authorities as “critical.”
A countrywide red alert warning, the highest level, has been issued over the weather.
The National Institute for Disaster Risk Reduction, which is coordinating rescue operations, said around 110 people were rescued by helicopter on Sunday while trapped in trees or other high points. They included children, elderly people and one pregnant woman about to go into labor.
Minister of Transport and Logistics João Matlombe said around 40 percent of Gaza was submerged by water, 152 kilometers (94 miles) of roads across the country had been completely destroyed and more than 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) of roads were damaged.
The recovery cost for Mozambique could run to hundreds of millions of dollars. The premier of one of the provinces in South Africa impacted by weeks of heavy rains said that the damage there could be around $250 million.
