VOLOS: Greek fire crews on Thursday scrambled to put out wildfires raging for two weeks around the country that left five dead before strong winds forecast for the day rekindle blazes.
Hundreds of firefighters backed by European Union reinforcements were struggling to contain the flames on the islands of Rhodes, Corfu and Evia, in addition to a new front that erupted Wednesday in central Greece.
Early Thursday, another fire broke out near homes in the leafy Athens suburb of Kifissia but was swiftly extinguished.
Officials have said more than 600 wildfires have broken out around the country since July 13.
The civil protection ministry has warned of an extreme danger of fire in over a dozen Greek regions on Thursday.
Tens of thousands of residents and tourists at the height of the busy travel season have been evacuated, including 20,000 people on Rhodes.
A dangerous fire broke out Wednesday near the industrial zone of the central city of Volos, leaving two dead.
An elderly disabled woman was found dead inside her burned camper van in a coastal area near Volos and a cattle farmer was killed while trying to rescue his livestock.
The industrial zone was closed Thursday as a precaution. Six communities and villages around the city of nearly 140,000 people were evacuated early in the morning, with more placed on standby.
Temperatures are expected to drop Thursday after a prolonged heatwave but near-gale winds may complicate efforts to douse the fires.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday told the cabinet that the coming days will be “difficult as the heatwave will be followed by strong winds.”
“We are living through dangerous summer days, as are nine other Mediterranean countries,” civil protection minister Vassilis Kikilias said in a televised address Wednesday.
“Very high temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius and intense winds have created fire fronts of many kilometers,” Kikilias said, adding that crews were battling through “inconceivable fatigue.”
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group said this week the heatwaves that have hit parts of Europe and North America this month would have been almost impossible without human-caused climate change.
The EU crisis management commissioner’s office on Wednesday said over 490 firefighters and seven planes had been deployed to different areas in Greece under the bloc’s civil protection mechanism.
Greece races to tackle wildfires as winds set to resume
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Greece races to tackle wildfires as winds set to resume
- Hundreds of firefighters backed by European Union reinforcements were struggling to contain the flames
- The industrial zone was closed Thursday as a precaution
Guinea dissolves top opposition
- Political opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile, while enforced disappearances and kidnappings have multiplied
CONAKRY: Guinea has dissolved 40 political parties, including its three main opposition groups, via a late-night decree, fewer than two months after former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as president.
Doumbouya, who has ruled Guinea with an iron fist, was elected in late December in a vote in which all major opposition leaders were barred.
Guinea’s minister of territorial administration and decentralization ordered the dissolution of the parties late on Friday for “failure to fulfil their obligations.” The decree also stripped them of control of their assets.
Since coming to power in a 2021 coup, Doumbouya has cracked down on civil liberties and banned protests.
Political opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile, while enforced disappearances and kidnappings have multiplied.
Included among the dissolved groups are Guinea’s three main political parties: the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea led by its exiled leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, the Rally of the People of Guinea, led by ex-president Alpha Conde, and the Union of Republican Forces.
“This dissolution entails the immediate loss of the legal personality and status of the parties concerned,” the order said.
That includes “all political activities” as well as the use of “acronyms, logos, emblems and other distinctive symbols” associated with the groups, it said.
The parties’ assets have been placed under “sequestration” with a curator appointed to oversee their transfer, the decree said, without specifying to whom or to what entity.
Civil society movements condemned the parties’ dissolution on Saturday, calling it a power grab.
Ibrahima Diallo, a leader in the pro-democracy National Front for the Defense of the Constitution said “the country is sinking into profound uncertainty.”
Two well-known FNDC activists, Oumar Sylla, better known as Fonike Mengue, and Mamadou Billo Bah, have been missing since July 2024.
