‘I saw them die’: Survivors recount migrant boat capsizing in Channel

Firefighters carry an injured migrant on a stretcher after the sinking of a migrant boat attempting to cross the English Channel to England, in Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern France, on Sept. 3, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 05 September 2024
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‘I saw them die’: Survivors recount migrant boat capsizing in Channel

  • About one hundred people gathered on Wednesday evening at a candlelight vigil in the northern French city of Calais to pay tribute to the 12 migrants who died
  • The 34-year-old Eritrean recounted the “horrific” moment he lost his 18-year-old sister, whom he said had a “whole future ahead of her“

CALAIS, France: Biniam Semay was on a boat carrying dozens of migrants across the Channel from France to England when the fragile vessel ripped apart, leaving his younger sister and 11 others dead.
About one hundred people gathered on Wednesday evening at a candlelight vigil in the northern French city of Calais to pay tribute to the 12 migrants who died on Tuesday in the deadliest such disaster this year.
The 34-year-old Eritrean recounted the “horrific” moment he lost his 18-year-old sister, whom he said had a “whole future ahead of her.”
“In four or five minutes, it was completely destroyed and sank,” he said, describing the moment the boat capsized plunging dozens into the English Channel’s treacherous waters.
He grabbed his sister’s hand and tried to find something to hang on to but a wave pushed them apart.
“Then the rescue ship came, and when they rescued me, I saw my sister... and she was already dead.”
“Only God knows how I survived,” he said.
Tuesday’s death toll is the highest since November 2021 when 27 migrants lost their lives in the Channel, an incident that sparked tensions between France and Britain over who needed to do more to prevent such disasters.
The two countries have for years sought to stop the flow of migrants, who pay smugglers thousands of euros per head for the passage to England from France aboard small boats.
On Monday alone, 351 migrants crossed in small boats, with 21,615 making the journey this year, according to UK government statistics.
Earlier this summer British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron pledged to strengthen “cooperation” in handling the surge in undocumented migrant numbers.
But for some activists at the vigil, like Feyrouz Lajili, those efforts are falling short with this year’s death toll at 25, up from 12 last year.
“We’re angry and upset, not least because we feel these deaths could have been prevented,” said Lajili, project coordinator for international NGO Doctors Without Borders.
Steve Smith, head of the Care4Calais charity agreed, saying investment in security measures was “not reducing crossings.”
“It is simply pushing people to take ever increasing risks to do so,” he said.
Another survivor of Tuesday’s disaster said the first rescue boats to arrive on scene were too small to accommodate the 60 or so migrants in the water.
“There were a lot of girls and young boys, and I saw them die,” Amanuel from Eritrea, who did not provide his full name, told AFP.
He described struggling to hold on to what remained of the boat while others clung to him.
French authorities seek to stop migrants taking to the water but do not intervene once they are afloat except for rescue purposes, citing safety concerns.
All resources that could be mobilized on Tuesday were, said the French government’s junior minister for maritime affairs, Herve Berville.
But he added people need to know that “while this rescue operation is underway... it isn’t the only emergency at sea.”
One of the last to be rescued, Amanuel said he would not attempt the crossing again.
Others, like Muhammadullah, say they are not dissuaded by the risks.
Having fled Afghanistan to escape the Taliban, Muhammadullah, who also only gave one name, told AFP that he would have liked to stay in France but could not get the papers he needed to remain in the country.
So the only choice that remains is to attempt the crossing again, and soon.
“I don’t know else what to do,” he said, “there’s only England left.”


Indian FM meets Sri Lanka’s new leadership, assures support in economic rebuilding

Updated 04 October 2024
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Indian FM meets Sri Lanka’s new leadership, assures support in economic rebuilding

  • S. Jaishankar is the first top foreign official to meet Sri Lanka’s new president
  • India was a key partner in extending support to Sri Lanka during its 2022 economic crisis

New Delhi: India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar arrived in Colombo on Friday to meet Sri Lanka’s new president and government and assure New Delhi’s continued support.

Sri Lanka’s new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office on Sept. 23, after winning the country’s first presidential vote since its financial collapse in 2022.

A day later, he appointed his three-member government and dissolved the parliament, clearing the way for new parliamentary elections scheduled for Nov. 14.

The Indian foreign minister is the first top foreign official to pay an official visit to Sri Lanka since its regime change.

He took to X after meeting Dissanayake, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya and Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath.

“Discussed ways to deepen ongoing cooperation and strengthen India-Sri Lanka ties for the benefit of people of two countries and the region,” Jaishankar said, as he also expressed “India’s continued support to Sri Lanka’s economic rebuilding.”

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said the visit aimed to “further deepen the longstanding partnership” between the countries under India’s Neighborhood First Policy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s geopolitical framework of cooperation in the Indian Ocean region.

Dissanayake, the country’s first Marxist-leaning leader, took over the job on the promise of change, as the island nation of 22 million is still reeling from the crisis and austerity measures imposed by his predecessor as a part of a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund.

Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner, India in 2022 emerged also as the main source of support to its battered economy.

“India has been consistently engaged with the Sri Lankan leadership since the economic crisis, and Jaishankar’s visit is a signal that despite the change in government, India is likely to continue to work closely with the new dispensation,” Prof. Harsh V. Pant, vice president of the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, told Arab News.

“India intends to have as close ties with this government as it had with the previous. I think this is a signal of India’s interest … India is keen to continue the momentum in the relationship that had set in after India became the most active player in helping Sri Lanka get out of the economic crisis.”

The lineup of Sri Lanka’s new government will be finalized after November’s election. Currently, the president, the prime minister and the foreign minister have divided all the portfolios among themselves. A proper cabinet will be appointed after the parliamentary vote, with the composition depending on its results.

“India has registered that it is willing to work with the new government. That is the main message from the visit … Other details about projects, investment and other things will take time,” N. Sathiya Moorthy, a political analyst in Chennai, told Arab News.

“Every Sri Lankan remembers how India rushed to help during their economic crisis. So, the new government will not overlook that sentiment also.”


France, Italy launch project to exchange migrant trafficking information

Updated 04 October 2024
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France, Italy launch project to exchange migrant trafficking information

  • The project will be modeled after a similar deal between France and Britain
  • France’s new Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said it was his priority to further toughen immigration laws

PARIS: The interior ministers of France and Italy signed a declaration on their intention to exchange information related to migrant trafficking, the French interior ministry said on Friday.
The project will be modeled after a similar deal between France and Britain, launched in 2020 in the north of France in a bid to stop attempts to reach the United Kingdom.
France’s new Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a law-and-order politician from the conservative Republican party (LR), said it was his priority to further toughen immigration laws, echoing remarks from the prime minister who said the country needed to control its border better.
Immigration is also a tense domestic issue in Italy, where far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has pledged to drastically curb entries, though has not yet proved successful.
“Its objective is clear: to trigger judicial investigations, often combined, aimed at dismantling the networks underpinning the illegal flow through Italy to the rest of the European Union, in which France remains a sought-after destination,” the French interior ministry said in a statement.
In November 2022, tensions flared between France and Italy after Italy refused to let a charity ship with migrants dock, forcing it to go instead to a port in southern France.
The countries share a 500 km (300 mile) land border, mainly cutting through the Alps. Both countries are in the EU’s Schengen area with no border controls between them, though individual countries are responsible for asylum seekers who arrive in them.


German security chief warns over October 7 ‘trigger point’

Updated 04 October 2024
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German security chief warns over October 7 ‘trigger point’

  • Middle East turmoil tends to spark reactions in Germany, warned Thomas Haldenwang, chief of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
  • Anti-Semitism and hostility toward Israel are a “connecting element” between Islamists, pro-Palestinian extremists and other radical groups on the far right and far left

BERLIN: Germany’s domestic intelligence chief warned Friday that the anniversary of the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel could be a “trigger event” for unrest.
Next Monday marks one year since the attack by the Palestinian Islamist militant group that sparked Israel’s invasion of Gaza and conflict with Hamas allies in Lebanon, Iran and elsewhere.
Middle East turmoil tends to spark reactions in Germany, warned Thomas Haldenwang, chief of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
Anti-Semitism and hostility toward Israel are a “connecting element” between Islamists, pro-Palestinian extremists and other radical groups on the far right and far left, he said.
“The anniversary could be a trigger event for large parts of the protest spectrum,” he said, warning of a “great potential for emotionalization, polarization and radicalization.”
Aside from official commemorations of the October 7 attack, a number of pro-Palestinian demonstrations are planned in Germany at the weekend and on Monday.
In Berlin, police union spokesman Benjamin Jedro said that “we are looking at the coming days with great concern” after witnessing “hatred, anti-Semitism and violent excesses” by some pro-Palestinian activists.
Haldenwang in his statement pointed out that the number of anti-Semitic crimes had risen to an all-time high since the Gaza war started.
“The potential danger of possible terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions, as well as against ‘the West’ as a whole, has increased significantly in the past six months.”
Haldenwang reiterated his warning against jihadist attacks, pointing to a deadly stabbing spree in the western city of Solingen last month.
“Islamists have understood how to use the current Middle East crisis to revitalize their propaganda and mobilize their followers,” he said.
The Daesh group is “using its propaganda to use the situation in Gaza to create emotions and encourage young Muslims in the West in particular to carry out terrorist attacks.”
The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,788 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has described the figures as reliable.


Nigeria’s Borno state hit by cholera amid flood devastation

Updated 04 October 2024
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Nigeria’s Borno state hit by cholera amid flood devastation

  • Cholera outbreaks are not uncommon in Borno, the epicenter of a 15-year-old Islamist insurgency
  • Flooding in Borno began when a dam overflowed following heavy rains

ABUJA: A cholera outbreak has hit Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, already reeling from floods that displaced nearly 2 million people, an official said on Friday.
Cholera outbreaks are not uncommon in Borno, the epicenter of a 15-year-old Islamist insurgency that has displaced thousands into camps and strained sanitation facilities and potable water sources.
Borno Health Commissioner Baba Mallam Gana told reporters that 17 cases have been recorded following tests, but no deaths so far.
“However, we are recording an increasing number of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD)/suspected Cholera which is not unconnected with the flood devastation,” Gana said.
Almost 500 cases of AWD have been recorded, Gana said, with five local government areas mostly affected.
Flooding in Borno began when a dam overflowed following heavy rains, displacing millions from their homes and damaging health facilities and other infrastructures.
Gana said that to combat the latest outbreak, the state got 300,000 oral cholera vaccine (OCV) doses from the federal health ministry, which have been distributed across displacement camps and flood-hit communities.
The state is waiting for an additional 600,000 doses of the vaccine to ensure adequate coverage, he said.


Donald Trump tries to blunt Democrats’ momentum in North Carolina

Updated 04 October 2024
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Donald Trump tries to blunt Democrats’ momentum in North Carolina

  • The former president’s visit to Fayetteville, home to a large military community, comes as the state has been convulsed by literal and political storms

FAYETTEVILLE: Donald Trump is heading to North Carolina on Friday for the fourth time in a month, as the Republican presidential candidate tries to firm up support in a state he was winning handily a few months ago but is now among the most competitive in the race.
The former president’s visit to Fayetteville, home to a large military community, comes as the state has been convulsed by literal and political storms.
Once-in-a-generation floods triggered by Hurricane Helene killed dozens in the state’s western mountains, while the Republican candidate for governor has faced damaging reports about past inflammatory and lewd comments.
Some Trump allies privately say the race in North Carolina, which Trump won in the 2016 and 2020 elections, is too close for comfort, even as they think he still has a slight leg up on Democratic rival Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
By some metrics, the vice president is doing marginally better here than she is in Arizona and Georgia, even though Trump lost both of those states in 2020. Those three states are among a handful of battlegrounds that both candidates have a legitimate shot of winning next month.
“I’m freaking out about North Carolina,” said one major Trump donor, who was granted anonymity to give his candid assessment of the race. “Georgia and Arizona are not in the bag, but heading in the right direction.”
Trump leads Harris by 0.5 percentage points in North Carolina, according to a polling average maintained by FiveThirtyEight, a polling and analysis website. The former president leads Harris by 1.1 points in Georgia and 1.2 points in Arizona. All of those figures are within the margin of error for major polls, meaning either candidate could walk away with a victory.
Trump will also travel on Friday to Georgia, where his campaign said he will receive a briefing with Governor Brian Kemp on local storm recovery efforts and then speak to the media.
Trump had been leading Biden by several percentage points in North Carolina before the Democratic president dropped his re-election bid in July and passed the baton to Harris, who has steadily closed the gap with Trump.
While Trump’s ad spending in the state has been relatively modest compared to most other battleground states, he has hit the campaign trail hard. His four campaign events in North Carolina, including stops in Wilmington and Mint Hill, in the last month are more than those in any other state except for Wisconsin and Michigan, according to a Reuters tally.
The Trump campaign referred a request for comment to North Carolina’s Republican Party. Matt Mercer, the party’s communications director, said the Trump campaign was going as planned in the Southern state.
“North Carolina is close and has been for several cycles,” Mercer said. “However, President Trump has won the state twice, and we are confident we will deliver a third time.”
The vice president also has made frequent trips to North Carolina and is expected in the state again on Saturday.
Dory MacMillan, a communications official for her campaign, said Harris “is gaining momentum as voters continue to learn more about Vice President Harris’ vision for a New Way Forward where our freedoms are protected and everyone has the chance to not just get by, but get ahead.”
Among the potential headwinds Trump faces is the state’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Mark Robinson, a Trump ally.
In September, CNN reported that Robinson, a Black man, had advocated bringing back slavery and said he enjoyed transsexual pornography in an online chatroom. Robinson denied making the comments.
Analysts say it is unclear if the Robinson scandal will depress turnout among Republicans on Election Day, potentially hurting Trump. But it will certainly not help.
“It hasn’t necessarily changed voters’ minds, but where I would be concerned is that you want everyone rowing in the same direction,” said Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist and North Carolina native, who noted the disarray around Robinson’s campaign was hampering its ability to drive voters to the polls.
Election officials, in the meantime, are scrambling to make sure voters in the western part of the state can cast a ballot after Helene destroyed towns and roads and left many residents displaced.
It is too early to measure the storm’s impact on the race, but analysts said the event has made new opinion polls going forward unreliable, as many potential respondents lack phone service or are preoccupied with recovery efforts.