NAIROBI: The death toll from a deadly landslide in western Kenya has risen to 26 after four more bodies were retrieved on Sunday, shortly before rescue efforts to find survivors were suspended due to a flash flood.
Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said 25 people are still missing and that the government had intensified the search mission, with the military deploying four aircrafts to help teams access the area that has been completely cut off after roads were washed away during Saturday’s landslide.
On Sunday, search teams had to abandon the site after flash floods from a hill in the Chesongoch area in Kenya’s Rift Valley region.
Heavy rains continue across Kenya, and floods have been reported in several counties, displacing thousands of people.
The government has urged those living in flood or landslide prone areas to move, as the rains are expected to continue across the country.
Murkomen said the government would continue airlifting supplies to those affected, including to 15 schools that have been cut off, and that ongoing national examination papers would be airlifted to candidates.
He said the government would cover the medical bills of more than 30 injured people and resettle dozens of others whose homes were swept away.
“It is very sad that families have lost five to six immediate family members,” the minister told journalists on Sunday.
Oscar Okum, regional manager for the Kenya Red Cross, said the Rift Valley area was still susceptible to land slides.
“Today, while we were doing search and recovery and rescue, we have had roads that are already opened being populated again by mudslides. So it’s still an active incidence and we urge the community members to move to safer grounds for purposes of their safety, lives and livelihoods as well,” he said.
Kenyan landslide death toll rises to 26 as flash floods hamper search for survivors
https://arab.news/g24uk
Kenyan landslide death toll rises to 26 as flash floods hamper search for survivors
- Heavy rains continue across Kenya, and floods have been reported in several counties
- The government has urged those living in flood or landslide prone areas to move
Pull him off TV: Steve Bannon shuts down Sen. Lindsey Graham
- Trump’s former chief strategist called for the senator to be registered as a foreign agent
DUBAI: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon called on Tuesday for US Senator Lindsey Graham to be registered as a foreign agent of the Israeli government, escalating a growing conservative backlash against the senator’s vocal support for Israel.
Speaking on his podcast “War Room,” Bannon said Graham should be “pulled off of television,” adding: "This is dangerous… because you have guys like Lindsey Graham and dozens more that are doing the wrong thing.”
In a Fox News interview on Monday, Graham said: “To all the antisemites, to all the isolationists… I’m not with you, I’m with Israel, I will be with Israel to our dying day.”
Graham also urged Gulf Arab states to join military action against Iran. “What I want you to do in the Middle East, to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, [is] step forward and say, ‘this is my fight too, I join America, I’m publicly involved in bringing this regime down,’” he said.
In a post on X, Graham questioned the value of a US defense agreement with Saudi Arabia following the evacuation of the American embassy in Riyadh, writing: “Why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?”
Faisal Abbas, editor-in-chief of Arab News, responded to Graham’s comments in a Sky News interview, saying: “He flip flops so much, it’s actually entertaining.”
“On one hand, he says he will never set foot in Saudi Arabia. The next day, he’s here signing multimillion-dollar deals.”
“I don’t think anyone here takes him seriously,” Abbas added.
He warned Graham to be careful what he wished for: “Do you really want Saudi Arabia involved in this war putting our oil facilities at risk or do you want us stabilizing the energy markets?”
Graham pressed further, warning that inaction would carry a price. “Hopefully Gulf Cooperation Council countries will get more involved as this fight is in their backyard. If you are not willing to use your military now, when are you willing to use it?”
“Hopefully this changes soon. If not, consequences will follow.”
Graham's remarks drew sharp criticism from Bannon and others including podcast host Megyn Kelly.
She questioned on X whether Graham was overstepping his authority as a senator, writing: “When did Lindsay Graham become our president?”
Kelly also said Graham had threatened Lebanon, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, the wider Arab region, and Spain within a 24-hour period.
The problem with Graham “isn’t (just) that he’s a homicidal maniac, it’s that Trump likes and is listening to him,” she said in another post.
