Heavy rains trigger landslide, floods in Indonesia; 44 dead
Jakarta: Landslides and flash floods from torrential rains in eastern Indonesia killed at least 44 people and displaced thousands, a disaster relief agency said Sunday. Several others were still missing.
Mud tumbled down onto dozens of house in Lamenele village from the surrounding hills shortly after midnight on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara province. Rescuers recovered 38 bodies and five injured, said Lenny Ola, who heads the local disaster agency.
The bodies of three people were found after being swept away by flash floods in Oyang Bayang village as 40 houses were destroyed, she said. Hundreds of people fled submerged homes, some of which were carried off by the floodwaters.
Seasonal downpours cause frequent landslides and floods and kill dozens each year in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.
In another village, Waiburak, three people were killed and seven remained missing when overnight rains caused rivers to burst their banks, sending muddy water into large areas of East Flores district, Ola said. Four injured people were being treated at a local health clinic.
Hundreds of people were involved in rescue efforts, but distribution of aid and relief was hampered by power cuts, blocked roads and the remoteness of the area that's surrounded by choppy waters and high waves, said the National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson, Raditya Jati.
Authorities were still collecting information about the full scale of casualties and damage in the affected areas, Jati said.
Photos released by the agency showed rescuers and police and military personnel taking residents to shelters, bridges cut while roads were covered by thick mud and debris.
Severe flooding also has been reported in Bima, a town in the neighboring province of West Nusa Tenggara, forcing nearly 10,000 people to flee, Jati said.
In January, 40 people died in two landslides in West Java province. (AP)
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Mali's coup leader dismisses president and prime minister
Bamako (Mali), May 25: Mali's former coup leader Assimi Goita took control of the country again Tuesday after firing the president and prime minister of the transitional government following their announcement of a cabinet reshuffle without his permission.
While Goita pledged to go ahead with holding new elections in 2022 as promised, his display of force casts doubt on whether the vote will go ahead without significant interference by the junta that overthrew the last democratically elected president.
The move also raised concerns that the new political unrest could further destabilize efforts to control the West African country's long-running Islamic insurgency. The United Nations now spends some USD 1.2 billion annually on a peacekeeping mission in Mali.
The military's announcement on the state broadcaster came a day after President Bah N'Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were arrested by soldiers and brought to the military headquarters in Kati, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) outside the capital. Both men remained in detention Tuesday.
Their arrests prompted an outcry by the international community, which put out a strongly worded statement warning Mali's military leaders that their actions could undermine global support for the transitional government.
The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS was sending a delegation to Bamako on Tuesday afternoon as the political crisis escalated.
Goita has served as Mali's vice president since the transitional government was formed last September in the wake of his coup d'etat despite initial calls from the international community for an entirely civilian-led transition.
In announcing the removal of the president and prime minister of the transitional government, the military also said that it would be relieving others from their duties including everyone implicated in the situation.
Still, the military insisted: The transition is following its normal course and elections will be held as anticipated in 2022.
Following international pressure last year the junta had promised to organize that vote by next February, 18 months after the coup d'etat shook the country.
The overthrow of democratically elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita came amid mounting military casualties in the fight against Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
The extremists first took control of major towns in northern Mali after the 2012 coup. Only a 2013 military intervention led by the former colonial power France pushed extremists out of those towns. France and a U.N. force have continued to battle the extremist rebels, who operate in rural areas and regularly attack roads and cities.
