N’DJAMENA (AFP) – Hundreds of people have demonstrated against France in the Chadian capital and other towns, accusing the former colonial power of supporting the country’s military junta. Chadian police have fired tear gas and used water canon to disperse the protesters. The event organized by Chadian civil society coalition Wakit Tamma aimed to denounce France’s backing of the Transitional Military Council that seized power following the battlefield death of President Idriss Deby in April 2021, according to a spokesman. “France installing dictators on our heads. We only ask that our people be respected,” Max Loalngar, a Wakit Tamma coordinator, told AFP. Deby’s son Mahamat Idriss, who is leading the military transition after his father, also promised free elections this year. The government later issued a statement saying, “Chad’s problems should remain strictly national ones and should be debated among Chadians.” It invited “all Chadians to join the inclusive dialogue process” paving the way for “free and democratic elections” following an 18-month transition period. “We are demonstrating against France for its support for the transitional military council,” said Mahmoud Moussa, a high school teacher in the Chadian capital who joined the protest. According to an AFP journalist report, demonstrators in N’Djamena burned at least two French flags and vandalized several petrol stations belonging to the French oil giant Total.  

 

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PESHAWAR (AP) – A suicide bombing near a security forces vehicle killed three soldiers and three children in northwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, while gunmen shot dead two minority Sikhs in Peshawar, officials said Sunday. A military statement said the bomber triggered his explosives-laden vest near a vehicle on security patrol in a village near the town of Mir Ali in the tribal district of North Waziristan. The attack killed two soldiers in the vehicle on the spot and wounded another. Three children playing alongside the road were critically wounded. All of the wounded were rushed to a hospital in a helicopter but none survived, the statement said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The military said security forces and intelligence officials were combing the area searching for the bomber’s handlers. The region has served as a safe haven for local and foreign militants for years. The military carried out a massive operation after militants attacked an army-run school in Peshawar in 2014 that left over 150 dead, mostly school children.

 

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MOGADISHU (Al Jazeera/Reuters) – Somali parliamentarians met in a heavily fortified airport hangar on Sunday to vote for a new president as the country battles ongoing threats of violence and a major food crisis. In a crowded field of 35 aspirants, former Presidents Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud were the frontrunners, according to analysts, even though their rule failed to stem corruption or a war by armed groups. The United Nations-backed vote was delayed by more than a year because of squabbling in government but must be held this month to ensure a $400m International Monetary Fund program. It takes place during the Horn of Africa nation’s worst drought in four decades and against a depressingly familiar background of violence from attacks by al-Shabab, in-fighting among security forces, and clan rivalries. Explosions sounding like mortar shells were heard on Sunday in the area of Mogadishu airport where parliamentarians were meeting to elect the new president, residents said. “I counted three big sounds of mortar shells landing in the direction of the airport. We are shocked to hear those sounds of mortars at a time (when) Mogadishu is under a complete curfew. Who is firing them?” said Mogadishu resident Halima Ibrahim.

 

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BEIJING / SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea on Sunday reported 15 additional deaths from “fever”, days after officially confirming its first-ever Covid-19 cases and ordering nationwide lockdowns. The outbreak, which leader Kim Jong-un has said is causing “great upheaval”, leaves the country on the edge of potential disaster. North Korea has no Covid vaccines, antiviral treatment drugs or mass-testing capacity. While it has maintained a rigid coronavirus blockade since the pandemic’s start, experts have said that massive Omicron outbreaks in neighboring countries meant it was only a matter of time before Covid snuck in. Meanwhile, Shanghai announced a gradual reopening from Monday of businesses, though it remains unclear when the millions of people still locked down in China’s economic capital will finally be allowed out of their homes. Confronted with its worst Covid-19 outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, China -- the last major economy still closed off to the world -- put the city of 25 million under heavy restrictions in early April. Under China’s zero-Covid strategy, any lifting of restrictions is generally conditional on seeing no new positive cases for three days, outside of quarantine centers.

 

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NEW DELHI (Xinhua) – Incessant rainfall followed by flash floods wreaked havoc in India’s northeastern state of Assam inundating low-lying areas and washing away roads, officials said Sunday. The floods hit six districts, killing three people and affecting around 25,000 people in the affected areas. Officials said torrential rains washed away a portion of a road in the Haflong area in Dima Hasao district while the public works department road connecting Hojai and West Karbi Anglong districts were inundated with floodwaters in Hojai district on Saturday. Reports said several roads, bridges and irrigation canals were also damaged in Lakhimpur and Nagaon districts. According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), three people including a woman were killed in a landslide in the Haflong area in the Dima Hasao district. “Ninety-four villages in six districts have been affected by the floods,” ASDMA in a statement said. “The floodwater has affected 24,681 people and damaged the crop area of 1,732.72 hectares.” Authorities have deployed army, paramilitary forces and disaster response forces along with fire and emergency services in the flood-hit areas to carry out relief and rescue operations.

 

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CAIRO (AP) – Rival Libyan officials on Sunday resumed talks in the Egyptian capital, the latest UN-led efforts to agree on constitutional amendments for elections as the North African nation again finds itself at a political impasse. Twelve lawmakers from Libya’s east-based parliament and 11 from the High Council of State, an advisory body from western Libya, were attending the Cairo-hosted talks, said Abdullah Bliheg, the parliament’s spokesman. Bliheg did not offer further details. The UN mission in Libya also said talks were resumed in a Cairo hotel. The first round of the talks, also held in Cairo last month, did not achieve a breakthrough in the dispute over the election’s legal basis, which was among major challenges that caused planned national elections to fail in December.