Somalia's Opposition Postpones Protest Over Election Delay

Somalis march and protest against the government and the delay of the country's election in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. (AP Photo)

Asharq Al Awsat

11:22-26 February 2021 AD ـ 15 Rajab 1442 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

11:22-26 February 2021 AD ـ 15 Rajab 1442 AH

Somalia's Opposition Postpones Protest Over Election Delay

Somalis march and protest against the government and the delay of the country's election in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. (AP Photo)

Opposition presidential candidates in Somalia have delayed a planned protest on Friday over the country’s election delay after the government apologized for its actions during last week’s protest and affirmed the right to peacefully demonstrate.

Security forces fired on last week’s protest in the capital, Mogadishu, and fears of further violence led to talks this week between the government and an alliance of opposition leaders.

Local elders and the international community shuttled between the sides, The Associated Press reported.

On Thursday, ahead of the breakthrough, Somali forces deployed at many strategic junctions in the capital.

The Somali government statement also expressed condolences to families of people killed last week. At least five people were killed and around a dozen wounded, according to health officials.

The statement also said the government will be responsible for demonstrators’ safety.

In response, the opposition alliance agreed to postpone Friday’s protest for 10 days.

Pressure is growing on President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed after the Feb. 8 election day came and went without an agreement on how to carry out the vote. Two regional states have said they would not take part without a deal.

One former president who is now the chairman of the opposition alliance, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, expressed his satisfaction with the government’s statement.

“All we needed was to secure our rights to demonstrate and hold free and fair elections,” he said.

He added that “COVID-19 should not be used in the pretext of denying our people’s rights,” a reference to the recent government ban on public gatherings. Some critics have alleged that the ban was politically motivated.

Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble in a separate statement confirmed that “it’s the constitutional right of every citizen to elect or get elected and express freely in a peaceful manner.”

And the president on Friday in a statement commended “all sides” for reaching an agreement and called on Somalis to play their role in safe, fair and free elections.

Rescuers Continue Grim Search for Nepal Flood Survivors

A man using an excavator clears sludge along the Trishuli river in the aftermath of flash floods at Trishuli Bazar in Nepal's Nuwakot district on September 5, 2026. (AFP)

07:10-5 September 2026 AD ـ 23 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Rescuers Continue Grim Search for Nepal Flood Survivors

A man using an excavator clears sludge along the Trishuli river in the aftermath of flash floods at Trishuli Bazar in Nepal's Nuwakot district on September 5, 2026. (AFP)

Inspired by the "miracle" rescue of two hydropower workers, Nepal's emergency response teams were digging with new vigor Saturday through piles of debris as the death toll from the flooding disaster crossed 1,200.

The rescued pair were among hundreds of hydropower workers who went missing since a tsunami-like wall of water and mud swept through the China-Nepal border following a vast glacial and rock collapse on August 26.

So far, 1,294 bodies have been recovered in Nepal, according to the disaster agency, with 5,053 people missing.

In China, state media said 31 people had been killed and 531 were missing. That takes the overall death toll to 1,325 people, with 5,584 missing.

"We have been working since morning on search and rescue operations," Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP on Saturday.

Searches continued at the Trishuli 3A tunnel where the two men were rescued on Friday, as well as multiple other sites, with at least 12 hydropower projects destroyed by the floods.

- 'The work goes on' -

"Work is also underway at the tunnels," Basnet said. "We don't have an update yet, but the work goes on."

The government initially said it believed more than 100 workers could be alive inside multiple tunnels.

Rescuers called it a "miracle" after the two men, caked in mud, were pulled out alive after being trapped for nine days.

They were taken to hospital and are said to be in a stable condition.

Experts from India, China, Australia and South Korea have been aiding Nepali rescuers in their search of survivors inside blocked tunnels.

With morgues overflowing, some 1,030 bodies hade been buried in mass graves after taking DNA samples for future identification by family members, Nepal Police said Saturday.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah promised to provide "safe and comfortable accommodation" for thousands of people displaced by the disaster and currently living in temporary relief camps.

"We know that staying there (camps) is not easy for you," he said in an emotional post on social media late Friday.

"(But) we will once again create an environment where you can dream about and build your future."

World

Niger Blames France for Inciting Soldiers’ Mutiny

A military armored vehicle takes position on the street following a mutineers' attack on the airport and the presidency in Niamey, Niger, August 30, 2026. (Reuters)

06:43-5 September 2026 AD ـ 23 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Niger Blames France for Inciting Soldiers’ Mutiny

A military armored vehicle takes position on the street following a mutineers' attack on the airport and the presidency in Niamey, Niger, August 30, 2026. (Reuters)

Niger ‌has blamed France for inciting an attack on a key military airbase by mutinous soldiers last week, according to a government statement read on TV on Friday.

Mutinous soldiers in the West African country attacked the airport and the presidency in the capital, Niamey, ‌on August ‌29, the latest threat to ‌the ⁠rule of Abdourahamane ⁠Tiani, who seized power in a 2023 coup.

Explosions and gunfire also rang out at a military airbase, but Niger's army, backed by Russian paramilitary forces, regained control ⁠over it the next ‌day.

The ‌Council of Ministers on Friday concluded ‌that the attack had been incited ‌by a vast network of accomplices led by France, according to the statement.

"A substantial body of evidence has ‌been compiled regarding this attack, and Niger reserves the right ⁠to ⁠bring the matter before international courts," the government said in the statement.

The attack highlighted tensions within Niger's armed forces, which have suffered repeated battlefield losses while fighting an extremist insurgency.

Tiani blamed France and other West African countries for unrest in the capital earlier this year, without providing evidence.

World

Trump Sends Envoys to Moscow, Kyiv with New Plan to ‘End War’

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner attend a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, December 2, 2025. (Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)

06:25-5 September 2026 AD ـ 23 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Trump Sends Envoys to Moscow, Kyiv with New Plan to ‘End War’

US President Donald Trump said Friday he is sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with a plan to end more than four years of war in Ukraine.

The move marks Washington's latest bid to break a diplomatic stalemate in Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP the envoys were due in Kyiv on Sunday.

US outlet Axios reported they would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, and then President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday. The Kremlin declined to comment.

Trump told reporters that the two negotiators would seek to gauge whether progress towards peace was possible.

Peace efforts have stalled due to Washington's war with Iran, while Moscow and Kyiv have intensified long-range attacks, driving up civilian casualties to levels not seen since the start of fighting.

"I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators. They've done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we'll do it," Trump said.

"They're bringing with them a proposal to end the war," he said.

The US president would not say whether the plan involved Ukraine ceding territory as he has previously suggested, but added: "We have an idea for peace."

It will be the first time that Trump's businessman friend Witkoff and son-in-law Kushner have visited war-torn Kyiv since Trump returned to office last year with a pledge to resolve the conflict.

Witkoff and Kushner, who have been involved in negotiations for ceasefires in Gaza and Iran, have travelled repeatedly to Moscow in previous attempts at diplomacy.

- Grinding war -

The renewed push for diplomacy comes as Russia and Ukraine pummel each other with long-range missile and drone attacks.

Just hours before Trump's announcement, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine's SBU security service in central Kyiv, according to Zelensky.

The strike, which Zelensky said was aimed at the office of the agency's acting chief, was the first on its headquarters since the start of the invasion.

Despite the unprecedented nature of the strike, the Ukrainian president proposed observing a ceasefire with Russia for the duration of the US envoys' trip.

"There will be no airstrikes on our part, and Russia must reciprocally ensure a ceasefire -- without its own airstrikes -- for the duration needed to conduct these talks," he said in his evening address.

Russia did not immediately comment on the proposal.

Hours later, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said a Russian strike killed four people and wounded five in the southeastern city of Kamianske.

Zelensky had said on Wednesday that Russian airspace would be "completely unsafe" and filled with Ukrainian drones as long as Moscow continued its war.

Witkoff and Kusher's trip comes more than week after a rare visit to Moscow by CIA director John Ratcliffe, who warned Russia against any attack on NATO member states, according to US media.

Earlier this week, the United States welcomed the Russian finance minister at a G20 gathering in North Carolina.

Somalia's Opposition Postpones Protest Over Election Delay

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