Russia’s Defense Ministry: Grain Coordination Center Launched in Istanbul

In this handout photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, sit as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, top left, and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, top right, exchange documents during a signing ceremony at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, July 22, 2022. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Asharq Al Awsat

12:34-26 July 2022 AD ـ 27 Thul-Hijjah 1443 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

12:34-26 July 2022 AD ـ 27 Thul-Hijjah 1443 AH

Russia’s Defense Ministry: Grain Coordination Center Launched in Istanbul

The Joint Coordination Center (JCC), established as part of a landmark deal to resume grain exports from Ukraine, has started work in Istanbul, Russia's defense ministry said on Tuesday

The Russian delegation to the JCC will arrive in Turkey today and begin work in a four-way format, alongside Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations, the ministry said in a statement posted on social media.

Russia and Ukraine signed a landmark deal last Friday, brokered by Ankara and the UN, to unblock grain exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports and ease an international food crisis.

The deal was almost immediately thrown into jeopardy after Russia fired cruise missiles on the port of Odesa, Ukraine's largest, on Saturday morning, just 12 hours after the signing ceremony in Istanbul.

But both Moscow and Kyiv have said they will try to push forward with the agreement - the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the conflict now in its sixth month.

Ukraine and Russia accounted for around a third of global wheat exports before Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

The Russian delegation to the JCC will be headed by rear admiral Eduard Luik, Moscow said.

"The main task of Russian specialists in the JCC will be the prompt resolution of all necessary issues for the initiative to enter the stage of practical implementation," the defense ministry said.

The Kremlin on Monday called for the UN to secure the removal of curbs on Russian fertilizer and grain exports as part of the deal, saying it was still too early to say whether the agreement would be a success.

France Holds Day of Mourning for Mayotte Islands Devastated by Cyclone

French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)

17:03-23 December 2024 AD ـ 22 Jumada Al-Alkhirah 1446 AH

France Holds Day of Mourning for Mayotte Islands Devastated by Cyclone

France held a national day of mourning for Mayotte, its Indian Ocean territory devastated by a violent cyclone on Dec. 14, beginning in the morning on Monday with a minute of silence for the scores of residents left dead by the storm.

Cyclone Chido was the worst storm to hit Mayotte's two main islands in 90 years, and authorities have said that perhaps thousands of people may have been killed in its wake, though the government's death toll stands at 35.

To commemorate Mayotte's losses, French flags were lowered to half-mast. Separately, flags were flown at half-mast in Brussels and Strasbourg because of Mayotte, as well as following attacks last week on a German Christmas market and in a Croatian school.

"It is a communion in mourning," Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told reporters. He said the day showed solidarity for those in Mayotte, and that France was "present to reconstruct Mayotte and make sure the people of Mayotte feel surrounded by the entire country."

Following the storm, officials say corpses may have been buried quickly per religious custom, before they could be counted, and that many of the people killed may have been undocumented immigrants.

Mozambique has said 94 people died in the disaster, while 13 were killed in neighboring Malawi.

ANGER

The slow pace of aid and delays in the arrival of clean water have angered residents of Mayotte, France's poorest overseas territory located between Madagascar and Mozambique about 8,000 km (4971 miles) from the mainland, with some heckling President Emmanuel Macron during his visit last week.

For Mohamed Abdou, a doctor in Pamandzi, the day of French mourning was a political stunt and did not do enough to account for historic neglect leading up to this point.

"Whether in terms of hospitals, the lack of water infrastructure, electricity, and so on ... at this point, we need to say 'mea culpa' and acknowledge mistakes were made," he told Reuters, speaking from his town in the south of Mayotte's smaller island.

Francois-Noel Buffet, France's acting minister of overseas territories, told France 2 that water - a flashpoint even before the disaster - had made it to the island, saying: "We are not missing water. We have water, notably bottled water. We have a problem with distribution."

Buffet said he expected a special law on the reconstruction of Mayotte to be introduced in early January.

In Paris, Bayrou, France's fourth prime minister this year, is expected to unveil his cabinet Monday evening, though the timing was uncertain. The French presidency said the announcement would not take place before 6:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), to take into account the day of mourning.

Estelle Youssouffa, a lawmaker for Mayotte, criticized the government in an interview with Radio France Internationale for possibly making the announcement on the day of mourning, accusing Bayrou, who had not yet visited the islands, of "humiliating us a second time."

Russia’s Defense Ministry: Grain Coordination Center Launched in Istanbul

Russia’s Defense Ministry: Grain Coordination Center Launched in Istanbul

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France Holds Day of Mourning for Mayotte Islands Devastated by Cyclone

France Holds Day of Mourning for Mayotte Islands Devastated by Cyclone

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