Mudslides in Ethiopia Have Killed at Least 229

This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
TT
20

Mudslides in Ethiopia Have Killed at Least 229

This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)

Mudslides triggered by heavy rain in a remote part of Ethiopia have killed at least 229 people, including many who tried to rescue survivors, local authorities said Tuesday, in what the prime minister called a "terrible loss."

Young children and pregnant women were among the victims in Kencho Shacha Gozdi district of southern Ethiopia, said Dagmawi Ayele, a local administrator, adding that at least five people have been pulled out alive.

The death toll rose sharply from the initial one of 55 late Monday. Search operations continued in the area, said Kassahun Abayneh, head of the communications office in Gofa Zone, the administrative area where the mudslides occurred.

Ethiopia's ruling party in a statement said it felt sorrow over the disaster. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement on Facebook that he was "deeply saddened by this terrible loss."

The federal disaster prevention task force has been deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts, Abiy's statement said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were still unaccounted for.

Many victims were buried on Monday as rescue workers searched the steep terrain for survivors of another mudslide the previous day. Markos Melese, director of the disaster response agency in Gofa Zone, said many rescuers remained missing.

"There are children who are hugging corpses, having lost their entire family, including mother, father, brother and sister," he said.

Some women wailed as rescuers attempted to dig through the thick mud with shovels.

Landslides are common during Ethiopia's rainy reason, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September.

Deadly mudslides often occur in the wider East African region, from Uganda's mountainous east to central Kenya's highlands. In April, at least 45 people were killed in Kenya's Rift Valley region when flash floods and a landslide swept through houses and cut off a major road.



Macron Meets with Families of 3 French Nationals Detained in Iran

A woman, holding a photo of French teacher Cécile Kohler, detained in Iran since May 2022 along with her partner Jacques Paris, takes part in a rally in Paris on 23 March, 2024, to ask for the release of French citizens held in Iran. (AFP)
A woman, holding a photo of French teacher Cécile Kohler, detained in Iran since May 2022 along with her partner Jacques Paris, takes part in a rally in Paris on 23 March, 2024, to ask for the release of French citizens held in Iran. (AFP)
TT
20

Macron Meets with Families of 3 French Nationals Detained in Iran

A woman, holding a photo of French teacher Cécile Kohler, detained in Iran since May 2022 along with her partner Jacques Paris, takes part in a rally in Paris on 23 March, 2024, to ask for the release of French citizens held in Iran. (AFP)
A woman, holding a photo of French teacher Cécile Kohler, detained in Iran since May 2022 along with her partner Jacques Paris, takes part in a rally in Paris on 23 March, 2024, to ask for the release of French citizens held in Iran. (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron met on Monday with the families of three French nationals detained in Iran, assuring that the authorities will pursue their cases, according to Noémie Kohler, the sister of Cécile, one of the detainees.

Macron met with the relatives of Cécile, her partner Jacques Paris, and Olivier Grondeau, a third Frenchman detained by Tehran, for about one and a half hour, Noémie told AFP.

“Macron provided us with a number of answers regarding the measures France is undertaking to secure the release of the detainees,” she said.

“The meeting shows us that the situation of our loved ones is being taken very seriously at the highest levels,” Noémie explained.

She added that the families of the three detainees understood that the Iranian authorities had not responded to the French proposals that were offered to them.

However, Cécile’s sister lamented the lack of “short-term prospects for release, which is very, very hard to endure.”

Cécile, a teacher of modern literature, was arrested on May 7, 2022, while traveling in Iran with her partner Jacques Paris, and charged with “espionage.”

Another French national, Olivier Grondeau, has also been detained in Iran since 2022.

On Jan. 31, Cécile’s family appealed to Macron on the 1,000th day of her detention in Iran.

On the same day, Macron denounced the “arbitrary and improper detention” of the French nationals. He said they were “hostages” and demanded their release.

In response, Iran rejected as “unconstructive” Macron's statements. It confirmed that “the decisions taken by our (judicial) system were in accordance with the law.”

Also last month, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot urged French nationals not to go to Iran until the hostages have been freed.

“The situation of our compatriots held hostage in Iran is quite simply unacceptable. They have been unjustly detained for several years, in unworthy conditions,” he said during the annual conference of French ambassadors in Paris.

In May 2023, Iran released French nationals Bernard Phelan and Benjamin Briere in a prisoner swap.