Africa-Press – Gambia. 13 people die in Libyan militia fighting
BENGHAZI, Libya — Clashes between competing militias in Libya’s capital killed at least 13 people, a spokesman for Tripoli’s emergency services said Friday, despite calls for calm after violence first broke out the previous night.
According to Osama Ali, the emergency services spokesman, among those killed since the fighting started late Thursday were three civilians from the area and a 12-year-old child. He also said 30 people had been wounded.
Earlier in the day, one of Libya’s rival governments called on militias to stop the fighting.
The Libyan Presidential Council, based in Tripoli, said all forces involved in the clashes should go back to their bases immediately.
Malek Merset, another emergency spokesman, said 200 people had already fled the area. He called for the firing to stop so more could leave.
The clashes spread to other areas of the city. The Mitiga airport announced that it was closing out of concern for passenger safety. The U.N. mission to the country also called on all parties involved to exercise restraint.Insurgents attack military base in Mali
BAMAKO, Mali — Jihadi rebels have attacked Mali’s Kati military base on the outskirts of the capital city, Bamako, the ruling junta confirmed Friday.
It’s the first time Kati, Mali’s largest military base, has been hit by extremist rebels in their more than 10-year insurgency in the West African country.
Two vehicles loaded with explosives detonated at the camp about 5 a.m., according to a statement issued by the military.
“The Malian Armed Forces vigorously repelled a terrorist attack on the Kati barracks,” read the statement, which said seven attackers were killed and eight were arrested.
“The terrorists first blew up the vehicles at the entrance to the military camp, then shells were fired at the camp,” said a military official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
Another group of the jihadis entered the camp on foot and “began burning vehicles parked in the camp, and then the attackers stole two army vehicles,” he said.No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The attacks this week were condemned by the U.N. special representative in Mali, El-Ghassim Wane.
The U.N. mission in Mali will continue “to support and accompany the efforts of the Malian authorities aimed at restoring lasting peace and security,” he said.
Group: 7 Syrians die in Russian airstrike
BEIRUT, Lebanon — A monitoring rights group says a Russian warplane struck a house on Friday in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border, killing seven civilians, including four children.
Syrian Civil Defense volunteers rushed to the house to remove the bodies under the rubble.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and opposition media outlet Orient TV say the airstrike in Idlib’s town of Jisr al-Shoghour was carried out by a Russian warplane after four other Russian airstrikes in a town farther north.
The sources of the airstrikes on Idlib could not be independently verified.The northwestern region of Syria is home to the country’s last rebel enclave. The province of Idlib is under the control of an al-Qaida-linked group, while northern Aleppo province is under the control of Turkish-backed rebel groups.
The Syrian government in Damascus, alongside Russia, frequently launch airstrikes in the area.
Turkey has warned it intends to launch a new military operation targeting the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in northwestern Syria. Turkey says the Kurdish-led forces pose a security threat and deem them a terrorist group.
U.N. court will hear case against Burma
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Judges at the United Nations’ highest court on Friday dismissed preliminary objections by Burma to a case alleging it’s responsible for genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority.
The African nation of Gambia filed the case in 2019 amid international anger at the treatment of the Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of whom fled to neighboring Bangladesh amid a crackdown by Burmese forces in 2017.It argued that Gambia and Burma were parties to the 1948 Genocide Convention and all signatories had a duty to ensure it was enforced. Judges at the court agreed.
Reading a summary of the decision, the court’s president, U.S. Judge Joan Donoghue, said: “Any state party to the Genocide Convention may invoke the responsibility of another state party including through the institution of proceedings before the court.”
Pro-Rohingya protesters gathered outside the court’s headquarters ahead of the decision.
Burma’s representative, Ko Ko Hlaing, the military government’s minister for international cooperation, said his nation “will try our utmost to defend our country and to protect our national interest.”
Gambia’s attorney general and justice minister, Dawda Jallow, said: “We are very pleased that justice has been done.”Libyan army forces and vehicles are stationed in a street in the country’s capital of Tripoli on Friday, July 22 2022. One of Libya’s rival governments on Friday called on militias to stop fighting, after clashes broke out in the country’s capital, Tripoli overnight, killing at least one civilian and forcing around 200 people to flee the area. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)The remains of a car damaged in clashes stands in a street in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Friday, July 22 2022. One of Libya’s rival governments on Friday called on militias to stop fighting, after clashes broke out in the country’s capital, Tripoli overnight, killing at least one civilian and forcing around 200 people to flee the area (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)
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