Record floods inundate Sudanese capital

Rising floodwaters and heavy rainfall in southern Khartoum's Alshiqlab neighbourhood. -

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AFP

By Afolake Oyinloye

with AFP

Last updated: 57 minutes ago

SUDAN

Rising floodwaters and heavy rainfall have killed around 100 people southern Khartoum's Alshiqlab neighbourhood.

The residents are struggling to cope with the damage caused by record floods, that inundated over 100,000 houses since late July.

Residents of the neighbourhood are setting up barricades and installing sandbags to protect themselves from the water, which has reduced some homes to a pile of wreckage.

Some families are forced to live in the open after their homes were destroyed.

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A resident of Alshiqlab said the water was not the only problem.

"A huge number of crocodiles have come," he said.

Flooding caused by seasonal heavy rainfall, mostly in neighboring Ethiopia, led the Nile River to rise about 17.5 meters late in August, the highest level it has reached in about a century according to the Sudanese Irrigation Ministry.

The capital of Khartoum was hit hard in the past two weeks.

On Friday, Sudanese authorities declared their country a natural disaster area and imposed a three-month state of emergency across the country.

Rising floodwaters and heavy rainfall have killed around 100 people.

The U.N. humanitarian agency has warned that the situation is expected to get worse over the coming weeks, as above-average rains are forecast until the end of September.

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Abdulsh

Kaduna Express Way

~37.3 mins read

Security Operatives Repel Bandits On Kaduna-Abuja Expressway

Chimezie Enyiocha
Updated September 4, 2020

A map showing Kaduna, a state in Nigeria's North-Central region.

A map showing Kaduna, a state in Nigeriaâ€™s north-west region.

Security operatives have successfully repelled armed bandits who opened fire on motorists along the Kaduna-Abuja Road in the northern part of the country.

The assailants were engaged in a gunfight with troops of the Nigerian Army and personnel of the Nigeria Police deployed on the expressway.

Mr Samuel Aruwan, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs in Kaduna, confirmed this in a statement on Friday.

The commissioner who visited the scene disclosed that the incident occurred in the afternoon near the Olam Feeds Company.

He explained that those who were injured were immediately referred to a specialist hospital for comprehensive medical attention.

Aruwan added that security forces â€“ both ground and air â€“ have gone after remnants of the armed bandits in the adjoining forest.

â€œThe Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has been briefed on the development,â€ he stated.

According to the commissioner, the governor praised the security personnel for their exceptional courage and bravery in repelling the armed bandits.

He wished the injured personnel and motorists speedy recovery and praised medical personnel at the Olam Clinic for stabilising the injured.

A file photo of Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai. Photo: Twitter

Governor El-Rufai gave an assurance that the state government would continue to partner with security agencies in the battle against bandits and criminals.

The incident followed air strikes conducted by the air component of Operation Thunder Strike during which several armed bandits were killed, and their camps disrupted in the Kuduru and Kwaimbana forest areas of the state.

This was achieved through separate air strikes carried out on 2 and 3 September 2020 on the heels of credible intelligence reports indicating that the 2 locations were being used as staging areas by the bandits.

The Coordinator of Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, noted in a statement that the feat was recorded in separate airstrikes carried out on Wednesday and Thursday following credible intelligence reports indicating that the two locations were being used as staging areas by the bandits.