President says most of the leaders arrested after attacks on military barracks and prisons in the West African nation.
At least 20 people have been killed, including 13 soldiers, and several wounded in a series of attacks over the weekend that targeted military barracks and prisons in Sierra Leone, according to the army.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, an army spokesperson said attacks across the capital, Freetown, on Sunday were carried out by “renegade soldiers” but had been repelled.
“We have launched a manhunt for all those who were involved in the violent attack, amongst them current and retired serving soldiers,” Colonel Issa Bangura said.
Bangura said the 20 dead included 13 soldiers, three assailants, a police officer, a civilian and someone working in private security. Eight people were wounded and three arrested, he said.
The Reuters news agency, citing a situation report, said about 1,890 people held at the Pademba Road central prison escaped the facility after it was attacked. Police urged those who had escaped to return to the prison.
Reuters said a correspondent saw cell doors forced open or removed entirely during a visit to the facility on Monday, and Colonel Shek Sulaiman Massaquoi, the acting director general of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service, said attackers had rammed through the front gate of the prison in a vehicle after a failed effort to break through with a rocket launcher.
In remarks on Sunday, President Julius Maada Bio said most of the leaders behind the attacks had been arrested and efforts were under way to capture the rest.
Seeking to reassure residents, Information Minister Chernor Bah told the public in a statement on Sunday: “The government and its state security forces are in control.”
Few details have emerged regarding the identity and motives of the attackers. During the assault, some told local media they were fighting to “clean up the system”.
“Certain members of the military are not loyal towards the government or the president despite taking the oath,” Bangura said.
“We want to restore law and order as quickly as possible.”
The Pentagon has said that the attempted hijacking was likely the work of Somali pirates rather than Houthi fighters.
The United States has said that a group of attackers who tried to seize an Israel-linked cargo ship over the weekend were probably Somali pirates rather than Houthi fighters from nearby Yemen.
Speaking on Monday, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder noted that the US has not ruled out a Houthi connection to the attempted hijacking by five armed men over the weekend.
“We’re continuing to assess, but initial indications that these five individuals are Somali,” said Ryder.
“Clearly a piracy-related incident,” he added.
US Navy forces thwarted the capture of the tanker Central Park over the weekend after it was boarded by armed men, who were captured after the US warship Mason arrived on the scene.
The attempted hijacking comes at a time when Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have carried out a series of raids on ships in the region, and the US said ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled territory in the direction of US ships shortly after the attack.
The Houthis have consolidated control over large swathes of northern Yemen and emerged as a growing force in the region after a yearslong war with the country’s government and a coalition of forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
While fighting in Yemen has become more subdued over the last year, the Houthis have launched several attacks on Israel amid ongoing fighting between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Missile and drone attacks launched towards Israel have largely failed, but the group has seized commercial ships in the Red Sea that they say have connections to Israel.
Following one such seizure earlier this month, the US said that it was considering redesignating the Houthis as a “terrorist” organisation.
The Pentagon has said that the ballistic missiles fired over the weekend were launched in the general direction of the US ships, but that they fell into the ocean about 19km (10 nautical miles) away from the vessels and did not result in any injuries.
Yemen’s government in Aden placed blame on the Houthis for the attack, but the group did not acknowledge either the missile launch or the attempted vessel seizure.
The Central Park is managed by Zodiac Maritime Ltd, a London-headquartered international ship management firm, owned by Israel’s Ofer family.
A humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas will be extended by two days, mediator Qatar and Hamas say, hours before an initial four-day truce in Gaza had been set to expire.
“The State of Qatar announces that, as part of the ongoing mediation, an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,” Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
Over the course of the initial truce, a total of 50 civilian captives, all women and children, were expected to be freed by Hamas.
In exchange, 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel were to be released and more humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza.
Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official, said he hoped the truce could be extended further.
“It [the possibility of an extension] was written in the agreement, that if Hamas gives more hostages, there will be more days of the ceasefire,” he told Al Jazeera.
“We have now agreed to release more hostages and extend the agreement for two days. This is good news for our people, especially the people of Gaza.
“I hope we can extend it until we reach the end of this war. We want to end the war. We are in a temporary ceasefire, but we are trying to extend it. There is lots of support from Qatar, Egypt and many Western governments to end this catastrophe,” he said.
During the first three days of the truce, 39 Israeli captives were released by the armed group in exchange for 117 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
As a result of parallel negotiations led by Qatar, 17 Thai citizens, one Filipino and one dual Russian-Israeli national have also been released by Hamas.
Hamas fighters seized about 240 hostages when they stormed from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.
After the attack, Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign and a ground offensive in Gaza, killing nearly 15,000 people, including more than 6,000 children, according to Palestinian officials.
Reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said families across the occupied Palestinian territories would be relieved by the extension.
“This is a source of relief for many families, not just the families of prisoners, but also other people in the occupied West Bank who are watching in horror images coming out of the besieged Gaza Strip.
“We are not just referring to the killings and children who’ve lost their lives but also to the people who have been displaced, to the wounded, to the many hungry and in a very difficult situation.”
The White House welcomed the extension of the truce and said it hopes Americans would be among the captives to be released in the next phase of exchanges. Eight to nine US citizens are believed to still be among those held.
The United Nations chief also hailed the two-day extension as a “glimpse of hope and humanity” but warned it was not enough time to meet the aid needs of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“I strongly hope that this will enable us to increase even more the humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza that [are] suffering so much – knowing that even with that additional amount of time, it will be impossible to satisfy all the dramatic needs of the population,” Guterres told reporters.
The extension was announced as Hamas said it had received a list with the names of prisoners to be released later on Monday in exchange for Israeli captives, the group said on its Telegram channel.
The list includes three female prisoners and another 30 children.
Meanwhile, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had informed families of the identities of the captives to be released on Monday.
Polish truckers and farmers are staging an around-the-clock blockade of the southeastern Medyka crossing.
Polish truckers and farmers have started a blockade of one of the busiest border crossings with Ukraine, expanding a protest against what they say is unfair competition from Ukraine and demanding more government support.
The Polish truckers and farmers began an around-the-clock blockade of the southeastern Medyka crossing on Monday.
Medyka is the fourth border point Polish workers have blocked since November 6, stranding thousands of lorries for days in kilometres-long lines.
The Polish truckers said they are losing out to Ukrainian companies, which offer cheaper prices and are transporting goods within the European Union rather than just between the bloc and Ukraine.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU lifted permit requirements for Ukrainian truckers entering the bloc and for EU truckers entering Ukraine.
‘No intention of giving up’
The Polish truckers are demanding the EU reintroduce the old permit system, offering exemptions for the transport only of humanitarian and military supplies.
They also want empty trucks from the EU to be excluded from an electronic queueing system in Ukraine and measures to stop Belarusian and Russian hauliers from setting up companies in Poland to get around sanctions.
Polish farmers joining the blockade are pressuring their government to extend support to help them cope with low grain prices.
Tomasz Borkowski, leader of a Polish transporters union, said the workers are committed to maintaining the blockade until their demands are met.
“I would like to end this protest as soon as possible because it is as burdensome for us as for everyone around us,” Borkowski said.
“We have no intention of giving up, and we will stand until we get our terms.”
Long waits
Protesters said only two trucks were being allowed to pass through the Medyka border crossing per hour with exemptions made for humanitarian aid and war supplies.
This has led to a 127-hour wait for trucks to cross at Medyka, one of just eight road border crossings with Ukraine, according to data from the Polish border guard.
Ukraine said the protest is damaging its fragile wartime economy by hampering exports and stopping supplies of essentials like motor vehicle gas from entering the country.
With Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, a key export route before the war, virtually blocked by Russia, Ukrainian businesses rely on roads and railways to reroute exports and imports.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure estimated that an average of 40,000 to 50,000 trucks had been crossing the border with Poland per month via eight existing crossings, twice as many as before the war. Most of the goods are carried by Ukraine’s transport fleet.
President Nyusi is expected to officially present the energy strategy to the international community during COP28.
Mozambique has approved an ambitious new energy transition plan until 2050, hoping to attract investments of some $80bn to boost renewable energy capacity and increase electricity availability, a senior energy official said on Monday.
President Filipe Nyusi is expected to officially present the energy strategy to international partners and potential donors on December 2 during the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.
Priority plans between next year and 2030 include adding 2,000 megawatts of new hydropower capacity by upgrading existing plants and completing the new Mphanda Nkuwa Hydropower Project, expanding the national electricity grid, and switching to electric vehicles to reduce emissions from the transport sector.
“We are still fine-tuning the document and hope to publicly release it later this week,” Pedro Simao, special adviser to the energy minister, told Reuters news agency on Monday.
The document was approved by Mozambique’s Council of Ministers on November 21.
The Southern African country exported its first liquefied natural gas in November 2022 and is hoping huge gas discoveries, together with its renewable energy potential, will propel economic growth and help lift millions out of poverty.
(Al Jazeera)
Ahead of COP28, African countries are gearing up to ask for improved climate financing for renewable energy projects in a continent seen as lagging behind in preparing for a greener future, even though it contributes the least to global emissions.
Comprising about 17 percent of the world’s population, Africa contributes just 4 percent of global carbon emissions at 1.45 billion tonnes. But it has been home to some of the worst droughts and floods of recent times, including Cyclone Freddy, which killed more than 500 people and displaced thousands in Mozambique and Malawi earlier this year.
Russia has put the communications director of social media company Meta on a wanted list, it has been revealed, amid Moscow’s announcement of new media restrictions ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Andy Stone, a spokesperson of US tech giant Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, is wanted on unspecified criminal charges, Russian news wires reported late on Sunday, referring to an Interior Ministry database.
Russia added Meta to its list of “terrorists and extremist” organisations last year. The list includes right-wing nationalist groups; foreign “terrorist organisations,” including the Taliban; and Russian opposition groups. The classification means Russians using Facebook and Instagram could face possible criminal charges.
According to Mediazona, an independent news website that covers Russia’s opposition and prison system, Stone was put on the wanted list in February 2022, but authorities made no related statements at the time and no news media reported on the matter until this week.
In April 2022, Russia also formally barred Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg from entering the country.
Ban over insults
Russia’s row with Meta started with its invasion of Ukraine, as users from both sides of the war voiced their unfiltered emotions on the platforms.
Stone, at that time, announced temporary changes to Meta’s hate speech policy to allow for “forms of political expression that would normally violate [its] rules, like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders’”.
In the same statement, Stone added that “credible calls for violence against Russian civilians” would remain banned.
In late March, Russia banned Facebook and Instagram for “carrying out extremist activities” after authorities accused Meta of tolerating “Russophobia”.
Facebook and Instagram have been inaccessible in Russia since, but many Russians resorted to using VPNs to keep using the social media networks.
Instagram is particularly popular in Russia and is an important platform for advertisement and sales.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved changes to a law that will curtail media coverage of next year’s presidential election, according to local news agencies.
To enforce this ban, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media also reportedly plans to block certain virtual private networks (VPNs) that Russians widely use to bypass internet restrictions.
Israel’s deadly bombardment of Gaza has killed nearly 15,000 people, including 10,000 women and children, in over 50 days, making it the deadliest war for the besieged Palestinian enclave till date.
Israel has rebuffed calls for a ceasefire as a four-day humanitarian truce comes to an end on November 28. It is unclear whether the truce will be extended.
The devastation of Gaza and the mounting death toll has triggered worldwide protests, bringing the decades-long issue to the centre-stage of global politics.
The Balfour declaration
The Israeli-Palestinian issue goes back nearly a century when Britain, during World War I, pledged to establish a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine under the Balfour Declaration.
Jewish immigration to Palestine
A large-scale Jewish migration to Palestine began, accelerated by Jewish people fleeing Nazism in Europe. Between 1918 and 1947, the Jewish population in Palestine increased from 6 percent to 33 percent.
Palestinians were alarmed by the demographic change and tensions rose, leading to the Palestinian revolt from 1936 to 1939.
Meanwhile, Zionist organisations continued to campaign for a homeland for Jews in Palestine. Armed Zionist militias started to attack the Palestinian people, forcing them to flee. Zionism, which emerged as a political ideology in the late 19th century, called for the creation of a Jewish homeland.
The UN Partition Plan
As violence ravaged Palestine, the matter was referred to the newly formed United Nations. In 1947, the UN adopted Resolution 181, which called for the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, handing over about 55 percent of the land to Jews. Arabs were granted 45 percent of the land, while Jerusalem was declared a separate internationalised territory.
The city is currently divided between West Jerusalem, which is predominantly Jewish, and East Jerusalem with a majority Palestinian population. Israel captured East Jerusalem after the Six-Day War in 1967 along with the West Bank – a step not recognised by the international community.
The Old City in occupied East Jerusalem holds religious significance for Christians, Muslims, and Jews. It is home to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which is known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount.
In 1981, the UN designated it a World Heritage Site.
The Nakba
Leading up to Israel’s birth in 1948, more than 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homes by Zionist militias. This mass exodus came to be known as the Nakba or catastrophe.
Israel declared the annexation of East Jerusalem in 1980, but the international community still considers it an occupied territory. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
The Oslo Accords
In 1993, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords, which aimed to achieve peace within five years. It was the first time the two sides recognised each other.
A second agreement in 1995 divided the occupied West Bank into three parts – Area A, B and C. The Palestinian Authority, which was created in the wake of the Oslo Accords, was offered only limited rule on 18 percent of the land as Israel effectively continued to control the West Bank.
Israeli settlements and checkpoints
However, the Oslo Accords slowly broke down as Israeli settlements, Jewish communities built on Palestinian land in the West Bank, grew at a rapid pace.
The settlement population in the West Bank and East Jerusalem grew from approximately 250,000 in 1993 to up to 700,000 in September this year. About three million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
(Al Jazeera)
The building of Israeli settlements and a separation wall on occupied territories has fragmented the the Palestinian communities and restricted their mobility. About 700 road obstacles, including 140 checkpoints, dot the West Bank. About 70,000 Palestinians with Israeli work permits cross these checkpoints in their daily commute.
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2007 after the Hamas group came to power. The siege continues till date. Israel also occupies the West Bank and East Jerusalem – the territories Palestinians want to be part of their future state.
Israel imposed a total blockade on the Gaza Strip on October 9, cutting its supplies of electricity, food, water, and fuel in the wake of a surprise Hamas attack inside Israel. At least 1,200 people were killed in that attack.
Israel and Palestine now
This is what Israel and Palestine look like now.
Today, about 5 million Palestinians live in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and 1.6 million Palestinians are citizens of Israel. This makes up about half of their total population. The other half lives in other countries, including Arab countries. There are about 14.7 million Jews around the world today, of which 84 percent live in Israel and the United States. The rest live in other countries including France, Canada, Argentina and Russia.
US destroyer USS Mason responds to a distress call from an Israel-linked commercial tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
The US military has captured five attackers who seized an Israel-linked cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden amid missile attacks from Houthi-controlled Yemen.
The destroyer USS Mason responded on Sunday to an SOS call from a commercial tanker that had been taken over by armed assailants in the Gulf, US Central Command announced.
The Liberian-flagged tanker, which had been hauling phosphoric acid, was identified as the Central Park by the vessel’s company. The ship is managed by Zodiac Maritime Ltd, a London-headquartered international ship management firm, owned by Israel’s Ofer family.
The US military said the USS Mason, with help from allied ships, demanded that the commercial ship be released by the attackers.
“Subsequently, five armed individuals debarked the ship and attempted to flee via their small boat,” US Central Command said in a statement. “The Mason pursued the attackers resulting in their eventual surrender.”
The statement added that two ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen in the general direction of the Mason and the Central Park, but landed about 10 nautical miles away from the vessels, resulting in no damage or injuries.
On Nov. 26, the USS MASON (DDG 87), with allied ships from our coalition counter-piracy task force (TF 151), and associated aircraft responded to a distress call from the M/V CENTRAL PARK, a commercial vessel, that they were under attack by an unknown entity. Upon arrival,… pic.twitter.com/ASmM3b0xrf
Yemen’s government in Aden blamed the country’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels for the attack. However, the rebels, who control the capital, Sanaa, did not acknowledge either the seizure or the missile attack.
Trouble at sea
The incident is the latest in a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7.
It followed the seizure of an Israeli-linked cargo ship by Houthi forces in the southern Red Sea last week.
The Houthis, who have also fired ballistic missiles and armed drones at Israel, have promised to target more Israeli vessels.
Zodiac Maritime said in a statement that Central Park was involved in a suspected piracy incident while crossing international waters, approximately 54 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia.
“Our priority is the safety of our 22 crew onboard. The Turkish-captained vessel has a multinational crew consisting of a crew of Russian, Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Indian, Georgian and Filipino nationals,” the statement added.
Zodiac Maritime also thanked “the coalition forces who responded quickly, protecting assets in the area and upholding international maritime law”.
Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said on Sunday it was aware of a possible attack in southwest Aden and called on other vessels to exercise caution.
The US has blamed Iran for unclaimed attacks on several vessels in the region in the past few years. Tehran has denied involvement.
A container ship managed by an Israeli-controlled company was hit by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean, causing minor damage to the vessel but no injuries, a US defence official said on Saturday.
Saudi club Al Nassr host Iran’s Persepolis FC for their AFC Champions League match in Riyadh as they look to book a place in the next round.
Who: Al Nassr vs Persepolis When: Monday, November 27, 2023, 9pm (18:00 GMT) Where: Al-Awwal Park, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
When Saudi Pro League team Al Nassr FC visited Iran to play Tehran-based Persian Gulf Pro League side Persepolis FC in their opening match of the AFC Champions League in September, Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed the headlines as fans and officials scrambled to welcome the Portuguese star.
Fans tracked the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s plane, waited for him at the airport, chased his bus, climbed a hill to the hotel where he was staying, and made the Saudi club cancel its training on the first day.
Tehran’s municipality put up large banners welcoming Ronaldo and Al Nassr in several languages, the Persepolis director gave the Portuguese star a handwoven Persian carpet – and apparently a special SIM card so he could have unrestricted internet access – and Ronaldo met with the Saudi ambassador to Iran.
Two months on, the Iranian side are making a historic trip to the Saudi capital Riyadh – their first since the resumption of diplomatic relations between both countries.
The Asian nations agreed to a “groundbreaking” deal, brokered a few weeks before the match in Tehran, to resume home and away football matches between club sides after seven years of competing at neutral venues.
In Tehran, fans were delighted to have Ronaldo in their midst despite not catching a glimpse of the 38-year-old as the match was played behind closed doors.
“Even though we couldn’t go watch that match live because no spectators were allowed, it was still nice to have international stars here. We haven’t had that for a long while,” Saman, a 24-year-old Persepolis fan, told Al Jazeera.
“It doesn’t look like we’re beating Ronaldo in the group stage, but it would be nice to get a win in Saudi Arabia,” Saman said.
Football diplomacy has gone far from smoothly for Iran, though.
Persepolis were scheduled to arrive in the kingdom on Friday, but their flight was cancelled, reportedly because Saudi officials took issue with the airline that was being used to transport the players. The issue was resolved and the team arrived early Sunday.
An early October match between Sepahan and Al Ittihad was cancelled – and eventually declared a 3-0 win for the Saudi club by the AFC – because a bust of Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general assassinated by the United States in 2020, was installed at the stadium.
Standings
Al Nassr sit atop the AFC Champions League Group E table with four wins out of four and only need a draw to confirm their progress to the next round.
Persepolis are placed second after four matches, with a narrow lead over third-placed Istiklol and fourth-placed Al Duhail.
Al Nassr form
The Saudi side are in prolific form ahead of Monday’s tie at the Al-Awwal Park Stadium and have enjoyed a string of wins in both in their domestic league and the regional competition. Ronaldo goes into the match on the back of a two-goal outing in Al Nassr’s 3-0 win over Al Akhdoud on Friday.
Recent results: W W W W W
Persepolis form
Persepolis are in the middle of a poor run of form, with a loss and two draws in their home league and a draw in their last AFC Champions League match against Tajik side Istiklol. The club – one of the oldest and most popular in Iran – will look for a victory on the pitch to make up for the 2-0 home loss in Tehran and secure qualification as one of the three best second-placed teams from the West Zone of the competition. They have seven points from four matches.
Recent results: L D D D W
Head-to-head
The teams have now met on four occasions in the competition, and the Saudi side hold a slight edge with two wins. Persepolis have recorded one win, in the 2015 AFC Champions League, and their meeting in the 2020 edition ended in a draw.
With additional reporting by Maziar Motamedi in Tehran.
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