Somalia: 3 killed in African Union helicopter crash – DW – 07/02/2025
An African Union helicopter crashed at around 7:30 a.m. local time (04:30 GMT) at Mogadishu's Aden Abdulle International Airport, killing three people.
It had departed from Baledogle military airbase in the lower Shabelle region in south Somalia, according to the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).
AUSSOM said that "three of the eight passengers on board were immediately rescued" and were rushed to hospital.
The military helicopter originally belonged to the Ugandan Air Force but was currently being operated as part of the AUSSOM peacekeeping mission.
A Ugandan military spokesperson said the impact of the crash had caused munitions on board to detonate, destroying nearby structures and injuring three civilians.
The African Union helps Somali authorities to fight the Islamist group Al-Shabaab.
Search and rescue operations were underway to retrieve the remaining passengers and crew.
Ahmed Moalim Hassan, director-general of the Somalia Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters that investigations are underway to determine the cause of the crash.
The airport remains operational.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
DW
11 hours ago
- DW
Germany must give visas to at-risk Afghan family, court says – DW – 07/08/2025
A court has ruled that the government cannot renege on a promise of visas to an Afghan family at risk of persecution by the Taliban. A German court ruled on Tuesday that an Afghan family previously promised visas to enter Germany under a program for those at risk under the Taliban regime must be allowed to travel to the country. Berlin's administrative court said the family had been given a "legally binding" commitment that overrides the conservative-led government's decision earlier this year to stop the scheme. The ruling can be appealed by the Foreign Ministry. It followed an urgent appeal by a woman and 13 family members who were waiting for visas for Germany in Pakistan. The family had said they face deportation from Pakistan to Afghanistan, where their lives would be in danger from the radical Islamist Taliban, a claim that the judges deemed credible. The government had "legally bound itself to the admission through final, unrevoked admission decisions," the judges said. "Germany cannot free itself from this commitment entered unto voluntarily," they added. They also said that nothing stood in the way of granting the family visas, as all members had been vetted and found to pose no security concerns. After the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Germany established various admission procedures for Afghan nationals considered as being in danger from the Islamist group, which is known to repress civil liberties — most notably, women's rights. The admission schemes were canceled as the German government under conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz takes an increasingly hard line on migration in general. In their ruling, the judges said that even though the commitment undertaken by the government could be seen as final in this case, Berlin was free to decide whether to end the admission process for Afghan nationals or to define how such a process should be continued. The court said it had approximately 40 cases related to such matters, but a spokeswoman said different chambers had to decide individually in each of them.
Int'l Business Times
18 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Slovak Gunman Who Shot PM To Go On Trial
The man who admitted to shooting Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is due to stand trial on terror charges on Tuesday, more than a year after the attack shocked the central European country. Nationalist, Kremlin-friendly Fico was shot four times from close range after a government meeting in the central Slovak mining town of Handlova on May 15, 2024, leaving him seriously wounded. Detained at the scene, Juraj Cintula, a 72-year-old poet, who has admitted to shooting the leader with the intention to wound but not kill him, is facing up to life in prison if convicted. The hearing at a special penal court in the central city of Banska Bystrica is due to start at 0700 GMT on Tuesday. Prosecutors argue that Cintula sought to "permanently prevent Fico from serving as prime minister, thereby preventing the Slovak government from proper functioning and fulfilling its programme". Just after the shooting, Cintula told the police he wanted to protest against steps taken by Fico's government, including the halting of military aid to war-ravaged Ukraine, according to a leaked video. Cintula, who used a legally owned gun, told the Novy cas tabloid in a rare interview in May that he did not want to kill Fico: "I did not shoot at the heart or the head." He said he had plotted the attack for two days and added he was relieved to see Fico survived. "I have lost physical freedom, but mentally I was liberated... I feel no inner tension. In prison, one must run across green meadows in the mind to stay sane," Cintula told Novy cas. The Cintula case file comprises 18 volumes and more than 6,200 pages. Cintula was originally charged with premeditated murder, but prosecutors later reclassified the shooting as a terror attack. This means they will have to prove Cintula wanted to harm the state, Tomas Stremy, a criminal law professor at Comenius University in Bratislava, told AFP. "It is essential to examine the perpetrator's intent," he said. Fico underwent two lengthy operations and returned to work two months after the attack. The 60-year-old is serving a fourth term as premier, heading a three-party coalition governing the EU and NATO member of 5.4 million people since 2023. Since his return to office, Fico's government has launched a crackdown on non-profit organisations, LGBTQ rights, cultural institutions and some media it deems "hostile", drawing protests in the heavily polarised country. Fico's friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has also led thousands of Slovaks to rally against him under the slogan of "Slovakia is Europe" as Russian troops keep pounding Ukraine. Fico himself called Cintula a "product of hatred, an assassin created by media and the opposition". "The governing coalition naturally tried to use (the shooting) to its advantage," Grigorij Meseznikov, a political analyst at the Institute for Public Affairs, told AFP. "This included associating the horrible act with the activities of opposition parties without any evidence or witness testimony to support these claims," he added. But he said the shooting did not change Slovakia's political landscape. He said the trial would be closely watched, but regardless of the verdict, "the polarisation will last". Gunman Juraj Cintula told the Novy cas tabloid that he did not want to kill Fico AFP Fico himself has called Cintula a 'product of hatred' AFP
Int'l Business Times
a day ago
- Int'l Business Times
Trump Steps Up Pressure For Deals As US Tariff Deadline Nears
Donald Trump's aggressive trade policy faces a critical week as the US president races to secure the bilateral deals he promised, ahead of a shifting deadline for re-imposing steep tariffs on dozens of economies. Trump is due to send a first batch of letters to up to 15 trading partners from noon local time (1600 GMT), warning that US levies on imports will snap back to elevated levels if foreign governments fail to reach agreements with Washington. The duties will not bounce back until August 1, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said over the weekend, a move that appears to give more room for dealmaking. Trump imposed a 10 percent tariff on imports from almost all trading partners in early April, but some economies including the European Union were slated to have this rate increase further. As markets plunged at the time, Trump halted the steeper levies to allow for talks. That pause expires on Wednesday. "We are going to have several announcements in the next 48 hours," Bessent told CNBC in an interview Monday. "We've had a lot of people change their tune in terms of negotiations. So my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals," Bessent said. He reiterated that higher tariff rates for countries would not return until August 1. There was no immediate response from the White House on whether Trump would formally extend the Wednesday deadline. Asked about the letters Trump plans to send out, Bessent said these would inform partners of the tariff rate their products face when trading with the United States, unless they want to "come back and try to negotiate." While the Trump administration has signaled hopes of striking dozens of deals by early July, there have been limited results so far. Washington has unveiled pacts only with Britain and Vietnam, while the United States and China agreed to temporarily lower tariff levels on each other's products that earlier reached three-digits. Bessent told CNBC Monday that he would "be meeting with my Chinese counterpart sometime in the next couple of weeks." The two sides have so far held high-level talks in Geneva and London. But Washington and Beijing's pause on tit-for-tat tariffs is due to expire in mid-August. On whether he was disappointed in the number of trade deals achieved so far, Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro maintained that he is "happy with the progress we've had." "Every country that we run a major deficit with is fully engaged," he told CNBC on Monday. On Sunday night, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Washington would deliver "tariff letters" or deals to various countries on Monday. In a separate post that night, Trump threatened another 10 percent tariff on countries aligning themselves with the emerging BRICS nations, accusing them of "Anti-American policies" after they slammed his duties at a summit. For now, partners are still rushing to avert Trump's tariffs altogether. The European Commission said that EU chief Ursula von der Leyen had a "good exchange" with Trump on trade when the pair spoke Sunday. Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, however, said Sunday that he "won't easily compromise" in trade talks with Washington.
