Wednesday 23 Apr 2024 {HMC}  At least 16 people are dead and 28 others are missing after a boat carrying asylum seekers capsized off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, according to the UN’s migration agency.

The accident occurred on Monday night, about two weeks after another boat carrying mainly Ethiopian asylum seekers sank off the Djibouti coast, killing several dozen people, on the perilous so-called “eastern migration route” from Africa to the Middle East.

“Tragedy as boat capsizes off Djibouti coast with 77 migrants on board including children,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday in a post on X.

“At least 28 missing. 16 dead,” it said, adding that the local IOM branch was “supporting local authorities with search and rescue effort”.

Yvonne Ndege, a spokeswoman for the agency, told the AFP news agency that the 16 deaths included children and an infant, without offering further details.

❗️ Tragedy as boat capsizes off #Djibouti coast with 77 migrants on board including children. At least 28 missing. 16 dead. @DjiboutiIOM supporting local authorities with search and rescue effort. pic.twitter.com/s4L7ASNW4o

— IOM – UN Migration News (@UNMigrationNews) April 23, 2024

Ethiopia’s ambassador to Djibouti, Berhanu Tsegaye, said on X that the boat was carrying Ethiopians from Yemen and that the accident occurred off Godoria in northeastern Djibouti.

He said 33 people, including one woman, survived.

Another boat carrying more than 60 people sank off the coast of Godoria on April 8, according to the IOM and the Ethiopian embassy in Djibouti.

The IOM said at the time that the bodies of 38 people, including children, were recovered, while another six people were missing.

The Ethiopian embassy had said the boat was carrying Ethiopians from Djibouti to war-torn Yemen.

‘Eastern Route’

Each year, many tens of thousands of African asylum seekers brave the “eastern route” across the Red Sea and through Yemen to try to reach Saudi Arabia, escaping conflict or natural disaster, or seeking better economic opportunities.

“On their journeys, many face life-threatening dangers including starvation, health risks and exploitation – at the hands of human traffickers and other criminals,” the IOM said in a statement in February.

Ndege said the IOM’s data from 2023 showed that “the number of people trying to cross is on the rise”.

According to the IOM, Ethiopians make up 79 percent of about 100,000 people who arrived in Yemen last year from Djibouti or Somalia, the remainder being Somalis.

Africa’s second-most populous country, Ethiopia is blighted by various conflicts and several regions have suffered from severe drought in recent years.

More than 15 percent of its 120 million inhabitants depend on food aid.

In February, the IOM said that according to its Missing Migrants Project at least 698 people, including women and children, had died crossing the Gulf of Aden from Djibouti to Yemen last year.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

Wednesday 23 Apr 2024 {HMC} British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he would lift defence spending to 2.5 percent of the country’s annual GDP by 2030, saying the British arms industry must be on a “war footing” when the world is at its most dangerous since the Cold War.

Standing alongside NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg, Sunak said the United Kingdom would spend an additional 75 billion pounds ($93bn) over six years to increase the production of munitions and drones, making the UK the second-largest defence spender in NATO.

He said one of the central lessons of war in Ukraine was that countries needed deeper stockpiles of munitions, and the ability to replenish them more quickly.

“In a world that is the most dangerous it has been since the end of the Cold War, we cannot be complacent,” he said. “As our adversaries align, we must do more to defend our country, our interests, and our values.”

His remarks came on the heels of a new pledge to send arms worth 500 million pounds ($622m) to Ukraine, including missiles, armoured vehicles and ammunition.

Sunak has been under pressure from his governing Conservative Party to boost defence spending more quickly after previously saying he could do so only “as soon as economic conditions allow”.

The rise, from about 2.32 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), could also weaken potential leadership challengers who have championed defence, before an election this year which Sunak’s party is expected to lose.

The commitment would take defence spending for 2028/29 from approximately 73.8 billion pounds to 78.2 billion pounds, partly funded by a previously announced plan to cut the size of the civil service.

The opposition Labour Party said earlier this month it would aim to hit the 2.5 percent target “as soon as resources allow”.

Sunak’s commitment could help the UK if Donald Trump wins re-election to the US presidency this year. Trump has frequently taken aim at the failure of many of NATO’s 32 members to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defence.

He made the announcement on one of his first international trips for months, where he met Stoltenberg and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He will meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday.

Huge backing for Ukraine
The UK has been one of the most vocal and active backers of Ukraine and the news followed Sunak’s pledge to increase military support for Ukraine by 500 million pounds to take its total for this financial year to two billion pounds.

He also said the UK’s financial support would continue at least at its current level for the rest of the decade, or as long as needed.

That was welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including in a call with Sunak earlier on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly called for more air defence systems to protect Ukraine from Russian bombardments, and Germany has spearheaded calls for members of the NATO military alliance and beyond to step up on deliveries.

The UK’s announcement came three days after the US House of Representatives approved $61bn in aid for Ukraine, as American lawmakers raced to deliver a new round of US support to the war-torn ally. The Senate was expected to vote on the package later this week.

Ammunition shortages over the past six months have led Ukrainian military commanders to ration shells, a disadvantage that Russia has seized on this year – taking the city of Avdiivka and currently inching towards the town of Chasiv Yar, also in the eastern Donetsk region.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

Wednesday 23 Apr 2024 {HMC} The US has accused Russia of developing an anti-satellite nuclear weapon to put in space, an allegation that Moscow has flatly denied.

The United States and Russia are set to face off over nuclear weapons in space on Wednesday at the United Nations Security Council, which is due to vote on a US-drafted resolution calling on countries to prevent an arms race in outer space.

Russia is expected to block the draft resolution, said some diplomats. The U.S. move comes after it accused Moscow of developing an anti-satellite nuclear weapon to put in space, an allegation that Russia’s defense minister has flatly denied.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Japan’s U.N. Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki said in a joint statement on Friday that they have been negotiating with Security Council members on the draft text for six weeks.

The text affirms the obligation of states to comply with the Outer Space Treaty and calls on countries “to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space.”

Also Read | Russia warns of direct clash with West over Ukraine military aid
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty bars signatories – including Russia and the United States – from placing “in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction.”

Russia and China are planning to first put an amendment to a vote in the council. The amendment echoes a 2008 proposal by the pair for a treaty banning “any weapons in outer space” and threats “or use of force against outer space objects.”

‘UNBALANCED, HARMFUL’
The amendment is not expected to be adopted, said diplomats. The amendment and the draft resolution each require at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain, or France to be adopted.

“Without our amendment, based on the General Assembly resolution adopted in December 2023, the text tabled by the U.S. will be unbalanced, harmful and politicized,” deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told Reuters, adding that it would also undermine the Outer Space Treaty legal regime.

Polyanskiy said, “All questions relating to this sphere should be considered by the full membership of States Parties to this Treaty and not by the U.N. Security Council members only.”

Also Read | US aid for Ukraine won’t change military situation: Russia
U.S. intelligence officials, according to three people familiar with their findings, believe the Russian capability to be a space-based nuclear bomb whose electromagnetic radiation if detonated would disable vast networks of satellites.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has said Russia has not yet deployed such a weapon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in February that Russia was against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space.

Governments have increasingly viewed satellites in Earth’s orbit as crucial assets that enable an array of military capabilities on Earth, with space-based communications and satellite-connected drones in the war in Ukraine serving as recent examples of the outsized role of space in modern warfare.

SOURCE hindustantimes