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The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\u201cWhen humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children \u2013 instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Fadya, from Lahj governorate in Yemen, recalled how she considered suicide \u201cseveral times\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children \u2013 instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
The joint statement included testimonies from people living in conflict zones and dire humanitarian conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fadya, from Lahj governorate in Yemen, recalled how she considered suicide \u201cseveral times\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children \u2013 instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
Key conflicts in Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Northern Nigeria are forcing millions to the brink of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joint statement included testimonies from people living in conflict zones and dire humanitarian conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fadya, from Lahj governorate in Yemen, recalled how she considered suicide \u201cseveral times\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children \u2013 instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
They warned that this figure will likely increase in the coming months if no actions are taken, and noted that conflict is the biggest driver of global hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key conflicts in Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Northern Nigeria are forcing millions to the brink of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joint statement included testimonies from people living in conflict zones and dire humanitarian conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fadya, from Lahj governorate in Yemen, recalled how she considered suicide \u201cseveral times\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children \u2013 instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
At the end of last year, the UN estimated that 270 million people were either at high risk of, or already facing, severe levels of hunger. Some 174 people in 58 countries have reached that level and are at risk of dying from malnutrition or lack of food, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They warned that this figure will likely increase in the coming months if no actions are taken, and noted that conflict is the biggest driver of global hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key conflicts in Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Northern Nigeria are forcing millions to the brink of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joint statement included testimonies from people living in conflict zones and dire humanitarian conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fadya, from Lahj governorate in Yemen, recalled how she considered suicide \u201cseveral times\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children \u2013 instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
While at least $5.5bn is needed in urgent food and agricultural assistance to avert the imminent risk of famine, millions more is needed to provide health care, clean water and other essential, basic services, the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of last year, the UN estimated that 270 million people were either at high risk of, or already facing, severe levels of hunger. Some 174 people in 58 countries have reached that level and are at risk of dying from malnutrition or lack of food, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They warned that this figure will likely increase in the coming months if no actions are taken, and noted that conflict is the biggest driver of global hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key conflicts in Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Northern Nigeria are forcing millions to the brink of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joint statement included testimonies from people living in conflict zones and dire humanitarian conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fadya, from Lahj governorate in Yemen, recalled how she considered suicide \u201cseveral times\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children \u2013 instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
While at least $5.5bn is needed in urgent food and agricultural assistance to avert the imminent risk of famine, millions more is needed to provide health care, clean water and other essential, basic services, the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of last year, the UN estimated that 270 million people were either at high risk of, or already facing, severe levels of hunger. Some 174 people in 58 countries have reached that level and are at risk of dying from malnutrition or lack of food, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They warned that this figure will likely increase in the coming months if no actions are taken, and noted that conflict is the biggest driver of global hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key conflicts in Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Northern Nigeria are forcing millions to the brink of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joint statement included testimonies from people living in conflict zones and dire humanitarian conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fadya, from Lahj governorate in Yemen, recalled how she considered suicide \u201cseveral times\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children \u2013 instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\u201cThey must urgently reverse these decisions. And we must confront the fundamental drivers of starvation \u2013 global hunger is not about lack of food, but a lack of equality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While at least $5.5bn is needed in urgent food and agricultural assistance to avert the imminent risk of famine, millions more is needed to provide health care, clean water and other essential, basic services, the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of last year, the UN estimated that 270 million people were either at high risk of, or already facing, severe levels of hunger. Some 174 people in 58 countries have reached that level and are at risk of dying from malnutrition or lack of food, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They warned that this figure will likely increase in the coming months if no actions are taken, and noted that conflict is the biggest driver of global hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key conflicts in Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Northern Nigeria are forcing millions to the brink of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joint statement included testimonies from people living in conflict zones and dire humanitarian conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fadya, from Lahj governorate in Yemen, recalled how she considered suicide \u201cseveral times\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children \u2013 instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 10 March 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/3\/10\/hrw-questions-official-death-toll-in-equatorial-guinea-explosion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights groups have called for a transparent and independent investigation into a series of massive explosions in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s main city of Bata that flattened a military camp and nearby residential areas, killing scores of people and causing widespread destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for \u201cnegligence\u201d in stocking ammunition so close to populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were wounded by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing Equatorial Guinea-focused human rights group EG Justice, said that \u201cbased on the number of bodies pulled from the rubble, the actual number of victims is much higher\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0donors and aid groups to send support directly to victims and their families rather than through the government, \u201cgiven high levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe buck stops with [President Obiang]. We demand full, transparent and independent investigation into the cause and real impact of the catastrophic blasts in Bata,\u201d Tutu Alicante, the United States-based director of EG Justice, wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The four cataclysmic explosions levelled the camp, which houses special forces, gendarmes and their families, as well as nearby residential areas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the evening, Obiang announced a probe into the disaster, stating that the blasts were set off by a local farmer practising slash-and-burn agriculture near stores of explosives and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The defence ministry said the explosions were caused by heavy-calibre munitions and emitted \u201cshock waves which totally destroyed numerous homes nearby\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obiang accused camp officials of negligence, charges he repeated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW called for international experts to conduct an investigation and said \u201cunverified accounts \u2026 allege that the fire was started by soldiers ordered to burn brush and that it then spread to the armoury, or that it was started during training on the use of explosives gone awry\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc, analysed by The Associated Press news agency, show only charred signs of fire at the site that remained centred on three rectangular buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no sign of farming around the base and the only land-clearing work seen came from a construction project near those buildings, according to the satellite images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images show the military base at Bata had been undergoing construction at its southeast corner before the explosion. Old, earth-covered munitions storage facilities appear to have been removed and replaced by new structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A November 16 photo of the base shows three rectangular buildings sitting close to each other, AP reported. A satellite image of the site on Tuesday shows that those structures have disappeared, with only charred debris left scattered around them. That suggests a fire occurred at the site, possibly before the blast. A raging fire will ignite explosives if not contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, Equatorial Guinea is one of the continent\u2019s most insular nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the difficulty in understanding the full scale of the tragedy, air and sea links have been shut off for weeks because of coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only military and government aircraft have travelled to the site on the mainland from the island capital, Malabo, since the explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegardless of what caused the blast, Equatorial Guineans deserve to know why the military is storing explosives in the middle of a populated area,\u201d HRW researcher Sarah Saadoun said in Wednesday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has made numerous appeals for international aid since the disaster, with Obiang pointing to a severe economic crisis fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the plunge in the price of oil, the country\u2019s main source of revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But HRW warned: \u201cCorruption has long stymied the oil-rich country from developing public services and providing social protection commensurate with its resources, and continued opaque governance puts any aid directly disbursed to the government at high risk of being looted.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"Rights groups urge independent probe into cause of Bata blasts","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rights-groups-urge-independent-probe-into-cause-of-bata-blasts","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4771","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":2},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"epic_block_3"};
\u201cThe richest countries are slashing their food aid even as millions of people go hungry; this is an extraordinary political failure,\u201d Oxfam\u2019s executive director, Gabriela Bucher, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey must urgently reverse these decisions. And we must confront the fundamental drivers of starvation \u2013 global hunger is not about lack of food, but a lack of equality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While at least $5.5bn is needed in urgent food and agricultural assistance to avert the imminent risk of famine, millions more is needed to provide health care, clean water and other essential, basic services, the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of last year, the UN estimated that 270 million people were either at high risk of, or already facing, severe levels of hunger. Some 174 people in 58 countries have reached that level and are at risk of dying from malnutrition or lack of food, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They warned that this figure will likely increase in the coming months if no actions are taken, and noted that conflict is the biggest driver of global hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key conflicts in Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Northern Nigeria are forcing millions to the brink of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joint statement included testimonies from people living in conflict zones and dire humanitarian conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fadya, from Lahj governorate in Yemen, recalled how she considered suicide \u201cseveral times\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children \u2013 instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open letter further warned that funding alone is not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe situation requires urgent action, at a scale we are simply not seeing. If no urgent action is taken, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries need to take immediate political action to stop these conflicts from continuing, and need to address rising inequality, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is imperative that we raise our collective voices to secure the international attention this cause deserves before it is too late,\u201d they said in closing remarks.<\/p>\n","post_title":"NGOs call for urgent aid as millions on brink of starvation","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ngos-call-for-urgent-aid-as-millions-on-brink-of-starvation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:33","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4905","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4783,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:18:03","post_content":"\n originally published:<\/em> 18 April 2021<\/strong> | origin:<\/em> https:\/\/www.jordantimes.com\/news\/local\/ramadan-sales-lowest-10-years-%E2%80%94-acc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n AMMAN \u2014 President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, who is also the Head of the General Association for Foodstuffs Merchants of Jordan (GAFJO), on Saturday said that the current Ramadan sales are at their lowest in 10 years, after witnessing a 50 per cent drop due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Haj Tawfiq said that the commercial sector has been \u201cstaggered\u201d by low sales since the first days of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He attributed this to the partial curfew hours that exhausted merchants, and the decline in purchasing food and basic products despite existing price reductions and offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the prices of food, supplies and basic materials are stable, except for the high prices of local poultry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the offers on products were the largest this Ramadan, as a result of the increase in the number of shops, and their use of social media for promotion and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stressing merchants\u2019 concern over the continuation of the partial curfew, he called for allowing home delivery after Iftar from food stores, bakeries and water stations.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ramadan sales lowest in 10 years \u2014 ACC","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ramadan-sales-lowest-in-10-years-acc","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_modified_gmt":"2025-02-02 08:36:34","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dctransparency.com\/?p=4783","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":4771,"post_author":"7","post_date":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_date_gmt":"2021-04-18 21:09:31","post_content":"\nThree days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2018I thought about suicide\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2018I thought about suicide\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Three days of mourning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2018I thought about suicide\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n