Morocco: 78 Die in Military Plane Crash

Rabat----78 people were killed when a Moroccan military aircraft crashed into a mountain in south of the country on Tuesday, army officials have said.

The Hercules C-130 military transport plane crushed into a mountain near Guelmim, located about 830km south of the capital, Rabat, in what army in a statement blamed the accident on “bad weather conditions.”

The plane which was travelling from Dakhla, in the Western Sahara to Kinitra in northern Morocco crushed at about 0800 GMT, killing 78 on the spot, while attempting to make a scheduled stop at a military airbase 10km east of Guelmim.

“Above all, it was the fog and bad weather conditions that are believed to be behind this accident. But for the moment, we don't have enough information,” an official from the interior ministry was quoted by the AFP news agency saying.

The plane was reported to be carrying 81 people: nine crew members, 60 troops and 12 civilians. Two of the three people who survived the crash died of their wounds upon arrival the military hospital at Guelmin where also bodies of several victims recovered from the mountainside were also taken. About 42 bodies have been recovered so far, as the search for others continues.

The state-run MAP news agency announced that King Mohammed VI has declared three days of national mourning, starting on Tuesday, ordering that prayers of remembrance be held on Friday in all mosques.

This is the country’s worst air disaster involving a military plane, following the December 2001 paramilitary police plane crush in southern Morocco with at least five people on board.

 

Mogadishu, Somalia

UN to Airlift Food Aid to Drought-stricken Regions

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has said it will begin on Tuesday to airlift food aid to more than 12 million people faced with starvation in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa region.

The move follows the Monday’s emergency meeting of UN aid agencies and charities held in Rome where the decision for airlifting food was made.

WFP chief Josette Sheeran said the airlifts will begin to the Somali capital of Mogadishu, Dolo in Ethiopia and Wajir in north-eastern Kenya. He said the UN agency is calling in resources and personnel from other parts of the world to respond to the crisis.

“What we saw is children who are arriving so weak…” she said .“We also heard from women who had to leave babies along the road and make the horrifying choice of saving the stronger for the weaker or those who had children die in their arms.”

The UN last week declared famine in parts of southern Somalia where a devastating drought has claimed thousands of lives in the past few months and forced an exodus of refugees into neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya.

Head of EU humanitarian aid Kristalina Georgieva upon her tour to the region told the AP news agency that it was time the international community realised the scale of the disaster and what must be done to avoid it happening again in the future.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR says nearly 40,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) fleeing drought-hit areas in Somalia are heading to Mogadishu while a further 30,000 have arrived at settlements near the capital.

Somalia’s Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has criticised international aid agencies for not properly assisting hunger victims saying that his government will launch accountability measures to trace how aid agencies are assisting those in need.

The International Red Cross has delivered 400 tonnes of food to drought affected areas of southern Somalia, controlled by the Islamist group, al-Shabab. But the WFP says it is still being blocked from areas controlled by the opposition group.

Al-Shabab which controls large part in the south denies claims of existence of a famine, terming the UN's famine declaration as being politically motivated.

The UN says that an additional $1 billion is needed by the end of the year to fight starvation in the region following the launch of the campaign in November last year which so far has been allocated $1 billion.

On Monday the World Bank pledged more than $500 million for the Horn of Africa region where much of it will go towards long-term projects to aid farmers in the region. It said $ 12 million will be immediately released for relief projects for those worst hit by the drought.