'This is just horrific': Meteorologist breaks down as Hurricane Milton rapidly intensifies

Sarah K. Burris

RAW STORY
October 7, 2024

John Morales of South Florida's NBC 6 forecast on Hurricane Milton (Photo: Screen capture NBC 6 video)

Veteran meteorologist and hurricane expert John Morales of South Florida's NBC 6 became emotional when he examined the latest data on Hurricane Milton as it barreled toward Florida.

Monday afternoon, meteorologists upgraded the storm to a Category 5, the strongest and most powerful hurricane.

"It's just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane. It has dropped," he paused as he looked to his left. His head fell as he let out a deep sigh.

"It has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours, um," he paused, his voice cracking. "I'm sorry. This is just horrific."

In hurricanes, the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm, the Weather Channel explained.

The seas are "incredibly hot," which is how the storm would gain strength moving over the Gulf of Mexico.

"You know what's driving this. I don't need to tell you. Global warming, climate change leading to this and becoming an increasing threat for, uh," Morales' voice cracked again as he became emotional.

He went on to give the rest of his report, describing the "dirty side" of the storm, which he said would hit part of the Yucatan Peninsula.


Predictions said that the storm would weaken after it went over the Yucatan, but Morales said that it has gained so much strength that "you're going to find it very difficult for it to be nothing less than a major hurricane."

See the video below or at the link here.

Tampa zoo rushes Chompers the porcupine and others to safety as Milton nears

Agence France-Presse
October 8, 2024

Protect Chompers: zookeepers move the African porcupine into a carrier before carting it to safety ahead of Hurricane Milton (AFP)

With carrots and strawberries, zookeepers lure Chompers the porcupine into an animal carrier, hoping to keep the creature -- and all the rest of the inhabitants of Zoo Tampa -- safe from the fury of Hurricane Milton.

Orangutans watch the flurry of activity before allowing their keepers to move them to safety, while African elephants are herded gently to the protected areas.

Tiffany Burns, director of animal programs at the zoo, says it has a few hurricane-proof buildings where they will move all the animals -- very carefully.

"We hope that the animals have very minimal stress, that's always our goal," the 41-year-old says.

Florida's west coast is still digging out from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, which roared onshore as a Category 4 storm on September 26, causing widespread devastation.

Now, with the debris from Helene still strewn about, the battered region is bracing for Milton -- a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm taking aim at Tampa.

Residents are bracing for the worst storm the city has faced in years -- perhaps a century.

The city of roughly 400,000 people, separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Tampa Bay, faces the worst impact from storm surges and flooding.

Burns explained that staff have tried to maintain a positive attitude as they prepare the zoo, but fear the impact of Milton on their own homes.


"It's really hard to see such a big storm coming back toward us so soon," she says.

They are not alone.

- 'Too much' -


Ernst Bontemps boarded up the windows of his medical clinic in the nearby city of St. Petersburg for the second time in two weeks.

"This is too much," sighed the 61-year-old gastroenterologist.

"It's painful because last time we had complete devastation everywhere in St. Petersburg. And here we go again."

The entire Tampa Bay metropolitan area -- which includes the eponymous city, St. Petersburg and Clearwater -- still bears the scars of Helene, which left more than 230 people dead across the southeastern United States.

On Treasure Island, located in the Gulf of Mexico and accessible via a bridge from St. Petersburg, the streets remain littered with debris.

Helene caused flooding in most of the homes and businesses on the island, leading inhabitants to pile up everything damaged by the water in front of their residences, including mattresses, refrigerators, televisions and more.

David Levitsky looked at the pile in front of his own home on the island.

"All this stuff is just wind fodder that's going to just be blowing down the street and hitting who knows what," the 69-year-old retiree said.

Like other Treasure Island residents, Levitsky is trying to protect what little survived Helene before he evacuates.

"Being on the water is a joy, but obviously, with the joy comes a lot of possibilities on the other side of that spectrum," he said.

In St. Petersburg, meanwhile, Bontemps fears that repeat hurricanes are the new normal for this part of Florida.

"I've been here for 22 years and we've never been hit by hurricanes twice in one year," he said.

Busted: Bundy collaborator fueled FEMA conspiracy in Hurricane Helene aftermath

Jordan Green, Investigative Reporter

RAW STORY
October 8, 2024 

Clockwise from upper right: Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Brian Cavalier, Shawna Cox, Pete Santilli, Jon Ritzheimer, Ryan Payne, Joe O'Shaughnessy

This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers

Only 30 minutes after billionaire Elon Musk began publicly accusing the federal government of blocking his company from delivering the satellite internet components to the disaster zone in western North Carolina, another extraordinary claim popped up on X.

“NC State Police issue statement that they will start arresting any federal employees trying to hinder rescue operations,” an Arizona man named Joseph O’Shaughnessy wrote on X Oct. 4.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, quickly disputed the claim from Musk, who owns both SpaceX and the social media platform X and would speak at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa. the following day. But O’Shaughnessy’s claim piggy-backing off Musk's post added a new layer to manufactured intrigue: a potential clash between state and federal authorities in a region traumatized by the staggering loss.

The statement is completely false, and it comes from someone with a history of armed confrontation with the FBI and other federal agencies. O’Shaughnessy served prison time for his role in the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016 and was also charged in the standoff at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in 2014.

Prior to his involvement in the Bundy ranch standoff, O’Shaughnessy had been arrested for disorderly conduct, domestic violence and drugs, according to federal prosecutors.

“If you tie back to this guy, you’ll see that nothing reliable comes from that guy,” First Sgt. Christopher Knox, a public information officer for the N.C. State Highway Patrol, told Raw Story. “That’s not a trusted source of information. That information is not true in any way, shape or form.”

Knox pointed out that North Carolina doesn’t even have an agency called “NC State Police.” The claim is even more dubious if one considers that State Highway Patrol in North Carolina is under the command of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, an ally of Vice President Kamala Harris. From a purely partisan standpoint, it is unlikely the two agencies would end up in an adversarial position with one another.

O’Shaughnessy did not respond to a request for comment for this story that was forwarded through his lawyer.

While O’Shaughnessy’s post was quickly shot down by X users who pointed out that no such agency exists in North Carolina, it landed within a matrix of false claims by Trump allies that has created a mutually reinforced narrative, belied by the facts on the ground, that the federal government is abandoning the people of western North Carolina.

O’Shaughnessy’s post was reshared 18,000 times, including Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who has a long history of promoting conspiracy theories despite a professional background that requires an ability to separate fact from fantasy astutely.

Before joining the Trump administration, Flynn held the highest military intelligence position as head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, re-shared O’Shaughnessy’s post, writing: “Finally, some good news!”

Flynn, who has persistently used his X account to push apocalyptic messages about the impending breakup of the United States, has also pushed misinformation related to the disaster. During an Oct. 4 interview with right-wing influencer Benny Johnson, Flynn said there were “reports” about “illegals” raping children, while describing the flood-ravaged region as a “warzone.”

Flynn also could not be reached for comment for this story.

Johnson, who interviewed Flynn on his show, was recently employed by a media company alleged by federal prosecutors to be a front for a Russian influence operation. Johnson and other conservative influencers linked to the company have said they were victims of the scheme. During his interview with Flynn on Oct. 4, Johnson echoed many of the same themes as his guest during his opening monologue for the segment, claiming that the federal government has “chosen” immigrants over Trump supporters.


“Our federal government has left you to die in whatever small, inconsequential town that you come from because you are a Trump voter, because you support MAGA, because you are America first,” he said.

Flynn wasn’t the only one who greeted O’Shaughnessy’s bogus claim about a state law enforcement agency challenging the federal government.

Gianna Miceli, who co-hosts a podcast that promotes sovereign citizen ideology, enthused: “Now we have a jurisdiction war happening! What a great time for people to learn some lessons about who is the government and who is not.”


“Exactly,” O’Shaughnessy responded.

In another reply to O’Shaughnessy’s thread, Miceli falsely claimed: “FEMA is a private for-profit corporation. It is not government.”

O’Shaughnessy’s false claim that a state agency in North Carolina is threatening to arrest federal agents in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election fits a pattern with not only his involvement in the 2014 Bundy ranch standoff and 2016 Malheur occupation, but also the effort to overturn the 2020 election.


Bundy ranch, Malheur occupation and Stop the Steal 2020

O’Shaughnessy was described in a federal indictment in response to the Bundy ranch standoff as a “mid-level leader and organizer of the conspiracy who, among other things: organized gunmen and other followers; led gunmen and other followers in the assault and extortion of federal law enforcement at the impound site; organized protection for members of the criminal enterprise; and organized armed patrols and security checkpoints.”

Similarly, federal prosecutors would later describe O’Shaughnessy as a “mid-level organizer” of the Malheur occupation. In a video interview during the occupation, according to the criminal complaint, O’Shaughnessy said: “I’m right now in the process of trying to set up a constitutional security protection force to make sure these federal agents and these law enforcement don’t just come in here like cowboys.”


O’Shaughnessy pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impede federal officers for his conduct during the Malheur occupation, but the government dismissed charges in the Bundy ranch case. O’Shaughnessy was sentenced to time served, and reportedly spent one year and nine months in custody for the two cases.

O’Shaughnessy has described Roger Stone, a political consultant and longtime confidant of Trump, as a “hero and a mentor.” Like Flynn, Stone was pivotal in mobilizing a pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 election. Immediately following the 2020 election, Stone privately strategized with Flynn, the Washington Post reported.

O’Shaughnessy’s Instagram account shows that he was with Stone during a dinner in Florida with Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander in November 2020. Another post shows dated Dec. 11, 2020, the eve of the pro-Trump Jericho March rally in Washington, D.C. includes a photo that shows Stone drinking with InfoWars conspiracy trafficker Alex Jones.


It is unclear what, if anything, O’Shaughnessy discussed with Stone, Jones and Alexander when they met on those two occasions.

A false claim that evolved out of Elon Musk’s dustup with FEMA

In his false post about state law enforcement threatening to arrest their counterparts last week, O’Shaughnessy appears to have taken a cue from Nick Sortor, a right-wing videographer who spent the past week in the Asheville area delivering Starlink terminals while producing media assailing the federal government response to the disaster.


In an Oct. 3 X post, Sortor thanked Musk and SpaceX “for bringing us another truckload of Starlinks. A photo in the post shows an officer wearing a North Carolina State Highway Patrol uniform holding a box labeled “Starlink,” while a video shows police vehicles that appear to be providing an escort for Sortor down a winding mountain road.

The following day, Sortor replied to Musk’s post accusing FEMA of preventing his engineers from allowing him to deliver supplies. In his reply, Sortor appears to reference the State Highway Patrol, while using the same misnomer that O’Shaughnessy would later use.

“Let me know where the blockades are and we’ll have the NC State Police move them out of the way,” Sortor wrote. “Already did it once, which is one reason why we have an escort now. FEMA has zero jurisdiction.

“Trust me,” he added. “They’re not going to win this one.”

Twenty-four minutes later, O’Shaughnessy made his post claiming that the “NC State Police” were prepared to start arresting federal agents.

Challenged to substantiate his claim, O’Shaughnessy responded to one detractor by writing, “Calm down stranger danger, my boys were one of the 1st on-scene to bring aid…. I am the source.”

O’Shaughnessy didn’t identify his “boys” on the ground in North Carolina, but on Sunday he praised Sortor for delivering the Starlink terminals, writing, “And everyone, please follow @nicksortor. He’s the one who made it happen.”

Manufacturing a fake turf war between FEMA and state law enforcement doesn’t help the residents of western North Carolina, Christopher Knox, the State Highway Patrol spokesperson, told Raw Story. Instead of relying on dubious accounts on X, Knox recommended that people seek information about the recovery effort from trusted sources such as the NC Department of Public Safety.

“There’s a lot of people hurting and a lot of people looking for resources,” Knox said. “We hate that there’s stuff out there slowing the response. Getting people to the right sources is a big goal of the state of North Carolina.”

Jordan Green is a North Carolina-based investigative reporter at Raw Story, covering domestic extremism, efforts to undermine U.S. elections and democracy, hate crimes and terrorism. Prior to joining the staff of Raw Story in March 2021, Green spent 16 years covering housing, policing, nonprofits and music as a reporter and editor at Triad City Beat in North Carolina and Yes Weekly. He can be reached at jordan@rawstory.com. More about Jordan Green.

FEMA administrator continues pushback against false claims as Helene death toll hits 230


 North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, right, and Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, await the arrival of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris for a briefing on the damage from Hurricane Helene, at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Oct. 5, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, file)Read More

A worker cuts up a tree that impaled itself on a fire hydrant during Hurricane Helene, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, in the Oak Forest neighborhood of Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Contractors for Duke Energy rebuild destroyed electrical lines near the Swannanoa River in Asheville, N.C., Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee visits with a volunteer at the East Tennessee Disaster Relief Center, for Hurricane Helene disaster response Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV via Pool)

Volunteer Ann Davis speaks with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, right, during his visit to the East Tennessee Disaster Relief Center, for Hurricane Helene disaster response Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV via Pool)

BY JOHN RABY AND GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA
October 7, 2024

LAKE LURE, N.C. (AP) — The head of the U.S. disaster response agency continued to forcefully push back Monday against false claims and conspiracy theories about her agency’s response to Hurricane Helene as the death toll from the storm continued to climb.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell pointed to the agency’s massive, collaborative effort that keeps growing, and she strongly urged residents in hard-hit areas to accept the government’s offer for assistance.

“We have thousands of people on the ground, not just federal, but also our volunteers in the private sector,” Criswell said at a news conference in Asheville, North Carolina. “And frankly, that type of rhetoric is demoralizing to our staff that have left their families to come here and help the people of North Carolina. And we will be here as long as they’re needed.”

Misinformation has spread over the past week in communities hit the hardest by Helene, including that the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to people in Republican areas. Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have questioned FEMA’s response and falsely claimed that its funding is going to migrants or foreign wars.

RELATED STORIES

Death toll rises from Helene while supplies are rushed to North Carolina


Helene's aftermath: Supplies arrive in North Carolina as death toll tops 130

FEMA has dedicated part of its website to providing accurate answers to questions and addressing rumors on its response to Helene.

On Friday, the agency put out a statement debunking rumors that it will only provide $750 to disaster survivors to support their recovery. Criswell said that initial money helps residents with expenses for medicine or food. She said additional funding will be available to reimburse them for the cost of home repairs, personal items lost, post-hurricane rental units and hotel stays.

“But I can’t give it to them if they don’t apply,” Criswell said. “And if people are afraid to apply, then it is hurting them.”

When asked directly about a circulating claim that FEMA would seize people’s property if they don’t pay back the $750 in within one year, Criswell said that was “absolutely false.”

The cleanup and response to the storm that killed at least 230 people continued Monday, while Milton strengthened rapidly into a Category 5 hurricane on a path toward Florida, the same area battered by Helene less than two weeks ago.

More than 130,000 customers in western North Carolina were still without electricity Monday, according to poweroutage.us.

Also in North Carolina, more than 1,600 local and state search-and-rescue team members have been joined by about 1,700 members of the state National Guard, according to Gov. Roy Cooper’s office.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said Monday that an additional 500 active-duty troops have been deployed to North Carolina. Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said troops with advanced technological assets will be arriving, bringing the total number of active-duty forces to about 1,500. The troops are bringing surveillance equipment to allow officials to get a better overview of the region.

Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said search-and-rescue aircraft were flying 10-hour sorties providing wellness checks, medical care and evacuations. He called the military’s operations the “most important and honorable mission for us, which is to help fellow citizens.”

Cooper said more than 50 water systems were destroyed or impaired by the storm and that the pace of restoring service varies by community. He said he couldn’t give a specific timeline but said the process might take longer in Asheville and Buncombe County, where at least six dozen people died.

“It’s still going to be a while,” he said.

Cooper also visited the towns of Chimney Rock and Lake Lure in Rutherford County, which both experienced devastating damage.

“We’re going to help western North Carolina come back,” Cooper said as he stood with Lake Lure’s mayor, Carol Pritchett. “It’s too important to our economy, to our state, not to do it.”

Pritchett told Cooper that the tiny town would need all the help it could get. Its sewer and wastewater treatment systems needed complete replacements, and the lake would have to be completely dredged. She estimated the costs would be in the tens of millions of dollars.

“We’re a town of 1,300; we certainly can’t do it on our own,” Pritchett said.

Without restoring major infrastructure, Pritchett said the tourism on which the town depends could not come back.

“The town’s name is Lake Lure. With no lake here, the ‘Lake Lure’ kind of begs the question,” she said.

In South Carolina, officials estimate $250 million has been spent on debris cleanup, infrastructure damage and emergency response. More than 300 homes were destroyed and 5,200 damaged, state Emergency Management Division Director Kim Stenson said Monday.

The state’s largest school district, Greeneville County, plans to reopen Wednesday after shutting down for seven days. The district said it has had to modify bus routes because of blocked roads, closed bridges, sinkholes, and traffic signal outages at major intersections.

In Tennessee, where at least 12 people died from Helene, Gov. Bill Lee on Monday visited Bristol Motor Speedway, now a hub for collecting donations for victims and centralizing other operations in the wake of the flooding. Lee met with coordinators and volunteers who were sorting through donations.

“These are Tennesseans and they’re hurting,” Lee said. “Not only are they hurting, but they’re helping.”
___

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Jeffrey Collins and George Walker contributed to this report.

US disaster relief chief blasts false claims about Helene response as a ‘truly dangerous narrative’


President Joe Biden talks with Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as he arrives at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in Greer, S.C., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, to survey damage from Hurricane Helene. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

BY FARNOUSH AMIRI
 October 6, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s top disaster relief official said Sunday that false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to Hurricane Helene — spread most prominently by Donald Trump — are “demoralizing” aid workers and creating fear in people who need recovery assistance.

“It’s frankly ridiculous, and just plain false. This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people,” said Deanne Criswell, who leads the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “It’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people, and that’s what we’re here to do. We have had the complete support of the state,” she said, referring to North Carolina.

Republicans, led by the former president, have helped foster a frenzy of misinformation over the past week among the communities most devastated by Helene, promoting a number of false claims, including that Washington is intentionally withholding aid to people in Republican areas.

Trump accused FEMA of spending all its money to help immigrants who are in the United States illegally, while other critics assert that the government spends too much on Israel, Ukraine and other foreign countries.


RELATED STORIES

Harris slams 'incredibly irresponsible' Trump over Hurricane Helene misinformation

Trump slams US response to Helene. His own disaster-response record is marked by politics

“FEMA absolutely has enough money for Helene response right now,” Keith Turi, acting director of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery said. He noted that Congress recently replenished the agency with $20 billion, and about $8 billion of that is set aside for recovery from previous storms and mitigation projects.

There also are outlandish theories that include warnings from far-right extremist groups that officials plan to bulldoze storm-damaged communities and seize the land from residents. A falsehood pushed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., asserts that Washington used weather control technology to steer Helene toward Republican voters in order to tilt the presidential election toward Democrat Kamala Harris.

Criswell said on ABC’s “This Week” that such baseless claims around the response to Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to at least 230, have created a sense of fear and mistrust from residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground.

“We’ve had the local officials helping to push back on this dangerous -- truly dangerous narrative that is creating this fear of trying to reach out and help us or to register for help,” she said.

President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday that his administration “will continue working hand-in-hand with local and state leaders –- regardless of political party and no matter how long it takes.”

Meantime, FEMA is preparing for Hurricane Milton, which rapidly intensified into a Category 1 storm on Sunday as it heads toward Florida.

“We’re working with the state there to understand what their requirements are going to be, so we can have those in place before it makes landfall,” she said.

'Field day for Russia': Ex-Trump staffer slams his 'gross' and 'dangerous' FEMA 'lies'

Daniel Hampton
October 7, 2024 

A former White House communications director for Donald Trump ripped her old boss Monday over the MAGA leader's falsehoods relating to hurricane response in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. (Screengrab via CNN)

A former White House communications director for Donald Trump ripped her old boss Monday over the MAGA leader's falsehoods relating to hurricane response in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Alyssa Farah Griffin joined CNN anchor Anderson Cooper on Monday night to discuss the former president's false statements over the weekend that Helene victims were only receiving $750 in disaster relief.

"They send hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign nations. And you know what they're giving our people? 750 bucks," Trump told rally-goers in a clip shared on Cooper's show. He repeated the misleading statement in a second clip as Cooper noted that the $750 is "for immediate need."

"One form of aid, among others, that the government offers," Cooper said, noting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, now has a webpage dedicated to combatting false information.

In a second clip, Trump claims FEMA spent over $1 billion on sheltering "illegal migrants" and said the agency now has "no money" for states reeling from the storm.

Cooper then played a clip of Thom Tillis, the Republican senior senator of North Carolina, who told CBS News' "Face The Nation" that the Biden administration's immigration policies have not affected its hurricane response.

"Not at this time," said Tillis.

When Cooper asked Griffin her reaction to her former boss' remarks, she gave a blunt assessment.

"It's gross, but it's dangerous," she said.

Griffin said FEMA may have been the "most effective" at executing its job of all the agencies she's worked with.

"He knows this information isn't true and it has real-life consequences on the ground," said Griffin.

Volunteers are depressed due to fears they think there's not a need or they're unable to get where they need, she said. Additionally, FEMA is now spending resources to "knock down these lies," and there are people who need help who are being told the're no help to give, when "in fact, there are quite a lot of federal resources out there."

Moreover, America's adversaries "love this," she said.

"This is a field day for Russia and China who are then going to amplify on social media ahead of the election to tear us apart," she said. "Listen, everything becomes politicized a month out from an election, but this is a step further that I've never really seen something like this. When you're dealing with multiple horrible national natural disasters at the same time."

She added: "It shows Donald Trump is willing to go so low."

Watch the clip below or at this link.

 

How farmers in Burundi banded together to get fair prices for avocados

A farmer harvests avocados at a plantation in Kayanza province, Burundi, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A man carries crates to pack avocados in Kayanza province, Burundi, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Farmers carry crates with avocados from a plantation in Ngozi, Burundi, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

BY RODNEY MUHUMUZA AND GASPARD MAHEBURWA
October 6, 2024

KAYANZA, Burundi (AP) — Farmers in a remote part of Burundi know to look for a truck parked by a highway when it is time to sell their avocados. They materialize from villages and form a crowd around the vehicle, watching closely as crews weigh and load the crated fruits.

Such roadside exchanges, repeated regularly during peak harvest season, long provided a ready market for smallholder avocado growers in a country that’s sometimes ranked as the world’s poorest. But the transactions now promise real earnings thanks in part to the intervention of the national government and farmers’ cooperatives that worked to set terms for foreign avocado dealers.

Just a year ago, farmers selling their avocados to the transporters earned 10 cents per kilogram (2.2 pounds), far less than the price for a small bottle of water. These days, they get roughly 70 cents for the same quantity, a meaningful increase for people who mainly farm to feed their families.

A major change in the trade is that payments in U.S. currency now go into the bank accounts of cooperatives that pay their members directly almost as soon as the avocado haulers leave. Acting as intermediaries, groups such as Green Gold Burundi, which has its headquarters in the northern province of Kayanza and represents 200,000 farmers nationwide, say they are better positioned than individual growers to stem exploitation.


US to hand over pest inspections of Mexican avocados to Mexico and California growers aren't happy

Jamaica's female farmers rebuild after Hurricane Beryl through women-led cash voucher program

The participation of the cooperatives is an important step toward regulating the country’s avocado exports, said Ferdinand Habimana, vice president of Green Gold Burundi’s administrative board. Although the government is promoting avocado farming to diversify exports, avocados grown in Burundi are yet to be trademarked as coming from there, he said.

“So it is legally done now, but what we are developing now is that the (avocados) can reach the final destination as avocados taken from Burundi,” said Habimana, speaking of his group’s dealings with exporters in Tanzania and elsewhere in East Africa.

Zacharie Munezero, who oversees quality management for Green Gold Burundi, acknowledged that the 70 cents farmers earn for a kilogram of avocados is still insufficient when exporters can fetch between $3 and $5 for the same quantity in international markets.

Avocados are cheap in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where they can be purchased from farmers in bulk for almost nothing. In Burundi, avocados became more widely cultivated after the country’s former leader, Pierre Nkurunziza, started extolling the fruit in 2007 as a source of nutrition and income.

Many households that don’t produce the varieties favored by exporters usually look after at least one avocado plant of the local variety known to Burundians as “amapeter,” in remembrance of Nkurunziza, who died in 2020.

But while coffee and tea exports – Burundi’s traditional sources of much-needed foreign currency – have long been coordinated, the trade in Burundian avocados has remained unregulated, according to farmer representatives and a trade official. They said that avocado exports could be as profitable for the country as coffee if the government asserted its rule-making authority.

Desirable measures include guaranteeing a minimum price for farmers, stopping foreign traders from dealing directly with farmers, and encouraging widespread cultivation of the Hass avocados favored by European consumers, they said.

Burundi “cannot rely only on coffee and tea,” Onesime Niyukuri, an adviser in the foreign trade department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said of the country’s limited exports.

If avocado dealers from elsewhere in East Africa “can come and buy at a price that is already set by the government, there is no problem,” he said.

The government ramped up its efforts to organize avocado exports earlier this year as dollar shortages fueled sporadic shortages of sugar and other goods.

Under new regulations, which require foreign dealers to register with local authorities, exporters must submit copies of their supply contracts and specify market destinations for Burundian avocados, according to the Ministry of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism.

Burundi aims to export more than 10 million tonnes (11 million tons) of avocados each year by 2030, said Niyukuri, citing the government’s strategic plan. Recent figures on Burundi’s foreign exchange earnings from the avocado crop were not readily available.

The government’s target is to plant 50,000 avocado trees in each of Burundi’s 17 provinces. Local authorities in provinces such as Kayanza want each household to own at least 10 trees producing exportable avocados.

That includes the Mexican variety Fuerte and especially Hass avocado, the most commercially successful variety globally. The fruit, which has dark bumpy skin and bright yellow-green flesh, takes more than two weeks to ripen and can survive several days in transit.

Burundi, a small mountainous country about the size of Maryland, is home to 13 million people. Annual income per capita was $199 in 2023, among the lowest globally, and nearly 65% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to World Bank figures.

Agriculture is the main economic activity, and many people in rural provinces such as Kayanza mostly grow the potatoes and vegetables they will consume through the year. For some, including those with a few avocado trees in their compounds, the pear-shaped green fruit has proven a surprisingly reliable source of income.

Eric Nsabimana, a farmer in Kayanza, recalled starting as an avocado grower in response to the campaign of former leader Nkurunziza. Some farmers, feeling forced into planting avocados, uprooted the seedlings the government gave them and now rue the missed opportunity, Nsabimana said.

“The people who didn’t plant, they regret,” he said.

Nsabimana, who anticipates making more than $6,000 a year selling avocados now that the price is higher, said he used his earnings to acquire five more hectares (12.4 acres) of land now planted with 500 avocado trees.

Habimana, the senior official with Green Gold Burundi, said his group moved to mobilize avocado farmers for better rewards after it realized at the beginning of the year they were being exploited by foreign traders.

One day in January, he followed a truck transporting Burundian avocados to neighboring Tanzania, believing the cargo was destined for consumption in the region. When he saw the avocados getting washed, weighed and packed in the town of Njombe, he realized the goods were bound for another export market abroad.

“There was another destination somewhere else, not in Njombe,” Nsabimana said.

When he returned to Kayanza, Green Gold Burundi prioritized plans to register avocado farmers in a way that eliminated middlemen and guaranteed a reasonable price for farmers. The cooperative pays taxes and keeps a cut of avocado proceeds to sustain operations that include providing members with seedlings and organic manure.

Munezero, the cooperative’s quality management official, said that while the price of avocados “is still a problem,” his group is “focusing on capacity building” and encouraging residents to plant more avocado trees.

Green Gold Burundi has distributed millions of seedlings in the past year, finding enthusiasm among farmers eager to join the avocado bandwagon. Even growers with only a few backyard Hass plants said they increasingly see avocado as a cash crop.

“Avocados mean dollars to us,” one such grower, Samuel Niyinyibutsa, said, adding that he knows some Kayanza residents who feel “left behind” when they see others collect payments for their produce.

“But they still have time,” Niyinyibutsa said. “They can be awakened and start planting avocados because avocado can do well to them as it is doing well to us.”

Administrative Map of Burundi - Nations Online Project

___


The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FRELIMO

Mozambique headed for crucial elections amid jihadist insurgency and drought-induced hunger


A pedestrian passes a wall of election posters in Maputo, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, ahead of elections to be held in Mozambique. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)

BY CHARLES MANGWIRO AND MOGOMOTSI MAGOME
October 7, 2024Share

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Mozambicans will vote this week for a new president who many hope will bring peace to an oil- and gas-rich northern province that has been ravaged by a jihadist insurgency for nearly seven years.

Close to 17 million voters will vote for the next president, alongside 250 members of parliament and provincial assemblies, on Wednesday. The current president, Filipe Nyusi, is ineligible to stand again after two terms of office.

During the six week campaign period, which ended Sunday, the frontrunners promised that violence in the north of the country will be their main priority, although none has laid out a plan to end it.

Mozambique has been fighting an Islamic State-affiliated group that has launched attacks on communities in the province of Cabo Delgado since 2017, including beheadings and other killings.

Some 1.3 million people were forced to flee their homes. Around 600,000 people have since returned home, many to shattered communities where houses, markets, churches, schools and health facilities have been destroyed, the United Nations refugee agency said earlier this year.

The candidates rounded off their campaigns on Sunday in the northern and central provinces, which are regarded as the highest-voting constituencies. They promised to address development issues exacerbated by the insurgency.


Palestinian, Filipino and Mozambican activists and a London research agency given human rights award

Daniel Chapo, the presidential candidate of Nyusi’s ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), has been telling rallies that peace will allow Cabo Delgado to rebuild infrastructure.

“The first objective of governance is to work to end terrorism using all available means to return peace. Peace is the condition for development,” said Chapo at a rally last week in Pemba, the provincial capital of Cabo Delgado.

Frelimo, which has ruled the country since independence in 1975, is widely expected to win again.

Lutero Simango, the candidate of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, spent most of his time campaigning in the central and northern regions, and made promises to remedy a lack of medicines in public hospitals, high unemployment and abject poverty.

Venacio Mondlane, who is running for president as an independent, has also promised to deal with the violence in the region.

“From the moment my government is in place, I can assure you that kidnappings happening in the country, including terrorism in Cabo Delgado, will be wiped out in one year,” Mondlane said drawing wild cheers from his supporters.

Corruption and poverty have also been major campaign issues as the country grapples with high levels of unemployment and hunger that has been exacerbated by El Nino-induced severe drought.

According to the United Nations World Food Program, 1.3 million people in Mozambique are facing severe food shortages as a result of the drought.

The ruling Frelimo party has also been tainted by corruption scandals, including the so-called “tuna bond” scandal, which saw politicians jailed for taking payoffs to arrange secret loan guarantees for government-controlled fishing companies.

The loans were plundered, and Mozambique ended up with $2 billion in “hidden debt,” spurring a financial crisis as the International Monetary Fund halted financial support to the country.

The Southern African Development Community, a regional bloc of southern African nations, has sent a delegation of 52 election observers to the country. The observer mission on Friday called for the impartiality of the country’s electoral bodies during the polls.

Local elections held in Mozambique last year were marred by wide-ranging allegations of vote-rigging and electoral fraud, sparking violent protests, after Frelimo won 64 of 65 municipalities. A consortium of election observers reported widespread ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and falsification of results in favor of Frelimo.

“The political parties already have their bases in the electorate and during the campaign we did not see anything different in relation to the previous elections. We would need something drastic to happen for Frelimo to lose these elections,” said political analyst Dercia Alfazema

Borges Nhamire, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, said the eventual winner will inherit a country facing many problems.


“The president to be elected will find a very difficult situation because he is in transition during a period of war, and every transition that takes place during a period of war is very difficult,” said Nhamire.

A building displays ruling party posters in support of presidential candidate Daniel Chapo ahead of elections in Maputo, Mozambique, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)

Supporters take part in a ruling party rally for presidential candidate Daniel Chapo, centre, ahead of elections, in Maputo, Mozambique, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)

Supporters take part in a ruling party rally to support presidential candidate Daniel Chapo ahead of elections, in Maputo, Mozambique, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)

A woman sits between bread rolls in Maputo, Mozambique, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 ahead of elections to be held in the country. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)

A poster of independent candidate Venacio Mondlane is held at an election rally on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 in Maputo ahead of elections in Mozambique. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)

Independent candidate Venacio Mondlane, atop truck, attends an election rally in Maputo, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 ahead of elections to be held in Mozambique. (AP Photo/Carlos Uqueio)

___

Magome reported from Johannesburg.
___

Follow AP’s Africa coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Fresh faces in Mozambique's poll as independence era leaders bow out

Jose Tembe in Maputo & Angela Henshall in London
BBC News

6/10/24

AFP


Mozambique is set for a watershed election that will see a change of the presidential guard, with the era of leaders who forged their careers in the trenches of the independence war against Portuguese rule coming to an end.

For the first time, the once all-powerful Frelimo party is fielding a presidential candidate who was born after independence - the charismatic 47-year-old Daniel Chapo, who it hopes will rally voters fed up with its 49-year rule.

“In some places Frelimo campaign members have been booed and openly rejected,” political commentator Charles Mangwiro tells the BBC.

Mozambique - strategically located along the southern African coast and rich in natural resources, but hit by an insurgency in the remote north - will hold presidential elections on Wednesday, along with parliamentary and gubernatorial elections.

President Filipe Nyusi is stepping down at the end of his two terms and hopes to hand the reigns of power to Chapo. His government had to deal with the fallout of the "tuna bond" corruption scandal - which triggered the country's worst economic crisis.

In comparison, Chapo is a breath of fresh air - and draws big crowds at rallies across the country as he distances himself from the corruption that has plagued Frelimo for much of its rule since independence in 1975.

"Brother Dan is honesty in person... He is the voice of hope we want to embrace... It's time for change," say the lyrics of one of his campaign songs.

But human rights activist and journalist Mirna Chitsungo says she doubts whether Chapo can convince all voters that he can change Frelimo.

"If we have a degraded country, it is because of corruption. He faces the challenge of promising to fight this evil while belonging to a party that, on a large scale, has perpetuated corruption," she told the BBC.

Counting in Chapo's favour is the fact that he is a relative newcomer in the political arena, having joined government only in 2011 as a district administrator, rising by 2019 to become governor of the southern Inhambane province until taking over as general secretary of Frelimo in May.

EPA
Daniel Chapo has promised that Mozambique will enter a period of "renewal" if he wins


But his critics say that to ensure victory, Frelimo has a back-up plan: fraud.

A leading non-governmental organisation in Mozambique, Centro de Integridade Pública, says its research showed that around 5% of the names on the voters' roll are fake, or so-called "ghost voters" - that is a figure of nearly 900,000.

“The simple fact is that data published by the CNE [Central National Elections Commission] itself shows that 878,868 more voters were registered than there are voting age adults in some provinces, and thus these are ghost voters on the voters roll,” Mozambique analyst Joe Hanlon told the BBC.

Miguel de Brito, from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, notes that the "ghost voters" are not evenly distributed across the country - only seven key provinces out of 10 have registered more voters than people.

For instance, one-third of all the people registered in Gaza Province, which usually votes overwhelmingly for Frelimo, are thought to be "ghost voters".

It is also the area where large numbers of people leave every year for work in South Africa.

“It’s gotten worse, this year we managed to register nationally almost 105% of the voting age population,” Mr De Brito told the BBC.

Both the election commission and Frelimo deny any foul play, insisting that the elections will be free and fair.

Chapo is facing a challenge from three other candidates:Venâncio Mondlane, an independent
Ossufo Momade of the main opposition Renamo party, and
Lutero Simango, who is spearheading the campaign of the third-biggest party, the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), with a promise to build more factories and lower the cost of living.

Of the three, Mondlane is the fresh face, vying for the presidency for the first time after breaking away from Renamo.

With the slogan "Save Mozambique - this country is ours", the 50-year-old is proving to be a big hit, especially in the campaign to win the youth vote.

"He [Mondlane] uses this slogan everywhere and he tries to explain to young voters that they should take pride in being Mozambican because conditions are there for them not to be poor or unemployed," Mangwiro explains.

"He draws large numbers at his campaign rallies and people are not frog-marched to attend - come rain, cold or sun.”

EPA
Venâncio Mondlane has emerged as the wildcard in the election


A former banker, Mondlane first made his mark when he ran for mayor of the capital, Maputo, in local elections last year.

Many people believed that he won - alleging the result was then rigged in favour of Frelimo's candidate.

Mondlane fought that election under the banner of Renamo, but quit the party after Momade, 60, refused to make way for him to take over.

Momade became Renamo's leader following the death of its long-time leader Afonso Dhlakama in 2018.

He is widely credited for signing a peace deal with Nyusi to end a civil war that had raged between Renamo fighters and government forces.

Momade ran for the presidency in elections in 2019, and claimed that he was robbed of victory by Nyusi, but remained committed to the peace deal.

Though he is confident of winning this time, his chances have been hampered by Mondlane's entry into the race - a point that Chitsungo, the human rights activist, made when she said that Mondlane is seen by many Renamo voters as a "young man with the spirit of Dhlakama".

"It is as if we are having elections with a resurrected Dhlakama, a rejuvenated Dhlakama. So, we have this novelty," she pointed out.

Getty Images
Renamo leader Ossufo Momade alleges that the ruling party stole the 2019 election from him


Chapo is hoping that the Renamo vote will be split between the two men, improving his chances of clinching victory.

In a sign of his determination to win, Chapo has travelled to next-door neighbour South Africa to raise funds for his campaign, hosting a banquet in an upmarket suburb of Johannesburg.

He also addressed ordinary Mozambicans in the city, urging them to cast their ballots for him at the embassy where they were able to register to vote earlier in the year.

"This is a candidacy for renewal," he told the crowd. "This is a unique opportunity I have to make a difference, almost 50 years after independence.”

Mondlane also took his campaign to Johannesburg, visiting a fresh-produce market that Mozambicans run in the city.

“I’ll sort out the problems that led you to abandon Mozambique,” he said.

The violence in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, which has witnessed jihadist attacks since 2017 that have halted the lucrative liquefied natural gas projects there, has not been a major election issue.

Rwandan and South Africans troops, deployed several years ago to deal with the insurgents, are still on the ground for now - though Ziyanda Stuurman, from political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, says there has been an “uptick in the frequency and severity of insurgent attacks since January”.

Most analysts agree the biggest challenge for any new president will be creating economic opportunities and jobs in a country where 62% of the population live in extreme poverty, on less than $1.90 (£1.45) a day.

But the election race is still wide open, with candidates and parties holding their final campaign rallies on Sunday.

Refusing to bet on who will win on Wednesday, Mangwiro, the political analyst, says: "It's too close to call."

BUSINESS AS USUAL

New leader takes over Haiti’s transitional presidential council marred by corruption allegations


 Ex-senator Louis Gerald Gilles, from left to right, pastor Frinel Joseph, barrister Emmanuel Vertilaire, businessman Laurent Saint-Cyr, interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, Judge Jean Joseph Lebrun, who is not a member of the council, former senate president Edgard Leblanc, Regine Abraham, former central bank governor Fritz Alphonse Jean, former diplomat Leslie Voltaire and former ambassador to the Dominican Republic Smith Augustin, pose for a group photo during an installation ceremony, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

BY EVENS SANON
October 7, 2024


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A new leader was sworn in for Haiti’s transitional presidential council on Monday as it grapples with the fallout of serious corruption allegations against three of its members.

Leslie Voltaire replaces Edgard Leblanc Fils in the rotating presidency of the council, which was created this year after targeted gang attacks forced Haiti’s former prime minister to resign, leaving the country without a leader.

In a brief speech, Voltaire pledged transparency and noted that much work remains to be done in a country in the grip of rampant gang violence.

“We are not satisfied with the security situation,” he said. “We are working to reestablish security throughout the whole country.”

He asked for a minute of silence for the more than 70 people killed Thursday by gang members in Pont-Sondé, a small town in central Haiti. It is that region’s biggest massacre in recent history

The transitional presidential council works alongside new Prime Minister Garry Conille and is responsible for helping run the country and organizing general elections by February 2026.

Voltaire takes over the council less than a week after an anti-corruption agency accused three of its members of demanding more than $750,000 from the director of the government-owned National Bank of Credit to secure his job.


RELATED STORIES

Haitian and Kenyan police try to oust gangs from a rough part of Haiti's capital

Investigators in Haiti accuse three members of transitional presidential council of corruption

Hunger in Haiti reaches famine level as gangs choke life out of the capital

Smith Augustin, Emmanuel Vertilaire and Louis Gérald Gilles have denied the allegations. All three were present during Monday’s swearing-in and declined to comment afterward.

Voltaire did not take questions after his speech.

In a brief statement Friday, the council acknowledged the report accusing the three members of corruption and said it would immediately take all measures to guarantee the stability of the state. It also signed a resolution modifying the rotating presidency, which Leblanc, the council’s former president, rejected, saying the corruption allegations had not been resolved.

Le Nouvelliste newspaper reported that Augustin was supposed to succeed Leblanc but was removed from the rotating presidency, as was Gilles.

Gilles and Vertilaire have said they would not step down from the council, according to the newspaper.

A woman goes on trial in Sweden for war crimes over allegedly abusing Yazidis in Syria


Prosecutor Reena Devgun speaks during a press conference regarding the indictment of a 52-year-old woman, associated with the Islamic State group, with genocide, crimes against humanity and serious war crimes against Yazidi women and children in Syria, in Stockholm, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)

BY JAN M. OLSEN
,October 7, 2024

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A 52-year-old woman associated with the Islamic State group went on trial on Monday in Sweden on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Yazidi women and children in Syria.

Lina Laina Ishaq, who is a Swedish citizen, is accused of committing the crimes during the period from August 2014 to December 2016 in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which at the time was the seat of the militant group’s self-proclaimed caliphate and home to about 300,000 people.

The trial marks the first time that IS attacks against the Yazidis, one of Iraq’s oldest religious minorities, have been tried in Sweden. The hearings are expected to last about two months, most of them behind closed doors.

The crimes took place under IS rule in Raqqa, where Ishaq was living at the time.

Under IS rule, Yazidi women and children were “regarded as property and subjected to being traded as slaves, sexual slavery, forced labor, deprivation of liberty and extrajudicial executions,” prosecutor Reena Devgun said when the charges were made public last month.

The prosecution says that at her home in Raqqa, Ishaq abused Yazidis with the aim to ”completely or partially annihilate the Yazidi ethnic group,” Devgun said as the trial opened at the Stockholm District Court, the Swedish TT news agency said.


RELATED STORIES

Sweden charges a woman with war crimes for allegedly torturing Yazidi women and children in Syria

The charge sheet, obtained by The Associated Press, says Ishaq is suspected of holding nine people, including children, for up to seven months, treated them as slaves and also abused several of those she held captive.

Ishaq, who denies wrongdoing, is also accused of having molested a baby, said to have been 1 month old at the time, by holding a hand over the child’s mouth when he screamed to silence him. She is also suspected of having sold people to IS, knowing they risked being killed or subjected to serious sexual abuse.

The Islamic State group abducted Yazidi women and children and brought them to Syria in 2014, when IS militants stormed Yazidi towns and villages in Iraq’s Sinjar region. Women were forced into sexual slavery, and boys were taken to be indoctrinated in jihadi ideology.

Three years later, when the Islamic State’s reign began to collapse, Ishaq fled from Raqqa and was captured by Syrian Kurdish troops.

She managed to escape to Turkey where she was arrested with her son and two other children she had given birth to in the meantime with an IS foreign fighter from Tunisia. She was later extradited to Sweden.

Ishaq was earlier convicted in Sweden and sentenced to three years in prison for taking her 2-year-old son to Syria in 2014, to an area then controlled by IS. She had claimed that at the time, she had told the child’s father that she and the boy were only going on a holiday to Turkey. However, once in Turkey, the two crossed into Syria and into IS-run territory.

Ishaq who already is in prison, was identified through information from a U.N. team investigating atrocities in Iraq, known as UNITAD.

No evidence of major fuel spill on Samoan reef where New Zealand navy ship sank



In this image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), HMNZS Manawanui arrives in Funafuti Lagoon, Tuvalu, on Sept. 7, 2022. (PO Christopher Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)


This image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), shows HMNZS Manawanui at the Three Kings islands off the coast New Zealand, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Petty Officer Chris Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)

Smoke rises from the sinking HMNZS Manawanui in Upolu, Samoa, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2022. (Dave Poole via AP)

BY CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-MCLAY
 October 7, 2024Share


WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Divers and marine experts found no evidence of a major fuel spill on a Samoan reef Tuesday after a New Zealand navy ship ran aground and sank, Samoa’s deputy prime minister said.

All 75 people on board the HMNZS Manawanui evacuated safely as the boat foundered about a mile off the coast of Upolu, Samoa, early Sunday. The ship was one of only nine in New Zealand’s navy and was the first the country lost at sea since World War II.

Samoan Deputy Prime Minister Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio had earlier said a fuel spill was “highly probable.” But he said Tuesday there was no evidence of oil spilling onto the reefs, ashore and nearby area, except for “small leakages of oil coming from the vessel.” That had been contained using specialized equipment, Ponifasio said in a statement.

The vessel’s passengers — including civilian scientists and foreign military personnel — left the vessel on life boats in “challenging conditions” and darkness, New Zealand’s Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told reporters. It took five hours for the first survivors to reach land, he said.

One person was treated in a hospital for minor injuries and has been discharged, the military said. Up to 17 others sustained cuts, bruises or suspected concussions. An Air Force plane carrying 72 people from the ship landed at an air base in Auckland on Monday night.


RELATED STORIES

Samoa warns of 'highly probable' oil spill after New Zealand navy ship sinks


New Zealand official says Western neglect of Pacific Islands let other nations boost their influence

New Zealand will hold a court of inquiry into the loss of the ship. The cause of the accident is not known, but Defense Minister Judith Collins told 1News on Monday that she had been told a loss of power to the vessel had led to its grounding.


The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019, but was 20 years old and had previously belonged to Norway, Collins said. It was surveying a reef off the coast of Upolu, Samoa’s most populous island, when it ran aground on the reef and began taking on water.

Photos and videos taken from the shore appeared to show the ship listing before disappearing completely below the waves, with a large plume of smoke rising where it sank.

Manu Percival, a surfing tour guide who works in the area where the ship sank, told The Associated Press by phone that oil was not visible from the ship but debris had littered the water and shoreline, and locals were not gathering shellfish as they normally did. It was too soon to know if the “fragile” reef ecosystem had been damaged, he said.

Ponifasio said marine scientists were testing water samples from nearby beaches for any traces of oil.

The military said the ship, purchased for $100 million NZ dollars ($61 million) in 2018, was not covered by replacement insurance.

The state of New Zealand’s aging military hardware has prompted warnings from the defense agency, which in a March report described the navy as “extremely fragile,” with ships idle due to problems retaining the staff needed to service and maintain them. Of the navy’s eight remaining ships, five are currently operational.


Golding said the HMNZS Manawanui underwent a maintenance period before the deployment. The ship’s captain was an experienced commander who had worked on the vessel for two years, he said.
___

IAEA team samples seawater near Fukushima plant to ensure safe release of wastewater


This photo shows the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, on Aug. 22, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

BY MARI YAMAGUCHI
 October 7, 2024

TOKYO (AP) — A team of scientists from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Fukushima on Monday as part of an annual monitoring and sampling mission to ensure safety of the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea, officials said.

Japan began discharging the wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in August 2023. The plant was damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, triggering meltdowns in its three reactors and large amounts of radioactive water to accumulate.

China protested and blocked imports of Japanese seafood, which has hit Japanese seafood exporters

The IAEA team will take samples from the plant, coastal waters and a fish market in nearby Iwaki city. It will also visit to a national laboratory near Tokyo and meet with Japanese officials.

In late September, Japan and China announced a deal that would ease China’s seafood ban and include Beijing in the monitoring of the wastewater discharges under the framework of the IAEA.

The latest IAEA mission, which included experts from China, is not related to the China-Japan deal, officials said.

Japan says the discharge meets international safety standards and is being monitored by the IAEA. Japan has criticized China over its seafood ban as unscientific and demanded an immediate end to the measure.