Disappeared Bangladeshi lawyer recounts horror in secret jail

Blindfolded, handcuffed and bundled out of his secret prison for the first time in eight years, Bangladeshi barrister Ahmad Bin Quasem held his breath and listened for the sound of a cocked pistol.Instead, he was tossed from a car and into a muddy ditch on Dhaka’s outskirts — alive, at liberty, and with no knowledge of the national upheaval that had prompted his abrupt release.“That’s the first time I got fresh air in eight years,” Quasem, 40, told AFP. “I thought they were going to kill me.”Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister responsible for Quasem’s abduction and disappearance, had fled the country hours earlier.Her August 5 departure brought a sudden curtain down on 15 years of autocracy that included the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of her political opponents.But Quasem was in the dark.He had been confined in the “House of Mirrors” (Aynaghar), a facility run by army intelligence, given its name because its detainees were never supposed to see any other person besides themselves.Throughout his long incarceration, Quasem was shackled around the clock in windowless solitary confinement.His jailers were under strict instruction not to relay news from the outside world.‘Screaming’Elsewhere in the detention centre, guards blared music throughout the day that drowned out the Islamic call to prayer from nearby mosques.It prevented Quasem, a devout Muslim, from knowing when he should offer his prayers — and from keeping track of how long had elapsed since his abduction.When the music was off, he heard the anguished sounds of other detainees.“Slowly, slowly, I could realise that I am not alone,” he said. “I could hear people crying, I could hear people being tortured, I could hear people screaming.”Human Rights Watch last year said security forces had committed “over 600 enforced disappearances” since Hasina came to power in 2009.Rumours abounded of a secret black site housing some of that number, but Aynaghar was unknown to the public until the publication abroad of a 2022 whistleblower report.Hasina’s government consistently maintained afterwards that it did not exist.It also denied committing enforced disappearances, claiming some of those reported missing had drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe.‘Days before my father’s execution’Quasem is certain of the reason for his abduction.His father, Mir Quasem Ali, a senior member of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, was on trial that year.Ali was accused of running a paramilitary group that tortured pro-independence Bangladeshis during the country’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.He and several others were indicted by a war crimes tribunal, ostensibly to bring justice to the victims of that devastating conflict, but widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate political opponents.Whether or not Ali was guilty, there was no way of knowing from the mockery of justice that accompanied his prosecution.Quasem, called to the bar in London and then aged 32, was running his father’s defence.His regular media briefings on procedural lapses and judicial bias at the tribunal, echoed by rights groups and UN experts, put a target on his back.Plainclothes men entered his house one night, snatched him from his family, dragged him down the stairs and threw him in a waiting car.“I never could believe in my wildest dreams that they would subject me to disappearance just days before my father’s execution,” Quasem said.“I kept telling them, “Do you know who I am? I need to be there to conduct my case. I need to be there with my family.’”Quasem’s father was hanged four weeks later. Quasem did not know until about three more years had passed, when one of his jailers accidentally let it slip.‘It felt like eight lifetimes’After the car that had carried him out of prison sped away, Quasem walked through the night to try and find his way home.By sheer coincidence, he came across a medical clinic operated by a charity for which his father had once been a trustee.He was recognised by a staff member and a phone number was frantically tracked down to contact his family, who came rushing to be with him.But first, the excited chatter of those around him filled Quasem in on the weeks of student protests that had resulted in his release.“This entire thing, it was made possible by few teenagers,” he said.“When I see these children, these kids, leading the way,” he added, “I am really hopeful this will be the opportunity where Bangladesh finds a new direction.”Quasem and his family received AFP warmly into their home — but the trauma of his detention was immediately apparent.The thick, coiffed hairdo he sported before his detention has receded into a few wild tufts, and he has lost an alarming amount of weight.His wife Tahmina Akhter said the publicity around Quasem’s case left her feeling ostracised by other mothers at their children’s school.The family was reliably hounded every anniversary of his disappearance and warned to stop publicising it.His two young daughters were three and four years old when he was taken away.The elder witnessed his abduction and is still scared of certain authority figures, such as the private security guard posted outside her school.The younger did not remember him at all.“It didn’t feel like eight years for us,” Quasem’s mother Ayesha Khatoon told AFP.“It felt like eight lifetimes.” - AFP

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689107/international/disappeared-bangladeshi-lawyer-recounts-horror-in-secret-jail

Record-breaking Nepali teen eyes final 8,000m peak

At just 18 years old, Nepali mountaineer Nima Rinji Sherpa is on the brink of a remarkable achievement. With 13 of the world’s highest peaks already behind him, he is now one summit away from becoming the youngest person to conquer all 14 mountains towering above 8,000m (26,247 feet).Sherpa, who already holds multiple records from his ascents of dozens of peaks, said he is on a mission to “inspire a new generation and redefine mountaineering”. His final challenge, Shishapangma in Tibet, awaits him next month - if China issues a permit.Summiting all 14 “eight-thousanders” is considered the epitome of mountaineering aspirations. Italian climber Reinhold Messner first completed the feat in 1986, and only around 40 climbers have successfully followed in his footsteps. Many other elite climbers have died in the pursuit. All of the mountains are in the Himalayas and neighbouring Karakoram range, which span Nepal, China, India and Pakistan.Reaching each summit requires entering the thin air of the “death zone”, where there is not enough oxygen to sustain life for long. “When I am in the mountains, I may die anytime,” Sherpa said. “You need to realise how important your life is.” The young man says the mountains have taught him to stay calm.“Mentally, I have convinced myself...when I see an avalanche, bad weather, an accident in the mountains I am not in a hurry, I don’t get nervous,” he added. “I have convinced myself; this is normal in the mountains. I think this has helped me a lot.”Hailing from the Sherpa ethnic group, renowned for its mountaineering prowess, the teenage climber is no stranger to the treacherous terrain. His uncle, Mingma Gyabu ‘David’ Sherpa, currently holds the record of the youngest person to climb all 14 peaks. He achieved it in 2019, at the age of 30.His father, Tashi Sherpa, grew up in the remote Sankhuwasabha district, herding yaks before joining mountaineering as a teenager with his siblings. The entrepreneurial brothers now lead the biggest mountain expedition company in Nepal, Seven Summit Treks, and its sister company, 14 Peaks Expedition.“I come from a privileged family,” the teen climber said. “But going to the mountains has taught me what hardship is, and the real value of life”. Raised in the bustling capital Kathmandu, Sherpa initially preferred to play football. He was also more interested in filming and photography than following his father’s footsteps.“My whole family is from mountaineering. I have always been near mountaineering and expeditions,” he said. “But I never wanted to be myself in mountaineering.”Instead, he would take his camera out to the mountains during school holidays.But two years ago, he put his camera down to pursue mountaineering, and has since broken records.In August 2022, Sherpa scaled his first of the 14 peaks, reaching the top of the world’s eighth highest Mount Manaslu (8,163m) at the age of 16, the first teenager to do so.The last mountain he scaled was Kanchenjunga in June, again making a record for the youngest to climb the world’s third-highest mountain.“I have learned so many things about nature, the human body, human psychology”, he said. “Everything in the world I learnt from the mountain.”When not in the mountains, the student runs on the treadmill every day and avoids junk food. “Physically and mentally, you should be very fit for big mountain climbing,” his father Tashi Sherpa said, adding he had been helping him prepare for the challenge for years.“He will inspire newcomers,” he added.Nepali guides - usually ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest - are considered the backbone of the climbing industry in the Himalayas. They carry the majority of equipment and food, fix ropes and repair ladders.Long in the shadows of their paying foreign customers - it costs more than $45,000 to climb Everest - Nepali mountaineers are slowly being recognised in their own right.The teenager envisions a future where climbing is recognised as a demanding, athletic pursuit for Nepali climbers as well. “My focus will be to make mountaineering a professional sport,” he said.His hero is Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first person to climb the world’s highest mountain Everest along with New Zealander Edmund Hillary. Sherpa considers his idol as big to climbing as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo are to football. “Norgay is someone who is in that league,” he said.But, having seen the impacts of climate change and commercial climbing on the mountains, he is keen on taking a sustainable approach to mountaineering, and intends to study environmental science. “It’s a bigger purpose for what I do,” he said. “When I first started climbing, it was purely for myself,” he added. “But then I realised there is a lot we can do in mountaineering sports, and there are many ways to help the community.”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689059/international/record-breaking-nepali-teen-eyes-final-8000m-peak

20 Pakistanis killed in bus accident in Iran

Twenty Pakistanis were killed and 22 others were injured in a bus accident in Yazd province in central Iran.According to initial reports, the accident occurred in the city of Taft in Yazd province, when a bus carrying 53 people overturned and caught fire due to brake failure, Iran News Agency (IRNA) reported.Rescue teams arrived at the accident site and recovered the bodies of the victims, while the injured people were transferred to the hospital for treatment.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689021/international/20-pakistanis-killed-in-bus-accident-in-iran

Africa could start mpox vaccinations within days

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other African countries could start vaccinating against mpox within days, Africa’s top public health agency said yesterday.The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has been working with countries experiencing mpox outbreaks on logistics and communication strategies to roll out vaccine doses that are due to arrive following pledges by the European Union, vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic, the United States and Japan.The World Health Organisation last week declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as a new variant of the disease spread rapidly in Africa.“We didn’t start vaccinations yet. We’ll start in a few days, if we are sure that everything is in place. End of next week vaccines will start to arrive in DRC and other countries,” Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya told a briefing.“We need to make sure that the supply chain management, the logistics are ready...to ensure that this vaccine will be safely stored and can be safely administered to people who need them.”He said studies on the efficacy of different vaccines would continue in Africa while shots are being administered, so countries better understand which shots are appropriate in their context.African states reported more than 1,400 additional mpox cases over the past week, taking the total number of cases in the 12 African countries where mpox has been detected to almost 19,000 since the start of the 2024, an Africa CDC presentation showed.Cases are up more than 100% on the same period last year, and Kaseya said it was too early to say mpox outbreaks on the continent were improving.Mpox, a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild but can kill. More than one strain is spreading simultaneously in Africa.Kaseya said African countries wanted solidarity, rather than being treated unfairly like during the Covid-19 pandemic.“I clearly request our partners to stop thinking about travel bans against Africans, that one will bring us back on the unfair treatment that we had during the Covid time,” he said.“Solidarity means we need you to provide appropriate support in terms of medical counter-measures,” he added, saying African countries needed help increasing their testing rate as well as accessing vaccines.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689007/international/africa-could-start-mpox-vaccinations-within-days

Mpox ‘not the new Covid’, says WHO

The mpox outbreak is not another Covid-19, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday, because much is already known about the virus and the means to control it.While more research is needed on the Clade 1b strain which triggered the UN agency into declaring an international health emergency, the spread of mpox can be reined in, the WHO’s European director Hans Kluge said.“Mpox is not the new Covid,” he said.“We know how to control mpox. And, in the European region, the steps needed to eliminate its transmission altogether,” he told a media briefing in Geneva, via video-link.In July 2022, the WHO declared an emergency over the international outbreak of the less severe Clade 2b strain of mpox, which mostly affected men who have sex with men. The alarm was lifted in May 2023.“We controlled mpox in Europe thanks to the direct engagement with the most affected communities,” said Kluge.Robust surveillance, investigating case contacts, behaviour changes in the affected communities and vaccination all contributed to controlling the outbreak, he said.Kluge said the risk to the general population was low.“Are we going to go in lockdown in the WHO European region, (as if) it’s another Covid-19? The answer is clearly: ‘no’,” he said.Clade 1b is spreading mainly through sexual transmission among adults.Kluge said it was also possible that someone in the acute phase of mpox infection, especially with blisters in the mouth, may transmit the virus to close contacts by droplets, in circumstances such as in the home or in hospitals.“The modes of transmission are still a bit unclear. More research is required,” he said.WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said the agency was not recommending the use of masks.“We are not recommending mass vaccination. We are recommending to use vaccines in outbreak settings for the groups who are most at risk,” he added.The WHO declared an international health emergency on August 14, concerned by the rise in cases of Clade 1b in the DR Congo and its spread to nearby countries.There are two subtypes of mpox: the more virulent and deadlier Clade 1, endemic in the Congo Basin in central Africa; and Clade 2, endemic in West Africa.Clade 1b is a new offshoot of Clade 1, which is now called Clade 1a.The Clade 1b outbreak in northeastern DRC was first detected in September last year and is spreading rapidly.Catherine Smallwood, WHO Europe’s emergency operations programme area manager, explained that the split of Clade 1 into 1a and 1b reflects “change in the evolution of the virus.”Clade 1a traditionally has outbreaks resulting from infections from sick animals, with some limited follow-on transmission between humans at the household level, or within communities.But with Clade 1B, “we have not isolated or detected zoonotic transmission of Clade 1b,” said Smallwood.“So it seems to be a strain of the virus that’s circulating exclusively within the human population.”Experts are trying to work out if there is a difference in disease severity between Clades 1a and 1b.The available vaccines were originally developed for smallpox, and are effective against other viruses in the wider orthopoxvirus family, such as mpox.Two mpox vaccines have been used in recent years — MVA-BN, produced by Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic, and Japan’s LC16.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/689008/international/mpox-not-the-new-covid-says-who

Santos pleads guilty; faces at least two years in prison

Former US Representative George Santos pleaded guilty to criminal corruption charges yesterday, cementing the downfall of a novice politician who was expelled from Congress last year after a brief, scandal-plagued tenure.

Santos, a Republican, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a minimum two-year prison sentence. He entered his guilty plea at a hearing before US District Judge Joanna Seybert in Central Islip, New York, on Long Island.

After pleading guilty, Santos, 36, apologised to his constituents.

“I deeply regret my conduct and the harm it has caused and accept full responsibility for my actions,” Santos said in court, his voice shaking as he read from a prepared statement.

Santos was hit with federal charges in May 2023 for laundering campaign funds to pay for his personal expenses, charging donors’ credit cards without their consent, and receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed. Santos had initially pleaded not guilty. He had been in plea talks with prosecutors since last December.

His indictment prompted lawmakers to expel him from the House of Representatives in December. “To hell with this place,” he said shortly afterward. Santos spent much of his 11 months in office engulfed in scandal and marginalised by his fellow lawmakers following revelations that he had lied about much of his past. A bipartisan investigation by the House Ethics Committee found he spent campaign money on Botox, luxury brands such as Hermes, and OnlyFans, an online platform known for sexual content.

Santos’ seat, which represents a small slice of New York City and some of its eastern suburbs, was filled in a special election in February by Democrat Tom Suozzi.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688943/international/santos-pleads-guilty-faces-at-least-two-years-in-prison

Egypt, US inaugurate renovations of buildings in Historic Cairo

Egyptian officials and the US ambassador inaugurated renovations of several monuments and buildings in Historic Cairo, including the Bimaristan Al-Muayyad Sheikh, a hospital complex built in 1420 CE.The building is notable for its giant crenulated facade and inlaid kufic Arabic inscriptions.“It is a new policy the government is following, which is to merge civil society to help preserve the antiquities,” Mohamed Ismael, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said.The building will be used for cultural functions with the involvement of the neighbourhood’s people, he added.Other monuments restored with US Agency for International Development (USAID) help and inaugurated on Sunday included the 18th century Sabil Kuttab of Ruqayya Dudu and the 14th century Gate of Manjak Al-Silahdar.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688942/international/egypt-us-inaugurate-renovations-of-buildings-in-historic-cairo

Putin arrives in Azerbaijan for state visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku yesterday for a two-day state visit, Russian news agencies reported. Russian television broadcast images of the Russian president’s plane as it arrived in Baku in the evening. His visit to the Caucasus country, a close partner of both Moscow and Turkiye but also a major energy supplier to Western countries, comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented Ukrainian military offensive on Russian soil.Putin is due to hold talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on bilateral relations and “international and regional problems”, the Kremlin said.The two leaders dined yesterday evening at the Azerbaijani president’s official residence, local official news agency Asertac said.Today, Aliyev and Putin will sign joint documents and make statements to the press, said Russian agency Ria Novosti.Putin will also lay a wreath on the tomb of Heydar Aliyev, father of the current leader, who was president from 1993-2003.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688864/international/putin-arrives-in-azerbaijan-for-state-visit

Trump, Harris fight for Pennsylvania with rally, bus tour

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris will hold duelling campaign events this weekend in Pennsylvania, the political battleground that could be the most critical state in the November 5 presidential election.Trump, the former president, held a rally yesterday in Wilkes-Barre in the northeastern part of the state. Vice-President Harris will conduct a bus tour of western Pennsylvania starting in Pittsburgh today, ahead of the kick-off of the Democratic National Convention on Monday in Chicago.Pennsylvania was one of three Rust Belt states, along with Wisconsin and Michigan, that helped power Trump’s upset victory in the 2016 election. President Joe Biden, who grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, flipped the trio back to the Democrats in 2020.The three states are true bellwethers — the only US states to have voted for the eventual winner of the presidential race in every cycle since 2008.With 19 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to secure the White House, compared with 15 in Michigan and 10 in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania may be the biggest prize in this year’s election.A statistical model created by Nate Silver, an election forecaster, estimates that Pennsylvania is more than twice as likely as any other to be the “tipping point” state — the one whose electoral votes push either Harris or Trump over the top.Harris’ entry into the race after Biden ended his re-election bid last month has upended the contest, erasing the lead Trump built during the final weeks of Biden’s shaky campaign. Harris is leading Trump by more than two percentage points in Pennsylvania, according to the poll tracking website FiveThirtyEight.Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016 by about 44,000 votes, a margin of less than one percentage point, while Biden prevailed by just over 80,000 votes in 2020, a 1.2% margin.Both campaigns have made the state a top priority, blanketing the airwaves with advertisements. Of the more than $110mn spent on advertising in seven battleground states since Biden dropped out in late July, roughly $42mn was spent in Pennsylvania, more than twice any other state, the *Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing data from the tracking site AdImpact.Democratic and Republican groups have already reserved $114mn in ad time in Pennsylvania from late August through the election, more than twice as much as the $55mn reserved in Arizona, the next highest total, according to AdImpact.The Harris campaign said on Saturday it planned to spend at least $370mn on digital and television ads nationwide between the Labour Day holiday on September 2 and Election Day.The battleground states — seen as critical for winning the election — also include Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Georgia.New polls published yesterday by the *New York Times found Harris leading Trump among likely voters in Arizona, 50% to 45%, and in North Carolina, 49% to 47%, and narrowing the former president’s leads in Nevada, 47% to 49%, and in Georgia, 46% to 50%. A pollster from the Trump campaign said the poll results underestimated the Republican candidate’s support.Trump and Harris have visited Pennsylvania more than half a dozen times each this year. Trump was wounded during an assassination attempt at his rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.He has said he will return to Butler in October, and also announced he will give remarks on the economy at a campaign event in York, Pennsylvania, tomorrow. Trump’s running mate, US Senator J D Vance, will deliver remarks in Philadelphia that day as well.Trump’s trip yesterday to Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County was aimed at solidifying support among the white, non-college-educated voters who lifted him to victory in 2016. The blue-collar county voted Democratic for decades before swinging heavily toward Trump in 2016, mirroring other similar regions around the country.Trump won Luzerne in 2020 by 14.4 percentage points, a smaller margin than his 19.4 point win in 2016. With Biden out of the picture, Trump likely sees room for gains in this area of the state, said Chris Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College. “This is the type of place where Trump has lots of strengths,” Borick said, referring to the state’s northeast region. “Marginal gains in a region like this certainly could have some impact on his ability to take back Pennsylvania.”Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will make multiple stops across Allegheny and Beaver counties on Sunday, the campaign said. The tour is the first time Harris, Walz and their spouses have campaigned together since their first rally as a presidential ticket in Philadelphia earlier this month.Pennsylvania was at the heart of Biden’s victorious 2020 strategy across the Rust Belt states: limiting Trump’s margins among working-class white voters while building majorities among suburban voters and driving higher turnout in urban areas with large Black populations.The Harris campaign is pursuing a similar “win big, lose small” strategy, aiming for large margins in the cities and suburbs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, while limiting losses in smaller counties like Beaver County, where Trump won 58% of the vote in 2020.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688826/international/trump-harris-fight-for-pennsylvania-with-rally-bus-tour

Ukraine ‘strengthening positions in Russia’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday his forces were strengthening their positions in Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv has been mounting a major ground offensive for more than 11 days.His comments came a day after Moscow accused Ukraine of destroying a key bridge over a river in the border region, as Kyiv seeks to disrupt supply routes and the movement of Moscow’s troops in the area.Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrsky “reported on the strengthening of the positions of our forces in the Kursk region and the expansion of stabilised territory”, Zelensky said in a post on Telegram.“As of this morning, we have replenished the exchange fund for our country,” Zelensky said, referring to Russian soldiers Ukraine has captured to be used in future prisoner swaps.“The operation is proceeding exactly as we expected,” the Ukrainian leader later said in his evening address.Kyiv claims to have taken control of more than 80 settlements including the key town of Sudzha in its lightning incursion, which caught the Kremlin off guard almost two and a half years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.The Russian defence ministry said yesterday it had pushed back Ukrainian forces near three settlements in the Kursk region, and was searching for “mobile enemy groups” trying to pierce deeper into the country.Russian officials on Friday accused Ukraine of striking a strategically important bridge just a couple dozen kilometres away from fighting in the Kursk region. The region’s governor, Alexei Smirnov, said on Friday evening the bridge went over the Seym river in the Glushkovsky district, some 11km away from the border.An aerial video published by Ukrainian air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk appeared to show the bridge being hit by a projectile at high speed before collapsing in a cloud of smoke.“Ukrainian pilots are conducting precision strikes on enemy strongholds, equipment concentrations, as well as on enemy logistics centres and supply routes,” he said on Telegram.Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the bridge was “completely destroyed” and that “volunteers providing assistance to the evacuated civilian population were killed”.“All those responsible for these inhumane acts will be severely punished,” she said. Russian shelling attacks killed at least two people in east and northeast Ukraine yesterday, according to Ukrainian officials.In the eastern Donetsk region city of Myrnograd, about 5km east of Pokrovsk, Russian shelling killed at least one person and wounded four others, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said. He posted pictures on Telegram showing the collapsed rubble of a high-rise building and flaming debris on the street there.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688827/international/ukraine-strengthening-positions-in-russia

Fear grips east DR Congo as displaced await mpox vaccine

An ever-growing number of patients have been flocking to a Goma hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), where a rapidly-spreading epidemic of mpox has erupted in recent months.Between 5-20 people are walking each day into Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital in North Kivu to consult overburdened medical teams at an outdoor isolation centre, fearing they are ill with the virus.The disease can spread from animals to humans, but also human-to-human through sexual or close physical contact.Dr Tresor Basubi inspected the breathing and heartbeat of a calm little girl whose body was covered in skin lesions caused by the disease, which has killed 541 people so far this year.Cases have now surfaced in all provinces of the DR Congo , a country of 100mn people.“This is just the start, the child is not asthenic, she does not show severe symptoms, she can walk on her own,” said Basubi as he examined the girl.In benign cases, which make up the great majority of infections, treatments can help relieve the symptoms – including paracetamol to reduce fevers and a zinc oxide cream to soothe the lesions.“Patients get itchy but the scars go away with time,” the doctor added.While mpox cases have emerged previously, a new more deadly and more transmissible strain of the virus – Clade 1b – causes death in around 2.89% of cases, with infants and children being more at risk, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).The DR Congo, which has recorded around 16,000 cases so far this year, is the epicentre of an epidemic that led the WHO to trigger on Wednesday its highest level of international alert.The neighbouring province of South Kivu alone has been detecting some 350 new cases per week, said Justin Bengehya, an epidemiologist at the provincial health division of South Kivu.Goma, the capital of North Kivu, almost surrounded by an armed rebellion and where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are crammed into makeshift camps, fears a large-scale spread due to promiscuity.At the treatment centre, parents held their contagious children in their arms despite risks of skin-to-skin transmission, and as staff has been raising awareness about prevention measures.“My son was hospitalised here for mpox, and my daughter was looking after him,” said Deogracias Mahombi Sekabanza, a health worker who brought his daughter Confiance. “After they got out on a Sunday, my daughter began showing the same symptoms by Wednesday.”Sekabanza said his son was infected after playing with friends.Furaha Makambo has been living in a nearby tent with her three children, Ornella, Rachelle et Baraka – all contracted mpox on the camp where they have been displaced.“My children sleep on the same bed and they are constantly contaminated at the same time, and I didn’t have an extra bed to separate them,” said Makambo.After her husband passed away, she fled her home region of Masisi in eastern DR Congo, where violent armed groups are operating, and sought refuge in Goma.“We are scared. This disease needs to be eradicated so that it stops reaching the displaced because it can exterminate us,” she told AFP.While preventative measures and experience from previous epidemics are helping staff respond to suspected cases swiftly, children in particular struggle with social distancing.“This disease is very contagious. If you touch the sweat, urine or even clothes of a sick person, you are directly exposed,” said Basubi. “Washing hands with soap or ashes can help protect you but there is no guarantee.”In a tent she shares with three children from other families, Nyota Mukobelwa, a doughnut vendor who was displaced by fighting, sat on her bed, chuckling elegantly in front of cameras.“The vaccine needs to be available, otherwise the epidemic will continue to spread, many people will die and we will contaminate our children at home,” she said.The WHO has urged manufacturers to ramp up production of mpox vaccines to rein in the spread of Clade 1b cases, asking countries to donate stockpiles to countries with outbreaks.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688808/international/fear-grips-east-dr-congo-as-displaced-await-mpox-vaccine