Attacks on a UN base in Timbuktu have “almost certainly” been perpetuated by an Islamist group, according to the secretary general of the Episcopal Conference of Mali.
Claiming that Tuareg rebel groups are committed to peace agreements signed with the government, and that there is no fighting between them and either the Malian army or MINUSMA, the UN mission group, Fr Edmond Dembele said the attack was probably committed by the same group that attacked a hotel in the capital Bamako in November and a restaurant in Burkina Faso last month.
“Their goal is to destabilise not only Mali but the entire sub-region. It is no coincidence that they attack MINUSMA in Mali which is a stabilising force,” he said, adding that the threat had now reached Senegal.
Senegal’s capital Dakar and the rest of the country are, however, being tightly monitored by security forces, he said, expressing the hope that such measures should counteract the regional threat.
Zika crisis ‘no grounds for abortion’
Brazil’s bishops have urged people not to panic following reports that 404 children have been born with microcephaly in the country which has seen more cases of the Zika virus than any other.
“With great collective effort, involving all sectors of society, we will be able to defeat these diseases that affect, without distinction, the entire Brazilian population,” the Pastoral Council of the National Episcopal Conference of Bishops of Brazil said in a statement. They urged the whole Brazilian Church to continue and intensify the fight against the mosquito aedes aegyti, which transmits the zika virus, dengue and chikungunya.
