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Somalia and the African Union reacted angrily Friday after Israel became the first country to formally recognise the northern region of Somaliland as an independent state.Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and has pushed for international recognition for decades, with president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi making it a top priority since taking office last year.Israel announced Friday that it viewed Somaliland as an “independent and sovereign state”, prompting Somalia to call the decision a “deliberate attack” on its sovereignty that would undermine regional peace.Several other countries condemned Israel’s decision. The African Union (AU) rejected the move and warned that it risked “setting a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent”.Somaliland “remains an integral part” of Somalia, an AU member, said the pan-African body’s head Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords”, referring to a series of agreements brokered by US President Donald Trump in his first term that normalised ties between Israel and several Arab nations.Netanyahu had invited Abdullahi to visit, the Israeli leader’s office said.Asked by the New York Post newspaper whether the United States planned to also recognise Somaliland, Trump said “no”.”Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” he added.Hailing Israel’s decision as a “historic moment”, Abdullahi said in a post on X that it marked the beginning of a “strategic partnership”.The Palestinian Authority rejected Israel’s recognition of Somaliland.It said on X that Israel had previously named Somaliland “as a destination for the forced displacement of our Palestinian people, particularly from the Gaza Strip”, and warned against “complicity” with such a move.In Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, crowds of people took to the streets to celebrate, many carrying the flag of the breakaway state, said sources.- ‘Overt interference’ -Turkey, a close ally of Somalia, also condemned the move.”This initiative by Israel, which aligns with its expansionist policy… constitutes overt interference in Somalia’s domestic affairs”, a foreign ministry statement said.Egypt said its top diplomat had spoken with counterparts from Turkey, Somalia and Djibouti, who together condemned the move and emphasised “full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia”.In a video showing Netanyahu speaking to Abdullahi by telephone, the Israeli leader said that he believed the new relationship would offer economic opportunities.”I am very, very happy and I am very proud of this day and I want to wish you and the people of Somaliland the very, very best,” Netanyahu said.A self-proclaimed republic, Somaliland enjoys a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden and has its own money, passports and army.But it has been diplomatically isolated since unilaterally declaring independence.- Strategic move -Israel’s regional security interests may lie behind the move.”Israel requires allies in the Red Sea region for many strategic reasons, among them the possibility of a future campaign against the Houthis,” said the Institute for National Security Studies in a paper last month, referring to Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels.Israel repeatedly hit targets in Yemen after the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, in response to Houthi attacks on Israel that the rebels said were in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.The Houthis have halted their attacks since a fragile truce began in Gaza in October.Somaliland’s lack of international recognition has hampered access to foreign loans, aid and investment, and the territory remains deeply impoverished.A deal between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland last year to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base enraged Somalia.Israel has been trying to bolster relations with countries in the Middle East and Africa.Historic agreements struck late in Trump’s first term in 2020 saw several countries including the Muslim-majority United Arab Emirates and Morocco normalise relations with Israel.But wars that have stoked Arab anger, particularly in Gaza, have hampered recent efforts to expand ties further.burs-jj/jgc/ceg/mjw

Somalia and the African Union reacted angrily Friday after Israel formally recognised the northern region of Somaliland as an “independent and sovereign state” — the first country to do so.Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, has for decades pushed for international recognition, which has been the key priority for president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi since he took office last year.But a Somali foreign ministry statement warned the decision was a “deliberate attack” on its sovereignty that would undermine peace in the region. Several other countries also condemned Israel’s decision.The African Union said it “firmly rejects” Israel’s move, warning: “Any attempt to undermine the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Somalia…risks setting a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent.”Somaliland “remains an integral part of the Federal Republic of Somalia”, which is a member of the AU, the pan-African body’s head, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, said.Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he announced “the official recognition of the Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state”, making Israel the first country to do so.”The declaration is in the spirit of the Abraham Accords,” Netanyahu’s office said, referring to several agreements between Israel and Arab countries brokered by US President Donald Trump during his first presidency to normalise ties with Israel.It said Netanyahu had invited Abdullahi to visit.Trump, when asked by the New York Post newspaper about US recognition of Somaliland, said “no” and added: “Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?”Hailing Israel’s decision, Abdullahi said in a post on X that it marked the beginning of a “strategic partnership”.”This is a historic moment as we warmly welcome” he said, affirming “Somaliland’s readiness to join the Abraham Accords,” he added.In Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, crowds of people took to the streets to celebrate, many carrying the flag of the breakaway state, said sources.- ‘Overt interference’ -Turkey, a close ally of Somalia, also condemned the move.”This initiative by Israel, which aligns with its expansionist policy…constitutes overt interference in Somalia’s domestic affairs”, it said in a foreign ministry statement.Egypt’s foreign ministry said its top diplomat had spoken with his counterparts from Turkey, Somalia and Djibouti, who together condemned the move and emphasised “full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia”.In video showing Netanyahu speaking to Abdullahi by telephone, the Israeli leader said that he believed the new relationship would offer economic opportunities.”I am very, very happy and I am very proud of this day and I want to wish you and the people of Somaliland the very, very best,” Netanyahu said.A self-proclaimed republic, Somaliland enjoys a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden, has its own money, passports and army. But since its unilateral declaration of independence in 1991, it has grappled with decades of isolation.- Strategic -Analysts say matters of strategy were behind Israel’s drive to recognise Somaliland.”Israel requires allies in the Red Sea region for many strategic reasons, among them the possibility of a future campaign against the Houthis,” said the Institute for National Security Studies in a paper last month, referring to Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels.Israel repeatedly hit targets in Yemen after the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, in response to Houthi attacks on Israel that the rebels said were in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.The Houthis have halted their attacks since a fragile truce began in Gaza in October.Somaliland’s lack of international recognition has hampered access to foreign loans, aid and investment, and the territory remains deeply impoverished.A deal between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland last year to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base enraged Somalia.Israel has been trying to bolster relations with countries in the Middle East and Africa.Historic agreements struck late in Trump’s first term in 2020 saw several countries including Muslim-majority United Arab Emirates and Morocco normalise relations with Israel, but wars that have stoked Arab anger, particularly in Gaza, have hampered recent efforts. burs-jj/jgc/ceg

Volodymyr Zelensky is due to meet President Donald Trump in Florida this weekend, but Russia accused the Ukrainian president and his EU backers Friday of seeking to “torpedo” a US-brokered plan to stop the fighting.Sunday’s meeting to discuss new peace proposals comes as Trump intensifies efforts to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, one that has killed tens of thousands since February 2022.The 20-point plan would freeze the war on its current front line but open the door for Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, where demilitarised buffer zones could be created, according to details revealed by Zelensky this week.Ahead of the talks, AFP journalists reported several powerful explosions in Kyiv on Saturday, and authorities warned of a possible missile attack.”Explosions in the capital. Air defence forces are operating. Stay in shelters!” Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.Ukraine’s air force announced a countrywide air alert and said drones and missiles were moving over several regions including Kyiv. Zelensky’s office said earlier that a meeting with Trump is planned for Sunday in Florida, where the US leader has a home.Trump, speaking to news outlet Politico, said about Zelensky’s plan that “he doesn’t have anything until I approve it”, adding: “So we’ll see what he’s got.”Zelensky meanwhile said he held telephone talks on Friday with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz and a host of other European leaders.A spokesperson for Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the leaders “reiterated their unshakeable commitment for a just and lasting peace for Ukraine and the importance that talks continue to progress towards this in the coming days”.- Security guarantees -The new plan formulated with Ukraine’s input is Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions and is very different from an initial 28-point proposal tabled by Washington last month that adhered to many of Russia’s core demands.Part of the plan includes separate US-Ukraine bilateral agreements on security guarantees, reconstruction and the economy. Zelensky said those were changing on a daily basis.”We will discuss these documents, security guarantees,” he said of Sunday’s meeting.”As for sensitive issues, we will discuss (the eastern region of) Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and we will certainly discuss other issues,” he added.Russia signalled its opposition to the plan ahead of the Florida talks.The Kremlin said Friday that foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov had held telephone talks with US officials, and deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov criticised Zelensky’s stance.- Russia accuses EU -“Our ability to make the final push and reach an agreement will depend on our own work and the political will of the other party,” Ryabkov said on Russian television.”Especially in a context where Kyiv and its sponsors — notably within the European Union, who are not in favour of an agreement — have stepped up efforts to torpedo it.”He said the proposal drawn up with Zelensky input “differs radically” from points initially drawn up by US and Russian officials in contacts this month.He said any deal had to “remain within the limits” fixed by Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin when they met in Alaska in August, or else “no accord can be reached”.Zelensky said this week there were still disagreements between Kyiv and Washington over the two core issues of territory and and the status of the Zaporizhzhia plant.Washington has pushed Ukraine to withdraw from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls — Russia’s main territorial demand.It has also proposed joint US-Ukrainian-Russian control of Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which Russia seized during the invasion.Zelensky said he could only give up more land if the Ukrainian people agree to it in a referendum, and he does not want Russian participation in the nuclear plant.Ukraine appears to have won some concessions in the new plan, which, according to Zelensky, removed a requirement for Kyiv to legally renounce its bid to join NATO as well as previous clauses on territory seized by Russia since 2014 being recognised as belonging to Moscow.But Moscow has shown little inclination to abandon its hardline territorial demands that Ukraine fully withdraw from Donbas and end efforts to join NATO.Zelensky said Ukrainian negotiators were not directly in touch with Moscow, but that the United States acted as intermediary and was awaiting Russia’s response to the latest proposal.”I think we will know their official response in the coming days,” Zelensky said.”Russia is always looking for reasons not to agree,” he added.

Nigeria on Friday signalled that more strikes against jihadist groups were expected after a Christmas Day attack by US forces that President Donald Trump said “decimated” Islamic State-linked camps they targeted in the northwest of the country.Nigeria insisted it was a joint operation, saying that it provided intelligence for Thursday’s attack. The US military said the strikes killed multiple IS fighters. A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the strikes “were approved by the government of Nigeria,” without saying whether Nigeria’s military had been involved. Trump said in an interview published Friday that the strikes had been scheduled earlier than Thursday, “And I said, ‘nope, let’s give a Christmas present.'”They didn’t think that was coming, but we hit them hard. Every camp got decimated,” he told Politico.Nigeria, located in west Africa, faces interlinked security crises, with jihadists waging an insurgency in the northeast since 2009 and armed gangs raiding villages and staging kidnappings in the northwest.The strikes came after Abuja and Washington have been locked in a diplomatic dispute over what Trump has characterised as the mass killing of Christians amid Nigeria’s myriad armed conflicts.Questions remain over which armed group was targeted, and details over the strikes have varied between Nigerian and US accounts.Washington’s framing of the violence as amounting to Christian “persecution” is rejected by the Nigerian government and independent analysts, but has nonetheless resulted in increased security coordination.US defence officials posted a video of what appeared to be a nighttime missile launch from the deck of a battleship flying the US flag.”It’s Nigeria that provided the intelligence,” the country’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, told broadcaster Channels TV, saying he had been on the phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ahead of the strikes.Asked if there would be more strikes, Tuggar said: “It is an ongoing thing” adding “it must be made clear that it is a joint operation, and it is not targeting any religion.”- Targets unclear -Nigerian information minister Mohammed Idris said in a statement that the US strikes used 16 guided munitions launched from medium-altitude MQ-9 Reaper drones “successfully neutralising” IS elements attempting to penetrate Nigeria through the Sahel.Both countries said the strikes targeted militants linked to the Islamic State group, without providing details.The Department of Defense’s US Africa Command said “multiple ISIS terrorists” were killed in an attack in the northwestern state of Sokoto.Residents in Sokoto told AFP they were shocked by the blasts, saying some strikes hit a town that was not a militant stronghold.Nigeria’s armed groups are mostly concentrated in the northeast, but have made inroads into the northwest.Researchers have recently linked some members of an armed group known as Lakurawa — the main jihadist group located in Sokoto State — to Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), which is mostly active in neighbouring Niger and Mali.Other analysts have disputed those links.”We initially thought it was (an) attack by Lakurawa,” said Haruna Kallah, a resident of Jabo town.That the explosions were in fact the result of a US strike “surprised us because this area has never been a Lakurawa enclave.”Tukur Shehu, a resident of Tangaza, a neighbouring district, said two strikes targeted villages known to house Lakurawa camps from where they launch attacks and keep hostages.- Public opinion divided -While public opinion on the strikes appeared split, the Nigerian government publicly welcomed them.”I think Trump would not have accepted a ‘No,'” said Malik Samuel, an Abuja-based researcher for Good Governance Africa, an NGO.Nigerian authorities are keen to be seen as cooperating with the US, Samuel told AFP, even though “both the perpetrators and the victims in the northwest are overwhelmingly Muslim.”Security analyst Brant Philip said the results of the strikes were “not significant, but much is expected soon.”tba-sn-nro-str-abu/jh/msp/bgs

Christmas under Donald Trump brought air strikes abroad and political threats at home, as the US president used the holiday to project a vision of power rooted less in peace than grievance, even as aides leaned into their Christian faith.On Tuesday and Wednesday, the president flooded his Truth Social feed with posts that ditched the usual holiday cheer. Instead of goodwill to all, Trump announced military action against jihadists in Nigeria and hurled insults at his enemies.Trump said Friday that the strikes, conducted the day before, had “decimated” jihadist camps in northern Nigeria, describing the operation as a surprise blow delivered as a “Christmas present.”In an interview with Politico, the president said he had personally delayed the action until Thursday to catch militants off guard — hitting “every camp” involved.The strikes, he said, were retaliation for a “slaughter of Christians” in the west African nation. Then came a caustic Christmas greeting aimed at his political rivals, branding them “radical leftist scum.”On Thursday, Trump dropped an even darker line: “Enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas.” The cryptic warning appeared to hint at Democrats he believes will be exposed when files tied to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are all released.The White House, by contrast, issued a traditional message later that day — heavy on scripture — signed by the president and First Lady Melania Trump.The statement invoked God seven times, celebrating “the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” and praying for “God’s abiding love, divine mercy, and everlasting peace.”Trump has long claimed credit for restoring “Merry Christmas” to public life, accusing his first-term predecessor Barack Obama of pushing “Happy Holidays” — a greeting seen as more inclusive of multiple faiths. In reality, Obama regularly said “Merry Christmas.” This year, though, Trump skipped formal worship entirely. The official schedule shows the 79-year-old billionaire spent the holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida without attending church.Across the administration, Christmas messaging leaned hard into Christianity. The Homeland Security Department urged Americans to “remember the miracle of Christ’s birth,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a nativity scene and spoke of “the hope of Eternal Life through Christ.” – ‘Always… a Christian nation’ -The Pentagon even hosted its first-ever Christmas Mass on December 17.Religious language is nothing new in the politics of the United States — a country that calls itself “one nation under God.” But the First Amendment bars any official creed. That hasn’t stopped Vice President JD Vance from pushing Christian doctrine into every corner of policy, from diplomacy to immigration.”A true Christian politics, it cannot just be about the protection of the unborn… It must be at the heart of our full understanding of government,” he told a recent rally organized by the conservative group Turning Point USA.”We have been, and by the grace of God, we always will be, a Christian nation,” Vance added. The crowd roared.Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, offers a disciplined Christian nationalist vision. But Trump’s version is more personal — and messianic.In his January inauguration speech, he claimed God saved him from assassination so he could fulfill America’s destiny. Since then, he has sold $60 “God Bless The USA” Bibles, launched a White House Office of Faith under televangelist Paula White, and posted photos of himself praying at his desk, pastors hovering around him.Trump, never known as a committed churchgoer, now speaks often of his own salvation. “I want to try and get to heaven if possible,” he told Fox News in August, suggesting brokering peace in Ukraine might help. At other moments, however, he has sounded far less confident.”I hear I’m not doing well — I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole!” he has said, again linking any improvement in his prospects to a potential peace deal in Ukraine.His bleakest assessment came on October 15, when he remarked: “I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is to meet President Donald Trump in Florida this weekend, but Russia accused him and his EU backers Friday of seeking to “torpedo” a US-brokered plan to stop the fighting.Sunday’s meeting to discuss new peace proposals comes amidst Trump’s intensified efforts to broker an agreement on Europe’s worst conflict since World War II which has killed tens of thousands since February 2022.The latest plan is a 20-point proposal that would freeze the war on its current front line but open the door for Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, where demilitarised buffer zones could be created, according to details revealed by Zelensky this week.Zelensky’s office said a meeting with Trump is planned for Sunday in Florida, where the US leader has a home.Trump, speaking to news outlet Politico, said about Zelensky’s plan that “he doesn’t have anything until I approve it”, adding: “So we’ll see what he’s got.” Zelensky meanwhile said he held telephone talks on Friday with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and a host of other European leaders, ahead of his latest diplomatic foray. A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the leaders “reiterated their unshakeable commitment for a just and lasting peace for Ukraine and the importance that talks continue to progress towards this in the coming days”.- Security guarantees -The new plan formulated with Ukraine’s input is Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions, and is very different to an initial 28-point proposal tabled by Washington last month that adhered to many of Russia’s core demands.Part of the plan includes separate US-Ukraine bilateral agreements on security guarantees, reconstruction and the economy. Zelensky said those were changing on a daily basis.”We will discuss these documents, security guarantees,” he said of Sunday’s meeting.”As for sensitive issues, we will discuss (the eastern region of) Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and we will certainly discuss other issues,” he added.Russia signalled its opposition to the plan ahead of the Florida talks.The Kremlin said Friday that foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov had held telephone talks with US officials, and deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov criticised Zelensky’s stance.- Russia accuses EU -“Our ability to make the final push and reach an agreement will depend on our own work and the political will of the other party,” Ryabkov said on Russian television.”Especially in a context where Kyiv and its sponsors — notably within the European Union, who are not in favour of an agreement — have stepped up efforts to torpedo it.”He said the proposal drawn up with Zelensky input “differs radically” from points initially drawn up by US and Russian officials in contacts this month.”Without an adequate resolution of the problems at the origin of this crisis, it will be quite simply impossible to reach a definitive accord,” Ryabkov added.He said any deal had to “remain within the limits” fixed by Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin when they met in Alaska in August, or else “no accord can be reached”.Zelensky said this week there was still disagreements between Kyiv and Washington over the two core issues of territory and and the status of the Zaporizhzhia plant.Washington has pushed Ukraine to withdraw from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls — Russia’s main territorial demand.It has also proposed joint US-Ukrainian-Russian control of Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear plant that Russia seized during the invasion.Zelensky said he could only give up more land if the Ukrainian people agree to it in a referendum, and he does not want Russian participation in the nuclear plant.Ukraine did appear to have won some concessions in the new plan, which, according to Zelensky, removed a requirement for Kyiv to legally renounce its bid to join NATO as well as previous clauses on territory seized by Russia since 2014 being recognised as belonging to Moscow.Moscow has however shown little inclination to abandon its hardline territorial demands that Ukraine fully withdraw from Donbas and end efforts to join NATO.It also wants a ban on Western countries deploying peacekeeping troops in Ukraine and sweeping political and military restrictions that Kyiv says are tantamount to capitulation.Zelensky said Ukrainian negotiators were not directly in touch with Moscow, but that the United States acted as intermediary and was awaiting Russia’s response to the latest proposal.”I think we will know their official response in the coming days,” Zelensky said.He expressed scepticism over whether Moscow genuinely wanted to halt its invasion. “Russia is always looking for reasons not to agree,” he said.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Friday she is expecting her second child, becoming the first person in the high-profile role to be pregnant.”The greatest Christmas gift we could ever ask for — a baby girl coming in May,” Leavitt posted on Instagram.She thanked President Donald Trump for his support and for “fostering a pro-family environment in the White House.”Leavitt, 28, who is married to real estate developer Nicholas Riccio, became the youngest ever White House press secretary when appointed in January at the start of Trump’s second term.She has won a reputation for ruthlessly effective appearances at press briefings, fiercely defending the president and quashing critical journalists.

President Donald Trump said US forces conducted “powerful and deadly” strikes Thursday against Islamic State group militants in northwestern Nigeria, weeks after he warned against any systemic assault on Christians in the country.The Nigerian foreign ministry early Friday confirmed the air strikes, describing them as “precision hits on terrorist targets” in the country.The Department of Defense’s US Africa Command said “multiple ISIS terrorists” were killed in an attack in Sokoto state conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.Few details were provided and it was not clear how many people were killed. Trump said he had “previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.” “MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.US defense officials later posted video of what appeared to be the nighttime launch of a missile from the deck of a battleship flying the US flag.The attack is the first by US forces in Nigeria under Trump, and comes after the Republican leader unexpectedly berated the west African nation in October and November, saying Christians there faced an “existential threat” that amounted to “genocide” amid Nigeria’s myriad armed conflicts.That diplomatic offensive was welcomed by some but interpreted by others as inflaming religious tensions in Africa’s most populous country, which has seen bouts of sectarian violence in the past.Nigeria’s government and independent analysts reject framing the country’s violence in terms of religious persecution — a narrative long used by the Christian right in the United States and Europe. But Trump, spotlighting what his administration says is global persecution of Christians, stressed last month that Washington was ready to take military action in Nigeria to counter such killings.- ‘Grateful’ for cooperation -The Nigerian foreign ministry said the country was engaged with international partners.”Nigerian authorities remain engaged in structured security cooperation with international partners, including the United States of America, in addressing the persistent threat of terrorism and violent extremism,” the ministry said.Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said he was “grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation” in an X post. The United States this year placed Nigeria back on the list of countries of “particular concern” regarding religious freedom, and has restricted the issuance of visas to Nigerians. Trump last month also threatened to stop all aid to Abuja if it “continues to allow the killing of Christians.” Nigeria is almost evenly divided between a Muslim-majority north and a largely Christian south.Its northeast has been in the grip of jihadist violence for more than 15 years by the Islamist Boko Haram group, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives and displaced two million people.At the same time, large parts of the country’s northwest, north and center have been hit by criminal gangs known as “bandits” who attack villages, killing and kidnapping residents.On Wednesday an explosion ripped through a mosque in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, killing at least seven worshippers. No armed groups immediately claimed responsibility.

Torrential rains unleashed flash floods and warnings of debris flow across southern California’s fire-scarred areas, as a series of Christmas storms pummeled the state, with downpours and high winds forecast through Friday.Driven by an atmospheric river known as “the Pineapple Express,” which moves heavy moisture from Hawaii to the US West Coast, storms were expected to dump months’ worth of rain in California over a few days.Early Thursday, the National Weather Service (NWS) forecast that southern California, including Los Angeles, the second-most populous US city, was at risk of excessive rainfall.It warned of a “broad plume of moisture” producing heavy rain in California on Thursday.”Numerous flash flooding events are possible. In addition, many streams may flood, potentially affecting larger rivers. The flooding may include debris flows in or near recently burned areas,” the service said, referring to areas affected by wildfires.The rain was forecast to continue through Friday, the service said.Although there was a break in the rain in parts of southern California on Thursday before more wet weather was expected, the NWS warned that some areas could see winds with gusts of up to 55 miles per (88.5 kilometers per hour). State authorities declared a state of emergency in several counties, including Los Angeles.”We’re not out of it yet. Rain continues to fall across LA County making roadways, waterways and flood channels extremely dangerous. Check conditions before venturing out today,” Los Angeles County officials said Thursday on X.- Rescue work -Heavy rain began lashing Southern California Wednesday, where some communities had already seen 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) of rain in the first storm, forecasters said.At least three people died in storm-related incidents, including a man killed by a falling tree, the Los Angeles Times reported.In San Bernardino County, adjacent to Los Angeles, authorities told AFP they were working to divert the flow of floodwater on Thursday.Muddy water streamed through the mountain town of Wrightwood a day earlier, trapping people in their homes, said Christopher Prater, spokesperson for the county fire department.”Fire department personnel were out there rescuing people, assisting them from their houses, getting them to safety, also while affecting rescues from people that were stranded in their vehicles,” he said Thursday, with work going on into the night.Fire-burn scar zones, which are less able to absorb water due to vegetation being stripped from them, were under special alert — including the coastal areas of Pacific Palisades and Malibu, both still recovering from devastating wildfires in January.In northern California, a dangerous storm was tracked developing early Thursday morning in the San Francisco Bay Area, with an emergency alert for flash flooding issued, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.Soon after noon on Thursday (2000 GMT), the NWS office in San Francisco warned that a severe thunderstorm near Santa Cruz could spawn a tornado. The service was also predicting that a winter storm could bring heavy snowfall to the Sierra Nevada Mountains along California’s eastern border.