News in Brief
Over 5,500 still missing in flood-hit east Congo: local official
REUTERS – More than 5,500 people are still unaccounted for in an area in east Democratic of Congo where floods killed more than 400 people last week, a local official said on Tuesday, as shaken survivors waited for food aid.
Scores of bodies have been recovered from the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi in South Kivu province’s Kalehe territory since torrential rain caused landslides and flash floods on Thursday, flattening buildings and sweeping away crops.
UN: Over 700k Sudanese internally displaced
AP – The United Nations refugee agency said more than 700,000 Sudanese have fled their homes since violence broke out last month between two armed factions fighting for control of the northern African nation.
The updated figure, provided Tuesday by the U.N. International Organization for Migration, is more than double the 334,000 the agency reported to be internally displaced last week. The IOM said an additional 100,000 Sudanese have fled the country.
Turkish, Syrian FMs to meet In Moscow
AFP – The foreign ministers of Turkey and Syria will hold their first official meeting on Wednesday since the start of Syrian war more than a decade ago, officials said.
The talks in Moscow will also involve the top diplomats of Russia and Iran, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The announcement delivers a diplomatic boost to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan just days before he faces the toughest general election of his 21-year rule on Sunday.