Iraq, Mozambique, Uganda
Today's three stories you should know
Iraq
Iraq says it intends to prosecute 150 ISIS prisoners who have been transferred to the country from neighboring Syria. The detainees were moved by the U.S. military as Syrian government troops routed the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has been holding thousands of ISIS members since it played a pivotal role in defeating the group in Syria in 2019. The U.S. said up to 7,000 ISIS prisoners could eventually be moved out of the country due to concerns over prison security following the SDF’s setbacks. The group, which was once the main U.S. ally in Syria, has said that it was guarding about 10,000 ISIS fighters, including foreigners, and also keeping thousands of women and children related to the group in camps in the northeast of the country.
More from TRT here.
Mozambique
Mozambican officials have identified 13 people killed in severe flooding, but aid agencies say the toll is likely to be sharply higher, with bodies expected to be recovered as the waters recede. Heavy rains over the last two weeks have submerged entire towns and caused rivers and dams to overflow, affecting more than half a million people. Authorities say it is the worst flooding since at least 2000 when about 700 people were killed. Early-warning systems and mandatory evacuations may lead to fewer deaths this time, Paulo Tomas, spokesperson for the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management, told Reuters.
More from Reuters here.
Uganda
In recent days, Proximities has covered the aftermath of the Ugandan elections with opposition leader Bobi Wine remaining in hiding as the country’s military chief uses Twitter to threaten his life. Now, the wife of Kizza Besigye, who ran against longtime President Yoweri Museveni in four previous presidential elections, says his health is failing in prison, where he has been held for more than a year on charges of treason and other offenses that rights groups say are bogus. The 69-year-old’s wife Winnie Byanyima, who is executive director of the U.N. agency UNAIDS, said authorities are refusing to allow him to see his own doctor. "Every hour they delay to do that is a cost on his life because his condition is not under control," she said, adding he was being held in solitary confinement in a small room, where he is forced to sleep on a bedbug-infested mattress.
More from Reuters here.
Strong roundup on under-covered crises. The Mozambique flooding detail about bodies surfacing as waters recede is haunting, especially alongside the stat that early-warning systems might reduce casualties compared to 2000. It illustrates this weird progress paradox where we're better at preventing some deaths but still fundamentaly helpless against the scale of climate-driven disasters. Besigye's solitary confinement situaton in Uganda deserves way more attention than its getting too.