Category World News

People in Guyana are voting for a president and members of parliament who will be watching over billions in oil revenue, offshore production with a United States-led international consortium, and tensions with Venezuela.

Over 750, 000 registered voters will have until 6pm (22: 00 GMT) on Monday to cast ballots at some 2, 800 polling places.

Six parties are participating in the election to fight for the presidency and seats in the 65-member parliament.

But it is effectively a three-way race between President Irfaan Ali of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Aubrey Norton of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), and billionaire Azruddin Mohamed, who started his We Invest in Nationhood party in March to challenge the two-party status quo.

Voting has traditionally taken place along ethnic lines, with the Indo-Guyanese supporting the PPP, and Guyanese of African descent backing the PNCR.

Billionaire Mohamed means to disrupt the system and has garnered some young backers of his own. But he is shunned by the US, which sanctioned him last year over allegations that he and his father Nazar Mohamed defrauded the Guyanese government of tax revenue and bribed public officials. They deny any wrongdoing.

The South American country’s president is seeking re-election as he wants to spend revenue from oil sales and royalties from a contract with ExxonMobil and others on infrastructure. Ali has governed one of the world’s fastest-growing economies since 2020 as a result of the oil boom.

But opposition groups claim that oil earnings disproportionately favour well-connected groups, and three of the five parties challenging the PPP have also pledged to renegotiate the country’s contract with ExxonMobil.

The victor will manage a booming oil economy that has quadrupled the state budget to $6.7bn in 2025 since production began in 2019.

But they will also have to navigate a crucial border dispute with Venezuela over the Essequibo region, where most of the nation’s oil reserves are located.

The Venezuelan government claims the region, which has been governed by Guyana since independence in 1966, as its own. Despite Caracas having no authority there, Venezuela elected a governor to the region this year.

The electoral commission in Guyana has said results may be expected by Thursday or later. The party that wins the most votes will select the next president.

According to a statement from the organization and people accompanying the mission, the Global Sumud Flotilla, which transports aid to the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, has been forced to turn back.

The Mediterranean Sea’s strong winds, more than 30 knots (35. 9 km/h, or 34.5 miles per hour), may have caused a problem for smaller boats in the convoy, according to the flotilla on X.

The steering commission of the flotilla made the decision to travel back to Barcelona’s La Vela port, where they arrived after 22:00 (10:00 GMT), according to Al Jazeera’s Mauricio Morales, while reporting from the Familia.

About three hours prior, Morales continued, the decision to turn the other way.

The flotilla, which had left Barcelona on Sunday, announced on X that it had conducted a sea trial and had chosen to wait until the storm had passed.

A second attempt to start is anticipated on Monday, according to Morales.

The flotilla

Difficulty of small, government-operated vessels transporting humanitarian supplies and volunteers make up the flotilla.

On Thursday, it had planned to meet up with a second wave of ships in Tunisia, but that has now come with a little longer notice.

A STRONG MEDITERRANEAN WINDS film with a delayed release delayed the global SUMUD FLOTILLA mission’s immediate release date. twitter.com/A4YDahLiJh

This is the third humanitarian flotilla to attempt to end Gaza’s Israeli occupation in recent months.

Israeli naval forces have previously tried to intercept boats in international waters without success.

The largest maritime mission to Gaza, which brings together delegations from at least 44 nations, is said to be the Global Sumud Flotilla, according to organizers.

In the upcoming days, more boats are expected to leave Barcelona, including those from Tunisia and Sicily, with the 20-some remaining.

The volunteers are

The Global Movement to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla Coalition, Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, and Sumud Nusantara are the four main coalitions that have organized this flotilla.

Australia, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, and numerous other European nations are among the countries where volunteers are found. Participants are not affiliated with any political party or government, according to the organizers.

Greta Thunberg, a climate activist from Sweden, Thiago Avila, a former mayor of Barcelona, Liam Cunningham, an Irish actor, and Eduard Fernandez from Spain, are all on board the flotilla.

Many of the parties involved have participated in previous flotilla operations.

A number of well-known activists and figures are on the coalition’s steering committee, including activist Wael Nawar, activist Wael Nawar, activist Yasemin Acar, activist Marouan Ben Guettaia, activist Marouan Ben Guettaia, activist Torkia Chaibi, activist Maria Elena Delia, activist and social scientist Karen Moynihan, activist and activist Wael Nawar, activist Melanie Schweizer, and activist Melanie Schweizer, both from Avila and Thunberg.

Although two boats from the Free Gaza Movement reached Gaza in 2008, previous flotillas have largely been blocked.

The movement, which was started in 2006 by activists during Israel’s occupation of Lebanon, launched 31 boats between 2008 and 2016, five of which reached Gaza despite stringent Israeli restrictions.

However, Israeli forces have intercepted or attacked all attempts since 2010 and continue to do so. The Mavi Marmara was attacked in international waters by Israeli commandos in 2010. Hundreds of people were hurt in the assault, which caused a total outcry. More than 600 passengers and humanitarian aid were on board the ship.

When the Madleen was intercepted in international waters about 185 kilometers (100 nautical miles) from Gaza in June, Thunberg, Avila, and other well-known activists were taken prisoner by Israeli commandos.

Gaza’s desperate need

The activists’ most recent attempts come as Gaza’s humanitarian situation is rapidly worsening.

Israel has disputed the assessment, which was supported by the UN-backed famine-confirmed-in-northern-gaza-global-hunger-monitor-says”>Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which declared famine in some areas of the enclave last month.

In Gaza City, which is currently under heavy bombardment after the government approved a plan to seize it, the Israeli army has ordered residents to flee the area.

One of Afghanistan’s worst earthquakes has killed more than 800 people and injured at least 2, 800, authorities say as they warn that the death toll could rise.

Helicopters ferried the wounded to hospital on Monday in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar as officials combed the rubble for survivors after a magnitude 6.1 tremor hit just before midnight on Sunday.

At least 812 people have died, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at a news conference on Monday, as the disaster further stretches the resources of the war-torn nation already grappling with poverty, drops in humanitarian aid and the pushback of hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees and migrants by neighbouring countries.

Ministry of Interior Affairs spokesperson Abdul Maten Qanee told the Reuters news agency that rescue teams had been “mobilised to accelerate assistance, so that comprehensive and full support can be provided”.

The Ministry of Defence said it has flown 30 doctors and 800kg (1, 764lb) of medical supplies into Kunar to support hospitals dealing with the aftermath of the disaster. At least 40 flights have carried away 420 wounded and dead citizens, the ministry added.

Resident Sadiqullah, who lives in the Maza Dara area of Nurgal, one of the worst affected areas in Kunar province, told The Associated Press news agency that he was woken up by a deep boom similar to the start of a storm.

Sadiqullah said he ran to where his children were sleeping and rescued three of them but could not get to the rest of his family before the roof fell on top of him.

“I was half-buried and unable to get out”, he said from Nangarhar Regional Hospital.

“My wife and two sons are dead, and my father is injured and in hospital with me. We were trapped for three to four hours until people from other areas arrived and pulled me out”, he added.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Lahore, Pakistan, said the region is mountainous with villages scattered throughout the area.

“What we have found out is that the locals are digging out people from the rubble”, Hyder said, adding that due to the shallow nature of the earthquake, which makes them more destructive, the death toll is likely to increase.

Chris Elders, professor of petroleum geology at Australia’s Curtin University, told Al Jazeera that due to the mountainous terrain of the areas hit by the earthquake and their high population, the situation was particularly dangerous.

“It’s not only the buildings that will shake and become unstable, but the hillsides will also shake and become unstable, and that’s what triggers landslides”, Elders said.

“Earthquakes of this size and in this situation could really occur at any time, so it does make it very difficult to predict”, he said, adding that aftershocks are also a big concern for residents in the affected areas.

The last time a powerful earthquake hit Afghanistan, which is prone to tremors due to its location near the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, was in October 2023 when more than 2, 000 people were killed.

international initiatives

In a post on X, the UN office in Afghanistan stated that the earthquake had “deeply saddened” it and that there had been “several fatalities” there.

Our teams are providing lifesaving support and assistance while on the ground. The affected communities are the subject of its message, it read.

Tehran expressed its “full readiness to send relief, medical, and humanitarian aid” in remarks made by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for the Tasnim news agency.