KILIFI, Kenya (AP) — Dozens rallied against a proposal to build Kenya's first nuclear power plant in one of the country's top coastal tourist hubs which also houses a forest on the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage site.
Kilifi County is renowned for its pristine sandy beaches where hotels and beach bars line the 165-mile-long coast and visitors boat and snorkel around coral reefs or bird watch in Arabuko Sokoke forest, a significant natural habitat for the conservation of rare and endangered species, according to the U.N. organization.
The project, proposed last year, is set to be built in the town of Kilifi — about 522 kilometers (324 miles) southeast of the capital, Nairobi. Many residents have openly opposed the proposal, worried about what they say are the negative effects of the project on people and the environment, leading to a string of protesters which at times turned violent.
Muslim for Human Rights (MUHURI) led the march Friday in Kilifi to the county governor’s office where they handed him a petition opposing the construction of the plant.
Some chanted anti-nuclear slogans while others carried placards with “Sitaki nuclear”, Swahili for “I don’t want nuclear.”
The construction of the 1,000MW nuclear plant is set to begin in 2027 and be operational by 2034, with a cost of 500 billion Kenyan shillings ($3.8 billion).
Francis Auma, a MUHURI activist, told the Associated Press that the negative effects of the nuclear plant outweigh its benefits.
“We say that this project has a lot of negative effects; there will be malformed children born out of this place, fish will die, and our forest Arabuko Sokoke, known to harbor the birds from abroad, will be lost,” Auma said during Friday’s protests.
Juma Sulubu, a resident who was beaten by the police during a previous demonstration, attended Friday's march and said: “Even if you kill us, just kill us, but we do not want a nuclear power plant in our Uyombo community.”
Timothy Nyawa, a fisherman, participated in the rally out of fear that a nuclear power plant would kill fish and in turn his source of income. “If they set up a nuclear plant here, the fish breeding sites will all be destroyed."
Phyllis Omido, the executive director at the Centre for Justice Governance and Environmental Action, who also attended the march, said Kenya’s eastern coastal towns depended on eco-tourism as the main source of income and a nuclear plant would threaten their livelihoods.
“We host the only East African coastal forest, we host the Watamu marine park, we host the largest mangrove plantation in Kenya. We do not want nuclear (energy) to mess up our ecosystem,” she said.
Her center filed a petition in Nov. 2023 in parliament calling for an inquiry and claiming that locals had limited information on the proposed plant and the criteria for selecting preferred sites. It also raised concerns over the risks to health, the environment and tourism in the event of a nuclear spill, saying the country was undertaking a “high-risk venture” without proper legal and disaster response measures in place. The petition also expressed unease over security and the handling of radioactive waste in a country prone to floods and drought.
The Senate suspended the inquiry until a lawsuit two layers filed in July seeking to stop the plant’s construction, claiming public participation meetings were rushed and urging the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (Nupea) not to start the project, was heard.
Nupea said construction would not begin for years and environmental laws were under consideration, adding that adequate public participation was carried out.
The nuclear agency also published an impact assessment report last year that recommended policies be put in place to ensure environmental protections, including detailed plans for the handling of radioactive waste, measures to mitigate environmental harm, such as setting up a nuclear unit in the national environment management authority, and emergency response teams.
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Demonstrators hold banners reading in Swahili "Sitaki nuclear" (I don't want nuclear), during an anti-nuclear protest in Kilifi, Kenya Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris Obiero)
The Israeli military on Saturday renewed its orders for Palestinian in the northern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and shelters as troops press on a weeklong offensive against militants.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee told people to leave parts of Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood and other areas in and around Jabaliya, the urban refugee camp where Israeli forces carried out several major operations over the course of the war and then returned as militants regroup.
In a post on X, Adraee asked people to head south to Muwasi, a packed area in southern Gaza designed by the military as a humanitarian zone.
Most of the fighting in the past week was centered in and around Jabaliya that was pounded by Israeli war jets and artillery. Residents said they have been trapped inside their homes and shelters. The military also ordered the three main hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate patients and medical staff.
In Lebanon, authorities said Friday that 60 people were killed and 168 wounded in the past 24 hours, raising the total toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah to 2,229 dead and 10,380 wounded.
Israel has been escalating its campaign against Hezbollah with waves of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground invasion at the border, after a year of exchanges of fire. Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hamas' ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.
It's been a full year since Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Here is the latest:
CAIRO — The United Nations food agency said on Saturday that no food aid had entered northern Gaza since Oct. 1.
The World Food Program said that the primary border crossing into the war-ravaged area had been closed for about two weeks, warning that Israel’s ongoing ground operation has a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinians families there.
“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” said Antoine Renard, the WFP country director of Palestinian territories.
Concerns of a hunger crisis have risen in Gaza roughly a month after the U.N.’s independent investigator on the right to food accused Israel of carrying out a “starvation campaign” against Palestinians.
Israel has denied such allegations and insisted that it has allowed food and other aid into Gaza in significant quantities.
“Israel has not halted the entry or coordination of humanitarian aid entering from its territory into the northern Gaza Strip. As evidence, humanitarian aid coordinated by COGAT and international organizations will continue to enter the northern Gaza Strip in the coming day as well,” COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing aid distribution, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The WFP said its food distribution points, as well as kitchens and bakeries in northern Gaza, have been forced to shut down due to airstrikes, military ground operations and evacuation orders. It said that the only functioning bakery in North Gaza, supported by WFP, caught fire after being hit by an explosive munition.
The WFP said its last remaining food supplies in the north -- including canned food, wheat flour, high-energy biscuits, and nutrition supplements -- have been distributed to shelters, health facilities and kitchens in Gaza City and three shelters in the northern areas. It is unclear how long these limited food supplies will last, warning that the consequences for fleeing families will be dire if the escalation continues.
JERUSALEM — The European Union said Saturday it was deeply concerned about draft Israeli legislation that would ban the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in Israel and likely scale back aid distribution across war-ravaged Gaza.
Earlier this week, an Israeli parliamentary committee approved a pair of bills this week that would ban UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and end all contact between the government and the U.N. agency. The bill needs final approval from the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
“If adopted, (the bill) would have disastrous consequences, preventing the U.N. agency from continuing to provide its services and protection to Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and Gaza,” the EU said in an online statement.
Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA’s thousands of staff members participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.
The U.N. has since fired more than a dozen staffers after internal investigations found they may have taken part in the attack that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel.
The U.N. agency has been the main supplier of food, water and shelter to Palestinian civilians during the 12 month conflict in Gaza.
Concern about the Israeli bill was echoed by UNRWA’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, on Wednesday, who said all humanitarian operations in Gaza and the West Bank could “disintegrate” if the bill was implemented.
When UNRWA was created by the U.N. General Assembly in 1949, it was meant to provide health care, education and welfare services to about 700,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948 conflict with Israel.
CAIRO — The Israeli military on Saturday renewed orders for Palestinian in the northern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and shelters amid a week of intense fighting with militants there.
Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israeli military, told people that the area includes parts of Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood and other parts in and around Jabaliya, the urban refugee camp.
In a post on X, Adraee asked people living there to head south to Muwasi, a packed area in southern Gaza designed by the military as a humanitarian zone.
Most of past week fighting centered in and around Jabaliya with Israeli war jets and artillery pounding the area. People there said they have been trapped inside their homes and shelters. The military also ordered the three main hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate patients and medical staff.
Cyclists ride on a car-free highway during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Kamal Khatib, a volunteer with the Animals Lebanon rescue group, kisses kittens after rescuing them from debris of destroyed buildings at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese women pass near destroyed cars, at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Rescue workers search for victims at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Women react in front of their destroyed apartment at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
