NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Heavy rains pounding different parts of Kenya have led to the deaths of at least 13 people and displaced some 15,000, the United Nations said, as forecasters warned more rains can be expected until June.
The U.N Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, citing the Kenya Red Cross Society, said Thursday that nearly 20,000 people have been affected. That includes the estimated 15,000 displaced by heavy rains and flash floods across the country since the start of the wet season in mid-March.
The East African country has seen thousands of people killed by flooding in previous rainy seasons, mostly in the lake regions and downstream of major rivers.
The Kenya Red Cross Society told The Associated Press that five major roads were cut off by the floods, including Garissa Road in northern Kenya, where a bus carrying 51 passengers was swept away on Tuesday. All passengers were rescued.
Kenya’s disaster management agency issued a flood warning to residents of Lamu, Tana River and Garissa counties that are downstream of Tana River after flooding breached dams upstream. Residents have been urged to move to higher grounds.
So far, nine out of 47 counties in the country have reported flooding incidents
Mudslides have been reported in the central regions. On Tuesday four people were killed in Narok county, in the western part of the country.
The Kenya Red Cross Society's secretary general, Ahmed Idris, told Citizen TV that “lifesaving assistance” including shelter and clean drinking water was being offered to those displaced and are living in camps to avert outbreaks of waterborne diseases.
The rainy season is expected to reach its peak towards the end of April and subside in June, according to the meteorology department.
Passengers of a bus that was swept away by floodwaters are rescued by boat, near Garissa, northern Kenya, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Police said some of the passengers managed to escape just before the bus was submerged, while others climbed onto the roof. The incident happened just hours after Kenya's roads agency announced the closure of another section of the same road that was flooded after the Tana River swelled due to continuing heavy rains. (AP Photo)
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Hundreds of people laid flowers and lit candles on Friday to commemorate the victims of Serbia's first-ever school shooting a year ago that left nine children and a school guard dead and six people wounded.
A somber, silent queue formed on a rainy day outside the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in central Belgrade where a 13-year-old boy is accused of opening fire at his schoolmates with his father's guns last year.
The shooting stunned Serbia. The Balkan nation was no stranger to violent crime, but mass shootings are rare, and none had taken place at a school before.
Just a day later, a shooting rampage outside the capital further shocked the country. A 20-year-old man was accused of killing nine and wounding 12 others, mostly young people.
Friday's vigil formally started at 8:41 a.m., the time of the school shooting last year. Serbian television stations interrupted their broadcasts, showing the text “We remember” on a black screen.
The all-day event near the school also included art installations, a panel discussion and short films about the victims. The street where the school is located is closed to traffic.
The event was titled “Awakening,” a call for introspection in a nation that is yet to come to terms with its role in multiple wars in the 1990s and the culture of violence that has prevailed ever since.
Ninela Radicevic, a mother of a victim, told The Associated Press ahead of the anniversary that society and the government had “rushed to forget” the tragedy. Radicevic, who lost her 11-year-old daughter Ana Bozovic in the shooting, said she hoped Serbia can prevent such a horrific crime from happening again.
"We have missed many chances to react better... (but) I think it is never too late to pause ... and to try not to make the same mistakes in the future," said psychology professor Aleksandar Baucal, who is part of a team behind the commemoration.
The slain children’s parents have fought to have the school closed and turned into a memorial center. They've organized protests, remembrance events and testified about their ordeal to promote awareness among the public.
Serbia’s populist government launched a gun crackdown after the shooting, collecting about 80,000 weapons and rounds of ammunition. State-backed support teams offered counseling and police officers were deployed outside schools for security.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Instagram after paying respects Friday that the “unthinkable tragedy has left a permanent scar on the soul of our entire nation.”
Suspects in both of the shootings were apprehended. The alleged school shooter's parents went on trial in January, charged with teaching their underage son to shoot and with not securing the weapons at the family home. The trial is continuing. The boy has been held in an institution since the attack.
The trial of the other suspect and his father is to start later this month in the central town of Smederevo.
Shock and anger because of the shootings triggered months of street protests demanding the resignations of top officials and a ban on media that spew hate speech and intolerance.
People cry in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school during a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A man stands in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school prior to a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
People gather in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school during a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
People cry in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school during a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
People gather in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school during a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
People gather in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school during a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
People stand in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school prior to a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
People gather in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school during a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A woman stands in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school prior to a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
People gather in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school during a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A man stands in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school prior to a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
People gather in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school during a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
People cry in front of the Vladislav Ribnikar school during a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a shooting that killed 10 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
