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A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 14 april 2023

Drought will cause crop failures in Spain, farmers warn

By JENNIFER O’MAHONY In the northeastern Cata-
and JOSEPH WILSON lonia region, average res-
Associated Press ervoir levels are hovering
MADRID (AP) — Drought around 27% of their capac-
now affects 60% of the ity.
Spanish countryside, with There are restrictions on ag-
crops like wheat and barley ricultural and industrial wa-
likely to fail entirely in four ter use, and it is forbidden
regions, the main Spanish to use drinking water for
farmers’ association said washing cars or filling swim-
on Thursday. ming pools.
Spain’s long-term drought The spokesperson for
is causing “irreversible loss- Spain’s state weather
es” to more than 3.5 million agency, Rubén del Cam-
hectares of crops, the Co- po, said the prognosis for
ordinator of Farmers’ and the next few weeks was
Ranchers’ Organizations unlikely to improve. “This
(COAG in its Spanish acro- drought is probably the
nym) said in a new report. most intense since the
Some cereals need to be 1960s,” he told Spanish ra-
“written off” in the prime dio network Cadena Ser.
growing regions of Anda- “In some areas, such as
lusia, Castilla La Mancha, View of the dry Sau reservoir about 100 km (62 miles) north of Barcelona. Spain, March 20, 2023. Catalonia or the east of
Extremadura and Murcia, Associated Press Andalusia, it is at the level
and are likely to be lost in the ability of farmers to irri- Wednesday to discuss the feed cattle due to dried-up of the worst droughts due
the driest areas of three gate corn, sunflowers, rice crisis. COAG will plead for pasture, the farmers’ asso- to the scarcity of rainfall
other regions, according and cotton, likely leading immediate financial relief, ciation further warned. This in the last three years,” he
to the report. In the wine- to reduced sowing of these it said. will also be the third con- said.
growing region of La Rioja, crops over the summer, it “This has been the most secutive season without The picture is not any rosi-
farmers were in the excep- added. expensive planting season honey for beekeepers, as er in the long-term either,
tional situation of “having Three years of very low rain- on record, and with har- bees lack vegetation and especially for those crops
to irrigate cereals ... when fall and high temperatures vests ruined or reduced by flowers to feed from in the which rely on rainwater.
normally they are never have put Spain officially 60-80%, there will be many mountains due to a short- “There is no plan B,” CO-
watered,” the association into long-term drought, the farms that will have a very age of water. AG’s Fatas said. “While
said. country’s weather agency tough time surviving if they Reservoirs in Andalusia, there have been improve-
Nuts and vineyards are also said last month. Last year don’t receive an injection Spain’s most important ments in irrigation systems
struggling, and olives will be was Spain’s sixth driest and of capital,” said Javier Fa- food-exporting region, to make them more ef-
badly affected if rain does the hottest since records tas, head of water and the have water levels of 30%. ficient, this is becoming a
not arrive in the next few began in 1961. environment for the asso- The regional capital, Se- very, very difficult situation
weeks, the report stated. Spain’s agriculture ministry ciation. ville, may face drinking wa- for crops that rely on rain-
The lack of available wa- has called a meeting with In addition to crop failures, ter restrictions by the sum- water, like cereals, almonds
ter was further impacting farming representatives on ranchers will struggle to mer if not enough rain falls. and our vineyards.”q

Sudan’s military warns of conflict after rival force deploys

By JACK JEFFERY without “the approval of, tion of an unsigned transi- in recent months, with con- Khartoum and parallel for-
Associated Press or coordination with” the tion deal for Sudan. The flicting public statements, eign trips by military and
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — armed forces’ leadership army-RSF rivalry, however, heavy military presence in RSF leaders.q
Sudan’s military warned and presents a clear “vio- dates back to the rule of
Thursday of potential clash- lation of the law.” autocratic President Omar
es with the country’s pow- The paramilitary has also al-Bashir, who was ousted
erful paramilitary force, deployed troops in north- in 2019.
which it said deployed ern Sudan, along the bor- Under al-Bashir, the para-
troops in the capital of der with Egypt, with local military force, led by pow-
Khartoum and other cities. media reporting that the erful Gen. Mohammed
Tensions between the mili- RSF attempted to build a Hamdan Dagalo, grew out
tary and the paramilitary, military base there. Also, of former militias known as
known as Rapid Support videos circulating on social the Janjaweed that exe-
Forces or RSF, have esca- media Thursday show what cuted a brutal crackdown
lated in recent months, appear to be RSF-armed in Sudan’s Darfur region
forcing a delay in the sign- vehicles being transported during the decades of con-
ing of an internationally into Khartoum, further to flict there.
backed deal with political the south. Although both the army
parties to revive the coun- The latest tensions between and the RSF together car-
try’s democratic transition. the army and the paramili- ried out a coup in October In this frame grab from a video posted by Sudan’s state news
In a statement, the military tary stem from a disagree- 2021 that upended Sudan’s agency, SUNA on Thursday, April 13, 2023, spokesman for the
said the buildup of the RSF ment over how the RSF transition to democracy, Sudanese Armed Forces Brig. Nabil Abdullah reads a statement
in Khartoum and elsewhere should be integrated into friction between them be- warning of conflict after the recent deployment of Sudan’s
in the country was done the military a key condi- came increasingly visible powerful paramilitary in the capital and other cities.
Associated Press