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WORLD NEWS Dialuna 30 Mei 2022

Children among 31 killed at church fair stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) gate was broken open, creat-
— A stampede Saturday at ing a stampede, she said.
a church charity event in Godwin Tepikor from Ni-
southern Nigeria left 31 peo- geria’s National Emergency
ple dead and seven injured, Management Agency said
police told The Associated first responders were able to
Press, a shocking develop- evacuate the bodies of those
ment at a program that aimed trampled to death and bring
to offer hope to the needy. them to the morgue. Security
One witness said the dead forces cordoned off the area.
included a pregnant woman
and many children. Dozens of residents later
The stampede at the event thronged the scene, mourn-
organized by the Kings As- ing the dead and offering
sembly Pentecostal church in any assistance they could to
Rivers state involved people emergency workers. Doc-
who came to the church’s an- tors and emergency work-
nual “Shop for Free” charity ers treated some of the in-
program, according to Grace jured as they lay in the open
Iringe-Koko, a police spokes- field. Videos from the scene
woman. showed the clothing, shoes
Such events are common in and other items meant for the
Nigeria, Africa’s largest econ- beneficiaries.
omy, where more than 80
million people live in pover- One witness who only iden-
ty, according to government tified himself as Daniel said attacked and injured by rela- “responding to treatment.” an overcrowded church gath-
statistics. “there were so many chil- tives of the victims after the The “Shop for Free” event ering in the southeastern state
Saturday’s charity program dren” among the dead. Five stampede, according to wit- was suspended while au- of Anambra in 2013, while at
was supposed to begin at 9 of the dead children were ness Christopher Eze. The thorities investigated how the least 16 people were killed in
a.m. but dozens arrived as from one mother, he told the church declined to comment stampede occurred. 2014 when a crowd got out
early as 5 a.m. to secure their AP, adding that a pregnant on the situation. Nigeria has seen similar of control during a screening
place in line, Iringe-Koko woman also lost her life. The police spokeswoman stampedes in the past. for government jobs in the
said. Somehow the locked Some church members were said the seven injured were Twenty-four people died at nation’s capital, Abuja.

Serbia ignores EU sanctions, secures gas deal with Putin

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — As ropean Union but has spent recent Serbia is almost entirely dependent ceive the Russian gas if the EU de-
the war in Ukraine rages, Serbia’s years cementing ties with Russia, a on Russian gas, and its main energy cides to shut off the Russian supply
president announced that he has se- long-time ally. companies are under Russian major- that travels over its member coun-
cured an “extremely favorable” nat- The gas deal is likely to be signed ity ownership. tries. Russia has already cut off gas ex-
ural gas deal with Russia during a during a visit by Russian Foreign “What I can tell you is that we have ports to EU members Finland,Poland
telephone conversation Sunday with Minister Sergey Lavrov to Belgrade agreed on the main elements that are and Bulgaria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. early in June — a rare visit by a rank- very favorable for Serbia,” Vucic, a
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic ing Russian official to a European former pro-Russian ultranationalist, The EU as a whole has been hur-
has refused to explicitly condemn country since the Russian invasion of told reporters. “We agreed to sign a riedly reducing its reliance on Rus-
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and his Ukraine began Feb. 24. three-year contract, which is the first sian energy since the invasion, and
country has not joined Western sanc- Vucic said he told Putin that he element of the contract that suits the is set to discuss ways to further do so
tions against Moscow. Vucic claims wished “peace would be established Serbian side very well.” and to hear from Ukrainian President
he wants to take Serbia into the Eu- as soon as possible.” It is not clear how Serbia would re- Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a lead-
ers’ summit that starts Monday.
Despite reports of the atrocities in
Ukraine due to the invasion, Vucic
and other Serbian leaders have been
complaining of Western pressure to
join sanctions against Russia. Serbian
officials say the Balkan country must
resist such pressure, even if it means
abandoning the goal of joining the
EU.

Under Vucic’s 10-year autocratic rule
and relentless pro-Kremlin propa-
ganda, Serbia has gradually slid to-
ward aligning with Russia. Polls sug-
gest a majority in the country would
rather join some sort of a union with
Moscow than the EU.
“The agreement reached by Presi-
dent Vucic with President Putin is
proof of how much Serbia’s decision
not to participate in anti-Russian hys-
teria is respected,” Interior Minister
Aleksandar Vulin said.
“The free leader, free people, make
decisions that are good for Serbia and
do not accept orders” from the West,
said Vulin, who is known for his pro-
Russian stance.