BAMAKO // Three people were killed and 12 wounded in a rocket attack early Sunday on a UN base in Mali’s northeastern city of Kidal, said the United Nations mission in Mali.
More than 30 rockets and shells hit the UN base in Kidal at about 5:40am. Sunday, said the UN mission. The attack killed a UN soldier and two civilians and an additional 12 people were wounded, said the U.N.
The UN forces returned fire at about 6am. It said the rocket attack was launched from a spot about 2 kilometres from the camp.
The attack was not immediately claimed but the extremist group Ansar Dine claimed a similar attack against UN peacekeepers in Kidal in September 2014.
The rocket attack on the UN camp in Kidal comes a day after extremists attacked a restaurant in the capital, Bamako, killing five people, including a French person and a Belgian. Bamako is about 1,500 kilometres south-west of Kidal.
A masked gunman sprayed bullets early Saturday in La Terrasse, a restaurant and bar that is popular with foreigners. Al Mourabitoun, or The Sentinels, a northern Mali radical group allied with Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Mauritanian news website Al Akhbar. The website often receives messages from Malian extremists.
In addition to those killed, nine people were wounded including two experts for the UN mission, said the UN stabilisation mission in Mali. The two are Swiss soldiers and were flown to Senegal for treatment, said the Swiss Defense Ministry.
In 2012, extremists seized control of northern Mali with the aim of imposing Shariah law in the country.
French forces led a military operation in early 2013 that largely expelled the Al Qaeda-linked extremists from a vast area they had controlled in northeastern Mali. The military operation in that region continues, and sporadic combat and clashes take place there. Violence has been rare in Bamako despite the continued upheaval in the north.
* Associated Press
Representing%20UAE%20overseas
%3Cp%3E%0DIf%20Catherine%20Richards%20debuts%20for%20Wales%20in%20the%20Six%20Nations%2C%20she%20will%20be%20the%20latest%20to%20have%20made%20it%20from%20the%20UAE%20to%20the%20top%20tier%20of%20the%20international%20game%20in%20the%20oval%20ball%20codes.%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESeren%20Gough-Walters%20(Wales%20rugby%20league)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EBorn%20in%20Dubai%2C%20raised%20in%20Sharjah%2C%20and%20once%20an%20immigration%20officer%20at%20the%20British%20Embassy%20in%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20she%20debuted%20for%20Wales%20in%20rugby%20league%20in%202021.%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESophie%20Shams%20(England%20sevens)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EWith%20an%20Emirati%20father%20and%20English%20mother%2C%20Shams%20excelled%20at%20rugby%20at%20school%20in%20Dubai%2C%20and%20went%20on%20to%20represent%20England%20on%20the%20sevens%20circuit.%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFiona%20Reidy%20(Ireland)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMade%20her%20Test%20rugby%20bow%20for%20Ireland%20against%20England%20in%202015%2C%20having%20played%20for%20four%20years%20in%20the%20capital%20with%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Harlequins%20previously.%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.