GAZA – Israel has agreed to a series of pauses in fighting in Gaza in September to allow young children in the enclave to be vaccinated for polio, according to United Nations and Israeli officials. The polio campaign, which will aim to vaccinate around 640,000 children across Gaza, comes after the highly infectious virus was found in sewage samples in the Strip in June.

Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative for the West Bank and Gaza, told a press briefing from a video link Thursday that the pause would start September 1 and will be split into three 3-day phases. “We have a preliminary commitment for area-specific humanitarian pauses during the campaign,” he said, adding that the pauses will roll out first in “central Gaza for three days, followed by south Gaza and then followed by north Gaza.”

The vaccination drive comes as aid agencies reported Israeli attacks on their convoys. One charity said an Israeli strike on a humanitarian vehicle in Gaza killed several employees of a transportation company. The Israeli military said it targeted “armed men” who had taken over the convoy.

The return of polio to Gaza is a measure of the destruction wrought by more than 10 months of Israeli bombardment. Polio vaccine coverage in the enclave was estimated at 99% in 2022, but had dropped to below 90% at the start of this year, according to WHO data. Peeperkorn warned that more than 90% coverage was needed to stop the outbreak.

The virus mostly affects children under five years old, and can cause irreversible paralysis and even death. It’s highly infectious and there is no cure; it can only be prevented by immunization, WHO says. More than 2,000 health workers have been recruited in Gaza to take part in the ambitious vaccination campaign. So far, 1.26 million doses of vaccines have been delivered to the Strip, with 400,000 more on their way.

An Israeli official confirmed to CNN that polio vaccinations will begin in Gaza on Sunday. Each phase of the vaccination campaign is expected to take around seven hours, and during those hours, the vaccines will be able enter the area on “pause” and be distributed. (CNN)…[+]

CARACAS – Most of Venezuela woke up to a power outage, with the authorities claiming saboteurs had targeted the national electricity network. On Friday, Communications Minister Freddy Nanez said on state channel VTV that the blackout hit at approximately 4:40am (08:40 GMT) with “nearly all the national territory” – including the capital Caracas – reporting “total or partial loss” of electricity supply.

“We have been victims, once again of electrical sabotage,” said Nanez, without giving further details, adding that the authorities were working to fully restore service. “The entire national government has been activated to overcome this new aggression,” he said. Power cuts are not uncommon in Venezuela, although they are usually more localised.

During a period of political unrest in 2019, Venezuela suffered from regular power outages that the government almost always blamed on saboteurs and opponents of President Nicolas Maduro’s government. However, energy experts said the outages were the result of brush fires damaging transmission lines and poor maintenance of the country’s hydroelectric infrastructure.

Following last month’s contested presidential election, officials have again been quick to blame opponents for even minor disruptions. Last Tuesday, a series of smaller blackouts, which Nanez also blamed on sabotage, affected some states. The outages happened to coincide with antigovernment protests the following day, with critics of Maduro taking to the streets in an attempt to rally opposition to his rule exactly one month to the day after the election.

“This is a constant strategy of the opposition, the enemies of this country, to impact the population,” Diosdado Cabello, the newly appointed interior minister who is believed to be the second most powerful man in the country, said after last Tuesday’s outage. Residents of the capital were taking Friday’s disruption in their stride. Traffic during the normally busy rush hour was lighter than usual and some people complained about being unable to communicate with family members due to a lack of cellphone service. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Buildings stand in darkness during a power outage in Caracas.(AP)…[+]

BURKINA FASO –  Russia is withdrawing 100 of its paramilitary officers from Burkina Faso to help in the war in Ukraine. They are part of about 300 soldiers from the Bear Brigade – a Russian private military company – who arrived in the West African nation in May to support the country’s military junta.

On its Telegram channel, the group said its forces would return home to support Russia’s defense against Ukraine’s recent offensive in the Kursk region. There are fears the pull-out could embolden Islamist insurgents in Burkina Faso, who recently killed up to 300 people in one of the biggest attacks in years.

Burkina Faso has since 2015 suffered regular jihadist attacks, with more than two million people displaced in what aid groups call the world’s “most neglected” crisis. The junta under interim President Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power in a coup in September 2022, promised to end the attacks but has struggled, even after seeking new security partnerships with Russia.

With nearly half the country outside government control, jihadist groups are increasingly targeting civilians and military units. Survivors say up to 300 people were killed last Saturday in the northern town of Barsalogho, in an attack which was claimed by an al-Qaeda-linked armed group, Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).

They were reportedly both civilians and military personnel helping to dig trenches to help protect the town against jihadist attacks. The authorities have not said how many people were killed but Communication Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo called the attack “barbaric”. The Bear Brigade is said to be responsible for guarding senior Burkinabè officials, including Capt. Traoré, whose leadership has been threatened before.

They arrived in the same month when gunshots were fired in the Burkinabè capital near the presidential palace, heightening speculation about growing opposition to the junta leader, who claimed to have thwarted a coup attempt last year. Videos which circulated on social media and reportedly confirmed by the group showed the Burkinabè military leader being guarded by men in uniforms featuring Russian flags.

The group says it is guarding the Russian ambassador in Ouagadougou, the Burkina Faso capital. (BBC)

Photo: A Russian paramilitary. (AFP)…[+]