Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River, has criticised the acquisition of an aircraft for President Bola Tinubu. 

Last week, the presidency confirmed the purchase of a 15-year old Airbus A330 to replace the 19-year-old Boeing B737-700 acquired under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Speaking on Friday when he featured on Inside Sources, a programme anchored by Laolu Akande on Channels Television, the former governor described the decision as “failure of leadership” considering the country’s economic situation.

“There is no glamour in saying your people are going through hard times; it is a failure of your leadership. If I am the head of a family, I want my family to have everything. I don’t want life to be difficult for them,” Duke said.

“If life is difficult, then I feel I have failed to provide for them or do the things I ought to have done. I would ask him (Tinubu) to see the Nigerian nation as his family. What is good for his family is good for the nation.

“Buying a new aircraft or yacht or living large is a failure. You can’t have kids who are hungry and you are living lavishly, going to parties and wearing the biggest agbada.”

‘HOLD SECURITY HEADS RESPONSIBLE’

Speaking on the security challenges facing the country, Duke asked Tinubu to hold heads of security agencies responsible.

He said there should be consequences for poor performance of duties by security officers.

“Hold the security agencies responsible for a failure of security. There should be consequences. You cannot sit down and say you are a DPO, commissioner of police or you are GOC and crime is being committed in your domain. Hold them responsible,” Duke said.

He also advised the president to “completely decentralise” the judiciary.

“It may require us having maybe three to four times or even 10 times more judges than we have but ensure that whoever is a judge there are consequences for it,” Duke said.

The former governor asked Tinubu to address the economic challenges in the country by finding local solutions.

“The IMF or the World Bank would not give you those textbook solutions. It has to be an indigenous solution to our problems,” he said.

Duke was governor from 1999 to 2007, during the same period Tinubu governed Lagos.

The Cable

Bruno Labbadia has rejected his appointment as the new head coach of Super Eagles of Nigeria. 

According to Kicker, a German football magazine, the 58-year-old tactician pulled out of the deal with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Friday.

NFF announced Labbadia as the Eagles’ new coach on Tuesday.

The federation said an agreement had been reached with the German, adding that he would take over the team immediately.

However, Kicker’s report cited the “public rush” to announce Labbadia’s arrival as the significant reason the manager cancelled the deal.

TheCable understands from sources in the loop of the deal that the German coach has communicated his U-turn to the NFF.

Labbadia would have been the sixth German coach to take over the Super Eagles.

He would have followed in the footsteps of his compatriots: Karl-Heinz Marotzke, Gottlieb Göller, Manfred Höner, Berti Vogts and Gernot Rohr.

Labbadia was announced as the successor to Finidi George who stepped down from the role in June — a few days after the NFF announced a plan to appoint a foreign technical adviser for the Super Eagles.

With the latest development, the Super Eagles still have no head coach ahead of the forthcoming 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualification matches against the Benin Republic and Rwanda.

The Eagles are scheduled to face the Benin Republic at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on September 7 before flying to Kigali to play Rwanda three days later.

The Cable

Israeli forces kill two attackers in West Bank, military says

Israel's military on Saturday said its forces killed two people in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, after one infiltrated an Israeli settlement and another shot at soldiers after his car exploded.

Israel's ambulance service said two men were wounded by gunshots in the incidents. It did not identify them.

"Terrorists attempted to run over a security guard at the entrance to the community Karmei Tzur a short while ago and infiltrated the community," the military said, referring to an Israeli settlement.

Soldiers who arrived at the scene killed one assailant who had opened fire at them and were searching for others, it said.

In another incident, a car caught fire and exploded in a gas station, the military said.

It said forces sent to the scene "shot and eliminated the terrorist who exited the vehicle and tried to attack them."

The military said it was too soon to know if the incidents were related.

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas issued a statement on Saturday praising what it called a "double heroic operation" in the West Bank, saying it "is a clear message that resistance will remain striking, prolonged and sustained as long as the brutal occupation's aggression and targeting of our people and land continue".

The group, however, did not claim direct responsibility for the attacks.

Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before the war in Gaza, has escalated recently, with stepped-up Israeli military raids and settler and Palestinian street violence.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine's air force commander dismissed after F-16 crash

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed Ukraine's Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk on Friday, according to a presidential decree.

The dismissal was announced just a day after the Ukrainian military reported that an F-16 jet crashed and its pilot died while repelling a major Russian strike on Monday.

"I have decided to replace the commander of the Air Forces... I am eternally grateful to all our military pilots," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his evening address.

He did not give a reason for dismissal but mentioned that personnel must be protected, and that there was a need to strengthen the command level.

Ukraine's General Staff said that General Lieutenant Anatoliy Kryvonozhka would temporarily perform the duties of commander.

The Ukrainian military did not provide a reason for Monday's crash but said the jet came down while it was approaching a Russian target. Oleshchuk said on Monday partners from the U.S. were helping to investigate the incident.

A U.S. defense official told Reuters that the crash did not appear to be the result of Russian fire, and possible causes from pilot error to mechanical failure were still being investigated.

The arrival of the first F-16 jets was a milestone for Ukraine in the fight against the full-scale invasion Russia launched 2-1/2 years ago.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian military blames Zelensky for battlefield setbacks – FT

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has reportedly come under a “barrage of criticism” from his own soldiers, lawmakers and military analysts after Russian forces managed to make rapid advances in Donbass and push back Kiev’s troops, the Financial Times claimed on Friday.

According to the UK outlet, due to Kiev’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region earlier this month, which involved the redeployment of thousands of Ukraine’s most battle-hardened troops, many of its forces fighting in the Russian Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have ended up being stretched thin and have been struggling to hold their ground.

This week, Ukraine’s front line in the region was breached by Russian forces who have been closing in on the strategically important city of Pokrovsk in the west of the DPR, which represents one of the key rail and road junctions in the region. Frontelligence Insight, a Ukrainian analytical group cited by the FT, say the loss of the city would be a serious blow to the Ukrainian military’s logistics.

The current situation on the edge of Pokrovsk has been described as a “complete defensive failure” for the Ukrainian military, according to Alexander Kovalenko, a military analyst at the Kiev-based Information Resistance group.

Other military experts, including those within the Deep State group, which is said to have ties to Ukraine’s defense ministry, have described the situation on the front line as “complete chaos,” stating that Russian forces have been advancing more rapidly in the region since Kiev launched its incursion on August 6 than in the months before.

Kiev’s troops have also been sharing their frustration with Zelensky and his commanders, with one serviceman being quoted by the FT as saying that he has “never seen anything like this” and that “everything is falling apart so quickly.” 

Zhenya, who serves within Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade and fought in the 10-month-long battle for Artemovsk last year, reportedly warned that “Pokrovsk will fall much faster than Bakhmut did,” according to the British outlet.

Meanwhile, Zelensky himself has described the situation on the front line near Pokrovsk as “extremely difficult.” His top commander, Aleksandr Syrsky, has also admitted that Kiev’s gambit in Kursk had failed to force Russia to divert its troops from Pokrovsk, as Moscow refused to take the bait.

According to the latest figures from the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev’s incursion has cost Ukraine more than 7,800 service members, 75 tanks, and more than 500 armored vehicles.

Reuters/RT

The American Dream is a social contract built on the promise of prosperity and freedom for the average American, in exchange for the patriotic pursuit of collective aspirations. This concept spread across Europe from the USA, the largest and most diverse conglomeration of White people, just as China's prosperity is now spreading across Asia. However, Nigeria, the largest conglomeration of Black people, has not yet provided a template to empower Black Africans with a sense of belonging and collective aspiration.

People come together in a commonwealth, giving up part of themselves for collective security and economies of scale to make life more abundant. Politicians typically use two methods to motivate and mobilize the masses: fear or dreams. In the 1600s, Hobbes argued that it was difficult to pinpoint the ultimate collective dream of fulfillment, so the fear of extinction has been the primary political force in traditional societies. Across Black Africa, it is the fear of being overrun by other tribes, while in Europe, it is the fear of invading Russians.

Contrary to popular opinion, it is the development of an economic system to fulfill collective aspirations that dictates constitutions, which in turn define the social contract between the government and the governed. Therefore, until Nigeria shifts from a neocolonial economy to an integrated economy focused on fulfilling the needs of the people with our own resources, neither we nor other African nations can develop constitutions and political systems that genuinely uplift the people. This was the case in our traditional societies, such as Oyo and Oyo Mesi, until slavery and colonization usurped our economic and political systems, turning our dreams into nightmares.

The initial White social contract of prosperity that evolved in the early 1500s was based on imperialistic European monarchs colonizing Native American lands. These lands were given to immigrant Europeans, who were provided with African slaves to plant adapted African crops like sugarcane, cotton, and tobacco. This created an economic system known as the Golden Triangle between Europe, Africa, and the Americas that lasted for two centuries, morally justified by the Biblical Ham story as a form of constitution. The colonial social contract changed with the end of the Golden Triangle economic system, shifting to an economic model in which the agricultural produce of Southern USA plantations was diverted to the non-agricultural Northeast USA for local processing. The profits were then used to fulfill the collective aspirations of White Americans.

This change in the economic system required a shift from the colonial Christian European monarchies' social contract tied to the Bible, to a written secular constitution. The greatest hurdle was not the transfer of British monarch powers to the delegates of the 13 colonies that became the federal government—achieved with the 1775-1776 Articles of Confederation—but the inclusion of African slaves into the new social contract, not based on the Biblical Ham Story. This led to intense bargaining between slaveowners and Northern capitalists/Federalists, delaying the Constitution until 1787 when it was finally resolved with the Three-Fifths compromise, which accorded Africans just 60% of humanity, and restricted voting to landowners. In Haiti, where both the French colonists and local slaveowners were forcibly removed from the economic system, Black people designed the first universal voting suffrage in 1804. The change in the Golden Triangle economic system and the new social contracts spread to European monarchs with the French Revolution and 1832 British Electoral Reforms.

The local adaptation of the USA slave-based agricultural economic system, from being colonial export-focused, led to the development of inland railways that birthed heavy manufacturing. Surplus iron and chemicals used for railways and railcars led to the development of the industrial military complex, whose profits and labor demands far surpassed that of the slave agricultural system. This created the need for a new social contract as slavery ended and its labor was absorbed by manufacturing in the North. With industrialization, the masses organized into labor unions that spread across the USA and Europe, demanding a better contract. This was initially addressed in 1903-1906 with US President Theodore Roosevelt's Square Deal. However, this was not enough, as Socialists seized power in the Russian 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to take over collective resources for socially beneficial production, resulting in a new economic system and constitution.

To prevent the spread of revolution to the USA and Western Europe, especially during the 1929 Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal in 1933. This involved the accelerated development of sprawling suburbia, transferring wealth to the people and providing employment. Western nations adopted national economic planning to fulfill the People's Dream, ensuring everyone had access to housing, transport, education, health, and employment, financed through budget deficits either with investment in consumer goods or the military-industrial complex. Initially, Black Americans were excluded from this wealth transfer, but since their labor and raw materials from newly independent African nations were needed, the social contract had to be altered with the 1960s Civil Rights Acts.

In Africa, especially Nigeria, the cradle of Indigenous African civilization, our civilizational economic system of kola, clothing, beads, and food, tied to Ifa-Afa-Iha-Fa-Efa constitutions, was derailed with the slave-for-arms economic system, which politically balkanized our civilization into empires like Oyo, Benin, and Igala. The end of the Golden Triangle economic system led European monarchs to turn to Africa to develop a new colonial economic system. Before colonial political amalgamations, our civilizational economics were restructured by overriding our trade routes with the building of railways from our hinterlands to the ports. In Nigeria, two North-South railway lines were built to create a new economic system based on supplying raw materials for European factories and serving as dumping grounds for their manufactured goods.

At independence, Nigerians did not restructure back to our civilizational economic system upon which a new social contract could evolve. Instead, a new pseudo-elite took up the role of economic and political middlemen between human and natural resources and the former colonial masters. To this day, we remain a nation of traders and planters. A few genuine leaders who followed Keynesian and Socialist ideals, like Awolowo and Nkrumah, sought to fulfill the African Dream of making life more abundant with housing, education, employment, and health subsidies. However, within a decade, they were swept out of power by Western-engineered corruption propaganda and other political tools.

By the mid-1970s, the IMF and World Bank attacked the concept of a social contract based on the government fulfilling the People's Dream, replacing it with free market theories that led African nations to shirk their social responsibilities. Western global economic hegemony imposed enslaving policies like subsidy removal and devaluation, reducing real wages and impoverishing economically dependent African nations that hadn't changed their neocolonial economic systems. IMF loans were not to be used for education, health, or development, in order to stall any change in the economic system. Currently, with African nations regaining their pre-slavery global proportional populations, their economies can no longer serve as appendages to foreign economic systems, and their political systems can't fulfill their Dreams. To avoid Russian-style revolutions in Nigeria and across Africa, the political classes must urgently implement a New Deal for a Nigerian Dream. This involves accelerated massive social housing development that would not only transfer wealth to the average Nigerian but also inspire a patriotic feeling of inclusion in a commonwealth that fulfills their dreams.

This New Deal for a Nigerian Dream must end the current neocolonial economic system of being primary producers and foreign importers and bring about a new economic system of industrialization. This can be spurred by developing East-West railways (Lagos-Calabar, Ilorin-Yola, and Sokoto-Maiduguri) that reestablish our civilizational economy. The multiplier effects will develop our iron and chemical industries, creating jobs with reasonable wages for millions of our unemployed, unlike agriculture, which can't absorb them and pays slave wages.

This transformation will be funded by large deficits, an 18-month reduction of imports to the barest minimum to prevent leakages, and the use of nearly 100% locally derived inputs, all organized by the Defence Industries Corporation for efficiency. While this new economic system must be centrally built, for sustainability, our political system must be immediately restructured to devolve power for competitive progressive management. Additionally, we must constitutionalize our traditional institutions, which are the source of our cultural identity and moral values, to end the coloniality of being, power, and knowledge sources.

** Justice Faloye, President of ASHE Foundation think tank, author of The Blackworld Evolution to Revolution, and Afenifere National Publicity Secretary, is an economist and sociopolitical activist.

A Taiwan court of law sentenced a man to three months in prison for invading his adulterous wife’s privacy by installing hidden cameras around their home.

Chinese media recently reported the unusual story of a Taiwanese man surnamed Fan who managed to land himself behind bars for daring to expose his wife’s cheating by installing cameras around their home. The couple had reportedly been married for several years and had two young children in 2022 when Mr. Fan began suspecting that his spouse was having an affair. He installed a camera under the piano in the living room of the family home and another one next to the computer in the master bedroom. About two weeks later, the cameras caught Fan’s wife and a mystery man having intimate relations in the family home, footage that the husband later used as grounds for a divorce.

In February 2022, Fan invited his wife and her lawyer to divorce negotiations, but they were unable to reach an agreement, so Fan filed a civil lawsuit against his spouse for civil damages. Little did he know that his wife had an ace up her sleeve. The woman went to a local police station and accused her husband of invading her privacy by installing hidden cameras around their home without her consent.

Fan’s wife eventually filed a lawsuit against him, and his excuse of having installed the cameras out of worry for his children who often complained that their mother spent an unusually long time in the bathroom didn’t sit very well with the judge.

At the end of last year, the Taoyuan Court sentenced Mr. Fan to 3 years in prison for secretly filming other people’s private activities without their consent and without a valid reason.

The Taiwanese man appealed the decision, but the Taoyuan High Court recently rejected his appeal and upheld the original verdict. Mr. Fan now has to spend 3 months behind bars for catching his wife cheating in their family’s home.

This strange case sparked a heated debate on Taiwanese and Chinese social media regarding the boundaries between privacy and collecting evidence of adultery, as well as the impact of modern technology on family-related issues.

Oddity Central

Nigeria and Niger have signed a deal to boost their security cooperation, the Nigerian military said on Thursday, despite tensions between the neighbours since a coup in Niger a year ago.

"Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to resuming and strengthening collaboration, with a view to ensuring regional stability and security," a Nigerian military statement said after the signing of a memorandum of understanding by the nations' defence chiefs in Niamey, Niger's capital, on Wednesday.

Ties between the two countries soured after Niger's junta toppledMohamed Bazoum and the July 2023 coup has also split the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), raising questions about the fight against Islamist violence in the region.

ECOWAS threatened to invade Niger if diplomatic efforts to restore the democratic government failed, prompting Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali to pull out of the 15-country bloc in January.

They said ECOWAS had failed to help them tackle Islamist violence, signing a military agreement to form the Alliance of Sahel States - a parallel body.

Niger has remained in a Nigeria-led multinational joint taskforce fighting Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region, but has kept its activities to a minimum.

Under the deal signed this week, it "reaffirmed its readiness to resume active participation in security cooperation under the Multinational Joint Task Force", the Nigerian statement said.

Reuters

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it has granted two digital assets exchanges “approval-in-principle” to commence operation under the accelerated regulatory incubation programme (ARIP).

SEC, in a statement on Thursday, said the companies approved are Busha Digital Limited, Quidax Technologies Limited.

The approval comes a week after the commission disclosed plans to license providers of virtual assets — including cryptocurrencies — to support youths and protect investors as adoption rates surge in Nigeria.

The SEC said the ARIP involves different cohorts, which comprise two digital asset exchanges, four digital asset offering platforms and one digital asset custodian.

“Busha operates a digital exchange that facilitates the buying and selling of crypto assets with fiat currency,” the agency said.

“It enables individuals and businesses in Nigeria and other developing economies to access basic digital asset investment services.

“Busha’s customers use the mobile and web applications to buy, sell, store, send, receive, trade and invest and make payments in cryptocurrencies.

“Quidax Technologies Limited operates a cryptocurrency trading platform in Nigeria. The platform leverages blockchain technology to list and trade already issued crypto tokens (assets).

“The services are provided via a proprietary blockchain owned and controlled by Quidax. The exchange platform is both web and mobile enabled for ease of access and use.”

The SEC said Quidax also utilises digital wallets to enable its users to store, receive, and transact in “a variety of cryptocurrencies”.

According to the statement, five firms have been admitted to test their models and technology under the SEC’s regulatory incubation programme.

“They are Trovotech Ltd, Wrapped CBDC Ltd, HousingExhange.NG Ltd, Dream City Capital and Blockvault Custodian Ltd,” the agency said.

“The SEC recently introduced the ARIP to strategically on-board firms which had commenced operations prior to the release of the rules on virtual asset service Providers in May 2022.

“Conversely, the RI Program was created to assess the business models of digital assets firms and test innovative products, services and technology in a real-time market environment under close supervision by the SEC.”

The commission said the current cohort of the ARIP and the RI programme is characterised by the increased use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in creating and trading crypto assets.

The outcome of the process would inform further policy development, SEC added.

“Tests would be conducted on a short-term and small-scale basis and the SEC would continue to work with the participating firms to agree on testing parameters as well as robust consumer safeguards,” the agency added.

“The referenced approvals-in-principle are a precursor to the grant of full registration by the SEC and are meant to ensure that appropriate protection and transparency is in place in respect of each product or service”.

‘OTHER APPLICATIONS ARE BEING ASSESSED’

The SEC further said the two firms are not the only entities that have applied to the ARIP and the RI programmes.

The commission said other applications received are being assessed and would be granted approval-in-principle on a case-by-case basis as they meet all the requirements.

“The SEC uses this medium to reiterate that only approved digital exchanges and platforms are legally authorized to carry out the business of crypto trading in any form in Nigeria,” the regulator said.

“In this regard, the ARIP and RI remain the only avenues for well-intentioned entities to legitimately introduce their digital products and services to the Nigerian Capital market”.

The SEC, therefore, advised the public to refrain from dealing with illegal operators who have not applied to and received approval under the ARIP or the RI programme.

The agency also reminded intending investors to always confirm from the various information portals whether entities “purporting to provide investment services are legally empowered to do so”.

The Cable

Divorce.com, a United States website which offers resources and support for navigating divorce, has included Nigeria on its list of countries with high divorce rates.

According to data published on their website in July, Nigeria ranked eleventh out of twenty-six countries with the highest divorce rate.

The results were obtained after sampling respondents from these countries and compiling statistics from 16 primary sources, ensuring a comprehensive and reliable research process.

The report also revealed a significant trend. Women in sub-Saharan Africa, especially Nigeria, are taking the initiative in divorce more often than men, a reflection of changing gender dynamics.

According to the data, Maldives has the highest divorce rate at 5.52 per cent, while India has the lowest rate at 0.01 per cent.

Maldives tops the list because women in the country have become more financially independent and can sustain themselves without husbands. Also, there is little to no stigma associated with getting divorced in Maldives.

However, India has the lowest divorce rates because marriage is highly valued, and divorce has historically been stigmatised, which has created intense social pressure to maintain the marriage, even in the face of difficulties.

Rationale

Divorce.com claimed that Nigeria’s divorce rate reached 2.9 per cent in 2023 based on available data on marriage and divorce.

Just like Maldives, Nigeria was ranked eleventh among the countries with the highest divorce rate because its women are financially independent and can sustain themselves without husbands.

They stated that the data was arrived at based on scholars’ belief that high divorce rates in Western countries stem from the reduced stigma surrounding divorce and the growing financial independence of women.

Countries with higher divorce rates than Nigeria include the Maldives, Cuba 2.9 per cent, Finland 2.4 per cent, Sweden 2.5 per cent, Denmark 2.7 per cent and Ukraine 3.1 per cent.

For instance, Canada had a divorce rate of 2.8 per cent, while India, a country with a different cultural and religious context, had a divorce rate of 0.1 per cent.

Other countries with lower divorce rates than Nigeria include Malta 0.6 per cent, Ireland 0.7 per cent, Guatemala 0.6 per cent, Venezuela 0.7 per cent, Uruguay 0.8 per cent, Austria 1.6 per cent, and Belgium 1.8 per cent.

Factors that contributed to divorce

According to Divorce.com, various factors influence a country’s divorce rate, and these factors differ across continents.

In the countries with the highest divorce rates, religion, local divorce laws, lack of social support, and limited employment opportunities are significant contributors.

These factors can lead to a breakdown in trust and communication, making it difficult for couples to maintain a healthy and committed relationship.

Other common factors include marrying too young 45.1 per cent, financial hardship 36.7 per cent, substance abuse 40.6 per cent, and domestic violence 23.5 per cent.

Africa

Additionally, eleven other African countries were ranked behind Nigeria in divorce rates.

These countries include Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Mauritius, Libya, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

Egypt’s divorce rate was 2.2 per cent, Algeria’s 1.6 per cent, Tunisia’s 1.2 per cent, Sudan’s 1.5 per cent, Mauritius’ 1.7 per cent, Libya’s 0.2 per cent, and South Africa’s 0.4 per cent.

Furthermore, Ethiopia has a divorce rate of 2.6 per cent, Kenya 0.06 per cent, Zimbabwe 0.07 per cent, and Mozambique 0.04 per cent.

Determining factors

According to Divorce.com, the primary factors influencing divorce rates in Africa include age at first marriage, financial independence, polygyny, andHIV/AIDS risks.

The report also revealed that women in sub-Saharan Africa initiated divorce more often than men.

Specifically, 34.6 per cent of women with secondary school education, 38.6 per cent of those living in urban areas, 57.6 per cent employed outside the household, and 75.1 per cent in monogamous unions have divorced.

Additionally, they highlighted that marriage stability in sub-Saharan African countries mainly depends on religion and extended family ties.

“In particular, conservative Christians, who considered divorce a taboo in the past, now increasingly believe it to be a better option than domestic violence and infidelity.

“In addition, if a marriage requires paying a substantial amount of money to the bride’s family, maternal relatives will try to keep the union from falling apart. Otherwise, they will have to return the portion or all of the “bride price”, Divorce.com added.

PT

Israel, Hamas set three-day pauses in fighting for Gaza polio shots, WHO says

Israel's military and Palestinian militant group Hamas have agreed to three separate, zoned three-day pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for the first round of vaccination of 640,000 children against polio, a senior WHO official said on Thursday.

The vaccination campaign is due to start on Sunday, with the pauses scheduled to take place between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. (0300-1200 GMT), said Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization's senior official for the Palestinian territories.

He said the campaign would start in central Gaza with three consecutive daily pauses in fighting, then move to southern Gaza, where there would be another three-day pause, followed by northern Gaza. Peeperkorn added there was an agreement to extend the pause in each zone to a fourth day if needed.

"From our experience, we know an additional day or two is very often needed to achieve sufficient coverage," Mike Ryan, WHO emergencies director, told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday during a meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

A second round of vaccination would be required four weeks after the first round, said Peeperkorn.

"At least 90% of coverage is needed during each round of the campaign in order to stop the outbreak and prevent international spread of polio," Ryan said.

The WHO confirmed on Aug. 23 that one baby has been paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in Gaza in 25 years.

"We are ready to cooperate with international organizations to secure this campaign, serving and protecting more than 650,000 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip," Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters.

The Israeli military's humanitarian unit (COGAT) said on Wednesday that the vaccination campaign would be conducted in coordination with the Israeli military "as part of the routine humanitarian pauses that will allow the population to reach the medical centers where the vaccinations will be administered."

EVACUATION ORDERS

Israel was continuing a "focused and intensive effort" to deliver aid to Gaza and coordinate the polio vaccination campaign with WHO and U.N. children's agency UNICEF, Oren Marmorstein, spokesperson for Israel's foreign affairs ministry, posted on X.

Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said it was important that Israel facilitate access and "ensure periods of calm and refrain from military operations during vaccination campaign periods." He added that the United States urged "Israel to avoid further evacuation orders during this period."

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has since killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Wednesday said aid operations in Gaza were "heavily restricted by hostilities, insecurity, and mass evacuation orders affecting aid transport routes and facilities."

Acting U.N. aid chief Joyce Msuya said on Thursday that for the first time in the nearly 11-month long war Israel had reversed an evacuation order for three blocks in Deir al-Balah, adding: "Our teams are working to confirm if we can now return to the premises we had to leave on 25 August."

The evacuation orders issued on Sunday had "led to the largest relocation of U.N. staff since we were forced to leave northern Gaza in October 2023," Msuya said, affecting some 200 staff, more than a dozen guesthouses used by the U.N. and aid groups and four U.N. warehouses.

Reuters