from ADANE BIKILA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Ethiopia Bureau
ADDIS ABABA, (CAJ News) – AFRICAN leaders have mourned the death of hundreds of people in Syria and Turkey following devastating in earthquakes on Monday.
At the time of publishing, over 2 400 people had been estimated dead after two powerful earthquakes struck southern and central Turkey.
The phenomenon also caused massive damage in war-torn Syria.
Macky Sall, Chairperson of the African Union (AU), extended the organisation’s condolences to Presidents Bashar al-Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Syria and Turkey respectively.
“Peace to the souls of the victims and speedy recovery to the injured,” Sall, who is also president of Senegal, stated.
Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), expressed the continent’s solidarity.
“Africa stands in unwavering solidarity and sorrow with the government and people of Turkey and Syria following the devastating earthquake that led to the deaths of more than a thousand innocent people and wreaking terrible infrastructural damage,” Mahamat stated.
The earthquake had magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale. It is said to have the same magnitude as one that killed about 30 000 people in 1939 in northeast Turkey.
– CAJ News