A bomb has exploded close to a shrine in the centre of Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more.

Reports say a second bomb has been found in the area and made safe.

No-one has yet said they carried out the attack, which took place close to the Erawan shrine in Bangkok’s central Chidlom district.

The shrine is a major tourist attraction. The Thai government said the attack was aimed at foreigners.

Local media report that tourists, including Chinese, may be among the casualties.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwong said: “It was a TNT bomb… the people who did it targeted foreigners and to damage tourism and the economy.”

Read the latest updates here

The Nation TV channel quoted Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha as saying the government would set up a “war room” to co-ordinate its response.

Nation put the death toll as high as 27, saying at least three foreigners were killed, but there is no official confirmation.

The explosion occurred at about 19:00 local time (12:00 GMT). Some reports said the bomb had been on a motorcycle, others that it was tied to an electricity pole.

‘Really graphic’

The BBC’s Jonathan Head, who is at the scene, says there is a huge amount of chaos, with body parts scattered everywhere.

He says this is a very well-known shrine in the centre of Bangkok, next to a five-star hotel, and that people around the shrine were hit by the full force of the blast.

One bystander, Alessandro Ursic, told the BBC: “When I arrived they had already cleared the bodies from the ground outside the Erawan shrine but there were and there are still pieces of human flesh strewn around the intersection; it’s really graphic.”

Another, James Sales, said: “I went into where the shrine is, where there were lots of bodies. I saw at least nine people unfortunately who looked like they had died and lots of Chinese tourists as well.

“I tried to administer CPR to one particular guy who was in his 40s… and he didn’t make it.”

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Police in the Albertine region recently blocked some area Members of Parliament from carrying out a demonstration against what they call ‘lies by the government’.

According to police spokesperson Fred Enanga, the legislators including Barnabas Tinkasimiire (Buyaga) and Robinah Nabbanja (Kibaale) claim that in 2011 President Museveni promised to give Kagadi a district status by July the same year, a pledge that did not come to pass.

So, according to police, last week the two and others at large organized to stage a demonstration before the finance minister Matia Kasaija, who was to attend a fundraising function in the Kigezi region but the police thwarted their plans.

Background

Last year, the Minister for Local Government Adolf Mwesige tabled before Parliament a proposal for the creation of 25 more districts, saying government wants to take services closer to the people. The proposal faced resistance from the civil society, opposition and some ruling party MPs who reasoned that creating more districts without resources to fund them is economically unviable.

And, on August 13 this year Mr Mwesige withdrew a bill to create more districts citing the lack of funds, something that has since rubbed several politicians the wrong way.

In a related development, Parliament recently approved the creation of 43 new counties, raising the number of MPs to over 400.

Meanwhile, the police have this morning arrested three members of a youth activist group, the Youth for Change, which had planned to hold a demonstration in the city centre.

Those arrested included Robinson Wobulembo, the group’s National Coordinator, Arthur Mugenyi and Dickson Nagalamo, and the three are being held at the Central Police Station in Kampala.

According to Police Spokesperson Enanga, the youth planned to start their demo from the Constitutional Square, head to Parliament and finally to the Electoral Commission  with the group demanding for an ‘independent Electoral Commission’ and calling upon the army and police to desist from engaging in electoral activities.

But Mr Enanga said that the planned demonstration was unlawful under the Public Order Management Act and that the police had not been informed.

He also said the police believe that some politicians are using members of these youth groups for selfish interests as the country prepares for the 2016 general elections.

Mr Enanga also reiterated that the police was bound to carry out its constitutional duties in line with the law.

“We as the police are not against any demonstrations since the Constitution grants all Ugandans that right, but this should be done in accordance to the law.” he said.

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The President of South Sudan arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa yesterday, to take part in the South Sudan peace talks.

Since December 2013 South Sudan has been embroiled in a deadly civil war that has pitted President Salva Kiir Mayardit against his erstwhile Vice President Dr Riek Machar Teng.

Previously, Kiir had said he would not participate in the talks, arguing that a rebel split involving groups allied to Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM-IO) would undermine the credibility of and outcomes of the peace process. Kiir’s assertion is based on utterances made by rebel General Peter Gadet, who accused Machar of being a self-seeker, and that he would not recognize the outcome of the peace deal.

The one and a half year standoff between the two sides has attracted the attention of the international community led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), which has pushed for the brokering of a peace deal between the warring factions, with a deadline set for today, Monday, August 17.

The civil war in South Sudan has left thousands dead while many more have fled to exile in the neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, the talks today were attended by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni, Sudan president Omar Al Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

Others in attendance were from the United Nations, African Union and individual countries like China, United Kingdom, Norway and the United States.

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President Yoweri Museveni has said that former presidents should be engaged in coordinating efforts to end conflicts.

According to president Museveni, this should involve neutral and mutually agreeable former heads of states that would ensure proper follow up of resolutions.

“The problem is that coordination is not done. We are not following up properly. For armed conflicts, we should have former heads of state involved. In Burundi we survived because we had former President Julius Nyerere and President Mandela involved,” Museveni said August 16, while meeting the United Nations Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson at the Sheraton Addis Ababa.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of an IGAD led peace process on South Sudan that saw several heads of state including Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia, and Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan in intense closed door consultations to ensure a deal is reached before the IGAD set deadline today.

Museveni and Eliasson also discussed a range of issues particularly the security situation in Somalia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The president also called for stronger coordination mechanisms at the highest international level possible in finding a solution to regional conflicts, and warned against sectarian tendencies, saying countries need prosperity and security first.

The Deputy Secretary General thanked President Museveni for his role in conflict resolution and pledged UN support in implementation.

“Implementation would be difficult but we shall help in any way possible. Your role in ensuring that these conflicts end honourably is crucial. All the permanent five security council members agree your role is very crucial in ending these conflicts,” he said.

Eliasson said they would push for a higher level of engagement as requested by Museveni to get the coordination the attention it deserves.

The Deputy Secretary-General is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to represent the Secretary-General at the IGAD-PLUS Summit on the Situation in South Sudan. He was accompanied by the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sudan, Haile Menkerios and the Special Representative of the Secretary General on South Sudan Ellen Loj. Uganda’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Mull Katende attended the meeting.

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An Indonesian twin-turboprop aircraft carrying 54 people lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday in the remote, forested eastern Papua region, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) said, with search efforts hampered by failing light as night falls.

“We can’t confirm it has crashed. We can say contact has been lost with the plane,” BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelystyo told Reuters by phone.

“It’s a Trigana airline plane carrying 54 people including 5 crew. We are working to get more details.”

According to the official BASARNAS Twitter account, the aircraft, a short-haul ATR 42-300 airliner belonging to Trigana Air Service and built in France and Italy, was carrying 44 adult passengers, five crew and five children and infants.

The plane was flying between Jayapura’s Sentani Airport and Oksibil, due south of Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.

The agency’s Jayapura office was coordinating the search, a separate tweet read as dusk set in the tropics.

Air transport is commonly used in Papua, Indonesia’s easternmost province, where land travel is often impossible.

It was not immediately clear if search efforts would continue into the night in the densely forested mountainous region where the aircraft was traveling.

According to the Aviation Safety Network, an online database, the ATR 42-300 had its first flight 27 years ago. ATR is a joint venture between Airbus (AIR.PA) and Alenia Aermacchi, a subsidiary of Italian aerospace firm Finmeccanica (SIFI.MI) .

Trigana has been on the EU blacklist of banned carriers since 2007. Airlines on the list are barred from operating in European airspace due to either concerns about its safety standards, or concerns about the regulatory environment in its country of registration.

The airline has a fleet of 14 aircraft, according to the airfleets.com database. These include 10 ATR aircraft and four Boeing 737 classics. These have an average age of 26.6 years, according to the database.

Trigana has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, according to the Aviation Safety Network’s online database. Excluding this latest incident, it has written off 10 aircraft.

Indonesia has a patchy aviation safety record and has seen two major plane crashes in the past year, including an AirAsia flight that went down in the Java Sea, killing all on board.

That crash prompted the government to introduce regulations aimed at improving safety.

Indonesia’s president promised a review of the aging air force fleet in July after a military transport plane crashed in the north of the country, killing more than 100 people.

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