Pilgrims in Saudi Arabia for hajj - CBC.ca

Thousands of tents housing Muslim pilgrims are seen on Sunday, crowded together in Mina near Mecca, Saudi Arabia. (Hassan Ammar/Associated Press) Muslims from around the world have begun the annual hajj, or pilgrimage, to Saudi Arabia.

The four-day event draws around 2.5 million worshippers each year to holy sites.

Throughout the weekend, tens of thousands of pilgrims circulated around the Kaaba, a cube-like structure considered Islam's holiest building, inside the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca.

Pilgrims will gather at Mount Arafat, east of Mecca, at dawn Monday at the site where the Prophet Muhammad gave his last sermon.

Pilgrims reach out to touch the door of the Kaaba inside the Grand Mosque on Saturday. (Hassan Ammar/Associated Press)

They will then descend the mountain, passing through Muzdalifah, until they return to the tent city of Mina, retracing the route taken by Muhammad 14 centuries ago. They will cast stones at walls in Mina in a symbolic renunciation of the devil.

The pilgrimage ends with the start of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, or "Feast of the Sacrifice," featuring the sacrificial killing of sheep, goats, cows or camels.

The hajj is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world and is one of Islam's five obligations. Every Muslim who is physically able and can afford it must perform the pilgrimage at least once during their lifetime.

This year, some pilgrims are travelling by train on new 18-kilometre-long elevated rail line, built to alleviate traffic congestion.

The train has the capacity to carry 180,000 passengers to hajj sites. Due to its limited capacity, the train will this year only carry residents of Saudi Arabia or other Persian Gulf Arabs. Next year it will open to other nationalities, officials said.

The $2 billion train was constructed by a Chinese company. About 100 Egyptians have been brought in to help operate the train during this year's hajj because of their experience running Cairo's metro.

In the early part of the decade, a number of pilgrims were crushed to death when panicked people stampeded in the congested areas around holy sites.

Besides crowding, authorities are also concerned about security.

Last Thursday, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said security forces were on alert for any threats. An al-Qaeda offshoot in neighbouring Yemen has targeted senior Saudi officials and has claimed responsibility for a recent overseas mail bomb plot.

When asked about the possibility of an al-Qaeda attack, Nayef said, "We don't rule out any possibility of something that disturbs the security" of the pilgrims.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula responded with an internet statement Sunday saying it would never target pilgrims and accusing the Saudis of spreading lies.

"We assure our Muslim nation that we are against any criminal act against pilgrims," the statement said.

With files from The Associated Press

View the original article here

Haiti cholera death toll exceeds 250 - CBC.ca

The death toll from a cholera epidemic in Haiti topped 250 on Sunday amid fears it may spread in the country's crowded, earthquake-ravaged capital.

A child suffering cholera symptoms cries as she is comforted by a woman at the hospital in Grande-Saline, Haiti on Saturday. (Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press)

On Saturday, UN officials confirmed that five cases of cholera were detected in Port-au-Prince. All those people had travelled to the capital from the Artibonite region to the north to seek treatment, the officials said.

UN spokeswoman Imogen Wall said the five were quickly diagnosed and isolated.

Gabriel Thimote, director general of Haiti's Health Department, told a news conference in Port-au-Prince on Sunday that 253 people have died of the bacterial infection, while total cases number 3,015.

Some fear the outbreak could spread to squalid relief camps around the capital where people have been living since an earthquake devastated the country Jan. 12.

Authorities have started public education campaigns, using the media to tell people what to do if they think they have contracted the intestinal disease, freelance journalist Ansel Herz told CBC News.

"There is a lot of misinformation. I keep hearing from Haitians that they think it's transmitted through fish. It's [drinking] water and food that is contaminated," he said.

On Friday, Herz visited a crowded east-side Port-au-Prince slum, where for the past nine months, people have been living in tents ripped repeatedly by winds and rain.

"Just last week, they got a water tank from an NGO for potable water to supply them with clean water, but they haven't received any water to drink. People yesterday were pleading with me to get them help. The relief effort here really has not worked for many people."

Julie Schindall of Oxfam International said Haiti is dealing with a "very virulent" strain of cholera. However, she said aid workers are confident they can control it.

"We know that the people of Port-au-Prince have much better access to clean water, hospital services and latrines, and they're much better educated on good hygiene practices because of the earthquake response, because of that huge influx of aid and education to prevent an outbreak of water-borne disease.

"So we are working with some better resources in the urban area as compared to the rural area of Artibonite," she said.

Children suffering cholera symptoms rest at the hospital in Grande-Saline, Haiti, on Saturday. (Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press)
View the original article here

Subscribe to RSS headline updates from:
Powered by FeedBurner