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15, December 2017

Netherlands: Two killed in double stabbing attacks ⁰

At least two people have been killed and several others injured in two stabbing attacks in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht, police say.

The police said in a statement that two stabbing attacks had been carried out on Thursday night a few hundred meters away from each other in a residential neighborhood in northern Maastricht, a city close to the Netherlands’ borders with Belgium and Germany.

In the first incident, a man was stabbed to death during a fight and a suspect fled the scene. Ten minutes later, another attack occurred, in which a woman was fatally stabbed and two men were injured. Another wounded person was later found at a local mosque and transferred to hospital, police explained.

One suspect was detained on suspicion of involvement in the incidents, police said, adding that, “Research has shown that there is no reason to assume that these incidents have a terrorist motive.”

Police added that they “are still investigating these incidents in the neighborhood.”

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who was at a European Union summit in the Belgian capital of Brussels, also said the attacks were not terrorism-related.

Source: Presstv

14, December 2017

Somalia: Bomb attack kills 17 at Mogadishu police academy ⁰

The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militant group has launched a bombing attack on a police training camp in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, killing at least 17 officers and injuring 20 others.

The casualties took place on Thursday, when an assailant infiltrated the General Kahiye Police Training Academy during an early morning parade and detonated the explosives strapped around his waist and torso.

“A man wearing an explosive vest entered the camp disguised as a policeman, and blew himself up,” police officer Mohamed Abdulle said. “Medical rescuers are still working on evacuating the casualties.”

Witnesses said the bomber, in order to inflict maximum damage, targeted a spot where soldiers had gathered to rehearse for Somalia’s Police Day celebrations scheduled for December 20.

The Takfiri terrorist group immediately claimed responsibility for the deadly attack but gave a higher death toll.

The General Kahiye Police Training Academy is the biggest training camp for police and security forces in Somalia.

The Horn of Africa nation has been the scene of deadly clashes between government forces and al-Shabab militants since 2006.

Soldiers from the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) stand at attention in Mogadishu, July 11, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The Takfiri militant group was forced out of the capital by African Union troops in 2011 but still controls parts of the countryside and carries out attacks against government, military, and civilian targets in Mogadishu and regional towns.

The extremist group is just one of the challenges facing the new Somali government, which is still struggling to expand its authority beyond the capital and other selected areas.

The Thursday attack comes as the African Union is finalizing plans to trim its peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which was deployed a decade ago to help secure the Somali government.

The force of 22,000 is set to lose 1,000 soldiers this month as part of a long-term plan to withdraw troops from the country and hand security to the Somali army.

Source: Presstv

14, December 2017

Anglophones Flee to Nigeria as Crackdown Grows ⁰

When soldiers burst into her village in southwest Cameroon last month with guns blazing, small farmer Eta Quinta, 32, raced into the forest with three of her children.

“I found a canoe and I used it to cross over with my kids, not knowing where my husband and my (other) two kids are,” she told Reuters across the border in Nigeria, where thousands of English-speaking Cameroonians have fled in past weeks.

What began last year as peaceful protests by Anglophone activists against perceived marginalisation by Cameroon’s Francophone-dominated elite has become the gravest challenge yet to President Paul Biya, who is expected to seek to renew his 35-years in power in an election next year.

Government repression – including ordering thousands of villagers in the Anglophone southwest to leave their homes – has driven support for a once-fringe secessionist movement, stoking a lethal cycle of violence.

The secessionists declared an independent state called Ambazonia on Oct. 1. Since then, 7,500 people have fled to Nigeria, including 2,300 who fled in a single day on Dec. 4 fearing government reprisals after raids by separatists militants killed at least six soldiers and police officers.

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR is preparing for up to 40,000 refugees.

Quinta and her children walked for three days through the dense forests to reach a border crossing at the Agbokim Waterfalls. They remain without news of the rest of the family.

“There are many pregnant women in the forest,” Quinta said as she held her sick two-month-old baby whose head was covered by a white wooly hat. “I have friends in the forest and am not sure if I will get to see them again or their kids.”

At the end of World War One, Germany’s colony of Kamerun was carved up between allied French and British victors, laying down the basis for a language split that still persists.

English speakers make up less than a fifth of the population of Cameroon, concentrated in former British territory near the Nigerian border that was joined to the French-speaking Republic of Cameroon the year after its independence in 1960. French speakers have dominated the country’s politics since.

Cameroonian authorities say the English-speaking separatists pose a security threat that justifies their crackdown.

The new arrivals in Nigeria live mainly with host families who have supported them with food, clothing and shelter. The integration, a UNHCR official said, was made easier by the pidgin English spoken on either side of the border.

Food and medicine are in limited supply. Four people have died of sicknesses since coming to Nigeria and the refugees sometimes sleep as many as 50 to a five-by-seven meter room.

Their anger has grown toward a government they feel no longer represents them, which could provide the separatists with easy recruits.

“We were walking for peaceful demonstrations … but it’s because of the killing of our innocent people that is why our own people have started reacting,” said Tiku Michael, a businessman, farmer, father of six and now a refugee.

“Even … God himself, he will not allow things to go (on) like that.”

Source: Reuters

14, December 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Helicopters launch attack on Egbekaw Village in Manyu ⁰

4 military helicopters have attacked civilian positions in Egbekaw village in Mamfe town in what the Cameroonian army calls a “terrorist raid” on Southern Cameroons militants.

Grenades were dropped on Egbekaw and 15 shots fired at some residence today, Cameroon Concord News reporter said.

The helicopters flew from a military base located in Besongabang to attack the Egbekaw area.

Manyu Division is in the midst of a political and economic crisis that has sparked mass exodus into Nigeria.

Many of those in the Cameroonian army who support the Biya regime see Mamfe has the headquarters of the Southern Cameroons uprising.

What happened in the attack?

Four helicopters were seen flying over Egbekaw village dropping grenades with soldiers firing at civilians. No casualties have been reported.

By Sama Ernest in Egbekaw

14, December 2017

Biya regime extends detention for writer Patrice Nganang ⁰

Cameroonian author Patrice Nganang has had his custody extended by 48 hours by the authorities, his lawyer said on Tuesday, nearly a week after his arrest for publishing an article critical of the country’s president.

“His detention was extended (Monday) for 48 hours by the state prosecutor,” lawyer Emmanuel Simh told AFP, adding that Nganang would “in principle” appear before the prosecutor after its expiry.

‘DEATH THREAT’

Simh said the detention was “illegal” because Nganang was not initially notified he was being placed in custody.

Police say Nganang made an online death threat against President Paul Biya, but Cameroon writers and activists have called for his unconditional release.

Nganang, who teaches literature at New York University, published last Tuesday an opinion piece in French on the Jeune Afrique news site critical of Biya’s handling of the crisis in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone regions.

He was arrested the next day after visiting an Anglophone part of mainly French-speaking Cameroon, where tensions have been running high following a crackdown on a secession movement.

DUAL NATIONALITY

Sources said Nganang was in possession of two passports, one from Cameroon and one from the US, when he was arrested. Local media reports said police maintain he should have forfeited his Cameroon document after taking out US nationality as his native country’s Constitution does not recognise dual nationality.

But many media outlets questioned how many Cameroonian leaders, as well as footballers and musicians, have two or more passports. Nganang was arrested on his way to visit his wife in Zimbabwe, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

Source: Daily Nation

14, December 2017

US: Kentucky lawmaker accused of sexually molesting teen commits suicide ⁰

Dan Johnson, a Republican state lawmaker in Kentucky who has refused to resign after allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl in his church, has apparently killed himself.

Johnson fatally shot himself on a bridge in a secluded area of Louisville in Mount Washington, Kentucky, on Wednesday night, Bullitt County sheriff Donnie Tinnell said.

The 57-year-old, who called himself “the Pope” and was pastor of the Heart of Fire Church, was elected to the state legislature in 2016.

On Tuesday, Johnson held a news conference in the pulpit of his church where he molested the 17-year-old some five years ago.

He rejected the allegations against him as “totally false” and that they were part of a nationwide strategy of defeating conservative Republicans.

On Wednesday evening, Johnson posted a message on his Facebook page and requested people to take care of his wife. He wrote that post-traumatic stress disorder “is a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. It has won this life, BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME.”

It appears the post was later on removed.

According to court documents provided by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, the sexual assault incident happened at the Heart of Fire City Church where Johnson was a pastor on New Year’s Eve in 2012.

Johnson’s accuser told authorities that the molestation took place when she was staying in a living area of the Heart of Fire City Church, adding he had been drinking at the time.

According to the same documents, the case, however, was closed since the accuser was “very busy” and simply “didn’t have time” to cooperate.

This comes as the United States grapples with the sexual assault and harassment scandals that have left the world of entertainment, business and politics in a state of shock.

There have been numerous allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against media figures as well as senior politicians including Republican President Donald Trump himself. So far, at least 16 women have accused Trump of unwanted sexual advances, claims the White House has rejected as false.

Source: Presstv

14, December 2017

Veto on Brexit? British government loses key vote after Tory rebellion ⁰

The government of British Prime Minster Theresa May has suffered a fresh blow as lawmakers voted to force changes in London’s Brexit plans, giving Parliament a legal guarantee of a vote on the final Brexit deal struck with Brussels.

May was narrowly defeated in a key vote on its Brexit bill after a rebellion by 11 Tory MPs on Wednesday. Despite a last-minute attempt to offer minor concessions in the Commons, the amendment to the bill was backed by 309 to 305 as the Conservative rebels said it was too little too late.

Amendment 7 to Clause 9 was tabled by May’s own Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, who leads a faction of “rebels” within the party. The changes call for parliament to have a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal before it is finalized and written into law.

Several lawmakers from the prime minister’s governing Conservative Party sided with the opposition to insist that any withdrawal deal with the EU requires an Act of Parliament to take effect — essentially giving lawmakers a veto on Brexit.

The government argues that the changes could endanger the chances of delivering a smooth departure from the European Union, noting however that the “minor setback” would not prevent the UK leaving the EU in 2019.

Earlier on Wednesday, European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said there will be “no turning back” for Britain on commitments made during an initial divorce deal between the two.

Pro-EU anti-Brexit demonstrators wave Union and EU flag outside the Houses of Parliament in central London on December 13, 2017 as MPs debate proposed an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill.

10-Downing Street expressed disappointment with the vote, with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calling it “a humiliating loss of authority” for the government.

Stephen Hammond, one of the Conservative MPs who voted against the government, was sacked as Conservative vice chairman in the aftermath of the vote. “Tonight I put country and constituency before party and voted with my principles to give Parliament a meaningful vote,” he tweeted.

Ex-cabinet minister Nicky Morgan, also among Conservatives who refused to budge, tweeted that Parliament had acted to take back “control of the EU Withdrawal process,” while Anna Soubry said the government had “got to stop playing silly games” and realize that times had changed since the Bill was drafted before the election, when May had a Commons majority.

The setback comes nearly five months after May’s conservative Party lost its majority in the 650-seat parliament following snap elections.

In this video grab taken from footage broadcast by the UK Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) via the Parliament TV website on December 13, 2017, a packed House of Commons meets to vote on an amendment to the government’s plans on Brexit.

Sir Desmond Swayne told the Commons that the amendments are simply aimed at delaying Brexit, dismissing them as “sanctimonious guff” and their Conservative backers as “idiots,” and Senior Tory Bernard Jenkin said, “To dress this attempt to reverse Brexit as an argument in favor of parliamentary sovereignty is nothing but cant.”

The European Parliament’s chief Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt tweeted, “British Parliament takes back control. European and British Parliament together will decide on the final agreement. Interests of the citizens will prevail over narrow party politics. A good day for democracy.”

EU leaders will hold a two-day summit as of Thursday during which they are scheduled to agree that there has been “sufficient progress” for the talks to move to the second phase of future relations and trade, a subject London wants to open as soon as possible.

Following the vote, May was on her way to Brussels to push European leaders to begin discussing the EU’s future trade deal with Britain.

A leaked draft of a text to be considered by the EU 27 leaders on Friday suggests that trade talks may not start until after a subsequent summit in March.

Britain is due to leave the bloc in March 2019, but a Brexit deal will have to be agreed by the fall of 2018 to give national parliaments time to approve it.

Source: Presstv

14, December 2017

Yaounde closes border with Nigeria in the North ⁰

Cameroon has closed its border with Nigeria in the north, after a series of attacks by Boko Haram militants on Cameroonian ranchers. The closure is meant to protect the ranchers’ cattle, but it is hurting the ranchers’ business.

Hundreds of ranchers have brought their cattle and livestock to the Bogo market on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. According to Cameroon’s government, this market is the supply point for most of the cattle sold across the border.

But cattle rancher and seller Ahminou Ngomna says he has not seen his Nigerian customers since September. Business usually booms with the approach of the Christmas and New Year feasts, but that is not the case now.

Only customers from Maroua in northern Cameroon have been buying from the market, and the amount they pay per cattle is not up to what Nigerian buyers pay, Ngomna said. The price per cow, which ranges from $500 to $1,000 depending on size and weight, has fallen to as little as $250.

FILE – A member of a civilian vigilante group carries a bow and arrow while running on patrol with the Cameroonian military in Kerawa, Cameroon, March 16, 2016. Kerawa is on the border with Nigeria and is subject to frequent Boko Haram attacks.

Hamidou Bouba, first deputy mayor of Bogo, says the prices started dropping when Cameroon’s government ordered the closure of parts of the border with Nigeria. The move was made because Boko Haram attacks on farmers and cattle ranchers, which had fallen since January, increased in September with armed men crossing the border for supplies.

“We are suffering very badly about this situation of Boko Haram,” Bouba said. “That is the reason why all the traders cannot go to Nigeria now. We changed their direction, moving their activities to Douala or Yaounde. That is the only solution. I think that we don’t have another solution.”

Bouba says the ranchers are encouraged to transport their cattle some 70 kilometers from the affected zones to the nearest market, because even buyers from the hinterlands of Cameroon are refusing to travel to Bogo.

Cattle ranchers and farmers comprise 80 percent of the population of the border areas. Cameroon reports that more than 100,000 have relocated due to the Boko Haram insurgency; others live in abject poverty.

Louis Paul Motaze, Cameroon’s economy minister, says the government will build new markets in safer areas.

“People here are suffering a lot not only because of the war with Boko Haram, but because of poverty,” Motaze. “This is why we would like to take into consideration another battle, and this battle is the battle for development.”

The Boko Haram insurgency, which began in northeast Nigeria eight years ago, has left at least 25,000 people dead and forced more than 2.6 million others to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

Source: VOA

13, December 2017

Burundi’s president to extend rule until 2034 ⁰

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has launched a campaign to promote a referendum to change the constitution that could extend his rule over the landlocked East African country until 2034.

Addressing a crowd of thousands of farmers in the central district of Gitega on Tuesday, Nkurunziza threatened those who sought to undermine the referendum slated for early 2018.

“We take this opportunity to warn those who want to sabotage this project, whether by speech or actions,” Nkurunziza said. “It will be a red line.”

“It’s the day you’ve been waiting for,” Nkurunziza said.

Nkurunziza’s administration adopted a plan in October to revise the constitution that, if passed by the referendum, would allow him to serve another two seven-year terms from 2020.

Opposition activists have already denounced the project they say will be the “funeral” of the country’s 2000 peace agreement. The deal ended a 13-year civil war in which more than 300,000 people were killed.

The start of the campaign comes a day after the government launched a fundraising drive for elections in 2020, presented as “voluntary.” The move, however, has been condemned by rights groups as “organized robbery.”

Burundi has faced deadly political turmoil since April 2015, when President Nkurunziza announced plans to seek a disputed third term that he ultimately won.

The violence claimed between 500 and 2,000 lives, according to differing tolls from the UN and civil society groups, while more than 400,000 Burundians have fled the country.

In September, a UN commission of inquiry report said crimes against humanity, including killings and sexual violence, were still being committed in Burundi and it asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation as soon as possible.

According to the report, alleged perpetrators include top officials in Burundi’s National Intelligence Services and police force, military officials and members of the youth league of the ruling party, known as Imbonerakure.

The ICC in November decided to launch an investigation into atrocities committed in Burundi, despite the country’s pullout from the international body last month.

Source: Presstv

13, December 2017

Nigerians displaced by Boko Haram get ID cards ⁰

Some 100,000 Nigerians made homeless by Boko Haram received formal identification papers on Wednesday, to help boost security and restore normality in the country’s restive northeast.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHRC) began documenting personal details of the displaced at the Dalori camp, just outside the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.

Dangana Ibrahim, from the agency, told AFP: “We are capturing their data and issuing them with temporary ID pending the production of the ID card in the next week.”

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million displaced in the eight-year conflict, which has destroyed livelihoods and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

About 1.8 million people live in camps or with relatives in the worst-affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. Others have fled to Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

According to the UNHCR, 99 percent of vulnerable IDP (internally displaced people) households in Borno state lack legal documentation.

Even before the insurgency began, levels of registration and documentation were low, and were compounded by lack of literacy. When fighting broke out, civilians were at risk.

Ibrahim said a female IDP had been shot as a soldier mistook her for a suicide bomber, as she could not produce any identification.

In May, UNHCR regional representative for West Africa, Liz Ahua, said more than 200,000 Nigerian refugees in Niger, Chad and Cameroon also lacked “adequate documentation”.

The photo, taken on September 10, 2017, shows Mark Lowcock, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Emergency Relief Coordinator, center, saluting a woman at a UN camp for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP) in NGagam, southeastern Niger, close to the Nigerian border. (Photo by AFP)

That made their “access to protection and rights” more difficult, she added. “The link between issues of statelessness, sustaining peace and security in the region cannot be separated as statelessness can lead to insecurity and instability.

“Stateless persons could easily be used as tools of destruction.” Borno state is being given priority for ID cards because it has been hardest hit by the insurgency but Ibrahim said there were plans to extend the scheme.

The UNHCR is working with Nigeria’s National Identity Card Management Commission, as well as village chiefs of displaced communities, he added.

(Source: AFP)