Some 60 people are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea after the dinghy they were on sank off the Libyan coast on Monday. The dinghy set off with 140 to 150 passengers, including women, and started to sink five hours later, media reported on Friday citing testimonies by 80 survivors who were interviewed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said after the dinghy sank the survivors had been clinging on to bits and pieces until help arrived and transferred them to Italy. The IOM said 95,768 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017.

Many of the asylum seekers arrived in Italy and the remainder divided between Greece, Cyprus and Spain. More than 80,000 asylum seekers have landed in Italy since January, up 15 percent in the same period in 2016.

The latest fatalities increased the death toll of people dying attempting the crossing or missing, feared drowned, to more than 2,160 since the beginning of 2017. Many analysts see Western policies as the cause of increased human trafficking.

Source: Presstv

Cameroon authorities forced nearly 900 refugees back to northern Nigeria against their will this week, violating an agreement between the two countries to shield thousands from Boko Haram violence, the United Nations said on Thursday.

The Cameroonian government denied force had been used to send refugees home and said repatriation had taken place with the refugees’ consent. About 887 Nigerians, most of them children, were ferried across the border on Tuesday night in trucks provided by the Nigerian military and Cameroonian police, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said.
“The involuntary return of refugees must be avoided under any circumstances,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement. “Returns to Nigeria put a strain on the few existing services and are not sustainable at this time.”

If done forcibly, the move counters an agreement signed by Nigeria, Cameroon and the UNHCR in March stating that Nigerian refugees in Cameroon will not be forced back to a remote region ripped apart by violence and where humanitarian efforts are severely stretched.

“There was no forced repatriation of 887 Nigerian refugees from Banki to Borno State in Nigeria. It happened with their consent,” said Cameroon’s government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary. “Cameroon respects the law and its international commitments.”

The Nigerian official responsible for humanitarian activities in the Boko Haram-affected northeast was not immediately available for comment. Boko Haram has forced more than two million people to flee during its seven-year campaign to create an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria. More than 85,000 Nigerian refugees reside in Cameroon’s Far North region.

Over 11,000 have returned to Nigeria this year as camps in Cameroon struggle to accommodate them. It is unclear how many of these have been forced to leave, but the U.N. has warned against repeated attempts to send refugees home against their will.

Source: DNA

Russia has said it will react “in proportion” to any US military actions against Syria on the pretense of preventing a chemical attack. “We will react with dignity, in proportion to the real situation that may take place,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday during a press conference.

Lavrov added that he hoped the US would not use its intelligence assessments concerning the Syrian government’s alleged intentions to further provoke the country. “I expect that our partners in the region – American, European – will also have an open and comprehensible approach aimed at de-escalation through normalization of the humanitarian situation,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov cautioned the US against any unilateral action in Syria. He further added that Syrian army troops pose no threat to US forces, and that the US attacks on the Syrian armed forces are provocative in nature.

On Monday, US Press Secretary Sean Spicer claimed that the US had “identified potential preparations” for an attack “that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.”

He added that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian military would “pay a heavy price” if they went ahead with the alleged plan. The Pentagon claims that it has seen activities linked with chemical weapons at Shayrat airfield in Homs province that was hit by American missiles in April.

Different foreign-backed terrorist groups have been wreaking havoc in Syria since 2011. Over the past few months, Syrian forces have made sweeping gains against Takfiri elements, who have lately increased their acts of violence across the country following a series of defeats on the ground.

Source: Presstv

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has paid a visit to a Russian-run air base in the country’s western coastal province of Latakia, from which Russian fighter jets conduct airstrikes against Daesh terrorists and foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants.

The Syrian leader inspected a single-seat, twin-engine and super-maneuverable Sukhoi SU-35 fighter jet as well as armored vehicles at Hmeimim base southeast of the provincial capital city of Latakia on Tuesday, and met with a number of Russian military commanders there, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

Chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov accompanied Assad during the visit. “The Syrian people will not forget the support of their Russian brothers,” Assad wrote in the base visitors’ book, AFP reported.
Russian Defense Ministry issues a statement noting that during the visit, Assad and Gerasimov had held talks at the base on “coordination between Syrian government forces and Russia’s air force”.

Source: Presstv