Category: Foreign

The leader of the Scottish government and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has claimed that she will push on with her campaign to take the country out of the United Kingdom, even if she loses a British Supreme Court case seeking authorisation to call a new independence referendum.

Ms Sturgeon wants to hold a referendum in October 2023, despite the UK government refusing to allow it.

The UK Supreme Court is due to hear arguments starting tomorrow over whether the Scottish government can organise an independence vote without the consent of the UK government.

She said her aim to hold a referendum next year was realistic.

“There’s little point speculating on the outcome of a court hearing, but should that be yes, we have the plans ready to go to legislate,” she said.

Ms Sturgeon, who leads the Scottish National Party, said that if her government lost the case, she would make the next UK elections a de facto referendum on taking Scotland out of the union after more than 300 years.

A vote held without the approval of the UK government would not be legally binding.

Ms Sturgeon added that if the court blocked a referendum, “we put our case to people in an election or we give up on Scottish democracy”.

“It should be a last resort. I don’t want to be in that position. I want to have a lawful referendum,” she said.

Scotland and England have been politically united since 1707. Scotland has had its own parliament and government since 1999 and makes its own laws on matters, including public health and education.

The UK government in London controls matters such as defence and fiscal policy.

Voters in Scotland rejected independence in a 2014 referendum that was described as a once-in-a-generation choice, with 55 per cent opposing the move and 45 per cent supporting it.

Ms Sturgeon’s government has said the case for independence should be revisited because Britain’s departure from the EU and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic have upended politics and the economy.

People in the UK voted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum, but the majority of voters Scotland opposed the move.

Ms Sturgeon has said there is an “indisputable democratic mandate” for a new independence vote.

She has promised to produce documents in the coming weeks that outline the economic basis for independence and answer questions such as what currency Scotland would use after leaving the UK.

Polls suggest Scotland is evenly split on independence.

Labour Party politician Alistair Darling, a former chancellor of the exchequer, said polls showed a majority of Scots did not want a referendum any time soon.

“This country is tearing itself apart. And that uncertainty is damaging to our growth prospects and to our well-being,” he said.

Thirty-four people were killed in Thailand yesterday in a mass shooting at a day-care centre by a former policeman who killed his wife and child before shooting himself dead, police said.

There were 22 children among the victims of the suspected gunman, who police said had been discharged from the service for drug-related reasons.

About 30 children were at the centre when the gunman came in around lunchtime, district official Jidapa Boonsom told Reuters.

The man first shot four or five staff, including a teacher who was eight months pregnant, Jidapa said.

“At first people thought it was fireworks,’’ she added.

Videos posted on social media showed sheets covering what appeared to be the bodies of children lying in pools of blood at the centre in the town of Uthai Sawan in the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lamphu.

Reuters could not immediately authenticate the footage.

Earlier, police said a manhunt was under way for the shooter, and a government spokesman said the prime minister had alerted all agencies to catch the culprit.

A slim majority of countries in the UN’s Human Rights Council yesterday rejected a proposal to hold a debate on China’s alleged abuses against the Muslim minority Uyghur people in Xinjiang.

A Western-led vote at the UN Human Rights Council to open debate on the human rights situation for Muslim Uyghur people in China’s Xinjiang region was lost by 19 votes to 17 after Chinese diplomatic lobbying.

The draft decision had been co-written by several Western states, but following a rush of diplomatic maneuvers by Beijing, the motion was rejected.

Of the 47 members on the council in Geneva, 19 voted against with 17 voting in favour. Another 11 members abstained

The proposal to open a debate on the topic came after outgoing UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet released a delayed UN report, just minutes before the end of her term, on Xinjiang pointing to possible crimes against humanity.

The co-sponsors of the bill included the UK, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Australia and Lithuania.

They had made a last-minute rush to try and shore up support for the vote as it became clearer that its chances of passing were waning.

China, one of the council’s members, voted against the motion along with several Asian, African and Latin American member nations.

The abstaining parties included Brazil, Mexico and Ukraine, among others.

Seats on the council are rotated with terms lasting for three years

The attempted proposal marks the first time China’s human rights record has been brought up in the 16-year history of the council.

The request to hold a debate on the situation in Xinjiang would have been one of the least intrusive forms of criticism possible from the human rights body.

But for many member states, criticising China brings with it potential problems.

“It’s always difficult for countries to vote against a permanent member of the Security Council,” one Western diplomat told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, adding that it was a “genuinely difficult call” for some due to their economic ties with China.

AMBASSADOR of Nigeria to Angola Prof. Monique O. Ekpong has urged the citizens to count the gains and not the losses as the nation mark its 62nd Independence.

The Nigerian diplomat made the call through an Independence Day message signed by her Media Assistant, Nelson NseAbasi.

Mrs. Ekpong referred to the independence day celebration as a time to “count our gains as a people and not the losses”.

According to her, “historically, this will be the last Independence Day Celebration with Muhammadu Buhari as President of Nigeria and research shows that when people celebrate the success of their leaders, it helps improve morale and strengthen their performance”.

She noted that the gesture will spur the delivery of more democracy dividends in the remaining months.

Ambassador Ekpong sent her good wishes to President Buhari and Nigerians globally, stating that “as we forge ahead as a nation, especially in the light of the forthcoming 2023 general elections, let us join hands and hearts with the government to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign”.

Ukrainian forces have broken through Russian defences in the south of the country while expanding their rapid offensive in the east, seizing back more territory in areas annexed by Russia and threatening its troops’ supply lines.

Making their biggest breakthrough in the south since the war began, Ukrainian forces recaptured several villages in an advance along the strategic Dnipro River on Monday, Ukrainian officials and a Russian-installed leader in the area said.

Ukrainian forces in the south destroyed 31 Russian tanks and one multiple rocket launcher, the military’s southern operational command said in a nightly update, without providing details of where the fighting occurred.

Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield accounts.

The southern breakthrough mirrors recent Ukrainian advances in the east even as Russia has tried to raise the stakes by annexing land, ordering mobilisation, and threatening nuclear retaliation.

Ukraine has made significant advances in two of the four Russian-occupied regions Moscow last week annexed after what it called referendums – votes that were denounced by Kyiv and Western governments as illegal and coercive.

In a sign Ukraine is building momentum on the eastern front, Reuters saw columns of Ukrainian military vehicles heading on Monday to reinforce the rail hub of Lyman, retaken at the weekend, and a staging post to press into the Donbas region.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s army had seized back towns in a number of areas, without giving details.

“New population centres have been liberated in several regions.

“Heavy fighting is going on in several sectors of the front,” Zelensky said in a video address.

Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk – one of two regions that make up the Donbas – said Russian forces had taken over a psychiatric hospital in the town of Svatovo, a target en route to recapturing the major cities of Lysychansk and Sivierodonetsk.

“There is quite a network of underground rooms in the building and they have taken up defensive positions,” he told Ukrainian television.

In the south, Ukrainian troops recaptured the town of Dudchany along the west bank of the Dnipro River, which bisects the country, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed leader in occupied parts of Ukraine’s Kherson province, told Russian state television.

Bola Olajuwon, Development Journalist & Assistant Editor, The Nation Newspapers, Vintage Press Limited, 27B Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Lagos, Nigeria P.M.B. 1025, Oshodi, Lagos.

GSM lines: +2348034296895, +2347019790700

E-mail:bolaolajuwon@yahoo.com

 Recent awards:

*Environment Reporter of the Year (Nigeria Media Merit Award 2020)

*Nigeria Ports Authority Maritime Reporter of the Year (Nigeria Media Merit Award 2019).

*Runner-up for Keystone CSR Reporter of the Year (Nigeria Media Merit Award 2019).

 

African countries to use the COP27 climate talks in Egypt in November to advocate a common energy position, it was gathered yesterday.

A top energy official said yesterday that the proposal will argue that fossil fuels are necessary in the short term to expand economies and electricity access on the continent.

The African position, criticised by environmental groups, could overshadow global climate talks in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The African position seeks to build on the previous Glasgow summit and make good on financing targets by rich nations to poorer countries that have fallen far short of the promised 100 billion dollars a year by 2020.

“We recognise that some countries may have to use fossil fuels for now, but it’s not one solution fits all.

“It is not time to exclude, but it is the time to tailor solutions for a context, for a country and we cannot treat a city like a village because we have to tailor our sources of energy,” said Amani Abou-Zeid, the African Union (AU) Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy.

An AU technical study attended by 45 African countries on June 16 seen by Reuters outlined that oil and coal will play a crucial role in expanding modern energy access over the short to medium term.

In tandem with renewable sources, Africa also sees key roles for natural gas and nuclear energy, while the continent focuses on new technology and decarburisation measures to reduce harmful emissions from its fossil fuels industry.

“Our ambition is to have fast-growing economies, competitive and industrialised,” Abou-Zeid told Reuters on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference.

However, seen as a global renewable hub given its vast solar, wind and hydrogen potential, Africa also has around 600 million people in its sub-Sahara region living without electricity and almost 1 billion citizens without access to clean energy for cooking.

“As far as we are concerned, the first obligation we have as governments is to our people and to bring them out of energy poverty and poverty in general and to do this you need energy.

“There is no way you can develop any economy, any society without energy.

“We are talking about coal, we are talking oil and we are talking about gas. At this time, we are not discriminating,” said Omar Farouk Ibrahim, secretary general of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation.

TOGOLESE government has confirmed reports that Burkina Faso’s ousted coup leader Paul-Henri Damiba fled there following a mutiny of junior officers.

The minister of communication and government spokesman, Akodah Ayewouadan, said Damiba was in Togo as part of the country’s commitment to “peace in the sub-region”.

“Togo, like ECOWAS, welcomes the fact that the spirit of peace has prevailed,” he told the AFP news agency. “The reception of … Damiba is part of this spirit.”

Unconfirmed reports of Damiba’s presence in Togo, originating from diplomatic sources, had circulated over the weekend as the two military leaders and their supporters vied for control of the country.

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Captain Ibrahim Traore had blamed Damiba’s forces for conducting a “counteroffensive” with French assistance, prompting a categorical denial from France and violence at the country’s embassy in Ouagadougou. Damiba had issued a statement calling on the breakaway military leaders to “come to their senses.”

On Sunday, Damiba and Traore then issued a joint statement brokered by local mediators announcing that Damiba was willing to step aside on certain conditions. These included guaranteeing the safety of him and his supporters, and keeping to the pledges his junta had made to the international community about a rather sluggish return to democratic government by the middle of 2024.

Uranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed the U.S. and Israel for ongoing protests in his country, breaking weeks of silence to comment on the greatest public opposition to his regime in years.

Protests across Iran broke out following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after allegedly going out in public without a headscarf. While the Iranian police have denied responsibility, Amini’s father told BBC News that he blamed them for her death.

Khamenei’s comments came during a speech in which he said the unrest in the country “was planned,” according to Axios. While Khamenei did express his sympathy for Amini’s death, he added, “These riots and insecurities were designed by America and the Zionist regime, and their employees.”

“Their main problem is with a strong and independent Iran and the progress of the country,” the supreme leader claimed. “They made the streets unsafe, burned Qurans, removed hijab from veiled women’s heads, set fire to mosques and people’s cars.

“If it wasn’t for this young girl, (the U.S. and Israel) would have created another excuse to create insecurity and riots in the country,” he said.

Khamenei went on to defend the actions of the Iranian police against the protesters, who have been seen cracking down on dissenters, often violently. Sources at the Sharif University of Technology told The Associated Press that police had even trapped students on campus while deploying tear gas.

No fewer than 83 protesters have already been killed, according to Reuters.

The government of Somalia yesterday claimed its armed forces have killed Abdullahi Nadir, one of the co-founders of al-Shabab, in an operation with international partners.

The country’s information ministry confirmed the development in a statement.

Al-Shabab, an Arabic word which means ‘youth movement’, is an Islamic fundamentalist insurgent group based in Somalia.

The Somali government said the operation that killed Nadir was conducted on Saturday.

According to the statement, Nadir was al-Shabab’s chief prosecutor and was in line to replace the ailing Ahmed Diriye, the group’s leader.

The government said Nadir’s death is a relief for Somalis.

“His death is a thorn removed from the Somali nation,” the statement reads.

“The government is grateful to the Somali people and international friends whose cooperation facilitated the killing of this leader who was an enemy of the Somali nation.”

In recent weeks, Somali security forces have made gains against the al-Qaeda-linked group while fighting alongside local self-defence groups.

Queen Elizabeth II died of  old age, her official death certificate has revealed.

The document released by National Records of Scotland noted the time of the Queen’s death on Thursday September 8 as 3:10 pm (1410 GMT).

When paying tribute to her mother the Queen, the Princess Royal revealed she was with the head of state in her last moments.

Anne, who accompanied her mother’s coffin as it travelled from Balmoral to London, via Edinburgh, said: “I was fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mother’s life.”

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The princess is named as the “informant” on the document and would have notified the local registrar of her mother’s death.

The Queen was laid to rest on September 19, following 70 years of service, after family, friends and the nation said a fond farewell to the late monarch.

For the woman who was never meant to be sovereign, the Queen fulfilled her pledge to serve nation and Commonwealth and came to earn the respect of many from world leaders to the public.

Her grieving family walked behind her coffin throughout the long day of her funeral and burial, a simple but public tribute.

The emotion was clear to see on the face of King Charles III who travelled to Scotland soon afterwards where he has remained with his Queen Consort.

(dpa/NAN)