The Nation Newspaper

Category: Foreign

  • Violence erupts in South Africa over jailing of ex-president Zuma

    Violence erupts in South Africa over jailing of ex-president Zuma

    Agency Reporter

    Supporters of former South African president Jacob Zuma on Saturday launched a massive protest over his imprisonment, burning trucks, commercial property, and blocking major roads in KwaZulu-Natal province.

    They demanded his immediate release from prison.

    Zuma started serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court earlier this week. His bid to be released from the Estcourt Correctional Centre was rejected by a regional court on Friday and he is set to make another attempt with the country’s apex court tomorrow.

    His supporters in KwaZulu-Natal, his home area, blocked roads, set trucks alight, and damaged shops which they then looted at various spots in the province.

    Read Also; S/Africa’s jailed ex-leader Zuma loses bid to overturn arrest

    At Mooi River, near Pietermaritzburg, about 20 trucks were stopped and set on fire early yesterday, according to witnesses.

    A truck ferrying new luxury vehicles could be seen burning along a major road. A truck for the U.N. World Food Programme was also set alight after protesters took bags of maize meal from the vehicle. A large retail supermarket in the area was also looted.

    Police said they arrested 27 people involved in the burning and looting.

    Increased numbers of police were deployed to affected areas where they monitored entrances to major highways and searched vehicles. Some motorists were turned away from areas hit by the protests.

    Scores of Zuma’s supporters who gathered outside his home in Nkandla last weekend had threatened violence should the former president be sent to prison.

    Zuma turned himself over to police late Wednesday night.

    Zuma was imprisoned for defying a court order to testify before a state-backed inquiry probing allegations of corruption during his term as president from 2009 to 2018.

  • S/Africa’s jailed ex-leader Zuma loses bid to overturn arrest

    S/Africa’s jailed ex-leader Zuma loses bid to overturn arrest

    Our Reporter

    Former South African president Jacob Zuma yesterday lost a court bid to overturn his arrest for contempt, days after turning himself in for a 15-month jail term.

    “The application is dismissed,” the presiding judge said

    The constitutional court last week ordered Zuma jailed for refusing to give evidence at an inquiry into corruption during his nine years in office from 2009. Though he turned himself in on Wednesday, Zuma has challenged his sentence.

    The constitutional court would hear his challenge, which pivots partly on his allegedly frail state of health and risk of catching COVID-19, in a separate case on Monday, but yesterday’s  high court judgment means he must stay in jail until that hearing is concluded.

    Read Also; Ivory coast ex-president Gbagbo’s triumphant return

    “Mr Zuma’s concerns about his health are not supported by any evidence,” the Pietermaritzburg high court judge said.

    The ruling came less than an hour after the high court in Johannesburg dismissed an application by the secretary general of the African National Congress (ANC), Ace Magashule, to have his suspension over corruption charges in a separate case set aside.

    Both politicians’ proceedings are regarded as a test of South Africa’s ability to enforce the law fairly – even against powerful politicians 27 years after the ANC ousted South Africa’s white minority rulers to usher in democracy.

    For Zuma, the jail order has also been viewed as the most dramatic chapter yet in his journey from a respected anti-apartheid activist to a politician tainted by charges of sleaze and corruption, all of which he denies.

    As a member of the ANC when it was a liberation movement, Zuma was jailed by South Africa’s white minority rulers for his efforts to establish a state that would treat citizens equally.

  • Haiti president assassinated in Port-au-Prince

    Haiti president assassinated in Port-au-Prince

    Agency Reporter

    Armed gunmen early Wednesday murdered Haiti President Jovenel Moïse and severely wounded First Lady Martine Moïse in a coordinated attack on their home, marking the most high-profile act of violence to hit the Caribbean nation amid significant unrest recently.

    Prime Minister Claude Joseph confirmed the targeted killing in a statement.

    The attackers – some of whom reportedly spoke English and Spanish – ambushed the president’s private residence in the capital city of Port-au-Prince in the early morning hours yesterday, shooting and killing him, while the first lady is in the hospital in critical condition.

    “The situation is under control. I am in a meeting with the Supreme Council of the National Police to ensure security and take all measures for the continuity of the state,” said Joseph. He added that the police and armed forces have taken control of the country’s security situation.

    Insecurity has surged across Haiti this year amid significant turmoil brought on by the country’s worsening economic, health and political crises, which prompted widespread anti-government protests.

    Read Also: How Idriss Deby died

    President Moïse found himself at the centre of the uproar. Critics of the president said his term should have ended in February 2021, five years after former President Michel Martelly stepped down in 2016. However, Moïse argued that his five-year term should have extended to February 2022, since he didn’t officially take office until early 2017.

    The assassination of the Haitian president marks a dramatic escalation of the wave of violence that has engulfed the nation in recent months, and will likely contribute to further insecurity in the near future.

    Just one week ago, a two-day stretch at the end of June marked a particularly violent period after police union member Guerby Geffrard was murdered.

    On June 29, prominent human rights activist Antoinette Duclaire and Diego Charles, a journalist for Radio Tele Vision 2000, were both killed in Port-au-Prince.

    That same night and into the morning of June 30, at least 19 people were killed in a series of armed attacks in the Delmas 32, Christ-Roi and Avenue N neighborhoods of the capital, according to report from Haiti’s National Human Rights Defence Network (Réseau National de Défense des Droits de l’Homme – RNDDH).

    “There is no doubt … that a climate of terror is being created in the country with the complicity of the State authorities and the rights to life, security, physical and mental integrity of citizens are constantly being violated,” the RNDDH said.

    It remains unclear who may be responsible for the assassination of the president.

  • Kremlin unaware who made new cyber-attacks against U.S.

    Kremlin unaware who made new cyber-attacks against U.S.

    Agency Reporter

    The Kremlin is unaware who made new cyber-attacks against the United States, spokesman Dmitry Peskov, said on Wednesday.

    Peskov added that Moscow had nothing to do with it.

    U.S. media has reported that hackers related to a criminal group known as APT 29 or Cozy Bear that allegedly has links to Russia breached the computer systems of the U.S. Republican National Committee (RNC).

    READ ALSO: Putin is right about U.S.-Russia relations being at low point, says Biden

    “Of course, we do not have any detailed information on this matter.

    “Once again, we can only repeat that, of course, whatever it was and we do not know what exactly was there, but this in no way has anything to do with Moscow,’’ Peskov told reporters. (Sputnik/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

  • Haitian President Jovenel Moise assassinated

    Haitian President Jovenel Moise assassinated

    Our Reporter

    The president of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, was shot and killed in his private residence, the interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph announced Wednesday.

    The president’s residence has also put out a statement Wednesday saying the attack occurred around 1 a.m. and that First Lady Martine Moise was also wounded in the attack and is currently hospitalized.

    The assassination was carried out by a commando group with “foreign elements,” AFP news agency reported, citing interim Prime Minister Joseph.

    READ ALSO: How I found my African roots – Haitian author, Francoise Merus

    Joseph called the assassination a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act,” according to AP. He added, “All measures are being taken to guarantee the continuity of the state and to protect the nation.”

    In Port-au-Prince Wednesday, gunshots could be heard around the capital. Recently there has been an uptick in violence as gangs and police for control of the streets.

    (www.newsnow.co.uk)

  • Leading Dutch crime reporter shot, critically injured

    Leading Dutch crime reporter shot, critically injured

    Agency Reporter

    The high-profile Dutch crime reporter Peter R de Vries was critically injured in a shooting in the middle of Amsterdam on Tuesday evening.

    He was hospitalised with a gunshot on the head, police said.

    Amsterdam’s Mayor Femke Halsema said de Vries was “fighting for his life’’.

    Police launched a “large-scale investigation’’ and later said they had arrested three people, including the suspected shooter.

    But authorities have not disclosed any background details about the crime.

    A special commission has been set up to investigate.

    De Vries was a leading crime reporter in the Netherlands and also regularly appears as a spokesperson for victims or witnesses at trials.

    Currently, he was the confidant of the key witness in a major trial against organised crime.

    In connection with the trial, the lawyer of the state witness had already been shot in 2019.

    Around 7:30 pm (1730 GMT), according to media reports, an unknown assailant fired at the 64-year-old de Vries as he left a TV studio in the busy Leidseplein square area.

    De Vries had been taking part in a live broadcast shortly before.

    READ ALSO: Scrapping of NYSC will lead to increase in crimes, HURIWA warns

    Witnesses to the crime recognised the victim and videos from the scene showing de Vries lying on the ground visibly injured were also circulated on social media.

    The attack shocked the country and TV channels aired special reports on the crime.

    Prime Minister Mark Rutte called it an “attack on free journalism’’ on Tuesday night.

    The Dutch royal couple, who were visiting Berlin at the time, said they were deeply shocked.

    “Journalists must be able to do their important work freely and without threat,’’ King Willem-Alexander and his wife Maxima wrote on Facebook.

    Rutte and Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus met with the anti-terrorism authority in the evening.

    De Vries became internationally known in 1987 with his bestselling book about the kidnapping of beer company boss Freddy Heineken.

    In 2008, he won an Emmy Award for his reporting on the case of Natalee Holloway, an American woman who disappeared in Aruba in 2005 and was thought to have been killed by a Dutchman. (dpa/NAN)

  • Veteran Indian actor Dilip Kumar dies at 98

    Veteran Indian actor Dilip Kumar dies at 98

    Agency Reporter

    Veteran Indian actor Dilip Kumar, known for his melodramatic, tear-jerking roles in Hindi cinema, died on Wednesday at 98.

    Dilip Kumar’s death was announced by family friend Faisal Farooqui on the actor’s Twitter handle.

    Kumar died at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai where he was admitted last week after complaining of breathlessness.

    He is to be buried Wednesday evening with state honours.

    Born in 1922 in Peshawar, now Pakistan, as Muhammad Yusuf Khan, the actor changed his name to Dilip Kumar when he began his Bollywood career in 1949.

    Kumar has acted in over 60 films in a six-decade-long career, with his biggest hits between 1949 and 1961 – some of them all-time classics of Bollywood.

    READ ALSO: Actor’s suicide sparks debate about insularity in Bollywood film industry

    In Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Kumar played the handsome, besotted Prince Salim trying to stand up for his love against a larger-than-life father in Bollywood’s most lauded period film.

    His other memorable roles include the intense lovelorn heroes of Andaz (1949) and Devdas (1955). There is also the lighter in mood but top-grossing film Azaad (1955) and Ganga Jamuna (1961), woven around social issues and class divides.

    Kumar is said to have passed over a lead role in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962) that later went to Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.

    Kumar won many Indian film awards, served as a member of parliament and the sheriff of Mumbai. In 2015, he received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award.

    Dilip Kumar is survived by his wife Saira Banu, whom he married in 1966 when he was 44 and she was 22. (dpa/NAN)

  • Buhari approves new WTO envoy after The Nation report

    Buhari approves new WTO envoy after The Nation report

    By Bola Olajuwon, Assistant Editor

    President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Adamu Mohammed Abdulahmid as the new Nigeria ambassador to World Trade Organisation (WTO) for a period of four years, The Nation has learnt.

    Abdulahmid, until his appointment, was a substantive deputy director in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, who took over from Mr. Suleiman Adebayo, who returned to Nigeria from Geneva in 2019 after spending 15 years. He is from Kano State.

    The new envoy had his first degree in Political Science.

    His appointment followed the story published by The Nation, entitled: “Controversy trails Nigeria’s ambassador post to WTO”, published on June 22, 2021.

    The story is based on the negative discussions in WTO offices over non-replacement of a substantive envoy to the global organsation following the unofficial recall of Nigeria Ambassador to the body, David Adejuwon, in 2017 without proper communication.

    The inability of the ministry to send a replacement is more embarrassing as a Nigerian, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, now sits as the first female director-general of the organisation.

    According to investigation carried out by The Nation, the Adejuwon’s predicament started barely a year after he resumed duty in Geneva. He then wrote the ministry drawing attention to the negative consequences of the non-remission of the Overhead Cost Allocations released to the ministry by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the failure to remit the overhead appropriation to the Nigeria Trade Office (NTO), Geneva for the months of September to December, 2014, for the smooth operation of the office and image of Nigeria.

    With money not released and out of frustration, the envoy gave the ministry three-month notice to recall him from Geneva, settle his outstanding financial commitments, pay his repatriation entitlements and arrange for a replacement.

    The ministry, till date, neither issues the necessary letter of recall nor appoints a new ambassador to the WTO.

    His Statutory Foreign Service Allowance and other entitlements were stopped with effect from September, 2016.

    Adejuwon, however, took the matter up with the ministry and when all the entreaties failed, he returned to Nigeria in 2017 with his personal effects locked up in his official residence in Geneva with his family members stranded abroad.

    He then proceeded to National Industrial Court in October 2017. But, the ministry has failed to file a statement of defence in court from October, 2017 to February, 2019 despite the fact that it was duly served with the court processes.

    In his reaction to the story, the spokesman to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Ifedayo Sayo, said the ministry had nominated a replacement for Adejuwon to the Presidency and it’s expecting an approval.

    Sayo said: “Yes, I just spoke with the minister on the issues you raised. A new nominee has been forwarded to the Presidency and the ministry is expecting a reply any moment from now. It is also true that the former ambassador instituted a case in court, which is yet to be determined by the court.”

  • Xi to speak at CPC, World Political Parties Summit

    Xi to speak at CPC, World Political Parties Summit

    General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xi Jinping will participate via video link on Tuesday in the CPC and World Political Parties Summit, an event by which China aims to strengthen the global network of interparty exchanges and cooperation to build a better world.

    Xi, who is also China’s president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will deliver a keynote speech at the event, which will be attended by more than 500 leaders of political parties and organizations from more than 160 countries, as well as over 10,000 party representatives, said Hu Zhaoming, spokesman for the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, in a statement on Monday.

    With the theme of “For the People’s Well-Being: The Responsibility of Political Parties”, the summit will be an important multilateral diplomatic event held at a time when the CPC is marking the 100th anniversary of its founding, Hu said.

    The summit aims to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning from governance experiences between the CPC and political parties worldwide, and to jointly respond to challenges brought by changes unseen in a century, including the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

    While addressing a grand gathering marking the centenary of the CPC’s founding in Beijing on July 1, Xi said the Party cares about the future of humanity and wishes to move forward in tandem with all progressive forces around the world. China has always worked to safeguard world peace, contribute to global development and preserve international order, he added.

    Speaking at a news conference in Beijing on Monday, Guo Yezhou, deputy head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, said Xi will use the summit to speak to the international community about the CPC’s attention to, and concerns about, the future of humanity.

    Guo said world political parties’ focus when looking at China and the CPC has shifted from China’s achievements to the political impetus and “institutional secret” behind the country’s success.

    Given the profound changes in the international landscape, no individual or country can remain immune to the common challenges facing the world, he said, adding that solidarity is the only way forward.

    “We look forward to developing closer cooperation with world political parties to align parties’ interests with national interests, the interests of our own people with those of the people of the world,” Guo said.

    “We hope to build up more consensus and pool more strength on major issues concerning the future of humanity, move toward building a community with a shared future for mankind, and build a better world together.”

  • Canada urges Israel to stop settlement activities

    Canada urges Israel to stop settlement activities

    Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said yesterday he told his Israeli counterparts that evictions, demolitions and the building of settlements in East Jerusalem should cease to ease tensions and prevent another round of violence in the region.

    Speaking to reporters at the end of a five-day tour of the Middle East, Garneau said Canada supports a two-state solution to end the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    But he said there are more pressing short-term issues, including avoiding any further flare ups after a fragile ceasefire ended the latest round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in May.

    Garneau said getting humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip is also a priority after the 11-day war that saw 230 people in the Hamas-run enclave killed and numerous houses and other infrastructure destroyed.

    Twelve Israelis were also killed in the fighting, which was precipitated by clashes over Israeli plans to evict several families from a predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.

    Garneau began his Middle East tour last week in Jordan before heading to Israel where he met with the country’s new Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett.

    Garneau ended his visit yesterday with a trip to the West Bank, where he met senior members of the Palestinian Authority.