Category: Foreign

Our Reporter

TWO Ghanaian university lecturers have been suspended without pay after a BBC investigation reported they had sexually harassed undercover reporters posing as students.

The University of Ghana suspended Ransford Gyampo for six months and Paul Butakor for four months.

Both deny the allegations made last year in BBC Africa Eye’s sex-for-grades documentary.

A Nigerian lecturer was also suspended after it was broadcast in October.

Four academics were secretly filmed as part of a year-long investigation. BBC journalists posed as prospective students to expose sexual harassment and misconduct at both the University of Ghana and the University of Lagos.

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In one scene, Dr. Butakor is filmed asking an undercover journalist if he could become her “side guy”, adding that “a side will see how best to contribute to your career”.

Prof Gyampo tells another undercover reporter that he will marry her. He then asks her what school she went to. After she responds, he says: “There is a rumour that the students of that school like penis.”

Some believe the punishment is too lenient. But others feel the suspensions are enough to deter others from misbehaving in future.

Our Reporter

The leaders of a group of federal judges met on Tuesday to “address growing concerns” about the recent intervention of President Donald Trump and the Justice Department in “politically sensitive cases”.

Trump and Attorney General William Barr ignited fresh concerns about the impartiality of the Justice Department last week when Barr retracted a recommended sentence for Trump ally Roger Stone after the President criticised it on Twitter. Barr is also ordering a re-examination of several high-profile cases, including that of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The actions prompted more than 2,000 former Justice Department officials, who served in Republican as well as Democratic administrations to sign a statement calling on Barr to resign.

Philadelphia U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe, who serves as president of the 1,100-member Federal Judges Association, told USA Today that the group “could not wait” until a regularly scheduled April conference to discuss a “deepening crisis” involving the department and Barr.

Read Also: Impeachment: U.S. Senate squashes cases against Trump

She said members called for yesterday’s meeting following Trump’s criticism of the original sentencing recommendation for Stone, according to USA Today.

“There are plenty of issues that we are concerned about,” Rufe said, according to the newspaper. “We’ll talk all of this through,” the judge added.

Rufe, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, told the newspaper that the judges “are set to convene via a conference call involving 15 to 20 officers and members of the association’s executive committee.” She said the judges have not yet decided how or if they will report the “result” of the meeting.

CNN has reached out to the group for comment on the meeting.

By Precious Igbonwelundu

The Commonwealth yesterday condemned the killing of 23 people in Cameroon’s northwest region.

A village in the southern part of Cameroon was attacked last Friday, leaving 23 civilians, especially children dead.

Condemning the attack, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland called for an impartial investigation into the incident.

The statement, which was signed by Scotland’s media aide, Temitope Kalejaiye, quoted the Secretary-General as saying: “I strongly condemn the recent killings of civilians, including women and children in the North-West of Cameroon on 14 February 2020.

“We noted the government’s announcement that there would be a full investigation into the incident. We encourage the government to conduct an impartial investigation, for perpetrators to be held accountable and for results to be made public.

“The Commonwealth strongly condemns all forms of violence, and in particular, the loss of lives of innocent civilians including women and children.

“Cameroon is a noted member of the Human Rights Council and as such we are minded of General Comment 13 to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to freedom from all forms of violence which is underscored by the understanding that no violence against children is justifiable, all violence against children is preventable.

“I continue to convey these concerns to the government of Cameroon, and the Commonwealth stands ready to support solutions that will address the root causes of this conflict.”

Cameroon, Africa’s bilingual country, has since 2016 battled insurrection arising from agitations for self determination by its southern region, a former British colony, a demand the President Paul Biya led government considered treasonous.

Our Reporter

THE Nigeria Customs Service has said the Federal Government would continue to engage neighbouring countries on the need to comply with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocols on transit trade.

Its Comptroller general, retired Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali, said this at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Stakeholders’ Forum on Border Closure, in Lagos.

Ali, who was represented by the Zonal Coordinator, Zone ‘A’ Lagos, Mrs. K.C. Ekekezie, said he had engaged the customs administration of neighbouring countries.

“Their attention was drawn to the need for compliance to the ECOWAS protocols on transit of goods and persons,” he said.

Ali said from experience, neighbouring countries were observed to have flouted the protocols.

According to him, the protocol demands that when a transit container berths at a seaport, the receiving country is mandated to escort same without tampering with the seal to the border of the destination country.

“Unfortunately, from experience, we discover that they break the seals of the containers on transit to Nigeria at their ports.

“They then transload the goods on open trucks which belong to their country, which would in turn make entry into Nigeria and transload same onto Nigerian trucks.

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“Also, efforts which include providing escort vehicle to them yielded no positive change,” he said.

On the gains of the border closure, the Comptroller-General stated that it had so far curbed the smuggling of foreign rice and other prohibited items into the country.

Also, he added that the NCS revenue generation which before the border closure ranged between N4 billion and N5 billion daily had increased to N6 billion daily.

He explained that the revenue will be used to build more infrastructures and develop critical sector of the economy.

The Customs boss also revealed that the border drill had also curbed the diversion of petroleum products from Nigeria to neighbouring countries.

The Ichikowitz Family Foundation and the African Pangolin Working Group (APWG) have announced launch of the world-first dedicated pangolin counter poaching unit and pangalorium research and treatment centre.

The launch is to commemorate World Pangolin Day dedicated to celebrating one of the more elusive mammals indigenous to Africa and Asia.

The foundation, in its capacity as patron of the Pangolin Counter Poaching Unit, has donated the land and will break ground on the development of a purpose-built ‘Pangalorium’ facility headquartered in South Africa.

The facility consists of a dedicated research, treatment and rehabilitation centre; a hub for releasing pangolins back into the wild.

The Pangalorium and its staff, which are fully funded by the Foundation, will meet the pressing demand for a centre dedicated to the preservation of pangolins by bringing together various disciplines and expertise to help with the detection, treatment, rehabilitation and reintroduction of pangolins into the wild.

The Foundation is also taking care of the staff of the Pangolin Counter Poaching Unit who are engaging with Law and Order agencies to assist in Pangolin detection and seizures.

The unit consists of a manager and a dedicated K9 team, the handler and the world’s first K9 trained to detect pangolin scales.

The Belgian Mallinois dog, named ‘Havock’, is specifically trained by Paramount K9 Solutions on the scent of all four African pangolin varieties and is able to detect pangolin scent in transport containers and baggage in heavily trafficked arenas, such as airports.

Director of the Ichikowitz Foundation, Eric Ichikowitz, said:  “Our planet is experiencing alarming levels of species loss, caused, in large part, by intensified poaching.

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“Greater international support is necessary to counter what is a globalizing industry of illicit wildlife trafficking, causing what may lead to the silent extinction of the pangolin and a crisis with a myriad of international security and health ramifications.

“In kind, it is imperative that alongside governmental and non-governmental organizations alike, we formulate a more united, intuitive response to this catalyst to further wide-ranging threats”.

Professor Ray Jansen of the African Pangolin Working Group (APWG) added: ”The APWG are extremely grateful to the Ichikowitz Foundation for sponsorship of the K9 Unit and Pangalorium, without which our organisation would be less effective in counter poaching operations and the effective treatment and rehabilitation of compromised pangolins would be so much more difficult.

“This generous contribution to the conservation of African pangolins by the Foundation is making a significant contribution to turning the illegal trade in pangolins in South Africa”.

Paramount K9 Solutions oversees a highly-trained troop which carry out a wide array of tactical assignments.

These include special forces operations, Ranger K9 handler training and wildlife contraband detection, routinely checking for hidden pangolin scales and rhino horn at many of Southern Africa’s national borders; the African Pangolin Working Group are regularly deployed on sting operations in conjunction with the South African Police Service (SAPS), following tip-offs from the public.

While expanding in global footprint, the Ichikowitz Foundation alongside Paramount K9 Solutions recently supported Malaysian-based non-profit research organization RIMBA by deploying K9 units abroad to combat Pangolin trafficking in Southeastern Asia.

Pangolin scales are comprised of nothing more than keratin, a protein that makes up fingernails, hair, horns, claws, and hooves, with no scientifically-proven medicinal value.

Nonetheless, demand for their scales persists and is often supplied through illegal trafficking by organized, militarized cabals.

The Foundation has further deemed the occasion an important moment to raise greater awareness to the ongoing plight and what portends to be the ‘silent extinction’ of the most trafficked mammal on the planet, if not met with action.

In 2020, it has been purported that one pangolin is poached from the wild every five minutes.

Conservationists have gone on to suggest that well over 1 million pangolins have been poached since the year 2000 with ever-growing statistics being made available on what is the continued illegal trafficking of pangolins and their scales to meet black-market demand.

Despite a 2016 agreement having been signed by over 180 governments to seek to end the legal trade of pangolins, cumulative trade in the illicit trafficking of African pangolin scales has grown year on year, with the practice having advanced to reach worldwide magnitude.

97 tons of pangolin scales representing in excess of 150,000 pangolins was intercepted leaving Africa in 2019.

In April of 2019 alone, authorities in Singapore seized 25.6 tons of pangolin scales, carrying an estimated worth of $76.5 million.

In December, a shipment of 50,000 pangolins from Africa was intercepted and the animals confiscated from traffickers in China.

Agency Repoter

UNITED States (U.S.) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday denounced corruption and touted American business during the second leg of an African tour in Angola, where the government is seeking to claw back billions of dollars looted from state coffers.

Pompeo is aiming to promote U.S. investment as an alternative to Chinese loans while assuaging concerns over a planned U.S military withdrawal and the expansion of visa restrictions targeting four African countries.

In Angola’s capital Luanda, Pompeo met with President Joao Lourenco, who took office in 2017, promising wide-ranging economic reforms and a crackdown on the endemic graft that marked his predecessor, Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ four-decade rule.

“Here in Angola, damage from corruption is pretty clear,” he told a group of businessmen following that meeting. “This reform agenda that the president put in place has to stick.”

Portugal’s public prosecutor has ordered the seizure of bank accounts belonging to Isabel dos Santos, the former president’s billionaire daughter, who is a suspect in an Angolan fraud investigation.

Reputedly the richest woman in Africa, she has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Angola, with sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest economy and its second-largest oil producer, is ranked as one of the world’s most corrupt nations, in 165th place on a list of 180 countries, according to anti-corruption group Transparency International.

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U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Chevron (CVX.N) have significant stakes in Angolan oil fields.

Last year, Chevron signed onto a consortium to develop Angola’s natural gas assets alongside Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI), France’s Total (TOTF.PA), BP (BP.L) and Angolan state oil company Sonangol.

“We’ve got a group of energy companies that have put more than $2 billion in a natural gas project. That will rebound to the benefit of the American businesses for sure, but to the Angolan people for sure as well,” Pompeo said.

Despite U.S. investments, the bulk of Angola’s oil production is destined for China, which holds the lion’s share of Angolan foreign debt.

The Trump administration has accused China of predatory lending in Africa, where Beijing has loaned governments billions of dollars for infrastructure projects in exchange for access to natural resources. China rejects the criticism.

With a revamped International Development Finance Corporation and its new Prosper Africa trade and investment strategy, the administration is seeking to combat Chinese influence on the continent.

But the push comes as some governments are questioning U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to Africa.

The White House last month tightened visa restrictions on nationals from Sudan, Tanzania, Eritrea and Nigeria.