The Nation Newspaper

Tag: UN

  • U.S. fails to probe Afghan civilian deaths, says report

    U.S. fails to probe Afghan civilian deaths, says report

    Many Afghan civilians are injured and killed as a result of roadside bombs laid by the Taliban

    The US has failed to properly investigate Afghan civilian deaths caused by their forces, human rights group Amnesty International says in a new report.

    Amnesty International alleges that even potential war crimes have gone uninvestigated and unpunished.

    The report focused primarily on air strikes and night raids carried out by US forces between 2009 and 2103.

    Nato told the AP news agency it would review the report and respond later.

    A spokesman told AP they take allegations of civilian casualties extremely seriously and fully investigate all reports.

    The number of civilians killed and wounded in the conflict in Afghanistan rose 14% last year, UN figures show. Nearly 3,000 civilians were killed and more than 5,600 were injured in 2013.

    Most casualties in 2013 were a result of roadside bombs laid by the Taliban or getting caught in the crossfire during ground battles between Taliban-led insurgents and Afghan forces.

    But the issue of civilian casualties caused by Nato is highly sensitive in Afghanistan and has long been a source of tension between Nato forces and outgoing President Hamid Karzai.

    Last year the Afghan leader banned foreign air strikes in residential areas after civilians were mistakenly killed in a night raid.

    But Amnesty’s 84-page report, Left in the Dark, focused on how the US investigates such attacks and what it describes as the failure of accountability for US military operations in Afghanistan.

    “Thousands of Afghans have been killed or injured by US forces since the invasion, but the victims and their families have little chance of redress. The US military justice system almost always fails to hold its soldiers accountable for unlawful killings and other abuses,” said Richard Bennett, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Director.

     

     

     

    It gathered accounts from 125 eyewitnesses of 10 incidents between 2009 and 2013, in which it says at least 140 civilians died during US military strikes.

    All Nato combat forces are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The report also urges the Afghan government to establish a mechanism to investigate abuses by Afghan forces who take on full combat responsibility at the end of 2014.

     

  • Omisore evades internationally organised debate

    Omisore evades internationally organised debate

    In all known contests, debate is probably the best interaction to adjudge a candidate, since there is no other better known scientific method. The best democracy in the world, the United States of America, USA, is well known for making use of debates as a means to present candidates and their manifestoes to the electorates. There is no alternative to this simple, entertaining and educative gathering in the credible democratic electoral process.

    The International Republican Institute (IRI) is a UN-partnered organisation, partially funded by the U.S. House of Representatives. It conducts international political programmes, sometimes called democratisation programmes with special emphasis on promoting good governance. This organisation invited all candidates for the August 9,  2014 governorship election in Osun State to a public debate billed to hold on the State Radio. This was seen as a window of opportunity for the citizens to assess all the candidates, most especially the leading ones like Governor Rauf Aregbesola and Senator Iyiola Omisore. It would have afforded voters a good opportunity to make informed choice on Election Day. This would not in any way have been a bad idea, judging from the fact that both candidates have been engaging in attacks and counter-attacks. There have been accusations and counter-accusations. For example, the PDP candidate had alleged that the administration awarded contracts to godfathers, relations and party leaders, especially persons from outside the state without executing the projects.

    “Let us go to the so-called opon imo. This is an N8.4 billion scam handled by his own biological son. Now, they are withdrawing them from the pupils. The device is valueless and it is just for profit-making and nothing else.

    “In opon imo, we have 17 subjects and 87 per cent errors precisely. I went through it and I analysed it. For instance, in opon imo, there is no single graph in Mathematics, no single illustrative table and no single diagram. You can’t teach Mathematics without graphs, without histograms, without tables and without diagrams,” Omisore alleged.

    The above and others are very weighty allegations which a face-to-face encounter would have resolved and which would have afforded the citizens the opportunity of knowing the truth, first hand. These are not the types of allegations which a media aid would be competent to respond to. It needs clarity from the governor himself and vice-versa.

    True to his words that he would not appear in a public debate with the incumbent Governor Aregbesola, Senator Omisore refused to turn up. How then do we assess a candidate if such refuses a public debate which would have afforded Osun indigenes an opportunity to know him and his party’s manifesto?

    The debate would have normally afforded citizens to know their candidates better and make informed choice. Omisore would have thrown light on his stewardship as a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, how many bills he sponsored in favour of his state and so on; he would have led us on a journey of the stewardship of the PDP when the party was at the helm of affairs in Osun between 2003 and 2010. How the tribunal refused them the opportunity to complete their legion of projects in Osun; he would have find it interesting reminding us of how many roads, hospitals, fly-overs etc they provided us.  But Omisore bungled it.

    With his reported refusal to attend the debate on ground of insecurity for his person, it becomes clear that Omisore has something to hide, nothing concrete to offer and is deliberately refusing the people an opportunity to know the kind of person he is.

    The position of the governor of a state in Nigeria is a highly exalted post such that the occupier ought to be above board in reasoning and in verbal comportment.

    If a potential occupier of the post is afraid of the citizens, claiming that he may be attacked at the venue, then it throws out a question at us: how acceptable he is? Is it not a question of a man running away from his shadows? Or is he on a thought journey that the day of reckoning for the murderous criminality of his past is at hand? Is he insinuating that the governor would throw caution to the wind and physically attack him? These are questions begging to be answered.

    Well, we should not be too surprised. We know where the senator is coming from. The PDP is known as a party of Janduku – trouble makers. There’s hardly any public outing of the PDP, anywhere in Nigeria, which will not end in blood-shedding. If that is what he thinks the ruling APC in Osun is about, he is clearly mistaken. The Omoluabi mantra of the administration would not allow the governor or any of his followers to engage in disgraceful acts.

    Sometimes in November 2010, when Ogbeni was being sworn-in in Osogbo Technical College field, I drove to the venue from my Lagos base to witness history. As impromptu and as the event was, with tumultuous crowd to witness, there was not a single record of violence or molestation. This was in clear contrast of what obtains in any gathering of the PDP. It does not matter how sparse the population, such gathering would almost always end in chaos.

    This was captured mildly by an elderly woman who was soliloquizing by my side as we walked away at the end of the swearing-in ceremony of Aregbesola. She captured it succinctly in Yoruba language when she said, “awon Omoluabi lo gbajoba yio, ti o ba se awon tibi ni, won ati maa sara won lada”, which literarily translate to “these are virtuous people that have now taken over governance. If it were the other ones, they would have engaged themselves with dangerous weapons”.  With this elderly woman’s comment, one is not surprised where Omisore is coming from, for him to have insinuated violence at the proposed debate venue.

    We appeal to the distinguished senator to at least respect the wishes of the people of Osun by attending any subsequent debates he might be invited for. He is a leading candidate. The Nigeria Election Debate Group led by the veteran journalist, Chief Taiwo Alimi may soon extend the same invitation to candidates.

    Omisore must come out to debate with Aregbesola. We want him to come and insist on his accusations so that Osun people will know who, among the two of them, is the friend and who is the enemy of the people; so that he will show himself as a reliable and credible future governor; so that he will have all the opportunities to discredit the incumbent and possibly disgrace him out of power with his power of oratory. We need him. We promise his safety to and from the venue. But if he refuses to honour his people, then it shows how contemptuous of them he is.

    Omisore, please come. We are expecting you!

     

     

  • Onaiyekan, UN, APC: time to cage Boko Haram

    Onaiyekan, UN, APC: time to cage Boko Haram

    The United Nations (UN), All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, have expressed shock over Wednesday’s bomb attacks in Kaduna that targeted Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as well as prominent cleric Dahiru Bauchi.

    APC, in a statement in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, sent its condolences to the families of the victims and pray that God would give them the much-needed strength at times like this, while also wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

    It said the attempted assassination of Gen. Buhari has changed the narrative about the insurgent group and knocked the bottom off the sinister, irresponsible and partisan colouration given to the insurgency by the Federal Government.

    APC said while no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, the mere fact that it occurred at all is a lose-lose situation for the Jonathan Administration.

    “Whether it is Boko Haram or not, one thing remains: This government has failed woefully in its core constitutional duty of protecting the security and welfare of the citizenry. And we mean all the citizens, not just the leaders!

    “And contrary to the simplistic and clearly selfish portrayal of the Boko Haram insurgency as a sinister plot to bring down the government of Jonathan, it should now be clear to the FG that has engaged in ceaseless finger-pointing instead of tackling the insurgency headlong that Boko Haram is an enemy of Nigeria and of all of humanity.

    “It is a real problem that is capable of consuming this country if immediate and urgent steps are not made now by the FG to move away from its politicisation of the crisis, its decision to use it as a trump card for President Jonathan’s re-election and exploit it as a ticket to international relevance for the President. If anything untoward had happened to Gen. Buhari on Wednesday, the consequences are only better imagined than witnessed!

    “If indeed the APC is behind Boko Haram and Gen. Buhari is a sympathiser of the evil group, as the FG wants the world to believe, could it be that the insurgents do not know their leaders or sympathisers, assuming they are behind the attack? If they are not responsible for the attack, doesn’t that support the theory in some circles that Boko Haram has become a franchise, hence there is the Boko Haram of Abubakar Shekau and the political Boko Haram?

    “Whatever happens now, the satanic and repulsive theory of the PDP-led FG that the opposition APC is using Boko Haram to truncate the Administration of Jonathan is up in flames. Therefore, it is time for them to change the narrative, see Boko Haram for what it is – an enemy of Nigeria – and rally the citizenry, irrespective of their political, ethnic or religious affiliation, behind the government’s efforts to tackle it decisively,’’ the party said.

    It said as a first step, President Jonathan must stop the wasteful contract he signed with the US-based firm Levick to help demonise the APC as the sponsor of Boko Haram, and to demonise any Nigerian who is perceived to be an enemy of the government.

    The party said: “It is this kind of demonisation, using pseudo and out-of-job analysts, that helped to set the stage for Wednesday’s failed assassination attempt against Gen. Buhari.

    “Then the President must address Nigerians to tell them that Boko Haram is not just an enemy of his government, it is an enemy of the opposition, of Christians, of Muslims and of the different ethnic groups.

    “Instead of dividing Nigerians along religious, ethnic and political lines, President Jonathan should borrow a leaf from his predecessors. Obasanjo never said the Niger Delta militancy was aimed at his government or his people, he tackled it headlong. Yar’Adua it was who finally ended the militancy, without saying it was aimed at his government or his people.”

    The party reiterated its earlier stand that only a non-partisan approach would galvanise Nigerians against Boko Haram, which is rooted more in the years of bad governance that have resulted in mass unemployment, massive corruption, economic imbalances and made the youth to become hopeless, thus creating an army of willing tools for criminal activities

    It repeated its offer to work with the Federal Government to battle Boko Haram and its call for a national stakeholders’ conference to help fashion out a comprehensive counter-insurgent blueprint for the nation.

    APC said rather than just throwing money at what has now become a bottomless pit, rather than creating the avenue for some unpatriotic citizens to feed fat on the insurgency, the FG should engage in new thinking.

    “After almost five years and 14 billion US dollars, Boko Haram is stronger today than ever. Whereas the average death toll in the previous years has been 1,500, more than 3,500 people have been killed so far this year! There is no stronger evidence that what is needed to successfully fight Boko Haram is not just 1 billion dollars, but a comprehensive approach that includes efforts to tackle the social and economic roots of the insurgency,’’ the party said.

     

    Onaiyekan: we mus not

    push our luck too far

     

    Cardinal Onaiyekan said it is time Nigeria tackled Boko Haram menace headlong and avoid pushing its luck too far.

    He said Nigeria had been dancing on the brink of chaos for too long except for the grace of God sustaining it.

    He said the insurgency is a symptom of a wider disease which must be urgently addressed.

    He also warned against sliding the nation’s democracy towards a one-party state.

    He said one-party system had never worked in any part of Africa.

    Onaiyekan gave the warning in an extempore address during a courtesy call on him by a delegation of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which was led by its National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

    He said: “I believe that God has been with Nigeria for so long. We have been dancing on the brink of chaos and somehow He accepts us not to fall over. But we should not push our luck too far.

    “Boko Haram, in my view, is a symptom of a wider disease and I hope we know that. And if we don’t tackle that wider disease, we might finish with Boko Haram and move on to another.

    “Meanwhile, we should do our best to rid our country of this menace which, as Chief Oyegun said, has taken over all of us. Every part of Nigeria has been taken over even though the epicenter is in a particular angle.

    “I am now 70 years old and I have seen the most important stages in the development of this our country. I was born into the colonial era. I schooled during the transition between the colonial and independent nation.

    “And I have seen all the different changes, tumbling and fumbling that we are going through between the 1960 and to date. One thing that has become clear in my mind is whatever anybody is saying something has happened in this country. We do have a country called Nigeria, and I believe that it is a viable project. There are challenges of course no doubt. There are dislocations, no doubt about it. The fact that there are contradictions, it is very glaring.

    “ Often, deliberately, they injected the contradictions into the system to cause confusion, but once we believe that we want to live in one country, our efforts should be made towards arriving such a way that our differences can be appreciated, and we do all we can, not to disorganize ourselves.

    “Above all, avoid utter chaos. We are looking television to see what happens when things fall apart. Unfortunately when that happens it is not people like you and I that will suffer most, it is the poor people, who have nowhere to run to and who don’t understand why things are not going well.”

    Cardinal Onaiyekan said Nigeria has every cause to have a viable democracy.

    He also warned against the danger of rigging elections claiming that such indulgence is worst than military dictatorship.

    He added: “Democracy has its ways. It is not the only way for ruling. But it is considered the best way. We still have some kind of monarchy like in Britain, Netherlands and Spain. We also have modern democracy involving political parties presenting themselves to people with manifestos which constitute programmes for them.

    “They defend them at all cost because if it is not well defended, you end up with dictatorship. This is why I say rigged elections are worst than military dictatorship for the simple reason that in the military coups somebody take it with the guns. He doesn’t pretend; I put you there. If you rig election, somebody who rigs election takes over and tells the world that I put him there , adding insult to injury.

    “We can and we should be able to achieve a viable democracy in this country if it is our desire to build a country where everybody sees each other as belonging to the same nation. That is one of the reasons why your group has organized itself to form a political party different from the party that is in government.”

    He said Nigeria cannot afford to be a one-party state because the system had never worked in any part of Africa.

    “And I believe that the government should not be surprised that there is another party otherwise we should be told that we are one party state. And one-party system as you know has been thriving in many parts of Africa and we have found it wanting. So, we have to be sincere with ourselves and I keep praying that this sincerity will be carried through.”

    Cardinal Onaiyekan said he would continue to talk until things are put right in the country.

    He said:” As a religious leader I pray, but I don’t only pray, I think and I do not shy away from expressing my mind as a Nigerian because politics is too important to be left to politicians alone. All of us are interested, we are all involved.

    “By the way God has organised and by the rules of my church, I cannot be a member of a political party nor can I be a candidate in any election, my church forbids it for excellent reasons. But I am not indifferent to how my country is ruled. This is why I am very happy to receive the chairman of APC party. I will gladly welcome the chairman of any other party that  may think he wants to pay me a courtesy  visit.

    “I thank you and you political party for coming to my house. Even if you are not a Catholic, I will still pray for you. I will pray for political leaders so that they will be rightly guided so that they may have the grace to do the right thing because there is a difference between being rightly guided and doing the right thing. It is not quite often that you do the right thing that you are guided to do. But it requires God’s grace to be able to do the right thing. We pray we have the patience, courage to do the right thing.”

     

    UN expresses outrage

     

    The UN envoy for West Africa   condemned the latest killing of civilians reportedly by the Boko Haram.

    Said Djinnit, the head of the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA), expressed profound outrage at the attacks which occurred over the weekend and yesterday, resulting, according to initial reports, in the death of more than 130 people.

    According to a statement released by UNOWA, the violence also forced some 15,000 people to flee to the Borno state capital of Maiduguri as well as to neighbouring towns of Biu and Goniri.

    Mr. Djinnit, who is also the Secretary General’s High Representative to Nigeria, expressed condolences to the bereaved families and called on the Nigerian authorities to do all they can to end the carnage and bring the perpetrators to justice.

    He also reiterated the UN’s support for effective regional efforts to put an end to the terrorism threat and Boko Haram attacks.

  • MH17 plane crash: Ukraine rebels give up ‘black boxes’

    MH17 plane crash: Ukraine rebels give up ‘black boxes’

    Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have handed over two flight-data recorders from the downed MH17 plane to Malaysian experts.

    The handover came hours after the UN Security Council voted unanimously to demand immediate international access to the crash site.

    EU foreign ministers will consider more sanctions against Russia on Tuesday.

    The Malaysian Airlines passenger jet crashed last Thursday, killing all 298 people on board.

    Western nations say there is growing evidence that flight MH17 was hit by a Russian-supplied missile fired by rebels, but Russia has suggested Ukrainian government forces are to blame.

    EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, are thought likely to discuss expanding the list of Russian officials targeted by sanctions, but have so far steered clear of targeting whole sectors of the Russian economy.

    Both the EU and the US imposed sanctions on Moscow following its annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of hostilities in eastern Ukraine.

    ‘In good condition’

    Experts say the “black boxes” will reveal the exact time of the incident and the altitude and precise position of the aircraft.

    They should also contain the cockpit voice recorder, which it is hoped will provide clues as to what the cause of the crash was.

    The head of the Malaysian delegation at the handover in Donetsk told reporters that the recorders were “in good condition”.

    The handover followed talks between the rebel commander and self-styled Prime Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Borodai and the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Mr Najib said in statement.

    He also said those talks led to the rebels agreeing to allow the bodies to be transported to Kharkiv and international investigators to access the area.

    Pro-Russian rebels allowed a freight train carrying the bodies of some of those on board the plane to be moved from a town near the crash site to Donetsk on Monday.

    The Malaysian experts and a Dutch delegation are travelling with the train to the city of Kharkiv, where it is expected to arrive later on Tuesday.

    From there, the bodies will be prepared for transfer by air to the Netherlands where forensic experts will evaluate and identify them.

    Meanwhile a UN resolution, proposed by Australia, was passed calling for a “full, thorough and independent international investigation” into the downing of the plane over Grabove on 17 July.

    It also demanded that those responsible “be held to account and that all states co-operate fully with efforts to establish accountability”.

    Analysis: Nick Bryant, UN correspondent, in New York

    After expressing misgivings about the wording of the UN resolution, the Russian ambassador ultimately raised his hand in favour. A veto from Moscow would have provoked even more of an international outcry.

    US ambassador Samantha Power said it would not have been necessary had Russia used its leverage to get the separatist rebels to let international experts visit the site sooner.

    Raising a hand in support of a resolution at the UN is different from lifting a finger to help, and the test of this resolution will come from its implementation on the ground.

    Not for the first time during this crisis, the chamber of the Security Council felt more like a courtroom, with Vladimir Putin still very much in the dock.

    There has been international outcry over the way rebels have handled the situation, leaving passengers’ remains exposed to summer heat and allowing untrained volunteers to comb through the area.

    All 15 council members, including Russia, voted in favour.

     

  • Victims’ Support Fund; Happiness Factor; RSVP: ‘Let them eat rice’ 

    Victims’ Support Fund; Happiness Factor; RSVP: ‘Let them eat rice’ 

    At last a Victims’/ Survivors Fund is a reality more two years late and as repeatedly recommended in this column. Too late for too many. The Red Cross and Blue Crescent must be made integral parts of the boardroom of this Danjuma- headed solution. The Red Cross, Blue Crescent and Victims’ Support Fund must recruit and employ only victims and survivors to help in quick restoration of the dignity of loss of limbs and loved ones and home and land-everything.  Remember the debacle of the Police Fund? Do not use smart people removed from the war. Register the first victims by work experience and place and use them to fully register all victims by job and use them for everything from record taking, evaluation,  purchase of products, transportation, distribution, storage, fuelling. Empower them, not pity them. They all had jobs before –just give them back those jobs and respectability through the Victims Support Fund.

    The political die is cast and the numbers do not add up to any good. True federalism is still the main bone of contention in the national plate at what unwittingly could easily become the last supper of Nigeria- the last Non Sovereign National Conference. I repeat that the northern delegates should all visit the wastelands of the oil-vomiting states and the southern delegates should visit the deserts and both Hausa and Fulani and the 100 other tribes including the teeming Christians of the North. There is a lot to blame greedy individuals for diverting the huge amounts of money actually allocates to both sides of the River Niger and the even larger sums stolen outright.

    There is enough for every Nigerians need but not for anyone’s greed. The warped federal structure has truncated many opportunities, mainly due to electoral malpractices and federal feudal money and might stamping on state rights. For the correct record, Nigeria needs a Conference of Federal Fault, Failures and Fraud to document fraudulent federalism at every level historically to prevent a future of state servitude to federal fraud.

    Bhutan is a country with under one million citizens bordered by giants India and China, and the Himalayas. Bhutan has given the world a gargantuan gift by measuring governance by the Gross National Happiness Index, GNHI, replacing the cold economic GDP, Gross National Product, which worships money and banking indices over the people’s joie de vive joy of life, the ultimate goal of selfless politics. Following the recommendation of Bhutan, March 20, is the Annual UN International Day of Happiness. Many countries have ‘Happiness Indices’ in their statistics. Happiness combats bullying, suicide and violence including cults and murder in curricula in many schools and universities. As part of a serious ‘Happiness Course’ there are ‘Happiness Classes’, ‘Positive classes’, ‘warm showers’ where students face away from classmates who say nice things about them, meditation, sharing respect for environment and interdependence. Check ‘UN International Day of Happiness’, Happiness Classes on the web and introduce them in Nigeria.  Bullying is a human rights crime against children. You may just save a life and make a bullied child happy. Nowadays youth even kill their parents ‘out of annoyance’. Meanwhile politicians play murder games for money and power.

    What does this tornado of impeachments add to our happiness? None. Nigeria’s citizens can also scheme, recall and initiate clear impeachment threats to assembly members. He who impeaches can also be impeached. The voter must assert the same right! In the light of the ‘loss of Ekiti, the citizens of the surviving APC states are ‘happy’ at the ‘side effect’ -an upsurge of democratic practices, not extraordinary ‘dividends of democracy’. Traditionally, all budgets and ‘emergency contract’ revenues are legally ‘disappeared’ and ‘diverted’ to ‘pre-election political electioneering’. This plunges Nigeria into a pre-election development abyss with unpaid salaries and pensions and looting all to create a political war-chest of up to N10billion to wage war in the forthcoming state elections or an illegal retirement fund. But after the shock stomach-politics of Ekiti, the political ‘hills are alive with the sound’ of money music and ‘re-strategising’ with roads being tarred, potholes filled, and rice trailer-loads reaching political party-friend and party-foe. The result has been ‘True UN Happiness’ for the masses –food for belly and brain. Even abandoned Bodija potholes are filled, one year late. The masses are rice-happy. Any stew for RSVP- Rice and Stew Very Plenty? Most non-progressive governments, with an exception of a Peter Obi or two, used the politics of destruction ignoring development. This involves relying on ‘the politics of the stomach, rice, rice, rice everywhere’ to ignore or quench ‘the thirst for development’. In the tiny mind of this political section, the ‘masses’ do not need development and they echo the ill-fated Queen of France, Marie-Antoinette, who is probably wrongly accused of recommending to the poor ‘let them [citizens] eat cake’ fuelling the French Revolution.  Now it is ‘Let them eat rice’ while politicians and civil servants steal their inheritance, though a Chinese Emperor said to peasants who did not even have rice ‘let them eat meat, according to Wikipedia.

    So-called ‘Progressive’ governments have quickly learnt this ‘stomach politics’ of the suspected ‘fingerprint disappearing and scientifically rigged’ Ekiti election. He who has not rigged, step forward. In fact these surviving progressive states can claim both developmental and stomach politics.

    • To be continued

     

    • PS: Nigerians must protest if the federal government delays revenue allocations to the non-ruling party states.

  • Boko Haram responsible for 18 attacks in Nigeria – UN

    The Boko Haram sect is responsible for at least 18 attacks on civilians in northern Nigeria in the past two weeks and the escalating violence threatens the security of West Africa, a senior United Nations official said on Tuesday.

    The U.N special envoy for West Africa, Said Djinnit, told the U.N Security Council that insecurity in northeastern Nigeria, coupled with growing political tensions ahead of planned general elections in 2015, had left the country at a crossroads.

    “The level of violence against civilians in Nigeria continues to escalate,” he said. “It is disheartening to note that within the last two weeks at least 18 attacks attributed to Boko Haram have been conducted, resulting in the tragic death of innocent civilians and displacement of peoples.”

    “The Boko Haram crisis is now affecting security in the sub region,” said Djinnit.

    Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates as “Western education is sinful,” has killed thousands in bomb and gun attacks since 2009 in a bid to carve out an Islamist state, Reuters reports.

    It initially focused on government and security targets, as well as churches and Muslim leaders who rejected its brand of Islam. But it has increasingly targeted civilians, emboldened by global outrage after it kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from the remote village of Chibok in April.

    “All efforts should be made to address the insurgency and insecurity,” Djinnit said. “The present situation underscores the paramount need for the Nigerian political class to forge a unified stand in confronting the persisting insecurity.”

  • Syria UN weapons inspectors ‘attacked’

    Syria UN weapons inspectors ‘attacked’

    A convoy of chemical weapons inspectors and UN staff that was travelling to a site of an alleged chlorine gas attack in Syria has come under attack.

    The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said they were all safe and well, and were travelling back to their operating base.

    It did not say whether they had been kidnapped in Hama province, as the Syrian government earlier claimed.

    OPCW director general, Ahmet Uzumcu, expressed his concern for their safety.

    The OPCW inspectors were trying to reach the rebel-held village of Kafr Zaita, where there have been six alleged chlorine attacks in two months.

    Activists said bombs containing chlorine were dropped on Kafr Zaita twice last week

    The first report of the attack on their convoy came from the Syrian foreign ministry, which said six inspectors had been “kidnapped” along with their five Syrian drivers.

    The state news agency, Sana, quoted a statement as saying that shortly after leaving their government escort yesterday morning in the village Tayyiba Imam, a bomb had exploded beside one of the four UN-marked vehicles in the convoy.

    The remaining three vehicles then turned around and headed back to Tayyiba Imam, but two were “hijacked by armed terrorist groups” en route, the statement added.

    The government and rebels had agreed a day-long truce in the area.

     

  • Nigeria asks UN to blacklist Boko Haram

    Nigeria has formally asked the United Nations Security Council  to blacklist the Boko Haram sect after the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls, U.N. diplomats said on Tuesday.

    If there is no objection by the 15-member council, which operates by consensus, Boko Haram will be sanctioned at 3:00 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on Thursday, the council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    “Difficult to object to such a request by the concerned country,” said one of the council diplomats.

    Until recently, Nigeria has been reluctant to seek international assistance in combating Boko Haram.

    The document submitted by Nigeria to support its blacklisting request references a bomb attack on the UN building in Abuja on August 26, 2011 that killed 24 people, diplomats said.

    It also described a “campaign of violence against Nigerian schools and students” by the group and references other attacks on schools last year, according to diplomats.

    Boko Haram, which Western governments and the Nigerian government said is linked to al-Qaeda, kidnapped more than 250 girls from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State on April 14 and has threatened to sell them into slavery. Eight other girls were taken from another village earlier this month.

    The sect’s five-year-old insurgency is aimed at reviving a medieval Islamic caliphate in modern Nigeria, whose 170 million people are split roughly evenly between Christians and Muslims.

     

  • Mali clashes leave civilians dead

    Mali clashes leave civilians dead

    Six Malian government officials and two civilians have been killed in an attack by rebels in northern Mali, the country’s UN peacekeeping force says.

    The head of the mission, known as Minusma, called the killings in the town of Kidal a “barbaric crime”.

    On Saturday, 36 people died in clashes between the army and Tuareg rebels, officials said. The fighting broke out during a visit by PM Moussa Mara.

    During Saturday’s fighting the rebels captured the local governor’s office, seizing 28 people.

    Minusma head Albert Koenders called for an inquiry into the attack.

    Earlier, Mr Mara said his government was now “at war” with the separatists.

    Eight soldiers and 28 rebels were killed in Saturday’s fighting, the army said.

    Malian Defence Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga has said reinforcements were being sent to Kidal.

    “We will double our troops on the ground if necessary,” AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

    The rebels are from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA).

     

  • Girls’ abduction unacceptable, says UN

    Girls’ abduction unacceptable, says UN

    The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for West Africa, Said Djinnit, has said the abduction of over 200 girls in Chibok, Borno State is unacceptable.

    In a statement yesterday after concluding a four-day visit to Nigeria, he said: “I am concluding today a four day visit to Nigeria. My visit is as a follow up to a telephone conversation between the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon and President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday 8 May. During their conversation, President Goodluck Jonathan welcomed the decision of the Secretary General to send a High Representative to Nigeria to consult with Government officials on what the UN can do to support ongoing efforts towards the safe release of the abducted girls.

    “I met with President Goodluck Jonathan and other senior Government officials including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General. I also met with the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on the abducted girls, the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). I met also with the Ambassadors of countries that have offered assistance in support of Nigeria’s efforts to release the abducted girls.

    “The abduction of the school girls in Chibok on 14 April has been widely condemned by the United Nations including the Secretary General and the UN Security Council. I wish to reiterate the strong condemnation by the United Nations of this unacceptable act of abduction of innocent girls.

    “I wish to reiterate the United Nations’ solidarity with the abducted schoolgirls and their families, the people and Government of Nigeria.

    “The UN is committed to do its utmost within its capacity to assist the authorities of Nigeria in their efforts towards the release of the school girls

    “As part of its assistance, the United Nations has initiated the preparation of an Integrated Support Package that includes immediate support to the affected families, the population and the girls after their release, in particular with psycho-social counseling and facilitation of their reintegration in families and communities. The package will also include response to emergency needs both in food and non-food items; early recovery support by promoting alternative livelihood and activities geared towards addressing the long term structural challenges through capacity building.

    “On the security situation, I expressed the United Nation’s deep concern at the lingering insecurity in the North East part of Nigeria. I expressed the support of the United Nations to the efforts of Nigeria to restore security in the affected areas while stressing the importance of due respect for Human Rights. I also reaffirmed the United Nation’s support to Nigeria within the framework of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

    “I also expressed concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in North-East including the dire situation of IDP’s. In this regard, I offered the support of the United Nation to the Government and NEMA in reinforcing the response capacity especially through enhanced coordination. I urged also for improved access for delivery of the much needed humanitarian assistance.”