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LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Rebels from the Boko Haram extremist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for abducting hundreds of boys from a school in Nigeria’s northern Katsina State last week in one of the largest such attacks in years,...
He replaces Debretsion Gebremichael, whose immunity from prosecution was removed Thursday.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said Thursday that scores of civilians were killed in a \"massacre\" in the Tigray region, that witnesses blamed on forces backing the local ruling party.
The \"massacre\" is the first reported incident of large-scale civilian fatalities in a week-old conflict between the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
\"Amnesty International can today confirm... that scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the southwest of Ethiopia's Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,\" the rights group said in a report.
Amnesty said it had \"digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers.\"
The dead \"had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes,\" Amnesty said, citing witness accounts.
Witnesses said the attack was carried out by TPLF-aligned forces after a defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian military, though Amnesty said it \"has not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings\".
It nonetheless called on TPLF commanders and officials to \"make clear to their forces and their supporters that deliberate attacks on civilians are absolutely prohibited and constitute war crimes\".
Abiy ordered military operations in Tigray on November 4, saying they were prompted by a TPLF attack on federal military camps -- a claim the party denies.
The region has been under a communications blackout ever since, making it difficult to verify competing claims on the ground.
Abiy said Thursday his army had made major gains in western Tigray.
Thousands of Ethiopians have fled across the border into neighboring Sudan, and the UN is sounding the alarm about a humanitarian crisis in Tigray.
[Monitor] By Denis Opoka
[Premium Times] A Borno traditional chief, Zanna Boguma, has said that despite claims, President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to tackle the issue of insecurity especially in the North East.
The victims killed in a massacre in Guglethu are said to have links to gangs operating in the area, reports have said.
At least four people were killed as protests spread across several Ethiopian cities after a prominent singer from the country's largest ethnic group was shot dead, according to medical sources and a relative.
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Aspirar JA, a non-governmental organisation based in Manchester, says since it was formed in January, 300 primary and secondary school students have benefited from its mentorship programme.
Driven by a goal of making the world a better place for all, the organisation says it is seeking to contribute to the development of society through mentorship.
Founder and president of the organisation, Jerome Hanson told the Jamaica Observer that the group has been in the works since last August.
Vice-president and co-founder of Aspirar JA, Shinell Mills, who is also a communication studies student at Northern Caribbean University, explained the role of the organisation.
“We are involved in the provision of humanitarian services to teenagers in high schools, and we also cater to children's homes and primary school students, especially those who are most vulnerable to abuse… As a group, we seek to efficiently contribute to the development of the Jamaican society.
Nigerian army general who complained about inadequate equipment to fight the Boko Haram has been dismissed from service and further convicted.
Mr Lafiya Dole, Olusegun Adeniyii, who was commended for his exploit in the fight against Boko Haram forur months ago was dragged to the court martial for violating sections of the policy on the use of social media for personnel of the armed forces of Nigeria. The military policy forbids personnels from posting any audio, video or pictures depicting their training or operations.
Adeniyii was found guilty by the court for producing and publishing video on the counter- insurgency operations ridiculing the weapons they have in comparison to the adversaries, the Boko Haram.
The military in July had pushed for Adeniyii’s prosecution after he was seen in several social media posts confessing that Nigerian troops were being gunned down by the Boko Haram due to their inferior guns.
Mr Adeniy has therefore been demoted for three years.
The video was recorded in an operation just after militants had killed dozens of soldiers in an ambush in Yobe state earlier this year.
His conviction has led to public outcry on social media with some terming it as unnecessary.
Here is the video Adesiyi posted early this year.
Cameroon is a Central African nation on the Gulf of Guinea, bordered by Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. It is nearly twice the size of Oregon. Mount Cameroon (13,350 ft; 4,069 m), near the coast, is the highest elevation in the country. The main rivers are the Benue, Nyong, and Sanaga.
After a 1972 plebiscite, a unitary republic was formed out of East and West Cameroon to replace the former federal republic.
Bantu speakers were among the first groups to settle Cameroon, followed by the Muslim Fulani in the 18th and 19th centuries. The land escaped colonial rule until 1884, when treaties with tribal chiefs brought the area under German domination. After World War I, the League of Nations gave the French a mandate over 80% of the area, and the British 20% adjacent to Nigeria. After World War II, when the country came under a UN trusteeship in 1946, self-government was granted, and the Cameroon Peoples Union emerged as the dominant party by campaigning for reunification of French and British Cameroon and for independence. Accused of being under Communist control, the party waged a campaign of revolutionary terror from 1955 to 1958, when it was crushed. In British Cameroon, unification was also promoted by the leading party, the Kamerun National Democratic Party, led by John Foncha.
France set up Cameroon as an autonomous state in 1957, and the next year its legislative assembly voted for independence by 1960. In 1959 a fully autonomous government of Cameroon was formed under Ahmadou Ahidjo. Cameroon became an independent republic on Jan. 1, 1960. In 1961 the southern part of the British territory joined the new Federal Republic of Cameroon and the northern section voted for unification with Nigeria. The president of Cameroon since independence, Ahmadou Ahidjo was replaced in 1982 by the prime minister, Paul Biya. Both administrations have been authoritarian.
With the expansion of oil, timber, and coffee exports, the economy has continued to
Abuja/maiduguri — -Troops engage insurgents in fierce gun battle
Boko Haram on Saturday attacked three local government areas of Borno State, in audacious attacks barely a day after President Muhammadu Buhari claimed the terrorist group had been massively degraded.
The comments came following an assault on Kolloram village, in Gubio Local Government Area of Borno State, in which 81 residents were killed.
But Boko Haram returned with an attack on another settlement in Gubio Local Government Area, Dunga village, Saturday morning.
It would be recalled that the village, Faduma Kolloram, in Gubio Local Government Area tasted the fury of the terrorists on Tuesday, when Boko Haram accused the villagers of giving intelligence on their positions to the military.
\"The Nigerian Army is deeply saddened by the unfortunate incident in which suspected retreating Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, with a few sleeper cells within communities, ambushed and killed innocent women and children in Faduma Koloram village, Gubio LGA of Borno State.
More than 300 schoolboys kidnapped in northwest Nigeria were handed over to government security, the Katsina state governor said in a televised interview on Thursday.
[AI London] Amnesty International has graded Twitter on progress to keep women safe on platform
Following a request by security agencies, a temporary ban has been placed on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, over Georgetown and a section of the East Bank of Demerara.
The directive was issued on Thursday by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) in a notice published via its Facebook page.
Unfortunate Violence
A solemn crime scene of a burnt-out vehicle in Niger, where it is reported that gunmen murdered 8 people yesterday - 6 of whom were French nationals amongst which ACTED a French humanitarian non-governmental organisation has confirmed its staff members. Amongst the deceased was a drive and Khadri — a local guide and the president of the Kouré Giraffe Guides Association, as the attack occurred east of Kouré which is about an hour's drive from the capital Niamey and within proximity (around 65 km or 40 miles south-east) to the popular tourist attraction, The Kouré Giraffe Reserve.
Although the identities of the perpetrators are still under speculation, terrorist groups such as Boko Haram operate in the area - and the threat of military violence linked to Al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists has been on the rise in the Sahel region.
Despite the current volatile climate in the area over recent years, many tourists still visit to see the popular giraffes specific to Niger — a sub-species distinguished by its lighter colour which settled there around 20 years ago and have been largely protected from poachers. The French government, however, advises against travel to large parts of Niger.
France has been leading a coalition of West African and European allies against Islamist militants in the region since June.
This clearly shows that illegal border-crossing during the pandemic increased the risk of importing COVID-19 cases into the country and therefore the foreign nationals, who are mostly farm hands entering the country despite the border closure through illegal routes, must be stopped.
Most of these foreigners, our reporter says, are able to enter the country through the support of their Ghanaian counterparts resident at the border who aid them with the use of motorbikes and bicycles.
In addition, some drivers along the border towns pick the foreigners in defiance of the border closure directive ordered by the government.
It is for good reason that the order was made to close our borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 which the entire world is battling at the moment although there is a ban on border-crossing in place.
Everyone has to be vigilant at this time and report those who engage in the illegal border-crossing to security agencies for them to pay the price for disobeying the COVID-19 directive.
[This Day] In what appeared to be at variance with its earlier claim that over 110 civilians were killed in the attack on a rice field by Boko Haram in Borno State, the United Nations yesterday said \"tens of civilians\" were killed in the incident.
Activists supported by the government have taken to patrolling the main highway in Maiduguri in anti-jihadist efforts.
[AI London] Award-winning journalist Omar Radi was targeted with notorious Pegasus spyware days after Israel tech firm pledged to abide by human rights standards
Abuja, Minna — Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Mr. Mele Kyari, wednesday put the value of crude oil lost to pipeline vandalism in the first six months of 2020 at $48 million.
On daily local consumption of petrol, Kyari said: \"We don't know how much petrol we consume daily in this country, but we know how much of product is taken out of depots.\"
Kyari also stated that the federal government deliberately shut down the three refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt for two reasons.
Kyari explained that the exploration covers eight local government areas in Niger State, including Mokwa, Lavun, Gbako, Bida, Katcha, Agaie, Edati and Lapai, with two other unnamed LGAs in Kwara and one in Kogi State.
Bello commended NNPC for embarking on the oil exploration in Bida Basin, which he said would improve the economic base of not only the state but the country.
Niger has endured several attacks by Islamic extremists, including the Nigeria-based Boko Haram, and fighters linked to the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.
A fire tore through an overcrowded maximum security prison in Cameroon’s port city of Douala on Thursday leading to the hospitalisation of three prisoners with serious burns, a local fire chief said.
“The operation was made more difficult by the layout and the large number of inmates,” fire brigade chief Kadrey Abdiel said.
The operation was made more difficult by the layout and the large number of inmates.
New Bell was built in the 1930s for 800 inmates, but held around 2,500 as of 2011, according to Amnesty International.
A few inmates had tried to climb over the prison’s walls, but police around the perimeter stopped them escaping, regional Governor Samuel Ivaha Diboua told journalists.
Struggling with hunger, Covid-19 and death threats, the residents of Nairobi's Kariobangi shack settlement are speaking out against state demolitions that left thousands homeless.
The demolitions in the Kariobangi Sewage Farmers estate, in the northeast of the city, were carried out in May and continued for days, destroying at least 600 homes in addition to shops, schools and churches.
The state-run Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) claims ownership of the land, but residents have legal documents from the Nairobi City County that they say prove their rights to the land.
According to George Kegoro, the executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, the privatisation of public land, including through \"corrupt processes\", has contributed to the evictions and demolitions in shack settlements.
Kegoro noted that the Kenya Human Rights Commission is discussing the possibility of seeking \"legal redress\" for the forced evictions and demolitions in Kariobangi.
Threats to kill women and babies, while corpses of fighters paraded in grotesque incidents
Banned anti-personnel landmines planted in civilian homes, with Russian military company Wagner implicated
'Commanders must publicly condemn these acts' - Diana Eltahawy
New evidence obtained by Amnesty International indicates that war crimes and other violations may have been committed between 13 April and 1 June by warring parties in Libya during the latest surge in fighting near Tripoli.
Amnesty is calling on all warring parties and associated forces in Libya to immediately halt attacks against civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law, including those being carried out to punish civilians for their perceived affiliations with rival groups.
In another video posted on social media on 30 April, again verified by Amnesty, a Government of National Accord-affiliated fighter is seen threatening \"Kaniyat forces\" (aligned with the Libyan National Army) that they would \"not to leave a single woman alive\" when they capture the town of Tarhuna, south-east of Tripoli.
Amnesty verified one video showing the Libyan National Army first infantry brigade parading fighters' corpses in a pick-up truck, while calling a captured Government of National Accord fighter a \"Syrian dog\" on 18 April.
Witnesses and a medical source confirmed to Amnesty that an attack launched by Libyan National Army forces on Souq Al-Talat on 31 May left at least three civilians dead and 11 wounded, including a child whose leg was amputated.
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease in Nigeria, late February, the various governments took various measures to combat the plague.
Since Nigeria recorded her first case of COVID-19 late February, 7016 persons, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, have tested positive for the disease.
·February 5: The Nigerian Air Force killed \"some\" (estimated at five) ISWA (Boko Haram) militants in Ngala, Borno.
·February 8: The Nigerian Air Force killed \"several\" (estimated at 10 Boko Haram militants in Gwoza, Borno.
·February 27: The Nigerian Air Force killed \"some\" (estimated at 10) Boko Haram militants in Gwoza, Borno.
