The Director General of the Cross River State Emergency Management Agency, Princewill Anyim, has said the agency has what it takes to handle the latest influx of Cameroonian refugees.

Anyim spoke in reaction to the recent influx of no fewer than 8,000 Cameroonian refugees into Cross River and Taraba states in the past two weeks, as reported by the UNHCR,

He said, “It is not that there has been influx that much. We do have a particular number every month. The influx is more in Taraba, not in Cross River. Everything has been put in place to handle the influx.

“We don’t classify it as an emergency. The emergency stage has already passed. The level we are now is developmental stage where we see how we can put structures that can take pressure off the host communities. We don’t classify it as an emergency.

“Because of these elections, they are afraid that the attacks could be on the Anglophone side of Cameroon. They are being cautious. That is why you see them moving through the borders to escape persecution. Everything is in place. We have where they go. We have a hub where they sit. Then we do registration, to know them, take their bio-data and give them their progress number.”

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees had reported that, “almost 8,000 Cameroonian refugees have fled to Nigeria’s eastern and southern states of Taraba and Cross River over the past fortnight, bringing the total Cameroonian refugee population in the country to nearly 60,000 people.”

Culled from PUNCH

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the United States favoured a “collective” approach with its allies when deciding on troop numbers deployed in Africa against jihadist insurgents.

“We’ll get it right, we’ll get it right collectively, I’m convinced of that,” Pompeo told reporters in Dakar.

Pompeo said he had no specific announcement to make about any cuts in US troops deployed against jihadist groups in the Sahel region of Africa.

But he said the US would work closely with Senegalese and other forces in the region as well asits European partners, especially France.

“We have an obligation to get security right here, in the region, it’s what will permit economic growth and we’re determined to do that,” he said.

“When our review is done we’ll have a conversation with not just Senegal but all the countries in the region, we’ll talk through why we’re doing what we’re doing and we’ll deliver an outcome that works for all of us.”

Senegal Foreign Minister Amadou Ba said that the United States had informed his government of its “wish to withdraw combat troops”.

This, he said, would still leave an American military presence, notably in the areas of training and intelligence.

But he also insisted that Washington remained a crucial ally in the fight against jihadist violence that has plagued the Sahel.

“More than ever, Africa is faced with major challenges linked to insecurity and terrorism,” Ba said.

“It needs the United States of America as a strategic ally for a definitive return to peace and stability.”

Source: AFP

A United Nations (UN) official has warned that the situation in Libya is “deeply troubling,” a fragile ceasefire in the crisis-hit country has seen dozens of violations, and a UN arms embargo imposed on the country has become a “joke.”

UN Deputy Special Representative to Libya Stephanie Williams made the comments at a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on the sidelines of the 56th Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Sunday and after a meeting of foreign ministers to follow up on a Berlin summit on Libya last month.

“The situation on the ground remains deeply troubling. The truce is holding only by a thread. It is the Libyan people that continue to suffer the most. The economic situation continues to deteriorate, exacerbated by the oil blockade,” the US official said, referring to the blockade of oil facilities by rebel forces in Libya.

He said more than 150 violations had been reported since the ceasefire was agreed last month.

Since 2014, two rival seats of power have emerged in Libya: the internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, and another group based in the eastern city of Tobruk, supported militarily by rebel forces under the command of renegade general Khalifa Haftar.

The rebel leader, who is primarily supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Jordan, launched a deadly offensive to capture the capital, Tripoli, the seat of the GNA, in April last year. Despite intense fighting, Haftar has so far failed to achieve his objective of ousting the GNA, and the offensive has stalled outside the capital.

Last month, officials from Turkey, Russia, Egypt, France, Italy, Britain, and the United States gathered in the German capital of Berlin to help establish a permanent ceasefire in Libya. Sarraj and Haftar were also present in the summit.

The final communiqué of the summit called on all the parties concerned in the conflict “to redouble their efforts for a sustained suspension of hostilities, de-escalation and a permanent ceasefire.” Participants also pledged not to interfere in Libya’s internal affairs and its conflict and agreed to “fully respect” the arms embargo imposed on the North African country by the UN in 2011.

However, Haftar refused to sign the joint communiqué.

Elsewhere in her remarks on Sunday, Williams condemned the ongoing breaches of the UN weapons embargo on Libya, saying it “has become a joke, we all really need to step up here.” She added that the embargo had been violated “by land, sea, and air, but it needs to be monitored and there needs to be accountability,” warning that the North African country was now awash with illegally-imported advanced weapons.

The situation in Libya was been compounded as a result of a move by Turkey, a Libyan government ally, to transfer allied militants from Syria to the North African country.

Maas said he had asked European Union (EU) foreign ministers to make a decision on Monday on their role in monitoring the UN embargo.

“Everyone needs to know that, if they violate the embargo in future, then they violate a UN resolution and that this can’t remain without consequences,” he said, without giving further details.

The top German diplomat also said that the next so-called 5+5 meeting on Libya would take place in Geneva on Tuesday.

Serraj and Haftar are also scheduled to hold their first “political dialog” on February 26.

The Italian capital of Rome is set to host the next UN-brokered international talks on Libya.

Source: Presstv

The Angolan government’s request to freeze overseas accounts of Isabel dos Santos has been granted by the Portuguese authorities, a number of media outlets including the Expresso newspaper have reported.

This is the latest leg in a resolve by Luanda to bring the billionaire daughter of ex president Jose Eduardo dos Santos to book for alleged corruption and pillaging of public funds.

Isabel was head of the country’s oil firm, SONANGOL, a post she was controversially handed by her father. President Lourenco fired her months after taking office in 2017. Her brother Jose Filomeno is also facing corruption charges over his time at the head of the national sovereign fund.

Local accounts of Ms Dos Santos were frozen by a court late last year before an exposé into corruption files linked to her wealth were released last month. She has repeatedly rubbished the reports and stressed that she had earned all her wealth legally.

Luanda has slapped charges of embezzlement and financial misappropriation against the 46-year-old who has been living outside the country for the better part of the time that her father left office. She is on record to have said that she would consider running for the presidency when next polls are held.

Lourenco vows to recover stolen funds hidden abroad

President Joao Lourenco last Friday told visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel that his reformist government was working to recover funds stolen from public coffers and stashed abroad.

“With the support of everyone, civil society and specialised international institutions, we are implementing initiatives to combat money laundering, as well as to recover assets that have been set up with public resources… (or) been illegally transferred… outside the country,” he said.

He said his government was determined to fight corruption in the graft-tainted oil-rich country.

“We are deepening the foundations of the rule of law, where there is no impunity for acts of corruption and for practices of nepotism and influence peddling,” he said in an address during Merkel’s one-day visit to the country.

Dos Santos built up a vast business empire over the past two decades, with stakes in several Angolan and Portuguese companies. Her fortune is valued at $2.1 billion by Forbes Magazine, which named her Africa’s richest woman in 2013.

Source: Africa News

Human Rights Watch on Monday called on Mali to bring to justice jihadist and ethnic militants who killed more than 450 people in the centre of the war-torn country last year.

Massacres committed in the centre of the West African country amounted to “the deadliest year for civilians” since 2012, the NGO said in a report.

Mali has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in the north in 2012, and which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives.

Despite the presence of foreign troops, the conflict has since spread to the centre of the country as well as neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Human Rights Watch pointed to the ethnic mosaic of central Mali as the “epicentre” of violence in the country.

“Armed groups are killing, maiming, and terrorizing communities throughout central Mali with no apparent fear of being held to account,” said report author Corinne Dufka in a statement.

Ethnic killings increased in central Mali following the emergence of the Katiba Macina group in 2015.

Led by jihadist preacher Amadou Koufa, Katiba Macina has recruited mainly from among the Fulani people and has been accused of ethnically-motivated attacks.

Other ethnic groups such as the Bambara or the Dogon have formed self-defence groups, which have in turn been accused of reprisal massacres.

Fourteen Fulani people were killed in central Mali in January, for example, in an apparent spate of ethnic violence.

Interviewing 147 victims or witnesses to attacks, Human Rights Watch said that at least 456 people were killed in central Mali last year, and hundreds more were wounded.

It said while Malian authorities convicted about 45 people for “smaller incidents of communal violence,” they had yet to question or prosecute the leaders of armed groups.

“The Malian government’s failure to punish armed groups on all sides is emboldening them to commit further atrocities,” Dufka said in a statement.

(AFP)

Thousands of African students in Wuhan, the centre of the coronavirus epidemic, face dwindling food supplies, limited information and lockdowns restricting them to their campuses or hostels.

Two weeks after restrictions on movement were imposed, residents are running short of basic necessities, say students in the central Chinese city.Quick guide

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Several people described profound anxiety, insufficient food and a lack of information. Many complained about the lack of assistance received from their own embassies but refrained from criticising Chinese authorities.

There are more than 80,000 African students in China, often attracted by generous government scholarships. About 5,000 are thought to be in Wuhan, where there are scores of further education establishments offering qualifications that are prized in Africa.

A 21-year-old student from Cameroon living in Jingzhou city was reported on Tuesday to be among new cases. He is thought to have contracted the illness on a trip to Wuhan two weeks ago before the lockdown was imposed on the city but is not in any danger, university officials said.

More than 56 students from Malawi, mostly on scholarships, are among those trapped in Wuhan.

Bright Chipao, the president of the Association of Malawians in the city, said the students were desperate. “There is panic among us as we don’t know how long we are going to survive. We are also increasingly running out of foodstuffs,” he said.

Chipao said the students lacked masks, food and water. Prices had tripled in the city, he said.

The students have asked the Malawian government to airlift them out of the city and return them home, citing the example of other countries in Africa. However Chinese authorities have asked local embassies to tell their citizens not to seek to return home to avoid further spread of the disease.

Many educational establishments have imposed rigorous curbs on students, restricting them to their campuses or hostels. A statement from one colleges read: “Considering your safety, please stay inside your dormitory during this period … Most of the materials are in short supply. Please save resources, cherish your life.”

Kondwani Chembezi, a Malawian student at Wuhan University of Technology, said he and his roommate had only 2 gallons (9 litres) of water and some food.

He said: “Wuhan is becoming a death zone each passing day as the numbers of infected persons, as well as death toll, keep rising. There’s a great atmosphere of panic and despair as others have been repatriated to their nations, yet others remain here trying to survive this unpredictable period.

“Going [to buy things] is a grave personal risk as no one knows who has been exposed to the virus – anyone can be a carrier. Prices of commodities have really gone high – three or more times the usual price. It’s a hustle to actually buy what you need as the demand is also high.”

A Kenyan postgraduate student who has been in Wuhan for five years said the biggest problems were a shortage of reliable information and of food.

He said: “The worst part about it all is not knowing what is going on because all the information we are getting is from online sources or from friends from other universities … We have been forced to have one meal a day.

“Our institute gave us some rice, milk, oil and some vegetables but advises we also use them sparingly because when they are over we might not [be able] to get more.”

Many students contacted by the Guardian were reluctant to talk or be named, as they feared expulsion or other sanctions.

A Ugandan doctor in Shanghai said she and her colleagues felt better on Monday after a “worrying weekend”.

“We’re wearing our masks, washing our hands and avoiding crowded places,” she said. “But most importantly we’re trying to be positive and not live in constant fear and panic.”

Source: The Guardian.com

Six Chadian soldiers were killed and 10 others were injured in an ambush by suspected Boko Haram militants near Tetewa Island in the Lake Chad region on Monday, according to the army.

Chad’s army chief of staff Taher Erda said that the soldiers were on patrol when they were attacked by Boko Haram elements.

“Our forces were looking for Boko Haram elements when they were ambushed around Mandrari, a place with lots of tall grass,” a local official also told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The number of jihadist attacks around Lake Chad, which is shared by Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, has increased in recent months.

Just over a week ago, a female suicide bomber killed 9 civilians in Kaiga Kindjiria village near the lake.

In December, suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 50 people on an island on Lake Chad, bordering Cameroon and Chad, according to an official.

Earlier this month, Chad ended a months-long mission fighting Boko Haram in neighboring Nigeria and withdrew its 1,200-strong force across their common border.

Boko Haram began the insurrection in Nigeria a decade ago, leading to at least 35,000 deaths with violence spilling over into Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

A Boko Haram faction aligned with Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) jihadists is highly active around Lake Chad where the group has training bases on the Niger border and regularly carries out raids on military bases and regional security forces.

Source: AFP

The National Boundary Commission (NBC), has embarked on sensitisation and advocacy visits to communities along the Nigeria-Cameroon International Boundary in the Northeast.

According to a statement by the commission’s Head of Press, Mrs Efe Ovuakporie, the aim is to reinforce peace and cooperation, preparatory to the continuation of the demarcation of the Nigeria/Cameroon boundary in line with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) requirements

The sensitisation, which was led by the Acting Director-General of the Commission, Mr Adamu Adaji, focused on Adamawa and Taraba.

Adaji, while addressing the Governor of Adamawa, Alhaji Ahmad Fintiri, said that the commission had been crisscrossing several border communities in the country with the message of peaceful co-existence.

“In the light of the previous cooperation and successes recorded with the state government in similar exercises, the team is in the state to seek further support in the enlightenment of the people in border communities about the forthcoming pillar emplacement exercise, LOT5.

“I also want to canvass for the active participation of the relevant state boundary committee officials for proper coordination and record purposes,” Adaji said.

The NBC boss called on the Adamawa State government to assist the commission in the provision of Base and Forward Camp Sites to support security and logistics for those that would be engaged in the emplacement exercise.

In his response, Fintiri pledged his government’s support, stressing that the exercise was in the interest of the people in particular, and the country at large.

The NBC boss also visited the chairmen of Ganye and Toungo Local Government Areas where he solicited for their cooperation toward boosting awareness creation among their communities ahead of the exercise.

The team equally visited the traditional leader of Ganye Chiefdom who promised to mobilise his subjects to assist the NBC team during the demarcation exercise.

The emplacement exercise, otherwise known as the ‘Lot 5 stage’, is scheduled to take place at the Gotel Mountain and will involve the emplacement of 322 pillars.

Source (NAN)

At least six soldiers have been killed and several wounded in an overnight attack in central Mali, the army says, in fresh violence in the war-torn West African state.

The troops came under fire late Wednesday from “unidentified armed men” in Dioungani, an area in central Mali’s volatile Mopti region near the border with Burkina Faso, the army said on Twitter. 

A security official who declined to be named said that, in an assault lasting several hours, the attackers overwhelmed the soldiers’ position before reinforcements took it back. 

Local authorities and inhabitants have blamed the attack on militants. 

The army gave a “provisional toll” of six dead and several wounded, without giving further details. 

The security official, however, said seven soldiers had been killed.

Mali has been struggling to contain a militant insurgency that erupted in the north in 2012 and has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives since. 

Despite some 4,500 French troops in the Sahel region, plus a 13,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in Mali, the conflict has engulfed the center of the country and spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Local Malian troops are frequently attacked. On Tuesday, two soldiers were killed in the Mopti region when their convoy hit a roadside bomb.

On January 13, French President Emmanuel Macron and the leaders of Sahel states agreed to focus their military efforts on the border region between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. 

(Source: AFP)