Unknown gunmen have attacked an area torn by tribal strife in eastern Mali, killing at least 12 people, security source say.

According to the sources, the attack occurred in the remote Menaka region on Tuesday.

“Armed men on motorcycles killed at least 12 civilians,” a security source was quoted by AFP as saying.

“For now, we do not know exactly who did it. I don’t know if it was the result of a dispute between tribes or a terrorist act,” the source added.

A former rebel group said armed men had “executed 17 civilians” from two Tuareg camps.

Some 200 people from tribes known as Fulani and Tuareg have been killed in Menaka region this year.

France launched a military operation in Mali back in January 2013, after the region was hit by unrest between local tribes and militants.

The French military still maintains a significant military presence in the West African country.

Source: Presstv

Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday ordered the arrest of the management of a ferry that capsized in Lake Victoria, killing 151 passengers.

The death toll from the sinking has risen to 151, state-run TV station TBC said Saturday as rescue workers pressed on with the search to find more people feared drowned.

In a speech broadcast on TBC 1 public television, Magufuli said “it appears clear that the ferry was overloaded”, adding that “negligence has cost us so many lives… children, mothers, students, old people”.

“I ordered the arrest of all those involved in the management of the ferry. The arrests have already begun,” he added. President Magufuli declared four days of national mourning on Friday and said that the government would pay funerary costs for the victims.

Authorities have begun a criminal investigation into the MV Nyerere, which sank with an unknown number of passengers aboard on Thursday afternoon near Ukara, the lake’s biggest island, which is part of Tanzania.

Initial estimates indicated that the MV Nyerere was carrying more than 200 people onboard, when the ship’s capacity is just 101. It went down just a few metres from the dock in Ukerewe district, according to national ferry services operator TEMESA, but it is likely that most on board did not know how to swim.

But it was hard to establish the precise number of passengers on board since the person dispensing tickets had also drowned with the machine recording the data lost. “There were more than a hundred passengers on board when the ferry sank, it is feared that a significant number have lost their lives,” said George Nyamaha, the head of Ukerewe district council.

The ferry was also carrying cargo including sacks of maize and cement when it capsized close to the dock.

Reporting for FRANCE 24 from Tanzania, Emmanuel Makundi noted that while the cause of the accident was not immediately clear, he had interviewed a witness who was on the lake shore at the time of the accident: “He said that as the ferry was approaching the shore, many people tried to reach the gate and that led a car that was onboard the ferry to topple over. That led the ferry to list on one side, causing the accident.”

In 1996, a ferry disaster on Lake Victoria in the same region killed at least 500 people. In 2012, at least 145 people died in a ferry disaster in Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, on a vessel that was overcrowded.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS, AFP)

Liberia’s government has released a list of people that are barred from leaving the country including the son of former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, as investigations into the whereabouts of $104 million in missing cash intended for the central bank intensify.

A series of shipments of notes ordered by Liberia’s central bank from printers overseas have disappeared since last year after passing through the country’s main ports, Liberia’s information minister Eugene Nagbe told local radio on Tuesday.

The missing amount is the equivalent of nearly 5 percent of the West African country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The government… takes the ongoing investigation seriously because it has national security implications.

Officials under investigation

Charles Sirleaf, the son of Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and former central bank governor, Milton Weeks, are among those barred from travel as part of the investigation, said a Ministry of Information statement released late on Tuesday. “The government… takes the ongoing investigation seriously because it has national security implications,” it said.

Weeks told Reuters he had “no involvement in this matter” and was cooperating with investigators. Sirleaf was not immediately reachable for comment. Central Bank officials also did not respond to requests for comment.

Investigators are still trying to ascertain how much money was ordered, where it was printed, how much of it eventually arrived in the country, and where it is now. The money was ordered when Sirleaf was still in power, before President George Weah took over this year.

Sirleaf was lauded for cementing peace during her 12-year presidency but was criticised for failing to rein in high-level corruption.

Charles Sirleaf, one of three of her sons appointed to government posts, was suspended from his position as Deputy Central Bank Governor in 2012 during an anti-corruption investigation. But he was re-appointed interim central bank chief in February 2016, drawing accusations of nepotism.

Investigations

Justice Minister Frank Musah Dean said Sirleaf’s administration had not informed Liberia’s current government of the initial order and that an investigation had begun once Weah became aware of it in August.

Information minister Nagabe told Voice of America on Tuesday there were no records of the containers being collected from the ports, despite several bank staff employees having written a request for pick-up on March 31. The containers were recorded as having arrived in November 2017 and August 2018.

Liberia does not have its own mint, and the central bank is the only body with the power to order new currency. Liberia’s government last approved the printing of new notes in August 2016, as the country recovered from a devastating Ebola epidemic.

The missing cash comes as an unexpected blow to Liberia, one of the world’s poorest countries that suffered two civil wars between 1989 and 2003. Ebola struck in 2013, killing thousands over the following three years.

REUTERS

People fleeing the violence in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon are going through systematic searches before being allowed to enter the French-speaking regions of the central African state after the government claimed fighters were trying to enter with weapons.

It is very busy here at the Mile 17 bus station in the English speaking Southwestern town of Buea, where at least 30 transport buses leave daily for either the French-speaking town of Douala, or Cameroon’s capital city, Yaounde. Many people remain at the station, some with their mattresses, dresses and kitchen utensils, expecting more buses to arrive and transport them.

Gabriel Mbinkar, an official of a bus agency says they have doubled fares from $8 to $16 because their vehicles return from the French-speaking towns empty, since many people are fleeing English-speaking towns and villages and no one is coming in.

“As you will see behind me passengers are there, waiting for vehicles, the vehicles that were there this morning are already gone and we are trying to see what is available if it can get these people by the latter hours of the day so that they can go out in order for people not to fall into trouble,” said Mbinkar.

Among those leaving is businesswoman Philomena Maloke. She says the military searched her luggage and that of her two-month-old daughter at least seven times between Kumba, her town of origin and Buea where she arrived Saturday to continue to Yaounde.

“It is a pity that it is happening here in our country,” she said.

Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the English-speaking Southwest region of Cameroon visited the Mile 17 motor park Saturday to plead with people to stop the mass exodus.

He says people are running away because of threats from separatist fighters to disrupt the October 7 presidential election, and because of rumors the military is planning raids against the armed separatists that invaded many towns in the region.

“There is fake news that the army will attack, will launch an attack, no, the army is not launching attacks,” said Bilai. “The army are there to protect the population and their property. Those who are abandoning their homes, you can see here, we have beds, furniture, no, where are they going. No, we want them to stay at home.”

The governor of Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest, Deben Tchoffo, says thousands are also leaving his region. He says the military has seized weapons some suspected fighters were hiding in their luggage as they left for French-speaking towns. Tchoffo says he is making an appeal for every one travelling to verify their luggage to make sure traffickers are not hiding weapons in their bags.

“I will like to launch an appeal here to ask them to collaborate with security services. To denounce those that are threatening them to the security services, so that together, we fight to bring back the situation back to normalcy,” he said.

Unrest began in Cameroon in November 2016 when English speaking teachers and lawyers demonstrated against the overbearing use of the French language. Separatists took over and started demanding the independence of the English speaking from the French-speaking regions of the bilingual country.

The separatists have on social media insisted that they will disrupt Cameroon’s October 7 presidential election in the English-speaking regions. They say they are an independent nation called Ambazonia and will not allow such an election in their land. The government is assuring the people of security.

The United Nations reports that 300 people including 130 policemen and the military have been killed, hundreds of thousands have fled for their lives to the bushes and towns in the French-speaking regions. At least 20,000 have crossed over to Nigeria.

Culled from the VOA

Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River has raised alarm over the increasing number of Cameroonian refugees in the state following the arm struggle and demand of Ambazonia Republic in Cameroon. Governor Ben Ayade said this when the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, paid him a courtesy visit in Calabar on Wednesday. The Senate President was in Cross River to solicit delegates support for his presidential aspiration.

Ayade told Saraki that Cross River was currently facing security challenges with the discovery of 27 illegal routes used by the Cameroonians to gain access into the state. “With the recent Ambazonia crisis, a lot of tension has been created in the state. It is so bad that as of today, Cross River has over 4,000 Cameroonian refugees. “We have about seven camps where we are keeping these refugees and over 27 illegal routes where these Cameroonians gain access into the state. “It is so bad that the arm struggle has led to a situation where Cross River has become a recruitment ground for mercenary to prosecute the war in Cameroon,’’ he said.

He commended Saraki for coming out to seek for the office of the president, adding that he had the capacity to lead Nigeria to a greater height. Earlier, Saraki said that Nigeria needed a digital president abreast with the new world social order. According to him, Nigeria desires a government that is private sector inclusive, and the time for Nigeria to witness a dynamic leadership is now. “I am in Cross River to solicit delegates support in the forthcoming presidential primaries of the People’s Democratic Party. “I have the intellectual ability and capacity to rule Nigeria and that is why I am soliciting the support of all Nigeria to achieve this aim,’’ he said. (NAN)

Rockets were fired late on Tuesday in the direction of the airport in Libya’s capital, residents said, forcing flights to be diverted, less than a week after the United Nations brokered a fragile truce between rival armed groups in Tripoli.

A spokesman for a faction controlling Matiga airport, the only one functioning in the capital, said there were no casualties or damage. Libyan channels reported that several people had been wounded by the rockets, one of which landed in the Mediterranean sea.

Rival groups have been fighting in Tripoli for several days but clashes had been focused on the south of the city.

Matiga airport lies in an eastern suburb. A Libyan Airlines flight bound for Tripoli from Alexandria, Egypt, was diverted to Misrata, the airport said on its Facebook page. Misrata lies about 190 km (120 miles) east of Tripoli.

A spokesman for Misrata airport said that all flights bound for Tripoli would be diverted to Misrata.

Separately, Islamic State claimed responsibility for a shooting attack on the headquarters of Libyan state oil company NOC in Tripoli, the jihadist group’s news agency said on Tuesday.

The attack on Monday killed two NOC staff and wounded 10, said officials, who had described the three shooters who were also killed as “Africans.”

It targeted the “economic interests of oppressing governments funding crusaders,” a statement carried on the militants’ Amaq news agency said. It was the first attack of its kind against the leadership of Libya’s state oil industry.

Libya has been divided into rival administrations but NOC has continued to function relatively normally across the country, which relies on oil exports for most of its income.

Militants loyal to Islamic State have previously carried out attacks in Tripoli and other towns, despite having lost their stronghold in the central city of Sirte late in 2016. In May, Islamic State claimed a deadly attack on the national election commission offices in Tripoli.

(REUTERS)

An explosive-laden car has rammed into a local government building in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, leaving an unknown number of casualties.

The Monday bombing attack was followed by gunfire, according to a Reuters eyewitness, who said huge clouds of smoke were rising above the city.

Other witnesses told the news agency that the government office had been destroyed in the blast.

“A suicide car bomb rammed into the office of Hodan district of Mogadishu. There are casualties but so far we do not have a figure,” said Major Mohamed Nur of the area’s police department.

One witness said he saw at least five people being taken away by ambulances.

No other details were reported. And there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Last week, a car bomb attack destroyed another district office in Mogadishu.

The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab terrorist group frequently carries out bombings and gun attacks in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia.

The terrorists were forced out of Mogadishu by African Union forces in 2011. However, they still control parts of the countryside and carry out attacks against government, military, and civilian targets in the capital as well as regional towns every now and then.

Source: Presstv

The High Court has ordered the Officer Commanding Station at Gigiri police to produce a Cameroonian national who is being detained despite being released on Sh50,000 bail.

Justice Chacha Mwita directed that Peter Doccta be produced before court next week on Wednesday if he will not have been released from police custody.

But the DCI says Doccta’s current detention in police custody is for the purposes of ensuring his safe removal from the country since he is in Kenya unlawfully as a prohibited immigrant.

In a sworn affidavit, police officer Paul Mutethia says Doccta has not been detained incommunicado and is allowed to have access to lawyers.

Doccta was declared to be a prohibited immigrant by late Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery last year. The declaration was done after Doctta was found to be engaged in several criminal activities, including obtaining money by false pretenses from unsuspecting Kenyans. He did so by falsely representing himself as Peter Doccta Longa having magical powers to make money.

“His continued criminal activities of defrauding Kenyans, his presence in Kenya became a threat to the public interest and that of national security. As a result, he was deported back to his Cameroon. The deportation was done within the ambit of the law,” Muteithia says.

But in July this year, Doccta sneaked back into the country and made a false report at Parklands police station to the effect that he had lost his Cameroonian passport.

His passport had been stamped “prohibited immigrant” by the Immigration Department. The DCI now says Doccta’s unauthorised re-entry to Kenya was a clear disregard and violation of the law and should not be protected from the same laws he has sought to violate.

Source: The Star

Mfum is a town in Cross River State where it is not uncommon to find traders and articulated lorries crossing the lines that separate Nigeria and Cameroon. Items like foods, fruits and petrol are conveyed across the border. But these are not the only things that exchanged between the two countries as one could add marriage ties to the list.

“In this Mfum town, and even the next major town, Ajassor near Ikom in central Cross River State, there have been marriages between Nigerians and Cameroonians,” Miss Adam said. Shanty is a 37 year-old Cameroonian engaged to a Nigerian man for the last five years. According to her, she is one of many cross border couple as inter-marriages have been a thing in that community for long.

A native of Bamenda, Cameroon, Shanty came to Mfum for trade and some profit. She has found love instead. Many Cameroonian women, she said, are dying to marry Nigerian men. She said the interest in Nigerian men is not a recent phenomenon but one that has been entrenched in them.  She said this is so because they see Nigerian men as not only very hard working, nice but creative and alert.

Keen to marry her fiancé of five years, Shanty does not see any cultural impediments to the wedding as the traditions across the borders are almost the same.

“The potential suitor or husband will have to approach the woman’s family and obtain a list of items required for the traditional marriage,” she said. “When the marriage has been sealed, the offspring from it will be Nigerian. It is the same thing if a Cameroonian man marries a Nigerian woman, the offspring will be called Cameroonians.”

One Nigerian man who thinks he knows the reason for the interest from Cameroonian women is Mr. Enagu Ojiang, Chairman of the task force committee of the Nigeria Vegetables Buyers Association at the Nigeria/Cameroon border. The association regulates imports of fruits and vegetables, especially tomatoes, from Cameroon.

“They think that there is good life, peace and vast opportunities in our country,” he said. “Therefore, their women mostly chase our men. Their men, too, do.  Of course, you can trust, our men have also found love from Cameroon.”

Admitting that this was not a new trend, Ojiang said there are mutual benefits in such unions. “Anyhow, it is the Cameroonian woman that really benefits.  They want to come to Nigeria,” he said. As for the benefits on the Nigerian side, he said, “Our boys would take advantage of it because they will use the Cameroonian women to import much needed goods like fruits and vegetables from Cameroon.”

He also thinks that the disturbances in Southern Cameroon, where there is a secessionist campaign might have helped push up the numbers of those interested in marrying into Nigeria. But Shanty insists that the interest predated the crisis.

In a roundabout way, Ojiang admitted this may be the case. “In Ajassor community near Ikom or this Mfum border community, if you can check, there are many Cameroonians who have integrated for a very long time,” he said.

Bishop Ndoma Nyambi, a structural engineer by profession and chairman of Nigerian Society of Engineers in Ikom LGA said that most Cameroonians have since settled in and become Nigerians.

He said many of them have been indigenized and obtained citizenship certificates with attendant benefits.

Nyambi who retired recently from the Cross River State ministry of works said that it can be very difficult to detect them because they, too, are linguistically related as they speak Ejagham, the common language in many border towns, fluently.

“They know the entire history and customs of their host communities and speak with fluency the local dialects. Many of them have since indigenized and are attuned to our system. The only way you can pick them out is when they begin to speak French otherwise it is difficult to distinguish them,” he said.

“I agree there have been many intermarriages between many boundary communities in Nigerian and Cameroon. I think it is to the advantage of both countries. There is yet no international law that prohibits such marriage. It is through these marriages that Cameroonians have inundated our towns. Ikom to Cameroon is only 27 kilometers by car. Such towns like Kalime (formerly called Lasmeto), Ajassor in Etung LGA benefit from these marriages,” he said.

He points at recent developments in the area such as the construction of an expansive international border market, construction of an international road, as facilitated by the World Bank, the avalanche of new housing estates by private individuals as some of the things that might have prompted the increased interest of Cameroonian women in finding love across the border.

This is aided by the increasing border trade in cocoa, plantain, banana, yam, cassava and palm fruits that have brought people across the border into close contact.

The volume of trade between the two countries is high. For instance, a truckload of tomatoes from Cameroon coming into Nigeria is worth over N3 million.

“During what is known as deep season, from June/July, over 40 trucks cross the border in a day. That is roughly N120 Million.  As at 12 Noon today, only 8 truckloads of tomatoes have so far crossed the Cameroon border into Nigeria,” he said.

His union, he said, helps in checking smuggling and a similar outfit in Cameroon does its bit as well.

“The way our union operates, there is no way smugglers can succeed through this border or other routes. I can assure that only our union members are involved in this cross border trade. Even in Cameroon, they have similar union that regulates and ensures that only their registered members produce and supply tomatoes. They are licensed by Cameroonian authority to export tomatoes.  We, too, have license to import Cameroonian tomatoes to Nigeria. We even have an MoU between the two unions.”

But how much is the current political tension over ongoing agitation for Ambazonia Republic in Cameroon affecting the cross border tomato trade?

“The Amazonian boys usually disturb us and do block the roads so that our trucks could not pass. We have usually negotiated and bribed them with money and baskets of tomatoes. Two weeks ago, for three days they blocked the roads, and that was the reason tomatoes were scarce in Nigeria. Now they have warned that they have declared Mondays as no movement day. And this will tremendously impact against supply of tomatoes in Nigeria,” he said.

While this is distressing news for trade, for lovers there is still optimism since love is not a commodity on the contraband list, chances of marital unions being forged across the border remain extremely high.

Culled from Daily Trust

The agony of widows, infants and the vulnerable Cameroonian refugees cooling off in some Taraba communities seemed to be getting worse owing to their increasing number amidst meagre resources to cater for their well-being. At the last count, over 4000 refugees from Furawa sub-division, Baji, Nkan, Mashi, Lisan Lutu Cameroon among others have migrated to some communities in Ussa and Kurmi local government areas of Taraba state to escape the mayhem unleashed on agitators for the independence of Southern Cameroon.

For those plagued with one ailment or the other, help seemed far-fetched as many lamented difficulty in getting medical help, coupled with starvation which has made them frail and pitiable. When Vanguard visited Fikyu and Toso villages where some of them were being accommodated, the residents were weary and decried neglect by government and authorities responsible for refugees.

However, for people like Patience Andekun, what mattered was how to cater for the twins she gave birth to while fleeing her home country when the crises escalated to her village two months ago. Her husband who has been missing since the crisis started in her village seemed to be less of her worries right now. Other refugees also recounted how they escaped being consumed in the crisis and their present predicament.

“I gave birth to twins while running away—Patience Narrating her ordeal to Saturday Vanguard, Patience Andekun, the young mother of two said pandemonium broke out while she and her husband were asleep but had to run in different directions to escape being killed by the gun wielding attackers who stormed their village. She said, “I had to run because if I had stayed I would have been killed by now. I was pregnant but I never minded my condition to save my life like every other person that made it out of my village alive. “On the way, I started feeling pains and discovered that the babies were about coming. At this time I never even saw my husband because he also ran away when they started killing people in the village. “It was on our way to this village that I gave birth to the twins I am carrying now. I had to save their lives and mine by running. How I wish my husband was here to see our babies but I can’t tell if he is dead or alive. But since I came here, the church has been helping me and the children with food and accommodation.”

I hope to see my wife one day —Ezekiel——— Another refugee, Ezekiel Rimar who fled his village in Baji with his only daughter lamented how he missed his wife whom he left behind. According to him, “I only picked my daughter when the crisis escalated to my village while my wife ran in a different direction. I have been here for about two months and hope to see my wife someday because I miss her. “We ran here to live with some of our relatives who have been staying here for sometime and I really regret how everything turned out because we lost a lot of people. The way we have been living our life there even before the crisis was terrible. There was no payment of salaries and most projects were not sited in the south which was why our people raised a motion for its independence and that was how the crisis started.”

We’re suffering —Refugees Dominic Amah one of the refugees who ran into Toso village while outlining some of their challenges told Vanguard that they lacked basic amenities. He emphasized that children and nursing mothers have been plagued with various forms of ailment which has compounded their hardship and sought respite for their suffering. “It has not been easy since we came here especially concerning feeding and access to health facilities. Even to use the toilet is a very big challenge. Children have contracted water borne diseases and are suffering from diarrhea and malaria. Though the local government chairman and members of the community have been assisting us in different ways since we came, but we still need humanitarian gesture from the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and other Non Governmental Organisations”, he pleaded.

Another refugee from Furawa subdivision, Polycarp Andy in his submission commended their host community for the help so far but felt disturbed with their growing number weekly. He however allayed fears of putting much pressure on the community with their problems which he believed might degenerate into a humanitarian crisis, thus rendering both the refugees and the community helpless. He said “some of our brothers who went back to see how the situation was in our villages keep running back as the onslaught was still going on. As at last Saturday, over 15 of our people came into Kpambo-puri in Ussa and more people keep coming into Nigeria every week. “We have been suffering ever since but at the communities they have been assisting us with food and accommodation, otherwise, starvation would have killed some of us. But we want the government of Nigeria and the world at large to intervene because I am afraid that with our increasing number, the communities harbouring us might run out of resources to care for us and themselves.”

The Community leader of Fikyu village, Ezra Ukwe and chairman of Ussa local government area, Rimamsikwe Hassan told Vanguard that residents of the community were groaning because their humanitarian service had started to take its toll on them. They noted that some of the refugees were living with members of the community who have deployed their meagre resources to take care of the victims. Ukwe then pleaded with government at all levels to assist residents of the community in whatever form to reduce the burden on his subjects. “Our appeal to the government is to assist us by bringing some relief materials for our visitors to live normal lives like every other member in the community till they return to their country”, he said

The Chairman of Ussa local government area, Rimamsikwe Hassan told Vanguard that the Red Cross had earlier visited some villages to take statistics of the refugees with the promise to return with help which had not come. Hassan who said the burden was overwhelming disclosed that four communities in his local government were hosting some of the refugees with their number increasing every week. “The refugees are in Kpambo- piri, Jatau, Kanpiya and Fikyu village, with Fikyu having the least number of about 250 refugees including children as at last count. “When they (refugees) first moved in, the Nigerian Red Cross society visited some of the villages to take statistics and promised to come back, but ever since they have not returned. “We have equally written to the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, NCFRMI, but we are yet to get a reply from them. “We also wrote to the United Nations Refugee Commission and they have replied us but we are yet to see them here and we hope if our story is given publicity and they become aware of what these people are going through here, it will hasten their visit to us here. “However, the state government through SEMA brought relief materials for the victims, but we also want the Federal government to come in and liaise with the Camerounian authorities. “The state Commissioner for Health has been here but the refugees still need assistance in terms of medical needs, especially the children, the aged and nursing mothers”

www.vanguardngr.com