Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismisses as “propaganda” accusations that Moscow was behind a nerve agent attack on a former double agent residing in Britain.

British media and politicians have said the attack on Sergei Skripal, who came to Britain in a spy swap in 2010, bears the hallmarks of a Russian operation.

“They’re leveling accusations against us for everything that goes wrong — according to our Western partners — on this very planet,” Lavrov said on Friday during a visit to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. “This is propaganda fair and square and it is trying to raise tension,” he added.

While Britain has not formally blamed Russia for the attack, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it “echoes” the 2006 poisoning in London of former Russian spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko.

London blamed Moscow for that attack. Some 21 people were injured in the incident, which took place in the sleepy southwestern English city of Salisbury where Skripal was found on Sunday, slumped on a bench with his daughter Yulia.

“If action needs to be taken, then the government will do that,” British Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged.

National counter-terrorism police have taken over the investigation, which they are treating as attempted murder.

Skripal was a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who was jailed for betraying agents to Britain’s MI6 secret service.

In 2010, he was pardoned and then flown to Britain as part of a high-profile spy swap involving Russia and the United States.

(Source: AFP)

The United Nations Human Rights chief has stressed that it is in the interest of the Cameroonian government to de-escalate tensions arising from the Anglophone crisis.

In an oral update by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein to the 37th session of the Human Rights Council on March 7, 2018; he added that his office had yet to be granted access to monitor rights violations.

His address also addressed the arrest of Anglophone leaders in Nigeria and their subsequent deportation to Cameroon, where they are yet to be put before court. The U.N. has criticized the move saying it violated international principles.

Allegations of summary executions of civilians by members of the security forces have been reported, and are generating widespread resentment. I regret that my Office has not been given access to verify these allegations.

The Anglophone regions remain under curfew imposed by their respective governors. The curfews have been imposed supposedly to allow security forces to contain attacks by armed separatists on members of the security forces.

About 24 members of the security forces – the military, police and gendarmes – have so far been killed in guerilla style attacks especially at checkpoints. The separatists have also reported having kidnapped two government officials.

The government still maintains that there is security in the regions but recently created a fifth military region in the capital of the North West region, Bamenda. The move was seen as a means to face off with the separatists.

The separatists under the so-called Ambazonia Republic have since October 2017 attempted to breakaway from French-majority Cameroon. There has been international calls for dialogue to end the crisis which has also created a humanitarian situation with people fleeing into Nigeria.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s full observation on Cameroon

“In Cameroon, what appears to be long-standing structural discrimination in the Anglophone region of the country has led to continuing clashes between security forces and separatist groups.

“The arrest, in Nigeria, of 47 Anglophone community leaders, and their extradition to Cameroon has reportedly led to renewed violence in the south-west and north-west of the country.

“Allegations of summary executions of civilians by members of the security forces have been reported, and are generating widespread resentment. I regret that my Office has not been given access to verify these allegations.

“Acknowledging the complex challenges facing the authorities – including renewed displacement from the Central African Republic and the increase in Boko Haram attacks in the north – I urge the Government to make every effort to de-escalate the conflict in the Anglophone regions, and to allow unimpeded access to human rights monitors so that accurate information on the situation can inform constructive engagement on the way forward.”

Source: Africa News

Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday said a Cameroonian journalist was stripped, slapped and forced in to a dog’s kennel at the house of a former minister.

The journalist visited the home of ex-transport minister Alain Edgard Mebe Ngo’o on Saturday, the day after the politician left the top job.

“After reporting to a guard at the entrance of the residence, the journalist was arrested by the minister’s police service, then undressed, violently slapped, put inside a cage for dogs and sprayed with water,” the non-government organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.

Accused of espionage, he was interrogated for several hours, the statement added. The reporter for the Cameroon daily newspaper Le Jour had been covering President Paul Biya’s cabinet reshuffle.

Editor Haman Mana said on Monday the newspaper reserved the right to take legal action. The National Union of Journalists of Cameroon “condemned with the utmost energy this heinous act”. The country is ranked 130 out of 180 in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index of 2017.

Source: AFP – SBS

Mario Balotelli, Italy’s most famous black footballer, said on Wednesday a politician who has become the first black person elected to the Senate should be ashamed of himself for representing a fiercely anti-migrant party.

Nigerian-born Toni Iwobi moved to Italy in 1976 and joined the League in 1993, serving as a local councillor. He was elected to the upper house on Sunday to represent the northern city of Bergamo – the League’s heartland.

“Perhaps I’m blind or perhaps they haven’t yet told him that he is black. But shame on you!!!” Balotelli wrote on Instagram.

The post showed a photograph of Iwobi with League leader Matteo Salvini, both wearing T-shirts saying: “Stop the Invasion” – a reference to the party’s call for a halt to African migrants who have poured into Italy in recent years.

Balotelli was born in Sicily to Ghanaian immigrants. He has played more than 30 times for the Italian national team and plays club soccer for French side Nice.

The League has adopted an uncompromising anti-migrant stance, drawn up with the help of Iwobi, and has called for the deportation of some 600,000 immigrants, many from Africa, who have reached Italy over the past four years.

However, the party has said it supports legal migration. Iwobi came to Italy legally on a student visa and subsequently married an Italian. He went on to set up an IT company.

League leader Matteo Salvini immediately leapt to Iwobi’s defence. “I don’t like Balotelli on the field. I like him even less off it,” he tweeted.

Iwobi wrote on Facebook: “These controversies don’t interest me. There are more important things. I cannot wait to start serving my country.”

He went ahead to defend himself in an interview with Italian newspaper, Il Giornale,saying only 10% of those who flee from Nigeria are fleeing war.

“I come from Nigeria and I know how things are,” he added.

“Only 10% of those who disembark in Italy are fleeing war.The others, all the others, the vast majority, no.”

The election – which saw his party came third with 17% of the vote, a huge increase on the 4% it won in 2013 – comes at a time of heightened anti-immigrantion feeling.

The killing of Senegalese street vendor Idy Dienec in Florence on Monday prompted two days of protests.
Source: Africa News

The United States will give more than $533 million in humanitarian aid for victims of conflicts and drought in Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and the West and Central African countries bordering Lake Chad, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday.

Tillerson made the announcement at a speech in Virginia before departing for a week-long trip to several African countries. He also said the United States supported the creation of a development finance institution for Africa.

Tillerson contrasted the United States’ work on the African continent, which he said promoted “sustainable growth,” with that of China, which recently pledged $124 billion for its Silk Road plan to expand links between Asia, Africa, Europe and other places.

Tillerson said China’s investment in Africa “encouraged dependency”.

“Chinese investment does have the potential to address Africa’s infrastructure gap, but its approach has led to mounting debt and few, if any, jobs in most countries,” said Tillerson.

“When coupled with the political and fiscal pressure, this endangers Africa’s natural resources and its long-term economic and political stability,” Tillerson added.

Tillerson added that the US would continue to help fight corruption and promote transparent institutions across the continent.

Source: Africa News

Russia’s Defense Ministry says a cargo plane operated by the Russian military has crashed in Syria, killing at least 32 people on board.

The ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that 33 passengers and six crew members were on board the plane when it crashed while landing in Hmeimim airbase in the western Syrian province of Latakia.

“On March 6, Russia’s Antonov-26 transport plane crashed at about 15:00 Moscow time as it was about to land at Hmeimim airdrome. According to preliminary data, there were 33 passengers and six crew members on board. Nobody survived,” the ministry’s statement said.

Russia has maintained military presence in Syria since late 2015, when Damascus asked Moscow to intervene in the war on terror in the country.

The assistance has proven very essential for Syria as it has managed to retake many areas from militants, relying on Russia’s air cover.

Hmeimim is the main base used by the Russian military in Syria while it also accommodates flights carrying Russia’s humanitarian aid and other cargos.

The Russian Defense Ministry said later that it had launched an investigation into the incident, which it said was caused by a technical malfunction. It said preliminary data received from the site of the crash, about 500 from the runway, proved that there was no terrorist incentive involved.

This is the second time an An-26, a military transport aircraft capable of carrying up to 38 passengers and some 5,500 kilograms in cargo, crashes in Syria. A Syria-operated one crashed while landing at the besieged Abu al-Duhur military airport in Idlib in January 2015.

Source: Presstv