World

23, March 2018

UN says Libya still living with killings, torture, slave markets ⁰

A UN rights report sheds light on the plight of Libyans seven years after a NATO-led military intervention there, saying rival armed groups in the North African state continue to kill and torture civilians with impunity, while Europe-bound refugees are still being bought and sold in “open slave markets.”

In a report to the Human Rights Council on Wednesday, the United Nations human rights office said ordinary Libyans and refugees in the North African state are still being arbitrarily held in appalling conditions with no access to the outside world.

In March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya a month into an uprising against the country’s then dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.

That mission, which was said to be aimed at paving the way for a ceasefire in Libya and ending attacks against civilians, came to an end in October that year after the fall and death of Gaddafi amid the uprising.

Seven years on, Libya remains a lawless state, with various rival armed factions vying for power. The country is now split between two governments based in the east and the west.

Libya’s coastlines are also largely in the hands of armed groups who smuggle refugees onto boats heading for Italy and Europe.

“Extrajudicial and unlawful killings are rampant,” UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour told the Geneva forum. “In what has become an increasing pattern in and around Benghazi over the last two years, more bodies with signs of torture and hands bound were found in the streets,” he added.

He explained that armed groups are “the main perpetrators of grave human rights violations and act with almost complete impunity.”

According to Gilmour, detention centers run by armed groups, “including those with links to ministries,” have the worst record.

The Libya-Italy route has been one of the major passageways for the asylum seekers attempting to reach wealthier European states.

Amid the mayhem in Libya, a CNN video grabbed news headlines late last year, showing an auction, where refugees captured by traffickers were being sold into slavery.

The report caused international outrage and prompted rights groups to blame Europe for the crisis. They said as long as European countries refuse to create safer and legal means for refugees to reach the continent, people will continue to suffer.

The footage also triggered protest rallies in several European countries, with the participants pointing the finger of blame for the chaotic situation in the state at Europe, which supported the 2011 military intervention.

According to the UN refugee agency, Libya hosts 43,113 refugees seeking to travel to Europe. Up to 90 percent of people taking a perilous sea journey to Europe depart from Libya.

Adel Shaltut, charge d’affaires at Libya’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva, said, “Libya is a victim of illegal migration, it is only a transit country and cannot shoulder all responsibilities. Our coast guards and border guards do not have capacity to face organized crime and terrorism.”

EU diplomat Carl Hallergard said that refugees and activists were subjected to “unlawful detentions, abductions, torture, forced labor and sexual and gender-based violence.”

The European Union said it is “deeply also concerned about reports of migrants and refugees allegedly being sold as slaves and call on the Libyan authorities to investigate and hold persons responsible for those acts accountable.”

Source: Presstv

23, March 2018

EU recalls envoy to Moscow, member states expelling Russian diplomats ⁰

The EU recalls its envoy to Russia over a nerve agent attack on British soil as several members of the bloc consider expelling Russian diplomats.

EU leaders issued a statement in Brussels Thursday, saying it is “highly likely Russia is responsible” for poisoning Soviet-era spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in a British town earlier this month.

The Skripals were found unconscious on March 4 on a bench in the British city of Salisbury. They remain hospitalized in critical condition.

Britain claims the Soviet-designed Novichok nerve agent has been used to poison the pair and points the finger at Russia.

Moscow has rejected the claims as “absurd”, saying the substance used in the attack could have originated from the countries studying it, including the UK itself.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the EU leaders at the Brussels summit on Thursday agreed to recall the European Union’s ambassador to Moscow for consultations.

AFP quoted an unnamed EU official as saying that “some member states are looking into possibly expelling Russian diplomats or recalling national diplomats.”

British media reports identified those countries as France and Russia’s closest European neighbors, including Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.

The poisoning incident has worsened already tense ties between the EU and Russia.

Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the aftermath of the poisoning incident, and has been pressing its European allies to follow suit.

Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite said, “All of us we are considering such measures.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May told EU leaders that the poisoning case is part of a “pattern of Russian aggression,” warning that Moscow would pose a “threat” for the “years to come.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May (R) speaks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, March 22, 2018. (Photo by AP)

Separately, she held talks in Brussels with French President Emanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also urged a “strong European message” to Moscow.

In accusing Russia, the UK however has not presented any evidence. Earlier this week, experts of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in the UK for a probe into the attack. They say it could take up to three weeks to analyze the samples gathered from the scene.

As the Europeans deliberated, Russia’s Ambassador to Britain Alexander Yakovenko warned that the UK has “bad record of violating international law and misleading the international community.”

History shows that British statements must be verified,” he added, urging a “full transparency of the investigation” as well as cooperation with Moscow and the OPCW experts.

Moscow has repeatedly called on London not jump to conclusions, offering cooperation with London in probing the case.

Russia responded to the UK’s expulsions by expelling exactly the same number of British diplomats, and has vowed it would hit back if London fails to stop its anti-Moscow measures.

Source: Presstv

23, March 2018

Mozambique to receive first ever black female UK ambassador ⁰

Mozambique will be the host of the United Kingdom’s first ever female ambassador. NneNne Iwuji-Eme, who has spent 16 years in the British Foreign Office, will take up her role as British high commissioner to Mozambique in July, taking over from Joanna Kuenssberg.

The history making career diplomat told British newspaper, The Guardian, that her promotion was ‘ an honor and a privilege’.

‘‘I hope my appointment as the first British black female career diplomat to this position will inspire young talent, regardless of race or background, to pursue their ambitions in the Foreign Office,’‘ said Iwuji-Eme.

Iwuji-Eme who previously worked as an economist in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and for Royal Dutch Shell said she is looking forward to strengthening the ties between the United Kingdom and Mozambique.

“I look forward to forging even stronger connections between Britain and Mozambique, two close members of the Commonwealth family.”

22, March 2018

Southern Cameroons War: Cho Ayaba claims of responsibility are getting more dubious ⁰

There’s good reason to be skeptical of the evidence-free claim from the so-called Ambazonia Defense Force headed by Cho Ayaba on the mass shooting in the Lebialem County and in Bechati. If the Southern Cameroons freedom fighters were under the supervision of the Ambazonia Defense Force as Cho Ayaba and his group claims, no one else in Lebialem seems to have noticed, and Ayaba doesn’t seem to have voiced any support for ADF fighters in Lebialem prior to or during this attack.

Cameroon Concord News can now reveal that Cho Ayaba and his acolytes simply claim credit for any attack that happens. Ayaba is aware that by constantly making claims that are not easily disproven will never undermine his gang’s credibility. The Lebialem Southern Cameroons forces supported by the Odeshi group from Manyu don’t have any connections to the Ayaba group, but the ADF usually make public enough online record to suggest that they were acting in the best interest of the Southern Cameroons struggle.

But that might be changing. Cameroon Concord News Group London Bureau Chief, Chi Prudence Asong who has family relations in the Southern Cameroons Defense Group in Lebialem said that Ayaba’s claims seem to be getting less reliable.

As his few followers in Manyu and Batibo continues to dwindle, there’s been heavy speculation in Europe and in Southern Cameroons that Ayaba and his men are becoming irrelevant to the struggle and will refocus their efforts on terrorist attacks against the Interim Government.

Our Chi Prudence Asong reported that the ADF has nothing to do with the happenings in Lebialem. We gathered that the Senior Divisional Officer for Lebialem headed a French Cameroun delegation to the Esoh-Attah locality and conducted senatorial elections and were returning with ballot boxes when they came under attack.

Camcordnews sources in Lebialem hinted that the SDO who originally hails from Batibo and the DO of Fontem were all in the Esoh-Attah campaign delegation. We have not been able to confirm which of the Divisional Officers was shot in the head. What we do know is that the Divisional Delegate for MINAT was killed.

This item is still developing

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

22, March 2018

UN says Southern Cameroonians pour into Nigeria, stretching scant resources ⁰

As more and more Anglophone Cameroonians flee a violent crackdown in the region and seek asylum in Nigeria, the United Nations refugee agency warned on Tuesday without more funding and assistance, their situation and that of the Nigerian communities hosting them, will become even more desperate.

“Anglophone Cameroonians began fleeing violence in October 2017 and continue to pour into Nigeria’s Cross River, Taraba, Benue and Akwa-Ibom states,” Aikaterini Kitidi, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said at the regular briefing in Geneva.

“In total, over 20,000 refugees have been registered in the area. Women and children account for four-fifths of the population,” she added.

A recent assessment by humanitarian groups shows how grim the situation has become – with 95 per cent of the asylum seekers having only three days of food. Most families are down to one meal per day and their coping strategies people are themselves risky, ranging from borrowing money to cutting food portions or saving food only for children.

Most say they have to drink water from streams, ponds and other unsafe sources, because of inadequate or dysfunctional drinking water facilities. “Essential relief items, such as clothing, blankets and plastic sheeting, are available to fewer than 25 per cent of them,” explained Ms. Kitidi.

Moreover, only five in every 100 Cameroonians have proper or independent shelter. The rest have little or no privacy, squatting in rooms with some 10 to 15 people. A lack of protection from the cold is increasing health concerns as the start of the rainy season approaches.

Additionally, malaria is reportedly increasing. Many participants at the assessment were suffering from fear and anxiety, poor sleep and flashbacks. According to UNHCR, about 20 to 30 per cent of the asylum seekers have some kind of vulnerability, such as a physical disability.

Three-quarters of the children who recently fled currently cannot access school, because their families cannot afford to pay for books and uniforms. Adults are also struggling to make ends meet. “A political solution to the situation in Cameroon is urgently needed, so that the Cameroonians can safely and voluntarily return home,” stressed Ms. Kitidi.

“Until then,” she continued, “UNHCR and its partners will continue their efforts to provide assistance and support to this population as long as we are able.” While UNHCR has worked on an $18 million contingency plan to help cover their needs, to date, no funds have been received.

Earlier this month, the Nigerian authorities allocated land to UNHCR for shelters, to ensure the refugees’ safety, security and self-reliance. In line with humanitarian principles, UNHCR acknowledges the authorities’ commitment to assist in moving the refugees at least 50 kilometres from the border.

The UN refugee agency also remains concerned over reports of further Cameroonian nationals’ arrests in Nigeria.

“UNHCR urges the Nigerian authorities to refrain from the forcible return of individuals who may have fled persecution in their country of origin, and to respect the principle of non-refoulement or no forced returns,” concluded the UNHCR spokesperson.

Source: The United Nations

22, March 2018

France: Ex-leader Sarkozy charged over Libyan money claims ⁰

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was handed preliminary charges Wednesday over allegations he accepted millions of euros in illegal campaign funding from the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

A judicial official told The Associated Press that investigating judges overseeing the probe gave the ex-president charges of illegally funding his successful 2007 campaign, passive corruption and receiving money from Libyan embezzlement.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

The charges involving illegal campaign funding from a foreign dictator are the most serious faced by a former French president in recent history. They were presented after Sarkozy was questioned for two days by anticorruption police at a station in Nanterre, northwest of the French capital.

Investigators are examining allegations that Gadhafi’s regime secretly gave Sarkozy 50 million euros (about $62 million) overall for his presidential election bid.

The sum would be more than double the legal campaign funding limit at the time — 21 million euros. In addition, the alleged payments would violate French rules against foreign financing and requiring that the source of campaign funds be declared.

Sarkozy, 63, who was France’s president during 2007-12, has repeatedly and vehemently denied any wrongdoing. According to the same source, he again proclaimed his innocence during his questioning by police.

The former president was released on Wednesday night, but placed under judicial supervision. Details of the restrictions he has been ordered to obey have not been revealed.

In the French judicial system, preliminary charges mean Sarkozy is personally under formal investigation in a criminal case. The judges will keep investigating the case in the next weeks and months.

At the end of their investigation, they can decide either to drop the preliminary charges or to send Sarkozy to trial on formal charges.

Sarkozy has faced other campaign-related legal troubles in the past. In February 2017, he was ordered to stand trial after being handed preliminary charges for suspected illegal overspending on his failed 2012 re-election campaign. Sarkozy has appealed the decision.

In 2013, he was cleared of allegations that he illegally took donations from France’s richest woman, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, on the way to his 2007 election victory.

His lawyer, Thierry Herzog, did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Sarkozy’s former top aide, the ex-minister Brice Hortefeux, was also questioned Tuesday, but not detained. He said on Twitter that the details he gave investigators “should help put an end to a series of mistakes and lies.”

The investigation got a boost when French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine told the online investigative site Mediapart in 2016 that he delivered suitcases from Libya containing 5 million euros ($6.2 million) in cash to Sarkozy and his former chief of staff, Claude Gueant.

Takieddine repeated his allegations during a live interview with France’s BFM TV on Wednesday night.

He claimed he personally handed a suitcase containing 2 million euros (about $2.5 million) in cash to Sarkozy at the then-candidate’s apartment and another suitcase with 1.5 million euros (about $1.9 million) to Sarkozy and a close aide at the French Interior Ministry. Sarkozy was interior minister at the time.

Takieddine alleged he gave a third suitcase with 1.5 million euros in cash to the aide alone. He said the money was not meant to finance Sarkozy’s presidential campaign in 2007, but to honor contracts between France and Libya.

“He’s a real liar,” Takieddine said of Sarkozy.

(Source: AP)

22, March 2018

France’s Sarkozy faces second day of questioning in Gaddafi funds case ⁰

Judges in France placed former French president Nicolas Sarkozy under formal investigation on Wednesday over allegations of illegal campaign financing, a judicial source said. Sarkozy was released from under judicial supervision after two days of questioning over allegations that his 2007 election campaign received funding from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the source said.

He is being investigated for illicit campaign financing, misappropriation of Libyan public funds and passive corruption, the source said confirming a report in Le Monde newspaper. It is the second major investigation for Sarkozy, who is also facing charges of illicit campaign spending overruns during his failed re-election bid in 2012.

The current questioning relates to accusations made by a Franco-Lebanese businessman, Ziad Takieddine, who says he helped funnel 5 million euros ($6 million) from Gaddafi’s intelligence chief to Sarkozy’s campaign chief ahead of the 2007 election.

Gaddafi’s son, Saif Al Islam told Africanews on Tuesday that he is willing to testify and offer evidence against Sarkozy relating to the campaign financing of the 2007 campaign.

Neither Sarkozy nor his lead lawyer have commented publicly since the 63-year-old first answered the police summons on Tuesday. Sarkozy has in the past dismissed the allegations as “grotesque” and described them as a “manipulation”.

The inquiry began in 2013, after investigative website Mediapart published Takieddine’s allegations.

In an interview with Lebanon’s L’Orient du Jour newspaper published on Tuesday, Takieddine said he acted as an intermediary between France and Libya during the time that Sarkozy served as interior minister, before his election bid.

Five months after Sarkozy was elected president, Gaddafi visited him in Paris. It was the eccentric Libyan leader’s first state visit to a Western capital in decades, and he pitched a Bedouin-style tent near the Elysee Palace.

Later, Sarkozy became one of the chief advocates of the NATO-led campaign against Gaddafi that resulted in the dictator’s overthrow and killing by rebels in 2011.

In France, investigators can interrogate people for up to 48 hours, after which they must release them or notify them that they are being put under formal investigation, which signals serious suspicion but does not automatically lead to trial.

It was not immediately clear when Sarkozy might know his fate, given that his questioners are free to stop the clock for breaks, sleep or longer timeouts between question-and-answer sessions before their 48-hour limit is up.

Sarkozy, once branded a “bling-bling” president, has been dogged for years by political scandals, but none has led to a conviction.

He is not the first French president to be questioned by police after leaving office.

His predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was convicted in 2011, after his retirement, of misusing public funds to keep allies in phantom jobs. He was the first French head of state to be convicted of a crime since Nazi collaborator Marshall Philippe Petain in 1945.

Source: Africa News

21, March 2018

Boko Haram frees 100 Nigerian girls but issues warning ⁰

Nigeria’s homegrown Boko Haram Takfiri terror group has surprisingly returned more than a 100 of 110 girls it had abducted from the country’s northeast last month, but has served the parents with a stern warning.

The terrorists rolled into the town of Dapchi on Wednesday, dropping some of the abductees they had spirited away from the Government Science and Technical College there, the Associated Press reported.

Freed girls and relatives said one schoolgirl was still in captivity, while five had died.

“We did it out of pity. And don’t ever put your daughters in school again,” the extremists told the residents.

“This is a warning to you all,” resident Ba’ana Musa cited them as saying.

Bashir Manzo, whose 16-year-old daughter had been freed, said, “As I speak to you there is jubilation in Dapchi.”

Picture taken on February 28, 2018 in Dapchi shows some of the girls, who escaped a kidnapping by the Takfiri terror group of Boko Haram. (By AFP)

The group kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, similarly located in the northeast, in 2014. The mass kidnapping triggered global condemnation and intense criticism of Nigerian officials in the country as well as an international “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign.

Nearly 60 of the abductees escaped soon after the incident and others have since been released after mediation. Some 100, however, are believed to remain in captivity.

Since 2009, Boko Haram militancy has left at least 20,000 dead and made over 2.6 million others homeless. The group pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh group in 2015.

Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates as “Western education is forbidden,” has used kidnapping as a weapon of war, seizing thousands of women and young girls as well as men and young boys.

Source: Presstv

20, March 2018

UN says Southern Cameroonians in Nigeria pass 20,000 mark ⁰

The number of Anglophone Cameroonians seeking asylum in Nigeria has doubled since mid-January. Without urgent international support, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns that their struggle for survival will be increasingly desperate.

Anglophone Cameroonians began fleeing violence in October 2017 and continue to pour into Nigeria’s Cross River, Taraba, Benue and Akwa-Ibom states. In total, over 20,000 refugees have been registered in the area. Women and children account for four-fifths of the population.

A recent assessment by humanitarian groups shows how grim the situation has become. Ninety-five per cent of the asylum seekers have no more than three days of food. Most families are down to one meal per day. The coping strategies people are using are themselves risky, and range from borrowing money to cutting food portions or saving food only for children.

Most asylum seekers say they are having to drink water from streams, ponds and other unsafe sources, because of inadequate or dysfunctional drinking water facilities. Essential relief items, such as clothing, blankets and plastic sheeting, are available to fewer than 25 per cent of them.

Only five in every 100 Cameroonians have proper or independent shelter. The rest have little or no privacy, squatting in rooms hosting on average 10 to 15 people. Protection from the cold is lacking, increasing health concerns due to the imminent start of the rainy season.

Malaria is reportedly already on the increase. Children commonly exhibit rapid breathing and coughing. Many participants at the assessment were suffering from fear and anxiety, poor sleep and flashbacks. In all, about 20 to 30 per cent of the asylum seekers have some kind of vulnerability, such as a physical disability.

Three quarters of the Cameroonian children who recently fled to Nigeria currently cannot access school, because their families cannot afford to pay for books and uniforms. Adults are also becoming more frustrated as they struggle to make ends meet.

A political solution to the situation in Cameroon is urgently needed, so that the Cameroonians can safely and voluntarily return home. Until then, UNHCR and its partners will continue their efforts to provide assistance and support to this population as long as we are able.

Our office has worked on a contingency plan of US$18 million to help cover their needs. However, so far no funds have been received, leading to immense challenges and gaps in the response.

Earlier this month, the authorities in Nigeria allocated land to UNHCR which should allow for shelters to be established to ensure the safety, security and self-reliance of refugees. UNHCR acknowledges the authorities’ commitment to assist in moving the refugees at least 50 kilometres away from the border, in line with humanitarian principles.

We also remain concerned about reports of further arrests of Cameroonian nationals in Nigeria, including at least one asylum seeker at the beginning of March. UNHCR urges the Nigerian authorities to refrain from the forcible return of individuals who may have fled persecution in their country of origin, and to respect the principle of non-refoulement or no forced returns.

Source: UNHCR.Org

20, March 2018

Corruption in France: Ex-French President Sarkozy detained over Gaddafi-linked campaign cash ⁰

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was being held in police custody on Tuesday for questioning by magistrates looking into allegations of Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign, an official in the French judiciary said.

A lawyer for Sarkozy could not be reached immediately for comment.

France opened a judicial inquiry in 2013 into allegations that Sarkozy’s successful 2007 election bid benefited from illicit funds from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

A former minister and close ally of Sarkozy, Brice Hortefeux, was also being questioned by police on Tuesday morning in relation to the Libya investigation, another source close to the probe said.

Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, has always denied receiving any illicit campaign funding and has dismissed the Libyan allegations as “grotesque”.

In January a French businessman suspected by investigators of funneling money from Gaddafi to finance Sarkozy’s campaign was arrested in Britain and granted bail after he appeared in a London court.

Sarkozy has already been ordered to stand trial in a separate matter concerning financing of his failed re-election campaign in 2012, when he was defeated by Francois Hollande.

REUTERS