President Mills
-“He is dangerous to our democracy”
The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, says the level of intolerance being displayed by President Mills and his National Democratic Congress administration goes to confirm the fact that President Mills has become “a very dangerous dictator” in just three years of being in office.
According to Sir John, whilst world renowned dictators usually use five or more years to establish their dictatorial legacies, President Mills has used an unprecedented period of three years in achieving this feat, mainly by clamping down heavily on dissenting views against his government.
In an exclusive interview with the New Statesman yesterday, the NPP chief scribe stated that the decision by the Mills-Mahama led administration to boycott all six media platforms of the Multimedia Group Limited was indicative of the level to which governance had reduced under President Mills.
Meanwhile, Nana Obiri-Boahen, former minister of state at the Interior Ministry, has described the decision as “unthinkable, irresponsible, crude and very dangerous for the nation's democracy.”
According him, “the decision is borne out of frustration and desperation and shows how myopic the government is, with respect to freedom of speech.”
“But, some of us are not surprised at all for if you have people like the Koku Anyidohos, Ablakwahs, Agyenim Boatengs, Asiedu Nketiahs, Otukonors, and Nii Lamptey Vanderpuyes, who behave like petulant school boys, dictating the pace in a government, this is what you can expect to have,” he stated when he commented on the issue yesterday.
In the view of Sir John, “The government's decision to boycott multimedia group and further directing all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to treat journalists from the company as gate-crashers, is an infringement on the right to information of Ghanaians, an affront to National Media Commission's authority as enshrined in the 1992 constitution, and, above all, against the constitution of the Republic of Ghana.”
Making reference to 1992 Constitution to buttress his point, the NPP General Secretary explained that Chapter Five of the Constitution which spells out the Bill of Rights also guarantees the freedom of the press, adding that Article 21 (f) of the constitution clearly states that information is necessary in a democratic society.
“Also Article 162 (4) states 'Editors and publishers of newspapers and other institutions of the mass media shall not be subject to control or interference by Government, nor shall they be penalized or harassed for their editorial opinions and views, or the content of their publications,'” Sir John stated.
He continued, “Is President Mills saying per this directive that if a multimedia journalist goes to the Ministries, VRA, ECG, the Ledzokuku Krowor Municipal Assembly or any State institution to seek information, he should be sent out? What does that say then of the independence of our State institutions? How the executive give that kind of directive is difficult for me to understand.”
Checks made by the paper indicate that the Food and Drugs Board turned away staff of Multi TV from their premises Wednesday; the Minister of Trade, Hannah Tetteh sacked journalists from Multimedia at an event held at La Palm Beach Hotel about a month ago, insisting they leave before the function starts. Also when the president returned from America, journalists from Multimedia were escorted out of the Airport by National Security officials.
In the opinion of Sir John, “for Government to boycott all six Multimedia stations because of one man, Bobie, shows that the NDC has no message besides insulting Nana Addo, because that was what the programme (Ekosi sen on Asempa FM) was used to do. And we were vindicated because Bobie himself had to apologise to us”.
When the possibility of the President not being aware of this unfolding drama was posed to the NPP Chief Scribe, he stated: “ignorance is indeed the worst form of dictatorship and President Mills cannot be absolved of blame in this saga.”
“Mills is a dictator and he is building a dictatorship outside the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. The arrogance of Mills and the NDC and the way they are rewriting all of Ghana's history is astounding,” Sir John said.
The NPP man further added that the recent arrest of Ernest Owusu Bempah, director of Operations of FONKAR, was also indicative enough of President Mills' level of intolerance.
To Nana Obiri-Boahen, the boycott of Multimedia comes as “a serious indictment on the intelligent people” in the Mills-Mahama led government, “more so the president who a law professor.”
According the leading NPP member, a political party may be pardoned if it decides to boycott a particular programme on a radio station, “but for the whole Government of Ghana, headed by Law Professor Mills, to boycott a media group shows how irresponsible and crude the people running the government are, and this is a clear indication that they don't have anything good for the nation.
Making reference to Article 166, as well as Chapter 12, of the 1992 constitution, Nana Obiri-Boahen noted that the NDC should have “allowed common sense to win the day by lodging complaint with the National Media Commission if they indeed had genuine problems with Multimedia.”
He added that the decision by the Mills-Mahama led government “tells volumes about a government that is not tolerant of divergent views; a government that has no foresight and has no respect for democratic tenets.”
Friday, March 23, 2012
Mali president's whereabouts unknown after coup
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The whereabouts of Mali's president were unknown Friday, a day after mutinous soldiers declared a coup, raising fears and prompting uncertainty in a West African nation that had been one of the region's few established democracies.
Even though the sound of gunfire had ceased in the capital, stores remained shuttered Friday and the streets were empty because a nationwide curfew remained in effect. Uncertainty gripped this landlocked nation of 15.4 million as people tried to find out the identities of the soldiers that suddenly appeared on state television Thursday, announcing a coup d'etat.
Late Thursday, the coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo gave an interview on state television in which he said that President Amadou Toumani Toure was in good health, but refused to say where he is, or even if he is being held by the putschists.
"For the moment, I will not tell you where President Amadou Toumani Toure is," he said. "He's very well. He's safe. As far as us — I already told you yesterday that our objective is not to physically harm anyone."
Toure is himself a soldier who came to power in a 1991 coup. He was hailed for handing power to civilians. He won the democratic election in 2002.
Baffling for many is the fact that Toure was due to step down next month at the end of his second term. Instead, soldiers angry over his handling of an insurgency in the country's north stormed the palace. He has not been heard from since.
Elections were slated for April 29; that now looks increasingly unlikely.
Sanogo also assured the public that the ministers that have been detained by the junta were safe and will not be hurt.
"And I assure you that no one will physically hurt any of them, but as long as I remain at the head of this movement ... they will however need to go before a competent court," he said, suggesting that they will be tried.
The coup began with a mutiny at a military camp outside the capital, where soldiers were angered by a speech delivered by the country's minister of defense, who failed to mention the plight of troops killed in the country's new insurgency.
Large numbers of soldiers have lost their lives in the uprising which began in January in the impoverished nation. Their widows have not been compensated. They accuse the government — and especially Toure — of sending them to the battlefield without the proper equipment, and without even enough food.
Even though the sound of gunfire had ceased in the capital, stores remained shuttered Friday and the streets were empty because a nationwide curfew remained in effect. Uncertainty gripped this landlocked nation of 15.4 million as people tried to find out the identities of the soldiers that suddenly appeared on state television Thursday, announcing a coup d'etat.
Late Thursday, the coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo gave an interview on state television in which he said that President Amadou Toumani Toure was in good health, but refused to say where he is, or even if he is being held by the putschists.
"For the moment, I will not tell you where President Amadou Toumani Toure is," he said. "He's very well. He's safe. As far as us — I already told you yesterday that our objective is not to physically harm anyone."
Toure is himself a soldier who came to power in a 1991 coup. He was hailed for handing power to civilians. He won the democratic election in 2002.
Baffling for many is the fact that Toure was due to step down next month at the end of his second term. Instead, soldiers angry over his handling of an insurgency in the country's north stormed the palace. He has not been heard from since.
Elections were slated for April 29; that now looks increasingly unlikely.
Sanogo also assured the public that the ministers that have been detained by the junta were safe and will not be hurt.
"And I assure you that no one will physically hurt any of them, but as long as I remain at the head of this movement ... they will however need to go before a competent court," he said, suggesting that they will be tried.
The coup began with a mutiny at a military camp outside the capital, where soldiers were angered by a speech delivered by the country's minister of defense, who failed to mention the plight of troops killed in the country's new insurgency.
Large numbers of soldiers have lost their lives in the uprising which began in January in the impoverished nation. Their widows have not been compensated. They accuse the government — and especially Toure — of sending them to the battlefield without the proper equipment, and without even enough food.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
GIDC seeks to provide e-government technological solution for Ghana in 2013
Accra, March 17, GNA - The Ghana International Development Consortium (GIDC), is ready to provide a technological solution for the ongoing e- government problems in the country.
It has therefore, proposed an integrated “All in One System“ solution, which includes a modern voting technology that can address the voter verification problem in Ghana and the challenges facing the nation in the area of census data collection and analysis for effective implementation of policies and programmes.
The Consortium is made up of some of the nation’s professionals in the Diaspora with the sole aim and objective of identifying and addressing Ghana’s developmental challenges.
In a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra, it said” a comprehensive integrated e-government technology solution is needed to address the nation’s residential, voting and data gathering for effective and meaningful policy-making on a long-term basis.
“The Consortium has notified the Electoral Commission (EC) and Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in separate letters in December, 2011 that after following the 2010 National Census of Ghana and the challenges encountered in that exercise, and after monitoring the ongoing debate over the Biometric Voter Registration in Ghana, the GIDC and its German partners are prepared to offer secured short-term and long-term comprehensive integrated information system solutions to help address the nation’s problems.”
The GIDC informed the EC and GSS that the secured integrated system solution its members were offering would have some features and benefits, including technological architecture that would serves as a government-wide integrated information system with the capability for inter-departmental and inter-ministerial data sharing for
effective and efficient management of governmental operations in the country.
A nation-wide implementation of the system would help maintain the requisite records and other pertinent information needed to formulate national policies, and to conduct fraudulent-free elections.
“The GIDC acknowledges that such a comprehensive system cannot be rolled out in the entire nation overnight and as such, in order to gain the confidence of the political parties, government stakeholders and the good people of Ghana, they are ready to implement it in modules by focusing initially on the Census and Statistical data collection problems,” the statement said.
It said the e-government-wide integrated information system could not be found in any developing country, and Ghana would be the first country in Africa to be blessed with this system.
The Consortium pointed out that with such a system in place, not only would the needs of the EC and GSS be met, but also the government would have at its disposal on a timely basis, the relevant information needed to make informed policy decisions that would help advance Ghana.
The statement said: “It is assumed that, under the auspices of the GSS, all the 78 government stakeholders submitted, including the 10 none governmental organisations, are supposed to have the universal adherence and the responsibility to build their capacities to produce timely, credible and relevant information’s to meet the growing statistical demand of the country.”
It said since this system was already in place, the consortium was in the position to utilise the vast experience and full capabilities of their experts, partners and consultants to modify the existing modules to meet the requirements of the GSS, EC and other governmental agencies.
“The Ghanaian professionals informed the EC and GSS that their experts and partners have developed demonstrations for the Census and Statistical Service” and they are ready, to come to Ghana, to take the relevant government institutions through the demonstrations and answer all technical and nontechnical questions they may have.
“We want to assure EC and GSS, and Ghanaians that we have the capacity to assist the country to come out with a comprehensive, integrated and lasting technological solutions that the country will be pleased with.
“For the country to save a lot of money, we are prepared to render services at a very reasonable cost because such technology is coming from Ghanaian international experts and their partners.
“Based on our experience and the track record of our partners in Germany, we are confident that the nation’s needs can be met to help the current and future governments address the developmental challenges of Ghana. GIDC is therefore, ready now to assist the EC and GSS in their search for solutions if they are given the opportunity to do so.”
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It has therefore, proposed an integrated “All in One System“ solution, which includes a modern voting technology that can address the voter verification problem in Ghana and the challenges facing the nation in the area of census data collection and analysis for effective implementation of policies and programmes.
The Consortium is made up of some of the nation’s professionals in the Diaspora with the sole aim and objective of identifying and addressing Ghana’s developmental challenges.
In a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra, it said” a comprehensive integrated e-government technology solution is needed to address the nation’s residential, voting and data gathering for effective and meaningful policy-making on a long-term basis.
“The Consortium has notified the Electoral Commission (EC) and Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in separate letters in December, 2011 that after following the 2010 National Census of Ghana and the challenges encountered in that exercise, and after monitoring the ongoing debate over the Biometric Voter Registration in Ghana, the GIDC and its German partners are prepared to offer secured short-term and long-term comprehensive integrated information system solutions to help address the nation’s problems.”
The GIDC informed the EC and GSS that the secured integrated system solution its members were offering would have some features and benefits, including technological architecture that would serves as a government-wide integrated information system with the capability for inter-departmental and inter-ministerial data sharing for
effective and efficient management of governmental operations in the country.
A nation-wide implementation of the system would help maintain the requisite records and other pertinent information needed to formulate national policies, and to conduct fraudulent-free elections.
“The GIDC acknowledges that such a comprehensive system cannot be rolled out in the entire nation overnight and as such, in order to gain the confidence of the political parties, government stakeholders and the good people of Ghana, they are ready to implement it in modules by focusing initially on the Census and Statistical data collection problems,” the statement said.
It said the e-government-wide integrated information system could not be found in any developing country, and Ghana would be the first country in Africa to be blessed with this system.
The Consortium pointed out that with such a system in place, not only would the needs of the EC and GSS be met, but also the government would have at its disposal on a timely basis, the relevant information needed to make informed policy decisions that would help advance Ghana.
The statement said: “It is assumed that, under the auspices of the GSS, all the 78 government stakeholders submitted, including the 10 none governmental organisations, are supposed to have the universal adherence and the responsibility to build their capacities to produce timely, credible and relevant information’s to meet the growing statistical demand of the country.”
It said since this system was already in place, the consortium was in the position to utilise the vast experience and full capabilities of their experts, partners and consultants to modify the existing modules to meet the requirements of the GSS, EC and other governmental agencies.
“The Ghanaian professionals informed the EC and GSS that their experts and partners have developed demonstrations for the Census and Statistical Service” and they are ready, to come to Ghana, to take the relevant government institutions through the demonstrations and answer all technical and nontechnical questions they may have.
“We want to assure EC and GSS, and Ghanaians that we have the capacity to assist the country to come out with a comprehensive, integrated and lasting technological solutions that the country will be pleased with.
“For the country to save a lot of money, we are prepared to render services at a very reasonable cost because such technology is coming from Ghanaian international experts and their partners.
“Based on our experience and the track record of our partners in Germany, we are confident that the nation’s needs can be met to help the current and future governments address the developmental challenges of Ghana. GIDC is therefore, ready now to assist the EC and GSS in their search for solutions if they are given the opportunity to do so.”
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Judges To Go On Strike
Source : Daily Guide
Magistrate and district judges have threatened to embark on a sit-down strike over poor conditions of service from Monday, 26 March 2012, DAILY GUIDE has learnt.
The judges, who constitute the lower bench, have threatened to vacate the courtrooms indefinite across the country if President Mills fails to respond to their demands by the end of this week.
Information reaching this paper indicates that the depressed judges planned to commence the strike action this week but were convinced by national executives of the Association of Magistrates and Judges to suspend the action for a while.
The plea, according to deep-throat sources, was to enable President Mills address the concerns of the judges.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that the recommendations made by a committee instituted by the judicial council with regard to improvement in their conditions of service had been forwarded to President Mills since November last year.
The committee, the paper learnt, was instituted to make recommendations as to how the conditions of service of the judges could be improved after they complained about poor conditions of service.
Though several reminders in the form of letters have been sent to President Mills over the matter, nothing has been done by the first gentleman of the land.
The paper learnt that the committee, which was headed by the Asante Asokorehene, Nana Dr Susubiribi Krobea Asante recommended an upward adjustment in the salaries of the judges, among other things.
It also suggested that official accommodation, vehicle and book allowance should be given to the judges like what pertains in the upper courts.
The committee furthermore recommended that the state complied with article 149 of the 1992 constitution which stipulates that judges of the lower courts should be given entitlements and other benefits in relation to article 71 public officers.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that the recommendations were forwarded to the President because per the constitution, the president was mandated to determine the conditions of service of the judges in consultation with the judicial council.
The paper’s sources revealed that the judicial council was ready to collaborate with the President to determine decent conditions of service for judges.
One of the judges, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE on condition of anonymity, said the President was not committed to implementing the recommendations made by the committee, indicating that they would no longer allow the President time should he fail to utilize the last chance.
He said in spite of the critical work they undertake their salaries range between GH¢800 and GH¢1,000 while their colleagues in the upper courts receive thousands of Ghana cedis.
The judge noted that though they do not wish to be paid the same amounts as their colleagues in the upper courts, they believe they should be given something decent.
The judge pointed out that they do not have official accommodation and vehicles to effectively discharge their functions.
“At times, we are compelled under the circumstances to sleep in hotels which sometimes we pay it on our own and also come to the court in rented taxis,” the worried judge emphasized.
The judge was unhappy with attempts by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to migrate them onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
He said the move by the commission was unconstitutional because the constitution specifically indicates the President, in consultation with the judicial council, would fix their salaries.
The judge indicated that they would were not ready to submit to the commission.
ADD YOUR COMMENTS HERE
Magistrate and district judges have threatened to embark on a sit-down strike over poor conditions of service from Monday, 26 March 2012, DAILY GUIDE has learnt.
The judges, who constitute the lower bench, have threatened to vacate the courtrooms indefinite across the country if President Mills fails to respond to their demands by the end of this week.
Information reaching this paper indicates that the depressed judges planned to commence the strike action this week but were convinced by national executives of the Association of Magistrates and Judges to suspend the action for a while.
The plea, according to deep-throat sources, was to enable President Mills address the concerns of the judges.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that the recommendations made by a committee instituted by the judicial council with regard to improvement in their conditions of service had been forwarded to President Mills since November last year.
The committee, the paper learnt, was instituted to make recommendations as to how the conditions of service of the judges could be improved after they complained about poor conditions of service.
Though several reminders in the form of letters have been sent to President Mills over the matter, nothing has been done by the first gentleman of the land.
The paper learnt that the committee, which was headed by the Asante Asokorehene, Nana Dr Susubiribi Krobea Asante recommended an upward adjustment in the salaries of the judges, among other things.
It also suggested that official accommodation, vehicle and book allowance should be given to the judges like what pertains in the upper courts.
The committee furthermore recommended that the state complied with article 149 of the 1992 constitution which stipulates that judges of the lower courts should be given entitlements and other benefits in relation to article 71 public officers.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that the recommendations were forwarded to the President because per the constitution, the president was mandated to determine the conditions of service of the judges in consultation with the judicial council.
The paper’s sources revealed that the judicial council was ready to collaborate with the President to determine decent conditions of service for judges.
One of the judges, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE on condition of anonymity, said the President was not committed to implementing the recommendations made by the committee, indicating that they would no longer allow the President time should he fail to utilize the last chance.
He said in spite of the critical work they undertake their salaries range between GH¢800 and GH¢1,000 while their colleagues in the upper courts receive thousands of Ghana cedis.
The judge noted that though they do not wish to be paid the same amounts as their colleagues in the upper courts, they believe they should be given something decent.
The judge pointed out that they do not have official accommodation and vehicles to effectively discharge their functions.
“At times, we are compelled under the circumstances to sleep in hotels which sometimes we pay it on our own and also come to the court in rented taxis,” the worried judge emphasized.
The judge was unhappy with attempts by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to migrate them onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
He said the move by the commission was unconstitutional because the constitution specifically indicates the President, in consultation with the judicial council, would fix their salaries.
The judge indicated that they would were not ready to submit to the commission.
ADD YOUR COMMENTS HERE
Dozens injured in clashes between NDC, NPP supporters at Odododiodio
A scuffle between some supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Odododiodio constituency last night left several people injured.
The scuffle ensued when a meeting called by NPP activists in the constituency was interrupted by some youth from the NDC.
Some of the injured were taken to the Usher Clinic.
Narrating the incident to Joy News one of the victims said they were holding a meeting when suddenly NDC supporters besieged the meeting grounds asking them to stop the meeting.
He said the attacked hurled bottles and other missiles at them injuring him in the process.
The NPP Parliamentary Candidate for the area, Captain (retd.) Victor Okaikoi has called for swift intervention by the police to prevent further politically motivated clashes in the constituency.
He said Ghana was regrettably reverting to the dark days when freedoms of the people were curtailed.
According to him, the police must act immediately to restore confidence in the security of the nation.
The police have confirmed last night’s incident to Joy News.
Two patrol teams were dispatched to the scene to stop the scuffle from degenerating further. Investigations have begun into the incident.
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The scuffle ensued when a meeting called by NPP activists in the constituency was interrupted by some youth from the NDC.
Some of the injured were taken to the Usher Clinic.
Narrating the incident to Joy News one of the victims said they were holding a meeting when suddenly NDC supporters besieged the meeting grounds asking them to stop the meeting.
He said the attacked hurled bottles and other missiles at them injuring him in the process.
The NPP Parliamentary Candidate for the area, Captain (retd.) Victor Okaikoi has called for swift intervention by the police to prevent further politically motivated clashes in the constituency.
He said Ghana was regrettably reverting to the dark days when freedoms of the people were curtailed.
According to him, the police must act immediately to restore confidence in the security of the nation.
The police have confirmed last night’s incident to Joy News.
Two patrol teams were dispatched to the scene to stop the scuffle from degenerating further. Investigations have begun into the incident.
ADD YOUR COMMENTS HERE
Liberty Capital Ghana Tema Office survives fire outbreak
The Electricity Company of Ghana power disruptions across the country on Monday led to a fire outbreak at the Tema Office of Liberty Capital Ghana Limited (LCGL), an investment advisory firm.
A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency and signed by Mr Roger Adjovu, Managing Director of Liberty Capital, says the outbreak occurred at about 0930 hours during working hours on the Monday and assured clients that measures were being put in place for work to resume on Tuesday.
The fire, however, was brought under control within with the help of some staff of LCGL and the support of personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service, who arrived later.
The statement praises its staff for the swift manner and the efforts they put in to prevent destruction of the company’s assets and more especially the saving of precious life.
LCGL, which manages also investible funds for corporate institutions and individuals, expressed gratefulness to the Ghana National Fire Service officers.
“There was a complete destruction of ECG prepaid metres and LCGL is grateful to God for no injury, loss of life or of data.”
It said work at the Tema Office would be routed through the Osu offices on Monday.
Measures are being put in place to resume work at the Tema office on Tuesday March 20, 2012.**
A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency and signed by Mr Roger Adjovu, Managing Director of Liberty Capital, says the outbreak occurred at about 0930 hours during working hours on the Monday and assured clients that measures were being put in place for work to resume on Tuesday.
The fire, however, was brought under control within with the help of some staff of LCGL and the support of personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service, who arrived later.
The statement praises its staff for the swift manner and the efforts they put in to prevent destruction of the company’s assets and more especially the saving of precious life.
LCGL, which manages also investible funds for corporate institutions and individuals, expressed gratefulness to the Ghana National Fire Service officers.
“There was a complete destruction of ECG prepaid metres and LCGL is grateful to God for no injury, loss of life or of data.”
It said work at the Tema Office would be routed through the Osu offices on Monday.
Measures are being put in place to resume work at the Tema office on Tuesday March 20, 2012.**
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Taliban vow revenge for Afghans killed by US troop
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban vowed revenge Monday after an American soldier allegedly shot to death 16 civilians in southern Afghanistan and burned their bodies, an attack that has fueled anger still simmering after U.S. troops burned Qurans last month.
U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have stepped up security following the shootings Sunday in Kandahar province out of concern about retaliatory attacks. The U.S. Embassy has also warned American citizens in Afghanistan about the possibility of reprisals.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for several attacks last month that the group said were retaliation for the Americans burning Qurans. Afghan forces also turned their guns on their supposed allies at the time, killing six U.S. troops as violent protests wracked the country.
It's unclear whether there will be a similar response to Sunday's shootings. But the attack will likely spark even greater distrust between Washington and Kabul and fuel questions in both countries about why American troops are still fighting in Afghanistan after 10 years of conflict and the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The Taliban said in a statement on their website that "sick-minded American savages" committed the "blood-soaked and inhumane crime" in Panjwai district, a rural region outside Kandahar that is the cradle of the Taliban and where coalition forces have fought for control for years.
The militant group promised the families of the victims that it would take revenge "for every single martyr with the help of Allah."
There are still many questions about what happened in the two villages in Panjwai before dawn Sunday and what motivated the killings.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack Sunday and said the 16 dead included nine children and three women. Five other villagers were wounded.
"This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven," Karzai said.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings confirmed Monday that the number of dead was "in the teens" but declined to be more specific, saying U.S. forces had not been given access to independently count the bodies.
U.S. and Afghan officials have said the attack began around 3 a.m. in the two villages, which are fairly close to a U.S. base in a region that was the focus of President Barack Obama's military surge in the south starting in 2009.
Villagers described how they cowered in fear as gunshots rang out while the soldier roamed from house to house firing on those inside. They said he entered three homes in all and set fire to some of the bodies. Eleven of the dead were from a single family.
The burning of the bodies may ignite even more outrage because it is seen as the desecration of corpses and therefore against Islam.
U.S. officials said the shooter, identified as an Army staff sergeant, acted alone after leaving his base in southern Afghanistan. Initial reports indicated he returned to the base after the shooting and turned himself in. He was in custody at a NATO base in Afghanistan.
Some Afghan officials and local villagers expressed doubt that a single U.S. soldier could have carried out all the killings in houses about a mile (2 kilometers) apart and burned the bodies afterward.
U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have stepped up security following the shootings Sunday in Kandahar province out of concern about retaliatory attacks. The U.S. Embassy has also warned American citizens in Afghanistan about the possibility of reprisals.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for several attacks last month that the group said were retaliation for the Americans burning Qurans. Afghan forces also turned their guns on their supposed allies at the time, killing six U.S. troops as violent protests wracked the country.
It's unclear whether there will be a similar response to Sunday's shootings. But the attack will likely spark even greater distrust between Washington and Kabul and fuel questions in both countries about why American troops are still fighting in Afghanistan after 10 years of conflict and the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The Taliban said in a statement on their website that "sick-minded American savages" committed the "blood-soaked and inhumane crime" in Panjwai district, a rural region outside Kandahar that is the cradle of the Taliban and where coalition forces have fought for control for years.
The militant group promised the families of the victims that it would take revenge "for every single martyr with the help of Allah."
There are still many questions about what happened in the two villages in Panjwai before dawn Sunday and what motivated the killings.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack Sunday and said the 16 dead included nine children and three women. Five other villagers were wounded.
"This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven," Karzai said.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings confirmed Monday that the number of dead was "in the teens" but declined to be more specific, saying U.S. forces had not been given access to independently count the bodies.
U.S. and Afghan officials have said the attack began around 3 a.m. in the two villages, which are fairly close to a U.S. base in a region that was the focus of President Barack Obama's military surge in the south starting in 2009.
Villagers described how they cowered in fear as gunshots rang out while the soldier roamed from house to house firing on those inside. They said he entered three homes in all and set fire to some of the bodies. Eleven of the dead were from a single family.
The burning of the bodies may ignite even more outrage because it is seen as the desecration of corpses and therefore against Islam.
U.S. officials said the shooter, identified as an Army staff sergeant, acted alone after leaving his base in southern Afghanistan. Initial reports indicated he returned to the base after the shooting and turned himself in. He was in custody at a NATO base in Afghanistan.
Some Afghan officials and local villagers expressed doubt that a single U.S. soldier could have carried out all the killings in houses about a mile (2 kilometers) apart and burned the bodies afterward.
Car bomb explodes near Nigeria church; 10 killed
JOS, Nigeria (AP) — A suicide car bomber attacked a Catholic church Sunday in the middle of Mass, killing at least 10 people in the blast and the retaliatory violence that followed after the latest assault targeting a church in a central Nigerian city plagued by unrest, officials said.
The bomb detonated as worshippers attended the final Mass of the day at St. Finbar's Catholic Church in Jos, a city where thousands have died in the last decade in religious and ethnic violence. Security at the gate of the church's compound stopped the suspicious car and the bomber detonated his explosives during an altercation that followed, Plateau state spokesman Pam Ayuba said.
The blast damaged the church's roof, blew out its windows and destroyed a portion of the fence surrounding the church's compound, Ayuba said.
"He destroyed so many things," the spokesman said.
The bombing sparked retaliatory violence in Jos later Sunday, with angry youths burning down homes and soldiers guarding the city opening fire in neighborhoods, witnesses said. Ayuba said at least 10 people died in the bombing, though others said the number of dead included those killed in retaliatory attacks. Soldiers also were wounded in the blast.
No group immediately claimed responsibility though the city has been targeted in the past by a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. The sect claimed a series of bombings in Jos on Christmas Eve in 2010 that killed as many as 80 people. The sect also claimed a similar church bombing on Feb. 26 on the main headquarters of the Church of Christ that killed three people and wounded 38 others.
The sect, which speaks to journalists through telephone conference calls at times of its choosing, could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday.
Jos and surrounding Plateau state have been torn apart in recent years by violence pitting its different ethnic groups and major religions — Christianity and Islam — against each other. Human Rights Watch says at least 1,000 people were killed in communal clashes around Jos in 2010.
The violence, though fractured across religious lines, often has more to do with local politics, economics and rights to grazing lands. Muslims in the city also say they are locked out of lucrative jobs in the region as the Christian-led state government doesn't recognize them as citizens.
The Catholic church attack also comes after a failed raid Thursday by British and Nigerian commandos left a Briton and an Italian hostage dead in Nigeria's far northwest. British officials have blamed a splinter cell of Boko Haram for the attack, something a spokesman for the group has denied.
However, the attack has opened a new front on Nigeria's ongoing struggle with terrorism, showing any region across the nation's Muslim north can be attacked — and anyone, including foreigners, could be targeted.
Meanwhile Sunday, police said two separate attacks in northeast Nigeria blamed on the sect killed two people. One attack happened at a paramilitary police base in the town of Bama in Borno state, while the other happened during the day in Maiduguri, the sect's spiritual home, authorities said.
The bomb detonated as worshippers attended the final Mass of the day at St. Finbar's Catholic Church in Jos, a city where thousands have died in the last decade in religious and ethnic violence. Security at the gate of the church's compound stopped the suspicious car and the bomber detonated his explosives during an altercation that followed, Plateau state spokesman Pam Ayuba said.
The blast damaged the church's roof, blew out its windows and destroyed a portion of the fence surrounding the church's compound, Ayuba said.
"He destroyed so many things," the spokesman said.
The bombing sparked retaliatory violence in Jos later Sunday, with angry youths burning down homes and soldiers guarding the city opening fire in neighborhoods, witnesses said. Ayuba said at least 10 people died in the bombing, though others said the number of dead included those killed in retaliatory attacks. Soldiers also were wounded in the blast.
No group immediately claimed responsibility though the city has been targeted in the past by a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. The sect claimed a series of bombings in Jos on Christmas Eve in 2010 that killed as many as 80 people. The sect also claimed a similar church bombing on Feb. 26 on the main headquarters of the Church of Christ that killed three people and wounded 38 others.
The sect, which speaks to journalists through telephone conference calls at times of its choosing, could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday.
Jos and surrounding Plateau state have been torn apart in recent years by violence pitting its different ethnic groups and major religions — Christianity and Islam — against each other. Human Rights Watch says at least 1,000 people were killed in communal clashes around Jos in 2010.
The violence, though fractured across religious lines, often has more to do with local politics, economics and rights to grazing lands. Muslims in the city also say they are locked out of lucrative jobs in the region as the Christian-led state government doesn't recognize them as citizens.
The Catholic church attack also comes after a failed raid Thursday by British and Nigerian commandos left a Briton and an Italian hostage dead in Nigeria's far northwest. British officials have blamed a splinter cell of Boko Haram for the attack, something a spokesman for the group has denied.
However, the attack has opened a new front on Nigeria's ongoing struggle with terrorism, showing any region across the nation's Muslim north can be attacked — and anyone, including foreigners, could be targeted.
Meanwhile Sunday, police said two separate attacks in northeast Nigeria blamed on the sect killed two people. One attack happened at a paramilitary police base in the town of Bama in Borno state, while the other happened during the day in Maiduguri, the sect's spiritual home, authorities said.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Alfred Agbesi Woyome Arrested
Woyome arrested
Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the man at the centre of the GH¢51 million fraudulent payments, has been arrested in Accra Ghana.
The decision to arrest Mr Woyome was taken at a meeting held at the Castle involving President John Atta-Mills, Dr Benjamin Kumbour, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and the Interior Minister.
The final decision to effect the arrest of Mr Woyome was taken around midday.
What the meeting could not reach a conclusion on was whether it should extend to the former Attorney-General, Betty Mould Iddrisu, who authorised the payments of the money to Mr Woyome. Information, however, available to the New Statesman is that she will be picked up for questioning and quickly bailed afterwards.
Intriguingly, Mr Woyome was fully aware of the details of the meeting and was aware he was about to be arrested.
Mr Woyome was asked to tender his resignation as the Chairman of the National Board for Small Scale Industries before his arrest. Though the letter has not been prepared before the arrest, the resignation was deliberately leaked to the media.
Woyome, meanwhile, according to sources close to him, has threatened to disclose names of major beneficiaries of his controversial multi-million judgement debt if he is left to hang.
Next on the list of persons to be arrested are the Chief State Attorney, Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, and Mr Paul Asimenu, Director, Legal, at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
Mr Paul Asimenu, according to the interim EOCO report, was the person who wrote the opinion which eventually led to the decision that Mr Woyome was entitled to his claim.
Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, on the other hand, admits to drafting all letters which Mrs Mould-Iddrisu sent to Dr Kwabena Dufuor concerning the transactions leading to the payments to Mr Woyome. He was involved in the negotiations which led to the first settlement for an amount of over GH¢41 million and indeed witnessed it and therefore when the Ministry of Finance refused to pay and Mr Woyome went to court, he found it unconscionable to go to court and defend the action.
An amount of GH¢400,000 was also paid to the wife of Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh on June 16, 2011 by Mr Woyome
Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the man at the centre of the GH¢51 million fraudulent payments, has been arrested in Accra Ghana.
The decision to arrest Mr Woyome was taken at a meeting held at the Castle involving President John Atta-Mills, Dr Benjamin Kumbour, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and the Interior Minister.
The final decision to effect the arrest of Mr Woyome was taken around midday.
What the meeting could not reach a conclusion on was whether it should extend to the former Attorney-General, Betty Mould Iddrisu, who authorised the payments of the money to Mr Woyome. Information, however, available to the New Statesman is that she will be picked up for questioning and quickly bailed afterwards.
Intriguingly, Mr Woyome was fully aware of the details of the meeting and was aware he was about to be arrested.
Mr Woyome was asked to tender his resignation as the Chairman of the National Board for Small Scale Industries before his arrest. Though the letter has not been prepared before the arrest, the resignation was deliberately leaked to the media.
Woyome, meanwhile, according to sources close to him, has threatened to disclose names of major beneficiaries of his controversial multi-million judgement debt if he is left to hang.
Next on the list of persons to be arrested are the Chief State Attorney, Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, and Mr Paul Asimenu, Director, Legal, at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
Mr Paul Asimenu, according to the interim EOCO report, was the person who wrote the opinion which eventually led to the decision that Mr Woyome was entitled to his claim.
Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, on the other hand, admits to drafting all letters which Mrs Mould-Iddrisu sent to Dr Kwabena Dufuor concerning the transactions leading to the payments to Mr Woyome. He was involved in the negotiations which led to the first settlement for an amount of over GH¢41 million and indeed witnessed it and therefore when the Ministry of Finance refused to pay and Mr Woyome went to court, he found it unconscionable to go to court and defend the action.
An amount of GH¢400,000 was also paid to the wife of Mr Nerquaye-Tetteh on June 16, 2011 by Mr Woyome
Monday, January 30, 2012
Japanese auto suppliers fined for price fixing
Two Japanese auto parts suppliers will pay more than a half billion dollars for price fixing in a vast conspiracy in the US automotive market, the Justice Department said Monday.
Yazaki Corporation and Denso Corporation agreed to plead guilty and to pay $548 million in criminal fines for their involvement in the price-fixing and bid-rigging scheme, the department said.
Yazaki will pay $470 million, the second-largest US criminal antitrust fine in history, and Denso will pay $78 million, it said.
Yazaki and Denso and their co-conspirators sold wire harnesses and related electrical and electronic components to automobile manufacturers at inflated prices and ran a bid-rigging and price-fixing scheme, the Justice Department said.
"All of these parts are essential to the wiring, circuit boards, gauges and fuel tanks of automobiles," Sharis Pozen, Justice's acting antitrust chief, said in a statement.
In the same case four Yazaki executives, all Japanese nationals, have agreed to plead guilty, pay a $20,000 criminal fine, and serve prison time in the United States, it said.
The executives were identified as Tsuneaki Hanamura, Ryoji Kawai, Shigeru Ogawa and Hisamitsu Takada. The department said they participated in the conspiracies at least as early as January 2000 until at least February 2010.
"The executives, who held various positions in Yazaki with responsibilities including managing sales to Honda and Toyota, participated in the wire harness conspiracy," Pozen said.
The four executives face prison sentences ranging from 15 months to two years. They have all agreed to assist in the investigation, the department said.
The fine amounts and prison sentences are subject to court approval.
The actions marked the second round in a sweeping probe of auto parts suppliers.
In late September, Japanese firm Furukawa Electric Company pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $200 million fine for its role in the wire harnesses conspiracy.
Three of its executives also pleaded guilty; two have already been sentenced to prison and one is awaiting sentencing next month.
"The auto parts investigation is the largest criminal investigation the Antitrust Division has ever pursued, both in terms of its scope and the potential volume of commerce affected," Pozen said.
"Our investigation is still active and ongoing."
More than $748 million in fines have been collected in the investigation.
"Criminal antitrust enforcement remains a top priority and the Antitrust Division will continue to work with the FBI and our law enforcement counterparts to root
out this kind of pernicious cartel conduct that results in higher prices to American consumers and businesses," Pozen said.
Yazaki Corporation and Denso Corporation agreed to plead guilty and to pay $548 million in criminal fines for their involvement in the price-fixing and bid-rigging scheme, the department said.
Yazaki will pay $470 million, the second-largest US criminal antitrust fine in history, and Denso will pay $78 million, it said.
Yazaki and Denso and their co-conspirators sold wire harnesses and related electrical and electronic components to automobile manufacturers at inflated prices and ran a bid-rigging and price-fixing scheme, the Justice Department said.
"All of these parts are essential to the wiring, circuit boards, gauges and fuel tanks of automobiles," Sharis Pozen, Justice's acting antitrust chief, said in a statement.
In the same case four Yazaki executives, all Japanese nationals, have agreed to plead guilty, pay a $20,000 criminal fine, and serve prison time in the United States, it said.
The executives were identified as Tsuneaki Hanamura, Ryoji Kawai, Shigeru Ogawa and Hisamitsu Takada. The department said they participated in the conspiracies at least as early as January 2000 until at least February 2010.
"The executives, who held various positions in Yazaki with responsibilities including managing sales to Honda and Toyota, participated in the wire harness conspiracy," Pozen said.
The four executives face prison sentences ranging from 15 months to two years. They have all agreed to assist in the investigation, the department said.
The fine amounts and prison sentences are subject to court approval.
The actions marked the second round in a sweeping probe of auto parts suppliers.
In late September, Japanese firm Furukawa Electric Company pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $200 million fine for its role in the wire harnesses conspiracy.
Three of its executives also pleaded guilty; two have already been sentenced to prison and one is awaiting sentencing next month.
"The auto parts investigation is the largest criminal investigation the Antitrust Division has ever pursued, both in terms of its scope and the potential volume of commerce affected," Pozen said.
"Our investigation is still active and ongoing."
More than $748 million in fines have been collected in the investigation.
"Criminal antitrust enforcement remains a top priority and the Antitrust Division will continue to work with the FBI and our law enforcement counterparts to root
out this kind of pernicious cartel conduct that results in higher prices to American consumers and businesses," Pozen said.
Gunmen attack police, Nigeria Islamists vow to keep fighting
Gunmen attacked a police station in Nigeria's flashpoint city of Kano on Sunday sparking a shootout with police, just hours after Islamists vowed to keep up their campaign of violence.
The attack followed the January 20 assault by the Islamist group Boko Haram that killed at least 185 people in Nigeria's second city -- and after a string of recent threats of more violence from the group.
Boko Haram's intensifying insurgency, which security forces have struggled to contain, has shaken Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer, mainly in the Muslim-dominated north where the attacks have been focused.
"A large number of gunmen stormed the area at prayer time and opened fire on the police station," Kano resident Kabiru Maikatako told AFP of the Sunday attacks.
The police fired back and a shootout ensued, he added.
"I am now trapped in my (timber) shed. It is shooting all around and the whole area has been deserted. Only the police and the attackers are shooting at each other."
Kano state police commissioner Ibrahim Idriss confirmed the attack.
"I am aware of the attack on the Naibawa police station," he said referring to a district in Kano. "I am yet to get details."
In leaflets distributed around Kano overnight, the group warned residents that it would continue to target the city's security services, but had always tried to avoid harming civilians, a claim seen as baseless by many.
The leaflets could not be independently verified as authentic.
Sunday's shootout took place in the Naibawa motor park, a major bus terminal on the outskirts the city, not far from where a German engineer was kidnapped by gunmen on Thursday.
"We were saying our evening prayers when shooting broke out around the police station," said local resident Sule Adamu.
"We all dispersed without finishing our prayer and moved indoors while passengers who had left the motor park scampered for safety," he added.
Earlier Sunday, security forces had deployed heavily around Kano guarding churches and frisking worshippers as they arrived to pray.
Some city residents told AFP they had decided to avoid church fearing that Boko Haram would deliver on its threat to carry out fresh attacks.
Abbas Saleh, a taxi driver said he was preparing for evening prayers "when gunshots filled the air with gunmen attacking the police station and shouting Allahu Akbar."
"I abandoned what I was doing and hurried into a nearby shop," he said. "I don't know whether anybody has been killed or injured."
The Islamist group, whose name means "Western Education Is a Sin," is blamed for the deaths of more than 900 people in roughly 160 separate attacks since July 2009.
It has claimed attacks that have killed more than 200 people since the start of this year.
In the leaflet distributed overnight, Boko Haram warned Kano urged residents to "persevere" as it fights "for the entrenchment of an Islamic system."
Some claim the group is increasingly tied to foreign like-minded organisations such as Al-Qaeda, while others say it is pursuing a narrowly domestic agenda and driven by deep-seated religious tensions in Nigeria.
The country is roughly divided between a Christian-majority south and mainly Muslim north and most people live on less than two dollars a day.
As Boko Haram's attacks have escalated its objectives remain largely unnknown.
Heavily criticised over his failure to stem the worsening violence, President Goodluck Jonathan urged the group to enter dialogue in a media interview this week.
But Jonathan's call for talks was "not sincere," purported Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa told journalists by telephone in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, regarded as the group's stronghold.
The group launched an uprising in 2009 that was put down by a brutal military assault.
It fell dormant for about a year before re-emerging in 2010 and is now believed to have a number of different factions, including a hardcore Islamist cell.
The attack followed the January 20 assault by the Islamist group Boko Haram that killed at least 185 people in Nigeria's second city -- and after a string of recent threats of more violence from the group.
Boko Haram's intensifying insurgency, which security forces have struggled to contain, has shaken Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer, mainly in the Muslim-dominated north where the attacks have been focused.
"A large number of gunmen stormed the area at prayer time and opened fire on the police station," Kano resident Kabiru Maikatako told AFP of the Sunday attacks.
The police fired back and a shootout ensued, he added.
"I am now trapped in my (timber) shed. It is shooting all around and the whole area has been deserted. Only the police and the attackers are shooting at each other."
Kano state police commissioner Ibrahim Idriss confirmed the attack.
"I am aware of the attack on the Naibawa police station," he said referring to a district in Kano. "I am yet to get details."
In leaflets distributed around Kano overnight, the group warned residents that it would continue to target the city's security services, but had always tried to avoid harming civilians, a claim seen as baseless by many.
The leaflets could not be independently verified as authentic.
Sunday's shootout took place in the Naibawa motor park, a major bus terminal on the outskirts the city, not far from where a German engineer was kidnapped by gunmen on Thursday.
"We were saying our evening prayers when shooting broke out around the police station," said local resident Sule Adamu.
"We all dispersed without finishing our prayer and moved indoors while passengers who had left the motor park scampered for safety," he added.
Earlier Sunday, security forces had deployed heavily around Kano guarding churches and frisking worshippers as they arrived to pray.
Some city residents told AFP they had decided to avoid church fearing that Boko Haram would deliver on its threat to carry out fresh attacks.
Abbas Saleh, a taxi driver said he was preparing for evening prayers "when gunshots filled the air with gunmen attacking the police station and shouting Allahu Akbar."
"I abandoned what I was doing and hurried into a nearby shop," he said. "I don't know whether anybody has been killed or injured."
The Islamist group, whose name means "Western Education Is a Sin," is blamed for the deaths of more than 900 people in roughly 160 separate attacks since July 2009.
It has claimed attacks that have killed more than 200 people since the start of this year.
In the leaflet distributed overnight, Boko Haram warned Kano urged residents to "persevere" as it fights "for the entrenchment of an Islamic system."
Some claim the group is increasingly tied to foreign like-minded organisations such as Al-Qaeda, while others say it is pursuing a narrowly domestic agenda and driven by deep-seated religious tensions in Nigeria.
The country is roughly divided between a Christian-majority south and mainly Muslim north and most people live on less than two dollars a day.
As Boko Haram's attacks have escalated its objectives remain largely unnknown.
Heavily criticised over his failure to stem the worsening violence, President Goodluck Jonathan urged the group to enter dialogue in a media interview this week.
But Jonathan's call for talks was "not sincere," purported Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa told journalists by telephone in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, regarded as the group's stronghold.
The group launched an uprising in 2009 that was put down by a brutal military assault.
It fell dormant for about a year before re-emerging in 2010 and is now believed to have a number of different factions, including a hardcore Islamist cell.
Monday, January 23, 2012
At least 150 killed in Nigeria Kano attacks
KANO, Nigeria (AP) — More than 150 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks by a radical Islamist sect in north Nigeria's largest city, according to an internal Red Cross document seen Sunday by an Associated Press reporter.
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan also arrived in Kano on Sunday afternoon to pay his condolences, as military helicopters flew overhead.
A spokesman at Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital in Kano, the city's largest hospital, declined to immediately comment Sunday on the latest count. But the toll of the attacks could be seen all around.
Armed police drove by the hospital in a pickup truck with a corpse wrapped in a white burial shroud. Children outside the hospital sold surgical masks. Once used only for the heavy dust in this sprawling city, the masks are now being used by responders going into the hospital's overflowing mortuary.
Soldiers in bulletproof vests carrying assault rifles with bayonets stood guard at roundabouts in areas where the sect had attacked. At the regional police headquarters in Kano, which sustained particularly heavy damage, soldiers refused access to AP reporters.
Friday's attacks by Boko Haram hit police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria's secret police in Kano, a city of more than 9 million people that remains an important political and religious center in the country's Muslim north.
The coordinated attacks represent the extremist group's deadliest assault since beginning its campaign of terror in Africa's most populous nation.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the multiple attacks, according to a statement.
"The Secretary-General is appalled at the frequency and intensity of recent attacks in Nigeria, which demonstrate a wanton and unacceptable disregard for human life," the statement said.
Ban also expressed "his hope for swift and transparent investigations into these incidents that lead to bringing the perpetrators to justice," according to the statement.
A Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message to journalists Friday. He said the attack came because the state government refused to release Boko Haram members held by the police.
President Goodluck Jonathan also condemned the attacks. But Jonathan's government has repeatedly been unable to stop attacks by Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north. The group has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.
Authorities blamed Boko Haram for at least 510 killings last year alone, according to an AP count, including an August suicide bombing on the U.N. headquarters in the country's capital Abuja. So far this year, the group has been blamed for at least 219 killings, according to an AP count.
Boko Haram recently said it specifically would target Christians living in Nigeria's north, but Friday's attack saw its gunmen kill many Muslims. In a recent video posted to the Internet, Imam Abubakar Shekau, a Boko Harm leader, warned it would kill anyone who "betrays the religion" by being part of or sympathizing with Nigeria's government.
Also Sunday, police say 11 people were killed in an attack in Nigeria's north state of Bauchi.
Bauchi state police commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba said the attack happened overnight. He said the 11 dead included civilians, police and army personnel who were running a checkpoint. Aduba said at least two churches were also attacked in a separate incident in the state.
He did not immediately name who was responsible for the attacks. Bauchi is also a region where Boko Haram has staged attacks before. It is nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) from Kano.
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan also arrived in Kano on Sunday afternoon to pay his condolences, as military helicopters flew overhead.
A spokesman at Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital in Kano, the city's largest hospital, declined to immediately comment Sunday on the latest count. But the toll of the attacks could be seen all around.
Armed police drove by the hospital in a pickup truck with a corpse wrapped in a white burial shroud. Children outside the hospital sold surgical masks. Once used only for the heavy dust in this sprawling city, the masks are now being used by responders going into the hospital's overflowing mortuary.
Soldiers in bulletproof vests carrying assault rifles with bayonets stood guard at roundabouts in areas where the sect had attacked. At the regional police headquarters in Kano, which sustained particularly heavy damage, soldiers refused access to AP reporters.
Friday's attacks by Boko Haram hit police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria's secret police in Kano, a city of more than 9 million people that remains an important political and religious center in the country's Muslim north.
The coordinated attacks represent the extremist group's deadliest assault since beginning its campaign of terror in Africa's most populous nation.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the multiple attacks, according to a statement.
"The Secretary-General is appalled at the frequency and intensity of recent attacks in Nigeria, which demonstrate a wanton and unacceptable disregard for human life," the statement said.
Ban also expressed "his hope for swift and transparent investigations into these incidents that lead to bringing the perpetrators to justice," according to the statement.
A Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message to journalists Friday. He said the attack came because the state government refused to release Boko Haram members held by the police.
President Goodluck Jonathan also condemned the attacks. But Jonathan's government has repeatedly been unable to stop attacks by Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north. The group has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.
Authorities blamed Boko Haram for at least 510 killings last year alone, according to an AP count, including an August suicide bombing on the U.N. headquarters in the country's capital Abuja. So far this year, the group has been blamed for at least 219 killings, according to an AP count.
Boko Haram recently said it specifically would target Christians living in Nigeria's north, but Friday's attack saw its gunmen kill many Muslims. In a recent video posted to the Internet, Imam Abubakar Shekau, a Boko Harm leader, warned it would kill anyone who "betrays the religion" by being part of or sympathizing with Nigeria's government.
Also Sunday, police say 11 people were killed in an attack in Nigeria's north state of Bauchi.
Bauchi state police commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba said the attack happened overnight. He said the 11 dead included civilians, police and army personnel who were running a checkpoint. Aduba said at least two churches were also attacked in a separate incident in the state.
He did not immediately name who was responsible for the attacks. Bauchi is also a region where Boko Haram has staged attacks before. It is nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) from Kano.
World crimes court 'accepts Kadhafi son to be tried in Libya'
Libya said Monday the International Criminal Court has accepted that Seif al-Islam, slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi's son, will be tried by Libyans, a claim which was quickly denied by the tribunal.
"The ICC has accepted that Seif al-Islam will be tried in Libya by the Libyan judiciary," Libya's Justice Minister Ali H'mida Ashur told AFP.
"The trial will take place in Libya. The Libyan justice is competent and we gave the file (on Seif) to the ICC on Friday," Ashur added.
The Hague-based ICC, however, denied Ashur's claims.
"The ICC has made no decision on this matter," court spokesman Fadi el-Abdallah told AFP.
Seif, who was arrested on November 19, is in the custody of the military council of Zintan, a town 180 kilometres (110 miles), southwest of Tripoli.
He is also wanted by the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the conflict in Libya.
The ICC had given Libya until January 23 to mull the possible handing over of Seif al-Islam.
Last month ICC judges had called on Libya's new leaders to inform them as a matter of urgency if and when they intend to hand over Seif and set a January 10 deadline for a response.
But later in a letter, Libya asked for an extension, citing security situation in the country even as it expressed its intentions to prosecute Seif on Libyan soil.
The New-York based Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 2012, has raised concerns over Libya's judicial system.
"Libya’s interim government and its international supporters should make it an urgent priority to build a functioning justice system and begin legal reform that protects human rights after Moamer Kadhafi," the group said in the report.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch said in the report that "independent courts and the rule of law will help ensure stability in a country emerging from four decades of dictatorship and eight months of war."
"The ICC has accepted that Seif al-Islam will be tried in Libya by the Libyan judiciary," Libya's Justice Minister Ali H'mida Ashur told AFP.
"The trial will take place in Libya. The Libyan justice is competent and we gave the file (on Seif) to the ICC on Friday," Ashur added.
The Hague-based ICC, however, denied Ashur's claims.
"The ICC has made no decision on this matter," court spokesman Fadi el-Abdallah told AFP.
Seif, who was arrested on November 19, is in the custody of the military council of Zintan, a town 180 kilometres (110 miles), southwest of Tripoli.
He is also wanted by the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the conflict in Libya.
The ICC had given Libya until January 23 to mull the possible handing over of Seif al-Islam.
Last month ICC judges had called on Libya's new leaders to inform them as a matter of urgency if and when they intend to hand over Seif and set a January 10 deadline for a response.
But later in a letter, Libya asked for an extension, citing security situation in the country even as it expressed its intentions to prosecute Seif on Libyan soil.
The New-York based Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 2012, has raised concerns over Libya's judicial system.
"Libya’s interim government and its international supporters should make it an urgent priority to build a functioning justice system and begin legal reform that protects human rights after Moamer Kadhafi," the group said in the report.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch said in the report that "independent courts and the rule of law will help ensure stability in a country emerging from four decades of dictatorship and eight months of war."
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Jonathan Orders Probe of Ghanaian Intercepted Arms
President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the investigation into the lorry load of arms and ammunition intercepted in Ghana, which were allegedly destined for Nigeria.
THISDAY learnt that investigation so far conducted into the arm smuggling has identified one Prince Eugene Uba, a Nigerian, as the brain behind the smashed arms-running gang
Sources said immediately the news of the interception was brought to the notice of the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana, the president was consequently briefed and in turn, decided to personally stay on top of the situation.
Jonathan, according to sources, was appalled at the development and immediately ordered investigation into the incident and that he should be kept abreast of the findings.
Sources said the intercepted arms and ammunition included hundreds of pump action and double-action guns as well as type AA and BB cartridges, among others.
Reacting to the incident, Nigeria's High Commissioner to Ghana, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, told THISDAY that Nigerian and Ghanaian governments had made significant progress on the matter.
"What we are trying to do now is to send the culprits to Nigeria for further investigations and appropriate action," he added.
He said the Nigerian commission was discussing with the Ghanaian authorities and negotiating the release of those in custody to facilitate their transfer back home for further investigations.
Obanikoro, who indicated his concern over the development, said from his interaction with the driver of the lorry that was the second trip they were making recently.
"Only God knows how many of such trips have been successful. If the driver could admit to having had a successful one earlier and that this was his second, then you can be sure he has made several others. "I am therefore worried but consoled by the fact that the security agencies are on top of this particular development," he said.
Obanikoro, who was optimistic that the arms incident would not be one of many cases usually swept under carpet, said he was hoping that "we'll be able to work with the Ghanaian authorities, and together, we can be on top of situations like this now and in the near future."
The Ghana Police Service which impounded the lorry load of arms last Tuesday said it acted on a tip-off by a resident in the area, adding that five persons - three Ghanaians and two Nigerians - were arrested in connection with the crime.
The suspects, Sunday Eze, Samuel Taiwo and two others are said to be in police custody, assisting with further investigations, the Deputy Commis-sioner of Police for Greater Accra Region, Rose Bio Atinga, said at a press conference
THISDAY learnt that investigation so far conducted into the arm smuggling has identified one Prince Eugene Uba, a Nigerian, as the brain behind the smashed arms-running gang
Sources said immediately the news of the interception was brought to the notice of the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana, the president was consequently briefed and in turn, decided to personally stay on top of the situation.
Jonathan, according to sources, was appalled at the development and immediately ordered investigation into the incident and that he should be kept abreast of the findings.
Sources said the intercepted arms and ammunition included hundreds of pump action and double-action guns as well as type AA and BB cartridges, among others.
Reacting to the incident, Nigeria's High Commissioner to Ghana, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, told THISDAY that Nigerian and Ghanaian governments had made significant progress on the matter.
"What we are trying to do now is to send the culprits to Nigeria for further investigations and appropriate action," he added.
He said the Nigerian commission was discussing with the Ghanaian authorities and negotiating the release of those in custody to facilitate their transfer back home for further investigations.
Obanikoro, who indicated his concern over the development, said from his interaction with the driver of the lorry that was the second trip they were making recently.
"Only God knows how many of such trips have been successful. If the driver could admit to having had a successful one earlier and that this was his second, then you can be sure he has made several others. "I am therefore worried but consoled by the fact that the security agencies are on top of this particular development," he said.
Obanikoro, who was optimistic that the arms incident would not be one of many cases usually swept under carpet, said he was hoping that "we'll be able to work with the Ghanaian authorities, and together, we can be on top of situations like this now and in the near future."
The Ghana Police Service which impounded the lorry load of arms last Tuesday said it acted on a tip-off by a resident in the area, adding that five persons - three Ghanaians and two Nigerians - were arrested in connection with the crime.
The suspects, Sunday Eze, Samuel Taiwo and two others are said to be in police custody, assisting with further investigations, the Deputy Commis-sioner of Police for Greater Accra Region, Rose Bio Atinga, said at a press conference
Ghana TUC calls for inquiry into the attack on journalists
The Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called for an inquiry into the attack on a Daily Guide photographer, Miss Gifty Lawson and others, covering court proceedings at an Accra Human Rights Court in Accra on Thursday.
A statement issued and signed by Mr Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the Union and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Sunday said “information reaching the TUC suggests that not only were the journalists arrested, but in the process they were subjected to severe beatings.”
It noted that they were also threatened with death by gun-toting officers of the BNI for doing no more than their duty as journalist.
The statement explained that the news report have it that Gifty Lawson in particular “was roughly handled in a sexist and Chauvinist manner characteristic of male chauvinist that have little respect for womanhood.”
It said the union wished to state clearly that such conduct was not the type of behaviour expected from the BNI or any other security agencies in the country in the performance of their duties.
It therefore called on the authorities to bring the perpetrators to book to serve as a deterrent to all.
It also reiterated that the days when security agencies of the state acts with impunity were long gone and the people would no longer appease impunity. GNA
A statement issued and signed by Mr Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the Union and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Sunday said “information reaching the TUC suggests that not only were the journalists arrested, but in the process they were subjected to severe beatings.”
It noted that they were also threatened with death by gun-toting officers of the BNI for doing no more than their duty as journalist.
The statement explained that the news report have it that Gifty Lawson in particular “was roughly handled in a sexist and Chauvinist manner characteristic of male chauvinist that have little respect for womanhood.”
It said the union wished to state clearly that such conduct was not the type of behaviour expected from the BNI or any other security agencies in the country in the performance of their duties.
It therefore called on the authorities to bring the perpetrators to book to serve as a deterrent to all.
It also reiterated that the days when security agencies of the state acts with impunity were long gone and the people would no longer appease impunity. GNA
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