ISIS captures 88 Eritrean Christians in Libya

The ISIS terror group kidnapped 88 Eritrean Christians from a people-smugglers' caravan in Libya last week, a U.S. defense official confirmed Monday.

The defense official confirmed initial reports of the mass kidnapping after seeing a recent intelligence report. The convoy was ambushed by militants south of Tripoli before dawn this past Wednesday morning.

Meron Estafanos, the co-founder of the Stockholm-based International Commission on Eritrean Refugees, said that the group of migrants included "about 12 Eritrean Muslims and some Egyptians. They put them in another truck and they put 12 Eritrean women Christians in a smaller pick-up".

Estafanos said that the militants had initially stopped the truck and demanded that the Muslims on board make themselves known. Everyone who responded was asked about the Koran and their religious observance in an attempt to catch Christians pretending to be Muslims.

The main body of the group was put back on the original truck. As the militants drove the vehicle away, at least 9 men attempted to escape by diving off the back of the truck. Estefanos said 3 of those who had escaped were safe, but still trying to get out of Libya. The fate of the others was not known.

Libya has become a jumping-off point for thousands of migrants from the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa who attempt the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to southern Europe. However, Libya's ongoing instability has led to an increased presence by ISIS and other terror groups, increasing the risk for Christians and other non-Muslims attempting the crossing.

Read More

Gunmen kill Nigerian businessman in South Africa

A Nigerian businessman based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Mr Emmanuel Onyekaozuru, 50, was killed on Sunday by gunmen. The President of Nigeria Union in South Africa, Mr Ikechukwu Anyene, on Monday told newsmen in Pretoria, South Africa, that Onyekaozuru was shot by two gunmen.
‘’ The union has received a report that a Nigerian businessman, Emmanuel Onyekaozuru, was shot in his business premises at 9.00 p.m. yesterday (June 7). ‘’ The report said that the gunmen shot the deceased and escaped in a car.
‘’ The incident has been reported to the police and the Nigerian Consul General in South Africa,’’ he said. Anyene said that the union would work with the consul general and the police to ensure that justice was done in the case.
‘’ Mr Onyekaozuru is the only son of his parents. He is married with three children. ‘’ He is an indigene of Abatete in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State,’’ he said.
Anyene also said that the gunmen did not remove anything from the business premises of the deceased. ‘’This is one death too many and we are not happy that a Nigerian has been killed,’’ he said.

Read More

BOKO HARAM: 43 Boko Haram child soldiers rescued in Borno state

43 Boko Haram child soldiers have been rescued by the Chadian army in Damasak, Borno state. Spokesperson of Chadian Army, Col. Azem Agouna, while revealing this yesterday April 22nd, said the children, all aged between 12 and above and of Chadian nationality managed to escape during the clashes between insurgents and soldiers, while local families helped them to hide from the militias.

He explained that when it was certain that Boko Haram had been defeated and would not return to the town, the children came out of their hiding places and asked Chadian security forces for help. The spokesman said the children have been repatriated back to Chad while a full scale investigation into how they were abducted will be launched.

Read More

Government forces invade Nigeria’s Sambisa Forest, last known stronghold of Boko Haram

BAUCHI, NIGERIA – Nigerian forces backed by warplanes invaded Islamist group Boko Haram’s last known stronghold, the Sambisa Forest, on Wednesday, in an effort to finally defeat their six-year-old insurgency, two military sources said.

Armies from Nigeria and neighbors Chad, Niger and Cameroon have in the past two months launched a concerted push to try to crush the insurgents, who have killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds in their battle to establish an Islamic state.

The Sambisa forest in northeast Nigeria, a vast former colonial game reserve, is about 100 km (60 miles) from the village of Chibok from where Boko Haram abducted more than 200 secondary schoolgirls a year ago. Intelligence officials had believed that this was where they were being held, although U.S. reconnaissance drones have failed to find them.

U.N. Special Representative for West Africa Mohamed Ibn Chambas said this month that Boko Haram militants seeking shelter in the Sambisa Forest may be using some of the captured girls as human shields.

A spokesman for the military was not immediately available for comment.

An official in the Chadian army said Chadian and Cameroonian troops were ready to attack Sambisa, which lies near the Cameroon border, from the other side and would move in soon.

Chadian troops were assembling in Mora, northern Cameroon, ahead of the joint operation, a Cameroonian army official said.

The militants controlled an area the size of Belgium at the start of the year, but have since lost much of that ground.

Yet they remain a deadly threat to civilians, as illustrated on Friday when they slit the throats of 12 people in northeast Nigeria as the army was trying to evacuate the area around the former Boko Haram headquarters of Gwoza.

Failure to crush Boko Haram or protect civilians was one reason President Goodluck Jonathan lost an election on March 28 to Muhammadu Buhari, who has pledged to spare no effort in battling the militants after he is sworn in on May 29.

Buhari also said he would do everything possible to rescue the Chibok girls, but could not promise to find them.

Read More

Nigeria protests to S. Africa over anti-immigrant attacks

JOHANNESBURG: Nigeria has complained to South Africa about a wave of attacks targeting foreigners and called on Pretoria to punish the culprits and compensate the victims, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Junior Foreign Minister Musiliu Obanikoro summoned South Africa’s High Commissioner Lulu Mnguni “to register Nigeria’s protest over the ongoing xenophobic attacks against fellow Africans in South Africa”.
“In the meeting, ambassador Obanikoro condemned the attacks on foreigners in South Africa, expressing concern on the fate of Nigerians and indeed of other nationals who are migrants in the country,” said a statement from his office.
South Africa needed to take “concrete steps to quell the unrest and bring the culprits involved to book” to act as a deterrent and prevent further violence, the statement added.
“He also called on the South African authorities to compensate the victims of these attacks,” the ministry said.
Soldiers were deployed overnight to tackle gangs hunting down and killing foreigners after at least seven people died in violence in the last few weeks.
Meanwhile, South African police and soldiers raided a hostel considered a hotspot for anti-immigrant attacks on Wednesday.
Police spokesman Lieut. Kay Makhubela said that 11 men were arrested Tuesday night in a bid to snuff out any further unrest. He said police were accompanied by the South African military.
Makhubela said the residents of the dilapidated block in downtown Johannesburg were believed to have looted foreign-owned shops in recent weeks. He said police met no resistance as they seized stolen goods and bags of marijuana.
Police said no new incidents of violence targeting foreigners were reported overnight in Johannesburg or in the coastal city of Durban, where the attacks began.

Read More

S’Africa deploys troops to quell attacks on foreigners

South Africa deployed troops Tuesday to anti-immigrant hotspots to help quell xenophobic violence in which at least seven people were killed and shops run by immigrants were looted.
Defense Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told the media that it is the right time for the country to deploy its troops to restore order in affected areas.
The deaths of seven people in recent violence against migrants necessitates the deployment of troops, Mapisa-Nqakula said. But she said the army “will not take the lead, it is the police who must provide the leadership.”
The deployment will start in Alexandra, a township of Johannesburg, where a Mozambican national was stabbed to death at the weekend – the latest killing in the riot.
The government had resisted earlier calls to deploy troops, insisting the police could handle the situation.
“It’s not too late at all, precisely because we are not a military state,” Mapisa-Nqakula told a press briefing in Johannesburg.
The South African National Defense Force is awaiting assessment from police to decide whether to deploy more troops, she said.
State Security Minister David Mahlobo said at the press briefing that it would be a joint operation.
“The police have done their best, but now they have requested assistance in volatile areas.” he said.
The move comes as violence re-flared up in Isipingo and Durban on Tuesday despite relative calm in other areas.
Some South Africans attacked foreigners who wanted to reopen their businesses in Isipingo, a town that has been hit hard in recent attacks, police spokesperson Daniel Dunia said.
Some mobs went to immigrants’ homes, chased them out of their houses and took their belongings, and some foreigners were beaten up, said the spokesperson.
Dunia urged immigrants to stay in the temporary camps and not to return to their homes at present as the situation remained tense.
Authorities have set up three camps in areas like Isipingo to house thousands of immigrants displaced by the violence.

Read More

BOKO HARAM: ABOUT 100 BOYS MADE ORPHANS BY BOKO HARAM ATTACK IN KANO

About 100 boys orphaned by Boko Haram members in Borno State were at the Kano Government House today April 21st. The state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso announced that a boarding Primary School has been built for them with full sponsorship that will be provided by the state government.

Read More

3 weeks later, another INEC office razed by fire in same zone

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) area office in Katsina-Ala, Benue, was razed by fire in the early hours of Sunday, April 19, NAN reports.

No sensitive materials were lost to the inferno, according to the Commission.

INEC Public Relations Officer in Benue, Louis Ochai, said the commission had removed sensitive materials, such as card readers, from the building immediately after the elections.

In the past three weeks, two other INEC offices had been razed by in the senatorial zone, the April 19 incident makes it the third.

The office serves as the commission’s collation centre for the Benue North-East Senatorial District

Read More

Election 2015: Niger Governor, Aliyu, says Jonathan was the cause of PDP’s Downfall

The Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, on Friday attributed the defeat of his party, Peoples Democratic Party, in the presidential election and governorship elections in some state to President Goodluck Jonathan’s refusal to honour a single term pact allegedly reached by its leaders.The governor spoke in Minna at a convocation lecture of the Federal University of Technology where he was the guest of honour.

The lecture was titled, The Role of Law in the Enhancement of Socio-Economic Growth of the Nation.
Mr. Aliyu, who also lost the May 28 senatorial election to represent Niger East Senatorial District, said he and some of the party’s leaders saw the defeat coming.

“Many of us saw it coming,” he said. “When I reminded us (that President Goodluck Jonathan had agreed to run for one term), they nearly crucified me. When I led the G7 (group of seven aggrieved PDP governors), they did not do what we wanted them to do until five members left and they did what we asked them to do.”

While facing Mr. Jonathan’s political adviser, Rufai Alkali, who also attended the ceremony, Mr. Aliyu recounted how he was nearly crucified two years ago when he spoke about the one-term agreement on a programme on Liberty Radio, Kaduna.

“I recall also that when APC (All Progressives Congress) came on board (emerged as a political party), I was the first person to say I was very happy now, we have a strong party to put PDP on its toes and many people were asking, ‘Are you really a member?’” Mr. Aliyu recounted.

“Up until the last elections, the allegation against me had always been that I was a supporter of APC; and now, you have seen the results.”

The governor also said there could be other reasons for PDP’s poor outing during the polls, among which was the desire by Nigerians to have a change.

“Nigerians wanted a change and Nigerians got the change,” Mr. Alkali said. “You will have many reasons. One, PDP has been around for 16 years and there is no way you will be around for 16 years and you will not make mistakes.

“So, there are many reasons that will be put together and we will be able to understand and guide people.”

Mr. Aliyu also said corruption does not only mean stealing of money but also engaging in malpractices.

He asked Nigerians to refrain from what could destroy the country’s economy.

Read More

xenophobic attacks in South Africa affected 50 Nigerian

The Nigerian Union in South Africa has said it has concluded arrangements to resettle 50 Nigerians affected by the ongoing xenophobic attacks.

The President of the union, Ikechukwu Anyene, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on phone from Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday.

Mr. Anyene said the Nigerians were displaced at Jeppes Town, near Johannesburg.

“We met about 300 Nigerians in Jeppes town, near Johannesburg, who fled for their safety and about 50 of them do not have any place to stay.

“We are making arrangements with the Nigerian mission in South Africa to get them a place to stay for their safety.

“The Nigerian union has also presented relief materials to those affected by the attacks and we are in touch with various branch chapters of the union in the provinces on their safety and security,’’ he said.

According to him, Nigerian shops and businesses in Durban and Johannesburg have been looted and some burnt.

He said that two shops belonging to Nigerians in Durban were looted and they lost goods worth 400,000 Rand.

“In Jeppes Town, near Johannesburg, five shops were looted and one burnt while the estimated loss is put at One million Rand.

“The incidents have been reported to the police and we are still taking stock of attacks on Nigerians,’’ he said.

Mr. Anyene reiterated the union’s call to the Federal Government to put more pressure on the South African government to halt the attacks.

The Nigerian foreign minister had however claimed on Thursday that Nigerians had so far not been attacked, saying it would only evacuate Nigerians only if the situation gets worse.

“With the discussions I have been having with Nigeria’s Head of Mission in Pretoria, no Nigeria​n ​has so far been affected,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali said Thursday in Abuja.​

​”They informed me that they have called the Nigerian community and addressed them and told them to close their shops, stay home and keep out of trouble and obey the laws of South Africa.

“They have also confirmed that the South African authority has moved in to take actions that would forestall any further disturbance in South Africa,” Mr. Wali said.

Mr. Wali said it will move to evacuate Nigerian citizens if the xenophobic attacks get worse.

“If it gets worse it is the duty of our country to make sure our people are brought back, and we are taking that duty serious.

​”We are not prepared to allow any of our nationals to be subjected to such inhuman treatment.

“We are monitoring the situation and will now take action according to the situation that develops,” he said.
Xenophobia in South Africa dates back to 1994 and are mainly targeted at citizens of other African Countries.

In May 2008 a series of xenophobic attack left 62 people dead.

In the current attack, at least five people have been killed and hundreds forced to flee their homes in one of South Africa’s worst outbreaks of xenophobic violence in years.

Read More