Joseph
White House does not rule out Haiti request for U.S. troops
The United States is still reviewing a request for troops made by Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph to help secure key infrastructure after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday. Psaki said Haiti’s political leadership remains unclear and that it was vital for the country’s leaders to come together to chart a united path forward. Moise was shot dead early on Wednesday at his Port-au-Prince home by what Haitian authorities describe as a unit of assassins formed of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. Haitian police said on Sunday they had arrested another key suspect. The death of the president has plunged the troubled country into deeper turmoil, and U.S. officials traveled there on Sunday to assess the situation and ...
Leaked testimony from Haiti suspects says plan was to arrest, not kill president
A group of Colombians and Haitian Americans suspected of assassinating Haitian President Jovenel Moise told investigators they were there to arrest him, not kill him, the Miami Herald and a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday. Moise was shot dead early on Wednesday at his Port-au-Prince home by what Haitian authorities say was a unit of assassins made up of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, plunging the troubled Caribbean nation into deeper turmoil. The murder and uncertainty about who hatched the plot is the latest in a succession of blows to hit the struggling country, which has appealed for international help. Washington has so far rebuffed Haiti’s request for troops, though a senior U.S. official said on Sunday that Washington was sending a technical team to assess th...
Haiti asks US, UN to send troops after president’s assassination
Haiti has asked Washington and the UN for troops to secure its ports, airport and other strategic sites after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise opened a power vacuum in the crisis-hit Caribbean nation, an official said Friday. The United States has already said it will send FBI and other agents to Port-au-Prince, two days after Moise was shot dead in his home. In the wake of the slaying “we thought that mercenaries could destroy some infrastructure to create chaos … During a conversation with the US secretary of state and the UN we made this request,” elections minister Mathias Pierre told AFP. The US State Department and Pentagon both confirmed receiving a request for “security and investigative assistance” and said officials remain in contact with Port-au-Prince, but did not s...
Haiti police say they have president’s suspected killers, still hunting masterminds
Haiti’s police has killed or apprehended the suspected killers of President Jovenel Moise, officials said on Thursday, and are hunting for the masterminds behind the assassination that stunned the impoverished Caribbean nation. Moise, 53, was shot dead early on Wednesday at his home by what officials said was a commando of apparently foreign, trained killers, pitching the poorest country in the Americas deeper into turmoil amidst political divisions, hunger, and widespread gang violence. Police Chief Leon Charles said in a televised briefing on Thursday that authorities had tracked down the suspected assassins to a house near the scene of the crime in Petionville, a northern suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince. A fierce firefight lasted late into the night and six suspects were taken in c...
Italian priest recalls coronavirus ‘nightmare’ of coffin-filled church
On the wall of St. Joseph’s Church hangs a black-and-white photograph with a caption remembering when the Italian parish of Seriate gave 270 people emergency “hospitality” last year – coffins of the dead from COVID-19, sometimes up to 40 at a time. The hosts were Father Mario Carminati, 65, and Marcello Crotti, 46, who opened up the church to give the deceased a dignified temporary place of rest so they would not have to wait in a warehouse for burial or cremation. “For me it was a nightmare, but I didn’t have the opportunity to think about it a lot because when you find yourself in the middle of an emergency you have to rush and act according to your instinct,” Carminati, the senior priest in Seriate, said. A year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic in northern Italy was spiralling and the provinc...
Oyo ADC: We’ll stand by Senator Lanlehin in whatever political decision he makes
The Oyo State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has reaffirmed support and loyalty to its governorship candidate in the 2019 elections, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, promising to stand by him in “whatever political decisions he makes.” The party stated this in a communiqué at the end of its meeting held in Ibadan, at the weekend, against the background of the breakdown of the coalition over non-fulfilment of the agreement reached before the election. Senator Lanlehin and Chief Sharafadeen Alli of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) are two major governorship candidates that dropped their aspiration to support the candidature of Makinde in the election. ADC leadership, in the communiqué jointly signed by Reverend Ezekiel Adeniran and Pastor David Orolade, acting state chairman and assistan...
Kaduna denies report on abduction along Abuja-Kaduna Highway
The Kaduna State government has denied media reports on the abduction of travelers along the Kaduna-Abuja highway on Thursday. The government said there was no such incident on that day as reported by some news platforms. The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, alongside the Police Commissioner, Umar Musa Muri and Operation Thunder Strike Sector Commander, Colonel Ibrahim Gambari, led journalists to the location where the said abduction was said to have taken place to interact with residents of the area. Aruwan pointed out that their findings revealed that contrary to what was reported, nobody was abducted on that day. “The Operation Thunder Strike team is working on this road. The police too are working here, Operation Puff Adder, the Intelligence Response ...
Delta governor warns violators of inter-state lockdown
Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has warned unauthorized vehicles entering the state will be impounded while the operators will be made to face the wrath of the enabling laws. President Muhammadu Buhari had declared inter-state lockdown across the country to curtail the spread of COVID-19. Okowa handed down the warning while monitoring the level of compliance at some boundaries between Delta and neighbouring states of Edo and Anambra. The governor was at the River Niger Bridge which borders Delta and Anambra and Alifekede, the boundary between Delta and Edo. He expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance but was quick to remind security agents and members of the state’s COVID-19 task force at the boundaries that only vehicles carrying agricultural products and those on esse...
