United Nations
UNODC: General Marwa’s NDLEA appointment a positive sign
Oliver Stolpe, country representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), says he is confident Mohammed Marwa, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), will excel in his new position. According to a release signed by Jonah Achema of the public affairs unit of NDLEA, Stolpes said the appointment of Marwa is a positive sign and has renewed global confidence in Nigeria’s drug control capability. “We have every confidence in your ability to deliver,” Stolpe said during a courtesy visit to the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja on Monday. He said the UNODC is in support of the National Drug Control Master Plan and other drug control documents being developed by NDLEA in its bid to wipe out illicit drugs in the country. “As a technical assistance provider, whic...
Ex-Nigerian ambassador Bolere Ketebu passes on
Dr. Bolere Elizabeth Ketebu, former Nigerian Ambassador to Ireland is dead. She was 66 years old. Her death was made known by President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday. In a statement, Buhari condoled with the Ketebu family, the Bayelsa State government, as well as friends and professional colleagues of Dr Bolere Ketebu, The President said the former ambassador served her country creditably in several capacities. She was at one time President National Council of Women Societies, Secretary to Bayelsa State government and a member House of Representatives between 1992 and 1993. In September 2001, she was elected Advisor, Habitat to the International Council of Women (ICW). She was elected in 2003 as International Board Member to ICW, position she held till 2009. As a board member, she coordinated...
China possibly committed ‘genocide’ against Xinjiang Muslims
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) said on Thursday that new evidence had emerged in the past year that “crimes against humanity – and possibly genocide – are occurring”. The CECC also accused China of harassing Uighurs in the US. China has been widely condemned for setting up complexes in Xinjiang that it describes as “vocational training centres” to stamp out “extremism” and give people new skills, but others have called them concentration camps. The United Nations says at least one million Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained in Xinjiang. Faith leaders, activist groups and others have said crimes against humanity, including genocide, are taking place there. Beijing denies abuse accusations. The CECC report called for a formal US “determination on whether atro...
Telegraph: Britain to tighten laws on imports linked to alleged Chinese human rights abuses
Britain will tighten the law on importing goods linked to alleged human rights abuses in China as ministers take a tougher stance on Beijing, The Telegraph reported on Monday. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will make a statement on Tuesday in the House of Commons on the government’s response to allegations of forced labour in China’s Xinjiang province, home to about 12 million Uighur Muslims, the report bit.ly/2LKt2Fe added. Among the measures expected to be unveiled by the government include expansion of the Modern Slavery Act, reacting to concerns that items manufactured under duress by the Uighur Muslim minority may be entering the UK, the Telegraph reported. Britain said last year there was credible, growing and troubling evidence of forced labour among Uighur Muslims. China has come u...
CAN accuses Anambra governor of religious bigotry
File Photo Chairman, Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Anambra State, Rev. Ndubuisi John, has accused Governor Willie Obiano of marginalising the Christian body in the state. He said the marginalisation was informed by his non-Catholic disposition, describing it as religious bigotry. John who was honoured yesterday in Onitsha by the United Nations Peace and Positive Living Awareness Centre as an ‘Ambassador for World Peace’, lamented that several efforts made by the body to meet with the Governor since he assumed office as the CAN chairman had been unsuccessful. He said, “One should imagine it is religious bigotry, it depends on one’s perception, if I were to be an Anglican or Roman Catholic Bishop, he would not have treated me that way. “I think that the government should not abe...
UN chief elated over release of Kankara schoolboys
The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has expressed delight over the release of students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State. Guterres, in a statement issued in New York, United States, by his Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Haq, welcomed the release of the abducted children. “The Secretary-General welcomes the release on 17 December of some of the children who were abducted from a secondary school in Katsina State, Nigeria, on 11 December. He commends the swift action taken by the Nigerian authorities to rescue the children and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of those who remain abducted. He stresses the importance that the released children and their families are provided with the necessary health and psychosocial support,” Haq s...
U.S. senators seek possible sanctions over Ethiopia conflict abuses
Two U.S. senators have called on their government to consider imposing sanctions on any political or military officials found to be responsible for human rights violations during a month of conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. The proposed resolution was introduced on Wednesday by Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat, and Senator Jim Risch, a Republican. It was the first such call by U.S. lawmakers since war between Ethiopian federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) broke out on Nov. 4. The conflict is thought to have killed thousands and displaced more than 950,000 people, according to United Nations estimates, about 50,000 of them into Sudan. Concern has mounted over reports of civilians targeted by both sides, posing a policy dilemma for the United States, whic...
United Nations, Ethiopia reach aid pact for war-hit Tigray
Ethiopia and the United Nations reached an agreement on Wednesday to channel desperately needed humanitarian aid to a northern region where a month of war has killed, wounded and uprooted large numbers of people. The pact, announced by U.N. officials, will allow aid workers access to government-controlled areas of Tigray, where federal troops have been battling the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and captured the regional capital. The war is believed to have killed thousands, sent 45,000 refugees into Sudan, displaced many more within Tigray, and worsened suffering in a region where 600,000 people were already dependent on food aid even before the flare-up from Nov. 4. Aid agencies had sounded the alarm about a growing humanitarian crisis and been pressing for access, after hundred...
South Africa becomes new head of UN Security Council
South Africa on Tuesday assumed the rotating monthly presidency of the United Nations Security Council. During the month, South Africa will focus on strengthening the cooperation between African Union (AU) and United Nations, and emphasising the importance of a proactive approach to the maintenance of international peace and security, particularly in the form of drawing greater attention to “preventative diplomacy mechanisms,” Jerry Matjila, permanent representative of South Africa to the UN and president of the Security Council for the month of December, told journalists during a hybrid press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York. This is South Africa’s second presidency during its two-year (2019-2020) elected term on the council. December will also be the country’s final month on t...
UN: Over 110 people killed in attack on Borno rice field
United Nations (UN) has revealed that not less than 110 civilians were killed by Boko Haram in the attack on a rice field in Borno State. Earlier reports had put the death toll of Saturday’s deadly Boko Haram attack on rice field in Borno at 43 while several others were said to be missing. A statement by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Edward Kallon, on Sunday, while describing the attack as horrifying, said not less than 110 people were killed with many other persons injured in one the deadliest attack by the terrorist group, who have laid siege to the Northeast for over a decade. Kallon said: “I am outraged and horrified by the gruesome attack against civilians carried out by non-state armed groups in villages near Borno State capital Maiduguri. “At least 110 ...
Tigray unrest: Sudan needs $150 million to help Ethiopian refugees – UN
UNHCR Sudan needs $150 million in aid to cope with the flood of Ethiopian refugees crossing its border from conflict-stricken Tigray, the UN refugee agency chief said Saturday during a visit to a camp. The Tigray conflict broke out on November 4 between Ethiopia’s federal forces and leaders of the region’s ruling party. Sudan has since hosted more than 43,000 Ethiopian refugees fleeing from the intense fighting into one of its most impoverished regions. “Sudan needs $150 million for six months to provide these refugees water, shelter and health services,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi at Um Raquba camp, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the border. Grandi called on “donors to provide Sudan with these resources as soon as they can”. Between 500 and 600 refugees are ...
Anti-coup protests ring out in Myanmar’s main city
The din of banging pots and honking car horns reverberated through Myanmar’s biggest city of Yangon late on Tuesday in the first widespread protest against the military coup that overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The party of the detained Nobel Peace laureate called for her release by the junta that seized power on Monday and is keeping her at an undisclosed location. It also demanded recognition of her victory in a November election. A senior official from her National League for Democracy (NLD) said he had learned she was in good health a day after her arrest in a military takeover that derailed Myanmar’s tentative progress towards full democracy. The U.N. Security Council was due to meet later on Tuesday amid calls for a strong global response to the military’s latest seizure o...