Day: July 27, 2022

KANO (Nigeria)— Thirteen scrap-metal collectors in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state were killed when a bomb they excavated blew up, security sources said.

Sixteen metal scavengers from a displaced persons’ camp in Bama found the bomb while digging for scrap on Monday in the bush on the outskirts of town.

“The bomb exploded as they were pushing it in a cart toward the town, killing 13 and seriously injuring three,” Babakura Kolo, a leader in a local anti-jihadist militia, said.

Kolo said the ordnance had apparently been dropped in 2015, when the military bombed jihadist positions during operations to retake Bama from Boko Haram.

Nigeria’s military is battling to end a 13-year jihadist insurgency in the country’s northeast that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced 2.2 million more.

“It was dormant for seven years and buried in the sand but they managed to dig it out, not knowing it was a bomb,” said a second militia leader, Bukar Grema, who gave the same toll.

Boko Haram seized Bama in 2014 when they took over swathes of territory in northern Borno and declared a Caliphate.

In March 2015 Nigerian troops aided by Chadian soldiers clawed back most of the territory after months-long intensive ground and aerial operations.

Residents who had fled the town returned three years later, with many of them living in displaced camps as the town was substantially destroyed during the fighting to retake it.

Most of the displaced who live in camps rely on food handouts from aid agencies, forcing many to turn to felling trees in the arid region for firewood and scavenging for metal scraps which they sell to buy food.

Jihadists have been targeting scrap collectors, accusing them of spying for troops and the militia fighting them.

Last month IS-linked Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters killed 10 scavengers in Goni Kurmi village near Bama where they had gone looking for metal, a week after they killed 23 collectors in nearby Dikwa district.

Source: Nam News Network

Authorities in Benin and Togo must ensure that the fight against armed groups respects human rights, Amnesty International said today, amid reports of arbitrary arrests and detentions and violations of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, and as French President Emmanuel Macron visits Benin on 27 and 28 July 2022.

People have been arbitrarily arrested and detained in both countries, including on the basis of community affiliation. In Togo, at least two opposition party assemblies were banned on the pretext of national security, and the editor of a newspaper was summoned by an administrative authority for reporting on suspicions of a “blunder” by the army in the death of seven children – claims which later turned out to be true, according to testimonies gathered by Amnesty International.

Security forces are committing human rights violations in the context of the fight against armed groups in Benin and Togo, particularly against members of the Fulani ethnic group. There is a risk that human rights violations will become systematic and worsen, as is the case in neighbouring countries that have been fighting the same armed groups for several years. The Beninese and Togolese authorities must put an end to this now.”

“The threat of armed groups is also being used as a pretext to restrict civil and political rights. In his upcoming discussions with the Beninese authorities, French President Macron must not gloss over these abuses in the name of a common global fight against terrorism, or France’s economic and political interests.”

Since the end of 2021, the northern regions of Benin and Togo have been subject to increasingly frequent and deadly attacks attributed to Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda-linked armed group formed in Mali that now extends to the northern regions of several countries in the Gulf of Guinea.

State of emergency

The authorities of Benin and Togo have adopted exceptional measures in response to attacks by armed groups.

On 13 June 2022, a state of security emergency was established in the northern Savanes region of Togo for 90 days, which authorizes “the prohibition of movement and assembly of people on the public highway”, and allows the police and military to question nany person whose behaviour may lead to the belief that there is a risk that this person could commit an attack”, according to comments made on national television by the Minister of Territorial Administration.

On 29 June 2022, the Beninese authorities announced that “any refusal or abstention to collaborate with the Security and Defence Forces and local authorities in the fight against terrorism will be considered as support to armed groups and treated as such”.

As reaffirmed in a resolution on the Rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in July 2022, emergency measures must be necessary, proportionate to the assessed risk and applied in a lawful and non-discriminatory manner, even in times of crisis. They cannot be legitimately used to justify a crackdown on the exercise of human rights, especially in a context where people are likely to be intimidated or threatened by armed groups.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions

In north-east Benin on 19 March 2022, a 70-year-old man was arrested by the police in the town of Tanguiéta, in the Atacora Department bordering Burkina-Faso. He was released almost two weeks later without being charged. First, he was taken on a days-long 587km journey from Tanguiéta to Cotonou on the southern coast, followed by a week in detention there.

“He had come to Tanguiéta to take someone to hospital. When he left the hospital the police appeared and asked him if he was Fulani. He replied that he was, and he was taken away with several other men arrested the same day,” said one of his relatives, whose anonymity has been preserved to ensure their safety.

“During the journey the police hit them on the back with the butt of their guns. They drove at night and remained in custody during the day. One of the policemen told them that it is the Fulani who kill the policemen.”

In Togo, several dozen people were arbitrarily arrested on 16 May 2022 in the town of Timbou in the Savanes region on the basis of their membership of the Fulani ethnic group, according to the testimony of two people interviewed by Amnesty International. They were detained by the military forces of Timbou, Dapaong, Biankouri and Cinkassè without access to a lawyer, photographed and released on 20 and 21 May 2022 without being charged.

In Kpinkankandi, a man was arrested at his home by soldiers on the night of 24 May 2022 and taken to detention in Dapaong, where he remains.

“The military told him that a wanted person had entered his house. They handcuffed him and put him in a cell at the Mandouri gendarmerie before transferring him to the Borgou gendarmerie, where he remains until now,” said one of his relatives.

“We do not understand the reason for his detention, as no documents have been communicated to us. One of our neighbours was arrested in the same conditions and is still in detention in Dapaong.”

‘Turning point’ for peaceful assemblies and the human right to expression

Several assemblies of opposition political parties have been banned in recent months by the authorities in Togo under the pretext of national security, while assemblies of the ruling party have been authorized.

On 22 June 2022, the Ministry of Security and Civil Protection banned a scheduled assembly of a coalition of opposition parties stating that “the current worrying sub-regional and national security context, marked in particular by volatility and unpredictability, is likely to compromise ongoing efforts to preserve public order and national security”. On 29 June 2022, the prefect of Agoe-Nyieve banned a scheduled assembly of the opposition party citing the “current sub-regional and national security context and the need to preserve security and public order”.

The right to freedom of expression is also under threat. On 11 July 2022, Togo’s High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication summoned the director-in-chief of the daily newspaper Liberté following a front page referring to a possible “blunder” in the death of seven children in the village of Margba on 9 July 2022. The army later acknowledged responsibility for the deaths of the children, who were killed after being targeted by an aircraft that “mistook them for a column of jihadists”.

In Benin, two journalists were arrested near Pendjari Park while investigating the African Parks organization. Suspected of espionage, they were arrested and detained for four days outside of any legal framework.

Benin and Togo are at a turning point as they are increasingly targeted by armed groups. The international community, including France, must impress on the authorities of these two countries on the need to fulfil their international obligations in terms of human rights and humanitarian law, and by ensuring that the security context does not serve the abusive/arbitrary practices observed in recent months.

Background

Benin has experienced nearly twenty attacks by armed groups since the end of 2021, according to the vice-president as reported by Agence France-Presse, although authorities have only communicated some of them. Togo has suffered at least four attacks targeting members of the defence and security forces and civilians since November 2021.

Source: Amnesty international

DAR ES SALAAM— Eight children and two adults suspected to be a teacher and their driver have died in an early morning accident in Tanzania’s coastal town of Mikindani, Mtwara.

Though the Police is yet to confirm the cause and circumstances of the accident, the van is said to belong to King David Primary School.

The bus, according to pictures that The Citizen has seen, veered off the road and plunged into a ridge leaving several children dead and injured.

Several children injured in the accident were seen lying by the roadside after rescuers came to their aid.

In another development, President Samia Suhulu Hassan has sent a message of condolences to the bereaved families and wished the injured a quick recovery.

In a tweet, she wrote: I am saddened by the deaths of 8 pupils of King David primary school and 2 adults that happened this morning in Mtwara- Mikindani after their school bus plunged into a ditch. I offer my condolences to the bereaved, the Regional Commissioner and relatives. May Allah have mercy on the deceased and heal the injured.

Source: Nam News Network

ACCRA— Ghana President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on African leaders to create opportunities that would make their countries attractive to their citizens in order to reap the dividends of the continent’s human capital.

He emphasized that countries of Africa must create conditions conducive for economic growth and prosperity to curtail the mass migration out of Africa to Europe and the Americas, where Africans only enjoy second class status.

“We, the political leaders of our countries, carry the responsibility to help take Africa out of poverty, to help grow our economies, and to help bring prosperity,” he said when Speaking at the opening of the 19th plenary assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) in Accra on Tuesday.

The six-day plenary assembly which has drawn some 130 participants including cardinals, Bishops, representatives of Church institutions from Africa, the Vatican, Europe and the Americas, is being held under the theme “Ownership of SECAM: Security and migration in Africa and its Islands.”

Akufo-Addo told the gathering that security and migration in Africa are at the very heart of problems that beset the continent.

He said the first responsibility that the state owed to its people was to establish its security and stability.

“Everything else grows out of a secure and stable state. Some 60 odd years since most African countries gained their independence, the African peoples have a right to expect to live in secure and stable countries.

“After the great promise and excitement of the early years of independence, political freedom, unfortunately, did not deliver the economic prosperity we hoped for, instead, our continent was plagued with political instability, manifested mostly by military coups and widespread poverty,” he said.

The President noted that the absence of security and stability had led to Africa’s youth losing confidence they could build successful futures in their home countries, and “migration to Europe and America became the main aspiration of African youth.”

“I doubt there will ever be a more depressing phenomenon than our young people thinking of and embarking on the perilous journey across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe.”

President Akufo-Addo pointed that until African nations created the atmosphere that would engender hope, incidents like the recent killing and brutalization of hundreds of young people who tried to force their way into the European enclave of Melilla where Europe has a land border with Africa, would “simply be added to the long list of incidents in which young Africans are humiliated and lose their lives in their attempt to reach Europe.”

He said though migration had positive aspects, including the infusion of skills and new energy in the countries of destination, the reality was that “if the country from which you start your journey of migration is prospering, you will be treated with respect wherever you go.”

“But, if our young people subject themselves to the intolerable and inhumane conditions of crossing the Sahara and drowning in the Mediterranean, in the hope of making a living in Europe, there is no chance of their being treated with respect when they do make it to Europe, nor can those of us left behind ever hope to be treated with respect by the rest of the world.”

Thus, the President charged his opposites in Africa to carry the responsibility to help take the continent out of poverty, and to “help grow our economies, and to help bring prosperity.”

“We have the responsibility to make our countries attractive to the citizens, and for the young people to have reason to believe they have a future here, and not risk their lives trying to get into parts of the world where they and their generations remain second class citizens.

“We cannot build this happy and prosperous society we aspire to unless we lead rounded lives. It means we must give equal attention to the training of the Head, the Heart and the Hand… The Head alone will not take us to the promised land, nor will the Hand alone take us, we need a citizenry that pays equal attention to the Head, the Hand and the Heart to be able to build a successful society,” he added.

Source: Nam News Network