Category: Legal Judicial

The 72 artifacts that the Horniman museum agreed to return include 12 of the famous Benin Bronzes – symbolic of the ancient Benin Kingdom in southern Nigeria.

The museum said in a statement Sunday it was moral and appropriate to return the artifacts, stating the objects were taken by force during the British military invasion of Nigeria in 1897.

Nigerian authorities have praised the gesture. The National Commission for Museums and Monuments said it is a breakthrough after a meeting with the museum authorities in March this year, and they say they’re looking forward to loan agreements and collaborations with the museum.

Babatunde Adebiyi is a legal director at the museum commission.

“We’re simply very happy for Horniman museums and gardens to have kept their word. They have made a just determination of the issue by returning these antiquities. Some of these antiquities might be loaned to [the] Horniman museum for a period.”

For years Nigeria has been negotiating the return of thousands of looted artefacts to their cultural bases in the southern party of Nigeria.

The antiquities were mostly taken from the palace of the Benin Kingdom during the colonial era.

As more are returned, authorities aim to set up a museum in Benin to store them, says Adebiyi.

“We’re proposing and working hard toward having a royal museum in Benin city near the oba’s [king’s] palace. All these things are meant to house these antiquities. Apart from that, museums like the Lagos museum can provide adequate facilities.”

Nigeria center for Liberty’s Ariyo Dare Atoye welcomes the development.

“It’s a good development for arts and culture in our nation, in Africa. It’s a welcome idea that they decided to do this. A lot of people believe this ought to have been done decades ago, It is better late than never. It’s an opportunity to boost our culture and tourism sector.”

Abuja resident, Abdullahi Okugiya also welcomes the move.

“It will add value to our museum. Most of us read (about) it in the books, but we have not actually touched them or seen them.”

In July, German authorities signed an agreement with Nigeria and began the process to return up to 1,100 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, the most by a European country.

However, Atoye raises concerns about Nigeria’s readiness and expertise to properly manage and preserve these artifacts.

He also calls for monetary compensation, as well.

“What have we benefited from the ones that we have recovered? Ordinarily,,the return of these artifacts ought to have come with [an] apology, number two, with reparation. Money has been made through these artifacts in some of these countries like the UK. If we’re unable to make good use of the ones we’ve recoverd,,even Nigerians will be disinterested in the recovery of the ones leftover in the UK or any part of the world.

Nigeria has more than 50 national museums and authorities are looking to set up more.

Authorities and citizens are hoping the returns trigger more museums around the world to do the same, especially the British museum in London, which holds by far the largest and most significant collection of Nigerian cultural artifacts.

Source: Voice of America

WASHINGTON — U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has a new leader, with U.S. Gen. Michael “Mike” Langley assuming command of U.S. military missions on a continent where the Pentagon says countering Chinese influence and threats from extremists remain paramount.

“I know I have a lot to do. We have a lot to do,” Langley said during a ceremony at the command’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.

Upon his promotion earlier this month, Langley became the first African American four-star general in the Marine Corps’ 246-year history. Prior to this post, Langley served as commander of Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic and Marine Forces Command.

“He is the right leader at the right time with the right skill set to lead this critical command. He has the unique blend of character, competence, courage, experiences, and knowledge to lead AFRICOM in this challenging time,” Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday.

Langley is the sixth AFRICOM commander since the command was established in 2008. Outgoing commander Gen. Stephen Townsend, who is retiring after 40 years of service in the military, warned at the ceremony that “America cannot afford to ignore Africa.”

“The continent is full of potential but also full of challenges, and it’s standing at a historic crossroads,” said Townsend. “On one side is authoritarianism and foreign malign influence, along with the terrorism and food and economic insecurity that goes with it. On the other side is peace, security, democracy, development, and rule of law.”

Townsend continued to sound the alarm on terror groups thriving in ungoverned spaces in Africa, telling Congress earlier this year that the United States “may be backsliding” in its fight against al-Shabab terrorists since former President Donald Trump decided to pull all U.S. troops from Somalia during his final days in office.

In January, Townsend told VOA in an exclusive interview that he thought there are “more effective and efficient ways” to fight al-Shabab than commuting in and out of the country for missions. Less than four months later, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin signed an order to deploy hundreds of U.S. troops back to Somalia.

Austin, who presided over the ceremony, said Africa is on the front lines of many of this century’s most pressing threats. He warned that “autocracy is on the march,” with Russia and China “working to tighten their grip on the continent.”

“Russia is peddling cheap weapons and backing mercenary forces. That’s yet another reminder of Moscow’s willingness to sow chaos and threaten the rules-based international order — and it goes far beyond [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s reckless invasion of Ukraine,” he said.

Source: Voice of America

KHARTOUM – Chairman of Sudan’s ruling Transitional Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, said yesterday that, the Sudanese Armed Forces are expecting an elected government to take over the running of the country.

“The only way is either through comprehensive national consensus or elections, but not by calls for protests and sabotage,” Al-Burhan said, during his inspection of special military units in the capital Khartoum, according to a statement by the sovereign council.

The Sudanese leader called for exercising the right of expression through peaceful demonstrations, that preserve public and private property and do not harm the interests of other citizens.

Khartoum and other Sudanese cities are expected to see mass protests demanding civilian rule today.

A tripartite mechanism of the United Nations, African Union and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, is tasked with facilitating intra-Sudanese dialogue, to end the country’s political crisis.

Sudan has been suffering a political crisis since Al-Burhan, general commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, declared a state of emergency on Oct 25, 2021, and dissolved the Sovereign Council and the government.

The country has since been witnessing protests demanding a return to civilian rule.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Dozens of worshippers were feared dead in an attack on a Catholic church in Nigeria on Sunday, state lawmakers said.

Legislator Ogunmolasuyi Oluwole said the attackers targeted the St. Francis Catholic Church in Ondo state just as the worshippers gathered on Pentecost Sunday, with gunmen opening fire and detonating explosives. He said that numerous children were among the dead.

The Vatican said that Pope Francis “prays for the victims and for the country, painfully attacked at a time of celebration, and he entrusts everyone to the Lord, that God might send His Spirit to console them.”

“It is a black Sunday in Owo. Our hearts are heavy,” Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu tweeted Sunday. “Our peace and tranquility have been attacked by the enemies of the people.”

The governor was away in Abuja, taking part in his party’s primary elections ahead of next year’s polls but suspended his activities and returned to Ondo hours later with state security officials.

Akeredolu said that the attackers would be hunted and prosecuted. He also urged residents to remain calm and not resort to retaliation. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

There was no immediate death toll, but Adelegbe Timileyin, who represents Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber, said at least 50 people had been killed, while others said the figure would turn out to be higher. Video footage of the scene showed worshippers lying in pools of blood as people around them wailed.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. While much of Nigeria has struggled with security issues, Ondo is widely known as one of Nigeria’s most peaceful states. The state, though, has been caught up in a rising violent conflict between farmers and herders.

“In the history of Owo, we have never experienced such an ugly incident,” said lawmaker Oluwole. “This is too much.”

The Christian Association of Nigeria condemned the attack, with spokesman Bayo Oladeji saying, “What happened in Owo today is an unprovoked attack on innocent people worshipping God and to [the] Christian Association of Nigeria, it is condemnable; it is unacceptable. We’re tired of people going to church and being killed.”

Church officials said many of the wounded were fighting for their lives in hospitals. Some residents launched a blood donation drive to help them.

Nigeria is currently facing a wave of violence by armed gangs. A week ago, the prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Samuel Kanu Uche, was kidnapped on his way to the airport in southeastern Abia state.

He was released two days later after the church raised about $240,000 and paid the kidnappers.

Source: Voice of America

Two U.N. peacekeepers were killed and two others were injured on Friday after an improvised bomb exploded in central Mali, a spokesman for the MINUSMA mission tweeted.

The soldiers were part of the Egyptian contingent of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, a security official said.

“The head of MINUSMA condemned the attack,” spokesman Olivier Salgado posted.

He said the incident took place near the town of Douentza, on the road to Timbuktu.

On Wednesday, a Jordanian peacekeeper was killed in an attack on his convoy in Kidal, in northern Mali.

With 13,000 members, MINUSMA — the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali — is one of the U.N.’s biggest peacekeeping operations and also one of its most dangerous.

Improvised explosive devices are a weapon of choice for jihadis against MINUSMA and Malian forces. They also kill many civilians.
Seven Togolese peacekeepers were killed in December by an IED explosion between Douentza and Sevare.

On Friday, the Egyptian peacekeepers were in an escort of a dozen U.N. vehicles accompanying a convoy of civilian trucks carrying fuel, Salgado said.

Such convoys can stretch for miles. A mine exploded as the convoy passed, Salgado said. Mines can be detonated on contact or remotely.

Central Mali is a hotbed of violence and jihadi activity that has spread from the north to the center of the country, and then to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of civilians and combatants have died, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

Two reports published this week, one from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and another from the human rights division of MINUSMA, express alarm at the intensification of the violence in central Mali.

Source: Voice of America

TRIPOLI— The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that it evacuated 132 vulnerable asylum-seekers from Libya to Rwanda.

“UNHCR evacuated a group of 132 vulnerable asylum seekers, including young children and babies, out of Libya to safety in Rwanda,” UNHCR Libya tweeted.

The asylum-seekers, who are from different African countries, had been living in urban areas of the capital Tripoli and include survivors of violence and torture and women and girls at risk, said UNHCR in a statement.

Expressing gratitude to Libyan authorities for facilitating the evacuation, UNHCR Acting Chief of Mission in Libya Djamal Zamoum said “these vital flights provide hope and safety for some of the most vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers in Libya.”

Zamoum urged other countries to “provide more pathways or resettlement opportunities to help others find safety out of Libya.”

Since 2017, a total of 8,296 vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers have been evacuated out of Libya to safety, according to the UN relief agency.

Many illegal migrants, mostly Africans, choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

KHARTOUM— Hundreds of Sudanese protesters including supporters of Islamist groups rallied in front of the United Nations mission in Khartoum to call for its dismissal.

The protests were endorsed by Islamist groups that have criticised efforts by UN envoy Volker Perthes to resolve the political crisis in Sudan since last year’s military coup.

The rallies came as the UN Security Council mulled over extending the mission’s mandate beyond June 3.

“Volker, you German, the crisis will be solved by the Sudanese,” protesters chanted outside the headquarters of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission Sudan, or UNITAMS, in Khartoum.

Others called on Perthes to “leave”.

On Tuesday, Islamist leader Mohamed Ali Al-Gizouli accused Perthes of “interfering” in Sudan’s internal affairs during a seminar titled “the negative impact of the UN mission on the launch of Sudanese dialogue”.

Last month, Perthes said the political stalemate was “impacting the security situation” and “continues to exact a heavy socio-economic toll” in Sudan.

Sudan has been rocked by deepening unrest since an Oct 25 coup staged by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, which sparked regular anti-coup protests across much of the country.

The power grab derailed a fragile power-sharing agreement between the army and civilians negotiated after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

A violent crackdown on the anti-coup protests has left nearly 100 people killed, according to pro-democracy medics.

In April, Burhan threatened to expel Perthes over alleged “interference” in the country’s affairs.

Perthes had earlier told the UN Security Council that Sudan was heading towards “an economic and security collapse” unless its civilian-led transition was restored.

The UN mission, along with the African Union and regional bloc IGAD, have been pushing to facilitate Sudanese-led talks to resolve the crisis.

Western governments have backed the UN-AU-IGAD bid and urged Sudanese factions to participate in the process.

On Sunday, Burhan lifted the state of emergency imposed since the coup to set the stage for “meaningful dialogue that achieves stability for the transitional period”.

The decision came after a meeting with senior military officials that also recommended that people detained under an emergency law be freed.

The UN mission welcomed Burhan’s decision, urging Sudanese authorities to “complete the release of detainees”.

Sudanese authorities have since April released a number of anti-coup civilian leaders and pro-democracy activists arrested in the crackdown.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Suspected terrorists attacked a U.N. peacekeeping convoy in northern Mali on Wednesday, the United Nations said. A Jordanian peacekeeper was killed and three other Jordanians were wounded.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the supply convoy was under sustained fire for about an hour from attackers who used small arms and rocket launchers.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack and sent his deepest condolences to the families of the peacekeepers and the government and people of Jordan, Dujarric said.

According to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, the attack was the fifth incident in the northern Kidal region in one week, Dujarric said.

“It is a tragic reminder of the complexity of the mandate of the U.N. mission and of its peacekeepers, and the threats peacekeepers face on a daily basis,” he said.

The Security Council later released a statement condemning the attack and calling on authorities in Mali to investigate and bring those responsible to justice. The statement added that the Security Council “underlined that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law.”

Mali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali’s northern cities with the help of a French-led military operation, but they regrouped in the desert and began attacking the Malian army and its allies. Insecurity has worsened with attacks in the northern and central regions on civilians and U.N. peacekeepers.

Mali’s military returned to Kidal, a longtime rebel stronghold in the north, in February 2020, six years after its forces retreated amid violence. U.N. peacekeepers have also been deployed in the north.

Deadliest mission

The U.N. force has said more than 250 of its peacekeepers and personnel have died since 2013, making Mali the deadliest of the U.N.’s dozen peacekeeping missions worldwide.

The U.N. special representative for Mali, El Ghassim Wane, issued a statement Wednesday saying the U.N. mission remained determined to support Mali’s people and government in their quest for peace and security, Dujarric said.

In August 2020, Malian President Boubacar Ibrahim Keita, who died in January, was overthrown in a coup that included Assimi Goita, then an army colonel. Last June, Goita was sworn in as president of a transitional government after carrying out his second coup in nine months.

In mid-May, Goita’s government said security forces had thwarted a countercoup attempt that it said was supported by an unnamed Western government.

The accusations of foreign interference came as Goita’s regime has become increasingly isolated. A day earlier, the government announced that Mali was dropping out of a five-nation regional security force known as the G5. It was also sharply critical of former colonial power France, which announced in February that it was pulling its troops out of Mali.

While Mali’s junta initially agreed to an 18-month transition back to civilian rule, it failed to organize elections by the deadline in February. Last month, the government said it would need two more years in power before it could organize a vote.

Source: Voice of America

One of two Kenyans wanted for alleged involvement in wildlife and drug trafficking has been arrested in a joint U.S.-Kenyan operation. The U.S. government had announced a reward for information leading to the arrest of Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh.

U.S. officials said Kenya’s security agencies received a tip from the public that led to the arrest of Saleh Monday in Liboi, Garissa county. An embassy statement said U.S. and Kenyan law enforcement officials cooperated to apprehend Saleh.

Another suspect, Abdi Hussein Ahmed, remains at large.

On Thursday, the United States announced rewards of up to $1 million each for information leading to the arrest, prosecution and conviction of the two Kenyans.

Eric W. Kneedler, chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, said Monday’s arrest of Saleh “would not have been possible without the public’s support. He appealed for information leading to Ahmed’s arrest.

Saleh remains in police custody in Nairobi and is expected to be extradited to the U.S.

Saleh was arrested back in 2019 for drug trafficking but released on bail, according to the U.S. State Department. A statement said he was a fugitive with an outstanding warrant for his arrest. A federal grand jury in New York indicted him in 2021.

Saleh and Ahmed were accused in the transportation, distribution and smuggling of 190 kilograms of rhinoceros horns and 10 tons of elephant ivory from different African countries.

They were also alleged to have been involved in transporting and distributing 10 kilograms of heroin from Kenya to the United States.

If convicted, both could face up to 10 years in prison in the U.S.
In March, Kenya launched a financial toolkit to help fight illegal wildlife trade.

Source: Voice of America