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Zamfara Carnage: NEMA confirms 54 dead, 7000 displaced

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The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Wednesday confirmed that 54 persons were killed by suspected cattle rustlers in Bawar Daji District, Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara state last week Wednesday. 71 persons injured with over 7000 displaced persons. NEMA said the attacks affected places like Baudi, Tungan Turkish, Doka, Zanoka, Akuzo and Dogon Ruwa. Zamfara State Governor, Abdul’Aziz Yari Abubakar, alongside security chiefs and members of the State Executive Council on Friday visited Emir of Anka over the killings. Governor Yari during the condolence visit to the Emir directed the security agencies to shoot anybody found with arms “in the bush”. The governor said the laws of the country allow only security personnel to carry arms. “It is criminal for any person who is not a security personnel to carry arms, therefore I have ordered the security agencies in the state to shoot at sight any person who carries AK 47 or any other weapons in the bush, be Fulani, Hausa or any tribe. 

The bandits attacked the area after some members of the community held a meeting to discuss measures to be taken against banditry during the 2018 farming season. The bandits had earlier threatened that there would be no farming activities in the area in this year’s rainy season. 

Experts urge overhaul of Nigeria’s security architecture

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LAGOS – Experts have called for a review of the nation’s security architecture to address the killings and other criminal activities in the land. 

During the inauguration of council members and induction of new members of the Institute of Criminal Justice and Criminology Administration (ICJCA) in Lagos, the chief executive/registrar, Dr. Primus Emenuga, said the appeal has become necessary following the series of negative reports which were capable of undermining national security. He said: “As at this moment, our security architecture is nothing to write home about. If you look at our core competencies, like the justice system, law enforcement and prison, they are not performing optimally […] We are asking the government to look at the security issues from the top to the bottom, especially at the correction level to change the narrative.” 

To the president and chairman of council, Oba Gbadebo Bajowa, there was need to improve the nation’s justice system by developing and providing good but strategic security administrators and defence initiatives in both government and private organisations. The emphasis, he said, should be on the provision of a broad programme that equips members of the criminal justice system with necessary knowledge, skills, attitude and aptitude in criminal justice administration and criminology in tandem with current realities. 

CAR: 33 villager kidnapped by LRA rebels

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33 civil centrafricain has been abducted on Sunday near the city of Obo by the ugandan rebels of Lord Resistance Army (LRA). The abduction happened among 4:00 and 5:00 in the east of Obo’s area, in the tract to Bambouti, a border city near the South Sudan.
The rebels of the LRA have also ransacked the houses and burnt them; scared, many inhabitants of the village runned away in the brushwood.
In the same day in Obo, 15 other inhabitants of the village kidnapped have been released by LRA thanks, according to local sources, to a joined intervention of the Centrafrican army (FACA) and blue helmets of the mission U.N. In CAR Minsuca.

The LRA raids in the Prefecture of Mbomou, southeast of Central African Republic, has been at the basis for a joined operation for six years between the United States and Uganda to hunt down the leader of the LRA insurgents, Kony. Unsuccesfully until March 2017, the operation was abandoned.

China’s Xi tells Zimbabwe president they should write ‘new chapter’ in ties

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Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe that they should work towards a new chapter in ties, during the African leader’s first state visit to China since he seized power last year. Mnangagwa, who became president in November after a de facto military coup ended Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule, has promised to rebuild his country’s devastated economy and re-engage with the international community.

Xi said China has been happy to see the economic reform policies that Mnangagwa put in place after the “peaceful, smooth” transfer of power. “I’m willing to work with Mr President to jointly map out our future cooperation and write a new chapter in China-Zimbabwe relations for the benefit of our two peoples” Xi said, during the meeting in Beijing.

In December, Zimbabwe signed a $ 153 million loan agreement with China to expand and renew its international airport in Harare in the attempt to attract investors and tourists, the first such deal under the new government.

China has growing interest in investing in Africa’s natural resources and has poured more than $100 billion into roads, railways, mines, powerlines and factories on the continent over the last decade. At the same time with his visit, Zimbabwe would attempt to tap China’s huge financial resources, technical expertise and modern technology in order to help revive the economy, Mnangagwa told.

Boko Haram attack leaves 18 dead in Nigeria

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Boko Haram killed at least 18 people and wounded scores in coordinated attacks overnight on a military camp and villages around the flashpoint Nigerian city of Maiduguri, which they also tried to infiltrate across a defensive trench, officials said Monday. Boko Haram fighters attacked a military base in the Cashew Plantation area at the entrance to the city with suicide bombers, mortars and guns, leading to a prolonged battle, a senior military officer in Maiduguri said. “Eighteen Boko Haram terrorists on foot attacked the military base while seven suicide bombers targeted residents of nearby Bale Shuwar and Alikaranti villages at 8:50 pm (1950 GMT),”

On Friday, four girl suicide bombers aged between 13 and 18 killed two people in multiple attacks in Zawuya settlement on the outskirts of Maiduguri in the first assault since the government announced it was in ceasefire talks with Boko Haram. Level since at least June 2014, the latest sign that China has kept up pressure on its isolated neighbor in line with United Nations trade sanctions.

15 LRA hostages freed by FACA at Haut-Mbomou

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The rebels of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) of Joseph Kony have seized, on 1st of April, about twenty people in the village of Koubou, 17 km from the city of Obo, in Haut-Mbomou. Known of the seize, government and Minusca have immediately started the search. The group LRA was caught by a joint force of FACA and Minusca in the forest; after a firefight, they were able to recover 15 hostages “, has said Angel Maxime Kazagui, minister of the Communication and spokesman of the government, during a press conference on Monday 2 of April.

The village was raided between the 5 and the 7 of the morning. Besides the hostages, the rebels have also emptied the barns of the village and taken away some non alimentary objects. The national and international security forces, with headquarters in Obo, have gone on the place to reassure the population. For fear of a new attack, many residents are heading for the city of Obo. LRA resurfaced in the last 3 months in south-oriental CAR.

Nigeria’s Election sequence: Court sets April 25 for judgment

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The Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed April 25, 2018 to deliver judgment in a suit filed by the Accord Party (AP) seeking an order of court restraining the National Assembly from acting on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2018. President Muhammadu Buhari had on March 13, 2018 refused to sign the bill into law, which sparked arguments as to whether or not the National Assembly would use its powers to override the President’s decision. Counsel to the National Assembly, the first defendant, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), in his preliminary objection, argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter on the grounds that its jurisdiction was not properly invoked. He said the court could only have jurisdiction over the matter if the bill has become an act.

“No matter how it is construed, the Electoral Act Amendment Bill as at the day the originating summons was filed, up till date, is a bill, it becomes an act upon the happenings of two eventualities Where a president acting under provisions of Section 58, assents to the bill, it then becomes an Act of the National Assembly. Where he refuses to assent under Section 58, the bill is returned to the National Assembly for use of their powers to override. At that point, it remains a bill because there is no guarantee that they will muster the required two- thirds majority to veto it,” Mr. Joseph Daudu stated. Daudu said that it was only where the National Assembly successfully used its power to over-ride the President’s veto and transform the bill to an act that the jurisdiction of the court over it would be ignited.

Ambassador Mellul confirms, no Niger rebels in Libya

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During a meeting with the President of HCS Sewehli, the Niger ambassador to Libya, Mellul, has denied any presence of armed opposition groups form his country on the Libyan soil. He also underlined Niger’s support for the restoration of security and stability in the country.

 

Why Nigeria may miss targets for oil reserves

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A 10-year target set by the Federal Government to boost crude oil reserves to 40 billion barrels and daily production to four million by 2020 is becoming unrealistic due to uncertainties that decrease investments in the sector.

Indeed, instead of making progress, the country may be taking steps backward, going by statistics from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), which indicate that the reserves declined by whopping 961.47 million barrels between 2012 and 2016 alone.

The situation, which is already building anxiety among experts, has been blamed on uncertainties in the oil and gas sector associated with the delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), rising security challenges, growing corruption rating, competition fuelled by increasing oil discoveries across Africa, obsolete fiscal terms as well as other global challenges confronting the industry.

Bombing ahead of Egypt vote kills two policemen in Alexandria

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On Saturday two policemen were killed and five other people were wounded in Alexandria in a bomb attack that targeted the local security chief. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but the state news agency blamed on Muslim Brotherhood organization. Last month Daesh released a video warning Egyptians against voting and urging militants to attack security forces and leaders. The police Major General Mostafa al-Nemr was unharmed.

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