Mali’s president has tumour on the neck

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta: had operation for tumour

Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita underwent an operation at a hospital in Paris this week as part of treatment for a benign tumour on his neck, the presidency said in a statement late on Wednesday.


Keita, 71, who has served as president of the West African nation since 2013, was operated on for a parathyroid adenoma in a procedure on Tuesday described by the presidency as routine.

“The after effects are generally simple … The recovery is progressing normally,” the statement said.
West and Central African nations, home to a number of long-serving leaders, often lack transparency with regards to the health of heads of state, a fact that regularly fuels rumours of serious illness

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Ghana on red alert for possible Jihadist attacks

President Dramani Mahama of Ghana: ask for vigilance

Ghana and Togo are the next targets for Islamist militants following high-profile attacks this year in Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, according to a memo from Ghana’s Immigration Service.


The memo calls for better border protection in the latest sign of a heightened government response to the threat to West Africa by militants based in northern Mali who have stepped up a campaign of violence in the last year.

It says the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) has evidence from neighbouring Ivory Coast from the interrogation of a man suspected of orchestrating an attack on March 13 in which 18 people were killed.
“Intelligence gathered by the … NSCS indicates a possible terrorist attack on the country is real. … The choice of Ghana according to the report is to take away the perception that only Francophone countries are the target,” said the memo, dated April 9 and published by Ghanaian media.

It ordered immigration agents on the northern border with Burkina Faso to be extra vigilant and said patrols should be stepped up along informal routes between the two countries.
Ghana is one of Africa’s most stable and peaceful democracies and has not suffered an attack by Islamist militants. Togo is the country’s eastern neighbour.

President John Mahama spoke about the memo in an interview on state radio’s Sunrise FM on Thursday. He asked for public vigilance and said Ghana was also at risk from home grown militants, while noting that countries in the region share intelligence on militant threats.

“We must deal with this without creating panic amongst our people,” he said, adding that the memo should not have detailed the intelligence on which its calls for greater vigilance were based.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for attacks on a hotel in the capital of Mali last November, a restaurant and hotel in Burkina Faso’s capital in January and the Ivory Coast attack. In all, more than 65 people have died, many of them foreigners.

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Polisario urges more UN pressure on Morocco

Ban Ki Moon: Polisario Front sends him a letter

The leader of Western Sahara’s Polisario Front separatist movement on Thursday wrote to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him and the Security Council to pressure Morocco to stop interfering with U.N. peacekeepers.

Last month, Ban used the word “occupation” to describe Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara in 1975, when Rabat took it over from colonial power Spain. Infuriated by what it saw as a shift away from a neutral position, Morocco expelled dozens of U.N. staff working for the mission there known as MINURSO.

“We warn that the absence of real and direct pressure on the occupation state of Morocco … will be considered a green light to a military aggression by the Kingdom of Morocco against the Sahrawi people,” Polisario President Mohamed Abdelaziz wrote to Ban in a letter seen by Reuters.
Morocco has said its decisions were irreversible but it was still committed to peace.

Abdelaziz said the 15-nation Security Council should pressure Morocco to enable “the return of MINURSO to resume its work and mandate regarding organizing a referendum on self determination to the Sahrawi people.”
If that does not happen, Abdelaziz wrote, the Sahrawi people “will find itself, again, obliged to defend its rights by all legitimate means, including armed struggle.”

The letter was sent as Ban’s office prepares its annual report for the Security Council on Western Sahara before a council vote this month to renew MINURSO’s mandate. The report, which was due last week, has been delayed because of the dispute over Ban’s remarks in March, council diplomats said.

Polisario says Morocco is putting the ceasefire at risk by expelling MINURSO staff and trying to scuttle the plan for a referendum on independence. Morocco has offered an autonomy plan as the only way forward.
Several diplomatic sources familiar with the issue said that Morocco wants the council to change the mandate of MINURSO so that it will no longer include the goal of organizing a referendum.


The majority of council members are opposed, the sources said, though they added that Morocco has some diplomatic support from veto power France, Rabat’s traditional ally, and African council member Senegal.
The controversy over Ban’s comment during a visit to refugee camps for Sahrawi people is Morocco’s worst dispute with the United Nations since 1991, when the U.N. brokered a ceasefire to end a war over Western Sahara and established MINURSO.

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Egyptians demand fall of Al-Sisi

Egyptians on the street against Al-Sisi

Thousands of Egyptians angered by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s decision to hand over two islands to Saudi Arabia called on Friday for the government to fall, chanting a slogan from the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

Their protests clearly signaled that the former general, under mounting criticism now also for the struggling economy, no longer enjoys the broad public support that let him to round up thousands of opponents after he seized power in 2013.

Sisi’s government prompted an outcry in Egyptian newspapers and on social media last week when it announced a maritime demarcation accord last week that put the uninhabited Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir in Saudi waters.

Protesters in Cairo

“The people want the downfall of the regime,” the protesters cried outside the Cairo press syndicate, using the signature chant of the 2011 revolt against then president Hosni Mubarak, who later stepped down.
They also chanted: “Sisi – Mubarak”, “We don’t want you, leave” and “We own the land and you are agents

 who sold our land.” In other parts of Cairo, police fired tear gas at protesters, security sources said.
Saudi and Egyptian officials say the islands belong to the kingdom across the Red Sea and were only under Egyptian control because Riyadh had asked Cairo in 1950 to protect them.

Egyptian policemen fire teargas at protesters

Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf Arab states showered Egypt with billions of dollars in aid and grants after Sisi toppled freely elected President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against him.

But a sharp drop in crude prices and differences with Cairo over regional issues such as the war in Yemen have raised questions over whether their strong support is sustainable.

MISHANDLED CRISES

Egyptians are eager for an economic revival after years of political upheaval, but the islands issue seems to have hurt their national pride, and prompted thousands to return to the streets to challenge their leader.
Critics say the government has mishandled a series of crises from an investigation into the killing of Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, 28, in Cairo to a bomb that brought down a Russian airliner in the Sinai Peninsula last October.

Torture marks on Regini’s body prompted human rights groups to conclude he died at the hands of security forces, which Egypt denies. That revived complaints of police brutality, one of the issues prompted Egyptians to challenge Mubarak’s 30-year rule.

Sisi has made fighting corruption a top priority. But he drew fire last month after sacking Hesham Geneina, Egypt’s top auditor, who had stirred controversy by publicly concluding that state corruption had cost the country billions of dollars.

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Lagos leads with N268.2b IGR in 2015, says NBS

Lagos State leads the rest of the country in internally generated revenue, the National Bureau of Statistics  has reported.

NBS said Lagos earned N268. 2 billion in 2015,  almost 40 per cent of the  N682.7 billion generated by the entire states.

Rivers state came second with N82.1 billion and Delta, third  with N40.8 billion.
 Yobe state is also a low IGR earner  with N2.2 billion and Zamfara with N2.7 billion. Ekiti made N3.3 billion, Borno N3.5 billion and Kebbi N3.7 billion.

There was no record for Ebonyi state.
The report showed that the overall IGR of states  dropped by N25.18 billion from N707.9 billion in 2014 to N682.67 billion in 2015.

The report showed that while 24 states recorded a decline in revenue when compared to 2014, 11 states were able to shore up their revenue base within the 2015 fiscal period.

The 11 states that were able to increase their revenue according to the report are Ogun  from N17.49 billion to N34.59 billion, Abia from N12.3 billion to N13.4 billion, Anambra from N10.4 billion to N14.79 billion, Bauchi from N4.85 billion to N5.39 billion, Borno from N2.76 billion to N3.53 billion, Edo from N17 billion to N19.1 billion, Kogi N6.5 billion to N6.7 billion and Nasarawa from N4.08 billion to N4.28 billion.

The rest are Niger from N5.73 billion to N5.97 billion, Sokoto N5.6 billion to N6.2 billion and Taraba from N3.79 billion to N4.15 billion.

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Nasarawa donates buses to security agencies for keeping state peaceful

Governor Tanko Al-Makura

Gov. Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State said  that the state had enjoyed 12 months of peace “without any serious security challenge”.

The governor said this when he presented 10 buses to all the security agencies in the state at a brief ceremony in Lafia.

“For the past one year now we have not had any serious security challenge, which shows that the security and stakeholders are synergizing seriously and very effectively”, the governor said
He said that the buses would be used to convey security operatives to wherever they might be needed in the course of their duties.

Al-Makura said the security operatives have been putting in their best in ensuring peace rein in the state.
He said that he was donating the vehicles to them to further encourage and assist them in effective crime management in the state.

Al-Makura said that the gesture was for the government to show appreciation to the security agencies for a job well done.
He said this would also encourage them as well as ensure that law abiding citizens of the state go to bed with their two eyes closed.

The governor said the issue of security should not be left in the hands of the security operatives alone but be seen as a collective effort.
Responding on behalf of other sister security agencies, the Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Lawal Shehu-Batsari, thanked the governor for the assistance.
He said the vehicles would spur them to do more in the area of crime control and prevention

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Civil servants plan to storm NASS over budget cuts

Workers at the Federal Secretariat Abuja

Workers in the Federal  public service  said that they would march to the National Assembly to protest the cut in budgetary allocations to the service.

The Secretary-General of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Mr Alade Lawal, told newsmen in Lagos that they had mobilised workers all over the country to storm the Assembly.

Lawal said that the association had concluded plans to mobilise workers all over the Federation to march to the National Assembly over the cut in the budgetary allocation under which promotion arrears, salary increase and pension of workers were captured.

He said that it was inconceivable that the lawmakers decided to reduce by N28.5 billion, the ₦465 billion voted by the Executive arm of government to settle some arrears of allowances owed thousands of civil servants.

Alade Lawal: workers being mobilised for protest at NASS

According to Lawal, some of the workers are being owed outstanding salary since 2007.
He recalled that when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office, the union wrote series of letters to draw his attention to the outstanding allowances which had continued to generate restiveness in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for years.

“This is why the Federal Government set up a Government-Labour panel under the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to look into the matter.

“The office of the Head of Service of the Federation (OHSF) directed all MDAs to compile their indebtedness as it affects the outstanding salaries and allowances for the purpose of settling them,’’ he said.
Lawal said that the documents were submitted and computed in record time with the resultant figure added into the 2016 budget estimate.

“The allowances include but are not limited to salaries, promotion arrears outstanding since 2007; first 28 Days in lieu of Hotel Accommodation; Duty Tour Allowance (DTA), Mandatory Training Allowance for 2010; Burial expenses and Repatriation allowance,’’ he said.

Lawal said it was sad that the National Assembly was insensitive to issues concerning welfare of Nigerians.
He suggested that the legislators should go through the estimate and see how the budget conformed with government’s policy.

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Count me out of move to amend CCB Act: Senator Yayi

Senator Adeola, a.k.a Yayi

Senator Olamilekan Adeola has distanced himself with the move by the Nigerian Senate to amend the Code of Conduct Bureau Act.

In a post on his Facebook page, Adeola said he was not in support of the move and had staged a walk-out, along with some of his colleagues when the bill was being steamrolled through.

The bill in two days had  passed the second reading, sparking condemnation by lawyers and activists who condemn the morality of the amendment at a time the Senate President, Bukola Saraki is facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for false asset declaration.
Said Senator Adeola:

“I am sure many of you have read that the bill to amend the Code of Conduct Act passed second reading today on the floor of the Nigerian Senate, with deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu presiding.
“Even though the majority in senate will always have its way, I and my constituents in Lagos West Senatorial District are not in support of the amendments to the Code of Conduct Act CAP C15 LFN 2004, which was sponsored by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi.

“I and some of my colleagues stepped out in opposition to the amendments.

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Amosun attracts $1.2bn Chinese investment to Ogun

Governor Amosun, second right, and his hosts in China

Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, recently took part in a one-week work visit to China alongside President Muhammadu Buhari, other state governors and ministers, in the course of which investments worth over $1.2bn were attracted to the gateway state.

During the visit, the Ogun State Governor participated in the Nigeria-China Business Forum, which drew attendance from about 100 Nigerian businesses and 300 Chinese firms.
Apart from that forum, Governor Amosun was also part of many fruitful business meetings and concluded a number of agreements with the Chinese.

According to a statement by Adejuwon Soyinka, Senior Special Assistant (Media) to the Ogun State Governor, the agreements, which hold huge prospects of further enhancing the economic fortune of Ogun State, are in line with the Governor Amosun-led administration’s Mission to Rebuild the gateway state.
Some of the agreements announced and signed during the visit include a $1 billion deal for the establishment of a Hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone located at Igbesa.

In the course of the visit, the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited also signed an agreement valued at $200 million for the construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.

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Second earthquake hits southern Japan , Shinzo Abe cancels tour

Part of the homes destroyed in Kumamoto

Japan was hit with a second earthquake today,  in the same region already struggling to cope  with the effects the first quake and its after shocks.

And the second quake even struck harder at 7.2-7.3.
Japan’s Kumamoto earthquake was felt across wide swathes of southern Japan and triggered a tsunami warning, although the advisory was later lifted.
As the situation in Kumamoto continues to escalate, a second quake registering magnitude-5.8 also struck in the region at 03:55 local time.

Prior to that, numerous aftershocks jolted the region that had already been pummeled by a series of quakes and aftershocks striking a day earlier.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s planned trip to the already quake-ravaged region, scheduled for Saturday, has been officially cancelled following the latest quakes and the likelihood of further aftershocks, according to his office.

Japan’s top government spokesperson Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press briefing that significant damage was feared to have been caused in the quake-hit region, with prefectural officials saying a municipal hall building has partially collapsed in the city of Uto in the embattled prefecture.

Local media reported the possibility of at least one death as a result of the latest quakes, with reports also being made of people being trapped beneath collapsed buildings and rubble, some have been reported to have been buried alive, as search and rescue operations swing into high gear just before sunrise.
Other media reports said some 190,400 households have been without power in the quake-ravaged prefecture.

One of the many aftershocks centered in neighboring Oita Prefecture resulted in numerous injuries being reported, local media said, as houses were seen to have collapsed in the town of Yufu, well-known for its natural hot springs and accompanying resort-type facilities.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) rattled the nation’s nerves by initially issuing a tsunami warning just two minutes after the main quake struck in the early hours of Saturday, saying waves of up to one meter could hit the coast of Japan, with the advisory given for both the Ariake and Yatsushiro sea areas.
The warning was later cancelled.

Regarding the possibility of further quakes and aftershocks, the weather agency has advised enhanced vigilance from the public, particularly in hilly areas where mudslides are highly possible.
Xinhua reporters in Mashiki have been spending the night on the opening ground, feeling aftershocks hitting regularly and there was widespread panic in the town with people seen flee from buildings to open areas, with some ducking into vehicles for protection.

The town being plunged into darkness following a power cut is adding to the alarm.
The number of further fatalities and injuries, as yet, has been unreported by prefectural officials and rescue services in the quake-hit region, although rising numbers of injuries are widely expected.
Prefectural officials once again on Saturday confirmed that no abnormalities had been noticed at any of the nuclear facilities in the quake-affected areas.

Kyushu Electric Power Company said following Friday’s quake its Number 1 and Number 2 reactors at its Sendai nuclear power plant in Satsuma-Sendai City, in the quake-hit prefecture, were functioning normally. The two are the only reactors currently online in Japan.

The majority of Japan’s nuclear power plants remain offline for regular safety inspections and in the wake of the massive earthquake-triggered tsunami in March 2011, that pummeled the Daiichi nuclear facility in Fukushima Prefecture, in Japan’s northeast, leading to the worst commercial nuclear crisis in history.
Following Saturday’s quake, large sections along major arterial routes and expressways have been closed off, the traffic information center confirmed.

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US envoy arrives Nigeria over Boko Haram threats

Samantha Power: begins Nigeria visit today

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power,  begins a visit to Nigeria today over the growing threats of Boko Haram.

She would later visit  Cameroon and Chad, winding up the tour of the Lake Chad basin on 20 April.
The U.S. State Department  said Power, while in Nigeria  would engage with the Nigerian leadership and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Abuja. She would then travel to the North East region to visit a settlement camp for civilians displaced by Boko Haram’s violence.
She would also host a town hall meeting with students and would participate in a Peace through Sports event with young Nigerians.

The US State Department describes Boko Haram as one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world, posing an acute threat to civilians across the Lake Chad Basin.
The US said the group’s increasing lethality and relationship with ISIL is  a cause for alarm.
The U.S. reiterated its pledge to work with partners in the region to develop a comprehensive counter-Boko Haram effort that includes a more coordinated military campaign, improved humanitarian access and response.

In Cameroon,  Power would meet with government officials and CSOs in its capital, Yaoundé.
She would also travel internally to meet with refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and Cameroonian forces on the front lines of the regional effort to combat Boko Haram.
She would also participate in a public destruction of confiscated ivory and pangolin scales, demonstrating the strong U.S.-Cameroonian partnership to counter wildlife trafficking.

While in Chad, Power would meet with government officials in N’Djamena and visit the headquarters for the Multinational Joint Task Force, a regional military effort composed of Boko Haram-affected states in the Lake Chad Basin.
Power is also expected to meet with Chadian CSOs and civilians affected by the violence.

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Police recover guns, live ammunition at Alaba market

Fatai Owoseni, Lagos CP

There is tensions in the Furniture section of Alaba International market in Ojo local government after the police reportedly recovered a catche of arms and live ammunition in the market in Lagos State western Nigeria.

TheNEWS gathered that detectives from area E Festac Command stormed and recovered high caliber guns such as pump actions, double barrels, short guns and live ammunition in the market.
Thus, the leader of the market, Mr Emeka Mozoba and some of the security men in the market were arrested and detained at Festac police command.
The discovery and arrest caused panic in the market as some of the executives went into hiding to avoid arrest.

TheNEWS also gathered that the whole thing was happening at the same time the market union and some traders are at logger heads over demand of N300,000 per shop for the occupants by the union.
When our reporter went to the market, to meet with the chairman, some of the traders confirmed the arrest and directed our reporter to Area E command, Festac where they were detained.
At the command, Mozoba was seen at the command premises and was not detained in the cell with other suspects.

Mozoba confirmed to our reporter that he was summoned by the area commander over market issue and denied it has to do with arms. He also said he heard the rumour that arms were recovered at the market but as the chairman, such information was false and targeted to blackmail the leadership and the union.
He also admitted that the union had issue with some traders who he alleged was behind the false information. However, our reporter gathered from the traders that the police actually recovered guns used by security men guiding the market.

It was learnt that the guns are of high calibre type which the police would not issue license for. Such weapons were used in the market to intimidate traders for extortion and imposition of illegal levies.
Efforts to see the area commander concerning the matter proved abortive as our reporter was told he went to Ikeja police headquarter over the matter.
The PPRO, SP Dolapo Badmos could not be reached because he phone could not be reached. She did not reply text message sent to her.

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Japan quake update: 18 die, scores buried alive

An elderly woman receives attention from rescue workers

Scores of people were feared buried alive after a second powerful quake hit southern Japan Saturday, killing at least 21 people,  with over 1500 injured. The quake sparked building and road collapses and fires, barely 24 hours after the first disaster struck.

Hillsides gave way as huge landslides swamped houses and severed transport links, while fires engulfed several homes.

Buildings were reduced to rubble, including a university dormitory, where at least two students died, with fears for the safety of dozens of other people over a large area.

A rescue worker running to offer assistance

“We are aware of multiple locations where people have been buried alive,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference.

“Police, firefighters and Self Defense Force personnel are doing all they can to rescue them.”

A hospital was left teetering after the powerful quake, forcing the evacuation of patients and further stretching the emergency response.

 Isolated villages in the mountainous area of southern Kyushu island that was the focus of the quake were completely cut off by landslides and damage to roads, with at least 1,000 people believed trapped in one area alone.

 

The 7.0 magnitude quake came as emergency responders were working to reach areas already affected by a 6.2 magnitude tremor that struck late Thursday.

Adding to worries was the eruption of a nearby volcano, although seismologists cautioned there was no evidence of a link and said activity was limited.

Factories producing auto parts and tech components for companies including Sony Corp and Honda Motor Co halted production as they assessed the damage.

Rescue workers looking for trapped people

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said rescue efforts were critical with wet weather forecast overnight, which could further damage weakened buildings and cause landslides.

“Nothing is more important than human life and it’s a race against time,” Abe said at a government meeting after the disaster. “I want rescue activities to continue with the utmost effort.”
The epicentre of the quake was near the city of Kumamoto on the southern island of Kyushu and measured at a shallow depth of 10 kms (6 miles), the USGS said.

Damage from Saturday’s quake covered a wide area with reports of fires, power outages, collapsed bridges and gaping holes in the earth. Residents near a dam were told to leave because of fears it might crumble, broadcaster NHK said, while the 400-year-old Kumamoto Castle in the centre of the city was badly damaged.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said nearly 80 people were believed trapped or buried in rubble. Extra troops would be sent to help, with up to 20,000 due by Sunday, as well as more police, firefighters and medics, he said.

TV Asahi showed rescue efforts for what it said were 11 people trapped in a university apartment in the town of Minami Aso and NHK reported that people were trapped in a nursing home in the town of Mashiki.
NHK initially reported 16 deaths and more than 1,000 people treated in hospitals.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said nearly 80 people were believed trapped or buried in rubble. Extra troops would be sent to help, with up to 20,000 due by Sunday, as well as more police, firefighters and medics, he said.

“We are making every effort to respond,” Suga said.
Many frightened people wrapped in blankets sat outside their homes while others camped out in rice fields in rural areas surrounding the main towns. About 170,000 households were without power and 385,000 without water, Suga said.

The region’s transport network suffered considerable damage with one tunnel caved in, a highway bridge damaged, roads blocked by landslips and train services halted, media reported. Kumamoto airport was also closed.

There have been more than 230 aftershocks of at least level 1 on the Japanese scale since Thursday’s shock, said Japan’s meteorological agency.
Japan is on the seismically active “ring of fire” around the Pacific Ocean and has building codes aimed at helping structures withstand earthquakes.

A magnitude 9 quake in March 2011 north of Tokyo touched off a massive tsunami and nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima. Nearly 20,000 people were killed in the tsunami.
Source: Reuters/AFP

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