The United States on Wednesday unveiled a $5 million bounty on Lord’s Resistance Army chief Joseph Kony, one of the world’s most wanted men, and posted rewards for three other rebel leaders.
Kony has long been on the run in the jungles of central Africa, but his LRA, a Ugandan rebel group, has waged a fierce insurgency and campaign of mutilations and child abductions for two decades across four countries.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Kony and other top LRA leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Kony’s name was added to the State Department’s war crimes rewards program along with fellow LRA members Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen, and Sylvestre Mudacumura from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), in the hopes that the men would be brought to justice.
The LRA was “one of the world’s most brutal armed groups,” Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice Stephen Rapp told reporters.
“We act today so that there can be justice for the innocent men, women and children, who’ve been subjected to mass murder, amputation, enslavement and other atrocities,” he said.
“Accountability is a key pillar of the United States atrocity prevention initiative,” Rapp added.
The United Nations says about 450,000 people have been displaced by LRA attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda and South Sudan.
The LRA has recently turned to ivory trafficking and extended its area of operations, a UN Security Council meeting was told in December.
Although the number of LRA attacks was down last year, there were some assaults as far west as Bangassou in Central African Republic, where scores of men, women and children were abducted in September.
US President Barack Obama last year authorized a mission by 100 US special forces helping Ugandan troops scour the African jungles for Kony.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed that the hunt has been suspended after rebels seized control of the Central African Republic last month.
Turning to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rapp said the country has been “plagued by conflict, displacement and insecurity.”
“Innocent civilians have suffered continued atrocities at the hands of armed groups such as the FDLR and M23, that support themselves by pillage of the population and exploitation of precious minerals.”
The FDLR is made up of remnants of the radical Hutu regime which carried out the 1994 Rwandan genocide, while M23 is a mainly Congolese Tutsi rebel group UN experts say is backed by Rwanda and Uganda, charges denied by both countries.
The rewards program had “proven to be a valuable tool” in hunting down those wanted for “the worst crimes known to human kind by generating valuable tips,” Rapp said.
In the past two years, the program has made 14 payments of an average of $400,000 per person “with the largest payment being $2 million,” he said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Police in southern Tanzania used teargas Wednesday to disperse about 200 Christian rioters attempting to torch a mosque over an animal slaughtering conflict.
“The situation is now under control and there is not much damage, but two people including a policeman sustained stone injuries,” Mbeya Regional Police Commander Diwani Athumani told AFP.
Police arrived at the mosque in time to put out the fire.
Athumani said the estimated 200 rioters also destroyed property of a Chinese firm building a road between the town of Tunduma where the incident took place and Sumbawanga.
“At least 50 people have been arrested in connection with the riots and efforts are still going on to apprehend more troublemakers,” the police commander said.
He said tensions between Muslims and Christians in the area had been rising over the slaughtering of animals for public consumption, a task traditionally carried out by Muslims.
The issue of Christians performing the slaughtering sparked tensions in different parts of the country, as Muslims fear they will not respect Islamic rules.
Athumani said the issue had been resolved during several meetings held by Mbeya Regional Commissioner Abbas Kandoro, but some politicians were now instigating people to riot.
“It is no longer a religious issue, but some people now want to make political capital out of the matter,” he said.
On the nearby Zambian side of the border, authorities in the town of Nakonde announced they had closed the border after the incidents.
“We have closed our border in Nakonde because Muslims and Christians are fighting in Tanzania and we are afraid that if we remain open, many can flock into here,” said James Singoyi, the District Commissioner for Nakonde, approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of the capital Lusaka.
The Nakonde border is the main entry point into Zambia, a landlocked country for imported goods particularly second-hand vehicles from Japan
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
MANAGEMENT of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, EDC, has announced a four-day power interruption in parts of Lagos for maintenance purposes.
The interruption, beginning Friday April 5 to Monday, April 8, will affect mostly Lekki Phase I, VGC, Maroko, Victoria Island, UPDC Estate, Chevron Estate, NICON Town Estate, Victoria Island and other adjoining areas.
The planned power outage, according to the management yesterday, was to enable it carry out major maintenance works on two 11kv feeders for the purpose of getting them ready for evacuation of power from the newly-installed 100MVA 132/33KV power transformer at Ajah Transmission Station and replacement of obsolete 11kv switch gears at Akoka injection sub-station.
Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs of the Company, Mr. Godwin Idemudia, in statement, said the work at Akoka would affect Akoka, Yaba, Sabo and environs.
At the completion of the maintenance and system upgrading work in the two stations, Mr. Idemudia said there will be tremendous improvement in electricity supply to all the affected areas.
He appealed to customers in the affected areas to bear with the company, adding that all inconveniences to be caused by the planned outage were regretted.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
RIVERS State Government has banned tricycles, better known as Keke Napep, in Port Harcourt, the state capital and adjoining communities.
The ban in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area also extends to Obio/Akpor, Oyigbo and Eleme areas.
Controller-General of Rivers State Road Traffic Management Authority, TIMA-RIV, Mr. Nelson Jaja, who made the announcement, yesterday, said it was to check the spate of traffic offences by the tricycle riders.
He said: “We have banned Keke operators in Port Harcourt metropolis to checkmate their criminal activities and reduce the traffic challenges posed by their activities. We don’t want to see them in prohibited areas henceforth.”
The TIMARIV boss also hinted on plans to “arrest traders, who have converted major roads in Port Harcourt to their shops. They should vacate these major roads because apart from constituting a traffic offense, it is also very risky and dangerous.”
The ban of tricycles has sparked off angry reactions from residents, who see the ban as insensitive on the part of government.
Grace Hart, who lives at Oyigbo, said: “Since the ban of “Okada” (commercial motorbike) in Port Harcourt years back, the Keke has served as a reliable alternative for street movements in remote areas not plied by taxis. Why is government interested in frustrating the poor?”
Justus Madu of Elelenwo, argued: “When Governor Chibuike Amaechi banned Okada in Port Harcourt, he introduced city buses to cushion the effect. Nothing of the sort had been considered here. So what does TIMARIV want those without cars to do, trek all the way?”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The World Bank has unveiled an agenda to end extreme poverty by 2016 and to boost incomes of the poorest 40 per cent of the world’s population.
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim outlined the new agenda in a speech at Georgetown University, calling for for ambitious new goals to help the most vulnerable.
“We are at an auspicious moment in history when the successes of past decades and an increasingly favorable economic outlook combine to give developing countries a chance – for the first time ever – to end extreme poverty within a generation,” Kim said in a speech at Georgetown University. “Our duty now must be to ensure that these favorable circumstances are matched with deliberate decisions to realize this historic opportunity.”
Speaking in advance of the upcoming World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, Kim observed that developing economies rebounded quickly from the crisis and are now in a fundamentally sound position, thanks to greater macroeconomic stability, a stronger rule of law, and increased investments in human capital and infrastructure. Productivity growth in the private sector, the source of 90 percent of all jobs, is high.
Kim noted that the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG), to halve extreme poverty, was achieved in 2010, five years ahead of time, after developing countries spent years investing in social safety nets and working hard to build the fiscal space and create the macroeconomic buffers to respond effectively if a crisis hit.
To achieve the more difficult goal of virtually eliminating extreme poverty, Kim described three factors necessary: First, to reach the goal by 2030 will require an acceleration of the growth rate observed over the past 15 years, and in particular sustained high growth in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Second, it will require efforts to enhance inclusiveness and curb inequality, and ensure that growth translates into poverty reduction, most importantly through job creation. And third, it will require that potential shocks – such as new food, fuel, or financial crises and climatic disasters – be averted or mitigated.
Noting that many global leaders, over many decades, have spoken about ending poverty, Kim recognized that to realize this vision will take a commitment from the entire global development community that matches the scope of the challenge, and he hailed recent calls from global leaders to take action.
“Recently a number of courageous politicians have committed to ending poverty in their countries, including Dilma Rousseff in Brazil and Joyce Banda in Malawi. Similarly, US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron endorsed the vision of ending extreme poverty globally. These bold calls demand action,” said Kim.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The President of the Senior Staff Association of Communications, Transport and Corporations, NITEL unit, Comrade Elias Kazzah has bemoaned the politicisation of the ill-fortunes of the one time viable national carrier.
Speaking against the background of recent exchanges between former vice-president Atiku Abubakar and erstwhile Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Kazzah affirmed that the downturn in the company’s fortunes started with the management contract with Pentascope.
Kazzah sharply disagreed with recent claims by el-Rufai insisting that the management contract foisted on the company by the BPE under el-Rufai led to the demise of the company.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The Plateau State government has directed all heads of state owned tertiary institutions in the state to return to work and open registers for staff with immediate effect.
State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Yiljab Abraham disclosed this on Wednesday at the Government Lodge, Jishe.
Yiljap said "the state government has directed heads of the state government tertiary institutions to open registers for all staff to return, register and continue with their assigned duties."
"We assure that we are providing security cover for the safety of teachers, students and administrators."
Yiljap explained that "the state government is determined to continue to work towards the goal of leaving behind and enduring legacy in the education sector. Governor Jang has the responsibility to the future of the teeming young people in the state, whose educational aspirations are right now at stake as a result of the three months strike." *details to come later
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The National Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Prince Tony Momoh has appointed a 33-member committee to plan the Party’s convention.
A statement issued on Wednesday by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said the committee, which has been inaugurated, is expected to organize the party's national convention to endorse the merger with the other progressive parties.
The Committee is headed by the former Minister of Works, Dr. Hassan Muhammadu Lawal. Other members of the convention committee include: Senators Sani Saleh, Abubakar Sadiq Yar’adua, Hadi Sirika, Solomon Ewuga, Saleh Damboyio, Ibrahim Musa and Abu Ibrahim.
Others are Hon Abdullahi Idris Garba, Hon Garba Datti, Gen India Garba (Rtd), Chief Alex Hart, Mr Eddy Ogunbor, Barr Sharon Ikeazor, Chief Jerry Johnson, Otunba Basirat Noibi, Mr Chris Hassan, Dr Louis Ogbuefi, Alh Munir Yakubu, Alh Suleiman Hassan, Owelle Oscar Udoji, Dr Idika Ochaa and Dr Marliyya Zayyan.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The death toll from last Saturday's attack on some villages in Atakad Chiefdom of Kaura Local Government area of Kaduna State has risen to 28 while the refugee camp in the area has swollen with about 10,000 displaced villages whose houses and food stuff were burnt during the attacks.
Chief of Atakad Chiefdom, Mr. Tobias Nkom Wada disclosed this Wednesday when members of the House of Representatives from the Southern part of the state visited the affected communities.
Wada, who was briefing the law makers in Tachire village, where he is taking refuge, alleged that the attack was carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen who sacked four villages in the area.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Mabel Segun, a writer, apart from being born the same year as the late Professor Chinua Achebe, was in the same class with him at the University College, (now University of) Ibadan. In this interview with ADEMOLA ADEGBAMIGBE, Segun, author of Conflict and Other Poems, My Father’s Daughter, Under the Mango Tree, Olu and the Broken Statue, The Twins and the Tree Spirits, and Sorry, No Vacancy, speaks about her university days with Achebe and what made Achebe tick
You were with Chinua Achebe at the University of Ibadan; could you recall your days with him?
That was a class of 25 or so. I can’t remember anybody on the first day or even week. You know we all came for enrolment process for the first time and we went our different ways. But we later did many things together. He loved dancing and we used to go to the dancing club together. We were taught different steps – not the lazy dancing you young people do nowadays that you don’t learn anything and you just throw your arms and legs up! Ours was a properly structured kind of dancing, where you had to pay attention and learn where to put your feet. So, Achebe and I became close through that.
What really brought us together was writing because he became the editor of our magazine and I was the advertisement manager. It was a student magazine.
What’s the name of the publication?
The University Herald. Then, Achebe found out that he needed help for the editing so he made me a sort of unofficial assistant editor. We worked together but there was no room or space designated as an office. So we used his room. And that meant me and him in his room alone. We gave some people who were not too enlightened reasons to be suspicious about us. The notion was that if a man and a woman were in the room alone, what else could they be doing? It was foolish! They insinuated all kinds of things but we just ignored them.
Achebe was a very self-respecting person who respected other people. I know of men who went to the point of trying to rape women 20 years older than them. But Achebe composed himself well. He was a perfect gentleman. We would do the editing and all the work together alone in the room. Of course people wrote all sorts of things in their stupid magazine – a weekly bug – insinuating many funny things. They even corrupted our names to read Nuachi (instead of Chinua) and Lemba (instead of Mabel). But we just ignored them and went on with our work.
Did you notice certain traits in Achebe that showed that he would later become a great writer?
One thing I noticed about him later in life – because you learn about people as you go along – was that he was older than his years. I learnt that when he was young, he associated a lot with elders in his hometown, Ogidi. So he acquired this sort of elderly behaviour. He was very sensible and behaved more like an elderly person who could comport himself in the society.
That was how I saw him at the time. He had a very good sense of humour that I admired very much. It was not the kind of stupid humour that you see nowadays being displayed by the so-called comedians! Achebe had a sort of subtle humour which showed his deep knowledge of the English language. I enjoyed it so much. He even tried it on me sometimes. He used to say I spoke with an Ijebu accent. But I am Edo, not Ijebu, so I took it as one of his jokes. I never lived in Edoland; I lived in Yorubaland, but certainly not in the Ijebu area. I am from Edo.
I read it somewhere that you hailed from Ondo town…
I am from the family of Aig-Imoukuede. I am from Sabon-Gida Ora, Edo State. My father was the first archdeacon there. I am not from Ondo, as some people like to say (I am currently writing my memoirs. I’ll put all of this in it). Some people once came from Ondo and said they wanted to honour me. It is a good thing to want to associate with success. I know that if I were a bandit, no group would wish to do that. It was a compliment.
Unfortunately nowadays, there are societies that honour robbers! That shows a different value system!
Apart from your working together on the student magazine, how else did you know that Achebe was going to be a good writer in future?
I wasn’t trying to assess him really. He wrote in the paper. Where else would I assess him? There was nothing else to indicate he would turn out great, except that he spoke very good English. Once you had that kind of subtle humour, you most likely would have a good knowledge of English. Today, you find professors who don’t even understand what a satire is. When you say something, they don’t know it’s a tongue-in-cheek expression – that you don’t mean it the way you said it. And then they take you up on why are you supporting that character, whereas you are actually condemning the character.
Can you remember some of your other mates in school then?
I remember some of them quite well, even though I was not the clubbing type. I remember Grace Alele-Williams, Akin Mabogunje, Ufot, who was in WAEC at a time; Oforiokuma and, I almost forgot, Bola Ige. I remember there was a big clash sometime between Bola Ige and Achebe.
What caused the clash?
You know Bola Ige had a big mouth and could say anything! He attacked me too. It was later we made up and he started calling me the Matriarch of Literature and so on.
It was an incident in the university which involved Achebe and Chukwuemeka Ike and some other people. It was like an ethnic clash but it was settled. It was the bitter rivalry over which ethnic group, between the Yoruba and Igbo, should be the representative of our halls of residence. Given that they were the ones who arrived first in school, the Yoruba students believed they should head the students’ representatives and not the Igbo, who had gone behind to constitute a few of them as representatives. The quarrel was eventually settled.
But Bola Ige now went and bought a notice board which had a glass case and padlock so that nobody would be able to remove anything from it. He then wrote nasty things about the other camp. Both sides were in the wrong; but Bola Ige went too far. He wrote a piece and put it in the glass case and locked it up, so no one could tear it. He said something like: ‘There were some small fry who had just come to the university and thought that they were the lord and master of the place.’
It was at that point that Achebe, (and I believe I saw Chukwuemeka Ike, too), went into the kitchen hall, got hold of an axe, and made for the glass notice board and broke it. That was the only action of Achebe that I saw which I wasn’t too happy about. Bola Ige shouldn’t have stoked the fire after the matter had been settled. But that was his style. He was one of my greatest enemies in the university but he repented later. And when people repent, you have to forgive them.
From your interactions, did Achebe strike you at any time as a tribalist? There is the notion that Achebe tried to whip up tribal sentiments with his last work, There Was A Country.
There was the incident at the university where he had to break a notice board. But I don’t think we can refer to him as a tribalist for doing that because of the circumstances that led to that. Bola Ige provoked him to take such action.
Many people refer to Achebe as the ‘father of African literature’. What do you think?
Yes. Some even say it’s Amos Tutuola.
What is your position on Achebe’s memoirs on Biafra, There Was A Country?
I have not seen the book, I only saw extracts. So I cannot judge the work based on the extracts. But I worked closely with people like Obafemi Awolowo on those things. I was in charge of the Hansard in the Western House of Assembly. So I was the one who produced the record log, even for the House of Chiefs as well. It was a tedious job because I had a new baby then and I was working for almost 24 hours.
Given the animosity the memoirs generated between the Igbo and Yoruba, what’s your advice to both ethnic groups for them to forget the past and preserve the handshake across the Niger?
I don’t think people should make that much of it. All the protagonists of the whole thing are dead now. I think we should just move on. I viewed Achebe as larger than life. That he was immortal. That we would keep on hearing from him again and again. But he died.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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