North East Development Commission proposal
The House of Representatives urges Buhari to establish a North East Development Commission, for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the insurgency ravaged part of Nigeria. The House Speaker notes that the terrorist activities of Boko Haram, have devastated the North-East region and resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, displacement of about five million people, and disruption of education as well as other social and economic activities. The proposed commission shall be backed with robust financial mechanisms which shall include a percentage of reserve funds, special contribution by companies, donor agencies, international NGOs, development partners and other funding option. The lawmakers urged Buhari to convene an international donor conference or summit ‘as soon as possible’. The lawmakers also ask for a North East Highway, agricultural projects, and the rebuilding of schools, to fast track the zone’s development.
Leadership change
Chad’s President Deby says Boko Haram has a new leader. He does not say what had happened to Shekau, but says he had been replaced by Daoud – who has not been heard of before. Derby says Daoud is open to dialogue.
Boko Haram is decapitated. There are little groups [of fighters] scattered throughout east Nigeria, on border with Cameroon. It is within our power to definitely overcome Boko Haram.
Deby added that he would not recommend that Nigeria negotiate with ‘a terrorist’.
Gives military three months
Buhari swears in a new set of military chiefs in Abuja, ordering them to end Boko Haram’s Islamist insurgency within three months.
You need to brace up and continue to team up with other stakeholders to come up with a well co-ordinated joint effort which will bring a desired end to these insurgencies within three months. The activities of these misguided groups and individuals have resulted in wanton destruction of lives and properties of our citizens and a disruption of social economic lives of millions of Nigerians.
The president urges the armed forces to conform with international law.
In particular you must protect innocent civilians and respect the rights of combatants.
Skin transplants scheduled
The Palestinian minister of health says that Dawabsheh’s mother will undergo a skin transplant surgery within the next few days, despite her critical condition. The toddler’s brother, Ahmad will also have skin-cleansing sessions. He still lies in the ICU in trauma. The Director of Tel Hashomer Hospital, where the family is being treated, says both mother and brother will need one year in the ICU to recover from their injuries.
Frees suspects
Israel releases all suspects held in connection with the Dawabsheh attack. An Israeli official says that all the suspects arrested were freed, but did not provide further details, including their number.
Brother opens eyes
Ahmad Dawabsheh, the four-year-old brother of Ali, opens his eyes today at the Sheba Medical Center and communicated with his family, though doctors clarify that he is not fully out of harm’s way.
Family not eligible for compensation
The Dawabsheh family won’t be entitled to government compensation granted Israeli victims of terror. The law governing compensation applies only to Israeli citizens and residents – including West Bank settlers, who live in territory Israel never annexed. To seek compensation, the Dawabsheh family would have to apply to a special interministerial exceptions committee.
MK Jabareen (Joint Arab List) asks Attorney General Weinstein to apply the law to all Palestinian victims of Jewish terror.
The case of the Dawabsheh family underscores the absurdity that exists today in the legal and political arrangements related to paying compensation…Victims of nationalist attacks should be entitled to compensation from the state regardless of whether they are Jews or Arabs…This is a population without means or resources, which has been under Israeli control for about five decades…As long as the state controls the Palestinian territories, it is obligated under international law to protect Palestinian residents of the place, including the obligation to compensate them for crimes of hatred and racism against them simply because they are Palestinians. [The harm is] terrible and irreversible. No amount of money can compensate the family for its losses.
Pregnant swedish teenager held
A pregnant 15-year-old Swedish girl is being held by ISIS in Syria after running away from her foster home with her boyfriend to join al-Qaida. Swedish Foreign Ministry:
We have been informed that a Swedish minor is in Syria. We are in contact with family members,
The 15-year-old, whose name is not disclosed, disappeared from her foster home in Boras, near the south-western town of Gothenburg, on 31 May. It said she is six months pregnant. She and her 19-year-old boyfriend married in a Muslim ceremony in Stockholm earlier this year without their parents’ knowledge and reportedly travelled to Syria via Turkey, where they were recruited by an al-Qaida-linked group. The couple were captured by ISIS fighters in the northern city of Aleppo, and have been moved to an ISIS-controlled area. The boyfriend has been forced to fight for the jihadist group. The daughter had called her parents at least three times while being held by Isis after women secretly lent her a cell phone. Mother:
I spoke to her yesterday and found out she has been moved to a group of women. She is not allowed to be with her boyfriend because they aren’t considered married by [ISIS]. She was very sad and very scared. We don’t know how to get her out of the country. Now she’s in an [ISIS]-controlled area so it will be even harder.
The father says that his daughter might be moved to live with a group of women in Manbij, a town north-east of Aleppo, if ISIS militants did not recognise the marriage.
Calls death ‘just an incident’
Zuma brushes aside the killing of Cecil.
What it sounds like from a distance [is] that the hunter did not know that Cecil was so popular, just saw a lion, and killed a lion, and it’s Cecil, and Cecil is very well loved and it caused a problem, because everyone wants to go and see Cecil. I think it’s just an incident. I was told by somebody that there is a brother of Cecil. Who? There is Jericho. Thanks God, now people will ask if Jericho is among these lions and they will not shoot, I would imagine. Really I didn’t think it could become such a big issue, but it is a big issue because Cecil was loved. But I think maybe that the fellow did not know. And he just took a nice lion and it was Cecil. I think Zimbabwe has laws about hunting and everything, I don’t think it’s a matter we could really debate that much.
The President of Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe responds:
I’m surprised that President Zuma would make a such a comment with regard to an animal hunted in a neighbouring country. I find it very undiplomatic and very unfair to comment on a sovereign state.
Mugabe says heroes acre only for ZANU PF
Mugabe makes it clear that only those who participated in the liberation struggle and continue to show their allegiance to him and his Zanu PF party will be conferred hero status when they die. Addressing the thousands who turned out to remember the country’s liberation heroes at the national shrine in Harare, President Mugabe says those who leave Zanu PF and go into opposition should not expect to be granted hero status at the end of their lives. He says there are some ‘misguided elements’ in society whom he accused of denigrating the country’s heroes and the national shrine, adding some went as far as suggesting how national heroes should be selected saying this his and Zanu PF’s prerogative only.
Heroes proved to be heroes as they fought and lived for the independence. They never abandoned struggles, they never were rebels or selfish or what we now call sellouts.
Lawmaker urges Boko Haram negotiation
A member of the House of Representatives urges Buhari to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the abducted Chibok girls.
However, if it is about the Chibok girls, I support negotiating with Boko Haram. Life is precious. Anything that will bring the girls back is in order. Outside that, we should not negotiate with them. By the way who are we negotiating with? They have no agenda; nothing! They say they are anti book, yet they kill uneducated farmers. They say they are muslims, yet they kill Rasheeds and Ibrahims innocently selling goods at markets in the North East. Meanwhile, with Buhari who has deep background in military and security, I believe we will soon end them (Boko Haram). We also have to block corruption in the military.
Says Zimbabwe failed to protect Cecil
Mugabe says Zimbabweans failed in their responsibility to protect Cecil. Mugabe says his compatriots should protect their natural resources from what he calls foreign ‘vandals’.
Even Cecil the lion – he is yours. He’s dead! He was yours to protect and you failed to protect him. There are vandals who come from all over of course… some may be just ordinary visitors, but (there are) others who want to vandalise, to irregularly and illegally acquire part of our resources.
Cameroon expels thousands
Cameroon expels more than 3,000 Nigerians, and arrests hundreds of other Cameroonians and Nigerians accused of collaborating with Boko Haram. The Nigerians who are deported said they were refugees but were not staying at camps and lacked identification papers. They were taken across the border to the Nigerian town of Mubi. Official:
In the different villages there is a certain population of foreigners and they are hiding behind some Cameroonians and hiding those Boko Haram suspects.
In Nigeria, many of those expelled said they were forced out quickly:
It was a terrible journey. We spent almost six days on the road. We initially pleaded with the Cameroonian officials to give us grace of some days, but were put in trucks.
Suspects arrested
Burundi’s prosecutor says the killers of General Nshimirimana have been identified and arrested.
The identities of the perpetrators are now known. A certain number have been arrested. The rest of them and the masterminds are being sought.
The prosecutor also says a military vehicle had been used by the killers and subsequently burned. The vehicle came from a military camp in the centre of the capital Bujumbura.
Arrests two suspected terrorists
Cameroon authorities arrest two suspected members of Boko Haram disguised as female refugees. The men, who were carrying explosives in their luggage, are stopped at the Minawao refugee camp in the north of the country, near the border with Nigeria. Cameroon’s government spokesman says the men are being interrogated. He also says authorities arrested a number of foreigners suspected of collaborating with Boko Haram.
Elders call for genocide trial
Tribal elders in Borno State ask the federal government to establish a judicial commission to investigate the claims of former Chief of Defence Staff Badeh that he was made to lead an ill-equipped military in the war against Boko Haram insurgency. The elders are not happy that Badeh kept quiet about his claims and say that if the claims are confirmed, they will sue former president Jonathan for premeditated genocide against the people of the northeast Nigeria. The Elders also issue ten demands that must be carried out by the federal government as a way of seeking redress for the victimised people of the northeast Nigeria.
The Borno Elders Forum found Badeh’s comments very revealing, an eye opener, a precursor to judgement day and extremely disturbing. As Chief of Defence Staff under His Excellency, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, Alex Badeh was not just the most senior serving military man and head of all serving military men in Nigeria, he was also in the best position to know the state of affairs regarding the provision of military supplies and motivation of troops.
Rangers catch eight poachers
Eight suspected rhino poachers are arrested in the Kruger National Park. The first incident took place in the early hours of the morning while rangers conducting anti-poaching operations along the Crocodile River – south of the Park encounter three suspected poachers; a shoot-out ensues during which one poacher is wounded. All three suspects are arrested. Two hunting rifles, silencers, ammunition and other poaching equipment are confiscated. A follow-up investigation later the same day outside the park leads to the arrest of a further five suspects. Minister of Environmental Affairs:
Just a week after commemorating World Ranger Day I want to again commend our rangers for their hard work together with other law enforcement units including the South African Police Service (SAPS). [These arrests are] a clear indication that resilience and dedication pays off.
US to provide military training
After his four-person bipartisan delegation meets with Buhari and military service chiefs, Issa says the U.S. is ready to provide military training to help Nigeria’s battle against Islamic extremists. He says Nigeria’s military is not outgunned by Boko Haram and needs training, not arms, to defeat the insurgents. This contradicts Buhari, who says that the United States is aiding Boko Haram by refusing to sell attack helicopters to Nigeria. Issa:
The number one thing we bring is professional training to help the Nigerian forces fight Boko Haram and to advise them how to treat insurgents and civilians captured in the war zone. [Nigeria’s military] doesn’t lack basic firearms … it lacks training in military strategy and in international and humanitarian laws. This is a military that was allowed to fall into disrepair during the previous administration. Morale is low when training is low.
He says Obama’s pledge to give whatever training is needed signals ‘a new day’ in U.S.-Nigeria relations.
Returnees allege discrimination
Residents of Michika, whose communities have been recaptured from Boko Haram, rsay alarm over alleged discriminatory distribution of relief materials. Some of the returnees say a leading tribe in the area is marginalizing the other tribes using ethno-religious sentiments to distribute relief items and denying many other relief items. A returnees:
Whenever there is a relief material to be distributed, members of a particular tribe which I don’t want to mention would dominate the distribution points making sure that other tribes do not benefit. If there is a list to be taken, they make sure that only their tribes men or kith and kins were listed for support. My people are experiencing this particularly in Garta village of the area.
Another complainant also calls for government intervention to check the discrimination, adding that Michika Local Government has long history of ethno-religious tension that is aggravated by the Boko Haram crisis.
This is the time for relevant authorities and leaders from the area to intervene to address this problem before it turns into an ethno- religious crisis being experienced in parts of Plateau and Kaduna states.
Russia urges US to include Syria
Russia says the United States is ‘unprepared’ for including the Syrian government in international plans to counter extremist ISIS. Lavrov says he discussed Putin’s proposal on coordinating efforts against IS during a recent meeting in Qatar with Kerry.
I asked him if it wouldn’t be easier to reach an agreement, to sit down at the negotiating table and discuss everything with the involvement of the Syrian Army. Unfortunately, the Americans are unprepared for that.
Lavrov says he also expressed concern about a U.S. decision to provide air support for Syrian opposition groups fighting against Assad’s government. He said he warned Kerry that some ‘grave mistake,’ such as the accidental bombing of civilians, could
explode the situation to such an extent that nobody would be able to control it.
Lavrov also rejects allegations that the Assad government has undeclared stockpiles of chemical weapons. He says ‘groundless accusations’ must be avoided and gave his ‘guarantee’ that all the claims ‘will be double-checked.’
We have every reason to believe that the Syrian government will continue cooperating closely.