Starved Syria civilians flee besieged Damascus suburb

 

Thousands of Syrian civilians have finally been allowed to leave the besieged Damascus suburb of Moadamiya.

The BBC's Lyse Doucet, who was at the scene, describes a tide of desperate people leaving the area, which has been closed off since March.
Supplies in Moadamiya had been running desperately short, and residents had pleaded to be saved from starvation.
The exodus of civilians has been made possible by an apparent relaxation of a blockade by government forces.
The Syrian army had previously said that rebel-held areas of Damascus such as Moadamiya could surrender or starve.
At least three of Damascus's suburbs - Yarmouk, Eastern Ghouta and Moadamiya - have been besieged by government forces for several months.

---

A tide of people fled Moadamiya today - some on stretchers, some crying, all showing the severe strain of a life under siege.
"We didn't see a piece of bread for nine months," one woman told me. "We were eating leaves and grass."
A little girl in a pink dress showed me her trembling hands. "We are all sick," she said, as she and her little sister clutched pieces of bread distributed by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society.
Some 20 buses were waiting at the entrance to Moadamiya to take residents to a government shelter.
But men, young and old, were kept in a separate queue. They will now be questioned about what side they are on, and what was their involvement in the fight.

The situation has become so desperate that earlier this month Muslim clerics issued a religious ruling allowing people to eat cats, dogs and donkeys just to survive.

Those animals are usually considered unfit for human consumption in Islam.
Eating grass For months, the UN and other aid agencies have been calling for urgent help, fearing the worst for the people of Moadamiya.
"We didn't see a piece of bread for nine months," one woman told the BBC. "We were eating leaves and grass."
The Minister for Social Affairs, Kinda Al Shamamat, who was overseeing the evacuation, has accused rebel gunmen - whom she describes as terrorists - of infiltrating Moadamiya.
But rebel fighters - who have stayed behind in the suburb - accuse the government of trying to starve them into submission.
Now that most civilians have fled, the battle will intensify, our correspondent says.

The people of Moadamiya were running short of food and water

Moadamiya has been under siege and heavy bombardment since March - with no one able to get in or out

Some were too ill to walk, and had to be assisted by Red Crescent workers

Most of those trapped were women and children

The men were taken to a separate area, to be searched by the military

The army wants to check if any of these men were fighting on the rebels' side

Polio outbreak The World Health Organization has confirmed 10 cases of polio in Syria - the first outbreak in the country in 14 years.

 

The UN body says a further 12 cases are still being investigated.
Before Syria's civil war began in 2011, some 95% of children in the country were vaccinated against the disease, but now an estimated 500,000 children have not been immunised.
There has been speculation that foreign groups fighting in Syria may have imported polio into the country.
The disease has been largely eradicated in developed countries but remains endemic in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile Syria's Deputy Prime Minister, Qadri Jamil, was dismissed on Tuesday for leaving the country and acting without government permission, state media said.
Mr Jamil met US officials in Geneva over the weekend to discuss peace negotiations, according to UN and Middle East officials.
But the state news agency Sana said Mr Jamil had been dismissed by President Bashar al-Assad "because he left his centre of work without prior permission and did not follow up on his duties".
"Additionally, he undertook activities outside the nation without co-ordinating with the government," Sana said.


culled from bbc.co.uk

Tiananmen crash: Terrorism or cry of desperation?

An anti-terrorism force holds exercises in Hami, in northwest China's Xinjiang region in July.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Chinese government has created a virtual police state within Xinjiang
• Crude instruments used in attack suggest not work of well-organized group
• No evidence Uyghurs involved substantively in a global Muslim militant movement.
• Claims of a Uyghur terrorist threat maybe becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Editor's note: Sean R. Roberts is an associate professor and director of international development studies at George Washington University. He has done substantial fieldwork in China's Xinjiang region and is presently writing a book on the Uyghurs of Kazakhstan.

(CNN) -- The events on Beijing's Tiananmen Square that resulted in the death of five people and the injury of dozens more were tragic, but are they representative of a serious terrorist threat to the Chinese state as is now being suggested by official sources?

According to Chinese security organs, this act of driving a jeep into a crowd of people and setting it on fire was a "carefully planned, organized, and premeditated" terrorist attack carried out by a group of Uyghur Islamic extremists from Xinjiang Province.

READ: Beijing car crash 'a terrorist attack'

Sean R. Roberts researches the impact of Chinese state-driven development in Central Asia and Xinjiang

Unfortunately, given the lack of transparency historically in the Chinese state's conviction of Uyghurs on charges of political violence, we may never know whether this characterization of Monday's events is accurate.

What we do know is that Chinese security organs claim that the attackers in the truck, all of whom died, were a Uyghur man, his wife, and his mother. Additionally, Chinese state sources claim to have arrested an additional five suspects in connection with the alleged plot.

Were these alleged attackers members of a cell belonging to a large transnational Jihadist network like Al-Qaeda? Are they representatives of a well-organized militant movement like Al-Shabaab, which recently led an armed hostage-taking operation at a mall in Kenya?

Looking at the crude instruments allegedly used by these people -- gasoline, knives, iron rods, and an SUV, it is difficult to argue that this was the work of any highly organized and well-armed militant group or terrorist network.

There were no sophisticated explosives used in the attacks, and the alleged attackers did not even possess guns. Furthermore, although Uyghurs are Muslims, there is no evidence that they have ever been involved substantively in a global Muslim militant movement.

China calls Beijing attack terrorism

Tensions in western China

Sandstorm blurs Chinese city's skyline

READ: Who are the Uyghurs?

So, how do we understand this act of violence if it was indeed carried out by a family of Uyghurs?

The obvious answer is to look at what is happening in the Xinjiang itself where such violent acts have been occurring with increasing frequency ever since the ethnic violence between Uyghurs and Han Chinese that spread throughout the regional capitol of Urumqi during the summer of 2009.

Life for Uyghurs inside Xinjiang is not like that of most people in the People's Republic of China (PRC).

For the last decade, the Chinese government has created a virtual police state within Xinjiang, employing enhanced surveillance of Uyghur citizens, actively repressing Uyghurs' political voices, and greatly curtailing Uyghur religious practices.

It has also vastly reduced Uyghurs' access to education in their own language and has limited Uyghur language publications of original reading materials.

Officially, the Chinese state explains most of these measures as part of its anti-terrorism measures to protect national security.

These measures also regularly include arresting large numbers of Uyghurs on charges of engaging in "illegal religious activity" or of having ties to terrorist organizations.

In fact, during this month alone, security organs in Xinjiang were involved in the fatal shooting of suspected Uyghur militants on several separate occasions and arrested at least one hundred more they suspected of trying to flee the country.

Although the government characterizes its ongoing and expansive confrontation with Uyghurs in Xinjiang as anti-terrorism, it is equally related to the PRC's larger plans for Xinjiang.

READ: Xinjiang calm on anniversary of deadly riots?

The region is of critical strategic importance to the state as it is China's primary gateway to the west, both in accessing western markets for Chinese goods and in securing natural resources, such as oil, gas, and uranium from Central Asia and locations further west and south.

In this context, the PRC is presently funding enormous development projects in Xinjiang that are also bringing a large influx of Han Chinese migrants and are uprooting Uyghur communities and displacing them from traditional lands.

The state may not care to rid Xinjiang of Uyghurs, but it would like the Uyghurs living there to willingly yield their perceived homeland to a Han-dominant state culture. As a result, the future of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region appears destined to be neither Uyghur nor autonomous.

With these events unfolding in the region that Uyghurs view as their historical homeland, one feels compelled to question whether Monday's alleged attack was a well-prepared terrorist act or a hastily assembled cry of desperation from a people on the extreme margins of the Chinese state's monstrous development machine.

However, given that this is allegedly the first instance that Uyghurs have carried out such desperate acts outside Xinjiang, and in this case in the very symbolic seat of central power, we may also be witnessing a sharp escalation in the Chinese state's confrontation with the Uyghurs.

In the midst of this escalation, it is also possible that the PRC's long-maintained, but largely unsubstantiated, claims of a Uyghur terrorist threat are perhaps becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Nigerian troops kill over 90 Boko Haram Members

Government: Nigerian troops kill over 90 Boko
Haram members
By Vlad Duthiers and Greg Botelho , CNN
October 25, 2013 -- Updated 2226 GMT (0626
HKT)
A student stands in a classroom burnt by the
Islamist group Boko Haram in Maiduguri, Nigeria
on May 12, 2012.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The military kills more than 70 Boko Haram
members in an operation in Borno state
They also fend off an attack on a military
checkpoint in Yobe state's capital
21 suspected Boko Haram members die in
fighting there
Boko Haram seeks to impose a strict version of
Sharia law across northeastern Nigeria
Abuja, Nigeria (CNN) -- More than 70 members
of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram have
been killed during a Nigerian military operation
in the northeastern state of Borno, an Army
spokesman told CNN on Friday.
The military "remains on the offensive,"
according to Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, who
said the operation started Thursday and
continued into the next day.
2012: Who are Boko Haram?
Who are the world's 10 most dangerous
terrorists?
This wasn't the only clash between Boko Haram
and Nigerian troops of late.
Suspected members of the extremist group
around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday (12:30 p.m. ET)
attacked a military checkpoint in Damaturu,
Nigeria's Joint Task Force reported in a
statement. Also in northern Nigeria, Damaturu is
the capital of Yobe state.
Special operations troops responded, waging "a
fierce encounter with the terrorists in various
parts of Damaturu ... for several hours,"
according to the Joint Task Force.
By the time that fighting was over, 21 suspected
Boko Haram fighters were dead, the government
group reported. Three vehicles were recovered,
as were assault rifles, a rocket-propelled
grenade, improvised explosive devices and 709
rounds of ammunition.
The military did not provide any information on
its casualties.
"Law abiding citizens are enjoined to remain
calm as the 3 Division Special Operation
Battalion is on top of the situation," the Joint
Task Force said, noting a 24-hour curfew was
imposed throughout the state. "Any credible
information should be passed promptly to
security agencies for necessary action."
Last May, President Goodluck Jonathan put three
states in the region under a state of emergency,
giving Nigerian forces wide latitude in fighting
the group, which human rights organizations say
has killed more than 3,000 people since 2009.
Boko Haram, which means "Western education is
sacrilege" in the Hausa-Fulani language, seeks to
impose a strict version of Sharia law across
northeastern Nigeria, if not the entire country.
The group has attacked various targets in the
West African nation since its formation in the
late 1990s, according to the U.S. National
Counterterrorism Center, including killing and
kidnapping Westerners, and bombing schools
and churches.
Hundreds of its members, including its leader
Mohammed Yusuf, died in July 2009 clashes with
government forces. But the group did not stay
down for long, and has remained an active and
violent force in Nigeria.
In August, its militants allegedly went into a
mosque in Borno state and killed 44 worshipers.
The group released a video boasting that it was
growing stronger

Riot in Mexico Prison

7 killed when knife-wielding inmates riot in
Mexico prison
By Elwyn Lopez , CNN
October 27, 2013 -- Updated 0054 GMT (0854
HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Riot breaks out among inmates at a prison in
Tamaulipas, authorities say
Prisoners use homemade knives; 7 are killed
and 2 more are injured
9 inmates were taken away and could face
punishment
(CNN) -- Seven inmates were killed during a
prison riot Saturday in Mexico's Gulf Coast state
of Tamaulipas, authorities said.
Two other prisoners were injured in the melee in
Altamira, a prison located about 300 miles (480
kilometers) south of the U.S. border, Tamaulipas
state officials said in a statement. The situation
reportedly was under control within an hour.
Nine inmates were taken away and could be
subject to punishment for their alleged roles.
The riot began at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. ET) when
inmates wielding homemade knives went at each
other during a fight.
The ages of the inmates involved -- who were
serving time for both federal and state crimes --
ranged from 20 to 59.
Saturday's incident took place in the same
prison where 31 inmates died and another 13
were injured in January 2012.
Homemade weapons were used in this riot,
which erupted after inmates from one area of the
prison illicitly entered another one

Corruption:An overview of China

: In China, 'everyone is guilty of
corruption'
By Lijia Zhang , Special for CNN
October 24, 2013 -- Updated 0301 GMT (1101
HKT)
Police stand guard outside the court where
disgraced politician Bo Xilai was sentenced to
life in prison in September.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Everyone in China is guilty of corruption, says
writer Lijia Zhang
Use of guanxi or connections part of everyday
life
Businessmen say they can't survive unless
they are corrupt
China needs to focus on rule of law not "rule
of men"
Editor's note: Lijia Zhang is a Beijing-based
writer and the author of "Socialism is Great! A
Worker's Memoir of the New China." She appears
in the latest episode of On China with Kristie Lu
Stout, which examines the country's fight against
corruption. For viewing times please click here .
Beijing (CNN) -- Another "tiger" has been
caught. Last week, Ji Jianye, the mayor of my
hometown Nanjing, a major city in eastern China,
was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes
worth about 20 million yuan ($3.3 million)
After taking power in March, President Xi Jinping
launched a high-profile anti-corruption
campaign, vowing to catch both tigers and flies --
big and small corrupt officials. China has seen
plenty of such campaigns, arising and subsiding
like summer storms.
But this one appears to be the most vigorous
since China opened up; when corruption became
rampant in the new market economy and officials
started to trade power for financial gains.
Author and social commentator Lijia Zhang
Much as I appreciate our president's
determination, his battle feels like an attempt to
"put out a big fire with a glass of water," given
how corruption has reached every corner of our
society.
READ: Swatting flies: Beijing's fight to root out
corruption
Chinese public opinion surveys identify
corruption as the most hated social problem, yet
everyone is also guilty of it.
Last year, when my father fell seriously ill, we
took him to a decent hospital close by but were
told the beds were fully occupied. As always, we
turned to our guanxi -- our network of
connections -- for help.
Fortunately, a relative, a not so senior but well-
connected official, managed to secure a private
room at the hospital, which is reserved for
ranking leaders. In return, the relative agreed to
get the son of the hospital director into the
most desirable school in Nanjing.
Author: Corruption hurt Communist Party
On China: Reform
On China: Tigers and flies
I became aware the weight of guanxi shortly
after I was thrust into adulthood: At 16 I was
dragged out of the school to work at a military
rocket factory.
Two months later, when Spring Festival came, my
mother requested that I visit my boss' home
with gifts she had prepared. Naive and
embarrassed, I refused. Mother angrily
predicted: "You'll never go far in life if you don't
know how to la guanxi!" The verb la means to
pull or to develop. Sure enough, I never got any
promotion during my decade-long stint at the
factory even though I acquired a degree in
mechanical engineering.
READ: What China can learn from Hong Kong
For any Chinese businessman, guanxi is
essential. Recently, I met up with a long-lost
friend, with whom I marched in the Nanjing
streets back in the spring of 1989 and shouted
"Down With Corruption" -- one of the complaints
that had sparked the unprecedented Tiananmen
Square democratic movement.
More than 20 years later, this friend spends 90%
of his time running his high-tech company. His
youthful idealism has gone and his waistline has
expanded considerably. With a ghost of a smile,
he blames it on the excessive dining, drinking
and occasional visits to prostitutes that are part
of the tiresome game of guanxi. "Your business
can't survive a day if you are not corrupt," he
told me.
He has to smooth every step of his business with
gifts or outright bribes: From obtaining the
business license, to entertaining potential
clients, to receiving 15% of the tax deduction
that a high-tech company is entitled to. He
estimates that 3% to 5 % of operating costs goes
to guanxi .
Such practices drive entrepreneurs to seek
senior officials as their patrons because
politicians in China have the power to approve
projects and allocate resources.
The relationship between the now disgraced
politician Bo Xilai and businessmen Xu Ming, the
founder of Dalian Shide Group, was typical of
such patron-client relationships. Xu, a large
man, allegedly fattened his pockets through his
guanxi with the Bo family as he funded the
family's jet-set life style.
Xu was detained shortly after Bo's arrest and
testified against Bo at his trial in August,
although Xu has not been charged with any
wrongdoing.
Local media reports suggest that authorities are
investigating similar ties between the newly
disgraced Nanjing mayor and Zhu Xingliang, the
richest businessman in Suzhou, a city near
Nanjing, who has also been placed under house
arrest.
And politically, China produces its top leaders
more or less based on patron-client ties rather
than meritocracy. Both President Xi and Bo are
"princelings" -- the children of senior leaders,
the most powerful and influential group in
China. Nepotism, a form of corruption, has
feudal roots.
In fact, I believe the whole corrupt practice of
guanxi is rooted in China's long tradition of
renzhi -- rule of men rather than the rule of law.
President Xi has called for a curb on official
extravagance: No red carpet treatment, no luxury
banquets and no fancy office buildings. But
these are the symptoms not the root of the
problem.
To stamp out corruption, he will have to not only
observe the rule of law but also introduce
genuine political reforms that would allow checks
and balances, transparency, and independent
scrutiny. Such remedies, although proven
elsewhere, may be too strong for him to take.
I don't doubt that the authorities will net more
tigers. But there will be hundreds and
thousands more at large and countless flies,
thriving in China's politically and culturally rich
breeding ground for corruption

Germany to send Intelligence Officials to Washington amid Spy Allegations

Germany to send intelligence officials to
Washington amid spying uproar
By Laura Smith-Spark and Per Nyberg, CNN
October 26, 2013 -- Updated 2104 GMT (0504
HKT)
Germany sending intel team to D.C.

NEW: Der Spiegel: U.S. spied on Merkel for
more than 10 years, at least until June
NEW: NSC doesn't comment on claim, says
U.S gets intelligence like other nations
German intelligence officials will visit
Washington, Foreign Ministry spokesman says
A European summit was dominated by anger
over claims of widespread U.S. spying
(CNN) -- Germany is sending senior intelligence
officials to Washington, a Foreign Ministry
spokesman said Saturday, amid outrage over
claims the U.S. National Security Agency
monitored German Chancellor Angela Merkel's
cell phone.
Among them will be the heads of Germany's
foreign and domestic intelligence services and
the coordinator of the federal intelligence
services, the government's press office said.
The trip comes amid a series of reports that have
challenged relations between the two long-time
allies. The latest is a story in the German
magazine Der Spiegel that -- citing a secret U.S.
intelligence file -- claimed Merkel's phone had
been monitored for more than 10 years,
stretching back before her current post.
The same database indicated the United States
was spying on many others in Berlin's political
district, at least up to when U.S. President
Barack Obama visited Berlin this year, Der
Spiegel reported.
Asked about these claims, U.S. National Security
Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said her
agency does not "comment publicly on every
specific intelligence activity."
"And, as a matter of policy, we have made clear
that the United States gathers foreign
intelligence of the type gathered by all nations,"
said Hayden, echoing comments she and others
have made in recent days.
Still, it remains to be seen if citizens and leaders
in Europe will accept such explanations -- and
whether recent efforts by the Obama
administration to address their concerns will be
successful.
Spokesman: U.S.-German talks ongoing for
months
The German government's deputy spokesman
said Friday that its officials heading to
Washington would seek to push forward talks
with the White House and the NSA as they seek
more information about the alleged U.S. spying.
The German representatives will be in the U.S.
capital "very soon," said the foreign ministry
spokesman, who is not named in line with
department policy.
The spokesman said it is most likely that the
intelligence officials will meet with their
respective counterparts, although he did not
know exactly who they would see.
The United States has been in talks with German
intelligence officials for the past several months,
and leaders of both countries have agreed to
increase cooperation, said Hayden of the
National Security Council.
"We understand that German officials plan to
travel to Washington in coming weeks, and the
U.S. government looks forward to meeting with
them," she said.
U.S. surveillance under European fire
Damage control on NSA Scandal
U.S. allies furious over spying
Germany and Brazil are also drafting a U.N.
resolution regarding the protection of privacy in
electronic communication, according to the
German foreign ministry spokesman said.
Diplomats from those two countries met
Thursday to discuss the possible U.N. resolution,
government officials in Brazil said.
"It is very general, but we think this is a very
important topic, that's why we are drafting it. It
is still at a very early stage, so we don't know
when it will be presented or if other countries
will join," the German spokesman said.
Europe falls out of love with Obama over NSA
spying claims
U.S. relations have soured with Brazil over
reports that the United States spied on
President Dilma Rousseff and her advisers.
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden
reportedly leaked the documents cited in
Brazilian media reports about the alleged
espionage operations
, as well as those in European media outlets.
'Significant challenges'
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki
referred to the leaks from Snowden in comments
Friday in Washington.
"These unauthorized disclosures of classified
information have of course led to criticisms of
our intelligence activity by many of our friends
and partners," she said. "It's created significant
challenges in our relationships with some of our
partners and has been, of course, a public
distraction."
Obama has directed the government to review
its surveillance capabilities, including with
regard to its foreign partners, she said.
Obama promises changes
Damage control on NSA Scandal
Eavesdropper 'spies' on former NSA chief
Eavesdropping on ex-NSA director
"We want to ensure we're collecting information
because we need it and not just because we
can," she said.
"We will of course continue to gather the
information we need to keep ourselves and our
allies safe. We of course will factor in the views
of our friends and partners as we have those
discussions with them, and we'll continue to
balance our security needs with privacy
concerns."
The U.S government fully expects that "more
allegations will surface given the quantity of
classified information leaked by Mr. Snowden,"
Psaki added.
'Deep concerns' in Europe
Anger over the claims of widespread spying by
the NSA on its European allies overshadowed an
EU summit held in Brussels on Thursday and
Friday.
EU leaders said the allegations had raised "deep
concerns" among Europeans and could affect the
cooperation needed for effective intelligence
gathering.
"A lack of trust could prejudice the necessary
cooperation in the field," the leaders said in a
joint statement issued at the conclusion of the
European Council meeting.
Germany and France intend to seek talks with
the United States "with the aim of finding before
the end of the year an understanding on mutual
relations in that field," the EU leaders'
statement said. Other nations are welcome to
join these talks, it noted.
Merkel said the assertions that the U.S. National
Security Agency spied on her and other world
leaders had "severely shaken" relationships
between Europe and the United States, and that
trust would have to be rebuilt.
Merkel: Relations with U.S. 'severely shaken' over
spying claims
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
announced Friday that Madrid had summoned
U.S. Ambassador James Costos over the matter, a
day after Germany summoned the U.S. envoy to
Berlin over its concerns.
The German spying allegation came in the same
week that the French daily newspaper Le Monde
reported claims that the NSA intercepted more
than 70 million phone calls in France over a 30-
day period.
French President Francois Hollande said Friday
there is an "ongoing dialog" with the United
States over its past actions, but the priority is
establishing a "code of conduct" for the present
and future.
CNN's Chloe Sommers and Frederik Pleitgen
contributed to this report.

Women who are more powerful than President Jonathan of Nigeria

Powerful women in Jonathan administration
Since inception, President Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration has been accused of impunity,
usually caused by decisions and actions of the
President, including those of his ministers and
close associates.
Most of the glaring cases of abuse of power
including reckless spending of taxpayers’ money
have been carried out by the women in
Jonathan’s cabinet. These women have proven to
be more powerful than the number one citizen
of Nigeria because despite public outcries that
greet some of their decisions, they go scot-free.
Those who fall in this seemingly untouchable
category are the First Lady, Mrs. Patience
Jonathan; the Coordinating Minister for the
Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala; the Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; the
Director-General of the Securities and Exchange
Commission, Ms. Arunma Oteh; and the Minister
of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah.
These powerful women have some things in
common. They are all from the South-East and
South-South geopolitical zones. Four of them had
their higher education in the United States and
two of them are daughters of traditional rulers.
Needless to say they occupy some of the most
strategic and ‘lucrative’ positions in the Federal
Government.
PATIENCE JONATHAN
In Nigeria’s history, Patience Jonathan is
believed to be the most powerful First Lady in
terms of the amount of influence she has over
her husband and his cabinet.
Mrs. Jonathan first gave a glimpse into the
enormous power she wields in 2011 when she
traversed the country, campaigning for her
husband in a way that irked many Nigerians.
Several calls by individuals and groups to the
President to restrain his wife yielded no result.
Also, in June this year, in apparent violation of
the electoral act, Mrs. Jonathan reportedly
started campaigning for her husband ahead of
the 2015 elections.
Another show of impunity by the President’s wife
is the way she cripples any town or city she
visits with her long motorcade, including
bulletproof limousines and scores of armed
policemen.
She grounded Lagos in 2012 when she visited to
say “thank you” to some women groups for their
support in electing her husband.
Despite the protest by several Nigerians, who
felt that their right to move freely in their
country was violated by the movement of an
unelected individual, the President’s wife was
never cautioned, at least not publicly.
Instead, the Presidency rose to her defence,
giving her the liberty to do more in other cities.
Her visits and grounding of traffic in Port
Harcourt and Warri were also greeted with wide
condemnations.
To show how powerful she is, Mrs. Jonathan
publicly admitted making attempts to dictate to
the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, a
move that largely precipitated the ongoing
political crisis in the state.
In Aso Rock, where she resides with her
husband, the fear of Mrs. Jonathan is the
beginning of wisdom as she leaves no one in
doubt that she is in charge. There is always a
retinue of favour seekers waiting to see her daily.
Mrs. Jonathan, a native of Bayelsa State, was
born in Port Harcourt on October 25, 1957 and
holds National Certificate of Education in
Mathematics and Biology from the Rivers State
College of Arts and Science, and a Bachelor of
Education degree in biology and psychology from
the University of Port Harcourt.
NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA
Right from when the negotiation to bring her
from the World Bank started, it was obvious that
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was bound to wield so
much power in Jonathan’s government.
With her position as the coordinating minister
for the economy (a new position created for her)
and Finance Minister, Okonjo-Iweala, who is
currently 83rd on Forbes’ global list of powerful
women, calls the shots as far as Nigeria’s
economy is concerned.
While doing that, she has called the bluff of
many including state governors and the National
Assembly without any consequence.
The state governors, who have complained about
the shabby way the minister treat them, have
called for her removal while the Academic Staff
Union of Universities has called her a ‘dictator.’
But no matter the protest, Okonjo-Iweala
remains a darling of the President.
The sacking of Mr. Shuaib Yushau as the Head,
Media and Information Unit of the National
Emergency Management Agency, after he wrote
what was considered a critical article against
Okonjo-Iweala, further showed that the minister
was not to be messed with.
The article entitled ‘Still on Okonjo-Iweala over
Controversial Appointments’, published on March
6, called on the minister “to ensure that
appointments into important positions should be
done in credible and transparent manner that
can withstand public scrutiny.”
Similarly, Mr. Lawrence Ani, was reportedly
suspended indefinitely from his job as Saturday
Editor of Thisday Newspaper for publishing a
story that cited data that indicated a drop in
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product under Okonjo-
Iweala’s watch.
In 2011, against the opinion of the majority of
Nigerians, Okonjo-Iweala and the Minister of
Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke,
insisted on the removal of fuel subsidy, and
literally ordered it on the outset of 2012,
resulting in the Occupy Nigeria protest.
Okonjo-Iweala, who also served as finance
minister and foreign minister under President
Olusegun Obansanjo and as a Managing Director
at the World Bank, was born on June 13, 1954 to
Professor Chukuka Okonjo, who is the Obi
(traditional ruler) of Ogwashi-Uku.
She graduated from Harvard University in 1977,
and earned her Ph.D. in regional economic
development from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in 1981.
She is married to Ikemba Iweala from Abia State.
DIEZANI ALISON-MADUEKE
Virtually all sections of the Nigerian society have
called for the resignation of the Petroleum
Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, all
to no avail.
Most of those who sought her removal had cited
several allegations of corrupt practices under her
watch as reasons for their demand.
After the revelation of massive fraud in the fuel
subsidy administration to the tune of N1.7trn,
many had thought that heads would roll,
including that of Alison-Madueke, who
supervised the rot.
Some heads did roll, but not that of the queen
of the Nigeria oil and gas industry.
Till date, the Presidency has not queried or
probed Diezani over allegations against her and
the indictment of departments under her by
several panels, including those headed by Nuhu
Ribadu, Farouk Lawan, and Aigboje Aig-
Imoukhuede as well as the Nigerian Extractive
Industry Transparency Initiative.
Diezani has also not explained to Nigeria, whom
she was appointed to serve, what role she
played in the massive corruption that led to the
loss of huge amounts of public fund.
Apart from the demands for the Alison-
Madueke’s resignation and prosecution by civil
society groups, who led the Occupy Nigeria
protest, the House of Representatives also
demanded her removal as minister.
Despite this, the President did not suspend her,
and gave no explanation for that. This shows
how powerful she is.
Alison-Madueke is the first woman to hold the
position of Minister of Petroleum Resources in
Nigeria, and in October 2010 she became the
first woman to head a country’s delegation at
the annual OPEC conference.
She was also the first female Minister of
Transportation, and the first woman to be
appointed to the board of Shell Petroleum
Development Company Nigeria.
Alison-Madueke was born on December 6, 1960
in Port Harcourt.
She graduated from Howard University in 1992,
with a Bachelor’s degree in architecture and
returned to Nigeria to join Shell Petroleum
Development Corporation.
About 10 years later, she earned an MBA from
Cambridge University and was appointed as the
first female executive director of Shell Nigeria.
In 1999, she got married to Admiral Alison
Madueke (retd), one-time Chief of Naval Staff
who was at different times military governor of
Imo and Anambra states.
STELLA ODUAH
Not many are aware of the tremendous power of
the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, in
Jonathan’s government.
For her role in Jonathan’s 2011 campaign, she
was reportedly rewarded with a ministerial
appointment to the aviation ministry, even
though she had no prior training in the field of
aviation.
Many believe that the President feels indebted
to her for her role as the Director of Finance and
Administration of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign
Organisation and in the establishment of
Neighbour-to-Neighbour outfit, which reportedly
spent billions of naira on adverts and media
propaganda in favour of Jonathan, especially
while the Occupy Nigeria protest lasted.
Considering this relationship with Jonathan, it
should not be a surprise that Oduah’s response
to critics after the Dana and Associated Airlines
crashes reeked of arrogance.
The latest revelation that she forced the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to buy her
bulletproof vehicles has again elicited calls for
her removal and prosecution but considering the
way the President has treated public outcries
against these powerful women, Oduah is likely to
remain minister till the end of Jonathan’s
administration.
Princess Stella Oduah was born on January 5,
1962 to Igwe D.O. Oduah of Akili-Ozizor in
Anambra State on January 5, 1962.
She got her Bachelor’s degree in accounting and
MBA from American universities.
Oduah joined the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation in 1983 and in 1992, she established
a petroleum products marketing company, Sea
Petroleum & Gas Company Limited.
She was married to the former Minister for
Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi.
ARUNMA OTEH
Through her battles, the Director-General of the
Securities Exchange Commission, Ms. Arunma
Oteh, has sufficiently earned the name ‘Iron
lady’ even beyond her official sphere of
influence.
When she clashed with the House of
Representatives Committee on the Capital
Market, it was the chairman of the committee,
Mr. Herman Hembe, that got hurt.
The committee had accused Oteh of fraud and
misappropriation of funds. She fired back,
accusing Hembe of demanding bribe from SEC.
The SEC board suspended Oteh in order to
investigate the findings of the lawmakers, who
probed the capital market and indicted her. She
immediately petitioned the President and
Okonjo-Iweala.
After two months, the President returned Oteh
to her position, following the auditor’s report
that said her offence amounted only to
‘administrative lapses.’ The directors and staff of
the commission, who had protested Oteh’s
alleged high-handedness, were advised to calm
down and obey their boss.
On the other hand, Hembe was arraigned by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and
also stepped down as chairman of the
committee.
The crisis led to an intense battle between
President Jonathan and the House of
Representatives. The House demanded the
sacking of Oteh but Jonathan refused.
The passage of the 2013 budget was delayed
because of the fight. Eventually, the lawmakers
insisted on zero budget for SEC to force the
President’s hand, but he did not budge.
Calls for her removal by civil society groups also
fell on deaf ears.
Oteh, who is an indigene of Abia State, is also a
British citizen.
She graduated with first-class degree in
computer sciences from the University of Nigeria
in Nsukka and earned her MBA from Harvard
Business School.

Uruguay's President I earn more than i need.

The man described as the world's ' poorest
president' discusses Uruguay' s move to legalise
marijuana .
President Jose Mujica , the world's ' poorest'
president, has surprised the world by making
Uruguay the first country to entirely legalise
marijuana .
A law already passed in the lower house of
Congress and expected to pass in the Senate
later this year would make Uruguay the first
country in the world to license and enforce rules
for the production, distribution and sale of
marijuana for adult consumers .
Uruguay is hoping to act as a potential test case
for an idea slowly gaining steam across Latin
America - that the legalisation and regulation of
some drugs could combat the cartel violence
devastating much of the region.
The thing is I have a way of life that I don't
change just because I am a president. I earn
more than I need , even if it 's not enough for
others .
President Jose Mujica
Mujica 's recent speech to the UN General
Assembly denouncing excess and frivolity, also
received global attention:
" We have sacrificed the old immaterial Gods , and
now we are occupying the temple of the Market -
God. He organises our economy , our politics, our
habits , our lives and even provides us with rates
and credit cards and gives us the appearance of
happiness ," he said.
" It seems that we have been born only to
consume , and to consume , and when we can no
longer consume , we have a feeling of frustration
and we suffer from poverty, and we are auto
marginalised. "
He may look like a working class grandfather , but
78- year-old Mujica is a man with a powerful
message , a leader who is a one of a kind .
Also known as Pepe Mujica , he refused to move to
the luxurious house the Uruguayan state provides
for its leaders, and chose instead to stay in the
modest home he shares with his senator wife in
the capital .
His lifestyle and the fact that he donates 90
percent of his salary to charity has earned him
the label 'the poorest president in the world'.
" Those who describe me so are the poor ones ," he
says. " My definition of poor are those who need
too much. Because those who need too much are
never satisfied . "
Mujica is a man who practices the simplicity he
preaches and never minces words, a style some of
his countrymen criticise as unpresidential, but
which makes him a hero to others .
On this episode of Talk to Al Jazeera, President
Jose Mujica discusses his peculiar approach
towards marijuana and drug trafficking , his
particular way of living and understanding life ,
and the repercussions the country' s new policies,

Georgia Votes for New president

Political uncertainty looms as three candidates
fight to replace pro -Western Mikheil Saakashvili
after decade -long rule.
Georgia is voting for a new president in an
election that will end Mikheil Saakashvili's
decade -long rule, but is unlikely to end political
uncertainty in the former Soviet republic .
The front - runner to replace Saakashvili is Georgi
Margvelashvili , a member of the Georgian Dream
coalition , which defeated the president's party in
an election a year ago .
Opinion polls put Margvelashvili , formerly an
education minister , ahead of the two other main
candidates - David Bakradze , a member of
Saakashvili's United National Movement and a
parliamentary speaker; and Nino Burjanadze, one
of the leaders of the 2003 Rose Revolution that
toppled Eduard Shevardnadze .
The campaign, in contrast to many previous
elections in post- Soviet Georgia , has been
peaceful .
Margvelashvili is little known. His main foreign-
policy goal is to pursue close ties both with the
West and with Russia - a balance the country has
long failed to achieve.
He says he will refuse to take part in a run - off if
he fails to win outright by securing more than
half the votes .
Ivanishvili 's retreat
The departure of Saakashvili, a pro- Western
leader who has served the maximum two terms,
should end the bickering that has hindered
policy- making and the investment climate, and
reinforce Georgian Dream' s hold on power .
However , the future is clouded by Prime Minister
Bidzina Ivanishvili' s decision to step aside as
well.
The retreat of Ivanishvili , Georgia 's richest man
and Georgian Dream 's leader, increases
uncertainty in a country that is strategically
important for Russia and Europe , which receives
Caspian oil and gas through pipelines via
Georgia.
Ivanishvili , 57 , has dominated politics in the
South Caucasus country since entering politics
two years ago , but says his job will be complete
once Saakashvili departs .
After the election , constitutional changes take
effect which will shift power from the presidency
to the government and parliament.
Ivanishvili has not said who will be prime
minister , although no major policy changes are
expected .
The arrest of several former ministers, including
Vano Merabishvili , ex-prime minister, and dozens
of other former officials has caused alarm abroad ,
and two European Union ministers have appealed
to Ivanishvili not to try to prosecute Saakashvili.
Problem of poverty
Ivanishvili denied on Friday that he would seek to
jail his rival , and said he would not dictate the
government 's actions after he leaves office in
about one month .
Georgia allied itself with the US under Saakashvili
and pushed to join NATO, still a distant prospect .
Georgian Dream has taken a similar path, but
sought better ties with Russia .
Under Saakashvili, who rose to power after the
Rose Revolution , the country of 4 .5 million fought
a five - day war with Russia in 2008, from which
Russia emerged in control of two rebellious
Georgian regions.
He won plaudits for reducing corruption and
bureaucracy , and for launching economic reforms,
but was criticised for not overhauling the justice
system , and poverty remains a problem .
Ivanishvili 's critics say the economy has
deteriorated under him.
After years of robust growth , gross domestic
product grew only 1 . 5 percent in the second
quarter this year, down from 8 .2 percent in the
same period a year ago .

Women who are more powerful than President Jonathan of Nigeria

Powerful women in Jonathan administration
Since inception, President Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration has been accused of impunity,
usually caused by decisions and actions of the
President, including those of his ministers and
close associates.
Most of the glaring cases of abuse of power
including reckless spending of taxpayers’ money
have been carried out by the women in
Jonathan’s cabinet. These women have proven to
be more powerful than the number one citizen
of Nigeria because despite public outcries that
greet some of their decisions, they go scot-free.
Those who fall in this seemingly untouchable
category are the First Lady, Mrs. Patience
Jonathan; the Coordinating Minister for the
Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala; the Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; the
Director-General of the Securities and Exchange
Commission, Ms. Arunma Oteh; and the Minister
of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah.
These powerful women have some things in
common. They are all from the South-East and
South-South geopolitical zones. Four of them had
their higher education in the United States and
two of them are daughters of traditional rulers.
Needless to say they occupy some of the most
strategic and ‘lucrative’ positions in the Federal
Government.
PATIENCE JONATHAN
In Nigeria’s history, Patience Jonathan is
believed to be the most powerful First Lady in
terms of the amount of influence she has over
her husband and his cabinet.
Mrs. Jonathan first gave a glimpse into the
enormous power she wields in 2011 when she
traversed the country, campaigning for her
husband in a way that irked many Nigerians.
Several calls by individuals and groups to the
President to restrain his wife yielded no result.
Also, in June this year, in apparent violation of
the electoral act, Mrs. Jonathan reportedly
started campaigning for her husband ahead of
the 2015 elections.
Another show of impunity by the President’s wife
is the way she cripples any town or city she
visits with her long motorcade, including
bulletproof limousines and scores of armed
policemen.
She grounded Lagos in 2012 when she visited to
say “thank you” to some women groups for their
support in electing her husband.
Despite the protest by several Nigerians, who
felt that their right to move freely in their
country was violated by the movement of an
unelected individual, the President’s wife was
never cautioned, at least not publicly.
Instead, the Presidency rose to her defence,
giving her the liberty to do more in other cities.
Her visits and grounding of traffic in Port
Harcourt and Warri were also greeted with wide
condemnations.
To show how powerful she is, Mrs. Jonathan
publicly admitted making attempts to dictate to
the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, a
move that largely precipitated the ongoing
political crisis in the state.
In Aso Rock, where she resides with her
husband, the fear of Mrs. Jonathan is the
beginning of wisdom as she leaves no one in
doubt that she is in charge. There is always a
retinue of favour seekers waiting to see her daily.
Mrs. Jonathan, a native of Bayelsa State, was
born in Port Harcourt on October 25, 1957 and
holds National Certificate of Education in
Mathematics and Biology from the Rivers State
College of Arts and Science, and a Bachelor of
Education degree in biology and psychology from
the University of Port Harcourt.
NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA
Right from when the negotiation to bring her
from the World Bank started, it was obvious that
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was bound to wield so
much power in Jonathan’s government.
With her position as the coordinating minister
for the economy (a new position created for her)
and Finance Minister, Okonjo-Iweala, who is
currently 83rd on Forbes’ global list of powerful
women, calls the shots as far as Nigeria’s
economy is concerned.
While doing that, she has called the bluff of
many including state governors and the National
Assembly without any consequence.
The state governors, who have complained about
the shabby way the minister treat them, have
called for her removal while the Academic Staff
Union of Universities has called her a ‘dictator.’
But no matter the protest, Okonjo-Iweala
remains a darling of the President.
The sacking of Mr. Shuaib Yushau as the Head,
Media and Information Unit of the National
Emergency Management Agency, after he wrote
what was considered a critical article against
Okonjo-Iweala, further showed that the minister
was not to be messed with.
The article entitled ‘Still on Okonjo-Iweala over
Controversial Appointments’, published on March
6, called on the minister “to ensure that
appointments into important positions should be
done in credible and transparent manner that
can withstand public scrutiny.”
Similarly, Mr. Lawrence Ani, was reportedly
suspended indefinitely from his job as Saturday
Editor of Thisday Newspaper for publishing a
story that cited data that indicated a drop in
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product under Okonjo-
Iweala’s watch.
In 2011, against the opinion of the majority of
Nigerians, Okonjo-Iweala and the Minister of
Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke,
insisted on the removal of fuel subsidy, and
literally ordered it on the outset of 2012,
resulting in the Occupy Nigeria protest.
Okonjo-Iweala, who also served as finance
minister and foreign minister under President
Olusegun Obansanjo and as a Managing Director
at the World Bank, was born on June 13, 1954 to
Professor Chukuka Okonjo, who is the Obi
(traditional ruler) of Ogwashi-Uku.
She graduated from Harvard University in 1977,
and earned her Ph.D. in regional economic
development from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in 1981.
She is married to Ikemba Iweala from Abia State.
DIEZANI ALISON-MADUEKE
Virtually all sections of the Nigerian society have
called for the resignation of the Petroleum
Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, all
to no avail.
Most of those who sought her removal had cited
several allegations of corrupt practices under her
watch as reasons for their demand.
After the revelation of massive fraud in the fuel
subsidy administration to the tune of N1.7trn,
many had thought that heads would roll,
including that of Alison-Madueke, who
supervised the rot.
Some heads did roll, but not that of the queen
of the Nigeria oil and gas industry.
Till date, the Presidency has not queried or
probed Diezani over allegations against her and
the indictment of departments under her by
several panels, including those headed by Nuhu
Ribadu, Farouk Lawan, and Aigboje Aig-
Imoukhuede as well as the Nigerian Extractive
Industry Transparency Initiative.
Diezani has also not explained to Nigeria, whom
she was appointed to serve, what role she
played in the massive corruption that led to the
loss of huge amounts of public fund.
Apart from the demands for the Alison-
Madueke’s resignation and prosecution by civil
society groups, who led the Occupy Nigeria
protest, the House of Representatives also
demanded her removal as minister.
Despite this, the President did not suspend her,
and gave no explanation for that. This shows
how powerful she is.
Alison-Madueke is the first woman to hold the
position of Minister of Petroleum Resources in
Nigeria, and in October 2010 she became the
first woman to head a country’s delegation at
the annual OPEC conference.
She was also the first female Minister of
Transportation, and the first woman to be
appointed to the board of Shell Petroleum
Development Company Nigeria.
Alison-Madueke was born on December 6, 1960
in Port Harcourt.
She graduated from Howard University in 1992,
with a Bachelor’s degree in architecture and
returned to Nigeria to join Shell Petroleum
Development Corporation.
About 10 years later, she earned an MBA from
Cambridge University and was appointed as the
first female executive director of Shell Nigeria.
In 1999, she got married to Admiral Alison
Madueke (retd), one-time Chief of Naval Staff
who was at different times military governor of
Imo and Anambra states.
STELLA ODUAH
Not many are aware of the tremendous power of
the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, in
Jonathan’s government.
For her role in Jonathan’s 2011 campaign, she
was reportedly rewarded with a ministerial
appointment to the aviation ministry, even
though she had no prior training in the field of
aviation.
Many believe that the President feels indebted
to her for her role as the Director of Finance and
Administration of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign
Organisation and in the establishment of
Neighbour-to-Neighbour outfit, which reportedly
spent billions of naira on adverts and media
propaganda in favour of Jonathan, especially
while the Occupy Nigeria protest lasted.
Considering this relationship with Jonathan, it
should not be a surprise that Oduah’s response
to critics after the Dana and Associated Airlines
crashes reeked of arrogance.
The latest revelation that she forced the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to buy her
bulletproof vehicles has again elicited calls for
her removal and prosecution but considering the
way the President has treated public outcries
against these powerful women, Oduah is likely to
remain minister till the end of Jonathan’s
administration.
Princess Stella Oduah was born on January 5,
1962 to Igwe D.O. Oduah of Akili-Ozizor in
Anambra State on January 5, 1962.
She got her Bachelor’s degree in accounting and
MBA from American universities.
Oduah joined the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation in 1983 and in 1992, she established
a petroleum products marketing company, Sea
Petroleum & Gas Company Limited.
She was married to the former Minister for
Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi.
ARUNMA OTEH
Through her battles, the Director-General of the
Securities Exchange Commission, Ms. Arunma
Oteh, has sufficiently earned the name ‘Iron
lady’ even beyond her official sphere of
influence.
When she clashed with the House of
Representatives Committee on the Capital
Market, it was the chairman of the committee,
Mr. Herman Hembe, that got hurt.
The committee had accused Oteh of fraud and
misappropriation of funds. She fired back,
accusing Hembe of demanding bribe from SEC.
The SEC board suspended Oteh in order to
investigate the findings of the lawmakers, who
probed the capital market and indicted her. She
immediately petitioned the President and
Okonjo-Iweala.
After two months, the President returned Oteh
to her position, following the auditor’s report
that said her offence amounted only to
‘administrative lapses.’ The directors and staff of
the commission, who had protested Oteh’s
alleged high-handedness, were advised to calm
down and obey their boss.
On the other hand, Hembe was arraigned by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and
also stepped down as chairman of the
committee.
The crisis led to an intense battle between
President Jonathan and the House of
Representatives. The House demanded the
sacking of Oteh but Jonathan refused.
The passage of the 2013 budget was delayed
because of the fight. Eventually, the lawmakers
insisted on zero budget for SEC to force the
President’s hand, but he did not budge.
Calls for her removal by civil society groups also
fell on deaf ears.
Oteh, who is an indigene of Abia State, is also a
British citizen.
She graduated with first-class degree in
computer sciences from the University of Nigeria
in Nsukka and earned her MBA from Harvard
Business School.

Insurgents :Foreing Fighters,Doctors with Boko Haram

Insurgent: Foreign Fighters, Doctors With Boko
Haram
Armed Soldiers
By Michael Olugbode
What had been widely suspected, but without
much evidence, was confirmed at the weekend,
as a captured Boko Haram insurgent revealed
that extremists from three neighbouring
countries were fighting in the ongoing terrorist
attacks in the northeastern part of the country
on the side of the sect.
He also said there were doctors, professionals
and artisans within the Boko Haram sect.
The account of the sect member reinforces fears
that the Islamic militant sect, Boko Haram, is
getting closer to al-Qaida affiliates and that
radical movements are spilling across national
boundaries.
The Nigerian Army had on Thursday launched a
massive air and ground onslaught against Boko
Haram in Borno State, killing 74 insurgents and
destroying the sect’s camp in Galangi and
Kawanti villages.
But in neighbouring Yobe State, members of the
sect had launched surprise attacks on Damaturu,
the state capital, and engaged the military in
gun duels for several hours, forcing the
imposition of a 24-hour curfew on the state by
the army.
"We do have members from Chad, Niger and
Cameroon who actively participate in most of our
attacks," the insurgent said.
The insurgent was presented to journalists on
Friday night by the military as a captured fighter
of the Boko Haram terrorist sect.
The claim about foreign fighters indicates the gr-
owing influence of Boko Haram, which started
out as a machete-wielding gang and that now
wages war with armoured cars, rocket-propelled
grenades and improvised explosive devices in its
mission to force Nigeria to become an Islamic
state.
The 22-year-old refused to give his name, for fear
that his family would be targeted.
The alleged fighter walks on crutches because of
a bullet wound suffered when he was captured
in a recent attack.
"We have qualified doctors who are active
members . they were not forced to be in the
group, they are more elderly than us," he said.
"We have mechanics, we have welders, we have
carpenters, we have professional drivers, we have
butchers, security experts, gun instructors and so
on," he said, displaying his lack of education by
his poor use of Hausa, the local language most
common in Maiduguri, where he used to live
with his parents.
The captured extremist member said religion did
not figure in his life as an Islamic warrior,
insisting his leaders "had never once preached
Islam to us."
He said the name of Allah was invoked only
when "we are running out of food supply in the
bush. Our leaders will assemble us and declare
that we would be embarking on a mission for
God and Islam."
He added: "I did not see any act of religion in
there. We are just killing people, stealing and
suffering in the bush."
The prisoner, who wore military fatigue pants
exactly like those of his captors, said foreigners
fight in his group of 150 but did not say how
many. "We have no members from Mali or Libya
that I know of ... But we do have members from
Chad, Niger and Cameroon who actively
participate in most of our attacks."
He said he and many other fighters would like to
surrender but are scared to do so.
"Each time they declare an attack, I feel sick and
terrified, so were most of my younger colleagues,
but we dare not resist our leaders: They are
deadly, our punishment for betrayal is
slaughtering of our necks."
According to him, Boko Haram had moved on
from targeting security forces and politicians to
attacks on soft targets such as school students,
villagers and travelers because of the formation
of vigilante groups "who now reveal our
identities and even arrest us."
Recently Boko Haram has carried out brutal
attacks on mainly Muslim civilians.
The new assaults "offer vital and disturbing
insights" that "not only confirm many of the
group's earlier developments but also al-Qaida
in the Islamic Maghreb's, or AQIM's, growing
influence over it," Jonathan Hill, Senior Lecturer
at the Defence Studies Department of King's
College, London, wrote in an analysis published
online this month at africanarguments.org.
A harsh military crackdown in three northeastern
states covering one-sixth of the country since
mid-May has forced Boko Haram out of major
cities and towns, but the security forces appear
unable to prevent regular extremist attacks on
soft targets like school pupils in which hundreds
have been killed in recent months.
"These atrocities bear many striking similarities
to those carried out by AQIM and its various
forbears in Algeria," wrote Hill, who is the author
of "Nigeria Since Independence: Forever Fragile?"
He noted, "despite the extraordinary efforts of
the security forces, Boko Haram appears
unbowed and its campaign undimmed."
Earlier this week, Minister of Justice and
Attorney-General of the Federation Mohammed
Adoke charged that Boko Haram was being
influenced from abroad.
"Nigeria is experiencing the impact of externally-
induced internal security challenges, manifesting
in the activities of militant insurgents," he said
while defending the country's record at a
meeting of the United Nations Human Rights
Council in Geneva.
Adoke did not give any details of the alleged
external influences.
Boko Haram fighters, including current leader
Abubakar Shekau, were reported fighting
alongside al-Qaida affiliated groups that seized
Northern Mali last year.
The movement has also boasted that it has
fighters trained in Somalia by al-Shabab — the
group that claimed responsibility for the most
spectacular terrorist attack in Africa in recent
years that killed at least 67 at Kenya's upscale
Westgate Mall last month.
Boko Haram has long been known to be receiving
funding from abroad.
Founding father Mohammed Yusuf was receiving
funds from Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia back in
the 1990s, according to Hill.
Saudi Arabia, despite its status as a Western
ally, for decades has been exporting to West and
East Africa its Wahabi brand of purist Islam that,
beyond the Middle Eastern kingdom's borders,
has been taken to extremes.
Niger and Chad both have said they fear
infiltration by Boko Haram.
Boko Haram members from Nigeria and
neighbouring Niger were arrested in December
in Cameroon, according to a report from Jacob
Zenn, an analyst for The Jamestown Foundation
and author of the report "Northern Nigeria's
Boko Haram: The Prize in al-Qaeda's Africa
Strategy."
He quoted the imam of a grand mosque in
southern Senegal as claiming that Boko Haram
was recruiting local youths there in August 2012.
In a report written in January, before the
military crackdown, Zenn said international
collaboration between Boko Haram and militants
in northern Mali, the Sahel, Somalia and other
countries in the Muslim world have allowed Boko
Haram to grow into an organization that "has
now matched — and even exceeded — the
capabilities of some al-Qaida affiliates."

Cuba to scrap two-currency system in latest reform

 

 

Cuba is to scrap its two-currency system in the latest financial reform rolled out by President Raul Castro, official media report.

Since 1994 Cuba has had two currencies, one pegged to the US dollar and the other worth only a fraction of that.

The more valuable convertible peso (CUC) was reserved for use in the tourism sector and foreign trade.

Now its value will be gradually unified with the lower-value CUP, ending a system resented by ordinary Cubans.
No fixed timetable
The Cuban economy is almost entirely state-run and the tourism sector has boomed since the collapse of the Soviet Union plunged Cuba into economic isolation and hardship.

The two-currency system was supposed to protect Cuba's fragile economy but angered locals paid in the much lower-value CUP and denied access to goods only available for those with convertible pesos.

The policy exacerbated the creation of a two-tier class system in Cuba which divided privileged Cubans with access to the lucrative tourist and foreign-trade sectors from those working in the local economy - all-too-visibly contradicting Cuba's supposedly egalitarian society.

The council of ministers has approved a timetable for implementing "measures that will lead to monetary and exchange unification", the official Communist Party newspaper Granma said.

Unification is "imperative to guarantee the re-establishment of the Cuban peso's value and its role as money, that is as a unit of accounting, means of payment and savings", it said.

It gave no details of how quickly the change would be implemented, though Reuters news agency quoted Cuban economists as saying it would take about 18 months.

 

 

Friday 25 October, 2013 Updated 3:21

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HOME > NEWS

Abuja’s Abandoned Mansions

23 Oct 2013

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FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed

Sam Hart
Let me state from the beginning that I love Abuja. The city has been kind to me and of all the places I have visited and lived in, Abuja will always be home for me. I first moved into Abuja in 1999 and had cause to ‘step aside’ in 2003 to take up political appointment in Abia State. After working for 8 years straight in Abia State, I returned to Abuja in 2012. It is worthy of note that for the 8 years I was working in Abia State, I frequented Abuja almost on a weekly basis and it was inconceivable that a month would go by without me coming to Abuja. I always had a car parked in Abuja and I considered Abuja home.

That been said, let me delve into my treatise for the day which is an attempt to explain the story behind the many abandoned mansions in Abuja and the high cost of properties in Abuja. It will serve as a guide to those who are conducting a study on Abuja while also serving as an explanatory note to those who have never quite understood certain phenomena in Abuja.
And on that note, let us begin.

As soon as politicians resume elective or appointive offices in Abuja, they are exposed to all manner of schemes and deals, which ensure a steady flow of illicit cash that would make a puritan see received wisdom. The most religious of them all will balk at the sheer volume of money that is available to them for the taking and apparently without any consequence with criminal minded civil servants marshalling a convincing argument on the litany of examples of their predecessors who partook in the same scheme and are now living large and enjoying their loot. Pronto, our appointee signs up for the deal and the money starts rolling in.

You see, the amount of money we are talking about is difficult to just have lying around so the next thing is that they start seeking avenues of diversifying the steady inflow of cash. The easiest means of offloading excess cash in Abuja is via property acquisition. In Abuja, houses are sold for a minimum of N500 Million within the city centre. The more common price range is between N800 Million and N1.3 Billion. When these people are in government, they buy up these houses not because they need them but because they are seeking avenues of diversifying loose cash.

These same people, if you go to their accounts, you will not see more than Three Million Naira. That is how they play smart. They seldom buy the properties in their names. It is in the names of proxies, fronts and shell companies. They used to buy properties in the names of their children but that racket has been busted by EFCC and ICPC so they go for names that have absolutely no link whatsoever to them. Note that these scheme backfire sometimes. The proxies and fronts used in acquiring the properties sometimes become greedy and seek the conversion of those properties as everything is in their name. This often leads to protracted issues that ensure that the house remains uninhabited.

Soon after our appointee or senior civil servant leaves office, he runs out of liquid cash as the source has dried up yet he maintains the first class lifestyle he was used to while in office. The next option is to start selling all those properties they acquired while they held office so you see plenty ‘For Sale’ signs hung on numerous beautiful mansions all over Abuja. They start by trying to make a profit from the price at which they purchased it.

Then after 3 months, when nobody is interested, they drop the price to the price at which they bought the house and after another 3 months of no concrete offer, they drop the price further thus, the house will be on the market for years. Smart property speculators have made a huge killing out of goading these has-beens on until they end up selling the property in question for a fraction of what they bought it for when the pangs of poverty bites them. The property agent will in-turn sell the same property at premium value to yet another appointee who just started seeing liquid cash and is in need of properties to buy. It’s a racket. A con within a con and the streets in Abuja are mean.

Oh. Did I mention that they never actually fully reside in these houses? They also do not rent them out because you see, the motivation was never about money. On the contrary, they are outlets for excess liquidity. They are invariably fully furnished guest houses that oga visits once in three months, struts around the premises and zooms off. Sometimes, the libidinous ones among them camp girls in these houses and visit them occasionally. Other times, they let out just the Boys Quarters of the House to create a semblance of life and habitation. They have 4 or 5 other such houses and they cannot live in all of them at the same time, can they?

Thus, you have a minister or permanent secretary, who has mansions in Maitama, Asokoro, Aso Drive, within the precincts of Aso Villa, Ministers’ Hill, Jabi and Utako and now the real folly, the same minister or permanent secretary maintains a permanent suite at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel. This is a circle and it has been going on since Abuja was created and crazy money gets thrown at people as soon as they assume office.

Let me not forget to add that sometimes, these people die without anybody in their family knowing that they own these properties. Remember that they were not purchased in the names of any members of their families. They were purchased in fictitious names so when they die of heart attack, stroke or any other ailment, nobody knows that these are their properties.
Another reason for abandonment of properties in Abuja is that the properties are the estates of wealthy men who die and the families they leave behind commence an epic squabble over their estates. The matter goes to court and a court slams a restraining order on everybody. For the next 10 years, nobody has the right to access the properties as they are still under contention so the beautiful houses lie in waste.

Yet again, the properties may have been collaterals used in accessing credit facilities from banks and other lenders and upon the non-performance those loans, court cases are instituted for the takeover of the properties and legal brickbats ensue and for the duration of the struggle, the property is inaccessible.

Most ironically, during the pendency of this state of affairs, street urchins and some dare-devil smart alecs somehow move into these houses and assume residency. It seems that there exists a cartel in the property world that specialises in monitoring these mansions to gauge traffic. Once they ascertain that there has not been any activity on the property in 6 months, they move in and take up residency. Sometimes, it is done clandestinely, other times, in full view. Depending on the circumstances of the abandonment, they maintain occupancy sometimes for years on end and even graduate to renting out portions of the house to suspecting and unsuspecting tenants!

The crazy value of properties in Abuja can be directly linked to this madness described above. You will be haggling with a house owner to remove N50,000 from the N850,000 he is charging you for 1 year for a one-bedroom squeeze in Wuse II and in your presence, a small girl will show up and offer him one million naira for the same apartment and offer to pay for 2 years. She is not the one paying. All she has to do is call and collect the money from one of these big men mentioned above. Do not blame the landlord who pegs his rent at a ridiculous amount because the fact remains that demand dictates pricing. The landlord did not come to Abuja to count flyovers. He came to make money and if it means joining the fray in other to benefit from the madness going on in the city, please do not bear him any grudge.

Lastly, I will talk on the crazy, constant and consistent turnover of shop owners in highbrow shopping malls in Abuja. Flowing from the narrative above, the same oga still has plenty money to throw around while he is in office. Sometimes, his wife or more often than not, one of his mistresses convince him to rent a shop for them so that they too can benefit from the windfall. And because Harvard Business School is yet to discover a theory that you can apply to extricate yourself from meeting the financial needs of a nagging wife or a very proficient mistress, oga forks out N13 million per anum for an 80sqm space at the Silverbird Mall and pays for 2 years. Sister then proceeds to stock the shop with shoes, bags, shawls and clothes she picked up in Dubai.

You enter these shops, you look at the total value of the merchandise in the shop and you just know that if there is any justice, there is no way the profit on these goods can pay the rent on this shop. The charade continues for as long as oga is in office. Note that the lot will still fall on oga to provide the money needed to travel to stock the shop periodically. As soon as oga looses his next election or is relieved of his appointment, the chicken comes home to roost. Oga does not have money to renew the rent and sister of course cannot renew from the proceeds of her meager sale so she has to pack out upon expiry of the rent and pronto, the next mistress or madam moves in and the beat goes on.

Abuja is a spectacle. For every 10 cars that pass you on the road, six of them were purchased brand new. Abuja is a good place to dream and aspire to greatness. You see regular guys and girls with not much exceptional talent hitting it big and you are reassured that with patience and the right positioning, you too will soon make it. Everybody in Abuja is not a thief but 9 out of 10 Abuja residents benefit from the criminality in the system. If you do not partake in the looting, you benefit from those who have looted or you position your business to be patronised by the looters. Very few Abuja residents can say that they are exempt from this circle. Not even the pastors can contradict this summation unless they have a system that turns back heavy givers until they can explain where the obscene amount they are ‘sowing into the ministry’ came from.

That been said, it is advisable that you have a strong moral constitution before coming to Abuja because without a shade of doubt, the things you will see in Abuja will test your faith and you need a solid foundation to remain resolute and straightforward.
Through it all, I still love Abuja and despite all the drama, Abuja remains home for me.
hartng@gmail.com contributed this piece from Abuja

 

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