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Showing posts from August 6, 2017

U.S. May Begin Airstrikes Against ISIS in Philippines

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The Pentagon is considering a plan that allows the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes on ISIS in the Philippines, two defense officials told NBC News.  The authority to strike ISIS targets as part of collective self-defense could be granted as part of an official military operation that may be named as early as Tuesday, said the officials. The strikes would likely be conducted by armed drones.  If approved, the U.S. military would be able to conduct strikes against ISIS targets in the Philippines that could be a threat to allies in the region, which would include the Philippine forces battling ISIS on the ground in the country's southern islands.  But Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Christopher B. Logan told NBC News Tuesday that "The Philippines have not requested nor is the U.S. planning drone strikes in the Philippines."  Another U.S. official said that the authorization for collective self-defense was more about intelligence sharing than offensive U.S. str

Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing: a Report on GIABA’s Fifth Workshop in Banjul

By Bola A. Akinterinwa GIABA, as a name, is the French acronym for Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa, that is, Groupe Intergouvernemental d’Action contre le Blanchiment d’Argent en Afrique de l’Ouest. As an institution, it was established on December 6, 2000 by the ECOWAS Authority to prevent the use of the economies of the Member States to launder money or the proceeds of crime, as well as prevent terrorist financing. The establishment of GIABA followed the recognition of threats and implications of money laundering and terrorism for regional peace and security in Lomé, Togo, on December 10, 1999. As explicated by Timothy Melaye, Head of the Nigeria Information Centre, located at the Lagos Office of the ECOWAS in Onikan, in his paper on the mandate, role and activities of the institution, the GIABA is ‘not a law enforcement agent’ but ‘a change agent.’ In this regard, Melaye further submitted, GIABA undertakes its responsibilities through st

Racism in Europe: A tale of two brothers

Hate crimes in the European Union are on the rise and people of colour, especially Muslims, have been increasingly targeted in these crimes. But institutionalised racism, where no crimes are necessarily committed, is just as prevalent, and harmful. There is a growing reach and liberty of racism in Europe. People of colour, quite frankly, and anyone resembling a Muslim (disregarding the fact that one cannot look like a Muslim) are the prime targets of this growing phenomena. A three-leg journey from Paris, France, to Antwerp, Belgium and onwards to Eindhoven in the Netherlands, served as a crude wakeup call. On this journey I was accompanied by a Jordanian Arab friend living in Paris, who holds a 10-year residency card. We were travelling by bus; at the door, the conductor asked to see our tickets and ID. I handed him my e-ticket and my passport, and my companion, Fares*, was asked the same. He handed the conductor his ticket and residency card. The Dutch man began to yell – a

Feature: Ghana faces uphill task dealing with small arms in wrong hands

ACCRA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Isolated and uncoordinated shooting incidents across Ghana have claimed innocent lives, stoking fears the West African country could be heading for bigger troubles. While some of these shootings are purely accidental, others have come from armed robbers and serial killers who have shot and maimed or killed their victims. A recent incident was between Richard Yaw Boadi, a 32-year-old mechanic and Nana Frimpong in front of a garage at Alajo, a suburb of Accra. Frimpong, who had apparently obstructed vehicle movements at a garage, had been asked by Boadi to park properly to make room for other vehicles. However, Frimpong refused and fired a gun that hit Boadi in the stomach. Boadi died two days later after being hospitalized. The number of such incidents is increasing and causing headaches for the country's Small Arms Commission that has sought to control the proliferation of small arms in the hands of individuals. Programs Director at the Commission

Adopting new resolution, UN Security Council moves to thwart terrorists' access to weapons

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2 August 2017 – The United Nations Security Council today unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons, particularly small arms and light weapons, the “destabilizing accumulation and misuse” of which the 15-member body said “continue to pose threats to international peace and security and cause significant loss of life.” The Council “strongly condemned” the continued flow of weapons, military equipment, unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and their components, and improvised explosive device (IED) components to and between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh), Al-Qaida, their affiliates, and associated groups, illegal armed groups and criminals.  UN Member States were encouraged to prevent and disrupt procurement networks for weapons, systems and components between and among such groups and entities. Member States were specifically urged to ensure the ability to take appropriate legal actions against those wh

FRENCH MINISTER: HUNDREDS OF JIHADIS HAVE RETURNED FROM IRAQ AND SYRIA

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Hundreds of jihadi militants have returned to France from Iraq and Syria, France's interior minister said on Sunday. In an interview with French newspaper  Le Journal du Dimanche , Gerard Collomb said that an estimated 271 radical Islamists who fought for militant groups have returned from war zones after being members of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).  The figure is made up of 217 adults and 54 minors, some of whom are in French detention, and all of whom are under security services surveillance, Collomb told the paper. The minister could not provide a precise figure on how many French nationals had been killed in Iraq and Syria, but estimated that as many as 1,900 French nationals were involved in radical Islamist activities in Iraq and Syria, according to interior ministry data as of mid-2016. Daily  Emails and Alerts  - Get the best of  Newsweek  delivered to your inbox The minister said the threat of a militant assault on French soil remained "very hig

Liberia: UNDP Wants Concerted Approach to Collect Illicit Small Arms

Monrovia — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has called for the involvement of civil society and civil society organizations, women and youth groupings, the communities, media and all well-meaning Liberians in ridding the country and the sub-region of illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW). UNDP Country Director Dr. Pa Lamin Beyai said ensuring that guns are taken from the hands of unauthorized users requires the collective effort of citizens, residents and partners of Liberia. "I reaffirm UNDP's commitment to work with ECOWAS, EU and other development partners, to provide support to SALW with the goal of building secure and conflict free societies in Liberia and in the region... " Dr. Beyai said recently at the opening of a two-day stakeholder's engagement and lesson learned session. Superintendents of Maryland, River Gee, Grand Gedeh, Grand Cape Mount, Lofa, Nimba, Bong, and Gbarpolu Counties formed part of the event held in Ganta, Nim

War in Europe: Most Americans Support Sending Troops to Baltics If Russia Attacks

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The majority of Americans support U.S. troops backing the Baltics if Russia ever attacked them, with a new survey finding more than half now see Russia as a power that needs containing as opposed to a potential partner. Anxiety about a possible Russian offensive had been high among the three former Soviet states—Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia—since Russian troops annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Fear of war among all three is now higher than fear of extremism, and multinational defense measures are popular initiatives in the Baltics. Russia’s military capabilities near the Baltics are much more numerous and at a geographical advantage when compared to U.S. forces in Europe. Should Moscow attack any of the three Baltics states, 52 percent of U.S. citizens would back sending troops to defend the NATO allies. Russia has denied it would attack a NATO ally, but trust in Russia’s statements is low among Western states since the events in Ukraine. The survey of 2,020 people car

Growing extremism as source of strategic instability in Asia

North Korea's growing nuclear brinkmanship, renewed tensions between India and China along their disputed border and persistent frictions in the South China Sea have all contributed to a renewed focus on inter-state instabilities in Asia. There is, however, another growing source of strategic instability at the sub-state level, as increasing religiosity and extremist ideologies gain momentum in the national consciousness of several countries in the region. The most vivid evidence of this is the surge in terrorist attacks across the region, most notably the ongoing terrorist insurgency and  military operation  in Marawi in the southern Philippines. But there have also been bomb attacks in Jakarta in  May 2017  and January 2016; attacks on police posts along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border in  October 2016 ; an attack on a café in Dhaka in  July 2016 ; the first terrorist attack in Malaysia linked to Islamic State in  June 2016 ; and a bomb attack on a Hindu shrine in Bangkok in