Nigeria accuses UNICEF staff of spying for Islamist militants, suspends activities

By Explorer -

It said UNICEF had been training people to sabotage troops` counter-insurgency efforts by uncovering the military`s alleged human rights abuses.

MAIDUGURI: The Nigerian military on Friday accused United Nations Children`s Fund (UNICEF) staff of spying for Islamist militants in northeast Nigeria, and suspended the agency`s activities there. It said UNICEF had been training people to sabotage troops` counter-insurgency efforts by uncovering the military`s alleged human rights abuses.
The northeast has been torn apart by a decade-long insurgency by Boko Haram and its splinter group Islamic State West Africa, in which more than 30,000 people have been killed and many more driven from their homes.

In its statement, the Nigerian military said UNICEF staff "train and deploy spies who support the insurgents and their sympathisers". These were "unwholesome practices that could further jeopardise the fight against terrorism and insurgency". It said UNICEF`s operations were being suspended in the northeast until further notice.
"We are verifying the information now and will get back to you with any new information," a UNICEF spokeswoman told Reuters. The military said UNICEF had "abdicated its primary duty of catering for the wellbeing of children and the vulnerable ... and now engaged in training selected persons for clandestine activities to continue sabotaging the counter terrorism and counter insurgency efforts of troops through spurious and unconfirmed allegations ... on alleged violations of human rights by the military".

"The organization commenced the said training on Wednesday 12 December 2018 at the Ministry of Finance Conference Hall, Musa Usman Secretariat, Maiduguri and ended on 13 Thursday December 2018," it added, referring to the capital of the northeastern state of Borno. 
With millions displaced, Nigeria`s northeast is largely dependent on international aid.
In April, Nigeria`s military declared three UNICEF employees "persona non grata", in connection with alleged leaks of information about soldiers sexually abusing children in the northeast, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The declaration was rescinded days later after pressure from diplomats, the sources said. Nigeria`s military is highly sensitive to allegations of human rights abuses.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/world/nigeria-accuses-unicef-staff-of-spying-for-islamist-militants-suspends-activities-2163345.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters

By Explorer -
Image
Massive public protests taking place in Hong Kong over the past week are aimed at a new extradition law, known as the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance , that would see accused criminals extradited to mainland China to face prosecution. Hongkongers feel the law could be used to legalise the kidnapping of people who express views, and act in ways, that are not popular with the Chinese government . The same law could also be used to extradite tourists and visitors to China who are arrested on suspicion of having committed these crimes. Protesters want the bill scrapped. For now, debate of the legislation has been postponed . Organisers say one million people turned out for the protests, while police estimate the number was around 240,000. Either way, it was a significant number of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million population. Commentators on Twitter remarked on how well organised the protesters were. So, how did they do it? Protesters across the world are using n
Read more

‘Not Hospital, Al-Shifa is Hamas Hideout & HQ in Gaza’: Israel Releases ‘Terrorists’ Confessions’ | Exclusive

By Explorer -
 According to a video of interrogation of "Hamas terrorists" released by Israel Security Agency Shin Bet, accessed exclusively by News18, "The Shifa hospital has been made with many considerations as Hamas knew that medical places won’t be attacked by the enemy. Equipment, explosives and other material has been kept there." Hamas is using hospitals in Gaza as covers and have turned them into ammunition depots, according to a video of interrogation of “Hamas terrorists" released by  Israel Security Agency  Shin Bet, accessed exclusively by News18. ALSO READ | Israel-Hamas War LIVE Updates  HERE The Israeli military has claimed that those featuring in the video released on Saturday are Hamas terrorists, who participated in the  October 7 attack  on Israel. “Most of the tunnels are hidden in hospitals. There are multiple underground levels. Al-Shifa Hospital is not small, it is a big place that can be used to hide things," a man is seen saying. “The Al-Shifa
Read more

Islam Has Massacred Over 669+ Million Non-Muslims Since 622AD

By Explorer -
Image
In fact, no ideology has been as genocidal as Islam… Islam has killed more than 5 times the number of people killed by communism. In the total numbers we have updated over 80 million Christians killed by Muslims in 500 years in the Balkan states, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia. Then we have India. The official estimate number of Muslim slaughters of Hindus is 80 million. However, Muslim historian Firistha (b. 1570) wrote (in either Tarikh-i Firishta or  the Gulshan-i Ibrahim) that Muslims slaughtered over 400 million Hindus up to the peak of Islamic rule of India, bringing the Hindu population down from 600 mil to 200 million at the time. With these new additions the Muslim genocide of non-Muslims since the birth of Mohammed would be  over 669 million murders. Islam: The Religion of Genocide Perspective:   Think the Spanish inquisition was bad? More people are killed by Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition* combined. The Spanish inquisition ( Tribunal del Sant
Read more