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Showing posts from August 16, 2020

Ex-Nigerian president Jonathan leads ECOWAS mediation team to Mali

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Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan arrives in Bamako, Mali, on 22 August 2020 ahead of crucial talks following the military ouster of president Ibrahim Keita.  /Photo courtesy: Goodluck Jonathan – Twitter The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has deployed a mediation team to Mali in search of a peaceful solution to the political crisis there following the ouster of president Ibrahim Keita earlier this week. The team led by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan arrived in the capital, Bamako, on Saturday ahead of crucial talks with the country’s stakeholders. “We arrived in Bamako this afternoon to continue with the ECOWAS mediation and peace talks towards resolving Mali’s political crisis and restoring normalcy in this beautiful West African country. We’Il continue to engage Malian stakeholders until lasting peace is found,” said Jonathan. Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse were arrested alongside other government officials after the military took pow

AU Commission chief welcomes Libya ceasefire

The African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat has welcomed the ceasefire announced by Libya’s warring factions on Friday. Mahamat said in a statement that the ceasefire “facilitate dialogue initiatives as well as the resumption of the work of the United Nations Joint Military Commission”, and put the North African country back on track towards achieving lasting peace. “This announcement is likely to relaunch the inter-Libyan political dialogue as well as the implementation of the roadmap adopted by the African Union High Level Committee on Libya on January 30, 2020 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo,” he said. Libya has been dogged by a civil war for years, sparked by the killing of former long-serving president Muammar Gadaffi. The war has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands as each faction claims legitimacy. Forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) under Fayez al-Sarraj and those under eastern commander Khalifa Haftar ha

Atrocities of the Church on Tribals / Janjatis of India

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From Kandhamal to Palghar, the Church in India continues to foster activities to break Hindu society to break India. Time has come to once again set up a commission to expose the amount of social ill-feelings and anti national feelings, church has created in the Janjati areas of India. - Ramesh Babu   From Kandhamal to Palghar, the Church in India continues to foster activities to break Hindu society to break India 23rd August is the 13th martyrdom Day of Swami Lakshmananandji Saraswati of Kandhamal, Orissa. Swamiji and 4 others were brutally killed on a day of Janmashtami (23.08.2008) by church sponsored goons. Such acts of violence are being continued by church even today. Let us go to the history of Christian missionaries and associated violence in India. Barring the advent of Syrian Christians in 3rd century A. D, rest of the missionaries were instrumental to European Colonialism. When the Pope settled the dispute and advised both Portuguese and Spanish to explore new heavens in th

POK politician Habib-ur-Rehman demands withdrawal of Pakistani troops from Kashmir

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Habib-ur-Rehman is member Central Committee JKPNP (Jammu Kashmir People's National Party). JKPNP is a political outfit based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) and Gilgit-Baltistan. (Photo: News Intervention)  Habib-ur-Rehman is the former Spokesperson and Information Secretary of the Jammu Kashmir People’s National Party (JKPNP), the political outfit based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. JKPNP is struggling for the independence of POK and Gilgit-Baltistan from Pakistan. A member of the central committee of JKPNP, Habib-ur-Rehman spoke to Vivek Sinha, Editor-in-Chief News Intervention and Dosten Baloch, Editor-in-Chief Sangar Media Group about Pakistan’s illegal occupation of “Azad Kashmir” and Gilgit-Baltistan.  Vivek Sinha/ Dosten Baloch:  When was Jammu Kashmir People’s National Party (JKPNP) formed? Why is Pakistan rattled due to the formation of JKPNP? Habib-ur-Rehman:  The Jammu Kashmir People’s National Party (JKPNP) was formed in April 1985. Before that t

Murky Twist in Bengaluru Riots Case, 40 Involved Found to Have Links With Terror & Communal Attacks Accused

The violence in DJ Halli and adjoining areas on August 11 was unleashed by hundreds of people over a purportedly inflammatory social media post allegedly put out by a relative of Pulakeshinagar Congress MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy. Deepa Balakrishnan The investigation into Bengaluru riots on August 11, which claimed three lives and injured 60 police personnel, has taken a murky twist. Fresh evidence suggests that several accused in the case have links with those accused of terror or communal attacks in the past, including the Church Street bomb blast in Bengaluru in December 2014. This new evidence points to a widely-spread well-knit network of trouble-makers who have organised themselves well enough over the last few years. Police sources say that over 380 people have been arrested in cases related to riots in the KG Halli area, and several have links with organisations such as Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and also Al Hind, a splinter terror group. Police sources told CN

Fidayeen Attack Averted, Say Delhi Police as Suspected ISIS Operative Arrested With Pressure Cooker-based IEDs

  Two pressure cooker-based IEDs, a pistol with four live rounds and one Apache motorcycle were seized from the suspect who was identified by police officials as a native of Balrampur district in Uttar Pradesh. News18 A suspected operative of the Islamic State or ISIS terror group was arrested with two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) after exchange of fire with policemen in central Delhi's Ridge Road area, the Delhi Police said on Saturday. The shootout took place late on Friday along the Dhaula Kuan-Karol Bagh route. Sources in the Special Cell said six rounds were fired after which the suspected ISIS operative was taken into custody. "The accused was arrested after an exchange of fire from Ridge Road between Dhaula Kuan and Karol Bagh," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwaha said. Two pressure cooker-based IEDs, a pistol with four live rounds and one Apache motorcycle were seized from the suspect who was identified by police officials as

A new exodus from Lebanon after deadly Beirut blast

Many Lebanese families plan to leave the country in search of safety and security following August 4 port explosion. Beirut, Lebanon  - Mazin Kabbani, a 50-year-old IT employee, was at his home in west Beirut on August 4 when shockwaves from an enormous explosion rocked his apartment, leaving shards of glass scattered across his living room floor. The blast, caused by the detonation of nearly 3,000 tonnes of unsecured ammonium nitrate at Beirut's port, left Kabbani shaken and brought back dark memories of Lebanon's 15-year civil war. "All the oxygen was sucked out of the air. It was like we were at war again," Kabbani told Al Jazeera as he stood at the entrance to his apartment building and handymen walked in with equipment to repair the damage caused by the blast. More traumatising for Kabbani than his own experience was the thought that his 21-year-old daughter, Alaa, might have been dead if luck had not been on her side that day.  "We couldn't reach her fo

Mozambican insurgency could spread in southern Africa region, say experts

Experts have warned that the growing insurgency in Mozambique can be a future threat in the region, but they differ on how widespread it is at the moment – and on how regional bodies like the Southern African Development Community could help. Passengers and cargo board a boat from a fishermen's beach that has become one of the main arrival points for displaced persons fleeing from armed violence raging in the province of Cabo Delgado, in the Paquitequete district of Pemba, northern Mozambique. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Ricardo Franco)  Military action might not be the best intervention in the insurgency that has plagued the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado since 2017, experts have warned. It’s also not widespread as yet.  “A narrative is emerging that suggests that the violent extremism witnessed in Cabo Delgado is ‘taking off’ and ‘rapidly spreading’ throughout the SADC region. It is seen by some as the latest SADC security threat,” said Anthoni van Nieuwkerk from the Wits Sch

Experts unpack rising violent extremist attacks in Mozambique

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The presence of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant- (ISIL-) affiliated violent extremists in the northern provinces of Mozambique has raised the threat levels for the lives of people in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. Although the government of Mozambique only formally acknowledged the presence of ISIL-affiliated violent extremists in April, after deadly attacks occurred in the town of Mocimboa da Praia, Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sunnah has been operating for much longer and its attacks can be traced as far back as 2017. Advertisement The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) say the attacks are becoming more frequent, while the death toll is rising. In a seminar hosted by the HSRC, FES and AISA on August 17 to contextualise the emergence of violent extremism in Mozambique and its implications for peace and security in Southern Africa, the organisations pointed out tha