TheNewsGuru

Tag: Chad

  • 7.7 million people need urgent assistance in northeast Nigeria

    The United Nations (UN) says the humanitarian crisis in northeast Nigeria has spread across the Lake Chad region and remains severe with 7.7 million people in urgent need of assistance.
    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the UN made this known on Thursday while revealing UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock will travel together to Nigeria (5-6 Oct) and Chad (6-7 Oct) on a mission to highlight and support joint humanitarian and development efforts in these countries.
    According to the UN, in Nigeria, Mr. Lowcock and Mr. Steiner will meet with high-level government officials and representatives of the humanitarian, development and donor communities.
    On 6 October, they will travel to Borno State and visit a site for internally displaced persons, a transition centre and a rebuilt community.
    “Humanitarian and development partners are linking up efforts to respond to the devastating consequences of the ongoing violence in north-eastern Nigeria while seeking to promote durable solutions for affected communities,” the intergovernmental organization tasked to promote international co-operation stated.
    The UN has stepped up coordination to improve resilience and self-reliance of local communities through the restoration of basic services such as water and electricity, the rehabilitation of schools and hospitals and emergency jobs programmes.
    In Chad, the two UN principals are expected to meet President Idris Déby, senior government officials as well as humanitarian and development partners.
    On 7 October, they will visit a nutrition centre in N’Djamena where international NGOs and UN agencies are treating children with malnutrition amid one of the worst nutrition crises the country has ever experienced.
    A third of Chad’s population – more than 4.9 million people – urgently need humanitarian assistance due to food insecurity, malnutrition, and health emergencies.
    The joint mission will provide a unique opportunity to assess UN coordination on the ground, to mobilise resources to address longer-term needs, and seek further commitments from Government and partners.
     

  • Amnesty International wants release of Chadian activist sentenced for Facebook post

    Global movement of more than 7 million people who take injustice personally, Amnesty International, has petitioned the government of Chad to release Tadjadine Mahamat Babouri, popularly known as Mahadine.

    TheNewsGuru reports Mahadine, an online activist and father of seven, was in September 2016 snatched from the street in broad daylight by a group of men believed to be intelligence officers for posting videos on Facebook.

    In the videos, Mahadine accused the Chadian government and people close to it of corruption and misusing public money. He also complained about the economic crisis gripping the oil-dependent nation which is suffering from falling oil prices worldwide.

    Making and posting the videos was a bold thing to do in Chad where speaking out like this carries serious consequences.

    Mahadine says he was beaten, electrocuted and chained up for weeks, and moved from one prison to another.

    His wife and children were told nothing of his whereabouts and had to track him down themselves.

    Mahadine now faces a life sentence, and faces charges including threatening national security.

    “He is gravely ill, having caught tuberculosis in prison. He needs urgent medical attention. He should not have to spend the rest of his life locked up for courageously expressing his opinion,” Amnesty International stated.

    “I call on you to release Tadjadine Mahamat Babouri, known as Mahadine, unconditionally and without delay. A father of seven, he was arrested, beaten up and jailed for peacefully critiquing the government on Facebook.

    “He now faces a life sentence, and is gravely ill, having caught tuberculosis in prison. Pending his release, please transfer him to Am Sinene prison so he can get the medical care he so urgently needs.

    “Mahadine should not lose his freedom simply for raising his voice and bravely exercising his right to freedom of expression,” the petition by Amnesty International read.

     

  • Chad withdraws troops fighting Boko Haram in North East

    Chad has withdrawn hundreds of troops from neighbouring Niger, where they were helping local forces fight Boko Haram Islamist militants, humanitarian sources and officials said.

    The pull-out over the past two weeks could weaken a region-wide struggle against the militants who have killed tens of thousands of people, forced many more to flee and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

    There was no immediate explanation or comment from defense officials in Chad.

    The move came a month after the vast central African country complained about an unexpected U.S. travel ban imposed on its nationals.

    Chad warned at the time the order could affect its security commitments, which include its involvement in the U.S.-backed fight against Boko Haram.

    Residents said the withdrawal had already had an impact on Niger’s Diffa region, which has seen a string of attacks by Boko Haram militants crossing over from their base in neighbouring Nigeria.

    Ibrahim Arimi from the border village of Bosso said banditry has increased since the Chadian troops started leaving and he had been temporarily moved to another village for safety.

    Diffa parliamentarian Lamido Moumouni said residents had started complaining.

    “They have come to rely on the forces so there is a perception that security will be lacking,” he said by telephone.

    At its peak in 2016 after an attack in Bosso, Chad had 2,000 troops in Niger to help counter Boko Haram although security sources said this has fallen since.

    Boko Haram has attacked Chad, Niger and Cameroon from its base in northeast Nigeria.

    Its eight-year bid to carve out an Islamist caliphate has driven millions from their homes, no fewer than 200,000 of them are now based in Diffa, with little prospect of returning home.

    Thousands of them are camped alongside an unfinished highway in the middle of a barren savannah with few resources.

    Chad’s soldiers also occupy front-line positions in a peacekeeping force in northern Mali.

    Analysts say falling oil revenues after the price crash in 2014 has also sapped Chad’s appetite for expensive regional security commitments.

     

    Reuters/NAN

  • Trump expands travel ban, adds Chad, North Korea, Venezuela to list

    …as Sudan is removed from list

    President of the United States, Donald Trump on Sunday ordered the inclusion of Chad, North Korea and Venezuela to the countries whose citizens are to face restrictions in entering the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that President Trump had recently placed a temporary ban on nationals from war troubled Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen pending the review of the vetting processes.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the new proclamation however removed restrictions that was earlier placed on Sudan.

    A statement by White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, on Sunday stated the new countries on the list.

    Trump said he had taken the steps to strengthen the security standards for travelling to the United States.

    “Our government’s first duty is to its people, to our citizens- to serve their needs, to ensure their safety, to preserve their rights, and to defend their values.” the American President said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the president’s original ban was highly controversial, as it was widely labelled a “Muslim ban”.

    It was subsequently abandoned by the administration after a series of federal courts blocked it on grounds it violated the US constitution’s protection of religious freedom.

    The addition of North Korea and Venezuela now means not all nations on the list are majority-Muslim.

    America and North Korea are engrossed in a face-off over the nuclear arms programme of the Asian country with which America’s ally in the peninsula, South Korea, remains technically at war since their partition.

    Venezuela, on the other hand, is facing political strife after President Nicholas Maduro conducted a referendum that stripped the opposition-controlled National Assembly of its powers.

    The criteria for the new ban list is now based on vetting procedures and co-operation, and the restrictions have now been “tailored” on a country-by-country basis.

    Ms. Sanders stated furthered that the proclamation would begin until the U.S. can conduct proper screening and vetting of those countries’ nationals.

    She said Trump had taken “key steps to protect the American people from those who would enter our country and do us harm.”

    Ms. Sanders also said the new development aims at ensuring American border and immigration security is adequate to protect the safety and security of the American people.

    ‘’Earlier this year, the President signed Executive Order 13780, which asked the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a new minimum baseline for how much information sharing with foreign nations is required to determine whether their nationals seeking entry into the United States present security threats to our nation,” she said.

    ‘’The new baseline furthers the aims of the Executive Order by ensuring our border and immigration security is adequate to protect the safety and security of the American people.

    “New requirements on issuing electronic passports, sharing criminal data, reporting lost and stolen passports, and sharing more information on travelers will help better verify the identities and national security risks of people trying to enter the United States,’’ she added.

    She noted that foreign governments will have to work with the United States to identify serious criminals and known or suspected terrorists, as well as share identity-related information and exemplars of documents such as IDs and passports.