BCNN5: Politics Archives

North Nigerian Governors Declare War On Boko Haram

By BCNN5 on January 30, 2012 9:21 AM

GOVERNORS of the 19 Northern states yesterday, rose from a meeting at 2 a.m. with Vice President Namadi Sambo, vowing to put an end to activities of the Boko Haram sect.

The governors noted that after an intense brainstorming at the meeting which held at the Aguda House, residence of the VP in the Presidential Villa, it became clear that what the sect intends to do is to divide the country.

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Libya Protests Spur Shake-Up in Interim Government

By BCNN5 on January 23, 2012 9:54 PM

Libya's post-Qaddafi transitional government faced a political crisis Sunday after protesters ransacked its offices in Benghazi, highlighting growing nationwide unease with its leadership and triggering a shake-up in which the governing council's No. 2 official resigned and several members were suspended.

For months, youth groups with a range of complaints have been protesting against the Transitional National Council in Benghazi, the eastern city whose protests sparked the nine-month revolt and which once served as the rebel capital. Protests have cropped up elsewhere, too, including in Tripoli, the capital, where activists have erected a small tent city across from the prime minister's office.

Protesters are demanding more transparency from the transitional council, which holds executive power and is tasked with overseeing the election of a constituent assembly to draft a new Constitution.

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U.S. Drone Strike Kills Foreign Commander Fighting for Militants in Somalia

By BCNN5 on January 23, 2012 9:54 PM

A senior foreign commander fighting with Shabab Islamic militants was killed in an American drone strike a few miles south of the capital over the weekend, according to Shabab officials.

The Shabab officials held a news conference to publicize the attack, identifying the commander as Bilal al-Barjawi, 27, a close associate of a Qaeda leader killed last year in Somalia. They said he was of Lebanese descent and had grown up in West London. British authorities denied that he was a British citizen.

One witness said there were two strikes on Saturday afternoon in a Shabab-controlled area near the town of Elasha Biyaha, about eight miles south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, where the Shabab have a base. "One hit a car, which I believe held explosives," said the witness, who gave his name as Osman. Huge explosions were followed by clouds of flames and smoke, witnesses said, and Shabab militants sealed the area around the burning car.

Within hours, a Shabab spokesman, Ali Mohamud Raghe, told reporters, "American drones carried out today's attack and killed our brother, Martyr Bilal al-Barjawi."

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Liberia President Sirleaf Vows to Continue Fighting Corruption and Youth Unemployment

By BCNN5 on January 16, 2012 1:45 PM

Liberia's president says tackling youth unemployment and fighting corruption are her top priorities after she takes the oath of office Monday and begins her second term in the West African nation.

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Update: Pirate Attack On the EU Navfor Flagship

By BCNN5 on January 16, 2012 4:00 AM

Following a detailed assessment of the dawn attack on the SPS PATINO on 12 January 2012, the political decision has been made to hand-over the evidence pack for consideration by the courts for prosecution in Spain.

The suspected pirates have all been given medical treatment for injuries sustained during their attack and two of the suspected pirates will require additional medical treatment once they have been landed. They are all currently stable and in no medical danger onboard the SPS PATINO.

The group of suspect pirates made their attack while the Flagship was in the vicinity of Mogadishu following the escort of a World Food Programme ship carrying food-aid into Somalia.

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Monrovia Inaugural Marks Political Detente

By BCNN5 on January 16, 2012 3:53 AM

Flags are hoisted at street corners along Tubman Boulevard and past the Capital Building, the seat of the National Legislature, where President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is being sworn in today for a second six-year term.

Preparations for the event have been underway for weeks, in anticipation of the large international presence, which includes visiting heads of state and dignitaries. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is leading the U.S. delegation to demonstrate what the State Department describes as its "commitment to post-conflict return to peace, good governance, and economic development."

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Citizens Gather By Tens of Thousands to Celebrate Anniversary of Revolution

By BCNN5 on January 16, 2012 3:51 AM

Today Tunisia celebrates the first anniversary of the departure of former President Ben Ali. Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the main thoroughfare in downtown Tunis, was host to a festive atmosphere this afternoon as civil society organizations, religious groups, street vendors, and at least 20,000 Tunisians gathered to celebrate the fall of dictatorship one year ago.

In front of the Municipal Theater on Avenue Habib Bourguiba, Ennahda, Tunisia's moderate Islamist Party, hosted various speakers as well as the band Shems (meaning 'sun' in Arabic) - a group known for playing patriotic music. The crowd at the event called for the liberation of Palestine and waved Ennahda flags.

Members of the Ettahrir Party, the formerly banned and still unrecognized party of Salafist Islamists, paraded through Habib Bourguiba Avenue with their signature black and white banners calling for the creation of an Islamic caliphate and erasing any borders between Arab countries.

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Prices and Anger Rise in Nigeria, Presaging More Strikes

By BCNN5 on January 16, 2012 3:04 AM

After five days of strikes, protests and national paralysis over a sharp rise in the government-controlled price of fuel, Nigerians emerged from their homes this weekend to find the fragile calculus underpinning most people's lives in the country further threatened.

The price of onions has more than doubled because of the cost of getting them to market. Dried crawfish, hot peppers and watermelon seed are twice as expensive. Lines of cars stretch far down dingy blocks in the gray winter haze, waiting to pay about $3.50 a gallon for gasoline that cost just $1.70 on New Year's Eve.

The standoff among the Nigerian government, the labor unions and the street continued Sunday, with vows of more strikes and protests on Monday unless the government backs down and brings back cheaper gasoline.

Continue reading Prices and Anger Rise in Nigeria, Presaging More Strikes.

Opposition Recognises President After Disputed Poll

By BCNN5 on January 16, 2012 3:03 AM

Liberia's main opposition party, the Congress for Democratic Change, has recognised Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president after disputed polls, its leader announced Sunday.

"We recognize that Madam Sirleaf is the president of Liberia," CDC leader Winston Tubman said a day before her inauguration and after talks with the president late Saturday.

"Since the elections, we have been holding negotiations with the government on how to resolve the disagreement ... and having had fruitful discussions, we feel confident that the CDC will be incorporated in the government," he added.

The CDC was therefore calling off a protest march it had planned for Monday and party officials would attend the investiture ceremony, said Tubman.

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Nigerian Sect Kills 15; Christians Vow Defense

By BCNN5 on January 9, 2012 4:49 AM

A radical Muslim sect attacked a church worship service in Nigeria's northeast during assaults that killed at least 15 people, authorities said Saturday, as Christians vowed to defend themselves from the group's widening sectarian fight against the country's government.

The attacks by the sect known as Boko Haram came after it promised to kill Christians living in Nigeria's largely Muslim north, exploiting long-standing religious and ethnic tensions in the nation of more than 160 million people. The pledge by the leader of an umbrella organization called the Christian Association of Nigeria now raises the possibility of retaliatory violence.

In the last few days alone, Boko Haram has killed at least 44 people, despite the oil-rich nation's president declaring a state of emergency in regions hit by the sect.

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Government Deploys More Troops to Contain Pibor Violence

By BCNN5 on January 3, 2012 12:49 AM

South Sudan's President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, has ordered the deployment of more soldiers and 2,000 police to Pibor county in Jonglei state in a belated attempt to stop tribal fighting in the area.

Over the last week the 6,000 members of the Lou-Nuer ethnic group moved into Murle territory setting fire to towns and raiding cattle, as an act of revenge for an attack in August.

Having captured the strategic town of district of Linkwangole, the Luo-Nuer advanced on Pibor the county headquarters on New Year's Eve. At least 20,000 people have been displaced by the attacks, according to the UN.

The group's declared aim is to capture all Murle towns and villages, disarm the population and recover over 180 Luo-Nuer children they claim were abducted by the Murle in August.

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Troops, Tanks Take Over Maiduguri, Damaturu

By BCNN5 on January 2, 2012 11:59 PM

Sequel to President Goodluck Jonathan's declaration of a state of emergency in some local governments in the four states of Niger, Plateau, Yobe and Borno states, heavily armed soldiers and tanks yesterday took over the streets of Maiduguri and Damaturu, the state capitals of Borno and Yobe.

The presidential order, which also closed Nigeria's borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger, came after efforts to stop the bombings perpetrated by the Boko Haram Islamic sect had failed.

The latest attack by the dreaded Islamic sect was on St. Theresa's Catholic Church, Madalla area in Suleja, Niger State, which killed some 50 people and injured dozens during a Christmas service.

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Air Strikes in South Kordofan

By BCNN5 on January 2, 2012 11:59 PM

Air strikes were reported today in Warli village, Talodi locality in South Kordofan.

The Sudanese air force dropped five bombs, two of which hit the village. A witness said that 23 houses were burned, and part of the village mosque destroyed. A number of livestock were also killed.

The witness said that the bombs used this time were different. The explosions and resulting fires were larger than they had been. He said previous bombs which had left deep craters, did not create large flames as this incident did.

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Dos Santos, One of Africa's Longest-Ruling Leaders

By BCNN5 on January 2, 2012 6:35 PM

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who is at the center of a succession enigma in Africa's No. 2 oil producer, is the continent's second longest-serving ruler.

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Top Rebel Leader in South Sudan Killed

By BCNN5 on December 26, 2011 7:18 AM

South Sudan's top rebel leader, George Athor, has been killed in a clash with the country's military, the Sudan People's Liberation Army. The government is appealing for Athor's supporters and other rebel groups in the newly independent country to lay down their arms and accept a presidential amnesty.

Continue reading Top Rebel Leader in South Sudan Killed .

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