12 Nigerian, Ghanaian Christian migrants ‘thrown’ overboard by Muslim

Italian police said Thursday they had arrested a group of African migrants after witnesses said they threw 12 passengers overboard following a row about religion on a boat headed to Europe.
The deadly dispute, which saw a group of Muslim passengers allegedly attack a group of Christian passengers, coincided with reports of a new migrant drowning tragedy.
Four days after a migrant shipwreck off the coast of Libya, in which 400 people are believed to have died, another 41 migrants were missing feared drowned Thursday after their dinghy sank en route to Italy, Italian media reported.
The stricken vessel was spotted by a plane, which alerted the Italian coastguard but by the time a navy ship arrived at the spot only four passengers were found alive, the reports quoted the police and aid agencies as saying.
The four survivors, who came from Nigeria, Ghana and Niger, said they were part of a group of 45 people that set sail from Libya.
A separate group of migrants rescued by an Italian vessel related a deadly standoff over religion in their dinghy, which ended in 12 Nigerian and Ghanaian passengers being drowned, the police said.
The victims were “of Christian faith, compared to their attackers who were of Muslim faith,” police in the Sicilian port of Palermo said in a statement.
Fifteen migrants were arrested on suspicion of “multiple aggravated murder motivated by religious hate”, the statement added.
The incident aboard the vessel, which was carrying about 100 migrants, took place in the Strait of Sicily, between Tunisia and Italy.
According to a group of Nigerian and Ghanaian survivors, a fight broke out over religion, with a group of Muslim passengers threatening the Nigerians and Ghanaians after they declared themselves to be Christians.
“The threats then materialised and 12 people, all Nigerian and Ghanaian, are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean,” the police statement added.
The remaining passengers were rescued and brought to Palermo, where the 15 alleged attackers, who came from Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal, were arrested.
– ‘Human chain’ –
The boat, like many of the claptrap vessels flooding Italy’s shores each week with migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, had set out from Libya on Tuesday, according to the survivors.
The police said the distraught Nigerians and Ghanaians told a “dreadful” story of their struggle to escape with their lives “by forcefully resisting attempts to drown them, forming a veritable human chain in some cases.”
Some passengers had taken photographs of the incident, judicial sources who described the accounts as “coherent” told Italian media.
The International Organization for Migration said it had received reports of “a fight between different groups -– maybe for religious reasons… on one of the boats rescued some days ago.”
Italy pleaded for more help from other European Union countries Thursday to rescue the migrants risking their lives to reach Europe and to share the burden of accommodating the arrivals.
Italy is not the final destination of most of the tens of thousands of migrants who risk their lives each year in search of a better life in Europe but as their first port of call it is saddled with handling all their asylum requests as well as saving those in danger from a watery grave.
“Ninety percent of the cost of the patrol and sea rescue operations are falling on our shoulders, and we have not had an adequate response from the EU,” Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told the daily Corriere della Sera.
“And then there is the difficult issue of knowing where to send those rescued at sea — to the nearest port? To the country where their boat came from? The EU has to respond clearly to these questions,” Gentiloni said.

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Iraq PM welcomes Iran aid, but says must respect sovereignty

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday welcomed Iran’s assistance in the fight against Islamic State jihadists, but warned Tehran to respect Baghdad’s sovereignty.

“Everything must be done through the government of Iraq,” Abadi told an audience of US policy experts at a Washington think tank on the third day of a visit to the United States.

“We welcome the Iranian government’s support for us,” Abadi added, on the third day of a visit to the United States aimed at shoring up US support for his fledgling government as it battles the jihadists.

Washington says Iranian officers provided advice and artillery to Shiite militias involved in the operation to retake the city of Tikrit from the Islamic State (IS) group in recent weeks.

But Abadi insisted: “Iraqi sovereignty is of utmost importance.”

The Iraqi prime minister met Tuesday with US President Barack Obama, having said that he intended to ask for a “marked increase” in heavy weapons for his forces to repel IS, which has captured a swathe of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Abadi said that he had come to Washington with a shopping list of weapons.

And he said he had received assurances that a number of F16 planes would be delivered on time.

Abadi also said two Iraqi brigades were to start training to retake Anbar province from the jihadists and would need heavy weapons for the fight.

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AU condemns South Africans attacks on foreigners

The African Union  on Thursday in Addis Ababa, described the South Africa xenophobic attacks on foreigners as unacceptable and called for an immediate halt.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the Chairperson, AU Commission, said in a statement that “whatever the challenges we may be facing, no circumstances justify attacks on people whether foreigners or locals.”

The attacks had escalated with foreign-owned shops being looted and torched while some foreigners have been burnt alive and others brutally assaulted.

She welcomed current efforts by the South African government to engage those affected as well as the deployment of more police officers to provide protection and keep law and order.

The AU chief decried the incident as particularly unfortunate as the continent was approaching the celebration of the African Freedom Day on May 25.

“On 25 May we remember the founding of the Organisation of African Unity, which played such a critical role in mobilising international solidarity to end apartheid.

“The challenges faced by South Africa—poverty and unemployment, are challenges faced by all countries on the continent.

“We must work together to address them and build a better future for all Africans, she said.

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Russian defence chiefs blame US for global security risks

Top Russian defence officials lashed out at the United States Thursday, accusing it of undermining global security by funding revolutions and expanding NATO in a bid to contain Russia.

Speaking at a conference in Moscow attended by his counterparts from North Korea, Greece and Pakistan, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the world order needs to be redefined in a speech that focused heavily on the perceived threat from the United States.

“We live in a watershed moment of history. We are the ones to determine the parameters of world order,” Shoigu told the annual Conference on International Security.

“We are concerned that the stability constructed after World War II is beginning to careen,” he said. “Some countries who consider themselves winners in the Cold War are attempting to dictate their will to others.”

Frequently using the term “some countries” to refer to the United States and its closest allies, Shoigu accused Washington of destabilising the post-Soviet sphere by luring countries away from Russia with investment and supporting popular uprisings.

“The main goal is to tear away from Russia the countries tied to it by culture and history,” he said.

“Of course, the biggest tragedy among the ‘colour revolutions’ is Ukraine,” Shoigu said, contrasting the “peaceful” transition of Crimea to Russia with “violent propagation of the European choice” by Kiev’s current leadership.

Russia deployed its special forces in February to Crimea, formally annexing it from Ukraine in March, shortly after the uprising in the Ukrainian capital led to the ouster of pro-Moscow former president Viktor Yanukovych.

The chain of events unravelled into a year-long conflict in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Kiev, which has claimed over 6,000 lives. Moscow has denied Western claims the Kremlin is supporting the insurgency.

“NATO countries are seeking to seize geopolitical space, building up military potential in Eastern Europe and drawing closer to Russia,” Shoigu said.

The sharp remarks were a contrast to President Vladimir Putin’s statements that Russia’s only enemies are terrorism and organised crime.

“We don’t consider anyone an enemy among participants of global dialogue,” he said Thursday in his annual phone-in session with the nation.

Shoigu’s speech was echoed by a report on threats to Russia by chief of its General Staff Valery Gerasimov, also heavily focused on the “growing military potential” of NATO and the decision by the US to “reshape the world to its liking” in a quest for “absolute domination.”

“One cannot but notice the negative effect on Russia’s military security” of NATO’s continuing expansion eastward, Gerasimov said, accusing it of holding drills and other activities near Russian borders.

“Clearly NATO’s measures to strengthen the bloc and increase its military capabilities are not of a defensive nature,” he said.

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I’ll restore military ties with US –President Elect Gen Muhammadu Buhari

The President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Tuesday said his administration would restore military cooperation with the United States of America.

In an article published by the New York Times in its Tuesday edition, Buhari promised to among other things reformed the military.

The outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration had cancelled the training component of its military cooperation with the US citing a lack of sincerity on the part of the Americans for its decision.

But Buhari said, “My administration would welcome the resumption of a military training agreement with the United States, which was halted during the previous administration. We must, of course, have better coordination with the military campaigns our African allies, like Chad and Niger, are waging in the struggle against Boko Haram. But, in the end, the answer to this threat must come from within Nigeria.”

Buhari also said he would deploy additional troops in the battle foul away from civilian areas in the south and the north central parts of the country.

In the article, the President-elect said, in the fight to end the Boko Haram insurgency, “We must start by deploying more troops to the front and away from civilian areas in central and southern Nigeria where for too long they have been used by successive governments to quell dissent.

“We must work closer with our neighbours in coordinating our military efforts so an offensive by one army does not see their country’s rid of Boko Haram only to push it across the border onto their neighbour’s territory.”

A member of the Buhari team, who pleaded for anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media said, “Without being told, you should know that what he is simply saying is that under his administration, the military will revert to their constitutional role of defending the nation against external aggression QED.”

It was also gathered that the military would be overhauled and professionalised while the police would be better empowered to take the leading role in internal security.

According to the New York Times article, which carried Buhari’s byline, the incoming administration will aside from using the military to deal with the terrorists’ threat, it will pay greater attention to counter-terrorism initiatives.

Buhari noted that his administration would seek to address why young people were attracted to join the sect. He identified some of the reasons to include poverty and ignorance.

He said, “Indeed Boko Haram – which translates in English, roughly, as “western education is sinful” – preys on the perverted belief that the opportunities that education brings are sinful.

“If you are starving and young, and in search of answers as to why your life is so difficult, fundamentalism can be alluring. We know this for a fact because former members of Boko Haram have admitted it: They offer impressionable young people money and the promise of food, while the group’s mentors twist their minds with fanaticism.

“So, we must be ready to offer the parts of our country affected by this group an alternative. Boosting education will be a direct counter-balance to Boko Haram’s appeal.

“In particular we must educate more young girls, ensuring they will grow up to be empowered through learning to play their full part as citizens of Nigeria and pull themselves up and out of poverty. Indeed, we owe it to the schoolgirls of Chibok to provide as best an education as possible for our fellow young citizens.”

He observed that Boko Haram feeds off despair, lack of hope that things can improve. The former Head-of State also argued that by attacking a school, and kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls, it sought to strike at the very place where hope for the futurewas being nurtured, and the promise of a better Nigeria.

“It is our intention to show Boko Haram that it will not succeed,” he said.

The retired army general also promised that his administration would not only defeat the sec

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