DEADLY ATTACKS ON CHURCHES

At least ten people have been killed in Nigeria after rebels attacked a series of churches early today by members of the terror group-Boko Haram in two villages near Chibok, the northeastern town where more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped in April, survivors have said.

Residents said that dozens of people may have been killed on Sunday in the raids on villages roughly 10km outside of Chibok, but no one was able to offer an authoritative death toll.

The military have been deployed and local officials said that the death toll was likely to rise.

"The attackers went to churches with bombs and guns," Timothy James, a Chibok resident, said by phone.

Enoch Mark, an outspoken Chibok leader since the April 14 abductions, gave a similar account, telling the AFP in Lagos, "presently, as we are talking now, we are under attack".

"We cannot tell the number of dead bodies," he added. "I was told the attackers burnt at least three churches to the ground."

Mark further said that the military had not responded to distress calls after the attack began.

While it was not immediately possible to verify the charge, if true, it would likely raise further questions about the military effort in the northeast, the epicentre of armed group Boko Haram's five-year deadly uprising.

Following the April abduction of 276 girls by the armed group from a secondary school, parents and local leaders accused the military of doing almost nothing to secure the release of the hostages.

Fifty-seven of the girls escaped within days of the nighttime raid on the school and local officials have said that 219 are still being held.

International outrage has spread since the kidnappings and Nigeria has vowed to improve secure in the area in the south of Borno state.



Source: Agencies/Aljazeera

Uburu births, set to change face of marketing communication

Tony Usidamen

"Dramatic paradigm shifts in the very nature of how we do business are redefining PR and marketing communications. The new imperative is to develop a dialogue with customers and prospects that is identifiable, relevant, consistent and engaging.”

Those were the words of Tony Usidamen, Founder and Lead Consultant of Uburu - a creative Business Communication consultancy - at the media launch of the company in Lagos recently.

Explaining the vision behind the establishment of Uburu, Usidamen said that consumers’ shifting attitudes coupled with new ways of communicating and new communication languages require a full redefinition of communication models.

According to Usidamen, “The name of the game for brand-builders in this new world is listening and responding. Power resides with those who have the best understanding of customer and prospect needs, and can build strong personal connections through creativity and continuous innovation.”

“At Uburu, our passion is to help companies tell their stories in the most compelling fashion, and build powerful, enduring brands that people love. We thrive in creating engaging communication campaigns, and entering into a true dialogue with our clients’ principal stakeholders, inviting an empathetic and transformative experience.”

Founded on the values of ownership, creativity, innovation and persistence, Uburu offers expertise in key areas of business communication including public relations, marketing promotions, design services and media production.

The Uburu team comprises experienced and highly creative communication experts, working closely with clients and partners to provoke and support positive change in business strategy and process, leading to new and valuable ways of delivering customer attraction, engagement and business performance.

Clientele includes leading investment management and brokerage firm, Afrinvest, De Renaissance Hotel and Quba Dance School.

SPECIAL FOCUS ON NAMA

ARISEKOLA ALAO IS DEAD

Alhaji Arisekola Alao died Wednesday in a London hospital, according to associates.

It was gathered that the businessman died following a long battle from an undisclosed form of cancer.

Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Arisekola Alao, 69, a devout Muslim and shrewd businessman, holds the title of Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland. He was based in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi has described his death as tragic, disheartening and a big blow, not only to Oyo State but also to the entire country.

The governor stated this in a statement issued in Ibadan on Wednesday by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo.

He said that he received the news of the death of the business mogul and religious leader with shock and disbelief, saying that the passage of Alhaji Arisekola-Alao marked the end of an era in the history of the state.

“Aare cannot die as those who lived the kind of life he lived, with imprints in the lives of millions of people, never die. He lived a life that was devoted to the lives of others. It is indeed the end of an era for us in Ibadan and Nigeria in general,” the governor said.

Governor Ajimobi described the late Alhaji Arisekola-Alao as a devout Muslim, shrewd businessman and a philanthropist whose commitment to the cause of the downtrodden in the society was unequalled.

African migrants climb their way into Spain

Migrants celebrate after a successful fence climbing

The best moment of Edward's life was when he stormed the triple fence surrounding Melilla, a tiny Spanish enclave on the North African coast.

"As soon as I touched the fence, I said to myself, 'this is it, this is the chance I have been waiting for', and I got the boost I needed to make it to the other side. It was the happiest day of my life."

Edward, 27, was one of hundreds of African migrants who illegally breached the fence on February 28. Fleeing poverty and a family feud in his native Cameroon, it took Edward one year to travel to Morocco.

Once there, he lived among hundreds of other migrants in the Gourougou mountains in the north of the country, where he spent two years, scavenging for food and begging for other useful items such as clothing and medicine - mainly at night, the only time he felt safe enough to venture into nearby towns.

We couldn't walk around like normal people. The Moroccans would beat us if they caught us.

- Edward, The African Migrant

"I looked like an animal. My hair was long and I had a big beard. We couldn't walk around like normal people. The Moroccans would beat us if they caught us walking around town."

In Melilla, Edward cuts a smarter figure. With his fashionable haircut, ear piercings and trendy clothes, Edward's description of his former life in Morocco is hard to imagine. But it is a reality that thousands of other Europe-bound migrants have lived as they wait for the chance to reach their El Dorado: Europe, the world's richest continent.

In one of the largest infiltrations, the Moroccan government said 1,500 immigrants rushed through the fence at five different points in late May, ignoring warnings to stop and hurling stones at security forces.

The migrants who successfully enter Melilla stay at CETI, the temporary migrant detention centre, which was built to accommodate 480 residents but which currently has a population of more than 2,000.

To deal with the record numbers, authorities have resorted to erecting temporary tents to house new arrivals.

Surrounded by Moroccan land, the Spanish-held enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta are the only European cities that share land borders with Africa, making the territories a magnet for thousands of undocumented migrants whose only other route into Europe is across the Mediterranean Sea on rickety boats.

But that does not mean the journey into these enclaves comes without risk.

Ceuta deaths

On February 6, at least 15 migrants drowned trying to enter Ceuta by sea, after they attempted to swim around an 80-metre breakwater separating Spanish and Moroccan waters.

The victims were part of a 250-strong group of sub-Saharan Africans who launched the coordinated assault under the cover of pre-dawn darkness.

Hundreds of migrants storm into Spain

Among the mass of people was 24-year-old Larry, from Gabon, who accuses the Spanish police of firing rubber bullets at his friends while they were in the water.

"The Guardia Civil [Civil Guards] tried to block us from swimming in. Some of my friends could not swim and drowned in the water," he said.

Spain's Interior Ministry released edited CCTV footage of the incident. The video shows dozens of people running towards the fence, past security guards and along the barrier wall, before it cuts to images of the migrants throwing rocks towards Spain.

Jose Palazon, a human rights activist in Melilla, accuses Spain's Interior Ministry of concealing information about the tragedy.

Workers mending damaged fence

"If you watch the video, you can see the migrants running towards the border but then suddenly the video cuts to them throwing rocks. We weren't shown the video of the guards ejecting the migrants," he said. Palazon, who runs the voluntary migrant rights group Prodein, said the video was edited to make the migrants "look like violent criminals".

In the days following the incident, Madrid insisted that no rubber bullets had been fired at the migrants. But after amateur mobile footage emerged of Spain's Civil Guards shooting in the direction of the people in the water, the country's Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz admitted that the police did fire rubber bullets towards the migrants but "not at" them.

In March, Spain's ruling conservative People's Party also blocked an investigation into the incident, which would have examined the cause of the tragedy and whether rubber bullets contributed to the deaths.

Clearer guidelines

Accounts of what took place on that tragic morning are vague, but international criticism of Spain's heavy-handed actions has led to calls for clearer procedural guidelines on how to secure Europe's "southern borders".

Emilio Guerra, from the Union Progreso y Democracia political party, said there should be transparent and specific protocols in place, especially given the increasing number of assaults on the border.

"It's very important that we provide clear rules for the Civil Guards, because these breaches will continue. We are seeing more and more desperate and determined people risking their lives to get in," he explained. "Securing Europe's borders is an important responsibility, and we need to make sure we are doing it while meeting our human rights obligations."

The border fence, made of razor wire and kitted out with video cameras and noise and movement sensors, is the only thing that separates the migrants from Europe.

Although the security wall is constantly monitored and patrolled, a significant number of undocumented migrants nevertheless manage to get through. About 4,200 migrants attempted to illegally cross into the enclaves in 2013, a 49 percent increase from 2012.

Forced returns

Collaborative Moroccan-Spanish efforts have, at times, resulted in violent and forced expulsions from the Spanish enclaves without due process, according to human rights organisations. In a recent report, Human Rights Watch presented claims that Spanish authorities routinely hand migrants over to the Moroccan authorities, who commonly beat and abuse them without determining whether they need international protection.

Yosef, 26, fled the Central African Republic to escape the crisis in his country. He said such expulsions are common. "I have entered Melilla four times. I was returned to Morocco three times and I succeeded on the fourth time. The guards all have keys for the doors along the fence."

On a trip to the Gourougou forests in northern Morocco, Jose Alonso-Sanchez met a group of sub-Saharan Africans who showed him documents in Spanish that proved they had previously lived in the enclave.

"The Spanish guards removed them from Melilla and handed them over to the Moroccans without even checking to see if they had a right to be here," the Melilla-based human rights lawyer said.

Incarcerated migrants at the CETI holding centre [EPA]

By arbitrarily returning migrants to Africa without the correct procedure, Alonso-Sanchez said "Spain's Civil Guard is violating international human rights laws", which include a right to seek asylum and protection.

It is estimated there are currently 30,000 migrants in Morocco waiting to enter Europe. Madrid has pledged to spend 1.5m euros ($2m) to strengthen the fence, while calling on Brussels to do more to help them deal with the migration pressure.

But some undocumented migrants are finding other ways of gaining entry. Syrian refugees told Al Jazeera they arrived in Melilla on stolen Moroccan passports. Moroccans are allowed to freely enter the enclaves, provided they live in bordering towns or villages.

Abdel Hadi, a father of three from Idlib, Syria, spent the past year-and-a-half travelling with his family across North Africa with the aim of seeking refuge in Europe. "We sold all our gold to get here. It cost me 1,500 euros ($2,000) for each child and 2,000 euros ($2,700) for each adult," Abdel Hadi explained.

"In Morocco there are drug addicts and criminals who can find you a passport. If the border guards catch you, you go back, get another one and try again."

Abdel Hadi will be able to claim refugee status once he arrives in mainland Spain, but the vast majority of residents in CETI will eventually be sent back to their country of origin after they have had their applications processed. Others, such as Edward from Cameroon, plan to simply disappear upon reaching the continent, where they will face a new set of challenges as undocumented migrants living on the margins of society.

"I can't go back home empty-handed," he said. "I have been through too much already."

*Some names have been changed to protect the interviewees' identity

Culled from Aljazeera

Militants kill dozens in attacks on Kenyan coastal city

At least 26 people were killed when Islamist militants stormed a hotel in the coastal city of Mpeketoni on Monday, local officials said. Hotels, restaurants, banks and government offices were razed to the ground in the attack.

Some 50 insurgents flying black Islamist flags swept into the coastal resort town of Mpeketoni, firing guns in an unprecedentedly bold attack, a local government official said Monday.

"There were around 50 attackers, heavily armed in three vehicles, and they were flying the Shabaab flag," Benson Maisori, deputy commissioner for the district, told AFP.

Several buildings including hotels, restaurants, banks and government offices were razed to the ground.

"So far we have collected over 26 bodies and taken them to the mortuary, but we are still looking for more," Maisori said, speaking from the town targeted in the attack.

Kenyan army spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir described how the gunmen had stormed the town, overwhelming local police officers and firing from vehicles, "shooting people around in town".

Chirchir also said the attackers were "likely to be al Shabaab" although there was no immediate claim of responsiblity from the Islamists themselves.

Gun battles began Sunday evening and continued into the early hours of Monday morning, but by dawn Mpeketoni was reported calm.

The insurgents were reported to have been from the Somalia-based, al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab.

"They were shouting in Somali and shouting 'Allahu Akbar'," he added, meaning "God is great", in Arabic.

Cafes and bars were reportedly packed with people watching the World Cup on television when the gunmen attacked.

The town of Mpeketoni, a trading centre on the main coastal road, lies on the mainland some 30 kilometres (20 miles) southwest of Lamu island, a popular tourist destination whose ancient architecture is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Attackers tried to storm a police post including an armoury, but Maisori said officers had defended the building and fought the gunmen off.

It was the latest in a series of attacks or bombings to hit Kenya -- most usually blamed on al Shabaab or their supporters -- but the reported scale and nature of this attack is rare.

Kenyan troops crossed into southern Somalia in 2011 to fight al Shabaab, later joining the now 22,000-strong African Union force battling the Islamists.

The Shabaab vowed revenge for the military deployment and has carried out sporadic attacks on Kenyan territory, including a high-profile seige on Nairobi's Westgate mall in September last year in which at least 67 people were killed.

In May of this year, al Shabaab claimed an attack on Somalia's parliament.




(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

UKRANIAN MILITARY PLANE SHOT DOWN

Pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane overnight carrying troops and supplies in the eastern city of Luhansk, the defence ministry said early today (Saturday).

“On the night of June 13-14, the terrorists...fired from an anti-aircraft weapon and a large calibre machine gun, shooting down military transport aircraft...IL-76 as it was about to land,” the ministry said in a statement, offering its condolences to the victims’ families.

Forty-nine military personnel were killed in the incident, according to military spokesman Vladislav Seleznov.

Luhansk lies near Ukraine’s border with Russia, an area where separatists have seized government buildings and declared independence after holding disputed referendums.

The toll would be the biggest suffered by government forces in a single incident since Ukraine’s government launched a military operation against pro-Russian separatists in the east.

An estimated 270 people have been killed in the violence over the past two months.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, REUTERS)

OODUA PEOPLE'S CONGRESS TO MARK 20 YEARS ANNIVERSARY,says Dr Fasehun

Oodua People's Congress (OPC) will clock 20 years in August this year since its estalishment by Dr Frederick Isiotan Fasehun on 29, August,1994.

To celebrate two decades of its existence, the Founder,Dr Fasehun in a press statement issued on his behalf by one of the leaders of the Congress who was also the immediate past National Secretary General of the Congress, Alhaj Lateef Lawal noted that this important milestone will be celebrated in a grand style.

He explained that this was because, in the history of self-determination group(s) in Nigeria, none had lasted for so long inspite of tribulations faced by its leaders and members alike including arrests,incarceration by law enforcement agents and intimidation by government.

Dr Fasehun noted :` Having survived these tribulations over the years, we should roll out the drums and give thanks to the Almighty for sparing our lives and pray for the repose of that fell during the heat of our struggle and those that died thereafter'.

He said that all members of OPC from all the South-West States including Kwara, Kadun,Kano,Abuja,Benin Republic and those in diaspora would converge in Lagos for the epoch making event which venue would soon be announced.

Many other notable Yoruba sons and daughters and traditional rulers are also expected tograce the event which will feature cultural displays.

It will be recalled the annulment of June 12,1993 Presidential election widely believed to had been won by Chief Moshood ABIOLA (late) was one of many reasons why Dr Fasehun invited some close associates to the OPC as a group to address the injustice being meted to Yoruba within the polity and also defend the rights of the ethnic group in all ramifications.

Findamental objectives of the organisatin are:
>To gather all the descendants of Oduduws all over eaarth,especially in Africa, the Caribbean,South and North America for a most profound, all embrassing and absolutely unflinching unity.

> To identify with Youba historical and cultural origin with a view of re-living the glory of the past for the purpose of posterity.

>To edcate and mobilise the descendants of Oduduwa for the purpose of the above.

>To integrate the aspirations and values of all the descendants of Oduduwa into a collective platform of an Oodua entity.

>To monitor the various interests of descendants of Oduduwa by whatever name called, anywhere on earth and struggle for the protection of these interests.

>To ensure maximum self-determination of the people of Oodua.

NSCI WELCOMES MEDIATION EFFORTS TO FREE CHIBOK GIRLS

By Onazi Adadu Onazi

The National Social Contract Initiative, NSCI, welcomes the mediatory efforts by the Federal Government, concerned Nigerians and members of the international community to free the Chibok secondary school girls abducted by the Boko Haram terrorist group.

We particularly welcome the commitment and resolve of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to explore all avenues to peacefully rescuing the abducted school girls and ending the insurgency in the country.

Also, the NSCI applauds the involvement of the Australian cleric, Dr. Stephen Davis, a close friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Justin Welby and other well-meaning Nigerians in the mediation efforts to free the abducted girls and convince members of the Boko Haram to embrace peace.

We implore leaders of ECOWAS nations and other African as well as world leaders to borrow a leaf from the mediatory initiative of the Archbishop of Canterbury aimed at peaceful resolution of the crisis in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, we charge the Northern leaders and other stakeholders to join in the concerted efforts at freeing the girls from their captors and ultimately bring an end to the bloodletting and the wanton destruction of lives and property by the insurgents.

“At a critical time in the history of our dear nation, it is through the combined efforts of every patriotic Nigerian that the war on terror can be won. We must move away from the blame game and team up with the Federal Government to bring this unwholesome situation to a quick end.

“While we commend the efforts of our security agencies in combating the insurgency, and restoring peace to the country, we urge the Boko Haram to lay down their arms, embrace peace and release our girls unconditionally,” NSCI added.

As efforts to bring to an end the insurgency in the country intensifies, we once again, call upon Nigerians and our neighbours to volunteer valuable information to the security agencies and mediators if need be that can lead to the early resolution of the insurgency.



Onazi Adadu Onazi is the Publicity Secretary of NSCI