GRAPHITTI NEWS collates national and
international highlights from late-breaking news, up-coming events and the
stories that will be talked about Sunday:
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Presidents Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria (Photo credits:
Lisa Hnatowicz / Gallo Images (L) and eagleonline.com(R) ) |
1.
WHY NIGERIA, SOUTH AFRICA FLEX MUSCLES
Prevailing
underlying issues between Nigeria and South Africa may have influenced the
decision of the South African government to take the hard stance on the recent US$9.3m
cash for weapons scandal allegedly involving some Nigerian security agencies,
according to diplomats and informed U.S. sources, The Guardian reports.
A
top African official with connections to issues of global finance who has
arrived in New York ahead of next week opening of the United Nations General
Assembly said over the weekend that the South African government are persuaded
that the arms deal was simply a money laundering deal gone back for which the
South Africans could use to embarrass the Nigerian government.
Another
diplomatic source said since the Nigerian rebasing of her GDP, which put the
country ahead as the biggest African economy ahead of South Africa, some in the
South African government circles have been irked by what they consider to be
the “artificial claims” about the Nigerian economy compared to South Africa.
In
the battle to curry foreign investors to Africa, some western economic analysts
had warned that the rebasing of the Nigerian GDP which clearly raised the
profile of the country would certainly deepen the cold war relationship between
Nigeria and South Africa.
While
Nigeria continues to deal with problems of insecurity and fears of political
woes expected with next year’s presidential elections, South Africa which seems
to fare better in those areas is also facing striking workers problems and
budget deficits.
In
the event, diplomatic sources said, the rivalry for economic space and
opportunities between both Nigeria and South Africa deepens and such an
occasion as the US$9.3m cash scandal tilts the balance in South Africa’s favour.
A
source said South Africa is taking advantage of the scandal to expose some of
Nigeria’s weak points, citing in addition the propensity of bad building
compliance issues, which has resulted into several collapses in Lagos including
that of the Synagogue Church building which reportedly killed 67 South
Africans.
Diplomats
say it is well known that a frosty relationship has been subsisting between
Nigeria and South Africa for a long time, and the Nigerian government may have
played directly into the hands of the South Africans with the cash scandal.
Unlike the expectation of the Nigerian official that the South Africans
would play down the US$9.3m cash scandal, the South Africans pressed the issue
and actually was the source that confirmed the involvement of the Nigerian
government to the shock of some Nigerian government officials.
The
Guardian on Sunday learnt that while Nigerian officials were trying to
establish some justification for the movement of such a large amount of cash,
their South African counterparts clearly retorted back that their suspicions
were that the whole deal is about money-laundering rather than weapons’
purchase.
US
sources over the weekend said expectations from the Nigerian government that
the South Africans will overlook the development and give Nigeria a pass, is
“both unrealistic and naive,” at a time both countries are in intense
competition as to where is the best destination for foreign investment.
“If
South Africa gets the opportunity to expose Nigeria’s underbelly as corrupt
just after the Nigerian government made a big deal that it is now the biggest
economy in Africa, why would they not knock Nigeria on the head?, queries an
international finance expert who works with several African leaders and
government on development issues.
2.
WREATHS TO MARK WESTGATE MALL ATTACK ONE YEAR ON
Kenya
is marking a year since the attack on Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre, in
which at least 67 people were killed.
A
memorial plaque will be unveiled and a candle-lit vigil held.
Rupal
Shah explained that the families of victims have been laying wreaths at a
garden in the forest where 67 trees were planted after the attack.
3.
POLICE IG, SULEIMAN ABBA, ORDERS DISMANTLING OF ALL POLICE ROADBLOCKS NATIONWIDE
The
order banning the setting up of Police roadblocks nationwide is still strictly
in force, the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, has said.
In
a statement Sunday, Force Spokesperson, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said the police boss
has sent a directive to all commands and formations of the Force nationwide
asking them to immediately dismantle “all semblances of Police roadblocks and
permanent checkpoints reportedly re-emerging in some parts of the country,
especially in the South-East, South-South and South-West geo-political zones of
Nigeria”.
Mr.
Ojukwu further quoted Mr. Abba as describing the reemergence of roadblocks as a
serious violation of subsisting order on the matter and threatened severe
sanctions on any police commands, formations and personnel who violate the
order.
While
charging the state Commissioners of Police and Heads of Formations to ensure
total compliance with the order, the IGP further ordered extensive visibility
patrol and effective surveillance on Nigerian roads.
Meanwhile,
as Nigeria joins the rest of the world in marking World Peace Day on September
21, 2014, the Nigeria Police Force has restated its resolve to work assiduously
for the enthronement of genuine peace in the nation.
4.
MEET THE WOMAN WHO SURVIVED FIVE DAYS UNDER SYNAGOGUE CHURCH’S COLLAPSED BUILDING
For
five days the 33-year-old was trapped inside a toilet next to the dining hall
of the collapsed Synagogue Church of All Nations, breathing only through a
small hole in the wreckage.
In
the end, she was forced to drink her own urine to survive.
"It's
like a dream to me that really, it's me that came out from here," the
South African told AFP on Saturday as she surveyed the remains of the church in
the Nigerian city of Lagos.
"I
don't believe it. The tears that I cry, it's because I don't believe."
A
total of 86 people were killed and dozens more left trapped when the guesthouse
attached to the church run by the T. B. Joshua collapsed on September 12. Some
350 South Africans were thought to be visiting the church in the Ikotun
neighbourhood of the megacity of Lagos when the six-storey building came down
during construction work.
Joshua
on Sunday pledged to go to South Africa to meet survivors and their families. He
observed a minute of silence at his weekly morning service, and said he would
"be travelling to South Africa to meet people from South Africa and other
nations... in memory of martyrs of faith".
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South African survivor, Lindiwe Ndwandwe.
"It's like a dream to me that really, it's
me that came out from here," the South African told AFP on Saturday as she
surveyed the remains of the church in the Nigerian city of Lagos. Photo credit: Sunday Alamba / AP
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Reports
in the media in South Africa indicate that the country's largest opposition
party, Democratic Alliance (DA) on Sunday said it will push the government to
launch a class action against the church, where 84 of its nationals lost their
lives.
"The
DA believes that there is now enough evidence for the South African government
to, at the very least, explore the possibility of a class action suit against
the (church) on behalf of the affected families," Mokgalapa said in a
statement. "It stands to reason that the church and its members may be
criminally liable for the death of a number of South Africans who could have
been rescued from the rubble if rescue work was speedily permitted."
South
Africa is sending a plane to Lagos to retrieve survivors of the disaster, media
outlets reported.
Nigerian President Goodluck
Jonathan visited the church on Saturday and promised to investigate the cause
of the tragedy. He said he would hold talks with stakeholders in the
construction industry on how to prevent such a thing happening again,
expressing his condolences to South African President Jacob Zuma.
While
Nigerian government officials said shoddy construction was a possible cause,
Joshua suggested Islamic extremists who are active in Nigeria were responsible,
AP says. He sought to rally the faithful with a Facebook message
about resilience.
“Hard
times may test me, they cannot destroy me,” the message read.
Critics
say the televangelist hinders efforts to curtail Aids and tuberculosis with
testimonies by church-goers that faith and his holy water can cure both
diseases.
5.
SIERRA LEONE REACHES FINAL DAY OF EBOLA LOCKDOWN
Volunteers
going door to door during a three-day lockdown intended to combat Ebola in
Sierra Leone say some residents are growing increasingly frustrated and
complaining about food shortages.
Samuel
Turay, 21, said Sunday that people in poorer neighborhoods of the capital,
Freetown, were upset that handouts of rice and pepper were being distributed
only to some houses.
Alexis
Masciarelli, a spokesman for the World Food Program, said the agency had been
providing food since the lockdown started Friday. But he said staffers were not
going door to door and were instead relying on health care workers and
volunteers to identify needy households.
Officials
say Sierra Leoneans have largely complied with the lockdown designed to stem
the biggest Ebola outbreak in history. The lockdown was set to end Sunday.
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Ebola Lockdown:
Sierra Leone, since Friday confined its six million people to their homes, as
the Ebola-ravaged country enforced a sweeping lockdown against the disease
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6.
TURKISH SECURITY FORCES CLASH WITH KURDISH PROTESTERS; BORDER CLOSED TO SYRIAN
REFUGEES
Turkish
security forces on Sunday fired tear gas and water on dozens of Kurds in a
village on the border with Syria where tens of thousands of Syrian Kurdish
refugees have streamed into Turkey to escape the fighting with militants of the
Islamic State group.
Authorities
temporarily closed the border and refugees were piling on the Syrian side of
the frontier.
There
were conflicting reports as to what caused the clashes. The state-run Anadolu
Agency said Kurdish protesters threw stones at the security forces who
prevented dozens of Kurdish onlookers from approaching the border.
Private
NTV television said the security forces preventing a group of Kurds who claimed
they wanted to take aid to beleaguered Kurds in Syria.
The
U.N. refugee agency on Sunday said some 70,000 Syrians have crossed into Turkey
in the past 24 hours. They are seeking refuge from Islamic State militants who
have barreled through dozens of Kurdish villages in the Kobani area in northern
Syria, near the Turkish border.
7.
AFGHANISTAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES SIGN POWER-SHARING DEAL, ENDING DRAWN-OUT
ELECTION
Afghanistan's
two presidential candidates signed a power-sharing deal Sunday, capped with a hug
and a handshake, three months after a disputed runoff that threatened to plunge
the country into turmoil and complicate the withdrawal of U.S. and foreign
troops.
The
incoming president — Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai — and Abdullah Abdullah signed the
national unity government deal as President Hamid Karzai — in power since the
2001 U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban — looked on. The deal creates the new
role of chief executive for Abdullah following weeks of negotiations on a
power-sharing arrangement after accusations of fraud in the June runoff vote.
"I
am very happy today that both of my brothers, Dr. Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah
Abdullah, in an Afghan agreement for the benefit of this country, for the
progress and development of this country, that they agreed on the structure
affirming the new government of Afghanistan," Karzai said after the
signing.
The
deal is a victory for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who first got the
candidates to agree in principle to share power during a July visit to Afghanistan.
Kerry returned to Kabul in August and has spent hours with the candidates in
repeated phone calls in an effort to seal the deal.
A
White House statement lauded the two leaders, saying the agreement helps bring
closure to Afghanistan's political crisis.
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AP
Afghanistan's presidential election candidates Abdullah Abdullah (left), and
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai shake hands after signing a power-sharing deal at the
presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday.
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8.
CHINA, US, INDIA PUSH WORLD CARBON EMISSIONS UP
Spurred
chiefly by China, the United States and India, the world spewed far more carbon
pollution into the air last year than ever before, scientists announced Sunday
as world leaders gather to discuss how to reduce heat-trapping gases.
The
world pumped an estimated 39.8 billion tons (36.1 billion metric tons) of
carbon dioxide into the air last year by burning coal, oil and gas. That is 778
million tons (706 metric tons) or 2.3 percent more than the previous year.
"It's
in the wrong direction," said Glen Peters, a Norwegian scientist who was
part of the Global Carbon Project international team that tracks and calculates
global emissions every year.
Their
results were published Sunday in three articles in the peer-reviewed journals
Nature Geoscience and Nature Climate Change.
The
team projects that emissions of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas from
human activity, are increasing by 2.5 percent this year.
The
scientists forecast that emissions will continue to increase, adding that the
world in about 30 years will warm by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees
Celsius) from now. In 2009, world leaders called that level dangerous and
pledged not to reach it.
"Time
is running short," said Pierre Friedlingstein of the University of Exeter
in England, one of the studies' lead authors. "The more we do nothing, the
more likely we are to be hitting this wall in 2040-something."
Chris
Field, a Carnegie Institution ecologist who heads a U.N. panel on global
warming, called the studies "a stark and sobering picture of the steps we
need to take to address the challenge of climate change."
More
than 100 world leaders will meet Tuesday at the U.N. Climate Summit to discuss
how to reverse the emissions trend.
The
world's three biggest carbon polluting nations — China, the U.S. and India —
all saw their emissions jump. No other country came close in additional
emissions.
Indian
emissions grew by 5.1 percent, Chinese emissions by 4.2 percent and the U.S.
emissions by 2.9 percent, when the extra leap day in 2012 is accounted for.
China,
the No. 1 carbon polluter, also had more than half the world's increases over
2012. China's increases are slowing because the Chinese economy isn't growing
as fast as it had been, Peters said.
America
had reduced its carbon emissions in four of the five previous years. Peters
said it rose last year because of a recovering economy and more coal power.
Only
two dozen of the about 200 countries cut their carbon emissions last year, led
by mostly European countries. Spain had the biggest decrease.
The
world emissions averaged to 6.3 million pounds (2.9 million kilograms) of
carbon dioxide put in the air every second.
9.
WORLD LEADERS TO GATHER AT UN IN SHADOW OF ISLAMIC STATE, EBOLA CRISES
World
leaders gather in New York this week to tackle a host of crises: the violence
Islamic State militants are wreaking in Iraq and Syria, the exponential spread
of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa and deadlocked negotiations on Iran's
nuclear program.
There
is little hope the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly will achieve much in the
annual five-day marathon of speeches. But on the sidelines, U.S. officials plan
to lobby allies for pledges of concrete military assistance to help defeat
Islamic State, whose hardline Sunni Islamist fighters have taken over swaths of
Syrian and Iraqi territory.
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said more than 140 heads of state or government
will attend the assembly's annual "general debate", which begins on
Wednesday and ends Sept. 30. He noted an unusually large number of serious
conflicts: in the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine.
"The
world is facing multiple crises," Ban told reporters.
"All
have featured atrocious attacks on civilians, including children," he
said. "All have dangerous sectarian, ethnic or tribal dimensions. And many
have seen sharp divisions within the international community itself over the
response."
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The Duke of
Cambridge waves to well-wishers after arriving for an Independence Day service
in Malta
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10.
WILLIAM HELPS MARK MALTA MILESTONE
Malta's
50 years of independence were commemorated today by a solemn mass attended by
leading national figures and the Duke of Cambridge.
In
the majestic setting of St John's Co-Cathedral in the capital Valletta, prayers
were said and hymns sung in thanksgiving for five decades of self-rule.
William,
a last minute replacement for his pregnant wife, sat in the front pew with
Britain's high commissioner to Malta Rob Luke during the hour-long mass.
It
is believed to be the first time the second-in-line to the throne has attended
a public mass.
Kate
was forced to withdraw from the two-day trip - scheduled to be her first
official solo overseas visit - as she is still suffering from a severe form of
morning sickness called hyperemesis gravidarum.
When
William was officially welcomed by Maltese president Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca
yesterday, she asked about his wife and the Duke said she was
"so-so", adding "she's so sad not to be here".
The
cathedral was built in the 16th century as the church of the Order of the
Knights of St John, former rulers of Malta and is lavishly decorated in the
baroque style.
11.
SIERRA LEONE'S EBOLA LOCKDOWN LIKELY TO BE EXTENDED
A
three-day lockdown in Sierra Leone aimed at stemming the worst Ebola epidemic
on record has identified dozens of new infections, but has not reached everyone
in the country and is likely to be extended, a senior official said on Sunday.
In
one of the most extreme strategies taken by a country since the epidemic began,
Sierra Leone has ordered its 6 million residents to stay indoors as volunteers
circulate to educate households well as isolate the sick and remove the dead.
"There
is a very strong possibility it will be extended," Stephen Gaojia, head of
the Emergency Operations Centre that leads the national Ebola response, told
Reuters after meeting with President Ernest Bai Koroma.
"Even
though the exercise has been a huge success so far, it has not been concluded
in some metropolitan cities like Freetown and Kenema," he said.
Gaojia
said 92 bodies had been recovered across the country by the end of Saturday,
the second day of the lockdown.
Some
123 people had contacted authorities during the drive, believing they might be
infected. Of these, 56 tested positive for Ebola, 31 tested negative and 36
were still awaiting their results, he said.
12.
POPE VISITS ALBANIA: 10 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ONE OF EUROPE’S LEAST
UNDERSTOOD COUNTRIES
Pope
Francis arrived in Albania on Sunday for a one-day visit – his first to a
Muslim-majority country and the fourth overseas trip of his papacy, after
Brazil, the Holy Land and South Korea.
The
visit is intended to highlight the harmonious co-existence between Muslims,
Orthodox and Catholics – against a backdrop of turmoil and violence in much of
the Islamic world.
It
will also celebrate the resurgence of religious belief in Albania after the
decades in which it was suppressed by the Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha.
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Pope
Francis' reformist instincts have brought him into conflict with
cardinals Photo: REX
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Here
are 10 facts you may not know about one of Europe’s smallest and least
understood countries.
1.
In the Albanian language, Albania is known as Shqiperia. Around 10 per cent of
Albanians are Catholics, while 60 per cent are Muslim and the rest Christian
Orthodox.
2.
Albanians trace their routes to ancient Illyrian tribes, who occupied the
western Balkans during the second millennium BC. Their language is derived from
Illyrian, a melange of Roman and Slavic influences.
3.
The word for yes in Albanian is ‘po’. The word for no is ‘jo’.
4.
Albania was closely allied with the USSR until the 1960s, when it switched allegiance
to Communist China.
5.
Under Enver Hoxha’s dictatorial, Stalinist rule, organised religion was banned
and Albania was declared an atheist state in 1967 under a Mao-style cultural
revolution. All churches and mosques were taken over by the state and by 1990
around 95 per cent of religious buildings had been destroyed or converted into
other uses, such as cinemas and warehouses. Nearly 2,000 Catholic and Orthodox
churches were destroyed. More than 100 Catholic priests and bishops were
executed or died under torture or in labour camps. Hoxha built a museum of
atheism, including an exhibit allegedly portraying Pope John XXIII, who led the
Catholic Church from 1958 to 1963, dancing the twist with Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev.
6.
Under the Communist regime, the only Western actor approved by Hoxha and his
henchmen was the British comedian Norman Wisdom, who became a cult figure in
the country. Hoxha deemed that Sir Norman's films, in which his hapless screen
character Pitkin got the better of his bosses, were a Communist parable on
class war. When Sir Norman died in 2010, Sali Berisha, the then prime minister,
described him as “one of the brightest stars of world comedy” and “one of the
dearest friends of our nation.”
7.
One of the strangest features of Communist rule was the construction of tens of
thousands of concrete, bomb-proof bunkers. Scattered around the countryside,
they were built to repel an invasion that never happened. It is estimated that
there are as many as 750,000 of them – one for every four Albanians.
8.
Communist rule ended in the 1990s, to be replaced by a chaotic free-for-all
marked by rampant corruption, emigration and smuggling. Around three-quarters
of Albanians lost their life savings in 1996 when private pyramid investment schemes
collapsed, leading to riots by rampaging mobs.
9.
Perhaps the world’s most famous Albanian is Mother Theresa, the Catholic nun
who worked for decades in the slums of India. She was actually born in Skopje,
now the capital of Macedonia, but she was Albanian in ethnicity. She won the
Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor and the sick and was beatified –
the penultimate step to sainthood – in 2003. She died in 1997 at the age of 87.
The Pope will celebrate Mass in a square named after Mother Theresa in Tirana.
10.
Tirana’s forbiddingly grey, Communist-era housing and office blocks were
brightened up by Edi Rama, a former mayor of the capital, who ordered them to
be painted in bright, garish colours.
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