Inside Cameroon

Ibrahim Sanou, 27, was chained by the neck to a container by his Italian supervisor, Manlio Maggiorotto, for allegedly failing to complete a job-related task on time. The victim pleaded with the supervisor to release him, but in vain. He had to wait 50 minutes before his workmates eventually came and rescued him.

Sanou had to endure this ordeal under a burning hot sun. "The time he was putting the chain on my neck I asked him to stop, he didn't listen to me. He got a padlock and tied me to the container and locked me there," Sanou said.

Ibrahim Sanou, who works for Gateway Logistics in the Free Zone Enclave in Western Ghana, was traumatized by the experience and is considering quitting his job. "I am not comfortable. Seeing the chain, it's like something is wrong with me," Sanou told DW. "I don't know why he did that to me," he added.

Calls for protection

One of the problems facing the Ghanaian labor market is the absence of reliable unemployment figures. But Ghanaians still can be heard complaining about the lack of jobs. Some may have to put up with poorer and poorer working conditions just to remain in employment. In privately owned companies, there is often no labor union available to which an aggrieved employee could turn.

According to a survey undertaken by the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) in Ghana, many foreign employers have been abusing their Ghanaian employees. The General Secretary of the ICU, Solomon Kotei, said the Chinese, Lebanese and Indian companies were worst abusers and many workers had no written contracts with their employers.

"Most of them are not even given letters of employment to state what their situation is," he said.

Labor rights activist Francis Sallah said Sanou's case shows that a lot needs to be done to improve working conditions in Ghana. There have been similar abuses in the past and they have gone unpunished. "I think there should be clear-cut policies. The laws should be spelt out to investors explaining that, yes, Ghanaians will welcome you, but abuses will not be tolerated," Sallah said.

The country's trade minister and other government officials say they are investigating Sanou's case.

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Elangwe Pauline

09.Apr.2016

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French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says adherents to the radical Saudi-backed Salafi ideology have gained the upper hand in France as they push to attract followers. Speaking at a round-table in Paris on Monday, the premier warned that Salafists were “winning the ideological and cultural battle” in France. “Their message — their messages on social networks — is the only one we end up hearing,” he warned. 

Salafism is often equated with Wahhabism, the radical ideology dominating Saudi Arabia and freely preached by clerics in the Arab country. Wahhabism is also the ideology of the Daesh terrorist group, which claimed responsibility for last year’s deadly terrorist attacks in the French capital. The November 13, 2015 attacks targeting several areas in Paris killed some 130 people dead and injured over 350 others.

Daesh has also claimed responsibility for bombings in the Belgian capital, Brussels, last month, which took the lives of 34 people. Most European governments, however, are close allies of the Saudi regime and main suppliers of arms along with the US to Riyadh which is backing militants to topple the Syrian government. According to a US intelligence report from August 2012, "the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria" was "exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime.”

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Presstv

05.Apr.2016

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The Nigerian army says it has arrested the leader of an al-Qaeda linked militant group, Ansaru, known for kidnapping and murdering Westerners. Khalid al-Barnawi was captured in Lokoja, capital of the central state of Kogi on Friday, military spokesman Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said on Sunday. “He is among those on top of the list of our wanted terrorists,” he added.

Al-Barnawi has been one of the three Nigerians listed by the US in 2012 as “specially designated global terrorists.” The US had placed a $5 million bounty on his head. A-Barnawi has “ties to Boko Haram” and “close links to al-Qaeda,” according to the US State Department. A Nigerian army officer said his arrest was “a huge success and will have a profound effect on counter-terrorism operations in Nigeria and beyond.” 

Ansaru is a splinter group of Boko Haram which claimed responsibility for the December 26, 2012 attack on a facility in Abuja, where the army held captured militants. They killed two policemen and freed 40 detainees. The group also said it was responsible for another attack in 2013 on a convoy of Mali-bound Nigerian troops in Kogi state.

The terrorists killed two soldiers and seriously wounded five others. Boko Haram has so far claimed the lives of over 17,000 people since the start of its insurgency in Nigeria in 2009. The violence has also forced over 2.6 million others to flee their homes since then. The terror group has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri group.

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Presstv

04.Apr.2016

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The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has adopted a resolution that allows the deployment of unarmed UN police to Burundi in a bid to help contain the escalating unrest gripping the landlocked African country. The 15-member council unanimously passed the French-drafted motion on Friday after days of tough negotiations over its wording. 

The resolution asks UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to draw up within 15 days a list of options for the proposed police force in coordination with the African Union and consultations with the Burundian government. It provides for the “deployment of a United Nations police contribution to increase the United Nations capacity to monitor the security situation, promote the respect of human rights and advance rule of law” in the violence-wracked state.

The resolution further expresses concerns about “the persisting political impasse” in Burundi and underlines the need for convening “a genuine and inclusive inter-Burundian dialogue.”

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Presstv

02.Apr.2016

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A group of US lawmakers has called on the administration of President Barack Obama to reconsider cutting military aid to Israel for what they call possible extrajudicial killings of Palestinians by Israeli troops. US Senator Patrick Leahy along with ten other Democratic members of Congress have recently sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry to open an investigation into Israel’s “gross violations of human rights.” Details of the letter dated February 17 have been revealed just recently. The signatories said Israeli forces should be investigated on suspicion of extrajudicial execution of Palestinians. They say it should be determined whether US military aid to Israel should be cut as the US law bans providing military assistance to foreign military units which violate human rights.

The letter drew a strong reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who on Wednesday said Israeli troops “and security forces are not murderers.” A few days ago, the Palestinian government called on the United Nations to launch a probe into the Israeli regime’s extrajudicial killings of Palestinians in the occupied lands. The request was made on Monday following the deadly shooting of an injured Palestinian by an Israeli trooper in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron).

Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said the Israeli regime claims to have launched a probe into the killing of the Palestinian, but history shows that their investigations have failed to “serve justice” and instead have been “rewarded with impunity.” “Since September 13, 207 cases of Israeli extrajudicial executions of Palestinians urgently require an international investigation. These executions are not isolated events and Israel must be held accountable for committing these crimes,” he added. On March 24, an Israeli human rights group released a video showing two Palestinian youths getting shot over alleged stabbing of an Israeli soldier earlier in the day.

A number of Israeli military officials claimed the Israeli trooper had acted in self defense. Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special envoy to the Middle East, condemned the “apparent extrajudicial execution” and said it was “a gruesome, immoral and unjust act that can only fuel more violence and escalate an already volatile situation.” Tensions have heightened in the occupied territories since August 2015, when Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem). More than 200 Palestinians, including children and women, have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of last October.

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Presstv

01.Apr.2016

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Former SDF Douala four Council mayor, John Dangle Kumase has been discharged and acquitted. The Special Criminal Court in Yaounde found him not guilty of charges levied against him. He was accused of embezzling hundreds of millions, money meant for payment of insurance of workers, clean up campaign and rents generated from Council building. His lawyer Barrister Ashu Agbor says the SDF former mayor instead struggled to pay 400 million debt he inherited. He was discharged for lack of evidence.

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Nfor Hanson Nchanji

30.Mar.2016

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