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British Labour Party’s Sadiq Khan has been elected mayor of London.

He is the first Muslim mayor of an EU member capital city. The Labour politician beat his major rival, Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith. Khan was swept into City Hall on 57 percent of the vote. 

During his election campaign, he pledged to provide affordable homes for Londoners and freeze transport fares. He also promised to cut taxes on enterprises.

Khan also opposes the UK’s departure from EU, saying it will pose a threat to London’s economy.

Khan is London’s third directly-elected mayor — after Labour’s Ken Livingstone and Conservative Boris Johnson.

In his acceptance speech, Khan promised to be a “mayor for all Londoners”.

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07.May.2016

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The Dinamo Bucharest and Cameroon midfielder Patrick Ekeng has died in hospital, less than two hours after collapsing during a league match against Viitorul Constanta.

The player had been on the pitch for only seven minutes following his introduction as a second-half substitute when he fell to the floor, with his side 3-2 ahead, in the 70th minute. The match was being televised live in Romania. Local media reported that he suffered a heart attack. 

Ekeng was taken by ambulance to the nearby Floreasca Emergency Hospital, which was swiftly surrounded by Dinamo fans desperate for news of a player who joined the club in January and was making his seventh league appearance. He had scored his first goal for the club in last month’s Romanian Cup semi-final, against their city rivals, Steaua Bucharest. Ekeng had previously played in Europe for Le Mans, Lausanne and Córdoba, and had seven senior caps for Cameroon.

Digisport claimed that it took two minutes and 47 seconds for Ekeng to be taken to the ambulance, which they said contained no specialist equipment and was intended to be used purely for transportation.

The Gaurdian

 

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06.May.2016

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The U.S. administration is seeking to approve a sale of as many as 12 A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft to Nigeria to aid its battle against the extremist group Boko Haram, U.S. officials say, in a vote of confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari’s drive to reform the country’s corruption-tainted military.

Washington also is dedicating more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to the campaign against the Islamist militants in the region and plans to provide additional training to Nigerian infantry forces, the officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s plans.

The possible sale — which the officials said was favored within the U.S. administration but is subject to review by Congress — underscores the deepening U.S. involvement in helping governments in north and west Africa fight extremist groups. 

U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Michael Franken, a deputy commander of the Pentagon’s Africa Command, told a Washington forum last week that there now are 6,200 U.S. troops – most of them Special Operations Forces – operating from 26 locations on the continent.

The widening U.S. military cooperation is a political victory for Buhari, who took office last year pledging to crack down on the rampant corruption that has undermined the armed forces in Africa’s most populous country.

“The Buhari administration I think has really reenergized the bilateral relationship in a fundamental way,” one U.S. official said.

The previous Nigerian government of Goodluck Jonathan had scorned the United States for blocking arms sales partly because of human rights concerns. It also criticized Washington for failing to speed the sharing of intelligence.

The souring relations hit a low at the end of 2014 when U.S. military training of Nigerian forces was abruptly halted.

That is changing under Buhari, whose crackdown on corruption has led to a raft of charges against top national security officials in the previous government.

“Buhari made clear from the get-go that his number one priority was reforming the military to defeat Boko Haram … And he sees us as part of that solution,” a second U.S. official said.

Still, serious human rights abuses committed by security forces, which include police, increased in 2015, according to the U.S. State Department’s annual human rights report.

Many of the funds alleged to have been misused and siphoned off by corrupt Nigerian officials under Jonathan’s government were earmarked for the fight against Boko Haram, which has killed thousands in northeast Nigeria and neighboring countries in the last seven years. Last year, the group pledged loyalty to Islamic State.

“No wonder they weren’t doing well with respect to Boko Haram. (They) didn’t have the ammunition,” the first official said.

The accused officials include Nigeria’s former chief of defense staff, who last month pleaded not guilty to using money allocated for Nigeria’s air force to buy a mansion and a commercial plot of land and build a shopping mall.

ARMED AIRCRAFT

Congress has not yet been formally notified of the possible U.S. approval of the sale of Embraer’s A29 Super Tucano turboprop aircraft to Nigeria.

The Tucanos can be used for training, surveillance or attack. They can be armed with two wing-mounted machine guns and can carry up to 1,550 Kg (3,417 pounds) of weapons. (See Factbox:)

One production line for the Super Tucano is in Florida, where it is built with U.S. firm Sierra Nevada Corp. The aircraft that would be sold to Nigeria come with a “very basic armed configuration,” one of the U.S. officials said.

The sale could offer Nigeria a more maneuverable aircraft that can stay aloft for extended periods to target Boko Haram formations. Officials did not disclose the cost of the planes to be sold to Nigeria.

However, a contract for 20 similar aircraft sold to Afghanistan was valued at about $428 million at the time it was announced in 2013.

J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council think tank, said any sale of Super Tucano aircraft would demonstrate improving ties, but cautioned that their ability to counter Boko Haram could be limited.

“When you’re fighting a group that’s no longer holding towns and villages, that’s no longer massing forces in a conventional way, the aircraft – attack aircraft – have a much more limited role in that kind of fight,” Pham said.

African armies routed the militant group from much of its self-proclaimed caliphate in northeastern Nigeria last year.

Its fighters have since regrouped and intensified their attacks in the Lake Chad Basin, threatening regional security, despite the creation of a 9,000-strong African multinational force to counter it.

The U.S. military expects to train a second Nigerian infantry battalion once the current group completes its training later this year, the first official said.

The officials did not specify what type of additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets would be provided to bolster the regional fight against Boko Haram.

They acknowledge that they have a tough task combating the group, which is sending women and children strapped with explosives to blow up civilian targets such as marketplaces.

“Boko Haram has morphed back in to what it had earlier been, not a holder of large amounts of territory, but rather a generator of asymmetric attacks,” the second official said.

-Reuters

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06.May.2016

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Rescuers in the Kenyan capital have freed a woman who has survived while trapped under rubble since Friday. More than 30 people died in the building collapse, which highlights the doubtful practices of some developers.

Rescue workers in Nairobi pulled the woman from the rubble on Thursday after hours of working to free her with power tools, according to news agencies.

Earlier, a medical team had provided the woman with an intravenous drip of glucose, and rescuers had been able to speak with her through a gap in the debris. 

"The medical team has administered IV, glucose has been administered," said Pisu Masai, the head of the National Disaster Management Unit.

"She is talking and in good spirits ... we are taking our time to ensure she is removed safely," he added before the successful rescue.

A nearly six-month-old baby was rescued unharmed on Tuesday, raising hopes that more survivors could be found. Rescuers have so far rescued a total of 137 people, including the woman freed on Thursday.

Official put the death toll from the disaster variously at 35 or 36, and 70 people are still missing, according to the Kenya Red Cross.

DW

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05.May.2016

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Two men have been sentenced to five years in jail for beating up Mali’s former interim President Dioncounda Traore during the occupation of his palace in 2012 May by protesters demanding his resignation.

A third man was acquitted by the court for involvement in the attack, that was followed by a military coup. Traore was hospitalized for two months in France before coming back to Mali. 

Traore authorized foreign military intervention to oust the Separatists and Islamists who took control of the northern Mali during the military coup, before handing the power to President Ibrahim Boubcar Keita in 2013 September reports Reuters

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05.May.2016

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President Muhammadu Buhari last night commended the people and government of Republic of Cameroon for hosting over 56,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Nigeria since July 2014.These group of Nigerians were displaced while fleeing the Boko Haram insurgency that ravaged some Northeastern states.

Buhari made the commendation at a dinner and cultural night organized in honour of the visiting President of Cameroon, Paul Biya and his wife, Chantal, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
While expressing appreciation to the United Nations and other international donor agencies for their assistances to the IDPs across the country, the Nigerian leader also condoled with the families of those that lost their loved ones as a result of the murderous activities of the Boko Haram insurgents.He said: “Our special condolences go to families of our fallen heroes who had sacrificed their lives to safe guard our territorial integrity and provide security of lives and property of our people

“Permit me to use this occasion of your Excellency’s visit to Nigeria to once again extend my personal gratitude and that of the Federal Government for your country’s hosting of over 65,000 Nigerian refugees since July 2014.

“We also appreciate the assistance of the United Nations System, International donors, local and international non-governmental organisations and the ordinary Cameroonian families who share their meager provisions with the refugees in the spirit of African brotherhood. We thank them all”.

President Buhari said that a comprehensive rehabilitation and resettlement programme for the IDPs are being worked out by the Federal Government in collaboration with some international organizations, noting that data of the IDPs are being compiled for smooth implementation of the scheme.

He also expressed satisfaction with the successes being recorded in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency by the Nigerian military in collaboration with the Multinational Joint Task Force against Boko Haram.

Mr. Buhari specifically commended the Cameroonian security forces, who recently participated in a joint military onslaught against the terrorist sect along the border areas of the Lake Chad Basin.

According to him, the battle against the terrorist group would soon be over as efforts had been intensified by various security agencies across member countries of the multinational joint task force.

Nigeria and Cameroon, he said, would continue to maintain the path of dialogue and peace in addressing possible incident of social conflict or misunderstanding among the citizens of both countries.

He also assured that Nigeria would continue to partner with Cameroon in growing the economies as well as to ensure the safety of lives, land and maritime borders of the both countries.
In his remarks, President Biya, who spoke in French, reiterated the determination of his country to end the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Biya also hailed Buhari’s efforts in the fight against the activities of Boko Haram within and beyond Nigeria.

He further called for joint agricultural programmes between Nigeria and Cameroon along their border communities to address the challenges of youth unemployment in their respective countries.

The event was attended by dignitaries among them Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.

Others are Chief Justice of the Federation, Mahmud Muktar and top private sector and government functionaries.

CRTV

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Elangwe Pauline

05.May.2016

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