ACN Rivers Slaps Lai Mohammed, ACN National on Amaechi

Below is the text of the statement signed by Rivers ACN Secretary Amonibia Akoko:

“It has come to the notice of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Rivers state Chapter that Mr. Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary of the party, has been issuing statements on the unfortunate events unfolding in Rivers state. We the ACN in Rivers Chapter know the true picture of events that are unfolding in Rivers State.

“And we know that in this incidence the main culprit is Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, who during the last electioneering campaign and election, sealed up the Campaign Secretariat of Dr. Abiye Precious Sekibo, used the Nigerian security agencies to arrest and intimidate our members. When all this was going on, Mr. Lai Mohammed did not send us word of encouragement or support, as a party in Rivers state.

“Political parties have structures; starting from the Ward level to the National Headquarters. It is against the party’s constitution for the National Publicity Secretary to usurp the functions of the party at the State, Local and Ward levels.

We as members of the ACN in Rivers state, have never met and passed a resolution or informed the National Headquarters of the ACN that we want President Goodluck Jonathan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to be impeached. Mr. Lai Mohammed should respect the high office he holds as Publicity Secretary of our great party.

“Consequently, we the Executive and members of the Rivers State Chapter of the ACN totally disown the call for the impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. We unanimously condemn the hasty action and resolution passed by one arm of the National Assembly – the House of Representatives, to take over the business of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“We however commend the Nigerian Senate for the unbiased and balanced position it has taken to send a fact-finding mission to Rivers State, and find out the true position of things. We also call on the Inspector General of Police not to heed the one-sided call for the deployment of Mr. Joseph Mbu the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, as Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi had used the police to hunt down, harassed and intimidated members of the ACN party of Nigeria and other opposition parties in Rivers State.

“We ask that the status-quo in Rivers State should be maintained until the fact-finding mission dispatched by the Senate, arrives to ascertain the true picture of events. We urge Rivers State people to be law-abiding, as whatever we do shall affect our people and not the likes of Mr. Lai Mohammed, the uninformed members of the House of Representatives and their acolytes, whose inciting statements would only ignite more fire for us to burn.

"Iran wants weapons that can hit the United States" ~Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Sunday that Iran was moving closer to developing nuclear weapons capable of striking the US and urged the Obama administration to take a harder line.

In his address on “Face the Nation,” Netanyahu revealed that the new government in Tehran will not stop the process no matter how liberal it is thought to be. He said Iran’s nuclear programme would have intercontinental ballistic missiles that could carry a nuclear weapon to the United States within a few years.

“They don’t need these missiles to reach us,” Netanyahu said. “They already have missiles that can reach us.”

The series of sanctions imposed on Iran by the US are not enough to satisfy Netanyahu's quest; he prefers and wants an all-out war spearheaded by Washington. The Obama administration signaled optimism following the election of new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, who was the country's chief nuclear negotiator in 2003-2005 when Iran struck a deal with the European Union to suspend enrichment. To Netanyahu, little has changed under Rouhani.

“They’re getting closer and closer to the bomb, and they have to be told in no uncertain terms that that will not be allowed to happen,” he said. The United States, he said, has a crucial role to play in demanding that Iran cease enrichment efforts and dismantle its nuclear facility.

“You should ratchet up the sanctions and make it clear to Iran that they won’t get away with it. And if sanctions don’t work, then they have to know that you will be prepared to take military action,” Netanyahu said. “That’s the only thing that will get their attention.”

When he was asked the condition that could prompt Israel to attack Iran, Netanyahu said “I won’t wait until it’s too late.” Israel has been speculated to be the only nuclear nation in the Middle East and bearing that in mind, it really does not want a rival for the MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) theory to be plausible.

Thousands protest in Israel Saying Netanyahu and Morsi are Same

On Saturday, thousands of people marched on Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, marking the two-year anniversary of social protests against the high cost of living and economic policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minster Yair Lapid.

The organizers planned a vigil to last until Sunday morning, marking two years since the massive street demonstrations of 2011.

Protesters blocked traffic in downtown Tel Aviv as police declared the demonstration illegal and attempted to disperse the crowd. Protesters shouted, “Bibi [Netanyahu] and [deposed Egyptian President Mohammed] Morsi are the same revolution."

One person was arrested in the protest, which lasted until midnight. The city’s mayoral candidate, Nitzan Horowitz, told Haaretz that the demonstrations are “more just than ever…People are crying out for two years, and the problem only gets worse.”

He added that Lapid - who essentially built up his popularity by supporting the previous protests - has turned into a servant of the same system, enacting worse budget laws than his predecessors.

The leader of the 2011 protest has called on Lapid to step down, hoping this year’s demonstration will provide “an opening for a new season of protest," underlining that it is not about food or medicine, but that “a response to thieves must be revolution” – one that belongs to everyone, not just the middle classes.

Over 55,000 Congolese refugees flee to Uganda as clashes intensify

Uganda is gradually being extremely flooded by refugees from Democratic Republic of Congo with the incessant rise and intensification of communal clashes. About 3,000 were earliest recorded to have fled but the number represented a drop in the ocean with the latest reports. From 3,000, it soared to about 30,000.

The number of Congolese refugees to Uganda was recorded to have exceeded 55,000 late Saturday and increased by nearly 20,000 compared with the day before. Thousands of newcomers temporarily settle at schools in Bundibugyo, about 20km (12 miles) from the border with Congo.

Mass exodus began as the town of Kamango in the northernmost part of DR Congo's North Kivu province was attacked Thursday by a Ugandan-led rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces, which was formed in the mid-1990s. Congo is really battling with heavy insurgencies and high cases of militants attacks with that of and from the M23 rebels being the most prominent and the highest national headache.

FG confiscates 1500 double barrel guns illegally imported by Zamfara State Governor

By Malik Shabbazz

FG has ordered the confiscation of 1500 double barrel guns illegally imported by Zamfara State Governor. Sources revealed that the Federal Government ordered the seizure of the guns based on the alleged contravention of firearms laws of the land.

The governor is said to harbour feelings of betrayal against the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, also an indigene of the state due to a soft approval given the governor by the IG which is now being trampled upon.

Sources revealed that there was an armed robbery crisis in the state in 2012, during which the governor sought and clinched approval from the state police commissioner on the formulation of a vigilante group. It is said to have been agreed that the group would be armed at which time, the governor then decided to import double-barrel guns.

A source said: “The governor ordered for 1,500 double-barrelled guns through a dealer in Kano who got supplies from Ukraine.’

However the federal government has ordered the repatriation of the guns to Abuja because there was no executive approval to import the arms.

Sources disclosed that the importation was executed to bypass the approval of the presidency because of the belief that individuals can buy double-barrel guns and apply for licence from police.

The source said, “Due to the brouhaha and outrage the issue generated and in order to avoid a presidential hammer, the police had to follow the rules and now the IG had ordered that the guns be taken to the Force Headquarters. They were being taken to Abuja right now.”

Latin American Countries to Recall Ambassadors from Selected European Countries

Leaders in Latin American took a very drastic decision in the wake of the mistreatment of one of their own by the symphatisers of the United States over the Snowden saga. The leaders are to summon the European ambassadors for countries who blocked their airspace to Bolivian President Evo Morales and demand an explanation. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela, on Friday decided to call their representatives in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal for consultations.

Bolivia demanded apologies from the four European nations for the July 2 dramatic airspace blockade and detour to Vienna, when Morales' plane was blocked from entering the airspace above several countries. The president was flying home from a meeting of natural gas producers in Moscow.

European governments are believed to have acted on suspicions that fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, who had been in diplomatic impasse in the Moscow airport, was on board the plane. The decision to take this stance was made during a summit of the Mercosur trade bloc. Bolivia is in the process of becoming a full member of Mercosur but is currently an associate.

"We emphatically reject the interception of telecommunications and espionage actions in our nations, as they constitute a violation of human rights, of the right of our citizens to privacy and information,'' Mercosur leaders said in the summit's final statement. "It's unacceptable behaviour that breaches our sovereignty and harms relations between nations."

The South American group also defended the right of asylum after Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua recently offered it to Snowden. Washington has put pressure on regional presidents to block Snowden from finding refuge in Latin America. "We repudiate any activity that could undermine the authority of States to grant and fully implement the right of asylum," the statement said.

"We reject any attempt in pressuring, harassment or criminalisation of a State over a country's sovereign right to grant asylum." Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro said the four Mercosur trace bloc nations will recall their own ambassadors in the European countries involved for consultations over the incident. The actions of the four European countries were "unfounded, discriminatory and arbitrary, in a flagrant violation of the precepts of international law," Almagro said.

He said the summit found that Morales was subjected to "neo-colonial practices." "It is an incredible, unfriendly and hostile action that violates human rights and affects the freedom of transit and movement and the immunity that every head of state enjoys," Mercosur leaders concluded, according to Almagro.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said that the European actions were offensive to each of the leaders at the summit as Latin American presidents, and vowed "concrete and effective actions, be it with regard to the governments or the ambassadors of those countries." According to US National Security Agency (NSA) documents leaked by Snowden that the United States spied on many countries around the world including Mercosur members Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela.

Snowden was granted audience by Human Rights Watch in Moscow. He hinted that he would prefer to be in Russia where he is safe because of the hurdles of and dangers in flying to Latin America. He earlier wrote to 21 countries for asylum and has received no positive response. Wikileaks later revealed he wrote to additional six.

Reports from Moscow reveal Russia is yet to formally receive his asylum request. The Russian  President has expressed willingness in granting him asylum only to the extent that he stops the damaging act of revealing US secrets.

The White House, after Snowden's meeting with HRW, said Russia should not provide him with 'Propaganda Platform'. UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay in her first reaction on the Snowden imbroglio said the fiugitive NSA leaker is worth protecting and the world rejects US espionage act.

Egyptian prosecutors launch criminal investigation against Morsi

Egypt’s public prosecutor’s office has started investigating allegations and complaints against ousted president Mohammed Morsi accused of spying, inciting the killings of protesters, and damaging the economy. The country’s first freely elected leader has been held at an undisclosed location since the military, yielding to popular uprising and in a bid to 'save' the country, removed him from power on July 3. No charges have been pressed against him.

In the Egyptian legal system, complaints are to be investigated for days or months before formal charges are brought. Such complaints can be triggered by any member of the public or police. The announcement is an unusual step, as prosecutors typically wait until charges are filed before making any public statements. Eight other Muslim Brotherhood leaders are being investigated alongside Morsi not excluding the Supreme Guide; Mohamed Badie.

The accused are expected to be questioned in the coming days, according to the public prosecutor’s office. Details of those who made complaints were not revealed. It was announced earlier this week that Badie and several other Brotherhood officials already face charges of inciting violence, though most of them have avoided arrest.

Pressure to release Morsi from the international scene is increasing, with the US joining Germany’s call to “end to all restrictive measures” against the ousted president. The Muslim Brotherhood believes the military’s actions amounted to an undemocratic coup while the army claims that it carried out the will of millions of the people when it ousted Morsi . Morsi’s supporters say they will not stop calling for protests until the former leader is restored to power.

On Friday, tens of thousands of people turned out for what the Muslim Brotherhood called a "day of marching on,” which ended peacefully before dawn on Saturday. High-ranked Brotherhood figure Essam El-Erian, who is among those facing arrest, has called for more protests on Monday. "Egypt decides through the ballot box, through protests, mass marches and peaceful sit-ins," he wrote on his Facebook page.

The interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi is expected to swear in a new cabinet next week to enforce a military-backed “road map” to restoring civilian rule in Egypt. “The final composition of the new government will, possibly, be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday,” el-Beblawi said, as quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency. The interim PM said that he will have two advisers, with the future government consisting of 30 ministries.

Leopard and Its Spots: Harassment and Intimidation all Over Again in Zimbabwe

Amnesty International revealed Zimbabwean police raided the offices of civil society organisations and detained human rights workers in the run-up to elections scheduled to be held on July 31.

“The clampdown on the work of human rights defenders is a worrying indicator that government agencies remain actively hostile to civil society,” Noel Kututwa, Amnesty’s deputy programme director for Africa, said in an e-mailed statement. Even, the Carter Centre, created by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, said it was refused permission to monitor Zimbabwe's elections.

Amnesty in its report titled “Walk the Talk.” said 'civil society organisations carrying out election-related activities including voters' education, domestic election observation and those perceived to be critical of government policies have had their offices raided by police and equipment, including computers, seized whilst human rights defenders have been unlawfully detained.'

Rugare Gumbo, spokesman for Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, did not answer calls to his mobile phone before the report was released according to amnesty. Zimbabweans will vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on July 31, to end a power-sharing government led by President Robert Mugabe and his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The coalition was formed four years ago following a disputed election that was marred by voter irregularities and violence, according to international observers.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, failed in a bid to postpone the election. The Southern African Development Community, which brokered the power-sharing agreement four years ago also pushed for the ballot to be delayed to allow more time for voters to be registered and ensure certain reforms are carried out for free and fair elections but all efforts proved abortive.

Amnesty said it is 'concerned that partisanship by some members of the country’s security services, who have openly expressed their preferred outcome in the next election, is directly undermining Zimbabwe’s ability to realise its obligation to respect and protect internationally guaranteed civil and political rights.' Robert Mugabe, 89 has dubbed the election to be a 'do or die affair' showing the level of desperation which of course must definitely come with harassment.

Israel runs the World: Twitter hands over confidential data of anti-Semitic users to French authorities

A legal battle started last year between Twitter and Jewish students in France when the French Union of Jewish Students sued Twitter for allowing hate speech. In a bid to end the legal fracas and dance to the tune of the students, twitter decided to hand over confidential account information to French authorities in order to track the anti-semitic users.

Twitter said in a statement that the disclosure of information “enables the identification of some authors" and  "puts an end to the dispute" with the French Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), AFP reported. The social network added that the two parties had "agreed to continue to work actively together in order to fight racism and anti-Semitism.”

In June, the court upheld a January  ruling that said the social media site must provide personal information on some users to the UEJF and four other organizations that filed a complaint against the company in November last year. On Thursday, Twitter lost its legal fight after the Paris Court of Appeal dismissed its objections against the original ruling.

The complaint came after a deluge of anti-Semitic messages tweeted under the hashtag  #unbonjuif (#agoodjew), with some users posting offensive tweets such as “#agoodjew is a dead Jew.” Some of the tweets were later removed by the social network.

Hate crimes are strictly punished in France. However, Twitter originally argued that it does not adhere to French law, and that only an American judge could force the company to release such information, Twitter’s lawyer, Alexandra Neri, said. While Twitter says it defends freedom of speech from anonymous users, French prosecutors say the social media site has “commercial interest.”

“Twitter is playing a commercial game by raising a number of legal hurdles to not having to comply with its legal obligations,” Stephane Lilti, counsel for the UJEF students, told the court.

Twitter also shut down the account of neo-Nazi group “Better Hannover,” following a request by German police last year, which was banned by the state for spreading nationalist socialist ideology and damaging to Israel who suffered greatly during Adolf Hitler's reign. It was the first time Twitter withheld content by request of a specific country.

Al Shabaab Attacks African Union Peacekeepers in Somalia

Suicide bombers struck again in Mogadishu, ramming a vehicle packed with explosives into an African Union peacekeeping convoy killing eight civilians but no soldier died. 

The blast was claimed by Islamist al Shabaab rebels. Al Shabaad had carried out a deadly assault on United Nations base last month and another bombing in a Mogadishu market this week.

Al Shabaab was pushed out of bases in Mogadishu by Somali and African forces about two years ago, raising hopes of a return to relative security in a city hit by years of war since 1991. The militants on the contrary have kept up guerrilla-style attacks and continue to control large rural areas, challenging the authority of a government less than one year old. This latest 'show of strength' is to prove the fragility in the security gains and for Somalia to know that the last of the group has never been heard.

"I have confirmed the bomber and seven civilians died on the spot, and in the hospital, another civilian died of the blast wounds," Mohamed Osman, a senior police official, told Reuters. 

"Most of the casualties were caused by shrapnel and splinters of blown-off iron sheet pieces." Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters the convoy was carrying a number of American officials, but the claim could not be confirmed independently.

"We are behind the martyrdom explosion ... The Americans were our main target," he said. The blast flattened makeshift shops on Maka Al Mukarama road in central Mogadishu and ripped the wheels off one vehicle belonging to the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia.

No peacekeepers died but a number of people were wounded, said an official from the Mogadishu mayor's office, although al Shabaab said at least eight AU troops had been killed. "We shall not bury the remains of the bomber. 

We shall throw them into the rubbish pit," the mayor's secretary, Abdikafi Hilowle, told reporters at the scene."If al Shabaab are Muslims, they would not kill Muslims during Ramadan," he said, referring to the holy Islamic month which began this week.

Ambulance sirens wailed through the congested streets and a plume of black smoke billowed into the sky above the city near the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) base where 22 people were killed in an al Shabaab assault last month. "We have carried eight injured civilians including two women," the director of Mogadishu's ambulance service, Abdikadir Abdirahman, said.

The fragile government is being backed by international aid aimed at preventing it from becoming a haven for al Qaeda-style militants in east Africa.

The Model Continues: Tunisia frees former regime members from jail

The Arab Spring has known today began in Tunisia after the hero of the Spring, Mohammed Bouazizi's self-immolation. He was a cigarette seller who out of frustration of unemployment, despite being a graduate took to selling cigarette to keep body and soul together.

The Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire on 17 December 2010, in protest of the confiscation of his wares and the harassment and humiliation that he reported was inflicted on him by a municipal official and her aides.

The public's anger and violence intensified following Bouazizi's death, leading then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step down on 14 January 2011, after 23 years in power. The success of the Tunisian protests inspired protests in several other Arab countries, plus several non-Arab countries.

Soon, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt fell. Yemeni President, Abdullah Saleh fell too and Maummar Gaddafi was killed. Syria is still battling its own and Bahrain is yet to have a bearing.

Egypt among others that followed Tunisia is still inconclusive. Egyptian President, Mohammed Morsi was recently ousted through popular uprising concluded by the military to save the country. Since then, the situation has deteriorated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the party backing President Morsi defiant on any negotiation and vow to continue mass protests.

Though the former Prime Minister of Tunisia, Hamadi Jebali resigned too but it has largely avoided the resultant effects noticeable elsewhere in Egypt, Yemen, Libya and in Syria, probably because it was the origin of the spring and a model others must watch out for.

The authorities on Thursday released from jail,  two former figures from the toppled regime who were arrested following the 2011 uprising for abuse of power, according to the justice ministry. Mohammed Ghariani, ex secretary-general of the Rally for Constitutional Democracy party and former interior minister of now ousted dictator Zine El Adidine Addallah Kallel were freed by a Tunisian Appeals Court.

In 2012 a military court sentenced Kallel to two years in jail for the arrest and torture of army officers who were accused in 1991 of trying to topple Ben Ali, while Ghariani was arrested in April 2011 for abuse of power and embezzlement.

Tunisia is quietly charting its future, at least in a peaceful fashion though fighting al Qaeda-linked militants in the mountainous region. It is recording successes which if compared to others who took the spring can be regarded as giant strides towards a dynamic future if all things remain the same and go on with the present panache.

Snowden: United States and Israel created the Stuxnet Virus that attacked Iran

The Stuxnet virus that decimated Iranian nuclear facilities was created by the NSA and co-written by Israel, Edward Snowden has confirmed. The whistleblower added the NSA has a web of foreign partners who pay “marginal attention to human rights.”

In an interview with Jacob Applebaum published in German daily Der Spiegel on Monday, Snowden stated that the US and Israel were behind the computer worm. Stuxnet infiltrated Iranian nuclear facility networks in 2009-2010 and was used to change the speed of thousands of gas-spinning centrifuges, sabotaging nuclear research.  

Washington and Tel Aviv were thought to have been behind the cyber-attack, however, this was never confirmed by either government. “The NSA and Israel wrote Stuxnet together,” Snowden told Applebaum in the interview that was carried out in May.

Snowden stressed that the National Security Agency (NSA) often cooperates with foreign partners through a special body known as the Foreign Affairs Directorate (FAD). Referring to Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, also known as the ‘Five Eye Partners,’ he said their practices often go further than those of the NSA.

In particular he flagged the system used by the UK’s General Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), TEMPORA as one of the worst offenders. “TEMPORA is the signals intelligence community's first ‘full-take’ internet buffer that doesn't care about content type and pays only marginal attention to the Human Rights Act,” said Snowden.

The UK buffer is able to hold a vast quantity of internet data for up to three days, said the whistleblower. “You should never send information over British lines or British servers. Even the Queen’s ‘selfies’ with her lifeguards would be recorded, if they existed.”

While Snowden conceded that monitoring abroad had its limits and the NSA has to prioritize the information it collects, he stressed that monitoring on its own territory was “practically limitless.” Private enterprise is also involved in the NSA’s mass collating of internet data, but proving their complicity is very difficult.

“The names of the cooperating telecom companies are the crown jewels of the NSA... Generally you can say that multinationals with headquarters in the USA should not be trusted until they prove otherwise,” Snowden pointed out.

When asked about how one could avoid falling into the traps of NSA surveillance, Snowden said anyone who had been targeted “was just owned.” The analyst charged with following an individual receives a report every day, meaning the “target's machine doesn't belong to them anymore, it belongs to the US government.”

Snowden’s interviewer, 30-year-old Jacob Applebaum, has also fallen foul of US law enforcement in the past. Applebaum co-wrote a book with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange detailing tips on how to evade cyber-surveillance while surfing the web.

The book called ‘Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet’, was also co-written by Jeremie Zimmermann and Andy Muller-Maguhn. Assange invited his co-authors on to the Julian Assange show, which aired on RT last year in March, to discuss cyber resistance.

“Two of them, besides myself, have been targeted by law enforcement agencies as a result of their work to safeguard privacy and to keep governments accountable. Their words, and their stories, need to be heard,” Assange told the New York Times.

The members of the Cypherpunks movement shared their stories with Julian Assange whilst sitting down to discuss the problems of privacy, online communication and freedom on the internet.

US citizen Edward Snowden is believed to be eluding an extradition order to the US on charges of espionage in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Snowden has sent a number of applications for political asylum. Thus far Venezuela and Nicaragua have confirmed receipt of the applications, but are yet to grant asylum. However, Snowden is still unable to travel as his passport has been voided by the US authorities.

Russia Today

Drones and Gunships May Land in South Sudan Soon

As the Security Council sets to renew the mandate of the UN mission in South Sudan later this month, the UN special envoy to South Sudan stated that the United Nations should consider deploying surveillance drones and helicopter gunships to South Sudan because peacekeepers are struggling to protect civilians from violence and rights abuses.

Hilde Johnson while speaking to the UN Security Council said after a UN civilian helicopter was shot down in December, new developments in safety procedures and a lack of military helicopters had slowed the mission's ability to respond. The peacekeepers' arsenal is equipped with just three helicopters in such a precarious terrain.

According to Johnson, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had outlined several options to boost the South Sudan mission in a report to the 15-member Security Council, including surveillance drones, helicopter gunships and more cargo and riverine transport capabilities.

According to Reuters, Johnson said: "I urge the council to take urgent action to support the mission in filling these critical resource and capability gaps," Johnson told the Security Council in a video link briefing. South Sudan will mark two years of its freedom from Sudan on July 9 and Johnson said that while most parts of the country remained stable, fighting between South Sudanese troops and armed groups in the eastern state of Jonglei was of "deep concern."

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes because of the violence and Johnson said there had been rights violations by both armed groups and national security authorities. On April 9, gunmen ambushed and killed five UN peacekeepers and seven civilian staff in Jonglei. The UN mission has fewer than 6,900 troops to cover a country the size of France that has barely 300 km (200 miles) of paved roads.

Seasonal rains have turned the region into a swamp, severing road access. Johnson said "critical resource and capability gaps" had caused a mobility crisis for the peacekeepers that particularly affected operations in high-risk areas such as Jonglei. "This is having a particularly detrimental effect on the mission's ability to implement its protection of civilians' mandate," she said. "Effective protection is only possible through being present in those communities most at risk."

South Sudan still suffers largely from lack of infrastructure as well as high level of corruption and consistent oil face-off with Sudan. Senior council envoy said that peacekeepers should focus more on protecting civilians "rather than on spreading out across the country and doing infrastructure projects and nation building."

Turkey Pushing for the Reinstatement of Mohammed Morsi Desperately

Turkey is extremely dissatisfied with the actions of its Western allies; the European Union and the United States over the ousting of Morsi. The nation is making frantic efforts at making sure Morsi gets the seat back amidst rising cases of violence and deaths in Egypt.

Led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Ankara’s diplomatic campaign includes the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and prominent Arab countries, such as Qatar.

“Our message is clear: Call this a coup,” a senior Foreign Ministry official told the Hürriyet Daily News. “Military coups are unacceptable, in Egypt or elsewhere. Undoing the coup and re-instating the toppled government should be the priorities of countries with a democratic understanding.”

For Turkey, establishing an interim government is meaningless and what should be done is to announce immediate elections with no restrictions on any political group, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

A senior Foreign Ministry official said “Not underlining these points would be a very bad message to not only Egyptians but to those who are in search of democracy in other parts of the world”.

Turkey was a lone voice in completely condemning the action of the Egyptian military among countries who many naturally expected to condemn it. The deepest and strongest disappointment  for Turkey came from its prominent Arab allies, namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which were the front-runners in congratulating the new transitional leadership and the army that conducted the coup.

“There is a serious disappointment with regard to their approach. We have made clear to them that this process in Egypt will be an important test for the Arab Spring. We hope they will revise their position and will adopt a similar line with ours,” the Foreign Ministry official said.

Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been in close cooperation in efforts to topple the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria since mid-2011, in the latest chain of the Arab Spring movement. Egypt joined in their efforts to oust Assad fully weeks before Morsi was ousted; broke diplomatic relations with Assad and called  for the imposition of a no-fly zone. The development in Egypt will definitely affect their actions on Syria but the consequential result remains unclear.

Turkey is really finding solace in the United Nations as UN Secretary-General seemed the only prominent international figure who condemned the Egyptian army's action loudly. Ban had echoed prominent international powers in defining the ousting of Morsi as “a military intervention” and in not making a strongly worded statement against the army.

The meeting point of the camps with interest in Egypt; Turkey, the US and other prominent countries is that they agree on the need to hand power back to civilian rule immediately, questions on how it will take place is also crucial for the Turkish government.

“We know perfectly that the position we are taking is carefully watched in Egypt and elsewhere. This position is also very important in terms of Turkey’s image in Egypt as well as of Turkey-Egypt bilateral ties,” the official said.

Given that Turkey had established strong cooperation with the Morsi government, there are questions as to whether Ankara will continue its ties with Cairo under any new government established by the military junta. Officials, however, say their biggest priority is avoiding any bloodbath in the country.

“In the heat of the moment, our priority is to take steps with regard to these undemocratically unfolding developments. The coup is at a crossroads. Both parties have millions of people on the streets. And it’s been only three days since the coup,” the official said.

Turkey will still keep its ambassador in Egypt acceding to the wise saying that 'cutting the head off is not the panacea to a notorious headache'. Ambassador Hüseyin Avni Botsali will remain in his post for some time although his mandate ended and June 30, with Ahmet Yildiz set to replace him. “We notified him just before the coup that his mandate was being extended. He is a very experienced diplomat and has close ties with all political camps,” the official said.

Peace Coming Home: Malian Army Enters Kidal

Just as the United Nations peacekeeping force took over security affairs with the 6000-strong Ecowas force in Mali, it wasn't long enough before the malian military entered the northern city of Kidal on Friday afternoon, returning for the first time since they were chased out 16 months ago by a Tuareg separatist group, and later by an army of al-Qaeda-linked fighters.

"It was around 17:00 that the soldiers entered Kidal and penetrated Camp 1 inside the city. The Malian military was accompanied by the French military, just as they were when our soldiers entered Timbuktu and Gao," said Lt Col Souleymane Maiga, the director of information and public relations for the Malian military.

Kidal, like the rest of northern Mali, fell to a mixture of rebel groups in March of 2012 following a coup that toppled the democratic leader. It remained in rebel hands during the past six months, even after French forces launched a military intervention to free northern Mali from the fighters, succeeding in liberating all of the other major towns. Tuareg rebels re-entered Kidal in February and March of this year, erecting roadblocks, levying taxes and creating a de facto Tuareg state.

The Tuareg groups controlling Kidal signed an agreement last month, seen as the road-map for election to be held and paved the way for the return of Mali's military. The entry of the military removes one of the major obstacles to an upcoming presidential election, scheduled to take place in just three weeks; presumably by July 28.

"The Malian army arrived in Kidal," said Deputy Mayor Abda Ag Kazina. "There were two demonstrations - one was to support the army. The other was to prevent the army from returning. There were shots fired in the air and the protesters dispersed," he said.

Mali's north and south could easily be two different countries - inhabited by radically different ethnic groups. Kidal is home predominantly to Tuareg and Arab ethnic groups, both lighter skinned than the sub-Saharan ethnic groups common in the south, where the capital and the seat of power is located. The Tuaregs had recently threatened to sack all the blacks which brought possible fear of a Sudan-South-Sudan-Darfur triad.

United States missile interceptor test ends in failure

Though the United States and Russia are showing interests in reducing the stock of destructive nuclear batteries, the decisions are not effective. The tones are still more like that of the predecessors; SALT1 and SALT2 as well as the STARTs.

The two 'pledges' but the consequent actions are always anti-pledges. Russia recently successfully tested a prototype ICBM with mammoth destructive capabilities which was antithetical to its reduction facade.

United States of course did not go to bed despite Obama's interest in engaging Russia. It is also advancing to prove that arms race has no end in sight. The latest test of a US missile interceptor system from a Southern California coastal base failed to destroy its target, the third such consecutive result for Boeing Co., according to the Defence Department.

In the test, target designed to emulate an incoming long-range ballistic missile was launched from the US Army's Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll, in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, though it failed to intercept its target. The US military has tested the ground-based defence system a total of 16 times, with eight confirmed instances of a successful interception, the last of which was reported in December of 2008.

The Pentagon has said that the latest test will not affect a decision to expand the missile defence system, which is in part aimed at North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme. Defence secretary Chuck Hagel announced in March an additional 14 new anti-missile interceptor batteries at a cost of nearly $1 billion.

The North Korea and Iran debacle have been Washington's excuses to bolster its arsenal while Russia usually cites US expansion into its 'sphere of influence'; Georgia, Poland and Ukraine as reason to be security-conscious and not go to bed too on missiles' build-up.

Drones Kill Ten Times more than Conventional Aircraft ~ Expert

An expert on drone casualties has told reporters that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles by American forces has caused 10 times the number of deaths brought on by more conventional aircraft.

Speaking to The Guardian’s Spencer Ackerman, Larry Lewis of the Center for Naval Analyses claimed United States-led drone strikes in Afghanistan are not only more likely to cause civilian casualties than traditionally piloted planes, but the impact of UAVs is 10-fold what would be found by using more antiquated air ships.

Lewis has conducted multiple studies on the use of drones in Afghanistan and made his recent determination after reviewing data pertaining to air strikes that occurred there between mid-2010 and mid-2011, Ackerman reported.

“Lewis told the Guardian he found that the missile strikes conducted by remotely piloted aircraft, commonly known as drones, were 10 times more deadly to Afghan civilians than those performed by fighter jets,” Ackerman wrote.

Lewis said that statistic comes from viewing classified information about the number of civilian casualties, data which he is legally prohibited from sharing. But while his findings in full or only accessible to those with proper standing, an unclassified executive summary of his report offers a mere glimpse into how deadly America’s drone wars really are.

“The US government has described drone airstrikes in operations outside declared theatres of armed conflict as surgical and causing minimal civilian casualties,” the summary begins. “Analysis of air operations in Afghanistan, combined with a review of open-source reports for drone strikes in Pakistan, suggest that these fell short of intended goals.”

Elsewhere, the report acknowledges that the classified nature of these statistics could be preventing Americans from lessening the number of civilian drone deaths in the future.

“While consequence management approaches used in Afghanistan may not translate directly into cases where the US does not want to officially acknowledge its actions, the use of proxies or leveraging relationships with cooperative host-nation governments could provide options during these operations.

Conducting more comprehensive assessments of civilian harm during airstrikes in operations outside declared theatres of armed conflict, followed by effective consequence management efforts, should help to protect the reputation of the US, combat false allegations and mitigate negative second-order effects that can undermine US campaign objectives and freedom of action,” it reads.

Ackerman does not stop short of recalling a speech by President Barack Obama earlier this year at Washington’s National Defense Institute in which he insisted that "conventional airpower or missiles are far less precise than drones, and likely to cause more civilian casualties and local outrage.” On the contrary, however, the unclassified summary notes that drone strike are “an order of magnitude more likely to result in civilian casualties per engagement” than traditional aircraft.

In an earlier address last year, President Obama said drones had "not caused a huge number of civilian casualties” and insisted "this thing is kept on a very tight leash.”

An August 2011 report from the UK’s Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that US-led drone strikes in Pakistan have caused upwards of 775 civilian deaths, with total casualties being at least 40 percent higher than what the US government previously reported. This past February, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said the number of total kills attributed to US drones is close to 5,000.

“We’ve killed 4,700,” the senator said at an event in his home state. “Sometimes you hit innocent people, and I hate that, but we’re at war, and we've taken out some very senior members of al-Qaeda.”

Courtesy: Russia Today

Vigilantes Fight Boko Haram Back in Borno; Assist Soldiers in Their Mission

Vigilantes in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri are setting up roadblocks and conducting house-to-house searches to aid the army’s fight against Islamist militants. These groups of young men are armed with only clubs and matchetes. While the military welcomes the public’s support in the battle against the Boko Haram Islamist group, human rights activists say vigilantes’ activities may worsen violence and lead to abuses against innocent civilians.

So far the vigilantes have seized more than 100 suspected insurgents in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital that has borne the brunt of Boko Haram’s violent campaign to impose Shariah law on Nigeria, according to Abubakar Malum, a leader in a group that calls itself the Civilian Joint Task Force.

“The activities of the vigilantes is a step in the right direction,” Mohammed Modu, a fish seller in the city of about 1 million, said on June 25. “They seem to be more effective in capturing Boko Haram members than the soldiers.”

Human rights activists say that since the vigilante groups have no legal standing, abuses may occur.
“Where vigilantes exist, they aren’t part of the legally established law enforcement order,” Clement Nwankwo, executive director of Abuja-based Policy and Legal Advocacy Center, said in a June 21 interview. “So the possibility of abuse, of people being targeted and victimized, is real.”

Vigilantes burned down the house of Alhaji Mala Othman, the Borno state chairman of the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party, Inuwa Bwala, the state commissioner of home affairs and information said. The arsonists, who accused Othman of supporting Boko Haram, torched his house after failing to catch him for the second time as security forces let him out through the back door, Bwala said.

“The incident is quite unfortunate; nobody has the right to take the law into their hands to the extent of burning down people’s houses,” Bwala said from the town of Gombe, the capital of neighboring Gombe state. Borno state governor Kassim Shettima is a member of the ANPP.

Though the military’s air and ground assaults since May forced many militants to flee, large numbers have since regrouped, killing 24 people last month in three attacks on schools in Maiduguri and Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) southwest of Maiduguri. This is the reason while the vigilantes are particularly useful because they understand the terrain well. The military’s offensive has also hit civilians.

“As much as the youth are doing great work in fishing out the terrorists,” Majidadi said in an interview in Maiduguri, the security forces “must act fast before other youth abuse the good work currently going on.”

The combined military-police Joint Task Force in the area said in a June 30 statement that it was “monitoring, guiding and regulating the activities of the vigilant youths with a view to making them operate within the ambit of the law.”

Boko Haram has acknowledged that some residents are turning against them and has vowed to retaliate.

“We have established that youths in Borno and Yobe states are now against our cause,” a Boko Haram spokesman, who gave his name as Abu Zinnira, said in a statement e-mailed to reporters on June 18. “They have connived with security operatives and are actively supporting the government of Nigeria in its war against us. We have also resolved to fight back.”

Kidnapping of Corps Members: Rivers to Withdraw From Funding Police, Governor Attacks Jonathan

Governor Chibuike Amaechi expressed dissatisfaction over the recent kidnapping of 3 corps members in the state when the state coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps visited him to register his displeasure. The governor stated that the state is already planning to withdraw from funding the police till relevant actions are taken  to secure lives and properties.

The governor noted that the Commissioner of Police is no commissioner but a politician because he attends political party meetings actively. He said the CP lacks any concrete sense of duty and does not know the real mission of him being in the state. 

He told the state coordinator of NYSC to inform the IG who has authority over the police on how to protect corps members, especially in their lodges. He mentioned that he has no authority over him (the CP) because the police have been politicised although the constitution permits him. For security of lives and properties to be ensured in Rivers state, the CP has to be removed Amaechi revealed.

The brawl between the President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan and Rivers state governor, Chibuike Amaechi got a bit complicated with the swipe the governor took at the president. The governor said 'how can we say we have a brother from Bayelsa as the President and Rivers is insecure?' The governor said is it till when Rivers turns to Borno where corps members can no longer be posted before anything tangible will be done?

He said there was a case of  kidnapping of corp members among the last batch that left the state and now, another has just occurred. Some commentators said Amaechi is not comfortable with the present commissioner of police because he is unable to use him to attack opponents like the previous commissioner.

The rift between  the president and the governor became pronounced when Governor Amaechi who was deemed to have won the Nigeria Governors' Forum election was shortchanged. The election became characterised by allegations of corruption in a 35-elders cum first citizens of states' election. The Jonah Jang faction is backed by the presidency. Jonah Jang himself was a late entrant into the election.

Obama and Bush to meet in Tanzania on Tuesday

Barack Obama wraps up his week long African tour in Tanzania after visiting Senegal where he promised Africa the United States' supports on democracy and food security. South Africa was his next stop where he showered accolade on Nelson Mandela.

He also met with his family members. In South Africa, Obama pledges US support to boost power and energy in Africa. He met African students where he also spoke on commitments to education.

Trade and Investments are likely to feature prominently centrally in Tanzania. President Obama is to be joined by America's former President, George W. Bush who is to attend a conference on African women.

The two Presidents are to visit the American embassy where terrorists bombed in 1998. They are to pay homage and respect to the fallen heroes. Laura Bush and Michelle Obama will also be attending a summit on women empowerment and gender matters.

Obama's foreign policy are also in consonance with that of George Bush according to some experts. The two presidents are 'aggressive' in terms of war. Bush believed in dropping American boots on the ground while Obama is a specialist in drone wars.

Jailbreak in Nigeria; 175 Prisoners Freed

Gunmen have reportedly shot dead two civilians and then used explosives to free 175 inmates from a prison in Nigeria's southern town of Akure overnight, a prison official said on Sunday.

This is relatively uncommon in the Southwest of the country where the incident occurred though jailbreaks have been common in the country. The Islamic sect, Boko Haram has been behind most of the jailbreaks with some coming from the South and East like in Delta.

"The unknown gunmen numbering over 20 came at about midnight into the Olokuta prison through the main gate after using dynamite," Prison Comptroller Tunde Olayiwola told Reuters.

"The gunmen shot and killed two people while trying to get in ... Some of the escaped prisoners have been re-arrested," Olayiwola said, adding that some prison staff were injured in a gun battle and were receiving treatment.

Violence by Islamist groups is mostly confined to Nigeria's majority Muslim north but there have been attacks as far south as Kogi state, which borders Ondo. Kidnapping and robbery are the most common and prominent phenomena in the states bordering Ondo as west generally in the South.

2 al Shabab Commanders killed; 1 Arrested, 50 More Feared Dead

Two top commanders of Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group have been killed by their own fighters, following power struggle inside the extremist organization. One of the dead, Ibrahim Haji Jama Mead, also known as Al-Afghani, tops Washington’s wanted list of terrorists. Last June, the State Department placed a US$5 million bounty for information leading to his location.

The other, Abul Hamid Hashi Olhayi was also a top commander of the extremist group and one of the founders of the terrorist group. "We have informed their widows of their deaths, as they must now wear the clothes of mourning," Shabab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP.

Al-Afghani’s sister confirmed the death but called it an execution while Shabab claimed that both men died in a battle. "We deny reports that the men were killed after capture," Musab said. "The two men were killed in a shoot out after resisting arrest on court orders."

Al-Afghani - “The Afghan” - dubbed so for his activities in Afghanistan, held prominent positions in the Islamic extremist movement in Somalia occupying positions as first deputy leader of al-Shabab in charge of finance  and also as the head of al-Shabab's Kisimayo administration.

The man was believed to be representing Shabab’s hard-line faction that focuses on global jihad.  In the last few years, the insurgent movement has split into rival factions, based along clan lines and ideological differences.  It is believed that Al-Afghani challenged the command of top chief Ahmed Abdi Godane, also wanted by the US.

In a related development, another top cleric of Somalia's most prominent Islamist rebel commanders was arrested and is in the hands of a regional administration, local and government officials said on Wednesday, dealing a blow to al Shabaab insurgents. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys was detained in a coastal area of central Somalia and had been taken to a safe-house in the town of Adado, a spokesman for the Somali Federal Government revealed.

Aweys was "linked to terrorism" by the United States shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington and is on a UN Security Council terrorism sanctions list. The arrest of a man who has been a major player in many stages of Somalia's long insurgency would be a boost for a government and its African allies struggling to contain months of guerrilla-style attacks.

Diplomats suggested Aweys had fled a bout of in-fighting that indicated rifts in the group. Analysts said Mogadishu might be open to negotiate with Aweys, who they say backed a faction in al Shabaab opposed to using foreign fighters. Clan elders and the Adado administration, which is generally seen as friendly to Mogadishu, said negotiations were under way with the central government over what to do with Aweys.

"We are discussing how to solve the issue," said central government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman. "Our policy has always been that for those within al Shabaab who are Somalis and want to renounce violence, we are willing to lend a hand."

Adado resident Hassan Nur said the town was tense as militiamen and security forces loyal to the provincial Himan and Heeb administration sped around in pick-up trucks mounted with machineguns. "Aweys and his men are now in Himan and Heeb palace in Adado town," Abdi Kadawe, Adado's police chief, told Reuters by phone.

Rashid Abdi, an independent Horn of Africa analyst, said Aweys' arrest would be a psychological blow but was unlikely to shift the power balance in al Shabaab, which has been weakened by an offensive led by African peacekeepers.

Aweys' influence had been "seriously diminished in recent years," Abdi told Reuters. Aweys, a firebrand cleric believed to be in his late 70s, had been seen by many Somalis as the spiritual leader of al Shabaab and had been revered by militants as the father of Somalia's Islamist movement.

Up to fifty people may have been killed in two days of fighting in a strategic Somali sea port, according to witnesses. Some locals on the ground report at least 12 bodies while others place the figure somewhere around 50.

The violence has intensified in Kismayo since the leader of the Ras Kamboni militia, was nominated by a regional assembly to lead the Jubaland region. Supporter of the rival, backed by the federal government in Mogadishu, clashed with the militia of the regional governor.

Nigerian Army Allegedly Commit Atrocities in the Boko Haram War - Report

A Nigerian human rights watchdog released a report allegedly saying security forces are killing, torturing, illegally detaining and raping civilians in a fight to halt an Islamic uprising in northeast Nigeria that has killed nearly 2,000 people since 2010.

The report, put out by Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission on Sunday, said troops went on a rampage in the northeast of the country after a soldier was killed in April in the fishing village of Baga. Quoting police sources, the soldiers "started shooting indiscriminately at anybody in sight, including domestic animals.” the report said, as quoted by AP.

The retaliation left the homes of many villagers gutted and torched, with troops attempting to hide evidence of the carnage by disposing of bodies. "The Commission equally received several credibly attested allegations of gross violations by officials of the JTF (joint task force of police and military), including allegations of summary executions, torture, arbitrary detention amounting to internment and outrages against the dignity of civilians, as well as rape," it said.

Military officials said 36 people were killed, most of them “extremist fighters.” Witnesses told AP at the time that some 187 civilians were killed. The report revealed the killings came after Islamic militants had looted a weapons depot, with subsequent reports suggesting the militants were becoming better armed and "had become both more organized and emboldened by their apparent successes, despite the enhanced security presence."

That contradicted reports that the military had taken control of the region in an emergency operation canvassing thee states, or roughly one-sixth of the country. Instead, it appears government troops have pushed the Islamic insurgents into rocky territory where it is more difficult to locate them. It is from these caves and rugged hideouts that the extremists are attacking towns and villages with regularity.

The government commission issued an interim report saying it would determine when its investigators are able to visit the conflict zone, where soldiers have cut mobile phone and internet connections. Nigeria declared a state of emergency on May 14 when extremists from the Boko Haram terrorist group took control of some towns and villages.

The uprising poses the biggest threat in years to security in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, with 160 million citizens, and the continent's largest producer of oil. Village communities trapped between the Islamic militants and security forces "reportedly live in desperate fear and destitution," the commission said.

It warned of an imminent threat to public health, as well as food shortages since many farmers have been driven from their fields. Northeast Nigeria is the poorest region in the country, with government statistics showing 75 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

All the reports concerning human rights abuses are however at best sketchy with no concrete evidences. They are taken from rough figures. The only reporter who has successfully seen Baga and interviewed army spokesman, Sagir Musa was Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege. She was shown the burial grounds and apparently revealed they were not mass burials.

The Arewa Consultative Forum who has decided to take up the responsibility of monitoring the activities of troops in the states under state of emergency; Borno, Yobe and Adamawa has not produced any report to nail the security forces to any human rights abuses. Ahmadu Jirgi, @jirgispeaks, a resident of Borno who took his time to conduct some reasonable researches revealed the people are happier and at best prefer the presence of the soldiers.

Reports also coming out each day reveal the activities of vigilante groups working hand in hand with the army to tackle and combat the men of Boko Haram.

EU demands Clarification on US Espionage Acts on its Diplomats; Warns of Consequences

A new word ought to surface just as the United States got 'Romnesia' (a disease that makes you forget anything that makes you bad) during the Presidential debates and campaigns. Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, always did not usually remember anything he had said that contradicted him. There would probably be another cyber, internet and espionage coinage superior to Wikileaks; maybe termed 'Snowdenvirus' due to the recent leaks by Edward Snowden.

Snowden's new leak showed that the United States had been spying on European diplomats. Reacting to this, the president of the European parliament has demanded an explanation from US authorities over the latest revelation that EU diplomatic missions in Washington, New York and Brussels were under electronic surveillance from the NSA.

“I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of US authorities spying on EU offices,” said the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz. “If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-US relations.”

“On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the US authorities with regard to these allegations," he added. Meanwhile, Germany's justice minister also called for an immediate explanation from the United States saying the news that Washington bugged European Union offices was "reminiscent of the Cold War."

"It must ultimately be immediately and extensively explained by the American side whether media reports about completely disproportionate tapping measures by the US in the EU are accurate or not," Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said in a statement.

Other EU diplomats also expressed shock concerning the latest batch of revelations in the NSA leak, reported by Der Spiegel magazine on Saturday. "If these reports are true, it's disgusting,” Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Der Spiegel. "The United States would be better off monitoring its secret services rather than its allies,” Asselborn continued. “We must get a guarantee from the very highest level now that this stops immediately."

A spokesman for the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence had no comment on the Der Spiegel story, Reuters reported. Der Spiegel, quoting from a September 2010 "top secret" US National Security Agency (NSA) document leaked by former CIA employee Edward Snowden, reported on Saturday the NSA was eavesdropping on the EU’s internal computer networks in Washington, as well as at the 28-member bloc UN office in New York.

The German magazine also reported that five years ago, the NSA also targeted telecommunications at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, home to the European Council, where all EU member states have their offices. Snowden, 30, fled the US for Hong Kong in May, just weeks before The Guardian and Washington Post published details he provided about a top-secret US government surveillance programme that accumulated internet and telephone traffic both at home and abroad.

The whistleblower is presently in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, where it is believed he is attempting to gain political asylum in Ecuador. Lode Vanoost, former deputy speaker of the Belgian parliament, believes that the main purpose of the US surveillance programme was “economic spying” on the EU.

“At the moment, the EU is negotiating a new free trade agreement with the United States,” the former deputy speaker noted. “On the economic level, [the US] is losing ground everywhere,” he said. “Look at what the BRIC countries are doing. The EU is having stronger ties with Russia, with Africa, with Latin America. And the US doesn’t seem to get its economic priorities imposed as it used to. So what I see is a big risk for economic spying.”

He added that there is “too much at stake” for there to be a total breakdown in US-EU bilateral relations, however, “behind closed doors there will be some very tough words” exchanged between EU and American officials.

Ecuador has revealed that the choosing and the safe landing of Snowden in any destination is in the hand of Russia. Russia seems to be the love, the land currently romanced by anybody dissatisfied with the condition and system of the obtainable in any Western nation as noticed in the case of the French actor, Gerard Depardieu, who recently received Russian citizenship in protest against high taxes in France. This has also been the case with anybody not comfortable with/in Russia.

The United States Boosts its Military Presence in Africa

The US military presence in Africa is on the rise yet still relatively calm and esoteric; striking Islamist militants with drones, supporting African forces in stabilising Somalia and Mali and deploying dozens of training teams. Its presence remains mostly low key, barely mentioned in the context of President Barack Obama's visit this week to Africa.

Nevertheless, with some 4,000-5,000 personnel on the ground at any given time, the United States now has more troops in Africa than at any point since its Somalia intervention two decades ago according to Reuters. That ended in humiliation and withdrawal after the 1993 "Blackhawk Down" debacle in which 18 U.S. soldiers died.

The build-up of US military presence is due to seemingly two main reasons; al Qaeda and China. It wants to stem the tide of the rising influence of Islamic insurgency and other militant groups as well as win influence in a continent that could become an increasingly important destination for American trade and investment as China's presence grows in Africa.

Obama's week-long African tour will focus on military and security issues apart from food security and democracy. He is expected to douse fear that the US is militarising Africa for its own benefits shrouded in the war against terror. In the Horn of Africa, the vast majority of US forces deployed in Africa are at a major French military base in Djibouti, a tiny country sandwiched between northern Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Experts reveal the military base has provided a staging post for occasional special forces deployments and drone and air attacks against Islamist militant targets in Somalia. However, US officials have refused to comment. The base was also allegedly instrumental for NATO's operations in Libya.

The US views its military presence in Africa as key in a continent where China is rapidly expanding and has surpassed the United States in terms of trade relations in Africa. China has huge investment in mining, energy and infrastructure and also a key ally of Sudan's President, Omar al Bashar which of course has always bolstered him against the West.

US officers believe its limited military missions have gone a long way in reducing initial African scepticism over Germany-based AFRICOM, set up in 2008 to bring all US military activities in Africa under one unified command, rather than dividing responsibility between commanders in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

"We are focusing on building human capital," says Major General Charles Hooper, head of strategy and plans at AFRICOM. "The smaller missions can be some of the most effective when it comes to gaining trust."

In Angola, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere, US engineers have helped train local counterparts in landmine clearance. In southern Africa, military medics have helped local armies tackle HIV infection while in Mauritania, the focus has been on veterinary aid to local ranchers.

US warships combating piracy off both East and West Africa are increasingly frequent visitors to local ports. One US aim is to convince African militaries their interests are best served by remaining democratically accountable and not interfering in politics.

Some operations, however, have hit just that problem. The hunt in Central African Republic for Ugandan warlord and head of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army Joseph Kony has largely been suspended following a March coup in CAR.

The anti-LRA mission had been the only one in Africa in which combat troops were deployed, involving just over 100 US special forces personnel. US forces continue to train Ugandan and other armies as part of that operation.

Critics in Africa complain Washington's approach to the continent has become increasingly militarised and focused on counterterrorism. Others worry US military clout may ultimately be used to seize resources. Administration officials disagree and point to Obama's visit as evidence of US intentions.

"This trip ultimately disproves the notion that we're somehow securitising the relationship with Africa," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told a conference call last week. "This trip is expressly devoted to trade and investment, democratic institution-building, young people and unleashing economic growth through some of our development priority."

In general, US forces have only been able to operate when African governments - or sometimes France, which maintains a network of bases in former colonies - allow them to. Permission can be quickly withdrawn for political reasons. The United States still treads carefully in Somalia, the scene of a serious reverse in 1993 when militia fighters killed 18 Americans on a mission to capture a Somali warlord in support of a UN mission.

US officials say there are often one or two US liaison officers deployed inside Somalia helping African Union forces fight Islamist group al Shabaab - which is linked to al Qaeda - on behalf of Somalia's transitional government. Most of the US support for the African Union mission AMISOM remains outside the country, training forces in Kenya, Uganda and elsewhere.

It is a similar picture on the other side of the continent, where the US military is also acting primarily in support of local nations and France. The aftermath of the 2011 Libya war has seen a flood of weapons and militants across the Sahel, fueling the rise of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb which briefly captured much of northern Mali before a French offensive there earlier this year.

The US Air Force provided much of the transport for both African and French reinforcements in Mali, while US air tankers from RAF Mildenhall in England have flown long missions over the Sahara refuelling French combat jets. Some 100 US personnel deployed to Niger to set up a drone base. Unlike in East Africa, however, the drones will be unarmed and used only for reconnaissance to track Islamist militants like Boko Haram in Nigeria.

The US and African officials say Washington has long been reluctant to share its most sophisticated intelligence with African partners, in part over worries it might fall into the wrong hands. African officers say that if they are to be truly effective at fighting militants in their own countries and as part of broader Mali-type missions, they need to know as much as possible about rebel movements, locations and plans.

"The Americans are our friends - but often they are friends who are not frank," says former Senegalese army chief Mansour Seck, also an ex-ambassador to Washington. "They have a tendency to ask you what you have but will not tell you what they have."

West Africa has high potential for Investment boost in Agriculture - OECD

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says agricultural investment in West Africa will grow “very significantly” by 2050 as the population expands and people move from rural areas to cities. West Africa is the world's largest cocoa producer with Cote D'Ivoire producing over 40% of world's output in cocoa.

West African urbanization is increasing at the fastest rate in the world, Karim Dahou, an executive manager at the OECD’s directorate for financial and enterprise affairs, said in an interview at a conference in London. Population in West Africa has doubled every 20 years since 1960 and in cities the number of people has tripled, he said.

“In West Africa, the natural resources are conducive to huge agricultural output, there’s water, there are a lot of hydro-resources,” Dahou said at the Agriculture Investment Summit. “Our agricultural outlook by 2050 is very optimistic in terms of the growth of the sector globally, and including in Africa.”

Investment in West African agriculture will expand as the world tries to meet growing local and global demand, he said. The amount of capital invested per farmer in Africa is “very low,” one sixth of that in Asia and one fourth of that in Latin America, according to Dahou. That’s the reason why yields for many crops in the region are stagnant, he said.

Ghana and Nigeria are leading investments in agriculture in the region, he said. Nigeria, which spends $10 billion a year importing wheat, sugar, rice and fish, plans to boost domestic food production by 20 million metric tons by 2015, according to Akinwunmi Adesina, the country’s agriculture minister.

Cash crops such as cocoa and coffee in West Africa won’t be under threat as the region tackles food security and may even facilitate access to food as they bring in revenue, Dahou said. There’s enough land available to expand and improve yields for both food and cash crops, he said.

“The issue is not really space, it’s intensification,” Dahou said. “That’s what African agriculture, especially West African agriculture, needs.” President Obama also dropped a similar hint in his week-long visit to Africa when in Senegal where he took smooth swipe at China. Obama emphasised on food security for Africa as well as democracy.