PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Rooters) - Nigerian troops found the corpse of a man believed to be a foreign hostage floating in a creek on Saturday near a village where five people died in fighting this week, a military spokesman said.
Kidnapping of foreign workers has become commonplace in the Niger Delta, a vast wetlands region which is home to Africa's largest oil industry, but hostages are almost always freed unharmed in exchange for money.
"The joint task force were in operation around the creeks of Ogbogoro and Ozuoba when they sighted a corpse of a white man floating on the river," said Sagir Musa, a spokesman for the military in the Niger Delta. There was no positive identification of the victim, he said, but his hands were tied behind his back and his mouth was obstructed. "He apparently died from being tortured because he was kidnapped," Musa said.
Troops were deployed to the area, on the outskirts of Rivers state capital Port Harcourt, on Thursday after five people were killed in communal clashes in the village earlier this week. Soldiers were conducting house-to-house searches to try to find those behind the violence when they found the corpse.
There are currently about five foreigners being held by various armed groups in the delta, including a Briton and a Lebanese. A British embassy spokesman said he could not confirm the identity of the corpse.
Violence in the delta escalated early last year when armed rebels demanding control over oil revenues and an end to neglect by corrupt politicians started blowing up pipelines and oilfields. Their raids shut down at least a fifth of oil output from Nigeria, an OPEC member and the world's eighth-biggest exporter of crude. The disruption has contributed to record high oil prices on world markets.
But the violence in the delta has degenerated into a chaotic wave of abductions for ransom, armed robberies, turf wars between gangs and fighting connected to a trade in stolen crude.
Over 200 foreigners have been kidnapped since early 2006 and most have been released unharmed in exchange for money, fuelling the trend. Thousands of expatriate workers and their relatives have fled the region, slowing down oil and infrastructure projects.
Port Harcourt, the delta's largest city, has been particularly prone to kidnappings and street battles. The military took control of security in the city last month after a week of bloody street wars between rival gangs killed at least 15 people.
Politically motivated attacks on the oil industry have subsided since a new president took office on May 29 promising negotiations and efforts to develop the delta, but the crime wave has continued.
(SomaliNet) The court Director for International Cooperation has asked the 105 state parties to enforce the warrants issued against the indicted top four Lord Resistance Army commanders, since the International Criminal Court does not have its own police to execute arrest warrants.
Ms Beatrice Le Fraper du Hellen recently said the 105 state parties (members to Rome Statute) should ensure that LRA leader Joseph Kony, his deputy, Vincent Otti and top commanders, Dominic Ogwen and Okot Odiambo are arrested and surrendered to The Hague for trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Those arrest warrants must be executed and enforced by Uganda, DR Congo and other 105 state parties to the Rome Statute. Kony and his commanders must be jailed, Ms Fraper said in an interview with Daily Monitor in The Hague.
Kony and his commanders face 33 counts that include abduction of civilians, murder, sexual enslavement, mutilation and forceful recruitment of children as fighters, porters and sex slaves to serve the LRA. The fifth indicted LRA commander, Raska Lukwiya, was killed in August last year in a battle with the government forces in Kitgum District.
Ms Fraper said in order to speedup the arrest of the commanders, the rebels should be isolated by cutting off their financial and supply network to ensure they dont re-arm and get food. She said there is no contradiction in the search for peace and justice in northern Uganda since the two processes are complimentary.
The LRA insurgency has displaced over 1.7 million people, claimed 100,000 lives and over 75,000 children and women have been abducted.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
(SomaliNet) The UN said its mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Thursday negotiated a ceasefire between the DRC army and renegade troops loyal to former general Laurent Nkunda in the eastern town of Sake.
UN troops had taken control of the town in the Nord-Kivu province, the site of recent clashes that have caused thousands of local residents to flee.
The UN mission "facilitated a ceasefire between Nkunda's troops and the government at 12.30pm," said Sylvie van den Wildenberg, spokesperson for Monuc, as the UN mission in the Central African country is known.
"Nkunda's men, who tried to take Sake this morning, have agreed to withdraw into the hills" surrounding the town, she said, adding that Monuc had deployed troops throughout Sake.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
(SomaliNet) In just one month during a crackdown on fraudsters using postal services in Lagos, Nigerian anti-fraud police intercepted more than 15,000 counterfeit cheques, the force said on Wednesday. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it had worked with US and British investigators to sift through tonnes of mail in search of fraudulent documents sent by Nigerian "advance fee" conmen.
The so-called advance fee fraud involves sending people emails requesting their help in exporting a lump sum from Nigeria. Victims are promised a share of the cash and asked for their bank details. "The exercise saw agents of the three law enforcement agencies poring through tonnes of outward bound packages in the pre-exporting mail processing centres of the Nigerian Postal Service and private courier companies," the EFCC said. "In all, 15,129 counterfeit cheques related to advance fee fraud scams were intercepted. The operations opened up new investigation vistas leading to the arrest and prosecution of a number of suspects," it said of the operation which ended on August 16.
The EFCC, created in 2003, has tried to curb financial scams that have become a Nigerian specialty. Nigeria is seen as a major source of financial crime in several countries. The EFCC has secured numerous convictions against email scammers, including a group of fraudsters who stole $242-million from a Brazilian bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
As with Zimbabwe, the world wouldn't suffer any detectable harm were Nigeria's entire government scraped away and replaced withlet's saydead dogs.
#4
we would suffer if Nigeria's oil were removed from the US delivery "pipeline". Careful what you wish for. We need to stabilize Nigeria, remove the Islamic influence in the north and kill dead every Jihadi scum in the region - in our own self-interest - so, I'm sure that's anathema to the Donks and Leftards
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/08/2007 18:55 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Unfortunately, part of the sharia state formation in north Nigeria, has to do with corruption from the landing port cities. Corruption is the worst agent of social collapse; it removes merit from social advancement and creates a parasitic class of gougers. The best nations enable honest enterprise. Years ago, I discussed the issue in an e-mail exchange with Nigeria's Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka. He wasn't too happy with the phenomenon.
Ah, you knew we'd be hearing these heroic tales eventually...
Pyongyang, September 7 (KCNA) &0151; The recent unprecedented heavy rains triggered off flood and landslide in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, causing heavy human and material losses. But that's not important right now...
But the flood-victims directed attention to protecting the portraits of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il than their families. Yeah, it would kinda suck to live through the floods and then get shot for not saving the pics of the Kimmies...
The torrential rains on August 9 submerged the township area of Hoeyang County. Over a thousand families there were evacuated to safety places. They came there, carrying not their properties but the portraits of the President and the leader. ...or else. They know the drill.
Students of Koksan County School for Agricultural Skilled Workers and people in the county defended the picture of smiling President from the downpour. Here's a dilemma. What if ya can only get one? Who's it gonna be, Big Kimmie or Little Kimmie?
Ri Chun Hwa, a worker of the Changdo County Clothing Factory, brought over 1,500 books carrying the images of the great men of Mt. Paektu, from the County Publication Circulation Office to a safe place through torrents of water at the risk of her life. One woman carries out 1500 books all by herself? I am impressed...
Many people including People's Security officer Choe Myong Gil in Ichon County and teacher of Ichon Middle School No. 1 Hwang Myong Ok rushed in public buildings and dwelling houses without hesitation to save portraits, realizing that they would soon crumble. Among such people are peasant of the Jongdong Co-op Farm in Phyonggang County Cha Hyang Mi who handed over portraits to rescuers and went to the bottom of the torrent water, peasant of the same farm Pak Jong Ryol who lost his wife and child by landslide but saved the portraits and worker of the Ichon Foodstuff Factory Kang Hyong Gwon who firmly took portraits in his hands in flood though his five-year-old daughter slipped down from his back. Sorry, kids. It's you or me...
After the flood, corpses were dug out of the silt. Found out in their bosom were portraits wrapped with vinyl sheets to prevent them from being spoiled by water. Too bad you can't bring em back and ask them if it was worth it...
It is the just outlook on life of the Korean people to enjoy their existence, dignity and happiness in the effort for defending the leader at the cost of their lives. What an insane country.
#1
unfreakingbelievable. Perhaps KCNA is .....dare we say...fabricating this? 1500 books, hmmm?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/08/2007 16:52 Comments ||
Top||
#2
But the flood-victims directed attention to protecting the portraits of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il than their families.
Anyone want to lay bets on who owns the portrait printing concession?
Imagine how the death toll was augmented by people being forced to save worthless pictures instead of food or even their own children. This is just one of many reasons why Kim needs to hang for crimes against humanity.
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Leaders from Russia and Australia signed a deal Friday to export Australian uranium to fuel Russian nuclear reactors, but promised it would not be transferred to Iran's disputed atomic program. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Australian Prime Minister John Howard signed the deal during bilateral talks on the sidelines of a summit of Pacific Rim leaders in Sydney.
While the agreement forbids Russia from selling Australian uranium to any other nation or using it for military purposes, critics of the deal worry that it could make it easier for rogue states to obtain the raw material. Putin said Russia planned to build an extra 30 nuclear power plants over the next two decades and needed Australian uranium to complete the expansion.
Critics say the inflow of Australian uranium would allow Russia to divert its own supply of the atomic resource for military or export purposes. ``The problem is that there is no way of actually verifying what they do with it,'' Graeme Gill, a Russia expert from the Sydney University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/08/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
KOMMERSANT > Russia is almost proud = bragging that its eight bombers caused Great Britain to spend 00,000's in denomination monies. 50 of 'em will now be flying ala Cold War.
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Friday issued arrest warrants for former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif when he returns to Pakistan as he had been declared a court absconder in the Sabzazar shootout case. The court asked the Sabzazar police station house officer (SHO) to submit the details of Shahbazs property in court till September 12.
On Friday, prosecutor Muhammad Sultan Masood told the court that Shahbaz had already been declared a proclaimed offender and he would be arrested on his arrival in Pakistan for production in court. On an application for confiscation of Shahbazs property, the court issued notice to the SHO, who sought time to submit a detailed report on the matter.
Saeeduddin, the complainant in the case, moved two petitions seeking the arrest of Shahbaz on his arrival on September 10 and for the confiscation of his property as the court had declared him a proclaimed offender. According to the First Information Report (FIR), Assistant Sub-Inspector Lala Roshan raided Saeeduddins house on April 21, 1998, and took his son Salahuddin to the police station. ASI Roshan demanded Rs 5,000 for Salahuddins release, which his father did not pay. The ASI later handed over Salahuddin to then Muslim Town SHO Babar Ashraf who allegedly demanded Rs 200,000 from Saeeduddin for his sons release.
Saeeduddin said that he came to know that his son and four others Wakeel, Waseem, Haider and Abdur Rauf had been killed in a police encounter through a newspaper report on April 27, 1998. He alleged that Shahbaz Sharif had ordered the police to kill his son.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
ON BOARD USS Kitty Hawk (150 miles west of Port Blair), September 7: As the small green dots approached closer on the radar screen, the Indian officer sitting deep inside USS Nimitz knew it was too late to save the ship. Jaguar maritime fighters of the Indian Air Force (IAF), operating from the Car Nicobar air base, had managed to come dangerously within striking range to successfully launch anti-ship missiles on the super carrier.
The IAF registered its first kill of the day none less than the mighty nuclear powered Nimitz with its compliment of 85 fighters. But the young officer, on a cross attachment to the US ship, barely had time to feel proud. The battle had begun in earnest and the target now was Indias lone aircraft carrier.
INS Viraat, however, proved easy meat for the joint striking force of US F-18 Super Hornets and IAF Jaguars with the American fighters deliberately flying over the ship to drive home their air-superiority skills.
With the five-nation Malabar 07-2 naval exercise entering its final two days today, the buzzword on board the Kitty Hawk the US carrier coordinating the 30-warship mock battle was the level of interoperability achieved by the participating Navies of India, US, Australia, Japan and Singapore.
From tracking and destroying a nuclear submarine, operating three aircraft carriers in close proximity, managing air traffic for over 200 aircraft spread over just 150 X 200 km (roughly the size of airspace between Mumbai and Pune), supporting an amphibious assault to taking on a deep-sea terror threat and tackling piracy, the five countries jointly carried out pretty much the entire range of modern maritime operations.
We didnt just get a chance to operate together but also the opportunity to assess our own capabilities by comparing them with the latest technology in the world, says Vice Admiral R P Suthan, commander in chief of the strategic Eastern Command, who is the tactical commander for the mock battle over the next two days.
The location is less than 200 miles from the Chinese listening post in Coco Islands and touches the strategic Malacca Straits. But the US is quick to deny that this is an alliance to contain the military might of the Asian economic giant.
This has not been put together as a signal against anyone. It is meant to bring Naval professionals together to practise, Vice Admiral William Crowder, Commander of the Seventh fleet, the largest forward deployed fleet of the US Navy, told reporters on board the super carrier.
The war game is scheduled to culminate in a final mock battle involving all battleships over the weekend. The detailed scenario has not been revealed but is likely to be an intense air-dominated battle fought between two divided groups of the flotilla.
However, USS Nimitz, which headed home today after reaching the end of its deployment period, will be missed by the Indian fighters.
Posted by: john frum ||
09/08/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yup, carriers are just huge targets, left over from another age. We'll be shocked by this fact whenever the next big shooting war starts. Antiship missiles are just too effective.
#2
The more we [USA] can steadily build ties and business with India the better.
I can't think of any more important interests between us than our Defense agreements which are mutualy beneficial to both of us.
The avarage bloke/civilian/tax-payer never realizes how important War-Gaming, Manuvers and interoperability is for large and small defense establishments.
Let the War Games begin!
For the Navies of India, USA, Australia, Japan and Singapore...[New Zealand if they can ever recover from Nuke shock] just as long as China and Pak-land sucks bilge water..
The more we [USA] can steadily build ties and business with India the better....
That also goes for mutual Defense contracts, Aircraft, Naval, Civilian Ships, Electronics, Communications, Satellites, the whole shooting match.
and DUMP PAKISTAN yesterday...
~:)
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
09/08/2007 7:34 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Is there really an air to surface missile that can sink a monster carrier like the Nimitz?
#4
carriers are just huge targets, left over from another age.
Carriers have always been huge, vulnerable targets, and defense of a carrier task force has always been the hardest problem in naval warfare. I just finished a biography of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher (Black Shoe Carrier Admiral), and one of the things that jumped out at me was just how aware everyone was in 1942, even before the carriers engaged in combat, of just how vulnerable an aircraft carrier is.
Props to the Car Nicobar squadron for an attack well-executed, and here's hoping somebody learns something in the AAR. If getting "sunk" in an exercise helps prevent us losing a carrier in real life, I'm all for it.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/08/2007 9:45 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I wonder what PLAAN doctrine is for dealing with US carriers. I heard some threats about just dropping a tactical nuke over the carrier task force and attacking whatever survived.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
09/08/2007 10:46 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I wonder what PLAAN doctrine is for dealing with US carriers. I heard some threats about just dropping a tactical nuke over the carrier task force and attacking whatever survived.
I don't think the Chicoms are that reckless. That could certainly take out the TF, but I don't think they'd like the counterpunch.
#8
How many Jaguars? What weapons load? What were the wargames ROE? Given the element of surprise I think a small force of aircraft might be able to take out a carrier as an effective waepons system but I have my doubts about the current generation of anti ship missiles being able to sink a Nimitz class carrier. A major difference in WWII between US and IJN carriers was damage control. And given the accidents that have happened on US carriers in the past does anybody really think the USN has forgotten the experience. Also the USNs carriers have the layered defense of the entire battle group. The F-18s, Standard SAMs, the R2D2s plus the newer point defense missiles coming on line
#9
You don't have to sink a carrier to render it ineffective. Major damage to the flight deck, so that it can't launch or recover aircraft, will make it unusable.
I agree with Cheaderhead - although a carrier by itself is very vulnerable, carriers never travel alone. They are at the center of a wide set of defensive rings, including their own combat air patrol.
#10
Carriers are extremely thin-skinned; minimal armor and much more filled with things that go boom, like jet fuel, than the average warship. That's why they put them in the middle of the formation. Not that that helps a lot these days.
#11
boy, guess the Carriers're doomed in any battle. We should scuttle them now in the face of an uncertain enemy, rather than face the loss of those planes and sailors. What the hell were we thinking?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/08/2007 15:47 Comments ||
Top||
The spiritual leader of the Shiite Muslims in Lebanon, Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, has declared Thursday as starting day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Fadlallah, who has followers throughout the Shiite Muslim world, said on Friday that the date was chosen on the basis of astrological calculations in accordance with Islamic scientific rules. He said Ramadan will begin on September 13 across the world, including in countries in the Far East.
In recent years, Fadlallah has announced the start and end of Ramadan in advance. In the past, the date was decided only based on actual sighting of the new moon -- a practice still followed by some Shiites as well as Lebanons Sunni Muslim community.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
hmmmm think I'll have pulled pork for lunch that day....and maybe a beer
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/08/2007 8:30 Comments ||
Top||
#2
By a strange coincidence, my annual Bacon Festival starts on the same day.
#6
Actually, I always thought that Ramadan is kind of perfect commentary on Islam as religion. To wit, when Islam was being invented, they've noticed that (i) Jews have a few fast days per year; and Christians have a few dozen [?]. So, Islam having to be more---and not really understanding the purpose of fasts, they decided on a month of fasting! However, its impossible for most people to fast for a month---so we have a typical Islamic compromise: they fast during the day and pig out every night.
Rangoon (dpa) - Anti-military protests spread Friday in central Burma where the country's military rulers have been forced to crack down on rebellious Buddhist monks, sources said.
Earlier this week Buddhist monks took to the streets in Pakokku, 530 kilometres north of Rangoon, to protest against the government's decision to double fuel prices last month and the arrests of more than 100 protestors in Rangoon. On Friday the dissent had spread to nearby Aung-lan town, 515 kilometres north of Rangoon, where anti-government posters were put up around the town encouraging the masses to rise up.
Burma's state controlled media on Friday admitted for the first time that the military regime was at loggerheads with rebellious Buddhist monks in Pakokku, central Burma. The New Light of Myanmar, a government mouthpiece, acknowledged that security personnel had clashed with hundreds of protesting monks on Wednesday in Pakokku and were forced to disperse the demonstration by firing over the heads of the monks.
The state media also confirmed reports that 20 Magway Division military officials had visited the Bawdimandine monastery in Pakokku on Thursday and had their vehicle burned by 50 stone-throwing monks. The government officials spent several hours in the monastery before making their getaway in the evening.
According to eyewitnesses in Pakkaku, monks on Friday attacked the Nay La Store owned by a prominent government official and allowed a mob to sack the place. Government officials were reportedly fleeing the city.
Buddhist monks have a long history of political activism in Burma, a predominantly Buddhist country. The monkhood played a prominent role in Burma's struggle for independence from Great Britain in 1948 and joined students in the anti-military demonstrations that rocked Burma in 1988, which ended in bloodshed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/08/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(SomaliNet) The court Director for International Cooperation has asked the 105 state parties to enforce the warrants issued against the indicted top four Lord Resistance Army commanders, since the International Criminal Court does not have its own police to execute arrest warrants. 
(SomaliNet) The UN said its mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Thursday negotiated a ceasefire between the DRC army and renegade troops loyal to former general Laurent Nkunda in the eastern town of Sake. 
(SomaliNet) In just one month during a crackdown on fraudsters using postal services in Lagos, Nigerian anti-fraud police intercepted more than 15,000 counterfeit cheques, the force said on Wednesday. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it had worked with US and British investigators to sift through tonnes of mail in search of fraudulent documents sent by Nigerian "advance fee" conmen. 
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Leaders from Russia and Australia signed a deal Friday to export Australian uranium to fuel Russian nuclear reactors, but promised it would not be transferred to Iran's disputed atomic program. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Australian Prime Minister John Howard signed the deal during bilateral talks on the sidelines of a summit of Pacific Rim leaders in Sydney.
