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  • NATO General: Permanent Troops in Eastern Europe an Option

    NATO General: Permanent Troops in Eastern Europe an Option

    {{NATO will have to consider permanently stationing troops in parts of eastern Europe as a result of the increased tension between Russia and Ukraine, the alliance’s top military commander said.}}

    NATO has arranged a number of short-term army, air force and naval rotations in eastern Europe, including the Baltic republics, Poland and Romania, but these are due to finish at the end of this year.

    Asked Тuesday whether NATO might have to look at permanently stationing troops in the alliance’s member states in eastern Europe, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove said: “I think this is something we have to consider and we will tee this up for discussion through the leaderships of our nations to see where that leads.”

    NATO leaders are due to hold a summit in Wales in early September.

    In the run-up to the summit, NATO commanders, defense ministers and foreign ministers would look at “tougher questions” about whether the alliance had the right footprint in Europe, Breedlove told a news conference in Ottawa.

    “We need to look at our responsiveness, our readiness and then our positioning of forces to be able to address this new paradigm that we have seen demonstrated in Crimea and now on the eastern border of Ukraine,” he said.

    Breedlove, who said on Monday he did not think Moscow would send troops into eastern Ukraine, stressed the steps that NATO had taken so far were designed to support eastern members of the alliance.

    “We are taking measures that should be very easily discerned as being defensive in nature. This is about assuring our allies, not provoking Russia, and we are communicating that at every level,” he said.

    Breedlove insisted the so-called U.S. strategic “pivot” toward Asia would have no effect on its commitment to NATO and collective defense, though he acknowledged that U.S. troop levels in Europe have been reduced by about three-quarters from Cold War levels.

    Asked if the U.S. troop levels would be enough in light of the Russian moves, he said: “In our own country now, and I think in every other NATO nation, based on the paradigm that we see that Russia has presented in Crimea and on the border of Ukraine … we are all going to have to reevaluate some of the decisions that have been made (after the end of the Cold War).”

    Breedlove declined to say whether he thought that France should scrap the sale of two Mistral helicopter-carrier frigates to Russia, saying this was “a national decision” that was up to France. Moscow has said it would demand compensation if this took place.

  • President Jacob Zuma Says Wife Was Raped

    President Jacob Zuma Says Wife Was Raped

    {{South Africa’s president said Monday that criminals broke into his rural homestead more than a decade ago and raped his wife, as he sought to explain a $23 million taxpayer-funded security upgrade ahead of elections.}}

    Jacob Zuma said the culprits were “arrested, charged, convicted,” recounting a previously unpublicised event at his Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal before he took over as president in 2009.

    Zuma did not say which of the four wives he had at the time was the victim. One has since committed suicide and he has divorced the African Union chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

    The 72-year-old has come under fierce criticism over the spending ahead of Wednesday’s election. He is expected to win a second five-year term despite the scandal.

    A public watchdog in March found the president had unduly benefited from the renovations, which included a swimming pool, helipad and private clinic, and ordered him to pay back part of the costs.

    “Why should I be charged for it if some people inflated prices?” he hit back on Monday.

    He said that the issue had been stirred up by the media and by opposition parties.

    “People don’t think the Nkandla is an issue to affect ANC voters,” he said.

    A recent snap poll by research firm Pondering Panda showed more than two thirds of young South Africans believe Zuma should resign over the Nkandla scandal.

    But the ANC’s anti-apartheid past is likely to be enough to give the party another election landslide.

    {agencies}

  • Obama’s Aunt Buried, Family Denies Rift

    Obama’s Aunt Buried, Family Denies Rift

    {{Saidi Obama, a brother to the late Zeituni said the family was astonished by reports that the larger Obama family is in disarray and says that they are united.}}

    “Lately there have been reports saying that there is a rift in the larger Obama family. I can say now that there is no rift in the family because we are united and that was a very big lie that we are fighting,” he said.

    Faisal Mboya, the first born of Zeituni says their father abandoned them when they were young and had got no moral authority to block the burial.

    “There are some basic questions that need to be answered because we are all grown up and unfortunately our father abandoned us when we were very young. Right now the person that made us who we are today is our late mother,” he stated.

    Zeituni is survived by three sons and a daughter. Her mother Mama Sarah Obama paid her last respects but did not accompany the body to the graveside in accordance with Islamic tradition.

    Zeituni died in a Boston rehabilitation centre after several years of sickness. She previously survived a legal battle against deportation from the US.

  • Foreigners Make Merry on Zim Bourse

    Foreigners Make Merry on Zim Bourse

    Data from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange shows that there were more foreign inflows than outflows on the 1.11 billion shares traded on the exchange in the four months to April.

    Foreign inflows amounted to $115.5m against $93.3m in the comparable four month period last year, an increase of 19.53%.

    The number of foreign outflows however, increased by a much higher pace than inflows at 47.46% to $74.51m from $50.53m.

    Local news agency Financial Express attributed this increase in foreign sales to the recent tapering off of the US Federal Reserve Bank monetary policy stance.

    Turnover was 16.13% higher in the four month period to $170.01m compared to $146.39m last year.

    news24

  • UN to Support Somalia’s Peace Building

    UN to Support Somalia’s Peace Building

    {{The UN said it stands ready to play a central role in supporting Somalia’s peace-building process.}}

    Assistant Secretary-General of the UN for Peace building Support Judy Cheng-Hopkins paid a courtesy call to Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed on Monday and promised to continue supporting peace and stability in the Horn of Africa nation.

    She was accompanied by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Nicholas Kay.

    “The Peace building Fund will assist the federal government in a timely, flexible and pragmatic way to sustain momentum of its state- and peace-building efforts under the Somalia New Deal Compact,” she said.

    “The Fund is designed to help especially women, children, youth, disadvantaged groups, minorities and those who bore the brunt of the protracted conflict.”

    The Fund was set up in 2006 following a request from the General Assembly and the Security Council to support peace building efforts in countries emerging from conflict or political crisis.

    The UN Secretary-General declared that Somalia would be eligible to access the fund in December 2013.

    In March, Mr Kay welcomed the development made by the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) and the Somali National Army in taking over almost ten districts from the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab.

    He announced the allocation of $3 million from the UN Peace-building Fund to support the stabilisation efforts in the newly recovered areas in south central Somalia.

    Mr Ahmed on his part told the high powered UN delegation that his government was focusing on reconciliation, peace building, finalisation of the constitution and federalisation.

  • Nigerian Power Plant Gets US$750M Boost

    Nigerian Power Plant Gets US$750M Boost

    {{Azura Power Holdings announced that it has signed major industry contracts and confirmation worth US$750mn on the debt financing of its Azura-Edo Independent Power Project (Azura-Edo IPP) in Edo State, Nigeria.}}

    The transaction by Azura signals the beginning of a set of project-financed greenfield IPPs which are currently being developed in Nigeria as part of efforts to improve power in the country.

    “We are extremely proud to have completed the signing of the key industry contracts and debt financing of the Azura project and are now fully focused on starting the construction of the power plant by the summer,” said Dr David Ladipo, managing director of Azura and Sundeep Bahanda, co-founder of Amaya Capital, co-owner of Azura in a joint statement.

    According to the statement, the Azura-Edo IPP has attracted world-class financiers and partners from Nigeria as well as 14 other countries across the world, an unprecedented achievement by a locally developed project.

    The 450MW Azura-Edo IPP, which is the first phase of a 1,500MW power plant facility, involves equity of US$220mn and US$530mn in debt raised from a consortium of local and international financiers.

    It is targeted to get on the national grid in 2017 and hoped to create more than 1,000 jobs during its construction and operation.

    Seplat Petroleum Development Company (Seplat) is also investing US$300mn in new gas processing facilities at its Oben Gas Plant that will see it supply the Azura-Edo IPP with the volume of gas required for the project.

    “The transaction, which is NBET’s first greenfield project, is important to the Nigerian power sector reform process,” said Rumundaka Wonodi, managing director and chief executive officer of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC (NBET).

    “The NBET-Azura PPA guarantees that NBET will off-take 100 per cent of Azura Edo’s power output for the next 20 years,” Wonodi said.

    According to World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly, the Azura-Edo IPP signifies a well-planned support from the World Bank, IFC and MIGA, “coming together as the World Bank Group, to catalyze the significant private investment needed to increase Nigeria’s power supply for long term economic growth, job creation and shared prosperity.”

    Standard Chartered bank led the fundraising as global mandated lead arranger, with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) acting as mandated lead arrangers and the core lender group.

    {agencies}

  • China Offers US$12 Bn Aid & Technology to Africa

    China Offers US$12 Bn Aid & Technology to Africa

    {{Chinese Premier Li Keqiang unveiled extra aid for Africa totalling at least US$12bn and offered to share advanced technology with the continent to help with development of high-speed rail.}}

    According to state news agency Xinhua, the Premier pledged the additional funding in a speech at the Organisation of African Union headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

    China will increase credit lines to Africa by US$10bn and will boost the China-Africa Development Fund by US$2 billion, bringing it to a total of US$5 billion.

    Li depicted a dream that all African capitals are connected with high-speed rail, so as to boost pan-African communication and development, the report said.

    As China has advanced technologies in this area, Li said that China was ready to work with Africa to make this dream come true.

    China will also offer US$100mn in aid for wildlife protection, Li said and added that the new US$10bn credit line would be on top of the existing US$20bn already offered.

    Li said he hoped that some of the loans being offered would be used to support small and medium-sized companies in Africa and that economic development on the continent offered huge opportunities for both China and Africa.

    {africanreview}

  • Call for West to Use Drones to Hunt for Nigerian Girls

    Call for West to Use Drones to Hunt for Nigerian Girls

    {{Pressure is reportedly growing for Western military drones to be used in the hunt for more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted by Boko Haram Islamists in Nigeria three weeks ago.}}

    According to the National Post, experts said unnamed spy planes of the kind used in Afghanistan were expected to be deployed along with satellite-operated cameras to search the vast areas of desert and woodland where the girls were thought to be hidden.

    This comes following the release of a video by Boko Haram in which its leader threatened to sell the girls as “slaves”.

    Nigerian police say at least 223 girls remained missing after being abducted from their boarding school in the remote northern Nigerian town of Chibok on 14 April.

    news24

  • Joseph Kony Killed By US Navy SEALS

    Joseph Kony Killed By US Navy SEALS

    { {{Joseph Kony, the leader of Lords Resistance Army, his vision is to establish a government that adheres to ten commandments in the Bible in Uganda.}} }

    {{Unconfirmed Reports claim that the Joseph Kony of the Lords Resitance Army LRA/M has allegedly been put out of action by the US Navy Seals.

    The Navy Seals were credited for killing Osama Bin Laden the head of the notorious Alqueda terrorist group that operates globally.}}

    The National Report quoted sources at the Pentagon, saying that Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army was gunned down in a remote area of the South Sudan by members of Seal Team 6.

    The LRA/M is a guerrilla group founded in Uganda then spread to other areas within the region including Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan.

    In late March, President Obama sent 150 special-operations personnel and four aircrafts to join the pursuit of Kony.

    One White House official, who agreed to speak with National Report on the condition of anonymity had this to say: “The hunt for Kony that began several years ago is now over.

    The recent expansion of boots on the ground, as well an increase in drone capabilities, accelerated the mission.

    President Obama gave the final orders to assassinate the former LRM leader as issues with extradition and trials would be hard to handle in the US. The President obviously considers this to be a major accomplishment.”

    The carefully rehearsed operation struck about 1:20a.m. Friday local time. About 40 troops, largely Navy SEALs, were involved. According to Pentagon officials, photos of Kony’s dead body do exist, but will not be release to the public.

    Officials are expected to eventually release a corpse photo, as has been done previously with famous villains such as Che Guevara and Saddam Hussein, but that information will remain classified in the short term.

    Four other adult males, believed to be part of Kony’s inner circle, were also killed in the 45-minute raid as well as two females who the Pentagon are considering “collateral damage”.

    Kony had been accused of ordering the abduction of children to become sex slaves and child solders. The LRM amassed an estimated 66,000 children who roamed the region.

    In 2005, Kony was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands but has evaded capture since.

    Kony’s army has spent years plundering villages, mutilating civilians and kidnapping children across a large swath of central Africa.

    Kony gained attention in March 2012 when a 30-minute documentary titled Kony 2012 was released by film maker Jason Russell for the campaign group Invisible Children Inc.

    {National Report}

  • Man Rescued Attempting Suicide Over Cheating Wife

    Man Rescued Attempting Suicide Over Cheating Wife

    {{A man in Ngoma District narrowly survived ending his life today after he was rescued hanging on a rope around his neck accusing his wife of cheating on him.

    The incident happened at Semakamba Cell where the man (yet to be identified) attempted suicide by hanging . He told rescuers that he was tired of living with a wife that keeps cheating on him frequently.

    IGIHE reporter is at the scene and more details are underway as this story develops further.}}