Nigeria: Boko Haram Leaders on US Terror List
Abuja--The US state department has enlisted three leaders of Nigeria’s Islamic sect Boko Haram as terrorists over alleged ties with the global terror group, al-Qaeda.
Abubakar Shekau leader of the militant group alongside other two top leaders Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid el Barnawi have been targeted in the latest restrain by Washington in an attempt to stop sectarian violence in the country that have lately gotten more violent.
The move means any assets belonging to the three in the US will be frozen and any contact with US citizens banned.
Boko Haram which loosely translates to “western education is forbidden” has been wagging insurgency in northern Nigeria against the government in a bid to instill Islamic rule in the predominantly Muslim region.
The group recently has increased its attack on Christians in the north with intents of attracting reprisal attacks from them aimed to draw an all-out war between the two sides.
Over 21 people were killed in three separate bomb attacks on church services last Sunday in Kaduna state making it a third Sunday in a row that deadly attacks targeting Christian churches have been carried out in northern Nigeria.
Reprisal attacks by Christian youths that ensued in the city after the Sunday bombing have claimed 52 lives, mainly Muslims, heightening sectarian tension between the divided Christians and Muslims in the country.
On Tuesday Boko Haram militants staged gun battles against security forces in the northeastern city of Damataru, where 34 of the insurgents and six security personnel died.
Tension still remains high, though violence was reported to have died down by Wednesday. Vatican has condemned the sectarian killings, with Pope Benedict using his weekly general audience on Wednesday to call for immediate end to terrorist attacks against Christians, where he urged all sides to avoid reprisals.
More than 640 people have died in the country so far in 2012 alone in attacks blamed on the group which is thought to have connections with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a group already designated as a terrorist organisation by the US.
Lilongwe, Malawi
Scores of Ethiopian Migrants Killed in Malawi Boat Capsize
47 bodies of several Ethiopians believed to be illegal migrants have been recovered from Lake Malawi after the boat they were traveling in capsized earlier this week.
According to police the accident is believed to have happened on Monday night, but was only known on Tuesday morning when villagers saw dead bodies floating on the lake.
"We believe the boat capsized due to overloading, and three Malawians have been arrested for aiding the operation with unknown Tanzanians," Malawi police spokesman Davie Chingwalu told the AFP news agency on Thursday.
Chingwalu said that so far 47 bodies are said to have been recovered and have since been buried in mass grave “because the bodies had decomposed,” adding that search operations are still underway for more bodies or possible survivors.
Lake Malawi which straddles the border between Malawi and Tanzania provides a nice getaway route for hundreds of Ethiopian asylum seekers with help of a syndicate of locals to enter the Malawi illegally from Tanzania, en route to South Africa for better economic opportunities.
In 2007, several Ethiopian illegal migrants were discovered in Malawi hidden in an oil tanker on their way to South Africa through Mozambique.
Several foreigners have been targeted in xenophobic violence in South Africa, mostly being Ethiopians, following frustrations by the locals over unemployment and control of businesses in many townships by the foreigners.
Worse xenophobia attacks erupted throughout South Africa in 2008, killing at least 62 people and displacing 100,000 others.