Rochas Okorocha's End Game In Imo State

BY OBI NWAKANMA

VANGUARD NIGERIA, AUGUST 7, 2016

GOV. ROCHAS OKOROCHA

First, let us start by where Rochas Okorocha began: he was swept into government on the wings of the APGA, following a populist revolt at the polls in Imo state that threw out the PDP government of Mr. Ikedi Ohakim in 2011. Ohakim was a man of ideas. He just had trouble with implementation, and so his program sounded too futuristic to a people who wanted immediate relief, and immediate benefit from government programs.

Take for instance the dredging of the River Nworie and the rebuilding of the ecological floodplains and swamps that might serve to provide both recreational and ecological benefits to the city of Owerri: it was a possible, laudable, actionable project, which was mismanaged, misrepresented, and ultimately bungled because that administration failed to secure citizens buy-in for such a monumental project. 

Ohakim was also perceived as brash and alienated in the views of most people, and could not connect with the electorate at the very popular level. He was also believed to have squandered much of the state’s revenue, and like previous governors before him saw Imo state as no more than a honeypot, and Imo people, as no better than troglodytes requiring weekly “how-to” lectures that were big on pictures but small in details. Everywhere you went to in Imo state in those days, all one saw were idolatrous pictures of Ikedi Ohakim hung on proposed projects. It was the subject of a fierce exchange I had with my late friend and colleague, Pini Jason, who insisted to the very end that Ohakim was on to something. 

The problem was that I couldn’t see it. And Imo people apparently couldn’t see it, and they rebelled at the poll. The upsurge of the faith the Igbo always had in Emeka Ojukwu, not on the upstart Okorocha, propelled the present governor to Douglas House. On the strength of a party supposedly backed by Ojukwu, on one hand, and on a capacity for populist demagoguery on the other, Rochas Okorocha was swept into office as Governor of Imo state. It was one of the greatest mistakes the APGA as a party made in 2011.

 So, in a terrible misjudgment, APGA handed Rochas Okorocha, a bird of flight in that party, the slot for governor. It also so happened that aside from his personal capacity for street drama, Okorocha is an astute politician. His politics of course derives not from solid or fundamental ideas, but on simple notions of power and the drama on which power is sometimes staged. 

And so, he presented an alternative face to the Imo people, and for a very brief moment, the Imo electorate, normally informed and discerning bought into his melodrama. He even put up a great show at the debate organized that year by the Catholic Church for Gubernatorial candidates in Imo state. Some who knew a little about Rochas’ background cried out against a great mistake that was about to be made in electing Mr. Okorocha. He had promised a great load of bullshit. Among these, “free education” for Imo children up to the tertiary level. 

I knew personally, as does anyone who does a bit of strategic policy analysis that this was a promise wrapped in wonder and full of wonder. Imo did not need “free education;” what Ndi Imo needed and still need is “quality education” and there is a material difference in that. Quality education is what prepares people with new sets of skills, expands their horizons, and updates their learning environments in ways that would make them compete with their peers all over the world. 

Besides, Okorocha did not clearly establish how he would pay for the “free education” and the monthly stipend to primary and high school students he had promised. What was Imo state’s tax base? He had no clue. What is the property stock of the schools in the Imo school system? He had no idea? What is the population and distribution of children in early child and Infant programs; the Primary School system, the secondary schools? 

He had no clue. He simply came like Falstaff full of beer and hokum. It was a policy and a program driven by a highly uninformed mindset. A census of schools and of teachers in public schools in Imo state should reveal a number of things: one, the quality and number of teachers in the Imo state’s Public Schools have so radically declined, yet the state government continues to post a high payroll unaccountably.

 But something even more tragic has happened in the five years Rochas Okorocha has been governor in Imo state: it is called the tragic decline of education in Imo state. For all the years WAEC figures, and JAMB results have been published, until three years ago, Imo state had remained consistently on the top with the highest number of student enrollments, often sidelining the next state to it with as much as 100, 000 students. Since Okorocha’s government, Imo has slid to the 8th position on the table! 

This is radical diminution. Not to the second or third positions, but to the 8th position on the list of School certificate enrollment and passes, and on the JAMB scores table, for the first time in its history! Sam Mbakwe used to say that education was Imo’s number one industry. Not anymore. 

Poverty is Imo States number one industry by all accounts these days. Okorocha has achieved the one thing that eluded every of his predecessors however they tried: his government has finally brought a resilient state like Imo to her knees. He has destroyed the school system, and the system of public service on which Imo had established a long tradition. Teachers are not paid. Civil servants are not paid. Retirees are not paid, and yet, no one knows exactly what Imo state’s revenue is used for. Okorocha’s tenure has not registered a single investment in any industry. He has built third-rate roads, and opened up, to be fair, roads that now give people some access in Owerri.

 But the quality of work he has done with these rather basic examples of public work is terrifyingly below standard. In actual fact, some of those are simple municipal roads which a well-organized Public Works Department should do on a routine basis. Now, just last week, reports indicate that the government of Mr. Okorocha has succeeded in evicting retired residents of the Alvan Ikoku College of Education from the Alvan quarters at the famous Shell Camp, and according to Imo Commissioner for Information, the government is putting these government lands and property up for the highest bidders. 

“Anybody who is able to put down N50 million will have any one of these lands” says Vitalis Ajumbe. This is unconscionable, and this must be stopped by all means necessary. The eviction of retires from government quarters, and the sale of public property by this administration to individuals must be counted as one of the highest acts of brazen robbery of the commonweal by official means. Over and over again, Rochas Okorocha has demonstrated that he has no respect for Imo people, he has no regard for the highest public interest, and he has no interest in public opinion. He is playing an endgame with Imo, after which he would retire to Abuja, and let the state and its inhabitants suffocate from the bad effects of his actions today. He may yet force Imo people to rise and do “Otokoto” on its own government, and its government officials! 

Imo people have been pushed to the very end of their wits with this government which last week also announced the reduction of the five-day work week to three days, without annual leaves or sick leaves. This is a terrible policy, and it is really not up to the executive arm to impose this. It requires an act of the Imo state House of Assembly to change the Labor Laws, and the laws governing public service in Imo state, not an executive order. But Imo State has only a “photo Assembly” – legislators who have never sat, or represented the will of the people. As a body it one of the most useless parliaments in the land. It has never held the governors to account. 

Okorocha has committed all kinds of impeachable offences against Imo state, yet the Imo Assembly remains in perpetual vacation. It is now up to Ndi Imo to begin a massive recall process of their legislators who fail to rise in defence of their mandates. The Imo people must rise up and defy this aberration called the government of Imo state, or go to sleep and wait for death itself. Okorocha must account to citizens in Imo: how much of Imo’s revenue went to the campaign to elect Buhari, and what has this governor done with the bail-out money? It is urgent matter.

What We Know About Boko Haram’s New Leader, Abu Musab al-Barnawi

BY YINKA AJAYI

VANGUARD NIGERIA, SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2016

The Islamic State (IS) militant group, last week, announced that its West African affiliate Boko Haram has a new leader.

The Federal Government immediately dismissed the announcement, saying it was mere propaganda by the “defeated terrorist organisation”. But a security report, Dr Ona Ekhomu, asked government to see danger in the appointment of the new Boko Haram leader. Abu Musab al-Barnawi, who was previously spokesman for the Nigerian-based Islamists, is featured in the latest issue of an IS magazine.

 It did not say what has become of the group’s former leader, Abubakar Shekau. He was last heard from in an audio message last August, saying he was alive and had not been replaced – an IS video released in April said the same. Boko Haram, which has lost most of the territory it controlled 18 months ago, is fighting to overthrow Nigeria’s government. Its seven-year insurgency has left 20,000 people dead, mainly in the country’s north-east. In the interview in IS’s weekly Arabic magazine al-Naba, Mr Barnawi said his group “remained a force to be reckoned with” and said it had been drawing new recruits. 

He described the group’s battle against West African states as a war fought by Muslims against “apostates” and “crusaders”. Who is Abu Musab al-Barnawi? Little is known about Abu Mus’ab al-Barnawi, who appeared in a Boko Haram video in January 2015 as the group’s spokesman He wore a turban and his face was blurred out and it was filmed as a sit-down studio interview. Unlike Abubakar Shekau, his delivery in the Hausa language was considered and softly spoken Mr Shekau was often filmed in the open, surrounded by fighters, loudly proclaiming his threats, victories and giving rambling ideological lectures.

 However, Mr Barnawi pulled no punches, warning that towns which resisted Boko Haram in its mission to create an Islamic state would be flattened. He also spoke of being against democracy and foreign education. In his most recent magazine interview, he again objected to the name Boko Haram, by which local people call the group, as it means “Western education is forbidden” in Hausa. He maintained IS was still strong in the region and promised to continue fighting West African governments. 

Mr. Shekau took over as the group’s leader after its founder, Muhammad Yusuf, died in Nigerian police custody in July 2009. Under his leadership Boko Haram became more radical, carried out more killings and swore allegiance to IS in March 2015. In numerous videos, Mr Shekau taunted the Nigerian authorities, celebrating the group’s violent acts including the abduction of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls in April 2014.

 Nigeria army has claimed to have killed him on several occasions, and he has not appeared in a video since joining IS. ‘Cheap propaganda’ “The Nigerian government has described as cheap propaganda the report that ISIS has appointed a new leader for Boko Haram, saying it is too late to employ such tactics to revive the defeated Nigerian terrorist organization,” a statement released by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, said in a reaction to the report of a new leader for Boko Haram. The statement was signed by Segun Adeyemi, the minister’s spokesperson. 

The government called on Nigerians to ignore the ISIS report. “Don’t believe the cheap propaganda by the global terrorist group ISIS, which has reportedly named a new leader for Boko Haram. Our gallant military has put Boko Haram on the run and nothing will bring back the terrorists, not even the wishful thinking by ISIS,” the statement said. The military had earlier said the report was of no effect to its operations against the deadly group. 

The Director of Defence Information, DHQ, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, said the military remained focused on its operation in the North-East. He said the announcement of a new leader for the group was only aimed at seeking attention and relevance. “As far as we are concerned, what Boko Haram or their cohorts are doing is of no relevance to our operations against them”, Rabe stated. “We are just focused on clearing the remnants of the insurgents that are scattered around. What they are doing is to seek relevance and to tell the world that they are still around whereas they have been decimated. “Their latest move is the antics of a fading group and I believe that in the shortest time they will be history”. ‘Local franchise’ Separately, Ekhomu, the President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, said Al-Barnawi’s appointment as Boko Haram leader was a dangerous development in the ongoing war against terrorism in the country. 

He urged the FG to place intelligence agencies, the military, law enforcement and citizens on full alert to avert terrorist attacks. “If ISIS gets to appoint senior leadership for Boko Haram, then they are probably running the Nigerian terror group as a local franchise. Strategic decisions such as leadership appointments are made by the spiritual leader of a terrorist group. In other words, the appointment of Al-Barnawi might have been made by ISIS leader Sheik Abu Bakr El-Baghdadi himself,” he added. 

Ekhomu stated that under the leadership of Shekau, Boko Haram caused over 30,000 deaths in Nigeria. He called for a higher level of preparedness, urging Nigerians to be observant and report unusual events, people or packages to security agencies. He called on the Lagos State government to create an intelligence fusion centre where all-source intelligence could be harmonised in order to disrupt terror attacks in the state. ‘New target’ Meanwhile, Al-Barnawi says Christians in Nigeria will be the new target of the sect’s attacks, vowing that the sect will kill all Christians and “blow up every church that we are able to reach.” 

In an interview he granted Al-Naba Newspaper, which was translated by SITE Intelligence Group, Al-Barnawi was reported as describing Boko Haram’s activities in Nigeria as a war fought by Muslims against “apostates” and “crusaders.” He said the group was aggrieved that the West had been trying to Christianise Africa, saying the West was spreading Christianity to the African region and charities were assisting them in doing that. 

He also claimed that victims of insurgency were being kept in the Internally Displaced Persons’ camp, fed and sheltered for the purpose of turning their children to Christians. He, however, said the group would retaliate. He said, “They (West) strongly seek to Christianise the society…

They exploit the condition of those who are displaced under the raging war, providing them with food and shelter and then Christianising their children.” Al-Barnawi vowed that Boko Haram fighters would retaliate by “booby-trapping and blowing up every church that we are able to reach and kill all those (Christians) who we find from the citizens of the cross.” The new Boko Haram leader said the sect “remained a force to be reckoned with,” boasting that it had enlisted new recruits.

U.N. To Probe Whether Iconic Secretary-General Was Assassinated

BY COLUM LYNCH

ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAG HAMMARSKJOLD

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will propose reopening an inquiry into allegations that Dag Hammarskjold, one of the most revered secretaries-general in the organization's history, was assassinated by an apartheid-era South African paramilitary organization that was backed by the CIA, British intelligence and a Belgian mining company, according to several officials familiar with the case.

The move follows the South African government's recent discovery of decades old intelligence documents detailing the alleged plot, dubbed Operation Celeste, that was designed to kill Hammarskjold. In a recent letter to the United Nations, South African authorities said the documents have been transferred to their Justice Ministry so U.N. officials could review them, according to diplomatic sources.

The South African Mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. The CIA has previously dismissed allegations that it was behind Hammarskjold's death as "absurd and without foundation."

This new information (the discovery of which has not previously been reported) is surfacing more than a year after a U.N. panel of experts, chaired by Tanzanian Chief Justice Mohamed Chande Othman, wrapped up a wide-ranging review of fresh evidence that had emerged in the years following the mysterious 55-year-old air tragedy. The panel urged the secretary-general, who is already required by a 1962 General Assembly resolution to report on any new evidence shedding light on Hammarskjold's death, to keep pressing governments and their intelligence agencies to disclose or declassify information that could fill gaps in the evidence surrounding the tragedy.

Copies of the South African documents describing Operation Celeste were first made public about 18 years ago, but South Africa was unable to locate the original documents, making it impossible to substantiate their authenticity by subjecting them to ink and paper testing. It remains unclear precisely which documents the South Africans have discovered. But officials familiar with the South African letter to the U.N. said Pretoria confirmed that it had located previously lost documents related to Operation Celeste. The discovery, however, raised hopes that the U.N. could verify whether the documents were in fact produced at the time of Hammarskjold's death.

In September 1961, Hammarskjold was flying on a peace mission from the Congolese capital of Léopoldville, now called Kinshasa, to the Ndola airfield in the British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia, renamed Zambia after independence. Hammarskjold's Douglas DC6B plane, called Albertina, crashed into the forest on its approach to the Ndola airfield. Hammarskjold was believed to have been tossed out of the plane upon impact, fatally crushing his chest, spine, and ribs. Fourteen other passengers and crew members died in the crash; a fifteenth, American Harold Julien, succumbed to his injuries a week later. Before his death, Julien told authorities that there had been an explosion in the plane before it went down.

A Rhodesian commission of inquiry concluded in 1962 that the plane had crashed as a result of pilot error - a fatal miscalculation of the height of the forest tree line. A subsequent U.N. inquiry could not establish the cause of the crash, leaving open the possibility that Hammarskjold could have died either as a result of an accident or foul play. In the ensuing decades, Hammarskjold's death has spawned a dizzying array of conspiracy theories that claim he was variously shot down by a CIA contractor or American ground troops, shot in the head by a South African mercenary after surviving the plane crash, or killed by a Belgian pilot who claimed to have shot down the plane. The first U.N. official to identify his body swore that he had a bullet sized hole in his forehead. But the autopsy, including X-rays of Hammarskjold's body, undercut such claims.

The U.N. has also largely discarded a host of other claims, including an allegation that a South African mercenary supposedly named Swanepoel had once drunkenly boasted that he had participated in the assassination.

The new evidence is by no means conclusive, officials insisted, noting that it simply represents another piece in a much larger investigative puzzle that might never be solved. And some observers familiar with the investigation cautioned that even if the documents prove to be authentic there remains a possibility that they may have been produced as part of a disinformation campaign by any number of possible sources, from the Soviets to soldiers of fortune seeking to brandish their standing with South African intelligence by claiming responsibility for Hammarskjold's death.

But the U.N. chief felt that it is relevant enough to justify a fresh look at what has turned out to be the most notorious and perplexing cold case in the U.N.'s history. According to U.N. officials, the decision to press forward reflects the influence of Jan Eliasson, a former Swedish foreign minister who currently serves as the U.N.'s deputy secretary-general. But some senior diplomats have questioned whether the latest findings will simply lead the U.N. on a fruitless pursuit of any number of the conspiracy theories, many of them contradictory, associated with Hammarskjold's death.

Next month, Ban will issue a five-page note describing the existence of the new evidence and asking the General Assembly to appoint an eminent person, most likely Othman, to examine the documents and see where they lead. Ban's deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, declined to comment on the new evidence or the U.N. chief's recommendations. But he told Foreign Policy that "the secretary-general remains personally committed to fulfilling the U.N.'s duty to the distinguished former secretary-general and those who accompanied him, to endeavor to establish the facts after so many years."

The Hammarskjold case gained new momentum in 2012, when a British scholar, Susan Williams, published a book entitled "Who Killed Hammarskjöld? The UN, the Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa," which uncovered new evidence, including eyewitnesses accounts by locals who recalled seeing the plane go down in flames and the testimony of Charles Southall, a retired U.S. naval officer, who said he heard a recording of a pilot boasting about shooting down what appeared to be Hammarskjold's plane. Southall would later express some confusion over whether he had actually heard the radio intercept or read a transcript of it.

"'I see a transport plane coming low. All the lights are on,'" Southall, who had been stationed at a NSA listening post in Cyprus, recalled the pilot saying. "'I'm going to go down to make a run on it. Yes, it's the Transair DC6. It's the plane. I've hit it. There are flames. It's going down. It's crashing.'"

Another American, Paul Abram, who claims to have been stationed at an NSA listening post in Iraklion, Greece, told the U.N. panel in May 2015 that he had also heard a radio intercept of an accented non-American on the night of Hammarskjold's death saying: "The Americans just shot down a U.N. plane."

Williams' book spurred the establishment in 2012 of the Hammarskjold Commission, a voluntary body of four international jurists and lawyers, including the Rt. Hon. Stephen Sedley, a British judge; Richard Goldstone, a former chief prosecutor for the U.N. war crimes tribunals in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia; Ambassador Hans Corell, a Swede who served as the U.N.'s top lawyer; and Wilhelmina Thomassen, a former Dutch Supreme Court judge.

The commission concluded in its final 2013 report that "there is persuasive evidence that the aircraft was subjected to some form of attack or threat as it circled to land at Ndola." It also concluded that it "is highly likely that the entirety of the local and regional Ndola radio traffic on the night of 17-18 September 1961 was tracked and recorded by the NSA, and possibly also by the CIA." Their findings prompted the U.N. secretary-general to assemble his own U.N. panel, headed by Othman, to revisit the Hammarskjold case in light of the new evidence.

Researchers say many key players in the region, including white minority governments, had clashed with Hammarskjold, whose U.N peacekeepers had been battling Belgian-backed separatists in the mineral-rich Congolese province of Katanga. Days before Hammarskjold's death, the U.N. launched an offensive against Katanga's separatists as part of an effort to drive hundreds of Belgian officers and European mercenaries out of the country.

The U.N. leader was advocating for Congo's full independence, while Belgium, with some support from Britain, the United States and South Africa, wanted to ensure that Katanga's riches - which included the uranium ore used in the production of the atomic weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - remained in friendly hands and out of the reach of the Soviet Union. Several months earlier, the CIA had played a role in the assassination by Belgian officers and Katangese separatists of Congolese liberation leader Patrice Lumumba, who was suspected of moving too closely to the Soviet Union.

Hammarskjold, meanwhile, died while en route to discuss a cease-fire with Moise Tshombe, the Belgian-backed leader of Katanga's secession drive. His broader mission was to convince at Tshombe to ditch his foreign backers and make peace with Congo's pro-Western leaders. "All those parties - the Belgians, the South Africans, the CIA - had a reason for opposing Dag Hammarskjold's mission," Goldstone told FP.

The possible existence of an alleged CIA-backed plot to kill Hammarskjold first emerged in 1998, when the South African National Intelligence Agency turned over a file to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission related to the 1993 assassination of Chris Hani, the leader of the South African Communist Party. But the file also included copies of eight documents detailing internal correspondence among members of the South African Institute for Maritime Research, or SAIMR, an alleged front for a clandestine mercenary organization active in Congo in the early 1960s.

The documents, which contain an alleged exchange between SAIMR's "commodore" and "captain," said Operation Celeste was meant to "remove" Hammarskjold, who had grown increasingly "troublesome." One document, marked "top secret" describes a meeting including representatives of SAIMR and Britain's intelligence agencies, MI5, and the Special Operations Executive, an apparent reference to a British agency that was set up in World War II to carry out espionage and sabotage operations in German-occupied Europe.

The documents state that CIA director Allen Dulles concurs that "Dag is becoming troublesome ... and should be removed." They also claim that Dulles pledged the support of his people on the ground.

According to the papers, saboteurs were to place six pounds of TNT in the wheel well of Hammarskjold's plane before it departed from Léopoldville, Congo, for the Ndola airport.

The explosives were supposed to detonate when Hammarskjold's pilot retracted the landing wheels. A backup plan described in the papers called for detonating the bomb remotely as it began its descent into Ndola. There is no hard evidence that the plane ever blew up.

The Othman panel gave the theory little credence last year, and pieces of wreckage bore no solid evidence that a bomb brought down the plane. The allegation, according to the panel, was based on copies of the South African SAIMR documents that couldn't be authenticated.

One organization cited in one of the documents, the Special Operations Executive, was believed to have disbanded in the late 1940s. South African authorities could provide no record that a mercenary team existed using that name. The U.N. panel concluded that there was no way to even prove the documents were authentic without subjecting the original paper and ink to testing.

The copies, the panel concluded, have "weak probative value" as the U.N. was unable to verify their authenticity or to even establish whether the maritime institute existed. The theory that a bomb was planted in Hammarskjold's plane, the panel concluded, "is weakly supported by the body of new information" it obtained.

The Hammarskjold Commission was even more skeptical. Hans Corell, a Swedish lawyer who served on the Hammarskjold Commission, said the Operation Celeste documents seemed "fishy. We were not impressed." He said the commission concluded that neither the documents, nor their contents, could be considered "trustworthy."

Susan Williams, who has studied SAIMR's activities for years, said it would be a mistake to dismiss the papers' authenticity out of hand. "I certainly would not discount the documents, which is why I went to so much trouble to find them," she said. "Some of them may be what they are purported to be and some of them may not be what they are purported to be."

Goldstone told FP said he continues to have a "strong feeling" that Hammarskjold's death was not an accident. But the commission's hunches about the cause of death differed in one critical aspect from the South African account of Operation Celeste. "Our view was that the bomb being placed in the plane was less likely than it having been shot down," Goldstone said.

He recalled interviewing four eyewitnesses, including three local workers, who said they saw the plane descend in flames. Some said they saw a second plane open fire on Hammarskjold's plane. Goldstone recalled that none of the locals had previously been interviewed by the Rhodesian commission or the U.N. "The Rhodesians tended to dismiss black witnesses as being unreliable," he said. "It was clearly a racist issue."

One of the key obstacles to finalizing the investigation is the reluctance of key powers, principally the United States and Britain, to release documents related to the case.

While Corell was skeptical about the likelihood of the CIA-backed plot described in the Operation Celeste documents, he believes U.S. intelligence agencies are withholding vital evidence that could help resolve the mystery surrounding Hammarskjold's death. Corell said he is particularly troubled by the failure to obtain transcripts of air traffic reports on the night of the tragedy.

The Ndola airport did not record radio traffic on the night of Hammarskjold's death, even though it possessed the technical capability to do so. A British diplomat, Sir Brian Unwin, who was at the Ndola airport on the night of Hammarskjold's death, recalled that two American aircraft had been running their engines on the airfield throughout the night, fueling suspicion that they were monitoring radio traffic.

The United States claims it has no record of Hammarskjold's radio communications that night, despite Southall's claims to the contrary. In its own response to questions from the U.N., the U.S. Mission to the United Nations also said they hadn't found evidence that any American planes were on the tarmac at Ndola that night.

But Corell remains skeptical. "We came to the conclusion that the Americans were listening to everything you could listen to in the air," Corell said. "I'm still suspicious of this. I'm sure they made a transcript of the radio traffic."

The failure to close the books on the Hammarskjold case has gnawed at the victims' relatives. Hynrich Wieschhoff, whose father died alongside Hammarskjold, welcomes the U.N.'s renewed interest in the case. But he fears the latest focus on a Operation Celeste may lead to another dead end.

Meanwhile, he is growing frustrated with what he sees as the U.N.'s piecemeal approach to the investigation; that is, limiting its investigation to pursuing new facts as they come to light. What is needed, he said, is "a full-fledged investigation" that reviews the complete body of evidence from past and current inquiries. He credited the the U.N. panel for doing a "masterful job" despite its limited resources and time; the panel was only given three months to carry out its work.

"The evidence is staler, memories are fading, and individuals are dying," he told Foreign Policy. "Let's clear the tables, forget about politics, and get an answer."

Europe’s New Best Friend In Africa Is An Indicted Genocidal War Criminal

Instead of calling Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir out for his abuses, the EU has hired him to police Europe-bound migrants.

BY NESRINE MALIK,
FOREIGN POLICY, JULY 31, 2016

LONDON — “The calamities of a people are the gifts of another.” So says an Arabic expression common in Sudan that could easily be the country’s motto. Tragic events have a knack for conspiring to extend the longevity of the Sudanese regime — or rather, the Sudanese regime has a knack for leveraging tragic events to stay in power.

The latest calamity to benefit the government of Omar al-Bashir, who became an international pariah when he invited Osama bin Laden and other terrorists to Sudan in the 1990s and later earned the distinction of being the first sitting head of state indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes committed in Darfur, is the massive refugee crisis gripping Europe. In exchange for cooperating with the European Union to halt the movement of migrants and refugees through Sudanese territory, Bashir’s government is being quietly invited in from the cold.

For almost three decades, Khartoum has faced crippling U.S. and EU sanctions. And since his ICC indictment in 2009, Bashir has been a fugitive from justice in much of the world — only able to visit a handful of countries in Africa and the Persian Gulf without fear of arrest. Now Bashir’s government is set to receive a generous chunk of the EU’s $2 billion “Emergency Trust Fund for Africa,” which aims to combat migration at its source by promoting development and strengthening border security. For Sudan, the refugee crisis has been a godsend.

For a combination of reasons — its strategic location next to Libya and Egypt, its largely ungoverned hinterland, and its porous borders — Sudan has become a major transit hub for refugees and migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Syria who are hoping to reach Europe. Historically, the Sudanese government has been rather relaxed about migration through its territory. But presented with the carrot of EU funds, and the possibility of normalization of relations with European nations, it has suddenly become far more disciplined about policing the movement of people within its borders.

Refugees in Sudan say officials who previously accepted bribes from people on the move now appear unwilling to do so, and Khartoum’s notoriously chaotic police force has suddenly gotten more organized when it comes to apprehending migrants, particularly from Eritrea. In May, close to 1,000 Eritreans were reportedly rounded up in Khartoum and either taken to prisons there or deported back to Eritrea. Then in June, Sudan captured Mered Medhanie, an Eritrean smuggler thought to be responsible for the 2013 drowning deaths of almost 400 migrants near the Italian island of Lampedusa, and extradited him to Italy.

This awakening of good global citizenship was no coincidence. In April, Neven Mimica, the EU commissioner for international cooperation and development, formally announced a roughly $110 million aid package to Sudan through the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, ostensibly earmarked for reducing poverty, creating jobs, and improving the delivery of basic services in marginalized and conflict-affected areas. “Our new support of [$110 million] will essentially focus on improving the living conditions for those who call Sudan home, helping returnees to the country to reintegrate back into society, and improving security at the borders,” Mimica said in a statement.

Mimica surely hoped the world would take note of the first two items he highlighted, but it is the last one — border security — that prompted the uneasy rapprochement with Brussels in the first place and has absorbed the bulk of the funds. In May, Der Spiegel and the New Statesman obtained secret documents revealing that the EU had earmarked funds to train Sudanese border police and planned to provide equipment such as cameras, scanners, and servers to the Sudanese government so it can register incoming refugees and build two closed “reception centers” in the eastern towns of Gadaref and Kassala. It’s not clear if these funds were part of the $110 million aid package announced in April or part of a separate $45 million grant, also from the Emergency Trust Fund, that the Sudanese government is set to receive a portion of in exchange for managing migration. Either way, Sudan is effectively being funded to stanch the flow of migrants and refugees to Europe — and to build open-air prisons to house them.

It’s an unsavory deal for Europe to say the least. Outsourcing the management of migrant routes to a cash-strapped government with a miserable human rights record will not only mean more suffering for desperate migrants and refugees. It will strengthen a regime whose demise many wish to hasten, including, presumably, European countries whose sanctions have cut Khartoum off from international financial markets. A spokesperson for the EU’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development wasquoted by the news service IRIN as saying the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa was “designed to improve migration management” and that “no funding will be channeled through the beneficiary countries’ government structures.”

This statement is misleading at best and at worst an outright lie. In countries like Sudan, where the line between public and private is often blurred, money does not have to travel through official channels to reach government pockets. Even if funds are only disbursed to nonprofits and other private partner organizations, the Sudanese government will control every aspect of the process, right down to who gets to bid for construction tenders and contracts to install and operate the surveillance equipment. There is little accountability or transparency when it comes to the Sudanese government’s fiscal policies, and it’s hard to imagine the EU looking too closely at the money trail, so long as the migration route via Sudan is effectively patrolled and sealed off.

Moreover, the entities that will enforce the new migration measures designed by the EU — the police, the border control, and the so-called Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — are very much a part of the government. A paramilitary force that supports the beleaguered Sudanese army, the RSF in particular stands accused of horrific human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and mass rape. It was formed in 2013 from elements of the janjaweed, the notorious militias that carried out the government’s genocide in Darfur, and answers directly to the National Intelligence and Security Service. The idea was to create a nimble and decisive force to address the country’s regular rebel uprisings and serve as a bodyguard for the central government. RSF troops regularly patrol Khartoum, a city that is increasingly becoming a garrison town, securing it against potential rebel attacks — and now enforcing immigration policies dreamed up in Brussels.

It is troubling that those who perpetrated the Sudanese government’s crimes in Darfur now form Europe’s first line of defense against unwanted refugees. But even more troubling is the fact that the EU is now arming Khartoum with international credibility at a time when its domestic legitimacy is arguably at an all-time low. Cash-strapped because of low oil prices and sullied in the eyes of many of its citizens by its brazen use of extrajudicial killings and detentions, Sudan is facing its largest student protests in recent memory — protests that at times have devolved into bloody clashes with security forces. But instead of amplifying the pressure on Bashir by calling out his abuses, European governments are quietly letting his government escape its previous international isolation. In June, for instance, Marta Ruedas, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, paid Bashir a visit at the presidential guesthouse in Khartoum. She was the highest-ranking U.N. official to meet with the president for several years. Mimica himself visited Sudan and met with the first vice president, as well as Sudanese officials in the ministries of International Cooperation, Foreign Affairs, and Interior. Presumably, a visit with the president was still a bridge too far — optically at least.

This is not the first time that a foreign tragedy has proved a boon to the Sudanese regime. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Bashir’s government began quiet but close cooperation with the United States on intelligence. In exchange, Khartoum gained additional leverage over U.S. sponsored peace negotiations with southern Sudanese rebels, as well as promises of sanctions relief once South Sudan achieved independence in 2011. The United States backed away from its promise of sanctions relief after new conflicts erupted in 2011 in Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, but it continued to work closely with Sudanese intelligence officials. Today, in private, many U.S. officials say they’d like to remove Sudan from the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list, a move that has proved politically impossible to date.

Now Sudan has a new set of bargaining chips: desperate refugees willing to risk their lives to get to Europe. It’s unlikely that all or even most of the sanctions will be lifted anytime soon — the optics are still too bad for most Western powers — but cooperation on the refugee front is a clear first step toward rehabilitation for Bashir. If Sudan is coming in from the cold, however, the Sudanese people will remain stranded on the outside for the foreseeable future, bearing the brunt of international sanctions until they are lifted and the brutality of their government long after that.

We Must Build Up Africa, Not Diminish It

BY FRANKLYN JOHNSTON

JAMAICA OBSERVER, FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Africa has been much maligned. As I track a discussion across three countries, I am amazed at the illogic of educated agnostics. Europe says the Zika virus is from Africa and blacks think this a racist slur. Whites identified the virus in Uganda monkeys in 1947; humans in Nigeria in 1954 and Cameroon in 1975. Our people must learn to face reality with optimism. Where are Africa’s scientists? Africa has not distinguished itself for 3,000 years, and bad things in Africa — witchcraft, face and body scarring, FGM, and other evil had a place back then, so do not apologise or feel bad for Africa. It is the birthplace of humans, still evolving; diamonds like tennis balls, rare ores as Coltan for computers; fauna, flora. Dessicating winds cross the Atlantic with disease — Zika, ChikV, Lassa, Aids, Ebola; what else lies beneath? Conspiracy theorists aver these were created by the white man — maybe so, but we still know little about Africa from Africans.

Since 1000 BCE it is behind other continents — Asia, Europe, Americas, Australasia — and we disrespected our well-adapted hair, face, derrières; our levity ridiculed; it has no critical mass of experts to align our human evolution with history. Is there a rule that all peoples should be on the same page at the same time? Could Africa be on a different trajectory with reason? Song and dance move us, not toil or production. Should we accept that our pleasure trumps national goals and be allowed to live? It’s not on as we still want the fruits of hard work. Colonialism was good as it upset the trajectory of Africa’s languid secular evolution and forced interface with fast-paced capitalism. But bad as the master class in military, commercial, person power from its returning diaspora had a price. Africa had no curiosity for far horizons or stars, but guns, tools, consumer goods seduced them to trade their most prolific commodity — black bodies. Accidents may lead to change. Diaspora convergence on Africa — Arab from east, north and Europe from the west upset their comfort level. Darwin (

Origin of the Species) found plants adapt fast in extremes and animals become hirsute or smooth with pores as the iron rule of DNA is survive, reproduce, live! Arabs came with swords in the 7th century; Africa compromised and lived. Europeans came seven centuries later with capitalism; Africa joined for profit, military and consumer goods.

Africa is extraordinarily diverse and beautiful but lacks a portable faith, military might or resolve when faced with white men who left family and sailed unknown seas to get rich. The role of Indians and Arabs in Africa’s prehistory was a leisurely trade in blacks for domestic servitude over millennia; Atlantic slavery was intense, brutal over two centuries to provide labour for cutting-edge sugar works in the West Indies. More Africans were sold via trans-Sahara and the Indian Ocean than Atlantic slave trade, but who cares? In Africa, life was cheap in 1000 BCE, in 1600 CE and still is today. Millions of kids have been orphaned by Aids, Ebola and Lassa. Tribal wars are now raised by teens and supported by transactional sex, but who cares? Yet Africa should not be disrespected as there are reasons; it was not ready when the ancient diaspora returned to make deals. The real Roots is not yet written. The volumes of McIlwaine’s Africa Bibliography shows Africans are not writing history, so we may never know their side.

Humans of red, brown, white skins, originated in Africa — the world is African. Over millennia they trekked to icy lands; pigmentation adapted, they innovated and those remaining stagnated. Indians and Arabs did not go far and returned to Africa centuries later to buy people. Those who went far north to Europe adapted to punishing environments and went back to Africa in the 16th century seeking labour to make sugar in the West Indies. They had no recall of ancestors. Evolution is slow, and those who remained had no pressure to change as Sahara slave trades were unhurried and fitted the culture. The Atlantic trade was revolutionary as with greed for guns, beads, and mirrors, a devilish pact between Europeans and Africans was struck with native leaders. Pressured by shareholders for profit, bankers for interest, insurers for premiums on ships and mutinous seamen for pay, the returnees had a purpose. Africa was clueless. Trade meant Africa had modernity without effort. Sounds familiar? Export slavery was revolutionary in the 17th century. It ripped young and old, men and women into a capitalist vortex by the greed of their leaders. Might it have been different? Yes! But in life we play the cards dealt. Would it have spawned modern science, a global religion and defined nation states? There is no sign of curiosity or desire. Romantic West Indians like to conflate Egypt with sub-Sahara Africa. The insecure seek warmth in another’s sun, but nature is ‘red in tooth and claw’ and progress moves inexorably over the unready. Modern African diasporas can’t claim American progress as black just because Obama is president — the root is not of Africa.

In pre-history, Africa was well-off compared to ice-bound continents, which had only three months to produce food to last the entire year. African trekkers up north became visionary, innovative and productive. Those who remained had no such energy and became stagnant. Africa is not a caring, diligent fatherland to its modern diasporas, but how can we help? There is wealth, conspicuous consumption; hurt, mass disease, wars and death. A modern western sector is emerging and though not as resourced, we have a burnished profile; we punch above our weight and so we can help. We must disaggregate Africa and begin to market individual nations on their strengths and flaws. The world must discuss Ghana, Nigeria as they do France, England, Spain — bespoke personalities and not mindless, disrespectful aggregation. A name denotes identity, selfhood. If someone knows your name he respects you. We must fight to make African nations differentiated and memorable. We are not rich, but we are well-branded, and African nations need a champion. As for the West, we see them as they can’t see themselves. Our duty is to put Africa on the map, one nation at a time. Africa is rising! Stay conscious!

Franklin Johnston, D Phil (Oxon) is a strategist and project manager.

Pope Visits Auschwitz, Begs God To Forgive "So Much Cruelty"

A sign reading "stop" in German and Polish is seen in the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, July 29, 2016. Pope Francis paid a somber visit to the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau Friday, becoming the third consecutive pontiff to make the pilgrimage to the place where Adolf Hitler's forces killed more than 1 million people, most of them Jews.

Pope Francis walks through the gate of the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, July 29, 2016. Pope Francis paid a somber visit to the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau Friday, becoming the third consecutive pontiff to make the pilgrimage to the place where Adolf Hitler's forces killed more than 1 million people, most of them Jews. (Filippo Monteforte/Pool Photo via AP)

OSWIECIM, POLAND (AP) — Pope Francis paid a somber visit in silence to the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Friday, with his only public comment a guest book entry begging God "forgiveness for so much cruelty."

The Argentine-born pontiff made an early morning pilgrimage to the place where Adolf Hitler's forces killed more than 1 million people, most of them Jews, during World War II. Francis entered the camp on foot, walking slowly in his white robes beneath the notorious gate at Auschwitz that bears the cynical words "Arbeit Macht Frei (Work sets you free)."

After meeting briefly with 11 death camp survivors, he moved on to nearby Birkenau, a sprawling complex where people were murdered in factory-like fashion in its gas chambers. There he greeted 25 Holocaust rescuers.

Altogether, it was a deeply contemplative and private visit of nearly two hours that Francis passed in total silence, except for a few words he exchanged with the survivors and rescuers. Vatican and Polish church officials explained that Francis wanted to express his sorrow in silence at the site, mourning the victims in quiet prayer and meditation.

However, he did express his feelings, writing in the Auschwitz memorial's guest book in Spanish: "Lord, have mercy on your people! Lord, forgiveness for so much cruelty!" He then signed with his name in Latin, "Franciscus" and added the date "29.7.2016."

Francis is the first pope to visit Auschwitz who did not himself live himself through the brutality of World War II on Europe's soil. Both of his predecessors had a personal or historical connection to the site. St. John Paul II, born in Poland, witnessed the unspeakable suffering inflicted on his nation during the German occupation during the war. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, who visited in 2006, was a German who served in the Hitler Youth for a time as a teenager.

Francis prayed silently for more than 15 minutes before greeting survivors, one by one, shaking their hands and kissing them on the cheeks. He then carried a large white candle to the Death Wall, where prisoners at Auschwitz were executed.

At the dark underground prison cell that once housed St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish friar who sacrificed his life to save that of a fellow prisoner who had a family, Francis prayed again. A few shafts from a tiny window were the only light cast on the pontiff.

He then traveled 2 miles (3 kilometers) to Birkenau, the vast satellite camp where the Nazis murdered Jews, Roma and others from across Europe. Invited guests, among them camp survivors and Christian Poles who saved Jews during the war, stood in respect as the pope arrived, his vehicle driving parallel to the rail tracks once used to transport victims to their deaths there.

At one point the deep silence was broken by the wailing of an infant. When Francis arrived, the hundreds of guests applauded. Francis slowly observed each of the memorial plaques in the 23 languages used by the inmates.

Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, then recited, in Hebrew, Psalm 130, which starts: "From the depths I have cried out to you, O Lord." Francis clasped his hands and bent his head as the psalm was read, first by the rabbi and then by a priest in Polish.

John Paul's visit to the site in 1979 made history because it was the first ever by a pontiff, part of the Vatican's historical efforts at reconciliation with Jews. As a pope hailing from another continent, Francis's presence highlights visit the universal importance of a site that in recent years has drawn ever more visitors from around the world. The millions who now visit have put increasing stress on the site's aging barracks, prompting urgent conservation efforts that are being funded by governments worldwide.

Francis' visit is also different in that it had a private character with no speeches. Benedict, for instance, spoke there in 2006 in Italian — pointedly avoiding his native German language — in a speech questioning why God was silent at the slaughter of so many.

The pope's visit to Auschwitz came on the third day of a five-day visit to Poland that includes meetings with young pilgrims taking part in World Youth Day, a global celebration of faith. Friday is devoted to the theme of suffering. Later in the day Francis will visit a children's hospital in Krakow and take part in a Way of the Cross with the young people.

Gera reported from Warsaw. Monika Scislowska in Krakow contributed to this report.

Frances D'Emilio is on twitter at www.twitter/fdemilio.

Africa's Growing And Neglected Cancer Problem: We Will All Suffer

BY MILES P. POMPER AND FERENC DALNOKI-VERESS

THE CONVERSATION/MEDICAL EXPRESS

Uganda's only radiation treatment machine broke down in April earlier this year, provoking widespread public criticism and leaving an estimated 30,000 new cancer patients stranded.

Yet the lack of adequate cancer care was hardly unique in the region: 80 percent of Africa's one billion people have no access to radiotherpy although half of all cancer patients need it.

The lack of adequate cancer care also is hardly unique to Africa. Worldwide, it is estimated that an additional 5,000 radiotherapy machines  are needed to treat cancer.

While infectious diseases like AIDS and Ebola have received the lion's share of Western media attention, noncommunicable diseases, including cancers, are surging in Africa and other low- and middle-income countries. This is fueled by population growth, longer lifespans, related infectious diseases, and health and environmental factors, such as increased urbanization and smoking. Cancer, which kills one in eight people worldwide, is on the verge of becoming a global pandemic with a staggering economic toll: Cancer treatment already costs almost US$1 trillion a year.

Yet developing countries lack the resources – from machines to trained personnel to operate them – to cover more than a small portion of today's cases, let alone the rising numbers projected for the future.About 15 African countries have no radiation therapy available at all.

Our studies and research on nonproliferation of nuclear weapons actually led me to investigate this problem further, as it has an effect not only on millions of people but also on the world's security and safety, as I will explain in greater detail.

Lack of radiation therapy equipment will cost lives and money

Tackling this challenge is important from both a humanitarian and an economic perspective. Worldwide, two-thirds of the 8.2 million cncer deaths in 2012 occurred in developing countries, with that proportion anticipated to grow dramatically in the years ahead. Many of these deaths could be delayed or avoided altogether with adequate rdiation treatment as well as better diagnostic and screening techniques. For example, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer in the United States is 90 percent, but it is only 50 percent in Uganda.

With 80 percent of the world's cancer burden, these developing countries receive only 5 percent of the resources directed toward cancer care.

Investing additional funds in cancer care will save not only lives but also money. It would enable a larger workforce able to contribute to the economy.

Increased radiation treatment, a recent landmark study concluded, could lead to savings in tens to hundreds of billions of dollars. After all, working-age patients who in developed countries would likely survive and continue to lead productive lives are essentially left for dead in poorer countries.

Unfortunately, the major public health and development communities have yet to focus sufficiently on the problem. To be sure, the United Nations last year approved sustainable development goals that called for a one-third reduction by 2030 of deaths from noncommunicable diseases, such as cancer, and increasing prevention and treatment.

However, when it comes to cancer, little money has been put behind this goal, and next to noneit for treatment. The major public development and health organizations, such as the World Bank and World Health Organization, and private donors, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have preferred to focus their funding on infectious diseases.

Some funders have begun to consider some near-term funding for forestalling some of the more preventable cancers, such as cervical cancer through the HPV vaccine. This is no help, however, for those who already have been diagnosed. The unfortunate victims who find out they have cancer have little recourse but to succumb to the disease – or to bankrupt their families to pay for palliative care
Even in those few poor countries that have limited access to a radiotherapy equipment, the technology these countries are using is antiquated and less effective, from a medical perspective. Richer countries and better-off developing countries generally employ linear accelerators. These machines allow doctors to administer highly targeted doses of radiation to patients. They destroy tumors and yet limit damage to surrounding tissues.

But poorer countries have had to make do with old fashioned machines that use highly radioactive material (cobalt-60).Such machines not only provide less effective medical treatment, but also pose a security risk – cobalt 60 can be used to make a radiological weapon, such as a dirty bomb.

By helping countries acquire linear accelerators and train associated personnel, the international community therefore has the opportunity to improve public health and security simultaneously.

Not an easy fix – but a needed one

To be sure, it will face challenges in doing so, and not just financial ones. For example, it is more difficult to operate linear accelerators, which need steady supplies of electricity and water. This is particularly difficult in the challenging environments of some low- and middle-income countries. In addition, there is a shortage of trained oncologists and other cancer workers, and training them will take time. Sierre Leone, for example, has no oncologists, let alone a radiation oncologist.

But concerned groups are already working on ways to address these challenges. For example, the European laboratory CERN, the largest particle physics laboratory in the world, which operates the largest accelerator in the world, is looking at ways to make a more rugged and inexpensive accelerator for medical use.

Meanwhile, cancer professionals have launched an International Cancer Expert Corps to link medical experts in better off countries with their poorer colleagues. Last year, private companies launched an initiative supported by the White House to use smartphones and other readily accessible technologies in poorer countries to improve diagnostic and screening procedures. Such efforts could save lives and make radiation therapy more effective by catching cancer earlier. Today, many patients in remote areas only travel to cancer treatment facilities in major cities when the disease has progressed to a point where doctors can only ease their pain not cure the disease.

For example, a health care provider can take cellphone pictures of the cervix to screen for cancer. These images are then remotely analyzed by a gynecologist, which allows that doctor to see many women without physically being present. Such an approach, which has been utilized in a partnership between the University of Pennslyvania Perelman School of Medicine and Botswana, may also lessen sociocultural barriers to screening.

Given the scale of the current and future challenges, such initiatives, however inspiring, are simply not enough. Both greater political leadership and financial resources are needed from the international community to meet the sustainable development goals. Developing country governments, the major international development organizations, and major private public health donors all need to do more to tackle cancer in the world's poorest countries and help make a healthier and more secure world.

US Woman Gets 3 Years In Gambia; US officials 'Outraged'

Ebrima Jawara poses with his daughters Sarah, left, and Aminata, while holding a picture of his wife Fanta Darboe Jawara, who is being held in Gambia's notorious Mile 2 Central Prison, as they anxiously await her return to their Frederick, Md. home. Jawara says his wife, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has been wrongfully sentenced to three years imprisonment in Gambia following her arrest during an anti-government protest where her husband says she was a bystander during a visit to her homeland. (Bill Green/The Frederick News-Post via AP, File)

HAGERSTOWN, MARYLAND  (AP) — Four Maryland congressional members expressed outrage Thursday after a court in Gambia sentenced a state resident to three years in prison following her arrest there during an anti-government protest led by her prominent dissident uncle.

Fanta Darboe Jawara's conviction and sentencing made a mockery of civil rights guaranteed by the Gambian constitution, said the joint statement from senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski and representatives Chris Van Hollen and John Delaney, all Democrats.

"She has done nothing wrong and this outcome is completely unacceptable," the officials said. "We are in touch with the State Department to learn more about the appeals process in Gambia, and are committed to doing our part to ensure Mrs. Jawara's timely release and return to her husband and children in Maryland."

The State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs didn't immediately respond an emailed query from The Associated Press about the case. Ebrima Jawara said his wife, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was peacefully observing the demonstration when she was arrested along with 19 others April 16 near Banjul, the capital city of the West African nation. He has said Mrs. Jawara was visiting her homeland, leaving him and their two daughters home in Frederick.

Amnesty International said in a statement that 19 of the 20 people arrested at the demonstration were sentenced to three years in jail Wednesday after a court convicted them of unlawful assembly and related counts, and acquitted them of incitement to violence.

Among those convicted and sentenced was Ousainou Darboe, Mrs. Jawara's uncle, a leader of Gambia's opposition United Democratic Party. Mr. Jawara emailed the AP what appeared to be a partial transcript of the proceeding in which the court found that Mrs. Jawara apparently did not participate in the protest, but refused to defend herself against the charges.

"The evidence was that my wife wasn't part of it," Mr. Jawara said in a telephone interview. He said she didn't offer a defense because she has no lawyer. Mrs. Jawara has been detained since her arrest. The four Maryland congressional members last month demanded her release.

The State Department has expressed concern about Mrs. Jawara's treatment while she's being held by the government of President Yahya Jammeh. Mr. Jawara is a grandson of Jammeh's predecessor, Dawda Jawara, who was ousted in a 1994 military coup. Human rights groups criticize Jammeh and say he tortures opponents and persecutes gays.

Two Weeks In Nigeria

By Emmanuel Acho, Linebacker/NFL

The Players Tribune

This hasn’t been the easiest off-season for me professionally. When you’re a free agent this late in the process, there’s a lot of uncertainty. That’s just the nature of this job for the majority of players in the league. One day (or even season) you’re on top of the world with a whole city behind you, the next, you’re a just another unemployed guy searching for work. It’s easy to sit around and stew when you’re thinking about the future. But there’s an old saying that goes “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.” So with this in mind, rather than sit around waiting, I spent some time this off-season helping people in a much, much worse situation than myself.

My father was born in Isuikwuato, Nigeria, and after immigrating to America started Living Hope Christian Ministries. For nearly 30 years, my parents have traveled to rural villages in Nigeria with a team of American doctors, nurses and volunteers with the sole goal of saving lives. Living Hope works for weeks in these villages, removing hernias, lipomas, cataracts and extracting teeth.

This summer I traveled to Nigeria— along with my older brother, Sam, who plays for the Bears, and his teammate De’Vante Bausby — on a humanitarian mission with Living Hope. Even though this wasn’t my first trip to Nigeria, it was special in many ways. When I reflect on the experience as a whole, there are the eight main lessons I walked away with that I’d like to share with you.

1: In America we re overwhelmingly blessed, but have underwhelming gratitude

I’ll be first to say I am often guilty of this. We often take for granted that the only reason we enjoy a high standard of living is because others paved the way for us. I truly believe I live in the greatest country in the world, but my two-week stay in Nigeria made me realize how much of my privileged way of life I take for granted.

2: Fear of the unknown is no excuse

There are many people who are probably interested in making a humanitarian trip similar to mine, but who may be hesitant because of the inherent dangers associated with traveling to a foreign country. But the fact is, bad things happen everywhere. We easily forget that there are many dangers that Americans face at home. Look no further than the tragic deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castille as well as the murders of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge. My point is that tragedy is not limited to any one nation, and the potential for it to strike shouldn’t be the deciding factor in keeping a person from going on a humanitarian mission.

3: Money does not equal happiness

There’s a saying I used to love that goes “Money isn’t everything, but it ranks up there with oxygen.” There’s a simple truth to that because you need money to survive. But after spending a lot of time in a country where 60% of the population lives off of less than a dollar per day, I realized that money does not grant us much beyond survival. The people of Nigeria, particularly those living in rural villages, were some of the most joyful people I have ever met — despite their poverty/extreme poverty.

What they lack in material possessions, Nigerians make up for in joy, love, peace, kindness and respect. In that sense, they’re quite rich. Every day they showed our missionaries an incredible amount of love and kindness. Victor, one patient we treated, requested I deliver this message to you: “Tell your American people I love them.”

4: The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few

Our team of 27 of Americans were far outnumbered by the thousands of people we encountered in need of care. It was as if every time we treated one patient, two more walked in. We worked tirelessly from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, performing surgeries and prescribing eyeglasses and medicine. Without fail, however, thousands more would still be waiting for our help the very next morning.

5: They say it is better to give than receive, but I say the two aren’t mutually exclusive

Upon arriving back in the U.S. after my trip, a lot of people showered me with praise for the work I had done in Africa. I heard things like, “Wow what a great thing you did for the people of Nigeria” and “You guys must have changed countless lives.” These sentiments were somewhat off the mark. What this trip taught me was that by helping others, you really do help yourself. There may not be a tangible financial reward, but there’s a certain satisfaction in humanitarian work that can’t be described. Those who have had a similar experience to mine probably understand what I’m talking about. While we did change many lives with the work we did in Nigeria, the people we helped weren’t the only ones who benefited from our time there. Everyone who went on this trip came away a better, more appreciative person than before they left. You can’t place a monetary value on that.


6: There is a level of poverty that is completely foreign to Americans

This trip completely redefined the definition of the word poverty for me. In America, we relate poverty to the inner city, where income levels are low and crime rates are high. There’s no question that life in those areas is extremely difficult, but even those living in some of the very worst conditions in the U.S. would be considered upper-class citizens in Nigeria. Where we worked, poverty was not Section 8 housing and food stamps. Poverty was sleeping in a hut you built out of palm leaves and bamboo sticks. It was having your day start when the sun rises and end when it sets because there is no electricity within miles. In Nigeria we were exposed to the kind of poverty that most Americans are lucky enough to know nothing about.

7: A life lived selfishly is not worth living

’m currently a 4-year NFL veteran looking for my next opportunity. But I’m also much more than that. I have something to offer the world to make it a better place. We all do. It doesn’t matter whether you’re offering money, talent or time. What’s imperative is that you give all of yourself to a greater cause. We all need each other. Not just domestically, but globally as well. It’s a big world out there, and in order to live life to its fullest, you must give back.

8: God’s grace abounds:

I’m a Christian man and was raised in the church. In fact, the church is the only reason I’m fortunate enough be an American. In the 1970s, missionaries who heard my father preach in Nigeria brought him back to the U.S., where he started a new life and continued to spread the word of God. The only thing separating the people I treated in Nigeria from myself (and anyone, really) is circumstance.

During my two weeks in Nigeria, I often found myself depressed and dejected over the conditions in which I saw people living. I realized that in a world filled with so much injustice, we can either passively give in, or take a stand and try to fix things. I choose the latter. Even though change can’t happen all at once, it can occur one person at a time. I saw this firsthand in Nigeria. And this is the most important thing I’d like to share with my fellow Americans. It’s nothing short of a blessing that we are privileged enough to be put in a position to make a difference in the lives of others.

Even though I’m proud of the work we did in Nigeria this summer, I know we left way too many patients unattended to. Our short stay there was not enough to treat all of the country’s ill and afflicted. Living Hope Christian Ministries has set out to build a real clinic in the Isuikwuato, Nigeria that would cost roughly $2 million — and we’re almost there. But unfortunately, when funds stop coming in, the building stops going up. We need a real clinic, we need a real staff and we need your help. In my profession, my goal is to hoist the Lombardi trophy, but in my everyday life, my goal is to save lives. To help us accomplish our goals, visit LivingHopeMinistries.us.

Bodies Of 21 Women, One Man Found On Migrant Boat In Mediterranean: MSF

REUTERS

Migrants are seen on a capsizing boat before a rescue operation by Italian navy ships “Bettica” and “Bergamini” (unseen) off the coast of Libya in this handout picture released by the Italian Marina Militare on May 25, 2016. REUTERS

ROME, ITALY, (REUTERS): The bodies of 21 women and one man were found on a rubber dinghy adrift near the Libyan coast on Wednesday, just hours after they had set sail for Italy, humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said.

An MSF ship patrolling the central Mediterranean came to the rescue of two dinghies that were sailing close together and managed to pull 209 people, including 50 children, to safety.

However, 22 migrants were found dead at the bottom of the first dinghy, lying in a pool of fuel.

“It is still not entirely clear what happened, but they died a horrible death. It is tragic,” said Jens Pagotto, MSF Head of Mission for Search and Rescue Operations.

“It seems that water and fuel mixed together and the fumes from this might have been enough for them to lose consciousness,” he told Reuters by telephone.

The survivors, most of them from West African states such as Nigeria and Guinea, were being brought to Sicily along with the dead and were due to reach the port of Trapani on Friday.

Italian authorities have reported a jump in the number of migrants who have left Libya this week on overcrowded boats in search of a better life in Europe, as people smugglers take advantage of calm seas and hot summer weather.

More than 2,500 people were rescued on Tuesday and one body was recovered, Italy’s coast guard said. Almost 600 people were saved on Wednesday.

As of Monday, 79,861 migrants had arrived in Italy by sea so far in 2016 compared with 83,119 during the same period last year. Almost 3,000 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean in the first seven months of this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Pagotto said the two dinghies had probably left the north African state of Libya in the early hours of Wednesday and were picked up some 17 nautical miles east of Tripoli.

The Italian coastguard received a distress call at about 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) and notified the MSF ship MV Aquarius, which took three hours to reach the scene. An Italian naval vessel also helped with the rescue.

“The survivors had been on the boat with the bodies of these women for hours on end. Many are too traumatized from what they have endured to be able to talk about what had happened,” said Pagotto.

He said a team of trauma specialists would be on hand to help the survivors when they reached land.

Israel Renews Ties With Largely Muslim Nation Guinea

BY CARA ANNA

ASSOCIATED PRESS, JULY 20, 2016

President Alpha Conde Of Guinea

Israel said Wednesday it has renewed diplomatic ties with the largely Muslim African country of Guinea, the latest step in Israel's courtship of the continent, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected another nation to soon follow suit.

Israel's foreign ministry announced that the countries restored ties after 49 years. The director of Israel's foreign ministry, Dore Gold, signed an agreement in Paris with the chief of staff of Guinea's presidential office, Ibrahim Khalil Kaba.

The news comes after Netanyahu's four-nation Africa tour this month. It was the first visit to sub-Saharan Africa by a sitting Israeli prime minister in nearly three decades.

"This is part of a process that is gaining momentum, and it is very important. It is opening Israel up to Africa," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Israel is pursuing closer security and other ties with Africa, and it wants African states to support it at the United Nations. where the Palestinians were recognized as a non-member observer state in 2012.

The new agreement says Guinea was the first country to cut ties with Israel after the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel captured the West Bank. east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip from its Arab foes.

It also says Guinea and Israel have had friendly relations even in the absence of diplomatic ties. Israel took part in the international effort to halt the recent Ebola virus outbreak, which hit the West African country hard.

Israel said the number of African countries with which it doesn't have diplomatic ties is shrinking, and it hopes others will follow Guinea's example.

Israel's foreign ministry lists several Muslim or largely Muslim countries that have no current ties with it. Many are in northern and West Africa.


Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed.