Showing posts with label Islam and slaves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islam and slaves. Show all posts

Monday, December 21, 2015

Video - Syria - Isis Allegedly separating Yazidi girls from their parents for Sex Slavery.


Video - Allegedly Isis separating Yazidi girls from their parents for Sex Slavery unknown location inside Syria

Video footage has surfaced that appears to show Yazidi girls being dragged from their families by masked and heavily-armed Islamic State (Isis) fighters. The footage, which takes place in an unknown apartment building presumably in Daesh-held land in either Syria or Iraq, shows a scrum of Yazidi prisoners and IS gunmen separating women from men. It is feared that the girls are being taken to be sold into sexual slavery by the terrorist group.

The apartment building is surrounded by IS fighters and the group's distinctive flag can be seen hanging from a balcony. There is no information about where or when the video was recorded. Read the full story here.

Monday, September 21, 2015

2 thousand fishermen freed from slavery in Southeast Asia in 2015.


2 thousand fishermen freed from slavery in Southeast Asia in 2015. (AN).

More than 2 thousand workers enslaved in the fishing industry were released in the first six months of this year in the countries of Southeast Asia.

This is the result of an investigation that began more than a year ago by some reporters of the Associated Press, which led to the discovery of a thriving market in human exploitation which has its hub in the eastern islands of Indonesia and involvies workers from Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

A report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) shows that workers are trapped on islands (such as Benjina, in Indonesia's Maluku), exploited, tortured and locked up in cages.

A study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropicl Meicine, based on interviews with more than a thousand survivors, reveals that half of the fishermen who manage to return home suffer  from depression and approximately 40% from acute post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety. Many of them bear the marks of scarring or mutilation.

25 years old Tin Lin Tun, has not seen his family for five years, since a Thai agent took him away, promising him a job in construction: "I'm sure my parents think I'm dead." Rather than becoming a builder, the boy was sold to a fishing boat and taken to Indonesia.

The investigation revealed that the marine products from slave labor are purchased by some US food giants. The importing agencies have condemned all forms of exploitation, but lawsuits were opened against companies such as Proctor & Gamble, Nestle USA Inc. and Nestle Purina Petcare Co.

Labor exploitation in the fisheries sector is one of the most dangerous social ills in Thailand, involving hundreds of thousands of children.

According to government data, the injury rate of children under 15 who work illegally on barges and fishing boats is much higher for those who are exploited in the oil or gas industries. According to the International Labor Organization and the Asia Foundation, 20% of young fishermen are victims of accidents, compared to 8.4% of their "colleagues" in other sectors.


Thailand is the third largest exporter of fish in the world, for a market that, according to the Thai Frozen Foods Association, last year reached $ 3 billion. The turnover with Europe totaled between 575 and 730 million euro per year. The sector employs about 300 thousand people, mostly illegal immigrants from neighboring countries.

The children exploited in the Thai fishing industry - many of whom come from Cambodia and Myanmar - also work 50 hours a week. Only 30% of the workers are legal (at least 15 years old) and enjoys the protection of a contract.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Hundreds of women, children again kidnapped by terrorist group Boko Haram: residents.


Hundreds of women, children again kidnapped by terrorist group Boko Haram: residents.(TN).

DAMASAK - Boko Haram militants have kidnapped more than 400 women and children from the northern Nigerian town of Damasak that was freed this month by troops from Niger and Chad, residents said on Tuesday.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the figure, but the Islamist group has previously carried out mass kidnappings. Boko Haram's abduction last April of nearly 300 schoolgirls in the region stirred international outrage and drew global attention to the group's six-year insurgency.

"They took 506 young women and children (in Damasak). They killed about 50 of them before leaving," a trader called Souleymane Ali told Reuters in the town. "We don’t know if they killed others after leaving, but they took the rest with them."

Troops from Niger and Chad last week found the bodies of at least 70 people in an apparent execution site under a bridge leading out of Damasak, where the streets remain strewn with debris and burnt-out cars after the fighting.

Ali said his wife and three of his daughters were among those seized.

"Two of them were supposed to get married this year. (Boko Haram) said 'They are slaves so we’re taking them because they belong to us'," he said.

Mohamed Ousmane, another trader, said the militants took his two wives and three of their children.

A 40-year-old resident who gave her name as Fana said fighters had rounded up captives in the main mosque before taking them out of town. She said she saved her two children by hiding them in her house.

Boko Haram wants to carve out a caliphate in northern Nigeria. A sharp increase in violence forced a delay in planned elections last month in Africa's most populous country.Hmmm.......Why did the Obama 'admin' let them grow so much?

Related:

Flashback : June 2012, Obama 'admin' designate three members of Boko Haram as terrorists,'Will diminish the capacity of Boko Haram to execute violent attacks' 


  Obama Accused of Obstructing Battle against Boko Haram to Promote Axelrod’s Nigerian Muslim Client.


Saturday, June 7, 2014

Scary revelations About Boko Haram: Escaped Chibok Girl Raped 15 Times By 15 Men Every Day.


Scary revelations About Boko Haram: Escaped Chibok Girl Raped 15 Times By 15 Men Every Day. HT: OsunDefender.

More scary revelations have emerged to shed some light on the agonising experience of the missing Chibok girls, based on the account of one of the escapees.

Three of the girls have so far escaped from the terrorist group, Boko Haram, who abducted over 200 girls from a government secondary school in Chibok, Borno State on the night of April 14, 2014.

A clergy and expert on counter-terrorism, Oladimeji Thompson, of The Omoluabi Network, who has been working with other groups to assist victims of the abduction overcome their pains, gave a chilling narration based on an account of one of the escapees.
He said, “One of the girls I interviewed was being raped 15 times by 15 men every day.” He said the girl was traumatised and confused.
“It’s obvious this girl needs to be managed. She looked confused. She found it hard to talk to me but after much prodding, she confessed to me that she was raped 15 times by 15 men throughout the time she was with the Islamic insurgents before she could escape from their den.

“A girl who has been raped by 15 men every day, you say you negotiate and gave her back and release a terrorist who will go out and kill more. What negotiators do is to say that they must not tell their stories, they blanket all the information. In a situation like this, it is the Boko Haram that wins more.”

Asked if the girl was not pregnant after her ordeal in the hands of the insurgents, the pastor, probably in an attempt to protect the schoolgirl, declined further comments asking our correspondent to move to other issues.

Many of the mothers confirmed to our correspondent that against all trumped up figures in the media, only three girls have since managed to escape from Boko Haram’s den.

The Omoluabi Network is working with other groups such as the Unlikely Heroes, a United States based trauma management specialists and the Gabasawa Women Initiative, a coalition of women across Northern Nigeria led by Kucheli Balami, to provide psychological and emotional support for the escaped girls and their grieving parents.

He called on government not to negotiate with the terrorist group but explore every other option in rescuing the missing girls.

“The people who are talking about dialogue in the first place don’t understand that this thing is a merciless, unrelenting, non-negotiating monster. Those who have studied it globally and locally know that anybody who says negotiate is likely a mole that really belongs to the Boko Haram, pretending not to be part of them.

“If you look at the United States today, the reason it is a prosperous nation is because it refused to negotiate with the colonial powers that threatened it. Nigeria negotiated, look at where we are today. America stood by principle, look at where it is today. So, we are at a crossroads right now. If you claim to negotiate and make Boko Haram stronger, you have betrayed all the blood of thousands who have been slaughtered by these terrorists. If you negotiate, you are only prolonging the evil day, helping people who will eventually reach your own children.

In the wake of the girls’ abduction, there has been blame trading by the Borno State government and the West African Examination Council over whose laxity led to the sad development. While WAEC had claimed it warned the state government against staging the exam in the town, the administration had strongly debunked that allegation. But some of the aggrieved women revealed they were forced into allowing their daughters live in the hostel during the examination.

“Nobody sought our opinion before deciding that the girls stayed in the hostel. Most schools in Borno have been closed because of Boko Haram, how silly would we be to allow our children into such danger? We were never aware of that arrangement.”

“Once the girls in captivity return, the reality is that our work has only just begun. These girls are going to need trauma therapy, immediate medical care and all the things they will need to properly stabilise and overcome this trauma. It is mostly likely that when they get out they will need up to 10 to 16 weeks to be able to recover from the shock.

“It is also important that they are placed in a very safe environment. The safer the environment that they are placed in, the quicker they will be able to heal. The more specialised care that they are given immediately upon return, the easier it will be for them to recover and be re-integrated into their normal communities and everyday life,” she said.

US Congressman, Louie Gohmert, said during the meeting that the girl’s abduction now came tops in major delibrations within the country’s political circle in recent weeks. Gohmert who played a major role in ensuring the US government designated Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, howeever chided the White for not using its intelligence and technology to crush the sect and rescue the girls from captivity.

“We must all rally behind the families of these missing girls. The international community must step up efforts to free the girls. If the US does not use its power to stop Boko Haram, God will use someone else to do it. We will not relent on our calls until these girls are safely released to their families,” he said.

Last week, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, told news men that they had located the whereabouts of the young girls but that they were taking all necessary precaution in freeing them from captivity. 

Earlier this week, the Australian government, through its Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, offered to allow its special forces partake in the search for the girls. The Nigerian government, according to Thompson, is yet to accede to that request. 

Mothers and family members of the abducted young women would be hoping for a quick resolution to the problem even as they look forward to wrapping their daughters in their arms sometime as soon as possible. But for now, they are living with the pains and wounds brought by the sad incident.

Source: PUNCH Nigeria

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Man reveals his ordeal with Boko Haram: “prepared to die as a Christian?” they asked me, then they shot me in the face.

Habila Adamu in the hospital after he was attacked by Boko Haram militants in 2012, left, and giving evidence to a House Committee on Foreign Affairs in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 13, 2013.

Man reveals his ordeal with Boko Haram: “prepared to die as a Christian?” they asked me, then they shot me in the face.HT: OsunDefender.
A father who was shot point-blank in the face by Boko Haram recounted how the militants asked whether he was “prepared to die as a Christian” and then left him for dead.

Habila Adamu, 40, was so badly wounded in the attack that he said goodbye to his wife as blood poured from a gaping wound.

The father-of-one said the April 15 capture by Boko Haram of more than 200 girls from a boarding school brought back painful memories of the night he was shot and beaten in his home.

“When I heard about those girls I started to pray,” Adamu told NBC News on Tuesday. “Boko Haram have no mercy. All they want to do is drive the Christian community out of northern Nigeria and they won’t stop until they do it.”

Many of the minority Christians in Yobe province were fearful of Boko Haram because the militants had attacked homes and businesses in the region, according to Adamu.

The businessman initially thought they were soldiers on patrol near his home one night in November 2012. “But when I saw their robes and AK-47 rifles I knew they were not from the army,” he said. “They told me they were there to do the work of Allah.”

With his wife Vivian and son David, now aged seven, looking on, four men forced their way indoors and asked whether he was a member of the police force or army. He told them he was not.
“Then they asked me whether I would convert to Islam and when I refused they asked whether I was prepared to die as a Christian. My wife was crying but I could not deny Christ. I felt powerful, unafraid, I don’t know why.” Before he could refuse a second time, a bullet pierced his neck.

“I fell on the ground,” Adamu said. “They thought I was dead because they stomped on me twice and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ or ‘God is great.’”

Adamu mustered the strength to talk to his wife before slipping out of consciousness. “She was crying so many tears,” he said. “Neither of us thought I would survive so I told her that to live in this world was to live for Christ. I told her to look after our son and herself.”

Recovering her composure, Vivian ran to find help from fellow members of the Christian community – only to find that militants had killed 12 others.

Too scared to leave the house, she tended to her husband for eight hours. At first light, she was able to arrange transport to a nearby medical center. “When they saw the wound, a doctor told my wife there was no point in treating me,” Adamu said. “I had lost so much blood.”

However, they gave him painkillers and transferred him to the Jos University Hospital, hundreds of miles further south, where doctors funded by the non-profit organization Voice of Martyrs were able to treat him. Adamu’s condition gradually stabilized and he was discharged about two weeks later.

During his time in the hospital, Adamu met U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who was on an official visit to Nigeria. He was later invited to share his experiences in America.

Almost a year after the shooting, Adamu told his story to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He also visited the White House.

“Not bad for a small man from a village in northern Nigeria,” Adamu said. “I feel that God saved me to give a voice to the oppressed people who can’t stand up for themselves.”

However, Adamu felt that he could not return to his village because of the publicity surrounding his case. He has moved to a different part of Nigeria to avoid reprisals.

Last year, he also became a father for a second time, to Gladys, now aged one.


“I survived, I am alive and I am safe,” he said. “It is a miracle that I am alive. I am praying that we will be able to say the same about the schoolgirls. I think they have got more extreme since they attacked me over a year ago. Today I feel they would not only have shot me, but my family too.”

Hmmmm.......

Flashback : June 2012, Obama 'admin' designate three members of Boko Haram as terrorists,'Will diminish the capacity of Boko Haram to execute violent attacks' 

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Some of the abducted Chibok girls seen in Central Africa


Some of the abducted Chibok girls seen in Central Africa.HT: UsunDefender.

There are strong indications that the terrorist sect, Boko Haram, may have moved some of the over 200 schoolgirls it abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State out of West Africa.
There were reports on Friday that some of the abducted schoolgirls were seen in Birao, Central African Republic with armed men. Birao is a small town in the north of the CAR.

The Islamic sect had abducted pupils of the school on April 14 and taken them into the forests along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. Over 50 of the pupils escaped while being moved out of the school.

An online report by a French news medium, Jeune Afrique, on Friday, said villagers saw about 50 young women led by armed men in the North Central African Republic last week.
The report was translated into English by one of our correspondents.

The report says, “The Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram have passed through the northern CAR, escorted by armed men. Based on several testimonies of inhabitants, the women arrived Wednesday, April 30 aboard trucks.

“They were guarded by heavily armed men, who spoke English, and also members of the former (CAR) rebel Seleka.”

Seleka is an alliance of Islamic rebel militia factions that overthrew the Central African Republic government early last year and installed their leader as president. The group which has reportedly carried out several executions, rape and looting split last year with Christian and Muslim factions terrorising the CAR, forcing France to send more troops to the region.

The French newspaper added that natives of Birao were afraid to approach the kidnapped girls.

“According to our source, the convoy of two trucks and a pickup was previously seen at Tiroungoulou (about 170 kilometres southwest of Birao) and perhaps Chad. “Upon arrival, some were frightened, cried and were violently rebuked in English. The girls and their guardians were then housed for several days in a house. “The group reportedly left the scene on the night of Sunday to Monday, May 4 to 5, without a trace,” the report said.

Barely 24 hours after President Goodluck Jonathan said no group had claimed responsibility for the abduction of the pupils, Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, claimed responsibility for the abduction.
Shekau, while claiming responsibility for the seizure of the girls in a video, threatened to sell the abducted girls. “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” he said. Earlier, there were reports that the girls were taken to neighboring Cameroon and Chad.

The Cameroonian government however faulted reports that some of the teenagers had been married off in the country.
Cameroon’s Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakari, was quoted as saying he was shocked by accusations that Cameroon was not collaborating with Nigeria to free the girls from their captors.
“We insist that allegations from Nigeria that a part of the 200 young female students recently kidnapped in the North-East of Nigeria would have been transferred to Cameroon to be forced into marriage to members of the Boko Haram sect are fully unfounded. “Cameroon will never ever serve as a support base for destabilisation activities towards other countries,” he was quoted as saying.

The Unites States, Britain, France and China have, however, expressed their readiness to assist Nigeria in rescuing the girls. The US and British military personnel and hardware arrived in the country between Thursday and Friday.
One of our correspondents in Abuja also gathered that the Federal Government would engage Israel in the search for the abducted girls.
SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that the Federal Government and Israeli authorities had held a series of meetings since the girls were abducted on April 14.

A security source said on Friday that the collaborative efforts between Israel and Nigeria on the issue of terrorism and insurgency had been ongoing for some time.

The source who pleaded anonymity said, “The issue of collaboration with Israeli and other countries did not start now, a lot of meetings have been held on insurgency.”

When contacted on Friday, the Press Officer of the Israeli Embassy in Nigeria, Mr. Tony Obiechina, said the embassy had closed for the day and could not respond to the issue.


He said, “We have closed. I will have to meet with the ambassador on Monday to see if there is any information on your request.”Source.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Saudi Arabia’s top Muslim cleric says Boko Haram is a misguided disgrace to Islam.


Saudi Arabia’s top Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdulaziz Al ash-Sheikh,says Boko Haram is a misguided disgrace to Islam.HT: OsunDefender.

Yesterday, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al ash-Sheikh, the head of the Grand Mufti, Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority condemned Boko Haram as a group set up to smear the image of Islam. He dismissed the movement, saying it was misguided and should be shown that it has towed the wrong path.
Sheikh Al ash-Sheikh added: “This is a group that has been set up to smear the image of Islam and must be offered advice, shown their wrong path and be made to reject it. These groups are not on the right path because Islam is against kidnapping, killing and aggression. “Marrying kidnapped girls is not permitted. This is a gross misinterpretation of Islam.”

As Grand Mufti, Sheikh Al ash-Sheikh is the head of the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and is the one charged with issuing fatwas.

Although a very conservative and controversial person in the past, of late Sheikh Al as-Sheikh appears to have mellowed a bit lately as in on September 12, 2013, he issued a fatwa that suicide bombings are great crimes and bombers are criminals who rush themselves to hell by their actions.

Earlier this week, Islamic scholars from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the world’s largest Muslim body representing 57 countries, joined in denouncing the kidnapping.

Also, Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque, one of the oldest and most credible Sunni institutions of higher learning in the world, recently said the kidnapping has nothing to do with the tolerant and noble teachings of Islam.

Boko Haram leader Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, has threatened to sell the girls off in marriage in line with historical precedent. In the Youtube video broadcast to the world, Sheikh Shekau called the girls slaves, in reference to the ancient jihadi custom of enslaving women captured in a holy war, who then can be used as sex slaves by their captors.

Unconfirmed report - Abducted Nigerian Girls Were spotted In Sambisa Forest By U.S. Marines.


Unconfirmed report - Abducted Nigerian Girls Were spotted In Sambisa Forest By American Special forces.(Osondefender).
There were indications yesterday form the reports reaching us that the 230 female students abducted by Boko Haram terrorists from the Government Girls’ Secondary School, GGSS, Chibok, Borno State, have been sited at the Sambisa Forest in Borno State, by the Special Forces of the United States Marines.

The girls who were abducted on April 14, were part of the 250 students boarded at the school for the West African School Certificate, WAEC, Senior Secondary School Certificate, SSSCE, examinations, triggering world-wide condemnations.

More US military officials arrived Nigeria yesterday to join local officials in the search for the schoolgirls taken captives and being reportedly used as sex slaves by the Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry and the defence department, Pentagon, said.

According to Kerry, “Our inter-agency team is hitting the ground in Nigeria now and they are going to be working with President Jonathan’s government to do everything that we possibly can to return these girls.” 

A news channel also quoted the U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, John Kirby, who serves as Pentagon press secretary, as saying that the small team of seven would join advisers supporting local efforts to find the girls abducted over three weeks ago.


Kerry said the US team, working with the Nigerian government, would do everything possible to free the girls and everything possible to stop the atrocities of Boko Haram.

“We are also going to do everything possible to counter the menace of Boko Haram. The entire world should not only be condemning this outrage but should be doing everything possible to help Nigeria in the days ahead,” he added.

Update: Us Marines locate Abducted Girls, Arrest one of the Boko Haram Leaders

However, military sources said that apart from abducting the girls, the insurgents also carted away food items and vehicles as well as killing undisclosed number of people in Chibok on that fateful night.

A source in Abuja said that members of the United States Marines who are already in Maiduguri following the promise by the US President to help Nigeria in rescuing the abducted girls, located the girls inside the forest, using some Satellite equipment which combed the forest, located an assembly of the young girls and sent the images back to the Marines on ground in Maiduguri.

Beside locating the girls in the dense forest, it was also, further gathered that one of the leaders of terrorist group who participated in the abduction of the girls was arrested by a combined team of the US Marines and Nigerian forces.

Sources said that the Boko Haram leader was arrested, through an advanced interceptor equipment which was used to track the terrorist while exchanging information with his colleagues in Sambisa Forest about the movements of American and Nigerian soldiers in Maiduguri.

The source said the suspect’s phone was traced to a location in Maiduguri where he was arrested and handed over to the Nigerian military.

The location of the girls in the forest is contrary to widespread reports that the girls had been distributed and ferried to the Nigerian border towns in Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic.

Senator Ahmed Zanna, representing Borno Central District in whose Maiduguri home, an alleged Boko Haram top commander was once arrested told the Senate last week that he gave the Military an up-to-date information on how the girls could be rescued, but lamented that his information was ignored.

He spoke against the backdrop of the claim by the Boko Haram leader, Sheik Abubakar Shekau, last week that the girls were booties of war, who would be sold into slavery.

Friday, May 9, 2014

On This One Condition We Will Release Your Abducted Girls – Former Boko Haram Negotiator!


On This One Condition We Will Release Your Abducted Girls – Former Boko Haram Negotiator! HT: OsunDefender ; kayefi ;
A former mediator of the Boko Haram group, Shehu Sani has revealed that the over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria by the Islamist militants could be released in exchange for jailed comrades. 
The girls were snatched from their boarding school in Chibok in the lawless Borno region in the north of the country.

The former mediator of the group told newsmen that he believes the video, where Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau threatens to sell the girls as slaves, shows he plans to use them as ‘bargaining chips’ rather than kill them. He said the footage, released on Monday, was an attempt to persuade the Nigerian government into a prisoner trade.

He told the newspaper: “From my knowledge of the group, to have him saying that he will sell them is proof that this issue can be resolved. The group is most likely to want to attach some kind of conditions to the girls being released, such as the freeing of some of their own prisoners.”

Hmmm........I think they're right #BringBackOurGirlsAlive

Thursday, May 8, 2014

The Story Behind The Life Of The Leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, 'Lone Wolf, leading the pack'


The Story Behind The Life Of The Leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, 'Lone Wolf, leading the pack' HT: OsunDefenders.
He is the face of terror. A ruthless leader with a twisted ideology. And the sadistic architect of a campaign of mayhem and misery. And yet, very little is known about Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram.

Shekau was born in Shekau village that borders Niger and speaks several languages fluently: Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri and Arabic. But English isn’t one of them. After all, he heads a group that rejects all things Western.He’s elusive. Even his age is unknown — estimates range between 38 and 49.

The U.S. State Department has Shekau’s year of birth listed as 1965, 1969 and 1975.

He was an unruly No. 2. Boko Haram was founded by Mohammed Yusuf, a charismatic, well-educated cleric who drove a Mercedes as part of his push for a pure Islamic state in Nigeria. He wasn’t too effective as a leader and had a hard time keeping his second-in-command in check.

Shekau was more radical and had grander designs. And merciless as No. 1. Mohammed Yusuf was killed in a security crackdown in 2009, along with about 700 of his followers. That left Shekau in charge. He vowed to strike back, and his group has spared no one: government workers, police officers, journalists, villagers, students and churchgoers. Human Rights Watch estimates that in the past five years, more than 3,000 people have been killed.

He’s come back from the dead. The military has touted Shekau’s death several times, only to retract its claim after he appeared alive and vibrant in propaganda videos.

They almost got him in September 2012 when they raided his home, where he had snuck in for his six-day-old baby’s naming ceremony, according to the International Crisis Group. He managed to get away with a gunshot wound to the leg; his wife and three children were taken by the military.

Abubakar Shekau operates in the shadows, leaving his underlings to orchestrate his repulsive mandates. He resurfaces every once in a while in videotaped messages to mock the impotence of the Nigerian military.

And he uses his faith to recruit the impressionable and the disenfranchised to his cause.

He’s a loner. Analysts describe Shekau as a loner and a master of disguise. He does not speak directly with members, opting to communicate through a few select confidants.


He uses many aliases: Abu Bakr Skikwa, Imam Abu Bakr Shiku and Abu Muhammad Abu Bakr Bin Muhammad Al Shakwi Al Muslimi Bishku among them.

Shekau was born in Shekau village which has boundary with Niger and exclusively studied under a Islamic cleric for many years before he attended Borno State College of Legal and Islamic Studies for higher studies on Islam.

That’s why he’s also known as ‘Darul Tawheed,’ which translates to an expert in monotheism, or the oneness of Allah

He uses Islam to recruit and radicalize. The northeast, where Boko Haram has been most active, is economically depressed and among the least educated regions in Nigeria.

There’s no firm evidence as yet that Boko Haram has ambitions beyond Nigeria. But its campaign of terror has spilled into remote parts of Cameroon and it appears to have informal links with militant Islamist groups in Mali and Niger.

It was in May 2013 that Shekau first announced in a video that Boko Haram would start kidnapping girls. The kidnappings, he said, were retaliation for Nigerian security forces nabbing the wives and children of group members.

The most horrifying instance was last month’s abduction of 276 girls from a girl’s school.

“I abducted your girls,” he taunted with a chilling smile in a new video that surfaced this week. “There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell.”


There’s a $7 million bounty on his head. Shekau has been on the radar of U.S. officials since he came to power in 2009. Last June, the United States put a bounty on him, offering a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to his location. But that’s yet to yield results.

Related: Flashback : June 2012, Obama 'admin' designate three members of Boko Haram as terrorists,'Will diminish the capacity of Boko Haram to execute violent attacks'

Flashback : June 2012, Obama 'admin' designate three members of Boko Haram as terrorists,'Will diminish the capacity of Boko Haram to execute violent attacks'


Flashback : June 2012, Obama 'admin' designate three members of Boko Haram as terrorists,'Will diminish the capacity of Boko Haram to execute violent attacks'(Reuters).
The United States on Thursday named three alleged leaders of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram as "foreign terrorists," the first time it has blacklisted members of the Islamist group blamed for attacks across Africa's most populous nation.
The State Department identified the three as Abubakar Shekau, calling him the "most visible" leader of the group, and Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid al-Barnawi, who it said were tied both to Boko Haram and to al Qaeda's north African wing.
"These designations demonstrate the United States' resolve in diminishing the capacity of Boko Haram to execute violent attacks," it said, saying that Boko Haram or associated militants were responsible for more than 1,000 deaths in the past 18 months.
The action by the State and Treasury Departments, first reported by Reuters on Wednesday, followed growing pressure on the Obama administration to take stronger action against Boko Haram, which has stepped up attacks on Christian places of worship this year in its drive to establish an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria.

U.S. officials say the decision to list individual Boko Haram members, rather than apply the more sweeping "Foreign Terrorist Organization" label to the group as a whole as some U.S. lawmakers have demanded, reflected a desire not to elevate the group's profile.

"We took this measure to designate these three because they are clearly kingpins of Boko Haram and clearly all of them have advocated terrorism as a weapon," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing.


"We're continuing to look at the question of a broader designation."

Two Republican lawmakers who led the campaign for a broader designation said the move against the three was insufficient, saying the intelligence community needed every available tool to combat Boko Haram

"Given Boko Haram's trajectory and intent to carry out terrorist attacks against Western targets, including possibly the Homeland, we must take the growing threat seriously," Representatives Peter King and Patrick Meehan said in a statement.Read the full story here.

Northern Nigeria Christian Association Declares Conspiracy in Chibok 'Boko haram' Abduction.


Northern Nigeria Christian Association Declares Conspiracy in Chibok 'Boko haram' Abduction.(OsunDefender).

The Northern Nigeria Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday released a statement expressing reservations and alleging conspiracy in the Chibok schoolgirls abduction.

The chapter said they believe the kidnapping is a conspiracy involving the governor of the state, Kashim Shettima, the principal of the school, the chief security officer of Borno & the commissioner for Education.

In the statement, they asked how 300+ girls can disappear into air without any trace and where the daughters of the principal, vice principal & CSO of the state were when the kidnapping took place, and why no single photograph of the Chibok girls has been made public by school authorities.

 The position of Northern CAN on the abduction of female students in Chibok.

Since the abduction of some female students in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State, Northern CAN has decided to be silent for some reasons. We have decided that we will make statements when we have all the facts of the matter. It may interest Nigerians to know that we have fundamental questions which demand one million answers:

1.    Since the abduction of these girls over two weeks ago, has Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, constituted any panel of investigation with a view to making its report public?

2.    How did the 353 female students disappear from the school into the thin air?
3.    Why did the Borno State Commissioner for Education, Principal, Vice Principal and Chief Security Officer, all Muslims, ignore the valid advice of WAEC on the security implication of writing exams in the school and the need to have a centre where the children’s life will be secured?
4.    How did Boko Haram carry over 200 students and their food stolen by these criminals from the school? Was it carried with trailer?
5.    Why is it that since this issue came up, no single photograph of the abducted children was made public by the school authorities? After all, they were preparing for exams and may have submitted their photographs.
6.    Where were the daughters of the Principal, Vice Principal and Chief Security Officer when the abduction took place?
We hope that this is not a political gimmick to carry out a political conspiracy against these daughters of Nigerians, future mothers of Nigeria and citizens who are wants to be leaders of tomorrow.
So these are the questions; we have done our investigations, we are begging the international community, we are begging the Federal Government of Nigeria and the press to ask these legitimate questions from the Governor, Commissioner for Education, Principal and CSO of the school because Chibok is a predominantly Christian area. What we are after is the safety and future of these children, whether they are Christians or Muslims or our enemies doesn’t matter. They are Nigerians, first and foremost.

Our positions are as follows:

1. The Governor and government of Borno State should and must as a matter of urgency stop playing politics with the lives of the children of other people. They should produce those children without delay because they know their whereabouts.

2. We demand an explanation from the Governor, Commissioner for Education, Principal and CSO of the school on what they did and what they did not do that led to the ferrying away of these innocent children who went to sit for an examination for the betterment of their tomorrow.
3. How come that the parents of these children have not been able to come out and say anything? Are they saying that these children are orphans and do not have parents? We demand an explanation because from our investigation, parents of these children are facing intimidation and threats from the government of Borno State. That is why they could not come out to speak; but they are nursing their pains in silence.
4. We also demand that the Federal Government and the international community should help us beg the Governor of Borno State to do everything within his powers to produce these children.
5. We also reject a situation where they will turn our daughters to be sex slaves of these criminals called Boko Haram members. We have it on good authority that some of these children are being raped 15 times a day. Some of these children are being compelled to be wives of these criminals. If you want to marry somebody’s daughter, you must seek the consent of her parents and not to ferry under-aged children and perpetrate a lot of havoc on them.
The abduction of these girls seems a resurrection of what the Christian communities in Northern Nigeria have been suffering for centuries in the hands of the Emirs and Imams regarding forceful conversion and abduction of Christian girls. Borno State government should be reminded that the fundamental human rights of these people should be respected and protected.

The Governor should provide immediate explanation because we know that some people want to sacrifice these children on the altar of politics. There is a limit to which Christians would tolerate all these abnormalities. 

We suspect a conspiracy among all of these characters including the Governor, Commissioner for Education, Principal and CSO since non of the daughters of the teachers and Principal were abducted; there is more to it and this is the position of Northern CAN.

SIGNED:
Wednesday May 7 2014
Prof. Daniel Babayi
Secretary-General
Sunday Oibe
Public Relations Officer.

Related:

Gumsu Abacha, daughter of late Military dictator, General Sani Abacha has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of having a hand in the ongoing Boko Haram menace

Thursday, October 17, 2013

30 million people living in slavery globally: WFF Report.


30 million people living in slavery globally: WFF Report.(Presstv).

A report by an international foundation on modern slavery has revealed that nearly 30 million people are enslaved across the globe.

The index released by the Walk Free Foundation (WFF) on Thursday said the slaves are either trafficked into brothels, forced into manual labor, fall victims to debt bondage, or are even born into servitude.

Almost half of these people are in India, where "by far the largest proportion of this problem is the exploitation of Indian citizens within India itself, particularly through debt bondage and bonded labor," the survey found.

The index also showed that aside from India, the problem is most rampant in the West African country of Mauritania, where four percent of the population is estimated to be held in slavery.

The report by the Australian-based group described Mauritania as a nation with "deeply entrenched hereditary slavery," where "people in slavery may be bought and sold, rented out and given away as gifts."

Benin, Gambia, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Haiti and Nepal are among other countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery, the report said.

The WFF index ranked 162 countries on the number of people living in slavery, the risk of enslavement, and the strength of government action to counter the illegal activity.

Figures indicate human trafficking along with arms dealing is the second largest industry in the world after drug dealing.

The countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery were Mauritania, Haiti, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Moldova, Benin, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Gabon. Moldova - once part of the Soviet Union - was the only European nation in the top 10.

Grono said the inherited slave status was "very shocking"."In Mauritania, kids are born into slavery," he explained."Women and men are enslaved and their children are often forced into a situation of domestic servitude or forced to work in the fields."

Russia came 49th, China 84th, United States 134th, France 139th and Britain joint bottom on 160.

In terms of total numbers, the countries with the most people in modern slavery were estimated to be India (13.95 million), followed by China (2.95 million) and Pakistan (2.1 million).

The report estimated that 72 per cent of people in modern slavery live in Asia. In India, "by far the largest proportion of this problem is the exploitation of Indian citizens within India itself, particularly through debt bondage and bonded labour", the report said.

The estimated 2.9 million people in modern slavery in China "includes the forced labour of men, women and children in many parts of the economy, including domestic servitude and forced begging, the sexual exploitation of women and children, and forced marriage," said the report.

Among the top 10, the WFF said Moldova and Ivory Coast were working hard to address the issue, but efforts in the top three -- Mauritania, Haiti and Pakistan -- are "token at best and non-existent at worst", the report said.Read the full story here.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Daughters for Sale: India's Child Slavery Scourge.


Daughters for Sale: India's Child Slavery Scourge.(Spiegel) By Anne Backhaus.
Millions of Indian children work as slaves in factories, brothels or in the homes of families. Out of poverty and desperation, parents sell their daughters, and human traffickers wait at train stations for runaways and scour for orphans in monsoon-ravaged villages.

On the day that Durga Mala was rescued, she lay crying on the stone floor, where she was attempting to cool her back. She was 11 years old and her skin was covered with blisters, from her shoulder blades to her buttocks. A few days earlier, her owners had poured hot oil over her because they thought she was working too slowly. Suddenly Durga heard screams and huddled on the floor. Acting on a tip, police stormed the apartment in the heart of Bangalore. When they broke the door down, Durga crossed her arms in front of her chest and closed her eyes. She was only wearing a pair of panties -- that's all the clothing that her owners had allowed her to have. Durga says: "I was ashamed."

One of the men wrapped the small girl in a sheet and brought her to a hospital. Doctors treated her for a number of days. In addition to her burns, she was malnourished, infected wounds covered her fingers and her lips were scarred. "I dropped a glass once," says Durga, "and the woman got angry and pulled my fingernails out, one by one." Sometimes they poked her in the mouth with a needle. Durga was supposed to work, not speak.

It's estimated that millions of children in India live as modern-day slaves. They work in the fields, in factories, brothels and private households -- often without pay and usually with no realistic chance of escaping. The majority of them are sold or hired out by their own families.

According to an Indian government census from 2001, this country of over 1 billion people has 12.6 million minors between the ages of 5 and 14 who are working.

The real number is undoubtedly significantly higher because many children are not officially registered at birth -- and the owners of course do their best to keep the existence of child slaves a secret. Aid organizations estimate that three-quarters of all domestic servants in India are children, and 90 percent of those are girls. Although both child labor and child trafficking are illegal, police rarely intervene -- and the courts seldom convict child traffickers and slaveholders.

Durga grew up in Calcutta. When she was seven, her father died, followed two years later by the death of her mother. Her grandmother took in Durga and her three elder sisters, but she couldn't manage to feed all four of them. One girl had to go, so she sold off the youngest. Via an intermediary, a family of total strangers paid 80 rupees for Durga -- roughly the equivalent of €1 ($1.33).

 "This is the trading center for children in southern India," says Father George.

The Salesian priest is nearly 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall, slightly heavyset and wears jeans. He strides through the bustling crowd of thousands, undeterred by the noise and the odors. Every day, George walks through the train station and heads straight to a hut in the middle of one of the railway platforms. This is where his staff members bring the children they have found wandering alone through the train station. "They are highly at risk," says George. "We try to help them before they fall into the wrong hands."Read the full story here.
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