Former Presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba has withdrawn his case against Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for allegedly supporting last year’s #EndSARS protests in Nigeria.
Dorsey and many celebrities, sports stars and politicians spoke in support of the protests, which trended on social media especially Twitter in October, last year.
The protest which held in major cities in Nigeria for about two weeks was later hijacked by hoodlums who looted and destroyed public and private properties.
Amidst the protest, Garba sued the Twitter boss accusing him of meddling in the internal affairs of the country and indirectly fueling the protest.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain had at the time asked Dorsey to stay away from politics.
“You should know that the so-called #EndSARS protests have transformed into political agitation, capable of breaking law & order in our country,” Garba tweeted at the time.
He then followed up by instituting a $1billion suit against Jack Dorsey at the Federal High Court, Abuja, over alleged sponsorship of the #EndSARS protest across the country.
But on Monday Garba, who is the founder of IPI Group Limited said that he has instructed his lawyers to withdraw the case, saying his message had been passed.
According to him, “My case with Jack was an effort to try to prevent Nigeria from getting this foreign interference, all those international actors coming under human rights to cause havoc in our country.”
He stated that most of the foreign actors only “profit from our own instability and disunity.”
But he said his case against Jack had stopped him from further supporting the #EndSARS protest, adding, “To the best of my knowledge, that is a big win to stop him from playing the script they played in Egypt, in Syria, in Libya and so on. To the best of my knowledge, we have won in the case and we stopped him from interfering in our local politics.”
He however warned that should the Twitter CEO continue to interfere in the internal affairs of the country, he might continue with the case.
Garba however apologized to Nigerians especially the youth angered by his position during the protest, saying he was clearly misunderstood. He said his position was not driven by any ethnic or religious consideration.
Adamu Garba also made case for Nigerians to embrace their own Social media apps saying Nigerians’ data are not safe with the foreign apps.
According to reports, A Nigerian identified as ‘John’ and his wife were arrested in India for allegedly duping woman of nineteen million naira on matrimonial site with promises of marriage.
However, The suspect faked his identity and offered to marry the particular woman.
Furthermore, It was reported that John paid the amount in a number of instalments over the last six months. Below is the picture of the Nigerian man and his wife.
Morever, The money was deposited in separate bank accounts, Many Nigerians reacts to the incident.
A son to a couple who were brutally murdered together with three others in Karura area, Kiambu county, Kenya, has confessed to the crime.
The 22-year-old university IT student identified as Lawrence Simon Warunge, was arrested on Friday, January 8, after he went missing following the gruesome murder of his parents, brother, his cousin and a mason at their Karura home in Kiambu County on Tuesday night.
Police said they arrested Lawrence as a prime suspect into the incident after a three-day manhunt.
After he was arrested, he later confessed to the incident and led police to a residence in Mai Mahiu area on Saturday where they recovered the murder weapon, a kitchen knife, clothes, shoes and a piece of paper.
He had thrown the exhibits to a pit latrine. Police dug the wall of the latrine and used ropes to recover the exhibits from the 20-feet deep pit.
He also took police to an open field in the same area where he said he burnt some of the evidence.
Lawrence claims he killed the five alone but police said they are open to a possibility there were other players.
The most chilling part is where Lawrence said he caught up with his father, Nicholas Njenga Warunge as he escaped from him after he broke one of his legs after jumping off a balcony.
“He says the father was hit by an electric cable as he ran away and jumped off the balcony and was indisposed further after he fractured a leg. This gave him time to catch up with him and he killed him like a snake,” said an officer who had heard the confession.
Lawrence’s girlfriend who lived in the house in Mai Mahiu is also being held for interrogation.
Lawrence said after he murdered the five using a kitchen knife at about 8 pm he jumped onto a motorcycle and rode up to the nearby Wangige shopping centre where he took a public service vehicle to Mai Mahiu while carrying the killer weapon and other recovered evidence. The bodaboda rider is yet to be found for questioning.
In his chilling confession, he said on arrival at Mai Mahiu, he went to an open field in the area where he burnt some of them on Tuesday, January 5 at about 11 pm.
Detectives from the Homicide Unit visited the site and collected the debris for analysis. The officers and the suspect donned white surgery clothes as they visited the scenes where he disposed of the exhibits.
Lawrence told police that his parents were “satanic and killers” hence deserved to die.
Lawrence is a university student in the city and was initially thought to have gone to school. His mobile phone signal was traced to Mai Mahiu, Naivasha. It was later traced to Thika and later to Kabete area on Friday.
Police said the suspect went to a relative’s home in Ngongoro area to seek refuge there before they were alerted Friday night. He was later arrested when he told police his parents were “satanic and cruel”.
Police had thought at least five people were involved in the murder of Nicholas Njoroge Warunge, his wife Annie, sons Christian and Maxwell and a construction worker James Kinyanjui.
Their badly mutilated bodies were found in their Kiambaa home on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is believed a dispute over property was the motive of the murder.
The bodies were moved to the mortuary where a post-mortem is expected on Monday. Nothing was stolen from the compound during the incident.
Warunge had arrived in Kenya from the USA where he worked as a nurse for Christmas holidays about 11 days before his murder.
His two elder daughters survived the cold blood murder because they had the previous day gone to school. Neighbours said they are in secondary school.
Annie who worked with Kiambu County Government as a psychologist nurse and two of their children were found murdered and the bodies lying in the compound.
Lawrence told police he made his way into the house through the rear door, where he found his mother Annie, and hacked her to death before slitting her throat.
The commotion in the kitchen drew the attention of the second victim, his 13-year-old cousin, Maxwell Njenga, who he confronted along the corridor and cut in the head and throat. Maxwell had just turned 13 on December 26, 2020.
His blood brother Christian Njenga was killed as well and his throat slit on his bed.
He claimed his father Warunge was in the master bedroom upstairs at the time of the attack. He rushed to the balcony on sensing danger and jumped down where he broke his leg but he caught up with him and stabbed him 34 times before slitting his throat at near the gate and left for the dead.
Also killed in the same style was the mason, James Kinyanjui who was in the home at the time of the attack. Lawrence claims he killed them all.
Kiambu police boss Ali Nuno said they will also revisit past unsolved murder incidents that happened in the family and are probably related to the latest murder. Last Tuesday’s incident was the fifth in the family according to Nuno.
He said the first victim was killed in 2016 when one Allan Warunge, a brother to Njoroge was killed.
He was shot for the first time and confined on a wheelchair before his assailants pursued him later.
“There was an incident which involved Alan Njire Waruinge in 2016 who was a victim after being shot twice after being confined on a wheelchair. And there was Kenneth Mungai Waruinge who was assassinated alongside with his niece thereafter,” said Nuno.
“Kinyanjui Kamau, a family member was also killed in unclear circumstances.”
When death strikes, it takes the unexpected souls along. This was exactly the case of a well known man of God who died few hours ago in a certain African Country.
According to reports from many south African news media houses, a pastor, named Israel Mosehla, was pronounced dead in the early hours of Monday. This is really a Black Monday for South Africans and Christian faithfuls across the world because, when Pastor Israel Mosehla was alive, he preached the gospel and was also known to be a gospel music Artist.
His death would be an unforgettable one because of the impacts he had in the lives of South Africans and some fans of his across the world.
Rescuers searching for victims of a landslide in Indonesia were buried by a second mudslide just hours later, officials say.
The first landslide, in Cihanjuang village, West Java, was triggered by torrential rain.
Another struck as survivors were still being evacuated. At least 12 people died and dozens more are missing.
Landslides are common in Indonesia during rainy season, and often blamed on deforestation.
The latest disasters hit the villagers in Sumedang regency, about 150km (95 miles) southeast of the capital Jakarta, three and a half hours apart on Saturday.
The first happened at 16:00 (09:00 GMT) and the second at 19:30 (12:30 GMT), disaster agency spokesman Raditya Jati said in a statement.
“The first landslide was triggered by high rainfall and unstable soil conditions. The subsequent landslide occurred while officers were still evacuating victims around the first landslide area,” he added.
Rescuers are believed to be among those killed, he added. A six-year-old boy was also among the dead.
Some 27 people were believed to be missing late on Sunday, local media quoted Deden Ridwansah, the head of the local search and rescue agency as saying. About 46 were known to have survived.
Bad weather had forced the search to be suspended, he said, but it was expected to resume on Monday.
Indonesia frequently suffers floods and landslides. Thousands of people had to be evacuated in the capital Jakarta this time last year as the city was inundated.
Relatives of the passengers and crew on board the ill-fated Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 are facing an agonising wait as a recovery operation gets under way.
Sixty-two people were on board the passenger plane which plunged into the sea just minutes after taking off from Jakarta on Saturday.
There appears to be no hope of finding survivors.
Although no-one on board has been formally identified, information is emerging from family and friends.
BBC Indonesia’s Dwiki Marta and Widianingsih have helped to collate the following accounts.
Pilot Captain Afwan
“We’re in grief, still praying for the best,” said Ferza Mahardhika, whose uncle was the pilot of the Sriwijaya SJ182 flight.
Captain Afwan, 54, left home quickly on the day of the doomed flight, his nephew told BBC Indonesia, complaining that “his shirt hadn’t been ironed, when usually he is really neat”.
The captain apologised to his three children for having to leave them again.
Captain Afwan, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, started his flying career in the air force before becoming a commercial pilot in 1987.
His family and colleagues say he was devoted Muslim, eager to help people in his neighbourhood in the West Java town of Bogor, and at work.
His profile picture on social media is a cartoon of Superman praying, with the words “it doesn’t matter how high you fly, you will never reach heaven if you don’t pray”.
“He was a very good man. He often gave advice, wise advice. He was a prominent figure in his neighbourhood and was well-known for his kindness,” said Ferza Mahardhika.
“I’m devastated and can’t believe that this is happening. Please pray for uncle and our family,” he added.
Angga Fernanda Afrion
image captionAngga Fernanda Afrion’s mother, Afrida, is pictured holding a photograph of her son
Afrida told BBC Indonesia she was still holding out hope that her 29-year-old son Angga Fernanda Afrion, who was on the flight, might still be alive.
“Family members who are in Jakarta are searching for information. I want to go, too, but with the pandemic it’s difficult to travel,” said Afrida, who lives in West Sumatra.
Just a week ago Angga – a seaman – had become a father, his wife giving birth to their first child, a boy named Alvano Faeyza Alingga. His mother said that becoming a father had motived him to work harder to provide the best for his son.
Angga worked on large cargo boats. His mother says he called her late on Friday saying that he had to fly to Pontianak at the last minute because “his ship was damaged and his boss had told him he needed to come”.
He often had to travel for work across the Indonesian archipelago but preferred to travel by boat, rarely flying.
Afrida said her son was “a strong-willed child but was very obedient. He was a kind polite person and could get on well with anyone.”
“If he is gone what I want is to be able to bring him home and bury him properly,” she said quietly, while holding a framed photo of Angga in his uniform.
Ihsan Adhlan Hakim and Putri Wahyuni
Also on board were newly married couple Ihsan Adhlan Hakim and Putri Wahyuni. Ihsan’s younger brother, Arwin Amru Hakim, told news website Kompas that his brother had called from Soekarno Hatta Airport to let the family know their flight had been delayed, due to bad weather.
The couple were travelling to Kalimantan to hold a wedding party for Ihsan’s extended family who live in Pontianak.
“The plan was that next Saturday the event would take place,” said Arwin. But now, he says, the family are praying together.
Indah Halima Putri and Muhammad Rizky Wahyudi with their baby
Yusrilanita fainted when told the news about the Sriwijaya Air SJ182 aircraft that was carrying her daughter Indah Halima Putri, son-in-law Muhammad Rizky Wahyudi and their baby.
Indah had returned to her family home in Java to give birth, and was now going home with her husband to their home in Pontianak.
Before the plane took off, according to local media, Indah send a photo of the plane’s wing via a WhatsApp message saying there was heavy rain and asking for the family’s prayers.
Meanwhile, authorities have set up a special centre at Pontianak Supadio Airport in Indonesia to take DNA samples from close family of those on board to help with identification.
“We have deployed 51 personnel to be on standby at the post to work with personnel from the Disaster Victim Identification team to collect the samples,” said Assistant Senior Commissioner of Police Yani Permana.
The process is expected to take at least two more days as some families have to travel to reach the centre.
Black boxes of a passenger plane which crashed in the sea soon after take-off from Jakarta, Indonesia on Saturday have been located, officials say.
A small flotilla of ships has been searching the site and navy divers are expected to be able to retrieve the two flight recorders, they add.
Aircraft parts and human remains have been found.
The Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 was carrying 62 people when it vanished from radar on its journey to Borneo.
“We have located the position of the black boxes, both of them,” said Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of Indonesia’s transport safety committee.
“Divers will start looking for them now and hopefully it won’t be long before we get them.”
Investigators are analysing items which they believe to be a wheel and part of the plane’s fuselage.
BBC South-East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head says the sea in this part of Indonesia is relatively shallow and the bad weather which had been hampering rescue operations has now improved, making it more likely significant parts can be recovered.
However, the search appears to offer no hope of finding any survivors.
image captionDebris believed to belong to the Sriwijaya Air flight that disappeared shortly after take-off from Jakarta
A spokesman for the Jakarta police, Yusri Yunus, said two bags had been received from the search and rescue agency.
“The first bag contained passengers’ properties, another bag contained body parts,” he told reporters, adding: “We are still identifying these findings.”
Police are asking families of the victims to provide DNA samples and dental records to help identify the remains.
image captionIndonesian investigators inspect an item they believe could belong to the missing plane
Search and rescue efforts have been going on since early Sunday. Four planes were also deployed to help with the search.
It will continue into Sunday night but only with boats using sonar scans.
The All Progressive Congress (APC) urged United States President, Donald Trump, to emulate his Nigerian counterpart on how to handle defeat after losing an election.
In a statement by the party’s Secretary of Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, John Akpanudoedehe, titled, ‘The integrity of a leader is as important as strong institutions’, the party condemned the US Capitol Building riot by pro-Trump protesters.
The APC also faulted Trump’s refusal to concede defeat in the United States 2020 presidential election stressing that President Muhammadu Buhari contested and lost in elections several times but followed due process through to the Supreme Court.
The statement read, “The events of the past 72 hours in the United States of America are to say the least condemnable. Over time, the elections of the US have been used as a touchstone for elections in other democracies.
“It is settled that strong institutions are fundamental to the sustenance of democracies. However, this US election saga strongly underscores the fact that the integrity of the country’s leader essentially complements the workings of institutions.
“President Muhammadu Buhari contested and lost elections a number of times and followed the process through to the Supreme Court on all accounts. This is an outstanding credential of a true democrat.
“Upon ultimately gaining victory in 2015, the APC-led administration has carried out fundamental reforms to strengthen our institutions.
“For instance, non-interference in the functions of the Independent National Electoral Commission. The APC has contested elections; won some, lost some without splitting hairs. In fact, at some point, the APC lost over five states to the Peoples Democratic Party, yet we allowed democracy to prevail. We have remained resolute in our belief that in every electoral contest, popular will must prevail.”
The opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had earlier written to the APC to stop ‘unpatriotic practice of putting narrow partisan interests above the national interest’.
Akpanudoedehe, in the statement, also faulted the position of the PDP, stating that it was merely designed to gain political mileage and reinforce disinformation.
He said, “This is a far-cry from the days of the do-or-die politics of the PDP, where civilians took control of the security apparatus to subvert the people’s will and determine the outcome of elections.
“Electoral reform is a core plank of the programmes of the APC-led administration and a legacy that Mr. President has promised to bequeath to Nigerians.
“Therefore the statements by the PDP are merely designed to gain political mileage and they only reinforce the disinformation on all issues, which the PDP constantly and laboriously pursues at all times. The positions taken by the PDP governors against these institutional reforms are in the public domain.”
A Boeing 737 passenger plane carrying 62 people is believed to have crashed into the sea shortly after take-off from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta.
The Sriwijaya Air disappeared from radars four minutes into its journey to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province.
It is thought to have dropped more than 3,000m (10,000ft) in less than a minute, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.
Witnesses said they had seen and heard at least one explosion.
Fisherman Solihin, who goes by one name, explained that he had witnessed a crash and his captain decided to return to land.
“The plane fell like lightning into the sea and exploded in the water,” he said.
“It was pretty close to us, the shards of a kind of plywood almost hit my ship.”
A number of residents of an island near where the plane disappeared reported that they had found objects they thought were from the plane.
image captionPolice officers and fishermen show debris that they believe came from the plane
The transport ministry said search and rescue efforts were under way.
The Indonesian navy has been deployed to look for the aircraft, reports say. Navy official Abdul Rasyid told Reuters news agency it had determined the plane’s coordinates and ships had been deployed to the location.
The aircraft is not a 737 Max, the Boeing model that was grounded from March 2019 until last December following two deadly crashes.
A 49-year-old man identified as Big Sipiliano from Epworth in Zimbabwe, was arrested after he turned up to the funeral of a woman, Melisa Mazhindu to have sex with her corpse.
Sipiliano who was arrested alongside an accomplice, entered the bedroom where the body of Melisa Mazhindu had been laid out and, while his companion blocked the doorway, jumped onto Melisa’s corpse and started thrusting up and down in front of the deceased woman’s shocked family.
Sipiliano, known locally as “Bigman” reportedly told Melisa’s bereaved mother Phillipa that he had wanted to sleep with her 20-year-old daughter for a long time. Source – Lailas News
A source said some people who ran away with gun wounds later died in the bush.
Seven people have reportedly been killed during a clash between men of the Oyo State Security Network Agency better known as Operation Amotekun and herdsmen at Aiyete in the Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.
According to Punch, the fight started at Okebi village in the morning of Saturday, January 9, 2021.
A resident of the area, who gave his name as Saliu told the newspaper that seven people had been killed.
Saliu also said that several houses had been burnt, adding that no one knew the cause of the fight yet. “The number of people killed has increased to seven. Those who were shot and ran away later died in the bush.”
Another source, who spoke to the newspaper said the clash was between the Amotekun corps and herdsmen.
The Commandant of Amotekun in Oyo State, Col. Olayinka Olayanju (retd), when contacted told Punch that he was on his way to the area to ascertain what happened.
Some parts of Spain are flooded with snow, with half of the country on red alert for more on Saturday.
People trying to keep warm
Madrid, one of the worst affected areas, is set to see up to 20cm (eight inches) of snow in the next 24 hours.
The city’s airport has closed along with a number of roads.
On Friday evening, a number of vehicles became stranded on a motorway near the capital.
Firefighters were called in to assist drivers who had become stuck. In some areas the military were called in to help clear roads.
Authorities have asked people to avoid non-essential travel.
According to local media, the snowfall in Madrid is the heaviest in at least 40 years. The country’s AEMET weather agency said the snowfall was “exceptional and most likely historic”.
A number of people were seen making the most of the snowy scenery, walking through Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square.
Large parks in Madrid have since been closed as a precaution.
An exclusive screening tagged ‘An Evening With the Milkmaid’ will hold in Lagos at Terra Kulture on Sunday, January 10, 2021 at 5.00pm, with the Honourable Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as the special guest of honour, and ace comedian Bright Okpocha a.k.a. Basketmouth as event compere.
In December 2020, The Milkmaid was announced by the 12-member Nigeria Official Selection Committee (NOSC) as Nigeria’s representative to the 93rd Oscars in the category of Best International Feature Film, following a statutory vetting and subsequent voting of entries received from Nigerian filmmakers at home and abroad.
Written, produced and directed by Desmond Ovbiagele, The Milkmaid is a Hausa language-based thriller spotlighting insurgency and extremism, especially as they affect women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Technically crafted to the highest international cinematic standards, the film showcases the natural beauty of Nigeria’s topography such as the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba state, while highlighting the richness of the subregion’s colourful Hausa and Fulani cultures.
Starring Maryam Booth, Anthonieta Kalunta, and Gambo Usman Kona, with US-based Nigerian surgeon Dr. Oluseun Sowemimo as its Executive Producer, the film follows Aisha, a Fulani milkmaid, searching for the whereabouts of her younger sister, Zainab after a forced separation.
Dire personal circumstances force her to approach the extremists who were responsible for their predicament in the first instance, but she is determined to find her despite the compromises she must make to do so.
However, her quest to recapture her serene past proves to be unexpectedly complicated in a world whose seething conflict provides several paths to becoming a victim with typically irreversible consequences.
The Milkmaid received efiveight nominations at the 16th edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in December 2020, winning awards for Best Film, Best Supporting Actress, Best Nigerian Film, Best Film in an African Language, and Achievement in Make-up.
The Ogun State Police Command has arrested a former guard, Mela Samaila, for allegedly stealing the offering box of the Grace Nations Church, aka Liberation City.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspect who worked for the church as a security official, broke into the auditorium.
According to the police spokesman, Samaila, reportedly stole the offering box containing an undisclosed amount of money in the church located at Ojodu Abiodun in the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The suspect was said to be arrested following a distress call received by the police at the Ojodu Abiodun Divisional Headquarters from security men on duty at the church.
Samaila
To Oyeyemi, the suspect broke into the church around 4am on Thursday, noting that the guards told the police that a thief scaled the fence of the church, broke into the main auditorium and made away with the church’s offering box.
“Upon the distress call, the DPO Ojodu Abiodun division, CSP Eyitayo Akinluwade, quickly mobilised his patrol team to the scene, combed the area and succeeded in arresting the suspect with the help of the security men of the church and the offering box was recovered from him,” he said.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect was once a security man in the church, but was relieved of his duty due to some untoward behaviour.”
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, has directed that the suspect be charged to court.
The governor of Lagos state , Sanwo-Olu revealed the news via his Twitter page;
Today, as part of our promise to reward academic excellence in Lagos State, I presented cheques of N5 million each to the best graduating students of the Undergraduate and Masters programmes of the Lagos State University.
Shotunde Oladimeji Idris, the best graduating student was also offered automatic employment into the state’s civil service as we continue to improve the attractiveness of our civil service for the state’s best brains.
At the start of this administration, improving education in the state was highlighted as one of my biggest priorities, and we demonstrated commitment by increasing budgetary allocation to the sector as we work on improving the quality of our curriculums & welfare of our students.
The delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics are scheduled to start on 23 July 2021.
Manyonga is among the favourites to win gold in Tokyo after winning the 2017 World and 2018 Commonwealth titles.
In 2012, Manyonga was banned from athletics for 18 months after testing positive for crystal meth.
The AIU says athletes must provide “accurate and up-to-date” details about their whereabouts as a way to “ensure compliance to anti-doping rules”.
A whereabouts failure against an athlete will be recorded if they fail to submit their whereabouts by the required deadline, have not provided updated or sufficient details to administrators, or are not available for testing in an agreed 60-minute time slot.
Under World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, any combination of three whereabouts failures within 12 months is an anti-doping rule violation.
A ban up to two years could be imposed for the offence.
In May last year, Manyonga was fined for public drinking and contravening South Africa’s strict lockdown restrictions
Twenty-three soldiers accused of being behind the assassination of former president of Democratic Republic of Congo have been released after spending nearly two decades behind bars.
Laurent Kabila was shot dead by a bodyguard in 2001. A military trial that followed jailed dozens of soldiers, including Col Eddy Kapend, his personal aide.
Human Rights groups criticised the trial. Some in DR Congo believe the soldiers were used as scapegoats.
There has been much speculation about who gave the orders for Kabila’s assassination, including suggestions that foreign powers were involved, as it came at a time when several neighbouring countries were involved in the conflict in DR Congo.
The soldiers’ release follows pardons issued by President Félix Tshisekedi who took over from Joseph Kabila, the son of the late president, two years ago.
Mr Kabila repeatedly resisted calls to pardon the prisoners – 11 of whom died whilst in custody.
The release comes amid a power struggle between President Tshisekedi and his predecessor, who continues to wield considerable influence in the country.
Mr Tshisekedi ended his coalition with Mr Kabila’s party – which holds a majority in parliament – following years of tension.
The president is currently seeking new coalition partners that would give him a majority in parliament
Thousands of refugees and migrants urgently need proper shelter in Bosnia-Herzegovina after weeks outdoors in freezing cold, the UN has warned.
Some 2,500 people are in unheated tents or sleeping rough near the northern town of Bihac. A UN official says some are now being moved to heated tents.
Local authorities have refused to reopen a nearby reception centre.
Instead hundreds have been forced to return to a temporary camp that was ravaged by fire last month.
Peter Van der Auweraert of the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) showed photos of the basic tents erected at the Lipa camp by the Bosnian army a few days ago.
The camp was set up hastily in the summer when the coronavirus pandemic forced crisis measures including border closures.
But aid agencies pulled out of the camp in December, saying it was unsustainable without water and electricity.
Some residents forced to leave the facility looted equipment and set fire to tents, police said.
However, about 900 migrants had to go back there, after local officials refused to let them move to the empty reception centre in Bihac. Another 1,500 are struggling in primitive conditions elsewhere near the town.
The migrants are from South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and got stuck in Bosnia while trying to reach Croatia, an EU member state seen as a gateway to the EU.
image captionThis week the Red Cross provided some hot food for the Lipa migrants
Some of the migrants have refused to use the tents in Lipa because they lack heating and sanitation. Some also went on hunger strike, angry at the lack of amenities. But on Tuesday many did receive Red Cross food parcels.
“We want people in proper reception centres where they have access to services, like the 6,000 other people in Bosnia,” Mr Van der Auweraert, the IOM’s head in Bosnia-Herzegovina, told the BBC’s Balkans correspondent Guy De Launey at Lipa.
The IOM says about 8,500 non-EU migrants are living in Bosnia, still hoping to get to northern Europe.
Embattled United States President, Donald Trump has disclosed that he will not be attending the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden.
Mr Trump who until yesterday refused to concede the 2020 election, is currently facing impeachment following the invasion of Capitol Hill by some of his supporters.
The 45th POTUS has consistently claimed that the election was rigged without providing evidence. His claims of rigging got him suspended on major social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Trump
On Friday, Mr Trump tweeted that he will not be attending the inauguration.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” he tweeted.
Twitter suspended the ban on his account after a 12hours suspension for violating Twitter rules.
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