Saturday, 19 July 2014
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American actress and UN goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie skipped an event in Khartoum, Sudan after she was denied an entry visa. Speaking at the event on Friday, British ambassador to Sudan, Peter Tibber, confirmed the developments. The event was jointly organised by some civil society organisations and foreign embassies. At the same event, the British High Commissioner criticised Khartoum for declining to sign the international declaration of commitment to end violence in conflict areas, calling on Sudan to respect its international obligations in the human rights field. Addressing the event via video, Ms Jolie hit at the Bashir administration for sentencing a Christian woman to hang for apostasy. “Khartoum should respect the fundamental right to freedom of religion, and to repeal its laws that ban people from converting their faith, as they are inconsistent with its 2005 Interim Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” she urged. She also called on the international community to intensify diplomatic efforts to help create a single, unified, broadly inclusive peace process across the country, warning that Sudan’s silent suffering is getting worse. She further accused Khartoum of wresting control of natural resources and transferring national wealth to top-level regime officials. “They steal wealth then funds the Janjaweed, the internal security organs, and the Sudanese Air Force, and ensures that those brutal instruments of control are held by a small circle of ruling party officials” she claimed. The Sudanese authorities is yet to comment on Ms Jolie’s accusations. Her appeal comes in a time more than 300 international government ministers concluded a Global Summit in London to end sexual violence in the war zones. At the summit, Ms Jolie urged the international leaders to work together to eliminate sexual violence in war zones. In the past, Ms Jolie, visited refugees and IDPS camps in Darfur region. She is also a founder of the Satellite Sentinel Project created in 2011 by the American star George Clooney to facilitate forensic investigations on the Sudanese government violation in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
Abacha Loot: Liechtenstein To Return €167m To Nigeria
Liechtenstein said Wednesday it would return 167 million euros ($227 million) to Nigeria, ending a drawn-out battle by the African country to recover cash looted by late dictator Sani Abacha.
Abacha, who died in 1998, is suspected of having looted the Nigerian central bank to the tune of about $2.2 billion when he ruled Africa’s most populous nation from November 1993 to June 1998.
Nigeria first requested help from Liechtenstein in 2000 to recover the cash stashed there.
The tiny principality of some 37,000 people returned 7.5 million euros to Nigeria in late 2013, but the restitution of the bulk of the cash has long been blocked by lawsuits brought by companies linked to Abacha’s family.
Several of the companies were sentenced in 2008 to repay money proven to have been taken from Nigeria’s national budget, but four of the firms filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Following negotiations between the governments of Liechtenstein and Nigeria, the four ended up withdrawing their complaints in May, “clearing the path for repatriation of the assets once and for all,” Vaduz said in a statement Wednesday.
The World Bank had agreed “to monitor the use of the repatriated assets,” the statement said. [AFP]
American singer and actress, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter has reportedly donated $125,000 to help save the lives of premature babies in developing countries. The ‘Partition’ singer announced her donation at an anniversary party for Gucci’s Chime for Change charity, which raises awThe mother-of-one said she chose to help out Embrace Innovations charity, an organisation which distributes ingenious infant warmers to babies born in poverty.The baby warmer is a lower cost alternative to a traditional incubator and looks like a tiny sleeping bag. With her donation, the company will now fund pilot testing of the device in countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. Her aid will assist an estimated 2,000 babies!
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