Nigeria’s army, security agency warn against Kenya-style protests

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Nigeria’s armed forces on Thursday warned against Kenya-style violence in protests planned for next week over soaring living costs. (AFP/File)
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Updated 26 July 2024
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Nigeria’s army, security agency warn against Kenya-style protests

ABUJA: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Nigeria’s armed forces on Thursday warned against Kenya-style violence in protests planned for next week over soaring living costs, with the military saying it would head off “anarchy.”

Kenya was rocked by deadly protests that forced the government to repeal new taxes. Nigeria’s economic reforms have seen a 40 percent spike in food inflation but there has been no unrest.

Social media calls have been made for demonstrations from August 1.

It is unclear who is behind the calls or whether people will take part at a time when many Nigerians are wary of losing work and cautious over past crackdowns.

President Tinubu touched on the concerns in a statement late Thursday, saying: “We are not afraid of protests. Our concern is the ordinary people, and the damages that will be done.”

In a separate statement, he said “we do not want to turn Nigeria into Sudan,” referencing the 15-month-old civil war in the northeast African country.

“We are talking about hunger, not burials. We have to be careful.”

Prices have risen since Tinubu ended a costly fuel subsidy and liberalized the naira currency in reforms needed to revive the economy of Africa’s most populous nation.

Officials, security forces and governors have urged youth to stay away from any protests. Some have even accused the organizers of treason and seeking to destabilize the country.

“While citizens have the right to peaceful protest, they do not have the right to mobilize for anarchy and unleash terror,” defense spokesman Major General Edward Buba told reporters.

“It is easy to see that the contemporary context of the planned protest is to shadow the happenings in Kenya, which I must say is violent,” he added.

The armed forces had detected some “elements bent on hijacking” the planned protests, he said.

“The level of violence being envisaged can only be described as a state of anarchy. The armed forces on its part will not stand by and allow anarchy to befall our nation.”

The Department of State Services or DSS, which handles domestic threats, said “sinister” elements wanted to abuse the protests and had political motives.

“The plotters desire to use the intended violent outcome to smear the federal and sub-national governments; make them unpopular and pit them against the masses,” it said in a rare statement.

Tinubu, who has repeatedly called for patience with his reforms, has also suggested some groups were mobilizing protests to unleash violence and replicate the Kenyan protests.

On Thursday he met with traditional rulers to seek their help countering any demonstrations.

“We traditional rulers are not engaged in people, especially the youth, coming out to start looting, to start breaking down law and order,” the Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi said after the meeting.

The president agreed last week to more than double the monthly minimum wage for federal workers to 70,000 naira ($43). He has also started delivering truckloads of rice to each state in an attempt to ease cost-of-living pressures.

The last major protest movement in Nigeria, in October 2020, began over abuses by the SARS anti-robbery police squad, but grew into the largest anti-government demonstrations in Nigeria’s modern history.

The police unit was disbanded but the protests ended in bloodshed.

Witnesses and rights organizations accused security forces of opening fire on peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020.

Amnesty International said the army killed at least 10 people at the toll gate, but security forces rejected responsibility, saying troops used blank rounds to disperse people breaking a curfew.


Indian Navy inducts first vessel built in ancient shipbuilding style

Updated 13 sec ago
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Indian Navy inducts first vessel built in ancient shipbuilding style

  • Ship design is based on 5th-century artwork found in Ajanta Caves
  • The ship’s first transoceanic voyage is planned from Gujarat to Oman

NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy inducted on Wednesday its first vessel constructed using traditional shipbuilding techniques dating back to the 5th century.

The 21-meter wooden ship is a stitched ship, a type of boat that is carvel-built, with its planks stitched together using cords or ropes. The technique was popular in ancient India in constructing ocean-going vessels.

Named Kaundinya, the ship is a recreation of a vessel inspired by a painting from the Ajanta Caves — a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Maharashtra state, where ancient Buddhist rock-cut monuments feature exquisite murals dating from the 2nd century B.C.E. to the 5th century C.E.

“The whole concept was to kind of connect to our ancient methodology of how the construction takes place and also, subsequently, connect to the historical maritime routes which Indian seafarers took during that particular time,” Cdr. Vivek Madhwal, spokesperson of the Indian Navy, told Arab News.

Funded by the Ministry of Culture, the project was launched in July 2023 and constructed by artisans from Kerala, who were led by master Indian shipwright Babu Sankaran. The vessel was completed in February this year.

The INSV Kaundinya’s induction into the Indian Navy took place in the presence of Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at the Naval Base Karwar in Karnataka, on the country’s western coast along the Arabian Sea.

The ship will sail its first transoceanic voyage from Gujarat to Oman.

“That is one of the routes which was used by the ancient seafarers,” Madhwal said, adding that new routes will be considered in the future, after the first journey.

The Indian Navy collaborated with the Department of Ocean Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras to conduct model testing of the vessel’s hydrodynamic behavior at sea. The navy has also tested the wooden mast system, which was constructed without the use of contemporary materials.

“Every aspect of the ship had to balance historical authenticity with seaworthiness, leading to design choices that were both innovative and true to the maritime traditions of ancient India,” the Indian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

“The combination of a stitched hull, square sails, wooden spars, and traditional steering mechanisms makes the vessel unlike any ship currently in naval service anywhere in the world.”


Japan’s agriculture minister resigns after a rice gaffe causes political fallout

Updated 21 May 2025
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Japan’s agriculture minister resigns after a rice gaffe causes political fallout

  • Taku Eto’s comment that he ‘never had to buy rice’ because he got it from supporters as a gift got him into trouble
  • The gaffe could be further trouble for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party before a national election in July

TOKYO: Japan’s agriculture minister was forced to resign Wednesday because of political fallout over his recent comments that he “never had to buy rice” because he got it from supporters as a gift. The resignation comes as the public struggles with record high prices of the country’s traditional staple food.
Taku Eto’s comment, which many Japanese saw as out of touch with economic realities, came at a seminar Sunday for the Liberal Democratic Party, which leads a struggling minority government. The gaffe could be further trouble for the party before a national election in July. A major loss could mean a new government or could mean Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba would have to step down.
“I made an extremely inappropriate remark at a time when consumers are struggling with soaring rice prices,” Eto told reporters after submitting his resignation at the prime minister’s office. He was the first minister to resign under Ishiba’s leadership that began October.
The government has released tonnes of rice from its emergency stockpile in recent months, but the latest agricultural ministry statistics show little impact from the move. Some supermarkets have started selling cheaper imported rice.
Eto also sought to clarify the comments that got him in trouble. He said he does actually buy white rice himself and was not living on rice given as gifts. He said the gift comment referred to brown rice, which he wants people to become interested in because it can reach market faster.
Ishiba appointed popular former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of a former prime minister, to lead the ministry, noting his experience in agriculture and fisheries policies and enthusiasm for reforms.
Koizumi told reporters Ishiba instructed him to do everything to stabilize the rice supply and prices to address consumer concern.
“I was told to put rice before anything,” Koizumi told reporters. “At this difficult time, I will do my utmost to speedily tackle the high rice prices that people feel and worry about in their everyday lives.” He said he shares consumers’ concerns as he feeds his children packaged instant rice sometimes.
Ishiba, also a former farm minister, said he wants to strengthen Japan’s food security and self-sufficiency. He has proposed agricultural reforms, including increased rice production and possible exports, though critics say he should urgently fix the ongoing rice problem first.
Noting the rice situation, Ishiba said he suspects the rice price surge is “not a temporary but a structural problem.”
“It may not be easy to find an answer,” he said, but repeated his pledge to do the utmost to ease consumers’ difficulties and to reform rice policies.
Koizumi said the measures so far have proved ineffective and that he will speed the effort as soon as he formally takes office later Wednesday. He stressed the need to reform Japanese rice policy, which has focused on powerful organizations that represent farmers, to focus more on the benefit of consumers.
Japanese rice demand has decreased over recent decades as people’s diets have diversified, but rice remains a staple food and an integral part of Japanese culture and history.
“Rice is the staple food for the Japanese. When its prices are rising every week, (Eto’s) resignation is only natural,” said Shizuko Oshima, 73.
The shortfall started last August with panic buying following a government caution over preparedness for a major earthquake. The supply pressure eased after the autumn harvest, but a shortage and price increases hit again early this year.
Officials have blamed the supply shortage on poor harvests because of hot weather in 2023 and higher fertilizer and other production costs, but some experts blame the government’s long-term rice production policy.
The unprecedented release from emergency rice stockpiles was seen in part as an attempt to figure out distribution problems. The government has denied there is now a rice shortage, but officials say it’s a mystery why rice is not reaching consumers as expected. Some experts say the rice shortage could be serious but it’s difficult to trace rice as its distribution route has become so complex since the end of government control in 1995.


Pope Leo XIV calls for aid to reach Gaza and an end to hostilities in his first general audience

Updated 21 min 29 sec ago
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Pope Leo XIV calls for aid to reach Gaza and an end to hostilities in his first general audience

  • Trump had referred to the Vatican’s longstanding offer to host talks in reporting on his phone call Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV called Wednesday for humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip and for an end to the “heartbreaking” toll on its people, as he presided over his first general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

The Vatican said that around 40,000 people were on hand for the audience, which came just days after an estimated 200,000 people attended the inaugural Mass on Sunday for history’s first American pope.

Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago, began the audience with a tour through the piazza in the popemobile and stopped to bless several babies. In addressing specific greetings to different groups of pilgrims, Leo spoke in his native English, his fluent Spanish as well as the traditional Italian of the papacy.

“I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entrance of dignified humanitarian aid to Gaza and to put an end to the hostilities whose heartbreaking price is being paid by children, the elderly and sick people,” he said. Leo didn’t mention the plight of hostages taken by Hamas during the assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as Pope Francis normally would.

The general audience on Wednesdays is a weekly appointment that popes have kept for decades to allow ordinary faithful to have a face-to-face encounter with the pontiff. It features the pope delivering a brief reflection on a theme or Scripture passage, with summaries provided by others in different languages and the pope directing specific messages to particular faith groups.

The encounter, which lasts more than an hour, usually ends with a brief topical appeal by the pope about a current issue or upcoming event. Leo began it with his now-frequent mantra “Peace be with you.”

To that end, Leo on Tuesday reaffirmed the Vatican’s willingness to host the next round of ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine during a phone call with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, the Italian leader’s office said.

Meloni made the call after speaking with US President Donald Trump and other European leaders, who asked her to verify the Holy See’s offer.

“Finding in the Holy Father the confirmation of the willingness to welcome the next talks between the parties, the premier expressed profound gratitude for Pope Leo XIV’s willingness and his incessant commitment in favor of peace,” Meloni’s office said in a statement late Tuesday.

Trump had referred to the Vatican’s longstanding offer to host talks in reporting on his phone call Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

While low-level talks could take place in Rome, Italy would be hard-pressed to allow Putin to fly into Rome for any higher-level negotiation.

Putin is subject to an international arrest warrant against him from the International Criminal Court, of which Italy is a founding member and therefore obliged to execute its warrants.


Macron chairs meeting to address ‘threat’ of Muslim Brotherhood

Updated 21 May 2025
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Macron chairs meeting to address ‘threat’ of Muslim Brotherhood

  • France’s authorities are eager to prevent any spread of extremist Islamist ideas in a country that has been rocked by a string of deadly jihadist attacks

PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday chaired a security meeting following the publication of a report sounding the alarm about the Muslim Brotherhood and the spread of “political Islamism” in France.
The meeting, which was to include the head of government and key ministers, addressed a report that calls for action to address the rising influence of the Islamist movement which it said poses “a threat to national cohesion” in France.
After the meeting, measures will be taken, “some of which will be announced” and others will remain classified, according to the Elysee Palace.
The report, which was commissioned by the government and prepared by two senior civil servants, “clearly establishes the anti-republican and subversive nature of the Muslim Brotherhood” and “proposes ways to address this threat,” said the Elysee Palace.
France and Germany have the biggest Muslim populations among European Union countries.
France’s authorities are eager to prevent any spread of extremist Islamist ideas in a country that has been rocked by a string of deadly jihadist attacks.
Religious radicalization has become a hot-button issue as the political landscape in France is shifting and the far-right is becoming increasingly popular. Critics have condemned what they call the rise of Islamophobia in France.
The report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP on Tuesday, pointed to the spread of Islamism “from the bottom up,” adding the phenomenon constituted “a threat in the short to medium term.”
“The movement is present in Europe and its target is clearly Europe,” the Elysee Palace said, adding that it was necessary to “raise awareness within the European Union.”
At the same time, the French presidency stressed, “we are all perfectly aligned in saying that we must not lump all Muslims together.”
“We are fighting against Islamism and its radical excesses,” added the presidency.
The report zeroed in on the role of Muslims in France (Musulmans de France), which it identified as “the national branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in France.”

The Federation of Muslims of France denounced “unfounded accusations” and warned against “dangerous” conflation between Islam and radicalism.
“We firmly reject any allegation that attempts to associate us with a foreign political project or an ‘entryism’ strategy,” it said.
“This ideological interpretation does not reflect our institutional reality or our work on the ground,” the federation said, adding it was committed to France’s values.
“Even unintentional conflations between Islam, political Islamism and radicalism are not only dangerous but counterproductive for the Republic itself,” said Muslims in France.
“Behind these unfounded accusations lies a stigmatization of Islam and Muslims.”
The “constant accusation shapes minds, fuels fears and, sadly, contributes to violent acts,” it added, pointing to the death of Aboubakar Cisse, a 22-year-old Malian who was stabbed dozens of times while praying in a mosque in southern France.
Conservative daily Le Figaro, which first published excerpts of the “shocking” report on Tuesday, said the Muslim Brotherhood “wants to introduce Sharia law in France.”
France’s tough-talking Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau expressed a similar concern, pointing to “a low-level Islamism.”
The report said however that “no recent document demonstrates the desire of Muslims in France to establish an Islamic state in France or to enforce Sharia law there.”
But the threat was real, the authors said.
“We are not dealing with aggressive separatism” but a “subtle...yet no less subversive aim for the institutions.”
Macron’s party wants to ban minors under 15 from wearing the Muslim headscarf in public spaces, saying the hijab “seriously undermines gender equality and the protection of children.”
The party also wants to introduce a “criminal offense for coercion against parents who force their underage daughters to wear the veil.”
Critics see the headscarf worn by Muslim women as a symbol of creeping Islamization after deadly jihadist attacks in France, while others say they are just practicing their religion and should wear what they want.


A suicide car bomber strikes a school bus in southwestern Pakistan, killing 5 people

Updated 21 May 2025
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A suicide car bomber strikes a school bus in southwestern Pakistan, killing 5 people

  • The province has been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks
  • There was no immediate comment from New Delhi

QUETTA, Pakistan: A suicide car bomber struck a school bus in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five people — including at least three children — and wounding 38 others, officials said, the latest attack in tense Balochistan province.
The province has been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, including the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, or BLA, designated a terror group by the United States in 2019.
A local deputy commissioner, Yasir Iqbal, said the attack took place on the outskirts of the city of Khuzdar as the bus was taking children to their military-run school there.
Troops quickly arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area while ambulances transported the victims to hospitals in the city. Local television stations aired footage of the badly damaged bus and scattered debris.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatists, who frequently target security forces and civilians in the region.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned the attack and expressed deep sorrow over the children’s deaths. He called the perpetrators “beasts” who deserve no leniency, saying the enemy had committed an act of “sheer barbarism by targeting innocent children.”
Officials, who initially reported that four children were killed but later revised the death toll to say two adults were also among the dead, said they fear the toll may rise further as several children were listed in critical condition.
Blaming India
The military also issued a statement, saying the bombing was “yet another cowardly and ghastly attack” — allegedly planned by neighboring India and carried out by “its proxies in Balochistan.”
There was no immediate comment from New Delhi.
Most of the attacks in the province are claimed by the BLA, which Pakistan claims has India’s backing. India has denied such claims.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences and also blamed India, without providing any evidence to support the claim.
“The attack on a school bus by terrorists backed by India is clear proof of their hostility toward education in Balochistan,” Sharif said, vowing that the government would bring the perpetrators to justice.
Later, Sharif’s office said he is traveling to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, along with Field Marshal Asim Munir, to meet with the victims of the attack, and to receive a briefing.
Pakistan regularly accuses India, its archrival, for violence at home. These accusations have intensified in the wake of heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations amid a cross-border escalation since last month over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, divided between the two but sought in its entirety by each.
That escalation raised fears of a broader war, and during this period the BLA appealed to India for support. India has not commented on the appeal.
A vicious insurgency
Though Pakistan’s largest province, Balochistan is its least populated. It’s also a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination by the government.
In one of its deadliest recent attacks, BLA insurgents killed 33 people, mostly soldiers, during an assault on a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Balochistan in March.
And earlier this week, the BLA vowed more attacks on the “Pakistani army and its collaborators” and says its goal is to “lay the foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and independent Balochistan.”
Militant groups are also active in the Balochistan and though it is unusual for separatists to target school children in the province, such attacks have been carried out in the restive northwest and elsewhere in the country in recent years.
Most schools and colleges in Pakistan are operated by the government or the private sector, though the military also runs a significant number of institutions for children of both civilians and of serving or retired army personnel.
In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban carried out the country’s deadliest school attack on an army-run institution in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 154 people, most of them children.