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CMYK 8 Wednesday INTERNATIONAL
13 April 2016

Alarming rise in child suicide bombers used by Boko Haram: UN

ABUJA: The number of children More than 75 percent of the child and three quarters of them daughters and mothers?" he said.
used by Nigeria's Boko Haram to were girls. An estimated 20,000 people have
stage suicide bombings has risen children involved in such attacks are
more than 10-fold in one of the most Last year, children were used in been killed since Boko Haram
"horrific" aspects of the Islamist girls, it added. one out of every two attacks in Cam- launched its campaign of violence in
insurgency, the United Nations said eroon, one out of eight in Chad, and 2009 to carve out a hardline Islamic
on Tuesday. "Let us be clear: these children one out of seven in Nigeria. state in northeast Nigeria.

Experts said the group, which has are victims, not perpetrators," said UNICEF said the number of Boko More than 2.6 million people have
been weakened by a multinational Haram suicide bombings had in- fled their homes since, but some
military offensive, is now trying to Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF regional creased from 32 in 2014 to 151 last year. of the internally displaced have
spread terror by using children for recently begun returning after the
attacks in crowded markets, mosques director for west and central Africa. "The calculated use of children, Nigerian military captured swathes
and even camps for people fleeing who may have been coerced into of territory back from the insurgents.
Boko Haram violence. "Deceiving children and forcing carrying bombs, has created an
atmosphere of fear and suspicion that But UNICEF underscored that the
This has had disastrous conse- them to carry out deadly acts has has devastating consequences" for repercussions were devastating for
quences for children, especially girls, them, it said. children caught up in the conflict.
who had survived captivity and sexual been one of the most horrific aspects
violence by Boko Haram, said a report "As 'suicide' attacks involving It said nearly 1.3 million children
by UN children's agency UNICEF. of the violence in Nigeria and in children become commonplace, some have been displaced, about 1,800
communities are starting to see schools are closed—either dam-
"The number of children in- neighbouring countries," he said. children as threats to their safety," aged, looted, burned down or used as
volved in 'suicide' attacks in Nigeria, said Fontaine. shelter by displaced people and more
Cameroon, Chad and Niger has risen The report was released two years than 5,000 children reported either
sharply over the past year, from four "This suspicion towards children as unaccompanied or separated from
in 2014 to 44 in 2015," UNICEF said. after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 can have destructive consequences; their parents.
how can a community rebuild itself
teenagers in the dead of night from when it is casting out its own sisters, —Agencies

the small town of Chibok in northern

Nigeria. A total of 219 students are Nigerian soldiers inspect a burnt vehicle at the site of
still missing. a suicide attack by the Boko Haram militant group in
The report, entitled "Beyond Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria FILE PHOTO

Chibok", said alarming trends have

surfaced after Boko Haram started

attacking countries neighbouring February 2016, Cameroon recorded Nigeria (17) and Chad (two)," it said.

Nigeria. the highest number of suicide attacks During the same period, nearly

"Between January 2014 and involving children (21), followed by one in five suicide bombers was a

To stop boys, teacher’s Taliban announce ‘Libya my
distraction, NZ school ‘spring offensive’, worst mistake’,
asks girls to lengthen warn of deadly attacks
their skirts says Obama

PARIS: In a move to avoid the distraction of across Afghanistan
male students and teachers, teenage girls at a
New Zealand high school have reportedly been KABUL: The Taliban announced the ing off in the winter, when mountain capital, Lashkar Gah. WASHINGTON: Barack Obama says the biggest
told to lengthen their skirts below the knee level. start of their spring offensive on Tues- passes get snowed in, and picking up Understrength Afghan security mistake of his presidency was the lack of planning for
day, pledging to launch large-scale offen- again in the spring and summer. the aftermath of the fall of late Libyan leader Moamer
Around 40 students in year 11 at Henderson sives against government strongholds forces, struggling with heavy casualties Kadhafi, with the country spiraling into chaos and
high school in Auckland were called to a meeting backed by suicide and guerrilla attacks How far the announcement will lead and high desertion rates and short of air grappling with violent extremists.
and told by Deputy Principal Cherith Telford that to drive Afghanistan’s Western-backed to an immediate escalation in fighting, power, transport and logistical support,
their skirts would need to be lowered to knee level. government from power. which caused 11,000 civilian casualties have struggled in their first year fight- Reflecting on his legacy in a Fox News interview
last year, remains unclear. However, ing largely alone. aired Sunday, Obama said his “worst mistake” was
The decision comes after a uniform inspec- The announcement of the start of “Op- NATO and Afghan officials have said “probably failing to plan for the day after what I think
tion by the School Principal. Telford said the eration Omari”, named after the late Tal- they expect very tough combat in 2016. According to NATO commanders, was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya.”
move was designed to “keep our girls safe, stop iban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban exert control over only six
boys from getting ideas and create a good work came just days after Secretary of State Hours before the Taliban announced percent of Afghanistan but up to a third Last month, Obama made a searing critique of Brit-
environment for male staff”. John Kerry visited Kabul and reaffirmed their offensive, the US embassy in Kabul of the country is at risk from the insur- ish Prime Minister David Cameron and former French
US support for a national unity govern- issued an emergency warning to US citi- gents and government forces control no leader Nicolas Sarkozy for their roles in the bombing
“Basically we were told that the skirts ment led by President Ashraf Ghani. zens, saying it had received reports that more than 70 percent of territory. campaign they led in Libya.
needed to be lowered to below our knees or we insurgents were planning attacks on a
would be given detention after school,” said a “Jihad against the aggressive and major hotel in Kabul. US General John Nicholson, who Cameron became “distracted” and Sarkozy wanted
School girl. The comments have caused outrage usurping infidel army is a holy obliga- took over as commander of internation- to promote his country during the 2011 NATO-led
among many students, parents and feminist tion upon our necks and our only re- Heavy fighting has continued for al troops in Afghanistan last month, is military intervention, Obama said in an interview with
commentators. “I am very annoyed by this,” course for reestablishing an Islamic sys- months across Afghanistan, from conducting a strategic review, including The Atlantic magazine.
said Deborah Russell, a feminist commentator tem and regaining our independence,” Kunduz, the northern city that fell plans to cut US troops in Afghanistan
and lecturer at Massey University. “It sends a the Taliban said in a statement. briefly to the insurgents last year, to from 9,800 to 5,500 by the end of the year. Since the downfall of Kadhafi, who was killed in a
message that young women are responsible for Helmand province bordering Paki- popular uprising, Libya descended into near-anarchy,
young men’s sexual behaviour, and also sends The insurgency has gained strength stan in the south. Unless the plan is changed, the re- ruled by rival militias vying for power while the Is-
a bad message to young men that their sexual since the withdrawal of international duction would mean the end of most lamic State group has gained influence in the country.
behavior is uncontrollable,” she said. troops from combat at the end of 2014 In Helmand, where thousands of of NATO’s training and assistance
and the Taliban are stronger than at any British and American troops were operation, leaving the remaining US The head of a UN-backed unity government arrived
China lashes out point since they were driven from power killed or wounded fighting the Taliban, troops focusing on counter terrorism earlier this month in Tripoli to begin garnering sup-
at G7 FMs’ call for by US-backed forces in 2001. government forces have pulled back operations against radical groups like port for his government.
status quo in SCS from many areas and are struggling to Islamic State.
As well as suicide and tactical at- hold on to centres close to the provincial Obama also reflected on some of the best moments
BEIJING: China on Tuesday lashed out at the tacks, the offensive would include as- —Agencies of his tenure as president — due to end in January — in
G-7 advanced economies and asked them to sassinations of “enemy” commanders in the Fox News interview.
focus on global economic recovery rather than urban centres, the Taliban said in their
hyping up issues, after the bloc strongly opposed statement. “Saving the economy from a great depression” was
any “coercive or provocative” actions that may his biggest accomplishment, he said.
fuel tensions in the disputed East and South “The present operation will also em-
China Seas. ploy all means at our disposal to bog the “The day that we passed health care reform,”
enemy down in a war of attrition that Obama said.
“We urge the G7 member states to honour lowers the morale of the foreign invad-
their commitment of not taking sides on issues ers and their internal armed militias,” “We sat out on the Truman Balcony with all the staff
involving territorial disputes,” Chinese Foreign they said. that had worked so hard on it and I knew what it would
Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. mean for the families that I’d met who didn’t have
In line with recent statements, the health care.”
Lu said that as recovery of the world economy militants also said they would estab-
remains weak, the G7 bloc should have focussed lish good governance in areas they con- The president said his worst day in the White House
on global economic governance and cooperation trolled as well as avoiding civilian casu- was when he traveled to Newtown, Connecticut, after
rather than hyping up the disputes. alties and damage to infrastructure. a gunman shot 20 young children and six adult staff
members at an elementary school in December 2012.
“China’s stance on the East and South China The seasons have long shaped vio-
Seas are consistent and clear,” he said, adding lence in Afghanistan with fighting eas- —Agencies
it is completely within China’s sovereignty to
build structures on some of its Nansha islands Race begins for UN’s HARVESTING OPIUM
and reefs and that there is no problem with free- new secretary-general
dom of navigation and over-flight in the East Afghan farmers harvest raw opium at a poppy field in Zhari district of
and South China Seas. UNITED NATIONS: For successor to Ban - a former al Assembly, and the win- southern Kandahar province, Afghanistan. A recent uptick in violence
South Korean foreign min- ner could still be selected across the south will worsen once the poppy crop is harvested in coming
The comments come in response to a state- the first time in history ister who will step down at in a backroom Security weeks and the extremists deploy gunmen to protect their vast smuggling
ment issued by the foreign ministers from Brit- the end of the year after two Council deal as has been
ain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and of the United Nations all five-year terms - has also the case for seven decades. empire, officials, analysts and diplomats are predicting.
the US on Monday in Japan’s Hiroshima city. prompted a push by more
member states will get a than a quarter of UN states When asked if the meet-
The G7 Ministers statement, regarded as the for the first female leader. ings could have any influ-
strongest veiled attack on China said, “We are chance to question the can- ence over the veto-power
concerned about the situation in the East and While the 15-member Se- countries, Russian UN
South China Seas, and emphasise the funda- didates for secretary-gen- curity Council will formally Ambassador Vitaly Chur-
mental importance of peaceful management and recommend a candidate to kin said: “It might.”
settlement of disputes”. eral, in a move designed the 193-member General As-
sembly, the General Assem- “For us it’s important
“We express our strong opposition to any to make the usually secret bly vote has long been seen as to hear what others think,
intimidating, coercive or provocative unilat- a rubber stamp. Nations with and I’m sure they will not
eral actions that could alter the status quo and selection process for the veto powers - the US, Russia, be shying away [from] tell-
increase tensions, and urge all states to refrain Britain, China and France - ing us who they like, so it’s
from such actions as land reclamations includ- world’s top diplomatic post must agree on the nominee. going to be an interesting
ing large scale ones, building of outposts, as well process,” he said. But there
as their use for military purposes and to act in more transparent. As part of the changes will be no vote or informal
accordance with international law including introduced by the General polls by the General Assem-
the principles of freedoms of navigation and The eight hopefuls for one Assembly last year, the bly to signal to the Security
over-flight,” the grouping has said. list of candidates has been Council who the favoured
of the world’s most high-pro- made public for the first candidates might be.
Blast kills Palestinian time, with nomination
official in Lebanon file jobs will also hold town letters and even the candi- “Even the biggest of
date’s CVs posted online. powers need friends and a
LEBANON: An explosion in the southern hall meetings with the UN majority of their friends are
Lebanon city of Sidon has killed an official from On the surface, it is a shift actually asking for a much
the Palestinian Fatah movement on Tuesday, General Assembly in New towards democratisation of a more open process where
members of the group said. secretive process controlled they get real influence,” Mo-
York on Tuesday, Wednes- by the five veto powers. gens Lykketoft, the Danish
The dead man was identified as Fathi Zay- diplomat who is president of
dan, a Fatah official responsible for the Palestin- day and Thursday. They will But there is no require- the General Assembly, said
ian camp of Mieh Mieh in Sidon. ment for the five to pay at- in an interview.
each pitch their credentials tention to the popularity of
An Al Jazeera Arabic in Beirut said Zaydan candidates with the Gener- —Agencies
was leaving a meeting in Sidon and heading and then answer questions
to Beirut when the blast went off. Footage of
the blast site near a Palestinian refugee camp in a two-hour session.
showed a man’s body lying next to a burning
vehicle. “His identification card was found near Last year, the General
the car which exploded, which was also his,” a
source told the AFP news agency, adding it was Assembly responded to a
unclear if Zaydan had been in the car at the time.
demand from many coun-
—Agencies
tries that Secretary-Gener-

al Ban Ki-moon’s successor

be chosen in a more open

process, unanimously

CMYK adopting a resolution al-

lowing public hearings on

how candidates would re-

spond to global crises and

run the UN’s far-flung bu-

reaucracy. The search for a