Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts

'Suicide bomber' claims to be missing Nigeria schoolgirl

-In this file photo taken from video released by Nigeria"s Boko Haram terrorist network, Monday May 12, 2014, shows missing girls abducted from the northeastern town of Chibok.Authorities in Cameroon and Nigeria are investigating a claim from a would-be suicide bomber that she was one of a group of schoolgirls abducted in 2014.
The Nigerian government is sending parents to Cameroon to attempt to identify the girl.
She told investigators in Cameroon she was one of 270 kidnapped in Chibok by jihadist group Boko Haram.
The abductions sparked international outrage and the #bringbackourgirls social media campaign.
While about 50 of the girls managed to escape, 219 of these girls remain missing. They were taken by the militants from the Chibok community in northeastern Nigeria.
Reuters news agency reported that one of two girls arrested in northern Cameroon on Friday carrying explosives claimed to be one of the missing Chibok girls.
The girls were arrested after being stopped by local self-defence forces in Limani near the border with Nigeria, the target of frequent suicide bombings in recent months.
"We hope that the Chibok parents will be able to identify the girl and determine whether she is indeed one of their missing students," Garba Shehu, a spokesman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Mr Shehu said the government was keen to ascertain the girl's identity so she could be brought back to Nigeria and possibly assist the government in investigating the abductions.
He said the two parents from Chibok selected to embark on the trip to Cameroon are Yakubu Nkeki, chairman of the Chibok Abducted Girls Movement, and Yana Galang, the women's leader in the group, whose 16-year-old daughter Rifkatu is among the missing.
Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was criticised for his slow reaction to the Chibok abductions. Mr Buhari, his successor, ordered a new investigation into the kidnappings in January.
Although Boko Haram has been driven out from most of the areas it controlled in north-eastern Nigeria, it has continued to carry out suicide bombings and raids into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Boko Haram videoImage copyrightBoko Haram video
Image captionBoko Haram has sworn allegiance to Islamic State and often displays its trademark black flag

Boko Haram at a glance:

  • Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing Western-style education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
  • Launched military operations in 2009
  • Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, hundreds abducted, including at least 200 schoolgirls
  • Joined so-called Islamic State, now calls itself IS's "West African province"
  • Seized large area in north-east, where it declared caliphate
  • Regional force has retaken most territory this year

Africa Live: Liberia closes Guinea border over Ebola, $25bn Nigeria oil revenue 'missing'

  1. Liberia closes part of its border with Guinea over Ebola flare up
  2. Nigeria's state oil company failed to hand over nearly $25bn it owed to the government
  3. Chadian civil society activist detained ahead of planned protest
  4. Trouble outside Uganda court after Besigye hearing cancelled

Africa development: Young scientists make their pitch

delegates of the Next Einstein Forum
Senegal hosted a landmark global science forum this week, the first of its kind in Africa, bringing together more than 700 leading scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs and other key figures from the world of politics and civil society.
The Next Einstein Forum wants to turn Africa into a global hub for science and technology by bringing the continent's top brains together with investors and policymakers.
As part of their quest to ensure the next Einstein comes from the continent, young African scientists were asked to come up with innovations that could "solve a big problem for humanity".
No pressure, then.
Here is a summary of the top three ideas, as chosen by the NEF's panel of expert judges.

Winner: Moses Bangura, Engineer, Sierra Leone

Moses Bangura,Image copyrightNext Einstein Forum/Clement Tardif
Innovation: Medical drone network
Moses wants to use a fleet of electrically powered drones, which could be used to deliver treatment to patients in hard-to-reach areas.
The unmanned aerial vehicles could serve a double purpose, both delivering essentials like medicine or emergency fluids, and also taking away blood or other samples for testing.
The drones would be able to bypass traffic congestion, a major problem in many African cities, as well as reach rural areas with poor road networks.
They would be able to fly with an 8 kg (17 lb) payload for 40 minutes, covering a radius of 40km (25 miles).
Moses says: "We believe that the geographical location of someone cannot determine whether they receive an available life-saving drug."

Runners-Up:

Moussa Thiam, Mali

Moussa ThiamImage copyrightNext Einstein Forum/Clement Tardif
Innovation: Transforming rubbish into building materials
Moussa's plan is take plastic waste, the build-up of which is a massive problem for so many cities across the continent, and turn it into something that can be used for the public good, such as building roads or pavements.
Many of the plastics that end up in African landfills or clog up urban drainage systems take more than 100 years to biodegrade naturally.
The project would build on existing research showing that plastic waste can be used to create materials that act as a substitute or part-substitute for cement, when combined with sand and gravel.
Moussa says:
"[The innovation would lead to] a healthier environment, with a reduction in both pollution and the cost of building materials."

Sylvia Mukasa, Kenya

Sylvia Mukasa, KenyaImage copyrightNext Einstein Forum/Clement Tardif
Innovation: Mobile health information service for mothers
Sylvia's idea, named Afya Mama, is to use mobile phones to provide women with better information about health issues surrounding pregnancy, immunisation, family planning and HIV/Aids.
Pregnant women, healthcare workers and others would get health advice by SMS, or by making a phone call and selecting pre-recorded audio content.
The messages could be pre-recorded in any language and selected using Interactive Voice Response technology, meaning the service could cover the more than 40 ethnic dialects in Kenya.
Sylvia says: "Our objective is to consistently sensitise mothers with information on healthcare and best practices, linking them up with an expert in the case of emergency."
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