March 6, 2015
Peter Singhatey
African Center for Strategic Studies
Africa, Gambia, Hezbollah, International Security, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey, Senegal
Hezbollah’s operations in west Africa – Blogs – Jerusalem Post.
Last Thursday, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on three Lebanese individuals – Mustapha Fawaz, Fouzi Fawaz and Abdallah Tahini –accusing them of running a significant Hezbollah supply network in west Africa. The trio, all Lebanese-born but now residing in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, have a history of alleged links to Hezbollah.
According to the Treasury Department, Mustapha Fawaz has had ties with the group since the 1990s, organizing a network of hidden cameras to monitor the movement of Israelis. Fawaz is also rumored to have provided Hezbollah with a report of his visit to the US Embassy in Abuja. In May 2013, the Nigerian authorities detained him, whereupon he gave up crucial intelligence on Hezbollah’s activities throughout the country. Fawaz’s confession led the Nigerian security services to an unremarkable property in the Nigerian city of Kano, where they uncovered a veritable armory housing weapons to be used against Israeli targets across West Africa. Following this discovery, Mustapha’s brother – Fouzi Fawaz – along with Abdallah Tahini were apprehended by the Nigerian security forces and charged with supporting Hezbollah operations in the country. All three men have since been released.
Thursday’s sanctions were not the first time the Treasury Department has targeted individuals connected to Hezbollah in west Africa. In June of 2013, the United States blacklisted four Lebanese men – Ali Ibrahim al-Wafta, Abbas Loutfe Fawaz, Ali Ahmad Chehade and Hicham Nmer Khanafer – after they were accused of masterminding Hezbollah’s fundraising campaigns in Sierra Leone, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and the Gambia…
February 23, 2015
Peter Singhatey
Articles on Africa
Africa, corruption, Inequality, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey, Secret Bank Accounts
The Hidden Billions Behind Economic Inequality in Africa.
Reports this year of illicit moneys from African countries stashed in a Swiss bank – indicating that corruption lies behind much of the income inequality that affects the continent – have grabbed international news headlines.
Secret bank accounts in the HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm unearthed this year by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) were said to hold over 100 billion dollars, some of which came from Africa, including some of the poorest nations on the continent.
When these funds leave the region, they deny the very nations that need them most…
February 22, 2015
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
Africa, Boko Haram, Conflict, International Security, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
‘Small girl’ with explosives strapped to her kills five.
A young girl with explosives strapped to her killed five people and wounded dozens at a security checkpoint outside a market in the northeast Nigerian town of Potiskum on Sunday, witnesses said.
“(She) refused to be checked at the gate to the market and an argument ensued,” witness Ibrahim Maishago said. “She let off the bomb, killing herself and five others, while many were injured.”
No one claimed responsibility for the bombing, which bore the hallmarks of Islamist militant group Boko Haram. The insurgents have suffered a string of defeats in a military offensive by Nigeria and neighbours Cameroon, Niger and Chad…
February 2, 2015
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
Addiction, Compulsive Disorders, Facebook, Peter Singhatey, Research, Smartphone addition
Smartphone addiction time-bomb ‘ready to explode’ – Independent.ie.
A third of internet users now access online content on mobile phones – up from just 10pc two years ago – and internet users are expected to surpass PC users by next year, according to the latest research by Dublin-based Statcounter.
Counsellors now fear internet addiction, fuelled by 24/7 access via mobile phones, will be the next wave of compulsive disorders that they will be treating.
Gerry Cooney, an addiction counsellor at the Rutland Centre, said they are already seeing a massive surge in the number of people – typically young men under the age of 30 – who are seeking treatment for online gambling and pornography addiction, which is exacerbated by 24-hour access through smartphones and other mobile devices.
And while the people he is currently treating at the centre’s residential treatment programme have sought help for gambling and other impulse control disorders, he believes smartphone addiction will be the next wave of illness due to the “mood-altering and compulsive” nature of social media, gaming and other forms of online entertainment.
“It’s not necessarily a young person’s issue,” Mr Cooney told the Sunday Independent.
“Facebook is something that a lot of people are now struggling with, the constant need to stay in touch.”…
February 2, 2015
Peter Singhatey
Articles on Africa
Africa, corruption, Money Laundering, Organised Crime, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Fraud, organized crime costing Africa billions per year: study – Al Arabiya News.4
Africa loses at least $50 billion a year to illicit practices like tax fraud, corruption and organized crime, a worrying situation that is hurting the continent’s economies, a UN-mandated study group warned Sunday.
Illicit financial flows — which range from international corporations dodging taxes to the trafficking of weapons and minerals — are a barrier to creating jobs on the world’s poorest continent, according to the group headed by ex-South African president Thabo Mbeki.
“Large commercial corporations are by far the biggest culprits of illicit outflows, followed by organized crime,” said Mbeki in the report commissioned by the United Nations and African Union to study illicit cash flows.
“We are also convinced that corrupt practices in Africa are facilitating these outflows.”…
January 31, 2015
Peter Singhatey
International Security
Africa, Boko Haram, Conflict, Nigeria, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
African Nations Show Progress in Uniting to Beat Back Militants in Nigeria – NYTimes.com.
African leaders are stepping up their response to Boko Haram, with Chadian soldiers chasing the militants from a northern Nigerian town and the African Union calling for a 7,500-member regional force to tackle what it called “a serious threat” to the continent.
A communiqué adopted by the peace and security council of the African Union, which is meeting this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, calls on Nigerian soldiers and their counterparts from four neighboring countries — Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger — to “prevent the expansion of Boko Haram,” search for those abducted by the group and conduct joint patrols at their borders. It does not specifically authorize the most sensitive step: cross-border operations.
According to a Chadian military spokesman, Nigerian news media reports and officials in Niger, Chadian forces took control on Thursday of Malam Fatori, a northern town that Boko Haram had held since October….
January 25, 2015
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
International Security, ISIL, ISIS, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey, Suicide Bombers, Terrorism, Women
When Women Become Terrorists – NYTimes.com.
SINCE the terror attacks in Paris two weeks ago, the French police have been on the hunt for Hayat Boumeddiene, the partner of Amedy Coulibaly, one of the slain gunmen. She is now suspected to be in Syria. Some news reports speculate that Ms. Boumeddiene, 26, may have been “the more radical of the two.” Yet one of the first questions that French authorities intend to ask her is, they say, “if she did this under influence, if she did it by ideology, if she did it to aid and abet.”
While much will be made in the coming months of France’s intelligence failures, the West’s inability to appreciate the role that women play in terror should come under the highest scrutiny. Take the role of women in the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL. While the group oppresses many women, many also flock to its ranks. Roughly 10 percent of its Western recruits are female, often lured by their peers through social media and instant messaging. The percentage is much higher in France: An estimated 63 of the 350 French nationals believed to be with the group are women, or just under 20 percent.
This story is both a new one and an old one. Women have long been involved in terror of all stripes, from female neo-Nazis in Europe to Chechen “black widow” suicide bombers…
January 21, 2015
Peter Singhatey
African Center for Strategic Studies
Africa, Ebola, Gambia, Health, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Is this the beginning of the end for the Ebola outbreak in West Africa? | GlobalPost.
Schools reopened in Guinea this week, just as Mali became the region’s latest country to be declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization, following Nigeria and Senegal.
The two developments are signs that life is slowly returning to normal as West Africa recovers from the world’s worst-ever Ebola epidemic.
It is far from over yet. But there is, at last, hope that the end of the outbreak may be within sight.
There have been 21,614 cases of Ebola in this epidemic, and 8,594 deaths, according to the latest WHO figures. But crucially, the number of new cases is declining in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the countries worst affected.
Last week Sierra Leone and Guinea both recorded their lowest weekly totals of confirmed cases since August, while Liberia had its lowest weekly total since June.
Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, has said he is “confident” the outbreak can be ended, provided “nothing unexpected happens.”…
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