Metro

17 Nigerian soldiers killed, equipment stolen in multiple Boko Haram onslaught

A roadside ambush and two gunfire attacks reported earlier this week killed at least one officer and 16 soldiers and wounded 18 more troops in the volatile North-east region of Nigeria, in a daring continuation of Boko Haram’s renewed rampage against military targets that escalated with the raiding of two formations last week

Published

5 years ago

July 28, 2018

Africa News Watch

Top military sources who briefed PREMIUM TIMES on the aftermath of each of the three attacks executed over a five-day span said the insurgents also carted away valuable military hardware, including anti-aircraft gun trucks, Toyota Hilux trucks and at least one armoured personnel carrier.

The near-simultaneous and increasingly frequent attacks appeared to have greatly unsettled the military leadership in recent days, with sources attributing the latest redeployment of top commanders overseeing the counter-insurgency operations to the disappointment being felt at the Defence Headquarters.
It was the fifth reshuffle since 2015 in commanders of Operation Lafiya Dole, Nigerian military’s flagship anti-terrorism campaign across the Northeast.

Another Week Of Heavy Military Losses

In at least one instance, the terrorists destroyed an anti-aircraft gun truck rather than drive it away in Tarmuwa Local Government Area of Yobe State, sources said. This was when a detachment from 223 Battalion led by a lieutenant colonel lost eight soldiers after it was ambushed on July 21, marking the first of the last one week’s attacks.

One soldier was seriously wounded in that attack.

On July 24, soldiers on patrol in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State encountered Boko Haram attackers in Yajiwa-Kaffa axis. One officer and six soldiers were killed while 14 other members of the team, including two local hunters, were seriously injured in the gunfire that erupted, military sources said.

The army did not disclose the attack to the media, which was why it went unreported until military sources informed PREMIUM TIMES about it Friday night as part of the paper’s findings about military and civilian casualties in the renewed Boko Haram attacks.

The terrorists continued their deadly campaign with the attack on Thursday night in Jakana, Borno settlement which lies west of Maiduguri on the road to Kano. Although the attack was largely repelled as security agencies said, two soldiers were still killed and three injured, facts the Nigerian Army and police concealed in their respective statements but which senior officers have now disclosed PREMIUM TIMES.

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Metro

Rwandan President, Kagame sacks over 200 military personnel in major shake-up

Published

8 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame has sacked over 200 soldiers including top military brass and commanders from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) in a massive shake-up.

The dismissed officers include the former Commander of the Reserve Forces, Maj. Gen. Aloys Muganga, and Brig. Gen. Francis Mutiganda, a former Head of External Security in the National Intelligence Services, as well as 14 senior officers.

The announcement of the sacking of the officers which was contained in a statement released by the RDF on Wednesday, did not give reason for the sackings, but the move come a day after the president reshuffled the top echelon of the country’s military, which saw the firing of the Defence Minister and an Army Chief.

The sacking of the soldiers has further heightened tension between Rwanda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, with each side accusing the other of working with rebels to topple one another’s governments, according to reports in local media.

Metro

UN war crimes court declares Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga unfit to stand trial

Published

9 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

An 88-year-old Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga has been declared unfit to stand trial by judges at a United Nations War Crimes Court in The Hague.

In a decision published by the court on Wednesday, the judges acknowledged that Kabuga was no longer able to actively participate in his trial, and rather proposed an alternative process that aims to resemble a trial but does not allow for a conviction instead of stopping the proceedings completely.

“The trial chamber finds Mr. Kabuga is no longer capable of meaningful participation in his trial,” the publication said.

“The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, therefore, finds that Mr. Kabuga is not fit for trial and is very unlikely to regain fitness in the future.

“It is therefore agreed to adopt an alternative finding procedure that resembles a trial as closely as possible, but without the possibility of a conviction,” it added.

Kabuga who was arrested in Paris where he had been in hiding under a false identity for several years, was one of the most wanted suspects of the Rwandan genocide, and was charged at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with genocide and crimes against humanity.

At his initial arraignment in September last year, the ICC heard that Kabuga was alleged to have been the main financier of the ethnic Hutu militias who slaughtered over 800,000 minority Tutsis as well as political opponents during the genocide in 1994.

According to the UN, Kabuga, a wealthy businessman from the Hutu ethnic group, had established and financed an infamous media outfit, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which was notorious for inciting violence and promoting the targeting and elimination of individuals from the Tutsi ethnic group who were referred to as “Cockroaches”.

Kabuga was arrested in Paris in 2020 after decades on the run and sent for trial in The Hague where he pleaded not guilty to charges of sponsoring the infamous Hutu radical radio station urging people to kill Tutsi “cockroaches”.

He also denied supplying machetes and supporting the murderous Interahamwe Hutu militia.