Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Monday, August 31, 2015

Guantanamo Bay: Obama considering closure options

by Melissa Gruz and Bioduin Iginla, BBC News, Washington DC

20 minutes ago


The White House says President Barack Obama is considering "a wide array" of options for closing the controversial US military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Spokesman Josh Earnest said winning Congress approval to close the jail would be the best option.
But he did not rule out executive action as a means to shut it down.
President Obama is determined to shut down the prison before the end of his term in 2017, but faces bipartisan opposition in Congress.
The US has slowly been sending prisoners back to their home countries or to third countries. Just 116 inmates currently remain compared to the prison's peak population of 684 in 2003.
But closing the prison would likely require the transfer of some Guantanamo inmates to jails within the US, a measure that has already been banned by Congress.

Some have been considered too dangerous to be released, but the US holds no evidence that can be used in civilian or military trials against them.
The White House says it will be sending a plan to Congress soon, the details of which have yet to be revealed.
Spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday the best way to close the site would be to win congressional approval.
"But the fact is the best way for us to do this is for members of Congress of both parties to work effectively with the administration," he told reporters.
Closing the prison was one of the first directives President Barack Obama ordered two months after he was elected in 2008.
The camp was established in 2002 by the Bush administration to detain the most dangerous suspects for interrogation and the prosecution of war crimes.
Controversy has centred on the period of time detainees have been held without charge and the use of interrogation techniques.

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Ukraine crisis: Deadly anti-autonomy protest outside parliament

by Maria Ogryzlo and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Kiev

1 hour ago


One national guard member has been killed and over 100 injured in violent protests outside Ukraine's parliament, the interior ministry said.
Clashes between nationalists and riot police erupted after MPs gave initial backing to reforms for more autonomy in the rebel-held east.
Some in the crowd lobbed what police said were live grenades at officers protecting parliament.
The reforms are part of a peace plan to end fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, said the violence was "a stab in the back".
Protesters led by the populist Radical Party and the ultra-nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party - who oppose any concession to the Russian-backed separatists - gathered outside parliament early on Monday.
After a rowdy debate, 265 MPs out of 450 backed the first reading of the decentralisation bill, granting more powers to areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Initially, there were only minor clashes but a BBC correspondent then heard small explosions followed by a much larger one - apparently from a grenade.

'Pools of blood': Svyatoslav Khomenko, BBC News, Kiev

The demonstrators numbered barely more than a few dozen - mainly young men, most of them masked. They started the fights with police, but others supported them.
The protesters tried to pull the policemen away from their lines. They beat them and took their shields and helmets. Soon about a dozen young men were almost as well-equipped as the police.
Several times the atmosphere near the building seemed to calm down for a while, with clashes starting up again. And then the explosions began.
I saw some people - policemen and firemen - falling to the ground, and some running away from the site, limping. I saw pools of blood just near the wall of parliament.
Violent clashes outside Kiev's parliament
Image caption The number of wounded quickly climbed as security forces tried to hold the protesters back
The Ukrainian Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov, said some 30 people have been detained, including a Svoboda member who confessed to throwing a grenade.
Of the 122 people hospitalised, more than 11 were in a critical condition, the minister added.
He bitterly criticised Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok, writing on Facebook that several explosive devices had been thrown by people wearing Svoboda T-shirts.
A policeman's leg was torn off below the knee in the blast, Interfax Ukraine reported, while journalists at the scene were also reported injured.

Shaky peace

Almost 7,000 people have died since the conflict in eastern Ukraine broke out in March 2014, after Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
Pushing through greater autonomy for the rebel-held areas is a key part of the Minsk peace deal, originally signed in February.
During the summer, fighting between Ukrainian army forces and the rebels has escalated. But the two sides agreed last week to halt the violence on 1 September, the day children in the region return to school.
Although the number of ceasefire violations appears to have fallen in recent days, OSCE monitors have warned that neither side was respecting the truce.
Image caption Firecrackers and petrol bombs were hurled at the lines of national guardsmen
Image caption Colleagues helped take wounded national guardsmen to safety
Under the draft constitutional changes going through parliament, there will be a special law covering local government in rebel-held areas.
However, parliament speaker Volodymyr Hroysman was adamant that would not mean special status for Donetsk and Luhansk, which rebel leaders have declared republics.
In a national address late on Monday, President Poroshenko said if the proposals had been voted down, Ukraine would have been left "one-to-one against the aggressor".
The reforms must still pass a second reading, which correspondents say will be a tall order for the Ukrainian leader.
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Ukraine crisis

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    Nigeria's Boko Haram 'spreads to Lagos'

    by Tokun Lawal and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Lagos, Nigeria

    1 hour ago


    Boko Haram is trying to expand its activities beyond Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, to include the commercial capital Lagos, as well as other parts of the country, officials say.
    Nigeria's intelligence agency says 12 members of the Islamist militant group have been arrested in Lagos since July.
    It is not possible to independently verify details of the statement.
    Boko Haram has waged a six-year insurgency in Nigeria, mainly in the north-east of the country.
    Authorities arrested other self-confessed Boko Haram members in the south-eastern city of Enugu as well as other parts of central and northern Nigeria, the Department of State Services (DSS) said in a statement.
    The DSS attributes the attempted expansion of Boko Haram into southern areas to the increased pressure the group is under in its north-eastern heartland.
    However, the BBC's Will Ross in Lagos says the group is still causing havoc in the north-east, with reports that more than 50 people were killed in an attack in Borno State on Friday, about 100km (62 miles) north of the state capital Maiduguri.
    Will Ross, BBC News, Lagos
    For many in Lagos it will be alarming to hear that a dozen Boko Haram members have been arrested here in recent weeks. I have often been told by Lagosians that the jihadist group would never dare attack this city, which seems more naive than reassuring, especially as there was an attempt to bomb a fuel depot last year.
    The announcement from the secret police, known as the DSS, came just a day after another statement told us a teenager had been picked up inside Abuja airport where he was gathering intelligence for Boko Haram - another disturbing bit of news.
    The DSS says the arrests have helped avert "devastating attacks" and that "notable commanders and frontline members" have been rounded up.
    We have no way of independently verifying the information in the statements but it is worth noting that all the security departments are under pressure to demonstrate that they are having an impact against Boko Haram, especially as President Muhammadu Buhari has made tackling the jihadist insurgency a priority and is still making senior appointments.
    A new DSS director general was appointed in early July and the latest statement says the arrests began the very next week.

    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, abducted hundreds, including at least 200 schoolgirls
    • Joined Islamic State, now calls itself "West African province"
    • Seized large area in north-east, where it declared caliphate
    • Regional force has retaken most territory this year
    Why Boko Haram remains a threat

    Boko Haram

    Life in the north

    Background

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