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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2015 INTERNATIONAL Africans open new front to fight war on Boko Haram

MAIDUGURI: Schoolgirls torn from their be no taller than his weapon. families in a mass kidnapping and forced In what Amnesty International called into sexual slavery. Bombs that ripped the most deadly massacre of the 5-year-old through bus stations. The slaughter of hun- Islamic uprising, Boko Haram killed hun- dreds of villagers, many with their throats dreds of civilians - some say as many as cut. Nigeria has suffered through years of 2,000 - in a Jan 3 attack on Baga, a border violence from the Muslim extremist group town with a key military base on the north- known as Boko Haram, and now its neigh- eastern border with Cameroon. Nigeria’s bors are starting to take on the militants, military said only 150 people were killed. too. African nations are opening up a new Boko Haram attracted international out- international front in the war on terror, dis- rage in April when it kidnapped 276 cussing Friday the formation of a five- schoolgirls at a boarding school in the nation force of 7,500 troops to confront the remote town of Chibok. Dozens escaped looming regional threat from Boko Haram. on their own, but 219 remain missing. The United States promised more tech- The US, Britain, France and China nical support, training and equipment. On offered help to find the girls, and Jonathan Thursday, neighboring Chad sent a war- has repeatedly pledged to return them to plane and troops that drove the extremists their parents, but not one has been res- out of a northeastern Nigeria border town cued. He refused to swap the girls for ille- in the first such act by foreign troops on gally detained Boko Haram suspects. Nigerian soil. “We saw the fighter jet when Suicide bombings in recent months by it started shelling and bombarding the young girls - one looked no more than 10 - insurgents,” said Abari Modu, who watched has raised fears that Boko Haram is using the attack from a nearby village in Chad, the kidnap victims in its conflict, which has where he had sought refuge. He praised displaced more than 1 million people and the prowess of the Chadian forces. killed about 10,000 in the last year, accord- Chad’s victory, and the need for foreign ing to the Council on Foreign Relations. The troops, is an embarrassment to Nigeria’s new multinational force proposed Friday once-mighty military, brought low by cor- would also be mandated with searching for ruption and politics. The foreign interven- and freeing all abductees, including the tion comes just two weeks before hotly Chibok girls, according to a statement from ROME: Newly elected President of Italy, Sicilian judge Sergio Mattarella (left) stands by Lower chamber president Laura Boldrini at the contested national elections in which the African Union. “We will never forget the Constitutional Council.—AFP President Goodluck Jonathan is seeking girls kidnapped from Chibok last April, and another term. The offensive by Chad came I will never stop calling for their immediate days after Boko Haram leader Abubakar and unconditional release,” said UN Italy’s lawmakers elect Sergio Shekau warned Nigeria’s neighbors not to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a guest at intervene. the African summit. “African kings, I challenge you to attack Mattarella as new president me now. I am ready,” he taunted in an ‘Danger to international security’ Arabic video message translated by SITE “The Boko Haram insurgency poses a intelligence monitoring service. Shekau clear danger to national, regional and inter- Considered to be above the political fray regularly praises the Islamic State group national security,” he said. For years, Nigeria and Al-Qaeda. Boko Haram has declared an has looked down on its smaller, francopho- ROME: Italian lawmakers elected Sergio coalition’s main party. “Thanks for being serious,” widower with three grown children, lives in the Islamic caliphate that now encompasses ne neighbors, and Nigerian troops have Mattarella, a Constitutional Court justice widely Renzi and some loyalists wrote in a text message modest quarters of Constitutional Court justices in about 130 towns and villages in a large clashed with soldiers from Chad and considered to be above the political fray, as the to Democrats during the balloting, the Italian Rome. He was expected to start the seven-year term swath of northeastern Nigeria, according to Cameroon in the past over border disputes. nation’s new president on the third day of voting news agency ANSA reported. next week. A year ago, Berlusconi pledged his Amnesty International. The country’s 170 Analysts say the neighboring countries yesterday. Mattarella’s election as head of state Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s center- support for the electoral reform agenda of Renzi, million people are split almost equally worry how much Boko Haram has infiltrat- was clinched when he amassed 505 votes - a right opposition vowed to cast blank ballots. who had just assumed the Democratic Party between a mainly Muslim north and pre- ed Nigeria’s military. Even Jonathan has simple majority. The 73-year-old former minister While acknowledging Mattarella’s credentials to leadership. Buoyed by the deal, Renzi quickly dominantly Christian south. said that he fears his Cabinet is infiltrated with center-left political roots went on to garner be guarantor of the Constitution and arbiter in pushed fellow Democrat Enrico Letta out of the by sponsors of the extremists. A year ago, 665 votes from the 1,009 eligible electors. political crises, they complained Renzi didn’t premiership. Berlusconi lost his Senate seat Increasing ferocity he fired his entire military command and Known as a man of few words, Mattarella decide to reach agreement first with Berlusconi because of a tax fraud conviction but is keen on Global concern has grown in recent the defense minister. Even as Nigeria’s mili- cemented that reputation with his first remarks on the candidate. Mattarella raised conflict-of- keeping political influence. Reforms include months as the terrorist group known for tary is humiliated by the foreign aid, wit- to the nation. “My thoughts go, above all, to the interest concerns when media mogul Berlusconi changing Italy’s electoral law to make govern- recruiting across borders launched a series nesses say it has been ill-equipped to difficulties and hopes of our fellow citizens. jumped into politics two decades ago. He also ments more stable. Whether Berlusconi, irked of brazen attacks in northern Cameroon defend civilians from a series of vicious That’s enough,” he said, referring to the grim resigned as education minister in 1990 to over Renzi’s picking the presidential candidate, even as it increased the tempo and ferocity attacks. In Baga, Nigerian soldiers fought economic situation, in comments made at his protest legislation that helped Berlusconi trans- will renege on the reforms deal is unclear. A pro- of attacks on Nigerian soil. One video this valiantly for hours, then fled when they ran court office just down the street from the presi- form several local TV channels into a business Berlusconi lawmaker, Maurizio Gasparri, predict- week showed boys learning to shoot out of ammunition, witnesses told The dential palace. Italy is mired in recession and empire including Italy’s three main private TV ed the media mogul’s center-right lawmakers assault rifles, with one child appearing to Associated Press. —AP unemployment has hovered about 13 percent networks. might be “less generous” with support. nationally. Former Berlusconi allies now in Renzi’s coali- Young Italians are increasingly seeking work History with the Mafia tion chafed at the unilateral choice of the abroad. Renzi pushed hard for Mattarella’s elec- Mattarella, a Sicilian, was first elected to Mattarella candidacy. But the government’s tion, and some of Renzi’s rebellious Democrats Parliament in 1983. His Christian Democrat party short-term survival seemed little threatened. resented the premier’s imposing his choice on collapsed in corruption probes of the 1990s, but Politicians are generally uneager to provoke a them. So Mattarella’s victory signals that Renzi Mattarella was unscathed. His older brother, crisis that could bring early elections, with voters for now succeeded in closing fractious ranks, Piersanti Mattarella, governor of Sicily, was killed in exasperated over their leaders’ failure so revive including former Communists, in the governing 1980 by the Mafia. The silver-haired Mattarella, a the economy. — AP Vatican hits sour note with women

VATICAN CITY: A new Vatican outreach initiative and invite women around the globe to send in a were sent in. A good number came from to women hit a sour note before it even got off 60-second video of their lives for possible inclu- activists advocating for women’s ordination. the ground: The attractive blonde on its Internet sion in a montage to be screened at the “big Consuela Corradi, a sociologist at Rome’s promo video came under such ridicule that it meeting of cardinals and bishops” next week. In Catholic Lumsa university, was one of 15 women was quickly taken down. But the program is the video, Italian actress Nancy Brilli - blonde, who advised Ravasi on the initiative. She com- going ahead, and an inaugural meeting this buxom albeit in a modest blue top - earnestly plained that criticism of the video was unfair. week will study women’s issues in ways that are asked her viewers how often they ask them- “If we had chosen an ugly woman, would that utterly new for the Holy See. No, there is no talk selves “Who are you? What do you do? What do have changed the message? I don’t think so,” she of ordaining women priests. But the working you think about yourself as a woman?” said. She said the women consultants were YOLA, Nigeria: In this file photo taken on Wednesday, Nov 25, 2014, vigilantes and paper for the Pontifical Council of Culture’s ple- entirely responsible for penning the working local hunters armed with locally made guns gather before they go on patrol. —AP nary assembly on “Women’s Cultures: Equality Harsh criticism document, with no interference from the min- and Difference” speaks about opening the The criticism was swift and harsh. “What were istry, though she said their document was church’s doors to women so they can offer their they thinking at the Vatican?” wrote Phyllis trimmed for length. It remains unclear, however, skills “in full collaboration and integration” with Zagano of Hofstra University in the liberal what will come of it. Often such working drafts Hungary under pressure men. National Catholic Reporter. “Aside from the obvi- become the basis for a final document that is It denounces plastic surgery as a form of ous - sexy sell has long gone by the boards in adopted by the full membership of a Vatican to pick sides in standoff “aggression” against the female body. And it developed nations and is totally unacceptable in office at the end of a plenary meeting. Ravasi, acknowledges that the church has for centuries predominantly Muslim countries - the fact of the though, hasn’t said what he’ll do with it. BUDAPEST: Hungary’s maverick Prime national tax office, from entering the US, for offered women “ideological and ancestral left- matter is that highlighting a stereotypical Helen Alvare, a law professor at George Mason Minister Viktor Orban has spent the past year alleged corruption. A furious Orban ordered overs.” This is dangerous territory for the all-male spokeswoman is not the way to ask for women’s University and a consultant at the Vatican’s laity straddling the divide between Russia and his the US to stop “meddling” in central Europe. Catholic Church hierarchy, as even Pope Francis input.” Critics noted that the women the Vatican office, said the language in the draft paper was European Union counterparts on the crisis in has faced criticism as being a bit tone deaf as far might most want to hear from - those suffering remarkable given that it calls for “collaboration Ukraine. But he may soon be forced to pick Eastern Opening as women are concerned. The pontiff, a master from poverty, violence or war - might not have a and integration” with men within the church. She sides. “How to deal with EU member Hungary is of communication, has sincerely praised the smart phone at hand to send in a clip. Others said that mirrors findings from leading business Tomorrow, German Chancellor Angela a difficult test case for both Brussels and “feminine genius.” But he has also elicited noted that the two-week deadline - at the consultancies that companies do better when Merkel is set to visit Budapest for the first Berlin,” Peter Balazs, left-wing foreign minis- cringes, such as when he recently welcomed height of the Christmas holidays - worked men and women collaborate at every level. “That time since Orban came to power five years ter between 2009 and 2010, said. Balazs female members of the church’s most presti- against any widespread response. statement is the strongest endorsement I have ago. Ukraine is expected to feature promi- labels as “dubious” some of the deals gious theological commission as “strawberries The English version of Brilli’s promo was sum- seen in a church document for what we some- nently in talks between the two leaders. Two Hungary has struck with Putin as part of on the cake.” And when asked if a woman might marily yanked, though the Italian remains on the times call complementarily within the church,” weeks later it will be Russian President Orban’s “Eastern Opening” policy. Last year, someday head a Vatican office, he joked that ministry’s website. In the end, some 250 videos she said in a phone interview. —AP Vladimir Putin’s turn to have a word in he signed a 10-billion-euro loan deal with “pastors often wind up under the authority of Orban’s ear-one that is unlikely to chime with the Kremlin to expand Hungary’s sole their housekeeper!” that of Merkel. nuclear plant. Few people doubt the seriousness of Francis’ Orban also changed laws to smooth the pledge to appoint women to key Vatican deci- Closer to Moscow way for Moscow’s South Stream gas pipeline sion-making jobs once his bureaucratic reform is Hungary joined the EU in 2004 but under project - which was later cancelled by Putin complete. Nor do they question his sincerity Orban the former communist country has — to bypass Ukraine en route to Hungary, when he says: “Women can ask questions that begun pulling away from Brussels and mov- which relies heavily on Russian gas. Then, just we men just don’t get.” But, as Vatican commen- ing closer to Moscow. A quarter of a century before winter, Orban switched off reverse gas tator David Gibson recently pointed out, Francis after he shot to prominence in protests dur- flows to Ukraine for three months, claiming can also sound an awful lot like the 78-year-old ing the final days of communism, Orban is he needed to top up domestic reserves. Argentine churchman that he is - “using analo- now considered as one of Putin’s closest As the fighting between government gies that sound alternately condescending and European allies. “Orban has manoeuvred forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern impolitic, even if well-intentioned.” Hungary into international isolation, a diplo- Ukraine intensifies, triggering around round matic no-man’s land,” said Andras Biro-Nagy, of EU sanctions on Russia this week, analysts Progress being made co-director of the Policy Solutions Institute. expects Merkel to press Orban to toe the EU The Vatican has made progress in recent “The consensus on strategic commitment line. “She’s trying to keep EU unanimity vis-a- years. After having a woman head the Vatican towards the West no longer exists in vis Russia, but it is more difficult with pre- delegation to the UN population conferences in Hungary,” Biro-Nagy said. miers like Orban seemingly on Putin’s side,” the 1990s, there is now a laywoman in the No. 3 Merkel will be one of the few Western Csaba Toth, analyst at the Republikon position at the Vatican’s justice and peace office. leaders to have visited the nationalist pre- Institute, a Budapest think tank, said. Another heads up the women’s department in mier, who cited Russia last year as an exam- If any European country can keep Orban the Vatican office for laity. Women’s issues as a ple of the kind of “illiberal” democracy he looking westward it is Germany. Europe’s whole have gotten more ink thanks to the envisaged in Hungary, fuelling allegations of biggest economy is Hungary’s biggest trad- monthly women’s insert of the Vatican newspa- his creeping authoritarianism. Slow to con- ing partner by a long shot. Furthermore, per, L’Osservatore Romano. The latest initiative demn Russia’s annexation of the Crimea Merkel’s Christian Democrats are in the same comes courtesy of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, peninsula from Ukraine, Orban nonetheless centre-right grouping in the European an academic who quotes Nietzsche and Amy supported EU sanctions against Russia — but Parliament as Orban’s Fidesz. And if Winehouse with equal ease and has no fear of he has also voiced unease about them. Hungary’s economy is doing well, it is partly courting controversy as he raises the Vatican Last year, he said that the bloc had “shot thanks to the approximately 6,000 German profile in sport, art and even atheist circles at the itself in the foot” by damaging commercial firms that provide jobs for around 300,000 helm of the Vatican’s culture ministry. relations with Moscow. In a sign of growing people, including carmakers Audi and Ravasi’s first major foray into women’s issues, alarm over Orban in Washington, President Daimler. Merkel is not expected to publicly however, was a flop - at least in the English- Obama last year included Hungary on a rebuke her host in Budapest, although Berlin VATICAN CITY: Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi waves to reporters as he arrives for a meet- speaking world. Just before Christmas, his office blacklist of countries harassing foreign-fund- sources have hinted she may openly criticize ing, at the Vatican. A new Vatican initiative to actually listen to women hit a sour note before it launched the #lifeofwomen crowd-sourcing ini- ed civil groups. The US also banned six his recent remarks urging strict curbs on even got off the ground when an Internet promotional video featuring an attractive blonde tiative to promote the Feb 4-7 plenary meeting Hungarian officials, including the head of the immigration.—AFP was so ridiculed that it was quickly taken down. — AP