The French Version Inside #Revoke rock and sand mining ew licenses from N TDRULYa INDwEPENDnENT VOL. 8 NO. 238 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2019 PRICE LD$40.00 Chinese and Lebanese# Protests await Weah’s a g Annual Message Pe11 a g Pe11 Lawmakers vow to boycott session WEDNESDAY JANUARY 16 2019 w w w .t henewdawnliberia.com N E W D A W N 2 Gunmen attack Nairobi hotel complex uspected militants started hearing gunshots, and Ferdinand Omondi at the The number of victims the Somali government but have attacked a then started seeing people scene: "Things are not good. r e m a i n s u n c l e a r. O n e has also carried out attacks Sluxury hotel complex running away raising their People are dying. photographer for Agence throughout East Africa.Kenya in Nairobi, with a number of hands up and some were Mr Boinnet later said most France-Presse reported five is part of a regional people feared dead. entering the bank to hide for of main building had been bodies slumped over tables peacekeeping operation that Gunfire and blasts were their lives."Police then secured, but police were still on a restaurant terrace in the s u p p o r t s t h e S o m a l i heard at the compound in the rushed to the scene. One working to flush out any c o m p l e x . T h e f i v e - s t a r government in its battle Westlands district of the officer told the BBC's surviving gunmen. DusitD2 hotel has 101 rooms. against al-Shabab. Kenyan capital, which houses Located in the Westlands In September 2013, al- the DusitD2 hotel as well as suburb, minutes from the Shabab gunmen entered the offices.The Somalia-based capital's business district, it Westgate shopping mall in militant group al-Shabab said has its own spa and several N a i r o b i a n d t a r g e t e d it was behind the attack but restaurants. shoppers. gave no details. Kenya has seen a number During an 80-hour siege at People - some with bullet of terror attacks in recent the upscale centre, 67 people wounds and covered in blood years - most notably in areas were killed. - were escorted out of the close to the Somali border Two years later, the group building by heavily armed and in the country's capital. carried out its deadliest ever police.The attack began at Who are al-Shabab? assault in Kenya, shooting about 15:00 local time (12:00 They are a militant dead almost 150 people at GMT). The gunmen threw Islamist group that opposes Garissa University.BBC bombs at vehicles in the car park before entering the lobby, where one blew himself up, Kenyan police chief Joseph Boinnet told reporters. A woman working in a neighbouring building told Reuters news agency: "I just Zimbabwe fuel protests: MDC opposition office torched he main office of Bulawayo. opposition's headquarters Z i m b a b w e ' s Social media platforms w o u l d h a v e b e e n Topposition party, have been blocked and targeted.Security Minister MDC, has been torched businesses have closed as Owen Ncube confirmed there violence in the eastern city of g o v e r n m e n t d r a g g e d following protests sparked by police patrol the streets. had been deaths but did not M u t a r e , w h e r e p e o p l e Zimbabwe out of a similar the more than doubling of the Access to WhatsApp, give an exact death toll. attacked passenger buses and crisis and ministers took fuel price. Facebook and Twitter are He blamed opposition destroyed some shops, it drastic pay cuts. Photos taken at the scene restricted but some people are figures and political rights adds.Their own government Today the authorities are show security gates torn down, using Virtual Private Network groups for the violence and had told them as much, accusing the opposition and windows smashed and burnt (VPN) to bypass the block. said an investigation was under warning that - after the human rights groups of debris on the floor. T h e g o v e r n m e n t h a s way.Zimbabwe's governing failures of the Mugabe era - the orchestrating the violence. It Several people have been blamed the opposition and Zanu-PF party says its property economy was in crisis, the is beginning to look and sound killed and hundreds arrested political rights groups for has also been damaged. state was broke, and tough very much like the old following protests in the Monday's violence. Pr e s i d e n t E m m e r s o n reforms would now be Zimbabwe. c a p i t a l , H a r a r e , a n d It is not clear why the Mnangagwa - who is trying to required. Zimbabwe is experiencing revive Zimbabwe's struggling But in the space of a few high inflation while wages economy - said the fuel price chaotic months, Zimbabwe's have stagnated. rise was aimed at tackling new leaders seem to have The southern African nation shortages caused by an squandered any public trust or faces a severe shortage of US increase in fuel use and goodwill. dollar cash and confidence in "rampant" illegal trading. The clumsy handling of a its bond notes, which are Protesters accuse the currency crisis has left most supposed to be worth the president of not understanding people struggling to afford same as the dollar, is low.The their situation.For a second basic goods. bond notes, or "bollars", have day residents in the suburb of F u e l s h o r t a g e s , t h e lost value because of a lack of Epworth in the capital are back imposition of new taxes, and a foreign currency backing the on the streets and businesses sudden, extravagant fuel price note, and are now worth much remain shut in the capital and hike, have cause more genuine less than a dollar. Bulawayo, the BBC's Shinagi hardship. Zimbabwean companies Nyoka in Harare reports. The president and his are also not producing enough Tear gas was also launched ministers have not helped to satisfy local demand or to from a military helicopter at matters by chartering jets, and earn foreign currency by protesters who had put up buying new cars, while urging exporting goods. Instead, the barricades in the capital, the the public to travel by bicycle country is importing more Associated Press agency to save money. than it is exporting and It's unclear who was behind the attack on reports. MDC headquarters in the capital, Harare It's a sharp contrast to a struggling to pay.BBC Witnesses also reported decade ago, when a unity WEDNESDAY JANUARY 16 2019 w w w .t henewdawnliberia.com N E W D A W N 3 Commentary By Minxin Pei “Green city” turns smoky city China’s Perilous Taiwan Policy MONROVIA CITY MAYOR Jefferson Koijee's dream to transform the Liberian capital into a “green city” is China's tough stance toward Taiwan has so far proved counter- becoming far-fetched as marketers and residents of productive, bringing no concessions from the government in Taipei and various communities have resorted to burning heap of exacerbating tensions with the US. Unless China changes course, an uncollected garbage across the capital, spewing thick escalating battle of wills with the US could erupt into direct conflict. smoke instead, over the city. FOR ABOUT NEARLY two to three months, the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) headed by Mayor Koijee has ASHINGTON, DC – The unfolding responded with a defiant speech of her own, in failed to collect garbage in the streets and at market geopolitical contest between China which she flatly rejected both the One China places, resulting to stockpile of filth engulfing the city, Wand the United States has been principle and the “one country, two systems” described by many as a new cold war. If it ever formula, and called for the international accompanied by flies, cockroaches and rats. becomes a hot one, the flash point could be community to support Taiwan’s de facto Taiwan, owing in large part to Chinese policy independence. MONROVIA MAY SOON face a potential health hazard as toward the island. these insects and rodents could lead to diseases such as Although Xi’s tough stance toward Taiwan may dysentery, diarrhea, typhoid, and yellow fever, among China’s government suspended diplomatic end up reinvigorating flagging support for Tsai health problems. contact with Taiwan in June 2016, because the and the DPP, there is no reason to think that he pro-independence Democratic Progressive will abandon it any time soon. But nor is there IN A BID to get relief from the stinks that have engulfed Party (DPP), which had just returned to power, reason to think that China’s policy will stop refused to recognize the so-called 1992 backfiring. While inflicting economic pain and the city, residents have resorted to burning the garbage Consensus, the political basis for the One China diplomatic humiliation on Taiwan may produce both day and night, sending thick smoke into the air principle. Since then, however, Taiwanese some short-term psychological satisfaction for that has created serious pollution, even creating more President Tsai Ing-wen has pursued a moderate China, the island will adjust over time, and danger for the population.