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page 20 NIGER Niger opposition rejects initial election results, cites fraud Opposition parties in Niger on Tuesday rejected initial results from Sunday’s presidential election that showed incumbent Mahamadou Issoufou in the lead, calling them fraudulent. Provisional results from 20 of the West African country’s 308 municipalities gave Issoufou 40.18 percent of the vote, more than […]

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NIGER

Niger opposition rejects initial election results, cites fraud

Opposition parties in Niger on Tuesday rejected initial results from Sunday’s presidential election that showed incumbent Mahamadou Issoufou in the lead, calling them fraudulent.

Provisional results from 20 of the West African country’s 308 municipalities gave Issoufou 40.18 percent of the vote, more than 10 percentage points ahead of his closest rival.

“These results are completely contrary to what was expressed at the ballot box,” said Amadou Boubacar Cisse, an election candidate and spokesman for the Coalition for Change group of opposition parties.

Issoufou, who has vowed to crush Islamist militants and tackle deep poverty in his country, ran against 14 other candidates in a tense vote on Sunday. The voting spilled over into Monday because of logistical problems.

The provisional results showed Hama Amadou, a one-time ally of Issoufou who has been jailed since November, received 29 percent of the vote. Seyni Oumarou, leader of the opposition, got 12 percent and Cisse less than two percent.

BURUNDI

Burundi rivals agree to hold talks to end crisis

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has agreed to begin talks with the opposition to bring an end to a nearly year-long political crisis.

Ban announced the breakthrough Tuesday after meetings with Nkurunziza, opposition leaders and civil society groups in the capital Bujumbura. The U.N. chief said that all sides had promised to engage in “inclusive dialogue.”

“Burundi’s political leaders must be ready to summon the courage and the confidence that will make a credible political process possible,” Ban said during a joint news conference with Nkurunziza.

The Burundian president said in his statement that he is ready to meet with his opponents and said he is releasing political prisoners as a demonstration of good will.

Nkurunziza said “We have shown our commitment with the announcement to free 2,000 prisoners, excluding those accused of disturbing the peace.”

S/ARABIA

S/Arabia, UAE ban citizens from travelling to Lebanon

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon or avoid travelling there after Riyadh halted $4bn in aid to Lebanese security forces in response to “hostile” positions linked to Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah.

The Saudi foreign ministry issued a statement on Tuesday calling on “all citizens not to travel to Lebanon, for their safety, and asking citizens residing in Lebanon or visiting not to stay unless extremely necessary”.

The statement urged citizens to contact the Saudi Embassy in Beirut.

Announcing the aid halt on Friday, an official said the kingdom had noticed “hostile Lebanese positions resulting from the stranglehold of Hezbollah on the state.”

The UAE also banned its citizens from travelling to Lebanon and reduced its diplomatic presence in Beirut.

On Friday, the United Arab Emirates announced “full support” of Saudi’s review of its relations with Lebanon, blaming the country’s “failure to condemn Iran’s aggression” in the embassy incident.

UNITED STATES

Obama presents plan to close Guantanamo prison

The White House has presented to Congress a plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, one of the president’s long-standing goals. It wants to transfer the remaining 91 detainees to their home countries or to US military or civilian prisons.

But Congress is deeply opposed to terror suspects being held on US soil and is expected to block the move.

The prison costs $445m (£316m) to run annually and closing it was a 2009 promise from President Barack Obama.

Human rights campaigners have repeatedly complained about the prison in Cuba, which has held 780 detainees since it opened in 2002.

The president told reporters on Tuesday it undermined national security.

“This is about closing a chapter in our history,” said Mr Obama. “It reflects the lessons we’ve learned since 9/11 – lessons that must guide our nation going forward.”

It estimates the move would save up to $180m (£128m) a year in cost savings.

The president, who will complete his second and final term in January, said it was important not to pass the problem on to his successor.

“Keeping this facility open is contrary to our values. It undermines our standing in the world. It is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law,” he said.

SYRIA

Syria: Warring parties accept US-Russia truce plan

The Syrian government and the main opposition umbrella group say they accept the terms of a deal to cease hostilities from Saturday.

The government said it would halt “combat operations” in line with the plan announced by the US and Russia. But the opposition said its acceptance depended on government forces ending sieges and air strikes of civilians.

The deal will not apply to the two main jihadist groups in Syria, Islamic State (IS) and the rival al-Nusra Front.

The High Negotiation Committee (HNC), which represents most of the main opposition and rebel factions, issued a statement after a meeting in Saudi Arabia saying it was “committed to the success of the international efforts dedicated to ending Syrian bloodshed”.

But it warned that “acceptance of the truce is conditional” on the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 2254, which calls on all parties to lift sieges, allow aid deliveries, halt aerial and artillery attacks on civilians, and release detainees.

The Syrian government later declared “its acceptance of a halt to combat operations on the basis of continuing military efforts to combat terrorism”.

N/KOREA

North Korea warns against U.S., South Korea military exercises

North Korea warned on Tuesday of harsh retaliation against South Korea and its ally the United States, which are preparing for annual joint military exercises next month amid heightened tensions following the North’s nuclear test and rocket launch.

The North calls the annual exercises preparations for war and routinely vows to retaliate.

“All the powerful strategic and tactical strike means of our revolutionary armed forces will go into preemptive and just operation to beat back the enemy forces to the last man if there is a slight sign of their special operation forces and equipment moving to carry out the so-called ‘beheading operation’ and ‘high-density strike,'” the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement carried by state media.

It said its first target would be South Korea’s presidential Blue House, while U.S. military bases in Asia and on the U.S. mainland would be its secondary targets. About 28,500 U.S. troops are based in South Korea.

PORTUGAL

Portugal wants more refugees to help revive dwindling population

Traditionally a country of emigration, Portugal has offered to take up to 10,000 migrants from countries struggling to cope with the influx, to help maintain its own population.

Portugal’s socialist premier Antonio Costa last week sent letters to Austria, Greece, Italy and Sweden — countries that have seen refugees arrive in large numbers — offering to welcome up to 5,800 more refugees in addition to the 4,500 they already agreed to take as part of the European Union’s refugee quota system.

Portugal has taken just 32 migrants, and the country’s ambassador to Greece, Rui Alberto Tereno, even visited a Greek refugee camp recently in an effort to promote the sunny coastal nation to the migrants making their way across Europe.

Portugal is little known and “needs to make its voice heard to migrants arriving in Europe,” head of the Portuguese Refugee Council (CPR) Teresa Tito Morais, said.

“The arrival of refugees will benefit the regions in the country that have become deserted,” Tito Morais said. “A large number of Portuguese have emigrated and certain regions need to regain some life.”

ITALY

European court censures Italy over CIA abduction

The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Italy for what it says was the “abduction” of an Egyptian imam by the CIA from a Milan street in 2003.

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was seized under the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” programme. He was flown to Egypt for interrogation where he says he was tortured.

The court found that Italy had been guilty of several human rights violations in the case. It, however found that the principle of state secrecy “had clearly been applied by the Italian executive in order to ensure that those responsible did not have to answer for their actions”.

The court ordered Italy to pay a total of €115,000 (£90,000; $127,000) in damages and expenses to Abu Omar and his wife Nabila Ghali.

MALAWI

WFP calls for urgent funding to help hunger-stricken Malawi

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) says it is urgently looking for $38 million to buy food for nearly three million people facing starvation in Malawi. The appeal comes after the WFP extended its food relief operation by a month.

The U.N. and its partners have been providing food and cash assistance to hunger-stricken Malawians since last October. The country is facing its worst food shortage in a decade, largely caused by flooding and drought last year.

The WFP says without additional contributions, cash distributions will have to be suspended next month, while food distributions will be drastically reduced or even discontinued by mid-April.

INDIA

Water supply ‘partially restored’ in Delhi

Water supply has been partially restored in the Indian capital, Delhi, where up to 10 million were affected after protesters sabotaged a key canal.

The army took control of the Munak canal in neighbouring Haryana state on Monday after Jat community members, angry at caste job quotas, damaged it.

Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra said the “crisis was still not over” and urged people to use water carefully.

The city’s schools, which were closed because of the crisis, have reopened.

Sixteen million people live in Delhi, and around three-fifths of the city’s water is supplied by the Munak canal, which runs through Haryana.