Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 16, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): The St. Kitts and Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce (SKNCIC) has issued a statement saying is alarmed by the spate of robberies that took place over the last week, culminating with those at the Rams Supermarkets at Camps and at Bird Rock on Saturday, August 12.
The Chamber said it strongly condemns such criminal actions and encourages community cooperation to assist in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
According to the statement, representatives of the Chamber met with and with Police High Command on Monday to discuss initiatives by both parties to strengthen the efforts to prevent such crimes.
Both parties have pledged to form a closer working relationship to look at and ways to mitigate the spread and impact of crime in our communities.
The Chamber is also calling upon the general public to come forward with any information that may aid law enforcement in their efforts to apprehend those responsible for these acts.
The statement said “Cooperation from the community is crucial in ensuring that these criminals are swiftly brought to justice and reducing the incidence of such criminal activity. The Chamber believes that swift action and the full cooperation of the public will help to maintain the peace and prosperity of St. Kitts and Nevis.”
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 19, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew says St. Kitts and Nevis will be taking a multi-pronged approach to the recent upsurge in crime in the Federation.
During a roundtable discussion with the media on Wednesday afternoon the Prime Minister said coming out of the regional symposium in Trinidad and Tobago on Violence in the region one of the approaches would be to intervene at the early childhood level.
He said “A damaged child becomes a dangerous adult, and so the evidence has shown that if you intervene early with a number of evidence-based approaches, you can really solve the problem.
I called the Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Geoffrey Henley, the Deputy Prime Minister,
and asked him to put in place quickly, a task was to look at making preschool accessible for all of our preschoolers.”
He added “Because the earlier we intervened, the more success we will have, and also to look at child care for children who are not yet preschool-age, but need to have the opportunity to be in a wholesome environment, because the research showed up between 0 and 5 if you get it right, it is very unlikely you’ll get it wrong after that.”
Dr. Drew said there must also be an effort to reach out to the gang members and establish some sort of mediation.
He said “We are also pursuing active engagement among those who are in these organizations to deal with it from a mediation standpoint as well. So we are looking at it, dealing with it from a mediation standpoint, but also (using) robust police tactics to detect. And to make sure we work hard to get the guns off the streets and those who we know are involved in criminal activities; to make sure that we do the policing that we have to.”
The Prime Minister also commended the security forces for the efforts in launching Operation Reassurance.
“The security forces have responded positively and to some extent proactively as well, and they have put into place Operation Reassurance. And I want to thank the Commission of Police, Commissioner Sutton, and of course the command of the Defense Force, Comrie, who have been working closely together along with the other agencies to ensure that we have a systematic approach to deal with the current situation, and I think that the approach is yielding results,” he said.
According to the police, Operation Reassurance will see the various departments of the security forces stepping up their day to day operations, and police officers increasing their presence in the communities.
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]]>Basseterre St. Kitts, April 18, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew says he is optimistic that the outlook and action plan to apprehend violence in the Caribbean will move to solutions that will positively impact the public.
At a regional symposium on Crime as a Public Health Issue in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, the Prime Minister echoed public health recommendations and expressed his optimism.
He said “At the outset, it is clear that much work has been done to document the risk factors, the characteristics of victims and perpetrators, and the impacts on the individual, families, country, and region. Solutions have also come to the fore, so there is reason for me to be very optimistic.”
He continued “We had this regional symposium, therefore, as a coalition of the willing, notwithstanding the delays because of a pandemic, there is a window of opportunity to move the needle now to solutions. Our people must see and must feel solutions now.”
The Prime Minister spoke about enabling incentives for persons to turn away from crime, specifically targeting the most at risk groups such as gang members.
He proposed using culturally relevant programs and social influencers. This sentiment was earlier shared by Prime Minister of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell, who said that youth are spoken to and not involved in discussions, as many heads teel them what is best for them instead of hearing from and listening to youth.
Dr. Drew emphasized political will to make the change needed, as research and evidence is already present.
He said “The conclusion that violence prevention funding is “Smart Money” is accepted and, to my mind, a political imperative. We need to do it?”
He added “Therefore, gathering research evidence on violence is not the rate-limiting step of Caribbean action, or finding a Caribbean solution. The research and evidence is not the issue. We have it, we heard it. The issue is political, will. Will we do it?”
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]]>Basseterre St. Kitts, April 4, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): The police have launched a multi-organizational response to the recent upsurge of gun violence called “Operation Reassurance”
According to the police this operation is designed to contain and suppress the violence while specifically targeting those who are committing these crimes and bringing them to justice.
In an exclusive interview with ZIZ News Deputy Commissioner of Police Cromwell Henry said it will be jointly executed by the security forces and they will each be stepping up their ongoing operations.
“So for example, at the borders you will see enhanced searches, enhanced scrutiny on specific targets,” he said. “You’d see more stop and searches targeted specifically to persons who we have been profiling or have had under surveillance for some time. You would see more execution of search warrants, specific operations targeted towards persons who are involved in this type of activity. Of course with the aim to disrupt their operations, gather evidence and bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
The Deputy Commissioner said the police will also be taking steps to increase their presence in the communities and reassure the public that they are committed to their safety.
He said “We would have our regular uniformed patrols in the communities to provide more visibility in the communities, more interaction with the citizens to reassure them that all is not lost and that the community is still safe, they can still go about their daily business, and we’d have that type of presence that would give that assurance that they can do so in safety.”
The police are also urging anyone with information about the violence to come forward and report it or any suspicious activity they may see.
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]]>NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (April 22, 2021) — The following is a Notice of Sitting from the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis Criminal Jurisdiction Nevis Circuit A.D. 2021 signed by Mrs. Janine Harris-Lake, Registrar of the Hight Court of Justice.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to section 87(4) of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Saint Christopher and Nevis) Act, Cap. 3.11 of the Revised Edition of 2002 of the Laws of Saint Christopher and Nevis that Monday, the 26th day of April 2021, at 9 o’ clock in the forenoon, has been fixed as the date and the hour for the commencement of the sitting of the High Court of Justice, (Nevis Circuit) for the trial of criminal assizes.
All person, including Jurors, Witnesses and Sureties having any business before the Court, please take notice and govern yourselves accordingly.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 09, 2021 (RSCNPF): The efficiency of the detectives at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in preparing documents necessary for court will be improved with the donation of two laptops from the Social Security Board (SSB).
Officials from the SSB made the presentation on Friday, April 09, 2021, during a brief handing over ceremony at Police Headquarters. Commissioner of Police Hilroy Brandy explained that, some months ago, he approached the SSB to request their assistance with the procurement of laptops for detectives in the CID. Last year, Commissioner Brandy was informed by the Director of Public Prosecution that paper committals would replace preliminary inquiries in court. Paper committals require that all evidence be tendered to the magistrate in the form of typed statements.
“So we deemed it fit that the criminal investigation department should be equipped with some laptops so it can make their work much easier. If I’m asking my officers to produce in a given time, I think they should be equipped with the necessary equipment so they can work,” Commissioner Brandy said.
The Commissioner expressed his gratitude for the kind gesture. He added that SSB’s donation during this difficult and financially challenging period demonstrated the institution’s strong commitment to assisting the Police with its crime fighting efforts.
“Crime fighting is not just for the Police. Crime fighting is for the entire country and I’m very happy that Social Security can come onboard and show their generosity by donating these two computers this morning. It is always [good] when you have corporate institutions and private citizens donating to the organization. That means they have the interest of the country at heart when it comes to crime fighting,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the SSB, Chief Financial Officer, Marilyn Johnson, disclosed that they have supported the Ministry of National Security over the years in tangible ways.
“While we focus on the financial security of our members, we do recognize that the physical security and safety of our citizens are very important to the sustainability of our economy on which Social Security thrives,” Ms. Johnson explained. “So in recognition of our desire to partner with you, and support you in what you do, we have made this donation of these two computers. We wish we could do more, but we will continue to support you as time goes along.”
“We recognize that computers and laptops are necessary tools these days for you to be effective and efficient in what you do and so, on behalf of the St. Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board, the Director, and senior management and staff, it gives me great pleasure to present to you these laptops, and we trust that they will help you in the execution of your duties in keeping our country safe,” said Ms. Johnson just before presenting the devices to the Commissioner.
]]>MINNEAPOLIS (AP News) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Friday ordered a judge to reconsider adding a third-degree murder charge against a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death, handing a potential victory to prosecutors, but setting up a possible delay to a trial set to start next week.
A three-judge panel said Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill erred last fall when he rejected a prosecution motion to reinstate the third-degree murder charge against Derek Chauvin. The panel said Cahill should have followed the precedent set by the appeals court last month when it affirmed the third-degree murder conviction of former officer Mohamed Noor in the 2017 shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. The unarmed Australian woman had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault.
The appeals court sent the case back to Cahill for a ruling consistent with its ruling in the Noor case, giving the judge some leeway to consider other arguments that the defense might make against reinstating the charge.
“This court’s precedential opinion in Noor became binding authority on the date it was filed. The district court therefore erred by concluding that it was not bound by the principles of law set forth in Noor and by denying the state’s motion to reinstate the charge of third-degree murder on that basis,” the appeals court wrote.
It was not immediately clear if Friday’s ruling would force a delay in jury selection for Chauvin’s case, which is due to start Monday. He’s currently charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. Prosecutors did not immediately return a message seeking comment on whether they would seek a delay. Chauvin’s attorney had no comment.
Chauvin has the option of appealing the ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which would force Cahill to delay the trial, said Ted Sampsell-Jones, a criminal law expert at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. But if Chauvin decides not to appeal, the professor added, “then Judge Cahill will almost certainly reinstate the third-degree charge.”
And if Chauvin decides not to appeal, Sampsell-Jones said, Cahill could still begin jury selection Monday, then decide in the next three weeks — before opening arguments — whether to reinstate the charge.
A reinstated third-degree murder count could increase the prosecution’s odds of getting a murder conviction.
“We believe the Court of Appeals decided this matter correctly,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. “We believe the charge of 3rd-degree murder, in addition to manslaughter and felony murder, reflects the gravity of the allegations against Mr. Chauvin. Adding this charge is an important step forward in the path toward justice. We look forward to presenting all charges to the jury in Hennepin County.”
Floyd, who was Black, died May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck while he was handcuffed and pleading that he couldn’t breathe. In the wake of his death, civil unrest spiraled into violence locally. Protests spread worldwide and forced a painful reckoning on racial justice in the U.S.
With tensions growing over the looming trial, authorities have already surrounded the courthouse and nearby buildings in downtown Minneapolis with tall barriers of chain-link fencing and razor wire in case protests anticipated before, during and after the trial turn violent.
Cahill ruled last October that third-degree murder under Minnesota law requires proof that someone’s conduct was “eminently dangerous to others,” plural, not just to Floyd. Cahill said there was no evidence that Chauvin endangered anyone else and threw out the charge. But the Court of Appeals rejected similar legal reasoning in Noor’s case, ruling that a third-degree murder conviction can be sustained even if the action that caused a victim’s death was directed at just one person.
The appeals court rejected the argument by Chauvin’s attorney that the Noor ruling shouldn’t have the force of law unless and until it’s affirmed by the Minnesota Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments in Noor’s appeal in June. Cahill used similar reasoning last month when he rejected the state’s initial motion to restore the third-degree murder count, prompting prosecutors to ask the Court of Appeals to intervene.
Three other former officers — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter. They’re scheduled for trial in August. Prosecutors want to add charges of aiding and abetting third-degree murder against them, but that question will be resolved later.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 05, 2021 (RSCNPF): The Police are investigating an incident in which two men were injured. Vincent Francis and Darren Caines, both of whom are from St. Paul’s, were taken to the Pogson Medical Centre after being involved in an altercation in their village.
The Police responded to a report of a wounding sometime after 11 a.m. on April 02, 2021. Preliminary investigations so far have revealed that Caines wounded Francis to his head with what appeared to be a knife. Francis then injured Caines on his hand and foot with a machete. Caines was treated and discharged at the Pogson Medical Centre. Francis was transferred to the J.N.F. General Hospital for further medical attention where he was kept for observation. He has since been discharged. Police investigations into the matter are ongoing.
Persons with information regarding this incident are asked to contact the Criminal Investigation Department in District ‘B’ by dialling 465-7261.
Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 1st, 2021 (ZIZ News) The police are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred on Wednesday evening.
According to a police report officers responded to a report of a shooting incident in Newtown sometime after 6 p.m.
Upon arrival, they met the motionless body of 24-year-old Leon Phillip of La Guerite laying on the ground with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the chest.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated.
The District Medical Officer visited the scene and pronounced him dead. Personnel from the Forensic Services Unit processed the scene and collected pieces of evidence.
The police are asking anyone with information about this incident to call 467-1887, 467-1888, 662-3468, their nearest Police Station or the Crime Hotline at 707.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 30th, 2021 (ZIZ News) GoPaul-McNicol Clip 2 Clinical Psychologist Dr. Sharon-Ann GoPaul-McNicol says that the decrease in gang-related criminal activity is due to a scientific response initiated by the government from 2018-2019.
Dr. GoPaul-McNicol who is one who was instrumental in data collection and interpretation of behaviours and activities, made the statement at the People’s Labour Party Convention on Saturday.
According to Dr. GoPaul-McNicol, the initiative is being implemented in phases and phase 2 will begin soon.
Dr. GoPaul-McNicol is working closely with the Ministry of National Security to strategize productive ways to decrease crime among youth that leads to death.
]]>ATLANTA (AP NEWS) — A white gunman was charged Wednesday with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlors in an attack that sent terror through the Asian American community, which has increasingly been targeted during the coronavirus pandemic.
A day after the shootings, investigators were trying to unravel what might have compelled 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long to commit the worst mass killing in the U.S. in almost two years.
Long told police that Tuesday’s attack was not racially motivated. He claimed to have a “sex addiction,” and authorities said he apparently lashed out at what he saw as sources of temptation. But those statements spurred outrage and widespread skepticism given the locations and that six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent.
The shootings appear to be at the “intersection of gender-based violence, misogyny and xenophobia,” said state Rep. Bee Nguyen, the first Vietnamese American to serve in the Georgia House and a frequent advocate for women and communities of color.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said that regardless of the shooter’s motivation, “it is unacceptable, it is hateful and it has to stop.”
Authorities said they didn’t know if Long ever went to the massage parlors where the shootings occurred but that he was heading to Florida to attack “some type of porn industry.”
“He apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places, and it’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker told reporters.
Baker drew criticism for saying Long had “a really bad day” and “this is what he did.” A Facebook page appearing to belong to Baker promoted a T-shirt with racist language about China and the coronavirus last year.
The Facebook account featured numerous photos of Baker going back months, including one of him in uniform outside the sheriff’s office. The account was deleted Wednesday night, and Baker did not immediately respond to voicemails and an email seeking comment. The sheriff’s office also did not respond to a message.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Frank Reynolds said it was too early to tell if the attack was racially motivated — “but the indicators right now are it may not be.”
The Atlanta mayor said police have not been to the massage parlors in her city beyond a minor potential theft.
“We certainly will not begin to blame victims,” Bottoms said.
The attack was the sixth mass killing this year in the U.S., and the deadliest since the August 2019 Dayton, Ohio, shooting that left nine people dead, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
It follows a lull in mass killings during the pandemic in 2020, which had the smallest number of such attacks in more than a decade, according to the database, which tracks mass killings defined as four or more dead, not including the shooter.
The killings horrified the Asian American community, which saw the shootings as an attack on them, given a recent wave of assaults that coincided with the spread of the coronavirus across the United States. The virus was first identified in China, and then-President Donald Trump and others have used racially charged terms to describe it.
The attacks began when five people were shot at Youngs Asian Massage Parlor near Woodstock, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Atlanta, authorities said. Four died: 33-year-old Delaina Ashley Yaun, 54-year-old Paul Andre Michels, 44-year-old Daoyou Feng and 49-year-old Xiaojie Tan, who owned the business.
Yaun and her husband came to the spa on a date, her mother, Margaret Rushing, told WAGA-TV. Yaun leaves behind a 13-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter.
Her half-sister, Dana Toole, said Yaun’s husband locked himself in a room and wasn’t injured.
“He’s taking it hard,” Toole said. “He was there. He heard the gunshots and everything. You can’t escape that when you’re in a room and gunshots are flying — what do you do?”
The manager of a boutique next door said her husband watched surveillance video after the shooting and the suspect was sitting in his car for as long as an hour before going inside.
They heard screaming and women running from the business, said Rita Barron, manager of Gabby’s Boutique.
The same car was then spotted about 30 miles (48 kilometers) away in Atlanta, where a call came in about a robbery at Gold Spa and three women were shot to death. Another woman was fatally shot at the Aromatherapy Spa across the street.
Long was arrested hours later by Crisp County deputies and state troopers. He refused to stop on a highway and officers bumped the back of his car, causing him to crash, Sheriff Billy Hancock said.
Officers found Long thanks to help from his parents, who recognized him from surveillance footage posted by authorities and gave investigators his cellphone information, which they used to track him, said Reynolds, the Cherokee County sheriff.
“They’re very distraught, and they were very helpful in this apprehension,” he said.
President Joe Biden called the attack “very, very troublesome.”
“We don’t yet know the motive, but what we do know is that the Asian-American community is feeling enormous pain tonight. The recent attacks against the community are un-American. They must stop,” Biden tweeted Wednesday.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian woman in that office, expressed support to the Asian American community, saying, “We stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged all people.”
Over the past year, thousands of incidents of abuse have been reported to an anti-hate group that tracks incidents against Asian Americans, and hate crimes in general are at the highest level in more than a decade.
“While the details of the shootings are still emerging, the broader context cannot be ignored,” Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta said in a statement. “The shootings happened under the trauma of increasing violence against Asian Americans nationwide, fueled by white supremacy and systemic racism.”
Nico Straughan met Long when he moved to the area in seventh grade, saying Long brought a Bible to school every day and was “super nice, super Christian, very quiet.”
“I don’t know what turn of heart he might have had, but he went from one of the nicest kids I ever knew in high school to being on the news,” Straughan said. “I mean, all my friends, we were flabbergasted.”
The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize sex addiction in its main reference guide for mental disorders. While some people struggle to control their sexual behaviors, it’s often linked to other recognized disorders or moral views about sexuality, said David Ley, clinical psychologist and author of “The Myth of Sex Addiction.”
“These sexual behaviors getting this label are a symptom, not a cause,” Ley said.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 21st, 2021 (ZIZ News) A man who was wanted by the police over the weekend is now in custody.
According to a police statement Alexis Liddie, for whom a wanted poster was issued on Friday, was taken into Police custody on Saturday.
Alexis Liddie of Lime Kiln, Basseterre, was sought by police for building breaking, larceny and burglary.
The police have thanked the general public and the media who assisted in this matter.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 11, 2021 (SKNIS): The scope of National Security extends beyond crime and criminal activities as outlined in the National Security Strategy. National Security involves all the threats to a nation, its citizens, the economy, and the institutions and the actions to be taken by the Government of the day and the civil service to mitigate those threats without far-reaching negative effects on the country as a whole.
Osmond Petty, Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of National Security, stated, “National Security involves more than just the gangs, although that is a very important part of it. National Security is not just the Defence Force, or the Police, although they are very important in enforcing laws. National Security is everybody coming together,” he added.
“The current threats to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis” as stated by Retired Major General Stewart Saunders in his capacity as the National Security Advisor, include but are not limited to “illegal firearms and ammunition, illegal drug trade, organized crime, trans-organized crimes, financial crimes… food and water security, natural and man-made disasters.”
The National Security Strategy which entails the entire list of threats can be accessed at sknis.gov.kn.
Addressing the threat of corruption and its effects on good governance and economic growth, the National Security Advisor stated that corruption must be eradicated from both the private and public sectors of the economy to ensure the prosperity of our nation.
He further said that by enforcing legislation, “the investigatory records of law enforcement entities have to be improved in to rid society of that [corruption]”. He noted that politicians must be responsible and “divorce themselves from relationships with gangs, criminals…because that adds to the public corruption of officials.”
The National Security Strategy provides the framework on how government agencies within the Federation will be able to effectively mitigate and manage the threats to the country.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 11, 2021 (SKNIS): One of the most important aspects of the National Security Strategy is the Threat Assessment, says Retired Major General Mr. Stewart Saunders, National Security Advisor while appearing on the radio and television show “Working for You” on March 10.
The National Security Strategy provides a comprehensive plan for an “all of government approach” to further ensure a safe and secure environment for citizens, residents, and visitors.
The objective of the NSS is to clearly determine the threats that impact, or could impact, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, inform the citizenry, as well as provide for and take those actions that are necessary to ensure the safety, security, and stability of the nation and its interests.
The document represents the results of a detailed and in-depth study that was embarked upon by the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, together with consultations with all the relevant stakeholders to include a very wide cross-section of the public.
The Government now presents the strategy for dealing with the Federation’s threat realities and outlines the Threat Assessment, Approach, Tier Rating System, Responsibilities and their Allocations, Tangential or Cross-cutting Issues and Closing Statements. Through the strategy, all government agencies, Ministries, and Departments were expected to review their structure and operations to ensure that the security of the nation receives priority attention as required.
Mr. Saunders informed that the Threat Assessment aspect was derived from a cross-section of entities.
“I would like to point out that the Threat Assessment is not something that has been pulled out of a book,” he said. “It is as a result of the interaction between people, organizations, agencies, ministries and other departments and these have been compiled.”
He said that the current threats to the Federation and to an extent the wider Caribbean include illegal arms and ammunition trafficking; the illegal drug trade; organized crime; transnational organized crime; corruption; financial crimes—money laundering, etc; cybercrime—identity theft, fraud, lottery scamming, etc; human trafficking to include human smuggling; illegal migration; terrorism to include chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives, (CBRNE) acts of extreme violence; health security—the impact of endemics and pandemics, in particular; human security—human capacity deficiency concerns; food and water security; natural and manmade disasters and climate change.
The National Security Advisor said that the document outlines the steps that the government intends to take to make sure that a proper National Security Architecture is in place to deal with these threats.
“It intends to take the profit out of crime,” he said. “That is the first and one of the most essential areas that we are dealing with. Eradicating corruption in the public and private sectors is of course extremely important.”
The entire scope of the National Security Strategy can be found by running a quick search for the topic on sknis.gov.kn.
]]>GUSAU, Nigeria (AP) — Hundreds of Nigerian girls abducted last week from a boarding school in the country’s northwest have been released, a state governor said Tuesday, as the West African nation faces a spate of school kidnappings.
The girls, ages 10 and up, dressed in light blue hijabs and barefoot, packed into Zamfara state’s Government House conference room. They appeared calm, chatting to one another as they sat in long rows while journalists photographed them. They will receive a medical checkup before being returned to their parents.
Zamfara Gov. Bello Matawalle said that 279 girls had been freed after being abducted from the Government Girls Junior Secondary School in Jangebe town on Friday. The government last week said 317 had been kidnapped. It was not clear if the higher number was an error or if some girls were still missing.
“Alhamdulillah! (God be praised!) It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students,” Matawalle said in a post on Twitter early Tuesday. “I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe.”
Officials said “bandits” were behind the abduction, referring to the groups of armed men who operate in Zamfara state and kidnap for money or to push for the release of their members from jail.
At the time of the attack, one resident told The Associated Press that the gunmen also attacked a nearby military camp and checkpoint, preventing soldiers from responding to the school.
One of the girls recounted the night of their abduction to the AP.
“We were sleeping at night when suddenly we started hearing gunshots. They were shooting endlessly. We got out of our beds and people said we should run, that they are thieves,” she said. Officials ended the interview before the girl could give her name.
The attackers eventually found her and some classmates and held guns to their heads, she said.
“I was really afraid of being shot,” she said, adding that they asked for directions to the staff quarters and the principal. “We said we don’t know who she is.”
Nigeria has seen several such attacks and kidnappings in recent years, the most notorious in 2014, when 276 girls were abducted by the jihadist rebels of Boko Haram from the secondary school in Chibok in Borno state. More than 100 of those girls are still missing.
Boko Haram is opposed to western education and its fighters often target schools. But most attacks in the northwest are perpetrated by armed criminal groups with no such ideology.
Police and the military have been trying to rescue the girls from the Zamfara abduction, which caused international outrage. Officials did not say if a ransom had been paid for their release.
“We have been in discussion since Friday with the abductors and reached agreement on Monday,” the governor said, adding that he would ensure additional security at all schools in the state.
President Muhammadu Buhari expressed “overwhelming joy” over the release of the girls.
“I join the families and people of Zamfara state in welcoming and celebrating the release of these traumatized female students,” he said in a statement. “Being held in captivity is an agonizing experience not only for the victims, but also their families and all of us.”
The president called for greater vigilance to prevent bandits from carrying out such attacks — but warned that paying money for the release of victims would only result in more assaults.
Ernest Ereke, of the University of Abuja, agreed that ransoms are allowing criminal groups to buy more arms and expand their power.
And the Nigerian state increasingly looks too weak to respond, he said.
“It is a lucrative venture in a country where a lot of young people are impoverished, jobless and hungry,” he said. “The state, which should confront these criminals, is enabling them by always pandering to their dictates. It should be the other way round, that is, the criminals should be scared of the state, but, in this case, it is the state that is scared of criminals.”
“If the state is not able to crush them,” he added, “it means something is wrong with the Nigerian state.”
On Saturday, 24 students, six staff and eight relatives were released after being abducted on February 17 from the Government Science College Kagara in Niger state. In December, more than 300 schoolboys from a secondary school in Kankara, in northwestern Nigeria, were taken and later released. The government has said no ransom was paid for the students’ release.
]]>