Sidelights
‘Poverty fuels violence’: Former US president Bill Clinton has said that poverty is fueling the violence now sweeping across Nigeria’s north.
Clinton, speaking Tuesday in southwestern city of Abeokuta, said the violence happens in regions that have incredible poverty compared to the more prosperous cities in Nigeria’s south.
Clinton said the problems “appear to be rooted in religious differences,” but take root in poverty. He said strong state and federal government agencies should help, but he cautioned against oil-rich Nigeria simply taking a “divide the pie” approach of throwing money at the troubled areas to stop the violence. (AP) Heavy fighting in Mali: France said Tuesday that its forces were engaged in heavy fighting in northern Mali and that many Islamist rebels had been killed in recent clashes.
“The fighting is fierce and is continuing as we speak,” Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told RTL radio in a morning interview, adding that fighting was concentrated in the Ifoghas mountains.
He said there had been “many, many jihadist deaths” but refused to provide specific
numbers. (AFP) UNICEF seeks $45 mln: UNICEF said Tuesday it urgently needs $45 million (34.4 million euros) to help children in conflict-stricken Mali, where the threat of violence and trafficking has spiralled, compounding a long-running food crisis.
The money was needed to meet basic needs such as health care, nutrition, education and protection over the next three months, UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado told reporters.
Hundreds of thousands of Malians fled their homes in the wake of last year’s seizure of a swathe of the north by Islamists who took advantage of a rebellion by the country’s Tuareg community. (AFP) Thailand eyes help: Thai authorities and separatist rebels could be inching towards talks after nine years of violence and the loss of more than 5,000 lives in Thailand’s Muslimdominated southern provinces bordering Malaysia.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is meeting her Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday and may seek his help to make contact with rebel groups.
“There are insurgent groups operating within Malaysia and Thailand that want to talk to the Thai government,” Paradorn Pattanathabutr, secretary-general of the National Security Council of Thailand, told Reuters. (RTRS)