UN SLAMS ITALY ON LAMPEDUSA MIGRANT CENTRE

2009-01-21 15:02

UN slams Italy over migrant centre

Overcrowding on Lampedusa as immigrants await repatriation

(ANSA) - Rome, January 21 - The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR on Wednesday slammed Italy for allowing ''unsustainable'' overcrowding at a migrant centre on the southern island of Lampedusa. After another boatload of illegal immigrants arrived on the island in the early hours of the morning, the number of people crammed into the 850-bed centre rose to 1,850, most of whom are forced to sleep outside. ''The overcrowding results above all in the standards of assistance for immigrants being lowered,'' said UNHCR regional spokesperson Laura Boldrini. ''But there is a risk that the situation could deteriorate further, putting at risk the safety of the migrants and asylum seekers, humanitarian workers, doctors and people in charge at the centre''. Boldrini called for the overcrowding problem to be resolved as soon as possible, especially in view of rising protests from Lampedusa residents. ''Their concerns are understandable, but migrants and asylum seekers cannot be made the scapegoats in this situation,'' she said. Under a new measure introduced by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni last month, all new arrivals must remain on the island before being identified and repatriated. In the past, immigrants have been transferred to other centres on mainland Italy, but under the measure only immigrants recognised as asylum seekers can be moved. A number of Egyptian immigrants have so far been repatriated thanks to an accord with Cairo facilitating such transfers, but Italy lacks similar deals with other countries. Immigrants from Tunisia, Nigeria, Somalia and Eritrea are currently stuck at the centre. Lampedusa Mayor Bernardino De Rubeis on Wednesday appealed to Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resolve the situation and also called on Pope Benedict XVI to pray for ''the illumination of Maroni's mind''. ''I think Maroni is confused. He can't repatriate immigrants when their provenance isn't clear, and he can't repatriate people when accords do not exist. He risks repatriating people who are fleeing from war to other countries,'' he said. De Rubeis also stressed that the islanders were against Maroni's plans to build an 'identification centre' on Lampedusa to facilitate the repatriation process. ''We want to be welcoming towards these desperate people but we will not accept prisons nor expulsion centres,'' he said. The Lampedusa centre's chief, Cono Galipo', said Tuesday that he was ''seriously worried'' about the situation. ''Until now we've been able to cope with the emergency by inventing temporary solutions like the use of tents, but if there are any more landings we won't know where to put them,'' Galipo' said. The head of the interior ministry's civil liberty department, Mario Morcone, arrived on Lampedusa to review the emergency on Wednesday. BARROT TO VISIT LAMPEDUSA. European Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot announced on Wednesday that he will visit the centre in the coming months. Last week Maroni appealed to European Union interior ministers to introduce EU accords with immigrants' countries of origin to speed up the repatriation process. Maroni has also promised to iron out areas of contention in a deal between Italy and Libya that will give the go-ahead to joint patrols of the Libyan coastline to prevent boats setting out by the end of January. According to United Nations Refugee Agency figures, some 36,000 people landed on Italian coasts last year - a 75% increase compared to 2007 figures. The statistics reveal that Italy took more than half of the 67,000 immigrants who arrived by sea in Europe last year. The majority of Italy's illegal immigrants - around 31,000 - arrived on the island of Lampedusa, which is closer to the north African coast than the Italian mainland. UNHCR said around 75% of the arrivals ask for asylum, and 50% are recognised as refugees SOURCE

BARACK OBAMA......MR PRESIDENT

Barack Obama has been sworn in as the 44th US president. Here is his inauguration speech in full.

Barack Obama made his speech in front of more than a million people

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and travelled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and ploughed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - that a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honour them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

SOURCE

ENVYING GAZA......A NIGERIAN

HARD TALKS
As we watch the onslaught in GAZA (Palestine) one is dismayed and shocked by the pictures, but wait.. I sat back to analyse some of the details and I was more dismayed by the sensation of envy or jealousy that overcame me as a Nigerian. I am not a sadist.

• I saw an old woman getting water from a tap in a half bombed home. Good God!!! How many homes do we have running water in 'Peaceful' Nigeria?
• How many ambulances do we have in Nigeria for 145 million African giants? I imagined all the road accident 'rescues' I have witnessed in Peace time Nigeria an I thought i never imagined them...... BTW when was the last time you saw an ambulance rushing to an accident scene in any part of Nigeria?
• The next scene sent me crying not for Palestinians only but for Lagosians, Coal city -Enugu etc populace.....alas a family at the underground part of their home were reading the Koran with a light from electricity (not from a generator) and were telling the press man that the nearby blocks are in darkness and suffering because their power transformer was rocketed a day earlier. My heart broke when I thought of Nigeria (NEPA) or whatever and the whole infrastructure at the services of the GIANT OF AFRICA. I wondered who 'rocketed' all the transformers in Nigeria?
• FIREMEN ; This is a professional figure children in Nigeria know from their books and TV programs. In a bus stop at Enugu (fire service) i.e. after Enugu zoo, a boy of 13 in the bus with me asked why it was called such a name. I told him some 'before the war' stories of Enugu fire service. Now he will see them in Gaza withtheir water hoses.

I better stop here and hope not to see Nigerians migrating to Gaza tomorrow or at least until peace comes back there.
I stand to be corrected or calmed of this 'macabrous Envy or thoughts'
Long live Nigeria and peace to the Middle East

Charles Okey Chukbyke

MARRIAGE IN JAIL..........

NIGERIA IN THE WORLD VIEW: MARRIAGE IN JAIL..........

CHOOSE THE 'GOOD MAN'

1.Hamas fires rockets into kindergarten school yard & Surprise kamikaze in Israel= DEATHS




2. Israel bombs UN school in Gaza & Israeli drones dropped leaflets over the embattled city warning residents of more bombs on them soon= DEATHS

DELIVERANCE

'...YOU NEED DELIVERANCE.....!!!!!'

Many times while discharging my duties as a mediator I have heard this phrase from quarrelling Nigerians and Ghanaians, sometime even directed to me.

Nigerians take it for granted and strongly believe that you must understand all they say and all jargons from Nigeria since you are a Nigerian and they get irritated explaining further.

‘Dis one pass me oo anyway’;

My questions are:

Is it being recommended that I be DELIVERED FROM or TO, WHERE ? Second, by who?

Someone heeeeeeeeeeeeelp!!!

Incendio del castello - Ferrara 2009

BUON ANNO NUOVO 2009
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

"Militari cercansi per la pace in Somalia?".

La pace lontana

29 dicembre 2008

L'Etiopia si prepara a ritirare le sue truppe. Aprendo un'altra incognita pesante sul futuro del già martoriato paese. Che 2009 sarà?

Militari cercansi per la pace in Somalia. Suona più o meno così l'appello fatto di recente dall'Unione africana. Per il mese di gennaio l'Etiopia ha annunciato il ritiro dal territorio somalo delle proprie truppe, intervenute due anni fa in soccorso del debole governo di transizione e contro le corti islamiche, che avevano conquistato la quasi totalità del Paese. Alla fine del 2008 si è parlato di un possibile invio di caschi blu nel Paese del Corno d'Africa per un'operazione di peacekeeping, ma il segretario generale dell'Onu Ban Ki-Moon ha frenato, dicendo che i tempi non sono maturi e che in Somalia, per ora, «non c'è nessuna pace da mantenere». Il segretario generale dell'Onu raccomanda piuttosto di rafforzare la missione di pace dell'Unione africana (Amisom) presente in Somalia, indicandola come l'unica «opzione realistica in questo momento» per favorire la stabilità nel Paese. In una lettera inviata al Consiglio di Sicurezza, Ban sollecita gli Stati membri a garantire all'Amisom sostegno finanziario e logistico, e alle forze di sicurezza somale addestramento, equipaggiamento e tutti i rinforzi utili, in modo da favorire il processo di pace avviato con l'accordo di Gibuti. Poco prima di natale, l'Unione africana (Ua) ha prorogato di due mesi il mandato Amisom in scadenza alla fine dell'anno, sollecitando l'invio di altre truppe da parte degli Stati membri.

Al momento sono 3.400 i militari dispiegati in Somalia, messi a disposizione da Uganda e Burundi, contro gli 8.000 autorizzati all'inizio del 2007. La Nigeria ha già annunciato l'invio di un battaglione. «Tre Paesi si sono già offerti per andare in Somalia», ha detto il ministro degli Esteri dello Zambia, Kabinga Pande, che presiedeva la riunione. «Uganda e Burundi con almeno un altro battaglione a testa, e la Nigeria ha confermato un battaglione». Il Commissario per la pace e la sicurezza dell'Unione africana, Ramtane Lamamra, ha sottolineato «la forte volontà della comunità internazionale di portare avanti la missione di pace Amisom», riferendo di aver ricevuto «rassicurazioni dall'Onu» su un sostegno logistico e sulla possibilità a lungo termine di trasformare l'Amisom in forza di mantenimento della pace Onu. Secondo Lamamra, Unione europea e Lega Araba hanno già promesso appoggi finanziari.

Nella sua missiva al Consiglio di sicurezza Onu, Ban Ki-moon indica in una Forza multinazionale, piuttosto che in una tipica missione di peacekeeping, dotata di piene capacità militari per garantire la cessazione delle ostilità, la risposta più appropriata alla sfida posta dalla Somalia. Tuttavia, nessun Stato membro si è offerto finora di guidare una missione di questo genere e le risposte ricevute da Ban da circa 50 Paesi e tre organizzazioni internazionali non sono state incoraggiati, ha ricordato il suo portavoce Michele Montas, in un comunicato Onu. «I suoi sforzi per mobilitare una robusta forza di stabilizzazione non si sono ancora materializzati», ha detto Montas, «in assenza di una forza di stabilizzazione, le opzioni presentate al Consiglio di Sicurezza prevedono un pacchetto di misure quali il rafforzamento di Amisom, un maggior addestramento del personale militare e di polizia somalo, e la creazione di una forza navale con una capacità di intervento rapida, che consentano al processo di pace di mettere radici».

Il governo di transizione somalo sostenuto dall'Onu e l'opposizione islamica moderata 'Alleanza per la ri-liberazione della Somalia (Ars)' hanno raggiunto un'intesa per la condivisione del potere, nell'ambito dell'accordo di pace firmato a Gibuti lo scorso agosto, che chiede il cessate il fuoco e il ritiro delle truppe etiopi dalla Somalia. Nel dettaglio, l'intesa prevede di raddoppiare gli attuali 275 membri del Parlamento, assegnando 200 seggi all'Ars e i restanti 75 a quanti «sono finora rimasti fuori dal processo di pace, come i membri della società civile, tra cui donne e la comunità imprenditoriale, e della diaspora». Il nuovo parlamento avrà quindi il compito di eleggere la nuova leadership del Paese e rimarrà in carica altri due anni rispetto alla scadenza del periodo di transizione, fissata al 2009 nella Carta costituzionale provvisoria.

In Somalia, senza un governo effettivo dal '91, stanno acquisendo sempre più potere i gruppi islamisti radicali. A metà dicembre i miliziani islamici al Shabab hanno chiuso l'unica stazione radio attiva nella città somala di Chisimaio, 500 chilometri a sud di Mogadiscio. Una decina di miliziani hanno fatto irruzione negli uffici della stazione radio e hanno consegnato al direttore un provvedimento firmato da Hassan Yaqub Alil, responsabile per l'Informazione dell'amministrazione islamica della città, in cui si accusa l'emittente di trasmettere musica e informazione "anti-islamica". L'organizzazione Committee to Protect Journalists ha quindi lanciato un appello ad Alil perchè «riveda la sua decisione e consenta all'unica stazione radio di Chisimaio, HornAfrik, di riprendere le trasmissioni», sottolineando come «il flusso libero di notizie sia nell'interesse del Paese». HornAfrik, una delle poche voci indipendenti in Somalia, aveva festeggiato il suo 12esimo anno di attività il giorno prima del raid. Uno dei fondatori della radio, Ali Sharmarke, è rimasto ucciso nel 2007. Il porto di Chisimaio dallo scorso agosto è sotto il controllo di una coalizione di forze fedeli al leader Hassan Turki e degli Shabab. Turki è accusato da Washington di terrorismo. E sempre a Chisimaio, lo scorso ottobre, le Corti islamiche hanno emesso ed eseguito una condanna a morte per lapidazione di una bambina di 13 anni, vittima di stupro.

«Si dice che la Somalia sia in mano ai clan, negli ultimi tempi mi sembra invece il contrario, e cioè che abbiano perso il controllo della situazione. Mentre sono nuovi gruppi fondamentalisti, non più costituiti necessariamente su base etnica, ad aver acquisito molto potere» ha detto a Vita uno dei più autorevoli osservatori di quanto accade nel Corno D'Africa, mons. Giorgio Bertin, amministratore apostolico di Mogadiscio. Secondo le ultime notizie, potrebbero essere finite in mano agli Shebab, i giovani miliziani islamici somali, anche suor Caterina Giraudo e suor Maria Teresa Oliviero, le due suore italiane rapite in Kenya lo scorso novembre

FONTE

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Happy Christmas everyone

NIGERIAN BEATS UP SISTER FOR PROSTITUTION DIVIDENDS

NIGERIA IN THE WORLD VIEW: NIGERIAN BEATS UP SISTER FOR PROSTITUTION DIVIDENDS