Angelina Jolie reveals how young girls are raped and sold for little as $40

 
The Hollywood star and UN special envoy, Angelina Jolie, who is a long-standing campaigner gave a heartbreaking account of young girls she has met in conflict zones who have been repeatedly raped and sold off for as little as $40 each.

The actress appeared alongside former Foreign Secretary, William Hague, before the House of Lords Committee to speak about their campaign against sexual violence in conflict.

"For over 10 years I had been visiting the field and meeting with families and survivors of sexual violence who felt for so long that their voices simply didn’t matter – they weren’t heard and they carried a great shame. I remember distinctly meeting this little girl, who was very young – probably about 7 or 8 – and she was rocking backwards and forwards and staring at the wall and tears streaming down her face because she had been brutally raped multiple times." She said.

According to The Independent, Jolie described how she had felt "absolutely helpless" after meeting one young girl who refused to speak to anyone after being "brutally raped multiple times".

She said what was even worse than the physical violence was the feeling of worthlessness they felt when men bartered over their monetary value when selling them off as sex slaves.

"More recently I met a 13-year-old girl in Iraq who had been kept in a room with many other girls. They were taken out in twos, brought to this very dirty room with this dirty couch and raped repeatedly. They told me what was even worse than this physical violence was they had to stand in rooms and watch their friends be sold. To hear men arguing over what they were worth. Were they worth $40, $50? What was the price, their value? And how humiliating that was."

Updating the committee on progress since then, Jolie said:

"The most important thing is to understand what it's not: it's not sexual, it's a violent, brutal, terrorizing weapon, and it is used unfortunately everywhere. The most aggressive terrorist group in the world today knows what we know; knows that it is a very effective weapon and [is] using it as a center point of their terror and their way of destroying communities and families and attacking, destroying and dehumanizing." She added: "I know what would happen to my family if I were raped or my daughters were raped. All of you sitting in this room. What would that do to their lives, to your family structure? You would want to know it was wrong and that the world thought it was wrong and the person who did this to you didn't just walk away."

Pastor rapes 16-year-old while conducting deliverance in Lagos

A pastor identified as Abraham Sunday has been arrested by men of the Ojokoro Police Division attached to the Lagos State Command for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl, in Adalemo Estate, in the Toll Gate area, along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
Sunday, a pastor with Christ In All Nations Church located in Adalemo area of the State was arrested on September 2 and was taken to the Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba for further investigation.
The victim who was sick was said to have been taken by the pastor to a house in Adalemo Estate on August 28 for deliverance where he allegedly had canal knowledge of her.
Punch reports that the 16-year-old’s mother who disclosed that the pastor was a family friend became apprehensive after she did not hear from her daughter.
The incident was said to have been reported to the police by the landlord of the house the pastor allegedly kept the victim to rape her.
A police source disclosed that upon the victim’s rescue, she was taken to a hospital where it was confirmed that she had been raped.
“The pastor was like a foster father to the girl. She was ill and had gone to a hospital in the area. While returning from the hospital, she boarded the same bus with the pastor, who said he would take her to a place for prayers.
“Since the suspect was a family friend, she did not doubt him. So, they went to the pastor’s apartment, where he camped and raped her for three days. The victim’s mother did not even know about the deliverance prayer.
“On Monday, the landlord and some neighbours got suspicious of the pastor’s arrangement with the teenager and they alerted a non-governmental organisation in the area, which in turn invited the police. The girl was rescued and rushed to a hospital, where a medical test confirmed rape. The suspect was arrested immediately,” the police source said.
The arrest of the pastor was confirmed by the Lagos State Police Spokesperson, DSP Patricia Amadin.
“The police have arrested the suspect, and the matter has also been transferred to the SDCI, Yaba,’’ Amadin averred.
Source

UN health agency warns Ebola outbreak in West Africa has ‘a very nasty sting in its tail’

 
9 September 2015 – The United Nations health agency’s special envoy on Ebola response today said the outbreak in West Africa has a “very nasty sting in its tail,” but projected that the goal of zero transmission in the human population remains “very possible within 2015.”
Dr. Bruce Aylward, Special Representative on Ebola Response for the World Health Organization (WHO), made those remarks at a press conference in Geneva, following his return from the “hot spots” of the epidemic in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
He said that despite the “ferocious rainy season” in West Africa, the number of Ebola cases has remained in the single digits for six consecutive weeks in Guinea and Sierra Leone. In addition, there are only three active chains of transmission in those countries, a development he described as a “major milestone in all three countries [Liberia being the third] in the march towards zero” cases.
“Our goal is zero transmission in the human population and that remains very possible within 2015,” he said.
The senior WHO official said that the focus of the current Ebola response was what he called Phase 3 aimed at ensuring that the residual risks are managed and guarding against the re-emergence of the disease, which has claimed more than 11,000 lives, mostly in West Africa.
Dr. Aylward described the remaining challenges as residual risk surveillance, sustaining rapid response teams, and survivor engagement and care, which includes the risks of transmission through semen by male survivors of Ebola.
Testing for the status of semen is underway, he said, but other precautions are also being looked into such as the vaccination of sexual partners or family members to reduce the risk if someone tests positive.
“This virus has a very nasty sting in its tail,” he said.
Separately, WHO released guidance on the care of pregnant women with Ebola. The agency said that there is no evidence to show that women who survive Ebola and subsequently become pregnant pose a risk for Ebola virus transmission. However, pregnant women with active Ebola, pregnant women who survive the disease with an ongoing pregnancy and pregnant women who are contacts of confirmed Ebola cases pose a potential risk.
WHO’s latest weekly update on Ebola showed there were 2 confirmed cases of the disease reported in the week to 6 September: 1 in Guinea and 1 in Sierra Leone.

Man arrested for pouring hot oil on wife in Awka- Anambra State

 
The Anambra state police command has arrested one Uchenna Okoye for pouring hot oil on his wife Njideka (pictured above) during an argument at their home. When interrogated, the father of 3 said he got into an argument with his wife after he returned from work last week Tuesday and there was no food for him to eat.

He said he got angry when she told him she'd sent someone to go buy foodstuff for her to make the food as he'd repeatedly warned her not to send people to get their food stuff. As they argued, he poured hot oil on her.

A remorseful Mr Okoye has since pleaded for forgiveness from his wife and the police. He is however still being detained at the Central Police station in Awka, the Anambra state capital.

Odinkalu, bomb victims demand release of govt. support funds

omb blast victims in the country have stated their resolve to seek the release of support funds donated for their welfare.
Speaking during the inauguration ceremony of the Bomb Blast Victims Association of Nigeria, in Abuja Tuesday, the chairman of the association, Olatunji Kayode, said previous attempts to access the funds were unsuccessful.
According to Mr. Kayode, during a conversation with the Executive Director of the Victim’s Support Fund, Sunday Achoche, he was told that there was N24 billion in the Victims Support Fund’s account.
“He said we are a little fragment out of those intended for the victims support fund. He said the remaining money as at the last time we met him was N24 billion,” Mr. Kayode said.
“He added that the money is too small compared to what NEMA is getting and that we cannot get anything out of the money,” Mr. Kayode said.
He added that they were told that only the Federal Government could help them assess the fund.
Mr. Kayode said the association was formed to forestall the possibility of victims been forgotten by Nigeria.
He noted that in the past programmes aimed at alleviating the plight of victims were implemented, without input from victims of bomb explosion.
He charged the Nigerian Government to put in place a memorial in honour of all those who died during bomb explosions across the country; stressing that it was high time Nigeria celebrated its dead.
“Victims of violent extremism, must not themselves be driven into violence and retaliation by societal neglect,” said Mr. Kayode.
He said the association is the only registered and recognized body, formed with the aim of canvassing as well as regulating interventions from the government and other interested parties, in the interest of victims.
Speaking also at the event, Chairman of the National Human Rights commission, Chidi Odinkalu who also chaired the occasion, noted that many promises had been made for the victims with none fulfilled.
He stressed that no nation should do that to its citizens.
Mr. Odinkalu however added that it was unnecessary for any other set of people to manage the affairs of the victims for them.
“There is no need asking anybody to do this for you, you must do it for your selves and for those who did not survive,” he said.
He said the event was synonymous to the basic message of democracy, which he explained thus; “Not for us, without us.”
“You cannot be distributing money for victims; or in the name of victims, from a body on which you have no victims.
“So let the message go out today, we are going after the victims’ fund. The victims have got to take control of their funds,” Mr. Odinkalu stated.
He noted that the biggest injury inflicted on Nigeria by every bomb blast is not on the individual but to our sense of humanity and togetherness.
The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement, Bashir Ibrahim, said the problem of insurgency in the country is the direct result of the failure of politicians.
In their interactions with PREMIUM TIMES some victims expressed fear that the effect of such an association may not be felt by certain victims, if previous experiences were to be followed.
According to Chima Ohazurume, a victim of the 2011 bomb blast at the St. Theresa Catholic Church Madalla, he was burnt all over his body during the incident.
He said although he was treated repeatedly, his leg and other parts of the body still hurt.
He said other victims, along with himself got help from the government till a certain time when the hospital authorities told them that government was no longer paying their bills.
“I insisted that I would not go home, unless I see a public official. The then Interior Minister, Abba Moro, came to the hospital and told me that I should come when I am discharged from the hospital.
“I went there severally but his protocol people did not allow me to see him,” Mr. Ohazurume, painfully narrated.
He added that the government pays more attention to IDPs, and wondered where they have been placed by government.
“They gave us hope, which kept us alive, but till now, no improvement from the government,” said Mr. Ohazurume.
Similarly Uche Thaddeus Chukwu, another victim of the Madala bomb blast said he suffered various pains and currently experiences severe pain for hours every morning on his back.
He said he was hopeful that the association would be of positive impact.
Also according to Halillu Ibrahim, a victim of the Nyanya bomb blast, he lost one leg in the attack and was in the hospital for a couple of months before he was discharged.
According to him, the pain in his leg has not stopped and his crutches have gone bad.

Four new cases of Ebola disease recorded in Sierra Leone

Four new cases of the Ebola disease have been recorded in Serra Leone. According to reports, those infected with the disease had direct contact with  a woman who died of Ebola last month in a village.
This development not only poses a major setback to all efforts to end the outbreak in Sierra Leone, but also increases the likelihood of recording more infections within Serra Leone and other neighboring countries.

The Head of Sierra Leone’s National Ebola Response Centre, Pallo Conteh, while speaking on the new diagnoses, accused the family members of the deceased of hiding her from health workers when she was ill and resorting to taking care of her themselves. Even after she died, they carried out their traditional practice of washing the corpse of the woman without the use proper disinfectants.

“Our people are stubborn. Until they stop doing what I call the silly things we will have cases popping up here and there. I am expecting more cases,” Conteh said. “We are sure that the body was washed … so all those who took part in the washing of the corpse, all those who were helping her when she was having wet symptoms would all become infected.”he said