Dozens kidnapped in northwest Nigeria after bandits invite them to talks

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By Reuters and Posted by TOE Armed bandits in northwest Nigeria abducted dozens of villagers whom they invited to a meeting ‌about potential peace negotiations, authorities and residents said on ‌Monday, highlighting the region’s worsening security. Police said 39 people were seized on Sunday ​when they went to a meeting in the forest near Magamin Diddi village in the Maradun municipality of northwest Zamfara State. Some local residents and officials said the number could be as ‌high as 50. According to ⁠a Zamfara State Police Command statement, the victims were meeting relatives of a bandit leader in ⁠an attempt to broker peace and ease restrictions on movement imposed on the community. Zamfara is at the centre of a long-running security ​crisis in ​which armed groups, locally referred ​to as bandits, carry ‌out mass kidnappings, killings and village raids. The violence has disrupted farming and displaced thousands. Security forces have deployed personnel and...
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Greenlanders torn between anxiety and relief after White House talks

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By Pierre-Henry DESHAYES AFP

Greenland’s residents expressed a mix of anxiety and relief after a meeting was held Wednesday in the White House between officials from the United States, Denmark and the island at the centre of President Donald Trump’s focus.

The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous territory under Copenhagen’s sovereignty, met on Wednesday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an attempt to clear up “misunderstandings” after Trump spoke repeatedly of the possibility of seizing the island.

“It’s very frightening because it’s such a big thing,” said Vera Stidsen, 51, a teacher in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.

“I hope that in the future we can continue to live as we have until now: in peace and without being disturbed,” Stidsen told AFP.

Following the meeting, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen expressed “fundamental disagreement” with Washington over the fate of the Arctic territory while Trump said he thought “something will work out”.

Red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity during the talks.

In one shop in Nuuk, a t-shirt with the slogan “Greenland is not for sale” was almost sold out, according to an AFP reporter.

‘Living in peace’

Faced with comments by Donald Trump that the US would “have” Greenland “one way or the other”, authorities there were working to keep a sense of calm for the island’s 57,000 residents.

Ivaana Egede Larsen, 43, watched a broadcast of the press conference given by Lokke and Greenland’s foreign affairs minister Vivian Motzfeldt, in a cafe on Wednesday, tears welling up as she felt a flood of relief that the meeting appeared to have been cordial.

“I am more calm now, and I feel more safe,” she said.

“Our hearts have felt very unsafe lately because of Trump’s very direct, very aggressive way of talking about Greenland,” she added.

Frederik Henningsen, 64, a janitor, also felt some optimism.

“They didn’t manage to make an agreement but I have my hopes because I want to live in peace,” he said.



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/W1Q4pk0

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