SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

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Inside SEPT 18 , 2019.qxp_Layout 1 17/09/2019 9:15 PM Page 3 •Hamza Bin Laden was widely seen as a potential successor to his father Hamza Bin Laden: Trump confirms al-Qaeda leader's son is dead US President Donald Trump has confirmed that Hamza Bin Laden, the son of al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden, was killed in a US operation. Last month, US media - citing intelligence officials - reported he had died in an air strike. He was officially designated by the US as a global terrorist two years ago. He was widely seen as a potential successor to his father. Thought to be about 30, he had sent out calls for attacks on the US and other countries. "Hamza Bin Laden, the highranking al-Qaeda member and son of Osama Bin Laden, was killed in a United States counter-terrorism operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region," Mr Trump said in a brief statement issued by the White House. "The loss of Hamza Bin Laden not only deprives al-Qaeda of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group." BBC DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY , SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH World news in 4 stories South Africa apologises to Nigeria over xenophobic attacks SOUTH AFRICA has apologised to Nigeria over a spate of xenophobic attacks which led to a spike in tensions between the two countries. Twelve people were killed earlier this month when mobs attacked foreign-owned businesses, mainly in Johannesburg. A special envoy from South Africa presented an apology to Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday. The envoy, Jeff Radebe, expressed the country's "sincerest apologies" at a meeting in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. "The incident does not represent what we stand for," he said, adding that South African police would "leave no stone unturned" in bringing those involved to justice. Mr Radebe also told President Buhari that the South African government condemned the violence and was taking decisive action. Mr Buhari thanked Mr Radebe for "coming to explain to us what happened in South Africa recently, leading to [the] killing and displacement of foreigners". "President Buhari responded to profuse apologies from the South African president, pledging that the relationship between the two countries will be solidified," a statement from his office said. At the end of last week, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa told the BBC that he felt ashamed by the recent violence. BBC •South Africa has been rocked by a wave of unrest and xenophobic violence this month. •George Weah, a former World Footballer of the Year, became Liberia's president last year Liberia invites ICC to advise on war crimes court LIBERIA'S PRESIDENT George Weah has invited the president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to the country to discuss the idea of setting up a war and economic crimes court. The tribunal is intended to address crimes committed during two bouts of brutal fighting in 1989-1996 and 1999-2003 in which some 250,000 people were killed. Thousands more were mutilated and raped, often by armies of drugged child soldiers led by ruthless warlords. Regional peacekeepers intervened twice to end the fighting. Smith Toby, Liberia's deputy presidential press secretary, told the BBC that President Weah had recently met ICC President Chile Eboe- Osuji in Nigeria to briefly discuss the matter. “We are awaiting a response [from the judge]," Mr Toby said. There is growing pressure to set up a court from key players in the West African nation, including traditional chiefs and elders at a recent gathering. President Weah has also written to the House of Representatives seeking their advice on the matter. Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, from the opposition Liberty Party, has welcomed the move, saying recently on a radio programme that it was "time to end the culture of impunity in our country”. BBC Iran rules out talks as Trump links Tehran to Saudi oil attack IRAN’S SUPREME leader on Tuesday ruled out talks with Washington after President Donald Trump blamed Tehran for an attack on Saudi oil facilities that knocked out half the kingdom’s output. Trump said on Monday that it looked like Iran was behind the weekend strike at the heart of the Saudi oil industry, which cut 5% of global production, but stressed he did not want to go to war. Iran denied it was to blame. “Iranian officials, at any level, will never talk to American officials ... this is part of their policy to put pressure on Iran,” Iranian state TV quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying. He said talks could only take place if the United States returned to a nuclear accord between Iran and the West that Trump abandoned last year. U.S.-Iran relations deteriorated after Trump quit the accord and reimposed sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic programs. He also wants Iran to stop supporting regional proxies, including Yemen’s Houthi group, which has claimed responsibility for the attack. A day after saying the United States was “locked and loaded” to respond to the incident, Trump said on Monday there was “no rush” to do so. “We have a lot of options but I’m not looking at options right now. We want to find definitively who did this.” Reuters •North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has complained about South Korea's "ridiculous" military exercises with the US
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 05 Editorial All must help Forestry Commission STATISTICS ON Ghana’s forest and tree cover show that in 2001 the country had 1,090, 291 hectares of forest cover and this has reduced to 1,009,275, a percentage loss of 7.4 over an 18-year period in 2018. By this calculation, it is clear that even at 7.4% as the constant loss rate, in 243 years Ghana would have no forest cover, if nothing is done from now, but we know that factors like population growth and associated demands for use of land such as building of new communities would quicken the rate of loss. This means the 243 years would reduce. Yes, no doubt, we and about five generations after us would have died and gone but is that good reason to refuse to do something about the problem of forest loss now? We must understand that forest loss has a number of far-reaching negative effects such as drying up of rivers and loss of biodiversity. Our generation can be described as a selfish one which would not leave anything land to the next generation if we had the power to take land into our graves, including the forests. History has it that the founders of the Aborigines Rights Protection Society of the Gold Coast, formed in 1897, told the colonists that they would not allow the colonists to take possession of the native land because it belongs to our ancestors, the current generation and generations unborn, including us at the time of the protestations. What are we saying now, looking at the destruction of forests for galamsey and attempts to dispossess even some of our own of the little space they live on in the land of our birth? If nothing at all, the DAILY HERITAGE thinks it is time we checked the destruction of our forest and other lands as land is one essential thing that supports life in everything – food, herbs or medicine, survival of water bodies, biodiversity, etc etc. Everyone must contribute some efforts to save our forests and other lands. For this reason we of the DAILY HERITAGE wish to echo and re-echo the call by the Forestry Commission, led by Mr Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, aka Sir John, to persons living within the forest areas to volunteer information that would help combat the activities of persons who are illegally destroying the forests. There is this popular saying that “when the last tree dies the last man dies”. So far as seed time and harvest time remain, we must have Ghanaians always on earth and that is by sustaining one of nature’s lifesupporting systems – our forests. We need foreign DNA test FROM EMMANUEL OHENE GYAN, TADI THE QUAYESON and Bentum families whose kidnapped girls have been confirmed dead say they want foreign experts to carry out the DNA test instead of what the Ghana police have done. Addressing a news conference at Diabene, a suburb of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis in the Western Region of Ghana, John Entsie, a family member, said the affected families never saw the said remains neither were the DNA report shown them before the announcement by the IGP. “First of all we are disappointed in the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces for the manner in which he has handled — Tadi girls’ families • Seated in the Tundra pick-up bucket are suspects being this whole unfortunate kidnapping story. He has demonstrated to us that ballot boxes are more valuable to him than the lives of our sisters. “If he wants us to believe that his hands are clean in this development, then he should quickly fire CID boss COP Tiwaa Addo Danquah and Bryan Acheampong for making us believe that our sisters were alive,” Entsie demanded. They have also issued a one-week ultimatum to the Police Administration to release the said report to the families to enable them to carry out their own independent test or incur their wrath. The Acting Inspector General of Police, James Oppong Boanuh, on Monday confirmed that results of DNA tests conducted on some human parts exhumed in a house in Takoradi are those of the four missing girls. A special police operation led to the discovery and exhumation of the bodies of the four missing Takoradi girls at Kasawrodo in the Western Region, Starr News confirmed in August this year. transported to the Sowutuom Police Station Sowutuom chiefs, police arrest 20 suspected criminals • READ FROM PAGE 2 and the chiefs to educate residents on crime issues. She said Ghana Police Service Report, 2009 on crimes in the Greater Accra Region and the 2019 US Embassy Report on crimes both made mention of Sowutuom and Santa Maria as popular crime areas, which is a wake-up call for the chiefs to act. The newly-installed Nkosohene for Fan-Milk and proprietor of the United Baylor Academy, Mr Maxwel Nseboa Aniapam, said the operation, meant to reduce crime and flush out all criminals operating in that area, started on Saturday dawn around 4:00 a.m. with 15 members drawn from the Asafo group and personnel from the Sowutuom police. He said all the 20 suspected criminals were handed over to the Sowutuom police for further investigations into their activities in the area. • Police confirm missing Tadi girls dead
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