SPECIAL REPORT
Sierra Leone throws support to Morocco’s initiatives on Western Sahara
Sierra Leone has joined the growing league of nations who have thrown their support for Morocco’s territorial integrity, especially considering the southern province. The West African nation on Tuesday in Rabat expressed its full support for Morocco and considered the kingdom’s autonomy initiative as the only “credible, serious and realistic” solution to the dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.
This stance was expressed in a joint communiqué issued following talks between Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, and Sierra Leone’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Timothy Musa Kabba.
In the joint communiqué, Sierra Leone’s FM reiterated his country’s firm support to the Kingdom’s territorial integrity, which was reinforced by the opening, in August 2021, of a Sierra Leonean Consulate General in Dakhla and its participation, on January 15, 2021, in the Ministerial Conference in support of the autonomy initiative under Moroccan sovereignty, at the invitation of the Kingdom and the United States of America.
In this regard, he expressed his full support for the UN-led process to reach a realistic, practical and lasting solution to the Moroccan Sahara issue.
The past two weeks have been marked by a series of meetings between Bourita and several officials from African and Caribbean countries.
The latest meeting was with Dominica, which also renewed its support for Morocco’s territorial integrity on Monday.
Dominica’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vince Henderson emphasized his country’s position in a joint statement yesterday following talks with Bourita in Rabat.
He also emphasized that his country views Morocco’s autonomy initiative as the “only credible, serious, and realistic solution” to the dispute.
Several other countries, including Saint Kitts and Nevis and Liberia, echoed the same sentiment recently, reaffirming support for Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
Featured
REVEALED! Dani Alves Planned Jail Break Before His Temporary Release –
Former Brazil international Dani Alves who spent 430 days, behind bars while his trial lasted for alleged sexual assault on a Spanish lady at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022 had planned an escape.
Faced with the looming possibility of a lengthy prison term, Alves allegedly attempted an audacious prison escape.
According to reports in Spain, the player sought temporary release on bail, intending to flee to his motherland, where he wouldn’t be pursued due to the absence of an extradition treaty between Spain and Brazil.
However, his escape plan was dashed when one of his cell-mates disclosed the scheme to the officials, preventing its execution and all three attempts for temporary release were denied.
SPECIAL REPORT
Nearly 300 Nigerian students released after abduction in Kaduna
Nearly 300 students and staff abducted by gunmen from a school in northern Nigeria this month have been released unharmed, the office of the governor of the state of Kaduna said on Sunday, days before a deadline to pay a $690,000 ransom.
The kidnapping of 287 students on March 7 in Kuriga, a dusty town in northwestern Kaduna state, was the first mass abduction in Africa’s most populous nation since 2021 when more than 150 students were taken from a high school in Kaduna.
A security source said the students were rescued in a forest in neighbouring Zamfara state and were being escorted by the army to the Kaduna capital for medical tests before being reunited with their families.
Abductions at Nigerian schools were first carried out by jihadist group Boko Haram, which seized 276 students from a girls’ school in Chibok in northeastern Borno State a decade ago. Some of the girls have never been released.
Since then the tactic has been widely adopted by criminal gangs without ideological affiliation.
Kaduna governor Uba Sani said the country’s National Security Adviser coordinated the release of the Kuriga schoolchildren. He did not provide further details.
“The Nigerian Army also deserves special commendation for showing that, with courage, determination and commitment, criminal elements can be degraded and security restored in our communities,” Sani said.
The gunmen last week demanded a total of 1 billion naira ($690,000) for release of the missing children and staff.
The government had said it would not pay any ransom. The practice was outlawed in 2022.
But kidnappings by criminal gangs demanding ransoms have become an almost daily occurrence, especially in northern Nigeria, tearing apart families and communities that have to pool savings to pay ransoms, often forcing them to sell land, cattle and grain to secure the release of their loved ones.
-Reuters
Featured
Morocco opens national football museum to illustrate the glorious past, the glowing present and promising future
The rich history of Moroccan football and their stars are now being encapsulated into a national museum located on the ground floor of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) in Maâmoura (near Salé) in Rabat.
The football museum, inaugurated last Thursday follows the last year’s opening of the new offices of the FRMF which CAF president, Dr. Patrice Motsepe loftily praised and also hailed the visionary leadership of Fouzi Lekja, the president of FRMF.
The Football Museum has now further raised the bar. It’s construction began in March 2021.
It contains a permanent exhibition space of 1,350 square meters, a temporary exhibition space of 310 square meters, an exhibition hall with 42 seats, a VIP room, a documentation room, and other facilities.
Inside Morocco Football Museum
The Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch was on hand to open the project. Also in attendance were top government functionaries like Chakib Benmoussa, Minister of National Education, Preschool and Sport, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Abdellatif Miraoui, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, Fouzi Lekjaa, President of the FRMF as well as Mehdi Qotbi, President of the National Foundation of Museums.
Expectedly, football stars, past and present were in attendance to grace the project that showcases the best of the bests in Moroccan football history.
The stars across all generations in attendance include Aziz Bouderbala, a star of the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.
Others are past winners of the Ballon d’Or for the best players in Africa, namely Mohamed Timoumi in 1985, Badou Ezzaki in 1986, Mustapha Hadji (1998), as well as other former players and current sports officials.
“I think everyone agrees that the objective behind creating this football museum is to preserve the football heritage,” Lekjaa told the press during the inauguration ceremony, stressing that the young generation will be allowed to visit this museum and learn about the history and accomplishments.
Bouderbala who made 57 appearances for Morocco was quoted by the Morocco World News as hailing the objectives of the football museum.
He remarked that what drew his attention in the museum are “a number of pictures that take us many years back, several cups that mark the national football , and documentaries beneficial for the rising generation.”
The museum sheds light on the history of national football since 1906, by exhibiting photographs and football trophies in such a way as to allow everyone to learn about the achievements of Moroccan players.
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