The U.S. government and human rights activists called Tuesday for Nigeria to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the deaths of more than 200 unarmed people in renewed violence between Christians and Muslims.
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan had promised that the fighting would stop after more than 300 people were slain in January. Jonathan fired his national security adviser late Monday night following the weekend violence.
“After the January killings, the villages should have been properly protected,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said. “Clearly, previous efforts to tackle the underlying causes have been inadequate, and in the meantime the wounds have festered and grown deeper.”
Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, or the “Snow Leopard” as he has been dubbed, is making his final preparations for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
A skier preparing to take part in the Games at this point in the calendar is not the most sensational news, until it is understood the 31-year-old grew up in Accra, Ghana (where the annual average temperature is around 79 degrees Fahrenheit) and learnt to ski only six years ago on a dry slope.
Nkrumah-Acheampong hopes his remarkable and unconventional rise to prominence — he achieved the strict qualifying criteria set by the world governing body of his sport from his training base at an artificial snow dome in Milton Keynes, England where he was a former employee — can act as inspiration to his countrymen.
Ghana are into the Africa Cup of Nations final for the first time in 18 years after a 1-0 defeat of Nigeria at the 11 November stadium here on Thursday.
In form striker Asamoah Gyan got the priceless first half goal to claim the honours as Ghana moved to within one win of a fifth continental crown.
The Black Stars’ opponents in Sunday’s 2010 climax will emerge from Thursday’s second semi-final in Benguela between holders Egypt and Algeria.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Gyan. “We are a young team and not many people gave us a chance of making the final.”
shock-filled start to the Africa Cup of Nations continued on Monday as title favourites Ivory Coast were held 0-0 by Burkina Faso in the opening Group B match.
Hosts Angola sensationally surrendered a four-goal lead when drawing with Mali in the tournament opener on Sunday and 24 hours later Malawi rocked 2010 World Cup qualifiers Algeria 3-0 in another Group A clash.
An Ivorian team featuring Europe-based stars like Kolo Toure, younger brother Yaya and Didier Drogba dominated possession throughout, but created few clearcut chances and looked far from potential champions.
Burkina Faso set out a defensive stall and contained their opponents with relative comfort to keep alive hopes of finishing among the top two in a mini-league completed by Ghana and qualifying for the quarter-finals.
Players stood silently before the kick-off to honour two Togolese fatalities of an ambush in this restive enclave last Friday while police, soldiers and special forces cast a ring of steel around a complex housing the teams.
Mali made a miraculous recovery to pull back from a four goal deficit to hold Angola to a 4-4 draw in the opening game of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations here on Sunday.
The hosts appeared set for the best possible start when a first half double from Flavio Armado and penalties from Gilberto and Manucho had them celebrating a famous victory.
With only 16 minutes on the clock Mali looked down and out.
But a double from Seydou Keita and contributions from Frederic Kanoute and Mustapha Yattabare gave them an improbable draw.
Angola coach Manuel Jose said: “This draw tasted like a defeat to me, this is one of the most bitter pills I’ve ever had to swallow in all the matches of my long career.
Agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation are in Ghana to find out about the sojourn in the country of a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a US airliner, a Ghanaian minister said Monday.
“The investigation will allow the FBI agents to gather more information on the suspect’s stay in Ghana,” Deputy Information Minister James Agyenim-Boateng told AFP.
He did not say when the FBI team arrived in Ghana and how long the agents plan to stay in the west African country.
It is Ghana’s first known official comment on the allegations by Nigerian authorities that the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, arrived in Lagos on December 24 on a Virgin Nigeria flight from Ghana.
Agyenim-Boateng said Abdulmutallab flew in to Ghana on December 9 on an Ethiopian Airlines flight out of Addis Ababa where he was believed to have connected from Dubai.
On his immigration form in Ghana he stated a Dubai address. Although he gave one hotel name as his address in Accra, he checked into a different one, said the minister refusing to give names of the hotels.
