Turkish police kill 2 women after attack on police station

Police in Istanbul on Thursday killed two women who had hidden inside a building after attacking police with gunfire and a hand grenade, an official said. Two police officers were slightly injured.

The state-run Anadolu Agency, without citing a source, said the women were identified as members of the banned far-left group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front, or DHKP-C.

Security camera footage showed the women firing at a police bus outside a riot police station in Istanbul's Bayrampasa neighborhood and also hurling a hand grenade, before apparently taking aim at the police station. The hand grenade did not explode.

They fled the scene in a vehicle and hid in a building a short distance from the police station. Special forces police quickly surrounded the building and launched an operation after the pair ignored calls for them to surrender and opened fire on officers, NTV television reported.

Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin said both of the assailants were killed in the operation. He said two police officers were wounded — one by broken glass during the attack on the bus and the other during the assault on the building.

The DHKP-C, among other attacks, carried out a 2013 suicide bombing on the U.S. Embassy that killed a security guard. DHKP-C militants also opened fire on the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul last year.

Thursday's attack came amid a surge in violence in Turkey since the summer.

A fragile peace process with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, collapsed in July, reviving a three-decade conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.

Last month, a suicide car bombing that targeted buses carrying military personnel in the capital, Ankara, killed 29 people. A Kurdish militant group that is an off-shoot of the PKK claimed responsibility for that attack. But the government maintains that it was the work of a Syrian Kurdish militia group, in coordination with the PKK.

Some 145 people have died since July in three separate suicide bomb attacks that authorities have blamed on the Islamic State group, including 12 German tourists who were killed in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district on Jan. 12.

Defeated Uganda’s opposition challenges Museveni win in court

Uganda’s failed presidential challenger Amama Mbabazi launched a petition on Tuesday challenging the win by President Yoweri Museveni last month, citing voter bribery and arrests.
But Museveni’s closest rival, opposition chief Kizza Besigye, arrested multiple times during the election, was blocked from making a similar petition, his party chief said.
“Despite the challenges, massive arrests of our supporters, harassment and intimidation, we have today finally lodged our petition challenging the results of the just concluded elections,” Mbabazi’s lawyer Severino Twinobusingye told AFP on Tuesday.
“We have been assured by the court that they will handle the petition expeditiously”
Museveni swept to his fifth election victory last month with 61 per cent of the vote.
Observers said the cards were heavily stacked against his opponents, as the 71-year-old’s grip on his party and country - and his access to state resources - meant the result was never in any doubt.
The petition was lodged at Uganda’s Supreme Court in the capital Kampala.
“Our petition touches on a number of issues ranging from late delivery of ballots to arrests and intimidation of our candidate and supporters plus outright voter bribery,” Twinobusingye added.
But Besigye could not deliver his petition due to “hostile actions by government”, according to his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party president Mugisha Muntu.
“Because of hostility we have been subjected to by the government, the arrests of our candidate which came to nine times since the February 18 elections,” Muntu said.”It’s difficult for us to deliver our petition to court as mandated under the 10-day deadline.”
In the days since the vote, armed police and soldiers have maintained an aggressive, highly visible presence on the capital’s streets to keep a lid on things, while Besigye has been prevented from leaving his home by a succession of mob-handed arrests.
“We are coming out with the next course of action in next few hours,” Muntu said.
“In last 24 hours there has been arrest of our supporters, and even journalists arrested during the live coverage of the police siege of Dr Besigye - it’s been a challenging moment for us and Ugandans.”
Seven journalists were arrested by police on Monday, the Daily Monitor reported, while the Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday condemned an “extended series of attacks on journalists covering the political opposition.”
After Besigye, Museveni’s next closest challenger was former prime minister Mbabazi, a former ruling party stalwart who trailed in distant third. He won less than two per cent.

‘I’d rather die in jail than for Ohanaeze to claim glory for my release,’ IPOB leader says

According to IPOB, Kanu said “I will rather die in jail than for Ohanaeze Ndigbo to claim the glory of my release” in a bid to dissociate his group from Ohanaeze.

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has reportedly said that he would rather die in prison than allow Igbo group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo to claim the glory for his release.

According to IPOB, Kanu said “I will rather die in jail than for Ohanaeze Ndigbo to claim the glory of my release” in a bid to dissociate his group from Ohanaeze.
The secessionist group always warned Ohanaeze to stop impersonating its leaders.
IPOB expressed the sentiment via a statement released by its United Kingdom spokesmen, Dr Clifford Iroanya and Emma Mmezu.
It reads:
“We are in court and our wish is to expose the fraudulent charge of treasonable felony before the whole world. At the end of this case, the corrupt and compromised segment of the Nigerian judiciary will be publicly disgraced.”
“Our march to freedom is unstoppable; this is something Buhari ought to know. We have come to die for Biafra if that is what it will take to be free. Our resolve should not be underestimated.
“As our leader will always say, “Nigeria will kill us, we will kill them but in the end, we will win.”
“People alleged to be members of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Ohanaeze Youth wing were said to have met with some Americans at Nike Lake Resort Hotel between 6pm and 7pm  Saturday  evening.”
“If any country or group is coming to Nigeria to discuss anything concerning IPOB and the release or freedom of our incarcerated leader and Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnandi Kanu, it is not Ohanaeze Ndigbo or their youth wing that will speak for us because they are not our members and so, cannot represent or speak for us.”
“We urged the Americans who came for the meeting that the alleged representatives of IPOB did not represent or have our support. Nobody speaks or represents IPOB except its principal and designated officers.”
“We learnt that they cornered some Americans who came to Enugu to have audience with the IPOB over the way forward on the issue of Biafra agitation and the continued incarceration of our leader Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.”
Kanu was arrested in October 2015 and is currently being held at the Kuje Prison on charges of treason.

Governance by Trial and Error

I composed this poem in early August 2015 but I find that the observations made in the first and second 

stanzas are still spot on. The prescriptions in the third and final stanzas are still imperative, therefore. 

– Governance by trial and error 

– When a government is run without a road map When the rulers seem to be learning the ropes When issues are more complex than they deemed And they can’t say how they’ll meet our hopes What you have is governance by trial and error

 – When policy pronouncements are made on a whim And constant reversals follow to clear the air When campaign promises are qualified or disowned And ad hoc arrangements become the order of the day Then it’s a bad case of governance by trial and error 

– But we should not fold our hands in despair Or gloat and hoot that the government will fail Nor should we offer blind allegiance Pretending that all is groovy and swell Or we’ll be hurt by governance by trial and error – We should rather supplicate for the people in power To assemble the best team and a great plan devise We should offer our ideas; keep them on their toes And as needed, commend, criticize or chastise So we may be saved from governance by trial and error Edith Ohaja is a Senior Lecturer in Mass Communication at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.