TIG Post

Tag: boarder

  • Republic of Benin troops nullify four terrorists near the border

    Troops in the Benin Republic clashed with armed men suspected of being terrorists near the country’s northern border with Burkina Faso, killing four attackers, according to the army.

    Insurgents across their northern borders pose a growing threat to the Gulf of Guinea states of Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Ivory Coast.

    According to the army, a dozen armed men attacked a military post near the border in Kaobagou early Friday, but troops resisted and pushed them back in a counter-offensive.

    “After fleeing, the enemy left behind four bodies, and a large amount of weapons and ammunition,” the army’s statement said.

    Republic of Benin Troops Neutralise Four Terrorists Near Border (News Central TV)

    The axis is has also witnessed a rise in smuggling gangs and cross-border crimes.  Benin forces say they have faced more than 20 invasions since 2021 while neighbouring Togo has suffered at least five attacks within the same time.

    The insurgency which started in Mali in 2012 has since spread to Burkina Faso and Niger.

    The affected states met in Ghana’s capital Accra earlier this week to deliberate on strengthening cooperation with European partners to contain the spillover from conflicts in Burkina Faso and Niger Republic.

    Thousands of people have been killed across the Sahel and more than two million persons have been displaced with devastating destruction inflicted on hapless members of mostly agrarian or trading communities.

  • Greece-Turkey border: UN blasts ‘deeply distressing’ discovery of 92 naked migrants

    The UN refugee agency has expressed great worry over the finding of around 100 naked males at the Greek-Turkish border.

    Two countries have laid blame for the fate of the 92 migrants.

    Greece criticised Turkey for its “behaviour,” calling it a “shame for civilization.”

    Turkey branded its neighbour’s claims as “fake news” and accused it of “cruelty”.

    As both sides blamed each other, the United Nation’s refugee agency called for an investigation and said it was “deeply distressed by the shocking reports and images”.

    Greek police said they rescued the 92 men who were discovered naked, and some with injuries, close to its northern border with Turkey on Friday.

    They said an investigation by them and officials from the EU border agency Frontex, found evidence that the migrants crossed the Evros river into Greek territory in rubber dinghies from Turkey.

    “Border policemen… discovered 92 illegal migrants without clothes, some of whom had injuries on their bodies,” the statement said.

    Greek authorities said the men were immediately given clothing, food and first aid.

    It was not clear how and why the men had lost their clothes.

    Frontex said the men were mainly from Afghanistan and Syria, and that the organisation’s fundamental rights officer had been informed of a potential rights violation.

    Greek minister for civil protection, Takis Theodorikakos, accused Turkey of “instrumentalising illegal immigration” in the latest in a row over migration between the neighbours.

    Speaking on Greek television he claimed that many of the migrants had told Frontex that “three Turkish army vehicles had transferred them” to the river which acts as a border between the two countries. The BBC has not been able to independently verify this claim.

    “One would expect a working explanation from the Turkish government’s side,” Mr Theodorikakos said.

    A day earlier, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said in a tweet that Turkey’s treatment of the migrants was a “shame for civilisation”. He said Athens expected Ankara to investigate the incident and “protect… its border with the EU”.

    The dispute has reached the highest level of government in Turkey, with tweets on behalf of the president denying any responsibility for what had happened and blaming Greece for the “inhuman” situation.

    “The Greek machine of fake news is back at work,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top press aide Fahrettin Altun wrote on the social media site.

    He described the allegations as “futile and ridiculous”, accusing Greece of not respecting the refugees by posting their pictures.

    In response, the UNHCR said it is “deeply distressed by the shocking reports and images”, but said it had not been able to speak to the group directly yet – something which it hoped would happen in the coming days.

    “We condemn any cruel and degrading treatment and call for a full investigation,” the UNHCR told the BBC.

    The discovery of the men comes days after a leaked report by an EU agency criticized some senior staff at Frontex for covering up illegal pushbacks of migrants by Greece to Turkey, something Athens denies. Frontex says such practices by its staff are a thing of the past.

    Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a UN address to accuse Greece of transforming the Aegean Sea into a “cemetery” and said it had “oppressive policies” on immigration.

    Greece was on the frontline of a European migration crisis in 2015 and 2016, when around a million refugees fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan arrived in the country, mainly via Turkey.

    The number of arrivals has fallen since then, but Greek authorities said they had recently seen an increase in attempted arrivals through the Turkish land border and the Greek islands.

    Greece has urged Turkey to respect a 2016 deal with the European Union in which Ankara agreed to contain the flow of migrants to Europe in exchange for billions of euros in aid.

    Athens will soon extend a 25-mile (40-kilometer) fence along its northern border with Turkey to prevent migrants from entering the country, Mr Theodorikakos said.

     

  • Amnesty International accuses Latvia of mistreating migrants on Belarus border

    According to Amnesty International, Latvia “violently” forced migrants back into Belarus and even tortured some of them.

    They say a recent complaint by the rights group, border guards beat and humiliated individuals trying to enter from Belarus into neighbouring Latvia.

    Latvia’s government denied officials used undue force, and said the measures were due to “illegal crossings”.

    Last year it declared a state of emergency, which suspended the right to seek asylum in four border areas.

    Latvia says that means so-called pushbacks are allowed, even though they contravene EU law.

    The state of emergency, which is still in place, was introduced after a surge in people trying to cross over the border from Belarus.

    Amnesty International’s report details alleged abuses of power, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, unsafe and unsanitary conditions, and even torture.

    It quotes an Iraqi man named Zaki, who said he was pushed back and forth at the border more than 150 times in three months, including sometimes as many as eight times per day.

    Another Iraqi man, Adil, said he and fellow migrants slept in the forest on the snow.

    “We used to light a fire to get warm, there were wolves, bears but because we had a fire… they [were] afraid,” he is quoted as saying in the report.

    “That is how we survived it, but they [Latvian authorities] did not provide us with special clothes for the weather,” he added.

     

    Amnesty reports that migrants, including children, were held arbitrarily in undisclosed sites in the Latvian forest, and then returned to Belarus.

    Many faced beatings and electric shocks with tasers, including on their genitals. Some were returned “voluntarily” to their home countries.

    “The Latvian authorities have left men, women and children to fend for themselves in freezing temperatures, often stranded in forests or held in tents,” said Eve Geddie, Amnesty’s Director of the European Institutions Office.

    “They have violently pushed them back to Belarus, where they have no chance of seeking protection. These actions have nothing to do with border protection and are brazen violations of international and EU law.”

    Amnesty added that Latvia’s treatment of migrants from Belarus stood in stark contrast to its “swift mobilisation” to provide refuge for more than 35,000 Ukraine migrants.

    Kristaps Eklons, Latvia’s Minister of the Interior, defended the government’s measure on the border in a written response included in the report.

    “The [state of emergency] order was adopted to ensure the internal security of the state,” he said.

    Mr Eklons added that authorities had found no evidence of officials using “physical force of special means” against those crossing the border.

    Last year Latvia, Poland and Lithuania all saw a huge surge in the number of people trying to enter their countries from Belarus.

    The European Union accused the country’s leader Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating the problem in retaliation against sanctions, which were introduced in response to a crackdown on mass protests.

    The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.

     

     

  • Amid military call-up: Russians pour into EU

    66,000 Russians entered the EU in the previous week, a 30% rise, according to the border control organization for the Bloc. In the meanwhile, despite Moscow’s warnings, the US will not change its nuclear stance.

    The European Union’s Frontex border control agency said 66,000 the EU in the past week.

    This represents a 30% increase compared with the previous week, according to the agency. It said that most of the crossings were occurring at the Finnish and Estonian sections of the border.

    According to Frontex, most arrivals had visas, residence permits, or dual citizenship.

    Frontex predicted that illegal border crossings could increase if the Kremlin decides to close Russia’s borders for potential conscripts.

    Thousands of military-age men have been leaving Russia since President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial” mobilization last week.

     

  • After 7 years Colombia and Venezuela reopen border crossing

    Colombia’s newly elected president, Gustavo Petro,  made the reopening a centrepiece of his campaign. Seven years had passed since the Simon Bolivar international bridge was closed.

    Colombia and Venezuela on Monday reopened their border after years of impasse.

    The reopening was a key campaign promise of left-wing Colombian president Gustavo Petro, who assumed office last month. The two countries subsequently re-established diplomatic relations.

    “This is a historic day for the country, for the region, and for the Americas in general,” Petro said.

    On foot, Petro crossed the Simon Bolivar international bridge, dividing the Venezuelan town of San Antonio from Colombia’s Cucuta and Villa del Rosario. Having crossed the border, he met with a Venezuelan delegation including Transport Minister Ramon Velasquez and Industry Minister Hipolito Abreu.

    Petro and the Venezuelan delegation accompanied the first cargo truck to cross the border after the reopening.

    “I want the first people who benefit to be those who live on either side of the border, those who risked (illegal crossings),” Petro said in later comments.

    “The result should be a qualitative jump in human rights all along the Colombian-Venezuelan border,” he said.

    Petro said that a second road bridge near Cucuta would open within weeks.

    The Simon Bolivar bridge had officially been closed to trade for nearly seven years. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered border crossings closed in 2015 during what he described as a crackdown on smuggling.

    Cargo transport had previously only been allowed through one northern crossing.

    In 2019, tensions between the two countries rose after the Colombian government attempted to deliver truckloads of aid to the Venezuelan opposition.

    The border was then shut down for a year. It was then reopened to traffic by foot.