Category: International Affairs,

Boko Haram released 21 of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls

On By peanutgallerynhIn Africa,Leave a comment

The girls were handed over to the Nigerian government as part of a deal with the Red Cross.

….According to an April report by the Washington Post, Nigerians harbor intense skepticism toward the released prisoners, who are still largely referred to as “Boko Haram wives.” 

Their fear, according to the Post, is valid: Last year, 39 out of 89 Boko Haram suicide bombings were executed by women, some under the age of 18.

The escaped Boko Haram wives, many of who have had children with the militants and still profess love for their husbands, are seen as a group particularly likely to have been indoctrinated.

Boko Haram released 21 of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls

 

hmmmm

Native American Colleges Have Abandoned The Student Loan System 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Education,, Schools,, The Americas,Leave a comment

With graduates defaulting on their loans at sky-high rates, the vast majority of America’s 32 tribal colleges have stopped their students from borrowing.

…“We completely disagree with that idea that students are worse off without [access to] federal loans,” Billy said. “Particularly when you look at the demographics of our students — students who have lived with generational poverty, unemployment, who have no experience with credit — that’s a recipe for disaster when it comes to loans. Tribal colleges will do everything they can to make their students graduate debt-free.

Tribal colleges, like community colleges, are relatively inexpensive — around $6,000 a year, low enough that a $5,750 annual Pell Grant will cover most of the cost of tuition. But community college students sometimes borrow money to help pay for living costs and expenses like textbooks. That option isn’t available for tribal college students.

Those students often face staggering obstacles that make them more less likely to repay student debt, Billy said. Eighty-three percent of them are reliant on Pell Grants, which are only given to low-income students, compared to just 40% of college students nationally. Many tribal college students have little to no experience with borrowing money or credit. They’re also mostly first-generation college students.

…Leander “Russ” McDonald, the president of United Tribes Tech, said the school’s loan default rate has been driven up by the fact that so many of its students come from rural areas, especially reservations. They return home after graduation to some of the country’s most economically depressed places, hoping to help their communities but finding that even with their degrees, there aren’t enough jobs to go around.

Native American Colleges Have Abandoned The Student Loan System – BuzzFeed News

Hmmmm.

Student loans seem more and more like a lifetime sentence these days, so -as long the colleges are filling in the gaps in other ways- this doesn’t seem like a bad thing at all.

US Policy On South Sudan

On By peanutgallerynhIn Africa,Leave a comment

South Sudan is among the more tragic examples of how the United States has failed to uphold the CSPA and protect children from exploitation and harm.

The fledgling country is among the most corrupt in the world. Local power brokers—including President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar, the leaders of rival factions now engaged in a 3-year-old civil war—have used their positions to plunder the country of its wealth, while subjecting their citizens to one of the most hellish humanitarian disasters on earth.

Among their many crimes, South Sudan’s security forces have been known to recruit child soldiers since the country gained independence in 2011, but recruitment increased rapidly once hostilities began between the government’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and various rebel groups associated with the opposition in December 2013.

According to the United Nations, coercion—including threats of violence against family members and attacks on villages—is widely employed to force children into combat. In 2015 alone, recruitment efforts affected more than 2,500 children. The SPLA and other government-supported armed groups were responsible for the majority of those cases. And despite appearing on the CSPA list since 2012, the U.S. government has withheld only $1.2 million of security assistance, while providing $99 million.

Obama’s failed policy on South Sudan

hmmm

Somali president: We will get rid of al-Shabaab tumor

On By peanutgallerynhIn Africa,Leave a comment

[Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said] that Somalia “has become one of the few countries to have managed to reduce the threat of terrorism and it will get rid of the al-Shabaab tumor soon.” 

Over 20,000 troops are stationed in Somalia as part of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) fighting the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab movement, which was created at the beginning of 2004.

The Somali president stressed on the importance of also fighting al-Shabaab’s ideas.

“The tools [to win] this war will come through encouraging education and opening scientific and intellectual centers to fight the terrorists’ ideas, as well as fighting against poverty, which indeed feeds the ideas of extremism,” he said.

“I think this can be accomplished by providing the required development for the country’s economy, which enables us to create job opportunities for the young people [in order] to dry up the sources of terrorism in our country,” he added.

Somali president: We will get rid of al-Shabaab tumor

hmmm