SAO PAULO: Embattled President Michel Temer exchanged furious denunciations of corruption Saturday with a leading businessman who alleges Brazil’s leader was behind the bribes paid by business executives to politicians and government authorities in exchange for political favors.
Meatpacking billionaire Joesley Batista, who is himself under investigation for fraud, claimed in an interview published in the newsmagazine Epoca that “Temer leads Brazil’s largest and most dangerous criminal organization.” He provided no specifics to back up his charge.
Temer’s office fired back with a statement describing Batista as “the most notorious and successful bandit in Brazil’s history” and it promised to file criminal and civil lawsuits against him.
Batista is now a key witness in corruption investigations that threaten to force Temer out of office before his term ends in December 2018. Prosecutors have said they are considering charging the president with receiving bribes and with trying to obstruct the investigation into a colossal corruption scheme at the state-run oil company that involved huge kickbacks to politicians in return for inflated contracts. Dozens of politicians and business executives already have been convicted in the Petrobras case.
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Brazil’s leader, billionaire accuse each other of corruption
Brazil’s leader, billionaire accuse each other of corruption
Military drone strike in Niger killed 17 civilians in January: HRW
- An apparent Niger military drone strike killed 17 civilians, among them children, in western Niger near the Burkina Faso border last month, Human Rights Watch said on Monday
ABIDJAN: An apparent Niger military drone strike killed 17 civilians, among them children, in western Niger near the Burkina Faso border last month, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
Niger is plagued by jihadist violence in the western Tillaberi region, a flashpoint zone where the country’s borders converge with that of its allies Burkina Faso and Mali.
Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group have made the region a fiefdom, carrying out deadly attacks for nearly a decade.
“An apparent Nigerien military drone strike killed at least 17 civilians, including four children, and injured at least 13 others at a crowded market” on January 6, HRW said in a statement.
Three Islamist fighters were also killed in the strike, it said.
It took place in the village of Kokoloko in the Tillaberi region, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the capital, Niamey, and less than three kilometers from the border with Burkina Faso, HRW said.
Witnesses spoke of having seen a drone flying over the village twice during the morning and then drop munition on it when hundreds of people were in the market, HRW said.
“The strike, which also killed three Islamist fighters, violated laws-of-war prohibitions against indiscriminate attacks and might amount to a war crime,” it added.
Niger’s military leaders, who came to power in a 2023 coup, have struggled to contain jihadist groups in Tillaberi, despite maintaining a large army presence in the region.
The Daesh group claimed an attack that targeted Niamey airport last month.
Niger is plagued by jihadist violence in the western Tillaberi region, a flashpoint zone where the country’s borders converge with that of its allies Burkina Faso and Mali.
Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group have made the region a fiefdom, carrying out deadly attacks for nearly a decade.
“An apparent Nigerien military drone strike killed at least 17 civilians, including four children, and injured at least 13 others at a crowded market” on January 6, HRW said in a statement.
Three Islamist fighters were also killed in the strike, it said.
It took place in the village of Kokoloko in the Tillaberi region, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the capital, Niamey, and less than three kilometers from the border with Burkina Faso, HRW said.
Witnesses spoke of having seen a drone flying over the village twice during the morning and then drop munition on it when hundreds of people were in the market, HRW said.
“The strike, which also killed three Islamist fighters, violated laws-of-war prohibitions against indiscriminate attacks and might amount to a war crime,” it added.
Niger’s military leaders, who came to power in a 2023 coup, have struggled to contain jihadist groups in Tillaberi, despite maintaining a large army presence in the region.
The Daesh group claimed an attack that targeted Niamey airport last month.
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