Foreign

Clashes:Trump Marshals National Guard to LA

By Web News 127

US President Donald Trump has ordered 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to deal with unrest over raids on undocumented migrants.

Trump said the federal government would “step in and solve the problem”, after the Californian city saw a second day of clashes between protesters and federal agents.

Tear gas was used to disperse crowds as residents of the predominantly Latino Paramount district clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents earlier in the day.

As many as 118 arrests were made in LA this week as a result of ICE operations, including 44 on Friday. California Governor Gavin Newsom has condemned the raids as “cruel”.

Trump thanked the National Guard for a “job well done” in Los Angeles late on Saturday night. Despite this, the troops did not appear to have arrived in the city.

Early on Sunday the New York Times website quoted a federal official as saying that the force would arrive within 24 hours.

Trump criticized the city’s Democratic governor and mayor in a post on his Truth Social platform, calling them “incompetent”. He also said protesters would no longer be allowed to wear masks.

Newsom said the federal government’s takeover of the National Guard was “purposefully inflammatory” and would “only escalate tensions”.

The National Guard is usually called by a state’s governor, but Trump has used a provision that allows him to take control himself, Newsom’s office told the AP news agency.

Trump had earlier hit out at the governor on social media, saying that if he and LA Mayor Karen Bass could not do their jobs, “then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

BBC/Adebukola Aluko

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Foreign

Shoot Out in Guinea-Bissau as National Guard Frees Detained Minister

By Web News 365

Heavy gunfire was reported in Guinea-Bissau’s capital on Friday morning hours after some National Guard soldiers went to free a detained minister and a senior state official.

Members of the National Guard took the officials before seeking refuge in barracks south of the capital.

Special Forces then intervened after attempts to negotiate failed, resulting in an exchange of gunfire.

Calm is said to have been restored later.

The finance minister, Souleiman Seidi, and the secretary of state for the treasury, Antonio Monteiro, had been detained amid investigations into the alleged irregular withdrawal of $10m (£8m) of state funds.

They were questioned on Thursday afternoon by an anti-corruption inquiry to clarify the payments to 11 companies.

In a parliamentary session on Monday, the leader of the country’s main opposition party alleged that the owners of the companies were close to leaders of the country’s governing coalition.

Mr Seidi defended the payments as legal.

On Thursday after the questioning, Mr Seidi and Mr Monteiro were arrested and detained so as not to jeopardise the investigations, local media said.

National Guard soldiers later in the evening invaded the police cells, located near Bandim market, “with AK-47 weapons and bazookas” and extricated the detained officials, the privately owned O Democrata news outlet reported.

It said the National Guard took them to an unknown location.

President Umaro Sissoco Embalo is currently out of the country, attending the UN’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

On Friday morning, regional stabilization forces deployed by the regional West African bloc Ecowas were seen patrolling the streets, the AFP news agency reported.

Guinea-Bissau has suffered a series of coups and attempted coups since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974.

In February last year, the president said he survived a coup attempt after being under heavy gunfire for five hours – in an incident in which 11 people died.

Without providing details, he said the attack was linked to drug trafficking in the country.

Some however doubted the official version of the events, amid questions including who was really behind the attempt, how many people were involved and who was in command.

BBC/Adebukola Aluko

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