News

UN Sanctions N’ Korea Over Nuclear Weapons

Published

17 years ago

July 27, 2009

Faced with a fresh refusal by North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme, United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the communist regime has “no friends left” to shield it from United Nations penalties.

“North Korea’s continued pursuit of its nuclear ambitions is sure to elevate tensions on the Korean peninsula and could provoke an arms race in the region,” Clinton told a news conference after conferring with officials from 26 other countries and organisations. She cited near unanimity on fully enforcing the latest U.N. sanctions against North Korea for its repeated nuclear and missile tests.

Clinton said the U.S. will continue to insist that North Korea return to the bargaining table and verifiably dismantle its nuclear programme. At the same time, she held out the prospect of restoring U.S. diplomatic ties to North Korea and other incentives — actions the Obama administration would be willing to consider only if the North Koreans take irreversible steps to denuclearize.

Just before she spoke, a North Korean official declared that six-party talks on denuclearising North Korea was over. And the North Korean Foreign Ministry ridiculed Clinton, saying in a statement that she has “made a spate of vulgar remarks” that “suggest that she is by no means intelligent.”

Before departing for Washington after a weeklong trip to India and Thailand, Clinton offered a somewhat more optimistic message about another trouble spot on the U.S. foreign policy agenda: Myanmar, the military-run southeast Asian nation also known as Burma.

“There is a positive direction that we see with Burma,” she said. She praised Myanmar’s government for committing to enforce the U.N. sanctions against North Korea, calling it important in light of Myanmar’s suspected secret military links to North Korea.

And she suggested Myanmar may have played a role this month in persuading a North Korean cargo ship suspected of carrying weaponry in violation of the sanctions to return home instead of continuing to its destination, which U.S. officials said was probably Myanmar.

Clinton also called on Myanmar to unconditionally release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest.

On North Korea, Clinton stressed a point she has made repeatedly — that a fully nuclear North Korea might compel other countries in Asia to follow suit. She mentioned no names, but Japan and South Korea are thought to be among those that might go nuclear under circumstances in which they felt threatened by the North and less than fully confident of protection under a U.S. nuclear umbrella.

Clinton also said, “I wanted to make very clear that the United States does not seek any kind of offensive action against North Korea.” She said a North Korean delegate at Thursday’s meeting complained of being subjected to U.S. nuclear threats, but she said this showed a disconnect with reality, given that U.S. nuclear weapons were removed from South Korea nearly 20 years ago.

She said the world — including China, which has been North Korea’s most loyal supporter — has made it clear to Pyongyang that it has “no place to go.”

“They have no friends left that will protect them from the international community’s efforts to move toward denuclearization,” she said.

Just moments before she spoke at this southern Thai seaside resort, a spokesman for the North Korean delegation at the Phuket conference said his government will not return to six-party talks with the U.S., Japan, South Korea, China and Russia, citing the “deep-rooted anti-North Korean policy” of the United States.

“The six-party talks are over,” Ri Hung Sik said.

The Phuket forum, known as the Asian Regional Forum and drawing senior officials from 27 nations, is one of the rare instances of U.S. and North Korean diplomats appearing together, although U.S. officials said there was no substantive contact. Clinton told the news conference she was disappointed in what she heard from the North Korean delegate who addressed the conference.

“The question is: Where do we go from here?” she asked.

Her reply, essentially, was that the U.S. and its negotiating partners will not back down from their insistence that North Korea not only resume negotiations but scrap its nuclear program in a verifiable way and return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. And she said the U.N. sanctions will be applied as strictly and fully as possible.

“The bottom line is this: If North Korea intends to engage in international commerce its vessels must conform to terms” of the U.N. sanctions, “or find no port,” she said.

Clinton said the Obama administration would soon send Philip Goldberg, its coordinator for implementing the U.N. sanctions that were approved by the Security Council in June, back to Asia for a new round of consultations on enforcement.

And, in what she called an illustration of U.S. concern about the welfare of North Korea’s people, Clinton said the administration intends to appoint a special envoy to focus on North Korean human rights.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, still smarting from an earlier Clinton comment likening the regime to “small children” demanding attention, released a statement Thursday saying: “We cannot but regard Mrs. Clinton as a funny lady as she likes to utter such rhetoric, unaware of the elementary etiquette in the international community. Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping.”

News

NDLEA Alerts Parents After Uncovering Drugs In Cookies, Gummies

Published

4 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has cautioned parents to closely monitor their children’s craving for cookies and gummies, warning that some of the products may contain illicit substances being smuggled into the country.

In a statement posted yesterday, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said recent seizures by the agency’s officers had revealed attempts by criminal elements to introduce prohibited substances under the guise of everyday snacks.

“As parents, if your kids and young ones always crave for cookies and gummies, you may have to pay a little more attention. There may be more to it than ordinary cookies and gummies,” Babafemi wrote, sharing images of seized packages.

The photos showed colourful pouches of “Cookies Delta 8 Gummies” in flavours such as Hawaiian Rain Pineapple Guava and Thai Mango, labelled as vegan and hemp-derived, alongside the actual gummy products.

The warning comes amid a major interception by the Nigeria Customs Service at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos.

Officers seized two 40-foot containers containing large quantities of cannabis-infused products concealed among legitimate imports such as used vehicles, generators, batteries and fabrics.

The consignment included thousands of Delta-8 cannabis pre-roll cookies, packs of cannabis-infused gummies and other cannabis-infused cookies, with a combined estimated street value of about ?373.8m.

The items were subsequently handed over to the NDLEA.

NDLEA officials described the products, which originated from the United States and were packaged to resemble ordinary vegan snacks with appealing flavours, as an emerging public health threat.

They noted that the attractive packaging could appeal especially to children, students and young people, raising the risk of accidental consumption of concentrated cannabis.

News

RIWAMA, PCRC Join Forces To Curb Illegal Waste Dumping In Rivers

Published

4 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) has announced plans to partner with the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) to strengthen efforts at combating illegal waste dumping and improving environmental sanitation across the state.

The partnership was unveiled during a meeting between officials of RIWAMA and the leadership of the Rivers State chapter of the PCRC in Port Harcourt, recently, where both organisations pledged to work together to restore the Garden City status of the state capital.

In his speech, the Supervisor of Market and Community Sanitation in RIWAMA, Mr. Omereji Ukoha, said the collaboration was in line with the vision of the agency’s Managing Director, Dr. Ibimina Wokoma, and the Board Chairman, Dr. Samuel Nwanosike, to promote a cleaner and healthier environment.

Ukoha described the PCRC as a strategic grassroots partner capable of mobilising communities and driving behavioural change through sustained public enlightenment on proper waste disposal.

He expressed concern over the increasing rate of indiscriminate refuse dumping in parts of Port Harcourt, particularly in New GRA, where blocked drainage channels and illegal shanties have continued to contribute to flooding and environmental degradation.

According to him, the agency is determined to intensify enforcement against environmental offenders, warning that unregistered cart pushers and residents who patronise them would be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the RIWAMA Act, 2014.

The RIWAMA official urged residents to embrace proper waste disposal practices and patronise only government-approved waste operators in order to safeguard public health and protect the environment.

Responding, the Chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee in Rivers State, Dr. Voke Emore, commended RIWAMA for seeking collaboration with the committee in addressing environmental challenges confronting the state.

Emore said the PCRC would deploy its community-based structures across the state to support public sensitisation and encourage residents to comply with environmental sanitation regulations.

He also called on local government councils to play more active roles in waste management, noting that they collect sanitation levies and should complement the efforts of the state government in maintaining a clean environment.

The PCRC chairman described indiscriminate refuse disposal as a serious environmental and public health concern, stressing that sustained collaboration among government agencies, community leaders and residents remained critical to achieving lasting sanitation goals.

Both organisations expressed optimism that the partnership would promote cleaner communities, reduce environmental hazards and strengthen public participation in efforts to ensure a healthier and more sustainable environment for the people of Rivers State.

King Onunwor

News

Police Nab Kidnap Syndicate, Arrest Five In Rivers

Published

4 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The Rivers State Police Command has arrested five suspected members of a kidnapping syndicate allegedly terrorising communities in Oyigbo Local Government Area of the State.

The State Police Command disclosed this in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, ASP Blessing Agabe, in Port Harcourt, recently.

The suspects were arrested during a coordinated operation at Oyigbo, following directives by the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command, CP Olugbenga Adewole Adepoju.

Those arrested were Ezekiel Emmanuel, 44, from Benue State; Chukwuma Mbanefor, 51, from Anambra State; Nicholas Diala, 65, from Imo State; Ndubuisi Uwakwe, 49, from Abia State; and Ifeanyi Nwakwo, 51, from Imo State.

The Command said the arrest represented another significant operational success in its ongoing efforts to dismantle criminal networks operating in the State.

According to the Police, preliminary investigation indicated that the suspects were allegedly involved in kidnapping operations within Rivers State.

The suspects, during interrogation, allegedly confessed to their involvement in kidnapping and further admitted participating in several operations carried out in Kom-Kom, Railway, Obeama and Afam communities.

The Command said investigation was ongoing, with efforts intensified to identify and apprehend other members of the suspected syndicate who may be connected with the criminal activities.

The Police boss said the operation reflected the implementation of operational directives and the intelligence-driven policing strategy of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, psc, NPM.

Adepoju reaffirmed the Command’s determination to sustain aggressive intelligence-led operations against kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery and other violent crimes across Rivers State.

He warned kidnappers and other criminal elements operating in the State that there would be no safe haven for them, stressing that the Command would relentlessly pursue, arrest and ensure that those found culpable were brought to justice.

The Commissioner further assured residents of the Command’s commitment to protecting lives and property, urging members of the public to remain vigilant and cooperate with security agencies in the fight against crime.

He appealed to residents to provide the Police with credible and timely information capable of assisting security operatives in preventing criminal activities and apprehending suspected criminals.

The Command urged members of the public who may have useful information on the activities of the suspected kidnapping syndicate or other criminal elements to contact the Police through its emergency lines, assuring that such information would assist ongoing investigations.

King Onunwor