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  1. Catalan separatists plan mass rally for independence from Spain

  • 11 HOURS AGO

Catalonia will be celebrating its national day a year after a failed attempt to declare independence.


A choir performs on stage as the word "freedom", written in Catalan, is projected during an institutional event in Barcelona, on September 10, 2018, on the eve of Catalonia's national day 'Diada'. (AFP)


  1. Catalan separatists will seek to put on a show of strength and unity at celebrations of the region's national day Tuesday, nearly a year after a failed attempt to break away from Spain.
At least 460,000 people have signed up for a Barcelona rally to push for a "Catalan Republic", organisers said, though this would represent a marked fall from last year when a million people marched for separation.
The demonstration will take place on a regional holiday commemorating Barcelona's defeat at the hands of troops loyal to Spain's King Philip V in 1714, and the region's subsequent loss of autonomy.
Since 2012, the holiday has been used by separatists to press for independence.
This year's rally will serve also to gauge the group's strength after a referendum on full autonomy on October 1 last year, and the Catalan parliament's unilateral declaration of independence on October 27, all came to naught.
"Separatists will hit the streets to show they are the most organised political force" in Catalonia, Oriol Bartomeus, a politics professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, said.
Catalan president Quim Torra said the march will mark the start of a "mass mobilisation". Further protests are planned for the anniversary of last year's banned referendum, which was marred by clashes between police and voters.
"Our government has committed to implementing the republic," Torra said in a televised speech on Monday evening.
"This is a nation that feels and wants to be free." 
Greater autonomy offer
Torra wants the central government in Madrid to allow a legally binding independence referendum for the region of 7.5 million people.
Spain's conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy imposed direct rule on partly autonomous Catalonia after last year's unauthorised plebiscite, and called early elections.
Separatist parties retained a majority, though slim, of seats in the regional assembly.
Rajoy's successor, socialist Pedro Sanchez, catapulted to power in June with the support of separatist parties and has taken a softer line on Catalonia.
Sanchez has offered the region a referendum on greater autonomy, but this was rejected by Torra insisting the October 1 "mandate" for full independence be respected.
Show of unity
There are growing divisions in separatist ranks -- between those wanting to provoke a clash with Madrid, and those seeking a more conciliatory approach.
"If a separatist is so naive or stupid to believe he can impose independence on the 50 percent of Catalans who are not (separatists), it's clear that they are mistaken," Joan Tarda, a lawmaker for separatist party ERC in the Spanish parliament, said last week. 
The ERC has a softer approach than its ally in the regional government -- former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont's Together for Catalonia.
Puigdemont was sacked by Madrid after last year's independence declaration, and fled to Belgium.
Separatist leaders in jail or exile over their role in the separatist push, have urged supporters in a joint letter to turn out en masse for Tuesday's rally and not to give in to "provocations from those who seek to divide us".
Thirteen Catalan leaders have been charged with rebellion, which carries a jail term of 25 years.
"The most important message that we must send is to demand the release of political prisoners," referring to jailed separatists, Alex Budoy, a 59-year-old nurse said on Monday evening at a "freedom march" on the eve of the holiday.
Polls show voters have not changed their views much over the past year. 
A closely-watched survey by the Catalan government's Centro d'Estudis d'Opinio in July showed 46.7 percent of Catalans want an independent state, just ahead of 44.9 percent who said they were opposed.
Source: AFP
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NSCIA in talks with Boko Haram for Leah Sharibu’s release —Oloyede Deji Lambo The Secretary-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, on Monday, said the council had reached out to Boko Haram in a bid to negotiate the release of Leah Sharibu, the Christian girl still being held in captivity by the insurgents. Oloyede, who is also the Registrar/Chief Executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, also warned religious leaders in the country to desist from promoting crisis in society, calling for peace and harmony between Christians and Muslims. The NSCIA chief spoke while delivering a lecture titled: “Achieving Peace, Stability and Good Governance in a Multi-ethnic and Multi-religious Society” at The Point Newspaper’s Annual Ramadan Lecture on the premises of Lagos Television, Agindingbi, Ikeja, Lagos. READ ALSO: Riding unholy G-Wagon on Fayose’s bridge in Ado He noted that NSCIA began negotiations with some members of the sect before the recent threat by the Christian Association of Nigeria that there would be religious war if Sharibu should die in the captivity. The insurgents abducted 110 students on February 19 and released them a month later, with the exception of Sharibu and five other students, who died in captivity. Sharibu was reportedly held back for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. Oloyede, however, disclosed that the Muslim body had already reached out to the insurgents and promised to help to secure an amnesty for the members of the sect if they set Sharibu free. He, therefore, described the threats by CAN on the matter as unnecessary, uncalled for and counter-productive to the negotiations for Sharibu’s release. Oloyede said, “The unfortunate abduction of Leah and other girls, both Muslims and Christians, is intensely hurtful to all right-thinking persons. I am aware that the particular case of Leah made the leadership of the NSCIA reach out to all possible channels of reaching the group with a proposal to secure amnesty for the group provided Leah and other girls in captivity are released and the group surrender their arms. This knowledge made the careless threat particularly painful. “The Christian Association of Nigeria recently escalated the state of insecurity with its threat that should Leah Sharibu die in captivity of Boko Haram, there would be a religious war. READ ALSO: Gowon ordered us to treat Biafran soldiers as brothers– Buhari “I am as astonished as the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, who recently expressed shock at the destructive and counter-productive statement. “Boko Haram has never hidden its mission of setting Nigeria ablaze through a religious war. Whose interest was the call to serve? Definitely, not that of the innocent Nigerian lady, Leah Sharibu. Is it fair, religious or Godly to, for the sake of political grandstanding and publicity-seeking, endanger the life of such a precious, principled and promising lady?

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