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Germany, Ukraine push back against US warnings
Germany’s foreign minister warned Saturday against trying to guess or assume Russia’s decisions on Ukraine, toning down the rhetoric after Washington’s fierce warnings of an imminent invasion.
“We do not know yet if an attack has been decided on,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, adding that the “threat against Ukraine is very real”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, attending the same conference, also pushed back against Washington’s dire predictions.
“We do not think that we need to panic,” Zelensky told an audience of top-level officials and security experts from around the world.
US President Joe Biden had said a day earlier that he was “convinced” Russian President Vladimir Putin had “made the decision” to attack Ukraine, sending fears soaring that a major conflict could break out in Europe.
Baerbock made her remarks after hosting a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting on the fringes of the Munich gathering, which has been dominated by the Ukraine crisis this year.
The group of seven most developed nations — including the United States — reaffirmed they were “united” in their support for Ukraine and determined to respond to any violation of its sovereignty, said Baerbock, whose country holds the rotating G7 presidency.
“Pull your troops back, avoid damage to Russia and Ukraine and let us talk,” Baerbock said in an appeal to Putin.
But the message of unity was slightly undermined by Baerbock’s refusal to echo US claims that Russia could invade Ukraine any moment now.
“In crisis situations, the most inappropriate thing to do is to somehow guess or assume,” Baerbock told reporters, after being repeatedly pressed on whether Germany shared Biden’s assessment.
Germany nevertheless urged its nationals to leave Ukraine on Saturday.
Speaking on the main stage in Munich, Zelensky said it was “difficult for me to judge” the US intelligence behind the warnings, but “I trust Ukrainian intelligence, who understand what’s going on along our borders”.
Zelensky also touched on the toll the incessant threat of war was taking on his country, both on people’s mental health and on the economy.
“We need to preserve our stability. We need to keep calm and be adults,” he said.
NATO Jens Stoltenberg, speaking to German broadcaster ARD, stuck more closely to the US line when he described the risk of an attack as “very high”.
“Every indication indicates that Russia is planning a full-fledged attack against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.
Nord Stream 2 spat
Baerbock reiterated in Munich that Russia would face “unprecedented” sanctions should it invade Ukraine, some of which would bring economic pain to the countries imposing them.
That includes potentially halting the not-yet-certified Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, she said, an issue that had previously driven a wedge in transatlantic relations.
The project, backed by Germany’s previous chancellor Angela Merkel, has long irked the US and Germany’s European partners, who believe it will be used as a geopolitical weapon by Putin.
Germany’s early reluctance to explicitly put Nord Stream 2 on the list of possible sanctions exasperated allies, particularly Washington, and raised doubts about Berlin’s resolve in the Ukraine crisis.
New Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Washington earlier this month to reassure President Biden that Germany could be counted on, and made clear that the pipeline would be stopped in case of a Russian attack.
Twelve inmates have escaped from the Federal Correctional Centre in Kotonkarfe, Kogi State, following an early morning jailbreak on Monday.
Confirming the incident, the Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, described it as “unfortunate” and assured the public that the government, in collaboration with security agencies, was taking measures to prevent a recurrence.
According to Fanwo, law enforcement officers have already re-arrested one of the escapees.
“The theory that the inmates escaped through the tower without causing any structural damage raises serious concerns. This calls for a thorough investigation to determine the exact circumstances of the escape, arrest the fleeing inmates, and identify possible saboteurs within the system,” he stated.
The commissioner further disclosed that Governor Usman Ododo has directed security agencies to ensure that such breaches do not happen again.
“We call on the public to report any suspicious individuals in their communities. Anyone found harbouring an escaped inmate will be held accountable,” Fanwo warned.
Reassuring residents, he added: “There is no cause for panic. We encourage citizens to go about their daily activities as normal, knowing that the security of lives and property remains our top priority.”
Authorities have yet to disclose further details about the escapees or ongoing efforts to apprehend them.
The United States has announced the termination of legal status for over 500,000 immigrants, ordering them to leave the country within weeks, as President Donald Trump pushes forward with what he calls the largest deportation campaign in American history.
The sweeping directive, issued on Friday, affects approximately 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who arrived under a programme launched by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, in October 2022 and later expanded in January 2023.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the affected immigrants will lose their legal protections 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register on Tuesday. This means they must leave the United States by 24 April, unless they secure another immigration status permitting them to stay.
Welcome.US, an organisation that supports asylum seekers, has urged those impacted to “immediately” seek legal counsel regarding their options.
A Reversal of Biden’s Immigration Policy
The Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) programme, introduced in January 2023, allowed up to 30,000 migrants per month from these nations to enter the United States for two years. The initiative was designed to offer a “safe and humane” alternative to the dangerous crossings at the US-Mexico border, which had seen a surge in arrivals.
However, the DHS reiterated on Friday that the programme was never meant to provide permanent residency.
“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status, nor does it constitute an admission to the United States,” the agency stated.
Mass Deportations Under Trump
Trump, who has made immigration control a cornerstone of his presidency, has vowed to crack down on migrants—particularly those from Latin America.
Last week, he invoked rare wartime legislation to deport more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, a country that has controversially offered to imprison both migrants and U.S. citizens at a discounted rate.
The latest order signals Trump’s intent to follow through on his hardline immigration policies, raising concerns among human rights advocates about the humanitarian impact of such mass deportations.
Tens of thousands of malnourished Nigerian children face a dire future as lifesaving food supplies are set to run dry, the United Nations Children’s Agency (UNICEF) warned on Friday, attributing the crisis to a funding shortfall exacerbated by U.S. foreign aid cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The agency said that within the next two months, 80,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Nigeria could lose access to vital treatment, while a total of 1.3 million children under five in Nigeria and Ethiopia remain at risk of starvation this year.
“Without new funding, we will run out of our supply chain of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Food by May, and that means that 70,000 children in Ethiopia that depend on this type of treatment cannot be served,” UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director, Kitty Van der Heijden, said in a video press briefing from Abuja. “Interruption to continuous treatment is life-threatening.”
The situation in Nigeria is even more urgent, with UNICEF warning that food supplies for malnourished children could be exhausted as early as the end of this month. Van der Heijden recounted a harrowing experience at a hospital in Maiduguri, where she saw a child so severely malnourished that her skin was peeling off.
U.S. Aid Suspension Escalates Crisis
UNICEF’s funding crisis follows a significant drop in international donor contributions in recent years, compounded by the U.S. government’s decision to halt all foreign aid for 90 days upon Trump’s return to the White House in January.
According to Reuters, the U.S., a major donor to UNICEF, implemented sweeping suspensions on USAID programmes worldwide, disrupting the delivery of essential food and medical aid. The impact has been catastrophic, with global humanitarian efforts thrown into disarray.
“This funding crisis will become a child survival crisis,” Van der Heijden warned, adding that the abrupt nature of the cuts left UNICEF unable to cushion the impact.
Health Services Crippled in Ethiopia
Beyond food shortages, UNICEF highlighted the devastating effects of the funding crunch on health services in Ethiopia. Programmes providing nutrition and malaria care for pregnant women and children have suffered, with 23 mobile health clinics shut down in Afar, leaving only seven operational.
As the crisis unfolds, humanitarian organisations continue to urge global donors to step in and prevent a full-blown catastrophe. Without urgent intervention, tens of thousands of children in Nigeria and Ethiopia may not survive the coming months.
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