A court in Benin on Friday handed a top opposition politician a suspended six-month jail term over campaign breaches and banned him from standing for elections for five years, in the latest case targeting rivals of President Patrice Talon.

Former prime minister Lionel Zinsou, who lives in France, was found guilty of using false documents and “exceeding” spending limits in his 2016 bid for the West African nation’s presidency, judicial sources told AFP.

Critics say the latest ruling is part of a concerted crackdown by former business magnate Talon that has driven key opponents into exile.

Multi-millionaire Sebastien Ajavon, who has voiced his ambitions for the top job, was sentenced in absentia to 20 years for drug trafficking in October.

Former president Thomas Boni Yayi left Benin in June, ostensibly for medical treatment, after being kept under de-facto house arrest after he criticised one-sided parliamentary elections that sparked bloody street protests.

– ‘Repression’ –

Talon, who made his fortune in cotton, came to power in 2016 on a modernising platform as he vowed to stamp out corruption and mismanagement in a country that has a reputation as one of the region’s most stable democracies.

Zinsou, who also holds French citizenship, came second to Talon in the 2016 presidential race but has remained in Paris in the face of his legal problems.

Protests rocked Benin following the parliamentary vote in April that saw parties allied to Talon win all the seats as opposition groups were effectively banned.

Amnesty International said post-election “repression reached disturbing levels” after four people were killed during the demonstrations.

In late July the ministry of justice released a list of “wanted” suspects, including a string of political figures it accused of evading justice in the country.

The minister signed a decree stopping authorities from issuing identification documents for anyone who did not answer police summons, in a move seen as targeting Talon’s opponents abroad.

Vincent Foly, the editor-in-chief of La Nouvelle Tribune that was shut down last year, said it was a sign that Talon was looking to tighten his grip over the country.

“He makes decisions that are seemingly unimportant but actually target opponents,” Foly told AFP.

Foly said the hardening stance had come as a surprise as initially Talon advocated to reduce the presidential mandate to a maximum of one term.

But now he said there “is no longer a shadow of a doubt” that the head of state wants to stand for re-election in 2021.

“He has realised that five years is not enough,” said Foly.

AFP

A South African watchdog on Friday said President Cyril Ramaphosa “deliberately misled” Parliament about a campaign contribution, a setback for a leader who has vowed to address sprawling graft allegations that forced his predecessor from office.

The report was released as that former president, Jacob Zuma, abandoned his testimony to a high-profile state commission probing wide-ranging allegations of graft in government and state-owned companies. Zuma, who denies the allegations against him, asserted he was being treated unfairly. But a deal was quickly reached for him to return at some point in the future.

The outcry over years of alleged corruption during Zuma’s stay in office has shaken both the economy of South Africa, the most developed in sub-Saharan Africa, and public support for the ruling African National Congress. The party has been in power since the end of the harsh system of racial segregation known as apartheid 25 years ago.

Now the ANC faces an internal struggle between allies of Ramaphosa and Zuma, who led South Africa from 2009 to 2018 when he resigned under party pressure and was replaced by former deputy Ramaphosa.

The current president has repeatedly vowed to fight corruption and win back public confidence.

Friday’s report by South Africa’s public protector, a constitutionally created office that probes alleged misconduct in state affairs, said Ramaphosa “deliberately misled” lawmakers late last year about a 500,000-rand ($34,000) campaign contribution from the CEO of a local company, Africa Global Operations, formerly Bosasa. The report called on the national director of public prosecutions to investigate further.

In response, a statement posted by Ramaphosa’s office asserted that he was not guilty of the accusations and calls on the public protector to allow the president a hearing.

A political analyst and researcher at the University of the Western Cape, Ralph Mathekga, said Ramaphosa should be careful about how he handles the watchdog’s report, saying it might hurt the president further if he loses at court.

“This report gives a lot of ammunition not only to his detractors within the ANC but to the Economic Freedom Fighters as well, as they will exploit it to take him on,” Mathekga said, referring to a populist opposition party that along with the leading opposition Democratic Alliance had filed complaints alleging wrongdoing.

Separately on Friday, Zuma abruptly cut short his appearance at the state inquiry and his lawyers said the former president would no longer participate. But soon afterward the commission chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, said an agreement had been reached to allow Zuma to return at a later stage.

The commission has no power to prosecute but other authorities could follow up on its findings.

Zuma began his nationally televised testimony this week by calling the graft allegations part of an international intelligence conspiracy that began more than 25 years ago to assassinate his character. On Friday he threatened to expose “spies” if the pressure on him went too far.

Zuma has been questioned about his close relationship with the wealthy Gupta family and allegations that they exerted influence over cabinet appointments and the awarding of lucrative state contracts.

A defiant Zuma told supporters on Friday that he had been the target of many assassination attempts because he has a lot of information about spies who infiltrated the ANC during apartheid. He was once the ANC’s intelligence chief.

“I know a lot about spies, that was my job,” he said. “I have never played around with that information. But if people now want me to uproot them, I will.”

(AP)

About a half dozen African leaders have secured their long-term political futures after tweaking their respective constitutions to allow them remain viable to engage in elective politics.

In the north, Egypt’s Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, down the Sahara Chad’s Idris Deby Itno, on the West African coast Togo’s Faure Gnassingbe.

Cameroon’s Paul Biya shows no signs of slowing down with a seventh consecutive term secured in 2018. Then there is Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Denis Sassou Nguesso of Republic of Congo.

But whiles these long serving “servants” have usually hogged the media headlines with the schemes they employ to amend laws in their favour, there are a number of leaders who have left and others ready to retire.

In January this year, we published an article looking back at African leaders who left officeeither after losing elections or after serving their terms.

In this piece, we look at three leaders ready to leave office when their tenures expire. Mohammed Ould Abdul Aziz (Mauritania), Mahamadou Issoufou (Niger) and Beji Caid Essebsi (Tunisia).

Mohamed Ould Abdul Aziz

Came to office: After a coup d’etat in August 2008
Won elections: Restored democratic order and won two elections in 2009 and 2014 (for final term).
Tenure expires: This year with the swearing in of a successor.
Preferred candidate: Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, the former Minister of Defense.
Best remembered for: A clampdown on opposition bloggers, active participation in the G5 Sahel force.

Oul Abdel Aziz

Beji Caid Essebsi

Came to office: December 2014 after the Arab Spring ousted Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Tenure expires: When next elections are held in November, he is not contesting
Preferred candidate: Neither Beji of his Nidaa Tunis party have named one. His current PM Youssef Chahed is leading a new party, Tahya Tounes.
Best remembered for: Being Tunisia’s first democratically elected president.

“I will say frankly that I do not want to present for a second term because Tunisia has a lot of talents,” Essebsi said at a meeting in April of his party Nidaa Tounes in Monastir.

Tunisia’s president

Mahamadou Issoufou

Came to office: 2011 after overthrow in 2010 of Mamadou Tandja. Won 2011 elections and secure final term in 2016. 
Tenure expires: 2021 when next polls are to be held.
Preferred candidate: Mohamed Bazoum, the Minister of Interior
Best remembered for: Playing key role in migration crisis. Participation in G5 Sahel block and Boko Haram combat.

Niger president

At least four people have been killed across Sudan on the first day of a “civil disobedience” campaign, which was launched in the wake of a deadly crackdown on protesters by the ruling generals.

The Central Committee for Sudanese Doctors said that two people were shot dead in the capital Khartoum, while two others died in a hospital in Omdurman city after being stabbed on Sunday.

Protesters set about building roadblocks in different parts of Khartoum on Sunday morning. But riot police swiftly moved in, firing gunshots in the air before clearing the makeshift barriers.

Several vehicles of the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), blamed for the killings during the recent crackdown, were seen Sunday moving across some parts of the capital, loaded with machine guns.

Public transport was barely functioning and most commercial banks, private companies and markets were shut.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, a key protest group, on Saturday announced a nationwide “civil disobedience” campaign it said would run until Sudan’s ruling generals transfer power to a civilian government. 

“The civil disobedience movement will begin Sunday and end only when a civilian government announces itself in power on state television,” the SPA said in a statement, adding, “Disobedience is a peaceful act capable of bringing to its knees the most powerful weapons arsenal in the world.”

The call by the SPA, which first launched protests against longtime President Omar al-Bashir, came days after a bloody crackdown on protesters crushed hopes for a swift democratic transition.

Meanwhile, the doctors committee linked to demonstrators also blamed the ruling military council and paramilitary forces for the latest deaths. A total of 118 people have been killed since a crackdown was launched in early June to disperse a sit-in protest outside the military headquarters in the Sudanese capital.

The assault on a sit-in outside the army complex was led by the RSF, which has its origins in the notorious Janjaweed militia, accused of abuses in the Darfur conflict between 2003 and 2004.

Middle East Eye quoted a Sudanese military expert as saying this week that the head of Sudan’s ruling military council was given a “green light” by Saudi Arabia and its regional allies to crack down on protesters.  

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates backed the military council in the aftermath of the coup against Bashir by pledging $3 billion in cash and aid to the country.

Source: Presstv

Sudanese military forces have detained leading opposition members after they met with visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was in the capital Khartoum to help end the ongoing political impasse in the country.

Ahmed met representatives of both sides on Friday in a bid to revive talks between Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) and protest groups.

Among those who attended the meeting were opposition leader Mohamed Esmat and a leader of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Ismail Jalab. Security forces arrested both men later on without giving any reason, their aides said Saturday.

“A group of armed men came in vehicles at 3:00 am (1:00 GMT) and took away Ismail Jalab .. without giving any reason,” said Jalab’s aide Rashid Anwar, adding that SPLM-N spokesman Mubarak Ardol was also detained.

“We don’t know where they are being held,” he added.

The meeting came days after the military raided a sit-in protest outside the army headquarters in central Khartoum, killing at least 30 people.

The protesters have been calling on the military rulers to hand over power to a civilian government.

The Sundanese military announced last month that it had unseated President Omar al-Bashir and later imprisoned him. It then set up the TMC to rule the country and promised to hand over after elections.

But protests, under whose pressure Bashir was forced out, have continued in Sudan, with people demanding that more civilians be on the council than military figures during the transition period.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have already announced their support for the transitional military council. They have also expressed support for measures taken by the council following Bashir’s ouster.

A Sudanese military expert told the Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity that Sudan’s military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had even discussed the recent crackdown on the protesters with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

“The breaking up of the sit-in was one of the main points on the agenda that was discussed. Unless he got the green light from his regional allies he would not have been able to commit such a crime,” he said.

The military expert was referring to a recent visit by Burhan to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

Both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have ties with Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, through their participation in the kingdom’s protracted war on Yemen.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had previously pledged to continue supporting the military transition council if Khartoum agrees to keep its forces in Yemen.

Source: Presstv

Inner City Press has asked UNSG Antonio Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric and others, “May 22-5: On Cameroon, what is the SG’s comment if any and action if any at all on for example that Paul Biya’s forces reportedly shot dead 4 month old Martha in Muyuka on 20th May?”

Now Egypt, whose strongman Sisi pals around with UNSG Guterres who has handed investigative Inner City Press‘ long time work space in the UN to a Sisi state media Akhbar al Youm whose retired correspondent Saana Youssef has not asked a question in years is lavishing praise for its business with Paul Biya’s Cameroun: in Cairo, “Cameroon Ambassador in Cairo Mohamadou Labarang commended the strenuous efforts exerted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to realize development in Africa.

The diplomat made the remarks late Monday during a ceremony held at the embassy on the Cameroon national day.   Labarang lauded the efforts exerted by Egypt under Sisi – the current chair of the African Union – to unite the continent and carry out development projects.   Thanks to Sisi, the African free trade agreement will go into effect by the end of May, he said.   He noted that the Egypt-Cameroon ties are excellent at the political level, voicing hope that the two sides would further cooperation in the economic score in the coming period.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for African Affairs Maher el Adawi underlined the depth of ties between Egypt and African countries.   He noted that Sisi ordered all state bodies to further ties with African countries, referring to Sisi’s visits to African states.   He added that Sisi will embark on a tour in eastern and southern African states within the coming few days.” The blathering about business with Biya is just blood money. Inside the UN, Guterres’ Global Censor Alison Smale, now leaving in August, controls a propaganda channel called UN News and a sycophantic press corpse including Sisi’s retiree while mantaining her ghoulish no due process ban on Inner City Press, now in its 322st day.

Source: Inner City Press

Sudan’s junta and protest leaders have ended another round of negotiations without any agreement on the structure of an interim government to rule the country following the ouster of president, Omar al-Bashir, with more talks planned on Monday.

After hours of negotiations through the night, the Transitional Military Council and the Alliance for Freedom and Change failed to finalize the makeup of the interim government that would rule for a transitional period of three years, media reported on Monday.

The ruling military council announced the talks would resume at 9:00 p.m. local time (1900 GMT).

“The structure of the sovereign authority has been discussed,” Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi, spokesman of the military council, told reporters. “It’s agreed to resume negotiations today (Monday) evening… hoping to reach a final deal.”

The Sudanese Professional Association — the group that initially launched the protest campaign against Bashir in December — said Monday that it was in no rush to finalize the deal.

“We are not in a hurry for the crucial victory… whatever be the outcome, it will be a step forward,” it wrote on Twitter without elaborating.

The junta and protest leaders have been at loggerheads on the leadership of the new governing body.

The junta leaders are insisting that the new body be military-led; however, the protest leaders say they are determined to have a majority civilian body led by a civilian.

The country’s new ruling body must be “led by a civilian as its chairman and with a limited military representation,” the Alliance for Freedom and Change representing protesters had said in a statement before the talks.

The existing military council is headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the generals insist that the overall new body be led by the army.

Cleric Mohamed Ali Jazuli said at a protest rally on Saturday in a warning to the military council that, “If you consider handing over power to a certain faction, then we will consider it a coup.”

Before talks were suspended earlier this week, the generals and protest leaders had agreed on several key issues, including a three-year transition period and the creation of a 300-member parliament, with two thirds of lawmakers to come from the protesters’ umbrella group.

But those talks were marred by violence after five protesters and an army major were shot dead near the ongoing sit-in outside the military headquarters in central Khartoum, where thousands have camped out for weeks.

Initially, the protesters had gathered to demand Bashir resign due to the dire economic situation in the country, but they have stayed put after Bashir’s ouster to exert pressure on the junta to step aside.

The protesters had also erected roadblocks on some streets in the capital to put further pressure on the generals during negotiations, but the junta demanded that they be removed and protesters duly took the roadblocks down in recent days.

The protesters, however, said they will put the roadblocks back if the army fails to transfer power to a civilian administration.

Source: Presstv

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress on Saturday marked its weakest victory in national elections in a quarter-century.

In an address to the country, returning President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to those who voted in South Africa’s first election after the end of apartheid 25 years ago.

With all votes counted the ANC received 57.5% of the vote, down from 62% in 2014, the electoral commission said.

It was the worst-ever showing at the polls for the party of the late South African leader Nelson Mandela which has ruled since that 1994 election.

Voter turnout was another low at 65%, reflecting the frustration of many South Africans after corruption scandals around the ANC that led former president Jacob Zuma to resign last year under party pressure.

(Source: AP)

One month after ousting veteran president Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s military rulers show no sign of handing power to a civilian administration and talks with protest leaders remain deadlocked.

Thousands of protesters remain encamped outside army headquarters in central Khartoum, vowing to force the generals to cede power just as they forced Bashir from office.

“We want civilian rule or we will stay here forever,” said protester Iman Hussein, a regular at the sit-in which protesters have kept up since April 6.

Protesters initially gathered at the army complex to seek the generals’ help in ending Bashir’s three decades of iron-fisted rule.

On April 11, the army toppled Bashir in a palace coup replacing him with a military council formed entirely of generals that has shattered protesters’ dreams of a civilian-led transition to democracy.

The deepening economic crisis that fuelled the four months of nationwide protests which led to Bashir’s ouster shows no sign of abating.

Huge queues form daily at ATM machines as the freezing up of the banking system forces consumers to use cash to buy basic goods made ever more expensive by the sliding value of the Sudanese pound.

The generals insist they will not use force to disperse the sit-in which protesters have kept up through the daytime fasts observed by Muslim during the holy month of Ramadan.

The generals have offered several concessions to placate the protesters, including detaining Bashir in Khartoum’s Kober prison, arresting several of his lieutenants and promising to prosecute officers who killed protesters during the demonstrations against the old regime.

– Winner ‘will be us’ –

But when it comes to the protesters’ key demand for a civilian authority to oversee a four-year transition, the military has simply dragged its heels.

“They are pressuring us with time, but we are pressuring them with our presence here,” said protester Hussein.

“One of us has to win in the end, and it will be us.”

Last month, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, which brings together the protest movement and opposition and rebel groups, handed the generals its proposals for a civilian-led transition.

But the generals have expressed “many reservations” over the alliance’s roadmap,

They have singled out its silence on the constitutional position of Islamic sharia law which was the guiding principle of all legislation under Bashir’s rule but is anathema to secular groups like the Sudanese Communist Party and some rebel factions.

The protest movement says the military appears intent on hijacking the revolution and determining its outcome.

Protest leader Khalid Omar Yousef told reporters on Wednesday that the movement was now considering “escalatory measures” like launching a nationwide civil disobedience movement to achieve its demand.

– US pressure –

The generals are under pressure too, with the United States and the African Union calling on them to ensure a smooth transition of power.

In a telephone call with military council chairman General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, backed “the Sudanese people’s aspirations for a free, democratic and prosperous future”.

The State Department said Sullivan encouraged Burhan to reach agreement with the Alliance for Freedom and Change and “move expeditiously toward a civilian-led interim government”.

But the generals have strong support from oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have extended a $3 billion credit line to shore up the Sudanese pound and fund imports of basic goods.

Some members of the protest movement are optimistic however that the generals will ultimately cede power.

“They will hand over executive power to a civilian government if we present a credible, viable form of a civilian government,” opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, the prime minister Bashir overthrew in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, told AFP earlier this month.

“Because they know if ultimately they settle for a military dictatorship, they will be in the same position as Bashir.”

AFP

Days before Algeria’s 82-year-old strongman president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was ousted from power, the country made one last ditch attempt to keep control: it shut down the internet. A few weeks later, 75-year-old Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s rule ended with a picture of mainly female protestors going viral on social media platforms.

If there has been any common threads in the unseating of authoritarian African leaders in the past few months, then it has been age and the internet.

Indeed, the main contenders in Nigeria’s recent general elections were the incumbent Muhammadu Buhari, 76, and Abubacar Atiku, 72. Together with the likes of Cameroon President Paul Biya, Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and a host of other African leaders, they share one thing in common: they are all over 70.

Yet, they are still keen on their presidential ambitions with some even amending constitutional provisions to extend their tenures – sometimes from hospital beds in other countries.

Only five percent of Africans are aged 65 and above, but the political expectation is that this five percent should set the agenda for the 70 percent or so Africans who are under 35 years of age. Already, the average life expectancy across Africa is between 61 and 65 years, which means that all these leaders are, statistically speaking, already living on borrowed time.

If there has been any common threads in the unseating of authoritarian African leaders in the past few months, then it has been age and the internet.

As more technology has become available to an average person in Africa, the continent’s technology challenge has  moved beyond access to harnessing tech innovations to how it can improve performance in areas like education, or health. We need leaders who value and are fluent in these new technologies and their promise.

Countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Mali have some of the lowest human development indices in the world according to the UNDP’s Human Development Indices for 2018. These countries are also ones with some of the highest costs per 1 gigabyte of internet data — at around $10.

Despite these costs, across the continent are real examples of how the internet is changing lives. The mobile economy in 2017 alone added US$150 billion to African economies

But the internet revolution in Africa is encountering a bottleneck: elderly African leaders. And the reality is that these laggards are mostly  born generations before the rise of the internet. It has become obvious that the struggle of Africa’s older leaders to understand technology has had dire consequences for their citizens.

In July 2018, Uganda put a tax on social media and mobile money payments to raise revenue and “control gossip”. Within a day, certain accounts indicated a 60 percent drop in transactions. By December 2018, Uganda had lost 5 million internet users as a direct result of these taxes. The sharp drop in remittances meant that businesses were impacted in areas like agriculture, remittances from urban areas to family and relatives in rural areas as well as  basic e-commerce.

The Global Network Initiative reports that  between 0.4 percent and 1 percent of a country’s daily GDP is lost because of internet shutdowns, or about $6.6 million per 10 million users daily.

On January 15, 2019, Zimbabwe shut down internet connectivity for three days in a bid to quell public protests. According to Netblocks, this shutdown affected an estimated 17 million people and cost the nation’s economy some $17 million dollars.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s greatest asset is its youth. There are 420 million people between 15-35, of which just more than 30 percent are unemployed, according to the African Development Bank. Because the median age of an African today is 19.4 years, leaders should focus on transforming  African economies to become centers of entrepreneurial success.

Dr Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, currently Africa’s youngest leader at 42, believes that strengthening e-commerce and virtual government is more important than running state monopolies. By selling off half of the state-owned Ethio Telecom, he has demonstrated the willingness to open up the telcom sector to innovation.

Of course, it can also be said that younger African leaders are not always best equipped to modernize their nations. Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, 61, has improved e-governance and innovation to the point where his country ranks just behind Mauritius in a World Bank assessment of African business environments. His younger neighbor, the 54-year old Pierre Nkurunziza in Burundi, however still ranks among the lower performers in Africa 14 years in power after gaining power at the age of 40.  Youth itself is not necessary, but a youthful, outward-looking mindset is.

Many African leaders are also aware that the internet can provide the very tools that can threaten their political control.  They will be watching warily the situation in Algeria, where activists have used the internet as part of a campaign to challenge 82-year-old president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been in power for two decades.

One easy way African countries could revitalize their political leadership would be to limit political leaders to the civil service retirement age.

In Nigeria, the presidential contest was declared for Buhari, who at age 76 is 16 years older than the mandatory retirement age for Nigerian civil servants. Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed, on the other hand, would have to work another 13 years to even qualify for early retirement in his country. African voters should ask themselves which type of leader is better equipped to guide their countries into the future.

Source: Inter Press Service