Africa

27, June 2016

Amid pressure from the US, Presidents Sassou Nguesso and Kabila hold talks ⁰

Denis Sassou Nguesso, Head of State of Congo – Brazzaville and Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo held secret talks today in Oyo, a town in the department of Cuvette in Congo Brazzaville, Cameroon Concord News has learned. The two dictators reportedly addressed issues related to political developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in view of the conduct of the presidential election scheduled for this year.

Both leaders are under immense political pressure from the United States of America. Denis Sassou Nguesso’s electoral victory is strongly opposed by the Congolese opposition including pressure from the US justice system which has convened Antoinette Sassou, wife of the Congolese president, on Monday in Washington to be heard in an open investigation for unpaid debts of around one billion euros.

President Joseph Kabila close associates have been targeted by US sanctions, the most recent case being that of General Célestin Kanyama, Commissioner General of Police, whose bank accounts have been frozen abroad. The senior official is also forbidden to travel outside the country.

Opponents of President Sassou Nguesso; Makaya Paulin and Jean Marie Michel Mokoko have all been imprisoned. While President Kabila’s former Governor, Moses Katumbi, has been sentenced to 36 months in prison in a land dispute.

Anang Valerian (Cameroon Concord News Group)

25, June 2016

Equatorial Guinea: President Obiang Nguema appoints relatives and two sons as cabinet ministers ⁰

Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has signed a decree on Friday appointing a 30 members cabinet including several relatives and his two sons. After promoting his eldest son to the rank of Vice President of the Republic in charge of Defense and Security, the 73 years old dictator has now made Equatorial Guinea a family affair. Gabriel Obiang Lima Mbega was placed at the head of the strategic Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons.

Two new portfolios were created. The Department of Presidential Security headed by Antonio Mba Nguema Mikue previously defense minister and brother of President Obiang and the Department of Planning headed by Reginaldo Asue Mango, a new comer. Eight new ministers are entering the government for the first time which has three women. President Obiang Nguema came to power in 1979 by a coup and was re-elected last April 24 with 93.7% of votes.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Cameroon Concord News Group)

24, June 2016

Equatorial Guinea: Teodoro Nguema Obiang to succeed the father ⁰

The son of President Obiang Nguema, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue is now the second personality of Equatorial Guinea. He was appointed Vice-President on Wednesday by presidential decree signed by his father. Cameroon Concord News learned that the decision was read over Asango TV antennas on national television.

As the Vice President of the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea, the son of Obiang Nguema is evidently the successor to his father. Political observers see him as the future head of state of the small oil rich Sub Saharan country of less than one million inhabitants.

The 49 years old Vice President is wanted in France over allegations of “ill gotten wealth” which he dubiously acquired from Equatorial Guinea as a businessman.

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News Group)

17, June 2016

Congo Brazzaville: General Mokoko in police drag net ⁰

General Jean- Marie Michel Mokoko, one of the opposition candidates in the March 20, 2016 presidential election in Congo is languishing in police custody in the capital, Brazzaville since June 14, 2016, Reuters reported, citing an announcement from his party.

The former army chief of staff from 1987 to 1993 is being investigated on allegations shown in a video screened in 2007 indicating that he was discussing plans to oust President Denis Sassou Nguesso from power. He had been President Sassou Nguesso’s special adviser on security matters. Reuters reported yesterday that the government had not yet commented on the arrest and detention of General Mokoko in the Police cell.

However, events leading up to the arrest indicate government’s intention to have the judicial proceedings against him accelerated. RFI cited Justice Minister Pierre Mabiala of asking the State Counsel to hasten the proceedings. General Mokoko’s lawyer, Yvan Eric Ibouanga, RFI reported, also confirmed the arrest and detention. He however, did not want to further comment on a judicial file that is still at the preliminary investigation phase.

General Mokoko after the accusations of attempted coup d’Etat in 2007, left Congo and only returned early this year to contest in the race for the presidency. Since the March 2016 presidential election, he had been living under tight security surveillance.

15, June 2016

Gabon: President Ali Bongo’s birth certificate generates another political crisis ⁰

The opposition is working towards a coalition to have incumbent President Ali Bongo disqualified from running for the presidency. Casimir Oyé Mba, the candidate of the National Union (UN) party in the August 27, 2016 presidential election in Gabon is determined to ensure that incumbent President Ali Bongo is disqualified from standing for the second term of office in the election. This is because he claims that Ali Bongo has acquired the Gabonese nationality which in accordance with Article 10 of the Constitution prohibits him from running for the presidency, RI reported.

In an interview over RFI, Sunday, June 12, 2016, Mr Oyé Mba called on all other candidates to form an alliance to ensure that Ali Bongo’s candidature is rejected. Before the interview, he had challenged Ali Bongo, to defend before the two Houses of Parliament (Senate and National Assembly) his multiple birth certificates. He claims that Ali Bongo is not constitutionally qualified to run for the presidency of Gabon. Speaking during a press conference, he said Ali Bongo cannot delegate the powers to any other person to answer questions concerning his birth certificate saga.

In response to the claim by Oyé Mba, President Ali Bongo’s lawyer, Claude Dumont declared that the debate over the President’s birth certificate was over, RFI reported. The lawyer said justice should be allowed to take its course, assuring that the case concerning the civil status of Ali Bongo will be declared baseless and consequently null and void. The lawyer said they were waiting for the opposition to bring proves of their claims.

Cameroon Tribune

7, June 2016

Malawi: Attacks on albinos unprecedented ⁰

Amnesty International has warned that the number of attacks on people with albinism has risen in Malawi, calling on authorities to bring those responsible for the crimes to justice. “The unprecedented wave of brutal attacks against people with albinism has created a climate of terror for this vulnerable group and their families,” Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s director for southern Africa, said on Tuesday.

The body parts of albinos, who lack pigments in their skin, hair and eyes, are sold for witchcraft in North Africa. Their body parts are believed to bring wealth and good luck and are prized in witchcraft for use in charms and magical potions. The report condemned the Malawian authorities for “leaving this population group at the mercy of criminal gangs who hunt them down for their body parts.”

Amnesty said campaigners, police authorities, families and community leaders have all said that the number of attacks have increased recently. According to the report, April was the bloodiest month for such attacks in Malawi, with at least four people murdered, including a child aged under two. The parents of the child have been arrested as suspects. Simeon Mawanza, the lead researcher of the Amnesty report, said children with albinism have been sold by their parents.

Presstv

7, June 2016

Burkina Faso’s General Zida and President Kabore: No longer at ease? ⁰

Burkina Faso’s transition Prime Minister, General Yacouba Isaac Zida risks being sanctioned when he returns to the country from Canada where he has been for some months, RFI reported. President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, who also holds the position of Defence Minister has summoned Isaac Zida back to the country several times in vain.

Without giving Zida an ultimatum, President Kaboré is threatening to consider him as a soldier who has deserted the army in times of peace. The President is likely to take up his responsibilities and implement the regulations in force with regard to indiscipline in the army.

Isaac Zida on the contrary is requesting to be considered as being in health evacuation. The President has refused to accept the plea as a medical file has not been presented to him. RFI cited Mr Kaboré as saying that evacuation abroad for health reasons is done within the framework of the law.

The current stay of Isaac Zida has further complicated issues for him. RFI reported that the ongoing audit of the stewardship as transition presidency and Prime Minister’s Office indicate that there were some financial mismanagement. The authorities want some clarity in the situation. Reports say, the transition Prime Minister besides military sanctions for abandoning his duties may also face justice to answer charges of mismanagement during the transition period.

Cameroon Tribune

6, June 2016

Raila Odinga destabilizing Kenya again!!!!! ⁰

At least two people have lost their lives and six others sustained injuries during clashes between Kenya’s police and protesters demanding the dissolution of the country’s electoral commission prior to next year’s presidential election. The casualties occurred on Monday in the western Kenyan city of Kisumu as police opened fire to disperse protesters during the latest in a series of rallies by opposition groups and their supporters demanding that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) be scrapped for allegedly being biased.

Carrying banners, the protesters who are all Raila Odinga loyalists blocked the roads with burning tires and stones in both Kisumu and the country’s capital of Nairobi, and chanted the slogan “IEBC must go.” “We have confirmed two people shot dead. We are yet to establish the circumstances,” said Dennis Onyango, a spokesman for Kenya’s main opposition group, the Coalitions for Reforms and Democracy (CORD). The Red Cross in the East African country said six protesters suffering from gunshot wounds had been taken to hospital.

Presstv/CIR

2, June 2016

Ivory Coast: Attempted rape of former first lady filmed ⁰

Ivory Coast’s former first lady Simone Gbagbo says she suffered attempted rape while in detention back in 2011, and claims French soldiers deployed in the country also filmed the attempted rape. During the first day of her trial on Tuesday, Simone denied a court’s charges of crimes against humanity during the 2010 wave of violence, saying, “Mr. Chairman, I have been brought before this court for crimes I did not commit. I have been accused of things that are not established as facts, alluding to my direct involvement in the violence.”

“Personally, I arrived at the Golf hotel (Ouattara’s headquarters) with my buttocks exposed, naked, and I suffered several attempts to rape me in broad daylight … and all this in the presence of French soldiers who were filming this,” she said. According to the prosecution, the wife of former president Laurent Gbagbo was part of a small group of party officials from Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) that organized violence and rights abuses against supporters of her husband’s presidential rival — Alassane Ouattara — in an attempt to keep him in power. She also faces allegations of crimes against prisoners of war, crimes against the civilian population and crimes against humanity.

“The FPI put in place a crisis cell in January 2011 that met at the presidential residence and constituted the organ charged with planning and organizing the repression,” an indictment read in the court stated. The trial is the West African country’s first for crimes against humanity and is being held in a domestic court after the government rejected her extradition to the International Criminal Court (ICC), claiming that the Ivorian justice system is now capable of judging her. However, her lawyers did not immediately enter a plea on Tuesday and challenged the court’s jurisdiction for several hours, noting that Simone could not be prosecuted for “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes” committed in 2011 because these charges had not been included in Ivory Coast’s penal code since March 2015.

But prosecutors hit back at the criticism on Wednesday with Abidjan’s chief prosecutor, Aly Yeo, saying, “The trial that began yesterday will be a fair trial that will respect the rights of the defense, a transparent trial.” During the court session, Ivory Coast’s “Iron Lady” also claimed that Ouattara, now president of Ivory Coast, instigated the bloodshed. “The post-election crisis was born from the refusal of Alassane Ouattara, with the help of French authorities, to respect the constitution of Ivory Coast,” she claimed.

More than 3,000 people were killed in the post-poll civil war that broke out when Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Ouattara in the November 2010 run-off election. The violence petered out when troops stormed the bunker where the Gbagbo couple had taken refuge in the country’s main city, Abidjan, and arrested the two.

Simone Gbagbo is currently serving a 20-year sentence which was handed to her last year for charges on “endangering state security” — a sentence that was upheld on appeal this month — and Laurent Gbagbo is facing trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges linked to the conflict.

Culled from Presstv