id stringlengths 32 32 | url stringlengths 31 1.58k | title stringlengths 0 1.02k | contents stringlengths 92 1.17M |
|---|---|---|---|
35e2afd21157296c1ab87ed1d86628c3 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-55737887 | Quiz of the week: What was Biden's inauguration poem called? | Quiz of the week: What was Biden's inauguration poem called?
It's the weekly news quiz - how closely have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world during the past seven days?
If you cannot see the quiz, follow
this link
.
Try last week's quiz via
this link
.
What information do we collect from this quiz?
Privacy notice
.
|
de7c348450eb25acec9c894664b3a86f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-55756452 | Covid-19: Five days that shaped the outbreak | Covid-19: Five days that shaped the outbreak
A year ago, the Chinese government locked down the city of Wuhan. For weeks beforehand officials had maintained that the outbreak was under control - just a few dozen cases linked to a live animal market. But in fact the virus had been spreading throughout the city and around China.
This is the story of five critical days early in the outbreak.
By 30 December, several people had been admitted to hospitals in the central city of Wuhan, having fallen ill with high fever and pneumonia. The first known case was a man in his 70s who had fallen ill on 1 December. Many of those were connected to a sprawling live animal market, Huanan Seafood Market, and doctors had begun to suspect this wasn't regular pneumonia.
Samples from infected lungs had been sent to genetic sequencing companies to identify the cause of the disease, and preliminary results had indicated a novel coronavirus similar to Sars. The local health authorities and the country's Center for Disease Control (CDC) had already been notified, but nothing had been said to the public.
Although no-one knew it at the time, between 2,300 and 4,000 people were by now likely infected, according to a
recent model by MOBS Lab at Northeastern University in Boston
. The outbreak was also thought to be doubling in size every few days. Epidemiologists say that at this early part of an outbreak, each day and even each hour is critical.
At around 16:00 on 30 December, the head of the Emergency Department at Wuhan Central Hospital was handed the results of a test carried out by sequencing lab Capital Bio Medicals in Beijing.
She went into a cold sweat as she read the report, according to an interview given later to Chinese state media.
At the top were the alarming words: "SARS CORONAVIRUS". She circled them in bright red, and passed it on to colleagues over the Chinese messaging site WeChat.
Within an hour and a half, the grainy image with its large red circle reached a doctor in the hospital's ophthalmology department, Li Wenliang. He shared it with his hundreds-strong university class group, adding the warning, "Don't circulate the message outside this group. Get your family and loved ones to take precautions."
When Sars spread through southern China in late 2002 and 2003, Beijing covered up the outbreak, insisting that everything was under control. This allowed the virus to spread around the world. Beijing's response invoked international criticism and - worryingly for a regime deeply concerned about stability - anger and protests within China. Between 2002 and 2004, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) went on to infect more than 8,000 people and kill almost 800 worldwide.
Over the coming hours, screen shots of Li's message spread widely online. Across China, millions of people began talking about Sars online.
It would turn out that the sequencers made a mistake - this was not Sars, but a new coronavirus very similar to it. But this was a critical moment. News of a possible outbreak had escaped.
The Wuhan Health Commission was already aware that there was something going on in the city's hospitals. That day, officials from the National Health Commission in Beijing arrived, and lung samples were sent to at least five state labs in Wuhan and Beijing to sequence the virus in parallel.
Now, as messages suggesting the possible return of Sars began flying over Chinese social media, the Wuhan Health Commission sent two orders out to hospitals. It instructed them to report all cases direct to the Health Commission, and told them not to make anything public without authorisation.
Within 12 minutes, these orders were leaked online.
It might have taken a couple more days for the online chatter to make the leap from Chinese-speaking social media to the wider world if it wasn't for the efforts of veteran epidemiologist Marjorie Pollack.
The deputy editor of ProMed-mail, an organisation which sends out alerts on disease outbreaks worldwide, received an email from a contact in Taiwan, asking if she knew anything about the chatter online.
Back in February 2003, ProMed had been the first to break the news of Sars. Now, Pollack had deja vu. "My reaction was: 'We're in trouble,'" she told the BBC.
Three hours later, she had finished writing
an emergency post
, requesting more information on the new outbreak. It was sent out to ProMed's approximately 80,000 subscribers at one minute to midnight.
As word began to spread, Professor George F Gao, director general of China's Center for Disease Control [CDC], was receiving offers of help from contacts around the world.
China revamped its infectious disease infrastructure after Sars - and in 2019, Gao had promised that China's vast online surveillance system would be able to prevent another outbreak like it.
But two scientists who contacted Gao say the CDC head did not seem alarmed.
"I sent a really long text to George Gao, offering to send a team out and do anything to support them," Dr Peter Daszak, the president of New York-based infectious diseases research group EcoHealth Alliance, told the BBC. But he says that all he received in reply was a short message wishing him Happy New Year.
Epidemiologist Ian Lipkin of Columbia University in New York was also trying to reach Gao. Just as he was having dinner to ring in the New Year, Gao returned his call. The details Lipkin reveals about their conversation offer new insights into what leading Chinese officials were prepared to say at this critical point.
"He had identified the virus. It was a new coronavirus. And it was not highly transmissible. This didn't really resonate with me because I'd heard that many, many people had been infected," Lipkin told the BBC. "I don't think he was duplicitous, I think he was just wrong."
Lipkin says he thinks Gao should have released the sequences they had already obtained. My view is that you get it out. This is too important to hesitate."
Gao, who refused the BBC's requests for an interview, has told state media that the sequences were released as soon as possible, and that he never said publicly that there was no human-to-human transmission.
That day, the Wuhan Health Commission issued a press release stating that 27 cases of viral pneumonia had been identified, but that there was no clear evidence of human to human transmission.
It would be a further 12 days before China shared the genetic sequences with the international community.
The Chinese government refused multiple interview requests by the BBC. Instead, it gave us detailed statements on China's response, which state that in the fight against Covid-19 China "has always acted with openness, transparency and responsibility, and … in a timely manner."
BBC This World's
54 Days: China and the pandemic
can be seen on BBC Two at 21:00 GMT on Tuesday 26 January, or 23:30 on Monday 1 February (except BBC Two Northern Ireland). Or watch on
BBC iPlayer
.
Part two -
54 Days: America and the Pandemic
- will be on BBC Two on Tuesday 2 February at 21:00.
A BBC/PBS Frontline co-production.
International law stipulates that new infectious disease outbreaks of global concern be reported to the World Health Organization within 24 hours. But on 1 January the WHO still had not had official notification of the outbreak. The previous day, officials there had spotted the ProMed post and reports online, so they contacted China's National Health Commission.
"It was reportable," says Professor Lawrence Gostin, Director of the WHO Collaborating Center on national and global health law at Georgetown University in Washington DC, and a member of the International Health Regulations roster of experts. "The failure to report clearly was a violation of the International Health Regulations."
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist who would become the agency's Covid-19 technical lead, joined the first of many emergency conference calls in the middle of the night on 1 January.
"We had the assumptions initially that it may be a new coronavirus. For us it wasn't a matter of if human to human transmission was happening, it was what is the extent of it and where is that happening."
It was two days before China responded to the WHO. But what they revealed was vague - that there were now 44 cases of viral pneumonia of unknown cause.
China says that it communicated regularly and fully with the WHO from 3 January. But recordings of internal WHO meetings obtained by the Associated Press (AP) news agency some of which were shared with PBS Frontline and the BBC, paint a different picture, revealing the frustration that senior WHO officials felt by the following week.
"'There's been no evidence of human to human transmission' is not good enough. We need to see the data," Mike Ryan WHO's health emergencies programme director is heard saying.
The WHO was legally required to state the information it had been provided by China. Although they suspected human to human transmission, the WHO were not able to confirm this for a further three weeks.
"Those concerns are not something they ever aired publicly. Instead, they basically deferred to China," says AP's Dake Kang. "Ultimately, the impression that the rest of the world got was just what the Chinese authorities wanted. Which is that everything was under control. Which of course it wasn't."
The number of people infected by the virus was doubling in size every few days, and more and more people were turning up at Wuhan's hospitals.
But now - instead of allowing doctors to share their concerns publicly - state media began a campaign that effectively silenced them.
On 2 January, China Central Television ran a story about the doctors who spread the news about an outbreak four days earlier. The doctors, referred to only as "rumour mongers" and "internet users", were brought in for questioning by the Wuhan Public Security Bureau and 'dealt with' 'in accordance with the law'.
One of the doctors was Li Wenliang, the eye doctor whose warning had gone viral. He signed a confession. In February,
the doctor died of Covid-19
.
The Chinese government says that this is not evidence that it was trying to suppress news of the outbreak, and that doctors like Li were being urged not to spread unconfirmed information.
But the impact of this public dressing down was critical. For though it was becoming apparent to doctors that there was, in fact, human-to-human transmission, they were prevented from going public.
A health worker from Li's hospital, Wuhan Central, told us that over the next few days "there were so many people who had a fever. It was out of control. We started to panic. [But] The hospital told us that we were not allowed to speak to anyone."
The Chinese government told us that "it takes a rigorous scientific process to determine if a new virus can be transmitted from person to person".
The authorities would continue to maintain for a further 18 days that there was no human-to-human transmission.
Labs across the country were racing to map the complete genetic sequence of the virus. Among them was a renowned virologist in Shanghai, Professor Zhang Yongzhen who began sequencing on 3 January.
After having worked for two days straight, he obtained a complete sequence. His results revealed a virus that was similar to Sars, and therefore likely transmissible.
On 5 January, Zhang's office wrote to the National Health Commission advising taking precautionary measures in public places.
"On that very day, he was working to try and get information released as soon as possible, so the rest of the world could see what it was and so we could get diagnostics going", says Zhang's research partner, Professor Edward Holmes an evolutionary virologist at the University of Sydney.
But Zhang could not make his findings public. On January 3, the National Health Commission had sent a secret memorandum to labs banning unauthorised scientists from working on the virus and disclosing the information to the public.
"What the notice effectively did," says AP's Dake Kang, "is it silenced individual scientists and laboratories from revealing information about this virus and potentially allowing word of it to leak out to the outside world and alarm people."
None of the labs went public with the genetic sequence of the virus. China continued to maintain it was viral pneumonia with no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission.
It would be six days before it announced that the new virus was a coronavirus, and even then, it did not share any genetic sequences to allow other countries to develop tests and begin tracing the spread of the virus.
Three days later, on 11 January, Zhang decided it was time to put his neck on the line. As he boarded a plane between Beijing and Shanghai, he authorised Holmes to release the sequence.
The decision came at a personal cost - his lab was closed the next day for "rectification" - but his action broke the deadlock. The next day state scientists released the sequences they had obtained. The international scientific community swung into action, and a toolkit for a diagnostic test was publicly available by 13 January.
Despite the evidence from scientists and doctors, China would not confirm there was human-to-human transmission until 20 January.
At the beginning of any emerging disease outbreak, says health law expert Lawrence Gostin, it's always chaotic. "It was always going to be very difficult to control this virus, from day one. But by the time we knew [the international community] it was transmissible human to human, I think the cat was already out the bag, it already spread.
"That was the shot we had, and we lost it."
As Wang Linfa, a bat virologist at Duke-Nus Medical School in Singapore, says: "January 20th is the dividing line, before that the Chinese could have done much better. After that, the rest of the world should be really on high alert and do much better."
|
7fc0e239b1a430396486778589cc2487 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-55905354 | The myth and reality of the super soldier | The myth and reality of the super soldier
Is China trying to make its own version of Captain America? US intelligence has suggested so. But beyond the hype, the possibility of a super soldier is not so outlandish and one that not just China is interested in.
With deep pockets, and a desire to get an edge, the world's militaries have often driven technological innovation, from the state-of-the-art to the humble.
Take duct tape. It was the result of a suggestion from an Illinois ordnance factory worker, who had sons serving in the navy during World War Two.
Worried about soldiers under fire fumbling with the flimsy paper tape then used to seal ammunition boxes, Vesta Stoudt had a solution - a waterproof, cloth tape. She was unable to win the support of her supervisors, but was more successful when she wrote to President Roosevelt, who instructed war producers to turn her idea into reality.
If military necessity can give us better sticky tape, what else might it do?
Announcing a new initiative in 2014, then-President Barack Obama told journalists: "Basically I'm here to announce that we're building Iron Man."
There was laughter, but he was serious: the US military had already begun work on the project - a protective suit, known as the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit. (Talos). A video game-like promotional video showed the wearer bursting in on an enemy cell, bullets ricocheting off the armour.
Iron Man was not to be.
Five years on, the initiative ended,
but makers hope individual components of the suit will have applications elsewhere.
Exoskeletons are just one of the promising technologies militaries are exploring to enhance their soldiers.
Enhancement is nothing new - since ancient times, troops have been bolstered by advancements in weaponry, kit and training.
But today, enhancement could mean much more than merely giving an individual soldier a better gun. It could mean altering the individual soldier.
In 2017, Russia's President Vladimir Putin warned that humanity could soon create something "worse than a nuclear bomb".
"One may imagine that a man can create a man with some given characteristics, not only theoretically but also practically. He can be a genius mathematician, a brilliant musician or a soldier, a man who can fight without fear, compassion, regret or pain."
Last year, the former US Director of National Intelligence (DNI), John Ratcliffe, went further with a blunt accusation against China.
"China has even conducted human testing on members of the People's Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities. There are no ethical boundaries to Beijing's pursuit of power,"
he wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
China called the article a "miscellany of lies".
Asked if the new DNI, Avril Haines, shared her predecessor's assessment, her office said she had not commented, but pointed to statements by her warning of the threat posed by China.
While the Biden administration has jettisoned much of Donald Trump's agenda, tensions with China are likely to remain a feature of US foreign policy.
Having a super soldier in the ranks is a tantalising prospect for militaries - imagine a soldier who could withstand pain, extreme cold or the need to sleep. But as American attempts to build "Iron Man" show, technological restraint can drag ambition down to earth.
A 2019 paper from two US academics said that China's military was "actively exploring"
such techniques as gene editing, exoskeletons and human-machine collaboration. The report was based primarily on comments from Chinese military strategists.
One of the authors, Elsa Kania, was sceptical about Mr Ratcliffe's comments.
"It's important to understand what the Chinese military is discussing and aspiring to actualise, but also to recognise the distance between those ambitions to the reality of where technology is at this moment," said Ms Kania, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
"Even though militaries around the world may have quite a lot of interest in the possibility of super soldiers... at the end of the day, what is feasible within science does impose a constraint on on any actor that is trying to try to push the frontiers."
Mr Ratcliffe was referring to testing on adults. While some characteristics could be altered in adults using gene editing, changing the DNA of embryos would offer one of the most plausible routes to a "super soldier".
Dr Helen O'Neill, a molecular geneticist from University College London, said the question was more about whether scientists would be prepared to use this technology, rather than whether it was possible.
"The technologies - of genome editing and its combination with assisted reproduction - are becoming routine practices in transgenics and agriculture, it's just the combination of the two for human use that is seen as unethical at the moment."
In 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui made a stunning announcement - he had successfully altered the DNA in the embryos of twin girls to prevent them catching HIV.
The development brought outrage. Such gene-editing work is banned in most countries, including China. It is normally restricted to discarded IVF embryos, as long as they are destroyed immediately afterwards and not used to make a baby.
The scientist defended his finding but it landed him in jail for defying government bans.
Many of the interviewees for this article alluded to the He Jiankui case as a key moment in bioethics. Scientists have reported that as well as protecting them from HIV, the treatment brought cognitive enhancements too.
He Jiankui made use of Crispr technology to create the twins, a way of making specific and precise changes to the DNA contained in living cells. Some traits can be removed and others added.
It holds huge promise, potentially being able to treat or even cure inherited diseases. What could it do for the military?
Christophe Galichet, a senior research scientist at the Francis Crick Institute in London, calls Crispr a "revolution".
But, he says, there are limits. He compared it to using find-and-replace on text - you can easily swap precise phrases about, but what works at one point in the text might not make sense in another.
"It's wrong to think that one gene will have one effect," he said. "If you take a gene, you could have an individual with greater muscles or being able to breathe at high altitude. But maybe further down the line the individual will develop cancer."
It is also difficult to isolate some traits - many genes are involved in height, for example. And any traits that are changed will be passed down generations.
Some analysts see China's efforts as a direct response to the US.
A 2017 report in the Guardian
said that a US military agency was investing tens of millions in genetic extinction technology that could wipe out invasive species, something UN experts warned could have military applications.
China and the US are not the only countries seeking an advantage.
France's armed forces have been given approval to develop "enhanced soldiers"
with a report laying out ethical boundaries for the research.
Defence Minister Florence Parly said: "We must face the facts. Not everyone shares our scruples and we must be prepared for whatever the future holds."
Even if scientists could safely improve an individual's attributes, the application in the military field raises its own issues.
For example, would an individual soldier be freely able to consent to a potentially risky treatment within the command structure of the military? Both China and Russia are reported to have tested Covid vaccines on their troops.
"The military doesn't exist to promote the interests of the soldier, it exists to gain a strategic advantage or win a war," said Prof Julian Savulescu, an expert in ethics at Oxford University.
"There are limits on the risks that you can impose on soldiers but they're higher than those imposed on normal society."
Prof Savulescu says that, for anyone, it is important to weigh the risks of an enhancement against the benefits.
"But of course," he added, "the equation is different in the military. Individual beings will bear the risks but often not benefit."
Read more here:
Soldiers are put in life-or-death situations, and it might be thought that enhancement should be welcomed if it ensured their survival.
But Prof Patrick Lin, a philosopher at California Polytechnic State University, said it was not so simple.
"Military enhancements means experimenting and putting at risk your own citizens, so it's unclear how better protected enhanced soldiers might be. Just the opposite, they could be sent on more dangerous missions or take more chances that the unenhanced would not."
Captain America may not yet be around the corner, but there is always the possibility of a surprise development.
"It is difficult to exercise any ethical control or democratic control over how things evolve in the military because, by nature, it involves secrecy and privacy to protect the national interest," said Prof Savulescu.
"So, it's a tough ethical one. It's hard enough these days in science or medicine, where things are reasonably open."
As for what could, or should, be done to regulate the field, Prof Lin said "a key challenge is that nearly all of this is dual-use research. For instance, exoskeleton research was first aimed at helping or curing people of medical conditions, such as to help paralysed patients walk again."
"But this therapeutic use can be easily weaponised, and it's not obvious how to prevent that from happening which means it's not obvious how to regulate it, without overly broad regulation that also frustrates therapeutic research."
According to Dr O'Neill, China has already forged ahead in genetic research, and other countries have put themselves at a disadvantage.
"I think we've wasted time in ethical arguments, rather than focusing on the reality of the here and the now," she said.
"Far too much energy is spent on speculation and dystopia, and much more energy should be spent on real risks and applying the technology so that we understand it better, because it will be done elsewhere and is being done elsewhere. And it's only through continued research that we will understand where it may go wrong."
|
71ad7dc1bdae963c9936ef63f1d249ea | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-56085733 | Texas weather: Are frozen wind turbines to blame for power cuts? | Texas weather: Are frozen wind turbines to blame for power cuts?
Critics of green energy in the United States have blamed the failure of wind turbines for the power shortages in Texas during the recent freezing conditions there.
"The windmills failed like the silly fashion accessories they are, and people in Texas died," said Fox News's Tucker Carlson.
The power grid was clearly overwhelmed, but to what extent was a loss of wind power to blame?
Texas has promoted the development of wind energy over the past 15 years, and some of these turbines certainly froze in the recent bitingly cold conditions
But so did vital equipment at gas wells and in the nuclear industry.
And these failures in the non-renewable energy sector had a much greater impact.
So although nearly half of Texas's wind-energy capacity was lost at the peak of the freeze, twice as much overall was being lost from other sources.
On average, renewable energy sources - mostly wind - account for about
20% of the state's electricity supply
.
At the height of the freeze last week the state's principal energy supplier, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT),
said the freezing conditions had led to
:
And this, it said, had severely curtailed its ability to satisfy a peak demand of 69GW - a surge even greater than anticipated.
The company's Dan Woodfin said: "It appears that a lot of the generation that has gone offline today has been primarily due to issues on the natural gas system."
The
cold weather also affected
a water system needed to run the South Texas Nuclear Power Station, causing one reactor to shut down. Nuclear provides around 10% of the state's power.
Dr Joshua Rhodes, at the University of Texas at Austin, tweeted: "There is no single resource to blame for this.
"We usually think of peak events happening over a couple of hours. This one is lasting days.
"Wind has been below expected output. But so have other sources."
Turbines can be equipped to deal with freezing temperatures.
"The wind energy industry has almost five decades of experience designing wind turbines to operate in freezing temperatures in harsh climates," says Prof Benjamin K. Sovacool at the University of Sussex.
Turbine blades can be heated, special anti-freeze fluids used, along with better insulation of gearboxes.
The blades themselves can also designed for performance in sub-zero temperatures.
But this only makes economic sense in places that regularly experience extreme conditions, such as in Alaska, Canada and northern Europe.
"Operators [in Texas] didn't invest in the usual weatherization or ice protection techniques says Prof Sovacool "because generally they didn't expect it to become so cold,"
Texas is the only state in the US with an independent power grid.
In normal times, this works fine because Texas is a large producer of energy and can provide enough for its population and export to other states.
But when its infrastructure is under strain, for example during this latest freeze, it's largely unable to link up with other grids outside Texas to make up the shortfall.
Texas officials have now called for a hearing into the state's grid's ability to cope with extreme weather events.
The debate about renewable energy and the blackouts in Texas has also prompted the sharing of misleading claims online.
One image widely circulating on Twitter and Facebook shows a helicopter de-icing a wind turbine, with some comments suggesting it is in Texas.
"In Texas today... a helicopter, using fossil fuels, spraying de-icer, made with fossil fuels, to de-ice a wind turbine, manufactured using fossil fuels, that is supposed to produce clean energy without using fossil fuels," one Facebook post says.
But the picture actually shows ice being removed from a wind turbine in Sweden, using hot water.
BBC News traced the image back to a 2016 report published by Swedish company Alpine Helicopter, demonstrating "airborne de-icing solutions" for wind turbines.
Reporting by Christopher Giles, Jake Horton and Olga Robinson.
What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch
Read more from Reality Check
|
8872d513a0a1cc3826f47415d24f6883 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10351550 | The battle for Nelson Mandela's legacy | The battle for Nelson Mandela's legacy
While South Africa's political icon Nelson Mandela is set to celebrate his 92nd birthday on Sunday, his relatives and colleagues are becoming increasingly involved in bitter feuds for control of his name because of the political and economic riches it carries.
The disputes are taking place at different levels, involving Mr Mandela's family from his three marriages, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to which he dedicated most of his life, the various foundations and charities he set up after his retirement in 1999, as well as political comrades and business associates with whom he forged relations over many years.
"It's nasty. People are fighting while he is still alive," says the South African author and newspaper columnist Fred Khumalo.
The most recent controversy was over Mr Mandela's appearance at the football World Cup.
In the build-up to the tournament, the ANC government's Sports Minister, Makhenkesi Stofile, and Mr Mandela's grandson, Mandla Mandela, both claimed to speak on behalf of the former president, and gave contradictory accounts of his wishes.
Mr Stofile said Mr Mandela had "demanded" to appear at the opening, while Mandla said he had indicated he would "prefer to be at home".
And Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the anti-apartheid icon's second wife who he divorced after his release from jail, entered the fray at a pre-World Cup rally in Johannesburg.
Claiming to carry a message on behalf of "Tata" [father], she told the crowd that he wanted the trophy to stay in Africa, indicating the extent to which she was prepared to associate herself with his name, despite the acrimonious personal and political fallout they had at the time of their divorce.
In the end, Mr Mandela did not attend the opening ceremony because of the death of his great-grandchild in a car accident, but was there - according to the Nelson Mandela Foundation which is officially in charge of his itinerary - "in spirit".
Mr Mandela appeared briefly at the closing ceremony, with his current wife, Graca Machel, helping him raise his hand to wave at the crowd - a clear sign of how frail he has become.
Hinting that the issue had again ignited controversy, Mandla said Mr Mandela had attended under "extreme pressure", putting the blame on the world football governing body Fifa.
It echoed the dispute over Mr Mandela's role in last year's hard-fought general election.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation ruled out Mr Mandela taking part in the campaign, but lost the battle when he attended the final ANC rally to give his backing to the party's controversial presidential candidate, Jacob Zuma.
Taking a swipe at the foundation at the time, Mandla said: "As a family, we are united in that the legacy of Madiba [Mandela] belongs to his family first and to the ANC."
New to the political stage, Mandla has become influential since his appointment as a traditional chief in Mr Mandela's birthplace, the village of Mvezo, and his elevation to parliament in last year's election.
"In my veins runs the blood of the Mandelas which has been around for centuries," he once boasted.
Mr Khumalo has doubts about Mandla's rise to prominence, pointing out that as early as 2008, Snuki Zikalala, the former head of news at the South African Broadcasting Corporation, told the Sunday World newspaper that the public broadcaster had paid Mandla 3m rand ( $395,000, £257,000) for rights to cover Mr Mandela's funeral - an allegation Mandla strongly denied.
"It's as though the Mandela name is a licence to make money," says Mr Khumalo.
Mandla was also involved in a bitter feud with the Nelson Mandela Museum over plans to protect Mr Mandela's birthplace as a heritage site and accused it - along with the Mandela Aids project, 46664, named after his prison number - of "benefiting and profiting from my grandfather's name".
"They give nothing to his people… Mandela's people are dying here [in Mvezo] from Aids, yet 46664 have done nothing here," he said in an interview with South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper.
But he is only one of several Mandelas claiming to be the true custodian of the anti-apartheid icon's legacy.
When Mr Mandela's 90th birthday was celebrated two years ago, most of his children boycotted an event held at his homestead in Qunu in the Eastern Cape because of differences over the celebrations, despite a plea from Mr Mandela and Mandla.
"We do not approve of the vineyard theme," one of the children said in a letter referring to a bottle of wine produced for the occasion with a personalised birthday greeting to Mr Mandela on the label.
"Tata's legacy institutions have taken a decision not to have Tata's image associated with tobacco products, alcohol or drugs," the letter said.
With his name a global brand worth millions of dollars, Mr Mandela has also been involved in a long-running dispute with his former lawyer Ismail Ayob, who acted for him when he was in jail on Robben Island, and businessman Ross Calder over the sale of artwork bearing his signature.
Mr Mandela has been trying to prevent them from selling the artwork and demanded they account for large sums of money collected through sales.
When the row first erupted, Mr Ayob's son, Zayd Ayob, said that "all the money went to the family".
This appeared to be a reference to the Mandela Trust, a private fund administered by Mr Mandela's children.
Hitting back, Mr Mandela's lawyer George Bizos said: "Mr Mandela's dispute is with Ayob and Calder, and not with his children."
But suspicion lingers that Mr Mandela's family, as well as his political comrades and business associates, will become involved in more acrimonious battles once he dies.
There would be a parallel in this with another globally recognised black civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr, whose family is still fighting for control of his estate more than 40 years after his death.
Last year, South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper reported that Mr Mandela had convened a family meeting to discuss his will.
At the meeting he reportedly suggested that the Nelson Mandela Foundation should inherit a large portion of his estate and the rest should go to his children, Mandla, his grandson, and his current wife, Graca Machel.
But, the newspaper said, no agreement was reached.
It showed Mr Mandela's weakening grip on his affairs.
"He is old now and people are just abusing his name and dragging him to public events," Mr Khumalo says.
|
8f116cca1a92eca9c8b6437d8522a822 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10763605 | Somali pirates sentenced to 10 years in Seychelles | Somali pirates sentenced to 10 years in Seychelles
Eleven Somali pirates have been sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Seychelles for attempting to seize a coastguard boat last December.
The ruling by the Supreme Court in Victoria is the first of its kind in the Indian Ocean nation.
In recent years, pirates have extended their reach further from the shores of East Africa.
A further 29 Somali men are awaiting trial for suspected piracy in the Seychelles.
Warships from around the world are patrolling the Indian Ocean in a bid to deter pirate attacks.
However, pirate suspects are routinely freed because of doubts about where they should face trial.
Eight of the men sentenced were convicted of piracy, and three others of aiding and abetting piracy, for trying to hijack the Topaz patrol boat, a statement from the Seychelles' presidency said.
Four of them were less than 18 years old.
"Their conviction is a historical milestone as it is the first time that a piracy trial is successfully prosecuted in the Seychelles," said the statement.
Last year, Somali pirates carried out more than 200 attacks, including 68 successful hijackings and receiving $50m (£32m) paid out in ransoms, according to unofficial figures - making it the most active year yet.
The Seychelles is the only coastal nation other than Kenya to have signed agreements with the European Union relating to the prosecution of piracy suspects.
It has warned that it has little space to accommodate new convicts, and last week passed a new law to make it easier to transfer detainees back to Somalia.
Last month, a court in the Netherlands jailed five men for piracy in the first such case in Europe.
However, some fear that transferring pirates to Europe for trial could lead to Somalis using that as a route to claim asylum.
|
cf8edf6738b1114dc44eee47e9165e75 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10878424 | Q&A: Charles Taylor on trial | Q&A: Charles Taylor on trial
Liberia's former President Charles Taylor is beginning a 50-year jail sentence on charges of aiding and abetting war crimes during the brutal civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
He is the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an international court since the Nuremburg trials of Nazis after World War II.
|
9b0ec6f3e38e73a0ce835cc28d72ddec | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10908436 | Naomi Campbell said Taylor sent diamond: Mia Farrow | Naomi Campbell said Taylor sent diamond: Mia Farrow
Actress Mia Farrow has testified that model Naomi Campbell said she got a "huge diamond" from men sent by ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor.
Ms Farrow's testimony directly contradicts Ms Campbell's account that she received two or three stones and did not know who sent them.
Linking Mr Taylor to illegal "blood diamonds" is key to the prosecution's case at his war crimes trial in The Hague.
Mr Taylor denies all 11 charges.
He is accused of war crimes during Sierra Leone's civil war, including using the diamonds to fund rebels.
Giving evidence to the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Netherlands last week, Ms Campbell said she was given some "dirty-looking stones" after a dinner hosted by former South African President Nelson Mandela in 1997.
But she said she did not know they were diamonds or who the gift was from.
However, Ms Farrow told the court that when Ms Campbell came down for breakfast the next morning, she began speaking even before she sat down.
"What I remember is Naomi Campbell... said, in effect, 'Oh my god... last night I was awakened by knocking at the door and it was men sent by Charles Taylor and he sent me... a huge diamond'," Ms Farrow said.
Ms Farrow said the suggestion that Mr Taylor sent the gift came directly from Ms Campbell, contradicting Ms Campbell's testimony that she did not know who had sent it.
"And she said that she intended to give the diamond to Nelson Mandela's children's charity."
Ms Campbell last week told the court she had given the stones to Jeremy Ractliffe of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF) the next morning, because she wanted the stones to go to charity.
Mr Ractliffe has now handed the gems to police, and on Sunday they confirmed the stones were real diamonds.
After Ms Farrow, Ms Campbell's former agent, Carole White, is due to testify before the court.
Both women were at the breakfast where Ms Campbell is said to have told them about the late-night gift delivered to her room.
Ms White has told prosecutors that Mr Taylor and Ms Campbell were "mildly flirtatious" throughout the dinner, and that she had heard him promise the model a gift of diamonds.
"It was arranged that he would send some men back with the gift," said the notes of an interview prosecutors had with Ms White in May.
Ms White said Ms Campbell "seemed excited about the diamonds and she kept talking about them".
Mr Taylor, 62, was arrested in 2006 and his trial in The Hague opened in 2007.
The former warlord and president of Liberia is accused of using illegally mined diamonds to secure weapons for Sierra Leone's RUF rebels during the 1991-2001 civil war - a charge he denies.
Prosecutors say that from his seat of power in Liberia, Mr Taylor also trained and commanded the rebels who murdered, raped and maimed Sierra Leone civilians, frequently hacking off their hands and legs.
|
d44dc6e55c8469d88d970228da7d3a1e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12196679 | Obituary: Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali | Obituary: Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali
Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali led Tunisia for 23 years before stepping down in January 2011 amid an unprecedented wave of street protests.
As president, Ben Ali was credited with delivering stability and a measure of economic prosperity, but he received widespread criticism for suppressing political freedoms.
Six months after he was ousted, he and his wife were found guilty in absentia by a Tunisian court for embezzlement and misuse of public funds, and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
In 2012, a separate court sentenced him in absentia to life in jail over the killing of protesters.
Ben Ali was born to a modest family near the city of Sousse in 1936.
After completing his education in France and the US, he rose up the hierarchy in the Tunisian security establishment and served as ambassador to Poland in the early 1980s.
He became prime minister in 1987, shortly before ousting Tunisia's first post-independence ruler, Habib Bourguiba, in a bloodless palace coup. President Bourguiba was declared mentally unfit to rule.
Ben Ali promised a gradual transition towards democracy, though in his first two presidential polls - in 1989 and 1994 - he was elected unopposed.
When multi-party presidential elections were introduced in 1999 they were still one-sided affairs, with Ben Ali winning huge majorities.
The constitution was changed twice so he could continue to serve.
He won his final five-year term in 2009, with his share of the vote dropping just below 90%.
Under Ben Ali's rule, Tunisia saw steady economic growth.
It was praised for a progressive stance on women's rights and for economic reforms. Tunisia's beaches were a top destination for European tourists.
But unemployment among a swelling population of young people remained high, and large sections of the Tunisian interior remained poor.
In the style of many Arab rulers, Ben Ali's face became a constant presence in Tunisia, with giant posters of the president visible in public spaces across the country.
Political protest was not tolerated and human rights groups accused Ben Ali's regime of unfairly arresting and mistreating political dissidents.
Under the surface, there was resentment against the perceived corruption surrounding the ruling elite, some of which was detailed in US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks at the end of 2010.
Ben Ali was married twice with six children. His second wife, Leila Trabelsi, played a prominent role in Tunisian public life and reportedly helped amass huge economic holdings for her extended family.
With no obvious rivals to Ben Ali, there was speculation that he was looking to pass on power to one of his relatives.
In the final days of 2010, a series of protests began in the centre of the country after a young graduate set himself on fire when stopped from selling fruit and vegetables without a licence.
The protests, advertised widely through social media networks, gradually spread.
Ben Ali initially blamed the demonstrations on a fringe of "extremists". But he changed tack on 13 January, expressing deep regrets for the deaths of protesters, pledging to introduce media freedoms, and promising not to stand in 2014.
But his offer of concessions failed to quell the unrest, and the following day, after huge crowds took to the streets of Tunis and clashed with the security forces once again, he fled the country for Saudi Arabia, where he died on 19 September 2019.
Ben Ali's death comes just days after
Tunisia held the second free presidential election
since he was ousted.
It was brought forward after the death in July of the country's first democratically elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi, who took office in 2014.
|
b6a360f0b4d4d7741d2aa2e953f5b280 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12200479 | South Sudan's independence vote ends | South Sudan's independence vote ends
Voting has ended in Sudan in the south's historic independence referendum, with a large turnout for the week-long poll.
The vote is widely expected to see the south choose overwhelmingly for separation from the north.
The referendum was a condition of a 2005 peace deal which ended a 21-year civil war.
Official results of the vote - which was largely peaceful - are not expected until early next month.
Polling stations closed in Sudan at 1800 local time (1500 GMT) on Saturday.
Southern Sudanese Christian Bishop Paul Yugusk played what he called the "final trumpet" on the rule by the mainly Muslim north.
"I chose this day to close it with a trumpet, and this trumpet marking... the end of slavery, domination, and - overall - we are free," the bishop said in the southern capital of Juba.
Turnout was extremely high for the vote, with the referendum commission chairman saying that by the close of polling on Friday some 83% of the registered voters cast their ballots in the south.
Many of those were in the first few days, with giant queues snaking for hundreds of metres around polling stations.
However, in recent days it was a quieter affair, with just a few people trickling in, the BBC's Peter Martell in Juba reports.
About 53% of the eligible voters turned out in the north.
Reports from international observers have been almost universally optimistic, saying that so far the vote has been free and fair.
That has come as massive relief to the south, for whom this vote means so much, our correspondent says.
A senior official from Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party said on Saturday that Khartoum would accept the outcome of the vote even if it meant partition of Africa's largest nation.
|
9c6a4fc5be5b1b0affabe3a66170e79d | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12202283 | Tunis gun battles erupt after Ben Ali aide arrested | Tunis gun battles erupt after Ben Ali aide arrested
Tunisian forces are exchanging fire near the presidential palace with members of deposed President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's guard, reports say.
Witnesses reported heavy gunfire in Carthage, north of the capital Tunis, where the palace is located.
It comes after the ex-head of presidential security, Ali Seriati, was arrested and accused of threatening state security by fomenting violence.
Meanwhile, political leaders are holding talks about a new government.
Interim leader Foued Mebazaa, who until Saturday was the speaker of parliament, has asked Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi to form a government of national unity.
In a national TV address, Mr Ghannouchi said an agreement between the political parties would be announced on Monday. He also pledged "zero tolerance" against anyone threatening the security of the country.
The announcement of Mr Seriati's arrest on Sunday came after the previous day saw widespread violence across Tunisia, including looting, arson and deadly jail riots.
The BBC's Wyre Davies, in Tunis, says that while the Tunisian army does not appear to be interfering in the process of political reform, the motives of some members of the police and security services loyal to the ousted president may be more sinister.
Hours after Mr Seriati's arrest was announced, heavy gunfire erupted near the presidential palace in the Carthage area.
"The army has launched an assault on the palace... where elements of the presidential guard have taken refuge," AFP news agency quoted a Tunisian military source as saying.
An eyewitness quoted by Reuters news agency said: "There is firing from around the presidential palace, intensive and continuous."
There was also gunfire near the interior ministry and the headquarters of an opposition party. Two gunmen firing from a roof near the interior ministry were reportedly shot dead by the security forces.
In another development, a group of Swedish nationals - who were apparently in the country on a wild boar hunting trip - were attacked and badly beaten in Tunis amid reports that foreign nationals were among the presidential guard.
There have also been attacks targeting businesses and buildings connected with the former president and his family.
Residents in some areas have armed themselves with sticks and clubs, forming impromptu militias to protect their homes from looters.
Before the upsurge in violence on Sunday, the interim government had shortened the overnight curfew by four hours.
Curfew hours - which ran from 1700 (1600 GMT) to 0700 (0600 GMT) for two nights - are now between 1800 and 0500.
A state of emergency remains in force and there is very little economic activity. Schools, government offices and most shops are closed.
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has urged Tunisia's new leadership to restore order and adopt broad economic and political reforms.
Mr Ben Ali, who had been in power for 23 years, fled to Saudi Arabia on Friday after a month of mounting protests across the country over unemployment, food price rises and corruption. Dozens of people were killed during this period as police opened fired on demonstrators.
Under the present Tunisian constitution, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.
|
e7f1ab530d9ed572d71d599960dad393 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12692068 | Libya: How the opposing sides are armed | Libya: How the opposing sides are armed
Fighting for control of the Libyan capital Tripoli began on Sunday 21 August when rebel forces entered the city. Forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi are battling rebels in several parts of the city.
The BBC's Jonathan Marcus looks at some of the weaponry available to both sides. Months of NATO air attacks will have destroyed a lot of Gaddafi's weaponry so it is not clear if his forces are still able to use every weapon listed here. Images of rebels fighting with various weapons are more readily available as the world's media has generally had better access to areas under their control. Some of these images are library shots from Libyan military parades.
This is a T55 and the picture illustrates that the rebel forces have some armour at their disposal.
The daubings and slogans are presumably a way of marking this out from a government vehicle. This is a pretty basic weapons system by today's standards but in the Libyan context is still capable. It offers high protection from small arms fire and carries a big gun. Operating and sustaining tanks in the field requires significant training and logistical support.
This looks to be a Type 63 107mm Multi-barrel rocket launcher. It has twelve tubes arranged in three lines of four. It could be of North Korean or Chinese manufacture.
It is among the heavier pieces of equipment used by Colonel Gaddafi's opponents. It is essentially an artillery rocket system firing a high-explosive fragmentation warhead in a barrage or ripple effect reminiscent of the famous "Stalin's Organ" of World War II.
The design is old - they first entered Chinese service during the 1960s - but they are sturdy and serviceable and capable of delivering intensive fire at a range of up to around 8km. They are not especially accurate, more of an area weapon, best used in batteries for mass effect. However most photographic evidence from this conflict shows them being used individually.
The DShK heavy machine gun is a staple of Soviet-bloc forces and those who have purchased their weaponry from such sources.
Also manufactured in China and Pakistan, this is a weapon that can be seen mounted on vehicles (so-called technicals); at the commanders hatch of armoured vehicles, and also as here on ground mounts. It could be effective against helicopters and light vehicles. This is probably one of the main support weapons being used in the current conflict.
This is a multi-barrel heavy machine gun on an anti-aircraft mount. It is one of the principal weapons used in the conflict, which can be seen mounted on wheels or on the back of civilian pick-up type vehicles.
The Libyan military on both sides are using single, two and four-barrel weapons of this type, again typically of Soviet or Chinese manufacture like the ZPU-2 or ZPU-4.
Libya's armed forces operate two types of recoilless rifle. This looks like a US-built 106mm M40A1.
The Libyans also use the much more portable 84mm Swedish Carl Gustav.
It is an old-style anti-armour weapon which tends to make a huge blast on firing thus giving away its position to an enemy.
This looks like a version of the Sagger wire-guided anti-tank missile, said to be the most widely produced anti-armour weapon of all time. Once fired, a thin cable unravels behind it which the operator uses to guide it to its target.
It dates back to the 1960s but was widely used during the Sinai campaign in 1973 when Israeli armour was faced with large numbers of Sagger-equipped Egyptian anti-tank units.
Israel's initial counterattack towards the Suez Canal was halted in its tracks and Israeli tank commanders spoke of coming out of the battle with their tanks festooned with the cables from the Sagger missiles. An effective weapon but the operator needs a cool head and a high degree of proficiency on the small joystick with which he guides the weapon to its target.
This is the sort of weapon that would be used in an infantry squad to augment the fire-power of the individual soldiers.
This one has a small bipod at the front to steady the weapon when fired. Ammunition is belt fed into the gun. It provides a much heavier rate of fire than an assault rifle such as the ubiquitous AK47 but is still light enough for one person to carry.
A very good example of the "technical" - the adapted civilian pick-up truck, often Toyotas - that seem to be a basic weapon in so many African and Middle Eastern conflicts, from Mogadishu to Benghazi.
Essentially the tool of irregular forces and sometimes even gangs, the light vehicles have great mobility and the heavy machine guns, in this case one of Soviet origin, give them some significant fire-power.
But they have absolutely no protection at all. Their greatest benefit is their mobility and the fact that they may be available in significant numbers.
A relatively well-equipped rebel fighter since he looks to have some kind of body armour, helmet and that staple of conflicts the world over, an RPG or rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
This is really the modern-day son of the US bazooka and the German panzerfaust of World War II. It is shoulder-fired and highly portable.
Very effective against armoured carriers and light vehicles, the basic munitions would be hard put to penetrate the main armour of a tank but they can certainly cause damage to tracks, sights and other vulnerable points.
This picture shows a Libyan Sukhoi jet flying over the oil town of Ras Lanuf on 9 March before bombing rebel positions.
The Sukhoi SU-22 is a robust and effective Soviet built ground attack aircraft. The SU-22 is designed to hit ground targets with a variety of weapons; bombs, guided missiles and rockets. It also carries two potent 30mm cannons.
The IISS believes that Libya has up to 45 of these jets though how many are serviceable is uncertain. Analysts have also raised questions about the capabilities of Libyan pilots. There have been numerous reports of planes dropping their bombs well away from their targets. Some suggest this may be deliberate but it also may well reflect poor training and inadequate flying hours to maintain the high-level of proficiency that a fast jet requires.
Air power is certainly Colonel Gaddafi's strongest hand in contrast to the rebels, but experts say that so far it has not proved a decisive factor in the fighting. As discussions continue at NATO on potential military options like a no-fly zone, Nato is already closely monitoring Libyan air operations, both to get a picture of how a no-fly zone might be enforced but also to get a sense of how significant the Gaddafi regime's use of air power really is.
The Libyan Army deploys a large number of Soviet-era battle tanks like the T55, the slightly more modern T62 and the much more capable T72. This photograph is of a T72 which is the most modern tank in the Libyan arsenal.
Tanks are best employed in open warfare where they can manoeuvre effectively. They can be vulnerable in urban areas even to improvised weapons. There have been reports of gas cylinders being used as an incendiary weapon against one government tank.
The very best Libyan tanks - the T72s are likely to be with the elite 32nd Brigade led by one of Colonel Gaddafi's sons. Though, as with so much of Libyan hardware, it's hard to know how much is serviceable. Western experts caution that "elite" in this sense is only a relative term. The 32nd Brigade is better equipped than other Libyan units but its purpose is essentially to protect the regime and its war fighting capabilities are uncertain.
This is a Mi-25/Mi-35, essentially the export version of the Soviet-era Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship. This Russian-built helicopter represents the flying cavalry of the Libyan Air Force.
It carries a crew of two, in a stepped, tandem arrangement, with the weapons operator sitting just ahead of and below the pilot. It is armed with a multi-barreled machine-gun or cannon and it can fire anti-tank missiles and deliver other munitions against ground targets. In addition it can also carry up to eight infantrymen in its rear compartment.
It gives Colonel Gaddafi's forces tactical mobility and relatively heavy mobile fire-power. NATO aircraft found it quite difficult to track and destroy Serbian helicopters during the imposition of "no-fly zones" in the Balkans. While the terrain in Libya is very different, halting all local helicopter flights might be a difficult task for the commanders of any future "no-fly zone".
his is the heavy fire-power of the Libyan Army - a 155mm Palmaria self-propelled howitzer. This is a model specifically built for export by Oto Melara of Italy. So it is a relatively modern weapon very much to NATO standards.
Libya is listed as having around 160 of these long-range guns. Maximum range is some 24 km though it can fire even further with rocket-assisted munitions though it is not clear if the Libyans have this specific ammunition. Maximum rate of fire is six rounds per minute.
This photo is of a parade with the main gun reversed to face the rear of the vehicle. No images of this weapon in action during the current conflict have been seen but it is among the most modern artillery systems available to the Libyan Army.
BMP-1 infantry combat vehicle
A Soviet-designed infantry combat vehicle dating back to the 1960s which, along with the vehicle's crew, can carry eight infantrymen. They are armed with a medium-calibre smooth-bore gun and machine gun and can also fire guided anti-tank missiles.
They are not especially heavily armoured and vulnerable to relatively light anti-armour weapons like the RPG or rocket-propelled grenade.
Libya is listed in the Military Balance of the IISS as having over 1000 BMP-1s though it is not clear how many are serviceable and how they may be distributed between the Gaddafi loyalists and the rebels.
|
227975ac7a9974e0439c77525b5bc7e1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12699183 | Libya: France recognises rebels as government | Libya: France recognises rebels as government
France has become the first country to recognise the Libyan rebel leadership, the National Libyan Council (NLC), as the country's legitimate government.
But other members of the European Union held back, with a spokesman for the EU's foreign affairs chief warning against "rushing" into decisions.
In another development, the Gaddafi government said a captured Dutch helicopter crew was being handed over.
Nato chiefs have also been meeting in Brussels to discuss Libya.
Separately, a search was under way in Libya for a missing reporter for the UK's Guardian newspaper, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad.
The award-winning Iraqi journalist entered the country from Tunisia and was last in touch with the paper through a third party on Sunday, when he was on the outskirts of Zawiya, which saw heavy fighting in recent days.
The office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Paris regarded the NLC as Libya's "legitimate representative".
Mustafa Gheriani, a representative for the rebels in their eastern stronghold of Benghazi, said he expected other EU members to follow suit.
But a spokesman for the EU foreign affairs chief, Baroness Ashton, said: "We cannot unilaterally rush into recognising groups."
The foreign ministers of Italy and Spain emphasised the need for the EU to act with one voice.
"Italy wants a European decision that everyone shares unanimously because that's how we act credibly," Italy's Franco Frattini said.
Spain's Trinidad Jimenez said: "The possibility of this recognition must be the result of agreement among all of the countries of the European Union."
President Sarkozy's decision did find support in the European Parliament where MEPs adopted a resolution calling on the EU as a whole to recognise formally Libya's opposition as the only legitimate authority.
After meeting Nato defence ministers in Brussels, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance planned to move more ships to the Mediterranean but more discussion was needed on a possible no-fly zone.
"We considered... initial options regarding a possible no-fly zone in case Nato were to receive a clear UN mandate," he said.
"Ministers agreed that further planning will be required."
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan leader's most prominent son, said the three-strong crew of a Dutch navy helicopter who were captured on 27 February during a botched evacuation mission near Sirte would be released but their helicopter would stay in Libya.
"Today we are going to hand over the Dutch soldiers to the Maltese and Greeks," he told Reuters news agency on Thursday.
"We told them, don't come back again without our permission. We captured the first Nato soldiers, we are sending them back home. But we are still keeping their helicopter."
Dutch defence and foreign ministry officials could not immediately comment.
Over the past few days, top officials from the Dutch government travelled to the Mediterranean and held secret negotiations with Col Gaddafi's government on freeing the crew, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reports.
The Dutch ambassador to Libya recently visited the crew and reported that they were in good condition.
|
c88808fad85dc3fcc2967b00e6d5ca5d | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12737230 | Niger election: Opposition's Mahamadou Issoufou wins | Niger election: Opposition's Mahamadou Issoufou wins
Niger opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou won Saturday's presidential run-off with nearly 58% of the vote, the election commission has announced.
Mr Issoufou had been defeated in two previous polls by former President Mamadou Tandja, who was ousted by the military a year ago.
The presidential candidate for Mr Tandja's MNSD party, ex-premier Seini Oumarou, received about 42% of ballots.
The election is intended to return Niger to civilian rule.
Social Democratic Party leader Mr Issoufou, 59, was the favourite going into the run-off, having led the first round of voting in January.
The army, which has pledged to step down by April, said before the ballot that it was not backing either candidate.
Mr Tandja spent 10 years in power before being overthrown in a military coup in February last year when he tried to overstay his legal term limit.
The former president is currently in prison facing charges of corruption.
General Salou Djibo, who has led the junta since its largely popular coup, hailed Saturday's peaceful vote as an example to the rest of Africa.
Turnout was about 48%.
Niger, a largely desert nation in West Africa, has reserves of uranium and has attracted billions of dollars of investment.
It remains one of the world's poorest nations, and has witnessed a number of coups since independence from France in 1960.
Al-Qaeda has been blamed for a spate of kidnappings and killings of Westerners in the region in recent years.
|
39bb1693766f389d829332c33079915b | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12756874 | Libya revolt: Gaddafi targets Ajdabiya and Misrata | Libya revolt: Gaddafi targets Ajdabiya and Misrata
Government forces are undertaking a twin-pronged assault on rebel positions in east and west Libya.
Government soldiers have surrounded and made their first ground assault on Ajdabiya - the last town before the main rebel-held city of Benghazi.
Tanks are also pounding the last rebel-controlled city in the west, Misrata.
Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged the UN Security Council to back a draft resolution that would include a military no-fly zone.
In a letter to member states, Mr Sarkozy said Col Muammar Gaddafi had continued his "murderous actions against his people" despite a resolution last month, and that they now had to "assume their responsibilities".
"Let's save the martyred Libyan people together. Time is now counted in days, or even hours. The worst would be for the Arab League's call and the Security Council's decisions to fail because of armed force."
The UK has also expressed its support for the resolution drafted by Lebanon, which authorises member states "to take all necessary measures to enforce compliance" by the Libyan authorities.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, told the BBC in Cairo that the Libyan leader seemed "determined to turn the clock back" and kill as many civilians as possible.
The BBC's Jon Leyne Benghazi says forces loyal to Col Gaddafi have now taken up positions outside Ajdabiya, only 160km (100 miles) away from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, where a million people live.
Tanks, artillery and warplanes have been bombarding the town, but the latest reports are that opposition forces inside are holding out.
Abdul Karim Mohammed, a local doctor, told the AFP news agency that at least 26 people, mostly civilians, had been killed since Tuesday.
Jamal Mansour, a rebel commander, said: "There's heavy fighting around Ajdabiya, they're carrying out a scorched-earth policy."
"There's heavy, sustained tank shelling and earlier there were air strikes, but now the revolutionaries managed to take seven tanks from those dogs and, God willing, we will succeed."
Mr Mansour said the rebels still controlled the roads to Benghazi and Tobruk.
Despite Libyan state television reports on Tuesday that Adjdabiya was "totally controlled and is being cleansed of armed gangs", eyewitness reports suggested that fighting was continuing in the town on Wednesday afternoon,
AP reporters travelling with government forces said charred and bullet-ridden vehicles littered the side of the road from Brega, to the south. They also saw several bodies. Their convoy did not enter Ajdabiya because the commander said there were still "pockets of resistance".
Meanwhile, the
New York Times has said
four of its journalists who were reporting from Ajdabiya have gone missing, saying it had received reports they had been "swept up by Libyan government forces".
Executive editor Bill Keller said he had not been able to confirm the information, adding that Libyan government officials had told him they were attempting to ascertain the whereabouts of the journalists.
In Misrata, Libya's third city, rebels said they had managed to hold off government troops who had attacked with tanks and artillery.
Saadoun al-Misrati, a rebel spokesman, told BBC Arabic that Gaddafi loyalists had been firing artillery and machine-guns at the city's entrances.
He added that the city was in urgent need of medical supplies, but that basic foodstuffs were still available.
Al-Jazeera cited rebels in Misrata as saying 11 people had been killed on Wednesday, while a witness said mosques and homes had been bombed.
There is no independent way of verifying these details.
Our correspondent says the situation in Benghazi is getting more tense by the hour, and the calls for a no-fly zone more desperate.
Jalal al-Gallal of the Transitional National Council said there would be a "massacre" if the international community did not intervene.
"He [Gaddafi] will kill civilians, he will kill dreams, he will destroy us," he told the BBC. "It will be on the international community's conscience."
Countries such as Russia, China and Germany are understood to harbour doubts about military intervention in Libya.
The Arab League has backed the idea but Tuesday's meeting of G8 foreign ministers in Paris failed to do so.
Hillary Clinton said she was confident a decision would be made very soon by the international community to protect the Libyan people. She said authorisation through the UN Security Council was key, and insisted there should be Arab participation and leadership in any action.
"Many different actions are being considered," she added. "Yes, a no-fly zone, but others as well to enable the protection of Libyan citizens against their own leader, who seems determined to turn the clock back and kill as many of them as possible."
Asked about targeted strikes, she said all options were on the table.
One of Col Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, has claimed Benghazi will be recaptured soon even if a no-fly zone is imposed.
"Everything will be over in 48 hours," he told Euronews.
But the government probably does not have the forces yet to launch a frontal assault let alone to take the city in such a short time, correspondents say.
Nevertheless, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
has said it has withdrawn its staff
from Benghazi due to the fighting and moved them to Tobruk, further to the east.
"We are extremely concerned about what will happen to civilians, the sick and wounded, detainees and others who are entitled to protection in times of conflict," said Simon Brooks, head of the ICRC mission in Libya.
Humanitarian activities will still be carried out by the Libyan Red Crescent.
The medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) also
announced earlier on Wednesday
that it was pulling out of Benghazi.
"Conditions have made it effectively impossible for medical teams to travel safely to areas where the fighting has created the greatest needs."
|
0b1276efffe48fd2ab0c3c74918bdfc8 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12840582 | Somalia hostages: Pirates 'show Danes to reporter' | Somalia hostages: Pirates 'show Danes to reporter'
A Danish newspaper says that one of its reporters has met the Danish family being held hostage by Somali pirates and they seem to be well.
An unnamed Ekstra Bladet reporter is said to have been allowed to visit the family of five and their two crew members aboard a hijacked Greek ship.
The pirates are reportedly seeking a $5m (£3.1m) ransom for the hostages who include three children aged 12 to 16.
They were seized on 24 February while sailing in the Indian Ocean.
Jan Quist Johansen is being held along with his wife Birgit Marie Johansen, their sons Rune and Hjalte, and their daughter Naja, along with two adult Danish crew members.
Concern for their safety rose two weeks ago after a botched operation to rescue them by soldiers from Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland.
All seven are said by Ekstra Bladet's reporter to be aboard the MV Dover along with 20 other captives.
They are being held in a small room on the ship, the paper says.
"The father seems exhausted," its reporter writes in the report.
"He seems ill. The rest of the family is tired and angry. Jan and I shook hands and he was clearly glad to see me. The others were told to sit down on the deck behind him.
"One of the crew members never lifted his eyes once. He seemed crushed, demoralised. While I was with them he only looked at the deck. They all want the nightmare to be over as soon as possible."
The pirates would not let their captives talk to him, the reporter added.
Piracy is a highly lucrative trade in Somalia, where gangs can often demand millions of dollars in ransoms.
The EU's anti-piracy naval force said recently that pirates were holding a total of 31 vessels and 688 hostages.
Many of the vessels they target are cargo ships sailing near the Gulf of Aden - one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
|
9f10d28085972e6bbf5c81cb6c1e23e3 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12915894 | Libyan rebels look to compete with Gaddafi through oil | Libyan rebels look to compete with Gaddafi through oil
Since Libya's uprising began in February, the north of the country has become a battlefield and the production of oil - which generated most of the country's income - has slowed dramatically.
In the west, Col Muammar Gaddafi is thought to be using huge reserves of cash, and possibly gold, to pay those fighting to keep him in power.
In the east, rebels trying to topple his regime have appeared weak in comparison, relying on the UN-backed international military mission to make gains.
They want to shore up their position by exporting oil, which would potentially give them billions of dollars to buy supplies and arms, and bolster their credibility as a future government.
The rebels say they are already producing up to 130,000 barrels a day and hope to raise this to 300,000 barrels in coming weeks. They say damage to oil infrastructure has been limited.
But they still face big challenges.
International companies have pulled out staff while retaining rights over the exploitation of oil, the security situation remains unstable, and Libya's oil industry is subject to international sanctions.
Col Gaddafi has framed Western intervention as an oil grab and made overtures to potential buyers in China and India. He has threatened to sue any oil company that does business with the rebels.
The rebels "are ready with the infrastructure, they've got people in the fields, at the terminals, there are a lot of people there who know what they're doing", says John Hamilton, a Libya expert at British risk analysis firm Cross-Border Information.
"But they need the financial structure in place. That's something they're working to put in place but they need international co-operation to achieve."
There are signs that this co-operation may be arriving.
US and UN officials have said sanctions do not apply to rebel oil sales - even though the US listed the rebel-controlled Arabian Gulf Oil Company (Agoco) as one of those targeted.
Qatar has also offered to assist the rebels in selling oil, and may be able to help them avoid difficulties over ownership rights, according to Greg Priddy, an oil analyst with Eurasia Group consultancy.
But Mr Priddy said eastern Libya needed 100,000 barrels of oil a day just for its own use, and it would take some time before rebels could start earning large sums from exports. "It's not something that's going to happen in the next couple of months," he said.
Before the conflict began, Libya was producing 1.6 million barrels a day, accounting for about 2% of world output. Some 70% of the oil comes from the east.
Libya holds Africa's largest crude oil reserves, and its oil, most of which was being sold to Europe, is especially valued because of its light, low-sulphur quality.
The International Energy Agency said that by mid-March, Libyan oil production had "slowed to a trickle", and that exports could be off the market for many months.
With an economy that is heavily dependent on oil, the resumption of oil sales could become more important as the conflict drags on.
"My personal view is that allowing Agoco to trade independently is absolutely essential not only from a strategic but also from a humanitarian point of view, and Libya is in serious need of resources to support the people there and allow life to go on," says Mr Hamilton.
"The east needs to be ready in a sense to come to the aid of the west when Gaddafi goes."
So far, Col Gaddafi has shown no sign of going, but part of the international plan for wearing him down involves cutting him off from assets and cash held abroad and future oil revenues.
This could take time, partly because the Libyan leader is said to have built up a huge reserve of funds that he is now drawing on.
The International Monetary Fund has estimated the value of Libya's gold reserves at $6bn (£4bn). And Ibrahim Dabbashi, the Libyan deputy representative to the UN who has defected to the rebels, says the cash reserves, which would be easier to use for direct payments, are worth "tens of billions".
He says it was widely believed among senior Libyan officials that a stash of this money and gold was moved to the Libyan south in shipping containers during the 1990s.
"Now we know clearly that these amounts are being used for financing the recruitment of mercenaries, for buying armaments, and for financing the war," Mr Dabbashi said.
It is not known how fast Col Gaddafi might be getting through his funds, but he has certainly been displaying new levels of largesse.
Early on in the rebellion his government gave away 500 dinars ($400; £250) to every family, and said it would raise state salaries by up to 150%.
Some loyalists in Tripoli were given as much as 17,000 dinars, a new car and a weapon.
And foreign mercenaries, of whom there are thousands, were reportedly being paid as much as $10,000 to sign on, with a daily wage of up to $1,000.
In one sign that it was under pressure the Libyan central bank has begun recirculating old, large banknotes.
Fuel shortages have also been reported, though Mr Priddy said that as long as Col Gaddafi retained control of the Azzawiya refinery, he was likely to have enough petrol for military operations.
He said that in the east, the rebels should have enough fuel if they could retain control of the country's other big refinery, at Ras Lanuf.
A rebel source in the eastern port of Tobruk confirmed that the rebels had enough fuel, but said they could do with more cash. He said they were negotiating with British officials to take possession of hundreds of millions of Libyan dinars printed in the UK.
With international backing and the prospect of selling oil, the rebels are confident they have the momentum on their side, even if Col Gaddafi is able to hang on in the longer term.
In the shorter term, the main hope remains that the Gaddafi regime will crumble from within.
"It would have to be a combination of the military pressure that's now being exerted and sanctions, and the impact that has on the people around Gaddafi - providing them with incentives and pressuring them to move over to the rebels or desert, or leave the country," says Wolfram Lacher, a Libya expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
"That's the only real scenario in which I can see Gaddafi's demise in the short term."
|
5a4c47cacebe6af3514888a35565e4e0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12915959 | Libya: Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa 'defects to UK' | Libya: Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa 'defects to UK'
Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa is in Britain and "no longer willing" to work for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime, the UK Foreign Office says.
He flew in from Tunisia on a non-commercial flight and was questioned for several hours by British officials.
"He travelled here under his own free will. He has told us he is resigning," said a Foreign Office spokesman.
His apparent defection comes as rebels in Libya are retreating from former strongholds along the eastern coast.
The rebels have now lost the key oil port of Ras Lanuf and the nearby town of Bin Jawad, and are also in full retreat from Brega.
In the west, the rebel-held town of Misrata is still reportedly coming under attack from pro-Gaddafi troops, reports say.
A British Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We can confirm that Moussa Koussa arrived at Farnborough Airport on 30 March from Tunisia.
"He has told us that he is resigning his post. We are discussing this with him and we will release further detail in due course.
"Moussa Koussa is one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi's government and his role was to represent the regime internationally - something that he is no longer willing to do.
"We encourage those around Gaddafi to abandon him and embrace a better future for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that meets the aspirations of the Libyan people."
The Foreign Office in London called on other members of the Libyan government to abandon Colonel Gaddafi.
UK intelligence officials hope that his deep knowledge of the Libyan regime will help bring about its early end, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent Humphrey Hawksley.
Mr Koussa arrived in London on what is believed to have been a British military plane, our correspondent adds.
A senior US administration official, speaking to AFP News agency on condition of anonymity, said: "This is a very significant defection and an indication that people around Gaddafi think the writing's on the wall."
Earlier, British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that five Libyan diplomats were being expelled from the country.
He told MPs that the five, who include the military attache, "could pose a threat" to Britain's security.
The BBC's Ben Brown in the eastern coastal town of Ajdabiya says the rebels simply cannot compete with the discipline and firepower of Col Gaddafi's forces.
He says the current situation is a dramatic about-turn for the rebels who, over the weekend, had seized a string of towns along the coast and seemed to be making good progress with the help of coalition air strikes.
Most reports suggested the rebels had fled back to Ajdabiya, and some witnesses said civilians had begun to flee further east towards the rebel-held city of Benghazi.
Maj Gen Suleiman Mahmoud, the second-in-command for the rebels, told the BBC that rebels forces needed time, patience and help to organise themselves.
"Our problem we need help - communication, radios, we need weapons," he said, adding that the rebels had a strategy but fighters did not always obey orders.
He also said allied liaison officers were working with the rebels to organise raids.
Human Rights Watch has accused Col Gaddafi's forces of laying both anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines during the current conflict after a discovery of what it said were dozens of mines on the eastern outskirts of Ajdabiya.
France and the US say they are sending envoys to Benghazi to meet the interim administration.
And an international conference on Libya in London has agreed to set up a contact group involving Arab governments to co-ordinate help for a post-Gaddafi Libya.
The US and Britain have suggested the UN resolution authorising international action in Libya could also permit the supply of weapons.
This message was reinforced by British Prime Minister David Cameron in Parliament on Wednesday.
"UN [Security Council Resolution] 1973 allows all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas, and our view is this would not necessarily rule out the provision of assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances," he said. "We do not rule it out, but we have not taken the decision to do so."
Meanwhile, US media reports say President Barack Obama has authorised covert support for the Libyan rebels. The CIA and White House have both declined to comment on the reports.
Several thousand people have been killed and thousands wounded since the uprising against Col Gaddafi's rule began more than six weeks ago.
|
eda251ff708da0a3ea5186fd4eb9341a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12944373 | Nigeria's elections postponed over logistical 'chaos' | Nigeria's elections postponed over logistical 'chaos'
Parliamentary elections in Nigeria have been postponed until Monday because of organisational problems, officials say.
The electoral officials - who have apologised for the delay - say ballot papers have not been delivered in time to many polling stations.
The decision is seen as a big blow to the credibility of the electoral body in Africa's most populous country.
Some 73m people have registered for the parliamentary, presidential and gubernatorial polls over two weeks.
Security has been high, with borders closed and only election officials, security forces and emergency personnel allowed to drive on roads during voting.
Earlier, politicians were urged to put a stop to campaign violence.
Amnesty International said at least 20 people had been killed in related attacks and clashes over the last two weeks.
A bomb was thrown into a police station in the city of Bauchi on Friday in an apparent attempt to cause panic. No casualties were reported.
Police in the Niger Delta also said they had arrested two men driving a minibus filled with assault rifles, ammunition and a rocket launcher.
"In order to maintain the integrity of the elections and retain effective overall control of the process, the commission has taken the very difficult but necessary decision to postpone the national assembly elections to Monday," Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) head Attahiru Jega said on Saturday.
"It is an emergency," he added.
It is understood that aircraft were supposed to be flying in ballot papers and accreditation details from overseas but those planes were diverted away from Nigerian airspace, the BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos reports.
There were angry scenes in polling stations across the country as word began spreading that the elections were postponed, our correspondent says.
She adds that the move raises fears among some that Mr Jega's grip on his staff at the election commission is not tight enough, and people will wonder whether the coming elections over the next two weeks will run smoothly.
The voting process had already started with large turnouts reported in cities such as Lagos and Kano before the announcement by Mr Jega.
The elections will be the third nationwide polls in Nigeria since military rule ended in 1999.
The previous votes - in 2003 and 2007 - were marred by allegations of widespread ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and violence.
Security forces were also accused of siding with the People's Democratic Party (PDP), which has dominated politics since the return to civilian rule.
Mr Jega earlier told the BBC that if Nigerians wanted to peacefully defend their votes at the polling stations, that was their right.
And he threatened sanctions against any political leader engaging in violence or vote-rigging, even warning he would resign if necessary.
In the election, 360 seats in the lower house of parliament, the House of Representatives, and 109 in the upper house, the Senate, will be contested. The PDP holds more than three quarters of the seats in both houses.
|
dda2e69b87b031942ebafdc29908eb8e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12973534 | Zambia drops Chinese bosses' mine shooting charges | Zambia drops Chinese bosses' mine shooting charges
The Zambian government has dropped charges against two Chinese managers accused of attempted murder after firing on miners during a pay dispute.
Xiao Li Shan and Wu Jiu Hua said the workers' behaviour, at the Collum coal mine in October, had been threatening. The shooting left at least 11 injured.
China has invested more than $400m (£250m) in the copper-rich country.
But companies have faced regular opposition from workers and union leaders over abuses and low wages.
Mr Xiao and Mr Wu had opened fire indiscriminately on their employees at the mine in Sinazongwe to break up a protest, according to police.
Following the decision to drop the charges, their defence lawyer, George Chisanga, said Zambian law meant the state did not have to give an explanation and the pair could still be called back to court by the director of public prosecutions.
Reuben Lifuka, the president of anti-corruption group Transparency International Zambia, warned the move could damage confidence in Zambia's judicial system.
"The trauma and injustice that the mine workers suffered is public knowledge and the government itself has on several occasion reprimanded the managers of coal mine on the poor working conditions," he said.
|
25350edd792e74cde559a8d89a40fd97 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12997181 | Libyan rebels near Ajdabiya 'killed in Nato air strike' | Libyan rebels near Ajdabiya 'killed in Nato air strike'
Rebels in eastern Libya say their forces have been mistakenly hit in a Nato air raid on a rebel tank position.
Rebels said five died, while doctors in Ajdabiya told the BBC at least 13 rebel fighters had been killed in the strike.
The BBC's Wyre Davies reported chaotic scenes on the outskirts of Ajdabiya, with rebel forces in retreat.
It was the third such incident in recent days involving international forces deployed to protect Libyan civilians.
One rebel commander told the BBC he saw at least four missiles land among rebel fighters.
As well as those killed, many more were injured, he said.
Civilians were said to be fleeing Ajdabiya in their thousands, according to agency reports, after rumours spread that pro-Gaddafi forces were preparing to attack the city.
Meanwhile, a relief ship carrying emergency supplies of food and medicine has arrived in the besieged rebel-held city of Misrata, in western Libya.
The rebels hit in the air strike had been moving a group of tanks, armoured vehicles and rocket launchers near the frontline between the towns of Ajdabiya and Brega in more than 30 transporters.
There is considerable anger among rebel troops at what appears to have been a terrible mistake, our correspondent says.
They are asking why rebel units were hit, he adds, when they could be seen clearly advancing in a westerly direction towards the front line.
"It is unbelievable," said one Benghazi resident. "Nato, with all the equipment they have - is this the second mistake? Is it really a mistake or something arranged secretly?"
Another said: "The allies and the UN Security Council must allow us to be armed. We don't want anything, just to be armed to defend ourselves against this dictator and fascist."
Rebel forces in the area began retreating on Wednesday after heavy bombardment from government forces.
They had been calling for more Nato air strikes in recent days.
Nato said it was investigating the incident, noting that the area where the attack occurred was "unclear and fluid with mechanized weapons travelling in all directions".
"What remains clear is that Nato will continue to uphold the UN mandate and strike forces that can potentially cause harm to the civilian population of Libya," said the alliance in a statement.
Meanwhile, a different rebel spokesman said Thursday's fatal air strike was carried out by pro-government forces rather than by Nato.
"This was not a Nato air-strike; on the contrary, it was conducted by Gaddafi's brigades using SIAI Marchetti SF-260 planes," Col Ahmad Bani told al-Arabiya television.
The alliance took over air operations from a US, French and British coalition a week ago, to enforce a UN mandate to protect civilians in Libya.
Last Friday, at least 13 people were reportedly killed when a coalition plane fired on a rebel convoy between Brega and Ajdabiya.
Three medical students were among the dead.
The attack came after rebels reportedly fired an anti-aircraft gun.
In a separate incident, seven civilians died and 25 were hurt in a coalition air strike on a pro-Gaddafi convoy near Brega.
Further west, in Libya's third-biggest city, Misrata, a ship chartered by the UN World Food Programme delivered hundreds of tonnes of high energy biscuits, flour, and water purification tablets, as well as enough medicine to last 30,000 people for a month.
Misrata has been under attack by Libyan government forces for several weeks, and Libyan rebels have complained it would "cease to exist" within a week unless Nato took action to save it.
Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended his policy in Libya, after criticism by some Libyan rebels that Turkey was trying to keep Col Gaddafi in power and had blocked access to rebel arms supplies.
"We've never had any secret agenda there," said Mr Erdogan. "Our only interest is securing the unity and well-being of Libya".
Mr Erdogan added that Turkey was working on achieving an early ceasefire, and the withdrawal of pro-Gaddafi forces from some cities.
|
bbea6f89bbaee2d02188c40e48d4d02a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13004462 | Did UN forces take sides in Ivory Coast? | Did UN forces take sides in Ivory Coast?
As UN helicopters bombarded the arsenal of Laurent Gbagbo, his spokesman condemned what he called "illegal acts" and "war crimes" aimed at assassinating the entrenched ruler of Ivory Coast.
This was expected criticism from a regime under attack. But there have also been expressions of discontent from other quarters.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, also questioned the legality of the air strikes, suggesting the UN peacekeepers may have overstepped their mandate to be neutral.
The chairman of the African Union declared that foreign military intervention was unjustified.
Having recently demonstrated in Libya an increased willingness to use military force in internal conflicts, the UN has to take such concerns seriously.
In this case, as in Libya, the Security Council says it has a responsibility to protect civilians targeted by parties to the conflict. But the resolution on Ivory Coast adopted last week was unusually specific. It sanctioned "all necessary means... to prevent the use of heavy weapons against the civilian population."
That this led to air strikes on Mr Gbagbo's rocket launchers should not have been a surprise to anyone, says Colin Keating of the UN watchdog Security Council Report.
He says the operation is clearly legal as long as it's protecting civilians and UN peacekeepers already had a mandate to use force to do so.
"The whole purpose of the resolution by its sponsors was not to authorise [force] but to actually encourage its implementation," says Mr Keating
Alain Le Roy, head of UN peacekeeping operations, agreed, stressing the strong political backing of the Council, which adopted the resolution unanimously, and the growing threat from heavy weapons. He said Mr Gbagbo's forces had sharply escalated the shelling of both civilians and the UN in the days leading up to the air strikes.
"If heavy weapons had not been shelling us and civilians in the last three days, we would not have undertaken this operation," he told journalists.
But although the resolution is cast in neutral language, a UN official admitted the effect of the air strikes was to seriously degrade the military capacity of pro-Gbagbo forces, which include the national army.
And the strikes were carried out as fighters loyal to Mr Gbagbo's rival, Alassane Ouattara, launched what they called a "final assault" on the incumbent president's last stronghold in the economic capital of Abidjan.
The Security Council has recognised Mr Ouattara as the winner of disputed elections and slapped sanctions on Mr Gbagbo to try to force him to cede power. But it is jittery about any suggestion that it has joined the fight on Mr Ouattara's side.
During a private Council briefing diplomats said Mr Le Roy was bombarded with questions about reported strikes on the presidential palace, which would clearly be outside the mandate of protecting civilians. The peacekeeping chief assured them the target was heavy weapons in the area, not the palace itself, but the unease remains.
"We support the mandate of protecting innocent lives," said an African diplomat, "but we're worried about whether the resolution is being strictly implemented. It's difficult to say because we don't have clear information in terms of what has been targeted."
The participation of France's military has also muddied the waters for some.
France maintains a 1,600-strong force in Ivory Coast, which is authorised by the Security Council to support the UN mission.
Aware of the sensitivities surrounding its position as the former colonial power, president Nicolas Sarkozy waited for a specific request for help with the air strikes from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and, as in Libya, has emphasised that French military action is strictly to support UN efforts to save lives.
However, it was Mr Sarkozy who first floated the idea of banning heavy weapons in Ivory Coast. This, coupled with the leading role France played in advocating force in Libya, was seen by some as part of a more muscular military policy to bolster his domestic standing in an election year.
Others, such as Phyllis Bennis of the Washington-based think tank International Policy Studies, says the timing of the operation "strengthens the argument that the air strikes are more of a political than a humanitarian intervention," aimed at helping to "re-establish the French presence in Francophone Africa."
She says the interventions in both Libya and Ivory Coast suggest that powerful forces are once again using the UN as an instrument for their own interests, rather than legitimising it as an institution of international law.
Colin Keating disagrees. Both Libya and the Ivory Coast represent a "slight shift not so much in the Council's willingness to act (to prevent atrocities), but more of an unwillingness to be blamed if things go really badly."
This could have been the case in Abidjan, he says, if heavy weapons had been used extensively in a concentrated urban environment.
What is clear is that if the UN continues to sanction military interventions in national conflicts, there will be continuing questions about whether it is acting to protect civilians, or using humanitarian justifications as a smokescreen to force political change.
|
b9c0c50b0f0f6daa6b16858a2390fd7a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13023948 | Egypt: Army crackdown in Cairo's Tahrir Square | Egypt: Army crackdown in Cairo's Tahrir Square
Egypt's army has cracked down on protests in Cairo's symbolic Tahrir Square, leaving at least one person dead and dozens injured.
The violence occurred overnight as the army tried to clear protesters calling for ex-President Hosni Mubarak and his family to be tried for corruption.
The injured suffered gunshot wounds but the army denies using live rounds.
Tahrir Square became the symbolic centre of protests that led to Mr Mubarak stepping down this year.
Egypt's health ministry has so far confirmed that one person died overnight and says 71 people were hurt.
Medical sources told news agencies that at least two people had died.
Protesters have now returned to the square following the army withdrawal and are continuing demonstrations.
In an apparent concession to the protesters the ruling military council announced on Saturday that it would replace a number of provincial governors appointed by Mr Mubarak - another demand of the demonstrators.
However, the army also said it was "ready" to use force to clear the square and allow normal life to resume.
"Tahrir Square will be emptied of protesters with firmness and force to ensure life goes back to normal," Major General Adel Emarah, of the military council, told a news conference.
The army had maintained a generally neutral role in the earlier mass demonstrations.
But about 300 troops moved into the square at about 0300 local time (0100 GMT) on Saturday to break up a camp in the centre.
Protesters say they were beaten with clubs and shots were fired.
An army spokesman told Reuters news agency that only blanks were used.
The military issued a statement blaming "outlaws" for rioting and violating a curfew but said no-one was hurt.
"The armed forces stress that they will not tolerate any acts of rioting or any act that harms the interest of the country and the people," it said.
The military denied any arrests had been made but protesters said several demonstrators had been dragged away into vans.
Three vehicles, two of them military, were set on fire during the unrest.
The protesters were demanding a number of measures, including the resignation of the man who has replaced Mr Mubarak as interim leader, Field Marshal Mohamad Hussein Tantawi.
"Tantawi is Mubarak and Mubarak is Tantawi," they chanted.
The military force finally withdrew and protesters began to reoccupy the square in daylight.
It was filled with broken glass and debris from the clashes.
The violence came after a huge protest in the square on Friday.
Hundreds of thousands demanded the prosecution of Mr Mubarak for corruption.
Mass protests ousted Mr Mubarak on 11 February but many believe the military figures now overseeing political transition are protecting him.
|
da39164bfb281154d7f39296eb1f81ca | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13122520 | Italy chocolate tycoon Pietro Ferrero dies in S Africa | Italy chocolate tycoon Pietro Ferrero dies in S Africa
Italian chocolate tycoon Pietro Ferrero has died in an accident in South Africa, a company spokesman has said.
Mr Ferrero, 48, was on a business trip and died after falling off his bicycle, probably because of an ailment, the company said.
He was joint chief executive - along with his brother - of the Ferrero group, which owns Nutella and Kinder.
His father Michele, Italy's richest man, turned the company into a global giant of the confectionery industry.
Mr Ferrero's grandfather, also Pietro, started the company in 1942 in the northern Italian town of Alba, where the firm is still based.
Because of wartime shortages, chocolate was difficult to obtain. The elder Pietro Ferrero hit upon a recipe which combined cocoa with locally abundant hazelnuts.
That concoction - Nutella spread - became an international success.
In 2009, the company expressed interest in a bid for the UK confectionery group, Cadbury. However, it abandoned the plan and Cadbury was instead taken over by US-based Kraft Foods.
"Italy has lost a businessman who represented the best qualities of our economic history," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in a statement.
Mr Ferrero was also chairman of Ferrero SpA, the Italian branch of the company.
The Ferrero company had an annual turnover of 6.6 billion euros ($9.4 billion) in its 2009-2010 financial year, the AFP news agency reports.
The business is still family-owned.
|
0e5c2a36360be80093549081f700e25a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13176645 | Libya: US confirms first Predator strike | Libya: US confirms first Predator strike
The US military has confirmed the first strike by an unmanned Predator drone aircraft in Libya.
Nato said the drone destroyed a Libyan government multiple rocket launcher near Misrata at approximately 1100GMT.
Drones can hit military targets more easily in urban areas, minimising the risk of civilian casualties.
Earlier, Libya's government warned that tribes loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi might take over the fight against the rebels in the western city of Misrata.
The deputy foreign minister said the Libyan army was being withdrawn and suggested that the tribes would not show the same level of restraint over civilian casualties.
But a rebel military spokesman in Benghazi said Col Gaddafi was "playing games" and would not allow his forces to leave Misrata.
Human rights groups say more than 1,000 people have died there.
Several hours after the Pentagon's announcement confirming the Predator strike, Nato revealed that the target had been a "Gaddafi regime multiple rocket launcher (MRL) in the vicinity of Misrata".
"The MRL system had been used against civilians in Misrata,"
the alliance said in a statement
.
Predators have previously been used in Libya only for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
On Thursday, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said President Barack Obama had approved air strikes in support of the Nato-led mission because that was where the US had "some unique capabilities".
Gen James Cartwright, the vice-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said forces loyal to Col Gaddafi were digging in or "nestling up against crowded areas" to avoid being targeted by Nato warplanes.
The more precise Predators bring "their ability to get down lower and therefore, to be able to get better visibility, particularly on targets that have started to dig themselves into defensive positions," he added.
The BBC's Peter Biles in Benghazi says the first drone attack in Libya could mark the start of a new phase of Nato's air campaign.
It is certainly a further attempt to protect civilians who are under attack from Libyan government forces, our correspondent adds.
Early on Saturday, two missiles apparently fired by Nato aircraft struck a concrete bunker near Col Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said three people were killed by a "very powerful explosion" inside a water storage facility.
However, journalists who were taken to the site reported that it seemed like the bunker was being used for military activities. Smoke was rising from one of the two craters and ammunition crates lay nearby.
Meanwhile, fierce clashes are continuing between rebels and government troops on the outskirts of Misrata, Libya's third largest city.
On Friday, the rebels said they had driven Col Gaddafi's forces from buildings along Tripoli Street, from where snipers had been shooting at anyone who ventured out including women and children.
Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister, Khaled Kaim, said the army might stop fighting in Misrata and withdraw because of the threat of further Nato air strikes.
He said local tribes would instead try to negotiate with the rebels, and if that failed, the tribes would fight them.
Col Ahmed Bani, a military spokesmen for the Benghazi-based rebel Transitional National Council, told the BBC: "This is misinformation. Gaddafi would never pull out of Misrata, it is too important too him."
He added: "We have just spoken to somebody from Misrata who is now in Benghazi - a member of the Bushaala tribe, one of the largest in Misrata.
"He says that the claims by the Gaddafi government are not true. All local tribes are fighting against Gaddafi's troops, not with them."
A doctor in Misrata told the BBC it was just a move to buy time.
"The spokesman is totally ridiculous. He just wants people to think the Libyan people are behind the regime," he said.
"If Gaddafi arms the people of Libya in the towns around Misrata, it will be the end for him, because they will rise up against him."
The doctor said the humanitarian situation was improving, but not significantly.
The BBC's Jeremy Bowen reports from Tripoli that the regime says the reason Col Gaddafi has remained relatively secure in the west of Libya is that the principal tribes - which wield a lot of power and influence - are on his side.
However, the government has previously used the prospect of tribal civil war as a warning, and it may well be that the minister was making more of a threat than expressing the reality of what is going to occur, our correspondent says.
The regime is feeling increasingly isolated and is hoping for some kind of a diplomatic solution, he adds.
The popular revolt against Col Gaddafi - inspired by similar uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia - began in February and a UN mandate later sanctioned air strikes against Libyan state forces to protect civilians. Nato took full command of the mission on 31 March, and since then more than 3,000 sorties have been flown.
|
9ebde6e8454820614d0b7578abf66000 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13260343 | Libya crisis: Muammar Gaddafi's son buried in Tripoli | Libya crisis: Muammar Gaddafi's son buried in Tripoli
The funeral of the youngest son of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has taken place in the capital, Tripoli.
Libya says Saif al-Arab, 29, and three of Col Gaddafi's grandchildren died on Saturday when Nato missiles hit his villa in the leader's compound.
His funeral was attended by several thousand people as Nato planes circled in the skies above.
Mourners chanted calls for revenge as the coffin, wrapped in a green Libyan flag, was lowered into the ground.
Visible emotion
Col Gaddafi did not attend Saif al-Arab's funeral but two other sons, Saif al-Islam and Mohammed, dressed in traditional Libyan garb, both paid their respects at the ceremony.
The BBC's Christian Fraser, in Tripoli, says that Saif al-Islam arrived at the funeral in a heavily armoured vehicle and said there was visible emotion on his face as the covered remains of his brother were interred.
Libyan officials said Col Gaddafi and his wife were in his Bab al-Aziziya compound at the time of the attack, overnight on Saturday, but escaped unharmed.
Nato officials have acknowledged that there had been a strike in Tripoli late on Saturday.
But they have denied that they were hunting Col Gaddafi to break a stalemate between troops who remain loyal to him and rebels who seek to remove him from power.
Meanwhile, forces loyal to Col Gaddafi were reported to have shelled the rebel-held town of Zintan late on Monday evening.
A rebel spokesman told Reuters that at least 10 Grad rockets landed on the town.
|
4e223f7a8da1f1b24e42fe7dc5abbd94 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13278374 | Uganda gay activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera hailed | Uganda gay activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera hailed
Ugandan gay activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera has been given the prestigious Martin Ennals rights award.
The 10 organisations which make up the award jury said she was courageous and faced harassment because of her work.
Homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda, and can be punished by long jail terms.
In January, her colleague David Kato was murdered not long after suing a paper that outed them both as gay. Police denied the killing was because of his sexuality.
Three months before the murder, Uganda's Rolling Stone newspaper published the photographs of several people it said were gay, including activist Mr Kato, with the headline "Hang them."
The name of Ms Nabagesera, the founder of gay rights organisation Freedom and Roam Uganda, also appeared on the list.
The Geneva-based award jury said Ms Nabagesera had appeared on national television and issued press statements on behalf of Uganda's gay community.
However, because of threats and harassment she now shifted "from house to house, afraid to stay long in the same place", their statement said.
"[She is] an exceptional woman of a rare courage, fighting under death threat for human dignity and the rights of homosexuals and marginalised people in Africa," jury chairman Hans Thoolen said.
In October 2009, an MP introduced a bill that proposed increasing the penalties in Uganda for homosexual acts from 14 years in prison to life.
It also proposed the death penalty for a new offence of "aggravated homosexuality" - defined as when one of the participants is a minor, HIV-positive, disabled or a "serial offender".
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill is yet to be formally debated by the Ugandan parliament.
The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders is named after the late British lawyer who became the first head of the human rights organisation Amnesty International.
|
0a47d4f9cb40ba7340a04c7ac7766b47 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13317615 | Equatorial Guinea profile - Timeline | Equatorial Guinea profile - Timeline
1471
- Portuguese navigator Fernao do Po sights the island of Fernando Po, which is now called Bioko.
1777
- Portuguese cedes islands of Annobon and Fernando Po as well as rights on the mainland coast to Spain, giving it access to a source of slaves.
1844
- Spanish settle in what became the province of Rio Muni - mainland Equatorial Guinea.
1904
- Fernando Po and Rio Muni become the Western African Territories, later renamed Spanish Guinea.
1968
- Spanish Guinea granted independence and becomes the Republic of Equatorial Guinea with Francisco Macias Nguema as president.
1972
- Nguema becomes president for life.
1979
- Nguema ousted in military coup led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
1993
- First multi-party elections are generally condemned as fraudulent and are boycotted by the opposition.
1996
February - President Obiang Nguema wins 99% of votes in election amid reports of widespread irregularities.
1996
March - Mobil oil corporation announces it has discovered sizeable new oil and gas reserves.
1998
January - Amnesty International reports the arrest of scores of people - mostly from the Bubi minority - in the wake of attacks on military posts on Bioko island.
1998
June - Military tribunal sentences 15 people to death for separatist attacks on Bioko island.
1999
March - Ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea wins majority of seats in parliamentary elections condemned as fraudulent. Dozens of members of main opposition Popular Union are arrested.
2001
- Economy emerges as one of world's fastest-growing because of oil exploitation. Opposition says trickle-down effect of growth is too slow, too small.
2001
March - Eight exiled opposition parties form a coalition in Spain to overhaul politics at home, saying democracy under Obiang is a sham.
2001
July - Exiled politician Florentino Ecomo Nsogo, head of the Party of Reconstruction and Social Well-Being (PRBS), returns home as the first opposition figure to respond to an appeal by President Obiang Nguema, who wants opposition parties to register.
2002
June - Court jails 68 people for up to 20 years for alleged coup plot against President Obiang Nguema. They include main opposition leader Placido Mico Abogo. EU is concerned that confessions were obtained under duress. Amnesty International says many defendants showed signs of torture.
2002
December - President Obiang Nguema re-elected. Authorities say he won 100% of the vote. Opposition leaders had pulled out of the poll, citing fraud and irregularities.
2003
August - Exiled opposition leaders form self-proclaimed government-in-exile in Madrid, Spain.
Opposition leader Placido Mico Abogo and 17 other political prisoners released.
Coup arrests
2004
March - Suspected mercenaries arrested over alleged coup attempt; group is linked to suspected mercenaries detained in Zimbabwe. Crackdown on immigrants ensues; hundreds of foreigners deported.
2004
April - Parliamentary elections: President Obiang's party and its allies take 98 of 100 seats. Foreign observers criticise poll and result.
2004
August-November- Foreigners accused of plotting coup to overthrow President Obiang are tried in Malabo. Their South African leader is sentenced to 34 years in jail.
Simon Mann, the British leader of a group of mercenaries accused of involvement in the alleged coup plot and arrested in Zimbabwe, is tried in Harare and sentenced to seven years in jail there. His sentence is later reduced to four years on appeal.
2005
January - Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British PM Margaret Thatcher, tells a South African court that he helped to finance the alleged 2004 coup plot, but did so unwittingly.
2005
June - President amnesties six Armenians convicted of taking part in the alleged 2004 coup plot.
2005
July - 55 people killed when passenger aircraft crashes shortly after take-off from Malabo.
2005
September - Military court jails 23 defendants, most of them military officers, who are accused of plotting a coup in 2004.
2005
December - Spain withdraws the asylum status of exiled opposition leader Severo Moto saying he was involved in several coup attempts.
2006
August - The government resigns en masse. The president had accused it of corruption and poor leadership. Key ministers are reappointed.
2006
October - President Obiang says Equatorial Guinea plans to double its revenue share from oil production contracts.
2007
May - New airline launched to replace the national carrier EGA which was forced to shut over safety concerns.
2007
November - Four Equatorial Guineans sentenced for alleged role in 2004 coup plot.
2008
February - British mercenary Simon Mann is extradited from Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea to stand trial for his alleged role in 2004 coup plot.
2008
March - Spain restores exiled opposition leader Severo Moto's asylum status.
2008
April - Spanish police arrest Mr Moto on suspicion of trying to ship weapons to Equatorial Guinea.
2008
July - President Obiang accepts resignation of the entire government, accusing it of corruption and mismanagement; appoints Ignacio Milam Tang as new prime minister.
British mercenary Simon Mann and four South Africans sentenced to 34 years in prison for taking part in 2004 coup plot. They are pardoned and released in November 2009.
2008
October - Cameroon charges two policemen with kidnapping rebel colonel Cipriano Nguema Mba and returning him to Equatorial Guinea, which denies all knowledge.
2009
February - Presidential palace allegedly comes under attack. Seven Nigerians are later jailed over the incident.
2009
November - Presidential elections. President Obiang wins again.
2010
August - Four alleged coup plotters are executed within hours of being found guilty.
2010
October - Controversy over United Nations agency Unesco plans to grant a scientific research prize sponsored by President Obiang. The prize is approved but Mr Obiang's name is dropped from its title.
2010
November - French appeal court authorises probe of corruption charges against three African heads of state, including President Obiang.
2011
June - Amnesty International alleges wave of arrests targeting political opponents, migrants and students ahead of African Union summit in Malabo.
2011
November - Referendum on constitutional changes, which critics describe as a power grab.
2012
January - Equatorial Guinea co-hosts Africa Cup of Nations, the continent's biggest football tournament.
President's son, Teodorin, asks US court to dismiss a US bid to seize $71 million worth of his assets, denying they were obtained through corruption.
2012
May - Teodorin is promoted to vice president.
2012
July - France issues arrest warrant for Teodorin, in a probe into alleged misspending of public funds.
2013
May - Opposition activists are arrested in run-up to parliamentary elections.
2014
March - Teodorin is put under formal investigation in France over money laundering allegations. He denies embezzling state funds.
2014
October - Teodorin is forced to relinquish more than 30 million dollars of assets in the United States, which the authorities there say were bought with stolen money.
President Obiang grants an amnesty for political crimes, as part of efforts to convince exiled politicians and other opposition figures to join a "national dialogue".
2014
November - Equatorial Guinea is chosen to replace Morocco as host of the 2015 African Cup of Nations, after Morocco refused to host the competition because of fears about Ebola.
Government says its national dialogue with political parties has led to agreement in some areas.
2015
January - Police arrest opposition politician Celestino Nvo Okenve and human rights activist Santiago Martin over their calls for a boycott of the African Cup of Nations.
2016
April - Teodoro Obiang gains another term of office in elections.
2016
February - Government moves its headquarters from Malabo to Djibloho, also known as Oyala, an unfinished city deep in the rainforest.
2017
October - A French court hands down a three-year suspended jail sentence to Vice-President Teodorin Obiang for embezzlement, money laundering and corruption.
2018
January - The authorities say they thwarted an attempted coup the previous month.
2018
May - Supreme Court upholds ban on the country's main opposition party, the CI Party, which is accused of involvement in acts of violence ahead of last year's elections.
|
3faa437650f6e31d99d5f145211d8f6b | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13325229?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter | Al-Qaeda denies link to Marrakesh cafe attack | Al-Qaeda denies link to Marrakesh cafe attack
Al-Qaeda in North Africa has denied that it was involved in an explosion at a cafe in Marrakesh last month in which 17 people died.
In a statement issued by a Mauritanian news agency, the regional offshoot said it had nothing to do with the attack.
Police in Morocco have arrested three over the blast and have said that the chief suspect was loyal to al-Qaeda.
Hundreds of people gathered at the site of the blast on Saturday to demonstrate against terror.
"We deny any link to this explosion and declare we are in no way involved in this operation," read Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's statement, carried by Nouakchott News Agency.
The statement was published in Arabic and dated Friday 6 May.
The group urged Moroccan Muslims to escalate a protest movement "to liberate their oppressed, jailed brothers and to topple the criminal regime", in a presumed reference to King Mohammed and his government.
The blast on 28 April at Marrakesh's Argana cafe killed mostly foreigners.
The bomb ripped through the cafe in Djemaa el-Fna Square, the tourist heart of Marrakesh.
According to Reuters, authorities said the chief suspect had disguised himself as a guitar-carrying hippy before planting two bombs in the popular tourist cafe.
The attack was the deadliest to hit Morocco since a bombing in Casablanca in May 2003 in which 45 people - including suicide bombers - were killed.
|
9f31b6ec9b645443501ed4219a591a38 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13367277 | DR Congo: 48 rapes every hour, US study finds | DR Congo: 48 rapes every hour, US study finds
A study by US scientists has concluded that an average of 48 women and girls are raped every hour in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The study, in the American Journal of Public Health, found that 400,000 females aged 15-49 were raped over a 12-month period in 2006 and 2007.
That rate is significantly higher than the previous estimate of 16,000 rapes reported in one year by the UN.
DR Congo says the figures reflect women being better able to report rape.
Sexual violence has long been a dominant feature of the continuing conflict in eastern DR Congo.
Amber Peterman, leading author of the study, said: "Our results confirm that previous estimates of rape and sexual violence are severe underestimates of the true prevalence of sexual violence occurring in the DRC.
"Even these new, much higher figures still represent a conservative estimate of the true prevalence of sexual violence because of chronic underreporting due to stigma, shame, perceived impunity, and exclusion of younger and older age groups as well as men," she added.
The study, entitled Estimates and Determinants of Sexual Violence Against Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, used data from a 2007 government health survey.
Previous estimates have been derived from police and health centre reports.
The highest numbers of rapes were found in war-ravaged North Kivu, where an average of 67 women out of 1,000 have been raped at least once.
However, the report said sexual violence was also widespread outside the conflict zones of eastern DR Congo.
The BBC's Thomas Hubert in Kinshasa says the study is in line with earlier reports that found sexual violence was spreading outside of war zones and into DR Congo's civilian society.
Government spokesman Lambert Mende told the BBC that recent increases in rape figures were a result of better reporting rather than rising violence.
"The report itself of these scientists is an evidence of the state becoming more and more efficient by dispatching judges, prosecutors, police all over the country," he said.
"It is that, that allows people now to complain and to feed such reports."
Commenting on the report, Michael VanRooyen, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, said that "rape in the DRC... has emerged as one of the great human crises of our time".
|
55c8cc164799f91859ec183865444827 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13379433 | Libya: Nato in fresh strike on Gaddafi compound | Libya: Nato in fresh strike on Gaddafi compound
Nato air strikes have again hit the compound of Col Muammar Gaddafi, hours after Libyan state TV showed footage purportedly of the leader in Tripoli.
Libyan government officials said the attack in the early hours of Thursday killed three people, although this cannot be independently verified.
Correspondents said three rockets hit the base and caused extensive damage.
A video of Col Gaddafi aired Wednesday was the leader's first appearance since his son was killed two weeks ago.
Nato has repeatedly hit Tripoli this week as it intensifies its operations against Col Gaddafi, who has been fighting to crush a three-month old rebellion against his rule.
Smoke rose from the Gaddafi compound, Bab al-Azaziya, and ambulances raced through the city as the last missile struck early on Thursday, reports said.
Journalists were taken by government officials to the compound to survey the damage.
Libyan government spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim said that Nato, which "once again is deprived of all morals and all civilisation", had fired five missiles on the compound.
"Three people died - two of them are journalists and one was their guide who was helping them film a documentary," Mr Ibrahim told a news conference in the compound, held next to a large, water-filled crater.
He said the journalists had been filming "hundreds of people who were celebrating their resilience against Nato".
Nato has not commented on the latest strike, but has said that most of the alliance's 46 air strikes on Wednesday were focused on and around Tripoli, hitting command and control centres, ammunition dumps and anti-aircraft missile launchers.
State television also reported that the North Korean embassy in Tripoli was damaged in the overnight Nato strikes. Nato has denied this.
In another development on Thursday, France said one of its citizens had been shot dead and four others arrested in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
It was not clear who the five were or what they were doing in Benghazi, but a French foreign ministry statement said: "During a police check in Benghazi last night, five French nationals were detained. One of them was wounded by a bullet and died overnight in a hospital in Benghazi."
On Wednesday, state television showed Col Gaddafi meeting tribal leaders. It said they had met in Tripoli earlier that day.
It was the first appearance of the leader since one of his sons and three of his grandchildren were killed two weeks ago in a Nato strike on the Bab al-Azaziya compound.
In the footage, Col Gaddafi was dressed in his trademark brown robes, dark sunglasses and black hat. He appeared to be in good health.
Meanwhile, the US government has said it has invited representatives of Libya's rebels to the White House on Friday.
A delegation from the Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC), including senior leader Mahmoud Gibril, will meet National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and members of the US Congress.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday invited the TNC to set up an office in Britain.
After meeting TNC leaders in London, Mr Cameron praised the group and described them as "Britain's primary partner" in Libya.
At a news conference, rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil reiterated calls for the UK to provide them with weapons.
"We need some lethal weapons. The British government has offered non-lethal (gear) such as night vision equipment and body armour.
"Col Gaddafi has heavy weaponry. We need light weapons, which is not equivalent to Gaddafi's weaponry, but perhaps with courage, which Libyan people have, there may be some kind of balance," he said.
On Wednesday, eyewitnesses said Misrata airport had fallen to the rebels after hours of fighting with pro-Gaddafi forces.
Misrata, Libya's third-largest city, is the only significant western rebel holdout and is strategically important because of its deep-sea port, which has become a lifeline for delivering aid and for evacuating the wounded.
|
d944ea13c009548c22ec05deed5648c4 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13491445?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter | Sudan: Abyei seizure by north 'act of war', says south | Sudan: Abyei seizure by north 'act of war', says south
South Sudan has denounced as an act of war the takeover by north Sudan forces of the contested border town of Abyei.
A southern military spokesman told the BBC the North had attacked the area with 5,000 troops, killing civilians and southern soldiers.
South Sudan is due to become independent in July, but Abyei's status remains to be determined after a referendum on its future was shelved.
The UN has called for an end to fighting between the two sides.
Some 20,000 people, almost the whole population of the town, have fled, aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has told the BBC.
Spokesman Raphael Gorgeu said residents had moved to Agok, about 45km (28 miles) south of Abyei, and were fleeing further south.
He said 42 people wounded in the fighting in Abyei had been treated at a local MSF hospital.
The seizure of Abyei followed two days of skirmishes, artillery fire and at least one air raid.
A UN Security Council mission is in the capital, Khartoum, and was due to visit Abyei on Monday, but this has now been cancelled.
The BBC's James Copnall in Khartoum says that in a clear demonstration of who is now in charge of Abyei, President Omar al-Bashir issued a decree dismissing the region's administration.
Abyei had been governed by a joint body comprising northerners and southerners, led by a southerner.
The security council will undoubtedly raise this, and the surprise northern military action, in its meetings on Sunday with senior northern officials, including the Vice-President Ali Osman Taha, our correspondent says.
Southern military spokesman Col Philip Aguer said the North had committed an aggression, and called for the international community to step in.
"If the international community do not intervene quickly to rescue the situation then this is a complete violation of the comprehensive peace agreement, a complete violation of the ceasefire, and it is a declaration of war by Khartoum," he told the BBC.
Southern 'ambush' criticised
The north says it acted after 22 of their men were killed in a southern ambush on Thursday.
The UN said the northern troops who were ambushed were being escorted out of Abyei by UN peacekeepers.
UN officials described the incident as "a criminal attack" and the US called on South Sudan to "account" for the assault.
Washington said the attack was "in direct violation" of the agreement signed by the north and south in January to "remove all unauthorised forces" from Abyei.
South Sudanese forces denied responsibility for the incident.
Tension over Abyei - claimed by a southern group, the Dinka Ngok, and northern nomads, the Misseriya - has been rising since a referendum on its future scheduled for January was postponed.
Since then there have been fears clashes in Abyei could spark a new north-south war, which this latest incident will do nothing to dispel, our correspondent says.
Under a 2005 north-south peace deal, which ended 22 years of civil war, Abyei was granted special status and a joint north-south administration set up in 2008.
|
a5f090d9904c8baa280b7cd4e9aec55a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13507474 | Rwanda: Ex-women's minister guilty of genocide, rape | Rwanda: Ex-women's minister guilty of genocide, rape
A former Rwandan women's minister has been sentenced to life in prison for her role in the genocide and the rape of Tutsi women and girls.
Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, 65, is the first woman to be convicted of genocide by an international court.
She was found guilty, along with her son and four other former officials, after a 10-year trial.
Some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the 1994 massacres.
Nyiramasuhuko, who was family affairs and women's development minister, was accused of ordering and assisting in the massacres in her home district of Butare in southern Rwanda.
The prosecution at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) accused her of taking part in the government decision to create militias throughout the country. Their mission was to wipe out the Tutsi population as fast as possible.
"The chamber convicts Pauline Nyiramasuhuko of conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, extermination, rape, persecution and... violence to life and outrages upon personal dignity," read the ruling by the trial's three judges.
During the genocide she ordered women and girls to be raped and forced people onto trucks - they were driven away to be killed.
Her son, Arsene Shalom Ntahobali, who was in his early 20s at the time, headed a militia that carried out the massacres. He also raped women.
Presiding Judge William Sekule said scores of ethnic Tutsis were killed after taking refuge in a local government office.
"Hoping to find safety and security, they instead found themselves subject to abductions, rapes, and murder. The evidence... paints a clear picture of unfathomable depravity and sadism," he said.
Ntahobali and one other local official were sentenced to life in prison, while three others were jailed for between 25 and 35 years.
BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says Nyiramasuhuko showed no emotion as she was sentenced.
She was found guilty on seven of the 11 charges she faced. She had denied all the charges.
The trial opened in 2001, making it the longest held by the ICTR.
Last month, former army chief Augustin Bizimungu and three other former military officers were convicted after a nine-year trial.
The Rwandan government, led by Paul Kagame who ended the genocide, has long complained about the slow pace of justice at the tribunal, based in Arusha, Tanzania.
Butare was once home to a large mix of Hutu and Tutsi people, and there was some resistance there to the orders to carry out the massacres.
Nyiramasuhuko was accused of requesting military assistance to proceed with the massacres in her home commune.
After the genocide, she fled to neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire), before being arrested in Kenya in 1997, reports the AFP news agency.
Our correspondent says that although she was the only woman on trial for genocide before the ICTR, many other women have been convicted of genocide in Rwandan courts.
Two nuns were found guilty of participating in the genocide by a court in Belgium.
|
60634eca7cb1150291e849ec659f59a4 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13538436 | Libya: Nato planes target Gaddafi's Tripoli compound | Libya: Nato planes target Gaddafi's Tripoli compound
At least five large explosions rocked the Libyan capital Tripoli overnight, as the Nato military campaign continued.
For a second night, the air strikes targeted the area around Col Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound.
Nato is enforcing a UN resolution to protect Libyan civilians, following the uprising against Col Gaddafi's rule.
But Russia has said the raids were a "gross violation" of the resolution, which Moscow did not vote for.
The BBC's Andrew North in Tripoli said Tuesday night's strikes were not as large as those on Monday night, but still shook buildings over a wide area.
Large plumes of smoke could be seen drifting over the city.
Nato says the large Bab al-Aziziya compound has been used by the regime as a base for troops and vehicles used to carry out attacks on civilians.
But Libyan authorities say Nato is trying to kill Col Gaddafi and that the night-time strikes are terrorising Tripoli residents.
Meanwhile, the British Royal Air Force said it had destroyed or badly damaged four of Col Gaddafi's heavy armoured vehicles near the coastal town of Zlitan on Monday, and destroyed a radar station in Brega in the east.
Rebels control much of Libya's east, but Col Gaddafi's forces are still in control of most of the west of the country.
A senior Nato official said the regime had become "very apathetic" in the last fortnight.
"It has lost the military initiative and appears on the defensive, which is a sign that we are on the right path," the unnamed official was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe also insisted on Tuesday that the strikes were having an effect, with resistance to Col Gaddafi growing in western Libya and an increase in the number of defections from the army.
"I can assure you that our will is to ensure that the mission in Libya does not last longer than a few months," he told the French parliament.
France has announced it is deploying attack helicopters to escalate their strike power. The UK has said it is considering doing the same.
But Russia has condemned the air strike strategy, saying only strikes intended to protect civilians were authorised under UN Resolution 1973.
The Russian foreign ministry's human rights envoy, Konstantin Dolgov, said targets which had no military use had been destroyed and that the strategy was "in no way moving us closer toward achieving the overall goal of quickly ending the armed conflict".
He added: "Air strikes are not stopping the military confrontation between the Libyan parties and only creating more suffering among peaceful civilians."
Russia has been been attempting to broker a ceasefire between the government and the rebels, and has met representatives of both sides in the past week.
South African President Jacob Zuma is to visit Libya next week for meetings with Col Gaddafi in an attempt to resolve the conflict.
But Mr Zuma's office dismissed speculation that meeting was intended to discuss an exit strategy for the leader.
A spokesman said the talks were a follow up to an African Union summit on the crisis in April which collapsed when rebels insisted Col Gaddafi must stand down.
The BBC's Karen Allen in Johannesburg says relations between the two countries have soured since Libya was accused last week of concealing the death of a prominent South African journalist who had been covering the crisis.
The rebellion against Col Gaddafi's rule began in February, spurred on by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt that saw the presidents of those countries overthrown.
|
88476043c44c1e1761397c816f054eff | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13579838 | Guinea-Bissau profile - Timeline | Guinea-Bissau profile - Timeline
Pre-15th century
- The area of what is now Guinea-Bissau comes under the influence of the Mali Empire and becomes a tributary kingdom known as Gabu.
1446-47
- First Portuguese arrive; subsequently administered as part of the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands, the Guinea area becomes important in the slave-trade.
1879
- Guinea-Bissau becomes a separate colony. Portuguese control of the interior is slow and sometimes violent, and not effectively achieved until 1915.
1951
- Guinea-Bissau declared a province of Portugal.
1956
- Amilcar Cabral establishes the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).
1963-74
- PAIGC launches war of independence.
1973
- Amilcar Cabral assassinated. PAIGC unilaterally declares Guinea-Bissau independent of Portugal and gives it its present name.
1974
- Portugal grants Guinea-Bissau independence with Luis Cabral, Amilcar Cabral's brother, as president.
1980
- Luis Cabral ousted in military coup led by Joao Bernardo Vieira; plans for unification with Cape Verde dropped.
1990
- Parliament revokes the PAIGC's status as the sole legitimate party.
1994
- Vieira chosen as president in Guinea-Bissau's first free election.
1998
- Army mutinies after Vieira sacks his army commander, General Ansumane Mane, whom he accused of allowing weapons to be smuggled to rebels in Senegal.
1999
May - Soldiers led by General Ansumane Mane topple Vieira.
Military junta installs Malam Bacai Sanha, the former speaker of parliament, as interim president.
2000
January - Kumba Yala elected president.
2000
November - General Mane killed, allegedly after trying to mount a coup.
2001
January - Guinea-Bissau Resistance (RGB) party pulls out of ruling coalition saying it wasn't consulted about a cabinet reshuffle.
2001
May - IMF, World Bank suspend aid over millions missing from development funds. Towards year's end an IMF team praises improvements in financial controls.
2001
November - Foreign minister Antonieta Rosa Gomes dismissed after criticising President Yala. Increasing concern over the president's erratic behaviour.
2001
December - Government says it has thwarted a coup attempt by army officers. Opposition casts doubt on allegations. Prime Minister Faustino Imbali is sacked for "failing to meet expectations".
2002
November - President Yala says he plans to dissolve parliament and call early elections. The move comes amid a long-running row with his prime minister.
2003
September - Military coup ousts President Yala. Civilian administration headed by interim President Henrique Rosa and interim Prime Minister Antonio Artur Rosa is sworn in after military and political parties agree to hold parliamentary and presidential elections.
2004
March - The former ruling PAIGC wins general election.
2004
October - Mutinous soldiers kill the head of the armed forces in pursuit of demands which include payment of outstanding wages.
2005
April - Joao Bernardo Vieira, former president toppled in 1999 rebellion, returns from exile in Portugal.
2005
May - Former President Kumba Yala, who was deposed in 2003, declares that he is still the rightful head of state. He stages a brief occupation of the presidency building.
2005
July - Former military ruler Joao Bernardo Vieira wins a run-off vote in presidential elections.
2006
March-April - Guinea-Bissau soldiers battle Senegalese rebels along the southern border.
2006
October - Guinea-Bissau appeals for international help to stop people-traffickers using its remote coastline to smuggle migrants, including Asians, to Europe.
2007
March-April - Prime Minister Aristides Gomes resigns after his government loses a no-confidence vote. Martinho Ndafa Kabi is appointed as consensus prime minister.
2007
June - Donors have one last opportunity to save Guinea-Bissau from chaos and to combat Latin American drug cartels, the UN and International Monetary Fund warn.
2007
December - Parliament passes law guaranteeing amnesty for any violence committed during the years of political unrest between 1980 and 2004.
2008
August - President Vieira dissolves parliament.
2008
November - President Vieira survives a gun attack on his home by mutinous soldiers, in what appears to be a failed coup.
2009
March - President Joao Bernardo Vieira is shot dead by renegade soldiers, hours after a bomb attack that killed the army's chief of staff, General Tagme Na Waie.
2009
July - Malam Bacai Sanha wins presidential election in a run-off.
2010
April - Mutinous soldiers briefly detain Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and replace armed forces chief.
US names two top military officials as international drugs traffickers and freezes their US assets.
2010
June - Leader of April's mutiny, General Antonio Indjai, is made army chief.
2010
August - EU announces it is ending mission to reform Guinea Bissau's security forces, saying lack of respect for rule of law is making this an impossible task.
2010
October - US expresses concern over Guinea Bissau government's decision to reinstate alleged drugs kingpin Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto as head of navy. Mr Na Tchuto is a close ally of army chief General Antonio Indjai.
2010
December - Former army chief Jose Zamora Induta, who was arrested during April mutiny, is released from prison but days later placed under house arrest.
2011
February - EU suspends part of its aid to Guinea-Bissau because of concerns over governance and the rule of law.
2011
July-August - Thousands take to the streets to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior for his failure to curb rising food prices.
2011
December - Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior says the authorities have foiled a coup attempt against President Malam Bacai Sanha, mounted while the he was receiving medical treatment. Navy chief Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto is accused of masterminding the coup and arrested.
2012
January
-
President Malam Bacai Sanha dies in hospital in Paris. National Assembly head Raimundo Pereira becomes interim president.
2012
April-May - Soldiers topple the government. Interim President Pereira and leading presidential contender and ex-PM Carlos Gomes Junior, are arrested. A transitional government led by Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo is formed. UN imposes travel bans on the coup leaders and key supporters.
2012
July - The UN Security Council expresses concern that drug trafficking has increased since the coup, and demands a return to constitutional rule.
2012
October - Seven killed in raid on an army barracks, which the transitional government describes as a failed coup attempt.
2013
April - US operatives arrest ex-navy chief Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto and charge him with drug trafficking.
2013
December - Row with Portugal over refugees from Syria, who allegedly arrived by plane from Guinea-Bissau with false documents. Guinea-Bissau's foreign minister quits, Portuguese airline TAP suspends air link.
2014
May - Presidential election run-off is won by Jose Mario Vaz.
2014
September - President Jose Mario Vaz sacks the powerful armed forces chief, Antonio Indjai, whom the US accuses of plotting to traffic cocaine and sell weapons to Colombian rebels.
2015
May - International donors pledge more than $1.1bn to help Guinea-Bissau's economy revive after years of instability.
2015-2019
- President Jose Mario Vaz sparks a political crisis by sacking a series of prime ministers in a power struggle with his opponents in the ruling PAIGC.
2020
February - Former prime minister Umaro Sissoco Embaló takes office after winning the presidential election, ending 46 years of PAIGC or military rule.
|
e7067c4c79d00550742e1a2c2e287296 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13582150 | Rwanda genocide: Opposition claims 'forced exhumations' | Rwanda genocide: Opposition claims 'forced exhumations'
A Rwandan opposition party has accused the government of forcing people to exhume the bodies of relatives killed during the 1994 genocide.
The authorities say the remains should be brought together at memorial sites so people never forget the killings.
Some 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutus died in the 100-day genocide.
Despite repeated requests by the BBC neither the information minister nor Rwanda's Commission Against Genocide Ideology have responded to the claims.
'No choice'
A representative of the newly-formed opposition Rwandan National Congress, Jonathan Musonera, said that he had personally been affected by the government's order.
"The authorities issued instructions for us to dig up the remains of our relatives and take them to the genocide memorial sites," he said.
"My family refused, but the government said if we didn't do it, they would send prisoners to exhume the remains.
"We had no choice. My relatives dug up the bodies and gave them to the authorities who took them to the memorial sites."
Mr Musonera said exhuming the remains of his family has haunted him and that he believes they deserve to be buried with dignity at a place where they can be visited by those who survived.
But the Rwandan Genocide Survivors Association, which is close to the government, supports the policy of exhuming the remains.
"All the remains should be kept at memorial sites so that we can keep showing that the genocide happened," said Jean-Pierre Dusingizemungu, the head of the association.
He added that the bodies should be preserved properly so that they can be displayed in this way for a long time.
There are several genocide memorial sites in Rwanda. The biggest, in the capital Kigali, displays the skulls and other remains of some 200,000 people.
The authorities want the remains of every victim to be shown in public to emphasise the scale and horror of the genocide.
But many of those being asked to dig up the remains of those they lost 17 years ago, would prefer for them to rest in peace.
|
91c29f808d12654f23dbfc563a52b427 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13585019 | Libya: Nato planes target Gaddafi's Tripoli compound | Libya: Nato planes target Gaddafi's Tripoli compound
British jets have struck a compound where Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi sometimes lives.
RAF Typhoons and other Nato jets fired guided weapons to destroy guard towers on the perimeter of the Bab al-Aziziya complex, said the Ministry of Defence.
A spokesman said it sent a clear message that the regime's leadership was no longer "hidden away from the Libyan people behind high walls".
On Thursday the UK announced plans to send four Apache helicopters to Libya.
The Bab al-Aziziya compound was badly damaged by US planes in 1986 when President Ronald Reagan attacked the Gaddafi regime after Libya was blamed for a bombing at a nightclub in Germany that killed two US servicemen.
The Chief of Defence Staff's spokesman, Major General John Lorimer, said on Saturday: "For decades, Col Gaddafi has hidden from the Libyan people behind these walls, spreading terror and crushing opposition.
"The massive compound has not just been his home but is also a major military barracks and headquarters and lies at the heart of his network of secret police and intelligence agencies.
"Last night's action sends a powerful message to the regime's leadership and to those involved in delivering Col Gaddafi's attacks on civilians that they are no longer hidden away from the Libyan people behind high walls."
News agency AP quoted a Nato spokesman as saying that Col Gaddafi was not the target of Friday's raid and it was not known if he was there at the time.
Demonstrations against Col Gaddafi broke out in Libya in February, as part of the so-called "Arab spring".
The Nato imposed a no-fly zone in Libya in March as Col Gaddafi's forces threatened to over-run rebel-held parts of the country.
Britain has sent the Typhoons, which are now based at Gioia del Colle air base in southern Italy.
International pressure on Col Gaddafi continues to grow with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev saying on Saturday that he no longer had the right to lead Libya.
Mr Medvedev said: "The world community does not see him as the leader of Libya."
|
5cbea0af3208051643d51cea9581eabf | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13611132 | Libya says Nato air raids 'killed 700 civilians' | Libya says Nato air raids 'killed 700 civilians'
The Libyan government says Nato air raids have killed more than 700 civilians since bombing began in March.
Spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said more than 4,000 people had been wounded, but gave no evidence to confirm his figures.
Nato has denied killing large numbers of civilians, saying its air strikes are to protect Libyans from Colonel Gaddafi's forces.
Four powerful explosions were felt in the centre of Tripoli on Tuesday night, Libyan state media reported.
Planes were heard flying over the capital, but it was not possible to determine the targets of the raids.
Speaking at a news conference in Tripoli, Mr Ibrahim accused Nato of killing and injuring hundreds of Libyan citizens.
"Since March 19, and up to May 26, there have been 718 martyrs among civilians and 4,067 wounded - 433 of them seriously," Mr Ibrahim said.
He said the figures did not include military casualties.
Foreign reporters in Tripoli have not been shown evidence of mass civilian casualties.
Asked why not, Mr Ibrahim said casualties had not been concentrated near the capital but scattered across the country.
He also denied that South African President Jacob Zuma, who met Col Gaddafi in Tripoli on Monday, had discussed an "exit strategy" with the Libyan leader.
"If Gaddafi goes, the security valve will disappear. His departure would be the worst case scenario for Libya," he told reporters.
A statement released by Mr Zuma's office after he returned to Pretoria said Mr Gaddafi would not leave Libya, despite growing international pressure.
"Col Gaddafi called for an end to the bombings to enable a Libyan dialogue," the statement read.
"He emphasised that he was not prepared to leave his country, despite the difficulties."
After initially backing Nato's involvement, Mr Zuma and the African Union have called for a halt to air strikes, arguing that Nato has overstepped its UN mandate to protect civilians.
Both Libyan rebels and Nato have refused to accept a ceasefire until Col Gaddafi agrees to step down.
On Tuesday, Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that Gaddafi's regime was "finished", during a visit to the rebel capital Benghazi, in eastern Libya.
"He [Gaddafi] must leave office, he must leave the country," Mr Frattini told a joint news conference with Ali al-Essawi, the rebels' foreign affairs chief.
"His aides have left, he has no international support, the G8 leaders reject him, he must go."
|
e9cedc4c8725f21eb527d206678dcbf4 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13864367 | Malawi country profile | Malawi country profile
Malawi, a largely agricultural country, is making efforts to overcome decades of underdevelopment.
For the first 30 years of independence Malawi was run by an authoritarian and quixotic President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, but democratic institutions have taken hold since he relinquished power in the mid-1990s.
Most Malawians rely on subsistence farming, but the food supply situation is precarious because of the climate.
In recent years the country has achieved significant economic growth.
President: Lazarus Chakwera
Mr Chakwera was sworn in as president in June 2020, ending a period of turmoil after annulled elections the previous year.
A Christian preacher and theologian, he beat the incumbent president Peter Mutharika in a re-run of the 2019 poll, which the courts decided had seen widespread irregularities.
President Chakwera has pledged to try to unite the country after the bruising political stand-off.
MEDIA
Radio is the leading medium and state-run MBC is the main national broadcaster.
The freedom to inform has improved and the number of abuses against journalists has fallen dramatically, says Reporters Without Borders.
Some key dates in Malawi's history:
1480
- Bantu tribes unite several smaller political states to form the Maravi Confederacy which at its height includes large parts of present-day Zambia and Mozambique plus the modern state of Malawi.
17th century
- Portuguese explorers arrive from the east coast of present-day Mozambique.
1850
- Scottish missionary David Livingstone's exploration of the region paves the way for missionaries, European adventurers, traders.
1891
- Britain establishes the Nyasaland and District Protectorate.
1915
- Reverend John Chilembwe leads a revolt against British rule, killing the white managers of a particularly brutal estate and displaying the head of one outside his church. He is shot dead by police within days.
1953
- Despite strong opposition from the Nyasaland African Congress and white liberal activists, Britain combines Nyasaland with the Federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively).
1964
6 July - Nyasaland declares independence as Malawi. Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, "the black messiah", becomes president and rules over a one-party state for the next three decades.
1994
- Bakili Muluzi is elected president in first multi-party elections since independence. He immediately frees political prisoners and re-establishes freedom of speech.
2011
- Police kill 19 people in two days of protests against the way the economy is managed. Britain suspends aid over governance concerns. US follows suit.
2012
April - President Bingu wa Mutharika dies in office, is succeeded by vice-president Joyce Banda.
2014
May - Peter Mutharika, brother of Bingu wa Mutharika, wins presidential election.
|
981a235ac49e25ea3254eac4d07cb5dc | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13881367 | Malawi profile | Malawi profile
1480
- Bantu tribes unite several smaller political states to form the Maravi Confederacy which at its height includes large parts of present-day Zambia and Mozambique plus the modern state of Malawi.
17th century
- Portuguese explorers arrive from the east coast of present-day Mozambique.
1790-1860
- Slave trade increases dramatically.
1850
- Scottish missionary David Livingstone's exploration of the region paves the way for missionaries, European adventurers, traders.
1878
- Livingstonia Central African Mission Company from Scotland begins work to develop a river route into Central Africa to enable trade.
1891
- Britain establishes the Nyasaland and District Protectorate.
1893
- Name is changed to the British Central African Protectorate. White European settlers are offered land for coffee plantations at very low prices. Tax incentives force Africans to work on these plantations for several months a year, often in difficult conditions.
1907
- British Central African Protectorate becomes Nyasaland.
1915
- Reverend John Chilembwe leads a revolt against British rule, killing the white managers of a particularly brutal estate and displaying the head of one outside his church. He is shot dead by police within days.
1944
- Nationalists establish the Nyasaland African Congress.
1953 23 October
- Despite strong opposition from the Nyasaland African Congress and white liberal activists, Britain combines Nyasaland with the Federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively).
1958
- Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, "the black messiah", denounces the federation and returns from the US and the UK, where he has been studying, to lead the Nyasaland African Congress.
1959
- Violent clashes between the Congress supporters and the colonial authorities lead to the banning of the organisation. Many leaders, including Banda, are arrested and a state of emergency is declared.
Malawi Congress Party is founded as a successor to the Nyasaland African Congress.
1960
- Banda is released from Gwelo prison and attends talks in London with the British government on constitutional reform.
1961
- Elections held for a new Legislative Assembly. Banda's Malawi Congress Party wins 94% of the vote.
1963
- Territory is granted self-government as Nyasaland and Banda is appointed prime minister.
1964 6 July
- Nyasaland declares independence as Malawi.
1966 6 July
- Banda becomes president of the Republic of Malawi. The constitution establishes a one-party state. Opposition movements are suppressed and their leaders are detained. Foreign governments and organisations raise concerns about human rights.
1971
- Banda is voted president-for-life.
1975
- Lilongwe replaces Zomba as capital.
1978
- First elections since independence. All potential candidates must belong to the Malawi Congress Party and be approved by Banda. He excludes many of them by submitting them to an English test.
1980s
- Several ministers and politicians are killed or charged with treason. Banda reshuffles his ministers regularly, preventing the emergence of a political rival.
1992
- Catholic bishops publicly condemn Banda, sparking demonstrations. Many donor countries suspend aid over Malawi's human rights record.
1993
- President Banda becomes seriously ill.
Voters in a referendum reject the one-party state, paving the way for members of parties other than the Malawi Congress Party to hold office.
1994
- Presidential and municipal elections: Bakili Muluzi, leader of the United Democratic Front, is elected president. He immediately frees political prisoners and re-establishes freedom of speech.
Banda announces his retirement from politics.
1997
- Banda dies in hospital in South Africa where he is being treated for pneumonia.
1999
- President Muluzi is re-elected for a second and final five-year term.
2000
- World Bank says it will cancel 50% of Malawi's foreign debt.
2002
- Drought causes crops to fail across southern Africa. Government is accused of worsening crisis through mismanagement and corruption, including selling off national grain reserves before drought struck.
2002
September - Railway line linking central Malawi and Mozambican port of Nacala reopens after almost 20 years, giving access to Indian Ocean.
2004
May - Bingu wa Mutharika wins presidency.
Government says it will provide free anti-viral drugs to Aids sufferers.
2005
January - Three UDF officials are charged with treason after carrying guns to a meeting with President Mutharika. The president later pardons the trio.
2005
February - President Mutharika resigns from the UDF over what he says is its hostility to his anti-corruption campaign. He forms the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
2005
June - President Mutharika survives an impeachment motion backed by the UDF. The speaker of parliament dies after collapsing during angry exchanges over the motion.
2005
November - Agriculture minister says five million people need food aid as Malawi bears the brunt of failed crops and a regional drought.
2006
April - Vice-President Cassim Chilumpha is arrested and charged with treason.
2006
July - Ex-president Bakili Muluzi is arrested on corruption charges.
2006
October - Controversy as American singer Madonna is given temporary rights to adopt a Malawian baby.
2007
May - Malawi begins exporting 400,000 tonnes of maize to Zimbabwe, after producing a surplus in 2006.
2008 January
- Malawi ends diplomatic relations with Taiwan, switching allegiance to China.
2008
May - Several opposition figures and ex-security chiefs are arrested after President Mutharika accuses his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi, of plotting to depose him.
2009
May - President Mutharika wins second term in election.
2010
May - A gay couple is convicted and jailed for breaching anti-homosexuality laws, sparking international condemnation. The two men are given a presidential pardon and released.
2010
August - New national flag introduced amid controversy. First local elections in a decade postponed again.
2010
October - Diplomatic row with Mozambique over a new waterway connecting Malawi with the Mozambique coast. Mozambique impounds first barge to use new route.
2010
November - Protests against a bill setting the retirement age at between 55 and 60, higher than average life expectancy.
2011
March - President Mutharika angers opposition parties by calling on members of his Democratic Progressive Party at a rally to beat up those who have insulted him.
2011
May - Malawi expels British high commissioner over a leaked diplomatic cable in which the envoy describes President Mutharika as increasingly autocratic.
2011
July
-
Anti-government protests leave 19 people dead. Britain halts all aid to Malawi, accusing the government of mishandling the economy and failing to uphold human rights.
2012
April - President Mutharika dies, is succeeded by vice-president Joyce Banda. The following month she devalues the kwacha currency by a third to satisfy International Monetary Fund requirements to restore funding. This prompts panic buying of basic goods.
2012
October - Malawi asks the African Union to intervene in a border dispute with Tanzania over Lake Malawi, which is potentially rich in oil and gas. Malawi disputes Tanzania's claim to half the lake.
2013
October - President Banda sacks cabinet amid allegations of widespread corruption. Senior finance ministry official Paul Mphwiyo, an anti-corruption crusader, was shot and wounded in September.
2014
January - First of 70 defendants appear in court over the so-called Cashgate affair - the country's biggest corruption scandal so far.
2014
May - Peter Mutharika, the brother of late President Bingu wa Mutharika, wins presidential election.
2014
April - President Peter Mutharika signs into law raising the marrying age to 18, following a campaign against Malawi's's rate of child marriage - one of the world's highest.
2019
March - Cyclone Idai causes extensive flooding and loss of life in eastern districts.
2020
June - Christian preacher and theologian Lazarus Chakwera beats Peter Mutharika in a re-run of the 2019 presidential election, which the courts decided had seen widespread irregularities.
|
ae10556e14a6926cc5fb2dcb37626288 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13882234 | Mauritius profile - full overview | Mauritius profile - full overview
Mauritius, a volcanic island of lagoons and palm-fringed beaches in the Indian Ocean, has a reputation for stability and racial harmony among its mixed population of Asians, Europeans and Africans.
The island has maintained one of the developing world's most successful democracies and has enjoyed years of constitutional order.
It has preserved its image as one of Africa's few social and economic success stories.
Once reliant on sugar as its main crop export, Mauritius was hit by the removal of European trade preferences but has successfully diversified into textiles, upmarket tourism, banking and business outsourcing.
The strategy helped the island's economy weather the world financial crisis of 2008-9 better than expected.
Various cultures and traditions flourish in peace, though Mauritian Creoles, descendants of African slaves who make up a third of the population, live in poverty and complain of discrimination.
Mauritius was uninhabited when the Dutch took possession in 1598. Abandoned in 1710, it was taken over by the French in 1715 and seized by the British in 1810.
It gained independence in 1968 as a constitutional monarchy, with executive power nominally vested in the British monarch. It became a republic in 1992.
The island of Rodrigues and other smaller islets also form part of the country.
Mauritius claims sovereignty over the Chagos islands, which lie around 1,000 km to the north-east. The British territory, which was separated from Mauritius in 1965, is home to the US military base on Diego Garcia. The British government oversaw the forced removal of the Chagos islanders to Mauritius to make way for the base.
The country is home to some of the world's rarest plants and animals. But human habitation and the introduction of non-native species have threatened its indigenous flora and fauna.
The dodo - a flightless bird and a national symbol - was hunted into extinction in the 17th century.
|
556a3d1119fe90a5bfb04932559de485 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13887613 | Senegal: Abdoulaye Wade drops poll plans after riots | Senegal: Abdoulaye Wade drops poll plans after riots
Senegal's president has dropped proposed changes to the country's constitution after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at thousands of protesters outside Dakar's parliament.
Abdoulaye Wade had wanted to reduce the proportion of votes needed to win a presidential election, and avoid a run-off, from more than 50% to 25%.
He had also wanted to create an elected post of vice-president.
The proposals sparked the most violent protests of Mr Wade's 11-year rule.
Critics had said the run-off amendment was designed to ensure that Mr Wade, 85, was re-elected next year against a fractured opposition.
He dropped that element of the proposed bill earlier on Thursday, but withdrew plans to create the position of vice-president after clashes continued outside parliament, Justice Minister Cheikh Tidiane Sy told MPs.
The president had taken into consideration MPs' concerns, AFP quoted Mr Sy as saying, adding to applause that: "He asked me to withdraw the draft legislation".
Earlier on Thursday, clouds of tear gas hovered over the square in front of the National Assembly, where lawmakers had gathered to vote on the proposed changes to the constitution.
The city centre was cut off as protesters set fire to vehicles and threw stones at riot police.
Local reports said some ruling party MPs had been blockaded in their houses to prevent them voting.
There were also violent protests elsewhere in the city and in other towns in Senegal.
Many people feared Mr Wade intended to give the post of vice-president to his son Karim, who is already a powerful minister in the current administration, said BBC West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy.
Critics of the proposed measures said Mr Wade could have then stepped down and handed power to his son.
"We're not against Karim Wade," said protesting student Assane Ndiaye.
"Karim can be a candidate like any other, but he shouldn't be carried into office on his father's shoulders."
The government had said the proposed new post was aimed at reinforcing democracy by sharing power between the president and vice-president.
Riot police also clashed with protesters earlier this week.
The opposition had established a coalition called "Don't Touch My Constitution", while world-famous singer Youssou Ndour criticised the "abuse of authority".
Mr Wade first came to power in democratic polls more than a decade ago but he is now facing growing anger at daily electricity cuts and the rising cost of living.
|
a826e36ee4387d9a61c2977819b88730 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13891138 | Namibia profile - Timeline | Namibia profile - Timeline
1488
- Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias visits.
1886-90
- Present international boundaries established by German treaties with Portugal and Britain. Germany annexes the territory as South West Africa.
1892-1905
- Suppression of uprisings against German colonial occupation by Herero and Nama peoples. Possibly 60,000, or 80% of the Herero population, are killed, leaving some 15,000 starving refugees in an act that independent Namibia has deemed an act of genocide.
1915
- South Africa takes over territory during First World War.
1920
- League of Nations grants South Africa mandate to govern South West Africa (SWA).
1946
- United Nations refuses to allow South Africa to annex South West Africa. South Africa refuses to place SWA under UN trusteeship.
1958
- Herman Toivo Ya Toivo and others create the opposition Ovamboland People's Congress, which becomes the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) in 1960.
1961
- UN General Assembly demands South Africa terminate the mandate and sets SWA's independence as an objective.
1966
- Swapo launches armed struggle against South African occupation.
1968
- South West Africa officially renamed Namibia by UN General Assembly.
1973
- UN General Assembly recognises Swapo as "sole legitimate representative" of Namibia's people.
1988
- South Africa agrees to Namibian independence in exchange for removal of Cuban troops from Angola.
1989
- UN-supervised elections for a Namibian Constituent Assembly. Swapo wins.
1990 March
- Namibia becomes independent, with Sam Nujoma as first president.
1994
- South African exclave of Walvis Bay turned over to Namibia.
1998
- Hundreds of residents of the Caprivi Strip flee to Botswana, alleging persecution by the Namibian government.
1998
August - Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe send troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo to support President Laurent Kabila against rebels.
1999
August - Emergency declared in Caprivi Strip following series of attacks by separatists.
1999
December - President Nujoma wins third presidential term.
1999
December - World Court rules in favour of Botswana in territorial dispute with Namibia over the tiny Chobe River island of Sedudu - known as Kasikili by Namibians.
2002
August - New prime minister, Theo-Ben Gurirab, says land reform is a priority. President Nujoma says white farmers must embrace the reform programme.
2004
May - Road bridge across Zambezi river between Namibia, Zambia opens amid hopes for boost to regional trade.
2004
August - Germany offers formal apology for colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of ethnic Hereros, but rules out compensation for victims' descendants.
2004
November - Hifikepunye Pohamba, President Nujoma's nominee, wins presidential elections.
2005
September - Government begins the expropriation of white-owned farms as part of a land-reform programme.
2006
June - National anti-polio vaccination campaign is launched following the death of at least 12 people from the disease.
2007
February - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits, signs aid and economic co-operation agreements.
2007
August - Ten men are found guilty of treason for leading a secessionist rebellion in the Caprivi region and are given long prison terms.
2009
November - Presidential and parliamentary polls. President Pohamba and his ruling Swapo party re-elected.
2011
February
-
High Court dismisses legal challenge by nine opposition parties claiming irregularities in the 2009 parliamentary election.
2011
July- Mines and Energy Minister Isak Katali says Nambia has found a possible 11bn barrels of offshore oil reserves.
2011
October - Skulls of 20 Herero and Nama people repatriated from a museum in Germany to a welcome from hundreds of descendants.
2014
August - A protester is shot and killed by police during a rare occurrence of political violence.
2014
November - Hage Geingob is elected president, SWAPO wins parliamentary polls.
2018
February - Politicians and civil servants are banned from all foreign business travel to cut expenditure. The economy has been hard hit by a drop in uranium revenues.
2019
November - President Geingob wins re-election.
|
54cadddf7806a0f66baaaf5753b5bcd0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13898235 | Sudan's Abyei: US proposes UN peacekeeper force | Sudan's Abyei: US proposes UN peacekeeper force
The United States has tabled a draft resolution at the UN calling for more than 4,000 peacekeepers to be sent to the disputed Sudanese region of Abyei.
The region lies on the border between Sudan and soon-to-be independent South Sudan and is claimed by both sides.
It has been the scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks, but the two parties signed an agreement earlier this week to pull their forces out.
Both parties have agreed to allow Ethiopian peacekeepers in.
Susan Rice said the demilitarisation deal was "fragile", and that a deployment of 4,200 peacekeepers would enable it to be "implemented immediately and effectively".
Both Sudan and South Sudan hope to include Abyei as part of their territory, once the south formally declares independence on 9 July.
Under the 2005 peace agreement which ended Sudan's civil war, the region was granted special status and in 2008, a joint administration was set up to run it.
A vote on Abyei's future had been scheduled to take place in January - at the same time as the independence referendum - but was postponed indefinitely.
Tension have been rising ever since and on 21 May, the north sent troops into the region, sparking international condemnation and fears of a new civil war.
The UN says some 10,000 people have fled the region to escape the fighting.
|
bac3a700a150f4d557a2a8dd1082a883 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13970412 | Libya: AU condemns French arms drop to rebels | Libya: AU condemns French arms drop to rebels
African Union Commission chief Jean Ping says France's decision to air-drop weapons to Libyan rebels is dangerous and puts the whole region at risk.
He told the BBC the action risked creating problems similar to those in war-torn Somalia.
France has confirmed it dropped arms to Berber tribal fighters in the mountains south-west of the capital, Tripoli.
Some analysts said the move might contravene the UN Security Council embargo on arms supplies to Libya.
Mr Ping was speaking from Equatorial Guinea where African heads of state are meeting for an AU summit.
Libya is expected to be high on the summit's agenda.
"There are several problems," he said.
"The risk of civil war, risk of partition of the country, the risk of 'Somalia-sation' of the country, risk of having arms everywhere... with terrorism.
"These risks will concern the neighbouring countries."
Mr Ping said that an AU peace plan for Libya set out in March was still valid. The road map calls for a ceasefire to allow political talks to take place.
News of France's weapons delivery to the rebels emerged in a report by Le Figaro newspaper on Wednesday.
The newspaper said France - a leading force in the Nato operation in Libya - did not inform its allies about the move.
The report said the weapons included rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles, although French officials would only confirm light arms and ammunition had been dropped to rebel fighters.
The decision was reportedly taken after a meeting in April between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Chief of Staff of the Libyan rebels, Gen Abdelfatah Younis.
France is said to have been concerned at the stalemate in the Libyan conflict that started in February.
Rebels have recently been making gains and hope to advance on Tripoli from the existing front line on the other side of the Nafusa mountains about 65km (40 miles) from the capital.
Russia and China have criticised the Nato campaign, saying it has gone beyond the remit of UN resolution 1973, which authorised international military action in Libya.
However, the US has argued that resolution 1973 allows countries to provide arms to rebels despite an earlier resolution - 1970 - that imposed an arms embargo on the whole of Libya.
The BBC's Thomas Fessy in Equatorial Guinea's capital, Malabo, says Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi is well known for his extravagant arrivals at African Union summits, but he is not taking part this time.
Nevertheless, his name was probably mentioned more than any other during a week of preparatory meetings, our correspondent says.
He says African leaders are divided over whether the Libyan leader should step down.
|
b749115d1cadf8fb61e8605004b9bb0a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13979356 | Ugandan police seize Yoweri Museveni 'birthday cake' | Ugandan police seize Yoweri Museveni 'birthday cake'
Ugandan police have broken up a "mock birthday party" for President Yoweri Museveni held by opposition activists.
They declared the party in the capital, Kampala, illegal and confiscated a birthday cake and the presents.
President Museveni's exact date of birth is not known.
The government says he is 68 but the opposition says he is 73, which would make him too old to stand for re-election in 2016. He has been in power since 1986.
The BBC's Joshua Mmali in Kampala says about 20 activists from the Free Uganda Now group arrived at the party singing and carrying nicely-wrapped gifts.
They also had a cake iced with the words: "Happy Birthday Taata Muhoozi", meaning Happy Birthday Muhoozi's father - a reference to the president's son, who is commander of the Special Forces Unit, which includes the Presidential Guard Brigade.
But the activists were outnumbered by about 200 policemen dressed in riot gear.
The policemen chased away the activists with batons and walked away with the cake and gifts, our reporter says.
Deputy Police spokesman Vincent Ssekate said police broke up the "mock party" because the organisers did not seek permission to hold it.
"They failed to come out and tell us their intentions," he said.
Mr Ssekate said the police were also concerned that it was taking place in the heart of Kampala's business district.
"We could not risk people's businesses to allow such a gathering," he said.
Brenda Nabukenya said the party was organised to inform Ugandans of Mr Museveni's age.
"Through thorough research, we found out he is 73. We have gone to the schools where he went and also to his friends. They told us he is 73 years," she said.
Our correspondent says there are no official celebrations to mark Mr Museveni's birthday.
Under Uganda law, presidential candidates must be aged 75 or less.
Our correspondent says there are no proper records in Uganda of when people were born, and it is difficult to verify the conflicting accounts.
Mr Museveni was declared the winner of elections earlier this year but the opposition said they were rigged.
Opposition activists then staged protests against the rising cost of living, which human rights activists said were brutally suppressed, leading to several deaths.
|
1c49fd7c9f796a3099a751d7c2784153 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094503 | Somalia country profile | Somalia country profile
Created in 1960 from a former British protectorate and an Italian colony, Somalia collapsed into anarchy following the overthrow of the military regime of President Siad Barre in 1991.
As rival warlords tore the country apart into clan-based fiefdoms, an internationally-backed unity government formed in 2000 struggled to establish control, and the two relatively peaceful northern regions of Somaliland and Puntland effectively broke away.
The seizure of the capital Mogadishu and much of the country's south by a coalition of Islamist shariah courts in 2006 prompted an intervention by Ethiopian, and later, African Union, forces.
Since 2012, when a new internationally-backed government was installed, Somalia has been inching towards stability, but the new authorities still face a challenge from Al-Qaeda-aligned Al-Shabab insurgents.
President: Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Farmajo, was elected by MPs gathered under tight security in a hangar at the airport of the capital Mogadishu in February 2017.
The dual US-Somali citizen served as prime minister for eight months between 2010 and 2011 when he gained popularity by ensuring regular payment of army salaries and implementing a biometric register for security personnel.
He has expressed readiness to talk to the Islamist al-Shabab militants.
Somalia's disintegration is reflected in its fragmented and partisan media, which operates in a hostile environment.
Journalists and media outlets complain about intimidation at the hands of state security agencies. Nevertheless, professionally-run media outlets have emerged - in particular, FM radios with no explicit factional links.
The TV and press sectors are weak and radio is the dominant medium. Domestic web access is held back by poor infrastructure, but social media use is on the rise.
7th-19th centuries
- From the 7th-century arrival of Islam onwards, modern-day Somalia is ruled by a series of at times competing sultanates.
19th century
- European colonial powers gradually make inroads into Somalia's rival regional states, with the bulk of the area coming under Italian rule and the British establishing control of the northwest.
1960
- Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland become independent, merge and form the United Republic of Somalia.
1969
- Mohamed Siad Barre assumes power in coup after the assassination of the elected president; he goes on to declare Somalia a socialist state and nationalises most of the economy.
1991
- The ousting of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 sparks a decades-long civil war between rival clan warlords and the disintegration of central authority. Former British Somaliland declares unilateral independence.
1990s
- US-spearheaded UN peacekeeping mission fails to restore peace. Northern Puntland region declares autonomy in 1998.
2005-2012
Pirates - mainly operating out of Puntland - pose a major menace to shipping off the Somali coast, before falling away as a threat as a result of an international naval operation.
2006
- Militias loyal to the Islamist Union of Islamic Courts capture Mogadishu and other parts of south after defeating clan warlords, before being driven out by Ethiopian forces.
2007-11 -
An African Union peacekeeping force, Amisom, begins to deploy and Ethiopian troops withdraw in 2009. Al-Shabab - a jihadist breakaway from the Islamic Courts - advance into southern and central Somalia, prompting an armed intervention by Kenya.
2012
- Efforts to restore a central authority since 2000 finally make substantial progress, with the swearing in of the first formal parliament in more than 20 years, and the holding of the first presidential election since 1967. Pro-government forces make key advances against Al-Shabab militants.
|
563c59edbb706582f3d5d7b7ec15670b | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14095868 | Tanzania profile - Timeline | Tanzania profile - Timeline
A chronology of key events:
1498
- Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visits Tanzanian coast.
1506
- Portuguese succeed in controlling most of the East African coast.
1699
- Portuguese ousted from Zanzibar by Omani Arabs.
1884
- German Colonisation Society begins to acquire territory on the mainland.
1886
- Britain and Germany sign an agreement allowing Germany to set up a sphere of influence over mainland Tanzania, except for a narrow piece of territory along the coast which stays under the authority of the sultan of Zanzibar, while Britain enjoys a protectorate over Zanzibar.
1905-06
- Indigenous Maji Maji revolt suppressed by German troops.
1916
- British, Belgian and South African troops occupy most of German East Africa.
1919
- League of Nations gives Britain a mandate over Tanganyika - today's mainland Tanzania.
1929
- Tanganyika African Association founded.
1946
- United Nations converts British mandate over Tanganyika into a trusteeship.
1954
- Julius Nyerere and Oscar Kambona transform the Tanganyika African Association into the Tanganyika African National Union.
1961
- Tanganyika becomes independent with Julius Nyerere as prime minister.
1962
- Tanganyika becomes a republic with Mr Nyerere as president.
1963
- Zanzibar becomes independent.
1964
- Sultanate of Zanzibar overthrown by Afro-Shirazi Party in a violent, left-wing revolution; Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to become Tanzania with Mr Nyerere as president and Afro-Shirazi leader Abeid Amani Karume as vice-president.
Socialism
1967
- Mr Nyerere issues the Arusha Declaration, which launches drive for socialist economic self-reliance.
1977
- The Tanganyika African National Union and Zanzibar's Afro-Shirazi Party merge to become the Party of the Revolution, which is proclaimed to be the only legal party.
1978
- Ugandans temporarily occupy a piece of Tanzanian territory.
1979
- Tanzanian forces invade Uganda, occupying the capital, Kampala, and help to oust President Idi Amin.
1985
- Mr Nyerere retires and is replaced by the president of Zanzibar, Ali Mwinyi.
1992
- Constitution amended to allow multi-party politics.
1995
- Benjamin Mkapa chosen as president in Tanzania's first multi-party election.
1998
August - Al-Qaeda Islamist terror group bombs US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.
2000
- Mr Mkapa elected for a second term, winning 72% of the vote.
2001
January - At least 31 people are killed and another 100 arrested in Zanzibar in protests against the government's banning of opposition rallies calling for fresh elections; government sends in troops.
2001
March - Governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi and main Zanzibari opposition Civic United Front agree to form joint committee to restore calm and to encourage return of refugees from Kenya.
2001
April - Tens of thousands of opposition supporters march through the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, in the first major joint demonstration by opposition parties in decades.
2001
July - Huge new gold mine, Bulyanhulu, opens near northern town of Mwanza, making Tanzania Africa's third largest producer of gold.
2001
November - Presidents of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya launch regional parliament and court of justice in Arusha to legislate on matters of common interest such as trade and immigration.
2001
December - Britain approves controversial deal to sell military air traffic control system to Tanzania. Critics say it is a waste of money.
2005
March-April - Political violence in semi-autonomous Zanzibar ahead of voter registration for October poll.
2005
October - Governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi wins Zanzibar elections. Opposition Civic United Front claims vote-rigging and announces an indefinite boycott of Zanzibar's parliament.
2005
December - Jakaya Kikwete, foreign minister and ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi candidate, wins presidential elections.
2006
August - The African Development Bank announces the cancellation of more than $640m of debt owed by Tanzania, saying it was impressed with Tanzania's economic record and the level of accountability of public finance.
2008
January - Central Bank Governor Daudi Ballali is sacked after an international audit finds the bank made improper payments of more than $120m (£60m) to local companies.
2008
February - President Kikwete dissolves cabinet following corruption scandal which forced the prime minister and two ministers to resign.
2009
November - Main opposition party in Zanzibar, Civic United Forum, ends five-year boycott of the island's parliament ahead of upcoming elections.
2010
July - Tanzania joins its neighbours in forming a new East African Common Market, intended to integrate the region's economy.
2010
September - President Kikwete says construction of highway through Serengeti game reserve will go ahead, despite criticism from environmental experts.
2011
January - Two killed as police try disperse demonstrators demanding release of Chadema opposition party leader Freeman Mbowe, detained ahead of a rally against government corruption.
2011
July - British arms and aircraft firm BAE Systems admits setting up sham compensation arrangements worth £8m for the sale of an overly-complex air-traffic control system, and agrees to pay Tanzania £30m in compensation.
Gas find
2012
March - The Statoil and Exxon Mobil oil exploration companies make major discovery of gas reserves off the coast of Tanzania.
2012
May - President Jakaya Kikwete sacks six ministers after the inspector of public finances notes the "rampant misuse of funds" in at least seven ministries. The ministers of finance, energy, tourism, trade, transport and health lose their jobs.
2012
August - Tanzania confirms 36 Iranian oil tankers have been using Tanzanian flags to evade US and EU economic sanctions on Iran's crude oil exports. The US warns Tanzania that it could face sanctions unless the flag operation stops.
2013
December - Four cabinet ministers are sacked over allegations of human rights abuses during a campaign against ivory poaching.
2015
April - Referendum on a new constitution is postponed after delays in registering voters.
2015
November - Works Minister John Magufuli of the governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi wins presidential election by large margin over former prime minister Edward Lomassa.
2016
April - Tanzania and Uganda agree to build East Africa's first major oil pipeline.
2017
February - Government bans several private health centres from providing HIV and AIDS-related services, accusing them of promoting homosexuality.
The Mwanahalisi newspaper becomes the second paper to be banned in recent months. Rights groups says press freedom is under increasing threat.
2017
October - Police detain a group of foreign lawyers discussing whether to challenge a government decision to limit the provision of health services which allegedly promote homosexuality.
2018
November - Authorities deploy army to buy cashew nuts from farmers to solve a row over prices.Major donor Denmark suspends aid over anti-gay campaign.
2020
October - President Magufuli wins re-election by a large margin, amid opposition allegations of fraud.
|
1bef0e8771f472f9c1ade9b741713004 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14107024 | Togo profile - Timeline | Togo profile - Timeline
A chronology of key events:
15-17th centuries
- Ewe clans from Nigeria and the Ane from Ghana and Ivory Coast settle in region already occupied by Kwa and Voltaic peoples.
1700s
- Coastal area occupied by Danes.
1884
- German protectorate of Togoland established, forced labour used to develop plantations.
1914
- British, French forces seize Togoland.
1922
- League of Nations issues mandates to Britain to administer the western part and to France to rule the eastern area of Togoland.
1956
- British-ruled western territory included into the Gold Coast, later renamed Ghana.
1960
- Independence.
1961
- Sylvanus Olympio elected as first president.
1963
- Olympio assassinated, replaced by Nicolas Grunitzky.
1967
- Gnassingbe Eyadema seizes power in bloodless coup, political parties dissolved.
1974
- Phosphate industry nationalised.
1979
- Eyadema, standing as sole candidate, elected as president in first parliamentary polls since 1967, under constitution entrenching civilian, one-party rule.
1985
- Series of bombings in Lome.
1985
- Coup attempt, French troops come to government's assistance. Togo accuses Ghana and Burkina Faso of involvement. Togo's frontier with Ghana shut until 1987.
1986
- Exiled opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio sentenced to death in absentia for complicity in 1985 coup attempt.
1986
- Eyadema re-elected.
1991
- Strikes, demonstrations. Eyadema agrees to split power with transitional adminstration pending elections.
1992
- New constitution approved.
1993
- Eyadema dissolves government, sparking protests and fatal clashes with police. Thousands flee to neighbouring states.
1993
- France, Germany, US suspend aid to press for democratic reforms.
1998
- Eyadema re-elected.
2000
March - UN report alleges that presidents Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso and Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo helped the Angolan rebel group Unita get arms and fuel in exchange for diamonds. Both countries deny the accusations.
2001
February - UN-OAUl inquiry into allegations of summary executions and torture in Togo concludes there were systematic violations of human rights after 1998 presidential election.
2001
August - Opposition leader Yawovi Agboyibo is jailed for six months for libelling the prime minister. Demonstrators take to the streets.
2002
June - Eyadema sacks his prime minister and ally Agbeyome Kodjo and says the action is in preparation for parliamentary elections. Kodjo lambasts the president and accuses his aides of corruption and human rights abuses.
2002
October - Ruling party wins parliamentary elections. Main opposition parties stage boycott in protest at way poll was organised.
2002
December - Parliament alters the constitution, removing a clause which would have barred President Eyadema from seeking a third term in 2003.
2003
June - Eyadema re-elected. Prime Minister Koffi Sama and his government resign.
2003
July - President Eyadema reinstates Koffi Sama as prime minister. A unity government is announced but the main opposition parties are not included.
2003
September - Togo sends 150 soldiers to Liberia to bolster a West African peacekeeping force.
2004
November - European Union restores partial diplomatic relations. Ties were broken in 1993 over violence and democratic shortcomings.
2005
February - President Gnassingbe Eyadema dies, aged 69. The military appoints his son Faure as president in a move condemned as a coup. Under international pressure Faure stands down and agrees to hold presidential elections.
2005
April - Faure Gnassingbe wins presidential elections which the opposition condemns as rigged. The vote is followed by deadly street violence between rival supporters. The UN later estimates that 400-500 people were killed.
2005
June - President Gnassingbe names opposition's Edem Kodjo as prime minister.
2006
April - Reconciliation talks between government and opposition resume. Dialogue was abandoned after Gnassingbe Eyadema's death in 2005.
2006
August - Government and opposition sign an accord providing for the participation of opposition parties in a transitional government.
2006
September - Yawovi Agboyibo, veteran leader of the opposition Committee of Action for Renewal, is named prime minister and tasked with forming a unity government and organising polls.
2007
February - Exiled opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio returns home briefly.
2007
October - Ruling Rally of the Togolese People party wins parliamentary election. International observers declare the poll free and fair.
2007
November - The European Union restores full economic cooperation after a 14-year suspension, citing Togo's successful multi-party elections.
2007
December - Rally of the Togolese People's Komlan Mally appointed prime minister
2008
September - Former UN official Gilbert Houngbo appointed prime minister with support of governing Rally of the Togolese People.
2009
April - President Gnassingbe's half-brother and former Defence Minister Kpatcha Gnassingbe and several army officers are arrested in connection with an alleged coup plot against the president.
2009
June - Togo abolishes death penalty.
2010
January - Togo quits African Cup of Nations football tournament in Angola after an attack on its team bus kills two officials.
2010
March - President Gnassingbe declared winner of presidential elections. The main opposition Union of Forces for Change alleges widespread fraud and refuses to recognise the result.
2010
May - Veteran opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio agrees power-sharing deal with ruling party, splitting his Union of Forces for Change (UFC).
2011
March - Police break up protests against planned legislation which would restrict street demonstrations.
2011
September - President's half-brother Kpatcha Gnassingbe sentenced to jail for plotting to overthrow him.
International Maritime Bureau voices concern over increasing violence being practiced by pirates off the West African coast.
2012
June - Clashes as demonstrators gather in Lome to protest against reforms to the electoral code that favour the ruling party.
2013
July - Long-delayed elections. Ruling party wins two-thirds of parliamentary seats. Opposition party Let's Save Togo alleges irregularities.
2015
May - Opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre refuses to recognise President Gnassingbe's victory in elections.
2019
May - Constitutional changes allow President Gnassingbe to seek re-election and potentially stay in office until 2030 - an issue that sparked huge protests in 2017-18.
2020
February - President Gnassingbe re-elected, opposition leader Agbeyome Kodjo accuses authorities of widespread fraud.
|
1b261a44c55edd690820743d6efaff54 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14107555 | Tunisia profile - Leaders | Tunisia profile - Leaders
President: Mohamed Beji Caid Essebsi
Beji Caid Essebsi came to office in December 2014 after winning the first free presidential election since the uprising that toppled autocratic leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Mr Essebsi, who was a long-serving speaker of parliament under Mr Ben Ali's rule, defeated the incumbent, veteran dissident Moncef Marzouki, in the run-off of a vote polarised between Islamists and their opponents.
His secular Nidaa Tounes party also replaced the Islamist Ennahda party as the largest party in parliament.
Mr Marzouki had been elected by an interim constitutional assembly in 2011, after Mr Ben Ali was ousted in the first "Arab Spring" uprising.
Some accused Mr Marzouki of failing to restrain Ennahda's authoritarian tendencies while in office.
In his victory speech, Mr Essebsi stressed the need for reconciliation after a heated campaign, promising to be a "president of all Tunisian men and women".
Critics believe his rise to power marks the return of the Ben Ali-era political establishment.
Born in 1926, Mr Essebsi trained as a lawyer and entered politics as a supporter of Tunisia's independence leader, Habib Bourguiba.
After independence from France in 1956, he served Mr Bourguiba and his successor, Mr Ben Ali, in various security, defence and foreign affairs-related posts before becoming speaker of the Chamber of Deputies in 1990. In the wake of the 2011 revolution, he was briefly interim prime minister.
Prime Minister: Habib Essid
A long-serving agriculture official under President Ben Ali, Mr Essid was interior minister and security adviser in various governments after the 2011 "Arab Spring" uprising before President Essebsi appointed him prime minister in early 2015.
His secular coalition of the president's Nidaa Tounes and Free Patriotic Union also includes representatives of the liberal Afek Tounes and Islamist Ennahda parties, in order to maintain a stable parliamentary majority. Mr Essid soon faced serious challenges from a campaign of violence by the Islamic State extremist group, which killed more than 60 people in two attacks targeting tourists at the Bardo Museum and the resort of Sousse. He responded firmly by announcing a crackdown on Islamist extremists and mosques that preach their message.
|
cf0a98c5822cb995a26f140826fb21b0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14114727 | Puntland profile | Puntland profile
Puntland, an arid region of north-east Somalia, declared itself an autonomous state in August 1998, in part to avoid the clan warfare engulfing southern Somalia.
Despite its relative stability, the region has endured armed conflict, and grabbed the world headlines with an upsurge in pirate attacks on international shipping in the Indian Ocean.
Puntland is a destination for many Somalis displaced by violence in the south.
Unlike its neighbour, breakaway Somaliland, Puntland says it does not seek recognition as an independent entity, wishing instead to be part of a federal Somalia.
The territory takes its name from the Land of Punt, a centre of trade for the ancient Egyptians and a place shrouded in legend.
President: Abdiweli Mohamed Ali "Gas"
This US-trained economist beat the incumbent Abdirahman Muhammad Mahmud "Farole" by one vote in parliament to become the president of the Puntland autonomous region in January 2014.
Mr Gas, who was born in north-central Somalia in 1965 and holds US and Somali joint citizenship, served as prime minister of Somalia in 2011-2012
In the post, oversaw steady progress to drive back the al-Shabab Islamist militia, and to strengthen the central government's remit.
Although Puntland's charter provides for freedom of the press, the authorities have resorted to detaining journalists and closing media outlets.
Private broadcasters are permitted to operate. No newspapers are currently published in Puntland.
17th-19th century
- The area of current Puntland is ruled by the Sultanate of Majeerteen - a major trading power.
1888-9
- Majeerteen and the rival sultanate of Hobyo become Italian protectorates.
1920s -
Both sultanates are annexed to Italian Somaliland.
1960
- Puntland becomes part of a united Somalia with the independence and merger of the Italian and British Somaliland territories.
1998
- Puntland region declares autonomy after the rest of Somalia collapses into anarchy, but does not seek independence.
2005-2012
- Pirates - mainly operating out of Puntland - pose a major menace to shipping off the Somali coast, before falling away as a threat as a result of an international naval operation.
|
65ca0311d9a24bd5fe06a795cab7bc71 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14120349 | Zimbabwe's NoViolet Bulawayo wins Caine writing prize | Zimbabwe's NoViolet Bulawayo wins Caine writing prize
Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo has won this year's Caine Prize for African Writing, regarded as Africa's leading literary award.
The £10,000 ($16,000) prize was given for her story Hitting Budapest about hungry children from a shantytown who steal guavas from an upmarket suburb.
She told the BBC: "I try to write stories that don't normally get told."
The chair of judges said the gang of "poor and violated" children were "reminiscent of Clockwork Orange".
"The language of Hitting Budapest crackles," said judge chair Hisham Matar, who announced the winner at a prize-giving ceremony in the UK city of Oxford on Monday evening.
"This is a story with moral power and weight, it has the artistry to refrain from moral commentary. NoViolet Bulawayo is a writer who takes delight in language."
At the beginning of the story, first published in The Boston Review last year, the narrator explains why the children are heading for Budapest: "There are guavas to steal in Budapest, and right now I'd die for guavas, or anything for that matter."
"There they encounter this lady from London who is more interested in taking their picture, which I guess happens when Westerners go to Africa, but she fails to realise that they are hungry," Ms Bulawayo told the BBC's Network Africa.
One of the children is a 10-year-old girl who has seemingly been made pregnant by her grandfather.
"It's very, very wrong but in this environment it's normalised," she says.
Ms Bulawayo says she identifies with the characters - Darling, Bastard, Chipo, Godknows, Stina and Sbho - and in the story she is "marrying the personal with the imaginary".
"Some of these incidents in Hitting Budapest are taken from my own life - the stealing of guavas to begin with, growing up less privileged and having these dreams."
NoViolet Bulawayo was born and raised in Zimbabwe and recently completed a masters degree at Cornell University in the US.
|
598f9e9529117ceddbf34acde55bf768 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14121193 | Republic of Congo profile - Leaders | Republic of Congo profile - Leaders
President: Denis Sassou Nguesso
Denis Sassou Nguesso is one of Africa's longest-serving leaders, having first come to power three decades ago.
He gained his latest seven-year term after elections in July 2009 which were boycotted by the opposition, and from which the main opposition candidate was excluded.
He was installed as president by the military in 1979 and lost his position in the country's first multi-party elections in 1992.
He returned to power in 1997 after a brief but bloody civil war in which he was backed by Angolan troops.
A French-trained paratrooper colonel, Mr Sassou Nguesso is seen as a pragmatist. During his first presidency in 1979-92 he loosened the country's links with the Soviet bloc and gave French, US and other Western oil companies roles in oil exploration and production.
He abandoned the one-party system in 1992, opening the ruling Congolese Workers Party (PCT) to competition after more than 20 years as the sole party.
But he has also been dogged by corruption allegations. In May 2009, a French judge announced an investigation into whether Mr Sassou Nguesso and two other African leaders - all of whom deny wrongdoing - had plundered state coffers to buy luxury homes and cars in France.
In 2015, a national dialogue organised by Mr Sassou Nguesso recommended that the constitution be changed to allow the president to stand for what be his third term since returning to power in 1997.
The opposition, which boycotted the process, condemned the move as a constitutional coup.
Denis Sassou Nguesso was born in a village in northern Congo in 1943. In 2006 he became chairman of the 53-nation African Union.
|
a3ef6bf061980a628f88cebd952a4d5f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14159182 | Horn of Africa drought: Kenya to open Ifo II camp | Horn of Africa drought: Kenya to open Ifo II camp
Kenya has agreed to open a new refugee camp near its border with Somalia, as thousands of people flee the region's worst drought in 60 years.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the Ifo II camp, which can fit up to 80,000 people, would open within 10 days.
Some government ministers had feared opening the camp would encourage more Somalis to cross the border.
Announcing the move, Mr Odinga said: "Although we consider our own security, we can't turn away the refugees."
Mr Odinga had earlier visited the nearby Dadaab refugee camp, where he said the situation was unacceptable.
Aid workers say conditions at the camp - which is made up of three settlements - are desperate. About 370,000 people are crammed into an area set up for 90,000 people, they say.
But the prime minister rejected criticism that Kenya should have opened Ifo II earlier. He said Kenya had lived with the refugee crisis for 20 years and had been asking the international community for help all that time.
"They are only now responding when they see people are dying. The international community is always very later in acting. So the Kenyan government is a victim, not the accused."
Mr Odinga said Kenya would not take responsibility for the logistics of opening the Ifo II camp.
"It's up to the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] to work on the modalities and how they can move into Ifo II," Mr Odinga said.
The UNHCR had been urging Kenya to open the camp for the past two years but the government stopped work on it earlier this year, citing security concerns as one of the reasons.
UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres on Monday held talks with Kenya's Internal Security Minister George Saitoti to appeal to him to open the camp.
The BBC's Kevin Mwachiro says the announcement the camp will open could not come at a better time. He says more than 1,300 refugees are crossing into Kenya from war-torn Somalia every day.
On Wednesday, Kenya's Assistant Internal Security Minister Orwah Ojodeh told the BBC a new camp would not be a solution to the hunger crisis.
Instead, food relief should be provided inside Somalia as hunger, not insecurity, was the reason most refugees were heading for Kenya, he said.
But Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang said he was embarrassed that the government was refusing open the Ifo II camp.
This was despite the fact that the UN had given Kenya tens of thousands of dollars for the camp, he said.
Mr Kajwang blamed the failure to open the camp on security chiefs and officials in President Mwai Kibaki's office.
"The problem is that our provincial administration [officials based in Mr Kibaki's office] and our security officers look at the huge influx as a threat to national security," he said.
"On the other hand, we see it as a crisis that must be managed. It is our responsibility under international law and our own law."
Mark Bowden, the UN humanitarian affairs co-ordinator for Somalia, told the BBC that Somalia was not yet facing a famine, but was "close" to one.
"The next few months are critical," he said.
The BBC's Will Ross in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, says the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is exploring every possibility to increasing its presence in Somalia.
However, the WFP says it will not be able to return to areas controlled by the militant Islamist group al-Shabab unless it receives security guarantees.
Last week al-Shabab said it was lifting its ban on foreign aid agencies, provided they did not show a "hidden agenda".
Our reporter says there is clearly a desperate need for more food distribution in Somalia.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is reporting a dramatic rise in malnutrition rates even in the part of Somalia normally considered to be the breadbasket of the country, our reporter says.
Somalia's Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali told the BBC a refugee camp has opened in the capital, Mogadishu.
The government had set aside money to help drought victims, but it had "meagre" resources.
"We are appealing to the international community to take the matter seriously and to act quickly to save as many lives as we can," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
Some 10 million people are said to be affected by the Horn of Africa's worst drought in 60 years.
Somalia, wracked by 20 years of conflict, is worst affected. Some 3,000 people flee each day for neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya which are struggling to cope.
|
19fee01c8bdb3b5e658ba8714f87e6c3 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14175443 | Somalia drought: UN delivers aid to Islamist areas | Somalia drought: UN delivers aid to Islamist areas
The UN has made its first aid delivery to drought victims in areas of Somalia controlled by al-Qaeda-linked militants since they lifted an aid ban.
UN children organisation's Rozanne Chorlton said al-Shabab had given UN workers unhindered access and hoped this would encourage other agencies.
It comes as the UK pledged £52.25m ($84m) in emergency drought aid.
But the UK's overseas aid minister told the BBC the UK would not deal with al-Shabab, which controls much of Somalia.
Andrew Mitchell is touring the huge Dadaab camp in north-eastern Kenya to see the scale of the crisis caused by the drought, the Horn of Africa's worst in 60 years which is estimated to be affecting some 10 million people.
Unicef airlifted food and medicine to malnourished children to the central town of Baidoa, more than 200km (about 125 miles) north-west of the capital, Mogadishu.
Ms Chorlton, the Unicef representative for Somalia, said al-Shabab had assured the agency it could operate without undue interference.
Al-Shabab, which rules over large swathes of south and central Somalia, had imposed a ban on foreign aid agencies in its territories two years ago, accusing them of being anti-Muslim. It lifted the ban 10 days ago as long as groups had "no hidden agenda".
"They gave assurances that our access for humanitarian purposes would be unhindered and that we would be able to reach the people who need support most," Ms Chorlton told the BBC.
Unicef paid no fees to al-Shabab, and that the success of the mission meant it would be repeated in the near future, she added.
She warned the situation was close to famine.
Thousands of people have been fleeing al-Shabab's territories in search of food and water - some to Mogadishu, where aid agencies are operating in areas controlled by the the weak interim government, and others to Ethiopia and Kenya.
Some 1,400 Somali refugees are arriving every day at Kenya's overcrowded Dadaab camp - some walking up to 20 days to get there.
Mr Mitchell, the UK's international development secretary, estimates that there are about 400,000 people in the camp. Aid agencies fear numbers could rise to half a million.
"More than 3,000 people every day are fleeing over the borders to Ethiopia and Kenya, many of them arriving with starving children," Mr Mitchell said.
"We need everyone who can help from across the world now to make sure they focus on this developing crisis here to stop it becoming a catastrophe. There is an emergency developing of profound proportions," said the minister.
"Britain, as always, has shown huge generosity and is in a leadership position to try and resolve this crisis. We need others to do so too. We need the whole of the international community now to bend every sinew to help these poor people here who are in a desperate condition."
He said the UK's aid package would also help victims of the drought who remain in Somalia, which has been racked by constant war for more than 20 years - its last functioning national government was toppled in 1991.
"We simply will not deal with al-Shabab and we will not allow our operations to be fettered by them," said Mr Mitchell.
"We must be able to see that it can actually reach, with lifesaving provision, those for whom it is intended, then we will be giving additional support inside Somalia now and scaling that up."
The UK's £52.25m aid package comes after a joint charity appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) saw more than £13m raised in a week.
The cash is in addition to the £38m food aid package announced on 3 July to feed 1.3m people for three months.
The Department for International Development (Dfid) said the money would help:
|
bb0310658fb18aa1dd8c31b28c03db36 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14314060 | Somalia famine: WFP begins aid airlift to Mogadishu | Somalia famine: WFP begins aid airlift to Mogadishu
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has begun to airlift emergency food supplies to famine-struck Somalia.
The first flight, with 10 tonnes of nutritional supplements for children, has landed in the capital Mogadishu, an African Union official told the BBC.
Millions in Somalia and across the Horn of Africa face dire food shortages in the worst regional drought for decades.
The Islamist al-Shabab militia, which controls much of Somalia, has banned the WFP from its areas.
The delivery was to have begun on Tuesday but was delayed from leaving Kenya by bureaucratic hurdles.
Challiss McDonough, a spokeswoman for the WFP, said the 10 tonnes of Plumpy'nut, a peanut-based paste high in protein and energy, would be enough to treat 3,500 malnourished children for one month.
Given the demand for food aid in Somalia, the delivery is just a drop in the ocean, says the BBC's East Africa correspondent Will Ross, in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Plumpy'nut was flown from France to Kenya on Monday.
More flights were planned for the coming weeks, Associated Press news agency quoted Ms McDonough as saying.
The delivery is the first airlift of food aid since the UN declared a famine in two southern areas of Somalia last week.
Similar flights are also due to take aid into the Ethiopian town of Dolo Ado, from where it can be moved across the border into Jubaland, a sliver of land held by Somalia's pro-government forces just west of famine-hit Bakool.
The aid is being moved by plane because sending it by boat would take months, said Ms McDonough.
Tens of thousands of Somalis have fled areas controlled by al-Shabab to Mogadishu and neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia in search of assistance. The weak interim Somali government, backed by an African Union (AU) force, controls only parts of Mogadishu.
A spokesman for the AU force, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, told the BBC the Boeing 737 delivering the 10 tonnes of supplies had landed at Mogadishu's airport.
The AU has 9,200 peacekeepers in Mogadishu to guard the airport and government-held territory in the city.
Somalia is thought to be worst-hit by the crisis, but Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti have also been affected.
More than 10 million people in the region are thought to be at risk.
Somali Foreign Minister Mohamed Ibrahim has warned that more than 3.5 million people "may starve to death" in his country.
The Prime Minister, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, has complained that the UN is being too slow with the delivery of food.
The challenge facing all aid agencies is immense but some analysts are questioning why this emergency was not prevented - as the severe drought and food shortage were predicted late last year, says our East Africa correspondent.
After criticisms that wealthy Arab states were not doing enough to help with the crisis, Saudi Arabia has pledged $50m (£30m) to the WFP to buy food for Somalis, the UN agency has said.
It follows an announcement from the European Union that it would donate $40m on top of the $61m it had already given the drought-hit region of East Africa this year.
|
387619dfb4c93606bdbedd9d27a97464 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14493277 | Pfizer: Nigeria drug trial victims get compensation | Pfizer: Nigeria drug trial victims get compensation
US-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has made the first compensation payment to Nigerian families affected by a controversial drug trial 15 years ago.
It paid $175,000 (£108,000) each to four families in the first of a series of payments it is expected to make.
The payouts are part of an out-of-court settlement reached in 2009.
In 1996, 11 children died and dozens were left disabled after Pfizer gave them the experimental anti-meningitis drug, Trovan.
The payouts were made to the parents of four of the children who died.
Their parents told the BBC they welcomed the payment, but it would not replace the loss of their loved ones.
The children were part of a group of 200 given the drug during a meningitis epidemic in the northern city of Kano as part of a medical trial comparing Trovan's effectiveness with the established treatment.
For years Pfizer maintained that meningitis - not the drug - caused the deaths and disabilities.
But after a lengthy and expensive litigation process, it reached a settlement with the Kano government in northern Nigeria.
The trials were carried out in Kano and the state government fought Pfizer on behalf of victims and their families.
It has taken two years and DNA tests to establish who is entitled to payments, the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Lagos says.
It could take another year for payments to be concluded, he says.
Pfizer also agreed to sponsor health projects in Kano as well as creating a fund of $35m to compensate those affected.
Pfizer said it was pleased the four had been compensated.
"This is the first step in a multi-phase review process by which the independent board of trustees that manages the fund will deliver payment to all other qualified claimants," the company said in a statement.
"We thank them for their commitment and dedication to seeing this process through in the most timely and transparent way possible."
|
732e87de18b4bf4856296a4e4ecee35f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14602274 | Gunfight on Libya-Tunisia border | Gunfight on Libya-Tunisia border
Tunisian security forces have fought a gun battle with armed men in pick-up trucks near the Libyan border, officials say.
The gunmen were reportedly driving vehicles with Libyan licence plates.
The violence broke out late on Friday and lasted into early Saturday, with Tunisian officials saying some of the attackers had been injured.
Thousands of Libyans have streamed into Tunisia to escape fighting between rebels and Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
A Tunisian official told the AFP news agency that a patrol was sent out on Friday evening after a local resident reported suspicious vehicles near the border.
Between five and eight Libyan vehicles were involved in the skirmish, which lasted several hours, according to the official.
Military sources said no Tunisian personnel were hurt, but the attackers, who were still being hunted, had suffered casualties.
Some reports claimed the attackers were Libyan, but there was no indication whether they were aligned with any of the sides in the country's civil conflict.
|
ce5c90708c7350990310db783ae771e5 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14659941 | East Africa drought: Africa pledges famine aid | East Africa drought: Africa pledges famine aid
African leaders have raised more than $350m (£215m) in aid for 12 million people facing starvation in the Horn of Africa's worst drought in decades.
Some $1.2bn of the $2.5bn the UN says is needed has been raised worldwide.
Civil society organisations said they were disappointed that just four African heads of state attended the African Union summit in Ethiopia.
But the AU said it was not a question of who showed up, but rather how much money was raised.
The much-delayed conference was the first of its kind for the AU and was aimed at meeting the shortfall in global efforts to raise money for humanitarian relief.
Ahead of the meeting, African Union Commission chief Jean Ping urged Africans to "act out against hunger by providing both cash and in-kind support for urgent life-saving assistance to our brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa".
Asha Rose Migiro, the UN's deputy secretary general, told the conference that "the future of an entire generation hangs in the balance".
"We are still not reaching all the people who need help, and the crisis still has not peaked. The cost in human suffering will rise even higher. We must do all that we can to stop the acceleration," AFP news agency quotes her as saying.
Notable pledges came from Algeria, Egypt, Angola and South Africa, with Africa's newest nation, South Sudan, offering $1m.
However, the bulk of the money raised on Thursday - $300m - came from the African Development Bank, to be used for long-term projects in the region.
The BBC's Noel Mwakugu in Addis Ababa says 11-year-old Ghanaian schoolboy
Andrew Andasi, who has started his own campaign to raise money for drought victims
, also attended the summit.
He challenged African presidents to pledge at least $1 each to his fund and told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme he had so far raised $4,000 this month from "companies, organisations and most of my school friends".
Correspondents say several African governments had faced criticism for their lack of response.
The US, Britain, China, Japan, Brazil and Turkey have all pledged funds to the region, as has the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) - a gathering of Islamic countries - but the contributions have fallen short of the requested assistance.
The AU Commission's vice chairman said it wanted to make sure the money raised reached those in need.
"We have already established a mechanism where we're working with a lot of international organisations - particularly the UN - so that we can monitor and co-ordinate the assistance," Eratus Mwencha told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
"We have also asked some of the organisations, including the non-government organisations, to prepare a chart where we can follow on and give an indication to all our partners of what they pledged, how much we have received and how much has been dispersed to the needy populations."
The food crisis is said to be the most serious to affect the continent since the famine in Somalia in 1991-1992 at the time the country descended into a civil war from which it is yet to emerge.
Much of Somalia, where five districts are suffering from famine, is controlled by the Islamist al-Shabab group. The group, which is linked to al-Qaeda, has banned many aid agencies from its territory.
Tens of thousands of Somalis have fled to the capital, Mogadishu, and to neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia, in search of assistance. An estimated 1,500 Somalis have been arriving every day at Kenya's massive Dadaab camp - the world's largest refugee camp.
The UN says 3.2 million Somalis - almost half the population - are in need of immediate life-saving assistance.
|
421042d0447ba8dca37573b0778c0984 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14814388 | Libya conflict: Gaddafi aide Mansour Daw 'in Niamey' | Libya conflict: Gaddafi aide Mansour Daw 'in Niamey'
Col Muammar Gaddafi's security chief is among several former Libyan officials who have arrived in the capital of Niger, Niamey, officials there say.
They say the man, Mansour Daw, entered the country on Sunday and travelled via the desert city of Agadez.
Meanwhile, a convoy said to be carrying dozens of heavily armed Gaddafi loyalists as well as gold and cash, is headed for Niger's capital.
Niger officials say Col Gaddafi is not believed to be travelling with it.
A senior rebel military commander said that he believed Col Gaddafi was still in Libya, but heading away from areas which have seen fighting.
"We have it from many sources that he's trying to go further south, towards Chad or Niger," Hisham Buhagiar said in an interview with Reuters news agency.
The former Libyan leader has vowed to fight to the death, even though he has lost control of most of the country.
Niger officials said Mr Daw, who headed Col Gaddafi's personal security brigades, crossed into Niger on Sunday.
Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed US security as saying he arrived with other prominent former officials.
Niger Interior Minister Abdou Labo told reporters on Tuesday that Mr Daw had been allowed to enter the country on humanitarian grounds.
The latest convoy to reach Niger from Libya arrived in Agadez on Monday, and is said to be headed for Niamey, 950km (600 miles) to the south-west.
It is believed to consist of at least 50 heavily armed vehicles, and to include Tuareg fighters recruited by Col Gaddafi.
"Vehicles carrying gold, euros and dollars crossed from Jufra into Niger with the help of Tuaregs from the Niger tribe," Fathi Baja from Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) told Reuters.
The US called on Niger to arrest senior pro-Gaddafi figures entering the country. "We have strongly urged the Nigeran officials to detain those members of the regime who may be subject to prosecution," said state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
Earlier reports that Burkina Faso - which borders Niger to the south-west - had offered to welcome Col Gaddafi have been denied by the country's communication minister.
Alain Edouard Traore told the BBC: "Burkina Faso has not offered asylum to Mr Gaddafi. Burkina Faso is not informed of Mr Gaddafi coming to this country."
The NTC spokesman in London, Guma el-Gamaty, told the BBC that Niger would be penalised if it was proven to have helped Col Gaddafi escape.
"Niger is a neighbour of Libya from the south and should be considering the future relationship with Libya," said Mr Gamaty. "This - if confirmed - will very much antagonise any future relationship between Libya and Niger."
Col Gaddafi's wife, two of his sons and his daughter have already fled to Algeria.
An NTC delegation on Tuesday held fresh talks with tribal elders in the town of Bani Walid - 150km (95 miles) south-east of Tripoli.
Bani Walid is one of four towns and cities still controlled by Gaddafi supporters. The others are Jufra, Sabha and Col Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte.
The NTC, which has positioned forces outside Bani Walid, has been trying to negotiate a peaceful surrender.
After the talks chief NTC negotiator Abdullah Kenshil told AFP the elders had been "reassured that we do not mean them harm and we will preserve their lives".
The senior negotiator for the elders told the BBC that they had returned to Bani Walid to convince residents and pro-Gaddafi troops to let them enter the town. He said he was confident of a peaceful end to the stand-off.
NTC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil has said the talks would continue until a deadline on Saturday.
As well as being a Gaddafi stronghold, Bani Walid is also the home of the biggest and most powerful Libyan tribe, the Warfalla.
|
784eabbcfa989fa845d2f1c79a905d08 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14952240 | China's stake in Zambia's election | China's stake in Zambia's election
If you want proof that China has arrived in Africa, look no further than Zambia, which is gearing up for parliamentary and presidential elections on Tuesday.
Its capital Lusaka has recently become the first African city to offer Chinese currency banking services.
The city's Bank of China branch now handles counter deposits and withdrawals in yuan.
It is expected longer term that Chinese businesses operating in Zambia will start using the currency amongst themselves to reduce the amount of commission paid when changing from the Zambian kwacha via the US Dollar.
Qi Wang, the bank's assistant general manager, explained the service
in yuan (also known as renminbi)
was aimed at Chinese investors working in Zambia, but also Zambians importing goods from China.
"As a bank, we make money through transactions where you change currencies, but we think it is in the best interests of our clients and trade that we remove this additional layer and currency and make it more convenient for our clients," he said.
Although China's relationship with Zambia dates back to the building of the Zambia to Tanzania Railway in the 1970s, it is in the last 10 years that Sino-Zambian trade has really taken off, growing from just $100m (£63m) in 2000 to $2.8bn last year.
But in the run-up to the polls questions are being asked about just how far China's influence in Zambia spreads, and if Chinese money is bankrolling the incumbent presidential candidate Rupiah Banda and his party the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD).
Beyond the claims that the Banda-branded lollipops being given out to potential voters by the MMD were made in China, the sheer scale of the ruling party's campaign has raised many eyebrows about funding sources.
Neo Simuntanyi, director of the left-leaning Lusaka-based think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), told the BBC that Zambian party financing was totally opaque and it was hard to really know where money was coming from.
"Although there's no way to prove it, there are a lot of suspicions that the MMD is maybe benefiting from Chinese support just because of the sheer scale of their campaign," he said.
"The MMD has never had that kind of money before and you can see that in how well-oiled their campaign machine has been and how big their presence is everywhere around the country."
Muhabi Lungu, an MMD parliamentary candidate and former head of Zambia's overseas investment organ, Zambia Development Agency, (ZDA), played down claims that his party had received Chinese funding.
"I don't believe that to be true," he said. "We have raised our money from donations from Zambians and people in business, both of whom are happy with our performance in government and want that to continue.
"I think these allegations come from an opposition which has had no campaign presence to speak about and which is really feeling the size of the MMD campaign."
Mr Simuntanyi suggested that it was in the interest of Chinese companies to keep the MMD in power, in order to maintain the favourable - or as some would say preferential - investment climate they have enjoyed in Zambia in recent years.
China's main area of interest is mining, having bought up on the cheap a number of copper, cobalt and nickel mines, which had been mothballed by Western investors when commodity prices fell.
Beyond mining and manufacturing, there is also growing Chinese presence within Zambia's retail sector, from imported textiles and electronics, to chickens farmed locally and sold in city markets.
The country is also home to two of China's six African Special Economic Zones (SEZs) one in Chambishi near Kitwe in the Copperbelt, and the other just outside Lusaka.
These are designated geographic areas with liberal policies and tax incentives to attract foreign companies.
Although there have been repeated allegations - and in some cases hard evidence - of poor labour conditions and low salaries in Chinese-run mines and factories, the Zambian government remains happy with its new friend because the investment has driven economic growth to almost unprecedented levels.
The MMD's main opposition, Michael Sata's Patriotic Front (PF), has in the past been very critical about Chinese labour conditions, and although the party has disputed media reports it is anti-Chinese, if elected, it is likely to shake up the way contracts are awarded.
And Given Lubinda, a PF parliamentary candidate, said the size of the ruling party's campaign had been surprising.
"All of sudden they seem to have so much money - whether or not it's coming from the Chinese, we don't know, but for all that and the advantages they have had through the state-owned television and newspapers, we at the PF have the people," he said.
"Everywhere we go, the response has been incredible and the overwhelming mood from people on the street is that Zambians want change and that will come with the PF, not from the MMD."
The election will be Zambia's fifth since the advent of multi-party democracy in 1991 when Kenneth Kuanda's United National Independence Party was ousted by the MMD.
It is likely to be a very close call between the MMD and the PF - Mr Banda only beat Mr Sata by 35,000 votes in the 2008 by-election, called following the mid-term death of Levy Mwanawasa.
With its promises of jobs and better education, the PF is hoping to win over young voters and the urban poor.
The MMD meanwhile is campaigning on the back of its infrastructure investment - new schools, roads and hospitals - agriculture input programmes, which have led to bumper harvest, and the mine-driven economic growth which has averaged 5.6% since 2001, according to the World Bank.
With the two main presidential candidates in their mid 70s, it is expected it will be their last election, which makes the stakes even higher.
Although the country has little history of political violence - apart from street riots in the final months of independence leader Kenneth Kaunda's rule, when the economy had collapsed - there are some concerns that the closeness of the race this year could raise tensions.
While China and its role in the country has been less of an issue during this campaign compared with previous years, the Chinese investors are likely to watch very closely who emerges victorious when the results are announced on Friday.
|
31b6c536bf909331e60d3c8ab456193b | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15019883 | Ugandan LRA rebel Thomas Kwoyelo granted amnesty | Ugandan LRA rebel Thomas Kwoyelo granted amnesty
A court in Uganda has ordered the release of one of the commanders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), ending the country's first war crimes trial.
Thomas Kwoyelo had been charged with 53 counts of murder and other crimes.
But the constitutional court said he should be given an amnesty in line with other LRA rebels.
At least 30,000 people died as the rebel movement spread terror in northern Uganda for more than 20 years, displacing some two million people.
It is notorious for kidnapping children and forcing the boys to become fighters and using girls as sex slaves.
The group is listed by the US as a terrorist organisation and now operates mainly in neighbouring countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central Africa Republic
Mr Kwoyelo was captured more than two years ago in DR Congo during a Ugandan military operation.
The BBC's Joshua Mmali in the capital, Kampala says he was a former LRA colonel and said to be the fourth in command at the time.
He was charged with leading raids into villages in northern Uganda and DR Congo between 1992 and 2005, killing and abducting civilians - charges he denied.
Mr Kwoyelo was the first LRA commander to face trial in Uganda's special war crimes court.
It was set up in 2008, following peace talks between the government and the LRA, which later collapsed.
The government assured the LRA that its fighters would be tried by Ugandan courts, rather than the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Mr Kwoyelo asked to be released on the grounds that other LRA rebels have been granted an amnesty.
"He is off the hook," said his defence lawyer Ben Ikilai. "The constitutional court has decided that he is supposed to be released because it was discriminatory not to grant him an amnesty."
The LRA leader, Joseph Kony, is still at large.
He and his close aides have been wanted by the ICC since 2005 for rape, murder, mutilation and forcibly recruiting child soldiers.
He refused to sign a peace deal with the Ugandan government in 2008 when it could not guarantee the withdrawal of the ICC arrest warrants.
|
35a198e714658bc3ba9252f73bf2bd64 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15317684 | US to send troops to Uganda to help fight LRA rebels | US to send troops to Uganda to help fight LRA rebels
US President Barack Obama has said he is sending about 100 US soldiers to Uganda to help regional forces battle the notorious Lord's Resistance Army.
Although combat-equipped, the troops would be providing information and advice "to partner nation forces", Mr Obama
wrote in a letter to US Congress
.
A small group is already in Uganda, and the troops could later be deployed in other central African nations.
The LRA is blamed for mass murder, rape and kidnapping in the region.
"I have authorised a small number of combat-equipped US forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of (LRA leader) Joseph Kony from the battlefield," Mr Obama wrote on Friday.
But he stressed that "although the US forces are combat-equipped... they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defence".
Mr Obama did not provide any details about the deployment duration, but a US military spokesman later told the BBC that the "forces are prepared to stay as long as necessary to enable regional security forces to carry on independently".
The force will use hi-tech equipment to assist in what analysts say is a "kill or capture" policy, the BBC's Marcus George in Washington reports.
The deployment follows recent US legislation to help disarm the LRA and bring its leader to justice. The theory is, our correspondent adds, that without Joseph Kony, the movement will collapse from within.
Senator John McCain said Central Africa would be more stable if the threat of the LRA "under the sadistic leadership of Joseph Kony," would be "diminished".
But Mr McCain, a long-serving senator, veteran and Mr Obama's opponent in the 2008 presidential election, expressed "regret" that the president did not consult with Congress on the decision to sent troops to Uganda.
"I remember how past military deployments intended to further worthy humanitarian goals, whether it was peace-keeping operations in Lebanon or Somalia, resulted in tragedies that we never intended or expected," Mr McCain said in a statement.
At least 30,000 people died as the LRA spread terror in northern Uganda for more than 20 years, displacing some two million people.
It is notorious for kidnapping children, forcing the boys to become fighters and using girls as sex slaves.
The group is listed by the US as a terrorist organisation and now operates mainly in neighbouring countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central Africa Republic.
Joseph Kony and his close aides have been wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2005.
He refused to sign a peace deal with the Ugandan government in 2008 when it could not guarantee the withdrawal of the ICC arrest warrants.
|
86619ef856423b5bdb2545b89f616fab | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15562729 | Zambian farmers learn to write their Shanjo language | Zambian farmers learn to write their Shanjo language
"It's like a miracle," says Hastings Sitale, recalling how he felt when he saw a booklet written in ciShanjo, a language he had only ever spoken before.
Mr Sitale, who describes himself as "just a farmer", is part of an estimated 20,000-strong Shanjo community in Zambia's remote Western Province.
Over the last few months, he has been part of a group of amateur linguists, mostly fellow farmers, who have been creating a spelling system for their mother tongue.
For the first time stories passed down through the generations by word of mouth are being written down.
"We decided to do this so, as the older people die away, the younger people will see the language," Mr Sitale told the BBC World Service.
Mr Hastings and his team of village translators are one of five teams developing a written language for their tongues in the Western Province.
They attend translation workshops in the regional capital Mongu - a round trip which can take up to 32 hours, travelling by oxen, car and bus.
Oxen also formed an important part of their inaugural session with Paul Tench, a retired linguist from Cardiff University, who helped the Shanjo team begin their project in July.
"Their sheer excitement was wonderful to behold," he said.
The first task was to record a sample of the language which could be used for a dictation exercise.
So Mr Tench asked the team to think of a story and decide who should tell it; they elected one member who described the importance of training oxen for effective farming in ciShanjo.
Individually they all wrote down the story, after which they compared their efforts.
But they mostly agreed, according to Mr Tench.
"All of these people were literate in the [local] trade language siLozi and English; they knew from these languages the consonants and vowels of the Latin alphabet and what they stood for in those two languages.
"They applied this as best they could to the sounds of the words in their own language.
"Then they discussed things together in their mother tongue to agree solutions to any problems that arose. I kept a tally of the letters used and arranged them in a chart that reflected phonetic patterns."
A spelling system emerged as the exercises continued. After two weeks, a 27-page booklet on how to read and write ciShanjo was produced, which included a 500-word dictionary, some grammar notes and three short pieces they had studied.
The original request for the translation initiative was made by Christian church groups who complained that many in their congregations were unable to understand the Bible written in siLozi, and missionary groups sponsored Mr Tench's trip.
Since then, James Lucas, a Christian missionary based in Zambia, has continued to co-ordinate the language translation project, helping the Shanjo and four other ethnic groups.
"The languages in the Western Province are quite similar, go back 150 years and many of them come from the same language," says Mr Lucas.
But that changed over time because they live so far apart, leaving some minority languages very isolated.
It is a pattern partly mirrored at the continental level, according to Mr Tench: Africa has about 15% of the global population but between them Africans speak 30% of the total number of languages in the world.
Zambia alone has more than 70 languages; the official national language is English.
Nancy Kula, who lectures in Linguistics at the University of Essex, says the Western Province is probably the most linguistically diverse region in Zambia.
"CiShanjo, like many other languages of the Western Province, is very much under threat of extinction," she warns, saying it is difficult to say how many languages have become extinct in Zambia recently.
"The situation is very under-investigated and I fear the real situation is probably even worse than anticipated."
Part of the problem is the influence of English and siLozi in the area - siLozi is the lingua franca for speakers of ciShanjo travelling or trading in the Western Province.
But many Shanjo cannot understand siLozi and even when they do attempt to speak it, they are teased by townsfolk because of their accents.
"They call us people from the bush or forest people," says Carol Mushali, who is the only woman on the ciShanjo translation team.
She sees the potential for primary school lessons using ciShanjo now that siLozi and English can be translated in written form because, many researchers say, children learn best in their mother tongue.
There are also benefits for adults learning this new form of their language.
"Once they taste a bit of knowledge they want more. It opens up learning to take place - a foundation that teaches them to read and write opens up the mind to further learning of every type," says Ms Mushali.
Isilimwe Limakazo, 25, is the youngest person to take part in the translation project.
He says the experience of taking part has led him to "want to only use the Shanjo language every day".
He sees a bright future for the language.
"Even my friends are cutting songs and videos in ciShanjo… before when they were singing, they used to make mistakes but now because they have learned to read and write the language properly, if they produce another album, then it will be better than before."
Enoch Walubita, another farmer and translator on the project, is similarly enthused.
"The advantage of this project is our people will be exposed - on the map."
"We were thinking we are nobody, but now we are the same as everyone in the world."
|
8633106592136c8eeb3a9fa29079e0d5 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15569310 | China mines in Zambia 'unsafe' says Human Rights Watch | China mines in Zambia 'unsafe' says Human Rights Watch
Chinese-run copper mines in Zambia are dangerously unsafe and owners routinely flout the rights of workers, says a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The pressure group says miners are threatened with dismissal if they became involved in union activities.
It urged Zambia's new President, Michael Sata, to fulfil election promises and take decisive action against the owners.
The Chinese state company running the mines denied most of HRW's allegations.
Copper mining is one of Zambia's main industries, providing nearly three-quarters of the country's exports; many of the mining companies are foreign-owned.
The
Human Rights Watch
report entitled "You'll Be Fired If You Refuse": Labour Abuses in Zambia's Chinese State-owned Copper Mines, highlights "persistent abuses".
It said miners had to work 12-hour shifts often in fume-filled tunnels. Sometimes shifts were 18 hours long.
Zambian law limits shifts to eight hours.
The report said that despite improvements in recent years, safety and labour conditions at Chinese mines were worse than at other foreign-owned mines.
The state-owned China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corporation (CNM) runs four copper mines in Zambia.
In its response to the report, CNM said "language and cultural differences" could have resulted in "misunderstandings".
"China's significant investment in Zambia's copper mining industry can benefit both Chinese and Zambians," said Daniel Bekele, the Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
"But the miners in Chinese-run companies have been subject to abusive health, safety and labour conditions and longtime [Zambian] government indifference."
Many of the poor safety practices in Zambia's Chinese-run mines were strikingly similar to abuses at mines in China, he added.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing, Hong Lei said the report did not accurately reflect conditions.
"The conclusions reached by Human Rights Watch are inconsistent with the facts," Mr Hong told reporters.
He said Chinese companies had brought great benefits to Zambia and that systems were in place to protect the safety and rights of workers there.
The report is based on interviews with 170 copper miners, more than half of whom worked for the Chinese companies.
Human Rights Watch found that pay at the Chinese-run mines was higher than Zambia's minimum wage, but much lower than that paid by other multinational copper mining firms.
The workers said they often had to buy their own safety equipment.
"Sometimes when you find yourself in a dangerous position, they tell you to go ahead with the work," one miner told Human Rights Watch.
"They just consider production, not safety. If someone dies, he can be replaced tomorrow. And if you report the problem, you'll lose your job."
Zambia's new President, Michael Sata, has been a longstanding critic of conditions in Chinese-run enterprises in Zambia.
But he toned down his anti-Chinese rhetoric in his last campaign, and since he was elected.
Chinese companies took over many Zambian mines after western investors pulled out following a collapse in copper prices.
Prices for Zambia's prime export have recently shot up, fuelled by Chinese demand.
China has invested more than $400m (£250m) in Zambia's mining industry, and Zambia earned $2.2bn from copper exports to China last year.
The total trade between the two countries last year was $2.8bn.
"Simply demanding that Chinese companies improve their practices is insufficient if not accompanied by more effective regulation of the mines," Human Rights Watch said.
|
930a228fee123d50adca6a8c7ca4c3f0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15645354 | Cashing in on Uganda's oil boom | Cashing in on Uganda's oil boom
Trisa Kabaganda knows that, as the Ugandan proverb goes, it is only the early risers who succeed in filling their baskets with white ants.
And when oil was discovered in the Hoima district of Western Uganda, she was an early riser.
She realised that people working in the oil industry would soon need local services and accommodation, and decided to grab the opportunity that was knocking at her door.
She started with a restaurant and a boutique, but has gone on to open the Trisek Hotel in Hoima Town, the district's capital, in August this year.
Lately she has also been filling her baskets with villas, 14 of them so far.
They surround the hotel - which overlooks the beautiful Hoima hills - and are all named after wild animals found in the nearby Murchison Falls national park.
Ms Kabaganda told the BBC's African Dream series that she charges from $40 (£25) to $60 a night for accommodation in the hotel, which has 10 rooms, and $100 a night per villa.
"Before the oil industry, I had not thought about a hotel but I was thinking of putting up apartments," she said.
For the last couple of months most of her guests have been people working on the road that leads to the oil well.
She admits that she has been making lots of money and says she wants to use it to buy more land and to open other branches of her hotel.
"I would want it to become bigger and bigger to make sure that my parents are proud of me and my people in Hoima are proud of me," Ms Kabaganda told the BBC's Joshua Mmali.
At the moment, her partners in the business are her two children, aged 20 and 22.
"I don't think it's a bad idea to put children in business. I've been doing my businesses with my children and, right now, I'm proud because they're all doing petroleum engineering," she said.
"I'm really targeting for the oil industry because I've put my children to the oil industry as well," she added.
According to The Economist, Uganda expects to earn $2bn a year from oil by 2015.
Earlier this week the Ugandan parliament was told that nearly 80 companies have applied for oil exploration rights.
Ms Kabaganda told the BBC that one of her biggest challenges came when thieves targeted a container full of goods she had ordered to start her business.
"That set me back and then I had to spend like two months without opening but I managed to get along, and the things which they had stolen, I replaced them," she said.
According to her, a big problem at the moment is the scarcity of water and electricity in the area. It costs her nearly $130 a day to run a generator.
And what would be her advice to other women planning to start a business?
"They should have courage. And if you have courage you will slowly succeed because, as I started, I didn't know that I would finish but here I am. I've finished my project."
African Dream is broadcast on the BBC Network Africa programme every Monday morning.
Every week, one successful business man or woman will explain how they started off and what others could learn from them.
|
88e3a9bceb93ea9ae4554dbe886e0897 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15725632 | Israel-Kenya deal to help fight Somalia's al-Shabab | Israel-Kenya deal to help fight Somalia's al-Shabab
Israel has offered to help Kenya secure its borders as it tackles Somalia's Islamist group, al-Shabab, the Kenyan prime minister's office has said.
It said Kenya got the backing of Israel to "rid its territory of fundamentalist elements" during Prime Minister Raila Odinga's visit to the country.
Last month, Kenya sent troops to neighbouring Somalia to defeat al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda.
It blames the militants for a spate of abductions on its side of the border.
In a statement, Mr Odinga's office quotes Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that "Kenya's enemies are Israel's enemies".
"We have similar forces planning to bring us down," he is is quoted as saying. "I see it as an opportunity to strengthen ties."
At least 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing on an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan coastal resort of Mombasa in 2002.
Four years earlier, more than 200 people were killed in co-ordinated bomb blasts on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Al-Qaeda carried out the attacks, with some of its senior members operating from Somalia.
Mr Odinga - who is accompanied on the visit by Internal Security Minister George Saitoti - said Israel could help Kenya's police force detect and destroy al-Shabab's networks in Kenya.
Kenya also needed Israel to provide vehicles for border patrols and equipment for sea surveillance to curb piracy off the East African coast, he said.
"We need to be able to convincingly ensure homeland security," Mr Odinga said.
The statement quoted Mr Netanyahu as promising to help build a "coalition against fundamentalism" in East Africa, incorporating Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Tanzania.
Israel's President Shimon Peres had promised to "make everything available" to Kenya to guarantee its security within its borders, the statement said.
"Consistently, Kenya has shown a very positive attitude towards Israel and Israel is ready to help," the statement quotes Mr Peres saying.
Kenya accuses al-Shabab of abducting several people from its territory since September - including an elderly French woman who suffered from cancer. French authorities say she has since died in Somalia.
Al-Shabab denies involvement in the abductions and has vowed to retaliate against Kenya for sending troops into Somalia. It has accused the Kenyan army of killing civilians.
Last month, a Kenyan man, Elgiva Bwire Oliacha, told a court in Nairobi that he was an al-Shabab member.
He pleaded guilty to carrying out grenade attacks on a nightclub and bus stop in the city, leaving one person dead and 29 others wounded.
Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991, with al-Shabab controlling most of the southern and central regions.
|
0410cce4315a6539a1406bf1e14ee943 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15758695 | Why eastern DR Congo is my favourite place in Africa | Why eastern DR Congo is my favourite place in Africa
Where is your favourite place in Africa? Mine - for a jumble of contradictory reasons that don't quite add up - is the Kivus, on the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I used to spend a lot of time
in the region when I was based in Nairobi
and I'm finally heading back there after a gap of six years. It's election time in DR Congo, but I'll also be reporting on several other themes and would love to hear any suggestions you might have.
In 20 years on the road, I've never encountered a region that combines such an intense blend of beauty, energy, misery, ingenuity, bureaucracy, potential and horror as the steep green hills that cluster around Lake Kivu.
These lines from WH Auden
always spring to mind when I think of the wars - and accompanying atrocities - that have ravaged the region - for so many years:
That girls are raped, that two boys knife a third/Were axioms to him, who'd never heard/Of any world where promises were kept,/Or one could weep because another wept.
And yet the inhabitants of the Kivus are also among the warmest, most dynamic people I've met.
In preparation for this trip, I was digging through some old notebooks and articles, and came across something I'd written about the city of Bukavu in, I believe, 2003. I don't think it ever appeared on the website so I thought I'd tack it on here since it sums up a lot of my thoughts about the region.
It's 10 in the morning - the rain clouds have just drifted off into the mountains, and a bright sun is bouncing off the still waters of Lake Kivu.
I'm standing outside the cathedral in Bukavu - enjoying the view, and thinking idly about water-skiing.
Bukavu doesn't normally prompt such cosy thoughts. If you were trying to sum the place up for a newspaper, you might say: "Rebel-held town, surrounded by jungles, besieged by genocidal militias, flooded with refugees, trapped in the middle of a war that's killed some three million people."
All of which is perfectly true. But you could also describe Bukavu as one of the most breathtakingly beautiful towns on earth - perched on steep green hills, overlooking the lake, the volcanoes and the mountains which mark the western edge of Africa's Rift Valley. An architecturally rich town, steeped in history, and full of sophisticated, well-educated, determined people. Like Father Dieudonne Musanganya.
He's just been conducting Sunday mass inside the cathedral. Now he's on the steps outside with me, in his bright white gown, complaining bitterly about number plates.
Right now the whole town seems preoccupied - not by the war- but by what the French speakers here call "le scandale des plaques." In fact everyone has been on strike this week because of it.
All this started because the rebel army - which is occupying Bukavu - decided that all drivers should replace their old number plates with special new ones - which happen to cost $100 (£67) cash a piece. Those who refused would have their vehicles impounded.
"This is pure exploitation," says Father Dieudonne. "They have no right to do this. They're rebels, not a government. They're just trying to rob the civilians - as usual."
The rebels are called the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD). For an army which claims to be defending the rights of the local civilian population - they are stunningly unpopular. Rightly or wrongly, their leaders are ridiculed as corrupt, champagne-swilling slobs, while their half-starved footsoldiers rape and pillage with impunity.
"They do nothing good," says Father Dieudonne, working himself into a rage. "They just pillage. Look at the state of the roads here. And now these number plates..!"
I didn't come to Bukavu because of this particular scandal. I came to find out about the huge numbers of rape cases being reported - women and young girls increasingly preyed on by local soldiers - from the RCD and other militia groups.
It is a grim story - many hundreds of girls- some as young as 11 - gang-raped and left for dead, or dragged off into the jungles to be used as sex slaves.
In fact, this entire region of eastern DR Congo is a human rights nightmare. Four years of war have pushed more than two million people out of their homes.
The phrase that so often crops up in descriptions of the Congo is "heart of darkness." The title of Joseph Conrad's short novel, written at the end of the 19th Century, is routinely wheeled out to illustrate the enduring mystery and misery that lies hidden in this vast, impenetrable region.
Personally, I hate the phrase. It sounds too much like an excuse for knowing and doing precisely nothing about the situation.
Yes, there is a big jungle. And yes, the roads aren't too good these days.
But the point I'm trying to make about Bukavu is that this isn't some wretched, obscure town which deserves our fleeting pity. This was, and could be, a perfectly normal place - full of ordinary people trying to stand up for their rights - people prepared to defy a rebel army on an issue as seemingly trivial as number plates.
Father Dieudonne smiles and shakes my hand, then heads back into the cathedral. It's time for the weekly children's mass. Hundreds of youngsters have been milling around outside - big sisters carrying baby brothers. Everyone dressed in their best outfits. They jostle their way inside, and start singing. Cheerful, hopeful music drifts out across the potholed street, past the soldiers lounging under a tree, and out over the clear blue waters of Lake Kivu.
|
2ba27833fb7316c44b50b25ae46c418c | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15859686 | Waiting in vain for a train in DR Congo | Waiting in vain for a train in DR Congo
Alexandre Mapokopero is proud to work for SNCC, the national railway of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the last time he actually mounted a train was back in June.
As chief train attendant in the southern city of Lubumbashi, his job is to attend to passengers' every need while they are travelling.
He turns up for work every day but there is no work to go to because so few of the country's trains are actually running.
Mr Mapokopero complains that he is owed more than 60 months' back-pay.
"I can't afford to resign," he says, hoping that one day, the company will resume payments.
"I'm scared that if I quit I may lose all my benefits, including my pension."
Ahead of next week's elections, the state of the rail network reveals all one needs to know about the vast country's problems, past and present.
Originally designed to meet the transport demands of the mineral companies, it is still failing to meet the needs of ordinary Congolese.
Like much in DR Congo, it is old, run-down, badly managed and in desperate need of an overhaul.
"There is a big mess in the Congolese rail system," says Mbuyu Kikidji, who used to run the national rail company.
"First of all the rail system is very old. The management is also old. And the equipment is old," he says.
"And there's not a proper vision to where this railroad is going."
He adds: "I wouldn't take Congolese trains today."
His fears are borne out by the network's safety record.
There are hundreds of derailments every year - more than a third of the 3,641km (2,262 miles) of track is more than 60 years old.
There are plans for the World Bank to fund a big rail modernisation programme.
But for passengers like Kalema Kongo, waiting at Lubumbashi's main railway station, there seems little sign of change.
She was hoping to travel to see her family, who live about 800km (500 miles) from Lubumbashi, in Kilagi.
She was due to take the "diamant deluxe", a special train which is supposed to be faster as it stops at fewer stations.
But once again it has not turned up.
Ms Kongo has been told that it has been delayed by 24 hours.
"Even if it does leave, you never know when it will arrive," she says.
"A journey which normally takes me three days, can take as much as a week, or even more. "
Resigned to her fate, she adds: "It's always like this, but what can I do?
"I haven't got enough money to buy a plane ticket."
The country, which is two-thirds the size of western Europe, has only a few hundred kilometres of tarmac roads outside the main cities, meaning that travelling by bus is not really an option.
"I can't walk all the way, I have no choice but to wait and sleep here at the station," Ms Kongo says.
For the staff of the national rail company's in-house magazine, Njanja, there is not a lot to report - with not a locomotive in sight.
Njanja is a quarterly publication - the last edition came out nine months ago.
Photo-journalist Marcel Mulongo explains that like the railway - and the country - the magazine he works for is having "financial problems".
But in his office at the station, standing in front of a faded map of the network, which is so old it dates back to the era of Mobutu Sese Seko, when DR Congo was called Zaire, he says he is still hopeful that the "diamante deluxe" will turn up tomorrow.
As some passengers leave the station ready to return the following day, they walk past a reminder of days gone by: An old blue and yellow locomotive, the first one to roll on DR Congo's tracks.
It is now the centrepiece of a roundabout, just a few hundred yards from the railway line.
This symbol of the country's past has now become a billboard for the future. The locomotive is covered with election posters for candidates running for parliament.
They are all promising a brighter future for the DR Congo.
Chief train attendant Alexandre Mapokopero is not so confident.
"We have no locomotives, no carriages," he says.
"All we have are empty promises from the government."
Julian Keane is reporting from the Democratic Republic of Congo for the BBC World Service all week. Listen to more of his reports on
The World Today.
|
0d0021ede91c481269e3daa6f8bdfbf6 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16000522 | Nando's axes Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe 'dictator' advert | Nando's axes Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe 'dictator' advert
A South African fast food chain has withdrawn a TV advert which pokes fun at Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe as "the last dictator standing".
Nando's South Africa said it decided to act after receiving threats to its staff in Zimbabwe from a youth group loyal to Mr Mugabe.
The video shows a sad Mugabe look-a-like dining alone at a table set for Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Uganda's Idi Amin and other late autocratic rulers.
The firm is known for its cheeky ads.
"We've noted with concern the political reaction emanating out of Zimbabwe, including perceived threats against Nando's Zimbabwe's management, staff and customers," Nando's South Africa said in a statement.
"We feel strongly that this is the prudent step to take in a volatile climate and believe that no TV commercial is worth risking the safety of Nando's staff and customers."
The video - which reportedly cost up to $370,000 (£236,000) to produce - was part of a Christmas festive season campaign running on South African TV.
It was also broadcast across the continent - including Zimbabwe - through satellite channels, and recently went global, scoring hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube.
In the commercial, an actor playing Mr Mugabe reminisces about happy times with other autocratic rulers to the soundtrack of Mary Hopkin's Those Were the Days.
Mr Mugabe is shown playing a water-pistol fight with Col Gaddafi, making sand angels with Saddam Hussein, riding on a tank with Idi Amin in a scene parodying Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio from the Titanic film, and also singing karaoke with China's Mao Tse-Tung.
Nando's South Africa decided to axe its commercial after Mugabe loyalists from the Chipangano group had called for a boycott and other unspecified punitive action against the company.
"We condemn such adverts because it reduces our president to be someone without values," Chipangano leader Jimmy Kunaka told the BBC's Brian Hungwe earlier this week.
Mr Kunaka said Nando's South Africa should "stop that nonsense to play with the head of our state and government".
"We're ready to defend the head of the state and government in whatever way we can," he added, without elaborating further.
Meanwhile, Musekiwa Kumbula, corporate affairs director of Nando's Zimbabwe franchise, told the BBC that the advert "has nothing to do with us", describing the commercial as "insensitive and distasteful".
Under Zimbabwe's law, it is an offence to insult the president or undermine the authority of the office.
|
38235054af33cf8cb0d0406940cfe268 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16003299 | ICC seeks Sudan defence minister arrest over Darfur | ICC seeks Sudan defence minister arrest over Darfur
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant for Sudan's defence minister for alleged crimes in Darfur.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein was suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in 2003-04.
The Hague-based ICC has already indicted Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on genocide charges in Darfur.
A senior Sudanese official has dismissed the warrant as "ridiculous".
Rabbie Abdal Attie told the BBC the ICC was a "tool of the West" and was trying to destabilise Sudan but that the warrant would not affect the country.
In another development, Kenya and Sudan have resolved their diplomatic row triggered by a Kenyan court issuing its own warrant for President Bashir after he was allowed to visit Nairobi in August in defiance of the ICC request.
The latest warrant request was made by Mr Moreno-Ocampo's office in a statement on Friday.
It asked the ICC "to issue an arrest warrant against the current Sudanese Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur from August 2003 to March 2004".
The statement added that Mr Hussein
was among those who "bear greatest criminal responsibility" for atrocities in Darfur.
At the time, Mr Hussein was both Sudan's interior minister and its representative in Darfur.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo said he was requesting the warrant now "to encourage further public focus" on Sudan's policy and actions, and to "promote cooperation" to arrest the three Sudanese officials the ICC has already indicted.
ICC judges will now study
the prosecutor's request before deciding whether to issue a warrant.
Together with President Bashir, the court has also indicted another former Interior Minister Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, a suspected leader of the Janjaweed militia, over alleged atrocities in Darfur.
The ICC says that Mr Harun reported directly to Mr Hussein.
They all deny the charges and refuse to surrender to the ICC.
The mainly Arab Janjaweed militia is accused of carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Darfur's black African population after rebels took up arms in 2003, accusing the government of ignoring the region.
According to the ICC, attacks followed a pattern, with Sudan's military surrounding a village, the air force bombing it and then soldiers and Janjaweed fighters going in on foot, killing, raping and looting.
The Hague-based court has also indicted two Darfur rebels, who are accused of attacking African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. The suspects surrendered to the court last year.
Despite the warrant, Mr Bashir has visited several countries, especially in Africa, without being arrested.
After the Kenyan court issued a warrant for Mr Bashir's arrest on Monday, Sudan ordered the expulsion of Kenya's ambassador in Khartoum, and threatened to expel Kenyan peacekeepers from Sudan and not to allow planes flying to Kenya to go through Sudanese airspace.
But on his return from an emergency trip to Khartoum, Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula on Friday said relations were now "back to normal" and that no diplomats would be expelled.
He said that while the government respected the court, he said he would guarantee that Mr Bashir would not be arrested on Kenyan territory.
Mr Wetangula said Kenya would not withdraw from the ICC but, like other African countries, it was concerned that the court was unfairly targeting the continent.
"We have voiced concerns about the manner in which the ICC has been pursuing African leaders and leaving leaders with much, much heavier responsibility of human rights and murderous actions," he said, pointing to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The African Union has urged the UN Security Council to defer the warrant against Mr Bashir in order to help the search for peace in Darfur.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo is set to be replaced as ICC chief prosecutor by his deputy, Fatou Bensouda, from The Gambia.
She is the only candidate in the 12 December election and is to take up her new duties in June 2012, the ICC says.
Some 2.7 million people have fled their homes since the conflict began in Darfur in 2003, and the UN says about 300,000 have died - many from disease.
Sudan's government says the conflict has killed about 12,000 people and the number of dead has been exaggerated for political reasons.
|
d2b723553b6617bbfbaa9de668c26849 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16010171 | Robert Mugabe: The survivor | Robert Mugabe: The survivor
As Zimbabwe's economy has gone from bad to worse to disastrous in recent years, Robert Mugabe's political and physical demise has been predicted many times but he has always confounded his many critics - so far at least.
In March 2008, his future looked more uncertain than ever as Zimbabweans voted in presidential elections.
When he cast his ballot in the first round, Mr Mugabe said: "If you lose an election and are rejected by the people, it is time to leave politics."
But, after failing to win enough votes to avoid a run-off with opposition challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, Mr Mugabe displayed more characteristic defiance, swearing "only God" could remove him from office.
In the event, in the face of increasing political violence from ruling party supporters, Mr Tsvangirai pulled out.
But the economic meltdown continued and Mr Mugabe agreed to share power with his long-time rival, who became prime minister.
The key to understanding Mr Mugabe is the 1970s guerrilla war where he made his name.
At the time, he was seen as a revolutionary hero, fighting white minority rule for the freedom of his people - this is why many African leaders remain reluctant to criticise him.
Since Zimbabwe's independence, most of the world has moved on - but his outlook remains the same.
The heroic socialist forces of Zanu-PF, are still fighting the twin evils of capitalism and colonialism.
Any critics are dismissed as "traitors and sell-outs" - a throwback to the guerrilla war, when such labels could be a death sentence.
He blames Zimbabwe's economic problems on a plot by western countries, led by the UK, to oust him because of his seizure of white-owned farms.
His critics firmly blame him, saying he has shown no understanding of how a modern economy works.
He has always concentrated on the question of how to share the national cake, rather than how to make it grow bigger.
Mr Mugabe once famously said that a country could never go bankrupt - with the world's fastest-shrinking economy and annual inflation of 100,000%, he was determined to test his theory to the limit.
Professor Tony Hawkins of the University of Zimbabwe once observed: "Whenever economics gets in the way of politics, politics wins every time."
Faced with a strong opposition for the first time, he wrecked what was one of Africa's most diversified economies in a bid to retain political control by seizing the white-owned farms which were the economy's backbone, pouring scorn on donors and pursuing populist economic policies.
But in political terms, Mr Mugabe has outsmarted his enemies - he is still in power.
At any cost
After he suffered his first electoral defeat in a 2000 referendum, Mr Mugabe unleashed his personal militia - the self-styled war veterans - who used violence and murder as an electoral strategy.
Eight years later, a similar pattern was followed after Mr Mugabe lost the first round of a presidential election.
All the levers of state - the security forces, civil service, state-owned media - which are mostly controlled by Zanu-PF members are used in the service of the ruling party.
The man who fought for one-man, one-vote introduced a requirement that potential voters prove their residence with utility bills, which the young, unemployed opposition core is unlikely to have.
One of the undoubted achievements of the former teacher's 27 years in power was the expansion of education. Zimbabwe recently had the highest literacy rate in Africa at 90% of the population.
Political scientist Masipula Sithole once said that by expanding education, the president was "digging his own grave".
The young beneficiaries are now able to analyse Zimbabwe's problems for themselves and most blame government corruption and mismanagement for the lack of jobs and rising prices.
Cartoon figure
Mr Mugabe may well believe it would be easier to rule a country of subservient subsistence farmers than a well educated, industrialised workforce.
He claims to be fighting on behalf of the rural poor but much of the land he confiscated has ended up in the hands of his cronies.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu says that Zimbabwe's long-time president has become a cartoon figure of the archetypal African dictator.
During the 2002 presidential campaign, he started wearing brightly-coloured shirts emblazoned with his face - a style copied from many of Africa's notorious rulers.
For the preceding 20 years, this conservative man was only seen in public with either a stiff suit and tie or safari suit.
Many Zimbabweans, and others, are asking why he does not just put his feet up and enjoy his remaining years with his young family.
His second wife, Grace, 40 years his junior, says that he wakes up at 0400 for his daily exercises.
Mr Mugabe was 73 when she gave birth to their third child, Chatunga.
He professes to be a staunch Catholic, and worshippers at Harare's Catholic Cathedral are occasionally swamped by security guards as he turns up for Sunday Mass.
However, Mr Mugabe's beliefs did not prevent him from having two children by Grace, then his secretary, while his popular Ghanaian first wife, Sally, was dying from cancer.
'King'
Although predictions of Mr Mugabe's demise have always proved premature, the increasing strain of recent years has obviously taken its toll and his once-impeccable presentation now looks a little worn.
In 2011, a US diplomatic cable released by
Wikileaks suggested that he was suffering from prostate cancer.
But if nothing else, Mr Mugabe is an extremely proud man.
He will only step down when his "revolution" is complete.
He says this means the redistribution of white-owned land but he also wants to hand-pick his successor, who must of course come from within the ranks of his Zanu-PF party.
This would also ensure a peaceful old age, with no investigation into his time in office.
There have occasionally been widespread predictions that either Zanu-PF or Zimbabwe's neighbours would finally stand up to Mr Mugabe but in the event, both groups remain loyal to him.
One of Mr Mugabe's closest associates, Didymus Mutasa, once told the BBC that in Zimbabwean culture, kings are only replaced when they die "and Mugabe is our king".
|
5333718fc4a3990a7819709c5f062686 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17015873 | Nigerians living in poverty rise to nearly 61% | Nigerians living in poverty rise to nearly 61%
Poverty has risen in Nigeria, with almost 100 million people living on less than a $1 (£0.63) a day, despite economic growth, statistics have shown.
The National Bureau of Statistics said 60.9% of Nigerians in 2010 were living in "absolute poverty" - this figure had risen from 54.7% in 2004.
The bureau predicted this rising trend was likely to continue.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer but the sector has been tainted by accusations of corruption.
According to the report, absolute poverty is measured by the number of people who can afford only the bare essentials of shelter, food and clothing.
The NBS, a government agency, said there was a paradox at the heart of Nigeria as the economy was going from strength to strength, mainly because of oil production - yet Nigerians were getting poorer.
"Despite the fact that the Nigerian economy is growing, the proportion of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing every year, although it declined between 1985 and 1992, and between 1996 and 2004," head of the NBS bureau Yemi Kale said.
Oil accounts for some 80% of Nigeria's state revenues but it has hardly any capacity to refine crude oil into fuel, which has to be imported.
Last month, there was a nationwide strike when the government tried to remove the subsidy on fuel, angering many Nigerians who see it as the only benefit they received from the country's vast oil wealth.
The NBS said that relative poverty was most apparent in the north of the country, with Sokoto state's poverty rate the highest at 86.4%.
In the north-west and north-east of the country poverty rates were recorded at 77.7% and 76.3% respectively, compared to the south-west at 59.1%.
BBC Africa analyst Richard Hamilton says it is perhaps no surprise that extremist groups, such as Boko Haram, continue to have an appeal in northern parts of the country, where poverty and underdevelopment are at their most severe.
The report also revealed that Nigerians consider themselves to be getting poorer.
In 2010, 93.9% of respondents felt themselves to be poor compared to 75.5% six years earlier.
Mr Kale says releasing such statistics from time to time is crucial for effective government planning.
"This kind of data helps them to know what is really happening so they can track their policies and programmes," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"It gives them the opportunity to look at what they are doing... and if there are areas they need to change, it makes it easier to modify strategies," he added.
|
9317c10372f70e24ace3f48e566742a4 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17169935 | Nigeria unrest: Suicide bomb targets church in Jos | Nigeria unrest: Suicide bomb targets church in Jos
A suicide car bomber has killed at least three people at a church in the troubled central Nigerian city of Jos, sparking reprisals by Christian youths.
Witnesses said the suicide bomber drove his car into the prominent Church of Christ during morning prayers.
The radical Islamist sect Boko Haram later said that it carried out the attack.
The bombing sparked a riot by Christian youths, with reports that at least two Muslims were killed in the violence.
The two men were dragged off their bikes after being stopped at a roadblock set up by the rioters, police said.
A row of Muslim-owned shops was also burned, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the violence and appealed for calm.
"Those who seek to divide us by fear and terror will not succeed," he said in a statement.
"The indiscriminate bombing of Christians and Muslims is a threat to all peace-loving Nigerians."
Earlier, the suicide bomber smashed his car through unmanned gates towards the packed church, killing a woman in the process, witnesses said.
The explosives detonated close to where members of the congregation were attending a Sunday service, killing a father and his child.
"The bomber drove at top speed, and there was a loud explosion and everything was black," said churchgoer Ezekiel Gomos.
At least 38 people had to be taken to hospital for treatment, the National Emergency Management Agency said.
The attack sparked immediate anger among Christian youths in the city.
They "were very angry and mobilised... and I overheard them saying they were going to avenge the attack," one witness said.
Ethnic and religious tensions run high in Jos, the capital of Plateau state. Hundreds of people have died in bouts of sectarian clashes over the last few years.
Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa later told reporters that the group had carried out the attack.
Its aim was "to avenge the killings and dehumanisation of Muslims in Jos in the past 10 years", AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
The group has carried out a number of bloody attacks across Nigeria in its quest to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
Boko Haram attacked churches across the country on Christmas Day 2011, killing nearly 40 people at one church outside the capital, Abuja, alone.
It has also claimed responsibility for a string of bomb blasts around Jos on Christmas Eve 2010 that killed at least 80 people.
|
231b9046f06878349963a8c27614fc7c | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17254551 | 'Short-circuit' caused Congo's deadly arms depot blasts | 'Short-circuit' caused Congo's deadly arms depot blasts
Huge explosions at an arms depot, which killed at least 146 people in Congo's capital, Brazzaville, were caused by a short-circuit that led to a fire, government officials say.
They say some 1,500 people were hurt.
A BBC reporter in the city says rescuers still searching for survivors are unable to get into the blast site because of unexploded shells.
The force of the blasts was felt several miles away in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The BBC's Thomas Hubert in Brazzaville says there are fears that hundreds of bodies could be buried in the rubble of buildings surrounding the ammunition store.
Emergency workers say there are also fears that fires could spread to a second, bigger arms depot, close to the first one.
Residents in the east of Brazzaville fled when the first blasts occurred - and at least 2,000 people are now in temporary shelters throughout the city.
The explosions started shortly after 08:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Sunday and continued into the early afternoon, causing panic in both cities - which are separated by the river Congo.
"It's like a tsunami passed through here. The roofs of houses were blown off," Congolese student Christine Ibata, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
Government spokesman Bienvenu Okyemi said late on Sunday that a short-circuit led to a fire - which then quickly spread through the depot.
He added that the confirmed death toll stood at 146, although hospital sources have told the BBC it is more than 200.
The main fire was now under control, the spokesman said, though a number of buildings were still burning.
After visiting two hospitals, visibly shaken President Denis Sassou-Nguesso said the government was doing all it could and urged the Congolese "to show courage and solidarity".
He also announced a curfew in the area and set up an exclusion zone.
The government also asked "several international organisations" to provide assistance in dealing with the disaster, the AFP news agency reports.
Defence Minister Charles Zacharie Bowao earlier appeared on national TV to urge calm in Brazzaville and across the Congo river in Kinshasa.
"The explosions that you have heard don't mean there is a war or a coup d'etat," he said.
"Nor does it mean there was a mutiny. It is an incident caused by a fire at the munitions depot."
Streets in the capital were littered with twisted sheets of metal and debris.
Didier Boutsindi, of the presidential office, said many people were trapped in the wreckage of a collapsed church.
A worker for Congolese TV, speaking from hospital, told how he was injured amid the panic.
"I was at home and suddenly I heard this explosion coming from the camp," he said.
"There was panic. Houses and walls started collapsing and when we went outside, a wall fell on my head."
Across the River Congo in Kinshasa, windows were blown out and roofs damaged by the blasts.
Our correspondent who was in Kinshasa at the time of the blasts says many people fled from the river fearing shelling had broken out in Brazzaville.
China's Xinhua news agency said six Chinese workers were among those killed and several others had been injured, some seriously.
The Beijing Construction Engineering Group said about 140 Chinese workers were at a construction site near the scene of the blasts, the agency added.
Xinhua said the windows of its bureau office in Brazzaville had been blown out by the explosions.
|
a42c99c150ee9bda6ecbe9127bf29e22 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17339798 | Audio slideshow: Across the two Sudans | Audio slideshow: Across the two Sudans
Border clashes and rows about oil wealth cloud the relationship between South Sudan and Sudan eight months after the south seceded, with some fearing a new outbreak of open warfare.
One man with a rare insight into the two countries is photographer Tim McKulka. He spent five years travelling to every state in the united Sudan - then Africa's biggest country - to produce a book We'll Make Our Homes Here: Sudan at the Referendum, which will soon be available for free on iTunes.
He explains why he decided to undertake such an ambitious project.
Photography by Tim McKulka, interview by James Copnall
.
Slideshow production by Emma Lynch. Publication date 13 March 2012.
More audio slideshows:
Audio slideshow: Sudan's love of cows
undefined
undefined
|
13d81d78691fba14bc730ce4f834e47d | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17462531 | Zimbabwe activists avoid jail over Arab Spring lecture | Zimbabwe activists avoid jail over Arab Spring lecture
Six Zimbabwean activists convicted of inciting public violence by discussing the Arab Spring have avoided prison.
They were each fined $500 (£315) and given 420 hours' community service instead of custodial sentences.
The activists were arrested last year during a public lecture that showed footage of mass protests in Egypt.
Charges of treason that carried the death penalty had been dropped. The group denied all the allegations, saying they were "outright silly".
They have said they will appeal against both the conviction and the sentence.
The activists were among 45 people arrested in February last year when police raided the meeting. The others were released shortly afterwards.
The lecture was being given by Zimbabwean activist Munyaradzi Gwisai, who was an MP for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the former opposition which shares power with President Robert Mugabe.
The seminar asked "what lessons can be learnt", which the prosecution said meant they were planning a similar revolt.
During the trial, Gwisai rejected the charges, saying it was "a case of political harassment by the state".
The judge said that while watching the video was not a crime, the "manner and motive" showed bad intent, the Associated Press reports.
He told each of the group that if they failed to pay their fine they faced a 10-month prison sentence and if they failed to do the community work they would be jailed for a year, says AFP news agency.
The BBC's Brian Hungwe in Harare says students sang songs outside the courtroom on Wednesday, saying the trial had been a grave injustice.
The riot police intervened and six students were bundled into a police truck and whisked off, he says.
The activists are linked to the International Socialist Organisation, a group which advances the cause of poor people and the equitable distribution of resources.
President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party formed a unity government with the MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, in 2009.
The deal was supposed to stabilise the economy and introduce political reforms but the relationship has been difficult.
Mr Mugabe says he still has the sole right to decide when elections, due this year, are held.
|
f40701d1eac892a300deafc9e0265d53 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17926097 | Nigeria's Boko Haram militants claim ThisDay attacks | Nigeria's Boko Haram militants claim ThisDay attacks
The Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has posted a video on YouTube claiming responsibility for the bombing last week of a major newspaper's offices.
Seven people died in the attacks on ThisDay in the capital, Abuja, and the northern city of Kaduna on Thursday.
A voice-over on the film, which shows the suicide blast in Abuja, threatens further attacks against media groups for committing crimes against Islam.
Boko Haram says it wants to establish Islamic law in Nigeria.
Over the last 20 months its fighters have targeted government institutions, churches, bars and schools across northern Nigeria.
Last year, the group also attacked the UN headquarters in the capital, Abuja.
Residents in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, where the militants have their headquarters, named the group Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden".
In the nearly 18-minute video, Boko Haram said that ThisDay newspaper was attacked in relation to the Miss World beauty pageant held in Kaduna in November 2002.
Riots were sparked after an article mentioning the beauty contest and the Prophet Muhammad was considered blasphemous.
"We attacked ThisDay because we will never forget or forgive anyone who abused our prophet," the video says.
It went on to say its fighters would target several other Nigerian newspapers and some foreign broadcasters, and warned others that they were "on the verge of joining this list if they are not careful".
Towards the end of the recording, Boko Haram also claimed responsibility for attacks on universities in the northern city of Kano and north-eastern Gombe state in the last week.
It said they would continue to attack universities as "the government has now resorted to arresting our wives and children and also demolishing our houses".
"That is why we have also resolved to start attacking government schools, especially, tertiary ones," the video's narrator said.
Boko Haram first came to prominence in 2009 when hundreds of its followers were killed as they attacked police stations in Maiduguri.
Its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was arrested but died in police custody.
In 2010 the group started to stage drive-by shootings on government targets in revenge for his killing.
Their attacks have killed hundreds of civilians, both Muslim and Christian.
|
8787360a20380e5491306e329c46f435 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18057916 | Mali coup: Tuaregs tell of ethnic attacks | Mali coup: Tuaregs tell of ethnic attacks
Since rebels seized control of much of Mali's vast northern desert region, tens of thousands of people, mainly from Tuareg communities, have fled to neighbouring countries. BBC Afrique's Maud Jullien visited the refugee camp of Mbera in Mauritania.
"My own parents' house was burnt down in January, right after the beginning of the Tuareg rebellion in the north of Mali," Oumar Ag Abdul Kader says.
"All of my things - my motorcycle, my computer, my mattress were burned. They did not kill anyone. The police came before anyone got hurt, but it was too late to stop the fire."
Mr Kader does not know exactly who attacked his house in Mali's capital Bamako - just that they were black Malians, and none of them were wearing uniforms.
The pale-skinned Tuaregs, who inhabit northern Mali, have long complained of neglect and disrimination by the government dominated by southerns in far-off Bamako.
In February, Mr Kader says attacks increased against Tuareg in Bamako and the nearby garrison town of Kati.
"People started attacking anything Tuareg: They burnt houses, cars and attacked anyone with white skin - even Arabs," he says.
'Tuareg's fault'
Mr Kader's new home is a canvas tent in the desert, emblazoned with the blue of the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR.
Mbera refugee camp in Mauritania is 50km (30 miles) from the border with Mali - and hosts 60,000 people, mainly from Mali's Tuareg community.
Some of the refugees fled the south of Mali - out of fear of the sort of reprisal attack Mr Kader suffered.
Abdul Ag Mohamed Assala moved to Bamako from the northern city of Kidal when the rebellion broke out - only to find tension in the capital quickly escalated, forcing him to flee across the border.
"There were riots and I was afraid that they would take me for a member of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb or the MNLA [rebel National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad]," says Abdul Ag Mohamed Assala, the headmaster of a school set up in Mbera.
"I was not threatened directly, but colleagues at my office were talking, saying all of the Malian crisis, including the coup, was the fault of the Tuareg people," Mr Assala says.
"Some of them were saying the Tuareg people killed their relatives - and that now they must do the same to the Tuareg who are among them."
Mr Assala says he was especially shocked when he saw a Tuareg policeman being beaten by his colleagues because he introduced himself as a Malian, rather than by the name of his tribe.
When news of January's Tuareg rebellion reached Bamako, panic spread through the Tuareg community and people fled - often leaving all their belongings behind.
"I left all my money in my bank account, I didn't take any of my things, I just ran," says Mr Hamel, who works for an international aid agency in Bamako.
One of the reasons people say they fled so quickly is that the events of the early 1990s were still fresh in their minds.
During that period - the last time Tuareg rebels took up arms - hundreds of civilians were killed by the Malian army.
It is not Mr Hamel's first time in Mbera - he calls himself a "child of the camp".
He went to school there for several years - having fled Mali with his family in the early 1990s.
Many Tuareg families have also fled the north because of rising insecurity since the rebels took over.
In January, after a couple of years of relative peace, several rebel groups, including the MNLA and the Islamist Ansar Dine, launched a rebellion - the fourth Tuareg uprising since Mali's independence in 1960.
The MNLA's aim was to set up their own autonomous Azawad region, which they have declared although no country has recognised it.
Ansar Dine fought to establish Sharia or strict Islamic law, which they have started to do in Timbuktu, where they largely control.
Their task was made easy by March's military coup in Bamako - and the rebels swept into the main northern towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu without meeting much resistance from the Malian army.
Abdul Aziz Ag Mohamed is a MNLA fighter. He is in Mbera visiting his wife and family who fled from Lere because, they say, there was no food.
Mr Mohamed was also a child during the Tuareg rebellion of the 1990s.
His grandfather, a religious leader, and his uncle, a doctor, were killed by the Malian army - it is that memory that influenced his decision to become a rebel.
He insists he would never harm civilians - and blames reports of atrocities, including rapes and killings, committed in the north on rogue criminal elements and armed militia, which, he says, are taking advantage of the instability.
Mr Mohamed says 400 MNLA members are working to restore law and social order in Lere, the town close to the border of Mauritania where he was based until 4 May.
"Now that we control the area, we have no other objective than to stabilise it, and to show the world that we are in our own state and that we deserve a free, democratic and independent state. "
He says in the area around Lere, unknown groups are transporting weapons and waving MNLA flags - but, he insists, they do not belong to the rebel movement.
Conditions in the rebel-held north are very difficult - and many people are fleeing because they are faced with rising prices, food and fuel shortages as trade via Mauritania dries up.
"I was very far away from the fighting but we couldn't stay because we couldn't find food, we couldn't find cars, we couldn't find anything," says Mohamed el-Moktar Ag Mohamed, a refugee from the region of Timbuktu.
Life in Mbera camp is not easy: The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says residents share one latrine between 220 people and, due to insufficient aid, do not receive enough food rations to meet the nutritional needs of the children in the camp, some of whom are suffering from malnutrition.
Respiratory infections and diarrhoea are also common, according to MSF.
Despite the difficulties in the camp, continuing instability in Mali means many people prefer to be there - and the chance of their returning home anytime soon are very slim.
"We don't know who controls what," says Meini Ould Chebani, an Arab former civil servant also from the Timbuktu region.
"Where I am from, only women and children are left, those who were too weak and too poor to leave," he says.
"There are no local authorities to protect them, no mayors, no police, no judges. There is no-one. Most of them were from the south of Mali so they fled back. "
"We need an authority in Bamako so there can be someone to negotiate with, because we cannot stay in this situation."
|
8d12f9ba315331cf12889d10a08487d0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18255188 | Malawi MPs vote to fly old rising sun flag | Malawi MPs vote to fly old rising sun flag
Malawian MPs have voted to restore the national flag of a rising sun scrapped two years ago by the government of the late President Bingu wa Mutharika.
Mr Mutharika, who died in April, changed it to a full sun to reflect what he said was Malawi's move from a developing to a developed nation.
A BBC reporter says the move was deeply unpopular with the people of Malawi.
"You cannot rewrite history midway for no apparent reason," the justice minister told the BBC after the vote.
A former economist, Mr Mutharika governed Malawi for eight years, but had latterly been accused of mismanaging the economy and becoming autocratic.
Following his death, his vice-president, Joyce Banda, took power and has reversed many of his policies.
She had fallen out with Mr Mutharika over his succession plans and left his Democratic People's Party (DPP).
The government bill to revert to the flag first hoisted at independence in 1964 was supported by all opposition parties - except the former ruling DPP.
"A flag has got a very fundamental significance," Justice Minister Ralph Kasambara told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"The flag is part of our association with the independence struggle, the history of the country," he said.
He condemned Mr Mutharika's justification for changing the flag, adding that it was "absurd" to say Malawi was a prosperous country.
The BBC's Joel Nkoma in Lilongwe says the President Banda has scored several political points with the move as most people he spoke to on the streets of the capital have welcomed the return of the old flag.
The DPP says spending money on changing the flag again should not be a priority at a time the country is facing economic hardships.
But our reporter says the DPP no longer has any political clout, having lost its parliamentary majority since President Banda took over after Mr Mutharika's sudden death from a cardiac arrest.
At least half of its members have left to become independents - or crossed the floor to join President Banda's party, our correspondent says.
President Banda needs to sign the bill before it becomes law.
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated 75% of the population living on less than $1 (60p) a day.
|
0955b622f1ae5f38bb1d641ee7feb1b5 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18288639 | Somalia forces capture key al-Shabab town of Afmadow | Somalia forces capture key al-Shabab town of Afmadow
African Union and Somali government forces have captured the town of Afmadow, a strategic militant base in the south of the country.
Commanders say the Islamist al-Shabab group abandoned the town without a fight as their troops approached.
Afmadow is the second largest town in the south and only 115km (71 miles) from Kismayo, al-Shabab's headquarters.
Despite facing pressure on a number of military fronts, the al-Qaeda group still controls much of the country.
"Hopefully the next target will be Kismayo and then we will proceed to other towns and cities," interim Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"Surely but slowly we're getting our country back from al-Shabab," he said.
Afmadow has been a key target for the Kenya troops, who make up the African Union contingent in the south of the country, since they entered Somalia last October.
Somalia analyst Mohammed Abdulahi Hassan told the BBC its importance lies in that fact that a network of roads from the town leads all over the country.
He said the militants were unlikely to have the "military muscle to retake the town from the Kenya defence forces".
A spokesman for the Kenya army, Col Cyrus Oguna, told the BBC he hoped the African Union troops would be able to take the port of Kismayo, on the main road south of Afmadow, before 20 August.
This is the date agreed by disparate Somali factions to elect a new president, ending a transitional period and the mandate of the UN-backed interim government.
Mr Hassan says if Kismayo does fall, al-Shabab will be in "a desperate position both politically and financially".
The interim prime minister was speaking to the BBC from Istanbul where world leaders and Somali politicians have gathered for
talks hosted by the Turkish government
.
It is the second major international conference this year about how to end Somalia's two decades of anarchy.
The Horn of Africa country has had no effective central government since 1991, and has been racked by fighting ever since - a situation that has allowed piracy and lawlessness to flourish.
"The London conference focused more on unity, piracy and terrorism; Istanbul is more about development and ending the transition," Prime Minster Ali said.
Earlier this year the UN agreed to boost the AU force from 12,000 troops to nearly 18,000 to incorporate Kenyan troops which entered Somalia last October in pursuit of al-Shabab militants.
They accuse the fighters of being behind various kidnappings on Kenyan soil and of destabilising the border region.
|
583a2c5572c8311f02a245dbd8a3d1b3 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18610618 | Mali: Islamists seize Gao from Tuareg rebels | Mali: Islamists seize Gao from Tuareg rebels
Islamist forces in northern Mali have seized the town of Gao after clashes with Tuareg-led rebels.
At least 20 people have been killed and the political leader of the Tuareg-led movement has been wounded.
Residents say the Islamists linked to al-Qaeda took over buildings occupied by the Tuaregs in the town - including their headquarters.
Tension has been growing since the Tuaregs and Islamists jointly took control of northern Mali after a coup.
A spokesman for the Tuareg National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) told the BBC's Thomas Fessy that Bilal Ag Cherif was wounded during Tuesday's clashes.
His life is not in danger and he has been taken to a neighbouring country for treatment.
The fighting in Gao followed a day of protest after a local official was killed on Monday.
Residents said heavy weapons were being used.
A doctor in Gao told the BBC that most of the people who were killed and injured seemed to have been armed, but a number of civilians had also been caught in the fighting.
In March, the Islamists and MNLA advanced together through northern Mali after the government was overthrown.
Our correspondent says that they proved unable to reach an agreement after they took control of the region.
After weeks of an unlikely alliance between the Tuareg-led fighters seeking a secular independent north and Islamist rebels who want to impose Islamic Sharia law across northern Mali, this latest violence clearly illustrates the balance of power in the region, he adds.
More than 300,000 people have fled northern Mali since the rebels took the territory in the days following the 22 March coup.
|
d9986265d067aa17a9b208b3bf98da4a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18612896 | Ethiopian blogger Eskinder Nega 'guilty of terror link' | Ethiopian blogger Eskinder Nega 'guilty of terror link'
A court in Ethiopia has found prominent journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega guilty of violating controversial anti-terrorism legislation.
Eskinder and 23 others were accused of links with US-based opposition group Ginbot Seven, which Ethiopia considers a terrorist organisation.
The prosecutor has asked for life in prison, rather than the death penalty.
"This is a dark day for justice in Ethiopia," said Amnesty International's Claire Beston.
Last month, Eskinder was awarded the prestigious Pen America's "Freedom to Write" annual prize for his work.
Human rights groups have criticised Ethiopia's anti-terrorism legislation for being too far-reaching.
Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at campaign group Human Rights Watch, said the case "shows that Ethiopia's government will not tolerate even the mildest criticism".
The BBC's Anne Waithera in the capital, Addis Ababa, says only eight of the defendants, including Eskinder and opposition member Andualem Arage, were present in court.
After the verdict their lawyer told journalists: "My clients are not guilty. They're innocent."
Eskinder was arrested last September after publishing an article questioning arrests under the anti-terrorism legislation, especially that of well-known Ethiopian actor and government critic Debebe Eshetu.
"By using the freedom of speech recognised in the constitution these criminals have been trying to destabilise the country," AFP news agency quotes the prosecutor as saying.
Eskinder opened his first newspaper in 1993, and has been detained at least seven times by the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Last week, an Ethiopian guard working for the UN was jailed for seven years for communicating with the banned Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).
In December, two Swedish journalists were sentenced to 11 years in prison for supporting the ONLF.
Both the ONLF, which has been fighting for greater independence in the Ogaden area that borders Somalia, and Ginbot Seven, have been designated as terrorist groups by the Ethiopian parliament.
|
85021c3c42f994c4c009ca3865f5cb58 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19122861 | Sudan and South Sudan reach 'understanding' over oil | Sudan and South Sudan reach 'understanding' over oil
Sudan has struck a deal with South Sudan over oil payments in a dispute that brought the two countries to the brink of war.
South Sudan has agreed to pay Sudan just over $9 (£5.7) per barrel to transport oil to its ports.
South Sudan stopped oil production in January over the dispute and Sudan will receive $3bn (£1.9bn) as compensation for revenue lost in that period.
However, the deal is subject to further talks on security.
The two sides also have outstanding border disputes.
The two countries have held three weeks of talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
The talks will resume towards the end of August with a summit between the presidents to follow to make the deal official, the African Union told the BBC.
Former South African president and African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki said all outstanding issues had been resolved.
"What will remain, given that there is an agreement, is to then discuss the next steps as to when the oil companies should be asked to prepare for resumption of production and export," Mr Mbeki said.
A Sudanese spokesman described the deal as "acceptable" even though it met neither side's full expectations.
US President Barack Obama welcomed the deal and said it "opens the door to a future of greater prosperity" for both countries.
Economic woes
When South Sudan seceded from the north in 2011, it took three-quarters of Sudan's oil with it.
The dispute over how much South Sudan should pay Khartoum to transport oil resulted in South Sudan suspending all oil production and accusing its neighbour of stealing its exports.
The dispute has severely affected the economies of both countries.
The two countries came close to all-out war in April, when South Sudanese troops briefly occupied the disputed oil-rich border area of Heglig.
The deal comes hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a visit to Juba, urged the two Sudans to strike a deal.
A United Nations deadline for the neighbouring countries to resolve their differences expired on Thursday.
South Sudan is working towards building a pipeline through Kenya, a move that would end the country's dependence on Sudan.
|
262027a3520add27ff9b31cbbe5e9b8e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19234763 | Egypt leader Mursi orders army chief Tantawi to resign | Egypt leader Mursi orders army chief Tantawi to resign
Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has ordered the retirement of the powerful head of the country's armed forces, Field Marshal Mohamad Hussein Tantawi, a presidential spokesman has said.
He also said a constitutional declaration aimed at curbing presidential powers had been cancelled.
Mr Mursi, who was elected in June, is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Relations between Islamists and the military have been increasingly tense since the fall of President Mubarak.
"Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi has been transferred into retirement from today," presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said in a statement.
He added that a career army officer, Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, would replace Field Marshal Tantawi as both armed forces chief and defence minister.
Chief-of-staff Gen Sami Annan was also retiring, the spokesman announced.
Field Marshal Tantawi, 76, has not yet indicated whether he accepts the moves.
However Gen Mohamed al-Assar, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), told Reuters news agency that the decision had been "based on consultation with the field marshal, and the rest of the military council".
Islamist raid
BBC Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly says the dismissal of senior military officers will be seen by Egyptians as a decisive move in a struggle for real power between the country's newly elected politicians and the generals who have exercised power for many years.
As head of Scaf, Field Marshal Tantawi became Egypt's interim ruler after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted following mass protests in February last year.
Under the interim constitutional declaration issued by Scaf before Mr Mursi was sworn in, the president could not rule on matters related to the military - including appointing its leaders.
The council also dissolved parliament, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Tensions between the presidency and Scaf were further exacerbated after Islamist militants in the Sinai peninsula killed 16 border guards last week, in a raid that embarrassed the military.
The president, whose own Brotherhood movement renounced violence long ago, sacked Egypt's intelligence chief and two senior generals following the attack.
The presidential spokesman said Gen Annan and Field Marshal Tantawi had been appointed as presidential advisers and were given Egypt's highest state honour, the Grand Collar of the Nile.
|
ccb56e608ac14fdc7fa58e74cde71ac2 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19355104 | Viewpoint: Will South Africans' anger boil over? | Viewpoint: Will South Africans' anger boil over?
The massacre last week at the Lonmin-owned platinum mine in South Africa's North West province, which left 34 miners dead and 75 injured when police opened fire on striking workers, shows a colossal lack of leadership at almost all levels - the government, trade unions, business and the police.
The killings, reminiscent of the brutal days of apartheid, have left many South Africans anxious about the direction of the country, 18 years after it became democratic under the now-retired Nelson Mandela's leadership.
The fact that no-one in responsibility has yet resigned - the government minister in charge of the mining industry, the police chief, the CEO of Lonmin, which is listed on the Johannesburg and London stock exchanges, and trade union leaders - shows the lack of accountability in South African society.
The strike and subsequent violence at the mine shows that the expectation of many black people that their lives will improve in democratic South Africa has largely been dashed.
It is true that the African National Congress (ANC) - the liberation movement now in government - has provided low-cost housing, education, health care and other services to the poor, but it has not done enough of this.
In many parts of South Africa, basis services are either non-existent or of a low standard.
People who can afford it rely on the private sector for education, health and security by employing armed guards to protect their homes and businesses.
'Despair and frustration'
Last year, South Africa replaced Brazil as the most unequal society, with the gap between the poorest and richest individuals the highest in the world.
Since apartheid ended, the overall wealth distribution has not changed much. The majority of black South Africans are still impoverished while white citizens are generally better off.
South Africa does not have a system based on meritocracy, which rewards hard work and excellence.
As a result, a small black elite, from the ranks of the ANC and its trade union ally, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), has become fabulously rich through shares in long-established white companies, winning government contracts and holding top posts in the public sector - all under the guise of black economic empowerment.
There has been no genuine effort to lift black South Africans out of poverty by giving them quality state education and technical skills, or to help small businesses grow.
Neither has economic growth been accompanied by serious moves to diversify the economy - from exporting raw materials to developing industries that would boost employment.
The impact of the global economic crisis has made things worse. Economists estimate that between 2007 and 2009 nearly one million jobs were lost, while the chief executives of top companies continued to get huge bonuses.
Poor South Africans are caught up in a sense of despair and frustration, which explains the frequent protests over a lack of services in residential areas and now the violence at the Lonmin-owned mine.
But South Africa's leaders seem to believe that the country's mineral wealth - gold, platinum and diamonds, among others - will see it through its economic problems.
They are being complacent - and risk social upheaval on a scale they will not be able to manage.
William Gumede is Honorary Associate Professor, Public and Development Management at the University of the Witwatersrand and author of Restless Nation: Making Sense of Troubled Times
|
ab94e4b8736b9f5cd94fd1ef228ae80b | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19460914 | Angola election judged 'free and fair' by African Union | Angola election judged 'free and fair' by African Union
African Union observers have given national elections in Angola a clean bill of health, despite opposition claims of fraud and illegality.
The AU team said the poll had been "free, fair, transparent and credible".
Ahead of Friday's vote, the main opposition party Unita had called for a delay, expressing concern about a lack of transparency.
The latest count gives President Jose Eduardo dos Santos' governing MPLA party an unassailable lead.
With 90% of ballots counted, the electoral authorities said the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has won 73% of the vote, with Unita garnering 18%. A newly founded third party, Casa, is forecast to win 6%.
If confirmed, the results mean another term for President dos Santos, 70, who has ruled since 1979. Final results are expected to be announced on Monday.
The state-ruin newspaper Jornal de Angola has already declared Mr Dos Santos the victor, saying on its front page on Sunday: "The MPLA is the big winner of the general elections of 2012... Jose Eduardo dos Santos is president-elect."
The vote was the second since the civil war ended a decade ago.
They were also the first to be held under a newly adopted constitution, under which the leader of the winning party in the 220-member parliament becomes president.
The head of the AU mission, Pedro Pires, congratulated Angola's electoral commission, the parties and the voters for their political maturity.
But he did point out problems with observers getting accreditation, and said opposition candidates had not enjoyed equal access to the media.
Unita has said that the authorities' failure to publish a full electoral roll had cast doubt on the vote's transparency and credibility.
Some voters were unable to cast their ballot as they did not appear on lists, despite being registered.
Analysts had predicted an easy victory for Mr dos Santos' MPLA, which won more than 80% in the last vote.
MPLA officials said the results showed that the party was enjoying widespread support.
The MPLA has been in power since Angola's independence from Portugal in 1975.
Angola - Africa's second largest oil producer - has witnessed an economic boom since the end of the 27-year civil war in 2002, but the opposition says the wealth has only benefited a small elite.
|
e752988b5e47f6deede2ce1ab196129c | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19885962 | Kenyan MPs' bonus: Protesters march to parliament | Kenyan MPs' bonus: Protesters march to parliament
Angry demonstrators in Kenya have marched to parliament to protest about a huge bonus MPs have voted to award themselves.
Lawmakers in Kenya are among the highest paid MPs in Africa, receiving a salary of about $10,000 (£6,200) a month.
The bonus of more than $105,000 each is to be paid when parliament breaks up ahead of elections due in March 2013.
Analysts says tax increases are likely in order to foot the $23m bill.
The BBC's Frenny Jowi in the capital, Nairobi, says the revelation about the send-off bonus for the 222 MPs has angered many people, coming as it does after strikes in the public sector.
It was passed late on Thursday night as part of a last-minute amendment to the Finance Act, she says.
In September all schools were closed for three weeks and public hospitals only took emergencies as demands were made for better pay and working conditions.
According to the AFP news agency, someone earning the minimum wage in Kenya would have to work for 61 years to earn the equivalent of an MP's proposed bonus.
Our reporter says a large crowd stopped traffic on the main road outside President Mwai Kibaki's office in Nairobi.
They then marched towards parliament and have camped outside, chanting "mwizi", which means thief in KiSwahili, when any MP drives by.
"When you look at the situation the country is in right now, we have problems with teachers, we have problems in the health care sector. It is just selfish, it is unpatriotic and plain stupid," one woman at the demonstration told the BBC.
Boniface Mwangi, one of the organisers of the march who earlier this year joined activists to paint murals in the city portraying MPs as vultures, called for a "ballot revolution" to get rid of avaricious politicians at the next election.
He told the BBC the send-off package was "like a thank you token for doing nothing".
The change to the Finance Act still needs to be signed into law by Mr Kibaki - who stands down as president next year after two terms in office.
|
b32645c934f8d3d91a722f832028882f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20013725 | DR Congo: UN to sanction M23 rebels | DR Congo: UN to sanction M23 rebels
The UN Security Council says it intends to impose sanctions against leaders of the M23 rebel movement in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It said it would also target those who violate an arms embargo in DRC.
This week a UN panel of experts said Rwanda and Uganda were supplying M23 with weapons and other support - allegations those countries deny.
On Thursday, Rwanda was elected to a temporary seat on the Security Council.
M23 rebels have been fighting the DRC government since April.
The non-binding Security Council statement condemns the M23 militia for "all its attacks on the civilian population, United Nations peacekeepers and humanitarian actors, as well as its abuses of human rights, including summary executions, sexual and gender-based violence and large-scale recruitment and use of child soldiers".
It also expresses "deep concern" at reports that external support "continues to be provided to the M23 by neighbouring countries", and demands that such support "cease immediately".
In a report leaked on Tuesday, a UN panel of experts said M23 leaders received "direct military orders" from Rwanda's chief of defence staff, Gen Charles Kayonga, "who in turn acts on instructions from the minister of defence", Gen James Kabarebe.
The document built on a UN report published in June which accused Rwanda of supporting the insurgents.
Before Rwanda was elected this week to sit on the UN Security Council for two years from January, the DRC raised a formal objection to its candidacy.
But one of Kigali's UN diplomats said voters would not be swayed by the "baseless report".
The BBC's Barbara Plett reports from the UN that according to diplomats, there is no appetite on the Security Council to sanction the senior Rwandan officials accused in the report.
But there is concern both about the violence in eastern Congo, and the potential it holds for regional instability.
Rwanda is widely seen as having backed armed groups in the east of DR Congo as a way to fight Hutu rebels who fled there after the genocide of the 1990s.
It has been accused of using militias as proxies in an on-going battle for the region, which is rich in minerals. The Rwandan government strenuously denies the accusations.
The M23 rebellion started when a militia that had been absorbed into the Congolese army mutinied and went on the rampage in the eastern part of the country.
Since then nearly half a million people have been displaced by fighting between the M23 and the army.
Friday's Security Council statement called on the rebel group to allow "unhindered humanitarian access" to areas under its control.
Also on Friday, the Associated Press news agency reported that M23 had lead an attack on the army in eastern DRC earlier in the week, ending a recent lull in fighting.
|
8d722059d4ead3032cec98b4cfa3781f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20043189 | Benin President Boni Yayi 'poison plot': Three charged | Benin President Boni Yayi 'poison plot': Three charged
Three people plotted to kill Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi by substituting poison for his medicine, prosecutors say.
The president's doctor, one of his nieces and an ex-minister of commerce have been charged with conspiracy and attempted murder, officials said.
Prosecutors said the president's niece and his doctor were offered 1bn CFA francs (£1.2m; $2m) to poison him.
The three have been remanded in custody, officials say.
Prosecutors yesterday named them as Dr Ibrahim Mama Cisse, the president's niece Zouberath Kora-Seke and former minister of commerce Moudjaidou Soumanou.
Authorities said they also intended to issue an arrest warrant for businessman Patrice Talon, a former ally of Mr Yayi who fell out with the leader.
Chief prosecutor Justin Gbenameto told reporters that the alleged plot started on 17 October while the head of state was on an official visit to Brussels.
He said the president's niece, who accompanied him on that trip, was approached by Mr Talon who offered her money to administer drugs to the president, provided by his personal doctor.
Two days later the poison arrived on a flight from Brussels, he said. The prosecutor said that medicine which the president usually took was then replaced with the poison.
It is alleged that Mr Soumanou acted as an intermediary in the affair.
But Mr Gbenameto said the plot failed because the president's niece informed her sister and others who then alerted the president.
The three defendants were arrested on Sunday.
Mr Gbenameto stated that the judiciary remained independent and he urged people to remain calm.
Mr Yayi, 60, was first elected president in 2006 and re-elected last year. He is currently chair of the African Union.
In 2007, he survived an ambush by gunmen who attacked his convoy during an election campaign tour.
|
33b2d4f909f28e7489f287c445c13074 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20456500 | DR Congo army chief Gabriel Amisi suspended | DR Congo army chief Gabriel Amisi suspended
The head of the army in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been suspended pending an investigation into claims that he sold weapons to rebel groups.
A UN report accused Gen Gabriel Amisi of running a network supplying arms to poachers and rebel groups including the notorious Mai Mai Raia Mutomboki.
A government spokesman said other officers were also being investigated.
The suspension follows the seizure of the city of Goma by the separate M23 rebels on Tuesday.
They also seized another town, Sake. On Thursday, government spokesman Lambert Mende said the army had recaptured it but journalists in the town say it is now controlled by the M23 rebels.
Tens of thousands of people have fled the town, which is now nearly deserted, reports the AP news agency.
The rebels, who are widely believed to be backed by Rwanda and Uganda, have threatened to advance towards the capital Kinshasa unless President Joseph Kabila opens direct peace talks.
Uganda is due to host a summit over the weekend with the presidents of Rwanda and DR Congo among other regional countries. Some M23 leaders have also reportedly flown to Kampala.
The report, written for the UN by a group of independent experts, said Gen Amisi ran a network providing arms to criminal groups and rebels operating in eastern DR Congo, where numerous different armed groups still operate.
"Gen Gabriel Amisi oversees a network distributing hunting ammunition for poachers and armed groups, including Raia Mutomboki," the report says.
The M23 was not among the armed groups named in the report although Raia Mutomboki, one of several Mai Mai, or local community armed groups, is thought in some instances to have allied itself with the M23.
The UN report said Gen Amisi ordered 300 AK-47 assault rifles be given to another armed group operating in eastern DR Congo, known as Nyatura.
It says ammunition is being bought in neighbouring Republic of Congo and smuggled through Kinshasa to the east by a network of Gen Amisi's associates, including members of his family.
A separate UN investigation earlier this month said that Mai Mai Raia Mutomboki and Nyatura, along with the Rwandan FDLR rebel group, had been responsible for the deaths of more than 260 civilians in a wave of tit-for-tat ethnic massacres in remote parts of North Kivu province.
Meanwhile, M23 rebels have rejected a call by regional leaders to withdraw from the main eastern city of Goma, capital of North Kivu province.
About 500,000 people have been displaced by the rebellion since April.
A UN report has accused Rwanda and Uganda of backing the M23, saying the chain of command culminates with Rwandan Defence Minister James Kabarebe.
Both countries strongly deny the accusations.
The M23's gains have raised fears of renewed war in DR Congo, where some five million people died in a conflict from 1997-2003.
The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution condemning the rebel seizure of Goma and calling for sanctions against M23 leaders.
The group was formed in April after a mutiny in the army. The rebels said they were not given army posts promised in a 2009 deal to end a previous uprising.
|
a0ee0efec7e3426a994534a770ea18ee | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20801091 | The Biafrans who still dream of leaving Nigeria | The Biafrans who still dream of leaving Nigeria
In a quiet, dusty and fairly secluded corner of Enugu city, south-eastern Nigeria, a group of men unfurled a homemade flag and then sang.
"Biafra will live forever. Nothing will stop us," was the gist of their anthem in the Igbo language.
They were not exactly belting it out and instead of hoisting the flag up a pole, it was tied to a metal gate. But there is good reason for discretion - in the eyes of the authorities the gathering is illegal.
On 5 November, 100 men and women were arrested as they marched peacefully through the city's streets after raising the Biafran flag.
They were all imprisoned and accused of treason but then released when the charges were dropped. It appears the government is determined to ensure any agitation for secession is not allowed to gather momentum.
Forty-two years after the end of the devastating civil war in which government troops fought and defeated Biafran secessionists, the dream of independence has not completely died.
"No amount of threats or arrests will stop us from pursuing our freedom - self-determination for Biafrans," said Edeson Samuel, national chairman of the Biafran Zionist Movement (BZM).
"We were forced into this unholy marriage but we don't have the same culture as the northerners. Our religion and culture are quite different from the northerners," he told the BBC.
The group broke away from the better-known Movement For The Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob).
The 1967-70 civil war threatened to tear apart the young Nigerian nation. Ethnic tensions were high in the mid 1960s. The military had seized power and economic hardship was biting.
With the perception that they were pushing to dominate all sectors of society - from business to the civil service - and while they were prominent in the military, the Igbo people were attacked.
Thousands were killed, especially during the clashes between northerners, who are mostly Muslim, and Igbos. To save their lives, Igbos fled en masse back "home" to the east.
"People used to meet fuel tanker drivers who allowed them to hide inside the tankers - some survived that way," remembers Igwe Anthony Ojukwu, the traditional ruler of Ogui Nike in Enugu State.
"As we were licking our wounds… it dawned on us that we could not just stay at home as they would come and fight us and that would mean... extinction," he said, adding that this prompted the move to declare Biafra independent.
Today on the streets of Enugu you can hear songs about the war. Booming out from a stall selling CDs and DVDs I heard a song praising the late Chief Emeka Ojukwu - the man who raised the Biafran flag in 1967 and was the leader of the breakaway nation that existed for 31 troubled months.
"It was very terrifying. In the market place you hear a bang and you find limbs flying, people lying dead and others running helter-skelter," said war veteran Chief Nduka Eya, recalling the aerial bombardment by the Nigerian forces.
At his home he showed me the small card he was given after the Biafrans surrendered. It reads: "Clearance certificate for members of armed forces of defunct Biafra."
"Naturally when you lose a war it can be very depressing but what can you do? We took it. But history shows Biafra is defunct out of surrender," said Chief Nduka Eya who is now the secretary general of Ohaneze Ndigbo, an umbrella group representing Igbos around the world.
In the bottom right-hand corner of the card is Olusegun Obasanjo's signature. The man who later became the president of Nigeria played a major role in the civil war, fighting on the federal government side.
Although no-one knows the true number, more than one million people died in the war - some from the fighting but many more from the resulting famine in the east.
In an effort to repair the bruised nation, the Nigerian head of state General Yakubu Gowan spoke of "No Victor, No Vanquished" and also promoted a policy of Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation.
But to this day, many Igbos complain that they were punished economically after the war and still speak of being marginalised. The fact that no Nigerian president has come from the east is a source of much rancour.
The prospect of an independent Igboland now seems impossible, especially as secessionists would want the area's lucrative oil fields.
While those publicly clamouring for independence are a very small minority, it is not hard to find young people who feel they would be better off as a separate nation. This ought to be of great concern to the government of Nigeria.
"If this present government does not have the solution for us upcoming youth here, I'd rather the nation breaks," said one young man playing football in Enugu near a statue referred to as "The Unknown Soldier" holding a gun aloft.
"We are willing to fight for our rights. Without sacrifice there will be nothing like freedom. We have to pay the price if we want independence and we are ready to do that again," he added.
"Islams (sic) don't want the east to rule the country and our opportunities and rights are denied so we are better off as an independent Biafra sovereign nation. Nothing is impossible," another man in his 20s added.
The renowned Nigerian author Chinua Achebe recently released his memoirs of the war entitled "There Was a Country." The book includes an insight into what life was like for his family fleeing the city of Lagos and heading east.
His account has angered some - especially non-Igbos - and has caused a stir in the Nigerian media as well as on the internet where there are plenty of reminders that ethnic divisions still run deep.
Towards the end of his book Achebe asks: "Why has the war not been discussed, or taught to the young, over 40 years after its end?
"Are we perpetually doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past because we are too stubborn to learn from them?"
Today Nigeria faces massive security challenges - top of the list being the Islamist insurgency in the north that many Nigerians believe is being fuelled by politicians.
Many would argue that some of the root causes of the civil war were also triggers of the rebellion in the north as well as the militancy in the Niger Delta.
"Three words - injustice, inequality and unfair play," says Chief Nduka Eya who, like Achebe, believes it is essential for young Nigerians to learn about the war.
"If you think education is expensive try ignorance," he says.
"Ignorance is a very damaging disease. Our boys and girls need to know what actually happened. 'Why did my father go to war?' Someone in the north will ask: 'Why did we go to fight them?'"
Sitting on his throne and holding his ox tail staff of office, Igwe Anthony Ojukwu calls for the war to be studied in schools.
"The experience of Biafra should be shared so that people outside Biafra will know when they are cheated and when they should start to fight for their own destiny," says the traditional ruler.
"The risk of not studying Biafra is that we will continue to subdue the subdueables no matter how justified they are in their demands. We will continue to live a life where the stronger animal kills the other," he says, although he stresses that he is against further efforts to secede.
"I think it is important that Nigeria stays together. Those who are singing for disintegration are doing so for selfish ends."
Forty-two years after the war, a beer has just been launched in eastern Nigeria. The choice of name, "Hero", and the logo on the bottle of a rising sun similar to the one on the Biafran flag were no accident.
These days "Bring me a Hero" is a popular call in the bars of Enugu where people have not entirely given up on the dream of raising a glass to "independence".
|
be5e49c9d9ea1bd95cade8c2b24ff3a6 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20885821 | Angola vigil crush at Luanda stadium kills 10 | Angola vigil crush at Luanda stadium kills 10
Ten people have been crushed to death and 120 injured in Angola as they tried to enter an overcrowded stadium for a New Year's Eve vigil, reports say.
The dead were asphyxiated or crushed at the gates of Luanda's Citadela Desportiva stadium, where a Pentecostal Church was to hold the event.
Far more than an expected 70,000 people attended, said a representative for the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.
Four children were among the dead, emergency services reported.
The Church was established in 1977 in Brazil, and is represented in more than 100 countries,
according to its website
.
|
3111b93cc85f9e91d1a74a70913f2775 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21056592 | Denis Allex: French agent 'killed' by Somalia al-Shabab | Denis Allex: French agent 'killed' by Somalia al-Shabab
The Somali Islamist group al-Shabab says it has killed French intelligence agent Denis Allex in retaliation for a failed French operation to free him.
The French government has said it believes Mr Allex was killed during last week's raid, in which two French commandos also died.
Mr Allex - a French spy - was kidnapped in Somalia in July 2009.
Al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda, said on its Twitter account that Mr Allex had been killed on Wednesday.
Al-Shabab had earlier threatened to kill Mr Allex and said that because of the rescue attempt, France would be responsible for his death.
The group has also cited France's intervention against Islamists in Mali in its decision to kill Mr Allex.
On Friday, about 50 French commandos launched an assault by helicopter on the al-Shabab stronghold of Bulo Marer, believing Mr Allex was being held in the town.
Al-Shabab said it had advance warning of the attack and Mr Allex - a codename for the French intelligence agent - was not in Bulo Marer at the time.
France says 17 militants were killed during the fighting, which witnesses said was intense and lasted for at least an hour.
Several civilians were reported to have been killed in the clashes.
Al-Shabab said it has taken the decision to execute their hostage to avenge the civilians killed during the French operation.
France said it launched the mission after repeated attempts to negotiate Mr Allex's release failed.
Somalia's government said it had no prior knowledge of the raid and it regretted the loss of civilian lives.
On Monday, al-Shabab published a photograph of a French soldier who the group said had died of gunshot wounds after being captured during the raid.
France has a large military base in neighbouring Djibouti, including army, marine and air force units.
For more than 20 years Somalia has seen clan-based warlords, rival politicians and Islamist militants battling for control of the country.
Last year, MPs elected a new president in a process backed by the UN.
Over the last 18 months, African Union forces working with Somali government troops have pushed the al-Shabab militants out of the major towns they controlled in central and southern Somalia.
But the group still controls a large area, including many smaller towns.
|
1b78b6d30241d4a1ec3939485d95e554 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21061480 | Profile: Mokhtar Belmokhtar | Profile: Mokhtar Belmokhtar
Mokhtar Belmokhtar - a one-eyed war veteran nicknamed "Mr Marlboro" and described as "uncatchable" - achieved international notoriety for ordering a deadly attack on an internationally run Algerian gas plant in January.
Four months later, he was reported to have masterminded two suicide attacks in Niger, targeting a military base in Agadez and the French-run uranium mine in Arlit, killing at least 25 people.
He has been declared dead many times, the latest by a US air strike on 14 June in Libya, according to the country's authorities. However, Belmokhtar has survived previous announcements of his death. In March 2013, the Chadian army claimed to have killed him, only for him to resurface months later.
For years, the US government has been offering a reward of up to $5m (£3.3m) for information leading to his location.
"He is one of the best known warlords of the Sahara," Stephen Ellis, an academic at the African Studies Centre in Leiden in The Netherlands, says.
He became known as "Mr Marlboro" because of his role in cigarette-smuggling across the Sahel region to finance his jihad, which he has recently waged under the banner of the Signed-in-Blood Battalion.
"Belmokhtar has been active in political, ideological and criminal circles in the Sahara for the past two decades," Jon Marks, an academic at the London-based think-tank Chatham House, told the BBC.
Profile: Al-Qaeda in North Africa
Born in Ghardaia in eastern Algeria in 1972, Belmokhtar - according to interviews posted on Islamist websites - was attracted as a schoolboy to waging jihad.
Inspired to avenge the 1989 killing of Palestinian Islamist ideologue Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, he travelled to Afghanistan as a 19 year old to receive training from al-Qaeda.
"While there, Belmokhtar claims [on Islamist websites] to have made connections with jihadis from around the world," says the
US-based Jamestown Foundation, in a report published on its website
.
"Moreover, Belmokhtar claims to have been to battlefronts 'from Qardiz to Jalalabad to Kabul'."
When he returned to Algeria in 1993, the country was already in the throes of conflict after the French-backed Algerian military annulled elections that the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win.
Belmokhtar joined the conflict, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, and became a key figure in the militant Armed Islamist Group (GIA) and later the breakaway Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
Algerian journalist Mohamed Arezki Himeur says Belmokhtar lost his left eye in fighting with government troops in the 1990s and now wears a false eye.
"He has been condemned to death [by Algeria's courts] several times," he adds.
When the GSPC merged with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Belmokhtar headed an AQIM battalion in the desert between Algeria and Mali.
After AQIM stripped him of his title as "emir of the Sahel" as a result of in-fighting, Belmokhtar launched a new jihadist group in 2012, known variously as the Signed-in-Blood Battalion, the Masked Men Brigade and the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade.
The bloody attack on the In Amenas gas facility in south-eastern Algeria was its first big operation, showing that he remained influential despite his marginalisation within AQIM.
Among the hundreds of hostages seized were many Western workers. By the time Algerian forces had brought the crisis to an end, 38 people were dead, of whom all but one were foreigners.
It was thought Belmokhtar's aim had been to move the Western hostages to northern Mali, where French troops had intervened to oust an alliance of Islamist militants.
Sightings of Belmokhtar had been reported in the two main cities in northern Mali, Timbuktu and Gao, since the al-Qaeda-linked rebels seized control of the region in 2011.
"He knows the Sahara Desert very well," says Mr Himeur.
In recent years, Belmokhtar has gained notoriety as a hostage-taker across the vast Sahara, often demanding multi-million dollar ransoms from Western governments which - along with cigarette-smuggling - finances his jihad.
Former UN Niger envoy Robert Fowler was captured by Belmokhtar loyalists outside Niger's capital, Niamey, in December 2008.
"We were frog-marched and thrown into the back of a truck... We began our descent into hell - a 1,000km [600-mile] journey northwards, into the Sahara Desert," he told the BBC.
"I think I know instinctively what they [the hostages captured in Algeria were] going through."
In its report, the Jamestown Foundation said Belmokhtar had been able to operate across borders because of his deep ties to the region.
"Key to Belmokhtar's Saharan activities has been his strong connections with local Tuareg communities... Belmokhtar is reported to have married four wives from local Arab and Tuareg communities," it said.
In June 2012, Algerian media reported that Belmokhtar - described in 2002 by French intelligence sources as "uncatchable" - had been killed in clashes between Islamists and Tuareg separatists in northern Mali.
But this turned out to be untrue.
The Signed-in-Blood Battalion warned in December 2012 against any attempt to drive out the Islamists from Mali.
"We will respond forcefully [to all attackers]; we promise we will follow you to your homes and you will feel pain and we will attack your interests," the group said, according to Sahara Media.
The attacks in Niger, while planned by Belmokhtar, were allegedly carried out by his allies in Mujao fighters - angered by Niger's co-operation with France and involvement in Mali.
Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou believes the militants who carried out the attack came from new bases in southern Libya.
His country has contributed soldiers to the 6,000-strong West African force in Mali, which deployed following the French intervention in January 2012 and which will be incorporated into the new UN force in July.
After the Niger attacks, an statement allegedly posted online by the Signed-in-Blood Battalion and signed by Belmokhtar urged Niger's withdrawal with this warning: "Columns of commandos and those seeking martyrdom are ready and waiting for their targets."
|
721cc04b6b461d9cd843bf1a3cc1aad9 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21077137 | Mali army 'regains Konna and Diabaly' from rebels | Mali army 'regains Konna and Diabaly' from rebels
Islamist fighters have withdrawn from two towns in central Mali following French air strikes, officials say.
Mali's army earlier said it had recaptured Konna, which triggered the French intervention after it was seized by the rebels.
Now the mayor of Diabaly says soldiers have taken control of the town.
Islamist fighters in neighbouring Algeria say they have
kidnapped foreign gas workers in retaliation for France's
involvement in the Mali conflict.
Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency says it fears the fighting could force 700,000 people from their homes.
Mali Islamists 'flee two towns'
Some 150,000 people have already gone to neighbouring countries, Reuters news agency reports.
It quotes the UNHCR as saying that 400,000 more could flee Mali, with a further 300,000 displaced within the country.
The first 100 troops of an African force landed in the capital, Bamako on Thursday evening.
The soldiers from Togo and Nigeria are part of a long-planned West African force that will join the French and Malian armies in fighting the Islamist insurgents who took over northern Mali last year.
Nigeria says it will increase its forces to 1,200.
France says it now has 1,800 troops in Mali after intervening initially with air strikes to try to halt a rapid advance by the Islamists.
Correspondents say a strong French contingent is at Segou, north-east of Bamako, to guard a major bridge across the Niger river, which the rebels would have to cross to threaten the capital.
Bamako-based journalist Kodji Siby told BBC Africa that he had spoken to residents in Konna, about 550km (340 miles) north of Bamako, who said the Islamists fled the town when Malian soldiers deployed.
"We have wrested total control of Konna after inflicting heavy losses on the enemy," the AFP news agency quoted a Malian army statement as saying.
Earlier this week, French officials denied a claim by the Malian army that the government had regained Konna.
The area is not accessible to independent observers. The aid group Doctors Without Borders told the Associated Press it had been trying to get to Konna since Monday but all roads leading to the area were closed by the Malian military.
On Thursday, French forces were bombing the town of Diabaly, 350km from capital, which was captured by Islamists earlier in the week.
There was fighting on the streets until 03:00 GMT on Friday, Diabaly Mayor Oumar Diakite said from nearby Niono - and Islamists were reported to be leaving the town.
"Soldiers are in the town carrying out mopping up operations," he told Reuters news agency by telephone.
"There are lots of burned-out vehicles that the Islamists tried to hide in the orchards."
His information was coming from residents who were telephoning him.
Getting accurate reports from the area has been difficult, as the rebels had destroyed mobile phone masts to prevent local people passing information on rebel movements, he said.
The residents had to travel outside the town to make the phone calls, he said.
In total, 3,300 regional troops will be deployed in the conflict under
a UN Security Council resolution
.
Defence sources say France is likely to boost its troop numbers to 2,500.
Nigeria will lead the West African force, with Chad, Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo also sending soldiers.
Islamist groups and secular Tuareg rebels took advantage of chaos following a military coup to seize northern Mali in April 2012. But the Islamists soon took control of the region's major towns, sidelining the Tuaregs.
|
c3064af0a578ade2e13d6db0b8428565 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21294154 | Nigerian Farouk Lawan charged over $3m fuel scam 'bribe' | Nigerian Farouk Lawan charged over $3m fuel scam 'bribe'
The Nigerian MP who headed an inquiry which found that a fuel subsidy scam had cost the country $6.8bn (£4.2bn) has been charged with corruption.
Farouk Lawan is alleged to have collected $500,000 of a $3m bribe solicited from an oil tycoon to drop his company from the investigation.
The legislator pleaded not guilty in court and was taken into custody until a bail hearing on 8 February.
His supporters say he is being targeted by those implicated in his probe.
Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer but has to import most of its fuel.
Last year, Mr Lawan chaired the House of Representative committee that produced the fuel scam report, accusing some of those who import fuel of massive corruption.
It called for a total overhaul of the oil ministry and for the prosecution of companies and some powerful individuals who had benefited from the swindle.
The investigation was set up in the wake of angry nationwide protests in January 2012 after the government tried to remove a fuel subsidy.
The oil billionaire, Femi Otedola, has alleged the lawmaker demanded the $3m bribe in order to have his company, Zenon, removed from a list of those involved in the scandal.
Part of that money was handed over and a video recording of the transaction was given to police, he said.
"You Farouk Lawan... in the course of your official duty corruptly asked for the sum of $3m for yourself from Femi Otedola... to afterwards show favour to Femi Otedola," Reuters news agency quotes the charges read out in the Abuja High Court.
Another member of Mr Lawan's parliamentary fuel subsidy committee, Emenalo Boniface, was also charged in court on Friday with corruption for accepting $120,000 of the $3m bribe from Mr Otedola.
Mr Lawan has said he accepted the money in order to expose blackmail and informed the committee and the anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), about it.
But the committee's deputy leader says he was not informed and nor did he receive any of the money. The EFCC has not commented.
The initial fuel subsidy report said Zenon owed more than $1m to the government.
Legislators later voted to remove the firm from the final report.
Mr Otedola is a close ally of President Goodluck Jonathan and a major financier of the ruling People's Democratic Party.
The BBC's Bashir Abdullahi in Abuja says as it is illegal to give as well as take bribes in Nigeria, some people have asked why Mr Otedola is not also facing any legal action.
But if Mr Otedola was acting as part of a sting operation for Nigeria's intelligence agency, the State Security Services (SSS), as he has claimed, he will not be charged, but may be called as a witness, our reporter says.
The SSS has not commented.
|
c7b8742a6d0e1b6322ade6380440b18d | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21326831 | The remote mountains of northern Mali - perfect for guerrillas | The remote mountains of northern Mali - perfect for guerrillas
Journalist Andy Morgan describes the remote mountains in the deserts of northern Mali, where Islamist rebels are believed to have fled after French-led forces chased them out of the region's main towns, possibly taking several French hostages with them.
Lost in the middle of Tegharghar mountains in the far north-east of Mali, Esel is a an eerie and magical place.
It is dominated by a vast, smooth boulder, as high as a five-storey building and as long as 10 double-decker buses, that sits on top of a warren of caves.
The rock itself has been split neatly in two by the heat of the Saharan sun and the cold of the Saharan night.
The ground leading to it is strewn with ancient stone arrowheads and axes.
In prehistoric times, those caves were home to hunter-gatherers. Now they could very well be sheltering Islamist militants fleeing the advancing forces of France and its African allies.
I visited Esel a few years ago with Ibrahim, the lead singer of Tinariwen, a group of Tuareg guitarists and poets that I was managing at the time.
For him and for many Tuareg, it is a place of reverence and contemplation, like Ayers Rock in Australia or the Grand Canyon in the US.
It also happens to be on the frontline of Operation Serval, France's continuing mission to rid northern Mali of militant Islamist groups.
The Tegharghar mountains give the word "remote" new meaning.
Nearby Kidal, the largest town in a region that is sometimes known as the Adagh des Ifoghas, or The mountains of the Ifoghas tribe, is 1,400 km (900 miles) from the Malian capital, Bamako.
It has been at the epicentre of every single Tuareg rebellion against the central government since 1962.
Until the latest rebellion broke out in October 2011, precipitating an exodus of refugees, about 40,000 people lived in the low-slung buildings that sprawl around Kidal's 90-year old French Foreign Legion fort.
The surrounding landscape is desiccated and featureless, encrusted with black rocks that bake under a merciless sun.
It is the perfect place to fake a moon landing.
Unfortunately for the French, the Tegharghar mountains are also a perfect place for a guerrilla army.
The annual rains fill up the gueltas, or ponds, with drinking water for nomadic animal herds and insurgents.
The numerous caves offer shelter from sand storms and helicopter gunships.
Impoverished local nomads can easily be persuaded to part with the goats and camels needed to feed a rebel force.
The Algerian border is close and porous enough to keep supplies of food, diesel and ammunition flowing in - as long as corrupt local officials can be bribed or forced to turn a blind eye.
As I write, the French air force is bombing militant positions and arms dumps on the northern edge of the Tegharghar, around the village of Tessalit, a beautiful little oasis located next to a river that floods every June and July, if the rains are good.
France has its eye on the nearby military airbase, a highly strategic facility which it built in the 1950s. It is unclear why its troops have not yet captured the base.
From there, it will be able to fan out and patrol the region from the air.
Any ground convoy of more than three 4X4 vehicles is likely to be targeted, unless it can identify itself in time. The potential for collateral damage is high.
But al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and their allies know the area all too well.
They first set up base here in 2003, using the Tegharghar mountains and the endless desert plains to the north-west as an ideal bolthole in which to hide Western hostages and train new recruits.
Apart from one skirmish in 2009, the Malian army left them to it. Mali has paid the price for that laissez-faire policy.
Until 2009, when AQIM made it too dangerous for Westerners to travel north up the vast flat Tilemsi valley, an ancient riverbed which serves as the region's north-south highway, I was planning to build a holiday home in Tessalit.
In the black basaltic hills that surround the village there are endless little valleys that turn green and verdant after the rains.
Some of the hillsides are littered with pre-historic rock art. The all-pervading sense of timeless calm and abundant space is quite intoxicating.
It is a landscape in which you can feel free and it is that freedom that the Tuareg have been fighting for, these past five decades.
The ultimate mission for Mali, France and the international community, beyond Operation Serval and the global war on terror, is to restore some of that magic and peace to the Adagh des Ifoghas.
It will involve not only ridding the region of Islamist gunmen, but finding long-term solutions to northern Mali's political, social and economic problems.
Right now, those problems seem as huge and immovable as the rock at Esel.
|
41ebc0feb7bb63eaf2f40770100c5dd5 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21366235 | Tunisia political crisis deepens after assassination | Tunisia political crisis deepens after assassination
Tunisia's political crisis has deepened after the assassination of a leading opposition figure.
The governing Islamist party refused to back its prime minister, who wants a non-partisan technocratic government.
Ennahda said Hamadi Jebali "did not ask the opinion of his party".
Protests after Chokri Belaid's death saw police fire tear gas at protesters in Tunis and in the central town of Gafsa. Unions have called for a general strike alongside his funeral on Friday.
In Gafsa demonstrators were observing a symbolic funeral outside the governor's office, throwing stones at the police.
Lawyers and judges across Tunisia have launched a two-day strike in response to Wednesday's killing, AFP news agency reports. Lawyers were seen among the protesters in Tunis on Thursday.
Earlier, four opposition groups - including Mr Belaid's Popular Front - announced that they were pulling out of the country's constituent assembly in protest.
The country's largest trade union, the General Union of Tunisian Workers, called a general strike for Friday. Meanwhile Tunisian state TV said universities had been ordered to suspend lectures on Saturday and Sunday.
France said it would close its schools in the capital Tunis on Friday and Saturday.
Mr Belaid's killing has brought to a new pitch a long-simmering political crisis in Tunisia, with secularists and liberals accusing the Islamists of amassing too much power, the BBC's Sebastian Usher says.
Ennahda denies opposition claims that it was behind the assassination in Tunis.
"We in Ennahda believe Tunisia needs a political government now," party Vice-President Abdelhamid Jelassi said on Thursday.
"We will continue discussions with others parties about forming a coalition government," he added.
Ennahda spokesman Abdelhamid Aljallasi later added that party members had not been informed of the prime minister's decision before he announced it.
Late on Wednesday, Mr Jebali said he would dismiss the current cabinet and form a government of "competent nationals without political affiliation".
The new ministers would have a mandate "limited to managing the affairs of the country until elections are held in the shortest possible time", the prime minister said in a nationally televised address.
The killing of Mr Belaid - the first political assassination in Tunisia since the Arab Spring uprising in 2011 - sparked angry protests across Tunisia.
He was shot dead at close range on his way to work. The attacker fled on the back of a motorcycle.
Thousands of people later rallied outside the interior ministry, many chanting slogans urging the government to stand down and calling for a new revolution.
In the centre of Tunis, a police officer was killed during clashes between police and opposition supporters protesting against Mr Belaid's death.
Mr Belaid was a respected human rights lawyer, and a left-wing secular opponent of the government which took power after the overthrow of long-serving ruler Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
Current President Moncef Marzouki said the assassination should not affect Tunisia's revolution.
"There are many enemies of our peaceful revolution. And they're determined to ensure it fails," he said.
Referring to Mr Belaid as a "longstanding friend", he said his "hateful assassination" was a threat.
"This is a letter being sent to us that we will refuse to open," the president said.
Mr Marzouki also announced that he was cutting short a visit to France and cancelling a trip to Egypt to return home to deal with the crisis.
|
0f088a58b9b95308adabd33dc32975fb | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21459240 | Oscar Pistorius: Olympian and Paralympian faces murder charge | Oscar Pistorius: Olympian and Paralympian faces murder charge
South African Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is facing a murder charge after his girlfriend was shot and killed at his Pretoria home.
His arrest over the death of model Reeva Steenkamp has stunned the country where he is considered a national hero.
The 26-year-old is due to appear in court on Friday.
Mr Pistorius made history in London last year when he became the first double-amputee track athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.
He is known as the "blade runner" because of the carbon fibre prosthetic blades he races in. He was born without a fibula in both legs and had his legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday.
Police were called to his home in the upmarket Silver Woods gated compound on the outskirts of South Africa's administrative capital in the early hours of Thursday morning.
They found paramedics treating a 29-year-old woman with four gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. She died at the scene, and officers recovered a 9mm pistol.
Early reports suggested Mr Pistorius might have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder.
Police say neighbours heard screaming and shouting around the time of the shooting, and that they had been called to investigate incidents of a domestic nature at the same house in the past.
They also said that they would oppose any bail application.
Hours later, after being questioned by police, Mr Pistorius left a police station accompanied by officers, his face mostly covered by the hood of a grey jacket.
His court hearing was originally scheduled for Thursday afternoon but had been postponed until Friday to give forensic investigators time to carry out their work, said Medupe Simasiku, a spokesman for the prosecution.
Mr Pistorius's father, Henke, declined to comment but said: "We all pray for guidance and strength for Oscar and the lady's parents.''
Miss Steenkamp's publicist confirmed to the BBC that the 29-year-old model had died.
"Everyone who knew her is in tears. She was an absolute angel, the sweetest, sweetest human being, a kind human being," Sarit Tomlinson said.
In her last Twitter messages, Miss Steenkamp had spoken about her excitement about Valentine's Day.
"What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow?'' she tweeted. "It should be a day of love for everyone.''
Mr Pistorius dominated in his category at successive Paralympic Games, but in 2008 he won a legal battle over his blades - which critics said gave him an unfair advantage - with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the right to compete in able-bodied competitions.
He reached the 400m semi-finals in the London 2012 Olympics. At the Paralympics he won silver in the T44 200m, gold in the 4x100 relay and gold in the T44 400m, setting a Paralympic record.
He was named by Time Magazine last year as one of the world's 100 most influential people.
In interviews, he had spoken about his enjoyment of target shooting with his pistol, and an online advertisement featuring him for Nike read: "I am a bullet in the chamber."
Mr Pistorius's former coach, Andrea Giannini, spoke out in favour of the athlete following his arrest.
"No matter how bad the situation was, Oscar always stayed calm and positive,'' he told the Associated Press news agency. "Whenever he was tired or nervous he was still extremely nice to people. I never saw him violent.''
South Africa has one of the highest rates of crime in the world and many residents keep weapons to protect themselves against intruders.
But gun ownership is strictly regulated and it is not easy to obtain a licence.
On Tuesday, a bill seeking to give police extra powers to arrest anyone carrying a dangerous weapon in public was tabled before parliament, following a spate of violent strikes and protests last year.
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.