News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Deadly crash: Cameroon mourns amid anger

Posted: 25 Oct 2016 12:24 AM PDT

Cameroon observed a day of mourning for victims of a deadly rail accident that killed at least 75 people.

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Yaounde/Eseka, Cameroon - Cameroon observed a day of mourning on Monday for victims of a deadly rail accident that has killed at least 75 people and exposed widespread frustration with one of Africa's longest-ruling presidents.

At the Eseka train station near where a packed passenger train carrying more than 1,300 people from Yaounde to the port of Douala derailed and flipped over last week, thousands of people gathered to mourn.

Many wore black and carried small branches from the local "peace tree" associated with sorrow during the inter-religious service where they sang religious hymns.

The official death toll from the accident is expected to rise further, with an unspecified number of unidentified bodies being kept in a Yaounde morgue, according to state television.

The work has been complicated by the fact there were no official lists of passengers since many did not have tickets.

"I still cannot find my brother who was on this train," said Arouna in Yaounde, who did not want to give his full name. "Nobody has been able to help me since Friday."

In Eseka, some residents said they had seen many more bodies than had been officially reported although this could not be independently verified. Around 600 people are still being treated for injuries and officials made urgent calls for blood donations to help those who still needed transfusions.

On the streets of the capital Yaounde, many openly criticised the reaction of President Paul Biya's government to an accident which they say should have been avoidable.

A train run by the same company, Camrail, a unit of French industrial group Bollore, also derailed in 2009 near Yaounde, killing five people and injuring more than 200.

"Many people are dead because they did not receive help that could have saved them at the right time," said Baudelaire Kemajou, a survivor of the crash who lost several friends in the accident and had to wait four hours for help.

A local travel agency sent cars to transport the injured before official help arrived, witnesses said.

Demand for tickets on the Camrail train had been especially high due to the collapse of a portion of a main highway on the same route and extra carriages were added at the last minute.

It is unclear whether this played a role in the crash.

Biya, who has ruled since 1982, arrived back in the country on Sunday afternoon after a 35-day absence following the UN General Assembly in New York and a "a private stay in Europe", according to his website.

While Biya is often absent for long periods, some expressed anger that he had not returned earlier to manage the crisis.

"Cameroonians are exasperated by his repeated shows of indifference during the tragedies of this country over the past 34 years," said Jean Michel Nintcheu, a member of parliament for the opposition Social Democratic Front.

Government officials have previously defended the absences, saying he does not need to be physically present to rule. Biya has called for an investigation into the crash and said the government would pay hospital fees for the injured.

Other Cameroonians said that his wife Chantal's decision to step off the plane wearing a bright pink suit jarred with the national mood of mourning.

"Her choice of clothes shows the disdain she has for the poor...She doesn't show her compassion," said Paulin, an economy ministry official who declined to give his full name.

However, Hans De Marie Heungoup, Cameroon analyst with International Crisis Group, said he doubted the incident would have major long-term political consequences for Biya.

"In Cameroonian politics there is practically no culture of accountability," he said, describing opposition to Biya as "fragile and fragmented".

Reuters

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Nearly 3 000 Kenyan deathrow inmates escape hangman

Posted: 24 Oct 2016 12:56 PM PDT

Almost 3 000 deathrow convicts in Kenya escaped the hangman’s noose after President Uhuru Kenyatta commuted their death sentences into life jail terms.

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Nairobi - A total of 2 747 deathrow convicts in Kenya on Monday escaped the hangman’s noose after President Uhuru Kenyatta commuted their death sentences into life jail terms.

In Kenya a life jail term means serving life imprisonment unless otherwise pardoned by a Presidential decree.

In a statement from State House Nairobi, the President effectively saved the hanging of 2 655 male convicts and 92 female convicts who will be now be removed from the death row to serve life sentences.

In 2009, former President Mwai Kibaki commuted the sentences of all those on death row to life imprisonment. The decision affected over 4 000 prisoners and at the time was said to be one of the largest commutation of death sentences anywhere in the world.

According to the Kenya Prisons Act, executions are to be carried out by hanging. The last hanging in Kenya took place in 1987 after the plotters of the August 1982 coup attempt were sentenced to death. Although there hasn’t been a hanging since then, scores of convicts are sentenced to death each year.

Invoking the Power of Mercy provided for under Article 133 of the Constitution, Kenyatta on Monday also signed a pardon warrant and released 102 long-term serving convicts.

The reprieve for the 102 convicts came after a thorough vetting by the Power of Mercy Advisory Committee.

The Power of Mercy is a prerogative power conferred on the President by the Constitution and entails granting pardon to reformed and rehabilitated convicted criminal offenders deserving early release from prison.

The move by the President comes soon after the launch of the second and final leg of the Kenya national public debate on capital punishment.

The debate is to solicit views from Kenyans on the administration of capital punishment and management of capital offences or what is popularly known as the death penalty.

The public discussion being spearheaded by the Power of Mercy Advisory Committee (POMAC) and National Crime Research Centre (NCRC) will be conducted in 28 Counties countrywide, within the next two months.

According to the Kenyan law, five types of offences attract capital punishment (death sentence). These are: murder, treason, and robbery with violence, attempted robbery with violence and oathing with intent to commit a felony.

Present at the signing of the documents were Attorney General Githu Muigai, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery, Power of Mercy Advisory Committee Secretary Michael Kagika Prisons Commissioner General Isaiah Osugo, and Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua.

African News Agency

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'S Sudan president, opposition leader should step down'

Posted: 24 Oct 2016 04:35 AM PDT

South Sudan could disintegrate into ethnic enclaves, former deputy defence minister Majak Agot says.

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Johannesburg - South Sudan could disintegrate into ethnic enclaves if both South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and former opposition leader Dr Riek Machar don't step down, according to former deputy defence minister Majak Agot.

Agot also warned that both Kiir and Machar, who is currently in South Africa receiving medical treatment, were responsible for the state of anarchy in the country, the Sudan Tribune reported on Monday.

The former deputy defence minister was arrested in 2013 for allegedly instigating fighting in the capital Juba.

South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2013.

In December of that year, a civil war broke out between the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), supporters of Kiir who are mostly ethnic Dinka, and the armed supporters of Machar's SPLA-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) who are Nuer tribesmen.

A peace treaty was signed in August 2015 and Machar returned to Juba in April of this year but fled the country again in July when fighting once again broke out between the two sides.

In his absence, Kiir replaced Machar with Taban Deng Gai, a move that further exacerbated the fractious relationship between Machar and Kiir.

"There is a potential threat of a total breakdown of the state. It's a level of degeneration that was unexpected," said Agot.

"Policies that are being implemented are pushing people apart and destroying the social fabric," the Tribune reported Agot saying. "There is intense hate speech, ethnic mobilisation and this is leading to fragmentation."

Meanwhile, the Tribune reported that officials in South Sudan's Yei state have switched allegiance from the government to the armed opposition faction led by Machar, claiming the army in the area was no longer protecting people.

"Yei county commissioner, Bidali Cosmas Wori-Kojo, is one the state's local officials who have defected to the armed opposition faction," reported the Tribune.

The official, who defected on Saturday, was also joined and accompanied by many government soldiers. He cited the failure and unwillingness of the government to bring peace to the country.

African News Agency

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African editors, press officers gather in Pretoria

Posted: 23 Oct 2016 11:58 PM PDT

The African Union is to host a joint sitting of the Africa Editors' Forum and Press Officers in Pretoria.

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Pretoria - African Union (AU) Commission chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, will host a joint sitting of the Africa Editors' Forum and Press Officers here on Monday and Tuesday.

The theme of the engagement is "Deepening Africa's narrative and capacities to deliver Agenda 2063", the South African government communication and information system (GCIS) said in a statement on Sunday.

"This is the first time South Africa will host the joint sitting of up to 80 editors from across the African continent as well as press officers under the AU banner. The previous meeting was held in Rwanda alongside the AU heads of state summit earlier this year," the GCIS statement said.

Dlamini-Zuma would address the forum for the last time as chairperson of the AU Commission and give African editors an opportunity to engage with her as she concluded her extended four-year tenure.

Elections to replace her, which failed to conclude in Rwanda in July, will now be held in January.

The GCIS said discussions with the editors will reflect on AU milestones over the past four years; create better understanding of Agenda 2063; discuss the role of African media in popularising Agenda 2063; assess the role of accurate reporting in shaping an African narrative, and advocate media ownership among Africans.

African News Agency

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