News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Ivory Coast referendum marred by violence

Posted: 30 Oct 2016 08:44 PM PDT

Nandi Bamba was preparing to open a polling station in Abidjan's Yopougon neighbourhood when a group of men attacked.

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Abidjan - Violence erupted at around 100 polling stations in Ivory Coast on Sunday as voters decided whether to approve a new constitution that President Alassane Ouattara argues will ensure peace in the wake of years of political turmoil.

Elections worker Nandi Bamba was preparing to open the voting when a group of young men, some of them armed with clubs and machetes, attacked her polling station in Abidjan's Yopougon neighbourhood.

“They demanded we stop working because the new constitution wasn't for the people. Then they smashed the ballot boxes, scattered the ballots. They broke everything,” she said.

Under Ouattara, Ivory Coast has made an impressive recovery since a 2011 civil war capped a decade-long crisis. The International Monetary Fund projects it will be Africa's fastest growing economy this year.

However, despite five years of peace, Ivorians remain deeply divided along political and ethnic faultlines. And both they and the investors who are now flooding in crave the stability that will allow the world's top cocoa grower to cement its status as the continent's rising star.

Opposition parties called for a boycott of the vote, arguing that the new text was designed to further entrench Ouattara's political coalition.

Some called upon their supporters to act to stop the referendum from being held - and a low turnout could rob what is expected to be a “Yes” vote of legitimacy in the future.

Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said security had to be reinforced in some areas after violence erupted at around 100 polling stations in Abidjan and western Ivory Coast.

“We think there's a group going from zone to zone that is truly well organised, which has as its mission to disrupt the vote as much as possible,” he said, adding that the incidents were not expected to have an impact on the result.

Lacking transparency?

The current constitution, drafted under military rule after a 1999 coup, was at the heart of Ivory Coast's prolonged unrest.

In its most controversial clause, it says presidential candidates' parents must both be natural-born Ivorians - a swipe at northerners, many of whom, like Ouattara, have family ties that straddle the borders with Burkina Faso and Mali.

The new constitution scraps that rule, which was used to disqualify Ouattara from a poll in 2000, and now only one parent must be Ivorian. It also creates a post of vice president and a senate. The president says all these new measures will guarantee more political stability.

“It's an opportunity but also a duty,” Ouattara said after voting in the commercial capital Abidjan. “Turning the page on the crisis born of the constitution of 2000 is essential for the future of our nation.”

The new text also allows future changes to the constitution to go ahead without a referendum and with a two thirds majority in parliament - a body now dominated by Ouattara's allies.

Turnout in Abidjan was visibly lower than during last year's presidential election when 54.6 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, a fact that opposition leader Pascal Affi N'Guessan said demonstrated the text's rejection by the people.

“Either he withdraws the proposed constitution and sets up a commission in which all Ivorians can participate and write a new, more consensual constitution, or he assumes the consequences of his policies and resigns,” he said.

The process of drafting the text and submitting it to a plebiscite was criticised by some civil society groups and diplomats as rushed and lacking transparency. Voters have had just two and a half weeks to review the 184-article charter.

“I'm not voting,” said a woman cooking at a roadside open-air restaurant in Abidjan's Cocody neighbourhood, who declined to give her name. “In just two weeks people are supposed to understand and vote on a constitution? They're imposing this.”

REUTERS

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Al-Shabaab fighters seize Somali town

Posted: 30 Oct 2016 08:44 PM PDT

Al-Shabaab fighters have taken control of a north-western town after attacking Somali government troops.

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Mogadishu - The Islamist group al-Shabaab seized a town north-west of Somalia's capital from government forces on Sunday, the latest small centre taken by the militant group trying to topple the country's Western-backed government.

Al-Shabaab, which once ruled much of Somalia, has been fighting for years to impose its strict interpretation of Islam on Somalia. African Union and Somali troops have driven it from major urban strongholds and ports, but they have often struggled to defend smaller, more remote areas from attacks.

“Many al-Shabaab fighters attacked us this morning and after brief fighting we left the town for tactical reasons,” Somali army Major Hussein Edin told Reuters from the nearby town of Baidoa. One Somali soldier was killed, he said.

Goofgaduud lies about 250km north-west of Mogadishu, the capital.

Al-Shabaab's military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, confirmed the group had captured the settlement. He said seven Somali soldiers were killed.

Al-Shabaab's casualty figures and those announced by officials often differ.

In a separate incident, Somali forces in the semi-autonomous Galmudug region north of Mogadishu freed a Kenyan woman, Loise Njoki Weru, who officials said was held by pirates since 2015.

Galmudug Vice-President Mohamed Hashi said she was now in safe hands after security forces rescued her and had spoken to her family, but he did not say when she would be repatriated.

Earlier this month, 26 Asian sailors were freed after more than four years of captivity in a small fishing village in Somalia after being held by pirates.

REUTERS

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Beware of fake exam papers, warns Kenya exam council

Posted: 30 Oct 2016 04:16 AM PDT

The Kenya National Examinations Council has warned the public about the existence of fake exams papers being circulated by conmen.

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Nairobi – The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has warned the public about the existence of fake exams papers being circulated by conmen.

The council said it was aware of the circulation of fake Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) papers and warned parents and pupils not to purchase them as there had been no leak of exam papers this year.

The KCPE is an exit national exam for all primary school children in the public education system in Kenya and is set for the first week of November.

The fake papers are said to be going for Ksh5000 each (about $50). KNEC chairperson George Magoha said in a statement the council had scrutinised the papers and found all of them to be fake.

He warned parents and teachers against buying the fake papers as they would only “distract their children from focusing on their preparations”.

“We wish to urge candidates to remain calm as they undertake their final preparations for the examinations,” he said.

The KCPE will start on Tuesday while the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) will start on November 7. Mahoga said investigations were under way to apprehend the conmen.

Meanwhile, the education ministry has asked all teachers to remain away from schools during the exam season from November 1 to 30.

The only teachers expected to remain in school were those involved in the administration of practical subjects and boarding facilities. All schools were expected to close by Friday, October 28, to pave the way for the nationwide start of the exams.

The directive is contained in a joint press statement issued by three cabinet secretaries, namely education Fred Matiang’i, interior and co-ordination of national government Joseph Nkaissery, and information, communications, and technology Joe Mucheru.

Matiang’i clarified that the only teachers required to remain in schools after October 28 were school heads and their deputies and staff necessary for the exams. This was part of government’s strategy for “clean and credible examinations in 2016”.

“We are determined to stamp out cases of irregularities associated with the poor management of our national examinations in the past so that the results obtained from the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) are valid and credible,” the joint statement said.

Mucheru said government had used technology to minimise examinations malpractices which had characterised the 2015 exams.

African News Agency (ANA)

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Al Shabaab seizes town from Somali forces

Posted: 30 Oct 2016 03:28 AM PDT

Al Shabaab, which once ruled much of Somalia, has been fighting for years to impose its strict interpretation of Islam on the African country.

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Mogadishu - The Islamist group al Shabaab seized a town northwest of Somalia's capital from government forces on Sunday, the latest small centre taken by the militant group trying to topple the country's Western-backed government.

Al Shabaab, which once ruled much of Somalia, has been fighting for years to impose its strict interpretation of Islam on Somalia. African Union and Somali troops have driven it from major urban strongholds and ports, but they have often struggled to defend smaller, more remote areas from attacks.

“Many al Shabaab fighters attacked us this morning and after brief fighting we left the town for tactical reasons,” Somali army Major Hussein Edin told Reuters from the nearby town of Baidoa. One Somali soldier was killed, he said.

Goofgaduud lies about 250km northwest of Mogadishu, the capital.

Al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, confirmed the group had captured the settlement. He said seven Somali soldiers were killed.

Al Shabaab's casualty figures and those announced by officials often differ.

In a separate incident, the website of state radio, radiomuqdisho.net, said on Sunday that the Somali security forces had rescued a Kenyan woman who had been kidnapped by pirates in 2015. They did not give details about the woman.

Reuters

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