News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Fishmonger crushed: Moroccan police arrest 11

Posted: 01 Nov 2016 11:59 PM PDT

Moroccan police have arrested 11 people after the death of a fish seller whose crushing in a rubbish truck sparked widespread protests.

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Rabat - Police in Morocco have arrested 11 people suspected of involuntary manslaughter over the death of a fish seller whose crushing in a rubbish truck sparked widespread demonstrations, prosecutors said.

Mouhcine Fikri, 31, was killed on Friday in the northern city of Al-Hoceima as he tried to protest against the seizure and destruction of swordfish, which are not allowed to be caught at this time of year. His death in the Rif - an ethnically Berber region long neglected and at the heart of a 2011 protest movement for reform - has triggered outrage in other cities including the capital Rabat.

It was the self-immolation of a street vendor in Tunisia in late 2010 in protest at police harassment that sparked Tunisia’s revolution and the Arab Spring uprisings across the rest of the region the following year.

The 11 suspects were brought before an investigating magistrate on Tuesday in connection with allegations that also include forgery of public documents, a prosecution statement said.

Two interior ministry employees, as well as two fisheries officials and the head of the local veterinary services were among those arrested, said the prosecution. The five suspects as well as three rubbish collection workers were remanded into custody, it said, without identifying the rest of those arrested.

More than 20 people have been questioned during the investigation, according to the statement carried by the official MAP news agency. The probe found the driver had received a signal from a rubbish collection worker to turn the crusher power on while Fikri was in the truck with several people trying to prevent fish being loaded. The investigation found there was “no order to assault the victim by any party”.

Some protesters have accused the authorities of intentionally starting the crusher while Fikri was in the back of the truck.

Thousands attended Fikri’s funeral in Al-Hoceima on Sunday after an image of his inert body - head and arm sticking out from under the lorry’s crusher - went viral on social media. Large crowds gathered in the town again on Monday evening waving Berber flags and demanding justice for “martyr Mouhcine”.

King Mohammed VI had been quick to order a “thorough and exhaustive investigation” into Fikri’s death and sent the interior minister to offer condolences to his family. The king, the scion of a monarchy that has ruled for 350 years, relinquished some of his near-absolute power following the massive Arab Spring protests of 2011.

According to the findings of the investigation into Fikri’s death, the vendor had bought nearly 500kg of swordfish, which is subject to a fishing ban in the autumn, from fishermen in Al-Hoceima harbour. He entrusted his goods to a third party whose vehicle evaded controls at the port exit but was stopped in the city.

A fisheries official who attended the scene found violations and police informed the public prosecutors who ordered the confiscation of the fish, MAP said. A veterinary official then ordered its destruction because of the lack of certification of origin. The allegations of forgery of public documents relate to the destruction order issued to the rubbish collection company, according to prosecutors.

The Moroccan Association of Human Rights warned on Sunday of a “possible repeat” of the 2011 protests in the Rif, just a week before Morocco hosts international climate talks in Marrakesh between 7-18 November.

The Independent

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S.A to push relations with Zim to higher level - Presidency

Posted: 01 Nov 2016 11:35 PM PDT

President Jacob Zuma will be in Harare to attend the inaugural session of the South Africa-Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission, the Presidency said.

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Pretoria - South Africa is to further push relations with Zimbabwe to a higher level, the Presidency said on Tuesday.

For this purpose, President Jacob Zuma will visit Harare to attend the inaugural session of the South Africa-Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission, scheduled for November 3, presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said.

South Africa and Zimbabwe have good bilateral political, economic and social relations that are underpinned by strong historical ties dating back from the years of the liberation struggle.

The two countries will henceforth conduct their bilateral relations through a structured Bi-National Commission (BNC) signed in 2015 during President Robert Mugabe's state visit to South Africa, said Ngqulunga.

“South Africa and Zimbabwe not only share strong historical relations but also economic co-operation to the extent that the economies of the two countries are historically and inextricably link,” he said in a statement.

To date, the two countries have signed more than 38 memoranda of understanding and agreements, which were co-ordinated through the then Joint Commission for Co-operation (JCC) and the Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security (JPCDS) which were established in 1995 and 2005 respectively.

The MOUs and agreements cover a broad range of areas, which include among others, trade and investment, immigration and consular matters, defence, agriculture, the environment, energy, health, as well as art and culture.

There are over 120 South African companies doing business in Zimbabwe in various sectors including mining, aviation, tourism, banking, the property, retail, construction and the fast food sector.

Xinhau

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Illegal Zim immigrants a threat to SA - Zim envoy

Posted: 01 Nov 2016 11:28 PM PDT

Undocumented Zimbabweans illegally staying in South Africa poses a security threat to both countries, a diplomat has warned.

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Harare - The huge number of undocumented Zimbabweans illegally staying in South Africa poses a security threat to Pretoria, and Zimbabwe's interests in that country, a diplomat warned on Tuesday.

Zimbabwean Ambassador to South Africa Isaac Moyo said in an interview on the sidelines of a bilateral meeting between the two countries in Harare that the majority of Zimbabweans in South Africa were there illegally.

"I think this is an issue which impacts on the security of South Africa and it also impacts on the interests of Zimbabwe because we cannot have such a large number of people carrying no known documentation at all," he said.

He said although he did not have specific figures for those that were illegally in South Africa, he was certain that they outnumbered the more 260 000 who carried Special Dispensation Permits.

Moyo said some media houses and non-governmental organisations were exaggerating the number of Zimbabweans living in the neighbouring country.

He said while most of the illegal immigrants entered the country through undesignated points, others went through proper entry points but became illegal somewhere in the process, mostly due to overstaying.

"Nobody knows the numbers of these people because most are border jumpers. Some organisation carry out studies while some newspapers just throw figures which appear exaggerated but the fact is we really don't know.The South African government doesn't know and we as an embassy don't know," he said.

Moyo said the Zimbabwean government was still in talks with South Africa to establish the fate of the 260,000 Special Dispensation Permits which expire next December. He said the issue was likely to be discussed at the ongoing bilateral meeting in Harare.

"I have no doubt that this will be one of the issues (Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo will very keenly want to take up with his South African counterpart. The initial discussion did not resolve this issue but we had very good discussions," he said.

Moyo also expressed concern at the huge number of Zimbabweans in South African prisons.

"It is unfortunate that we have a couple of thousands who are also linked to crimes and that we continue to commit these crimes, some of them very serious," he said, adding the government of Zimbabwe did not condone any form of crime.

African News Agency

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Tanzania suspends HIV programmes for gay men

Posted: 01 Nov 2016 02:12 AM PDT

Tanzania has suspended community-based HIV/Aids prevention programmes for gay men, the health minister has said.

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Dar es Salaam - Tanzania has suspended community-based HIV/Aids prevention programmes for gay men, the health minister said on Monday, in the latest crackdown on the high-risk group.

Ummy Mwalimu, Tanzania's minister for health, said the government had received reports that some local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were promoting and normalising same-sex relationships as part of their HIV programmes.

Gay sex is illegal in Tanzania and punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

In September, the government threatened to ban groups that "promote" the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in its first public statement against the minority group.

"We have suspended MSM (men who have sex with men) community-based interventions pending (a) review," Mwalimu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The minister, however, said the government would continue to provide HIV/Aids services to adolescent girls, drug users and other groups.

The East African country has a reputation for being more tolerant towards LGBT people than its neighbour Uganda but recent comments have sparked fears and condemnation from activists.

There are 1.4 million people living with HIV in Tanzania, some 5 percent of the country's population, according to government statistics.

HIV prevalence among gay men is higher at 25 percent.

John Kashika, of Community Health Education Services & Advocacy NGO, said suspending HIV/Aids programmes for some LGBT groups was a blow in the fight against the virus.

"This is essentially denial of services to people who are at the highest risk of contracting HIV, there's going to be a lot of implications," he said.

Reuters

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Kenya hits out ICC at UN General Assembly

Posted: 01 Nov 2016 01:17 AM PDT

Many countries pledged support for the International Criminal Court following the announced withdrawal by three African nations.

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United Nations - Many countries pledged support for the International Criminal Court on Monday following the announced withdrawal by three African nations.

Kenya, which the tribunal is investigating, was sharply critical and questioned the court's long-term survival.

Many in the General Assembly called for talks between the ICC and the African Union in hopes of addressing the continent's concerns and reversing the decisions to leave by Burundi, South Africa and Gambia.

Kenyan Ambassador Tom Amolo didn't say whether his country would also leave, but he told the 193-member world body that his country was monitoring the withdrawals "with very keen interest."

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, as well as Senegal, the first country to ratify the Rome Statute that established the court, and Tanzania reiterated their support for the ICC, stressing the court's importance in combatting impunity for the world's most atrocious crimes, including genocide.

The ICC has been accused of bias by some African leaders because since the Rome treaty came into force in 2002, only four people have been convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Three were from Congo and one from Mali. So far, it has indicted only suspects from Africa, and of the 10 full-scale investigations currently under way, nine are in Africa and only one elsewhere - in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

But the ICC is expanding its global reach. It is currently conducting 10 so-called preliminary examinations - probes to establish whether to open a full investigation - in countries including Afghanistan, Ukraine and Colombia, as well as the Palestinian territories and alleged crimes by British forces in Iraq.

ICC President Judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi, presenting the court's annual report to the assembly, said two trials are under way and another is set to start soon. And following convictions, she said, proceedings for reparations for victims are under way in four cases.

But Kenya's Amolo called the ICC's "dismal output of tangible results ... disheartening and simply confounding."

He accused the court of having lower standards than national courts and warned that "something radical and urgent must be done if this court is to stand any chance of long-term survival as a viable and credible international institution."

The ICC indicted Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on charges of crimes against humanity for 2007 post-election violence in which more than 1,000 died. The case collapsed because of what the ICC prosecutor called threats to witnesses, bribery and lack of cooperation by Kenya's government, but it remains open.

Amolo said African countries "have tried to engage constructively" with the ICC with little success.

Tanzania's UN Ambassador Tuvako Manongi said the court's "particularly tumultuous relationship with Africa... has engendered fear of an African exodus from the court."

But he said "that need not be the case," pointing to the African Union's commitment to justice and the rule of law.

Manongi called for "confidence building measures" on how the ICC functions and interacts with the 124 countries that have ratified the Rome Statute.

"All too often avoidable misunderstandings, when left unattended or dismissed as inconsequential, grow into regrettable outcomes," he said. "Lectures and claims of high moral ground from outside the continent are unhelpful."

Senegal's Minister Counsellor Abdoulaye Barro called for dialogue and expressed hope "that a consensus can be found so that Africa will continue to play a major role in the fight against impunity."

New Zealand's UN Ambassador Gerard von Bohemen said "better engagement" with the AU and African nations is needed. And he expressed hope that in the coming year, before the withdrawals take effect, "there is room for meaningful dialogue on a potential resolution and to provide for a pathway back to the court."

"At the same time, we must not panic," von Bohemen said. "We need to take the challenges seriously and recognise the political realities in which the court operates... and we will need a diplomatic process to address the challenges it is now facing."

Joao Vale de Almeida, the European Union's UN envoy, put the challenge succinctly: "The world needs the ICC, and the ICC needs all countries to support it."

AP

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Mugabe paves the way for bond notes

Posted: 01 Nov 2016 12:58 AM PDT

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe side-steps Parliament to issue a decree on the country’s controversial bond notes.

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Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has side-stepped Parliament to issue a decree clearing the way for the introduction of “bond notes” that have raised fears of a return to a domestic currency abandoned in 2009 as hyperinflation crippled the economy.

The bond notes are meant to ease biting cash shortages that have gripped the southern African nation since March but have helped fuel anti-government protests in recent months.

Mugabe late on Monday used his presidential powers to amend the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Act, designating bond notes as legal tender that will be equivalent to the US dollar, according to an official government notice.

Mugabe said bond notes, which he has previously called surrogate currency, “shall be legal tender in all transactions in Zimbabwe” just like the US dollar, British sterling pound and South African rand, which are also used in the country.

Zimbabwe was this year hit by a devastating drought that left 4 million people in need of food aid. It is facing its worst financial crisis since switching its currency for the US dollar as weak mineral commodity prices hurt its major exports, while formal unemployment remains above 80 percent.

Mugabe's decree did not say when bond notes will be introduced. The regulations will last six months, after which Parliament has to ratify or reject them.

But former finance minister and opposition leader Tendai Biti said Mugabe's decree was illegal and could be challenged in court. He criticised Mugabe for resorting to a decree when Parliament, dominated by the ruling Zanu-PF party, could have easily passed the law.

The RBZ first announced plans for bond notes in May.

“Even if assuming they (regulations) were legal, the presidential powers should only be used in extreme circumstances where there is no sufficient time to go to parliament in the interest of public safety and public good,” Biti said.

RBZ Governor John Mangudya has struggled to allay concerns of a return to the rampant money printing and inflation rates that peaked at 500 billion percent, by saying bond notes were an incentive for exporters and would not be forced on people.

Mangudya, who has previously said the new bank notes would start circulating early this month, did not answer calls to his mobile phone.

The RBZ on Tuesday started running advertisements in local newspapers and radio saying up to 5% incentive would be paid on all exports and diaspora remittances in bond notes.

REUTERS

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