News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Kenya pulls troops out of South Sudan

Posted: 02 Nov 2016 11:47 PM PDT

Nairobi is pulling out its troops stationed in South Sudan as part of the UN peacekeeping mission.

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Moscow - Nairobi is pulling out its troops stationed in South Sudan as part of the UN peacekeeping mission after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon fired its Kenyan commander, local media reported on Wednesday.

Kenyan Lieutenant-General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki was fired shortly after a publication of an independent investigation report on Tuesday, criticising UN peacekeeping mission's (UNMISS) response to a July bomb attack on civilians at a hotel in South Sudan's capital, Juba.

According to the Daily Nation Newspaper, Kenya rejected the dismissal of Ondieki and announced the withdrawal of its contingent from the UN peacekeeping forces in South Sudan.

Kenyan Foreign Ministry accused the United Nations of lack of transparency as it acted without formally consulting Nairobi in sacking the commander, the newspaper said.

The civil war broke out in South Sudan in 2013 after the state's President Salva Kiir Mayardiit dismissed the cabinet and accused Vice-President Riek Machar of planning a failed coup. After a short period of a fragile ceasefire and attempts to normalise the situation via signing a truce in 2015, new violence erupted in July 2016.

Sputnik

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It's business as usual for Zuma

Posted: 02 Nov 2016 10:16 PM PDT

President Jacob Zuma is visiting neighbouring Zimbabwe as he faces a sustained clamour to step down.

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Johannesburg - Embattled President Jacob Zuma appears unfazed as the noose tightens around his scandalous presidency.

Zuma, who is facing sustained clamour to step down, is leading a delegation of ministers to the inaugural session of the South African-Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission in Harare.

Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said Zuma was caught between “a rock and a hard place because he has to maintain business as usual (approach), appear strong, certain and confident”.

He said the president’s visit was unpredictable as it could lead to a major event such as a cabinet reshuffle.

When Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was charged with fraud, Zuma was away.

On Monday, Cosatu’s largest union, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, added its voice to those calling for Zuma to step down, saying he could no longer be defended.

ANC structures, including some branches, regions and provinces; the business sector; civil society; and opposition parties want him to resign over the many scandals associated with his presidency, including the investigation into state capture by his close friends the Guptas and the Nkandla saga.

Zuma’s visit to Zimbabwe was aimed at cementing relations between the two Southern African Development Community countries, which have signed more than 38 memoranda of understanding and agreements.

There were also more than 120 South African companies doing business in Zimbabwe, according to Zuma’s spokesperson Dr Bongani Ngqulunga.

The businesses were in the fast foods sector, construction, banking, tourism, aviation and mining.

luyolo.mkentane@inl.co.za

@luyolomkentane

The Star

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Zim state institutions used against me - Moyo

Posted: 02 Nov 2016 12:55 AM PDT

A Zimbabwean cabinet minister has accused Robert Mugabe's deputy of using state institutions to try to arrest him.

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Harare - A Zimbabwean cabinet minister on Tuesday accused Robert Mugabe's deputy of using state institutions to try to arrest him and further his attempt to eventually become president.

Mugabe is 92 and has held power since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980. But he is increasingly looking frail, stoking a scramble in his ruling Zanu-PF party to succeed him.

One faction is widely believed to be manoeuvring to impose his wife Grace as a possible successor, another backs Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has the support of war veterans.

While the two sides have traded barbs for months, Tuesday's comments by Jonathan Moyo, an outspoken higher education minister who is linked to the G40 group behind Grace, are the most overt attack on the man assumed to be her biggest rival.

Moyo, a senior Zanu-PF official, said in a public statement that Mnangagwa was illegally using the anti-graft commission to further his political career. Mnangagwa could not be reached for comment, and his aides said he was busy in meetings.

Moyo said the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission had on several occasions tried to arrest him on false graft charges at Mnangagwa's behest.

He said this was part of a plan "intended to secure that the political ends currently being pursued by the vice president are advanced in relation to what has become public knowledge about the desire to secure a front foot in succession politics".

The commission said last month it wanted to question Moyo on suspicion of abusing government funds, allegations the cabinet minister denies and says are a political plot against him.

The commission said it would study Moyo's statement and respond appropriately when it was ready, without specifying when that would be.

Political analysts say Mugabe has manipulated Zimbabwean politics to set himself up as a president for life but fear the country could suffer instability if he dies in office before the matter of his successor is resolved.

Reuters

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UN sacks head of South Sudan peacekeeping force

Posted: 02 Nov 2016 12:18 AM PDT

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sacked the commander of the UN force in South Sudan.

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New York - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday sacked the commander of the UN force in South Sudan after a report concluded that it failed to protect civilians during an outbreak of violence from July 8 to 11.

A UN special investigation found that the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) "did not respond effectively to the violence due to an overall lack of leadership, preparedness and integration among the various components of the mission".

The UN chief "asked for the immediate replacement of the force commander," Lieutenant General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki of Kenya, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a press conference.

"The force did not operate under a unified command, resulting in multiple and sometimes conflicting orders to the four troop contingents from China, Ethiopia, Nepal and India, and ultimately underusing the more than 1,800 infantry troops at [UN headquarters]," according to the investigation.

On July 11, South Sudanese government soldiers went on a rampage in a compound in the capital Juba housing about 50 employees of international organisations.

The soldiers killed a journalist belonging to the same ethnic group as rebel leader Riek Machar, raped or gang-raped several foreign women, beat up dozens of staff and looted the compound, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

In the three days of violence at least 73 people were killed.

UNMISS has 16,000 troops deployed in South Sudan, which has been at war since December 2013.

Sexual violence against women has been a general feature of the military power struggle that has pitted President Salva Kiir against Machar.

The military conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 2 million people.

Kiir and Machar formed a unity government in April, but renewed violence and the sacking of Machar from the post of vice president dashed hopes of peace.

dpa

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