News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Democrats gird for fight with Trump

Posted: 09 May 2016 06:34 AM PDT

Hillary Clinton and her allies are putting resources into industrial states to try to block Donald Trump from making inroads.

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Cleveland/ New York

- Bracing for a general election fight with Donald Trump, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and her allies are putting resources into industrial states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania to try to block Trump from making inroads with working-class voters there.

Labor leaders, progressive groups and Democratic operatives told Reuters in interviews that they took seriously Trump's appeal with white working-class voters and were studying how to respond to his promises to create jobs and negotiate better trade deals.

The desire to stop the presumptive Republican presidential nominee from wresting away the support of unionised workers has even led a group organised to back Bernie Sanders, Labor for Bernie, to consider its next steps if Sanders does not win the Democratic nomination.

“It may well be our task to work hard to reach out to our (labor union) members who support Trump and begin an important dialogue,” said Rand Wilson, a staunch Sanders supporter and Labor for Bernie spokesman.

The Rust Belt, which includes Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and West Virginia, has suffered heavy job losses in sectors such as autos, coal and steel that have faced fierce competition from abroad.

The region, home to many unionised workers, has been a stronghold for Democrats. The exceptions are socially conservative West Virginia, which has gone Republican in the past four presidential elections, and Indiana, which has gone Democratic only twice since 1940. Ohio has switched back and forth.

Trump has aggressively courted working-class voters ahead of the November 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. He has criticised the North American Free Trade Agreement and promised to rip up the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

He has also said he will consider raising the minimum wage and backing higher taxes on the wealthy.

Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told Reuters the campaign was targeting industrial states like Pennsylvania and Michigan, which have voted Democratic in presidential elections since 1992.

Working America, an advocacy group affiliated with the AFL-CIO labor organisation, is expanding operations in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania and plans to open an office in Wisconsin. Its first mission is talking to voters about jobs and the economy and trying to gauge where they are leaning in the presidential race. Later in the campaign, the group will work more aggressively to win over voters.

In Ohio, the Democratic Party has doubled its field operation over the past month, thanks to an infusion of cash raised by the Clinton campaign for the national and state parties.

Clinton, who has a strong lead over Sanders but has yet to secure the Democratic nomination, has already hired state directors in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Working America field director Soren Norris knocked on doors on the west side of Cleveland last week as part of an effort to gauge voter sentiment.

At the first house, Tamara Phillips, 44, told Norris she was not enthusiastic about either Clinton or Trump but that she would vote for the New York businessman if forced to choose.

Phillips, who works in publishing, said taxes on her commission income rose during former President Bill Clinton's administration.

But she said she had reservations about Trump's “gruff” demeanour.

Mending fences in Appalachia

With an eye toward voters across the Rust Belt, Clinton visited Appalachia last week with stops in West Virginia and Ohio.

She apologised for previous statements related to shutting down the coal industry and told protesters she was committed to solving their economic problems even if they did not support her.

Union activists said their strategy for undercutting Trump's support would be pointing out discrepancies in his positions.

His comment that he is open to raising the minimum wage comes after he said in a November debate that “wages are too high” and that an increase would hurt the economy.

Although Trump rails against trade deals and businesses that move operations to Mexico, critics say that items such as ties and suits in his clothing line were manufactured in China.

“The best way to go after Trump is to make him run against himself,” said political strategist Brad Bannon, who advises labor unions.

Tom Buffenbarger, a Clinton surrogate to labor and the past president of the machinists' union, said Democrats would have “a lot of fun” highlighting Trump's inconsistencies, although he acknowledged the Republican candidate presented a threat in some Rust Belt states.

“Are we concerned about the industrial states in the upcoming election?” Buffenbarger said.

“Yeah, Donald Trump's done a good job complaining about the trade deal while he continues to ship work from the US to China.”

Reuters

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MDC slams plans to print Zim version of US dollar

Posted: 09 May 2016 06:34 AM PDT

Zimbabwe's opposition condemned the government's plan to print a local version of the US dollar as “madness”.

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Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition condemned the government's plan to print a local version of the US dollar as “madness” on Monday, as panic set in over a crippling cash shortage.

“The printing of bond notes will be the death knell to this economy,” the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said in a statement.

“Zimbabweans have walked this road before. They have not forgotten the dark days when they were poor quintillionnaires.”

Zimbabwe adopted the US and South African currencies in 2009 after hyperinflation peaked at 231 million percent, rendering the national currency worthless.

A recent shortage of foreign notes prompted central bank governor John Mangudya to unveil measures including limiting withdrawals to $1 000 per day and printing a series of tokens, called bond notes, rated at par with the US dollar.

“The MDC is preparing a robust response to this madness and the party reserves its right to mobilise the people against this ill-advised decision which is certainly not backed by economic logic,” the party said.

Bond notes will complement bond coins, which were introduced in 2014 to tackle a lack of small change.

The notes, which Mangudya said were “at design stage”, will be in denominations of $2, $5, $10 and $20.

They will be backed by a $200-million support facility provided by the Afrexibank (Africa Export-Import Bank).

Mangudya's announcement last week prompted panic, with long queues of desperate depositors trying to withdraw their money at banks and automated teller machines.

Economists blame the cash shortage on lack of investment and a trade deficit which saw the country's import bill standing at $490 million in the first quarter against $167 million in exports.

AFP

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Bujumbura mayor vows to crush ‘terrorists’

Posted: 09 May 2016 06:32 AM PDT

Mayor Freddy Mbonimpa vowed to crush “terrorists” blamed for a spate of weekend grenade attacks that left three people dead.

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Bujumbura - The mayor of Burundi's capital on Monday vowed to crush “terrorists” blamed for a spate of weekend grenade attacks that left three people dead and about 20 injured.

Hundreds have been killed and a quarter of a million people have fled Burundi since President Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial decision April 2015 to run for a third term, a vote he won amid opposition boycotts in July.

Anti-government protests were brutally quashed and killings and attacks have become a regular feature in the troubled country as a political crisis shows no sign of abating.

Bujumbura mayor Freddy Mbonimpa told AFP that three people had died in the capital since Friday in “terrorist acts targeting peaceful citizens.”

“These terrorists are trying to instil panic... we are in the process of breaking up these terrorist groups with the help of the local population,” he said.

Grenade attacks in Bujumbura intensified last month after a month-long lull in March.

A grenade blast in a bar on Sunday evening killed one person and injured five others in the working-class district of Bwiza in central Bujumbura.

On Saturday two women died after a grenade was thrown into a small market in the city's north-east.

On Friday, eight people were injured in another grenade attack, a police officer said.

AFP

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DRC’s opposition leader faces mercenary charges

Posted: 09 May 2016 06:31 AM PDT

A leading opposition candidate for president of DRC was questioned over government allegations of hiring mercenaries.

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Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo - A leading opposition candidate for president of Democratic Republic of Congo was questioned on Monday over government allegations of hiring mercenaries, a case that could halt his fledgling campaign in its tracks.

Moise Katumbi arrived at the prosecutor general's office in the second city Lubumbashi, dressed in a white suit and surrounded by supporters who chanted “President! Today is the day”.

At least four people were arrested as hundreds of police tried to contain the crowds.

Katumbi has denied accusations made by the justice minister last week that he hired mercenaries including US soldiers.

The enquiry could lead to charges that carry a prison term and could also tie Katumbi in legal knots that could derail his campaign to succeed President Joseph Kabila at elections scheduled November.

Many Congolese people say Katumbi is the strongest opposition candidate to succeed Kabila, given his personal wealth and popularity as the former governor of Congo's main copper-producing region. He also owns a soccer team.

Kabila is barred by the constitution from seeking a third term but has yet to announce his intentions. His ruling party has not named another candidate and the opposition says Kabila wants to delay the election to retain power.

Katumbi arrived at the prosecutor's office at about 10.15am local time (08.15 GMT), accompanied by leaders of an opposition coalition that has backed his presidential bid, a Reuters witness said.

Reuters

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At least 50 injured in downtown Cairo fire

Posted: 09 May 2016 03:58 AM PDT

A massive fire erupted in a busy low-price commercial area in downtown Cairo, injuring at least 50 mostly from suffocation.

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Cairo - At least 50 people including firefighters suffered minor injuries on Monday when a fire spread quickly through a commercial area in downtown Cairo, Egyptian officials said.

The fire erupted overnight in a small hotel in the Al-Mosky neighbourhood, not far from the Al-Azhar mosque, and moved rapidly to four nearby buildings, police told AFP.

The buildings included warehouses containing plastic materials which helped the fire to spread.

“At least 50 people were lightly injured, including firefighters, with most suffering from smoke inhalation and bruises but not burns,” Ahmad Ansary, the head of the Egyptian ambulance authority, told AFP.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

Firefighters were continuing to battle the blaze in the early morning but it seemed to be under control, according to live footage on Egyptian television.

AFP

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Landslides kill dozens across Rwanda

Posted: 09 May 2016 03:58 AM PDT

Landslides caused by heavy rains killed at least 49 people and destroyed hundreds of buildings in Rwanda, the government said.

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Kigali

- Landslides caused by heavy rains killed at least 49 people and destroyed hundreds of buildings in Rwanda at the weekend, the government said.

Downpours brought down 500 homes, damaged infrastructure and injured another 26 people from Saturday night into Sunday morning, officials added.

Countries across East Africa have reported much heavier rainy seasons this year, many of them blaming the el Nino weather phenomenon.

A residential building collapsed in Kenya's capital on April 29 after days of flooding, killing 49 people.

Reuters

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Ugandans welcome South Sudan refugees

Posted: 09 May 2016 03:57 AM PDT

As EU pontificate the pros and cons of allowing desperate refugees into their countries, Uganda is helping many African refugees to rebuild their lives.

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Nyumanzi Settlement, North Uganda - As Europeans pontificate the pros and cons of allowing desperate refugees into their countries, Uganda, a poor country with a fraction of the resources of many European countries, has an open-door refugee policy and is helping many African refugees to rebuild their lives.

“Uganda has the most progressive policy towards refugees in all of Africa,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Protection Officer in Adjumani, near the South Sudan border, Akiko Tsujisawa told the African News Agency (ANA).

“It not only allows refugees to come into the country but helps them to rebuild their lives by giving them land to cultivate in resettlement camps and access to social services,” said Tsujisawa.

The UNHCR is working with the Ugandan government in Adjumani to help approximately 132 000 South Sudanese refugees who have fled the violence in South Sudan.

“Uganda has a long history of helping refugees starting with Jewish refugees who escaped the Nazis during the Second World War,” said Titus Jogo, Ugandan government Refugee Desk Officer for refugees in Adjumani

“We’ve been taking in refugees for decades from South Sudan, the Congo, the Central African Republic (CAR), Rwanda and Burundi,” Jogo told ANA.

“But we also know what it’s like to be the source of refugees. Thousands of Ugandans of Indian origin were expelled from the country under Idi Amin’s rule during the 70s. Thousands of other Ugandans also fled the slaughter.

“Our 2006 Refugee Law Policy guides our treatment of refugees and it is human-rights based. The policy involves freedom of movement and the right to social services such as medical treatment and education,” Jogo told ANA.

On their arrival, South Sudanese refugees are allocated 30 x 30 m2 plots of land to farm by the Ugandan government.

Much of the land is provided by the villagers of Adjumani, a poor rural community without access to electricity or running water for the most part.

Due to the generosity of the Adjumani villagers, two South Sudanese refugees who barely escaped with their lives, and their families, now see a future.

“They didn’t shoot me dead because they mistook me for being a Nuer as I could speak their language,” said Doctor Jacob Kuanyin, an ethnic Dinka, who was working at a government hospital in Bor, the capital of Sudan’s Jonglei state before he fled to Uganda.

A two-year civil war, between supporters of South Sudan President Salva Kiir and supporters of former opposition leader Riek Machar, raged for two years from 2013 until Machar returned in late April to the Capital Juba to take up his position as vice president of a unity transitional government.

“Last December gunmen supporting Machar raided the hospital where I was working. They then proceeded to divide the people according to whether they were Nuer or Dinka,” Kuanyin told ANA.

“They shot those identified as Dinka, including health workers and even the wounded. But after mistakenly identifying me as a Nuer they left their wounded fighters under my care. I saw bodies from both sides lining the streets.

“During a lull in the fighting I fled to Uganda with my wife and three children. I was given land and a loan from the UNHCR and the Ugandan government and I’ve now set up a small medical clinic in Nyumanzi settlement,” said Kuanyin.

Chorl Manyok, 36, a married father of three and an ethnic Dinka, now runs a small grocery store in Nyumanzi Settlement.

“I fled South Sudan in 2014 after my parents were shot dead by gunmen. We had to hide in the bush for days and then travel for several days to reach the Ugandan border,” Manyok told ANA.

According to UNHCR more than 20 000 refugees fled the world’s newest country during 2015.

Now not only is Manyok’s business growing but he is now going to business school.

However, despite the enormous improvement in the quality of their lives, South Sudanese face numerous problems.

Kuanyin said he needed more medicines to treat his patients and many of them were suffering from psychological trauma.

The health centres being run by the UNHCR in Adjumani’s 17 refugee settlements are very basic and battling several diseases including malaria.

“Not enough South Sudanese children are being enrolled in secondary school due to funding and bursary shortages. There are also insufficient classrooms and teaching materials for the school children with many classes conducted in tents,” Tsujisawa told ANA.

“The rigid cultural attitude among refugees has been an impediment. Child marriages, domestic violence and rape are condoned by the community leadership where traditional methods of dispute resolution take precedence,” reported the UNHCR.

In response, the UNHCR has initiated the roll out of Start Awareness Support Action (SASA) methodology which involves a self-examination process of all categories of community members including men and is expected to achieve results in the long run.

Jogo said environmental degradation as land was cleared for agricultural plots for the refugees was a problem.

“The trees will not grow fast enough to replenish the forest destroyed and our land resources are not finite. Additionally Uganda has a high birth rate with a fast-growing population,” Jogo told ANA.

“We also have funding shortages as international donors suffer from donor fatigue, especially with the Syrian refugee crisis.

“My hope is that there will be peace in South Sudan and the refugees will be willingly repatriated as we had not expected them to stay indefinitely,” said Jogo.

However, the UN has reported that the number of refugees fleeing South Sudan has spiked dramatically since the formation of the transitional unity government.

“The increase in refugees is a reflection of the continued fighting, insecurity and uncertainty,” Tsujisawa told ANA.

“I will never return to South Sudan while Riek Machar is alive,” Manyok told ANA.

– African News Agency

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Kenya to shut down refugee camps

Posted: 09 May 2016 03:56 AM PDT

Human rights organisations have slammed Kenya over its announcement to shut down refugee camps in Dadaab and Kakuma.

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Nairobi

- Human rights organisations have slammed Kenya over its announcement to shut down refugee camps in Dadaab and Kakuma.

The government of Kenya has disbanded the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA), which processes refugee registration within Kenya and will close at least two large refugee camps within its borders.

Dr Eng Karanja Kibicho, interior ministry principal secretary, announced that the government would no longer host refugees and would close refugee camps “within the shortest time possible” because of “immense security challenges”.

In a statement that has received harsh criticism from international human rights organisations, Dr Kibicho stated that the government of Kenya had shouldered heavy economic, security and environmental burdens by hosting refugees for over 25 years.

Kibicho explained that the move to shut down the camps came in the wake of security challenges such as al-Shabaab and other related terror groups that hosting of refugees has continued to pose to Kenya.

“The Government of Kenya acknowledges that this decision will have adverse effects on the lives of refugees and therefore the international community must collectively take responsibility on humanitarian needs that will arise out of this action,” said Kibicho.

He said currently Kenya was hosting over 600 000 refugees in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps.

Kibicho’s statement was backed by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed who defended the government’s move to close the refugee camps in the country.

Mohamed said the burden of hosting refugees was too heavy for Kenyan taxpayers.

Kibicho alluded to the November 2013 tripartite agreement signed between the Governments of Kenya and Somalia, and the UNHCR, setting out a framework for the voluntary return of refugees to Somalia.

Reacting to the news, Human Rights Watch (HRW), said that Kenya’s announcement that it would no longer host refugees was contrary to principles it has pledged to respect.

“In a single breath, the Kenyan government recognises that the Somalis it has been hosting for nearly 25 years are still refugees, but then states it’s finished with them,” said Bill Frelick, refugee rights program director at Human Rights Watch.

“Kenya should not turn its back on people needing protection and on fundamental principles that it has pledged to respect.”

HRW said that Kenya was home to over 463 000 Somali refugees who fled insecurity and fighting, including by the Islamist armed group al-Shabaab, which was at war with the government of

Somalia. Human Rights Watch said many Somalis had experienced al-Shabaab’s brutal abuses, including forced child recruitment and suicide attacks.

In recent years, al-Shabaab has also carried out a string of attacks on civilians in Kenya, including killing at least 148 people at Garissa University in April 2015.

Kenya sent military forces into Somalia in late 2011 to stem the terror activities of Somali militant groups such as al-Shabaab. Since then, Kenya has suffered a series of attacks blamed on Somali militant sympathisers.

“Despite the Kenyan government’s frequent statements that Somali refugees in Kenya are responsible for Kenya’s insecurity, officials have not provided credible evidence linking Somali refugees to any terrorist attacks in Kenya. Human Rights Watch is not aware of convictions of Somali refugees in connection with any attack in Kenya,” said HRW.

“The threat al-Shabaab poses in Somalia and Kenya is real, but that doesn’t negate Kenya’s obligation to abide by international refugee law,” Frelick said, adding “Rather than abandon people it still recognises as refugees, the Kenyan government should appropriately prosecute those people who have committed crimes and maintain efforts to protect refugees according to international standards.”

Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, Muthoni Wanyeki described the move by the Kenyan government as a “reckless decision” and “an abdication of its duty to protect the vulnerable”.

“While it is true that resettlement to third countries has been slow, Kenya should itself consider permanent solutions towards the full integration of refugees, some of whose stay in Kenya is now over generations,” said Wanyeki, adding that “forced return to situations of persecution or conflict is not an option”.

According to information from the Kenya Ministry of Interior, only 45 000 refugees had left Kenya voluntarily in the past two years. Over the past 25 years, Somali refugees sought refuge in Kenya fleeing war and famine.

Their population has grown to an estimated 350 000 people, more than half the population of the entire refugee community in Kenya, said the the UNHCR.

UNHCR said it had identified eight areas in Somalia, where most of the refugees came from, and where they would be hosted upon repatriation.

In December 2014, a pilot scheme was launched to support people who sought to voluntarily repatriate to one of three relatively safe areas of Somalia, namely Luuq, Baidoa and Kismayo.

UNHCR’s Kakuma Operation in north-eastern Kenya has recorded a steady increase in new arrivals from South Sudan.

The Sudanese refugees cite insecurity, intense famine and the high cost of living as the reasons for their flight.

Dadaab, is arguably the world’s largest refugee camp and is situated in the north east of Kenya. It is about 100km from Garissa Town, where 148 people, including 142 students, were murdered at the Garissa University in April 2015.

The militant Islamist group, al-Shabaab, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Documented information showed that the government of Somalia does not have effective control over many parts of south and central Somalia.

UNHCR says that under international law, states are prohibited from forcibly returning people to a place where they would be at real risk of human rights violations.

This is known as the principle of non-refoulement. Kenya is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1969 Organisation of African Unity Refugee Convention.

Refugees are also protected under the Kenya Refugee Act 2006 from forcible return to countries where their safety is not guaranteed and they may face persecution.

– African News Agency

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Officers killed in Somalia suicide attack

Posted: 08 May 2016 11:37 PM PDT

A car bomb killed at least two police officers in Mogadishu in a suicide attack on the city's traffic police headquarters, police said.

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Mogadishu - A car bomb killed at least two police officers in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Monday in a suicide attack on the city's traffic police headquarters, police said.

Three others were wounded during the attack, said Mohamed Nur, a traffic police officer. One of the assailants was killed in a gun fight after the blast.

“It was a suicide car bomb that hit the gate. We also shot dead an armed militant who wanted to storm the building,” Nur told Reuters.

Local residents said the front of the traffic headquarters was damaged extensively.

The blast also destroyed nearby shops.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The al-Shabaab militant group, which wants to topple Somalia's Western-backed government, carries out frequent attacks on military targets and civilian facilities like hotels and restaurants, mostly in the capital Mogadishu.

Reuters

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