News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Anger after elderly woman stripped, home burnt

Posted: 30 May 2016 11:59 AM PDT

Soad Thabet, 70, was stripped naked and dragged through the streets of her village because her son, a married Christian, was suspected of having a affair with a Muslim woman.

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Alkarm, Egypt - Soad Thabet's house no longer has a door. Inside, its walls are blackened with soot and a television lies shattered on the floor. The remains of a red nightgown stand out among the ashes.

Thabet, 70, describes being dragged outside by Muslim villagers and stripped naked in the dirt roads of Alkarm, the Egyptian village where she spent her most of her adult life.

Her crime? Her son, a married Christian, was rumoured to have had an affair with a married Muslim woman. The woman has since denied the affair took place on national television.

“They burned the house and went in and dragged me out, threw me in front of the house and ripped my clothes. I was just as my mother gave birth to me, screaming and crying,” Thabet told Reuters a week after the attack.

Orthodox Copts like Thabet, who make up about a tenth of Egypt's 90 million population, are the Middle East's largest Christian community. They have long complained of discrimination in the majority-Muslim country.

Sectarian attacks occur so frequently in Egypt that they rarely attract wide publicity. But Thabet's ordeal, the public humiliation of an elderly woman, prompted an outcry among Copts and led to the case becoming national news.

“If it were just a burning we could handle it, but what can we do about what happened to the woman? How can you compensate for this insult?” Ishak William, Thabet's neighbour and relative, told Reuters at his house in Alkarm.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has denounced the Alkarm attack, which underlines that Copts remain vulnerable three years after he took power and pledged to unite the country following years of political turmoil.

Sectarian violence often erupts on the back of rumours about inter-faith romances or suspicions that Christians are building churches without the required official permission.

Homes are burned, crops are razed, churches are attacked and, occasionally, Copts are forced to leave their villages, say human rights groups and residents of the southern province of Minya, home to Egypt's largest Christian community.

Then come the reconciliation sessions, processes informally backed by the government that see local Coptic priests and Muslim clerics attempt to mediate a communal peace without resorting to the legal system.

Christians interviewed by Reuters said the sessions often end with them making concessions, such as agreeing that certain families leave town or that the church not bear a visible cross, while those who perpetrated the attacks often go unpunished.

Muslim residents and religious officials say the informal process helps broker compromises to avoid a cycle of escalation and retribution.

Copts often go along with it to avert more trouble.

But the latest attack has left a new bitterness among the Copts of tiny Alkarm, in the agricultural hinterland of Upper Egypt. This time, they say, reconciliation is not enough.

“We answer to the law, not to reconciliation sessions. Whoever did this must be held accountable,” said William.

Thabet's ordeal led to the Diocese of Minya releasing a statement demanding justice. The attack subsequently drew condemnation from the government and Al Azhar, Cairo's ancient centre of Islamic learning.

“We have people getting killed and there is no one answering for it, money stolen, houses looted, girls kidnapped ... and we bear it all and let it pass, but now there is escalation,” Bishop Makarios, the highest Coptic church official in Minya, told Reuters by telephone.

“We get told, take reconciliation because it is better for you than other bad scenarios and people are simple and just want to live in peace, but this time people won't have it.”

Since the case went public, 15 men have been detained in connection with the violence and will be investigated, according to security sources.

Before then, said William, the attackers were freely walking around the village.

Neighbours who witnessed the incident told Reuters it took place on May 20, when a group of Muslim men set fire to seven Christian homes and stripped the grandmother naked in the street after rumours of her son Ashraf's inter-faith affair.

Ashraf fled with his wife and children on May 19 after receiving threats, said William. His parents went to the police, fearing for their lives, said Ishak Ibrahim of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. The mob burned down their house the next day, Ibrahim and several local residents said.

The Governor of Minya initially denied the attack took place in comments to local media. On May 26, after it became public, Tarek Nasr, said it was a “minor incident.”

Nasr did not respond to repeated attempts to reach him on his mobile phone. He visited Alkarm on Friday, after Sisi denounced the attack.

“What is happening in Egypt is unacceptable and must never happen again ... anyone who made a mistake no matter how many they are, will be held accountable,” Sisi said during a speech at the opening of a housing project on Monday.

On Friday, a joint delegation of Cairo-based Muslim and Coptic clerics visited Alkarm, where several armoured vehicles and dozens of police patrolled the streets. Local Copts refused to meet them.

With deep scars visible on his head, face, and arm, Ishak Yakoub, a Copt who lives next door to Thabet, says he almost died the night the grandmother was attacked and wants the law to take its course and put an end to what he sees as mob justice.

“I heard gunfire so I got out of the house and stood at the doorway. People advised me to get back inside, so I did and locked the door. I climbed up on the roof and saw smoke coming from her house so I called the fire department,” he said.

“I came back down and found they had broken in and were in my house. One of them hit me on the head but I don't know with what, then they dragged me onto the street and beat me.”

Yakoub later found Thabet hiding in the home of a Muslim neighbour. He took her to his house.

“When I heard what they did, that a woman was stripped naked in the street, I took her to my room and we locked ourselves in,” says Yakoub's wife, who declined to be named.

Umm Magdi, the Muslim neighbour who sheltered Thabet, played down the incident as “threats from silly youths”.

“My son came in with (Thabet) and told me to dress her. She came into my house and I dressed her. I told her to sit but she wouldn't ... it was like she didn't feel safe with me,” Umm Magdi said.

“I've known her all my life and lived by her side like a sister. She's Christian and I'm Muslim but I won't take sides.”

Thabet, wearing a black gown and headdress and looking shaken, appeared in an online video on Friday, saying: “I didn't ask for anyone's help. I forgive them.”

But Copts from Alkarm said forgiveness would not prevent future attacks.

“Show me a (Christian) woman that will be able to walk in the street after the authorities leave,” William said.

Reuters

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Uganda to cut ties with North Korea

Posted: 30 May 2016 05:56 AM PDT

Uganda will cut defence and security ties with North Korea in compliance with a broad array of the UN sanctions imposed on Pyongyang.

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Kampala - Uganda will cut defence and security ties with North Korea in compliance with a broad array of the UN sanctions imposed on Pyongyang in March for its nuclear test and ballistic missile launch.

The announcement was made by former Foreign Affairs minister, Sam Kutesa, during a press conference at State House in Entebbe on Sunday.

Kutesa’s announcement followed a visit to Uganda by South Korean leader Park Geun-Hye who held talks bilateral on defence and trade with with President Yoweri Museveni.

Following the meeting the two nations later signed a Memorandum of Understanding which spells out areas of cooperation.

“Following the UN sanctions, we are disengaging our relations with North Korea. We do not support proliferation of nuclear weapons,” said Kutesa.

Kutesa was responding to a question on whether the government would continue working with North Korea which has been offering military and police training to Uganda, reported the Daily Monitor.

He said Uganda supports use of nuclear for energy but urged those with nuclear weapons to destroy them.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions were imposed in March following North Korea launching ballistic missiles.

The sanctions prohibit all UN member states from engaging in activities such as trade or transfer of technology that could enable the nation’s missile and nuclear programmes.

“A report by the Royal United Service Institute for Defence and Security Studies, a global security think- tank released last month, listed Uganda among the top five countries that seem not ready to cut military ties with North Korea despite the UN restrictions,” reported the Monitor.

Following the Entebbe meeting the two ministers signed several other Memorandums of Understanding including defence, social welfare, rural development, health, in addition to other issues.

– African News Agency

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Africa could do with a dose of punctuality, cleanliness

Posted: 30 May 2016 05:47 AM PDT

It is time to jettison the vague notion of African time. And for Africa to clean up its act, writes Sandile Swani.

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It is time to jettison the vague notion of African time. And for Africa to clean up its act, writes Sandile Swani.

 

There are two features of life on the African continent that are fundamentally deadly to socioeconomic development. These are lack of cleanliness and punctuality.

There is plenty of discussion on macro and micro economics and the big theories of economic development, but it seems the African worldview is a primary problem. It is opportune to discuss more fundamental inhibitors to economic development and growth. In my view this entails a fundamental change in how things get done.

Other countries and continents have managed to make serious advances in dramatically improving cleanliness as well as timeliness, which has resulted in accelerated economic development.

On the continent there are two examples that show how cleanliness and punctuality can positively affect development. The first is in the Rwandan capital Kigali. It is setting the pace in Africa as one of the cleanest cities and steadily one of the most punctual. This is on a continent where both city cleanliness and punctuality are rare.

When you look at African cities you see dirt, unkempt gardens, unkempt fences, chaotic traffic. And these cities run on “African time”, itself a discredited concept.

The other example is in South Africa where the government has launched Operation Phakisa. The initiative seeks to speed up high-impact government projects, signalling an emerging awareness of the need for timeliness.

From my own experience of working in various locations across South Africa, there is still a long way to go to improve on cleanliness and punctuality. Cleanliness speaks directly to mortality and morbidity. Timeliness speaks to the pace and exactness at which things get done, addressing effectiveness and efficiency.

Cleanliness has at least two clear advantages. The first is that it protects people from diseases. It ensures good health which links to productivity, vitality and longevity.

The second advantage is that it makes localities more pleasant to visitors, including tourists.

In the Western world the idea and practice of a daily bath and properly plumbed and controlled sewage for the majority of people only gained traction around 1850. This improved health was accompanied by widespread economic growth in the Western world.

Japan achieved the same life expectancy as the West at the end of the 19th century, although the country was very poor economically. It did so mainly through cleanliness. This change in culture was then accompanied by improvements in longevity.

In the West it was largely in the wake of the industrial revolution that the majority of people were given meaningful access to sanitation.

Thus, both Eastern and Western culture have evolved. This shows it is not inherently European or Asian to be clean.

Cleanliness tends to go with tidiness and orderliness, which increases safety, health and efficiency. Well-organised cities have planned suburbs, buildings and infrastructure. This organisation reduces anxiety and time being wasted.

My own experience bears this out. I visit a number of local towns in South Africa where the general state of municipal buildings signals a poor attitude towards hygiene. This is not particular to South Africa. It is not uncommon anywhere on the continent from Cape to Cairo to find dilapidated government buildings, uncontrolled sewers, and unmaintained private homes. This shows infrastructure is being allowed to go to waste through lack of care.

Kigali is an exception to this rule, although its government appears to have used heavy handed tactics to achieve its objectives. In South Africa, towns such as Hermanus, Cape St Francis and George are also good examples. But these are exceptions.

The other issue is punctuality. Science and technology cannot progress outside measurement and precision. I believe that attitudes need to change to reflect the xiTsonga saying Mintirho ya vula vula (one’s work speaks, not just words), with the addition that your work must be punctual.

Embracing time and punctuality across all of activities leads to innovation, human development, growth in GDP per capita, and more effective government. This in turn fuels socioeconomic development.

Again, my own experience attests to this. It is not uncommon in South Africa to visit a town council by appointment and spend two days at an office without ever seeing the official who made the appointment. Nor a substitute.

In Polokwane, I had to spend two days without ever meeting the government official who had confirmed the appointment. This took up unnecessary time and required spending extra money – a night at a hotel and food.

And recently I had to visit three towns close to Johannesburg – Roodepoort, Pretoria and Brakpan – to get charts that South African labour law requires to be displayed at a workplace. In total I invested three days in this matter. The idea that it should be possible to download the charts from the internet has not yet crossed the minds of those responsible for their dissemination. Not doing so increases the cost of doing business and creates a waste of time.

A lax attitude to using time optimally also extends into the social sphere. It is still common to be invited to a function in South Africa with notification that says the starting time is 1830 for 1900. This on its own encourages laxity. On top of that a great many people generally believe that functions typically get going 30 minutes late, meaning that 1830 for 1900 is actually 1830 for 1930.

Ideas about hygiene and punctuality can only become part of how people in Africa behave if the leaders and intellectuals start insisting on them both at work and socially.

Both punctuality and cleanliness are learnt behaviours. Schoolchildren need to be exposed to punctuality, accuracy and tidiness in everything they do.

Remember that Japan and many Asians had to learn punctuality. Take the progress made in timeliness in Japan. By 1900 the country’s train timetable was just a hint of more or less the time a train might arrive. Today Japan is very punctual and precise.

It is time to jettison the vague notion of African time. And for Africa to clean up its act.

The Conversation

*Sandile Swani is a lecturer at Wits Business School.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

The Conversation

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Former Chad president Habre found guilty

Posted: 30 May 2016 05:45 AM PDT

Hissene Habre was sentenced to life in prison for ordering the killing and torture of thousands during his eight-year rule.

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Dakar - Former Chad president Hissene Habre was found guilty on Monday of crimes against humanity for ordering the killing and torture of thousands of political opponents during his eight-year rule which began in 1982.

He was sentenced by the Special African Chamber, created in 2013 by Senegal and the African Union, to life in prison.

The verdict caps a 16-year battle by victims and rights campaigners to bring the former strongman to justice in Senegal, where he fled after being toppled in a 1990 coup in the central African nation.

Reuters

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China hails Africa relations after ad outcry

Posted: 30 May 2016 05:45 AM PDT

China respects all people regardless of race, the government said after a detergent maker apologised for a “racist” advert.

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Beijing - China and Africa are “good brothers” and China respects all people regardless of race, the government said on Monday after a detergent maker apologised for an advert showing a black man bundled into a washing machine that many called racist.

In the television advertisement for Qiaobi laundry detergent, a black man wolf-whistles at a Chinese woman, who beckons him over. She then stuffs a packet of detergent in his mouth and shoves him head-first into a washing machine.

A moment later, the woman opens the lid and a fair-skinned Asian man pops out.

State media reported the ad had first appeared in April but went viral after being posted on YouTube last week, where it racked up millions of views within a few days.

Some Chinese and foreign internet users condemned it as racist.

“We express our sincere apologies and sincerely hope that the many internet users and the media will not read too much into this,” Shanghai Leishang Cosmetics, the company that owns the Qiaobi brand, said in a statement at the weekend.

The company deleted an online version of the ad in response to the outcry, the state-backed Global Times reported, citing an interview with the firm.

However, versions of it could still be seen on Chinese and foreign video platforms, including YouTube, on Monday.

A company representative declined further comment on Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the ad was an isolated commercial act that had not prompted any diplomatic complaints and hoped people would not hype it up.

“Everyone can see that we are consistent in equality towards, and mutually respect, all countries, no matter their ethnicity or race. In fact, we are good brothers with African countries,” Hua told a daily news briefing.

It is unclear if the black actor in the ad is from Africa.

Public discussion of racial discrimination is unusual in China, which is dominated by the ethnic Han majority but is also home to dozens of minority groups as well as a growing influx of foreign residents, including Africans.

“Even though the people who shot the ad may not have realised it, it really is racist,” one user on the microblogging platform Weibo wrote.

“Those who planned the ad strategy should really have read up first.”

Government officials often insist that China enjoys largely harmonious ethnic relations, though tension has led to violence, particularly in its western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, which have large minority populations.

The Global Times, a popular tabloid known for a nationalistic bent, said in an editorial Western media coverage was “too extreme” and China had no problems with discrimination.

“There have been many evils during the development of the West in this era, and racism is one of them,” the paper said.

“China's social process hasn't been the same experience, so using the same yardstick to measure China's performance will lead to results that are inevitably absurd.”

Reuters

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Brotherhood leader, 35 others get life in jail

Posted: 30 May 2016 05:44 AM PDT

An Egyptian court sentenced the Muslim Brotherhood's leader and 35 other people to life in prison over violent clashes in 2013, an official said.

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Cairo - An Egyptian court on Monday sentenced the Muslim Brotherhood's leader and 35 other people to life in prison over violent clashes after the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a judicial official said.

Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's supreme guide, has already been sentenced to death and prison terms in other trials.

The court also sentenced 48 defendants to jail terms ranging from three to 15 years, and acquitted 20 others.

The authorities have arrested thousands of Brotherhood leaders and members, including Morsi, since his ouster by the army in 2013.

Hundreds have been sentenced to death, although many have appealed and won retrials.

On Monday, the court convicted Badie and the other defendants of involvement in clashes in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya that killed three people.

The country was rocked by violence for weeks after Morsi's supporters set up protest camps and demonstrated against his overthrow.

The police killed hundreds of his supporters in clashes, including more than 600 on August 14, 2013 as they dispersed a Cairo protest camp.

Morsi, a senior Brotherhood leader, had won the country's first free election in 2012, more than a year after a popular uprising ousted veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.

His rule was divisive and millions held protests in Cairo demanding his resignation, prompting the army to overthrow and detain him.

AFP

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Suspected Shabaab fighters kill village elders

Posted: 30 May 2016 05:44 AM PDT

Suspected al-Shabaab militants shot and killed three village elders, including a Muslim cleric, in Kenya's coastal region, police said.

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Mombasa, Kenya - Suspected al-Shabaab militants shot and killed three village elders, including a Muslim cleric, in Kenya's coastal region on suspicion of helping security agencies fight the insurgents, police said on Monday.

Village chairman Juma Mwanyota, religious leader Hassan Mwasanite and a member of local neighbourhood security group, Mohammed Manguze, were shot and killed separately on Sunday in Kwale county, south of Kenya's port city Mombasa.

Kwale county police chief Joseph Omija said they believed the killers were young recruits who had returned to Kenya from training by al-Shabaab in Somalia.

“They (the suspects) think these elders have information about them which they are sharing with us and other security agencies, and that is why they are targeting them,” Omija told Reuters by phone.

Al-Shabaab has said in the past its frequent attacks in Kenya are in retaliation for Kenya sending its troops into Somalia in 2011. They are now part of an African Union peacekeeping force. Several raids targeted coastal sites.

The al-Qaeda-linked group also seeks to overthrow the Western-backed Somali government and impose its own strict interpretation of Islamic law.

In early May, a young man who had returned from Somalia and surrendered to government was shot and killed by what Omija said was a group of al-Shabaab militants.

Coast regional coordinator Nelson Marwa told a news conference in Mombasa they were seeking the suspects in Sunday's killings.

In 2014, a prominent Muslim cleric, Sheikh Mohamed Idris, was shot and killed at a mosque in Kwale county and police linked the killing to his stand against terrorism and radicalisation.

A madrassa teacher who was arrested and charged for the murder was found guilty and sentenced to death.

In 2014, about 100 people were killed by al-Shabaab militants in the Mpeketoni area of Lamu County.

Police said in a statement late on Sunday they had arrested four suspects in connection with the killings, and published pictures of eight others they were looking for.

“There are indications that some al-Shabaab terrorists fleeing from AMISOM action in Somalia could be making attempts to infiltrate into our country and stage attacks during the holy month of Ramadaan,” the statement said.

Reuters

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Tunis museum attacker killed in Libya

Posted: 30 May 2016 05:43 AM PDT

A senior IS commander in Libya who Tunisian security forces thought they had killed last October is reported to have finally died, a report said.

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Kampala – A senior IS commander in Libya, Tunisian Khaled Al-Shayeb, who Tunisian security forces thought they had killed last October is reported to have finally died this week in clashes with Misratan fighters to the west of Sirte, in northern Libya, reported The Libya Herald.

Shayeb, also known as Luqman Abu Sakhr, was believed to have been one of the terrorists who organised last year’s attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis in which 22 people, mostly foreign tourists, were murdered.

The Tunisian National Guard claimed last year that Shayeb had been one of several commanders killed during an operation in Gafsa.

“The operations room of Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous, which is running the Misratan push towards Sirte, said that Shayeb’s body had been identified by detained terrorists,” reported the Herald

There has as yet been no reaction from the Tunisian authorities.

– African News Agency

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Five ‘blue helmet’ killed in Mali ambush

Posted: 30 May 2016 05:43 AM PDT

Five UN peacekeepers were killed in an ambush in central Mali, with another “blue helmet” seriously injured, according to the MINUSMA.

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Kampala - Five United Nations peacekeepers were killed in an ambush in central Mali Sunday morning, with another “blue helmet” seriously injured, according to a press statement from the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

The ambush occurred around 11.00am near the town of Sevaré.

Preliminary information indicates that five Togolese peacekeepers were killed.

Another who was seriously injured has been evacuated.

“I condemn in the strongest terms this despicable crime in addition to other terrorist acts that targeted our peacekeepers, which constitute crimes against humanity under international law,” said Mahamat Saleh Annadif, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and head of MINUSMA.

“This heinous act of terrorism is even more shocking as it was perpetrated there during the International Day of Peacekeepers,” said Annadi.

Annadi urged that every effort be made to identify those responsible for these crimes against friendly forces of Mali and the Malian Armed Forces, five of whom were also killed last Friday.

In the wake of the deadly ambush, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council (UNSC) also condemned the incident, with the UN chief calling for swift action to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice.

“Ki-moon observes with sadness that this latest attack on MINUSMA has taken place on the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, when the men and women serving under the United Nations flag with honour, courage and dedication are to be honoured,” said a statement issued by his spokesperson, referring to the annual May 29 commemoration, declared by the UN General Assembly in 2003.

The statement also underscored that the UN Secretary-General recalled, once again, that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law.

– African News Agency

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Verdict due in war crimes trial of Habre

Posted: 30 May 2016 03:23 AM PDT

A special court in Senegal was due to deliver its verdict in the war crimes trial of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre.

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Dakar - A special court in Senegal was due to deliver its verdict on Monday in the war crimes trial of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre, bringing a long-awaited reckoning to victims and their families.

Habre, 73, was president of Chad from 1982-1990, during which time he is alleged to have committed crimes against humanity and torture.

Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence.

Habre went on trial last July in the Extraordinary African Chambers (CAE), a special tribunal set up in Dakar by the African Union under a deal with Senegal, the first time a country has prosecuted a former leader of another nation for rights abuses.

Reed Brody, a lawyer for Human Rights Watch who has spent the last 15 years working with victims to bring Habre to justice, said the landmark case could encourage others to bring similar action.

“The trial of Hissene Habre shows that it is possible for victims, with tenacity and perseverance, to bring their dictator to court,” Reed told AFP on Sunday. “We hope that other survivors, other activists will be inspired by what Habre's victims have been able to do.”

Often dressed in combat fatigues in line with his “desert fighter” nickname, Habre fled to Senegal after his 1990 ouster by Chad's current President Idriss Deby.

Habre has declined to address the court, refusing to recognise its authority. Neither he nor his legal team will be in court for Monday's hearing, they told AFP.

But his court-appointed lawyers will attend and are hoping for an acquittal. “We have developed our arguments sufficiently well to prove that Hissene Habre is innocent,” said Senegalese lawyer Mbeye Sene.

“If the law is correctly applied, we will go straight to an acquittal for Mr Habre,” added Sene.

Investigators found that at least 40,000 people were killed during Habre's rule, which was marked by fierce repression of opponents and the targeting of rival ethnic groups.

Witnesses have recounted the horror of life in Chad's prisons, describing in graphic detail abusive and often deadly punishments inflicted by Habre's feared secret police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS).

Victims were subject to electric shocks and waterboarding while some had gas sprayed in their eyes or spice rubbed into their genitals, the court heard.

Habre's defence team has sought to cast doubt on the prosecution argument that their client was an all-knowing, all-powerful head of the DDS, suggesting he may have been unaware of abuses on the ground.

Mahamat Moussa, a former detainee, said a guilty verdict would provide solace to many families left without answers 25 years after Habre left office.

“A verdict proportionate with the crimes committed by Habre will allow many families to properly mourn and offer some comfort from the suffering we former prisoners endured,” Moussa said, speaking at the headquarters of a victims' association in Chad's capital, N'Djamena.

“I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison,” he added.

For more than 20 years, the former dictator lived freely in an upmarket Dakar suburb with his wife and children, swapping his military garb for billowing white robes and a cap.

The African Union asked Senegal to try Habre in July 2006, but the country delayed the process for years under former president Abdoulaye Wade, despite an agreement to create the special court.

If convicted, Habre can expect a sentence of between 30 years and life with hard labour, that will be served in Senegal or another African Union country.

“While some African leaders have claimed that Africa is unfairly targeted by international courts, the challenge has been to put teeth into African justice,” said Brody of Human Rights Watch.

“This case is a tremendous precedent to show that African courts can deliver justice for crimes committed in Africa”.

AFP

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