News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Malawi urged to protect people with albinism

Posted: 12 Jun 2016 11:11 PM PDT

The rights of people with albinism in Malawi must be guaranteed, Amnesty International said.

|||

Johannesburg - The rights of people with albinism in Malawi must be guaranteed, Amnesty International (AI) said on Monday.

“Malawian officials must live up to their promises to end violence against people with albinism and tackle discrimination against this group,” AI said in a statement on International Albinism Awareness.

After a series of meetings with senior government officials, including President Arthur Peter Mutharika, on June 7, Amnesty International said in a statement it secured commitments to address the spate of killings of people with albinism and to tackle the root causes of discrimination.

“Recognition by the Malawian authorities at the highest level that people with albinism not only experience daily discrimination but also live in constant fear of attacks is an important step in addressing the problem,” said Deprose Muchena, AI regional director for Southern Africa.

“Malawian police need more resources and must conduct thorough and effective investigations to bring the abductions and killings to an end.

“Visible policing in rural areas coupled with an effective public education campaigns can contribute significantly in arresting the problem,” Muchena said.

On June 7, an AI delegation presented the organisation’s latest report on Malawi to Mutharika and other officials, including the inspector general of police, the minister of gender, children, disability, and social welfare, and the minister of justice.

During the meetings several commitments were made including reviewing government’s policies and establishing the root causes of the crimes against people with albinism.

“The government of Malawi also welcomed Amnesty International’s recommendations to ensure safety for the vulnerable group in the country. These include the call for visible policing in rural districts as well as monitoring and recording attacks,” said AI.

The AI report released on June 7, titled: “We are not animals to be hunted or sold: Violence and discrimination against people with albinism in Malawi” (https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/take-action/stop-albinism-killings-in-malawi/), revealed that at least 18 people with albinism had been killed since November 2014.

– African News Agency

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Burundi-Rwanda political tensions continue

Posted: 12 Jun 2016 11:07 PM PDT

Political tensions between Burundi and Rwanda continue to rise as the Rwandan government expels more Burundians.

|||

Bujumbura - Political tensions between Burundi and Rwanda continue to rise as the Rwandan government expels more Burundians.

Since Wednesday, Kigali has expelled at least 387 Burundians allegedly living in Rwanda illegally.

Of these, 201 arrived in Kirundo province, which borders Rwanda, on Friday evening while another 175 had arrived in Burundi on Thursday and a further 11 on Wednesday.

Some of the expelled Burundians said Rwandan authorities had accused them of spying for Burundi.

However, the Rwandan government has been telling journalists that they were all expelled because they were not legal refugees.

“They had no documents allowing them to live in Rwanda,” they said.

The Burundian authorities said all those expelled had been received in Burundi.

“They have already been installed in their families,” said the governor of Kirundo province Melchior Nankwahomba.

This was not the first batch of Burundians expelled from Rwanda. Several hundred were expelled last month.

And this week Burundi began to retaliate.

On Tuesday it expelled six Rwandans who had been living in Cankunzo province in eastern Burundi for many years.

Like the Rwandan authorities, the Burundi aviation and border police told journalists that all six Rwandan citizens had been expelled because they had no documents allowing them to live in Burundi.

However, other sources told ANA that “all the six were born in Burundi and two of them were teachers in public schools in Cankuzo province, a job which only can be given to nationals or those who are allowed to live in Burundi”.

Not everyone believes the official explanations given by the Burundian and Rwandan authorities for the expulsions. Many see other reasons. “Both countries fear infiltrations,” an independent source in Rwanda said.

According to sources close to the ruling party in eastern Burundi, “the six Rwandan people were accused of spying on Burundi on Rwanda’s behalf”. But government officials did not confirm this.

Last month, Rwanda expelled more than 1400 Burundians, ostensibly for the same reason that they were not authorised to live in the country.

At the time, Burundi’s Interior Minister Pascal Barandagiye, who was dispatched by the government of Burundi to receive them, accused Rwanda of being a bad neighbour.

The background to the tit-for-tat expulsions is that Burundi has accused Rwanda of recruiting and training Burundian refugees to topple Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has rejected the accusations, calling them “childish”.

However, the United Nations has also said it believes that Rwanda has recruited refugees from Burundi to oust Nkurunziza.

Since October last year, armed groups still destabilise some areas of the country even though Burundian authorities keep saying that there is total stability and peace in the country.

Armed groups in Burundi’s southern provinces of Bururi, Mwaro, Bujumbura, and Rumonge have until June 15 to accept Nkurunziza’s ultimatum to surrender or be pursued more vigorously.

Three people were killed on Wednesday by an unidentified armed group in Bururi province (Mugamba region). At the beginning of the week, a Burundi army colonel was injured in an attack carried out by unknown persons against his car in the capital Bujumbura when he was going home.

– African News Agency

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

'Burundi girls sold into slavery in Arab Gulf'

Posted: 12 Jun 2016 02:58 AM PDT

Burundi human rights groups say about 800 young girls and women have been taken to Gulf states to work as household slaves since October.

|||

Bujumbura - Burundi human rights groups say about 800 young girls and women have been taken to Gulf states to work as household slaves since October.

Pacifique Nininahazwe, a Burundian civil society activist who spoke to Independent Media from Europe where he is exiled, claimed more than 90 girls were sold through a local NGO with the complicity of the ruling party CNDD-FDD.

Rights groups said even minor girls had been targeted by human trafficking allegedly undertaken by the NGO Royal Services, which several sources claimed was close to several government officials.

Sources cited by the rights activists said some girls, aged between 13 and 18, had been forced to lie about their true ages so they could obtain travel papers.

According to some of the girls who’ve spoken out, once in Oman or Saudi Arabia, they were sold like objects to different masters.

“I was sold after six months to another master,”a girl who survived the trade told the press in Bujumbura on Friday, after the police announced they were investigating the trade.

This victim said when she’d arrived in Oman a year ago, she’d worked for two masters, and was treated like a slave.

“I had no right to go out. When you arrive your passport is kept by the masters. They don’t want you to go out. One needs to work hard carrying heavy objects and some of the workers are obliged to prostitute themselves,” she said.

The manager of Royal Services, Ali Ndikumana, said his company was registered in Burundi and in Oman, and he worked closely with officials. He said the Foreign Affairs Ministry was aware of the work his outfit did and they had permission to recruit potential migrant workers throughout Burundi.

But Burundi’s foreign affairs minister, Allain Aime Nyamitwe, said there was no link between his ministry and Ndikumana’s organisation and Burundi had no memorandum of understanding with the countries where these women were being sent to work.

Burundi interior ministry spokesman Terence Ntahiraja said Royal Services was not registered in Burundi and this meant its activities were illegal.

In October, officials mooted the possibility of sending women abroad to work in order to generate funds after donors closed down funding for Burundi as a result of the country’s political crisis.

Rights groups claim some women and girls who refused to register for work in Gulf countries faced threats from the ruling party’s militias and intelligence agents who work closely with the ruling party in rural areas.

Independent Foreign Service

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now