News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

ICGLR calls on Burundians to restore peace and stability

Posted: 14 Jun 2016 10:07 AM PDT

Delegates at the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region have urged all stakeholders in Burundi to work towards restoring peace in the country.

|||

Luanda - Members countries of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLC) strongly urged the government of Burundi and all stakeholders to continue to work towards the restoration of a peaceful and secure environment in the country in order to encourage the speedy return of refugees, according to the final declaration of the heads of state summit that was held today in Luanda.

“We should by all means intensify the dialogue for peace in Burundi in order to overcome the impasse created by the post-electoral conflict, and respect the legally established power,” Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos told summit participants. “It is also important to promote good neighborliness and mutual security along the common border between Burundi and the neighboring countries,” Dos Santos said. He encouraged the government of Burundi to pursue its allegations against Rwanda through existing diplomatic and bilateral channels.

The summit also urged the international community to extend much-needed financial support to the government of Burundi, and humanitarian assistance to Burundian refugees and those who have been displaced as a result of this crisis.

The Conference welcomed the assumption of the East Africa Cooperation Mediation under President Yoweri Museveni and through the facilitation of Benjamin Mkapa, the former president of Tanzania. “I have been informed that the facilitator will meet with the EAC Mediator this week and submit his report and discuss the way forward,” Dos Santos told participants. Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Augustine Mahiga represented President John Magufuli who stayed home.

“Tanzania would like to request all ICGLR member states to support the EAC initiative in the search for durable peace and stability in Burundi. We hope former President Mkapa will be able to share some good news on Burundi in our next Summit,” Mahiga said.

The summit also reviewed the situation in South Sudan and the political crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There was not clearly articulated position on the general elections that should be held this year according to the constitution, which is concerning the West.

“We are told that the government of the DRC is committing funds to hold the elections”, said Jeanne Hruska, Senior Advisor at the office of the US Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, who also attended the meeting.

South Africa´s President Jacob Zuma, who had a separate audience with dos Santos on bilateral issues, attended the meeting as an observer.

“We are invited as an observer” South African government Spokesperson Bongani Majola said, “We cannot comment on the positions the member countries have adopted at the end of this summit in Luanda.”

Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguessou, DRC President Joseph kabila, Kenya´s President Uhuru Kenyatta, and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni participated in the meeting. The remaining member countries were represented by vice presidents, foreign affairs ministers and local ambassadors.

Foreign Service

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

Two killed as soldier dies by own grenade

Posted: 14 Jun 2016 06:58 AM PDT

Two civilians in Burundi died when a grenade exploded in the hands of soldier apparently about to hurl it into a crowd, an official said.

|||

Bujumbura - Two civilians in Burundi died on Tuesday when a grenade exploded in the hands of soldier apparently about to hurl it into a crowd, killing him too, a local government official said.

Four other civilians were wounded in the blast in the northern town of Ngozi, a stronghold district of President Pierre Nkurunziza.

“He removed the pin from one of two grenades, but it exploded in his hands and killed him on the spot as well as the bicycle taxi driver transporting him,” said the local government officer Radjabu Songambere.

Another man later died of his wounds in hospital.

“Everything indicates that the soldier wanted to carry out an attack,” Songambere said, adding it was not clear what his motive was.

The Ngozi region, about 130 kilometres north of the capital Bujumbura, has largely escaped over a year of violence since April 2015, when Nkurunziza launched his controversial and successful third term bid - sparking street protests, a failed coup and a nascent rebellion.

Violence has left more than 500 people dead and forced more than 270 000 to flee the small central African country, according to the United Nations.

AFP

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

Uganda police injured in attack on HQs dies

Posted: 14 Jun 2016 06:56 AM PDT

A senior officer wounded in an attack by gunmen on a police headquarters has reportedly died of his wounds.

|||

Kampala - Ugandan police said on Tuesday that a senior officer wounded in an attack by gunmen on a police headquarters in the north on Sunday had died of his wounds, and a witness said security had been stepped up in the area.

Northern Uganda is still emerging from a devastating civil war between the military and Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which was driven out of the country about 10 years ago.

The death of the police officer raised the death toll to two in Sunday evening's attack on a regional police headquarters in Gulu town, 350km north of the capital Kampala.

A soldier was killed during the attack and police spokesman Fred Enanga said Moses Masaba, who was in charge of the station when the gunmen struck - died on Monday evening.

“He was a senior standby officer at the station that night when the attack occurred,” Enanga told Reuters.

Ugandan security officials say they believe the gunmen were trying, unsuccessfully, to rescue a man detained at the police station on murder and terrorism charges.

Enanga said six suspects believed to have participated in the attack had been arrested on Monday, including the driver of a pick up truck used in the assault, and two commanders.

A local newspaper journalist in Gulu said sporadic gunfire rang out on Monday evening.

Businesses hurried to close earlier than normal while tens of security personnel and heavy military vehicles patrolled the town.

Enanga said the gunfire heard on Monday was from security personnel attempting to arrest suspects.

“There was some form of resistance,” he said, adding that the search was continuing.

Sunday's attack came amid political tensions in Uganda since veteran leader President Yoweri Museveni was declared winner of a February presidential election. Scores of people have been arrested since then, the opposition says, and protesters have frequently clashed with police.

Museveni's main opponent, Kizza Besigye, who came second with 35 percent of the vote, was arrested in May and charged with treason.

He faces a maximum penalty of death upon conviction. The opposition says the accusation is trumped up.

Reuters

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

‘Gaddafi’s dagger seized in Istanbul’

Posted: 14 Jun 2016 02:50 AM PDT

Turkish police have seized a jewel-encrusted ivory dagger said to have belonged to Libya's late leader Muammar Gaddafi, a report said.

|||

Istanbul - Turkish police have seized a jewel-encrusted ivory dagger said to have belonged to Libya's late leader Muammar Gaddafi and which was going to be sold for millions of dollars on the black market, Anadolu news agency reported.

Acting on a tip-off, the police raided a house of a businessman in the Esenyurt neighbourhood of Istanbul on the European side of the city and confiscated the artefact, the state-run agency said late on Monday.

The dagger, studded with sapphires, emeralds and diamonds, was looted from Gaddafi's palace during the Libyan revolution, it added.

The businessman planned to sell the dagger on the black market to a Saudi businessmen in Istanbul, it said.

Anadolu quoted officials as saying the Istanbul businessman paid $4.6 million (4.09 million euros) for the dagger, which was purchased from Libya nearly three months ago.

The suspect was detained while trying to sell it to the Saudi businessman for $10 million, it said.

Police detained two other accomplices, according to the agency. They were released pending trial.

Anadolu published an image of the seized artefact showing the finely-crafted dagger embossed with gold and jewels supported on a stand and flanked by two white lions.

Istanbul is a hub for the smuggling of valuable art works and antiques but Turkish police regularly claim success in seizing valuable artefacts that are about to be sold illegally.

Since Gaddafi's killing in 2011, Libya has descended into near-anarchy, ruled by rival militias vying for power while the Islamic State group has gained influence in the country.

AFP

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

Ramadaan restrictions for Gambians

Posted: 14 Jun 2016 02:49 AM PDT

The Gambia banned music, dancing and drumming during Ramadaan, on pain of being arrested - and people are complying, police said.

|||

Banjul - The Gambia has banned music, dancing and drumming during the Muslim holy month of Ramadaan, on pain of being arrested - and people are complying, police said on Monday.

Ordinary citizens in the small west African country - whose president declared it an Islamic state in December - are being urged to report anyone seen engaging in the activities to authorities, said a spokesman.

“People are complying with the police order banning drumming and dancing during the month of Ramadaan and so far no one has been arrested by the police for violating it,” police spokesperson Lamin Njie told AFP.

A police statement published last week warned that “all ceremonies, festivities and programs that involve drumming, music and dance during the day or at night are prohibited”.

“All those engaged in the practice are therefore warned to desist from such acts otherwise they will be eventually apprehended and face the full force of the law without compromise,” it said.

President Yahya Jammeh announced in December that the Gambia had become an Islamic state, but stressed that the rights of the Christian minority would be respected and that women would not be held to a dress code.

A few weeks later it emerged that female civil servants had been ordered to cover their hair at work, according to a leaked government memo, although the presidency subsequently announced the measure had been dropped.

An impoverished former British colony famed for its white-sand beaches, the Gambia has a population of nearly two million, 90 percent of whom are Muslim.

Of the remainder, eight percent are Christian and two percent are defined as having indigenous beliefs.

Jammeh, 50, a military officer and former wrestler has ruled the country with an iron fist since he seized power in a coup in 1994.

Critics regularly accuse him of making unilateral decisions and controversial statements, notably about other countries, migrants and homosexuality.

The next presidential election in the Gambia, for which Jammeh is a candidate, is scheduled in December.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation announced in April that its next summit will be held in the Gambia, although a date has not yet been fixed.

During the holy month of Ramadaan, observant Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours.

AFP

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