News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Time to liberate Africa’s last colony

Posted: 03 Jun 2016 04:07 AM PDT

The Mandela of Western Sahara - Mohamed Abdelaziz - passed away re-igniting the calls for Western Sahara’s liberation.

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On Tuesday this week the Mandela of Western Sahara - Mohamed Abdelaziz - passed away at the age of 68, re-igniting the calls for Western Sahara’s liberation.

Western Sahara is the last bastion of colonialism on a continent that largely broke free from the chains of colonialism over 40 years ago.

Just as the Saharawis had freed themselves from Spanish colonialism, troops from Mauritania and Morocco had marched in to claim the territory in 1975.

Mauritania withdrew in 1979, but Morocco has continued to occupy the area, the size of Britain, up until today.

The African Union has, since its formation, backed the struggle of the Saharawi people for self-determination, but it is now time to do something about it.

The UN has failed to deliver on its promise of a referendum on self-determination following a 1991 ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

If the AU wants to prove that it has solutions to African problems it must now take up the reins of resolving this issue once and for all.

The difficulty will be that the occupying power - Morocco - is the only country in Africa that is not a member of the AU, as the continent as a collective has recognised the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon made a strategic visit to the Tindouf refugee camps in the desert of Southern Algeria in March this year, in the hopes of reviving the dormant negotiations process.

He referred to the situation in Western Sahara as an “occupation,” setting off a barrage of retaliatory steps from its Moroccan occupiers, including the expulsion of the civilian component of the UN Mission MINURSO. Ban’s spokesperson was quick to claim that Ban’s remark was not an official UN position, and there has been no progress in moving the negotiations process forward.

If Africa really believes in the right of the Saharawis to self-determination they will need to take tangible steps towards supporting this right, rather than merely issuing statements year in and year out.

Just as the UN appointed an envoy to the region - former US diplomat Christopher Ross, it is time the AU appointed its own envoy to see whether African mediation could possibly be more effective.

The African National Congress has long supported this struggle, and its Secretary General Gwede Mantashe was a guest at the Polisario Congress last year.

One of the Polisario Front desert battalions is also named after OR Tambo.

But beyond symbolic solidarity, there is an urgent need for tangible action.

This is now one of the most protracted refugee crises worldwide, where the tens of thousands of Saharawi refugees in the Southern Algerian desert rely on humanitarian aid for their survival, as they brave desert temperatures that regularly reach 50 degrees Celsius.

The tented desert camps have been the only existence many have known since they fled the advancing Moroccan forces in 1975.

The refugees in the Algerian desert are completely cut off from their homeland by a wall that is second in length only to the Great Wall of China.

Shortly after Moroccan forces occupied the land in 1975, they built a sand wall called the “Berm” which is 12 times the length of the Berlin wall and four times that of the West Bank wall.

Surrounded by land mines and guarded by 120 000 Moroccan troops, the wall has fortified Morocco from the refugee camps in Algeria, and its liberation fighters.

The Moroccan King Mohammed VI says that he offers no more than autonomy for the Western Sahara, and has pledged that revenues from the mineral rich area will continue to be invested locally.

Not only does the area have significant fishing and phosphate reserves, but there have been recent potential offshore oil finds by US and British companies.

Some call this a game changer, but companies should not be allowed to exploit such resources in occupied territory.

The Saharawi leader Abdelaziz will be remembered for his commitment to resolve the conflict with Morocco peacefully, and he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The motivation for the Nobel Prize states that “at a time when terrorism is increasingly used as a means of advancing objectives, Abdelaziz relied on the solidarity of the international community and the rule of law.”

Abdelaziz’s administration in the camps has proved an effective and democratic leadership.

Elections were regularly held, and a constitution was established guaranteeing the right to vote, equal rights for women, and religious freedom.

With Abdelaziz’s passing, there are calls from some Polisario youth to go back to war in the absence of a diplomatic breakthrough.

Top Polisario Front leader Bachir Mustafa Sayed has warned that war is possible over the disputed territory if the UN Security Council fails to set a timetable for a vote on self-determination. It is now for the AU to show leadership on this issue.

Independent Foreign Service

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Injured magician ‘left to die’ by Swazi police

Posted: 03 Jun 2016 03:54 AM PDT

A seriously-injured popular Swazi magician died after he was “dumped by two police officers” in the middle of a Mbabane township road.

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Mbabane – A seriously-injured popular Swazi magician was dumped by two police officers in the middle of a Mbabane township road in the early hours of Wednesday, and left to die, according to eyewitness reports.

Mduduzi Gama was later pronounced dead at the scene by medical authorities.

“While he was on the ground, he was screaming and asking to be helped up. I was worried that he would get cold and that he would be hit by passing cars so I asked some men to move him to the other side of the road,” said a woman vendor quoted by the Swazi media.

The incident occurred shortly before 5am. Witnesses saw two uniformed male police officers remove Gama from a police van.

One of the officers reportedly told Gama that this was his stop.

Witnesses who then came to assist Gama described seeing a bloody head wound.

“The police left him in a sleeping position, but he on several occasions attempted to sit up but failed. It was apparent that he had been thoroughly beaten,” a witness told the Swazi Observer newspaper.

What role the police officers may have had in Gama’s injuries is not known.

The Royal Swaziland Police Force (RSPF) has been accused by human rights organisations of using torture to elicit confessions.

Last year, the Mozambique government intervened after a Mozambican national had died while undergoing interrogation by police in Manzini.

Family members say Gama was not in trouble with the law.

In an interview with the Swazi Observer, Gama’s father, Sidumu Gama, questioned the police actions.

“We want to know where they picked him up and what state he was found in. If they claim he was already bleeding we want to know why they did not take him to hospital instead of leaving him in the cold to die alone,” Gama said.

The RSPF in a statement said it did not know the identities of the two policemen who were witnessed dumping Gama’s body.

– African News Agency

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Swazi king to chair SADC

Posted: 03 Jun 2016 03:46 AM PDT

King Mswati III will be the next chairman of the SADC when the regional heads of state and government meet in Mbabane in August.

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Kampala - King Mswati III of Swaziland will be the next chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) when the regional heads of state and government meet in the capital Mbabane in August.

But the kingdom’s pro-democracy groups say the country’s absolute monarch should not be allowed to lead the regional body.

They argue the king’s administration continuously violates the fundamental rights of citizens by preventing freedom of speech and association.

King Mswati recently told an SADC parliamentary forum that the kingdom’s monarchical democracy - which his administration established - was “a new democratic ideology that works.

“Political parties are banned from participating in elections organised by the Swaziland Electoral Commission - the only institution mandated to organise official polls in the southern African kingdom,” reported Voice of America.

Mario Masuku, leader of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement, a pro-democracy group, said King Mswati’s imminent chairmanship of the regional body makes a mockery of the tenets of democracy.

“It is a shame for SADC to have a chairman of the character and calibre of King Mswati, who is an absolute monarch who does not respect the fundamental rights of people, and who does not respect the international norms of democracy,” Masuku said.

However, supporters of the administration say it is a source of pride for Swazis for King Mswati to assume the rotating chairmanship of the SADC.

They also say violence carried out by pro-democracy groups has undermined peace and security in the country, reported VOA.

– African News Agency

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Burundi’s criminals given 15 days to surrender

Posted: 03 Jun 2016 03:32 AM PDT

President Pierre Nkurunziza offered a pardon to armed groups in the country’s southern provinces if they surrender within 15 days.

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Bujumbura - Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza has offered a pardon to armed groups in the country’s southern provinces of Bururi, Mwaro, Bujumbura and Rumonge provinces if they surrender within 15 days.

He announced this on Wednesday after meeting in Mugamba commune, Bururi province, with security force officers, senior government officials and parliamentarians from all four provinces.

Mugamba has been at the centre of increased attacks and assassinations of government supporters by armed groups in the southern provinces this year. The violence erupted after the failed military coup attempt against Nkurunziza in May 2015.

Bururi provincial governor Christian Nkurunziza said eleven people had been killed “by those troublemakers” since January this year, while “36 criminals were also killed by security forces and 14 assault weapons and 20 bombs were seized”.

Nkurunziza gave the groups an ultimatum to surrender to security forces withing 15 days from Wednesday June 1. If not, security forces would neutralise them with full force, he said.

Nkurunziza added that the Burundi government did not want to hear about armed groups causing insecurity in the region any longer. Burundians had worked hard to attain peace and stability through the Arusha Peace Agreement, through which the Burundi army was reformed by including all ethnic groups, he pointed out.

“All those who will surrender and allow themselves to be caught by security forces will be received with open arms. Please, do as your brothers in Bujumbura did,” he said, referring to a similar amnesty programme in the capital.

“If you come to your senses, we will integrate you in the profession centres as we did your brothers who recently disturbed security in the capital Bujumbura.”

The profession centres help demobilised rebels find normal work.

The Mugamba region and Mwaro province are reputed to host concentrations of Burundi’s minority Tutsi people.

They were the location of a major protest movement against Nkurunziza running for a third term in 2015, despite the two-term limits written into the constitution and the Arusha peace agreements which he himself quoted on Wednesday.

Sources in these regions describe a number of arrests, mostly of youths and some secondary and high schools teachers who the government suspects of complicity with armed groups.

– African News Agency

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UN mobilises to help S Sudanese refugees

Posted: 03 Jun 2016 03:13 AM PDT

Two UN agencies joined forces to distribute seeds and agricultural tools to 200 000 refugees and their host communities across South Sudan.

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Kampala - Two United Nations agencies have joined forces to distribute seeds and agricultural tools to 200 000 refugees and their host communities across South Sudan, helping them become more self-sufficient in a country facing a serious food crisis.

This year, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have jointly contributed 186 tons of crop seeds, assorted vegetable seeds, hand tools and fishing kits for refugees and local communities in Unity, Upper Nile, Jonglei, Central Equatoria and Western Equatoria.

“We are pleased to announce that these interventions are working well, but we are also looking beyond quick-fix solutions that help refugees become more self-reliant and less dependent on humanitarian assistance in the long run,” said UNHCR Representative Ahmed Warsame.

“This is the essence of the UNHCR-FAO partnership. People here lack the resources to buy the things they need to start planting and need support to be able to produce their own food,” said FAO Representative Serge Tissot.

“These distributions have been very timely since the planting season has just started.”

Assessments have shown that the food and nutrition security situation is worrying in many parts of the country, including in Upper Nile - a region hosting four refugee camps and South Sudan’s largest refugee population of 134 000 Sudanese refugees.

A nutrition survey, conducted in late 2015, found that Upper Nile’s Maban refugee camps registered higher levels of malnutrition compared to 2014.

This was particularly the case in Doro camp, where the rates of Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) were respectively 15.5 percent and 2.6 percent - above UNHCR standards of 10 per cent and 2 percent.

“Without seed distributions we cannot survive. Not all of us are able to keep seeds for next year, some people do, but because of lack of food, sometimes we are forced to eat the seeds kept for planting,” said a Sudanese refugee from Blue Nile state.

“We hope for peace so that we can return home, where we can be free,” she added.

– African News Agency

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Gbagbo would’ve hit me: I Coast’s ‘Iron Lady’

Posted: 03 Jun 2016 02:08 AM PDT

Former first lady Simone Gbagbo said her husband would have hit her if she had suggested in 2010 that he should step down to avoid bloodshed.

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Abidjan - Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo said on Thursday her husband Laurent Gbagbo would have hit her if she had suggested in 2010 that he should step down to avoid bloodshed.

On the third day of her trial for crimes against humanity in Abidjan, Gbagbo was asked by presiding judge Bouakhi Kouadio why she hadn't asked her husband to cede power when he refused to admit electoral defeat.

“He was the winner,” the former first lady told the court.

“He would have slapped me” if I'd tried to persuade him to give up power, she added.

The decision by Laurent Gbagbo not to recognise the victory of his rival Alassane Ouattara triggered a post-election crisis which cost the lives of more than 3 000 people in five months.

The former president is currently on trial at the International Criminal Court in the Hague for war crimes linked to the unrest that followed his refusal to step down.

The influential and hated former first lady has often been accused of strongly supporting her husband's bid to cling to power and of links to the death squads of Gbagbo supporters.

On Thursday she also defended the role played by the “Young Patriots” youth militia which her husband used to at times to bolster his strength by organising riots.

“The patriots did useful work in Ivory Coast. Ivorians should say thank you,” Gbagbo said, adding that she was “shocked when they are accused of abuses”.

Gbagbo, nicknamed the Ivory coast's “Iron Lady”, denied ever having seen the Young Patriots carrying arms and confessed ignorance as to how the movement was funded in 2010-02011.

“I attended their rallies... but I was not their financier,” she said.

Young Patriots moment leader Charles Ble Goude, is on trial with Laurent Gbagbo in The Hague.

On Wednesday Simone Gbagbo said she suffered a rape attempt when she and her husband were arrested on April 11, 2011.

She also claimed French soldiers deployed in Ivory Coast filmed the attempted rape.

Simone Gbagbo, 66, denies charges of crimes against prisoners of war, crimes against the civilian population and crimes against humanity.

Several human rights groups representing victims have pulled out of the legal proceedings, saying the case against her was flawed and too hastily organised.

AFP

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