News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

AUC chair shocked by Burundi assassination

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 10:14 AM PDT

Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has condemned the assassination of the member of the East African Legislative Assembly Hasfa Mossi.

|||

Kigali - Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has expressed her horror at the assassination of Hasfa Mossi, a member of the East African Legislative Assembly and a former minister in Burundi, in the capital Bujumbura on Wednesday.

Dlamini Zuma, the African Union Commission Chairperson (AUC), currently attending the 27th AU Summit in Kigali, condemned the “barbaric act” and called on all Burundians to exercise utmost restraint and to refrain from any acts of retaliation that would only further escalate and complicate the tension in the country.

The Chairperson further expressed her sincere condolences to the family of the deceased, and to the people and Government of Burundi, as well as to the East African Legislative Assembly.

Dlamini-Zuma added that only inclusive dialogue, based on the respect of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, and the Constitution of Burundi, could pave the way for a lasting political solution that would help to consolidate and preserve peace, as well as deepen democracy and the rule of law in the country.

She further commended the efforts deployed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, East African Community Mediator, with the support of former President Mkapa Benjamin, Facilitator of the ongoing Inter-Burundian Dialogue.

The South African politician also urged the Burundian Government, the opposition political parties and civil society to engage faithfully in an inclusive dialogue and work very closely together to find a lasting solution to the current crisis.

Dlamini-Zuma also reiterated the AU’s commitment to continue working with all parties to help bring back peace and stability to Burundi and end the suffering of its people.

African News Agency

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

Neighbours warned to speak up against Mugabe

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 10:14 AM PDT

The #Tajamuka youth pressure group have cautioned Southern African nations that their silence on the Zimbabwean president’s epic rule could result in a spillover.

|||

Cape Town - Southern Africa’s continued silence about Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe 36-year-rule and the growing unrest resulting from disillusionment with his government will result in spillover effects for neighbouring nations.

This, a caution from one of the representatives of the #Tajamuka youth pressure group, who were protesting in Cape Town on Thursday.

“A problem in Southern Africa is a problem for all Southern African countries,” said the representative Isheunesu Chibi, speaking outside of the Zimbabwean consulate in Zonnebloem.

“If our neighbour South Africa is keeping quiet with everything that is happening in Zimbabwe, it means they are fine with everything that is happening there.”

Chibi said Southern African nations have failed to learn from the 2010 Arab Spring in North Africa, something he predicts will happen if the dire situation in Zimbabwe worsens.

“If there is going to be a war in Zimbabwe, it is going to be a South African war as well. It is going to be a Mozambican war, it is going to be a Zambian war,” said Chibi.

“This is a very fragile issue. It needs attention, as soon as possible.”

Chibi, a 32-year-old who is working in the hospitality industry in Cape Town, was forced to leave his home in Harare, Zimbabwe 13 years ago due to the dire economic situation. With eight high school distinctions, Chibi had to give up his dreams of pursuing a tertiary education, instead heading straight to work in South Africa.

“I lost all my time here, not willingly however,” said Chibi.

“But the situation has pushed me out of Zimbabwe, as it has pushed a lot of people out of the country.”

Chibi, along with fellow #Tajamuka members and other Zimbabwean immigrants, were joining protesters around the world who were calling for 92-year-old Mugabe and his administration to step down.

It also follows the arrest, court appearance, and subsequent release of Pastor Evan Mawarire, a leading figure in the #ThisFlag campaign behind last week’s stayaway.

“We want to go back to a peaceful Zimbabwe, a free Zimbabwe. And this is why we are coming to this consulate to give our message,” said Chibi.

After more than three decades of Mugabe’s rule, Chibi explained why Zimbabweans were, in 2016, standing up to the regime.

“Zimbabweans are peaceful people, we are not fighting people by nature,” he said.

But, said Chibi, silence could only do so much.

“They have tried to keep quiet, to solve everything peacefully,” he said, “But you know, people they get tired.”

Chibi said that was why Zimbabweans were no longer scared of the government, of police, and of being arrested. He said they could no longer tolerate allegedly rigged elections, abductions, and political intolerance.

“Everyone is ready for a war in their hearts,” he said.

African News Agency

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

‘Mugabe you are not my president!’

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 09:32 AM PDT

Zimbabwean immigrants in Cape Town called for the removal of disgraced President Robert Mugabe after nearly three decades in power.

|||

 

Cape Town - “Robert Gabriel Mugabe, you are not my president! Robert Mugabe you are not my president!”.

This was the message of Zimbabwean immigrants in Cape Town on Thursday, calling for the removal of disgraced President Robert Mugabe after almost three decades of rule.

Protesting outside of the Zimbabwean consulate in Cape Town, Laswet Savadyea - a representative of the youth movement #Tajamuka - delivered the immigrants' demands.

“You have turned Zimbabwe from the breadbasket of Southern Africa to a basket case. You have turned Zimbabweans into economic immigrants [who] are destitute because of your failed policies,” said Savadyea to roaring approval from his peers.

Many draped in the Zimbabwean flag, the protest follows days of unrest in the Southern African state. It also comes after Pastor Evan Mawarire - who is a leading figure in growing resistance to Mugabe's regime through the social media campaign #ThisFlag - was arrested, appeared in court, and then released on Wednesday.

Despite a clear target on his back, Mawarire has, in an interview with the BBC, again called for Zimbabweans to keep protesting, a call the #Tajamuka in Cape Town and other Zimbabweans are answering.

“You have reduced the Zimbabwe that we know to a Zimbabwe that we don't even recognise,” said Savadyea. “As a leader, Robert Mugabe, you have totally failed to facilitate the coming together of the nation to find its feet and make its way out of the crisis that you created.”

Among the alleged failures of Mugabe and his administration, Savadyea referenced the “massacres of innocent people”, rigged elections, murders of political rivals, isolating the nation, corruption that has “brought the country to its knees”.

Savadyea also spoke on farm grabs, food shortages, and growing hunger in the nation.

“The most productive people in the country, the farmers, were driven away by Mugabe, making millions of blacks homeless and destitute,” he said. “Productive farms have been given to political cronies and family members who left the land foul and unworkable.”

With this and more cited as failures by the Mugabe administration, Savadyea, the #Tajamuka, and Zimbabweans again called for Mugabe to step down.

“As a president you have failed Mugabe and it is time for you to go. We demand your departure from the state house. We demand your departure from even Zimbabwe itself,” said Savadyea.

“Robert Mugabe, the way that you are governing Zimbabwe makes us question whether you are a true Zimbabwean.”

African News Agency

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

Zim cops disperse Tsvangirai welcome party

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 09:01 AM PDT

Zimbabwean anti-riot police besieged the MDC-T party’s headquarters after leader Morgan Tsvangirai returned to his offices amid a rousing welcome from supporters.

|||

Harare - Opposition MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai returned to his Harvest House offices in Harare on Thursday morning to a rousing welcome from scores of his supporters.

It was the opposition leader’s first public appearance after revealing he had colon cancer and was under treatment for the ailment.

A fit-looking Tsvangirai made a brief address outside the party headquarters where he urged his party supporters to continue with the fight against the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, before going into a meeting.

The supporters, however, later fought running battles with anti-riot police who tried to disperse them.

The police virtually besieged the opposition party’s headquarters, blocking part of Nelson Mandela Avenue between First Street and Angwa Avenue with two water cannons and four truckloads of anti-riot police in full gear.

The supporters chanted anti-Mugabe and first lady Grace Mugabe slogans in front of the police, which seemed to rile law enforcement agents who then moved in to disperse the supporters.

Some shops along the streets, including OK First Street, had to close briefly, fearing the situation could degenerate into chaos.

MDC-T spokesperson, Obert Gutu, said the party’s supporters were just happy to see their president back in good health and good spirits and were celebrating.

“It was not a demonstration, but just a peaceful expression of joy, but then the police decided to come and disturb the peace,” he said.

Gutu said he had not received any reports of any party member who had been arrested in the melee.

Police spokesperson, Senior Assistant Inspector Charity Charamba, could not be reached for comment as her mobile was answered by an unidentified woman who said she in a meeting.

Tsvangirai returned home last week from neighbouring South Africa where he had been receiving treatment for colon cancer and declared he was ready lead the party again.

African News Agency

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

Germany offers apology fro Namibian genocide

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 08:31 AM PDT

The German government has offered to apologise but declined to pay reparations for the killing of thousands of Namibians in an uprising between 1904 and 1907.

|||

Gaborone - The German government has offered to apologise but declined to pay reparations for the killing of thousands of Namibians by its colonial army during an uprising between 1904 and 1907.

The killings have been described as a genocide by global human rights organisations, although the German government has consistently referred to them as “historical events”.

In an interview with French news agency AFP on Wednesday, German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Sawsan Chelbi said they were working with Namibia towards a joint declaration that would include an apology for the killings.

“We are working towards a joint government declaration with the following elements: common discussions on the historical events and a German apology for the action in Namibia.

“On the question of whether there could be reparations or legal consequences, there are none. The apology does not come with any consequences on how we deal with the history and portray it,” Chelbi was quoted as saying.

However, she said the declaration would be used as the basis of a joint parliamentary resolution on the matter. Last week, German ambassador to Namibia, Christian Schlaga said the country was considering sponsoring developmental projects in Northern Namibia where the descendants of the Nama and Herero victims still live.

Meanwhile, Namibian President Hage Geingob has called on Germany to drop demands that negotiations for the settlement of the long-standing genocide issue between the two countries must be concluded before elections due in 2017.

Geingob has said he takes “serious exception” to the demand and called on the German government to show respect and courtesy to Namibia in negotiating a settlement for the genocide problem.

African News Agency

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

Assassination was outside job, says Burundi

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 03:29 AM PDT

The Burundi government says the assassination of East African Legislative Assembly MP Hafsa Mossi was 'a new form of terrorism'.

|||

Bujumbura, Burundi - The Burundi government says the assassination of East African Legislative Assembly MP Hafsa Mossi was a new form of terrorism imported from outside the country.

Mossi, a former cabinet minister in Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza's government, was gunned down in her car in Bujumbura on Wednesday.

The assassins were driving a car with Tanzanian number plates, according to a witness. Mossi was buried on Wednesday evening, according to Muslim custom.

She leaves three children, reports the BBC, with whom she was once its correspondent in Burundi.

Government spokesperson Philippe Nzobonariba said in a statement: “The Burundi government deplores this despicable act that appears to be a new terrorist form of assassination which was clearly imported from the outside considering the operational method which was used.”

Two armed persons in the vehicle with Tanzanian plates bumped into Mossi's car about 150 metres from her home on Wednesday morning.

When she stopped, they got out of their vehicle and shot her. Nzobonariba condemned the targeted assassination which he said was not the first against a government official in recent days.

Many officials, especially army officers, have been assassinated since unrest erupted in the country in April last year when Nkurunziza announced he would run for a third term as president, despite the two term limit in the country's constitution.

Nzobonariba said the government had launched an immediate investigation to bring the perpetrators “and their silent partners” to court. Meanwhile East Africa Community mediator in the Burundi peace talks Benjamin Mkapa was due to close the second round of negotiations on Thursday.

He tried to launch the second round officially on Tuesday this week, but the government delegation walked out of the negotiating hall in Arusha, Tanzania.

They walked out because of the presence of leaders of the main opposition alliance CNARED, and of civil society groups which the government accuses of being behind a coup attempt against Nkurunziza's government in May last year.

But Mkapa, a former president of Tanzania, continued with separate consultations with different delegations.

On Wednesday he gave all the stakeholders a possible agenda for the next round of talks, including the establishment of a unity government and ways of tackling the country's security problems.

Mkapa was expected to announce further details at the close of the consultations later on Thursday.

African News Agency (ANA)

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

#ThisFlag pastor defies Mugabe, urges more strikes

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 03:17 AM PDT

"Tell everyone that you know... tell them that the pastor said we carry on with our 'stay-away' and shutdown," Evan Mawarire said in a Facebook video.

|||

Harare - The Zimbabwean pastor who has emerged as leader of a new protest movement against President Robert Mugabe's authoritarian government called on Thursday for further strikes and shutdowns.

Evan Mawarire, who started the popular ThisFlag internet protest campaign in April, organised a one-day nationwide strike last week that closed offices, shops, schools and some government departments.

“Tell everyone that you know... tell them that the pastor said we carry on with our 'stay-away' and shutdown,” Mawarire said in a Facebook video, the day after a court threw out a case against him of attempting to overthrow the government.

“There is a hope inside you that this country needs, and if you don't get involved, you are robbing us of that hope,” he said, wearing the national flag around his neck.

“We are not just hating the government for nothing. We actually want you to know the reality on the ground.”

A recent series of demonstrations, the largest in years, have been driven by an economic crisis in Zimbabwe that has left banks short of cash and the government struggling to pay its workers.

Mugabe, 92 and increasingly frail, has previously used his ruthless security forces to crack down on any public show of dissent during his 36 years in power.

The response to Mawarire's calls for further nationwide strikes on Wednesday and Thursday appeared to be muted, with shops, schools and offices open across the country.

Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo warned that anyone who took part in the planned strike would face “the full wrath of the law”, and many civil servants were paid their delayed June salaries in recent days.

Mawarire was arrested on Tuesday but released the following day after a magistrate dismissed the case against him.

His surprise release late Wednesday was greeted as a major victory by anti-government protesters, hundreds of whom had waited, singing and praying, outside the court all day as riot police looked on.

Amnesty has said about 300 people have been arrested for participating in protests around the country since last week.

The surge in protests has revealed long-simmering frustration in a country where 90 percent of the population is not in formal employment.

Last week, security forces used tear gas and water cannon to disperse violent protests outside Harare that erupted over police officers allegedly using road blocks to extort cash from motorists.

Television footage showed police beating protesters with sticks.

Other protests have erupted at the border with South Africa over a ban on imports such as canned vegetables, powdered milk and cooking oil.

AFP

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

Combat force for South Sudan?

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 12:10 AM PDT

The UN is ready to work with IGAD to refine the East African bloc’s proposal for an intervention force in South Sudan.

|||

New York - The United Nations is ready to work with East African bloc IGAD to refine the group's proposal for an intervention force within the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the Security Council on Wednesday.

After an outbreak of deadly violence between rival troops in South Sudan's capital Juba in the past week, IGAD demanded the creation of an intervention brigade, similar to a UN combat force in Democratic Republic of Congo that is mandated to enforce peace by targeting and neutralising armed rebel groups.

“The goal, as I understand it, being to secure Juba and, if possible, its airport through demilitarisation so that the government of transition and national unity can get to work without worrying about security issues,” he said.

Such a combat unit would need to be authorised by the UN Security Council, which on Sunday urged states in the region to prepare to send additional troops to South Sudan in the event that the 15-member body decides to reinforce the UN mission.

Ladsous said that it was likely that the mission would need to be boosted with additional troops and more robust capabilities, such as attack helicopters and surveillance drones, to fulfill its mandate to protect civilians.

He said any reinforcements needed to answer to the same mandate and chain of command as the peacekeepers already there.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council on Monday to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan, sanction leaders and commanders blocking a peace deal and fortify the peacekeeping mission.

UN peacekeepers have been deployed in South Sudan since the country gained independence from Sudan in 2011. There are currently 13 500 troops and police on the ground.

The Security Council is scheduled to renew the mandate for the mission by the end of July. Ladsous suggested a rollover of the mandate for one month “while we do an assessment of the requirements to address the situation on the ground”.

South Sudan's vice president Riek Machar has withdrawn with his troops to outside of Juba but is not planning for war, his spokesman said on Wednesday, as a ceasefire that ended heavy fighting with President Salva Kiir's forces entered a third day.

Ladsous said he believed that an initial South Sudanese government death toll of 272 people, including 33 civilians, form the violence was “only the tip of the iceberg”.

REUTERS

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

Mali heritage site in danger

Posted: 14 Jul 2016 12:10 AM PDT

UNESCO warns that archeological site in central Mali is in danger due to instability in the country.

|||

Dakar - A World Heritage site in central Mali that features elaborate pre-Islamic mud houses is in danger of deteriorating because it cannot be protected adequately in the face of insecurity, UNESCO said on Wednesday.

The Old Towns of Djenné includes four archeological sites with nearly 2 000 houses whose decorative facades have remained intact since the 3rd century B.C. The buildings are among the most famous in Mali, a country that also boasts the ancient town of Timbuktu.

The World Heritage Committee said insecurity was preventing measures to safeguard the site against the deterioration of construction materials, urbanisation and erosion.

Mali faces a threat from Islamist militants, as well as volatile separatist politics in the north.

“The Malian government is coping with a lot of challenges,” said Edmond Moukala, head of UNESCO World Heritage in Africa, adding concerns were raised when a team visiting the site this year found signs of deterioration.

“What is needed right now is to ensure that institutions are in place and receive financial support,” he said.

A force led by French troops intervened in 2013 to drive back militants who had hijacked an ethnic Tuareg uprising and seized Timbuktu and other towns in the north.

In 2012, militants linked to al-Qaeda destroyed ancient shrines and tombs in the World Heritage site at Timbuktu.

Violence flared this week as the army opened fire on protesters in the northern city of Gao who opposed an interim authority intended to maintain stability in the desert region.

Djenné, a market centre and link in the trans-Saharan gold trade, were added to the World Heritage List in 1988.

Timbuktu and an ancient tomb in Gao have been on the list of sites in danger since 2012. The 49 properties on the list include archeological sites in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

REUTERS

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