News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Senegal tackles Qu'ranic schools that exploit children

Posted: 25 Aug 2016 11:22 PM PDT

Twelve-year-old Boubacar was picked up from the streets of Senegal's capital at night by police, along with dozens of other children, in the latest crackdown on begging.

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Dakar, Senegal - Twelve-year-old Boubacar was picked up from the streets of Senegal's capital at night by police, along with dozens of other children, in the latest crackdown on begging.

The boy was sent to this West African country by his family in neighbouring Guinea to study the Qu'ran at one of the capital's 1,600 Islamic schools, known as daaras. He is among thousands of students, or talibes, sent out by teachers to beg for money and food. Some schools have been accused of keeping the children in unsafe living conditions and abusing them.

"I want to return to my family," Boubacar said at a transit centre for street children.

More than 500 such children have been taken from Dakar's streets in the past two months. President Macky Sall announced the crackdown in June and said the government will prosecute, fine and jail parents or Qu'ranic teachers, known as marabouts, who are found guilty of abuses.

"A child's place is not in the streets... the children have rights to learn, and to be in good health," said Maimouna Balde, the director of Centre Ginddi, the main government transit centre. On a hot summer day, dozens of children played games in a room and watched TV as authorities worked to find their families.

Senegal has staged these crackdowns before. Because of resistance from some marabouts and a lack of prosecutions, the abuses have continued and unfit schools remain open.

At least five children living in daaras died in the first half of this year from beatings or traffic accidents while begging, according to Human Rights Watch. Dozens of children have been beaten, chained, attacked or sexually abused while begging in the past two years, the group said.

"While the government's recent actions are commendable, removing talibes from the streets will not lead to long-term change unless Qu'ranic schools are regulated and offending teachers are held accountable," said Corinne Dufka, the rights group's West Africa director.

Talibes represent some 90 percent of the roughly 30 500 children on the streets, according to Senegal's director of rights for children and vulnerable groups, Niokhobaye Diouf.

At the Centre Ginddi, the children are registered, cleaned up, given clothes and fed. If they come from a daara, they go into Qu'ran classes. They are then reunited with their families, or with marabouts who come to find them. If there's no sign of abuse, they return to the daara.

Senegal's penal code outlawed begging years ago, and the country has ratified all major international conventions on children's rights. But previous efforts to enforce the measures on child beggars have fizzled.

In 2010, the children were taken off the streets after the US, among other countries, threatened to cut off aid if Senegal did not address human trafficking. In 2013, after nine children died in a fire in a Qu'ranic school in Dakar, the president said the government would close all schools that didn't meet basic safety standards.

Months later, however, no teachers were in custody, and no daara had been shut down.

Though arrests of marabouts accused of being abusive have increased slightly in recent years, rights groups say Senegal has prosecuted only a handful of extreme cases.

"The death of talibe children as a result of corporal punishment and abuse by some Qu'ranic teachers must no longer remain unpunished," said Mamadou Wane, president of the Platform for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, a coalition of 40 Senegalese children's rights organisations.

Rights groups have said a failure to consistently enforce the laws regulating the school system has emboldened abusive teachers.

Some teachers are pushing back against the latest crackdown. At a recent gathering of marabouts in Kaolack, one said the efforts to stop children from begging were anti-Islamic.

"The retrieval of children from the streets must immediately stop," Hady Diakhate told the televised meeting, saying the children shouldn't be taken to transit centres. "The parents would prefer they were taken to the daaras... talibes are Muslims, so they must be left in daaras. That is their place."

Another marabout in a suburb of Dakar said he supports the government's efforts, but Qu'ranic schools need more financial support to improve.

"We welcome this decision, because it will bring order in Qu'ranic schools. But the government must support Qu'ranic schools by subsidising and helping to recruit qualified teachers," said Imam Bousso.

Diouf, the children's rights official, said most daaras are not a problem.

He said the government is in talks with marabouts to determine what is needed to keep them safe and conditions good. It will provide limited cash and food to daaras and families in need until the next stage of the programme is determined, he said. The government also hopes to one day create a select group of daaras that will have internet access and teach skills and subjects in addition to the Quran.

"The state's concern is not to interrupt these practices," Diouf said of daaras. "It's to stop the mistreatment of children."

AP

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Zimbabwe opposition seeks court backing for protest

Posted: 25 Aug 2016 10:22 AM PDT

Zimbabwe opposition leaders are going to court to demand authorities allow and provide security for a planned march calling for electoral reform.

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Harare - Zimbabwe opposition leaders are going to court to demand authorities allow and provide security for a planned march on Friday calling for electoral reform after police chiefs suggested they presented a petition instead.

Leaders from 18 political parties, including Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and former vice president Joice Mujuru will lead Friday's demonstration, which they expect to draw thousands of supporters.

Police used teargas and water cannon on Wednesday to break-up a march by MDC youth supporters, who were protesting against economic woes and what they say is brutality by security agents.

Police commander for the Harare Central District, Chief Superintendent Newbert Saunyama, told protest organisers in a letter on Thursday that they could present a petition at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission without marching, adding that the expected number of participants 150 000 was too big.

“This office is discouraging the issue of marching in the central business district, considering the number of participants,” Saunyama said.

“The crowd cannot be accommodated in the central business district of Harare as it interrupts with both human and vehicular traffic.”

In the first large scale demonstrations Zimbabwe has seen since 2007, protests inpsired by social media movements such as #ThisFlag led by pastor Evan Mawarire have erupted in the past months.

Protesters want President Robert Mugabe to fire corrupt ministers, scrap plans to introduce local bank notes and end cash shortages that have caused queues at banks.

On Friday, opposition groups want the government to ensure the electoral field is fair ahead of presidential and parliamentary votes due in 2018 and does not favour the ruling Zanu-PF party, as well as setting out a roadmap for the ballot.

Mugabe, 92, who plans to contest the vote, has chided the opposition for seeking his downfall through protests, saying his opponents are afraid of defeat at the ballot box. He denies opposition and Western charges of rigging previous elections.

Under Zimbabwe's security laws, organisers are required to notify the police of any demostration seven days before the event, but the police routinely ban protests by the opposition.

Douglas Mwonzora, the MDC secretary general and legal secretary for National Electoral Reform Agenda, the organisers of the march, said the opposition would go to court later on Thursday to ensure the police would not disturb Friday's event and that they provide adequate security.

“The police are not saying in this letter that they are afraid of violence, are afraid of any illegality or that they do not have manpower, they are not saying that. They are simply saying the figure is too much,” Mwonzora told reporters.

Reuters

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Miss RD Congo contest aims to restore country's image

Posted: 25 Aug 2016 08:09 AM PDT

This year's Miss RD Congo 2016 beauty pageant has a new look and feel to restore the country's image, event organisers say.

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Cape Town - This year's beauty pageant to find out who will be crowned Miss RD Congo 2016 has a new look and feel to restore the country's image, event organiser PYGMA Communication said in a statement on Thursday.

Held under the theme "Beauty that changes the world (la beaute qui change le monde)", the pageant which is currently taking place in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), sees 26 Congolese women vying for the crown in a three-month long competition.

What is different about the pageant, said PYGMA Communication CEO Alain Yav, was that it was being captured in a reality TV show format and broadcast live to the public as the 26 women went through the weekly elimination rounds as part of a 10-week programme.

Filming started on June 25 and the winner will be announced on September 3 during a live broadcast on the DRC's top four TV stations, including national broadcaster RTNC and the French bouquet Canal+ and on the Miss RD Congo YouTube channel.

PYGMA Communication is producing the event under the auspices of the DRC Tourism Ministry and in collaboration with other partners.

The pageant which is being filmed in Village Moseka, the house where the contestants live for the duration of filming, would enable audiences to get to know each of the 26 contestants as they prepare for the pageant and progress through the weekly elimination rounds.

Yav said during the 10 weeks, the contestants were presented with 10 challenges and 10 looks to pull off. These challenges also included starting a business, personal growth, and community engagement and responsibility - challenges essential for the judges to be able to determine who the winner will be.

Yav added that this year's pageant was significant for the Democratic Republic of Congo as "for the first time after decades of absence from the international arena, the winner of this year's Miss RD Congo pageant will represent the Democratic Republic of Congo in international beauty pageants, starting off with Miss World 2016".

He said: "Besides promoting the country, the values and cultures, PYGMA aims to tell a positive story of success and progress of African youth through this platform." It would also showcase the "richness of the Congolese people's talents and skills".

African News Agency

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Nigerian man held for naming his dog after president

Posted: 25 Aug 2016 04:54 AM PDT

A Nigerian man is being charged for provoking people by naming his dog after President Muhammadu Buhari.

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Onitsha - A Nigerian man is being charged for provoking people and "breach of peace" by naming his dog after President Muhammadu Buhari and painting the name twice on the pet, police said on Wednesday.

"The man bought a dog, named it Buhari, wrote Buhari on both sides of the dog and paraded it" in front of people from the north, said Abimbola Oyeyemi, police spokesman in the southern Ogun state where the man lives.

He was arrested after a citizen from the north reported him to police but released by a court on bail until his trial starts, the spokesman said, without naming the man.

"His action is provocative and capable of breaching the peace, as you know the volatility of Nigeria now," said Oyeyemi.

Nigeria is in the middle of its worst economic crisis in decades as a slump in oil prices boosts unemployment.

Tensions sometimes erupt between northerners, who are Muslims, and people from the predominantly Christian south.

Buhari is a Muslim from the north.

Reuters

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