News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Freed Chibok girls ‘in good health’

Posted: 13 Oct 2016 07:13 PM PDT

Nigerian Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo meets with the 21 Chibok girls released by Boko Haram this week.

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Abuja - Jihadist group Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls it kidnapped in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, after mediation by Switzerland and the International Red Cross, officials said on Thursday.

Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the remote north-eastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than two million people.

“I met them about an hour ago and I can confirm they are in good health,” Nigerian Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo said after meeting the 21 released girls, who were brought from the north-eastern city of Maiduguri to the capital Abuja.

Their release, a boost for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, came after the Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with the group, officials said.

Dozens had escaped in the initial melee in 2014, but more than 200 girls are still missing. The kidnapping prompted outrage worldwide and the girls' plight was publicised using a Twitter hashtag - #bringbackourgirls.

“In the next few days or months we will be able to negotiate the release of more of the girls,” Osinbajo told reporters.

A picture released by a presidency official showed one of the girls holding a baby when they met Osinbajo. Officials have accused Boko Haram of having married off the girls to its followers.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed denied reports that the government had swapped Boko Haram fighters for their release and said he was not aware if any ransom had been paid. He said a Nigerian army operation against Boko Haram would continue.

Switzerland “facilitated contacts between Nigerian representatives and intermediaries of Boko Haram” after a request from Abuja, a Swiss government spokeswoman said.

“We have nothing to add,” she said, when asked if it had been a prisoner swap.

In recent days, the Nigerian military has been carrying out a large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram, which last year pledged loyalty to the Islamic State militant group.

Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria's army, aided by troops from neighbouring countries, has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the north-east, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon.

Boko Haram published a video in August apparently showing recent footage of dozens of the kidnapped girls and said some had been killed in air strikes.

The militant group has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought it worldwide attention.

Authorities said in May one of the missing girls had been found and Buhari promised to rescue the others.

In recent months he had said his government was prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram over their release.

REUTERS

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Single entry permit for tourists connects East Africa

Posted: 13 Oct 2016 12:07 PM PDT

Citizens of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, as well as tourists, will now be able to tour any part of the three countries using the UniVisa.

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Nairobi - Tourists coming to East Africa will now only have to apply for one visa after the launch of the UniVisa travel document in Nairobi.

Citizens of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, as well as tourists, will now be able to tour any part of the three countries using the UniVisa.

The Kenya Cabinet Secretary for Tourism, Najib Balala, said the UniVisa will cost US$150, which is more affordable and also eases tourist accessibility to the three countries as well enhancing regional tourism.

Balala said that Burundi and Tanzania were not yet formally part of the coalition, but hoped they would join soon.

“We want them on board, but maybe they need time to appreciate the good. When they are ready, the doors are wide open,” said Balala during the launch at the ongoing Sixth Edition of the annual Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE).

He also said the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) will be a blessing for tourism, and added that it will not destruct the environment as speculated but it would ease transport across the East Africa region.

Uganda Minister of Tourism Maria Mutagamba said Uganda was committed to the UniVisa programme.

“As a region, we are not competing with each other but complementing each other and competing with the world,” she said, adding that regional tourism is very crucial to the economy.

She urged the East African media to create awareness on the importance of tourism.

Permanent Secretary, Fatuma Hirsi Mohamed, said: “We’re resilient as a tourism destination and happy that visitors are choosing Kenya as their Magical destination.” #BorderlessEastAfrica was the day’s hashtag as tourism companies at the fest endeared clients to take up holidays in the region.

The sixth edition of the annual Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE) is an annual event organised by the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) that brings together, travel agents, tour operators and hoteliers in a central place to conduct tourism business. It is a unique opportunity for the tourism business operators to meet their clients, network, discuss business and sign contracts.

African News Agency

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Red Cross helped secure release of Chibok girls

Posted: 13 Oct 2016 09:48 AM PDT

A deal brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government helped secure the release of 21 of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in 2014.

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Abuja - The Nigerian government on Thursday announced the release of 21 of the more than 200 schoolgirls the Boko Haram terror group kidnapped in Chibok in the northeast of the country in 2014.

The release of the girls, who had not been named at the time of going to press, is the outcome of negotiations between the Nigerian administration and Boko Haram brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss government. “The negotiations will continue,” Garba Sheu, the spokesperson of President Muhammadu Buhari, said.

She said the unnamed girls have been released and are in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS). DSS director-general Malam Daura had briefed Buhari on the state of the girls' minds. They were said to be “very tired.” “Daura wants the girls to rest before he hands them over to the vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.”

Buhari was due to embark on a trip to Germany. He welcomed the release of the girls, but cautioned Nigerians to be mindful of the fact that more than 30 000 fellow citizens were killed as a result of terrorism. It was reported the girls had been released in return for four Boko Haram prisoners.

The girls were among over 200 school pupils abducted from their dormitory bed in Chibok in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Borno on April 14, 2014.

In May this year, the first of the girls and her baby were found near the Sambisa Forest in the north east of Nigeria.

African News Agency - CAJ

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Boko Haram releases 21 Chibok girls - report

Posted: 13 Oct 2016 03:34 AM PDT

Twenty-one of the more than 200 girls kidnapped over two years ago by Boko Haram militants have been released, reports say.

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Abuja - Twenty-one of the more than 200 girls kidnapped over two years ago in a raid on their school in Chibok town by Boko Haram militants have been released, the BBC reported on Thursday citing a government official.

According to the BBC, the freed girls are now in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri with representatives of the country's security services.

No details on how the girls were freed were available.

Boko Haram is a Nigeria-based extremist group which maintains ties with Islamic State, a terrorist group outlawed in the United States, Russia and many other countries. Recently, the group has expanded its activities to Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

In April 2014, Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls from a boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok. Some of them escaped while hundreds are still missing.

Two spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari told Reuters they were unaware of the report.

Military spokesmen have not responded to phone calls or text messages.

Reuters, Sputnik

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Dadaab refugees beg Kenya to stay

Posted: 13 Oct 2016 01:41 AM PDT

Residents of the world’s largest refugee camp fear sexual violence and armed conflict if the settlement is broken up, according to a major new report.

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London - Residents of the world’s largest refugee camp fear they will face sexual violence and forced recruitment into armed conflict if the settlement is broken up as planned at the end of next month, according to a major new report.

The Kenyan government has vowed to shut down the Dadaab camp and push its 261 000 inhabitants back across the border into Somalia. The international aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) surveyed heads of households representing some 5 500 people, and the overwhelming majority said they did not want to return to Somalia.

In Dadaab, Somali refugees are not allowed to leave the camp to travel or work. They live in overcrowded conditions with long queues for water and provisions, and face sporadic outbreaks of cholera and measles. International aid to the camp has dwindled since a series of security incidents from 2011 onwards, and tight restrictions on entry and exit to the camp mean increasingly its inhabitants’ voices are not heard.

Yet in a report offering rare insight into the lives of this huge refugee population, MSF found that 86 percent of those surveyed would rather stay than return to Somalia. “The living condition in the camps is not rosy, but still it is heaven for us in comparison to going back to Somalia,” one refugee said. The primary concern for these refugees is security. Almost all (97.5 percent) rated the risk of forced recruitment into armed groups in Somalia as high, and a similar number (97 percent) – men and women – voiced fears about the risk of sexual violence.

Though a large number of Dadaab’s residents were born there, more than four in five respondents said they believed Somalia to be a “very unsafe” place, compared to 96 percent rating their camp as “very safe”, despite its shortcomings. “Somalia is currently not in a position to take care of itself, and so the decision to move the refugees back to Somalia only means exposing them to imminent danger,” one community leader said. “I am afraid to go back because there is no life and no hope there.”

The Kenyan government delayed the closure of Dadaab amid opposition from the UN refugee agency in August, finally settling on a date of 30 November. MSF said it was “strongly opposed” to the move - which Kenya says must happen on security grounds - and in its report stated “hundreds of thousands of lives will be put at risk”.

“What is clear is that returning to Somalia now will have disastrous consequences on people’s health,” said Liesbeth Aelbrecht, Head of Mission for MSF in Kenya. “It will escalate their vulnerability to malnutrition, weakening their immune systems and making them vulnerable to infectious diseases.”

Founded in 1991 as a temporary shelter for 90,000 people, Dadaab ballooned until it became a network of integrated camps housing almost half a million people at the start of this decade. Some have returned to Somalia voluntarily, but what is left is a solid city, albeit one built of mudbricks and sheet metal. MSF operates services for the 67,000 residents of the Dagahaley camp, one of five making up Dadaab as a whole, and it says there is nothing close to a comparable level of healthcare provision for people to return to in Somalia.

Its report calls on the Kenyan government to change its mind on closing Dadaab entirely, and instead work with the UN to find voluntary, long-term solutions such as rehoming refugees to key donor countries.

The Independent

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Zimbabwe decries smuggling of banned goods

Posted: 13 Oct 2016 01:34 AM PDT

The Zimbabwean government is working on measures to curb smuggling, Industry and Trade minister Mike Bimha says.

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Harare - Various basic commodities that are subject to an import ban continue to be smuggled into the local market, he said.

In June this year, Zimbabwe imposed an import ban on several basic goods, most of which come through via South Africa, to protect the ailing manufacturing industry .

Goods prohibited from entering the country include bottled water, furniture, building materials, steel products, cereals, potato crisps and dairy products. The government argues that these products are adequately produced in the local market.

Addressing a press conference to announce a committee to monitor and evaluate the impact of the import ban effected through Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016, Minister Bimha admitted that there was rampant smuggling of the banned products, and blamed some customs officials for fuelling the smuggling.

The minister complained that the country's borders were porous hence the rampant smuggling of goods.

The government, the minister said, was therefore working on tightening border controls by adopting use of modern technology as a way to curb smuggling.

The controversial import ban has been questioned by neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Zambia, and led scores of Zimbabweans and South Africans to launch a massive protest against it at Beitbridge Border Post in July.

Most unemployed Zimbabweans eke out a living through buying goods in South Africa for resale in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe government has said the ban may last for three years.

Xinhua

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Zim minister probed over R2.9m from elephant sale

Posted: 13 Oct 2016 12:32 AM PDT

Zimbabwe wildlife authorities are reportedly investigating cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo for alleged abuse of funds.

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Gaborone - The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (PWMA) of Zimbabwe is reportedly investigating Higher and Tertiary Education minister Professor Jonathan Moyo for the alleged abuse of funds of up to US$200,000 (about R2.9 million).

The money was raised through the sale of elephant trophy hunts to fund the construction of a soccer stadium in his parliamentary constituency.

Local media reports said Moyo, who is facing a bigger probe for the alleged abuse of up to US$500,000 from a parastatal that falls under his ministry, is now also being probed by the wildlife authority after failing to account for the money raised from the sale of the elephants, which was sanctioned in February last year.

The government approved the sale of 60 elephants to trophy hunters at a cost of between US$20,000 and US$30,000 on the understanding that the proceeds would be used to fund the construction of a soccer stadium in the minister's home town of Tsholotsho, north-west of the country.

The minister, his deputy and three subordinates, are being probed for diverting up to US$500,000 from the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef) to fund the activities of a faction of the ruling Zanu PF party that is sympathetic to First Lady Grace Mugabe.

Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson Caroline Washaya-Moyo said she was not privy to the investigation and referred all questions to the police, while efforts to contact Moyo failed.

However, Moyo has not denied using funds from Zimdef, a manpower development fund supported by compulsory contributions from industry, to fund party activities among other things. He has publicly defended himself and even written to President Robert Mugabe to seek protection, saying he used all the money to fund party activities in support of the president and his wife.

African News Agency

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9 dead as Nigeria police fire on Ashura procession

Posted: 13 Oct 2016 12:23 AM PDT

At least nine people are reported to have died after police opened fire on Shia Muslims marking the Ashura festival in Nigeria.

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London - At least nine people are reported to have died after police opened fire on a procession of Shia Muslims marking the Ashura festival in Nigeria.

Graphic images posted on social media appeared to show at least three women among the bodies in the clashes in the town of Funtua, in the north-western Katsina state. An eyewitness to the clashes told BBC News the army and police had tried to block the procession, which commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

He said police then opened fire on the crowd, and while he had seen only eight bodies, many more were feared wounded.

The UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission said it had received information suggesting soldiers had used live ammunition and tear gas as clashes broke out.

Katsina, like some other northern Nigerian states, had tried to ban public Ashura commemorations. The IHRC said it had also received reports of police setting fire to the Kaduna Markaz mosque in Kaduna City, the main mosque used by the proscribed Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN).

“Today's violence confirmed fears that the Nigerian authorities would seek to sabotage the annual commemoration of Ashura in the country,” it said.

What is Ashura?

The day falls each year on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar. This year, it corresponded with Tuesday 11 October, though the festival begins for observant Muslims at sunset on Monday. In some countries the day before is also a public holiday, and events can span a period of more than a week. Ashura is marked by all Muslims, and commemorations can include a voluntary fast.

But the day is a major part of the religious calendar for Shia Muslims, for whom it is a solemn occasion to mourn the death of Hussein in 680 AD at Karbala in modern-day Iraq.

The day has become best-known for public displays of self-flagellation, but observing Muslims also conduct re-enactments of the martyrdom of Hussein and take part in parades and displays of fire-spinning. Inevitably, the self-flagellation has been a cause for some controversy.

Some religious leaders say the graphic scenes that result tend to paint Shia Muslims in a backward or negative light. There has been an effort in recent years to channel the annual blood-letting into a more constructive and progressive practice. Some leaders have suggested marking the day by donating blood.

The Independent

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