Pambazuka News 597: Libyan anti-Americanism, Somalia's imperial governance and Romney's Africa threat
Pambazuka News 597: Libyan anti-Americanism, Somalia's imperial governance and Romney's Africa threat
Heavily-armed police in Swaziland invaded the venue for a ‘people’s summit’ due to take place 6 September as part of week-long pro-democracy activities in the kingdom. The Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC) reported ‘a large number of heavily armed and hostile police’ invaded the Bosco Skills Centre, Manzini, where the summit was due to start.
Swaziland police tricked students into believing they were being escorted to deliver a petition to the government, but instead took them to a road with no exits and ambushed them, firing shots and beating them up. Media in Swaziland are reporting that about 100 students were forced to flee across the streets of the Swazi capital, Mbabane.
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! interviews South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, who attended the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rasool discusses the Obama presidency, the militarization of Africa, Islamophobia, the Marikana massacre and his 2006 meeting with then-Senator Obama in South Africa.
Somalia’s presidential elections have been marred by allegations of bribery, with up to $50,000 said to have changed hands among members of parliament, Al Jazeera has learnt. Senior diplomatic sources deployed in the region to ensure honest and fair election, have confirmed that the process of vote buying has been under way over the last few days. It was hoped that the vote for a new president, the first of its kind in decades, would alter the political landscape of the nation and be a milestone in the war-ravaged country's quest to end two decades of violence, corruption and infighting.
Section 27 has filed papers at the North Gauteng High Court after it emerged that hundreds of Limpopo pupils are still without textbooks. Rights organisation Section 27 filed papers at the North Gauteng High Court on Monday after it emerged that hundreds of Limpopo pupils are still without textbooks and are facing an inadequate departmental catch-up plan.
Zanu-PF has vowed not to give in to pressure to endorse a draft constitution produced two months ago by the constitutional parliamentary committee. But the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) wants to put it to a referendum. Political observers have interpreted this as a sign that Zanu-PF will spurn the mediation efforts led by the Southern African Development Community and South African President Jacob Zuma. Earlier this year, Mugabe said his party reserved the right to reject Zuma as the SADC facilitator if he showed 'any bias'.
South Africa is the 9th largest producer of GMOs globally and has cultivated, imported and exported GMOs since 1998. About 72 per cent of maize production is genetically modified and over 90 per cent of soya production is modified. The South African government granted approximately 1200 permits for GMO maize, just in the last three years. Up until 2010 South Africa was a major importer of GM maize, importing over two million tons from Argentina in 2007 alone. However, in that year South Africa produced an enormous four million ton surplus and has subsequently exported nearly 6 million tons of GM maize. Since the introduction of GM crops in South Africa, some fourteen years ago, labelling has been a contentious issue.
Barrenness is a delicate subject in Uganda, where the stigma attached to women who cannot bear children is strong. These women are called 'barren' or 'infertile', with some forced to leave their matrimonial homes or left by their husbands. Many turn to gynecologists, traditional healers and religious leaders for help. Medical experts say that there are 3.5 million cases of infertility in Uganda, making it a part of the 'African Infertility Belt'.
Ethiopia’s rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has accused the Ethiopian military of committing a massacre against predominantly women and children in the Wardher region on 6 September. At least 13 people have been confirmed dead. The ONLF said in a statement that the killings targeted family members of ONLF rebels, including the Guuleed family.
A Kenya court has jailed the country’s former permanent secretary of Kenya’s Tourism Ministry Rebecca Nabutola and the former Kenya Tourist Board Managing Director Achieng Ong’ong’a after they were convicted of corruption. Chief Magistrate Lucy Nyambura sentenced Nabutola to four years in jail while Ong’ong’a was given three years jail after both were found guilty 'of conspiracy to defraud the government of 8.9 million shillings (about $106,000).'
Egypt’s vibrant blogging scene may be at risk. Most online activists need funding to be able to carry out their activities professionally. Without conscious efforts to find viable funding models, this public sphere might disappear after the novelty of the 25 January 2011 movement wears down.
A first for South Africa was a gathering that brought together passionately techno-affluent computer geeks, media personnel and civic society with a craving for open-data systems. Held at Ndifuna Ukwazi’s office in Cape Town over the weekend, the event code-named 'Hackathon' started with a brief introduction to some of the initiative’s key objectives and what the Open Data and Democracy Initiative was about. Comprising a group of young people pushing for a more open democracy, the initiative is made up of ordinary citizen activists, technologists, journalists and entrepreneurs aimed at developing and applying practical open technologies and promoting open data as a means for efficient governance, increased transparency, improved service delivery and empowerment of SA citizens.
Corruption in Africa commenced with colonial governance. How can African governments search out ways to restore ethical principles?
Repressed by their government for years, the force for change in Gambia is likely to come from citizens finding the courage to 'seek another way, from another place'.
Somalia's new parliamentary leadership has effectively been booby trapped by a flawed governance model imposed by the international community.
GroundUp, a community journalism project reporting from South Africa’s townships, interviewed investigative journalist Greg Marinovich, who has published shocking findings about the deaths of miners at Marikana.
There has been a big push to lower political temperatures in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but President Joseph Kabila could emerge weaker, and his silent dependence on his East African neighbours to hold on to power could deepen. The conflict in eastern DR Congo that flared up recently, threatened to suck several countries into a new war, and set neighbouring Rwanda on a collision course with its international allies, improved quickly over the past week.
This online map from the London Guardian shows what Africa would like if all separatist groups gained independence.
Women activists challenging the fundamental structures of their communities and calling for new terms of peaceful coexistence among the Sudanese people are facing prosecution, sexual violence and harsh punishment by security forces.
The Romney-Ryan campaign’s promise of a resurgence in the United States’ global dominance would negatively impact the African diaspora.
A six-day course designed to help journalists fine-tune their skills and enhance their coverage of women’s issues, opinions and empowerment will take place in Barcelona, Spain in November. Participants will attend four days of classes and then have two days of the News Xchange conference.
After half-a-century of independence, life in Jamaica is marked by low wages, high prices, mass unemployment and depreciation of the national currency. The task of fulfilling the promise of independence lies with the Jamaican people.
Tunisia’s Prime Minister and Secretary-General of the ruling Islamist al-Nahda party, Hamadi Jebali, was invited to close a two-day event held in Tunis in May to celebrate World Press Freedom Day. In his speech, Jebali remarked upon the importance of a free press for a properly functioning democracy, adding that the present government in Tunisia was 'fully committed to safeguarding a public and independent media'. Despite such words of assurance, the freedom and independence of Tunisian media remain under threat, says this article from
An increasing number of developing countries are introducing universal healthcare coverage - and creating new models to do it - according to research published in The Lancet journal. Lessons learned from countries like Ghana, India and Rwanda are already shaping the way countries like South Africa are beginning to pilot their own bids for universal coverage. In the early 20th century, two models of universal healthcare coverage emerged in the United Kingdom and Germany. The UK uses general taxes to fund publicly provided healthcare in its one risk pool model, while Germany’s multiple risk pool model relies on household premiums and payroll taxes, and relies on private healthcare providers. Industrialised countries like Japan, Canada and France have all implemented variations of these two models. But countries from the global South (developing) are creating their own models, according to research by the Results for Development Institute and others, published in The Lancet as part of its universal healthcare coverage series.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Ethiopian government to release six journalists who have been convicted in connection with their work. The call by the New York-based non profit organisation working to protect press freedom worldwide, comes barely a day after the Ethiopian government released two Swedish journalists. According to CPJ, since 2011, Ethiopia had convicted 11 independent journalists and bloggers, some in absentia.
The slow rate of ratification and domestication of key African Union instruments is alarming and continues to undermine the credibility of the continental body.
We condemn the harassment of defenceless civilians by state-sponsored SAS. We call for the immediate end of the reign of the “army of occupation” on the streets of Osun state
Wits University (South Africa) Student Representative Council press statement on Boycott of Israel Resolution (Adopted)
In Mali it could be Diarre,
In Burkina Coulibaly.
Masters of mud,
Making bogolanfini.
Wrapper for a woman,
For a man a dashiki.
Colours of the earth,
Of cultural identity.
Expertise with mud,
Studied in academy.
Created also,
In the country called Ivory.
Where they call it Korhogo,
Symbols of literacy.
Guinea fowl and crocodile,
Inner beauty and fertility.
The wonder of mud,
In three West African countries.
Where every mud cloth,
Reveals it's unique story.
© Natty Mark Samuels, 2012.
A new book on the celebrated Zimbabwean writer, with rare archival materials, adds fresh angles to the debate about his contribution to African literature.
Tribesmen have attacked a village in southeastern Kenya, torching homes and sparking clashes that killed at least 38 people, in the latest round of tit-for-tat ethnic violence to plague the area, officials said. The vendetta between the Pokomo farming community and their Orma pastoralist neighbours already left 52 dead last month in Kenya's worst tribal killings in years.
At least 16 people have been killed by government soldiers in the central Malian region of Segou, when the army opened fire on their vehicle, a government official and the police have said. The incident occurred overnight in the town of Diabali, and authorities said those killed were Islamist fighters. Among the dead were two Malians and 14 Mauritanian nationals, Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reported from Mali's capital Bamako.
Israel ended a stalemate with about 20 African migrants stranded along its border with Egypt for more than a week, allowing two women and a child to enter but turning the rest of the group away. A statement from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that although Israel granted entry to two women and a child, the country was 'determined to stop the flood' of migrants. A group of around 20 Eritreans had been stuck outside a nearly-completed border fence, where the Israeli military was providing them with food and water.
The US ambassador to Libya and three other American staffers died on Tuesday (11 September) night in an attack on the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, US officials have said. An armed mob attacked and set fire to the consulate building during a protest against an amateur film deemed offensive to Islam's prophet, Muhammad, after similar protests in Egypt's capital. The US government confirmed that Ambassador Chris Stevens and information technology officer Sean Smith, in addition to two unnamed personnel, died in the attack. Libyan security source told Al Jazeera that Stevens died from smoke inhalation.
The National Press Council (CNP), the statutory print regulatory body, on 7 September 2012 imposed a ban on six publications of privately-owned Notre Voie, a pro-Gbagbo daily over a publication. In a communiqué issued, the regulatory body rebuked the newspaper for publishing photographs of personalities of the fallen regime and with the caption 'Minister' thereby creating the impression of 'the existence of two governments in Cote d’Ivoire'.
The Transnational Institute (TNI), in cooperation with the Municipal Services Project (MSP) and the Latin American Programme for Distance Education in Social Sciences (PLED) is offering a free web-based course on Alternatives to Privatisation: Non-Commercial Public Services Options in the Global South. The course will begin on October 8, 2012 and will comprise a series of eight weekly sessions.
The Campaigning Toolkit is a comprehensive printed and online resource for people at risk of removal, and the groups working to support them. The Toolkit aims help migrants understand the asylum and immigration systems, to know their rights, and to be as well-equipped as possible to make a successful application. In the case of a refusal, we hope the Toolkit enables migrants to know what a campaign is, whether it’s right for them, and to be at the centre of the campaign and of all of the decisions made.
The huge inflow of asylum seekers to European countries in the early 1990s drove those countries to initiate policies that restricted asylum seekers’ rights and benefits. Were these policies spontaneous responses to the mounting inflow or instead political outcomes determined by political factors such as partisanship and election timing? This journal article finds that upcoming elections increase the likelihood of policy introduction. This election effect is greater in the presence of right-wing parties.
Lack of adherence to the full course of Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) treatment is threatening the effectiveness of the drug recommended as first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria in countries where the disease is endemic, according to recent studies. In Siaya district of western Kenya, where malaria is particularly prevalent (38 per cent incidence in 2010), a study revealed that only 47 per cent of participants reported completing the given doses.
The continued arrival of refugees fleeing post-election violence and militia activities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in western Uganda, and the government’s efforts to resettle them, have created a land row that has already cost the life of a government official. Government officials say 100 police officers have been deployed to Oruchinga, Nakivale, Rwamwaja, Kyangwali and Kiryandongo refugee settlement camps to help quell the clashes and ensure the safety of the refugees.
Some 1,000 Chadian migrants - most of them children separated from their families - are waiting for aid in the village of N’Gbouboua in the Lac region of western Chad having fled Boko Haram-related violence in Nigeria, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). With more arriving each day - some 100 have arrived in the last 48 hours according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) - the food situation is getting desperate, say aid workers.
In response to rising HIV prevalence, Uganda's government has announced a strategy to reduce new HIV infections by up to 30 per cent by 2015, but activists have cast doubt on its ability to achieve this ambitious goal. Uganda's HIV prevalence has risen from 6.4 per cent to 7.3 per cent over the past five years. In August, the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) released a revised National HIV Prevention Strategy aimed at 'increasing the adoption of safer sexual behaviour and reduction of risk-taking behaviour, attaining critical coverage of effective HIV prevention service, creating a sustainable enabling environment that mitigates the underlying structural drivers of the epidemic, re-engaging leadership and energizing coordination of HIV prevention, and improving strategic information on HIV prevention'.
Even the one tilling a soft ground retires, says a popular Ugandan saying, but President Museveni insists that there is nobody to replace him.
The Fahamu Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the September 2012 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter. The issue can be found here: Please feel free to share it widely.
In the course of my departure from Pambazuka News, I have been overwhelmed by the number of letters I have received from readers – too many for me to thank individually. Thank you to all of you who wrote or called.??
I also want to give thanks to the contribution, talent, tenacity and commitment of the small team of editors who worked with under great duress recently to ensure the regular publication of this unique pan-African e-newsletter and website. ??
The team, comprising of Patrick Burnett (South Africa), Tidiane Kassé (Senegal), and Henry Makori (Kenya), has decided to continue publishing Pambazuka News for as long as they are able to. ??
I write to urge all contributors and readers to support the team in their efforts. There continues to be a critical need for a platform such as Pambazuka News to support the struggle for freedom and justice.?
PAMBAZUKA NEWS STAFF REPLY: As the staff of Pambazuka News who have worked under Firoze Manji, in some cases for many years, we would like to pay tribute to his enormous commitment to the publication and what it stands for.??
Firoze worked tirelessly and passionately on Pambazuka News since it began over 10 years ago. He has signed off on nearly 600 English editions and nearly 300 French editions.??
When Pambazuka News began, it was a tiny email list with a handful of subscribers; against the odds it is now a major platform for news, views and activism. Firoze's time at Pambazuka News spanned global events that have changed our world: under his editorship activists from all backgrounds and causes, civil society professionals, Pan-Africanists, academics, global justice advocates, bloggers, tweeters and more have been able to come together and share views and opinions on these events in a way that was not possible to do before. In the process they have enriched their work and critical alliances and exchanges have been forged, taking forward the movement for social justice. The extent of this achievement should not be underestimated.??
On a personal note, we would like to publicly thank Firoze for sharing with us his fierce intellect and his willingness to transfer skills and in the process impart knowledge and learning to those around him. Pambazuka News will sorely miss, but not forget, his leadership.
The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation’s Justice and Reconciliation in Africa programme has released a new Policy Brief entitled ‘Reconciling Kenya: Opportunities for constructing a peaceful and socially cohesive nation’. The Brief forms part of an ongoing project focused on promoting national cohesion and reconciliation in Kenya, which will be jointly implemented by the IJR, the Kenyan National Cohesion and Integration Commission and the Folke Bernadotte Academy in Sweden over the next two years. The project pieces together the initiatives taken in Kenya towards reconciliation since the post-election violence in 2007/2008 and gives recommendations to different actors on the way forward to consolidate national cohesion and reconciliation.
Zimbabwe’s Information minister has threatened to revoke operating licenses of private newspapers that attack President Robert Mugabe. Media, Information and Publicity minister Webster Shamu from President Mugabe’s Zanu PF party told mourners at the burial of a veteran fighter in Zimbabwe’s liberation war that the private media was 'denigrating President Mugabe and the country’s leadership without jurisdiction'.
A new report by Oxfam, a leading international relief agency, warns that climate change will increase the frequency of large spikes in global food prices, leading to more hungry people around the world. Besides climate change, rapid population growth, higher per capita incomes, rapid urbanization, changing diets in developing countries and rising demand for biofuel feedstocks, are exerting unprecedented pressure on the global food system.
A group of smallholder farmers in Mali have turned to the courts to try to recover land they say they have lost to big private investors. The legal action comes as foreign investors are losing interest in Mali due to political instability and an armed rebellion in the north. 'We have laid a complaint against the agricultural land grabs that have hit so many smallholders,' said Lamine Coulibaly, a member of the National Coordination of Peasant Organisations, which is resisting the large-scale acquisition of agricultural land by foreign investors.
Positive and decisive acts are required to ensure effective promotion of gender equality in the composition of judges of the African Court.
Change is here. Visit any town in Kenya and, if you know where to look, you will not miss a pub, clinic, youth center, church yard, school or social hall where gays and lesbians meet to relax or discuss issues of concern to them.
American ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three officials were killed when a mob attacked the US consulate in Benghazi on 12 September. The protest arguably emerged out of a long-standing sense of humiliation and anger at the West.
The University Council that oversees the affairs of public universities in Malawi has announced a 25 per cent increase in salaries of university teachers. But the Polytechnic, the constituent college of the University of Malawi in Blantyre, which is already on a month-long industrial strike, refused to immediately accept the offer, while Chancellor College in the eastern city of Zomba said the offer was a fair deal. Both constituent colleges were demanding a 113 per cent salary hike, citing the recent 49 per cent devaluation of the Malawi currency, the kwacha.
Twitter, the much beloved social networking site, is set to take on disease outbreaks, after HHS officials announced the release of a new Web-based application tool available to public health officials. US health officials say they can use data gained through the app to complement other health surveillance systems in identifying emerging health issues and as an early warning of possible public health emergencies in a community.
In this briefing, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) deal with the Pioneer/Pannar seed merger, outlining the evidence led by the ACB in opposing the merger, what is at stake for South Africa if the merger is approved and the extent to which the merger will deepen structural imbalances in the South African economy.
Cosatu wants to review its strike processes to ensure workers are happy with the outcomes, and that associated violence and intimidation are reduced. 'It is worrying...that only half of the Cosatu members surveyed in the 2012 Workers’ Survey were satisfied with the outcome of the strikes in their workplace,' the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) said. 'Public sector Cosatu members were more satisfied than their private sector counterparts,' according to Cosatu's organisational report prepared for discussion at its national congress.
The Gambian president has suspended the execution of prisoners on death row, amid an international outcry. In a statement, Yahya Jammeh said he was responding to 'numerous appeals'. Nine prisoners have been executed since his vow in August to clear death row. Another 37 inmates remain on death row.
The authorities in Uganda have charged a British theatre producer, David Cecil, for staging a play about the condition of gay people in the country. He appeared in court accused of 'disobeying lawful orders', because the play 'The River and the Mountain' was performed without authorisation. Mr Cecil was denied bail. He faces two years in jail if convicted.
Tanzania has experienced several crises since October 2010 general elections, including some which have resulted in violence and death. This Global Voices post reports on a list made by blogger Dunia Duara of events fuelled by different kinds of crises or conflicts, which recently have caused serious problems in Tanzania.
Global Voices Online reports that potential mining activity in Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park is threatening its ecosystem and that of the adjacent Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe. The two national parks, rich in wildlife and one of the last bastions of huge elephant populations in Southern Africa, are situated less than 200 kilometres downstream from the hydroelectric Kariba Dam.
This issue of South Bulletin focuses on how developing countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa are now facing an economic slowdown with a deterioration in GDP growth, exports and lending conditions. The effects of the Eurozone recession and the US slowdown are now increasingly felt in the South. Another analytical article 'Rethinking growth strategies is imperative for the South' by South Centre’s Chief Economist Yilmaz Akyuz shows how the favourable international conditions that led to the South’s high growth in the past decade have now turned unfavourable, resulting in the current economic difficulties. Thus the developing countries have to prepare for new growth and development strategies.
This discussion paper from The Corner House sets out some lessons for political strategy suggested by the experience of climate change campaigning over the past 15 years. It outlines the dangers faced by advocacy NGOs of becoming 'patzers' (blunderers) and clients of more sophisticated political actors.
Protests against an anti-Islam film produced in the United States have intensified in Tunisia and Sudan and spread in Lebanon, with three Tunisians, three Sudanese and one Lebanese killed as clashes between demonstrators and police ensued on Friday 14 September. Three people were killed on Friday and another 28 wounded in clashes at the US embassy in Tunis, which was stormed by an angry mob protesting over 'Innocence of Muslims', a film mocking Islam, an official media said, citing the health ministry.
Recent deadly clashes in Kenya stem from widespread economic frustration, chronic impunity and the ambitions of politicians seeking office, according to analysts and activists. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay noted, the timing of the latest clashes on the coast is alarming. 'In Kenya, the recent inter-communal violence in the Tana River District, during which dozens were killed, including a large number of children and women, is a grim reminder of the 2007-08 events,' she said earlier this week, referring to the killings and displacement that followed the country’s last presidential poll.
In Sudan’s newspaper district in Khartoum East, dozens of people sit beneath the trees sipping tea or reading newspapers. Most are journalists who once worked for the 10 newspapers that were either forced closed by the country’s security services or because of economic constraints that resulted after the government raised printing taxes in an attempt to prevent the media from reporting on anti-government demonstrations. Mohamed Ahmed, a former journalist for the Ajrass Elhuriya newspaper, which was closed in July 2011, is one of them. 'I have been sitting under the trees for a year and a half because the government closed my newspaper and other newspapers, that consider me to be opposed to the government, are afraid to hire me.'
Land used to power European cars with biofuels for one year could produce enough wheat and maize to feed 127 million people, Oxfam reveals ahead of today’s important EU Energy Ministers’ meeting. With the world’s poorest at greater risk of hunger as a result of spiraling food prices, the international agency is calling on the EU to rethink its dangerous love affair with biofuels. In a new GROW campaign report, 'The Hunger Grains', Oxfam warns that Europe’s growing appetite for biofuels is pushing up global food prices and driving people off their land, resulting in deeper hunger and malnutrition in poor countries.
Since the start of the month the death toll of the Ebola outbreak in the north-east has climbed from 15 to 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, defining the situation 'serious'. Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based agency, stressed that 'it is unusual that the first person to be infected was a health worker'. The areas affected by the outbreak are Isiro and Viadana (70km apart), in the Eastern Province (north-east).
A faction of Central African Republic rebel group the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace claimed responsibility Sunday for two attacks near the capital and threatened to carry out more. The CPJP last month signed a peace deal with the government, officially ending the rebellion by the largest armed group still active in the violence-torn country and raising hopes of an end to years of conflict. But the faction that claimed the attacks in two towns just north of the capital on Saturday said it did not accept the peace deal.
'It’s possible that two children died so that you could have that mobile phone,' says Jean-Bertin, a 34-year-old Congolese activist who wants to end the 'absolute silence' around the crimes committed in his country to exploit strategic raw materials like coltan. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has at least 64 per cent of worldwide reserves of coltan, the colloquial African name for a dull black ore composed of two minerals, columbite and tantalite.
The community located near the Lonmin-owned platinum mine which has been the scene of a bitter strike, wages a daily battle with air and noise pollution, intense crime and appalling living conditions. With no access to sanitation and garbage removal, the surrounding plateau is strewn with rotting rubbish. Nearby streams are polluted by sewage as thousands live out realities far from the billion-dollar industry they clock their cards into each morning.
Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud says he is willing to begin talks with the armed group al-Shabab. In an exclusive video interview with Al Jazeera's Peter Greste, he outlines his key concerns for Somalia.
The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has condemned sustained deadly violence against journalists following the killing of young journalist in Mogadishu. Zakariye Mohamed Mohamud Moallim, a young cameraman, working as freelance journalist was shot dead on Sunday evening (16 September 2012) in Nasib Bundo neighbourhood of Shibis district in Mogadishu. Men armed with pistols shot the journalist in the head and chest, according to family members. Zakariye died on the spot and the killers escaped from the scene, as said by eyewitnesses.
South Africa’s beleaguered government continues its security crackdown in Marikana, with the South African National Defence Force announcing that it deployed 1,000 soldiers to the restive mining town in the North West. 'It seems as if both government and Lonmin misread the situation on the platinum belt, and now what seemed resolvable might become an untenable situation,' Bishop Jo Seoka, president of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) said in a statement released by the Bench Marks Foundation. And as South Africans react with alarm to the scale of the security presence in Marikana, Sekoa believes the government’s most recent attempts to assert control over the striking workers threatens the gains made in negotiations.
Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki lost his temper and burst into anger when a journalist answered a phone call during an interview in the Qatari capital, Doha, a video aired by Al Arabiya showed. While Marzouki was speaking about corruption in an interview with a journalist, another journalist nearby answered a phone call, prompting the Tunisian president to burst in anger calling him 'shameless' and 'idiot'.
For the first time in more than 10 years, Cosatu goes to its national congress – starting on Monday at Gallagher Estate in Midrand – with the prospect of having the positions of two of its most senior officials – president Sdumo Dlamini and general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi – contested. Vavi's opponents say he acts as if above everyone else in Cosatu, and have taken issue with his public criticism of leaders of the ANC, government and the alliance. They want him to be replaced by KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Zet Luzipho.
The UN Human Rights Office has released a new publication on sexual orientation and gender identity in international human rights law. It sets out the source and scope of some of the core legal obligations that States have to protect the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. The 60-page booklet is designed as a tool for States, to help them better understand the nature of their obligations and the steps required to meet them, as well as for civil society activists, human rights defenders and others seeking to hold Governments to account for breaches of international human rights law.
A coalition of organisations is to submit an alternative report to the UN Human Rights Committee to inform its review of Kenya’s Third Periodic Report at its 105th Session (9 - 27 July 2012) on the implementation of the Provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in relation to torture. The report seeks to highlight the prevalent incidences of torture and related human rights violations in Kenya as serious concerns remain in this area. The overall conclusion is that whilst Kenya has endeavoured to include the principles of the ICCPR in its newly promulgated Constitution of 2010 and legislative framework, there continue to be important legislative and administrative gaps that still provide challenges towards full implementation of the ICCPR as specified in subsequent chapters.
Egyptian campaigners launched a fresh salvo against government plans to borrow from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Saturday, claiming further foreign loans would mean repeating the 'economic disasters' of the Mubarak era. Calling for a full audit of Egypt's debt bill, campaigners took aim at the ousted president's economic legacy - privatisations, soaring public debt, delapidated services and corruption - for which they hold the previous policies of the IMF and several major development banks jointly responsible.
Egypt saw a fresh wave of strikes on Sunday as transport and education sector employees downed tools to push for financial and administrative reform. In separate bouts of industrial action, workers at the Cairo Transportation Authority (CTA) and non-academic staff at universities across Egypt walked off the job.
Ethiopian ruling party the People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), has confirmed Mr Hailemariam Desalegn as country's Prime Minister. The leader picked to succeed the late Meles Zenawi last month will be sworn in when the country's parliament reconvenes next month. Mr Hailemariam also becomes chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the ruling coalition of parties.