Former Ivory Coast political leader Charles Blé Goudé said Monday he had been sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison by an Ivorian court over murder, rape and torture charges. 

Blé Goudé was cleared of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Hague this year, along with his former boss, Ivory Coast ex-president Laurent Gbagbo.

But following his acquittal, an Ivorian court brought a fresh trial against him over the 2010-2011 bloodshed which followed a disputed vote in the West African nation. 

The former aide to Gbagbo, who has remained in the Netherlands following his ICC trial pending a possible appeal by the prosecution, told AFP the Ivorian court had convicted him on Monday.

He said he was “surprised by the verdict”, adding that he had been sentenced to 20 years in prison, 10 years deprivation of his civil rights, and a fine of 200 million CFA francs ($340,000) to be paid to the victims.

The court has issued an arrest warrant for him, he added. 

About 3,000 people died in the turmoil that swept Abidjan — once one of Africa’s most cosmopolitan cities — in the aftermath of the November 2010 presidential polls when Gbagbo refused to accept defeat to bitter rival Alassane Ouattara, who remains in power.

Leonard Lebry, the prosecutor general at the Court of Appeal in Abidjan has previously said the case against Blé Goudé — once dubbed the “general of the streets” for his ability to mobilise Gbagbo supporters during the conflict — was “wider” than the ICC prosecution and covered different events. 

“The court will try him (Blé Goudé)” for allegations of “torture, murder, rape”, Lebry said last month.

Gbagbo, the first former head of state to stand trial at the ICC, and Blé Goudé were tried over responsibility for murder, attempted murder, rape, persecution and “other inhumane acts” during five months of violence, both pleading not guilty.

They were released by the ICC to live in Belgium in February under conditions including that he would return to court for any prosecution appeal against his acquittal.

Blé Goudé is living in the Netherlands under similar conditions.

Last month the Ivorian court rejected an appeal over the January 2018 sentencing of Gbagbo and three aides for the “robbery” of the Central Bank of West African States (Bceao) during the post-election crisis. 

The opposition has claimed Ouattara is attempting to prevent Gbagbo returning to the country ahead of 2020 elections expected to be a crucial test for Ivory Coast, which has long been west Africa’s top economic performer and is the world’s leading cocoa producer.

The court conviction comes in the same month that an arrest warrant was issued for former rebel leader and would-be Ivory Coast presidential candidate Guillaume Soro, who aborted his planned return to the country at the last minute.

(AFP)

At least 30 people were killed in fighting between militiamen and traders in a restive district of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, a security official and a local imam said Thursday.

“Thirty bodies have been brought to the mosque,” said Awad Al Karim, the imam of the Ali Babolo mosque in a district called PK5 that became a haven for many Bangui Muslims at the peak of Christian-Muslim clashes in the country.

A security official, who asked to remain anonymous, also put the number of dead at at least 30, without providing any further details.

The fighting began after traders in the district took up arms to oppose taxes levied by militia groups, the imam said.

Bursts of automatic fire and explosions were heard on Wednesday evening and on Thursday morning, according to an AFP journalist who was in a neighbouring district.

The head of the African Red Cross, Antoine Mbaobogo, said the toll “stood at 23 at 4:00 pm (3:00pm GMT) but could now be 33,” adding that there were still bodies near the market.

Neither the UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA nor the CAR authorities have been able to assert control over the PK5 district.

And MINUSCA did not provide any exact toll from the fighting, saying only there had been “dozens of victims”.

MINUSCA spokesman, Bili Aminou Alao, said a rapid response force had been sent to the area.

“Part of the market and some vehicles have been burned,” he said.

“Between 40 and 50 shops have been burned down, as well as four or five houses,” said Patrick Bidilou Niabode, head of the CAR’s civil protection service.

Voluntary firefighters put out two fires which had been spreading in the market but were unable to tackle a blaze at two houses because of heavy gunfire, he added.

Powder keg

The CAR is one of the world’s poorest and most volatile countries.

It has been gripped by sporadic violence since 2014, after then-president Francois Bozize was ousted in a coup.

Fierce fighting then erupted between predominantly Christian and Muslim militia, prompting the intervention of former colonial power France, under a UN mandate.

Attempts to broker a lasting peace have repeatedly broken down and most of the country lies in the hands of armed groups, who often fight over the country’s mineral resources.

The PK5 district is a powder keg. In April 2018, MINUSCA, responding to appeals by local traders, launched an anti-militia operation named Sukula (“Clean-up” in the CAR language of Sango).

The operation ended bloodily with the death of about 30 people and a hundred wounded, sparking a wave of anger among local people.

The CAR’s long conflict has forced nearly a quarter of the country’s 4.7 million people to flee their homes.

The United Nations estimated in September that two thirds of the population depends on humanitarian aid to survive.

The country is ranked next-to-last after Niger on the 2018 UNDP’s Human Development Index, which compares longevity, education, and income per capita. Life expectancy is just 52.9 years.

(AFP)

The funeral of Algeria’s powerful army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah got underway Wednesday as his remains arrived at the People’s Palace, images broadcast by state TV show.

The wooden coffin containing the body of Gaid Salah, who died of a heart attack on Monday aged 79, arrived at 0630 GMT, covered in a national flag and carried by officers.

Surrounded by large numbers of motorcycle outriders, the funeral procession converged on the palace, which was built in the 18th century for Ottoman governors.

Gaid Salah became the country’s de facto strongman after longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced to step down in the face of huge street protests in April.

Interim military chief of staff Said Chengriha was in attendance, while President Abdelmadjid Tebboune arrived a little after the procession.

Tebboune won a December 12 presidential election with 58.1 percent of the vote on a turnout of less than 40 percent, according to official results, in a poll dismissed by protesters as a ploy by Gaid Salah and other establishment figures to consolidate their power.

After his win, Tebboune awarded Gaid Salah the National Order of Merit, Algeria’s highest honor. After the general’s death he announced three days of national mourning.

Abdelkader Bensalah, interim president after Bouteflika’s fall, and other senior personalities also gathered in front of the coffin.

Images broadcast by several TV stations showed a crowd massed at the gates of the palace to pay their final respects to Gaid Salah, who served as army chief for 15 years.

State TV later played images of small groups of civilians entering the palace complex and briefly stopping in front of the coffin to pay their respects.

The religious affairs ministry asked imams to lead prayers in Gaid Salah’s memory on Wednesday.

He was due to be buried shortly after 1200 GMT in Martyrs’ Square in Al-Alia cemetery, where former presidents and other major Algerian figures are laid to rest.

(Source: AFP)

A crew member was killed and four others were taken hostage by pirates in waters off the capital of Gabon, a government spokesperson confirmed on Sunday, December 22.

Government spokesperson Edgard Anicet Mboumbou Miyakou said four vessels were targeted in the overnight attack in the bay of Libreville by unidentified pirates travelling in speedboats.

Miyakou said: “These attacks unfortunately led to the death of Mr. Mboumba Mbina Aymar, of Gabonese nationality, commander of the ship of the Satram company and the abduction of four employees of the company Sigapêche, of Chinese nationality.

The spokesperson added that defence and security forces continued to search for the attackers, in collaboration with Interpol and sub-regional organisations.

He stressed that the government of Gabon had taken measures to guarantee the safety of maritime traffic.

Source: Africa News

Thousands of Gambians protest in the capital Banjul, calling for President Adama Barrow to step down from power.

Elected in December 2016, one of the conditions of the coalition that brought Barrow to power was that he should be president only for the duration of a three-year interim government.

He now intends to stand for a full five year term, a move that has led to the creation of the ‘Three Years Jotna’ movement, or ‘Three years is enough’.

(Source: AFP)

The results of Bougainville’s independence referendum are set to be announced Wednesday — with the troubled Pacific islands expected to resoundingly back the creation of a new nation and a break with Papua New Guinea.

The South Pacific islands of Bougainville have overwhelmingly voted to be independent from Papua New Guinea, the referendum commission said on Wednesday, in a historic poll that will trigger separation negotiations between the two governments.

Almost 98% of the 181,067 votes cast backed independence in the non-binding poll that is part of a peace pact struck in the aftermath of a decade-long war between Bougainville’s rebel fighters and PNG forces, which ended in 1998.

The historic vote caps a decades-long peace process and a long recovery from a brutal civil war between Bougainville rebels, Papua New Guinea security forces and foreign mercenaries that ended in 1998 but not before killing up to 20,000 people — 10 percent of the population.

In stark contrast to that internecine bloodshed, voting began on November 23 with ecstatic residents — some festooned in grass garlands — forming makeshift choirs that stomped through the streets, waving independence flags, blowing bamboo pipes and chanting in chorus.

Bougainvilleans’ choice was between full independence or greater autonomy within Papua New Guinea, a fractious nation of eight million people off the northeast coast of Australia.

The vote officially ended on December 7 and according to the Bougainville Referendum Commission it passed off without major incident.

“Around 85 percent of the total people on the referendum roll have cast their vote in an environment that was conducive to a free, fair and credible process” said the commission’s chairman Bertie Ahern ahead of the result.

The former Irish prime minister was picked for the role having shepherded the Northern Ireland peace process.

“Voting has been in the spirit of the larger peace process, of which this referendum is just one part,” he said.

If voters do choose independence, the decision would require ratification by Papua New Guinea’s parliament.

There is anxiety among some in Port Moresby that Bougainville could set a precedent and spur other independence movements.

But rejection risks rekindling old feuds and skittling the peace process.

Since French explorer Louis de Bougainville arrived on this palm-fringed Melanesian archipelago more than two hundred years ago, control has passed from Germany to Australia to Japan to the United Nations to Papua New Guinea.

Many Bougainvilleans feel a closer cultural affinity to the nearby Solomon Islands, with a strong provincial identity that differs from the tribal factions of other regions of Papua New Guinea.

The 1988-1998 war had its roots in a struggle over revenues from the now-shuttered Panguna copper mine, which at one point accounted for more than 40 percent of Papua New Guinea’s exports.

The mine is estimated to still hold more than five million tonnes of copper and 19 million ounces of gold — worth billions of dollars at current market prices.

Independence would prompt a dash for influence among regional powers China, the United States and Australia.

Attuned to regional rivalry, senior figures in Bougainville’s independence movement have already tried to start a bidding war — warning the nascent nation would turn to Beijing if Western countries do not play their cards right and offer financial support.

(AFP)

Four mine workers were killed and one was seriously injured after a rock fall at a South African gold mine on Friday trapped five workers underground, the company and a mining union said on Sunday.

The collapse at the Village Main Reef’s Tau Lekoa gold mine in North West province followed at least one earth tremor.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was strongly critical of the mining company, saying in a statement that “there was no escape route in the working area where the four mineworkers were found dead”.

The union also said in the statement the mine’s proto team – a group of workers trained to perform underground rescues – did not act quickly enough to save the four miners and “deliberately stopped the team leaders and winch drivers from rescuing the four mineworkers.”

It did not give evidence for this but said it had been briefed by members working at the mine and present during the incident.

The mining firm, Village Main Reef, said it would not comment on the evacuation procedures until after an investigation was completed.

“There were two seismic events and then a rock fall occurred,” said James Duncan, a spokesman for the mine.

“Investigations on the causal factors are ongoing and we will be able to comment only once those are complete. We won’t be commenting at all on the accusations by NUM.”

NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said the rock collapse followed a “seismic event of 2.6 magnitude”.

The death toll in South Africa’s mines fell to 81 fatalities last year from 90 in 2017, the Mineral Resources Ministry said in March. This was a marked reduction from previous decades when the sector was marked by lax safety regulations and labor laws.

(Source: Reuters)

Kenyan police arrested the Nairobi County governor, known for his chunky gold jewellery and impromptu raps, on Friday on corruption charges, a high profile move in the government’s much trumpeted anti-graft push.

Chief public prosecutor Noordin Haji told a news conference the Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko and his associates were accused of conspiracy to commit corruption, failure to comply with laws related to procurement, unlawful acquisition of public property and laundering the proceeds of crime.

Sonko and his assistants did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Citizens and international investors have long complained of corruption in Kenya, East Africa’s business hub and richest economy.

President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Haji, a former deputy head of national intelligence, last year after years of taking little action to rein in widespread graft.

On Friday, Haji accused Sonko, who runs the Kenyan capital as Nairobi’s most senior regional politican, of “deploying intimidation tactics and using goons to threaten law enforcement officials” investigating the case.

Police used teargas to disperse hundreds of Sonko’s supporters when he was called into the anti-corruption office for questioning in November.

Sonko, a former senator, was elected in 2017 after years of news splashes featuring his flamboyant lifestyle and flashy fashion, complete with ubiquitous chunky gold jewellery and eye-catching hairstyles.

After Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto faced charges of crimes against humanity following the disputed 2007 elections and subsequent violence, Sonko showed up to the proceedings at the Hague-based International Criminal Court with “Uhuruto Not Guilty” dyed into his hair.

He was recently photographed using a goldplated iPad and matching iPhone and has appeared in rap videos gyrating in public offices wearing gold-coloured trainers while insulting political opponents.

He invited a storm of public criticism this month after he shared photos online of his dining room, featuring a gold-plated lion statue, and a gold-tinted dining table and chairs.

He has recruited hundreds of people into his “Sonko Rescue Team” who sweep out streets or appear at fires wearing “Sonko” branded red boiler suits in Nairobi’s poorest neighbourhoods.

On Thursday, Sonko received an award sponsored by the Kenya Red Cross and United Nations Volunteers for encouraging volunteering.

Sonko has been photographed handing out cash for things like hospital bills but Nairobi has seen little improvement in public services under his watch.

Nairobi’s public schools and clinics are crumbling, roads are potholed and hundreds of thousands of people live in slums without access to electricity, sewage or services.

REUTERS

Scores of migrants who swam through rough Atlantic Ocean waters to safety from a capsized boat while 58 others drowned were receiving care Thursday in Mauritania after one of the deadliest disasters this year among people making the perilous journey to Europe.

The boat that left Gambia a week ago had been carrying at least 150 people, including women and children.

It was headed toward the Canary Islands when it tried to approach the Mauritanian coast to get fuel and food, Laura Lungarotti, chief of mission in the West African nation with the U.N. migration agency, told The Associated Press.

“Many drowned. The ones who survived swam up to the Mauritanian coast close to the city of Nouadhibou,” she said. “The Mauritanian authorities are very efficiently coordinating the response with the agencies currently present” in the northern city.

At least 83 people swam to shore, the agency said. An unknown number of injured were taken to the hospital in Nouadhibou. It was not immediately clear whether anyone remained missing. Survivors said the boat had left Gambia on Nov. 27.

There was no immediate statement from authorities in Gambia, where tens of thousands of people have set off in hopes of reaching Europe in recent years.

Despite the country’s small size, more than 35,000 Gambians arrived in Europe between 2014 and 2018, according to the U.N. migration agency.

A 22-year rule by former President Yahya Jammeh affected the country’s economy, especially for youth, and contributed greatly to the exodus.

Since Jammeh fled into exile in January 2017 after a surprise election loss, European countries have been pushing to return asylum seekers.

But Gambia’s economy still suffers. The coastal nation was shaken earlier this year by the collapse of British travel company Thomas Cook.

At the time, Gambia’s tourism minister said the government convened an emergency meeting on the collapse, while some Gambians said the shutdown could have a devastating impact on tourism, which contributes more than 30% of the country’s GDP.

AP