Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has approved a controversial law against the online publications of inappropriate content, a move which critics say would enable the leadership in the Horn of Africa country to further tighten their grip on journalists and opposition activists.

Kenyatta signed the sweeping cyber-crimes act on Wednesday, ignoring calls from rights campaigners not to endorse the law which also criminalizes the publication of “false, misleading or fictitious data”, a clause they say is specifically meant to curb free speech.

The law bans hacking, computer fraud, forgery of data, cyber espionage, publishing child pornography or sending pornographic content via any electronic means, punishing violators with a fine of $50,000 (42,000 euro) or jail terms up to two years, or both.

Critics say the law contains clauses that could make it more difficult for journalists and activists to criticize the government. Rights advocates and journalists have censured the bill, saying it could easily target journalists and others expressing their opinions online.

“Kenyan legislators have passed a wide-ranging bill that will criminalize free speech, with journalists and bloggers likely to be among the first victims if it is signed into law,” said the Committee for Protection of Journalists last week as it urged Kenyatta not to sign the bill.

Kenyatta’s approval of the bill comes following a bloody election season in Kenya in which he beat opposition leader Raila Odinga after two rounds of votes that were marred by widespread allegations of fraud. His government ordered three main television networks to close in January after they ran a live coverage of a mock inauguration ceremony by Odinga, who saw himself as the legitimate winner of the elections. The closures sparked criticisms from governments in Europe.

Eight prominent journalists also left their jobs in March over claims of increased meddling by government and a loss of media freedom in Kenya.

Source: Presstv

At least 26 people have been killed in an attack by gunmen in a village in northwestern Burundi, says an official, days ahead of a constitutional referendum which could enable President Pierre Nkurunziza to stay in power for 16 more years.

The attack was carried out in the province of Cibitoke, which borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, on Friday night.

Burundian Minister of Security Alain Guillaume Bunyoni said in a statement on Saturday that seven others were wounded by the attackers, who were “terrorists” from the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The terrorists coming from and returning to Congo shot and burned: 26 dead and seven wounded.”

Witnesses told AFP that during the hours-long violence, the attackers armed with guns and knives killed dozens of people and also set fire to buildings.

“These criminals went house to house and committed real carnage,” said a local official speaking on condition of anonymity. He said he was “horrified” by the violence.

“Some of the victims were stabbed, others were shot, there is even a whole family that was burned alive in their home,” he said.

The motive behind the incident remains unknown, but local residents said the unidentified attackers crossed into the DRC after carrying out the assault.

“For now, these criminals have not been identified, but an investigation is underway to determine their identity,” said a police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The attack came just days ahead of a constitutional referendum on May 17, which could see Nkurunziza rule until 2034.

Burundi has in recent weeks deployed military units to borders with Rwanda and the DRC, accusing exiled opposition groups of attempting to disrupt the referendum.

Human Rights Watch said in a report last month that Burundi government forces and ruling party members had killed, beaten, and intimidated perceived opponents of the referendum in a bid to ensure Nkurunziza’s victory.

Burundi descended into chaos since April 2015, after Nkurunziza announced his plan for a third term in power, despite the county’s constitution limiting leaders to a maximum of two terms.

However, Nkurunziza’s government argued that his first term didn’t count towards the limit as he was elected by parliament, not a public vote.

Source: Presstv

Opposition candidate for the 2016 presidential election, General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko has been found guilty for his alleged involvement in a coup attempt.

Congolese general and opposition leader Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, 71, was on Friday sentenced to 20 years in prison “ for “undermining the internal security of the state”, after a trial he referred to as “settlement of political scores”.

The former candidate in the 2016 presidential election has three days to file an appeal, said criminal court president Christian Oba.

The court also sentenced in absentia seven co-accused including six French and a Congolese for complicity “the offense of undermining the internal security of the State”.

Arrested in June 2016. General Mokoko, former Chief of Staff, was advisor to President Denis Sassou Nguesso whom he finally challenged in the 2016 presidential election.

He was arrested in June 2016 after refusing with other candidates to recognize the re-election of President Sassou Nguesso who cumulates nearly 35 years of power.

“The decision of the criminal court does not surprise us, because everything started in an illegal manner in violation of the jurisdictional immunity of our client,” said General Mokoko’s lawyer, Eric Yvon Ibouanga.

His defense claims that he holds his immunity from his title of “dignitary of the Republic”, an argument refuted by the prosecution.

“It is a judgment that satisfies us considering the gravity of the offense and the elements involved in the case”, declared one of the lawyers of the Congolese State, Me Gérard Deviller.

Source: AFP

Bishop Emmah Isong disclosed how a man was recently shot despite pleadings that he was not a militant He said if the blood flow should not stop now, Cameroon might turn to another Rwanda. Emmah Isong, the national publicity secretary of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, on Thursday, May 11, alleged the killings of Nigerians in Southern Cameroon. Punch reports that Isong, who condemned the act in a statement issued regretted that his brother-in-law was one of the innocent persons recently killed by the Cameroonian gendarmes. He said, “There are so many killings in Cameroon especially the southern part. Last Friday in Ekondo Titi, some gendarmes moved into the villages and assassinated my brother-in-law in broad daylight, shooting at sight on any male or youth.

“The entire rural areas have become deserted. In one of the operations, they shot a man who was lying on a sickbed right on the chest, despite pleadings that he is not a militant. “Much innocent blood has been shed silently and my worries are not that I have lost a relation but my questions are- What is the government gaining by arbitrarily eliminating the lives of the young Cameroonians. “Can’t the governments of France, United Kingdom or the United States of America intervene in this genocide? Do we still have the role of the United Nations in defending the poor harmless English speaking citizens of a poor African nation?

“How long will this last and can’t the President Paul Biya-led government look for dialogue which the people are requesting? “If these people are accused of killing soldiers in retaliation, how many civilians can the soldiers then kill to avenge and who will help us count? Please, help Cameroon not to turn to another Rwanda please, please, please, the blood flow should stop now.”

www.naija.ng

The critical situation of the English regions of Cameroon is worse than ever. The violence has brought the country into a civil war in the South Western region as reported by Lilian Neg, Africa Correspondent for NewsVoice. Other sources tell NewsVoice young men flee the anglophone regions since the army capture and abduct them. If they do not flee they will ”disappear”.

The declaration of war made by President Paul Biya on November 30th 2017 to the people considered as enemies of the Republic has not been a means of peace and stability, instead the battle between Cameroonian armed forces and the various separatists groups is building up.

Villages have been transformed into battle fields where exchanges of weapons are frequent. Population are forced to leave their homes for unknown destinations. Some villages have been totally destroyed by flames, torched by the army.

People are running to the bushes in fear of being killed. Villagers are captured and heavily sanctioned while others are simply murdered. Huge number of refugees is one consequence, some 40,000 are registered in neighbouring Nigeria. Other sources report lower estimates but the figures continues to increase daily. Casualties are recorded on both sides and among unarmed civilians.

Separatists groups have been formed fighting a civil war

Recently, the vehicle of the South West region Governor Okalia Bilai was attacked by unidentified men on his way to Lebialem for the installation of the newly appointed subdivisional officer of the area.

In less than one year separatists groups have been created in various locations across the two English regions. The groups act unpredictable and they are a real preoccupation for the Cameroonian army.

Kidnappings

These various separatists movements are kidnapping government authorities. It has been the case of the social affair delegate of the North West region who was kidnapped and has not yet been released.

They said, they are putting pressure on the Government to liberate their leader Sisiku Ayuk Tabe who was captured in january 2018 in Nera Hotel Nigeria alongside with 47 members of the newly created Nation Declare on 1st October 2017.

In spite of what is demanded by the human rights organizations and some majors institutions as well as other countries, efforts are merely regarded as radicalized opinions across these regions.

Cameroon needs to define itself as a diverse Nation

People want the government to call for a sincere dialogue.

• What are the needed mechanisms to assure that things will not go back to a perpetuous conflict?
• Who could implement a workable procedure?
• What players will take part at the dialogue table?

It will not be an understatement to say Cameroon needs to build a new and solid foundation. Cameroon needs to define itself as a Nation. Cameroon needs to appropriate its cultural specificities and diversities. It is important to seek for an institutional everlasting solution to end the crisis once and for all.

Culled from News Voice

At least four Boko Haram suicide bombers struck a village near Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno on Thursday night.

The bomb attacks on Mairanti village occurred at about 10 p.m. on Thursday, according to local television station Channels TV.

Authorities said no one else except the bombers was hurt, but advised residents to be vigilant. In neighboring Cameroon, at least twenty huts were set on fire and a man was killed on Thursday night.

The attacks occurred in the locality of Tcherive in the Mayo-Sava department in Cameroon’s far north.

Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands of people in Nigeria and Cameroon as well as hundreds in Chad and Niger since 2009.

The militants have said western education and western way of life are evil. They are trying to create a caliphate along the Lake Chad Basin where true Islam would be practiced.

Source: Today news Africa

An earthquake that hit a South African gold mine claimed a total of seven lives, its owner said Saturday, after rescue operations were completed at the site outside Johannesburg.

The epicenter of the 2.2-magnitude quake was close to where the miners were working on Thursday, and 13 employees were trapped about three kilometers (two miles) below the surface.

“The last three employees who were recovered (had) passed away from their injuries, bringing the total number of fatalities as a result of the seismic event to seven,” mining company Sibanye-Stillwater said in a statement.

It added that rescue teams had worked for two and a half days in “extremely challenging conditions” to save colleagues while there were further underground tremors.

Operations at the Masakhane mine in Driefontein have been suspended and an investigation launched.

Six mineworkers remain in hospital.

In February, nearly 1,000 miners were trapped underground for 30 hours following a power cut caused by a storm in another mine owned by Sibanye-Stillwater.

A few days later, two miners were killed after ground collapsed at a mine also belonging to the group.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it was “angry and concerned at the rate at which mining incidents are happening at Sibanye-Stillwater.”

Mine accidents are common in South Africa. In 2016, 73 people died in mines around the country, according to the Chamber of Mines.

(Source: AFP)

Flooding across Kenya triggered by weeks of torrential rain has left 112 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of others, the Red Cross said Friday.

Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet made an appeal for $5 million (four million euros) to help those affected in 32 counties.

Since early March, “112 people have lost their lives countrywide,” he told a press conference.

“About 48,177 households have been displaced so far and this translates to 260,200 people that are displaced,” he said.

Gullet said over 21,000 acres (8,500 hectares) of crops had been destroyed and some 20,000 animals washed away, while more than a hundred schools had been affected, many of which remain closed.

The disaster comes after three failed rainy seasons inflicted a crippling drought that sent food prices soaring and left more than three million people requiring food aid.

(Source: AFP)

Cross River State Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, yesterday,  alerted the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of illegal registration by Cameroonian refugees in the state. The state Comptroller of NIS, Mr. Felix Uche, made this disclosure when he led his management team on a courtesy visit to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Frankland Briyai, at the state office of INEC in Calabar.

Uche disclosed that several Cameroonian refugees have been discovered to possess voter cards. He said no fewer than 30, 000 Cameroonian refugees have entered Cross River State in the last one year following the crisis in the southern part of Cameroon. According to the Comptroller, there is the need for security agencies to assist INEC in stopping the refugees from participating in the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration exercise.

In his response, the REC said he had earlier met with relevant security agencies to ensure that the influx of Cameroonian refugees does not pose threat to the ongoing CVR. Briyai, however, noted that the ongoing voter’s registration was only meant for Nigerians, adding that more strategies would be put in place to check intruders.

Source: www.vanguardngr.com

Malawi’s former president, Joyce Banda, returned home on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile, despite facing the threat of arrest over corruption allegations.

Banda, 68, fled the country in 2014 when she lost power after being embroiled in the so-called Cashgate scandal, in which government officials siphoned off millions of dollars of public money.

Banda only the second woman to lead a country in Africa arrived at Blantyre’s airport on a flight from Johannesburg around midday on Saturday, where she was greeted by hundreds of supporters of her People’s Party, said an AFP journalist at the scene.

“Mother is here, the lights should come back”, the crowd chanted. No police were present as she left the plane.

Her spokesman Andekunye Chanthunya had earlier said she would head straight to her home at Domasi in Zomba, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) away.

Local media have reported a possible deal between President Peter Mutharika and Banda ahead of next year’s elections.

Banda founded the People’s Party (PP) in 2011 after splitting from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is led by Mutharika.

Chanthunya told AFP that Banda would also address a political rally on Sunday.

“She remains the head of the PP. The question of whether she wants to contest for the presidency or not will be answered in due course, but we may get an idea of how she is thinking.”

Government coffers emptied

Police spokesman James Kaledzera has declined to say if Banda would be arrested, though he confirmed that a warrant issued last July remained valid.

Earlier this year, the Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said it had no solid evidence against the former president, partially clearing her name.

The “Cashgate” scandal prompted foreign donors who provide around 40 percent of Malawi’s budget to pull the plug on aid worth around $150 million.

Ministers, civil servants and businessmen are accused of pocketing money from government coffers through ghost companies which did not provide any services to the state.

The biggest financial scandal in Malawi’s history helped push Banda out of power in the 2014 election, and Mutharika vowed to clean up the system to bring donors back.

The graft started in 2005, and more than $30 million was looted within only six months in 2013 shortly before it was uncovered, according to an independent audit.

Malawi, one of the world’s poorest and aid-dependent countries, will hold presidential, parliamentary and council elections in May 2019.

Banda came to power in 2012 when Bingu wa Mutharika, the current president’s brother, died in office.

She has spent much of her time abroad in the United States and her return has been postponed several times, most recently last year when the arrest warrant was issued.

Political analyst Henry Chingaipe said her influence was uncertain and she could struggle to play a major role in the elections.

“If she is coming home just to live, OK. But if she is coming to contest for the presidency, her party is in tatters,” he told AFP.

“The decision to leave the country for so long eroded trust in her leadership.”

The World Bank resumed aid to Malawi in May last year, providing an $80 million package and saying the country had “taken some very important reform steps”.

(AFP)