Dozens of militants with the Takfiri Boko Haram terrorist group have surrendered to Nigerien authorities, less than a week after Nigeria announced that its troops captured the group’s last key bastion in the country’s northeast.

“Thirty one young people from Diffa, who were enrolled a few years ago in Boko Haram, decided to surrender,” Nigerien Interior Minister Bazoum Mohamed said. The troubled Diffa region, located in the southeasternmost part of Niger, borders Nigeria’s volatile Borno State, where Boko Haram hides in the dense Sambisa Forest.

One of the deserters appeared on a Nigerien public television program and recounted why they had decided to give themselves up to local authorities. “We have deserted Boko Haram because we found that what the organization stands for is not acceptable. We expect a pardon from the government so that we can participate in the development of the country and help us get rid of the trauma,” he said.

The Nigerien government has reportedly assured that it will grant an amnesty for all the deserters providing that they undergo a de-radicalization program, after which they will be enrolled in socio-economic reintegration projects.

Back in June, tens of thousands of people were forced to abandon their homes in Diffa as Boko Haram terrorists launched a sweeping offensive across the region, and in September, at least five Nigerien troopers were killed by the terror group near the village of Toumour, about 65 kilometers northeast of Diffa.

Niger has been one of the countries affected by the more than seven years of Boko Haram militancy in Nigeria. The Takfiri terrorist group has routinely launched attacks across Nigerian borders into Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Presstv

Hundreds of Cameroonian servicemen and women from the Rapid Intervention Battalion have entered Nigerian territory. The troops were deployed at the request of President Buhari for a decisive and intense anti Boko Haram operation. Cameroon Concord News gathered that the soldiers operating under Operation Alpha are currently stationed at Goshe, a village in northeastern Nigeria about twenty kilometers from the Cameroonian town of Achigachia.

Ever since the beginning of this massive military campaign, the damage in the ranks of the Cameroonian army has been minimal. The only incident recorded occurred on the first day of the operation, when an army vehicle jumped on a mine and two soldiers’ sustained injuries.

Cameroon military sources say the operation was launched under the banner of the Joint Multinational Force and the offensive aims to reopen the Bama-Banki axis and resettle the Nigerian army in Goshe, which is said to be one of the strongholds of Boko Haram. The current operation is also taking place in a mountain sanctuary of Boko Haram located in Sambisa.

By Rita Akana

Nine protesters have reportedly been killed in clashes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, amid rising tensions over the refusal of President Joseph Kabila to quit after the expiration of his term in office. On Tuesday, the United Nations director of human rights in the Central African country announced that there were “solid” reports that 20 civilians had been killed in clashes between protesters and security forces in Kinshasa. “On the issue of deaths, it looks bad. We are reviewing allegations of up to 20 civilians killed, but it (the information) is pretty solid,” said Jose Maria Aranaz.

The UN also raised concern earlier on Tuesday over a new wave of detentions in the DRC over Kabila’s refusal. Director of the UN mission in the DR Congo, Maman Sambo Sidikou, announced that his office had documented 113 arrests of opposition leaders and civil society activists, human rights campaigners and journalists by police and intelligence authorities since December 16. “I am gravely concerned by the arrests of those who seek to express their political views,” said Sidikou, who also serves as the UN secretary general’s special representative to the Central African country.

“I urge the national authorities to strictly adhere to their international human rights obligations, to create a climate of political tolerance and respect at this important juncture in the DRC’s history, and to grant full access to United Nations personnel to all detention centers,” he added. News outlets reported sounds of gunfire in the country’s two largest cities as the opposition leader urged citizens to reject Kabila, whose second and final term expired on Tuesday with no indication pointing to his intent to quit or hold new polls.

As fears grew about the eruption of new violence across the country, gunfire rang out in the capital as well as the second largest city of Lubumbashi. Moreover, dozens of troop carriers patrolled the populous capital of nearly 10 million people and police officers and paramilitary forces have remained deployed in other cities since Sunday. Meanwhile, as the deadline of Kabila’s end-of-mandate approached on Tuesday, crowds had gathered before midnight Monday to blow whistles and beat on improvised drums, calling for the president to step down.

State television overnight announced the establishment of a new government in line with an October deal between the ruling party and tiny fringe opposition groups to leave Kabila in office pending elections in April 2018. The main opposition bloc, however, rejects the plan. The new cabinet will be led by Sami Badibanga, a defector from the party of the mainstream opposition party led by 84-year-old Etienne Tshisekedi.

Presstv

The leader of Rwanda’s sole government-recognized opposition party has announced plans for standing as a candidate in next year’s presidential election. Frank Habineza, with the Democratic Green party, announced the decision on Saturday after a meeting with party leaders in the capital, Kigali. “I have accepted your request to represent you as the presidential candidate for the upcoming presidential election, which will take place on 4th August 2017,” he said.

Habineza will challenge President Paul Kagame. The incumbent leader, who took power in 1994 at the head of a rebel army, had previously come forward as a candidate. Rwanda’s parliament passed amendments to the constitution this year to allow Kagame to stand for re-election for another seven-year term.

Over the past years, Kagame has faced criticism for the lack of political freedoms in Rwanda, although the country is regularly praised for its stability and economic performance. Kagame’s government has refused to recognize several opposition parties, barring them from contesting elections. The United Democratic Forces (FDU) is the most prominent of all those parties. Its leader, Victoire Ingabire, was arrested in 2010 while campaigning against Kagame.

Habineza vowed at the end of the Saturday party congress that his main goal would be to establish democracy in Rwanda. “Democracy does not come from the sky, it won’t come from America or Europe, we are the ones who have to fight for it,” Habineza said, adding, “We want to bring democracy to this country.”

Presstv

Valentina Guebuza, daughter of the former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza has been murdered in Maputo.

Aged 36, Valentina Guebuza was considered the seventh most powerful woman in Africa by Forbes magazine. She succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital after receiving several bullets.

According to local media, her husband, Zofino Muiuane, a businessman working for British American Tobacco is presently in police drag net but has not been formally charged.

The daughter of the former President of Mozambique Armando Guebeza managed the family holding company Focus 21 Management, which has stakes in telecoms, fishing, transport, mining and land.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Fresh fighting in the Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, between government forces and rebels has forced thousands of people to flee their homes. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday that fighting in the southeast of the country had displaced an estimated 13,000 people. “We are afraid some 13,000 displaced people soon may not have enough to eat,” UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland. People in the area are “also having trouble getting health care and education because so many state-employed medics and teachers have fled,” he added.

Spindler said that the uptick in violence in recent weeks between the Ninja Nsiloulou rebels and government forces has included an attack on a military vehicle in the southeastern district of Mindouli that killed two people. The rebels, who fought two civil wars against the government in the 1990s, were seen as having been mostly disbanded after agreeing to a peace accord in 2003. However, sporadic clashes between the two sides have continued ever since.

In October, at least 14 people, including children, were killed in an attack on a train in Mindouli. The assault was blamed on the Ninja rebels. The situation in Congo-Brazzaville had been tense since a constitutional referendum in October 2015 removed a two-term limit on the presidency, allowing the 72-year-old leader to run in the 2016 election.

The rebels are led by a Protestant pastor named Frederic Bintsamou, who his followers call the Prophet. Bintsamou came out in favor of opposition presidential candidate Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas in elections in March 2016. However, the opposition candidate lost to longtime leader Denis Sassou Nguesso. Sassou Nguesso won re-election in the first round of voting, receiving 60 percent of the votes. The opposition claimed the election was a sham.

Presstv

The Egyptian authorities have announced the dismantling of a vast network specialized in the trafficking of human organs. According to the administrative control authority, twenty-five people were arrested in possession of “millions of dollars and gold bullion after an investigation carried out in 10 hospitals.

Among the suspects arrested were doctors, nurses, intermediaries and buyers, the ministry said, referring to the largest case of organ trafficking ever seen in Egypt. The network is made up of Egyptians and nationals from other Arab countries who take advantage of the economic situation of citizens to be able to buy their organs and sell them for a large sum of money.

According to the United Nations, hundreds of poor Egyptians sell their organs every year to buy enough to live or repay their debts.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Washington says a fake US embassy run by organized crime gangs has been shut down in Ghana’s capital, Accra, following almost 10 years of issuing counterfeit visas and counterfeit identification documents. According to a statement released by the US Department of State late on Friday, the sham embassy was operated by “figures from both Ghanaian and Turkish organized crime rings” along with a Ghanaian lawyer specializing in immigration and criminal law.

The statement added that the fake diplomatic mission, with a run-down, pink two-storey building, was raided by Ghana’s security forces in summer after the real embassy in the capital received a tip-off from an informant about the matter. Several suspects were arrested, including “Turkish citizens,” who played the role of “consular officers” at the building and who spoke English and Dutch. Authorities also seized legitimate and counterfeit US, Indian, South African and Schengen Zone visas and 150 passports from 10 different countries, a laptop, a number of smart phones and counterfeit identity documents.

The criminals, according to the statement, managed to run the fake embassy unhindered during the past decade by bribing corrupt officials as well as obtaining blank bank documents to be doctored. The crime ring provided prearranged customers with authentic, but illegally obtained, US visas and fabricated identification documents, including birth certificates, at a cost of $6,000 each, the statement added. In an attempt to make the sham embassy look real, the criminals had also raised an American flag outside the building and inside they had hung a photo of US President Barack Obama. They had also placed signs indicating that applicants were in the US embassy in Ghana.

The statement also revealed that further investigations led to uncovering a fake Dutch embassy in Ghana’s capital. Visa market is a tempting target for organized crime in Africa as visas for Western countries are in high demand in the continent.

Presstv

Yahya Jammeh, The Gambia’s authoritarian president of 22 years, has suffered a surprise defeat in the country’s general election. He will be replaced by a property developer, Adama Barrow, who won more than 45% of the vote.

Mr Jammeh, who came to power in a coup in 1994, has conceded, said electoral commission chief Alieu Momar Njie. Before announcing the final result, Mr Njie appealed for calm as the country entered unchartered waters.

The Gambia has not had a smooth transfer of power since independence in 1965. Mr Barrow won 263,515 votes (45.5%) in Thursday’s election, while President Jammeh took 212,099 (36.7%), according to the electoral commission.

Mr Barrow, who runs his own property company, reportedly used to work as a security guard at an Argos catalogue store on London’s Holloway Road. On the electoral campaign, he promised to revive the country’s economy, which has forced thousands of Gambians to make the perilous journey to Europe.

BBC

Prime Minister Philemon Yang took part in the security and political crises meeting grouping member states of ECCAS on Wednesday in Libreville.  The forum was the 8th Extraordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of State of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on the political and security situation in the sub region. The Presidents of Chad, Idriss Déby Itno, Rwanda, Paul Kagame and Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, traveled to Libreville for the summit.

Under the impetus of Ali Bongo, the current Chairman of ECCAS and of the Security and Peace Council of Central Africa (COPAX), the meeting discussed terrorism, electoral issues, Peace building, international peace missions, sub regional integration, youth, the humanitarian situation and maritime safety and security.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the leaders also agreed to strengthen coordination on surveillance and intelligence gathering efforts between States to prevent the rise of violent extremism and terrorism and support for regional economic integration efforts through inter alia, A Free Trade Area (FTA), enhanced cooperation with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the fight against terrorism and dialogue in the countries of the sub- region affected by political conflicts.

By Chi Prudence Asong