South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and ex-vice president and opposition leader Riek Machar agreed Thursday to form a unity government on Saturday, a long-delayed step towards ending six years of war.

“We have agreed to form the government in two days on 22nd February. We are still discussing on other things and I am hopeful we will resolve them all,” Machar said after a meeting between the two men.

Kiir confirmed that they had agreed to join together for the third time in government – an experiment which has twice previously ended in disaster.

It was a dispute between the two men which pushed the young nation into war in December 2013, only two years after a hard-fought independence.

“As the president, I will be appointing the vice presidents, and I will start by appointing Riek tomorrow (Friday) in the morning and I will dissolve the government today and then form a new government on the 22nd,” Kiir said.

“These are changes which will bring peace.”

Unity government delayed twice

The formation of a unity government was a linchpin of a September 2018 peace deal.

But it has been delayed twice by failure to move forward on crucial issues such as forming a unified army, carving out state borders and creating a protection force to ensure Machar’s security.

Kiir said his forces would be in charge of security in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, as well as Machar’s protection.

“I have taken responsibility of protection, as the unified forces are still under training,” he said.

He urged some 190,000 people living under United Nations protection in tent cities in the capital and across the nation – many of whom have lived there for several years – “to come out, because the dawn of peace has come”.

The United States, which has curbed relations with South Sudan over its political impasse, on Thursday welcomed the deal on reaching the unity government.

“We welcome Dr. Machar’s firm commitment to form an inclusive unity government by February 22,” Tibor Nagy, the top US diplomat for Africa, wrote on Twitter.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Rebels in South Sudan have rejected a peace proposal by the president that would have seen the country returning to an original system of ten states plus three new regions.

President Salva Kiir on Saturday proposed that the county be divided in the original 10 states, as had been demanded by the rebels, plus the three “administrative areas” of Pibor, Ruweng, and Abyei.

The offer was however rejected by rebel leader Riek Machar, who objected to the idea of the three new areas.

Machar, who lives in exile, called on the president “to reconsider this idea of creating administrative areas.” It “cannot be referred to as reverting to 10 states (and) as such cannot be accepted,” Machar said.

When it gained independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan had 10 states, as set out in its constitution. The president increased the number of the states to 28 in 2015, and then to 32.

Kiir issued an order late Saturday relieving all governors of the 32 states of their posts and changed the number of the states back to 10, plus the three areas.

Among the three regions, Ruweng in the north, which is believed to be rich in oil resources, is claimed by both Kiir’s Dinka people and Machar’s Nuer tribe.

South Sudan was gripped by a bloody civil war only two years after independence in December 2013. The two sides have been involved in a cycle of attacks and retaliatory killings. Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced so far.

Both sides have been under pressure from the international community to resolve their differences.

Source: Presstv

Sudan’s transitional government appears prepared to hand former President Omar al-Bashir over to the International Criminal Court to be tried for war crimes and genocide allegedly committed during his regime’s long, scorched-earth campaign in the country’s Darfur region. The decision is reportedly part of a potential peace agreement with rebel groups still operating in Darfur. It could be an unexpected boon for the beleaguered ICC, but only if the military members of the transitional government in Khartoum don’t renege on the deal.

The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when rebels there launched an insurgency against Bashir’s oppressive regime. Bashir relied heavily on pro-government, Arab militias known as the Janjaweed to quash the rebels. The Janjaweed were accused of mass killings of civilians and other atrocities, including rape and torture. In 2009, the ICC indicted Bashir for his alleged role; he faces five counts of crimes against humanity, two counts of war crimes and three counts of genocide.

The transitional government that took power last year, after Bashir was deposed by the military amid Sudan’s popular uprising, has prioritized ending the internal conflicts that had flared up under his regime. During negotiations this week with Darfuri rebels in Juba, South Sudan, Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi, a member of the transitional authority that is made up of military and civilian leaders, announced that it is prepared to hand over everyone indicted by the ICC for committing atrocities in Darfur. In addition to Bashir, who is currently serving two years in a reform facility after being convicted on corruption charges in December, that includes former Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Muhammad Hussein and a former senior security chief, Ahmed Haroun, who are both currently under arrest in Khartoum.

“We can only achieve justice if we heal the wounds with justice itself,” al-Taishi said. “We cannot escape from confronting that.” He said the government and rebels will also establish a special domestic court for crimes committed in Darfur.

The transitional government’s decision is also significant for the ICC. Bashir flouted his ICC indictment for years, including an infamous 2015 trip to an African Union meeting in Johannesburg. As an ICC signatory, South Africa was compelled to hand him over to the court, but instead, officials there allowed him to leave the country. Bashir’s defiance, along with a series of other setbacks for the ICC that WPR documented last year, contributed to a sense of irrelevancy in The Hague. A long overdue trial of Bashir offers ICC prosecutors an opportunity to deliver international justice and restore the court’s reputation.

If Bashir makes it to The Hague, that is. There is little consensus on anything within the transitional government, fueling concern that its military members could go against their civilian counterparts and quash the arrangement. “Not only do both camps have radically different visions for the future of Sudan, they are sharply divided among themselves,” Richard Downie explained in a briefing in November. Sudan’s top military general, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, tried to allay those concerns when he assured a human rights group this week he would “cooperate fully” with the ICC as it attempts to bring Bashir to trial.

Source: World Politics Review

Ivory Coast’s president Alassane Ouattara on Monday said he would propose “modifications” to the country’s constitution, even as he rubbished claims by the opposition that he plans to sideline opponents from this year’s presidential elections.

In ceremonies to mark the New Year, Ouattara said, “In the first quarter of the year, I will put to parliament proposals for modifications to the constitution.”

The aim is to make the constitution “more coherent… to further consolidate the state of law and bring institutions closer to our fellow citizens,” he said.

I have just turned 78 and I’m not thinking about excluding anyone, myself included.

‘Nobody will be excluded’

Ouattara gave no details but addressed opposition warnings about introducing age restrictions that would bar former presidents Laurent Gbagbo, 74, and Henri Konan Bedie, 85, from running for office in October.

Such a move would also exclude Ouattara himself.

“I would like to reassure one and all that this is not about ‘stalling’ anyone. As I have said, anyone can be a candidate,” Ouattara said.

“I have just turned 78 and I’m not thinking about excluding anyone, myself included.”

Ouattara came to power in 2011 after a prolonged crisis that ended with the ouster of then-president Laurent Gbagbo following bloodshed that claimed 3,000 lives.

He has kept the country guessing as to whether he will run again.

He maintains he has the right to bid for a new term under a change of the constitution in 2016, which the opposition denies.

Municipal and regional elections in 2018 were marked by violence and fraud allegations.

AFP

From Felix Tshisekedi’s rise to power in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the fall of Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algeria and the acquittal of former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, Africa was rocked by seminal change throughout 2019. FRANCE 24 takes a look.

For pro-democracy protesters, 2019 got off to an auspicious start. Political change would sweep the continent throughout the year, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where an electoral battle for the country’s leadership proved a harbinger of the winds of change.

Felix Tshisekedi succeeds Joseph Kabila in DR Congo

On January 19, after a controversial election, Felix Tshisekedi, son of longtime opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, was proclaimed the DR Congo’s new president with 38.57% of the vote.

Runner-up Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary came third in the poll, while incumbent Joseph Kabila was forced to give up his seat after 18 years in power. But the results were met with widespread scepticism by the international community and were contested by the Catholic Church, which announced that the real winner was in fact opponent Martin Fayulu, who polled second. 

International Criminal Court acquits Laurent Gbagbo

After being held for nearly seven years at the International Criminal Court detention centre for crimes against humanity committed during the 2010-2011 post-election crisis, former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo and his youth minister Charles Blé Goudé were acquitted in January of all charges against them.

Few saw the explosive verdict coming in a three-year-long trial.

The International Criminal Court initially ordered their immediate release. But prosecutor Fatou Bensouda appealed against the judgement on procedural grounds. The former Ivorian president is currently on parole in Belgium, awaiting news of a possible appeal. Blé Goudé remains in the Netherlands under similar conditions.

A year of revolution in Algeria

In Algeria, the popular protest movement, known as the Hirak, shows little sign of waning despite the election of a new president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on December 12.

The Hirak continues to draw thousands of people onto the streets of Algiers, and several other major cities in the country, every Friday. It began spontaneously on February 16, sparked by an announcement that then president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had been in power for 20 years, was planning to run for a fifth term despite his poor health.

Under pressure from the street, Bouteflika, whose public appearances were becoming increasingly rare, finally resigned on April 2. But this did nothing to assuage protesters who continued to call for the removal of an entire governing elite that they considered nepotistic and corrupt. The protest movement eventually forced the arrest of several of the regime’s leaders, including Said Bouteflika, brother of the deposed president.

Overthrow of Omar al-Bashir in Sudan

Sudan’s aggrieved citizens looked to Algeria for inspiration for their own pro-democracy movement. Last December, a first rally was held to protest against the rising cost of bread and petrol. Soon after, thousands more took to the streets of Khartoum, and several other Sudanese cities, to demonstrate against inflation and demand better living conditions.

They railed against their leader and longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled the country for 30 years. The vast protest movement continued unabated even though the Sudanese president was deposed by the army in April. More than 250 people were killed in clashes between protesters and the military.

After bitter negotiations between the political opposition, civil society and the military, a Sovereign Transitional Council was formed. On August 15, Abdalla Hamdok, a former senior UN official, was appointed prime minister to head up the country’s transitional government for the next three years, until elections can be held.

Terrorism in the Sahel

The Sahel witnessed the continuing scourge of terrorism throughout 2019. In northern Mali, jihadist groups affiliated to the Islamic State group attacked several military bases in Niger and Burkina Faso, despite the presence of French troops from France’s anti-terrorist Barkhane force, and the joint forces of the G5 Sahel.

The December attack against the Inates military base in Niger killed 71 soldiers, following an earlier attack on the Indelimane camp in mid-November, which left more than 50 dead. Nearly 1,500 civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks since January, according to the UN.

Several countries on the frontlines of the fight against terrorism in the Sahel pleaded for more support from the international community. French President Emmanuel Macron responded by organising a summit on January 13 in Pau in southwestern France to meet with regional leaders to reassess France’s military engagement in the region.

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed

When Ethiopia’s newly elected prime minister, 43-year-old Abiy Ahmed, came to power in April, he wasted no time in asserting his progressive agenda in a country marked by social injustice and lack of freedoms.

In October, his parliament elected a woman, Sahle-Work Zewde, as head of state for the first time. A few days earlier, he demonstrated his commitment to gender parity by appointing ten men and ten women to his cabinet.

But it was his rapprochement with Eritrea that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. In July, Ahmed signed a joint declaration of peace and cooperation with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, ending 20 years of war in which 80,000 people were killed.

Death of Tunisian President Béji Caïd Essebsi

Tunisia’s first freely elected president, Béji Caïd Essebsi died at the age of 92, just a few months before presidential elections originally scheduled for November. A symbol of Tunisia’s post-Arab spring, he was first appointed prime minister of a provisional government in February 2011 after the fall of former president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, and was tasked with preparing a new constitution in the wake of the nation’s pro-democracy uprisings.

Nine months later, he left office to found his Nidaa Tounes party, with which he won the presidential election in 2014 at the age of 88.

The end of the CFA franc

On a visit to Ivory Coast’s economic capital of Abidjan on December 21, President Emmanuel Macron and Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara announced the launch of the “Eco”, a revamped common currency that replaces the CFA in West Africa. The new single currency will be introduced across ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) in 2020.

The CFA franc was created by France in 1945, then a colonial power, and was seen by its detractors as a lingering symbol of colonialism almost 60 years after independence had been declared in the former French colonies.

The currency, shared by 14 West and Central African countries, had crystallised tensions and divided public opinion among Africans. Anti-CFA economists believed that the currency kept Africa underdeveloped through its fixed parity mechanism with the euro, guaranteed by France. In return, France required African countries to pay about 50 per cent of their foreign exchange reserves to the French Treasury.

But for others, the CFA franc was seen as a guarantee of economic stability. Ouattara sought to reassure ECOWAS, saying that the new currency will remain pegged to the euro, thereby guaranteeing its stability.

Source: France 24

Algeria’s powerful army chief General Ahmed Gaid Salah died of a heart attack at age 79 on Monday, threatening to deepen the country’s political crisis at the end of a turbulent year.

Gaid Salah was seen as Algeria’s de facto strongman following the April resignation of longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the face of massive protests against his bid for a fifth term.

“The deputy defence minister and chief of staff of the army died Monday morning of a heart attack,” the presidency said in a statement read out on state news channel Algeria 3.

The general died at home of a heart attack at about 6:00 am (0500 GMT) before his body was transferred to a military hospital, the statement said.

The lifelong military man had made his last public appearance Thursday at the swearing-in of new president Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who was seen as close to Gaid Salah.

Gaid Salah was instrumental in pushing the December 12 vote that elected establishment insider Tebboune — in defiance of a months-long protest movement demanding deep-rooted political reforms before any poll.

– Guardian of system –

At Thursday’s ceremony, Gaid Salah was also awarded the rank of “Sadr” in Algeria’s National Order of Merit, an honour normally reserved for heads of state.

As chief of the military for a record 15 years and a veteran of Algeria’s war for independence from France, the general was seen as the guardian of the military-dominated system that has been in power since.

When Bouteflika appointed him in 2004 to head the armed forces — the backbone of Algeria’s opaque regime — he became one of the North African country’s most powerful men.

He loyally supported Bouteflika for years until the president’s February announcement that he would run for re-election sparked unprecedented protests by the youth-led “Hirak” movement.

In early April, Gaid Salah called on his boss to resign. Bouteflika quit the same day, leaving the armed forces chief effectively in charge of the country.

But the old soldier categorially rejected the Hirak movement’s key demands: deep reforms, the establishment of transitional institutions and the dismantling of the military-dominated regime.

– Hot temper –

Moussaab Hammoudi of the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris said weeks before Gaid Salah’s death that he was “not a great strategist”.

“He acts like a brutal soldier,” he said. “For him, Algeria is a huge barracks, and making a concession is a weakness.”

His death comes as huge numbers of Algerians have continued protesting after Tebboune’s appointment as president, rejecting his call to engage in dialogue.

Gaid Salah was born in 1940 in Batna region, some 300 kilometres (190 miles) southwest of Algiers, and spent more than six decades in the armed forces.

At the age of 17, he joined Algeria’s National Liberation Army in its gruelling eight-year war against French colonial forces.

When the country won independence in 1962 after 132 years as a French colony, he joined the army, attended a Soviet military academy and rose through the ranks.

Gaining a reputation for a hot temper, he commanded several regions before becoming chief of Algeria’s land forces at the height of a decade-long civil war pitting the regime against Islamist insurgents.

In 2004, as he hit retirement age, he was picked by Bouteflika to replace overall chief of staff Mohamed Lamari, who had opposed the president’s quest for a second mandate.

Tebboune on Monday appointed land forces commander General Said Chengriha as interim military chief of staff, Algeria 3 reported.

He also declared three days of national mourning.

Source: AFP

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame says it is possible that he will not be a candidate when next citizens go to the polls in 2024.

The 62-year-old was attending a summit in Doha when he was asked about whether he will run for office again, Bloomberg quotes him as saying he personally wanted to give way to others.

“Most likely no. I want to have some breathing space but given how things are and how they have been in the past, I have made up my mind where I am personally concerned, that it is not going to happen next time.”

Kagame has been been president of the tiny East African nation since 2000. He won his current mandate (his third term) in 2017 elections in which he scored 99% of the vote.

A controversial referendum in 2015 allowed the two-term constitutional limit to be lifted allowing him to contest in 2017. When the current seven-year term ends he could seek two more five-year terms according to the constitution.

In an interview with Jeune Afrique news website in 2017, Kagame stressed that Rwanda could thrive even in his absence, in response to whether or not he will contest beyond the 2017 elections.

‘I think so, yes. And it is likely that I will clarify this point soon when I enter the election campaign. There is a sort of contract between me, on the one hand, the RPF party and the Rwandan people, on the other.

“The fear you express would be justified if the Rwandan society was static, frozen. But it’s just the opposite. Like our economy, our institutions and our skills, our society evolves and enters into a virtuous dynamic.

“They wanted me, through the constitutional referendum of December 2015, to continue my work, which I accepted. But the time has come to tell them that they must start thinking, beyond my person,” Kagame said in response to stepping down.

But in 2012, Kagame expressly ruled out running for a third term. He told the World Policy Journal he was ready to respect constitutional limits and give way when the time came.

“We have the constitution in place. We have term limits. I’m serving my second and last term. I’m just hoping that another suitable person will come and continue with the work we are doing and not reverse it or break it up.”

Kagame, who won a third term in 2017, has faced mounting criticism for what human rights groups say are widespread abuses, a muzzling of independent media, and suppression of political opposition. He denies wrongdoing. He first came to power in 2000.

Paul Kagame, 62 years
Profession: Soldier
Became President: 2000 – till date
Predecessor: Pasteur Bizimungu
Presidential reign: 19 years

he man Paul Kagame – A brief profile

Paul Kagame was born in October 1957 in Rwanda’s Southern Province. His family fled pre-independence ethnic persecution and violence in 1960, crossing into Uganda where Kagame spent thirty years as a refugee.

Kagame joined current Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his group of guerrilla fighters to launch a war to free Uganda from dictatorship. Under the new government, he served as a senior military officer.

In 1990, he returned to Rwanda to lead the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s (RPF) four-year struggle to liberate the country from the autocratic and divisive order established since independence.

Led by Kagame, the Rwanda Patriotic Army defeated the government in July 1994 and the RPF subsequently set Rwanda on its current course towards reconciliation, nation building and socio-economic development.

Paul Kagame was appointed Vice-President and Minister for Defense in the Government of National Unity on July 19, 1994, and four years later was elected Chairman of the RPF, a partner in the Government of National Unity.

On 22 April 2000, Paul Kagame took the oath of office as President of the Republic of Rwanda after being elected by the Transitional National Assembly. He won the first ever democratic elections held in Rwanda in August 2003 and was re-elected to a second seven-year mandate in August 2010.

In 2015, two years to this years’ polls which he was not eligible to stand in, he proposed a constitutional referendum which was largely endorsed allowing him to contest in the upcoming elections.

Source: Africa News

Authorities in Gabon this week arrested eight people who are suspected of theft and money-laundering in what is seen as follow-up to Operation Mamba, an anti-corruption campaign launched in 2017 by President Ali Bongo, who has been battling serious illness.

The revived anti-graft drive has seen a string of top-level arrests in the central African country, as accusations that millions of euros have disappeared from state coffers swirl around top officials.

“Eight people have been placed in preventive detention,” Gabon’s prosecutor Andre Patrick Roponat said on Thursday, adding that they were accused of “siphoning off public funds and money-laundering.”

The group appeared before a judge on Wednesday along with eight others who were released on bail, Roponat said.

Pro-government newspaper L’Union reported this week that more than 85 billion CFA francs ($142 million) have “evaporated” over the past two years from the funds of the Gabon Oil Company.

60-year-old Bongo said last month he was “fiercely determined” to push ahead with the campaign against graft.

Political witch-hunt?

One high-profile political figure embroiled in the affair is Brice Laccruche Alihanga, Bongo’s former cabinet director who took the lead and spoke for the president after he suffered a stroke in 2018.

Laccuruche had held his cabinet post for more than two years but was dismissed on November 7, at the start of a wave of arrests.

He has announced on social media that he will undertake a new mission for “the president and for Gabon”.

Earlier this week, lawyers told AFP that presidential spokesman Ike Ngouoni and a dozen others were arrested and questioned over their ties to Alihanga.

The lawyers also insist that “there is a political vendetta” in the current process, a claim the country’s Prime Minister refutes.

During his months-long absence abroad for treatment, speculation over Bongo’s fitness surged and the army quashed a brief attempted coup.

Bongo has ruled Gabon since 2009, following the death of his father Omar Bongo, who was in power from 1967.

AFP