Catholic bishops in Burundi came under fire from authorities for “spitting venomous hatred” over a damning message read out in churches Sunday denouncing intolerance and political violence ahead of 2020 elections.

The message issued by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Burundi and read out in churches expressed their “concern” eight months ahead of the May 20 presidential election comes five years after President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term plunged the country into crisis.

In the letter seen by AFP, the bishops raised the alarm over efforts to “suffocate and assault certain political parties and to persecute their members. Criminal acts go as far as murders with political motives… perpetrated against those with different opinions to the government.”

They also said the ruling party’s youth league — the feared Imbonerakure which the UN has accused of atrocities — had “taken the place of security forces”.

Presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe lashed out at the bishops on Twitter after the message leaked on social media ahead of the church services.

“Some bishops should be defrocked because it is becoming a habit: on the eve of elections they spit their venomous hatred through incendiary messages,” he wrote on Saturday.

The secretary general of the ruling CNDD-FDD Evariste Ndayishimiye meanwhile accused the bishops of “sowing division”.

“It is shameful to spread hatred among the faithful,” he told a  political gathering Saturday.

A team of investigators from the United Nations earlier this month warned of a climate of fear in Burundi ahead of the elections, with crimes against humanity and other serious violations continuing with impunity.

“The commission found that the eight common risk factors for criminal atrocities are present in Burundi,” it said, insisting that “the evolving situation must be monitored with the greatest vigilance.”

The Imbonerakure especially have carried out killings, disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, acts of torture and rape against actual or alleged political opposition members, the investigators said.

At least 1,200 people were killed in violence in the wake of the 2015 election and more than 400,000 were displaced in violence between April 2015 and May 2017 the UN says was mostly carried out by state security forces.

In a surprise development, Nkurunziza announced last year that he would not stand for election in 2020, confounding critics who accused him of working to extend his grip on power.

Relations soured between the government of Nkurunziza, a devout evangelical, and the Catholic Church after it opposed his third-term bid in 2015.

(AFP)

War is “no longer an option” for Sudan and South Sudan, their leaders agreed Thursday during talks which focused on border disputes and the oil trade, but also resolving protracted conflicts in both nations.

Sudan’s new prime minister Abdalla Hamdok met with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on his first official visit since becoming premier, following the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir.

“I am very delighted to be here in my second home, Juba. We are looking for a very strategic, very distinguished relationship between our two nations, and the sky is the limit for this relationship,” Hamdok said upon his arrival.

After the two-hour meeting, South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Awut Deng said the two leaders had discussed issues that had never been resolved under the 2005 peace deal that ended two decades of war with Khartoum and paved the way to South Sudan’s independence in 2011.

This includes the demarcation of the border between the two nations, trade issues and the movement of citizens.

“I think the time has come for us in the two countries to silence the guns. War is no more an option for our people. We need to have peace, and sustainable peace in our two countries,” said Deng.

“We can only do this in an environment where all of us have agreed to come out with a road map and work for peace.”

‘Brothers and sisters’ 

South Sudan plunged into its own war two years after independence that has left almost 400,000 dead and displaced millions.

Tensions have also remained high between Khartoum and Juba over border disputes and the oil trade, however the two nations are increasingly moving to normalize ties.

“We are brothers and sisters. We have been one country and now we are two countries but we are still one nation and we hope to develop our relations,” said Sudan’s Foreign Minister Asma Mohamed Abdalla.

Analysts say the two nations have been pushed together by the grinding war in South Sudan — which has defied several peace attempts — and an economic crisis in Sudan, which was hard-hit by the collapse of the south’s oil industry.

The worsening economic crisis sparked nationwide protests that triggered the fall of Bashir.

One of Bashir’s last moves before his ouster was to broker a peace deal between Kiir and his rival, rebel leader Riek Machar, at a time when much of the world had wearied of trying to solve the crisis.

However, the 2018 peace deal has stalled as Sudan has been roiled by its own crises in recent months.

Observers are anxious to see if Khartoum’s new government will push Kiir and Machar to advance on the implementation of the deal.

The two men met this week in Juba for the first time in five months, with a power-sharing government meant to be set up by November.

Sudan’s conflicts 

In a further sign of rapprochement between the two countries, Kiir offered in 2018 to mediate peace talks between Khartoum and rebels in the Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur conflict zones.

The Blue Nile and South Kordofan fought alongside the south for independence, however were left north of the border in 2011 and have continued their own insurgency against Khartoum.

Rebels in Darfur also waged a long war over marginalization in the western region.

Hamdok has vowed to end these conflicts which have left thousands dead and millions displaced.

This week armed groups from those areas held talks in Juba which ended Wednesday in the signing of a deal on “pre-negotiation principles” with Khartoum.

“We assure them and the people of Sudan in general that all the suffering and the killing and marginalization will end,” said General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, deputy chairman of the Sudan Sovereign Council.

(Source: AFP)

Nearly eight months after former opposition chief Felix Tshisekedi was elected president, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has unveiled a coalition government dominated by supporters of his predecessor, Joseph Kabila.

“The government is finally here. The president has signed the decree and we will begin work soon,” Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga told reporters.

In gestation for seven months, the new government will see most of the 66 portfolios handed to Kabila’s Common Front for Congo (FCC), with Tshisekedi’s Direction For Change alliance accounting for most of the rest.

Tshisekedi, 56, has vowed to enact sweeping reform and root out corruption but has been hampered by the need to share power with the legislature, which is dominated by FCC MPs.

Forging the coalition government took time as both sides had to “remove everything that could be an obstacle to the functioning of the government,” Ilunga said.

The new team will get down to work as soon as its members are approved by the National Assembly, he added. The parliament has been convened in special session until September 7 to approve the government.

“I believe this has been worth waiting for,” Ilunga said.

“Here we have a government that manifests the vision of the head of state, in the direction of change. So change starts now. Let’s get to work!”

Female foreign minister

Ilunga said 17 percent of government positions were now occupied by women.

“This percentage is still low but it is balanced by the importance of the portfolios attributed to women,” he argued.

The foreign ministry was handed to Marie Tumba Nzeza, a member of Tshisekedi’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS).

She becomes only the second female foreign minister in the country’s history. The first was Ekila Liyonda, who briefly served in the 1980s under former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who had renamed the country Zaire.

Women have also been named in charge of the employment ministry and ministry for gender affairs.

The new government also includes a female vice prime minister from Kabila’s party, Elysee Munembe, who takes the planning portfolio, Ilunga said. There are five vice prime ministers in all.

The defense ministry went to Aime Ngoy Mukena, a close Kabila supporter and the finance portfolio to another Kabila-era veteran, Jose Sele Yalaghuli.

The interior ministry was attributed to Gilbert Kankonde, a pro-Tshisekedi figure from UDPS ranks, who will face the thorny task of dealing with future protests.

Ilunga declared that three-quarters of members were serving in government for the first time, which he regarded as the “most important innovation.”

Tshisekedi emerged victorious in elections on December 30 that marked the DRC’s first peaceful transition of power since the mineral-rich nation gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

Poverty, instability

But the unstable country’s politics remain overshadowed by Kabila, who despite stepping down voluntarily wields extensive clout after 18 years in power.

He came to office in January 2001, less than two weeks after the assassination of his father, Laurent Kabila, while the armies of at least six regional nations waged war on Congolese soil.

Swathes of the eastern provinces are still unstable, a haven for rebel militias regularly accused of atrocities against civilians.

Moreover, an Ebola epidemic has claimed almost 2,000 lives in one year in the troubled provinces of North and South Kivu, presenting a grueling challenge for the incoming health minister, Eteni Longondo.

Despite cobalt, copper, diamonds and other natural treasure, the DRC ranks just 176th out of 189 countries on the UN’s Human Development Index. Poverty is widespread, and inequality is glaring.

Another hot potato has landed in the lap of the minister in charge of primary education, Willy Bakonga.

He has to implement a plan to make state schools free from September 2 — a scheme announced by the outgoing minister only on Saturday and at a cost of some $2.6 billion (2.3 billion euros), roughly half the government’s entire budget.

(Source: AFP)

Sudan’s military council and its main opposition coalition have agreed a constitutional declaration to usher in a new period of transitional government, African Union mediator for Sudan Mohamed Hassan Lebatt told a news conference in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The document, which outlines the powers and the relationship between the branches of the transitional government, comes after weeks of protracted negotiations brokered by the African Union and neighboring Ethiopia amid sporadic bouts of violence in the capital Khartoum and other cities.

Lebatt said that the delegations will continue talks on Saturday over the technical details of the signature procedures but did not elaborate further on the contents of the declaration.

Sudan’s stability is crucial for the security of a volatile region stretching from the Horn of Africa to Libya that is ridden by conflict and power struggles.

This final agreement is meant to pave the way to a political transition after military leaders ousted former President Omar al-Bashir in April following months of protests against his rule.

Two key points of contention had been the role of Sudan’s General Intelligence Service and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the country’s most powerful paramilitary group.

According to a draft of the declaration seen by Reuters, the intelligence service will report to the cabinet and the sovereign council, the body that will rule the country in the transitional period, while the RSF will fall under the general command of the armed forces.

The sides had previously agreed that the sovereign council will be comprised of 11 members — five officers selected by the military council, five civilians chosen by the FFC and another civilian to be agreed upon by both sides. Its first leader will be from the military.

When the sovereign council is formed, the country’s current ruling body, a transitional military council headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, RSF commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, will be dissolved.

(Source: Reuters)

A court in Benin on Friday handed a top opposition politician a suspended six-month jail term over campaign breaches and banned him from standing for elections for five years, in the latest case targeting rivals of President Patrice Talon.

Former prime minister Lionel Zinsou, who lives in France, was found guilty of using false documents and “exceeding” spending limits in his 2016 bid for the West African nation’s presidency, judicial sources told AFP.

Critics say the latest ruling is part of a concerted crackdown by former business magnate Talon that has driven key opponents into exile.

Multi-millionaire Sebastien Ajavon, who has voiced his ambitions for the top job, was sentenced in absentia to 20 years for drug trafficking in October.

Former president Thomas Boni Yayi left Benin in June, ostensibly for medical treatment, after being kept under de-facto house arrest after he criticised one-sided parliamentary elections that sparked bloody street protests.

– ‘Repression’ –

Talon, who made his fortune in cotton, came to power in 2016 on a modernising platform as he vowed to stamp out corruption and mismanagement in a country that has a reputation as one of the region’s most stable democracies.

Zinsou, who also holds French citizenship, came second to Talon in the 2016 presidential race but has remained in Paris in the face of his legal problems.

Protests rocked Benin following the parliamentary vote in April that saw parties allied to Talon win all the seats as opposition groups were effectively banned.

Amnesty International said post-election “repression reached disturbing levels” after four people were killed during the demonstrations.

In late July the ministry of justice released a list of “wanted” suspects, including a string of political figures it accused of evading justice in the country.

The minister signed a decree stopping authorities from issuing identification documents for anyone who did not answer police summons, in a move seen as targeting Talon’s opponents abroad.

Vincent Foly, the editor-in-chief of La Nouvelle Tribune that was shut down last year, said it was a sign that Talon was looking to tighten his grip over the country.

“He makes decisions that are seemingly unimportant but actually target opponents,” Foly told AFP.

Foly said the hardening stance had come as a surprise as initially Talon advocated to reduce the presidential mandate to a maximum of one term.

But now he said there “is no longer a shadow of a doubt” that the head of state wants to stand for re-election in 2021.

“He has realised that five years is not enough,” said Foly.

AFP

A South African watchdog on Friday said President Cyril Ramaphosa “deliberately misled” Parliament about a campaign contribution, a setback for a leader who has vowed to address sprawling graft allegations that forced his predecessor from office.

The report was released as that former president, Jacob Zuma, abandoned his testimony to a high-profile state commission probing wide-ranging allegations of graft in government and state-owned companies. Zuma, who denies the allegations against him, asserted he was being treated unfairly. But a deal was quickly reached for him to return at some point in the future.

The outcry over years of alleged corruption during Zuma’s stay in office has shaken both the economy of South Africa, the most developed in sub-Saharan Africa, and public support for the ruling African National Congress. The party has been in power since the end of the harsh system of racial segregation known as apartheid 25 years ago.

Now the ANC faces an internal struggle between allies of Ramaphosa and Zuma, who led South Africa from 2009 to 2018 when he resigned under party pressure and was replaced by former deputy Ramaphosa.

The current president has repeatedly vowed to fight corruption and win back public confidence.

Friday’s report by South Africa’s public protector, a constitutionally created office that probes alleged misconduct in state affairs, said Ramaphosa “deliberately misled” lawmakers late last year about a 500,000-rand ($34,000) campaign contribution from the CEO of a local company, Africa Global Operations, formerly Bosasa. The report called on the national director of public prosecutions to investigate further.

In response, a statement posted by Ramaphosa’s office asserted that he was not guilty of the accusations and calls on the public protector to allow the president a hearing.

A political analyst and researcher at the University of the Western Cape, Ralph Mathekga, said Ramaphosa should be careful about how he handles the watchdog’s report, saying it might hurt the president further if he loses at court.

“This report gives a lot of ammunition not only to his detractors within the ANC but to the Economic Freedom Fighters as well, as they will exploit it to take him on,” Mathekga said, referring to a populist opposition party that along with the leading opposition Democratic Alliance had filed complaints alleging wrongdoing.

Separately on Friday, Zuma abruptly cut short his appearance at the state inquiry and his lawyers said the former president would no longer participate. But soon afterward the commission chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, said an agreement had been reached to allow Zuma to return at a later stage.

The commission has no power to prosecute but other authorities could follow up on its findings.

Zuma began his nationally televised testimony this week by calling the graft allegations part of an international intelligence conspiracy that began more than 25 years ago to assassinate his character. On Friday he threatened to expose “spies” if the pressure on him went too far.

Zuma has been questioned about his close relationship with the wealthy Gupta family and allegations that they exerted influence over cabinet appointments and the awarding of lucrative state contracts.

A defiant Zuma told supporters on Friday that he had been the target of many assassination attempts because he has a lot of information about spies who infiltrated the ANC during apartheid. He was once the ANC’s intelligence chief.

“I know a lot about spies, that was my job,” he said. “I have never played around with that information. But if people now want me to uproot them, I will.”

(AP)

About a half dozen African leaders have secured their long-term political futures after tweaking their respective constitutions to allow them remain viable to engage in elective politics.

In the north, Egypt’s Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, down the Sahara Chad’s Idris Deby Itno, on the West African coast Togo’s Faure Gnassingbe.

Cameroon’s Paul Biya shows no signs of slowing down with a seventh consecutive term secured in 2018. Then there is Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Denis Sassou Nguesso of Republic of Congo.

But whiles these long serving “servants” have usually hogged the media headlines with the schemes they employ to amend laws in their favour, there are a number of leaders who have left and others ready to retire.

In January this year, we published an article looking back at African leaders who left officeeither after losing elections or after serving their terms.

In this piece, we look at three leaders ready to leave office when their tenures expire. Mohammed Ould Abdul Aziz (Mauritania), Mahamadou Issoufou (Niger) and Beji Caid Essebsi (Tunisia).

Mohamed Ould Abdul Aziz

Came to office: After a coup d’etat in August 2008
Won elections: Restored democratic order and won two elections in 2009 and 2014 (for final term).
Tenure expires: This year with the swearing in of a successor.
Preferred candidate: Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, the former Minister of Defense.
Best remembered for: A clampdown on opposition bloggers, active participation in the G5 Sahel force.

Oul Abdel Aziz

Beji Caid Essebsi

Came to office: December 2014 after the Arab Spring ousted Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Tenure expires: When next elections are held in November, he is not contesting
Preferred candidate: Neither Beji of his Nidaa Tunis party have named one. His current PM Youssef Chahed is leading a new party, Tahya Tounes.
Best remembered for: Being Tunisia’s first democratically elected president.

“I will say frankly that I do not want to present for a second term because Tunisia has a lot of talents,” Essebsi said at a meeting in April of his party Nidaa Tounes in Monastir.

Tunisia’s president

Mahamadou Issoufou

Came to office: 2011 after overthrow in 2010 of Mamadou Tandja. Won 2011 elections and secure final term in 2016. 
Tenure expires: 2021 when next polls are to be held.
Preferred candidate: Mohamed Bazoum, the Minister of Interior
Best remembered for: Playing key role in migration crisis. Participation in G5 Sahel block and Boko Haram combat.

Niger president

At least four people have been killed across Sudan on the first day of a “civil disobedience” campaign, which was launched in the wake of a deadly crackdown on protesters by the ruling generals.

The Central Committee for Sudanese Doctors said that two people were shot dead in the capital Khartoum, while two others died in a hospital in Omdurman city after being stabbed on Sunday.

Protesters set about building roadblocks in different parts of Khartoum on Sunday morning. But riot police swiftly moved in, firing gunshots in the air before clearing the makeshift barriers.

Several vehicles of the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), blamed for the killings during the recent crackdown, were seen Sunday moving across some parts of the capital, loaded with machine guns.

Public transport was barely functioning and most commercial banks, private companies and markets were shut.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, a key protest group, on Saturday announced a nationwide “civil disobedience” campaign it said would run until Sudan’s ruling generals transfer power to a civilian government. 

“The civil disobedience movement will begin Sunday and end only when a civilian government announces itself in power on state television,” the SPA said in a statement, adding, “Disobedience is a peaceful act capable of bringing to its knees the most powerful weapons arsenal in the world.”

The call by the SPA, which first launched protests against longtime President Omar al-Bashir, came days after a bloody crackdown on protesters crushed hopes for a swift democratic transition.

Meanwhile, the doctors committee linked to demonstrators also blamed the ruling military council and paramilitary forces for the latest deaths. A total of 118 people have been killed since a crackdown was launched in early June to disperse a sit-in protest outside the military headquarters in the Sudanese capital.

The assault on a sit-in outside the army complex was led by the RSF, which has its origins in the notorious Janjaweed militia, accused of abuses in the Darfur conflict between 2003 and 2004.

Middle East Eye quoted a Sudanese military expert as saying this week that the head of Sudan’s ruling military council was given a “green light” by Saudi Arabia and its regional allies to crack down on protesters.  

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates backed the military council in the aftermath of the coup against Bashir by pledging $3 billion in cash and aid to the country.

Source: Presstv

Sudanese military forces have detained leading opposition members after they met with visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was in the capital Khartoum to help end the ongoing political impasse in the country.

Ahmed met representatives of both sides on Friday in a bid to revive talks between Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) and protest groups.

Among those who attended the meeting were opposition leader Mohamed Esmat and a leader of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Ismail Jalab. Security forces arrested both men later on without giving any reason, their aides said Saturday.

“A group of armed men came in vehicles at 3:00 am (1:00 GMT) and took away Ismail Jalab .. without giving any reason,” said Jalab’s aide Rashid Anwar, adding that SPLM-N spokesman Mubarak Ardol was also detained.

“We don’t know where they are being held,” he added.

The meeting came days after the military raided a sit-in protest outside the army headquarters in central Khartoum, killing at least 30 people.

The protesters have been calling on the military rulers to hand over power to a civilian government.

The Sundanese military announced last month that it had unseated President Omar al-Bashir and later imprisoned him. It then set up the TMC to rule the country and promised to hand over after elections.

But protests, under whose pressure Bashir was forced out, have continued in Sudan, with people demanding that more civilians be on the council than military figures during the transition period.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have already announced their support for the transitional military council. They have also expressed support for measures taken by the council following Bashir’s ouster.

A Sudanese military expert told the Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity that Sudan’s military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had even discussed the recent crackdown on the protesters with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

“The breaking up of the sit-in was one of the main points on the agenda that was discussed. Unless he got the green light from his regional allies he would not have been able to commit such a crime,” he said.

The military expert was referring to a recent visit by Burhan to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

Both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have ties with Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, through their participation in the kingdom’s protracted war on Yemen.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had previously pledged to continue supporting the military transition council if Khartoum agrees to keep its forces in Yemen.

Source: Presstv

Inner City Press has asked UNSG Antonio Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric and others, “May 22-5: On Cameroon, what is the SG’s comment if any and action if any at all on for example that Paul Biya’s forces reportedly shot dead 4 month old Martha in Muyuka on 20th May?”

Now Egypt, whose strongman Sisi pals around with UNSG Guterres who has handed investigative Inner City Press‘ long time work space in the UN to a Sisi state media Akhbar al Youm whose retired correspondent Saana Youssef has not asked a question in years is lavishing praise for its business with Paul Biya’s Cameroun: in Cairo, “Cameroon Ambassador in Cairo Mohamadou Labarang commended the strenuous efforts exerted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to realize development in Africa.

The diplomat made the remarks late Monday during a ceremony held at the embassy on the Cameroon national day.   Labarang lauded the efforts exerted by Egypt under Sisi – the current chair of the African Union – to unite the continent and carry out development projects.   Thanks to Sisi, the African free trade agreement will go into effect by the end of May, he said.   He noted that the Egypt-Cameroon ties are excellent at the political level, voicing hope that the two sides would further cooperation in the economic score in the coming period.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for African Affairs Maher el Adawi underlined the depth of ties between Egypt and African countries.   He noted that Sisi ordered all state bodies to further ties with African countries, referring to Sisi’s visits to African states.   He added that Sisi will embark on a tour in eastern and southern African states within the coming few days.” The blathering about business with Biya is just blood money. Inside the UN, Guterres’ Global Censor Alison Smale, now leaving in August, controls a propaganda channel called UN News and a sycophantic press corpse including Sisi’s retiree while mantaining her ghoulish no due process ban on Inner City Press, now in its 322st day.

Source: Inner City Press