South Sudan’s president signed a peace agreement with rebels on Wednesday including a ceasefire to start in 72 hours, Sudan’s foreign minister said, but rebels rejected other parts of the deal.

The agreement made in the Sudanese capital Khartoum aims to end a war in which tens of thousands of people have been killed. Previous peace deals have broken down.

“The parties will continue talks in Khartoum to discuss the arrangements for implementing the ceasefire, and after it comes into place the issue of power-sharing will be discussed,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed told Reuters.

The framework agreement comes ahead of a final settlement and would allow access for humanitarian aid, prisoners to be freed and a transitional unity government to be formed after four months, Ahmed said.

It comes after two days of talks between President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, a former vice president. The country’s civil war began in 2013, less than two years after it gained independence from Sudan.

The war has uprooted a quarter of South Sudan’s population of 12 million, ruined the country’s agriculture and battered its economy.

“This agreement signed today and the ceasefire will end the war in South Sudan and opens a (new) page,” Machar told reporters after the signing ceremony, hailing what he said would be a building of trust with South Sudan’s northern neighbor.

The agreement signed with other opposition leaders provides for the new unity government to rule for three years, followed by a general election, Ahmed said.

Kiir said he would “commit respectfully” to the deal.

One of the proposed points of the agreement was to have three different capitals for South Sudan to distribute power but a spokesman for Machar rejected this.

“We will sign the framework today, with some amendments. Most notably, we reject the three capitals – South Sudan is one country – and we reject foreign forces coming into our land,” the spokesman, Mabior Garang Mabior, said, apparently referring to proposed monitoring of the ceasefire by regional African group Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and African Union forces.

“We also reject the resumption of oil production prior to a comprehensive negotiated settlement,” Mabior said.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who hosted this week’s talks, said the agreement was a “gift to the people of South Sudan.”

(Source: Reuters)

Major foes in the years-long conflict in South Sudan have embarked on a new round of peace talks to end the deadly war in the country.

The talks between President Salva Kiir and arch-foe Riek Machar in the Sudanese capital Khartoum began on Mondayو with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni mediating the negotiations that many hope would end South Sudan’s four-and-a-half year brutal civil war.

The talks come after a first meeting in Ethiopia on Thursday failed to achieve any breakthrough. Regional East African leaders have been struggling to come up with a solution to the conflict in South Sudan, the world’s newest country which would be hit with United Nations sanctions if it fails to put an end to the bloodshed.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly four million others displaced as a result of the war, which erupted in December 2013 when disputes intensified between Kiir and his then deputy Machar. The two met face-to-face for the first time in two years in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, but failed to reach any agreement. South Sudan’s government said right after the meeting that it “had enough” of Machar.

“As the people of South Sudan, not the president alone, but as the people of South Sudan, we are saying enough is enough,” said Michael Makuei, a government spokesman, on Friday, while rejecting the idea that Machar could be part of any transitional government.

South Sudan has repeatedly indicated that a future government could include rebel figures other than Machar who is blamed to have triggered the conflict by plotting a coup against Kiir five years ago. The official position, which was reiterated after talks in Ethiopia, once again showed the ever-increasing personal enmity between Kiir and Machar, which many say is the main cause of the protracted conflict in South Sudan that gained independence from Sudan in 2011.

However, Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dierdiry Ahmed said Monday that despite all existing differences between the two foes, talks in Khartoum could bear fruit.

“In this round of talks we are looking for a breakthrough to this thorny issue,” said Ahmed.

Source: Presstv

What happens to Africa after the mud walls of dictatorship come tumbling down and the palaces of illusion behind those walls vanish? Will Africa be like Humpty Dumpty who “had a great fall” and could not be put back together by “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men”? What happens to the dictators?

When the people begin to beat their drums and circle the mud walls, Africa’s dictators will pack their bags and fly off like bats out of hell. Some will go to Dictators’ Heaven in Saudi Arabia where they will be received with open arms and kisses on the cheeks (Ben Ali of Tunisia, Idi Amin of Uganda, Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan found sanctuary in Saudi Arabia, as will Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan and soon.) Others will hide out in the backyards of their brother dictators (Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia has been holed up in Zimbabwe for the last 20 years; Hissen Habre of Chad remains a fugitive from justice sheltered in Senegal; Mohammed Siad Barre of Somalia lived out his last days in Nigeria as did Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko in Morocco). The rest will fade away into the sunset to quietly enjoy their stolen millions. But few will meet the fate of Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the self-proclaimed Emperor of the Central African Republic (CAR) who found sanctuary in France only to return to CAR, face trial and be convicted of murder; or Charles Taylor of Liberia who found refuge in Nigeria before he was handed over to the International Criminal Court and is now standing trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The fact is that the morning after the fall of Africa’s dictators, the people will be stuck with a ransacked economy, emptied national banks, empty store shelves, torture chambers full of political prisoners and dithering and power-hungry opposition leaders jockeying for position in the middle of political chaos.

Who Could Put Africa Together After the Fall?

Where are the “king’s men and the king’s horses” who will put Africa together after the mud walls come tumbling down? Who are Africa’s Knights in Shining Armor who will ride to the rescue? Unfortunately, there have been few African knights and a lot of armor with one general or self-proclaimed rebel leader replacing another to lord over the people. Africa has been a victim of a recurrent case of old dictator out, new dictator in. In 1991, after the fall of the military dictatorship (Derg) in Ethiopia led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, a malignant dictatorship replaced it with Meles Zenawi at the helm. Zenawi and his crew came to power promising democracy and ended up establishing a kakistorcatic kleptocracy (a government of incompetents whose mission is to use the state apparatus to steal from the people and enrich themselves and their cronies). Two decades later, the country’s economy is in shambles with galloping inflation and jails full of businessmen and merchants who are made the fall guys for the country’s economic problems.

Laurent Gbagbo succeeded Ivory Coast’s military dictator Robert Guei in a democratic election in 2000. After losing a democratic election by a 9-point margin to Alassane Ouattara recently, Gbagbo refuses to step down and continues to cling to power despite pleas by his own election commission, the African Union, the U.N., the U.S. and the European Union. In 1997, rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire, named himself president the day after Mobutu fled, suspended the constitution, renamed the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, moved into Mobutu’s palace and continued Mobutu’s ongoing enterprise of massive human rights abuses and corruption without skipping a beat. A week after Kabila was assassinated by his own bodyguard in 2001, his 30-year-old son Joseph was anointed president. Lansana Conté replaced dictator Ahmed Sékou Touré in Guinea in 1984, until he was overthrown by another military dictator in December 2008. Omar al-Bashir seized power in the Sudan in 1989, immediately suspended political parties and introduced Sharia law on a national level, a major factor that contributed to the recent breakup of the Sudan. In 1999, he disbanded the parliament, suspended the constitution, declared a state of national emergency and began ruling by presidential decree. Today al-Bashir is a fugitive from justice sought by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes. When Siad Barre’s military dictatorship fell in Somalia in 1991, the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid and his rebel group took over Mogadishu but were unable to consolidate their power throughout the country, triggering bloody clan wars that have left Somalia as the ultimate completely failed state.

Learning From History: Preparing for Change

It is said that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”; but there is much to be learned from the history of African dictatorships. Africa’s dictators have methodically and systematically wiped out their strongest opposition by demonizing, jailing, intimidating, torturing and outlawing them. They have neutralized rivals even with their own ranks. Zenawi jailed the entire leadership of the opposition, journalists, civil society leaders and human rights advocates in one fell swoop in 2005. The dictators have created their own political institutions and doctored their constitutions to allow for change to come only through the auspices of their own parties and allies. Both Ben Ali and Mubarak amended their constitutions so that no opposition leader or party could run for the presidency or other national office and have a chance to win in a fair and free election. Because African dictators live in an echo chamber, they are self-delusional. They convince themselves that they have popular support. Mubarak believes he has the full support of the people, and by reshuffling his cabinet and appointing his army buddies to top posts, he could continue his 30-year-old dictatorial rule. Zenawi declared that his 99.6 percent victory in the parliamentary election in May 2010 represented a “mandate” from the people to his party in gratitude for his great leadership and the “double digit” economic growth he had brought the country. African dictators are so arrogant that they believe they can save the day by making a few superficial concessions and grandstanding promises of democratization, reorganization and reconciliation. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Mwai Kibaki of Kenya agreed to a make-believe “unity government” to prolong their dictatorships. Without the support of the West, no dictatorship in Africa could survive even a single day. That is why Mubarak, Zenawi, Kibaki, Musevini and the rest of them shake in their boots when the West angles their collective boots towards their rear ends. The West will throw them under a steamroller at the first sign of unrest. President Obama was quick to “applaud” the Tunisian people for overthrowing Ben Ali. He warned Mubarak that unless he takes “concrete steps that advance the rights of the Egyptian people,” there will be cuts in the billions of dollars of U.S. handouts to Egypt.

On the other hand, many opposition leaders and parties opposing dictatorships in Africa have been disorganized, fractious, confused, haphazard, self-righteous and duplicitous. Regrettably, there are far too many opposition leaders in Africa who are driven by the singular desire to grab power than are interested in bringing about real change. Truth be told, many African opposition leaders have little faith in the courage and resourcefulness of the people; and the people prove them wrong every time. As Egypt’s Mohamed El Baradei recently observed on the Egyptian popular uprising: “It was the young people who took the initiative and set the date [for the uprising] and decided to go. Frankly, I didn’t think the people were ready… [but what the youth have done] will give them the self-confidence they needed.” Once opposition leaders seat themselves in the saddles of power, they become the mirror images of the dictators they fought to remove. In the eyes of the people, many of these leaders have proven to be wolves in sheep’s clothing; they want to grab power to make sure “it is their turn to eat, their turn at the trough.” That is the reason why people in many parts of Africa have little faith in the opposition leaders or their parties. Laurent Gbago, who fought dictator Félix Houphouët-Boigny and years later led his supporters into the streets toppling General Robert Guei is today the reincarnation of Houphouët-Boigny-Guei. Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda are no different. Further evidence in support of the assertion that many opposition leaders are driven by a hunger for power is their inability to present to the people concrete and comprehensive proposals to address the structural problems of poverty, unemployment, inflation, corruption, oppression and human rights violation in their countries. In short, many opposition leaders have no plans to clean up the mess the dictatorships always leave behind, and have failed to become beacons of hope to guide their people out of despair. That is what we seem to be witnessing today in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and elsewhere.

An African Charter Against Dictatorship (Charter 2011)

The history of the human struggle for freedom offers many lessons. One of the great lessons of the past two decades is that political changes that ensure lasting peace and guarantee freedom and human rights do not come as a result of military or palace coups, rebel victories or the efforts of opposition parties and leaders, but through simple acts of civil disobedience, passive resistance and the spontaneous actions of ordinary people and youth in the streets fed up with corruption, poverty, unemployment and human rights abuses. Who could have imagined that the match young Mohamed Bouazizi lit to burn himself protesting dictatorship in Tunisia would now be torching decades-old dictatorships in Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan? Could one reasonably doubt that the winds of change will not carry the embers of freedom from Tunisia and Egypt to other countries in the region?

In the current context of civil disobedience and mass resistance and the absence of organized parties and leaders to lead peaceful popular uprisings in many African dictatorships, it seems that there is a great role to be played by individuals, small groups, civic society and other informal institutions dedicated to the defense and protection of human rights and the rule of law in Africa. Africans must look to civil society institutions and grassroots organizations to spearhead real change and take charge of their destiny. The first step towards that end is for ordinary Africans committed to nonviolent peaceful change to take a stand against dictatorship openly and defiantly. It has been done before successfully a number of times. The struggle of the Czechoslovakian dissidents who signed the Charter 77 petition is one instructive example of how individuals without political partisanship, affiliation or ideology — but committed to human rights and freedom — were able to change history by simply standing up for their beliefs and defying dictatorships.

In November 1989, riot police violently suppressed student demonstrations in Prague, which in turn triggered a massive popular uprising and a general strike against the communist regime. As a result, Czech president Gustav Husak resigned in early December; and by the end of 1989 a non-communist government was in place. Within a few months, the much vaunted communist system in Czechoslovakia was dismantled completely. The “Velvet Revolution”, as it came to be known, had roots in the tireless efforts of a few hundred Czech dissidents committed to the principles of “Charter 77”, a human rights document prepared in the from a petition demanding respect for basic human rights guaranteed to Czech citizens in their Constitution and other international human rights conventions. The Charter demanded the right to freedom of expression, freedom of association, a stop to politically-motivated prosecutions, humane treatment of political prisoners and other basic rights. Charter 77 was not an organization nor did it have any formal membership. Those who signed it consisted of “a loose, informal and open association of people of various shades of opinion, faiths and professions united by the will to strive individually and collectively for the respecting of civic and human rights in our own country and throughout the world.” Anyone who agreed with the ideas of the Charter and was willing to propagate and participate in its pursuit could take ownership. When the Charter was finalized in 1977, approximately 300 individuals had the courage to sign it. Many avoided openly endorsing the document or showing support for it fearing retaliation, harassment and persecution by the communist regime. When communism fell in 1989, fewer than two thousand Czechs had signed the Charter. Most importantly, during the turbulent days of the “Velvet Revolution”, it was the members of Charter 77 who played a pivotal and decisive role in the transition of Czechoslovakia from totalitarianism to democracy. Member of Charter 77 ensured not only the dismantlement of communism but also became the bulwarks against the rise of another dictatorship. An African Charter Against Dictatorship is long overdue!

Palace of Illusions and Fortress of Freedom

When the mud walls of African dictatorships come tumbling down, the palaces of illusion behind those walls will vanish without a trace. If Africans are to have hope of a better future and fulfill their destiny to become one with all free peoples in the world, they will need to build a fortress of freedom impregnable to the slings and arrows of civilians dictators and the savage musketry of military juntas. African dictators should heed these words: “Those who make peaceful change impossible, make a violent revolution inevitable.”

Culled from Huffingtonpost

Democratic Republic of Congo’s parliament will, at President Joseph Kabila’s request, hold a special session to consider legislation providing legal protection for former presidents, lawmakers said.

The announcement could be a further sign that Kabila intends to step down after an election in December despite speculation that he is trying to circumvent term limits that forbid him from running again.

Kabila to contest or not

Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala told Reuters this week that Kabila would not be a candidate, the clearest declaration yet from a senior government official on the matter.

But Kabila himself has refused to publicly commit to leaving office and some of his supporters have in recent weeks floated a legal rationale that would allow him to stand again.

“At the request of the president of the republic, an extraordinary session will be convened,” lower house speaker Aubin Minaku told deputies on Friday at the close of the latest parliamentary session.

“We will examine several items including the law on the status of former chiefs of state, the designation of a new member of the constitutional court and the law on the tax to promote industry,” he said.

It was not immediately clear when that session would take place.

Protecting Kabila to facilitate transition

Under the constitution, former presidents already receive broad immunity from prosecution as senators for life.

Modeste Mutinga, a senator from an opposition party, introduced legislation in 2015 to reinforce those protections in an effort to encourage Congo’s first ever democratic transition.

It stipulates that former presidents and their aides will not be liable for arrest for common law violations committed in the exercise of presidential functions. It also provides for bodyguards for ex-presidents and increases in their pension.

However the bill never came up for a vote.

“As the initiative for taking up this law during the extraordinary session comes from those who blocked the law, we think that this time we are really going to examine (it),” Mutinga told Reuters.

Kabila’s tumultous reign

Kabila succeeded his assassinated father as president in 2001. He was required by the constitution to step down in December 2016 but the election to replace him has been repeatedly delayed.

Since then, security forces have killed dozens of anti-Kabila protesters while surging militia violence has raised the spectre of a repeat of civil wars around the turn of the century that cost millions of lives.

The special session will also select a new Constitutional Court justice to replace Felix Vunduawe Te Pemako, who was named president of a separate court this week.

Last month, Kabila and parliament named two close Kabila allies to the court in moves analysts say could be geared either at securing a judgment that allows him to run again or bolstering the chances that his preferred successor will win.

REUTERS

Angola’s president, Joao Lourenco has said his government is ‘talking regularly’ with the Congolese president, Joseph Kabila as it monitors the political situation in the restive country.

Lourenco, who was speaking exclusively to Euronews, said the talks with Kabila are advisory in nature and that its up to the Congolese president to ‘follow the advice or not’.

‘‘All we want is this agreement to be fulfilled, because we understand that failure to do so can lead to political and social turmoils that will not be very pleasant to the Congolese people and to the neighbors themselves including Angola,’‘ Lourenco said.

Kabila’s final term came to an end in 2016, but he has remained in office via a constitutional provision that allows him to stay until his successor is elected. The government has postponed elections several times, citing logistical challenges. The latest date set for elections to replace Kabila is December 23, 2018.

Kabila keeps the country guessing

The opposition, working together with the powerful Catholic Church in the country has organised protests and demonstrations asking Kabila to declare that he will not seek re-election, but many of these protests have been met with repression by the country’s security agencies.

Two weeks ago, Lourenco met with Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame and French president Emmanuel Macron to discuss the situation in Congo. Authorities in Kinshasa protested the meeting saying they would not accept any foreign led solution reached without their participation.

Congo’s neighbours have in the past expressed fear that should Kabila insist on violating the constitution to seek another term, the chaos resulting from the political fallout could further destabilise the country and the region.

The opposition has expressed concern over several actions of the ruling party including erection of Kabila billboards and posters across the country, and a promotional video released a week ago highlighting the achievements of Kabila’s presidency.

An intervention by DRC’s neighbours?

Asked whether Angola and its partners would intervene in case Kabila violates the agreement and Congo is plunged into great instability, Lourenco said ‘any intervention would be made in the interest of stability for all’.

In the past, political turmoil in the vast nation has drawn in up to 9 countries including Uganda, Rwanda and Angola.

Source: Africa News

In a perfect political scenario, the next head of state of the so-called One and Indivisible Cameroon should have come from the Anglophone regions of the country. 20^th May 2018 marks the 46th anniversary of the Cameroonian nation and President Biya was convinced Cameroon would boast the largest economy in the CEMAC region and the Eldorado of peace deep within the African continent. The Francophone dictator was also confident that the two year running conflict with the people of Southern Cameroons which has claimed 2000 lives since 2016, would finally be over.  Now, the ground has shifted, in part due to Biya and President Buhari’s miscalculation that by abducting and extraditing the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe Julius to Yaoundé, the Southern Cameroons resistance would quickly collapse, especially if Nigeria lent its full support to French Cameroun.

But, as we now know, the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and its leadership are still alive and active and Sisiku Ayuk Tabe by extrapolation is still in power and after two years of fighting, Nigeria is now home to more than 40,000 Southern Cameroonian refugees and facing growing crises in the Cross River and Benue States. In Yaoundé, the army is at war with itself combating internal disintegration. In addition, the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia presently controls a large portion of the rural communities in Southern Cameroons – a concern for both the French government backing Biya and the international community. With age telling on Biya and succession palaver rocking the ruling CPDM crime syndicate, nobody in La Republique du Cameroun knows what Mr. Biya is most concerned with right now. The crisis in the Central African Republic has spilled over into the East region of Cameroon and the situation is becoming more intractable.

The current breakdown in Francophone and Anglophone relations in Cameroon is due to the Biya regime seeming indifference to the crime against humanity situation playing out in Southern Cameroons. Biya is running out of cash and can no longer handle the hydra-headed crisis in the Far North, East and in Southern Cameroons with arms and ammunition. The strategy now has been to blame it all on the US ambassador to Cameroon, His Excellency Peter Barlerin. Southern Cameroons has already fallen out of Yaounde’s control. What the two Cameroons need now is peace talks.

It will be an unfortunate situation if peace talks do not begin soonest. Recently, the mayor of Mamfe, John Ayuk Takunchong made an appeal for inclusive dialogue that depicted the deteriorating security situation in the Manyu County.  The Biya’s senseless war in Southern Cameroons has cost more than 14 million dollars – money that could have been better spent on developing the economy and infrastructure. The bitter truth is the Ambazonian people were subjected to a systematic and often brutal assimilation policy after reunification. The outcome is the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Nonetheless, from the perspective of the US chief diplomat in Yaoundé, the time to achieve a lasting peace has arrived as a result of the 2018 presidential elections without Biya as a candidate. The reasons for both Cameroons to dialogue are in a multiple. Firstly, Biya and his ruling CPDM party no longer have a strong majority government and military support even among French speaking Cameroonians. Secondly, the Cameroonian economy is not performing well. The young populations in both Cameroons are migrating out of both French and Southern Cameroons in hundreds if not thousands. Furthermore, majority of the junior Francophone army officers now appear unwilling to support the Biya government and many are simply fed up with the never-ending deployment and unrest – especially when just across Cameroon borders they can see the important economic progress of countries like Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and even Congo-Brazzaville.

It’s ironic that Biya’s attempt to crush the Anglophones and destroy the Ambazonian Interim Government has unintentionally led to increasing unrest inside his own country – French Cameroun which could lead to more Cameroon government soldiers dying. Moreover, is it really in French Cameroun’s best interests to be killing innocent Southern Cameroonian citizens including women and children and prolonging the war? Certainly, there’s no easy way forward for the Yaoundé government no matter what choices are made including ousting Biya from power.  However, we of the Cameroon Concord News Group can’t help thinking that the most realistic strategy for French Cameroun is to send Biya parking and adapt to the advent of Southern Cameroons autonomy and by doing so make it French Cameroun-friendly. Do it before “wata na wata” takes all of us away. A stitch in time saves nine

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has appointed his housing minister as the new prime minister and tasked him with forming a new cabinet in the North African country.

“President el-Sisi received Dr. Mostafa Madbouly today to commission him to form the new government,” Presidential spokesman Bassam Radi wrote Thursday on his Facebook page.

Madbouly, 52, was minister of housing, urban utilities and urban communities in Prime Minister Sherif Ismail’s cabinet. He served as an interim prime minister from November 2017 to the end of January this year, while Ismail received medical treatment abroad.

Ismail submitted the resignation on Tuesday, a move that is in keeping with political tradition that the government should resign at the start of a new presidential term.

Sisi was sworn in on Saturday for a second term in office. A former intelligence chief and defense minister, 63-year-old Sisi started another four years in office, some three months after securing 97 percent of the votes in a nationwide election without serious competition in his run for re-election.

The turnout in the much-criticized election was 41 percent, lower than the 47 percent recorded four years earlier. That could be a potential setback for Sisi who sought to portray the election as a referendum on his efforts to overhaul Egypt’s economy over the past years and root out terrorism in the North African country.

The vote was marred by allegations that real contenders for the election pulled out from the race because of an intimidation campaign by the government. Serious opposition contenders halted their campaigns in January while authorities arrested the main challenger whose campaign manager was also beaten up.

Sisi came to power in 2014, a year after he led the military to oust Egypt’s first competitively-elected president Mohamed Morsi in a coup. He served as the defense minister in Morsi’s government before orchestrating the putsch.

Sisi, who had initially vowed to eliminate terrorism, has failed to fulfill his pledge to this day. Just last November, Daesh-affiliated militants targeted a mosque in Sinai and killed over 300 people — the deadliest attack in Egypt’s recent history.

On the other hand, human rights groups and activists have constantly accused Sisi of violating public freedoms and suppressing opponents. Most of his opponents and vocal members of civil society have also been arrested in the past few months.

Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on Morsi’s supporters has resulted in the deaths of over 1,400 people. About 22,000 others have been arrested, including some 200 people who have been sentenced to death in mass trials.

The incumbent president also triggered intense criticism and controversy at home in April 2016 by handing over the strategic Tiran and Sanafir islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia, in a move interpreted as his government’s submission to the Riyadh regime.

Sisi’s government has further been part of the Saudi-led coalition that has killed some 14,000 Yemeni people since the start of the war three years ago.

Source: Presstv

The UN has called for calm in Mali after dozens of people were hurt during banned opposition protests in Bamako, sparking calls for the prime minister to resign two months ahead of a presidential election.

The opposition said some 30 people were hospitalized — including prominent opposition figure Etienne Fabaka Sissoko who was left “in a coma” — after security forces fired “live ammunition” at protesters on Saturday.

The government rejected the claims outright.

“It is absolutely false to say that shots were fired using live ammunition,” a source close to the security ministry told AFP.

Earlier Sunday, the ministry said the security forces were bound by three words — “professionalism, courtesy and firmness” and that the police had acted to maintain public order.

It denounced the protestors for having injured a policeman in the head.

A “transparency” rally outside the party headquarters of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita attracted several hundred people.

Police fired tear gas and beat demonstrators with batons, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. Clashes also took place in other locations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who visited Mali last week, called late Saturday for “calm and restraint by all parties”.

“(He) calls on the Malian government to ensure the protection of fundamental human rights and freedom of expression to peaceful demonstrations, including in the context of the ongoing state of emergency,” a UN statement said.

Mali is one of the so-called “G5 Sahel” states — along with Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Niger — which have launched joint operations against militant groups.

Most protests are banned as the nation has lived under a near-constant state of emergency since an attack on a hotel in Bamako in November 2015 left 20 people dead.

Terrorize the opposition

“In a dozen places, unarmed protesters were attacked with tear gas and clubs,” the office of opposition presidential candidate Soumaila Cisse said in a statement.

“The headquarters of the ADP (Alliance for Democracy and Progress) was attacked by police special forces, who threw grenades. The prime minister’s security services fired live ammunition at protesters gathered” in front of the building, the statement charged.

“Three opposition leaders were violently beaten on the head with clubs and batons,” it added.

“The intention of the government was clear: to terrorize the opposition and all democratic forces.”

The statement also called for “the resignation of the prime minister”.

The demonstrations come ahead of July 29 elections in which Mali President Keita, 73, will face more than a dozen challengers.

The opposition has called for equal access to public radio and television for campaigning.

“The UN secretary-general regrets the government-imposed ban on the demonstrations by opposition parties,” the UN said.

“(He) urges political actors and the civil society to favor dialogue in order to maintain an environment conducive to the holding of credible and transparent elections.”

Opposition leaders have called for new demonstrations next Friday.

(Source: AFP)

Mixed reactions have greeted news of a July 30 date for Zimbabweans first general elections after Robert Mugabe was forced out of power.

On Wednesday, Emmerson Mnangagwa announced that a general election will be held on July 30, seen as crucial to securing foreign investments.

“I think he has got the final say, he has got the powers to put on a date, we have been ready to vote”, said Harare resident, Aston Matava.

Frank Nemayire ’‘looks forward to any changes in employment, or lack of liquidity, from the one who will be elected.“

However some are disgruntled. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which relies on voters who have fled the Mugabe regime, has suffered a setback as the Constitutional Court has decided that Zimbabweans in the diaspora could only vote by moving to the country.

‘‘First of all we have been clamoring for diaspora vote, we wanted the demilitarization of Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission and the army, the state security agents should not be involved in the electoral process”, said Albert Chidhakwa.

Lyne tte Biti thinks the announcement is rather too soon. ‘‘In my opinion our party’s demands for electoral reforms have not been heard, so it makes no sense”, she added.

Missing from July’s election, for the first time in 20 years, will be Zimbabwe’s foremost political gladiators, Mugabe and longtime leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, who died of cancer in February.

Mnangagwa goes into the election with the advantages of incumbency and the backing of the army. His face main rival is 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa and the MDC.

Critics have accused Mnangagwa of being Mugabe’s most loyal acolyte, and blame him for a crackdown on rebels in the mid-1980s that rights groups say killed 20,000 civilians. He denies those charges.

Source: Reuters

Zimbabwe announced on Wednesday it would choose a new president and parliament on July 30, in the country’s first electoral test since the removal of its autocratic former leader Robert Mugabe.

His successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, unveiled the date in the official Zimbabwe Government Gazette.

“Monday, the 30th day of July, 2018 (is) the day of the election to the office of President, the election of members of the National Assembly and election of councilors,” Mnangagwa said in a proclamation.

Once a right-hand man to the 94-year-old Mugabe, Mnangagwa dramatically succeeded the veteran leader in November after nearly four-decades in charge when troops swarmed the streets and briefly seized key sites.

Mnangagwa, 75, will square off against the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, now led by 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa following the death of Morgan Tsvangirai in February.

If no candidate receives a simple majority in the first round of the presidential election, a run-off will be held on September 8.

Elections under Mugabe were marred by corruption, intimidation and violence, but Mnangagwa has vowed to hold a free and fair vote.

The election will be the first to be monitored by Western observers in many years.

On Monday Harare and the European Union announced that observers from the bloc would monitor polls in the southern African country for the first time in 16 years.

The head of the last EU observer mission, Pierre Schori, was thrown out of Zimbabwe in 2002 on the eve of presidential elections that were condemned as flawed.

Following the high-profile spat, Zimbabwe barred the EU and other Western observers from sending further missions to monitor polls in the country as Mugabe grew more and more defiant of foreign criticism up until his downfall.

And in a further sign of Zimbabwe’s growing efforts to mend fences with former foes following Mugabe’s resignation, the country has applied to re-join the Commonwealth, the bloc of former British colonies said Monday.

Harare’s membership was suspended in 2003 over the violent and graft-ridden elections the previous year.

Zimbabwe left the Commonwealth at the height of violent land seizures, when white farmers were evicted in favor of landless black people — a policy that wrecked agriculture and triggered economic collapse.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland confirmed that the organization would also send observers to the elections.

Mugabe sent shockwaves through the ruling ZANU-PF, the party he dominated for decades, when he recently posed with a retired general who will take on the government in this year’s election.

Despite a slew of reformist pledges and announcements it is unclear whether Mnangagwa, who was a vital cog in the ZANU-PF party and helped Mugabe to hold onto power for 37 years, has won the support of ordinary Zimbabweans.

(Source: AFP)