Making
use of traditional institutions in modern African states
- 17 July
Traditional institutions have been castigated in Africa as being
undemocratic because of too much vesture of powers in their leaders.
Correspondent Jerru Bungu picks on the pros and cons of traditional
leadership in Africa. The nature of traditional institutions,
especially chieftaincy, to the transformation of African economies
and governance systems is highly disputed in post-colonial Africa.
One highly sceptical view is that chieftaincy is anachronistic, a
hindrance to development and transformation of the continent,
undemocratic, divisive and costly. - Mmegi
Online website
Tough
love from a brother - 12 July
He may only have been in Africa for 21 hours but it was long enough
for Barack Obama to send out his inspiring message across the
continent - "A New Moment Of Promise," he called it. He
urged Africans to stop laying the blame elsewhere and to take
control of their own destiny. He encouraged the younger generation
to catch the "Yes We Can" fever that had assisted his own
rise to the White House. - BBC
News website
See
: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/A-New-Moment-of-Promise-in-Africa/
Obama's
Statement at Cape Coast Castle - 11 July
The president and his family toured Cape Coast Castle Saturday, an
historic departure pointin Ghana for untold numbers of slaves bound
for America and the Caribbean. After, Barack Obama gave a statement.
Here is an excerpt. - Swampland
blog
See
also : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Coast_Castle
Botswana
Law
society could arraign Khama before ICC - 14 July
The Law Society of Botswana (LSB) will petition President Ian Khama
and eventually have him arraigned before the International Criminal
Court (ICC) if Khama fails to act on extra-judicial killings, LSB
resolved at its annual general meeting held here over the weekend.
LSB Chairman, Tebogo Sebego says this year's AGM agenda items
featured extra-judicial killings by Botswana's security forces, the
Media Practitioners Act and Legal Practitioners Act. Sebego says
after a lengthy debate, lawyers attending resolved to petition Khama
about ensuring that extra-judicial killings did not continue and to
seek an assurance that the killings thus far recorded are fully
investigated and the perpetrators brought to book. - Mmegi
Online website
Botswana
signed controversial deal with EU to protect its commercial
interests - 16 July
Botswana's decision to sign an Interim Economic Partnership
Agreement (I-EPA) with the European Union (EU) earlier this year did
not pose a threat to the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) and
was based on the country's need to protect its immediate commercial
interests, Botswana's Trade and Industry Minister Daniel Neo Moroka
asserted on Thursday. Speaking in Johannesburg at an event arranged
by the South African Institute of International Affairs, Moroka said
that he saw "absolutely no threat to Sacu, as long as we are
committed and true to our objectives under Sacu". - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
Egypt
Egyptian
jailed for insult poem - 14 July
A civil servant in Egypt has been jailed for three years for
insulting President Hosni Mubarak in a poem, according to newspaper
reports. Moneer Said Hanna's family said he wrote satirical poetry
for fun, to entertain his work colleagues, and never meant to hurt
anyone. - BBC
News website
Keyphrase :
Arab Network for Human Rights
Namibia
Namibia
seal hunt to proceed - 16 July
The Namibian government says its annual commercial seal hunt will
go on despite objections from animal welfare groups. Frans
Tsheehama of the Namibian fisheries and marine resources ministry
said today that the season started on July 1 and will run until
November 15. The hunters are expected to kill over 90 000 seals,
including 85 000 pups. - The
Times website
Namibians
'club seal journalists' - 17 July
Two journalists from the UK and South Africa are due in court
after being allegedly attacked then arrested while filming seal
hunters in Namibia. A group of hunters used clubs to hit Jim
Wickens and South African cameraman Bart Smithers, according to
the World Society for the Protection of Animals. They were then
arrested by police and reportedly had their equipment seized.
Namibia's annual seat hunt began on 1 July, with a quota of 85 000
animals due to be killed. - BBC
News website
Rwanda
Genocide
court jails Rwandan man - 14 July
A UN court has sentenced the former governor of the Rwandan capital,
Kigali, to life in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide. The
international court, which is based in Arusha, Tanzania, convicted
Tharcisse Renzaho on five counts including genocide, rape and
murder. Prosecutors said Renhazo played a central role in the mass
killings. Some 800 000 people, most of them Tutsis, were killed by
Hutu extremists during the genocide. - BBC
News website
Keyphrase :
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Taylor
to testify at Hague trial - 13 July
Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, is to take the
stand for the first time at his war crimes trial in The Hague. He
denies 11 charges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, including
terrorism, murder, rape and torture. He is expected to argue that he
could not have micro-managed a rebel operation in Sierra Leone,
while also running affairs of state in Liberia. - BBC
News website
Mbeki
sold me out, says Taylor
- 15 July
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor began his defence against
war crimes charges by accusing certain fellow African leaders of
reneging on a deal that would have seen the charges quashed in
return for his departure from power. He singled out former South
African president Thabo Mbeki - at the time chairperson of the
African Union - and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo -
then chairing the Economic Community of West African States - for
failing to do "everything in their power" to secure an
immunity deal, as they had apparently undertaken to do. - IOL
website
Charles
Taylor denounces war crimes trial as 'deception, deceit and lies'
- 15 July
"Lies! Lies! And more lies!" Charles Taylor, the first
African leader to be put in the dock for war crimes, roared his
innocence yesterday in a bravura performance. - Times
Online
website
Charles
Taylor : we followed laws of war
- 16 July
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor told a war crimes court
today that he saw nothing wrong with displaying the skulls of slain
fighters at roadblocks as his rebel forces swept into the country in
a 1989 revolution. - The
Times
website
Somalia
UN
rights boss sees possible war crimes in Somalia - 10 July
The United Nations human rights chief said Friday both sides in
Somalia's conflict are committing attacks and using torture against
civilians, which may amount to war crimes. Islamist insurgents are
executing civilians, planting mines and bombs in residential areas
and using torture while their tribunals hand down death sentences by
stoning and decapitation, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi
Pillay said. Pro-government forces are also said to have committed
grave violations, including firing mortars on residential areas and
using torture, she said in a statement. - Reuters
website
Keyphrase :
International Criminal Court
Sudan
Sudan
women 'lashed for trousers' - 13 July
A group of Sudanese women has been flogged as a punishment for
dressing "indecently", according to a local journalist who
was arrested with them. Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, who says she is
facing 40 lashes, said she and 12 other women wearing trousers were
arrested in a restaurant in the capital, Khartoum. She told the BBC
several of the women had pleaded guilty to the charges and had 10
lashes immediately. Khartoum, unlike South Sudan, is governed by
Sharia law. Several of those punished were from the mainly
Christian and animist south, Ms Hussein said. Non-Muslims are not
supposed to be subject to Islamic law, even in Khartoum and other
parts of the mainly Muslim north. - BBC
News website
Mbeki-led
African panel backs Darfur warrants - 10 July
An African Union (AU) panel led by South Africa's former President
Thabo Mbeki backed on Friday an international court's indictment of
Sudanese officials including President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war
crimes. The panel's recommendation showed the differences around
Africa over the indictment for crimes in the Darfur conflict. - Reuters
website
AU
panel dismiss false media reports
- 12 July
The African Union High Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD) has dismissed
media reports claiming former President Thabo Mbeki has called on
the three Sudanese personalities, including President Omer Hassan
Al-Bashir to present themselves before the International Criminal
Court to stand trial. Mr Mbeki is the chairperson of AUPD. "This
report is completely false and highly irresponsible. No member of
the Panel has made any such pronouncement. "Indeed, no member
of the Panel could make any such pronouncement as the Panel has not
yet completed its work," AUPD spokesperson Barney Afako said. -
BuaNews
Online
website
Ignoring
ICC warrant is 'unconstitutional' - 12 July
South African non-governmental organisations are on a collision
course with government after the decision of the African Union not
to co-operate with the International Criminal Court over the arrest
of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.
The organisations - including the Centre for Applied Legal Studies,
the International Centre for Transitional Justice, the Khulumani
Support Group and Lawyers for Human Rights -will petition President
Jacob Zuma and his government to take a stand against the AU’s
position.
The ICC has issued a warrant for al-Bashir to be detained and
arrested over war crimes in Darfur. - The Times website
South
Africa NGO's may challenge AU ICC decision before court
- 12 July
A number of South African human right groups and non-governmental
organizations challenged Pretoria’s endorsement of a resolution by
the African Union (AU) asking its ICC members not to cooperate with
the court in the extradition of Sudanese president Omer Hassan
Al-Bashir. The AU criticized the warrant saying it imperils peace
efforts in the region. It was reported that the resolution was
adopted by consensus but the Vice president and foreign minister of
Botswana said that the issue was not properly debated and member
countries were forced to accept it under pressure from Libya which
chairs the pan-African body. - Sudan
Tribune
website
ICC
prosecutor asks Uganda to arrest Sudanese President - 13 July
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis
Moreno-Ocampo on Monday said it is the legal obligation of Uganda to
arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visits the East
African country. Ocampo, flanked by Okello Oryem, Uganda's Minister
of State for International Affairs, told reporters here that Uganda
should follow other African countries like South Africa which have
warned that Bashir risks arrest if he visits them. - Xinhua
News Agency
website
Swaziland
Finally
: Dumisa gets his farms back in SA - 12 July
In a matter that has taken over a decade to settle, South Africa
based businessman Dumisa Dlamini can now reclaim his status of being
a tycoon and can now smile all the way to his farms and hotels.
Dlamini has recovered his E600 million worth of farms and hotel
properties. Through this move, Dlamini has outwitted the banks and
all other institutions that pulled him down in a boardroom wrangle
that resulted in him losing his properties. Even though Dlamini is a
happy man now, he still has a mountain to climb in trying to evict
all the people who bought his farms and hotels. - Times
of Swaziland website
See
also :
I'm
coming to get my property back! - 2 November
Times of Swaziland website
[InfoUpdate 30
of 2008]
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
constitution step closer - 13 July
Zimbabwe is expected to take another step towards the drafting of a
new constitution. Several thousand politicians and civic leaders are
to attend a Stakeholders' Conference in Harare. After a public
consultation, the new constitution will be put to a referendum,
according to the country's power-sharing agreement. - BBC
News website
Zimbabwe
to review ownership law to seek investment - 10 July
Zimbabwe will review laws forcing foreign companies to sell stakes
in their businesses in a bid to make sure they do not discourage
investment needed for mines and other industries, the mining
minister said on Friday. Under indigenisation laws, foreign
companies cannot hold more than 49% of a business and must sell any
stake above that to Zimbabweans. The government is also able to
seize 25% of shares in some mines without paying. - Creamer
Media's Mining Weekly website
Zimbabwe
: not all farms will be taken - 9 July
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Thursday said some white
farmers would be spared under his controversial land reforms and
urged Britain to compensate owners of property seized for
redistribution. "It's not every white farm which will be taken.
Not necessarily," Mugabe said in reply to the leader of the
predominantly-white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) at a conference
to lure investors. - Moneyweb
website