IGIHE

Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

  • Iran accused of undermining Middle East security

    {Zarif backs dialogue with ‘brothers in Islam’ but Saudi counterpart Jubeir urges ‘red lines’ to halt Iran’s actions.}

    Saudi Arabia has demanded at the Munich security conference that Iran be punished, saying that the country was propping up the Syrian government, developing ballistic missiles and funding separatists in Yemen.

    Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, on Sunday described Iran as the main sponsor of global “terrorism” and a destabilising force in the Middle East.

    “Iran remains the single main sponsor of terrorism in the world,” he told delegates at the conference.

    “It’s determined to upend the order in the Middle East … [and] until and unless Iran changes its behaviour, it would be very difficult to deal with a country like this.”

    The international community needed to set clear “red lines” to halt Iran’s actions, Jubeir said, calling for banking, travel and trade restrictions aimed at changing Iran’s behaviour.

    For his part, Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli defence minister, said Iran’s ultimate objective was to undermine Saudi Arabia, and called for a dialogue between Israel and Arab countries to defeat “radical” elements in the region.

    “The real division is not Jews, Muslims… but moderate people versus radical people,” he told the Munich conference delegates on Sunday.

    Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, also criticised what he called Iran’s “sectarian policy” aimed at undermining Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

    “Turkey is very much against any kind of division, religious or sectarian,” he said.

    {{‘Brothers in Islam’}}

    The comments followed an appeal from Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian foreign minister, for Arab Gulf states to work with his country to reduce violence across the region.

    “We have enough problems in this region so we want to start a dialogue with countries we call brothers in Islam,” he said.

    Zarif dismissed any suggestions his country would ever seek to develop nuclear weapons.

    When asked about the new US administration’s tough rhetoric on Iran’s role in the region and calls to review the nuclear deal, he said Iran did not respond well to threats or sanctions.

    US Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said he and other senators were preparing legislation to further sanction Iran for violating UN Security Council resolutions with its missile development programme and other actions.

    “It is now time for the Congress to take Iran on directly in terms of what they’ve done outside the nuclear programme,” he said.

    {{‘Emerging proxy war’}}

    Senator Christopher Murphy, a Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the US needed to decide whether to take a broader role in the regional conflict.

    “We have to make a decision whether we are going to get involved in the emerging proxy war in a bigger way than we are today, between Iran and Saudi Arabia,” he said.

    International sanctions on Iran were lifted a year ago under a nuclear deal with world powers.

    However, Republican senators said at the conference they would press for new US measures over the missiles issue and what they called Iran’s actions to “destabilise” the Middle East.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Ecuador votes in crucial general elections

    {Voters choose between socialism or change as they cast their ballots for president and 137 members of national assembly.}

    Ecuador has voted in general elections that could see the country move from the left to the right like several other South American countries in recent months.

    Voters cast their ballots on Sunday for 137 members of the national assembly and a new president, choosing between a candidate who intends to continue President Rafael Correa’s platform or one of several more conservative contenders who pledge to attack corruption and cut taxes.

    The polls were due to close at 22:00 GMT and the results were expected to start coming in shortly afterwards.

    The outcome will be watched closely in Latin America.

    Conservative leaders in Argentina, Brazil and Peru have assumed power in the past 18 months after the end of a commodities boom that boosted leftists such as Correa.

    Outside the region, much of the interest in the election focuses on what the outcome will mean for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his ability to remain at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

    Lenin Moreno, the ruling party candidate, who is Correa’s hand-picked successor, has indicated he would back Assange’s continued stay.

    But his main challenger, former banker Guillermo Lasso, has indicated in interviews that he would evict the Australian activist within 30 days of taking office.

    Socialism on the line

    The contest put Correa’s legacy on the line as well.

    The self-declared 21st-century socialist who took office in 2007 ushered in a period of stability after a severe economic crisis that saw three presidents toppled in protests and the adoption of the US dollar to control rampant inflation.

    While Correa has been praised for reducing inequality and overhauling the nation’s infrastructure, polls show a majority of Ecuadorians favour change.

    Formerly overflowing government budgets have shrunk and thousands of people at state-run companies laid off as oil revenues in the OPEC nation decline.

    The International Monetary Fund expects Ecuador’s economy to shrink 2.7 percent this year.

    Analysts predict that the next president will have to seek rescue from the Washington-based lender to help with financial problems made worse by last year’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Afghan snowstorms death toll jumps

    {At least 25 killed in country’s north, more than a week after over 100 died from avalanches and heavy snowfall.}

    At least 25 people have been killed by snowstorms and avalanches in northern Afghanistan, more than a week after more than 100 people died due to heavy snowfall across the country, according to an official.

    Northern Faryab province bore the brunt of freezing temperatures and heavy snow on Sunday.

    Ammanullah Zafar, director for security in Faryab, told Anadolu news agency that Kohistan district was the worst hit.

    “We can confirm that 25 people have died in this unprecedented heavy snow,” he said.

    Zafar said police along with National Disasters Management Authority teams were trying hard with their limited resources to save the lives of several residents in the area, particularly the stranded passengers on the inter-district highways and the people stuck up in the mountains.

    “We have received reports about people missing from Pashtoonkot, Andkhoy, Qurmkul, Balcheragh and Dawlat Abad districts; efforts are under way to locate and rescue people,” Zafar said.

    Hundreds of thousands of Afghans, particularly the internally displaced persons and the recently repatriated refugees from Pakistan, remain vulnerable to the harsh winter in the country that relies heavily on aid.

    On February 6, Afghanistan’s northeastern Nuristan province was hit hardest by heavy snowfall and avalanches that wreaked havoc and claimed about 106 lives in the region, officials said.

    Dozens of houses were destroyed and some of the victims had reportedly frozen to death.

    “Avalanches have buried two entire villages,” a spokesperson for the ministry of state natural disasters told the AFP news agency of the Barg Matal area in Nuristan.

    At least 13 people were also killed by the disasters in the Pakistani town of Chitral.

    Neighbouring Pakistan has seen a lesser death toll.

    At least 13 people have perished in bad weather in Pakistan's Chitral

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Mugabe, 92, says Zimbabweans see no replacement for him

    {Leader in power since 1980 insists he will contest 2018 elections, by which time he will be 94 years old.}

    Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said his ruling ZANU-PF party and the people of Zimbabwe see no viable successor to him for next year’s general elections.

    Mugabe has been in power since 1980 and in December his party confirmed him as its candidate for the next presidential election expected in mid-2018, when he will be 94.

    The world’s oldest national leader, Mugabe turns 93 on Tuesday, with a celebration party planned for next Saturday.

    “They want me to stand for elections, they want me to stand for elections everywhere in the party,” Mugabe said in comments to state media.

    “The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, successor who to them is acceptable, as acceptable as I am.”

    Mugabe has avoided naming a successor and his party is divided between factions jostling to succeed him.

    On Friday, his wife Grace Mugabe said the 92-year-old would be the voters’ choice even after he dies.

    “One day when God decides that Mugabe dies, we will have his corpse appear as a candidate on the ballot paper,” Grace, seen as a possible successor to her ailing husband, told a party rally in Buhera, southeast of the capital Harare.

    “You will see people voting for Mugabe as a corpse. I am seriously telling you, just to show people how people love their president.”

    Grace, who was appointed leader of ZANU-PF’s women’s wing in a surprise move two years ago, is well known for her fiery speeches and verbal attacks on her husband’s opponents.

    In 2015, she led a campaign which led to the ousting of deputy president Joice Mujuru, accusing Mujuru of fanning factionalism, plotting to topple Mugabe and corruption and bribery.

    Grace has previously pledged to push Mugabe in his wheelchair to election rallies if needed.

    Grace is seen as a possible successor to her ailing husband

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Mogadishu blast ‘kills 20’, Shabaab ups attack threat

    {At least 20 people have died after a car bomb exploded in the Somali capital, as Shabaab Islamists threatened to escalate attacks in a “vicious war” against the new government.}

    In the deadliest attack since the election of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed — nicknamed Farmajo — the vehicle exploded at an intersection packed with civilians, traders and security forces.

    “A suicide car bomber blew himself up inside this market at a busy time, killing at least 20 people and many others were also injured,” said Ahmed Abdulle Afrah, the District Commissioner of Mogadishu’s Wadajir District.

    {{HUGE BLAST}}

    Final death tolls in attacks in Somalia are difficult to establish, as relatives, public and private ambulances ferry the injured and dead away.

    “There were many small-scale traders alongside the road and tea shops and restaurants. There were also members of the security forces and shoppers and the blast was so huge that it killed nearly 20 people, most of them civilians,” said witness Sumayo Moalim.

    The Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group had not claimed the attack, however it came on the same day as the group threatened to wage “vicious war” against Farmajo and his new government, according to the SITE intelligence group which monitors jihadist accounts.

    {{‘HORRIFIC’}}

    The president, via Twitter, described the attack as “horrific” and shared pictures of himself visiting victims in hospital.

    Local media also reported he had offered a $100,000 reward for information on who carried out the attack.

    A senior Shabaab official, Sheikh Hassan Yaqub Ali, said in a speech broadcast on a radio station linked to the group, that Farmajo was considered more dangerous than past presidents as he held joint American citizenship.

    The blast brought international condemnation, with the European Union describing it as “yet another act of terror targeting the Somali people by those wanting to undermine progress towards a stable and secure Somalia”.

    The bloc added it stood behind Farmajo’s efforts to bring security to his nation and build strong institutions.

    {{MORTAR STRIKES}}

    The latest attack underlines the challenge facing the new president, who has inherited an administration with limited control over Somali territory due to the presence of Shabaab, and is heavily propped up by the international community.

    Farmajo’s inauguration takes place on Wednesday, although he officially took office this week at a ceremony marred by a series of Shabaab mortar strikes near the presidential palace which left two children dead.

    AU troops drove Shabaab militants out of Mogadishu in August 2011 but the fighters continue to control rural areas and launch repeated attacks in the capital.

    Farmajo, whose brief stint as prime minister in 2010-11 showed him to be a no-nonsense leader set on improving governance and cracking down on corruption, is hugely popular in Somalia.

    {{ENORMOUS TASK}}

    But he faces enormous difficulty in turning around one of the world’s foremost failed states.

    “I need the Somali public to understand how much the government is in need of their support. Government will need enough time to address things,” the president said during the ceremony.

    Somalia’s limited election process, in which only several thousand delegates voted for lawmakers, is seen as a step toward full democracy.

    Somalia has not had an effective central government since the collapse of Siad Barre’s military regime in 1991, which led to civil war and decades of anarchy.

    Civilians and soldiers stand amongst scattered objects at the scene of a car bomb attack near the Peace Hotel in Mogadishu on January 2, 2017. A car bomb killed at least 20 in Mogadishu on February 19, 2017.

    Source:AFP

  • Yahya Jammeh’s victims go missing without a trace

    {Pensioner Sarjo Manneh celebrated more joyfully than most when former leader Yahya Jammeh agreed to leave The Gambia in January.}

    After a decade, he believed he might see his son again.

    But nearly a month later, he is still waiting.

    His son Chief Ebrima Manneh, a journalist for a pro-government newspaper, went missing in 2006 during a summit held in the tiny west African country.

    Agents of the feared National Intelligence Agency (NIA), which reported directly to Jammeh, appeared at the offices of the Daily Observer and took him away.

    {{HOPE SHATTERED}}

    His colleagues and family have never seen him again.

    In 2009 The Gambia’s then Attorney-General Marie Saine-Firdaus told Parliament that Manneh was not in state custody, while others including the current chief of police claimed he was living in the United States.

    Jammeh’s stunning electoral defeat in December — after 22 years in power — triggered the release of many political prisoners — but not the journalist.

    {{“My hope is shattered,” his father told AFP.}}

    {{ONE MAN}}

    Despite the crushing sorrow he feels, Manneh is shaking off the fear that kept him from fighting a symbiotic system of secret police and trained killers that took an unknown number of lives.

    “I want to institute criminal action in court against Yahya Jammeh and those responsible for the disappearance of my son,” Manneh said.

    Gambian diaspora media regularly published lists of the unsolved crimes concerning the missing, appealing for details and circulating years’ worth of rumours about the most high-profile cases.

    And there are nascent signs the new government of President Adama Barrow is determined to bring closure for families like the Mannehs, even while mired in a financial crisis and faced with reforming a state that Jammeh’s critics say catered to the interests of one man.

    {{BLACK SITES}}

    Interior Minister Mai Fatty, one of the most vocal Jammeh opponents within the new administration, has said a body will be set up to look into forced disappearances and to investigate “black sites” that may still be holding victims.

    “The responsibility lies on us to give an explanation to our people,” he told AFP.

    Pro-regime figures may still be holding Gambians incommunicado.

    “Some people may still be held and are not known because the previous government has so many detention centres that were not disclosed to the public,” Fatty said.

    Barrow has promised to reform the NIA, changing its name, replacing its chief and promising training for staff whose work would be limited to “intelligence gathering, analysis and advice to the relevant arms of government”.

    {{DEATH SQUAD}}

    “An appropriate commission will be established to conduct inquiries into disappearances,” he said.

    Almost every sector of society was targeted by the NIA and the “Junglers”, a group of around 40 men described as Jammeh’s death squad.

    Tumani Jallow, a 24-year-old soldier with the elite State Guards battalion that personally protected Jammeh, had an elevated status in Gambian society, but when the NIA came this suddenly meant nothing.

    After he was arrested in September 2016, taken to NIA headquarters in Banjul, and then whisked to an unknown location, Jallow’s family are painfully aware he may never return.

    “He and two of his colleagues in the Gambia Armed Forces were arrested by state security agents shortly after the arson attack on the ruling party’s headquarters,” said his brother Buba Sawo.

    {{OPEN HEARINGS}}

    “We have searched for him everywhere, but the NIA said he is not in their custody,” Sawo told AFP. “We are pleading with the current administration.”

    Fredy Peccerelli, a world-renowned forensic anthropologist who has helped nations as varied as Guatemala and Sri Lanka identify scores of victims, told AFP the process would probably take several years.

    Work on genealogy, forensics, testimony and any documentation from the prison system would be required, along with the funds — potentially from international donors — to pay for it.

    The Gambia would have to decide whether to have open hearings, amnesties for those who provided information, or other incentives for whistleblowing like lesser sentences, Peccerelli said, referring to the truth commission Barrow has promised.

    {{ARRESTS}}

    Such testimony could also be key in any future prosecutions.

    Since Jammeh left for exile last month, arrests of high and low profile regime targets have begun.

    Suwandi Camara, a former fighter for Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, and accomplice Bubacarr Jarju have been charged with abducting a Gambian lawmaker and a businessman in Senegal with intent to murder them.

    General Bora Colley, former head of the country’s notorious prison system, was arrested in Senegal last month, though later released without charge.

    The biggest fish so far, former Interior Minister Ousman Sonko, was arrested in Switzerland in late January.

    {{TORTURE}}

    Under investigation for crimes against humanity, Sonko could face prosecution in Switzerland where authorities are under pressure from rights group TRIAL to prove he authorised what they called “large-scale torture that political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders suffered”.

    For Adama Kujabie, a relative of Jammeh’s whose father nonetheless fell into the hands of the NIA in 2006, a day in court cannot come soon enough.

    “Those responsible for this heinous crime should face justice,” he told AFP, urging an investigation to answer his single, desperate question: “Is he alive or not?”

    The Gambia former strongman Yahya Jammeh. Many who went missing during his reign are yet to be traced.

    Source:AFP

  • Kenya:Aspirants hope to recoup campaign cash through graft

    {A majority of Kenyans would not mind voting for political aspirants who splash money and promise them rewards during election campaigns.}

    Findings of a survey on voter bribery tendencies in the country reveal a deeply entrenched habit, with more than half of the respondents confessing that their choice of candidate is easily influenced when they are bribed.

    At the centre of it are the voters who have no problem giving their votes in exchange for “something small”.

    After all, it appears to be an ‘accepted tradition’ in Kenyan politics, the respondents argued, pointing to weak enforcement systems and political parties and institutions that appear to condone the practice.

    The findings are contained in a report titled ‘Voter Bribery as an Election Malpractice in Kenya; A Survey Report Dec 2016,’ to be officially launched later this week.

    {{HIGH LEVELS}}

    The findings of the survey carried out by Interthoughts Consulting and commissioned by the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) in partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German political foundation, point to a high likelihood that voter bribery will still be witnessed at high levels in the 2017 General Election.

    Out of the 514 respondents from the 10 counties surveyed between April and June, 2016, 56 per cent confessed to having ever received a bribe from a political party aspirant or candidate.

    From each of the 10 counties — Nakuru, Bomet, Kiambu, Kisumu, Machakos, Meru, Kilifi, Migori, Trans-Nzoia and Kakamega — more than 50 per cent confessed that they would easily give their vote to the person who gave them something or promised to reward them.

    Bomet County had the highest proportion of respondents who had ever received a bribe at 64.71 per cent followed by Kisumu, Nakuru, Kakamega, Kilifi, Trans Nzoia, Kiambu and Machakos while Migori had the lowest at 41.51 per cent.

    {{DISHING OUT HANDOUTS}}

    Various forms of voter bribery were identified in the survey, ranging from frequent fundraisers (harambees) during the period preceding elections and during campaign periods to dishing out handouts to the voters.

    It is also during this time that you will see aspirants jostling to pay school fees and hospital bills and even take care of funeral expenses, particularly to the voters who the politicians had probably avoided and kept off in the past.

    Politicians also make promises of individual direct benefits in varying rewards, from jobs to tenders.

    They will also pay a sum of money for people who attend their political meetings in form of transport reimbursements and allowances and some will also give out clothes such as t-shirts and lessos in the name of electoral material.

    Some aspirants or candidates also pay for opinion polls, influencing the process and results of the same.

    {{10 COUNTIES}}

    This is the first survey on voter bribery tendencies in the country, showing perceptions and challenges to address them.

    Findings were based on debates and discussions that involved voters, aspirants, political parties and opinion leaders in the 10 counties visited. Questionnaires were also administered to 514 respondents.

    There was a strong agreement that refusing to collect the bribe to vote was an individual responsibility, with Kisumu leading at 80 per cent followed by Kiambu at 73.81 per cent and Nakuru at 70 per cent.

    Some of the respondents, however, said even though they had received bribes from aspirants for political offices and other elective seats, they may not necessarily vote for them.

    {{LOST CAUSE}}

    The indication was that they would collect bribes but vote for persons of their choice, pointing to a society that is struggling with values, morals and ethics.

    According to some of the respondents, they will collect the money for other reasons as long as the aspirants are in the business of dishing it out.

    The survey points out that some of those receiving money may not even be registered voters or members of the aspirant’s party while others may be registered far away from the aspirants area, hence cannot vote for them.

    Of interest is that there was a high level of awareness that voter bribery is an electoral malpractice and a form of corruption, hence a punishable crime.

    {{CORRUPTION}}

    On the other hand, however, respondents argue that precedence has been set in previous elections, and experience has shown that persons who engage in voter bribery have not been convicted.

    Many respondents also felt that almost all the candidates seeking elective seats engage in corruption, hence their choices are limited.

    In some cases, it is the citizens themselves who demand to be given something.

    On the spot are political parties, aspirants and their agents who seem to be the drivers of the malpractice.

    Many aspirants are moneyed and able to meet the electoral needs. High poverty and low income levels among citizens, especially youths who have no gainful employment were cited as some factors that encourage the malpractice.

    {{EXCHANGING HANDS}}

    But there is also legal instruments and policies and institutions which have failed to nib the problem in the bud, resulting in weak enforcement of existing laws, which leave culprits going Scot free.

    Many Kenyans also have a strong mentality of money exchanging hands for votes, and this is based on experiences in previous elections held over the years.

    But CMD warns that while people tend to choose those who have money thinking they are best placed to care of them, the aspirants may have corruptly obtained the money and so easily give it out.

    They will, however, still recover the money corruptly, once elected, resulting in a cycle.

    “It was clear to them that voter bribery influences how the people vote and results into people electing leaders who are evidently corrupt by having bribed the voters in the first place and hence likely to sustain their very nature of being corrupt even after being elected,” the report to be launched on Friday states.

    Source:Daily Nation

  • 25 civilians killed in DRC ethnic attack

    {Goma – Militiamen from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Nande ethnic group have killed 25 civilians in the country’s violence-torn east, almost all of them hacked to death with machetes, local officials and activists said on Saturday.}

    “In total 25 people were killed, decapitated by machete by the Mai-Mai Mazembe in and around the village of Kyaghala,” Francis Bakundakabo, the local representative of the governor of North Kivu province, told AFP.

    “All of these people were Hutu civilians,” he said, adding that the killings took place between 4:00 am and 8:00 am on Saturday morning.

    Hope Kubuya, a local civil society activist whose group went to verify the attack, said 24 of the victims had been killed with machetes and one woman shot dead.

    “This raid by the Mai-Mai Mazembe in the Hutu village will enflame the inter-ethnic conflict in the region,” he added.

    The Mai-Mai are a “self-defence” militia who count members of DR Congo’s Nande, Hunde and Kobo communities among their ranks, in opposition to rivals from the Nyaturu group representing ethnic Hutus.

    The area around Kyaghala is majority-Hutu.

    The last major attack to strike the volatile region came in December when at least 35 civilians were killed in clashes between fighters from the two groups.

    DRC’s Nande, Hunde and Kobo people largely regard Hutus as foreigners, while the migration north of Hutu farmers – forced to abandon their southern territory due to rising land prices and under pressure from powerful landowners – has added to the strain.

    Tensions between the Nande and Hutu communities have been growing worse for more than a year, with a series of village attacks by militia groups on both sides in the centre of North Kivu. The province, like much of eastern DRC, has been riven by conflict for more than two decades.

    Since December, the DRC’s political crisis has also worsened, with President Joseph Kabila refusing to step down despite his mandate coming to an end.

    The international community has urged government and opposition parties in the country to restart deadlocked talks to set up a transition regime ahead of elections due later this year.

    Though the vast central African nation is rich in mineral wealth and water, it has long been one of the continent’s poorest nations and rising unrest has only deepened the economic malaise.

    Source:AFP

  • Swahili speakers seek slot in Burundi peace talks

    {As the Burundi peace talks come to climax here, some members of the minority groups from the tiny East African nation have emerged, demanding an audience.}

    Speaking on behalf of ‘Baswahili group,’ the Kiswahili speakers in Bujumbura, Mr Mugunwe Anzoweeni, demanded the inclusion of the marginalised group, which he said has been sidelined from the talks that envisage a mutual agreement by June, this year.

    “We were snubbed even in the original Arusha Peace Accord, which singled out only the Tutsi and Hutu groups as if these are the only tribes in Burundi… we have other smaller tribes as well as people of Asian origin,” he said.

    Last week, the police arrested three suspected Burundians here over their alleged attempts to thwart the ongoing Burundi peace talks under former President Benjamin Mkapa’s mediation.

    Mr Mkapa in his capacity as the facilitator of the talks at the Arusha International Conference Centre is still convening the dialogue following consultations with other stakeholders within and outside the country.

    Initially, eight-point agenda was identified, with parties adopting them as the key sticking points way back in September 2016.

    The eight-point agenda, then formed the thrust of the dialogue and subsequent negotiations, including security and commitment to end all forms of violence, commitment to the rule of law and to end impunity.

    Mr Mkapa, the talk facilitator, had invited some of the political parties as well as important political actors to convene in the eight-point agenda to determine areas, which can bring lasting ‘peace’ in the country.

    He said stakeholders like the civil society organisations, religious groups as well as women and youth will be invited to later sessions.

    The facilitator said inputs from participants will draw up an outline of the would-be agreement to be gradually refined until it’s fully agreed by all stakeholders and signed as the final agreement in June, 2017.

    Source:Daily News

  • Tanzania:Six drug dealers convicted, sentenced to life imprisonment

    {Six people, including four foreigners, have been convicted of illicit drug dealings here and condemned to life imprisonment.}

    The deterrent punishment comes amid intensified fight against the uses and dealings of the outlawed drugs in the country and the world over.

    Moshi Zone High Court Deputy Registrar Bernard Mpepo said here over the weekend that the convicts had their charges decided in various cases. In one case, the Republic filed against a Nigerian born Italian, Vivian Edigin, who was accused of drug trafficking.

    She was convicted and sentenced to life in jail. Another drug trafficking case involved three accused but the court set free two for lack of evidence while convicting and sentencing to life imprisonment a Tanzanian, Ramadhani Mgonja.

    “The Court always ensures that justice is served… another case that we had involved the Republic against Slahi Maulidi Jumanne who was also convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment,” said the Registrar. Other people who were convicted of the same offences include a Kenyan, Josephine Mumbi Waithera, a Togolese Josiani Dede Creppy and a Nigerian, Joachim Ikechukwu Ike. A Tanzanian, Sofia Seif Kingazi, was sentenced to a 20-year jail term.

    The court dismissed the case against Salim Mohamed Salim, according to Act No. 91 that provides for acquittal, re-arrest and arraignment of accused. He said the Republic has already brought back the case whose trial is going on.

    Mr Mpepo said currently there are six pending cases in connection with illicit drugs, promising that the judgments may be pronounced by next month. Drug trafficking is a global illicit trade that involves cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws.

    Drugs come in three basic forms; raw plant like cannabis or mushrooms, refined plant like heroin or cocaine or synthetic like ecstasy or amphetamine. Plant-based drugs like heroin and cocaine tend to be produced in the areas where the opium and/or coca leaves grow because the plants need special conditions.

    Source:Daily News