IGIHE

Category: Politics

  • Tunisia’s Ennahda distances itself from political Islam

    Party leader Rached Ghannouchi calls for more democratic embrace after being labelled “moderate Islamists” for 30 years.

    Tunisia’s conservative Ennahda party says it has separated itself from any association with political Islam after being considered “moderate” Islamists for 30 years.

    Ennahda’s leader Rached Ghannouchi made the announcement on Friday in the opening of the party’s first congress since 2012, which was attended by thousands of people in the capital Tunis.

    “We are keen to keep religion far from political struggles, and we call for complete neutrality,” he said.

    “A modern state is not run through ideologies, big slogans and political wrangling, but rather through practical programmes.”

    In 2011, Ennahda won the country’s first democratic election after President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced from power by a popular protest movement.

    But in 2014, it came second to the secularist Nidaa Tounes party in parliamentary elections and is part of a coalition government.

    Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Tunis, said that Ennahda’s decision to become more of a democratic party stems from efforts to broaden its appeal to the wider sectors of society.

    She said that as a result of its move to halt religious activities in politics, the party’s members can no longer preach in mosques and people can join the party without having to obtain two signatures from the party.

    “Tunisia and the West in general still view the label of Islamists as connected to groups like Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram. So it is trying to move away from that label, but it doesn’t mean it wont have Islamic values, it still will.”

    Ghannouchi and other intellectuals inspired by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood in 1981 founded the Islamic Tendency Movement, which became Ennahda in 1989.

    Banned under the leadership of Ben Ali, the party was legalised after the 2011 uprising.

    Ghannouchi, who lived in exile for 20 years, returned home to a triumphal welcome after the uprising and won post-revolution election in October 2011.

    Ghannouchi says that a modern state is not run through ideologies, but through practical programmes

  • DR Congo opposition leader Katumbi flies to SA for medical care

    Moise Katumbi, the opposition presidential hopeful in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has flown to South Africa for medical treatment, his lawyer says, a day after authorities issued an arrest warrant for him.

    He was accused of hiring foreign mercenaries in an alleged plot against the state, which he denies.

    Mr Katumbi’s lawyer said he had been in hospital since police had fired tear gas during a protest.

    Elections are due in November.

    Prosecutors allowed him to travel for treatment on condition that he returned to face the criminal charges against him.

    Lawyer Georges Kapiamba said Mr Katumbi was taken to hospital in Lubumbashi, after police fired tear gas at him and his supporters.

    The politician was weak but boarded the flight unaided, he added.

    Mr Katumbi has condemned the charges against him as an attempt to stall his campaign to replace President Joseph Kabila in November polls.

    Mr Kabila, in power since 2001, is nearing the end of his second term and he is constitutionally obliged to step down by December.

    But there is growing political tension as it is not clear if he will relinquish power.

    Moise Katumbi was governor of the south-eastern Katanga province for almost a decade.

    He is a wealthy businessman who has a lot of support in the mineral-rich south-eastern Katanga province, and was at one time an ally of the president,
    But in September last year he broke ties with the ruling party when he accused President Kabila of wanting to cling to power.

    His popularity is partly down to his job as the president of a great source of Congolese pride – football club TP Mazembe.

    They are Africa’s reigning football champions, having won the African Champions League for the fifth time in November.

    Moise Katumbi denies the charges against him

  • Uganda:Rights body condemns Besigye brutal arrest, wants speedy trial

    Kampala. The chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) has called for a fair and speedy trial of Opposition leader, Dr Kizza Besigye, who is currently on remand at Luzira prison on treason charges.

    Mr Medi Kaggwa made the call while addressing the press in Kampala yesterday about the recent human rights concerns in the country.

    He also condemned the brutal arrest of Dr Besigye and FDC party supporters by the police and other security agencies in various parts of the country.

    Dr Besigye, the runner up in this year’s presidential elections, was on May 11, arrested and taken to Moroto where he was charged with treason and later transferred to Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kampala and charged afresh on Wednesday.
    He was remanded to Luzira prison until June 1 for mention of his case. Treason is a capital offence only tried by the High Court and attracts a death sentence on conviction.

    “The Uganda Human Rights Commission noted the arrest of Dr Besigye, the former presidential candidate on Wednesday 11, 2016, and his being charged with treason at the Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court. The UHRC consequently calls upon all those concerned to ensure a fair and speedy trial…” Mr Kaggwa said.
    On the charge sheet, the prosecution states that Dr Besigye and others still at large between February 20 and May 11 this year in diverse places in Uganda formed an intention to compel by force or constrain the government of Uganda to change its measures or counsels as to the lawfully established methods of acceding to the office of President.

    Mr Kaggwa also condemned the beating up of people who were following Dr Besigye recently in the city. People were beaten up by masked men in the presence of police.
    Days after the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, withdrew his officers from Dr Besigye’s home in Kasangati, Wakiso District, after a siege of over 45 days, masked men were seen randomly beating up people who followed the Opposition leader as he drove through the town to his party headquarters in Najjanankumbi.

    Police were present but just looked away as the masked men inflicted mayhem on unarmed civilians.
    “Media reports indicate that masked men beat up people in the streets of Kampala on Thursday 14 April, 2016 in the presence of the police without being restrained or arrested. The commission however, noted that the police disowned the masked gangs and said it had commissioned an investigation into the matter,” said Mr Kaggwa.

    He added: “The commission notes that the public expects quick investigations whose findings should be made public.”
    The UHRC is a government agency mandated to protect and promote human rights in the country.
    The commission is also mandated to give guidance on any emerging human rights issues in the country by pointing out human rights violations that require urgent attention.

    Law says

    Article 28 (1) of the Constitution demands that in determination of civil obligations or any criminal charge, a person shall be entitled to a fair and speedy public trial before an independent and impartial court or tribunal established by law.

    Uganda Human Rights Commission chairperson Medi Kaggwa addresses a press conference in Kampala yesterday.

  • Burundi ready for Arusha meet

    President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government in Bujumbura has confirmed its participation in the Inter-Burundian Peace Dialogue which starts in Arusha, this weekend, under the facilitation of former Tanzanian president, Mr Benjamin William Mkapa.

    The inter-Burundian dialogue, which starts today, comprises a series of talks aimed at ending the year-long political crisis. The sessions will be concluded next Tuesday (May 24) at the East African Community (EAC) Headquarters.

    “The May 21 to May 24 meetings in Arusha will be staging consultations between different stakeholders with the co-facilitator in the Burundian conflict, the former Tanzanian Head of State,” said the Head of Corporate Communications at EAC Secretariat, Mr Richard Owora Othieno.

  • EAC emblem for use in all public offices

    All government institutions, including regional administration and local government offices, will now be using the East Africa Community (EAC) emblem, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Regional and International has announced.

    The ministry’s Head of Communications, Ms Mindi Kasiga, told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday the symbols include the EAC flag and anthem, which will be used alongside national symbols.

    Ms Kasiga said the private sector, most especially learning institutions, including universities, are also required to have the EAC symbols as part of educating and promoting the EAC among the youth.

    “The symbols will be used in all public offices and private offices that usually have the national symbols that is the Union flag and the national anthem — and most especially in schools and universities to promote and educate the youths on EAC,” Ms Kasiga explained.

    She noted that the EAC flag is supposed to fly alongside the Union flag, meaning that whenever there is any event where the national anthem is sung, the EAC anthem must also be played.

    The symbols must be used by ministries, independent departments, public institutions and agencies, Ms Kasiga added,explaining that her ministry will work with the Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Government (TAMISEMI) to make sure the EAC symbols are available in all local government offices. The ministry will coordinate availability of samples of the EAC symbols, whose costs will be shouldered by each institution.

    “All ministries and other government institutions must liaise with the ministry for further clarifications on availability and use of the EAC symbols,” she added. The move is in line with the implementation of the Treaty for the establishment of the EAC, section 7 (a), which requires the public in all the member states to be part and parcel of the community, including being informed on all different steps being taken by the community.

    According to Ms Kasiga, the move to have the EAC symbols used alongside national symbols is not just for Tanzania but for all EAC member states. “The 5th Phase Government, under President John Magufuli, who is also the current EAC Chairperson, will ensure Tanzanians participate fully in all EAC projects to know the benefits and opportunities available in the region,” she explained.

    Meanwhile, former President Benjamin Mkapa, will lead the peace dialogue on Burundi conflict expected to begin on May 21 and 24 at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC).

    Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni remains the main mediator and the Burundi peace talks were earlier scheduled for between May 2 and 6 under the new facilitator (Mr Mkapa); but were later postponed. Mr Mkapa was appointed as the facilitator of the Burundi peace talks at the 17th Ordinary Summit of EAC heads of State in Arusha in March.

    The deadly violence in Burundi erupted after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would run for a third term, which he won under controversial circumstances last July.

    The opposition in Burundi said President Nkurunziza violated the constitution’s two-term limit as well as the Arusha Agreement that ended the 12-year civil war in the tiny central African country.

  • Burundi Refuses Any Negotiation With Opposition at Peace Talks

    Burundi’s government is only attending peace talks in Tanzania this weekend to hold discussions with mediators and won’t meet other factions in the country’s 13-month crisis, a presidential spokesman said.

    “There is nothing to negotiate” at the meetings in the city of Arusha that are due to start May 21, Willy Nyamitwe told reporters late Wednesday in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura.

    The East African nation’s main opposition coalition, Cnared, said on its Facebook account that it hasn’t been officially invited to the three-day talks.

    Landlocked Burundi has been rocked by violence that’s killed more than 470 people since President Pierre Nkurunziza decided in April 2015 to stand for re-election, a move his opponents said was unconstitutional.

  • Moise Katumbi: DR Congo opposition presidential hopeful charged

    Democratic Republic of Congo opposition presidential hopeful Moise Katumbi has been charged with hiring foreign mercenaries.

    A government spokesman said he was plotting against President Joseph Kabila, Reuters reports.

    Mr Kabila is nearing the end of his second term and he is constitutionally obliged to step down by December.

    But there is growing political tension as it is not clear if he will relinquish power.
    There have been several clashes between Mr Katumbi’s supporters and the security forces in recent days.

    Mr Katumbi described the charges as “grotesque lies”, the AFP news agency reports.
    But a guilty verdict would end his presidential campaign.

    Government spokesman Lambert Mende said that he could now either be jailed or put under house arrest.

    Mr Katumbi is a wealthy businessman who has a lot of support in the mineral-rich south-eastern Katanga province, and was at one time an ally of the president.

    He has the backing of seven opposition parties for his run for the presidency, in an election which is scheduled for November.

    The Constitutional Court last week ruled that Mr Kabila could remain in power after his mandate ends if elections are not held by the end of 2016.

    Moise Katumbi was governor of the south-eastern Katanga province for almost a decade.

    In September last year he broke ties with the ruling party when he accused President Kabila, his former ally, of wanting to cling to power.

    His popularity is partly down to his job as the president of a great source of Congolese pride – football club TP Mazembe.

    They are Africa’s reigning football champions, having won the African Champions League for the fifth time in November.

    Moise Katumbi has been nominated by seven opposition parties to be their candidate

  • ICC tasks govt on Bashir arrest

    The International Criminal Court (ICC) has written to the government seeking an explanation over the failure to arrest embattled Sudanese president Omar-El-Bashir, who was in the country last week to attend President Museveni’s sixth swearing-in ceremony.

    The presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser in a May 17 communiqué directed the court’s registry, which is responsible for external affairs, to request “competent authorities of the Republic of Uganda to submit by June 24, their observations with respect to their failure to arrest and surrender Omar-El-Bashir while present on the territory of Uganda.”

    The letter was also countersigned by two other Judges March Perrin de Brichambaut and Chang-ho Chung.

    The ICC’s regional outreach coordinator Maria Kamara confirmed the existence of the document, saying: “it is just a request for a submission.”

    The request for submission comes on the heels of a diplomatic protest memo the court tendered to Ugandan authorities on May 11, a day before the swearing–in, reminding the government “of their obligations, as a State Party, to cooperate with the immediate arrest and surrender of President Bashir to the Court, pursuant to article 89(1) of the Statute, in the event that he attends the said ceremony.”

    “To the date of this report, no reply to the above-mentioned note verbale, has yet been received from the authorities of the Republic of Uganda,” the confidential note sent to the Foreign Affairs ministry last week reads in part.

    It further states that: “The Registry requests guidance from the Chamber on the steps to be taken with respect to the visit of Mr Bashir to Uganda.”

    President Bashir, who is wanted by the Hague-based court, was in the country at the invitation of government. He is wanted on two counts of crimes against humanity and genocide of more than 300,000 deaths in Sudan’s Darfur region.

    The court issued double warrants for him in 2009 and 2010 on the same. Copies of the warrants were served to government.

    He flew into the country last Thursday, the day of the swearing-in ceremony and departed immediately after. His attendance rattled diplomats from the European Union and US government who stormed out of the ceremony at Kololo Independence Grounds, and after President Museveni made disparaging remarks about the court as he introduced the Sudanese president.

    President Museveni is a celebrated critic of the court who, when usually in company of other African leaders, accuses it of being a tool of Western powers to witch-hunt leaders on the continent and have threatened to withdrawal from the Rome Statute.

    The court handles four major international crimes of aggression, war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

    Mr Okello-Oryem, the State minister for Foreign Affairs, told Daily Monitor yesterday, that they will respond to the letter “directly in line with the President’s position which is very clear.”

    “There is no reason for ICC to be confrontational, because our stand as a continent is that it is a tool used by the West to target African leaders,” he said.

    President Museveni (Right) greets Sudan’s Omar-al-Bashir at the former’s inauguration in Kampala last week.

  • Uganda:I might be killed in Luzira – Besigye

    Opposition leader Kizza Besigye yesterday told court his fears for his life in Luzira prison but the magistrate shut him down half way his pleadings.

    Dr Besigye was arraigned in Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court and charged with treason afresh after his previous appearance in a similar court in Moroto District.

    He was ushered into the dock without representation of a lawyer. The fresh charges of treason were read out to him but he couldn’t plead to them because treason is a capital offence only tried by the High Court.

    Dressed in a light blue checked shirt, and a pair of grey trousers, Dr Besigye, the presidential runner-up in the February 18 elections, prayed to court for permission to express what he called ‘fears for his life’ inside Luzira where is currently remanded following his transfer from Moroto Prison on Monday.

    Court granted him permission to present his fears but before he could reveal what they were, he was cut short by court on a request by the State.

    Senior State Attorney Doreen Elima interjected and said Dr Besigye’s pleas on safety of his life should be taken to the High Court, which she said is the appropriate place to address his worries.

    “My concerns have nothing to do with the case which is going to be heard by the High Court. My concerns are fears for my life. I am being mistreated where I am living and I am here and you are sending me away,” Dr Besigye said but the presiding magistrate James Ereemye ignored his pleas.

    The magistrate told him that Luzira authorities were competent enough to address his fears.
    Later, the prisons spokesperson, Mr Frank Baine, dismissed Dr Besigye’s fears, saying there are more 46,000 inmates countrywide and wondered why the authorities would target him alone.

    “We did not invite him to the prison. We are just on the receiving end and we are trying to keep him well. We have over 46,000 inmates, why should we single him out to hurt him?” Mr Baine asked.

    “Of course, the conditions of the prison are not like those at home as they are not of first class due to limited funding. Ask David Sejusa who has just been here and this is not even his [Dr Besigye] first time here in prison.”

    By press time last evening, it was still a mystery whether Dr Besigye would be represented by a lawyer in court.
    Ms Shifrah Lukwago, a lawyer and politician, who was in court which sat at an unusual time at 8.30am, attempted to represent him but Dr Besigye turned down her offer.

    Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Mr Yusuf Nsibambi, one of Dr Besigye’s lawyers, said he could not represent him in court because whatever is going on is an illegality. He said he cannot take part because that would amount to him regularising the illegality.

    Mr Nsibambi said the illegality starts with the charge sheet itself, which he said is defective because it was not sanctioned by the Director of Public Prosecutions. He said the DPP’s approval is a legal requirement especially in such capital offences.

    According to the charge sheet, it was sanctioned by a police officer, detective senior superintendent, Mr Mark Odong on May 13.

    Former Forum for Democratic Change presidential candidate Kizza Besigye (left) is led by warders to the court cells after he was charged with treason at Nakawa Magistrate’s Court in Kampala yesterday.

  • Libya: US backs arming of government for IS fight

    The US and other world powers have said they are ready to arm Libya’s UN-backed unity government to help it fight the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group.

    Speaking in Vienna, US Secretary of State John Kerry said world powers would back Libya in seeking exemption from a UN arms embargo.

    He said IS was a “new threat” to Libya and it was “imperative” it was stopped.
    Last month, the Libyan government warned that IS could seize most of the country if it was not halted soon.

    After holding talks with international partners, Mr Kerry said: “The GNA [Government of National Accord] is the only entity that can unify the country. It is the only way to ensure that vital institutions… fall under representative and acknowledged authority.
    “It is the only way to generate the cohesion necessary to defeat Daesh [IS].”

    Risks ahead, by Rana Jawad, the BBC’s North Africa Correspondent
    The requested arms embargo “exemption” for Libya will need to be approved by the UN Sanctions Committee before it comes into force.

    But the Libyan government’s formal request for it signals that they have been given assurances that it would soon be approved.

    Libya remains a country where multiple administrations are still bickering over who is in charge. Armed groups in western Libya, reputed for their shifting allegiances, only loosely back the new government, and there is no clear chain of command.

    There is a risk that future arms shipments will either fall into the wrong hands, or exacerbate the civil conflict there between rival militias.

    Mr Kerry said support for arming the government was part of a package of measures agreed at the meeting, which included accelerating non-military aid to Libya.

    He said that as well as countering IS, the GNA should take full control of Libyan ministries, backed by the international community.

    A joint statement from the countries attending drew attention to Libya’s role as a major transit point for migrants trying to reach Europe.

    “We look forward to partnering with the GNA and neighbouring countries to tackle the threat posed throughout the Mediterranean and on its land borders by criminal organisations engaged in all forms of smuggling and trafficking, including in human beings,” it said.

    “We are ready to respond to the Libyan government’s requests for training and equipping the presidential guard and vetted forces from throughout Libya.”

    But the prime minister of Libya’s unity government, Fayez Sarraj, warned major challenges lay ahead, saying taking on IS would require further outside help.
    “We urge the international community to assist us,” he said.

    “We are not talking about international intervention, we are talking about international assistance in training, equipping our troops and training our youths.”

    The North African country has been in chaos since Nato-backed forces overthrew long-time ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.

    Until recently it had two rival governments competing for power, and there are still hundreds of militias, some allied to IS.

    Western nations hope the unity government will take on IS, which has a foothold in Sirte – the home town of Gaddafi.

    The militant group has launched a series of suicide bombings and attacks on oil facilities in the country.