IGIHE

Tag: AfricaNews

  • Robert Mugabe Sets Poll Tone

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    President Robert Mugabe said zimbabweans should work together despite their political differences for the benefit of current and future generations.

    He made the remarks while officially opening the Fifth Session of the Country’s Seventh Parliament.

    “Let us also continue to engender within ourselves the belief that we are masters of our own destiny and the resolve to jealously guard our hard-won independence and nationhood, hoisting national unity as our solid bond.

    “To this end, I wish to appeal to all our leaders, followers of our parties and other organisations and stakeholders, including the media, to adopt the pledge to work genuinely for national unity and cohesion.

    “Let us all shun violence in all its manifestations and latent forms, especially as we look forward to our national elections.”

    The President said as principals to the Global Political Agreement, they expect the next stage of Constitution making to proceed with haste so that the process is concluded expeditiously.

    “The Select Committee of Copac should work frantically to produce a report of the conference summarising the views expressed by the stakeholders, in particular the divergent views, and submit the report to the principals in Government who will take the necessary steps to set up an appropriate mechanism to build the required consensus on the way forward, mindful always that our major objective remains the holding of the next harmonised elections in March, 2013 under a new Constitution,” he said.

    The Constitution-making process, said the President, took long to complete, an indication that it was a difficult one.

    “There is now the need for Government to assume the management of the process leading to the holding of a referendum.

    “Should the people express their affirmation of the Draft Constitution, then Parliament would be asked to pass it as the fundamental law of our country. Elections will then become a necessary sequel.”

    In setting up the legislative agenda, the President outlined eight Bills that would be tabled in the coming session.

    These are the Constituency Development Fund Bill, Attorney-General Amendment Bill, Zimbabwe Investment Authority Bill, Mines and Mineral Amendment Bill and the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill.

    Others are the State Enterprise and Parastatal Management Bill, Diamond Bill and the Tripartite Negotiating Forum Bill.

    Soon after the speech, Zanu-PF Chief Whip, Cde Joram Gumbo, who is also Mberengwa West MP, moved a motion calling for a respectful address to be given to the President for the speech he delivered.

    The same motion was moved in the Senate by Chief Mtshane Khumalo.

    Finance Minister Tendai Biti gave notice that he would deliver the 2013 National Budget statement on November 15.

    The official opening of Parliament started with staff from the President’s Office preparing the vintage Rolls Royce used by President Mugabe and the First Lady Amai Mugabe for the grand occasion.

    The photo session at State House, with a new site away from the usual front of the State House was a moment to cherish.

    The President shared jokes with the staff, photographers and reporters.

    After the photo session, he inspected a Guard of Honour by the ZRP Mounted Unit.

    The procession led by the First Couple in the vintage Rolls Royce then started its journey to Parliament Building.

    People lined up Josiah Tongogara Avenue, Sam Nujoma Street and Nelson Mandela Avenue and cheered as the presidential entourage passed.

    Some youths added a new dimension to the commemorative event as they marched just behind the entourage.

    Supporters of different political parties and schoolchildren witnessed the event from Africa Unity Square adjacent to Parliament Building.

    Others climbed on treetops for a better view of the proceedings, especially the arrival of President Mugabe and the First Lady.

    The spectators were treated to traditional dances and music by the army band, while others sang praises for their leaders and parties.
    Members of the apostolic sect in the crowd sang choruses, with the famous one being “Gabriel Mutungamiri Wedu”.

    Unlike last year, this year’s event was peaceful with no clashes between political party supporters.

    There was ululation, whistling and joy when the President arrived and as he inspected the Guard of Honour mounted by the Presidential Guard.

    The event was accompanied by a booming 21-gun salute and a fly-past by the Air Force of Zimbabwe.

    Judges and Members of Parliament then filed into Parliament Building.
    People in Africa Unity Square followed the President’s speech from two giant monitors.

  • Rights Group Sues Nigeria Govt over Genocide

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  • Police Disperse Striking Miners in S Africa

    Police in South Africa say they have fired rubber bullets, teargas and stun grenades in clashes with hundreds of striking Anglo American platinum mine workers who barricaded roads outside Johannesburg.

    About 12,000 Amplats workers in northwestern Rustenburg, who were dismissed early this month for going on an illegal strike, were given an option to return to work on Tuesday morning if they wanted their jobs back.

    “Police used teargas, stun grenades as well as rubber bullets,” to disperse around 1,000 strikers, Dennis Adriao, said police spokesman, said.
    He said the strikers had blocked fire engines from an Amplats mine power sub-station that was suspected of being set alight by striking workers in a pre-dawn attack.

    The deal was brokered in negotiations last week by the main National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in talks with Amplats last week.

    But the workers refused to go back to work until their pay demands were met.

    “We are six weeks on strike, we can’t go back to work empty handed,” Siphamandla Makhanya, workers representative said.

  • Guinea-Bissau Arrests Failed ‘Coup Leader’

    Guinea-Bissau’s military has arrested the alleged leader of a failed attack last week that the government says was an attempted counter-coup.

    Captain Pansao Ntchama and at least two other suspects were detained on an island near the West African country’s capital Bissau on Saturday, officials said.

    The October 21 attack on elite army barracks left at least seven people dead, including six of the attackers.

    Transition authorities in the country have accused its former colonial ruler Portugal of instigating the attack in a bid to reinstate former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior who was ousted in an April 12 coup.

    On Monday, a spokesman for Guinea-Bissau’s caretaker government said Ntchama had used a vehicle belonging to a former member of Gomes Junior’s government to carry out the attack.

    Ntchama was the head of a commando unit believed to have assassinated President Joao Bernardo Vieira in 2009.

    He returned last week from Portugal where he had been undergoing military training since July 2009, security sources said.

    The captain is also a former associate of the government overthrown in the April coup.

  • Al-Shabaab Stone Woman to Death Over Sex Crime

    A young woman was stoned to death Thursday in Somalia after being convicted of engaging in out-of-marriage sex, reports say.

    Residents of Jamama town, 425km south of Mogadishu in Lower Juba region, said that militants loyal to Al-Shabaab carried out the stoning at the town’s main square in late afternoon.

    “Many residents were called to attend the execution of the punishment,” a resident who requested anonymity for own safety told Kulmiye, an independent broadcaster in Mogadishu.

    He added that Al-Shabaab officials in the town witnessed the stoning.

    “The woman admitted having out-of-marriage sex,” said an Islamist official who talked to the crowd after the stoning was completed.

    “This type of punishments that are compatible with Sharia (Islamic laws) will be administered,” said the official

    According to residents, the young woman was picked up from one of the neighbourhoods of the town, but there was no trace of the man partner involved in the alleged offence.

    The judicial system of the Al-Shabaab is often criticised by rights groups for lack defence attorneys, proper evidences and harsh punishment, hastily meted out.

  • Malawi Leader Accused of Failing to Run Country Properly

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  • Sudan Defense Minister May Be Sacked

    Sudan Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein is unlikely to be sacked over the alleged Israeli attack on Al-Yarmouk military factory, an official said on Sunday amid growing demands that he walks the plank for failing to protect the country.

    According to the speaker of the parliament, Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir, there is no intention to relieve Hussein from his position or hold him accountable for the occurrence of the attack.

    The speaker told reporters that the Israeli fighter jets that allegedly destroyed the factory in the southern suburb of the capital Khartoum late on 25 October came without a “prior declaration of confrontation”.

    Al-Tahir also justified the lack of intention to punish Hussein by saying that Sudan is not able to have the same level of technology that Israel possesses.

    The official was responding to growing calls in the last few days to sack Hussein given the fact that the attack on Al-Yarmouk is allegedly the third Israeli attack inside Sudanese territories.

    Hussein has not made a single comment since the attack on Al-Yarmouk happened.

    This is not the first time that some people called for his resignation but others suggest that his close relationship with President Al-Bashir always shielded him from being held accountable.

    Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the attack on Al-Yarmouk but it is widely believed that the Jewish state already struck twice inside Sudan.

  • Senior Somali General Killed in Ambush

    A top Somali military commander has been killed in an ambush – the first general to be killed by the Islamists.

    Mohamed Ibrahim Farah, nicknamed “Gordon”, was killed near Merca, a strategic town captured from the Al-Shabaab militants in August.

    The Somali government army and African Union troops have been battling the Al-Qaeda-aligned group for several years.

    Al-Shabab has withdrawn from several key towns in recent months, but still controls much of the countryside.

    The governor of the Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia said General Farah was killed along with four other soldiers in an ambush on Sunday.

    Al-Shabab still manages to stage attacks in areas it has left, including in the capital, Mogadishu.

    The hotel of the new UN-backed President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was targeted by suicide bombers, killing eight people, the day after his election by MPs last month.

    Since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has seen clan-based warlords, Islamist militants and its neighbours all battling for control of the country.

  • Al-Bashir to visit South Sudan

    Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir will pay a first visit to South Sudan soon since the independence of the new nation in July 2011, said Sudanese foreign minister, Ali Karti.

    the minister said this visit will open a new page in the development of bilateral relations between the two neighbours.

    The two countries signed on 27 September a cooperation agreement including the establishment of a demilitarised zone, oil transit, border trade, and four freedoms deal allowing movement of the citizens from the two sides of border.

    Karti did not disclose the date of the visit despite reports saying it would coincide with the meeting of a joint committee to discuss technical details related to the implementation of security arrangements.

    The minister however said the joint security committee chaired by defence ministers will meet during the first week of November.

    Bashir had scheduled to visit Juba last April, in response to a visit of President Salva Kiir to Khartoum on 8 October 2011, but the visit was cancelled following the seizure of Hegilig by the South Sudanese army.

    The African Union Peace and security Council, in a meeting held on 24 October, gave the two countries six weeks to settle their difference on Abyei and five disputed areas.

    However, the Council said it would back a proposal made by the African mediation providing to hold a referendum in October 2013 without the nomads of Missreryia, despite the Sudanese rejection of this proposition.

  • IMF Tells Oil Rich African States to Improve Infrastructure

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