March, 2021 - The African Mirror

Mar

2021

‘Confront your colonial past’

VICTORIA WALDERSEE and CATARINA DEMONY EUROPE’S top human rights group yesterday told Portugal to do more to confront its colonial past and role in the transatlantic slave trade in order to help fight racism and discrimination in the country today. The comments by the Council of Europe come as debate in Portugal over how to remember its history heated up in recent months as the country prepares to unveil its first memorial to victims of slavery, in Lisbon. The memorial - rows of sugar cane painted in black - was designed by Angolan artist Kiluanji Kia Henda and funded by…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Ex-FIFA president Blatter handed new ban

WORLD

SIMON EVANS FORMER FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been handed a further six years and eight months ban from the game and fined a million Swiss francs ($1.07 million) by the body's Ethics Committee after a probe into massive bonus payments. Blatter's current ban from the game was due to expire in October but the latest ban, for ethics code violations, will take effect from that point. The latest investigation looked into World Cup bonus payments made to Blatter and a number of former top FIFA officials including former general secretary Jerome Valcke, former vice-president Julio Grondona and ex-finance director…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Libyan ‘war crimes commander’ killed

NEWS

GUNMEN assassinated an eastern Libyan commander wanted for war crimes yesterday, medics said, underscoring the risks of violent escalation on the ground that poses the biggest challenge to Libya's new unity government. 06Mahmoud al-Werfalli was shot from a car outside a hospital in Benghazi alongside two of his bodyguards, military sources said, amid growing friction between rival factions in eastern Libya. Werfalli was a commander in an elite unit attached to Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), a coalition of forces that has dominated eastern Libya in recent years. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has indicted Werfalli…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Moroccan judge orders release of historian

NEWS

A Moroccan judge has ordered the provisional release of dissident writer and rights activist Maati Monjib, who was held in custody pending an investigation into money-laundering allegations, in a case that has worried rights defenders. His release was confirmed by his lawyer Mohamed Messaoudi. Monjib has been on a hunger strike since March 4, triggering a wave of solidarity by rights groups in Morocco and abroad calling for his release. A university historian who writes frequent newspaper editorials, Monjib has often criticised Morocco's record on freedom of expression and human rights. In late December, a judge ordered Monjib to be…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenya orders closure of two refugee camps, gives ultimatum to UN agency

NEWS

KENYA has ordered the closure of two sprawling camps that host hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring Somalia and gave the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) two weeks to present a plan to do so, the interior ministry said. The Dadaab and the Kakuma refugee camps in northern Kenya together host more than 410,000 people, a small proportion of whom are from South Sudan. Authorities in Nairobi first announced their intention to shut the Dadaab camp, which is closer to the border with Somalia than Kakuma, back in 2016, citing national security concerns. Fred Matiang'i, the interior minister, has now…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Somali president, under pressure to quit

NEWS

ABDIQANI HASSANI 06THE security minister of a Somali regional administration said on Wednesday he had defected along with hundreds of troops and allied himself to President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who faces calls by rivals to quit after his term as national leader ended. Abdirashid Janan, security minister of the semi-autonomous Jubbaland state, said he had defected together with 400 troops from Jubbaland's forces, potentially bolstering the position of the president, known in Somalia by his nickname 'Farmajo'. Mohamed is facing pressures to resign, including from Jubbaland and another semi-autonomous state, Puntland. Somalia's remaining three regional governments back him. The standoff…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Congo election was ‘marred by fraud’

NEWS

A candidate in Congo Republic's presidential election has claimed that the poll was an "electoral coup" marred by vote-rigging and called on the courts to annul the result. Provisional results on Tuesday showed that President Denis Sassou Nguesso was re-elected with more than 88% of Sunday's vote, extending his 36-year rule in the Central African country. Mathias Dzon, who came third, said he will file an appeal with the constitutional court on Thursday asking that the election be annulled. He did not provide proof of fraud. Spokespeople for the government, the electoral commission and the constitutional court did not respond…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe president gets COVID-19 dose

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE's President Emmerson Mnangagwa and some opposition politicians received China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in the tourist resort of Victoria Falls yesterday as part of efforts to encourage citizens to get inoculated. Zimbabwe has registered vaccines from China, India and Russia for emergency use but none so far from Western manufacturers. In a country where suspicion and scepticism often trump facts, Mnangagwa's vaccination at a public event, together with opposition leaders, was meant to assure citizens that the vaccines were safe. The southern African nation had planned to administer the Sinopharm vaccine to 53,000 health workers and selected security forces when…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Sudan to receive Chinese vaccines

COVID-19

SUDAN will receive its first shipment of 250,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine tomorrow, according to state news agency SUNA. Sudan became the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region to receive vaccine doses through the COVAX facility this month when 828,000 doses of the shot produced by AstraZeneca arrived in the East African country.

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

The John Pombe Magufuli I knew

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

RAILA ODINGA WHEN rumours started going around about the health and whereabouts of my friend President John Pombe Magufuli, I placed several calls to him. Later, I sent him a text message. Both went unanswered. I then resigned to expect the worst while hoping I was wrong. When his death was confirmed as I was self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19, I felt the full weight of double tragedy and emotions dealt by the cruel hand of fate. It was the worst time to lose a friend and a comrade. It was a bond forged over war on corruption and…