NEWS - The African Mirror

Jan

11

2024

How an election-packed 2024 could swing world markets

NEWS

COUNTRIES making up over 60% of the world's economic output and more than half of its population hold elections this year. Markets face a "ballot box bombshell", financial services group Morningstar says, adding: "Prior experience of this kind of event risk shows big changes can cause sell-offs". Here's a look at the elections that matter for markets, in roughly chronological order for the coming year. 1/ TAIWAN Date: Jan 13 Back story: Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is competing mainly with the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) for the presidency and legislature. A DPP win would be the third consecutive victory for a…

Jan

11

2024

By The African Mirror

Morocco wins vote to lead UN human rights body after showdown with S.Africa

NEWS

MOROCCO won a vote to lead the United Nations Human Rights Council after a heated showdown with South Africa, which said Rabat's human rights record made it unfit to preside over the body. The Moroccan candidate, Ambassador Omar Zniber, received 30 votes, and his South African opponent, Ambassador Mxolisi Nkosi, secured 17 in a secret ballot in Geneva. Before the vote, Nkosi told Reuters that Morocco was the "antithesis of what the council stands for" and said the country's election would undermine the body's credibility. Morocco, in turn, accused South Africa and some other African states of undermining its efforts to hold…

Jan

11

2024

By The African Mirror

De Beers approves $1 billion spending at Botswana mine

NEWS

Global diamond giant De Beers said it will go ahead with a planned $1 billion investment to extend the life of its flagship Jwaneng mine in Botswana, even as last year's downturn in gem demand persists. The Anglo American unit and the Botswana government, which jointly own Debswana Diamond Company, have approved the spending that will convert the Jwaneng pit into an underground operation. Debswana said in 2018 it planned an investment to extend the lifespan of the mine by 11 years from 2024. De Beers said the spending is necessary as the long-term supply of rough gems is expected to…

Jan

10

2024

By The African Mirror

Niger tribunal grants ousted president’s son provisional release from house arrest

NEWS

NIGER'S military tribunal granted the son of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, Mohamed Bazoum Salem, provisional release from house arrest in the capital Niamey, it said in a statement. Salem, 23, has been in detention at the presidential residence with his parents since his father was toppled during a military coup in July. The coup, one of eight in West and Central Africa since 2020, was widely condemned, led to sanctions from the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), and prompted widespread calls for Bazoum's release and a return to democratic rule. The tribunal did not provide details on the…

Jan

10

2024

By The African Mirror

Congo arrests six soldiers accused of killing civilians

NEWS

AUTHORITIES in the Democratic Republic of Congo have arrested six soldiers who are accused of the indiscriminate killing of four civilians during militia clashes in the east. The clashes took place in the rural district of Mangina, near Beni, on Monday, the army said in a statement on Tuesday. Security had deteriorated there since last month when a member of the provincial assembly encouraged young people to take up arms, forming a small-scale militia to oppose the army, the statement from local army spokesperson Antony Mwalushayi said. The parliamentarian named in the statement, Alain Siwako, denied this. He told Reuters…

Jan

10

2024

By The African Mirror

Spanish court closes torture probe into Equatorial Guinean president’s son

NEWS

SPAIN'S High Court has ended its investigation into Equatorial Guinean minister Carmelo Ovono Obiang over the alleged kidnapping and torture of two opposition leaders with Spanish citizenship, it said. Obiang, son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and two other senior Guinean officials were accused of kidnapping four members of the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea Third Republic (MLGE3R), a Spain-based opposition group, while they were on a trip to South Sudan in 2019. In a complaint filed with Spain's High Court in 2020, the MLGE3R alleged that the four - two of whom were Spanish citizens - were…

Jan

10

2024

By ISAAC ANYAOGU

Nigeria destroys record $11.2 million in seized elephant tusks

NEWS

NIGERIA destroyed 2.5 tonnes of seized elephant tusks valued at over 9.9 billion naira ($11.2 million) in a push to protect its dwindling elephant population from rampant wildlife traffickers. Over the past three decades, Nigeria's elephant population has declined drastically from an estimated 1,500 to less than 400 due to poaching for ivory, habitat loss and human-elephant conflict, according to conservationists. Minister of State for Environment Iziaq Salako said the government crushed the tusks and will use the powder to build a symbolic national park monument as a reminder of the importance of elephants in the ecosystem. The pulverization of…

Jan

10

2024

By The African Mirror

In rare African split, South Africa battling Morocco to lead UN rights body

NEWS

SOUTH Africa and Morocco are at loggerheads over the presidency of the United Nations' top human rights body ahead of a vote, with the former saying Rabat has committed violations in Western Sahara and has no credibility to lead the body. For only the second time in the U.N. Human Rights Council's 17-year history, it has been left without a president at the start of the year and it will select one in a secret ballot. It is a rare public dispute in the African group whose turn it is to lead the 47-member council. It normally strives to make…

Jan

09

2024

By EMMA FARGE

Gambian ex-minister faces rape, torture charges in long-awaited Swiss trial

NEWS

A former Gambian minister under ousted dictator Yahya Jammeh went on trial in Switzerland for crimes against humanity in a milestone case where a serial rape victim will testify after a multi-decade wait for justice. Former interior minister Ousman Sonko becomes the highest-ranking official to be tried in Europe under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows grave crimes to be prosecuted anywhere, said the Swiss campaign group TRIAL International which filed the complaint against him. Nine Gambian plaintiffs are coming to Switzerland for the hearing at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona. Binta Jamba, one of the plaintiffs who…

Jan

09

2024

By The African Mirror

Congo governor tells security forces to leave home of presidential runner-up Katumbi

NEWS

AUTHORITIES in the Democratic Republic of Congo ordered security forces to leave the home of main opposition politician Moise Katumbi, which they had surrounded in what the provincial governor called a "faux pas". A spokesman for Katumbi, who came second in disputed presidential elections last month, said earlier on Monday that security forces had surrounded his secondary home in the southern province of Upper Katanga, where the politician is staying, and were preventing him from leaving. Provincial Governor Jacques Kyabula Katwe condemned the incident, saying it was a "faux pas" committed by some law enforcement authorities to protect the property…