NEWS - The African Mirror

Jun

30

2023

UK PM Sunak dealt blow as court rules Rwanda deportation plan unlawful

NEWS

ANDREW MACASKILL, SAM TOBIN and MICHAEL HOLDEN BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government would appeal to the UK's top court after its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was deemed unlawful, a major blow to his pledge to stop asylum seekers arriving in small boats. Under an initial 140 million pound ($177 million) deal struck last year, Britain planned to send tens of thousands of asylum seekers who arrive on its shores a distance of more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) to the East African country. The government argues the plan would smash the business model of human…

Jun

30

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa to host BRICS summit despite Putin arrest warrant

NEWS, BRICS NEWS

CARIEN DU PLESSIS SOUTH Africa said it will host the BRICS bloc summit in August as planned, amid speculation that it may move to China so Russia's President Vladimir Putin can attend in a nation not obliged to arrest him on war crimes accusations. South Africa has a duty as a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Putin if he attends the talks between the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, due to an arrest warrant over the deportation of children from Ukraine. Putin denies the charges. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met with him on…

Jun

30

2023

By The African Mirror

ICRC says 125 detained Sudanese soldiers released

NEWS

THE International Committee of the Red Cross said it had facilitated the release of 125 Sudanese soldiers held by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that has been fighting Sudanese forces since April. The soldiers' release, which occurred on Wednesday, followed a request by the parties to the conflict, ICRC said. "We stand ready to act as a neutral intermediary for the release of detainees from all sides of the conflict whenever requested," Jean-Christophe Sandoz, ICRC's head of delegation in Sudan, said in a statement. The war between Sudan's army and the RSF has caused a major humanitarian…

Jun

30

2023

By The African Mirror

Sierra Leone election observers flag ‘statistical inconsistencies’

NEWS

EUROPEAN election observers in Sierra Leone said there were "statistical inconsistencies" in the presidential results published by the electoral commission, which declared President Julius Maada Bio the winner of Saturday's vote. The European Union Election Observation Mission called on the commission on Wednesday to promptly publish disaggregated results data per polling station to allow for public scrutiny of the results, without which it said transparency was compromised. Sierra Leone's chief electoral commissioner, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh, told Reuters the disaggregated results would be uploaded to the website "in due course" but that it would take time. Bio was re-elected to a second term…

Jun

29

2023

By KHALID ABDELAZIZ

Sudan: Hidden Islamic hand in war

NEWS

THOUSANDS of men who worked as intelligence operatives under former president Omar al-Bashir and have ties to his Islamist movement are fighting alongside the army in Sudan's war, three military sources and one intelligence source said, complicating efforts to end the bloodshed. The army and a paramilitary force have been battling each other in Khartoum, Darfur and elsewhere for 10 weeks in Africa's third largest country by area, displacing 2.5 million people, causing a humanitarian crisis and threatening to destabilise the region. Reinforcements for either side could deepen the conflict. The army has long denied accusations by its rivals in the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that it depends…

Jun

29

2023

By The African Mirror

EU squeezes SA citrus exports

NEWS

NEW European Union pest control rules will cut South Africa's orange exports to Europe by 20% this year, threatening thousands of jobs, the Citrus Growers Association (CGA) has said. The new measures imposed by the EU last June require enhanced cold treatment for citrus exports due to concerns over False Codling Moth, a pest commonly found in sub-Saharan Africa, and Citrus Black Spot. "Current estimates are that around 20% of oranges produced for Europe will not be shipped this year because of the new regulations," CGA president Justin Chadwick said in a statement. "This means that approximately 80,000 tons of…

Jun

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy – “Cover Up for Institutional Autonomy and Lack of Accountability”

NEWS

MANY South African universities are making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Instead of profiling their intellectual breakthroughs and recent innovations, stories of intimidation, nepotism, financial maladministration, fractious governance, and even worse – assassination attempts and actual murders – dominate our media. Not surprising then that a prevailing perception of universities ‘becoming a law unto themselves’ is taking hold in the public imagination. And that often, the reason for universities not being held to the same standards of public scrutiny is that universities hide behind academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Not so, says Prof Francis Petersen, the Vice-Chancellor and…

Jun

29

2023

By GITONGA NJERU, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Farmers are saying goodbye to blackouts and power bills

NEWS

THIRTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD Kelvin Maina Njuguna considers himself a 'full-time farmer'. He rears cows, pigs, goats, and chickens on his one-and-a-half-acre farm in Kiambu County, about 25 kilometres from Nairobi, selling meat products through three butcheries, while also growing avocados and passion fruit. Njuguna prides himself on being an 'innovative farmer who thinks outside the box'. That extends to his power consumption. "I produce electricity from animal wastes in large quantities daily and save lots of money on monthly power bills. Besides saving money, I rely one hundred per cent on green energy," said Njuguna. "I rarely experience issues like power blackouts…

Jun

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s elections eroded public trust in voting, EU observers say

NEWS

NIGERIA'S elections early this year were marred by problems that reduced public trust in electoral processes, European Union observers said in a final report, urging reforms to enhance transparency and accountability. President Bola Tinubu won the disputed February vote, whose result is being challenged in court by his two main rivals. The EU mission said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should improve in six priority areas, including removing ambiguities in electoral law, ensuring the real-time publication of and access to election results and clamping down on electoral offences. "Shortcomings in law and electoral administration hindered the conduct of well-run and inclusive elections and…

Jun

29

2023

By AMERICA HERNANDEZ

UGANDA: TotalEnergies faces 2nd lawsuit over oil projects

NEWS

FIVE activist groups have sued French oil major TotalEnergies for a second time over its projects in Uganda and Tanzania in a Paris civil court, they said, after an earlier fast-track attempt was dismissed in February. The French and Ugandan groups, led by Friends of the Earth France, accuse the energy company of failing to protect people and the environment from its Tilenga oil development and the $3.5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). Their lawsuit makes use of a 2017 French "duty of vigilance" law requiring large companies to identify risks in their global operations and supply chains, and detail strategies to prevent…