NEWS - The African Mirror

Jun

02

2023

Senegal presidential aspirant Sonko sentenced to prison, sparking protests

NEWS

FRESH unrest hit Senegal's capital Dakar after a court sentenced a leading opposition politician, Ousmane Sonko, to two years in jail for corrupting the youth, undermining his chances of running for president next year. Sonko, 48, was accused of raping a woman who worked in a massage parlour in 2021, when she was 20, and making death threats against her. He denies wrongdoing and says the charges are politically motivated. A criminal court cleared Sonko of rape but found him guilty of a separate offence described in the penal code as immoral behaviour towards individuals younger than 21. This could…

Jun

02

2023

By GLORIA DICKIE

Exclusive: Vulture surveillance system alerts Zambian park to poachers

NEWS

LION and leopard populations in Zambia's Kafue National Park are showing signs of a modest comeback following decades of poaching, helped by expanded protection strategies, including an innovative vulture early-warning system. Big cat densities across Kafue, measured broadly for the first time by global conservation organisation Panthera, remained stable and in some cases increased from 2018 to 2022, according to a new report shared exclusively with Reuters. While a dearth of historical population data makes it difficult to track changes over a longer time period, since 2018 scientists are "starting to see strong indications that those populations are trending upwards…

Jun

02

2023

By TAREK AMARA and ANGUS MCDOWALL

Tunisia’s financial crisis leaves the sick struggling to find medicine

NEWS

SICK Tunisians face a frantic struggle to find some medicines because the cash-strapped state has reduced imports, leaving doctors unable to control debilitating health problems and patients turning to informal markets for their medication. "The issue of missing medicine has become very hard for patients. We have a real problem with some medicines for which there are no generics available," said Douha Maaoui Faourati, a Tunis doctor specialising in kidney and blood pressure disease. Faourati has had to ask patients to try to get drugs from Europe, including ones used to control dangerously irregular heartbeat, swelling and clotting, for which…

Jun

02

2023

By EMMA FARGE

Swiss court confirms historic war crimes ruling against Liberia warlord

NEWS

A Swiss court upheld a guilty verdict for war crimes in the case of a former Liberian rebel commander and convicted him of crimes against humanity in a landmark case. Alieu Kosiah, who fought in the 1990s against then-President Charles Taylor's army, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2021 for rape, murder and cannibalism in Switzerland's first ever war crimes trial. Those charges and others were upheld by the court although he was acquitted of ordering and inflicting cruel treatment, the Swiss Federal Court's appeal bench said in a statement. Four of his acts were deemed crimes…

Jun

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisia: Judge starts new probe into politicians

NEWS

A Tunisian judge has opened a new investigation into political figures including major opponents of President Kais Saied on suspicion of conspiring against state security, a lawyer for one of them said. The case comes after a wave of arrests of opposition figures over recent months that Saied's critics have attacked as a political clampdown, which he denies, and may spur fears of more detentions. The 20 people accused in the new case include the main opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi, who is already in prison, former prime minister Youssef Chahed and Saied's former chief of staff Nadia Akacha, said the lawyer, Nadia…

Jun

01

2023

By MACDONALD DZIRUTWE and MACDONALD DZIRUTWE

Nigeria: Petrol price to triple

NEWS

NIGERIA'S state oil firm NNPC Ltd hiked petrol prices to as high as 557 naira ($1.21) per litre from 189 naira, days after new President Bola Tinubu said fuel subsidies would be scrapped. The increase signals an end to the fuel subsidy regime that the NNPC says costs it $867 million every month. Nigerians will have to brace for higher transport fares while businesses which rely on petrol generators because the grid electricity supply is meagre, face higher costs. NNPC said in a statement that petrol prices were being adjusted "in line with the current market realities." "It is pertinent to…

Jun

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Russia dares the West, signals Putin will visit SA

NEWS

THE Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia would take part at the "proper level" in a planned summit in South Africa of the BRICS nations, responding to a question on whether President Vladimir Putin would attend the gathering. South Africa, a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), would theoretically be required to arrest Putin under a warrant issued by the court for his arrest for alleged war crimes. However, it has invited Putin to the August 22-24 summit of the BRICS grouping of emerging economies, which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. "Russia attaches enormous importance to…

May

31

2023

By The African Mirror

Libya court sentences 23 to death for Islamic State campaign

NEWS

A Libyan court sentenced 23 people to death and another 14 to life in prison for their role in a deadly Islamic State militant campaign that included beheading a group of Egyptian Christians and seizing the city of Sirte in 2015. The Attorney General's office said in a statement that one other person was sentenced to 12 years in prison, six to 10 years, one to five years and six to three years while five were acquitted and three others died before their case came to trial. Islamic State's Libyan branch was one of the militant group's strongest outside its…

Jun

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe to hold general election on Aug. 23

NEWS

ZIMBABWE will hold its presidential and parliamentary elections on August 23, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said, as the southern African country continues to battle a raging economic crisis. Mnangagwa, elected president in 2018, will be seeking a second term in office. His election followed a military coup that deposed Robert Mugabe in 2017. The 80-year-old's main rival is lawyer and pastor Nelson Chamisa, 45, who leads the newly formed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). The election proclamation comes amid parliamentary debates over electoral reforms. Chamisa's party is demanding access to and an audit of the voters' roll, as well as public…

Jun

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Central African Republic plans referendum on scrapping presidential term limits

NEWS

CENTRAL African Republic's President Faustin-Archange Touadera said he would hold a referendum in July on his intention to change the constitution and remove term limits. Touadera's allies proposed the change in May last year, arguing that presidential term limits were uncommon in many neighbouring countries. Critics and opposition parties held protests last year as the reform would allow Touadera to run again in 2025 for a third term. The president installed a commission to draft the proposed changes in September. But the country's top court ruled the committee unconstitutional and annulled it. In an address to the nation on Tuesday, Touadera…