NEWS - The African Mirror

Mar

26

2021

U.N. forced labour drive hits target with backing of 50 nations

NEWS

THE world has reached a "major milestone" in the drive to combat modern slavery after Sudan became the fiftieth country to back a United Nations treaty against forced labour, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has said. The legally binding 2014 pact - a protocol to the 1930 ILO Forced Labour Convention - compels nations to enact measures to prevent forced labour, protect victims and provide compensation. The ILO - with the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) - has led the "50 for Freedom" campaign to encourage governments to ratify the protocol and raise…

Mar

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Armed groups attack Mozambique ‘gas town’

NEWS

ARMED groups yesterday attacked the northern Mozambique town closest to gas projects worth some $60 billion, two sources told Reuters, striking ever closer to developments that have already stalled due to security problems. The attack on the town of Palma, less than 25 by road from a construction camp for the gas developments led by oil majors like Total, happened on the same day that the French company announced it would gradually resume works at the site after suspending them due to nearby attacks. Mozambique's northern-most province of Cabo Delgado has since 2017 been home to a festering Islamist insurgency…

Mar

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Ramaphosa to testify at state capture commission

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa is to testify over four days at the judicial commission into state capture, fraud and corruption. The South African presidency confirmed today that Ramaphosa will appear before the commission, chaired by Deputy Judge President Raymond Zondo, from April 22-29. The presidency said Ramaphosa will testify in his capacity as President and former Deputy President of the Republic and as President and former Deputy President of the African National Congress. “This is in line with the President’s many public statements in which he has expressed his willingness to testify before the Commission,” the…

Mar

26

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Confront your colonial past’

NEWS

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

25

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

25

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

25

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

25

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

25

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…

Oct

20

2021

By The African Mirror

INSIGHT-Facebook shuts fake accounts in Sudan, as fight for public opinion rages online

NEWS

NAFISA ELTAHIR, MALAIKA TAPPER and KHALID ABDELAZIZ FACEBOOK says it has shut down two large networks targeting users in Sudan in recent months, as civilian and military leaders spar with one another over the future of an interim power-sharing arrangement. The battle for public opinion, much of it happening online, is intensifying as Sudan reels from economic crisis and a shaky transition to democracy following 30 years under President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in a popular uprising in 2019. Facebook said one of the networks of inauthentic pages it took down was linked to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces…