NEWS - The African Mirror

Nov

04

2020

Ethiopia sends army into opposition Tigray region

NEWS

GIULIA PARAVICINI and DAWIT ENDESHAW ETHIOPIA said on Wednesday it has begun military operations in the Tigray region after the prime minister accused the local government of attacking federal troops. In September, Tigray held regional elections in defiance of the federal government, which called the vote “illegal”. The row has escalated in recent days with both sides accusing each other of plotting a military conflict. Military operations in the region had commenced, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s spokeswoman Billene Seyoum told Reuters, without giving further details. Earlier on Wednesday, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attempted to steal artillery and other…

Nov

04

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigerian workers protest over pay at Africa’s largest oil refinery near Lagos

NEWS

NIGERIAN workers have demonstrated over pay issues outside the site of what will be Africa's largest oil refinery, the owner Dangote Industries Ltd said, at a time of heightened tensions in the country over police brutality. In its statement, Dangote said the protesters were not company employees but subcontractors locked in a pay dispute with their employers. "The situation is under control as we are mediating with the parties involved," said the statement, which gave no further information. Twitter posts showed several dozen people gathered at what appeared to be the site of the planned refinery and said the protesters…

Nov

04

2020

By The African Mirror

South African commission condemns killing of activist who opposed coal mine

NEWS

THE South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has condemned what it described as the "cold-blooded murder" of environmental activist Fikile Ntshangase. Ntshangase, a vocal opponent of one of South Africa's largest open coal mines in the coastal province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, was involved in legal proceedings against the expansion of the venture at the time of her death, the SAHRC said. "The (SAHRC) is deeply shocked and strongly condemns the cold-blooded murder of environmental human rights defender Fikile Ntshangase," it said, adding no arrests had been made in relation to her death. It said human rights activists, especially in mining…

Nov

04

2020

By The African Mirror

Ivory Coast police surround opposition leaders’ houses

NEWS

ANGE ABOA POLICE in Ivory Coast surrounded the houses of two of President Alassane Ouattara's main rivals on Tuesday after the government accused them of sedition for creating a parallel administration in defiance of Ouattara's landslide win in Saturday's election. It was not immediately clear if anyone had been arrested. But the moves deepened a bitter standoff over the president's bid for a third term that has cost more than 35 lives since August, including at least five during election day on Saturday. Outside the residence of former president Henri Konan Bedie in the commercial capital Abidjan, officers rolled tear…

Nov

04

2020

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe police again arrest journalist critical of government

NEWS

ZIMBABWEAN police have arrested for the second time a journalist who has been critical of the government, his lawyer said, adding this time it was for contempt of court related to a post he made on Twitter. Hopewell Chin'ono was first arrested in July on charges of writing in support of anti-government protests. He was detained for more than a month at a maximum security prison until he was released on bail on Sept. 2, with one of the conditions being that he stop posting on his Twitter account until his case was finalised. But Chin'ono opened a new Twitter account,…

Nov

04

2020

By The African Mirror

Over 40 feared dead after boat carrying Mozambique conflict victims sinks

NEWS

MORE than 40 people were feared to have drowned in Mozambique's conflict-torn north after their boat sank, the administrator of an island district has announced. Almost 400,000 people have fled their homes in the northernmost province of Cabo Delgado, according to the World Food Programme. Home to gas projects worth some $60 billion, the province is also the target of an Islamist insurgency with links to Islamic State that has flourished since 2017. The boat was carrying 74 people fleeing the violence when it sank on Sunday in the Indian Ocean between the islands of Ibo and Matemo, just north…

Nov

04

2020

By The African Mirror

Gambian survivors to speak out in film about rape under ex-president Jammeh

NEWS

NELLIE PEYTON A former beauty queen who testified she was raped by Gambia's ex-president Yahya Jammeh is making a documentary to tell the stories of other women sexually abused under the former regime. Fatou Jallow, known as Toufah, said the film will feature up to ten women, most of whom testified alongside her at Gambia's Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), often being shamed and rejected as liars after speaking out publicly. The 24-year-old captured the tiny West African nation's attention last year when she told a live-broadcast hearing that she was locked in a room and violently assaulted by…

Nov

03

2020

By The African Mirror

Uganda opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine arrested – party

NEWS

UGANDAN opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine was arrested on Tuesday after handing in his nomination papers to the election body, his party's spokesman said. "They (police) used a hammer and broke the windows of his vehicle and forcefully dragged him out ... they bundled him into their own vehicle and took off," Joel Senyonyi, spokesman for the NUP party, said, adding he did not know why Wine was arrested. Police spokesman Luke Owoyesigire said he had yet to receive a briefing on the arrest and promised to comment later. Wine, 38, a musician turned politician whose real name is Robert…

Nov

03

2020

By The African Mirror

Scorned by Trump, many Nigerians love him all the same

NEWS

ANGELA UKOMADU and LIBBY GEORGE HUNDREDS of men and women marched, clad in T-shirts supporting U.S. President Donald Trump or pink fabric dresses bearing the image of Jesus, as they waved American flags, Republican presidential campaign signs, and even a few Nigerian flags. The rally, after all, was in Onitsha, a city in eastern Nigeria. Trump has disparaged African nations, calling them "shithole countries" and saying Africans would never leave the United States if allowed in. This year, he added Nigeria and five other countries when he expanded visa curbs. But millions in Africa's most populous nation love the bombastic…

Nov

03

2020

By The African Mirror

Lawyer surrenders, accused of bribing witnesses in ICC case against Kenya VP

NEWS

A lawyer turned himself in to Dutch authorities to face accusations at the International Criminal Court of bribing witnesses in a trial of Kenyan Vice President William Ruto which collapsed four years ago. Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru was wanted on an ICC arrest warrant dating from 2015 that accused him of trying to bribe six prosecution witnesses to recant testimony in the case. Ruto and his co-accused, broadcaster Joshua Sang, were both charged with fomenting ethnic violence after a disputed 2007 election when 1,200 people died. Judges ruled in 2016 that they had no case to answer, although they left…