NEWS - The African Mirror

Nov

02

2020

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli says to work with rivals after tainted poll

NEWS

TANZANIA’S President John Magufuli has promised to work with his rivals after a landslide victory in an election his leading opponent described as a travesty and the United States said was marred by widespread irregularities. The overture comes ahead of demonstrations that opposition has called for to protest against the poll's results. "I will be the servant of all Tanzanians. I would like to thank my fellow presidential contestants for participating," Magufuli said at a function in the capital Dodoma where he formally accepted the results. According to results announced by the country's poll body on Friday, Magufuli secured 84%…

Nov

01

2020

By The African Mirror

He waited 512 days behind bars for his day in court. It never came

NEWS

LINDA SO and GRANT SMITH FROM his jail cell, Chinedu Efoagui sent a plea. "I'm innocent," he wrote his lawyer. "Have all the charges dropped." Born in Nigeria, Efoagui, 38, had been declared a gifted student by the Ministry of Education. He earned a master's degree in computer science and won the visa lottery in 2012, securing a legal path to the United States, where he became a software programmer. "It was a dream come true," said his sister Chioma. He had never been in trouble with the law when he was arrested in 2016 in Georgia after a bizarre…

Nov

01

2020

By The African Mirror

Ivory Coast votes for president in test of post-war stability

NEWS

AARON ROSS, ANGE ABOA and LOUCOUMANE COULIBALY VOTING has started in Ivory Coast as President Alassane Ouattara seeks a third term in an election two rival candidates have urged their supporters to boycott. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara. Picture: Flickr Former president Henri Konan Bedie Pascal Affi N'Guessan - Ivory Coast - Photo: Wikimedia Commons The streets of the commercial capital Abidjan were quiet and largely empty in contrast to the sometimes violent run-up to the election, which is seen as a test of stability in Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer and one of Africa's fastest-growing economies. In…

Nov

01

2020

By The African Mirror

Sudan says agrees with U.S. on restoring of sovereign immunity

NEWS

SUDAN and the United States signed an agreement to restore the African country's sovereign immunity, the Sudanese Ministry of Justice has announced. The ministry said in a statement the agreement will settle cases brought against Sudan in U.S. courts, including for the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, for which Sudan has agreed to pay $335 million to victims. The deal is part of a U.S. pledge to remove Sudan from its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, which goes back to its toppled Islamist ruler Omar al-Bashir when Washington believed the country was supporting…

Nov

01

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. special forces rescue American held in Niger

NEWS

IDREE ALI U.S. special forces have rescued an American citizen who had been kidnapped by armed men in an operation in northern Niger that is believed to have killed several of his captors, U.S. officials said. Forces including Navy SEALs rescued 27-year-old Philip Walton, who had been abducted on Tuesday from his home in neighbouring southern Niger, two U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity, adding that no U.S. troops were hurt. A diplomat source in Niger said Walton is now at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Niamey. "Big win for our very elite U.S. Special Forces today," U.S. President…

Nov

01

2020

By The African Mirror

Spanish police arrest Moroccan man for praising beheading of French teacher

NEWS

A Moroccan man was arrested in Barcelona for praising the beheading of a French school teacher outside Paris this month and inciting more attacks, police have announced. The man, who was not named, posted messages on social media in support of the October 16 murder of Samuel Paty, Catalan regional police said. Paty was killed outside his school in a Paris suburb by an 18-year-old Chechen who was apparently incensed by the teacher showing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in class. Police shot the attacker dead. "Police officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested a man of Moroccan nationality,…

Nov

01

2020

By The African Mirror

Suspected Islamists kill 17 civilians in eastern Congo raid

NEWS

ASSAILANTS have killed at least 17 people in a raid on a village in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said, blaming fighters from an Islamist militia group. The army confirmed the attack in the Buliki area of North Kivu province, but declined to give a death toll. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan armed group active in eastern Congo since the 1990s, has killed more than 1,000 civilians since the start of 2019, according to U.N. figures, despite repeated military campaigns to destroy it. "Everything happened yesterday between 8 p.m. and midnight - the…

Oct

15

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa puts public works, jobs at heart of COVID-19 recovery plan

NEWS

WENDELL ROELF and ALEXANDER WINNING SOUTH Africa will embark on a massive public works and job-creation drive in response to the coronavirus crisis, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said, unveiling a plan to return Africa's most industrialised economy to growth. Under pressure after data showed the largest-ever GDP contraction in the second quarter, Ramaphosa said his plan could unlock more than R1- trillion ($60 billion) in investment over the next four years and create more than 800,000 jobs. He said modelling by the National Treasury showed it could raise annual economic growth to an average of around 3% over the next…

Oct

14

2020

By The African Mirror

Namibia weighs demands for rape crackdown after street protests

NEWS

NDAPEWOSHALI SHAPWANALE STREET protests that led to the arrest of 25 women's rights activists in Namibia at the weekend have prompted the government to launch an urgent review to consider their demands for tougher penalties for rape and sexual abuse. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Windhoek, the city of Walvis Bay and a town north of the capital, Otjiwarongo, after police said they believed they had found the remains of a 20-year-old woman who went missing earlier this year. Police detained 25 demonstrators, including two journalists, on Saturday for violating the country's coronavirus lockdown curbs, but the…

Oct

14

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s police to stop using force against protesters – presidency

NEWS

TIFE OWOLABI and FELIX ONUAH NIGERIA’S police have agreed to stop using force against protesters, the presidency has announced, a day after law enforcement agents shot live fire at demonstrators in Lagos where an official said two people were killed. Demonstrators have been calling for almost a week for law enforcement to halt the use of force against them, but marches demanding the end of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit have been met with beatings, tear gas and gunfire. Protesters continued to demand a police overhaul despite President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday vowing "extensive police reforms". On Sunday…