ex-President - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

Tunisia court sentences ex-president Marzouki to 8 years in absentia

A Tunisian court sentenced former President Moncef Marzouki to eight years in prison in absentia on charges of assaulting the state security and inciting Tunisians against each other, a judicial official said. This is the second prison sentence against Marzouki, who resides in Paris after a judge sentenced him in 2021 to four years in absentia. Mohamed Zitouna, the spokesperson of the Tunis court, said the verdict was based on statements by Marzouki that included incitement in a speech he gave in Paris, without giving further details. Marzouki, who was president from 2011 to 2014, is a fierce critic of President…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Sierra Leone allows ex-president Koroma to leave country on medical grounds

NEWS

A Sierra Leone high court allowed ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma, charged this month with treason, to travel abroad on medical grounds. Koroma, 70, was charged with four offences for his alleged role in a failed military attempt to topple the West African country's government in November. There are concerns Koroma's indictment could stoke tension brought by a contentious election in which President Julius Maada Bio was reelected for a second term in June 2023. The main opposition candidate rejected the results and international partners questioned the vote. Months later, on November 26, gunmen attacked military barracks, a prison and other locations in…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

Sierra Leone ex-president Koroma summoned for questioning over failed coup

NEWS

SIERRA Leone police have summoned former president Ernest Bai Koroma for questioning as part of their investigation into a failed coup attempt on November 26, information minister Chernor Bah said in a statement. Koroma is invited to report to the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department in Freetown within 24 hours, the statement said. Koroma said he would honour the invitation. "I maintain an open mind and stand ready to support the police investigations to the fullest. Let the rule of law reign supreme in our democracy", Koroma said in a statement, calling on the public to remain calm. Gunmen…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Botswana’s ex-president Khama asks court to set aside arrest warrant

NEWS

BOTSWANA'S former president Ian Khama has filed an urgent court application seeking to strike down an arrest warrant issued against him by a magistrate last week. Khama, whose father Seretse Khama was Botswana's founding president, is in a dispute with his successor and incumbent President Mokgweetsi Masisi which resulted in him quitting the ruling Botswana Democratic Party in 2019. The warrant was issued after Khama, who has been living in South Africa since November 2021, failed to turn up in court to answer charges laid against him in April. They include unlawful possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property and…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

Burkina Faso’s ex-president Compaore to return for first time since ouster

WORLD

THIAM NDIAGA FORMER Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaore will return from exile for the first time since being ousted in a 2014 uprising, Burkinabe authorities said, despite his conviction earlier this year for complicity in his predecessor's murder. Compaore, who governed for 27 years, was invited by the ruling military junta to take part in a meeting on Friday between interim president Paul-Henri Damiba and several former presidents to discuss "questions linked to the higher interests of the nation", the presidency said in a statement. The junta seized power in a January coup that it justified by citing rising Islamist…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Ex-Sudan ruling party members arrested

NEWS

SUDANESE authorities said they arrested scores of members of the former ruling party, accusing them of plotting "acts of destruction", as young people took to the streets in separate pro-democracy protests in the capital. Police detained at least 200 members of the National Congress Party (NCP), officials said, the 32nd anniversary of the coup that brought that party's former leader, ex-President Omar al-Bashir, to power. Bashir was in turn ousted in 2019 and replaced by a shaky military-civilian transitional government that has promised to hold elections and has regularly accused NCP loyalists of trying to undermine its work and disrupt…