Month: October 2023

Four women died in a late-night stampede on Friday outside a stadium in Kericho, western Kenya, where President William Ruto presided over “Heroes’ Day” celebrations a few hours later, police said.

The incident occurred at around 03:00 local time (00:00 GMT) when a woman selling tea outside the Kericho Green Stadium accidentally spilled some on a fire, causing a stampede as a large crowd waited to enter the stadium for the festivities scheduled for the morning.

“Several people were injured and taken to the Kericho County referral hospital In the said hospital, four unidentified women were confirmed dead”, said a police report consulted by Africanewsguru.com.

The number of people injured was not specified.

“There was a stampede caused by a lady selling tea outside the stadium who accidentally spilt hot tea into a fire near gate C along the public highway. Members of the public panicked and mistook this for tear gas being thrown at them”, the report detailed.

The festivities for this public holiday took place as planned on Friday morning in the 10,000-capacity stadium, including a speech by William Ruto.

Celebrated on 20 October, “Heroes’ Day” pays tribute in particular to the fighters who took part in the struggle for Kenya’s independence, achieved in 1963.

Niger’s military leaders say they have foiled an attempt by ousted president Mohamed Bazoum to escape their custody on Thursday.

Bazoum, who was overthrown by the military on July 26, attempted to flee in the night with his family, cooks and security, according to the regime’s spokesman Amadou Abdramane.

Abdramane said that the escape bid failed and “the main actors and some of the accomplices” were arrested.

An investigation has also been launched.

The escape plan had involved Bazoum at first getting to a hideout on the outskirts of the capital Niamey, said Abdramane.

The former leader had then planned to fly out on helicopters belonging to a foreign power.

Since being overthrown, Bazoum had been held at the presidential palace in the capital Niamey, alongside his wife and son.

In September, his lawyers said he filed a legal case with a court of the Economic Community of West African States against those who deposed him and were also taking his case to the UN Human Rights Council.

The attempted escape comes as the first group of French troops arrived in neighbouring Chad on Thursday, after being ordered out by Niger’s military rulers.

France has continued to support the ousted leader since the coup and is calling for his release.

The sinking of a boat called a “whaler” on Friday on the Congo River left at least 47 dead and an unknown number missing, the Minister of Transport of the Democratic Republic of Congo said Monday evening.

The previous report communicated on Sunday by the authorities of the province of Equateur (north-west) reported at least 28 dead and dozens missing.

According to information collected early Monday afternoon by the river commissioner on site, “we had 47 bodies recovered”, declared the Minister of Transport, Marc Ekila , during a press briefing with his counterpart from the Communication and government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya .

“As the boat was in an irregular situation, we were unable to have the manifest to determine exactly the number of passengers who were on board,” he added.

The accident was due to “overloading”, according to the minister, who also recalled that “wooden boats” were not authorized to sail at night.

The “whaler” was leaving Mbandaka for the territory of Bolomba , in the province of Équateur, when it capsized during the night from Friday to Saturday.

“We have asked the provincial authorities to set up a commission of inquiry,” added the Minister of Transport.

Waterway

A large country in Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo has very few passable roads and travel is often done on lakes as well as on the Congo River and its tributaries.

Shipwrecks are frequent there, with often heavy tolls.

According to the report of Friday’s council of ministers, President Félix Tshisekedi asked the government to “do everything possible to avoid shipwrecks the main causes of which are in particular the overload of passengers and goods, the poor marking of waterways, night navigation as well as non-compliance of boats with regulations.

According to him, “an action plan” is needed so that the Congo River plays a “driving role in economic development” as a waterway.

President Félix Tshisekedi, in power since early 2019, is a candidate for re-election next December,

Kenyan Titus Ekiru, winner of the Milan marathon in May 2021, received a ten-year suspension for doping and obstructing the investigation, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced on Monday.

The 31-year-old athlete tested positive for a doping substance after his surprise victory in Milan, where he had just won the marathon in a stunning time of 2 hours 2 min 57 sec. He had another positive test in November of the same year in Abu Dhabi, the AIU said in a press release.

Ekiru had claimed that this abnormality was the result of legal medical treatment for his injuries.

A little-known athlete, Ekiru surprised the specialists of the event with an exceptional time equal to the old world record of his compatriot Denis Kimetto (2h02:57 also, in 2014), improved twice by Eliud Kipchoge (in 2018 then in 2022) and finally beaten by Kelvin Kiptum on October 8 in Chicago (2h00:35).

Ekiru was initially provisionally suspended on June 28, 2022, for the use of triamcinolone acetonide – a glucocorticoid completely banned since January 2022 – and pethidine (narcotic). Confirmation of his suspension means he will be banned from racing until 2032.

The AIU added that the Kenyan was stripped of his titles, as well as his results since the Milan race and all prizes gleaned are lost.

The ban follows a “thorough investigation” that revealed deliberate fraud by Ekiru to obstruct the AIU investigation and collusion with a doctor at a Kenyan hospital, the agency said.

“Initially, Ekiru expressed his intention to contest the allegations. But confused by substantial evidence against him, the Kenyan athlete decided not to pursue the proceedings,” the text adds.

The body has asked the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) to refer the doctor to the country’s criminal authorities for further investigation.

Kenya has seen a surge in doping cases that have tarnished its reputation as an athletic powerhouse. Nearly 70 athletes – mainly long-distance runners – have been banned over the past five years.

Bomb attacks on churches by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) jihadists were foiled on Sunday in Uganda, some 50km west of the capital Kampala, President Yoweri Museveni announced.

Two explosive devices that the ADF, rebels who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, “were planning to plant in the churches of Kibibi  were reported to the police and defused”, wrote the Ugandan head of state on X (formerly Twitter).

Earlier on Sunday, 79-year-old Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1986, said that Ugandan forces had carried out air strikes against ADF positions in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo the previous day. “It seems that many terrorists have been killed”, he wrote on X, without giving further details.

The President warned that the ADF could “attempt to commit random acts of terrorism” in Uganda following these air strikes.

In September, Ugandan police claimed to have foiled a bomb attack on a cathedral in Kampala and arrested the man suspected of trying to activate the explosive device among worshippers.

In June, members of the ADF killed 42 people, including 37 pupils, at a secondary school in western Uganda close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It was the deadliest attack in Uganda since the double bombing in Kampala in 2010, which killed 76 people in a raid claimed by the Somali-based Islamist group Shebab.

In its latest report published in June, the UN Group of Experts on the DRC stated that the EI had “provided financial support to the ADF since at least 2019, through a complex financial system involving individuals in several countries on the continent, emanating from Somalia and passing through South Africa, Kenya and Uganda”.

Originally Ugandan rebels with a majority of Muslims, established in the DRC since the 1990s, the ADF pledged allegiance in 2019 to the EI, which claims responsibility for some of their actions and presents them as its “central African province” (Iscap in English).

Uganda and the DRC launched a joint offensive in 2021 to drive the ADF out of their Congolese strongholds, but have so far failed to put an end to the group’s attacks.