Month: June 2024

The interrogation of Samuel Eto’o comes ten months after he was accused of ivolvement in match-fixing by players.

The President of Cameroon’s Football Federation had a session with the disciplinary panel of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Tuesday.

There was no word on how he pleaded. The questioning took place behind closed doors.

The allegations contend that Eto’o irregularly helped one club to rise to the top of the Cameroonian League two years ago. His accusers say they have supplied evidence pinning the former Barcelona player to CAF.

The match-fixing charge is not the only one bothering Eto’o.

His accusers also lodged a compliant with FIFA citing unethical behavior over an ambassadorial deal he secured with a sports betting company.

If found guilty, Eto’o faces no less than a lifetime suspension from football.

Eto’o was elected head of Cameroon’s football federation in December 2021.

Mauritanians head to the polls on Saturday in an election which shines a spotlight on the country’s deep divisions, as incumbent President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani seeks a second term amid a regional security crisis and ongoing allegations of human rights abuses taking place in the country.

Ghazouani, from an Arab Mauritanian family, is a former army chief who came to power in 2019 following the first democratic transition in the country’s history.

Last year, his El Insaf party scored a crushing victory in the legislative election, taking 107 of the 176 seats in the National Assembly.

Though Ghazouani is widely expected to win the election, his main opposition is Biram Dah Abeid, a Black anti-slavery activist who has accused him of gross mismanagement of the country. Abeid says Ghazouani has cultivated a culture of “corruption, the pillage of wealth, and repression of the population” ahead of his last campaign rally on Thursday.

“The population is hungry. The population is thirsty. Unemployment has ruined the youth. This is why the youth have emigrated in the thousands or tens of thousands,” he said.

Abeid says he is against the agreement Mauritania holds with the European Union to crack down on migration to Europe, calling it an agreement “that will serve neither the European Union, nor Mauritania.”

Mauritania’s agreement with the EU and similar agreements with North African countries have been criticized for alleged human rights abuses against migrants that have occurred under them.

Mauritania is no stranger to human rights abuse accusations, as it was the last country in the world to abolish slavery in 1981. But the practice continues, human rights groups said, with around 149,000 people in modern slavery in this nation of less than 5 million, according to the 2023 Global Slavery Index.

“Slavery is a central question in Mauritania,” Abeid said from his party headquarters in the capital Nouakchott.

“Given the status of slavery in society, the status of a slave, the status of a free man, and especially the status of the men who hold these slaves. It’s ingrained in Mauritanian values, which is why slavery continues to plague Mauritania in such a massive way,” he said.

Abeid himself is descended from slaves. His grandmother was a slave “until her death,” he said, and his father later married a slave and saw his wife and their two children sold before his eyes.

“My father was driven by the fight against slavery and he left this legacy. I promised him that I would fight against slavery all my life, and that is what I am doing,” he said.

The Cameroonian government announced on Wednesday the adoption of measures to caution the country from the resurgence of Covid-19 cases, observed in some European, Middle Eastern, and African countries.

According to a statement from the Cameroonian Minister of Health, all travelers arriving from foreign countries shall be required to systematically fill out identification forms at airports.

Testing is being reintroduced at airports, but it is currently prioritized for travelers returning from the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Measures that were previously implemented at the peak of COVID-19 infections are being reinstated, including wearing masks in case of flu-like symptoms, hand hygiene, and regular disinfection of common areas.

Finally, the government states that it has the necessary capacity to detect cases and provide free care throughout the territory.

The first Covid-19 case was recorded in Cameroon in March 2020. According to the Ministry of Public Health, this pandemic has caused the death of 1,974 people out of a total of more than 120,000 infections in the country.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Friday that Parliament will open for its next term on July 18 as he remains locked in negotiations with other parties to form a Cabinet well before then amid rifts in the new governing coalition.

The talks to seal the final details of a multi-party government and appoint a Cabinet have been going on for two weeks and have been marked by disagreements between Ramaphosa’s African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance, the second biggest party, over how to divide up ministerial positions and portfolios.

Correspondence between the two former political foes has been leaked, showing the tensions.

In one of the letters, Ramaphosa wrote to DA leader John Steenhuisen accusing his party of “moving the goalposts” by increasing its demand from six Cabinet positions to eight, and thereby jeopardizing the coalition agreement. The DA says the ANC had reneged on a promise to allow it to take control of the important Department of Trade and Industry.

Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen have also had face-to-face meetings in recent days.

The issues underline the warnings from analysts that a coalition bringing the ANC and DA together to govern Africa’s most industrialized country would be complicated. The ANC had been the ruling party and the DA the main opposition and its fiercest critic for more than 20 years before the May 29 election that created an unprecedented situation for South African politics. They have starkly different ideologies.

The ANC lost its dominance and the parliamentary majority it had held ever since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994 in last month’s election and has been forced to share power for the first time. It won 40% of the vote and the DA 21%.

Although eight smaller parties have also joined the coalition, which is being called a government of national unity, the ANC and the DA are the key players and its success relies on them finding common ground.

South African media has reported that the DA may be on the verge of walking away from the power-sharing agreement, but ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula one of his party’s lead negotiators moved to dispel that Friday by writing on social media site X that the parties were “almost done” with the final agreement. “It will be done as promised,” he added, and would be “in the best interests of all South Africans.”

South Africa’s currency and investor confidence strengthened after the ANC and DA signed a preliminary agreement to work together in a coalition on June 14. That deal also allowed Ramaphosa to be reelected by lawmakers for a second term as president just hours later with cross-party support.

Both parties had said the coalition would be a new era of political unity that would help solve the country’s vast socioeconomic problems, which include some of the highest rates of inequality and unemployment in the world. But the delay in announcing a Cabinet and a new government getting to work has eroded some of the optimism.

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have responded to a significant increase in mpox cases and the emergence of a more virulent strain by approving the use of two new vaccines.

Since the start of last year, Congo has reported over 20,000 cases of mpox , with more than 1,000 deaths, primarily affecting children. Mpox, a viral infection spread through close contact, presents flu-like symptoms and can lead to pus-filled lesions, with severe cases proving fatal.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and scientists recently highlighted a new, more dangerous strain spreading in Congo’s South Kivu province. In response, regulatory authorities have granted emergency use authorization for two vaccines: Jynneos, developed by Bavarian Nordic, and LC16, produced by KM Biologics. This decision follows rigorous evaluation by relevant authorities and stakeholders involved in the authorization process.

Congo, one of the world’s poorest countries, first reported a human case of Mpox in 1970 but has historically lacked widespread access to vaccines or treatments for the disease, except through limited clinical trials.

Defense chiefs of West Africa on Thursday, June 27 proposed a plan to deploy a 5,000-strong “standby force” to fight the region’s worsening security crises, a measure that analysts say might not work due to challenges of funding and division within the regional bloc.

The plan, which will cost $2.6 billion annually, was proposed to heads of state at a meeting of defense officials in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja. The plan was also aimed at preventing further coups following a string of military takeovers that have destabilized the region, Nigeria’s Defense Minister Mohammed Badaru said.

Thursday’s meeting is the first time the bloc is mapping out publicly the financing of its long-talked-about standby force. However, analysts identified challenges it might face, including the shortage of funds from member states required to contribute money and securing the support of coup-hit countries most affected by the security crises.

“More than ever, we are at a pivotal moment in the history of our community to address insecurity,” said Omar Alieu Touray, president of the regional bloc of ECOWAS Commission, as he urged member-states to support the force. Their proposals are expected to be considered at the upcoming summit of the regional heads of state.

The resurgence of coups in West and Central Africa – with four of its nations being run by military governments – has divided the 15-nation ECOWAS and destabilized the region, especially the coup-hit countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, which are worst-hit by the deadly violence now spreading to coastal nations.

ECOWAS has unsuccessfully tried to return democracies in these countries. Their best shot with now-lifted economic sanctions resulted in the three coup-hit countries withdrawing their membership and opening more windows for Russian mercenaries in the region.

Touray, the ECOWAS commission president, said the bloc invited officials from the coup-hit countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to attend Thursday’s meeting and join in forming such a force. It was not immediately clear if the countries would agree to this.

“I don’t think ECOWAS has the capacity to launch military interventions without foreign assistance,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

Such a standby force can only work if ECOWAS gets the commitment of all its member states and if the bloc maps out a strategy to deal with Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, said Kars de Bruijne, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute think tank.

“Delivering (on such plans) has been the issue with ECOWAS for a long time,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed his Congolese counterpart Denis Sassou Nguesso in the Kremlin on Thursday. Sassou is the latest African leader to visit Moscow, which has stepped up ties with African nations since 2022.

The Russian leader Sassou Nguesso’s contribution to developing Russian-Congolese ties.

“You personally have done a lot for the development of Russian-Congolese relations. You took part in two Russia-Africa summits, and you are making the necessary efforts to develop our cooperation in almost all areas, I mean the political level, and recently trade and economic relations have been noticeably developing. We are grateful to you for your joint work on the international stage. Overall, everything is working out for us,” said Putin.

Sassou-Nguesso has been in Russia since Tuesday. This is his second trip to the country in less than a year. Last July, he traveled to Saint Petersburg to attend the Russia-Africa summit.

This trip is expected to culminate in the signing of agreements on energy, trade and security cooperation.

“We would like to discuss with you and other officials the best way to advance the cooperation between our countries in all the fields, including economy, finance, defense, and security. We need security nowadays,” said Sassou Nguesso.

Putin also awarded Sassou Nguesso with an Order of Honor for his contribution to developing Russian-Congolese ties.

Russia has worked to bolster ties with African countries in a bid to counter western sanctions and isolation over the war in Ukraine.

Most African nations have adopted a neutral stance on the conflict, calling instead for a ceasefire and peace talks.

The International Criminal Court has convicted an al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist leader of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Mali’s Timbuktu.

Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed  was accused of playing a key role in a reign of terror unleashed by insurgents on the historic desert city in northern Mali in 2012.

He was accused of involvement in crimes including rape, torture, persecution, enforced marriages and sexual slavery. Prosecutors say he was a key member of Ansar Dine, an Islamic extremist group with links to al-Qaida that held power in northern Mali at the time.

Al Hassan faces up to life imprisonment when a sentence is handed down at a later date.

Prosecutors say he was a key member of Ansar Dine, an Islamic extremist group with links to al-Qaida that held power in northern Mali at the time.

Women and girls suffered in particular under Ansar Dine’s repressive regime, facing corporal punishment and imprisonment, the court’s then-chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said at the start of Al Hassan’s trial nearly four years ago.

“Many were forced into marriage,” Bensouda said. “Confined against their will and repeatedly raped by members of the armed group.” Al Hassan was involved in organizing such marriages, the prosecutor told judges.

She cited one rape victim as saying, “All that was left of me was a corpse.”

Defence lawyer Melinda Taylor told judges that Al Hassan was a member of the Islamic police force who was “obliged to respect and execute the decisions of the Islamic tribunal. This is what the police around the world do.”

In Timbuktu, victims of Ansar Dine crimes were awaiting the verdicts and possible compensation.

“We are waiting and hoping for a judgment that will give us justice,” said Yehia Hamma Cissé, president of a group of victims’ associations in the Timbuktu region.

“Members of our associations have been raped, had their hands cut off, been whipped, and we would like to be compensated,” he said.

The court made a reparation order following the 2016 conviction of an Ansar Dine member, Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi. He was sentenced to nine years imprisonment for attacking nine mausoleums and a mosque door in Timbuktu in 2012.

A French-led military operation in 2013 forced Al Hassan and others from power.

Mali, along with its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance instead.

Col. Assimi Goita, who took charge in Mali after a second coup in 2021, promised to return the country to democracy in early 2024. But in September, the junta cancelled elections scheduled for February 2024 indefinitely, citing the need for further technical preparations.

The verdicts in Al Hassan’s case were delayed by some six months due to the illness of one of the judges in his trial.