Day: September 4, 2021

BAMAKO, MALI – Mali’s interim government on Saturday condemned an armed police protest that led to the liberation of a special forces commander detained for allegedly using brute force to quash protests last year.

In a statement on public television, the government said “uniformed and armed men took to the streets to demonstrate” in a “condemnable” act.

It said the fight against impunity would continue.

Angry police officers marched on a prison in the capital, Bamako, on Friday, after a special forces commander was held as part of an investigation into the killings of protesters in 2020.

Detained commander Oumar Samake had been in prison for only a few hours before he was released, in circumstances that remain unclear.

A prison official told AFP that guards had stepped aside when the police arrived at the prison.

However, a justice ministry official who requested anonymity said that the government had ordered his release “for the sake of peace.”

The affair has generated outrage in Mali, where a leading human rights group said it constituted an “attack on democracy and the rule of law,” and former Prime Minister Moussa Mara said he was “scandalized.”

Call for respect of state

Mali’s government stressed that the investigation into the 2020 protester killings was ongoing and urged security forces to “respect the authority of the state.”

Samake had been detained for his alleged role in lethal clashes between security forces and opponents of former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last year, in a wave of protests that eventually led to Keita’s overthrow.

One such protest on July 10, 2020, sparked several days of deadly unrest.

Mali’s political opposition said at the time that 23 people were killed; the U.N. reported 14 protesters killed, including two children.

One year on, the events involving Samake’s detention underscore Mali’s deep political instability.

The military deposed Keita in August 2020 after weeks of protests fueled by grievances over corruption and Mali’s long-running jihadist conflict.

Army officers then installed a civilian-led interim government to steer Mali back toward democratic rule.

But military strongman Colonel Assimi Goita deposed these civilian leaders in May in a second coup.

Goita has pledged to restore civilian rule and stage elections in February next year. There are doubts about whether elections can be held within such a short time.

Mali has been struggling to quell a brutal jihadist insurgency that emerged in 2012 and left swaths of the vast nation outside government control.

Source: Voice of America

LUSAKA, Zambia’s parliament has elected its first female speaker, more than a week after longtime opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema was sworn in as the country’s new president.

Nelly Mutti, a lawyer based in the capital, Lusaka, was elected unopposed on Friday to replace Patrick Matibini, a retired high court judge who served as speaker for 10 years.

His tenure ended after the Aug 12 election that saw Hichilema defeat incumbent President Edgar Lungu.

Mutti was sworn in along with her two deputies – Attractor Chisangano, a member of Hichilema’s United Party for National Development (UPND), and Moses Moyo, who was elected to parliament as an independent candidate.

In his address at the ceremony, Hichilema said Mutti’s election championed the cause of women in leadership roles in Zambia.

A human rights lawyer and a former chairwoman of the country’s anti-corruption commission, Mutti will have the job to preside over a parliament where the ruling party still needs the cooperation of opposition members of parliament to make constitutional changes.

Hichilema, who has promised a “new dawn”, fired several military, police and prisons commanders just days into his rule.

The opposition and civil society groups have long accused the former government of using security apparatus to perpetrate violence and arrest critics.

Hichilema promised to let parliament operate independently and without any influence, urging legislators to give top priority to people’s welfare.

He will open the first session of Zambia’s unicameral parliament, known as the National Assembly, under Mutti’s leadership on Sept 10, where he is expected to outline his vision for his government’s five-year term.

Source: NAM News Network

TRIPOLI, Libyan President of the Presidency Council Mohamed Menfi issued orders to start an investigation into the clashes that erupted in southern Tripoli between two security forces.

The orders also included an immediate cease-fire and the return of all fighting forces to their headquarters.

“The General Commander of the Military Staff must take all necessary measures immediately against the commanders of the fighting forces, and exercise all legal powers against them,” Menfi said in a statement.

“The Military Attorney General must immediately start investigation directly with Commanders of those forces, including those who initiated the clashes, take all necessary legal measures against them, and provide us with any measures taken,” Menfi said.

He stressed the need for all security and military agencies to comply with orders and refrain from any unpermitted movements, warning that any violations are considered crimes punishable by law.

Clashes between two government security forces erupted on Thursday night near a military camp in southern Tripoli, with unknown casualties, a security source told Xinhua.

Local media showed footage of burned military vehicles in the camp.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya on Friday expressed concern over the clashes, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and calling on all parties to exercise maximum restraint.

Libya has been suffering insecurity and chaos ever since the fall of its leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Source: NAM News Network

KINSHASA, Twelve people died and 4,400 fell sick in the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) following a tailings leak from the Catoca diamond mine in Angola in July, the DRC’s environment minister said.

After a visit to Kasai province, where the Tshikapa River turned red and many fish died, Eve Bazaiba said that the DRC would ask for reparations for the damage caused but could not yet say how much it would request.

The DRC will seek reparations in line with the “polluter pays” principle, Bazaiba said.

She did not specify how exactly the 12 people died.

Kasai provincial Governor Dieudonne Pieme banned people from drinking water and eating fish from the Tshikapa River after the spill, which he said significantly depleted the river’s fish population.

Sociedade Mineira de Catoca, which manages the mine that produces 75 percent of Angola’s diamonds, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the deaths.

The company previously said it immediately took measures to minimize the flow of sediment into rivers and that it donated food baskets to affected communities to mitigate the impact of the spill.

Source: NAM News Network