Day: September 4, 2021

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Worst Tripoli fighting in a year tests Libya ceasefire

TRIPOLI, Fighting broke out in Tripoli early on Friday between rival armed forces, witnesses said, the heaviest clashes in the Libyan capital since the conflict between eastern and western factions paused a year ago.

A resident of the Salah al-Din district in southern Tripoli said the shooting began at about 2:30 am and continued through the morning with medium and light weapons. There was no immediate report of casualties.

Despite a ceasefire and the progress earlier this year towards a political solution to Libya’s crisis, there has been no movement towards integrating its myriad armed groups into a unified national military.

The new fighting pitted the 444 Brigade against the Stabilisation Support Force, two of the main forces in Tripoli, a witness said.

It follows major clashes last month in the city of Zawiya, west of Tripoli, and smaller incidents of friction or clashes inside the capital including a gunfight this week at a state institution.

In eastern Libya, controlled by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), there have also been shootings and other incidents of violence in recent months.

Libya has had little peace since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi, and in 2014 it divided between the warring eastern and western factions.

However, they agreed to a ceasefire last year and a new unity government that both sides backed was installed in March to prepare for national elections in December, moves seen as the best chance for peace in years.

The Tripoli-based unity government has, however, struggled to unify state institutions or prepare for elections, with the eastern-based parliament rejecting its budget and failing to agree on a constitutional basis for a vote.

Meanwhile, Morocco’s foreign minister has called on the Libyan parties to arrange for presidential and legislative elections in a timely manner, adding that the country’s stability depends on it.

Nasser Bourita’s remarks came during a joint news conference with Libya’s Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh on Thursday, following a meeting in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

For his part, Saleh called on neighboring countries and the international community to support Libya holding elections on time and said the situation in Libya would be worse if elections were to be postponed.

Source: NAM News Network

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Ivory Coast announce ‘major discovery’ of Oil

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, a modest hydrocarbon producer, announced the “major discovery” of oil and natural gas off its coast during an exploratory drilling carried out by the Italian hydrocarbon giant Eni.

“A major discovery of oil in the sedimentary basin of Ivory Coaast has just been made by the Italian company Eni in the CI-101 block, in deep waters, operated in consortium with the national company Petroci Holding,” said Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Thomas Camara.

The reserves discovered concern crude oil and associated natural gas.

The potential “can be estimated in a preliminary way to about 1.5 to 2 billion barrels of crude oil on the one hand, and on the other hand to about 1,800 to 2,400 billion cubic feet of associated gas,” said Camara, reporting “a significant discovery that would greatly increase the proven reserves of Ivory Coast, as well as its oil and gas production in the years to come”.

The 3,445-metre-deep well was drilled about 60 kilometres off the coast in 30 days, Italy’s Eni said. The firm added that it would now carry out a further evaluation of the wider potential of the find.

Ivory Coast had signed contracts in 2019 with Italy’s Eni and France’s Total, for the exploration of four oil blocks corresponding to an investment of $ 185 million.

Oil production in the country, which in 2019 recorded an increase of 12% to more than 36,000 barrels per day, comes from drilling wells located mainly offshore, near the border with Ghana.

The west African nation, a modest producer, revised its oil code in 2015 to attract new investors through production sharing contracts. The country has 51 identified fields, of which four are producing, 26 are in exploration and 21 are still free or under negotiation.

In 2014, the French group Total had mentioned a “very promising result” about its research in very deep waters off the coast of Ivory Coast.

In addition to Total and Eni, several international companies, including Britain’s Tullow Oil, have announced significant discoveries in recent years.

Source: NAM News Network

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Covid-19: Africa’s cases surpass 7.84 mln – Africa CDC

ADDIS ABABA, The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 7,844,232 as of Friday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the African Union, said the death toll from the pandemic across the continent stands at 197,986.

Some 7,015,476 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease so far, it was noted.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia are among the countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the agency.

In terms of the caseload, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, while central Africa is the least affected region in the continent, it was noted.

Source: NAM News Network

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Cholera epidemic kills more than 100 people in Niger

NIAMEY, A cholera epidemic has killed 104 people in Niger among 2,874 patients reported in six regions of the country, including the capital Niamey, the Ministry of Health announced Friday.

On Aug 19, the ministry had reported 845 cases and 35 deaths in Niamey and four regions, Maradi (south-east), Zinder (south-central), Dosso (south-west), and Tahoua (south-west), all of which border Nigeria, which is also affected by the disease.

The region of Tillabéri (west), in the “three borders” zone between Niger, Burkina, and Mali, the scene of regular jihadist attacks, is also affected, according to the ministry.

As of Sept 1, the death toll had risen to 104 out of 2,874 patients and “a case-fatality rate of 4%,” according to figures released Friday by the Ministry of Health’s Epidemic Surveillance and Response Directorate.

The age group between 15 and 37 years is the most affected by the epidemic, says the ministry, which announced “the extinction” of ten “outbreaks” out of the 28 “active” throughout the country.

With the support of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the UN, and the European Union, Niger is trying to curb the epidemic by multiplying awareness campaigns, distributing products to treat water, and disinfecting public places, public transport, and wells in infected villages.

Stocks of medicines and rapid screening tests have been sent to the affected regions where the sick are being treated free of charge in isolation sites, the Nigerien government says.

The health authorities call on the population “to urgently present themselves in a health center” as soon as “signs” of cholera appear, including “diarrhea and vomiting”.

Due to floods linked to heavy rains that have hit Niger since June, experts fear an outbreak of this highly contagious diarrheal disease caused by the ingestion of contaminated food or water.

In 2018, a previous cholera outbreak resulted in 78 deaths out of 3,824 cases reported in Niger, mainly in areas close to Nigeria, according to the WHO.

Source: NAM News Network

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Liberian Newspaper Receives Court Summons Over Reporting

A judge in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, has ordered the arrest of a newspaper’s managers this week after FrontPage Africa allegedly failed to respond to a summons.

The paper’s publisher and editor-in-chief, Rodney Sieh, told VOA that the summons was delivered Monday when no one was at the paper’s offices, and that it gave managers only 90 minutes’ notice that they were due to meet with a judge.

The summons relates to the investigative outlet’s coverage of former defense minister Brownie Samukai’s conviction in a corruption case. A Supreme Court last month upheld a lower court’s verdict that found Samukai guilty of embezzling millions from the pension fund of Liberia’s armed forces.

Circuit court judge Ousman Feika alleges that FrontPage Africa incorrectly reported his role in presiding over the case.

“I think (Feika’s) issue was the initial case was submitted by his predecessor. That was the only discrepancy. But we did not print any false article against the judge,” Sieh told VOA.

Liberia’s judiciary did not respond to a request for comment sent through its web portal. An email sent to the address listed on its website was returned as undeliverable.

Sieh said that the judge wanted FrontPage Africa’s managers to meet with him to explain their coverage of the trial.

Because of pandemic restrictions, the paper’s staff currently work from home. The first they heard of the summons was when they received the arrest order, Sieh said.

“The only person (in) the office was the security,” Sieh said, adding that the time the meeting was scheduled made it “nearly impossible for anyone to appear in court.”

“I think the judge was very excessive in this decision to have us arrested,” he said. The publisher added that the paper has not arranged legal representation because it has still not officially received the summons.

In a letter to its readers, FrontPage Africa pleaded with Liberia’s chief justice “to ensure that the judicial branch use its power for those who need it the most, and not to muzzle, intimidate or instill fears in members of the Fourth Estate.”

Media rights organizations criticized the court order. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said on social media it was dismayed by the order to arrest the management, and called on the judge to focus on criminals, not journalists who are exposing corruption.

Liberia has a relatively stable media freedom record. The country ranks 98 out of 180 countries, where 1 is freest on the index published by Reporters Without Borders.

The media watchdog has noted that Liberia moved to decriminalize defamation, but that some outlets, including FrontPage Africa, face legal harassment over investigative reporting.

Source: Voice of America

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Kenya to Appeal to Supreme Court Over Constitutional Reforms

The Kenyan government said on Friday it will go to the country’s top court to challenge a ruling that halted President Uhuru Kenyatta’s bid to change the constitution, a source of growing controversy ahead of next year’s polls.

The sweeping reforms — popularly known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI)– have been touted as a way to end repeated cycles of election violence by expanding the executive and parliament to more evenly divide the spoils of victory.

But a High Court in Nairobi in May ruled that the proposed amendments to the 2010 constitution were illegal and that Kenyatta could himself face legal action for launching the process.

The government challenged that judgement, but the Court of Appeal on August 20 confirmed it in a majority decision by the seven-member panel.

It said Kenyatta had no right to initiate the changes, which could have dramatically shifted the political landscape with less than a year before the country votes in August 9 presidential and parliamentary elections.

In a notice of appeal filed at the Supreme Court on Friday, the attorney general’s office said it was “dissatisfied” with the August 20 decision and will launch a final attempt to introduce the controversial legislation.

It listed eight grounds for challenging the ruling, including the judgement that civil proceedings could be instituted against the president.

The proposed reforms came about following a rapprochement between Kenyatta and his erstwhile opponent Raila Odinga and a famous handshake between the two men after post-election fighting in 2017 claimed dozens of lives.

The BBI notably aimed to restructure the current winner-takes-all electoral system by creating new executive posts and increase the number of parliamentarians from 290 to 360.

But it was seen by critics as a way to enable Kenyatta — who has served two terms and is barred from running for president again — to remain in power by establishing the post of prime minister.

Source: Voice of America

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Amnesty International: South Sudan Facing ‘New Wave of Repression’

South Sudan is witnessing a “new wave of repression”, global rights group Amnesty International warned Friday, with many activists now in hiding after a string of arrests in the conflict-wracked country.

The world’s newest nation has suffered from chronic instability since independence in 2011, with a coalition of civil society groups urging the government to step down, saying they have “had enough”.

The authorities have taken a tough line against such demands in recent weeks, arresting eight activists as well as detaining three journalists and two employees of a pro-democracy non-profit, according to rights groups.

“We are witnessing a new wave of repression emerging in South Sudan targeting the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southern Africa.

The clampdown followed a declaration last month by the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA) calling for a peaceful public uprising.

The PCCA had urged the public to join its protest on Monday in the capital Juba but the city fell silent as the authorities branded the demonstration “illegal” and deployed heavily-armed security forces to monitor the streets for any sign of opposition.

“Peaceful protests must be facilitated rather than cracked down upon or prevented with arrests, harassment, heavy security deployment or any other punitive measures,” Muchena said in a statement.

The rights group noted that many activists had faced harassment since the aborted demonstration, “with some suspecting they were being surveilled by security forces”.

The authorities have also shut down a radio station and a think tank in connection with the protests.

‘Undisguised hostility’

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, on Friday condemned the closure of the radio station and called for “an immediate end to the harassment of South Sudanese reporters”.

“The undisguised hostility of the authorities towards the media highlights how difficult it is for journalists to cover politics in South Sudan, where at least ten have been killed since 2014,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk.

South Sudan is ranked 139th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

In a statement released on Friday, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Norway urged the South Sudan government to protect “the rights of citizens… to express their views in a peaceful manner, without fear of arrest”.

Since achieving independence from Sudan in 2011, the young nation has been in the throes of a chronic economic and political crisis, and is struggling to recover from the aftermath of a five-year civil war that left nearly 400,000 people dead.

Although a 2018 cease-fire and power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar still largely holds, it is being sorely tested, with little progress made in fulfilling the terms of the peace process.

The PCCA — a broad-based coalition of activists, academics, lawyers and former government officials — has described the current regime as “a bankrupt political system that has become so dangerous and has subjected our people to immense suffering.”

Source: Voice of America