Rwandan Doctor Gets 23 Years In Prison For His Part In the 1994 Genocide

 

Dr. Death

RWANDA

A French court sentenced a Rwandan doctor to 23 years in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the latest case against perpetrators of the massacre that killed more than 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the African country, Sky News reported.

The Paris court found Sosthene Munyemana guilty of charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and helping prepare a genocide.

Prosecutors accused Munyemana of taking part in local committees and meetings that organized round-ups of Tutsi civilians, adding that he “couldn’t ignore” that they were going to be killed.

The former gynecologist, a friend of the then-head of the interim government, Jean Kambanda, co-signed “a motion of support” for the administration that supervised the genocide.

He was also accused of detaining dozens of Tutsis in the office of a local administration that was “under his authority at the time,” as well as giving official instructions to local militias and residents “leading to the round-up of the Tutsis.”

Munyemana admitted that he participated in the night patrols to track Tutsis, but denied any wrongdoing. He claimed that he joined the patrols to protect the local population.

He had moved to France months after the genocide ended in July 1994, where he lived and worked until he recently retired. Members of the Rwandan community in France later identified Munyemana and lodged complaints against him.

Rwanda has accused France of “enabling” the genocide, but relations between both nations have improved in recent years as Paris has increased efforts to apprehend and prosecute individuals accused of perpetrating the killings.

Egypt's Economy Is In Terrible Shape!

 

Empty Victories

EGYPT

Egypt’s economy is in shambles. Inflation is running at a record 38 percent. Youth unemployment is 17 percent.

The country’s human rights record is dismal. Police routinely arrest government critics on charges of misinformation, according to Amnesty International. Freedom of expression, the press, and assembly have given way to government-sanctioned activities.

Meanwhile, many Egyptians, struggling to survive, have become outraged that their government is doing little while Israeli forces pound Palestinians in Gaza, which abuts Egypt, wrote Foreign Affairs. The Palestinian group Hamas, meanwhile, is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood that the Egyptian government views as a terrorist organization, the Council of Foreign Relations added. The European Union and the US have designated Hamas as a terror organization – but not the Muslim Brotherhood.

This climate would normally be terminal for a politician like Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who faces reelection on Dec. 10.

But, as the think tank the Arab Reform Initiative declared, there is little doubt that el-Sissi will emerge victorious when the polls close and the winner of the race is announced on Dec. 18.

The opposition in Egypt is moribund. A former military officer, el-Sissi ousted the North African country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi – a member of the Muslim Brotherhood – 10 years ago. Maybe because el-Sissi was nervous about the state of things worsening, he moved forward the vote from the spring of 2024 to the end of this year – a move that he claims is legal, so it is.

The economy is certainly growing worse, wrote Gillian Kennedy, a lecturer in politics and international relations at the University of Southampton, in the Conversation. She noted that, in exchange for financial aid, the International Monetary Fund has imposed a draconian austerity program on Egypt that will push many more Egyptians into poverty.

Former lawmaker Ahmed Altantawy had given heart to those who dreamed that the democratic process would yield new leadership. Altantawy earned fame by openly criticizing el-Sissi in parliament.

In October, however, he quit, reported Africa News, saying that he and his supporters had suffered weeks of harassment and arrests that prevented them from compiling the signatures of 20 lawmakers, or 25,000 citizens, that he’d need to have for his candidacy for the presidency officially registered.

“Those trying to submit endorsements for candidates other than el-Sissi had found public notary offices inaccessible and protected by pro-government activists or thugs,” wrote Reuters.

The war in Gaza shows no signs of stopping, either, as an Israel-Hamas ceasefire ended. El-Sissi recently called on the international community to recognize a Palestinian state, reported the Arab News. He has already said an independent Palestine should be demilitarized, noted Al Jazeera. Israel would almost certainly reject the former proposal while Hamas would almost certainly reject the latter.

Yet el-Sissi is a winner.

Natural Gas Discovered In Zimabawe!!!!

 https://on.ft.com/3TgbG3O

Eskom: The intelligence report | Carte Blanche | M-Net

The Ancient City Of Punt In Eritrea Confirmed ByMummified Baboons

 

DISCOVERIES

Location Found

A new DNA study from mummified baboons in ancient Egypt is helping scientists uncover a mysterious port city previously not found on any maps, Live Science reported.

Ancient Egyptians associated baboons with an underworld deity known as Babi, and the god of wisdom and magic, Thoth – who was sometimes depicted with the head of the animal.

They kept the animals in captivity and sometimes mummified them as offerings to the gods.

But baboons are not native to ancient Egypt and historical documents had suggested that the animals were traded from a land known as Punt.

In a 2020 paper, scientists analyzed the teeth of mummified baboons dating back to Egypt’s New Kingdom between 1550 and 1070 BCE. Their findings suggested that the animals originated from a region encompassing modern-day Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia – the first evidence of Punt.

Now, another research team extracted DNA from a mummified baboon dating to between 800 and 540 BCE. They then compared it with the genetics of 14 baboons from the 19th and 20th centuries whose origins were known.

The team wrote that the primate was most closely related to populations from modern-day coastal Eritrea. They explained that the area is close to the ancient port city of Adulis, suggesting that the baboon trade took place there.

“Maybe the earlier Punt was in a similar location to where Adulis was (later) established,” said lead author Gisela Kopp.

Kopp and her colleagues noted that the research only focused on one baboon, but hope that studies like this on other species could reveal more about other ancient Egyptian imports and their impact on wild populations.

Madagascar Has A Presidential Election

 

A Hard Pill

MADAGASCAR

Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina won Madagascar’s presidential election this month, a vote that was marked by low turnout, boycotting, and street protests from the opposition, Al Jazeera reported.

The country’s election body (CENI) announced Saturday that Rajoelina had secured a third term in office after winning nearly 59 percent of the vote.

Even so, other candidates decried the outcome, saying that the vote was marred by irregularities, such as intimidation of polling officials and use of public resources by the governing party. Voter turnout was 46.4 percent, which the opposition called the lowest one in Madagascar’s history.

Opposition lawmaker Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko – who came in second with more than 14 percent of the vote – filed two requests to the country’s highest court to cancel the election result and disqualify Rajoelina.

Thirteen candidates initially campaigned before the election, but only three participated in the Nov. 16 poll.

The other 10 opposition contenders – known as “le Collectif des 10” – urged voters not to participate in the polls and launched a series of demonstrations. The boycott came after CENI refused their request to postpone the vote so that the state could appoint independent officials to the electoral body.

The opposition also alleged that Rajoelina should not participate in the race because he acquired French nationality in 2014 – which they say automatically revokes his Malagasy one – and had created unfair election conditions.

It is now up to the constitutional court to confirm the final results within nine days of CENI’s announcement of the provisional results.

Rajoelina first came to power following a 2009 coup. Subsequently, he resigned after nearly five years as the head of a transitional authority, only to reclaim the presidency by winning the 2018 election.

South Africa: Oscar Pistorius Wins Parole From His 15 Year Muder Sentence! He Will Be released January 5, 2024.

 

Oscar Pistorius, Olympic Athlete Convicted of Murder, Will Be Released on Parole

The South African sprinter, who garnered global headlines after killing his girlfriend in 2013, will be released in January.

Oscar Pistorius arriving at the Pretoria High Court in 2016. A parole board granted Mr. Pistorius’s petition on the basis that he had served half of his 15-year sentence.Credit...John Wessels/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Lynsey Chutel

Nov. 24, 2023Updated 7:05 a.m. ET

Oscar Pistorius, a once inspirational figure who gained international fame as an Olympic sprinter for South Africa before he was convicted of murdering his girlfriend, will be released on parole, the authorities said on Friday.

A parole board granted Mr. Pistorius’s petition on the basis that he had served half of his 15-year sentence he received for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home a decade ago, making him eligible for parole according to South African law.

The Department of Correctional Services said in a statement that Mr. Pistorius was a “first-time offender, with a positive support system” and therefore met the requirements for parole, after a hearing at the Atteridgeville Correctional Center outside South Africa’s administrative capital, Pretoria.

Before his downfall, Mr. Pistorius was celebrated in South Africa and around the world as an athlete who had overcome personal adversity as a double amputee and fought for the right to compete in the Olympics, earning the nickname the Blade Runner for the carbon-fiber prosthetic blades that he used to race.

ADVERTISEMENT

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Mr. Pistorius, 37, will be released on Jan. 5, the statement said.

In March, the board denied Mr. Pistorius’s parole based on a technicality: The authorities had miscalculated whether he had served the minimum required period of detention, the Department of Correctional Services said at the time.

The calculation was based on a misunderstanding of when Mr. Pistorius’ sentence for murder began. Mr. Pistorius was initially convicted of manslaughter, but prosecutors appealed, and his conviction was upgraded to murder.

An appeals court increased his sentence from six years to 15 years in prison, the minimum recommended by South African law for unpremeditated murder.

Mr. Pistorius’s lawyers asked South Africa’s Constitutional Court, the highest decision-making body in the country, to rule on the parole matter. In October, the court ruled that Mr. Pistorius had served the minimum term and ordered correctional services to hear his parole petition.

The legal uncertainty recalls the complexities of Mr. Pistorius’s trial and eventual conviction for the killing of his girlfriend, Ms. Steenkamp, who was 29 at the time. Mr. Pistorius shot Ms. Steenkamp, a model, through a locked bathroom door in the predawn hours of Feb. 14 in 2013.

Editors’ Picks

Why We’re Still Breathing Dirty Indoor Air

Keep Thanksgiving Going With This Leftover Turkey Soup

100 Notable Books of 2023

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

He maintained that her death was an accident and that he had fired his gun in the belief that an intruder had entered his upscale home in a Pretoria security estate.

Image

Mr. Pistorius was convicted for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.Credit...Lucky Nxumalo/CITYPRESS, via Associated Press

Prosecutors argued that Mr. Pistorius had killed Ms. Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in a jealous rage after an argument. During the trial, they pointed to text messages in which Ms. Steenkamp said she was afraid of Mr. Pistorius’ temper as evidence of a volatile relationship between the couple.

As part of the parole-consideration process, the board heard from Ms. Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp. During the March hearing, the Steenkamp family lobbied against Mr. Pistorius’s bid for freedom.

June Steenkamp did not attend the hearing, nor did she oppose parole for Mr. Pistorius, but she did question whether he had been rehabilitated. In a statement, she recalled evidence of Mr. Pistorius’s temper, including the text messages and testimonies from former partners.

ADVERTISEMENT

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

“I do not know to what extent his bad behavior still exists or were evident during his time of incarceration,’’ she said in a statement, read by Rob Matthews, a family friend whose daughter was also murdered by a partner, “but I’m concerned for the safety of any woman should this not have been addressed in his rehabilitation process.”

Ms. Steenkamp’s father, Barry Steenkamp, died in September at 80. In media interviews before his death, Mr. Steenkamp maintained that Mr. Pistorius had deliberately shot his daughter.

Mr. Pistorius had been celebrated as an inspirational figure. He was born without a fibula in either of his legs, the bone that runs between the knee and ankle, beside the tibia. His legs were amputated before his first birthday, and before his second birthday, he was walking on prosthetics.

By age 17, Mr. Pistorius had won gold medals in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. Despite continued wins in the Paralympics games, Mr. Pistorius was determined to compete against able-bodied athletes.

The world athletic body, the I.A.A.F., rejected his bid to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but, after winning an appeal, he later qualified for and was allowed to compete in the London Games.

ADVERTISEMENT

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

He ran the 400 meters at the 2012 Olympics in London, becoming the first double amputee to compete in the Olympic Games. The fact that he did not win any medals did little to diminish his global profile.

His success on the track also brought wealth and a degree of infamy: He earned more than $1 million in endorsements with major brands and made headlines for crashing his boat in 2008 and for his extravagant taste in pets (two African white tigers).

He also earned a spot on People Magazine’s sexiest athletes list, while he and Ms. Steenkamp regularly walked the red carpet in South Africa.

Lynsey Chutel covers Southern Africa from the Johannesburg bureau and also writes about Africa for The Times's international morning newsletters. She previously worked for Foreign Policy, Quartz and the Associated Press. More about Lynsey Chutel