Guinea: Its Junta Suspends Opposition Parties Ahead Of Constitutional Referendum

Guinea’s Junta Suspends Opposition Parties Ahead of Constitutional Referendum Guinea Guinea’s military government over the weekend suspended the country’s three main opposition parties, including the party of ousted former President Alpha Condé, ahead of a constitutional referendum that critics warn could help the junta consolidate power, Al Jazeera reported. The order released Saturday names the Rally of the Guinean People, led by Condé; the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea, led by former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo; and the Party of Renewal and Progress. All three are barred from taking part in any political activity for 90 days. The suspension came as Guinea prepares for mass protests starting Sept. 5 against a constitutional referendum slated for Sept. 21 that opposition parties and civil society groups consider an attempt by junta leader Gen. Mamady Doumbouya to grab further power, according to Africanews. Parties had been allowed to advertise their proposals for a new version of the constitution since Friday. But in a separate order, the junta announced that the start of the election campaign period would be delayed by a week to Aug. 31. Critics say the effort to rewrite the constitution could allow Doumbouya to run for president despite a previous ban established in the “transition charter” drafted by the junta after the 2021 coup that ousted Condé. Such protests have been banned by the military government since 2022, and it has already arrested, prosecuted, or forced into exile a number of opposition leaders. Earlier this year, dozens of other parties were suspended or dissolved for failing to meet new regulations. According to analysts, this new suspension solidifies the conviction of Guinea’s opposition parties that the transitional government was never working to protect democracy, despite Doumbouya’s promises to give more space to political parties and civil society. International rights groups have condemned the junta’s harsh actions, warning that Guinea’s fragile democracy is at risk as the country undergoes this critical transition.

South African Breeder Is Accused of $14 Million Rhino Horn Smuggling Ring

South African breeder is accused of $14 million rhino horn smuggling ring By Michelle Gumede, 10 hours ago South AfricaRhino Syndicate Crime Invision South African prosecutors have accused a well-known rhino breeder of operating a global rhino horn smuggling network alongside five other people. John Hume, 83, owns one of the world's largest rhino herds at his Johannesburg ranch. He and the others are accused of a scheme involving 964 rhino horns valued at $14.1 million. Hume has not publicly commented. Hume was granted $5,000 bond by the Pretoria magistrates court, according to the National Prosecuting Authority, after he and the others handed themselves over to police on Tuesday. Bail conditions included turning over their passports. Prosecutors said they next appear in court on Dec. 9. A seven-year investigation by South African authorities found the suspects allegedly secured permits under false pretenses to buy and sell rhino horns domestically while funneling the horns into illegal markets in Southeast Asia. Under South African law, domestic trade is permitted with valid permits. However, international commercial trade in rhino horn is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. According to a blog promoting the private reserve that he opened in 2009, Hume and his staff at Rhinos of Buffalo Dream Ranch care for over 1,600 rhinos, including over 1,000 that have been bred there. The six suspects, including a lawyer, insurance broker and game reserve manager, are charged with 55 counts including racketeering, fraud, theft and money laundering. The country's environment minister, Dion George, called the investigation “a powerful demonstration of South Africa’s resolve to protect its natural heritage.” South Africa fights an ongoing battle to protect endangered rhinos, with a reported 103 killed between Jan. 1 and March 31, according to the government. Authorities have focused in recent years on criminal syndicates they believe are behind much of the poaching. The country has the world's largest rhino population with an estimated 16,000 to 18,000, according to conservation groups. That includes white rhinos and the critically endangered black ones.

Angola: Nothing To Lose Protestors Will Continue Despite Crack Down

Nothing to Lose: Frustrated Angolans Say They Will Continue Protests Despite Crackdowns Angola A few weeks ago, the National Association of Taxi Drivers of Angola called a strike to protest a 33 percent increase in the price of fuel in the capital city of Luanda. The local police department, however, banned the strike, calling it a rebellion. The strike morphed into a popular uprising in Angola, one of Africa’s leading oil producers. Thousands of people hit the streets in cities across the country for three days to protest the ban, the petrol price increase, and the rising cost of living. “The fuel price issue is just the last straw that has reignited widespread public discontent,” Laura Macedo, who was participating in the protests, told the BBC. “Hunger is rife. People are fed up.” There were violent clashes between protesters and police, who used live ammunition and accused the strike leaders of terrorism. When the violence was over, dozens lay dead, hundreds more were injured, and more than 1,000 had been jailed. Analysts say such events are routine for Angola, which has been ruled with an iron fist by the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975. But many Angolans are tired of the situation now, say observers. “The protesters are frustrated not only by the fuel hike, but also …the perceived indifference of the government to the struggles of everyday Angolans,” wrote Deutsche Welle. The government says the petrol price hike is necessary: Subsidies for fuel account for about 4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and debt exceeds 60 percent of GDP. It adds that the crackdown was justified because of the looting and vandalism that occurred during the protests, calling the unrest “unpatriotic” and a threat to “unity, reconciliation, peace and progress.” But observers say almost all protests, no matter how peaceful, elicit harsh responses. For example, earlier this year, the Angolan Student Movement took to the streets to demand more investment in public education and improved conditions for teachers and students. Police responded with violence and arrested at least 50 students and three journalists covering the protest. A protest in early July against the rise in fuel prices and the elimination of subsidies for public transportation was also met with excessive force, wrote Human Rights Watch. Desperate conditions in Angola mean that protesters are going to keep coming back, say analysts. The capital may be full of gleaming skyscrapers and colonial architecture, but that shiny exterior hides grim statistics. Despite its oil-rich soil, Angola’s minimum monthly wage is under $76, one of the lowest globally. The average person earns $200 a month, and more than 80 percent of those with jobs work in the informal sector. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate among 15-24 years old is 54 percent. As a result, the MPLA has sunk deeply in the polls. President João Lourenço came to power after a disputed election in 2017, replacing José Eduardo dos Santos, who ran the country for 38 years. Lourenço promised to reform the economy, restore democracy, and crack down on corruption. But midway through his second and final term, he hasn’t delivered, observers say. Instead, the opposition has made gains, with the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) winning the capital in the 2022 elections and the MPLA just barely squeezing out a majority nationwide. Now some worry that the protests will continue and become more violent, eliciting harsher crackdowns and threatening the stability of the country. “A greater use of force won’t stop future protests,” David Boio, a sociology professor in the central Angolan city of Huambo told Bloomberg. “These young people have nothing to lose.”

Fighting Resumes Between The Congo and M23 Rebels Despite Cease Fire

Fighting Resumes Between DRC and M23 Rebels Despite Ceasefire Democratic Republic of the Congo / Rwanda Fighting has broken out between the Congolese army and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), despite agreeing to a ceasefire last month, Le Monde reported. The DRC and the M23 rebels, which have been clashing since Friday near the town of Mulamba in the South Kivu province, signed a declaration of principles in Qatar on July 19 and a permanent ceasefire following a US-brokered peace agreement between the DRC and Rwanda in late June. M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka accused the DRC on Monday of “offensive military maneuvers with a view to a large-scale conflict.” On Tuesday, the DRC army said daily attacks by M23 were taking place and that it “reserved the right to respond,” added France 24. According to the declaration of principles, the DRC and the M23 rebels committed to a ban on aerial, ground, maritime, and lake-based attacks, as well as acts of sabotage, hate propaganda, and any attempt to gain new ground by force. The deal also held a provision to restore DRC authority across the eastern part of the country held by the M23 rebels. M23 has gained significant territory in resource-rich eastern DRC after it invaded the region earlier this year, also taking the regional centers of Goma and Bukavu. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Nigerian Military Target Bandit Group Terrorizing Local Population

Nigerian Military Target Bandit Group Terrorizing Local Population Nigeria The Nigerian military launched air and ground raids over the weekend that killed more than 100 gunmen, known locally as bandits, suspected to be members of criminal gangs operating in the northwestern Zamfara state, the BBC reported. The air force said it conducted the raid Sunday in the restive Zamfara state’s Bukkuyum area, where fighter jets and ground troops targeted a gathering of more than 400 gang members at their camp in the Makakkari forest. The operation aimed to eliminate the gunmen, suspected of carrying out high-profile kidnappings in the region, after surveillance detected the bandits preparing to attack a farming village. A spokesperson for the air force said the strikes killed several notorious bandit leaders and dozens of their soldiers, including some trying to flee the area, according to France 24 Armed groups of bandits have plagued communities in northwest and central Nigeria for years, attacking villages, abducting residents for ransom, and setting homes on fire after looting them. In the past two weeks, armed gangs have attacked nearby settlements, leaving dozens of people dead and abducting numerous others. In an attack on Bukkuyum’s Adabka village Friday, an unknown number of residents were kidnapped and at least 13 members of security forces were killed. Nigeria’s banditry crisis began as a dispute over land and water rights between herders and farmers but has now morphed into an organized crime war, with gangs targeting rural communities that have little to no government support. In these impoverished areas, cattle rustling and kidnapping are lucrative activities, while the gangs also impose taxes on farmers and artisanal miners. The conflict is worsening malnutrition in the northwest by forcing people to abandon their farms, a situation further complicated by climate change and Western aid cuts. The violence has persisted despite efforts by the government, with analysts explaining that the military is stretched thin while bandits expand beyond their stronghold in the northwest into central Nigeria. Bandits, mostly driven by financial gain, have been teaming up with Nigeria’s jihadist groups, which have been engaged in a separate armed insurgency in the northeast for the past 16 years.

(2 Year Old Belgian Nobleman To BE Tried For The Murder Of The Leader Of The Congo Over 60 Years Ago

The Long Arc of Atonement: Belgium to Try Nonagenarian Nobleman For Six-Decade-Old Congolese Murder Belgium On June 30, 1960, Patrice Lumumba gave a landmark speech at a handover ceremony marking the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s independence from Belgium, telling the audience in an indictment of colonialism that “…(it was a) humiliating slavery which was imposed on us by force.” With that speech, the fiery critic of colonial rule became an African icon. But the country’s first prime minister also angered the West, especially Belgium and its ruler, King Baudouin, who was in attendance that day, and who, according to witnesses, spoke about independence as if it were a gift from his country. Seven months later, Lumumba was dead, ousted in coup, shot and dismembered with his body burned in acid – essentially disappeared – with the backing of Belgium and the United States: Belgium opposed Lumumba’s plans to nationalize the country’s mines, while the US was threatened by his closeness to the Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War. Now, more than six decades later, Belgium is set to try one of its scions of society, Étienne, Count Davignon, 92, for complicity in Lumumba’s murder in what is the latest attempt by European countries to atone for their colonial legacies. “There are very few cases where a former colonial state agrees to address colonial crimes and to consider (trying perpetrators) … even if it’s a very long time after,” Christophe Marchand, a lawyer for the Lumumba family, told the Guardian. “The idea is to have a judicial trial and to (discover) the truth about what happened, and not only the role of Étienne Davignon – because he was just one part in the whole criminal enterprise.” In June, Belgian prosecutors announced they would try Davignon, who in 1961 was a well-connected diplomat-in-training in the Congo when Lumumba, 35 – along with two other officials – were killed. Davignon is the only one out of 10 Belgians accused of complicity in the murders who is still alive. If he goes on trial, Davignon would be the first Belgian to face justice in Lumumba’s killing. “We’re moving in the right direction,” Juliana Lumumba, the daughter of the former Congolese leader, told Belgian broadcaster RTBF. “What we’re seeking is, first and foremost, the truth.” The “truth” about Lumumba’s murder has been the subject of numerous books and articles over the past few decades, and now even two recent films. Lumumba became Congo’s first prime minister after it gained independence from Belgium, whose rule was brutal even by colonial standards. Meanwhile, besides being despised and feared by Belgium and the United States, he was presiding over a divided country and was ousted in a coup orchestrated by separatists a few months after taking office. Imprisoned, he escaped but was recaptured and transferred to the southern region of Katanga, where he was executed on January 17, 1961, with the support of Belgian mercenaries. His body was never recovered. Davignon, meanwhile, who went on to serve in high-level positions in the Belgian government and also in business, also served as vice president of the European Commission in the 1980s. He is accused of involvement in the “unlawful detention and transfer of a prisoner of war,” his “deprivation of the right to a fair trial,” and his “inhuman and degrading treatment,” Belgian prosecutors said. He had also been charged with intent to kill but that charge is expected to be dropped. The first hearing in the case is set for January 2026. The case is the latest effort by Belgium to reckon with its role in Lumumba’s killing.  In 1999, Belgium launched a parliamentary commission to examine the murder after the publication of an explosive book on the subject. The commission concluded that Belgium had “moral responsibility” for the assassination. The government apologized to the Democratic Republic of the Congo a year later. About a decade later, Juliana Lumumba’s brother François filed a complaint with the courts, accusing the Belgian state of war crimes and torture, and of complicity in the murder of his father. In 2022, Belgium returned a tooth belonging to Lumumba to his family: It was seized by Belgian authorities in 2016 from the daughter of a policeman, Gérard Soete, who had admitted to dismembering Lumumba and the other two officials, and taking two teeth, while working in the Congo. These efforts fall short, say Lumumba’s family members, who add that his murder reverberates to this day. “It was Congolese democracy that was beheaded with Lumumba’s assassination – Congo still suffers from it today,” a relative of the former prime minister, Jean-Jacques Lumumba, told Afrique XXI. “The fact that this democracy was halted in its early stages plunged the country into the chaos we still know.” Share this story

Mali: Dozens Of Soldiers Arrested For Alleged Coup

Dozens of Soldiers Arrested in Mali For Alleged Coup Mali Malian officials arrested dozens of soldiers suspected of plotting to overthrow the ruling military junta, which itself came to power through a coup, amid growing discontent among the military and the public over the ongoing turmoil across the nation, France 24 reported. A Malian security official told Agence France-Presse that at least 20 people were arrested, while a lawmaker in the National Transition Council put the number at 50, saying they were all soldiers who shared the goal of overthrowing the junta. Among those arrested was Gen. Abass Dembele, a respected military officer and former governor of the central Mopti region. The wave of arrests highlights rising tensions within the military government amid reports of a jihadist insurgency gaining ground in the north region of the West African country. Analysts say there is also growing political tension following the junta’s crackdown on former prime ministers Moussa Mara and Choguel Maïga, accused of damaging the state’s reputation and embezzlement, the BBC noted. Mara, a vocal critic of the military government, has been in custody since Aug. 1, while Maïga faces ongoing judicial proceedings. Junta leader Gen. Assimi Goïta, 41, seized power in a coup in 2020 and then again in 2021. He had promised elections to return the country to civilian rule last year but has not set a date. In July, the transitional period was extended by five years, allowing Goïta to stay in power until at least 2030. In May, the junta also dissolved all political parties after rare anti-government protests, a move that Mara called a serious setback to the reconciliation efforts launched by the military leaders last year. Mali has been grappling with Islamist insurgencies since 2012, a key reason for the military takeover. However, violent attacks by militants linked to Al-Qaeda or Islamic State groups have escalated in the country. Along with its neighbors, Niger and Burkina Faso, the junta expelled French troops after the coups and formed new alliances, notably with Russia, whose mercenary Wagner Group and its successor Africa Corps have helped in the fights against jihadists and separatists, but are also accused of human rights violations.