Sudan: Backing Bashir

SUDAN

Backing Bashir

Sudan’s army issued a statement Wednesday vowing to support President Omar al-Bashir despite weeks of protests demanding an end to his 30-year-rule.

“The armed forces will not allow the Sudanese state to fall or to slide into the unknown,” said General Kamal Abdul Maarouf, chief of staff of the armed forces, according to Reuters.

Earlier this month, Bashir said he would only step down to make way for an army officer or in the event he is voted out of office.

Meanwhile, the government’s security forces briefly detained the daughter of Sudanese opposition leader Sadeq al-Mahdi early Wednesday after releasing 186 protesters from detention the day before, Al Jazeera reported.

Protests have raged across Sudan since Dec. 19 when the government decided to triple the price of bread and quickly morphed into calls for Bashir’s ouster.

As many as 40 people have died due to protest-related violence and more than 1,000 people have been arrested in the associated crackdown, rights groups say.

Africa: Waiting To Be Heard

AFRICA

Waiting to be Heard

Algerians are among tens of millions of Africans electing leaders this year. But they are also among many Africans who don’t know if their votes will count.

“Ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is not loosening his grip on the levers of power in Algiers just yet,” said the Africa Report.

At least 20 nations on the continent, including Nigeria, Tunisia and Cameroon, are holding elections for presidents, lawmakers and local government in 2019, explained Quartz.

In Algeria, the frail Bouteflika’s term is coming to an end. Signs suggest he should consider stepping down. He never fully recovered from a 2013 stroke. Now 81, he’s been in office since 1999, having rebuilt the country after the “décennie noire,” (black decade) of the North African, majority Muslim country’s civil war. Few rivals can challenge him, however.

“If Bouteflika’s health allows him to run for a fifth term, he will undoubtedly win,” wrote the conservative Jamestown Foundation.

So far, the president, who appears in public rarely, hasn’t officially said if he’ll stand for re-election, despite calls from members of his Front de Libération Nationale political party to jump into the race.

Regardless, Bouteflika’s regime has been harsh.

He prosecuted a blogger for speaking with the spokesman of the Israeli foreign ministry, wrote Agence France-Presse. Algeria doesn’t have diplomatic ties with Israel. The blogger received a sentence of 10 years in jail. That was commuted to seven. Another judge then threw the case out. He’s now in jail pending a new trial.

Amnesty International recently called for the release of a journalist imprisoned simply for covering a peaceful public demonstration in support of a jailed singer.

The Arab Spring never seriously rocked Algeria, an oil producer and OPEC member, wrote Reuters. But protests and strikes have occurred. Unemployment is high. Youth unemployment is astronomical. Many Algerians want change.

But since ballots were allowed in 1989, elections in Algeria have rarely been fair. Bouteflika won 82 percent of the vote in 2014 without campaigning, the Economist reported. There’s little doubt that the elites are devoting some thought to who might succeed him.

Election rigging concerns are hardly exclusive to Algeria.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari recently sacked the country’s chief justice, Al Jazeera reported, raising concerns about whether he was seeking to influence the judiciary ahead of his Feb. 16 re-election bid.

Cameroonian voters are expected to elect local government officials who might play a big role in defusing tensions between English and French-speaking regions of the country, the Journal du Cameroun wrote. But in last year’s presidential election, many English speakers, who complain of mistreatment under the country’s French-speaking leaders, boycotted the ballot in protest.

And in countries like the Republic of Guinea, it’s hard to know if elections will even be held as scheduled.

For democracy to count, so must voting.

Nigeria: No FOreign Meddling

NIGERIA

No Foreign Meddling

Nigeria has rejected “foreign meddling” in its affairs, after the US and other world powers expressed concerns over President Muhammadu Buhari’s move to suspend the country’s chief justice in the lead-up to the presidential election on Feb. 16.

Buhari, who is seeking a second term, suspended Chief Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen Friday over accusations that he violated the country’s asset-disclosure rules, Reuters reported. The US, European Union and Britain all expressed worries about the timing of the decision, as in the past Nigerian polls have been marred by violence and vote rigging.

With Onnoghen’s suspension, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, sworn in as his interim replacement, would rule on any legal challenge to the results, CNN reported.

The main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) suspended campaigning for 72 hours in protest, and the president of the Nigerian Senate blasted the move as a “coup against democracy.” 

For its part, Buhari’s government said it would ensure free and fair elections. “This government will not bend the rules, and will not allow meddling in our affairs,” read a statement from Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu.

There Is Little That Zimbabwe Can Do To Reverse Its Economic Rot

https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/theres-little-zimbabwe-can-do-reverse-its-economic-rot?id=743c2bc617&e=1bd154cf7d&uuid=ecaac90d-a645-4e5b-91b8-9cb2846b04bf&utm_source=Topics%2C+Themes+and+Regions&utm_campaign=0edc752bb5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_01_24_11_57&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_743c2bc617-0edc752bb5-53655957&mc_cid=0edc752bb5&mc_eid=[UNIQID]

Congo: Tshisekedi Sworn In

CONGO

Tshisekedi Sworn In

Despite lingering concerns about his election victory, Félix Tshisekedi was sworn into office as the new president of the Democratic Republic of Congo Thursday.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta was the only African head of state to attend the ceremony, though a total of 17 were invited, the BBC reported. However, the US recognized his victory a day earlier, after the Congolese Constitutional Court certified the election results, ABC News reported.

“We are committed to working with the new DRC government,” a US Department of State spokesperson said in a statement. “We encourage the government to include a broad representation of Congo’s political stakeholders and to address reports of electoral irregularities.”

The BBC noted that numerous critics claim that rival candidate Martin Fayulu was the true winner, and Tshisekedi manipulated the results through a backroom deal with Joseph Kabila – the long-serving president he replaces. Though the Constitutional Court rejected Fayulu’s appeal for a recount, they say the court is too close to Kabila to be independent.

Gambia: Cooling Fires

Cooling Fires

After 22 years, Yahya Jammeh’s victims of sexual violence, torture, forced disappearances and other crimes in Gambia finally have a chance at justice.

Earlier this month, the 11 members of the tiny West African country’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission started their deliberations.

Under the commission’s purview are alleged crimes committed during the regime of Jammeh, a former president who left office in early 2017 after armies from neighboring countries entered Gambia and forced him to recognize the victory of current President Adama Barrow.

The first witness to testify before the commission painted a bleak picture starting from the moment Jammeh seized control in a 1994 coup, reported Reuters.

“He used to come to me to beg for money and other things,” said Ebrima Ismaila Chongan, who trained Jammeh as a police cadet, then spent two years in prison for opposing the coup. “When I knew that he was the leader, I knew that Gambia was going to be in trouble.”

Jammeh went on to hunt alleged witches and wizards, suppressed the media, persecuted the LGBTQ community, and forced HIV sufferers to forego medical treatment and take his self-made cure of herbs instead. It’s not clear how many of them died.

A session on the “Junglers,” a paramilitary group accused of atrocities, is on the commission’s agenda, too.

“We demand that light be shed,” Baba Hydara, the son of slain journalist Deyda Hydara, told Al Jazeera. “They really have to give us facts and do their homework.”

Deyda Hydara’s former colleagues are among the most aggressive trying to rebuild the country as the commission’s work continues, the Associated Press reported. Gambian journalists have set up a self-regulatory body to make sure government officials don’t meddle with the press.

The commission will work for two years. It can give out compensation to victims and recommend charges to prosecutors. That could help avoid the disappointments that followed South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was criticized for too liberally doling out amnesties for offenses committed during the Apartheid era.

Even so, Jammeh will probably not appear before the commission. He’s now safely in exile in Equatorial Guinea under the protection of President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue.

Still, many hope that the commission will do enough to “cool the fires burning for justice.”

“You can’t just kill my dad today, and then the next day, I see you passing,” Fatoumatta Sandeng, whose father was killed by security forces six months before Jammeh left office, told Foreign Policy. “There is something that needs to be cooled, like there is some fire in you that needs to be cooled off,” she said. “There needs to be justice. Let them face it.”

What Is Happening In Zimbabwe Today

January 20, 2019 at 9:38 AM
Subject: Zim

Folks: Zimbabwe, South African’s neighbor is busy melting down finally. This probably doesn’t mean much too many people but the tragedy is that this is going to happen to South Africa in pretty short order. This will have global implications. All communication lines are down in Zimbabwe very little news gets out. This is a rare glimpse into a countries melt down.

[01/18, 5:08 PM] Dirk: Hi everyone. I'm on the ground in Zimbabwe. I'm going to try and put this in cronological order to begin with.

1)      Last Friday Zuva petroleum ordered and paid for millions of litres of fuel. Zuva is Ed Mnangagwa & crony owned.
2) Saturday last ED calls a SONA at night and announces that fuel will increase by around 250% at midnight.
3) Zuva makes a cool 40m USD over night.
4) ED hires a 2m Dreamliner jet and flies out of the country the next day to Russia with an entourage of about 30.
5) Sunday last the ZCTU calls for a three day stay away to begin at midnight.
6) ED says he hopes thst companies won't put up their prices. Transport costs skyrocket overnight.
On Sunday night I decided not to open on Monday. I am a service provider and have trucks traversing Harare. The stay away starts slowly. Bulawayo begins to shut down first and serious riots break out. Harare is mixed: part open and part closed. As the day wears on serious messages begin to circulate warning cities: towns : all businesses: schools and all activities to close immediately and go home. Riots and skirmishes begin to break out everywhere. Roads are blocked with rocks & burning tyres. The social media/whattsapp warnings increase. Everything begins to shut down. At least two police stations and three toll gates are burned down. Vehicles that are moving are stoned burned or turned over. We are told to avoid service stations and government buildings etc. Tuesday morning just after 9am we suddenly lose the Internet and we resort to sms & phone calls. It's very, very hard to lose comms. No public transport moves at all nationwide and everything systematically shuts down. The stories will come out. From Monday night Chiwenga sends out the arny/CIO/Zanu PF militia in plain clothes to break into houses: beat:shoot : torture and intimidate. Zimbabwe knew it was coming and the people fight back. The rumours fly thick and fast. The ZRP are totally overwhelmed by angry Zimbabweans. To be continued.
[01/18, 5:09 PM] Dirk: Just got this message from Zim about the happenings on the ground so far.... 

2)      
The 48km peg to Bindura at Cheza, the bridge has been distroyed Nyanga road from Rusape barricaded with big stones and wood logs before Londonstore, Christmas pass Mutare closed with big stones motorists asked to go back, Domboshava 1 soldier killed by angry mob, a military 4 ton truck with armed soldiers fled Hatcliffe shopping center as civilians notified carrying 3 machine guns Beitbridge road closed at Ngundu Holt Gweru protest hits up as civilians attacking security forces Kadoma town is a no go area for security forces as angry mobs has declared civil war!!!
Army Helicopters in Bulawayo
Chirundu Border closed Zambia side
Shootings at plumtree Border
3 police cars burnt in Marondera
Hundreds injured in Harare, teargas and live ammunition being used and fires burning everywhere People have been set on fire Shops are being looted No electricity in Harare Doctors can't help anyone as nobody can get to work at hospitals because roads are barracaded everywhere and if they can get there, they are dealing with gunshot wounds, stabbings and shattered limbs - they still don't have any gloves or sanitary items to work with on these injured people and there are no painkiller drugs to be found as chemists want US dollars first as payment - there is NO money Government has SHUT ALL SOCIAL MEDIA and now all international text messages are blocked off so we are being held hostage in our own country - pleeeease someone help us!!!


Sent from my iPhone=

> 

Congo: rubber Stamp

CONGO

Rubber Stamp

A constitutional court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday validated the election of opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi as the country’s next president, rejecting contentions that the election commission had illegally disqualified more than a million voters from casting ballots in regions stricken by the Ebola virus and ethnic conflict.

Rival opposition leader Martin Fayulu immediately declared himself president and called the ruling “a constitutional coup,” the Washington Post reported. But the apparent support of regional power brokers and the absence of major street protests (so far) “all but ensures Tshisekedi’s victory,” the paper said.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, representing two of the region’s most influential countries, sent Tshisekedi their congratulations. Ramaphosa asked the rival stakeholders “to respect the decision of the constitutional court and commit to continue with a journey of consolidating peace,” the BBC reported.

The southern African regional group, SADC, also welcomed the decision. The African Union, which had earlier questioned the results, canceled plans to send a delegation of leaders to Kinshasa.

Ivory Coast-Incendiary But Not Illegal

IVORY COAST

Incendiary But Not Illegal

A panel of judges from the International Criminal Court dismissed charges of war crimes against former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and his erstwhile youth minister Charles Blé Goudé, ruling that their public speeches were not tantamount to ordering, soliciting or inducing the alleged crimes.

Gbagbo and Blé Goudé faced charges of crimes against humanity for murder, rape and other violent acts allegedly committed between December 2010 and April 2011, when around 3,000 people were killed in post-election violence following Ghagbo’s defeat by current President Alassane Ouattara, NPR reported. Ghagbo was the first former head of state to stand trial at the ICC.

The ruling marks another setback for ICC prosecutors, following the reversal of the conviction of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the former vice president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in June.

Following the election, Ghagbo had refused to relinquish power and was pulled from an underground bunker to be transported to the Hague, where he was held for more than seven years. His supporters thronged the streets of pro-Ghagbo areas of the economic capital, Abidjan, after the verdict was announced.

Massacre In Nairobi Mall

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/world/africa/nairobi-attack.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage

Senegal: That's Sall, Folks

SENEGAL

That’s Sall, Folks

As expected, Senegal’s Constitutional Court has barred two prominent opposition figures from running against President Macky Sall in next month’s election, due to their convictions for the misuse of public funds. But their exclusion could undermine the legitimacy of the vote.

The seven-member court on Monday rejected the candidacies of former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall and ex-minister Karim Wade, while clearing the incumbent president and four other candidates to contest the Feb. 24 vote, Agence France-Presse reported. The two excluded candidates have until Jan. 20 to appeal the decision.

Currently, the candidates squaring off against Sall include a former prime minister, an associate of a former president and two other opposition leaders, the agency said, noting that Senegal is seen as a model of democracy in Africa.

The exclusion of the two candidates poses “an enormous risk” to that reputation, however, said Amnesty International’s regional director, Alioune Tine, as various international and regional organizations have questioned the fairness of the trials that convicted them.

Gabon: Clinging On

GABON

Clinging On

Citizens of Gabon tuning into the national radio station early in the morning on January 7 were in for a surprise.

A small group of junior military officers took control of the broadcaster and called for a revolution to oust President Ali Bongo, the BBC reported.

Bongo, 59, suffered a stroke in October. He’s been recovering since then in Morocco. But apart from a New Year’s message recorded in that country, he hadn’t been updating his people about the status of his health.

The officers said his “pitiful” appearance in the video from Morocco inspired them to seek power for the good of the nation, according tothe BBC.

In a matter of hours, Gabonese security forces found the officers, killing two and apprehending seven more. And on Tuesday, Bongo finally returned home to swear in a new cabinet and boost his chances of clinging on in office, the BBC reported.

The incident reflects the staying power of Africa’s long-serving rulers and their families, the Economist wrote. Bongo took charge in 2009 after the death of his father, Omar, who was dictator from 1967 until then.

But the botched coup also reflected growing frustrations in the oil-rich country, a former French colony on central Africa’s Atlantic coast.

“For all its lack of preparedness, the attempted takeover carried a political message, one that highlights the deep distress of the people of Gabon,” Amadou Ba, a Paris-based analyst for the Institute for European Prospective and Security, told France 24.

As the price of oil has plunged in recent years, so too has economic growth in Gabon. Bongo and the country’s rich elites have absconded with much of the country’s wealth. Now, however, as the economic pie has shrunk, the country’s two million citizens have fallen deeper into poverty. The pressure is rising in the country.

As usual, the elites appear clueless. In a move illustrating the gap between Gabonese leaders and ordinary folks, officials cut the Internet, set a curfew in the capital and closed the country’s border with Cameroon, Voice of America wrote. Gabon imports much of its food from Cameroon. The fact that people might go hungry didn’t seem to bother those in charge.

“Mr. Bongo needs to return to Gabon and do something positive for the country,” the former American ambassador to the country, Eric Benjaminson, told the New York Times prior to his arrival this week.

Bongo’s case is not unique. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buharispent much of 2017 in foreign hospitals even as his country battled the Islamic State-affiliated Boko Haram. Algerian leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika is 81 and increasingly looking feeble. In 2017, the Zimbabwean army deposed Robert Mugabe, then 93, only when they could no longer hide that he was unfit to handle his responsibilities.

It’s hard to leave power. But those who persist in refusing to leave eventually find themselves out in the cold.

Congo: In Name Only

CONGO

In All But Name

A long-delayed election in the Democratic Republic of Congo has not ended concerns that President Joseph Kabila will continue to cling to power – in everything but the name.

Most independent election observers, including the Roman Catholic Church, have insisted that opposition candidate Martin Fayulu defeated fellow opposition leader Félix Tshisekedi, who was declared the winner, as well as Kabila’s handpicked successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the New York Times reported. Fayulu has appealed to the Constitutional Court to demand a recount. The Southern African Development Community has backed his proposal and called for a unity government “given the strong objections to the provisional results.”

But analysts expect the Constitutional Court to validate Tshisekedi as the winner, the paper noted, and Kabila will command a lot of influence over him. Kabila’s party dominated the simultaneous legislative elections – giving Kabila a majority in parliament and the power to appoint the prime minister and likely setting him up to become Senate president.

CAM

Zimbabwe: Rebooting The Printer

ZIMBABWE

Rebooting the Printer

Facing a disastrous shortage of US dollars that has paralyzed its economy, Zimbabwe announced plans to re-introduce its own currency within the next 12 months.

Zimbabwe scrapped its currency in 2009 in response to runaway hyperinflation. But now it doesn’t have enough hard currency in the country to match the $10 billion of electronic funds trapped in local bank accounts, Reuters reported. The result has been acute shortages of imported goods, including fuel, and economic chaos that has forced many businesses to close.

On Sunday, the country increased fuel prices by 150 percentovernight, but most service stations still had no fuel to sell to motorists – who had been sleeping in their vehicles to keep their places in long lines.

With less than $400 million in actual cash in Zimbabwe, according to the central bank, physical notes are selling at a 370 percent premium on the black market, the agency said.

D

Moroco Banks Are Aggressively Investing In Africa

https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/why-banks-morocco-are-spreading-wealth-around-africa

Mocambique: Something Fishy

MOZAMBIQUE Something Fishy The former finance minister of Mozambique’s extradition to the US was postponed and he was transferred to solitary confinement, following his indictment along with at least 17 others in connection with an alleged scam involving $2 billion in fraudulent loans to state-owned companies. South Africa’s Kempton Park Magistrates Court on Wednesday rejected former Mozambique Finance Minister Manuel Chang’s lawyers’ claims that his arrest was unlawful, South Africa-based Eyewitness News reported. But the authorities moved him into solitary confinement following arguments that he was denied a bed and forced to pay protection money in the Modderbee prison – where he had shared a cell with 20 other inmates. Mozambique announced the indictments Monday following the charging of three ex-Credit Suisse bankers in the US over their role in the scheme – in which the southern African country borrowed money from international investors to fund projects that included a state tuna fishery, Al Jazeera reported. Chang, 63, was arrested in South Africa at the end of December. In Mozambique, he and the other defendants were charged with “abuse of power, abuse of trust, swindling and money laundering,” the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) said in a statement.

Gabon: Business As Usual

GABON

Business as Usual

Gabon is returning to business as usual after government forces thwarted an attempted military coup – killing two of the plotters, arresting five army officers, and freeing some hostages taken when they assumed control over a state-run radio station.

On Monday, Lt. Kelly Ondo Obiang, commander of the Republican Guard, read out a statement saying the military had seized control of Gabon’s government in order to “restore democracy,” the Associated Press reported. A government spokesman said he was among the army officers taken into custody.

The failed coup means President Ali Bongo’s government remains in control of the oil-rich country, which has been ruled by more than half a century by Bongo and his father, Omar, who died in 2009. Critics say the family has enriched themselves at the expense of the people, a third of whom live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

Bongo, who narrowly won re-election in a 2016 vote that the main opposition candidate said was plagued by irregularities, has been out of the country since October amid reports that he had a stroke.

Sudan: Spring time Again

SUDAN

Springtime Again

The Arab Spring appears to have come belatedly to Sudan.

Protests flared in the Northeast African country recently amid a dire economic crisis that many believe could topple President Omar al-Bashir, an alleged war criminal wanted on international charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and other acts he stands accused of committing in Darfur during a civil war in the early 2000s.

“What started in December as a provincial demonstration against rising food prices has morphed into a campaign by opposition activists for Mr. Bashir to go,” wrote the Financial Times in an editorial.

The authorities arrested several faculty members from Khartoum University on Sunday as fresh protests hit the capital and other cities in a response to a call from professional unions for al-Bashir to step down, Al Jazeera reported. Interior Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman told parliament on Monday that a total of 816 protesters have been arrested since the demonstrations began last month, Al Jazeera said separately.

Al-Bashir has been in office since 1989, when a bloodless coup swept him into power along with the Sudanese branch of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood. “The Arabization and Islamization of Sudan, at all costs,” was their goal, explained Yassmin Abdel-Magied, a Sudanese-Australian writer, in the Independent.

The president has since broken with his militant comrades. Now he’s most interested in holding onto power and avoiding international justice.

Take, for example, a speech he delivered to police officers amid clashes that have resulted in the deaths of scores of protesters.

“It is the duty of the state to maintain security without abuse, and to implement internal security principles using the least possible force,” said al-Bashir, according to a broadcast of the speech carried on the Sudanese government’s news agency, according to CNN. “The purpose is not to kill the people but the ultimate goal is to maintain the security and stability for the citizens.”

The Turkish news agency Anadolu captured more of the speech on video. “But sometimes – as we said and as God himself said – you have, in the exacting of penance, life,” al-Bashir said. “What is exacting penance? It is killing, it is execution, but God described it as life because it is a deterrence to others so we can maintain security.”

Killing equals life. That’s dictators’ logic laid bare.

Al-Bashir has promised to raise civil servants’ wages, reported Al Jazeera. He has called on unidentified countries for funds to stimulate the economy, Bloomberg added. Saudi Arabia undertook the same moves to avoid serious uprisings during the Arab Spring.

Sudanese opposition groups were undaunted. They called for more demonstrations.

“The regime, in its present composition and given its political, economic, regional and international isolation, cannot pull through this crisis,” an alliance of opposition parties said in a statement cited by the Associated Press.

The Arab Spring gave voice to the people’s concerns. It also unleashed terrible, violent forces. The Sudanese are trying to decide which road to take.

WANT TO KNOW

The Congo-Fraught Elections

CONGO

Fraught Elections

With the first results set to come out this week, US President Donald Trump has deployed 80 soldiers and “appropriate combat equipment” to Central Africa amid fears that Congo’s long-delayed election may erupt into violence.

The troops are being sent to Gabon, from where they will be ready to protect US citizens and diplomatic facilities in neighboring Congo if violence breaks out, NBC News reported.

Since voting began on Dec. 30, there have been reports of irregularities from election observers and the opposition.

President Joseph Kabila has held office since 2001, when his father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated. He was subsequently elected in 2006 in the country’s first free and fair elections. The ongoing polls should mark the country’s first peaceful democratic transfer of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

Kabila’s term expired in 2016, though he remained in office by dint of repeated election delays, and term limits prevent him from running again. His handpicked successor, Emmanuel Shadary, remains under European Union sanctions for serious human rights violations.

Somalia: No Longer Welcome

SOMALIA

No Longer Welcome

Somalia has ordered United Nations envoy Nicholas Haysom to leave the country after he raised questions about the arrest of a former al-Shabab leader who had run for a regional presidency.

A foreign ministry statement late Tuesday declared Haysom “persona non grata” and accused him of diplomatic overreach after he questioned the legal basis for the arrest last month of Mukhtar Robow, a former al-Shabab spokesman who defected from the group in 2017, the Associated Press reported.

Haysom also asked whether UN troops had been involved in his detention. Ethiopian soldiers from the African Union force in Somalia and local police made the arrest a few days before the regional election – in which Robow was one of the leading candidates.

The arrest sparked deadly protests, as Robow was spirited away to a Mogadishu prison run by the country’s intelligence service.

The incident is a test case for how Somalia will deal with defectors from al-Shabab, Africa’s most active extremist group, the agency said.

South Africa: The Fugitives And The Reformer

SOUTH AFRICA

The Fugitives and the Reformer

The Guptas own coal and uranium mines, steel mills and other enterprises that made them one of the richest families in South Africa.

Today, after allegedly fomenting corruption in the administration of ex-President Jacob Zuma, they live in self-imposed exile in Dubai.

Zuma left office in 2018, but the Guptas’ influence has tainted the African National Congress, the political party that Nelson Mandela led in the fight against apartheid, the New York Times reported.

The country he left behind faces enormous challenges, along with a legacy of politically motivated violence that the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town lamented in his Christmas Eve sermon.

“We welcome the changes in government” since Zuma resigned, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said, according to SABC News, a South African news outlet. “But how far will good, clean government take us when people are being killed on picket lines, stabbed in our schools, beaten up in service delivery protests and assassinated in disputes over who will hold public office?”

Slow economic growth is dogging South Africa. More than a quarter of the population is unemployed. Starbucks recently announced it was scrapping plans to expand in the country, citing high costs and lack of disposable income, wrote Agence France-Presse.

If Starbucks doesn’t want to open next to the outstanding Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, the country has a problem.

Zuma’s successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, has been clearing Zuma allies out of government and state-owned businesses and launched a campaign to attract $100 billion in foreign investments in an effort to restore confidence.

“South Africa swims in a sea of darkness right now,” argued Branko Brkic, editor of the Daily Maverick, a South African online news magazine. “For the sake of the country’s survival, it’s crucial that there is at least one person who can see the light. For the first time in many years, that person happens to be the country’s president.”

But Brkic noted that Ramaphosa needs the support of African National Congress officials in rural areas if he wants to win what is sure to be a tough election in May 2019. Those leaders are often less than aboveboard and will expect to gain from aiding the president.

Without Zuma on the ticket, however, noted Bloomberg, Ramaphosa’s rivals have less to complain about, especially if the new president continues to don the mantle of a reformer.

Critics have accused Ramaphosa of graft, too, though for now he appears to have avoided an inquiry because a formal complaint has yet to be filed, reported South Africa’s City Press.

South Africa’s journey from segregation to democracy inspired the world. The hopes of people around the world now ride on Ramaphosa’s shoulders.