Society

The Democratic Republic of Congo's government has issued an arrest warrant for Moise Katumbi, an opposition leader planning a possible election challenge to President Joseph Kabila.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende told VOA French to Africa on Thursday that the arrest warrant was issued after Katumbi was indicted on a charge of hiring mercenaries.

Katumbi's lawyer, Jean-Joseph Mukendi Wa Mulumba, said Thursday that he cannot respond to the indictment until he is formally notified.

Foreigners arrested

Four foreigners, including a former U.S. soldier, were arrested at a Katumbi rally in the city of Lubumbashi two weeks ago.

Katumbi — who has declared he will run in the next presidential election — has denied government accusations that he was planning a coup attempt.   

He told Congolese prosecutors last week that he did not know an adviser sent to him by an American security company was a former member of the U.S. military.

The current whereabouts of Katumbi are unknown.  Earlier this week, he was in a Lubumbashi hospital.

Not date for new elections

Congo's constitution limits presidents to two five-year terms, and Kabila's second term ends in December, but officials have not set a date for new elections.  Opposition parties have accused the president of trying to hang on to power by delaying the polls.  

The parties cried foul last week when Congo's Constitutional Court said the president can stay in office beyond his mandate if the election is postponed.  

In a phone call with Kabila in March, U.S. President Barack Obama called on the DRC to hold timely and credible elections that respect the country's constitution.

Kabila is one of several African presidents who have attempted to skirt term limits in the past couple of years.  Attempts by presidents in Burkina Faso and Burundi set off unrest, while Rwandan voters approved extensions for President Paul Kagame.  

VOA

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Rita Akana

19.May.2016

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Kenyan police are coming under fire for their brutal response to an opposition protest Monday after photos and video of police beating protesters sparked outrage.

Three Mondays in a row, Kenya’s main opposition coalition has demonstrated at the electoral commission in Nairobi, calling for it to be disbanded before next year’s polls.

Each time, riot police dispersed protesters with tear gas and water cannons.  But this week, police kicked and clubbed protesters as they ran, according to photos and videos posted online.Those include images of an officer stomping on a unconscious man’s head.  The man survived, but Kenyans have taken to Twitter to react with the hashtag #StopPoliceBrutality.

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero called for swift action. “We have said that the Police Oversight Authority must investigate this and the people who meted out violence against innocent people who were engaging in peaceful protest must be prosecuted,” he said. 

This is not the first time the police have been accused of abuses. The Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU) released a study late last year that found police were responsible for nearly 300 gun-related killings since the start of 2014.

Executive Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) George Kegoro said excessive use of force cannot be tolerated.
 
“We would like to get assurances from the police department," he said, "that as the country heads towards elections and mobilization of large crowds happen, this is not going to be the kind of response that we see from the police department. So we must celebrate and preserve the rights of citizens to protest.”

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) is looking into Monday’s violence, according to board member Tom Kagwe.

“Already investigations have been launched," said  Kagwe , "and we will see which officer was culpable. If we can not find the particular individual who is culpable, we will file a case with the highest responsibility in line of command.”

The Inspector General of Police has also ordered an investigation, though activists say similar orders in recent years have yielded little action or reform.

VOA

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Rita Akana

19.May.2016

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CAIRO An EgyptAir jet carrying 66 passengers and crew on a flight from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean sea, Egypt's national airline said. French President Francois Hollande confirmed the aircraft "came down and is lost".  

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Rita Akana

18.May.2016

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Nigerian police say they have arrested members of a militant group which has claimed responsibility for attacks on oil pipelines in the Delta region. The 'Niger Delta Avengers' had issued a warning to oil companies.

The group calling itself the "Niger Delta Avengers" (NDA) claimed responsibility for a recent attack on a facility operated by US energy group Chevron and the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell. Via social media the group issued a "Warning to Chevron" on May 12.

Nigerian army spokesman Rabe Abubakar said on Monday: "This is to confirm the arrest of some suspected members of Niger Delta Avengers," in connection with attacks on Chevron oil facilities.

"We made some arrests over the weekend. They were picked up around scenes of recent attacks in the Niger delta," according to a member of the joint task force involved in security in the region. "It will be pre-emptive at this stage to conclude that the suspects are the militants that bombed the oil pipelines and installations until after investigation," the official told the AFP news agency.

The attacks claimed by the group have contributed to a slump in Nigerian oil production, reportedly down to its lowest level in more than two decades, from about 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) to under 1.7 million bpd. Crude sales from the Delta region account for 70 percent of national income in what is Africa's biggest economy.

revenues for locals in the oil-rich southern delta.

'Niger Delta Avengers'

The NDA issued an ultimatum to oil companies in the region via its website:

"To owners and operators of these oil blocs in our region the Niger Delta Avengers is giving you two weeks ultimatum to shut down your operations and evacuate your staff. If at the end of the ultimatum and you still operating, we will blow up all the locations. It will be bloody. So just shut down your operations and leave."

In the same statement, the group also made an appeal to the UN: "To the United Nations, we are not asking for much but to free the people of the Niger Delta from environmental pollution, slavery, and oppression."

Long-standing problems

A number of groups in the 2000s carried out attacks on oil pipelines and kidnapped workers until a government amnesty was declared in 2009.

DW

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Elangwe Pauline

17.May.2016

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A body pulled from Lake Michigan on Saturday morning in the South Side Hyde Park neighborhood has been identified as missing medical student Ambrose Monye.

"My heart is obviously broken, because I don't know where my sibling is. He clearly disappeared into thin air," Monye's sister said.

Monye was last seen walking toward the university's John Crerar medical library in the 5700-block of South Ellis Avenue.

He was a University of Guadalajara student in Chicago for a two-year clinical rotation at Jackson Park Hospital. He was expected to graduate this month.

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Elangwe Pauline

12.May.2016

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When the woman’s stop was coming up, she moved to the exit, and was told by the driver to “take your monkey with you.” The man was also told the bus was not going to Erding train station - his final destination point. Rather than endure further embarrassment, the man exited with the woman and had to walk the rest of the way to the train station. 

It was there that he met the bus driver again, and asked him how come the bus went that way. In response The driver responded by verbally attacking the man again. The incident has been kept under wraps since February by German authorities as usual. According to Gerhard Karl from the Commissariat for State Protection, who spoke to the Suddeutsche Zeitung, disciplinary action was taken against the driver. His salary was docked for 30 days.

However, the bus driver wasn’t fired, and he insists he insulted no one. Nevertheless he accepted his punishment. He likewise denies ever telling the Gambian to sit in the back of the bus. When approached by a Sueddeutsche Zeitung journalist, who asked him to comment on his racist "monkey” statement, the driver cut him short, saying: “I’ve paid my punishment, for me the matter is done.”

The German constitution forbids racial discrimination, but a legal framework remains missing to actively prevent it.

"As a black person in Germany, you encounter racism on every level of society. At work, looking for an apartment, or in political matters. And in private life, of course," said Tahir Della, a Munich-based photographer and board member of the Association of People of African Origin in Germany (ISD). The group, founded in the 1980s, aims to bring African-Germans and their projects together and opposes racism.

In Germany"People ask me on the street if I have any drugs," says an African immigrant in Frankfurt. "Or - and this is even with the authorities - it's expected that I'd be better able to respond to poorly spoken German rather than proper German. This may seem harmless at first glance, but it gives black people a negative reputation and contributes to the lack of understanding about the status of people with dark skin in Germany.

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Elangwe Pauline

11.May.2016

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