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Tension is reported mounting in the Democratic Republic of Congo over a revised election law that may delay legislative and presidential elections. Police forces have opened fire on thousands of protesters opposing President Joseph Kabila. There were conflicting reports about the number of casualties with some opposition sources announcing a death toll of up to 15 at the Monday protest, in which police apparently fired real bullets and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators in the capital Kinshasa.

Protesters burned tires, blocking traffic at several main intersections in the Congolese capital where police in riot gear and armed presidential guards were stationed. "The situation is very tense here. I have just taken a young person who had been hit by a bullet to hospital," said Martin Fayulu, from the Engagement for the Citizenry and Development (ECIDE) opposition party.

The protest is challenging a revised election law that would delay presidential and parliamentary polls beyond late 2016, allowing Kabila to remain in office. The coalition opposition parties called on protesters to occupy the parliament building to stop passing any laws affecting the election. Kabila has been the DRC president since 2001 and is serving a second five-year term as the elected president.

Culled from Presstv

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Ngwa Bertrand

20.Jan.2015

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Nigeria has summoned Indonesia's ambassador over the execution of two of its citizens by firing squad for drug trafficking, echoing protests from Brazil and the Netherlands which also each had one of their nationals executed.

The southeast Asian country executed six people very early on Monday, including one Indonesian and nationals from Nigeria, Malawi, Vietnam, the Netherlands and Brazil, the Jakarta government said. Indonesia initially said two Nigerians were among those executed, and the Nigerian statement also spoke of two, but Jakarta later suggested only one Nigerian had been shot.

"The Federal Government has received with huge disappointment the tragic news of the execution by firing squad of two Nigerians," foreign ministry spokesman Ogbole Amedu Ode said in a statement on Monday, naming both men.

"The executions were carried out despite persistent pleas for clemency ... The Federal Government seizes this opportunity to express its sympathy and condolences to the families of the deceased."

Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors on Sunday to protest over the planned executions. Neither country has the death penalty and both have spoken out against the practice.

Nigeria, which summoned Indonesia's envoy on Sunday, does have the death penalty, although usually for more serious offences than drug trafficking. According to Cornell Law School run website Death Penalty Worldwide, Nigeria had 1,233 people on death row by September 2013. At least 141 death sentences were carried out in Nigeria that year, it says.

Last month, a military court sentenced 54 Nigerian soldiers to death by firing squad for mutiny. In Nigeria's largely Muslim north, some states since the turn of the millennium have practiced Sharia or Islamic law, which in theory allows them to stone people to death, although none have yet carried out this penalty.

Indonesia's president, who signed off on the six executions last month, has pledged no clemency for drug offenders.

The southeast Asian country resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap.

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Ngwa Bertrand

20.Jan.2015

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French Embassy in Ghana on High Terror Alert after Deadly Protests in Niger over New Charlie Hebdo Cartoons. An anonymous source from the French Embassy in Ghana has told Cameroon Concord that the embassy is on high alert for a possible terror attack this week. This follows a series of deadly protests across Africa by Muslims against the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Despite the killings that took place in the magazine’s office which sparked an international outrage, the magazine has published a new defiant cartoon of the Muslim prophet.

In Niger over the weekend, four people were killed in violent protest. This happened in the southern town of Zinder, where protesters set fire to a French cultural centre and burnt more than 45 churches.Local radio station in the Ghana’s capital Accra, Starr Fm quoted a source from the embassy saying security has been beefed up at the embassy to avoid any surprise attack. “The number of policemen at the embassy has increased significantly. Other plain-clothed special security personnel have also been stationed, the men are on the ground day and night to avoid any surprise attack’’, the source was quoted as saying.

But security experts in Ghana have downplayed such an attack on the embassy arguing that where the embassy is located is a high security zone in the country. The French embassy in Ghana is located very close to the Flagstaff House which is the seat of the executive arm of Ghana’s government. Cameroon Concord’s Issaka Adams in Accra hinted that the atmosphere among the Muslim community in the country is very calm as they hardly talk about the Charlie Hebdo attack and the new cartoons published by the magazine. Ghana was hailed in the past by the international community as a peaceful country in both political and ethnic-religion issues but emerging threats of insurgencies in West Africa is gradually changing the picture in the eyes of the international community.

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Ngwa Bertrand

20.Jan.2015

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At least two dozen lives were lost off Senegal's northern coast in a tragic maritime disaster, underscoring the perilous journey undertaken by migrants seeking refuge in Europe.

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News Team

29.Feb.2024

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