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AT least three people described as foreign nationals have been killed in a wave of xenophobic violence in the South African city of Durban.

South African police said they have arrested 17 people and opened murder cases after attacks on foreign nationals in Durban.

Residents looted shops owned by foreigners on Thursday, with one Somali shopkeeper now fighting for his life.

Hundreds of people from Malawi, Burundi, Zimbabwe and Congo have reportedly fled their homes in the past two weeks.

Police spokesperson Maj Thulani Zwane said police do not know exactly how many people have been killed, but that

 

some were South African nationals and some were foreigners.

Zimbabweans in Durban said although the violence had eased, tensions remained high.

“Speaking in Shona is now an absolute no, no on the streets,” said one Zimbabwean who did not want to be named.

The rioting followed comments by Goodwill Zwelithini, king of the Zulu ethnic group and figurehead of the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, who criticised the presence of immigrants in South Africa.

Zwelithini later said his comments had been misinterpreted and that he had only criticised high crime levels, according to the broadcaster eNCA.

But Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has called on traditional leaders to stop making remarks that "could result in a loss of life".

 

At least 62 people died in xenophobic attacks that swept the country in 2008.

Following the alleged comments by King Zwelithini at the end of March, 250 people have been attacked, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and foreign-owned shops have been looted in the port city of Durban.

More than 1,000 mainly African migrants have fled their homes, some going to police stations and other are being housed in tents on a sports field.

South African President Jacob Zuma's son, Edward, has come out in support of the Zulu king's alleged comments.

"We need to be aware that as a country we are sitting on a ticking time bomb," he said, adding that foreigners were "taking over the country".

 

Raphael Baheybwa-Kambambire, president of Congolese Solidarity campaign, told the BBC that religious leaders met with Zulu monarch on Thursday.

King Zwelithini told them he was talking "only about those who don't have papers and documentation in South Africa".

Gigaba said on Thursday evening that it was important not to incite violence.

"Africa in particular must not think that we hate fellow Africans so much that we are prepared to do the worst to cause them harm," he said.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people marched in front of the Durban's City Hall in protest against the xenophobic violence.

Durban-based journalist Jeff Wicks said it does not take much to stoke tensions.

Xenophobic violence flares up in townships where living conditions are poor for all those living there, irrespective of where they come from, he says.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

11.Apr.2015

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(Reuters) - Days after Islamists killed 148 people at Garissa university, Kenya's president held out an olive branch to Muslims and urged them to join Nairobi in the struggle against militant Islam by informing on sympathizers.

But as Uhuru Kenyatta launches a battle for Muslim hearts and minds, his security forces must first reckon with the deep mistrust among ethnic-Somali Muslims in the country's northeast regions bordering Somalia.

Kenyatta also faces an uphill task in reforming the violent ways of troops on the ground. A day before he spoke, a soldier in Garissa was seen by a Reuters reporter lashing at a crowd of Muslim women with a long stick.

"We live in fear," said Barey Bare, one of a dozen veiled Somali-Kenyan women targeted by the soldier.

"The military are a threat and al Shabaab are a threat. We are in between."

Without the cooperation of local people like Bare, experts say Kenya will struggle to glean vital on-the-ground intelligence to stop crude but highly lethal assaults by Somalia's al Shabaab militants.

Winning favor with Muslim communities near Somalia has been made more urgent by al Shabaab's switch in tactics to target Kenya's frontier regions near the porous 700km border. Al Shabaab has killed more than 400 people in two years, including 67 during an assault on Nairobi's Westgate mall in 2013.

"Kenyans can't afford to build a wall with Somalia so intelligence from local sources is the best approach. But people in villages won't inform if Kenyan soldiers steal or hit women," said one Western diplomat.

Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) spokesman David Obonyo denied the troops had a track record of brutality against Muslims, who make up about 10 percent of Kenya's 44 million people.

"I don’t see why we would harm our own citizens in Kenya. We are there to protect them," he said.

Analysts and diplomats say Kenya's top brass are now aware heavy-handed security tactics can cripple intelligence gathering.

Mass security sweeps also breed radicalization and help al Shabaab portray itself as the protector of Muslims in Kenya, Muslim groups say.

"In the upper echelons, especially in the intelligence department, there are constant warnings to police that these mass arrests are counter productive," said Rashid Abdi, a Horn of Africa security analyst.

Though the group has lost swathes of territory and key sources of income in its native Somalia, it can still strike at soft targets in Kenya by using a handful of fighters with AK-47 rifles and grenades. Local knowledge also helps.

One of the four fighters who stormed the Garissa college was an ethnic-Somali whose father was a Kenyan government official, intensifying fears about home-grown jihadis. Five other Kenyans have been arrested since.

"Radicalization has grown and become a national problem rather than a regional problem," said Ali Roba, the governor of Mandera, a region also targeted by militants

SCHOOL HOSPITALS

Urging Muslims to do more to root out jihadi sympathizers within their community, Kenyatta said the attacks by the Somali militants threaten economic progress in their heartlands.

"I urge all my brothers and sisters in the affected regions, and across the country, to not allow those who hide and abet the terrorists to compromise and even destroy the development that is fast growing in your area," said Kenyatta, who replaced his intelligence and police chief following attacks.

Joseph Nkaissery, appointed interior minister in December, has impressed diplomats with his desire to use more modern methods to counter radicalization.

But to get Muslims on board, especially the 2.4 million ethnic Somalis living in Kenya, the authorities will have to address their deep suspicion of the security services. Many say they carry extra "shake down" cash for bribes.

"Their interest is just money. You can't go to the government to complain, nothing will happen," said Saddam Hassan, 23, who had to pay a 20,000 shillings ($216) bribe to be freed after four days in custody last April.

Diplomats say coming months could be key to see if the new leadership whole-heartedly embraces a new strategy or reverts to bad old ways.

Kenya's shutdown of Somali money transfer firms, vital to Somali businesses and people who rely on remittances from family members abroad, has raised concern.

So has the closure of two coastal civil society groups that were mediating talks between the government and radicalized Muslim youths who had burnt down churches and attacked Christians in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa.

In Nairobi's Eastleigh district, popularly known as Little Mogadishu, a change in policy is welcomed. But jaded by what civil society groups say is years of harassment, most ethnic-Somalis are bracing for another crackdown.

"We are tense because of the expectation of what's to come," said Ibrahim Ali Maalim, a local Imam

 

 

 

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

10.Apr.2015

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US Authorities have released more details in what they say was the apparent stabbing death of a  52-year-old Cameroonian woman whose fiance of Nigerian origin was found nearby splashed with blood Wednesday night at a home in Fort Bend County.

Osa Alohaneke, 56, faces a murder charge in the woman's death at about 7 p.m. in the 16300 block of Alametos Drive in the Mission Bend area, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said they found the female victim, identified Thursday as Evelyne Ebane Epiepang, dead inside the house and  her sister injured. Alohaneke was standing nearby with blood on his clothes, according to a news release. He told investigators that Epiepang was his fiancee and they lived at the house.  Another man, a family friend, at the home was not hurt.

Epiepang's sister was taken to Memorial-Hermann Hospital-Katy. She had a puncture wound in her shoulder and a broken arm. Her condition was not released, but deputies said her injuries were non-life-threatening.

Deputies said they were first dispatched about 5 p.m. on a domestic violence emergency call from Epiepang. When deputies arrived at the house, Alohaneke had already left.

About two hours later, Alohaneke reportedly returned to the home and banged on the front door, but the two women were not home. A man in the house phoned the victim, and she and her sister returned. Deputies say the alleged fatal attack occurred after their return.

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Ngwa Bertrand

10.Apr.2015

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A residential area south of Sheikh Zuweid town in North Sinai was hit by mortar fire on Wednesday, killing nine civilians, said the officials. They added that two more civilians were killed as a missile hit a house in a village in North Sinai.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, added that two soldiers died in the provincial capital el-Arish as an explosive device went off while their vehicle was driving by.  The Sinai Peninsula has long been considered a safe haven for gunmen who use the region as a base for their acts of terror.

Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s former president, in July 2013, gunmen have launched terrorist attacks in Sinai, killing members of Egypt’s security forces. On January 31, the group killed 30 people and injured dozens in a series of coordinated attacks in Sinai.

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Ngwa Bertrand

09.Apr.2015

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