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A Liberian newspaper editor was on Thursday arrested after publishing an article from Britain’s Daily Mail website that alleges the President of Equatorial Guinea is a cannibal.

On Sunday the British tabloid posted an article about long-time President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo alleging the strongman skinned opponents alive and ate their testicles, brains and livers.

The New Democrat reprinted certain elements of the piece by journalist Thomas Burrows on its Wednesday front page, attracting the ire of the information minister.

Festus Poquie, editor of the New Democrat newspaper, was then detained by plain-clothed police and locked in a cell for several hours before his release on Thursday afternoon.

“The Liberia National Police can confirm that its Crime Services Division is holding a conversation with a senior Editor of the New Democrat, Festus Poquie,” a police statement sent to AFP read.

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Rita Akana

16.Sep.2016

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The hostages were presented to the Senior Divisional Officer of the Mbere, Alassane Mfouapon who congratulated the defence forces on their bravery.

The six hostages were kidnapped in two different localities notably, Barke and Ndawe in the Djohong Subdivision of the Mbere Division of the Region.

They were then taken to an unknown destination where they spent six weeks in precarious conditions. Their abductors demanded a minimum of 8 million francs CFA per family before they could be freed.

Informed on the situation, elements of the 52nd  intervention unit of the fifth military sector of the Rapid Intervention Battalion were sent out to confront the hostage takers. With the collaboration of the locals, they successfully localized the hideout of the kidnappers and liberated the six hostages.

Before the hostages returned to their various families, they were received by the Senior Divisional Officer for the Mbere, Alassane Mfouapon who congratulated the soldiers on their bravery and called on the population to remain vigilant and collaborate with the administration as well as with the forces of law and order.

The victims were kidnapped in the Djohong Subdivision, host to some 12,500 refugees from the Central African Republic.

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Rita Akana

16.Sep.2016

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The demonstrators marched peacefully for nearly an hour in the streets of the popular district “of Akébé Bridge”, which is a stronghold of the Bongo family. They were accompanied by anti-riot police.

The group that comprised members of the Youth Union of the Gabonese Democratic Party, said that they did not want Jean Ping, claiming that Bongo was democratically re-elected.

“Claims have been made against us, challenging the election of our candidate Ali Bongo Ondimba. Our first duty is to prove that these allegations are baseless and then we will also show elsewhere there have been unclear things which are reproachable to our opponents,” said Faustin Boukoubi, the secretary general of the Gabonese Democratic party (PDG). 

Jean Ping had filed an appeal with Constitutional Court challenging Bongo’s re-election, and calling for a votes recount.

Ali Bongo’s lawyers had until Wednesday, to table their legal arguments with the Constitutional Court, in response to the appeal filed by Ping. They have also added new elements accusing Ping of electoral fraud fraud in three other provinces.

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Rita Akana

15.Sep.2016

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oreign airlines flying to Nigeria have started to refuel abroad to bypass pricey, and increasingly scarce, jet fuel as the oil producer battles a hard currency shortage that has made fuel available only at a very high price.

It is the second blow for airlines operating in Africa's recession-hit biggest economy in a year that first saw the central bank make it almost impossible to repatriate profits from ticket sales as it tried to prevent a currency collapse.

The crash in the naira since a devaluation in June has led firms who market jet fuel locally, such as Total, Sahara and ConocoPhillips, to double the price to 220 naira a litre in August, and to as much as 400 naira this month, an airline executive said.

Even at the higher costs, marketers' lack of dollars has made fuel scarce. Some carriers have had aircraft stuck, or were forced to cancel planned journeys, after frantic last-minute calls from ground staff warned there was no fuel available.

"The economy is crying out for investment, and now it is going to be even harder for anyone to visit," said John Ashbourne, economist with Capital Economics. "Who is going to want to park a billion dollars in a country that you can't even easily fly to? It sends the worst possible signal." 

A spokesman for state oil company NNPC did not answer calls for comment.

The central bank hoped floating the naira would attract dollar inflows, but the naira sunk by 50 percent, forcing oil firms to charge airlines, stuck with piles of naira, in dollars for jet fuel.

"It's an impossible situation. The oil marketers don't want to sign long-term agreements anymore so we have to accept whatever prices they demand," one airline executive said. "We sell tickets in naira and now they want us to come with dollars."

Spain's Iberia and United Airlines cancelled their Nigeria services earlier this year, and two local carriers also halted operations. Other international airlines responded by boosting ticket prices within Nigeria, charging its globe-trotting elite as much as $2,000 for an economy class ticket to Europe to cut losses - more than double the cost of a Lagos ticket bought abroad.

 

WELL-HEELED PASSENGERS

Dubai-based Emirates has started a detour to Accra, Ghana, to refuel its daily Abuja-bound flight, a spokesman said. The airline already cut its twice-daily flights to Lagos and Abuja to just one.

The move was aided by a substantial drop in Ghana's jet prices amid tax reform last month, according to the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors.

Air France-KLM said it had refueled abroad in "very exceptional cases" by juggling suppliers and stomaching extra costs.

Germany's Lufthansa is loading more fuel in Frankfurt for its Lagos flight, where the ground staff doubt their ability to refuel for the final destination of Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, an executive said. The airline did not respond to official requests for comment.

The scarcity has even pitted airlines against local consumers; a surge in demand for cooking and heating kerosene during the rainy season, when households cannot easily burn wood or charcoal, means if the airlines do not pay up, marketers will sell to locals.

Airlines met with transport ministry officials last week in Abuja to press for fuel at lower prices, industry sources said.

Nigeria used to be one of the most profitable markets for foreign airlines, landing planes with plenty of first and business class to cater to executives and officials jetting around under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

President Muhammadu Buhari cut air travel allowances for officials in a bid to tackle graft; others simply have less spending power with consumer inflation running at an 11-year high of 17 percent.

British Airways, a popular choice for well-heeled Nigerians, said it is using smaller aircraft on its Lagos-London route, as did Air France-KLM.

Turkish Airlines' use of smaller planes has added another inconvenience: passengers complained there is not always space for luggage on the smaller aircraft, delaying it for days. The airline did not respond to requests for comment.

Reuters

 

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Rita Akana

13.Sep.2016

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South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has taken out a home loan to repay state money spent on non-security upgrades to his private residence, his office said on Monday, after a scandal over lavish improvements including a swimming pool and amphitheatre.

In a stinging rebuke that hit Zuma financially and politically, the Constitutional Court ordered him in March to return some of the $16 million spent on enhancing his residence at Nkandla in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

Near record unemployment and a stagnant economy have exacerbated discontent with Zuma's leadership. He survived an impeachment vote in April over the Nkandla costs with backing from the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which has been in power since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.

In August, the ruling party suffered its worst losses in municipal elections and lost its grip in key cities including the capital Pretoria and the economic hub of Johannesburg.

The president's office said Zuma had taken out a home loan on standard terms from private black-owned VBS Mutual Bank to repay 7.8 million rand ($538,000) - the sum determined by the Treasury in June as the "reasonable cost" he should bear.

A Treasury spokeswoman said the payment had been received. 

In 2014, a national anti-corruption watchdog identified a cattle enclosure, chicken run and visitor center as non-security items that Zuma must pay for, as well as the theater and pool.

Zuma denied he had acted dishonestly over the upgrade.

The main opposition party Democratic Alliance said in a statement it welcomed the repayment by Zuma but said "this is only the tip of the iceberg in this corruption-plagued saga."

The party urged Zuma to show proof to parliament that he had received a home loan and that VBS Mutual was not "a front".

The presidency's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga said Zuma had not considered taking money from his supporters to pay the amount as he had been ordered by the court to pay it personally.

Ngqulunga said: "There was no special dispensation for the president, he received the loan on standard terms, the same terms as anybody else."

VBS Mutual says on its website that its loans policy covers upgrades to homes.

South Africa's Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which manages South African government employee retirement funds and has more than 1.8 trillion rand under management, is listed as a shareholder of VBS Mutual on the bank's website.

 

 

President Zuma paid the cash to the country’s Reserve Bank, as ordered by the Constitutional Court ahead of a September the 29th deadline.

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Rita Akana

13.Sep.2016

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Hillary Clinton is suffering from pneumonia, the Democratic presidential candidate's personal doctor said on Sunday after she fell ill at a Sept. 11 memorial, an episode that renewed focus on her health less than two months before the election.

Clinton canceled a trip she was scheduled to take to California on Monday for fundraising and other campaign events, an aide said, declining to provide further details about her schedule for the week.

Clinton, 68, was diagnosed on Friday but her condition only came to light several hours after a video on social media appeared to show her swaying and her knees buckling before being helped into a motorcade as she left the memorial early Sunday.

Clinton had a medical examination when she got back to her home in Chappaqua, New York, according to a campaign aide. Her doctor, Lisa Bardack, said in a statement that she has been experiencing a cough related to allergies and that an examination on Friday showed it was pneumonia.

"She was put on antibiotics and advised to rest and modify her schedule. While at this morning's event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now re-hydrated and recovering nicely," Bardack said.

Clinton's pneumonia diagnosis comes at a crucial time in the White House race against Republican rival Donald Trump, who refrained from commenting on her health on Sunday.

The first of three presidential debates is on Sept. 26 and the election is on Nov. 8.

Democratic National Committee head Donna Brazile said she was encouraged that Clinton "already is feeling better" and looked "forward to seeing her back out on the campaign trail and continuing on the path to victory."

Several Clinton allies said the incident underscored the candidate's resilience.

"After being diagnosed with pneumonia, Hillary Clinton ran a two-hour national security meeting, gave a press conference, and spent an hour and a half in the heat at a September 11 event," said Peter Daou, who worked for Clinton in the past and now has a communications firm.

"It was an impressive feat of physical strength that undermined weeks of health conspiracies."

Reuters

 

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Rita Akana

12.Sep.2016

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