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The United Nations has raised alarm about extreme food shortage in the Central African Republic (CAR). Two UN agencies warned on Tuesday that CAR faces a "dire" food crisis with over half the population suffering hunger following three years of conflict. "The situation is dire. Half of the population faces hunger," said Bienvenu Djossa, the World Food Program (WFP) Country Director in CAR. Overall crop production in 2015 remained 54 percent below average levels prior to a March 2013 coup which plunged the impoverished country into chaos, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WFP said in a report. Production was up 10 percent on 2014 but this was largely due to an increase in the cassava crop. Grain harvests were 70 percent down on pre-crisis levels. 

The CAR conflict has led to one million people being displaced from their homes in a country of less than five million where 75 percent depend on agriculture for their living. The conflict has also reduced the number of cows, goats and sheep in the country by almost a half, the agencies said. Lake and river fishing has been disrupted, resulting in a 40 percent fall in the catch since the onset of the crisis and a 70 percent rise in prices. Other important sources of protein have also seen sharp price spikes with groundnut flour up 74 percent and beef nearly twice as expensive as pre-crisis. The FAO said it had provided 170,900 households with seeds and tools during 2015, benefiting an estimated 850,000 people.

The WFP supported the operation by providing food rations to more than 65,000 farming families to prevent them from using their remaining seeds for food rather than planting. Separately, the WFP provided food through various activities including school meals and emergency food assistance to some 900,000 people. The two agencies said they would need more funding from donor states to continue their work in 2016. The FAO is seeking $86 million while the WFP said it needs $89 million to respond to urgent needs of 1.4 million people until the end of July in CAR and in neighboring countries.

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Elangwe Pauline

02.Mar.2016

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US media projections show Donald Trump leading the Super Tuesday primaries on the Republican and Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side. US voters headed to the polls across 11 states to cast their ballots in a day-long contest known as Super Tuesday, when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to pick the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees. 

On the GOP side, Trump was projected as the winner in Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Virginia. Clinton was also set to win the primaries in Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas. Vermont Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders won in his own state as well as Oklahoma just like GOP Senator Ted Cruz, who won in Texas and the Sooner State.

 

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Elangwe Pauline

02.Mar.2016

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The Nigerian government has broken all the rules by continued detention of a Shia cleric and many of his followers without charge since late last year, a grassroots Islamic movement says. The army killed hundreds of Shia Muslims as it detained cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky in December, while hundreds of others are still missing, believed dead or in state custody. The heavy-handed crackdown has triggered international condemnation, with Human Rights Watch describing it as "unjustified." 

On Monday, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) took President Muhammadu Buhari to task. "President Buhari is not following the rule of law. In our own case, all the rules concerning arrest, detention, have been broken," IMN spokesman Ibrahim Musa said. “We asked the government ‘why should they detain someone for over 70 days without any charge and without giving access to his lawyers?’” he told the French news agency AFP. Zakzaky, who was shot and wounded by the soldiers, is currently jailed along with hundreds of other people.

The army has claimed that Zakzaky's supporters tried to kill Nigeria's chief of army staff in a street skirmish in the northern city of Zaria that became a bloody crackdown on Shia Muslims. Human Rights Watch has denounced the attack, saying "at best it was a brutal overreaction and at worst it was a planned attack on the minority Shiite group." Rights organizations have called for a full investigation into the deadly attack by Nigerian forces.

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Elangwe Pauline

01.Mar.2016

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President Paul Biya reportedly left the country for a short private visit to Europe since February 23, the same day as the Sultan of Bamoum, Mbombo Mjoya. Informed opinions in Yaounde say both men have held a meeting on the state of the nation and Biya's bid for 2018. Cameroon Concord's senior political editor hinted that everything seems to suggests Biya and Njoya have met in France and agreed on the holding of early presidential elections. 

The Sultan-CPDM Senator had made his position public during a section conference of the ruling party in Bafoussam where he observed that it has become very urgent and imperative to consider convening an extraordinary congress of the ruling party to discuss the worrying situation that is on the horizon, "that may seriously threaten the peace which is very dear, and which has been hard-won in Cameroon".

Some reports have suggested the former cabinet minister and supreme leader of the Foumban people is not happy with the current cabinet and has been heard murmuring privately that "it lacks respect".

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Elangwe Pauline

02.Mar.2016

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An audit by Nigeria's government has discovered more than 20,000 nonexistent workers on federal payroll. Periodic checks are to be continued to avert further abuse.

 

The audit used biometric data and a bank verification number (BVN) to discover where the salaries were being paid. The names of some civil servants receiving a salary did not correspond to the names on the bank accounts. Some individuals were receiving salaries from multiple sources.

"The federal government has removed 23,846 nonexistent workers from its payroll," Festus Akanbi, a special adviser to Finance Ministe, Kemi Adeosun, announced on Sunday. "Consequently the salary bill for February 2016 has reduced by 2.293 billion naira (10.5 million euros/$11.5 million) when compared to December 2015 when the BVN audit process commenced," Akanbi added.

The ministry announced that it would undertake "periodic checks and utilize computer-assisted audit techniques." New and tougher monitoring of entrants to the civil service is to be introduced to prevent further abuse. 

Akanbi said the ministry was working with the financial crimes agency and the National Pension Commission to identify irregularities. The aim was to recover salaries and pension contributions related to the 'ghost' workers.

Ongoing exercise

"The ongoing exercise, which is part of the cost-saving and anti-corruption agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration, is key to funding the deficit in the 2016 budget," said Akanbi.

Buhari's government came to power last year, pledging in its campaign to tackle corruption and cut the costs of government.

Akanbi said Nigeria's state coffers were depleted as a result of the collapse in global oil prices. Reducing the costs of state personnel was "key to funding the deficit in the 2016 budget, as savings made will ultimately reduce the amount to be borrowed," he said.

Corruption and mismanagement have held back the development of Africa's largest economy for many years.

(DW)

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Ngwa Bertrand

29.Feb.2016

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Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has thanked the Iranian nation for its massive participation in the country’s recent twin elections. On Sunday, the Leader expressed gratitude for the “aware and determined” nation, whose turnout at the polls displayed “the brilliant face of religious democracy to the world.” “I consider it my responsibility to express my gratitude to this public acknowledgement of the call made by the [country’s] Islamic establishment,” Ayatollah Khamenei noted. Among other things, the Leader also urged the electees to adopt “austerity, honesty, constant attendance to the position of responsibility, preference for national interests over personal and factional demands, and chivalrous resistance against foreign meddling.” “The very sensitive times of the present call for the vigilance, awareness, and conviction of everyone, especially you the authorities.” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “The country’s advancement is the essential goal,” the Leader said, asserting, however, that “superficial advancement, which forgos independence and national esteem is not acceptable.” 

On Friday, Iran simultaneously held parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections. At least 33 million out of the 55 million eligible voters, or 60 percent, took part in the polls. As many as 4,844 candidates, including about 500 women, were competing for a place in the 290-seat parliament. A total of 159 candidates ran for the 88-member Assembly of Experts, which is constitutionally tasked with selecting a leader when the need arises. Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) also commended the Iranian nation for its participation in the country’s recent twin elections. The IRGC’s Public Relations Office released a statement on Sunday, describing the participation as “large-scale, passionate, and devastating for [the country’s] enemies.” “This stalwart nation… should be praised for its diligence and will in letting down the frontline comprising the sworn enemies of Islam and the Islamic Revolution, who are being led by the United States.”

Results so far show that, while candidates from the Principlist camp have gained a majority when the entire country is taken into account, rival reformists have scored better results in Tehran, which is allotted the highest number of seats in both the Parliament and the Assembly of Experts, taking almost all seats for the capital. Over all, reformists have also been able to send more candidates into the parliament and the Assembly of Experts compared to previous elections for the two institutions. “There is no doubt that those chosen by the nation will subjugate the global hegemony and arrogance to their perceptiveness and alertness,” the IRGC statement read.

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Elangwe Pauline

29.Feb.2016

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