Burundi: ‘Climate of fear’ getting worse, church says

Politics & Power

Burundi, Burundi election 2020, catholic church, Pierre Nkurunziza

Aaron Brooks

Burundi’s Catholic Church says political violence and intimidation is worsening in the country ahead of next year’s presidential election.

The church joins a growing number of organisations and rights groups – including the United Nations – who point towards a “climate of fear” operating in the politically troubled country.

Worsening conditions in Burundi

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Burundi released a letter, which was read out in churches on Sunday, expressing concern over increased efforts to “suffocate and assault certain political parties and to persecute their members” in the build-up to next year’s poll.

“Criminal acts go as far as murders with political motives,” the letter read, which are “perpetuated against those with different opinions of the government,” it continues.

Burundi is scheduled to hold presidential elections on 20 May for the first time since President Pierre Nkurunziza sparked a political crisis by announcing he would run for a third term in 2015.

The government has since passed changes to the constitution that would allow Nkurunziza to run for a fourth term in charge, but the president has said he won’t seek another term in 2020.

Regardless, reports of human rights violations and political intimidation continue to emerge in the build-up to next year’s vote.

Burundi’s government has strongly denied the claims made by bishops with presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe saying some of them should be defrocked in a Twitter post.

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Repression Risks Fueling Egypt Instability, Analysts Warn

By Agence France-Presse

An Egyptian police van blocks a street leading to Cairo's Tahrir square, Sept. 27, 2019, in anticipation of anti-government protests.

CAIRO - Egypt is reeling after a tense weekend of sparse anti-government protests for the second week in a row, which analysts say could bring more repression under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

Despite a heavy security presence in the capital, small-scale protests erupted in Cairo's Warraq island district after Friday prayers and in southern Egypt.

But the crowds were much thinner than the week before, when viral videos by an exiled disgruntled businessman accusing Sissi and the military of deep-seated corruption tapped into simmering discontent at people's economic woes.

"I doubt the Sissi administration is in any serious trouble, even if the protests show that high levels of repression have not been sufficient to deter open dissent," said Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

Yet he cautioned that current uncertainty is riddled with challenges for Sissi.

"The real problem for the administration ... is that it has emptied the political arena so completely of interlocutors (such as political parties or business groups) that it lacks social allies outside the state apparatus," he told AFP.

"This makes it brittle. Its dependence on repression will produce diminishing returns over time, as Egypt's social problems worsen," he added.

Following the first wave of protests on September 20, Sissi — who has already overseen a crackdown since the start of his rule in 2013 — moved quickly to quash dissent.

Around 2,000 people were rounded up in just seven days.

"The unprecedented wave of arrests of activists, intellectuals, and also ordinary protesters... made a lot of people re-think what might happen to them if they did participate," said Youssef el-Chazli, a fellow at Brandeis University's Crown Center for Middle East Studies.

Calls for a "million-march" on Friday from the businessman and actor Mohamed Aly failed to materialize on the ground.

Egyptian social media — an active virtual turf war between Sissi detractors and supporters, has gone back to focusing on soccer and other mundane topics.

Cairo's Tahrir Square, the flashpoint of the 2011 revolution, has returned to its ordinary, hectic pace with traffic milling around.

But a police presence is visible throughout the capital.

As the crackdown continued, AFP journalists on Friday saw police stopping and frisking citizen

randomly, detaining some, searching phones and impounding vehicles.

The state has learned since 2011 that any group or protest can pose a threat and should be monitored, Chazli said.

"Obviously, this doesn't bode necessarily well for the future of democratic development and protection of civil and political rights in the country."

Pro-Sissi rallies

In another show of force, pro-Sissi supporters were out in large numbers on Friday.

Returning from the UN General Assembly in New York, Sissi greeted a crowd of enthusiastic supporters at Cairo Airport telling them there was "no reason for concern".

In eastern Cairo, more than 1,000 people were bused to a stage where a concert took place in support of Sissi waving flags and carrying placards with nationalistic slogans near the tomb of the former president Anwar Sadat.

The site was pointedly just meters from the site of the largest massacre in modern Egyptian history at Rabaa Mosque in 2013 when Egyptian troops killed around 800 Muslim Brotherhood supporters in a single day.

"The post-2013 regime has been, since its inception, very reliant on 'popular legitimacy' and scenes of chanting and dancing crowds," said Chazli.

"It was important to have people in the street supporting the president, in bigger numbers than those protesting him."

In state-media such as the Al-Ahram newspaper on Sunday, the message was about the government's complete control, with one article headlined "Stability encourages investment".

Across the dailies, plenty of ink was dedicated to lambasting the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement of Islamist former president Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted by the military in 2013.

Samir Ragheb, a retired brigadier-general and head of the Arab Foundation for Development and Strategic Studies, told AFP the protests "were designed to foment chaos only for a few minutes".

Authorities had been initially surprised, but they have learnt from previous security lapses, when millions went out in 2011 to topple long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak, he noted.

Ragheb dismissed the idea protests may break out again but highlighted there is a general sense of frustration among Egyptians mostly with the severe government-imposed austerity measures.

"There's a difference between suffering economically and being angry about it. You can't just protest outside the law," he added.

If the most impoverished classes rise up then "no one will be able to stop them, even the military and
police," he said.

Daily life has slowly resumed with the start of the working week on Sunday, although police forces are out on the streets in parts of the capital.

But with the continued political clampdown and the economic squeeze "it's hard to imagine protests will completely stop, unless maybe for a short while," Chazli said.

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Nigeria warned it risks humanitarian disaster by expelling charities

Aid agencies strongly deny Nigeria’s claims that they are diverting funds to Boko Haram

Patrick Wintour 

Soldiers block the entrance of the aid agency Mercy Corps’ office in Maiduguri after closing it down. Photograph: Audu Marte/AFP/Getty Images

Nigeria has been warned it risks a humanitarian disaster if the government goes ahead with its threat to throw aid agencies out of the north-east of the country, claiming they are in secret league with extremist Islamic groups.

A spate of aid offices have been forcibly shut amid unproven claims that they have been acting as conduits for cash that has ended up with Boko Haram, or Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap).

The Nigerian army is stepping up its 10-year effort to drive out extremists, and claims that, despite several warnings, aid agencies continue to provide aid to terrorist groups.

Two aid agencies have had offices closed in the past few days, and there are fears in the charity sector that the Nigerians are targeting as many as 10 independent humanitarian organisations. Talks are under way to try to defuse the breakdown in relations, and the charities say they often avoid transporting cash by road to avoid the risk of seizure.

The reprisals came at the same time as the brutal execution of a kidnapped Nigerian aid worker last Wednesday by extremists. The charity worker was among six aid workers employed by the Paris-based charity Action Against Hunger captured in July by Boko Haram during an ambush on a convoy close to the border with Niger.

Action Against Hunger is the biggest NGO involved the international humanitarian response in the region, and on 18 September had its office in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, forcibly shut by the Nigerian army. No warning or notice was given to the charity.

The army claimed in a statement that it had credible intelligence the charity was one of a number involved in subversive activities and was aiding and abetting terrorists, including by supplying drugs and food to extremist groups.

In an angry rebuttal, Action Against Hunger said it strongly rejected the accusation of “aiding and abetting” a terrorist organisation: “Action Against Hunger delivers neutral, impartial, and independent humanitarian aid to millions of people in Borno and Yobe States by providing basic services to the most vulnerable people, especially women and children.”

The charity added it stood ready “to support any investigation, and will work tirelessly with the Nigerian authorities to allay any concerns they may have about our operations in the region”.

A grab from a video released by Iswap purportedly shows workers from Action Against Hunger kidnapped in an attack on 18 July. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

 A grab from a video released by Iswap purportedly shows workers from Action Against Hunger kidnapped in an attack on 18 July. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Another international aid agency, Mercy Corps, also said on Wednesday that it had suspended its operations in the north-eastern Borno and Yobe states, two of the worst hit by the violence. The charity made the move after the Nigerian army closed five of its offices, initially not providing any official explanation.

Boko Haram effectively runs four of the 10 zones inside Borno, near Lake Chad, but the army and the government are reluctant to admit the counter-insurgency is failing.

Mercy Corps’ head of media and communications Amy Fairbairn confirmed the organisation was seeking to work with the Nigerian army to resolve the position.

In December 2018, the army also suspended Unicef from operating in the north-east over claims it was training “spies” who supported Boko Haram – only to lift the ban later the same day after a meeting with the aid agency.

Iswap is a splinter faction of Boko Haram that swore allegiance in 2016 to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It has repeatedly attacked military bases and targeted aid workers in north-east Nigeria.

The UN humanitarian coordinator Edward Kallon said he was appalled by the killing of the aid workers, but added he was “extremely concerned by the increasingly dangerous and restrictive operating environment for humanitarian assistance”. In remarks aimed at the Nigerian army, he insisted the humanitarian community was working in line with the agreement reached between the government and aid workers, in place until 2021, to provide assistance to 6.2m of the most vulnerable people.

The army has announced a fresh nationwide crackdown, starting on 7 October, designed to find and arrest criminals and terrorists.

Jeremy Hunt, the then foreign secretary, visited the area earlier this year, where he was briefed by a small British military team helping to advise the Nigerian army, but the degree of the UK military’s day-to-day influence over the Nigerian army’s strategy can be exaggerated.

One worker from an aid agency based in Nigeria that could not be named for fear of reprisals said: “If humanitarian agencies are kicked out of north-east Nigeria then thousands of Nigerian civilians will needlessly die, including many children; it will be a humanitarian disaster. Someone needs to ask the Nigerians and the UN some serious questions about how the government of Nigeria is getting away with this whilst it sits on stage in New York, presiding over the UN General Assembly and preaching about ending conflict and fighting poverty in the drive to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.”

The war with Boko Haram has devastated the population in rural north-east Nigeria, one of the poorest regions on earth. More than 2 million people have fled their homes, tens of thousands have been killed and many more injured, abducted and conscripted to join the fight. The International Committee of the Red Cross said last month that about 22,000 Nigerians have been reported missing during the decade-long crisis, nearly half of them minors.

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Ruto allies in government are Kenya's own Deep State

There are well within the new political dispensation tools the President has and must use to command a level of fear and respect to effectively do his job

 

DP William Ruto waves to residents of Nairage Enkare during his tour in Narok county
Image: DPPS

From long before US President Donald J Trump was sworn into office, it was believed there were people deep in government who were determined to do whatever it took to make sure the new and wholly inept President does not take the country down to ruins.

This group came to be known as the “deep state,” meaning, high-ranking officials in the federal civil service system that saw and continue to see themselves as saviors of the country from Trump madness.

Many of these individuals are found deep in the country’s national security apparatus and law enforcement agencies.

It was, therefore, no surprise that Trump has been attacking these core and vital institutions from day one and continues to trash and demean them to this day.

Trump also continues to fire civil servants in these vital institutions, including many he has appointed because he doesn’t trust them anymore or they are not loyal enough. He is doing so with abandon and believes he is some superhuman who can do and get away with things nobody else can.

Messing with the National Intelligence Service of any country is a bad, bad idea. Not even if you are the President as Trump is soon to find out.

But we also know a national security apparatus is any President’s biggest weapon.

In Kenya, we have an interesting phenomenon that needs to be examined more closely, and that is the relationship between Deputy President William Ruto and many in the National Intelligence Service and the military.

The question is, does Ruto have key people in these two vital parts of government in his pocket such that they can rightly be deemed to be our own deep state arrayed against President Uhuru Kenyatta?

 In the US, the deep state exists, if it does for the patriotic reasons to save the country from the inept President’s madness and Twitter fingers driven governance, if you can even call this governing.

In Kenya, the deep state must only exist for the sole purpose of aiding Ruto to clear the political mines ahead and help him ascend to the presidency.

One can deny the existence of a deep state in Kenya, but the facts belie this denial.

Indeed, putting two and two together, one cannot but conclude the deep state exists and leading as proof, is the swagger with which Ruto walks and does his things.

The swagger Ruto has can only be the product of some firm believe, yes, he has the proverbial balls to tout the system, if not defeat it altogether — a feat that will be the first in our country’s history.

To be sure, not one person has ever daringly challenged the government of the day and lived to tell their story. If they did, it is with broken limbs and having survived various forms of punishment and torture. Count Raila Odinga among them.

While assassinations and other forms of state brutality peaked during former President Daniel Moi’s government, it cannot be the alternative to have a clawless President disrespected left and right with impunity. That would be the definition of an impotent President with equally undesirable outcome from his presidency, or more precisely, one incapable of effectively governing the country.

There are well within the new political dispensation tools the President has and must use to command a level of fear and respect to effectively do his job as well as to implement his priorities, including now the handshake and BBI.

Those tools include the right to hire and fire and top on that list must be Ruto allies in the deep state, and replaced with Uhuru and Raila’s loyalists.

Yes, Ruto and his people will cry “they’re finishing us” but we only have one President at a time and he must utilise all the power at his disposal to do the necessary for the good of the country.

That time is nigh.

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Kagame did not meet with Besigye

By Albert Rudatsimburwa

 

Rwanda/Uganda

On Saturday, September 28, 2019, Uganda’s state-owned newspaper The New Vision wrote a fictitious report under a front-page headline: “Besigye, Kagame meet in USA!” 

But no such meeting took place, even “accidentally”, as Museveni claims when he meets Rwandan dissidents.

According to a reliable source familiar with President Kagame’s schedule during his trip to the United States, there was no meeting between Kagame and Besigye.

And so one is left wondering what Ugandan authorities are up to when they resort to such blatantly made up fabrications. 

All we can suppose is that the embarrassment of being caught having meetings with dissidents of Kayumba Nyamwasa’s Rwanda National Congress (RNC) and FDLR in Kampala must be driving them into manufacturing these kinds of bizarre disinformation pieces.

The pattern of Uganda’s defenses against the fully substantiated charges Rwanda has placed before them has been to manufacture out of full cloth some kind of equivalence, which itself has been a revelation that in fact, Uganda has no tangible grievance against Rwanda in the current crisis in bilateral relations.

Authorities in Kampala had obviously calculated that Rwanda would retaliate against Uganda's hounding of Rwandans in Uganda by also harassing Ugandans in Rwanda. However, none of this ever happened. 

As hundreds of Rwandans get rounded up in illegal sweeps, tortured and dumped on our common border without the slightest pretence of adherence to legality, not a single Ugandan has been victimised in Rwanda.

The authorities had also hoped that the frequent visits of top RNC officials in Uganda - Eugene-Richard Gasana, Charlotte Mukankusi, Ben Rutabana, Frank Ntwali, Sande Charles etc., and even the hosting of the organization’s business arm under the ownership of Tribert Ayabatwa Rujugiro whom Museveni has similarly admitted to having met on numerous occasions - would trigger retaliation from Rwanda to recruit and support. 

Rwanda would, in fact, identify groups hostile to Uganda however, Rwanda resisted such a temptation, even though retaliating in the same currency would have been fully justified. 

Rwanda has avoided all these provocations.

Consequently, the authorities in Uganda have been embarrassed by what is clearly overt, unprovoked malign behaviour towards a neighbour and fellow member of the East African Community and the African Union, both of whose treaties, like the United Nations Charter, mandate peaceful co-existence among member states and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. 

The same applies to efforts to tie the opposition in Uganda to the leadership in Rwanda; the urge to make up meetings that never took place.

What Uganda’s authorities neglect to consider is that even if President Kagame were to meet with Besigye, no equivalence with Museveni meeting with anti-Rwanda dissidents of armed terror groups would be justified. 

Besigye is a legitimate opposition figure in Uganda, belongs to a registered political party in that country, and has run in elections against Museveni multiple times. 

Moreover, Besigye is not a criminal running from the law nor is he a terrorist. Indeed, Besigye lives in Uganda and has no rebel group that seeks to destabilize and overthrow Museveni.

Museveni is free to meet with legitimate opposition figures inside Rwanda. 

In fact, Rwanda’s opposition is also in government because Rwanda’s power-sharing constitution mandates it. 

This means that in many of the summits that Museveni attends, there are Rwandan opposition members present there, such as the current Minister of State for the East African Community in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Amb Olivier Nduhungirehe. Many others have been at the same venue as Museveni.

So, When Museveni decides to “accidentally” meet RNC dissidents, he knows he is not meeting Rwanda’s opposition, but members of groups dedicated to destabilizing the government of a neighbouring country through violent means. President Kagame has, however, not found it necessary to do so, Perhaps he will consider meeting Uganda's opposition in future.

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Egypt talks Ethiopia's Dam with S. Sudan, Burundi, expresses unease

By: Egypt Today staff

 

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri on Saturday met separately with the foreign ministers of South Sudan and Burundi - Press photo

CAIRO - 29 September 2019: Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri on Saturday met separately with the foreign ministers of South Sudan and Burundi, and reviewed with them updates of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiations, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez said.

During his meeting, on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, with South Sudan's Awut Deng Acuil, Shoukri expressed Egypt's unease over the long duration of the GERD negotiations, stressing the importance of conducting the negotiation process in good faith so as to help reach a just and fair agreement that takes into account the interests of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Shoukri expressed Egypt's willingness to strengthen its relations with South Sudan in various fields, stressing Egypt's keenness on the stability of the brotherly South Sudan.

The meeting touched on ways of boosting bilateral cooperation between the two countries, and identifying the needs of the South Sudanese side in the field of capacity building, in light of the role played by the Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development in this regard.

For her part, Acuil expressed her country's appreciation of the Egyptian role in supporting South Sudan and stability in the region, stressing South Sudan's keenness to strengthen cooperation with Egypt in the coming period, in accordance with the mandates of the political leaderships of the two countries, in an effort to meet the aspirations and hopes of the two brotherly peoples.

Burundi's Foreign Minister Ezechiel Nibigira, in a separate meeting, stressed his country's understanding of Cairo's position concerning the GERD negotiations, and the importance of the Nile River as the sole source of life for the Egyptian people, the spokesman said.

The two sides also exchanged views on regional and African issues of common concern, as well as ways to strengthen the mechanisms of African action in the face of common challenges, especially in light of Egypt's presidency of the African Union this year.

Burundi's foreign minister also expressed his country's appreciation of Egypt's stances supporting Burundi, at the bilateral level and in international forums, referring to the role of Egyptian companies in contributing to Burundi's development.

He stressed his country's keenness to continue coordination and consultation with Egypt on issues of the region and issues of common concern.

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Nigerian officials search for families of freed male captives

Police register hundreds of men and boys found in Kaduna school bearing signs of abuse

Reuters in Kaduna

Some of the rescued students were found shackled and chained to hub caps and radiators. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

Nigerian authorities have been scrambling to find the families of hundreds of boys and men freed from a school where some had been kept in chains, sexually abused and tortured.

Police freed as many as 400 captives, aged from six to 50, from the house in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, in a raid on Thursday. Some were chained to radiators, tyres or hub caps and others bore visible signs of scars from being whipped and beaten.

More than a dozen, including 10 children, were taken to hospital on Saturday. All the adults were in critical condition, with one vomiting blood.

Police set up a makeshift camp for the others on the outskirts of the city and were registering them on a list.

Outside, dozens of parents gathered to collect their children. Some had paid tuition fees to the men running the house believing it to be an Islamic school, while others viewed it as a correctional facility with no expectation of instruction.

The Kaduna state police spokesman Yakubu Sabo said the “dehumanised treatment” they found made it impossible to consider the house an Islamic school.

Local media said some of the children had been tortured, starved and sexually abused. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the reports.

Hafsat Mohammed Baba, the state’s commissioner of human services and social development, said a headcount had accounted for just 190 people, including 113 adults and 77 children. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers was not immediately clear, but authorities said some of those who were freed had fled immediately.

Police raided the school after a relative was denied access to the captives. Seven people who said they were teachers at the school were arrested during the operation.

Police called on families from across the region, including the nearby countries of Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso, to collect the freed captives. However, some of the boys were reluctant to return home with their families.

Mohammed Sani Abu Shaaban, a father of 13 from the Kaduna suburb of Nasarawa, sent his sons Salim, 16, and Jamilu, 25, to the school for more than three years.

He paid 34,000 naira (£76) a term and said it had helped his sons, particularly Salim. “Now that they are set free, he may relapse into his past negative attitude of absconding from school and other vices,” Shaaban said.

Islamic schools, known as Almajiris, are common across the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria. Widespread poverty prompts many parents to leave their children at the institutions, but they have been dogged by reports of abuse and accusations that some children are forced to beg on the streets rather than get an education.

Some activists have called on the government to outlaw the schools.

But Shaaban, who said he visited regularly and never saw signs of poor treatment, called on the state to keep the Kaduna school open. “The closure of the school is really a source of concern and very disturbing to us who have unruly children and wards,” he said.

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Uganda launches oral rapid HIV self-testing kits

Source: Xinhua|

KAMPALA, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's ministry of health has launched oral rapid HIV self-testing kits, a move aimed at increasing testing rates as part of efforts to stem new infections in the country, a senior official said on Saturday.

Diana Atwine, permanent secretary at the ministry of health, told Xinhua by telephone that the initiative is aimed at enabling more Ugandans to know their virus HIV status.

The current prevalence of HIV among people aged 15-49 years in the east African country stands at 6 percent, according to the 2016 Uganda Population HIV Impact Assessment.

"We (ministry of health) have officially launched the HIV self-test kit. The kits will be available for free in our (public) health facilities and on sale in private pharmacies," said Atwine.

With the kit, people can use oral fluid or blood-finger-pricks to test in a private and convenient setting. Results will be shown within 20 to 40 minutes.

In 2017, World Health Organization and United Nations AIDS recommended HIV self-testing, as an additional option for people to test and know their status.

Evidence from many countries has shown that HIV self-testing is highly acceptable and can reach people who may not otherwise test, including young people aged 15-24 years.

Uganda has been using the health provider or client-initiated HIV counselling and testing model recommended by the country's national HIV strategy.

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United States issues Tanzania travel advisory over suspected Ebola cases

TANZANIA

September 27,2019: US issues travel advisory

The United States on Friday warned its citizens to take extra care when visiting Tanzania amid concerns over Ebola, adding to calls for the East African country to share information about suspected cases of the deadly disease there.

U.S. travellers should “exercise increased caution”, the State Department said in an updated travel advisory that cited reports of “a probable Ebola-related death in Dar es Salaam”.

Days earlier, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention travelled to Tanzania at the direction of U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar, who had also criticised the country for not sharing information.

There is no Ebola outbreak in Tanzania as we speak, people should not panic.

Tanzania denies the reports, saying no cases of Ebola have been confirmed, but with transparency key to combating the deadly and fast-spreading haemorrhagic fever, the government is under mounting pressure to provide clarification.

The foreign affairs ministry was not immediately available on Saturday for comment on the U.S. advisory.

Authorities in east and central Africa have been on high alert for possible spillovers of Ebola from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a year-long outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people.

Tanzania and DRC share a border that is separated by a lake.

September 24,2019: WHO official summoned

Tanzania on Tuesday summoned the World Health Organization’s local representative, who over the weekend asserted that the government refused to share information on suspected Ebola cases.

Transparency and speed are key to combating the deadly hemorrhagic fever because it can spread rapidly. Anyone deemed to have been in contact with potentially infected people must be quarantined and the public warned to step up precautions such as handwashing.

Government spokesman Hassan Abbasi said on Twitter that WHO country representative Tigest Ketsela Mengestu was summoned by deputy foreign affairs minister Damas Ndumbaro, in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

“The representative insisted that the WHO has not declared that there is Ebola in Tanzania, nor does it have any evidence on that and pledged to cooperate with the government,” Abbasi said.

“During the talks, the WHO agreed to strictly follow guidelines outlined by the agency itself and ratified by the government if it wants to get any additional information from the Tanzanian government.”

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the agency had not received any information after it had requested Tanzanian authorities to assess potential risks from the recent incidences.

She ruled out any punitive action, and reiterated that WHO had advised against any travel or trade restrictions based on the present circumstances.

“What we need to do is to continue communicating with them and provide them with help and expertise. We cannot sanction a country. It is not our mandate,” Chaib said.

September 21,2019: Tanzania withheld information: WHO

WHO said late on Saturday it was made aware on Sept. 10 of the death of a patient in Dar es Salaam, and was unofficially told the next day that the person had tested positive for Ebola. The woman had died on Sept. 8.

In its weekend statement, WHO said it was unofficially told that Tanzania had two other possible Ebola cases. One had tested negative and there was no information on the other.

Officially, the Tanzanian government had said in the previous week it had no confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola. The government did not address the death of the woman directly and did not provide further information.

September 18,2019: WHO confirms Tanzania’s Ebola denial

Tanzania has refuted allegations of harbouring an Ebola case in the country, formally telling the World Health Organisation (WHO), it had conducted investigations on suspicious cases and ruled out the deadly virus.

“This followed earlier rumours of the death of one person and illness in a few others,” the WHO said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Tanzanian authorities did not indicate what the cause of the illnesses might have been.”

The WHO received the notification on Sept. 14, the statement said. It was unclear why it took four days to make it public.

Suspicions of Ebola

The suspicion of Ebola in Taanzania had been fuelled by a woman died there earlier this month from an unknown illness following Ebola-like symptoms.

The WHO announcement came a day after the head of a U.S. government health agency travelled to Tanzania at the direction of America’s health secretary, Alex Azar.

Azar criticized Tanzania earlier this week for not sharing information, saying on Monday he was aware of a death in Tanzania and that the government had reported two suspected cases who tested negative for Ebola.

“The government of Tanzania, however, has not made available the samples or the ability to test the index case of the individual who died, nor has it made available any other information,” Azar told reporters during a prearranged tour of Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to evaluate their Ebola response, according to a transcript of his remarks.

He called on Tanzania to comply with international obligations to share information and allow independent verification of test results.

Tanzania comes clean

Tanzania’s health minister said on Saturday that the government had investigated two recent cases of unknown illnesses, but they were not Ebola.

“The two patients did not have Ebola,” Ummy Mwalimu told reporters. “There is no Ebola outbreak in Tanzania as we speak, people should not panic.”

She did not say if the two cases investigated included the death of the woman. The ministry did not answer calls on Wednesday.

There is increased vigilance across East Africa after an outbreak of Ebola in the DRC killed more than 2,000 people. It is the second-largest Ebola outbreak in global history.

Concern has focused on a woman who died on Sept. 8 in Dar es Salaam, after exhibiting symptoms common to several diseases, including Ebola. There was no indication the woman had travelled to an affected area or had contact with an infected person.

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China, Burundi speak highly of mutual friendship

Source: Xinhua

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza (L, front) and Chinese Ambassador to Burundi Li Changlin (R, front) attend a ceremony to launch the China-aided state house in Bujumbura, Burundi, Sept. 27, 2019. The complex with a total construction area of about 10,000 square meters is located in the northeast of Bujumbura, some 9 km from the city center. It consists of the president's office building, rooms for guards and equipment, and watchtowers. (Photo by Evrard Ngendakumana/Xinhua)

BUJUMBURA, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- China is "a best friend" of Burundi, Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza said Friday while Chinese Ambassador to Burundi Li Changlin called Burundi an all-weather friend.

Nkurunziza made the remark at a ceremony to launch the China-aided state house, a week after cutting the ribbon for another China-aided project Ruzibazi hydropower station.

The complex with a total construction area of about 10,000 square meters is located in the northeast of Bujumbura, some 9 km from the city center. It consists of the president's office building, rooms for guards and equipment, and watchtowers.

"All Burundian citizens should be glad about the inauguration of the state house, which is an extraordinary step of the country," Nkurunziza said.

The new state house, named after Burundi's first king Ntare Rushatsi who unified the country and fought against its enemies, helps Burundi stop renting the workplace of public institutions, and is a result of good relations and cooperation between Burundi and China, the president said.

He called on the Burundian people to consolidate independence and peace of Burundi, build cohesion, and work hard for future generations.

China is committed to working with African countries to build a closer China-Africa community of shared future, said Chinese Ambassador to Burundi Li Changlin at the ceremony.

In recent years, China-Burundi cooperation has been consolidated, said Li, noting that China has implemented various projects in all areas in Burundi including infrastructure, education, health and agriculture.

China sees Burundi as an all-weather friend, and expects to make due contributions to Burundi's development in all fields, he said.

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Peacebuilding Commission Press Statement on the situation in Burkina Faso, 26 September 2019

From UN Peacebuilding Commission

The Peacebuilding Commission met on 26 September 2019 in New York in a high-level format to discuss the situation in Burkina Faso. The President of Burkina Faso, H.E Mr. Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, attended the high-level meeting and addressed the Commission. The meeting was chaired by H.E Mr. Iván Duque Márquez, President of the Republic of Colombia.

The members of the Peacebuilding Commission expressed deep concern over the deterioration of the security situation in Burkina Faso and condemned the numerous attacks by extremist groups targeting civilian populations and security and defense forces, as well as security incidents involving armed groups and inter-communal clashes. These activities could pose a serious threat to the stability of Burkina Faso, as well as to other countries of the Sahel and to neighboring countries in the West Africa subregion.

The members of the Commission reiterated their solidarity with the people and the Government of Burkina Faso and welcomed Government efforts to address the security situation and its humanitarian and socio-economic consequences, including through the National Social and Economic Development Plan (PNDES), the Program of support to local economies (PADEL) and the Emergency Program for the Sahel, Programme d’Urgence pour le Sahel (PUS). They noted the pressure of security expenses on the Government budget and its impact on the social sectors. Many members welcomed efforts by communities that have developed peaceful mechanisms to address the causes and consequences of violence and recognized the central role women and youth play in contributing to social cohesion and community resilience.

Many members of the Commission expressed their support for bilateral and regional efforts to prevent and combat terrorism and insecurity and to restore social cohesion and stability in the affected regions of Burkina Faso, in the Sahel and the West African subregion. They welcomed the extraordinary Summit of Heads of States of the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS) that took place on 14 September 2019 and noted the decisions taken by Heads of States during this summit, including as regards its 2020-2024 Action Plan and the corresponding funding commitments and needs. They also welcomed the initiatives of the G5 Sahel intended to achieve security and development in the countries of the Sahel.

The members of the Commission discussed ongoing initiatives of the United Nations and international partners aimed at strengthening and accelerating support to the people and Government of Burkina Faso. They further discussed efforts under the leadership of the United Nations Secretary-General to adapt United Nations support on the ground to needs of the population, in line with the priorities of the Government of Burkina Faso. In this context, they welcomed the opening of UN offices in the most affected regions in order to be closer to the populations supported. They also welcomed the ongoing support of the Peacebuilding Fund to address critical priorities, particularly in the areas of social cohesion, the prevention and resolution of local conflicts, trust-building between Security Forces and the population, recognizing as well the specific focus on women and youth engagement in peacebuilding.

The Members of the Commission recognized the need to strengthen coordination and coherence among international partners in Burkina Faso. In this regard, they expressed support for the Prevention and Peacebuilding Assessment (PPBA) jointly conducted by the African Development Bank, the European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank under the leadership of the Government. They welcomed the Aide-Memoire that followed the July 2019 PPBA scoping mission and which outlines next steps and encouraged the Government and the PPBA partners to conclude the exercise and ensure that it fully takes into account gender and youth participation in peacebuilding initiatives, including those aimed at combatting terrorism and radicalism.

The members of the Commission encouraged Burkina Faso’s partners to prioritize their support to the Government in addressing the growing threats posed to the country and its population by extremist and other armed groups. In this regard, they called on the international community to fully support for the country’s Programme d’Urgence pour le Sahel, the Program of support to the local economies, and the Humanitarian Response Plan.

In agreement with the Government, the Commission stands ready to convene the partners of Burkina Faso once the PPBA has concluded, and to use such a meeting to advocate for additional support for the Government’s priority programs, to agree on ways to accelerate peacebuilding and sustaining peace efforts and to reinforce the coherence of interventions.

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Hundreds of 'abused' captives freed from Nigeria school

At least 300 students, many in chains, rescued from a building housing an Islamic school in Kaduna city, say police.

 

Seven people, all teachers, have been arrested following a police raid on an Islamic school [Television Continental via Reuters]

At least 300 captives, most of them children and many in chains, have been rescued from a building in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, a spokesman for the police said. 

Yakubu Sano told reporters on Friday that police raided the building, which housed an Islamic school in the Rigasa area, and found adults and minors in "the most debasing and inhumane conditions". 

"We found around 100 students, including children as young as nine, in chains stuffed in a small room, all in the name of reforming them and making them responsible persons," he said. 

It was not clear how long the children had been held at the building. 

Two of them were from Burkina Faso while most of the rest were from northern Nigerian states, according to the police. 

During Thursday's raid on the school, police said they found a "torture chamber" where students were chained, hung and beaten. Many of the rescued students bore scars on their backs and serious injuries. 

"The victims were abused. Some of them said they were sodomised by their teachers," Sano said, adding that seven teachers at the school have been arrested. 

One inmate quoted by Nigerian media described horrific conditions and treatment at the facility.

"I have spent three months here with chains on my legs," Bello Hamza said, adding that he was meant to be in South Africa studying for his master's degree.

"This is supposed to be an Islamic centre, but trying to run away from here attracts severe punishment; they tie people and hang them to the ceiling for that."

 

Many of the rescued students were in chains and bore scars on their backs, police said [Reuters]

Police had been tipped off by local residents who became suspicious of what was happening inside the school.

Islamic schools, known as Almajiris, are common across the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria - a country that is roughly evenly split between followers of Christianity and Islam.

Parents in northern Nigeria, the poorest part of a country in which most people live on less than $2 a day, often opt to leave their children to board at the schools.

The children have been moved to a temporary camp at a stadium in Kaduna, and would later be moved to another camp in a suburb of the city while attempts are made to find their parents, police said.

Some parents who had already been contacted went to the school to retrieve their children.

"We do not know that they will be put to this kind of harsh condition," one parent told Reuters news agency.

Islamic schools in Nigeria have for years been dogged by allegations of abuse and accusations that some children have been forced to beg on the streets of northern Nigerian cities.

Earlier this year, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, himself a Muslim, said it planned to eventually ban the schools, but would not do so immediately. It followed some reports in the Nigerian media that the government planned to outlaw such schools.

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Kenyans rush to swap Sh1,000 banknotes as cash ban looms

A currency dealer counts old edition Sh1,000 notes at a money exchange bureau on September 19, 2018 in Nairobi. PHOTO | SIMON MAINA | AFP

Last week a man walked into a Nairobi car yard and paid for a luxury Mercedes with a mountain of Sh1,000 banknotes, desperate to offload cash that within days would be worthless.

With a deadline looming before the Central Bank of Kenya bans all old edition Sh1,000 notes, big fish with their fortunes stashed in cash are under pressure to find ways to jettison their money.

A new print of the Sh1,000 banknote, the largest denomination, was rolled out in June, with Kenyans given to September 30 to exchange their old bills at the bank or be stuck with bundles of useless cash.

DIRTY MONEY

The operation is aimed at flushing out dirty money being hoarded by tax evaders, crooked businessmen and criminal groups.

Large deposits of the old notes, embossed with the image of Kenya's founding father Jomo Kenyatta, raise alarm bells at banks and require paperwork to prove their origin.

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Rwanda welcomes first group of African refugees from Libya

Rwanda first offered to take in Africans stuck in Libya back in November 2017, the same month a CNN report showed what appeared to be a slave market there (AFP Photo/Cyril NDEGEYA)

Kigali (AFP) - A group of 66 African refugees and asylum-seekers arrived in Kigali late Thursday, the UN said, the first of what could be thousands relocated from Libya under a new programme.

Earlier this month, Rwanda signed a deal with the African Union (AU) and the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR agreeing to take in African refugees and asylum-seekers stranded in Libya.

The Rwandan government has said it is prepared to accommodate as many as 30,000 evacuees, although the plan is for the programme to unfold in batches of 500 to prevent the country of 12 million from feeling overwhelmed.

"Just landed!" the United Nations refugee agency wrote on its Twitter account as a first group of unaccompanied minors, single mothers and families landed in the Rwandan capital.

The youngest passenger was a two-month old girl born to Somali parents in Libya.

A UN official told AFP Wednesday that a subsequent flight carrying 125 people was planned for "between 10-12 October".

They will be housed in a transit centre in Rwanda before being resettled elsewhere unless they agree to return to their home countries.

In the chaos that followed the fall and killing of former dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a 2011 uprising, Libya became a key transit point for sub-Saharan African migrants seeking to embark on dangerous journeys to Europe.

The UN says some 42,000 refugees are currently in Libya.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame first offered to take in Africans stuck in Libya back in November 2017, the same month a CNN report showed what appeared to be a slave market there.

The issue took on new urgency in July when more than 40 people were killed in an air strike on a migrant detention centre in the Libyan town of Tajoura.

The UN has been criticised for its handling of a transit mechanism for evacuees from Libya established in 2017 on the other side of the continent, in Niger.

The facilities there have struggled with overcrowding and the slow pace of resettlement.

But UN and Rwandan officials say they have learned from Niger's experience.

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1st Wave of Migrants Evacuated from Libya Heads to Rwanda

By Associated Press

FILE - Migrants are seen at the Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency in al-Nasr detention center in Zawiya, west of Tripoli, Libya, April 26, 2019.

KIGALI, RWANDA - The first evacuation flight of refugees and asylum-seekers is set to arrive in Rwanda in the latest effort to divert and care for thousands of Africans whose efforts to reach Europe fail.

The East African nation's agreement to take in 500 people who have been trapped in crowded Libyan detention centers has raised questions and concerns. It is not clear how long they will be held in Rwanda, whether they will be offered refugee status and what happens if no other country agrees to take them permanently.

The United Nations refugee agency says the first group of 75 people is arriving later Thursday.

The Rwanda option emerged after various European Union-funded efforts to stem the dramatically slowing tide of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

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Labour court blocks South African banking strike

South Africa’s Labour Court has ruled in favour of Business Unity South Africa’s (Busa’s) application to interdict a major banking strike planned for Friday (27 September).

In a judgement handed down on Thursday, the court said that the action was unlawful  – effectively preventing what would have been South Africa’s largest banking strike in 99 years.

The strike was planned by the country’s largest financial union, Sasbo, and had received additional support from the country’s largest trade federation Cosatu.

Business Unity South African (BUSA) aimed to stop the protest, as Cosatu’s notice sent to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) – under which Sasbo is planning to act – may not have satisfied the requirements for the action to be legally protected.

Busa said that the Nedlac notice was first issued in August 2017 and should not be relied on in 2019.

In the ruling, the Labour Court said that Cosatu and Sasbo failed to comply with the provisions of s77(1) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA).

“Any person who takes part in the intended protest action does not enjoy the protections afforded by s67 of the LRA. Cosatu and Sasbo are hereby interdicted and restrained from preceding with, encouraging or enticing employees to engage in the intended protest action, unless or until such time they have complied with s77 of the LRA.”

Both Cosatu and Sasbo have indicated that they will appeal the ruling before the end of the day.

In a press briefing following the ruling, Cosatu said that it would appeal the ruling while continuing to mobilise workers. It said it would also resubmit the necessary applications for protest action, and considers the court ruling a suspension, not a cancellation.

“By the 7th of October we will be going out – we are not going to demobilise. We are saying to our workers, we do not expect you to be out there tomorrow on the streets, but let’s continue to mobilise and continue to fight against the scourge of retrenchments.”

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He died while proposing to his girlfriend underwater

BY RASHEED SOBOWALE

An American man has drowned while proposing to his girlfriend underwater on holiday in Tanzania. 

Kenesha Antoine filmed Steven Weber’s romantic marriage proposal off Pemba Island, Tanzania.

 PHOTO: BBC/Kenesha Antoine 

Steven Weber and his girlfriend, Kenesha Antoine, were staying in a submerged cabin at the Manta Resort, off Pemba Island.

Footage shows Mr Weber diving underwater to ask Ms Antoine to marry him. In the video according to the BBC report, Mr Weber presses a hand-written proposal note against the cabin window as Ms Antoine films from inside.

Ms Antoine, confirming Mr Weber’s death in a Facebook post, said he “never emerged from those depths”. The Manta Resort told the BBC Mr Weber “tragically drowned while free diving alone outside the underwater room” on Thursday afternoon. “It is with the deepest regret that we inform that a fatal accident occurred at The Manta Resort on Thursday 19 September 2019,” the resort said in a statement.

Matthew Saus, CEO of the resort, said “everyone is shaken to the core” by Mr Weber’s death. Mr Weber and Ms Antoine had booked four nights at the resort’s underwater room, which lies approximately 250m (820ft) from the shore. Costing $1,700-a-night (£1,300), the cabin is anchored in water around 10m (32ft) deep. On the third day of their stay, Mr Weber, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, plunged into the water to make his proposal. Wearing goggles and flippers, he held a note against the cabin’s glass window as Ms Antoine watched on from within.

His note read: “I can’t hold my breath long enough to tell you everything I love about you. But… everything I love about you, I love more every day!” Later in the video, Mr Weber turns over the sheet of paper to reveal the proposal, before pulling an engagement ring from his shorts and swimming out of view.

Mr Saus told the BBC his staff responded to a “problem in the water”, but when they arrived “absolutely nothing could be done”. In her Facebook post, Ms Antoine said Mr Weber “never got to hear her answer” to his proposal, which would have been “a million times, yes”.

“We never got to embrace and celebrate the beginning of the rest of our lives together, as the best day of our lives turned into the worst, in the cruellest twist of fate imaginable,” she wrote. “I will try to take solace in the fact that we enjoyed the most amazing bucket list experiences these past few days, and that we both were so happy and absolutely giddy with excitement in our final moments together.”

The US Department of State said it is aware of the death of a US citizen in Tanzania, in East Africa. “We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” a spokesperson said. “We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance.”

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