East Africa
Asian Voice - Saturday 18th September 2010
27
EU Parliament plans Kenya censure over Bashir visit In focUs
Strasbourg: European countries plan to pull up the Kenya Government over its failure to arrest Sudan President Omar alBashir during the European Union/African Union Summit to be held in Libya at the end of November. The European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg, France last week heavily censured Kenya for failing to arrest the Sudanese leader, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes when he visited the country to attend the ceremony to promulgate the new constitution last month. The MPs directed its representative to the joint EU/AU Summit to ensure that al-Bashir’s visit to Kenya tops the agenda at
Omar al-Bashir
the Tripoli Summit. “Parliament expresses its regret at Kenya's decision to invite President Omar al-Bashir to attend the signing of the new Constitution on 27 August, since Mr al-Bashir has been the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) since March 2009 for crimes against humanity and war
10 killed in Mogadishu airport suicide attack Mogadishu: At least 10 people were killed in a suicide attack at the airport of Somali capital Mogadishu last week, witnesses said. Witnesses said they saw a bomber drive up to the main gate, protected by African Union peacekeepers, and then detonate an explosive device in his car when he failed to gain entry. 'Around 10 corpses were lying at the airport gate, including Somali police,' Zakaria Ahmed Salim, who owns a shop by the gate, said. 'The suicide attack was followed by skirmishes between the attackers and peacekeepers.
crimes,” read a statement on the EU Parliament’s website. “MEPs deplore the positions of the African Union and the Arab League, which are refusing to cooperate with the ICC,” the statement added. “The 31 African countries that have ratified the Rome Statute, including Kenya, are obliged to arrest any person who is wanted by the ICC and to deliver them to the Court or deny the person admission to their territory,” the MPs noted. Already, ICC has moved to report Kenya to the UN Security Council over President Bashir’s visit so that appropriate steps might be taken. A statement released by ICC hours after President al-Bashir made
the surprise visit to Kenya read: “The court informs the Security Council of the United Nations and the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute about Omar Al-Bashir's presence on the territory of the Republic of Kenya, in order for them to take any measure they may deem appropriate." "The Republic of Kenya has a clear obligation to cooperate with the Court in relation to the enforcement of such warrants of arrest, it added." Kenyan ambassadors in Europe were also summoned by their host nations to explain why the government did not arrest the Sudanese leader. The ambassadors were summoned to foreign ministries in a number of European countries.
Zuma to be father again, to take another wife Pretoria: South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma is back in the news for the two things. He seems to give more attention than running state affairs – he is about to be a father, and to take another wife. According to news reports, Zuma is to become a father for the 22nd time. The mother is his fiancée, Gloria Bongi Ngema. Ms Ngema is expecting a child early next year. The pair already has one child and are due to marry in December. This would bring to four the official number of South Africa's First Ladies.
Jacob Zuma
Zulu culture allows Zuma to have as many wives as he wants, and as many partners as he has the energy for. And he has not disappointed. Barely two weeks ago, Zuma's 21st child was
born to the second of his wives. Zuma’s amorous exploits are rich fodder for cartoonist and satirists, but it is probably time to ask why men like him (and he is not the only African president who is a serial wife collector), are still enamoured of polygamy at a time when the march of modernity; economic shifts that make polygamy and a houseful of children impractical; and a significant improvement in the status of women should have made polygamy extremely unfashionable.
Ban urges Rwanda not to withdraw UN peacekeepers Kigali: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged Rwanda not to withdraw its peacekeepers from Sudan over a leaked report saying its troops may have committed genocide. Ban Ki-moon said he was "disappointed" the draft had been released, after he held talks with President Paul Kagame in Kigali in a bid to ease tensions. The report accuses Rwandan soldiers of massacring civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1990s. Rwanda says the document is "malicious" and "ridiculous" and wants it amended. The UN last week delayed publication of the
document until 1 October, to give countries more time to comment on its contents. Mr Ban unexpectedly flew to Kigali last week to discuss the threat by Mr Kagame to withdraw Rwanda's 3,500 peacekeeping forces. Rwanda has 3,300 soldiers and 86 police serving with a joint UN and African Union force, Unamid, in the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur. It is led by Rwandan Lt Gen Patrick Nyamyumba. Another 256 troops serve with the UN Mission in Sudan (Unmis), which is supporting the implementation of a peace deal between north and south.
After meeting Mr Kagame in the capital, Mr Ban told reporters: "Both the president and I are disappointed that the draft report has been leaked. The United Nations is interested in establishing all the facts relating to DRC uncovered by this mapping exercise." Mr Ban said he had commended Rwanda's support of the whole UN agenda and peacekeeping operations in Sudan, and hoped it would continue. "I have asked President Kagame to continue with that contribution around the world and in particular when we are going to see a referendum in Sudan in January next year," he added. Foreign Minister
Louise Mushikiwabo declined to say whether Mr Kagame had withdrawn his threat about the peacekeepers, but said the government was happy that Mr Ban had come to listen to their views. "My government has very simple demands and that is that our concerns and our worries and indeed our revolt concerning the draft report that was leaked to the media a few weeks ago, be heard," she added. Ms Mushikiwabo earlier described the leaked report on neighbouring DR Congo from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) as "fatally flawed" and "incredibly irresponsible".
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Mandela ‘blasted Blair over invasion of Iraq’ Pretoria: Former South African President Nelson Mandela felt so betrayed by Tony Blair's decision to join the invasion of Iraq that he made a furious phone call to a UK minister to protest. Labour MP Peter Hain, whose biography of Mr. Mandela is published on Monday, said Mr Mandela was "breathing fire" down the line. The former Welsh Secretary said Mr Mandela felt Mr Blair's good work was "blown out of the water" by the war. Mr Hain said the criticisms were made formally, not in a private capacity. He said: "He rang me up when I was a cabinet minister in 2003, after the invasion. "He said: 'A big mistake, Peter, a very big mistake. It is wrong. Why is Tony doing this after all his support for Africa? This will cause huge damage internationally'. I know Nelson Mandela quite well. He was virtually breathing fire down the phone on this and feeling a sense of betrayal” "I had never heard Nelson Mandela so angry and frustrated. "He clearly felt very, very strongly that the decision that the prime minister had taken - and that I as a member of the Cabinet had been party to was fundamentally wrong and he told me it would destroy all the good things that Tony Blair and we, as a government, had done in progressive policy terms across the world. "He was always full of praise for the way our government had trebled the overseas aid and development budget for Africa; he just felt that all of this had been completely blown out of the water by the Iraq invasion. "I know Nelson Mandela quite well. He was virtually breathing fire down the phone on this and feeling a sense of betrayal. It was quite striking." Mr Hain said he told Mr Mandela that he respected his feelings but that the prime minister "acted out of conviction".
Zimbabwe releases four US Aids workers on bail Harare: Zimbabwe has released on bail four US health workers suspected of running a clinic and dispensing Aids drugs without a licence. The four, along with two other staff from New Zealand and Zimbabwe, were told by a magistrate to pay $200 (£130) and surrender their passports. They will next appear in court on 27 September. The medical team, which worked from two clinics in Mutoko and Harare, denies the charges. The accused are Gloria Croxwell, 48, Anthony Jones, 39, Gregory Miller, 64, and David Greenberg, 62, all from the US, Andrew Cheyne, 48, from New Zealand and Tembinkosi Ncomanzi, 37, from Zimbabwe. The penalties for the foreign workers could include a fine and deportation. The Christian volunteer health team from California includes a doctor, two nurses and a community worker. They mainly looked after Aids orphans and HIV-positive patients, the US embassy said. A police spokesman told the state-controlled Herald newspaper that the six were arrested "for questioning in connection with practising without a premises licence and dispensing medicines without the supervision of a pharmacist". The group's lawyer Jonathan Samkange criticised the conditions they had been kept in. "This is excessive. They shouldn't have been arrested in the first place. "You don't arrest people who are helping your own brothers who are suffering from Aids."
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