SmallShop....Africa News

Vanguard : "BENIN – A Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State, yesterday, ordered the wife of the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Mrs. Endurance Odubu, to pay the sum of N12 million as damages to Captain Olorunduyilemi Stephen, an Army officer with the 4th Brigade. Captain Stephen was allegedly beaten up and detained by security operatives attached to Mrs. Odubu in January last year."

Mmegi Online "'Gaddafi's departure is not being discussed,' Abdelati Obeidi told reporters after talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Last week France said it had been contacted by Libyan envoys saying Gaddafi was prepared to leave. Meanwhile fighting has continued between pro-Gaddafi and rebel forces."

BBC News "A Ghanaian minister is 'promoting hatred' by urging people to report those they suspect to be homosexual, a human rights group has told the BBC. Ghana's Centre for Popular Education and Human Rights said Paul Evans Aidoo's comments could endanger the nation's underground gay community. Mr Aidoo said he wanted to rid society of gay people and take them to court. Homosexual acts are illegal in Ghana but someone would have to be caught having sex to be prosecuted."

Al Jazeera English : "At least 38 soldiers have been arrested over an assassination attempt on president Alpha Conde of Guinea, who was nearly killed on Tuesday when his home was bombarded with rockets. An official of the Guinean government told the AP news agency on Thursday that many of the men arrested have ties to Guinea's previous military rulers. Conde, 73, escaped unhurt from the incident, but a member of his presidential guard was killed and two others injured as they fought off the attack for over two hours."

Al Jazeera English : "Four elderly Kenyans have been given approval from a London high court to sue the British government over alleged atrocities committed during the Mau Mau uprising. The decision on Thursday to take proceedings to the next stage is a setback for the Foreign Office which had argued that the British government should not be held liable because legal responsibility has passed on to the present Kenyan government. It also opens the debate over the possibility of additional landmark lawsuits against Britain and other European nations for abuses during the colonial era, one of the Kenyans' attorneys said. Al Jazeera's Nadim Baba said the main aim of the case was 'moral and not financial' and that much was yet to be decided about the next step in the legal proces"

Sudan Tribune: "Citizens and officials from the area told Sudan Tribune that Colonel Gatluak Gai was shot dead on Saturday morning along with some of his bodyguards after a group of people opened fire on him at Pakur where his forces have been temporarily assembled."

Malawi news "Malawi’s ministry of health spokesman, Henry Chimbali, said the recorded death toll has reached 19 in the national wide anti-President Bingu wa Mutharika demonstration which took place on July 20, 2011 (20/11) and spilled to the next day, leaving dozens severely injured. Chimbali who earlier confirmed there were 18 deaths, said on Saturday that actually the death toll reached 19 when soldiers were firing live ammunition and teargas to disperse crowds calling for an end to Mutharika’s “autocratic” rule."

Nigeria Tribune "THE outlawed Islamic group, Boko Haram, which has been terrorising Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, has split into two, with the Yusufiyya Islamic Movement (YIM), condemning the attacks and bombings of residences and places of worship by the other faction of Islamic sect that claimed to be fighting a Jihad in the North. Nigerian Tribune learnt that the split of the Boko Haram was contained in a two-page unsigned leaflets distributed on Tuesday to the various wards, Post Office Area and media houses in Maiduguri."

Reuters CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinean President Alpha Conde escaped two attacks on his residence on Tuesday that killed at least three people and left his home riddled with bullets, in assaults which authorities linked to former senior officers in the army.

The Australian Hosni Mubarak's lead doctor has denied claims that the deposed Egyptian president has suffered a stroke or fallen into a coma. Dr Assem Azzam said he had suffered a bout of low blood pressure, and was in stable condition. Mr Mubarak has been receiving treatment in a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh since he was ousted in February.

BBC News Hosni Mubarak's lead doctor has denied claims that the deposed Egyptian president has suffered a stroke or fallen into a coma. Dr Assem Azzam said he had suffered a bout of low blood pressure, and was in stable condition. Mr Mubarak has been receiving treatment in a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh since he was ousted in February.

The Citizen Tension ensued in Bukoba on Saturday as rumours spread that a big group of people planned to storm the central police station here to press for the release of their colleagues who were in police custody. Following the rumours, several heavily armed police officers were mobilised to block the main road leading to the central police station.Reports about the suspected invasion of the police facility had spread for a couple of weeks after a group of youth torched the residence of a man they claimed colluded with perpetrators of motorcycle theft around the municipality.

Times LIVE : "At least two people were killed and 15 wounded in a suicide bomb attack by Islamist extremists in Algeria. One of the attackers blew himself up in a car outside a police station in Bordj Menaiel, 70 kilometres east of the capital Algiers, according to a report on the El Watan newspaper's website. A policeman was killed when he tried to prevent a second attacker on a motorcycle from striking, El Watan said, quoting sources at the scene."

Mmegi Online "Batshu had said the BDF Commander did not meddle in partisan politics but had merely stated the official position of the army to some politicians who had made statements 'which may incite its members to join the strike or to actively participate in partisan politics... 'The politicians should also stop politicising members of the disciplined forces,' the minister said. In supplementary questions, Mmolotsi and the Leader of the Opposition, Botsalo Ntuane asked if the role of making political statements was the Commander's or the minister's."

Seattle Times Newspaper : "But about 15 miles north, in the struggling black township of Dunoon, many students at Sophakama Primary School can't afford the required uniform — or food to put in a lunch pail. The only computers are in the faculty lounge, which has regularly been broken into and looted."

AFP : "ACCRA — French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Saturday visited Ghana, Africa's newest major oil producer, telling President John Atta Mills that France wanted to take part in his nation's development. Fillon travelled to the West African nation on the second stop of a three-country tour that first led him to Ivory Coast, with his final stop Gabon. Ghana was the only one of the three on the tour that was not a former French colony, having gained independence from Britain in 1957."

Sudan Tribune "July 14, 2011 (JUBA) - The army of newly independent South Sudan has denied claims by Amnesty International, a UK-based human rights body, that the former rebels turned national military, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), are responsible for “unlawful killings and the destruction of homes and other civilian properties”. Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers march during a rehearsal of the Independence Day ceremony in Juba July 5, 2011 (Reuters Pictures) In its report release on the eve of South Sudan’s independence, Amnesty said intense fighting between the SPLA and armed opposition groups have killed hundreds of civilians and displaced more than 10,000 people in Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei States of the new nation."

Mmegi Online : "A military spokesman said Colonel Nyiragire 'Kifaru' Kulimushi gave himself up with more than 150 of his fighters, who are also accused of mass rape. Last month, about 100 women accused former rebels who had been integrated into the army of sexually abusing them in DR Congo's South Kivu province. A UN envoy last year called DR Congo the 'rape capital of the world'."

Vanguard "AKURE — A YEAR and 12 days after the former Deji of Akureland, Oba Oluwadare Adepoju was deposed for publicly battering his former wife, Olori Bolanle Adepoju, the Olori has died after a protracted illness. Vanguard gathered in Akure that Olori Adepoju died at about 4.45am yesterday in a private hospital in Lagos. It will be recalled that the deceased was manhandled in the public by the deposed Oba Adepoju last year."

BBC News "Swaziland's King Mswati III ascended to the throne 25 years ago but he has little to celebrate during his silver jubilee. An absolute monarch who rules over 1.2 million people, his government is in financial ruin, running out of cash for salaries, health care and fuel. 'My wife works at the university. Last month they got paid late. And they don't know what will happen when it's pay day again,' Sikelela Dlamini, the co-ordinator of the opposition Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF), told the BBC. 'In the health sector, it's worse. Some people got only half their salaries. There is no money - only panic,' he says."

Vanguard "Many Nigerian tenants are living in coffins called houses which they purchased with their own money. Quite a number of these buildings, particularly those ones that are done by developers are deathtraps."

guardian.co.uk : "A large explosion has rocked Egypt's main gas pipeline through the Sinai peninsula, cutting off supplies to neighbouring Israel and Jordan for the fourth time this year. Masked gunmen entered a pipeline distribution station near the city of al-Arish on Monday night, according to Egypt's official news agency. The saboteurs reportedly ordered security guards to leave before blowing up the terminal, causing 10-metre-high flames to leap into the air. By Tuesday morning emergency crews had brought the blaze under control."

Vanguard "GOMBE – Unknown gunmen, Sunday morning killed a Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of the Divisional Police Headquarters, Kwami Local Government Area, Gombe State, Superintendent Isiyaku Usman. Vanguard gathered that the DPO was on his way to Kwami Local Government Area where he was newly-posted to, when he was killed."

Vanguard "Riyadh – Saudi Arabia on Sunday beheaded three Nigerians accused of murdering and robbing a fellow citizen, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. Mohammed Ismail, Abdulqudus Adam and Mohammed Kabir Ali broke into the house of Omar Mohammed Adam where “they beat him and his wife, tied them down and strangled Omar to death,” said the statement."

The Atlantic : "On Saturday, South Sudan was finally born. Rather than a moment of existential peril, or an invitation to sub-regional instability, the birth of this new African nation offers a moment of celebration for the persistence of African commitment to self-determination and dignity. This is a moment to consider an alternative reading of African affairs, one that has for some 50 years co-existed alongside the conventional narrative. That long-accepted narrative says that political violence in Africa is always a tragedy and that outsiders invariably must try to reduce this violence no matter the cost in the realization of legitimate political aspirations of Africans."

Times LIVE : "Black Africans never owned any land. Any form of formal ownership is a Western concept. You cannot take something from somebody WHO NEVER HAD IT. In fact, what is it that white people, specifically white men, are supposed to 'give back' to black people?"

CBS News : "The plight of those trying to survive in the drought-hit Horn of Africa is far out-stripping the ability of anyone to help. CBS News correspondent Tony Guida reports that the U.N.'s chief refugee official said today the crisis in Somalia is the 'worst humanitarian disaster' in the world. To give an idea of the scale, he was visiting a refugee camp the size of Cleveland."

BBC News "The Nigerian army says it has killed 11 Islamic militants in the troubled north-eastern city of Maiduguri. An army patrol had come under attack from Boko Haram fighters, who want to establish an Islamic state in the north, said an army statement. Witnesses told the BBC the soldiers had set homes on fire and killed civilians."

Vanguard "ABEOKUTA – THE immediate past Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Rev. Peter Akinola has described the proposed Islamic banking in Nigeria as a time bomb, saying “it can lead to the disintegration of the country.” Speaking yesterday in Abeokuta during the 2011 Youth Harvest of the St. Michael Anglican Church, Obantoko, the Primate said that Islamic banking would further compound the problems of Nigeria amidst the Boko Haram menace."

BBC News - "The wife of Ghana's ex-leader Jerry Rawlings has failed in her bid to be the ruling party's presidential candidate in next year's election. Nana Konadu Rawlings won only 3.1% of the vote, at a convention of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party in the capital, Accra. The party reconfirmed President John Atta Mills' as its flagbearer."

- The Independent : "Some 60 babies are dying each day in one camp. Every 24 hours, more than 3,000 malnourished people arrive at camps already too crowded to accommodate them. The lives of half a million children are at imminent risk. And, in total, no fewer than 12 million people are fighting for their very survival."

The Zimbabwean "Two months ago, The Zimbabwean published a story exposing how some gullible Zimbabweans in South Africa were falling prey to false prophets who had mushroomed down South. The police, who confirm having nabbed tens of such imposters from Zimbabwe, Ghana and Nigeria, this week revealed the arrest of at least five more Zimbabweans and a Ugandan, in an ongoing operation initiated by the Pretoria city council."

BBC News "Nigeria's final court of appeal has ruled that actress Rabi Ismail should be hanged for killing a male friend to acquire his property. The Supreme Court upheld rulings by two lower courts that Ismail drugged and drowned Auwalu Ibrahim in 2002 in the northern city of Kano. Ismail took part in films in the local Hausa language, and her case gripped Nigeria's entertainment industry. No-one has been executed in Nigeria since the end of military rule in 1999."

Al Jazeera English : "An airliner has ploughed into dense forest as it tried to land during a rainstorm in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing 127 people on board, the Congolese transport ministry said. There were 51 survivors, a ministry statement said on Friday. The chief executive of the Hewa Bora airline involved in the crash had said earlier that were 110 people on board the plane, of whom 53 had died and 57 survived. But a spokesman for the transport ministry, Gudile Bualya, accused the airline of underestimating the number of passengers."

Vanguard "PROFESSOR Benedict Ijomah, an erudite scholar and politician, is one of the opinion leaders in the South-South geo-political zone. He spoke to Saturday Vanguard on the security implications of the recent attack on the Police Headquarters, Abuja by the Northern insurgent group, Boko Haram, contending that in a civilized crime, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, ought to have resigned for the bizarre assualt on the heart of Nigeria."

The Post Chronicle "I don't know about you but I couldn't wait for the school bell to ring when I was a kid. In Uganda, a mine awareness team found out an unexploded bomb was being used as the school bell. The Daily Monitor reported that the Anti-Mine Network organization saw teachers banging the bomb with stones to call children to lessons in a 700-pupil school in a rural area.'"

The Guardian : "Egypt's military junta is facing its biggest crisis of legitimacy, as tens of thousands of protesters took control of central Cairo and demonstrations against army rule erupted across the country. In scenes reminiscent of the 18-day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak earlier this year, civilian-run popular committees commanded all entrances and exits to Tahrir Square, while government security forces were nowhere to be seen"

Vanguard : "Friday was a sad day for Miss Rabi Ismail, an Hausa actress, as a 7-man panel of Justices of the Supreme Court, okayed her death by hanging. The embattled actress, who was based in Kano state, was accused of drowning her boyfriend, one Mr. Ibrahim Auwalu alias Zazu, in 2002, after she allegedly administered sedative drugs on him."

The Citizene : "Dar es Salaam. The world today welcomes into the fold the youngest state in Africa when Southern Sudan finally gains independence from the larger Sudan. Already hailed in some quarters as the party of the decade, celebrations would go into full swing in Juba, the designate capital of the newest state, which was born out of long-drawn-out negotiations to break what was hitherto the biggest country on the continent. "

BBC News : "Former Chadian President Hissene Habre is to be sent home from Senegal to face accusations that he committed atrocities during his eight-year rule. Senegal said Mr Habre would be flown to Chad on 11 July. Mr Habre is blamed for killing and torturing tens of thousands of opponents between 1982 and 1990, charges he denies."

UPI.com : "MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, July 7 (UPI) -- Two attacks in Maiduguri, Nigeria, left two police officers dead and three soldiers injured, officials said. The police officers were shot to death after they finished their work in the city's Gwange and Bulunkutu wards and the soldiers were injured in an explosion near a military checkpoint in Abaganaram ward, the Nigerian Tribune reported Thursday."

BBC News A French court has jailed four men over an attack in which the son of Chadian President Idriss Deby died near Paris in 2007. The four were found guilty of 'robbery leading to death without intention to kill'. They received prison sentences ranging from five to 13 years. Brahim Deby was found dead in the car park of his block of flats. The 27-year-old had choked to death after being sprayed with chemicals from a fire extinguisher."

Vanguard "Apparently troubled by the persistence of Boko Haram’s attack and the killing of innocent Nigerians, President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, said that Nigeria was at a crossroad regarding the spate of bombings and insecurity witnessed recently. He said it was uncalled for."

The Citizen "Mwanza. Mwanza City came to a standstill for about seven hours yesterday following violent confrontations between petty traders, commonly knwon as ‘machinga’, and city council askaris. Following the confrontations, which also pitted the petty traders against businesses run by Tanzanians of Asian origin, there were conflicting reports on people killed in the mayhem. When contacted for comment, the Mwanza regional police commander, Mr Simon Sirro, said it was too early to comment on the incident as the matter was still under investigation."

BusinessWeek : "Julius Malema, the youth leader of South Africa’s ruling party, is known for his fiery rhetoric. On June 20, the firebrand burned even hotter than usual. “The real enemy is white monopoly capital,” Malema told more than 5,000 cheering delegates at a youth league conference in Johannesburg. “They are the ones we are fighting against. In whose hands is this wealth? In whites’!”"

Vanguard : "Activities at the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, Kolo Creek Logistics base, in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa state was disrupted in the early hours of Thursday, when aggrieved natives from its four host communities armed with a casket lay laid siege to the facility in protest over the alleged insensitivity of the company to their plight."

Mmegi Online "The prosecution in the corruption case of former Minister of Justice, Defence and Security, Ramadeluka Seretse has vehemently opposed his application for acquittal."

Informante : "The suspension of Namibian Sports Commission’s Chief administrator this week is the third high profile suspensions over financial irregularities in less than a year. Mogane, who’s three months suspension was officially announced by Namibian Sports Commission Vice-Chairperson Ben //Naobeb on Tuesday, is the third individual in charge of a sports entity to be suspended over money matters after Namibian Rugby Union’s Chief Executive Officer Sakkie Mouton and former Namibian Premier League boss Matthew Haikali. Mogane’s suspension came after it was discovered that there were irregularities in his remuneration and contributions to the pension, according to //Naobeb."

Nigerian Tribune "DREADED Islamic sect, Boko Haram struck again in Maiduguri, Borno State capital on Wednesday, killing two policemen and injuring three soldiers in two separate incidents which occurred in the town. The two policemen, it was gathered, were killed while returning from their duty posts in Gwange ward of Maiduguri metropolis while the three soldiers were injured in an explosion which occurred near a military checkpoint in Abaganaram ward. The soldiers were on patrol when the explosion occurred."

BBC News "An Egyptian court has acquitted three ministers from the toppled regime of Hosni Mubarak of squandering public funds. They were the first not guilty verdicts issued in a series of trials of former senior officials following the fall of Mr Mubarak in February. The ministers include former Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali."

The Associated Press: "PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — More than 1,000 South Africans have rallied at the U.S. Embassy to call for an end to NATO strikes on Libya. Wednesday's union-organized rally ended with the handing over of a memorandum to U.S. officials saying bombings are undermining African efforts to negotiate a solution. South African President Jacob Zuma is leading stalled African Union mediation efforts. He has faced criticism at home for supporting a U.N. resolution calling for protecting civilians in Libya."

Mail & Guardian Online : "A long queue stretches outside the entrance to the Marabastad Refugee Reception Office, where asylum seekers and their families camp out for days, even on cold Pretoria nights, to apply for a Section 22 permit, their ticket to legal status and refugee protection in South Africa. This is the scene that Pretoria-based human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba sees almost every day. But worse is likely to come."

BBC News "An explosion and heavy gunfire has rocked the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri - a stronghold of the Islamist Boko Haram group. Its fighters threw an explosive device at a military patrol, wounding three officers, military officials said. Soldiers then engaged in running gun battles with the militants in the centre of Maiduguri. The BBC's Bilkisu Babangida in Maiduguri says the city is in lockdown, with residents staying indoors."

the Namibian: "BY LATE yesterday afternoon, the men, who launched a violent attack on former Windhoek mayor Vivienne Graig and her husband on Friday, were still at large. This, despite a neighbour, Ettienne Labuschagne, informing Police that he caught a man loading a flat-screen television (TV) into a car seemingly hidden in the veld close to Graig’s Klein Windhoek house. According to Labuschagne, he was on his way to work at about 08h00 on Friday when he saw the man carrying the TV from an open piece of veld, loading it onto the back seat of a City Golf and then driving off. Labuschagne told The Namibian that there were two other men in the car."

IOL.co.za : "Addis Ababa - Students in a Ugandan school might not always have been happy to hear the sound of their school bell, but it turns out the alternative could have been much worse. A group that travels the country to spread awareness about the dangers of unexploded mines - still a major problem in a region that has been scarred by conflicts over recent decades - was shocked to find that teachers were using an unexploded bomb as a school bell, reported the Daily Monitor on Sunday. Worse, the bomb was still live, even as teachers at the primary school in south-western Uganda's Kasese district banged it with a rock to call children to classes or assemblies, the newspaper reported. About 700 children attend the school."

BBC News "Six petrol smugglers in Cameroon have died after a truck loaded with illegal fuel exploded in the northern town of Dembo, which borders Nigeria. The fire happened at 2200 local time (2100 GMT) just after the vehicle had crossed over the border. An eyewitness told the BBC he had seen the charred remains of six bodies, including the driver."

guardian.co.uk : "In a week that saw two Somali traders shot dead in Cape Town and two more in Port Elizabeth, the South African government's handling of xenophobia received the lowest possible rating in a report by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Monitoring Project. Three years after widespread violence against foreigners broke out across the country, evaluators from the Monitoring Project noted that the government had failed to prioritise the issue, and that 'there is even an element of denialism on the part of some officials'."

BBC News "Tunisia's ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has been convicted on charges of possessing illegal drugs and weapons after a one-day trial in Tunis. He was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in jail. Ben Ali and his wife Leila were last month sentenced to 35 years in prison for embezzlement and misuse of state funds. He fled to Saudi Arabia in January following weeks of protests - the first leader be ousted in the 'Arab Spring'."

Al Jazeera English : "The Horn of Africa is no stranger to dry spells, but this year has been exceptional where the worst drought in 60 years is affecting Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda. The British government is now promising to lead the world's response with a $60 million contribution - a donation estimated to be enough to feed 1.3 million people for three months. Andrew Mitchell, the secretary of International Development, says this would include 329,000 malnourished children and mothers. The problems of the drought are being compounded by the conflict in Somalia, which has hampered aid efforts inside the country."

IOL.co.za : "The trial for the shooting of an exiled Rwandan general in South Africa was delayed Thursday after the magistrate fell ill, dragging out the diplomatically sensitive case. Three Rwandans and three Tanzanians are accused of attempting to kill former Rwandan army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa outside his Johannesburg home on June 19, 2010. They have all pleaded not guilty. “I'm telling you this case is jinxed,” said South African prosecutor Shaun Abrahams of a trial that has been repeatedly delayed because of translation troubles, faulty court equipment and on Thursday a sick judge."