Ivory Coast is voting in a presidential election on Saturday with incumbent and strong favourite Alassane Ouattara, 83, claiming credit for nearly 15 years of economic growth and relative stability while hinting it will be his final campaign.
#Amnesty urges World Bank to push #Uganda to repeal anti-gay law, Amnesty International said Tuesday that the resumption of World Bank funding to Uganda, cut after the country implemented a strict anti-gay law, was an opportunity for the agency to push Kampala into repealing the legislation.
Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act is one of the most severe in the world, with harsh sentences for same-sex relations or “promoting” homosexuality, including the death penalty in some cases.
After longtime President Yoweri Museveni signed it into law in May 2023, the World Bank halted all new loans to Uganda, saying projects it financed had to adhere to its non-discriminatory policies.
But on Monday, a Uganda finance ministry official said in a statement that the country would receive $2 billion from the World Bank, distributed over three financial years.
The World Bank has not commented.
Roland Ebole, a Uganda and Tanzania researcher at Amnesty International, told AFP that while the NGO did not make calls for conditions on aid, it believed the resumption of World Bank funds presented an opportunity.
“What we are saying is that now that they are reinstating the funding, can they then also push that discriminatory practices... should basically be stopped,” he said.
He said the “powerful” World Bank was in a position to push “to make sure that no government agenda, no government programmes, actually discriminate against the LGBTQI community”.
A spokesperson for British charity Open for Business, which promotes economic inclusion and diversity, said it was “disappointed” by the decision “as we know this goes against the ask of civil society”.
It follows the World Bank saying in June that it would resume lending to the country.
A spokesperson told AFP at the time that it “cannot deliver on its mission to end poverty and boost shared prosperity on a liveable planet unless all people can participate in, and benefit from, the projects we finance”.
Uganda has lost an estimated $586 million to $2.4 billion a year because of the anti-LGBTQ law, notably because of frozen financing, Open for Business said last year.
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Rival Libyan officials visit #EU border agency
Just yesterday, the EU hosted both eastern and western Libyan officials for a technical visit of the bloc’s border and coast guard agency’s headquarters in Warsaw. The visit was remarkable for bringing both sides of Libya’s rival governments into the same room.
“The atmosphere was open and constructive, and the Libyan side showed real curiosity about how Frontex and the EU work,” Chris Borowski, a spokesperson for Frontex told AP in writing. “It was a good first step toward building mutual understanding.”
Human rights groups, including non-governmental organizations that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean, criticized the visit. In the past few months, Libyan patrols have been caught on camera in several incidents of aggression, including shooting at both rescue ships and migrants themselves.
“With the support of the EU and its member states, the Libyan militias have turned into a brutal border force that acts with aggression and impunity at sea,” said a statement issued this week by Alarm Phone, a network of activists who operate a hotline for migrants in distress.
Questioned last week about the recent incidents at sea and the scheduled Libyan visit to Frontex, Lammert, the EU commission spokesperson, insisted border cooperation with Libya would be “in line with human rights standards.”
There was no immediate reaction to the ICC filing.
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Lawyers ask ICC to investigate 122 European officials for crimes against humanity in Mediterranean.
The group led by lawyers Omer Shatz and Juan Branco filed a 700-page legal brief on Thursday. The Associated Press has obtained a copy of the brief.
Their case is based on six years of investigation, interviews with more than 70 senior European officials, minutes of high-level European Council meetings and other confidential documents. It follows a previous request to the ICC’s prosecutor’s office to investigate European officials for migration policies they argued led to the interception, detention, torture, killing and drowning of tens of thousands of people trying to reach European shores.
That request, filed in 2019 and admitted in 2020 as part of the ICC’s Libya investigation, did not cite any specific suspects by name.
Now, lawyers say they have identified dozens of European individuals, from high-level heads of state to lower-level bureaucrats, as “co-perpetrators” alongside Libyan suspects for the death of 25,000 asylum seekers and abuses against some 150,000 survivors who were “abducted and forcibly transferred to Libya, where they were detained, tortured, raped, and enslaved.”
European leaders, officials called out by name
“We did the work of the office of the prosecutor, we managed to get to the inside of this apparatus of power and deconstruct it to see which offices, which ministries and which individuals (are responsible),” Shatz said. “We feel confident to say that at least 122 are criminally liable.”
ICC’s prosecutor Karim Khan stepped aside earlier this year pending the outcome of a sexual misconduct investigation against him.
Lawyers published an online database with parts of their case and their “suspect list” naming each of the 122 individuals, their roles and why they believe the person to be liable. Among them is NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who was then prime minister of the Netherlands, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, then former president of the European Council, European former foreign policy chief Frederica Mogherini and former Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri, to cite a few.
Shatz and Branco are not the only ones to have urged the ICC to investigate abuses committed against migrants in Libya and the Mediterranean Sea. In 2023, a UN-backed investigation also concluded the EU’s support to Libyan forces contributed to crimes against migrants and called on EU authorities to review their policies with Libya.
“The law of the ICC was born out of European crimes but only applied so far to crimes committed outside of Europe,” Shatz told the Associated Press. “Our request is simple: to apply the law impartially, also upon European nationals.”
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#HARARE, October 14. The leader of the military faction that has seized power in #Madagascar, Colonel Michael Randrianirina, has announced the start of a transitional period set to last for two years until new elections are held, Reuters reported.
"The period of societal transformation will last a maximum of two years," the agency quotes him as stating. "During this time, a referendum will be held on the draft of a new constitution, followed by elections for the gradual establishment of new government institutions.".
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An elite military unit told AFP on Tuesday it had taken power in #Madagascar after the national assembly voted to impeach President Andry Rajoelina for desertion of duty.
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#Madagascar army installs new chief, president denounces power grab, The soldiers from the CAPSAT contingent joined protesters for a second day in a row, attending a rally in the capital to remember the people killed in more than two weeks of anti-government demonstrations that erupted on September 25.
The unit, which played a major role in a 2009 coup that first brought Rajoelina to power, on Saturday declared it would “refuse orders to shoot” on demonstrators.
Soldiers then entered the city centre to meet several thousand protesters, who welcomed them with jubilation and praise.
Early Sunday the contingent claimed in a video statement that “from now on, all orders of the Malagasy army -- whether land, air or the navy -- will originate from CAPSAT headquarters”.
Hours later, its pick for new Chief of the Army Staff, General Demosthene Pikulas, was installed during a ceremony at the army headquarters attended by the armed forces minister, Manantsoa Deramasinjaka Rakotoarivelo.
“I give him my blessing,” said the minister, who was appointed by Rajoelina last week.
Pikulas admitted to journalists that events in Madagascar over the past few days had been “unpredictable”. “So the army has a responsibility to restore calm and peace throughout Madagascar,” he said.
Asked about calls for Rajoelina to resign, he said he refused to “discuss politics within a military facility”.
Rajoelina said earlier Sunday that “an attempt to seize power illegally and by force, contrary to the Constitution and to democratic principles, is currently under way.”
“Dialogue is the only way forward and the only solution to the crisis currently facing the country,” he said in a statement.
CAPSAT Colonel Michael Randrianirina said his unit’s decision to join the protesters did not amount to a coup. “We answered the people’s calls, but it wasn’t a coup d’etat,” he told reporters.
‘We will prevail’
The protests were initially focused on chronic power and water cuts in the impoverished Indian Ocean country but developed into a broader anti-government movement that called for 51-year-old Rajoelina to resign.
The United Nations has said that at least 22 people were killed in the first days, some by security forces and others in violence sparked by criminal gangs and looters in the wake of the demonstrations.
Rajoelina has disputed the toll, saying last week there were “12 confirmed deaths and all of these individuals were looters and vandals.”
Large crowds of people joined prayers outside the Antananarivo city hall Sunday for the victims, who included a CAPSAT soldier killed in a clash with gendarmes on Saturday.
“We will prevail, because evil will not prevail in Madagascar,” Randrianirina told the gathering were officers were joined on stage by opposition political figures, including former President Marc Ravalomanana, who was ousted in the 2009 uprising.
‘Excesses’
Officers of the gendarmerie, accused of heavy-handed tactics against the demonstrators, said in a video statement that they recognized “faults and excesses during our interventions”.
“We are here to protect, not to terrorize,” they said.
To try to defuse the protests, the president last month sacked his entire government.
Meeting one of the demands of the protesters, the Senate announced Sunday the dismissal of its president, Richard Ravalomanana, a former general of the gendarmerie paramilitary police.
Amid rumours that Rajoelina had fled, his government said Saturday he remained in Madagascar and was managing national affairs. The new prime minister, Ruphin Zafisambo, said the government was “standing strong”.
Neighbouring Mauritius meanwhile confirmed that ex-prime minister Christian Ntsay and businessman Maminiaina Ravatomanga, a close adviser to Rajoelina, had flown in from Madagascar early Sunday on a private flight.
Air France suspended its flights to the island until at least Tuesday while the African Union expressed “deep concern” and urged dialogue, calm and restraint. South Africa called upon “all parties to respect the democratic process and constitutional order”.
Madagascar has had a turbulent political history since it gained independence from France in 1960.
Although rich in natural resources for farming, forestry, fishing and minerals, nearly three-quarters of the population of 32 million lived below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.
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World’s oldest president could extend his rule as Cameroon votes in an election.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon — Cameroon voted in an election Sunday that could see Africa’s oldest leader extend his rule by another seven years.
Analysts have predicted a victory for President Paul Biya. Now 92, he would be 99 by the time his term finishes. He first came to power in 1982 following the resignation of Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, and has ruled the country since then. Biya was declared the winner of seven subsequent elections. Cameroon has seen just two leaders since independence in 1960.
However, cracks may be appearing in Biya’s image.
His health has routinely been a topic of speculation as he spends most of his time in Europe, leaving day-to-day governing to key party officials and family members.
Dr. Benjamin Akih, an activist and professor at Syracuse University, believes that the opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary may win due to Biya’s age and his long track record of running Cameroon.
“I think this election is different. Mr. Biya was the weakest candidate the CPDM could put forward on account of his age and the poor state of the country after his 43 years in power," he said.
“In the face of increasingly difficult international environment, the challenges facing us are more and more pressing,” Biya said in announcing another run. “In such a situation, I cannot shirk my mission.”
Biya faces nine opposition candidates, including some former allies and appointees. They include Bello Bouba Maigari, who was minister for tourism, and Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who until recently served as the minister of employment.
Biya voted at a primary school in the capital Yaounde, telling reporters that he wouldn’t comment on his plans until the results were in.
Results are expected at the latest by Oct. 26.
Joshua Osih, an opposition candidate for president for the Social Democratic Front and a member of parliament who came fourth in the 2018 election, told The Associated Press his party was worried about voter fraud but stressed that the process of counting the votes will be long.
“There is still a lot of room for progress to make things smoother. Unfortunately, the bottlenecks as we usually say are the multiple ballots instead of single ballots and also the fact that the process is really cumbersome,” said Osih. “The system makes it such that the elections cannot be free and fair, that we know.”
There is a single round of voting in Cameroon and whoever gets the most votes is the winner.
Cheukam Ginette, a 34-year-old environmentalist and first-time voter, said she won’t choose Biya.
“Things have to change. First of all, life is expensive, getting medical care is not easy,” she said outside of a polling station in Yaounde. ”There are no roads, we have potholes everywhere. Everything is ruined. That’s why I voted for the opposition. I do not have confidence in the electoral process because we know our country but I’m hopeful.”
At a campaign rally last week in the northern city of Maroua, Biya promised change for one of Cameroon’s poorest areas. The predominantly Muslim north accounts for nearly 20% of the eligible voters, and Maigari and Bakary command strong followings there.
Cameroon faces escalating security crises. In the western region, a secessionist war is being fought between mainly English-speaking separatists who claim they are marginalized by the French-speaking majority, and government forces. In the north, the Boko Haram insurgency spills over from neighboring Nigeria, with armed groups routinely attacking border towns.
At least 43% of the population live in poverty as measured by core living standards such as income, education and health, according to U.N. estimates.
Around 8 million voters, including over 34,000 overseas, are eligible to vote at more than 31,000 polling stations in the Central African nation. Cameroon has a population of over 29 million people, a majority overwhelmingly young.
McMakin reported from Dakar, Senegal.
Nalova Akua And Wilson Mcmakin, The Associated Press
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