Namibia waits for results of fiercely contested election

WINDHOEK, Namibia

Vote counting is underway in Namibia after what was widely seen as the most fiercely contested elections in decades.

There were long queues outside polling stations throughout the day on Wednesday as the country’s youthful population cast their ballot for a new president and parliament.

Voting closed at nine in the evening local time and initial figures suggest there was a high voter turnout.

The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO), which has ruled Namibia since leading it to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990, has faced a tough election.

But if it wins, its presidential candidate, Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, will become the country’s first female leader.

In the run-up to the polls, however, analysts said there was a strong possibility that SWAPO could be ousted by young people who make up 64 per cent of registered voters.

They are fed up with high levels of unemployment, inequality and corruption allegations, and want change.

To be elected president, a candidate must get more than 50 per cent of the vote or there will be a run-off.

Results are expected by the weekend.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 28/11/2024

 

DR Congo, Rwanda sign key agreement to advance peace process in eastern Congo

LUANDA, Angola

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have signed a document key to advancing the peace process in the DRC’s troubled east, ceasefire-broker Angola said on Monday.

Since 2021 the Kigali-backed and largely ethnic Tutsi M23 rebel militia has seized swathes of the eastern DRC, displacing thousands and creating a humanitarian crisis.

In early August, Angola mediated a fragile truce that stabilized the situation at the front line.

But since the end of October, the M23 has been on the march again, and continues to carry out localized offensives.

Despite violations of the ceasefire, the DRC and Rwanda are maintaining diplomatic dialogue through Angola’s mediation.

Early in November, the two central African neighbors launched a committee to monitor ceasefire violations, led by Angola and including representatives from both the DRC and Rwanda.

On Monday, Kinshasa and Kigali’s foreign ministers approved a concept of operations document, a “key instrument” supposed to set out the terms by which Rwandan troops will disengage from Congolese territory, Angola’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

However the Angolan government statement gave no details of the procedures to be adopted.

A previous draft of the plan dated in August sets out the dismantling of a militia created by former ethnic Hutu leaders involved in the Rwandan genocide in 1994 as a precondition for Rwanda withdrawing its troops.

Often portrayed by Kigali as a threat to its security, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is one of various disparate militias fighting alongside the Congolese armed forces against the M23.

For the past three decades, the DRC’s mineral-rich east has been plagued by internal and cross-border violence.

Sudan ruler rules out negotiations with RSF, calls for their surrender

PORT SUDAN, Sudan

Sudan’s military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, on Monday ruled out any negotiations with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), saying the only solution is for them to lay down their arms and gather in designated areas.

Since its launch on September 26, the army has made significant gains in its military campaign against the RSF, reclaiming numerous positions in the capital, Khartoum, and Sennar state.

“There is no settlement and no negotiation,” Burhan said during a conference on women’s issues in eastern Sudan. “We have proposed a settlement: that these rebels lay down their arms and gather in specific areas, then the Sudanese people will consider their fate.”

He accused the RSF of besieging El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, as well as South and West Kordofan, and parts of other states, cutting off food and water supplies, killing civilians, and raping women. “Negotiate with him about what? We will not negotiate with him,” Burhan said.

He stressed that the army and other security forces are determined to “eliminate the rebellion and eradicate the criminal terrorist militia of the Daglo family,” referring to the RSF.

Burhan also denied calling for a conference of political forces, saying “this talk is untrue and we have not invited politicians or anyone to negotiate and establish a platform.”

He added: “Our hands are extended to every sincere Sudanese who is jealous for his country and has repented. The door to repentance is open to all, and repentance has conditions. It is known that those who repent deprecate the work they were doing before.”

The military-led government has pursued criminal charges against leaders of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition, accusing them of collaborating with the RSF. The public prosecutor’s office says it has evidence that some FFC leaders were involved in war crimes, which the coalition denies.

Burhan also praised Sudanese women for standing with the armed forces and supporting them in defending the country, calling for the utilization of resources in the east to develop and empower women in the region.

He acknowledged harmful practices that have marginalized large segments of society, saying: “I have seen women living on the margins of life in remote areas without education or health. We want to correct this matter and care for these communities.”

Women have paid a heavy price due to the ongoing conflict, especially those heading households after the widespread destruction of infrastructure and livelihoods. They also face horrific violations, including rape, forced displacement, and sexual exploitation.

Russia security chief meets Taliban officials in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan

Top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu visited Afghan government officials on Monday, assuring them Moscow will soon remove the Taliban from its list of banned organisations, Kabul said.

Since the Taliban surged back to power in 2021 visits by foreign officials have been infrequent because no nation has yet formally recognised the government of the former insurgent group.

Taliban government curbs on women have made them pariahs in many Western nations but Kabul is making increasing diplomatic overtures to its regional neighbours, emphasising economic and security cooperation.

Shoigu, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, met an Afghan cohort in Kabul headed by Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdul Ghani Baradar.

He "expressed Russia's interest in increasing the level of bilateral cooperation with Afghanistan," Baradar's office said in a statement released on social media site X.

"He also announced that, to expand political and economic relations between the two countries, the Islamic Emirate's name would soon be removed from Russia's blacklist."

The Islamic Emirate is the name the Taliban government uses to refer to itself.

Analysts say Moscow may be eying cooperation with Kabul to counter the threat from Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) -- the Afghan-based branch of the Sunni militant group.

In March, more than 140 people were killed when IS-K gunmen sieged a Moscow concert hall.

Taliban authorities have repeatedly said security is their top domestic priority and have pledged militants staging foreign attacks will be ousted from Afghanistan.

"The Taliban certainly are our allies in the fight against terrorism," Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, said in July.

"They are working to eradicate terrorist cells."

Kenyan police use teargas to disperse anti-femicide protesters in Nairobi

NAIROBI, Kenya

Police in Kenya used tear gas to disperse a peaceful march in Nairobi on Monday, commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Protesters later spoke out against the reaction by security forces and highlighted what they say is a lack of government action.

Nairobi resident, Waithira Karanja, said they want accountability.

"The police are the ones who kill women, which is why they do not want us to protest against the killing of women. They are supposed to be protecting us,“ she said.

Kenyan police agencies say there have been 97 cases of femicide in various parts of the country in the last three months alone. But activists say many more go unreported.

Last week, Kenyan President William Ruto condemned the alarming rise in femicide cases and urged collective efforts to protect women from gender-based violence.

As the world marked the start of the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, social justice activist, Happy Olal, said the Kenyan government is not doing enough.

"Ruto cannot come and say there is femicide. He has an extra role. He should tell us how many people have been arrested this year because of femicide. How many?” he said.

The United Nations on Monday said 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2023, of which 60 per cent died at the hands of their partner or a close relative.

Africa had the highest number, with an estimated 21,700 victims out of the 51,100 killings by an intimate partner or family member.

It also had the highest number of victims relative to the size of its population — 2.9 victims per 100,000 people.

Nine members of same family killed by floods in tanzania

TARIME Tanzania

Nine people of different sexes from the same family of Elias Ngare, a resident of Tarime, Mara region, have died after their home was invaded and washed away by the floods of the Mori River, which flows to Lake Victoria in Tanzania.

The disaster happened Sunday November 24, 2024 at four o'clock at night in Bugosi street, Nyamisangura.

Speaking to our correspondent at the scene of the incident, Nyamisangura Ward Councilor, Thobias Elias Ghati said that all nine bodies have been found and kept at the Council Hospital of Tarime town, a few kilometers from the scene of the incident.

The District Commissioner of Tarime District, Edward Gowele has confirmed the occurrence of the disaster which has also left several members of two families homeless.

One of the witnesses of the incident, who identified himself as Zacharia Ryoba Marwa, who is also a neighbor of the victims of the disaster, said that two towns were washed away by water and that nine members of the Edward Sokoine family survived despite being left homeless.

The Mara Regional Security Committee is expected to arrive at the scene any time today from now, according to our sources from the government.

"It is very sad, the police have been bringing bodies of the dead to the Bomani hospital since morning," said one of the residents of Tarime.Emergency response teams remain on high alert to assist affected communities.

The government has promised to provide support to the survivors and the families of the victims as recovery efforts continue.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 16/11/2024

 

Russia accuses Biden administration of disrupting Trump’s attempts to end Ukraine war

MOSCOW, Russia

The Kremlin has accused the administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden of trying to disrupt President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, which marked its 1,000th day last week.

“During the election campaign, Trump said that he intended to somehow ensure peace and bring everyone to a peaceful course. And now they (the Biden administration) are trying to escalate the situation so much that these peaceful conditions are already doomed to failure,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin late Sunday.

Accusing the Biden administration of being a “war party,” Peskov argued that they have repeatedly demonstrated that they want and will do “everything” to ensure that the conflict in Ukraine does not end.

Peskov further said he believes the Democrats want to take revenge for their loss in the US presidential election earlier this month, further arguing that this is why they are trying to "drive the Trump administration into a dead end."

The spokesman also said he thinks any confrontation does not exclude the possibility of dialogue, and that, in the case of the US, it was “hard to imagine” that Washington would reduce dialogue with Moscow to zero.

He went on to say Moscow is not looking at Trump’s second term in office with “rose-colored glasses,” and that they will see whether the incoming US president will change Washington’s policy following his inauguration in January.

Opposition protesters march towards Pakistani capital

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan 

Thousands of supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan are marching toward the capital Islamabad amid protests and demonstrations in more than two dozen countries.

Khan, founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), called for nationwide protest rallies and asked people to descend to the capital to seek the return of the “looted” mandate in the wake of alleged rigging of the Feb. 8 general election, release of political prisoners as well as undoing of the controversial changes into the South Asian nation’s judiciary.

Since Sunday, protesters began marching towards Islamabad, which has been fortified with heavy security deployment, including paramilitary Rangers, and continued on Monday.

Accompanied by Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi Khyber, Pakhtunkhwa Province Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was among the demonstrators, according to videos shared by the PTI on its social media.

Amid heavy crackdown on Khan's supporters, new police cases have been filed against former President Arif Alivi, Gandapur, Bibi and other PTI leaders.

The Pakistani government denies allegations by Khan about fraud in elections as well as cases filed against Khan and the PTI members, which the party says are “bogus.”

The government has closed educational institutions in Islamabad while all motorways, and roads leading to Islamabad have been blocked as authorities placed thousands of commercial containers on the roads.

In many places, roads were dug up, as well as trucks and heavy stones were placed on highways to block the rallies but protesters were seen clearing up the roads to continue march.

The government has threatened them that it would deal with all those entering Islamabad with a heavy hand after it imposed restrictions on the assembly of four or more than four people in the capital.

More than 4,000 PTI supporters have already been detained in Pakistan's biggest province of Punjab alone, to thwart a march to the capital, according to media reports.

Khan, 72, asked his supporters to reach Islamabad, camp there, and not return home without the government acceding to the PTI’s demands.

The PTI has held dozens of such nationwide rallies and demonstrations since Khan was ousted from power in April 2022.

The so-called final call by Khan for Nov. 24 was also supported by thousands of overseas Pakistanis in more than two dozen nations, according to the PTI.

Thousands of Pakistani expats and their supporters assembled in the European nations as well as the US, Canada, and Australia to seek the release of Khan, who has been in jail since August last year.

Italy and the UK saw the biggest rallies in support of Khan and his PTI, according to the videos of the demonstrations shared on the party's social media.

Sectarian clashes claim nearly 80 lives in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan 

Officials in northwestern Pakistan reported on Saturday that a government delegation has begun efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between rival Sunni and Shiite Muslim tribes following armed clashes that resulted in nearly 80 deaths this week.

The sectarian conflict in Kurram district, which borders Afghanistan, flared up Thursday when heavily armed men from the Sunni tribe ambushed multiple passenger vehicles and killed at least 45 Shi'ites, including men, women, and children.

On Friday, Shi'ite community members conducted revenge attacks against the Sunni-dominated village where the ambush had taken place, killing at least 33 people and wounding dozens of others. The attackers set petrol stations on fire and damaged markets as well as homes.

A spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Kurram is located, announced Saturday that a high-powered government delegation had flown into the turbulent district center, Parachinar, and met with Shi'ite community leaders there.

Muhammad Ali Saif said in a late-night video statement that the meetings were "positive" and efforts were being made to "resolve all disputes amicably to end the tension." He added that the delegation plans to talk with Sunni community leaders in the next stage.

"Our top priority is to broker a cease-fire and establish a lasting peace in the district," said Saif, also part of the government delegation.

The Pakistani border district is known for deadly Shi'ite-Sunni sectarian violence, which stems from long-running land disputes.

A land dispute sparked weeks of clashes in Kurram earlier this year, killing more than 100 people between August and October this year. The fighting had compelled provincial authorities to halt all traffic to and from the district until earlier this month when tribal elders brokered a temporary cease-fire between the opposing factions.

This week's clashes have once again halted traffic on the sole road connecting the district — which has a population of approximately 800,000 — to the provincial capital of Peshawar.

The violence in Kurram comes amid a marked increase in militant attacks against Pakistani security forces in multiple districts near or along the Afghan border.

Officials say the violence this month in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan, has resulted in the deaths of dozens of security personnel, including troops.

Leftist candidate Orsi wins Uruguay's presidential election

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay

Left-wing politician Yamandu Orsi was elected president of Uruguay, official results showed on Sunday, in a rebuke by voters of five years of conservative rule.

Uruguayans went to the polls for the second round of voting in what became a tight race between Orsi, of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) alliance, and Alvaro Delgado of the National Party, a member of outgoing President Luis Lacalle Pou's center-right Republican Coalition.

Orsi promised in a victory speech on Sunday evening to be a president "who calls again and again for national dialogue to find the best solutions."

Delgado meanwhile conceded defeat, saying he was sending "a big hug and a greeting to Yamandu Orsi."

Though the election will shift the balance of power in Uruguay, analysts did not foresee a massive change in the country's economic direction, with Orsi having previously promised "change that will not be radical."

Both candidates pledged to fight crime linked to drug trafficking and to boost economic growth, which is recovering from the slowdown brought by the Covid-19 pandemic and a historic drought.

With 94.4 percent of ballots counted, Orsi won 1,123,420 votes compared to Delgado's 1,042,001, the country's Electoral Court said.

Cheers broke out in the capital Montevideo, a bastion of Frente Amplio support, when projections showing Orsi leading were announced.

His campaign was boosted by support from Jose "Pepe" Mujica, a former guerrilla lionized as "the world's poorest president" because of his modest lifestyle during his 2010-2015 time in office.

Orsi, seen as an understudy of Mujica, had garnered 43.9 percent of the October 27 first-round vote -- short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff but ahead of the 26.7 percent of ballots cast for Delgado.

The pair came out on top of a crowded field of 11 candidates seeking to replace Lacalle Pou, who has a high approval rating but is barred constitutionally from seeking a second consecutive term.

Following October legislative elections, Orsi will govern with a majority in the Senate, though the Frente Amplio is in the minority in the Chamber of Representatives.

The victory for Orsi will see Uruguay swing left again after five years of center-right rule in the country of 3.4 million inhabitants.

In 2005, the Frente Amplio coalition broke a decades-long conservative stranglehold with an election victory and held the presidency for three straight terms.

It was voted out in 2020 on the back of concerns about rising crime blamed on high taxes and a surge in cocaine trafficking through the port of Montevideo.

Polling numbers ahead of the vote showed perceived insecurity remains Uruguayans' top concern five years later.

A 72-year-old retiree who voted, Juan Antonio Stivan, said he just wanted the next government to guarantee "safety -- to be able to go out in the street with peace of mind, as an old person, as a young person, as a child."

Another voter, Aldo Soroara, a 60-year-old winegrower, said he expected whoever is elected as president to do "the best he can for the people," adding: "You can't ask for much more in these difficult times."

Voting is compulsory in Uruguay, one of Latin America's most stable democracies, with comparatively high per-capita income and low poverty levels.

During the heyday of leftist rule, Uruguay legalized abortion and same-sex marriage, became the first Latin American country to ban smoking in public places and the world's first nation, in 2013, to allow recreational cannabis use.

Former president Mujica, who is battling cancer and had to use a cane to walk into his polling station to vote, said Sunday: "Personally, I have nothing more to look forward to. My closest future is the cemetery, for reasons of age.

"But I am interested in the fate of you, the young people who, when they are my age, will live in a very different world."

Sudan in danger of becoming a failed state, aid chief warns

KHARTOUM, Sudan

War-stricken Sudan is in danger of becoming another failed state because civil society is disintegrating amid a proliferation of armed groups, the head of a leading international aid agency has told our reporter.

As well as the two main warring parties in Sudan - the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces - there are many smaller "ethnic armies" looting and going "berserk" on civilians, Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), said.

"The parties are tearing down their own houses, they are massacring their own people," he said.

For nineteen months, there has been a brutal power struggle between the army and the RSF, that has forced over 10 million people to flee their homes and pushed the country to the brink of starvation.

"All that I saw confirms that this is indeed the biggest humanitarian emergency on our watch, the biggest hunger crisis, the biggest displacement crisis," Mr Egeland said, following a trip to Sudan.

In September, the World Health Organization (WHO) said starvation in Sudan "is almost everywhere".

Soup kitchens have been forced to close due to being underfunded. Egeland said the lack of humanitarian response meant remaining sources of aid are simply "delaying deaths instead of preventing them.”

"Most of Sudan is starving, it's starving," he said, adding that starvation has been used as a method of warfare.

Some food security specialists fear that as many as 2.5 million people could die from hunger by the end of this year.

Mr Egeland warned that the world is "failing Sudan completely" by not doing enough.

He told the BBC if Europe wanted to avoid a refugee crisis, it needed to invest in "aid, protection and peace in this corner of the world".

"It's an underfunded operation, even though it's the world's biggest emergency," he said.

Thousands of people have been killed since a civil war broke out. Rights groups have also expressed fears that there may be ethnic cleansing and genocide in Sudan.

Despite this, peace talks between the RSF and the army have been fruitless.

"The war will stop when these warlords feel they have more to lose by continuing fighting, than by doing the sensible thing" Egeland said.

At least 24 dead after two boats capsize off coast of Madagascar

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar

At least 24 people have died after two boats carrying mostly Somali nationals capsized off the coast of Madagascar, local authorities said.

A statement from Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said efforts were underway to "ensure the safe return of the survivors". The two boats carried a total of 70 passengers.

The vessels were discovered adrift off Madagascar's north coast on Saturday in the Indian Ocean. It is believed their engines had failed.

A senior Somalian government official told local media that survivors were rescued by fishermen.

Survivors say they were trying to reach the French island of Mayotte, a common but dangerous route for Somali migrants seeking asylum.

Unemployment and poverty in the Horn of Africa forces many young people to undertake the perilous route to reach Europe in the hopes of a better life.

Madagascan authorities warned against “the severe risks associated with illegal migration” suggesting the victims of the tragedy were migrants.

A $300B a year deal for climate cash sparks outrage

BAKU, Azebaijan

Delegates of developing countries reacted to the UN climate talks agreement on a $300B a year for humanity’s fight against climate change.

The deal is aimed at helping poor nations cope with the ravages of global warming in tense negotiations in the city where industry first tapped oil.

COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev gaveled the deal into acceptance before any nation had a chance to speak.

When they did they blasted him for being unfair to them, the deal for not being enough and the world's rich nations for being too stingy.

“It’s a paltry sum,” India negotiator Chandni Raina said, repeatedly saying how India objected to rousing cheers.

“I’m sorry to say we cannot accept it.”

She added that the amount "to be mobilized is abysmally poor" and said that developed countries are forcing developing ones to adapt without accounting for the need for economic growth.

"It is not something that will enable conducive climate action that is necessary for the survival of our country, and for the growth of our people, their livelihoods,"she stressed.

A long line of nations agreed with India and piled on, with Nigeria's Nkiruka Maduekwe, CEO of the National Council on Climate Change, calling the deal an insult and a joke.

She also said it was unrealistic, and that developed countries need to take more responsibility for their historical and current role in worsening climate change.

"It is not something we should take lightly. I do not think is something we should clap our hands (for)," she added.