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page 22 AU AU moves to pull out of ICC The African Union has agreed to draw up a “road map” which will lead to its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), at the end of its two-day summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The new AU chairman, Chad’s President Idriss Derby, said […]
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AU
AU moves to pull out of ICC
The African Union has agreed to draw up a “road map” which will lead to its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), at the end of its two-day summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
The new AU chairman, Chad’s President Idriss Derby, said the ICC was targeting African leaders. The AU was waiting for the ICC to address its concerns, he added.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who put forward the proposal, said that he and his deputy William Ruto has been subjected to “cases built with weak investigations and pursued with politicised zeal” by the ICC.
The ICC says it pursues justice impartially for Africans affected by conflict.
S/SUDAN
South Sudan army accused of suffocating 50 civilians
At least 50 people suffocated to death when they were shoved into metal containers in sweltering conditions by troops belonging to South Sudan, a commission monitoring the ceasefire between rival factions said.
The incident was one of several listed as examples of ceasefire violations carried out by forces on both sides, outlined in a report compiled by the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC).
Despite an August peace deal, fighting continues in the country, and the conflict now involves multiple militias who according to the AU report are driven by local agendas and revenge attacks.
In South Sudan, metal containers are often used as makeshift prison cells. Temperatures in the northern battleground state of Unity regularly top 40 degrees Celsius.
There was no immediate response from South Sudan’s army.
Last month, a United Nations panel of experts said South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar should face sanctions for their role in the war.
NETHERLANDS
Ivory Coast ex-president presented as peace-loving victim of France
Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, charged with fomenting a 2010 crisis that led to 3,000 deaths, actually tried to resolve the deadlock that plunged the country into civil war, his lawyers said on Monday.
Opening his defense against war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, they portrayed him as a victim of French colonial meddling who had sought peace.
Gbagbo, the highest ranking politician ever to appear before the court, stands accused of stoking the ethnic strife that sparked a four-month civil war after he refused to step down following his failed bid to be re-elected president in 2010.
Gbagbo’s lawyers said prosecutors had presented a selective account of recent Ivory Coast history, glossing over alleged crimes committed by his successor and political rival Alassane Outtara, who was re-elected last year.
Naouri said prosecutors portrayed Ivory Coast’s defining political conflict in overly simple terms, ignoring a string of attempted coups allegedly launched by Ouattara’s supporters during Gbagbo’s decade-long presidency.
LATIN AMERICA
WHO convenes Zika virus emergency meeting
The World Health Organization has convened a meeting of researchers and health officials to determine whether the Zika virus should be declared a global health emergency.
The WHO predicts the virus, which may be linked to neurological disorders in babies, could infect as many as 4 million people in the Americas this year.
No firm link has been established between the Zika virus and microcephaly, a neurological disorder in which babies are born with abnormally small heads. But it is hard to ignore a possible connection between the virus and this brain disorder, given recent events in Brazil.
Nearly 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly have been reported in the country since October, compared with 150 similar cases in 2014.
Zika gets its name from a forest in Uganda where the virus was first identified in 1947. The virus has spread worldwide, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, which also causes dengue and chikungunya disease.
AFGHANISTAN
Suicide bomber kills 20 outside police office in Kabul
A suicide bomber has killed 20 people at a police headquarters in the Afghan capital Kabul. At least 25 others were wounded in the blast in the west of the city, the interior ministry said.
Some reports suggest most of those killed and injured were police officers. Earlier reports said most of the dead were civilians.
The Taliban said they carried out the bombing – one of a string of attacks in Kabul and elsewhere in recent months.
Monday’s attack happened at the entrance of the headquarters of the National Civil Order Police, a unit that has a counterinsurgency role against the Taliban.
Officials initially blamed a suicide car bomber, but later said the attacker had joined people queuing to get into the police station before he detonated his explosives.
S/AFRICA
Two South Africans jailed for killing Mozambican
Two South African men found guilty of murdering Mozambican Manuel Josias Sithole have been sentenced to 10 and 17 years.
The killing happened last April at the height of a wave of xenophobic violence but police say the motive was robbery.
The cause got massive attention after being captured on camera by photojournalist James Oatway.
His death led Graca Machel, widow of Nelson Mandela, to call for unity in the country.
Mthinta Bhengu and Sifundo Mzimela were found guilty of killing Mr Sithole on the streets of Alexandra, Johannesburg in broad daylight.
“One man got Emmanuel down on the ground and started beating him with a monkey wrench,” Mr Oatway said, speaking shortly after the attack.
Bhengu was seen as the instigator of the attack and got a 17-year sentence, while Mzimela, who got a 10-year term, was described as his accomplice.
UNITED STATES
US 2016: Iowa caucus opens US presidential nomination voting
The central state of Iowa opens voting Monday in the first U.S. contest to pick Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, leading to November’s national election.
Polls suggest that Republican Donald Trump has a narrow lead over Ted Cruz, but both are well ahead of the others.
The top Democratic contenders, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, are locked in a tight contest for their party’s nod in the first of a long series of state-by-state contests.
Election caucuses were set for 1,681 schools, firehouses and community centres throughout the state.
Based on the state votes, each party will formally pick its nominees at national conventions in July, with the winners squaring off in the November election.
MYANMAR
Myanmar opens new parliament session after military rule
The first freely elected parliament in Myanmar for 50 years has held its opening session.
Hundreds of new MPs, mostly from the National League for Democracy (NLD) but also some smaller parties, have been sworn and taken their seats.
The NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won 80% of contested seats in November’s historic election.
But a quarter of all seats are reserved for the military, which also retains control of key ministries.
One of the new parliament’s first jobs will be to choose a new president when outgoing leader Thein Sein steps down at the end of March.
INDIA
India students drown swimming off Maharashtra beach
Thirteen students have drowned while swimming off a beach on India’s west coast, police say.
The group were among more than 100 from a college in Pune who had gone for a picnic to Murud beach near Alibag, Maharashtra state.
The victims were aged between 19 and 23 and police said they were working to identify the bodies.
Murud beach is popular with locals who prefer the area to the more tourist-focused state of Goa.
Police said they were continuing to search for other victims. It is believed those who drowned were surprised by a sudden low tide.
ETHIOPIA
Lions rediscovered in Ethiopia’s Alatash game park
A previously unknown population of at least 100 lions has been discovered by a wildlife charity in a remote park in north-western Ethiopia.
Born Free Foundation said it had obtained camera trap images and identified lion tracks in the Alatash area close to the border with Sudan.
The area is thought to have lost all its lions in the 20th Century because of hunting and habitat destruction.
Dr Hans Bauer, a renowned lion conservationist from Oxford University, who led the expedition, said this was the first time that the presence of lions had been confirmed in this area.
He estimated that the area could host a population of 1-200 lions.