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page 41 AU African Union launches all-Africa e-passport As the European Union (EU) threatens to unravel in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave, the African Union (AU) is pursuing a path of closer integration through the launch of a common e-passport that will grant visa-free access to all 54 member-states. The electronic passports will […]

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AU

African Union launches all-Africa e-passport

As the European Union (EU) threatens to unravel in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave, the African Union (AU) is pursuing a path of closer integration through the launch of a common e-passport that will grant visa-free access to all 54 member-states.

The electronic passports will be unveiled at the AU summit in Kigali, Rwanda, later this month, where they will be issued to heads of state and senior officials. The Union aims to distribute them to all African citizens by 2018.

“This flagship project has the specific aim of facilitating free movement of persons, goods and services around the continent – in order to foster intra-Africa trade, integration and socio-economic development,” the Union announced in a statement.

AU Director for Political Affairs, Dr. Khabele Matlosa, believes that opening borders will have a profound effect for workers at the lower end of the scale.

However, Matlosa acknowledges the target of providing all citizens with the passports by 2018 is ambitious, conceding that full coverage may not be achieved until several years later.

S/AFRICA

Pistorius jailed for six years for murdering girlfriend

South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to six years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.

He was initially given a five-year term for manslaughter, but was found guilty of murder on appeal last December.

He was taken immediately to jail. Both the prosecution and defence can appeal, but his lawyers say they will not.

Pistorius, 29, shot Reeva Steenkamp four times through a locked toilet door in February 2013.

He admitted shooting her, but said he had mistaken Ms Steenkamp for an intruder and acted out of fear.

Judge Thokozile Masipa said mitigating circumstances, such as rehabilitation and remorse, outweighed aggravating factors, such as his failure to fire a warning shot, for deviating from the prescribed 15-year sentence.

Many have expressed shock at Pistorius’s sentence, which is much less than the prescribed minimum for murder. South Africans have taken to social media to express their unhappiness, with some describing the prison term as an insult.

ZIMBABWE

Protest strike hits Harare as pressure on Mugabe grows

Riot police patrolled through Zimbabwe’s capital Harare on Wednesday as a call for a national strike against President Robert Mugabe’s economic policies, closed businesses and crippled the public transport system.

The strike follows days of unrest over the government’s failure to pay civil servants’ salaries, a currency shortage, import restrictions and multiple police road blocks reportedly extorting cash from motorists.

Mugabe’s government has delayed pay dates for civil servants as treasury funds run short after years of economic decline, worsened by a severe drought which has hit agriculture.

Zimbabwe spends at least 80 percent of its revenue on state workers’ wages, according to officials, while about 90 percent of the population is out of formal employment.

There were few people on the streets of the usually bustling capital after civil society organisations called the strike to pressure Mugabe to tackle the economic crisis.

Telecommunications, including internet and WhatApp services were erratic, but the authorities denied jamming the services to cripple strike plans.

UK

Britain invaded Iraq based on ‘flawed intelligence’ – Report

Britain decided to join the 2003 invasion of Iraq based on “flawed intelligence” which was not challenged and should have been, a long-awaited report has found.

John Chilcot, the chair of the Iraq Inquiry and a retired civil servant, said on Wednesday the invasion went “badly wrong”.

“Military action in Iraq might have been necessary at some point, but in March 2003, there was no immediate threat from [then Iraq President] Saddam Hussein,” he said.

The 2.6 million-word Iraq Inquiry – which took seven years to prepare – was published in full on Wednesday.

Speaking 30 minutes ahead of the official publication, Chilcot said: “The UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted.”

Chilcot said that, despite explicit warnings, the consequences of the invasion were underestimated.

Responding to the report, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a press conference on Wednesday that he “accept full responsibility without exception and without excuse” for the decision to go to war in Iraq, but insisted that the world “is in a better place without Saddam Hussein”.

UNITED STATES

Obama nixes Afghanistan troop drawdown

President Barack Obama, calling Afghanistan’s security situation precarious, said on Wednesday he will keep U.S. troop levels there at 8,400 through the end of his administration rather than reducing them to 5,500 by year’s end as previously planned.

Obama, in a statement at the White House, said the role of U.S. forces in Afghanistan will remain unchanged: training and advising Afghan police and troops, and supporting counterterrorism missions against the Taliban and other groups. Obama’s presidency ends in January.

Obama’s plan still calls for a reduction in U.S. troop levels from the current roughly 9,800, but not as much as previously planned.

“The security situation in Afghanistan remains precarious,” Obama said. “The Taliban remains a threat. They’ve gained ground in some places.”

CAMEROON

Cameroon repels Boko Haram attack on border post

Cameroon says Boko Haram fighters attacked a command post on its northern border with Nigeria. The attack followed a series of targeted military operations in the area that the government says destroyed at least 10 bomb-making laboratories.

Cameroon government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary says more than 100 suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked the Homeka border village command post of the multinational joint task force Monday.

He said the insurgents ransacked several villages after they were pushed back by the military. He said one soldier was wounded.

He said the attack on the command post is an indication that even though the enemy is in agony, it is still capable of incessantly creating trouble. He says he wants to inform them that the military will continue to defend the country’s territorial integrity.

UNITED STATES

US authorities to investigate Louisiana shooting

The US Justice Department’s civil rights division will lead an investigation into a police shooting of a black man in Louisiana.

Video footage appeared to show two white police officers holding down and fatally shooting Alton Sterling, 37, in Baton Rouge.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said the US attorney’s office, the FBI and state police will also be involved.

The governor called for unity and urged protesters to remain calm as authorities conduct an investigation the shooting.

The shooting on Tuesday sparked protests from about 200 people who gathered at the scene where Mr Sterling was shot, blocking roads and chanting: “Black lives matter”.

Police spokesman Cpl L’Jean McKneely said the officers had been called in after reports that a man selling CDs outside a convenience store had threatened someone with a gun.

VENEZUELA

Women cross border for food

About 500 Venezuelan women in search of food have broken through border controls separating the western state of Tachira from neighbouring Colombia.

The women said their families were going hungry because of severe food shortages in Venezuela.

Hours later, they crossed back into Venezuela carrying basic goods and singing the Venezuelan anthem.

Venezuela is going through an economic crisis and many Venezuelans say they struggle to feed their families.

The women said they had organised to meet at the border via the instant messaging service WhatsApp.

Dressed in white, they gathered on the bridge linking the cities of Urena in Venezuela and Cucuta in Colombia.

SYRIA

Govt declares three-day ceasefire

The Syrian government has declared a unilateral three-day ceasefire, set to last until the end of Friday, according to the state-run news agency SANA.

The announcement on Wednesday coincided with the start of the Eid al-Fitr festival, marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

A 72-hour “regime of calm” will be applied across the country until midnight on July 8, the Syrian army said in a statement republished in local media.

There was no indication the ceasefire had been agreed with any of the groups opposing the government.

A cessation of hostilities brokered by foreign powers in February to facilitate talks to end the five-year civil war has mostly unravelled in areas where it took effect in the west of the country.

YEMEN

10 soldiers killed as twin suicide bombings hit Aden base

At least 10 Yemeni soldiers have been killed in a twin suicide car bomb attack on a security facility near Aden’s airport, security sources say.

Gunmen also stormed the Central Security headquarters in Khormaksar district of the southern port city, sparking fierce clashes.

No group has said it was responsible, but Islamic State and al-Qaeda have carried out similar attacks before.

Aden is serving as the home of Yemen’s government.

Pro-government forces and troops from a Saudi-led multinational coalition forces are seeking to retake the capital, Sanaa, from Houthi rebels.