Somali troops 'free' pirate-held hostages

Twenty-two hostages held for nearly three years are released after two-week long siege by Puntland maritime police.

One pirate leader said the ship was released after long negotiations with Puntland officials and local elders [AFP]

A ship and its crew of 22 sailors held by Somali pirates for almost three years have been freed after a two-week-long siege by maritime police, the government of the breakaway region of Puntland said. "After two years and nine months in captivity, the hostages have suffered signs of physical torture and illness. The hostages are now receiving nutrition and medical care," the president's office of the northern Somali enclave said on Sunday in a statement. The sailors aboard Panama-flagged MV Iceberg 1, from the Philippines, India, Yemen, Sudan, Ghana and Pakistan, were held for longer than any other hostages by the pirates who prey on shipping in the region. Maritime police began to lay siege to the vessel on December 10 near the coastal village of Garaad in the region of Mudug. The ship originally had a crew of 24, but two have died since the roll-on roll-off cargo vessel was seized on March 29, 2010, some 16km from Aden, the pirates said. Release 'kindly requested' One of the pirate leaders said they only released the ship after negotiations with Puntland officials and local elders. Farah did not disclose whether any ransom had been paid for the crew and the ship, owned by Azal Shipping in Dubai."They kindly requested the release of the ship we held for three years. Puntland forces had attacked us and tried to release the ship by force but they failed. We fought back and defeated them," a pirate known as Farah told the Reuters news agency. Pirates rarely release ships without ransom, and usually raise their demands the longer they hold a vessel - because they charge for their expenses. Close to 120 seafarers are still held by Somali pirates, though that number is considerably down from the height of the piracy crisis two years ago, when more than 600 hostages were held at any given time. Hijackings by Somali pirates have been significantly reduced in the last couple of years because many ships now carry armed guards and there is an international naval armada that carries out onshore raids. In 2012, pirates seized 47 vessels. So far this year, they have taken five, a decrease that could signify the scourge is ending, though experts say it is too early to declare a victory.

Rwanda genocide: ICTR jails Augustin Ngirabatware

A UN war crimes court has sentenced a key organiser of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to 35 years in prison.

The sentence was imposed on Augustin Ngirabatware, a former government minister in Rwanda.

He is the last person to be tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which will now only hear appeals.
About 800,000 people - ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus - were killed in 100 days in Rwanda in 1994.
The ICTR convicted Ngirabatware of genocide, incitement to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity, the AFP news agency reports.
"For these crimes the court sentences you to 35 years in prison," Judge William Hussein Sekule told Ngirabatware.
He was planning minister in the militant Hutu-led government at the time of the genocide.
Ngirabatware was arrested in Germany in September 2007 and was transferred more than a year later to the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania.
The ICTR says on its website that it has completed 71 cases since it was set up under a UN Security Council resolution in November 1994 to try the ringleaders of the genocide.
Ten accused were acquitted while 32 convicts are serving sentences, it says.
It is due to close in 2014 after it has finalised 16 appeal cases.

Congo militia boss Ngudjolo acquitted of war crimes at Hague

 

DR Congo Seeks Democracy 

Former Congolese militia leader Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui has been acquitted by the International Criminal Court of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The case related to the 2003 killings of 200 residents of Bogoro village in the mineral-rich Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The court in the Hague heard reports of victims being burned alive, babies smashed against walls and women raped.
Mr Ngudjolo denied ordering the attack, saying he learned of it days later.
He had been charged with seven counts of war crimes and three of crimes against humanity. Prosecutors said he had enlisted child soldiers to carry out the killings. Some of the killings were carried out with machetes.
But presiding Judge Bruno Cotte said the court acquitted Mr Ngudjolo of all charges, saying the prosecution had "not proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui was responsible" for the crimes committed.

Post-election tension shakes African beacon of stability

Political leaders as well as election observers in Ghana have called for calm after the top opposition party threatened to contest the results of the recent presidential poll. Are Ghanaians likely to listen?

International and regional election observers say Ghana’s recently conducted presidential poll appeared transparent, which saw incumbent John Mahama beating his rival by a slim majority, with a local monitoring group on Monday urging respect for the results.

Yet tensions have been rising in the Ghanaian capital of Accra since Sunday, when the country’s electoral commission declared Mahama the winner with 50.7% - just enough to avoid a run-off with his chief rival Nana Akufo-Addo, who got 47.7% of the vote.
Hundreds of Akufo-Addo supporters demonstrated outside the electoral commission offices, compelling security forces to use tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Congo Rebel Group Demands President's Resignation

The rebel group starting negotiations with the Congolese government wants the country's president to resign, according to a rebel document.

Jean-Marie Runiga, president of the M23 rebels said to be backed by Rwanda, on Thursday showed The Associated Press a list of demands that he said will be presented to the Congolese government.

The rebels' demand for Congolese President Joseph Kabila to step down comes as a leading advocacy group says the president is "unable to effectively govern the country."

The M23 recently withdrew from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in eastern Congo, in order to begin negotiations with Congolese President Joseph Kabila's government.

New hope for Somalia, says scholar MP

Somali professor on his country's future

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• In September, Somalia established its first stable central government in decades.
• Professor Ahmed Ismail Samatar says the new president is facing "heavy challenges"
• Samatar is a professor at Macalester College in Minnesota, U.S.
• He ran for president in the recent Somali elections and is now a member of parliament

(CNN) -- War-torn Somalia moved a step closer to stability this September after picking its first president elected on home soil in decades.

Political newcomer Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, an academic and activist who has also worked for the United Nations and other organizations, was sworn in the capital Mogadishu after defeating incumbent president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The milestone vote was hailed by the international community as a sign of improving security in a nation plunged into chaos after years of vicious civil hostilities.

South Africa's Zuma to face leadership challenge

Kgalema Motlanthe, the president's deputy, to run against Jacob Zuma for leadership of ruling African National Congress.

A native of Johannesburg's Alexandra township, Motlanthe, right, was once a member of the ANC's military wing [Reuters] A native of Johannesburg's Alexandra township, Motlanthe, right, was once a member of the ANC's military wing [Reuters]

Kgalema Motlanthe, South Africa's deputy president, has agreed to run against President Jacob Zuma for the leadership the country's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). Motlanthe accepted nominations from several provinces and the party's youth league to enter the race to be the ANC's next president, his spokesman Thabo Masebe said on Thursday.

Post-election tension shakes African beacon of stability

Political leaders as well as election observers in Ghana have called for calm after the top opposition party threatened to contest the results of the recent presidential poll. Are Ghanaians likely to listen?

International and regional election observers say Ghana’s recently conducted presidential poll appeared transparent, which saw incumbent John Mahama beating his rival by a slim majority, with a local monitoring group on Monday urging respect for the results.

Yet tensions have been rising in the Ghanaian capital of Accra since Sunday, when the country’s electoral commission declared Mahama the winner with 50.7% - just enough to avoid a run-off with his chief rival Nana Akufo-Addo, who got 47.7% of the vote.

Mali's president names new prime minister

BAMAKO, Mali — Soldiers arrested Mali’s prime minister and forced him to resign before dawn Tuesday, showing the military remains the real power in this troubled West African nation despite handing back authority to civilians after a coup in March.

The prime minister’s ouster comes as the United Nations considers backing a military intervention in Mali, a once-stable country now in constant turmoil. The development raises questions about the viability of the operation, which would use the country’s military in an attempt to take back Mali’s north from Islamic extremists.

Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra, dressed in a dark suit and his forehead glistening with sweat, appeared on state television at 4 a.m. to announce his resignation, hours after soldiers stormed his house and forced him into their vehicle.

Congo rebels return to peace talks

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA | Posted: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 10:47 am

Peace talks with rebels in eastern Congo should end with the disbandment of the M23 rebel movement, Congo's foreign minister said Tuesday, declaring it a criminally-minded organization that has caused suffering in the country.

Foreign Minister Raymond Tshibanda delivered his indictment of M23 on Tuesday after representatives of the group did not show up to a meeting Monday where the Congolese government delegation wanted to respond to earlier criticism by the rebels.

M23's executive secretary, Francois Rucogoza, charged on Sunday that the Congolese government lacked "visionary leadership" in a lengthy statement at the start of talks in the Ugandan capital Kampala. The government delegation, which had already delivered a short, formal statement free of accusations, then said it had to respond to accusations of incompetence, xenophobia and corruption before substantive talks could begin.

Tshibanda said Tuesday he wanted the world to get "the real picture of this armed group and what they do in the area." M23, he said, is a criminal organization whose leaders routinely use child soldiers to win wars and whose troops rape women and carry out summary executions in territories they control in eastern Congo.

Mali's prime minister abruptly resigns after arrest

(CNN) -- Mali's prime minister abruptly resigned Tuesday on state television, a day after he was arrested by a group of soldiers loyal to a former coup leader.

The development is another blow to the stability of a country once hailed as a model of democracy in Africa, but one derailed by a coup and an uprising of Islamist militants.

Cheick Modibo Diarra, a former NASA engineer, who holds U.S. citizenship, was set to fly to Paris for medical care Monday, when he received notice that his bags had been removed from the plane, said a close aide, who did not want to be named.

Somali army captures key town from Al-Shabaab rebels

This photo released by the African Union-United Nations on November 18 shows soldiers of the Somali National Army.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- The Somali National Army, along with African Union troops, on Sunday launched a long-awaited offensive against al Qaeda-linked Somali rebels and captured the town of Jowhar, the AU and residents said.

The joint forces faced little resistance, the African Union Mission for Somalia said in a press release, adding that Jowhar had been a major base for Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia.

Ghana president re-elected, a result opposition claims was 'manipulated'

(CNN) -- Ghana's election commission announced Sunday night that the West African nation's president won re-election, though the main opposition party says it has "credible evidence" the results were manipulated.

In a statement streamed live on the Internet, Electoral Commission Chairman Kwadwo Afari-Gyan declared "John Dramani Mahama president-elect" after securing 50.7% of the vote. Nana Akufo-Addo, the candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), garnered 47.7% of the vote, according to the commission.

"We must celebrate together as Ghanaians and refrain from anything that will derail the peace and unity we have enjoyed over the years," Mahama told supporters after the result was announced.

Second blast in 3 days hits Somali neighborhood in Kenya

(CNN) -- A blast ripped through a neighborhood in Kenya's capital, killing three people in the second attack in three days targeting the predominantly Somali area.

At least 16 others were injured in the Friday explosion near a mosque in Eastleigh, according to the Kenya Red Cross.
It was the second attack in three days targeting the Nairobi neighborhood.
On Wednesday, another blast left eight people injured -- three critically with severe head wounds, the Kenya Red Cross said in a statement.

Nelson Mandela has lung infection

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- Nelson Mandela's current hospitalization is due to a lung infection, authorities said Tuesday.

Doctors were treating Mandela and he was responding to treatment, a statement from President Jacob Zuma's office said.

Mandela, 94, was hospitalized over the weekend at a Pretoria facility but the exact nature of his ailment had not been released.

Tuesday's statement said he had a recurrence of a previous lung infection.

Mandela battles lung infection

1994: Mandela's inauguration speech

Armed men attack camp in eastern Congo after rebels pullout from captured city

(CNN) -- Armed men attacked a displaced persons camp in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo early Sunday, raping women and looting at a facility where tens of thousands of people have taken refuge, a U.N. official said.

Simplice Kpandji, a spokesman for the United Nations' refugee agency, said it was unclear whether anyone had been killed at the camp, which is about 10 kilometers from Goma, the border city that has been a flashpoint for fighting between government troops and the M23 rebel group.

The Mugunga III camp houses more than 30,000 displaced people, many of whom fled to the camp when rebels advanced on Goma, Kpandji said. The attackers' identity was unknown, he said, and officials were working on gathering more information.

Central African Republic rebels seize Ndele from army

Rebel forces in the Central African Republic (CAR) have captured the key northern town of Ndele following a surprise attack, an army source has told the BBC.

The rebels said they had also seized two smaller towns, Sam Ouandja and Ouadda, but this could not be confirmed.
Ndele is on a major route linking the CAR to Sudan, Cameroon and Chad.
The CAR has had a series of rebellions and coups since independence in 1975.
It is rich in mineral resources, including gold and diamonds, but its population is extremely poor.

Nelson Mandela suffering from lung infection

South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela has a recurring lung infection and is responding to medical treatment, officials revealed on Tuesday. The 94-year-old has been in a Pretoria hospital since Saturday.

South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela is suffering from a recurring lung infection and is responding to medical treatments, the nation’s presidency sa
 id Tuesday.
The ailing Mandela, 94, has been hospitalized since Saturday for medical tests at 1 Military Hospital near South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.
The announcement ended speculation about what was troubling the ailing anti-apartheid icon. Government officials had declined repeatedly to say what caused the nation’s military, responsible for Mandela’s care, to hospitalize the leader over the last few days. That caused growing concern in South Africa, a nation of 50 million people that largely reveres Mandela for being the nation’s first democratically elected president who sought to bring the country together after centuries of racial division.
The tests Mandela underwent at the hospital detected the lung infection, said presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj in a statement.

Congo's M23 rebels complete Goma pullout

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s M23 rebels completed their retreat from the regional capital of Goma on Saturday, after defying two earlier ultimatums to leave the city.

Hundreds of rebel fighters, singing and brandishing weapons, pulled out of Congo's eastern border city of Goma on Saturday, raising hopes for negotiations to end the insurgency.
The withdrawal of the M23 rebel movement from Goma on Lake Kivu, a strategic hub in Democratic Republic of Congo's war-scarred east, was agreed in a deal brokered by presidents of the Great Lakes states under Uganda's leadership a week ago.
Kieran Dwyer, spokesman for the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York, said the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, or MONUSCO, confirmed the pullout was completed.
"The M23 has today withdrawn from Goma city in eastern DR Congo," he said in a statement. "MONUSCO mobilized 17 rapid reaction units in the city throughout the day to monitor the M23 withdrawal which took place in a largely orderly manner."
"MONUSCO troops secured key installations including the Central Bank, Governor's House and communications infrastructure at Goma Hill," Dwyer said.
Goma's fall on Nov. 20 to the Tutsi-led M23 insurgent group, which routed U.N.-backed government forces, triggered a diplomatic scramble to prevent a wider escalation of the eight-month-old rebellion in the conflict-prone region.
The rebels had said they would fight to topple Congo's president, Joseph Kabila, and march on the capital, Kinshasa, 1,600 km (1,000 miles) to the west. U.N. experts accuse Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the revolt, a charge both strongly deny.
In the centre of Goma, blue-helmeted U.N. peacekeeper

Second blast in 3 days hits Somali neighborhood in Kenya

Smoke billows from a fire in a street, on December 7, 2012, following a large explosion outside a mosque in Nairobi. Three people were killed and eight wounded in the blast, the Kenyan Red Cross and police said. The blast followed one in the same neighborhood earlier in the week.

(CNN) -- A blast ripped through a neighborhood in Kenya's capital, killing three people in the second attack in three days targeting the predominantly Somali area.

At least 16 others were injured in the Friday explosion near a mosque in Eastleigh, according to the Kenya Red Cross.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's mother: Nigeria manhunt for kidnappers

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, an internationally respected economist, has tried to tackle corruption in Nigeria

Nigeria's police have launched a manhunt for the kidnappers of Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's mother, a spokesman has said.

Kamene Okonjo, a professor, was taken from her home in Delta State on Sunday.
A finance ministry spokesman said Mrs Okonjo-Iweala had been threatened recently but did not know whether this was linked to the kidnapping.

Armed men attack camp in eastern Congo after rebels pullout from captured city

Colonel Sultani Makenga (C), head of the rebel M23 group, pictured in July.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• It is unclear whether anyone was killed in the attack, a U.N. official says
• Attackers looted a displaced persons camp and raped women there, the official says
• The attack comes after U.N. monitors confirm that rebels have withdrawn from Goma
• The rebels were told by regional leaders to withdraw at least 12 miles from the city

(CNN) -- Armed men attacked a displaced persons camp in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo early Sunday, raping women and looting at a facility where tens of thousands of people have taken refuge, a U.N. official said.

Simplice Kpandji, a spokesman for the United Nations' refugee agency, said it was unclear whether anyone had been killed at the camp, which is about 10 kilometers from Goma, the border city that has been a flashpoint for fighting between government troops and the M23 rebel group.

The Mugunga III camp houses more than 30,000 displaced people, many of whom fled to the camp when rebels advanced on Goma, Kpandji said. The attackers' identity was unknown, he said, and officials were working on gathering more information.

Word of the attack came as U.N. monitors confirmed that rebels had withdrawn from Goma, more than a week after they seized the city from government forces.

Labour strikes hit several Tunisian regions

The threat of a nationwide general strike could plunge economically struggling Tunisia back into chaos [Reuters]

Strikes and protests have hit volatile areas of Tunisia, including Sidi Bouzid where the Arab Spring started, as tensions rose between powerful unions and Ennahdha, the centre-right Islamist party that is the largest member of the ruling coalition. Workers went on strike on Thursday in Kasserine, Gafsa and Sfax, Tunisia's second largest city, as well as Sidi Bouzid, where the 2010 uprising that unseated former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali began. The closure of the largest private and public employers in those areas was called by regional branches of the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), with only small shops and cafes open for business. Hundreds of protesters in Gafsa and Sidi Bouzid took part in marches, chanting slogans denouncing Ennahdha. "We demand the resignation of the government," "Ennahdha has sold Tunisia," and "Long live the UGTT, the country's biggest force," the activists shouted. The UGTT, Tunisia's main labour union with a membership of 500,000, which was the only legal union under the previous regime, said the strike achieved a 95-per cent observance rate in Gafsa, a mining region prone to social unrest. The action was seen as a prelude to a nationwide general strike called for December 13 by the UGTT to denounce an attack on its headquarters this week that it says was carried out by armed men close to Ennahdha. The call for next Thursday's national strike is only the third by the UGTT since its foundation in the 1940s. Tunisia at 'crossroads' Weeks of escalating tensions between the union and Ennahdha, culminated on Tuesday when UGTT members demonstrating at their head office were attacked by pro-government activists. Ennahdha in turn accused the UGTT of orchestrating the confrontation. The General Tunisian Confederation of Workers, a smaller trade union formed after the revolution and claiming some 50,000 members, said on Thursday it was in "full solidarity" with the UGTT. The union denounced "all the hostile actions against the UGTT," and condemned those behind them, urging Ennahdha to respect "trade union freedoms". Last week, intense clashes between police and disaffected youths in the town of Siliana, southwest of Tunis, left about 300 people wounded, after a strike and protests over poor living conditions degenerated into violence. Ennahdha's veteran leader Rachid Ghannouchi strongly criticised the UGTT, calling it a "radical opposition" group, and charging that its calls to strike had "political and not social motives". Clashes, strikes and attacks have multiplied across Tunisia in the run-up to the second anniversary of the revolution, plunging the country into a political impasse. Many Tunisians feel bitterly disappointed by the failure of the revolution to improve their lives, especially in the country's marginalised interior which suffers from a chronic lack of development and high unemployment. During last week's violence, President Moncef Marzouki said the coalition government was not meeting the expectations of its people and called for a cabinet reshuffle, but Jebali did not respond. He warned that Tunisia was at a crossroads between "the road to ruin and the road to recovery".