Monthly Archives: May 2012

Warning to dictators as Liberia’s Charles Taylor gets 50 years

Posted on May 30, 2012 by

By Thomas Escritt and Anthony Deutsch Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was jailed for 50 years on Wednesday for helping Sierra Leonean rebels commit what a court in The Hague called some of the worst war crimes in history. Taylor, 64, was the first head of state convicted by an international court since the trials of Nazis after World War Two and the sentence set a precedent for the emerging system of international justice. In an 11-year war that ended in 2002, Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front rebels murdered, raped and mutilated their way across Liberia’s West African neighbour, helped by Taylor as he profited from a trade in so-called … Continue reading →

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Al-Shabaab militants ambush Somali President’s convoy

Posted on May 30, 2012 by

By Staff Writer Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed Sharif narrowly escaped death Tuesday when a convoy in which he was travelling was ambushed by Al Shabaab terrorists. Reuters is reporting that Sheikh Sharif’s convoy was ambushed as he made an attempt to tour a newly captured territory of Elasha Town, some 18 miles from the Somali capital Mogadishu. A Reuters photographer travelling with the president was quoted as saying that the Somali leader was making a rare overland trip outside Mogadishu when Al Shabaab struck the convoy. The attack split the presidential convoy forcing the armoured cars to scatter in different directions. Cars belonging to several African Union peacekeepers were … Continue reading →

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Mumba’s election casts doubts over future of MMD

Posted on May 29, 2012 by

From Michael Malakata in Lusaka, Zambia The future of Zambia’s former ruling party and now the country’s largest opposition is hanging in the balance following the election of Dr Nevers Mumba, the former republican vice president to succeed Rupiah Banda. The Party had for a few months been searching for a suitable man to succeed Banda who renounced his position as the party president after the current government threatened to withdraw his benefits because of his active involvement in politics. But last week, at the extraordinary convention, Dr Mumba who also doubles as a priest, was elected new Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) president beating his closest rival, former Commerce, … Continue reading →

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Rwanda behind army mutiny in DRC – U.N. report claims

Posted on May 28, 2012 by

Rwanda and the United Nations (UN) are once again heading for a collision course after it emerged that a UN internal report has accused the government of President Paul Kagame of being behind a current rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The report, according to the BBC, claims recruits supported by Rwanda were behind an army mutiny in the DRC last month that has precipitated a recent violence in the east of the country that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says has led to high casualties among the civilian population. Renegade army general Bosco Ntaganda wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague … Continue reading →

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Tension in Kenya as ICC throws out Uhuru Kenyatta’s appeal

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

By Henry D Gombya Kenya’s general elections scheduled to take place next March have been thrown into utter confusion after the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague rejected an appeal by four prominent Kenyan politicians who last year appeared before the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity. In a move that may send shocking reverberations among Kenyan politicians, the ICC’s may have paved the way for more crimes to be committed in the run-up to next year’s elections when Kenyans are set to choose a new president to replace outgoing President Mwai Kibaki. The ICC ruling means that one of Kenya’s most prominent politicians, Uhuru Kenyatta may be … Continue reading →

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