A UN worker accompanies one of the hundreds of Angolan refugees being repatriated from Zambia on a flight back to their country.

The Zambia government and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have continued with the repatriation of Angolan refugees as cessation of their status approaches although some of them were unwilling to go back to Angola.

A total of 33 Angolan refugees returned to Angola’s Huambo Town on Wednesday 16 May by plane from Mongu Airport in Western Zambia. An additional 45 Angolans were yesterday (Thursday) repatriated to Moxico Province from Mongu, while 41 were repatriated from Solwezi destined for Luena. This brings to 119 the total number of Angolan refugees repatriated in the last two days from the two refugee settlements of Meheba and Mayukwayukwa. More flights are expected to follow in the coming days as the cessation date of their refugee status of June 30, 2012 is fast approaching.

During a joint visit with UNHCR Representative Ms Joyce Mends-Cole to Meheba settlement last month, Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Maxwell Nkole appealed to Angolan refugees to come forward now and voluntarily register for repatriation before their refugee status ceases date. But despite the continued warning that once the cessation date is over, the refugees will be subjected to Zambia’s immigration laws, Nkole says the repatriation is voluntary. “I want to emphasize that this repatriation is voluntary, the Angolan refugees should take advantage of this period when there is assistance from UNHCR to return home,” Nkole said.

From April 24 this year, the Zambian government through the Ministry Home Affairs and UNHCR, have been notifying Angolan refugees through various media about cessation of their status by the end of June. In the notice, Nkole encouraged the refugees to come forward and register for voluntary repatriation. The first phase of the repatriation of the refugees was implemented from 2003 to 2007 during which a total of 74,000 refugees were repatriated to Angola from Zambia’s camps and settlements. In addition, according to confirmed reports from Angola, over 100, 000 majority of those who were self-settled refugees from Zambia also returned home on their own during that period.

The Zambian government and UNHCR are said to be working in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which is facilitating logistics and transportation for the refugees from the settlements to their final destination in Angola. Refugees participating in the voluntary repatriation are benefiting from transport assistance and a re-integration package provided by the Angolan Executive upon return to Angola. Zambia currently hosts 23,000 Angolan refugees.

John Kong Nyuon, South Sudan Defence Minister wants the United States to sell him state-of-the-art anti-aircraft missiles.

South Sudan is set to acquire anti-aircraft missiles to defend its territory against air attacks it says are frequently carried out by warplanes from neighbouring Sudan, the South Sudanese military said on Wednesday. Since South Sudan became the world’s newest independent nation in July last year, its government has accused northern neighbour Sudan of continuing aerial bombing raids on South Sudanese territory, a charge routinely denied by Khartoum.

Foreign reporters in South Sudan have witnessed bombings by Sudanese warplanes of targets including a market, a refugee camp and oil infrastructure, and border skirmishes between the two countries’ armies last month included a series of air raids by the northern nation. The United Nations’ top human rights official said on Friday she was outraged by Sudan’s “indiscriminate” bombings of South Sudan that killed and injured civilians, after U.N. officials verified damage and casualties caused by recent raids.

South Sudanese army spokesman Philip Aguer told Reuters on Wednesday Juba’s military intended to acquire anti-aircraft missiles as part of the new African nation’s plans to modernise and re-equip its armed forces, which had previously fought for years as a rebel guerrilla army against Khartoum. “It will enhance our defenses. All strategic points need to be protected, including oil-producing areas and airports,” Aguer said. He did not say where South Sudan would seek to purchase the anti-aircraft weapons, or exactly what kind they would be. “It depends on the market and the political will to sell to us,” Aguer said. He did not specify a time-frame for the South Sudanese army to acquire the anti-aircraft capability, but The Sudan Tribune newspaper quoted the head of South Sudan’s army (SPLA) James Hoth Mai as saying his troops would be equipped with anti-aircraft missiles within a “few months.”

Last month’s fighting broke out amid disputes between the two former civil war foes over oil exports, border demarcation, citizenship rights and financial arrangements. On May 2, the U.N. Security Council, endorsing an African Union peace plan, gave the two sides two weeks to resume talks on the outstanding disputes, but there was no indication that a firm date has been set for negotiations to restart.

The Security Council, including China and Russia, gave them three months to solve the issues or face sanctions. Aguer said acquiring air-defense capability would help South Sudan to consolidate its newly-won independence, unanimously endorsed by its population in a referendum following an initial 2005 peace agreement that ended more than two decades of civil war between the North and the South.

“Prior to independence, it was not easy to acquire these weapons but now I believe we will,” Aguer said. “This will promote the confidence of South Sudanese citizens that their airspace will not be violated again. That will have a psychological and physical impact,” he added. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also called on Sudan to halt what she called “provocative” air bombardments.

Last week, a former U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, urged his country to send weapons to Juba. “The only way to end the North’s bullying and foster peace talks is to give the South the right tools: American anti-aircraft weapons,” Natsios wrote in an article published in the Washington Post.

Experts said acquiring anti-aircraft weapons would certainly strengthen the South Sudanese army’s arsenal against the generally better-armed northern forces, but would not necessarily end the bombings or the conflict. Jonah Leff, project coordinator for the Small Arms Survey Sudan Project, said the South’s army would have to be trained to use the surface-to-air missiles effectively. “I wouldn’t expect for Khartoum to back down, but anti-aircraft missiles would give the SPLA an advantage that they didn’t previously have,” he told Reuters by email. “Even if Khartoum decides to cease its aerial operations, which I find doubtful, the two sides still seem to have an appetite for war, which could be fought on the battlefield,” Leff added.

The two Sudans sit on significant oil reserves, but the independence of the South gave it two-thirds of the oil output of the previously unified nation. A dispute over the level of fees independent South Sudan should pay to Sudan to export its crude through the north prompted Juba to shut off its oil production earlier this year, straining the two economies.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Tuesday Khartoum would not allow South Sudan to export any oil through its territory unless the two states settle all arguments over border security.

(Reuters)

President Robert Mugabe. His party and army officials may now be investigated by South African courts.

From Michael Malakata in Lusaka, Zambia

A South African court has ruled that it has the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute military generals and loyalists from Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s party, the Zanu-PF.

The decision by Judge Hans Fabricius could force the South African government to investigate senior Zanu-PF officials who are accused of torture and human rights abuses during the 2008 elections that resulted in the power-sharing government with opposition MDC. The judge ruled Tuesday that South African legal system can be used to investigate and prosecute Zimbabwean citizens suspected of having committed crimes against humanity.

The names of suspects have not been released by a dossier compiled by a South African Litigation Centre and Zimbabwe Exiles Forum has been handed over to South African officials. The Judge ordered the National Prosecution Authority to probe the accusations contained in the dossier of complaints.

The complainants mostly from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) headed by Morgan Tsvangirai who is a prime minister in the power-sharing government, accuses 18 Zanu-PF officials and military generals of torture and human rights abuses. This means that those on the wanted list risk being arrested and prosecuted if they stepped into South Africa. The decision by the judge is likely to affect South Africa’s relationship with Zimbabwe. South Africa has played a key role in stabilising the volatile political situation in Zimbabwe through mediation with the mandate of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

Already Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has criticised the decision of the court claiming the decision was ‘a wish by the judge pushing an agenda of former Rhodesians who want to effect regime change in Zimbabwe’. He added: “The decision will never be entertained by Zimbabwe and it will remain a wish.” Chinamasa claims the same forces who took the government to the so-called Land Tribunal in Namibia with the aim of reversing the land reform programme are the same forces trying to fulfill their agenda through the back door. South Africa, Chinamasa said, has no extra territorial jurisdiction over neighbouring countries, adding that the best they can do when a crime is committed in the country by Zimbabweans resident in South Africa would be to extradite them so that they can face justice at home.

Mugabe and several members of his ruling ZANU-PF have already been hit with international sanctions for suspected human rights abuses that include using death squads to torture and kill political enemies. According to Nicole Fritz, executive director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre – one of the applicants, the judgment will send a shiver to Zimbabwean officials who believed that they would never be held to account for their crimes but now face investigation by the South African authorities.

ZANU-PF has avoided criminal investigations at home because it allegedly controls state security and the court system. It has been accused of suppressing opposition through strong-arm police tactics and prosecuting its foes on trumped-up charges. In power since independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe says the allegations of abuses are part of an international plot to unseat him. Three years ago, South Africa allowed over a million Zimbabweans to enter the country without documents because of the political violence that was taking place in the country then.

Mustafa Mkulo who until yesterday was Tanzania's Finance Minister, paid the price for graft allegations in the country.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has sacked six of his senior cabinet ministers amid allegations that they were involved in corrupt activities. In an unprecedented move, Mr Kikwete who is just beginning his second and last term of office surprised many of his contemporaries when he gave marching orders to Mustapha Mkulo who has been the country’s Finance Minister.

Energy and Minerals Minister William Ngeleja, Tourism Minister Ezekiel Maige, Industry and Trade Minister Cyril Chami, Transport Minister Omari Nundu and Health Minister Haji Mponda followed suit. Sacking senior cabinet ministers in Africa is almost unheard of. In neighbouring Uganda, calls to President Yoweri Museveni to sack senior cabinet ministers who have been drugged screaming before courts of law and censored by parliament have gone unanswered.

In a cabinet reshuffle that not only surprised the country’s opposition but also his own contemporaries, Mr Kikwete said from now on, the accountability of his ministers would be taken seriously. “It is not enough for a minister to take responsibility alone but the new approach is that even those who caused mishap will be taken to task as well.

Commenting on the sacking, Sarah Hermitage, a British lawyer and human right activist who, together with her husband lost the lease to their farm Silverdale due to the corrupt actions of Tanzanian businessmen Benjamin Mengi, brother to media Moghul Reginald Mengi, dismissed Kikwete’s actions charging that during his time in office, Tanzania had become more corrupt. “Anyone with an ear to the ground in Tanzania cannot fail to hear the rumblings of dissent amidst the young, intelligent and educated Tanzanians who are simply sick of the increasing misuse of public funds and Kikwete’s refusal to deal with corruption – in the Silverdale case, Kikwete faced a choice, the choice to support the rule of law and condemn corruption no matter who commits it or, the criminal activities of his countrymen. He chose the latter,” she told The London Evening Post.” Both brothers are close friends of President Kikwete.

Hermitage said one ought to remember that Kikwete himself has in the past been at the centre of corruption charges. In allegations made by the whistle-blower site WikiLeaks, a US diplomatic cable alleged President Kikwete had accepted bribes from a Dubai-based investor. But Benson Bana, head of the University of Dar es Salaam political research think-tank said: “The president has been responsive. He has listened to members of parliament and to the voice of the people. He has done wonderfully.” Bana went on to add: “The ministers were sacked due to a lack of accountability. The ministers failed to deliver and some were accused of mismanaging the ministries … the president has responded positively.”

John Mnyika, publicity director of Tanzania’s main opposition party, the Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo warned President Kikwete against simply reshuffling the cabinet. He urged him to take legal measures against ministers implicated in graft practices. There was little hope, Ms Hermitage opined, that Tanzania’s young, dynamic and deserving youth would see any improvement in the country’s governance in the foreseeable future.

Tanzania is a hot prospect for oil and gas exploration by international firms. Like its neighbour Mozambique, large deposits of natural gas have been discovered offshore. The East African country has extensive mining interests, including gold, coal and iron ore which have also attracted many foreign investors. Businesses have long complained graft is one of the main reasons for the high cost of doing business in Tanzania.

Henry Banda, son of former Zambian President Rupiah Banda who is fighting an Interpol arrest warrant.

The battle to save former Zambian President Rupiah Banda’s son Henry Banda from being arrested by International Police (Interpol) has now been taken to the United Nations by his lawyers.

The legal team representing Banda filed two letters with several United Nations Special Rapporteurs requesting that Urgent Appeals be addressed to the Government of Zambia regarding what they call ‘politically motivated accusations’ against Banda and harassment and threats against his legal counsel, Robert Amsterdam. “These documents are the first of many appeals we are preparing before international bodies to expose the unlawful conduct of the Zambian government in the Henry Banda matter, and highlight the ongoing abuses of power by the ruling party to attack and weaken the political opposition,” said Amsterdam.

He added: “The allegations reported in the media against Banda are completely without grounds, and the fact that the government has publicly lied concerning his whereabouts and has refused to respond to our questions should raise obvious concerns.” The request for Urgent Appeals concerning Zambia’s alleged unlawful treatment of Banda was addressed to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, and the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions. The request was made on Sunday this week.

A separate request for Urgent Appeals was also sent to the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders and the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers on behalf of Amsterdam in response to various threats, harassment, and defamation by government and party officials in the media, which is alleged as a violation of Banda’s right to counsel.

According to the letter, Banda’s imminently threatened detention, extradition and prosecution would accordingly violate his rights under Article 9.1 (right to liberty and freedom from arbitrary detention), Article 19 (freedom of opinion and expression), Article 22 (freedom of association) and Article 25 (a) (right to take part in the conduct of public affairs) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Zambia has been a State Party since 1984, among other international instruments guaranteeing these rights.

The letter continues, “The threats and intimidation against his lawyer and human rights defender, Amsterdam, violate Principle 16 of the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, and Articles 9.3(c) and 12.2 of the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.” The Zambian government has however, maintained that it will not succumb to intimidation by Banda’s lawyers claiming that they 9the layers) have no right to practice in Zambia.

Prof Goerge Saitoti the Kenya Internal Security Minister stands with Kenya Police Commiossioner Iteere

Police in Kenya have been advised by the Internal Security Minister Prof George Saitoti to read the new constitution and uphold it to the letter to avoid being seen as agents resisting change in the country.

The Kenyan Police have come under heavy scrutiny lately by their actions in the recent past where they have been captured in the media committing acts that go against the constitution, which was promulgated in August 2010.

Prof Saitoti held a closed meeting with senior Police Officers drawn from the Kenya Police and Administration Police at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) training school on the evening of Thursday, April 26 where police sources t who are not allowed to speak to the media said that an infuriated Saitoti blamed the police on the ongoing negative coverage they are getting in the Kenyan media, wondering what had gone bad with the police who were considered professional.

Recently, police drawn from the dreaded General Service Unit (GSU) were shown on the local TV stations beating up a young man in Turkana County. The man later on told the press that he was severely injured and cannot perform his manhood acts. He said during an interview by a TV station that a lady he had married ran away as he could not make her pregnant.

Police also violently cancelled a meeting of youths in a town 40 Kilometres from the capital City Nairobi when they tear-gassed the youths as they walked to Jumuiya place in Limuru where a national youth meeting had been organized to counter a tribal one earlier held bringing together communities from Gikuyu, Embu and Meru.

On Sunday Police who were fighting with thugs in a suburb in Nairobi known as Dandora killed three innocent people and injured two more. The six officers who were involved in the ugly incident were interdicted by the Police boss Mr. Mathew Iteere to allow for an investigation on the matter to be carried out.

On Tuesday, Police hurriedly arrested the former leader of the proscribed group Mungiki after he presented himself at the Kasarani Police station in Nairobi following a drama that occurred in his Church on Sunday where a man who identified himself as Njoroge Thuo went to his Church in Garden estate loaded with a pistol.

Thuo who claimed to have been taking a message to Njenga was alongside Police who came to investigate the matter at the Church roughed up and injured but when Njenga accompanied by his lawyer Paul Muite went to the station to record a statement he was arrested and taken to Nairobi law courts the same day without recording statement and even having his fingerprints taken which is a common practice in Kenya for people arrested to go through that system.

The Police were reprimanded by the Director of Public Prosecution Mr Keriako Tobiko on Wednesday for doing a shoddy work and Njenga alongside his four accused people were released on a personal bond of Shs 200 000 each.

Though when Saitoti emerged from the meeting flanked by the Police Commissioner Mr. Iteere claimed that they had discussed matters touching on national security ahead of the General Elections to be held on March 04. “We don`t want a scenario replicating the one which occurred in 2007 General elections to repeat itself in which we lost many people and properties destroyed. The other matters are private and I cannot disclose them here,” said Saitoti.

The Kenyan Police have also been ranked as among the most corrupt in the region and according to some of the Police that The London Evening Post talked to but who sought not to have their names disclosed for security reasons, attributed their negative behaviours to poor remuneration and social care as among reasons that drive them to this.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan wearing his traditional federa visits the bombed offices of This Day on Saturday with the newspaper owner (dressed in white).

The Commonwealth Journalists Association has issued a statement expressing outrage and concern over recent bomb attacks on the premises of a prominent Nigerian newspaper, This Day, and other media in both Abuja and Kaduna on 26 April 2012. In the statement, Rita Payne, the CJA President said: “We deplore the loss of life and consider any bid to silence important media voices in any country to be a blow struck against the universal values of democracy and freedom of expression of which the Commonwealth is a standard bearer.”

She went on to add: “We are particularly concerned as Nigeria is a major Commonwealth country with a dynamic and independent media, and we wish to do all we can to help combat any threat to that independence. It is a reminder that the media are in the front line of the battle to defend democracy.”

In the wake of last Thursday’s bombings of newspaper offices in Nigeria that killed at least nine people and injured many others, President Goodluck Jonathan assured Nigerians on Saturday that his government was on high alert.  Boko Haram, an Islamist sect that has carried out several bombings in Nigeria including that of churches, claimed responsibility for the attack saying it was in retaliation against news media for reporting what it claimed were ‘false statements’ about the group’s activities and goals. At least nine people are said to have lost their lives during the attack on the newspapers offices.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday visited the bombed-out Abuja offices of This Day. He told journalists that the bombings in the capital and in the northern city of Kaduna were attacks on the “whole world.” Boko Haram says the media has blamed it for kidnappings for which they claimed no responsibility and that English translators wildly misquoted their most recent video.  The spokesperson, who identified himself as Abul Qaqa, also blamed the media for reporting that he had been captured, when, in fact, he remains at his post.

President Jonathan urged Nigerians to stand together, despite their long history of sectarian and religious divisions. “We all, as Nigerians, no matter what we do and where we come from, must join hands in fighting this terror.  And I can assure you that we’ll get over it,” he said. Jonathan went on to say that the country is pouring every possible resource into fighting Boko Haram, which has been blamed for hundreds of deaths this year alone.  Human Rights Watch says the more than 1,000 people since it began violent operations in 2009.

 Last month, Nigerian government talks with Boko Haram collapsed over what the group called a government leak to the media.  President Jonathan on Saturday did not rule out further attempts to negotiate with the group. “You may dialogue [or] you may not dialogue, depending on the circumstances.  But we will exploit our every means possible to bring this to an end,” he said.

Ugandan politicians both in the ruling NRM party and in the opposition parties have been so creative in finding possible ways to mount pressure on Museveni to leave office but he has always been so quick to silence them with strong words of persistence.

There have been moves to unseat President Museveni from all corners, but all seems to be failing. A recent move led by a populist Member of Parliament John Ken Lukyamuzi to impeach Museveni, quickly gained popularity but failed to get enough support among parliamentarians and vanished in less than a month.  Now, even the new move of term limits restoration which has been selling on all Medias in Uganda, also seems to be fading out after the president this week dismissed any further discussion about it saying it is unnecessary to debate on it since he still have five more years to rule.

Museveni, like his late Comrade former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who was killed last year by Libyan rebels backed by NATO forces, has been so quick to respond to whosoever wants him to leave power. The way the president talks when it comes to  issues of leaving power, shows straight away that he is not willing to hand over power to anyone until he dies.  Just like Gaddafi who came to power at the age of 27 in Libya in 1969 after overthrowing the king who was in Turkey for medical treatment and ruled the country as a dictator until last year when he was killed. The political characteristics Museveni has nowadays, resembles those of the late Gaddafi.

It is reported that in May 2001 when Gaddafi visited Uganda, he encouraged Uganda’s President Museveni not to retire in 2006 reportedly telling him: “Revolutionaries do not retire or resign”, and also asked Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) to allow Museveni to rule for “as long as possible” stating “Revolutionary leaders should not have expiry dates, like tinned drinks. My brother Museveni was born a revolutionary. He should continue for as long as he has the ability to do so.” It is coming to be true that seemingly Museveni took this wrong advice and he seems to be clinging onto power.

The removal of the two-term limit imposed by the 1995 Ugandan constitution in July 2005 is truly evident that President Museveni wants to rule until he dies. A long-term friend of Gaddafi, the two fell apart when Museveni failed to support his proposal of forming a United States of Africa (USA). According to Wiki Leaks, Museveni is reported to have said Gaddafi is a problem for Africa because he wanted to push for an Arab/Islamic agenda.

The recent response Museveni  made during his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party’s National Executive Committee meeting when NRM vice-chairperson for Kampala, Capt. Francis Babu, requested that the delegates also discuss the issue of term limits since it had started gaining  momentum, just adds on already dismissed discussions on his leaving power. After the two core men of the ruling NRM party, Museveni and Party Secretary General Amama Mbabazi’s presentations during the meeting at state House, a National Executive committee member, Capt. Francis Babu, not knowing that talking about presidential term limits before Museveni is a “Taboo”, reportedly attempted to bring up the issue of discussing restoration of presidential term limits but President Museveni ruled the issue as out of order.

The president is reported to have said discussions about presidential term limits should be put to rest because in case he dies, the Vice President Edward Ssekandi takes over under the Constitution. It is true, that is what the Ugandan constitution states under Article 109 but who knows when President Museveni will die? Adding to that, Central Executive Committee (CEC), NRM’s top-most organ, also stopped party lawmakers from public debate of the proposal to restore term limits.

President Museveni’s negative reactions to those who want him to leave power, just follows the previous ones. Last year, President Museveni said during a burial of Prof Dani Wadada Nabudere from Eastern Uganda that those who are making noise for regime change, will not see change, he is still around, possibly even after 2016 when the next presidential elections are underway. “I heard my young daughter (Alice Alaso) saying that she is waiting for change. You must wait for 2016, and even then, there is no certainty that change will come,” Museveni said.

His Press Secretary Tamale Mirundi also said those who want Museveni gone are merely afraid to compete with him. “What they are saying is that they want to give the president 10 years,” Mirundi said. “He needs more time … This is not the most important issue at the moment. What does it solve to remove term limits?” he said basing on the term limits restoration.

Museveni removed the two-term limit in 2005, a year before he sought his third term. He said the limits were an obstacle to democracy since he was still popular among Ugandans. A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms  an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method to curb the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes “president for life“.

Zambian President Michael Sata meets his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe in Livingstone.

Zambia and Zimbabwe have agreed to construct a US$4 billion 1, 650 megawatt hydro-power station at the Batoka Gorge in order to increase power generation by the two countries.

Zambian president Michael Sata who is on a State visit to Zimbabwe witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understand (MoU) together with his counterpart Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe yesterday. The two countries also signed another MoU on Co-operation in Tourism and Youth Development. Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi and Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere signed on behalf of Zimbabwe while Zambian Foreign Affairs and Tourism Minister Given Lubinda signed on behalf of Zambia.

According to a report in the State-owned Zimbabwe’s Herald Newspaper, Mugabe pledged Zimbabwe’s commitment to working with its Zambian counterparts in efforts to chart a successful future for the two countries. He was speaking at a state banquette held in honour of Sata. Mugabe described Zimbabwe and Zambia as ‘Siamese twins’, adding that the two countries are inseparable.

The Zimbabwean leader is also said to have hailed the signing of the MOU on co-operation to jointly construct a US$4 billion hydro-power station at Batoka Gorge along the Zambezi River, stating that such infrastructural projects are the enablers of real and sustainable economic development. Mugabe said the project is as important to the two countries as it is to the whole Southern Africa region which is experiencing a critical power deficit.
And Sata said Zambia and Zimbabwe’s relations, dating back to the pre-independence era, were founded on common traditions and cultural values.

Sata said the signing of the two MoU’s by the two governments would further enhance social and economic relations. Sata is said to have re-affirmed Zambia’s commitment to strengthening bilateral relations through increased economic co-operation in various areas, as identified by the Joint Permanent Commission of Co-operation. The President Sata said since the two countries are landlocked, Zambia and Zimbabwe have made strides to make them land-linked through the Chirundu One-Stop-Border Post. He said this had improved efforts towards trade facilitation particularly on the North-South Corridor and reducing costs on the route. Sata said co-operation within the region was imperative.

After flying to Livingstome for the meeting on a Zambian Airforce flight, Sata amazed many when he declined official limousine transport and demanded he be ferried in a ‘matatu’ (minibus). While President Mugabe arrived in a convoy of several armoured cars, Sata said he had promised to keep money into the pockets of his people so would travel as they (the citizens) often do, by public means.

Former Mungiki leader Mr.Maina Njenga and his personal Assistant Mr.James Mwangi holding a briefcase arrive at the Kasarani Police station where they recorded a statement before they were arraigned in court charged with nine counts. (Photo by Collins Wanzala)

Former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga was on Tuesday charged in a Nairobi court with robbery with violence alongside four others among them his personal assistant Mr. Francis Mwangi. They were accused of violently robbing personal effects and guns from police officers, all valued at over Ksh522.

They five were arrested at the Kasarani Police Station where they had been summoned for questioning over the chaos that rocked his church over the weekend. They were arraigned before the Nairobi Chief magistrate Elijah Obaga and charged with nine counts including five counts of robbery with violence that carries a death sentence.

The former Mungiki leader, now turned bishop of the Hope International Ministry Church, was escorted to court under heavy security where he denied the charges including illegal confinement of police officers Dalmas Mutuku Muthoka and Gregory Mutisya and malicious damage to property valued at 7.4 million shillings.

The prosecutor applied for seven days within which to reply to an application of a bond that had been made by a team of lawyers led by Senior Counsel Paul Muite. However, the magistrate ordered the prosecutor Brigid Kanyari to respond to the bail application by this week. Muite said it was unconstitutional for the police to arrest an innocent person who had volunteered to record a statement and rush him to court even before completing their investigations.

Three police officers were injured and lost a gun during the Sunday incident in which they were beaten up by worshippers at Njenga`s Church in Garden Estate after they came to investigate an incident in which a man who claimed to be a close ally of Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta entered the Church compound claiming to be having a special message to deliver to Njenga.

The worshippers mainly the youths claimed that the Police who were in plain clothes and armed were on a mission to assassinate Njenga while the Police claimed that they were responding to a distress call.