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Former police constable due to appear before court for murder of his girlfriend

NELSPRUIT – A 27-year-old former police Constable is expected to appear before the Standerton Magistrate’s Court tomorrow, Monday 07 June 2021, on allegations that he killed his 3-year-old girlfriend. The incident occurred at Sakhile near Standerton today.

The suspect stabbed his girlfriend several times at his place of residence then took the victim’s vehicle and went to inform police about what he did. He then led them together with the medical team to his house and upon arrival, a lifeless body of the woman was found in a pool of blood with visible stab wounds. Police opened a murder case and immediately arrested the suspect hence his court appearance.

Police also confiscated a sharp object at the scene which will form part of the investigation.

The Acting Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Major General Thulani Phahla has strongly condemned the incident and called on men to stop Gender-Based-Violence. “Women should be protected by men and not suffer senseless violence. We believe that justice will be served for this victim and her family. “concluded General Phahla.

Source: South African Police Service

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Armed Attackers Kill 132 Civilians in Burkina Faso Village Raid

OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO – The death toll from the worst militant attack in Burkina Faso in recent years has risen to 132, the government said Saturday, after armed assailants laid siege overnight to a village in the Islamist extremist-plagued northeast.

The attackers struck during the night Friday, killing residents of the village of Solhan in Yagha province, bordering Niger. They also burned homes and the market, the government said in a statement.

It declared a 72-hour period of national mourning, describing the attackers as terrorists, although no group has claimed responsibility. Another 40 residents were wounded, government spokesperson Ousseni Tamboura later told reporters.

Attacks by Islamist extremists linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State in West Africa’s Sahel region have risen sharply since the start of the year, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, with civilians bearing the brunt.

The violence in Burkina Faso has displaced more than 1.14 million people in just more than two years, while the poor, arid country is hosting 20,000 refugees from neighboring Mali.

The latest attack pushed the number killed by armed Islamists in the Sahel region to more than 500 since January, according to Human Rights Watch’s West Africa director, Corinne Dufka.

“The dynamic is the jihadists come in, they overpower the civil defense post and engage in collective punishment against the rest of the village — it’s a pattern we’ve seen everywhere this year,” Dufka said.

In March, attackers killed 137 people in coordinated raids on villages in southwestern Niger.

Source: Voice of America

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Sudan Rally Shows Lingering Anger Over 2019 Massacre

KHARTOUM – Thousands of protesters in Sudan’s capital demanded justice from the government this week over a 2019 massacre in Khartoum in which more than 100 people died.

The protesters Thursday called for the government to hold the Rapid Support Forces, a security unit, accountable for violently suppressing sit-in protests two years ago.

On Wednesday night, Sudan’s military began restricting access to the area surrounding the military headquarters where the killings took place.

In a press release addressing the anniversary, the prime minister of Sudan, Abdalla Hamdok, described what he called a complicated relationship with the country’s various security agencies, which the constitution says are under the authority of his military counterpart.

Hamdok said this relationship had delayed the investigation and the government was holding talks to fix this relationship.

Political analyst Shawgi Abdulazeem said the absence of justice in the sit-in dispersal was increasing tension.

Activists have shared videos from the June 2019 attack that show heavily armed security convoys near the protester encampments.

Qatar-based political analyst Abbas Mohamed said he thought the accusations might threaten the country’s fragile transition to democracy.

Mohamed said demands of the massacre victims’ relatives remained linked with political agendas. He noted that their protests were aimed at the Rapid Support Forces alone, not other uniformed forces such as the military and other security forces that should also be under investigation.

Surfaced under Bashir

The controversial Rapid Support Forces surfaced during the Darfur war in 2003 under former dictator Omar al-Bashir. The forces grew larger over the years, participating in the Yemen war on behalf of Saudi Arabia, and they were allegedly involved in Libya’s war.

After Bashir was ousted from Sudan in 2019, the top leaders of Rapid Support Forces reached a power-sharing agreement with military and civilian lawmakers.

In March 2021, Human Rights Watch alleged that the Rapid Support Forces had committed many abuses, and it urged the transitional government to address the unit’s growing power.

The United States also called on Sudan to bring all the militias and armed entities into one army controlled by a civilian-led government.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese public prosecutor resigned in May without explanation.

Sudan’s prime minister has asked the official tasked with investigating the 2019 killings to set a deadline for releasing the findings. Protesters say they will escalate their rallies if the government further delays the results of the investigation.

Source: Voice of America

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Nigeria Suspends Twitter Over President’s Deleted Tweet

LAGOS, NIGERIA – Nigeria’s government said Friday it was suspending Twitter indefinitely in Africa’s most populous nation, a day after the company deleted a controversial tweet President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement.

It was not immediately clear when the suspension would go into effect as users could still access Twitter late Friday, and many said they would simply use VPNs to maintain access to the platform.

Others mocked the government for using the platform to announce the action.

“You’re using Twitter to suspend Twitter? Are you not mad?” one user tweeted in response.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said Friday that government officials took the step because the platform was being used “for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

Mohammed criticized Twitter for deleting the post. “The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious,” he said, adding that Twitter had in the past ignored “inciting” tweets against the Nigerian government.

Twitter deleted Buhari’s post on Wednesday, calling it abusive, after the president threatened suspected separatist militants in the southeast.

More than 1 million people died during the 1967-70 civil war that erupted when secessionists sought to create an independent Biafra for the ethnic Igbo people. Buhari, an ethnic Fulani, was on the opposing side in the war against the Igbos.

In recent months, pro-Biafra separatists have been accused of attacking police and government buildings, and Buhari vowed to retaliate and “treat them in the language they understand.”

Source: Voice of America

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Police appeal for information to locate a missing man aged 20

RITAVI – The South African Police Service in Ritavi outside Tzaneen are investigating a case of a missing person following the disappearance of a 20-year-old man, Nhlamulo Mathebula from Dan village.

The victim is reportedly mentally disabled and was last seen on 17 May 2021 when he left home without informing anyone about his destination.

The type of clothes he was wearing are unknown.

Police are appealing to anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact the investigating officer Detective Constable Amukelani Rikhotso at 0787917969 or the Crime Stop number 0860010111 or the nearest Police station or MySAPSApp.

Police search operation and investigations are still continuing

Source: South African Police Service

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Cameroon Battles Vaccine Hesitancy as Only 11% of Jabs Used

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON – Authorities in Cameroon are battling vaccine hesitancy with only eleven percent of doses received since April dispensed, most of them due to travel requirements. Cameroon’s government and clergy have been struggling to get the public to accept that the vaccines are safe.

A group of 70 Cameroonian Muslims gathered at the Djoungolo government hospital in Yaoundé Friday to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Coordinator of the Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries of Cameroon, Moussa Oumarou says vaccine hesitancy meant he had to convince the group.

He says Cameroon’s government asked the clergy to convince their followers that the vaccines could save their lives.

Oumarou says every religion that puts God first seeks to protect human lives. He says it is both a divine and civic obligation to protect lives by accepting to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Oumarou says the council has asked all Imams and Muslim dignitaries in Cameroon to accept to be vaccinated and to encourage all their faithful to be vaccinated.

Cameroon health officials say only 75,000 people have been inoculated since April, when the government received 700,000 doses.

And most of the doses administered, say officials, went to people who were planning to travel outside of Cameroon, including expatriates.

37-year-old college teacher in Yaoundé Rigobert Fonbanla says many Cameroonians don’t trust authorities’ urging the jab after a COVID funds scandal and seizure of fakes.

“The same government that is asking people to accept to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is the same government that is investigating the authenticity and origin of the coronavirus vaccines,” said Fonbanla. “There is a possibility that corrupt government officials may have imported fake COVID-19 vaccines or produced dubious COVID-19 vaccines. I will wait for investigations announced by the government to be complete before I can decide whether I will be vaccinated or not.”

Most of a $335 million International Monetary Fund loan to Cameroon to fight COVID disappeared.

Last week at least 15 ministers were called up at the supreme state audit office to justify their management of the funds.

In December, Cameroon announced that its military seized several tons of fake COVID drugs and vaccines from neighboring Nigeria, raising fears that other fakes might be in circulation.

Cameroon’s Health Minister Manaouda Malachie says the COVID vaccines being used are good quality and recommended by the World Health Organization.

He says the vaccines are not obligatory but will be administered freely to all civilians who want to save their lives from the deadly coronavirus. Malachie says Cameroon’s President Paul Biya is very keen to have transparency on all COVID-19 vaccination procedures. He says the state of Cameroon cannot joke with the lives of its citizens.

To encourage Cameroonians to get the jab, hospitals in the northwest region in April said they would wave a usual $2 consultation fee.

In May, Cameroon’s government instructed all its ministers and senior officials to be vaccinated in public.

Source: Voice of America