By Horand Knaup – Shortly before elections in Rwanda, once a model country in Africa, the opposition is being harassed and regime critics are being arrested or killed. Despite his success in turning the country around, President Paul Kagame has never had high regard for freedom of expression and human rights. The gesture was clear and the message unambiguous. Rwandan President Paul Kagame had hardly arrived in the Spanish capital Madrid when he realized that his host was unwilling to shake his hand. The recent United Nations conference that the president was supposed to chair together with Spanish Prime Minister... Continue Reading
Shout-Africa News – The publication of an exclusive story “Bona Mugabe Raped by Tanzanian Students,” written by The African Aristocrat, and replicated by several international news-sites, has stirred up a hornet’s nest, with The Straits Times demanding all news-sites to ‘immediately withdraw any reference’ to them. The African Aristocrat, in the interest of full disclousure, has since published demands for a retraction by the Strait Times. The Singapore based publication has denied any involvement in the Bona case and has demanded that any reference to their paper be pulled from all news websites that carried the story. The Aristocrats source,... Continue Reading
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s former national police chief has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of corruption this Tuesday. A judge presiding over the case said the controversial Selebi was an embarrassment to the crime-plagued country and the police officers who had served under him. Jackie Selebi, 60, was convicted in July after several months of testimony about his lavish designer shopping sprees with a convicted drug smuggler. The case against Selebi, a one-time president of Interpol, has been a chief exhibit in a national debate over whether corruption and political meddling are undermining South Africa’s fight... Continue Reading
JOHANNESBURG – The IFP has welcomed the South Gauteng High Court’s decision today to sentence the former South African police chief and Interpol head, Jackie Selebi, to a 15-year jail term for corruption. “While the IFP welcomes today’s sentencing, we believe that Mr Selebi’s sentence is too lenient and he deserved a lengthier jail term. He was not only an embarrassment to the SAPS but to the country’s image abroad because of his involvement with Interpol,” said Velaphi Ndlovu, the IFP’s spokesperson on Police today. Ndlovu said that Selebi’s actions had tarnished the police force’s image and diminished the public’s... Continue Reading
KAMPALA – The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) together with its Sudanese member organizations, the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) and the Sudan Human Rights Monitor (SUHRIM), said thy deeply regret the refusal of the African Union (AU) to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), as expressed at the 15th Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Kampala, Uganda, from 15 to 27 July 2010. The AU reiterated its call for the prosecution of Sudanese President Omar El Bashir to be deferred, as well as for Article 16 of the Rome Statute to... Continue Reading
