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
Egypt has launched a search operation in the Sinai Peninsul after the firing of rockets that have reached the territories of Israel and Jordan on Monday, an Egyptian security official said Tuesday. The source claimed the move was in response to Jordanian declarations of holding proof the rocket fire was performed from the Sinai Peninsula. Nevertheless, he reiterated the Egyptian stance according to which there were no terrorist cells working in Sinai due to the high level of security in the area.
SABOTI, 30 July 2010 (IRIN) – With only days to the constitutional referendum in Kenya, the issue of land – ownership, quantity and usage – remains the most controversial, with proponents and opponents suggesting different interpretations of land rights detailed in the draft. “For us who have lived on government trust land all our lives, the same way our fathers and grandfathers did, some of us hope the draft will help us claim what is rightfully ours,” Daniel Sambrumo, chairman of a group of 2,750 people evicted from a nearby forest in Trans Nzoia West District in western Kenya, told... Continue Reading
By Ron Muvevererwa – The historic outreach constitution consultation process began across the country’s provinces a few weeks ago. It marks the first crucial first step of gathering people’s inputs on the various thematic areas set by the COPAC team towards the shaping of the supreme law in the land. What makes the entire process special is the fact that, it’s the first time that the people of Zimbabwe have been accorded a chance to write a home grown constitution since attaining independence from the British colonial rule in 1980. After attaining the country adopted the oppressive Lancaster house constitution... Continue Reading
The Freedom House has urged member states of the African Union (AU), as they met this week in Kumpala, Uganda, to make the deepening of democratic development in the African region a top priority. Despite an overall increase in the number of elections occurring in Africa, the region suffered the largest setback in Freedom in the World 2010, Freedom House’s annual global analysis of political rights and civil liberties, with 16 countries registering declines and only 4 securing gains. In addition to seriously flawed elections in Sudan and Ethiopia, the region saw increased crackdowns on freedom of expression and association,... Continue Reading
