Day: July 12, 2021

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South African Court Hears Appeal from Jailed Ex-President Zuma Amid Violent Protests

A South African court Monday began hearing an appeal launched by former President Jacob Zuma on his lengthy prison sentence in the wake of violent protests against his imprisonment.

According to Reuters, Zuma’s lawyers asked the court to release the 79-year-old Zuma partly on the grounds that the Constitutional Court improperly imposed the sentence in his absence.

Zuma reported to a prison facility in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal last week to begin serving a 15-month sentence on contempt of court charges after he failed to testify before a special inquiry looking into wide-ranging allegations of official corruption during his nine years in office, which ended in 2018.

His lawyers are also arguing that he will be at risk of catching COVID-19 while imprisoned.

Zuma has denied the allegation and refused to participate in the inquiry that began during his final weeks in office.

Protests spread from KwaZulu-Natal into the country’s main economic hub of Johannesburg Sunday, with several shops looted and a section of the major M2 highway closed as some protests turned violent. Reuters says television footage showed a mall ablaze in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal.

Police say 62 people have been arrested in connection with riots since Zuma was imprisoned.

The body of a 40-year-old man has been recovered from one of the shops that was set on fire over the weekend, according to police.

President Cyril Ramaphosa called for calm Sunday, urging protesters to demonstrate peacefully.

“People have been intimidated and threatened, and some have even been hurt,” Ramaphosa said.

Zuma, a prominent anti-apartheid fighter, remains popular despite the allegations of corruption.

Source: Voice of America

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49 Killed in Niger Armed Attack

Five civilians, four soldiers and 40 armed attackers were killed Sunday in a clash in Niger’s restive southwest region near the border with Mali, the government said.

Around 100 heavily armed “terrorists” riding motorcycles attacked the Tchoma Bangou village, striking around 3 p.m. Sunday, Niger’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement read on public television that did not identify who it suspected was behind the latest deadly incident.

The “prompt and vigorous reaction” by the Defense and Security Forces “made it possible to repel the attack and inflict heavy losses on the enemy,” the ministry said, adding that its soldiers had seized motorcycles and a cache of weapons, including AK47s and machine guns, from the assailants.

Tchoma Bangou is located in the Tillaberi region, bordering Mali and Burkina Faso, an area known as “the three borders” that has been regularly targeted by jihadist groups.

Tillaberi has been under a state of emergency since 2017. The authorities have banned motorbike traffic night and day for a year and ordered the closure of certain markets suspected of supplying “terrorists.”

One of the poorest countries in the world, Niger has for years battled jihadist insurgencies on its southwestern flank with Mali, as well as Boko Haram on its southeastern border with Nigeria. The repeated attacks have claimed hundreds of lives and forced thousands to flee their homes.

In January, 70 civilians were killed by gunmen in Tchoma Bangou and 30 in the neighboring village of Zaroumadareye.

Last month, 19 people were killed in villages in the same commune, according to officials.

According to United Nations estimates, there are more than 300,000 internally displaced people in Niger, many of whom fled terrorist violence that has escalated since 2015.

Source: Voice of America