Category: General

Three people were shot dead by security forces during Saturday demonstrations against a military coup in Sudan.

The Sudan Doctors Committee had initially reported two protesters were shot and killed, but confirmed that a third person died when security forces fired into crowds in Omdurman, Khartoum’s sister city.

Twelve people have been killed in demonstrations since the military seized power and deposed the prime minister on Monday.

Saturday’s demonstrations have drawn hundreds of thousands of people in the capital, Khartoum, as well as major cities throughout the country.

Protests began Monday, when General Abdel-Fattah Burhan declared a state of emergency and announced the dissolution of a landmark transitional government established in 2019. But Saturday’s “March of Millions” is expected to be the largest coordinated demonstration yet.

Images and video footage from Khartoum and other cities throughout the country show crowds carrying Sudanese flags and banners denouncing the military government. Chants and songs that were sung in 2019 when protesters demanded the ouster of dictator Omar al-Bashir have been revived in this week’s protests as well.

“I see people everywhere, from each direction, thousands of young people, women, old men, children, everyone,” Walaa Salah, an activist in Khartoum, told VOA’s English to Africa.

"Khartoum, the entire city, is outside protesting, calling for the fall of the military rule, calling for the fall of the coup, calling for the end of this partnership,” she said. “People are chanting against the military.”

Witnesses reported heavy military security in Khartoum, especially by the Rapid Special Forces, notoriously for fatally shooting dozens of protesters in 2019.

Earlier this week, security forces killed at least nine people by gunfire and wounded at least 170 others during the protests, according to the Sudan Doctors' Committee. Experts and demonstrators had expressed concern that Saturday’s protests could be violent.

Despite mobile internet and some WIFI being blocked throughout the country, organizers were able to coordinate demonstrations. Netblocks, which monitors internet cuts around the world, has reported that with the exception of one four-hour window, mobile internet has been cut throughout Sudan since Tuesday’s military takeover.

“We can't call or text. We have no idea what's going on, on the other side of the city,” Salah said.

Volker Perthes, the special representative of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, said in a statement Friday that he “remains in constant contact with all sides to facilitate a political solution in line with the Constitutional Document. UNITAMS (the U.N. Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan) is actively coordinating with mediation efforts currently underway to facilitate an inclusive dialogue, which remains the only path toward a peaceful solution to the current crisis.”

The United States had urged the military leaders of Monday’s coup to refrain from "any and all violence" against peaceful protesters.

The appeal to Sudan's military leaders came from a senior U.S. State Department official who was briefing reporters on condition of anonymity.

Saturday will be “a real indication of what the military intentions are," the official had said.

The military takeover occurred after weeks of escalating tensions between military and civilian leaders over Sudan's transition to democracy. The coup threatens to derail the process, which has slowly progressed since the army ousted longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir, ending a popular uprising in 2019.

But even after the landmark power-sharing agreement in August of 2019, in which now-deposed Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok was named the country’s leader, protests have continued. Demonstrators, who often used the word “Medaniya,” or civilian, to call for a civilian government, opposed any military control in the transitional government.

Burhan said Tuesday the army's overthrow of the country's transitional government was necessary to avoid a civil war.

Source: Voice of America

A Chinese national has filed a challenge at the Malawi High Court against a 14-year jail sentence, which a lower court gave him last month after he was convicted of three wildlife crimes.

Lin Yunhua is allegedly a leader of an African wildlife trafficking syndicate known as the Lin-Zhang gang, named after the husband-and-wife leaders. It has operated out of Malawi for at least a decade.

Malawi authorities arrested Lin in August 2019 following a three-month manhunt. Police said he was found with the horns of five rhinos chopped into 103 pieces.

Last month, the magistrate’s court in the capital, Lilongwe, handed down the prison sentence.

Chrispine Ndalama, Lin's attorney, said, "I can simply say that we have filed the notice of appeal, but we are still consulting with our client on how to move forward. But we haven’t yet filed any documentation; we just filed the notice of appeal, because you need to appeal within the period of 30 days after the judgment has been delivered.”

Ndalama said the appeal asks the court to reduce the 14-year sentence on the ground that Lin was a first-time offender, among other reasons.

In all, Malawian authorities have sent 14 people to prison in connection with the trafficking syndicate, including Lin’s wife and son-in-law.

Lin’s daughter was also arrested in December 2020 for alleged money laundering offenses. Her case is ongoing.

Sentence lauded

Wildlife campaigners have commended Lin’s sentence, saying it would help deter other would-be wildlife traffickers from committing similar crimes.

Mary Rice, executive director of the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency, an organization campaigning against environmental crimes and abuse, said the 14-year sentence was appropriate.

“I think to be honest the sentence is fair and commensurate with all charges filed against him," Rice said. "So I am sure the prosecution will counter the appeal, and I guess the case rumbles on.”

Brighton Kumchedwa, director of Malawi’s Department of National Parks & Wildlife, said the government was ready to face Lin again in court.

“In the first place, it is his right to appeal," Kumchedwa said, "but yeah, we are very ready for him, just as we did in a lower court. It is our hope and prayer that probably [we will] come be back victorious.”

Kumchedwa said the country is now experiencing a decline in wildlife trafficking.

“I think following the hefty sentences that are coming from the courts, we are seeing a reduction indeed of these cases related to ivory trafficking," Kumchedwa said. "I don’t have a figure on top of my head, but suffice to say that there is a decline.”

The High Court has yet to set a date to hear Lin’s appeal.

Source: Voice of America

A court in Zimbabwe Friday ordered the release of about 40 veterans of the nation’s 1970s independence war, four days after they tried to petition President Emmerson Mnangagwa about their low monthly pension.

Their lawyers accuse the government of infringing on citizens’ right to demonstrate, particularly those who opposed President Mnangagwa’s rule.

War veterans chatted outside the courtroom Friday after Magistrate Barbra Mateko ordered their release on about $40 bail. They were arrested Monday while trying to go to Mnangagwa’s office to ask for a review of their less than $100 monthly pension.

Paidamoyo Saurombe, from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, spoke to VOA after he secured the war veterans’ release on bail.

“It’s not a crime to demonstrate in Zimbabwe, it’s not a crime to petition. It’s actually provided for by the constitution," Saurombe said. "So in anything that has to be done, it has to be done in those ambits of the constitution or in those constitutional provisions. And our clients were following constitutional provisions, so to say they committed a crime it would rather be absurd.”

The veterans are expected to go on trial next month. The offense of “breaching the peace,” which they face, has an option of a fine if they are convicted.

Addressing senior members of the ruling ZANU-PF party Friday in Bindura, about 80 kilometers north of Harare, President Mnangagwa said the war veterans had broken protocol.

“Various initiatives have been implemented to improve the dignity, welfare and economic empowerment of veterans of the liberation struggle and dependence of the heroes," Mnangagwa said. "But I urge the war veterans to use procedures in the party, not outside the party.Their rich ideological grounding should galvanize the principle of patriotism in the hearts and minds of cadres and embolden them in their efforts to ensure that ZANU-PF remains the party of choice which wholeheartedly serves the people.”

At the court, one of the war veterans, who identified himself as Cde Tendai, said he was relieved his colleagues had been granted bail because some of them have chronic conditions.

“We were concerned by their health," Tendai said. "We feared that some of them may have died because most war veterans are stressed by so many things. We were surprised by their arrests. We were not violent, we respect the rule of law and our government. The only issue was: we want to petition since we are getting very little money considering how life is difficult.”

Zimbabwe’s war of liberation from the white minority-led rule of Ian Smith lasted for 16 years, from 1964 to 1980.The government still pays monthly pensions to about 30,000 veterans of the war.

Source: Voice of America

In a year of coups and attempted coups, Sudan is the latest country to see a military takeover. Thousands of protesters demonstrated in the streets following Lt. General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan’s announcement Monday that Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other officials of the formerly ruling Sovereign Council had been arrested and a state of emergency declared. Latest on the situation here:

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News in brief

The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran said Monday the death penalty continues “to be implemented at an alarming rate” in that country. Javaid Rehman told the U.N. General Assembly committee that deals with human rights issues that Tehran executed more than 250 people last year, and more than 230 so far this year. “I urge the government to initiate reforms in this area, starting most urgently with a moratorium on the death penalty against child offenders,” he said.

The United Nations said Wednesday that worldwide, 28 of its civilian staff died in 2020 and the first half of 2021 because of “acts of violence and safety-related incidents.” There also was an alarming rise in the number of staff who were abducted – 17 in 2020 – compared with six in 2019.

Good news:

Thousands of refugees return home:

The U.N. refugee agency reports it has restarted a voluntary repatriation operation for thousands of refugees from the Central African Republic who were living in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Quote of note:

“Many of the women I have spoken to as I have been out across the country in Mazar, Herat, areas of Kabul, tell me they haven’t eaten in days as they spare what they have for their children. I had women falling at my feet crying for food.” Mary-Ellen McGroarty, World Food Program Representative and Country Director in Afghanistan, to reporters Tuesday on the severe hunger conditions affecting millions in that country.

What we are watching next week:

An important report from the U.N. Human Rights Office and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on their joint investigation into alleged human rights violations committed by all parties in the conflict in the northern Tigray region will be launched Wednesday by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

The COP26 climate summit gets underway Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland. The U.N. secretary-general says it may be the last chance for leaders to make ambitious and meaningful commitments to lower carbon emissions in order to keep global warming this century to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Did you know?

The United Nations loves acronyms. COP stands for “Conference of the Parties.” The Glasgow meeting on climate is the 26th session, hence COP26. There is another COP on biodiversity, which takes place every two years — COP15 — which met this month in China. And next year, there will be a COP on desertification, which – this is where it gets tricky – also will be a COP15.

Source: Voice of America

The Sudanese general who seized power in a coup this week said the military he heads will appoint a technocrat prime minister to rule alongside it within a week.

In an interview with Russia's state-owned Sputnik news agency published Friday, Abdel-Fattah Burhan said the new premier will form a cabinet that will share leadership of the country with the armed forces.

"We have a patriotic duty to lead the people and help them in the transition period until elections are held," Burhan said in the interview.

On Monday, Burhan dissolved the transitional government and detained Prime Minister Abddalla Hamdok, many government officials and political leaders in a coup condemned by the U.S. and the West. The military allowed Hamdok to return home under guard the following day after international pressure.

The generals have not yet produced a list of candidates for the premiership, Burhan said. The decision to appoint such a premier follows earlier calls by the generals for a nonpartisan technocrat Cabinet.

The military takeover came after weeks of mounting tensions between military and civilian leaders over the course and pace of Sudan's transition to democracy. It threatened to derail that process, which has progressed in fits and starts since the overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising two years ago.

Burhan has said military forces were compelled to take over because of quarrels between political parties that he claimed could lead to civil war. However, the coup also comes just weeks before Burhan would have had to hand over the leadership of the Sovereign Council, the ultimate decision-maker in Sudan, to a civilian, in a step that would reduce the military's hold on the country.

The coup has elicited a storm of street protests demanding the restoration of a civilian government. At least nine people have been killed by security forces' gunfire, according to the Sudan Doctors' Committee and activists. At least 170 others were wounded, according to the UN. Pro-democracy activist groups have called for `million-person' marches on Saturday to bring the coup to a halt.

Burhan said earlier this week that he had installed himself as head of a military council that will rule Sudan until elections in July 2023.

Source: Voice of America