South Sudan: President Salva Kiir dismisses his entire cabinet
On Tuesday July 23, 2013 South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir issued a presidential decree removing all ministers and deputy ministers as well as the Vice-President Riek Machar. The government is now lead by under- secretaries until the new minister are appointed. Till now there have been no appointments to replace those dismissed.
In the notice of dismissal which was published on Wednesday, no reasons were given for this radical move.
However, analysts and observers see the dismissal as the intensification of the power struggle between the President Salva Kiir who is from the largest ethnic group in South Sudan (Dinka) and his Vice-President Riek Machar from the second largest group (Nuer).
Machar who had already been stripped of some of his powers in April this year had indicated that he may run for the leadership of the SPLM against Salva Kiir before the next presidential election in 2015.
South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July 2011 and its stability has been hindered by continuing conflicts over the territory. The cooperation between Kiir and Machar was an important factor for the stability in South Sudan.
Kenya: Three witnesses withdrawn their testimony in the ICC trial against President Uhuru Kenyatta
On Thursday July 18, 2013 the International Criminal Court (ICC) declared that three witnesses will not testify against President Uhuru Kenyatta in his trial at the ICC. Two witnesses (witness number 5 and witness number 426) have withdrawn their testimonies due to security concern and the third witness (witness number 334) was withdrawn by the prosecution.
Witnesses 5 declared that he felt circumstances had created an “insurmountable security risk” for him. ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a notice to the Trial Chamber V that after recent alleged attempts to ascertain the location of witness 5, his concern for his security have become too great for him to bear, and has decided to withdraw as a consequence.”
Chief Prosecutor Bensouda declared that the prosecution had held discussion with witness 426 to “determine whether any measures could be taken to mitigate his concern and secure his attendance at the trial”. But all theses attempts to persuade him to attend the trial were unsuccessful and he maintained that he was not willing to testify.
Furthermore the prosecution dropped a third witness saying that the evidence of witness number 334 is no longer necessary to prove the case. The prosecution decided in the interest of judicial economy to withdraw this witness.
Nonetheless, the trial against President Uhuru Kenyatta will start on November 12, 2013 and the prosecution said that they still plan to call 30 witnesses in this process.
Zimbabwe: The High Court accepted the special vote of the security forces
On Friday July 19, 2013 the High Court decided to accept the special vote of the security forces which took place on Sunday July 14, 2013 and Monday July 15, 2013. With this decision the High Court dismissed the application of the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to nullify this vote due to the alleged inflated number of police officers who were lined up to vote on Sunday and Monday.
The ballots of the security forces will be counted together with those that will be cast on the regular presidential election on July 31, 2013.
After the special vote was accepted by the Court, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) declared on Tuesday July 23, 2013 that they will request the Court to enable members of the security forces who failed to vote on Sunday or Monday to participate at the regular election on July 31, 2013. this is in spite of the provisions of the electoral law which states that “a voter who has been authorised to cast a special vote shall not be entitled to vote in any other manner than by casting a special vote in terms of this part”.