KENYA: Al Shabaab rebels threaten to kill Kenyan hostages
Somali insurgents, Al Shabaab, have demanded that Kenya release all Muslims held on terror charges within three weeks, failure to which they would kill the Kenyan hostages. On Wednesday 23rd January 2013, Al Shabaab tweeted a link to a video of two Kenyan civil servants, who were seized from the Kenya- Somali border about a year ago, telling the Kenyan government that their lives were in grave danger. The hostages were ambushed and captured in January 2012 when the militants crossed the border into Kenya and attacked an administration police post in Wajir, killing several police officers.
The militia group suspected to have close links with al Qaeda gave Kenya 3 weeks to release all Muslim prisoners held on "so-called terrorism charges in Kenya" and "secure the release of Muslims extradited to Uganda for terrorism charges". The video also contained a still photograph of four other Kenyan hostages who were not identified.
MALI: French and Malian troops advance northward
French and Malian troops continued to advance northeast on Tuesday 22nd January 2013, hours after seizing several central towns from rebels. Soldiers plan to move on the city of Hombori after seizing three strategic towns in central Mali. On Monday, troops seized control of Diabaly, Konna and Doutenza, three strategic towns in central Mali.
The joint mission involving French and African troops aims to regain control of northern Mali from al-Qaeda-linked forces who have controlled the region since early last year. Diabaly, 350km north of the capital Bamako, had harboured the main cluster of rebels south of the front line, until French air attacks forced them to flee or attempt to blend in with locals. France began its military offensive in Mali on January 11, and has said that African nations must take the lead. Britain and the United States have also expressed their commitment to giving more help to French forces.
Islamist fighters in Mali had seized the town of Diabaly, a government-controlled territory barely two days after the launch of the French military intervention. The rebel takeover in northern Mali has sparked a growing refugee crisis, with more than 7,000 people fleeing to neighbouring countries over just the past few weeks, according to the United Nations. Some 400,000 Malians have become refugees or internally displaced in the past year.
ERITREA: Calm returns to Eritrea after siege ends
Calm has been restored in Eritrea a day after armed mutineers seized Eritrea’s Information Ministry. A group of dissident Eritrean soldiers led by an army commander called Saleh Osman laid siege to the Information Ministry on Monday, forcing state media to announce a call for the release of political prisoners. The commander of about 200 rebel soldiers agreed to surrender after a negotiated settlement on “acceptable terms”. However, details of the agreement remain unclear.
The UN last year estimated that 5,000 to 10,000 political prisoners were being held in the country. President Issaias Afeworki has ruled the Horn of Africa nation from independence in 1993, following an epic 30-year liberation war with neighbouring Ethiopia. The UN Security Council imposed an embargo on Eritrea in 2009 over concerns that it was funding and arming the al-Shabab rebels in neighbouring Somalia – charges that Eritrea denied. These sanctions have had a negative impact on the economic performance of Eritrea and worsened relations between the government and soldiers.
LIBERIA: Liberia's Charles Taylor appeals war crimes sentence
Liberian warlord Charles Taylor on Tuesday 22nd January 2013, began his appeal against a 50-year prison sentence handed down by UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, headquartered in Leidschendam outside The Hague. Taylor was convicted of aiding and abetting terrorism, murder and rape, committed by the Revolutionary United Front, a rebel movement he helped to form and support, who waged a terror campaign during a civil war that claimed 120,000 lives between 1991 and 2001. Taylor's defence has filed 42 grounds of appeal, calling the trial chamber's decision a "miscarriage of justice", and asked appeals judges to reverse the conviction and quash the sentence. Taylor's lawyers say that many of the 94 prosecution witnesses who testified during Taylor's nearly four-year trial provided "uncorroborated hearsay evidence".
Appeals judges are expected to make a decision by September, with the Liberian ex-president remaining behind bars at the UN's detention unit in The Hague until appeals proceedings are finalised. If his appeal fails, Taylor will serve his sentence in a British jail.
Taylor’s conviction marked a significant milestone in international justice in the sense that he was convicted not for crimes committed in his own country, but for crimes of a rebel group he supported in another. It means that anybody fighting a proxy war has to be very careful that their proxies are not committing atrocities.
NIGERIA: Boko Haram militants suspected of deadly attacks in Nigeria
Suspected Islamists have been blamed for the deaths of at least 23 people in separate attacks in north-eastern Nigeria. On Monday, gunmen opened fire at a market in Damboa in Borno state, targeting hunters selling meat from animals such as monkeys and pigs. Strict Muslims are forbidden to eat this type of bush meat. According to a government official, gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram came to the town market and shot dead 13 local hunters on the spot while five others died from their injuries at the hospital.
Damboa is located near the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri, the stronghold of Boko Haram. And in a separate attack that took place barely a day after Monday’s attack, suspected Boko Haram members shot dead five people playing an outdoor board game in the north's biggest city of Kano, about 500km west of Damboa.
The militant group, founded in 2002, is fighting to impose a strict version of Sharia law in the northern part of the country. International rights group Human Rights Watch says Boko Haram has killed more than 2,800 people. In a report published late last year, Amnesty International condemned the increasingly brutal attacks carried out by Boko Haram since 2009.
Nigeria has almost equal numbers of Christian and Muslims, with the south predominantly Christian. Boko Haram and other Muslim groups say the north has been starved of resources and marginalized by the government of Jonathan, a Christian.
ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe likely to hold referendum ahead of elections
A breakthrough in crafting a new Zimbabwe constitution is in the offing as negotiators narrow down differences on sticky provisions. According to government officials, Zimbabwe is likely to hold a referendum on the new constitution in April ahead of the general elections. Crafting of the new constitution was meant to take 18 months but has dragged on over three years due to bickering among the three political parties spearheading the exercise. A new constitution must come before new elections in Zimbabwe, according to the Global Political Agreement (power-sharing pact) that created the coalition government.
President Mugabe had wanted the elections to be held in the last week of March 2013, as he recently told the High Court of Zimbabwe. Last December, the President warned that he may be forced to dissolve Parliament and pronounce an election date if the process remained deadlocked. However, Douglas Mwonzora, the co-chairman of the parliamentary committee that is rewriting the Constitution stated that progress had been made and the referendum is likely to be held ahead of the polls, preferably in March or April. According to him, there are clauses in the draft Constitution, which must be incorporated into the electoral law before the next elections if the new legislation is passed. The new Constitution is expected to provide the framework for holding free, fair and transparent elections as well as manage President Mugabe's succession.