Tunisian President Kais Saied has sacked the Defence minister Monday, a day after ousting the prime minister and suspending parliament, plunging the young democracy into constitutional crisis in the midst of a pandemic.
On Monday afternoon, the presidency announced the dismissals of Defence Minister Ibrahim Bartaji and Hasna Ben Slimane, the acting justice minister.
The president, who under the constitution controls the armed forces, warned his opponents against taking up arms, threatening that if anyone “fired a single bullet, government forces would respond with a rain of bullets.
Mechichi said he would hand power to the man chosen by the president, in his first comments since the shock move.
Saied declared on Sunday he had taken the necessary decisions to save Tunisia, the state and the Tunisian people, following street protests in multiple cities against the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic.
Street clashes erupted Monday outside the army-barricaded parliament, after Saied dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and ordered parliament closed for 30 days, a move the biggest political party Ennahdha decried as a “coup.
Elsewhere, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday spoke by telephone with the Tunisian president asking him to respect democracy and “maintain open dialogue with all political actors and the Tunisian people.
The Netherlands has extradited to Rwanda a 72-year-old suspect accused of complicity in the 1994 genocide.
Venant Rutunga was immediately taken into custody after he left a Dutch plane that arrived in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, on Monday night.
In a statement, Rwanda’s state prosecutor commended the Dutch authorities for “contributing to the global effort to fight impunity”.
Rutunga was arrested in the Netherlands in 2019 on an arrest warrant issued by Rwanda.
He fought against his extradition but lost the legal battle in May.
The authorities in Rwanda accuse Rutunga of orchestrating the killing of around 1,000 people from the Tutsi ethnic group when he served as a state agricultural officer in the southern part of the country.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s name was allegedly used in a botched deal which resulted in a Harare man losing US$488, 000.
According to a Zimbabwean news daily, a suspected fraudster, Eustine Charambira (33) appeared in court accused of duping a Harare man Erasmus Chimbumu of US$488, 000 in a mining chemical deal.
The accused is alleged to have told Chimbumu that she could only deliver after he gave her a deposit of US$1 million since the deal included the head of state Mnangagwa and some unnamed army generals who needed their part of the share.
The prosecutors initially consented to $50 000 but made a U-turn on its decision after establishing that Charambira had previous convictions for similar offences according to the Zimbabwean news daily.
It is alleged that last October, Charambira was approached by the complainant, who wanted to buy mining chemicals. This was after he was referred by one of his suppliers, Ragu Sivaragas.
Charambira told the complainant that, indeed, she had a company that imported the chemicals from the United Kingdom through Durban, South Africa, where they would collect them into the country.
It is alleged that the complainant told the accused person that he had only Zimbabwean dollars Charambira told him that her company only sold the chemicals in United States dollars.
Charambira allegedly phoned the complainant the next day and advised him to send the money in local currency to various bank accounts and suppliers, who would change the money into the US dollars at the black market rate.
A court in Tanzania has charged Freeman Mbowe, the leader of the main opposition party with terrorism-related offenses, following his arrest which has drawn international concern.
The charges come four months after Tanzania’s first female President Samia Suluhu Hassan took office following the sudden death in March of John Magufuli, under whose autocratic rule such clampdowns on the opposition were frequent.
The Chadema chairman was detained last week along with 15 other members of the party in a late-night crackdown government critics said bore the hallmarks of the oppressive rule of the country’s late leader.
Chadema said Mbowe had been charged in Kisutu court with terrorism crimes without his family or lawyers present.
The party chairman and the other Chadema officials were arrested in the Lake Victoria port city of Mwanza last Wednesday ahead of a planned public meeting to demand constitutional reform.
Mbowe was transferred to a prison in Dar es Salaam where police said he was being held “for plotting terrorism acts including to kill government leaders”.
Meanwhile, State prosecutor Ester Martin said Mbowe had been charged with two counts of economic sabotage, crimes that do not allow for bail in Tanzania.
Police spokesman David Misime said late Monday that Mbowe knew that he was being investigated for terrorism, and he left to Mwanza after knowing that he would be arrested.
Six others were also being charged with the same offenses, he added. The case will be mentioned next in court on August 5.
Tunisia’s biggest political party, Ennahda, has called for dialogue, following President Kais Saeid’s sacking of the prime minister and suspension of parliament on Sunday.
The party has also told its supporters not to take part in demonstrations.
Ennahda officials say they don’t want to escalate the situation.
Earlier, the party accused President Saeid of staging a coup. He insists he has acted within his rights at a time of crisis.
Saied, an independent, had had a long-standing feud with the man he has removed, Hichem Mechichi. Mechichi has the backing of the Ennahda.
There’ve been many months of political tension, and much popular discontent with the government’s handling of the pandemic and the economy.
Malawi’s former president, Peter Mutharika, has refused to allow the national anti-corruption body to question him about allegations of tax fraud.
Under Malawian law presidents are entitled to import goods without paying tax, but eyebrows were raised when $6.6m (£4.8m) worth of cement was purchased tax-free in 2019 using President Mutharika’s exemption code.
It later transpired that some aides of the former president were using the president’s tax exemption code to import goods
The latest statement from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) says it intends to interview the former president, but he released his own statement saying he had a right to remain silent.
In his statement, Mutharika claimed he had already been questioned by police over the matter last August. In it he also accuses ACB of pre-emptively freezing his bank account as part of “a sustained political witch hunt” that is “intended to humiliate and taunt me psychologically”.
German drug maker BioNTech plans to develop its first malaria vaccine and begin clinical trials by next year.
The only approved malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, took scientists at GlaxoSmithKline more than 30 years to develop.
Malaria kills more than 400,000 people annually, most of them children in sub-Saharan Africa.
Apart from vaccines and pills, countries – including Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya – use drones to find mosquito breeding grounds and kill the larvae before they hatch.
Following the outbreaks of cholera in the country, health experts have urged women to pay special attention to hygiene in their kitchens and toilets to curb the spread of the disease.
One of the experts and a Medical Imaging Scientist, Dr. Livinus Abonyi, says ensuring hygiene in the kitchen, toilet and surroundings of the house could help prevent cholera infection.
Abonyi, a lecturer in the Department of Medical Radiography, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, on Tuesday gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
Cholera is an infectious and often fatal bacterial disease of the small intestine, typically contracted through ingestion of infected water or food, causing severe vomiting and diarrhea.
According to World Health Organisation, there are 1.3 to four million cases of cholera, with attendant 21,000 to 143,000 deaths worldwide, arising from cholera.
Also, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said that between January 2021 and June 27, 2021, a total of 14,343 suspected cases of cholera were reported from 15 states of Nigeria and FCT, with 325 deaths.
“Since the disease is contracted through ingestion of infected water or food, including unhygienic environment; women must protect their families by ensuring proper sanitation in the kitchen, toilets and the surroundings.
“That is the best and simplest way to avoid contact with the cholera disease,” Abonyi said.
He advised women to always tidy their kitchens before going to bed, and also ensure that all food items, whether cooked or raw, are properly covered.
Abonyi highlighted the importance of securing food items usually dried under the sun, especially those in powdered form, to avoid contact with flies or bacteria-causing organisms.
The scientist urged residents of the state to maintain proper hygiene and keep their environments clean so as to rid the environment of bacteria-causing parasites/organisms.
He also emphasised the need to keep cooking utensils well-secured, to avoid being contaminated by bacteria.
Contributing, Dr. Olumuyiwa Akinola, a General Physician with Isolo General Hospital Lagos, advised people to avoid drinking untreated water or coming in contact with feces.
Akinola said that cholera disease spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated by the feces (poop) of an infected person.
According to him, individuals living in places with inadequate water treatment, poor sanitation, and inadequate hygiene (cleanliness) are at a greater risk for cholera.
“Everything possible should be done to ensure you drink and use safe water to brush your teeth, wash and prepare food.
“People should cook their food properly, especially seafood; keep it covered, and eat it hot, so as to reduce the risk of contracting the disease,” he advised.
There are reports from Mozambique that the army – along with troops from Rwanda – have retaken a base from Islamist militants in the northern Cabo Delgado province.
It is hard to verify exactly what happened but it has been widely reported that the jihadist base at Awasse was captured by Rwandan and government troops after a serious gun battle.
This could make it easier to retake the nearby coastal town of Mocimboa da Praia, which was seized by the Islamist militant fighters seized it a year ago.
President Filipe Nyusi recently welcomed the arrival of Rwandan troops who have just been joined by several hundred from Botswana.
It is part of a regional effort to help Mozambique fight back against the jihadists to contain a growing rebellion in the gas-rich area.
The government in Maputo hopes the arrival of foreign troops is going to help stop a rebellion that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and forced the closure of a multibillion-dollar gas project.
But some analysts point to examples elsewhere on the continent where the intervention of foreign troops and an overreliance on a military solution have seen conflicts spread.
Kenenisa Bekele, the second-fastest marathon runner of all time, has broken his silence after being snubbed by Ethiopia’s Olympic Committee.
The 39-year-old hinted that his career was far from over.
“Unfortunately, I am not selected for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. At the moment, I’m working hard and training well. There is still some unfinished business,” he posted on Instagram.
Kenenisa, who already has three Olympic gold medals to his name, was not shortlisted to represent Ethiopia at the Tokyo Games after he boycotted trials in May.
He has previously accused some people of working against his selection and had said he was unhappy about the timing of the trials.
Ethiopia’s marathon team will be led by Shura Kitata, who outran Kenya’s Eluid Kipchoge to win the London Marathon in October 2020.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
