AFRICANEWS
CLIPPINGSBanjul, GambiaUS army General James Jameson, deputy commander of US forces in Europe, met Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh here March 6 for talks on training African troops for peacekeeping operations, officials said. Jameson's three-day visit to the tiny African country follow up an initiative launched last year by Britain, France and the United States to boost African countries' abilities to sort out conflicts on the continent, the officials said. During the visit, he will hold talks with Gambian army chief, General Baboucar Jatta, and several military sites, they added. No statements were made after the meeting.Source: Reauters
Cyubi, RwandaRwanda's mainly Tutsi army on March 6 pursued operations to strike at Hutu extremist rebels who have attached local people in the centre of he country after moving southwards, military sources said.The local commander in the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), Lieutenant - Colonel Karenzi Karake, said in Cyubi, about 50 kilometers (some 30 miles) west of the capital Kigali, that his forces had "tracked down a band of infiltrators" nearby. "We're going to surround them," Karake vowed as he climbed out in a "UNICEF donation" four-wheel-drive jeep to brief his officers on the fourth day of the operation in the central Gitarama District. (Source: AFP)
Dar es salaam,TanzaniaA Tanzania magistrate who sentenced a dog to death because of its name has defended his decision, Tanzania's privately-owned Guardian newspaper reported on March 7. Kasanga primary court magistrate, Onesmo Zunda, said he sentenced the dog named "Immigration" to death to avoid a breach of the peace, the Guardian said. Newspapers reported that the one-year old mongrel had been shot by police on March 6 after an appeal was rejected. The case attracted attention from animal rights groups who argued the dog had no control over its name- said to have scandalised a respected government department- and was thus the victim of a miscarriage of justice. "Mr Zunda said that in order to avoid a breach of the peace in the village, he had decided to concur with the owner of the dog that it should be killed..." the newspaper said adding that the owner was given a six-month suspended sentence. Zunda was unable to cite the law which allowed him to hand down a capital sentence on a dog, the newspaper said. Prospectus told the court last month that the owner, John Kachela, had mischievously given the dog the name of a highly respected government department on a daily basis and boasting of its name. Kasanga village lies in Rukwa region in Tanzania's remote south west.
Johannesburg, South AfricanFive female tourists who falsely claimed they were mugged in February have been charged it perjury and would be arrested if they returned to South Africa, police said. They said arrest warrants had been issued for the four New Zealanders and one Australian who claimed they were mugged at knifepoint in an upmarket Johannesburg suburb, reported the Star newspaper on March 6. The visitors said their backpacks and goods worth 30,000 rands (6,100 dollars) were stolen but later admitted to making up the story to claim insurance robs.
Kigali, RwandaRwanda's prosecutors hope to signifianctly increase the number of genocide suspects to go on trial this year in a bid to clear the country's drastically overcrowded prisons, a chief prosecutor said on March 7. "We hope to be able to judge more than 5,000 people this year, whereas last year we only put 304 on trial," supreme court prosecutor Simeon Rwagasore said after a meeting of all the country's prosecutors and Prime Minister Celestin Rwigema in Kigali. More than 130,000 suspects are currently in Rwanda's overcrowded prisons, charged with the country's 1994 mass slaughter of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in which between 500,000 and 800,000 were murdered.Source:Reauters
Tripoli, LibyaLibya gave Burkian Faso two million dollars to help it stage the next Organisation of African Unity summit here from June 8 to 10, Libyan ambassador Mohamed Madani Al Azhara said on March 6. The ambassador announced the aid after a meeting with Burkina Faso's foreign minister, Ablasse Ouedraogo.
Monrovia, LiberiaLiberian President Charles Taylor says he has put in place checks to ensure respect for basic rights and it is now time for the United States to help him build the country. Taylor, a former warlord who took office last August after winning multiparty elections, told a U.S fact-finding team on Friday night that Mozambique had seen aid flood in after its civil war whereas Liberia had received next to nothing."My government has been open to criticism and has established a human rights commission, respected the rule of law and upheld press freedom" Taylor said. Taylor critics and rights activists question his commitment to respect for such basic freedoms and to national reconciliation.
NigeriaThe US government on March 12 warned against the election of a military candidate in the forthcoming presidential poll and held forth the prospect of further sanctions. In what AFP described as a veiled warning to Nigeria's military ruler General Sani Abacha, US Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice said the victory of "any military candidate" in the August presidential elections "would be unacceptable." The US held General Abacha to his promise to return Nigeria to democratic rule and civil liberties this year, and did not want "another military regime dressed in civilian clothes." Rice added that Nigeria was "one of the worst abusers of human rights on the continent." The US government would consult with Congress and other countries "about what steps we think make sense in response to various possible outcomes."
Windhoek, NamibiaGerman President Roman Herzog fired his official translator during a news conference on March 7, blaming him for a public fracas over his call for children of Namibia's mostly white minority to receive more schooling in German. "I don't have the slightest intention to infere with the sovereign decision of the government of Namibia," Herzog said. Patting the arm of Namibian President Sam Nujoma, he added in German: "There is no conflict between us" The translator, Christopher Hain, faltered as he translated Herzo's statement criticising him into English. Herzog, who speaks fluent English, then called for another translator.
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