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Africa at a glance

Tuesday July 23 2019
cameroon

Soldiers of the 21st Motorized Infantry Brigade patrol the streets of Buea, South-West Region of Cameroon on April 26, 2018. The United Nations says an armed conflict since October 2017, where several groups are demanding the independence of the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon bordering Nigeria, has left more than 1.3 million people in need of humanitarian aid. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP.

By AFRICAREVIEW.COM

  • South Sudan starts consolidating armed forces

South Sudan army chief Gabriel Jok Riak Makol has summoned armed forces and rebel fighters to military camps where those to form an 83,000 strong national army will be selected.

The unification of the army is one of the key steps holding back the formation of a government of national unity which was scheduled for May but was pushed to November.

General Makol asked sector and division commanders including those in the opposition to assemble their forces to the cantonment sites by July 31.

  • Western Cameroon crisis leaves 1.3 million people destitute

The United Nations says 1.3 million people are in need of assistance as the humanitarian situation in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon continue to deteriorate.

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The UN said around 1,300 people were reportedly displaced last week and that attacks resulted in dozens of civilian deaths, hundreds of houses set ablaze and widespread looting of civilian goods.

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said that Cameroon remains one the most critically under-funded humanitarian responses globally.

  • Six killed Nigeria sect's protests over leader's arrest

A violent protest by members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Shiites, left at eight persons, including a Deputy Commissioner of Police and a reporter, dead.

Police Spokesman Frank Mba said the heavily armed protesters attacked citizens and security personnel within the Central Business District of Abuja.

He said 54 suspects had been arrested in connection with the incident arising from the detention of Shi'ite spiritual leader, Sheik Ibrahim Zakzaky, who is on trial for murder.

  • Ethiopia says army to take over security in troubled south

Ethiopia has said it will put the restive southern region under a federal security forces-led command post after the violent clamour for a semi-autonomous state by the Sidama ethnic group has left 18 people dead

The government said in a statement that the 'regular security structure has been unable to ensure rule of law and has been stymied by various agendas."

Protests erupted last week as Sidama activists sought to unilaterally declare their own territory separate from the diverse Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region.

  • Gambian soldier confesses to killing AFP journalist

A Gambian army officer said he was one of three involved in the killing of AFP correspondent Deyda Hydara in 2004, accusing ex-President Yahya Jammeh of ordering the murder.

"We opened fire, myself, Alieu Jen and Sana Manjang," Lieutenant Malick Jatta told the Truth Commission on Monday.

After the killing of Hydara, who was also the editor of The Point Newspaper, Lt Jatta said he was given an envelope containing dollars as "sign of appreciation from the big man."

  • DR Congo minister resigns in Ebola spat with Tshisekedi

DR Congo's health minister Oly Ilunga resigned Monday after he was removed on Saturday as the head of his country's Ebola response which will now be supervised by President Felix Tshisekedi.

In a resignation letter to the president, Mr Ilunga said several decision making centres risked creating confusion in the war against Ebola, which has killed more than 1,700 people.

Mr Ilunga has also protested against "a clear lack of ethics" in introducing a second vaccine in the fight against the viral disease without disclosing "important information to health authorities

  • Court mounts pressure on S.African graft watchdog

South Africa's public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is under renewed scrutiny after the country's apex court ordered she personally meets the legal costs of her dispute with the Central bank.

The Constitutional Court found on Monday she had been deceitful and dismissed Mkhwebane's bid to scrap a 2018 High Court ruling ordering her to pay $65,000 in legal fees for a report the judges had found to be biased.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said Sunday he would take Mkhwebane to court over a separate report that found he had misled parliament about a $36,000 donation to his 2017 campaign fund.

  • Malawi opposition party offices burnt down

Malawi's main opposition party, which has been lobbying to annul the result of the May presidential election, said Monday its headquarters were burnt to the ground in an arson attack.

The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) claimed the offices in the commercial capital Blantyre had been "bombed" on Sunday evening, though police said the cause of the fire had not been confirmed.

Protests have persisted for months since President Peter Mutharika won a second term in a vote in May whose outcome MCP leader Lazarus Chakwera robbed him of victory.

  • Siemens signs power deal with Nigeria

Nigeria andSiemens AG of Germany have signed an agreement for the generation of about 11,000 megawatts of electricity by 2023.

President Muhammadu Buhari and the global Chief Executive Officer of Siemens, Mr Joe Kaeser signed the agreement on July 22, 2019.

The project to increase fourfold Nigeria's power output from the current 4,000 megawatts was struck when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Nigeria on August 31, 2018.

  • Credit Suisse banker pleads guilty to $200 million fraud in Mozambique

Former Credit Suisse Banker Andrew Pearse on Monday pleaded guilty in a US Federal Court to taking kickbacks in a $2 billion Mozambique loan scandal.

Pearse and six others are accused of taking $200 million of the money in a scheme which the US, South Africa and Mozambique are haggling over the extradition of the country's ex-finance chief Manuel Chang.

In the scheme Credit Suisse and Russian finance group VTB passed off loans for military attack boats as meant for tuna fishing, prompting the World Bank to halt development funding to Maputo.

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