The Gambia has in recent days recorded a spike in COVID-19 cases, a situation Gibril Gando Baldeh Senior Health Communications Officer in the country’s Health Ministry describes as a worrying development.
According to Baldeh, the whole world is seeing a rise in cases and The Gambia is no exception. “Gambia has entered the 4th wave,” he confirmed, adding that the country came out of the 3rd wave between June to July of 2021.
The rise in the number of cases Baldeh attributes to the festive season and the harmattan season. He says there were lots of social gatherings and no strict observance of COVID-19 protocols at most of these gatherings.
As for the harmattan season, he encouraged people with common colds, sore throat and other COVID like symptoms to get tested for COVID-19 and not just assume it is common cold.
“Fresh[common]cold should not be considered cold as usual, do not assume it is common cold, get tested for covid-19,” he encouraged.
Gibril Gando Baldeh noted that COVID-19 has infected 297 million people globally, claiming 5,481,337 lives.
In The Gambia Between the 1st to the 4th January 2022, the country recorded 416 COVID-19 cases. 118 cases on the 1st, 92 cases on the 2nd and 103 cases on the 3rd and 4th respectively.
The Gambia Ferry Services, a subsidiary of The Gambia Ports Authority has come under criticism following reports that the company was set to spend a whopping 30 million euros to refurbish the ferries.
following a massive social media backlash from Gambians, the institution has now issued a statement saying the amount mentioned in the report was accurate but in the wrong currency.
The institution in its statement also said the error was inadvertent on the side of the journalist who carried the story.
”The amount quoted is correct, but the currency is wrong should have been reported as Dalasis, not Euros. The error is inadvertent on the side of the journalist who carried the story.
It’s true that all 3 ferries are being refitted with new engines and propulsion systems to improve their technical suitability to provide a more reliable service,’ the statement read.
The news report in question carried by Point Newspaper was published since August 2021, leaving many asking why the institution failed to issue a rejoinder from the onset.
Some believe the institution’s reaction after more than five months since the report was published is because of the public backlash that recently ensued after Gambians called them out for what they believe was ‘outrageous spending’.
Meanwhile, The Gambia Ferry Services has defended their decision for the refurbishment saying ‘it is cheaper and more economical than having a complete overhaul of their engines’.
West African leaders have imposed tougher sanctions on Mali, including economic blockade, as punishment for failing to meet its deadline to transfer power to a civilian administration.
The decision was taken at an extraordinary summit of heads of state and government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the Ghanaian capital, Accra on Sunday 9th January 2022.
A total of eleven heads of state were in attendance, among them Presidents Julius Maada Bio, George Weah of Liberia and Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire.
Leaders from outside the ECOWAS region who attended it include Senegalese president Macky Sall, Patrice Talon of Benin, Roch Marc Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso, Mohamed Bazoum of Niger, and Faure Gnassingbe of Togo.
Vice-President Yemi Osibanjo represented Nigerian President Mohammadu Buari.
The summit was held under the chairmanship of Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is the chairperson of the bloc.
Mali has been under military rule since August 2020, when a group of soldiers led by Col. Assimi Goita overthrew the then democratically elected president Ibrahim Boubacarr Keita.
Nine months later, the soldiers again staged another coup, removing the civilian-led administration they had installed under pressure from ECOWAS.
The 16-member West African bloc prohibits military coups, in line with its protocol on good governance.
It gave the transition government an 18-month deadline to conduct election and transfer power by this February 27. But the military insisted that the time is not enough to meet the deadline.
After several dialogue, at its summit on November 7, 2021, the ECOWAS leaders imposed targeted sanctions on the members of the junta leadership and their families.
According to the communique issued after Sunday’s summit, those sanctions would be maintained, along with additional economic and financial sanctions.
All ECOWAS member countries will close their borders with Mali – both land and air, and suspend all commercial transactions with the country, with the exception of a select group of products that include essential consumer goods, pharmaceutical and medical supplies, as well as materials relevant to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Petroleum products and electricity are also exempted.
ECOWAS will also freeze the assets of Mali in its regional central and commercial banks, and the country will be suspended from all financial assistance from ECOWAS financing institutions.
“These sanctions will be implemented immediately and will remain in force. The sanctions will be gradually lifted only after an acceptable and agreed chronogram is finalised and monitored satisfactory progress is realised in the implementation of the chronogram for the elections,” the communique signed by the heads of state present states.
In a rather militaristic tone, the bloc also hinted at the possibility of military action, noting that in view of the potentially destabilizing impact on Mali and on the region created by the transition, it had decided to immediately activate the ECOWAS Standby Force, which will have to be ready “for any eventuality.”
With the launch of a multimillion-dollar deep-water port project earlier this week, Senegal took a giant step towards its goal of becoming the economic hub in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
At the heart of this plan are ambitious infrastructure projects.
The deep-water port construction project, estimated at US$1.13 billion, is being implemented as a joint venture with the global logistical outfit DP World, a state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates. It will be the second container terminal in Senegal, after the Port of Dakar.
This new port is located at Ndayane, a small community that lies about 50km (31miles) south of the Senegalese capital – Dakar.
An agreement signed between the Senegalese government and DP World earlier in 2020 show that the latter will develop and operate the 300ha container terminal.
The Dubai-based Emirati logistics provider will work alongside the Port Authority of Dakar (PAD), through a subsidiary called DP World Dakar, which will finance, design and develop the land and marine infrastructure on a 600ha area.
Details of the agreement further show that at the initial stage of the project DP World will develop roughly 840m of quays and a 5km marine channel that will be able to manage ships up to 366m in length. This phase has been estimated to cost $837m.
The second phase, which will cost $290m, will see the addition of a 410m container quay along with further dredging works, which will allow the port to manage vessels measuring up to 400m.
Officials said that at the completion of the project, it is expected to increase Senegal’s capability to handle the largest container vessels in the world and increase its container handling capacity by 1.2 million TEUs per year.
The plan also entails that the port serves as a cruise terminal as well as a residential and commercial waterfront. DP World also said that it is planning to develop a special economic zone next to the Ndayane port.
Ndayane is a small fishing village located in the northern Thies Region of Senegal. The plan to erect a world class port there was first unveiled by President Macky Sall in 2017.
The new port is strategic in that it is located near the country’s new massive Blaise Diagne International Airport outside Dakar.
The Senegalese government says all these projects and more in the planning are part of efforts to support the realisation of President Sall’s ambitious economic development plan, dubbed ‘Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE)’.
This deep-water port project is said to be the largest single private investment in the country’s history.
Photo: Senegalese President Macky Sall and DP World Chairman Sulayem
President Sall said at the commissioning of the project on January 3rd, that it’s part of a transformational move by his government to boost the country’s economy and position it as a major trade hub and gateway in the ECOWAS region.
“We are ready for the structural transformation of our economy with this mega project,” he said at a colorful ceremony.
“It will unlock significant economic opportunities for local businesses, create jobs, and increase Senegal’s attractiveness to foreign investors,” the President added.
Senegal recently became the second country to join the World Logistics Passport, a major initiative championed by the UAE with the goal of increasing trading opportunities between developing markets, which is geared towards boosting the Arab nation’s position as a trade hub for Africa.
The World Logistics Passport was created to overcome trade impediments, such as logistics inefficiency, that currently limit the growth of trade between developing markets.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, DP World chairman, said at the launching ceremony that the project reflected the growing partnerships between Dubai and African markets, aimed at supporting development in the continent.
“As the leading enabler of global trade, we will bring all our expertise, technology and capability to this port project, the completion of which will support Senegal’s development over the next century,” Mr Sulayem said.
Founded in 2005, DP World, a multinational logistics company based in the city of Dubai, specialises in cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services and free trade zones. It has operations in over 40 countries across Europe, US, Asia and Africa. In Africa it has operations in seven countries – South Africa, Somaliland, Senegal, Mozambique, Egypt, Djibouti and Algeria.
The Senegal project, which is its first in the ECOWAS region, is described by the company as its largest investment on the continent.
Last month DP World signed an agreement for its eighth African operations – a project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – for the development of a deep-sea port in the coastal town of Banana, along DRC’s 37km Atlantic Ocean coastline.
The Liberia National Police (LNP) has arrested, charged and sent to court a 29-years old Sierra Leonean, Mohammed Jalloh Massaquoi, for allegedly attempting to sell his son, aged 10.
Speaking to investigators of the LNP and the Anti-Human Trafficking Taskforce of Liberia in the new established Trafficking In-Persons Unit at the headquarters of the LNP, Massaquoi said he came to Liberia along with his son to have him sold to enable him to pay for a motorbike belonging to a friend. The bike was stolen from him.
Massaquoi, who put the cost of the motorbike at 11 Million Leones, said he has paid 1 million Leones, with the balance of 10 million Leones to be paid. He said that he was informed by some friends in his home country, Sierra Leone, that in Liberia there are people looking for human beings to buy.
He maintained that, upon hearing that, he immediately embarked on a travel to Liberia to sell the little boy to generate the balance 10 million Leones to enable him to pay for the motorcycle.
Massaquoi added that, upon his arrival in Liberia with his son on December 16, 2021, they went to a relative at Cotton Tree, Margibi County, where he met a certain Momo Kamara, who promised to help him find a buyer for his son.
He said that Momo Kamara advised him not to refer to the boy as human being, but rather as chicken. When Kamara asked him about the cost of his son, Massaquoi said that he is not familiar with the Liberian dollar to United States dollar exchange rate, and therefore he could not price the boy. He said that he asked Kamara to spearhead the negotiation, one that would be profitable for the both of them.
Massaquoi was arrested by officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP) on Thursday, December 30, 2021 as he and Momo Kamara awaited the buyer at a drinking spot in Cotton Tree.
Also speaking, the head of the TIP Unit of the Liberia National Police (LNP), Chief Inspector of Police, Joseph B. Washington, said that Massaquoi was arrested through the network of the LNP in Margibi County.
The child is said be currently in the care of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
It can be recalled that Labor Minister, Cllr. Charles H. Gibson, recently emphasized the urgent need for countries in the Mano River Union (MRU) sub-region to consolidate their effort and be more proactive in the fight against human trafficking, which he has described as a global menace.
Minister Gibson was speaking when he met and held bilateral talks with top-level Sierra Leonean government officials in Freetown.
Cllr. Gibson assured his counterparts that President George Weah attaches urgency to stopping human trafficking, and that the President is interested in a collaboration that will see MRU countries working together to clampdown on all forms of trans-national crimes, with emphasis on human trafficking.
After defeating ex-president Yayah Jammeh in Gambia’s 1st December 2016 presidential election with 43.34% of valid votes cast, President Adama Barrow was inaugurated President of the Republic of The Gambia at the Gambian embassy in neighbouring Senegal on 19th January 2017.
Why neighbouring Senegal?
President-elect Adama Barrow had fled to Senegal because out-going president Yayah Jammeh, who had ruled the small West African nation for 22 years, had rejected the result and subsequently refused to leave office.
However, through the intervention of the West Africa regional bloc – Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other powers, Jammeh was forced to leave the country and go into exile in Equatorial Guinea on 21st January 2017. Jammeh’s departure cleared the way for Barrow to return home and govern as Gambia’s third president. President Barrow returned to The Gambia from Senegal on 26 January 2017.
It is important to note that in diplomacy or international relations, an embassy is the same as the country it represents in another country. So, Gambia’s embassy in Senegal is like Gambia in Senegal. This is the accepted diplomatic protocol across the globe. Therefore, President Barrow’s inauguration in his country’s embassy in Senegal was like being inaugurated in The Gambia.
The rationale of the inauguration on 19th January 2022
The tenure of office of Yayah Jammeh, as President of the Republic of The Gambia, constitutionally ended at midnight on 18th January 2017.
In line with the laws of the land and as a way of preventing an unreasonable vacuum in the nation’s highest office, President-elect Adama Barrow was sworn in as President of the Republic of The Gambia and assumed office on 19th January 2017.
Section 63 of the 1997 Constitution of The Gambia dictates that a President shall serve a term of five years. In that light, the first five-year mandate of President Barrow which was given to him by Gambians in the 1st December 2016 presidential election officially expires at midnight on 18th January 2022.
He will be sworn in on 19th January 2022 to legitimately commence his second term after his landslide victory in the presidential poll of 4th December last year.
Heads of States, diplomats and other dignitaries are expected to jet into the country on or before the said inaugural date to grace the occasion.
Expectation
After his inauguration, he is expected to form a new cabinet. He is at liberty to either continue with his current cabinet officials, reshuffle them or bring new players either within or outside his National Peoples Party (NPP). The President is empowered and protected by law to hire and fire.
Many Gambians are of the view that the small touristic nation is far much functionally democratic and human rights sensitive now than before. However, there are loud calls for President Barrow to use his second term to usher in a new constitution, formulate and implement viable policies to enhance good governance and sustainable development across the board.
The country’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice has revealed that diaspora voting under the 1997 Constitution could potentially be unconstitutional.
Dawda A. Jallow was addressing the issue of diaspora voting during the 5th Stake in The Nation Forum. He said the country does not have any National Assembly Constituency in the diaspora and as such, any registration of voters outside the Gambia could potentially be unconstitutional as per the 1997 constitution.
The constitution provides that every citizen of The Gambia being eighteen or older and of sound mind shall have the right to vote for the purpose of elections of President and National Assembly and shall be entitled to register as a voter in a National Assembly Constituency for that purpose.
Justice Minister Dawda A. Jallow said the above constitutional provision does in fact grant a right of every citizen the right to be registered to vote but argued that following interpretation of this provision, the constitution limits such registration to National Assembly constituencies which the diaspora is yet to have.
”National Assembly Constituencies are a distinct geographical area demarcated by the boundary commission pursuant to section 50 of the constitution. This raised practical difficulties with regard to the registration of Gambians in the diaspora.
As observed, voters must belong to and only vote in the constituency of their registration unless they transfer their registration. In this case, however, The Gambia does not have any National Assembly constituencies in the diaspora and as any registration of voters outside of the Gambia could possibly be unconstitutional.”
Justice Minister further stated that for diaspora voting to be possible, it will require both a Constitutional amendment and an amendment of the Elections Act which he says were not feasible in the recently concluded Presidential elections due to the mandatory timeline of passing new legislation.
Dawda Jallow however assured Gambians that his office is ready to convene stakeholder meetings between Foreign Affairs Ministry and Gambians abroad, the Independent Electoral Commission and other relevant stakeholders to look into the issues surrounding diaspora voting with a view to finding immediate solutions to them.
The Secretary General and Party Leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP) Lawyer ANM Ousainu Darboe has confirmed that the party holds the country’s judiciary (more so the apex court) in the highest esteem and expresses full confidence in its impartiality, independence and competence.
“All genuine members of the Party must know that the UDP’s commitment to the rule of law and its respect for the courts is unequivocal and holds the Supreme Court in the highest esteem.
Therefore, on behalf of the National Executive Committee and indeed the entire membership of the UDP, I wish to again express our full confidence in the impartiality, independence and competence of the Judiciary of the Gambia,” a statement from the party read.
This is in direct response to certain individuals claiming to be members of the UDP who continue to make derogatory and reprehensible comments about the judges of the Supreme Court. The party says no genuine member of the UDP will engage in such impertinent behaviour directed at the leaders of the highest court of our nation.
It used the opportunity to condemn in the strongest possible terms any person casting aspersions on the character and integrity of the judges of the Courts of the Gambia.
It notes that even where the party disagrees with a decision of the Supreme Court, the Party has always respectfully pointed out the error of the Court in its interpretation of the law.
According to Lawyer Darboe the UDP will continue to seek justice according to the law from the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court of the Gambia.
“Again, I call on all UDP members to be civil in their discussions and desist from making disparaging comments or personal attacks on the character of any of our compatriots, more so make any attempt to impugn the character and reputation of a universally respected and eminent jurist of Africa, His Lordship, the Hon. Chief Justice of the Gambia,” the UDP statement noted.
It further urged all Gambians to respect the judges and the decisions they make; and to be courteous to lawfully constituted authorities and engage them with decorum and the respect they deserve.
It appears that the first shot has been fired for the campaign for the forthcoming Local Government elections, with the Barrow administration targeting the biggest fish; the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC).
However, even the dumbest person knows that the objective of the commission of the inquiry set up by the Minister of Lands and Regional Governments for the KMC is to do everything they can to wrest the Council from the United Democratic Party (UDP) and get rid of Talib Ahmed Bensouda, to bring the richest municipality under their control.
It is quite obvious that getting control of the KMC is worth anything to this government. Despite being in control of the executive, and most probably poised to take control of the legislature, they will never be satisfied until they capture the biggest and richest municipality because that is where their main interest lies.
To most members of the Barrow administration, the KMC is the biggest prize worth every drop of their blood and as such, they would utilize every trick in the playbook to get rid of Talib, including using former mayor Yankuba Colley to help them use the tricks that the APRC had been using to get the municipality under their grip for over 20 years.
There is absolutely no doubt that the Talib administration had been the most successful that the KMC municipality has ever had and it is in the interest of the entire country that Talib should be given the support that he needs to continue with the good work he has embarked on.
However, when we recall how the Ministry handled the corruption scandal involving the former KMC Chief Executive Officer and unsuccessfully using all possible means to get her re-instated, despite overwhelming evidence against her, it is obvious that the target had always been to rid of Talib at whatever cost. This commission of inquiry is therefore the latest attempt to achieve that objective.
This blatant form of political suppression of those who hold contrary views to his administration is certainly neither in President Adama Barrow’s own interest nor in the national interest. It is sending quite a negative signal to the Gambia’s development partners that rather than embark on a genuine fight against corruption, the government is bent on witch-hunting its opponents and those who hold contrary views.
There are of course many other corruption scandals that deserve commissions of inquiry than the KMC. We have recently, for instance, heard about the millions of Dalasi of COVID money allegedly squandered at the Ministry of Health as well as the Gam Petroleum fuel saga, and yet nothing is being heard from the government about those scandals let alone set up commissions of inquiry to reveal what had happened.
D.A Jawo is a veteran Gambian journalist and former Minister of Information
Amidst the COVID-19 upsurge, The Central Bank of The Gambia has during the ‘5th Stake in the Nation Forum’ held at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara Conference Centre on January 8th, 2022, announced that diaspora remittance inflows to the Gambia hit an all-time high to the tune of $774.6 Million, Accounting for 69.2% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Presenting the data at the high-profile event, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia Dr. Seeku Jaabi acknowledged the contribution of remittance towards the country’s economy and its impact on the lives and livelihoods of the average Gambian.
Dr. Jaabi said despite the global pandemic, Gambians in the diaspora continue to pump money into the economy.
“In 2021 remittance reached 774.6 million USD, 62.9% of our GDP. Despite the challenges of the coronavirus, diaspora Gambians have not relented in supporting their families and enhancing development aspirations of the motherland,” Dr. Jaabi said.
Diaspora contribution to the economy of The Gambia has significantly increased over the years. Between 2017-2018, a Gambian Diaspora Strategy was developed and implemented in Gambia’s National Development Plan 2018-2021.
The goal according to the Migration and Sustainable Development Project was to ‘enhance the role of the Gambian diaspora in national development, as the 8th region of the country’.
The advent of technology in this generation has badly affected the culture of reading in many countries including The Gambia.
As a way of rejuvenating that culture Alieu Jobe, Head Boy of Nusrat Senior Secondary School has over the week urged his fellow pupils to adopt the culture of reading good books, noting that books give the reader knowledge and wisdom.
Jobe was speaking during the launch of the book “Don’t Judge the Book By The Cover” at Ebujeng Threate in Kanifing.
The book was written by Gambia’s Award-winning author, Modou Lamin AGE-ALMUSAF Sowe and launched as members of the International Association of African Authors and Scholars celebrated 15 years of The Gambian Literature.
According to Alieu Jobe technology has led to many students becoming lazy when it comes to reading books, adding that the use of google and other software in learning can only give the user knowledge and not wisdom.
“I am calling on all the students to adopt the culture of reading books. We have great writers in Africa and their books are very important. As students, we must be ready to read as much as we can because we are the leaders of tomorrow,” Alieu Jobe noted.
In line with section 151(1) (a) of the Local Government Act 2002, the Ministry of Local Government and Lands is set to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of corruption and malpractices at the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC).
This was made known through an official correspondence from the ministry to KMC.
According to the letter the ministry shall delve into allegations of corruption against the council from 2018 to date and for other connected matters as reported to the Ministry by the Lord Mayor, the CEO, and the special inspection reports.
The letter clearly notes that the Attorney General and Minister of Justice shall appoint a Lead Counsel and other officials to assist the Commission in its findings.
The Commission in line with the Local Government Act shall complete its work within three months from the date of its establishment. In August 2021, the Kanifing Municipal Council under Lord Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda was embroiled in a huge corruption scandal amid reports that the then Deputy Mayor Musa Bah solicited bribes of up to 1 million dalasis from a company.
Musa later resigned from his position based on what the mayor described as ‘personal grounds’.
The other person who was mentioned in these allegations of corruption was the Chief Executive Officer of the Council Mrs. Sainabou Martin Sonko. Mrs. Sonko was alleged to have acquired a loan in the name of the staff association of KMC without their knowledge or consent. The embattled Sainabou Martin Sonko was later suspended by the Council in a move the Local Government Ministry said was illegal.
Meanwhile, the correspondence has not made clear when the said commission for the inquiry shall be set up.
A group of would-be footballers sweat and shine in their kickabout in the late afternoon heat, their boots spraying up little clouds of dust as they run.
They play a stone’s throw away from the mesmerising waves of the Atlantic Ocean, and in the shadow of the triangular peak of Mount Cameroon.
They are palpably excited that their town, Limbé, is hosting matches at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). The continent’s showcase international football tournament gets under way on Sunday.
“It’s a great pleasure of us Cameroonians. It will be a pleasure to welcome people from other countries for this great tournament,” says Erik.
Frederick, who plays as a goalkeeper for one of the best teams in Limbé, says he cannot wait to catch a glimpse of Premier League stars like Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Senegal’s Sadio Mane.
Until now he has only been able to watch them on television.
“Maybe I could talk to them, greet them. I would be very happy.”
Limbé is the only city in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions hosting Afcon matches and just as Mount Cameroon looms over Erik and Frederick’s pitch, there is a shadow over the tournament here.
For almost five years Anglophone Cameroon has been ripped apart by civil war.
Cameroon was carved up by the French and British, and that colonial legacy left a linguistic divide.
For decades after independence Anglophones complained they were marginalised, with political and economic power concentrated in the hands of the French-speaking majority.
In 2016 lawyers and teachers led a peaceful protest movement in Anglophone Cameroon. Many were arrested and within a few months the region was at war.
‘Hell on earth’
Nobody knows exactly how many people have died, though both separatist groups and government forces have been accused of atrocities.
More than a million people have been forced from their homes.
“It was like hell on earth,” says Akame Kingsly Ngolle, who ran a school in Munyenge – to the north of Limbé – but had to flee when the bullets started flying.
“As an individual everything I had was burned down, my house and every other thing.”
Most of the teachers and pupils made it to Limbé too, and the school is operating again, albeit in rented premises. The wooden walls on the ground floor of the three-storey building make it feel very much like a temporary solution.
The teachers have to deal with many difficulties, including students who have missed out on many years of education.
Nobody goes to school – or does much of anything – on Mondays either. Like most of Anglophone Cameroon, Limbé is turned into what’s known here as a “ghost town” then, because of the threats of separatist groups to attack anyone who goes to work or school.
West African leaders will gather Sunday to discuss Mali’s political crisis, with the military junta submitting a new timeframe for a transition back to civilian rule at the last minute after its first proposal was rejected.
The extraordinary summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc in Ghana’s capital Accra is expected to discuss possible sanctions on the Sahel state over potentially delayed elections, among other issues.
The meeting comes after months of increasing tensions over the timetable for restoring civilian rule in Mali after a military takeover in 2020.
In August that year, army officers led by Colonel Assimi Goita toppled the elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita amid street protests against his unpopular rule.
Under threat of sanctions, Goita subsequently promised to restore civilian rule in February 2022 after holding presidential and legislative elections. But he staged a de facto second coup in May 2021, forcing out an interim civilian government.
The move disrupted the reform timetable and was met with widespread diplomatic condemnation. ECOWAS insisted that Mali hold elections in February.
But the government then said it would only set an election date after holding a nationwide conference- arguing that a peaceful vote was more important than speed.
Swathes of Mali lie outside of state control, with the government struggling to quell a jihadist insurgency that has raged since 2012.
On December 30, after Mali’s reform conference ended, the government suggested a transition period of between six months and five years, starting from January 1, 2022.
This would enable the authorities to “carry out structural institutional reforms and (organise) credible, fair and transparent elections”, it said.
But ECOWAS mediator Goodluck Jonathan asked the regime to revise that plan during a visit last week, Mali’s foreign minister said.
On Saturday, the junta submitted a new proposed timetable to the bloc’s acting president, Malian state television reported — without giving any details about its contents.
– Potential sanctions –
The 15-nation ECOWAS has led the push for Mali to uphold its commitment to stage elections early this year.
The return to civilian rule has put the bloc’s credibility on the line as it seeks to uphold fundamental principles of governance and contain regional instability.
After landing safely in Cameroon yesterday, the Scorpions have today started training ahead of their median AFCON encounter. The Gambian side will face Mauritania on the 12th of January 2022.
This early training is expected to enable the players to interact with one another as they come from different football clubs in different countries.
The Scorpions were in camp in Qatar but unfortunately due to the travel restrictions caused by COVID-19 their training and test matches were not successful in Qatar.
On Saturday, the team converged and had a feel of what the pitch in the host country, Cameroon was like. The players were excited and vowed to bring Africa’s top football trophy home.
Babu Emmanuel Lokiri, the young man accused of killing three siblings at Rock City in Juba on 1st August 2020, has been hanged to death. This was confirmed to Eye Radio by Ogwili Kuot, the President of the High Court in Juba.
According to the South Sudanese independent broadcaster Eye Radio, Emmanuel Babo Lokiri was hanged on Friday 7th January 2022 at around 2:00 PM.
Babu was first condemned by the court to death in August 2020 after the court discovered that he slaughtered the three children.
Babu 24, was found guilty of the gruesome killing of 9-year-old Naomi, 7-year-old Blessing and 4-year old Nor Edward.
Judge Kuot says Babu was killed after all the court procedures were completed that mandated his hanging.
“The process was done according the prison procedures. Nobody is hanged without approval form the President of the Republic”, he added.
According to Article 206, premeditated murder is considered if the act that caused the death was committed with the intention of causing the death or if the perpetrator of the act knew that the death was a probable result rather than merely a possible result of an act or any bodily harm that was intended to cause it with the same act.
Babu used a machete to end the lives, the court heard.
The murders angered South Sudanese all over the world, including President Salva Kiir who promised to ensure that the killer faced justice.
Egyptian authorities have freed Egyptian-Palestinian rights activist Ramy Shaath from more than 900 days of detention after forcing him to renounce his Egyptian nationality.
Shaath’s detention came amid a continuing crackdown on political dissent under Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
A family statement said on Saturday that Shaath – a member of several secular political groups in Egypt and a co-founder of Egypt’s pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement – was released on Thursday evening and handed to a representative of the Palestinian Authority in Cairo before being flown to Jordan.
He is now on his way to France, it added.
Shaath’s French wife Celine Lebrun Shaath, who was deported from Egypt following his arrest, had lobbied the French government to pressure Egypt to release him.
There was no immediate comment from Egyptian authorities on his release.
“If we are glad that the Egyptian authorities heard our call for freedom, we regret that they forced Ramy to renounce his Egyptian citizenship as a precondition for his release that should have been unconditional,” the family statement said.
Shaath was arrested in Egypt in June 2019 and held in pre-trial detention alongside other activists on accusations of aiding a “terrorist” group.
His detention came amid a continuing crackdown on political dissent under Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi that has swept up liberal critics as well as the Muslim Brotherhood members whose removal el-Sisi led in 2013.
El-Sisi and his supporters have said there are no political prisoners in Egypt, and security measures were necessary to stabilise the country after a 2011 uprising.
In a statement last month, several NGOs questioned President Emmanuel Macron on the fate of Shaath, a year after the French leader said he had brought up his case with el-Sisi.
However, at the time Macron made it clear that human rights would not be a condition for economic and military ties with Cairo.
France said in May it would deliver 30 Rafale warplanes to Egypt from 2024 in a 4 billion euro ($4.8bn) deal as it strengthened its military partnership
At least 16 people froze to death after heavy snow trapped them in their vehicles as tens of thousands of visitors thronged Pakistan’s hill town of Murree.
The military was mobilised to clear roads and rescue people still trapped, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said in a video message on Saturday, adding: “At least 16 to 19 people died inside their vehicles.”
ties were from the family of fellow Islamabad police officer Naveed Iqbal, who also died. All 16 died of hypothermia.
Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed shock over the “tragic deaths” of the tourists. “Have ordered inquiry and putting in place strong regulations to ensure prevention of such tragedies,” Khan said in a tweet.
Located about 50km (22 miles) north of the capital, Islamabad, Murree is a popular winter resort that attracts well over one million tourists annually. Streets leading into the city are often blocked by snow in winter.
Videos shared on social media showed entire families, including children, lying dead in their snow-covered vehicles.
Snowfall, which began on Tuesday night, continued at regular intervals, attracting thousands of tourists. Because of the huge numbers of visitors, many families ended up getting stranded on roads.
“This is an example of systemic failure because according to reports, about 100,000 vehicles headed to the hill station, one that has narrow roads,” said Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad.
“There were warnings of heavy snow and that led to a total catastrophe because people were stuck in their vehicles, entire families. Their vehicles were buried under heaps of snow.”
Ahmed, the interior minister, said more than 1.2 metres (4 feet) of snow fell in the area overnight and all incoming traffic was blocked on Saturday. The minister said paramilitary troops and a special military mountain unit had been called in to help.
“Until then no vehicle or even people on foot are allowed to enter Murree except for the emergency and rescue vehicles and those bringing food for the stuck people,” he said.
Umar Maqbool, a local administrator, said the heavy snowfall hampered rescue efforts during the night and even heavy equipment brought in to clear the snow got stuck initially.
Officials gave no further details about those who died in their stuck vehicles but said they were working on both recovery and rescue operations. Food and blankets were distributed to the stranded tourists.
The Punjab province chief minister’s office said Murree had been declared a “disaster area” and urged people to stay away
Celebrating 15 years of The Gambian Literature, Gambia’s Modou Lamin AGE-ALMUSAF Sowe a member of the International Association of African Authors and Scholars has on Friday launched his new book ‘Don’t Judge The Book By The Cover’ and unveiled his Award of Excellence for African Literature.
An award he recently won in Atlanta, Georgia, the USA, at the Book and Leadership Summit organised by the International Association of African Authors and Scholars (IAAAS).
The event took place at the Ebunjan Theatre in Kanifing, opposite The Gambia Football House (GFF). Friday’s event witnessed an artistic combination of poetry, cultural dance and drama performance.
The Secretary-General of the Pan-African Writers Association, the Executive Director of the International Association of African Authors and Scholars, the Presidents of Writers Associations in 7 countries, international scholars from the USA, the UK, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia, France, and Belgium all graced the occasion.
The book was written in 2006 as an advocacy tool to promote literacy and a reading culture amongst the youth, especially those from poor families.
Award-winning author, Sowe is the founder of the Young Writers Association of The Gambia (YWAG), former Secretary-General of the Writers Association of The Gambia, and the current Executive Director of the World Writers Association (WoWA).
