Day: June 7, 2022

Six opposition leaders arrested after violent anti-French protests in N’Djamena were on Monday handed one-year suspended sentences for disturbing public order, Chad’s public prosecutor told AFP.

They were also fined 10 million CFA francs, or about 15,000 euros, said prosecutor Moussa Wade Djibrine, who had sought two-year prison terms.

The swift trial opened Monday morning at a court at Moussoro, around 300 kilometers (180 miles) from the capital, with defense lawyers boycotting the hearing amid a heavy police presence.

The case comes against a backdrop of political tension with a military junta in power following the death of the country’s veteran leader more than a year ago.

An authorized march in the capital on May 14 against France’s military presence in Chad turned violent.

Seven petrol stations belonging to the French oil major Total were attacked and 12 police officers injured, according to a police toll.

In the aftermath, the authorities carried out a string of arrests among the march organizers, who denied any responsibility for the violence.

Those charged included Max Loalngar, coordinator for Wakit Tamma, Chad’s main opposition coalition, and Gounoung Vaima Gan-Fare, secretary of the Chadian trade union federation.

The six were charged with disturbing public order and destruction of property. They had begun a hunger protest on May 23.

Trade unions, opposition political parties, armed groups and international NGOs had called for the six to be released immediately and unconditionally.

“We will appeal, a suspended sentence is still a sentence,” said Wakit Tamma’s lawyer Laguerre Ndjarandi.

“The court has been kind, it’s not a bad thing to calm things down,” communication minister Abderaman Koulamallah told AFP.

Moussoro court’s public prosecutor Abdoulaye Bono Kono later announced: “The leaders of Wakit Tamma were released after sentencing.”

Chad has been under military rule since President Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled with an iron fist for three decades, was killed in April 2021 during operations to crush rebels in the north of the country.

He was succeeded by his son Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, a four-star general, now the transitional president.

His junta vowed to hold “free and democratic elections” within 18 months after staging a proposed nationwide “dialogue.”

A reconciliation forum should have started last month but has run into problems.

Armed groups have warned that Monday’s trial further compromises the national dialogue. The political opposition has already withdrawn from the organizing process.

France has thousands of troops in the Sahel, including in Chad, under its Barkhane mission.

But in February, Paris announced it would withdraw its troops from Mali and deploy them elsewhere after falling out with the junta in Bamako.

On May 16, Deby, reacting to the violence that had unfolded two days earlier, attacked what he called “false and unfounded allegations” that French troops would redeploy to Chad.

Source: Voice of America

South Africans were relieved Tuesday to learn that two businessmen who’ve been fugitives since being accused of looting billions of dollars from the state have been arrested in Dubai. But their extradition and prosecution could be a complex and drawn-out legal battle.

Atul and Rajesh Gupta are two of the most notorious household names in South Africa.

The Indian-born siblings were close friends of former president Jacob Zuma and are believed to have used that connection to influence cabinet appointments and win lucrative government contracts — a scandal that’s become known here as “state capture.”

The siblings, along with third brother, Ajay, fled South Africa in 2018. Zuma is facing charges in a separate corruption case.

On Monday night, South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority confirmed the two brothers had been arrested in the United Arab Emirates and Dubai police released a statement saying they’d made the arrest “after receiving a red notice for the Gupta brothers by Interpol.”

Karam Singh, the executive director of South African non-profit organization Corruption Watch, welcomed the arrests of the fugitives, who’ve been indicted in South Africa.

“The arrest of the Gupta brothers in Dubai is a significant development in South Africa’s fight against corruption and seeking accountability for state capture,” he said.

The National Prosecuting Authority said in its statement that it is now engaging with authorities in the UAE on the matter but cautioned that “extradition is a complex process involving many role players.”

So what do ordinary South Africans think of the arrests?

Fifty-seven-year-old Thabo Mamiane, who has a shop with his wife in Johannesburg’s Parkview neighborhood, said he was thrilled.

“This is the beginning of justice, whatever Jacob Zuma and his cronies and all that, what they did in the past there, I mean this puts some kind of confidence in our government,” he said.

His wife Susan agreed.

“I also think it’s great. I think’s it’s time. It’s been long overdue,” she said.

But Mfanafuthi Tsela, walking down Tyrone avenue, was more circumspect.

“I’m not sure whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing because usually people get caught but still like they’re not convicted. So long as the state is capable of punishing them I will be happy. I think that is what people are expecting because they’ve done a lot of damage,” said Tsela.

Some, however, like grocery store worker Mark, were highly skeptical.

“Until we see them in handcuffs at the airport we won’t believe it,” he said.

For her part, Ntaoleng, a 25-year-old going to a local café, said justice wasn’t enough and wouldn’t fix the country’s ailing economy anyway.

“I think my concern really is that, ok cool, we find they come back, they get extradited and then we do the whole prosecution process, but then like, are we going to get the money back because if we don’t get the money back what’s the point?” she asked.

Mostly, South Africans want to have hope, and want to safeguard their democracy, but are fatigued by the slow-moving wheels of justice.

Source: Voice of America