Day: December 6, 2022

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is asking the country’s Constitutional Court to overturn a parliamentary report that says he may have broken the law and could lead to his removal from office.

The report released last week said Ramaphosa may have broken his oath of office by hiding more than half a million dollars in a sofa at his game ranch that was then stolen but not reported to police. The scandal has led to calls for impeachment proceedings against him.

The executive committee of the ruling African National Congress party said that that it will vote against adopting the report.

The party’s acting secretary-general Paul Mashatile, said that while the president was taking the matter on review, he would also subject himself to scrutiny by the party’s integrity commission.

“What does that mean? It means the president continues with his duties as president of the ANC and the republic,” Mashatile said. “The ANC agreed that the president must proceed to be held accountable.”

Political analyst Professor Lesiba Teffo from the University of South Africa says the ANC’s stance isn’t surprising.

“They always rally around their leadership. They tend to close ranks especially when they feel they are under siege from the opposition,” Teffo said.

But Teffo says Ramaphosa was a vast improvement on former President Jacob Zuma, who was embroiled in multiple corruption cases.

He says it’s important to note who is calling for Ramaphosa to resign.

“In the main, some would say, are those who have never supported him. And there are those who have at least some clouds hanging over their head,” Teffo said. ” There are those who, the law enforcement agencies are circling them so one way or another they are trying to derail him and by so doing they may derail the process that may lead them ending up in jail.”

Teffo says he expected Ramaphosa to challenge the legality of the report. He says the independent panel of two retired judges and one lawyer had only 30 days plus a 13-day extension to do their work. And they had to deal only with the evidence presented to them. They could not investigate.

“And they concede that had we been given ample time, right, we could have done better but given the constraints and the brief by the way, we could not expand it by ourselves,” Teffo said.

The report wasn’t convinced of President Ramaphosa’s version of where the stolen money came from. Former spy boss Arthur Fraser said it was between $4-million and $8-million given to him by several African and Middle Eastern countries.

But Ramaphosa said a Sudanese businessman Hazim Moustafa bought 20 buffalos from his game farm on Christmas Day in 2019 and paid $580,000 for them.

The panel noted in the report that it was odd that Ramaphosa did not supply them with any other information about the buyer.

Sky News this week published an interview with Moustafa who said he purchased the buffalos. He said he declared the $580,000 at OR Tambo International Airport in Johanneburg.

Tax Attorney Jean du Toit says it should be easy for anyone wanting to prove this. He says under tax law requires anyone who enters the country with foreign currency to declare it.

“So, if he claims that at entering the airport he did that, he would’ve gone through customs and there would’ve been a record of the declaration of the currency,” du Toit said.

A court date for Ramaphosa’s Constitutional Court review has not been set yet.

Source: Voice of America

The October 2022 resumption of fighting in North Kivu between the Congolese army and the March 23 Movement (M23) has forced thousands of families to flee their homes. The hostile, dangerous environment leaves them struggling to survive. “I returned from Nyiragongo disgusted by the human disaster that these months of conflict have caused. Once again, it is civilians who are paying the price,” says Rachel Bernhard, ICRC head of delegation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “These communities have been uprooted from their land, which is their only means of subsistence. They need to be able to return as a matter of urgency, so they can start to grow food again.”

According to the UN, the territory of Nyiragongo is currently hosting over 177,400 displaced persons. Most of them have taken refuge in Kibati or Kanyaruchinya. These two villages are located some 50 kilometres from the territory of Rutshuru, where the fighting is taking place, and about a dozen kilometres north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. Needs are acute, both for the new arrivals and for those who were already living there. Priorities include accommodation, sanitation, health care, drinking water and food.

I’ve got nine children to feed. I have to send them out to beg at the market and along the roads, because it’s hard for me to find enough food,” explains Francine Twizeye (33). “When there isn’t enough food, we give our share to the children,” says Joséphine Habakurama (32).

Challenges to providing aid

Aid generally arrives unobstructed in the territory of Nyiragongo, but in that of Lubero, which is currently hosting over 98,000 displaced persons, humanitarian agencies are experiencing difficulties.

Repeated clashes between the parties to the conflict make it impossible to obtain guarantees of access to all areas. In addition, the rainy season is rendering the already difficult roads harder to negotiate. Mudslides have occurred at a number of locations, further impeding the delivery of aid.

The large number of sites where displaced people have taken refuge is also making humanitarian operations considerably more difficult, in the areas of both Nyiragongo and Lubero. The UN estimates that over 280,000 people have fled their homes since fighting in Rutshuru broke out in March 2022. This is a major population movement, and while humanitarian operations are underway, the needs are huge. Currently, those needs are much greater than the aid provided.

“The number of displaced persons is increasing daily. If the fighting doesn’t stop, we’re going to be facing a humanitarian crisis that will be difficult to control,” says Anne-Sylvie Linder, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in North Kivu. “We once again remind all parties to the conflict of their obligation under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and their property.”

Difficult shelter and hygiene conditions

A mother, accompanied by three of her seven children, tries to find a dry place to sit in a hut two metres by two metres, covered by a plastic bag. By day, the rain is manageable. Between dusk and dawn, it’s a nightmare. “I’ve covered my house with plastic sheeting. When you’re displaced, you have no choice. You make do with what you have,” explains Sifa Rehama, mother of seven children. “My husband, my three youngest children and I all sleep here. The three oldest ones have to look after themselves, sleeping with neighbours or in another camp.”

Sanitary facilities are another big problem in this overcrowded environment. Aline Murarizi explains: “I got up at dawn today, but there were already people waiting in front of the only six latrines we have. I had to wait an hour for my turn. These queues sometimes provoke arguments.”

The unhealthy conditions are a breeding ground for disease. Cases of cholera have been reported.

ICRC activities since the resumption of fighting in Rutshuru on 20 October 2022

Kibati and Kanyaruchinya (Nyiragongo)

Working with the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we are making phones available at five locations (Kanyaruchinya, Kibati, Kahembe, Don Bosco and Kanyabayonga), so that people separated by the fighting can exchange family news. Over 45,000 calls have been made since March 2022, and more than 34,000 of these have resulted in people re-establishing contact. Fourteen DRC Red Cross first-aiders are informing displaced persons about this service.

Kibati health centre, which has the capacity to treat 20,000 displaced persons, has received medicines and consumables for the treatment of certain illnesses, especially malaria. The ICRC has provided medicines, consumables and equipment to Nyiragongo Hospital, which has relocated to Munigi.

Working with the DRC Red Cross, we have given over 20,000 displaced persons access to drinking water using four water bladders, each of which has a capacity of 10 cubic metres. The ICRC has renovated 12 latrines at Kanyaruchinya Primary School, which is currently hosting displaced persons.

Lubero

The ICRC will shortly be providing aid in the form of cash to almost 48,000 people (31,000 displaced persons and 17,000 members of host families) in Kanyabayonga and along the route between Kanyaruchinya, Bulotwa and Kirumba.

The ICRC is providing regular support to Luofu Health Centre and Kayna Hospital. The health centres in Kanyabayonga and Cepromi have received emergency kits.

Goma

Sixteen people with weapon-related injuries have received treatment at Ndosho Hospital in Rutshuru, which belongs to the Community of Baptist Churches in Central Africa (CBCA).

The ICRC is visiting people detained in connection with the fighting, to offer restoration of family links services and to assess their conditions of detention. In line with its mandate as guardian of international humanitarian law, the ICRC is monitoring the conduct of hostilities and communicates its observations and recommendations to the parties concerned. That dialogue is confidential.

Source: International Committee of the Red Cross

Aisha has fled violence twice since her house was reduced to ashes during a massive attack in 2018 on her village in Macomia, northern Mozambique, by an armed group locally called Al Shabab or Mashababos. She sought refuge in another town, where two years later an alleged Al Shabab fighter beheaded her 14-year-old son in front of her, prompting her to flee by boat to the provincial capital, Pemba. Aisha, whose full name I am not using for her protection, knows her son’s killer, and she says she will identify him for the authorities if they assure her that justice will be done.

Over the past five years, since Al Shabab fighters linked to the IS began their insurgency in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, civilians have suffered horrendous human rights abuses at the hands of both government forces and Al Shabab fighters. Forces on both sides have been implicated in war crimes, including killing civilians, sexual violence, and destroying property.

Despite the massive human rights abuses, the intervention of African regional bodies such as the SADC and the African Union (AU) in Mozambique have mostly focused on military operations against the insurgents while largely ignoring redress for victims of abuses. Last year, SADC and Rwanda sent thousands of troops to bolster the Mozambican forces. Recently, the AU Peace and Security Council called for more military equipment to be speedily shipped to Mozambique.

According to ACLED data, over 4,000 people have been killed since the start of northern Mozambique’s conflict in October 2017. Almost a million people are displaced, some in camps and informal settlements with limited access to basic necessities.

Women and children have experienced exceptional harm. Al Shabab fighters have abducted, enslaved, raped, forced into marriage, and sold to foreigners hundreds of women and girls. The group has also beheaded young men, and kidnapped and used boys to fight government forces, in violation of the international prohibition on recruiting and using child soldiers. They have also destroyed civilian structures, including houses, hospitals, schools, and places of worship.

Mozambican government forces have also been implicated in serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, sexual harassment, and ill-treatment of detainees, in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law. Most of the victims were suspected of having links to Al Shabab. But a mass trial in 2019 showed the extent of arbitrary detentions. The judge acquitted 113 of the 189 defendants for lack of evidence. One of them was a woman arrested and detained with her eight-month-old baby for giving water to a suspected insurgent.

Security forces also have prevented people from fleeing the fighting, violating laws-of-war requirements that warring parties protect civilians and remove them from the vicinity of military operations.

Not even journalists were spared, with many experiencing enforced disappearance, intimidation, detention, and prosecution over the years.

The Mozambican government has ignored rights groups’ calls to investigate and appropriately punish security forces implicated in abuses. In 2021, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) issued a resolution calling on the government to ensure greater protection of civilians. But no one has been held to account for the abuses documented and exposed by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other groups. The government’s legal actions against suspected Al Shabab fighters have also fallen short of victims’ expectations, as only a few cases have been tried successfully in court.

President Filipe Nyusi has been criticized for bypassing state institutions and violating the constitution when he unilaterally moved to pardon alleged insurgents who responded to authorities’ appeals for surrender. He rebuked those criticisms, claiming that he was only publicly presenting rescued civilians who would be reintegrated into their communities.

The AU Transitional Justice Policy, approved in 2019, stipulates that “pardons, in contrast to amnesties, are conferred after a prosecutorial process has been followed to its conclusion.” It further notes that even amnesties “should be formulated with the participation and consent of affected communities, including victim groups, and have regard to the necessity of the right of victims to remedy, particularly in the form of getting the truth and reparations.”

Under the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol), the Mozambican government has obligations to prevent gender-based violence, investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for abuses, and provide timely, accessible, and effective remedies to victims and survivors. But the government has done little or none of that.

In fact, the government has revictimized some women and girls, keeping them incommunicado for weeks or longer after rescuing them, without access to their relatives. On at least one occasion, HRW sources witnessed some of these women being paraded in public as suspected informants or aides for the insurgents.

SADC and the AU should not continue to sideline human rights protections in their military operations against Al Shabab. These regional bodies should immediately take concrete steps to support efforts for accountability and justice for the victims of the northern Mozambique conflict. This starts with publicly urging the Mozambican authorities to investigate all allegations of abuses by both state security forces and Al Shabab and prosecute those implicated in fair trials.

Mozambican authorities should ensure that the route to peace and stability in the northern part of the country also includes accountability and reparations for victims. The government, in collaboration with the AU, should also mandate the ACHPR to set up an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the widespread rights violations.

Aisha deserves a real chance to seek justice against the man who killed her son, and so do millions of other Mozambicans who have suffered for so long.

Source: Human Rights Watch