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Allegations of fraud and ballot stuffing have been raised by the opposition leaders, leading to their call for a demonstration on the inauguration day.
Critics have called it a stunt to invite sympathy. Yet Amuriat says campaigning without shoes is a protest and that those who do not get its symbolism are missing a point.
Uganda is due to hold a general election on January 14. Amuriat and another opposition candidate, Bobi Wine have had their rallies violently dispersed by security forces or been arrested.
In mid-November, scores of people were killed as security forces attempted to quell protests against the arrest and detention of Bobi Wine.
Police has accused the candidates of addressing huge gatherings in contravention of regulations on COVID-19 prevention.
Swollen feet
In an interview with one of the dailies in Uganda, Amuriat said his feet hurt a lot and has to pour cold water on them in between campaign stops for some relief.
Doctors have cautioned him on the potential danger of contracting tetanus from cuts to his feet.
Yet Amuriat remains adamant. He says by refusing to wear shoes, he’s standing in solidarity with people whose wealth and opportunities have been stolen by the country’s longtime ruler Yoweri Museveni.
JUST IN: FDC presidential candidate Patrick Amuriat has been arrested at the border of Rubirizi and Bushenyi districts. The reason for his arrest is yet to be known📹 @MukhayeD#MonitorUpdates#UGDecides2021 pic.twitter.com/xopK4FMoD0
— Daily Monitor (@DailyMonitor) December 4, 2020
Museveni, in power since 1986 is seeking a new term. In 2017, he changed the constitution to remove age limits that would have stopped him from seeking re-election.
FDC is Uganda’s largest opposition party. In 3 previous elections, the party fronted veteran activist and retired army colonel Kizza Besigye for president.
[New Times] The Court of Appeal will on Thursday November 12 begin the hearing of an appeal lodged by genocide convict Bernard Munyagishari against the life imprisonment sentence that was handed down by the High Court in 2017.
The African rainforest stretches across much of the central African continent, encompassing the following countries in its woods: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote dIvoire (Ivory Coast), Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Except for the Congo Basin, the tropical rainforests of Africa have been largely depleted by commercial exploitation by logging and conversion for agriculture, and in West Africa, nearly 90 percent of the original rainforest is gone and the remainder is heavily fragmented and in poor use.
Especially problematic in Africa is desertification and conversion of rainforests to erodible agriculture and grazing lands, though there are a number of global initiatives in place through the World Wildlife Fund and the United Nations which are hoping to mitigate these concerns.
By far, the largest number of countries with rainforests are located in one geographical section of the World — the Afrotropical region. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) indicates these 38 countries exist mainly in West and Central Africa. These countries, for the most part, are very poor and live at the subsistence level.
Most of the tropical rainforests of Africa exist in the Congo (Zaire) River Basin, though remnants also exist throughout Western Africa in a sorry state due to the plight of poverty which encourages subsistence agriculture and firewood harvesting. This realm is dry and seasonal when compared to the other realms, and the outlying portions of this rainforest are steadily becoming a desert.
Over 90% of West Africas original forest has been lost over the last century and only a small part of what remains qualifies as closed forest. Africa lost the highest percentage of rainforests during the
Kinshasa is the capital and largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the third largest city in Africa after Cairo and Lagos and the second largest French-speaking city in the world other than Paris, France. Formerly known as Leopoldville, it was founded and named by Henry Morton Stanley in 1881 in honor of King Leopold II of Belgium who controlled the vast territory known as the Congo Free State. Kinshasa is located on the southern bank of the Congo River. With Brazzaville on the North bank of the Congo River, Kinshasa is the only capital city that faces another national capital. The combined population of the two capitals is approximately twelve million, with 10,076,099 in Kinshasa and suburbs in 2009 and an estimated 1.2 million inhabitants in its northern neighbor in 2007.
Although 1881 is the official founding date, African villagers lived in what is now Kinshasa for hundreds of years. In the fifteenth century Kinshasa became an important center for Portuguese slave traders and merchants in what was then the Kingdom of the Kongo.
The area began to grow when Belgian colonial officials arrived after 1881. In 1898 a rail line linked the coastal port of Matadi and Leopoldville, leading to the citys rapid development. By 1920, when Leopoldville was named the capital of the Belgian Congo, it had a population of approximately 15,000.
Leopoldville had slightly over 400,000 people when the Congo grained independence in 1960. The city like the countryside was soon divided by a five-year civil war. In 1964 Mobutu Sese Seko, the Army Chief of Staff, seized power and declared himself President of the nation. Mobutu provided a stable if often brutal government to the city and the nation for the next three decades. As part of his Africanization policy, he renamed the city Kinshasa in 1966, after the village of Kinchassa, which once stood on that site.
Kinshasa became internationally famous in 1974 when on October 30 it hosted the World Heavyweight Boxing title fight between George Foreman, the
April 2007 national elections—the country’s first transition from one democratically elected president to another—were marred by widespread allegations of fraud, ballot stuffing, violence, and chaos. Just days before the election, the Supreme Court ruled that the election commission’s decision to remove from the ballot Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a leading candidate and a bitter rival of President Olusegun Obsanjo, was illegal. Ballots were reprinted, but they only showed party symbols rather than the names of candidates. Umaru Yar’Adua, the candidate of the governing party, won the election in a landslide, taking more than 24.6 million votes. Second-place candidate Muhammadu Buhari tallied only about 6 million votes. International observers called the vote flawed and illegitimate. The chief observer for the European Union said the results “cannot be considered to have been credible.” An election tribunal ruled in Feb. 2008 that although the election was indeed flawed, the evidence of rigging was not substantial enough to overturn the election results.
The rebel group in Nigerias oil-producing region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, declared a cease-fire in September. Since the insurgency broke out in 2004, Nigerias oil production has been significantly reduced, from about 2.5 million barrels a day to 1.5 million.
Deadly violence broke out in July 2009 in northeastern Nigeria between government troops and an obscure fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram, which is opposed to Western education and seeks to have Sharia law implemented throughout the country. The groups name translates to Western education is sinful. As many as 1,000 civilians died in the battles. The fighting began after militants attacked police stations and seemed to be preparing for a pitched religious war against the government. The police, followed by the army, retaliated and unleashed a five-day assault against the sect. The groups leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in the campaign and the group was nearly decimated.
Dundo — The eastern Lunda Norte government is intensifying precautionary measures in the border areas with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to halt the import and spread of Ebola in Angolan territory.
The DRC government announced on Monday the emergence of a new Ebola outbreak in Wangata County, Mbandaka, in the province of Ecuador (north).
Although the outbreak has not yet spread to the provinces of Kassai Central, Kassai, Kwango in DRC, which share border with Angola's municipalities of Cuango, Cambulo, Cuilo, Lóvua and Caungula, the government is anticipating prevention measures so as not to be caught by surprise.
According to Lunda Norte governor, Ernesto Muangala, the local government has enough biosecurity material and drugs to prevent contagion and possible positive cases of the epidemic.
He also said intervention health teams and epidemiological surveillance are being strengthened which, in addition to raising awareness about Ebola, will advise citizens living along the borders to continue to observe the COVID-19 pandemic prevention measures.
Amid a global pandemic, it has gone by largely unnoticed - not least because the crisis also kept out election observers from the East African Community (EAC), the only foreign group the government accredited.
The ruling party has grown increasingly isolationist since the last election in 2015 when outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to stand for a third term, sparking months of protests.
The results - announced by the electoral commission three days after the vote - give the CNDD-FDD's candidate Evariste Ndayishimiye 68% of the vote.
Ndayishimiye's balancing act
One of the new president's key challenges on taking office will be to balance the various interests within the ruling party.
Ndayishimiye is new in the job and has made subtle overtures to international bodies in recent months, meeting with the AU Chairperson Moussa Faki and EAC officials.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International President Dr. Christos Christou delivered the following statement today at the 2020 ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment high-level panel on the increasing complexity of health challenges in humanitarian contexts.
Many of the most vulnerable have already suffered terribly due to a lack of state investment in health care for all.
Today, we must acknowledge that this pandemic comes after years of questioning humanitarian assistance and principles, and innumerable cases of violence against health workers and facilities.
MSF knows from previous epidemics that the reduction in access to health care has a devastating effect.
Vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 must be available to all
Finally, whilst we welcome initiatives like the [World Health Organization's] ACT Accelerator and call to action, governments must ensure that health care tools are made accessible to all.
South Africa's Red Bull KTM rider Brad Binder had a disappointing outing in qualifying for Sunday's Austrian MotoGP in Spielberg.
[RFI] In Niger, Mohammed Bazoum and Mahamane Ousmane have made it through to the second round of the country's presidential elections, with neither candidate garnering enough ballots to win outright in the 27 December vote.
One artiste who quickly comes to mind is Energy Mutodi, the recently axed Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services deputy minister.
Mutodi introduced Zimbabweans to Mnangagwa’s political ambition at that private party now popularly known for the cup branded — I am the boss.
Mutodi also in a Facebook post announced that a military coup was on the way, a coup that toppled Mugabe and hoisted Mnangagwa to the top.
Mutodi, the failed rhumba artiste, had made it to the political high table.
Mnangagwa, in a short letter, dismissed Mutodi from government without proffering any reasons for the decisions, leaving it open to speculation and probably confirming Mugabe’s reasoning that Mnangagwa lacked probity.
[Nation] The electoral commission wants to procure its ballot papers locally in what it said will be 10 times cheaper than getting them from abroad.
May 25: Congolese lawmakers exchange blows over leadership vote
\tThe Democratic Republic of Congo’s National Assembly was the scene of an open-for-all fight when lawmakers moved to remove the first deputy speaker of the house.
Lawmakers rushed to the front of the parliament engaging in violent exchanges over the intended vote as security detail were called in to restore calm.
The vote eventually took place with 289 out of 500 lawmakers voting in favour of the removal of Jean – Marc Kabund from his post as first vice-president of the National Assembly.
Protests over parliamentary sacking of president’s top ally
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November 22, 2018 – Zimbabwe joins Uganda, South Africa
\tPrior to Thursday November 22, 2018; the Ugandan and South African parliaments were on record as places that had ‘hosted’ violent confrontation between lawmakers and security agents.
READ MORE: Photos from Africa’s chaotic parliaments: Uganda and South Africa
\tPhotos shared on Twitter by the state-owned Zimpapers Images showed a very physical encounter between security detail and lawmakers of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change – Alliance.
Officials and experts are sounding the alarm as Malawi shifts to top campaign gear with giant rallies for an unprecedented presidential re-run despite the coronavirus pandemic.
He said Malawians “will only fully understand the impact once we start to see burial teams and mass graves” because the disease is “deceptively undramatic until it is too late”.
Malawians will only fully understand the impact once we start to see burial teams and mass graves\" because the disease is \"deceptively undramatic until it is too late
\tPolitical scientist Michael Jana said the bitter power struggle has seen the country throw caution to the wind.
The southern African country will hold polls in just under two months after the Constitutional Court overturned the results of last year’s controversial election, which handed President Peter Mutharika a second term.
Mutharika garnered just 38.5 percent of the May 21 vote but the Constitutional Court annulled the result, citing “grave” and “widespread” irregularities, including the use of correction fluid on ballot papers.
Morocco has began shipment of 8 million masks and other medical supplies to help 15 African countries in their efforts to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, as instructed directly by Moroccan King Mohammed VI.
The aid also includes 900,000 visors, 600,000 hygiene caps, 60,000 medical coats, 30,000 litres of hydroalcoholic gel, 75,000 packs of chloroquine and 15,000 packs of Azithromycin, two drugs used for the treatment of Covid-19
\tThe aid will be shipped to Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Eswatini, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Tanzania, Chad and Zambia, according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The medical gears and products are made in Morocco in line with World Health Organization standards and are donated as a gesture of solidarity following an initiative launched by King Mohammed VI to promote joint African action to counter Covid-19 outbreak.
The initiative aims, inter alia, to promoting the sharing of best practices in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and bolstering cooperation to mitigate the health, economic and social impacts of the pandemic.
This announcement comes just days after Morocco showed its desire to host the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which will be built in the future under the auspices of the African Union.
The United Nations and the European Union have condemned the Malian government's use of lethal force during protests calling for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign, and urged it to release detained opposition leaders.
Other ministers, however, rejected Mr Kutesa's suggestion and asked Mr Matia Kasaija of Finance to look for funds in the 2020/21 budget for buying radios and TV sets for the 15 million learners.
While the planned distribution of free radios and TV sets was never intended to assist virtual political campaigns but ease access to distance learning and teaching across Uganda, sources in Cabinet talked of \"killing two birds with one stone\".
She, however, said the distribution of radio sets and TV had nothing to do with the anticipated virtual political campaigns.
Dr Arthur Bainomugisha, the executive director of Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (Acode), and other analysts have questioned the rationale of buying radios and TV sets for households without access to electricity, money for buying batteries and struggling to feed themselves in the face of the pandemic.
According to another Cabinet source, the President also told Cabinet that since Education requires only two senses - listening and seeing, the planned distribution of free government TV sets and radios will boost distance learning infrastructure, a teaching strategy needed to combat the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has outlined measures to curb spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) as it laces its boots for the compilation of a new voters register.
Though it is yet to give an exact date for the exercise, the EC has given indication of compiling a new register once it gets the green light from health experts.
The EC had scheduled April 18 for compilation of the new voters register ahead of the December general elections but had to put it on hold due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
The move to discard the old voter register, the EC contends, is in favour of the new Biometric Voter Management System (BVMS) which would among other things have a facial recognition ability.
The NDC has however vehemently resisted attempts by the EC to register citizens for a new register amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Health workers responding to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo have gone on strike over unpaid salaries.
The High Court Chamber for International Crimes in Nyanza will on Thursday June 4, deliver judgment in the case of Genocide suspect Ladislas Ntaganzwa.
Ntaganzwa, 58, was arrested in 2015 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and flown back to Rwanda in 2016 where he has been on trial since.
A former Bourgmestre (mayor) of Nyakizu Commune now in Nyaruguru District; Ntaganzwa was one of the nine \"Big Fish\" indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) but had not yet been arrested by the time the UN court closed shop in 2015.
After being extradited to Rwanda in 2016, his trial has been handled by the High Court Chamber for International Crimes in Nyanza, however, on one occasion, the court relocated to Ryabidandi cell, Nyagisozi sector, Nyaruguru district, an area where Ntaganzwa is accused to have committed the crimes.
In one of the court hearings, prosecution stated that on April 14, 1994, he convened a high level meeting that brought together Interahamwe militiamen, military and police officers, as well as Burundian refugees who at the time resided in the district, to strategize the \"final assault on the Tutsi.\"
Rwanda, in east-central Africa, is surrounded by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, and Burundi. It is slightly smaller than Maryland. Steep mountains and deep valleys cover most of the country. Lake Kivu in the northwest, at an altitude of 4,829 ft (1,472 m), is the highest lake in Africa. Extending north of it are the Virunga Mountains, which include the volcano Karisimbi (14,187 ft; 4,324 m), Rwandas highest point.
Republic.
The original inhabitants of Rwanda were the Twa, a Pygmy people who now make up only 1% of the population. While the Hutu and Tutsi are often considered to be two separate ethnic groups, scholars point out that they speak the same language, have a history of intermarriage, and share many cultural characteristics. Traditionally, the differences between the two groups were occupational rather than ethnic. Agricultural people were considered Hutu, while the cattle-owning elite were identified as Tutsi. Supposedly Tutsi were tall and thin, while Hutu were short and square, but it is often impossible to tell one from the other. The 1933 requirement by the Belgians that everyone carry an identity card indicating tribal ethnicity as Tutsi or Hutu enhanced the distinction. Since independence, repeated violence in both Rwanda and Burundi has increased ethnic differentiation between the groups.
Rwanda, which became a part of German East Africa in 1890, was first visited by European explorers in 1854. During World War I, it was occupied in 1916 by Belgian troops. After the war, it became a Belgian League of Nations mandate, along with Burundi, under the name of Ruanda-Urundi. The mandate was made a UN trust territory in 1946. Until the Belgian Congo achieved independence in 1960, Rwanda-Urundi was administered as part of that colony. Belgium at first maintained Tutsi dominance but eventually encouraged power sharing between Hutu and Tutsi. Ethnic tensions led to civil war, forcing many Tutsi into exile. When Rwanda became the independent nation of Rwanda on July 1, 1962, it
[Nation] The electoral commission has joined the anti-graft agency in warning impeached governors that they won't secure clearance to contest elections even as politicians fought the sanctions, rekindling how Parliament watered down integrity laws.
