By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – The African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s governing party, upheld the suspension issued to Julius Malema, president of the ANC’s Youth League (ANCYL), on Saturday.  The controversial firebrand was given a five-year suspension from involvement in the party in November 2011.  ANCYL deputy president Ronald Lamola, treasurer general Pule Mabe, secretary general Sindiso Magaqa, deputy secretary general Kenetswe Mosenogi; and spokesperson Floyd Shivambu were also given suspensions.

Malema, 30, had once been a key player in President Jacob Zuma’s ascent to power in 2007.  He said he would kill for Zuma.  But since then, he had changed his mind, throwing his support behind Thabo Mbeki, the president that Zuma unseated.  Comments like these were the basis for his November suspension, as he was found guilty of “sowing division within the ANC and of bringing the party into disrepute.”

This was not the first time Malema had drawn a suspension from the party.  At his first disciplinary hearing in 2010, he pleaded guilty to the same charge, drawing a two-year suspension; that sentence was suspended.  It will soon begin and run concurrently with the five-year ban.  He will be stripped of his power and position and banished from the party.

The once powerful youth president made numerous provocative statements from his post.  A black nationalist, Malema called for many policies that drew criticism.  The ANC has a majority-black electorate, but his call for seizure of white-owned land for redistribution to poor blacks placed his party in conflict with both its constituents and the business community.  In July 2009, he recommended that South Africa seize control of its mining industry, ostensibly to end white domination of the economy.

“[W]hen the imperialist forces are accepting the failures of capitalism, we should ask whether the time has not arrived for the government to make sure that the state owns the mines and other means of production,” Malema said about the policy.

But the last straw for his continued service to the ANCYL came last July.  During a speech, he appeared to recommend that the neighboring country of Botswana change its government, which is democratically elected.  To some, he may have been advocating an invasion.

“Botswana is in full co-operation with imperialists,” he had said in reference to the country’s strong relationship with the United States.

The appeals panel that conducted the hearing believed it had no choice but to uphold the sentence.

“Discipline is one of the key pillars in the life of the ANC,” said Cyril Ramaphosa, a senior party official who led the panel.

Though the panel overturned a sentence for “barging” into an ANC meeting, it considered most of the ANCYL’s arguments to have little merit.

“The appellants’ argument that individual members [of the disciplinary committee] could exert pressure to bear on the NEC and the ANC itself to decide the issues of nationalization and expropriation of land in a particular way and that the exclusion of the appellant would facilitate this outcome is both naïve and absurd,” Ramaphosa said.

In about two weeks, Malema has the opportunity to argue for a reduction of his sentence.  The ANC will also be able to make an argument, only for an increase in punishment. He will remain in his capacity as President of the ANCYL until the mitigation hearings are complete.  Malema’s chances at obtaining a reduction are considered slim.

“The chances of a reduced sentence are zero[,]” wrote political analyst Eusebius McKaiser in an online article for Politicsweb.  “And all that (arguments in mitigation) will achieve is to keeping Malema politically on a life support system for a little while longer. It will not stave off the eventual outcome – political demise.”

The news of the appeal’s failure was cause for celebration in Malema’s hometown of Seshego, where youths viewed him as a dictator.  Residents set fire to a Malema t-shirt and car horns resonated across the town.

“I have many responsibilities[;] I don’t care what happened to him… I have my own problems. I want to go back to school and I don’t have money, if I cry for him what will I get?” asked a local resident who did not consider the matter worthy of concern.  “They [the ANCYL] talk about economic freedom and nationalization but we [are still] struggling…”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — S. Africa’s ANC Denies Appeal of Youth Leader — 06 February 2012

Cape Times — Malema Hangs on by Thin Thread — 06 February 2012

Mail & Guardian — A League of His Own: ANC Grants Juju a Stay of Execution — 06 February 2012

The Times (Johannesburg) — Malema’s Hometown Celebrates His Failed Appeal — 06 February 2012

BBC — Julius Malema: S. Africa’s ANC Youth Leader Loses Appeal — 04 February 2012

Mail & Guardian — Malema’s Appeal Denied by Disciplinary Committee — 04 February 2012

New York Times — A.N.C. Keeps Suspension of a Leader — 04 February 2012

The Times (Johannesburg) — Guilty! — 04 February 2012

BBC — South Africa’s Julius Malema in His Own Words — 10 November 2011

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Following a strong harvest and an upswing in aid, the United Nations announced that the famine that had plagued Somalia since July was over on Friday.  Though this is good news for a country that has seen very little of it over the past 20 years, it does not necessarily mean that the situation has improved.  An estimated 2.34 million Somalis still require humanitarian support.

The UN rates situations such as this on a five-level scale based on death rate, with “famine” at the highest level.  Friday’s declaration reduces the Somali food shortage to level four, which is referred to as a “humanitarian crisis.”  Part of the reason for this change in status is the output of the most recent harvest.  The UN reported this year’s harvest to be double the average output over the past 17 years, allowing a significant reduction in food prices.  Though the news was promising, the organization was unwilling to declare victory.

“The crisis is not over,” said Jose Graziano da Silva, the new director-general of the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation, who had just returned from a visit to the war-torn East African country.  “It can only be resolved with a combination of rains and continued, co-ordinated, long-term actions that build up the resilience of local populations and link relief with development.”

Somalia remains in dire straits.  The country has been devastated by a long chain of misfortune that the BBC described as “a toxic mixture of drought, war, high taxes levied by armed groups, and rising food prices.”  Combat is a major player in the present crisis.  Al-Shabab, a militant Islamic group connected to Al Qaeda, controls vast swathes of territory in the southern and central areas, which were hit the hardest by the most recent drought.

The organization has banned numerous aid groups since November 2011 for conducting what it considered to be “activities deemed detrimental to the attainment of an Islamic state.”  On Monday, it expelled the International Committee for the Red Cross, one of the last groups permitted to continue operations, for allegedly distributing expired food.  But even before then, the ICRC had discontinued full scale delivery of food and seeds due to attacks on aid workers traveling to distribution sites.  Al-Shabab denies the claims and said the ICRC was conducting the interference on its own.

Regardless of the reason for the ban, the improving situation can easily deteriorate in a hurry, according to Mark Bowden, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia..

“The gains are fragile and will be reversed without continued support,” Bowden said.   “There are 1.7 million people in southern Somalia still in crisis. Millions of people still need food, clean water, shelter and other assistance to survive and the situation is expected to deteriorate in May.”

Areas under Al-Shabab control are in a particularly precarious position.  In addition to the newly-named “humanitarian crisis,” the area is a site of ongoing military conflict.  The group is facing incursions from Kenya, Ethiopia, and African Union forces in the capital, Mogadishu.

For more information, please see:

BBC — Famine Conditions in Somalia Have Ended, UN Says — 03 February 2012

Garowe Online — UN Declares Somalia’s Famine Over, but Declares Millions Across East Africa Still in Crisis — 03 February 2012

Hiiraan — Somali Regions No Longer Famine Stricken – U.N. — 03 February 2012

New York Times — U.N. Says Famine in Somalia Is Over, but Risks Remain — 03 February 2012

Shabelle News — UN Says Famine Over in Somalia, Emergency Remains — 03 February 2012

Impunity Watch — Al-Shabab Ejects Red Cross from Somalia — 02 February 2012

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Al-Shabab, a militant Islamist group, ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross to cease its humanitarian aid operations in the areas of Somalia that it controls on Monday.  Despite international concerns about the effects, the group made this decision due to alleged concerns about the way the ICRC handled food distribution.

In a statement delivered on multiple forums, including Twitter, Al-Shabab said that the ICRC “repeatedly betrayed the trust conferred on it by the local population and, in recent weeks, falsely accused the mujahideen [al-Shabab fighters] of hindering food distribution.”  Its Office for Supervising the Affairs of Foreign Agencies claimed to have conducted an inspection of food in ICRC warehouses and found that “70 per cent of the food stored for distribution was deemed unfit for human consumption.”  The organization also claimed to have set more than 2,000 tons of expired food on fire.

The Red Cross was one of the last international humanitarian organizations permitted to continue operations in regions under the organization’s control.  In November, the Al-Shabab banned 16 aid organizations, including several under the auspices of the United Nations, from continuing their operations.  It asked those that it considered to have “engaged in activities deemed detrimental to the attainment of an Islamic state” to leave.  It claimed, among other allegations, that some groups tried to exaggerate the scale of the situation for political reasons and even attempted to convert Muslims to Christianity.

On January 12, the ICRC decided to suspend distribution to more than 1.1 million people in southern and central Somalia after local armed groups interfered with delivery of food and seeds for farmers.  It continued to provide emergency aid and clean water.  The timing could not have been worse.  Those regions are still in the midst of a massive drought that has created famine conditions for over a year.

In response to the ban, the UN called for Al-Shabab to reconsider, believing that its decision would make conditions worse.

“Over the past couple of months, ICRC distributed food to over one million Somalis in crisis; leaving so many vulnerable Somalis without food will endanger their lives and could also result in pushing a large number of people back into famine, reversing any gains made,” said Mark Bowden, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia. “We appeal to all factions in Somalia to allow humanitarian actors to reach people most in need, wherever they are.”

An aid worker who asked to remain anonymous told IRIN that the best move might be to work with the organization instead of against it.

“They [Al-Shabab] are seeing everything as an attempt to destroy or harm them,” he said.  “Maybe it is time to open channels of communication, preferably by the international community. Surely, if they [the international community] can talk to the Taliban, they can talk to Al-Shabab to save lives.”

On Thursday, possibly in response to Al-Shabab, Turkey and the Turkish Red Crescent sent 5.8 million kilograms of food and other equipment to Somalia.

For more information, please see:

Hiiraan — Turkish Red Crescent Sends Aid to Somalia — 02 February 2012

CNN — Militant Group Kicks Aid Group Out of Regions in Somalia — 31 January 2012

IRIN — Somalia: UN Calls for Access to the Needy — 31 January 2012

Al Jazeera — Al-Shabab Bans Red Cross from Somalia — 30 January 2012

BBC — Somalia’s Al-Shabab Militants Ban Red Cross Aid Work — 30 January 2012

By Tamara Alfred
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Hassan Osman Abdi, 29, was shot outside his home in Mogadishu on Saturday and died on the way to the hospital.  Abdi was the director of Shabelle Media Network and had done some freelance work for CNN, according to the National Union of Somali Journalist (NUSOJ) and Reporters Without Borders.

“This is a terrible tragedy, both for Hassan Osman Abdi’s family and for the Somali journalist community,” said Omar Faruk Osman, secretary general of the NUSOJ.

Abdi is the third Shabelle Media Network director to be murdered, said Reporters Without Borders.  Shabelle Media Network director Bashir Nur Gedi was murdered in 2007, and his successor Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe was killed in 2009.  Local journalists believe that Abdi was likely killed because of his role in reporting on politics and corruption cases.

Abdi’s colleagues and friends told the Associated Press they were too scared to attend his funeral because militants in Somalia have targeted such gatherings in the past.

Journalist Mohamed Bashir Hashi, 23, read a death threat sent to his mobile phone: “If God wills it, you will be the next apostate to be killed.”

“Deciding to stay here is so discouraging,” said Hashi.  “We can’t even pay respects to our fallen colleague since al-Shabaab is threatening us.”

Somalia is the deadliest country in Africa for media personnel, and Mogadishu ranked as one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists in 2011, according to Reporters Without Borders.  In 2009, the Committee to Protect Journalists ranked Somalia as the most dangerous for journalists when nine journalists were killed.

Abdi’s murder was the second targeted killing of a Somali journalist in less than two months.  Abdisalan Sheik Hassan, a journalist with Horn Cable TV, was shot dead in December.

“We trusted the situation would improve but it’s getting worse now.  Nowhere is safe,” said Mu’awiye Ahmed, a producer and photographer at Horn Cable TV.  However, he vowed to continue working: “They can’t prevent me from my work.”

Amnesty International is urging the international community to call on the Somali authorities to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks on journalists.  “The numerous attacks on journalists in Somalia have been part of an attempt to silence reporting about human rights abuses by all parties to the conflict in the country,” said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Director for Africa.

A major international conference on Somalia will take place in London on February 23.  Meanwhile, Somalia’s president strongly condemned the killing of a leading journalist as a “senseless murder,” suggesting that Al-Shabaab may have been responsible.  In a statement, President Sharif Ahmed condemned and expressed grief and sorrow at the murder.  He also urged the public to help the police investigate the killing.

“It has long been the strategy of groups like Al-Shabaab to target public figures in our society with the aim of spreading fear and panic,” said President Ahmed.  “We will not be intimidated or threatened by such odious acts.”

Minister of Information Abdulkadir Hussein Mohamed Jaahweyne called the killing an “outrageous assassination.”  He called Shabelle “one of the most important and pioneering media houses serving the country.”

Shabelle is one of Mogadishu’s most popular radio stations.  It frequently reports on government corruption, abuses by al-Shabaab militants against civilians, and extortion by government troops.

Al-Shabaab appeared to claim responsibility for Abdi’s death, saying on its website that the killing would serve as a “lesson” to other journalists.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Somalia: Journalist killing highlights need for international action on impunity – 30 January 2012

The Washington Post – Fear in Somalia’s journalist community after 2^nd killing in less than 2 months – 30 January 2012

CNN – Somalia president decries journalist killing – 29 January 2012

 

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, SUDAN – Monday signified a potential avoidance of further strife in Sudan.  The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), which captured more than 70 road workers, including 29 Chinese, in South Kordofan on Sunday, vowed to release the remaining Chinese from its custody.

Earlier in the day, 14 Chinese laborers were freed from rebel hands by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).  They were kidnapped when the insurgents attacked a camp in South Kordofan, a state that is rich in oil and the focus of intense fighting with South Sudan.  Those rescued were found in good condition and brought to Al-Obeid, the capital of neighboring North Kordofan, according to the South Kordofan governor.  The SPLM-N took credit for the abduction, which garnered 70 workers and nine members of the SAF.

“I want to assure you right now they are in safe hands,” SPLM-N spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi told Agence France Presse.

The captured laborers, which consisted of Chinese and Sudanese workers, were building a road to connect remote areas according to media in China.  According to the rebels, they were held for their own safety in the aftermath of a battle with the SAF.  They had been caught in crossfire between the two sides.  The organization has also made clear that it has no issue with China or Chinese people.

“The leadership of the [SPLM-N],” a statement said, is “exerting the maximum effort to obtain accurate information from our forces in the field regarding the Chinese who were detained in Southern Kordofan.”

Secretary General Yasir Arman, though uncertain of whether his group had the workers, said that the SPLM-N is in contact with Beijing as part of the effort to secure their release.

The abduction’s report soon became one of the top stories in China.  The two countries are in the midst of emergency discussions.

China has long been a key player in the development of Sudan, buying billions of dollars’ worth of oil from the turbulent sub-Saharan country.  It considers this necessary because Western nations had already secured pipelines in more stable countries.  It also is aggressive in constructing infrastructure here, and in other similarly dangerous nations.  This has proven to be a boon for business, but also has potentially great costs.

According to IHS Global Insight Asia and Pacific analyst Neil Ashdown, Chinese companies sends more of its people to work on projects abroad than Western firms, which has two effects.  One is that the workers’ families tend to join them, creating even more potential peril.  The other is that the insistence on using its own workers runs the risk of alienating local populations.  But the general outcome is one of efficiency and easy business.  Most countries will not attempt projects of this nature in places like Sudan because of the constant strife.

South Kordofan has been near the center of the current strife along the border between Sudan and South Sudan, which became independent in July 2011.  The SPLM-N is allied with South Sudan.  The two countries are currently mired in discussions over how to share profits from oil, and South Sudan has threatened to cut off the supply until an agreement is reached.  The region produces 500,000 barrels of oil per day, according to the New York Times.

For more information, please see:

BBC — China Doubts Sudan Workers Freed in South Kordofan — 30 January 2012

New York Times — Sudan Says It Freed Some Kidnapped Chinese Workers — 30 January 2012

Sudanese Media Center — Haroun: Armed Forces and Security Authorities Liberate 14 of the Kidnapped Chinese Workers — 30 January 2012

Sudan Tribune — Sudan’s Rebels Promise to Release Kidnapped Chinese Workers — 30 January 2012

Sudan Tribune — Sudan Says 14 Chinese Workers Freed in South Kordofan — 30 January 2012

New York Times — Sudan Rebels Are Said to Hold Road Crew from China — 29 January 2012