By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

PRETORIA, South Africa – An orphanage worker in South Africa has been charged after 20 young children were rushed to hospital with symptoms of poisoning, police say.

The children are mostly Aids orphans living in the Malerato Centre for Hope in Mamelodi township outside Pretoria.

Children at the Centre complained of stomach ache shortly after lunch on Thursday, according to police spokesman Tsekiso Mofokeng.

“Twenty kids were admitted,” he said.

“A woman 35 years of age was arrested on suspicion of poisoning and charged with assault with the intent of causing grievous bodily harm,” he told AFP.

The children are reported to have consumed the poison in powder form with their lunch. After they complained of stomach pain, they started crying and vomiting.

Two of the children were in a critical condition with one being airlifted to Johannesburg hospital and the other rushed to Steve Biko hospital in Pretoria.

Eighteen others were rushed to various hospitals. Eight of the children have since been discharged from the hospital.

The Centre houses 42 abandoned children, as well as orphans, whose parents died from AIDS, according to South Africa’s Sunday Times.

The orphanage’s principal, Johanna Mashapa, told local media the children had been given powder.

“We were so worried. They were vomiting and crying. They had runny stomachs and were so sick,” she told South Africa’s Sunday Times.

Government inspectors were sent to the orphanage to investigate.

Staff at Malerato Centre for Hope orphanage was taken for forensic testing.

For more information, please visit:

BBC News – South Africa orphanage worker charged in poisoning – 10 November 2013
The China Post – Suspected poisoning at an orphanage hospitalizes 20 – 10 November 2013
Yahoo! News – S. Africa Orphanage worker held after suspected poisoning – 10 November 2013
msn news – Twenty orphans poisoned in Sth Africa – 10 November 2013
sabc – Woman to appear in court for child poisoning – 10 November 2013
france 24 – Orphanage worker held after suspected poisoning in S. Africa – 10 November 2013

By Erica Smith
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo–  The rebel group, M23, announced on Tuesday that it is ending its insurgency in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  The announcement came just hours after the government claimed military victory over the group. It its statement, made on the group’s Facebook page, M23 claimed that it would seek to accomplish its aims through “purely political means”. The group also urged its fighters to disarm and demobilize.

M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa announced that “the chief of general staff and the commanders of all major units are requested to prepare troops for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration on terms to be agreed with the government of Congo”.

The government claims that the last remaining rebels had either been capture or fled to neighboring countries overnight.  The announcement also comes after an agreement signed by African leaders for M23 to make a public declaration renouncing the rebellion.

M23 has been has been fighting with the DRC military since April 2012. The group is primarily made up of former military members who defected because they believed the government did not honor a peace agreement with the National Congress for the Defense of the People signed March 23 2009. The primarily  Tutsi groups is widely believed to be back by Rwanda and Uganda.

At least 800,000 people have fled their homes since the fighting began but many may not be able to return home because there are still other rebel groups active in Eastern Congo. “We now speak to other armed groups to surrender because if they don’t want to, then we will disarm them by force,” Army spokesman Colonel Olivier Hamuli told the BBC. The Information Minister Lambert Mende told AFP news agency that “There is no more place in our country for any irregular group”

The M23 has now been replaced at “top of the list” by the Rwandan Hutu FDLR militia. Rwanda has invaded DRC twice claiming it wanted to stop Hutu groups, such as the FDLR, from attacking it. Analysts believe that if the FDLR were defeated, Rwanda would lose its main justification for its involvement in Congolese affairs. Both Rwanda and Uganda deny aiding rebel groups in DRC.

M23 is set to sign a peace agreement with the DRC government on Monday.

For further information, please see:

Reuters — Congo says to sign peace deal with M23 rebels on Monday — 8 November 2013

Wall Street Journal — Congo M23 Rebels Set to Sign Peace Deal With Government — 9 November 2013

Christian Science Monitor — M23 surrender alone won’t end Congo war: 7 thoughts from US envoy — 7 November 2013

ABC News — Official: M23 Chief, Rebels Surrender to Uganda — 6 November 2013

Aljazeera — DR Congo army defeats M23 rebels — 6 November 2013

BBC News — DR Congo M23 rebels ‘end insurgency’ — 5 November 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda – A Rwandan refugee was forcibly returned to Rwanda by Ugandan police after he went missing for six days. The refugee, Joel Mutabazi, is now in police custody in Rwanda in an undisclosed location.

Mutabazi had been living in a “safe house” under Ugandan police protection before going missing.

Uganda’s conduct is a violation of Mutabazi’s refugee status and raises concerns about Mutabazi’s safety in Rwanda.

Mutabazi has survived an abduction in Uganda, as well as an assassination attempt, in which both cases the perpetrators were unknown. The Ugandan police were aware of these incidents and agreed to provide him with 24-hour security protection.

Ugandan authorities say they are investigating the incident and have suspended the Ugandan officer who arrested Mutabazi and erroneously handed him over to Rwandan authorities.

An Ugandan representative for the United Nations refugee agency, Mohammed Adar, said that Mutabazi’s case was not subjected to judicial review before he was handed over to Rwandan authorities.

“We don’t understand how he managed to get out of the country and how he was handed over to the Rwandan government,” he said. “He survived two attempts in the past to take him back to his country . . . We are concerned about his safety.”

Rwandan police are holding Mutabazi in an undisclosed location after he was arrested by Ugandan police and handed over to Rwandan authorities. The Human Rights Watch is concerned he will receive an unfair trial like “other alleged criminal suspects whom the government accused of having links with the opposition.”

Rwandan officials have previously said that Mutabazi, a Rwandan army lieutenant who served President Paul Kagame’s security detail before defecting, was wanted back home over alleged robbery charges. He is accused of robbing a bank in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, more than two years ago.

They also claim Mutabazi is accused of terrorism and was the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by Rwanda. But the Ugandan government statements admits that handing Mutabazi to Rwanda without court proceedings is contrary to “established legal procedure” and the “Police Code of Conduct.”

“The Ugandan police have utterly failed to protect this refugee, who was clearly at serious risk,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director. “It’s unconscionable that they handed him over summarily to the police force of the country whose persecution he fled.”

Human Rights Watch says that Ugandan authorities should immediately put in place effective measures to protect Rwandan refugees and asylum seekers, particularly those whose security is at risk. The Ugandan authorities urgent should complete the investigation they have announced into Mutabazi’s handover to Rwanda and publish its findings without delay.

Further, Human Rights Watch states that Mutabazi should be transferred back to Uganda and subject to a formal extradition procedure in a Ugandan court, including consideration of the human rights implications of the transfer and his refugee status.

Many journalists and former civilian and military officials have fled Rwanda, alleging persecution. In the most prominent case, Gen. Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a Rwandan army chief who once was a close Kagame ally, defected to South Africa in 2010 and later accused Rwanda’s government of ordering a failed attempt to assassinate him. Rwanda denied the allegations.

For more information, please visit:

Human Rights Watch – Uganda/Rwanda: Forcible Return Raises Grave Concerns – 4 November 2013
allAfrica – Uganda/Rwanda – Forcible Return Raises Grave Concerns – Rwandan Government Should Ensure Returnee’s Safety, Fair Trial – 4 November 2013
Topix – Uganda/Rwanda: Forcible Return Raises Grave Concerns – 4 November 2013
Zimbio – Uganda/Rwanda: Forcible Return Raises Grave Concerns – 4 November 2013
azfamily.com – Rwandan in Uganda sent home despite safety fears – 5 November 2013
abc News – Rwandan in Uganda Sent Home Despite Safety Fears – 5 November 2013
St. Louis Today – Rwandan in Uganda sent home despite safety fears – 5 November 2013
SRN News – Rwandan in Uganda sent home despite safety fears – 5 November 2013

 

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

NIAMEY, Niger – Officials in Niger have arrested 127 migrants as they attempted to cross the Sahara into Algeria.

Niger lies on a major migrant route between sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.

The migrants were reportedly caught as they were leaving the northern town of Arlit before dawn in five vehicles.

The migrants, mostly men, with some women and few children, are believed to be from Nigeria and Niger.

This arrest comes after 92 migrants were found to have died of thirst after two trucks broke down carrying them across the Sahara.

The government announced on Friday a plan to close illegal camps in Northern Niger, which are referred to as “ghettos,” and said those involved in trafficking migrants would be “severely punished.”

Niger has said that migrants found in illegal camps will be handed over to international aid agencies.

On Wednesday, bodies of 52 children, 33 women, and 7 men were found dead after an attempt to cross the Sahara. The country has been holding three days of mourning over the bodies. Another 5 from the same convoy had been found several days earlier by the army.

The government has said in its statement on Friday that the tragedy was the result of criminal activities led by all types of trafficking networks.

About 5,000 African migrants are said to be currently stranded in illegal camps in the northern town of Agadez, alone.

Most of the migrants have paid large sums of money to be moved. They are waiting to cross the hundreds of kilometers of desert into Libya or Algeria, from where they can take boats to Europe in hope of a better life.

Many people emigrate to flee poverty in Niger, ranked by the United Nations as the least developed country on earth. Some work in neighboring Libya and Algeria to save money before returning home.

More than 32,000 people have arrived in southern Europe from Africa so far last year.

More than 500 are believed to have died in two shipwrecks off southern Italy this month.

For more information, please visit:

BBC News – Sahara deaths: Niger ‘arrests’ 127 departing migrants – 2 November 2013
Librepensa – Sahara deaths: Niger ‘arrests’ 127 departing migrants – 2 November 2013
Wordpress – Sahara deaths: Niger ‘arrests’ 127 departing migrants – 2 November 2013
Bangalore Wishesh – Niger arrests 150 migrants in crackdown after Sahara deaths – Daily News & Analysis – 2 November 2013
The Herald Scotland – 127 migrants arrested as they tried to cross the deadly Sahara – 3 November 2013

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

DAKAR, Senegal – Human Rights Watch has released a report stating that thousands of patients in Senegal suffer from excruciating pain every year without any type of relief.  The reason is due to unnecessarily restrictive government regulations and poor training for healthcare workers, which impede their effective medical treatment.

Patients are in need of pain relief to reduce suffering from prolonged illnesses, like cancer, but only a few hundred have access to medications, such as morphine.

Human Rights Watch says each year 70,000 people need this pain relief and that Senegal needs to integrate palliative care measures into its regular health care system.

This came from HRW’s 85-page report titled, “Abandoned in Agony: Cancer and the Struggle for Pain Treatment in Senegal.”

Morphine is an essential and inexpensive medication for treatment of severe pain, but Senegal only imports about one kilogram of morphine each year – enough to treat only 200 cancer patients. HRW also found that morphine is unavailable outside of Dakar, Senegal’s capital.

Frequent shortages limit access to the medication in the capital as well.

The reports also explain that an estimated 80 percent of patients with advanced HIV suffer from moderate to severe pain throughout the course of their illness.

Worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) claims that approximately 80 percent of people have no or insufficient access to treatment for such pain.

“Many thousands of cancer patients and other Senegalese suffer unnecessary agony because they can’t get morphine to treat their pain,” said Angela Chung, health and human rights fellow at Human Rights Watch.

“Senegalese officials should ask themselves whether they would want their own parents or children – or themselves – to suffer such pain when there is a cheap and effective way to relieve it.”

The Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance says the situation is particularly bad in sub-Saharan Arica, where only six countries – South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Swaziland – have made palliative care programs part of their national health plans.

“Palliative care in Senegal, and a lot of sub-Saharan countries in general, is very poorly developed because it’s not seen as a priority,” Chung said. “I think people might erroneously assume that cancer is something you get in a developed country, but it’s actually a huge problem in Africa and it’s increasing every year.”

People suffering from disease must often travel as much as 10 to 15 hours just for some pain relief.

HRW interviewed more than 170 patients, family members, medical personnel, and officials about the problem. Many patients, however, said they were in too much pain even to be interviewed.

“I am in pain 24 hours a day,” said a 47-year-old man in Dakar who has prostate cancer and suffers during morphine shortages.

“You cannot believe the pain I have all over my body. It is in my bones. I cannot have a real life without my medication. I try to bear the pain for 2 or 3 days, and when I cannot handle it I will take one pill . . . I went to all the pharmacies and they do not sell it.”

For more information, please visit: 

Human Rights Watch – Senegal: Thousands Urgently Need Pain Relief – 24 October 2013
Tolerance – Senegal: Thousands Urgently Need Pain Relief – 24 October 2013
Leuk Senegal – Senegal: Thousands Urgently Need Pain Relief – 70,000 a Year Suffer Torment for Lack of Treatment – 25 October 2013
RSS Pump News – Senegal – Thousands Urgently Need Pain Relief – 70000 a Year Suffer Torment – 24 October 2013
My Legal Right – Senegal: Thousands Urgently Need Pain Relief – 24 October 2013
allAfrica – Senegal: Rights Group Presses for Chronic Pain Care in Senegal – 25 October 2013