By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe—Recent reports from the country of Zimbabwe indicate the country’s intent in preparing to hold major constitutional reform in March of this year.

Zimbabwe’s constitutional affairs minister says that a referendum on a new constitution has already been “tentatively” set for March 16, 2013. Following this referendum, the country will partake in elections later in the year to end the country’s current shaky coalition government.

The nearness of this March vote, however, has raised some suspicion among activist groups that Zimbabwe voters will not have enough time to read and become informed on the stances of this new constitution, a document the government has slated for a print run of 90,000 copies for distribution to Zimbabwe’s six million registered voters. This plan was announced at a half day public awareness workshop for members of parliament.

The Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga said, “On my way from Mvurwi (in Mashonaland Central) I learnt that the Office of the President was looking for me. I was then advised through the Minister who stood in for me at that meeting that the principals wanted to convey to me that tentatively the referendum will be held on the 16th of March.”

Matinenga hopes to have a two-day referendum in order to allow people to express their opinions. He commented further saying, “I am trying to gain audience with the powers that be and try to argue with them for a two-day referendum.” He also noted that this draft Constitution would be publicized, for “any document of this nature must be officially publicized.” This explains the 90,000 copies ready for distribution.

However, currently the voting is scheduled for just one day. Advocacy groups expressed concern that such a quick polling period prevents adequate voter education on the new rewritten constitution.

The new document was just completed on February 6, after three years of debates and disputes. Democratic reforms to the constitution were a key demand of the country’s regional mediators after the violent and disputed elections that took place in 2008.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti told members of Parliament that the United Nations had responded to the government’s request for funds in order to finance the referendum and to keep harmonized polls for the vote.

 

For further information, please see:

ABC News – Zimbabwe Sets March 16 Vote Date – 14 February 2013

AllAfrica – Referendum Date Set – 14 February 2013

Fox News – Zimbabwe Sets March 14 For Constitution Referendum Vote – 14 February 2013

TRNS – Zimbabwe and Kenya Brace for Major Elections – 14 February 2013

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Despite a change in administration, Ethiopian officials have renewed criminal charges against the former editor-in-chief of the now-defunct newspaper, Feteh, for allegedly criticizing former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

A judge in the Federal High Court in Addis Ababa revived three charges against Temesghen Desalegn, the former editor-in-chief of Feteh. Desalegn faces charges of defaming the government, false publication of articles, and “outrages against the constitution”.

The original charges relate to various articles published in Feteh between July 2011 and March 2012 before former Prime Minister Zenawi passed away last August, 2012. State prosecutors alleged that the Feteh articles falsely accused the government of interfering in religious affairs and discrimination against certain ethnic groups, and incited violence.

The evidence against Desalegn cited Feteh articles discussing subjects including how Ethiopians should be angry about the Government’s repressive practices; the role of the youth as agents of change and in popular uprisings in Ethiopia and abroad; and the lessons that should be learned from the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.

In the charge, the government cited two articles discussing the peaceful struggles of youth movements for political change in Ethiopia in the wake of the Arab Spring.

In addition, the government made reference to two columns criticizing the killing and imprisonment of student protesters; the massacres of ethnic minorities by government forces; and the ethnic federalism system introduced by the Meles Administration.

Desalegn was arrested on August 1, 2012, a few days after Ethiopian authorities closed the weekly newspaper and blocked the distribution of around 30,000 printed copies that contained conflicting reports on the health of the late prime minister.

With the same month, state prosecutors suspended the original charges against Desalegn without explanation. However, with the revival of the charges, Desalegn is currently facing the same charges he was facing last year.

The next court date is scheduled for March 26, according to local journalists.

Shimeles Kemal, a government spokesman, said that the charges had been renewed based on further incriminating evidence. Kemal offered no additional details.

Ethiopia, a close ally of the United States, has been repeatedly criticized by international human rights groups for legislating broad anti-terrorism legislation to punish critical journalists and opposition groups.

The Ethiopian government has denied all allegations that it is targeting journalists because of their reporting or affiliations with political groups.

However, with seven journalists currently behind bars and 79 that have fled the country, Ethiopia is the second-leading jailer of journalists in Africa after neighboring Eritrea, which has jailed at least 30 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

 

For further information, please see:

Sudan Tribune – CPJ Denounces Politicized Trial of Ethiopian Journalist – 10 February 2013

Committee to Protect Journalists – Charges Renewed Against Ethiopian Journalist Temesghen – 8 February 2013

Amnesty International – Ethiopia: Detention of Editor Signals Continuation of Meles-era Crackdown – 24 August 2012

All Africa – Ethiopia: In Ethiopia, Feteh Editor Jailed During Trial – 23 August 2012

 

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa—South African police today, Sunday, February 10, announced that the “ringleader” of a group of 19 Congolese rebels today faces charges of plotting a war with the goal of unseating the Congolese President, Joseph Kabila.

The ringleader, who the police declined to identify, was arrested on Friday. Captain Paul Ramaloko, a spokesman for the South Africa Police Service said that the leader did not fight the arrest, however, he did not offer any further details. The Captain did mention that, “he cooperated with us.”

The group of 19 individuals, including a United States citizen, also appeared before the South African court to face charges under the Foreign Military Assistance Act with their leader. The group was arrested in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province under the suspicion of running an illegal military operation. A law enforcement official said that they were actually members of the M23 rebels that have been working to overtake parts of Mali’s eastern region. The group members were not asked to enter any pleas, but rather have been ordered to return to court later this week on February 14, 2013.

These 19 individuals were arrested before their “leader” on February 5. South African prosecutors commented that the group believed that they had been on their way to a training camp, where they would learn the tactics they would need in order to wage a full scale war against the Kabila government. What the men did not know was that they were set up. The people that the group of 19 were in touch with were actually undercover police officers.

The rebel suspects asked the undercover officers for thousands of machine guns and grenades as well as missiles, cash, radios and satellite phones. In return, the group offered the officers mining rights in eastern Congo, where mining experts estimate mineral deposits worth trillions of dollars. One of the suspects is James Kazongo, a United States citizen who lives in Middletown, Delaware. He denied the charges against him and has been in contact with the United States Embassy in South Africa.

The arrested “ringleader,” Ramakolo said, is one of the main players in the plot, “in organizing the coup attempt.” He also will be expected to appear in court early this week.

 

For further information, please see:

ABC News – South Africa Police: Congo Rebel Ringleader Arrested – 10 February 2013

Business Day Live – South African Police Arrest Another Suspect in Alleged DRC Coup Plot – 10 February 2013

Calgary Herald – South Africa Police Say ‘Ringleader’ of 19 Congolese Rebels Allegedly Plotting Coup Arrested – 10 February 2013

Mail & Guardian – DRC Rebel Ringleader Arrested in Cape Town – 10 February 2013

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa 

ABUJA, Nigeria – Yesterday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) began investigating a man who allegedly tortured his son.

NHRC Executive Secretary Bem Angwe released a statement condemning the act as “inhuman, barbaric and wicked.”

A month ago, Mr. Christopher Ogbeun, a principal of a local government secondary school in Kogi state, found his son destroying a letter of approval from the West African Examination Council (WAEC) which authorized his school to be a center for regional examinations. Infuriated by what his son had done, he took an electric iron and burnt his 10-year old boy, Stephen.

Meanwhile, the police received a call from other family members asking for help to stop Mr. Ogbeun. When the police arrived at Mr. Ogbeun’s residence, they caught him tying his son’s hands. “If not for the intervention of the Special Ambush Squad, he would have killed the son,” said Mohammed Musa Katsina, the State Commissioner of Police.

During an interview with a local newspaper, Mr. Ogbeun explained, “when I asked him to tell me the truth, he refused, then I used the iron on him. He made me threaten him with the iron which I pressed on him.”

Stephen suffered several high-degree burns and remained in critical condition for weeks.

Since the incident, Mr. Ogbeun has been charged with unlawful detention and attempted murder under Section 325 of the Criminal Code Law Cap C. Vol.2, Laws of Lagos State 2003.

According to Angwe, the NHRC has taken a serious interest in the case hoping to put an end to such acts which he described as “unacceptable in the 21st Century Nigeria.” “The action of the perpetrators of all forms of violence contradicts Section 34 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 which prohibits torture, inhuman and degrading treatment,” said Angwe.

He also told the press that the NHRC is about to hold a stakeholders’ meeting that will look into other issues of domestic violence. Stakeholders in this meeting shall include community leaders, civil society organisations, the academia and faith based organisations, who will collaborate with the NHRC in resolving cases similar to Stephen’s.

In 2003, Nigeria passed the Child Rights Law in compliance with the United Nations Universal Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989, which over 178 countries including Nigeria ratified. The Child Rights Law criminalizes any form of assault and abuse on children. However, although it was passed at the federal level, the law has not been effective in several states in the country. To this date, only 16 out of Nigeria’s 36 states have implemented the law.

 

For further information, please see:

Vanguard – NHRC probes teacher’s torturing of his 10-year-old son – 7 February 2013

All Africa – Nigeria: Stop Crimes Against Children – 29 January 2013

Leadership – Stop Crimes Against Children – 29 January 2013

Nigerian Tribune – Principal inflicts injury on son over WAEC approval letter – 22 January 2013

 

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KANO, Nigeria — At least nine women who were inoculating children against polio have been shot dead in northern Nigeria by gunmen suspected of belonging to the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram.  The attacks took place in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north, where families typically feel more comfortable allowing women inside their homes.

On Friday morning gunmen arrived by three-wheel taxis and opened fire in the Hotoro Hayi neighborhood, killing at least eight female vaccinators.  Four more people were killed in a second attack in the Unguwa Uku neighborhood.

The final death toll remains unclear; however, a Kano police spokesman, Musa Magaji Majia, said the attacks killed nine women who were administering oral drops to children as part of a polio vaccine drive.

Unfortunately, this is not the first strike against polio vaccinators in Kano.  For example, in October police reported that two officers who were involved in guarding an immunization drive were shot and killed.

While officers said there were no immediate suspects for the shootings, witnesses said the Islamist militant group Boko Haram was responsible.  Boko Haram, whose Hausa name is often translated into “Western education is sacrilege/forbidden,” has been behind a series of violent attacks across northern Nigeria.  Boko Haram continues to fight the country’s weak central government as the death toll climbs.

The sect has been blamed for the deaths of some 1,400 people in central and northern Nigeria since 2010.  This includes an attack in Kano in January 2012 that killed at least 185.

The attack on vaccinators highlights the religious tensions surrounding the inoculation of children in one of three nations where polio still remains endemic.  Last year, Nigeria registered 121 new polio infections, more than half of all cases reported around the world, according to data from the World Health Organization.  The other two countries are Pakistan and Afghanistan, where there were 58 polio cases in Pakistan and 37 in Afghanistan in 2012.

Moreover, in the past month, polio workers have also been targeted and killed in Pakistan, where the Taliban have threatened anti-polio efforts.  The Taliban accused health workers of working as U.S. spies and alleging that the vaccine makes children sterile.  These rumors have only grown since it was revealed that a Pakistani doctor helped the CIA discover Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts by maintaining a pretexual polio vaccination program.

For more information, please see:

ABC – Gunmen Kill Nigeria Women Giving Polio Vaccine– 8 February 2013

BBC News – Nigeria Polio Vaccinators Shot Dead in Kano – 8 February 2013

Reuters – Gunmen Kill Nine Polio Health Workers in Nigeria – 8 February 2013

Washington Post – Suspected Islamic Extremists Kill at Least 9 Women Giving Polio Vaccines in Northern Nigeria – 8 February 2013