Africa

Amid Unrest, Gabon Election Result Finally Released

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

LIBREVILLE, Gabon – Ali Ben Bongo, the eldest son of former President Omar Bongo, was declared the new President of Gabon, extending the family’s 41-year reign.

Ben Bongo was up for election against Andre Mba Obame and Pierre Mamboundou.  Bongo was considered the heavy favorite because of the wealth and power that his family accumulated during his father’s time in power.

Since a young age Bongo has been involved in politics.  His father brought him into the country’s government as the foreign minister and his most recent position was as the defense minister, controlling the country’s army.

This week was tense as they all awaited the results.  After the election each of the three candidates had declared himself the winner.  Although the election was held on Sunday it was not until today that the actual results were released and Bongo was declared the winner.  The length of time between the election and the results led many to believe that the vote was rigged.  Bongo won with 47% of the vote, a considerably smaller margin of victory than those his father declared.

“If this man was elected fairly, would this city be dead like this?  Where are the crowds in joy?” Frederic Zomo asked.

This is no more than a military coup d’etat.  They have trampled democracy.  These results are false,” said Patrick Pambo.

Adelie Mengue called it “an electoral hold-up, a masquerade.”

According to Mamboundou, “It’s not just a possibility of fraud.  It’s fraud pure and simple.  The Gabonese people do not want a dynasty.  Forty-two years of President Bongo is enough.  They want change.”

Activists in support of the opposition have been causing disturbances since the election, breaking into a prison and freeing hundreds of inmates from Port Gentil.  They also looted shops and attacked journalists.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the Gabonese people to be calm and restraint and to avoid disturbances so that tensions do not escalate.

“The Secretary General urges all the presidential candidates and their supporters to resolve any electoral grievances through legal and institutional channels, and calls for any such complaints to be reviewed and adjudicated in a fair and transparent manner.  He calls on the Gabonese political leaders to refrain from any action which could jeopardize the peaceful conclusion of the electoral process.”

For more information, please see:

AP – Unrest as Dictator’s Son Declared Winner in Gabon – 03 September 2009

BBC – Bongo Wins Disputed Gabon Ballot – 03 September 2009

CJP – Gabonese Media Under Attack Since Election – 03 September 2009

Forbes – Protesters Dispersed, Gabon Election Result Blocked – 03 September 2009

NY Times – Son of Late Gabon Leader Declared Winner in Vote – 03 September 2009

Reuters – Unrest in Gabon as Bongo Poll Win Disputed – 03 September 2009

UN News Service – Secretary-General Urges Calm Amid Reports of Post-Election Clashes in Gabon – 03 September 2009

Human Rights Watch Issues Report on Zimbabwe’s Inability to Implement Reforms

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Zimbabwe – Human Rights Watch has issued a report declaring that South African leaders need to press Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government to end the ongoing human rights violations and to implement legal reforms.

This report, titled “False Dawn: The Zimbabwe Power-Sharing Government’s Failure to Deliver Human Rights Improvements,” focuses on the new government’s lack of progress in the many areas of human rights where reform is needed.

More than six months after the formation of a transitional, power-sharing government in Zimbabwe between the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), there has been little progress in instituting any promised human rights reforms and in demonstrating respect for the rule of law.

Human Rights Watch reports that his transitional government has demonstrated a lack of political will to create change. Police, prosecuting authorities, and court officials who are aligned with ZANU-PF continue to conduct politically motivated prosecutions of MDC legislators and activists.  MDC is the former opposition party and is now a partner in the government.

Local sources say that President Zuma, who was inaugurated six months ago, has failed to satisfy the expectations of both the public and the politicians alike because no agreements have been reached from the negotiations between President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and the two MDC’s led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara.

“Southern African leaders should stop looking at Zimbabwe through rose-colored glasses…The region’s leaders need to press Zimbabwe openly and publicly for human rights reforms to prevent the country from backsliding into state-sponsored violence and chaos,” said Georgette Gagnon, the Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In order to fulfill the demands of human rights groups, heads of state from members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are holding a summit meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on September 7th, 2009.  At the summit meeting they are exptected to assess Zimbabwe’s compliance with a number of rulings by the SADC Tribunal on illegal actions.  President Zuma of South Africa, SADC’s current chairman, is also expected to update leaders on the progress made by the power-sharing government.

“Without these necessary changes, Zimbabwe’s inclusive government will continue to be built on sand,” says Gagnon.

The HWR report recommends a range of fundamental reforms that the power-sharing government should undertake to improve the human rights situation in Zimbabwe.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – False Dawn: The Zimbabwe Power-Sharing Government’s Failure to Deliver Human Rights Improvements – 31 August 2009

Reuters – SADC: Press Zimbabwe to Implement Human Rights Reforms – 31 August 2009

The Zimbabwe Times – Mutambara is Correct on Zuma’s Role – 31 August 2009

Civilian Peacekeepers Kidnapped in Darfur

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

DARFUR, Sudan – Two civilians working with the joint UN-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping mission in Darfur went missing after a raid on their residences.  Sources say they were kidnapped at gunpoint.

Noureddine Menzi, a spokesman for the United Nations-African Union (UNAU) peacekeeping forces, said that early Saturday morning a gunmen stormed into the town of Zalingei and seized a man and a woman.  He says this is the first kidnapping of staff members who work for the peacekeeping force.  The nationality of the hostages or there captors is still yet to be verified, although sources close to the case say the man was Nigerian and the woman was a Zimbabwean.

Abdel Wahid al-Nur, the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), lives in Zalingei.  SLM is one of Darfur’s main rebel groups responsible for contributing to the violence in the region.  Al-Nur, criticized the kidnapping and also denied that the SLM was involved in any way.  He said it showed the weakness of the peacekeeping mission.

The UN-AU force has contacted the kidnappers, and the outgoing political chief, Rodolphe Adada, has appealed for the release of the captives.   Sources say that Adada had previously angered Western diplomats by calling the situation in Darfur, “a low-intensity conflict.”

Human rights groups describe the situation in Darfur as genocide.  The UN puts the death toll up to 300,000 over the six years of fighting between rebel groups and government forces.  Clashes between rival ethnic groups break out frequently in Sudan, and the UN says at least 1,000 people have been killed in the wake of inter-tribal violence this year alone.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Darfur Peacekeepers Say 2 Civilians Kidnapped – 29 August 2009

AP – Darfur Peacekeepers Say 2 Civilians Kidnapped – 29 August 2009

BBC – Two Peacekeepers Seized in Sudan – 29 August 2009

VOA – Peacekeepers Kidnapped in Sudan – 29 August 2009

Sweet Sixteen Marriages in Malawi Protested

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

LILONGWE, Malawi – A bill that was recently passed in the Malawi legislature allows 16 year olds to marry with parental consent.  Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika is facing pressure from civil society groups to scrap the bill.

Parliament amended the Constitution.  This new legislation is an improvement on the law it replaced which allowed oarental consent to marriage at the age of 15.  Clause 9 in the Constitution (Amendment) Bill passed with over two-thirds support, although some Members of Parliament (MPs) from both the support and the opposition voted against it before it went through.

Article I of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Children defines the word “child” as “every human being below the age of 18.”  Activists are calling for the minimum age to be raised to 18 while some MPs asked the Minister of Justice to consider changing the marriage age to 18 or even 21.

MP Lifred Nawena said marriage at 16 goes against the government policy of youth education.  MP Chimango Mughogho said marriage requires girls to give birth and they are not mature enough at 16.

Minister of Justice Peter Mutharika, however, sees the increase in age as a positive.  He will not take a position on the matter saying only that Malawians should decide together how to move forward.

“Eighteen would be fine but 21 might be too old.  We could say 18 with parental consent or 21 without, but that is a matter of policy,” he said.  “Let the people and all the stakeholders, including boys and girls, debate the issue and agree on whether the marriage age should be 18, 21, or 25 as some people are proposing.  After the consensus, the matter will go back to parliament.”

People interviewed after the vote all agree that Parliament could have raised the age to 18 and that it would have been the appropriate age, as it is the minimum age when one can vote and make one’s own decisions.

Gender and children’s rights activists have called on the country’s leadership to protect and ensure girls’ rights not to marry so young to protect them from maternal death.  MacBain Mkandawire, Executive Director of NGO Youth Net and Counseling, says mental and physical health will be sacrificed if allowed to marry at 16.

Marriage at 16 is contrary to the government’s policy to educate the youth and reduce maternal deaths.

For more information, please see:

Angola Press – Protests at Proposed Law Backing Sweet 16 Marriages – 29 August 2009

Catholic Information Service for Africa – Malawi: Protests at Proposed Law Backing Sweet 16 Marriages – 28 August 2009

Daily Times – Law Commission Defends Marriage Age – 26 August 2009

Africa News – Malawi: Marriage Age Pegged at 16 – 03 August 2009

Update: Trial for Charles Taylor Still in Progress

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Charles Taylor claimed in court this week that he had the international community’s approval to grant Sam Bockarie’s political asylum in 1999.  He also claimed that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders decided unanimously that Bockarie’s political asylum in Liberia would be the best for Sierra Leone’s peace process.

“Bockarie did not voluntarily leave Sierra Leone.  ECOWAS extracted Bockarie from Sierra Leone.  That’s how he left.  He did not leave Sierra Leone voluntarily.  He came to Liberia in December of 1999.  People did not know the inside story.  But this is what happened.  It was an ECOWAS extraction, they took him out of Sierra Leone, he had no choice,” Taylor testified.

Among Taylor’s claims the United States government is said to have made an agreement to provide military training and scholarship for Bockarie during his asylum.  Taylor said he was surprised when the United Nations and the United States opposed Bockarie being in Liberia.

Taylor said once Bockarie and his men got Liberian citizenship he recruited them to join his Anti Terrorist Unit (ATU).  The ATU was an elite security force that protected Taylor and was headed by his son, Chuckie Taylor, who was convicted of crimes of torture committed in Liberia.

In regard to military and financial support that Taylor allegedly gave to Sierra Leonean rebels in exchange for diamonds, he contends that the expert who testified was unfairly biased against him.  Taylor said that Ian Smillie had previously accused him of diamond-for-arms trade when he was appointed an expert by the UN Secretary General.  Taylor said questions to the Secretary General regarding Smillie’s appointment went unanswered.

“I had concerns about pople who had made allegations against Liberia being on the panel.  You have already prejudiced the report by doing that,” he said.

Taylor called the 2000 UN Expert Panel Report “disgraceful” and said it was full of “disinformation,” maintaining that the report is biased.

Today is the fourth day Taylor has been responding to allegations made against him in that report.

For more information, please see:

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – United Nations Panel is at the Heart of Case Against Taylor, he says – 26 August 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Charles Taylor Dismisses United Nations Report on Sierra Leone as ‘Disgraceful’ – 25 August 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Taylor Says UN Report on Diamonds and Guns was Biased Against Him; CIA Helped his Rebel Group – 24 August 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – International Community Sanctioned RUF Commander Sam Bockarie’s Relocation to Liberia; ECOWAS Leaders Changed Rebel Leadership in Sierra Leone, Not Taylor Acting Alone – 23 August 2009