News round up – Earthquake, Eid, swearing in, Africa-EU trade deal, Boko Haram, Dirty Fuel

Media

As the week rounds up, we bring you a summary of our major news stories for this week. Helping you catch up with the big stories that we covered.

Monday, September 12 – Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan

The news week started on the back of a deadly earthquake that hit Tanzania. But more importantly, Monday was the Eid-ul-Fitr day. Muslims the world over congregated to pray and offer sacrifices.

Issues of corruption and abuse of power also made the headlines as a US-based group The Sentry released a report on how South Sudanese leaders were benefiting from the political chaos in the country. The government has since rubbished the article and

SEE MORE Full list of Africanews stories, September 12

Tuesday, September 13 – Zambia, Somalia, UN Human Rights report

After the main opposition in Zambia failed in a last ditch attempt to freeze the swearing in of president Lungu, the event was held at the Heroes Stadium in the capital Lusaka. Lungu was sworn in in the presence of African leaders.

East African leaders under the banner of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) meet in Somalia for the 28th extra ordinary summit of heads of state and government.

The one-day meeting takes place in the capital Mogadishu. This is the first meeting to be held in Somalia since the grouping was founded three decades ago. At the end, leaders agreed to help Somalia in its upcoming electoral process and to ramp up the war against al-Shabab militants.

The United Nations Human Rights chief also released a report which lauded Congo Republic for openness to human rights investigators but also urged Mozambique, Ethiopia and Gambia to be more open on similar grounds.

SEE MORE Full list of Africanews stories, September 13

Wednesday, September 14 – Africa-EU trade agreement, AU observers in Gabon, Boko Haram Eid video

The news about six Africa countries being granted duty-free access to EU markets dominated the headlines of Wednesday.

The six countries belong in the South African Development Community (SADC) and their access was after EU Parliament’s approval of their Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho can now export their products under this agreement while South Africa gets improved market access, the European Parliament said in a statement.

Other top news headlines were on Gabon, where after the filing of a petition challenging the reelection of incumbent Ali Bongo by the opposition, the African union (AU) finally announced that it was going to send observers to participate in the court hearing.

Boko Haram also released a video, one month after the last one on the abducted Chibok girls. In the said video released two days after the Eid-ul-Adha celebration on Monday, Boko Haram insurgents were shown offering their prayers in a mosque and two other locations in the Sambisa forest.

A spokesman who addressed the worshippers on behalf of Abubakar Shekau threatened that the group were ready to unleash more attacks in Nigeria and also capture the sitting president and leader of ‘infidels’ – Muhammadu Buhari – alive.

In other news, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Uganda’s government of taking the country towards ‘electoral dictatorship,’ after activists who were protesting scrap on age limits for top officials were arrested by police at the parliament.

SEE MORE Full list of Africanews stories, September 14

Thursday, September 15 – Dirty Europe fuel for Africa, DRC, Ivory Coast, Kenya-Somalia

A report dubbed dirty diesel released on Thursday indicated that commodity-trading firms in Switzerland have been taking advantage of weak fuel standards in Africa to produce, deliver and sell diesel and gasoline.

The Swiss-based group, ‘Public Eye, added that the fuel which contains high levels of sulphur as well as other toxic substances is said to have an impact on peoples health. West Africa was the most targetted.

Amnesty International also published a report on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) particularly decrying the moves by incumbent Joseph Kabila to stay in power beyond his constitutionally mandated tenure.

Amnesty accused the government of further labeling opposition parties as insurectional groups in order to jail their members. They also touched on the political dialogue which is ongoing but has been suffering setbacks in the recent weeks.

Still on rights issues, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Kenyan government of intimidating Somali refugees living in the Dabaab camp to repatriate leaving them no choice than to return in fear.

A report released by HRW on Wednesday said some of the 263,000 refugees in the camp say they have agreed to return home because they fear Kenya will force them out if they stay.

SEE MORE Full list of Africanews stories, September 15