Impunity Watch: Africa

South African Prosecutors Appeal Zuma Ruling

By Ben Turner
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

JOHANNESBERG, South Africa – The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in South Africa filed an appeal against African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma on September 30. Earlier this month, Judge Chris Nicholson dismissed corruption charges against Zuma and suggested there had been high-level political interference in the case, prompting the ANC to oust President Thabo Mbeki.

Zuma is the frontrunner to be elected president in early 2009, and the ANC, dominated by his supporters, said that the judge’s indication of political tampering justifies the end of the pursuit.

The argument has failed to persuade prosecutors, however, who have spent years investigating the politician. Zuma had been investigated previously for his role in an arms scandal and for his relationship with a financial advisor who was later convicted of fraud.

According to The Times in South Africa, the NPA said it had agreed with Zuma’s lawyers that the judge did not need to rule on the allegations of political interference because Zuma was not basing his application to declare his prosecution invalid on the conspiracy theory.

“At the hearing of this application the parties were agreed that it was not necessary for this court to determine the correctness of the allegations of bad faith. It is undesirable for a court to deliver a judgment with substantial portions containing issues never canvassed by counsel,” the NPA said.

The NPA laid out 16 grounds for appeal, arguing in its papers that the court drew conclusions regarding matters that were not argued before it.

“None of the findings described were issues raised for discussion by the parties,” the appeal papers said. “None of those issues were material to the resolution of the case. This court was accordingly not acting in pursuance of its duty to resolve the dispute between the parties.”

For more information, please see:

The Times (South Africa) - Judge Was Wrong to Attack Mbeki - 1 October 2008

The Times - NPA Appeal Against Ruling (PDF)  - 30 September 2008

Irish Times - Prosecutors File Appeal Zuma Graft Ruling - 30 September 2008

Reuters - South Africa Prosecutors File Appeal in Zuma Graft Case - 30 September 2008

The Times - Judge Nicholson’s Judgment (PDF) - 12 September 2008

Amnesty Calls for Attention on Resurgence in Child Soldier Recruitment and Rape in DRC

By Dahee Nam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, Democratic Republic of Congo - Amnesty International (AI) warns that armed groups are still recruiting child soldiers and sexually abusing women and children in the on-going conflict in North Kivu province, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). AI also reports that children captured by the Democratic Republic of Congo Army who are suspected of being armed fighters are mistreated and tortured while in military custody.

In its new report, North Kivu: No end to the war against women and children, AI reports that government forces “unlawfully detained and in some cases tortured and ill treated captured children, and continue to rape and sexually abuse women and girls.”

According to AI, for every two child soldiers released, five are re-enlisted by the armed forces.  Citing eye witnesses, it says that those who attempt to escape have been killed or tortured, sometimes in front of other children, “as a lesson to all not to try to escape.” 

Rapes are committed in public and in front of family members, with infants and elderly women among the victims. In many cases, the rapes are ethnically motivated or perpetrated to intimidate communities suspected of supporting enemy groups.

Amnesty International emphasized that these abuses are still occurring despite attempts by the government and armed groups to end these atrocities by enacting the "Act of Engagement" signed in January 2008.   

However, on Monday, Defense Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo, Chikez Diemu, challenged the Amnesty report.  He said that he did not know of any reports that the armed forces were re-recruiting child soldiers.  He added that government authorities were taking actions to end the problems, arresting and trying suspects in military courts. 

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International - Armed Groups and Government Forces Continue to Abuse Women and Children in North Kivu – September, 2008

BBC - Congo Blasts Child Soldier Claim - 29 September 2008

Reuters Alert Net - Congo's Children Abducted Back to Battle and Abuse - 29 September  2008

In The News -  Experience "deadly" for Congo's Child Soldiers - 29 September 2008

ICC Prosecutor to Seek Indictment of Sudanese President

By: M. Brandon Maggiore
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Luis Moreno Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), is continuing his efforts to indict Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes despite numerous countries desires to block the indictment. Ocampo will present his case against al-Bashir to judges at the ICC next week.

The BBC’s Arabic Service quotes Ocampo as saying "We found evidence that al-Bashir himself was controlling the attacks on these people who normally live in Darfur."  Ocampo said that the Sudanese Army and pro-government Janjaweed militias have killed and raped civilians. He also said that the attacks are ongoing.

The Sudanese government rejected Ocampo’s claims that there is evidence that al-Bashir was behind attacks on civilians in Darfur province.

The United States and the United Kingdom both say that al-Bashir has backed militias accused of atrocities in Darfur.

Those opposing the indictment include the African Union (AU) and the Arab League, who have stated that indictment should be dropped. Critiques claim that the indictment puts the prospects of peace in Darfur in danger. The AU has requested the UN Security Council to block the indictment. Sudan will address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, the Sudanese Vice President told delegates of the UN General Assembly that Sudan’s government has taken great steps towards peace in Darfur and that an indictment of al-Bashir would undermine the peace process in Darfur.

Al-Bashir's spokesman, Mahfuz Faidul, is quoted by the Associated Press as saying that Sudan is willing to "go further than what most imagine if the United Nations and the Security Council leave us facing the ICC.”  "It will be nothing less than ending all our agreements with the United Nations."

Jean Ping, the AU Chairman, said to the BBC that it was unfair that, thus far, those indicted by the BBC were all African. “It seems that Africa has become a laboratory to test the new international law.”

Over 300,000 people have been killed since fighting in Darfur began in 2003.

For more information, please see:

BBC News - Vow to Pursue Sudan Over 'Crimes' - 27 September 2008

UN News Service - Darfur Peace Hopes Damaged if Sudanese President is Arrested, UN Hears - 26 September 2008

Associated Press - Sudan to Lobby UN to Avert President's Prosecution - 22 September 2008

Impunity Watch - Britain, France Bargain with Bashir Immunity - 25 September 2008

Appeals to Dismissal of Zuma Charges

By Dahee Nam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

JOHANNESBURG, Sough Africa - South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Friday that it will file an appeal with the Supreme Court of Appeal next week.  The appeal will challenge the decision of the High Court to drop charges against Jacob Zuma, leader of African National Congress (ANC). 

Zuma faced charges including money laundering, racketeering, and bribery in a multi-million dollar weapons deal, but the High Court dismissed the charges on technical grounds.  The Court said that the dismissal was not a reflection of Zuma’s innocence but due to the prosecutor’s failure to give a proper notice to Zuma before reinstating the charges against him.  The Court added that there was evidence of high-level political interference.

While ANC claims that this ruling justifies the end of pursuit of Zuma, clearing the path for him to be elected in next year’s presidential election, prosecutors, who have spent years investigating Zuma, dashed their hopes with their decision to file an appeal.

Meanwhile, Thabo Mbeki, who resigned the South African presidency after the court’s indication of political interference, also filed a separate legal challenge against the findings of the Zuma court ruling in the Constitutional Court.   

Mbeki claims that the High Court “ought not to have made findings of and concerning" him "without having afforded him a hearing" and that these findings "constitute a violation of his rights."  He also said that those findings had been widely publicized and were generally taken to be correct by the public, although they are not.  Mbeki added that it is "unfair and unjust" for him to be "judged and condemned" on the basis of the findings in the Zuma matter.  He asks the findings to be set aside.   

While Zuma's lawyers announced that they were challenging Mbeki's appeal, NPA filed papers opposing Mbeki’s Constitutional Court appeal.  NPA claims that Mbeki’s application should not be processed while NPA’s separate appeal on the same judgment was pending in the Supreme Court of Appeal. 

For more information, please see:

Reuters(UK): S.African prosecutors to file Zuma appeal – September 26, 2008

AFP: S. African prosecutors oppose Mbeki's court appeal – September 25, 2008

IOL: NDPP opposes Mbeki’s Con Court appeal – September 26, 2008

News 24: NPA oppose Mbeki appeal – September 26, 2008

Impunity Watch: Charges against Zuma dismissed – September 13, 2008

Somali civilians flee Mogadishu as violence intensifies

By Ted Townsend
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia –  Renewed fighting in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu has left at least eleven civilians dead, with at least forty others wounded.  The fighting was sparked by Islamic militants, who launched a “massive assault” on African Union peacekeepers Wednesday.   Witnesses described the fighting as the heaviest fighting ever between the militants, most from the Al-Shabaab Islamic militia, and the peacekeepers, saying that it “shook the ground beneath our feet.”

The fighting started when Al-Shaabab fighters attacked K4 square, where a great number of Ugandan peacekeepers are stationed.  Though the Ugandan peacekeepers reported no casualties, the civilian population sustained many.   

According to reports, artillery struck near a location where civilians were being sheltered, killing at least four, including a young woman.  Further, a mother and her young children died instantly when a mortar hit their house, as did two neighbors who attempted to assist them by rushing into the house. 

As a result, civilians are fleeing the city in droves, “using every transport available, including donkey carts.”    Many are “so scared to venture out of the camp because AU forces are taking positions all over the area, but . . . have to leave."  One fleeing resident was seen with her three eldest children walking next to her, while another child was on her back, carrying bedding.  When asked, she admitted she did not know where she was going, but just needed to get “somewhere safer.”

Ali Sheik Yasin, of the Elman Human Rights Group acknowledged the need to defend themselves, but recognized the civilian consequences may be dire, stating: "AU peacekeepers say they are defending (themselves), but you can imagine the consequence of them defending themselves with heavy weaponry in populated areas."

For more information, please see:

The Canadian Press – 11 Civilians killed, 40 wounded in renewed fighting in Somali capital – 24 September 2008

CNN– ‘Ground shook as Somali militants attack peacekeepers’ – 24 September 2008

New Vision Online (Uganda)– Somali militants attack UPDF peacekeepers – 22 September 2008

Report Accuses Sudanese Government of Executing Hundreds

By Ben Turner
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

KHARTOUM, Sudan – A Geneva-based human rights organization, Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre (DRDC), has released a report with fresh accusations that the Sudanese government killed at least 500 people in the days following a rebel attack.  The report provides a comprehensive account of the government’s response to the Justice and Equality Movement’s (JEM) May 10 attack on Omdurman, the largest city in Sudan.

On May 10, hundreds of JEM fighters marched into Omdurman and were met by government security forces.  The fighting continued through May 12 and left dozens dead.  According to the DRDC report, at least 500 civilians or presumed JEM members were summarily executed or extra-judicially killed in the three days following the attack. 

The report also said that more than 4000 people were arbitrarily arrested after the Omdurman attacks.  The DRDC said that most of those arrested were civilians with no ties to the rebel movement.

According to the DRDC report, executions continued to be carried out after the three day reprisal.  The report cited the massacre of eight individuals on May 19.  The eight people were arrested in Abu Siid, a residential area of Omdurman where relatives of the detainees found them.  According to the report, the relatives visited with the detainees and then left, returning several hours later to find them shot to death.  The police said the eight individuals were killed in a traffic accident.

The DRDC also accused the government or responding to the JEM attack with “enforced disappearance, inhumane and degrading treatment, ethnic profiling and racial insults and violence, discrimination, incommunicado detention, trial irregularities and judicial oppression, assault on freedom of movement as well as curtailment of freedom of the press and information.”

The Sudanese government denied the allegations and disputed the numbers. 

Sudanese State Minister of Information, Rabie Abdul Atti, said the arrests were necessary to diffuse the atmosphere of insecurity and terror created by the rebels, IRIN reported.

“The arrests were not against Darfuris,” he said. “The security authorities don't arrest anybody due to color or tribe. If there is any arrest, it will be on the grounds of evidence.”

Atti confirmed that hundreds of people were arrested following the attacks, but insisted that 90 percent were immediately released for lack of evidence against them.  Atti claimed that only 50 of those arrested remain in jail and are awaiting trial.  Sudanese courts sentenced 30 men to death for their roles in the attacks.  The trials were criticized for not meeting international standards. 

“Those are the only executions to speak of,” Atti said, “and even they have yet to go through the appeals process and be approved by the president. Anyone who claims to have been tortured in jail can take his case to court.”

The DRDC report follows a June report from Human Rights Watch, titled “Crackdown in Khartoum” which gave another account of the Sudanese government’s response to the JEM attacks. 

For more information, please see:

IRIN – SUDAN: Mounting Criticism Against Govt for Crackdown After Rebel Attack – 23 September 2008

Sudan Tribune – NGO Report Details New Dimensions of Violence After Khartoum Attack – 14 September 2008

Human Rights Watch – Sudan: Account for Civilians Arrested in Khartoum – 17 June 2008

Human Rights Watch – Crackdown in Khartoum – 17 June 2008

Somali Insurgents Shell Mogadishu

By Dahee Nam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Deadly firefight occurred on Friday after insurgents attempted to gun down an African Union (AU) plane which was trying to land in the Mogadishu International Airport.  Reuters, citing witnesses, said the AU plane landed safely, but at least fifteen had died in the following street battle.

The Mogadishu Airport, the main route for goods and supplies for the capital, had been abandoned since Tuesday after the Islamist insurgent group al Shabab issued a threat to shoot down any aircraft trying to land there.  The group claims that the airport is used as a tool of Ethiopia’s occupation of Somalia. 

The AU plane’s successful defiance of the rebel threats provoked firing mortar from the insurgents. Government forces, along with its Ethiopian allies, responded with missiles and mortars. 

Residents said shells hit a group of local teenagers and houses with people inside.  According to an official of the city's main hospital, approximately 50 wounded civilians had been admitted, two of whom including a two-year-old child, later died of their injuries.

However, Barigye Bahoku, a spokesman of AU said, "These mortars will not deter us from doing our job,” according to Associate Press.

Violence in Somalia has killed more than 9,500 civilians and displaced more than 1 million since early 2007, when the Somalia government, backed by Ethiopian troops, tried to topple Islamic forces which had been in control of southern part of the country until early 2006.  The Islamic insurgent groups have refused to participate in the peace keeping process supported by UN. 

For more information, please see:

Reuters: Battles rock Mogadishu, Islamists show strength – September 19, 2008

AP: Somali insurgents aim mortars at peacekeeper plane - – September 19, 2008

BBC (UK): AU plane sparks Mogadishu battle - – September 19, 2008

AFP: Nine civilians killed in Mogadishu mortar battle: witnesses – September 19, 2008

Zimbabwe negotiations deadlocked

By Ted Townsend
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe –  Power-sharing talks in Zimbabwe stalled late Thursday, as Robert Mugabe staunchly insisted that he remain in charge of many key ministries, including controlling the nations security forces.  According to Nelson Chamisa, negotiator for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (“MDC”), the negotiators “came to the table with instructions from their principals and there was no shift on the part of Zanu-PF.”

Chamisa further added that the MDC was looking for a true “genuine inclusive power-sharing” deal, which would involve give and take on the side of each party.  However, Zanu-PF “is coming into the negotiations with a take, take and take mentality.”

Mugabe is seeking control of not only the security forces, but also the finance, foreign affairs, information, mines, land, agriculture and justice.  These appointments would allow Mugabe to control the economy and all decision-making bureaus in charge of prosecuting alleged human rights violators within the government.

For its part, the MDC has assured the Mugabe camp that those in charge of the police and military will not face criminal charges for their part in the bloody campaign that followed the disputed June 27th presidential election.  However, the opposition does not want to relinquish full control of the security forces, believing a degree of autonomy for civil service workers from Mugabe’s “enforcers” will allow them to gain the courage to speak out.

Despite the setback, there is widespread belief that the power sharing deal will provide hope for a nation that has been under the autocrat Mugabe since the early 1980’s.  Despite the lack of a deal, negotiations will continue until the two sides can “carve out a deal.”

For more information, please see:

New York Times – Zimbabwe Power-Sharing Deal Deadlocks – 18 September 2008

AFP – Zimbabwe cabinet posts still deadlocked: opposition – 19 September 2008

International Herald Tribune– Hope in Zimbabwe, or will things fall apart? – 19 September 2008

Union Leaders Detained, Protest Blocked in Swaziland

By Ben Turner
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

MBABANE, Swaziland – Police in Swaziland detained union leaders and blocked a planned pre-election protest promoting democratic reform on September 18.  Swaziland is one of the world’s last absolute monarchies.  Swazi authorizes said the protest could have caused anarchy the day before the parliamentary elections. 

Police pulled would be protestors from buses and cars at a roadblock.  They took union leaders into vans and sent others back to Mbabane, the Swazi capital.  The protest was planned for a post on the border with South Africa.  About 200 people demonstrated on the South African side.  AFP reported that one placard that protesters held read "Mswati stop abusing culture for your personal and sexual needs."

Jan Sithole, the general secretary of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, called Reuters after being taken away with other union leaders.

"We are at Piggs Peak prison inside the back of a van and don't know why," Sithole said.  "This is detention without trial and execution of an unlawful order," he said.  There was no immediate comment from police.

Before the planned protest, which would have blockaded the border crossing, Swazi spokesman Percy Simeland said the protest was illegal.

“No one is allowed to wake up in the morning and go and close borders leading to another country, not even the government is allowed to do that,” Simeland told the BBC.

Swaziland I ruled by King Mswati III.  He ascended the throne at age 18 and holds a tight control of the country.  King Mswati appoints the prime minister, legislature and judiciary.  Swaziland is one of the poorest countries in Africa and has one of the world’s highest HIV rights.  Some have blamed the king’s extravagant lifestyle for draining Swaziland’s finances.

Mswati, listed by Forbes magazine as the 15th richest monarch in the world, remains popular among his subjects but there is rising discontent over his lifestyle and refusal to adopt democratic reforms and to tackle social problems.  The dissatisfaction boiled over into rare violent protests earlier this month when demonstrators stoned shops, looted a market and set off an explosion that damaged a bus.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Swazi Police Stop Protesters From Reaching Anti-Vote Demo – 18 September 2008

BBC – Police Hold Swazi Poll Protesters – 18 September 2008

Reuters – Swaziland Union Leaders Detained, Protest Blocked – 18 September 2008

VOA – Swaziland Police Brlock Protest, Detain Union Leaders – 18 September 2008

UPDATE: Uganda to Deploy More Troops As Attacks Increase

KAMPALA, Uganda – After Islamic insurgents killed two Ugandan soldiers in Somalia, the Ugandan military is planning to replace the 1600 peacekeeping soldiers currently in Somalia with a new contingent.  A spokesman for the Ugandan People’s Defense Force, Major Paddy Ankunda, said the new contingent has completed its training and will be deployed “soon,” Xinhua reported.

Akunda stressed that the troop replacement was not in response to the recent attacks but being done in compliance with UN peacekeeping regulations.  Akunda said that a peacekeeping force in operation must be withdrawn after six months and replaced with another force. 

For more information, please see:

China View – Uganda to Deploy Fresh Troops in Somalia Amidst Increased Attacks – 15 September 2008

UG Pulse – Uganda to Deploy Fresh Troops in Somalia – 14 September 2008