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Uganda opposition figure detained after his driver is slain

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A prominent opposition figure in Uganda has been detained following violent clashes Monday night that allegedly started when President Yoweri Museveni’s motorcade was pelted with stones, a military official said Tuesday.

Lawmaker Kyagulanyi Ssentamu was held overnight in the northwestern town of Arua, where he and other politicians, including Museveni, had been campaigning for a lawmaker, said Capt. Jimmy Omara, a spokesman for the Special Forces Command.

Ssentamu, a popular pop singer in his 30s who was elected to the National Assembly last year, has emerged as a powerful voice with his calls for young people to “stand up” and take over this East African country from what he says is the current government’s failed leadership. Many of his followers are urging him to run in the next presidential election in 2021.

Lawmaker Allan Ssewanyana, a close ally, said he was concerned for his colleague after being unable to reach him by phone. Some journalists, including two reporters for local broadcaster NTV, have also been detained.

Ssentamu said on Twitter on Monday night that his driver was shot dead by the police “thinking they’ve shot at me.” He posted a photo of a bloodied man slumped in his car seat.

Read Also: How a failed plot by Nigeria’s secret police vigorously shook the Buhari Presidency

Police spokesman Emilian Kayima said an unidentified man had been killed as security forces tried to “calm down the situation” after Museveni’s convoy came under attack from opposition supporters throwing stones.

Maria Burnett of Human Rights Watch urged authorities to investigate and “arrest those responsible, no matter who they are.”

The election in Arua is being held because the area’s member of parliament was shot dead near the capital, Kampala, earlier this year.

That killing, and many others of prominent people in recent times, remains unsolved. Uganda is experiencing a spike in gun attacks often blamed on unidentified assailants.
Museveni, a key U.S. security ally, took power by force in 1986 and has since won election four times. The last vote in 2016 was marred by allegations of fraud.

Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of power since independence from Britain in 1962.

Credit: Associated Press

Politics

South Sudan’s finance minister Bak Barnaba Chol fired

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President Salva Kiir of South Sudan has dismissed Bak Barnaba Chol, the Minister of Finance and Planning, and appointed engineer Daniel Daniel Chuong in his place.

 

Kiir removed the Finance Minister without providing a reason in a presidential decree that was published in South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

 

Before his appointment, the new finance minister was the petroleum ministry’s technical adviser and the previous minister of petroleum.

 

The country’s local currency, the South Sudanese pound (SSP), was depreciating at the same time as the changes were implemented, causing hyperinflation.

 

Three months ago, the SSP was worth 1,100 units against the US dollar; three months later, it was worth a record low of 1,800 units.

 

To secure hard currency and stabilize the economy, the nation is currently struggling to raise daily oil production from the current 150,000 barrels per day to 175,000 barrels per day.

 

South Sudan is currently in a dangerous situation. UN reports state that local violence between different armed groups and factions is on the rise.

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Politics

Senegal: opposition figure Sonko promises new national currency if party wins election

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Controversial Senegalese opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, said the country would consider the implementation of
reform of the West Africa region’s CFA franc currency at a regional level first, and if that failed, would consider creating a national currency, if his preferred candidate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, wins the next presidential election.

Faye is one of the main candidates in Senegal’s March 24 presidential election. He is backed by the popular firebrand Sonko, who was disqualified from the race over a defamation conviction.

Sonko made the promise while speaking at a joint press conference with Faye, shortly after both politicians were released from jail.

It appeared the comment was aimed at easing concerns after their election campaign, which promised to introduce the new currency if Faye won.

“We will try to implement a monetary reform at the sub-regional level first,” Sonko said. “If that fails, we will decide as a nation.”

Sonko alleged that the CFA franc currency, which is pegged to the euro and used by eight countries of the West Africa Monetary Union, affects economic development in the region, and the time is right to explore more options.

“There’s no sovereignty if there is no monetary sovereignty,” said Faye, speaking at the same press conference.

To be declared the winner in a presidential poll, a candidate must secure the signatures of 0.8% to 1% of the voting public. At least 2,000 sponsors must be secured for each of Senegal’s fourteen regions, where a minimum of seven signatures are required.

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