Politics

Regional bloc, EAC agrees to set up joint force to end decades of bloodshed in Congo

Published

2 years ago

April 23, 2022

It appears Congo has started reaping the fruits of joining the regional bloc, the East African Community (EAC) as the seven countries of the regional body have agreed to set up a regional military force to try to end decades of bloodshed caused by militant activity in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The plan was made public through the office of Kenya’s president on Friday. Kenya under president Kenyatta plays a leading role in the EAC.

Congo has been a troubled territory with more than 120 rebel groups continuing to operate across large swathes of east Congo almost two decades after the official end of the central African country’s civil wars.

The East African country is home to one of the United Nation’s largest peacekeeping forces with billions of dollars spent. The U.N. has previously accused neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda of backing rebel groups in the mineral-rich region.

On the other hand, Tanzania contributes 835 troops to the U.N.’s peacekeeping mission, while Kenya contributes 250 even before Brazzaville joined EAC. It is then believed with the presence of Uganda and Rwanda which the UN had fingered in fuelling chaos in Congo, along with the positive support of Kenya and Tanzania in the EAC, the bloc might have a chance to end prolonged crises in Congo.

The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of six (6) Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

Congo joined the EAC last month in a bid to strengthen relations with its east African neighbours. The EAC has seven organs The Summit, The Council of Ministers, The Co-ordinating Committee, Sectoral Committees, The East African Court of Justice, The East African Legislative Assembly, and The Secretariat.

The EAC has called on local armed groups to join a political process to resolve their grievances or “be handled militarily”, the office of Kenya’s president said in a statement following an EAC meeting in Nairobi on Thursday.

The body also insisted that foreign armed groups, which include an Islamist insurgency with origins in Uganda and ties to Islamic State (IS), “must disarm and return unconditionally and immediately to their respective countries of origin,”

Politics

Kenya: Senior ICC prosecutor drops probe into 2007 post-election violence

Published

18 hours ago

November 28, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

A senior official of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Nazhat Shameen Khan has announced an end to all further investigations into crimes committed in Kenya relating to violence that erupted following elections in 2007.

The ICC Deputy Chief Prosecutor said the 13-year legal saga, which involved senior Kenyan politicians, had been dropped

“I have reached this decision after considering the specific facts and circumstances of this situation,” she said in a statement.

“Accordingly, the Office will not pursue additional cases into the alleged criminal responsibility of other persons.”

Prosecutors claim that during the nation’s post-election violence in 2010, some 600,000 people were left homeless, and 1,300 people killed in a case in which suspects included former and current Kenyan presidents, Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto. The Hague-based tribunal began looking into the incident in 2010. Six suspects were initially charged with crimes against humanity, which included deportation and murder.

However, in 2014, former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda dropped the charges against Kenyatta, and in 2016, the prosecution’s case against Ruto was also dropped due to insufficient evidence. The lack of evidence caused the case against all six to fall apart.

Prosecutors opened a new investigation into witness intimidation and bribery after Bensouda claimed that an unrelenting campaign of intimidation against victims and witnesses prevented a trial.

Decades after the “third wave of democratisation,” widespread violence still occurs in sub-Saharan Africa after elections. Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Zimbabwe, among others, have had their share of election conflicts.

Kenya is still not free from election disturbances, as levels of violence also played out during and after the 2022 elections.

Politics

Sierra Leonean govt finally labels weekend attack ‘failed coup’

Published

22 hours ago

November 28, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Sierra Leonean government has finally labelled attacks on several locations in the capital, Freetown, on Sunday as failed attempt to overthrow the government, having previously refraining from so classifying it.

Authorities in the West African nation said that gunmen stormed a military barracks, a prison, and other locations on Sunday, freeing roughly 2,200 prisoners and leaving over 20 people dead. On Monday, everything had returned to normal.

“The incident was a failed attempted coup. The intention was to illegally subvert and overthrow a democratically elected government,” said President Julius Bio.

“The attempt failed, and plenty of the leaders are either in police custody or on the run. We will try to capture them and bring them to the full force of the laws of Sierra Leone.”

The tense situation in Sierra Leone, which is still recuperating from a civil war that claimed over 50,000 lives between 1991 and 2002, has persisted since Bio was re-elected in June.

International allies, such as the US and the EU, questioned the outcome, and the major opposition candidate rejected it.