Politics

Senior DRC presidential adviser resigns after being caught on tape demanding bribe

Published

2 years ago

September 17, 2022

A senior presidential adviser to President Felix Tshisekedi of Democratic Republic of Congo, Vidiye Tshimanga, has resigned from his position after he was allegedly caught on tape negotiating a bribe with an official of a mineral mine company fingered in a corrupt deal.

A non-profit media organisation, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in a statement on Saturday, said Tshimanga who was a one-time spokesman for the Tshisekedi’s election campaign and top adviser in the current Cabinet, resigned on Friday after he was caught in a sting operation negotiating a “percentage of what he thought to be an under-the-table mining deal.”

In the report, OCCRP said Tshimanga met several times with two individuals posing as mineral investors from Hong Kong, who secretly recorded him offering to use his connections to President Tshisekedi to bypass regulations in exchange for a cut of the proceeds.

In his resignation letter addressed to Tshisekedi, Tshimanga who denied any wrong doing, said he had an “ethical obligation” to step down, despite believing that his remarks were taken out of context.

“The wound being unfortunately too open at this stage, this seems to me to be the only decision of dignity to be made,” he said in the letter.

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Politics

Mali: 7 Russian mercenaries killed

Published

7 hours ago

November 24, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

An al Qaeda offshoot in North Africa has claimed responsibility for the attack in central Mali, killing at least seven mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner private military contractor company.

Wagner earlier lost a battle in July with mostly Tuareg rebels and Islamists close to Mali’s Algerian border, exposing the perils faced by mercenaries used by military juntas in the Sahel area of West Africa.

The separatists and strong branches of Al Qaeda and Islamic State, which have taken over large areas of the Sahel over the past 12 years, are difficult for Mali and its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger to control.

The al Qaeda offshoot JNIM claimed responsibility for the Thursday attack, according to a statement from SITE Intelligence Group, which keeps an eye on extremist activity in the area. According to SITE, JNIM captured several weapons and killed seven Russian Wagner mercenaries.

Following an attack, the bodies of at least five white males wearing army fatigues were seen laying near a military truck in a video obtained by Reuters. The validity of the footage could not be confirmed by Reuters.

SITE Intelligence posted images allegedly from JNIM that showed many crates of weapons and ammo together with the dead and bloodied bodies of troops.

Although two local officials acknowledged the incident, a Malian army source claimed to have seen seven dead bodies, including Russian fighters. Five Wagner warriors were slain, according to one of them.

At least six Russians have been murdered in the attack, which was carried out by Katiba Macina, a division of JNIM, according to a consultant working on security in the area.

The expert referred to the Russians as Africa Corps warriors, a paramilitary group under Kremlin leadership that has taken Wagner’s position in Africa throughout the previous 12 months.

Mali has previously said that Russian servicemen trainers are assisting local troops with Russian-purchased weaponry rather than mercenaries.

Politics

Mauritius’ Prime Minister to double as Finance Minister

Published

2 days ago

November 23, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In an effort to maintain a tight eye on the economy, Mauritius’ Prime Minister, Navin Ramgoolam, who took office this month following a resounding election victory, said on Friday that he would retain the position of finance minister for himself.

“We are doing an audit of the economy to see to what extent the outgoing government has destroyed it,” Ramgoolam told reporters in the capital Port Louis after he presided over the swearing-in of other ministers.

Ten years after he stepped down as prime minister, the seasoned politician returned to the position when his Alliance du Changement (ADC) alliance won 60 of the 62 seats in the national legislature.

The 77-year-old Ramgoolam said earlier this week that he would be auditing governmental finances. Before this, he was prime minister from 1995 to 2000 and again from 2005 to 2014.

Ramgoolam started a campaign in 2006 to streamline taxes and reduce bureaucracy to diversify the $10 billion economy beyond exports of sugar, textiles, and tourism.

Since then, the 1.3 million-person nation, which positions itself as a bridge between Africa and Asia, has developed into a major offshore financial hub and has been rated by the World Bank as the easiest location to do business in Africa regularly.