Thursday, March 28, 2024

Togo’s Opposition Calls for Protests to Stop President from Signing Off on a New Constitution

FILE - Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe waves before a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris on April 9, 2021. Activists and opposition leaders in the West African country of Togo called on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, for protests to stop the country’s president from signing off on a new constitution that would scrap future presidential elections and could extend his decades-long rule until 2031. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

BY ERICK KAGLAN

11:25 PM EDT, March 27, 2024

LOME, Togo (AP) — Activists and opposition leaders in the West African country of Togo called on Wednesday for protests to stop the country’s president from signing off on a new constitution that would scrap future presidential elections and could extend his decades-long rule until 2031.

The constitution, which was passed by the country’s lawmakers earlier this week but now awaits President Faure Gnassingbe’s final approval, grants parliament the power to choose the president, doing away with direct elections. This makes it likely that Gnassingbe would be reelected when his mandate expires in 2025.

Some legal experts say the constitution actually restricts the power of future presidents as it introduces a one-term limit and hands over greater power to a figure similar to a prime minister. But opposition fears the role — officially, the president of the council of ministers — could become another avenue for Gnassingbe to extend his grip on power.

The new constitution also increases presidential terms from five to six years. The almost 20-years that Gnassingbe has served in office, after taking over from his father, would not count toward that tally.

The opposition and the clergy say the legislation is an effort by Gnassingbe to prolong his rule. Some have promised to stop it from becoming law by calling on the people to rise up and protest.

“We know that the struggle will be long and hard, but together with the Togolese people, we will do everything we can to prevent this constitutional coup d’état,” said Eric Dupuy, a spokesman for the opposition National Alliance for Change party.

”We’re calling on the population to reject this, to oppose it massively,” he added.

However, police on Wednesday broke up a news conference called by the opposition, throwing leaders and journalists out of the venue.

A group representing Togo’s Catholic bishops said the parliament’s mandate had expired in December ahead of the country’s April 20 parliamentary elections and that the lawmakers had no right to adopt a new constitution.

The bishops urged Gnassingbe to delay signing off on the new constitution and instead engage in an inclusive political dialogue after next month’s balloting.

“The Assembly has no power to revise a constitution,” said Zeus Ajavon, a lecturer in Constitutional Law at the University of Lome. “The power to revise the constitution is vested in it during its term of office.”

Ajavon also argued that a referendum was necessary for the country to adopt a new constitution.

Togo, a nation of around 8 million people, has been ruled by same family for 57 years, initially by Eyadema Gnassingbe and subsequently by his son. Faure Gnassingbe has been in office since 2005 after winning elections that the opposition described as a sham.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Tunisia Sentences 4 to Death Over Pivotal 2013 Assassination

BY BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA AND SAM METZ

2:01 PM EDT, March 27, 2024

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Four people were sentenced Wednesday to death and two to life in prison for a murder that sparked widespread unrest in Tunisia and became emblematic of the country’s early challenges transitioning from dictatorship to democracy after the Arab Spring.

Chokri Belaid, the 48-year-old leader of the Popular Front coalition, was a prominent critic of the Islamist Party Ennahda that ascended to power after 2011 uprisings toppled the country’s longtime dictator. His assassination was among a spate of violent episodes that provoked protests in 2013 and became emblematic of Tunisia’s early struggles to reconcile its celebrated secular traditions with the revival of long suppressed religious ultraconservatives.

A criminal court tasked with handling terrorism cases handed down 23 sentences for Belaid’s murder. The sentences, in addition to the death penalties and life sentences, ranged in length from two to 120 years, a public prosecutor said outside of the court.

Belaid’s brother Abdelmajid Belaid called the sentences “a positive step” and said that supporters were still awaiting the trial of those suspected of planning the assassination.

Belaid’s case was reopened last month after a former investigating judge was arrested on suspicion of concealing certain files. Wednesday’s sentencing came after hours of late night delays and lengthy deliberations due to “the complexity of the very thorny case,” said Mohamed Jmour, a member of Belaid’s defense committee.

Before his death, Belaid had earned a following for his forceful denunciations of Ennahda, which rose to power after President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in 2011. Belaid’s supporters blamed Islamists for taking an overly accommodating approach toward extremists after his assassination and later decried the slow pace of the investigation.

Ennahda leaders subsequently took a harder line against fundamentalists and classified Ansar al Sharia as a terrorist group when another left-wing politician, Mohammed Brahmi, was slain later that year. Law enforcement killed several alleged members of the al-Qaida-linked group suspected of involvement in Belaid’s death.

Several members of Ansar al Sharia were among those sentenced for Belaid’s murder on Wednesday.

The assassinations and subsequent unrest set off a political crisis for Tunisia as it struggled to transition from dictatorship to democracy. The country teetered on the brink until a Nobel Prize-winning quartet of civil society groups negotiated with various parties to prevent the nascent government’s institutions from unraveling. Though bringing the killers to justice has been a rallying cry for President Kais Saied, authorities during his tenure have quashed protests by Belaid’s supporters, including on the 2021 anniversary of his assassination.

Two dozen defendants were ultimately charged in a sprawling case that took years to investigate and bring to trial. One died in prison. Of the 23 defendants sentenced on Wednesday, five were acquitted.

Aymen Chtiba, a deputy prosecutor in the terrorism court’s judicial unit, said the dismissals had to do with the similarity of sentences already handed down against some defendants in other cases.

Tunisia has not put anyone to death since 1991 though Saied has publicly said he supports reviving executions for certain crimes, including murder.

___

Metz reported from Rabat, Morocco.

‘Women Farmers are Invisible': A West African Project Helps Them Claim Their Rights — and Land

When Mariam Sonko’s father died when she was a young child, her mother struggled to take care of her and her siblings. As is the case across Senegal and West Africa generally, women are not entitled to land ownership as it is expected that when they marry, they will leave their community.

BY JACK THOMPSON

2:27 PM EDT, March 27, 2024

ZIGUINCHOR, Senegal (AP) — Mariama Sonko’s voice resounded through the circle of 40 women farmers sitting in the shade of a cashew tree. They scribbled notes, brows furrowed in concentration as her lecture was punctuated by the thud of falling fruit.

This quiet village in Senegal is the headquarters of a 115,000-strong rural women’s rights movement in West Africa, We Are the Solution. Sonko, its president, is training female farmers from cultures where women are often excluded from ownership of the land they work so closely.

Across Senegal, women farmers make up 70% of the agricultural workforce and produce 80% of the crops but have little access to land, education and finance compared to men, the United Nations says.

“We work from dawn until dusk, but with all that we do, what do we get out of it?” Sonko asked.

She believes that when rural women are given land, responsibilities and resources, it has a ripple effect through communities. Her movement is training women farmers who traditionally have no access to education, explaining their rights and financing women-led agricultural projects.

Across West Africa, women usually don’t own land because it is expected that when they marry, they leave the community. But when they move to their husbands’ homes, they are not given land because they are not related by blood.

“If she had land, she could have supported us,” she recalled, her normally booming voice now tender. Instead, Sonko had to marry young, abandon her studies and leave her ancestral home.

After moving to her husband’s town at age 19, Sonko and several other women convinced a landowner to rent to them a small plot of land in return for part of their harvest. They planted fruit trees and started a market garden. Five years later, when the trees were full of papayas and grapefruit, the owner kicked them off.

The experience marked Sonko.

“This made me fight so that women can have the space to thrive and manage their rights,” she said. When she later got a job with a women’s charity funded by Catholic Relief Services, coordinating micro-loans for rural women, that work began.

“Women farmers are invisible,” said Laure Tall, research director at Agricultural and Rural Prospect Initiative, a Senegalese rural think tank. That’s even though women work on farms two to four hours longer than men on an average day.

But when women earn money, they reinvest it in their community, health and children’s education, Tall said. Men spend some on household expenses but can choose to spend the rest how they please. Sonko listed common examples like finding a new wife, drinking and buying fertilizer and pesticides for crops that make money instead of providing food.

With encouragement from her husband, who died in 1997, Sonko chose to invest in other women. Her training center now employs over 20 people, with support from small philanthropic organizations such as Agroecology Fund and CLIMA Fund.

In a recent week, Sonko and her team trained over 100 women from three countries, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Gambia, in agroforestry – growing trees and crops together as a measure of protection from extreme weather – and micro gardening, growing food in tiny spaces when there is little access to land.

One trainee, Binta Diatta, said We Are the Solution bought irrigation equipment, seeds, and fencing — an investment of $4,000 — and helped the women of her town access land for a market garden, one of more than 50 financed by the organization.

When Diatta started to earn money, she said, she spent it on food, clothes and her children’s schooling. Her efforts were noticed.

“Next season, all the men accompanied us to the market garden because they saw it as valuable,” she said, recalling how they came simply to witness it.

Now another challenge has emerged affecting women and men alike: climate change.

In Senegal and the surrounding region, temperatures are rising 50% more than the global average, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the UN Environment Program says rainfall could drop by 38% in the coming decades.

Where Sonko lives, the rainy season has become shorter and less predictable. Saltwater is invading her rice paddies bordering the tidal estuary and mangroves, caused by rising sea levels. In some cases, yield losses are so acute that farmers abandon their rice fields.

But adapting to a heating planet has proven to be a strength for women since they adopt climate innovations much faster than men, said Ena Derenoncourt, an investment specialist for women-led farming projects at agricultural research agency AICCRA.

“They have no choice because they are the most vulnerable and affected by climate change,” Derenoncourt said. “They are the most motivated to find solutions.”

On a recent day, Sonko gathered 30 prominent women rice growers to document hundreds of local rice varieties. She bellowed out the names of rice – some hundreds of years old, named after prominent women farmers, passed from generation to generation – and the women echoed with what they call it in their villages.

This preservation of indigenous rice varieties is not only key to adapting to climate change but also about emphasizing the status of women as the traditional guardians of seeds.

“Seeds are wholly feminine and give value to women in their communities,” Sonko said. “That’s why we’re working on them, to give them more confidence and responsibility in agriculture.”

The knowledge of hundreds of seeds and how they respond to different growing conditions has been vital in giving women a more influential role in communities.

Sonko claimed to have a seed for every condition including too rainy, too dry and even those more resistant to salt for the mangroves.

Last year, she produced 2 tons of rice on her half-hectare plot with none of the synthetic pesticides or fertilizer that are heavily subsidized in Senegal. The yield was more than double that of plots with full use of chemical products in a 2017 U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization project in the same region.

“Our seeds are resilient,” Sonko said, sifting through rice-filled clay pots designed to preserve seeds for decades. “Conventional seeds do not resist climate change and are very demanding. They need fertilizer and pesticides.”

The cultural intimacy between female farmers, their seeds and the land means they are more likely to shun chemicals harming the soil, said Charles Katy, an expert on indigenous wisdom in Senegal who is helping to document Sonko’s rice varieties.

He noted the organic fertilizer that Sonko made from manure, and the biopesticides made from ginger, garlic and chilli.

One of Sonko’s trainees, Sounkarou Kébé, recounted her experiments against parasites in her tomato plot. Instead of using manufactured insecticides, she tried using a tree bark traditionally used in Senegal’s Casamance region to treat intestinal problems in humans caused by parasites.

A week later, all the disease was gone, Kébé said.

As dusk approached at the training center, insects hummed in the background and Sonko prepared for another training session. “There’s too much demand,” she said. She is now trying to set up seven other farming centers across southern Senegal.

Glancing back at the circle of women studying in the fading light, she said: “My great fight in the movement is to make humanity understand the importance of women.”

Security in Congo’s Mineral-rich East is Deteriorating with Rebel Group Expanding Territory, UN Say

People displaced by the ongoing fighting between Congolese forces and M23 rebels gather in a camp on the outskirts of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Wednesday, March 13, 2024, Ramesh Rajasingham, OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) head and representative is carrying out a working visit to the region. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

BY EDITH M. LEDERER

8:22 PM EDT, March 27, 2024

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Security in Congo’s mineral-rich east has deteriorated since recent elections, with a rebel group allegedly linked to neighboring Rwanda making “significant advances and expanding its territory,” the U.N. special envoy for the conflict-wracked African nation said Wednesday.

Bintou Keita told the U.N. Security Council this has created “an even more disastrous humanitarian situation, with internal displacement reaching unparalleled numbers.”

Last month, the United States told Rwanda and Congo that they “must walk back from the brink of war,” the sharpest warning yet of a looming conflict.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood again condemned “the aggressive military incursion” into eastern Congo by the M23 rebel group and the Rwandan Defense Force and attacks including on U.N. peacekeepers.

He called on the leaders of Rwanda and Congo “to make the decision to pursue peace — for the sake of their people, the region and the world.”

Wood described M23 as “a group which has perpetrated appalling human rights abuses against civilians, including sexual and gender-based violence.” 

He called the international community’s failure to condemn the actions of Rwanda, which is a major troop contributor to U.N. peacekeeping forces, “dismaying” and said “the U.N. should reevaluate Rwanda’s credibility as a constructive partner in peacekeeping.”

The U.S. State Department last month called for the withdrawal of Rwanda’s troops and surface-to-air missile systems from eastern Congo and criticized M23, calling it a “Rwanda-backed” armed group.

The Rwandan Foreign Ministry said last month that the country’s troops are defending Rwandan territory as Congo carries out a “dramatic military build-up” near the border.

The ministry’s statement said Rwanda’s national security is threatened by the presence in Congo of an armed group whose members include alleged perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda during which more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them were killed.

The rebel group, known by its initials FDLR, “is fully integrated into” the Congolese army, the statement said. Although Rwanda has long cited a threat posed by FLDR, authorities there had never admitted to a military presence in eastern Congo.

Wood said the U.S. recognizes the FDLR “is a continuing threat to the Congolese people and a security threat to Rwanda that must be addressed.”

At Wednesday’s council meeting the Congolese and Rwandan ambassadors again went after each other.

Congolese Ambassador Zenon Ngay Mukongo called the M23 and Rwandan forces a “coalition of the axis of evil.”

He said a meeting of heads of state is planned for April and Congo is seeking lasting peace throughout the country and that it “will not accept window-dressing arrangements aimed at perpetuating insecurity and confusion” which encourages the M23 and Rwanda’s “shameless exploitation of strategic minerals” in eastern Congo.

Rwandan Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo reiterated his government’s serious concerns about the FDLR and called for Congo to resolve the security issues involving many rebel groups themselves.

“We should also raise awareness about the dangers of genocide, the ideology, which has spilled over into the DRC,” the initials of Congo’s official name, the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said.

Keita, the U.N. envoy, told the council that mediation by Angola between the countries has resumed.

In response to a question afterward by reporters about Wednesday’s confrontation between the ambassadors, she said, she strongly believes this mediation and other efforts to reduce tensions should be supported “in spite of the displeasure that we saw” in the council.

Presidency Releases 18 Month Progress Report on the Energy Action Plan

27 Mar 2024

Presidency releases 18-month progress report on the Energy Action Plan

The Presidency has today, 27 March 2024, released a detailed update on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan (EAP), which shows that significant progress has been achieved over the last six months in implementing government’s plan to end load shedding.

The EAP was announced by President Ramaphosa in July 2022, and is coordinated by the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM) under the leadership of the Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. The plan aims to reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding in the short term and achieve energy security in the long term through five key interventions:

Fix Eskom and improve the availability of existing supply

Enable and accelerate private investment in generation capacity

Fast-track the procurement of new generation capacity from renewables, gas and battery storage

Unleash businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar

Fundamentally transform the electricity sector to achieve long-term energy security

As the report released today demonstrates, progress has been made in all five interventions since the announcement of the plan. Key achievements achieved in the past six months include:

The return of three units at Kusile power station months ahead of schedule, together with intensive maintenance over the summer period, has increased the availability of Eskom’s existing fleet and reduced load shedding.

Following the introduction of powerful tax incentives and financing mechanisms, the amount of rooftop solar installed by businesses and households has more than doubled to over 5000 MW, helping to reduce demand on the grid.

In December 2023, three further bid windows were released for 7615 MW of new capacity from solar, wind, gas, and battery storage.

7 preferred bidders for the risk mitigation programme have reached close to date, with the first three projects – which are among the largest solar and battery storage hybrid projects in the world – already connected to the grid.

Eskom has launched the Cross Border Standard Offer Programme (CBSOP), which will procure up to 1000 MW in additional power from neighbouring countries for a period of three years.

The Eskom Standard Offer Programme has been implemented with a total of 1136.5 MW approved to date, exceeding the initial target of 1000 MW.

The first project from Eskom’s Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) programme has been connected to the grid, and will provide 100 megawatt hours (MWh) of storage capacity. Seven other projects are in construction as part of Phase 1 of the programme, which will together provide a total of 833MWh of capacity.

An additional 3400 MW of grid capacity has been immediately unlocked in the Cape region through the implementation of curtailment, which enables Eskom to fit more generation capacity onto the grid.

An independent board has been appointed for the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA), which is close to being fully operational.

The Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Bill has been passed in the National Assembly, and is now being considered in the National Council of Provinces. The Bill will fundamentally transform the electricity sector through the establishment of a competitive market.

The National Wheeling Framework has been finalised and was submitted to NERSA in December 2023. The framework sets out principles for non-discriminatory rights of access to wheel electricity and the charges to be raised, and will enable a standardised approach to wheeling across the country once approved by the regulator.

Government is working towards full implementation of the EAP to bring an end to load shedding once and for all. The Minister in the Presidency for Electricity will continue to provide regular updates on progress to the public.

The report may be accessed on the following link - https://rb.gy/0ebd2b 

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President – +27 82 835 6315

Minister Blade Nzimande: Deregistration of the Educor Colleges

26 Mar 2024

Statement by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Professor Blade Nzimande on deregistration of the Educor colleges

Programme Director, Mr Veli Mbele;

Chairperson of the Council on Higher Education;

My special advisor, Mr Nqaba Nqandela;

DDGs Present;

Members of the media;

Fellow South Africans

Over the past few days, my Department has been receiving a flood of media queries on our decision to cancel the registration of four Educor institutions, namely, City Varsity (Pty) Ltd, Damelin (Pty) Ltd, Icesa City Campus (Pty) Ltd and Lyceum College (Pty) Ltd.

We have also noticed that the overwhelming media and public interest in this matter. In response to all this, we thought we should call a media briefing, which would afford us the space and time to take the nation into confidence on the reasons for our decision to cancel the registration of the colleges I have mentioned.

Most importantly, we also thought that we should use this opportunity to outline the steps we have taken to deal with the compliance failures of these institutions and explain the steps we have taken in order to safeguard the interests of students and all other affected groups.

We must also state that, in addition to receiving an unusually high number of media queries on this matter, we also noticed that most of the media queries we received from the various media houses, were almost identical.

We therefore thought that, given the sheer volume of these media queries, their similarity, the intricacies of this matter and the imperative of communicating a coherent message, the most realistic approach would be to host a full media briefing.

Legal obligation

As it relates to the legal obligation of my Department, the Higher Education Act of 101 of 1997, as amended, empowers my Department to, among others;

To provide for different categories of registration of private higher education institutions and the associated rights to extend the power to award diplomas, certificates and confer degrees to private higher education institutions; and 

To provide for the withdrawal and revocation of qualifications by public or private higher education institutions.

In line with the objects of the Higher Education Act, in 2016, I repealed the 2013 Regulations for the Registration of Private Higher Education Institutions and published new ones.

The new Regulations outline the application process, requirements for registration, responsibility of an institution and the appeals procedure that must be followed by individuals or entities that wish to register a private higher education institution.

Further to this, the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) is responsible the for the accreditation of higher education programmes.

Cancellation of the registration of the Educor institutions

In line with these legal prescripts, on 26 July 2023, the Director-General, in his capacity as the Registrar of Private Higher Education Institutions, cancelled the registration of the following Educor Institutions-

City Varsity (Pty) Ltd; 

Damelin (Pty) Ltd;

Icesa City Campus (Pty) Ltd; and

Lyceum College (Pty) Ltd.

These cancellations were carried out in accordance with the 2016 Regulations for the Registration of Private Higher Education Institutions and the applicable sections of the Higher Education Act.

Failure to comply

More specifically, these four institutions failed to comply with the following requirements of the Act and Regulations:

Fulfil the requirements for registration contemplated in Section 57(2)(b) of the Act; and

Discharge its responsibilities as required by Chapter 6 of the Regulations.

In particular, the Educor institutions have failed to submit their annual financial statements and the tax clearance certificates for the 2021 and 2022 years, as proof of their financial viability. We are now moving into the 2023 cycle.

The four Educor institutions were required to lodge an appeal with the Minister on or before 26 September 2023. They then requested an extension to 28 February 2024, and are now seeking a further extension.

In addition to failing to submit evidence of their financial viability to the Department, the four Educor brands can be deemed as dysfunctional and this is mainly measured against the daily complaints and grievances received from students, most of which remain unresolved.

In addition to this, the following serious issues were brought to my attention as Minister:

The Higher Education Quality Committee has withdrawn the accreditation of some programmes for City Varsity (Pty) Ltd, Damelin (Pty) Ltd and Lyceum College (Pty) Ltd.

Misrepresentation on Student Numbers

Educor (Pty) Ltd claims to have 50 000 learners in the system. This information is incorrect since the 2022 annual reports indicate the breakdown of student enrolment as follows:

Table 1: Student Enrolment Institution Student Enrolment

1. City Varsity (Pty) Ltd                         540

2. Damelin (Pty) Ltd                             4 012

3. Icesa City Campus (Pty) Ltd            145

4. Lyceum College (Pty) Ltd                 8 399

Total:                                                    13 096

Complaints received from Students

For some time, the Directorate has been receiving many complaints from

students against the Educor institutions, most of which remain

unresolved. These complaints relate to the following- 

Poor quality of teaching and learning;

Lack of proper administrative support;

Poorly qualified staff;

Corruption and bribery;

Lack of response for requests for refunds;

Lack of professionalism;

Exploitation of poor students;

Non-payment of staff salaries; and

Under-payment of staff salaries: 

Complaints Received from Students on INTEC College (Pty) Ltd,Damelin Correspondence College (Pty) Ltd and SETA accredited

programmes.

These complaints extend to the other brands such as INTEC College (Pty) Ltd and Damelin Correspondence College (Pty) Ltd, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Quality Council of Trades and Occupations (QCTO). The QCTO has not been able to restore stability within these two institutions and students continue to be exploited.

These complaints also extend to the offering of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETA) accredited programmes. The SETAs have not been able to restore stability with the Educor institutions and students continue to be exploited.

Complaints Received from Students on Central Technical College These complaints extend to their registration as Private Colleges. Our Directorate: Registration of Private Colleges has already issued these institutions with a notice of intent to cancel registration.

In November 2023, the Department’s examination section suspended the exam centre registration for the site in Pretoria approved to Central Technical Colleges since staff members did not turn up for invigilation and many students have been left stranded.

Sudden Closure of Sites leaving Students Stranded 

The sites of some institutions closed suddenly for reasons of failure to pay the rent, staff salaries and/or the municipality. These are the following:

City Varsity (Pty) Ltd at Braamfontein: Closed because staff withdrew their services for non-payment of salaries and students were left stranded;

Damelin (Pty) Ltd: The sites at Braamfontein, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, East London closed suddenly since they were in arrears with the municipality and rental and students were left stranded; and

Lyceum College (Pty) Ltd: The only site was closed due to an eviction order by the landlord for failure to pay the rent and students were left stranded.

Allegations of Corruption

On 08 January 2024, our Directorate: Registration of Private Colleges wrote to these four Educor institutions and requested them to respond to a list of allegations of corruption against them. To date, they have not responded.

Concern regarding students and the way forward 

All stakeholders are expressing some sort of concern for the affected students. In this regard, the following must be noted:

Educor will be given a phase out period in which to phase out pipeline students;

Educor would have to reimburse students where it is due;

The latest numbers of enrolled students as per the 2022 annual report is 13 096, not 50 000, as Educor claims;

One challenge for students is the transfer of credits considering the RPL and Credit Accumulation Transfer policy; and

Another challenge could be students repeating some modules or paying extra fees.

Conditions attached to the cancellation of registration

I now wish to conclude by outlining the conditions and obligations that the decision to cancel their registration imposes on these four Educor institutions:

The cancellation of the registration of City Varsity (Pty) Ltd will take immediate effect;

As of the date of this letter, City Varsity (Pty) Ltd must not enrol new students on any year of the programme;

City Varsity (Pty) Ltd must phase out pipe-line students by 31 December 2023;

City Varsity (Pty) Ltd must submit a teach-out plan which includes Items (a) to (f) below to both the Department and the CHE, within 2 weeks of the date of this letter;

The teach-out plan must also include the number of learners in the pipeline and when learner records will be uploaded onto the National Learner’s Records Database; 

The teach-out plan must indicate that returning students who did not complete the programme within the stipulated time will not be admitted post 31 December 2023 and that they would need to complete their programme at another institution; and

Students must be informed accordingly.

Obligations of an institution on the cancellation of registration

An institution that has been notified by the Registrar that its provisional registration has lapsed in terms of Regulation 17(3) or that its provisional registration or registration has been cancelled in terms of Regulation 17 must-

inform its students within 14 days from the date of the Registrar’s notice that its registration has lapsed or been cancelled and notify the students of the arrangements that will be made to safeguard their interests in terms of this regulation;

issue to each enrolled student a copy of his or her academic transcript as contemplated in regulation 25;

reimburse or compensate any enrolled student who has a lawful claim on the institution as a consequence of its ceasing to operate from funds established as contemplated in regulation 12(2);

make adequate arrangements for affected students to complete their programmes at a comparable public or private institution;

cease operating before or at the end of the academic year, and any institution that fails to comply is guilty of an offence in terms of section 66 of the Act.; and

ensure that no new students are enrolled after the date specified by the Registrar. 

In conclusion, there is not much information available about the current leadership structure at Educor and there is no credible evidence to suggest that the management of Educor is working to improve or correct some of the serious governance and compliance failures I have referred to.

What we are seeing instead are students and staff being left stranded and we wish to urge the affected staff to seek the assistance of the Labor Court and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. 

Under these circumstances and with the information at our disposal, it would be unconscionable to maintain the registration status of these four private institutions and allow ourselves to become complicit in gross governance and compliance failures.

Most concerning, by doing so, we would be failing as the Department in our obligation to protect the rights and dignity of students, who simply wanted to acquire an academic qualification with the view to improve their lives and that of their families.

SACP Condemns Terrorist Attacks, Expresses Heartfelt Condolences to the Russian People

Monday, 25 March 2024: The South African Communist Party (SACP) strongly condemns the terrorist attack on Friday evening, 22 March 2024, at the Crocus City Hall in the city of Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, in Russia. On behalf of the SACP, the General Secretary of the Party, Solly Mapaila, expresses heartfelt condolences to the Russian state, people and families who lost their loved ones as a result of the attacks by the terrorists through assault rifles, among others. The SACP wishes those who sustained injuries a speedy recovery.

According to the latest information by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the terrorists killed 137 people. According to the Ministry of Health of the Moscow Region, the terrorists injured 182 people.

The Russian Shopping Centres Association has estimated that the reconstruction of Crocus City Hall, where the terrorist act took place, may cost between 6 and 12 billion Russian Rubles, approximately between 65 and 130 million US Dollars.

It is strange that the United States Embassy in Moscow issued an advisory on 7 March 2024, partly reading, “The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours.” This implies that the United States, through its embassy in Moscow, had prior knowledge of the panned terrorist attack. What is not clear is whether the United States Embassy in Moscow shared any details with Russia’s law enforcement authorities or behaved as it has done in South Africa – in a manner that leaves much to be desired. This should be a focus in the investigation already taking place to ensure comprehensive accountability.

Issued by the South African Communist Party,

Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.

Media & Communication Work Department: MCW Department

Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, Central Committee Member

National Spokesperson & Political Bureau Secretary for Policy and Research

FOR INTERVIEW ARRANGEMENTS, MEDIA LIAISON & CIRCULATION SERVICES

Hlengiwe Nkonyane

Media Liaison Officer & Digital Platforms Manager

Mobile: +27 66 473 4819

OFFICE & OTHER CONTACT DETAILS

Office: +2711 339 3621/2

Website: www.sacp.org.za

Facebook Page: South African Communist Party

Twitter: SACP1921

SACP Strongly Condemns the Apartheid Israeli Settler State’s Continued Genocide on Palestinian People, Calls for an Immediate Ceasefire

Thursday, 21 March 2024: The South African Communist Party (SACP) strongly condemns the apartheid Israeli settler state’s continuation of genocide on the Palestinian people. For a fourth day in a row, the Israeli Defence Force is carrying out genocidal executions of displaced persons, patients and staff at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, Palestine. From Monday to Wednesday, the Israeli Defence Force has massacred over 90 people and injured over 100 people at the hospital, calling them “terrorists”.

The SACP reaffirms its solidarity with the Palestinian people and support for the South African government’s International Court of Justice case against the apartheid Israeli settler state’s genocide on the Palestinian people. Israel must fully comply with the court’s January 2024 judgment by discontinuing the genocide. We reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire.  

In its genocidal military aggression since 7 October 2023, the apartheid Israeli settler state has massacred over 31,000 Palestinian people, of whom 75 per cent are children, women and elderly people. In carrying out the genocide, Israel has, among others, completely destroyed 224 mosques and partially destroyed 290 others; completely destroyed 70,000 housing units and partially destroyed 290,000 others; and completely destroyed over 100 schools and universities and partially destroyed 305 others. Thought its military, Israel has targeted hospitals and other healthcare centres, taking 32 hospitals and 53 healthcare centres out of service. This caused a massive health disaster.   

Issued by the South African Communist Party,

Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.

Media & Communication Work Department: MCW Department

Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, Central Committee Member

National Spokesperson & Political Bureau Secretary for Policy and Research

FOR INTERVIEW ARRANGEMENTS, MEDIA LIAISON & CIRCULATION SERVICES

Hlengiwe Nkonyane

Media Liaison Officer & Digital Platforms Manager

Mobile: +27 66 473 4819

OFFICE & OTHER CONTACT DETAILS

Office: +2711 339 3621/2

Website: www.sacp.org.za

Facebook Page: South African Communist Party

Twitter: SACP1921

SACP Mpumalanga Post-Augmented PEC Meeting Statement

19 March 2024

The South African Communist Party (SACP) in Mpumalanga Province held its Augmented Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) meeting on Sunday, 17 March 2024, in Mbombela Stadium. The meeting was graced by the presence of the First Deputy General Secretary Comrade Madala Masuku and Central Committee Member Comrade Rudolf Phala.

The meeting was held at a time when our country is heading towards highly contested elections since our 1994 democratic breakthrough.

In the same breath, we congratulate the African National Congress for holding a successful January 8 rally in Mbombela and Manifesto Launch in KwaZulu-Natal Province. For this reason, the neoliberal offensive against the progressive forces has also intensified their work and we have seen this with the mushrooming of small parties that are highly funded. We have to ask: where are they getting this money and for what purpose?

The Moonshot Pact has defined itself with regime change agenda in this country and we have a responsibility to defend our democratic gains against all tendencies trying to give away our national sovereignty. It was clear that enemies of the national democratic revolution will never rest until their myopic goal is achieved. The DA, as the leader of the counter-revolutionary pact, has exposed their agenda by approaching the US Secretary of State to intervene in our elections as observers.

The SACP will continue with building the political consciousness of the people of South Africa so that they can be able to fight and defend their country against proponents of regime change. The new ‘MK Party’ can also be viewed as such especially after their attack on the Independent Electoral Commission and threatening the country with violence. It is a party built on hatred, with the intention of disrupting progress made by the ANC-led government in the past three decades. They have no shame in denouncing the very same thing they were accused of doing in the recent past like corruption.

THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION

The national democratic revolution (NDR) remains the shortest road to socialism and for it to succeed, the party must take responsibility and play its vanguard role. It must unite all progressive forces and build a powerful socialist movement of the workers and poor that will also help in dealing with the current wave of ideological confusion. Ultimately, it must contribute in uniting the ANC to be able to deal with its own internal challenges.

It will be difficult for the NDR to be realised if there is no reconfiguration of the Alliance. This reconfiguration must happen at all levels to enhance policy direction of the country and to ensure that we build a proper developmental state that does not rely only on loans for survival, but it should be a state that will put industrialisation based on macroeconomics policy at the centre stage.

ECONOMY

Mpumalanga is hosting 11 of the country’s 14 coal-fired power stations, many of which are ageing and unfairly targeted for decommissioning. This has placed the province on the spotlight with regards to the imperatives of climate change and Just Energy Transmission, which is not acceptable. This is clearly an agenda of imperialists against the working class and it will be defeated.

Building new and reviving old industries together with building more TVET colleges would provide much needed economic resources for this country. The SACP calls for the reopening of Elijah Mongo, Mgwenya, Hoxane colleges and many others for the purpose of helping with skills development in the country.

COMMUNITY

Every member of the SACP is a community activist: this is a dictum that makes the Party to be relevant and hegemonic in society. It is for this reason that the SACP must continue to build VD-based branches across the province and Party structures must be at the centre of all community struggles. These branches must be imbued with proper ideological training in Marxism-Leninism.

During these elections, the Party in the province will continue to help the community to understand why it is important for them to continue to vote for the ANC. The launch of Chris Hani Red Brigades whose task is to lead party work on the ground and provide the much-needed assistance to the ANC election work is ongoing.

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

The Party in Mpumalanga notes that apartheid Israel is not prepared to adhere to the judgment delivered by the International Court of Justice which seeks to stop the genocide of the people of Palestine. We call upon the South African government to intensify its solidarity work in support of the people of Palestine. We also call for an unconditional end of the war in Ukraine where NATO continues to provoke Russia and behave like a stepfather to Ukraine.

In the same vein, we congratulate the people of Russia for re-electing Vladimir Putin as the President of Russia. Many lessons can be drawn from this experience, particularly by African countries, that no international pressure must make a country surrender its national sovereignty to please the West.

Here at home, the South African government and Mpumalanga Provincial Government need to review our relations with the government of Swaziland. We have been calling for a free democratic Swaziland and this call cannot reverberate to Mswati if the South African government continues with its ties with the tinkhundla system.

ISSUED BY SACP MPUMALANGA

Contact:

Lucky Mbuyane

SACP Provincial Secretary

082 351 5804

Or

Lesetja Dikgale

SACP Provincial Spokesperson

076 869 4360

Issued by the South African Communist Party,

Founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa.

Media & Communication Work Department: MCW Department

Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, Central Committee Member

National Spokesperson & Political Bureau Secretary for Policy and Research

FOR INTERVIEW ARRANGEMENTS, MEDIA LIAISON & CIRCULATION SERVICES

Hlengiwe Nkonyane

Media Liaison Officer & Digital Platforms Manager

Mobile: +27 66 473 4819

OFFICE & OTHER CONTACT DETAILS

Office: +2711 339 3621/2

Website: www.sacp.org.za

Facebook Page: South African Communist Party

Twitter: SACP1921

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

South Africa – Why is Naledi Pandor Under Attack by Jewish Board?

March 22, 2024

South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor. (Photo: video grab)

By Iqbal Jassat

Whatever the case, Karen Milner’s broadside against Minister Naledi Pandor, has all the elements of anger and despair.

The next time I’m asked to comment on the ferocious attacks by pro-Israel supporters on South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, I’ll describe it as “broadside”.

Having read and heard a broad range of insults hurled at her, I’m convinced that the expression “broadside” best fits the attacks on her.

These thoughts came to mind when the latest broadside by Karen Milner, National Chairperson of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, was published in Politicsweb.

Her fierce verbal attack on Min Pandor may assuage her band of noisy cheerleaders who applaud and endorse Israel’s genocidal war in occupied Gaza, but does little to persuade anyone outside her circle.

Reasons for Milner’s failure to impactfully influence public opinion against Pandor are plentiful. But crucially, the fact that her broadside is directly linked to her public profile as an advocate for Israel and Zionism, raises serious concerns about her impartiality.

Indeed, the weak arguments she makes to taint Minister Pandor as a vengeful threat to “South Africa’s Jewish community”, is not convincing at all.

Her allegations border on the ridiculous and in addition to being sensational, lack substance and sound childish.

For instance, she claims that “over the last 5 months Minister Pandor has consistently treated SA Jewry with contempt” but fails to provide any evidence.

All she can offer to provide an unconvincing back up of her allegation is that “a significant pattern has emerged showing incident after incident of vitriol, intimidation, and even threats against South Africa’s Jewish community”.

However, Milner gives away more than she probably bargained for by citing Minister Pandor’s public assurances that SA citizens illegally deployed in Israeli army, will face prosecution.

Surely a commitment by a senior government official to upholding her constitutional obligation to the rule of law, in this case the Foreign Military Assistance Act, cannot be construed to be treating “SA Jewry with contempt”?

Unless of course Milner by firstly conceding that South Africans do serve in the IDF, and secondly not pleased with them threatened with arrest, are reflective of “SA Jewry”?

Certainly sounds so if one is to make sense of her argument in defense of them serving in a foreign army, that nogal has been cited in the ICJ ruling as plausibly commiting genocide in Gaza.

Milner’s outrageous reasoning to justify their deployment in the IDF, makes a mockery of South Africa’s laws, almost suggesting that being Jewish should grant them exemption.

Here’s what she claims: “Minister Pandor has repeatedly threatened South Africans who serve in the IDF with arrest, despite these individuals fulfilling a legal obligation to their cultural homeland, and a moral necessity to save hostages and prevent another atrocity like October 7th from happening again”.

The key words that scream at you are “… these individuals fulfilling a legal obligation to their cultural homeland and a moral necessity to save hostages …”.

I’d be surprised if Milner’s colleagues at the SAJBD, do not haul her over the coals for publicly blurting out what one assumes would be sensitive information related to mercenary activities, meant to be confined to their boardroom.

Will she be zipped for these comments or will her colleagues run around to undertake damage control?

Whatever the case, Milner’s broadside against Minister Pandor, has all the elements of anger and despair.

And by the way, there does not exist any legislation in South Africa which prohibits Minister Pandor, the ANC or the government from engaging with Hamas.

The same cannot be said of the FMAA which criminalizes SA mercenaries deployed in the IDF whom Minister Pandor correctly threatened with arrest.

– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com

UN Resolution in Gaza is Binding – China Challenges US at Security Council

March 26, 2024

China’s permanent ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun. (Photo: via UN Website)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

China reiterated on Tuesday that “UN Security Council resolutions are binding” on Israel, in reference to Resolution 2728 (2024), calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

China “calls on the parties concerned to fulfill their obligations under the UN Charter and to take due action as required by the resolution,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian told reporters when asked about comments by the US top envoy to the UN, who claimed a resolution passed Monday was “non-binding”.

The UN Charter stipulates that all Security Council resolutions are legally binding under international law.

The Council passed a resolution on Monday, demanding “an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a sustainable lasting ceasefire.”

The resolution, which was written by the ten elected members to the council and was proposed in the council by Mozambique’s representative, passed with 14 votes in favor and the US abstaining.

After the resolution passed, the Chinese top diplomat to the UN, Zhung Jun, told the Council: “If fully and effectively implemented, (the resolution) could still bring long-awaited hope. Security Council resolutions are binding.”

Without directly naming the US and Israel, Lin said Beijing “expects the state with significant influence to play a positive role on the party concerned, including by using all necessary and effective means at their disposal to support the implementation of the resolution.”

The Council “must continue to follow closely the situation in Gaza and get ready for further actions when necessary to ensure the timely and full implementation of the resolution,” Lin said.

“China will continue to make unremitting efforts together with all parties to bring an early end to the fighting in Gaza, alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe, and implement the two-state solution,” he added.

Before the vote on Monday, the Chinese representative blamed the US for obstructing previous attempts at passing a ceasefire resolution.

“For the lives that have already perished, the Council resolution today comes too late”, he said.

Gaza Genocide

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.  

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 32,414 Palestinians have been killed, and 74,787 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip. 

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

 The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’ 

(PC, Anadolu)

UNSC Resolution on Gaza Ceasefire – Welcomed by Hamas, Rejected by Netanyahu

March 26, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a planned delegation visit to Washington. (Image: Palestine Chronicle)

By Iqbal Jassat

As expected, the “ceasefire resolution” has got the world abuzz and, though Hamas has welcomed it by thanking the UN Security Council, the occupying regime is deeply unhappy and distressed by it.

In its statement, the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas has called for a permanent ceasefire that “leads to the withdrawal of all Zionist forces from the Gaza Strip, and the return of the displaced to the homes from which they left.”

To demonstrate its commitment to comply, Hamas said it is willing “to engage in an immediate prisoner exchange process that leads to the release of prisoners on both sides”.

In addition, Hamas has called on the Security Council “to pressure the occupation to adhere to the ceasefire and stop the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people”.

On the other hand, the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu is fuming. His anger is reflective of the deep-seated vengeful characteristic of the racist Zionist ideology, responsible for the mass slaughter of Palestinians in what has outraged the world: the #GazaGenocide.

As the minutes were ticking at the Security Council, with member states seen huddling in groups before the session commenced, Netanyahu issued an ultimatum to Joe Biden: If you fail to veto it, I will cancel the trip of my envoys to you!

His threat failed dismally. The Biden Administration abstained instead of vetoing the resolution.

By not exercising its veto as it had done on three previous occasions, the resolution sailed through with the support of the balance of all 14 states.

The resolution demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of “all hostages”, without conditioning it.

In other words, the resolution does not insist that for the ceasefire to kick in, “hostages” have to be released as a prior condition.

In contextualizing the legal obligations of member states to abide by UNSC resolutions, it is important to distinguish Hamas as a non-state Resistance movement engaged in a freedom struggle that is not a party to the UN Charter, whereas the apartheid regime of Israel is.

It means that the resolution is primarily directed at the Zionist entity by calling on it as a party to the UN Charter to comply with the ceasefire demand.

Hence, Hamas is perfectly correct to insist that the UNSC pressures the occupying regime to adhere to the ceasefire and stop the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.

At the same time, while Netanyahu has been throwing tantrums, his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is in Washington meeting US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

The tension and policy differences between Netanyahu and Gallant have become messy and publicly known.

The Israeli newspaper The Times of Israel (TOI) reports that the public spat between the two follows in the wake of Netanyahu’s decision to cancel a trip for his top aides to Washington due to the Biden Administration’s refusal to veto the resolution.

According to TOI, Gantz believes that not only should the delegation set out for the US, but “it would have been good if the prime minister would travel to the US himself, and hold a direct dialogue with President Biden and senior officials.”

Netanyahu rejected the suggestion, in what’s turning out to be a circus or perhaps what many people would be inclined to believe that the colonial entity is indeed a banana republic.

A crisis between the two war lords as well as huge cracks in US/Israel alliance is a welcome development for Palestine’s resistance movements particularly Hamas, notwithstanding the fact that the Biden admin remains fully committed to Netanyahu’s criminal goals.

In his response on behalf of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), secretary-general Mustafa Barghouti is pretty forthright:

“The UN Security Council resolution for an immediate ceasefire is binding, and it dealt a blow to Netanyahu and his extremist and aggressive government, and sanctions must be imposed on it if it refuses to implement it.

“Although the decision was unbalanced with regard to the prisoners because it did not explicitly refer to the need to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners, it stressed the necessity of removing all ‘Israeli’ obstacles to the arrival of humanitarian aid to all areas of the Gaza Strip, which means the freedom for all displaced persons to return to their homes and areas where they abandoned it.”

– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com

France's Disruption of UNSC Meeting on Yugoslavia Outrageous — Russia

Maria Zakharova emphasized that the Russian side intends to press for a meeting of the UN Security Council on NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, as "this is not just an event in history, but a turning point in the emergence of the current situation in the Balkans"

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Vladimir Smirnov/TASS

MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. Russia expresses indignation over the unprofessional behavior of the French delegation that has disrupted the UN Security Council meeting on NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said in a commentary.

"We are outraged by the incorrect and unprofessional behavior of France, which is one of the ‘five’ permanent members of the Security Council with a special historical obligation to comply with the Council's provisional rules of procedure and other norms, developed over many years on the basis of mutual respect and consideration of interests," she said.

Zakharova explained that on March 25, the French delegation to the UN in New York, acting with the support of other Westerners, disrupted a meeting of the Security Council approved in the officially adopted program of UN Security Council activities for this month, timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia.

"For our part, we made concessions and agreed to invite as a rapporteur a representative of the NATO secretariat, an organization directly responsible for the destruction of Yugoslavia and the creation of a hotbed of instability in the Balkans," she continued. "We regret that the Japanese presidency of the UN Security Council succumbed to the French and held a procedural vote on an agenda item in favor of which Russia, China and Algeria voted, while the other members of the Council abstained for various reasons, including pressure from Western delegations."

The diplomat drew attention to the fact that in this way "outrageous disrespect was shown to Acting Prime Minister and Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, who arrived in New York to participate in the said meeting."

"We believe that the essence of such inappropriate behavior by the French delegation is clearly reflected in the saying ‘uneasy conscience betrays itself’," she added.

Zakharova emphasized that the Russian side intends to press for a meeting of the UN Security Council on NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, as "this is not just an event in history, but a turning point in the emergence of the current situation in the Balkans."

Hospitals See Influx of Patients as Shock Wears Off Post-terror Attack — Deputy PM

According to Tatyana Golikova, most of those seeking medical assistance have minor injuries and receive outpatient treatment

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova Mikhail Sinitsyn/TAS

MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. The number of people hurt in the Crocus City Hall terror attack is growing as people are recovering from the initial shock and seeking medical assistance, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said.

"It’s quite simple: we expect that people will seek medical assistance because many fled Crocus City Hall in a state of shock. Today, the increased number of patients, both in hospitals and in outpatient departments is explained by this fact," she said.

According to Golikova, most of those seeking medical assistance have minor injuries and receive outpatient treatment.

On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just over the Moscow city limits. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the current death toll is 137, but may rise. The Moscow Region Health Ministry said that 182 people were injured.

Eleven individuals suspected of being involved in the terrorist attack have been apprehended, including four gunmen who were detained in the Bryansk Region, southwest of Moscow, as they attempted to seek refuge by crossing the nearby Ukrainian border.

Senegal’s President-elect Pledges to Fight Corruption After a Stunning Victory for the 44-Year-Old

BY BABACAR DIONE AND JACK THOMPSON

12:57 PM EDT, March 26, 2024

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal woke up Tuesday to a new president-elect, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a former tax inspector and political newcomer who inspired voters, including many unemployed youth, with a vow to fight corruption and reform the economy.

Faye, 44, was catapulted into the presidential campaign when he was backed by the popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who had been barred from running due to a prior conviction. Winning Sunday’s presidential election was a dramatic rise for Faye, who was released from prison less than two weeks ago and is now due to be the youngest leader of the West African nation.

“I pledge to govern with humility and transparency, and to fight corruption at all levels. I pledge to devote myself fully to rebuilding our institutions,” he said during his first speech Monday night as president-elect, restating promises made during his campaign.

Celebrations erupted around the capital Monday evening as news of Faye’s victory spread, but calm returned on Tuesday and citizens went about their normal business. Mamadou Diakhaté, a 32-year-old market vendor from Dakar’s suburbs, said he was relieved that elections had been peaceful and that life could resume after months of uncertainty.

“We hope the new president will not disappoint,” Diakhaté said Tuesday. “The young have a lot of hope in him.”

While official results of Sunday’s vote are not expected until Friday, the other front-runner — former Prime Minister Amadou Ba who was backed by incumbent President Macky Sall — conceded defeat based on clear margins in preliminary results. Ba and Sall both congratulated Faye and named him the winner.

The election followed months of unrest ignited by the arrests last year of Sonko and Faye, and concerns that the president would seek a third term in office despite constitutional term limits. The violence shook Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy in a region that has seen a wave of coups. Rights groups said dozens were killed in the protests, while some 1,000 people were jailed.

Sall sought to delay the election until December but that move was blocked by the country’s constitutional court, and the government was forced to allow an election to go forward this month.

Faye was considered an anti-establishment candidate, and his campaign messages of economic reform and anti-corruption resonated with the youth. Almost a third of young people are unemployed with thousands risking their lives on dangerous journeys in search of jobs in the West.

Abibatou Fall, a 25-year-old unemployed tourism graduate, said she was praying that the incoming president can improve the economy and create jobs.

“I am unemployed and my parents continue to look after me,” said Fall said. “We needed change.”

Faye has vowed to improve Senegal’s control over its natural resources by promoting national companies to prevent the country from falling into what his campaign called “economic enslavement.” His manifesto promised to renegotiate Senegal’s oil and gas contracts and introduce a new currency.

On Monday night, Faye outlined some early foreign policy priorities, which included reforming the troubled West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS.

Rida Lyammouri of the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank, said that a promise by Faye to move away from former colonial power France could define the foreign policy of the country’s new government.

“A win by the opposition also means major changes ahead in domestic and foreign policies,” Lyammouri said.

However, analysts at Pangea-Risk said that the lack of a majority in Senegal’s parliament and financial conditions imposed by the IMF will prevent Faye’s more drastic pledges. Already, Faye has backtracked on the promise to create a national currency, adding that he will first seek to reform the regional currency CFA, shared between 14 West and Central African nations.

Analysts highlighted a potential tension between Faye and Sonko’s push for sovereignty and the campaign promise to improve living conditions for citizens. Quitting the CFA, which is pegged to the euro, could trigger an inflationary crisis and renegotiating contracts with oil and gas companies is thought to be costly and lengthy, as well as damaging Senegal’s reputation as a destination for foreign investment.

After Sall’s efforts to delay the election led to both a rebuke from the constitutional court and unrest on the country’s streets, the government on March 6 announced that the election was scheduled for later in the month. The government also passed an amnesty law releasing hundreds of political prisoners, including Sonko and Faye on March 14.

The election was largely peaceful and early counts showed voters turned out overwhelmingly in favor of the opposition. Sonko had promised a resounding victory on his YouTube channel.

Faye’s roots lie in a small town in central Senegal. He is a practicing Muslim and has two wives. Ahead of Sunday’s election, Faye published a declaration of his assets, and called on other candidates to do the same. It lists a home in Dakar, and land outside the capital and in his hometown. His bank accounts hold roughly $6,600.

After studying law and graduating from Senegal’s National School of Administration in 2004, Faye became a tax inspector. This was when he met Sonko, also a tax inspector, and joined his newly-formed party PASTEF. He quickly became a prominent figure in the party and was named general secretary in 2021.

“I would even say that he is more honest than me. I place the project in his hands,” Sonko told supporters at a joint news conference in March of last year. Weeks later, Faye was arrested and jailed on various charges, including defamation.

Faye paid tribute to Sonko in his speech but declined to say what role Sonko might play in his government.

A Decade of Documenting More Than 63,000 Migrant Deaths Shows That Fleeing is More Lethal Than Ever

BY RENATA BRITO AND KERSTIN SOPKE

5:37 AM EDT, March 26, 2024

BERLIN (AP) — More than a decade ago, the death of 600 migrants and refugees in two Mediterranean shipwrecks near Italian shores shocked the world and prompted the U.N. migration agency to start recording the number of people who died or went missing as they fled conflict, persecution or poverty to other countries.

Governments around the world have repeatedly pledged to save migrants’ lives and fight smugglers while tightening borders. Yet 10 years on, a report by the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project published Tuesday shows the world is no safer for people on the move.

On the contrary, migrant deaths have soared.

Since tracking began in 2014, more than 63,000 have died or are missing and presumed dead, according to the Missing Migrants Project, with 2023 the deadliest year yet.

“The figures are quite alarming,” Jorge Galindo, a spokesperson at IOM’s Global Data Institute, told The Associated Press. “We see that 10 years on, people continue to lose their lives in search of a better one.”

The report says the deaths are “likely only a fraction of the actual number of lives lost worldwide” because of the difficulty in obtaining and verifying information. For example, on the Atlantic route from Africa’s west coast to Spain’s Canary Islands, entire boats have reportedly vanished in what are known as “invisible shipwrecks.” Similarly, countless deaths in the Sahara desert are believed to go unreported.

Even when deaths are recorded, more than two-thirds of the victims remain unidentified. That can be due to lack of information and resources, or simply because identifying dead migrants is not considered a priority.

Experts have called the growing number of unidentified migrants around the world a crisis comparable to mass casualties seen in wartime.

Behind each nameless death is a family facing “the psychological, social, economic and legal impacts of unresolved disappearances,” a painful phenomenon known as “ambiguous loss,” the report says.

“Governments need to work together with civil society to make sure that the families that are left behind, not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones, can have better access to the remains of people who have died,” Galindo said.

Of the victims whose nationalities were known to IOM, one in three died while fleeing countries in conflict.

Nearly 60% of the deaths recorded by the IOM in the last decade were related to drowning. The Mediterranean Sea is the world’s largest migrant grave with more than 28,000 deaths recorded in the last decade. Thousands of drownings have also been recorded on the U.S.-Mexico border, in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Gulf of Aden and increasingly in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea where desperate Rohingya refugees are embarking on overcrowded boats.

“Search and rescue capacities to assist migrants at sea must be strengthened, in line with international law and the principle of humanity,” the report says.

Currently on the Mediterranean “the large majority of search and rescue is done by nongovernmental organizations,” Galindo said.

When the Missing Migrants Project began in 2014, European sentiment was more sympathetic to the plight of migrants, and the Italian government had launched “Mare Nostrum,” a major search-and-rescue mission that saved thousands of lives.

But the solidarity didn’t last, and European search and rescue missions were progressively cut back after fears that they would encourage smugglers to launch even more people on cheaper and deadlier boats. That’s when NGOs stepped in.

Their help has not always been welcomed. In Italy and Greece, they have faced increasing bureaucratic and legal obstacles.

Following the 2015-2016 migration crisis, the European Union began outsourcing border control and sea rescues to North African countries to “save lives” while also keeping migrants from reaching European shores.

The controversial partnerships have been criticized by human rights advocates, particularly the one with Libya. EU-trained and funded Libyan coast guards have been linked to human traffickers exploiting migrants who are intercepted and brought back to squalid detention centers. A U.N.-backed group of experts has found that the abuses committed against migrants on the Mediterranean and in Libya may amount to crimes against humanity.

Despite the rise of border walls and heightened surveillance worldwide, smugglers always seem to find lucrative alternatives, leading migrants and refugees on longer and more perilous routes.

“There’s an absence of safe migration options,” Galindo said. “And this needs to change.”

___

Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain.

Seven Soldiers in Chad are Killed in an Explosion Blamed on Boko Haram Extremists

BY EDOUARD TAKADJI

9:09 AM EDT, March 26, 2024

N’DJAMENA, Chad (AP) — An explosive device detonated and killed seven soldiers in Chad during a patrol in the country’s west near Lake Chad, the government says.

The interim president, Mahamat Deby Itno, announced the deaths Monday on social media. Chadian authorities said they suspected Boko Haram extremists from Nigeria were behind the attack, renewing concerns about an escalation of violence near the border.

Boko Haram launched an insurgency more than a decade ago against Western education and seeks to establish Islamic law in Nigeria’s northeast. The insurgency has spread to West African neighbors including Cameroon, Niger and Chad. More than 36,000 people have been killed, mainly in Nigeria, according to the United Nations.

Violence has returned to the Lake Chad area after a period of peace following a successful operation launched in 2020 by the Chadian army to destroy the extremist group’s bases there. Schools, mosques and churches have reopened and humanitarian organizations have returned.

But there are concerns that a Boko Haram resurgence in Chad could affect the presidential election in May.

Deby Itno seized power after his father, who ran the country for more than three decades, was killed fighting rebels in 2021. The election is part of the country’s political transition.

Kenya Starts to Hand Over to Relatives the Bodies of 429 Members of a Doomsday Cult

Kenya’s government has begun handing over to relatives the bodies of 429 members of a doomsday cult at the center of a legal case that has shocked the country. Exhumed bodies from a vast rural area in coastal Kenya have shown signs of starvation and strangulation. Cult leader Paul Mackenzie is accused of asking his followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus and now faces charges that include murder. His trial begins in April.

BY EVELYNE MUSAMBI

2:36 PM EDT, March 26, 2024

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s government on Tuesday began handing over to relatives the bodies of 429 members of a doomsday cult at the center of a legal case that has shocked the country.

Exhumed bodies from a vast rural area in coastal Kenya have shown signs of starvation and strangulation. Cult leader Paul Mackenzie is accused of asking his followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus and now faces charges that include murder.

Authorities are using DNA testing to help identify bodies and their families. On Tuesday, the first bodies were handed over to relatives. Emotions ran high at the Malindi mortuary as families collected loved ones for reburial. Some wailed, overwhelmed.

Francis Wanje, a father who lost his daughter and seven other family members, pointed at a hearse carrying four bodies.

“We lost eight members of our family,” Wanje said. “We were supposed to get five, but were told that one of the children did not match the DNA.

“So now we have been given only four (bodies). So we are still hoping that perhaps in the future, we are going to get the other four.”

Mackenzie and dozens of his associates were charged in February with the torture and murder of 191 children. The trial begins on April 23. Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki has declared Mackenzie’s Good News International Ministries a criminal organized group.

Mackenzie is serving a separate one-year prison sentence after being found guilty of operating a film studio and producing films without a valid license.

Some outraged Kenyans have asked how authorities didn’t notice any sign of the mass deaths much earlier.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission last week said police failed to act on reports that could have prevented the deaths in the remote Shakahola area. Several reports had been filed at police stations by people whose relatives had entered the forested area.

EVELYNE MUSAMBI

Musambi is an Associated Press reporter based in Nairobi, Kenya. She covers regional security, geopolitics, trade relations and foreign policy across East Africa.

Ethiopia’s Biggest Bank Says it Has Recouped Most of the Cash Lost During a System Glitch

Commercial Bank of Ethiopia signage seen outside a branch in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tuesday, March. 26, 2024. Ethiopia’s biggest bank says it has recouped nearly 80% of the cash it lost during a “system glitch” that allowed customers to take out more money than they had in their accounts. (AP Photo/Amir Aman Kiyaro)

9:01 PM EDT, March 26, 2024

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s biggest bank says it has recouped nearly 80% of the cash it lost during what it says was a glitch in its system that allowed customers to take out more money than they had in their accounts.

Abe Sano, president of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, told reporters Tuesday that around $14 million was withdrawn or digitally transferred during the error. The value of the transactions ranged from 9 cents to $5,350, he said. The amount lost initially was reported as $40 million.

Nearly 15,000 people have voluntarily returned funds that were “taken illegally,” the bank said in a statement. But 567 individuals haven’t yet returned money that is not theirs. On Tuesday, the bank posted their names and account details online, in an apparent attempt to shame them into giving it back.

“The total amount remaining is not significant for the bank, but if this money is not fully recouped, it sends the wrong message,” Abe said.

News of the glitch spread on social media on March 16. Much of the money was withdrawn by university students. Several universities have publicly urged their students to return the cash.

The problem was caused by a “routine system update and inspection” rather than a cyberattack, according to Ethiopia’s central bank.

Established in 1963, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is the country’s largest bank with 40 million customers.

Pan-Africanist Opposition Candidate Wins Senegalese Election

By Al Mayadeen English

25 Mar 2024 21:43

Anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye wins Senegal's presidency, marking the country's first-ever victory for an opposition candidate in the initial round of voting.

In a historic turn of events, Bassirou Diomaye Faye is set to become Senegal's youngest president after winning the election in the first round of voting.

This victory marks a significant shift in Senegalese politics, as it's the first time an opposition candidate has achieved such a feat, in the first round of voting, since the country gained independence from France in 1960.

Faye's opponent has conceded defeat, and even outgoing President Macky Sall has congratulated him, hailing it as a victory for Senegalese democracy.

Official results are expected before the end of the week. An absolute majority was required for a first-round win.

Faye, who was recently released from prison only 10 days before the Senegalese elections, has pledged to pursue left-wing pan-Africanism and plans to renegotiate gas and oil contracts as Senegal prepares to tap into new reserves.

According to El Hadji Mamadou Mbaye, a political science lecturer and researcher at the University of Saint-Louis, "People are hungry for change when you see what is happening in this country in terms of corruption, non-respect of the law."

Prior to the elections, which launched earlier on Sunday, it was reported that around 7.3 million voters were registered and two favorites emerged: the governing coalition's former prime minister 62-year-old Amadou Ba and anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

In addition to the two favorites, there were 15 other candidates in the running, including a sole woman and former Dakar mayor 68-year-old Khalifa Sall.