Month: August 2021

Planned protests against South Sudan’s government failed to materialize Monday amid a heavy deployment of security forces in the capital, Juba, and a nationwide disruption of internet service.

A coalition of activist groups had called for public demonstrations to coincide with President Sala Kiir’s address to lawmakers at the opening session of Parliament Monday. However, there were no major gatherings on the streets of Juba.

Protesters 'scared off'

Speaking to VOA, Wani Michael, a member of the People’s Coalition for Civil Action, said the protest fizzled because people were “scared off” by the large police presence throughout the city.

“How do you arm yourself like that just to suppress your own citizens who are expressing their disappointment with how things are going on in the country? This is not going to stop today because today is an awakening day. It is going to be a process,” Michael told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.

Police said the activists had not sought permission to protest, and therefore any large demonstration would be illegal.

“We deployed the forces at least to keep order in case of any problem. Those forces are in the streets for your safety," police spokesperson Daniel Justin Boulogne said.

Mobile data unavailable

Residents in Juba told Reuters that as of Sunday evening, mobile data was unavailable on the network of South African mobile operator MTN Group, and by Monday morning, it was also halted on the network of Kuwait-based operator Zain Group.

Alp Toker, director of NetBlocks, a London-based group that monitors internet disruptions, said it detected "significant disruption to internet service in South Sudan beginning Sunday evening, including to leading cellular networks."

South Sudan’s Information and Telecommunications Minister Michael Makuei denied the government tampered with internet services in the country.

“It is not shut down by the government but has technical problems that need to be addressed. If that fault is addressed, it will come back,” Makuei told South Sudan in Focus.

'A stupid question'

Asked why the internet was disrupted on the same day protests were planned, Makuei said, “This is a stupid question. Why do cars go off on the road? Why do TVs go off at certain times? Why are all these things happening? They happen because they ought to happen at that particular moment, not because anything is being done by anybody.”

Activist Jame David Kolok, whose Foundation for Democracy and Accountable Governance is one of the groups that called for the demonstration, told Reuters that the internet shutdown was a sign "the authorities are panicking."

The activists accuse Kiir's government of corruption and failing to protect the population or provide basic services.

The government has repeatedly denied allegations from rights and advocacy groups of abuses and corruption.

Source: Voice of America

KINSHASA— The former Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo Eteni Longondo was placed Friday under provisional arrest for alleged misappropriation of funds allocated to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, prison and government sources said.

“The former Minister of Public Health, Dr. Eteni Longondo, was questioned at length by the prosecutor at the Court of Cassation and placed under provisional arrest warrant this evening,” a member of the government said.

“Dr. Eteni has indeed arrived here at the Makala central prison on the basis of a provisional arrest warrant issued by the prosecutor’s office. We have installed him in pavilion 8,” a prison official said.

Eteni Longondo, Minister of Health from 2019 until last April, is accused of “misappropriation of public funds allocated to the response” against Covid-19, wrote on Twitter the Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ).

In August 2020, the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) had suspected the former minister Longondo of having embezzled more than 7 million dollars intended for the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in the DRC, whose management is characterized by “the absence of supporting documents of expenses” made.

Longondo has always denied having embezzled this money, arguing that “these documents were in the process of being verified by his services” at the time of the audit. In November, he returned $721,900 to the public treasury, representing “the overpayment” and “the difference on the decontamination of the People’s Palace”, the seat of parliament, as well as a “double payment made by the Central Bank of Congo”.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has made the fight against corruption one of the priorities of his term. Longondo is the first executive of the presidential party Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) to be arrested for embezzling public funds.

The former chief of staff to the Congolese leader, Vital Kamerhe, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for embezzling more than $50 million to build prefabricated houses for the military and police.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

N'DJAMENA, CHAD - A Chadian military-political rebel group behind this year's deadly insurgency said on Friday it was prepared to take part in a national dialogue proposed by transitional president Mahamat Idriss Deby.

Deby seized power in April after his father, the former president, was killed while visiting troops fighting the rebels, who had crossed the border from Libya to take a stand against the elder's 30-year rule.

The Libya-based rebel group that claimed responsibility for Deby's death, known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), has now welcomed his son's offer to hold talks with all stakeholders, including opposition armed groups.

"If there are peaceful initiatives to build a new democratic Chad without dictatorship and the absolute confiscation of power, of course we will join them," said FACT spokesperson Kingabe Ogouzeimi de Tapol.

Deby's Transitional Military Council (CMT) has previously refused to negotiate with rebel groups, in particular members of FACT, which in April swept south from bases in Libya and reached within 300 kilometers of the capital, N'Djamena, before being pushed back by the army.

Source: Voice of America

TRIPOLI, LIBYA - Walk down any commercial street in the Libyan capital of Tripoli and the pavements will be lined with generators ready to spring into action whenever the mains electricity supply cuts out.

In the decade since the NATO-backed overthrow of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, repeated outbreaks of fighting have caused heavy damage to the power distribution network, while there has been virtually no new investment in generating capacity.

On most days, Tripoli residents can expect multiple outages, totaling as much as 12 hours a day.

The hum of generators and the acrid fumes and smoke of diesel fuel have become one of the most hated aspects of daily life in the once-affluent city.

"We've put up with this mess for the past 10 years. … It has a big impact on our daily lives," said 23-year-old pharmacist Sufian Zerkani. "It's a basic right the state should guarantee."

Keeping the generators fueled up has become a daily chore for many.

At service stations, pedestrians equipped with funnels and jerrycans for the generators line up alongside motorists.

The destruction and decay have come as a shock in a country that boasts Africa's largest reserves of oil and gas, and a population of just 7 million.

Promises unkept

The most recent round of fighting ended with a U.N.-backed cease-fire last year. That paved the way for peace talks and the formation of a transitional government this March, ahead of elections set for December.

The new peace process has raised hopes that there might be light at the end of the tunnel after a decade of rival governments fighting with the support of shifting alliances of local militias.

But for many, the promise of a return to peace and normality is not coming quickly enough.

"Nothing's changed. The promises made by one government after another have never been kept," said 25-year-old student Nader al-Naas.

In the hottest months, temperatures in Tripoli regularly touch 40 degrees Celsius.

"It's a disastrous situation, especially in the summer," Naas said.

It is worse for those without the means to buy a generator, who sleep outside on rooftops to escape the stifling heat at night.

Basic generators sell for around $470, but more reliable models cost thousands.

Blackouts bad for business

Last year's cease-fire came after forces in Tripoli fought off a yearlong offensive by a rival administration based in the east.

For a time, the east and its main city Benghazi enjoyed more reliable electric supply than Tripoli and the west.

But as the conflict intensified, it too was forced to adapt to the daily grind of power cuts.

"When there's no power, we stop work," said Benghazi mechanic Ali Wami.

"It's been a week since I was able to carry out any repairs to that vehicle," he said, pointing to a heavily damaged car.

Nearby, grocery shop manager Osama al-Dalah said the blackouts were bad for profits and bad for staff.

"All these power cuts wear us down, dampen our spirits and lose us money," he said. "We need a radical solution."

But while the country basks in a plentiful supply of sunshine, few Libyans are yet to set up solar panels as an alternative source of energy.

Decade of decay

In a recent report, the Libyan Audit Bureau took the state-run General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) to task for unfinished projects and investments that "brought nothing to the network."

A GECOL official told AFP the problem was the infrastructure, which has been "decaying for 10 years and requires extensive maintenance."

During the abortive 2019-20 assault on Tripoli, hundreds of high-tension lines serving the capital and its suburbs were destroyed.

Foreign firms pulled out, fearful for the safety of their employees, delaying the construction of new generating capacity. And in the meantime, thieves pulled out the distribution cables to scavenge copper wire.

Generating capacity from oil and gas power stations of between 5,000 and 5,500 megawatts falls well short of the demand of 7,000 MW in winter and 8,000 MW in summer, the GECOL official said.

Two new power stations are under construction by a German-Turkish consortium in Tripoli and in Libya's third city Misrata. They are expected to add 1,300 MW of capacity to the grid in the first quarter of next year.

A third new power station, in Tobruk in the far east of Libya, is scheduled to follow.

Source: Voice of America