NVA in Africa - 2009 April 17

Saturday, 18 April 2009

Eritrea 'like a giant prison', claims human rights group
By: Xan Rice, Guardian, April 16, 2009
Eritrea is becoming a "giant prison" due to its government's policies of mass detention, torture and prolonged military conscription, according to a report published today . Human Rights Watch (HRW) said state repression had made the tiny Red Sea state one of the highest producers of refugees in the world, with those fleeing risking death or collective punishment against their families.
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Ethiopians rally in rare protest
By: BBC NEws, April 16, 2009
The main opposition parties in Ethiopia have held a march in Addis Ababa to call for the release of their imprisoned leader, Birtukan Medeksa. The demonstrators handed in a petition to the authorities about Ms Birtukan. She is serving a life sentence, after officials revoked a pardon which had previously seen her set free.
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Zimbabwe PM Tsvangirai to tackle President Mugabe on farms, other issues
By: Blessing Zulu, VOA, April 15, 2009
A showdown loomed Thursday between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over a range of issues troubling the national unity government in which they share power, including ongoing farm invasions in the name of land reform and Mr. Mugabe's unilateral rearrangement of ministerial portfolios, political sources said.
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Zimbabwe: State determined to deny bail to political detainees
By: The Zimbabwean, April 15, 2009
After his swearing in on 11th February, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai stated in front of thousands of supporters at Glamis Stadium: "It hurts that as we celebrate here today there are some who are in prison. I can assure you that they are not going to remain in those dungeons any day or any week longer." But more than two months after that statement his Director of Security, his former personal assistant and a freelance journalist are still in police custody, over what are clearly trumped up political charges.
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Rights group to fight Zim constitutional reform
By: Mail and Guardian, April 15, 2009
A leading rights group in Zimbabwe vowed on Wednesday to campaign against the way a new Constitution is being drafted for the Southern African country under a recent power-sharing deal. The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), an umbrella group of rights bodies, churches and other activists, said the new basic law should not be written by parliamentarians but on the basis of public consultations.
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As Kenyan coalition cracks, stability at risk
By: One World, April 13, 2009
The Kenyan coalition government's failure to enact promised reforms and a swelling number of armed groups have sparked fears that the country could slide back into the kind of violence that claimed over 1,000 lives after disputed presidential elections in 2007.
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Mauritania opposition rejects elections as farce
By: AFP, April 13, 2009
A coalition of parties opposed to last year's coup in Mauritania rejected Monday the military junta's planned elections as a farce aimed at legitimizing army rule. "This is a vast comedy," Mohamed Ould Moloud from the National Front for the Defence of Democracy (FNDD) told AFP of Sunday's announcement that junta chief General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz would resign this week to stand for election.
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