Eye on Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Al-Qaeda ally in Somalia, Al-Shabab claims to have publicly executed two men on Friday afternoon accused of spying for a regional intelligence agency and a soldier in the Hiran region, in the center of the country. The terror group announced the killings on its affiliated online media, claiming they were carried out by a firing squad in a public square in the strategic town of Buq Aqable, an al-Shabaab stronghold in the state. federal government of HirShabelle. The two men - Abas Mohamed accused of…

Ivory Coast should allow former President Laurent Gbagbo, who is barred from running in next month's main presidential election, to vote in the vote, the African Court of Human Rights and Peoples' Rights said on Friday. The court, set up by members of the African Union in 2004, asked Côte d'Ivoire to "take the necessary steps to immediately remove all obstacles" that prevented Gbagbo from being added to the electoral roll. Ivory Coast withdrew its recognition of the Court's jurisdiction back in April this year.…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somalia's parliament votes today on an electoral deal reached between President Farmajo and the leaders of the country's federal states on September 17 in Mogadishu following discussions under pressure from the US embassy. The political deal is expected to gain support from MPs in both lower and upper houses, with sources indicating that First Vice President Abdiweli Mudey is against the pact and is campaigning for the amendment. If the deal passes, the government, together with the federal…

36 days before the Côte d'Ivoire presidential election, the African Court of Human Rights re-enters the debate. Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, whose candidacy was invalidated by the Constitutional Council on 14 September, scores one point. The court ordered the postponement of his conviction of Ivorian justice in the so-called "breach of the BCEAO" case and his re-registration on the electoral roll. With our correspondent in Abidjan, Pierre Pinto It is an ordinance, that is, a preliminary ruling of the…

Paul Rusesabagina, the polarizing hero from the hit film "Hotel Rwanda", admitted in a court in Kigali on Friday that he had helped form an armed group, but denied any role in its crimes. Rusesabagina is famous for his portrayal of Don Cheadle in the 2004 film, in which a moderate hutu is shown saving hundreds of lives in a luxury hotel during the 1994 genocide, leaving about 800,000, mostly Tutsi, dead. However, a more complex picture has emerged since he appeared in Kigali under arrest under mysterious circumstances…

Mali's interim president, Bah Ndaw, elected to lead a transitional government after last month's coup, was sworn in during ceremonies in the capital Bamako on Friday, AFP reporters witnessed. A committee appointed by the military junta that seized power on August 18 and overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita elected Ndaw, a 70-year-old retired colonel, as interim president. The Ndaw must lead a transitional government for a maximum of 18 months before organizing national elections. In a speech, Ndaw said he…

Ivory Coast Constitutional Court ruled last week that only four out of 44 presidential hopefuls would be allowed to run in the country's presidential election. Because they face criminal convictions, former President Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro, both giants of Ivorian politics, were among those prevented from running. Most of the others whose candidates were deemed invalid had failed to garner sufficient public support - a new electoral reform required candidates to request signatures from at…

Ivory Coast's head of state, Alassane Ouattara, has blown up two rivals' attempt to challenge next month's presidential election as "provocation", saying one of them is behind bars. In an interview published Thursday by the French magazine Paris Match, the 78-year-old sitting fired a verbal breadth against former President Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro. Both men live outside the country, but retain strong support at home, in a country still scarred by a post-election conflict that claimed more…

Bah Ndaw, a retired colonel who has been appointed Mali's interim president after last month's coup, made his first public appearance on Thursday and met with a regional mediator, AFP reporters said. Ndaw, 70, met former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in Bamako on a mission for the 15-nation bloc ECOWAS on the eve of his inauguration. Ndaw's appointment was announced Monday by Colonel Assimi Goita, who is leading a junta of young military officers who seized power on August 18, removing President-elect Ibrahim…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The United Nations has welcomed the appointment of Mohamed Hussein Roble as the new Prime Minister of the federal government of Somalia, which has struggled with stability, over 30 years after the ouster of military leader Siad Barre, who ruled the country for two decades. In July, the Somali parliament fired Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, claiming that after months of negotiations, he had not prepared for a one-person-one vote. Khaire served in the office for three years, the longest period ever…