Eleven perpetrators of a "coup" that the authorities claimed to have foiled in December in Chad have been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the public prosecutor of the N. 'Djamena, and will be pardoned, according to the presidency.
In early January, the government announced the arrest of ten officers and a human rights activist, Baradine Berdei Targuio , presented as the mastermind of an "attempt to destabilize" the "constitutional order" and " institutions of the Republic" .
Mr. Berdei Targuio, president of the Chadian Human Rights Organization (OTDH), is a well-known human rights defender and a virulent critic of the Déby father and son regimes.
The 11 men, who were detained in the Koro Toro high security prison , 600 km north of the capital, were sentenced to 20 years in prison, said Mahamat El-Hadj Abba Nana, the court's attorney general. of appeal from N'Djamena.
They were convicted of undermining the constitutional order, illegal possession of weapons and criminal association, national television said.
On April 21, the President of Chad, General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno , promised the release of at least 12 men, including 11 army officers, accused of having attempted a "coup" in December 2022 .
"The president will keep his promise ," assured AFP Brah Mahamat, the spokesperson for the Chadian presidency, specifying that the sentence must be pronounced before the presidential pardon .
Mahamat Déby had been proclaimed transitional president two years ago by the army, at the head of a junta of 15 generals, on the announcement of the death of his father, Idriss Déby Itno , killed at the front against rebels after ruling Chad with an iron fist for 30 years.
Despite a promise to return power to civilians through elections after 18 months, he was reappointed in October 2022 - following a national reconciliation forum boycotted by the opposition and the main rebel movements - for a new two-year transition period .
At the end of March, Mahamat Déby had already pardoned 259 young people sentenced to prison for having, according to the authorities, participated on October 20, 2022, the date of the end of the first transition period, in a demonstration in N'Djamena against his continuation. in power.
This demonstration had been bloodily repressed by the security forces and had killed 73 people according to the government, many more according to NGOs.
Nigerian musician Seun Kuti arrested for physically assaulting police officer
Nigerian musician Seun Kuti, son of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, was placed under arrest on Monday for physically assaulting a police officer, police in Nigeria's Lagos state said.
Police had ordered his arrest on Saturday after a video showing him on a road yelling, pushing and slapping a police officer went viral on social media.
On Monday morning, Seun Kuti went on his own "to the Lagos State Police Headquarters, Ikeja, accompanied by his lawyer and a representative of his family" , said the porter. police word Benjamin Hundeyin on his Twitter account.
"He has been placed under arrest in accordance with the law" , he said, adding that "the ongoing investigation will be detailed, transparent and conducted in a professional manner" .
Seun Kuti is one of the sons of Fela, king of Afrobeat and genius musician who throughout his life has never ceased to denounce the corruption of the elites , the dictatorship and the power of the multinationals, using music as a 'a weapon.
Seun started playing in the Fela Kuti Egypt 80 orchestra when he was nine years old, and took over when his father died in 1997 when he was just 14 years old.
In 2019, he and his group were nominated for the Grammy Awards , the American music awards, in the category of the best world music album, with "Black Times" .
Senegal: Clashes police and young supporters in Casamance on the eve of Ousmane Sonko's trial
Clashes between the police and young supporters of the Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko Monday morning in Ziguinchor, Casamance (south), on the eve of the planned rape trial against the latter, noted a correspondent for the AFP.
Groups of young people threw stones at the security forces, who responded with tear gas , he said. Supporters of Mr. Sonko set up roadblocks in some streets using stone blocks and logs, and burned tires.
Mr. Sonko, president of the Pastef-les Patriotes party , is supposed to be in Ziguinchor , the city of which he is mayor, when he must be in Dakar on Tuesday for a trial for rape and death threats against an employee of a beauty salon in the capital.
Mr. Sonko says he is the target of a power plot to keep him out of the 2024 presidential election . He announced that he would no longer respond to summonses from justice, instrumentalized according to him. He risks being brought to court by force or being tried in absentia.
Many supporters gathered around his home in Ziguinchor on Sunday evening to spend the night and form a human shield against an attempted arrest, media reported.
The texts stipulate that Mr. Sonko should appear at the court registry on Monday in anticipation of his trial. Neither the lawyers nor the spokesperson for his party, contacted by AFP, said whether he persisted in his refusal to appear .
Mr. Sonko has always refuted the rapes and threats.
His appointments with the law have regularly given rise to incidents or put Dakar under tension. His opponents accuse him of relying on the streets to escape justice, or of being an agitator fomenting an "insurrectional" project .
Rwanda northern, western and southern provinces, Government relocates flood victims
In Rwanda, heavy rains claimed nearly 137 lives and injured in the northern, western and southern provinces last week.
The government quickly mounted an emergency response, including evacuations and temporary relocation to camps for those affected.
The Deputy Government Spokesperson presented the country's reconstruction plans following the floods.
"What remains to be done is to ensure that victims are resettled in other areas, away from places designated as high-risk areas. Resettlement involves selection; we identify who owned land before the floods, who owned a house, who needs compensation and who doesn't, then we resettle them in houses that are not in high-risk areas," explains Alain Mukurarinda, door - deputy spokesman for the Rwandan government.
More than 10 million Rwandan francs have been raised in 24 hours to help people affected by floods and landslides.
The urgent relocation of more than 19,000 households living in disaster-prone areas has been identified as a priority by the government.
The victims say they are grateful for the state program.
"Although some have been reluctant to move into these homes, it is important to note that on this day our lives are no longer in danger, considering all the lives that have been lost in the floods and the destruction this has caused, We are grateful for the resettlement program we have received from our leaders,” said Maria Mukangira, a flood victim relocated by the government program.
"There was nothing we could have done to prevent the floods or heavy rains from happening, but helping those who survived this tragedy is within our reach and we must." President Kagame
The Rwandan government is still in the process of identifying new non-high risk areas where it can relocate families affected by the floods and landslides.
The climate crisis, the main vector
According to the UNDP, the number of flood-related and climate-fueled disasters has increased by 134% globally between 2000 and 2023. Rwanda, which is naturally vulnerable to flooding, has become a hotspot.
Richard Munang, deputy regional director of the African office of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), believes that the increase in temperature increases the frequency of extreme weather events.
While the planet has warmed by 1.1C, he notes that Africa is "warming twice as much as the global average" and that "extreme events" will only get worse.
"East Africa has seen temperature increases of up to 1.7C," Munang said. This means that the consequences of global warming, including extreme rainfall, will continue to worsen.
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