Africa- The daily news from Africa

Less than a week before Egypt's presidential election, Reham Raouf has not yet decided for whom she is going to vote.

Cairo - Less than a week before Egypt's presidential election, Reham Raouf has not yet decided for whom she is going to vote.

That's because not one of the presidential candidates can be trusted to promote women's rights, says the young doctor.

“I want to have a voice in my country, feel safe and look forward to my future. It shouldn't be so hard for the candidates to clearly explain how they are going to enforce the gender equality they keep talking about,” Raouf says.

The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights, an independent non-profit organization, has criticized the candidates for failing to provide details about their views on women's rights.

“Theirs are mere general statements,” said Ghada Lotfy, a consultant at the centre.

Lotfy called on the contenders to provide specifics in their programmes, with tools and timeframes for implementation “so that progress can be measured over a certain period of time.”

Thirteen contenders are running in the polls, Egypt's first since a popular revolt removed Hosny Mubarak from power in February last year.

The first round of the vote is due to be held on May 23-24. If no candidate gains a clear majority in that round, a run-off will be held on June 16-17.

The race's frontrunners have made various attempts to canvass women's votes.

Abdul-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, a moderate Islamist candidate, this week held a rally titled “Egyptian Women” attended by his wife, daughters and female supporters and at which he pledged to address discrimination against women.

The Muslim Brotherhood's contender, Mohammed Morsi, has in interviews praised his wife for playing “the biggest role” in his life.

Meanwhile, Selim al-Awa, the third Islamist candidate, has failed to make any mention at all of women's issues in his programme.

“This is because he (al-Awa) believes that women and men are equal and that it is enough to address Egyptian citizens' problems,” said Amal Saeed, one of his campaign volunteers.

Islamists made unprecedented gains in Egypt's recent parliamentary elections. But their critics say they have performed disappointingly inside and outside the parliament.

“I cannot trust Islamists any more. I feel we have moved backwards a decade in just a few months,” says Sara al-Saidy, a housewife.

“I want to pick one of the liberals standing for president,” adds added al-Saidy. “But they appear as vague about women's issues as their Islamist rivals.”

Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, seen as the top liberal candidate, has promised that “post-revolution Egypt will not be a country where women are stripped of their rights and freedoms.” But he did not elaborate.

“We fear that women's status would remain as it has been during the transitional period of the past 15 months,” says Lofty of the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights.

Since Mubarak's fall, women in Egypt have faced a lot of trouble, say observers.

It began weeks after Mubarak's overthrow, when women rallying in the iconic Tahrir Square to mark International Women's Day were attacked and sexually harassed.

Shortly after, Samira Ibrahim, a female activist, announced she and other women had been forced to undergo a virginity test following their detention by the military in March 2011.

A painful blow came when Bothaina Kamel, the only woman to announce her intention to run for president, failed to collect the required 30 000 voter endorsements to qualify as an independent candidate.

Women make up only 1 per cent of the two houses of Egypt's parliament.

A heated debate was sparked earlier this month over reports that loyalists of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the largest party in the parliament, had launched a charity medical campaign to perform female circumcision surgery in southern Egypt.

The practice was banned and incriminated under Mubarak's rule.

According to the reports, the drive was part of efforts to support the Brotherhood's presidential candidate, Morsi.

Although Morsi's campaigners denied the reports, FJP lawmaker Azza al-Garf has stirred up a fresh uproar by saying female circumcision is a “personal decision.”

Other controversial statements by Islamist deputies include suggestions to cancel penalties stipulated in the law against sexual harassment and reducing the marriage age for girls from 18 to 14.

“Women should make up 50 per cent of all the decision-makers and the official committees,” says Lotfy of the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights.

“Women should also account for 30 to 50 per cent of the next president's advisers to ensure that their voices are heard,” she adds. - Sapa-dpa

In the northeastern nook of Senegal carcasses of cattle lie in the sun, the fields have withered and food depleted.

Wodobere - In the northeastern nook of Senegal, one of the most stable and developed nations in the drought-hit Sahel region, carcasses of cattle lie in the sun, the fields have withered and food depleted.

As scanty rains wreaked havoc across the belt, hitting drought-weary Chad, Niger, Mali and other countries, this west African hub is struggling to provide food to its people and entire villages are going hungry.

“The shepherds and people have told us they feel as if they have been left to their own devices,” said famed Senegalese singer Baaba Maal, who last week toured the Matam region from where he originates.

In Wodobere, a town of about 6 000 people skirting Mauritania, Maal - an ambassador for British charity Oxfam - called for urgent aid to avert famine as he toured the region, listening to the concerns of villagers and giving concerts.

Crops have failed across eight countries after late and erratic rains in 2011, and aid agencies have raised the spectre of a food crisis bigger than the one which left millions starving in 2010.

This is the third drought in the Sahel in a decade, and while the previous ones were felt mostly in Niger and parts of Chad, this year it has unfolded across the entire region.

In Mbelogne, a hamlet where most of the 450 residents survive off animal husbandry, its chief Ely Hamady Diallo said: “There are problems both with food and water, for people and for the animals.”

Here a cow carcass lies on the cracked, scorched earth. Emaciated cattle lie in the shade, too weak to lift themselves. The only well, some two kilometres from the village, is nearly dry.

“We can't even respect tradition and offer you some cold milk. My cow died because she didn't have anything to eat or drink,” said Yacine Diallo, holding her daughter in her arms.

“We have nothing left,” said Diallo, who came to Mbelogne to see Maal, adding that the situation is the same in her nearby village of Ndouloumadji.

In another village named Dolel, chief Mamadou Gaye does not complain about the drought, but calls for water pumps, machines to irrigate the land and proper health infrastructure.

Patrick Ezeala, who works with Oxfam in the region, said the food crisis is currently affecting 800 000 people in Senegal.

As the country struggles to feed its 13 million inhabitants, it imports basic goods such as rice, forcing the prices up.

“Twenty million people (in the Sahel) are threatened with famine because of a lack of rain, climate change, and the flare in the prices of basic goods,” said Maal after a concert in Wodobere which attracted several hundred people.

“In a few months' time, the worst could unfold in front of our eyes. We need to act now,” he said, calling on authorities and international organisations to intervene and avoid a worst-case scenario.

Fatouma Sow and Penda Ndiaye came decked up for the concert, and after singing and dancing they reflected on the message of one of the country's most respected artists.

“He spoke of a food crisis, it concerns us too. Before a kilo of rice cost 250 CFA francs, now it is 350 CFA francs (0.53 euro cents, $0.67). Here, it is hard for everyone,” said Sow. - Sapa-AFP

Libya faces the daunting task of vetting thousands of candidates who wish to compete in the June election for a constituent assembly.

Tripoli - Libya faces the daunting task of vetting thousands of candidates wishing to compete in the June elections for a constituent assembly, with several bodies involved in the process.

“If a person committed a criminal offence or had ties to the former regime he is excluded,” Al-Taher Qraf, the deputy head of the electoral commission said on Thursday, the final deadline for candidates to register.

Libyans are on track to vote for a 200-member constituent assembly in June. A total of 120 seats are reserved for independent candidates and the remaining 80 open to political parties.

Qraf said candidates are being carefully screened to exclude people with known mental health issues, invalid national identity papers, ties with the previous regime or blood on their hands.

The electoral commission's latest figures put the number of individual candidates vying for a spot in the assembly at 2 119, including 59 women.

As of Wednesday, more than 136 political entities had put forward 517 candidates, 226 of whom were women.

Interim government spokesperson Nasser al-Manaa said all candidates will be vetted by the interior and defence ministries to assure they have no criminal record and that they are not active in the army.

Qraf said the entire screening process would take another two weeks.

The main vetting body is the Integrity and Patriotism Commission.

“The volume is huge but we are working day and night so elections are held on time,” its spokesperson Omar al-Habbasi told AFP.

Habbasi said his team has reviewed more than 600 files to date.

The integrity commission's mandate is to bar people who stood stood against the February 17 revolution that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi or who backed the previous regime.

Its regulation excludes members and leaders of institutions active during Gaddafi’s government, including the revolutionary guards, revolutionary committee and student associations.

Those involved in crimes, including torture, and those who had commercial ties with Gaddafi’s clan or stole public funds are also barred from office.

The ruling National Transitional Council has pledged to hold the elections by June 19, which would give candidates who get the green light roughly a fortnight to conduct their campaigns.

Nearly three million Libyans have registered to participate in what marks the first national poll after four decades of dictatorship under Gaddafi, who was toppled and a killed in a popular revolt last year. - Sapa-AFP

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s military has targeted positions held by mutineers who have been fighting against soldiers in the eastern regions of the country.

Goma - The Democratic Republic of Congo's military on Thursday shelled positions it believed were held by mutineers who have been fighting the army in the country's east, a military source said.

The army fired heavy artillery from tanks into the hills of Mbuzi and Tchanzu in Nord-Kivu province and received no return fire, the source said.

A spokesperson for the mutineers - former rebels who were integrated into the national army under a 2009 peace deal but defected after complaining of poor conditions - said they had “several wounded” but had not retreated.

“We kept our positions,” spokesperson Vianney Kazarana told AFP.

The mutineers, believed to number in the hundreds, are gathered in the Rutshuru territory on the border with Rwanda and Uganda at the far northeast of a small strip of the Virunga National Park.

On Saturday, government forces carried out air strikes against their headquarters in Runyonyi, a town near the Rwandan border, the army said.

The military has been fighting the mutineers since late April, first in Masisi territory, northwest of the provincial capital of Goma, and later in Rutshuru, where the dissidents fled and regrouped.

The mutineers, who began defecting in early April, have formed a new military group called the March 23 Movement (M23), comprising ex-members of the rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).

Former CNDP commander Bosco Ntaganda is accused of leading the mutiny.

Ntaganda, known as “The Terminator”, is wanted by the International Criminal Court on a war crimes charge of enlisting child soldiers.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said he was again forcing boys into military service, accusing him of forcibly recruiting at least 149 boys aged between 12 and 20 in the latest conflict. - Sapa-AFP

The first 70 soldiers from a 600-strong Ecowas force have arrived in Guinea-Bissau to oversee the country’s transition back to civilian rule.

Bissau - Seventy soldiers from Burkina Faso were deployed in Guinea-Bissau on Thursday, the advance party of a 600-strong West African force that is due to replace Angolan troops and oversee a transition back to civilian rule.

Plagued by decades of coups and instability and now also a major hub for cocaine shipments from Latin America to Europe, an army putsch ousted the former Portuguese colony's civilian government on April 12.

A Reuters reporter in Bissau said the Burkinabe soldiers and policemen arrived in a civilian jet and were unarmed. They have set up base in Cumere, 35km northeast of the capital.

“These 70 soldiers and paramilitaries are being deployed to accompany the country during its one year transitional period,” Ansumane Cisse, the top civilian official from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) in the country, told journalists watching the troops arrive.

Members of Guinea-Bissau's military were also at the airport but did not comment.

It was not immediately clear when the remaining soldiers, due to come from Nigeria, Senegal and Togo, would arrive.

The Ecowas force is due to replace an Angolan mission, which had been in the country for about a year, but which fell out with local military officers.

Since the coup, mediation by Ecowas has led to the swearing in of an interim president, prime minister and government tasked with managing a one-year transitional period.

The West African force is due to oversee that transition and help push through reforms of the army, which has long meddled in politics and, in recent years, has been widely accused of facilitating the drugs trade.

Carlos Gomes Junior, the former prime minister who was a presidential front-runner before the polls were cut short by the coup, has said he does not recognise the new authorities and has accused Ecowas of legitimising the coup leaders. - Reuters

WITH barely a week to go before parliamentary elections in Lesotho on May 26th, there is no sign in the bustling capital of Maseru of the usual campaign paraphernalia: no posters, no cars emblazoned with party colours, no loudspeakers blaring political slogans, nothing to suggest that this mountain kingdom, surrounded by South Africa, was in the throes of its most hotly contested poll since independence from Britain nearly 50 years ago.This does not mean the Basotho, Lesotho?s 2m inhabitants, are unengaged. But the radio and party rallies are their preferred method of campaigning. Any of the country?s three main parties could win. The closeness of the race has people worried. Elections in Lesotho are generally deemed fair, but they have often been followed by violence. In 1998 Pakalitha Mosisili, leader of the newly elected Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), had to ask the Southern African Development Community, a 15-member regional club which includes Lesotho, to send in troops to end months of rioting, looting, burning and killing. Many fear that could happen again.In some ways, this episode was a surprise: the Basotho do not have the reputation of resorting to violence at the drop of a ballot box. Over two-thirds live off the land, tending small herds of cattle, sheep and goats beside patches of maize. The days are hot, the nights cool, the air crystal. Mountain...

A Nigerian Bible scholar once told me as we met for breakfast in Nairobi, "once you drink the waters of Africa, you must return again and again for more."

It has been a little over a year since I've been back for a sip. I cannot believe it's been this long. Priorities have shifted with the new and exciting challenges at CBN News in my professional life and raising my little son in my private life.

I miss Africa so very much; exploring new cultures and meeting new people. And, of course, having a good, strong cup of Kenyan coffee with my friends at Java House.

I carry a bit of Africa in my heart and in my arms?

In my heart, I carry the memories of the past four years of coverage.

The oppressive heat of the Somali winds as they blow across the desert sands. The shock of seeing the bones and dried blood of the massacred in Rwanda. The grief of holding a dying baby. The fear of being a foot from a landmine, knowing little children pass by dozens like it everyday on their way to school. Sitting in the dirt under a scrub brush tree talking with Somali women who have seen horrors I could never imagine.

But for every sad memory, there are two happy memories.

The joy of the Masai dancers as they leapt in to the air with the widest of smiles. The beauty of the early morning mist on the plains. The hope of a South Sudanese teacher as she taught her pupils. Drinking a steaming cup of "coffee sludge" in a small village. Drinking a warm Coke in the desert. Drinking ANYTHING in the middle of nowhere. The naming ceremony a group of Dinka Christians held to "adopt" me into their tribe. The bliss on the face of a young woman holding her first healthy baby thanks to a new local clinic. Getting lost in a Sudanese swamp and walking across dry river bed with my cameraman whose name really is "Moses!"

And the church services! There's nothing like the hours-long worship in African churches. In every country, I met brothers and sisters who have very little, but gladly give anything to their neighbors in need.

I also carry a bit of Africa in my arms. Although he is now an American citizen, my Ethiopian son will always know his heritage. I need only look into his face to see the beauty of his race. The hope, joy and potential of the many I've met and, God willing, will meet again.

There is a part of me that will always remain scattered amongst the acacia trees. And the longing to return is too strong not to return.

Africa Matters is not gone. The column will only be on hiatus for a while as things settle down around here. Keep an eye out for my byline. I will continue to write news analysis pieces in the coming months and warmly welcome your comments and story ideas.

Also, thank you to all the Africa Matters readers who sent e-mails over the years. You have shared your wisdom and insights; the good, the bad and the critical. All have been appreciated. Please, please feel free to e-mail me anytime.

I remain your faithful correspondent, dedicated to covering news around the world... especially on the African continent.

(Editor's Note: This submission is from Tony Das. He will continue as a guest contributor to Africa Matters from time to time.)

Many Westerners believe Africa is a continent of animists who worship multiple gods, and a smattering of Muslims. In fact, Christian website www.the-tidings.com http:/www.the-tidings.com/ reported that "Christian growth in Africa is nothing short of astonishing" and that Africans represent 33% of the planet's Christians. Europe, by contrast is the only continent where Christian numbers are declining "and will likely decline for the foreseeable future."

I belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Martin Luther started the Protestant reformation in Wittenberg, Germany where only one-in-four citizens now call themselves Christian (undoubtedly due to generations of atheistic communism in that former East German city).   

In America, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that "the US is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country". However, that report concedes that Catholics have been able to maintain a "steady" percentage of the Christian population due to the impact of Latino immigration.

Christianity is nothing new to Africa. By 500 AD there were three African-born Catholic Popes, all of whom made significant marks on Christianity.

Pope Victor I (AD 189-199), born in the Roman Province of Africa changed the liturgical language from Greek to Latin.

Pope Militiades (AD 311-314) was a North African Berber, a people who live west of the Egyptian Nile Valley. His Edict of Milan in 313 forced Roman Emperors Constantine and Licinius to tolerate Christians and return their confiscated lands.

Pope Galasius I (AD 492-496), also a North African commanded that the Eucharist be celebrated with both bread and wine; the latter had been prohibited by Persian Manicheans who claimed "dual identity" with the Christian church.

To escape King Herod's thugs Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to Egypt, an African state for refuge. One of the first to be baptized a Christian by the Apostle Philip was a eunuch and aide to Ethiopian Queen Candace. Acts 8:39 says Philip went "on his way rejoicing."

In more recent years, Christian missionaries in Africa left local populations understanding that Christian charity is based upon providing those things that God has deemed necessary for what we now call "quality of life." Food, clean water, medical care and pastoral ministry during Africa's too-frequent natural and man-made disasters are not lost on the recipients.

I have been working in some of the most remote African locations - and some of the most violent - since 1978. I find that Christian clergy, missionaries and aide workers are among the most respected people on the continent. In 1982 as a foreign news correspondent, I covered the first Africa trip of the late Pope John Paul II. In Onitsha, Nigeria -- a country with the largest Muslim population in sub-Sahara Africa-- more than one million people walked as long as two weeks to attend his outdoor mass.

Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, who in 1965 became the world's youngest bishop at the age of 32, was by all accounts a serious contender to replace John Paul II after his death. Cardinal Arinze said at the time: "the great St. Augustine of Hippo, Algeria (again, an African nation), son of St. Monica was the earliest philosopher/theologian to ?re-interpret the teachings of Christ, the Epistles and the Old Testament, thus welding together the old and new in honor of Christ".

To turn Western preconceptions of Africa's religious demography on its head: African Protestant and Catholic clergy have raised the concept of "re-evangelizing the West" by sending African missionaries to under-served Christian communities in Europe, their former colonial masters.

Tony Das has 30+ years of experience as a U.S. diplomat, foreign news correspondent and businessman in Africa. Now President/COO of Global Markets Consulting Group he has just been elected to Church Council at Prince of Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Orkney Springs, VA. He can be reached at: tonydas@shentel.net

Earlier this week, we carried a report about seven Somalis beheaded by Islamists with links to Al-Qaeda in Baidoa, Somalia.  The murderers accused the seven of everything from being "spies" to leaving Islam to become "Christians."

I do not know whether these victims were indeed Christians or not.  It's very hard to confirm.  The families are probably not volunteering that information for fear they, too, may be killed. 

What we do know is that, according to Open Doors, there are only 4,000 Christians in the predominantly Muslim country of more than 10 million.  And Somalia is ranked fifth in the world by the organization for persecution against believers.

"Christian" = Criminal

Unfortunately, calling someone a Christian has become the "accusation du juor" that leads to persecution and death in many Muslim countries-whether or not the accused is indeed a Christian.  It seems the term has become an easy way to make sure someone is convicted.

It's kind of like a reverse of the American "Salem Witch Trials" in the late 1600s.  When many good and honest people were accused of being witches and killed by hanging.  The meer accusation often led to death.

"They even called me a 'Christian!'"

When I was in the Dadaab refugee camp on the border between Somalia and Kenya, I interviewed a young Somali girl regarding the awful practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).  Her father, a devout Muslim holy man (imam), stood up in his mosque to denounce the practice.  He refused to let his daughters be mutilated.

As I talked with the beautiful young refugee, she said she had been beaten and called vicious names, because of her father's unpopular stand against FGM. 

"They even called me a Christian," the Muslim girl said with eyes downcast.

Even though this girl's family is obviously Muslim, the easiest way to persecute them without just cause is to call them Christians.

Radical Islam

To be fair, those that beheaded the seven in Somalia do not represent the majority of Muslims.  Most of the Muslims living in the neighboring countries of Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan are followers of Sufi Islam, a more contemplative "denomination," if you will.

The brand of radicals that killed these Somalis come straight from Saudi Arabia.  Hard-liners that believe those who disagree with their point of view are worthy of death.

"To live is Christ, to die is gain."

Early believers were ripped to shreds by lions and  persecuted beyond imagining simply because they were called "Christians."  And Acts 11:26 says the term "Christian" was first used by believers in Antioch.  For more than two thousand years, people have lived and died for being associated with the label.

Murdering people, Christian or Muslim, is against everything Scripture dictates.  Persecution of any kind is wrong.  We are told to treat others the way we want to be treated, regardless of their race, gender or creed.

However, if someone must die for being a "Christian," at least let it be one who believes in Christ.  One who has promise of a better life; for whom death is considered "gain." 

On the heels of the G-8 summit, President Obama is making his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa since he assumed the presidency.

The G-8 leaders have earmarked $20 billion to help poor African farmers boost their productivity.  That may sound like a lot of money, but it really isn't.  A good portion of that figure had already been tagged to go to the continent anyway.  And many countries are far behind in paying the money they had already promised to give four years ago.

Also, if you compare the more than $48 billion President Bush set aside for Africa during his administration to this $20 billion cumulative donation from some of the richest countries in the world; their promise seems very small indeed.  It almost seems a nice symbolic gesture.  If history is our guide, this is a promise many countries may never keep.

Make sure to tune in to special coverage of the President's trip to Africa on the CBN Newschannel and Christian World News next week.

A panel of five Tunisian judges Thursday convicted TV magnate Nabil Karoui of ?disturbing public order? and ?threatening public morals? by broadcasting the French movie ?Persepolis,? an animated film that contains a fleeting image of God.

Shokri Ghanem, the former Libyan prime minister and oil chief who saw it as his mission to change his country from the inside, only to realize too late that Moammar Gaddafi would never accept any meaningful reform, was found dead April 29 in Vienna. He was 69.

NAIROBI ? A grenade attack on a Nairobi church Sunday killed at least one person and injured more than a dozen, the latest in a series of such attacks since Kenya sent troops to fight an al-Qaeda-linked militia in neighboring Somalia.

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THE HAGUE ? Charles Taylor, the U.S.-educated guerrilla leader who fought his way to the presidency of Liberia, was convicted Thursday of war crimes and crimes against humanity ? including murder, rape and slavery ? for his role in assisting a bloody rebel movement in neighboring Sierra Leone.

Juba, South Sudan ? With his newly independent nation on the brink of war with its neighbor Sudan, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir went on a trip this week to seek help. But he didn?t travel to Washington, his country?s biggest aid donor. He went to China.