‘Kabila won’t seek 3rd term’:

Africa

Congo’s current President Joseph Kabila will not seek a third mandate in the Central African country’s upcoming December elections because of constitutional term limits that prevent him from running again, Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala said on Tuesday.

“The elections are going to take place without the participation of President Kabila who will abide by the spirit and the letter of the constitution,” Tshibala said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum of the Americas, Conference of Montreal.

Tshibala’s comments follow signs in the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo that Kabila, who succeeded his assassinated father Laurent in 2001, is prepared to run for a third elected term. Tshibala said the elections are still scheduled to take place on Dec 23.

“These elections will take place at the expected date,” he said. (RTRS)

Kabila

on appeal Friday by the ICC, which said he could not be held criminally liable for crimes committed by his troops in the Central African Republic in 2002-2003. (AFP)

Nigeria jails another gov:

A Nigerian former state governor and serving senator was on Tuesday found guilty of corruption, the second high-ranking official to be sentenced to jail the past two weeks.

Former governor of Plateau State Joshua Dariye was found guilty of misappropriating millions of dollars earmarked for an ecological fund by the Abuja High Court, marking the end of a case that had been running for over a decade.

“I can’t imagine such a brazen act of systematic looting and stealing,” said Justice Adebukola Banjoko in her judgement.

She sentenced Dariye to 14 years behind bars for criminal misappropriation and two years for criminal breach of trust, with the sentences running concurrently.

Dariye, who represented the opposition People’s Democratic Party before crossing the floor to serve as a senator for the ruling All Progressives Congress, was in 2007 accused of diverting over 1.1 billion naira (more than $8.5 million at the time) from the state treasury.(AFP)

10 extremists killed in Mali:

Mali’s government says the army has killed at least 10 extremists after they attacked a village in the central Mopti region. Minister of Defense Tiena Coulibaly says the armed forces on Tuesday also recovered weapons, explosive devices and other materials.

Resident Ousmane Diallo says gunmen entered Bani village and fired into the air, causing panic before they headed for the prefecture, the local symbol of government.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Qaeda-linked extremist groups have escalated attacks in the region, targeting Malian soldiers and administrative buildings. (AP)