CONTINENTAL DRIFT
‘A parody of an election’
Former Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba has denounced the country’s December elections as a “parody”. This comes after the Constitutional Court this week banned him from running for president, because of an earlier witness-tampering conviction at the International Criminal Court. Bemba was convicted in 2016 for war crimes and crimes against humanity but was acquitted on appeal. He says the “fact” that President Joseph Kabila and his party “is choosing opponents is very worrying”.
One shoe wonder
Kenyan athlete Conseslus Kipruto had just started his 3 000m Diamond League race in Zurich when he lost a shoe. He was not willing to break his tempo, so he did the only thing he could — he sprinted with one shoe to victory. Kipruto suffered injuries to his foot but says he did what he had to do. “I have big pain but it motivated me to fight as hard as I could,” he said.
‘It wasn’t us’
Ugandan singer-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, aka Bobi Wine, said soldiers seriously injured him during his incarceration: “They beat me, punched me and kicked me with their boots. No part of my body was spared.” He was arrested for allegedly stoning a vehicle in President Yoweri Museveni’s convoy. He was released on bail last week and is receiving medical treatment in the United States. The Uganda military has dismissed his claims and Museveni described media reports of Ssentamu’s torture as fake news.
MTN Nigeria hit – again
Nigeria has hit Africa’s largest mobile operator with a new fine. MTN has been ordered to pay taxes to the tune of $2-billion mere days after Nigeria’s central bank ordered the mobile operator to repatriate $8.13-billion to Nigeria. According to the bank, MTN had not got the necessary permissions to transfer the funds out of the country. MTN has denied the bank’s allegations and it believes it has settled its tax bill.
Mo Salah’s moment
Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah is on the list of three finalists for Best Fifa Men’s Player award for 2018. He will go up against Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Croatia’s Luka Modric. The Egyptian is only the third African player to be chosen among the top three for Fifa’s main award for players. Liberia’s current president, George Weah, won in 1995 and was the runner-up a year later, while Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o was third in 2005.
Rhino relocation
Zimbabwe is donating 10 white rhinos to the DRC to re-establish a population driven to extinction by poachers a decade ago, Zimbabwe’s wildlife authority ZimParks said. Protecting wildlife is complicated by ongoing militia violence in the DRC. The rhinos would be moved from Victoria Falls Game Reserve, according to ZimParks spokesman Tinashe Farawo. ZimParks and other conservationists said the rhinos from Zimbabwe would strengthen the gene pool in the DRC.