Thousands rally in Angola demanding fair election
LUANDA — At least 4 000 Angolans marched through Luanda on Saturday to demand a fair election in August when President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is due to step down.
Protests are rarely allowed in Angola but Saturday’s event, which was organised by the Unita opposition party, was authorised by the police. Dos Santos and his MPLA party is set to retain control at the election.
“This protest is to denounce the vicious system of fraud perpetuated in recruiting the same companies that participated in manipulating elections of 2008 and 2012,” Unita leader Isaias Samakuva told the crowd.
Protesters, who were closely monitored by a heavy police presence, chanted slogans against the two companies that have been contracted to count the votes.
“We want transparency, and free and fair elections,” Unita member Mihaela Webba said during the march, which passed off peacefully.
Dos Santos’s rule has seen the end of civil war and an investment boom in the oil-rich country.
But he has been criticised as secretive and corrupt, with authorities crushing dissent and Angola’s citizens suffering dire poverty as his family became hugely wealthy.
Defence Minister Joao Lourenco has emerged as the president’s chosen successor at the August 23 vote.
In April, seven opposition activists were jailed for “rebellion” after attending an unauthorised protest calling for election transparency. — AFP
Senegal charges 4 over doctored WhatsApp photo of president
DAKAR — Four people have been charged over sharing a doctored photo of Senegalese President Macky Sall’s face superimposed on the body of a naked man via WhatsApp, a lawyer said on Friday.
The three women and one man, all in their twenties, where imprisoned on Friday in Dakar after a judge charged them with sharing an offensive image and criminal conspiracy, Bassirou Sakho, the lawyer of one of the women told AFP.
According to local media, police are searching for a fifth person who is currently in The Gambia for allegedly sending the image via the messaging application.
A member of the WhatsApp group had alerted police, according to local media.
Punishment in the west African country for sending offensive images ranges from one month to two years imprisonment with fines of up to 300 000 CFA francs ($515).
The arrests come as the country gears up for legislative elections on July 30, with the deadline for submitting candidates in the poll expiring earlier this week.
Senegal is widely considered one of the continent’s most stable democracies. — AP