Killers of Rwandan activist get 20-year prison terms

KIGALI: Two Rwandan police officers have been jailed for 20 years for killing an anti-corruption activist who was investigating mineral smuggling from the DRC.

Gustave Makonene, who worked for antigraft body Transparency International, was found dead in July 2013 in Rubavu, near the border with eastern Congo, a war- torn region rich in minerals that have fuelled an illegal trade.

The two men convicted by the court on Thursday were police corporals, Isaac Ndabarinze and Nelson Iyakaremye.

Judge Esron Gashyende said they had been sentenced to 20 years rather than life – the usual term for the crime – because they had confessed and co-operated with the investigation.

DRC drops plans for national census before 2016 vote

KINSHASA: The Democratic Republic of Congo’s senate yesterday scrapped plans for a national census before next year’s presidential elections, after four days of protests against a move that opposition leaders said was aimed at extending President Joseph Kabila’s term.

The opposition said a previous draft of the electoral law, approved by the lower house at the weekend, would have kept Kabila in power for years by delaying elections until a census could be held. Kabila, who won a second five-year mandate at disputed elections in 2011, is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term next year. With several long-standing African leaders facing looming term limits, the process is being closely watched across the continent.

Sierra Leone lifts restrictions as Ebola dangers diminish

FREETOWN: Sierra Leone’s president is easing restrictions on movement and commercial activity as an Ebola outbreak subsides in West Africa, while warning that the fight against the deadly disease is not yet over.

While the outbreak has sickened more than 21 000 people, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, the number of new infections is falling.

President Ernest Bai Koroma announced in a national broadcast that, starting yesterday, the country would lift all district quarantines and extend business hours on Saturdays. Koroma said in the Thursday night speech that while people must remain vigilant, easing the restrictions can jump-start the economic recovery.

Belgian police seek man spotted with murder suspect

BRUSSELS: Belgian authorities are looking for a man who was seen with the chief suspect after the May terror attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels that left four people dead. A Belgian judicial official said yesterday they want to speak to a baldheaded man with a sports bag seen with the suspect four days after the May 24 shooting.

The man accused of the killings, Mehdi Nemmouche, was arrested at a Marseille bus station carrying weapons resembling those used in the killings. Nemmouche, 29, a French national, was extradited to Belgium in July. Since then, Belgium has stepped up its terror threat level to three, the secondhighest, and has started posting paratroopers in the streets to protect potential targets like certain embassies and Jewish sites.