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African News

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Coup plotters jailed in E Guinea
Two leading figures in a plot to oust Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms by a court.

Plot leader Nick du Toit was jailed for 34 years, while opposition leader Severo Moto, who is in exile in Spain, was given 63 years in absentia. Both men escaped the death penalty demanded by the prosecution. Twelve other defendants were found guilty of a role in the plot in Sub-Saharan Africa's third oil producer.

The government of the tiny state, made up of islands and mainland jungle, denies widespread accusations of corruption and human rights abuses..
See BBC News for full story

You can't stop us from politics —Agwai, Army Chief
THE Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. General Martin Luther Agwai, has taken on those who seek the exclusion from politics, military bigwigs, especially those who are retired and angling to have a shot at elective offices under the on-going political dispensation, saying the mind of such people violates democratic norms.

The army chief spoke at the weekend against the backdrop of criticism by some Nigerians of the speculated ambition of some retired military Generals to succeed President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007 when his maximum tenure of eight years expires..
See Vanguard for full story

Fresh violence engulfs Darfur
EL-FASHIR, Sudan Just two weeks after the Sudanese authorities and their guerrilla enemies signed a pledge to restore security and broaden access to aid groups, a fresh surge of violence is engulfing Darfur.

Rebels have sharply ratcheted up attacks and the government has responded with heavy-handed retaliation, turning large patches of this brutalized land into no-go areas for humanitarian relief..
See International Herald Tribune for full story

The thief in Umuahia
To say that Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State is controversial would be running the risk of being accused of making a gross understatement. The once young but now fast aging governor’s middle name is indeed “controversy” to those who had followed developments in both political and economic spheres of Nigeria since the ascension to power of this enigma in 1999, the question has always been ‘how did this guy manage to execute the coup that brought him to power’. This is more striking in view of Kalu’s abysmal background and lack of well grounded education. For those who had coin the phrase “broken English” they must have had Kalu’s grammar in mind. But today Kalu sit atop the government of Abia State, a state that had produced the high and mighty.
See Africa Master Web for full story