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<p>Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Richard Sezibera, confirmed to the media that self-proclaimed major Callixte Nsabimana alias Sankara, leader of the National Forces for Liberation of Rwanda (FLN), was arrested a couple of weeks ago, and will be brought before court.</p>


Rwanda arrests rebel leader Sankara

<p>JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; A South African court on Tuesday approved an application by the central bank to wind up VBS Mutual Bank, which was caught up in a corruption scandal this year.</p>
<p>A report commissioned by the South African Reserve Bank and titled “The Great Bank Heist” found that at least 1.9 billion rand ($132 million) had been looted from VBS and that its financial statements had been misstated.</p>
<p>The regulator placed the small lender under curatorship before applying last month to the High Court to close it down for being “hopelessly insolvent”.</p>
<p>“There is no reasonable probability that the continuation of the curatorship will enable VBS to pay its debts or meet its obligations and become a successful concern,” court papers filed by the Reserve Bank said.</p>
<p>The collapse of VBS has prompted an outcry in South Africa because many municipalities had deposits with the bank. More than 50 individuals and firms are alleged to have benefited from the fraud.</p>
<p>VBS was thrust into the spotlight in 2016 when it provided a 7.8 million rand loan to then-president Jacob Zuma to reimburse the state for lavish upgrades to his private residence including a swimming pool and amphitheatre. ($1 = 14.3926 rand)</p>
<p>Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Dale Hudson</p>


South African court orders VBS Bank to be liquidated

<p><span class="articleLocation">JOHANNESBURG</span> (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s top court will rule on Thursday whether a motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma should be taken by secret ballot, a verdict that could pave way for disgruntled members of the ruling party to anonymously dissent.<span id="midArticle_byline"></span></p>
<p>The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, which has a majority in parliament, has said it will vote against the motion, but factions within the party are battling for control before a party conference in December where they must choose a successor to 75-year old leader.</p>
<p>Zuma, who will be in parliament later in the day for question and answer session, has survived four previous no-confidence votes. But opponents led by the main opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA) believe a recent cabinet reshuffle that led to the dismissal of respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan may have angered enough ANC members to desert Zuma.</p>
<p>However, law experts have said the Constitutional Court is unlikely to order parliament to hold a secret ballot because it might be seen as overstepping its line.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;We are hoping that the court will find that speaker has the discretion to order a secret ballot and that if there are compelling reasons in any legislature where people are under threat or in danger of being intimidated, then the speaker must use that discretion in ordering a secret ballot,&#8221; said the DA lawmaker and head of its executive.</p></blockquote>
<p>The ruling is expected at 0800 GMT.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by Ralph Boulton)</p>


South Africa’s top court to rule over secret Zuma no confidence vote

<div id="article-byline"><span class="author"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/journalists/paola-totaro">Paola Totaro</a></span></div>
<p>LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; A series of brutal, government-ordered evictions that left more than 30,000 Nigerians homeless were deemed &#8220;unconstitutional&#8221; in a landmark decision by the Lagos High Court on Wednesday, activists said.</p>
<p>The judge ordered a stop to future evictions in a move that could prevent an estimated 270,000 other residents of Lagos from losing their prime waterfront homes to development.</p>
<p>The court case against the government &#8211; launched by the Lagos-based human rights organization Justice and Empowerment Initiative (JEI) &#8211; was run on behalf of dozens of waterfront communities throughout Lagos state.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;People were dancing in the streets afterward. The judge began reading his lengthy ruling at about 11:30 a.m. and finished around midday,&#8221; Megan Chapman, JEI co-executive director, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone.</p></blockquote>
<p>Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo ruled that the rights of the residents had been violated and ordered that the state government stop further evictions and discuss re-settlement.</p>
<p>The government had no immediate comment on the ruling.</p>
<p>Campaigners hailed the ruling as a vindication for poorer residents, whose prime land in Nigeria&#8217;s biggest city, Lagos, is cleared to make way for luxury flats.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is a great victory,&#8221; said Chapman. &#8220;It issues an injunction against the government carrying out any further evictions. They must also consult and arrange for re-settlement if they are to continue with any further eviction.&#8221;</p>
<p>One man was shot dead and another wounded when the Lagos state police launched the fourth wave of forced removals from the Otodo Gbame waterfront communities in April.</p>
<p>The Lagos state government announced its intention to demolish all waterfront slums last October, saying it was for &#8220;public safety&#8221;.</p>
<p>A month later, bulldozers accompanied by police escorts arrived after midnight and set fire to a first community, forcing residents to flee into their canoes and leaving an estimated 30,000 without shelter.</p>
<p>Chapman said most had moved in with friends or relatives, although many were still living in their canoes.</p>
<p>&#8220;For most, conditions are terrible: if they are lucky they are staying in the homes of relatives or friends, with 10 or 15 additional people in a single, family home.&#8221; she said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Paola Totaro, Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)</p>


Nigerian court rules against mass eviction in Lagos: activists

<p>After consultation with its legal team, Absa has decided to approach the High Court in order to have the report of the Public Protector that was released on Monday 19 June 2017 reviewed and set aside. This is due to the numerous misrepresentations and factual inaccuracies which are used as the basis for its findings, and what we submit are the report&#8217;s clearly irrational and unreasonable legal conclusions.</p>
<p>Absa respects constitutional institutions and has to date done everything possible to cooperate with the Office of the Public Protector during the course of this investigation. However the report leaves Absa with no choice but to seek recourse in the courts as provided for by the Constitution when an affected party disagrees with the findings of the Public Protector.</p>
<p>The office of the Public Protector appears to have either effectively ignored or misunderstood Absa’s detailed submissions, which were made to it on two occasions. A copy of our February 2017 submission has been released to the public.</p>
<p>We also note that the Public Protector’s remedial actions include a directive to Parliament to amend the Constitution in order to change the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank. We are advised that the Public Protector Act does not empower the Public Protector to direct that constitutional amendments be made. Her recommended amendments pose a very serious risk to the financial system and they cannot be allowed to stand.</p>
<p>It is noteworthy that the report’s findings and remedial actions in relation to Absa are mainly premised on the conclusions of the Davis Panel of Experts, which delivered a comprehensive report on the same matter in February 2002. The Public Protector also uses the statement of the Heath Special Investigating Unit as a further basis for her conclusions on Absa.</p>
<p>In the case of the Davis Panel, the Public Protector’s final report misrepresents or misconstrues its findings. While it concluded that the manner in which the assistance was provided to Bankorp was unlawful (ultra vires), the Davis Panel unequivocally found that Absa is not liable to pay because it paid fair value for Bankorp.</p>
<p>The Davis Panel Report reads as follows:</p>
<p><em>“The Reserve Bank’s assistance conferred benefits on Sanlam’s policy holders, its pension fund beneficiaries and on the minority shareholders of Bankorp. That is contrary to public perception published in the media, and contrary to the conclusions of the Heath Special Investigative Unit. Those perceptions and conclusions have incorrectly asserted that major benefits were received by the shareholders of Absa.”</em></p>
<p>It goes on to say:</p>
<p><em>“The Panel is of the view that Absa paid for the continued assistance of Bankorp by the Reserve Bank and could not be regarded as beneficiaries of Reserve Bank assistance package. Absa paid fair value for Bankorp. Due to the complex nature of the impact that the various packages might have had on the value of capital invested in Bankorp, it is difficult for the Panel to assess with accuracy, the extent of the benefits derived by Bankorp shareholders. </em></p>
<p><em>Evidence supports the conclusion that Sanlam, the major Bankorp shareholder was aware that it would have received no value, or less value, for its shareholding absent Reserve Bank assistance.”</em></p>
<p>While the Public Protector’s final report accepts large parts of the Davis Panel Report as a basis for its findings and remedial actions, the report fails to explain why the rest of the Davis Panel’s findings on Absa are not accepted. In this respect, the Public Protector’s report appears irrational. The Public Protector’s final report not only omits the rest of the Davis Panel’s finding, it also does not explain how it comes to the diametrically opposite conclusion that Absa’s shareholders unduly benefited, rather than Sanlam’s policy holders and pension fund beneficiaries – which is what the Davis Panel found.</p>
<p>It is also noteworthy that in the provisional report that was leaked in January 2017, the office of the Public Protector had relied on the alleged testimony of former SA Reserve Bank Governor Dr Chris Stals. In that report, it was claimed that Dr Stals had testified that the Bankorp/Absa loan was at an interest rate of 16% instead of 1%, and that he had produced a contract to support this. Dr Stals strongly refuted the claim in the media shortly thereafter.</p>
<p>The alleged testimony of Dr Stals and the document he was said to have produced are conspicuously absent from the final report. In the final report this basis is abandoned and instead it selectively relies on a report that in any case found that Absa is not liable.</p>
<p>Ahead of our submissions to the Public Protector, we requested access to documents in her possession that had a material impact on our position. That request was unjustifiably refused. The Public Protector’s report’s assertion that its findings are not in dispute, when Absa was never given insight into, let alone the opportunity to dispute what is supposedly contained in those documents, is therefore contested.</p>
<p>In any event the information upon which the report bases its findings is not new. It was at the disposal of the Public Protector’s office before the findings in the provisional report were made. It appears that this information was not regarded as relevant at the time.</p>
<p>The misconceptions and inaccuracies in the report are profound and damaging to Absa’s reputation. We have instructed our lawyers to immediately prepare an application to the High Court to have the report&#8217;s findings and its remedial actions (including the remedial action concerning the intervention of the Special Investigative Unit and the amendment of the Constitution) reviewed and set aside.</p>
<p>We firmly maintain our position &#8211; supported by uncontroverted evidence – that Absa met all its obligations to the SA Reserve Bank in full by October 1995.</p>


Absa to seek High Court review of Public Protector’s report

<p><span class="articleLocation">CAPE TOWN</span></p>
<p>South Africa mine&#8217;s minister on Sunday defended new regulations seeking to accelerate black ownership in the key industry as a &#8220;win-win&#8221; situation for all, despite objections from an industry body threatening court action to block the changes.<span id="midArticle_byline"></span></p>
<p>Minister Mosebenzi Zwane released the government&#8217;s revised Mining Charter on Thursday, raising the minimum threshold for black ownership of mining companies to 30 percent from 26 percent, and giving resource companies 12 months to meet the target among a raft of other regulations that hit mining stocks.</p>
<p>The Chamber of Mines, which represents mining firms, said it would challenge the new rules in court, arguing that there had been insufficient consultation in drawing up the charter &#8211; which is designed to widen ownership of Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have given due consideration to the submissions made and we will not be held ransom to those views that seek to derail transformation in the minerals sector,&#8221; Zwane said an an opinion piece in the Sunday Times newspaper.</p>
<p>Saying that it was impossible to please everybody, Zwane said a court review by aggrieved parties was expected.</p>
<p>&#8220;Should this happen, we are hopeful that the judiciary, recognising the separation of powers doctrine, does not usurp the role of the executive in exercising its power,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Wendell Roelf, editing by Louise Heavens)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


South Africa’s mines minister defends new mining charter

<p>Turkish mobile operator Turkcell (<span id="symbol_TCELL.IS_0"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TCELL.IS">TCELL.IS</a></span>) said on Thursday a $4.2 billion lawsuit against South Africa&#8217;s MTN (<span id="symbol_MTNJ.J_1"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=MTNJ.J">MTNJ.J</a></span>) over a disputed Iran license would be heard in a South African court after years of delays.</p>
<p>Turkcell first sued Johannesburg-based MTN in a U.S. court in 2012, alleging the South African mobile company used bribery and wrongful influence to win a lucrative Iran license that was originally awarded to Turkcell.</p>
<p>The case was later withdrawn from U.S. courts and filed in South Africa 2013, where it has been caught up in legal wrangling. MTN has rejected the allegations. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;We are delighted that the case is finally coming to trial in South Africa,&#8221; Serhat Demir, a Turkcell vice president, said in a statement.</p></blockquote>
<p>&#8220;Turkcell will be seeking the earliest possible trial date, and looks forward to vindicating its claims before the South African courts.&#8221;</p>
<p>Turkcell&#8217;s claim was delayed by objections from MTN and Turkcell&#8217;s responses to the objections, Turkcell said. On May 5, a South African high court rejected another 30 objections from MTN, clearing the way for the case to go to trial, it said.</p>
<p>In papers filed in November 2013 with the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, Turkcell claimed that MTN &#8220;acted wrongfully&#8221; and interfered with Turkcell&#8217;s relationships with the Iranian government.</p>
<blockquote><p>MTN previously appointed a retired British judge to lead an external investigation into Turkcell&#8217;s allegations. That probe dismissed the accusations as &#8220;a fabric of lies, distortions and inventions&#8221;.</p></blockquote>
<p>Shares in MTN fell 2 percent to 115 rand as of 1034 GMT, lagging behind a 0.9 percent decline in its closet rival Vodacom Group (<span id="symbol_VODJ.J_2"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=VODJ.J">VODJ.J</a></span>).</p>
<p>(Reporting by David Dolan and Can Sezer; Additional reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng in Johannesburg; Editing by Ece Toksabay/Keith Weir)</p>


Turkey’s Turkcell says $4.2 billion suit against South Africa’s MTN to go to trial

<p><span class="articleLocation">Chris Mfula | LUSAKA</span></p>
<p>A Zambian court will rule next week on whether to throw out a treason case against the leader of the main opposition party whose lawyers say the charges are vague and ambiguous, a magistrate said on Thursday.<span id="midArticle_byline"></span></p>
<p>United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema was arrested last week in a police raid on his home and charged with trying to overthrow the government.</p>
<p>His lawyers asked the court on Wednesday to dismiss the case, saying the charges were not specific.</p>
<p>Magistrate Greenwell Malumani said he needed time to decide whether to dismiss the treason charge and consider other preliminary issues that had been raised by the defence.</p>
<p>“The issues involved are many and complex and therefore I cannot hurriedly make a ruling. I will adjourn the matter to Wednesday, 26th April for ruling on the preliminary issues raised,” Malumani said.</p>
<p>Hichilema has been charged with plotting with other people between October 10 of last year and April 8 to overthrow the government. The arrest has raised political tension in Zambia, Africa&#8217;s second-biggest copper producer.</p>
<p>The Southern African country has traditionally been relatively stable but relations between the government and opposition have been fraught since last August, when President Edgar Lungu&#8217;s Patriotic Front (PF) party beat the UPND in a presidential election marred by violence.</p>
<p>The opposition says the vote was rigged but Hichilema has so far failed in his legal challenge against the result.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Tom Heneghan)</p>


Zambia court to rule on opposition leader’s treason case next week

<p>A court in Congo Republic on Tuesday threw out a challenge to opposition leader Paulin Makaya&#8217;s prison sentence for his role in protests against a third term for President Denis Sassou Nguesso.<span id="midArticle_byline"></span></p>
<p>Makaya was sentenced to two years in jail last July on four counts including &#8220;incitement to disturb public order&#8221; during a demonstration in October 2015, when thousands of people took to the streets to protest against a referendum on a third term for Sassou Nguesso.</p>
<p>He has repeatedly denied the charges.</p>
<p>Sassou Nguesso has ruled Congo for all but five years since 1979, and was re-elected in March 2016 after the referendum passed.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have the possibility of appealing to the court of cassation within two to three days,&#8221; his lawyer Yvon Éric Ibouanga told journalists in Brazzaville, after Makaya&#8217;s defeat in the appeals court.</p>
<p>&#8220;We continue to believe that we can one day obtain a decision grounded in the law.&#8221;</p>
<p>Four people were killed at the march in October 2015 when security forces opened fire on a crowd that had refused to disperse. Residents said the violence was the worst since Sassou Nguesso retook power in 1997 at the end of a brief civil war.</p>
<p>Makaya was also charged a 2.5 million CFA franc ($4,086.30) fine. He is not the only opposition figure to face Congo&#8217;s justice system.</p>
<p>Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, the former army chief and a power broker in the former French colony&#8217;s 1990s civil war, is on trial for allegedly violating state security and illegally possessing weapons of war. He was denied bail in August.</p>
<p>Mokoko finished third to Sassou Nguesso in the 2016 election criticised by opposition parties and foreign powers for irregularities.<span id="midArticle_byline"></span></p>
<p>($1 = 611.8000 CFA francs)</p>
<p>(Reporting by Philon Bondenga and Bouka Roch; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Richard Lough)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Congo Republic opposition leader’s appeal against jail term fails

<p>South Africa&#8217;s police minister will fight a court order to remove the head of an elite police investigation unit, popularly known as the Hawks, after the court ruled his appointment unlawful, media said on Monday.<span id="midArticle_byline"></span></p>
<p>Berning Ntlemeza was appointed in 2015 to lead the powerful Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation, but two domestic non-government bodies, Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation, applied to the High Court to have Ntlemeza removed on the grounds that he was unfit for the office.</p>
<p>Sandile Ngidi, a spokesman for Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, said Nhleko was appealing against Friday&#8217;s ruling, eNCA television reported. Ntlemeza will stay on while the appeal was processed, the report added.</p>
<p>Reuters could not immediately reach Ngidi for comment.</p>
<p>The integrity of the Hawks has been called into question by domestic media and NGOs, over the unit&#8217;s role in a graft case against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, which critics say was part of a political agenda.</p>
<p>Charges in that case were withdrawn last year.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)</p>


South Africa police minister to appeal court order against Hawks head

<p>A South African High Court has said the appointment of Berning Ntlemeza as head of an elite police investigation unit is unlawful and must be revoked, local media reported on Friday.<span id="midArticle_byline"></span></p>
<p>Two local non-governmental organisations, Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation, had applied to the court to have Ntlemeza removed as head of the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Gareth Jones)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


South Africa court orders removal of elite police unit chief

<p>President Donald Trump suffered a legal blow on Thursday when a federal appeals court refused to reinstate his executive order temporarily banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.</p>
<p>A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the Trump administration failed to offer any evidence that national security concerns justified immediately restoring the ban, which he launched two weeks ago.</p>
<p>Shortly after the court issued its 29-page ruling, Trump tweeted: &#8220;SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!&#8221; He told reporters his administration ultimately would win the case and dismissed the ruling as &#8220;political.&#8221;</p>
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<p>The 9th Circuit ruling, upholding last Friday&#8217;s decision by U.S. District Judge James Robart to suspend the order, does not resolve the lawsuit. It relates only to whether to lift an emergency halt to Trump&#8217;s order put in place by a lower court.</p>
<p>Trump, a Republican who took office on Jan. 20, faces long odds in getting the ban restored while litigation over his executive order proceeds. To ultimately win, the Justice Department will have to present evidence that people from those countries represent a domestic threat, legal experts said.</p>
<p>In its ruling on Thursday, the 9th Circuit said the government had so far failed to show that any person from the seven countries had perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States.</p>
<p>Trump&#8217;s Jan. 27 order, the most divisive action of his young presidency, sparked protests and chaos at U.S. and overseas airports on the weekend after it was issued. It was challenged by the states of Washington and Minnesota, which argued it violated constitutional protections against religious discrimination.</p>
<p>The Justice Department, which spoke for the administration at oral argument on Tuesday, said it was reviewing Thursday&#8217;s decision and considering its options.</p>
<p>Asked about Trump&#8217;s tweet, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said: &#8220;We have seen him in court twice, and we&#8217;re two for two.&#8221;</p>
<p>Trump says his executive order aims to head off attacks by Islamist militants. He has voiced frustration at the legal challenge to his order, calling Robart a &#8220;so-called judge&#8221; whose &#8220;ridiculous&#8221; opinion &#8220;essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country.&#8221;</p>
<p>The 9th Circuit judges said more legal arguments would be needed to decide the actual fate of Trump&#8217;s order. [nL1N1FS1G4]</p>
<p>While the court said it could not decide whether the order discriminated against a particular religion until the case had been “fully briefed,&#8221; it added that the states had presented evidence of “numerous statements” by the president “about his intent to implement a ‘Muslim ban.’”</p>
<p>The administration argued that the courts do not have access to the same classified information about threats to the country that the president does. The judges countered that “courts regularly receive classified information under seal.”</p>
<p>The three judges said the states had shown that even temporary reinstatement of the ban would cause harm.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>FINAL OUTCOME &#8216;NOT CERTAIN&#8217;</p>
<p>Curbing entry to the United States as a national security measure was a central premise of Trump&#8217;s 2016 presidential campaign, originally proposed as a temporary ban on all Muslims.</p>
<p>U.S. presidents have in the past claimed sweeping powers to fight terrorism, but the 9th Circuit on Thursday wrote that courts have the authority to review whether the president violated the Constitution.</p>
<p>Two of the three 9th Circuit judges were appointees of former Democratic Presidents Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, and one was appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush.</p>
<p>The government has 14 days to ask the 9th Circuit to have a larger panel of judges review the decision &#8220;en banc,&#8221; or appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will likely determine the case&#8217;s final outcome.</p>
<p>But it would need five of the eight justices to vote in favor of suspending the travel ban during litigation. That is likely to be a tall order as the court is evenly divided 4-4 between liberals and conservatives, meaning the administration would need to win over at least one of the liberal justices.</p>
<p>Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News: &#8220;It&#8217;s an interim ruling and we&#8217;re fully confident that now that we will get our day in court and have an opportunity to argue this on the merits we will prevail.&#8221;</p>
<p>Asked if the administration would go to the Supreme Court, she said: “I can&#8217;t comment on that. &#8230; He will be conferring with the lawyers and make that decision.”</p>
<p>The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation&#8217;s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said Trump&#8217;s policies &#8220;still pose a threat to communities of color, religious minorities, women, and others.&#8221;</p>
<p>Democrats, the minority party in Congress, celebrated.</p>
<p>&#8220;This Administration’s recklessness has already done significant harm to families, and undermined our fight against terror,&#8221; House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in an emailed statement.</p>
<p>But Tom Fitton from the conservative group Judicial Watch said on Twitter: &#8220;The Ninth Circuit ruling is a dangerous example of judicial overreach.&#8221;</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Reporting by Dan Levine in San Francisco and Noeleen Walder and Mica Rosenberg in New York; Writing by Lisa Lambert and Howard Goller; Editing by Peter Cooney)﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Setback for Trump as U.S. judges reject travel ban

<p>The top judge in Gambia&#8217;s Supreme Court declined on Monday to rule on President Yahya Jammeh&#8217;s petition to overturn his election defeat, as many Gambians wait nervously to see how the veteran leader will react to his rival&#8217;s planned inauguration this week.</p>
<p>Jammeh initially conceded defeat to opposition leader Adama Barrow following the Dec. 1 poll but later changed his mind, drawing widespread condemnation and the threat of a military intervention by regional neighbours.</p>
<p>Whether Gambia succeeds in swearing in Barrow is viewed as a test for democracy in West Africa, a region which is seeking to draw a line under a history of coups and autocratic rule.</p>
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<p>The Supreme Court has not sat for over a year and all the judge&#8217;s seats bar that of the chief justice are unoccupied. Jammeh has hired judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone to hear the petitions, but they have failed to arrive in Gambia.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is crystal clear that the justices from Nigeria and Serra Leone are not coming,&#8221; the court&#8217;s Nigerian Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle said.</p>
<p>The chief justice said the court would be adjourned until the next regular session in either May or November, but added that the petitions could be heard if the judges arrived sooner.</p>
<p>The court&#8217;s inability to convene only deepens the political crisis in Gambia. Allies of Jammeh said there could be no inauguration with petitions still pending before the court.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the interest of justice, the petition must be heard and determined before the inauguration can take place,&#8221; said Edward Gomez, a lawyer for Jammeh&#8217;s APRC political party, reacting to the adjournment.</p>
<p>Tensions are rising in the capital Banjul as Barrow&#8217;s Jan. 19 inauguration approaches. Heavily armed security forces man checkpoints throughout the city.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>MEDIATION EFFORTS</p>
<p>Barrow, who is visiting neighbouring Senegal, insists the swearing in ceremony will go ahead.</p>
<p>Leaders of regional bloc ECOWAS have tried to convince Jammeh to step aside, rather than risk dragging the country into crisis or civil war. But the bloc has also indicated that military force could be used to install Barrow.</p>
<p>Jammeh has called ECOWAS&#8217;s placing of troops on alert &#8220;a declaration of war&#8221; and Gambia&#8217;s army chief has publicly declared his loyalty to the 51-year-old leader who seized power in a 1994 coup.</p>
<p>Jammeh is looking increasingly isolated on the African continent. The African Union said last week it would not recognise Jammeh as Gambia&#8217;s president after Jan. 19. [nL5N1F3453]</p>
<p>In a statement, Jammeh&#8217;s office described the AU&#8217;s stance as &#8220;irresponsible and malicious and only meant to annoy and aggravate the political situation in The Gambia.&#8221;</p>
<p>The most recent mediation mission on Friday failed.</p>
<p>&#8220;As far are we are concerned all the options are on the table,&#8221; an advisor to Senegal&#8217;s President Macky Sall told Reuters. &#8220;And from January 19th he will no longer be president &#8230; and all the countries will recognise Barrow.&#8221;﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Gambia Supreme Court judge declines to rule on president's election challenge

<p>The political party of Gambia&#8217;s President Yahya Jammeh, who lost an election last month but has refused to accept his defeat, filed a request on Thursday with the Supreme Court for an injunction aimed at blocking the swearing in of his rival.</p>
<p>The question of whether Gambia can install opposition figure Adama Barrow as president is seen as a test case for African democracy in a region accustomed to coups and political unrest.</p>
<p>Barrow, who won the poll and has received the support of the international community, has said he will go ahead with his inauguration on Jan. 19 despite Jammeh&#8217;s rejection of the result.</p>
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<p>Supreme Court Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle, confirmed receipt of the petition, which was filed by Jammeh&#8217;s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC). </p>
<p>&#8220;It is filed today with the court registrar,&#8221; said Fagbenle, who did not say when a decision on the petition might be made.</p>
<p>Aziz Bensouda, the secretary general of the Gambia Bar Association, said an injunction would be unconstitutional.</p>
<p>&#8220;The inauguration of the president-elect should be held when Jammeh&#8217;s term officially ends. The court does not have any mandate to put an inauguration on hold,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>The election defeat of Jammeh, a former coup leader, after 22 years of increasingly authoritarian rule was celebrated across the tiny West African nation, and the incumbent initially accepted the result.</p>
<p>However, in a U-turn a week later that drew international condemnation, he denounced what he claimed was widespread fraud.</p>
<p>The APRC filed a challenge to the poll results, but the Supreme Court was unable to hear the petition on Tuesday after several judges failed to show up. [nL5N1F059Z]</p>
<p>Fagbenle adjourned the hearing until Jan. 16.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court, which rights campaigners say is heavily influenced by Jammeh, has not sat in over a year. Two chief justices have been dismissed since 2013. One of them was jailed.</p>
<p>The court hired four foreign judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone to hear Jammeh&#8217;s appeal. Legal sources said this week that the judges had not yet arrived in Gambia.</p>
<p>Regional bloc ECOWAS has sought to negotiate Jammeh&#8217;s peaceful departure and Nigeria&#8217;s President Muhammadu Buhari is leading a mediation mission to Gambia on Friday.</p>
<p>On Thursday, Nigeria&#8217;s lower house of parliament approved a motion to authorise Buhari to offer Jammeh asylum if he steps down. [nL5N1F24V6]</p>
<p>However, ECOWAS has also hinted at possible military action if he stays beyond the end of his term in office next week, raising the prospect of violence.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of State, which has already advised against travel to Gambia, warned American citizens on Thursday to avoid the capital Banjul&#8217;s city centre. Embassy staff were required to be off the streets by 6 p.m. (1800 GMT) until further notice.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Gambian president's party seeks to block rival's inauguration

<p>African judges due to help Gambia&#8217;s supreme court hear a challenge by President Yahya Jammeh&#8217;s electoral defeat last December failed to show up on Tuesday, forcing the chief justice to adjourn the session.</p>
<p>Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle delayed the hearing until Jan. 16, meaning the court will hear the challenge filed by Jammeh&#8217;s ruling APRC party only two days before the end of the long-ruling president&#8217;s mandate.</p>
<p>Legal sources said the foreign judges named to the court have not yet arrived in the West African country.</p>
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<p>Outside the courtroom, hundreds of people wearing green for the ruling APRC put on a show of support not seen since the polls for the eccentric and repressive ruler. Jammeh initially accepted his defeat but later questioned its validity.</p>
<p>&#8220;No to cheating,&#8221; the crowd chanted, echoing Jammeh&#8217;s speech rejecting the poll outcome.</p>
<p>The legal challenge has shone a rare light on the idiosyncrasies of Gambia&#8217;s legal system, which opponents say has long been manipulated by Jammeh.</p>
<p>The supreme court has not sat in over a year, partly because would-be judges are too afraid of being confronted with unpredictable charges themselves. Two chief justices have been dismissed since 2013, one of them being arrested and jailed.</p>
<p>Because of this, the court hired four foreign judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone to hear the appeal. But the absence on Tuesday of these &#8220;mercenary judges&#8221;, as the opposition calls them, raised questions about that option as well.</p>
<p>A document seen by Reuters and signed by Nigeria&#8217;s acting chief justice said that the timing of the extraordinary January session was &#8220;unfavourable&#8221;. Gambia&#8217;s supreme court normally sits in May and November.</p>
<p>Fagbenle confirmed the document and said he had received a similar one from the chief justice in Sierra Leone.</p>
<p>The question of whether the tiny country can overcome its current political impasse and instate President-Elect Adama Barrow next week is seen as a test case for African democracy in a region used to coups and autocratic rule.</p>
<p>The presidents of Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia will visit Jammeh on Wednesday in a second attempt to press him to hand over power.</p>
<p>While many Gambians as well as Western powers have publicly called for Jammeh to step aside, and even hinted at removing him by force, the army and most of the cabinet have remained loyal.</p>
<p>Many Gambians are afraid of Jammeh&#8217;s brutal security forces, who have been accused of locking up hundreds of opponents during his 22-year rule. Others believe he has mystical powers.</p>
<p>Jammeh boasts that he can cure both AIDS and infertility through herbal medicine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Reporting by Lamin Jahateh; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Tom Heneghan)﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Gambia's top court adjourns Jammeh's poll challenge

<p>LUSAKA &#8211; Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), owned by Vedanta Resources, has been ordered by a London court to pay the Zambian government more than $100 million for a claim related to the copper price, a state-owned company involved in the dispute said.</p>
<p>The claim relates to outstanding payments under a 2013 copper price participation settlement agreement between KCM and Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investments Holdings (ZCCM-IH), the latter said late on Monday.</p>
<p>In June this year, ZCCM-IH filed the claim with the English High Court to recover over $100 million it said was owed to it from KCM in terms of the 2013 agreement.</p>
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<p>&#8220;We now advise that ZCCM-IH has been successful in its application for default judgment. KCM has been ordered (on 16 December 2016) to pay all sums owed to ZCCM-IH,&#8221; the state company said.</p>
<p>&#8220;The total amount to be paid by KCM amounts to approximately $103 million. KCM has also been ordered to reimburse ZCCM-IH 80 percent of the costs it has incurred in pursuing its claim.&#8221;</p>
<p>A ZCCM-IH spokeswoman said the company and KCM planned to issue a joint press statement on Tuesday to give further details of the ruling.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Ed Cropley)﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Vedanta Resources slapped with $100m settlement

<p>Gambian President Yahya Jammeh&#8217;s ruling party challenged his defeat in a Dec. 1 election at the Supreme Court on Tuesday as West African leaders failed to reach a deal that would see him accept the result and end a deepening political crisis.</p>
<p>Soldiers also seized the headquarters of the national elections commission and sealed it off just hours before the mediation delegation representing regional bloc ECOWAS touched down in the tiny riverside nation.</p>
<p>Jammeh, who has ruled Gambia since taking power in a 1994 coup and is accused of widespread rights abuses, initially conceded defeat to his main challenger, Adama Barrow. But in a dramatic about-face that drew international condemnation he then rejected the poll results last Friday.</p>
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<p>The legal petition filed by the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction now raises the prospect that Barrow&#8217;s narrow victory, which was poised to end years of Jammeh&#8217;s autocratic rule, may be overturned.</p>
<p>&#8220;The petition prays that it be determined that the said Adama Barrow was not duly elected or returned as president and that the said election was void,&#8221; read the text of the document submitted to the court and seen by Reuters.</p>
<p>Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel peace laureate, led the ECOWAS delegation that also included Nigeria&#8217;s Muhammadu Buhari, Sierra Leone&#8217;s Ernest Bai Koroma and Ghana&#8217;s John Mahama, who lost an election last week and conceded defeat.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is not time for a deal. It is not something that can happen in one day. It is something that we have to work on,&#8221; Johnson Sirleaf said as the presidents prepared to leave Gambia.</p>
<p>Regional leaders will discuss the crisis at an ECOWAS summit in Nigeria on Saturday, she said, adding Jammeh had given her assurances that peace and stability would be preserved.</p>
<p>But in an apparent sign that Jammeh was further entrenching his position, security forces seized control of the Independent Electoral Commission headquarters, which holds the original poll records.</p>
<p>&#8220;The military came to my office and said I am not to touch anything and told me to leave,&#8221; said commission chairman Alieu Momarr Njai. &#8220;I am worried for my safety.&#8221;</p>
<p> </p>
<p>&#8220;STANDOFF&#8221;</p>
<p>Barrow, who received the unified backing of Gambia&#8217;s opposition in the election, has vowed to reverse Jammeh&#8217;s most capricious decisions, including a recently announced withdrawal from the International Criminal Court.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think everyone knows the issue here. There is a standoff between the government and our side,&#8221; Barrow said after meeting the regional heads of state.</p>
<p>If negotiations fail, diplomats say, Gambia&#8217;s neighbours might consider removing him by force. Marcel de Souza, head of the ECOWAS commission, told Radio France International on Monday that sending troops was &#8220;a conceivable solution&#8221;.</p>
<p>Gambia&#8217;s president officially has 60 days to hand over power, but his move to challenge the result at the Supreme Court &#8211; the legal channel for resolving poll disputes &#8211; could put the international community in a difficult position.</p>
<p>Rights groups say Jammeh exerts strong influence over the court, which has not held a session for a year and a half. Legal experts believe that at least four new judges would need to be hired to hear his petition.</p>
<p>With Gambian judges no longer willing to serve on the Supreme Court, foreign judges have increasingly been brought in to hear cases. The current chief justice is from Nigeria.</p>
<p>The role of Gambia&#8217;s army will now be critical and the United States said on Monday some military officers had sided with Jammeh.</p>
<p>Army chief General Ousman Badjie had previously called Barrow to pledge his allegiance, the latter&#8217;s spokeswoman said. But Badjie&#8217;s support for the president-elect appeared far less certain on Tuesday.</p>
<p>&#8220;I support the commander in chief, whoever it may be. I support the commander in chief Jammeh,&#8221; Badjie told Reuters.</p>
<p>Barrow, who has no official state security detail, said in an interview on Monday he was concerned for his own safety.﻿</p>


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Gambia Supreme Court judge declines to rule on president's election challenge

Gambian president's party seeks to block rival's inauguration

Gambia's top court adjourns Jammeh's poll challenge

Vedanta Resources slapped with $100m settlement

Regional leaders fail to reach deal with Gambia's Jammeh

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