<p>South Africa&#8217;s African National Congress (ANC) is not bound by tradition to elect its deputy as leader, President Jacob Zuma said in an interview broadcast on Sunday, dismissing labour unions&#8217; endorsement of Cyril Ramaphosa.</p>
<p>The ANC, which last year suffered its worst election result since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, is set to choose a successor to the scandal-plagued Zuma by the end of this year.</p>
<p>Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the African Union president once married to Zuma, have both been tapped by organisations in the governing alliance to become party leader, but neither has yet declared whether they intend to stand.</p>
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<p>Zuma, who was party deputy before being elected leader in 2007, made it clear that Ramaphosa was not an automatic choice.</p>
<p>&#8220;People say it is a tradition that once you are the deputy president, you then become the president, that is not true,&#8221; Zuma said in the interview with the South African Broadcasting Corporation.</p>
<p>Analysts say a split has emerged in the ANC between those who want a successor loyal to Zuma, and a faction that wants a fresh start under Ramaphosa.</p>
<p>Ramaphosa, who is Zuma&#8217;s deputy both in the party and in government, told supporters on Sunday that the ANC was &#8220;under severe strain&#8221; and suffered from relentless competition for influence and control over resources.</p>
<p>&#8220;We must acknowledge here that there are instances where internal ANC processes have been infiltrated by individuals and companies seeking preferential access to state business,&#8221; Ramaphosa said.</p>
<p>South Africa&#8217;s anti-graft watchdog last year called for an investigation into influence peddling in Zuma&#8217;s government, but the president has denied providing special favours for wealthy friends and wants the watchdog&#8217;s report to be reviewed.</p>
<p>The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which is part of the ruling political alliance and claims to represent 1.8 million workers, said in November that it would campaign for Ramaphosa.</p>
<p>Dlamini-Zuma, who held several cabinet positions before becoming head of the African Union, was endorsed by the ANC Woman&#8217;s League last week and is expected to have the backing of her former husband.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


South Africa's Zuma says ANC not bound to elect deputy as leader

<p>Gambia&#8217;s President-elect Adama Barrow has left the country for neighbouring Senegal, a coalition member and local media said on Sunday, a day after West African leaders failed to persuade President Yahya Jammeh to step aside.</p>
<p>Barrow, a former real estate agent, won a Dec. 1 election in the former British colony by a slim margin. Long-ruling Jammeh conceded defeat but then changed his mind, plunging one of West Africa&#8217;s tourist hot spots into crisis and dimming hopes for democracy in a region accustomed to coups and autocratic rule.</p>
<p>Barrow, backed by the West and the African Union, is due to be inaugurated on Jan. 19, although Jammeh is seeking to block this pending a Supreme Court ruling on his legal challenge to poll results.</p>
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<p>&#8220;He (Barrow) is in Dakar. He will be back for the inauguration and we are mobilising the whole country for that,&#8221; said Isatou Toure, a member of Barrow&#8217;s coalition.</p>
<p>A spokesman for Senegal&#8217;s government was not immediately able to confirm his arrival which was also reported by state-owned news agency APS. Toure did not say why Barrow had gone to Dakar, although other supporters said he felt vulnerable given a lack of security.</p>
<p>The regional mediation mission to Banjul on Saturday, led by Nigeria&#8217;s President Buhari Muhammadu Buhari and Liberia&#8217;s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was seen as the last attempt at a diplomatic resolution to the political impasse.</p>
<p>Talks with regional bloc ECOWAS in December had also failed.</p>
<p>The bloc will seek formal approval to send troops if Jammeh continues to refuse to step aside, U.N. Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel Mohammed Ibn Chambas said earlier this week.</p>
<p>&#8220;His Excellency the President reiterated his position and that of The Gambia Government,&#8221; said a statement for Gambia&#8217;s President on the State House website after Saturday&#8217;s meeting.</p>
<p>Jammeh has cited irregularities in the polling process and is challenging the election results at Gambia&#8217;s Supreme Court.</p>
<p>But the court could not rule on his challenge this week because judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone did not show up. The Supreme Court has indicated it may not be able to sit again until May.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Gambia's President-elect arrives in Senegal after talks fail

<p>Ghana&#8217;s President Nana Akufo-Addo came under fire on Sunday when it emerged that his inaugural address plagiarized quotes from speeches by U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.</p>
<p>The outcry on social and national media over Saturday&#8217;s speech took the shine off a moment of triumph for the former opposition leader, who won a convincing victory in December after twice losing battles for the presidency.</p>
<p>The slip is embarrassing in part because Akufo-Addo&#8217;s New Patriotic Party (NPP) prides itself on the professional competence of its leadership.</p>
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<p>The party has outlined policies aimed at creating jobs, fighting poverty, promoting business and restoring Ghana to its status as one of Africa&#8217;s most dynamic economies.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a wake up call that there&#8217;s been a transition from leader of the opposition to the presidency and I&#8217;m sure he (Akufo-Addo) will be more careful in future,&#8221; pollster and author Ben Ephson told Reuters, adding that any political damage is unlikely to be lasting.</p>
<p>Many commentators had praised the statesman-like nature of the speech of about 26 minutes, delivered to an audience of dignitaries and foreign leaders moments after Akufo-Addo took the oath of office.</p>
<p>The Director of Communications for the presidency, Eugene Arhin, apologized for the errors on Facebook, calling it a &#8220;complete oversight and never deliberate&#8221;. He noted that the speech contained four correctly attributed quotations.</p>
<p>Other NPP leaders close to Akufo-Addo declined to comment on how the errors occurred.</p>
<p>The criticism focused on two sentences in Akufo-Addo&#8217;s speech.</p>
<p>&#8220;I ask you to be citizens, citizens not spectators, citizens not subjects, responsible citizens building your communities and our nation,&#8221; he said.﻿</p>
<p>&#8220;Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Ghanaians have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people and we must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us.&#8221;</p>
<p>The first line almost matches one from Bush&#8217;s inaugural address in 2001, while the second mirrors Clinton&#8217;s inaugural speech in 1993 with only the country name changed.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Ghana's Nana Akufo-Addo faces outcry over plagiarism in inaugural speech

<p>Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara dismissed the heads of the army, police and gendarmes on Monday after a two-day military mutiny that spread unrest across the West African nation, according to a presidency statement.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan also resigned and dissolved the government, a move that had been expected after elections last month but which was delayed two days by the weekend uprising.</p>
<p>Disgruntled soldiers demanding the payment of bonuses and wage increases began their revolt on Friday, seizing control of Bouake, the second largest city, before troops in military camps in cities and towns across the country joined the mutiny.</p>
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<p>Army chief General Soumaila Bakayoko &#8211; the former military head of a 2002-2011 rebellion, who has become increasingly unpopular with many troops &#8211; was replaced by his second in command, General Sekou Toure, the presidency statement said.</p>
<p>Gervais Kouakou Kouassi, superior commander of the National Gendarmerie, and Director General of the National Police Bredou M&#8217;Bia were also replaced by their deputies with immediate effect, according to the statement, read on national television.</p>
<p>The uprising of mainly former rebels now integrated into the army was the second such army mutiny in less than three years.</p>
<p>As happened in the first uprising, the government conceded to the low-ranking soldiers&#8217; demands and agreed to pay bonuses likely to cost state coffers tens of millions of dollars.</p>
<p>Defence Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi was briefly trapped inside the house in Bouake where negotiations took place on Saturday after some mutineers opened fire outside, having initially rejected the timetable for bonus payments.</p>
<p>&#8220;I assure you that the president of the republic understands you. He is a man of his word,&#8221; Donwahi said on Monday in a televised address aimed at the disgruntled soldiers.</p>
<p>He said he planned to return to Bouake on Friday to meet again with the mutinous troops.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>UNSTABLE MILITARY PUTS ECONOMIC RECOVERY AT RISK</p>
<p>Years of conflict and a failure to reform the army, cobbled together from rival rebel groups and government soldiers, have left it hobbled by divisions.</p>
<p>Ivory Coast, French-speaking West Africa&#8217;s largest economy and world&#8217;s biggest cocoa producer, emerged from a 2002-2011 political crisis as one of the continent&#8217;s rising economic stars. But Ouattara&#8217;s failure to rein in an ill-disciplined, factionalised army could threaten that recovery.</p>
<p>Duncan, the outgoing premier, had been expected to stand down on Saturday but held off after the army mutiny erupted.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have tendered my resignation and that of the government,&#8221; he said after a meeting with Ouattara.</p>
<p>The president retained his majority in the Dec. 18 parliamentary vote. However, Ivorian legislative elections are usually followed by a change of government as a matter of procedure.</p>
<p>Ouattara was expected to name a new prime minister in the coming days.</p>
<p>Earlier, Guillaume Soro was re-elected as president of the National Assembly with 95 percent of the votes cast by deputies.</p>
<p>Soro led a rebellion that controlled the northern half of the country for nearly a decade starting in 2002. He later served as prime minister between 2007 and 2012.</p>
<p>The government&#8217;s dissolution paves the way for the implementation of measures contained in a new constitution.</p>
<p>Ouattara signed the new charter, which had been approved by referendum, into law in November, casting it as the way to ensure peace is maintained in Ivory Coast. [nL8N1D975N]</p>
<p>It modifies clauses in the old constitution that lay behind the conflict, especially concerning nationality requirements for presidential candidates.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Ivory Coast's president dismisses heads of army, police & gendarmes

<p>Ivory Coast Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan resigned and dissolved the government on Monday, a move that had been expected following elections last month but which was delayed two days by an<a href="/news/western-africa/2017/01/07/c%C3%B4te-divoire-mutiny/"> army mutiny</a>.</p>
<p>Duncan had been expected to stand down on Saturday, but held off after dissident soldiers took over army bases in cities across the West African country on Friday demanding bonus payments.</p>
<p>It took 48 hours to reach the deal to quell the revolt in an army that is made up of government troops and former rebels and riven with divisions.</p>
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<div class="teads-player"><strong>READ: </strong><a href="/news/western-africa/2017/01/06/ex-soldiers-seize-control-of-ivory-coasts-second-city/">Ex-soldiers seize control of Cote d&#8217;Ivoire&#8217;s second city﻿</a></p>
<p>&#8220;I have tendered my resignation and that of the government,&#8221; he said after a meeting with President Alassane Ouattara.</p>
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<p>Ouattara kept hold of his majority in the Dec. 18 parliamentary polls. But legislative elections are usually followed by a change of government as a matter of procedure.</p>
<p>The resignations pave the way for the implementation of measures contained in a new constitution.</p>
<p>Ivory Coast is French-speaking West Africa&#8217;s largest and most prosperous economy, as well as the world&#8217;s leading grower of cocoa. In 2011 it emerged from a spate of short wars and a protracted crisis lasting nearly a decade to retake its place as the economic engine of the region.</p>
<p>Ouattara signed a new constitution that had been approved by referendum into law in November, casting it as the way to ensure peace is maintained in Ivory Coast.</p>
<p>It modifies clauses in the old constitution that lay behind the conflict, especially concerning nationality requirements for presidential candidates.</p>
<p>Though largely resolved, the aftermath of the conflict has left the government hostage to an ill-disciplined and factionalized military, and Ouattara&#8217;s inability to reign it in threatens to undermine its economic success.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Joe Bavier and Richard Lough)﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Ivory Coast PM resigns and dissolves government

<p>Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo is likely to name investment banker Ken Ofori-Atta as finance minister, three sources close to the presidency told Reuters on Sunday.</p>
<p>Akufo-Addo defeated incumbent president John Dramani Mahama in elections last month and assumed office on Saturday, pledging to cut taxes to boost the ailing economy while protecting the public purse.</p>
<p>Ofori-Atta, 57 and co-founder of the Africa-wide investment banking group Databank Group, was Akufo-Addo&#8217;s nominee to assess the health of the economy during the transition period after the election.</p>
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<p>Ghana which exports cocoa, gold and oil is halfway through a three-year $918 million aid deal with the International Monetary Fund to restore fiscal balance to an economy dogged by slumping growth, high deficit and public debt.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ken has the credentials of a successful economist and the president is set to name him as finance minister &#8230; he&#8217;s the guy to steer the economy out of the current challenges,&#8221; said one aide with direct knowledge of the decision.</p>
<p>The announcement could come early this week, another aide said.</p>
<p>&#8220;The new president is in a hurry to hit the ground running with the economy because there are expectations to meet,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>A graduate of Yale and Columbia universities, Ofori-Atta previously worked with Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers and Morgan Stanley on debt and equity management.</p>
<p>He co-founded Databank in 1990 and was its executive chairman until February 2012.</p>
<p>Akufo-Addo has named his former rival Alan Kyerematen as nominee for the trade ministry and Albert Kan-Dapaah, a former Energy minister, as minister for national security.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Ghana's new finance minister likely to be investment banker

<p>The chances of South African President Jacob Zuma&#8217;s ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, becoming the next leader of the African National Congress were given a boost on Saturday with the endorsement of the ruling party&#8217;s women&#8217;s division.</p>
<p>The ANC will pick a new leader at a conference in December and, given its national dominance since coming to power at the end of apartheid in 1994, the winner is likely to go on to be South Africa&#8217;s next president when elections are held in 2019.</p>
<p>Dlamini-Zuma, the chairwoman of the African Union, is viewed as a frontrunner. She is a Zulu, the largest tribe in South Africa, and is expected to have the backing of her former husband, who will have a major say in who succeeds him.</p>
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<p>The Women&#8217;s League&#8217;s endorsement is the first for a specific candidate by a national section of the ANC and will intensify the debate over who will take the party forward after it suffered its worst local election results last year.</p>
<p>Dlamini-Zuma was regarded as a capable technocrat during her time as South Africa&#8217;s minister of home affairs between 2009 and 2012 and has since gained international exposure during her time as the first female head of the AU.</p>
<p>However, critics of Dlamini-Zuma, a medical doctor trained in South Africa and Britain, say she should have done more to intervene when former president Thabo Mbeki denied that HIV causes AIDs and imposed anti-scientific policies.</p>
<p>Mbeki&#8217;s stance has been blamed by health activists for more than 300,000 preventable deaths. Dlamini-Zuma was foreign minister in Mbeki&#8217;s cabinet and one of his closest allies.</p>
<p>Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa, a unionist-turned-business tycoon, is viewed as her most likely rival after powerful trade unions endorsed him last year.</p>
<p>Neither Dlamini-Zuma, 67, or Ramaphosa, 64, have declared their intention to run.</p>
<p>Ramaphosa, who was once touted as a successor to Nelson Mandela, would be the first choice for many investors because his background in commerce suggests he will support more pro-business policies than many in the traditionally left-wing ANC.</p>
<p>However, he will face criticism from opponents for his role at platinum producer Lonmin where he was a director and shareholder when violence led to police shooting dead 34 striking miners in 2012. An investigation has cleared him of wrongdoing.</p>
<p>The Women&#8217;s League has a block of votes at the party conference and are a critical lobbying group for the ANC, particularly in galvanising support among female voters.</p>
<p>&#8220;After careful consideration and opening our eyes as wide as possible, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is the only suitable candidate,&#8221; the Women&#8217;s League said in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;Her legacy and influence is known and well documented throughout the history pages of the republic and beyond.&#8221;</p>
<p>Many South Africans believe it is time the ANC had a female leader, a rarity on a continent with strong patriarchal heritage. Zuma has previously said that South Africa is ready for a female president.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


African Union chair given boost in South Africa's leadership race

<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>


Regional leaders fail to reach deal with Gambia's Jammeh

<p>Liberia&#8217;s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will lead a mission to Gambia on Tuesday to mediate in a crisis brought on by long-ruling President Yahya Jammeh&#8217;s refusal to step down, president-elect Adama Barrow said.</p>
<p>Jammeh had quickly conceded defeat to Barrow after a presidential election on Dec. 1. But in an about-face on Friday that drew international condemnation, he denounced the results.</p>
<p>He plans to contest the result at the Supreme Court, raising the prospect that a shock opposition victory that was poised to end 22 years of autocratic rule will be overturned.</p>
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<p>Barrow told Reuters on Monday that Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel peace laureate and current chair of the West African regional organisation ECOWAS, would head a delegation representing the bloc as well as the United Nations and the African Union.</p>
<p>Neither the Liberian president&#8217;s office nor Gambian officials could be reached for comment.</p>
<p>The mission will meet with both Jammeh and the president-elect and include regional heads of state, Barrow said, though he declined to name which ones.</p>
<p>&#8220;With the statement from Jammeh (challenging the poll results) which shocked the world, he made a mistake, and they have to advise him,&#8221; Barrow told Reuters at a hotel in the capital Banjul.</p>
<p>Asked what he expected the delegation&#8217;s visit to accomplish, Barrow said he wanted to see an &#8220;expedited transitional period&#8221; that would lead to Jammeh handing over power.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are not talking about a military option. We want to safeguard our democracy and we want peace,&#8221; he said, but added that he was concerned for his own security.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have no official security. As president-elect, I should not be exposed in the way I am today,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Jammeh seized power in a coup in 1994 when he was an army lieutenant and has ruled ever since, wining four elections that were criticised by rights monitors and surviving several coup attempts. International human rights groups accuse him of widespread violations and repression.</p>
<p>He declared Gambia an Islamic Republic last year.</p>
<p>A statement from the opposition coalition read to reporters in Barrow&#8217;s presence on Monday called for Jammeh to step down immediately.</p>
<p>Before his surprise change of mind, he had pledged to hand over power to Barrow in January following the transitional period dictated by Gambian law.</p>
<p>However, Gambia has no sitting Supreme Court. In order to hear Jammeh&#8217;s complaint, legal experts believe at least four judges must be hired.</p>
<p>&#8220;We do not recognise that the outgoing president has the constitutional authority in the last days of his presidency, to appoint any Supreme Court judges in the Gambia for the purpose of receiving his petition,&#8221; opposition figure Mai Fatty said.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Liberia's Johnson Sirleaf to lead mediation mission to Gambia

<p>Gambia&#8217;s President Yahya Jammeh will challenge the results of a Dec. 1 election at the Supreme Court, the ruling party said, raising the prospect that a shock opposition victory that was poised to end 22 years of autocratic rule will be overturned.</p>
<p>Celebrations erupted across the tiny West African nation last week when Jammeh unexpectedly conceded defeat after the elections commission announced the victory of opposition candidate Adama Barrow.</p>
<p>However, in a dramatic about-face that drew international condemnation, the mercurial former coup leader on Friday decried &#8220;serious and unacceptable abnormalities&#8221; and called for fresh polls.</p>
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<p>In a statement broadcast on state television late on Saturday, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) said it was preparing a petition &#8220;against the flawed decision of the Independent Elections Commission&#8221;.</p>
<p>The deadline for submitting a challenge to the court is Tuesday.</p>
<p>There is no sitting Supreme Court in Gambia, though there is currently a chief justice, who is Nigerian. In order to hear Jammeh&#8217;s complaint, legal experts believe at least four other judges must be hired.</p>
<p>Rights groups say Jammeh exerts strong influence over the court.</p>
<p>Three chief justices served between 2013 and 2015. The first, a Nigerian, was fired five weeks after his appointment then arrested and jailed. His Ghanaian successor lasted six months before his dismissal.</p>
<p>Ali Nawaz Chowhan from Pakistan served for three months before abruptly leaving Gambia after acquitting the former navy chief in a treason case. He later told a Pakistani newspaper that he left because the decision displeased the government.</p>
<p>The last two Gambian judges left the court a year and a half ago.</p>
<p>&#8220;Either you do what Jammeh wants you to, or you lose your job or even go to jail,&#8221; said Bubacarr Drammeh, a former state prosecutor who fled into exile in the United States earlier this year.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>&#8220;NOTHING MORE THAN A COUP D&#8217;ETAT&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;The election results were correct, nothing will change that,&#8221; elections commission head Alieu Momarr Njai told Reuters on Sunday. &#8220;If it goes to court, we can prove every vote cast. The results are there for everyone to see.&#8221;</p>
<p>Barrow, who has pledged to serve as a transitional leader and step down after three years, said on Saturday that Jammeh had no constitutional authority to reject the poll results.</p>
<p>The residence in the capital Banjul where Barrow was staying on Sunday was surrounded by around 30 unarmed supporters who said they were providing security after the police and military declined to protect him.</p>
<p>Banjul was calm though armed soldiers were visible in the streets and manning checkpoints on some roads in the city.</p>
<p>The head of the Gambian army pledged allegiance to Barrow last week, however a regional diplomatic source who said he had spoken to the president-elect told Reuters he did not feel safe.</p>
<p>&#8220;He asks that the international community ensure his security because he feels threatened,&#8221; said the source, who asked not to be named.</p>
<p>Barrow declined to speak to Reuters on Sunday, but Omar Jallow, head of the People&#8217;s Progressive Party which backed Barrow in the election, said Jammeh&#8217;s actions were &#8220;nothing more than a coup d&#8217;etat.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We will not accept anything less than Adama Barrow being sworn in &#8230; We will not take this lying down,&#8221; Jallow said.</p>
<p>Jammeh has long had a troubled relationship with the international community due to accusations of human rights violations including the repression of political opposition and threats of violence and death against homosexuals.</p>
<p>His U-turn on Friday drew condemnation from the United Nations, African Union, European Union and the United States.</p>
<p>&#8220;The will of the Gambian people, freely expressed in exercise of their franchise, must be respected by all without precondition,&#8221; said Liberia&#8217;s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who currently chairs the West African regional bloc ECOWAS.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Gambia's President Jammeh to challenge election loss

<p>Seconds after the chairman of Gambia&#8217;s electoral commission read out the poll results that ended President Yahya Jammeh&#8217;s 22-year rule to reporters, a policeman left the building, cheering and clapping his hands in the air.</p>
<p>This celebration of victory in last week&#8217;s election for Adama Barrow, a property developer with no previous political experience, drew a rebuke from a fellow officer who reminded the policeman he was in uniform.</p>
<p>&#8220;Adama Barrow is my new uniform,&#8221; he retorted.</p>
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<p>The apparently minor incident pointed to shifting allegiances within the security forces that left Jammeh with little choice but to step aside.</p>
<p>Later that day, the leader who once said he could rule the tiny West African country for &#8220;a billion years&#8221; and who had crushed numerous coup attempts, stunned viewers by calling Barrow to concede defeat on state TV. </p>
<p>The decision by the quirky but widely feared Jammeh to accept defeat in the Dec. 1 election has been hailed as a victory for democracy on a continent where veteran rulers have clung to power by methods ranging from legal shenanigans and simple cheating to brute force.</p>
<p>But it was the security forces who made clear to Jammeh that he would have to hand power next month to Barrow, a former security guard in a north London discount store.</p>
<p>According to political and security sources, the morning after voting &#8211; but before the Independent Electoral Commission announced the results &#8211; the heads of the army, police and National Intelligence Agency met Jammeh at his office.</p>
<p>&#8220;He was advised by them that he should be ready to officially concede defeat,&#8221; said Alhagie Darboe, spokesman for the leading party in Barrow&#8217;s coalition, citing one of Jammeh&#8217;s ministers.</p>
<p>Jammeh appeared ready to take their advice. &#8220;After the meeting, he told his ministers: &#8216;You will be jobless in January&#8217;,&#8221; a security source told Reuters.</p>
<p>An aide then informed the electoral commission that he would accept his loss. &#8220;Even before the (results) announcement he wanted to concede defeat,&#8221; commission chairman Alieu Momar Njai told Reuters.</p>
<p>So, wearing white robes and looking almost cheerful, Jammeh took to television to announce his retirement from politics. &#8220;I will be a farmer,&#8221; he said, his long official title &#8211; H.E. Sheikh Prof. Dr. Alh. Yahya AJJ Jammeh Babili Mansa &#8211; stretching across the width of the screen.</p>
<p>Analysts had weighed the risk that he would instead dig in and order his troops to crush dissent, as they did at a student protest in 2000. Some opposition members had hired bodyguards and spent election night in safehouses awaiting the results.</p>
<p>Jammeh, who along with many of his closest allies in the army is from the Jola ethnic minority, had previously vowed to crush opposition among the larger Madinka group.</p>
<p>But in the end, the security forces acted to prevent the kind of post-election bloodshed that hit Burundi in 2015-16.</p>
<p>Army head General Ousman Badjie declined to comment on the meeting, but he told Reuters: &#8220;I am just here to keep the country safe and stable. I am here for the Gambian people, I am not a politician.&#8221;</p>
<p>Badjie has pledged allegiance to Barrow, the president-elect&#8217;s spokeswoman said. [nL5N1E244C]</p>
<p> </p>
<p>&#8220;NOT THE BAD GUYS&#8221;</p>
<p>Gambians &#8211; who have lived for so many years in a virtual police state and never known a peaceful transfer of power since independence from Britain in 1965 &#8211; exploded with joy and celebrated the election result for days.</p>
<p>Wearing yellow &#8220;Fear No More&#8221; T-shirts, they cheered and banged drums atop vans in the capital Banjul, delighting many European tourists there for winter sun.</p>
<p>Officers joined them or honked at revellers following the elections when Gambians had cast ballots by dropping marbles into coloured drums representing each of the candidates. Results from polling stations next to barracks, where many soldiers had voted in uniform, showed a Barrow victory.</p>
<p>Diplomats say they would have looked to neighbour Senegal, which entirely surrounds the riverside nation and shares linguistic and ethnic ties, to intervene had violence broken out &#8211; as it did in 1981 during a coup.</p>
<p>Analysts say that the repression of Jammeh&#8217;s political opponents had backfired, helping a medley of opposition parties to rally behind a single leader for the first time, with Barrow eking out a victory by fewer than 20,000 votes.</p>
<p>Some prisoners, however, were freed from the Mile 2 prison near Banjul in a surprise gesture last year, including many former top military brass accused of treason.</p>
<p>&#8220;The soldiers are not the bad guys. They have been made bad by his orders,&#8221; said Jaina Ba Jetta, whose father was jailed for years in Mile 2 for &#8220;security reasons&#8221; and now lives in exile.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is constant fear, no security of tenure and everyone in the army is fed up,&#8221; said Francis Mendy from the Gambia office of West African peacebuilding body WANEP.</p>
<p>Even had they wanted to, it would have been hard for officers to seize power themselves on Dec. 1 because of a deliberate &#8220;divide and rule&#8221; strategy with armouries broken up into small depots, he added.</p>
<p>Officials from Barrow&#8217;s coalition say that modernising Gambia&#8217;s bloated army, whose checkpoints are dotted across the capital, will be among the priorities.</p>
<p>&#8220;The military needs to become a highly trained force that shows loyalty to the people and the constitution,&#8221; said Mai Ahmad Fatty, the head of Barrow&#8217;s transition team.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


How Gambia's top brass turned on long-ruling Jammeh

<p>Gambia&#8217;s defeated President Yahya Jammeh remains in the country and will hand over power to president-elect Adama Barrow in January following a transition period, the communications minister said on Sunday.</p>
<p>Jammeh, who has ruled the West African nation for 22 years, has not been seen in public since he shocked observers by accepting his surprise loss in a Dec. 1 election on Friday, leading to rumours he had fled Gambia.</p>
<p>His defeat was met with wild celebrations this weekend but his absence prompted speculation that a man who scrapped constitutional limits on the length of his rule and has a firm grip on the military, might not keep his word.</p>
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<p>&#8220;We are working on the transition now. They (Barrow&#8217;s coalition) will come and we will show them the ropes,&#8221; Information Minister Sheriff Bojang said in an interview.</p>
<p>&#8220;It will be the latter part of January,&#8221; Bojang said of the hand-over.</p>
<p>The outgoing president is currently in his residency at State House and will meet Barrow next week, he added. Gambian law calls for a 60-day transition period.</p>
<p>In a sign of growing confidence in the new political era, people tore down giant billboards wishing Jammeh &#8220;Happy 51st Birthday Mr. President&#8221; that had lined streets in Banjul.</p>
<p>Jammeh&#8217;s birthday was in May.</p>
<p>&#8220;I came here to witness this,&#8221; said Gibril Jaw, a tourist guide, standing in front of the torn posters. &#8220;Now there will be no more stress, no more scares, no more problems.&#8221;</p>
<p>The former British colony attracts thousands of British tourists to its beaches every year. But it has become increasingly estranged from the West in recent years amid tensions over allegations that Jammeh&#8217;s security forces have imprisoned and tortured opponents.</p>
<p>It withdrew from the Commonwealth in 2013 and in October Bojang announced the withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, calling it the &#8220;International Caucasian Court&#8221;.</p>
<p>But Barrow&#8217;s election has raised hopes of reforms, including the release of dozens of political prisoners, and closer relations with the West.</p>
<p>A Commonwealth spokesman said representatives from Barrow&#8217;s team had spoken with them and had &#8220;warm and friendly&#8221; discussions.</p>
<p>&#8220;Like every close knit family, our Commonwealth doors remain open and we look forward to continuing the conversation,&#8221; he said.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Gambia's Jammeh to hand over power by end January

<p>Ghana&#8217;s main opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo skipped the country&#8217;s only presidential debate on Wednesday, leaving the stage to President John Mahama and four other opponents a week before the election.</p>
<p>Aides to the leader of the New Patriotic Party said he decided to stick to his prior campaign commitments, even though it meant missing the chance to present his message at one of the most high-profile events of the campaign.</p>
<p>Analysts say Akufo-Addo has a real chance of defeating Mahama or of taking the Dec. 7 election to a second round, largely because of voter discontent over an economic slowdown since the president won the first of two possible terms in 2012.</p>
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<p>In the absence of a large number of reliable opinion polls, politicians on all sides say they expect a tight contest.</p>
<p>Ghana exports gold, oil and cocoa but has suffered from a slump in global commodity prices and macro-economic instability in the form of inflation that stood at 15.8 percent last month, an elevated budget deficit and high unemployment.</p>
<p>The government says the economy will recover after it increased revenues and took tough measures to limit public sector wages and spending. Some of the measures were taken as part of an aid programme with the International Monetary Fund.</p>
<p>&#8220;We were faced with a very unbalanced economy and we have taken bold measures &#8230;. All the macro economic indicators are pointing in the right direction,&#8221; Mahama said, adding that growth would rise above 8 percent in 2017 from a projected 4.1 percent this year.</p>
<p>&#8220;The leader of the opposition has opted out. It is usually the opposition that is more keen to have a debate,&#8221; he said in his only reference to the issue.</p>
<p>In the event, the debate produced few fireworks and opposition party leaders confined themselves to explaining their own policies on issues such as education, energy and jobs rather than launching a sustained attack on the government&#8217;s record.</p>
<p>In one example, Papa Kwesi Nduom, leader of the Progressive People&#8217;s Party and a prominent businessman, said he would change the constitution if elected to establish an independent prosecutor in a bit to combat corruption and also use his business experience to create jobs.</p>
<p>The debate showcased the electoral process in Ghana, one of Africa&#8217;s most stable democracies. Twice since 2000 voters have turfed the government of the day out of power.</p>
<p>Debate moderators frequently interrupted Mahama when his answers over-ran the allotted time limit.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


Ghana's main opposition leader skips presidential debate

<p>JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s ruling African National Congress (ANC) said on Tuesday its National Executive Committee had debated a call over the weekend for President Jacob Zuma to step down but that the decision-making group had not supported the motion.</p>
<p>&#8220;The NEC did not support the call for the President to step down,&#8221; ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told a news conference. &#8220;This issue was debated openly, robustly and, as we said, sometimes it was very difficult for members themselves.&#8221;</p>
<p>(Reporting by TJ Strydom; Writing by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by James Macharia)</p>
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<p id="copyrightNotice" class="copyright">© Thomson Reuters 2016 All rights reserved﻿</p>
<p> </p>


South Africa's President Zuma won't step down – ANC

<p>South Africa&#8217;s scandal-plagued President Jacob Zuma is facing a vote of no confidence by the ruling party&#8217;s executive committee, media reported on Monday.</p>
<p>The ANC&#8217;s national executive committee (NEC) extended its scheduled meeting into a third day on Monday, after Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom proposed the motion of no-confidence on Saturday, said Beeld, an Afrikaans-language daily.</p>
<p>Committee members were locked in a &#8220;fiery and fierce&#8221; debate over whether a secret ballot should be used to decide the no-confidence motion, it added, citing unnamed sources who had attended the meeting.</p>
<p>The ruling party&#8217;s spokesman did not respond to a telephone call to seek comment. In a statement on Sunday, the ANC did not give a reason for the extension of the meeting.</p>
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<p>The committee, which is meeting in the capital, Pretoria, is the only body in the ruling party that can remove the leader of the party, besides its 5-yearly congress.</p>
<p>Zuma&#8217;s presidency has been plagued by scandal and the nation&#8217;s anti-graft watchdog this month asked for a judge to investigate alleged influence-peddling by a wealthy family Zuma has called his friends.</p>
<p>Zuma has denied any wrongdoing.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


S.Africa's Zuma faces no-confidence vote by party's executive panel

<p>South African opposition parties on Sunday urged President Jacob Zuma to report acts of corruption after the scandal-plagued leader said he knows who is stealing public funds.</p>
<p>Since coming to power in 2009, Zuma has survived a string of corruption scandals almost unscathed, but this month the country&#8217;s anti-graft watchdog called for a judicial inquiry into allegations of influence-peddling in the ANC government.</p>
<p>Zuma, in a bid to cement support in his home province of Kwazulu-Natal, on Friday told supporters in Zulu: &#8220;I know they are stealing. I&#8217;m just watching them. I know them,&#8221; local media reported.</p>
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<p>Both the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the nation&#8217;s two largest opposition parties, on Sunday called on Zuma to share the information he has with authorities.</p>
<p>&#8220;President Jacob Zuma has a legal duty to report, to the law enforcement authorities, those who he knows to be engaged in criminal behaviour,&#8221; DA-leader Mmusi Maimane said in a statement.</p>
<p>The DA, which tabled a failed no-confidence motion against the president in Parliament last week, filed a criminal complaint against Zuma on Tuesday and will ask the police to also &#8220;investigate those people known by the President to be stealing&#8221;, Maimane said.</p>
<p>Zuma must immediately report those stealing public funds, otherwise the EFF too will lodge a criminal complaint against the president, the EFF said in a statement.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


South Africa's opposition parties urge Pres. Zuma to report corruption

<p>Isabel Dos Santos, daughter of Angolan President Jose dos Santos, defended on Wednesday her father&#8217;s decision to appoint her head of the state oil firm, saying she had been picked for a her expertise and competence.</p>
<p>Ranked as Africa&#8217;s richest woman by Forbes magazine, Isabel Dos Santos was given the job of chief executive of Sonangol in June, prompting 14 lawyers to file a lawsuit accusing the president of nepotism and violating Angolan probity law.</p>
<p>&#8220;The issue of my professional competence does not seem to be something reasonable,&#8221; she told reporters at the opening of a school funded by Sonangol. &#8220;To me this looks to be part of the political games ahead of elections.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Angolan Supreme Court asked the president last month to respond to an inquiry on his appointment of his daughter, court papers seen by Reuters showed.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


presidency

South Africa's Zuma says ANC not bound to elect deputy as leader

Gambia's President-elect arrives in Senegal after talks fail

Ghana's Nana Akufo-Addo faces outcry over plagiarism in inaugural speech

Ivory Coast's president dismisses heads of army, police & gendarmes

Ivory Coast PM resigns and dissolves government

Ghana's new finance minister likely to be investment banker

African Union chair given boost in South Africa's leadership race

Regional leaders fail to reach deal with Gambia's Jammeh

Liberia's Johnson Sirleaf to lead mediation mission to Gambia

Gambia's President Jammeh to challenge election loss

How Gambia's top brass turned on long-ruling Jammeh

Gambia's Jammeh to hand over power by end January

Ghana's main opposition leader skips presidential debate

South Africa's President Zuma won't step down – ANC

S.Africa's Zuma faces no-confidence vote by party's executive panel

South Africa's opposition parties urge Pres. Zuma to report corruption

Angola's Isabel Dos Santos defends her appointment to run state oil firm

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presidency

South Africa's Zuma says ANC not bound to elect deputy as leader

Gambia's President-elect arrives in Senegal after talks fail

Ghana's Nana Akufo-Addo faces outcry over plagiarism in inaugural speech

Ivory Coast's president dismisses heads of army, police & gendarmes

Ivory Coast PM resigns and dissolves government

Ghana's new finance minister likely to be investment banker

African Union chair given boost in South Africa's leadership race

Regional leaders fail to reach deal with Gambia's Jammeh

Liberia's Johnson Sirleaf to lead mediation mission to Gambia

Gambia's President Jammeh to challenge election loss

How Gambia's top brass turned on long-ruling Jammeh

Gambia's Jammeh to hand over power by end January

Ghana's main opposition leader skips presidential debate

South Africa's President Zuma won't step down – ANC

S.Africa's Zuma faces no-confidence vote by party's executive panel

South Africa's opposition parties urge Pres. Zuma to report corruption

Angola's Isabel Dos Santos defends her appointment to run state oil firm

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