WITS STUDENTS PROTEST UPDATE: SUSPECTED OFFICERS IN MURDER OF PASSERBY REMANDED UNTIL FRIDAY
In South Africa, the four police officers arrested for shooting and killing a Johannesburg man during a students’ protest will have to wait until Friday to hear whether or not they will be released on bail.
35-year-old Mthokosizi Ntumba was killed two weeks ago during a student fee protest as he left a doctor’s office.
The four officers were arrested and are facing charges of murder, attempted murder and defeating the ends of justice.
Meanwhile, the student fee protests have not ended.
Students are still demanding that their historical debts be scrapped.
NIGERIA NATIONAL SECURITY SUMMIT
Inter-Agency rivalry among Nigeria’s security services, coupled with a lack of public buy-in, has been described as the bane of the country’s efforts against insecurity.
This came up as security agencies and other stakeholders converged on Nigeria’s capital Abuja, for a National Security summit aimed at reappraising Nigeria’s efforts against terrorism, banditry and kidnapping.
NIGERIAN MILITARY UNDERGO SENSITIZATION TRAINING
Staying in Nigeria, officers and soldiers of the army are undergoing a two-day sensitisation workshop on Human Rights and Humanitarian Laws.
This comes after the army identified a need to ensure officers and soldiers conform with humanitarian laws.
FRESH D.R.C ATTACK LEAVES 12 DEAD
In central Africa, twelve people have been killed in a fresh attack suspected to be carried out by the ADF militia in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Donat Kibwana, who is in charge of Beni Territory in North Kivu province, said others were forcibly abducted during the attack.
Kibwana, on Wednesday noted that the attack was carried out at Samboko, Tchani-Tchani and Kapoka villages.
The three villages are located in an enclave called Beni-Mbau, in the far north of North Kivu, on the border with Ituri province.
ASSAULT ON LOWERENG
South Sudan’s main opposition party has condemned a deadly attack on one of its military camps, saying it is a violation of the country’s ceasefire.
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition, SPLM-IO, reported the death of five of its soldiers, including a camp commander, on Monday when unknown gunmen attacked and burnt down Lowereng military camp in Eastern Equatorial state.
SPLM-IO spokesman, Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel, called for the incident to be investigated and those responsible held accountable.
President Salva Kiir and his rival leader Riek Machar – who is now first vice-president – formed a unity government in February last year, ending a six-year brutal civil war.
MARQAATI SURVEY POINTS AT RIFE BRIBERY IN SOMALIA
A Somali anti-corruption body reports that bribery is rife in the country.
The new study, known as Marqaati, found that in parts of the capital Mogadishu, fifty per cent of respondents said they had paid bribes last year.
Fourteen per cent of people across the country paid bribes, with some paying them at least once a week.
Marqaati said corruption was highest in areas where the state had a strong presence.
Most of the bribes were paid to federal troops and Mogadishu’s regional authority.
Regional security forces and the Terrorist group Al-Shabaab were also high on the list.
CARGO SHIP BLOCKS OFF SUEZ CANAL
A massive cargo ship today turned sideways in Egypt’s Suez Canal, blocking traffic in a crucial East-West waterway for global shipping.
Traffic on the narrow waterway dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula stopped on Tuesday after the MV Evergreen, a Panama-flagged container ship got stuck.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the Evergreen to turn sideways in the canal.
Experts say high winds caused the ship to find it difficult to turn, and that left the cargo ship stuck.
AFRICAN FINANCE MINISTERS DEMAND EQUITY IN COVID VACCINE DISTRIBUTION
African finance ministers have expressed their joint concern over the slow rate of accessing COVID-19 vaccines.
In a joint communique, the ministers noted with deep concern the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of Africa’s populations and called for funding for vaccine equity.
They emphasized that without rapid access to vaccines, Africa’s health systems will be overwhelmed and the continent’s recovery from Covid-19 will suffer a setback.
The ministers called for a swift, bold and positive response on Special Drawing Rights in the range of U.S.$500billion – U.S.$650billion to arrest the impact of the crisis on the continent.
YEMEN UPDATE: UN LAUDS SAUDI SUPPORT
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has welcomed the announcement by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on steps to help end the fighting and restart the political process in Yemen.
UN Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Haq, disclosed this to reporters today while reading a statement by Guteres on the Yemen conflict.
Haq also noted the decision made by the Government of Yemen, to reportedly allow four fuel ships into Al-Hudaydah port, is “a step in the right direction as fuel shortages persist across the entire country.”
BUSINESS
SOUTH AFRICA INFLATION SLOWS DOWN 00:32
In business, South Africa’s headline consumer price inflation slowed to 2.9 percent year-on-year in February from 3.2 percent in January.
Data from Statistics South Africa on Wednesday, showed on a month-on-month basis, the CPI rose to 0.7 percent in February from 0.3 percent in the previous month.
The statistics office also said core inflation, which excludes prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, fuel and energy, was at 2.6 percent year-on-year in February, from 3.3 percent previously.
On a month-on-month basis core inflation rose to 0.6 percent from 0.1 percent previously.
DEBT AUCTIONS: SOUTH AFRICA’S TREASURES MAKE #175M REDUCTIONS
In the meantime, the country’s treasury said the country will decrease the amount of debt on sale at its weekly long term and inflation-linked bond auctions by about 175 million dollars next week following better-than-expected revenue collection in 2020.
The National Treasury, in a market announcement, said the fixed-rate government bond auction amount will be decreased effective from auction to be conducted on 30 March 2021.
The treasury said the weekly amount of inflation-linked bonds on offer would be reduced to 1.2 billion from 2 billion previously.
The fixed-rate non-competitive bond auction amount will be 50 percent of the new auction levels.
SPORTS
BURKINA FASO MAKESIT INTO AFCON QUALIFIER
Burkina Faso haa qualified for the delayed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon after drawing 0-0 in Uganda on Wednesday with a game in hand.
The Stallions become the sixth team to make the finals, joining Algeria, Mali, Senegal, Tunisia and the host nation.
Burkina Faso’s nine points in Group B is one more than Uganda and two more than Malawi, who beat South Sudan 1-0 on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Ethiopia have beaten Madagascar 4-0 at home to take a significant step towards qualification from Group K.
They last qualified for the finals in 2013.
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