Last Days of an African Terrorist.Libya is free

Col. Muhmar Gaddafi almost in hiding, while some of his sons Muhammad, and Saadi captured by the rebels who have overran tripoli and took over his compound Baul azaziya, his seat of terror rul for four decades and yet the terrorist leader is no where to be found He is Africa's longest serving ruler who led a rebellion against the regime of former king Asanusi, 42 years ago. Gaddafi has been responsible for most coups in Africa either fully sponsoring them or backing them with Libyan oil money while his people sterve and many remained unemployed.He has turned Africa and the African Union which he sometimes single handedly funded into his own while the Union became his mouth piece. All African despotic leaders were scared of him as most regard him as master. But that is what thieves do to eachother when the going gets tough.Today, most of those leaders who were his boy boys have now abandoned him. Even the tiny west African nation of Gambia whose leader Yahya Jammeh coppied most of his iron ruling styles from him have deserted him instead openly supporting his rivals the NTC. The tiny Gambia was Gadaffi's backyard with green plag and revolutional idea roaming in evey corner.Gaddafi made the Gambia what it is today but the Gambian regime he backed when they were indire need of support today betrayed him.
There is no where for the brutal devil to hide not even under the wings of his created tiny brutal thugs like Yahya Jammeh. All his creatures in Africa are making a big calculation and have no time to think of what happens to their master.

Family Ties in Dictatorships best looters of their countries’ wealth

Family Ties in Dictatorships best looters of their countries’ wealth
Compiled and Edited by Bamba Mass (Human Rights Activist UK)
August 11, 2011 | Filed under: ADI |
Source: African Dictators.
You don’t have to draw up a family tree for a dictator- often their entire government, as well as other officials and key industries are run by their families and Tribesmen/women. Sometimes this leads to dynastic succession, as in the case of Gnassingbe Eydema and his son Faure, Omar Bongo and his son, Ali Ondimba, Lauren desire Kabila and son Joseph Kabila and others are trying to follow suit. Take a look at some of the First Families of Africa, and see the trend for yourself:
Angola:
The dos Santos – Van-Dúnem Family
José Eduardo dos Santos (President of Angola, 1979 – today)
• Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos ‘Nandó’ (cousin of José Eduardo dos Santos; Vice-President of Angola, 2010–today; Speaker of the National Assembly 2008-2010; Prime Minister 2002-2008)
• Isabel dos Santos (daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos; investor; owner of key mobile phone operator and bank, richest woman in Angola
• Cândido Pereira dos Santos Van-Dúnem (cousin of the president and Kopelipa and Jose Vieira Dias Van-Dunem; Defence Minister).
• José Vieira Dias Van-Dúnem (cousin of Kopelipa; Health Minister)
• Gen. Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias ‘Kopelipa’ (Minister of State and Chief of the Military Bureau of the President)
• Carlo Alberto Lopes (Finance Minister, brother-in-law of the president)
• Luzia Inglês Van-Dúnem Secretary-General of OMA, the women’s mass movement of the ruling party MPLA
o Afonso Van-Dúnem M’Binda (Husband of Luzia Inglês Van-Dúnem; Minister of External Relations 1985–1988)
o Fernando José de França Dias Van-Dúnem (cousin of Kopelipa; Prime Minister 1991-1992; 1996-1999)
o Pedro de Castro Van Dúnem, 1942-1997 (Minister of External Relations of Angola 1989–1992; Minister of Public Works and Urban Affairs 1992–1997)
Burkina Faso:
The Compaoré Family
Blaise Compaoré (President of Burkina Faso, 1987-present) who betrayed and killed his best friend Thomas Sankara just to become president.
• François Compaoré (economic advisor; brother of Blaise Compaoré)
• Simon Compaoré (Mayor of Ouagadougou)
• Jean-Marie Compaoré (Archbishop of Burkina Faso)
• Jean-Baptiste Compaoré (Finance minister)
• Franck Compaoré brother of president (Head of secret agency protecting the president)
• Chantal Compaoré (First lady; wife of Blaise Compaoré and daughter of felix Boigny first president of Ivory coast)
• Félix Houphouet-Boigny (former president of Côte d’Ivoire; father of Chantal Compaoré)

Cameroon
Paul Biya president of Cameroon (“assets stolen by this leader could range between 105 and 180 billion dollars) world’s most corrupt country” in 1998 and 1999
• FRANK Biya, son of the president (and owner of the largest business empire UTC a possible successor to his father)
• Paul BIYA Junior son of the president (owner of multibillion castles in Germany and France
• Anastasia Brenda BIYA EYENGA.( Bride of the richest man of Cameroon and herself a billion tycoon)
• Jeanne-Irène Biya first wife of President Paul Biya reportedly killed by Biya aides
• First lady Chantal Biya (founder of the Chantal Biya Foundation; African Synergy against AIDS and suffering; Circle of friends of Cameroon (CERAC), and the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.)
• Marafa Hammidou Yaya, cousin of Paul Biya (the current Minister of State in charge of Territorial Administration and Decentralization. Having also served as the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic).

DRC
The Kabila Family (father-son)
• Laurent-Désiré Kabila (President, 1997–2001)
o Joseph Kabila (President, 2001 – )
The Kabila family is also related by marriage to the Sassou-Nguesso and Bongo families of the Republic of the Congo and Gabon, respectively.
Djibouti
The Aptidon-Guelleh Family
Hassan Gouled Aptidon (President of Djibouti, 1977–1999)
o Ismail Omar Guelleh (nephew of Hassan Gouled Aptidon; President of Djibouti, 1999– )
Equatorial Guinea
The Nguema Family (close relatives)
Francisco Macías Nguema (President, 1968–1979)
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo nephew of the assassinated president (President, 1979–)
• Ela Nguema (presidential aide)
• Eyegue Ntutumu (governor of Río Muni)
• Masie Ntutumu (minister of interior)
• Bonifacio Nguema Esono Nchama (vice president)
• Oyono Ayingono (finance minister)
• Maye Ela (head of the navy)
• Feliciano Oyono (leader of Macías’ PUNT party)
• Teodorín Nguema Obiang (forestry minister)
• Constancia Mangue de Obiang (first lady)
• Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue (infrastructure minister)
• Armengol Ondo Nguema (director of security)
• Antonio Mba Nguema (police chief)
• Agustín Ndong Ona (military inspector-general)
• Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima (mining minister)
• Demetrio Elo Ndong Nsefumu (first deputy prime minister)
• Alejandro Evuna Owono Asangono (chief of the presidency)
• Marcelino Oyono Ntutumu (transport minister)
• Lucas Nguema Evono Mbang (sports minister)
• Jaime Obama Owono Nchama (minister-delegate for infrastructure)
• Manuel Nguema Mba (minister-delegate for the interior)
• Pastor Micha Ondo Bile (foreign affairs minister)
• Rubén Maye Nsue Mangue (justice minister)
• Clemente Engonga Nguema Onguéné (interior minister)
• Baltasár Engonga Edjo (economy minister)
• Cristóbal Menana Ela (energy minister)
• Teresa Efua Asangono (women’s affairs minister)
• Francisco Edu Ngua Okomo (secretary of state for foreign affairs)
• Victoriana Nchama Nsue Okomo (secretary of state for foreign affairs)
• Francisco Mabale Nseng (secretary of state for energy)
• Melchor Esono Edjo (secretary of state for the treasury)
The Gambia
The Jammeh Family
Yahya Jammeh president of the Gambia (1994-now)
Mariam Jammeh daughter of the president (owner of a multi million trust house in Mary Land USA also lots of offshore projects in Guinea and Morocco)
Ansumana Jammeh half brother of the President (Gambia’s Ambassador to Qatar and Middle East)
Pahary Jammeh Cousin of the president (Solicitor General of the Gambia and owner of multibillion secret projects,)
Benedict Jammeh Cousin of President Jammeh (Head of the National Drug Enforcement Agency)
Zainabou Suma Jammeh Wife of President Jammeh
Alhaji Ibrahim Suma father of the first lady Zainab father in law of president Jammeh (Carrier Diplomat and close confident of late president Lansana Conteh of Guinea)
Mariam Suma sister of Zainab sister in law to president Jammeh (Business tycoon and owner of Diva fashions
Tibou Camara, Zeinab’s brother-in-law (former information minister of Guinea Conakry now the one running Jammeh’s secret empire)
Abdoulie & Numo Kujabi cousins of President Jammeh (former & present Head of the National Intelligent Agency)
Abdoulie Bojang uncle of the president (Speaker of the National Assembly)
Yusupha Bojang cousin to the president (Deputy High commissioner to the UK)
Ousman Jammeh cousin of the president (Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service)
Aziz Tamba nephew of president Jammeh (former head of Junglers Secret squad)
Fatim Badgie (a member of Jammeh’s Jola ethnic tribe, Minister of Health and Social Welfare)
Abdou Kolley (a member of the president’s Jola ethnic tribe, Minister of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment)
Famara Jatta (a member of Jammeh Jola ethnic tribe former minister of finance and Governor of the Central Bank)
Alhagie Momodou Sanyang (a member of the president’s Jola ethnic tribe, Director General of GRTS)
Lamin SABI Sanyang (a member of the president’s ethnic Jola tribe, son of Momodou Sanyang Director GRTS and errand boy of the president)

Gabon
The Sassou-Nguesso Family
Denis Sassou-Nguesso (president of the Republic of Congo)
 Jean-Dominique Okemba (leader of national Security Council; nephew of Sassou-Nguesso)
Emmanuel Yoka (Congolese cabinet chief; uncle of Sassou-Nguesso)
 Edgar Nguesso (nephew of Sassou-Nguesso; director of estate)
 Hilaire Moko (director of government security; nephew of Sassou-Nguesso)
 Denis Christel Nguesso (nephew of Sassou-Nguesso; senior state oil company official)
 Wilfrid Nguesso (brother of Edgar; senior parastatal director)
o Gabriel Oba-Apounou (vice-president of National Assembly of Gabon; cousin of Sassou-Nguesso)
 Claudia Lemboumba-Nguesso (Sassou’s daughter; wife of M. Leboumba; communications director)
 Martin Lemboumba (husband of Lemboumba-Nguesso; son of J. Lemboumba)
o Jean-Pierre Lemboumba (finance minister; father of M. Leboumba)
o Antoinette Sassou-Nguesso (first lady of the Republic of Congo; married to Sassou-Nguesso)

Gabon
Bongo Family
Omar Bongo (president of Gabon and husband of Edith Sassou-Nguesso)

 Ali Bongo Ondimba (president of Gabon and son of Omar)
 Edith Nguesso-Bongo (Sassou-Nguesso’s daughter)
 Pascaline Bongo Ondimba (current Presidential Cabinet Director, and daughter of Omar)
 Paul Toungui (foreign minister of Gabon, husband of Pascaline)
 Martin Bongo (former foreign minister of Gabon, nephew of Omar)
Zimbabwe:
The Mugabe-Chiyangwa Family
Robert Mugabe (President of Zimbabwe, 1987–present; Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, 1980–1987)
• Sabina Mugabe (sister of Robert Mugabe; Member of Parliament)
o Innocent Mugabe (son of Sabina Mugabe; Director of the Central Intelligence Organisation)
o Leo Mugabe (son of Sabina Mugabe; businessman and Member of Parliament)
o Patrick Zhuwawo (son of Sabina Mugabe; businessman and Member of Parliament)
• Philip Chiyangwa (cousin of Robert Mugabe; businessman and ZANU-PF regional leader)

Politics must run in the genes, right? It certainly looks as if you’re made ofr life if you’re born into the right families on the continent, and doomed if you aren’t. African Dictator left out some of the other family dynasties such as Abdoulie Wade of Senegal, Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi and Paul Kagame of Rwanda to name a few- these we have covered extensively in other articles.
Bongo and his family are said to own 39 properties including luxury villas, 70 bank accounts and nine cars in France. Sassou Nguesso and his family own 24 apartments, 112 bank accounts. Obiang Nguema and his family own one apartment and eight cars in France. Obiang Nguema’s son has faced the court in South Africa over two luxury villas he owns there. Obiang Nguema himself also had problems in 2006 over a $35 million California beach house he owns there. Information on the properties in France was obtained from police reports.

• Indicators: The nepotism inherent in dictatorships is linked to controlling power and wealth, as well as a
• Cult of personality which desires the continuation of a family name by succession.
Most of them are considerably sick.
God save Africa
By Bamba Mass (UK)

AFRICA’S UNFORTUNATE SONS AND THEIR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY WHILE IN POWER

AFRICA’S UNFORTUNATE SONS AND THEIR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY WHILE IN POWER

By Bamba Mass Human Rights Activist UK

If democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people, a thugogracy is a government of thieves, for thieves, by thieves. Simply stated, a thugtatorship is rule by a gang of thieves and robbers (thugs) in designer suits. It is becoming crystal clear that much of Africa today is a thugogracy privately managed and operated for the exclusive benefit of bloodthirsty thugtators.
In a thugtatorship, the purpose of seizing and clinging to political power is solely to accumulate personal wealth for the ruling class by stealing public funds and depriving the broader population scarce resources necessary for basic survival. The English word “thug” comes from the Hindi word “thug” which means “con man”. “Thugees” are well-organized criminal gangs that robbed and murdered unsuspecting travelers over a century ago to today.
Africa’s identity is poverty, Africa’s identity is suffering, malnourishment, civil war, and OUR identity is death everywhere on the continent.
African rulers and number of people killed during their rule
Menghistu (Ethiopia, 1975-78) 1,500,000
Yakubu Gowon (Biafra, 1967-1970) 1,000,000
Jean Kambanda (Rwanda, 1994) 0,800,000
Cl.Theonesta Bagosora chief coordinator Rwandan Genocide 0,800,000
Jonas Savimbi (Angola, 1975-2002) 0,580,000
Idi Amin (Uganda, 1969-1979) 0,570,000
Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire, 1965-97) 0,555,000
Charles Taylor (Liberia, 1989-1996) 0,530,000
Foday Sankoh (Sierra Leone, 1991-2000) 0,528,000
Muhammad AL Bashir (Sudan, 1989-present) 0,525,000
Jean-Bedel Bokassa (Centrafrica, 1966-79) 0,422,000
Mohmar Gaddafi (Libya 1969-present) 0,108,000
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (1979-present) 0,080,000
Hissene Habre (Chad, 1982-1990) 0,078,000
Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe, Ndebele minority 1982-87,) 0,040,000
Yuweri Mussaveni (Uganda, 1986-present) 0,030,000
Lansana Conteh (Guinea Conakry 1984-2010) 0,016,000
Yahya AJJ Jammeh (Gambia, 1994-present) 0,002,000
“Thugees in Africa”, mugs, rob, pillage, plunder, rape and kill unsuspecting whole nations and peoples and secrete away their billions in stolen loot in European and American banks.
Today, we see the incredibly extreme lengths Libyan thugtator Muammar Gaddafi is willing to go to preserve his thugocratic empire floating on billions of stolen oil dollars hidden in foreign bank accounts and corporate property holdings. The British Government recently announced that it expects to seize “around £20 billion in liquid assets of the Libyan regime, mostly in London alone.”
The Swiss Government has similarly issued an order for the immediate freeze of assets belonging to Gadhafi and his entourage. The Swiss central bank announced that it will freeze Gaddafi’s 613 million Swiss francs (USD$658 million), with an additional 205 million francs (USD$220 million) in paper or fiduciary operations. In 2008, before a diplomatic incident involving the arrest of one of Gaddafi’s sons for assault in Switzerland, Gadhafi’s Swiss holdings amounted to 5.7 billion in cash and 812 million francs in paper and fiduciary operations. In 2006, the Libyan Sovereign Wealth Fund had investments of $70 billion. The U.S. closed its Embassy in Tripoli and slapped a freeze on all Libyan assets described as “substantial.”
Now when the Libyan people felt enough is enough they rebelled and to protect his empire of corruption and stealing with his son small thieves, Gadhafi has ordered his air force to bomb and strafe unarmed civilian demonstrators demanding an end to his 42-year rule. His son Saif al-Islam threatened to dismember the country and plunge it into a civil war that will last for 30 or 40 years. In a televised speech, the young thug promised a bloodbath: “We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet. I will fight until the last drop of my blood.” The buffoonish al-Islam contemptuously reassured the world: “Plan A is to live and die in Libya. Plan B is to live and die in Libya. Plan C is to live and die in Libya.” For someone who has no official role in government, it was an astonishing statement to make.
Gadhafi himself has vowed to fight on and die “like a martyr” in the service of his thugogracy. He urged his supporters in Green Square to fight back and “defend the nation.” He exhorted, “Retaliate against them, retaliate against them… Dance, sing and prepare. Prepare to defend Libya, to defend the oil, dignity and independence.” Gadhafi promised: “At the suitable time, we will open the arms depot so all Libyans and tribes become armed, so that Libya becomes red with fire.” It is not enough for Gadhafi and his thugs to have bled the Libyan people dry for 42 years; they now want to burn down the whole country to ashes. Apres moi, le deluge! (After me, is the flood!)
The Ivory Coast sometime ago was nearly on the verge of civil war, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. In December 2010, Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down after he was decisively defeated in the presidential election. His own Election Commission said his opponent Alassane Ouattara won the election by a nine-point margin. The African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations, the United States, the European Union all said Ouattara is the winner. Gbagbo has turned a deaf ear and prepared to use thugs to plunge the Ivory Coast into civil war to protect his empire of corruption. In 2000, Gbagbo imposed a curfew and a state of emergency and ordered security forces to shoot and kill any demonstrators in the streets: “Police, gendarmes and soldiers from all branches of the armed forces are ordered to use all means throughout the country to oppose troublemakers.” Like Gaddafi’s mercenaries today, Gbagbo’s troops back then went on a killing and beating rampage. The European Union, the Swiss and United States Governments have frozen Gbagbo’s assets in their countries amounting to billions of dollars
In May 2010, Ethiopia’s Meles Zenawi said he won the parliamentary election by 99.6 percent. “According to the World Bank, roughly half of the rest of the national economy is accounted for by companies held by an EPRDF-affiliated business group called the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT). EFFORT’s freight transport, construction, pharmaceutical, and cement firms receive lucrative foreign aid contracts and highly favorable terms on loans from government banks.” The regime’s own anti-corruption agency reported in 2008 that “USD$16 million dollars” worth of gold bars simply walked out of the bank in broad daylight
In 2005, Zenawi demonstrated the extremes he will go to protect his empire of corruption. Zenawi’s troops under his direct command and control mowed down 193 documented unarmed protesters in the streets and severely wounded nearly 800. Another 30,000 suspected opponents were jailed. In a meeting with high level U.S. officials in advance of the May 2010 election, Zenawi told them in plain words what he will do to his opposition if they try to “discredit the election”: “If opposition groups resort to violence in an attempt to discredit the election, we will crush them with our full force; they will all vegetate like Birtukan (Midekssa) in jail forever.” it does not leave much to the imagination to figure out what he will do when the people ask him peacefully to leave power.
Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh vowed to stay in power at whatever cost. Saying God put him in power and only God can remove him from power. His Empire that he is crafting, forcing the populace into virtual poverty thus their dependence directly on his hand outs would force them to subjugate then to become his servants. Making the birth of his only son a public holiday in the whole country signals to all around that a successor is born. He rules in an Idi Amin style with all the bogus degrees he can muster: Sheick, Professor, Doctor, Nasirudeen, GCMG, GMRG, and ECT.
On April 10-11, 2000 GAMSU organized a large scale protest that threatened the Jammeh administration. The students demonstrated on April 10, 2000 to protest the alleged beating to death of Ebrima Barry a secondary school student at the hand of fire service officers in Brikama, Western Region. Apart from the outrageousness of the fact that fire service officers were asked to discipline a student, the government failed to properly investigate the matter. The GAMSU student leadership made demands and an autopsy report (which was widely believed to be a cover up) stated that Ebrima died of natural causes. A spontaneous student protest ensued at the Gambia College, where a Gambia Students' Union (GAMSU) sub-union existed Jammeh was in Cuba at the time and according to sources close to statehouse, he was shaking with fear that his regime has collapsed and when he got the reassurances from his security chiefs that they would do all to keep the situation under control, Jammeh was said to have personally ordered for those demonstrators to be shot with life rounds. He was said to have said “shoot and kill anyone found on the streets kill the bastards kill them all I don’t care” 14 students were killed and up to this date no one was punished for those crimes even though his government held an enquiry into it and people were found culpable for the crimes. Instead majority of them were promoted within the army and police.
His minority ethnic Jola tribe have produced his worst killers so far the likes of Musa Jammeh (aka Malia Mungu ) Idi Amin’s notorious killer in Uganda), Tumbul Tamba, Solo Bojang ect. They can kill without mercy and HRH, eliminate any who stand in his way. He has diverted millions into his wife’s Moroccan account, bought houses in America and Middle East through thieving. Chief thief and chief womanizer of Africa who watches women to strip dance for him, doesn’t care marrying girls as young as 17yrs.The Dictator vowed to stay in power threatening to crush any who ever try to remove him. He said God put him there and only god would remove him no election or coup would. While he bought a mansion for his wife Zainab and her kids in the United States worth millions of Dollars, his people can barely afford bread and for generosity sake, he would be seen throwing bisketes at his people who would scramble over it while he watches and laugh.
Taiwan a country not recognized by the international community UN is in the tiny Gambia’s only known business partner arming the Gambian Tyrant.
In April 2010, Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan claimed victory by winning nearly 70 percent of the vote. The EU EOM declared the “deficiencies in the legal and electoral framework in the campaign environment led the overall process to fall short of a number of international standards for genuine democratic elections.” Another election stolen in broad daylight; but that is not all Bashir has stolen. According to a Wikileaks cablegram, “International Criminal Court [ICC] Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told [U.S.] Ambassadors Rice and Wolff on March 20 [2009] that [Ocampo] would put the figure of Sudanese President Bashir’s stash of money at possibly $9 billion.” After the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, the first warrant of its kind for a sitting head of state, a sneering Bashir flipped his middle finger at the ICC: “They will issue their decision tomorrow, and we are telling them to immerse it in water and drink it“, a common Arabic insult which is the equivalent of “they can shove it up their _ _ _.” Bashir recently he said he will not run for the presidency again. (It is not clear if had decided not to run because he wants to enjoy his stolen billions or because he expects to put on the jail jumpsuit of the ICC.)
In February 2010, a group of soldiers in Niger calling itself the “Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy” stormed Niger’s presidential palace and snatched president Mamadou Tandja and his ministers. In 2009, Tandja had dissolved the National Assembly and set up a “Constitutional Court” to pave the way for him to become president-for-life. Niger’s state auditor reported that “at least 64 billion CFA francs [USD$128-million] were stolen from Niger’s state coffers under the government of former president Mamadou Tandja.” Tandja is sitting in jail in southwestern Niger.
In March 2008, Robert Mugabe declared victory in the presidential election after waging a campaign of violence and intimidation on his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai and his supporters. In 2003, Mugabe boasted, “I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective: justice for his people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people and their rights over their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for.” No one would disagree with Mugabe’s self-description. In 2010, Mugabe announced his plan to sell “about $1.7 billion of diamonds in storage” (probably rejects of his diamond-crazed wife Grace). According to a Wikileaks cablegram, “a small group of high-ranking Zimbabwean officials (including Grace Mugabe) have been extracting tremendous diamond profits.” Mugabe is so greedy that he stole outright “£4.5 million from [aid] funds meant to help millions of seriously ill people.”
In December 2007, Mwai Kibaki declared himself winner of the presidential election. In 2002, Kibaki, criticizing his predecessor Daniel Arap Moi regime, urged the people to “Remain calm, even when intimidated or provoked by those who are desperately determined to rig the elections and plunge the country into civil war.” In 2007, Kibaki and his Thugees unleashed such violence against the civilian population that 1500 Kenyans were killed and some 600 hundred thousand displaced, almost plunging Kenya into civil war. The Kroll Report revealed that Moi stole billions of dollars using a “web of shell companies, secret trusts and frontmen” and secreted the loot in 30 countries. Kibaki stonewalled further action on the report, including prosecution of Moi.
The story of corruption, theft, embezzlement and brazen transfer of the national wealth of African peoples to European and African banks and corporate institutions is repeated elsewhere in the continent. Ex-Nigerian President Sani Abacha, who was judicially determined to be a member of a criminal organization by a Swiss court, stole $500 million.
Ben Ali of Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt also have their stolen assets in the hundreds of millions of dollars frozen in Switzerland and elsewhere
. Other African thugtators who have robbed their people blind (and pretty much have gotten away with it) include Nigeria’s Ibrahim Babangida, Guniea’s Lansana Conte, Togo’s Gnassingbe Eyadema, Gabon’s Omar Bongo, Equatorial Guniea’s Obiang Nguema, Burkina Faso’s Blaise Campore and Congo’s (Brazaville) Denis Sassou Nguesso, among others.
Godfathers and African Thugocracies
The business of African governments is corruption. African thugtators cling to power to operate sophisticated criminal business enterprises to loot their national treasuries and resources. These African “leaders” are actually “godfathers” or heads of criminal families. Just like any organized criminal enterprise, African thugtators use their party apparatuses, bureaucracies, military and police forces to maintain and perpetuate their corrupt financial empires.
When the U.S. first announced its “kleptocracy asset recovery program” to the world in July 2010, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder delivered the message, not at some international anti-corruption forum, but at the African Union Summit in Kampala, Uganda. Holder told the gathered African thugtators majority of who are major thieves who stole from their people and save in America and Europe.
He said to them
“Today, I’m pleased to announce that the U.S. Department of Justice is launching a new Asset Recovery Initiative aimed at combating large-scale foreign official corruption and recovering public funds for their intended – and proper – use: for the people of our nations. We’re assembling a team of prosecutors who will focus exclusively on this work and build upon efforts already underway to deter corruption, hold offenders accountable, and protect public resources.
Holder’s announcement was nothing short of breathtaking. It was as though he was addressing the national convention of the “Commissioner” of all the Mafia families from New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. In Kampala, Holder was talking directly to the African equivalents of the Godfathers of the Bonnano, Columbo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families in one place. Absolutely surreal!
The Political Economy of Thugtatorships
Thugtatorships in Africa thrive in the political economy of kleptocracy. Widespread corruption permeates every corner of society. Oil revenues, diamonds, gold bars, coffee and other commodities and foreign aid are stolen outright and pocketed by the thugtators and their army of thugocrats. Public funds are embezzled and misused and state property misappropriated and converted to private use. Publicly-owned assets are virtually given away to supporters in “privatization programs” or secretly held in illegal transactions. Bank loans are given out to front enterprises owned secretly by the thugtators or their supporters without sufficient or proper collateral. Businessmen must pay huge bribes or kickbacks to participate in public contracting and procurement. Those involved in the import/export business are victimized in shakedowns by thugocrats. The judiciary is thoroughly corrupted through political interference and manipulation.
Armageddon: Thugtators’ Nuclear Option
One of the common tricks used by thugtators to cling to power is to terrorize the people with warnings of an impending Armageddon. They say that if they are removed from power, the sky will fall and the earth will open up and swallow the people. Thugtators sow fear, uncertainty and doubt in the population and use misinformation and disinformation to psychologically defeat, disorient and neutralize the people.
Thuggish Ghadafi and sons warned Libya will “spiral into civil war for the next 30 to 40 years and the country’s infrastructure ruined” without the Ghadafi dynasty. His eldest son Saif who thought all along he would succeed his criminal father said Libya will be awash in “rivers of blood”. If they try to remove his father: “This is an opposition movement, a separatist movement which threatens the unity of Libya. We will take up arms… we will fight to the last bullet. We will destroy seditious elements. If everybody is armed, it is civil war, we will kill each other.”
Now when the Libyan people felt enough is enough they rebelled and to protect his empire of corruption and stealing with his son small thieves, Gadhafi has ordered his air force to bomb and strafe unarmed civilian demonstrators demanding an end to his 42-year rule. His son Saif al-Islam threatened to dismember the country and plunge it into a civil war that will last for 30 or 40 years. In a televised speech, the young thug promised a bloodbath: “We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet. I will fight until the last drop of my blood.” The buffoonish al-Islam contemptuously reassured the world: “Plan A is to live and die in Libya. Plan B is to live and die in Libya. Plan C is to live and die in Libya.” For someone who has no official role in government, it was an astonishing statement to make.
Gadhafi himself has vowed to fight on and die “like a martyr” in the service of his thugogracy. He urged his supporters in Green Square to fight back and “defend the nation.” He exhorted, “Retaliate against them, retaliate against them… Dance, sing and prepare. Prepare to defend Libya, to defend the oil, dignity and independence.” Gadhafi promised: “At the suitable time, we will open the arms depot so all Libyans and tribes become armed, so that Libya becomes red with fire. It is not enough for Gadhafi and his thugs to have bled the Libyan people dry for 42 years; they now want to burn down the whole country to ashes. Apres moi, le deluge! (After me, the flood!)
Zenawi has been talking about “genocide” for years. The 2005 European Union Election Observer Mission in its Final Mission Report strongly chastised Zenawi and his associates for morbid genocide rhetoric: Zenawi “is quick to talk up threats to his country, whether from malcontents in the army or disgruntled ethnic groups among Ethiopia’s mosaic of peoples. Radical Oromos, a southern group that makes up about a third of Ethiopia’s people, often fall under suspicion.” Last year, he compared Voice of America radio broadcasts to Ethiopia with broadcasts of Radio Mille Collines which directed the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
If Africa’s thugtators plan to use the “nuclear option” and bring Armageddon on their societies, they would be wise to know who is destined to win the final battle between good and evil. Gadhafi’s fate now dangles between what he wants to do to bring this unspeakable tragedy to a swift conclusion, the will of the Libyan people once they vanquish his mercenaries and the International Criminal Court to whom the U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously to refer Moammar Ghadafi and members of his government in Libya for investigation and prosecution for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Like al-Bashir of the Sudan, Ghadafi and members of his thugocratic empire will not escape the long arms of justice. The days of massacring unarmed demonstrators, strafing and bombing civilians and detention of innocent people by the tens of thousands with impunity are gone. Justice may be delayed but when the people open the floodgates of freedom, “justice (not blood) will run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream” and wash out the wreckage of thugtatorship into the sea.
Their Business Partners in Africorruption, Inc. who care little or nothing for the people but the people they do business with and those fall they switch sides where ever it suits their interest.
Africa’s thugtatorship have longstanding and profitable partnerships with their partners outside Africa. Through aid and trade, these partners have enabled these thugocracies to flourish in Africa and repress Africans. To cover up their hypocrisy and hoodwink the people, the same partners would line up to champion for the people whenever they can no longer shut their ears any longer with the cries of the victims they would pretend to “freeze” the assets of the thugtators. It is a drama they have perfected since the early days of African independence. The fact of the matter is that those business partners are only interested in “stability” in Africa. That simply means, in any African country, they want a “guy they can do business with.” The business they want to do in Africa is the oil business, the (blood) diamond business, the arms sales business, the coffee and cocoa export business, the tourism business, the luxury goods export business and the war on terrorism business.
They are not interested in the African peoples’ business, the human rights business, the rule of law business, the accountability and transparency business and the fair and free elections business.
Today, they are witnessing a special kind of revolution never seen before in their dump yard: A youth-led popular nonviolent revolution against thugtatorships
Africa and the Middle East is shaking and neither they the business partners nor their thugtator friends knew what to do with this kind of revolution. President Obama said, “History will end up recording that at every juncture in the situation, Africans are on the right side of history.”
Well, what is good for Egypt is good enough for Ethiopia, Libya, Tunisia, the Sudan, Algeria, Kenya, Bahrain, Gambia, Djbouti, Somalia…, and Zimbabwe. The decisive question in world history today is: Are we on the right side of history now when we remain the victims of oppression or are we on the wrong side with thugtators destined to make us the dustbin their cheating enterprise? The monkey business
The Political Economy of Thugtatorships
Thugtatorships in Africa thrive in the political economy of kleptocracy. Widespread corruption permeates every corner of society. Oil revenues, diamonds, gold bars, coffee and other commodities and foreign aid are stolen outright and pocketed by the thugtators and their army of thugocrats. Public funds are embezzled and misused and state property misappropriated and converted to private use. Publicly-owned assets are virtually given away to supporters in “privatization programs” or secretly held in illegal transactions. Bank loans are given out to front enterprises owned secretly by the thugtators or their supporters without sufficient or proper collateral. Businessmen must pay huge bribes or kickbacks to participate in public contracting and procurement. Those involved in the import/export business are victimized in shakedowns by thugocrats. The judiciary is thoroughly corrupted through political interference and manipulation.
Three African leaders and their families had been investigated in Paris over whether they embezzled state funds to acquire vast assets in France including bank accounts, Riviera villas and fleets of luxury cars.
After a series of legal battles known as the "case of the ill-gotten gains", Paris's highest appeals court today authorized an inquiry into Gabon's late leader Omar Bongo, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville and President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.
The independent anti-corruption organisation Transparency International had brought a case accusing the leaders of laundering their nation's riches.
A police report in 2007 said the Bongo clan had 39 properties in France, mostly in Paris's 16th arrondissement and on the Riviera. The family also had 70 French bank accounts, 11 in Omar Bongo's name. They had at least nine luxury cars in France, including Ferraris and Mercedes worth a total of €1.5m. Bongo, once the world's longest-ruling head of state, died last year and was succeeded by his son Ali.
The family of Sassou-Nguesso, Omar Bongo's father-in-law, had 112 French bank accounts, 18 properties and at least one car in France worth more than €170,000.
The Obiang family had eight luxury cars in France, worth €4.2m. Obiang's son, a government minister, owns an apartment in an exclusive area of the capital.
Transparency International said the assets were worth several times more than the African leaders officially earned.
The NGO fought a long court battle to open a judicial investigation as French state prosecutors opposed an inquiry. Today's ruling sets a precedent for corruption investigations against sitting heads of state. An investigating magistrate will now begin looking into the assets of the three leaders and the role of French banks in acquiring them.
Transparency International praised the court ruling as a "major step forward" in French judicial history that opened the way for other "politically and economically sensitive" inquiries.
The African leaders and their families have denied building up personal wealth in France through embezzlement, money-laundering and the misuse of public funds.
The case threatens to lay bare the opaque deal-making and blind eye to corruption of France's special "Françafrique" relationship with its former African colonies. The case could also strain French diplomatic and business ties with Gabon and Congo, two former colonies, and with Equatorial Guinea, a growing oil exporter.
Switzerland says it has frozen assets worth nearly a billion dollars belonging to beleaguered North African leaders that are charged with using violence their people.
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey revealed the amount during a press conference in Tunisia, where she is on a three-day visit, foreign ministry spokesman Lars Knuchel told AFP.

She said Switzerland has linked USD 473 million to former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his associates, USD 415 million to Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi and USD 69 million to ousted Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

Shortly after the recent downfall of the despotic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, the Swiss government ordered banks and other financial institutions to freeze assets belonging to the men and their associates in an effort to block secret withdrawals from the accounts.
The embattled Libyan ruler, who is fighting with his opponents at home, faced asset-freeze efforts in a number of Western countries after he embarked on a military crackdown on the country's opposition and revolutionary forces in mid-February.

Meanwhile in Egypt, Mubarak and his family face charges of illegally acquiring wealth and their assets have been frozen.

The ousted president is also under detention for an investigation into the crackdown on protesters during 18 days of anti-regime rallies that toppled him on February 11th.

In January, the French government also called on the banks in the country to freeze accounts belonging to former ruler Ben Ali following his downfall.

On January 14, Ben Ali fled the North African country for the Saudi port city of Jeddah in the wake of a historic revolution that drove him from power after more than 23 years of an iron-fist rule. He left the state coffers empty not even one gold bar in the state treasury was left.
The World Bank estimates that more than $1 trillion is paid in bribes each year. That figure does not even include amounts of public funds embezzled and plundered by high government officials.
A 2002 UNODC study estimated that between $600 billion and $1.8 trillion is the amount of money that is illegally laundered throughout the world each year, and a substantial portion of that is money derived from corruption by African Leaders.
After the 2004 Tsunami, over $7 billion was pledged to aid devastated areas, but the flow of that money has slowed because of concerns about corruption. A 2004 report by the African Union claims that Africa loses an estimated $148 billion annually to corrupt practices, a figure that represents 25% of the continent’s gross domestic product.

Zaire:
Transparency International estimates that Mobutu in Zaire allegedly embezzled up to $5 billion -1997 Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire is widely regarded as a pioneer of the African kleptocracy. During the period of his presidency (1965) millions of diamonds were exported via the state owned company Gecamines at invoice prices as low as $8.55 per carat (way below market price). The difference between the invoice price and the price achieved on the true value of the stones was deposited in Mobutu’s offshore accounts. Mobutu embezzled US$5 billion from the people of Zaire. A report prepared by the UN after Mobutu’s downfall implicated 54 government ministers and 85 multinational companies based in Europe, the British Channel Islands, Canada, US, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa for violations relating international trade and helping the dictator his brutal crackdown on his people
Nigeria:
According to The Economist, “When Sani Abacha was dictator of Nigeria at the end of the 1990s; the Central Bank had a standing order instruction to transfer US$15 million or so to his Swiss bank account every day.” Over 100 banks around the world were involved in handling Abacha’s loot, including Citigroup, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. Transparency International estimates that Abacha in Nigeria allegedly embezzled up to $5 billion just like his boss Mabutu of Zaire.
Illegal exploitation of Congolese
Capital flight due to transfer mispricing exceeds US$10 billion a year. Fake transactions are estimated to account for an additional $150-200 billion a year. 60 per cent of trade
transactions into or out of Africa are estimated to be mispriced, by an average of 11 per cent.- The incidence of transfer mis-pricing to achieve capital flight out of Africa has accelerated significantly. A study of import and export transactions between Africa and the United States found that between 1996 and 2005 net capital outflows to the US grew from $1.9 billion to $4.9 billion (+257%) through the use of low-priced exports and high-priced imports.
Recently the Daily Mail, exposed the relationship with Tony Blair and the Rwandan dictator
Tony Blair with Paul Kagame at the recent Davos WEF, at which the former UK Prime Minister was at the dictator’s side to introduce him to the assembled movers and shakers. Not surprising, perhaps, given that the event — at which Mr Blair was officially the chairman — was arranged in sole honour of Paul Kagame, the president of the African state of Rwanda.
And this being France’s, Nicolas Sarkozy who was also seen with the dictatorial regime in Gabon they cannot hide France’s interest in those African states. Despite a French court’s indictment of three top African leaders who have huge assets in France the subject on his lips throughout the stylish meeting, held during the World Economic Forum in Davos, was cold, hard cash.
In the case of Zimbabwe, China’s self interest is clear, given that in this case the dictator has promised not to nationalize Chinese properties and investments in the country. China signed nearly $700 million in loan deals with Zimbabwe, its biggest loan package to date, and urged the government to protect Chinese firms from nationalization plans.
Shunned by the west, President Robert Mugabe has increasingly sought help elsewhere. China, meanwhile, covets the mineral resources of the southern African country as Zimbabwe struggles back from economic collapse. Under Mugabe this once thrivining nation is on the brink of disaster – it is battling a cholera outbreak, while water, health and education services have collapsed. Source: Engineering News.
China is also active in Sudan helping arming the dictator to kill more Sudanese simply because most contracts with Sudanese oil goes to Chinese companies.
President Obama of the United States was in Equatorial Guinea to solicit business with the regime regardless of the human rights records in that country.
That remain our fate as African and these are the reason why vast majority of our labour force (the youth) abandon Africa because of hopelessness perpetuated by our evil leaders against their own people. In Africa no matter what one does their people, they are only satisfied when you buy them a tickets to leave what they poisonously belief is a hopeless place (Africa) and taken to the promised land Europe and America. Even with education one educated abroad cannot be compared to one educated at home in Africa even when they both did the same courses and gained the same qualifications.
God help Africa!

Gambia Womaniser Leader's tacktics of wooing for votes

Yahya Jammeh is up to his tricks again: His Daily Observer state newspaper is waxing lyrical about his latest “donation” to the people of Gambia: Sacks of sugar.

Generous Praise

Jammeh’s “generosity” was inspired by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and prompted officials from the districts chosen to receive it to sing the dictator’s praises:

“Alhaji Omar Khan, the governor of the URR thanked the Gambian leader for the humanitarian gesture, and described him as a real Muslim who cares and shares anything he has with the people, in accordance with the teachings of Islam. Governor Khan also urged the chiefs to distribute the sugar accordingly at their district level,” the Daily Observer reported.

It went on to discuss enthusiastically the distribution of Jammeh’s stolen “gifts”:

“The URR got 1000 bags of sugar which was distributed to all the districts of the region. Jimara District got 89 bags; Fulladou East District received 89 bags; Kantora, 89 bags; Sandu, 89 bags; Tumani, 89 bags; Wuli East, 89 bags; Sandu, 89 bags, and Wuli West, 80 bags. Various government departments in Basse also benefitted from the presidential gesture.

The governor of NBR, Alhaji Eduwarr Seckan on behalf of his people also thanked the president for giving his region 1000 bags of sugar. Speaking to our NBR reporter in Kerewan on Monday, Governor Seckan said this year’s gift was timely as it came in the first week of the month.”

The governors and Imams were encouraged to tell people under their leadership to support Jammeh and his ruling party. They agreed to, naturally, as they rely on his “kindness”. Jammeh’s style of leadership includes personally handing out gifts of money, farming equipment, food and fuel. All of it comes via his own businesses, businesses he has either acquired by stealing from their original owners, or bought using the proceeds of his corruption.

Sweet Votes

The sickeningly-sweet gift should cause people to realize that they are dependent on Jammeh for even such a basic necessity as sugar.

The elections are coming up, and you’d expect that Gambians would be flocking to the polling booths to get rid of Yahya Jammeh, and yet his tyranny has seen the opposition leaders falling out or fleeing the country.

It could be that Gambia’s Sugar Daddy could survive the forthcoming elections, and live to sweeten his lies to the people for another term.
•Indicators: Gambia is run as Jammeh’s personal account, and he is using the proceeds of corruption to create voter-dependence.
The tyrant womaniser who loves to see ladies and even old women stripdance for him at his underground mansion beneath his newly built palace in Kanilai, love to sleep with any that caught his eyes.
A baffoon and selfstyled chamellion who uses menance to silence his critics with all sorts like disappearances torture and even death and to add salt to a serious wound, he eliminates even his executioners once they are known so as to wipe out any pottential witnesses in any event of his being captured.

AFRICAN LEADERS AT TRUE SONS OF THE DEVIL

Seventy percent of the world's poorest nations are in Africa.


The population of Africa's poorest people is growing too rapidly for governments to support their needs. In many of Africa's least developed nations, women average more than six children.
AIDS has become a pandemic throughout Central and West Africa. More than 21 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with the AIDS virus. This is more than twice the number of the rest of the world combined. The death rate among adults under sixty has risen more than fifty percent and has tripled in Zimbabwe. It is estimated that one of every five Zimbabweans have the virus. · African nations owe more substantial amounts of money to nations around the world, and are unable to pay what they owe.
Dictatorships which in most cases lead to ethnic rivalries and civil wars which have forced millions of Africans to become refugees is as a result of leaders using their tribes as a tool to grip onto power at what ever cost thus twisting the hands of others and force them in to subjugation.
A refugee is a person who has had to flee their home for safety. When civil disobediances occur, the same rougue governments would try put the blame on those who oppose them. Africa is a living hell under its dictatorial governments who care very less about the plight of their people.
If African leaders care then it should have been the other way roung, Africa should be giving aid to other continents even Europe and America and not otherwise. They are greedy bafoons who came from satan to cause havoc and mesery for all children of Africa
Famine and drought have plagued many of the nations of Africa. World organizations have attempted to help, but civil war and ethnic rivalries often keep food from reaching people who need it.
Madness isn't it?

Death Penalty Alive and Well in the Gambia

Death Penalty Alive and Well in Gambia

Capital punishment was abolished in 1981, but President Jammeh reinstated it in 1995 as punishment for murder and treason and was recently extended to punish drug trafficking offences.


Death penalty is a way of punishing a person by putting him to death. For ages, human societies used the death penalty to combat crimes.

Criminals are executed-shot, hang, decapitated or stoned to death by 'constituted authorities'. But in recent years, there has been a growing trend against the use of capital punishment. Many countries are beginning to realize the flawed nature of using death to punish 'criminals'. Many countries are abandoning and abolishing capital punishment.

Besides Lang Tombong Tamba and his seven co-accused, the country's death row holds, among others, Sulayman Bah, convicted of killing his housemate in a dispute over money, and Tabara Samba, a woman who convicted of killing her husband by pouring boiling oil over her. February 14, 2011: Sheriff Abba Hydara, 71, from Bakallar Village in the Upper Niumi District of The Gambia's North Bank Region was sentenced to death by Justice Joseph Enwa Ikpala of the Special Criminal Court (SCC) in Banjul for murdering his wife, Basara Hydara, on September 6, 2010. He allegedly shot her. The convict was also alleged to have unlawfully attempted to cause the death of his son, Marabel Hydara by shooting him with a gun on the said date and place.

Yet when it abolished the death penalty in 1981, the West African country was among the first African governments to do so. President Jammeh reinstated the death penalty in 1995 as punishment for murder and treason.

Two dozen people have been sentenced to death in Gambia since then. None have been executed in that time, but neither has anyone been pardoned or had their sentences reduced.

Since Gambian independence in 1965, a death sentence has been carried out only once, when Mustapha Danso was executed for killing the commander of the country's army, Ekou Mahoney, during a failed coup in 1981.

Baboucarr Ceesay, editor of The Daily News newspaper, says the death penalty has not contributed to reducing the murder rate.

"In fact before 1995, we rarely heard of someone being murdered," he says, "but it has hit the headlines frequently over the past few years."

Regarding treason, Ceesay cannot recall a coup attempt during the period when capital punishment was abolished. Since 1995, however, the Gambia has experienced at least four coup attempts since its re-institution.

In October, capital punishment was extended further to punish drug trafficking offences.

Musa Touray, a retired civil servant, says applying the death penalty to drug offences will do little to reduce the spiraling rate of drug trafficking.

"The death penalty is not necessary," he says, "It is too heavy a penalty. What the government should do is to strengthen its surveillance mechanisms."

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has noted that West Africa has increasingly become a transit point for drugs, with traffickers taking advantage of poverty and poor surveillance to move drugs from South America to Europe.

In June, a record two-tonne stash of cocaine was found in the Gambia, with an estimated street value in Europe of just under a $1billion according to newspaper reports.

The Gambia's amended act states that anyone caught with over 250 grammes of cocaine faces the death penalty if convicted. Those convicted of human trafficking will also face a death sentence.

"The menace of drug trafficking and the activities of major drug lords have started to rear their ugly heads in this jurisdiction in recent times," Attorney General and Justice Minister Edward Anthony Gomez told lawmakers.

"Therefore this bill seeks to nip the negative developments in the bud by providing sentences which will serve as deterent to anyone wishing to use this country either as a transit or destination point for hard drugs."

The bill also covers human trafficking, said Gomez. "Both the strategic location of The Gambia as a gateway to the Western world as well as our liberal immigration policy have attracted the attention of unscrupulous persons in using the country as a transit route for trafficking in persons."


As at today, 139 states have abolished the death penalty in law or practice and 72 have ratified the Second Optional Protocol to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which provides for the total abolition of the death penalty. Unfortunately Gambia is not one of them. Gambia has yet to abolish the death penalty. According to Amnesty International, Gambia is a de-facto abolitionist state. The last execution was carried out in 1981. Thirteen death sentences have been passed in since the beginning of the year. In July, eight men accused of procuring arms, equipment and mercenaries to stage a coup against President Yahya Jammeh's government were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death in a trial.

Anna Jefferys/IRIN

The bill also covers human trafficking (file photo).

The theme of this year's 'World Day Against the Death Penalty' is "The Death Penalty casts a Shadow on Democracy". Indeed, capital punishment casts a long shadow on the democracy of any country. The observance of the death penalty is incompatible with democratic norms. The reasons for the abolition of the death penalty are so clear and compelling and should be given serious considerations by the government of the Gambia, and they are as follows:

1. No state should have the power to take a citizen's life.

2. It is irrevocable: no justice system is safe from judicial error and innocent people are likely to be sentenced to death.

3. It is inefficient: it has never been shown that the death penalty deters crimes more effectively than other punishments.

4. It is unfair: the death penalty is discriminatory and is often used disproportionately against the poor, the mentally ill, those from racial and ethnic minorities, and in some places in the world because of discrimination, because of sexual orientation or religion.

5. It does not offer justice to murder victims' families: the effects of murder cannot be erased by more killing, and the death system prolongs the suffering of victims' families.

6. It creates more victims: the death penalty inflicts pain on the families of those on death row.

7. It is inhumane, cruel and degrading: the dreadful conditions on death row inflict extreme psychological suffering and execution is a physical and mental assault.

8. It is applied overwhelmingly in violation of international standards: it breaches the principles of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to life and that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It is also in contradiction with the international trend towards abolition recognized by two votes at the United Nations General Assembly calling for the establishment of a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty (resolutions 62/149 and 63/168 adopted on 18 December 2007 and 2008)

9. It does not keep society safe.

10. It denies any possibility of rehabilitation to the criminal.

I must underscore the fact that we all can live without the death penalty. Many countries are already doing so. We can fight and prevent crimes in our societies without capital punishment. We can adequately punish those who commit murder, armed robbery and other heinous offences without putting them to death. The campaign to end the death penalty is not just a campaign to save lives; it is a campaign for justice, for human rights and dignity. The death penalty is an out dated form of punishment and should not be associated with the legal system in any civilized and democratic nation in this 21st century. The justice system in the Gambia is better of without it. Humanity is better of without capital punishment. Hence I urge President Yahya Jammeh to get Gambia to join other nations by abolishing the death penalty.

Leo Igwe is the director of the International Humanists and Ethical Union in West Africa

Somalia: Children Bear the Brunt of Conflict

http://allafrica.com/stories/201106040019.html

Hundreds of children younger than five have been wounded in the latest round of fighting in Mogadishu, accounting for almost half of all trauma cases in May, according to WHO

Hundreds of children younger than five have been wounded in the latest round of fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, accounting for almost half of all trauma cases in May, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

In a press statement issued on 31 May, WHO said recent data showed that the main causes of death among under-fives were burns, chest injuries and internal haemorrhaging caused by blast injuries, shrapnel and bullets.




"Of the 1,590 reported weapons-related injuries in May alone, 735 cases, or 46 percent, were children under the age of five, compared to only 3.5 percent in April," the agency said.

Marthe Everard, WHO's representative for Somalia, said: "This is the highest number of injured children that has been reported since the beginning of this year."

Fighting between government troops, backed by the African Union Mission in Somalia, and Al-Shabab has intensified in Mogadishu in recent weeks, with government troops trying to dislodge the insurgents from several parts of the city that had been under their control.



UN Photo/Milton Grant

A Somali mother and two children waiting for food at a feeding centre in Mogadishu.

In the past week, the fighting has been mostly around Bakara, the largest open-air market in Somalia, with government troops seeking to oust Al-Shabab from the area.

Ahmed Dini of Peaceline, a Somali civil society group that monitors the welfare of children in the country, told IRIN the numbers would be even higher "if you take into consideration that many families are unable to access hospitals and are therefore keeping wounded children at home, taking care of them as best they can.

"Unfortunately, in every instance in Mogadishu, be it displacement, poverty or violence, children are more often than not the most affected," Dini said.

He said civil society groups had, on several occasions, appealed to the warring sides to stop shelling populated areas and to minimize civilian casualties.




"We are also asking them to allow access to those who cannot reach hospitals," Dini said. "We have reports of children dying because they could not [obtain medical care]."

According to WHO, health workers in Mogadishu are "stretched very thin" to treat the high number of war-wounded; in many cases, they lack proper equipment and means to cover all cases.

"Service delivery is hampered by accessibility issues, poor infrastructure and an insufficient number of health facilities," Everard said in the WHO statement. "Wherever health facilities are operating, they often lack very basic and essential medicines, supplies and equipment, operational and logistical support."

More wounded


Somalia: Children Bear the Brunt of Conflict
TOPICAL FOCUS — Somali Children Facing the Worst - UN

Abdirizaq Hassan Ali, head of Mogadishu's Benadir Children's hospital, told IRIN on 31 May that since the beginning of the month, more and more wounded children had been taken to the hospital.

"We are receiving on average 20 to 30 wounded children daily," Ali said.

Previously, he added, the hospital admitted about 10 war-wounded children daily.

Dini said the difference between the latest fighting and past conflict was that "this is more sustained and without let-up. Previously, we have had intense fighting but it would fizzle out after a few days, but now both sides are digging in."

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations

Cape Verde to Vote in New President

http://allafrica.com/stories/201108060008.html

The Cape Verde archipelago elects a new president Sunday as Pedro Pires steps down after two terms with his ruling party facing a split vote.

The former Portuguese colony off the northwestern coast of Africa, made up of 10 main islands and eight islets, is often lauded for its political and economic stability despite meagre natural resources.




The ruling African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) won an absolute majority in parliament after February legislative polls in which Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves, the head of government, was re-elected.

The party has been buoyed by a decade of growth averaging six percent. But its candidate Manuel Inocencio Sousa faces watered down support with lawmaker Aristides Lima challenging him as an independent.

The main opposition Movement for Democracy (MFD), which is fielding former foreign minister and law professor Jorge Carlos Fonseca, hopes this will boost its chances.

"We will probably go into a run-off and we hope this contradiction will help us elect our president," MFD campaign director, Antoine Moricio Santos, told AFP by telephone.



U.S. Embassy, Cape Verde

Sea salt in Maio Island, Cape Verde.

The two parties have dominated Cape Verde politics since multi-party elections were first held in 1991, with each having ruled for about a decade.

A fourth independent candidate, former soldier and veteran of the independence war, Joaquim Jaime Monteiro, 70, is also in the race.

"It is a very lively presidential election, especially with the PAICV split into two clans," said journalist Nelio dos Santos on national radio.

Lima, a former parliament speaker, decided to run on his own after losing an election to be the ruling party's official candidate.

"I am determined to contribute to Cape Verde continuing on its development path to peace and political stability," he said announcing his candidature.




His party rival Sousa, 60, who is minister of infrastructure, transport and maritime affairs is a Netherlands-trained civil engineer.

Since coming to power in 2001, the ruling party has overseen a spate of development work including the construction of three international airports, ports, and hundreds of kilometres of roads.

Lauded for its stable democracy and peaceful elections, Cape Verde in 2008 became only the second ever country after Botswana to be promoted by the United Nations out of the ranks of the 50 least developed countries.

However despite impressive growth rates it is still vulnerable and highly dependent on international aid.

Fonseca, 60, who lost a presidential bid in 2001, has vowed that if elected, he will focus on social issues and problems concerning youth, women and workers.


Relevant Links
West Africa
Cape Verde
Governance

"We need development, unemployment is too high, especially for the youth," said his campaign director Santos.

Unemployment in Cape Verde is officially pegged at 13 percent although the opposition has put it as high as 18 percent, and more of its nationals live abroad (700,000) than at home (500,000).

The archipelago of sandy beaches, lush valleys and arid volcanic rock has an economy dominated by the service sector, which represents 85 percent of GDP. Tourism contributed 25 percent to GDP with 400,000 visitors in 2010.

Just over 300,000 people have registered to vote in the election and some 900 polling stations have been set up on the islands and 35,300 in Africa, America and Europe to cater to the diaspora, said a source from the electoral commission.

AFP