Nigerian Charged with Terrorism

Johannesburg, South Africa

Prosecutors in South Africa have charged leader of a Nigerian armed group living in the country for his links to last week's car bomb attack in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, during independence celebrations. Charges against Henry Okah-leader of a militant faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend)-were brought to a court in Johannesburg on Monday where he was purportedly accused with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and the detonation of explosive devices in Abuja.

Over 12 people were killed and 36 others injured after two car bombs exploded in Abuja during marking of the country's 50th anniversary of independence on Friday last week. Mend claimed to have carried out the attack through a signed statement emailed to the media.

Nigeria's State Security Services (SSS) spokeswoman Marylin Ogar told reporters in a news conference on Monday that they had earlier foiled a larger plot to bomb the 'Three-arms Zone-that houses the presidential palace, parliament, Supreme Court and SSS headquarters-where six vehicles were prepared for the purpose.

She said that SSS has made nine arrests in connections with the attack, with all the arrested having direct links to Okah who is believed to have masterminded the bombing whose main aim was to scare visitors from attending the celebrations.

Okah accepted government amnesty last year after treason charges against him were dropped, alongside his fighters who were offered small amount of cash for handing in their arms.

Mend, Nigeria's largest militant group fights for the equal share of the country's oil revenue, with claims of exposing the exploitation and oppression in Niger Delta, Africa's largest oil and gas industry.

Mogadishu, Somalia

At Least 15 Killed in Renewed Clashes

About 15 people have been killed and 22 others wounded in a new spate of clashes between the African Union peacekeeping troops and hard-lined Islamist Al-Shabab fighters in the capital, Mogadishu over the weekend.

Heavy shelling and gun battles rocked Mogadishu during the two-day fighting in renewed violence over control of strategic positions in the capital.

Heavy mortar shelling at Mogadishu's main market, Bakara by Al-Shabab fighters is believed to have claimed at least 7 resident casualties including children, leaving dozens injured in a fighting which is believed to have erupted at the Hodan District.

Somali spokesman Col. Abdullahi Hassan Barise told reporters that government troops had captured several positions earlier controlled by the militia after a botched attack on a government controlled base.

The Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabab among other anti-government groups are fighting to over throw the weak government of Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The UN-backed government controls few parts of the capital while the Al-Shabab and other armed groups control large positions among their influences in central and south of the lawless state.

Somalia has known no fully functional government since ousting of dictatorial leader Siad Barre in 1991. Most of the violence is fuelled by clan and militia rivalries that have rendered hundreds of thousands displaced in decades of violence, creating the worst ever humanitarian crisis.

Kigali, Rwanda

Rwanda Rejects UN Congo Genocide Report.

Rwanda has rejected the United Nations report on massive human rights violation in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwandan and Ugandan troops

The government of Rwanda said it categorically rejects the report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights accusing it of seeking to promote the theory of 'double genocide'. The report, released on Friday last week documented of 617 major crimes in DR Congo including mass rape, targeted killings between 1993 and 2003 by armed Congolese groups, as well as military operations by forces from neighbouring states.

About 1200 people were interviewed and about 1500 documents collected and analysed during the two-year long mapping exercise. The report refers to many of the attacks as systemic and could be possibly characterised as genocide in any court of law.

Discovery of three mass graves in the eastern part of DR Congo in 2005 led to sending of a human rights team by the UN to conduct a mapping exercise in areas affected which later reported to the Security Council in June 2006. Terms of references for the mapping exercise were later approved in May 2007 by then UN Secretary-General Dr. Kofi Annan after consultations by various UN agencies and the DRC government.

The report notes of children being exposed to indescribable violence through murder, rape, torture and other inhuman degrading treatment among other violations listed in the report. It’s estimated that over 30,000 children were recruited by armed groups during this period of violence.

Ugandan Government also has released a statement saying that the statement could undermine its commitment to international peacekeeping operations. Uganda is the largest contributor of troops to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM).