Kioo17 Journal

Zimbabwe's new president Emmerson Mnangagwa has named his cabinet, appointing senior military figures to high-profile positions. Mr Mnangagwa has made Sibusiso Moyo, the general who appeared on state TV after the recent military takeover, the new foreign minister. The head of Zimbabwe's air force, Perence Shiri, was named the minister of agriculture and land affairs. Mr Mnangagwa was sworn in last week after Robert Mugabe agreed to resign. The man who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years stepped down after the military intervened following the sacking of Mr Mnangagwa as vice-president. While the new president has chosen to keep many of Mr Mugabe's former cabinet ministers in office, Mr Mnangagwa has also awarded positions to military leaders who have previously supported him. Aside from Mr Moyo and Mr Shiri, leaders of the powerful war veterans' association, who pushed for Mr Mugabe to go after the military intervention, also got cabinet jobs. Chris Mutsvangwa, who h...

African migrants sit in a packed room with their beds and blankets, at the Tariq Al-Matar detention centre on the outskirts of the Libyan capital Tripoli. Image: AFP/TAWA JAWASHI. At a Security Council meeting called by France, the head of the International Organization for Migration said he was working with the UN refugee agency on a plan "to try to empty the detention centers." "We need from the Libyans the agreement that we can empty these centers and I think they will agree to that," said William Lacy Swing by videoconference. Libya has become an enormous transit hub for sub-Saharan Africans seeking to reach Europe since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Italy and the European Union have been providing financing, training and other aid to Libya to stop smugglers from taking migrants in flimsy boats across the Mediterranean, keeping them instead in detention centers. UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said that many more migrants are being...

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) —  As Zimbabweans celebrated the ouster of dictator Robert Mugabe, they danced on the streets to previously banned protest songs by one of the country’s most famous musicians — a man jailed by the country’s former white rulers and hounded by the black government that succeeded them. But Thomas Mapfumo, who watched the euphoria from exile in the U.S., said he has seen nothing to suggest his country will overcome its long history of repression and political corruption because Mugabe’s political party and cronies still run the country. “I think there’s nothing to celebrate about,” Mapfumo said this week in an interview with The Associated Press at his small apartment in the college town of Eugene, Oregon where he has lived since 2004. “It’s still the old train that we’re riding but they’ve got a different driver now.” When Mugabe resigned on Nov. 21 under military pressure, ending his iron-fisted rule of 37 years, Mapfumo’s songs blasted from car...

New Delhi (CNN) A man who went to the doctor in India complaining of abdominal pain was found to have nearly 12 pounds of metal objects in his stomach. Maksood Khan, 28, a rickshaw driver from Satna district in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, was admitted to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital on November 19. Doctors initially believed he was suffering from food poisoning, until tests revealed the contents of his stomach. "He had been complaining of the pain for the last one month. After the general examination, we found that he had an infection in the abdomen and low blood pressure, he was in a critical condition," Dr. Priyank Sharma, who led the surgery, told CNN. They soon discovered that the cause of his pain was far more serious. "We had suspicions that there was something else because his family had expressed doubts that he was consuming unnatural, abnormal things. So, we did an X-ray and ultrasound of the abdomen," he added. The scans reveale...

The association of gays and lesbians in Ghana have congratulated president of the republic, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo for his "emphatic response" on the discrimination of homosexuals in Ghana. Nana Addo in an interview with Aljazeera made the point that although the pressure to legalize homosexuality is not that severe, Ghana is likely to legalize same-sex marriage in the future. Reacting to the president's statement, Ghana's LGBTQI association hinted of a peaceful march in from Obra Spot in Accra to the Flagstaff House to present a formal plea to him. "Consistent with our calm demeanor there will be a peaceful Movement Walk on Friday 15th December 2017 from Obra Spot to the Flagstaff house to thank the President Akufo Addo and his government and present the mission and vision of the LGBTQI Movement," excerpts of the statement reads. Ghana's conservative society has seen the gay community mostly silent and in hiding as cases o...

President Jacob Zuma with the minister of Police, Mr Fikile Mbalula with the newly appointed South African National Police Commissioner General Khehla John Sitole, following his appointment 22 November 2017. Image: GCIS. On Monday morning, Police Minister Fikile Mbalula presided over the ceremony to bestow the sword of command on a newly appointed national police commissioner General Khehla Sitole who vowed to serve the country with honour and courage. When Mbalula presented Sitole with the sword as a sign of his new power and authority – those in attendance cheered and ululated. “General Sitole, it is your responsibility as the national police commissioner to ensure the safety of the citizens and inhabitants of this republic…” Mbalula said. Stamping the authority of the state “in an afford to bring back respect” and “taking back so-called no-go-areas in a bid to make the country safer”, are some of the first things the newly appointed national police commissioner,...

Myanmar’s powerful army chief has told Pope Francis there is “no religious discrimination” in the country during talks at the start of the pontiff’s delicate visit to the majority-Buddhist nation that has been accused of “ethnic cleansing” against its Muslim Rohingya people. Min Aung Hlaing. Reuters Thousands of Catholics welcomed Pope Francis to the country’s capital, Naypyidaw, where he arrived for a three-day visit to Myanmar on Monday. The trip – fraught with sensitivity and trepidation over how he will deal with the plight of the Muslim Rohingya – could be the trickiest yet of his papacy. The army chief told the pope that “Myanmar has no religious discrimination at all. Likewise our military too ... performs for the peace and stability of the country,” according to a Facebook post published by the general’s office a few hours after the meeting.  There is also “no discrimination between ethnic groups in Myanmar”, he added. The Vatican said the m...

Image: GETTY. Zimbabwe's government has declared ousted President Robert Mugabe's birthday an annual public holiday to honour his contribution to the nation, the state-run Herald newspaper reports The decision to celebrate Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day on 21 February was gazetted on Friday - the day President Emmerson Mnangagwa took office, ending the 93-year-old Mr Mugbae's 37-year rule, it adds. Mr Mugabe's government had decided in August to declare his birthday a national holiday, following intense lobbying by the ruling Zanu-PF party's youth wing, the Herald reports. Mr Mugabe was forced out of office last week after pressure from the military and his Zanu-PF party. Acocordibng to Farirai Machivenyika/ The Herald: The 21st of February has been gazetted as Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day, effectively making former president Robert Mugabe’s birthday a public holiday. The notice is contained in Statutory Instrument 1...

CAIRO (AP) : Elders of a village in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula where militants killed 305 people in a mosque had been warned by Islamic State operatives to stop collaborating with security forces and to suspend rituals associated with Islam’s mystical Sufi movement, security officials and residents said. The latest warning came as recently as a week ago, telling villagers in Al-Rawdah not to hold Sufi rituals on Nov. 29-30 to commemorate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, according to residents and the officials who work for security and military intelligence agencies operating in Sinai. Local operatives of the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Sinai consider Sufis to be heretics who should be killed. Ahmed Saqr, an expert on the Sinai insurgency, said militants had publicly identified the mosque, which also serves as a Sufi center, as a target months ago. He wrote on Saturday in a Facebook post that the selection of the Al-Rawdah mosque as a target “raises questions about tho...

The new deal for the form first Zimbabwe’s family might just be too much for the tax payers to bear. Former president of Zimbabwe’s wife Grace Mugabe has pleaded with Zimbabwe’s new leaders to allow her to keep her farms, and for a $1-billion  university to be built and named after former president Robert Mugabe. Inside sources who revealed that the  former first lady has emerged as  a key player in negotiations held on Thursday and Friday. Grace listed several things among her requests, which  were that all the Mugabes’  properties, including more than 10 farms, be  protected and that all streets and structures named after her husband remain unchanged. However, the new deal also included Mugabe’s $10-million (about R140-million) pension payout,  inclusive of all previous benefits that the former leader enjoyed during his 37-year reign as president. After it was  was announced in August that the government was going to build a state...

The footy legend, pictured with Giannina, left, and Dalma, right, in 2008, has accused his daughters and ex-wife of stealing millions from him. Image: AFP/GETTY. DIEGO Maradona’s lawyer has called for his daughter to be JAILED amid a poisonous legal dispute which has ripped his family apart. The Argentine footy legend, 57, is suing his ex-wife, Claudia Villafane, and his two daughters, Gianinna and Dalma, alleging that they stole around £3.4million from him. Maradona, pictured with Giannina at the 2014 World Cup, has called for his daughter to be jailed during a fraud trial. Image: GETTY/CONTRIBUTOR. Maradona claims his former wife Claudia Villafane, pictured, stole millions from him. Image: GETTY/CONTRIBUTOR. The iconic World Cup winner - who played for clubs such as Boca Juniors, Barcelona and Napoli during his glittering career -   has accused his family of transferring the stolen money to a bank account in Uruguay   and also using the cash to bu...

Typically associated in international media with political instability, disease, poverty, corruption, dictatorships and a lack of human rights and democracy, African countries struggle to deconstruct the stereotypes. One of the few exceptions seems to be the Republic of Ghana . Ghana today - at least on the surface - is enjoying political stability, with a multiethnic population coming together in peaceful democratic elections. "The march of democracy in Africa is something that's going to be very difficult to reverse." Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo speaks with Al Jazeera's Jane Dutton on why his country is so different from its neighbours in this respect - and what work still remains to be done in Ghana and in the rest of the continent. In 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan country to gain independence from colonial rule. "We had our problems early," Akufo-Addo tells Al Jazeera. ...