Salon.com > Jason Straziuso

Kenyan prime minister seeks to halt election tally

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:12:00 +0000

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The political coalition led by Kenya's prime minister said Thursday that the vote tallying process now under way to determine the winner of the country's presidential election "lacks integrity" and should be stopped, as it alleged that some vote results have been doctored.

The statement by the coalition of Raila Odinga — one of two top presidential candidates — said the counting process should be restarted using primary documents from polling stations.

Kenya on Monday held its first national election since its 2007 vote sparked tribe-one-tribe attacks that killed more than 1,000 people. Minor protests have cropped up since Monday's vote, but no massive rioting or ethnic violence has occurred. But as more time passes without a final result, tensions are rising, sparking fears that the dam now holding back potential protests could break.

Though Odinga's party said it continues to call for "calm, tolerance and peace," its call for a halt to the vote count and allegations of vote rigging could agitate its supporters. Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, Odinga's running mate, said the announcement "is not a call to mass action."

Uganda’s anti-gay bill delayed amid outcry

Wed, 11 May 2011 17:44:00 +0000

Uganda's parliament on Wednesday was forced to drop plans to debate a controversial bill that once proposed the death penalty for some gays and lesbians, but officials indicated lawmakers would debate it on Friday.

U.S. leaders and rights groups have denounced the bill in recent days in hopes parliament will reject it. Internet petitions have gathered more than 1.4 million signatures.

The bill was first proposed in 2009 but wasn't debated until last Friday. It had been scheduled to be debated before the full parliament on Wednesday, but a walkout by female legislators over an unrelated bill prevented parliament from discussing it.

Now parliament appears ready to hold an extraordinary session on Friday to debate the bill, which in its original form would impose the death penalty and life imprisonment in some cases.

The bill's author, David Bahati, has said a new version would not contain the death penalty, but no amended version has been released publicly. Bahati said Wednesday he expected the bill to be debated and passed on Friday.

Frank Mugisha, the director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a gay rights group, said he considered the lack of quorum a temporary reprieve.

Ugandan toll in World Cup bombings rises to 74

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:01:00 +0000

An al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group suspected in twin bombings in Uganda's capital that hit crowds watching the World Cup final endorsed the attacks Monday but stopped short of claiming responsibility, while the death toll rose to 74.

The blasts came two days after a commander with the Somali group, al-Shabab, called for militants to attack sites in Uganda and Burundi, two nations that contribute troops to the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.

The attacks on two soft targets filled with civilians also raise concerns about the capabilities and motives of al-Shabab, which the U.S. State Department has declared a terrorist organization. If confirmed that the group carried out the attacks, it would be the first time al-Shabab has struck outside Somalia.

Sheik Yusuf Sheik Issa, an al-Shabab commander, told The Associated Press early Monday that he was happy with the attacks in Uganda but refused to confirm or deny that al-Shabab was responsible.

"Uganda is one of our enemies. Whatever makes them cry, makes us happy. May Allah's anger be upon those who are against us," Sheik said.

Kampala's police chief, Kale Kaihura, said he believed al-Shabab could be responsible. One of the targets was an Ethiopian restaurant -- a nation despised by the al-Shabab militants.

Violence rises in Rwanda as election nears

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:30:00 +0000

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton presented Rwanda's leader with a global citizen award last fall and lauded him for freeing the minds of his people. Now as an election approaches, critics fear Paul Kagame's government is instead smashing dissent.

A former dissident general has been shot, an opposition Rwandan journalist killed and an American lawyer jailed in the run-up to the August presidential vote. A top opposition political party says some of its members have been beaten by police while in detention and that one is missing.

Rwanda's government insists it played no part in either the general being shot or the journalist being killed, and the country's top spokeswoman accused "frustrated" politicians of suggesting that a crackdown is under way.

But human rights groups say the government is ensuring that opposition parties are excluded from the political process.

"It has been extremely worrying for quite some time," said Carina Tertsakian, a researcher at Human Rights Watch who specializes in Rwanda. "Rwanda is a country where there is not much freedom of expression, but in the months leading up to the August elections we really have seen a further crackdown on any form of opposition, dissent or criticism," she said.

Somali arrested at airport with chemicals, syringe

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:29:00 +0000

A man tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have caused an explosion in a case bearing chillingly similarities to the terrorist plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The Somali man -- whose name has not yet been released -- was arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops before the Nov. 13 Daallo Airlines flight took off. It had been scheduled to travel from Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai. A Somali police spokesman, Abdulahi Hassan Barise, said the suspect is in Somali custody.

"We don't know whether he's linked with al-Qaida or other foreign organizations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him red-handed," said Barise.

A Nairobi-based diplomat said the incident in Somalia is similar to the attempted attack on the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day in that the Somali man had a syringe, a bag of powdered chemicals and liquid -- tools similar to those used in the Detroit attack. The diplomat spoke on condition he not be identified because he isn't authorized to release the information.