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Intel failures fuelled South Africa riots: inquiry reveals

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2 years ago

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The deadly riots that rocked South Africa after ex-president Jacob Zuma was jailed last year exposed significant intelligence lapses by the police, said an inquiry report released on Monday.

ANC factional battles also fuelled the July 2021 violence, which overwhelmed the security forces, the report found. The unrest was the deadliest in South Africa’s democratic era.

The report into the handling of the riots by a government-appointed expert panel was made public by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday.

“There was a failure by the intelligence structures to anticipate and respond adequately to the violence,” it found.

The intelligence services “failed to predict the nature, scale and modus operandi” of the violence while the police had “insufficient capacity” to curb it, the report added.

The experts also said that the information they gathered suggested “that the internal differences within the governing party, the ANC, contributed to the unrest”.

The African National Congress is divided mainly between supporters of Ramaphosa and those of his predecessor Zuma, who was forced to resign over corruption in 2018.

The ANC had admitted that some of the people “inciting” the violence were their members, the report said, adding however that “it is unclear whether disciplinary action was taken against such members”.

In an address to his party meeting last month, Ramaphosa remarked that “divisions and factions in the ANC are becoming a threat to our democracy”.

Mobs overran dozens of shopping malls and warehouses, carting away flat-screen televisions, refrigerators, leather couches and cartons of fresh meat.

Some even smashed automatic teller machines and emptied them of cash.

“The police admitted that the large numbers were overwhelming,” it said.

– Riot organisers ‘largely faceless’ –

The unrest broke out after Zuma was jailed for contempt over his refusal to testify before a commission probing state corruption during his presidency.

The rioting and looting started in his home region, KwaZulu-Natal, before spreading to Johannesburg.

More than 350 people were killed and some 50 billion rand ($3.2 billion) was wiped off the economy.

The riots were largely organised by protesters on social media, the panel found, with the masterminds remaining “largely faceless”.

To date none of the “real instigators” of the violence have been arrested, something that is “a matter of concern”, the panel said.

Only eight people have appeared in court over the riots, according to the priority crimes unit of the police.

The methods used by protesters, including widespread and simultaneous looting and the torching of property, took the police by “surprise”, the report said.

Police failed to “adapt their tactics to the situation facing them, (they were) inadequately equipped and they ran out of crowd control equipment”, it added.

“There is no doubt that the police had insufficient capacity to stop the violence,” it said.

Days into the unrest, Ramaphosa deployed around 25,000 troops before order was restored and called the violence an attempted insurrection.

After the riots, he shook up his cabinet, scrapped the state security ministry and firmly placed intelligence services under the control of his office.

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Donors raise more than 2 billion euros for Sudan aid a year into war

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April 16, 2024

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PARIS/CAIRO, April 15 (Reuters) – Donors pledged more than 2 billion euros ($2.13 billion) for war-torn Sudan at a conference in Paris on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said, on the first anniversary of what aid workers describe as a neglected but devastating conflict.
Efforts to help millions of people driven to the verge of famine by the war have been held up by continued fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), restrictions imposed by the warring sides, and demands on donors from other global crises including in Gaza and Ukraine.
Conflict in Sudan is threatening to expand, with fighting heating up in and around al-Fashir, a besieged aid hub and the last city in the western Darfur region not taken over by the RSF. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge in the area.
“The world is busy with other countries,” Bashir Awad, a resident of Omdurman, part of the wider capital and a key battleground, told Reuters last week. “We had to help ourselves, share food with each other, and depend on God.”
In Paris, the EU pledged 350 million euros, while France and Germany, the co-sponsors, committed 110 million euros and 244 million euros respectively. The United States pledged $147 million and Britain $110 million.
Speaking at the end of the conference, which included Sudanese civilian actors, Macron emphasized the need to coordinate overlapping and so far unsuccessful international efforts to resolve the conflict and to stop foreign support for the warring parties.
“Unfortunately the amount that we mobilised today is still probably less than was mobilised by several powers since the start of the war to help one or the other side kill each other,” he said.
As regional powers compete for influence in Sudan, U.N. experts say allegations that the United Arab Emirates helped arm the RSF are credible, while sources say the army has received weapons from Iran. Both sides have rejected the reports.
The war, which broke out between the Sudanese army and the RSF as they vied for power ahead of a planned transition, has crippled infrastructure, displaced more than 8.5 million people, and cut many off from food supplies and basic services.
“We can manage together to avoid a terrible famine catastrophe, but only if we get active together now,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, adding that, in the worst-case scenario, 1 million people could die of hunger this year.
The United Nations is seeking $2.7 billion this year for aid inside Sudan, where 25 million people need assistance, an appeal that was just 6% funded before the Paris meeting. It is seeking another $1.4 billion for assistance in neighbouring countries that have housed hundreds of thousands of refugees.
The international aid effort faces obstacles to gaining access on the ground.
The army has said it would not allow aid into the wide swathes of the country controlled by its foes from the RSF. Aid agencies have accused the RSF of looting aid. Both sides have denied holding up relief.
“I hope the money raised today is translated into aid that reaches people in need,” said Abdullah Al Rabeeah, head of Saudi Arabia’s KSRelief.
On Friday, Sudan’s army-aligned foreign ministry protested that it had not been invited to the conference. “We must remind the organisers that the international guardianship system has been abolished for decades,” it said in a statement.

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SA users of Starlink will be cut off at the end of the month

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April 16, 2024

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Starlink users in South Africa are facing a major setback as the satellite internet service provider has issued a warning that their services will be terminated by the end of the month.

In an email sent to many South African users, Starlink stated that their internet access will cease on April 30 due to violation of its terms and conditions.

The email emphasized that using Starlink kits outside of designated areas, as indicated on the Starlink Availability Map, is against their terms. Consequently, users will only be able to access their Starlink account for updates after the termination.

Starlink, a company owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, operates a fleet of low earth orbit satellites that offer high-speed internet globally. Despite its potential to revolutionize connectivity, Starlink has been unable to obtain a license to operate in South Africa from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

Icasa’s requirements mandate that any applicant must have 30% ownership from historically disadvantaged groups to be considered for a license. However, many in South Africa resorted to creative methods to access Starlink services, including purchasing roaming packages from countries where Starlink is licensed.

However, Icasa clarified in a government gazette last November that using Starlink in this manner is illegal. Additionally, Starlink itself stated in the recent email to users that the ‘Mobile – Regional’ plans are meant for temporary travel and transit, not permanent use in a location. Continuous use of these plans outside the country where service was ordered will result in service restriction.

Starlink advised those interested in making its services available in their region to contact local authorities.

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Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso agree to create a joint force to fight worsening violence

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March 8, 2024

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BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A joint security force announced by the juntas ruling Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to fight the worsening extremist violence in their Sahel region countries faces a number of challenges that cast doubt on its effectiveness, analysts said Thursday.

Niger’s top military chief, Brig. Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou said in a statement after meeting with his counterparts Wednesday that the joint force would be “operational as soon as possible to meet the security challenges in our area.”

The announcement is the latest in a series of actions taken by the three countries to strike a more independent path away from regional and international allies since the region experienced a string of coups — the most recent in Niger in July last year.

They have already formed a security alliance after severing military ties with neighbors and European nations such as France and turning to Russia — already present in parts of the Sahel — for support.

Barmou did not give details about the operation of the force, which he referred to as an “operational concept that will enable us to achieve our defence and security objectives.”

Although the militaries had promised to end the insurgencies in their territories after deposing their respective elected governments, conflict analysts say the violence has instead worsened under their regimes. They all share borders in the conflict-hit Sahel region and their security forces fighting jihadi violence are overstretched.

The effectiveness of their security alliance would depend not just on their resources but on external support, said Bedr Issa, an independent analyst who researches the conflict in the Sahel.

The three regimes are also “very fragile,” James Barnett, a researcher specializing in West Africa at the U.S.-based Hudson Institute, said, raising doubts about their capacity to work together.

“They’ve come to power through coups, they are likely facing a high risk of coups themselves, so it is hard to build a stable security framework when the foundation of each individual regime is shaky,” said Barnett.

—-

Associated Press writer Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria contributed.

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