The Southern African Liaison Office

The Southern African Liaison Office

International liaison, dialogue and research.

Africa News Briefs 

Africa – 18 Oct 2014

SALO

Deal for the return of captured Nigerian girls
Obasanjo’s son shot by Boko Haram, 24 soldiers dead | 09 September 2014
Nigeria’s military says it has agreed a truce with Islamist militant group Boko Haram – and says the schoolgirls the group has abducted will be released.
Boko Haram sparked global outrage six months ago by abducting more than 200 schoolgirls. Bulawayo24.com

South Africa has hope unlike rest of Africa
SOUTH Africa, unlike other African countries, has focused intensely on improving the life of its citizens, President Jacob Zuma said on Sunday.
“What is it that causes protests and demonstrations in South Africa when the rest of Africa is not doing it? Once the countries were free, it was each one for themselves. There were no programs to deal with poor people,” said Zuma in Pretoria. NewZimbabwe.com

Call to free Madagascar’s ex-president
International institutions such as the United Nations, Amnesty International and the International Committee of the Red Cross should put pressure on the government in Madagascar to release former president Marc Ravalomanana from forced house arrest, says his spokesperson.
South African human rights lawyer Brian Currin says Ravalomanana’s family is worried about the health of the 64-year-old Ravalomanana, who returned to his home country earlier this week after five years in exile in South Africa. Mail and Guardian.

Renamo rejects election results
Mozambique’s main opposition party Renamo claimed victory in the election, rejecting official tallies that show the Frelimo party on path for victory.
“We are not accepting the results of these elections,” party spokesperson Antonio Muchanga said, in a move that raises the spectre of post-election violence.
“We can categorically say Renamo won these elections,” Muchanga told Agence France-Presse. With nearly a quarter of the polling stations reporting, Frelimo’s candidate, former defence minister Filipe Nyusi, looked set to become the country’s new president, having garnered 63% of the vote. Mail and Guardian.