MALIAN former president Moussa Traore and his wife Mariam were condemned to death on Tuesday after they were convicted of economic crimes. Traore’s brother-in-law and former head of customs Abraham Douah Cissoko was given the same sentence. The accused had been charged with “embezzling public funds, illicit enrichment and complicity in illicit enrichment.” Traore, who led Mali for 23 years until 1991, had been sentenced to death in 1992 in a separate trial for “crimes of violence” but President Alpha Oumar Konare commuted the sentence five years later to life imprisonment. Verdicts were delivered in the absence of defence lawyers, who walked out of the trial last month, calling the process a “travesty of justice.”
PM REAPPOINTED
PRESIDENT Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso has again reappointed Kadre Desire Ouedraogo as prime minister. Ouedraogo and his cabinet tendered in their resignations 8 January to give Compaore a chance to form a new government, following his re-election 15 November with 87% of the vote. Kadre Ouedraogo is a ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress MP in the north-central province of Sanmantenga. He was first appointed prime minister on 6 February, 1996 and reappointed on 9 June, 1997.
MENGISTU EVIDENCE READY
THE Ethiopian embassy in Harare has announced its government in Addis Ababa will present details of the genocide trial of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam to the International Court of Justice in the Hague for judgment. The former strong-man who ruled his country under “red terror” for 17 years until he was toppled in 1991 is implicated in crimes against humanity. Mengistu and 120 others were tried in absentia for crimes against humanity committed between 1974 and 1991. Mengistu, who fled to Zimbabwe in 1991, is reported to have so far cost the Zimbabwean government over Z$50-million in security and other expenses. Addis Ababa in 1994 requested Harare to surrender Mengistu, recently reported to have further sought asylum in North Korea.
N PROV OFFICIAL KILLED
NORTHERN Province’s deputy director of legal services in the provincial transport department was assassinated at a busy suburban intersection in Pietersburg on Monday. Jan Bilankulu was fatally wounded when two gunmen walked up to his vehicle and fired at least 10 shots at him from close range before fleeing in a getaway car. Police are puzzled about the motive for the attack as the attackers did not appear to be robbers or hijackers. Witnesses told police the two gunmen appeared to have followed Bilankulu to the intersection in their own vehicle.
POLL RERUN IN NIGERIAN STATE
ELECTORAL officials in Rivers state, south-eastern Nigeria, said on Tuesday they have ordered a partial rerun of state governorship polls after irregularities in reporting the results. Peter Odili, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, was initially reported to have won the state in the weekend election, defeating a rival from the All Peoples Party. However, officials of the Port Harcourt office of the Independent National Electoral Commission said on Tuesday that results from several areas were not on the proper forms and ordered a re-run for January 16 in those areas. Thirty-four governors were elected in Saturday’s elections, with voting deferred in one state, Bayelsa, because of unrest.
GAVIN RELLY DIES
GAVIN RELLY, former chairman of Anglo American, has died aged 72 after a short illness. Relly was chairman of Anglo American from 1983 to 1990, succeeding Harry Oppenheimer. Among his notable accomplishments was his decision in 1985 to lead a delegation of business leaders to Lusaka to meet with the ANC, in defiance of the wishes of President PW Botha.