Month: May 2020

Botswana’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, says his government will allow farmers to keep small game as a way to encourage locals’ participation in agro-tourism. He added that it is paramount for them to have a stake in the industry.
 
Speaking in a televised address Saturday, Masisi said Botswana’s tourism sector needs a boost after the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
 
“In order to revive Botswana’s tourism sector, government shall accelerate initiatives aimed at stimulating local and international tourism by creating an enabling environment for increased investment in the tourism sector, in particular citizen participation,” he said.    
 
Masisi said, as one of the measures to boost tourism, his government will allow local farmers keep wildlife within their properties.    
   
“The agro-tourism guidelines are also being reviewed to facilitate citizens to make a decent living out of their fields (masimo) to complement agro-tourism and diversify its products. Game farming guidelines shall soon be issued to enable those Batswana who are interested to keep small game or wildlife in their fields if they meet set criteria,” Masisi said.    Botswana farmers will soon be able to diversify their activities to include keeping small game. (Mqondisi Dube/VOA)Local farmer Banks Ndebele has previously sought permission to keep small game in his property outside the capital Gaborone.
 
He said while it is a welcome initiative, the government must remove bottlenecks, which might impede the initiative’s implementation.
   
“I think it’s a welcome development. It has always been our belief that agriculture needs to be diversified. One only hopes that the government will remove bottlenecks and impediments that end up discouraging people from taking up the initiative,” Ndebele said.  
 
Tourism is a significant contributor to the southern African nation’s economy, employing nearly 100,000 people.
 
But the impact of COVID-19 has been devastating, with all bookings cancelled for the rest of the year, leaving many people jobless.
 
…

Somali officials say nine civilians were killed and 10 others were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion outside Mogadishu on Sunday. The blast from an improvised explosive device hit a bus transporting civilians from Mogadishu to the town of Wanlaweyn, 90 kilometers west of the capital. The Somali government says al-Shabab is responsible for the attack. “The federal government of Somalia condemns the barbaric act of terrorism committed against the Somali civilians,” read a statement issued by the Ministry of Information. Governor of Lower Shabelle region Ibrahim Aden Najah told VOA Somali that seven victims died on the spot while two others died in hospitals. He said there were a total of 22 people in the bus and only 3 people escaped unharmed. Al-Shabab has been known to plant IEDs in the area of the explosion known as Hawa Abdi, about 18 kilometers west of Mogadishu, to target the Somali military and African Union peacekeepers. These IEDs often miss their targets and kill civilians.  Al-Shabab has been using IEDs increasingly in its attacks in Somalia. Last week, 14 government soldiers were killed in two separate IED attacks in Middle Shabelle and Lower Shabelle regions. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for both attacks. The Director of the U.N. Mine Action Service Agnès Marcaillou told the U.N. Security Council earlier this month that there more than 160 IED attacks through the end of April in 2020. The U.N. has reported a drop in civilian casualties in Mogadishu this year, which was attributed to the current security plan and military operations in the neighboring Lower Shabelle region.    
…

Cameroon’s military says three of five men recently arrested by Togolese police and portrayed by Togolese media as notorious criminals who committed serious offenses against Togolese citizens are Cameroonian soldiers, while the other two are former convicts. The three military men stole weapons from the military headquarters in Yaoundé and went to Togo’s capital, Lomé, where they used the weapons to harass Togolese, according to Togolese police.  Cameroonian military spokesperson Atonfack Guemo says investigations by the military indicate that Ntanga Clement Didier Mogo, Oumarou Abdou Fadil and Ewoundjo Elle Serge Hubert, who were arrested in Lomé for robbery and harassment of civilians, are notorious, dangerous and dishonest members of the Cameroon military.  He says Cameroon has started disciplinary and administrative proceedings against the men as provided for by military regulations and that Togo should punish them as its law provides. He says Cameroon’s Defense Ministry denies responsibility for their crimes and atrocities because the men in question have broken off links with Cameroon’s military. Guemo said the other two men arrested in Lomé are civilians with criminal records and were wanted. He said the five arrested in Togo were helped by another military officer, Essimbi Francis, who has been arrested for his role in other crimes and is being held in Yaoundé. Togo media reported May 20 that the five Cameroonians had been arrested in Lomé after using weapons to rob a Togolese businessman of his car and money.  Cameroonian media reported that Yendoube Douti, head of the Lomé research and criminal investigation unit of the Togolese police, said the five men confessed they were using weapons they obtained from the Cameroon defense headquarters in Yaoundé.  He says investigations carried out by Togolese police indicate that the brain behind the group of robbers is Ntanga Clement Didier Mogo, known as Tony, a member of the Cameroon military. He says Tony convinced his colleague, Oumarou Abo Fadil, who was in charge of weapons at Cameroon’s defense headquarters in Yaoundé, to steal automatic pistols and go with him to Togo, where they could make a better living stealing and selling vehicles. Mogo, speaking on the state broadcaster Television Togolese said he and his group traveled to Lomé to buy cars for a senior military official he refused to name, but that they were tempted to steal when their stay was extended by COVID-19 travel restrictions. He says that he did not plan to steal when he left Yaoundé for Lomé but that he asked his colleagues who control weapons at the defense headquarters to accompany him with pistols for security against possible attacks by highway robbers. He says after they got to Lomé, both Cameroon and Togo sealed their borders and they could not return. Mogo acknowledged that Togolese police arrested them after they stole money and a car from a rich Togolese businessman and were trying to escape. He said it was the only act of robbery they committed. Cameroon’s military says whenever they return after facing justice in Togo, they will  answer charges for the crimes committed in Cameroon and for damaging Cameroon’s  image in a foreign country and that for now, they are no longer members of the Cameroonian military.            
…