- Title: The political events that shaped Africa in the second half of 2019
- Date: 27th December 2019
- Summary: ALEXANDRA TOWNSHIP, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS PUTTING OUT FIRE IN BURNING BUILDING CONCRETE BOULDER IN MIDDLE OF ROAD TORCHED FOREIGN-OWNED BUSINESS WITH LOOTED GOODS OUTSIDE BROKEN WOODEN BOARDS AND GLASS ON PAVEMENT BROKEN SHOP WINDOW STORE WITH BROKEN, EMPTY SHELVES, DOORS, AND GLASS INSIDE RUBBER BULLET CASING (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-OWNER OF BUSINESS, BAYAN ALI-AHMED, SAYING: "You see, look here. Is burning all shop, you know. This one. Yeah I don't know what I'm saying, you know, but I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm scared too much. They have to say something, this government, you know for us." GAUTENG PREMIER, DAVID MAKHURA, WALKING THROUGH BUSINESS DISTRICT LOOKING AT TORCHED BUSINESSES FOREIGN BUSINESS OWNERS SPEAKING TO MAKHURA MAKHURA WALKING AND LOOKING AT LOOTED BUSINESSES (SOUNDBITE) (English) GAUTENG PREMIER, DAVID MAKHURA, SAYING: "We are having this, it's xenophobic sentiment underlying this, about foreigners having to leave. We are a democracy, we are a democratic society, we can't allow people to take the law into their own hands. There is no country that doesn't have foreign nationals." BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES READING (English): "POLICE BAN MDC BYO DEMO" "HIGH COURT BLOCKS DEMO" VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE OUTSIDE BULAWAYO MAGISTRATE COURT VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE AT A CHECK POINT PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING PAST AN OPEN RETAIL SHOP MAN WALKING PAST RIOT POLICE (SOUNDBITE) (Ndebele) BULAWAYO RESIDENT, FRANK MATHE, SAYING: "I came to town to get some money but there's no way of getting it because there's police everywhere. There's no food and I don't know what to do because the shops that we normally buy at are closed off by police, now I don't know what to do, we are poor here and life is very hard." YAOUNDE, CAMEROON (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERED IN HALL FOR NATIONAL DIALOGUE CLOSING CEREMONY SIGN SAYING (English/French): "MAJOR NATIONAL DIALOGUE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CAMEROON PRIME MINISTER, JOSEPH DION NGUTE, SAYING: "I want to tell you that we invited nearly everyone of them. They were invited and some of them didn't feel comfortable coming for reasons they know best, we wanted them to come and to take part in the discussions, this was a wonderful opportunity for them to come and air their views, they didn't come. But we know that a good number of other persons who are close to them came here and I've talked to some of them, they are quite happy with the way the dialogue was conducted, they are very happy with the open and frank nature of the discussions." BAMENDA, CAMEROON (FILE - OCTOBER 1, 2017) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS AT ROAD BLOCK WITH AMBAZONIAN FLAGS OF INDEPENDENCE IN BLUE AND WHITE (AUDIO OF GUNFIRE) RIOT POLICE SEEN THROUGH TEAR GAS SMOKE REMOVING BARRICADE BAMENDA, CAMEROON (FILE - DECEMBER 2016) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS RUNNING, FILMED FROM A BALCONY, AUDIO OF A SHOT PROTESTERS PICKING UP BRANCHES / INJURED PROTESTER BEING CARRIED
- Embargoed: 10th January 2020 11:31
- Keywords: Anglophone region Cameroon national dioalogue MDC protest march ban Paul Biya Xenophobia attacks in South Afriaca foreign businesses looted and destroyed Zimbabwe politics protest march seperatists movement
- Location: ALEXANDRA TOWNSHIP, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA / BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE / YAOUNDE AND BAMENDA, CAMEROON
- City: ALEXANDRA TOWNSHIP, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA / BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE / YAOUNDE AND BAMENDA, CAMEROON
- Country: Various
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001BBR4JTJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Foreign business owners were left reeling after their businesses were looted and burned overnight in the Alexandra township during the latest spate of xenophobic violence in South Africa.
At least 80 people were arrested in connection to the attacks.
Foreign-owned businesses were plundered, and cars and businesses set alight. The protests have since spread to surrounding areas such as Tembisa and Pretoria Central.
"You see, look here. Is burning all shop, you know. This one. Yeah I don't know what I'm saying, you know, but I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm scared too much. They have to say something, this government, you know for us," said business co-owner, Bayan Ali-Ahmed.
Gauteng premier David Makhura has labelled the attacks 'undemocratic' and called on South Africans to stop the violence.
"We are having this, it's xenophobic sentiment underlying this, about foreigners having to leave. We are a democracy, we are a democratic society, we can't allow people to take the law into their own hands. There is no country that doesn't have foreign nationals," he said while inspecting the damage in Alexandra and speaking to foreign business people who were affected.
Foreign nationals have been blamed by protesting South Africans for the high rates of unemployment and crime. Makhura stated that more police have been deployed to calm the situation.
In Zimbabwe second city Bulawayo, hundreds of police backed by soldiers and army helicopters were deployed, in a show of force that stopped the main opposition party from launching an anti-government protest march for the second time in four days.
The street march in Bulawayo was called by the Movement for Democratic Change's (MDC) as it looks to rally support nation-wide against President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government, which it accuses of repression and blames for the country's worst economic crisis in a decade.
Authorities had clamped down on a similar gathering in Harare on Friday, which the MDC called off after police there rounded up its followers and dispersed them with batons and water cannon and tear gas, prompting many shops and businesses to close.
Large contingents of police patrolled on foot and in vehicles, setting up checkpoints on roads leading into the city as they searched cars and people for weapons, and cordoning off the MDC offices and the magistrates court.
In January, Bulawayo was the site of massive looting and destruction of property as protests against a steep rise in the price of fuel turned violent, triggering an army crackdown that killed more than a dozen people.
Those deaths compromised a pledge by Mnangagwa to put an end to the repressive political climate that characterized much of his predecessor Robert Mugabe's 37 years in power.
The protest campaign, which the MDC intends to take to two other cities on Tuesday and Wednesday, is again casting a spotlight on that promise, a year after Mnangagwa was elected in a vote the party alleges was rigged.
Disgruntled residents told a Reuters witness that they want things to change - they are tired of living in poverty.
"I came to town to get some money, but there's no way of getting it because there's police everywhere. There's no food and I don't know what to do because the shops that we normally buy at are closed off by police, now I don't know what to do, we are poor here and life is very hard," Frank Mathe said.
In Cameroon, a national dialogue could have opened the door to an historic peace agreement, ending a fight between English-speaking separatist militias and the army that has cost nearly 2,000 lives, forced half a million people to flee and rule.
Instead, it was boycotted by separatists and moderate politicians.
"I want to tell you that we invited nearly everyone of them. They were invited and some of them didn't feel comfortable coming for reasons they know best, we wanted them to come and to take part in the discussions, this was a wonderful opportunity for them to come and air their views, they didn't come. But we know that a good number of other persons who are close to them came here and I've talked to some of them, they are quite happy with the way the dialogue was conducted, they are very happy with the open and frank nature of the discussions," said Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.
The insurgency emerged after a heavy-handed government crackdown on peaceful protests late in 2016 in the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions by lawyers and teachers who complained of being marginalised by the French-speaking majority.
The roots of their grievances go back a century to the League of Nations' decision to split the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors at the end of World War One.
For 10 years after the French- and English-speaking regions joined together in 1961, the country was a federation in which the Anglophone regions largely governed themselves.
President Paul Biya's centralization push since he came to power in 1982 quickly eroded any remaining Anglophone autonomy.
The 2016 protests soon turned violent. By 2017, newly formed armed groups were attacking army posts in the Anglophone regions. The army responded by burning down villages and shooting civilians.
Separatists entrenched in the mountainous west say they will only come to the table if the government releases all political prisoners, including 10 leaders who were sentenced in August to life in prison on terrorism charges, and withdraws the military from the North-west and South-west regions.
Critics said talks this week were not inclusive and did not involve any discussion about a return to federalism that many say is the solution to the conflict.
Biya, who is 86 years old, rarely speaks in public or meets with his government and spends months each year holidaying in Switzerland, has struggled to contain the problem. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
