African Briefs … 65 arrested in Tanzania over ritual killings

DAR ES SALAAM — Tanzanian police have arrested 65 ‘witch doctors’, or traditional healers, in connection with the ritual killing of at least 10 children.

The children were murdered in January, and many had body parts removed. There is a belief among some people in Tanzania, and neighbouring countries, that using human body parts in rituals can bring wealth and good luck. The inspector general of police, Simon Sirro, has ordered that every traditional healer obtains a licence. “We have also requested religious leaders and politicians to help us,” he added. Ten children were murdered in the south-western Njombe region, and an unknown number in the northern Simuyu region. One of the children, Goodluck Mfugale, was just five years old when he was killed.

Former foes to boost

S/Sudan peace deal

ADDIS ABABA — The leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea met South Sudan president Salva Kiir on Monday, seeking to breathe new life into a flagging peace agreement signed six months ago between his government and rebels. South Sudan’s influential Catholic Church last month warned that the deal agreed in September to quell the country’s war was falling apart, and all sides were gearing for fresh fighting. “One of the first issues they discussed was how to bolster the ongoing peace process,” South Sudan’s foreign minister Nhial Deng Nhial told journalists after Kiir met Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki in the Ethiopian capital. Among other things, the leaders discussed bringing on board groups who rejected the deal inked in Addis Ababa, Nhial said.

Sierleaf’s son charged

with economic crimes

MONROVIA — The son of Liberia’s former president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has been charged with economic sabotage following investigations into the unauthorised printing and importation into Liberia of tens of millions of dollars. Charles Sirleaf was deputy governor of the central bank at the time. The former governor of the bank, Milton Weeks, has been charged with the same crimes. They have not commented on the charges. The current president, George Weah, has also been criticised after two investigations found there was a lack of accountability for US$25 million (N$350 million) imported into Liberia last year on his orders.

CAR peace deal in trouble

BANGUI — A key peace deal to resolve the conflict in the Central African Republic is at risk of collapsing less than a month after it was agreed, news agency AFP reports. Three militia groups which were among the 14 armed groups that signed the Khartoum Agreement with president Faustin-Archange Touadera, disagreed with the make-up of the new government announced on Sunday. The Democratic Front of the Central African People (FPDC) said it had “resolved purely and simply to withdraw from the peace process”, adding that the government was “far from being inclusive”. Another large militia, the Patriotic Movement for Central Africa (MPC), citing the same reason, said it considered the accord was “void”.

– Nampa-AFP-BBC News

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