African Briefs

Rwandan general testifies in SA
JOHANNESBURG – Even before an exiled Rwandan general could begin testifying yesterday about being shot in South Africa, a lawyer representing Rwanda’s government rose to try to prevent politics from being inserted into the attempted murder case being heard in South Africa.

General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa took the stand yesterday as a witness in the attempted murder case, making his first public appearance since he was shot and wounded in Johannesburg in 2010. Rwandan authorities have repeatedly denied involvement, and hired South African lawyer Gerhard van der Merwe to monitor proceedings.Nyamwasa, a former Rwandan military chief, has become a sharp critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame since coming to South Africa in 2010. Rwandans in exile have accused Kagame of using his agents to hunt down his external foes.Cattle rustlers battle kills 11ANTANANARIVO – Eleven bodies were discovered on Tuesday in the forests of southwestern Madagascar where security forces battled hundreds of armed cattle rustlers, the military said.’Civilians said they found 11 bodies. We are waiting for them to be identified to confirm if they are those of the murdered or missing military,’ Defence Minister Andre Lucien Rakotoarimasy told AFP.Six policemen had already been shot dead and five others reported missing after a shoot-out between police and zebu (humped ox) rustlers on 9 June.Theft of humped cattle – a prized breed in parts of southern Madagascar – has surged and grown more violent in recent years.Uganda to ban pro gay NGOsKAMPALA – Uganda said yesterday it was banning 38 non-governmental organisations it accuses of promoting homosexuality and recruiting children.Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, along with more than 30 other countries in Africa, and activists say few Africans are openly gay, fearing imprisonment, violence and losing their jobs.Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo told Reuters the organisations being targeted were receiving support from abroad for Uganda’s homosexuals and accused gays and lesbians of ‘recruiting’ young children in the country into homosexuality.’The NGOs are channels through which monies are channeled to (homosexuals) to recruit,’ the minister, a former Catholic priest, said.He did not name which organisations were on the list.