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The ASEA Daily News & Resources

Africa Southeast Area Monday 22 June 2015

The Daily News is now archived at U:Public

Africa Southeast Area Websites

The Church has: 37 General Authority Facebook Pages & 27 Church Organizations Pages

Africa Southeast Area (ASEA)

Countries Mormon Newsroom Site. Link from these sites to Facebook!

Mormon Newsroom Facebook sites.

Church HQ Mormon Newsroom Mormon Newsroom Facebook page

Angola Angola Mormon Newsroom Angola Mormon Newsroom Facebook

Botswana none Botswana Mormon Newsroom Facebook

DR Congo DR Congo Mormon Newsroom DR Congo Mormon Newsroom Facebook

Indian Ocean Indian Ocean Newsroom Indian Ocean Mormon Newsroom Facebook

Kenya Kenya Mormon Newsroom Kenya Mormon Newsroom Facebook

Madagascar Indian Ocean Newsroom Madagascar Mormon Newsroom Facebook

Malawi None Malawi Mormon Newsroom Facebook

Mozambique None Mozambique Mormon Newsroom Facebook

Namibia None Namibia Mormon Newsroom Facebook

South Africa South Africa Mormon Newsroom South Africa Facebook page

Uganda Uganda Mormon Newsroom Uganda Facebook page

Zambia none Zambia Mormon Newsroom

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Mormon Newsroom Zimbabwe Facebook page

Totals for ASEA 7 Country Mormon Newsrooms! 13 Country Newsroom Facebook pages!

ASEA YouTube ASEA (Africa Southeast Area) Public Affairs YouTube Channel

AFRICASE Africa Southeast Area Facebook page We are in great need of “Faith Promoting” stories. Submit at this link:

Helping Hands Mormon Helping Hands - Africa Southeast Facebook page

Public Affairs All Public Affairs individuals are able to access the Public Affairs Network (Secure Site) at this link: Public Affairs Network

Online Resources

Use of Online Resources in Church Callings When carefully used, the Internet can help

coordinate the work of the Church, strengthen faith, and minister to the needs of others. The Internet can also help with missionary work as people connect with friends and family and share Church content. However, electronic communication should not replace face-to-face contact.

Emergency Preparedness: Emergency Preparedness and Response

Africa Southeast Area (ASEA)

Calendar

Monday 29 June 2015 Burundi Parliamentary Elections moved from 26 May Postponed from 5 June 2015

July 2015 Central African Republic Presidential and Parliamentary elections

Thursday 9 July 2015 South Sudanese General Election

Thursday 16 July 2015 Burundi Presidential Election

Saturday 18 July 2015 South Africa, Nelson Mandela Day

Sunday 9 August 2015 South African, National Women’s Day

Saturday 15 August 2015 ASEA Mormon Helping Hands handover/culmination of projects

18 October 2015 Presidential and Parliamentary elections

25 October 2015 DR Congo Provincial elections

25 October 2015 Tanzania Parliamentary and Presidential elections

Tuesday 16 December 2015 South Africa, Day of Reconciliation

October 2015 Tanzanian General Elections

27 November 2015 DR Congo Presidential Election

2016 (first half) Niger Parliamentary and Presidential elections.

Keyword News Topics below in Tan

Country Specific News Topics in Light Blue

Specially Selected items of interest from www.LDS.org

Have you seen? President Uchtdorf’s talk on Grace? Path www.lds.org Front page

(or click on screenshots below to hyperlink to page)

Church Miscellaneous

(Articles of Interest to Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

ASEA (Africa Southeast Area) Has produced, with local families,

the first in a series of videos celebrating

100 Years of Family Home Evening.

This is the First!

Watch it, Like it and Share it!

Advocates kick-off Freedmen’s Bureau digital indexing project (I have felt great joy in indexing records…this is a wonderful project.-rb) MORROW — Mere days after a gunman claimed nine lives at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church — an historically black church in Charleston, S.C., built out of the ambition of the abolitionist movement — a new project is afoot. The Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society joins forces with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Freedmen Bureau's Project. Officials kicked off a national endeavor to digitally index the names of newly-freed slaves and Civil War refugees catalogued in the National Archives. It is called the Freedmen’s Bureau Project. Members of the Metro Atlanta Chapter of Afro-American Historical and Genealogy Society Inc. met Friday to commemorate the 150th Juneteenth Anniversary with the launch of the digital indexing campaign. Juneteenth celebrates the nation’s African-American Emancipation Day, June 19, 1865. Mormons head up effort to make available records of 4 million former black slaves (another great article-rb)

BYU Museum of Art’s new ‘Mormon Panorama’ shows an unsung hero of Mormon folk art “History will preserve much, but art alone can make the narrative of the suffering of the saints comprehensible for posterity.”

Those words, from Latter-day Saint artist C.C.E. Christensen (1831-1912), adorn a wall at a new Brigham Young University Museum of Art exhibit. In today’s information age, that statement carries as much weight as when it was written. The MOA’s new exhibit, “Moving

Pictures: C.C.A. Christensen’s Mormon Panorama,” showcases a unique set of American folk paintings that occasionally show up in various LDS literature. Collectively, the works carry far more significance. Behind it all is the story of a man who reconciled his two passions — the church and art — after they had long been separate. Mormon Helping Hands lift spirits in Texas Texas residents affected by severe Memorial Day weather received aid and assistance from hundreds of Mormon Helping Hands volunteers on Saturday, May 30. Just days before, central Texas was hit with thunderstorms and tornados, leaving more than 1,000 homes flooded, several people dead and many missing. Local Church leaders reached out to disaster relief organizations and called their congregations to action. The result: 750 members from the five stakes in the Austin-metro area joined forces with the American Red Cross of Texas, Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster of Central Texas, and Austin Disaster Relief Network to help the cause. “The LDS volunteers have been nothing short of amazing,” Daniel Geraci, executive director of the ADRN said. “They worked quickly to finish mucking out severely damaged homes and then they went on to help clear flood debris and damaged property in a low-income government housing project.”

Interesting Stuff about Africa & ASEA area Found in the news stream.

Baby elephant who almost died after he was caught in a poacher’s snare in Kenya is saved after vets pack his severely injured foot in CLAY A baby elephant who almost died when he stepped on a poacher's snare, severing his foot to the bone, has been saved by vets. Vets used natural green clay to pack the one-year-old calf's foot to assist healing and prevent further infection after he was by found by a mobile veterinary unit in Taita-Taveta County, Kenya in February. Just three weeks after being treated, the elephant's condition had deteriorated and the team flew him more than 200 miles to a nursery in Nairobi National Park.

Human Rights and Religious Freedom Found in the news stream.

Medical News Found in the news stream.

North Korea Miracle Drug: Kim Jong-Un Claims Drug Cures AIDS, Ebola, And Cancer (I am including this due to articles of this nature trending across multiple news sources.-rb)

Social Media Found in the news stream.

Facebook the Vote – The social network at the center of American digital life could become the epicenter of the presidential race. Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina have marked the route to the White House for more than a generation. But in 2016, the path to the presidency will run through new territory—your Facebook news feed. As the race begins in earnest, the world’s largest social network is emerging as the single most important tool of the digital campaign, with contenders as different and disparate as Hillary Clinton

and Ben Carson, Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders, all investing in the platform already. Thanks to powerful new features unveiled since the 2012 campaign, Facebook now offers a far more customized and sophisticated splicing of the American electorate. And, for the first time in presidential politics, it can serve up video to those thinly targeted sets of people. That unprecedented combination is inching campaigns closer to the Holy Grail of political advertising: the emotional impact of television delivered at an almost atomized, individual level. It makes the old talk of micro-targeting soccer moms and NASCAR dads sound quaint. Utah mom creates LDS mission prep app OREM— It isn’t always easy to get a teenager to prepare for a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but Julianne Muhlestein was determined to help prepare her oldest son, BJ. Muhlestein tried to think of ways to help prepare him the way she would like, but when BJ came to her for help in completing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, she realized she needed to come up with something that harnessed social interaction and positive peer pressure. That’s when she got the idea to create the LDS Mission Prep Xtreme app.

Visa Issues Found in the news stream.

Misc. Found in the news stream.

A contentious quest for Kevazingo, Gabon's sacred tree "Nobody should sell this wood. It protects the forest. But those who sell it will be hunted by the spirits of the forest," warns Daniel Messa-Abaga, a guardian of Gabon's Kevazingo trees. The elderly man, born around 1930, sits on his porch at Bendoussang in the north of the densely forested equatorial country, troubled when fellow villagers sell the hardwood—sometimes from trees five centuries old—to sawmills and collectors. Better known in the West as Bubinga, Kevazingo is much sought after in Gabon and Cameroon, but unlike the equally prized and abundant Okoume, it is rare and trees take many years to mature. They can grow more than 40 metres (130 feet) tall, with a trunk diameter the size of a man. Timber from Kevazingo trees is highly valued in Asia. The Japanese and Chinese use it to make chic tables and chairs, as well as wooden bells, panels and specialty guitars, which count among export products. The wood is hard, heavy and dense. It ranges in colour from a pinkish red through ruddy brown with streaks of black or purple. One connoisseur told AFP that "Keva" is especially appreciated for the lovely designs in the grain. Compared with other tropical hardwoods, Kevazingo comes at an astronomical price. Cut into a single piece with sufficient girth, a single cubic metre (35 cubic feet) can fetch between one and two million CFA francs (1,500-3,000 euros, $1,700-3,400) in the capital Libreville, a source close to the trade says. But on average, a cubic metre sells for 300 to 600 euros. "The leading buyers here in Bitam are Chinese. 'Keva' sells according to its diameter. The price can reach 200,000 CFA francs (300 euros) here if the diameter is large," says Jimmy Amnvene Nkounou, owner of a company in the town named "Respect du bois" (Respect For Wood). One in Every 122 People in the World Is Displaced by Violence A staggering 59.5 million people were forcibly displaced around the world in 2014, according to the latest report from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, setting a record. That’s 8.3 million more than last year, for the largest one-year jump since the UNHCR began recording. This means that one out of every 122 people in the world is displaced. If that population were a country, would be the 24th-largest in the world. That number includes refugees, internally displaced people, and those seeking asylum. Bride Price KING RECEIVES 50 CATTLE LUDZIDZINI – Yet another South Africa businessman has established a relationship with the Swazi royalty. South Africa construction industry magnate Philani Cebekhulu of KwaZulu-Natal yesterday paid 50 cattle as bride price for Annette Dlamini at Ludzidzini Royal Residence yesterday to Their Majesties. Dlamini is the daughter of Prince Fanyana and Inkhosikati La Steenkamp of Zombodze. The family of Philani Cebekhulu, founder of Cebekhulu Holdings, showered His Majesty the King and Indlovukazi with expensive gifts during the ceremony where dancing was the order of the day. The family paid 50 cattle as bride price, 10 of which were lugege and 10 others as insulamnyembeti. The event was attended by throngs of Swazis and South Africa celebrities including Sophie Ndaba who played Queen Moroka on Generations and South Africa based Swazi socialite Sakhile Msibi known as ‘Oros.’ ….

Poaching, Animal Conservation and related articles Ton of ivory crushed in Times Square to highlight poaching (Trending many articles-rb) "Crushing ivory in Times Square — literally at the crossroads of the world — says in the clearest of terms that the U.S. is serious about closing its illegal ivory markets and stopping the demand," said John Calvelli, the society's executive vice president for public affairs. U.S. and state government officials, conservationists, animal-welfare advocates and tourists

gathered to watch as hundreds of ivory trinkets were turned into a powder that fed into a trough, waiting to be trucked away. The event was organized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New York state agencies and the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs New York City's zoos.

Saving Ithuba: How a baby rhino 'suffering post-traumatic stress disorder' is being treated in secret after he saw his mother shot dead by poachers Ithuba was rescued eight days after his mother was killed in front of him The six-and-a-half month calf was injured, sick and severely traumatised But a team has been working around the clock to ensure he recovers - and can one day be released back into the wild so he can continue the species Ithuba is one of many calves being orphaned as poaching rates increase

Harry retires from army, heading to SA to fight poaching London - Prince Harry ended his career with the British army on Friday after 10 years' service that saw him fight on the front line twice in Afghanistan. The 30-year-old will spend the next three months working on wildlife conservation projects in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania, where he will join a team of rangers fighting against poachers of elephants and rhino. Three DR Congo guards shot dead while protecting elephants Two Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers and a wildlife conservation guard have been shot dead in Garamba National Park while attempting to protect elephants from

poachers, the park's management said Friday. The three men died Thursday "when they were ambushed by a group of heavily-armed poachers, believed to be South Sudanese," the African Parks NGO said in a statement. Catching Elephant Poaching with Crime Scene DNA Saving Gorillas In A War Zone (an excellent article-rb) 12 animals that have neared extinction

Multiple African Countries in articles

Analysis: What Happened To The Third-Term Debate In Africa? It was whispered in the corridors of the Sandton Convention Centre, muttered under his breath by a former president and referred to (jokingly?) by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe. However, at last week’s African Union Summit, the third-term bids by Africa’s presidents — one of the major threats to stability on the continent — remained the elephant in the room. The 25th A.U. Summit was overshadowed by the debacle around Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and the failure of South Africa to carry out an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court. Al-Bashir — who incidentally has been in power for 26 years — flew back to his country on June 15. In the run-up to the summit, observers and analysts said a strong statement by A.U. leaders about limiting presidential terms in Africa could go a long way to avert political instability on the continent. In countries like Burundi, the DRC, the Republic of Congo and Rwanda, the uncertainty around term limits and the determination by opposition and civil society to fight against third terms, have become cause for concern. Al-Bashir near-miss rattles dictators’ club WHEN President Robert Mugabe left for the AU summit a few days ago, big on his agenda was to sell his grandiose plan for the beneficiation of local resources as contained in Agenda 2063, the theme of the summit. But by the end of the meeting, the 91-year-old had taken the lead role in defending Omar al-Bashir as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and South African courts cornered the Sudanese strong man. As AU chairman, Mugabe could have felt a need to defend an earlier anti-ICC resolution by the AU. Yet analysts said for Mugabe and dozens of African leaders who rallied behind al-Bashir, it was not so much about being sympathetic to the predicament of the embattled Sudanese leader. “It was not about defending al-Bashir. It was about their own fears because a good number of those African leaders are themselves good candidates for the ICC. They have committed and continue to commit atrocities in their home countries and they know if al-Bashir goes then they will go too,” said Gabriel Shumba, a human rights advocate, now heading the Pretoria-based Zimbabwe Exiles Forum. Shumba fled Zimbabwe in 2003 after being tortured by state agents for representing opposition official Job Sikhala. He said al-Bashir’s experience in South Africa had unnerved many African leaders because of the skeletons in their own cupboards, who now want to hide behind the insubstantial excuse that the international tribunal was a tool of extending western hegemony on Africa. ….

Chad's outright ban on Islamic veil after attacks divides Muslims; second African nation to do so CHAD’S decision to ban women from wearing the Islamic veil, which came two days after bloody suicide bombings hit the capital, has divided Muslims but the government defends it as part of an anti-terror strategy. “Wearing the burqa must stop immediately from today,” Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet told religious leaders on Wednesday, after the twin bombings left 33 people dead and more than 100 others injured in the capital N’Djamena. ….Many Muslim women in N’Djamena wear the full-face veil with just the eyes exposed known as the niqab, which is usually black. But Deubet outlawed any clothing “where you can only see the eyes”. Chad becomes the second country in Africa to ban the burqa and niqab, after Congo-Brazzaville in May. The Congolese authorities argued the garments could be used as a disguise to commit terrorist acts; the country has seen an influx of Muslims as people affected by the war in the neighbouring Central African Republic seek refuge in Congo. Only Congo-Brazzaville, France - and now, Chad - have banned the veil outright; but Tunisia was the first country in Africa to ban the hijab (headscarf) in 1981. Women with headscarves were banned in schools and government buildings, as the government pursued a strongly secular path. But in 2011 with the Tunisian revolution, the ban was lifted. …. Cuban Five thank SA for support in securing their release from US prison (Trending across several countries news outlets-rb) The so-called Cuban Five have arrived in South Africa on a 13-day visit to thank the nation for campaigning for their release from a US jail where they were held for up to 16 years for spying among other offences. Also known as the Miami Five‚ the five Cuban intelligence officers - Gerardo Hernandez‚ Ramón Labañino‚ Fernando Gonzalez‚ Antonio Guerrero and René Gonzalez - were arrested in September 1998 and later convicted in Miami of conspiracy to commit espionage‚ conspiracy to commit murder‚ acting as an agent of a foreign government‚ and other illegal activities in the US. One was released in October 2011 and another in February 2014. At the end of 2014‚ the US swapped the remaining three members for an American intelligence officer held by Cuba. Africa must set up own ICC to try Europeans, says Mugabe Cape Town – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who is also the African Union (AU) chair, says Africa must establish its own International Criminal Court (ICC) which would be mandated to prosecute Western leaders who have committed crimes on the continent. According to the state-owned Chronicle newspaper, Mugabe said it was high time Africa set up a criminal court which would seek justice for "serious" war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the West, particularity during the colonial era. "They committed crimes, colonial crimes galore – the slaughter of our people and all that imprisonment... I have a case, why was I imprisoned for 11 years? We forgave them, but perhaps we’ve not done ourselves justice... You set up the ICC, we set our ICC to try Europeans, to try Mr [George] Bush and Mr [Tony] Blair," Mugabe was quoted as saying. Mugabe said the International Criminal Court was a court for Western countries, dispensing Western injustice on Africans. Africa Focus: Sub-Saharan Africa records 4.5 mln newly displaced persons in 2014: UNHCR NAIROBI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Sub-Saharan Africa had 3.7 million refugees, and 11.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), 4. 5 million of whom were newly displaced in 2014, the UN refugee agency said. According to the 2014 report from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) received Friday, the refugees were primarily from Somalia (753,000), Sudan (627,000), South Sudan (615,300), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (487,800), the Central African Republic (410,400), and Eritrea (239,600). The figures, collected by the UN agency for its latest Global Trends: World at War, show 17 percent overall increase in the number of refugees excludes Nigeria, while Ethiopia replaced Kenya as the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa and the 5th largest worldwide.

Angola

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 64% / 26% Population: 22,116,360

Penetration of population w/ internet 19.4% Labor Force: 9,298,000

GDP per capita USD$ 8,100 Life Expectancy: 52

Unemployment / year est. 26% / 2014 Church Members: 1,436

Population below poverty line: 40.5% Congregations: 8

Angola arrests 13 dissident youths, including rapper Luanda: Angolan police have arrested at least 13 young opposition activists, including rapper Luaty Beirao, who have campaigned against President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, the interior ministry said Sunday. Activist groups, among them the Angolan Revolutionary Movement, claimed on social media platforms that as many as 20 people had been arrested when police raided a youth meeting in the heart of the capital Luanda on Saturday. The interior ministry said its criminal investigation unit had arrested "13 Angolan citizens who were caught red-handed as they prepared to carry out acts aimed at disrupting public order and security in the country". The Angolan police, which rarely issues statements on such arrests, could not be reached for further comment. Among the detainees were rapper Beirao, a key figure of the Angolan opposition movement, and Manuel Nito Alves, who was jailed for two months in 2013 for printing anti-Dos Santos T-shirts.

Since March 2011, the youth movement has been calling for protests aimed at bringing down the president, who has ruled Angola for 35 years. The activists also want better living conditions, in a country where demonstrations are banned and systematically repressed by police. After Nigeria, Angola is Africa`s second-biggest oil producer. South Korea and China overtake Portugal as Angola’s main suppliers of imports Angola denies it asked China for debt repayment freeze National Bank of Angola issues 50 and 100 kwanza coins

Botswana

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 164% / 26% Population: 2,115,710

Penetration of population w/ internet 13.2% Labor Force: 1,017,000

GDP per capita USD$ 16,000/2014 Life Expectancy: 47

Unemployment / year est. 17.8% / 2009 Church Members: 3,104

Population below poverty line: 30.3% Congregations: 12

Burundi

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 25% / 2% Population: 11,010,900

Penetration of population w/ internet 1.4% Labor Force: 4,806,000

GDP per capita USD$ 900 Life Expectancy: 54

Unemployment / year est. 35% / 2009 Church Members: 526

Population below poverty line: 68% Congregations: 3

Local leader of Burundi's ruling party killed A local leader of Burundi’s ruling party was killed Thursday amid high tensions over the upcoming presidential election, officials said. Local security officials said the victim was Leonidas Ndikumagenge, who was the ruling party's chairman in Matana, southwest Burundi. At least six attackers wore military uniform as camouflage and opened fire on him while he was sitting a bar. Grenade attacks injure 11 police officers in Burundi capital BUJUMBURA( BURUNDI): Eleven Burundian police officers were wounded, one of them seriously, in a string of overnight grenade attacks in the capital of the crisis-hit central African nation, security sources said today. "Last night, several police posts as well as police vehicles were attacked with grenades. Eleven police officers were wounded, one of them seriously, and police responded with sustained gunfire," a senior police official told AFP, blaming demonstrators opposed to President .. Burundi: Government prevents refugees from fleeing as interior minister shuts down border police Burundi's government has closed off a number of exit points at the borders with Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The interior minister has also closed the office of the Air and Border Police (PAFE). A source within the country's government confirmed that minister Edouard Nduwimana had ordered the closure of the PAFE's offices on 19 June. The government said it had closed the PAFE because the material used to prepare travel documents was "used up". "At first, they said it was a technical problem, but now we know that the minister went there himself to order the closure," the source said. According to local sources, people who had been waiting to pick up travel documents were forced to leave the building. Detained Rwandan journalist in Burundi freed BUJUMBURA, Burundi – A Rwandan journalist arrested and charged with "spying" in neighbouring Burundi earlier this month has been released and has returned home, Kigali's media commission said Friday. Etienne Besabesa Mivumbi was arrested last week carrying his voice recorder and camera in Burundi's northeastern Giteranyi district, as Bujumbura clamped down on the media it accuses of organizing anti-government protests. ‘Tradition of impunity’ threatens Burundi’s future GENEVA (19 June 2015) – The calendar for democratic elections in Burundi can only be determined by successfully establishing conditions for people to freely express their choice, said United Nations expert on transitional justice Pablo de Greiff. In an open statement* published today, he called for the fullest attention of the international community to the current situation in Burundi. UN assigns new Burundi crisis mediator Burundi Foreign Minister Alain Aime Nyamitwe announced Saturday that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon assigned Senegalese politician Abdoulaye Bathily as a new mediator for the Burundi crisis. Bathily, the U.N.’s special envoy for central Africa, replaces Said Djinnit, who recently mediated talks between the government and opponents of President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial plan to seek a third term in office. Djinnit was accused by the opposition and civil society of being biased in favor of the president. UN rights chief alarmed by Burundi militia violence Seventy killed, hundreds injured in Burundi unrest: rights group Blatant rights failures in Burundi make upcoming elections ‘impossible,’ UN expert warns 19 June 2015 – Decrying Burundi’s “blatant failures” to respect freedom of expression and assembly and the fact that unresolved issues from the past are ensnaring the process for the upcoming elections, a United Nations rights expert today issued a strong call for greater global efforts to ensure independent monitoring and reporting and for all Burundian parties to safeguard fair elections and keep protests peaceful.

“In Burundi, the neglected violent past has become a major obstacle for the country’s future,” Pablo de Greiff, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, said today while presenting his latest open statement to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. He specifically highlighted the lack of transparency in political parties, the “instrumentalization” of, or outright disregard for the judiciary, the ignorance for the rights of citizens, and the increased manipulation of ethnicity in the country. Of great concern, Mr. de Greiff said, were the authorities’ “blatant failures to respect freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.” Warning that the governing party and its youth militia use violence to limit freedom of speech and hate speech to obtain certain electoral outcome, the independent expert stressed the utmost importance to disarm those youth militias.

Cameroon

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 71% / -% Population: 23,248,261

Penetration of population w/ internet Labor Force: 9,105,000

GDP per capita USD$ 3,000 Life Expectancy: 55

Unemployment / year est. 30% / 2001 Church Members: 1,498

Population below poverty line: 48% / 2000 Congregations: 7

Cameroon detains 84 kids after raiding Islamic schools DAKAR: Cameroonian authorities have been holding 84 children — some as young as 5 years old — for months without charge after officials accused their teachers at Qur'anic schools of running terrorist training camps, Amnesty International said Friday. The international human rights organization called on Cameroon to release the children to their parents immediately, saying nearly all of them are too young to face criminal charges. The raids in the country's far north are part of the fight against militants from the Nigeria-based group Boko Haram. Cameroon health workers strike over dilapidated hospitals Hospital workers in Cameroon have gone on strike in protest at 'unbearable' working conditions. Their demands include state-of-the art medical equipment, more drugs to treat patients and action against corruption.

Central African Republic (CAR)

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 33% / 1% Population: 4,851,884

Penetration of population w/ internet 3.4% Labor Force: 2,217,000

GDP per capita USD$ 600 Life Expectancy: 50

Unemployment / year est. 8% / 2001 Church Members: 216

Population below poverty line: na Congregations: 1

Central African Republic says to hold elections on Oct. 18 BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic will hold presidential and parliamentary elections, seen as critical to drawing a line under a two-year inter-religious conflict, on Oct. 18, a spokesman for the interim government said on Thursday. The country descended into chaos in March 2013 when the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power, sparking reprisals by "anti-balaka" Christian militia, who drove out tens of thousands of Muslims from the south in a de facto partition of the landlocked country. A transitional authority currently in place is charged with organising elections and restoring democratic rule. The polls have repeatedly been delayed, however, and a national peace forum last month said that a previous timetable that would have seen elections held in June or July was unrealistic.

Chad (This country borders ASEA)

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 47% / -% Population: 13,288,797

Penetration of population w/ internet 2.4% Labor Force: 4,919,000

GDP per capita USD$ 2,600 Life Expectancy: 51

Unemployment / year est. 22% / 2009 Church Members:

Population below poverty line: 80% / 2001 Congregations:

Chad to round up beggars, foreigners after Boko Haram attack N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad said on Friday it planned to round up beggars and some foreigners as part of a security clamp-down, days after two suicide attacks on its capital blamed on Boko Haram Islamist militants from neighbouring Nigeria. The apparently coordinated blasts in two police offices on Monday killed 34 people and injured dozens in the largest attack of its kind in the Central African nation. CHAD ORDERS STORES TO BURN ALL BURQAS, ‘RELIGIOUS TURBANS’ AFTER BOKO HARAM ATTACK The government of Chad, a mostly Muslim African nation, has banned the wearing of the Islamic full-face veil, or burqa, across the nation, as well as any “religious turbans” that may be used to hide explosives. The move follows a deadly attack in the nation’s capital, N’Djamena, believed to have been orchestrated by jihadist terror group Boko Haram. “Even the burqas for sale in the markets will be withdrawn,” Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet insisted on Wednesday, meeting with religious leaders to explain the urgency of eradicating the full face covering from the Chadian public square. The burqa has been officially proclaimed a potential form of “camouflage” that may be used by terrorists to hide weapons or explosives, and the government has announced that any burqa in the nation must be burned in front of authorities. The Prime Minister announced that “wearing the burqa must stop immediately from today, not only in public places and schools but throughout the whole of the country.” He also announced that law enforcement had been directed to “go into the markets and to seize all the burqas on sale and burn them.” ….

Congo Rep. (Brazzaville)

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 100% / 7% Population: 4,753,445

Penetration of population w/ internet 2.0% Labor Force: 2,890,000

GDP per capita USD$ 6,600 Life Expectancy: 59

Unemployment / year est. 53% / 2012 Church Members: 6,053

Population below poverty line: 46.5% / 2011 Congregations: 17

Tampering with the constitution, Brazzaville-style There are growing fears in the Republic of Congo that President Denis Sassou-Nguesso will again amend the constitution to allow him to stay in power. A coalition of opposition parties and civil society groups in Brazzaville has described plans to scrap the constitutional limit on presidential terms as illegitimate. According to Frocad, allowing Sassou-Nguesso to stay in office beyond 2016

would be harmful to Congo’s “fledgling democracy”. The opposition has argued that Sassou-Nguesso should be barred from standing because the 2002 constitution bans candidates over the age of 70 and limits presidential terms to two. “At the time we all thought this – two seven-year terms – gave the president a generous amount of time in power,” said Florida International University political scientist John F. Clark. “We can only conclude that he didn’t anticipate being in power so long – or he thought it would be easy to change the constitution when the time came.” The 71-year-old former officer first came to power after a military coup in 1979. He ruled the oil-rich nation until 1992, when he lost a presidential poll in the country’s first multi-party elections. He returned to power in 1997 at the end of a bloody civil war.

DR Congo (Kinshasa)

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 59% / 8% Population: 71,509,992

Penetration of population w/ internet 2.0% Labor Force: 27,590,000

GDP per capita USD$ 700 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 50

Unemployment / year est. 46% / 2009 Church Members: 42,689

Population below poverty line: 63% Congregations: 145

Equatorial Guinea

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 87% / -% Population: 802,008

Penetration of population w/ internet 16.0% Labor Force: 195,200

GDP per capita USD$ 32,600 Life Expectancy: 53

Unemployment / year est. 22.3% / 2009 Church Members:

Population below poverty line: na Congregations:

Ethiopia

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 26% / 49% Population: 101,683,016

Penetration of population w/ internet 1.7% Labor Force: 47,320,000

GDP per capita USD$ 1,500 Life Expectancy: 64

Unemployment / year est. 17.5% / 2012 Church Members: 1,854

Population below poverty line: 39% / 2012 Congregations: 64

Obama to make first visit by a sitting US president to Ethiopia in late July

Gabon

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 175% / -% Population: 1,742,265

Penetration of population w/ internet 9.9% Labor Force: 636,000

GDP per capita USD$ 21,600 Life Expectancy: 63

Unemployment / year est. 21% / 2006 Church Members:

Population below poverty line: na Congregations:

Kenya

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 83% / 67% Population: 46,764,772

Penetration of population w/ internet 36.7% Labor Force: 17,700,000

GDP per capita USD$ 3,100 Life Expectancy: 62

Unemployment / year est. 40% / 2008 Church Members: 12,471

Population below poverty line: 43,4 / 2012 Congregations: 62

Somalia's Al-Shabaab militants assassinate Kenya official in northeast: police Insight - Kenya wages war on smugglers who fund Somali militants When Kenyan police arrested six men in the vast Dadaab refugee camp near the Somali border last April, their ultimate aim was to dismantle a decades-old sugar smuggling trade that is funding Somali militants waging war on Kenya. The arrests, coming weeks after four al Shabaab gunmen massacred 148 people at nearby Garissa university, were part of Nairobi's new strategy to choke off the flow of money to Islamists whose cross-border raids have hammered Kenya and its tourism industry. Kenya says German citizen among gunmen who attacked military base NAIROBI (Reuters) - A German citizen was among gunmen from the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab who attacked a military base on Kenya's northern coast on Sunday, the Kenyan interior ministry said on Friday. Eleven Somali al Shabaab militants and two Kenyan soldiers were killed when the militants carried out the early morning raid on the military base near the town of Baure in Lamu County, near the Somali border. "We have confirmed that the German was indeed among the militants in the recent attack in Lamu, and we have sent out his picture as a wanted suspect," Mwenda Njoka, interior ministry spokesman, told Reuters on telephone. A police document seen by Reuters named the man as 42-year-old Martin Muller, also known as Abu Nusaibah, and said he had probably been wounded. U.N. expands refugee camp in Kenya as South Sudan conflict rages Kakuma camp in northern Kenya is expanding by nearly a half, the U.N. refugee agency said on Saturday, to house refugees fleeing nearby South Sudan as hopes fade for peace in the world's newest nation. The arrival of some 44,000 South Sudanese refugees since late 2013, when fighting broke out between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels allied with former Vice President Riek Machar, has stretched the camp to its limits. "Before the resumption of the current crisis, what we hoped was that the camp would shut. But what we've seen, since December 2013, is actually the contrary," said Raouf Mazou, the U.N. refugee agency's Kenya representative. Kakuma is home to some 185,000 people, mostly from South Sudan, and with the planned expansion it will soon accommodate up to 80,000 more. The extra space will help ease congestion as well as make room for new arrivals.

Lesotho

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 95% / 24% Population: 2,074,095

Penetration of population w/ internet 5.3% Labor Force: 894,400

GDP per capita USD$ 2,900 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 49

Unemployment / year est. 25% / 2008 Church Members: 867

Population below poverty line: 49 / 1999 Congregations: 2

Madagascar

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 40% / ? Population: 24,540,641

Penetration of population w/ internet 73.5% Labor Force: 12,150,000

GDP per capita USD$ 1,400 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 65

Unemployment / year est. 3.6% / 2013 Church Members: 10,322

Population below poverty line: 50% Congregations: 38

Madagascar cancel flights over strike against air management

Malawi

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 37% / 10% Population: 17,393,962

Penetration of population w/ internet 72.2% Labor Force: 5,747,000

GDP per capita USD$ 800 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 55

Unemployment / year est. 6.6% / 2013 Church Members: 1,931

Population below poverty line: 53% / 2004 Congregations: 8

Malawi: Law Society Warns Against 'Shoot-to-Kill' Blantyre — Malawi Law Society (MLS) has warned the Police against applying the shoot-to-kill mechanism against suspected criminals, saying there is a possibility of it being abused. MLS though its president John Suzi Banda and secretary Khumbo Soko said although the shoot-to-kill order is legitimate under special circumstances, there is a high likelihood of trigger-happy police officers abusing it, in light of the escalating violent crimes during which some police officers have been killed. The lawyers' body noted that in recent weeks several people suspected of criminal wrongdoing have been shot dead by police. Malawi appeals for $500m to repair flood damage Blantyre - Malawi needs nearly half a billion dollars to repair the damage from devastating floods that killed 176 people earlier this year, the southern African country's president said on Thursday. Crops were ravaged and infrastructure destroyed by the heavy January rains that affected one million people. "I would like to appeal for international support in this recovery and reconstruction programme as $494 million is an enormous sum of money," President Peter Mutharika said.

Mauritius

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 128% / 40% Population: 1,322,860

Penetration of population w/ internet 6.2% Labor Force: 600,200

GDP per capita USD$ 17,900 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 74

Unemployment / year est. 8.3% / 2013 Church Members: 458

Population below poverty line: 8% / 2006 Congregations: 2

Mozambique

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 58% / 22% Population: 27,282,161

Penetration of population w/ internet 5.6% Labor Force: 12,250,000

GDP per capita USD$ 1,100 Life Expectancy: 50

Unemployment / year est. 17% / 2007 Church Members: 7,943

Population below poverty line: 52% / 2009 Congregations: 26

Namibia

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 137% / 32% Population: 2,325,019

Penetration of population w/ internet 14.8% Labor Force: 1,168,000

GDP per capita USD$ 10,800 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 6

Unemployment / year est. 27.4% / 2012 Church Members: 793

Population below poverty line: 28.7% / 2010 Congregations: 2

Niger

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 25% / 2% Population: 19,289,323

Penetration of population w/ internet 1.6% Labor Force: 5,800,000

GDP per capita USD$ 1,000 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 58

Unemployment / year est. 2.25% / 2009 Church Members: 793

Population below poverty line: 63% Congregations: 2

Boko Haram kills at least 30 in attacks on Niger villages Boko Haram militants attacked two villages in southern Niger's Diffa region overnight, killing at least 30 civilians, two security sources said on Thursday. It was the second major cross-border attack by the Nigerian Islamist group this week, following twin suicide bombings in Chad's capital on Monday that killed at least 34 people. The attackers drove into the villages in the Gueskerou area with cars and motorbikes and

shot residents before setting fire to the mostly straw thatched houses where others were hiding, the sources said.

Nigeria

(This country borders ASEA)

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 97% / 15% Population: 179,825,664

Penetration of population w/ internet 37.6% Labor Force: 54,970,000

GDP per capita USD$ 6,100 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 52

Unemployment / year est. 23.9% / 2011 Church Members: 129,989

Population below poverty line: 70% Congregations: 416

Nigeria selects two sites for nuclear power plants LAGOS/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Nigeria has selected two sites for the construction of its planned nuclear power plants, as Africa's biggest economy tries to end decades of electricity blackouts that have blighted its growth. Russia's state-owned Rosatom, which has been in talks with Nigeria over the nuclear plants, on Friday confirmed two sites had been selected in Africa's most populous nation and said they would have a total of four reactors.

Reunion Island

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 105% / 48% Population: 874,345

Penetration of population w/ internet Labor Force:

GDP per capita USD$ Life Expectancy:

Unemployment / year est. 40% / ? Church Members:

Population below poverty line: Congregations:

Rwanda

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 61% / 28% Population: 12,540,798

Penetration of population w/ internet 9.2% Labor Force: 6,061,000

GDP per capita USD$ 1,700 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 64

Unemployment / year est. 3.4% / 2012 Church Members: 281

Population below poverty line: 44.9 / 2011 Congregations: 3

Kagame says international attention on 3rd term debate is unwarranted Rwanda third-term bid: Unlike Burundi, Rwandans cannot protest 'because they lack freedom' Many Rwandans have been forced to sign a petition asking the parliament to amend the constitution to allow President Paul Kagame to run for a third term in the 2017 presidential election, according to several commentators and experts on Rwanda. The country's ruling party Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) announced in a statement earlier in June that it accepted the request of the 3.6 million people – around 72% of those on the Rwandan electoral roll – who had signed the petition and thus it approved an amendment to article 101 and "supports that the [constitution]... should be amended". According to UK-based human rights activist and politician Rene Claudel Mugenzi, the Rwandan government – which, according to Scotland Yard, plotted to assasinate Mugenzi in 2011 – is forcing people to sign the petition to avoid international criticism. Burundi refugees get permanent shelter as Rwanda marks refugee day Burundian refugees at Mahama camp in eastern Rwanda will have a smile on their faces following the launch of construction of permanent housing structures in a bid to improve the welfare and security of the refugees. Rwanda Tourism: Weekly Summer Camp Festival until annual naming of the gorillas

Somalia

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 50% / 2% Population: 10,742,489

Penetration of population w/ internet 1.5% Labor Force: 3,011,000

GDP per capita USD$ 600 / 2010 Life Expectancy: 55

Unemployment / year est. 25.4% / 2012 Church Members:

Population below poverty line: na Congregations:

Four militants killed in raid on Somali government site, attack over MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Four Islamist gunmen were killed after detonating a car bomb and shooting their way into a national intelligence agency training site, the internal security ministry said, adding that the government did not suffer any casualties during the attack. A spokesman for al Shabaab, which wants to topple a Western-backed government in Mogadishu, said the group's fighters had killed more than 10 intelligence officials. Somalia Al-Shabaab Gunmen Kill 15 Security Forces Near Mogadishu Somalia Islamist militants killed at least 15 government forces in attacks on security bases about 30 kilometers (19 miles) outside the capital, Mogadishu, according to the police and state officials. The assailants ambushed security posts manned by military and police personnel in Afgoi town overnight on Friday, firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, police officer Sharmarke Mohamed said by phone. “Our forces tried their best to repulse the attackers but they were overpowered by the militants,” Mohamed said in an interview. Somalia parliament in heated debate over border with Kenya Speaker of the Somali Parliament Prof. Usman Jawaari called on the Kenya government not to take unilateral actions regarding the border without consulting the Somali government in order to build consensus and durable solutions. "It would not be wise for Kenya to decide where the wall will be built without involving us since that is a shared border. The Somali government should not be ignored in this process," he was quoted by Radio Mogadishu, the official mouthpiece of the Somali Federal Government.

South Africa

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 154% / 35% Population: 51,621,506

Penetration of population w/ internet 46.8% Labor Force: 20,230,000

GDP per capita USD$ 12,700 Life Expectancy: 57

Unemployment / year est. 24.9% / 2013 Church Members: 61,221

Population below poverty line: 31.3% Congregations: 159

A Step Back for South Africa on the Rule of Law, Courtesy of Al-Bashir This past week the South African government showed utter disregard for its international legal obligations and rule of law when it reportedly assisted the escape from its territory of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, who is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. Al-Bashir was attending the 25th African Union Summit in Johannesburg when the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC) submitted an urgent application following the ICC's order that he be arrested upon landing in the country in light of the 2009 and 2010 arrest warrants issued against him. It was then when Judge Hans Fabricius, from the Pretoria High Court, issued an interim order preventing the Sudanese President from leaving South Africa, pending a decision of the court. The Judge even ordered that the Department of Home Affairs ensure that all points of entry and exit be

informed that Al-Bashir would not be allowed to leave until the application by SALC was concluded: "In my view it is clear when an investigation under the ICC Act is requested, and a reasonable basis exists for doing an investigation, political considerations or diplomatic initiatives are not relevant", he said. The Judge's view is in line with what the ICC made clear, that is, that diplomatic immunity does not apply to heads of state, and goes against the SA Government's request last Friday for an exemption from its obligations to arrest Al-Bashir on the grounds that he enjoys immunity from prosecution as he was attending an AU Summit. Legal Expert: South Africa Was Obligated to Arrest Sudan President Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir has once again evaded arrest by the International Criminal Court. In recent years, he’s visited – with impunity -- other signatories to the International Criminal Court – including Kenya, Nigeria and Malawi. The South African High Court had ordered that he stay in the country until it could rule on a request to arrest him. But within a day, he flew back home from Waterkloof Air Base – which is under the command of the South African National Defense Force. The Mail and Guardian newspaper reports that government representatives told the court that his name was not on the plane’s manifest, though the paper says the codename of the flight – Sudan 01 – indicated the president was board. Maimane will ask Public Protector to probe Bashir’s departure Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane said on Sunday he would ask Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to investigate who authoritised the use of state funds to enable Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to flee arrest in South Africa last week. “The DA will request a full investigation by the Public Protector to determine who was responsible, ” Maimane said. “It cannot be right that domestic and international laws are flouted to protect an alleged war criminal and human rights violator while the government of President Zuma remains silent and avoids answering pertinent questions.” He added that DA MPs would put also put these questions to International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane when she appears before a parliamentary portfolio committee on Tuesday, ahead of a debate in the National Assembly on the matter. “As a minister in the South African Cabinet she has a duty to uphold the Constitution, not the wishes of the African Union and its chairperson, President Robert Mugabe. “These steps will provide an invaluable opportunity for government to shed some light on the events that led to Al-Bashir’s departure.” Zuma's own police helped Bashir violate court order, evade justice The South African government secretly plotted to ensure safe passage out of the country for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir despite an international warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges. South African President Jacob Zuma Helped Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir Flee South Africa: Report A South African online newspaper reported that President Jacob Zuma and his key security ministers helped Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir flee the country, despite a court order and an International Criminal Court’s outstanding warrant for Bashir’s arrest. Zuma and four ministers hatched the plan and pretended not to know of his whereabouts…. South Africa: Zuma's SABC Appointments Dismissed As Praise Singers Opposition parties came out against President Jacob Zuma's appointment of Mbulaheni Maguvhe as SABC chairperson and Leah Khumalo his deputy. The Congress of People (Cope) have the dubbed the two "praise singers". "Luthuli House will in effect control the SABC," Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem said in a statement on Saturday. "The SABC, like the ruling party in Parliament, will continue with whitewashing misdemeanours and continue to regard all us fools." Zuma announced Maguvhe and Khumalo's appointment on Friday. SAHRC not ready to release King Zwelithini report The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) says it is not ready to release a preliminary report regarding an investigation into alleged utterances by King Goodwill Zwelithini about foreign nationals. “The SAHRC investigation into the alleged utterances by the King is still progressing and we are at this stage unable, in fact not ready, to release the preliminary findings,” SAHRC spokesperson Isaac Mangena said.

Sudan

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 70% / 31% Population: 40,313,269

Penetration of population w/ internet 24.0% Labor Force: 11,920,000

GDP per capita USD$ 4,500 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 62

Unemployment / year est. 20% / 2012 Church Members:

Population below poverty line: 46.5 / 2005 Congregations:

South Sudan

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 28% / 12% Population: 11,749,434

Penetration of population w/ internet unkn Labor Force:

GDP per capita USD$ 2,000 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 62

Unemployment / year est. 12% / 2008 Church Members:

Population below poverty line: 50.6% / 2009 Congregations:

Swaziland Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 70% / 11% Population: 1,280,595

Penetration of population w/ internet 23.8% Labor Force: 435,000

GDP per capita USD$ 7,800 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 49

Unemployment / year est. 28.5% / 2010 Church Members: 1,768

Population below poverty line: 69% Congregations: 4

Mswati sacks humiliated chief justice Johannesburg - Swazi King Mswati III has fired his hand-picked chief justice, Lesotho national

Michael Ramodibedi. Mswati signed a legal notice that was given to Ramodibedi on Thursday night after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) concluded a dramatic impeachment inquiry that dominated local political and judicial developments for weeks. “I King Mswati III… hereby remove chief justice Michael Mathealira Ramodibedi from the Office of Chief Justice of the High Court of Swaziland for serious misbehaviour,” a notice signed by Mswati stated. The dismissal message was accompanied by a letter from the JSC secretary ordering Ramodibedi to vacate a government mansion reserved for the chief justice. A new chief justice, Bheki Maphalala, the first Swazi to hold the position, was appointed two weeks ago.

Tanzania

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 62% / 24% Population: 50,998,619

Penetration of population w/ internet 15% Labor Force: 25,000,000

GDP per capita USD$ 1,900 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 61

Unemployment / year est. 10.7% / 2011 Church Members: 1,336

Population below poverty line: 36% / 2002 Congregations: 6

Uganda

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 64% / 11% Population: 40,777,196

Penetration of population w/ internet 16.8 Labor Force: 18,000,000

GDP per capita USD$ 1,800 Life Expectancy: 59

Unemployment / year est. 4.2% / 2010 Church Members: 13,248

Population below poverty line: 25.5% Congregations: 26

Uganda 9th largest refugee host worldwide ADJUMANI - Uganda is the ninth largest refugee hosting country in the world, revealed Neimah Warsame, the UNHCR country representative in the country. Warsame applauded Uganda for the good conducive environment accorded to the refugees unlike in other countries that close their doors observing that worldwide refugees were estimated to be over 60 million while 86% of them were being hosted by developing countries which remain a burden to them. “Uganda is now home to more refugees than any time in history and has become the ninth largest refugee hosting country in the world and third in this region,” she explained.

Zambia

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 73% / 10% Population: 15,549,296

Penetration of population w/ internet 15.4% Labor Force: 6,338,000

GDP per capita USD$ 4,100 Life Expectancy: 58

Unemployment / year est. 15% / 2008 Church Members: 3,359

Population below poverty line: 60.5% Congregations:

Zimbabwe

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 102% / 85% Population: 15,762,551

Penetration of population w/ internet 19.5% Labor Force: 5,0 63,000

GDP per capita USD$ 2,000 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 60

Unemployment / year est. 95% / 2009 Church Members: 26,156

Population below poverty line: 68% / 2004 Congregations: 64

Mugabe bemoans rise in early child marriages PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe yesterday expressed disgust at the upsurge of child marriages in the country, but failed to comment on controversy surrounding utterances by Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana over girls’ age of consent to sex and marriage. Tomana last week received widespread rebuke from gender and human rights defenders for his sentiments on the age at which children can consent to sex. He however claimed he had been misquoted. Addressing the official opening of the 23rd session of the Children’s Parliament in Harare, Mugabe instead chose to attack non-governmental organisations for allegedly pushing foreign agendas. “We should defend ourselves against those who want to intervene into our affairs through clandestine methods using non-governmental organisations which pretend they are working for our future,” he said. Mugabe said there were worrying statistics of early child marriages, adding it was wrong to judge the maturity of a girl child by the development of their breasts. He said statistics indicated that one in four women aged 20 to 24 years were married while still children. “Our country’s situation is equally worse as the multi indicator cluster survey reports that 24% girls between 15 to 19 years are currently married or in union, while only 1,7% boys in the same age are married or in union. I do not know who takes the girls — some go into polygamy while others are just given babies and abandoned,” Mugabe said. He, however, expressed the need to align the country’s marriage laws with the new Constitution which stipulated the age of consent was 18 years. Mugabe Attacks Vapostori President Robert Mugabe has attacked members of the Vapositori (apostolic sect members), for refusing to take their children to school and hospitals, citing it as one of the country’s major draw backs. Speaking at a ceremony for the official opening of the junior Parliament and the swearing in of the junior president in Harare yesterday, Mugabe said that members of the Vapositori were not forthcoming on the issue of education and medical treatment. Zimbabwe: Insulting Grace Is Now More Dangerous Than Taunting Mugabe AT least 70% of politically motivated violence cases experienced since January emanated from Zanu PF supporters' intolerance for the public's opinion on Grace Mugabe, a local human rights watch dog has said. The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) siad Saturday that although it was "dangerous" in the yester-years to publicly denounce President Robert Mugabe this has not been the case since the beginning of the year. Instead, and in most cases, people reported being assaulted by Zanu PF activists for their "unfavourable" views on the First Lady, Zanu PF in fighting and the state of the economy.

‘MDC WON ELECTIONS BY NARROW MARGIN’ MDC says there was definitely rigging in the 2013 elections that saw Zanu-PF victorious. JOHANNESBURG – Former parliamentary speaker and ally to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Didymus Mutasa, has told the Sunday Independent that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won the elections by a narrow margin. Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round of the presidential poll but pulled out because of political violence at the time. Mutasa says he does not know just how much cheating took place in the 2008 elections but he is certain that Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa was instrumental in rigging the 2013 vote. Serving as minister of national security and head of the secret police at the time, Mutasa admits that Zimbabwe’s ruling party, Zanu-PF played an important role in the killing and torture of MDC supporters.

United States Data Provided for comparison

Cellphone/Smartphone penetration 102% / 85% Population: 324,343,287

Penetration of population w/ internet 86.8% Labor Force: 156,000,000

GDP per capita USD$ 54,800 / 2014 Life Expectancy: 79

Unemployment / year est. 5.5% / 2015 Church Members: 6,466,267

Population below poverty line: 15.1% / 2010 14,018 Congregations

Travel Advisories/Warnings LIBERIA MAKES TRAVEL ALERT 16 June 2015 Liberia’s Health Ministry authorities are making travel alerts in the wake of sharp rise in Ebola infection in neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea, warning travellers “to be very much careful” not to come in contact with infected persons. Liberia and its two neighboring countries Sierra Leone and Guinea which are still battling the Ebola outbreak, share scores of porous borders which marketers and inter-marriage families across either side commute almost daily. U.S. State Dept. Updates Sudan Travel Warning, June 15, 2015 Washington, DC--(ENEWSPF)--June 15, 2015. The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of traveling to Sudan. We urge U.S. citizens to avoid all travel to the Darfur region of Sudan, and to Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states, and advise U.S. citizens to consider carefully the risks of travel in other areas of Sudan. This supersedes the Travel Warning issued on October 30, 2014

US issues travel advisory for Burundi (17 May 2015) Washington - The United States issued a travel warning on Thursday for strife-torn Burundi, telling its citizens not to go there and urging those in the country to get out as soon as possible. Burundi's government survived a coup attempt this week that saw fierce fighting between rival army factions. It was the culmination of weeks of violent street protests against the president's bid to seek a third term in the poor east African country. In a statement, the US state department said Burundi was faced a "deteriorating security situation". It said it had ordered all non-emergency US government personnel and dependents of American staff to leave Burundi on Thursday. US warns airlines against flying over Somalia (17 May 2015) A United States aviation safety agency has listed the Somali airspace as too dangerous to fly over, citing the threat posed by the armed group Al Shabab following the downing of MH17 by Ukrainian rebels fighting the government forces in Ukraine. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has banned all US airlines from flying over Somalia deeming it too dangerous, an advisory rejected by many countries, among them Australia airlines.

Central African Republic Travel Warning 2 May 2015 Washington DC - infoZine - The Government of Chad closed its border with CAR May 12, 2014. Only citizens of Chad returning home will be able to cross the Chad-CAR border. U.S. citizens who have decided to stay in CAR despite this warning should review their personal security situation and seriously consider departing. This replaces the Travel Warning of November 5, 2014, to reflect the risk of remaining in CAR and continued lack of security.

Sources of information:

All church membership information is provided by Mormon Newsroom by clicking on the ‘Africa’ continent on the map (at the right) and then finding the desired country on the list. The information is reviewed from the list each month for correctness.

All keywords and country information is collected from an Internet scan of about 60 specific keywords that is supplied to me at 0300 each morning via Google alerts. This keyword list is reviewed and updated daily.

All Population data are from Country Meters and is updated each month for correctness.

All Cellphone and smartphone data are from GMSA Intelligence and is updated each month for correctness.

All Internet users by country data are from Internet Live Stats and Internet World Stats is reviewed each month for correctness.

GNI (Gross National Income per capita) and Life Expectancy data is from The World Bank

Unemployment and other data are from Photius , IECONOMICS, Quandl, Wikipedia, Theodora & The World Factbook.

Elder Berg Elder Berg & Sister Berg Africa Southeast AreaAssistant Directors of Public Affairs, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Email: ASEAPublicAffairs@ldschurch.org Cellphone……. +27 (0)83 443 3829 Office…………... +27 (0)11 645 1538

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