Nigeria, al-Bashir, ICC - What's the Fuss?

Al-Bashir

THERE was outrage yesterday over Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir’s presence in Nigeria. al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague is in Abuja attending the Africa Union (AU) summit on HIV/AIDS.

International and local organisations are calling on the Federal Government to arrest him in Abuja.

The United Kingdom (UK) also berated the Federal Government for hosting him.
But the government has said it will not order al-Bashir’s arrest because he is a guest of the AU and not that of the government.

The UK Foreign Office Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds, expressed disappointment that Nigeria chose to allow al-Bashir to attend the summit.

The Nigeria Coalition on the International Criminal Court (NCICC) has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja to seek arrest warrant against al-Bashir.

Mark Simmonds said: “The UK has a strong and abiding bilateral relationship with Nigeria. I am therefore disappointed that Nigeria has chosen to host President al-Bashir of Sudan at an African Union event, despite International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants against him for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

“This undermines the work of the ICC and sends the victims a dismaying message that the accountability they are waiting for will be delayed further.

“The British Government takes seriously its obligations as a State Party to the Rome Statute and consistently urges other State Parties in all parts of the world to do the same.”

The NCICC called for al-Bashir’s “immediate arrest and surrender to the trial chambers of the International Criminal Court in The Hague for atrocity crimes in Darfur with which he is charged.”

African Developers Listed in Ericsson Application Awards

Ericsson has announced the semi-finalists for the annual Ericsson Application Awards with TeamKenya from Kenya , Team Trokxi and Team Nimdee Mobile from Ghana among the semi-finalists.
 

The 2013 Ericsson "Apps for City Life" Application Awards is a global contest that aims to promote innovations towards the Networked Society by connecting people, things and places to empower individuals and society.

TeamKenya and Trokxi were nominated in the student category and Nimdee mobile was nominated in the company category.

TeamKenya developed an application that makes it easier for electorates to know and interact with political aspirants in their location, to learn more about the laws and topics surrounding electoral processes, get the latest electoral news and also to be informed of the latest electoral events.

Team Trokxi developed an application that provides you with estimated fares to make informed decisions for public transportation. It helps you budget your trips, save money, time and minimize transport-related frauds.

Team Nimdee developed an application that enables African merchants to access bigger markets on the continent and also the global market, while allowing merchants to reach their customers on the same platform.

The three teams from Africa will be competing for the first place spot with teams from China , United Kingdom , USA , Romania , Poland , Portugal and Brazil.

Speaking about the semi-finalists, Ericsson's Sub-Saharan Africa Marketing and Strategy Head, Shiletsi Makhofane, said "We are proud to have three teams from Africa among the semi-finalists. From politics to business and transportation, these teams have developed applications that will improve the quality of life on the continent and beyond. Africa is a mobile continent, and application development is one of the continent’s growing industries.”

The Ericsson Application Awards is an annual competition for application developers organised by Ericsson.

The purpose of this year’s theme "Apps for City Life" is to promote innovations towards the Networked Society by connecting people, things and places to empower individuals and society.

The semi-finalist apps will be reviewed by approximately 900 users representing 9 large cities from different parts of the world such as New York , Johannesburg , Sydney , Shanghai.

At the end of the second phase evaluation, four finalist-teams will be selected for the finals. Winning teams will receive €25,000 in prize money in each category.