24 Perish In Ghana Auto Crash

Twenty-four travellers died yesterday dawn on the spot at Dagomba Line near Buipe, the Central Gonja District capital, when a 22-seater sprinter passenger bus with registration number AS 3981-12 collided head-on with a Kia truck registered AS 8833-11.

The dead persons, whose identities could not be immediately ascertained, were seven women, two infants and 15 men. The bodies are currently at the morgue of the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

Two out of 10 survivors, including a military officer of the Air Force Base in Tamale, are currently on admission at the hospital in critical condition.

According to DSP Owusu Antwi, the Central Gonja District Police Commander, the accident occurred at about 1:30am when the Kia truck loaded with cattle from Daboya veered into the lane of the oncoming passenger Sprinter resulting in the crash.

The passenger vehicle, he disclosed, believed to be heading towards Tamale from Ejura in the Ashanti Region, after the crash, somersaulted several times killing almost all passengers on board.

He told DAILY GUIDE that preliminary investigations uncovered that it was as a result of poor visibility that the driver of the Kia veered off his lane and ran into the lane of the other vehicle.

The Northern Regional Director of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Mr. Alexis Ayieta, who conducted journalists round the accident scene, expressed regret over the incident after a similar one barely two months ago.

He advised drivers to exercise restraint to avert the needless deaths on the road.

At the time of going to press yesterday, only three out of the 24 deceased persons had been identified by their families.

Tuesday 22 January 2013

http://www.dailyguideghana.com/?p=73518

Limpopo floods death toll rising: 10 dead, 4 missing after heavy rains

At least 10 people have died as a result of the torrential rains that fell in Limpopo over the past few days.

Six of the victims died in the Vhembe region, far north of the province, and four died in the Mopani region.

Two of the deceased in Vhembe died after the houses in which they were sleeping collapsed on them, presumably because of the rain.

Three children and an adult died in Mopani at the weekend as a result of drowning.

The rains started falling last Wednesday and have wreaked havoc in most parts of the province, leaving scores of people homeless and roads damaged.

Rescue teams have been sent to areas along the Limpopo River, where many communities are in danger of being washed away by the raging waters.

Yesterday, police had their hands full searching for the bodies of four people who allegedly drowned in the overflowing Limpopo River near the Beitbridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

According to police, the four were clinging to a tree on Sunday afternoon when it was uprooted and they were washed away.

At least four helicopters were busy rescuing people from the area. By yesterday afternoon, more than 500 people had been rescued and 334 of them were taken to the All Days Community Hall while the remainder were taken to Musina military base.

Tuesday 22 Janaury 2013

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/Africa/2009/feb/Uganda-Witchcraft-Crackdown-Yields-Arrests.html

Death toll hits 5 in SW China coal mine accident

The death toll in a Friday coal mine accident in southwest China's Guizhou province rose to five Monday afternoon following the discovery of two more bodies.

Eighteen people were working underground when a gas explosion occurred

Friday afternoon at the Jinjia Coal Mine in Panxian county in the city of Liupanshui, killing five miners and leaving another eight missing.

About 300 rescuers are working around the clock to look for the missing miners.

An investigative team headed by the vice director of the provincial coal mine safety inspection bureau has been formed to look into the cause of the accident.

The team will also carry out a work safety inspection at the mine, as well as at Guizhou Panjiang Clean Coal Co. Ltd., the company that runs the mine, and the Guizhou Panjiang Group, the controlling shareholder of the company.

On November 24, 2012, a similar explosion hit the Xiangshui Coal Mine in Liupanshui, killing 23 people.

Both the Jinjia and Xiangshui coal mines are controlled by the Guizhou Panjiang Group.

Tuesday 22 Janaury 2013

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/757334.shtml

Child body parts sold at sh0.5m, says report

He was a boda boda rider, and not earning much. Because he wanted to make more money, he resorted to kidnapping people, including children.

“I was doing it for tycoons who came from Kampala and other places. I used to charge them sh200,000 for adults and sh350,000 for children.

“One day, I met a man who I did not know was a witchdoctor. He hired me to get him a young boy to take his teeth, ears, genitalia and heart. After I got the boy, he asked me to help him mutilate the child’s body, but I told him that I feared to do it.

“He pulled out a knife and started cutting off the parts he needed, saying it would stop the spirit of the victim from haunting us. With time, I gained courage in the business and he hired me to start doing this work for him. He increased my pay,” recounts a former child sacrifice agent in Buikwe district.

Another child kidnapper narrates how he was hired to get the blood of a virgin girl. He found a girl walking alone and kidnapped her, later mutilated her body and took selected parts.

“I packed them in my black polythene bag and delivered them to a witchdoctor,” reads the chilling confession.

These are some of the disturbing confessions contained in a 2013 report on child sacrifice and mutilation in Uganda, by Humane Africa, a charity organisation.

The report, which Sunday Vision has exclusively obtained, shows that every week, a Ugandan child is mutilated or sacrificed and body parts removed, often, while the child is still alive. The organs can be sold for between sh500,000 and sh1m, depending on the age of the victim and the period taken to hunt down the victim. One agent admitted to killing as many as 23 children in his lifetime, but from different localities.

The report is due to be released this Tuesday by HumaneAfrica in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The research, which took place between June and September 2012, is based on about 140 first hand testimonies from 25 communities in nine districts, including Kiryandongo, Masindi, Wakiso, Jinja, Mayuge, Mukono, Masaka, Kalungu and Buikwe. Data was also collected using UNICEF’s U-report, in which young people used a free SMS-based system to speak out on what is happening in their communities.

Most of the children targeted were aged between three and 18 years. However, there are also a number of cases where mothers in their later stages of pregnancies were attacked and the foetus removed and mutilated.

The preferred body parts

Based on the interviews contained in this report, a total of 177 body parts were mentioned as missing from bodies. The tongue, female and male genitalia and blood seem to be the most sought after parts. Others include the head, legs, hair, throat, fingers, hands, eyes, arms, breasts, intestines, brain, ears, liver, teeth and kidneys. Others are nose, jaws, toes, the belly button and buttocks.

One victim’s mother in Masaka district recounts how her child’s limbs were cut off: “I took one glance at my child and could not take another look. He did not have arms and his legs and head had been cut off. I cried uncontrollably.”

Another father says his seven-year-old boy was found dead in November 2009 in Nyenga village, Buikwe district. “My son’s body had a missing finger, genitalia, his two eyes and one tooth were also missing. He was left naked with a traditional cloth in his mouth.”

What for ?

According to the report, these body parts are taken by people who believe that they will assist with a number of issues that include: Overcoming illness, gaining wealth, obtaining blessings from ancestors, protection, initiation, assisting with conception and dictating the gender of the child.

A woman in Buikwe district told researchers that when she had a bedwetting problem, she was given a young boy’s genetalia to help ease her problem.

“It was black and stiff. I tied it around my knickers for two days,” she says. Another traditional healer’s son said his relatives used to treat people’s illnesses using body organs like fingers and to initiate people into traditional healing.

Way Forward

Simon Fellows, the HumaneAfrica Director, says the report should provide an opportunity for stakeholders to forge a way forward.

Copies of the report will be made available during the launch at UNICEF offices on Tuesday, January 22.

In light of this report, the gender, labour and social development ministry needs to implement a deliberate action plan on child sacrifice.

The deputy Police spokesperson, Ibin Senkumbi, declined to comment before reading the report, but states that 2012 had fewer cases of child sacrifice compared to past years.

Tuesday 22 January 2013

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/639113-child-body-parts-sold-at-sh0-5m-says-report.html

Horn migrants use new, more dangerous, routes through Malawi

On 20 June 2012, a group of undocumented Ethiopian migrants boarded a boat on the shores of Lake Malawi and headed southwards. A few minutes after departing, the overloaded boat sank, drowning 49 of its passengers.

“From the lake shore, one could see what looked like a piece of paper floating on the lake. But when fishermen, paddling their canoes, went to check it out it turned out to be several human bodies,” recalled Grecian Mbewe, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation district coordinator for Karonga, in northern Malawi.

According to Joseph Mwandege*, who claims to be part of a syndicate that smuggles migrants, mainly from the Horn of Africa, through the country in a bid to eventually reach South Africa, the use of boats to cross Lake Malawi gained popularity after land routes became too risky.

“We work with a group of police officers. They are the ones who advise us on security locations. Unfortunately, there are times when a group [of police] that is not involved in the syndicate man’s security check [points]," he said. “When such a scenario occurs, the group [of migrants] can be intercepted any time because all the routes they take are pre-arranged based on advice from our police friends.”

Travelling on the lake at night became the preferred alternative.

Mwandege said groups of migrants entered Malawi near the Songwe border post in Karonga District, on the Tanzanian border. With help from people like him and the police, the migrants waited for night to fall before cramming into small boats to continue their journey southwards. They docked their boats after bypassing several security check points along the roads and moved quickly into the surrounding hills where they could not be seen.

Crackdown

But the events of 20 June brought close scrutiny to the issue of illegal migration. Under pressure from President Joyce Banda, the Malawi Police Service launched a crackdown on those suspected of involvement in the drownings.

Some police officers were suspended and others transferred. Three locals suspected of having connections with the group that died were arrested and initially charged with aiding and abetting illegal entry. The charge was later amended to manslaughter.

The result of the crackdown, according to police spokesperson Solemn Chunga, from Chitipa District, which lies on Malawi's northern border with Tanzania, has been a change in the pattern of migration movement. Illegal migrants now resort to perilous routes through the bush.

Chunga said key among the areas that have been targeted for “smoother passage” was Nyika National Park, a vast wildlife reserve covering some 3,200sqkm. Sitting on Nyika Plateau at about 2,600m above sea level, the park is covered in fog for the better part of the year and is home to a number of dangerous wild animals, including leopards, lions and snakes.

Since June, police in Chitipa have intercepted groups of migrants travelling towards Nyika on seven occasions. In September, they intercepted 47 migrants and their Malawian guide as they tried to enter the northern side of the park. Almost a week later, another 74 migrants were found packed in the back of a truck, heading towards the same area. On being intercepted, one of the migrants gave officials a phone number that turned out to belong to a police officer in Karonga.

Following their arrest, migrants are taken to court and charged with entering the country illegally, said Karonga police spokesperson Enock Livasoni. Undocumented migrants usually face fines of up to 25,000 kwacha (US$71) or sentences of three months of imprisonment with hard labour. After paying the fine or serving the sentence, police hand the migrants over to the immigration department for deportation. "The immigration department just ensures that these people are out of Malawian territory, and it is not necessarily that they are sent back to their home countries," said Livasoni.

IRIN witnessed vehicles taking migrants towards the Songwe border area, where they would presumably be deported across the border into Tanzania. Migrants intercepted by police in Tanzania typically spend several months in prison before being repatriated to their places of origin.

Refugees and asylum-seekers in the mix

Groups of migrants travelling from the Horn of Africa towards South Africa often include asylum-seekers and refugees who make use of the same routes and smuggling networks as economic migrants. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), this phenomenon of "mixed migration" often makes it difficult to distinguish between those entitled to access the asylum process and those subject to local immigration laws.

"In Malawi... we try to assist the government through technical advice and support so that screening can be conducted at the border and those that have asylum claims can be assisted accordingly. Sometimes this is not always possible due to limited resources," said George Kuchio, UNHCR's country representative in Malawi.

UNHCR is now focusing its efforts on training newly recruited immigration officers and "offering practical tools that border officials can easily use to determine who is an asylum-seeker."

Red Cross Malawi, which helped connect a number of survivors of the 20 June boat accident with their families, told IRIN that they had not handled any further cases involving undocumented migrants.

"We assume this is the case because the police have tightened security in all suspected entry points," said Horace Nyaka, a Red Cross Malawi communications officer. "Because of this tight security, we have the feeling that the illegal entrants are no longer passing through Malawi. They might have found other routes to get to their final destination.”

*Not his real name

Tuesday 22 January 2013

http://reliefweb.int/report/malawi/horn-migrants-use-new-more-dangerous-routes-through-malawi

Five die in blast at Zimbabwe healer's house

Five people including a traditional healer died in a mysterious blast in Zengeza 2, Chitungwiza yesterday afternoon. While the bodies seemed to have been burnt, there was no fire from the blast, which some people suspected could have been lightning.

The bodies of the dead were burnt while their limbs were strewn all over the place covering a distance of up to 60 metres.

While the bodies seemed to have been burnt, there was no fire from the blast, which some people suspected could have been lightning.

The bizarre incident, which claimed the lives of four male adults and one minor, has left the people in Zengeza 2 dumbfounded.

Number 4 Ndororo Street in Zeneza is believed to be the epicentre of the mysterious explosion whose source remains unclear though its impact caused severe damage to more than 12 houses surrounding it.

Body parts like arms, fingers, and pieces of flesh were picked from rooftops and from nearby houses.

Among the five is a commuter omnibus operator identified as Clever Kamunzeya, who was consulting the traditional healer — popularly known as Sekuru Shumba — Speakmore Mandere (24) who came from Chiweshe.

A seven-month-old baby Kelly Chimina who was sleeping in one of the rooms at the house also died in the blast.

Her mother was a tenant at the property.

Two other people who died were not immediately identified. Identity particulars were picked from the scene but no one could verify whether they belonged to the dead.

Three other people were seriously injured while others with minor injuries were also taken to Chitungwiza General Hospital.

The traditional healer had been given a notice to vacate the property by month-end after the property owner expressed reservations over his traditional healing.

More than 12 houses were destroyed in the blast that witnesses said shook properties as far away as a kilometre.

Walls, roofs and windows were destroyed while property worth several thousands of American dollars was also lost.

By early evening people with destroyed houses were seeking refuge from relatives and friends while those returning from work were shocked to see the destruction that had occurred.

More than 500 people gathered at the scene with police and the army cordoning off the area to investigate the cause of the blast.

Witnesses said Mr Kamunzeya whose damaged vehicle was parked could have been consulting the healer.

He was in the company of two women who were severely injured in the blast. A neighbour whose house was badly damaged said he heard a huge blast and went out to investigate. But he ran away the moment he noticed the damage.

Mr Edmore Mikitayo said the blast caused huge panic that saw some people running from their homes.

Others linked the blast to a marital problem involving a woman who was staying with the traditional healer.

It is believed she had sought a peace order against her husband and had eloped to the n’anga.

Officer-in-charge of St Mary’s police Inspector Daniel Badza said investigations were in progress to ascertain the cause of the blast. He referred further questions to his superiors at the scene who declined comment.

A nephew of the healer Mr Emmanuel Chinwadzimba said his uncle possessed supernatural powers.

He said their family believed that he had a mermaid spirit, having been trained by one when he was a young boy.

Residents assisted in retrieving some of the body parts.

Job Sikhala, the former MP for St Mary’s, said his house is more than 2km from the street where the explosion took place, but it was so huge it shook his house. He said he believed that the house belonged to a tradional healer, who is known to have kept gas cylinders.

‘From what I hear from people in the area, the owner of the house which was apparently obliterated by the blast, belonged to this n’anga, who is well known in the area,’ Sikhala said.

Tuesday 22 January 2013

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/15435-mysterious-blast-kills-5.html

Ezu River: 18 bodies evacuated as autopsy begins today

Eighteen decomposed bodies evacuated from Ezu River on the border town of Amansea, between Enugu and Anambra states, will today be subjected to autopsy to be jointly carried out by Anambra and Enugu State governments and their police commands.

Anambra State police commissioner, Mr. Bala Nassarawa, gave the figure yesterday while addressing Divisional Police Officers, DPOs, and other senior police officers in the state. Nassarawa confirmed that all the dead bodies were males, adding that three bodies had been selected for the autopsy because the other 15 had become too bad.

He said: “We have also discovered that there were no gun injuries or matchet cuts on their bodies as being speculated and the dead bodies were not up to 30 or 50 as rumored.”

According to him, the Commissioner of Police in charge of medicals, the state Commissioner for Health and pathologists from the two states would be involved in carrying out the autopsy.

Nasarawa stated further that investigations were still continuing on the matter, assuring that the police would be providing additional information on the matter at the right time.

Monday 21 January 2013

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/01/ezu-river-18-bodies-evacuated-as-autopsy-begins-today/

Matale mass grave traced to 1987-89; Skeletal remains of 79 persons exhumed

Human skeletal remains excavated from a mass grave near the Matale Hospital have been preliminary dated to 1987-89 period, when over 60,000 insurgents perished in extra judicial killings by the then government sponsored death squads during the second JVP uprising.

The preliminary date has been given on the basis of bone colouration and typological analysis on the personal items, including some rings found in the grave along with 78 human skulls and skeletal remains of 79 persons, a senior analyst who declined to be named told The Island yesterday.

Human skeletal remains were first discovered in the site on Nov. 25, 2012 by a group of building workers digging up the earth near the hospital for constructing a bio gas unit. The police had secured the building site and the Matale Magistrate ordered that site be excavated to exhume all human remains.

Excavations were conducted under the supervision of three judicial medical officers.Samples of the skeletal remains have also been submitted for radio carbon dating procedures abroad.

Prof. Raj Somadeva of the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeological Research, who conducted tests on the human remains and submitted a short report said it was too early to draw conclusions as the tests were still be conducted. But, he said he was sure that the remains recovered from the site had no archaeological significance.

"We hope to submit our final report in last week of February. In our short report we have recommended that samples be sent to the US, where they could be further analyzed with the help of a method called Radio Carbon Bomb–Pulse dating procedure, which is the optimum and widely used to analyze artifacts and human remains dating back to the post World War II period. We have to wait till their conclusion," Prof Somadeva said.

Monday 21 January 2013

http://www.srilankabrief.org/2013/01/matale-mass-grave-traced-to-1987-89.html

Death toll from Jakarta flooding rises to 26

Widespread flooding in the Indonesian capital over the last week has killed 26 people, police said Monday, with most of the deaths caused by electrocution and drowning.

People sit on an inflatable raft as they move through a flooded street to try to reach higher ground, in the business district in Jakarta on Jan 18, 2013.

Floods peaked on Thursday following days of heavy rains, bringing Jakarta to a near standstill.

Waters have receded in many parts of the megacity home to more than 10 million people, but some areas remained under water.

More than 40,000 people have sought refuge in temporary shelters, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

Jakarta - 40 per cent of which lies below sea level - is prone to flooding in the wet season, which is made worse by clogged rivers, sewers and storm drains and poor city planning.

Severe flooding in 2007 killed 57 people and forced more than 420,000 to leave their homes in the capital. Officials put the total damage at nearly 695 million dollars.

Monday 21 January 2013

http://www.bangkokpost.com/lite/news/331895/death-toll-from-jakarta-flooding-rises-to-26

Six die in Limpopo floods

Six people have died after the Limpopo river burst its banks, the provincial co-operative governance department said on Monday.

"Rescue operations in the area have been completed. On the record we have six people who died," spokeswoman Dieketseng Diale said.

"We have not consolidated the figures we received today and have not received the figures from the police either."

A total of 44 people were rescued at the Mapungubwe Main Gate next to the Kruger National Park, she said.

"At the moment we do not have a precise figure of the number of people rescued."

Diale could not provide more details and said more details would be available after a meeting with the police and rescue teams on Monday evening.

On Sunday evening, rescue operations had to stop after 45 of the 334 people were rescued and resumed on Monday morning.

Residents were stranded when they sought refuge on rooftops and mountains.

The extent of the damage was still being assessed.

"A lot of houses have been damaged, but there is no way to give a figure because certain areas are still inaccessible."

Provincial health and social development MEC Norman Mabasa was expected to visit the Musina hospital and flood victims on Monday morning.

"Such disasters weigh heavily on the response of our health services, so we are visiting Musina to ensure that everything is running smoothly as it should and [the hospital] is able to accommodate the flood victims," he said.

On Monday morning, the SA Weather Service said more rain was expected in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

"There is a warning for heavy falls in Mpumalanga and Limpopo for today, but it will improve later in the afternoon," forecaster William Msianga said.

No rain was expected in the rest of country until Thursday.

In Mpumalanga, gravel roads and some camps inside the Kruger National Park remained closed on Monday because of heavy rains.

Three children were killed when their homes collapsed during rain in Limpopo over the weekend, a spokesman said on Sunday.

Vhembe district municipality spokesman Matodzi Mulaudzi said the municipality's disaster management team received reports about the deaths of two boys and a girl on Sunday morning.

Earlier, Mpumalanga police spokesman Colonel Leonard Hlathi said three people were killed when lightning struck their houses in Piet Retief during thunderstorms on Saturday morning.

The SA National Defence Force assisted in conducting search and rescue missions in both provinces.

Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga said 60 people were airlifted in the Makhado and Hoedspruit areas.

Monday 21 January 2013

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2013/01/21/six-die-in-limpopo-floods