Bensouda, 50, will succeed the high-profile Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, whose term of office expires next June. She is currently his deputy.

Bensouda was elected without a vote at a meeting in the United Nations of the 120-nation Assembly of States Parties to the ICC, which is based at The Hague in the Netherlands. She will serve a nine-year term starting June 16.

A search committee had drawn up a short-list of four candidates in October. The field slimmed down to two last month after the states parties decided the job should go to an African, eliminating Britain’s Andrew Cayley and Robert Petit of Canada.

Diplomats said the other African candidate, Mohamed Chande Othman of Tanzania, subsequently withdrew from the race, leaving Bensouda, who had long been the favorite, as the only contender.

Bensouda was named deputy prosecutor of the ICC in 2004 and previously worked as a legal adviser and trial attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.

As chief prosecutor, she will step into the full glare of publicity and controversy that has surrounded the world’s top warcrimes court since it came into being in 2002.

While the number of signatories to the Rome Statute that created the ICC is steadily growing, key countries remain outside it. They include the United States — which fears it could be used against the U.S. military — as well as Russia, China and most Arab states.

The ICC is mandated to try cases of warcrimes and crimes against humanity that national justice systems cannot or will not prosecute.

TOUGH-TALKING

The tough-talking Moreno-Ocampo has won praise for his role in promoting the work of the ICC. He has launched seven formal investigations, issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir and begun three trials.

The ICC indicted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi before his death in October, as well as his son Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi. Moreno-Ocampo has said, however, that he will not demand that the captured Saif al-Islam be handed over to The Hague.

In the latest development involving the ICC, former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo was flown last month to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity.

The court is also pursuing cases in Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Some African politicians, including African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping, have charged that the ICC focuses excessively on Africa. The AU has told its members to ignore the arrest warrant against Sudan’s Bashir, who has visited ICC signatories Chad and Kenya without being detained.

But Bensouda said after her election she disagreed with that view. “I think ICC is working for Africa and with African victims,” she told reporters. “I don’t think any of us can deny that the crimes, the atrocities that are happening in Africa are crimes that fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC.”

Botswana President Seretse Khama went further in a speech to the meeting that elected Bensouda, blasting what he called the “increasing failure by (some African states) to honor their obligations under the Rome Statute.”

“The reality is that atrocious human rights abuses and other serious crimes that merit ICC’s attention have and continue to be committed in Africa,” he said. “And in the majority of situations, it is Africans themselves who invite the intervention of the court.”

Reuters.

Former military coup leader Jammeh’s victory is seen by many analysts as a foregone conclusion in a country known for palm-fringed tropical beaches but which is regularly accused by rights groups of repression of dissent and press-muzzling.

“I am confident to win with a landslide majority,” the 46-year-old former army coup leader told reporters as he voted in the capital Banjul on Thursday.

“People know what I did for the Gambia for the past 17 years in terms of development. The British who were here for 400 years never did that,” he said of Gambia’s former colonial ruler whose presence was established in the 16th century.

The early count was released during the night by the Independent Electoral Commission based on a count of 13 percent of votes. Main opposition leader Ousainou Darboe scored 14.5 percent and independent candidate Amath Bah was on 8.3 percent.

Nearly 800,000 voters were registered in a system under which they are given one marble each, which they drop into a drum corresponding to the candidate of their choice. The marble strikes a bell inside the drum, preventing multiple voting.

One of Africa’s most controversial rulers, Jammeh announced in 2007 he had a herbal concoction that cured AIDS, but only on Thursdays, a claim derided by international health experts.

He declared in July neither a vote nor a coup could oust him, saying he ruled thanks to divine intervention. He has courted controversy with reported threats to human rights groups and a 2008 order for all homosexuals to leave Gambia.

Regional body ECOWAS, in an unusually strong criticism of a member state, said on Tuesday it would not send a mission to observe the poll “because the preparations and political environment … are adjudged by the commission not to be conducive for the conduct of free, fair and transparent polls.”

Its fact-finding mission found “an unacceptable level of control of the electronic media by the party in power … and an opposition and electorate cowed by repression and intimidation”.

Supporters of Jammeh point to various development projects undertaken in 17 years since a 1994 coup, while others note the crippling poverty in a country where income per head is around $1 a day.

“I am coming to vote and pray for change because life is very hard,” said Binta Jah, a housewife voting in the coastal town of Serekunda.

“The average Gambian cannot afford a bag of rice,” she said.

Reuters.

Selon les informations fournies par la police gambienne et par l’agence britannique de lutte contre le crime organisé, le démantèlement du réseau a commencé le 12 mai dernier. Informés par des habitants de Bonto, un village situé à une cinquantaine de kilomètres de Banjul, des membres de l’agence antidrogue gambienne ont saisi trois kilos de cocaïne et ont apréhendé12 suspects. Dans ce groupe figurent quatre Nigérians, trois Ghanéens, deux Vénézuéliens et trois Néerlandais, dont le patron d’une société de pêche qui, dans un hôtel délabré d’une petite île, avaient installé leur quartier général avec systèmes de communication et de transport.

Sentant qu’ils étaient sur un gros coup, les Gambiens ont fait alors appel aux services britanniques. Conjointement, les agents des deux pays ont mené leurs investigations et, le 4 juin, ils ont découvert un abri souterrain situé dans un entrepôt. A l’intérieur, plus de deux tonnes de cocaïne qui étaient stockées dans 85 sacs. Sur une photo publiée par le SOCA, certaines briques de drogue sont étonnamment frappées du drapeau français. L’opération a permis également de retrouver 210 000 euros et des quantités d’armes. Mardi 8 juin au soir, trois nouvelles personnes ont été arrêtées, dont deux Gambiens et un Nigérian.

Cette énorme saisie intervient alors que, depuis février, plusieurs personnalités gambiennes ont été arrêtées en raison de liens supposés avec des narcotrafiquants. Parmi elles, l’ancien patron de l’agence nationale gambienne de lutte contre la drogue (NDEA). A la suite de ces arrestations, le président Yahya Jammeh, qui gouverne la Gambie d’une main de fer depuis 1994, a notamment déclaré : « Ceux qui ont des positions élevées dans le domaine de la sécurité ne doivent pas être impliqués dans le trafic de drogue. Je fais serment que ce pays ne sera jamais un narco-Etat ». Plusieurs pays de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, dont la Gambie, sont devenus ces dernières années des points de transit importants pour la cocaïne sud-américaine à destination des marchés européens.

RFI.

Lors de sa présentation, il a exprimé sa sympathie pour le président gambien en précisant : « Ce concert est une célébration de la culture, de l’humanité. Le partage et le respect de l’humain. Cela n’a rien à voir avec le gouvernement ni avec la politique ».

A la question posée sur : les violations des droits de l’homme dans ce pays, la détention arbitraire, les arrestations d’opposants et de journalistes, les expulsions de représentants de l’ONU, Jermaine Jackson a répondu presque la main sur le cœur : « Yaya Jammeh est un homme bien ». Il a ajouté : « Son Excellence est un leader très gentil et brillant et il est à l’écoute des gens. Je ne serais pas là, s’il n’était pas la personne que je pense qu’il est ».
Jermaine Jackson a en outre annoncé son intention d’y construire une «Jackson Academy of Performing Arts School » afin de découvrir les talents africains, aussi bien dans la danse que dans la musique. Son manager pour l’Afrique, Mbacké Dioum explique qu’en dépit des rumeurs, la star souhaite seulement apporter son soutien pour développer le tourisme, la culture et aussi la musique en Gambie.

RFI.

They were found guilty of six counts of defamation and sedition.
The journalists had questioned Yahya Jammeh’s declaration the government was not responsible for the 2004 death of prominent journalist Deyda Hydara.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the sentencing reflected a “partisan judicial system”.

“President Jammeh has managed to nail the coffin shut for press freedom in The Gambia,” CPJ’s Tom Rhodes said in a statement. The head of The Gambia Press Union, Ndey Tapha Sosseh, told the BBC she was “shocked” by the harsh outcome of the trial.

Mr Hydara, a vocal critic of strict media laws, was gunned down but nobody was charged with his murder.

Since then the privately owned newspaper he edited, The Point, has incorporated into its masthead his photo, with the question: “Who killed Deyda Hydara?”

It is three years since another prominent journalist Chief Ebrima Manney went missing.

President Yahya Jammeh came to power through a coup in 1994 and has won three multi-party elections since then.

But amid claims of plots to oust him, dozens of people have been arrested and unlawfully detained.

BBC

Mr Osei-Adjei said prosecutors had not given him details of the charges

The BBC’s James Afedo in the capital, Accra, says several members of the previous government are being investigated for alleged corruption. Mr Osei-Adjei is the first official from ex-President John Kufuor’s administration to be formally charged, he says.

The former minister told the BBC’s Network Africa programme that prosecutors had not informed him why he was being summoned to the Bureau of National Investigation.

“I knew we had a case pending in court so I thought perhaps they wanted to talk to me about how we could resolve the issue,” he said.

“Never in my wildest dreams [did I think] they were going to arrest me and charge me.

“To go the extent of labelling me, that I caused financial loss, I don’t seem to accept it,” he said.

He was released on a $333,000 (£203,000) bail and said a hearing date had been set for Friday.

Mr Kufuor stood down as president after serving the maximum two terms after his ruling party narrowly lost elections in December.

BBC.

Il faut dire que dans le pays personne n’ose critiquer ouvertement le président. A l’évocation de son seul nom, vous pouvez immédiatement subir les affres de l’omniprésente et redoutée agence nationale de renseignements. Ses officiers ont d’ailleurs surgis vendredi dans les locaux du journal The point à la recherche d’autres membres de la rédaction qui bien sûr ont vite fait d’aller se cacher.

Les hommes de l’agence, qui agissent au vu et au su de tous, tabassent régulièrement en plein jour des journalistes dont les articles sont jugés peu favorables au régime quand ils ne sont pas carrément éliminés physiquement.

Pour avoir simplement repris dans leurs journaux le communiqué du syndicat de la presse gambienne appelant le président à reconnaître la responsabilité de son gouvernement dans l’assassinat du journaliste Déïda Haïdara tué en 2004 par des inconnus, 9 journalistes sont déjà sous les verrous. Ils sont tous inculpés pour publication incitant au soulèvement contre l’autorité établie.

RFI.