Zambia lifts ban on hunting of big cats.Drive Hot News

 Tourists observe a lion at the Maasai Mara in Kenya. Zambia has lifted a ban on the hunting of big cats. FILE

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA

Zambia has lifted a ban on the hunting of big cats that was imposed over allegations of corruption in the awarding of government hunting concessions, officials said on Wednesday.

The decision removes the last remaining restriction of a total ban on hunting introduced in January 2013 and gradually lifted since last August after the government said it was losing too much revenue.

"The hunting of lions will start during the 2016 to 2017 hunting season and this will be done very cautiously," Tourism Minister Jean Kapata told AFP, adding leopard hunting would resume this year.

"We made sure there were no complaints of corruption and only people that met the required standards were given the concessions."

She said the government was now satisfied with population sizes, with around 4,000 lions and 8,000 leopards in the southern African country.

Government-licensed hunting is common across the region, with tourists paying to shoot a small number of selected animals.

The practice is controversial but many wildlife experts accept that hunting can aid long-term conservation.

In neighbouring Botswana, a group of lawmakers is seeking to upend a ban on elephant hunting, saying the animals have multiplied in some areas to unmanageable levels.

Hungarian author wins British literary prize.Drive Hot News

 Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won Britain's Man Booker International Prize for career achievement on Tuesday, saying he hoped it would allow him to access a wider audience. PHOTO

Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won Britain's Man Booker International Prize for career achievement on Tuesday, saying he hoped it would allow him to access a wider audience.

In his acceptance speech at a ceremony in the Victoria & Albert Museum, the 61-year-old credited author Franz Kafka, singer Jimi Hendrix and the city of Kyoto in Japan for inspiration.

"I hope that with the help of this prize I will find new readers in the English-speaking world,after receiving the award.

Asked about the apocalyptic images in his work, he said: "Maybe I'm a writer who writes novels for readers who need the beauty in hell."

Best known in Germany and Hungary, Krasznahorkai is the author of Satantango (1985), which was later made into a film, The Melancholy of Resistance (1998) and Seiobo There Below (2008).

Previous winners of the Man Booker International Prize, which is awarded every two years, include US writer Philip Roth and Canada's Alice Munro.

South Sudanese artist Silver X longs to work with Sauti Sol.Drive Hot News

 South Sudanese born and Ugandan based artiste, Okuta Ceasar Malis alias Silver X , is learning Kiswahili and collaborating with local musicians in an effort to break into the Kenyan music market.

South Sudanese born and Ugandan based artiste, Okuta Ceasar Malis alias Silver X , is learning Kiswahili and collaborating with local musicians in an effort to break into the Kenyan music market.

 “I released “East African Lover” with Renee, after which I collaborated with Wyre, Kenrazy and Visita,” he adds.

This is not the first time that Silver X is trying to familiarise himself in the Kenyan music scene, having being nominated as the Best East African artiste in this year’s Bingwa music Awards, a title that he however lost to Ugandan sensation, Jose Chameleone.

TO RELEASE SIXTH ALBUM

It is this passion and hard work that has seen him release five albums including Wehe, Masuara, Carolina, and Ana Biwore, with the sixth one to be launched later this year.

He feels Kenya will give his music a fresh flavour that will distinguish him from his Ugandan and South Sudanese counterparts whose music , he says, resembles dancehall.

“I would say Kenya’s identity music, Kapuka is a unique beat and I would really want to incorporate that into my work,” he says.

His musical journey started eight years ago but he had to postpone his ambition to finish his A-level education, a dream that he revived three years later when he came back this time round with an album that not only left fans yearning for more, but also left a mark in his home country.

The album “Fetisu Sukol” which means looking for a job was a great inspiration as it was touching on matters close to most South Sudanese hearts.

“It was about the hardships of looking for a job in a time that my country was ravaged with the nightmare of nepotism and tribalism,” he adds.

It is a momentum that he intends to maintain even as he looks forward to work with other major Kenyan artistes and in particular Sauti Sol, and bring this kind of message to the East African fans.

Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza postpones parliamentary polls to June 2.Drive Hot News

 Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza poses at the President's office in Bujumbura on May 17, 2015.

BUJUMBURA

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has postponed parliamentary elections by one week to June 2, presidential official Willy Nyamitwe told AFP Wednesday, following weeks of violent protests and a failed coup.

Legislative elections had been due on May 26, but were pushed back a week following "a proposal from the electoral commission, to respond to a request from opposition parties, and finally to answer calls of the region and the international community," Nyamitwe said.

No decision has been made as to whether a presidential poll set for June 26 would also be delayed. "Wait and see," Nyamitwe said.

The European Union joined the African Union on Tuesday calling for a delay to the elections, while South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said they should be "postponed indefinitely" after a meeting of Africa's Great Lakes bloc of nations.

FAILED COUP

At least 20 people died in weeks of street battles with security forces before demonstrations ended last week when generals launched a failed coup attempt, but protests resumed again this week.

Protesters clashed Wednesday with security forces, who fired warning shots and tear gas to break up the crowds, but who then swiftly regrouped elsewhere.

Opposition and rights groups say that Nkurunziza's bid for a third five-year term in power is against the constitution and the terms of the peace deal that brought an end to the country's 13-year civil war in 2006.

But Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader and born-again Christian who believes he has divine backing to lead the country, argues his first term in power did not count as he was elected by parliament, not directly by the people.

He has been accused by rights groups of launching a campaign of repression against opponents and trying to silence independent media since coup leaders admitted defeat on Friday after fierce fighting with loyalist troops.

But the presidency dismissed such claims Tuesday, saying it would never carry out "revenge" raids and promising fair trials for those arrested.

Almost a week on since the coup attempt led by a top general — which saw soldiers battling each other on the streets — troops have largely replaced the police to stem the protests.

More than 100,000 people have fled to neighbouring nations to escape political violence, according to the United Nations.

EAC softens stance as Burundi situation stabilizes.Drive Hot News

 Chairman of the East African Council of Ministers Harrison Mwakyembe (left) confers with council member Shem Bageine of Uganda (second left),  Tanzania’s Deputy Minister for East Africa Cooperation Abdallah Sadalla (second right) and East African Community Secretary-General Richard Sezibera during a meeting on the Burundi crisis yesterday.  PHOTO

Arusha. The Burundi elections may not be postponed as directed by the emergency East African Community Heads of State held in Dar es Salaam last week.

 Instead, the EAC will dispatch an observer mission to the parliamentary and presidential elections slated for May 26 and June 26, respectively, as initially planned, according to a senior Tanzanian government official.

 The change of heart apparently follows what has been perceived as a stabilizing of situation in Burundi, where renegade soldiers attempted to oust President Pierre Nkurunziza last Wednesday  after weeks of violent clashes between police and protesters.

 “There is no way the EAC can avoid supporting the government of Pierre Nkurunziza for now. The situation has somehow stabilized unlike before the attempted coup,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter.

 The official, who spoke on the sidelines of an emergency meeting of member states’ East African cooperation ministers at the EAC headquarters, said the partner states were relieved that peace was returning to Burundi in the wake of violence that left about 20 people dead.  However, he did not say whether the EAC had accepted President Nkurunziza’s controversial bid for a third term, which sparked the crisis.

It was resolved during last week’s summit that Burundi was not ready for free and fair elections given the fluid situation in Burundi following weeks of  violent demonstrations.

The leaders from Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda called upon the authorities in Bujumbura to postpone the elections for a period not beyond the mandate of the current government of President Nkurunziza.

 Summit chairman President Jakaya Kikwete hosted the meeting at State House, Dar es Salaam, and other leaders in attendance were presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya.

President Nkurunziza, was in Dar es Salaam, but did not attend the meeting following reports of an attempted coup against him.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe, told reporters in Dar es Salaam at the weekend that the security situation in Burundi was too fragile for elections to be held.

 He indicated that the EAC was about to propose that the eagerly-awaited elections be postponed to July this year “when the dust would have settled”, but not after August when Mr Nkurunziza’s term will come to an end.

Yesterday’s emergency meeting in Arusha, chaired by East Africa Cooperation minister Harrison Mwakyembe, discussed the Burundi crisis within the context of last Friday’s meeting of attorneys general from the five partner states.

Singapore nets 'biggest haul' including Sh500m worth of Kenyan ivory.Drive Hot News

 Kenya Wildlife Service officers display ivory seized at the Port of Mombasa on October 12, 2013. Singapore authorities seized the biggest illegal shipment of ivory and other exotic animal parts in more than a decade on Tuesday, with the haul from Kenya worth an estimated $6 million. FILE PHOTO

SINGAPORE

Singapore authorities seized the biggest illegal shipment of ivory and other exotic animal parts in more than a decade on Tuesday, with the haul from Kenya worth an estimated $6 million (about Sh570 million).

The animal parts were discovered stashed among bags of tea leaves in two 20-foot containers while transiting through the city-state to Vietnam, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and Singapore Customs said in a joint statement.

Authorities uncovered 1,783 pieces of raw ivory tusk hidden among the bags, the statement said.

Four pieces of rhino horn and 22 teeth believed to be from African big cats — cheetahs and leopards — were also found in the containers, it said.

The haul weighed 3.7 tonnes and is the largest seizure of illegal ivory in Singapore since 2002 when six tonnes of ivory were intercepted, the statement said.

SEABORNE TRADE

The shipping of ivory has been banned since 1989 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) — to which Singapore, a major hub for seaborne trade, is a signatory.

In April last year, local authorities intercepted a shipment of illegal ivory worth Sg$2.0 million, labelled as coffee berries, transiting from Africa, according to the statement.

A similar cargo, also from Africa, worth Sg$2.5 million was uncovered in January 2013.

Ivory ornaments are coveted in Asian countries like Vietnam, Thailand and China despite fears that the trade is pushing wild elephants to extinction.

Rhino horn is prized for its supposed medicinal properties.

Press freedom: Journalists working in increasingly intolerant conditions.Drive Hot News

 Citizen TV cameraman Reuben Ogachi recuperating at Aga Khan Hospital in Mombasa after an attack by GSU officers in Tana River. As the World Press Freedom Day is marked, it has emerged that journalists are still working in a difficult environment. PHOTO

Even as the world marks World Press Freedom Day, it has emerged that journalists are operating in an environment that is becoming increasingly intolerant.

Governments across Africa have heightened efforts of reigning in the media and limiting free speech.

In East Africa alone, around 25 journalists have been interrogated by the police and security agencies.

On April 23, 2015, the Director of Criminal Investigations, Ndegwa Muhoro’s office wrote to the Nation Media Group (NMG) to compel two of its editors to appear for questioning, in a letter signed by Mr Joseph Ngisa.

The two were summoned over the publication of two articles in the Daily Nation on April 21 and April 22, indicating involving an intelligence officer.

K24 reporters were also summoned by the DCI for questioning over the coverage of the recent Garissa massacres.

In Eldoret, John Kituyi, editor and publisher of the Mirror was murdered by unknown assailants.

Nehemiah Okwemba of NTV and Reuben Ogacha of Citizen TV were attacked by the General Service Unit (GSU) officers while reporting on a story in Galana Kulalu Ranch in Tana River County.

Since January 2015, at least 20 newspapers have had editions of their publications confiscated on 45 different occasions by the country’s National Intelligence and Security Service.

In January 24, the leading regional newspaper, the East African was been banned from circulation in Tanzania, 20 years after it was launched to cover the region for 'circulating in the country without being properly registered, contrary to section 6 of the Newspaper Act number 3 of 1976’.