• A homeless man, security guard and a minibus passenger all die as Robert Mugabe is transported around Zimbabwe
• The 88-year-old tyrant’s motorcade is said to be the longest in Africa and his vehicle is a luxury Mercedes
• Dictator has made it law that motorists have to pull over if they see the presidential car approaching

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s motorcade has been involved in a third fatal road smash in just two weeks.

The 88-year-old tyrant’s line of official vehicles smashed into a minibus on Sunday, leaving one man dead.

The bloody accident happened a fortnight after two people were killed in a single day in two separate smashes involving the presidential motorcade.

In the latest incident, reported on the The New Zimbabwe website, a bus passenger was killed and 15 people injured on Sunday afternoon.

It happened as Mugabe was being driven in a convoy to the country’s capital Harare from his home village of Zvimba.

The website said: ‘President Robert Mugabe’s motorcade was involved in a third accident on Sunday inside two weeks.

‘The presidential motorcade was making a brisk return to Harare from Mugabe’s rural home in Zvimba when a police lead vehicle sent to clear traffic rammed into a commuter minibus carrying 22 passengers.

‘A male passenger in the minibus, known locally as a kombi, died on impact with the police Mercedes while 15 others – including two police officers – were injured.’

It is believed Mugabe’s lengthy motorcade was speeding the president to the international airport ahead of a scheduled flight to Brazil.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said the accident happened after the minibus taxi driver ignored the presidential convoy’s flashing blue lights.

He said: ‘The police vehicle was flashing its blue lights. A vehicle travelling in the opposite direction pulled to the side of the road, and unfortunately the kombi driver took the decision to overtake that vehicle and smashed into the police car.’

The Zimbabwean president was on his way to a funeral on June 6 when the two previous incidents occurred.

Mugabe’s motorcade had two accidents on his way to a funeral before the latest incident

First of all, one of the tyrant’s outrider motorbikes killed a homeless man as they rushed the octogenarian president to a funeral.

The independent Daily News reported the motorbike which knocked down the pedestrian had been the first vehicle in Mugabe’s motorcade, which is reportedly one of the longest in Africa.

The newspaper claimed the rest of the statesman’s long chain of vehicles sped by without stopping to help the victim.

The 88-year-old statesman is traditionally ensconced safely in a luxury Mercedes limousine when he travels around his poverty-stricken country.

The presidential vehicle is accompanied by more than a dozen others as part of an extensive motorcade which includes Land Cruisers, security vehicles full of armed soldiers, high-powered motorcycles and a standby ambulance.

It is believed Mugabe was being transported from Zimbabwe’s capital Harare on Wednesday to a funeral in his home village of Zvimba when the accident happened.

The Daily News reported that several of the leader’s security guards were later injured in a second accident after a tyre blew out in one of their Land Cruisers.

Presidential spokesman George Charamba confirmed the victims of both accidents had been taken to hospital.

The motorcade smash comes a decade after Mugabe brought in new laws to ease his passage around Zimbabwe.

Since 2002 motorists have been legally required to pull over if they see the presidential car approaching.

It is also an offence to gesticulate at the motorcade with the intention of insulting those inside.

Offenders have previously been arrested or met with a robust physical response from Mugabe’s guards.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2159684/Hes-AGAIN-Robert-Mugabes-motorcade-kills-THIRD-person-weeks-colliding-minibus.html#ixzz1yKOJFJ2j

The mayhem unfolding in Kaduna State may have recorded its deadliest blow yesterday as Muslim youths took their rampage to the markets located at the Northern Kaduna where Muslims are the dominant group.

Information available to 247ureports.com indicates that the Kaduna Central Market was attacked owing to the premature relaxation of the 24hour curfew across the state to a 6pm to 6am curfew. As the traders of Kaduna Central Market arrived at the gated Marketplace to unlock their various shops to beginning the business of the day at across minutes to 7am, a group of irate Muslim youths pounced into the market premises and locked the gates – and commenced/launched an attack on the traders that had arrived to unlock their shops. Many of the traders who were caught unawares ran for safety while the unlucky one who could not escape the youths – were knifed to death. Four Igbo traders believed to be Anambra in origin were brutally killed – before the security agents arrived at the markets to secure the area. As the security agents staged in Kaduna [Operation Yaki] arrived to the Kaduna Central Market, the irate Muslim youths escaped the scene. The security operative have remained tight lipped on the identities of the 4 slaughtered traders.

Similar scenario played out at the Kaduna Polytechnic – as irate Muslim youths from the vicinity of Tudun Wada took advantage of the relaxed curfew and briefly gained unfettered entry into the polytechnic campus armed with exotic knives/daggers and other dangerous weapons at about 2pm yesterday Tuesday June 19, 2012. The students were caught unawares as they scampered for their lives while others managed to fight for their lives. Before the men of the Operation Yaki could arrive to the campus, two bodies believed to be students of the polytechnic were laying lifeless near the entrance of the campus. The identities of the two dead students were not available.

The attacks by the irate youths were reported to have been isolated to the northern part of Kaduna were the dominant popular are the Muslims while Southern Kaduna where the dominant popular are the Christians remained relatively calm. The communities in the northern part of Kaduna within the vicinity of Kaduna Central Market, Tudun Wada, Kawo and Rigasa experienced violent activities yesterday. Exclusive eyewitness reports indicate that three Churches were hazed yesterday during ruckus. An ECWA church located in Tudun Wada was attacked, another church [name not known] was attacked in Tudun Nufawa and another church [JAWOM Church] was attacked in Ungwan Nua’azu.  Other attempts were made by the irate youths to attack other church. But the attempts were not successful due to the quick acting vigilante security setup by some within the Christian communities who refused to run.

Security operatives, on their part, remain apprehensive over celebrating the return of calm in Kaduna State. The majority of the security operatives, according to a source within the top ranks, share a mixed feeling over the ability of the violence in Kaduna to be permanently stopped by mere fight power. “There is real anger on both sides” said the source who went on to add that “these boys are serious” as he explained the determination to get revenge at all cost against the other side. “We will need more than just firepower and curfews against this problem”.

Meanwhile, in a related development, the attention of the legislative arm of the Nigerian federal government has turned towards the incessant sectarian killings in selected part of the country – that appears to have continued unabated. Accordingly, the Nigeria’s House of Representatives has summoned President Goodluck Jonathan to appear before its chambers behind closed-doors to brief lawmakers of the efforts at stopping the continued killings.

The lawmakers also summoned the president to come along with some of his aides – including, the National security Adviser General Azazi; Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Petinrin; Director of State Security Service, (SSS) Mr Ekpeyong; and the Acting Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Abubakar.

The summon came through a motion moved on the floor of the House by Yakubu Barde [PDP Kaduna] and supported by Minority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila [ACN Lagos].

The United Nations and South Sudanese authorities said on Friday they were investigating reports police had abducted and raped women during a disarmament program in the east of the troubled African nation.
South Sudan declared independence from Sudan a year ago under a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war. But its government has been struggling to assert control over a country still torn by ethnic tensions and awash with arms.
The United Nations said residents of the country’s Jonglei region reported police attacked women earlier this month during a push to collect weapons from the area’s fighting Lou Nuer and Murle tribes.
The announcement came after a group of aid and rights groups, including U.S.-based PACT, issued a report accusing the army and state police of beatings, harassment, killings, torture and sexual assault of civilians during the disarmament campaign.
The United Nations mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said it had received unconfirmed reports three women were abducted from Likuangole and another three from Manyabol on June 11.
“We are following up reports from (residents) that policemen are being accused of having conducted rape and abduction,” said spokesman Liam McDowall.
“We’re following up reports of quite serious outbreaks of disorder and we are supporting the South Sudanese authorities in their enquiries,” McDowall said.
The mission said two children drowned in a river when residents fled police shooting in the village of Likuangole on June 8.
Joshua Konyi, the commissioner of Jonglei’s Pibor area, said some policemen stationed there during the disarmament program took several women to Likuangole by force, adding that details were still unclear.
“Two ladies, one of 16 years and one of 13 years, were raped that night by the armed forces. We don’t know whether they are police or soldiers,” he said.
“I don’t know the details of who raped those women but according to what we heard, information we got from Likuangole, the ladies themselves said (the men) had military uniforms. I’m not sure if they were police or SPLA (army) uniform.”
“They (also) took three women from Manyabol,” he said.
South Sudan, one of the least developed countries in the world, is attempting to transform its army and police from a jigsaw of former rebel militias into regular forces.
Overwhelmed with the task of building up a state from scratch, the government has had little success in kick-starting development.
In January, South Sudan lost 98 percent of state revenues when it shut down its oil production in a row over export fees with Sudan.

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) — Reports conflicted Wednesday over whether the 84-year-old former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, was clinically dead.

The state-run Middle East News Agency, citing medical sources, said he was declared clinically dead shortly after arriving late Tuesday at a military hospital in Cairo, where he had been taken after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest earlier in the day.

But Gen. Mamdouh Shaheen, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, told CNN, “He is not clinically dead as reported, but his health is deteriorating and he is in critical condition.”

Fast facts on the life of Hosni Mubarak

Mubarak in a coma, protesters gather

Conflicting reports on Mubarak’s death

The legacy of the Egyptian revolution

Egyptian: ‘Revolution has long way to go’

Mubarak was taken by helicopter to the military hospital in the Maadi suburb of Cairo, Shaheen said. “He had a heart attack and his heart stopped and he was saved by electric shocks, then placed on respirator,” he said. “His pulse is 40. He then got a brain clot. He is NOT clinically dead as reported but his health is deteriorating and he is in critical condition.”

And Mubarak’s lawyer, Fareed El Deeb, told CNN, “He has been in a coma for hours now. He has had water on the lungs for 10 days now and his blood pressure is down today, which obstructed his breathing and forced doctors to put him on a respirator. He was given medicine intravenously to relieve the brain clot, and electric shocks were used to revive him but there was no substantial response. He is not dead as reported.”

El Deeb added that Mubarak’s wife, Suzanne, was at his side. He blamed SCAF for not having moved Mubarak last week from the prison to the hospital.

Adel Saeed, the official spokesman of the Egyptian prosecutor, had said earlier, “We were informed by prison authority that Mubarak’s heart has stopped and they used electric shocks and CPR to resurrect him. He is now on an artificial respirator and doctors from the armed forces and International Medical Center will inspect him.”

Nile TV reported that Mubarak had suffered a stroke.

He was taken from Tora prison hospital to Maadi military hospital, El Deeb told CNN. “He has suffered a stroke, but he is not dead.”

The prosecutor and the military council denied Mubarak had been moved.

His health had been reported in decline since he was ousted as president of Egypt in February 2011 and found guilty of charges related to the killings of hundreds of anti-government demonstrators during the revolution.

Last week, an Interior Ministry spokesman said he was comatose; the spokesman said he suffered from high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats and difficulty breathing.

“We should be skeptical,” said Fouad Ajami, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

“There’s a great Arab expression I like and it asks the following question: When you’re told that someone is dead, you say, ‘Is he dead and buried, or just dead?’ I think we are in the middle of this kind of situation.”

“Clinically dead is not a phrase that is commonly used, but when it is used, what it usually means is that someone is brain dead,” said CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. “In the United States, we would call this person dead because they have no brain activity.”

Meanwhile, crowds jammed Tahrir Square once again on Wednesday. But their focus this time was not on Mubarak. Instead, it was on the power grab by the Egyptian military, which last week issued a constitutional decree that stripped the position of president of much of its power after a top court dissolved the parliament. Those moves were followed by the nation’s first presidential election, which pitted Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi against Mubarak’s former prime minister, Ahmed Safik. Final results have not been announced.

“It’s a media stunt to divert attention from the constitutional decree,” said Taha Shaker, a demonstrator in the square. “If he’s really dead, it won’t make a difference. We’ve started a sit-in and won’t leave unless the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces leaves unconditionally.”

“I’ve come from far away. I’m not leaving until Morsi swears the oath in front of the legitimately elected parliament,” said demonstrator Sayed Ahmed. “I don’t care about Mubarak. These are games played by the intelligence services.”

“If he’s really dead, its God’s will,” said Nasser Shaaban, another demonstrator. “I would hope he lives to see the new president.”

Outside Maadi Military Hospital, shortly before midnight Tuesday, there was no additional security. Instead, there were a few policemen outside the main gate and two military police inside the gate. Across the street perhaps a half-dozen journalists sat on the curb smoking cigarettes.

Have you witnessed demonstrations in the Arab world? Tell us what you see.