Having the same president for more than 30 years can be tedious. Seeing Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir with the white scarf around his head for three centuries can be particularly boring. The people of Sudan were tired of that and his crass incompetence in managing the country, his tyranny, brutality and his corruption and they demonstrated and protested from September 2018 which resulted in crackdown and oppression of the protestors which lead to bloodshed bloodshed and the oppression of until the military did a coup against him and ousted him from power. Then Sudan had three different Presidents in three days. Omar al-Bashir was president for thirty years until 11th April 2019. The Transitional Military Council that removed him from power was led by the Defence Minister Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf and his reign was short lived as the protestors said that they wanted a civilian government. He resigned after a day in charge and was succeeded by Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan. That is a lot of presidents for a short period. The demonstrators are willing to listen and hold meetings with the new president because even though he is from the military, he isn’t part of the clique of thieves that ruled the country under al-Bashir

In other African leader’s news, the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el- Sisi is planning of extending his time in power by extending presidential limits. When they are approved in a referendum, the former Army General could rule Egypt until 2030. Fattah el-Sisi who is also the Chairperson of the African Union just started his second term after winning more than 97% of the votes in 2018. Fattah el-Sisi was defence minister during the reign of President Mohamed Morsi and was the leader in the coup that deposed Mr Morsi. El-Sisi crack down on the media and the judiciary and disallowing other candidates from contesting in the previous selection gives the dictator more power and control of the Arab state.

Elsewhere in Africa, the crackdown and the killing of the English speaking separatist in Cameroon is alarming and no action is being taken. President Paul Biya is in no mood of letting go the anglo speaking part of the country and the reaction is that of any tyranny leader, just unleashing brutality and violence. The acquiesce on the part of the African Union is not new but very disturbing as they are looking on while the tyranny of the leader is continuing to kill people in the name of installing law and order.

The violence Libya is spreading and the world looks on unconcerned. The Prime Minister of the Libya Fayez al-Serraj is calling for Libyan General Khalifa Haftar of the east to stop the onslaught to prevent more deaths. The UN backed government based in Tripoli is also defending itself from the violence being unleashed by the men of Haftar. General Haftar is tired of hiding in the east and wants a lot of attention and the efforts of the UN Secretary General Antonio Gutiérrez is commendable. What is clear is that the talk is not enough with Donald Trump supporting Haftar with arms and intelligence and the American exploiting the vast oil fields in the east, one of numerous catastrophe of American and NATO foreign policy was hurrying to overthrow Gaddafi and not having any idea of how the country will be like after him left. What is left is the failed state with militia and warlords everywhere.

News elsewhere around the globe

This week also saw the destruction of the biggest legacies in Europe as the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was set ablaze. Thick smoke was seen bellowing from the spire of the cathedral. The cause of the fire is not known yet as the blaze was seen on the top of cathedral. Fire fighters battled the fire to save the Cathedral that was built in 1345. Other valuables in the cathedral has been removed for safe keeping as repair is done.

The Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un has a meeting with the president of Russia Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin confirmed of the meeting between the two leaders will take place in late April.

The Foreign Secretary for Russia Sergey Lavrov travelled to Pyongyang to establish close ties between Kremlin and Pyongyang last year. This week North Korean leader said that they are not happy with the progress with the denuclearization of the peninsula. It is also reported that they are doing some new test with developing new nuclear programme. They also requested that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo be removed from the negotiations. With their negotiations with America going sour, Russia is the next power bloc as the country explore its options.

The report of the Special Counsel investigating Russia COLLUSION with Trump campaign team is out and as it was stated earlier on, Trump is clear. That is what he said and latter mentioned that this should never to any president again. The Democrats in the lower house will have a different opinion and will definitely subject the report to strict and intense scrutiny after they resume after the break.

Sports

In sports, Anthony Joshua opponent for his first fight in the US Jarrell Miller’s licence has been revoked as he failed a drug test. Joshua is facing the clock as he searches for a new challenger as Dalian Whyte is now unavailable due to bad moves made by Eddie Haern, Joshua manager.

The Champions league this year is producing lots of fun and exciting. 4 goals were scored in 22 minutes at the Etihad Stadium between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspurs. Rahem Sterling scored after 5 minutes throwing any pre game plan by Mauricio Pochetinno. Aymeric Larporte had a dreadful game which resulted in quick double fire from Son Heung-min and Bernando Silva equalised after 22 minutes. Sterling and Aguero scored on either parts of half time City leading the tie for the first time in the tie. Fernando Llorante scored from a corner after coming on to replace Moussa Sissoko because Spurs had no midfielders because they are first team in England to go through two transfer windows without signing a single player in a while. Rahem Sterling scored the third and winner or what seemed like that with loud and emotional celebrations only for the goal to be disallowed via VAR. It ended 4:3 to City but Spurs won on aggregate with Tottenham Hotspurs going through the semi-finals for the first time since 1964 via the away goal rule after winning the first league by one goal to zero. What is intriguing is how the teams get together again after a fantastic match like this.

Their opponent will be Ajax Amsterdam who eliminated Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus. They are having quite the season after eliminating the holders and now removing the favourites. The young Dutch side play some attacking football and very exciting to watch. The other tie is between Barcelona and Liverpool. Barcelona made light work of Manchester United as they did not break a sweat to beat United by three goals to nil. The work to be done by Ole Gunnar Solkjear is now clear and the sight of Ashley Young playing against Lionel Messi does not good viewing by any united fan. Clearly Manchester United is light years behind the elites of European football. Liverpool steamed rolled Porto by to reach the semi semi finals.

Nana Kwame