The new Somali Parliament to be constituted after elections this year is to have a female representation of 30 per cent, a development that follows widespread consultations between stakeholders including the Somali government and the United Nations.

“He (UN Secretary General) particularly applauds the commitment to representation of women and minority groups, including that women will comprise 30 per cent of the next Parliament, in line with the Mogadishu Declaration of December 2015,” said a statement issued by Mr. Ban ki Moon’s spokesperson.

Mr Ban’s remarks follow a presentation made to the United Nations Security Council by Michael Keating, the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) to Somalia.

“It gives me particular pleasure to share some breaking news with you,” Mr Keating said and added: “This morning, a decision was taken by the Somali Cabinet on the electoral model to be used later this year. This is the culmination of almost six months of intense consultations. It may be a watershed moment, marking the growing political maturity of a federal Somalia.”

The UN chief also reiterated the urgency of establishing a political roadmap towards universal suffrage in Somalia by 2020, to ensure continued momentum in the country’s transition to democracy.

In the Security Council, Mr. Keating, who is also the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), said the electoral model is ‘Somali-devised, Somali-led and Somali-owned’, adding that real momentum could and should result from the ‘breakthrough’ achieved. Meanwhile, Mr Keating told the UNSC that success in Somalia this year will depend upon managing threats, notably those posed by the terrorist groups Al-Shabaab.

Noting that military and counterterrorism efforts need to be accompanied by stronger policing and rule of law, Mr. Keating added that a priority must be to strengthen federal and regional capabilities within Somalia as a basis for a longer term transition plan for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which has been in the country since 2007.

“Too many civilians and too many soldiers are dying. Al-Shabab remains a potent threat,” the UN official warned, while nonetheless stating he is encouraged by the commitments made by the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, to security sector reform.

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The South Sudan government has welcomed the decision by the government of neighbouring Sudan to allow free movement of people and goods between the two countries, five years after Sudanese authorities restricted the movement, forcing retail traders to engage in limited smuggling business practices.

President Omer Hassan al-Bashir on Wednesday issued a directive, instructing that the borders be reopened between Sudan and South Sudan, which separated and formed its independent state in 2011.

This came after South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, issued a statement last week asking his army units of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), to pull back to 5 miles (8 km) from the borderline with the Sudan, asserting that his government had decided to improve relations with Sudan in the interest of peace and stability between the two countries.

The move to reopen the borders was a major step toward improving relations between the neighbouring countries whose diplomatic relations have been strained over post secession issues as well as differences over oil charges and transit fees.

The new nation took much of what was known as the Sudan’s oil reserves before the split in 2011 but later agreed to pay the north a fee to access international markets with her oil through its pipelines. Bashir has agreed to consider cutting those fees.

Both sides have also battled over unresolved border disputes, including control of another large oil field.

But South Sudanese foreign affairs and international cooperation minister said that relations between the two countries were improving for the benefit of the two nations.

Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said he hoped the two countries would work together to enjoy the importance of close ‘political, economic, social, cultural, administrative and personal ties’.

“Economically, South Sudan is extremely important to Sudan. It is by far the Sudan’s main trading partner, in terms of exports. There are also common issues which bind us together that we cannot ignore no matter political or administrative issues that may come up from time to time,” said Minister Benjamin.

South Sudanese government accused Sudan of backing anti-government rebels while Sudan alleged that the young country supported separate rebellions in Darfur region, Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

Civil war broke out in South Sudan in mid-December 2013, sending hundreds of thousands of people fleeing into Sudan.

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Parliament is struggling to secure more than $1.2 million to buy all-terrain vehicles for about 35 recently sworn-in Members of Parliament, five months after the legislators assumed office through by-elections and proportional representation.

The lawmakers assumed office last year following the recall of 21 MDC-T legislators while others took office thanks to the expulsion of some Zanu-PF legislators who were implicated as belonging to a putschist cabal led by deposed Vice President Joice Mujuru.

Dr Mujuru was fired from both Zanu-PF and Government after she was implicated in a ploy to assassinate President Mugabe among other vices.

Others replaced those that had died while others went into office to replace Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Dr Mujuru who ceased to be Members of Parliament after they were elevated to be Vice President respectively at various intervals.

Since their swearing in, most of them have been using their own vehicles despite the fact that the majority of legislators took delivery of parliamentary vehicles during the commencement of First Session of the Eight Parliament that came into effect after the July 2013 harmonised elections.

Clerk of Parliament Mr Kennedy Chokuda confirmed the failure by Parliament to secure vehicles for the new legislators.

“We have not yet provided some MPs with vehicles. We give each of them a maximum of $35 000 worth of vehicles. We have an obligation to provide them with the vehicles but we are still hamstrung by financial resources because Treasury has not made disbursements to that effect,” said Mr Chokuda.

Most Members of Parliament in the current session took delivery of Ford Ranger Offroad vehicles as part fulfillment of Parliament’s vehicle loan scheme.

The legislators are not allowed to sell the vehicle before the expiry of their term as it is meant for easy mobility in their respective constituencies and attending Parliament sittings.

Treasury released $12.2 million for the procurement of the vehicles for all the legislators at the commencement of Eighth Parliament.

This come as Parliament has instituted proceedings against expelled legislators to pay for the vehicles extended to them before their ejection.

Parliament administration has since written to the MPs informing them about their indebtedness arising from the vehicles that they took delivery of and were yet to pay.

Also being pursued is whether Parliament could not recover its money through an offset from sitting allowances of those expelled legislators provided that the figure is higher than the sums they owe.

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Rights group Amnesty says it has found five possible mass graves near Burundi’s capital, where security forces are accused of killing scores of people in December.

Amnesty says satellite images show disturbed earth at sites in the Buringa area on the edge of the capital Bujumbura that are consistent with witness reports.

“These images suggest a deliberate effort by the authorities to cover up the extent of the killings by their security forces and to prevent the full truth from coming out,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty’s regional director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

At least 87 people were killed in December’s crackdown, which came after military bases were attacked by gunmen, but the UN said the true number may be much higher.

The UN said it was also analysing satellite images to investigate reports of at least nine mass graves, including one in a military camp said to contain more than 100 bodies.

Meanwhile, police said they had arrested French journalist Jean-Philippe Remy, Africa bureau chief for French daily Le Monde, and British photojournalist Phil Moore, as well as 15 other people on Thursday. The two journalists were reporting on armed groups, police said.

“The two foreigners were arrested in the company of armed criminals,” the security ministry said in a statement, adding that a mortar, a Kalashnikov rifle and pistols were also seized.

Le Monde has demanded their release (in French) while the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of East Africa said it was ‘extremely concerned’ by the arrests.

The two journalists have covered the region for many years and have won awards for their work.

Violence in the country began last April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term.

At least 439 people have died and 240,000 have fled abroad, the UN says.

African Union (AU) leaders are due to discuss the crisis in Burundi at a summit in Ethiopia.

They want Mr Nkurunziza to accept peacekeeping troops to prevent Burundi sliding into ethnic conflict, but analysts say he is unlikely to agree.

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At least 17 people, including two foreign journalists, have been arrested in a late night police raid in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura, a presidential spokesman said.

Willy Nyamitwe said in a series of tweets late on Thursday that officers arrested 17 people in the Jabe and Nyakabiga neighbourhoods, and that they recovered a cache of weapons.

French journalist Jean Phillipe Remy, the Africa bureau chief for Le Monde newspaper, and Phil Moore, a British freelance journalist and regular contributor to Al Jazeera English, were among those held.

In a separate tweet, Nancy Ninette Mutoni, described as a senior media and communications adviser to the government, said that a source confirmed that Remy and Moore were the two people identified as having ‘press accreditation’ by a police spokesman who announced the 17 arrests on state television.

Earlier on Thursday and before his arrest, Moore mentioned raids in the area in a number of tweets.

Burundi has been in political crisis since President Pierre Nkrunziza announced his intention to run for a third term in office in April, going on to win a heavily-disputed election  three months later.

Rights groups say that authorities have since cracked down on opposition parties, human rights activists and the media. At least 300 people have been killed  in intermittent violence during the crisis and 215,000 others have fled the country.

African leaders are scheduled to vote next week on whether to deploy a 5,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force to the country, a move Burundi strongly opposes.

In November, Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a press freedom lobby group, described independent media in Burundi as being under attack.

“Many journalists have fled the country. Those who remain are trying to work but the authorities seem intent on preventing them from covering hard news. This must stop,” Mahoney said.

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The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has called for the commencement of a process of uniformly abolishing work and residence permit fees.

Yesterday, the Assembly debated and adopted the Report of the Committee on General Purpose on the petition to EALA regarding work/residence permits in the EAC for the citizens of the Partner States.

The petition was presented to the EALA Speaker Rt Hon Daniel Fred Kidega by the East African Trade Union Confederation and the East African Employers Association in March 2015. 

The EATUC/EAEO has made 17 prayers in their request including the harmonization of the standards and processes of acquiring permits as well as the future amendment of Annex 2 of the Common Market Protocol to review the roadmap for free movement of workers given the fact that the current one ended in 2015.

Furthermore, the petitioners want the new revised annex to put in place a tripartite mechanism (Employers, Trade Unions and Government) at the EAC level to be administered at national level through the tripartite fora.   The petitioners also want the standardization of the process of the work permits and the eventual removal of the permits.

EAEO with a potential outreach of over 8500 companies and business entities has also 100 associations and affiliates while the EATUC represents more than 2.5 million workers organised in unions affiliated to the national trade union centres, the regional apex bodies for employers’ organisations and national trade union centres across the EAC

Members who have contributed to the debate include Susan Nakawuki, Chris Opoka and Dora Byamukama (Uganda), Martin Ngoga, James Ndahiro and Christophe Bazivamo (Rwanda); and Hassan Mwinyi (Tanzania).

And presenting the report, Dr Odette Nyiramilimo, Chair of the Committee noted that a number of areas of co-operation and implementation of the Common Market Protocol remain in the remit of individual Partner States and called for advocacy to enable harmonization at the regional level.

The report was supported by among others Hon Valerie Nyirahabineza, Hon Peter Mathuki, Hon Bernard Mulengani and Hon Nancy Abisai.

The Minister for EAC, Uganda, Shem Bageine said the Council was committed to addressing all outstanding issues with regards to the Common Market Protocol and said Partner States had identified laws in the Partner States which need to comply to the EAC Laws.  Phyllis Kandie, Cabinet Secretary for Labour, Social Benefits and EAC Affairs, Republic of Kenya said her country was committed to fully implementing the Protocol and similar sentiments were shared by the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers, Hon Dr. Susan Kolimba of Tanzania.

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