from OKORO CHINEDU in Lagos, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
LAGOS, (CAJ News) – AIRTEL Africa has announced the purchase of ordinary shares to the value of US$157 000 from Citigroup Global Markets Limited on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
This is pursuant to the authority granted by its shareholders as part of its share buy-back programme, details of which were announced on March 1.
Airtel Africa, in a corporate disclosure on the Nigerian Exhange Group (formerly Nigerian Stock Exchange) revealed it had purchased an aggregate 315 000 ordinary shares, at $0,50 each.
“The purchased ordinary shares will be cancelled,” the mobile operator stated on the Lagos-based bourse.
Airtel Africa recently revealed plans for the $100 million (about R2 billion) share buyback programme.
This is expected to be phased over two tranches, with the first tranche commencing March 1 and anticipated to end on or before August 2024.
Airtel Africa has a presence in 14 countries in the continent, primarily in the Central, East and West regional blocs.
– CAJ News
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Zimbabwe journalist missing nine years after abduction
Att: Foreign Editor———–Contact: +27-72 126 2434
TAZ
from MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
CAJ News Agency
Zimbabwe Bureau
07/03/2024
HARARE, (CAJ News) – AHEAD of the ninth anniversary of the enforced disappearance of a journalist who was also a pro-democracy activist, Zimbabwean authorities are accused of impeding the delivery of justice, truth and reparations.
Itai Dzamara was abducted on March 9, 2015 by five men while he was at a barber shop in Harare’s Glen View suburb.
“Their (authorities’) failure to launch an effective investigation into Dzamara’s disappearance sends the chilling message that activists seeking to demand accountability from the government are no longer safe,” said Vongai Chikwanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.
The activist said Dzamara’s family and friends had endured painful years waiting for truth and justice over his enforced disappearance.
“His family needs closure from the agonizing uncertainty they have been subjected to. The feeling of insecurity and fear that his disappearance has generated is not limited to his close relatives, but also affects the broader civil society community,” Chikwanda said.
Amnesty International reiterated a call for the government to set up an independent, judge-led Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Dzamara’s abduction, with powers to subpoena witnesses.
“The findings must be made public and those suspected of criminal responsibility should be brought to justice in fair trials,” Chikwanda said.
Two days before his abduction, Dzamara addressed a rally in Harare where he called for mass action to address the deteriorating economic conditions in Zimbabwe and for the then President Robert Mugabe to step down.
The activist had previously been beaten, abducted, and unlawfully detained by state security agents.
His case is one of many in Zimbabwe’s long history of abductions and enforced disappearances that the authorities are yet to investigate.
– CAJ News