Africa story of the week – Updated weekly
Date april 2 2019
Algerian Parliament to make President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s resignation official
Abdelaziz Bouteflika is an Algerian politician who served as President of Algeria from 1999 until 2019. As President, he presided over the end of the bloody Algerian Civil War in 2002 when he took over the project of Liamine Zéroual, and he ended emergency rule in February 2011 amidst regional unrest
Both houses of Algeria’s Parliament are meeting next week to take official note of the country not having a leader after the resignation under pressure of its president.
A senator from former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s FLN party, Abdelouahab Benzaim, says the two houses plan to meet on Tuesday.
If the president’s office is vacated, the Algerian Constitution calls for the head of the upper house to serve as leader for a maximum of 90 days before an election.
Bouteflika stepped down after two decades on April 2 after a pro-democracy protest movement won the army’s backing.
A Bouteflika appointee, Abdelkader Bensalah, is the leader of parliament’s upper chamber. The protesters are calling for him and others who make up the top of the country’s power hierarchy to leave, too.
Rhino Poacher Killed by Elephant and Eaten by Lions, Officials Say
A man suspected of being a rhino poacher was killed last week by an elephant and his remains devoured by a pride of lions at a South African park, officials said.
A lion at Kruger National Park in South Africa, where the remains of a man who officials said was poaching rhinos in the park were found last week.CreditCreditJerome Delay/Associated Press
Rangers at Kruger National Park and other searchers found only a human skull and a pair of pants, the park said in a statement on Friday.
Four of the dead man’s accomplices were arrested, the authorities said.
The man’s accomplices told his relatives that they had been in the park to poach rhinos on Tuesday night when he was killed by an elephant, local officials said.
A search party, including rangers on foot and members of the park’s air wing, searched the area that was described by the family but could not find the body because light was fading, the statement said. Searchers found the remains on Thursday morning.
The managing executive of the park, Glenn Phillips, offered his condolences to the family of the dead man, who was not identified.
“Entering Kruger National Park illegally and on foot is not wise,” he said in the statement. “It holds many dangers and this incident is evidence of that.”
Mr. Phillips said it was sad to see the daughters of the man “mourning the loss of their father, and worse still, only being able to recover very little of his remains.”
Kruger National Park advertises itself as offering “an African safari adventure of a lifetime.” At nearly two million hectares, it is the largest national reserve in South Africa, according to its website, which added that it was home to animals such as lions, elephants, rhinoceroses, leopards and African buffaloes.
