Briefly

NIGERIA

Stepfather, 45, gets death for rape

LAGOS — A 45-year-old father of three has been sentenced by an Islamic court to death by stoning for raping his 15-year-old stepdaughter, a prosecution lawyer said yesterday. The girl, who is six months pregnant as a result of the incest, was sentenced to 100 strokes of the cane.

The sentences were handed down Dec. 29 by a Shariah court in Alkaleri, in northeast Bauchi state. “He was convicted after he confessed that he raped the girl,” the prosecution lawyer said by phone. The man has appealed, but no date has been set for the hearing, the lawyer added.

The case got little attention in Nigeria, but the women’s section of the South African opposition Democratic Alliance sent a letter of protest over the rape victim’s sentence, calling it “inhumane.”

Eight persons have been sentenced to death by stoning in Nigeria since 12 predominantly Muslim northern states imposed Islamic Shariah law four years ago. Three have had their sentences overturned on appeal and no stonings have been carried out.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Ex-defense minister wanted for murder

BANGUI — A military tribunal has issued an international arrest warrant for former Defense Minister Jean-Jacques Demafouth, accused of being an accomplice to murder, national radio said yesterday.

Mr. Demafouth, currently in exile in France, is accused of ordering the murder of an army lieutenant, Antoine Gbodo, who was killed in November 1999 in the village of Kembe, 300 miles east of the capital Bangui.

Mr. Demafouth was arrested in August 2001 and accused of masterminding a coup against then President Ange-Felix Patasse three months earlier, but was acquitted for lack of evidence. Mr. Patasse was overthrown last March.

SWAZILAND

King busts budget building new palaces

MBABANE ? Africa’s last absolute monarch plans to spend $15 million of his impoverished kingdom’s national budget on building new palaces for his wives, say royal aides.

The announcement two days ago stirred controversy in the kingdom, where more than a quarter of its 1 million people are expected to need food aid this year, according to the United Nations. King Mswati III has ordered nine palaces built in existing royal compounds to house seven of his 10 wives and two future brides, a senior aide said.

Only Mswati’s first wife, lawyer Sibonelo Mngomezulu, 34, lives in her own palace. The new palaces will be funded from the 2004 national budget, aides and family members said. Pro-democracy activists and trade union leaders have criticized the monarch for lavish spending as his tiny, drought-stricken kingdom faces a $148 million deficit.

Weekly Notes …

A human rights activist failed yesterday in an attempt to have Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe arrested and extradited to Britain to face torture charges. Peter Tatchell was told by a judge in London his application could not succeed because, under English common law, Mr. Mugabe has absolute immunity from prosecution as a head of state. … Tanzanian authorities begin today enforcing a ban on the import and sale of used underwear, as inspectors check consignments of second-hand clothing coming into the country. The ban, announced last year, was imposed to keep Tanzanian buyers from developing skin problems or even venereal diseases.

From wire dispatches and staff reports