Mali's opposition leader Soumaila Cisse, who was kidnapped by extremists earlier this year and considered a leading contender in 2022 elections, has died in Paris after contracting Covid-19.
“The doctors did everything to keep him alive, but that’s the way of God’s will,” his eldest son Bocar told The Associated Press.
The news throws Malian politics into new uncertainty. Mr Cissé was the runner-up in the past three presidential elections and many thought he had the best chances of finally winning in 2022.
The 71-year-old was taken hostage by an Al Qaeda-linked group in March while campaigning for legislative elections in his home town of Niafunke in northern Mali.
Amid public pressure, the Malian government obtained his freedom in October, along with that of French and Italian hostages in exchange for the release of some 200 militants from Malian prisons.
Mali's interim leader Sem Ba N'Daw expressed his condolences to Mr Cisse's family and supporters on Friday, saying millions of Malians “are in shock” at the news.
Describing a meeting with him after he was freed, he said Mr Cisse's “optimism had remained intact," and said “the country still needed his experience and wisdom to face today's challenges.”
No immediate funeral plans were announced.
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
