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LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Rebels from the Boko Haram extremist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for abducting hundreds of boys from a school in Nigeria’s northern Katsina State last week in one of the largest such attacks in years,...
He replaces Debretsion Gebremichael, whose immunity from prosecution was removed Thursday.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said Thursday that scores of civilians were killed in a \"massacre\" in the Tigray region, that witnesses blamed on forces backing the local ruling party.
The \"massacre\" is the first reported incident of large-scale civilian fatalities in a week-old conflict between the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
\"Amnesty International can today confirm... that scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the southwest of Ethiopia's Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,\" the rights group said in a report.
Amnesty said it had \"digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers.\"
The dead \"had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes,\" Amnesty said, citing witness accounts.
Witnesses said the attack was carried out by TPLF-aligned forces after a defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian military, though Amnesty said it \"has not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings\".
It nonetheless called on TPLF commanders and officials to \"make clear to their forces and their supporters that deliberate attacks on civilians are absolutely prohibited and constitute war crimes\".
Abiy ordered military operations in Tigray on November 4, saying they were prompted by a TPLF attack on federal military camps -- a claim the party denies.
The region has been under a communications blackout ever since, making it difficult to verify competing claims on the ground.
Abiy said Thursday his army had made major gains in western Tigray.
Thousands of Ethiopians have fled across the border into neighboring Sudan, and the UN is sounding the alarm about a humanitarian crisis in Tigray.
The African Development Bank on Thursday launched an independent inquiry into allegations of embezzlement and preferential treatment against its embattled president Akinwumi Adesina, who is seeking re-election in August, its board of governors said.
The investigation into Adesina, a former Nigerian minister for agriculture, follows calls for a probe by Washington, and must wrap up within a \"maximum\" of four weeks as the institution prepares to elect a new head, the board said in a statement.
Adesina—who was recently exonerated by an internal inquiry—is the first Nigerian to be in charge of the 56-year-old AfDB, one of the world's five major multilateral development banks.
On Tuesday, Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari told Adesina that the country \"will stand solidly behind\" him in his bid to remain at the helm of the bank.
The bank chief repeated to Buhari his insistence the allegations against him were trumped up and that the US call for a new probe was against the bank's rules.
Yotam Gidron has done us all a huge service by putting Israel and Africa back on the agenda.
Sub-Saharan Africa allows Israel to triangulate its commercial, security and longer-term political interests; it can sell its specialized security technologies and consolidate links with evangelical churches that are linked to pro-Zionist churches in the United States.
African leaders are always on the lookout for more efficient technologies of repression, and insofar as the \"war on terror\" gave them a political cover story, Israel stepped in as a supplier unhindered by human rights legislation.
Israel's security strategy for Africa isn't an updated version of Cold War-style ideological alignment but rather a fusion of the principles of transactional politics--the transnational political marketplace--with specialist service provision drawn from its counter-terror assemblage.
This is where Israel steps in: in Washington's eyes, a country that recognizes Israel and cooperates with it cannot be a state sponsor of terror.
Disturbing details of mass killings are being reported in the northern region of Ethiopia after an ongoing feud between opposing political groups escalated to violence in recent days. While much of the details about the violence has been difficult to confirm due to a communication blackout in the area, Amnesty International said dozens of people, potentially hundreds, were stabbed or hacked to death on Monday in the town of Mai-Kadra in the Tigray region. According to CBS News, tensions escalated last week when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an attack on local officials in Tigray, accusing them of attacking a military base in the region. Civilians are now caught up in the ongoing violence between the federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front. With roads blocked in the area and journalists unable to get access, Amnesty International used its Crisis Evidence Lab to digitally verify graphic photographs and videos of dead bodies in Mai-Kadra. "We have...
Following a request by security agencies, a temporary ban has been placed on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, over Georgetown and a section of the East Bank of Demerara.
The directive was issued on Thursday by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) in a notice published via its Facebook page.
With the porous Somalia border to the east and Ethiopia to the north, Mandera County is struggling to contain the spread of Covid-19.
In a move to address the challenge, Mandera North and Mandera East sub-counties were pooled together and are now being served by Mandera County Referral Hospital located in Mandera East.
There is a 14-bed isolation ward at Mandera County referral Hospital, while a 64-bed rehabilitation centre in the town was turned into an isolation ward.
Mr Arai said Mandera County Referral Hospital remains the county's main isolation centre in the entire county, with a population of 867,457.
\"We have assigned three ambulances to pick up confirmed cases from all our quarantine facilities and take them to Mandera Referral Hospital for management purposes,\" Mr Arai said,
Mandera has hired private facilities, including hotels and lodges, homes and a private school, to serve as quarantine facilities and to host health workers in the front line.
Unfortunate Violence
A solemn crime scene of a burnt-out vehicle in Niger, where it is reported that gunmen murdered 8 people yesterday - 6 of whom were French nationals amongst which ACTED a French humanitarian non-governmental organisation has confirmed its staff members. Amongst the deceased was a drive and Khadri — a local guide and the president of the Kouré Giraffe Guides Association, as the attack occurred east of Kouré which is about an hour's drive from the capital Niamey and within proximity (around 65 km or 40 miles south-east) to the popular tourist attraction, The Kouré Giraffe Reserve.
Although the identities of the perpetrators are still under speculation, terrorist groups such as Boko Haram operate in the area - and the threat of military violence linked to Al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists has been on the rise in the Sahel region.
Despite the current volatile climate in the area over recent years, many tourists still visit to see the popular giraffes specific to Niger — a sub-species distinguished by its lighter colour which settled there around 20 years ago and have been largely protected from poachers. The French government, however, advises against travel to large parts of Niger.
France has been leading a coalition of West African and European allies against Islamist militants in the region since June.
Nigeria, one-third larger than Texas and the most populous country in Africa, is situated on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. Its neighbors are Benin, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad. The lower course of the Niger River flows south through the western part of the country into the Gulf of Guinea. Swamps and mangrove forests border the southern coast; inland are hardwood forests.
Multiparty government transitioning from military to civilian rule.
The first inhabitants of what is now Nigeria were thought to have been the Nok people (500 BC–c. AD 200). The Kanuri, Hausa, and Fulani peoples subsequently migrated there. Islam was introduced in the 13th century, and the empire of Kanem controlled the area from the end of the 11th century to the 14th.
The Fulani empire ruled the region from the beginning of the 19th century until the British annexed Lagos in 1851 and seized control of the rest of the region by 1886. It formally became the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914. During World War I, native troops of the West African frontier force joined with French forces to defeat the German garrison in Cameroon.
On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria gained independence, becoming a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and joining the United Nations. Organized as a loose federation of self-governing states, the independent nation faced the overwhelming task of unifying a country with 250 ethnic and linguistic groups.
Rioting broke out in 1966, and military leaders, primarily of Ibo ethnicity, seized control. In July, a second military coup put Col. Yakubu Gowon in power, a choice unacceptable to the Ibos. Also in that year, the Muslim Hausas in the north massacred the predominantly Christian Ibos in the east, many of whom had been driven from the north. Thousands of Ibos took refuge in the eastern region, which declared its independence as the Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967. Civil war broke out. In Jan. 1970, after 31 months of civil war, Biafra surrendered to the federal government.
Gowons nine-year rule was ended in 1975 in
Amnesty International said late Tuesday there was “credible but disturbing evidence” that security forces in the megacity of Lagos had fatally shot protesters who were demonstrating against police brutality despite a new curfew going into effect.
The Lagos state commissioner for information, Gbenga Omotoso, said in a statement Tuesday night only that “there have been reports of shooting at the Lekki Toll Plaza following the 24-hour curfew imposed on Lagos.”
“The state government has ordered an investigation into the incident,” he said.
Video shown on Nigeria’s Channels Television appeared to capture audio of live rounds being fired at the scene.
“While we continue to investigate the killings, Amnesty International wishes to remind the authorities that under international law, security forces may only resort to the use of lethal force when strictly unavoidable to protect against imminent threat of death or serious injury,” Amnesty tweeted.
The development came just hours after Lagos state Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu warned on Twitter that the growing protests against police brutality in Nigeria had “degenerated into a monster that is threatening the well-being of our society.”
A police statement also had warned that security forces would now “exercise the full powers of the law to prevent any further attempt on lives and property of citizens.”
The reports of fatal shootings in Lekki come after two chaotic weeks of mounting protests leading to more widespread social unrest. On Tuesday, authorities said nearly 2,000 inmates had broken out of jail after crowds attacked two correctional facilities a day earlier.
The Inspector-General of Police said it was deploying anti-riot police across Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous nation, and ordered forces to strengthen security around correctional facilities.
The governor of Lagos state said the new curfew would cover the entire city of some 14 million people and surrounding areas. The announcement came after a police station was burned down in the city and two people were shot dead by police.
“Lives and limbs have been lost as criminals and miscreants are now hiding under the umbrella of these protests to unleash mayhem on our state,” the governor said.
Lagos has been the epicenter of the protests, with demonstrators at times blocking access to the airport and barricading roads leading to the country’s main ports.
A curfew also went into effect in Benin City after a pair of attacks on correctional facilities that left 1,993 inmates missing. Interior Ministry spokesman Mohammed Manga said large, armed crowds had attacked the two prisons, subduing the guards on duty. It was unclear what the prisons’ exact populations had been before the attack.
“Most of the inmates held at the centers are convicted criminals serving terms for various criminal offenses, awaiting execution or standing trial for violent crimes,” he said in a statement.
The protests began two weeks ago after a video circulated showing a man being beaten, apparently by police officers of
[Monitor] By Denis Opoka
More than two months after suspension of classes due to the coronavirus in Cameroon, primary and secondary school students returned to school on Monday.
With masks on, students returned to school in the capital Yaoundé.
“So, this morning at the entrance, we gave masks to all the students, each teacher will also receive a mask.
Some people deliberately contaminate others, and when children have to go back to school, it is extremely important that parents and communities be made aware,” he said.
Government action taken almost two weeks after the first case was detected on March 5 was considered late compared to many other African countries.
Besides, the president yesterday dispatched security chiefs, led by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno, to Katsina State, rocked by a wave of protests over the insecurity in the state, to find lasting solutions to the deteriorating security challenges bedeviling the state and North-west in general.
In his intervention yesterday, the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Jamaatu Nasril Islam, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar lll, condemned the incessant killings by Boko Haram insurgents and bandits across the country.
However, on the day the sultan made his intervention, the federal government intensified efforts to address the security siege by criminal cartels as the NSA led other top security chiefs to Katsina State to find lasting solutions to the deteriorating security challenges bedeviling the state and North-west in general.
Monguno yesterday led other top security chiefs to Katsina State in a bid to find lasting solutions to the deteriorating security challenges bedeviling the state and North-west.
Among the security chiefs on the entourage of the NSA were the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu; Director General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Rufai Ahmad; the DG Department of State Services (DSS), Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi and the Chief of Defence Intelligence Agency, Air Vice Marshal MS Usman.
Outrage and anger in Nigeria continue to grow as the #EndSARS protests expand and contend with outright violence from the Nigerian army and police force, according to The Associated Press, New York Times and social media reports. As Blavity previously reported , peaceful protesters have been incensed since army officials opened fire on them on Tuesday at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, killing at least seven people under the shroud of darkness, according to local news outlet Punch. Dozens of other protesters were killed across the country that same day, the newspaper reported. The violence, covered extensively on social media, has largely been ignored by Nigerian elected officials and even president Muhammadu Buhari, who made no mention of it during his address to the nation on Thursday night. Thursday was Buhari's first appearance since the Lekki Gate shooting, but he only tacitly mentioned the actions of his armed forces, only threatening protesters to not continue their...
By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared in a London court on Monday to fight a U.S. extradition request, at a high-stakes hearing that was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Assange, who has spent almost a year and a half in a British prison, sat in the dock at the Old Bailey criminal court and formally refused the U.S. demand he be extradited to face trial on espionage charges. He wore a dark suit, white shirt and maroon tie, with glasses perched atop his neatly trimmed white hair. Several dozen supporters, including fashion designer […]
The post WikiLeaks' Assange in UK court to fight US extradition bid appeared first on Black News Channel.
[Shabelle] The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) says an airstrike that was intended to target al-Shabab fighters in Somalia earlier this year killed one civilian and wounded three others, in a rare admission by the Command.
[Monitor] Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the commander of the Special Forces, started an offensive on Twitter against National Unity Platform (NUP) party presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, promising to defeat him in the 2021 General Election.
If completed, the sale would be the first American transfer of lethal drones and stealth aircraft to any Arab country.
In this interview with Daily Trust Saturday, he has, among others, blamed what he called incompetent and selfish appointees/associates for the \"failure\" of Buhari's administration.
In fact, we have suffered more in terms of less democracy in the last four to five years than any other time in the last 21 years.
From a distance, I would say that he delegates power to other people who probably have no qualification and competence to execute the duties of their offices.
I once postulated few months after he emerged as president for second term that we trust his honesty, but unfortunately he has failed to gather the necessary materials with which to execute the duties and functions of the office of the president by the poor quality of people that he gathered around either as ministers or any other role they play.
As a teacher, if you asked to grade the performance of Buhari in comparison to the previous presidents since the return of democracy, what would be your score for him?
In the last few decades, millions of unskilled workers from South Asia have migrated to Gulf countries due to limited opportunities at home.
In 2019, migrant workers from South Asian countries sent back $122 billion to their home countries, according to the World Bank.
The steep fall in oil prices slashes major source of revenues for the energy-rich Gulf states, a favorite destination of South Asia’s migrant workers.
Amnesty International reports that about 23 million migrant workers living in the Middle East have had their work hours cut short and lost their jobs, reducing their ability to send home money to families dependent on remittances.
This recent fall in remittances is the sharpest in recent history, World Bank projections show, adversely affecting millions of vulnerable unskilled workers.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has called for an end to street protests in the country.
This clearly shows that illegal border-crossing during the pandemic increased the risk of importing COVID-19 cases into the country and therefore the foreign nationals, who are mostly farm hands entering the country despite the border closure through illegal routes, must be stopped.
Most of these foreigners, our reporter says, are able to enter the country through the support of their Ghanaian counterparts resident at the border who aid them with the use of motorbikes and bicycles.
In addition, some drivers along the border towns pick the foreigners in defiance of the border closure directive ordered by the government.
It is for good reason that the order was made to close our borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 which the entire world is battling at the moment although there is a ban on border-crossing in place.
Everyone has to be vigilant at this time and report those who engage in the illegal border-crossing to security agencies for them to pay the price for disobeying the COVID-19 directive.
[Premium Times] The Boko Haram, which operated mainly in North-east Nigeria, has since claimed responsibility for the kidnap in Katsina, North-west Nigeria.
We are more than ready to have offenders arraigned before courts of law... \"
He said police has used its human rights department to disseminate materials about the Prevention and Prohibition Torture Act among officers and teach them to respect human rights.
In the three-page statement issued on June 20, ABODO said the office of the director of Public Prosecutions, Uganda, \"Condemns the use of torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment as interrogation strategies and calls on all security agencies including the Uganda Police Force (UPF), Internal Security Organization (ISO) [and] External Security Organisation (ESO) to explicitly ban the use of such treatment and enforce all laws and regulations prohibiting its use.\"
Before he died last year, Meddie Sozzi Kaggwa, then chairman of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), used a June 18, 2019 press conference ahead of the International UN Day in Support of Victims of Torture, to nudge government to clear compensation for victims of torture.
Strangely, the inspector general of police, Martins Okoth Ochola, who in 2019 warned his officers against transgressing the law on human rights, was asked to pay for court costs after the judge ruled that he illegally stopped Bobi Wine's Kyarenga concert.
In the recent human rights violation case, Right Trumpets, Ampiire Aisha and Nansubuga v. AIGP Asan Kasingye and 13 others, the judge Margaret Mutonyi, has held several police officers personally liable for torturing and violating the rights of inmates under police custody at Naggalama police station.
Democratic Republic of Congo: President Tshisekedi reneges on justice pledge, leaving victims in despair
\tPresident Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo has reneged on his inauguration pledges to strengthen the rule of law, fight impunity and ensure justice, leaving the families of hundreds of people killed during the country’s pre-election crisis in despair, Amnesty International said today.
“President Tshisekedi and his government must acknowledge the pain that victims and their families have been enduring and publicly commit to promptly and effectively prosecute those responsible,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.
Victims of 2015-2018 brutal crackdowns denied justice in the DRC, Amnesty International interviewed 115 survivors and victims’ family members, on their quest for justice.
Farcical investigations
\tUnder international pressure, former President Joseph Kabila constituted three committees to investigate the deadly crackdowns on protestors, none of which have resulted in any prosecutions.
A second committee created in February 2018 investigated the use of deadly force against protestors on 31 December 2017 and 21 January 2018, recommending prosecution of security officers who ordered or used excessive force against protestors.
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Aspirar JA, a non-governmental organisation based in Manchester, says since it was formed in January, 300 primary and secondary school students have benefited from its mentorship programme.
Driven by a goal of making the world a better place for all, the organisation says it is seeking to contribute to the development of society through mentorship.
Founder and president of the organisation, Jerome Hanson told the Jamaica Observer that the group has been in the works since last August.
Vice-president and co-founder of Aspirar JA, Shinell Mills, who is also a communication studies student at Northern Caribbean University, explained the role of the organisation.
“We are involved in the provision of humanitarian services to teenagers in high schools, and we also cater to children's homes and primary school students, especially those who are most vulnerable to abuse… As a group, we seek to efficiently contribute to the development of the Jamaican society.
