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As political tensions and uncertainty continue to rise in Chad, Ruth Lago spoke with Attorney Max Loalngar to get more insight into the situation.
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
After weeks of sheltering at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Noah Hicks was looking forward to reopening Spokehouse, his Uphams Corner bike shop, last Monday.
When Hicks showed up at his shop, the scene was chaotic.
In addition to two bicycles Hicks had for sale, four customers’ bikes had been stolen, adding up to about $2,600 in losses.
Hicks founded the bike shop as a pop-up repair center on Bowdoin Street in 2013.
Hicks says he only needs the $2,600 to replace the customers’ stolen bikes and those taken from his showroom floor.
Governments must attach strings as they pledge billions to pay for vaccines in developing countries
Geneva, 2 June 2020—Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) urged leaders to demand pharmaceutical corporations commit to selling any potential future COVID-19 vaccines at cost, as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, prepares to launch a global mechanism to negotiate with corporations on such vaccines, and appeals to governments to set up a fund to purchase them for developing countries.
“Governments and Gavi need to demand that pharmaceutical corporations open the books so we can see how much potential COVID-19 vaccines will actually cost to produce,” said Kate Elder, Senior Vaccines Policy Advisor for MSF’s Access Campaign.
The COVID-19 vaccines fund that is being mapped out by Gavi aims to raise billions to pay for increased production capacity for future vaccines, and to secure a price, but there is no guarantee whatsoever that pharmaceutical corporations will charge affordable prices.
A fund that was designed by Gavi, the Gates Foundation, the World Bank and others in 2009 to pay for pneumonia vaccines suffered from pharmaceutical companies demanding a relatively high price for the vaccine, leaving developing country governments who have had to take over paying for the vaccine long term with unaffordable prices.
Read more about MSF’s analysis of the global mechanism for potential future COVID-19 vaccines, including MSF’s past experience with Gavi’s pneumonia vaccine Advance Market Commitment.
Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the familys long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro* institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family
In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his
COVID-19 CAN provide an opportunity for African governments to strengthen the way they govern and...
The post COVID-19 can ‘provide an opportunity for innovation and solidify unity’ in Africa appeared first on Voice Online.
Ugandas 18-year-long battle against the brutal Lords Resistance Army (LRA), an extremist rebel group based in Sudan, showed signs of abating in Aug. 2006, when the rebels agreed to declare a truce. Between 8,000 and 10,000 children have been abducted by the LRA to form the army of prophet Joseph Kony, whose aim was to take over Uganda and run it according to his vision of Christianity. The boys are turned into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves. Up to 1.5 million people in northern Uganda have been displaced because of the fighting and the fear that their children will be abducted. Kony and three other LRA leaders have been indicted on charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. The LRA and the government signed a permanent cease-fire in February 2008. Kony failed to show up to sign the landmark agreement several times in 2008, dashing hopes for formalized peace. The rebels, however, sought a cease-fire in January 2009, after the armies of Uganda, Southern Sudan, and Congo attacked their bases.
Parliament introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in November 2009. The legislation would implement the death penalty on gay individuals. The proposed bill met fierce condemnation from the European Union and the United States. Parliament did not act on the bill, and it became increasingly unpopular following the January 2011 murder of Ugandan gay-rights activist David Kato. In May, the government shelved the bill.
In July 2010, about 75 people watching the final game of the World Cup in a Kampala restaurant were killed in an explosion. The Somali militant Islamist group Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying the attack was aimed at discouraging countries from supporting the transitional government in Somalia. Al-Shabab has been battling Somalias weak, Western-backed government for power for several years. Uganda contributes troops to an African Union force that has been propping up the government in Somalia.
Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, more commonly known as Al-Shabaab (meaning youth), is a clan-based jihadist terrorist group in East Africa. Originating as the militant youth wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (ICU), which took over southern Somalia in June 2006, the group splintered off following the defeat of the Council in December 2006 to continue violent insurgency against the Somali Transitional Government and its allies in Ethiopia and Kenya.
It is the largest militant group, numbering around 7,000, fighting to overthrow the Somalian government and aims to control territory within Somalia in order to establish a society based upon rigid interpretations of Sharia Law. Al-Shabaab’s unity, however, has been affected by numerous internal conflicts due to the fractured nature of the organization, competing clan loyalties, and debates between nationalist goals and the goals of Gulf-based transnational terror.
Al-Shabaab’s goals include promoting local insurrection, establishment of a fundamentalist Muslim society, and eventual regional and global jihad under Wahhabism and Salafi Jihadism, extreme Sunni ideologies that count among its adherents other jihadist groups such as Al-Qaeda. To highlight this relationship, Al-Shabaab was founded by Somali extremists educated in the Middle East with tutelage and support from Osama Bin Laden. In fact, many members of Al-Shabaab’s leadership got their start fighting along Bin Laden in Afghanistan during the 1990s.
Returning home to a Somalia which had no effective government, Al-Shabaab’s leaders such as Ahmed Abdi Godane, who held the top post of the terrorist organization until his death by U.S. drone strike in September 2014, sought to establish a local political and religious system in accordance with their Salafist beliefs.
The ICU briefly gained control of Mogadishu, the Somali capital, in December 2006 until they were driven out by a coalition of Somalian and Ethiopian troops. Following that defeat Al-Shabaab initiated guerilla assaults, suicide
While the march was organised by the Action Committee of the Soweto Students Representative Council (SSRC), not all children and pupils who participated in the march knew about it.
Pupils from Naledi High were to march from there and pick up students from the schools on their way to Orlando Stadium.
At Morris Isaacson, students also started gathering, and one of the leaders of the Action Committee also asked pupils to maintain a peaceful march.
At Ibhongo Secondary School, a pupil said the leaders of the Action Committee had told them of the march as they came past, whereafter pupils were allowed to leave their classrooms.
Others reported that it was overwhelmingly WRAB structures and cars that were razed, and that a sympathetic white student had been taken to safety by pupils when police retaliated.
Liberia /l aɪ ˈ b ɪər i ə/ ( listen), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its west, Guinea to its north and Ivory Coast to its east. It covers an area of 111,369 square kilometers (43,000 sq mi) and has a population of 4,503,000 people.[3] English is the official language and over 20 indigenous languages are spoken, representing the numerous tribes who make up more than 95% of the population. The countrys capital and largest city is Monrovia.
Forests on the coastline are composed mostly of salt-tolerant mangrove trees, while the more sparsely populated inland has forests opening onto a plateau of drier grasslands. The climate is equatorial, with significant rainfall during the May–October rainy season and harsh harmattan winds the remainder of the year. Liberia possesses about forty percent of the remaining Upper Guinean rainforest. It was an important producer of rubber in the early 20th century.
The Republic of Liberia began as a settlement of the American Colonization Society (ACS), who believed blacks would face better chances for freedom in Africa than in the United States.[7] The country declared its independence on July 26, 1847. The United Kingdom was the first country to recognize Liberias independence.[8] The U.S. did not recognize Liberias independence until during the American Civil War on February 5, 1862. Between January 7, 1822 and the American Civil War, more than 15,000 freed and free-born blacks, who faced legislated limits in the U.S., and 3,198 Afro-Caribbeans, relocated to the settlement.[9] The black settlers carried their culture and tradition with them to Liberia. The Liberian constitution and flag were modeled after those of the U.S. On January 3, 1848, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a wealthy, free-born African American from Virginia who settled in Liberia, was elected
Niamey is the largest city and capital of the West African nation of Niger. Niamey is located in the southwestern part of the country along the left bank of the Niger River. Niger is the largest nation within West Africa in terms of physical size, and Niamey is the administrative, economic, and cultural center of the country.
Historians debate the early history of Niamey. Some argue it was originally a Songhai fishing village named after the local Niami tree, while others maintain it was founded by a Djerma chief named Kouri Mali. Yet, most agree that the site was inhabited by small numbers of Hausa, Djerma-Songhai, and Wazi peoples before European colonization.
In the late 1890s the French began to colonize Niger. In 1902, the French built a military fort in Niamey, a small fishing village at the time. Then, in 1926, the French moved their colonial capital from Zinder to Niamey to facilitate trade along the Niger River with other French territories in West Africa.
During the colonial period, Niamey also served as an important connection point in overland trade of agricultural goods. These agricultural products were grown in Niger’s outlying areas and transported to domestic and international markets, especially Abidjan and Lagos. However, trade was hampered by a lack of railway connections through Burkina Faso and poor roads throughout the region, which were often impassable during the rainy season.
The population of Niamey remained small into the 1940s with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. After World War II the city’s population began to increase as greater African autonomy seemed near and Niamey appeared to be a likely government center. In 1960, Niger won independence and Niamey became its capital.
After independence Niamey continued to grow, attracting Hausa and Yoruba merchants from around Niger, as well as from neighboring Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. In the 1970s, Niger saw great profits from the nation’s uranium reserves, which financed Niamey’s modern infrastructure. When uranium prices
Almost 1 000 Western Cape residents are in quarantine, Premier Alan Winde announced on Wednesday.
Winde said the province's Economic Development Partnership had been tasked with helping to co-ordinate food relief, across civil society, in partnership with the City of Cape Town.
The humanitarian campaign to feed the hungry also scored a valuable goal on Wednesday after Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis received donations from Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato.
The equipment will help us to expand our outreach to residents and fill more empty stomachs,\" Ellis said
READ | Covid-19: Soup kitchens can no longer be policed or controlled court says
\"As a result of the severe impact of the national coronavirus lockdown, many residents have struggled to put food on the table.
These donations are intended to assist organisations feeding residents in need and, as a caring city, we are doing all we can to help residents,\" said Plato
He added food relief \"is the direct responsibility of national government, through the SA Social Security Agency\", but the City of Cape Town was attempting \"to fill the gaps, capacitating neighbourhood soup kitchens to feed hundreds of residents in their various communities\".
Sierra Leone Telegraph: 5 November 2020: European Union’s Ambassador to Sierra Leone – Mr Tom Vens, last week called on the government of Sierra Leone to demonstrate “heightened standards of transparency and accountability” in the management of funds received by the government to help fight the COVID-19 virus epidemic in [Read More]
Tunis/Tunisia — Minister of Human Rights, Relations with Constitutional Authorities and Civil Society Ayachi Hammami expressed, on Wednesday, the Ministry's willingness to strengthen cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Tunisia to include other areas related to the sector of economic and social rights of citizens and migrants whose numbers are clearly increasing, given that Tunisia is a transit zone.
At a meeting with UNDP Resident Representative Steve Utterwulghe, Hammami expressed his thanks to the UN organisation for providing protection for the volunteers of the Jesr project to help marginalised groups affected by the COVID-19 epidemic.
For his part, the UNDP Resident Representative reviewed the various areas of cooperation with Tunisia, since 2011, in the field of democratic transition and the fight against extremism and terrorism.
During the meeting, it was agreed to continue the implementation of the project to support civil society in its contribution to the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development, signed in August 2019.
He said that his government intends to continue to listen and stay engaged with every voice in the civil society space because his government believes that each voice matters and every voice would make the country’s democracy better and stronger.
As a Government, we want to work with civil society to identify and resolve those structural imbalances and triggers,” the president said.
Executive Director of Campaign for Good Governance, Marcella Samba Sesay, said that the COVID-19 response requires every country to design its own pathway; adding that it is very important for the government and civil society to sit together to enable effective co-creation processes.
I have personally invited representatives of civil society organisations today to talk frankly about the relationship between government and civil society.
I want to thank members of Civil Society for their diverse support to the Government’s response to COVID-19 through direct support and other initiatives, advocacy, social mobilization, and also reiterating Government’s appeal to citizens to adhere to all Covid-19 healthcare and other directives.
[SNA] Khartoum -The Minister of Energy and Mining, Dr. Adel Ali Ibrahim, has praised the Sudan's distinguished relations with Egypt and Ethiopia, especially in the field of electrical interconnection.
The national Budget for the Financial Year 2020/2021 is the first in the third phase of the National Development Plan (NDP) III which runs until 2025.
The budgetary allocations placed said priorities at the bottom with Agriculture sector getting 2.91 per cent, Tourism with 0.44 per cent while Energy and Mineral development which superintends over oil and gas is placed among the 10 in the Budget with 5.72 per cent.
While unveiling the Budget, Mr Matia Kasaija, the Finace minister, revealed: \"The Agriculture sector plays a central role in Uganda's economy.
But NDPIII maintains that for successful implementation of its programmes, key development strategies such as; agro-industrialisation, fast-track oil, gas and mineral-based industrialisation, import replacement/promotion of local manufacturing, export promotion, harness the tourism potential, and provide a suitable fiscal, monetary and regulatory environment for the private sector to invest must be at the fore front.
Mr Kasaija cast the outlined priorities of the Third National Development Plan (NDPIII) FY2020/2021 to FY 2024/2025 at far bottom yet the plan is meant to guide the allocations.
| Source: MANDEL NGAN / Getty
Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario is stepping down after six years, according to a statement from the company.
“CEO Rose Marcario is leaving Patagonia after six years on the job, effective June 12, the company said in a statement.
The site goes on to say that under Marcario, Patagonia “significantly amped up its activism and advocated for environmental issues ranging from climate change to protecting public lands.
Source: MANDEL NGAN / Getty
As May came to a close, Patagonia also expressed support for the Black community.
⠀ ⠀ Through our Action Works platform, we also encourage our community to learn more about the environmental justice and voter-turnout groups Patagonia supports.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on Thursday asked UK citizens to be cautious and cited \"possible clashes throughout the country\" during the November 28 inauguration.
\"Political tensions are high and demonstrations and clashes are possible throughout the country, particularly in the western region; you should exercise caution and, where possible, avoid travelling around areas where demonstrations may take place,\" the FCO said in a statement.
The office is anticipating possible demonstrations and clashes during the inauguration and Britons planning to visit Kenya during this period have been asked to exercise caution and, where possible, avoid travelling around areas where demonstrations may take place.
The areas where FCO advises against all but essential travel does not include Kenya's safari destinations.
In April, when political parties were scheduled to hold their nominations ahead of the deadline by the electoral commission, UK advised its nationals against all but essential travel to north eastern counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera as well as Eastleigh in Nairobi.
Kushayb, a senior Janjaweed commander in the early years of the conflict, was the target of a 2007 ICC arrest warrant on multiple counts including rape, murder and pillaging.
Hassan al-Senousi, another displaced Darfuri at the Al-Sarif camp near South Darfur's regional capital Nyala, said Kushayb's arrest brought him \"deep satisfaction\".
Kushayb's arrest comes less than a year after a transitional government took power following Bashir's ouster by the military in April 2019 on the back of vast protests against his rule.
Kushayb is set to be the first of five Sudanese suspects wanted by the ICC over atrocities in Darfur to appear before the court.
\"Kushayb's arrest is a success for international justice and... for the victims,\" Minni Minnawi, leader of a rebel group active in Darfur Sudanese Liberation Army, wrote on Twitter.
WITH MORE intense hurricanes and climate extremes, mass sargassum influxes and the ongoing challenge of COVID-19, building resilience is a priority for Caribbean small island developing states. A new report, titled Rising to the climate challenge...
Zanu PF is brutally taking advantage of the rare opportunity to annihilate the MDC Alliance.
As this drama unfolds, it is clear that the future of the MDC Alliance is now more in the hands of Zanu PF than it is in the hands of the MDC Alliance and its supporters.
Those who are weary of the antagonism between Zanu PF and the MDC Alliance may see the GNU as a reprieve.
It is in the best interests of Zanu PF for some of the MDC Alliance parliamentarians to cross the floor and join MDC-T.
Fourth, by suspending by-elections and the 2023 elections, Zanu PF will isolate the MDC Alliance from its supporters.
The observers recognise that an electoral system governed by a whole series of constantly changing pieces of legislation \"responds to the outcome of political dialogue between the main parties, Renamo and Frelimo, rather than taking a holistic review of the electoral framework.\"
Stop the inclusion of fraudulent results: Under Renamo pressure, the parties agreed an electoral court system which could intervene to redress misconduct and errors by election commissions, STAEs, and polling stations.
Civil society members to be non-partisan
Members of the National Elections Commission (CNE) \"do not represent the public or private institutions or political or social institutions they come from, and defend the national interest\", says the electoral law.
For the 2008-9 elections, parliament (AR) agreed a dramatic change - a majority of CNE members, including the chair (presidente) were nominated by Civil Society Organisations (CSO) to try to force some independence and neutrality.
But this agreement between Frelimo and Renamo to select party aligned CSO members is not specified in the electoral law and clearly goes against the spirit of the law.
LOCAL civil society organisations have devised a tracking system to account for the US$419 million donated so far towards fighting COVID-19 in Zimbabwe. BY VENERANDA LANGA The COVID-19 resources tracker administered by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (Zimcodd) was set up to try and expose misuse of the donations. The tracker can be accessed through the Zimcodd website and it follows up all donations and allocations towards combating the pandemic in the country to see if they were used properly, as well as allow whistleblowers to ring bells whenever there is suspected abuse of resources. The development comes at a time there are reports of massive abuse of COVID-19 resources with the most high-profile case being that of fired Health minister Obadiah Moyo who was implicated in a US$60 million tender scam involving Delish Nguwaya’s Drax International. Zimcodd programmes manager John Maketo on Friday told delegates during a social accountability training programme on utilisation of resources in the health sector that the COVID-19 resources tracker monitored distributions of the donations. “Expenditure tracking looks at how the donations and government allocated funds have been utilised; whether they were used for their intended purposes, and if the intended products were acquired and distributed,” Maketo said. “In a democracy, we citizens have a right to know how much has been donated and what it has been used for. There is need for people power in terms of whistleblowing because what happened which resulted in the arrest of Moyo was a clear result of pressure by citizens,” he said. Maketo said with legislators now concentrating on partisan fights and being compromised by the whipping system in Parliament, citizens must take action and fight corruption in the use of public funds meant for COVID-19. The Public Service Accountability Monitor senior programmes officer Rachel Gondo said government was mandated through the Constitution to account for the donated resources. “Government needs to do a needs analysis to find out the health requirements of citizens and ensure effective implementation of the budget. Whenever government spends, there must be an expenditure plan. “Our systems, laws, regulations and the members of the public should ensure that any public official uses public finances in the interests of the public through codes of conduct because COVID-19 has laid bare our inefficiencies in the health system,” Gondo said. She said government should consistently post on its website how much has been received and spent. Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust (Sapst) programme specialist on parliamentary procedure and processes Henry Ndlovu said in emergencies like COVID-19, Parliament should not abrogate its oversight role on the Executive, adding that civil society and citizens must demand explanations from the State on how public finances are utilised. “Civil society also needs to engage in evidence-based advocacy in order to produce irrefutable arguments to government and Parliament. Citizens can
A Sudanese political analyst says Sudan will have a hard time finding the cash to pay the punitive damages imposed by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
In a unanimous decision Monday, the Supreme Court reinstated a lower court ruling that ordered Sudan to pay $4.3 billion in punitive damages to some of the victims of the 1998 embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar el Salaam carried out by al-Qaida.
Court affirmed 2011 ruling
Nine years ago, a U.S. Federal District Court judge in Washington said Sudan should pay about $6 billion in compensation and roughly $4 billion in punitive damages for the 1998 bombings.
Sudan's Ministry of Justice said in a statement Monday that \"$7.4 billion of the total $10.2 billion against Sudan remains subject to further litigation,\" since the decision ordered the D.C. Circuit to reconsider its decision that foreign plaintiffs who sued Sudan under state law in the U.S. could not seek punitive damages.
State sponsor of terrorism designation
Analyst Himmat said Sudan must continue to resolve past charges involving acts of terrorism in order to clear its name with the U.S. government.
Police pepper-sprayed a disabled woman, children, and many others at a peaceful march to the polls in Graham, North Carolina on Saturday, October 31
Source
National name: Soomaaliya
Current government officials
Languages: Somali (official), Arabic, English, Italian
Ethnicity/race: Somali 85%, Bantu and others 15% (including Arabs 30,000)
Religion: Islam (Sunni)
Literacy rate: 37.8% (2001 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2010 est.): $5.896 billion; per capita $600. Real growth rate: 2.6%. Inflation: n.a. (businesses print their own money). Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 1.73%. Agriculture: bananas, sorghum, corn, coconuts, rice, sugarcane, mangoes, sesame seeds, beans; cattle, sheep, goats; fish. Labor force: 3.447 million (very few are skilled laborers); agriculture (mostly pastoral nomadism) 71%, industry and services 29%. Industries: a few light industries, including sugar refining, textiles, wireless communication. Natural resources: uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas, likely oil reserves. Exports: $515.8 million (2012 est.): livestock, bananas, hides, fish, charcoal, scrap metal. Imports: $1.263 billion (2010 est.): manufactures, petroleum products, foodstuffs, construction materials, qat. Major trading partners: UAE, Yemen, Oman, Djibouti, Kenya, India, China, Pakistan (2012).
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 100,000 (2012); mobile cellular: 658,000 (2012). Broadcast media: 2 private TV stations rebroadcast Al-Jazeera and CNN; Somaliland has 1 government-operated TV station and Puntland has 1 private TV station; Radio Mogadishu operated by the transitional government; 1 SW and roughly 10 private FM radio stations broadcast in Mogadishu; several radio stations operate in central and southern regions; Somaliland has 1 government-operated radio station; Puntland has roughly a half dozen private radio stations; transmissions of at least 2 international broadcasters are available (2007). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 186 (2012). Internet users: 106,000 (2009).
Transportation: Railways: 0 km. Highways: total: 22,100 km; paved: 2,608 km; unpaved: 19,492 km (2000 est.).
The ECOWAS Ministerial Coordination Committee on Transport, Logistics and Trade has recommended a harmonised and gradual reopening of land, air and sea borders for restoring cross border economic activities.
\"As well as the draft Guidelines for the Harmonisation and Facilitation of Cross Border Trade and Transport in the ECOWAS Region on The COVID-19 Pandemic and Related Post-Recovery Actions.
\"And transport in the ECOWAS region in the context of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, amounting to a coordinated and progressive opening of air, land and maritime borders.
\"The ministers recommended a three-phased approach to the opening of land and air borders, beginning with local internal domestic air and land transport within ECOWAS member states.
\"Then a second phase which involves the opening of land and air borders between ECOWAS member states, to allow the free movement of goods and persons.
The Burundi Constitutional Court ruled late Friday that the country does not need an interim president as stipulated by Article 121, saying the country already has a president-elect.
The Court president Charles Ndagijimana said that since the president-elect is competent and the position of president is vacant, Evariste Ndayishimiye should be sworn in as soon as possible so that he can assume office in line with the country’s constitution.
Burundi’s 2018 Constitution, Article 121, states that; “In case of vacancy caused by resigning, death or any other cause by the president then the Speaker of the National Assembly takes over in the interim until a new president is elected.”
Burundi government announced a one week mourning of the death of the country’s outgoing President Nkurunziza, all sorts of karaoke and music other than religious ones were banned country wide in bars and restaurants and other public places.
The Angolan Civil War, beginning at the time of the countrys independence from Portugal in 1975, was a 27-year struggle involving the deaths of over 500,000 soldiers and civilians. Initiated at the height of the Cold War, pro- and anti-communist forces in Angola set the stage for a proxy fight between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Though the fighting officially ended in 2002, Angola remains in economic and social turmoil with a massive refugee crisis and millions of landmines impeding farming practices.
Rich in diamonds and oil, Angola was one of the last African nations to receive independence from a European power. On April 25, 1974, a Portuguese military coup d’état protesting the country’s colonial practices successfully overthrew the regime. The combined forces of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), and the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) created a transitional government with the Alvor Accord of 1974.
Within a year the government had disintegrated, and with aid from the USSR and the Cuban military, the Marxist-oriented MPLA under the leadership of José dos Santos had wrested control of most of Angola. Indirectly and through proxies, governments from the United States, Brazil and South Africa funded UNITA, providing munitions, intelligence reports, and mercenaries.
Heavy fighting continued until 1991 when a temporary agreement known as the Bicesse Accords was reached. Calling for an immediate ceasefire and the removal of both Cuban and South African troops, the agreement mandated a new national government and army, along with Angola’s first multi-party elections. A year later, MPLA candidate José dos Santos won 49% of the popular vote in the election compared to 40% for UNITA candidate Dr. Jonas Savimbi. When Savimbi disputed the outcome, UNITA resumed guerilla war against the MPLA.
In 1993 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 864 placing
