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"Alpha Condé's record can hardly be considered anything but disastrous. Especially since he came to power in 2010, carrying hopes for the country and the region. Let us not forget that he was a former democratic opponent, who had himself been a victim of Lansana Conté ." Fabien Offner, a researcher
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.
Press Release - Nigerian security forces have committed a catalogue of human rights violations and crimes under international law in their response to spiralling violence in Southeast Nigeria - carrying out a repressive campaign since January which has included sweeping mass arrests, excessive and unlawful force, torture and other ill-treatment, said Amnesty International.
Troops from neighboring Eritrea have “started to evacuate” the conflict-hit Tigray region
[Algerie Presse Service] BIR LEHLOU -- President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) Brahim Ghali, called upon the African Union (AU) to put pressure on Morocco to end \"the illegal military occupation of parts of the territory\" of Western Sahara.
Anti-Police Brutality Protest Sees Police Brutality
National armed forces opened fire on Nigerian youth in Lagos at an anti-police brutality demonstration on Tuesday — injuring around 50 people and shooting at least 20 dead, as per unconfirmed reports
Amnesty International which has already condemned the use of excessive force by the Nigerian police to subdue protesters, stated there was ``\"credible but disturbing evidence'' of the incident.
\"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 the imminent threat of death or serious injury,\" Amnesty tweeted.
#EndSARS, #EndSWAT and Police Reform.
The escalation in violence comes two weeks after the #EndSarsNow movement took to the streets across Nigeria, following the circulation of video showing a man being beaten, apparently by police officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, known as SARS.
The government proclaimed the dissolution of the police unit which has been accused of human rights crimes including abuse, torture and killings but has since created the Special Weapons and Tactics team (SWAT) in its stead further inciting the youth to seek complete police reform.
Clinton E. Knox was born May 5, 1908, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was the youngest of five children born to Estella Briggs Knox and William J. Knox Sr. Knox’s older brother, William J. Knox, Jr., was one of the scientists who helped develop the atomic bomb during World War II. His other older brother, Dr. Lawrence Howland Knox, was a noted chemist.
Clinton Knox attended the elementary and secondary schools of New Bedford, graduating from New Bedford High School in 1926. Knox received his A.B. degree in 1930 from Williams College and his M.A. degree from Brown University in 1931. Knox was as an instructor at Morgan State College in Baltimore, Maryland, teaching history and international relations between 1931 and 1936 and again between 1939 and 1943. During the intervening years he attended Harvard University where he received his Ph.D. in European history in 1940. Knox was the Bayard-Cutting Fellow at Harvard (1938-1939).
Knox served in the United States Army during World War II (1943-1945) as a research analyst in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Following the war, he worked for the Department of State beginning in 1945 and would remain there for 28 years until his retirement in 1973. Knox initially served as a departmental officer. He became a member of the Foreign Service of the United States in 1954 and first served abroad in 1957 as the first African American secretary to the United States Mission to NATO. While with NATO he held posts in France and Honduras.
Knox became the Ambassador to the West African Republic of Dahomey (now the country of Benin), serving in this capacity for five years (1964-1969). Following his work in Africa, Knox served as Ambassador to Haiti (1969-1973), under the regime of Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier and later his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier. In 1973, while serving as Ambassador to Haiti, Knox was kidnapped at gunpoint by unknown assailants who demanded the release of 35 political prisoners and cash. After
Amnesty International has published two major reports on human rights and environmental issues associated with cobalt mining and launched an initiative that challenged the electric vehicle industry to produce a battery with a completely clean human rights record for all its components.
At the Responsible Business Alliance, the Responsible Minerals Initiative is helping companies understand and improve the social and environmental performance of their cobalt supply chains.
The alliance recently teamed up with RCS Global Group, a company that specializes in responsible sourcing of materials, to expand assessment, monitoring and improvement of artisanal and small-scale cobalt mining practices in the DRC.
Butler says the Responsible Business Alliance now has over 50% of globally identified cobalt refiners -- the companies buying and processing cobalt from small-scale and artisanal mines -- in its program, largely because of customer demand for ethical and sustainable products, investor expectations of responsible sourcing, and global interest in the social and environmental costs of minerals.
Photo courtesy of Sumitomo Metal Mining
A Japanese company, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd., recently announced it had developed a method for melting down spent electric vehicle batteries and recovering the cobalt.
The seditious libel case involving Sierra Leone’s former minister of social welfare and journalist – Dr Sylvia Olayinka Blyden, was adjourned today to Friday 12 June 2020, after prosecution witness who is the lead police investigator – Detective M.K. Alieu, was cross-examined by Blyden who is representing herself in court.
On Friday, 22nd May 2020, Dr Blyden was charged with seditious libel under Sections 33, 32 and 27 of the notorious Public Order Act No 46 of 1965, which successive governments of Sierra Leone have used to harass, intimidate and persecute those with whom they disagree, especially journalists.
According to Section 33 (1): “Any person who (a) does or attempts to do, or makes any preparation to do, or conspires with any person to do, any act with a seditious intention; or (b) utters any seditious words; or (c) prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces any seditious publication; or (d) imports any seditious publication, unless he has no reason to believe it is seditious shall be guilty of an offence and liable for a first offence to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to a fine not exceeding one thousand leones or to both such imprisonment and fine, and for a subsequent offence shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding seven years, and every such publication shall be forfeited to the government.”
Section 32 (1) states: “Any person who publishes any false statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear or alarm, to the public or to disturb the public peace shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding three hundred Leones or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twelve months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.
Section 27 states: “Any person who maliciously publishes any defamatory matter shall be guilty of an offence called libel and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding seven hundred leones or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.”
Nearly ten years after the UN called for a major clean-up of areas of the Niger Delta polluted by the oil giant Shell and other oil companies, decontamination work has begun on only 11% of planned sites while vast areas remain heavily contaminated, according to a new investigation by four NGOs published today.
Main findings
Amongst other things, the four NGO's 30-page report, 'No Clean-Up, No Justice', finds that:
*There are still communities in Ogoniland without access to clean water supplies;
*Health and environmental monitoring has not been carried out;
*There has been no public accounting for how $31m funding provided since 2018 has been spent;
*Eleven of 16 companies contracted for the clean-up are reported to have no registered expertise in oil pollution remediation or related areas;
*Highlights that \"emergency measures\" proposed by UNEP have not been properly implemented and that the billion-dollar clean-up project launched by the Nigerian government in 2016 has been ineffective.
Recommendations to Shell
Amnesty and the other NGOs are demanding a rapid clean-up, and in particular that Shell:
*Provides proper compensation to all communities affected by failed or delayed clean-ups of oil spills;
*Decommissions all aging and damaged pipelines commits to funding the clean-up of Ogoniland and the rest of the Niger Delta until completed.
*Ensure that Ogoni people can access their basic rights, including the right to safe drinking water;
*Develop and implements a strategy to address the root causes of oil pollution, while fully involving local communities;
*Strengthen HYPREP and ensures it is an independent, transparent agency without the involvement of Shell in oversight and management structures;
*And publish all information on the clean-up project and its progress.
Recommendations to European governments
And finally, the NGOs are also calling on European governments which are home to oil companies operating in the Niger Delta to:
*Make a fundamental shift to prioritise the clean-up of Ogoniland and the rest of the Niger Delta over the interests of companies;
*Increase engagement with and support for the Nigerian government to ensure effective implementation of the UN's recommendations, independent oversight of the oil industry and effective remedy for affected communities;
*And to establish strong international regulations for corporate liability abroad - such as an EU law for mandatory Human Rights due diligence and a binding UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights.
The South African Police Service has been ordered to pay more than R140 million in wrongful conduct claims between January and May, according to a report.
Amnesty International has documented torture, unlawful detention and sexual abuse of children escaping Boko Haram in the Northeast
At least 10,000 people, including many children, have died in military detention during the conflict
UK funding a flawed 'rehabilitation' centre - full investigation needed into deaths at the site
'This must serve as an urgent warning to the UK Government currently supporting a military abusing the very people it's meant to be protecting' - Kate Allen
Nigeria must urgently address its failure to protect and provide education to an entire generation of children in the Northeast, a region devastated by years of Boko Haram atrocities and gross violations by the military, Amnesty International warned today in a chilling new report.
The 91-page report, 'We dried our tears': Addressing the toll on children of Northeast Nigeria's conflict, examines how the military's widespread unlawful detention and torture have compounded the suffering of children from Borno and Adamawa states who faced war crimes and crimes against humanity at the hands of Boko Haram.
Between November 2019 and April 2020, Amnesty interviewed more than 230 people affected by the conflict, including 119 who were children when they suffered serious crimes at the hands of Boko Haram, the Nigerian military, or both.
Thousands, including children, held in military detention
Children who escape Boko Haram territory face a raft of violations by the Nigerian authorities, including crimes under international law.
A 14-year-old boy whom Boko Haram abducted as a young child before he fled and was placed in detention by the Nigerian military, said: \"The conditions in Giwa are horrible.
In their publication they explained that:
“On May 1, police arrested Blyden, publisher of the Awareness Times newspaper, at her home in Freetown for alleged “cyber-related” offenses, according to Messeh Leone, a legal activist familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app and phone, and a June 4 police statement, which CPJ reviewed.
On May 22, authorities charged Blyden with sedition, defamation, and “perversion of justice” over her social media posts, according to Leone and a copy of the charge sheet, reviewed by CPJ.
Authorities granted Blyden bail on May 28 and released her on May 29, but then arrested her again on June 3, when she appeared for a hearing at a Freetown magistrate court, allegedly for violating bail conditions that prohibited her from speaking publicly about her case, according to Leone and a External linkreportExternal link by The Sierra Leone Telegraph, a local news website.
A spokesperson for the Sierra Leone police, Brimma Kamara, told CPJ via messaging app that the police had not initiated Blyden’s arrest on June 3, and said it was “probably” because Blyden breached her bail conditions.
On May 3, police also arrested Hussain Muckson Sesay, a local activist, after he allegedly photographed the police facility where Blyden was being held, and shared those images on social media; authorities charged him with perversion of justice on May 22, at the same hearing as Blyden, according to Leone and Blyden’s charge sheet.
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.
… investigation into police violence against Black Americans.
Family members of 165 victims … officers to kill and torture African Americans with little to no repercussions …
Free Zulu! The US prison system, designed to capture, confine and control, denies it holds Political Prisoners like Kenny Zulu Whitmore, Imam Jamil Al-Amin, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Leonard Peltier, Russell ‘Maroon’ Shoatz, Ed Poindexter, Romaine ‘Chip’ Fitzgerald and so many more, most falsely accused and wrongfully convicted. Released after 50 years, Jalil Muntaqim was rearrested, charged with trying to vote as the State attempts to reclaim his captivity.
Days after threatening to frustrate government's agenda in both the National Assembly and the Senate, Deputy President William Ruto allies have made a U-turn and are now promising to support President Uhuru Kenyatta until he finishes his term.
Speaking in Eldoret, Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi and his Bahati counterpart Kimani Ngunjiri vowed that the Jubilee Party Tangatanga faction will not dare do things which will impact negatively on the lives of Kenyans in terms of legislation.
The leaders allied to the DP maintained that despite last Monday's State House meeting which resulted into the removal of Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen and his Nakuru counterpart Susan Kihika from their Senate leadership positions, they will not allow Jubilee Party to be divided to the advantage of their political rivals.
The Nation had learnt that the Jubilee MPs were planning to frustrate government business in both the Senate and the National Assembly as a way of getting back at President Kenyatta for removing Mr Murkomen and Ms Kihika from the Senate leadership positions.
Cherang'any MP Joshua Kutuny, an ally of President Kenyatta, said when normalcy returns, county assemblies should speed up BBI debates to allow for a referendum by March 2021.
