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Tigrayan rebels announced on Sunday that they have captured the northern Ethiopian town of Kombolcha, making it a rapid advance by the Tigray People's Liberation Front as federal forces begin a battle to recapture the strategic city of Dessie.
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.
[USIP] Washington, DC -- The U.S. and others can help strengthen a truce--and avert a famine--in Tigray.
[Ethiopian Herald] ADDIS ABABA - The House of Peoples' Representatives yesterday approved a resolution of the Council of Ministers submitted proposing Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and \"Shene\" to be designated as terrorist groups.
There are now more than over 130,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus across the continent, with a number of African countries imposing a range of prevention and containment measures against the spread of the pandemic.
According to the latest data by the John Hopkins University and Africa Center for Disease Control on COVID-19 in Africa, the breakdown remains fluid as countries confirm cases as and when.
As of May 13, every African country had recorded an infection, the last being Lesotho.
We shall keep updating this list largely sourced from the John Hopkins University tallies, Africa CDC and from official government data.
SUGGESTED READING: Africa’s COVID-19 deaths pass 100,000 mark
Major African stats: May 30 at 7:00 GMT:
\t
\t\tConfirmed cases = 135,375
\t\tNumber of deaths = 3,923
\t\tRecoveries = 56,401
\t\tActive cases = 75,051
Countries in alphabetical order
\t\tAlgeria – 9,134
\t\tAngola – 81
\t\tBenin – 224
\t\tBotswana – 35
\t\tBurkina Faso – 847
\t\tBurundi – 42
\t\tCameroon – 5,436
\t\tCape Verde – 405
\t\tCentral African Republic – 874
\t\tChad – 759
\t\tComoros – 87
\t\tCongo-Brazzaville – 571
\t\tDR Congo – 2,833
\t\tDjibouti – 2,914
\t\tEgypt – 22,082
\t\tEquatorial Guinea – 1,306
\t\tEritrea – 39
\t\tEswatini – 279
\t\tEthiopia – 968
\t\tGabon – 2,613
\t\t(The) Gambia – 25
\t\tGhana – 7,616
\t\tGuinea – 3,656
\t\tGuinea-Bissau – 1,256
\t\tIvory Coast – 2,750
\t\tKenya – 1,745
\t\tLesotho – 2
\t\tLiberia – 273
\t\tLibya – 118
\t\tMadagascar – 698
\t\tMalawi – 273
\t\tMali – 1,226
\t\tMauritania – 423
\t\tMauritius – 335
\t\tMorocco – 7,714
\t\tMozambique – 234
\t\tNamibia – 23
\t\tNiger – 955
\t\tNigeria- 9,302
\t\tRwanda – 325
\t\tSao Tome and Principe – 463
\t\tSenegal – 3,429
\t\tSeychelles – 11
\t\tSierra Leone – 829
\t\tSomalia – 1,828
\t\tSouth Africa – 29,240
\t\tSouth Sudan – 994
\t\tSudan – 4,521
\t\tTanzania – 509
\t\tTogo – 428
\t\tTunisia – 1,071
\t\tUganda – 329
\t\tZambia – 1,057
\t\tZimbabwe – 149
SUGGESTED READING: rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in Africa II
A quarter of a million migrants are employed as domestic workers in Lebanon, the majority of them Ethiopians. Most of these migrants face harsh sometimes life threatening conditions in the line of work.
After Birtukan Mekuanint left Ethiopia for Lebanon in 2017 to work as a maid for a family of eight, she managed to call her relatives back home only a few times.
She is one of thousand others who worked in strenuous conditions and says her ‘hands were bruised from hard work.’
“For six months I didn’t know if it was day or night. I worked day and night. They didn’t pay me a salary, I was always told that they didn’t have any money. My hands were bruised from the hard work.”
Her father, said he did not know what to think when his daughter emerged unannounced from a taxi outside their home in Addis Ababa last week.
Abiye Yefru, Birtukan’s father said: “I didn’t hold my tears. My wife cried, even more, she was thanking God because our daughter escaped death and came back to us so that is a big thing.”
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The Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity Against COVID-19 is a joint initiative between the People's Republic of China, the Republic of South Africa in its capacity as the Chair of the African Union (AU), and the Republic of Senegal in its capacity as the Co-Chair of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
We recognize the importance of public health issues to global peace and security and the well-being of people around the world, particularly the fact that Africa is extremely vulnerable to the ravages of this virus and needs solidarity and support, including resources from various parties to bolster its response to the pandemic and to support its economic and social development.
We welcome the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution on COVID-19 response, which expresses deep concerns about the negative impacts and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizes the importance of global collaboration, and calls for intensified international cooperation, unity, solidarity and joint efforts to contain and mitigate the pandemic, and to pay particular attention to the needs of people in vulnerable situations.
China commends the solidarity and support extended by African countries, the AU and other regional organizations for China's COVID-19 response and appreciates the establishment of the AU COVID-19 Strategy and the appointment of Special Envoys to mobilize international support for Africa's efforts to address the economic challenges faced as a consequence of the pandemic, and further commends the resilience African countries have demonstrated and the positive results thus achieved in curbing the spread of the virus by adopting preventive measures.
We fully recognize the positive role of China-Africa investment and financing cooperation in promoting development and improving people's lives in Africa, and call on the international community to work in solidarity and collaboration, share best practices, and provide more material, technical, financial and humanitarian support to help African countries overcome the impact of COVID-19 and achieve independent and sustainable development.
Gashaw won the 10-kilometer race with 28:19, his second victory after his 2016 win and Gebrselama won the women's race in 32:32.
Many soldiers and civilians have been killed in the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, a spokesman for the Ethiopian government task force for Tigray said on Wednesday.
[Addis Standard] Addis Abeba -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed concerns over the reports of three individuals who were returned from Djibouti to Addis Ababa last week. The Ethiopian federal police commission said that the three individuals were members of TPLF who were apprehended by the Djibouti government. After the news was made public on May 31, 2021, the UN refugee agency announced that UNHCR raised its concerns with the Djiboutian authorities about the 'breach of international law, and about the safety
At least four people were killed as protests spread across several Ethiopian cities on Tuesday after a prominent singer from the country's largest ethnic group was shot dead, according to medical sources and a relative.
With his political lyrics, he was seen as a voice of the Oromo people during years of anti-government protests that swept Abiy to power in 2018.
On Tuesday morning, large crowds of protesters poured into the capital Addis Ababa from the surrounding Oromia region, snarling roads with stones and blocking traffic.
A resident of Western Hararge, in Oromia told AFP on condition of anonymity that his cousin had been killed by young Oromo nationalists known as Querroo, because he was from the Amhara ethnic group.
The US embassy said Tuesday that it was \"monitoring reports of protest and unrest, including gunfire throughout Addis Ababa\".
[Ethiopian Herald] For Ethiopians, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has a special meaning that goes beyond the purpose of ensuring development and improving living standards. The Dam has an intrinsic value in that it is yet another event in the country's history and assures Ethiopia's continuous existence as a unified state. In relation to this, its significance has also to do with the country's sovereignty.
The United States has begun restricting visas for government and military officials of Ethiopia and Eritrea seen as undermining efforts to resolve the deadly fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray region, saying it is time for the international community to take action.
[DW] United Nations experts say some 350,000 people in Ethiopia's Tigray province are acutely threatened by starvation, with millions more at risk. Agencies and aid groups say conflict is to blame.
Thousands of Ethiopian Orthodox believers dressed in white celebrate the anniversary of Saint Michael in Bahir Dar, the capital city of the Amhara region, the second-largest, in northern Ethiopia.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In a victory for voting rights, a Tennessee court has ruled the state must make absentee voting available to every eligible voter for all elections in 2020, including the August 6 primary and November 3 general election.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, and Dechert LLP were in court yesterday seeking the order due to the highly contagious and deadly COVID-19 outbreak and the risks it poses to many voters.
While most states allow any eligible voter to cast an absentee ballot, Tennessee requires voters to provide an “excuse” to do so from a very narrow list of criteria; practicing social distancing measures and/or self-quarantining was not included, meaning the vast majority of voters would have been forced to vote in person — or avoid voting at all for fear of becoming ill, disenfranchising thousands.
This ruling eliminates the excuse requirement for the 2020 elections, meaning Tennesseans will not have to risk their health in order to vote,” said Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.
The court also ordered the state to provide guidance instructing local election officials to issue absentee ballots to all eligible voters for the primary, and conduct a public information campaign informing voters about the elimination of the excuse requirement at this time.
[African Arguments] The war against the TPLF will not be quick or easy, and it already looks to be going badly for Eritrea's president.
[East African] Ethiopia has announced that it will hold elections on June 21 after several deferments to deal with what officials called logistical issues and allow more voters to register for the polls.
Over 400 000 people have "crossed the threshold into famine" in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region, a senior UN official said on Friday, appealing for urgent humanitarian action to help the millions affected by the brutal eight-month long conflict.
Minister of labour and social affairs of the federal republic of Somalia Sadiq Hirsi Warfaa and the Commissioner for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons have pledged the work towards creation of job opportunities.
The two spoke during a meeting the minister's office in which they promised to bring home Somalia refugees and create income streams for the internally displaced.
\"The ministry is putting efforts on ensuring continued support and relocation of the Somali Diaspora, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is currently working to create jobs for internally displaced persons and provide them with care,\" Minister Sadiq said.
Also, the director of social and planning departments was present at the meeting.
[ENA] Addis Ababa -- Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the law enforcement operations in Tigray Regional State are proceeding as planned.
Liberia was a colony for just over 17 years before partial independence was achieved through the declaration of a commonwealth (4 April 1839). True independence was declared eight years later on 26 July 1847.
The American Society for Colonization of Free People of Color of the United States (known simply as the American Colonization Society, ACS) created the Cape Mesurado Colony on the Grain Coast on 15 December 1821. This was further expanded into the Colony of Liberia on 15 August 1824. The ACS was a society initially run by white Americans who believed there was no place for Free Blacks in the US. Its administration was later taken over by Free Blacks. More »
In the 1880s Italy failed to take Abyssinia (as Ethiopia was then known) as a colony. On 3 October 1935 Mussolini ordered a new invasion and on 9 May the following year Abyssinia was annexed by Italy. On 1 June the country was merged with Eritrea and Italian Somalia to form Africa Orientale Italiana (AOI - Italian East Africa).
Emperor Haile Selassie made an impassioned appeal to the League of Nations on 30 June 1936, gaining support from the US and Russia. But many League of Nations members, including Britain and France, recognized Italian colonization.
NNPA NEWSWIRE — BlackPressUSA (Source: www.blackpressusda.com)- The United States acknowledges the February 26 statements from the Ethiopian Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promising unhindered humanitarian access, welcoming international support [...]
The dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over Addis Ababa’s construction of a gigantic dam on the Blue Nile has reached a new level.
On Monday, Egypt’s foreign minister urged the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution giving international clout to efforts to resolve the dispute over the hydroelectric dam.
Shoukry said the draft resolution is in line with the outcome of an African Union summit on Friday where the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia agreed to return to talks aimed at reaching an agreement.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), set to be Africa’s largest hydroelectric project, has been a source of tension in the Nile basin ever since Ethiopia broke ground on it nearly a decade ago.
Cairo sees the renaissance dam as a threat to international security, while Sudan fears its negative impact on its population.
In 1895 T. Thomas Fortune, then editor of the New York Age, and founder of the Afro-American League in 1890, was considered one of the leaders of African America. That year he gave an address at the Congress on Africa which met in Atlanta in connection with the Cotton States Exposition. His address appears below.
Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Congress:
The map of Africa is no longer a Chinese puzzle. Its geographical mysteries have been solved. Its mighty lakes and rivers have been traced to their source, and fiction and cupidity have unlocked hordes of treasure by the side of which that of King Solomon’s mines was as the vastness of the Atlantic’s waste of waters to the smallest stream that, like a silver thread, wanders down the mountain side and sighs itself away into the sands of the desert. Railroads are spanning its immense distances, steamboats are navigating its waterways, and the electric wire has brought it into talking distance with Europe and America. Its limitless agricultural and mineral resources are being developed for the comfort and the happiness of mankind. Vast States have sprung into being, as if by magic, controlled by European colonists, so that already a South African confederacy has worked its way into the brain of Cecil Rhodes, whose empire is cemented with more human blood and tears than the East Indian empire wrenched into the British Government by the crimes of Lord Clive and Warren Hastings.
Never in the history of mankind has a continent been so rapidly subdued and its waste places made the habitation of civilized governments and its savage inhabitants brought into contact and under the control of civilization. More has been accomplished along these lines in Africa in the past quarter of a century than was accomplished by European colonists in America in the first one hundred and fifty years of their desperate struggles here to subdue the aborigines. Steam and electricity and gunpowder are responsible for this phenomenon. They are conquering forces against
Analysis - Ethiopia wants to fill Africa's most powerful hydroelectric dam even without a deal with Sudan and Egypt. Talks on how much water will pass through the Nile dam are deadlocked. The spat threatens the region's security.
Born on the Grest Farm in Liberty County, Georgia, on August 6, 1848, Susie Baker King Taylor was raised as an enslaved person. Her mother was a domestic servant for the Grest family. At the age of 7, Baker and her brother were sent to live with their grandmother in Savannah. Even with the strict laws against formal education of African Americans, they both attended two secret schools taught by black women. Baker soon became a skilled reader and writer.
By 1860, having been taught everything these two black educators could offer, Baker befriended two white individuals, a girl and boy, who also offered to teach her lessons even though they knew it violated Georgia law and custom.
The Civil War brought Baker her freedom but not immediately. On April 1, 1862, at age 14, Baker was sent back to the country to live with her mother around the time Federal forces attacked nearby Fort Pulaski. When the fort was captured by the Union Army, Baker fled with her uncle’s family and other African Americans to Union-occupied St. Simons Island where she claimed her freedom. Since most African Americans did not have an extensive education, word of Baker’s knowledge and intelligence spread among the Army officers on the island.
Five days after her arrival, Baker was offered books and school supplies by Commodore Louis M. Goldsborough if she agreed to organize a school for the children on St. Simon’s Island. Baker accepted the offer and became the first black teacher to openly instruct African American students in Georgia. By day she taught children and at night she instructed adults. Baker met and married her first husband, Edward King, a black non-commissioned officer in the Union Army, while teaching at St. Simon Island.
For the next three years, Susie Baker King traveled with her husband’s regiment, working as a laundress while teaching black Union soldiers how to read and write during their off-duty hours. She also served as a nurse, helping camp doctors care for injured soldiers.
In 1866, the Kings returned to
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By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In a breakthrough a month after deadly conflict cut off Ethiopia's Tigray region from the world, the United Nations on Wednesday said it and the Ethiopian government have signed a deal to allow 'unimpeded' humanitarian access, at least for areas under federal government control after the prime minister's declaration of victory over the weekend. This will allow the first food, medicines and other aid into the region of 6 million people that has seen rising hunger during the fighting between the federal and Tigray regional governments. Each regards the other as […]
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