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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations Security Council unanimously called for a reversal of the military coup in Myanmar on Wednesday, strongly condemning the violence against peaceful protesters and calling for “utmost restraint...
In May, Burundi held a presidential election which was won by Evariste Ndayishimiye, candidate of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party.
Ndayishimiye was hurriedly sworn in after the untimely death of president Pierre Nkurunziza in June.
Rights violations continue
The Council encouraged donor countries which had suspended aid to Burundi to continue dialogue towards resumption of development assistance.
A report by a UN watchdog in September said human rights violations were still being committed in Burundi, including sexual violence and murder.
The country was plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Ndayishimiye’s predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term, which he ultimately won in July 2015.
His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May 2015.
Hundreds of people were killed and over 300,000 fled to neighboring countries.
The United Nations Security Council has condemned the multiple terrorist attacks in Borno State.
The attacks by Boko Haram insurgents between June 9 and 13 on some communities in Borno, including UN humanitarian facility, resulted in the killing of at least 120 people and several others injured.
The Security Council, in statement yesterday, urged all the UN member states to cooperate actively with Nigeria to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice.
The council commended the efforts of countries of the Lake Chad region, including through the Multinational Joint Task Force, to effectively combat terrorism, and encouraged further progress in this regard.
Egypt, at the northeast corner of Africa on the Mediterranean Sea, is bordered on the west by Libya, on the south by the Sudan, and on the east by the Red Sea and Israel. It is nearly one and one-half times the size of Texas. Egypt is divided into two unequal, extremely arid regions by the landscapes dominant feature, the northward-flowing Nile River. The Nile starts 100 mi (161 km) south of the Mediterranean and fans out to a sea front of 155 mi between the cities of Alexandria and Port Said.
Republic.
Egyptian history dates back to about 4000 B.C., when the kingdoms of upper and lower Egypt, already highly sophisticated, were united. Egypts golden age coincided with the 18th and 19th dynasties (16th to 13th century B.C.), during which the empire was established. Persia conquered Egypt in 525 B.C., Alexander the Great subdued it in 332 B.C., and then the dynasty of the Ptolemies ruled the land until 30 B.C., when Cleopatra, last of the line, committed suicide and Egypt became a Roman, then Byzantine, province. Arab caliphs ruled Egypt from 641 until 1517, when the Turks took it for their Ottoman Empire.
Napoléons armies occupied the country from 1798 to 1801. In 1805, Mohammed Ali, leader of a band of Albanian soldiers, became pasha of Egypt. After completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, the French and British took increasing interest in Egypt. British troops occupied Egypt in 1882, and British resident agents became its actual administrators, though it remained under nominal Turkish sovereignty. In 1914, this fiction was ended, and Egypt became a protectorate of Britain.
Egyptian nationalism, led by Zaghlul Pasha and the Wafd Party, forced Britain to relinquish its claims on the country. Egypt became an independent sovereign state on Feb. 28, 1922, with Fuad I as its king. In 1936, by an Anglo-Egyptian treaty of alliance, all British troops and officials were to be withdrawn, except from the Suez Canal Zone. When World War II started, Egypt remained neutral.
Tensions grew between the Wafd Party and the
Ambassador George E. Moose’s career in international diplomacy resulted from his spending a college summer in the 1960s building a three-room schoolhouse in Tanzania. The high point of that career came in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan nominated him to be U.S. Ambassador to Benin and later Ambassador to Senegal.
George Moose was born in New York City, New York on June 23, 1944, to Robert and Ellen Amanda Lane. Moose attended public schools in the city and then graduated from Grinnell College in Iowa in 1966.
After graduation Moose became a Foreign Service Officer in 1967. His first overseas assignment was Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War. Moose served from 1969 to 1971, first as Refugee Program Advisor at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon and later as Political Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Da Nang. He returned to the United States and worked for the U.S. State Department Board of Examiners from 1971 to 1972 and then served as a Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados between 1972 and 1974.
In 1974 he was assigned as a Political Analyst for Southern Africa in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1974-76); then as Desk Officer for Southern Rhodesia (1976-77) and Special Advisor to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs (1977-78); followed by a term as Deputy Director of Southern African Affairs (1978-79).
From 1979 to 1980 Moose was an International Fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations and then from 1980 to 1983 he was Deputy Counselor for Political and Security Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City.
On October 7, 1983, President Ronald Reagan nominated Moose as Ambassador to Benin. After U.S. Senate confirmation he arrived in Cotonou, the capital of Benin, and presented his credentials on November 4, 1983. He completed his mission on July 7, 1986.
Returning to the United States he next served (on loan) as a member of the Policy Council for the Una Chapman Cox Foundation between 1986 and 1987 then he
Former Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure, an army general who won acclaim for pursuing democratic reforms before being toppled by a military coup in 2012, has died at the age of 72, an aide said on Tuesday.
ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council approved legislation during Monday’s remote meeting to create the Airport CARES Act Grant Fund and receive $338.5 million in proceeds for the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act Grant (Legislative Reference No. 20-O-1357).
• An ordinance to authorize the City to forgive rent payments by tenants who lease space at the City of Atlanta Neighborhood Centers (Legislative Reference No. 20-O-1363).
• A resolution directing the City’s chief financial officer to provide a monthly update on revenue collections through the close of Fiscal Year 2021 (Legislative Reference No. 20-R-4006).
• A resolution requesting the City’s chief health officer develop a healthy food procurement policy to provide healthier food options in City-owned locations (Legislative Reference No. 20-R-3968).
The Council immediately approved legislation requesting a briefing from the mayor’s administration on its plan for conducting meetings of city boards, authorities, commissions, committees, or other similar bodies due to the COVID-19 pandemic and report to the Council’s Committee on Council during its meeting on July 6, 2020.
In 1977 Ethiopia and Somalia engaged in a brief territory conflict over the Ogaden region situated between and claimed by both nations. This conflict however held significance greater than most territorial disputes because Ethiopia was backed by the Soviet Union and Somalia was supported by the United States, thus bringing the Cold War to eastern Africa.
Long before the 1977 conflict, the Ogaden had been subject to dispute. Following World War II, when Ethiopia had been aligned with the Allies against the Axis Powers, Great Britain relinquished its claim on the Haud and Ogaden regions as part of British-Somaliland. When British Somaliland became part of the newly independent nation of Somalia in 1960, that government took control over the region. They intensified their control when a military coup led to the assassination of Somali President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, and the army’s seizure of control of the nation in 1969.
Meanwhile in Ethiopia, long-time Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown in September of 1974 by the military council known as the Derg. The nation was in disarray as a result, and numerous separatist movements opposed to the Derg emerged out of the political uncertainty. One of those groups, the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF), made up of Somalis living in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, called for the annexation of the area they controlled to Somalia.
By 1977 Mengistu Haile Mariam had become the leader of the Derg which now controlled all of Ethiopia. The Derg violently suppressed all Ethiopians and in particular the WSLF and its supporters. By this point, they had declared Ethiopia a Marxist state and allied it with the Soviet Union.
The Somali government, which had previously received considerable amounts of Soviet Aid, now provided weapons and supplies to the WSLF. In July 1977, the Somali National Army of thirty-five thousand, led by Mohamed Siad Barre and aided by fifteen thousand WSLF militiamen, invaded Ethiopia’s Ogaden region. The Somalian Army was greatly outnumbered by the
Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister, Gedu Andargachew has rejected Egypt’s call to refer the dispute over Addis Ababa’s construction of the giant Nile dam to the United Nations Security Council.
The $4.6 billion project, on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia, would create the most powerful hydroelectric dam in Africa.
“The issue with the dam can be solved right here instead of taking it to the UN Security Council.
Truth be told, if they are thinking like that their issue is not with Blue Nile (dam), it is with a country called Ethiopia.
Unless this is a longing for war, the dam in fact encourages development, brotherhood, and creating ties”, the Ethiopian foreign minister added.
Asheville, North Carolina, City Council members approved the measure, which would help aid Black residents, businesses and with a 7-0 vote on Tuesday.
[ISS] The African Union Mission to Somalia's time is drawing to a close. It's scheduled to end in December 2021, after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) extended the 28 February exit deadline. But instead of making preparations to leave, the growing political and security problems in Somalia have seen the focus shift to what AMISOM's continued role in the country should be.
By Jean-Yves Kamale and Raf Casert Associated Press KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba met a grisly end after his assassination in 1961: His body was dismembered and dissolved with acid in an apparent effort to keep any grave from becoming a pilgrimage site. Then, the story goes that a tooth was pulled from his corpse during the effort in the middle of the night. And even that was taken from Congo, brought home to colonizer Belgium by a man whose family then apparently kept it for more than half a century. Now a court in Belgium […]
The post Belgium to return tooth to family of slain Congolese icon appeared first on Black News Channel.
Urban planner Nithya Raman maintained a slim, but solid lead Wednesday, after the release of
The post A struggling incumbent, Ryu, trails challenger Raman in potential 4th District upset appeared first on L.A. Focus Newspaper.
The city of Asheville, North Carolina, in a historic move, voted unanimously to approve a reparations resolution for Black residents Tuesday night.
The Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) Serge Brammertz has called for an intensification of efforts in locating and arresting fugitives wanted for their participation in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Referring to the recent arrest of alleged mastermind Felicien Kabuga, Brammertz said that cooperation from Member States played a critical role further success can be achieved if this continues as the search for major fugitive, Protais Mpiranya and the five other ICTR fugitives who remain at large continues.
Brammertz reminded that cooperation to track the fugitives is not only a legal requirement but also a moral obligation to the victims and survivors.
\"The victims and survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda deserve nothing less than our collective best efforts,\" he said.
Brammertz recognized the victims and survivors of the genocide noting that their demand for justice, trust and support made his work possible.
Council members Terry Morris, Jan Quillman, Larry Hug and Mayor Bob ODekirk signed a letter asking for the Attorney Generals intervention. By John Ferak, Patch Staff Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul will be launching an independent investigation into the circumstances of the Jan. 29 death of Eric Lurry, a 37-year-old Black man, who died after []
Tensions grew between the Wafd Party and the monarchy following independence, and in 1952, the army, led by Gen. Mohammed Naguib, seized power. Three days later, King Farouk abdicated in favor of his infant son. The monarchy was abolished and a republic proclaimed on June 18, 1953, with Naguib becoming president and prime minister. He relinquished the prime ministership in 1954 to Gamal Abdel Nasser, leader of the ruling military junta. Nasser also assumed the presidency in 1956.
Nassers policies embroiled his country in continual conflict. In 1956, the U.S. and Britain withdrew their pledges of financial aid for the building of the Aswan High Dam. In response, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and expelled British oil and embassy officials. The Soviet Union then agreed to finance the dam and would come to exert increasing influence over Egypt in the coming decade. Israel, barred from the canal and exasperated by terrorist raids, invaded the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Britain and France, after demanding Egyptian evacuation of the canal zone, attacked Egypt on Oct. 31, 1956. Worldwide pressure forced Britain, France, and Israel to halt the hostilities. A UN emergency force occupied the canal zone, and all troops were evacuated in the spring of 1957.
From 1956 to 1961, Egypt and Syria united to form a single country called the United Arab Republic (UAR). Syria ended this relationship in 1961 after a military coup, but Egypt continued to call itself the UAR until 1971.
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat, third President of post-independence Egypt (governing from 1970 to 1981), was born of peasant background in the Nile Delta village of Mit Abu al-Kum on December 25, 1918. The son an Egyptian army clerk and a Sudanese housewife, Sadat was educated in Cairo, where his family moved in 1925. As a result of the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, access to the Military Academy was no longer restricted to the upper classes and by 1938, Sadat was a commissioned officer.
Al-Sadat became involved in underground political activities by 1941, joining others seeking to overthrow British rule, including Lieutenants Gamal abdel-Nasser and Zakariah Mohieddin. Sadat also joined right-leaning clandestine groups like Young Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood. Throughout the 1940s he was in and out of jail for collaborating with German agents and conspiring in a number of assassination attempts. By the end of the decade, Sadat was out of prison, reinstated into the Army, and had gotten married to the well-connected, half-British Jihan Safwat Rouf. In 1950, Nasser asked Sadat to join the Free Officer’s Movement, having known of his involvement in anti-British organizations.
When Nasser and other Army officers led a military coup on July 23, 1952 against King Farouk, Sadat was chosen to announce the coup leaders’ initial proclamations on the radio. Sadat was also made a member of the Revolutionary Command Council, where he served as liaison to the Muslim Brotherhood and editor of the official newspaper, al-Jumhuriah. With Nasser soon strengthening his hand and pushing out the opposition, Sadat loyally supported the powerful leader. He was rewarded with a number of prominent positions: Minister of State in 1954, Speaker of the National Assembly of the United Arab Republic in 1958, and vice-president from 1964 to 1967 and later from 1969 to 1970. By 1969, the Vice Presidency was limited from seven chairs to one, with Sadat winning the single appointment over Ali Sabri, who Nasser saw as a growing political threat.
West African leaders may lift painful economic sanctions against Mali once an interim president is inaugurated on Friday in the wake of the Aug. 18 military coup, the bloc's envoy said, praising the junta's leadership.
Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has replaced his prime minister following the resignation of Ismail Ould Bedda Ould Cheikh Sidiya.
The move comes after prosecutors received a key report investigating the activities of former head of state Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
Mohamed Ould Bilal, a former political adviser and minister in the era before Abdel Aziz, replaces Sidiya. He has been tasked with forming a new govermment following the resignation of Sidiya's entire administration.
Before his appointment as prime minister in August 2019, Sidiya had served between 2009 and 2014 as minister of housing and employment under Aziz.
Prosecutors in the capital Nouakchott had announced on Wednesday that they had received a report by a nine-member commission, tasked with investigating aspects of Aziz's 2008-19 presidency.
Matters discussed in the parliamentary report include the handling of oil revenues, the sales of state-owned property in Nouakchott, the activities of Chinese fishing company Pully Hong Dong, and the liquidation of a state-owned firm that supplied food products.
Aziz, a former army general, ignored a summons from the committee last month to explain the issues at stake, according to a parliamentary official.
Mauritanian MPs adopted a law at the end of July establishing a High Court of Justice to try the head of state and ministers in cases of \"high treason\". The court is due to be set up in the coming months.
President Ghazouani succeeded Aziz in August last year. He had previously served under him as Chief of Staff and Defence Minister.
Aziz first came to power in a military coup in 2008, deposing then-president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. Aziz went on to win elections in 2009 and 2014.
Announcement creates formal process to ensure community input informs UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial’s care and outreach The University of Chicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial recently announced the creation of its first community advisory council (CAC). The CAC will seek community input on health issues of importance to its primary service area and surrounding communities. This council []
