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The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Thursday that the grave humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region is deteriorating, with no sign of Eritrean troops withdrawing and alarmingly widespread reports of systematic rape and other sexual violence mainly by men in uniform.
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.
Human rights violations are still being committed in Burundi, including sexual violence and murder, a report by a UN watchdog said.
Hopes had been pinned on new President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who was elected in May. He took over from his predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza, who was in office for 15 years.
During his tenure, at least t 1,200 people were killed and more than 400,000 displaced during unrest between April 2015 and May 2017, according to the UN.
It was hoped the new leader could change the face of the central African country.
But the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi described evidence of killings and disappearance in recent weeks.
It also said during the election there was evidence of summary executions, torture and sexual violence.
“In recent weeks there have continued to be killings, there have continued to be arbitrary detentions and there have continued to be disappearances,” said Commission of Inquiry member Francoise Hampson.
\"It’s slightly surprising that it is continuing as it was even though elections have finished. And that is a matter of very grave concern.”
The investigators also looked at serious violations committed on youngsters under 18, who they said were \"specifically targeted.”
“They are forcibly recruited into the ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, other times they were harmed when other family members are the real targets,” the commissioners said.
“We very much fear the consequences of the 2015 crisis for Burundi’s future, not least because of the long-term impact it will have on the children”, said Commissioner Lucy Asuagbor.
Over the past four years, the commission has been the only independent mechanism to report on human rights violations in Burundi
The panel is concerned that this oversight will disappear when it ends its mandate this year.
The report will be presented to the Human Rights Council on 23 September.
The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Thursday that the grave humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region is deteriorating, with no sign of Eritrean troops withdrawing and alarmingly widespread reports of systematic rape and other sexual violence mainly by men in uniform.
The post UN: Tigray's Humanitarian Crisis Worsens, No Eritrean Exit appeared first on Los Angeles Sentinel.
Dear Editor,
Once again we are witnessing the abuse of power by two public figures, Ruel Johnson and Glen Lall, who appear to think that the laws of Guyana do not relate to them.
The article Ruel Johnson’s unctuous ‘apologies’ ring shallow, self-serving appeared first on Stabroek News.
[DW] The UN humanitarian chief has said that sexual violence and starvation were being used as weapons of war in Ethiopia's Tigray. He urged Eritrea to make good on its pledge and recall its troops.
Ethiopian forces blocked people from the country's embattled Tigray region from crossing into Sudan on Thursday at the busiest crossing point for refugees, Sudanese forces said.
Their account follows allegations by refugees in previous days of Ethiopian forces stopping people from fleeing the month-old deadly conflict in Tigray.
The Sudanese forces, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the events, said people tried to cross from Ethiopia around 6 a.m. to Hamdayet in Sudan but were stopped, and refugees waiting on the Sudan side became upset and began throwing rocks.
The Sudanese forces then cleared the area, and on Thursday evening they confirmed that the border crossing remained closed.
Tensions have been rising at the border in recent days as the flow of Ethiopians crossing has slowed to hundreds per day from several thousands.
A senior Ethiopian government official who has served as spokesman during the conflict did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
End fighting
The European Union's crisis management commissioner Thursday urged the Ethiopian government to restore communications in its northern Tigray region and called on both sides to cease hostilities.
\"I urge... the Ethiopian authorities to lift the communication blockade,\" Janez Lenarcic said at Um Raquba camp in neighboring Sudan, where he spoke with Ethiopian refugees who had fled their homeland over the last month.
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last month ordered military operations against the northern Ethiopian region's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in response to what he said were attacks on Ethiopian federal army camps.
Tens of thousands of refugees have since poured into eastern Sudan, with many complaining that they have not been able to re-establish contact with those left behind or lost on the scramble to leave due to a communications blackout.
\"I spoke with a number of refugees in this camp today and what is perhaps most painful to hear is that they have zero information... about their relatives and friends who stayed behind,\" Lenarcic said.
Abiy on Saturday claimed the conflict was over after federal troops took control of the Tigrayan capital, Mekele, but the TPLF threatened a full-scale counter-offensive on Wednesday.
Lenarcic also urged Ethiopia's government to provide access for humanitarian workers and goods, while calling on both sides to \"cease the hostilities\".
Ethiopia has formally granted the United Nations access to deliver aid to Tigray.
AFP
[DW] Hundreds have died in the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region and thousands more have fled. As the TPLF and Ahmed trade jabs, thousands of refugees are in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Sudanese camps.
By CARA ANNA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Up to 200,000 refugees could pour into Sudan while fleeing the deadly conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, officials said Wednesday, while the first details are emerging of largely cut-off civilians under growing strain. Nearly 10,000 people have crossed the border, including some wounded in the fighting, and the flow is growing quickly. 'There are lots of children and women,' Al-Sir Khalid, the head of the refugee agency in Sudan's Kassala province, told The Associated Press. 'They are arriving very tired and exhausted. They are hungry and thirsty […]
The post Sudan braces for up to 200,000 fleeing Ethiopia fighting appeared first on Black News Channel.
Khartoum — The Sudanese government extended the closure of all airports in the country for passenger traffic until June 28 as part of the coronavirus (Covid-19) precautions.
The federal Ministry of Health reported 213 new coronavirus cases on Friday.
This brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Sudan to 7,220 cases.
The Sudanese government reported the first confirmed coronavirus victim on March 10, when a 50-year-old man died from the disease.
Radio Dabanga's editorial independence means that we can continue to provide factual updates about political developments to Sudanese and international actors, educate people about how to avoid outbreaks of infectious diseases, and provide a window to the world for those in all corners of Sudan.
Jonas Savimbi , in full Jonas Malheiro Savimbi (born August 3, 1934, Portuguese Angola—died February 22, 2002, near Lucusse, Angola), Angolan politician, the leader of a long-continuing guerrilla insurgency against the postindependence government of Angola.
The son of a railroad stationmaster, Savimbi was educated in mission schools and won a scholarship to study abroad. He studied medicine at the University of Lisbon in Portugal and then obtained a doctorate in political science at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1965. In 1961 Savimbi joined the Angolan independence leader Holden Roberto’s Popular Union of Angola (UPA), the rival of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). He broke with the UPA’s leader in 1966 and formed the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), which fought against Portuguese colonial rule.
Savimbi was the only Angolan guerrilla leader who continued fighting within Angola until the nation reached independence from Portugal in 1975; by this time he had expanded his initially small band of supporters into a guerrilla army numbering in the thousands. UNITA was based in southeastern Angola and relied for its support on the Ovimbundu people, the largest ethnic group in the country. At various times, Savimbi obtained support from China, South Africa, and the United States as a counter to the Marxist, Soviet-supported MPLA, which controlled the central government. Savimbi continued to wage a disruptive guerrilla war against the MPLA throughout the 1970s and ’80s. In 1991 he signed a peace agreement with the MPLA-led Angolan government that halted the civil war and resulted in free, multiparty national elections in 1992. After losing these elections, Savimbi and UNITA resumed their military struggle for control of the country, with UNITA dominating most of the countryside. Talks were held again, leading to the Lusaka Accord of 1994: hostilities were to cease and forces were to be disengaged. José Eduardo dos Santos, president of Angola, offered
Government troops recently seized control of the area after the withdrawal of forces loyal to rebel warlord Khalifa Hifter.
The United Nations mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Thursday voiced \"horror\" over recent reports of eight mass graves discovered in and around the town of Tarhuna.
The graves were found after the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) retook control of Tarhuna when military general-turned-warlord Khalifa Hifter's Libyan National Army (LNA) withdrew from the region.
Khalifa Hifter's forces last year launched an offensive to capture the capital city of Tripoli.
In February, the UN-backed government suspended cease-fire talks in Geneva after Hifter's forces attacked key positions in the capital, including its port.
[Citizen] Kampala -- Uganda's President Museveni on Tuesday confirmed closure of social media channels ahead of tomorrow's General Election.
Collectively, we need to provide extra support to protect those experiencing domestic violence through specializing training of first responders, additional emergency shelters for survivors, immediate removal of abusers, and increased support for helplines.
While the current economic downturn is affecting both men and women, past evidence shows that domestic violence against women increases during periods of high unemployment.
According to the Iraq Family Health survey, 1 in 5 Iraqi women are subjected to domestic violence.
As in many other countries, COVID-19 has exacerbated instances of domestic violence in Iraq, with an average increase of 30% since the country-wide curfew began, and some regions seeing an increase as high as 50%.
For survivors of violence and women displaced in Iraq and globally, the consequences of COVID-19 lockdowns often mean limited access to life saving services.
Zalengei — The Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) , on Friday, recaptured defense point from two rebel groups representing Sudan Liberation Army Movement led by Abdul Wahid Nur and the Revolutionary Sahwa Council, in Katroum Area, West Jebel Mara, Wali (governor) of Central Darfur announced.
Maj-General, Commander of Infantry Division, Suleiman Al-Amin affirmed that the Army and the RSF troops are in full control of Katroum area following the aggressive attack on the area by the rebels, describing it as a violation to the ease-fire announced by the transitional government as an initiative for completion of peace process.
\"The aggressors inflicted heavy losses in lives and equipment during the attack\" He stressed.
The RSF Commander, in Central Darfur, Brig. Ali Yagoup Jibri has affirmed the Army and the RSF control over Katroum area and the surrounding military check points, referring to their commitment to the cease-fire announced by the Transitional Government.
A proposal to award the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to a contingent of Cuban doctors who specialize in disaster situations and serious epidemics, has been endorsed by four members of the British Parliament.
[RFI] Ethiopia's army captured the town of Alamata, in southern Tigray, 115 kilometres from the regional capital Mekelle, according to a statement on Monday by the Ethiopian government, as a conflict between the federal government and Tigray region continues to escalate.
Since 1999 international attention has been focused on evidence that slavery is widespread throughout Sudan. Arab raiders from the north of the country have enslaved thousands of southerners, who are black. The Dinka people have been the hardest-hit. Some sources point out that the raids intensified in the 1980s along with the civil war between north and south.
Ever since Lt. Gen. Omar Bashirs military coup in 1989, the de facto ruler of Sudan had been Hassan el-Turabi, a cleric and political leader who is a major figure in the pan-Arabic Islamic fundamentalist resurgence. In 1999, however, Bashir ousted Turabi and placed him under house arrest. (He was freed in Oct. 2003.) Since then Bashir has made overtures to the West, and in Sept. 2001, the UN lifted its six-year-old sanctions. The U.S., however, still officially considers Sudan a terrorist state.
A cease-fire was declared between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) in July 2002. During peace talks, which continued through 2003, the government agreed to a power-sharing government for six years, to be followed by a referendum on self-determination for the south. Fighting on both sides continued throughout the peace negotiations.
[ICRC] Bangui -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has sent an aid convoy from Cameroon to the Central African Republic (CAR) with 135 tonnes of food - enough to feed almost 10,000 people displaced by violence.
Somalia’s military court has sentenced a soldier to death after he was found guilty of raping a four-year-old girl. The soldier, identified as Mohammed Hussein Elmi, confessed to raping the girl in May this year. According to documents presented at the Mogadishu court, the soldier lived next door to the girl’s family in Wadajir district...
The post A soldier has been sentenced to death in Somalia for raping a four-year-old girl appeared first on Face2Face Africa.
[The New Humanitarian] Geneva -- 'Food supplies are very limited, widespread looting is reported and insecurity is high.'
As coronavirus cases accelerate in Africa, many patients who have recovered from the virus are facing stigmatization and discrimination.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, survivors battle against people’s denial of the virus and stigmatisation against the sick.
And I will ask people who still have doubts to be very careful, because I can confirm that I suffered.”
According to reports, people battling the virus have been threatened and ostracised in their communities.
Dieunit Kanyinda, is also a survivor: “There’s the stigma, when you know it’s COVID, you’re stigmatised.
Burundi's constitutional court on Friday ruled that the country's newly elected leader Evariste Ndayishimiye be rapidly sworn in following the sudden death of President Pierre Nkurunziza earlier this week.
Nkurunziza's death on Monday, aged 55, came after the May election of his successor Ndayishimiye, who was meant to be inaugurated in August.
Nkurunziza, a devout evangelical who believed he was chosen by God to lead Burundi, leaves behind a deeply isolated country in political and economic turmoil after his divisive 15-year rule.
READ HERE | Nkurunziza: Burundi's leader who believed he was chosen by God
However some observers have said he may run into trouble with the generals if he tries to introduce reforms or improve the human rights situation in the country.
After the news of Nkurunziza's death Ndayishimiye vowed to \"continue his high-quality work that he has done for our country\".
The United Nations' food agency has said it has agreed to a deal with Ethiopia to expand access for aid workers and “scale up” operations in the war-hit Tigray region.
