Login to BlackFacts.com using your favorite Social Media Login. Click the appropriate button below and you will be redirected to your Social Media Website for confirmation and then back to Blackfacts.com once successful.
Enter the email address and password you used to join BlackFacts.com. If you cannot remember your login information, click the “Forgot Password” link to reset your password.
THE women’s arm of the United National Congress (UNC) says Government is taking the country along a dangerous path from which there may be no return.
It is accusing the Prime Minister of oppressing and provoking citizens.
In a statement to the media on Sunday, the group said no one elected the Prime Minister to tear-gas them.
Referring to the Push Back event on January 16 at the Queen’s Park Savannah where several participants were tear-gassed by police after refusing instructions to disperse, the women’s arm said the scenes resembled something happening in Venezuela.
“The UNC had been in government twice – 1995 – 2001. The Basdeo Panday administration faced many demonstrations, some led by Errol McLeod, former president-general of the Oilfields Workers' Trade Union (OWTU), and Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, former president of the Public Services Association (PSA) who famously said she would hot up the place ‘hotter than ah chulha.’
“Likewise, Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s administration (from) 2010 – 2015 faced many demonstrations, some led by Keith Rowley himself: they dragged mannequins, blocked roads, burned tyres, led a hunger strike in front of the PM’s office for months, demonstrated in front of Mrs Persad- Bissessar’s home. You name it, they did it, and at no point in time (was) tear gas used against protesters.”
The group also referred to a video clip of a crying woman who spoke about how her family was affected by the tear gas which seeped into her car as she was driving around the Savannah going about her private business. It said another video clip showed a young woman walking on the pavement with her two children when they also came in the line of fire of the tear gas.
“What is even more frightening is the callous response by PM Keith Rowley when asked about the authorisation and use of tear gas. PM Rowley chooses to blame parents rather than caution the (police service).
The post UNC women’s arm: Rowley not elected to tear-gas citizens appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
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.
Gunmen killed at least 34 people in a \"horrific\" bus attack in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of western Ethiopia, the scene of recent deadly violence against civilians, the national human rights agency reported on Sunday.
\"The estimated number of victims (deceased), currently 34, is likely to increase,\" the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an independent state institution, said in a statement, which also reported other attacks in the region during the night of Saturday to Sunday.
There is no established link between this violence and the military operations carried out since November 4 by the federal army against dissident authorities in the Tigray region (northern Ethiopia), which have forced more than 20,000 people to flee to Sudan.
The EHRC recalls that at the end of September it had already stressed the \"particular gravity and repetition of attacks in the region\" of Benishangul-Gumuz.
\"This latest attack has tragically increased the human toll\" in the region, says the head of the EHRC, Daniel Bekele, who believes that \"the rapid intervention of the security forces to avoid any escalation is encouraging\".
The attack took place in the administrative area of Metekel, where at the end of September, the EHRC had already reported the death of 15 civilians in violence described as \"targeted killings\".
In mid-October, the ruling Fana BC radio and television station reported the deaths of 12 civilians in the same area of Metekel.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's federal government provided little information on the clashes in the area, stating only that 300 people had been arrested and the causes of the violence were being investigated by the end of September.
In mid-October, Dessalegn Chanie, an opposition politician in the neighboring Amhara region, said the attacks were directed at members of the Amhara ethnic group, the second largest in the country after the Oromos.
Mr. Dessalegn and other Amhara leaders have been claiming for several weeks that militias of members of the Gumuz ethnic group have begun a campaign to drive people of the Amhara and Agew ethnic groups out of the Metekel area.
The prime minister told deputies in October that the attackers were trained and armed in neighboring eastern Sudan and asked Khartoum to stabilize the area.
Ethiopia is a mosaic of many peoples, united in an \"ethnic federalism\".
After almost 30 years of iron rule in Ethiopia, the policy of openness launched by Mr. Abiy since he came to power in 2018 has awakened local territorial ambitions and old community disputes, leading to deadly violence.
Ethiopia's Minister of Defence Kenea Yadeta on Wednesday denied allegations that Eritrea is assisting Ethiopia in the fight against Tigray People's Liberation Front or TPLF in the Tigray region.
The statement comes after the Tigray president on Tuesday accused Eritrea of attacking his region at the request of Ethiopia, saying that \"the war has now progressed to a different stage.\"
Up to 200,000 refugees could pour into Sudan while fleeing the deadly conflict, officials said Wednesday, while the first details are emerging of largely cut-off civilians under growing strain.
Communications remain almost completely severed with the Tigray region a week after Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a military offensive in response to an alleged attack by regional forces.
He insists there will be no negotiations with a regional government he considers illegal until its ruling “clique” is arrested and its well-stocked arsenal is destroyed.
Reports grew of the targeting of ethnic Tigrayans across Ethiopia, the Tigray Communication Affairs Bureau said in a Facebook post.
The administration of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, announced rallies in support of the federal government's measures there and in other cities in the Oromia and Amhara regions Thursday, along with a blood drive for the Ethiopian army.
The European Union, the African Union and others have urged Abiy for an immediate de-escalation as the conflict threatens to destabilize the strategic but vulnerable Horn of Africa region.
Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigray’s regional government, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, blame each other for starting the conflict. Each regards the other as illegal.
The TPLF dominated Ethiopia's ruling coalition for years before Abiy came to office in 2018 but has since broken away while accusing the prime minister's administration of targeting and marginalizing its officials.
Experts have compared the fighting to an inter-state conflict, with each side heavily armed. The Tigray region has an estimated quarter-million fighters, along with four of the Ethiopian military's six mechanized divisions.
That's a legacy of Ethiopia's long border war with Eritrea, which made peace after Abiy came to power but remains at bitter odds with the TPLF.
Historic Savannah Foundation (HSF) has announced the hiring of Melanie Jordan as its new controller. Jordan will be responsible for the oversight of all accounting and financial reporting for the nonprofit organization. Melanie Jordan graduated Summa Cum Laude from Savannah State in 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in business administration and brings a vast array of business experience to Historic … Continue reading \"Historic Savannah Foundation Welcomes New Controller\"
Seven people died in violent protests that erupted in Kampala on Wednesday after Ugandan presidential candidate Bobi Wine was arrested, police said.
By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The sound of heavy weapons erupted across the Ethiopian border town, and immediately Filimon, a police officer, started to run. Now, shaken and scared, he pauses when asked about his wife and two small children, ages 5 and 2. 'I don't know where my family is now,' he said, unsure if they were left behind in the fighting or are somewhere in the growing crowd of thousands of new refugees just over the border in Sudan. In an interview with The Associated Press by phone on Thursday, the 30-year-old gave one […]
The post First witness account emerges of Ethiopians fleeing conflict appeared first on Black News Channel.
Courtesy NetflixMariah Carey may be a multi-millionaire but that doesn't mean she doesn't love free stuff - like a gift box full of swag, for example. The diva posted a…
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stood firm Monday on his account that Sen. Lindsey Graham had hinted that he should try to discard some ballots in Georgia, where a recount is underway after the state went for President-elect Joe Biden in the presidential election. 'He asked if the ballots could be matched back to the voters,' Raffensperger told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on 'The Situation […]
As Georgia's runoff elections continue to draw national attention, one candidate made sure the focus is on the needs of... View Article
The post Warnock says Schumer 'not on the ballot' in Georgia Senate race appeared first on TheGrio.
HONG KONG-Hong Kong native Tommy Fung has made a splash in the art world with his photographic, computer-manipulated pieces that address everyday situations, as well as serious social issues. He delivers a whimsical, surreal spin [...]
[HRW] New York -- Investigate Use of Excessive Force; Hold Those Responsible to Account
Now that former Vice President Joe Biden has been widely recognized as the winner of the 2020 Presidential election, Donald... View Article
The post Donald Trump could possibly pardon himself, experts say appeared first on TheGrio.
[Dalsan Radio] Former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire is siding with other opposition candidates in raising concerns about newly appointed electoral committees.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday defended his decision to approve a mining licence for land in Discovery Bay, St Ann that environmentalists insist should be protected.Holness entered the raging debate during an address at the official opening and dedication ceremony of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security building in St Ann and via a statement from his office.
