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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.
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.
He added that “we want to make it clear that Ethiopia will not beg Egypt and Sudan to use its own water resource for its development,” pointing out that Ethiopia is paying for the dam’s construction itself.
The years-long dispute pits Ethiopia’s desire to become a major power exporter and development engine against Egypt’s concern that the dam will significantly curtail its water supply if filled too quickly.
Sticking points in the talks have been how much water Ethiopia will release downstream from the dam during a multi-year drought and how Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will resolve any future disputes.
In reply to that, Ethiopia’s foreign minister said: “Statements issued from governments and other institutions on the dam should be crafted carefully not to take sides and impair the fragile talks, especially at this delicate time.
The Sudanese minister said his country and Egypt rejected Ethiopia’s attempts to include articles on water sharing and old Nile treaties in the dam deal.
Communique of the Extraordinary African Union (AU) Bureau of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government video-teleconference meeting on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)
President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa of the Republic of South Africa, and Chairperson of the African Union (AU) convened a video-teleconference Meeting of the African Union (AU) Extraordinary Bureau of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, on 26 June 2020, to discuss developments pertaining to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The Meeting of the Bureau was held pursuant to consultations undertaken by His Excellency, President Ramaphosa, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Union with the three Negotiating Parties concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), namely, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan.
The Bureau of the Assembly was addressed by His Excellency, President Abdel Fattah al Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt; His Excellency, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmad of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia; and His Excellency, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok of the Republic of Sudan, with regards to their respective positions pertaining to the GERD matter.
In this regard, the Bureau of the Assembly agreed to augment the Tripartite Committee dealing with the GERD issue consisting of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan with the participation of observers, namely South Africa in its capacity as Chairperson of the AU, Members of the Bureau of the AU, and experts from the Commission, with a view to addressing outstanding technical and legal issues.
The Bureau of the Assembly and participating Heads of State and Government welcomed the intervention of H.E. President Ramaphosa and expressed their deep gratitude for his initiative to bring together the three Parties to the GERD in order to find a negotiated solution on outstanding matters.
Nine Minneapolis City Council members made a commitment this week to start the process of defunding and “dismantling” the police department, City Council President Lisa Bender said Sunday.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday the city would move some of its police department funding to youth and social services.
Going forward, the city will also remove street vendor enforcement from the New York Police Department’s responsibilities, so police can focus on the “real drivers of crime,” the mayor said.
On Sunday, the AMA’s board of trustees put out a statement denouncing “police brutality and all forms of racially motivated violence,” saying they opposed all forms of racism and committed to “actively work to dismantle racist and discriminatory policies and practices across all of healthcare.”
“AMA policy recognizes that physical or verbal violence between law enforcement officers and the public, particularly among Black and Brown communities where these incidents are more prevalent and pervasive, is a critical determinant of health and supports research into the public health consequences of these violent interactions,” Ehrenfeld and Harris said in the statement.
The United Nations' Security Council has endorsed Guinea's Bintou Keita and South Africa's Nicholas Hayshom as new emissaries.
NORWALK — Online tributes marked Memorial Day celebrations in a handful of southeast cities which steered clear of physical observances fearful of the lurking coronavirus that has killed more than 2,000 people and infected more than 47,000 in the region.
Norwalk’s City Council pre-recorded and transmitted an 11-minute video on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and local television channels featuring Mayor Jennifer Perez, who paid respects to members of the U.S. armed forces — the Air Force, the Coast Guard, the Marine Corps, the Navy and the Army — in front of the city’s Freedom Memorial outside City Hall.
“Today, and every day, the city of Norwalk honors its fallen heroes and surviving veterans,” said Perez, who asked viewers to observe one moment of silence and laid a memorial wreath outside City Hall.
Paramount honored its war heroes with a virtual Memorial Day vommemoration page on its website, added information about the history of Memorial Day, and posted statements from Mayor Peggy Lemons and council members, with links to crafts and activities for families and children to do at home.
South Gate uploaded its own virtual holiday program with tips on how to honor fallen military personnel, a segment describing Memorial Day history and links to two armed forces salute videos from 2018 and 2019, with speeches from Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., chairman of the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff, and Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff.
[Nation] Internal wrangles rocking the Law Society of Kenya escalated yesterday as nine members of the top decision-making organ turned their guns against president Nelson Havi.
Council members in a Minnesota town have voted to grant a white supremacist group a permit to gather at an abandoned church building. The Swift County
Sierra Leone, on the Atlantic Ocean in West Africa, is half the size of Illinois. Guinea, in the north and east, and Liberia, in the south, are its neighbors. Mangrove swamps lie along the coast, with wooded hills and a plateau in the interior. The eastern region is mountainous.
Constitutional democracy.
The Bulom people were thought to have been the earliest inhabitants of Sierra Leone, followed by the Mende and Temne peoples in the 15th century and thereafter the Fulani. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the land and gave Sierra Leone its name, which means “lion mountains.” Freetown, on the coast, was ceded to English settlers in 1787 as a home for blacks discharged from the British armed forces and also for runaway slaves who had found asylum in London. In 1808 the coastal area became a British colony, and in 1896 a British protectorate was proclaimed over the hinterland.
Sierra Leone became an independent nation on April 27, 1961. A military coup overthrew the civilian government in 1967, which was in turn replaced by civilian rule a year later. The country declared itself a republic on April 19, 1971.
A coup attempt early in 1971 led to then prime minister Siaka Stevens calling in troops from neighboring Guineas army, which remained for two years. Stevens turned the government into a one-party state under the aegis of the All Peoples Congress Party in April 1978. In 1992 rebel soldiers overthrew Stevenss successor, Joseph Momoh, calling for a return to a multiparty system. In 1996, another military coup ousted the countrys military leader and president. Nevertheless, a multiparty presidential election proceeded in 1996, and Peoples Party candidate Ahmad Tejan Kabbah won with 59.4% of the vote, becoming Sierra Leones first democratically elected president.
But a violent military coup ousted President Kabbahs civilian government in May 1997. The leader of the coup, Lieut. Col. Johnny Paul Koroma, assumed the title Head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Koroma began a
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 []
ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council approved legislation Monday to ratify an executive order directing the City’s chief financial officer to allocate up to $1.5 million for nonprofit and philanthropic communities providing individual shelter options with supportive services for persons experiencing homelessness (Legislative Reference No. 20-O-1332).
• Legislation authorizing the city of Atlanta to accept food and food service donations in support of the City’s efforts to show appreciation and recognize its frontline employees working during the COVID-19 pandemic in a total not to exceed $20,000 through Dec. 31, 2020 (Legislative Reference No. 20-R-3914).
• A resolution requesting that the commissioner of the Atlanta Department of Transportation close select streets and/or traffic lanes, which are yet to be determined, to motorized vehicular traffic and open them to pedestrians and cyclists (Legislative Reference No. 20-R-3913).
• An ordinance to authorize the City to forgive rent payments by tenants who lease space at the City of Atlanta Neighborhood Centers to mitigate adverse effects suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• An ordinance ratifying Executive Order No. 2020-83 authorizing the chief financial officer to amend the Fiscal Year 2020 budget by adding to anticipations and appropriations in the amount of $88.4 million awarded to the City pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Calls for Brazil’s military to close Congress and the Supreme Court have screamed from banners at marches attended by President Jair Bolsonaro in recent weeks, but retired generals and close observers of the armed forces call it empty talk.
However, three retired generals told Reuters in recent days that there was no risk of a military intervention and expressed concern that the armed forces were being unduly politicized under Bolsonaro, a former army captain disciplined in 1986 for insubordination.
For retired General Roberto Peternelli, who was elected to Congress in 2018 for the same party that nominated Bolsonaro, the military would simply not obey a presidential order to shut down Congress or the Supreme Court.
With military brass in a third of Bolsonaro’s cabinet posts, including two active duty generals among his closest advisors and retired General Hamilton Mourao as his vice president, the reputation of the armed forces is tied up with the government.
Paulo Kramer, a University of Brasilia professor who knows many of Bolsonaro’s cabinet well, said the generals who are in the cabinet, such as top security advisor Augusto Heleno, remember vividly how the legacy of the 1964 coup stained the reputation of the armed forces.
The civil war in Libya is in danger of intensifying as foreign intervention grows and the spectre of the COVID-19 pandemic adds to a deepening sense of insecurity, the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) told the Security Council on Tuesday.
Stephanie Williams, who is also Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, said on Tuesday that while the rest of the world adjusts to life with the novel coronavirus, Libyans have dealt with almost constant bombardment and frequent water and electricity outages during the holy month Ramadan.
She urged Council members to come together and apply \"consistent and credible pressure\" on those regional and international actors that are fuelling the conflict, which has left one million civilians in need of humanitarian assistance.
She expressed particular concern about the situation of migrants and asylum-seekers, including at least 1,400 who have been expelled this year from eastern Libya in violation of the country's international human rights obligations.
She went on to say that the fighting - compounded with the pandemic and an ongoing oil blockade that has cost Libya more than $4 billion - is aggravating an already fraught socioeconomic situation.
[Ethiopian Herald] 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 leaders of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt agreed that Ethiopia will delay filling a mega-dam on the Blue Nile and return to talks aimed at reaching an accord on use of the river's waters, according to statements from Cairo and Khartoum.
The announcement late on Friday was a modest reprieve from weeks of bellicose rhetoric and escalating tensions over the $4.6bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Ethiopia had vowed to start filling at the start of the rainy season in July.
There was no immediate comment from Ethiopia on the agreement, beyond a tweet from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that described an African Union (AU) summit discussion about the dam as \"fruitful\".
Ethiopia won't fill the dam before inking the much-anticipated deal, Hamdok said in a statement, adding: \"Sudan is one of the biggest beneficiaries from the dam and also one of the biggest losers if risks are not mitigated, thus it urges Egypt and Ethiopia to the impending necessity ... of finding a solution.\"
Sticking points in the talks have been how much water Ethiopia will release downstream from the dam if a multi-year drought occurs and how Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will resolve any future disagreements.
The arrest on 16 May of Félicien Kabuga, alleged financier of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, has dominated international justice discussions.
But rather than Kabuga's trial, it is the question of reparations - thus far a major gap in the delivery of justice to survivors in Rwanda - that should take centre stage.
In the ICTR's 21-year existence, not a single order for restitution was made by its judges
As the international community grapples with questions on Kabuga's trial, an opportunity presents itself to place reparations for survivors at the centre of the debate.
Rwandan genocide survivors must be at the centre of designing and implementing a reparations trust
The US$5 million reward issued by the US Department of State under the Rewards for Justice Program for Kabuga's arrest could be seed money for a reparations trust for genocide survivors.
Rwandan genocide survivors must be at the centre of the design and implementation of a reparations trust.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has offered concessions in a move to unblock a stalemate with opposition leaders.
A West African country bordering on the Gulf of Guinea, Ghana is bounded by Côte dIvoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It compares in size to Oregon, and its largest river is the Volta.
Several major civilizations flourished in the general region of what is now Ghana. The ancient empire of Ghana (located 500 mi northwest of the contemporary state) reigned until the 13th century. The Akan peoples established the next major civilization, beginning in the 13th century, and then the Ashanti empire flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Called the Gold Coast, the area was first seen by Portuguese traders in 1470. They were followed by the English (1553), the Dutch (1595), and the Swedes (1640). British rule over the Gold Coast began in 1820, but it was not until after quelling the severe resistance of the Ashanti in 1901 that it was firmly established. British Togoland, formerly a colony of Germany, was incorporated into Ghana by referendum in 1956. Created as an independent country on March 6, 1957, Ghana, as the result of a plebiscite, became a republic on July 1, 1960.
Premier Kwame Nkrumah attempted to take leadership of the Pan-African Movement, holding the All-African Peoples Congress in his capital, Accra, in 1958 and organizing the Union of African States with Guinea and Mali in 1961. But he oriented his country toward the Soviet Union and China and built an autocratic rule over all aspects of Ghanaian life. In Feb. 1966, while Nkrumah was visiting Beijing and Hanoi, he was deposed by a military coup led by Gen. Emmanuel K. Kotoka.
A series of military coups followed, and on June 4, 1979, Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings overthrew Lt. Gen. Frederick Akuffos military rule. Rawlings permitted the election of a civilian president to go ahead as scheduled the following month, and Hilla Limann, candidate of the Peoples National Party, took office. Rawlingss three-month rule was one of Ghanas bloodiest periods, with
… Okhiulu, undergraduate senior, African and African American Studies and Human Biology
Alumni … Human Biology, BA African & African American Studies), assistant professor of higher …
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.
Russia's state arms seller Rosoboronexport announced in April the first contract to supply assault boats to a country in sub-Saharan Africa.
While this news might not have caught much international attention, this new deal adds up to a pattern: Russia is building its path to gain a foothold in Africa and broaden its export map for arms on the continent.
Russia's eye on Africa
Until now, Algeria remains the biggest recipient of Russian arms in Africa, followed by Egypt, Sudan and Angola.
In the new millennium, Russia was a predictable choice for Angola to sign new arms deals -- and within the last five years, Angola has become the third-biggest African client for Russian arms after Algeria and Egypt.
Soviet-era connections allowed Russia to secure its monopoly on arms deals, and Moscow completely wrote off Algeria's $5.7 billion in debt in 2006.
Dismantling the MPD will take time and community involvement and will be strenuously resisted by the police.
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