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LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Rebels from the Boko Haram extremist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for abducting hundreds of boys from a school in Nigeria’s northern Katsina State last week in one of the largest such attacks in years,...
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.
By LEKAN OYEKANMI Associated Press KANKARA, Nigeria (AP) — It was late Friday night when Usama Aminu heard gunshots, at first thinking they had come from the nearby town. As soon as he and the other students at the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara realized there was a raid on the school, they scrambled out of their dormitory and scaled the school's fence in the pandemonium. The 17-year-old told The Associated Press about the attack on the school in Nigeria's northern Katsina State in which men armed with AK-47 rifles abducted more than 300 students from the boys' school. […]
The post Nigerian boy tells of abduction by extremists and his escape appeared first on Black News Channel.
Demonstrators who have taken to the streets over several weeks to disband the SARS which is accused of widespread claims of kidnapping, harassment and extortion, while also targeting LGBTQ communities in Nigeria.
Yotam Gidron has done us all a huge service by putting Israel and Africa back on the agenda.
Sub-Saharan Africa allows Israel to triangulate its commercial, security and longer-term political interests; it can sell its specialized security technologies and consolidate links with evangelical churches that are linked to pro-Zionist churches in the United States.
African leaders are always on the lookout for more efficient technologies of repression, and insofar as the \"war on terror\" gave them a political cover story, Israel stepped in as a supplier unhindered by human rights legislation.
Israel's security strategy for Africa isn't an updated version of Cold War-style ideological alignment but rather a fusion of the principles of transactional politics--the transnational political marketplace--with specialist service provision drawn from its counter-terror assemblage.
This is where Israel steps in: in Washington's eyes, a country that recognizes Israel and cooperates with it cannot be a state sponsor of terror.
1977: Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev is named president, becoming the first person to hold both posts simultaneously.
1996: Russian voters go to the polls in their first independent presidential election; the result is a run-off between President Boris Yeltsin (the eventual winner) and Communist challenger Gennady Zyuganov.
2001: US President George W Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin meet for the first time in Slovenia.
US astronaut Sunita “Suni” Williams sets a then-record aboard the international space station for the longest single spaceflight by any woman, surpassing the record of 188 days set by astronaut Shannon Lucid at the Mir space station in 1996.
2012: Egyptians began going to the polls for a two-day run-off to choose their first freely elected president; Islamist candidate Mohammed Morsi emerges the winner.
[Vanguard] by Nwafor
At least 20 persons were confirmed dead and 24 others injured after gunmen suspected to Boko Haram attacked Gajigana village of Borno State on Sunday, witnesses said.
The attack happened at about 6:15 p.m. as residents of the farming community in Magumeri local government area were preparing to break their Ramadan fast.
A member of Civilian-JTF, Ba'an Bukar, said although there was a military deployment in Gajigana, the soldiers could not do enough to save the villagers.
\"The Boko Haram fighters came to the village from the western flank far away from the soldiers who are stationed at the eastern side,\" said Mr Bukar.
Mr Bukar said the 19 injured persons were taken to hospital in Maiduguri.
In the last few decades, millions of unskilled workers from South Asia have migrated to Gulf countries due to limited opportunities at home.
In 2019, migrant workers from South Asian countries sent back $122 billion to their home countries, according to the World Bank.
The steep fall in oil prices slashes major source of revenues for the energy-rich Gulf states, a favorite destination of South Asia’s migrant workers.
Amnesty International reports that about 23 million migrant workers living in the Middle East have had their work hours cut short and lost their jobs, reducing their ability to send home money to families dependent on remittances.
This recent fall in remittances is the sharpest in recent history, World Bank projections show, adversely affecting millions of vulnerable unskilled workers.
Jihadist group Boko Haram released a video Thursday claiming to show the schoolboys were kidnapped in the country’s northwest. A distraught teenager in the video cited by AFP said he was among 520 students taken in by Abubakr Shekau gang.
Members of the Safaricom Youth Orchestra will get their music lessons through e-learning using 4G-enabled mobile handsets from Safaricom.
But, the over 80 students who make up the orchestra will now receive music instructions from home.
“We acknowledge the significant role that music plays in our daily lives, more so to the 10 to 17-year-old boys and girls who get the chance to play for the Safaricom Youth Orchestra.
We aim to bridge the divide brought about by the restriction of movement by enabling the students to get access to their music tutors through e-learning,” said Peter Ndegwa, chief executive officer, Safaricom.
Not only are the students equipped with musical knowledge but personal development and leadership skills,” said Elizabeth Njoroge, Safaricom Youth Orchestra manager.
Abuja, Minna — Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Mr. Mele Kyari, wednesday put the value of crude oil lost to pipeline vandalism in the first six months of 2020 at $48 million.
On daily local consumption of petrol, Kyari said: \"We don't know how much petrol we consume daily in this country, but we know how much of product is taken out of depots.\"
Kyari also stated that the federal government deliberately shut down the three refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt for two reasons.
Kyari explained that the exploration covers eight local government areas in Niger State, including Mokwa, Lavun, Gbako, Bida, Katcha, Agaie, Edati and Lapai, with two other unnamed LGAs in Kwara and one in Kogi State.
Bello commended NNPC for embarking on the oil exploration in Bida Basin, which he said would improve the economic base of not only the state but the country.
Following a request by security agencies, a temporary ban has been placed on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, over Georgetown and a section of the East Bank of Demerara.
The directive was issued on Thursday by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) in a notice published via its Facebook page.
KANKARA, Nigeria (AFP) - Schoolboys who were abducted in north-west Nigeria were released yesterday, a presidential aide said, although it remained unclear how many.'The abducted students of the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara have been rescued, the Katsina State Government has confirmed the news,' Bashir Ahmaad, personal assistant to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Twitter.
[Monitor] Presidential candidates have condemned the violence meted out on candidates and supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) and the Forum Democratic Change (FDC) Opposition political parties.
From April to July 1994 Rwanda suffered through a period of government-sanctioned mass murder which resulted in the deaths of nearlyone million Tutsi men, women and children. Most observers point to myriad factors which caused the slaughter including government corruption, longstanding ethnic antagonism, the legacy of colonialism, and competition for scarce farmland. Jean-Damascène Gasanabo, a citizen of Rwanda whose parents and four siblings were killed during the Genocide, offers another explanation, greed and jealousy. His account ofthe Rwandan Genocide, written expressly for BlackPast.org, appears below.
For centuries and even until today after the genocide, the three Rwandansocial groups have lived together, on same hills, dales, and flatlands.Hutus, Tutsis, and Twas live together in every part of the country of thousand hills. The relationship between the three groups was based on everyday life. It is simplistic and naive to argue that the relationshipbetween the people was perfect and that conflicts arose as a result of colonization only. No society exists that has avoided social conflicts among its population. From the pre-colonial period to the 1994 genocide,Rwanda has been characterized by internal conflicts. However, the nature of these conflicts was different in each epoch. Before the colonial period, the conflicts involved different clans such as the Bega and the Banyiginya in which both Hutus and Tutsis were represented. Those conflicts were related to the problems of land or power.
The 1994 genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda was the culmination of the hate of Hutus towards Tutsis. It poses two main questions: the first on the relationship between the two groups over centuries, and the second concerns the origins of hate that led to the genocide.
Non-Rwandans and many Rwandan citizens, ask how the relationship developed between Hutus and Tutsis and how that relationship encouraged the genocide that killed about one million Tutsis. I would argue that for centuries, the relationship between Hutus
Unfortunate Violence
A solemn crime scene of a burnt-out vehicle in Niger, where it is reported that gunmen murdered 8 people yesterday - 6 of whom were French nationals amongst which ACTED a French humanitarian non-governmental organisation has confirmed its staff members. Amongst the deceased was a drive and Khadri — a local guide and the president of the Kouré Giraffe Guides Association, as the attack occurred east of Kouré which is about an hour's drive from the capital Niamey and within proximity (around 65 km or 40 miles south-east) to the popular tourist attraction, The Kouré Giraffe Reserve.
Although the identities of the perpetrators are still under speculation, terrorist groups such as Boko Haram operate in the area - and the threat of military violence linked to Al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists has been on the rise in the Sahel region.
Despite the current volatile climate in the area over recent years, many tourists still visit to see the popular giraffes specific to Niger — a sub-species distinguished by its lighter colour which settled there around 20 years ago and have been largely protected from poachers. The French government, however, advises against travel to large parts of Niger.
France has been leading a coalition of West African and European allies against Islamist militants in the region since June.
