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(CNN) —Thefuneral of Pope Francisgave Catholics across the globe the chance tobid farewellto a beloved pontiff – and for world leaders to rub shoulders at a fraught time for international diplomacy. More than 250,000 people packed into St. Peter’s Square for Saturday’s service, the Vatican said, with members of the public there to mourn along […]
The post Trump, Julian Assange and 250,000 others. Who was at Pope Francis’ funeral? appeared first on The Atlanta Voice.
Abiy's government and the regional one run by the Tigray People's Liberation Front each consider the other illegitimate.
\t There was no immediate word from the three AU envoys, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano and former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe. AU spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo did not say whether they can meet with TPLF leaders, something Abiy's office has rejected.
\"``Not possible,'' senior Ethiopian official Redwan Hussein said in a message to the AP. ``\"Above all, TPLF leadership is still at large.'' He called reports that the TPLF had appointed an envoy to discuss an immediate cease-fire with the international community ``masquerading.''
\t Fighting reportedly remained well outside the Tigray capital of Mekele, a densely populated city of a half-million people who have been warned by the Ethiopian government that they will be shown ``no mercy'' if they don't distance themselves from the region's leaders.
\t Tigray has been almost entirely cut off from the outside world since Nov. 4, when Abiy announced a military offensive in response to a TPLF attack on a federal army base.
That makes it difficult to verify claims about the fighting, but humanitarians have said at least hundreds of people have been killed.
\t The fighting threatens to destabilize Ethiopia, which has been described as the linchpin of the strategic Horn of Africa.
\t With transport links cut, food and other supplies are running out in Tigray, home to 6 million people, and the United Nations has asked for immediate and unimpeded access for aid.
AP
[MSF] On November 4, Ethiopia's prime minister ordered military action against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in the Tigray region, in northern Ethiopia, following an attack on a military base. The escalating conflict is already affecting hundreds of thousands of people, and it runs the risk of destabilizing other parts of the country and the region, with potentially catastrophic humanitarian consequences.
Press Release - QU Dongyu delivered opening remarks to the 165th Session of the FAO Council
UM RAQUBA REFUGEE CAMP, Sudan (AFP) - The Um Raquba refugee camp in eastern Sudan once housed Ethiopians fleeing famine, but now life has flooded back into the isolated camp as refugees seek safe haven from the Tigray conflict.'A month ago, this was just a piece of desert, but now it's turned back into a town,' camp director Abdel Basset Abdel Ghani told AFP.
Sudan is increasing scrutiny of people seeking refuge in its territory from Ethiopia's Tigray region.
Khartoum is worried that fighters allied to the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, accused of rebellion by Addis Ababa, could disguise as refugees to enter its territory and later set up rebel bases there.
In the past few days, Ethiopian government forces have been deployed to man roads leading to the border with Sudan, with the United Nations reporting a sharp fall in the number of people reaching refugee camps.
On Monday, PM Abiy Ahmed claimed that most of the people in refugee camps were male youth who are suspected of taking part in a massacre of civilians in Mai Kadra.
While appealing to refugees to return, Abiy they would be screened and those suspected of being militia members would be charged for insurrection.
After losing Mekelle, Tigray's regional capital to federal forces on Saturday, analysts have warned that the defeated forces might wage a guerilla insurgency, making it hard for Addis Ababa to govern the region.
On Tuesday, the Ethiopian government said a senior TPLF official had surrendered.
Keria Ibrahim is a member of the political bureau of the TPLF. She served as a member of the Ethiopian parliament before quitting in June to protest Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's decision to postpone polls due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Pursued by the federal army from the south and with longtime rival Eritrea in the north, the TPLF can only run west to Sudan to hide or fight back.
The number of farm workers killed on a rice farm in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday has shot to at least 110 people, according to a United Nations report.
The massacre is the deadliest attacks in the region suspected to have been carried out by Boko Haram, locals said. The victims were buried on Sunday.
\"We shall ensure more recruitment of Civilian JTF and more Hunters so that our people will take the fight to all the nooks and crannies of this area\", said Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum.
Earlier, a militia leader Babakura Kolo, who helped the survivors told AFP that ‘’we have recovered 43 dead bodies, all of them slaughtered, along with six others with serious injuries.’’ He added that \"it is no doubt the handiwork of Boko Haram who operate in the area and frequently attack farmers.\"
The victims were laborers from Sokoto state in northwestern Nigeria, roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) away. They had travelled to the northeast to find work, another militiaman Ibrahim Liman who gave the same toll said, adding that 8 others were missing, presumed to have been kidnapped by the jihadists.
The UN report did not mention Boko Haram as perpetrators. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the attack. He said \"the entire country has been wounded by these senseless killings.\"
In September, Boko Haram militants slaughtered 22 farmers working on their irrigation fields near Maiduguri in two separate incidents.
The nefarious group and ISWAP, its IS-linked rival, have increasingly targeted loggers, herders and fishermen in their violent campaign. They accused them of spying and passing information to the military and the local militia fighting them.
At least 36,000 people have been killed in the jihadist conflict, which has displaced around two million since 2009. The violence has also spread into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.
… picks include an experienced African-American diplomat for ambassador to … Navy’s first female African-American four-star — provided the … order, and the first African-American four-star general was … In 1989, the first African-American chairman of the Joint …
[DW] HIV infection rates are falling in many African countries, and effective drugs are increasing the life expectancy of patients. But the coronavirus pandemic has meant a major setback in the fight against AIDS.
[Nyasa Times] Chairperson for Parliamentary Health Committee, Dr. Mathews Ngwale says he will table the the controversial Termination of Pregnancy Billduring the February, 2021 Parliamentary Sitting with hope that legislators will give a nod to the bill.
[UN News] A Rwandan entrepreneur is pioneering the use of innovative farming technology that, he believes, is set to play a major role in feeding the growing population in his country, amid increasing pressure on arable land.
At the Martyrs' School near Tripoli, teachers and parents are using the limited means at hand to repair buildings devastated by a year-long battle for the Libyan capital.
Some of the walls have been repainted, furniture has been installed and ageing computer screens dusted off. But the roofs and other walls, pockmarked by gunfire and mortar blasts, remain grim reminders of the recent fighting.
\"We didn't want to sit and wait for help,\" said Najah al-Kabir, a teaching coordinator in a patterned jallaba gown and a hijab.
She is taking part in a refurbishment campaign launched by staff and joined by enthusiastic parents of students from the surrounding Ain Zara district.
\"We're one family,\" Kabir said, standing in the playground of the primary school, damaged by weeks of artillery fire.
\"This school was our second home.\"
When eastern Libyan military chief Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive in April 2019 to seize the capital from the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), Ain Zara found itself on the front line.
The fighting degenerated into a long battle of attrition on the outskirts of Tripoli and lasted until June this year, when pro-GNA forces ended the stalemate by pushing Haftar's forces back eastwards.
By the time the fighting ended, the school had been reduced to \"ruins\", Kabir said.
\"It needed to be rebuilt quickly,\" she added.
'A terrible state'
The UN children's agency UNICEF warned earlier this year that \"attacks against schools and the threat of violence have led to (school) closures and left almost 200,000 children out of the classroom\".
The Martyrs' School is one of around 100 schools fully or partly destroyed during the offensive by Haftar, backed by Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
Pro-GNA armed groups, whose counter-offensive was spurred by Turkey, used some schools to stock arms or as observation posts.
By the end of the fighting, the Martyrs' School was \"in a terrible state\", said headteacher Saleh al-Badri.
The establishment caters for 1,500 students in an area three kilometres from the next school, making it \"important to reopen it as soon as possible,\" he said.
Mahmoud Abdelkhalek, who lives nearby and sends his three sons to the school, was keen to get involved.
\"It seemed important that everyone get involved to fix it,\" he said. \"A collective effort has brought it back to life.\"
[Dalsan Radio] In an interview with al-Jazeera, Mr Swan, also the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia, said timely elections will be possible only if parties adhere to the electoral deal reached in October between the federal government and federal member states.
Europe News: VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis created 13 new cardinals on Saturday — including the first African-American — putting his personal stamp on the body that w.
[IPS] New York -- Wealthier countries struggling to contain the widening COVID-19 pandemic amid protests over lockdowns and restrictions risk ignoring an even greater danger out there - a looming global food emergency.
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) - The World Health Organization (WHO) insisted yesterday it would do everything possible to find the animal origins of COVID-19, insisting that knowledge was vital to preventing future outbreaks.'We want to know the origin and we will do everything to know the origin,' WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
[UN Women] On World AIDS Day (1 December), we spoke to survivors and community changemakers in South Africa who as part of UN Women's HeForShe community-based initiative and a joint UNAIDS programme are engaging men and women to reject violence against women and seek HIV testing and treatment.
[MAP] Rabat -- Justice Minister Mohamed BenAbdelkader took part on Thursday in the 36th session of the Council of Arab Justice Ministers, which was held by teleconference.
Pope Francis has elevated 13 new cardinals to the Catholic hierarchy on Saturday and one of them is the first... View Article
The post Pope Francis installs first African American cardinal appeared first on TheGrio.
