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Des combattants des mouvements chiites Hezbollah et Amal, lors des heurts de Tayyouneh, à Beyrouth,le 14 octobre 2021. ANWAR AMRO / AFP Des colonnes de l’armée libanaise sont postées autour du carrefour de Tayyouneh, le long de la route qui délimite le quartier à majorité chrétienne d’Aïn El-Remmaneh de celui de Chiyah, à majorité chiite,
The post Une éruption de violences à Beyrouth et le spectre des années noires au Liban appeared first on Haiti24.
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
[Vanguard] Maiduguri -- About 66 people, mostly rice farmers and fishermen were killed by suspected members of Boko Haram sect in Koshobe village near Zabarmari, Jere Local Government Area of Borno State, reliable sources have said.
IT has been one of the bloodiest phases in Zimbabwe since artisanal mining spurted out in the late 1990s, just as the industrial crisis kicked in. Since Wednesday last week, 30 artisanal miners have been trapped under a disused old mine shaft at Ran Mine in Bindura. In Esigodini, six more miners are feared dead after a shaft gave in on November 10. No one even attempted to rescue them. And in Chegutu, five more artisanal miners recently lost their lives in another mine shaft collapse as they braved the dangers and difficulties that confront these workers in search of gold to earn an income. Television images of the desperation and tears that gripped entire families last year when 24 more miners perished at Battlefields after their old shafts were flooded are still in our minds, and those tears haven’t dried yet. And if you add these sad events to many more deaths that strike poor families and the public never get to know, a full picture of a national crisis emerges. We are witnessing a genocide taking place while we fold our hands. The deaths are taking place because government has pushed 500 000 people to scour the forest in search for some form of income to keep their families going due to economic mismanagement and corruption. They have been blamed for risking their lives under dangerous tunnels and flooded shafts, but they are not insane. They know the dangers better than us, but they have no choice. The companies they used to work for have closed. And opportunities in long “hanging fruit” industries like agriculture have been closed by a combination of mismanagement and corruption. We demand that government puts in place programmes and measures, without butchering, injuring and killing them, to make sure that the work of artisanal miners is not only sustainable but safe. One of these measures may be rolling out awareness programmes to miners about the dangers that lie underground. Government must also encourage them to only mine in certified zones, at the same time giving them solutions about how to end their suffering. It may be a tall order for authorities, who have not shown any inclination to providing any kind of solution the crisis facing the miners. But this is the only way government can end the bloodshed. As a country, we must learn to manage this new way of life because artisanal mining will be here for some time. Ending it will require lasting solutions to this country’s hardships. We must unlock opportunities for these people to start sustainable, viable businesses as opposed to the dangers they face in disused mines. If these businesses start, they will absorb more artisanal miners into formal jobs, thereby limiting environmental degradation, mindless killing by machete wielding gangs, and even looting at a larger scale. Government must move with speed to stop the bloodshed that is taking place underground. The police must arrest the big powers behind this looting. We need a multi-prolonged approach.
[East African] Agathon Rwasa, the country's opposition leader, spoke with The EastAfrican on electoral process, political space and composition of a new government
THERE has been some reasonable stability in prices in the last few months owing to the tight grip on money supply following the introduction of the forex auction system. editorial comment But, there are high expectations to improve the health, education and agriculture sectors which have been grounded owing to incapacitation and remuneration issues. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has a huge responsibility to convince Zimbabweans that 2021 will be a better year with great prospects. Obviously and naturally, Ncube is likely to sing from the familiar sanctions hymn book or blame the country’s misfortunes on the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic. The ongoing crisis in the education sector cannot be ignored and requires decisive resolution, as teachers at most government schools are on unofficial sabbatical owing to poor remuneration. With rising cases of COVID-19, funds are needed to provide teachers with personal protective equipment, testing kits and training. Virtually all sectors of Zimbabwe’s economy are grounded. Because of drought, the budget should address agricultural mechanisation issues as well as set aside funds for grain imports. The health sector needs a huge injection. A country with a healthy people is a productive one. It is an indicator of economic growth. Sadly, for Zimbabwe, nurses countrywide have been dragging their feet demanding improved remuneration and coronavirus protective gear. Zimbabwe still falls far below the per capita spending on health according to the World Health Organisation threshold of US$86. The United Nations says the country remains food insecure, with many getting humanitarian assistance from aid oeganisations. This has been mainly due to prolonged drought and economic deterioration. This has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic so injecting significant resources into agricultural mechanisation is vital. Local authorities in the country, most notably Harare and Bulawayo, have problems with water and sanitation. The situation is especially critical in the southern parts of the country, and resources for a long-term solution to Bulawayo’s perennial water shortages need to be availed. A resolution of Zimbabwe’s debt situation is required. Zimbabwe’s total debt at the end of 2019 was estimated at $143 billion, which translates to about 80,8% of the country’s gross domestic product. Thus, Ncube should come up with a practical debt management system that is not based on increased taxation. There has been slow progress in infrastructure development, with the Harare-Masvingo Highway project proceeding at a snail’s pace. With falling incomes and purchasing power, Ncube needs to increase tax-free bands to help raise the moral of workers going into the festive season.
Press Release - Innovative aeroponic systems help tackle some traditional challenges for agriculture
BY DR. SHARON JACKSON, Contributor ST. PETERSBURG – The St. Petersburg Metropolitan Section (SPMS) of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. (NCNW), community partners, and private donors celebrated literacy by collecting and distributing more than 450 new books to local preschools in south St. Pete last month. Early childhood professionals have long recognized the importance […]
The Birmingham Times A virtual jazz concert is set for December 1 to honor jazz great Cleve Eaton and raise funds for Maranathan Family Learning Center & Academy, Inc. and several other area programs. The concert begins at 6:45 p.m. Jacquelyn's Jewels 2020 is a celebration of humanitarianism, great jazz and education to benefit Maranathan, […]
VENDORS, teachers and retailers are pinning their hopes on today’s budget presentation by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube to address key issues affecting their constituencies that have been hard hit by the economic crisis. BY MOSES MATENGA The economic crisis, coupled with the COVID-19-induced lockdown, has severely affected vendors, teachers and retailers, among others. Without government intervention, they said 2021 looked to be gloomier. Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers Association president Denford Mutashu said Ncube’s budget should focus on poverty eradication and be pro-production. “The minister should focus on poverty eradication, stimulate demand and come up with a budget that is pro-production,” he said. “Import substitution balanced with a robust export strategy will save the country’s precious foreign currency, consolidate economic gains and reduce inflation towards a single digit figure.” Mutashu said there was also expectation for scrapping of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority’s directive to businesses to pay value-added tax on rice backdated to 2017 “yet the then Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Patrick Chinamasa made a directive to the contrary”. Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira Zhou said: “We expect a budget that resonates with the Dakar Declaration of allocating more than 22% of total budget to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. “We, therefore, expect government investment in quality public education where teachers would be well paid, innovative and dynamic and contribute to a skills revolution in line with Agenda 2030. It is imperative to enhance government capacity to support teachers and create an enabling environment for effective learning and teaching in public schools.” Teachers have not been attending classes for weeks after declaring incapacitation and demanding a salary increase. “That budget must also resonate with Abuja Declaration of allocating 15% of total budget to the health sector and Maputo Declaration of allocating 10% of total budget to agriculture,” Zhou said. Vendors said the minister’s budget should be guided by the fact that most of the economic projects were being driven by the informal sector. “Our hope is that the minister in his statement tomorrow (today) will be guided by such statistics, as it is very much a fact that most of the economy resides in the informal sector,” Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation executive director Samuel Wadzai said. He said vendors had been the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown, hence the need for “cushioning and restocking”. “As local authorities reopen informal traders markets, it is our belief that the minister should allocate an amount that enables traders to restock, as most have exhausted business earnings over the shutdown period. “The cushioning fund that was announced at the beginning of the lockdown is yet to be received by the intended recipients,” Wadzai said. “The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates the exercising of hygienic prac
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.\"
(AP)- Iran’s supreme leader today demanded the “definitive punishment” of those behind the killing of a scientist who led Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear programme, as the Islamic Republic blamed Israel for a...
[East African] Kenya's former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka is attempting to mediate between two wrangling sides in the ruling coalition in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Many Clarendon sorrel farmers who had been hoping to cash in on Jamaicans’ love for the popular holiday drink are counting their losses, with recent rains almost entirely wiping out their crop. A member of the hibiscus family, the flower of the...
