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The Judicial Conduct Committee was tasked with probing several complaints against Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, and also whether he had contravened the Code of Judicial Conduct.
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.
The post U.S. Criticized For Police Violence, Racism At U.N. Rights Review appeared first on Essence.
Collaboration between politically connected Nigerians and Chinese corporations in illegal gold mining drives rural banditry and violent local conflicts in some parts of Nigeria.
The government's ban of artisanal gold mining in Zamfara State and across the region, and the deployment of soldiers to enforce the ban since April 2019, have yielded few results.
In April, four soldiers were killed by robbers in Zamfara State, and police arrested two Chinese nationals for illegal mining.
Even when the governors of Katsina, Niger and Zamfara states led negotiations with the sponsors of illegal mining, this was under conditions determined by the sponsors - showing the level of political connectedness and state protection they enjoy.
Those who sponsor illegal mining also fund banditry and cattle rustling in these communities
Some political 'godfathers' put pressure on the government to free Chinese nationals arrested for illegal mining in Zamfara State.
Bir Lehlu (Sadr Liberated Zones) — The News Agency of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Sahara Press Service, has congratulated the Latin American Information Agency, Prensa Latina, on the occasion of its 61 anniversary at the service of the third world and the just struggles in different parts of the world.
The director of SPS, Saleh Nafee, has sent a message to the president of the Latin American agency, Luis Enrique González, expressing his his respectful congratulations for this anniversary that arrives to remember and celebrate the honest work of man and women who for more than 6 decades, have shown an adherence to ethics and have defended truth and justice.
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In line, the Saharawi official has valued that in \"Africa, where the anti-colonial struggles are still awake, we have obtained in the Latin American Information Agency an unconditional window and an ally in strengthening the ties of friendship and brotherhood between Africa and Latin America\".
Similarly, the director of the news agency of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic has recalled the vision of Latin American leaders: the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, Commander Ernesto Che Guevara and the Argentine journalist Jorge Ricardo Masetti.
Both news agencies maintain close collaborative relationships and work to strengthen the bridge that connects the two continents.
[Daily Maverick] Weapons produced in South Africa are awash in Yemen and being used by numerous parties in that war, says a report by Open Secrets.
Lesotho must anchor her economic turn-around plans after the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on empowering domestic investors, the recently appointed Minister of Trade and Industry, Thabiso Molapo, has said.
Dr Molapo spoke to Lesotho Times (LT) reporter Bereng Mpaki to articulate his vision for the ministry.
Molapo: I am still familiarising with the ministry as I have just come in, but what is obvious is that the business sector has been ravaged by Covid-19 and the economy has also been hit hard.
I believe part of the reason why we are struggling with the negative economic impact of Covid-19 is because we have left a large portion of our economy in the hands of foreign investors who may not be as committed to supporting the citizens during this difficult time of Covid-19.
LT: You spoke about the need to empower indigenous business people through supporting home-grown economic development.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the decision was arrived at following an assessment of compliance levels by the restaurants for the COVID-19 protocols.
\"With this extension, the restaurants will be required to continue to adhere to the protocols set out,\" Kagwe said on Tuesday, when he released new statistics for COVID-19 status in the country.
The new cases, announced Tuesday, raises the infections tally in Kenya to 3,860 by June 16.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the new cases were detected from 3,255 samples tested since Monday when the last update was given by Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe.
The infection cases have been on a sharp increase in the country lately, despite tough containment measures, which include a night curfew that starts at 9pm to 4 am, and cessation of movement in Nairobi, Mombasa and Mandera Counties which have recorded high infections.
China has pledged to supply any vaccine against Coronavirus to African first free of charge.
Five out of 10 potential vaccines undergoing clinical trials have been developed by Chinese scientists, while a sixth is the result of a partnership between a Chinese company and a German biotech firm, according to the World Health Organisation
\tChinese President Xi Jinping spoke to an online coronavirus forum with the leaders of several African nations on Thursday.
“We gathered here with our new and old friends through video to discuss anti-epidemic cooperation and cement China-Africa brotherhood,” said Xi in a speech on Wednesday aired on state media.
Xi added China would push the Group of 20 to slow down debt repayment for African nations and that China’s construction of a new Africa Center of Disease Control headquarters would start “ahead of schedule” this year, despite the pandemic.
State media reported China has sent 30 million testing kits, 10,000 ventilators 80 million masks monthly to Africa, in addition to teams of experts to help nations fight the coronavirus.
A 27-page complaint was filed against a Georgia immigration detention center on Monday for allegedly performed questionable mass hysterectomies, refused to test detainees for COVID-19 and shredded medical records. The complaint also details a number of other concerning allegations pertaining to the ethics of the center’s protocols. This complaint is spearheaded by a former nurse […]
The post Former Nurse Exposes Agency for Performing Mass Hysterectomies Without Consent appeared first on BlackDoctor.org.
“Police still want to interrogate them over violating the lockdown rules, and if they have a complaint on allegations of abductions, then government can look into that,” Ziyambi responded.
Yesterday, the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) raised concern over arbitrary arrests, abduction and torture of citizens by alleged State security agents, saying such behaviour coming from a police service had no place in a democratic nation.
This came as police on Wednesday arrested MDC Alliance Harare youth chairperson Stanley Manyenga for violating lockdown regulations when he participated in the flash protest that landed Mamombe, Chimbiri and Marowa in trouble.
The alleged physical and sexual abuse of the MDC Alliance activists has attracted international attention, with the heads of mission of the European Union, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States delegations calling for a credible government investigation on the abduction of the trio.
The US Senate Foreign Relations committee chairperson Jim Risch said: “I join the heads of mission in calling for thorough and credible investigations and prosecutions of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, to include the abduction and torture of Hon Joanah Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova last week.”
Threats to kill women and babies, while corpses of fighters paraded in grotesque incidents
Banned anti-personnel landmines planted in civilian homes, with Russian military company Wagner implicated
'Commanders must publicly condemn these acts' - Diana Eltahawy
New evidence obtained by Amnesty International indicates that war crimes and other violations may have been committed between 13 April and 1 June by warring parties in Libya during the latest surge in fighting near Tripoli.
Amnesty is calling on all warring parties and associated forces in Libya to immediately halt attacks against civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law, including those being carried out to punish civilians for their perceived affiliations with rival groups.
In another video posted on social media on 30 April, again verified by Amnesty, a Government of National Accord-affiliated fighter is seen threatening \"Kaniyat forces\" (aligned with the Libyan National Army) that they would \"not to leave a single woman alive\" when they capture the town of Tarhuna, south-east of Tripoli.
Amnesty verified one video showing the Libyan National Army first infantry brigade parading fighters' corpses in a pick-up truck, while calling a captured Government of National Accord fighter a \"Syrian dog\" on 18 April.
Witnesses and a medical source confirmed to Amnesty that an attack launched by Libyan National Army forces on Souq Al-Talat on 31 May left at least three civilians dead and 11 wounded, including a child whose leg was amputated.
Democratic Republic of Congo: President Tshisekedi reneges on justice pledge, leaving victims in despair
\tPresident Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo has reneged on his inauguration pledges to strengthen the rule of law, fight impunity and ensure justice, leaving the families of hundreds of people killed during the country’s pre-election crisis in despair, Amnesty International said today.
“President Tshisekedi and his government must acknowledge the pain that victims and their families have been enduring and publicly commit to promptly and effectively prosecute those responsible,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.
Victims of 2015-2018 brutal crackdowns denied justice in the DRC, Amnesty International interviewed 115 survivors and victims’ family members, on their quest for justice.
Farcical investigations
\tUnder international pressure, former President Joseph Kabila constituted three committees to investigate the deadly crackdowns on protestors, none of which have resulted in any prosecutions.
A second committee created in February 2018 investigated the use of deadly force against protestors on 31 December 2017 and 21 January 2018, recommending prosecution of security officers who ordered or used excessive force against protestors.
BY MOSES MATENGA THE South African ruling African National Congress (ANC) party yesterday defiantly told Zanu PF that its delegation would soon head back to Harare to meet other stakeholders as part of efforts to initiate dialogue to resolve Zimbabwe’s political and economic crises. Zimbabwe is in the throes of its worst political and economic crises in a decade, and critics accuse President Emmerson Mnangagwa of persecuting opposition members and perceived political opponents under the guise of COVID-19 lockdown regulations. Lately, activists have used a Twitter hashtag #ZimbabweanLivesMatter to draw international attention to gross human rights violations and the deterioration of the rule of law since Mnangagwa was adjudged the winner of a highly-contested election in July 2018, and to pile global pressure on his government. Mnangagwa replaced long-time ruler Robert Mugabe in a November 2017 military coup, but critics say he has failed to keep his promise to break with Mugabe’s authoritarian style. The ruling Zanu PF party vehemently denies that there is a crisis in Zimbabwe, a claim it repeated during the two meetings with the ANC delegations. But ANC, a fellow liberation party, has insisted that its northern neighbour is in a “mess” which required urgent intervention. Zanu PF has refused the ANC delegations permission to meet other stakeholders on their two visits, but appears to have relented. In a statement yesterday, the ANC said it was “excited” about Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu’s position on the possibility of the ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule-led delegation to meet other stakeholders, including the MDC Alliance, Transform Zimbabwe and United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols, among others. The named organisations requested to meet the ANC delegation last week, but Zanu PF remained adamant that such would not take place, accusing the ANC of playing “big brother”. “The ANC welcomes and concurs with the comments made by the Zanu PF secretary for administration Cde Obert Mpofu that the recent engagement between ANC and Zanu PF was both frank and constructive,” Magashule said in a statement. He reiterated the need for Zanu PF to respect human rights and end the challenges faced by the citizens. “The ANC, therefore, warmly welcomes the constructive approach of Zanu PF with regards to the ANC meeting with other stakeholders, opposition parties and civil society organisations in Zimbabwe,” Magashule said. “In this regard, it was agreed that the ANC will in the foreseeable future return to Zimbabwe in order to proceed with these envisaged meetings.” Zanu PF also denied there was a crisis in Zimbabwe and accused the opposition of working in cahoots with the US and more than 4 000 non-governmental organisations in the country to porttray a “non-existent crisis”. Magashule described his delegation’s mission as successful. However, the delegation was under fire back in South Africa for using an Air Force jet during its visit to Zimbabwe.Magashule conceded that the delegation erred an
Using her hairstyle and social media platforms, Zozibini Tunzi is calling out racism and challenging perceptions of beauty
Johannesburg - When Zozibini Tunzi marched in the Black Lives Matter protests in New York City, the latest Miss Universe kept thinking how young people in her native South Africa died fighting for the same cause 44 years ago.
\"South African students were marching against systemic racism,\" said Tunzi, 26, recalling the 1976 Soweto Uprising when tens of thousands of students protested against apartheid laws that segregated and controlled the black majority.
\"So many years later, that's still happening, not only in South Africa, but across the world,\" she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview from New York, where she is spending her year as Miss Universe.
As one of only a handful of black women to have won the title, Tunzi was intending to use her influence to challenge racism, inequality and perceptions of beauty even before the Black Lives Matter protests erupted in the United States.
Hair might seem a relatively trivial issue, but Tunzi recalled how in 2016, 13-year-old Zulaikha Patel led protests against a demand by her school that black students cut their natural afro hairstyles.
Independent inquiry
\"Independent journalists covering the conflict are often tagged as accomplices of separatists and tried in military courts.
The press in Cameroon has never been free throughout the two regimes that have ruled the country,\" says DW's Mimi Mefo.
\"As an independent investigative journalist in Cameroon, you know you could be jailed or killed.\"
Regime stays mute
DW's Mimi Mefo is one of many journalists jailed in the central African country in recent years.
South West Governor Barnard Okalia Bilai has told journalists that only Yaounde can answer over the fate of Samuel Wazizi.
Now, they have turned their attention to junk news about the COVID-19 crisis, helping social-media platforms move more quickly to dispel and discourage rumors, misinformation, and conspiracy theories.
By criticising democracies as corrupt and incompetent, praising authoritarian leaders' global leadership, and promoting conspiracy theories about the origins of the coronavirus and the motives of international health agencies, they are trying to shape - or at least muddy - the global narrative as much as possible.
By analysing a large sample of health-related COVID-19 lies, we found that one in five can be sourced to politicians, celebrities, and prominent public figures, and that a huge proportion of the misinformation is being propelled by media agencies controlled by authoritarian governments.
A global community of fact checkers that came together after the United Kingdom's Brexit debate and the U.S. presidential election in 2016 has rapidly pivoted to checking health information.
The dissemination of politicised health messages is especially dangerous, as are attacks on credible public agencies and trustworthy, professional news organisations.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has announced the holding of an \"urgent\" debate on systemic racism and police brutality on Wednesday, June 17, 2020.
The U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva said, it will examine the \"current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protests\" this Wednesday.
In a letter to Tichy-Fisslberger obtained by CBS News, Burkina Faso's representative to the U.N. Dieudonné W. Désiré Sougouri called for the debate Friday in the wake of the protests that have spread throughout the world since the death of George Floyd.
\"The tragic events of 25 May in Minneapolis in the U.S. which led to the death of George Floyd led to protests throughout the world against injustice and police brutality that persons of African descent face on a daily basis in many regions of the world,\" Sougouri said.
Several high profile U.N. officials, including Secretary General António Guterres, have denounced racism, while more than 20 senior U.N. officials who are African or of African descent also published a statement titled, \"On the Black Lives Matter Protests and other Mass Demonstrations against Systemic Racism and Police Brutality.\"
Debating Ideas is a new section that aims to reflect the values and editorial ethos of the African Arguments book series, publishing engaged, often radical, scholarship, original and activist writing from within the African continent and beyond.
Welcome to the first contribution in a 4 piece part series in African Arguments - Debating Ideas on the Foreign Policy of Israel in Africa based on Yotam Gidron's book Israel in Africa; Security, Migration and InterState Politics from Zed Books
The book tells a story of turmoil in the Middle East, amidst which few have noticed the extent to which Israel has slowly but surely been building alliances on the African continent.
African Arguments is a series of short books about contemporary Africa and the critical issues and debates surrounding the continent.
The series is published by Zed, where you can order Yotam's book and distributed by University of Chicago Press in North America we well as via a number of small-scale distributors across the African continent including Blue Weaver in South Africa.
Associated with the book series is Africa's latest addition to the African Arguments site, Debating Ideas blog which is a new section that aims to reflect the values and editorial ethos of the African Arguments book series, publishing engaged, often radical, scholarship, original and activist writing from within the African continent and beyond.
Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa on Tuesday accused Mr Wamalwa of politicking at the expense of the lives of residents.
\"Wamalwa is taking the luhya nation for a ride, how do you hire a helicopter to come and distribute ten bags of rice donated by government,\" Mr Barasa claimed.
Over the weekend Mr Wamalwa distributed rice to Khasoko residents in Bumula and Webuye after meeting with Luhyia elders where him and Kakamega Governor Wyclife Oparanya were endorsed as luhya spokespersons.
Mr Barasa further accused Wamalwa of using government resources to do politics saying his forays in the region were nothing to do with development but 2022 succession politics.
\"Wamalwa and the four governors are roaming the region in the name of sensitizing residents about development issues, this is serious because they are holding public meetings which endangers the lives of our people,\" Mr Barasa said.
