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Chadian opposition politician, Yaya Dillo Djérou, has publicly requested an "inclusive dialogue" with the transitional military council towards peace.
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
Intense lobbying by the Jamaica Employers’ Federation (JEF) and the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) to have the 120-day cap on lay-offs extended is likely to run into gusty headwinds, with trade unions pushing back at the move. The...
[Capital FM] Nairobi -- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied claims that Kenya is interfering with Somalia's political internal affairs in what has heightened tensions between the two countries.
[Capital FM] Nakuru -- Amani National Congress Leader Musalia Mudavadi on Saturday expressed concerns over what he termed as a huge voter registration gap ahead of the 2022 General Election.
The DA in Limpopo has condemned provincial health authorities after the Polokwane Hospital allegedly failed to dispatch an ambulance crew to the house of a local journalist - because it didn't have enough personal protective equipment.
Benin was the seat of one of the great medieval African kingdoms called Dahomey. Europeans began arriving in the area in the 18th century, as the kingdom of Dahomey was expanding its territory. The Portuguese, the French, and the Dutch established trading posts along the coast (Porto-Novo, Ouidah, Cotonou), and traded weapons for slaves. Slave trade ended in 1848. Then, the French signed treaties with Kings of Abomey (Guézo, Toffa, Glèlè) to establish French protectorates in the main cities and ports.
However, King Behanzin fought the French influence, which cost him deportation to Martinique.
From a Colony of France to Independence:
In 1892 Dahomey became a French protectorate and part of French West Africa in 1904. Expansion continued to the North (kingdoms of Parakou, Nikki, Kandi), up to the border with former Upper Volta. On 4 December 1958, it became the République du Dahomey, self-governing within the French community, and on 1 August 1960, the Republic of Dahomey gained full independence from France. T he country was renamed Benin in 1975
Between 1960 and 1972, a succession of military coups brought about many changes of government. The last of these brought to power Major Mathieu Kérékou as the head of a regime professing strict Marxist-Leninist principles. The Parti de la Révolution Populaire Béninoise (Revolutionary Party of the People of Benin, PRPB) remained in complete power until the beginning of the 1990s.
Kérékou, encouraged by France and other democratic powers, convened a national conference that introduced a new democratic constitution and held presidential and legislative elections. Kérékous principal opponent at the presidential poll, and the ultimate victor, was Prime Minister Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo.
Supporters of Soglo also secured a majority in the National Assembly.
Benin was thus the first African country to effect successfully the transition from dictatorship to a pluralistic political system. In the second round of National Assembly elections held in March 1995, Soglos
By Friday last week, the gates had been thrown open wide for anyone who wanted to be vaccinated. Appointments were abolished in favour of walk-ins at the mass vaccination sites established to distribute the Sinopharm vaccine.
The response wasn't encouraging. At NAPA, 100 volunteers stood ready to guide and jab expected crowds, but rows of empty chairs stood testimony to the flagging response of the public.
By midday, the Paddock site at the nearby Queen's Park Savannah was a ghost town.
This was in the same week that saw the first case of the Brazil variant identified in Tobago and after the border reopening brought an influx of citizens into the country.
It's worth pausing here to note that the required tests and vaccinations for incoming passengers are a shield against importing covid19 cases, but they are not infallible.
The raging spread of the delta variant is now being referred to by the government's covid19 response team as inevitable, and the only real defence for the public is widespread vaccination.
Slowly, businesses are beginning to acknowledge the public health responsibilities that they face if they want to continue operating safely. Nigel R Khan bookstores and Peter George, who runs the Trotters Group, have joined Mario's Pizzeria in redefining terms of work for staff who are not vaccinated.
That's prompted trade unions, who have steadfastly refused to take a position on vaccination for workers, to call for meetings with local chambers of commerce.
But the country is fast approaching a time when talk will be moot.
The careful, tentative presence of the public at newly opened food establishments suggests an awareness of the country in the eye of the covid19 storm as the threat of variant infection looms.
Without more vaccination and greater attention to established hygiene protocols, the country faces significant challenges when variants of concern begin to spread.
Establishing control when more infectious covid19 variants begin to circulate will demand an increasingly hard line without higher vaccination rates.
There will be more stories like the unfortunate case of Alan Predy, who came to TT for his mother's interment, but who had a mix of vaccinations that were not approved locally. As a non-national, he was denied entry.
The government must become more proactive and persuasive in its efforts to address anti-vaccination misinformation.
A recent report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate suggests that 65 per cent of vaccine misinformation is generated by just 12 people. The so-called Disinformation Dozen thrive in an environment in which social-media algorithms cannot control the spread of false information.
The only possible response is an equally vigorous, appealing and effective local campaign to promote verifiable facts. Tedious and technical pronouncements at press-conference podiums aren't enough.
The post Worrisome decline in vaccinations appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
June 15: Technical teams continue meetings
\tFollowing the first day of talks between Somalia and Somaliland, technical teams led by the respective leaders have entered talks as of today, according to reports.
Whiles the host, Djibouti president Omar Guelleh is sitting through the talks, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia – who was part of the opening ceremony over the weekend, has since returned home.
June 14: Djibouti hosts Somali – Somaliland summit
\tDjibouti president said it was time for a rebirth of the Somali nation as leaders of Somalia and Somaliland met in Djibouti city on Sunday.
Djibouti president confirms Farmaajo – Bihi meeting, Abiy invited
\tDjibouti president Ismail Omar Guelleh has confirmed the meeting between Somalia and Somaliland leaders.
Somalia, Somaliland leaders to meet in Djibouti next week
\tPresident Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo of Somalia will meet with Somaliland leader Muse Bihi next week in neighbouring Djibouti, multiple sources have confirmed.
[HRW] The trial of three security force members accused of being involved in the massacre of 21 civilians in Ngarbuh, in Cameroon's North-West region, is due to begin on December 17, 2020. It is expected to be an important step in tackling impunity.
[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -Speaker of the House of People's Representatives (HPR) Rached Ghannouchi met Tuesday afternoon Sihem Ben Sedrine, former President of the Truth and Dignity Commission (French: IVD) who is tasked with its winding up.
In December last year, he called off a planned medics’ strike for 14 days to allow for dialogue.
THE EDITOR: The covid19 pandemic has clearly established the need for us to seek to avoid crowds to help control the spread of the virus. We certainly look forward to a return to normalcy. However, it may well be as good a time as any for us to examine the benefits of staying away from, or reducing, crowds as much as possible, even beyond this pandemic.
We have had viruses over the years, but nothing comparable to the coronavirus. We recall our naming them as 'Jaitoon,' 'Six Per Cent,' 'Kung Fu,' among others. In every case we sought to avoid coming into contact with people infected. We will continue to have these challenges and should learn from our experiences.
In this regard I renew my call made over the past few years for staggered paydays as opposed to our month-end salary payment over two days when we have massive traffic jams, difficulty to find parking space, long queues at cashiers, banks, utility payment centres, large crowds at supermarkets and the resultant loss of time and productivity. By contrast, the mid-month is so much easier. We saw the closure of a supermarket recently for overcrowding.
The Supermarkets Owners Association may well be interested in such a proposal and should lend support to it.
We may consider the Government, as the largest employer, on a schedule of, for example, paying Education Ministry employees between the 15th to 18th of the month, National Security 19th to 22nd, Health 23rd to 26th and other ministries thereafter.
This will definitely reduce the problems outlined above and eliminate the possibility of late payment of salary which has occurred in the past. Additionally, it brings no cost to employers who after the first payment will have one month for subsequent periods.
The private sector may do well to adopt a similar benefit to their employees. Early salaries will ensure due payments of things like mortgages, rents, hire purchases, loans, sending funds abroad.
There are definite advantages in such an arrangement and I recommend it again to all employers, starting with the Government. Perhaps the trade unions as well as the Employers Consultative Association and chambers will also see the benefits and begin discussions as part of future bargaining in the interest of the workers.
LENNOX SIRJUESINGH
via e-mail
The post Avoiding crowds now and in future appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
[New Zimbabwe] ZAPU Thursday commemorated the death of its founding leader and Zimbabwe's Vice president Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo noting the late nationalist was \"turning in his grave\" as Zimbabwe's political and economic crises continued to worsen.
Soldiers from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger engaged in the fight against jihadists in the central Sahel have been accused of increasingly abusing local populations.
The allegations will feature on the agenda of the UN Security Council on Friday.
“Peace and Security in Africa”: the theme of the meeting organized by the Security Council is broad, but one of the main topics expected “will be the accusations of human rights violations by the armies of the Sahel,” a diplomat in Bamako said.
The concern has been insistently expressed for several months, at the same time as the denunciation of jihadist actions and intercommunity violence.
At the beginning of April, the UN mission in Mali (Minusma) denounced the “multiplication” of misdeeds attributed to the national armies.
The UN counted 101 extrajudicial executions carried out by the Malian army between January and March, and about 30 others by the Niger army on Malian soil.
“These figures, names and circumstances have been documented,” said Guillaume Ngefa, director of the UNMIN’s human rights division.
Twelve people arrested for complicity with the jihadists died in gendarmerie cells in eastern Burkina Faso, in mid-May. Relatives and NGOs say they were civilians, summarily shot. The justice system said it has promised investigations.
Excesses “here and there”
In Niger, 102 people were reportedly killed by the army in the western region of Tillabéri, according to a list of missing persons circulated in April. The defence ministry said an investigation would be launched, while praising the “professionalism” of the troops.
Human rights organizations are publishing lists of names and photos, each time deploring the disappearance of those concerned after the passage of soldiers. The majority of the disappeared are Fulani, who are willingly assimilated to accomplices of the jihadists.
“We can make reports, denounce the fact that so many Fulani have been killed and thrown down a well, or show the world a mass grave, but nothing is done about it afterwards,” said an official of ‘Des peuls du Mali’ Tabital Pulaaku, which operates on condition of anonymity.
“It is undeniable that some ‘Peul’ have taken the path of jihadism, but it is naive to reduce jihadism to a single ethnic group,” Tabital Pulaaku president Abou Sow told the press.
Sahelian governments have always stood united behind their armies, which, often under-equipped and under-trained, pay a heavy price in the fight against jihadism.
“The governments of our countries do not encourage human rights violations,” Mali’s foreign ministry Tiébilé Dramé said on Wednesday.
Dramé plans to explain to the Security Council on Friday “the precise and concrete measures that have been taken to correct the excesses that have been observed here and there.
AFP
By NQOBANI NDLOVU Zimbabwe’s labour body has bemoaned the criminalisation of trade unionism as it marked the 14th anniversary of the torture of its members on September 13, 2006. About 147 Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) activists were severely beaten by police for daring to take to the streets demanding better living conditions and salaries for workers. The late former President Robert Mugabe said the ZCTU leaders got the treatment they deserved. Since then the ZCTU has on its calendar of events the 13 September Police Brutality Day. ZCTU secretary-general Japhet Moyo said it was disheartening that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has copied from Mugabe’s hymn book of criminalising trade unionism as workers go hungry. “From 2019 to mid-2020, the so-called new dispensation’s true colours were now on display. Repressive laws still exist and interference in trade union business by the police and other law enforcement agents is still the order of the day,” Moyo said in a statement released on Sunday. He said a number of trade unionists had been arrested, threatened with death, as well as receiving bullet parcels at their homes as an intimidatory practice. “Trade unions are still expected to apply for police clearance to hold meetings and demonstrations despite the provisions of the law that do not make it compulsory. “As we remember this sad day, 13 September 2006, the State must stop the continued intimidation, harassment, and persecution of the unionists as well as stop the criminalisation of trade unionism,” Moyo said. Government has been severe in dealing with protesters as it argues that the demonstrations are part of a regime change agenda to topple Mnangagwa’s administration.
Analysis - Police violence has increased all over the continent. In most cases, perpetrators get away without appropriate sanctions, dealing a blow to the relationship between law enforcement and the public.
At least five police officers sustained injuries in clashes with rioters in Martinique overnight, local reports say. According to local media, rioters fired at the police, set buildings and cars on fire, blocked roadways and looted businesses between 9:50 p.m. Saturday and about 2.00 a.m on Sunday. The communities of Sainte-Thérèse and Canal Alaric in […]
This article Shots Fired, Police Officers Injured During Overnight Violence In Martinique appeared first on St. Lucia Times News.
Tunis/Tunisia — The Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) rejects the cut of wages for the public sector and civil service employees as part of the austerity policy adopted by the government, UGTT Deputy Secretary-General Hfaiedh Hfaiedh said on Monday.
Hfaiedh said the economic situation requires a debate between the government and its social partners, noting that discussions have already started about three weeks ago.
He said that the UGTT, which is betting on dialogue, is convinced of the need to combat tax evasion and adopt measures to revive the economy, reiterating its rejection of any unilateral government policy that could undermine the rights of workers.
The trade union leader recalled the UGTT's commitments, including the payment on August 1 of the third tranche of wage increases for civil servants and the launch of a new round of social negotiations which has been postponed due to the exceptional situation facing the country following the spread of the Coronavirus.
Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh, said in a TV interview that was broadcast yesterday Sunday on the channel \"Attasiâa\", that all issues are on the negotiating table with the UGTT including the situation of public finances and state institutions, not excluding a reduction in the salaries of civil servants and pensions if the crisis facing the country continues.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it would be impossible to track electoral fraud without voters full ID numbers.
[New Republic] The Press Union of Liberia, (PUL) through its Intellectual Discourse Committee will on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 organize the special Edition of the revered Edward Wilmot Blyden Forum at the Icampus, Upper Carey Street in Monrovia at 4pm.
[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- Ennahdha executive bureau warned Monday against fallouts from the \"state of uncertainty in the country\" following the announcement last July 25 of \"a set of unconstitutional exceptional measures.\"
The electoral commission last week told the nation to prepare for an unusual election where campaigning will be done digitally, as the destabilizing effects of the coronavirus continue.
Justifying scientific elections
\tUganda which currently has over 700 confirmed cases of the coronavirus has been slowly easing restrictions and emphasizing measures of social distancing for all activities in the country.
The commission says it is bound by Article 61 (2) of Uganda’s constitution which tasks it to organize elections within 120 days before the expiry of the term of president, parliament or local government.
In conducting a scientific election, the commission hopes to exercise its duty to facilitate Ugandans’ right to choose their leaders in a healthy and safe environment.
The opposition politicians accuse the electoral commission of not consulting them as it drafted the revised election roadmap.
OPPOSITION leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is calling on the government to reveal a detailed plan on how soon non-essential workers –who have been at home for almost a month – will return to work.
This plan has to be released as early as next week, she said.
In a release on Thursday, the Opposition Leader said tensions among those whose income has been affected by covid19 restriction are rising and if the Prime Minister doesn’t move quickly and allow those affected to return to work, chaos may occur.
“There is too much suffering in this country. Citizens are desperately worried about where they will get food, how they will pay rent, electricity bills, loan payments, and are distressed over their depleted life savings.
Persad-Bissessar said the prime minister should have used the past five weeks to work with stakeholders to formulate an actual plan.”
She further accused Rowley of misusing the lockdown measures and abusing his office “to promote deceptive PNM propaganda to give an impression to the population that he is doing something to fix the crisis.”
“It is obvious that he is lost. Rowley has used this lockdown as a gimmick to give the appearance of strength and control but has done nothing proactive to get us back to normalcy.
“He is just buying time hoping this crisis will just go away. The population is yet to be informed on what the government’s next step would be. Clearly from the numbers, the lockdown appears to be merely a show of force, to be seen to be doing something, while masking incompetence.
“Citizens are threatened with arrests for stepping outside of their doors to earn an income to feed their children, while we see boats from Venezuela freely entering and leaving our shores during curfew hours, in broad daylight.\"
She said the Opposition was willing to help the Government formulate a plan if it so wishes. Businesses, trade unions, and all other interested stakeholders should also be invited.
\"Whatever the case, our so-called non-essential workers have disproportionately carried the burden during this lockdown. They must be allowed to earn an income to feed their families.”
The post Kamla: Allow non-essentials to work appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
Malawi's parliament has endorsed June 23 as the date for the presidential election re-run after a court annulled last year's vote over irregularities, a lawmaker says.
Candidates seeking electoral positions in Uganda's general election due early next year will have to conduct their campaigns without physical contact as dictated by Covid-19 social and physical distancing, the Electoral Commission has announced.
The commission, which released a new roadmap of electoral activities, has set November 2 and 3, 2020 as nomination dates for Presidential candidates.
NO POSTPONING ELECTION
Article 61(2) of the Constitution provides that the \"Electoral Commission shall hold general presidential, parliamentary and local government council elections within the first thirty days of the last ninety days before the expiration of the term of the President.\"
Responding to questions about calls for postponing the election to give all candidates a fair chance in light of the Covid-19 disruption, Mr Byabakama said, \"The option of postponing the election has not even occurred to us as a commission because it is not in our mandate.
Mr Byabakama added that the commission's mandate is limited only to state (public) media which is required to give equal space to all presidential candidates.
SIU head, advocate Andy Mothibi, delivered a report of the finalised investigations into allegations of corruption in the procurement of PPE by state institutions.
[Monitor] Kampala -- The Electoral Commission (EC) has rolled out nominations for the local government councils.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc. by Dennis De Peiza When the Capitol of the United States of America was stormed by rioters on Monday, January 6, 2021, the allegation was made that the violent attempted insurrection […]
The post #BTColumn – Agitate but don’t violate appeared first on Barbados Today.
ARTICLE 19: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 4 November 2020: ARTICLE 19 strongly condemns excessive use of force by security forces and the riots by supporters of political parties in the aftermath of the presidential election in Guinea. At least 21 people were killed, including three children, hundreds of people wounded and [Read More]
