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As political tensions and uncertainty continue to rise in Chad, Ruth Lago spoke with Attorney Max Loalngar to get more insight into the situation.
\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.
Officials from the UN, West Africa and the African Union (AU) have met an influential Muslim cleric behind demonstrations against Mali's beleaguered president, the coalition behind the protests said on Monday.
Tens of thousands of people joined a rally in Bamako last Friday to demand the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was re-elected in 2018 for a second five-year term.
The alliance which organised the protests said \"a delegation from the international community met Imam (Mahmoud) Dicko\" on Sunday.
Its members came from the UN's peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA; the AU; and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), a 15-nation bloc that includes Mali, it said in a statement.
MINUSMA spokesperson Olivier Salgado said the head of the peacekeeping mission, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, \"along with representatives from regional organisations, met certain organisers (of Friday's rally) but also with representatives of national authorities... to find ways of renewing dialogue.\"
[The Herald] Some Western countries are pouring substantial amounts of money through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to unite feuding MDC factions.
By Chris Patten
LONDON – The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the 1970s was a product of the Cold War standoff between the liberal democratic West and the communist Soviet bloc.
The article America’s Fifth Column appeared first on Stabroek News.
While Lesotho outgoing Prime Minister, Tom Thabane still ponders when exactly to vacate office, it will be imperative for incoming leader of the Mountain Kingdom, Prime Minister-designate Dr Moeketsi Majoro to prepare for office in earnest.
Against this fleeting background, it will be incumbent upon Dr Majoro to consider the following six action points as his immediate priorities in order to save the US$2.73 billion landlocked economy:
With at least one positive case of coronavirus having been confirmed, Lesotho may not afford to rely on South Africa to test cases for far too long.
Besides political sectarianism in government departments, the morale among Basotho public servants is very low, and it is understandable.
The new Prime Minister should now ensure that the security cluster is permanently kept out of politics and into the service of protecting Basotho.
Re-arrange foreign missions and explore more into Basotho in the diaspora
Lack of diplomatic presence in South America and the Oceania means Lesotho has no direct representation in a market of almost half a billion people.
\"Individuals and NGOs are currently the only ones bringing cases to the African humans rights court,\" former deputy chairman of the ACHPR, Fatsah Ouguergouz, told DW.
\"The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights probably no longer has the interest in going to court, nor are the individual states prepared to do so,\" he said.
Up against weak justice systems
Human rights organization Amnesty International warns that many governments not only boycott the ACHPR but also weaken their own country's local courts.
\"The alternative is to tell people to turn to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to appeal to the court indirectly,\" Fidele Kikan, Amnesty International's Country Director in Benin, told DW.
Human rights activists like Kikan are also surprised by the fact that the same heads of state and government authorities who are rebelling in Africa against alleged paternalism by international courts aren't cooperating when it comes to African jurisdiction.
Ugandas 18-year-long battle against the brutal Lords Resistance Army (LRA), an extremist rebel group based in Sudan, showed signs of abating in Aug. 2006, when the rebels agreed to declare a truce. Between 8,000 and 10,000 children have been abducted by the LRA to form the army of prophet Joseph Kony, whose aim was to take over Uganda and run it according to his vision of Christianity. The boys are turned into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves. Up to 1.5 million people in northern Uganda have been displaced because of the fighting and the fear that their children will be abducted. Kony and three other LRA leaders have been indicted on charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. The LRA and the government signed a permanent cease-fire in February 2008. Kony failed to show up to sign the landmark agreement several times in 2008, dashing hopes for formalized peace. The rebels, however, sought a cease-fire in January 2009, after the armies of Uganda, Southern Sudan, and Congo attacked their bases.
Parliament introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in November 2009. The legislation would implement the death penalty on gay individuals. The proposed bill met fierce condemnation from the European Union and the United States. Parliament did not act on the bill, and it became increasingly unpopular following the January 2011 murder of Ugandan gay-rights activist David Kato. In May, the government shelved the bill.
In July 2010, about 75 people watching the final game of the World Cup in a Kampala restaurant were killed in an explosion. The Somali militant Islamist group Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying the attack was aimed at discouraging countries from supporting the transitional government in Somalia. Al-Shabab has been battling Somalias weak, Western-backed government for power for several years. Uganda contributes troops to an African Union force that has been propping up the government in Somalia.
South Africa's biomedical response has been exemplary, but it has failed to mobilise social movements essential for tackling public health crises.
There has been an exemplary biomedical response at the state level: the government acted swiftly to \"flatten the curve\"; it rolled out a sweeping programme of community screening, testing and contact tracing; and it put in place clinical facilities for palliative care.
Crucial food security interventions such as the South African National School Nutrition Programme - the largest of its kind of Africa - have been suspended, while other emergency food distribution measures have been beset by corruption, meddling and bureaucratic bungling.
One such sign was when the interim CEO of the Solidarity Fund, created to enable the private sector and civil society to support the COVID-19 response, announced the Fund would stop providing emergency food rations in favour of measures to \"activate communities to do things for themselves\".
That social movement for public health around the HIV/AIDS pandemic successfully linked poor people's demands for better medical care with demands to address the social and economic causes of inequality.
Lying on the Atlantic in the southern part of West Africa, Liberia is bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Côte dIvoire. It is comparable in size to Tennessee. Most of the country is a plateau covered by dense tropical forests, which thrive under an annual rainfall of about 160 in. a year.
Republic.
Africas first republic, Liberia was founded in 1822 as a result of the efforts of the American Colonization Society to settle freed American slaves in West Africa. The society contended that the emigration of blacks to Africa was an answer to the problem of slavery and the incompatibility of the races. Over the course of forty years, about 12,000 slaves were voluntarily relocated. Originally called Monrovia, the colony became the Free and Independent Republic of Liberia in 1847.
The English-speaking Americo-Liberians, descendants of former American slaves, make up only 5% of the population, but have historically dominated the intellectual and ruling class. Liberias indigenous population is composed of 16 different ethnic groups.
The government of Africas first republic was modeled after that of the United States, and Joseph Jenkins Roberts of Virginia was elected the first president. Ironically, Liberias constitution denied indigenous Liberians equal to the lighter-skinned American immigrants and their descendants.
After 1920, considerable progress was made toward opening up the interior of the country, a process that facilitated by the 1951 establishment of a 43-mile (69-km) railroad to the Bomi Hills from Monrovia. In July 1971, while serving his sixth term as president, William V. S. Tubman died following surgery and was succeeded by his longtime associate, Vice President William R. Tolbert, Jr.
Tolbert was ousted in a military coup on April 12, 1980, by Master Sgt. Samuel K. Doe, backed by the U.S. government. Does rule was characterized by corruption and brutality. A rebellion led by Charles Taylor, a former Doe aide, and the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), started in Dec. 1989; the following
There is over 200 million undernourished people in the African continent, and with the novel coronavirus sweeping countries, the urgency to address their food and health systems increases as undernourished people have weak immune systems leaving them vulnerable and exposed to COVID-19.
Read the full interview with Dr Jane Battersby
\"This is making diverse diets more costly for citizens.The Global Nutrition Report argues that in terms of both health and systemic resilience, there is a need for food systems to 'go beyond a narrow focus on energy intake; reduce the dominance of cereal production (maize, rice and wheat); and increase the availability of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, nuts and whole grains',\" Battersby says.
The novel coronavirus pandemic exposes deep inequalities within countries and weak food and health systems - a view shared by food experts during the report launch.
As a result the 2020 Global Nutrition Report is calling on governments, businesses and civil society to step up efforts to address malnutrition in all its forms and tackle injustices in food and health systems.
For countries' food and health systems to be more equitable, the report recommends that strong governmental coordination on nutrition should be put in place.
The Angolan Civil War, beginning at the time of the countrys independence from Portugal in 1975, was a 27-year struggle involving the deaths of over 500,000 soldiers and civilians. Initiated at the height of the Cold War, pro- and anti-communist forces in Angola set the stage for a proxy fight between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Though the fighting officially ended in 2002, Angola remains in economic and social turmoil with a massive refugee crisis and millions of landmines impeding farming practices.
Rich in diamonds and oil, Angola was one of the last African nations to receive independence from a European power. On April 25, 1974, a Portuguese military coup d’état protesting the country’s colonial practices successfully overthrew the regime. The combined forces of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), and the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) created a transitional government with the Alvor Accord of 1974.
Within a year the government had disintegrated, and with aid from the USSR and the Cuban military, the Marxist-oriented MPLA under the leadership of José dos Santos had wrested control of most of Angola. Indirectly and through proxies, governments from the United States, Brazil and South Africa funded UNITA, providing munitions, intelligence reports, and mercenaries.
Heavy fighting continued until 1991 when a temporary agreement known as the Bicesse Accords was reached. Calling for an immediate ceasefire and the removal of both Cuban and South African troops, the agreement mandated a new national government and army, along with Angola’s first multi-party elections. A year later, MPLA candidate José dos Santos won 49% of the popular vote in the election compared to 40% for UNITA candidate Dr. Jonas Savimbi. When Savimbi disputed the outcome, UNITA resumed guerilla war against the MPLA.
In 1993 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 864 placing
Daniel arap Moi , in full Daniel Toroitich arap Moi (born 1924, Sacho, Kenya Colony [now Kenya]), Kenyan politician, who held the office of president (1978–2002).
Moi was educated at mission and government schools. He became a teacher at age 21 and in the early 1960s, as Kenya began to move toward independence (1963), was appointed minister of education in the transitional government. Although he had originally been cofounder and chairman of the Kenya African Democratic Union, a party composed of minority peoples, he joined the Kikuyu-dominated Kenya African National Union (KANU) in 1964. That same year Moi was appointed minister of home affairs.
Named vice president in 1967, Moi became president in 1978 following the death of Jomo Kenyatta. He quickly consolidated his power, banning opposition parties and promoting his Kalenjin countrymen to positions of authority at the expense of the Kikuyu. He also curried favour with the army, which proved loyal to him in suppressing a coup attempt in 1982. His continuation of Kenyatta’s pro-Western policies ensured significant sums of development aid during the Cold War (1947–91), and under Moi’s stewardship Kenya emerged as one of the most prosperous African nations.
In the early 1990s, however, Western countries began to demand political and economic reforms, leading Moi to legalize opposition parties in 1991. The following year he won the country’s first multiparty elections amid charges of electoral fraud. Riots and demonstrations marred the 1997 elections, and hundreds of Kenyans, mainly Kikuyu, were killed. Easily elected to his fifth term as president, Moi promised to end government corruption and implement democratic and economic reforms. In an effort to combat corruption, in 1999 he appointed Richard Leakey, the popular and respected anthropologist, the head of the civil service and permanent secretary to the cabinet, a position Leakey retired from in 2001.
Required by the constitution to resign in 2003, Moi backed Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Jomo Kenyatta, as
My Government is committed to providing support for survivors and the First Lady, myself, and my Government urge every Sierra Leonean to join in raising awareness, advocating, and standing up to rid this country of this menace.
With the support of international and development partners, traditional and religious leaders, civil society, the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, and various community stakeholders, our COVID-19 preparedness and response measures have been robust.
To every Sierra Leonean who has complied with healthcare protocols, public-safety directives, and also communicated awareness of the virus, we thank you immensely.
Our anticipation and timely responses, contact tracing and surveillance, well-considered economic response, social safety support, and other measures have been praised and well-supported by our multilateral and development partners.
I urge every citizen to strictly comply with healthcare and public safety protocols — from handwashing, using face masks, social distancing, travel restrictions, and all other restrictions on public gatherings in public spaces.
The observers recognise that an electoral system governed by a whole series of constantly changing pieces of legislation \"responds to the outcome of political dialogue between the main parties, Renamo and Frelimo, rather than taking a holistic review of the electoral framework.\"
Stop the inclusion of fraudulent results: Under Renamo pressure, the parties agreed an electoral court system which could intervene to redress misconduct and errors by election commissions, STAEs, and polling stations.
Civil society members to be non-partisan
Members of the National Elections Commission (CNE) \"do not represent the public or private institutions or political or social institutions they come from, and defend the national interest\", says the electoral law.
For the 2008-9 elections, parliament (AR) agreed a dramatic change - a majority of CNE members, including the chair (presidente) were nominated by Civil Society Organisations (CSO) to try to force some independence and neutrality.
But this agreement between Frelimo and Renamo to select party aligned CSO members is not specified in the electoral law and clearly goes against the spirit of the law.
The Covid-19 pandemic has multiplied the socio-economic hardships in our country and magnified the disparities, National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise said as she introduced a virtual public lecture on Africa Day on Monday.
OPINION | Africa Day: A continent united in its battle against Covid-19
\"We observe Africa Day today – and remind ourselves of the value and strength in our joint and collective fight against our shared and common threat to life and livelihoods.
Turning back to South Africa, she said the Budget was the \"most powerful instrument by which government can implement its priorities to correct, adjust and change lives\".
\"We observe Africa Day today in a reflective mood – uncertain of the lives we will continue to lose to this coronavirus, uncertain of socio-economic impact on the morale of our people.
Cyril Ramaphosa: The solutions to Africa’s problems reside within Africa itself
\"We remain firm in our conviction that we will endure as South Africa; as sons, daughters and citizens of Africa, because we have always placed value on human life above economic gain, and on our inherent commitment to collective action.\"
Babgui / the Hague — The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague has confirmed that former Darfur janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb, who has been indicted for crimes against humanity, is \"in ICC custody\".
The ICC statement says that on account of an ICC arrest warrant issued on 27 April 2007, Kushayb is suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur.
In today's statement, ICC Registrar Peter Lewis thanked the Minister of Justice Flavien M'Bata and the authorities of the Central African Republic, the French Republic, the Republic of Chad, as well as the leaders of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and the authorities of the host State, the Netherlands, for their support to the Court and cooperation in the arrest, surrender and transfer of Kushayb to the Court.
Pre-Trial Chamber I considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that, (i) from about August 2002, an armed conflict took place between the Government of Sudan including combatants from the Sudan People's Armed Forces (the Sudanese Armed Forces) and the Popular Defence Force (PDF) along with the Janjaweed militia against organised rebel groups, including the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in Darfur, Sudan; (ii) in 2003 and 2004, that the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Janjaweed militia, acting together as part of the counter-insurgency campaign, carried out several attacks, of a systematic or widespread nature, on the towns of Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar, Arawala and surrounding areas.
The warrant of arrest delivered on 27 April 2007 against Ali Kushayb lists 50 counts on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility including:
- Twenty-two counts of crimes against humanity (murder; deportation or forcible transfer of population; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law; torture ; persecution; rape; inhumane acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering ); and
- Twenty-eight counts of war crimes (murder, violence to life and person; outrage upon personal dignity in particular humiliating and degrading treatment; intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population; pillaging; rape; destroying or seizing the property).
Police pepper-sprayed a disabled woman, children, and many others at a peaceful march to the polls in Graham, North Carolina on Saturday, October 31
Source
Analysis - Can this week's peace deal between Khartoum and Sudan's armed rebel groups stick? Logic suggests not, as two previous agreements signed among essentially the same players - also with some important holdouts - failed to stop the killing.
THE INTERNATIONAL Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has launched a promotional video that introduces...
The post IUCN launches a promotional video to tackle marine plastic pollution in the Caribbean appeared first on Voice Online.
The Burundi Constitutional Court ruled late Friday that the country does not need an interim president as stipulated by Article 121, saying the country already has a president-elect.
The Court president Charles Ndagijimana said that since the president-elect is competent and the position of president is vacant, Evariste Ndayishimiye should be sworn in as soon as possible so that he can assume office in line with the country's constitution.
Burundi's 2018 Constitution, Article 121, states that; \"In case of vacancy caused by resigning, death or any other cause by the president then the Speaker of the National Assembly takes over in the interim until a new president is elected.\"
Burundi government announced a one week mourning of the death of the country's outgoing President Nkurunziza, all sorts of karaoke and music other than religious ones were banned country wide in bars and restaurants and other public places.
Nairobi — The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Kenya has urged the Ministry of Labour, Social Security, and Services to ensure the inclusion of all elderly persons who qualify for the Inua Jamii program, which is aimed at cushioning Kenyans from effects of COVID-19.
During a meeting on the impact of the pandemic on the poor and vulnerable in society held Tuesday, ICJ also urged CS Simon Chelugui to incorporate the use of cashless transfer to ensure that elderly persons are able to access their funds without the risk of being exposed to the highly contagious disease when going to banks.
\"Based on the extensive and highly interactive deliberations guided by thematic experts, we urge the Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Labour to incorporate the use of cashless fund transfer to ensure that elderly persons who are vulnerable are able to access their monies without having to travel to banking halls,\" ICJ Kenya Chairman Kevin Mogeni said through a statement.
At the same time, the Kenyan section of ICJ wants the stimulus package to cater to persons in the formal and informal sectors, raising concern that the package only benefits those in the formal sector.
\"Partner with relevant institutions to ensure courts in rural areas and in prisons are equipped with the necessary infrastructure to enable cases to be disposed of expeditiously, \"ICJ Kenya pointed out in their recommendation to Judiciary.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the death of acclaimed author Achmat Dangor as \"a loss to the literary, arts and culture fraternity and the country at large\".
[Nation] Sudan's transitional government is set to sign a peace deal with rebel movements to formally accommodate the fighters in the mainstream administration.
Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the familys long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro* institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family
In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his
This makes it imperative for governments to apply social assistance programme for the poor and vulnerable .
According to the World Bank, per capita spending on social assistance programmes is lower in low- and middle-income countries (less than $1,000) than in high-income countries ($4,000-$5,000).
It reports that Nigeria's total spending on social assistance programmes is 0.28% of GDP and covers only 7% of the population.
This is aimed at financial support for the poor and vulnerable whose incomes or livelihoods are at risk due to natural, human or economic crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown.
Others include youth employment and community social development projects, like the home-grown school feeding programmes to address poverty and hunger.
