Login to BlackFacts.com using your favorite Social Media Login. Click the appropriate button below and you will be redirected to your Social Media Website for confirmation and then back to Blackfacts.com once successful.
Enter the email address and password you used to join BlackFacts.com. If you cannot remember your login information, click the “Forgot Password” link to reset your password.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Monday the Tigray region's dissident leaders had fled west of the regional capital after weeks of fighting but indicated federal forces were monitoring them closely and would attack them soon.
Abiy, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, this month ordered military operations against leaders of Tigray's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in response to what he said were TPLF-organised attacks on Ethiopian federal army camps.
More than three weeks of fighting between federal soldiers and pro-TPLF forces has left thousands dead in the northern region, and prompted tens of thousands of refugees to flee across the border into Sudan.
"I want them to hear me: yesterday evening, around midnight, we saw them from the situation room in the area between Hagere Selam and Abiy Addi," Abiy said in remarks to lawmakers, referring to two towns west of the Tigray capital Mekele.
"We didn't attack them at night because as they retreated they took their wives, children and abducted soldiers... But this will not continue."
The fighting has been a dramatic escalation of tensions between Abiy and the leaders of the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before anti-government protests swept Abiy to office in 2018.
Abiy said on Saturday the military operations were "completed" after federal forces claimed control of the Tigray regional capital Mekele.
The TPLF leaders, however, have repeatedly vowed to fight on as long as federal forces are on Tigrayan soil.
Their exact whereabouts remain unknown.
'Mekele is ours'
As the Ethiopian military bore down on Mekele last week, global concern mounted about a possible bloodbath in a city that, before the conflict, had a population of half a million.
A communications blackout in Tigray has made it difficult to verify claims from both sides about how the fighting is going.
On Monday, Abiy claimed soldiers did not kill any civilians as they took over Mekele and other cities in Tigray.
"Mekele is ours, it was built with our own resources. We are not going to destroy it," he said. "Not even a single person was harmed by the operation in Mekele."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday that hospitals in Mekele were flooded with trauma patients, though it did not specify how the injuries were sustained.
Abiy also dismissed claims from TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael that airstrikes had resulted in many civilian casualties.
As Abiy tries to shift towards helping Tigray recover, the national human rights body called Monday for telecommunications to be restored and for water, electricity, and health services to resume.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which is government-affiliated but independent, also noted "complaints of ethnic profiling" including "forced leave from work" and travel restrictions.
"EHRC is gravely concerned that while there is no government policy nor legal framework condoning ethnic profiling, security measures designed t
He replaces Debretsion Gebremichael, whose immunity from prosecution was removed Thursday.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said Thursday that scores of civilians were killed in a \"massacre\" in the Tigray region, that witnesses blamed on forces backing the local ruling party.
The \"massacre\" is the first reported incident of large-scale civilian fatalities in a week-old conflict between the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
\"Amnesty International can today confirm... that scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the southwest of Ethiopia's Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,\" the rights group said in a report.
Amnesty said it had \"digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers.\"
The dead \"had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes,\" Amnesty said, citing witness accounts.
Witnesses said the attack was carried out by TPLF-aligned forces after a defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian military, though Amnesty said it \"has not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings\".
It nonetheless called on TPLF commanders and officials to \"make clear to their forces and their supporters that deliberate attacks on civilians are absolutely prohibited and constitute war crimes\".
Abiy ordered military operations in Tigray on November 4, saying they were prompted by a TPLF attack on federal military camps -- a claim the party denies.
The region has been under a communications blackout ever since, making it difficult to verify competing claims on the ground.
Abiy said Thursday his army had made major gains in western Tigray.
Thousands of Ethiopians have fled across the border into neighboring Sudan, and the UN is sounding the alarm about a humanitarian crisis in Tigray.
[New Dawn] The 2020 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), launched on Monday November 16 by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, highlights a decline in African governance performance for the first time since 2010.
[New Times] The number of teachers in pre-primary schools is set to be increased from the current 33 to 613 in this fiscal year, according to the ministry of education.
Andrew Callioux, Captain of the First Louisiana Native Guards Regiment, Union Army, became a hero while leading his troops at the Battle of Port Hudson in 1863. Callioux was born a free man in New Orleans. A cigar maker with an elite clientele, Callioux was a Catholic creole of color that had attained considerable affluence. He was also a skilled horseman, boxer and athlete who often boasted that he was “the blackest man in America.” Callioux had received his civil and military education in Paris, which enabled him to speak both English and French fluently. By his 40th birthday Callioux was considered a pillar in the free black community of New Orleans, having earned the respect of both blacks and whites.
When the Civil War began Callioux organized Company E of the First Louisiana Native Guards, a unit of 440 Creoles who became the first black troops to be accepted into service in the Confederate Army. Callioux received a commission as Captain. Never used in battle by the Confederates, Company E remained behind when Union forces occupied New Orleans in April 1862. Within weeks Union General Benjamin F. Butler persuaded Captain Callioux and the First Louisiana Native Guards to join Federal forces. Initially Union commanders, like their Confederate predecessors, used the First Louisiana Native Guards only for garrison duty.
By 1863, however President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was in effect and United States military officials now actively recruited African American soldiers. In May, 1863, Callioux and his men were sent to Port Hudson, one of two remaining Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River. On May 27 the Louisiana Native Guards were ordered to attack Port Hudson in their first significant combat engagement. Callioux and his men understood that this engagement offered them the first opportunity to demonstrate that black troops could measure up to any white troops in prowess on the battlefield.
As Callioux led his men into battle, a rifle ball had shattered his arm below
[Nation] It is a deluge that has puzzled not only Rift Valley residents but also Kenyans all over the country.
Angry protests were reported Tuesday in the capital, Addis Ababa, after Hachalu Hundessa was shot dead on Monday.
A well-known Oromo activist, Jawar Mohammed, was among 35 people arrested during the latest unrest.
AP
June 30: Ethiopia arrests Oromo activist Jawar Mohammed, OMN shut down
\tThe arrest of prominent Ethiopian pro-democracy activist Jawar Mohammed has been confirmed by multiple sources from the country.
The arrest comes in the wake of mass protests against the shooting and killing on Monday night of a famed Oromo musician and activist in Addis Ababa.
VIDEO
Jawar vs. Abiy: Season II
\tThe latest incident is the second major face off between Jawar and state security agents.
[Addis Standard] Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party of Tigray regional state, has won 98.2% of the vote for the regional parliament, taking 152 of the total 190 seats.
It's been a year since the earliest-known COVID-19 transmission took place - and looking back at the first news reports on the virus is a haunting exercise.
[The Conversation Africa] Several countries in East Africa - namely Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and South Sudan - are still trying to contain the worst desert locust invasion the region has experienced in over 70 years. The locusts have destroyed vegetation - especially staple cereal crops, legumes and pastures - resulting in huge economic losses. The World Bank estimates that these losses could reach US$8.5 billion by the end of the year.
[Nation] The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Kenya has risen to 83,618 following 302 new positive tests from 3,038 samples, the Ministry of Health has reported.
Civilians Hit by Political Feud
As of Friday evening, at least 21,000 Ethiopians had crossed into eastern Sudan, according to the regional head of Sudan's refugee agency, Alsir Khaled.
Many are in fear of having lost their homes and livelihoods and some are even separated from their families as they fled the intense and traumatising fighting between the Ethiopian army and authorities of the Tigray region.
The Northern region — still under am officially declared state of emergency, continues to be under curfew and is currently seeing a communication blackout. Hence, the information provided by the exhausted and terrified refugees crossing the border into the neighbouring country is some of the first eyewitness accounts of the conflict which is now spanning around a week.
Fear, Trauma and Desperation
One Ethiopian shared his experience, \"I left with seven people, four of them are my nephews. Now I have no idea where my brother, his children and his wife are. Are they alive or dead? I don't know. But those who were with me brought them here, and when we arrived here, we could sometimes eat. The first time we saw water was when we arrived here. This is all because of the war.\"
Another Ethiopian woman seems devasted, \"They are abusing us, we came with five to six children on our backs. The children don’t have anything to drink and eat. All of us are suffering, we don't have clothes of our own, what clothes we have worn were borrowed from neighbours. We want the Tigray region and the federal government to look after us.\"
Inter-ethnic Political Conflict
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered military operations in Tigray last week in response to attacks on two federal military camps by Tigrayan regional authorities — whose political party once dominated the nation's politics and claim the ethnic group has been sidelined and unfairly targeted under the Ahmed administration.
Many in the international community have cautioned against all-out civil war and have made appeals on behalf of the civilians in the Tigray region.
Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations Rights Chief issued a warning on Friday of possible war crimes in Tigray. The UN's Special Adviser on the prevention of genocide, Pramila Patten, also \"condemned reports of targeted attacks against civilians based on their ethnicity or religion.\"
Afro Solidarity at Home and Abroad
Journalists on the ground have reported the kind gestures of solidarity by the Sudanese villagers to help the Ethiopian refugees. However, as many Ethiopians continue to arrive many are concerned about the strain their already very limited resources and more aid will most likely be necessary from governments, organisations or charities.
Five opposition activists have been charged with \"making threats likely to disrupt security and public order\", their lawyers said Monday.
Cellou Balde, a former member of parliament, on Friday turned himself in at the police headquarters where Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, Abdoulaye Bah and Etienne Soropogui were being held since Thursday and Ibrahima Cherif Bah since last week Wednesday.
Four of them are officials in the leading opposition party, the UFDG, which is headed by Conde's main challenger in the election, Cellou Dalein Diallo.
Diallo, a former prime minister, has criticised the arrests as an \"electoral coup d'etat\" and accused Conde of attempting to \"decapitate\" his party.
But in his first interview since his re-election, President Alpha Conde dismissed allegations of a \"witch hunt\" in the country, levelled against him by figures in the opposition.
He was declared winner of a controversial third term earlier this month leading to violence particularly when Diallo alleged voter fraud and proclaimed himself.
Keria Ibrahim, speaker of Ethiopia’s upper parliamentary chamber, the House of federation, has quit her position citing a looming constitutional blank with postponed elections.
Her resignation was announced first by regional Tigray TV. Privately-owned Addis Standard said Keria’s resignation was on the outcome of a Council of Constitutional Inquiry on deferred elections.
According to Tigray Communication Affairs Bureau, Keria resigned from her position refusing to work with those who display unconstitutional & authoritarian practices. She has been in the role since April 2018.
She is quoted as saying she did not want to be part of a system where: “the constitution is being violated and an authoritarian government is being formed.”
Ethiopia, currently under a five-month State of Emergency imposed over the coronavirus pandemic have also postponed the much anticipated polls. The current government’s mandate expires in October and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has recently rejected calls for a transitional government.
The former speaker belongs to the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, TPLF, a former coalition partner of the now defunct Ethiopia Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front, EPRDF; which brought Abiy to power in 2018.
Abiy has since gone on to disband and rebrand it into the Prosperity Party, PP, which the TPLF opposed and refusing to be part of the new party. TPLF is currently the ruling party in the northern Tigray region but technically in opposition with the federal government.
Despite the shelving of polls by the elections body, the TPLF has insisted that elections will be held in the region according to schedule.
ADDIS ABABA/NAIROBI, Nov 30 - Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed lauded his troops on Monday for ousting a rebellious northern movement, but the leader of Tigrayan forces said they were still resisting amid fears of a protracted guerrilla conflict
By Danica Kirka
The Associated Press
Nations around the world have watched in horror at the five days of civil unrest in the United States following the death of a Black man being detained by police.
Burning cars and riot police in the U.S. featured on newspaper front pages around the globe May 31—bumping news of the COVID-19 pandemic to second-tier status in some places.
Germany’s top-selling Bild newspaper on Sunday carried the sensational headline “This killer-cop set America ablaze” with an arrow pointing to a photo of now-fired police officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with third-degree murder in Floyd’s death, with his knee on Floyd’s neck.
In Italy, the Corriere della Sera newspaper’s senior U.S. correspondent Massimo Gaggi wrote that the reaction to Floyd’s killing was “different” than previous cases of Black Americans killed by police and the ensuring violence.
In another expression of solidarity with American protesters, about 150 people marched through central Jerusalem on May 30 to protest the shooting death by Israeli police of an unarmed, autistic Palestinian man earlier in the day.
It has been widely reported that up to 50 Black British people are at risk of deportation on a flight to Jamaica tomorrow. In the midst of all the headlines, the people whose lives could massively change tomorrow are sometimes overlooked. Movement for Justice, a campaign group is in touch with a number of them. They have sent us information about them, and we wanted to share it with you here.
A tribute to Argentine legend Mardona at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris just before Seria A game Parma against Genoa.
At the end of 90 minutes, it was Parma's night with a brace for Ivorian star Gervinho.
The 33 year old putting up an impressive display to give Parma a 2-1 win.
Gervinho put Parma ahead 10 minutes in, latching on to a through ball from Juraj Kucka before firing beyond Alberto Paleari.
Two minutes into the second half, the former Arsenal forward doubled the lead.
The victory ensured Parma climbed to the 16th spot on the Serie A table after gathering nine points from nine games.
Security Perimeter Around White House Expanded By Several Blocks
The people are continuing to be kept away from The People's House.
An expanded security perimeter around the White House will be in place for several more days, even as the mayor of Washington, D.C., called on the Trump administration to withdraw its extra federal law enforcement and military presence from the city.
Police and federal forces began pushing protesters in Lafayette Square back from the White House on Monday night, using shields, billy clubs and tear gas.
Meanwhile, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has called on Trump to \"withdraw all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence from our city.\"
Trump administration officials said that the perimeter is meant to keep protests from getting too large near the White House and that the administration is eager for the expanded barriers to be removed, according to The Washington Post.
Horizon Theatre Partners with Global HIV/AIDS Organization for World AIDS Day Premiere of Love, M. starring Greenleaf’s Lamman Rucker In recognition of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, Atlanta-based Horizon Theatre, the Black Leadership AIDS Crisis Coalition (BLACC) and AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the world’s largest provider of HIV/AIDS services, bring to the virtual stage Love, … Continued
The post Horizon Theatre partners with Global HIV/AIDS Organization for World AIDS Day Premiere of 'Love' appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.
