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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.
Sudan's public prosecutor announced on Monday the discovery of a mass grave containing conscripts allegedly killed after trying to flee a military camp in 1998 under ousted president Omar al-Bashir's regime.
A investigating committee \"found the mass grave in the past four days after hearing witness accounts,\" about killings at Ailafoon military camp, public prosecutor Tagelsir al-Hebr told reporters in Khartoum.
Ailafoon military camp, located southeast of the capital Khartoum, was used for training new conscripts under Bashir's rule.
Following Bashir's ouster last year, the country has since August been led by a civilian-majority administration presiding over a three-year transitional period.
Sudanese authorities have vowed to probe \"violations\" committed under Bashir as well as violence during last year's protests against his rule.
… them. “Communities of color and African-American communities have never gotten the … Make the Wounded Whole: The African American Struggle against HIV/AIDS …
Qantas has delayed the restart of its direct flights between Sydney and Johannesburg until October 2021.
[The Conversation Africa] Ethiopia's government, under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, is carrying out a military offensive in Tigray, Ethiopia's most northern state. A six month state of emergency has been declared in the region. Dozens of casualties have been reported amid fears that nine million people are at risk of being displaced.
US forces have not adequately investigated a February 2 strike killing one woman at her home, and a March 10 attack that killed five men and a child in a minibus.
\"The US military has not seriously investigated two recent airstrikes in Somalia in which civilians were killed and wounded in apparent violation of the laws of war,\" said Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
Between February and May, Human Rights Watch interviewed 14 people by phone, including relatives of those killed in the February and March strikes - four of whom visited the scene in its immediate aftermath - and assessed publicly available information about the airstrikes.
In its initial quarterly report on civilian casualty assessments published on April 27, 2020, AFRICOM said it examined 20 alleged airstrikes that caused civilian casualties between February 2019 and March 2020 and was still investigating 7 additional incidents, 2 of which Human Rights Watch investigated.
On the evening of February 2, at least one airstrike hit a home in Jilib, a town in the Middle Juba region, instantly killing a woman possibly between age 18 and 20 and injuring her two sisters, both children, and her grandmother.
Today is the 252nd day of 2020. There are 114 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1992: Nelson Mandela calls for the removal of the homeland ruler whose troops killed 24 protesters, sparking a major confrontation between black and white leaders in South Africa.�OTHER EVENTS1494: France's King Charles VIII enters Turin, Italy, seeking to establish his claim to throne of Naples.
[The Conversation Africa] In July 2009, a woman brought her husband to the hospital where our colleagues work in western Kenya. She reported that for several years he had been behaving abnormally, sleeping poorly, hearing voices that no one else could hear, and believing that people were talking about him and plotting to harm him.
[Nation] The Covid-19 pandemic has handed Kenyan fishermen an unexpected boon after fish imports from China dropped to Sh993.62 million in the last nine months of the year, compared to the Sh2.03 billion in 2019.
… rights laws as the first African-American assistant attorney general for civil … century. He was the first African-American member of the group. He … him to be the first African American Assistant Attorney General for the …
[Nation] MPs will today vote on proposals to improve benefits for health workers including medical cover and higher allowances as well as compel public hospitals not to charge Covid-19 patients for protective gear.
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.
SOUTH AFRICA-BASED Zimbabwean musician Enock “Nox” Guni said his recent smash-hit song My Melody, featuring South Africa’s Master KG, saved his career at a time he was contemplating quitting music after going through a rough patch. BY KENNEDY NYAVAYA Nox, who rose to fame in the early 2000s, has continued to sing since relocating to Mzansi albeit without much following back home. In an interview with NewsDay Life & Style, Nox said he was relieved that what started off as a final trial had revived his career. “When this year started, I had told myself that if I do not make it in this industry, I was going to quit, but I am glad it has all paid off and it is all because of this track so I give thanks to Master KG,” he said. “Master KG was never really in my plans initially because he does house music, but I am glad we were in touch with him earlier this year before he had become the world sensation he is now.” The song had amassed over 1,4 million views as of yesterday, a first for the Ndinonyara singer whose music career stretches close to two decades. “Having a collaboration of this magnitude is a dream for every artiste because it instantly unifies fans from both sides which widen one’s support base and for us it has made it easier to organise more collaborations with big artistes,” he said. Nox said he would be releasing two more songs with Master KG as well as singles with a Tanzanian and two Nigerian artistes. The 37-year-old singer said he had also lined up collaborations with South Africa’s Zanda Zakuza, Makhadzi, DJ Maphorisa and DJ Tira. Turning to the rough patch that saw him mired in controversy, particularly involving multiple affairs that almost jeopardised his career a few years ago, the now married Nox said it had all worked to his advantage as he drew life lessons from the experience. “To be honest, my brand has been attacked from all angles. I have been unfortunate, but that did not stop me from dreaming and wanting to achieve more. So when attention was on me for all the negative reasons I continued to work,” he said. “I might have brought it on myself by making some mistakes, but I am one person who has survived. It is just fate and God’s favour because had it been someone else they might not have endured.” He advised local musicians to take time to understand how the music industry functions as well as in dynamic teams which push their brands if they are to make it beyond the borders. “Talent alone can only take you so far, but there is a lot that our artistes need to learn such as how the music business works. They also need to invest in having a good diverse team to work on their brand because without that they will continue to do good music and it will end there,” he said.
At least 60 people have been killed in a series of attacks on villages by armed gangs.
Possible retaliation
Last week, Nigeria's armed forces launched a series of bomb raids on camps in the northwest region in its latest attempt to curtail violence in the area.
In an apparent retaliation attack, armed gang members raided five villages in the Sabon Birni district on Monday, killing 18 people.
Rival communities in the region have been embroiled in years of violent conflict over land, with armed gangs and vigilante groups carrying out reprisal killings and ransom kidnappings.
According to the ICG, northwest Nigeria risks becoming a \"land bridge\" to jihadist groups across the Sahel region and called for stronger cooperation between Nigeria and Niger to prevent trafficking of arms on the border.
[Capital FM] Nairobi -- Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha on Monday announced the full reopening of schools for all learners on January 4, following a coronavirus triggered shutdown in March.
In summary In the latest installment of the “Future of Work” series, California mayors explain their cities’ most pressing issues. CalMatters · The Future of Work #4: A Q&A with California Mayors As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, several California mayors described how the crisis has affected their cities, from an impending “homelessness armageddon” to […]
The post California mayors share how the pandemic shapes their cities appeared first on Black Voice News.
[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.
ISTANBUL, Turkey, CMC – Lewis Hamilton vowed to continue his fight for social justice, after being crowned World champion for a record-equalling seventh time on Sunday.
The article Hamilton promises to continue fight for social justice appeared first on Stabroek News.
Americans like to think they have the greatest democracy on earth, often for good reason. However, the last four years under the Presidency of Donald J Trump and his Republican enablers, Americans, and the rest of the world, have seen just realised how fragile their democracy is. guest column:Cedric Steele The election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President-elect and Vice-President-elect, respectively, is a victory for democracy, despite the fact that Trump has not conceded defeat. The Biden-Harris ticket, with over 75 million vote count, garnered the highest tally in the history of American presidential elections. Worryingly though, Trump’s over 70 million votes is the second highest vote count, ever. Four years with Trump at the helm has been a painful horror show replete with racism, constant lying, ignorant rantings, childish name-calling, unbelievable corruption, wanton illegality topped off with culpable mass murder and devastating unemployment; not to mention the fact that he was impeached. And yet, despite all this, around 47% of the electorate voted for four more years of this madness. Therein lies the tragedy of America. The rest of the world, although blowing a collective sigh of relief at the demise of Trump and hopefully Trumpism, can’t help but ask themselves, how and why would so many Americans return to the ballot boxes and vote for him in such astounding numbers? I think the answer is two-fold; firstly, to coin a phrase, it’s all about race, stupid! America begins and ends with the issues surrounding race, and by that I mean the dynamics between black and white people. Four hundred years of slavery in America plus another hundred or so years of widespread post-emancipation discrimination have caused deep-seated problems that have never been properly addressed. America has never had its version of a truth and reconciliation moment to redress the sins of its past. The perpetrators of the evil that has been meted out against black people have rarely, if ever, been held accountable. Slavery, which was the economic exploitation of blacks through policies of white supremacy, actually pre-dates the birth of the American Republic. Let us not forget that the white population of the southern states opted for secession from the United States, over giving up the holding of humans as chattel to be bought and sold, worked to death, raped as a matter of routine, castrated, whipped mercilessly, lynched, denied all forms of education, among other atrocities, were not only prepared to kill, but also to die for it to continue. History records that these Confederates were in fact traitors to the United States. However, after the bloodiest war America has ever participated in, with the loss of over a recently corrected figure of 750 000 lives, none of the Confederate leaders were ever prosecuted or held to any account. Since the end of the civil war, the inherent racism of the south has undergone a peculiar sanitisation based on misinformation and downright lies. The villains have re-emerged as heroes and now have n
Tension between Amhara and Tigray, two of Ethiopia's most powerful regions, is increasing as the country approaches elections next year, says a new International Crisis Group report.
But it is the dispute between the Amhara and Tigray regions, the new report says, that “is arguably the bitterest of these contests, fueled in part by rising ethnic nationalism in both regions.”
William Davison, the Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Ethiopia, tells VOA that Amhara citizens believe that several key zones, notably the Wolqait and Raya areas, were annexed by Tigray when the current Ethiopian federation was mapped out in the early 1990s.
Plans to hold a vote have led political elites in Tigray and Amhara to adopt increasingly hardline stances toward each other, the report says, noting a recent warning from Prime Minister Abiy that any such act would “result in harm to the country and the people.”
But Dessalegn Chanie Dagnew, chairman of the opposition National Movement of Amhara, said via a messaging app that Ethiopia’s regional map based on ethnic territories has been the root cause of many tensions, not just between the Amhara and Tigray regions, but many others.
