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"Since this campaign has been (on) everyone is worried. Everyone is worried," said driver Andrew Kiiza.
\t While no one claimed responsibility for the attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif pointed the finger at Israel, calling the killing an act of ``\"state terror.''
\t ``Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice _ with serious indications of Israeli role _ shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators,'' Zarif wrote on Twitter.
Black Friday officially kicked off the 2020 holiday shopping season, but the coronavirus pandemic has affected consumers' spending habits considerably in myriad ways. Black consumers have not been exempt from that truth.
By COLLEEN BARRY AP Fashion Writer MILAN (AP) — Somali-American model Halima Aden has announced that she is taking a step back from the fashion industry, saying the pandemic slowdown has allowed her to see instances when her desire to maintain a hijab was not properly respected. In a detailed Instagram story, Aden wrote this week that she was 'not rushing back to the fashion industry' and that she had finally heard her mother's pleas 'to open my eyes.' 'My mom asked me to quit modeling a LONG time ago. I wish I wasn't so defensive,' the 23-year-old model wrote. […]
The post Hijab-wearing Somali-US model takes step back from industry appeared first on Black News Channel.
HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — The coronavirus pandemic has, no doubt, brought challenges for so many. However, there are some entrepreneurs that are taking a leap of faith despite the economic uncertainty. Several new businesses have recently opened their doors in Hampton. One new storefront opened on Friday, just in time for Small Business Saturday. Although […]
As school districts diverge on handling the pandemic, Baltimore City Public Schools are slowly trying to get students back in the classroom. It has not been easy, but neither has remote learning.
… , versus the 65-year-old African American — especially when that 65-year …
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed again ruled out dialogue with the leaders of the rebel Tigray region during a meeting with African Union special envoys on Friday.
Abiy told the envoys trying to end the conflict between Ethiopian troops and Tigray’s forces that he is willing to speak to representatives “operating legally” in the region, The Associated Press news agency reported on Friday.
The meeting came as people in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray state braced for what Addis Ababa termed as the final phase of the conflict which started on November 4th.
Abiy, who has resisted international mediation as \"interference,'' said he appreciated the AU envoys' \"elderly concern'' but told them his government's failure to enforce the rule of law in Tigray would `\"nurture a culture of impunity with devastating cost to the survival of the country,'' according to his office.
My utmost gratitude to President @CyrilRamaphosa & his Special Envoys for their concerted effort to understand our rule of law operations. Receiving the wisdom & counsel of respected African elders is a precious continental culture that we value greatly in Ethiopia. pic.twitter.com/2utnEXG94o
— Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 (@AbiyAhmedAli) November 27, 2020
Abiy's government and the regional one run by the Tigray People's Liberation Front each consider the other illegitimate.
\t There was no immediate word from the three AU envoys, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano and former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe. AU spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo did not say whether they can meet with TPLF leaders, something Abiy's office has rejected.
\"``Not possible,'' senior Ethiopian official Redwan Hussein said in a message to the AP. ``\"Above all, TPLF leadership is still at large.'' He called reports that the TPLF had appointed an envoy to discuss an immediate cease-fire with the international community ``masquerading.''
\t Fighting reportedly remained well outside the Tigray capital of Mekele, a densely populated city of a half-million people who have been warned by the Ethiopian government that they will be shown ``no mercy'' if they don't distance themselves from the region's leaders.
\t Tigray has been almost entirely cut off from the outside world since Nov. 4, when Abiy announced a military offensive in response to a TPLF attack on a federal army base.
That makes it difficult to verify claims about the fighting, but humanitarians have said at least hundreds of people have been killed.
\t The fighting threatens to destabilize Ethiopia, which has been described as the linchpin of the strategic Horn of Africa.
\t With transport links cut, food and other supplies are running out in Tigray, home to 6 million people, and the United Nations has asked for immediate and unimpeded access for aid.
AP
The Ministry of Health and Wellness will be ramping up its coronavirus awareness campaign across St Catherine over the next 10 days amid fears of a Christmas and New Year spike from mass gathering over the holiday shopping period The sensitisation...
1. Spend Green and Buy Black This Black Friday What You Need To Know: To address economic inequality in Chicago, the city has partnered with the Chicago Urban League and local advertising agency O'Keefe Reinhard & Paul to create “Black Shop Friday”. 2. Incarcerated During the Holidays Meet Eric Powell, an inmate at Ross Correctional…
[Dalsan Radio] Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh has raised concerns that al-Shabaab will have members in the new parliament, giving it full power to govern the country independently.
At the Martyrs' School near Tripoli, teachers and parents are using the limited means at hand to repair buildings devastated by a year-long battle for the Libyan capital.
Some of the walls have been repainted, furniture has been installed and ageing computer screens dusted off. But the roofs and other walls, pockmarked by gunfire and mortar blasts, remain grim reminders of the recent fighting.
\"We didn't want to sit and wait for help,\" said Najah al-Kabir, a teaching coordinator in a patterned jallaba gown and a hijab.
She is taking part in a refurbishment campaign launched by staff and joined by enthusiastic parents of students from the surrounding Ain Zara district.
\"We're one family,\" Kabir said, standing in the playground of the primary school, damaged by weeks of artillery fire.
\"This school was our second home.\"
When eastern Libyan military chief Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive in April 2019 to seize the capital from the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), Ain Zara found itself on the front line.
The fighting degenerated into a long battle of attrition on the outskirts of Tripoli and lasted until June this year, when pro-GNA forces ended the stalemate by pushing Haftar's forces back eastwards.
By the time the fighting ended, the school had been reduced to \"ruins\", Kabir said.
\"It needed to be rebuilt quickly,\" she added.
'A terrible state'
The UN children's agency UNICEF warned earlier this year that \"attacks against schools and the threat of violence have led to (school) closures and left almost 200,000 children out of the classroom\".
The Martyrs' School is one of around 100 schools fully or partly destroyed during the offensive by Haftar, backed by Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
Pro-GNA armed groups, whose counter-offensive was spurred by Turkey, used some schools to stock arms or as observation posts.
By the end of the fighting, the Martyrs' School was \"in a terrible state\", said headteacher Saleh al-Badri.
The establishment caters for 1,500 students in an area three kilometres from the next school, making it \"important to reopen it as soon as possible,\" he said.
Mahmoud Abdelkhalek, who lives nearby and sends his three sons to the school, was keen to get involved.
\"It seemed important that everyone get involved to fix it,\" he said. \"A collective effort has brought it back to life.\"
AUSTIN – Texas officially dedicated a statue to the late Julius Whittier before Friday’s game with Iowa State, honoring the school’s first Black football...
THE 2021 national budget due to be presented this afternoon presents one of the toughest challenges for Finance minister, Mthuli Ncube. BY TAURAI MANGUDHLA/TATIRA ZWINOIRA He is expected to roll out strategies that will help the economy recover, without hurting it through high taxes and tough policies. For instance, the mining industry waits anxiously for major tax reforms in respect of foreign currency taxes and retention thresholds. The mining industry has for a while been battling government for timeous gold and chrome payments as well as a review of foreign currency retention thresholds. Players prefer to keep their entire earnings in foreign currency and utilise their funds as they wish instead of having to queue for allocations at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) auction. Last month RBZ governor, John Mangudya hinted at key tax reforms in respect of foreign currency retention and liquidation of free funds, coupled with maintaining the foreign currency auction system as part of measures to uphold monetary policy stability in the country. Mangudya said there were deliberations to increase the time exporters can keep their 70% forex portion before liquidation from the current 60 days. This was said after his presentation at the launch of the State of the Mining Industry of Zimbabwe report by the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe. Although he did not specify how much time was being considered, the move is expected to allow miners and other exporters to utilise their foreign currency earnings and relieve pressure on the auction system. Furthermore, he said, discussions were also underway for 70% of the miners’ receipts to be taxed in foreign currency and 30% in local currency in line with foreign currency retention thresholds given that 30% of their forex is liquidated on the interbank. He also said there was need for policy consistency and predictability to sustain the sector. The central bank chief said some of the measures could be incorporated in the 2021 National Budget. Economic and mining expert Albert Makochekanwa said Zimbabwe risked missing its National Development Strategy targets if key reforms necessary to drive growth in the extractive sector are not implemented. Makochekanwa, who is a university professor, said the problems in the sector were known and had been raised before. The problems facing Zimbabwe include a depreciating currency, high inflation, unemployment, huge a housing backlog, water shortages, wage erosion, low consumer spending, company closures and food insecurity. Last week, government ministries and departments submitted total requests for the 2021 National Budget amounting to $1,1 trillion to tackle these challenges. Economist, Tony Hawkins asked: “How can the government achieve its expected growth targets? If you look at the numbers and the real situation we are living with, there is a gap.” He said when looking at the 2020 National Budget, the government did not account for rising inflation which was an indication they would miss their targets. “We cannot believe any of the numbers th
Thanksgiving is over. Many people celebrated with just their household unit, but many others did not. In fact, up to 50 million Americans are traveling over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to the American Automobile Association, or AAA. The comings and goings of US travelers belie the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic continues to surge. The US reported 2,046 deaths Wednesday […]
Ten-year-old Samarwat Tkhal fled fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray region this month -- now she sells food to survive, among tens of thousands of fellow refugees building a new life in neighbouring Sudan.
Tkhal, wearing a red T-shirt and yellow trousers, wanders the dusty streets of \"Village Eight\", a transit point just across the border into Sudan that has rapidly swelled into the size of a small town.
It is the first stop for many of the Ethiopians fleeing their homeland.
Tkhal holds up a box of chocolate cakes, as she shyly approaches potential customers.
\"My father gives me a box of 50 cakes every morning that I sell,\" she said. \"I work from morning to night.\"
Over 43,000 refugees have crossed into Sudan since fighting broke out in Tigray on November 4, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Friday, as he visited Sudanese camps crammed with those fleeing the conflict in northern Ethiopia.
While praising Sudan for upholding its \"traditional hospitality to people in need\", Grandi warned that the host country also \"urgently requires international assistance to support its efforts.\"
- Heavy fighting -
Hundreds have been killed in fighting between the federal government of Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and dissident forces of the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
On Friday, Abiy is due to meet African Union envoys to discuss the worsening conflict, after he ordered the army to launch a final offensive against Tigrayan forces.
But while conflict rages at home, many of the refugees in Sudan are already eking out a living in their new surrounds.
Taray Burhano, 32, walks the streets selling cigarettes -- one-by-one, not by the pack.
\"I'm not making a fortune,\" said Burhano, who, like many, escaped with only what he could carry for the hard trek across the baking hot bush.
\"But at least I don't sit around and think about what happened to us.\"
Once a sleepy settlement, Village Eight is now a busy centre.
- Entrepreneurs -
Chekhi Barra, 27, sits on the ground waiting for clients.
\"Until a solution to the fighting is found, something has to be done,\" he said, adding that while aid is trickling in, people need more than what is provided.
Barra fled with his wife and son from their home in the town of Mai-Kadara, where Ethiopia's rights watchdog this week said at least 600 civilians were massacred.
Using the little cash he took with him, Barra invested in a box of 100 bars of soap, a basic necessity that he knows will generate a profit when sold individually.
\"I sell them for twice as much as I bought them,\" he said.
Despite losing their homes and businesses, the new Ethiopian arrivals to Sudan are not wasting their time.
Sylvia Tahai immediately resumed her work -- selling coffee.
\"As soon as I arrived, I went to buy coffee, cups, sugar and a coffee-maker\", the 23-year-old said, as customers crowded around her traditional Ethiopian flask brewing on a charcoal brazier.
Buhano Amha, 28, has built a stall where he sells tomat
As we all get in gear for holiday shopping, it's important that we not only remember to shop small but that we also remember to shop Black — especially this year.
Highest level possible given for coronavirus BY BIANCA PADRO OCASIO MIAMI HERALD/TNS MIAMI — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention upgraded the cruise ship travel risk to a level 4, the federal agency’s highest risk level possible for contracting COVID-19. Amid reports of widespread outbreaks in cruises earlier this year, CDC recommends for […]
The post CDC upgrades cruise ship virus infection risk appeared first on Florida Courier.
LONDON (Reuters) - Suspected North Korean hackers have tried to break into the systems of British drugmaker AstraZeneca in recent weeks, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, as the company races to deploy its vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. The hackers posed as recruiters on networking site LinkedIn and WhatsApp to approach AstraZeneca staff with fake job offers, the sources said. They then sent documents purporting to be job descriptions that were laced with malicious code designed to gain access to a victim’s computer. The hacking attempts targeted a “broad set of people” including staff working on COVID-19 research, said one of the sources, but are not thought to have been successful. The North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva did not respond to a request for comment. Pyongyang has previously denied carrying out cyberattacks. It has no direct line of contact for foreign media. AstraZeneca, which has emerged as one of the top three COVID-19 vaccine developers, declined to comment.r The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss non-public information, said the tools and techniques used in the attacks showed they were part of an ongoing hacking campaign that U.S. officials and cybersecurity researchers have attributed to North Korea. The campaign has previously focused on defence companies and media organisations but pivoted to COVID-related targets in recent weeks, according to three people who have investigated the attacks. Cyberattacks against health bodies, vaccine scientists and drugmakers have soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as state-backed and criminal hacking groups scramble to obtain the latest research and information about the outbreak. Western officials say any stolen information could be sold for profit, used to extort the victims, or give foreign governments a valuable strategic advantage as they fight to contain a disease that has killed 1.4 million people worldwide. Microsoft said this month it had seen two North Korean hacking groups target vaccine developers in multiple countries, including by “sending messages with fabricated job descriptions.” Microsoft did not name any of the targeted organisations. South Korean lawmakers said on Friday that the country’s intelligence agency had foiled some of those attempts. Reuters has previously reported that hackers from Iran, China and Russia have attempted to break into leading drugmakers and even the World Health Organisation this year. Tehran, Beijing and Moscow have all denied the allegations. Some of the accounts used in the attacks on AstraZeneca were registered to Russian email addresses, one of the sources said, in a possible attempt to mislead investigators. North Korea has been blamed by U.S. prosecutors for some of the world’s most audacious and damaging cyberattacks, including the hack and leak of emails from Sony Pictures in 2014, the 2016 theft of $81 million from the Central Bank of Bangladesh, and unleashing the Wannacry ransomware virus in 2017. Pyongyang has described the allegations as part
[Monitor] In the casualty ward at Mulago hospital lies young men. Four beds lie on either side of the three partitions in the ward. A sort of triage counter, where nurses watch patients from, is properly laid with food, drinks and clothing for patients and their caretakers.
[IPS] Rome -- The recent meeting of the G20 - scheduled to take place in Riyadh but held virtually due to the Coronavirus pandemic - has been an eloquent example of how the world is drifting, in a crisis of leadership.
BY PRAISEMORE SITHOLE A CATHOLIC University chief security officer, Brighton Tangwanda, has been arrested for stealing a mattress at Bulawayo Catholic campus and giving it to his girlfriend Morleen Mufandaedza, Southern Eye Weekender has learnt. Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube yesterday confirmed the arrest of Tangwanda (30). Ncube said the incident occurred between August and November this year and Tangwanda was arrested Thursday. “The value of the goods stolen is not yet known, but the incident occurred between August and November. Tangwanda took advantage of his position as the chief security guard and stole the mattress at Catholic University,” the provincial police spokesperson said. “He stole a single mattress and gave it to his girlfriend, Mufandaedza. “So far, the mattress has been recovered, but investigations are still ongoing to see if there are other things which had been stolen during that period.” Ncube urged institutions to employ professionally trained security people as guards. “My plea is that, organisations and institutions should employ security guards with a track record so as to avoid employing thieves,” he said.
HIGH Court has dismissed an application by Yolanda Kuvaoga seeking cancellation of a burial order for her late daughter, fitness trainer and model Michell “Moana” Amuli, paving way for the father, Ishmael, to proceed and bury her daughter at Warren Hills cemetery today. BY CHARLES LAITON Family spokesperson, Yussuf Binali has confirmed the late model will now be buried today. Moana died in a horrific accident three weeks ago that also claimed the lives of socialite Genius “Ginimbi” Kadungure, Malawian businessman Limumba Karim and Mozambican model Alicha Adams. While Ginimbi was buried two weeks ago, Moana’s burial has been delayed by endless feuds between her parents who are on separation. Kuvaoga had approached the High Court seeking to bar Ishmael the right to bury Moana according to his Muslim religion, claiming she raised the model and wanted her to be buried against the father’s religion. She wanted to host the funeral on the basis that Moana’s father is Muslim and would not allow mourners to imbibe and consume pork at a funeral. But Justice Pisirayi Kwenda, in his detailed judgment, castigated Kuvaoga for over emphasising her late daughter’s secular habits on a mistaken belief that it gave her an elevated social standing in her last days. “The validity of the burial order in first respondent’s (Ishmael Amuli) possession designating Warren Hills as the deceased’s final resting place has been confirmed by this court and the second respondent (Registrar of Births and Deaths) cannot validly issue another burial order,” Justice Kwenda said. “…A court of law may not be called upon to determine a dispute about whether or not mourners should be allowed to imbibe and consume pork at a funeral. “The relevance of what the applicant (Yolanda Kuvaoga) says was the deceased’s worldly lifestyle and her alleged celebrity status to the rites to be followed at her burial is difficult to fathom. I do not have evidence before me of what the applicant says was the deceased’s celebrity status.” The judge added: “It appears to me that the applicant does not appreciate the possible implications of over emphasising the deceased’s secular habits which she believes gave her an elevated social standing in her last days because she could be basking in the grandeur of the perceived status.” The judge further said Kuvaoga’s oral evidence before the court had no relevance to the relief she was seeking before the court adding she submitted that, because her former husband did not pay lobola for her, according to custom and tradition, mourners should gather at her parents’ home in Highfield for the funeral. “That is not the relief she seeks,” the judge said. “In any event that has not been resisted by the first respondent. He paid a customary price to his in-laws for the funeral wake at applicants’ parents’ house. “On the other hand, it is correct that the deceased was born to the Amuli family. The right to family is fundamental and protected in our Chapter 4 Bill of Rights. It is a constitutional value that may not be taken lightly. “It is to
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling late Wednesday, Nov. 25, upholding certain rights to gather for
Betty Porto, co-owner of Porto’s in Glendale, poses for a photo as employees
On Friday, November 20, 2020, Milwaukee Health Services, Inc. (MHSI) hosted their '9th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Giveaway,' at their MLK Heritage Health Center, 2555 N. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. Due to COVID-19 this year was different however, as families could not just walk up to receive their free holiday meal. Families were required... [Read More]
The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is expected to name a caretaker for the Fellowship division of the Rio Grande Valley in Portland Eastern, in the wake of the recent passing of Irvin ‘Louie’ Brown, who died recently from complications associated with...
America enters the somber holiday weekend following a Thanksgiving Day that saw more than 100,000 new Covid-19 cases and 1,200 deaths - skyrocketing numbers given that 20 states did not report data. Traditionally the start of a time of shopping and giving, the final days of November have seen record highs in the worsening pandemic - surpassing previous surges and […]
Participatory budgeting system, if correctly implemented, can be an effective deterrent to fraud and corrupt behavior in local authorities. Local government refers to the provision and maintenance of public services and infrastructure at local levels. This is achieved through the use of funds generated from local communities, in addition to royalties, loans and grants from central government and other sources. Local governance infers the establishment and participation of democratically-elected representative structures that identify with the needs and priorities of the grassroots. For this system to be deemed efficient and effective, transparency and accountability should play an integral part in decision-making processes in order to provide quality services. Of late, media outlets have been awash with reportage of acts of corruption and maladministration within the majority of local authorities. It is evident that the fundamental values of professionalism and ethics are not observed by local authorities. The epidemic nature of corruption and its manifestations in local authorities have been largely attributed to a number of shortcomings, which include factors such as political patronage, budget abuse, absence of adequate monitoring that has loopholes and opportunities for fraud and clandestine criminality. Politically-exposed persons have been cited as directly influencing council decisions for personal expediency and working under an illusion of invincibility because of such political connections. However, one of the most outstanding but less regarded factor, is the existence of a weak society that has resigned itself to the periphery of active citizen participation. An active citizenry is not only necessary for demanding services, but also serves as an important gatekeeper in questioning acts of financial abuse and stopping an unmitigated slide into autocracy. Budget consultations as part of participatory budgeting system is one standard that can promote local democracy and inculcate civic interest and participation in local governance. Involvement of stakeholders also promotes accountability and transparency in public finance management. Participatory budget consultations proffer an opportunity for stakeholders to formulate influence and evaluate council budgets. Here, stakeholders include the general public who have a direct or indirect dependency or benefit from council services. Such general public includes residents and ratepayers, businesses, churches, schools, clinics, traditional leaders and civil society organisations and other public institutions. Zimbabwe’s participatory budgeting system is a legislative creature established by the Urban Councils Act Chapter 29:15 of 1995. This then means that local authorities are guided and legally bound to follow and implement the dictates of this Act of Parliament. By virtue of “legislative sire”, the Legislature is bound to unwaveringly exercise diligent oversight on the implementation of such pieces of legislation. Section 288(i) of the Urban Councils Act implore
It was late on the first Tuesday in November, and Captain Hussen Besheir, an Ethiopian federal soldier, was on duty at a guard post outside the military camp in Dansha.
It was close to midnight when he saw headlights approaching.
Ten armed members of the Tigrayan special forces got out of the vehicle and demanded to see the camp's commander.
\"'We're not here for you',\" Hussen recalled them saying. \"'We want to talk to the leaders.'\"
Hussen refused. An argument ensued and gunfire rang out.
They were the first shots in a conflict that has since engulfed northern Ethiopia's Tigray region, killing many hundreds of people and forcing tens of thousands from their homes.
This week AFP visited the Dansha barracks, home to the Fifth Battalion of the Northern Command of the Ethiopian military, after gaining rare access to Tigray, where a near-complete communications blackout has been in place since the fighting began.
Shell casings littered the camp's grounds, and bullet holes were punched in the walls of buildings and sides of military trucks.
A metal sign at the entrance reading, \"We need to protect the constitution from anti-development forces and lead our country to renaissance,\" was so perforated with gunfire as to be almost illegible.
'Betrayal'
Hussen and others described hours-long rifle and grenade battles against fighters loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), including special forces and militiamen, joined by some federal soldiers of Tigrayan ethnicity who turned against their comrades.
Echoing a statement from Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Hussen said soldiers \"were killed in their pyjamas\", adding, \"What happened here is even worse than that.\"
\"Betrayal alone wouldn't describe the feeling that I have. These are soldiers who have been eating and drinking with us,\" he said of those former federal troops who allegedly turned their guns against them.
The government in Addis Ababa has claimed the attack on Dansha - and a simultaneous assault on another barracks in the regional capital Mekele - as justification for its military offensive in Tigray since November 4.
It points to an interview on Tigrayan media in which a prominent TPLF supporter, said a pre-emptive strike was \"imperative\".
\"Should we be waiting for them to launch attacks first? No,\" said Sekuture Getachew, in the interview, which Abiy's office has called a \"confession\".
Confrontation between Abiy and the TPLF was a long time coming. The TPLF dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades until anti-government protests swept Abiy to power in 2018.
Since then the TPLF has complained of being sidelined and scapegoated for the country's woes.
The rift widened after Ethiopia postponed national elections because of the coronavirus pandemic. Tigray went ahead with its own vote, then branded Abiy an illegitimate ruler.
Ethnic forces
Tadilo Tamiru, a sergeant in the government-aligned Amhara special forces, was 50 kilometres to the south with his 170-strong unit, in a small town along the bo