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Nine people, including one police officer, have died in the West African state of Guinea, the security ministry said Wednesday, following days of unrest after a tense weekend presidential election.
In a statement, the ministry pointed to shootings and stabbings in the capital Conakry and elsewhere in the country since Sunday's presidential vote.
"This strategy of chaos (was) orchestrated to jeopardise the elections of October 18, " the ministry said, adding that many people had been injured and property was damaged.
Clashes were ongoing in Conakry on Wednesday, where a security officer, Mamadou Keganan Doumbouya, told the press that at least three people had died.
And a local doctor, who declined to be named, said he had received two dead bodies, and nine injured people, at his clinic.
The violence follows the high-stakes election in which President Alpha Conde ran for a third term in a controversial bid that had already sparked mass protests.
With tensions already running high, Guinea's main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo on Monday declared victory in the election -- before the announcement of the official results, which are expected this week.
Opposition supporters are deeply suspicious about the fairness of the poll, although the government insists that it was fair.
Much of the tension in Guinea centres on Conde's candidacy.
In March, the 82-year-old president pushed through a new constitution which he argued would modernise the country. It also allowed him to bypass a two-term limit for presidents, however.
Security forces repressed mass protests against the move from October last year, killing dozens of people.
On Wednesday, plumes of black smoke rose over an opposition stronghold in the capital Conakry, where protesters erected barricades and lit fires, an AFP journalist saw.
Youths in alleyways also hurled stones at police officers stationed along a main artery who fired back tear gas canisters.
The security ministry stated that "a police officer was lynched to death" in a Conakry suburb, without specifying when the attack occurred.
In a social media post earlier on Wednesday, Conde appealed for "calm and serenity while awaiting the outcome of the electoral process".
- Clashes and barricades -
Ten candidates are in the race besides alongside frontrunners Conde and Diallo, old political rivals who traded barbs in a bitter campaign.
Despite fears of violence after the pre-vote clashes, polling day was mostly calm.
Then Diallo's self-proclaimed election victory ratcheted up tensions, and celebrations by his supporters descended into violent clashes with security forces on Monday.
The opposition politician said that security forces killed three youngsters that night, although AFP was unable to confirm the details.
Security forces also barricaded Diallo inside his house, the politician said on Tuesday.
Monitors from the African Union and the 15-nation West African bloc ECOWAS both said that Guinea's election was mostly fair, despite insistence from Diallo's camp tha
Many people have been killed since clashes began on Monday. Scores too had been killed in the run up to the vote as protestors marched against Conde's bid for a third term.
Anti-government demonstrations gripped several countries in the Middle East in early 2011, and protests in Libya followed those in Egypt, Tunisia, and Bahrain. The crackdown by the government in Libya, however, was the most vicious. The protesters took to the streets on Feb. 16 in Benghazi, the countrys second-largest city, demanding that Qaddafi step down. The next day, declared the Day of Rage, saw the number of demonstrations burgeon throughout the country. Security forces began firing on protesters, and by Feb. 20 Human Rights Watch estimated that as many as 200 people had been killed by troops. Several government officials and diplomats defected, and members of the military joined the ranks of the opposition as the government attacks on civilians grew increasingly brutal. Some reports had fatalities numbering near 1,000 or more. Qaddafi refused to resign, but offered to double the salaries of public workers and freed some Islamic militants from jail. Protesters dismissed the move as a hollow gesture and continued their actions throughout the country. Qaddafi enlisted the help of mercenaries as the number of defections by troops swelled. He cast blame for the uprising on the West, which he claimed wants to assume control of Libyas oil, and Islamic radicals who want to expand their base.
On Feb. 27, the UN Security Council voted to impose sanctions on Qaddafi and several of his close advisers. The sanctions included an arms embargo on Libya, a travel ban on Qaddafi and other leaders, and the freezing of Qaddafis assets. The Security Council also requested that the International Criminal Court investigate reports of widespread and systemic attacks on citizens. The UN sanctions followed unilateral action by the U.S., and the European Union also sanctioned Libya. By Feb. 28, rebels had taken control of Benghazi and Misurata and were closing in on Tripoli. The rebels organized a military and formed an executive committee, the Transitional National Council, illustrating that they could establish a
Didier Drogba , in full Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (born March 11, 1978, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire), Ivorian professional football (soccer) player who was Côte d’Ivoire’s all-time leader in goals scored in international matches and who was twice named the African Footballer of the Year (2006, 2009).
At age five Drogba was sent to France in the care of an uncle, a professional footballer. After three years he returned home, only to go back to France after three more years in Côte d’Ivoire. At age 15 Drogba became an apprentice with second-division Levallois, outside Paris, and then in 1997–98 he moved to Le Mans FC, where in his second season he signed as a professional.
In January 2002 Drogba joined top-division Guingamp, tallying 17 goals in 34 league games. This success prompted a 2003 trade to Olympique de Marseille, where he scored 19 goals in 35 domestic matches and an additional 11 goals in European play as the club reached the 2004 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Cup final, where it lost 2–0 to Valencia of Spain.
Drogba moved to England’s Chelsea FC in 2004 in a trade from Marseille. Though Chelsea won its first Premier League championship in 50 years the following season, its new centre-forward was inconsistent. Drogba was quick, alert, and supremely confident in his own ability, though he showed a tendency to a quick temper in matches. Even in his second season, when Chelsea’s title was successfully defended, fan appreciation was still muted. Yet by the end of the 2006–07 season, when Chelsea failed in its attempt to take a third straight league championship, Drogba had won over most of the skeptical Chelsea fans by being the league’s top scorer (with 20 goals) and by finishing the season with an overall tally of 33 goals. In addition, he was the key player in Chelsea’s winning both the Football Association (FA) Cup and Carling Cup trophies that season, as he scored the club’s only goals in the finals of those two tournaments. Drogba helped lead Chelsea to the 2008 Champions League final,
The health ministry on Monday confirmed twenty one new COVID-19 cases bringing the total of cases in Uganda to 248.
According to Dr Henry Mwebesa, the director general of Health Services at the ministry, social media reports that 105 truck drives have tested positive for COVID-19, are false.
He said that the ministry did not release results on Sunday because samples had to be sorted appropriately and divided between Uganda Virus Research Institute and the National Health Laboratory Services by laboratory teams for quick turnaround time.
Dr Mwebesa said that all truck drivers have to undergo COVID-19 testing and receive results before proceeding to Immigration at border points.
Previously, truck drivers were allowed to proceed with their journey after their samples had been taken and when the results turned positive, they would be followed up.
Bakili Muluzi of the United Democratic Front (UDF) won the countrys first free election in May 1994, ending Bandas 30-year rule. In 1999, Muluzi was reelected. While Malawi was no longer the repressive society it was under Banda, Muluzis government was tainted by corruption scandals. Senior officials are believed to have sold off 160,000 tons of reserve maize in 2000, despite the signs of a coming famine. In 2002 and 2003, the country faced severe food shortages, with more than 3 million people suffering.
In May 2004, Bingu wa Mutharika, an economist and a crony of Muluzi, was elected president in elections that were widely considered irregular.
Malawi faced its worst food shortage in over a decade in 2005, with more than 4 million people, 34% of the population, without adequate food supplies.
President Mutharika won reelection in a landslide in May 2009 elections, taking 66% of the vote. John Tembo came in a distant second with 30.7%. Mutharika died unexpectedly of a heart attack in April 2012. Vice president Joyce Banda assumed the role of president. Once an ally of Mutharika, the two parted ways in a row over succession—Mutharika had reportedly been grooming his brother Peter to become the next president. She was ousted from the governing Democratic Progressive Party and formed her own, the Peoples Party. The economy improved under Banda, with the GDP growing from 2% in 2012 to 5% in 2013 and the resumption of international aid.
In March 2013, Peter Mutharika and 11 other current and former ministers were charged with treason for attempting to prevent Banda from taking over as president in 2012.
Banda dissolved her cabinet in October 2013 after 10 government officials were arrested on charges of stealing as much as $32 million in state funds. Cash was found stashed in the cars and homes of the officials. Foreign aid dried up after the scandal. The allegations of corruption and the downward trend of the economy put Banda at a disadvantage in May 2014s presidential election. She faced off against Peter
Leo Antony Tony Gleaton is an African American photographer, scholar, and artist who is best known for his photographic images capturing and documenting the African influence in the American West and Central and South America. Gleaton, the youngest son of an elementary school teacher and police officer, was born into a black middle-class family on August 4, 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. In 1959 his mother left his father and moved the family to California. Gleaton played football in high school and briefly at East Los Angeles Junior College before joining the U.S. Marine Corps in 1967. While on his first tour of duty in Vietnam, he became fascinated with the camera.
After serving in the Marine Corps until 1970, Gleaton returned to California and enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). While there, he took a photography class that revealed his talent of shooting photos. He left UCLA and studied for a semester at the Arts Center School of Design in Los Angeles before venturing to New York to pursue his aspirations of becoming a fashion photographer. Gleaton worked as a photographic assistant and performed other various jobs through the 1970s.
Dissatisfied with the fashion world, Gleaton left New York in 1980 and hitchhiked throughout the American West, photographing cowboys first in northeastern Nevada and then in Texas. He captured the lives of Native American ranch hands and black rodeo riders. His photographic ventures in Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Kansas formed the essence of his project titled Cowboys: Reconstructing an American Myth. This collection featured a series of portraits of African, Native, Mexican, and Euro-American cowboys.
Gleaton’s interest in the multicultural Southwest influenced his travels to Mexico. By 1981 he had begun traveling to and from Mexico, shooting photographs. In 1982 he moved to Mexico City, and from 1986 to 1992, he resided with the Tarahumara Indians in northern Mexico and then moved to Guerrero and Oaxaca. Here, Gleaton began what is now his
READ MORE – Burundi sacks WHO officials ahead of May 20 polls
February 2020: Tunisia expels UN envoy
\tTunisia on Friday expelled its own ambassador at the United Nations, faulting him for not doing adequate consultation on a Security Council resolution he helped draft responding to the U.S. Middle East peace initiative.
The official TAP news agency quoted the Tunisian president’s office as saying Moncef Baati was accused of “absence of coordination and consultation” with the foreign ministry and with representatives of Arab and Islamic countries at the United Nations.
DRC expels EU envoy
\tLast month, the Democratic Republic of Congo took a decision to expel the European Union ambassador, Bart Ouvry as a reaction to the renewal of EU sanctions against Congolese officials including the ruling coalition’s candidate in a presidential election.
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READ MORE: DRC gives EU quit notice, nationwide protest over excluded cities
Burundi vs U.N. Human Rights office
\tBurundi’s government has taken several actions against the United Nations office in its country, including asking that ‘all international staff are redployed’ and that the office closes ‘within two months’ from December 2018.
SUGGESTED READING: Burundi clashes with AU over arrest warrant against ex-President
\tWhile the affected diplomats face the consequences of leaving the country hastily, and could end up on blacklists for those particular countries, relations between the governments and international institutions like the United Nations often continue.
Music mogul, Russell Simmons first made his debut with Def Jam Records, he then launched his clothing line Phat Farm. Now, Russell Simmons is presenting his latest venture in the advertising world.
Simmons recently launched Narrative, a digital marketing, entertainment and technology company, with his longtime business partner Tricia Clarke-Stone.
While many might label this latest venture as an advertisement agency, both Clarke-Stone and Simmons are quick to avoid referring to it as such.
“We want to make sure agencies don’t view us as a competitor,” said Ms. Clarke-Stone. “We’re not trying to be agency of record for different brands and clients. We believe we have a level of expertise that’s really rooted in creating immersive brand experiences across platforms.”
Narrative is a company that touts itself on providing marketing solutions for publishers, agencies and brands.
“We work for agencies, we’re not an agency,” Simmons added. “We’re a digital solutions [company]. We think our future is working for agencies, not working around them.”
The company’s purpose is to create digital campaigns driven by social media, branded entertainment and celebrity-driven content, using techniques such as crowd-sourcing, gamification and rewards.
These campaigns are also distributed through pop-culture, entertainment, music and lifestyle websites. Equipped with behavioral-data analytics and a custom ad-serving platform, among other technologies, the company is launching with high hopes of being just as successful as Simmons other businesses.
“We’re creating unique experiences that we’re producing, and then we have the technology to be able to scale it across platforms and then deliver really highly robust analytics,” said Ms. Clarke-Stone.
Narrative is launching with about 9 employees, and by end of year Mr. Simmons and Ms. Clarke-Stone expect to have close to 20, mostly based in New York, with some key people in Los Angeles.
Francis Xavier Taylor is a senior military leader, intelligence and security expert, and American diplomat. Born in Washington, D.C., on October 22, 1948, Taylor was raised by his mother Virginia Taylor, who worked as an administrator in the Department of the Army. When he later enrolled at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, he joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), and in 1970 received his Bachelor of Arts, and later in 1974, his Master of Arts.
After graduation and completion of his ROTC service in 1970, Taylor began his official military career in the U.S. Air Force. During a 31-year military career, he would hold multiple and progressively more important staff and command positions on U.S. soil and abroad. These included assignments with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, and at the Pentagon. In September 1996, Taylor was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and on July 21, 2001 he retired from active military service.
In 2001, right after his retirement, President George W. Bush promptly appointed Taylor as Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism and Director, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the State Department, with rank of Ambassador-at-Large. This role took on an even higher profile following the September 11 attacks on the U.S., placing Ambassador Taylor squarely in the middle of U.S. response and prevention activities.
In 2002, Ambassador Taylor was appointed as Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Diplomatic Security and Director, Office of Foreign Missions at the State Department, again with the rank of Ambassador. In this dual role, Ambassador Taylor was responsible for over 3,000 U.S. diplomatic personnel and 260 facilities abroad. He also directed the law enforcement function of the Bureau, including the special agents that protect the Secretary of State and foreign dignitaries visiting the U.S. Among his major contributions was the leadership he provided in expanding the chapters of the
Students swamp new online theatre classes
Friday, May 15, 2020 0:01
By MARGARETTA WA GACHERU
Fanuel Mulwa and Sheila Munyiva in a past performance.
The course, says NPAS’s founder and artistic director Stuart Nash, is specially designed for secondary school students to “help parents through these difficult times.”
Created in partnership with the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage, the course has multiplied into more than eight online classes in order to meet the immense response from the public, specifically Form One through Form Four students (plus a number of persistent pre- and post- high schoolers).
Those students who had the good fortune to see NPAS’s poster which was circulated all over social media, (from Facebook and Twitter to What’s App and various other online chat groups) since late April have been getting crash courses in the basic elements of performance.
And since NPAS first opened in 2017, both have been in all the studio’s musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, Caucasian Chalk Circle and most recently Sarafina where Fanuel played Crocodile and Hellen was the mother of Sarafina (played by Sheila Munyiva)
Both have also taught at NPAS so Stuart felt secure putting secondary students in their hands.
Stewart Trial Attorneys based in Atlanta — one of the most respected African American law firms in the country — is now handling the Ahmaud Arbery shooting.
According to BlackBusiness.com, L. Chris Stewart is the founder of the firm, which handles a variety of cases including wrongful death and civil rights.
However, Stewart Trial Attorneys is also known for its civil rights cases.
The firm also represented some of the nation’s highest-profile civil rights death cases, including Alton Sterling, who was killed on video by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Stewart told Black Enterprise the laws do not make fighting civil rights cases in court easy.
