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It comes as a unity government was approved in March to lead the war-ravaged North African nation to December elections.
In May, Burundi held a presidential election which was won by Evariste Ndayishimiye, candidate of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party.
Ndayishimiye was hurriedly sworn in after the untimely death of president Pierre Nkurunziza in June.
Rights violations continue
The Council encouraged donor countries which had suspended aid to Burundi to continue dialogue towards resumption of development assistance.
A report by a UN watchdog in September said human rights violations were still being committed in Burundi, including sexual violence and murder.
The country was plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Ndayishimiye’s predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term, which he ultimately won in July 2015.
His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May 2015.
Hundreds of people were killed and over 300,000 fled to neighboring countries.
[MAP] Rabat -- The security and stability challenges facing Africa, and which manifest themselves in the multiplication of conflicts and crises, require a synergy of efforts and a concerted and united response from all, underlined, Sunday in Rabat, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Mohcine Jazouli.
More than 30,000 Nigerians have fled to Niger’s Maradi region in the past two months, the UN Refugee Agency has said.
The UNHCR said those who fled were allowed to seek refugee in Niger despite border closures to curb the covid-19 outbreak.
“In the border villages, the host villages, we could not ensure the protection of these people, the management of protection cases, the follow-up of children, the follow-up of women, all the aspects of protection.
According to the global refugee body, refugees spoke of extreme violence unleashed against civilians, murders, kidnappings for ransom and looting of villages, particularly targeting children and women.
It also said the latest exodus has increased the number of people fleeing Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina states of Nigeria into Niger to 70,000 people.
Africa Day will go virtual this year with a star-studded benefit concert hosted by English actor Idris Alba, an online how-to video for jollof rice, and a U.N. call for a global ceasefire issued by the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.
African countries have “demonstrated commendable leadership” battling the COVID-19 pandemic, he said in a Monday message, “but more nations across the continent where conflict prevails should heed the UN call for a global ceasefire to push back the deadly virus.”
Africa Day is observed annually on May 25 to commemorate the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) which was created on May 25, 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Besides celebrating Africa’s decolonization, Africa Day is also a time of sober reflection on how African countries can consolidate peace and democracy on the continent.
The U.N. leader welcomed support for his global ceasefire call which reflects the African Union’s 2020 theme: “Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development.”
Alassane Ouattara , in full Alassane Dramane Ouattara, byname Ado (born January 1, 1942, Dimbokro, Côte d’Ivoire, French West Africa), Ivoirian economist and politician who was elected president of Côte d’Ivoire in 2010. Despite Ouattara’s victory, the incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to step down, and the two established parallel administrations that both claimed legitimacy—until Gbagbo’s arrest in April 2011 effectively removed him from power.
Ouattara was born to a Muslim family of the Dioula people. There were claims that at least one of his parents hailed from neighbouring Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso); this would prove to be a contentious issue during his political career. Ouattara received his primary education in Côte d’Ivoire and his secondary education in Upper Volta. He then continued his studies in the United States, earning a B.Sc. (1965) in business administration from Drexel Institute of Technology, Philadelphia, and an M.A. (1967) and a Ph.D. (1972) in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Ouattara was employed as an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1968. He left the IMF in 1973 to begin working at the Central Bank of West African States (Banque Centrale des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest; BCEAO), where he held various positions, including that of vice-governor, before returning to the IMF in 1984 to serve as director of the African department. In 1987 Ouattara also assumed the title of counsellor to the managing director of the IMF. He left the IMF in 1988 to become governor of the BCEAO, a position he held until December 1993, when he was made honorary governor.
In April 1990, as Côte d’Ivoire was in the grips of an economic crisis, Pres. Félix Houphouët-Boigny appointed Ouattara to chair a special commission on economic recovery. Ouattara accepted this appointment while maintaining his position as governor at BCEAO. That November Ouattara also assumed the newly created post of prime minister under Houphouët-Boigny, although economic recovery still remained
Bodies - all male - have been found dumped in groups by the roadside, under bridges and in fields in town of Djibo.
Today is the 343rd day of 2020. There are 23 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1995: The World Health Organization announces that a new case of the Ebola virus has been confirmed in the Ivory Coast. Ebola killed 250 in Zaire earlier in 1995.�OTHER EVENTS1776: George Washington's retreating army crosses the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.
The quarrel is over the rate at which Ethiopia fills the reservoir behind the dam and its effect on water supplies downstream in Sudan and Egypt—for who the Nile is the primary water source.
On and off since construction started, Egypt has threatened to go to war to secure continued access to the Nile waters.
If Egypt attacked Ethiopia, the antiquated idea that the Nile is a common good to which all have natural rights would collapse.
The Nile has two major tributaries—the White Nile is the headwaters and primary stream of the river, and the Blue Nile, containing 80 per cent of the water and originates in Ethiopia.
For now, Uganda should be able to collect custodian’s fees from South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt, and invest it in protecting the polluted Lake Nalubaale from which the Nile flows, and the real estate of the river that sits on its territory as it flows north.
A dozen civilians were killed by armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in two separate attacks in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces, local sources said Thursday.
Seven bodies were found on Thursday in the Beni region near the Ugandan border, a local official told an AFP correspondent.
At least 386 civilians have been killed since November in the Beni region in attacks attributed to the ADF, experts from the Kivu Security Barometer (KST) said on 27 April.
For the first time in months, the Islamic state “province of Central Africa” on Thursday claimed responsibility for two attacks in the same region of Beni, according to the specialist site Intelligence group.
Young people blocked the road and the border with Uganda on Thursday to protest against the insecurity, the same local official said.
The trial of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, on charges of crimes against humanity began at a UN criminal court at The Hague in 2007. He was charged with abetting the violent rebel group in Sierra Leones civil war that was responsible for atrocities, which included hacking off the limbs of civilians, sexual slavery, conscripting child soldiers, and even cannibalism. In April 2012, after deliberating for more than a year, the court, comprised of three judges from Ireland, Samoa, and Uganda, convicted Taylor of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his support of the rebels. His conviction is the first by an international court since the Nuremberg trials.
In June 2007, three former rebel leaders were convicted of crimes against humanity by a UN-backed court. Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara, and Santigie Borbor Kanumurder were found guilty of rape and enlisting child soldiers. It was the first time an international tribunal ruled on the recruitment of children under age 15 as soldiers.
In September 2007 elections, the governing party suffered a surprising defeat when opposition leader Ernest Koroma, of the All Peoples Congress (APC), defeated Vice President Solomon E. Berewa, of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), 55% to 45%. The elections were Sierra Leones first since the United Nations peacekeeping force left the county in 2004. Koroma was reelected in November 2012 to a second and final term. It was the first election held without UN supervision, and the results were deemed fair.
The UN Security Council lifted the last sanctions on Sierra Leone in September 2010, having determined that the government had gained control over the country from the rebels and that the rebels had been disarmed and had been integrated into the national army.
In April 2012, after deliberating for more than a year, the war crimes court at the Hague convicted former Liberian president Charles Taylor of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leones civil war. His conviction
The quarrel is over the rate at which Ethiopia fills the reservoir behind the dam and its effect on water supplies downstream in Sudan and Egypt--for who the Nile is the primary water source.
The Nile has two major tributaries--the White Nile is the headwaters and primary stream of the river, and the Blue Nile, containing 80 per cent of the water and originates in Ethiopia.
For now, Uganda should be able to collect custodian's fees from South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt, and invest it in protecting the polluted Lake Nalubaale from which the Nile flows, and the real estate of the river that sits on its territory as it flows north.
WFP halts evacuation flights in northern Mozambique
The coronavirus pandemic has compounded increasing economic, social and humanitarian challenges facing States and regional institutions across Central Africa, the regional UN envoy told the Security Council on Friday.
Despite the health crisis, Special Representative François Louncény Fall underscored that the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) \"remains operational\".
Noting that the region had recorded its first case of COVID-19 on 6 March 2020, and that to date, all 11 member countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) are affected, he maintained that UNOCA continues to support the Community, during this crucial period of its evolution\".
And while Mr. Fall commended States for their efforts to limit the impact of the pandemic on economic and social rights, he also reminded governments to ensure that law enforcement agents \"abide by human rights principles and standards\" as they \"carefully and proportionately\" apply restrictive measures to stem the virus from spreading.
Mr. Fall reiterated that Central Africa continues to face many challenges that area being amplified by COVID-19 \"to an extent that we cannot yet accurately assess\".
Nairobi — Burkina Faso authorities should credibly and independently investigate alleged extrajudicial executions of 12 men detained by gendarmes on May 11, 2020 during a counterterrorism operation near the eastern town of Fada N'Gourma, Human Rights Watch said today.
A community leader who investigated the incident said, \"People living around the Tanwalbougou gendarmerie told me they saw the gendarmes and a few VDF returning to the base with many detainees around 4 p.m.\"
\"I lost two brothers that day,\" one man said.
While the government statement did not speculate on the deaths of the 12 men, family members and witnesses who retrieved the bodies from the morgue in Fada N'gouroma and participated in the burials, said they believed the men had been shot in the head.
\"The gendarme post of Tanwalbougou is directly under the command of the regional capital, Fada N'Gourma, tasked with the investigation,\" said a family member.
Community leaders and CISC said numerous Peuhl men from villages around Tanwalbougou had in recent months been executed or forcibly disappeared after their arrest by local gendarmes and noted that victims would be too frightened to respond to judicial summons by local gendarmes.
DIRCO Minister Naledi Pandor told
a virtual UN session that there are currently 17 territories whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government across the globe.
The UN Security Council called Thursday for \"sustained efforts\" in preventing the illegal trade of natural resources from the DR Congo, as gold in particular fuels conflict between armed groups in the region.
UN experts who monitor implementation of the sanctions detailed multiple cases of trafficking in a recent report, stating that gold from the country was flowing into Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, the United Arab Emirates and Tanzania.
\"The group traced Congolese gold to regional refineries and other international destinations and found that some refineries acted as brokers, used cash payments, undertook refiner-to-refiner trading and used corporate networks to obscure ownership, thereby inhibiting supply chain accountability,\" the report said.
The experts added that \"in terms of natural resources, the Congolese gold sector remained vulnerable to exploitation by armed groups and criminal networks and to unregulated trading.\"
DR Congo sits on top of large reserves of cobalt, copper, gold and other valuable minerals, but is nonetheless one of the world's poorest countries, with average per capita revenue of $490, according to World Bank data.
Kenya is banking on repeated endorsements by the African Union and Nairobi's own networks to clinch a seat at the UN Security Council when a vote comes up this evening.
In Africa, Kenya will be competing against Djibouti, which it beat three times at the African Union endorsement vote last year, but which stuck to the race, challenging the validity of the elections.
It was the third time the mission was clarifying the issue, after Djibouti contested the decision at the AU, saying the committee of permanent representatives who voted in Kenya had no authority to transmit the decision, unless endorsed by the AU Executive Council (a group of foreign ministers from AU member states).
In October last year, two months after Djibouti challenged Kenya's victory, Namira Negm, AU's Legal Counsel, wrote to AU members advising that the vote was conducted by African permanent representatives to the AU, on the authority of the Executive Council and hence did not require any further endorsements from the foreign ministers.
Kenya could also enjoy an edge over Djibouti, given that the African Union might want to prevent any possible falling-out from its decisions, argued Dr Wilfred Nasong'o Muliro, an international relations lecturer at Technical University of Kenya.
