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An alleged attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the capital city of the North Darfur province, el-Fasher, has killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens more.
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.
THE Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) is facing viability challenges, including acute transport problems to carry out its mandate. BY REX MPHISA ZETDC acting managing director Lovemore Chinaka said the problems were affecting the daily running of the country's power utility currently heavily reliant on hired vehicles at most of its stations. In a interview yesterday, Chinaka said some projects had been put on hold because of shortage of materials, but was optimistic his organisation would be on the rebound because it was mobilising resources. Chinaka could, however, not say off-hand the amount ZETDC needed to meet its power supply obligations. “We have serious challenges in transport that have affected our operations. We also need raw materials to carry out our work. I cannot say off-hand how much we need. We are mobilising resources required to meet demand,” he said. “Electrification of sections of Beitbridge is among our three major projects on plans. We have the transformers, but are still here in Harare. We should be moving to the ground, but we still need material for that project,” he said. The power utility has been struggling to supply the country with power, forcing people to destroy forests for firewood. ZETDC has in the recent past increased its tariffs attracting public outcry, but it maintains its charges were the lowest in the region. In September this year, Chinaka said the existing rate was approximately US0,02 per kilowatt hour instead of US0,10 cents per kWh at which the power utility can break even. Mobility in the exchange rates resulted in recurrent increases in imported electricity prices threatening Zesa’s viability. ZETDC blamed vandalism for its failure to power 100 000 households in the past five years. In 2017, ZETDC recorded 736 cases of theft and vandalism which in 2018 climbed to 766 and jumped to 1 178 last year. This year in July 498 cases had already been recorded.
