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Global NGO Save the Children says more than 1.7 million children and adults are displaced as a result of Ethiopia's Tigray conflict.
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.
Press Release - Egyptian human rights activist Sanaa Seif was detained today outside the Public Prosecutor's office in New Cairo, where she was waiting to file a complaint after suffering a violent assault. Amnesty International is calling for her immediate release and an end to the \"relentless harassment\" of her and her family.
#EndSARSNow: NGO SAYS JUSTICE \"NEEDS TO BE SERVED\" IN NIGERIA
The anti-police brutality movement #EndSARSNow that has seen Nigerian youth take to the streets over the last two weeks, erupted Tuesday evening when armed security forces opened fire on a group of demonstrators in Lekki, Lagos city.
The exact number of resulting wounded and fatalities is still unconfirmed.
Amnesty International is currently taking steps to get official figures - according to Director in Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, who gives insight into the incident based on the human rights organisation's credible sources on the ground.
Osai Ojigho : The eyewitness accounts that we received last night and the views that we got and various other sources that were shared point to the fact that they were military officers. So it is important that they actually investigate this and find out what happened. What were they doing there? Were they there to protect the protesters? Were they there to stop something from happening? Were they given orders to shoot at unarmed people? It would be important for the authorities to give that information today. But for us where we sit, people have died, people have been injured and justice needs to be served.
In order to attain a just conclusion to these events, the human rights lawyer outlines the necessary legal avenues to take.
Osai Ojigho : So the first thing is the individual culpability of officers and commanders who have actually perpetrated these acts of violence against protesters and the populace. because it is not only protesters who have been affected. Earlier on in the protests, there were also individuals who were not part of the protesters who were hit by stray bullets. That is 1.
The second is Nigeria needs to recognise that it has an international obligation under international human rights law to ensure that the safety and security of people within its territory are protected.
President Muhammadu Buhari had previously issued a statement last week denouncing excessive force used by the police - and also acknowledged officers in the country who are upright. Many now speculate on his stance since Tuesday's shootings and many others question the silence from other Africa leaders.
Osai Ojigho : It would be good to see the political leadership in the African Union and ECOWAS actually come out to say, \"Nigeria, we are seeing what is happening. You need to preach nonviolence.\" This is not a time to be silent.
Not at all silent and still raising their voices - undeterred by the very same police brutality they seek to end in the country, are Nigerian youth and the NGO Director applauds their resilience.
Osai Ojigho : The events of the last two weeks, on the one hand, have been inspiring to see people come out to express themselves. The overwhelming support they've received all over the world has been an eye-opener and it was a positive feeling - you know, that Nigerians are coming out and they are speaking truth to power.
After more than forty-eight hours of arrest and several hours of interrogation, opposition leaders Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson and Gérard Dodji Djossou are still in police custody at the Central Intelligence and Criminal Investigation Unit.
They are charged with criminal conspiracy and breach of internal state security. Africanews, correspondent took a look to the story.
A day after the arrest of the two leaders of the Dynamique Monseigneur Kpodzro, the only official statement we were able to obtain was from the public prosecutor, who spoke of an investigation that was opened, concerning an allegged plan to destabilise the institutions of the Republic. Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson is accused of being in possession of some documents relating to the alleged plan to destabilize the country. According to the prosecutor's statement, she was previously the subject of \"legal proceedings relating to similar facts and placed under judicial supervision\".
A move deemed unjustified, disguised as criminal proceeding, according to Their lawyer, Darius Atsoo deemed the move unjustified, disguised as criminal proceedings
\"The Togolese judiciary has very often prosecuted politically committed Togolese citizens for alleged criminal plans aimed at destabilizing the country.
In 2013, for example, leaders, activists and followers of the ''Sauvons le Togo'' group were arrested and imprisoned in connection with the burning of the markets of Kara in the north of the country and Lomé.\" Serge Koffi futher stressed.
After more than five (5) years of detention, some were released in 2018 without any light having been shed on the circumstances of this case.
This arrest of the two opponents seems, according to Amnesty International, to be strictly linked to the call for demonstration and appears to be a further illustration of the authorities' desire to silence the opposition and dissident voices.
Amnesty International, says the arrest of the two opposition leaders, appears to to be attempt by the authorities to silence the opposition and dissident voices.
On Jan. 25, 1971, Colonel Amin deposed President Obote. Obote went into exile in Tanzania. Amin expelled Asian residents and launched a reign of terror against Ugandan opponents, torturing and killing tens of thousands. In 1976, he had himself proclaimed President for Life. In 1977, Amnesty International estimated that 300,000 may have died under his rule, including church leaders and recalcitrant cabinet ministers.
After Amin held military exercises on the Tanzanian border in 1978, angering Tanzanias president, Julius Nyerere, a combined force of Tanzanian troops and Ugandan exiles loyal to former president Obote invaded Uganda and chased Amin into exile in Saudi Arabia in 1979. After a series of interim administrations, President Obote led his Peoples Congress Party to victory in 1980 elections that opponents charged were rigged. On July 27, 1985, army troops staged a coup and took over the government. Obote fled into exile. The military regime installed Gen. Tito Okello as chief of state.
Dear Editor,
Your excellent editorial of 30th August 2020 - entitled `The Death Penalty’ - states that, “Amnesty International has found, for example, that the murder rates in US states which do not have the death penalty are no higher than in those which do”.
The article Capital punishment reduces respect for sanctity of human life appeared first on Stabroek News.
[Capital FM] Nairobi -- Fiery Tanzanian politician Godbless Lema, who was arrested in Kenya while fleeing persecution has been freed.
ETHIOPIA IS the latest destination to be awarded the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)...
The post Ethiopia awarded Safe Travels Stamp by World Travel & Tourism Council appeared first on Voice Online.
Amnesty International, a London-based human rights organization, has criticized governments throughout the world, including the U.S., for neglecting health care workers who have died from the coronavirus.
[SNA] VALLETTA, MALTA,September 08(VOA)- Amnesty International condemned Malta on Tuesday for using what it described as \"illegal tactics\" in the Mediterranean against immigrants making the dangerous crossing from North Africa. The approach taken by the Maltese government might have led to avoidable deaths, it argued, in a report that alleged a string of human rights abuses against illegal immigrants.
Analysis - The unsolved fatal shooting of the celebrated Oromo resistance singer has ruptured Ethiopia's brittle political system. Can talks on a national scale avert a bad-to-worse outcome for the multiethnic nation?
Ethiopian TV on Wednesday released video from the capital city of Tigray Region where life appears to be slowly returning to normal.
Deadly conflict has cut off Ethiopia’s Tigray region from the world as fighting broke out between the federal and Tigray regional governments.
Each regarded the other as illegal in a power struggle that has been months in the making.
The video shows the Ethiopian military moving on the main streets of Mekele.
One resident says shops and businesses are starting to re-open a month after hostilities broke out.
The Ethiopian military is also seen in the video in an alleged abandoned weapons warehouses in the city.
Communications and transport links remain almost completely severed to Tigray, and the fugitive leader of the defiant regional government this week said that fighting continues despite Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's declaration of victory.
UN given 'unconditional' aid access to Ethiopia's Tigray
It remains almost impossible to verify either side’s claims as the conflict threatens to destabilize both the country and the entire Horn of Africa.
In a breakthrough the United Nations said on Wednesday it and the Ethiopian government had signed a deal to allow “unimpeded” humanitarian access, at least for areas under federal government control, allowing food, medicines and other aid into the region of 6 million people.
[Shabelle] The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) says an airstrike that was intended to target al-Shabab fighters in Somalia earlier this year killed one civilian and wounded three others, in a rare admission by the Command.
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.
For thousands of Ethiopians who have fled fighting in the Tigray region to Sudan, this year’s Coptic Christmas on January 7 is a sombre celebration. There will be little feasting for those living hand-to-mouth in the crowded Um Raquba refugee camp.
[Daily Trust] The International Criminal Court, ICC has said that it will \"analyse materials\" it has received about the violence which hit Nigeria last month following protests against police brutality.
Six doctors and two pharmacists arrested, and medics transferred to quarantine hospitals for speaking out
Pregnant doctor detained after her phone used to report coronavirus case
'The Egyptian authorities are handling the COVID-19 crisis with their usual repressive tactics' - Philip Luther
The Egyptian authorities have been using \"terrorism\" and \"spreading false news\" charges to arrest healthcare workers who have spoken out over safety concerns during the country's COVID-19 crisis, said Amnesty International.
Amnesty has documented the cases of eight healthcare workers - six doctors and two pharmacists - arbitrarily detained between March and June by Egypt's notorious National Security Agency (NSA) for online and social media posts expressing their concerns (see cases below).
Sources from the Doctors Syndicate also told Amnesty that healthcare workers who speak out have been transferred to isolation hospitals where patients who have contracted COVID-19 are quarantined, or to hospitals in other governorates.
This does not include doctors who died with COVID-19 symptoms but were not tested, and also excludes the death toll among nurses, dentists, pharmacists, technicians, delivery workers, cleaning staff and other essential healthcare workers.
Medics arrested
On 28 March - the National Security Agency arrested Alaa Shaaban Hamida, a 26-year-old doctor, at the El Shatby University Hospital in Alexandria where she works, after a nurse used her phone to report a case of coronavirus to the health ministry's hotline.
On Tuesday ( Oct 20) Beyoncé took to Instagram to share her support of protestors and activists fighting on the frontlines of the #EndSARS movement and speak out against the violent attacks that they are facing at the hands of police. According to published reports, Amnesty International has confirmed that the Nigerian army and police killed at least 12 peaceful protesters Tuesday at two locations in Lagos.
It's Cellou Dalein Diallo's third time in the running to become Guinea's next leader. The 68-year-old hopes this is the year he will succeed after voters cast their ballots in the first round on Sunday.
Diallo is Guinea's leading opposition politician and faces the incumbent President Alpha Conde yet again alongside 10 other candidates.
Conde is running for a controversial third term after the leader pushed through changes to the constitution, which sparked protests and subsequent deadly police crackdowns.
Diallo was a former prime minister under the authoritarian leader Lansana Conte.
He is a self-described technocrat and hopes his younger age compared to 82-year-old Conde will stand in his favour.
He says the current leader should \"retire with dignity\" and is arguing for change after Conde's 10-year rule.
He says Conde has a \"catastrophic record\" as poverty is rife in the mineral-rich country.
There have been fears that the recent tensions have taken on an ethnic dimension, with Conde accused of exploiting divisions during the campaign -- a charge he denies.
Guinea's politics are mainly drawn along ethnic lines: the president's base is mostly from the ethnic Malinke community and Diallo's from the Fulani people.
Diallo's camp is suspicious of the fairness of the vote, and some supporters have warned they will not be \"robbed\" of victory.
\"We will do exactly as President Obama did. (If) we have our own results, we will tweet them,\" said Diallo's right-hand man, Fode Oussou Fofana.
But the now-familiar scenes of U.S. police officers in riot gear clashing with protesters at Lafayette Park across from the White House and in other cities have police critics charging that the weaponry too often escalates tensions and hurts innocent people.
Protesters in Denver arrived at the hospital with injuries from police projectiles that caused one person to lose an eye and left three other people with permanent eye damage, said Prem Subramanian, a physician who operated on some victims following demonstrations late last month.
A protester takes a knee in front of San Jose Police officers during a protest on East Santa Clara Street in San Jose, Calif., on May 29, 2020, after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Seattle’s mayor and police chief early this month banned tear gas for 30 days before a federal judge ordered the city to stop using pepper spray, flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets.
In New York City, the nation’s largest police department has not used rubber bullets or tear gas during protests.
In particular, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, a regional political organisation that had major dominance over the old revolutionary front, has now emerged as a major political foe to Abiy's Prosperity Party.
As a result, Ethiopia's road to democracy and national elections, which were due to be held in August, is now facing two challenges: a global pandemic, and deteriorating relations between the Tigray regional state and the Prosperity Party, which is in charge of the federal government, and the remaining eight regions and two city administrations.
By holding an election without the supervision of the National Electoral Board, the Tigray People's Liberation Front is undermining Ethiopia's federal constitutional system.
Finally, unless addressed, the deteriorating relations between the federal government and the Tigray region could further unravel Ethiopia's dangerously designed federal system that in any case, is in need of major revision.
For democracy to take root in Ethiopia, the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front's defiance to the country's constitutional order must resolved.
… and a virtual meeting with African American faith leaders. In the morning …
