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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Monday the Tigray region's dissident leaders had fled west of the regional capital after weeks of fighting but indicated federal forces were monitoring them closely and would attack them soon.
Abiy, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, this month ordered military operations against leaders of Tigray's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in response to what he said were TPLF-organised attacks on Ethiopian federal army camps.
More than three weeks of fighting between federal soldiers and pro-TPLF forces has left thousands dead in the northern region, and prompted tens of thousands of refugees to flee across the border into Sudan.
"I want them to hear me: yesterday evening, around midnight, we saw them from the situation room in the area between Hagere Selam and Abiy Addi," Abiy said in remarks to lawmakers, referring to two towns west of the Tigray capital Mekele.
"We didn't attack them at night because as they retreated they took their wives, children and abducted soldiers... But this will not continue."
The fighting has been a dramatic escalation of tensions between Abiy and the leaders of the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before anti-government protests swept Abiy to office in 2018.
Abiy said on Saturday the military operations were "completed" after federal forces claimed control of the Tigray regional capital Mekele.
The TPLF leaders, however, have repeatedly vowed to fight on as long as federal forces are on Tigrayan soil.
Their exact whereabouts remain unknown.
'Mekele is ours'
As the Ethiopian military bore down on Mekele last week, global concern mounted about a possible bloodbath in a city that, before the conflict, had a population of half a million.
A communications blackout in Tigray has made it difficult to verify claims from both sides about how the fighting is going.
On Monday, Abiy claimed soldiers did not kill any civilians as they took over Mekele and other cities in Tigray.
"Mekele is ours, it was built with our own resources. We are not going to destroy it," he said. "Not even a single person was harmed by the operation in Mekele."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday that hospitals in Mekele were flooded with trauma patients, though it did not specify how the injuries were sustained.
Abiy also dismissed claims from TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael that airstrikes had resulted in many civilian casualties.
As Abiy tries to shift towards helping Tigray recover, the national human rights body called Monday for telecommunications to be restored and for water, electricity, and health services to resume.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which is government-affiliated but independent, also noted "complaints of ethnic profiling" including "forced leave from work" and travel restrictions.
"EHRC is gravely concerned that while there is no government policy nor legal framework condoning ethnic profiling, security measures designed t
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.
HIGHLANDERS coach Mandla Mpofu said a lot needs to be done to get the boys back in shape following the eight-month COVID-19 pandemic-induced football hiatus. BY FORTUNE MBELE The start of the 2020 Premier Soccer League season was suspended in March because of the pandemic which brought about a strict national lockdown and a ban on all sporting activities. The Bulawayo giants started their group training last week at Ascot Race Course after going through the mandatory COVID-19 testing and clubs have been given the go-ahead to start training. Mpofu yesterday said despite the excitement that they were back at work, most of the players were finding it difficult to adjust to initial stages of training, any indication that the individual training programmes designed for COVID-19 lockdowns might not have been adhered to. “It’s hard, they are finding it difficult to adjust although they are excited to be back at work. They will get there gradually. There is a lot that has to be done but we are taking things with a lot of caution. We are just opening and working on the cardio aspect and building those muscles,” Mpofu said. He said save for veteran Mkhokheli Dube, Mbongeni Ndlovu, Devine Mhindirira, Cleopas Kapupurika and Collin Mujuru, all the other players called in for testing and training. Dube was involved in a road traffic accident a few weeks ago and needs six weeks to recover after suffering a neck fracture. Mbongeni and the other assistant coach Bekithemba “Super” Ndlovu, his brother, recently lost their father, but the defender started training yesterday. Mhindirira, Kapupurika and Mujuru are based in Harare and Mpofu said he was expecting them in Bulawayo yesterday. Mujuru joined Highlanders at the beginning of the year from Harare City while the Bulawayo giants lost Brian Banda to FC Platinum during the lockdown. Tinashe Makanda's contract expired in June and reportedly joined Dynamos while Mitchelle Katsvairo mutually agreed with the club to a termination of contract and joined Botswana side Township Rollers. Goalkeeper Chris Mverechena is said to have joined camp and left. Neither Mpofu nor club spokesperson Ronald Moyo could explain his whereabouts. The Bulawayo giants also lost Prince Dube to Tanzanian club Azam FC. City neighbours Chicken Inn also started training last week and coach Joey Antipas yesterday said his boys looked good and believed they had been following training programmes the club designed for them. “The majority of the boys are in good shape which shows they were committed to the programmes that our fitness trainer (Presley Mabhena) was posting on our players’ group,' Antipas said. He said they, however, needed a full pre-season programme to prepare them for competition. “We have to do a pre-season training programme to get them back ready for competition,” he said. The 2015 championship-winning coach said only Brett Amidu, Donovan Bernard, Valentine Kadonzvo and Tichaona Chipunza, all based in Harare were yet to pitch up. Dynamos, Caps United, Bulawayo Chiefs, Herentals among others have also
The Ethiopian government said on Monday it had not asked any country to mediate in a conflict in its northern region as the federal air force bombed the Tigrayan capital Mekelle, according to diplomatic and military sources.
Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni had tweeted a call for the conflict to stop. Mr Museveni's tweet would later be deleted.
Kenya and Djibouti urged a peaceful resolution and the opening of humanitarian corridors while former Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo went to Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced Tuesday that the ongoing military operation in the breakaway region of Tigray (North) will enter its \"final\" phase in the \"coming days\".
On November 4, Abiy sent the federal army to attack the northern region after months of tensions with the regional authorities of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
The fighting has left several hundred people dead, according to Addis Ababa, and has forced more than 25,000 people to flee to neighboring Sudan.
BETHLEHEM, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES – 2013/05/03: Goal Retailer exterior. (Picture by John … [+] Greim/LightRocket through Getty Photographs) 2013 John Greim Goal (NYSE: TGT) is scheduled to report its fiscal…
[UN News] National elections in Libya will take place on 24 December 2021, Stephanie Williams, the head of the UN mission in the country, announced on Friday during a virtual press conference.
… rights laws as the first African-American assistant attorney general for civil … century. He was the first African-American member of the group. He … him to be the first African American Assistant Attorney General for the …
[Nation] The Covid-19 pandemic has handed Kenyan fishermen an unexpected boon after fish imports from China dropped to Sh993.62 million in the last nine months of the year, compared to the Sh2.03 billion in 2019.
… violating the constitutional rights of African-American and Hispanic New Yorkers, if … violates the constitutional rights of African-Americans and Hispanics, under the equal … it pandemic related.
Cuomo said African-Americans and Latinos have a higher …
[Monitor] In an efforts to reign in on high blood pressure, also called hypertension, which is blood pressure that is higher than normal, three important institution, namely; AstraZeneca, Uganda's Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau (UPMB) have launched an initiative that should help Ugandans decrease the burden of dealing with lifestyle diseases.
LOOKING out of the window from MDC's Harvest House on a Tuesday morning in March 2009, I was baffled and lost on what I was hearing from our boss, Morgan Tsvangirai. “(President Robert) Mugabe is indispensable, he is part of the problem, but also part of the solution. We must ask the Western powers to remove the sanctions’’. Most MPs attending the caucus meeting were petrified and quietness enveloped the room. We listened attentively as our boss made a U-turn on sanctions as he bellowed his newly found solution to end the crisis in Zimbabwe. guest column:Anadi Sululu My conscience quickly landed on my campaign trails in Silobela where I had told the masses that there were no sanctions in Zimbabwe. Instead there are restrictive measures on targeted individuals that included the Mugabe family and other high-ranking politicians and businessmen linked to Zanu PF. My followers were convinced and even today there is no serious basis for claiming that sanctions has destroyed our economy, it has become even more apparent that bad governance is the author of our woes. That afternoon, Tsvangirai made the same statement in the august House, calling for the removal of sanctions and asked the US, Britain and other European countries to unconditionally lift the ban. The Government of National Unity (GNU) had taken the fighting spirit, courage out of the MDC as it had surrendered to Zanu PF’s demands. Truly, I was saddened and vexed because we had betrayed our supporters. As a dedicated politician, my parliamentary values of honesty, accountability, consistency and integrity were tarnished. It appears I had lied about the sanctions against my personal ethics, conscience and morality. We are still in sanctions confusion 11 years down the line. Sadc and African Union platforms have embraced Zanu PF's anti-sanctions mantra. Most Zimbabweans have ignored the campaign and rather intensified the call to end corruption. Our national leaders have failed the nation and confused the populace. Can we be bleating about sanctions for 20 years, yet our country burns and the masses suffer? The GNU never solved the four outstanding issues namely electoral, security, media reforms as well as the sanctions to seal the Global Political Agreement (GPA). In the agreement, MDC was expected to facilitate the removal of sanctions first before the other three can be considered. I strongly believe that the MDC bargain for the GNU deal was ill-advised and incomplete. Zanu PF acted in bad faith. Also the allocation of ministerial posts was biased and unfair, leading to the MDC loss in 2013. I call upon MDC leaders, Thokozani Khupe, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube and Nelson Chamisa, to explain why these issues were left outstanding and never finalised during the GNU as stipulated. In 2019, Tsvangirai visited Australia, Europe and the US with a delegation including Walter Mzembi (Zanu PF) and Welshman Ncube (MDC N) to call off sanctions. I guess that is what Zanu PF intends to do again with the unusual Khupe team in Parliament. Without electoral reforms, elections
HIGH Court judge Justice Owen Tagu has resolved a four-year-old land impasse between a Harare property developer, Sunshine Development (Pvt) Ltd and an invader, Phineas Molesen, who had taken over the firm’s land to develop residential stands. BY CHARLES LAITON The land in question is identified in the court papers as stand 19608 Arcadia Township of Salisbury lands measuring 308624 hectares held under deed number 7802/2008 dated November 3, 2008. According to court papers, sometime in November 2016, Molesen invaded the land with a grader and started marking residential stands on the property. Sunshine Development (Pvt) Ltd authorities filed a police report, but Molesen threatened to bring a mob to the site. This then prompted the property developer to approach the High Court, which ruled against Molesen on October 14, 2020. “Whereupon, after reading documents filed of record and hearing counsel, it is ordered that; the respondent (Phineas Molesen) and all those claiming right through him be and are hereby interdicted from performing any act or conduct to do with the development and/or management of the applicant’s (Sunshine Development) property being a certain piece of land situate in the district of Salisbury known as stand 19608 Arcadia Township of Salisbury lands measuring 308624 hectares held under deed number 7802/2008 in favour of Sunshine Development (Pvt) Ltd dated November 3, 2008,” Justice Tagu ruled. “The respondent shall pay costs of this application on attorney and client scale.” In his founding affidavit filed alongside the application, Sunshine Development (Pvt) Ltd managing director, Mike Van Blerk, said when Molesen invaded the land it had not been developed and the same had not been given to anyone for use. “The applicant’s property is not yet developed but the applicant has not given any person use and enjoyment of the same. However, the respondent has invaded the property without applicant’s blessings and started bringing graders to the site,” Blerk said. “In a typical show of lawlessness and bullish attitude, the respondent has forcefully and unlawfully invaded the applicant’s property without applicant’s blessings and is up to no good as he has proceeded to bring grading machinery with a calculated agenda to unlawfully parcel out stands in order to fraudulently sell the stands to the unsuspecting public…further the respondent has been marking stands on the property with a view to sell to unsuspecting public and to a possible irreparable damage to the applicant.” Blerk further said upon being confronted, Molesen “became aggressive and threatened to bring a mob with him”.
THE trial of Harare West legislator Joanah Mamombe, who is jointly charged with two other MDC activists for publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the State, failed to kick off yesterday after the State requested for a separate trial of the trio. By MIRIAM MANGWAYA Prosecutor Michael Reza submitted an application to have Mamombe separated from her co-accused, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, arguing that it was unclear as to when the sick MP would be fit to stand trial. Magistrate Bianca Makwande will make a ruling on the application on Thursday. It is the State case that Mamombe, Chimbiri and Marova stage-managed their abduction by State security agents on May 13, 2020 after holding a demonstration in Warren Park high-density suburb in Harare, with the aim of tarnishing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s image. The State alleges that the three were captured on CCTV at Belgravia shopping centre during the time they claimed to be under abduction by State security agents.
Human Rights Watch said Tuesday the U.S. has \"not adequately investigated\" two U.S. airstrikes in Somalia this year that killed seven civilians.
The group released a report Tuesday on airstrikes in Somalia, which it considers possible violations of international humanitarian law.
Human Rights Watch said it has no evidence the U.S. Africa Command or the Somali government spoke with the victims' family members or evaluated their claims for reparations.
The group said it found no evidence the attacks were targeting the terrorist group al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-affiliated group based in Somalia.
The U.S. admitted killing two Somali civilians in 2019, but rights groups in Africa contend the deaths could be higher.
It has been widely reported that up to 50 Black British people are at risk of deportation on a flight to Jamaica tomorrow. In the midst of all the headlines, the people whose lives could massively change tomorrow are sometimes overlooked. Movement for Justice, a campaign group is in touch with a number of them. They have sent us information about them, and we wanted to share it with you here.
The interesting thing about this pandemic is that, unlike a friend’s choice to go vegan or buy a dog from a breeder, this is temporary. Very temporary. It might be a shame to make a permanent decision based on a temporary circumstance.
The singer was taking a good-time sound to the world – but after his song Fem became the anthem of the EndSars protesters, he joined them on the streets
[263Chat] Women who are part of Heal Zimbabwe Virtual platforms have called for the amendment of the Communal Lands Act.
[RFI] France is to host a flagship pan-African event in December designed to break down negative stereotypes of Africa and its people. Announced in a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, the Africa2020 Season will bring together change makers from the continent to \"tell their own story\".
Nigeria is expected to conduct a fourth phase of mass trials for Boko Haram suspects currently in military detention.
But the trials exposed significant problems with Nigeria's criminal justice system.
A forthcoming Institute for Security Studies (ISS) report examines fair trial concerns in terrorism cases in Nigeria.
Prosecutors, judicial officers and civil society organisations told the ISS that at least 5 000 cases against terror suspects were dealt with by the criminal justice system.
Designated military officers should collaborate with police to ensure effective arrests and criminal justice processes in terrorism cases, including the collection and use of evidence in court.
The Sierra Leone Civil War was an armed conflict in the West African country of Sierra Leone from 1991–2002. The war began on March 23, 1991, when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under Foday Sankoh, with support of Liberian rebel leader Charles Taylor and his group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NFPL), attempted to overthrow the government of Sierra Leonean President Joseph Momah. The Sierra Leone Civil War was one of the bloodiest in Africa resulting in more than fifty thousand people dead and half a million displaced in a nation of four million people. The conflict was particularly violent and long because both the RUF and the Sierra Leone government were often funded by “blood diamonds” mined with slave labor.
During the first year of the war, the RUF took control of the diamond-rich territory in eastern and southern Sierra Leone. On April 29, 1992, President Joseph Momah was ousted in military coup led by Captain Valentine Strasser who created the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). Strasser said the corrupt Momah could not resuscitate the economy, provide for the people of Sierra Leone, and repel the rebel invaders.
In March 1993, the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) sent mostly Nigerian troops to Freetown, the capital, and assisted the Sierra Leone Army in recapturing the diamond districts and pushing the RUF to the diamond districts and pushing the RUF to the Sierra Leone-Liberia border. By the end of 1993, many observers thought the war had ended because the RUF ceased most of its military operations. Yet what had begun as a civil war now had international implications as the Sierra Leone government was supported by ECOMOG, Great Britain, Guinea, and the United States while the RUF was backed by Liberia (now under the control of Charles Taylor), Libya, and Burkina Faso.
In March 1995, the Sierra Leone government hired Executive Outcomes (EO) a South Africa-based mercenary group to defeat finally the RUF. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone installed an
By AVET DEMOURIAN Associated Press YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Thousands of people protested in Armenia's capital on Wednesday, demanding the prime minister's resignation after he signed an agreement with Azerbaijan to halt weeks of fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh that calls for territorial concessions in favor of Azerbaijan. The rally organized by opposition parties in Yerevan reportedly drew up to 10,000 people. Some clashed with police, and many were detained and released later in the day. Demonstrators chanted 'Nikol, go away' and 'Nikol, the traitor,' referring to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. The unrest was triggered by a Moscow-brokered truce Armenia and […]
The post Thousands call for Armenia PM to resign over truce agreement appeared first on Black News Channel.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to cancel interest-free debt owed by \"relevant\" African countries as part of Beijing's move to help the continent during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a speech to a group of African leaders Wednesday, Mr Xi indicated that he will work with other international lenders to cushion African countries most affected by the novel coronavirus to enable them ride out the crisis.
Mr Xi spoke directly to African leaders via video link for the first time since the virus broke out.
\"Within the FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation) framework, China will cancel the debt of relevant African countries in the form of interest-free government loans that are due to mature by the end of 2020,\" Xi told his audience, among them South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta and Senegal's Macky Sall, as well as Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
\"For those African countries that are hardest hit by the coronavirus and are under heavy financial stress, China will work with the global community to give them greater support, by such means as further extending the period of debt suspension, to help them tide over the current difficulty,\" he added.
