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"I was taken to the ICC with tons of accusations: crimes against humanity, war crimes, rape. but I was there. So I defended myself and I won, I was acquitted. Here they're hiding in secret and they're pinning an accusation on me. No. It's too political, it's not worthy of being called a trial" Laure
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.
Black policy leaders will play a pivotal role in President-elect Joe Biden’s transition, marking one of the most diverse agency... View Article
The post Key role for Black policy leaders on Biden's transition team appeared first on TheGrio.
The Detroit Public Schools Community District, Michigan's largest, is one of the latest to
The post Schools facing tough choices as Covid cases soar in the US appeared first on L.A. Focus Newspaper.
The Black Hair Experience, a pop-up opening in Atlanta on November 20, will include a number of spaces to capture on camera, from a swing made with braids and twists, thousands of bottles of hair products dangling from the ceiling, a life-sized collage that displays the versatility of Black hair and more.
After months of closure, schools have reopened Thursday in Senegal.
Unicef had deplored in early October that only one country in three from West and Central Africa has managed to reopen its schools for the start of the school year 2020-2021 on schedule.
Most of the students sitting Thursday in groups under the courtyard of an elementary school in Mbao, a suburb of Dakar, were not wearing masks. On the contrary, in a high school in Yoff, a working class neighborhood of the capital, most were wearing masks.
But these same students passed through the doors of the school without any provision to keep them at a distance from each other.
Four million students, from primary to secondary school, were expected to return to classes, but a number of them delayed their return, a common practice even outside of a pandemic.
Schools were closed in March after the first case of Covid-19 in the country. Only 500,000 students in examination classes had returned to school by June.
Since then, the pandemic appears to have been contained at low levels. Senegal reported 15,744 cases and 326 deaths.
Economic activity, which has been severely affected, is slowly resuming its course. But there is also a slackening of daily vigilance.
\"We have defined a health protocol with the Ministry of Health for the compulsory wearing of masks - except in preschool - hand washing, physical distancing,\" Ministry of Education spokesman Mohamed Moustapha Diagne said.
The authorities also assured that masks and gel would be transported for schools to remote localities.
\"We have not yet received a supply of masks and hydro-alcoholic gel,\" an official of the school in Mbao said anonymously.
\"Until last night, some schools in inland localities had not received their equipment in masks and gel,\" said a teacher union official, Abdoulaye Ndoye.
The start of the school year is also undermined by a financial dispute between private schools, which accommodate nearly a third of students, and parents.
Private schools demanded that parents pay for two to three months of schooling between April and June. Some parents reported in the press that they did not owe anything because classes were closed.
\"We recommend discussion between the schools and the families,\" said the ministry spokesman, assuring that the ministry had \"no legal basis to intervene\".
\"Only the state can settle this issue. It must have the political courage to do so,\" replied trade unionist Ndoye.
OVER 350 families close to Gwayi-Shangani Dam are facing imminent displacement to pave way for the construction of the largest water body in Matabelaland North province. BY PRAISEMORE SITHOLE The Gwayi-Shangani Dam pipeline was estimated to provide 147 mega litres a day and, therefore, ensure bulk water supply in the medium term to Bulawayo and Matabeleland North. Speaking during a tour of the project which was organised by Bulawayo Civic Society Organisation, the project’s assistant engineer Lucio Chayeruka said 350 families would be displaced. “I am aware of the 350 families that are going to be affected by the construction of the dam,” Chayeruka said. “We have done a survey and saw that 350 families need to be evacuated as they are going to be affected by the dam construction. “The matter is now with the Lands and Agriculture ministry, but as it stands, the matter is now urgent so urgent intervention is required.” Chayeruka said the Lands ministry would decide the fate of the families. “It is the sole responsibility of the ministry to decide when and where these families will be resettled. Once we start the construction process, the structures will have to be removed,” he said. Chayeruka decried lack of funding for the delay in the completion of the dam which is currently 39% complete after the contractor, China International Water and Electric Corporation, abandoned the project in January due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project is being constructed to link Cowdray Park and the City of Bulawayo. In 2016, the contractor suspended operations due to lack of funding. “This dam is a US$121 million project. I haven’t seen the bill of quantities, but I know that this is a US$121 million project. Of that US$121 million, so far we have used about 39% of the money,” Chayeruka said. “The issue here is actually of funding as you will see that we have all the materials in place. The only material that we might need to buy is cement and when all funding has been put in place, the dam will only take one year to be completed.” Matabeleland Collectives chairperson Jenny Williams said civil society organisations needed to know if those families were going to be compensated. “It is important for us the civil society to empower the community that is within the 60km radius of the dam and what it will mean for them when the dam is constructed. They need to be empowered to know what is coming their way,” Williams said. “The communities need to be empowered so that people cannot come and take advantage of those communities.” The project is going to help improve the water situation in Bulawayo which is currently facing serious water shortages. lFollow Praisemore on Twitter @TPraisemore
FORMER GHANAIAN President Jerry Rawlings has died aged 73. Though he was a socialist, he...
The post Jerry Rawlings: Ghana's former president has died appeared first on Voice Online.
narvikk/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, EMILY SHAPIRO, IVAN PEREIRA and MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News (NEW YORK) - A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.29 million people worldwide.…
Taking Up Arms
A military operation has been launched by Morocco in the buffer zone of Guerguerat near Mauritania, as announced Friday.
The North African nation also denounced \"the provocations of the Polisario\" in Western Sahara — once a colony of Spain with a still undefined status. Classified as a \"non-autonomous territory\" by the United Nations (UN).
The aim of the ongoing operation is to \"put an end to the blockade situation\" and \"restore free civil and commercial movement\" on the road leading to Mauritania — whose existence is denounced by the Sahrawi independence fighters and which Rabat considers essential for its trade with sub-Saharan Africa.
For about three weeks, local sources claim militias of some 70 armed men have been \"attacking truckers, banning traffic and racketeering.\"
All this in spite of UN settlement efforts — as the organisation-led negotiations involving Morocco, the Polisario, Algeria and Mauritania have been suspended for several months.
Polisario in response has stated its Sahrawi troops will retaliate in self-defence in light of what it perceives as Morocco being \"aggressive\" and liquidating the 1991 cease-fire.
Background
The region of Guerguerat has already been at the centre of strong tensions between the Polisario and Morocco, particularly in early 2017. Morocco controls more than two-thirds of this vast desert territory in its western part, along the Atlantic Ocean and has seen friction for decades with the pro-independence Polisario Front supported by Algeria.
Nigerian-born author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel has been voted the best book to have won the Women's Prize for Fiction in its 25-year history.
Adichie, who won the prize in 2007 for her 'Half of a Yellow Sun', was selected in a public vote from a list of 25 winners.
The one-time award marks the anniversary of the prize, previously called the Orange Prize and the Bailey's Prize.
Half of a Yellow Sun is set in Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria during the Biafran War.
The novel explored the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class, race and female empowerment.
\"I'm especially moved to be voted Winner of Winners because this is the prize that first brought a wide readership to my work, and has also introduced me to the work of many talented writers\", Adichie said.
The book garnered global acclaim when it was published in 2006.
By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute hosted a virtual roundtable of Black mayors on Thursday, moderated by TV Evangelist and best-selling author Bishop T.D. Jakes, and came away with $3,000 in donation pledges. After Jakes led a broad discussion with four Southern mayors of what they hope for from President-elect Joe Biden’s […]
