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Opinion - My friend Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), is a popular figure with pan-Africanist public intellectuals and civil society types.
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.
[Nairobi News] President Uhuru Kenyatta has lifted the cessation of movement in the Covid-19 most affected counties of Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, Kajiado, and Machakos.
[Nation] Tallying of votes for the Juja Constituency by-election resumed Wednesday morning after chaos rocked the Mang'u High School tallying centre the night before.
At least three jailed senior members of the toppled regime of former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir have the coronavirus, the country’s public prosecution service said on Wednesday.
The Arab African country, which has reported 4,146 coronavirus cases and 184 deaths, released more than 4,000 prisoners in March as a precaution against the spread of the disease in jails.
They include Ahmed Haroun and Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein, both wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region, and who the prosecution service said had tested positive for coronavirus.
COVID-19 tests on two other detainees including Ali al-Bashir, a brother of the former president, came back negative, though they were quarantined as a precautionary measure.
Tests results are still awaited on two other suspected cases, the prosecution service said, adding that all other detained members of the former regime had refused to be tested for coronavirus.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he is retiring from politics and will not stand in elections next year.
The post Rodrigo Duterte: Philippine president announces retirement from politics appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.
President from 2000 to 2011 Laurent Gbagbo is due to return to Ivory Coast on Thursday after a ten-year absence, buoyed by his acquittal at the end of March by the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity committed during the post-election crisis of 2010.
Kenya continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic with cases steadily rising each day. Government have locked down a handful of counties including the capital Nairobi and imposed a night-time curfew as part of containment efforts.
This rolling page will continue to give updates on major occurrences as relates to the East African country. You can follow Kenya’s March – April 2020 COVID-19 updates on our earlier page.
Kenya as of May 10 was the fourth most impacted country in the East / Horn of Africa region only behind Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia. Government also rolled out mass testing in virus hot spots, borders remain shut and a ban on public gatherings continues.
July 2:
Kenya has taken giant steps to shore its tourism industry from the worsening economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tourism Minister Najib Balala announced a raft of measures on Thursday. “Due to the adverse effects of Covid-19 to the tourism and wildlife sector. We have reduced entry fees to all Kenya Wildlife Service game parks and reserves to 50%.
“This will apply for all categories of tourists (local, residents & international), effective July 1, 2020 for one year,” he added. The main interventions are:
Reduced national park entry fees for Kenyan and international visitors.
Lodges inside the parks have also been given a year’s moratorium from paying rent.
Film makers have also been given a 50% discount on filming fees charged in parks.
The minister also urged the lodges to use the rent holiday to improve services. Tourism is a mainstay of the Kenyan economy. The country us a major player in the East African region along with Uganda and Tanzania.
Confirmed cases = 6,673
Active cases = 4,435
Recoveries = 2,089
Number of deaths = 149
John Hopkins Uni stats valid as of July 1, 2020
The Cabinet Secretary Min_TourismKE tunajibu has reduced the park entry fees to all Kenya Wildlife Service Parks and Reserves for all categories of tourists (Citizens, Residents, and Non-residents) effective July 1,2020 for one year. #DiscoverKWSParks pic.twitter.com/x0unTHiFLW— KWS (@kwskenya) July 2, 2020
June 21: 100 days since index case; 4,738 cases
Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe today announced that Kenya was marking 100 days since the first case was confirmed. The disease is now affecting 40 counties to date, he added.
260 new cases were recorded taking the case load to 4,738 confirmed cases. 254 of the new cases were Kenyans with the others being foreigners. The number of tests also hit 140,012 over the 100 day period.
The minister stressed that from all indications the virus was going to be around for a while and urged that individuals take personal responsibility in helping curb the spread and by that ease pressures on the system and on resources.
“Our systems are now much better, but we are still learning. COVID-19 has badly impacted our economy including loss of jobs. But the government has made much effort to contain it. By next week each county will have at least 300 isolation bed capacity.
He added:
Adrienne N. Wartts received her M.A. in American Culture Studies, with an emphasis in African American Studies, from Washington University in St. Louis. She is an adjunct professor of film studies at Webster University. As a contributing writer for Jerry Jazz Musician magazine, she has interviewed Rick Coleman, author of Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock ‘N’ Roll and Elizabeth Pepin, author of Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era. Adrienne is the recipient of the 2009 Norman Mailer Writers Colony Scholarship for biography writing.
By Alberto Brunori, the Regional Representative for Central America and the English-speaking Caribbean of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
People in the Caribbean face some of the highest levels of violence in the world.
The article A strictly security-focused approach to crime prevention is costly, ineffective and paves the way for human rights violations appeared first on Stabroek News.
Babgui / the Hague — The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague has confirmed that former Darfur janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb, who has been indicted for crimes against humanity, is \"in ICC custody\".
The ICC statement says that on account of an ICC arrest warrant issued on 27 April 2007, Kushayb is suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur.
In today's statement, ICC Registrar Peter Lewis thanked the Minister of Justice Flavien M'Bata and the authorities of the Central African Republic, the French Republic, the Republic of Chad, as well as the leaders of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and the authorities of the host State, the Netherlands, for their support to the Court and cooperation in the arrest, surrender and transfer of Kushayb to the Court.
Pre-Trial Chamber I considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that, (i) from about August 2002, an armed conflict took place between the Government of Sudan including combatants from the Sudan People's Armed Forces (the Sudanese Armed Forces) and the Popular Defence Force (PDF) along with the Janjaweed militia against organised rebel groups, including the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in Darfur, Sudan; (ii) in 2003 and 2004, that the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Janjaweed militia, acting together as part of the counter-insurgency campaign, carried out several attacks, of a systematic or widespread nature, on the towns of Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar, Arawala and surrounding areas.
The warrant of arrest delivered on 27 April 2007 against Ali Kushayb lists 50 counts on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility including:
- Twenty-two counts of crimes against humanity (murder; deportation or forcible transfer of population; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law; torture ; persecution; rape; inhumane acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering ); and
- Twenty-eight counts of war crimes (murder, violence to life and person; outrage upon personal dignity in particular humiliating and degrading treatment; intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population; pillaging; rape; destroying or seizing the property).
[Nation] Kenya and Tanzania announced a number of trade deals on President Samia Suluhu's first official visit to Nairobi, highlighting the two neighbouring countries' readiness to turn the page on recent squabbles that have impeded cross-border flow of investments.
[Nation] Kenya's negotiations with the US on an unprecedented two-way trade deal are on schedule to begin on July 7 despite difficulties posed by the coronavirus pandemic, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Friday.
[Capital FM] Nairobi -- Deputy President William Ruto has said he is not interested in the contest for the review of the Constitution through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
[Nation] A blogger pulled down a social media report indicating that there was a plot to eliminate Deputy President William Ruto when it caused anxiety, a crime detective has told a court in a case against a former State House director of communications Dennis Njue Itumbi and a blogger.
Francis Bebey , (born July 15, 1929, Douala, Cameroon—died May 28, 2001, Paris, France), Cameroonian-born writer, guitarist, and composer, one of the best-known singer-songwriters of Africa. He is sometimes called the father of world music.
Bebey began performing with a band while a teenager in Cameroon. In the mid-1950s he traveled to Paris to study at the Sorbonne, and during this time he was influenced by classical guitarist Andrés Segovia. After attending New York University, Bebey in 1960 settled in Paris, where he worked on several radio stations and was later hired by UNESCO to research and document traditional African music. Bebey continued composing his own music, gaining notice for his poetic lyrics and expressive voice. By 1967 he had made several recordings and had performed in New York City and Paris as well as in Africa. Highly experimental, Beby often incorporated Latin American, Western, and African sounds into his music. His numerous recordings include Akwaaba (1985), Amaya (1987), and Dibiye (1998).
Bebey was also a noted writer, and his first novel, Le Fils d’Agatha Moudio (Agatha Moudio’s Son, 1971), was published in 1967. Critics found the work a carefully constructed masterpiece of burlesque, and it won the Grand Prix Littéraire de l’Afrique Noire. The following year Embarras et Cie: nouvelles et poèmes (nine short stories, each accompanied by a poem) was published. Bebey claimed that his wide experience as a radio broadcaster affected the style of his stories, which he directed toward hearers rather than readers. His later works include La Poupée Ashanti (1973; The Ashanti Doll) and Le Roi Albert d’Effidi (1973; King Albert). Bebey also wrote a book on broadcasting in Africa and two books on African music, notably African Music: A People’s Art (1975, reprinted 1992).
Rally in the Streets
Tensions were high Thursday in Cocody, as Ivorian police patrolled the streets of Abidjan after breaking up pro-Gbagbo demonstrations unhappy that the name of their leader had been removed from the electoral list. Earlier that same morning, the access to the Boulevard Latrille leading to the headquarters of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) was closed by the police. The same goes for the road to the Abidjan zoo which links the electoral institution.
The determined supporters of Laurent Gbagbo, from the hard wing of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) had set up road barricades to disrupt traffic and were dispersed - without major incident, by the security forces.
Situational Background
Three months before the next presidential election, Gbagbo, who was acquitted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is conditionally free in Brussels, applied for his passport to return to Cote d’Ivoire
The name of the former Ivorian head of state does not appear on the electoral roll as he is still waiting for his passport to be issued due to a 20-year prison sentence by the Ivorian courts.
His supporters in Abidjan opposed the removal of his name from the voters' list demonstrated today in Abidjan.
ODM’s implied subservience and the glee in savouring power and privilege makes many conclude that all along it had wished that they were in power.
The Senate has approved the Constitution Amendment Bill (2020) paving the way for the BBI referendum. Fifty-one senators voted for the Bill with 12
Famous writer Margret Walker, born, 1915
Ruto accused Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju and Vice Chairman David Murathe of auctioning the party to ODM
He did not acknowledge that such an apology was recommended, two years earlier, by the national Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) in its final report.
But the statement Kenyatta made with opposition leader Raila Odinga did not mention the TJRC or its report either, even though they had addressed the issues raised in their statement.
As a candidate for the August 2017 presidential election, Odinga - and his lieutenants - had made the TJRC report a campaign issue, calling on the government to implement it as a way of addressing historical injustices in Kenya.
Prior to March 2018 Odinga and other opposition leaders said they would not recognise Kenyatta's government after successfully challenging the results of the August 2017 presidential election and boycotting the repeat October 2017 election.
The TJRC, whose mandate ended with the publication of the report, recommended the government form an implementation committee to oversee and coordinate the work needed to make the TJRC's wide-ranging recommendations a reality.
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, writer, activist, collector, and important figure of the Harlem Renaissance was born in Saturce, Puerto Rico.
His mother, a black woman, was originally from St. Croix, Danish Virgin Islands (now the U.S. Virgin Islands), and his father was a Puerto Rican of German ancestry.
In 1911, as its Master, he renamed El Sol de Cuba #38, a lodge of Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants, as Prince Hall Lodge in honor of the first black freemason in the country.
The same year, he also founded the Negro Society for Historical Research.
Today, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of The New York Public Library is one of the foremost research centers on Africa and the Diaspora, with more than 10 million items.
Locals in Lukodi, Uganda react to the conviction of child victim turned warlord Dominic Ongwen.
