Author: Editorial Staff

A SENIOR Ethiopian diplomat quit his post in Washington Wednesday over concerns about reported atrocities in Tigray, where fighting persists as federal forces and their allies hunt down the fugitive leaders of the regional administration. Berhane Kidanemariam, the deputy chief of mission at the Ethiopian embassy in Washington, in a strong statement issued on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as a reckless leader who is dividing his country. Kidanemariam is believed to be the first Ethiopian diplomat to resign over concerns relating to the conflict in Tigray. ‘With the emergence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, I, like many other…

ETHIOPIA’S government on Thursday faced mounting pressure to withdraw troops from the northern region of Tigray amid growing reports of war crimes in an embattled area that now faces a humanitarian crisis. Criticism of the conduct of government troops and their allies from neighbouring Eritrea grew after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken asserted Wednesday that ‘ethnic cleansing’ has happened in parts of Tigray. ‘The challenge in Ethiopia is very significant, and it’s one that we are very focused on, particularly the situation in Tigray, where we are seeing very credible reports of human rights abuses and atrocities that are…

COTE d’Ivoire’s Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko, who was seen as a possible successor to President Alassane Ouattara, has died in Freiburg in south-west Germany, two days after his 56th birthday, the government said on Wednesday. A former media executive who turned to politics, Bakayoko acted as a negotiator and intermediary between warring factions as a prolonged civil conflict racked Cote d’Ivoire from the early 2000s. A close ally of Ouattara, he was appointed as prime minister in July 2020 following the sudden death of his predecessor Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who had been handpicked by Ouattara to succeed him. He was…

THE International Tourism and Investment Summit (ITIC) has announced a strategic partnership with World Travel Market Africa (WTM Africa) to leverage each companies’ strengths and commitment to propel growth in travel and tourism through innovation in products, destination marketing and investment in sustainable development and infrastructure. ITIC and WTM Africa will host the virtual Africa Tourism Investment Summit, which forms part of Africa Travel Week from the 7–9 April 2021, and a further virtual event on 24 June 2021 to assist African countries, as well as worldwide delegates and clients, in their ambition to achieve their objectives and future growth…

BLASTS that levelled a military camp and the surrounding populated area in Equatorial Guinea at the weekend claimed ‘far more’ lives than the official death toll of 105, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday, urging an  independent investigation into the disaster. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 42 years, blamed the military for ‘negligence’ in stocking ammunition so close to residential areas. On Tuesday, state television reported 105 people were killed and 615 were injured by the conflagration at the camp of Nkoa Ntoma, outside the economic hub Bata, home to 800,000…

TANZANIAN opposition leader Tundu Lissu questioned President John Magufuli’s whereabouts, as speculation swirled on social media that he’s fallen ill and been hospitalised. Magufuli, 61, was last seen in public on February 24 during a tour of the commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, where he inspected projects and addressed public gatherings. The president was scheduled to attend a virtual heads-of-state summit for the East African Community regional bloc on February 27, but was represented by Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan. ‘The president’s well-being is a matter of grave public concern,’ Lissu said in a tweet Tuesday. He cited public announcements…

AFTER casting itself as a fighter against corruption, Sierra Leone’s government is under fire over allegations of irregular spending by its first lady and a senior minister. The scandal has come as an embarrassment to the West African state’s president, Julius Maada Bio, who after coming to power in 2018 launched a graft probe into his predecessor. Scrutiny of his inner circle began in January, after an African news website reported that the president’s wife, Fatima Bio, had spent the equivalent of about $3 million (2.5 million euros) in government funds as part of an anti-rape campaign. Sierra Leone forbids the…

WITH no end of cash shortages in sight in Zimbabwe, the use of mobile money has become the order of the day in the southern African nation.  The central bank says it is happy with the situation and wants 90 percent of all transactions to be electronic. For years now, Zimbabwe has faced an acute shortage of cash.  That has forced people to switch to mobile money. An informal sector is booming in the electronic exchange of foreign currency for the local currency, or in some cases, the other way around. This is called RTGS, or real-time gross settlement. ‘Generally — the…

A GROUP of lawmakers in Ghana want to criminalise the promotion of LGBT+ rights, a move that comes weeks after a community centre for sexual minorities was shut down following strong opposition from politicians and church organisations. Parliamentarian Samuel Nartey George from the opposition National Democratic Congress said he and seven other MPs hoped their private members’ bill to ban LGBT+ advocacy would be passed before the parliamentary session ends on March 31. ‘We owe it to ourselves and the people of Ghana to uphold that which gives us our identity as a people … May we unite in this…

EQUATORIAL Guinea’s government has declared the coastal city of Bata an ‘area of catastrophe’ saying it has activated urgent measures to help those affected by blasts Sunday that killed at least 105 people and injured 615 others. The government declared three days of mourning beginning Wednesday. Investigations into the cause of the blasts have begun. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, his wife and son, who is the country’s vice president, visited the damaged military barracks Tuesday. Obiang said the explosions in Bata’s Mondong Nkuantoma neighbourhood were caused by the ‘negligent handling of dynamite’ and the stocking of such ammunition so close…