– NEWS –
Ethiopia rejects US allegations of ethnic cleansing in Tigray: Ethiopia on Saturday rejected US allegations there has been ethnic cleansing in Tigray, pushing back against the latest criticism of its military operation in its northern region by the new administration in Washington. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday he wanted to see Eritrean forces and those from the Amhara region replaced in Tigray by security forces that will respect human rights and not commit acts of ethnic cleansing. Thousands of people have died following the fighting, hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes and there are shortages of food, water and medicine in Tigray, a region of more than 5 million people. Ethiopia’s federal army ousted the former regional ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), from the capital Mekelle in November, after what it said was a surprise assault on its forces in the region bordering Eritrea. The government has said that most fighting has ceased but has acknowledged there are still isolated incidents of shooting. Ethiopia and Eritrea have denied the involvement of Eritrean troops in the fighting alongside Ethiopian forces, although dozens of witnesses, diplomats and an Ethiopian general have reported their presence.
reuters.com
Egypt and Turkey normalize relations: Turkey’s actions must show alignment with Egypt’s principles and goals for relations between the two countries to return to normal, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Sunday. Shoukry confirmed contacts between Cairo and Ankara after years of tensions but indicated that dialogue was limited. Relations have been frosty since Egypt’s army ousted Mohammed Mursi, who was the country’s first democratically elected president and an ally of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, following protests in 2013.
reuters.com
Libyan parliament backs unity government: Libya’s parliament on Wednesday approved a government of national unity headed by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. It is part of a United Nations-backed plan to lead the conflict-ravaged country through elections by the end of the year. Dbeibah’s proposed Cabinet includes 33 ministers and two deputy prime ministers who he said are representative of Libya’s different geographic areas and social segments. The new government replaces two rival administrations — one based in the East and another in the West — that have been ruling Libya since 2014.
dw.com
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Protests against the government in Senegal escalate: Police fired tear gas in Senegal’s capital to disperse protesting supporters of the country’s main opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. This week’s unrest in Dakar has been the worst seen in years in a country known for its stability. Thousands have also protested nationwide. One person was killed Thursday as police clashed with protesters in Bignona town in the southern Casamance region, according to local leaders there. A second person was killed in the Pikine area of Dakar on Thursday, according to radio station Tfm and a third in the Keur Massar suburb of Dakar the same day. The demonstrations began Wednesday before Sonko’s court appearance for questioning on accusations of rape. He was detained on the way to the courthouse and arrested for disturbing public order after hundreds of his supporters clashed with police who were blocking unauthorized protests.
apnews.com
New kidnapping of students in Nigeria: Disturbing video clips show students kidnapped from a college in Nigeria’s northwest Kaduna state being held at gunpoint and beaten with a whip by their abductors emerged on Saturday. In the footage, which has been widely shared on Facebook, some of the students appeared visibly distressed. In one video, an abducted student calls on the government to cooperate with their captors, while a figure in the background points a gun at his head and back. The students were among 39 abducted on Thursday night after gunmen attacked the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Mando, Kaduna, according to Kaduna police. It is the third mass kidnapping from an academic institution in northern Nigeria this year.
cnn.com
Many dead in suspected ADF militia attack in east DRC: At least 15 civilians have been massacred overnight in eastern DR Congo, a monitoring group in the region said, adding the notorious ADF militia were suspected. The Allied Democratic Forces is historically a Ugandan Islamist group that has holed up in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since 1995. It has the reputation of being the bloodiest of the 122 militias which plague the eastern DRC, many of them a legacy of the Congo Wars of the 1990s.
trtworld.com
Shortage economy despite abundance of raw materials in Mozambique dw.com
New locust plague in East Africa awaits berliner-zeitung.de
„King of the Zulu“ Goodwill Zwelithini died in South Africa nytimes.com
Spectacular monastery ruins from the fifth century found in Egypt n-tv.de
– BACKGROUND –
Background to the border disputes between Kenya and Somalia: The United Nations’s highest court has begun hearings on a maritime boundary dispute between Somalia and Kenya, after years of delays in a case that has strained the neighbors’ diplomatic relations. The dispute between the two East African countries stems from a disagreement over which direction their border extends into the Indian Ocean. Somalia argues its maritime boundary should run in the same direction as the southeasterly path of the country’s land border. In contrast, Kenya claims the border should take a roughly 45-degree turn at the shoreline and run in a latitudinal line. This gives Kenya access to a larger share of the maritime area. Apart from fishing, the disputed area – about 100,000 square kilometers – is thought to be rich in oil and gas, with both countries accusing each other of auctioning off blocks before a ruling by the court.
aljazeera.com
Rich countries block push by developing nations to waive vaccine patents rights: Richer members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have blocked a push by over 80 developing countries to waive patent rights in an effort to boost production of Covid-19 vaccines for poor nations. South Africa and India renewed their bid to waive rules of the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement, a move that could allow generic or other manufacturers to make more vaccines. The South Africa and India proposal was backed by dozens of largely developing countries at the WTO, but opposed by Western countries, including Britain, Switzerland, EU nations and the United States, which have large domestic pharmaceutical industries.
euractiv.com
Beijing finances Egypt’s new capital: When President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi announced an ambitious plan to build a new administrative and business capital for Egypt on 270 square miles of desert land, many were understandably skeptical about the $45 billion project. Today some of the skepticism over that March 2015 announcement has eased. One reason: an alliance announced in January between Egyptian authorities and China State Construction Engineering Corp. giving the Chinese-state owned business a major role in the project. Neither side announced details of the agreement and it remains unclear whether the Chinese construction company, one of the world’s largest, has made a major financial commitment. But state media in Egypt reported that the deal was worth $15 billion in loans, grants and memorandums of understanding.
wsj.com
Germany continues deportations to Africa despite Covid: In 2020, more than 750 people were deported from Germany to the continent, including people who should be considered well integrated according to the conventional definition. Most of the deportations took place to Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, but also to Nigeria, Ghana and Gambia. Refugee activist Rex Osa from the “Refugees 4 Refugees” initiative criticized the deportations, saying it was as if the coronavirus is being exported. “The federal government recommends that we all keep a distance of 1.50 meters from one another. Then you put people on a plane for six or seven hours. If there is an infected person around, you can quickly get the virus as well”.
dw.com
– NUMBER –
One year after the World Health Organization declared the worldwide spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the African continent has recorded around 106,000 deaths related to the coronavirus.
dw.com
– QUOTE –
„He strives for the old system in Ethiopia: one language, one tradition, one religion. However, that doesn’t work in this multi-ethnic state. If he continues like this, the country will plunge into civil war.“
Fetiya Schubert, founder of the non-governmental organization FAS AID Ethiopia, on the politics of the Ethiopian head of state and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Abiy Ahmed.
jungewelt.de
– AT LAST –
Is Africa’s most famous Covid denier sick with the virus? Tanzanian President John Magufuli, Africa’s most prominent Covid-19 denier, has not been seen for 17 days, prompting rumors about his health. Last May, Magufuli declared that „Tanzania has beaten coronavirus“ after ordering three days of national prayer. The president abruptly stopped updating the number of cases, and assured foreign tourists that Tanzania’s game parks and Indian Ocean resorts were open for business, leading to a wave of travel advisories cautioning travelers to avoid the country. Now, Magufuli is widely rumored to be seriously ill with the same virus that he has dismissed and downplayed over the past year.
businessinsider.com