Politics

Right groups accuse Ethiopian forces of ethnic cleansing in Tigray region

Published

2 years ago

April 7, 2022

Two international human rights groups, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have accused Ethiopian forces from the Amhara region of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the neighboring Tigray region.

The new report jointly issued by the two rights groups on Wednesday, revealed that hundreds of thousands of civilians in western Tigray have been unlawfully killed, sexually assaulted, forced from their homes with threats and denial of aid, which “amounted to crimes against humanity as well as war crimes,” the report said.

The report also reveal widespread abuses against civilians in the embattled Tigray region allegedly perpetrated by security officials and civilian authorities from the neighboring Amhara region.

“Sometimes, these abuses are with the acquiescence and possible participation of Ethiopian federal forces.

“The abuses are part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Tigrayan civilian population that amount to crimes against humanity as well as war crimes.”

The report, a result of months-long investigation including more than 400 interviews, also allege that several atrocities have been reported in the Tigray war, with Ethiopian government troops and their allies, including troops from neighboring Eritrea, commiting most of the crimes.

Ethiopian federal authorities have, however, strongly refuted the allegations but they have been accused of deliberately targeting Tigrayans for violent attacks since the outbreak of war in November 2020.

Western Tigray has long been a contested territory and has been a point of contention between the ethnic Amhara and Tigray communities for decades.

The Amhara authorities say the area was under their control until the 1990s when the Tigray-led government which ruled Ethiopia for nearly 30 years, redrew internal boundaries that put the territory within Tigray’s borders.

The outbreak of the war brought these longstanding and unaddressed grievances to the fore with Amhara regional forces, along with Ethiopian federal forces, reportedly seizing these territories and displacing Tigrayan civilians in a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign, the report added.

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Politics

Sierra Leone imprisons 11 military, police officers over coup attempt

Published

3 days ago

July 24, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Sierra Leone’s high court has sentenced 11 soldiers and police officers to hefty prison terms for their alleged roles in an attempted military coup last year.

On November 26, gunmen in Sierra Leone freed 2,200 detainees and killed over 20 in military barracks, a jail, and other locations.

After the coup attempt failed, 12 individuals were charged with treason in January. On Monday night, a unanimous jury found 11 guilty of 20 counts, including treason, murder, and military uniform use.

Due to health difficulties, the APC’s Bai Mahmoud Bangura, the twelfth accused, is being tried separately.

Amadu Koita Makalo, a retired army major and former bodyguard of ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma, received consecutive 40-70-year sentences for multiple counts.

Two female police officers were sentenced. Ramatu Kamanda Conteh received 30 years of harbouring Koita.

The government attributed the coup attempt to Koroma’s bodyguards, who were ultimately charged with four offences. However, the government let him leave the country on medical grounds.

Ex-president, Ernest Bai Koroma was accused of participating in a botched military coup attempt in November, and on January 3, was charged with four offences. However, a high court decided on Wednesday that Koroma was free to leave the nation.

His lawyers labelled the coup attempt “trumped up” and a “political vendetta” while Koroma condemned it.

Two decades after a 1991-2002 civil conflict that killed over 50,000 Sierra Leoneans, tensions have risen again.

Politics

Tanzania’s president fires foreign, information ministers

Published

4 days ago

July 23, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Tanzania’s President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has announced the sack of two top officials, including the foreign minister, in a mini-cabinet reshuffle.

Hassan took steps to rebuild international trust in his economic and political reforms, including relaxing restrictions on opposition parties and media, which had been criticized for failing.

The presidency stated late Sunday that Hassan fired January Makamba, minister of foreign affairs and East Africa cooperation, and Nape Nnauye, minister of information, communication, and IT.

They are influential in Chama cha Mapinduzi, the ruling party.

No explanation was offered for their removal. Makamba and Nnauye responded slowly to calls for comment.

Nnauye was fired a week after a video showed him suggesting election results depended on who counts ballots and announces them.

Nnauye later apologized, saying it was a joke, but activists and social media users argued it harmed Hassan’s democracy efforts.

Muhammad Thabit Kombo became the foreign affairs minister and Jerry Silaa information, communication, and IT minister under Hassan.

While Silaa was minister of lands, housing, and human settlements development, Kombo was Tanzania’s ambassador to Italy. Two more ministers and deputy ministers were appointed, the presidency stated.

Since 2021, Hassan’s government has been lauded for rolling back her predecessor’s opposition and civil rights crackdowns. The arrests of a lawyer and an opposition leader last year have cast doubt on her government’s human rights record.