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11 Ethiopian migrants die, 20 injured in Somali road accident

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The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has confirmed the death of 11 Ethiopian migrants who perished in an accident in the Somali city of Bosaso.

The IOM, in a statement on Saturday, said the accident that occurred in the evening hours of Tuesday, March 28, also saw 20 migrants sustaining several degrees of injuries.

The migrants, according to the UN agency, were being transported by human smugglers, and were heading to Bosaso with the intention of crossing the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, when their truck overturned, causing the fatalities and injuries.

“Local communities brought out eleven corpses and the seriously injured migrants were transported to Bosaso General Hospital, which is now treating patients beyond its capacity,” the IOM said, adding that its staff had mobilized available resources to support the hospital to provide treatment to the victims.

“We sent most of the medical supplies we had in stock at the Migrant Response Centre (MRC) in Bosaso and our teams are providing physiological support to those injured,” Frantz Celestin, IOM Somalia Chief of Mission said.

“IOM calls for safer and more legal pathways for people in the Horn of Africa to migrate regularly. Populations have suffered from decades of shocks and need more options to sustain their livelihoods and access opportunities,” Celestin added.

The IOM chief went on to reveal that the agency’s Missing Migrants Project had documented the deaths and disappearances of more than 1,100 people travelling from Eastern Africa to Yemen and Saudi Arabia on the Eastern Route since 2019, including the latest incident.

“The number of confirmed deaths documented by IOM are almost certainly an undercount: a 2021 survey of households in Ethiopia identified more than 50,000 people reported missing by families after they left their home country since 2015 alone, but security and funding constraints mean that many deaths go unrecorded.

“The Eastern Route is the major migratory route out of the Horn of Africa via Somalia or Djibouti to Yemen and often onwards to Saudi Arabia, mostly taken by Ethiopians and Somalis fleeing precarious economic situations, conflict and climate events such as the current drought.

“Migrants taking the eastern route face serious risks, including extortion, detention, kidnapping, modern slavery, and physical abuse.

“Rape, deaths, and killings at the hands of smugglers and at times by authorities are also a reality in what is arguably considered one of the most dangerous migratory routes on earth.”

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Metro

Zambia’s ruling party UPND warns against personal attacks on President Hichilema

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Zambia’s ruling party, the UPND, has warned opposition politicians and critics against personal attacks on President Hakainde Hichilema as his meekness should not be mistaken for weakness.

Secretary-General of the UPND, Batuke Imenda, who gave the warning in a statement in Lusaka on Monday, urged political opponents to always engage in mature and issue-based discourse.

Zambia Monitor reports that Imenda’s warning, was directed at the leader of Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP) party, Kelvin Bwalya Fube, whose recent remarks Imenda described as “provocative” and a “feeble attempt to mislead citizens.”

“Provocative words uttered by Kelvin Bwalya against our party and President Hichilema are a clear demonstration of naivety,” Imenda said in the statement.

He further advised Bwalya to abandon personal attacks and focus on substantial political issues.

The UPND Secretary suggested that Bwalya’s attacks stemmed from a desire for relevance amid declining political fortunes, hinting at a possible alignment with former President Edgar Lungu.

“It appears KBF is hoping that Edgar Lungu might support his embattled political career by unjustly attacking President Hichilema,” he said.

Imenda defended the President’s record, highlighting that under Hichilema’s leadership, Zambia’s democratic space had expanded compared to the previous PF administration, which he accused of stifling freedoms.

He noted that while criticism was welcome, it should not devolve into baseless attacks, warning that opposition figures should not misinterpret Hichilema’s restraint as weakness.

Imenda also criticized Bwalya for overlooking the gains in transparency and justice since the change in government, claiming that past regimes were marked by resource mismanagement and corruption.

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Metro

Following backlash, Nigerian govt withdraws treason charges against minors

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The Nigerian government has officially withdrawn the treason charges it entered against some minors who participated in the #EndBadGovernance protest that spread across the country from August 1 to the 10th.

The nation was thrown into shock on Friday when the Nigeria Police presented 76 protesters at the Federal High Court in Abuja on charges bordering on treason. Among the suspects were four minors who slumped before they could be arraigned before the court.

This caused serious uproar in the country with Nigerians condemning the government and calling for the unconditional release of the kids and the dismissal of the charges against them.

The decision to withdraw the charges against the underage accused came following a directive by President Bola Tinubu who ordered the immediate withdrawal of the charges and an in-depth investigation into what led to the arrest and detention of the minors.

Tinubu had also ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, (SAN) to officially take over the case file as well as review the cases following public outcry that came with the arraignment of the minors.

The charges were finally withdrawn on Tuesday at the Federal High Court in Abuja through an application for discontinuance filled by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Mohammed Abubakar, on behalf of the AGF.

According to Abubakar, the discontinuance application was based on provisions of sections 174(1), (b) and (c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015.

The DPPF also applied for further proceedings to be conducted without the presence of the minors in the courtroom, in line with provisions of Section 266(b) of the ACJA, 2015, and Section 1 of the Childs’ Rights Act.

In response, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Fanala (SAN), who stood in for the accused as well as other defence lawyers in the matter, did not oppose the applications which promoted the judge, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, to strike out the charges, while the four affected minors were also delisted from the charge sheet.

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