Twitter faces new headache in India after police complaint over controversial map

LUCKNOW, India, June 29 (Reuters) – A Hindu hardline group has filed a complaint with police against Twitter’s (TWTR.N) country head after politically sensitive regions were depicted outside a map of India on its website, kickstarting an investigation in a fresh headache for the U.S. tech firm.

A map on Twitter’s careers page showed Jammu and Kashmir region, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, as well as the Buddhist enclave of Ladakh outside India. That provoked an outcry on social media this week that comes amid strained relations between Twitter and New Delhi over the firm’s compliance with India’s new IT rules.

The complaint accuses Twitter’s India boss Manish Maheshwari and another company executive of breaching the country’s IT rules as well as laws designed to prevent enmity and hatred between classes.

“This has hurt my sentiments and those of the people of India,” Praveen Bhati, a leader of the group Bajrang Dal in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said in the complaint which was reviewed by Reuters. He also called it an act of treason.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. As of Tuesday, the map was no long visible on its site.

Maheshwari was only this month summoned by police in Uttar Pradesh for failing to stop the spread of a video that allegedly incited religious discord. Maheshwari has won relief from a court in that case.

India’s technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has criticised Twitter for its failure to abide by new Indian rules and for denying him access to his Twitter account.

To comply with rules that came into effect in May, companies such as Twitter must appoint a chief compliance officer, a grievance officer and another executive who will liaise with law enforcement and the government on legal requests. LinkedIn job postings show the three positions are open at Twitter.

A senior government official has previously told Reuters that Twitter may no longer be eligible to seek liability exemptions as an intermediary or the host of user content in India due to its failure to comply with the new IT rules. Activists say, however, it is a matter for the courts to decide.

Last year, the head of an Indian parliamentary panel accused Twitter of disrespecting New Delhi’s sovereignty, after mapping data showed Indian-ruled territory as part of China in what the social media firm said was a quickly resolved mistake.

Growing tension with New Delhi has discouraged U.S. big tech firms about prospects for their largest growth market, so much so that some are rethinking expansion plans.

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Ghana ranked 4th in most digitally matured nation to receive bulk of data centre investments

Among seven African countries and the rest of Africa, Ghana is ranked 4th in terms of the most digitally matured and likeliest nation to receive bulk of data centre investments over the coming years, Fitch Solutions “Outlook for Africa’s Data Centre Market” has revealed.

According to the report, the African telecoms market is poised to provide long-term demand for data centres as it undergoes significant technological development, and Ghana will be among the frontrunners.

This will provide boost for investment and job opportunities in the ICT space.

“Governments in the region including Ghana are positioning their countries as regional hubs for IT vendors, which has attracted significant data centre investment. Global players have invested to extend their presence in the African data centre market with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft launching data centres in South Africa, with Huawei also announcing plans to construct a facility in the country. In addition, the market is seeing investment from local players including telecoms operators MTN and Vodacom as well as IT players such as SEACOM and Liquid Telecom”.

“In 2021 alone, a number of markets have been the beneficiaries of new data centre investments”, the report added.

Ghana’s telecommunication industry is said to be one of the fastest growing on the continent with the 4G technology growing at a rapid pace.

In the not too distant future, the 5th Generation Mobile Technology will be introduced in the country. The 5G technology is expected to deliver higher data speeds, improve efficiency and virtually connect everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices.

The report also said the introduction of the 5th Generation Technology will support data centre investments as vendors look to meet rising demand for remote computing and data processing within Ghana and the rest of the continent.

According to data from the National Communications Authority, there were about 26.4 million data subscribers in the country as of the end of December last year.

MTN alone had about 19.1 million subscribers.

On the continent, South Africa, Egypt and Kenya are ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively with matured data centers.

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‘I’m not interested in buying the Ghanaian press’ – Akufo-Addo

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has rejected suggestions that government is seeking to compromise the Ghanaian media to be considerate in their criticism of his administration.

President Akufo-Addo insists that such accusations are unfounded.

Reports of the government’s support to the Ghana Journalists Association by way of giving out a car to the recent winner of the GJA Journalist of the year award, has raffled feathers with some questioning the motive.

The executives of the Association are said to have made the request to the government to support the award scheme and other initiatives, during a meeting with the President.

But for some critics, they’re of the view that government has no business getting in involved in how journalists are rewarded for their works, as it has the tendency to compromise them.

This comes at a time when the presidency of Nana Addo has been largely criticised for its handling of the media and the protection of their freedoms.

But speaking at a meeting with the leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association, President Akufo-Addo said the government cannot compromise the media.

According to him, he rather wants a press that will sustain the country’s democracy and not one that does the bidding of governments.

He thus intimated that he is not interested in buying the Ghanaian press, and would rather ensure that the press plays its constitutional role effectively.

“I don’t look upon the intercourse as government buying the press. I don’t want to believe that the Ghanaian press is buyable, neither am I interested in buying the Ghanaian press.”

“I’m interested in having a press that can serve the larger purposes of our society and play its role in building a strong durable democracy in Ghana. That for me is the most important aspect of the work of the press in Ghana.”

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, had earlier also discounted assertions that there is a creeping culture of silence in the country.

According to him, such perceptions only come from those who cannot withstand criticism.

The Minister said this when he met with journalists in the North East Region on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, as part of the government’s measures to deepen freedom of speech and access to information in the country.

“This claim that there is something called the culture of silence in this country cannot be true. This is a country of about 500 radio stations, about 100 TV stations, millions of social media accounts and everybody is freely expressing themselves. What some persons cannot stand is that when they express their thoughts and other people speak that they disagree, then they claim you are silencing them. Respectfully, that is the beauty of our democracy, that I will have my say, and you can disagree with me,” Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said.

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Across Africa in five minutes or less

CAMEROON

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has the world’s most neglected number of displaced people, according to a new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Unveiling its annual index, the aid agency said on Thursday that a recorded two million people were displaced last year in the DRC. And with 27 million people, including more than three million children who do not know where their next meal is coming from, it has the greatest number of people in the world who face food insecurity.

BURUNDI

At least 15 people have been killed in central Burundi, local media report. The attack on Saturday evening was in Muramvya province, where 12 people died in a similar attack in May. According to eyewitnesses, gunmen blocked a road with large stones under cover of darkness and then shot at the vehicles.

Two minibuses were set ablaze. Several wounded passengers were taken to hospitals. Burundi’s interior ministry described the attack as terrorism. It is not clear who was behind it.

LIBYA

Libyan expectations are high and candidates are beginning to express interest in running for the elections scheduled for December this year.

These have been delayed three years following a military campaign on the capital Tripoli by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar’s Tobruk-based government in the east.

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa’s rand was flat at the close of the week, with investors weighing conflicting signals from the US Federal Reserve that pushed the dollar away from two-month highs. Local investors were left to mull the higher inflation rates announced on Wednesday while balancing the growing pandemic and third wave complications in South Africa. On Sunday, president Cyril Ramaphosa put the country back into lockdown level 4, which is expected to reverberate through the economy in the coming weeks. On Monday, the rand starts the week trading at R14.16/$, R16.89/€ and R19.68/£.

ZIMBABWE

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa at the weekend implied that government will make vaccination compulsory in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, but experts have warned that the edict if enforced, would be in violation of human rights.

Speaking at the graduation of 1 200 prison officers in Ntabazinduna near Bulawayo on Saturday, Mnangagwa said no one had the right to refuse the jab.

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Ethiopia declares immediate, unilateral cease-fire in Tigray

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s government declared an immediate, unilateral cease-fire Monday in its Tigray region after nearly eight months of deadly conflict as Tigray fighters occupied the regional capital and government soldiers retreated in a region where hundreds of thousands are suffering in the world’s worst famine crisis.

The cease-fire could calm a war that has destabilized Africa’s second most populous country and threatened to do the same in the wider Horn of Africa, where Ethiopia has been seen as a key security ally for the West. It comes as the country awaits the results of national elections that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promoted as the centerpiece of reforms that won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

Abiy’s transformation from making peace to waging war has appalled many observers since the fighting in Tigray erupted in November. Since then, the world has struggled to access much of the region and investigate growing allegations of atrocities including gang rapes and forced starvation. Thousands of people in the region of 6 million have been killed.

Ethiopia’s statement was carried by state media shortly after the Tigray interim administration, appointed by the federal government, fled the regional capital, Mekele, and called for a cease-fire on humanitarian grounds so that desperately needed aid can be delivered.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that he had spoken with the prime minister and “I am hopeful that an effective cessation of hostilities will take place.”

Meanwhile, Mekele residents cheered the return of Tigray forces for the first time since Ethiopian troops took the city in late November and Abiy declared victory. The Tigray fighters, loyal to the former regional ruling party that for years dominated Ethiopia’s government before being sidelined by the new prime minister, undermined the declaration by waging a guerrilla war in the region’s rough terrain.

As Tigray forces occupied the airport and other key positions in Mekele and broadcast a message telling residents to stop celebrating and go home, retreating Ethiopian soldiers shot at students at Mekele University, killing two and wounding three, said a nurse at Ayder hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.

Ethnic Tigrayans, even those who didn’t support the former ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front before the war, say they have been targeted harshly for suspected links with the Tigray fighters. Ethiopia has denied it.

But Abiy in an interview aired last week alarmed observers by recalling that aid to Tigray during Ethiopia’s devastating 1980s famine had bolstered the Tigray fighters who eventually overthrew the ruling regime. Such a thing will “never happen” now, he said.

Monday’s cease-fire declaration signaled a new approach, at least for a while.

The cease-fire “will enable farmers to till their land, aid groups to operate without any military movement around and engage with remnants (of Tigray’s former ruling party) who seek peace,” Ethiopia’s statement said, adding that efforts to bring Tigray’s former leaders “to justice” continue.

Ethiopia said the cease-fire will last until the end of the crucial planting season in Tigray. The season’s end comes in September. The government ordered all federal and regional authorities to respect the cease-fire — crucial as authorities and fighters from the neighboring Amhara region have been accused of atrocities in western Tigray.

“The government has the responsibility to find a political solution to the problem,” the head of the interim administration, Abraham Belay, said in calling for the cease-fire, adding that some elements within Tigray’s former ruling party are willing to engage with the federal government.

There was no immediate comment from the Tigray fighters, with whom Ethiopia had rejected talks. And there was no immediate comment from neighboring Eritrea, whose soldiers have been accused by Tigray residents of some of the worst atrocities in the war.

“If Abiy has a genuine desire to find a political solution, first he has to undo the terrorist label against the elected government of Tigray,” said Desta Haileselassie Hagos, who leads efforts to compile a list of those killed in the war. Abiy also needs to order the Eritrean soldiers to leave, he said.

Tigray in recent days has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the conflict. International pressure on Ethiopia spiked again last week after a military airstrike on a busy market killed more than 60 people, and after Doctors Without Borders said three staffers had been murdered in a separate incident.

Amid the upheaval on Monday, the United Nations children’s agency said Ethiopian soldiers entered its office in Mekele and dismantled satellite communications equipment, an act it said violated the world body’s immunity. UNICEF last week warned that at least 33,000 severely malnourished children face “imminent risk of death” without more aid reaching Tigray’s people.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland called for an emergency open meeting of the Security Council. The U.N.’s most powerful body has discussed Tigray behind closed doors but not in an open session. They need support from nine of the 15 council members to hold an open meeting.

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