Ethiopia lashes out at Facebook for deleting PM’s post

Ethiopia’s federal government has accused Facebook of “spreading violence” after the platform deleted a post by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that urged citizens to take up arms and “bury” TPLF rebels.

In a statement on Facebook, the government said the social media giant “has shown its true colours by deleting our prime minister’s message”.

It also accused the Reuters news agency of “spreading misinformation by falsely reporting some cities have fallen to the enemy when they have not”.

Twitter it would not delete Abiy’s post as “it may be in the public’s interest for the tweet to remain accessible”.

Ethiopia has often criticised international media coverage of the conflict in the north of the country.

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Ethiopia urges ex-soldiers to join fight against Tigray rebels

Ethiopia’s military has called on former soldiers to re-join the army, as it battles to hold off a rebel advance.

The appeal comes as rebel forces – spearheaded by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – make advances towards the capital, Addis Ababa.

The US embassy has told all US citizens to leave Ethiopia as soon as possible amid a “very fluid” security situation.

Hours earlier, nine anti-government groups forged an alliance to dismantle Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.

The government has said it will continue to fight what it calls an existential war.

The conflict has entered its second year, with millions displaced and more than 400,000 on the brink of famine.

This week, government officials have declared a state of emergency, and called on residents to register their weapons and get ready to protect their neighbourhoods.

Ethiopia’s international partners have called for an end to the hostilities.

• EXPLAINER: Ethiopia’s Tigray war – and how it erupted
• AFRICA LIVE: Updates from the continent

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss urged both sides to agree a ceasefire in a call with Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister on Friday.

“I made clear there is no military solution and that negotiations are needed to avoid bloodshed and deliver lasting peace,” she said.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a ceasefire, saying: “The conflict in Ethiopia must come to an end.”

US special envoy Jeffrey Feltman is visiting Addis Ababa to press for peaceful solution.

The new rebel alliance includes the TPLF and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). Its leaders said they aimed to oust Mr Abiy’s government and establish an interim administration.

Here are three reasons why Ethiopia is still at war, a year since the conflict began.

The OLA and TPLF have already started fighting alongside each other and this week claimed to have captured the town of Kemise, 325km (200 miles) north of Addis Ababa.

But government officials have dismissed the new coalition, saying it will have no support.

“They are very weak, the weakest political force in Ethiopia,” government spokesman Kebede Desissa told the BBC’s Newshour programme.

He said “the reality on the ground is not indicating” that rebel forces are advancing on the capital.

Fighting broke out a year ago between government troops and the TPLF, which ruled Ethiopia for decades and now controls Tigray.

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Algeria accuses Morocco of deadly drone attack

Algeria has written to the United Nations, the African Union and the Arab League to inform of them of Monday’s killing of its nationals in a drone attack in Western Sahara.

“Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra has informed the international organisations about the seriousness of state terrorism which cannot be justified in any circumstances”, the Algerian foreign ministry said.

Algeria accuses Morocco of killing the drivers who were en route to Nouakchott in Mauritania, from the southern Algerian city of Ouargla.

Morocco has neither admitted nor denied carrying out the drone attack in the disputed Western Sahara territory close to the border with Mauritania.

Algeria has vowed that “the assassination will not go unpunished. [It] has the desire and the ability to protect its nationals and their properties in all circumstances”.

The attack occurred on the day Algeria stopped exporting natural gas to Spain through Morocco.

Algeria cut off diplomatic relations with its North African neighbour in August, accusing it of backing Algerian separatists and using Israeli technology to spy on its military and political officials.

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African Governments urge to find new ways to maximize digital revolution

African Governments have been urged to explore ways to maximise the positive effects of the digital revolution on their citizenry to ensure the continent is not left behind.

Dr George Agyekum Donkor, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) made the remarks in a keynote address at the 7th Rebranding Africa Forum in Brussels, Belgium.

An official statement issued and copied the GNA in Accra, said the annual forum, on the theme: “How the Digital Revolution can shape Africa’s Future” attracted high-level stakeholders, including government
Officials and corporate institutions.

It said the forum was also addressed by key dignitaries such as Mr Tony Blair, Former UK Prime Minister, Mamadou Issoufou, Ex-President of the Republic of Niger, Pierre-Yves Dermangne, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economy and Labour of the Kingdom of Belgium, among others.

Dr Donkor said the digital environment had enabled the creation of a single digital market, encouraged synergies and partnerships at all levels for greater efficiency, which had offered enormous opportunities to increase trade and investments on the continent.

He was of the view that such an opportunity could be leveraged to support the effective roll-out and facilitation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) necessary for deepening regional integration for achieving economic growth and sustainable development in Africa.

“While we work to optimize the gains of the digital revolution, we also need to remember that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is beckoning. The world will not wait for Africa; Africa needs to act with dispatch in embracing technology while participating in advancing it,” he added.

The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) is a leading regional Investment and Development Bank, based in Lomé, Togo.

EBID, has over the past four decades, invested approximately 2.8 billion dollars in inter and intra-regional development programmes, covering diverse initiatives from infrastructure and basic amenities, rural development and environment, industry, social sector and services.

EBID intervenes through long, medium and short-term loans, equity participation, lines of credit, refinancing, financial engineering operations and services.

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Hundreds dead in Sierra Leone as oil tanker exposed after crash with bus

At least 92 people have been killed after an oil tanker exploded near Sierra Leone’s capital, with the country’s president mourning the “horrendous loss of life”.

A further 100 people have been taken to hospitals and clinics across the city, deputy health minister Amara Jambai said.

A staffer at Connaught Hospital said 30 severely burned victims were not expected to survive.

The explosion took place early on Saturday after a bus struck the tanker in Wellington, a suburb of the capital.

Video obtained by The Associated Press showed a giant fireball burning in the night sky following the explosion, as some survivors with severe burns cried out in pain.

Police were at the scene to assist disaster management officials as charred remains of victims lay on the ground awaiting transport to mortuaries.

President Julius Maada Bio, who is in Glasgow for the COP26 climate talks, deplored the “horrendous loss of life”.

“My profound sympathies with families who have lost loved ones and those who have been maimed as a result,” he tweeted.

Victims included people who had flocked to collect fuel leaking from the ruptured vehicle, said Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr.

The mayor said the extent of the damage was not yet clear.

The head of the country’s National Disaster Management Agency, Brima Bureh Sesay, said: “We’ve got so many casualties, burnt corpses.

“It’s a terrible, terrible accident.”

Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh visited two hospitals overnight and said Sierra Leone’s National Disaster Management Agency and others would “work tirelessly” in responding to the emergency.

“We are all deeply saddened by this national tragedy, and it is indeed a difficult time for our country,” he said.

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How a medical student (and TikTok star) is revolutionizing the future of the health care system

As if juggling schoolwork, employment, volunteering, content creation and art weren’t enough, Joel Bervell can now add “TikTok’s medical myth buster” and “medical school revolutionary” to his resumé.

The Ghanian-American 26-year-old earned an impressive amount of academic honor as a third-year medical student at Washington State University, founded and led multiple mentorship groups to empower underrepresented students and mastered a sort of warmth that’s rare in medical professionals. He’s even a photographer whose gorgeous work hangs with precise symmetry on a gallery wall behind his desk.

You may know Bervell from social media, where he’s garnered hundreds of thousands of followers across platforms and a feature on the elite TikTok Discover List.

“I think there’s a lot of misinformation out there, but I think there’s also information that people don’t know about, that can help them … get better control of their health,” he told In The Know in an interview. “I highlight untold stories of marginalized patients, specifically people from BIPOC communities, about their health care experiences. I also share my life as a medical student.”

His video series “Racial Biases in Medicine” not only educates his followers on damaging prejudices that can seriously harm people of color, but it is leading to real change.

“People don’t realize [racial biases] begin way before you get to the doctor. It starts when [future doctors] are in medical school and the way [they] are trained to think about different issues,” he said.

Bervell said that in his first year of medical school, he was learning about cyanosis — a medical problem in which skin turns blue — and realized his dark skin was just not going to do that.

“What’s going to happen to patients who have darker skin or are Black like me if they have poor circulation or inadequate oxygenation of blood? I had this internal debate — do I raise my hand and ask this question?” he asked. “Would I look like that kid that’s just always thinking about weird things all the time?”

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