Burkina Faso’s Military Leader Agrees To Step Down After Coup

 

Burkina Faso’s military leader, who was ousted in a coup on Friday, has formally agreed to step down, religious and community leaders said. They said the country’s new self-declared leader, Capt Ibrahim Traoré, had Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba’s resignation and conditions he had set.

The announcement followed attacks on French institutions, after it was reported that Lt Col Damiba was sheltering at a French military base. It is the second coup this year.

In both cases, the country’s dire security situation and failure to deal with an Islamist insurgency were blamed for the takeovers.
Burkina Faso controls as little as 60% of its territory, experts say, and Islamist violence is worsening.

The African Union has demanded the return of constitutional order by July 2023 at the latest, agreeing with the regional group Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) that the ousting of leader Lt Col Damiba was “unconstitutional”.

Ecowas earlier said it was “inappropriate” for army rebels to seize power when the country was working towards civilian rule. No statement has been released by Lt Col Damiba directly.

But religious and community leaders said Lt Col Damiba himself had offered his resignation “in order to avoid confrontations with serious human and material consequences,” according to quotes cited by AFP news agency.

They said Lt Col Damiba had set seven conditions for stepping down – including a guarantee of his security, an agreement to continue with efforts at national reconciliation and continued respect for the guarantee of returning to civilian rule within two years.

The deposed colonel had himself ousted President Roch Kaboré in January, saying that he had failed to deal with growing militant Islamist violence.

Many citizens in Burkina Faso have not felt safe for some time.

The Islamist insurgency broke out in the country in 2015, leaving thousands dead and forcing an estimated two million people from their homes.

Burkina Faso has experienced eight coups since independence in 1960.

…………………………………………………………

Three powerful US Congresswomen to co-chair new Congressional Ghana Caucus

 Congresswomen Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas, Sara Jacobs of California, and Gwen Moore of Wisconsin emerge from a half dozen prospects to co-chair the newly registered caucus

Washington DC – The Ghana Public Affairs Collective (GhanaPAC) formally launched the Congressional Ghana Caucus at an event on the Capitol Hill grounds on Wednesday, September 21, 2022.

Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Honorable Alan Kyremateng was on hand to chair the launching at the Capitol Hill steps.

  

On that same day, via a letter cited by DNT, GhanaPAC formally registered the Caucus with the Committee on House Administration headed by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California.

Unlike other country caucuses at the United States Congress, the Congressional Ghana Caucus promises to be very active considering its leadership.

The Ghana Caucus will be co-chaired by Congresswomen Sheila Jackson-Lee of the 18th District of Texas, Sarah Jacobs of the 53rd District of California, and Gwen Moore of the 4th District of Wisconsin.

The Congressional Ghana Caucus will serve as an informal group of members dedicated to informing policy issues impacting people of Ghanaian heritage living in the United States and advancing US-Ghana relations.

DNT News, with correspondence reports from Adwoa Adofo, Washington, DC

 

 

…………………………………………………………

BURKINA FASO – Calm returns as deposed leader accepts to step down

 After a day of fierce fighting in the capital of Ouagadougou, calm has returned with former president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba agreeing to step down.

Damiba was a victim of a coup d’etat, through which he came to power on January 24, 2022 after deposing then president Roc Marc Christian Kabore. Damiba was in power for 249 days.

The new leader of Burkina Faso is now 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore as President of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration.

The leadership seat at Ouagadougou is one of the least safe in Africa as none of the country’s previous 14 leaders served his whole term. One – Thomas Sankara – was assassinated, and another, Blaise Compaore resigned.

All others were either overthrown by the military or forced to step down. The young new leader is the 15th to lead the former Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso.

DNT News with correspondence reports from Julius Ouya.

……………………………………………………………

RACISM – Rap lyrics used as evidence against rappers – not so with heavy metal lyrics

 Jeffrey Williams, aka Young Thug a veritable hip-hop superstar from Atlanta with three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, has been credited with shaping the contemporary sound of rap.

His distinctive flow and sound are often heralded as the preeminent example of “mumble rap,” a microgenre named for the unclear or slurred vocal delivery of its artists.

Young Thug’s music is rife with emotions, freestyles, and ad-libs, and draws on a dizzying range of influences, from psychedelia and punk to Lil Wayne.

His lyrics are both familiar and absurd, referencing the realities of the world in which he grew up as a Black man in Atlanta and his own capricious flights of fancy.

Young Thug’s lyrics, “I’m prepared to take them down,” and “I never killed anybody but I got something to do with that body,” is being cited as evidence against him in his trial.

But critics are up in arms about the clearly racist motivations in this practice of using rap lyrics as evidence in court against rappers while their heavy metal counterparts spew worse and get away with it.

Here are examples of repugnant lyrics by heavy metal artists that have not seen the light of day in a courtroom: (Please be fore-warned due to graphic language)

From “Preteen Deathfuck,” Nattefrost (2005)

“Seven years old with two bleeding holes
Fucked her for days in every thinkable ways
Her innocent cries couldn’t milden my heart
I stabbed and stabbed, and I cut her apart!!!!”

From “Fucked With a Knife,” Cannibal Corpse (1994)

Tied tight to the bed
Legs spread open
Bruised flesh, lacerations
Skin stained with blood
I’m the only one you love
I feel her heart beating
my knife deep inside
Her crotch is bleeding

From “Charred Remains,” Autopsy (1989)

The rancid smell of burning hair
Screaming in excruciating pain
Blood boils over, warping veins
Burnt skull collapses onto melting brains
Spontaneous death, up in flames
Twisting and writhing as life burns away
Until nothing is left but charred remains

In his 2019 book, Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics and Guilt in America, co-authored with Andrea L. Dennis, University of Richmond professor Erik Nielson identified about 500 criminal trials over the past decade in which rap lyrics were used as evidence.

Conversely, research uncovered only four examples of artistic works like fiction or lyrics being used as evidence of assault or violent threats in mediums and genres aside from rap dating back to 1950.

Heavy metal music is an exclusive genre of white artist while rap music is mostly by black artists. Is there racism here? You decide.

DNT News.

…………………………………………………………

Brazil Election: Lula and Bolsonaro To Face Run-off

Brazil’s election is going into a second round in which left-winger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. With almost all the votes counted, Lula had won 48% against Bolsonaro’s 43% – a much closer result than opinion polls had suggested.

But Lula fell short of the more than 50% of valid votes needed to prevent a run-off.
Voters now have four weeks to decide which of the two should lead Brazil. Winning outright in the first round was always going to be a tall order for any candidate – the last time it happened was 24 years ago.

But President Bolsonaro and Lula had given their supporters hope that they could achieve just that.
Both candidates can and will claim that this as a victory, though.

For Lula – who could not run in the 2018 election because he was in prison after being convicted on corruption charges – this spells a remarkable comeback.

And President Bolsonaro, whom opinion polls had shown trailing far behind Lula, will rejoice in the fact that he proved the pollsters wrong, just as he had predicted he would.

Lula says he will bolster measures to protect the Amazon rainforest, while Mr Bolsonaro has argued that parts of the rainforest should be opened up to economic exploitation.

Deforestation and forest fires have soared during President Bolsonaro’s time in office. Climate activists have warned that if he is re-elected, the area could reach a tipping point.

Critics point out that Lula’s environmental record during his time in office – he governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010 – was far from perfect.

But with Mr Bolsonaro counting on the agricultural sector and agribusiness for votes and support, it is Lula who is the preferred choice of climate activists.

However, voters in Brazil have many other pressing concerns, such as rising food prices, which have contributed to an increase in poverty and hunger.

Mr Bolsonaro acknowledged these concerns in a statement after the results were out. “I understand that a lot of the vote was down to the situation the Brazilian people are in. They are feeling the price rises, especially those of basic goods. I do understand that there’s a desire for change but some change can be for the worse,” he warned.

Many voters also mentioned education and Brazil’s high levels of inequality as issues they want the new president to tackle.

Much of the campaign, however, was overshadowed by concern that Mr Bolsonaro may not accept defeat after he had said that “only God” could remove him from office.

He had also cast doubts on Brazil’s electronic voting system, alleging – without providing any evidence – that it was open to fraud.

With the result much more favourable to him than predicted, he is now likely to concentrate more on how to sway those voters who cast their ballot for one of the other nine candidates who were eliminated in the first round.

All eyes will now be on centrist Senator Simone Tebet, who came third in the election with 4%, and centre-left candidate Ciro Gomes, who came fourth with 3%. Both said that they would announce “in the coming days” who they would thrown their weight behind for the run-off.

Lula, who seems to thrive on overcoming obstacles, has already announced that “the fight continues until the final victory, that’s our motto”.

……………………………………………………………