UN warns famine imminent in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region

UN humanitarian chief warns the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are at risk, with famine imminent.

The United Nations humanitarian chief has warned that famine is imminent in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region as well as the country’s north and there is a risk that hundreds of thousands of people or more will die.

Mark Lowcock said the economy has been destroyed along with businesses, crops and farms and there are no banking or telecommunications services.

“We are hearing of starvation-related deaths already,” he said in a statement released on Friday. “People need to wake up. The international community needs to really step up, including through the provision of money.”

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, ordered a ground and air military operation in Tigray in early November 2020 after accusing the northern region’s then-ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), of orchestrating attacks on federal army camps.

The six-month-old Tigray conflict is blamed for the deaths of thousands of people and atrocities including rape, extrajudicial killings and forced evictions, according to local authorities and aid groups.

Eritrea teamed up with neighbouring Ethiopia in the conflict.

“The conflict has destroyed livelihoods and infrastructure … brought about mass killings, abductions and sexual violence,” Lowcock told Al Jazeera before adding that there was evidence pointing towards Eritrea using “starvation as a weapon of war”, a violation and breach of humanitarian law.

“There are now hundreds of thousands of people in northern Ethiopia in famine conditions.

“That’s the worst famine problem the world has seen for a decade. There is now a risk of a loss of life running into the hundreds of thousands or worse.”

He added there are more than a million people in places controlled by Tigrayan opposition forces and “there have been deliberate, repeated, sustained attempts to prevent them getting food”.

In addition, there are places controlled by the Eritreans and other places controlled by militia groups where it is extremely difficult to deliver aid, he said.

“The access for aid workers is not there because of what men with guns and bombs are doing and what their political masters are telling them to do,” the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said.

Lowcock said all the blockages need to be rolled back and the Eritreans, “who are responsible for a lot of this need to withdraw” so aid can get through to those facing famine.

“Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed needs to do what he said he was going to do and force the Eritreans to leave Ethiopia,” he said.

Lowcock said leaders of the seven major industrialised nations – the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy and Canada – need to put the humanitarian crisis and threat of widespread famine in northern Ethiopia on the agenda of their summit from June 11-13 in Cornwall, England.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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T. B. Joshua has died, church says

Temitope Balogun Joshua, a famous Nigerian preacher, televangelist, and founder of Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) has died.

The Church confirmed the news of his passing in a statement on Sunday morning, six days to the birthday of the pastor born in 1963.

According to the SCOAN, “On Saturday 5th June 2021, Prophet TB Joshua spoke during the Emmanuel TV Partners Meeting: “Time for everything – time to come here for prayer and time to return home after the service.”

It regrettably announced that “God has taken His servant Prophet TB Joshua home – as it should be by divine will. His last moments on earth were spent in the service of God. This is what he was born for, lived for and died for.

It added, “As Prophet TB Joshua says, “The greatest way to use life is to spend it on something that will outlive it””.

The Church extolled his virtues, stressing he is leaving a “legacy of service and sacrifice to God’s Kingdom that is living for generations yet unborn.”

According to SCOAN, the prophet’s last words were “Watch and pray.”

Thanking all well-wishers and sympathisers for their love, prayers and concern at such a difficult time, it requested privacy for his family.

The cause of death of the 57-year-old was not disclosed.

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Deliberate effort needed to create culture of innovation to improve economy – Africa Skills Hub

Programme Director of Africa Skills Hub, Anantu Ben-Lawal has called for a deliberate effort to create a culture of innovation if Ghana intends to turn its economy around.

She said there is the need to begin teaching innovation at the lower levels of education up to the university and a departure from the ’chew and pour” system to develop a framework that will enable the students to explore.

Miss Anatu added that universities should begin to look at designing programmes that are marketable to the business community.

“Our society is a reflection of what you put in,“ she emphasis.

She said this at the first in a series of innovation seminars organized by the Innovation Communication Department of the University for Development Studies (UDS) Nyankpala.

According to her, innovative technology creates new knowledge that enables one to create jobs and maximises time.

Miss Anatu said another problem is politicians lack the expertise to lead the quest towards developing the environment for business to strive.

She, however, called for collaboration between entrepreneurs to build big brands that can compete with the rest of the world.

Miss Anatu called on governments to develop business hubs to unearth new talents by teaching the youth about innovative businesses, support them with startup funds.

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Another COVID side effect: Many kids head to summer school

With her three teenagers vaccinated against COVID-19, Aja Purnell-Mitchell left it up to them to decide whether to go back to school during summer break.

The decision was unanimous: summer school.

“Getting them back into it, helping them socialize back with their friends, maybe meet some new people, and, of course, pick up the things that they lacked on Zoom,” the Durham County, North Carolina, mother said, ticking off her hopes for the session ahead, which will be the first time her children have been in the classroom since the outbreak took hold in the spring of 2020.

Across the U.S., more children than ever before could be in classrooms for summer school this year to make up for lost learning during the outbreak, which caused monumental disruptions in education. School districts nationwide are expanding their summer programs and offering bonuses to get teachers to take part.

Under the most recent federal pandemic relief package, the Biden administration is requiring states to devote some of the billions of dollars to summer programs.

The U.S. Education Department said it is too early to know how many students will sign up. But the number is all but certain to exceed the estimated 3.3 million who went to mandatory or optional summer school in 2019, before the pandemic.

In Montgomery, Alabama, for example, more than 12,000 of the school system’s 28,000 students signed up before the June 1 deadline. Typically about 2,500 go to summer school. Philadelphia had enrolled 14,700 by Friday and was expecting more for the mostly in-person programs, up from the 9,300 students in last summer’s all-virtual sessions.

“It’s an understatement to say the needs are greater this year,” said Kalman Hettleman, an education policy analyst in Maryland.

Hettleman worries most about the reading skills of disadvantaged younger students who were falling behind even before COVID-19 closed schools and were likely to encounter technological hurdles afterward.

“It’s not realistic to think that summer school, no matter how good and intense, will close all the gaps because many of these kids had gaps before the pandemic,” said Hettleman, who wants to see sessions mandatory for low-performing students in Baltimore. “But it will help, and it will at least give them a fighting chance if there are intense interventions during the regular school year.”

Las Vegas high school freshman Taylor Dennington never thought she would be in summer school, but there she was starting this past week — along with plenty of friends — after a year of remote learning.

“This year was such an unmotivating school year,” she said.

“It got to the point where I wasn’t doing ANY work, I was just going to class,” Dennington, who is taking biology and math, said in a text exchange. “I learn better in school than online. Being in a classroom where a teacher is present is so much better than waiting hours for an email back from your teacher.”

In North Carolina, Purnell-Mitchell’s children will have access to five or six weeks of full-day programs that include academics and activities like sports or music. Districts also will provide transportation and meals, thanks to the influx of federal spending.

Under a unanimously passed North Carolina law, the nearly 1 in 4 students deemed to be in danger of falling behind — about 200,000 students statewide — are being given priority for summer school, with extra slots open to others who want them. Some districts are inviting all of their students.

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Burkina Faso attack: More than 130 killed in village raid

Armed men have killed over 132 people in an attack on a village in northern Burkina Faso, the country’s worst attack in recent years, the government says.

Homes and the local market were burned during the overnight raid on Solhan.

No group has said it was behind the violence, but Islamist attacks are increasingly common in the country, especially in border regions.

The UN chief said he was “outraged” by the incident.

António Guterres “strongly condemns the heinous attack and underscores the urgent need for the international community to redouble support to member states in the fight against violent extremism and its unacceptable human toll,” his spokesperson said.

The Burkinabe President Roch Kabore declared three days of national mourning saying, in a tweet, that “we must stand united against the forces of evil”.

The security forces are currently looking for the perpetrators, he added.

• Critical stage for fight against jihadis in West Africa

In another attack on Friday night, 14 people were reported to have been killed in the village of Tadaryat, about 150km (93 miles) to the north of Solhan.

Last month, 30 people died in an attack in the east of Burkina Faso.

The country is facing a deepening security crisis, like many of its neighbours, as armed groups carry out raids and kidnappings across much of the region.

In May, the Burkinabe army launched a large-scale operation in response to a resurgence of militant attacks. Despite this, the security forces are struggling to prevent the violence that has forced more than a million people from their homes over the past two years.

Africa’s semi-arid Sahel region has been hit by an insurgency since militants captured large parts of northern Mali in 2012 and 2013.

French forces have been supporting troops from Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso to fight the militants.

But this week France halted cooperation with Mali over the recent coup there.

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ANGOLA’S COMMITMENT TO PRESERVATION OF SEAS HIGHLIGHTED

Lisbon – Angolan minister of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Maria do Rosário Sambo Saturday reiterated the country’s commitment to the execution of actions for the scientific development of techniques of defence of the seas to ensure the planet sustainability.

The minister was speaking at Ministerial High-Level Conference with theme Atlantic Cooperation in Research and Innovation for a sustainable ocean.

The event took place under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in Ponta Delgada Island, in Portugal.

 

The minister said that Angola has a large maritime zone of the Atlantic coast, one of the key elements for the wellbeing, profitability and security of the current and future generations.

 

Maria do Rosário Sambo defended the conservation and the sustainable of the oceans, seas and maritime resources, as laid down in the African Union Agenda 2063.

 

She said Angola is part of the Atlantic International Research Centre, a platform of scientific cooperation for production and knowledge and data sharing on space, atmosphere, the oceans and climate changes.

 

The minister spoke of the country’s availability to join the international partnerships, aimed at developing the specific scientific programmes to safeguard the Atlantic and its sustainability.

 

Accompanied by the Angola Ambassador to Portugal, Carlos Alberto da Fonseca, the minister attended the event as special guest of her Portuguese counterpart, Manuel Heitor.

 

The conference, which gathered specialists from various countries, discussed the role of the oceans in regulating the climate.

 

The participants also discuss blue economy, the bottom of the sea, the fisheries, the biodiversity, among others topics.

TRANSFORMATION OF SADC-PF INTO REGIONAL PARLIAMENT PRIORITY

Luanda - The development of SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) into a regional parliament is a priority agenda, according to the Executive Meeting of the regional body, held via videoconference from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC).

Speaking at the event, started last Friday, the Angolan Parliament Speaker, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, reiterated the country’s support for the transformation of SADC-PF into a regional parliament.

The Angolan MP, Amália Alexandre, called for the urgent need to launch the transformation process, in view of the 41st Summit of the heads of State and Government of SADC, scheduled for August in Malawi.

 

“We would like to have this agenda as part of this Summit”, said the MP.

 

The next meeting of SADC-PF Executive Commission will take place in Botswana.

 

Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum is a regional inter-parliamentary body created in 1997.

The aim of this Forum is to provide a platform to support and improve regional integration through parliamentary involvement, and promote best practices in the role of parliaments in regional integration and cooperation.

SADC comprises Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.