Day: August 14, 2022

Tigrayan rebels denied they have had “direct engagements” with the Ethiopian government, following a statement by the African Union which has been leading a push to end the 21-month conflict.

Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said an AFP story that cited an AU statement was “pure fabrication”.

“Such engagement simply didn’t happen!” he said on Twitter.

In a statement dated Aug 4, the AU’s Peace and Security Council said it “commends the AU High Representative for the direct engagements between the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)”.

Government forces have been at war with the TPLF since November 2020 but in recent weeks both sides have mooted the possibility of peace talks.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government wants any negotiations to be led by the AU, but the rebels want Kenya’s outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta to mediate.

TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael has also insisted that key services would have to be restored in Tigray before dialogue could begin.

In its statement, the AU council called on the warring sides “to place the supreme interests of Ethiopia and its people above all else and embrace inclusive political dialogue as the only viable approach towards finding a consensual solution to the current situation”.

It also urged international partners to support AU-led mediation under former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo “as the only viable and effective approach towards finding a negotiated lasting solution to the situation in Ethiopia”.

Fighting has eased in northern Ethiopia since a humanitarian truce was declared at the end of March, allowing the resumption of desperately needed international aid convoys to Tigray’s six million people.

Since the war broke out, Ethiopia’s northernmost region has suffered food shortages and access to basic services such as electricity, communications and banking has been severely limited.

In November 2020 Abiy ordered troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF, accusing the rebels of attacking federal army camps.

The TPLF mounted a shock comeback in June last year, retaking Tigray and expanding into neighbouring Afar and Amhara, before the war reached a stalemate.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Egypt’s health ministry says that 41 people were killed when a fire broke out in a Coptic church in the densely populated Cairo suburb of Imbaba. Witnesses say the fire started following a short circuit in an air conditioning unit.

People shouted and screamed as the fire raged on the top floors of the Martyr Abu Sefein Church. Witnesses say it took firefighters three hours to arrive at the scene. Many of the victims were children.

Egyptian media, quoting eyewitnesses, reported that the fire started after a power outage at the church caused an electrical generator to turn lights and air conditioning units on, triggering a short circuit in one of them.

Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly, along with General Ahmed Rashed, the governor of the Giza province where the church is located, went to the scene of the fire. They presented the government’s condolences along with pledges to help the families of the victims.

Madbouly said he and members of his government inspected the site of the fire and are prepared to pay 100,000 Egyptian pounds to the families of those who died and 20,000 pounds to families of those who were injured, in addition to providing top notch treatment to victims who were hospitalized.

One-hundred-thousand Egyptian pounds equals about 5,214 U.S. dollars. Twenty-thousand pounds would be just over 1,000 dollars.

Authorities have also pledged to set up technical and engineering committees to investigate the cause of the fire.

Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek told VOA that the church is located in a neighborhood full of narrow streets and alleyways. The area was a battle zone between government forces and Islamic militants in 1990.

“[Coptic churches] are usually located in very poor areas, overcrowded, and this is Sunday service by the way, and that is why [we are seeing] the high toll,” Sadek said. “Because they exist in overcrowded areas — usually alleys — civil defense and fire brigades cannot reach them very quickly, so this is a problem.”

The incident came nine years to the day government security forces evacuated a Muslim Brotherhood sit-in camp in the north of Cairo, resulting in a large number of casualties.

Source: Voice of America

NAIROBI- Additional riot police were deployed inside Kenya’s national election tallying center overnight, after a crowd of men scuffled in the early hours of Sunday and a party official shouted accusations into the microphone.

The fracas underscored fraying tempers and high tensions within the national counting hall as the country waits for official results from last Tuesday’s election. There were wry digs online over the melee from citizens pointing out that the rest of the nation is waiting patiently.

In the presidential race, results so far show a tight race between left-leaning opposition leader Raila Odinga and self-made businessman Deputy President William Ruto.

But confusion over vote tallying by the media and a slow pace by the electoral commission have fed anxiety in Kenya, which is East Africa’s richest and most stable nation but which has a history of violence following disputed elections.

Reuters was unable to get access to the official running vote tally for the presidential race on Sunday. A live feed displaying the results at the national tallying center had disappeared hours ago.

When asked about the tally, a spokeswoman for the commission referred Reuters to the live feed. Other electoral officials said they were unable to provide the information.

Officially verified results on Saturday with just over 26% of votes counted put Odinga in the lead with 54% of the vote, while Ruto had 45%.

The winner must get 50% of votes plus one. The commission has seven days from the vote to declare the winners.

A Reuters tally of 255 out of 291 preliminary constituency-level results at 0900 GMT on Sunday showed Ruto in the lead with 52% and Odinga at just over 47%. Two minor candidates shared less than 1% between them.

Reuters did not include 19 forms in the count because they lacked signatures, totals, were illegible or had other problems.

The preliminary tally is based on forms that are subject to revision if any discrepancies are discovered during the official verification process.

The many checks and balances are designed to try to prevent the kind of allegations of rigging that provoked violence in 2007, when more than 1,200 people were killed, and in 2017, when more than 100 people were killed.

Chaos at the counting hall

Odinga and Ruto are vying to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has served his two-term limit. Kenyatta fell out with Ruto after the last election and has endorsed Odinga for president.

Kenyatta leaves power having laden Kenya with debt for expensive infrastructure projects and without having tackled the endemic corruption that has hollowed out all levels of government. The next president will also take on rapidly rising food and fuel costs.

Ruto’s strong showing reflects widespread discontent with Kenyatta’s legacy — even in parts of the country where the president has previously swept the vote.

Large numbers of Kenyans also did not vote, saying neither candidate inspired them.

On Sunday, Ruto’s party member Johnson Sakaja won the governorship of the capital Nairobi, the wealthiest and most populous of the 47 counties.

Tensions at tallying center

As the tight race continued, party agents have grown increasingly agitated at the tallying center, known as Bomas.

Late on Saturday, Raila Odinga’s chief agent Saitabao ole Kanchory grabbed a microphone and announced “Bomas of Kenya is a scene of crime,” before officials switched off his microphone.

Party agents scuffled with each other, with police and with election officials, at one point trying to drag one official outside.

The scenes, broadcast on national news, were met with bemusement by Kenyans, who urged their leaders to grow up.

“The reckless behavior at Bomas by so-called leaders, which can fast ignite the country, must be called out,” tweeted Alamin Kimathi, a human rights activist. “Let the drama end. Let the process continue.”

Source: Voice of America