Category: General

DAKAR —

About 50 people were sentenced to death in Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday in connection with the murders of U.N. experts Zaida Catalan and Michael Sharp in 2017, a human rights group tracking the trial said.

A local immigration official was among those given death sentences while an army colonel was given 10 years in prison, said Thomas Fessy, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher on Congo. Congo has observed a moratorium on the death penalty since 2003 so those convicted will serve life sentences.

But Fessy and Catalan's sister said investigators had ignored the potential involvement of higher-level officials and the trial had not revealed the truth.

Catalan, a Swede, and Sharp, an American, were investigating violence between government forces and a militia in the central Kasai region in March 2017 when they were stopped along the road by armed men, marched into a field and executed.

Five year trial

Congolese officials have blamed the killings on the Kamuina Nsapu militia. They initially denied any state agents were involved but later arrested the colonel and several other officials who they said were working with the rebels.

After a nearly five-year trial marked by repeated delays and the deaths of several defendants in custody, a military court in the city of Kananga delivered its verdict on Saturday.

Among those sentenced to death was Thomas Nkashama, a local immigration official who met with Catalan and Sharp the day before their fatal mission, Fessy told Reuters. Others were alleged members of the militia.

Colonel Jean de Dieu Mambweni, who also met with Catalan and Sharp before their mission, was sentenced to 10 years, Fessy said.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers in the case were not immediately available for comment.

Sister urges more questions

Catalan's sister, Elisabeth Morseby, said after the verdict that testimony in the case was of dubious reliability given how much time the defendants had spent together in prison and said the conviction of Mambweni was a smokescreen.

"In order for the truth to emerge, all suspects, including those higher up in the hierarchy, need to be questioned, which has not yet been done," she told Reuters.

Sharp's mother, Michele, said she was glad some perpetrators were being held accountable, but wondered who gave the orders.

"Surely someone in the upper echelons of power," she said. "We await further developments."

Prosecutors say they have followed the available evidence.

Fessy said there were still more questions than answers after the verdict.

"The investigation and ultimately this trial have failed to uncover the full truth about what happened. Congolese authorities, with U.N. support, should now investigate the critical role that senior officials may have played in the murders," he said.

Ann Linde, Sweden's foreign minister, echoed that call on Twitter: "Crucial that investigation concerning others involved continues to further uncover truth and bring justice. We encourage authorities to fully cooperate with the UN mechanism."

Source: Voice of America

GENEVA —

The U.N, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, warns it may be forced to end its humanitarian operation in northern Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray province because supplies are running out.

Intense fighting in northern Ethiopia has prevented aid from getting through to millions of destitute people in Tigray since mid-December.

OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke says U.N. and private aid agencies already have been forced to scale back operations because of severe shortages of supplies, fuel and cash.

“Organizations have warned that operations could cease completely by the end of February,” said Laerke. "Nutrition supplies for supplementary feeding and treatment of severe acute malnutrition have already run out.”

The World Food Program says 13 percent of Tigrayan children under the age of five, and half of all pregnant and breastfeeding women are malnourished, a condition that increases the risk of infection and death.

Laerke says international aid agencies operating in Tigray report their last fuel stocks were depleted on January 24. Since then, he says aid workers have been delivering the little remaining humanitarian supplies and services on foot, where possible.

“We have seen in recent days — of course, the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service has picked up again and they are delivering. But you cannot deliver by plane at all, the kind of volumes of aid that is clearly needed in this situation,” said Laerke.

War between Ethiopian government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front broke out in November 2020. Since then, the conflict has spread to the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, displacing hundreds of thousands, and pushing up rates of hunger and malnutrition.

Unlike the situation in Tigray, Laerke says aid agencies can scale up assistance in accessible parts of Amhara and Afar. He says food has been distributed to more than half-a-million people in Amhara during the past week, and nearly 380,000 people in Afar have been reached in an ongoing round of food distribution.

Source: Voice of America

Here's a look at what U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top diplomats have been doing this week:

US, Russia, Ukraine

Following consultations with various European partners as well as Ukraine, the United States and NATO provided written responses to Moscow addressing Russia's renewed security demands — the latest moves in diplomatic maneuvering aimed at heading off armed conflict.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan delivered the document in person Wednesday to Russia's Foreign Ministry. Separately, NATO transmitted to Russia its own responses regarding European security in a document described by officials as a few pages in length.

US Responds to Russia's Security Demands, Renewing Call for Diplomacy

Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman assessed that China's hosting of the Winter Olympics early next month was a factor in Russian President Vladimir Putin's calculation of military actions against Ukraine.

"We all are aware that the Beijing Olympics begin on February 4 — the opening ceremony — and Putin is expected to be there," Sherman said. "I think that probably President Xi Jinping would not be ecstatic if Putin chose that moment to invade Ukraine. So, that may affect his timing and his thinking."

On Sunday, the State Department ordered the departure of eligible family members from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and authorized the voluntary departure of U.S. direct-hire employees amid the continued threat of Russian military action against Ukraine. The State Department also asked U.S. citizens in Ukraine to consider departing the country via commercial or other privately available transportation options.

US Orders Departure of Family Members of Ukraine Embassy Staff

Burkina Faso

The State Department said it was watching closely "the fluid situation" in Burkina Faso, where a military junta ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore. But the U.S. said it was "too soon" to officially characterize the events in Burkina Faso as a coup.

"We call for the immediate release of President Kabore and other government officials, and for members of the security forces to respect Burkina Faso's constitution and civilian leadership. We urge all sides in this fluid situation to remain calm and to seek dialogue as a means to resolve grievances," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said this week during a press briefing.

Burkina Faso Soldiers Say They Deposed President

US-Iran

The United States warned Iran was just weeks from developing the capacity to make a nuclear weapon. The alarm came amid indirect negotiations between the two countries seeking a mutual return to compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal.

"[Iran] is getting to the point where its breakout time, the time it would take to produce fissile material for a bomb, is getting down to a matter of a few weeks," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a virtual event Monday. How the U.S. and its allies would deal with the risks will be decided soon, Blinken said, adding that "given what Iran is doing, we can't allow this to go on."

As Iran Nears Uranium Breakout Capacity, US Mulls Bomb-Making Scenarios

Human trafficking

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department released its annual "Trafficking in Persons Report." Blinken called for other countries to improve "collective efforts to comprehensively address human trafficking," as the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem.

State Department Releases Annual Trafficking in Persons Report

Source: Voice of America

LUANDA— The Tuckers of Virginia, descendants of the first enslaved Africans to come to North America, recently traveled to Angola, the birthplace of their ancestors.

The Tuckers are believed to be descendants of two of the first enslaved Africans to land in English North America at Point Comfort in 1619, which is currently Hampton, Virginia. Those first enslaved Africans came from Angola.

Vincent Tucker and his sister, Wanda, were among the Tucker family that visited Angola last month for five days to have a sense of connection with their forebears in Africa. Vincent and Wanda are the founders of The William Tucker 1624 Society, an organization that researches the life of William Tucker, who “became the first documented African child born in English-occupied North America.” The Society also researches the life of William’s descendants; many still live in Hampton.

Vincent and his family said they took the trip to Angola at the invitation of the country’s president, João Lourenco. Lourenco had visited Washington D.C. some months back and toured the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. And that was where he met the Tuckers and invited them to his country to know more about the history of their ancestors.

“My mind began to bring everything together,” Vincent Tucker said of the trip, according to 13 News Now. “The stories I’ve been hearing, they started coming alive.”

The Virginia family said one of the most emotional moments of their trip was dipping their feet in the Kwanza River, which served as an access point for slave ships on their way to the port of Luanda.

“We can just imagine how that journey was for the enslaved — taken down to the river and being hauled away. It was very touching,” said Vincent.

Historical accounts had previously believed that the first Africans came from the Caribbean, but later details showed that they came from the kingdom of Ndongo, in present-day Angola. According to the Hampton History Museum, they were captured there by Portuguese colonists and sent to the port of Luanda on board the slave ship São João Baptista. The ship, in all, carried about 350 enslaved people and was on its way to Veracruz, in present-day Mexico when it was intercepted by the English ship, the White Lion.

“The British crew robbed part of the Portuguese cargo, including a few dozen African captives – among those who had survived the brutal journey thus far. A few days later, it was at Point Comfort that the British vessel finally landed, in the hopes of trading the enslaved Africans for food and supplies,” a report by France 24 said.

According to the Tucker family from Hampton, Virginia, years ago, they used ‘ground-penetrating radar’ to search a piece of their property and found 104 unmarked graves. Members of the Tucker family believe that those graves are the remains of their ancestors, who were among the first enslaved Africans to arrive in 1619.

For the Tuckers, connecting to where they came from means accepting where they are today. Following their five-day visit to Angola, the Tuckers told 13 News Now that since people in both the U.S. and Angola are still learning the history of 1619 and how it has impacted life today, the hope is to build partnerships between the two countries not only educationally but economically.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

ZURICH (Switzserland)— President of the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, has expressed his condolences to the victims of Monday’s accident involving fans who attempted to enter the Yaoundé Olembe Stadium to watch the Africa Cup of Nations match between Cameroon and Comoros.

In a letter released Tuesday, the world football governing body expressed its deepest sympathies to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Cameroonian Football Association (CFA), families, and friends of victims who were involved in this heartbreaking incident.

The letter stated that “FIFA sends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims who lost their lives following the tragic incident that took place at Olembe Stadium during the Africa Cup of Nations fixture between Cameroon and Comoros.”

“The thoughts and prayers of the global football community are with the victims, the ones who have been injured in this incident, and all the staff of both CAF and the Cameroonian Football Association (FECAFOOT) at this difficult moment.”

Eight people were killed and many more injured in a crush as crowds attempted to enter through a southern entrance at Olembe stadium in the capital Yaounde to watch the host nation play Comoros.

Eight deaths were recorded, two women in their thirties, four men in their thirties, one child, one body taken away by the family, according to a preliminary health ministry report.

Cameroon’s Communication Ministry also confirmed that 38 people have been injured, out of which 31 were with minor injuries and seven with severe injuries.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK