News & Announcements

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year hold on power is set to end on Sunday when the parliament votes on a new government, ushering in an administration that has pledged to heal a nation bitterly divided over the departure of the country’s longest-serving leader.

Netanyahu, 71, the most dominant Israeli politician of his generation failed to form a government after Israel’s March 23 election, its fourth in two years.

According to Agency News, the new cabinet, which will be sworn in after a Knesset confidence vote it is expected to win, was cobbled together by centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid and ultra-nationalist Naftali Bennett.

Bennett, a hawkish hi-tech millionaire, will serve as prime minister for two years before Lapid, a former popular TV host, takes over.

They will head a government that comprises parties from across the political spectrum, including for the first time one that represents the 21-percent minority comprising Palestinian citizens of Israel. They plan largely to avoid sweeping moves on hot-button international issues such as policy towards the Palestinians while they focus on domestic reforms.

With little to no prospect of progress towards resolving the decades-long conflict with Israel, many Palestinians will be unmoved by the change of administration, saying Bennett will likely pursue the same right-wing agenda as Netanyahu.

Sunday’s crucial Knesset session is due to open at 4 pm local time (13:00 GMT), with Bennett, Lapid and Netanyahu all set to speak before the vote.

Celebrations by Netanyahu’s opponents to mark the end of his era began late on Saturday outside his official residence in Jerusalem, the site of weekly protests against the right-wing leader for the past year, where a black banner stretched across a wall read: “Bye-bye, Bibi, Bye-bye,” and demonstrators sang, beat drums and danced.

“For us, this is a big night and tomorrow will be even a bigger day. I am almost crying. We fought peacefully for this (Netanyahu’s departure) and the day has come,” said protester Ofir Robinski.

“We are celebrating a year of civil fights,” said Maya Arieli, a protester from Petach Tikva in central Israel. “Everybody told us that it won’t work. But, tomorrow a new government is going to be in Israel finally, and it proves that the civil fight works.”

Netanyahu, who served his first term as prime minister in the 1990s, won four more terms in succession from 2009 onwards. The face of Israel on the international stage, he has been a polarising figure, both abroad and at home.

Often referred to by his nickname Bibi, Netanyahu is loved by his hard-core supporters and loathed by critics. His ongoing corruption trial, on charges he denies, has only deepened the chasm.

His opponents have long reviled what they see as Netanyahu’s divisive rhetoric, underhanded political tactics and subjection of state interests to his own political survival. Some have dubbed him “Crime Minister” and have accused him of mishandling the coronavirus crisis and its economic fallout.

But for Netanyahu’s large and loyal voter base, the departure of “King Bibi” as some call him, may be difficult to accept. His supporters are angered by what they see as the country turning its back on a leader dedicated to its security and a bulwark against international pressure for any steps that could lead to a Palestinian state, even as he promoted diplomatic deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

None of those moves, however, nor the role he played in securing COVID-19 vaccines for the country’s record inoculation campaign, were enough to give Netanyahu’s Likud party enough votes to secure him a sixth term in office.

Bennett has drawn anger from within the right-wing camp for breaking a campaign pledge by joining forces with Lapid.

Netanyahu has called the prospective coalition “the greatest election fraud in the history” of Israel, and his Likud party said the accusations refer to Bennett entering a coalition that “doesn’t reflect the will of the voters”.

Bennett justified the move by saying another election, which would likely be called were no government formed, would have been a disaster for Israel.

Both he and Lapid say they want to bridge political divides and unite Israelis under a government that will work hard for all its citizens.

Their cabinet faces considerable diplomatic, security and financial challenges: Iran, a fragile ceasefire with Palestinian groups in Gaza, a war crimes probe by the International Criminal Court, and economic recovery following the coronavirus pandemic.

On top of that, their patchwork coalition of parties commands only a razor-thin majority in parliament, 61 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, and will still have to contend with Netanyahu – who is sure to be a combative head of the opposition.

Three Ivorian soldiers were killed on patrol near the border with Burkina Faso on Saturday when one of their vehicles hit an improvised explosive and the convoy was ambushed, Ivory Coast’s defense ministry said in a statement.

The soldiers, according to Reuters, were on a reconnaissance mission near the northeastern town of Tehini when they fell victim to what the ministry called a complex attack.

An additional four soldiers were wounded, it said in a statement on Sunday, without giving further details.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but previous attacks in the area have been blamed on jihadists. Armed groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State are active in Ivory Coast’s northern neighbours, Mali and Burkina Faso, and have made incursions south.

One soldier was killed when armed men attacked the nearby town of Tougbo on June 7. Ivory Coast and France on Thursday inaugurated a new counter-terrorism academy in the commercial capital Abidjan, intended to boost regional capacity to combat the growing Islamist threat. 

In their sustained attacks on educational facilities, particularly in the northern part of the country, gunmen late Thursday attacked Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic in Zaria, Kaduna State, in the North Central, killing one staff, abducting eight student and two lecturers, while another student was seriously injured in the process.

Mr Samuel Aruwan, the Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Kaduna State, said in a statement on Friday that ” Kaduna State Government has been briefed by security agencies of an attack by bandits at the main campus of the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria, late on Thursday night.”

“According to the briefing, the bandits invaded the staff quarters of the campus, shooting sporadically. In the process, two students were hit and sustained gunshot injuries. They were identified as:
Ahmad Muhammad and Haruna Isyaku Duniya.”

“They were rushed to the hospital for medical attention. Sadly, Ahmad Muhammad succumbed to his wounds and died early this morning. Haruna Isyaku Duniya is still receiving treatment.”

“Two lecturers and about eight students were abducted from the institution during the attack,” he said.

Aruwan said that Governor Nasir El-Rufai received the briefing with sadness and prayed for the repose of the soul of the student killed while sending condolences to his family. He wished the injured student a speedy recovery.

“As at the time of this update, senior government officials and security agencies are conducting security assessments and interfacing with the management and students of the institution. The public will be updated on further developments,” he said

A Palestinian teenager has been killed by Israeli fire during confrontations between protesters and Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian authorities said.

Aljazeera reports that the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Friday that “Mohammad Said Hamayel, 15, died in confrontations” with Israeli forces near Beita, south of Nablus, where dozens of Palestinians demonstrated against the expansion of a nearby illegal Jewish settlement at the expense of their land.

The Ministry of Health of Palestine said six others had been wounded by gunfire.

The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported that Israeli troops fired live rounds, tear gas and rubber-coated steel pellets at the demonstrators. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Hamayel is the eighth Palestinian child to be killed by Israeli forces this year and the third in Beita, which has witnessed protests in recent months after Israeli settlers built an outpost on the village’s Mount Sabih.

The livelihoods of at least 17 Palestinian families – more than 100 people – are threatened as they depend on harvesting their olives on land they have owned for generations.

In another protest in the village of Kufr Qaddoum, an eight-month-old baby suffered tear gas inhalation after Israeli forces targeted the family home of Loay Samir. Another 10-year-old child was wounded in the leg with a rubber-coated steel bullet.

Murad Shteiwi, the media coordinator for Kufr Qaddoum, said the Israeli army stormed the village under a heavy cover of live bullets, adding that they raided the homes of the Palestinian residents, climbed their roofs and used them as military barracks for their snipers.

Villages in the West Bank often hold Friday demonstrations against land confiscation, house demolitions and Israeli settlements deemed illegal under international law. Israeli forces usually respond to the protests with disproportionate violence.

Some 475,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, home to more than 2.8 million Palestinians.

On Thursday, Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians, including two security officers, in a shoot-out that erupted in the town of Jenin during what appeared to be an Israeli arrest raid overnight.

Turkey should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan under the 2020 deal for the pullout of foreign forces, a Taliban spokesman has said, effectively rejecting Ankara’s proposal to guard and run Kabul’s airport after the United States-led NATO forces depart.

The development raises serious questions for the US, other countries and international organisations with missions in Kabul about how to securely evacuate their personnel from landlocked Afghanistan, should fighting threaten the capital, Reuters news agency reported on Thursday.

It also appeared to dash Ankara’s hopes of using the securing of Kabul airport to help improve ties with Washington – strained by Turkey’s purchase of Russian defence systems – in talks set for Monday between President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Asked in a text message whether the Taliban rejected Turkey’s proposal to keep forces in Kabul to guard and run the international airport after other foreign troops leave, the Taliban spokesman in Doha responded that they should go as well.

“Turkey was part of NATO forces in the past 20 years, so as such, they should withdraw from Afghanistan on the basis of the agreement we signed with US on 29th Feb 2020,” Suhail Shaheen told Reuters.

“Otherwise, Turkey is a great Islamic country. Afghanistan has had historical relations with it. We hope to have close and good relations with them as a new Islamic government is established in the country in future,” he added.

Reuters reports that the State Department and the Turkish foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on Thursday with Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar to “discuss bilateral cooperation and regional issues,” the Pentagon said in a statement, which did not specifically mention Afghanistan.

Under the February 2020 deal between the Taliban and the US signed by former President Donald Trump’s administration, all US forces were to be out of Afghanistan by May 1.

But Biden said in April that the pullout would be completed by the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US that prompted the US-led invasion and removal of the Taliban government that sheltered the al-Qaeda group.

Turkish officials say they made the Kabul airport proposal at a NATO meeting in May when the US and its partners agreed to a plan to withdraw their forces by September 11 after 20 years of backing the Afghan government in a war against the Taliban.

With violence raging, many US legislators and current and former officials fear the departure of the foreign forces and stalled peace talks are pushing Afghanistan into an all-out civil war that could return the Taliban to power.

The Pentagon says the US withdrawal is more than 50 percent complete. Turkey, with more than 500 soldiers still in Afghanistan training security forces, now has the largest foreign military contingent there.

Australia closed its embassy last month because of security concerns. The Taliban’s effective rejection of the Turkish plan to secure the airport could prompt other countries to shutter their missions.

The development also poses a quandary for the Biden administration, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken promising as recently as this week at a Congressional hearing to maintain a US diplomatic presence in Kabul.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has given micro-blogging giants, Twitter, conditions for it to return to the country, saying there would be no dialogue until the American networking platform with 33 million subscribers are registered in Nigeria as a business entity.

The federal government also said that other social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, must also be registered so that Nigeria could be able to generate revenue from its operations.

Mr. Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister for Information and Culture, also reported on June 9, 2021, that Twitter had formally approached the Federal Government for dialogue to resolve the problem that led to the suspension of its activities in Nigeria.

At the end of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the presidential villa, the minister said he got the message from Twitter on June 9 seeking dialogue with the government over the suspension order.

He maintained that the social media giant was suspended on June 5, 2021, because it provided an avenue for unpatriotic elements that were bent on destroying the corporate existence of Nigeria.

According to him, the owner of Twitter helped to fund the recent protests against Nigerian police under #EndSARS campaign.

The protests in October 2020 witnessed spurious violence that led to the killing of more than 78 police personnel across Nigeria and destruction of critical infrastructure and property.

Twitter, Mohammed said, allowed the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), Mr Nnamdi Kanu, who is currently hiding in the UK, to use the platform to call for the killing of security agents and destruction of public facilities.

He said Twitter failed to take down Kanu’s tweets in spite of repeated requests to do so.

“Our decision to suspend Twitter has been lauded by some; it has been decried by some.

“But let me make it clear that what’s important to us is the sovereignty of Nigeria and until when Twitter is paused.

“And the cardinal thing is that Twitter must be registered in Nigeria, Twitter must be licenced in Nigeria and Twitter must stop using its platform for activities that are inimical to the growth of Nigeria or to its corporate existence.”

According to the government spokesman, freedom of speech has not been stifled by the suspension of Twitter. He maintained that Nigerians can still use other platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

He also denied that the suspension is not effective, arguing that that “Twitter is losing money as a result of the action”.

The tiff with Twitter hit the roof when the platform deleted a tweet in which President Muhammadu Buhari warned those trying to pull Nigeria down.

In the tweet, President Buhari warned that “a rude shock” awaits unpatriotic elements promoting insurrection and burning critical assets across the country.

The tweet read, “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”

A high-level UN-led committee that focuses on rapid responses to humanitarian crises estimated about 350,000 people in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region are facing famine conditions.

The 350,000 figure was presented at a meeting on Monday of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, comprising 18 UN and non-UN organisations chaired by UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock.

The analysis, which diplomats said could be released publicly as soon as Thursday, found millions more across Tigray required “urgent food and agriculture/livelihoods support to avert further slides towards famine”, Reuters news agency, which viewed the document, reported.

Mituku Kassa, head of Ethiopia’s National Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Committee said on Thursday a declaration of famine would be incorrect. He accused the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) of attacking aid convoys.

“We don’t have any food shortage,” he told the news conference, adding more than 90 percent of people have been provided with the aid by five operators.

“TPLF remnant forces … attack the personnel, they attack the trucks with food,” said Kassa. TPLF officials were not immediately available for comment.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday that UN staff on the ground report the continuing blocked movements of aid, and interrogation, assault, and detention of humanitarian workers at military checkpoints. There has also been looting and confiscation of “humanitarian assets and supplies” by parties to the conflict, he said.

Some areas of Tigray remain inaccessible, Dujarric said, and inaccessible areas “the situation is dire, including dysfunctional water systems and limited or no health facilities”.

“Levels of food insecurity and malnutrition are at alarming levels,” Dujarric said.

“Preliminary field reports from Axum and Adwa in the central zone indicate visible signs of starvation among internally displaced people. In a community in the northwestern zone of Tigray, aid workers noted a severe need for food after the burning or looting of harvests.”

Last Friday, Lowcock warned famine was imminent in Tigray and in the country’s north, saying there is risk hundreds of thousands of people or more will die.

No one knows how many thousands of civilians or combatants have been killed since months of political tensions between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and Tigray leaders.

Eritrea, a longtime Tigray enemy, teamed up with neighbouring Ethiopia in the war launched by Addis Ababa last November.

A displaced woman and child collect water in Tigray’s capital Mekele last February [Eduardo Soteras/AFP]

Ethiopia’s embassy in London said in a statement on Saturday the government “takes its responsibility to end the current suffering of the people of Tigray very seriously and has so far made concerted efforts to comprehensively respond to the humanitarian needs on the ground, in coordination with local and international partners”.

Famine has been declared twice in the past decade – in Somalia in 2011 and in South Sudan in 2017, according to the IPC. UN agencies, aid groups, governments and other relevant parties use the IPC to work together to determine the severity of food insecurity.

The UN has criticised the lack of access to all areas of Tigray for humanitarian workers seeking to deliver aid.

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

“We are hearing of starvation-related deaths already,” he said in a statement, urging the international community “to wake up” and “really step up” including with money.

In late May, Lowcock said since the war began an estimated two million people had been displaced.

Thousands of civilians were killed and wounded, rape and other forms of “abhorrent sexual violence” were widespread and systematic, and essential infrastructure destroyed including hospitals and agricultural land, he said.

Zweli Mkhize, the South African Health Minister, was on Tuesday suspended by President Cyril Ramaphosa, following allegations that his department irregularly awarded COVID-19-related contracts to a communications company controlled by his former associates.

Before Ramaphosa’s statement, the minister apologised for the public rage over the allegations, the latest in a series linked to coronavirus-related tenders that have angered a public suffering pandemic-induced economic hardship. Mkhize has denied any personal wrongdoing.

Ramaphosa, who has promised that graft during the COVID-19 pandemic will be dealt with harshly, said the special leave would enable Mkhize to answer an investigation into contacts between his department and service provider Digital Vibes.

Mkhize said: “I fully acknowledge and take personal responsibility for the public outrage that has been caused by this Digital Vibes contract.”

“The negative discourse has … tainted the teamwork of our government that is led by the president in our continued efforts to fight COVID-19. … For all of this I want to unreservedly apologise,” he added.

Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane will serve as acting minister of health until further notice, Ramaphosa’s office said.

The Special Investigating Unit has said a probe it is conducting is nearing completion. The report will be given to Ramaphosa to decide on further action.

In May, Mkhize said a forensic investigation had found that the process of appointing Digital Vibes, headed by his former personal assistant and secretary, was irregular, as was more than 150 million rands ($11 million) paid to the firm.

Daily Maverick, which first broke the news of the contract in February, said the firm was appointed in late 2019 to provide communications services for the government’s National Health Insurance roll-out.

The scope of work was extended in March 2020 to include COVID-19-related communication.

The two minority caucuses of the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives in the National Assembly have asked Nigerians nationwide to ignore the ban on Twitter operations and the concomitant of threats of arrest by the federal government and continue tweeting.

In a statement jointly signed by the leaders of the two Caucuses, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe for the Senate and Hon. Ndudi Elumelu for the House on Wednesday, the minority lawmakers said that the ban runs at variance with the provisions of Articles 19 and 20 of the United Nations Charter on Fundamental Human Rights, which Nigeria is a signatory to, as well as provisions of Sections 39 and 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The minority lawmakers regretted that Nigerians have already lost billions of Nigeria due to the ban and lambasted the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government for abandoning more significant issues like insecurity yearning for attention for trivia issues.

The statement read in parts: “The Joint Minority Caucus of the Senate and the House of Representatives has met over the ban on Twitter by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government and restates its condemnation of the embargo as draconian and unacceptable. 

“The Joint Minority Caucus also dismisses threats by the APC-led government to arrest and prosecute Nigerians using Twitter and calls on Nigerians to go ahead and use their Twitter as they would not be contravening any law in Nigeria or any international statute.

“The Joint Minority Caucus recognizes the provisions of Articles 19 and 20 of the United Nations Charter on Fundamental Human Rights, which Nigeria is a signatory to, as well as provisions of Sections 39 and 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and notes that by these provisions no one will be violating any law for using Twitter in Nigeria.

“As lawmakers, the Joint Caucus is pained by the anguish Nigerians, especially the youths, who find the use of Twitter as a means of livelihood and genuine social interaction, are passing through just because the APC-led Federal Government feels slighted that an individual’s post, was deleted by Twitter for ethic violation.

“The joint caucus, therefore, call on Nigerians to use various opportunities offered by technology and continue making use of Twitter since such does not violate any law in our country.

“It is agonizing that Nigeria and Nigerians have been losing billions of naira on daily basis since the ban on Twitter. This is completely unacceptable as it is worsening the already biting economic hardship and frightening unemployment level in the country.

“Moreover, the ban on Twitter in Nigeria appears to be in favour of criminal and terrorist elements, whose activities fester in an environment of suppressed information flow.

“The Joint Minority Caucus sympathizes with the organized private sector, manufacturing and service providing companies, small and medium enterprises, online businesses owners and other hardworking entrepreneurs across the country, whose genuine business and means of livelihood have been crippled by the unwarranted ban on Twitter by the APC federal government.

“It also identifies with our students, research-based organization, media houses, the organized civil society, faith-based organizations, community groups among others, whose information-based activities have been violently disrupted by the ban.

“In the same vein, the Joint Caucus sympathizes with regional, states, local government as well as members of the international community, whose genuine and constructive activities have been crippled by the prohibition of twitter in Nigeria

“It also identifies with traditional rulers, who have even found Twitter as a means of communicating with the constituents, especially in this era of insecurity in the country.

“The Joint Caucus vehemently berates the APC-led government for abandoning its duty of addressing the serious economic and security problems confronting our nation to rather focus on dissipating energy victimizing Nigerians over their disagreement with Twitter for deleting a post by an individual.

“The Caucus counsels the Federal Government to swallow its pride, accept its misdoing and go and settle whatever issue it has with Twitter instead of this resort to inflicting pains on Nigerians.”

Three children of the late former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe have filed a court application challenging a traditional chief’s order for the body to be exhumed and reburied at the National Heroes Acre.

According to the court documents, Bona Mutsahuni Mugabe (Executor of the Estate of late Robert Mugabe), Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe and Tinotenda Robert Mugabe argue that Chief Zvimba, whose real name is Stanley Wurayayi Mhondoro, acted outside his jurisdiction when he approached the village court to summon their mother, former First Lady Grace Mugabe, to answer to accusations that she broke with tradition when she buried her late husband.

Fungai Chimwemurombe, the lawyer representing the three children confirmed that he has filed a Notice of Appeal at the Chinhoyi Magistrates’ Court and the case will be heard on June 29, 2021.

“They disagree with Chief Zvimba’s judgment and they feel the traditional court should not have heard the case in the first place because the case is outside its jurisdiction and interestingly government was involved in Mugabe’s burial in Zvimba,” said Chimwemurombe

Chimwemurombe said the court case indicates that the three children are not happy about Chief Zvimba’s actions.

“Since the Mugabe family is not happy with the outcome of the lower court we are looking at what the law states. The case that the magistrate will be looking at is whether it was proper for the traditional court to have heard the case. For now, we can’t say more since the case is now before the courts,” said Chimwemurombe.

Mrs. Mugabe, according to www.voazimbabwe.com, did not attend the village court hearing, which ruled in Chief Zvimba’s favour, and ordered Mrs. Mugabe to exhume and rebury her late husband’s remains at Heroes Acre, and also pay a fine of five cows and two goats as punishment for burying Mugabe at his homestead in Kutama, Zvimba.

Reached for comment about the Notice of appeal, a person who answered Chief Zvimba’s mobile phone told VOA Studio 7 that Chief Zvimba won’t comment since he was the presiding officer at the traditional court.

“You can’t ask the chief such questions. The chief just presided over a case go and ask the appellant,” the unnamed person who answered the phone, said.