News & Announcements

An Ethiopian migrant has spoken of the hellish condition he and his countrymen/women are facing in what he called hellish detention in Saudi Arabia

He said from a filthy cell in Saudi Arabia, he spoke on a smuggled phone, fearing to give his name, saying some 300 countrymen are detained with him, he said. And no one knows when Ethiopia’s government might bring them home.

“We are detained in a very inhumane condition, sleeping on waste overflowing from a nearby toilet. We really want to go back home but no one is assisting us, including Ethiopian officials,” he told The Associated Press from a detention centre outside the Saudi capital, Riyadh. “We are beaten every day, and our only crime was seeking a better life in a foreign land.”

New details are emerging of the squalid detention conditions facing thousands of migrants from Ethiopia — men, women, and children — some who were chased across the border from Yemen into Saudi Arabia this year amid gunfire because of coronavirus fears.

A new report released Friday by Amnesty International describes widespread abuses in Saudi detention facilities, including beatings and electrocutions. Detainees described being chained together in pairs and being forced to use cell floors as toilets.

“Surrounded by death and disease, the situation is so dire that at least two people have attempted to take their own lives,” Amnesty researcher Marie Forestier says in the report. “Pregnant women, babies and small children are held in these same appalling conditions and three detainees said they knew of children who had died.”

The abuses highlight one of the most popular, and most dangerous, migrant routes in the world. The Saudi government did not immediately comment.

Thousands of Ethiopians cross into Saudi Arabia every year after a journey across the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden from Somalia or Djibouti and through conflict-torn Yemen, looking for better lives.

Amnesty International said thousands of Ethiopian migrants had been working in northern Yemen, earning money to pay for their passage to Saudi Arabia. “When the Covid-19 pandemic escalated, Houthi authorities began ordering migrant workers to go to the border, where they reportedly became caught in a crossfire between Saudi and Houthi forces,” the new report says.

The International Organization for Migration says some 2,000 Ethiopians are stranded on the Yemeni side of the border without food, water, or health care.

Now migrants say they are held in life-threatening conditions.

“I wouldn’t have left my country had I known this hellish condition would await me,” another detained migrant told the AP. 

“I had some suicidal thoughts in the past. It is just unbearable, especially during those very hot days, since we don’t have an air conditioner. And they beat us with electric cords whenever we complain. And they took all our money and cell phones.”

He said he was detained nine months ago because his Saudi residence card had expired. “The only thing I want now is to return to Ethiopia, but that’s just a dream for now,” he said. The detainees spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear for their safety.

The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated their repatriation, with Ethiopian authorities saying they don’t have the quarantine capacity to handle the return of so many people at once.

Ethiopia’s state minister at the foreign ministry, Tsion Teklu told the AP that up to 16 000 Ethiopians are estimated to be held in Saudi prisons. She said some 4 000 have been repatriated since April.

“We are now working to repatriate 2 000 more migrants by bringing around 300 of them every week,” she said, adding that Ethiopia has repatriated some 400 000 in recent years. “The problem is compounded with the fact that some of our citizens that are repatriated are re-trafficked.”

“If quarantine spaces remain a significant obstacle, other governments and donors must support Ethiopia to increase the number of spaces to ensure migrants can leave these hellish conditions as soon as possible,” Forestier said. “Nothing, not even a pandemic, can justify the continued arbitrary detention and abuse of thousands of people.”

Former President Ernest Koroma has lashed out at the President Julius Maada Bio-led Government of Sierra Leone over what he called a ceaseless attack on his person, which reached the crescendo with the former leader’s recent corruption indictment by the Commission of Inquiry, which also led to travel ban placed on him and a good number of the officials who served under him.

Koroma’s response through a strong-worded release he personally signed, is also coming on the heels of his invitation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to appear before it on Monday, October 5, 2020, in Freetown for an investigation into his involvement in corruption activities while he held sway as the country’s supremo.

According to the ACC, the investigation will probe into allegations of corruption and abuse of office, made by the Commission of Inquiry in their report and the government’s White Paper published last week.

Particularly, the ACC says it was investigating a number of allegations of corruption involving the former president, including his link to a Chinese mining company named –  Xin Lin, the procurement of 100 public service buses, a NASSIT funded market construction project, and several properties believed to be owned by the former president.

According to the report, the president is currently living in Makeni – northern Sierra Leone, and it is still doubtful whether he would honour the invitation timely.

The former president warns the government – “I will muster all available legitimate and democratic means to robustly defend my reputation which is being tarnished so mindlessly.”

According to the former president of Sierra Leone, this is his “preliminary statement on the release of the reports of the Commissions of Inquiry, the White Paper, and other hostile government actions”.

His reply read thus: “I have learned with utter disappointment about some of the defamatory contents of the Reports of the Commissions of Inquiry and the White Paper thereto pertaining to some of the activities I undertook while exercising my official functions as President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. I have also noted with utter dismay the Government’s hostility against me and some officials who served in my administration.

“While it is apparent that the allegations against me are without merit and are a politically motivated charade calculated to impugn my hard-earned reputation, I further believe that the government’s relentless heckling around me has reached undue and unacceptable levels that amount to political harassment.

“For ten years, I served my country diligently, fairly, and with honour and integrity. My government was widely recognised for its robust fight against corruption, for consolidating peace, rebuilding the country’s battered infrastructure, for improving the lives of our people in many ways, and for the peaceful, smooth democratic transition I superintended.

“It is unfortunate that the government has chosen this route to unduly tarnish my reputation because of politics. Such ridiculous political witch hunt does not only scare good and well-meaning citizens from getting involved in governance; it also has the propensity of undermining peaceful democratic transitions on the continent as current leaders following these unfortunate events in Sierra Leone might find it difficult to readily hand over power, especially to opposition political parties.

“On my part, whilst I will always support the fight against corruption and the quest for accountability in public office, I will muster all available legitimate and democratic means to robustly defend my reputation which is being tarnished so mindlessly. In that vein, I will once again defer to my lawyers to look into the Reports, the White Paper, and the series of maligning actions being instituted against me; to advise on my next course of action.”

President Donald Trump announced early Friday that he and his wife both tested positive for the coronavirus, an extraordinary development coming months into a global pandemic and in the final stretch of his reelection campaign in which he has flouted experts’ guidance on preventing the disease’s spread.

As reported by CNN, the diagnosis amounts to the most serious known health threat to a sitting American president in decades. At 74 years old and obese, Trump falls into the highest risk category for serious complications from the disease, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans and more than 1 million people worldwide.

His infection with the disease could prove to destabilize in an already fraught political climate, and stock market futures tumbled on news of Trump’s infection.

Trump tweeted: “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” Trump tweeted shortly before 1 a.m. Friday.

Later, the first lady wrote on Twitter that she and her husband were “feeling good.”

Trump was last seen in public on Thursday afternoon, returning to the White House after a fundraising trip to New Jersey. He did not appear ill, though he did not speak to reporters as he walked into his residence.

In a memo issued to reporters around 1 a.m. ET, the President’s physician, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley wrote that he received confirmation of the positive tests on Thursday evening.

“The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence,” Conley wrote.

“The White House medical team and I will maintain a vigilant watch, and I appreciate the support provided by some of our country’s greatest medical professionals and institutions,” Conley wrote, without elaborating what assistance was being provided to the White House.

“Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any further developments,” he wrote.

The President had said late Thursday night that he planned to quarantine after one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks, tested positive for the infection, bringing the disease into his innermost circle. Earlier in the night, he had downplayed the virus’s continued spread.

“The end of the pandemic is in sight,” he said during prerecorded remarks at the annual Al Smith dinner, held virtually because of the health crisis.

The opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) in Sierra Leone has responded to the President Julius Maada Bio-led government’s indictment of its members through the white paper from the Commission of Inquiry into corruption and abuse of office against them and the consequent threat to confiscate their properties.

The opposition made its stand known on Sunday and regretted the action taking by the present government in power in the country.

The statement from the opposition party, which was signed by Dr. Alhaji Osman Foday Yansaneh, the party’s National Secretary General, read:

“The All Peoples Congress (APC) notes, with no surprise, findings and recommendations contained in the Government White Paper and Reports of the Commissions of Inquiry (COI). 

“We observe with grave concern that the findings and recommendations are consistent with those contained in the Government Transition Team (GTT), report authored exclusively by members of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).

“The APC had registered its concern that the GTT Report maliciously targeted officials of the past APC government by investigating, indicting, and punishing them, even before the flawed Commissions of Inquiry were established. A case in point is the continued imposition of an unlawful travel ban on and freezing of bank accounts of past APC government officials, without any order of the High Court sanctioning the same.

“It is therefore discernible that the Commissions of Inquiry are the interpretations of the overt intentions of the GTT report: Members of the SLPP who served on the GTT assumed the roles of investigators, persecutors, interpreters and enforcers of the law. From the outset, the sole aim of the SLPP government was and has always been to unfairly malign and victimize APC stalwarts for political gains.

“The APC wishes it to be known that its leadership and members will support any accountability process that is fair, independent and accountable to the Constitution and the people of Sierra Leone.

Given that the Commissions of Inquiry set up by the SLPP the government were neither constitutional, fair, independent nor accountable, the APC Party hereby states in the strongest possible terms that the Government White Paper and COI reports are politically motivated, legally flawed and procedurally defective.”

The APC said further: “A COI process that is unaccountable to the Constitution of Sierra Leone, and deliberately refused to be scrutinized cannot, by the same stretch, scrutinize and hold Persons of Interest (POIs) accountable. The APC, therefore, rejects the findings and recommendations of the Government White Paper and COI report in their entirety.

“Some, among many other reasons which will be addressed in a due course that informed the APC’s decision, are as follows:

i. That from the inception, Members of Parliament of APC questioned the constitutionality of common paragraphs 6 Constitutional Instruments No. 64, 65, and 67 of 2018, setting up the Commissions of Inquiry on the basis that they are in contravention of section 150 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone Act No. 6 of 1991 (the Constitution). This objection was discountenanced by both SLPP Members of Parliament and expectedly the Executive Arm.

ii. That prior to the commencement of the COI proceedings, member of the APC whose rights are affected by the above Constitutional Instruments, by an Originating Notice of Motion, applied to the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone for an interpretation of, among other provisions, section 150 of the Constitution viz-a-viz common paragraphs 6 of the referred Constitutional Instruments, as provided by law. Joining the Legislative and Executive Arms, the Chief Justice of the Judiciary deliberately but compliantly refused and/or failed to impanel judges and assign the matter for hearing and determination. Similarly, the application filed by the Sierra Leone Bar Association, a non-political organisation, in respect of the same issue suffered the same fate.

iii. That upon the start of the COI proceedings, lawyers representing Persons of Interest raised the same objection that, the COIs could not start to conduct proceedings without rules governing their practice and procedure made by the Rules of Court Committee as provided for by section 150 of the Constitution. All three Commissioners overruled the objection, and wrongly asserted that they were empowered to make rules regarding the practice and the procedure of their respective COI.

iv. That further to the above, lawyers representing Persons of Interest, filed another application to the Supreme Court, seeking a review of the Commissioners’ rulings as provided for by the Constitution by filing an Originating Notice of Motion dated 28th May 2019. Again, the compliant Chief Justice with the Executive Arm failed, refused, and/or neglected to assign the matter for hearing and determination.

v. That the Commissioners of the COI in breach of section 150 of the Constitution and Order 62 rules 1 and 2 of the High Court Rules 2007, which give only the Chief Justice the power to prescribe Practice Directions issued Practice Directions dated 31st January 2019, adopting the High Court Rules 2007 in regard to proceedings of the COI. This further compounded the unconstitutionality and illegality of the COI and their proceedings.

“In view of the facts narrated above, the APC feels compelled to restate that the findings and recommendations in the Government White Paper and COI reports are a product of process marred by unconstitutionality, illegality, procedural corruption, political vindictiveness and malice.

“Let it be noted that the APC rejects and shall support Persons of Interest to challenge findings and recommendations of the Government White Paper and COI report politically, diplomatically, and legally at both local and international levels. The APC shall also assist Persons of Interest to address substantive issues contained in the Government White Paper and COI reports in due course, most of which are, from a cursory look, inaccurate, malicious, and borne out of a mis-appreciation of facts and law.

“An unconstitutional and unaccountable process cannot hold Persons of Interest most of whom are our members accountable. Period!

Mohamed Kallon, former captain of the Sierra Leone national team, has promised to change the perception of black coaches around the world.
Kallon, according to BBC, is aware of the challenges ahead of him to establish himself and work at the highest level in Europe.
The soon to be 41-year-old was talking after earning European football’s highest coaching qualification, the Uefa Pro Licence, in Italy.
The former Inter Milan and Monaco forward is aiming at changing the narrative surrounding black coaches.

“I know there are obstacles ahead if I want to coach in Italy because it’s difficult for a black coach to have a job there,” Kallon told BBC Sport Africa.
“It’s easier for Italian nationals to secure a coaching job than foreigners because of their system.
“The fact is that black qualified coaches do struggle to get jobs at big clubs in Europe because there’s the perception that they can’t perform at the highest level.
“It’s about time we change the narrative and I want to be part of it. We need to get three to four black coaches to break through, and we’ll be there.”

Kallon pointed out that it took time for black players to establish themselves at the highest levels in European football.
“There were not lots of African players playing in Europe 30 to 40 years ago but we got there after the breakthrough,” he added.
“Players like George Weah, Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Abedi Pele to name a few did well in Europe and got us recognised on the world stage.

“We’ve done it as footballers now we should do it as coaches. Let’s change our mindset and how people perceive us to be.
“We should believe in ourselves that we can deliver on the highest stage.”

Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at the behest of their Chairman, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, are set to discuss again the outstanding grey areas in the Mali political situation. 
President Muhammadu Buhari gave this hints on Monday, after receiving a briefing from ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali, former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, in Abuja.

Mali has appointed a civilian as Interim President, who will stay in office for 18 months, and lead the country back to constitutional order after the military had taken over power in the country.
It was part of irreducible demands by West African leaders before sanctions imposed on the country could be lifted.

However, according to the Special Envoy, the military leaders are yet to satisfy ECOWAS demand of a full civilian as Vice President, and what his roles would be in government. That position is currently being held by a serving military officer, who was also one of the leaders of the take-over.
President Buhari counseled the Special Envoy to present a formal report to the new ECOWAS Chairman, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, “who will then write us officially, and we then determine the next steps.”
The president said with about two-thirds of Mali currently under occupation by terrorists, “the priority of the military should be to secure their country,” rather than hold on to power.

Donald Trump paid just $750 (£580) in federal income tax both in 2016, the year he ran for the US presidency, and in his first year in the White House, the New York Times says.

The newspaper, which says it obtained tax records for Mr. Trump and his companies over two decades, also says that he paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years. The records reveal “chronic losses and years of tax avoidance”, it says.

Mr. Trump called the report “fake news”.

“Actually I paid tax. And you’ll see that as soon as my tax returns – it’s under audit, they’ve been under audit for a long time,” he told reporters after the story was published on Sunday.

“The IRS [Internal Revenue Service] does not treat me well… they treat me very badly,” he said.

Mr. Trump has faced legal challenges for refusing to share documents concerning his fortune and business. He is the first president since the 1970s not to make his tax returns public, though this is not required by law.

The Times said the information scrutinised in its report was “provided by sources with legal access to it”.

The report came just days before Trump’s first presidential debate with Democratic rival Joe Biden and weeks before the November 3 election.

The Times said it reviewed tax returns relating to President Trump and companies owned by the Trump Organisation going back to the 1990s, as well as his personal returns for 2016 and 2017.

It said the president paid just $750 in income taxes in both 2016 and 2017, while he paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years, “largely because he reported losing much more money than he made”.

Before becoming president, Mr. Trump was known as a celebrity businessman and property mogul, building an image of a hugely successful self-made billionaire which could be dented by the latest revelations, observers say.

But the newspaper says his reports to the IRS “portray a businessman who takes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year yet racks up chronic losses that he aggressively employs to avoid paying taxes”.

In an annual financial disclosure that he is required to make as president, President Trump said he made at least $434.9m in 2018. The newspaper disputes this, alleging that his tax returns show the president had instead gone into the red, with $47.4m in losses.

The Trump Organization joined the president in denying the allegations in the report. The company’s chief legal officer, Alan Garten, told the Times that “most, if not all, of the facts, appears to be inaccurate.”

“Over the past decade, President Trump has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal government, including paying millions in personal taxes since announcing his candidacy in 2015,” he said.

By using the term “personal taxes”, the New York Times points out, Mr. Garten appears to be conflating other federal taxes paid by Mr. Trump – such as social security, Medicare, and taxes for people who work in his household – with federal income tax.

The newspaper also claims that “most” of Mr. Trump’s biggest businesses – such as his golf courses and hotels – “report losing millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars year after year”.

“That equation is a key element of the alchemy of Trump’s finances: using the proceeds of his celebrity to purchase and prop up risky businesses, then wielding their losses to avoid taxes,” it says.

It adds that the president is personally responsible for more than $300m in loans, which will come due in the next four years.

The newspaper also alleges that some of President Trump’s businesses have received money from “lobbyists, foreign officials and others seeking face time, access or favour” from the president.

ECOWAS Gives Fresh Condition For Lifting Sanction On Mali
The ECOWAS has given fresh hurdles Mali must cross for its sanction on the country to be lifted despite transiting power to former defense chief, Bah N’daw.

This is even as the newly sworn-in President of the Country’s transition government, N’daw, has heaped encomiums on ECOWAS mediator and former President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria over the roles he played towards restoring normalcy in the country following the protracted crisis.
N’Daw stated this in Bamako at the inauguration of the Transition Government even as ECOWAS gave the indication that it would only lift sanctions on Mali after a new Prime Minister have been appointed to run the government of the Transition Administration.

Speaking on Jonathan’s activities as an ECOWAS mediator in Mali, the interim President thanked the former President for his involvement and encouragement towards resolving the crisis in Mali.
He said: “My gratitude goes to ECOWAS for its constant concern for our country. I also thank ECOWAS mediator, former Nigerian President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for the wise advice he has been giving to his Malian brothers and sisters since June this year. He is one of us now.

“I welcome his presence and I would like to assure him of the determination of the Malians to lead a stable, peaceful, and successful transition, under the agreed conditions and deadlines.”
 “I assure him (Jonathan) and ECOWAS that I am ready to make any sacrifice that will bring peace to Mali and make my country recover from its challenges. I will organize election on schedule and will not go outside the letters of the Transition charter.”
Meanwhile, there were strong indications that the sub-regional body would not lift the sanctions imposed on Mali until the leaders of the country complied with the decisions taken by the Heads of State and government at the meeting held in Accra, Ghana, last week. 

The ECOWAS Mediator, Jonathan, stated this at a press briefing in Bamako on Friday, stressing that the sanctions would not be lifted unless the new administration appoints a prime minister to run the government.
 A communique issued after a two-day visit to Bamako by the mediation team said: “Concerning the sanctions, in conformity with the decisions of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, following the swearing-in of the President of the Transition, they will be lifted once a civilian Prime Minister is appointed. A report on this issue will be submitted to the Chairman of ECOWAS.”

It stated further that the delegation demanded the immediate release of civilian and military personalities of the former regime who have been in detention since 18th August 2020. 
“One of them is the immediate past Prime Minister Boubou Cisse who Dr. Jonathan and other members of his delegation visited in detention at the Kati Barracks last Thursday.”
The communique said further: “The Mission recalled the importance and the urgency of appointing a civilian Prime Minister, Head of Government, who will be responsible for conducting, under the authority of the President of the Transition, the various reforms of the inclusive national dialogue and preparing for the forthcoming presidential and legislative elections.
“The Mission also reiterated the importance of obtaining the final and official version of the Transition Charter, taking into account the decisions of the ECOWAS Summits of Heads of State and Government.”
These decisions included the demand for the dissolution of the military administrative body known as the CNSP, the ban on the Vice-President in charge of Security and Defence, from replacing the President of the Transition, as well as the commitment to the agreed 18 months duration for the transition Government.

While in Mali the mediator inaugurated a newly established ECOWAS Monitoring Committee on the situation in Mali which comprised of the mediator himself, the chairperson of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, special representatives of both the United Nations and the African Union as well as ECOWAS representative in Mali.

Police In Nigeria Arrest Man For Killing, Burying Father In Shallow Grave
The Anambra State Police Command has arrested a 26 years old man, one Chisom Ogum for killing and burying his father in a shallow grave According to information on 9NEWS NIGERIA, the police, in collaboration with local vigilante group, arrested the suspect of Umuomaku Community in  Orumba South LGA of Anambra State after he allegedly ran amok in a circumstances yet to be ascertained, attacked and killed his own biological father one Christopher Ogum, aged 70 years of same address with a shovel and buried him in a shallow grave.

The suspect has been gathered, attempted to escape before he was apprehended and beaten to stupor by an angry mob who equally forced him to exhume the corpse of his father from where he buried it.
A statement made available to newsmen by the police said detectives visited the scene of a crime, photographed the victim, and took it to the mortuary for autopsy after it was certified dead by a medical doctor at Umunze general hospital.

The police noted that the offensive weapon used in perpetrating the offense was also recovered as an exhibit and the Commissioner of Police CP John B.Abang, has ordered for the case to be transferred to the State CID Awka for discreet investigation, please.

In a move seen by watchers as an attempt to end the sanction imposed in the country by ECOWAS, the military junta in Mali has appointed former foreign minister Moctar Ouane as the country’s interim prime minister, state television said on Sunday.

This is a move likely to trigger the lifting of sanctions imposed by the West Africa regional bloc in the aftermath of the military coup last month.

A veteran diplomat, Ouane, 64, served as Mali’s ambassador to the United Nations between 1995 and 2002, and as foreign minister between 2004 and 2011. 

The ECOWAS bloc had demanded a civilian leader be installed as a condition for lifting the sanctions.

Ouane’s appointment comes two days after retired Colonel Bah Ndaw was sworn in as the country’s president, and coup-leader Colonel Assimi Goita as vice president.

The men will be tasked with overseeing an 18-month transition back to civilian rule after the Aug. 18 overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.