Several others wounded after attackers, armed with guns and machetes, stormed school in city of Kumba, Southwest Region. Published by Al Jazeera 24 October 24, 2020 - Updated October 25, 2020. An empty classroom following the attack at a school in Kumba, Cameroon, on Saturday. [My Media Prime Tv/Reuters] At least eight children were killed and a dozen wounded after attackers stormed a school in southwestern Cameroon with guns and machetes, the United Nations said. Arriving on motorbikes and in civilian clothes, the men attacked the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in the city of Kumba, in the country’s Southwest Region, at around midday on Saturday. There was no immediate cla
Release Those Held Arbitrarily; End Crackdown on Dissent Published by HRW on October 19, 2020. A demonstrator in Cameroon carries a sign calling for the liberation of detained activists [Getty Images/AFP] (Nairobi) – Cameroonian security forces fired tear gas and water cannons and arrested hundreds of people, mainly opposition party members and supporters, to disperse peaceful protests across the country on September 22, 2020. Many peaceful protesters were beaten and mistreated while being arrested and in detention. Cameroon’s authorities should immediately release all those held for their political views or for exercising their right to peacefully assemble. The African Union (AU), the Afri
The Gambia submits a case against Myanmar for the Rohingya genocide. (BANGKOK, October 23, 2020)—The Government of Myanmar should immediately comply with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders to prevent ongoing acts of genocide and preserve evidence of genocide against Rohingya Muslims, said Fortify Rights today. The Gambia today filed a more than 500-page Memorial, which also includes more than 5000 pages of supporting material, in its lawsuit against Myanmar at the ICJ in The Hague, making its case for how the Government of Myanmar is responsible for genocide against Rohingya. “Today is another step towards justice for Rohingya,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at For
Governments convene to raise US$1 billion for Rohingya relief. (BANGKOK October 21, 2020)—Donor governments seeking to raise one billion dollars in aid for Rohingya should acknowledge the crimes perpetrated against them in Myanmar as genocide and crimes against humanity, Fortify Rights said today. Tomorrow, the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and the U.N. refugee agency will co-host a virtual donor conference to raise humanitarian funds for displaced Rohingya and host communities. “Genocide is the root cause of the humanitarian needs, and governments should acknowledge that,” said Matthew Smith, Fortify Rights Chief Executive Officer. “If we ever hope to live in a world free f
The shooting of peaceful protestors has highlighted the injustice and state brutality that have fuelled this movement. Published by The Guardian on October 21, 2020. Pius Utomi Ekpei - Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Nigeria’s flag is stained with blood once more. Protestors were clutching it as security forces opened fire at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos late on Tuesday. The state’s governor denied that anyone was shot dead, but witnesses spoke of multiple fatalities among the hundreds gathered in defiance of a curfew. The #EndSars campaign against police abuses has drawn high-profile support around the world, but at home has unleashed more state brutality. Around the country, demonstrato
Dans la province du Sud-Kivu, des agriculteurs bantous qui se prétendent autochtones affrontent des Tutsi congolais aux lointaines racines rwandaises. Publié par Le Monde le 21 octobre 2020 - Mis à jour le 22 octobre 2020. Une délégation de la MONUSCO à Fizi, l'un des territoires touchés par les violences récentes, le 16 mars 2019 [MONUSCO/Jacob de Lange] Le vieux Maguru Mohinda a le ventre vide. Il vient de passer une nuit glaciale sur la colline de Mikenge, un village perché sur les hauts plateaux du Sud-Kivu, et redoute la prochaine. L’octogénaire a beau rêvé de sa maison et de ses deux cents vaches, il n’est pas près de les retrouver. Comme lui, des milliers de Banyamulenge, des Tutsi co
En RDC, la querelle se poursuit autour des conditions d’installation de la commune rurale de Minembwe, dont la majorité des habitants sont des Banyamulenge, des Tutsi congolais. RFI a rencontré le bourgmestre de la commune. avec notre envoyée spéciale à Minembwe, Sonia Rolley Publié par RFI le 21 octobre 2020. Le bourgmestre de Minembwe assure vouloir restaurer l’autorité de l’État congolais dans la commune. [RFI/Sonia Rolley] Lundi, le ministre de la Décentralisation, issu de la communauté banyamulenge, a été interpellé par des députés à l’Assemblée. Il a rappelé que c’était dans les attributions du gouvernement provincial, et non les siennes, d’installer la commune. Ce à quoi le ministre p
The Sunni majority is using blasphemy laws to target and murder those they call ‘heretics’ Shah Meer Baloch in Islamabad and Hannah Ellis-Petersen Wed 21 Oct 2020 05.00 BST Shia Muslims mourning the death anniversary of Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, in Karachi on 8 October.Photograph: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images Syed Kareem* has been in hiding for weeks. He fears if he is seen on the streets of Karachi, the Pakistan city he calls home, he will be a dead man walking. His ordeal began with a Facebook post in early September, where he condemned the killers of a Shia Muslim martyred centuries ago. Though Kareem had meant it as a post of religious devotion, it caught the at
Published in Just Security, September 9, 2020 A secret cabal is taking over the world. They kidnap children, slaughter, and eat them to gain power from their blood. They control high positions in government, banks, international finance, the news media, and the church. They want to disarm the police. They promote homosexuality and pedophilia. They plan to mongrelize the white race so it will lose its essential power. Does this conspiracy theory sound familiar? It is. The same narrative has been repackaged by QAnon. I have studied and worked to prevent genocide for forty years. Genocide Watch and the Alliance Against Genocide, the first international anti-genocide coalition, see such hate-fil
Assault on Kangbayi central prison and military camp blamed on Ugandan armed group ADF by town’s mayor. Published by Al Jazeera on October 20, 2020. The armed group ADF has been blamed by Beni's mayor to have carried out the attack. [File: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters] Armed fighters freed more than 1,300 prisoners from a jail in Beni in east Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in a coordinated attack that took place in the early hours of Tuesday. Only about 100 remained following the simultaneous assault on the Kangbayi central prison and on the military camp that provides security to it, said the town’s mayor Modeste Bakwanamaha, who blamed a rebel group operating in the area for the attack.
« Il est temps que les responsables des crimes les plus graves perpétrés en RDC répondent de leurs actes » Dix ans après la sortie du « Rapport Mapping » de l’ONU, inventaire des violations des droits humains commises entre 1993 et 2003, les victimes attendent toujours que justice soit faite. Publié par Le Monde le 29 septembre 2020. Le 2 septembre 1998, à Kalemie, dans l’est de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC). [ABDELHAK SENNA/AFP] Le « Rapport Mapping » décrit de manière chronologique et thématique les horreurs de dix années de violences et de conflits en République démocratique du Congo (RDC). Il analyse 617 incidents violents commis entre 1993 et 2003 en RDC. Durant cette décenn
Publié par RFI le 17 octobre, 2020. Des réfugiés congolais banyamulenge au Burundi (archives). AFP La communauté des réfugiés congolais banyamulenge, qui se comptent par milliers, se plaint d’être victime d’une véritable chasse à l’homme depuis une dizaine de jours. Le ministère de l’Intérieur et de la Sécurité publique a lancé une véritable campagne contre ceux qui vivent dans des villes alors qu’ils devraient être dans un des cinq camps de réfugiés du pays. Les leaders de cette communauté de réfugiés congolais rwandophones qui ont fui la province du Sud-Kivu expliquent qu’ils sont accusés d’être au service du Rwanda, en froid avec son voisin du sud, ce qu’ils ont toujours nié. Tout a comme
Published by The Africa Report on Wednesday, 21 October 2020. Pius Utomi Ekpei/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The attack on protestors last night is a new chapter for the #EndSARS protests, with far-reaching consequences for the future politics of the country. Videos emerging from last night’s shooting are difficult to watch. The voice of young Nigerians tremble as they sing the national anthem next to the Lekki Toll Gate. Shots ring out as uniformed men surround them, barricade them in, and open fire. Images of men and women, wrapped in Nigerian flags, soaked with blood. Unconfirmed reports suggest at least ten people have been killed. More certainty surrounds the dozens of protestors
Roberto Lovato’s “Unforgetting” explores the traumatic history of a country torn apart by wars and gangs—and the dangers of not facing the past. Government militias patrol a village in northern El Salvador during the country’s brutal civil war. In 1982, Joan Didion famously wrote of El Salvador that “terror is the given of the place.” At the time, the country was in the midst of a civil war, which pitted the leftist guerrillas of the Faribundo Martí National Liberation Front, or FMLN, against the country’s military, supported and armed by the United States. During the war, which lasted from 1980 to 1992, some 50,000 civilians were killed, with the lion’s share of atrocities committed by the
Credit: Radio Free Europe In September 2020, Azerbaijani troops crossed the "Line of Contact" dividing Karabakh. Turkey intervened on the side of Azerbaijan. Armenia supports Artsakh. Azerbaijan uses laser guided drones supplied by Turkey and Israel to target Armenian troops, villages and civilians. Azerbaijani military offensives against civilians are war crimes under the Geneva Conventions. The establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 began with the systematic extermination of the Armenian populations living in Azerbaijan and the provinces of Nakhichevan and Nagorno-Karabakh. Often viewed as an extension of the 1915 deportation and genocide of Ottoman Armenians, Azerbaij
Tens of thousands of civilians have been forced from their homes in northeastern DRC since the violence resumed in December 2017. Published by Al Jazeera on September 28, 2020. CODECO is made up of fighters from the Lendu ethnic group [File: [Alexis Huguet/AFP] “The future is dark,” sighs Joachim Lobo, a teacher who longs “to pick up the chalk” and be reunited with his pupils if ever peace is restored to northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “I lost my job because of all this nonsense,” Lobo says of communal violence in the gold-rich Ituri province, where he taught French and philosophy. “We thought we would have a responsible government, yet we don’t know when we can return t
ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, pays a visit to Sudan to meet with members of the Sudanese government to discuss collaboration. On Saturday, October 17, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, and her team paid a historic visit to Sudan and met with various members of the interim government of Sudan to discuss possible collaboration on the way forward for the case of Darfur. Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG) welcomes this important development in ICC relations with Sudan and applauds the persistent work of their office to create this breakthrough. DWAG also expresses support of Prosecutor Bensouda’s demands that former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir mu
Asylum seekers allege ‘extreme violence’ at the hands of Croatian authorities, prompting calls for the EU to properly investigate. Refugees and migrants have sustained “severe injuries” after having allegedly been whipped, beaten, and sexually abused at the hands of Croatian authorities during their attempts to reach western Europe for asylum. Last week, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) collected testimonies from more than 70 refugees and migrants at the Miral camp in western Bosnia who said they experienced violent pushbacks by Croatian authorities. The route through the Bosnia-Croatia border is popular with refugees attempting to cross into EU-member Croatia from Bosnia, with the aim of re
A deux semaines de l’élection suprême, des affrontements ont éclaté entre Agni et Dioula, respectivement proches de l’opposition et du pouvoir. Publié par Le Monde avec AFP le 19 octobre 2020. La décision d'Alassane Ouattara de se présenter aux présidentielles pour la troisième fois a provoqé des manifestations [Diom Celest/EPA]. « Les Dioula, c’est le problème ». Bandana vert camouflage sur la tête, huile de vidange sur le visage, un jeune membre de la communauté agni, les yeux exorbités, crie machette à la main sa rage envers cette ethnie originaire du nord de la Côte d’Ivoire, à un barrage à Bongouanou, à 200 kilomètres au nord d’Abidjan. Autour de la barricade improvisée avec des brancha
Genocide Watch staff have published the fourth Timestream in a series of critical genocides in the world. Coptic Christians in Egypt have been persecuted for decades, and it is imperative that this issue is brought to the attention of international leaders. Several attempts have been made on the lives of Coptic Christians in the country, and many Copts have died because of this. This Timestream highlights the oppression and killing, dating from historical cases of discrimination and persecution to the most recent attacks and responses from the Egyptian government. Genocide Watch urges action to be taken to intervene and stop further persecution and killings. See the full Timestream here and
