A group of United Nations experts called on the Malawi government on Friday to act quickly to prevent people with albinism from attacks and killings linked to cultural superstitions, especially as the May elections approach. Malawi has seen 150 such cases since 2014, with an uptick in recent weeks that…
The nation of Burundi hasn’t commanded much international attention since May, when President Pierre Nkurunziza successfully pushed through a referendum that would allow him to remain in power through 2034. Yet the human rights situation there remains dire, according to the World Report 2019 released Thursday by the Human Rights…
President Adama Barrow of The Gambia welcomed on Monday the start of hearings by the country’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), formed to explore human rights violations that occurred during the 22-year rule of former dictator Yahya Jammeh. “As a key pillar of the transitional justice program of the…
The CBS investigative news program “60 Minutes” in the United States says it’s going ahead with its interview of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, despite Cairo’s request to kill the segment. Sisi recently sat down with journalist Scott Pelley to record the interview, confirming that the Egyptian military is…
Migrants and refugees are being subjected to “unimaginable horrors” from the moment they enter Libya, and at every stage of their journey as they seek to cross the Mediterranean Sea, according to a report released Thursday by UNSMIL, the UN Support Mission in Libya. The 61-page report is based on…
Rebeca Gyumi of Tanzania was honored Tuesday for her human rights work, during an awards ceremony for the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. Gyumi is the founder and executive director of the Msichana Initiative, a Tanzanian organization with a mission to empower girls through education and…
The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday it is increasingly concerned over the violence in Cameroon, and said it stands ready to help the West African nation deal with its crisis. “We continue to receive reports of abductions and killings by armed groups, as well as extrajudicial killings by…
After weeks of investigation into the October 2 death of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, the United States said Tuesday that it stands by its relationship with Riyadh – a move that critics say gives a green light to repressive, authoritarian governments in Africa and across the globe….
In Ethiopia, millions of Oromo celebrated Irreecha at the weekend, an annual thanksgiving festival that just two years ago was marred by violent protests and mass arrests of Oromo activists. The Ethiopian government claimed a death toll of 669 people, though that number was disputed by other observers. This year,…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Amnesty International says its experts have verified two videos from Cameroon’s Anglophone regions that, two years after peaceful protests were met by military force under President Paul Biya, now demonstrate escalating violence in the West African nation. The first video shows the decapitation and mutilation of a gendarme, presented by…
With an investigation now complete, the United Nations representative in Malawi, Maria Jose Torres, is calling on the government to promptly prosecute 12 people connected to the death of an albino man earlier this year. The dismembered body of 22-year-old MacDonald Masambuka was found in April after he went missing in…
Burundi has again pushed back at the findings of a United Nations human rights investigation released Wednesday that found grave violations continue in the small African nation, including summary deaths, torture, sexual violence and arbitrary arrest. Government spokesman Willy Nyamitwe, a senior advisor to President Pierre Nkurunziza and member of his…
It’s been a year since Diane Shima Rwigara, the Rwandan opposition candidate who dared to challenge President Paul Kagame, went missing with her mother Adeline. They remain detained and are formally charged with trying to overthrow the government. The anniversary, coupled with the recent East African outcry over Afrobeats artist…
Former president of Chile Michelle Bachelet has officially been appointed as the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, following a vote Friday at the UN General Assembly in New York. The Bachelet announcement was warmly received by UN Secretary General António Guterres, who called her “a pioneer, a…
In Cameroon, more than 160 prisoners escaped early Sunday after a group of armed men attacked the Ndop prison, released its inmates and set fire to the facility in the country’s troubled northwest Anglophone region. The national media agency in Cameroon said that a group they identified as armed secessionists…