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Nigerian newspapers are protesting legislation being considered in Parliament that would allow authorities to control the press. All Nigeria’s national dailies on Monday had “Information Blackout” boldly printed on their front pages to raise support against the proposal.

The agreement to stage a front-page protest was reached last week during a meeting of the Nigerian Press Organization, NPO, in Lagos.

The solidarity will continue Tuesday and Wednesday with the aim of raising awareness and mobilizing public support against the bills, which would give greater powers to two regulatory bodies — the Nigerian Press Council and the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission.

Lawmakers said the bills are intended to curb fake news. But critics said the bills would give authorities the power to hit media outlets and journalists with huge fines and give journalists up to three years in jail.

Activist supports protest

Nigerian activist and freelance writer Raphael Adebayo welcomes the dailies’ protest and said the media bill is an attack on free speech.

“It is a laudable step,” Adebayo said. “The media guilds in the country have realized the saliency of solidary against the common enemy that faces press freedom in Nigeria today.”

The Nigerian lawmaker who initiated the bills, Olusegun Odebunmi, said the changes are not an attempt to gag the media.

Debates on the bill began amid the government’s move to tighten regulations on social media.

Last month, the government suspended Twitter in Nigeria for censoring a comment by President Muhammadu Buhari. Authorities are yet to reverse this ban.

Authorities also said falsehoods promoted on such platforms could trigger violence.

Concerns are valid

The director of news at Voice of Nigeria, Ahaziah Abubakar, said the government’s concerns are valid.

But Adebayo said the government is simply trying to stifle opinions that are contrary to theirs.

“There’s already in existence a reviewed NBC code which continues to make life harder for people who are working with the press,” Adebayo said. “Yet they want to make it even harder for them to express themselves, to express the opinion of the people and to express generally the state of things in the country.”

Media sanctions have become more frequently discussed since Buhari was first elected in 2015.

Between 2017 and 2019, lawmakers considered a bill to regulate social media, and another bill proposing the death penalty for anyone promoting hate speech about the government. Both bills were suspended after public outcries.

Source: Voice of America

The United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution Tuesday calling for the swift pullout of Eritrean troops from Ethiopia’s embattled northern Tigray region.

The eight-month war between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigray’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, has killed thousands of people, forced some 2 million others to flee their homes and driven about 400,000 into famine.

The council said Eritrean troops were “exacerbating the conflict” that continued Tuesday with the TPLF’s capture of Alamata, the main town in southern Tigray, according to AFP. The town’s reported capture came two weeks after the federal government declared a unilateral cease-fire, following rebel advances.

“What is happening in the Tigray region in Ethiopia is appalling,” said Ambassador Lotte Knudsen, head of the EU delegation to the U.N., which presented the resolution. It is imperative for the Human Rights Council to be able to address this situation.”

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement that “The violence and intimidation of Eritrean refugees must stop. Refugees are civilians in need of and with the right to international protection.”

Eritrea voted against the U.N. resolution to immediately withdraw its troops from the region, which is also a key TPLF demand in cease-fire negotiations.

Fighting between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF broke out in November. Troops from Eritrea, Ethiopia’s neighbor to the north, and Amhara, a neighboring region to the south of Tigray, also entered the conflict in support of the Ethiopian government.

Source: Voice of America

A South African court Monday began hearing an appeal launched by former President Jacob Zuma on his lengthy prison sentence in the wake of violent protests against his imprisonment.

According to Reuters, Zuma’s lawyers asked the court to release the 79-year-old Zuma partly on the grounds that the Constitutional Court improperly imposed the sentence in his absence.

Zuma reported to a prison facility in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal last week to begin serving a 15-month sentence on contempt of court charges after he failed to testify before a special inquiry looking into wide-ranging allegations of official corruption during his nine years in office, which ended in 2018.

His lawyers are also arguing that he will be at risk of catching COVID-19 while imprisoned.

Zuma has denied the allegation and refused to participate in the inquiry that began during his final weeks in office.

Protests spread from KwaZulu-Natal into the country’s main economic hub of Johannesburg Sunday, with several shops looted and a section of the major M2 highway closed as some protests turned violent. Reuters says television footage showed a mall ablaze in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal.

Police say 62 people have been arrested in connection with riots since Zuma was imprisoned.

The body of a 40-year-old man has been recovered from one of the shops that was set on fire over the weekend, according to police.

President Cyril Ramaphosa called for calm Sunday, urging protesters to demonstrate peacefully.

“People have been intimidated and threatened, and some have even been hurt,” Ramaphosa said.

Zuma, a prominent anti-apartheid fighter, remains popular despite the allegations of corruption.

Source: Voice of America

Yemi Hailemariam a British woman of Ethiopian descent ran against Theresa May as a fringe candidate in the UK’s parliamentary election, in order to bring to public attention the plight of her husband Andargachew Tsege.

Andargachew ‘Andy’ Tsege is an Ethiopian-born British citizen who had been living in London with his wife and three children for over four decades. He was kidnapped by Ethiopian security officials in transit.

On June 23, 2014, Andy’s flight arrived in Yemen at Sana’a airport, where he was supposed to catch his connecting flight to Asmara, Eritrea’s capital. Yemeni authorities detained Andy and extradited him to Ethiopia where he faces a death sentence based on his conviction for plotting to overthrow the regime in 2009. Yemi ran as independent candidate in May’s constituency. She received few votes but her campaign was an effective one in that she was able to put her cause to the Prime MInister directly. On the election night Yemi wore a t-shirt with ‘Free Andy Tsege’ printed on it and shook hands with May. Yemi, along with her three children has been running a campaign to be reunited with Andy since the summer of 2014.

Andy, who is part of the diverse diaspora-based opposition to the Ethiopian regime has been blamed by the government for fuelling recent anti-government protests in his homeland. He was part of the Ginbot 7 opposition group.

Since October 2016, Ethiopia has been under a state of emergency as anti-government sentiment rises. In the crackdown that has followed, a number of opposition leaders have either fled the country or been imprisoned.

Source: Globel Voices

South Africa sent troops to quell riots that left six people dead since former President Jacob Zuma reported to a prison facility last week.

Security forces were deployed in two states Monday, as police were overwhelmed by protests and looting, and a South African court began hearing an appeal launched by Zuma on his lengthy prison sentence.

Police said Monday that 219 people have been arrested in connection to riots and looting.

According to Reuters, Zuma’s lawyers asked the court to release the 79-year-old former leader partly on the grounds that the Constitutional Court improperly imposed the sentence in his absence.

Zuma reported to a prison facility in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal last week to begin serving a 15-month sentence on contempt of court charges after he failed to testify before a special inquiry looking into wide-ranging allegations of official corruption during his nine years in office, which ended in 2018.

His lawyers are also arguing that he will be at risk of catching COVID-19 while imprisoned.

Zuma has denied the allegation and refused to participate in the inquiry that began during his final weeks in office.

Protests spread from KwaZulu-Natal into the country’s main economic hub of Johannesburg Sunday, with several shops looted, and a section of the major M2 highway closed as some protests turned violent. Reuters said television footage showed a mall ablaze in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for calm Sunday, urging protesters to demonstrate peacefully.

“People have been intimidated and threatened, and some have even been hurt,” Ramaphosa said.

Zuma, a prominent anti-apartheid fighter, remains popular, despite the allegations of corruption.

Source: Voice of America