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Myanmar: Union Election Commission revokes 2020 election results

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YANGON, Myanmar – The UEC revoked election results when it met with political parties in Naypyiday Feb. 26. The current election commission was established by the military after it took power in early February, replacing the previous election commission which had validated the presidency of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Among 91 political parties in Myanmar, 53 political parties attended the meeting. “We have to abolish the 2020 election result because of election fraud,” the chairman of the UEC explained.

In the 2020 election, the National League for Democracy party (NLD) won by a landslide, but the military complained that the NLD had committed fraud.

Under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD was the most popular and famous political party in mainland Myanmar.

By Htay Win
Featured image photo credit: Wutyi Ma

China says it lifted 99 million people out of hardship in the last 8 years  -  and 770 million in 40 years -  eradicating poverty from the world’s largest country

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Armed with World Bank data that says China has contributed to more than 70% of global poverty reduction since the late 70’s, President Xi Jinping declared a complete victory against poverty and called it a miracle that will go down in history.

Xi Jinping poverty miracle“Shaking off poverty is not the finish line, but the starting point of a new life and new endeavor,” Xi noted on his Feb. 25 address that his country’s $246b investment into poverty alleviation over the past eight years has helped impoverished rural residents who lived below the current poverty line in 128,000 villages.

Complete eradication of poverty in China was one of Xi’s main goals when he came to power in 2012, a time when 100m people lived in extreme poverty in remote rural areas. China has a population of around 1.4 billion.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Pro-military mob attacks locals and media in Yangon

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YANGON, Myanmar – Downtown Yangon, the pro-military mob attacked local people and media, with 20 people being wounded this morning, according to a local source.

The mob destroyed some cars stuck in traffic as well.

Photo credit Ko Sein Gyi

Some protesters have claimed they received money from the military to vandalize in particular areas.

Recently, A group of people including some monks rallied to stand with the military after the coup. They are members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Under international pressure, law enforcement forces constricted the violence as much as they could, especially in big cities such as Yangon and Mandalay. The military has also lobbied ASEAN countries to legitimatize its administration.

By Htay Win
Feature image credit Het Arkar

South African government continues its fight for Caster Semenya’s participation at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and has taken the matter to the European Court of Human Rights

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DURBAN, South Africa – South African former Olympic champion Caster Semenya is set to appeal at the ECHR and South Africans are rallying behind her.

Semenya wants to overturn a World Athletics’ regulation dealing with hormone use. She is expected to file the papers in March.

The 800m world champion is still unable to compete professionally, as her bid to overturn the drug-hormone rule was so-far unsuccessful. She was not included in SA’s provisional squad for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics which is scheduled to get underway July 23.

News of her appeal was revealed at the portfolio committee meeting of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture where SA’s preparedness for the Tokyo Olympics was discussed.

In a statement, Athletics South Africa President, Aleck Skosana, said Ms Semenya has not been included in South Africa’s provisional Olympic squad.

The Chairperson of the committee, Beauty Dlulane said most countries would like to see Ms Semenya participate in the Games, an aspiration frustrated by “rules and guidelines.”

“We are concerned that this has affected Caster’s preparation. This issue of rules unjustly disadvantages Caster and denies her rights to participation and qualification, and the committee’s view is that those rules are unfair,” she said.

South Africans have taken to social media and voiced their opinions on the Semenya matter.

“Caster Semenya, all eyes on you. You have immense people of interest externally support from South Africa. Bless her,” wrote one interested citizen, while another wrote, “I’m proud of her, she can’t give up just like that. She is doing for the upcoming generations too.”

Another social media user wrote, commenting on the social aspect of the issue, “So this is the level of civilization we are currently at. Someone has to defend their sexuality because they are genetically gifted. If sports is against genetical gifts tall people like Bolt should probably not be allowed to compete. That guy is a beast and not fair to other normal men.”

SA remains hopeful, as Athletics South Africa told the committee that it has received support from Sweden and looks forward Ms Semenya winning her appeal.

By Zakithi Dlamini

Ethiopian government allows seven international media outlets to report in the Tigray region

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ADDIS ABABA – The Ethiopian government has given permission to seven international media outlets, including the BBC, Reuters and Al Jazeera, to report on the situation in Tigray.

The government said in a statement that it was concerned about the baseless and politically motivated information being spread about the situation in Tigray State.

Additionally, of the 135 international organizations that have applied for humanitarian assistance in the region, 29 are said to be already operating there.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPC) announced that the power supply that was cut off was due to the attack on the main power transmission line in Tigray State and has since been restored. Electricity has been cut off across the region for more than a week.

According to the government, electricity was cut off by TPLF militants during an attack on a high-voltage transmission line from Alamata-Mehoni-Mekele in the area known as Adigudom.

EEPC announced that power supply repairs were successfully completed in days following the power outage in the region.

By Henok Alemayehu

73% drop in migration from Horn of Africa to Gulf countries due to pandemic

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – New data published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) this week confirms a nearly three-fourths decline in migration from the East and Horn of Africa regions toward Gulf countries through Yemen during 2020.

These findings are especially significant because African migration through Yemen to the Gulf of Arabia has been high for the past four years. Despite reduced arrivals in 2020 — due in part to Coronavirus-related restrictions — risks for migrants increased, with more detentions, exploitation and forced transfers.

Data released by IOM show that the number of migrants crossing via Yemen from the Horn dropped from a high of 138k in 2019 to 37k in 2020. Forced returns from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were also significantly reduced, passing from nearly 121k Ethiopian migrants in 2019 to 37k in 2020.

Border closures, which have left thousands of workers stranded, resulted in many workers from the East African countries facing exploitation from people smugglers when trying to get home. As of September 2020, some 3,000 migrants were stranded within the East and Horn of Africa, in addition to tens of thousands of other migrants from the region stranded in Yemen.

By Henok Alemayehu

Myanmar military urges government employees to come back work

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YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar protestsMyanmar’s military called for government employees who are participating in the civil disobedience movement (CDM) to get back to their respective departments. If they do not come back to their jobs by Feb. 25, they will face legal actions, the state administration council warned.

Since the military staged the coup, people in big cities have protested, calling on both government and private employees to join the CDM. Even though some ministries are participating, some are have hesitated.

The CDM campaign is being led by Min Ko Naing and J-Me, the student leaders in the 1988 uprising.

“The CDM campaign is to stop the mechanism of the military administration and reduce the blood shed of innocent people,” stated Min Ko Naing.

By Htay Win

Simultaneous riots in three Ecuadorian prisons leave 62 dead in a gang-related power struggle

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Spurred by the murder of a released gang member, the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil, the Turi Rehabilitation Centers in Cuenca, and the Cotopaxi prison in Latacunga were “out of control” Tuesday and reporting gruesome deaths, according to Edmundo Moncayo, director of the Ecuadorian Penitentiary System.

Police were carrying out operations to stabilize the situation but 7 hours into the riots only the largest of the 3, the Guayaquil prison, was reported pacified. The rioting prisons house 70% of the 38,000 prisoners in the country. With 1500 guards in the system, a number the prison system has said is so low that it “hinders immediate response actions,” prison fights in 2020 left 51 dead.

By Milan Sime Martinic

15 Ethiopian peacekeepers in South Sudan refused to return home

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15 Ethiopian peacekeepers in South Sudan refuse to return home
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ADDIS ABABA – Fifteen Ethiopian peacekeepers have said they do not want to return to Ethiopia from South Sudan, according to the UN.

According to their report, 169 South Sudanese peacekeepers were returning to Addis Ababa, but 15 members of the force said they did not want to return to Ethiopia. The 15 were all from Tigray.

The Ethiopian Defense Forces (EDF) Facebook page, citing the army’s director general of indoctrination, Major General Mohamed Tesema, said the news was that the peacekeepers were members of the 15th Motorized Peacekeeping Battalion. Tesema said the battalion is returning to Ethiopia after completing its stay in South Sudan.

“Those peacekeepers have been trying to create chaos by rolling and shouting at Juba airport saying they will not go to our country,” Tesema stated.

He described the actions of the individuals as “disgraceful” and said they did not represent the members of the armed forces.

The privately-owned Sudan Post reported that the soldiers, who did not want to return to Ethiopia, said they were concerned about the “law enforcement” being carried out by the Tigray regional government and that they were concerned about what would happen to them once they returned. The soldiers were said to have been forced to board the plane.

The troops are currently under the protection of the South Sudanese National Security Service.

Ethiopia was one of the first countries to contribute troops to the UN peacekeeping mission, and currently there are around 8,000 troops serving, representing about 8% of the UN’s peacekeeping force worldwide.

The military overthrew the TPLF leadership in the wake of the Oct. 24, 2013 military offensive between the federal government and the TPLF. In connection with this, several suspected members of the TPLF and members of the armed forces were arrested, and arrest warrants were issued. The exact number of people killed in the conflict is unknown, but it is expected to be in the thousands.

In addition, more than 60,000 people have fled the conflict to Sudan, and millions more are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to humanitarian organizations. Following the announcement of the end of the military operation in Tigray State, an agreement was reached with the UN to provide humanitarian assistance to the region. But the International Committee of the Red Cross warns that the number of people in need is “extremely high.”

By Henok Aleayehu

UF researcher moves Brazil to rescue legacy of man who helped end slavery

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The tomb of Brazilian abolitionist Francisco José do Nascimento, known as Dragão do Mar — Sea Dragon — whose contribution to the end of slavery in Brazil is widely regarded, has been identified by U of Florida student Licinio Nunes de Miranda after being lost and forgotten for more than 100 years and is now marked with a new monument. Brazilian media report this has spurred a movement to remember and honor the Sea Dragon, and to teach the value of his impact.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Facebook to restore news feeds in Australia after government agrees to change its approach to force tech companies to pay for news content

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Reversing a decision to block all news in Australia which was broadly seen as a heavy-handed move and which ended up taking down health and emergency services along with government pages, the technology giant said the government had agreed to change a proposed Media Bargaining Code that would have dictated compensation for linking to news.

In comparison to Facebook’s reaction to Australia’s recent new law, Google struck a deal in which it would provide news publishers with some money for the links Google Search used.

By Milan Sime Martinić