The country’s electoral board will announce a new timeline after the pandemic ends.

The election will be a crucial test of the reformist agenda of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who is dismantling on the most repressive systems in Africa and mending fences with his neighbours.

The postponement is supported by some of Ethiopia’s opposition politicians who oppose Ahmed freeing political prisoners, allowing the return of exiles and lifting restrictions on journalists.

The Horn of Africa has 25 confirmed cases of COVID 19.

Ethiopia has closed schools and restricted public gatherings as have most countries on the planet trying to curb the spread of the pandemic.

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On his official visit to South Africa Nobel-Peace-Prize-laureate Ahmed will attend the ANC’s birthday celebration in Kimberley tomorrow and have substantial talks with Ramaphosa in Pretoria on Sunday.

Assuming the African Union  chair next month, President Cyril Ramaphosa needs to be up to speed on the continent’s largest hydro project.

Talks in Addis Ababa broke up this week without agreement between Ethiopia, building the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile, and the countries downstream Sudan and Egypt.

Dependent on the Nile for 90% of its water needs, Egypt wants Ethiopia to take 12 to 21 years to fill the dam.

Ethiopia maintains this should take four to seven years. 

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He was speaking after the destruction of a number of mosques on Amhara, north of the capital Addis Ababa.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner condemned attempt by extremists to break down Ethiopia’s rich history of religious tolerance and co-existence which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed added have  no place in the new prosperity focused country.

He condemns what he calls acts of cowardice and calls on peace-loving Ethiopians to draw deeply on their reservoir of respect.

Five people suspected of burning down four mosques in Ethiopia’s Amhara region have been arrested.

A church in the town of Motta was also targeted by arsonists but it is not immediately clear who is responsible.

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She been attacked by the Gambia, who is leveling the charge, for her silence about alleged atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Speaking on the final day of hearings, Aung San Suu Kyi called the 2017 crackdown on on the Rohingya a clearance operation targeting  militants.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner is accused to ignoring widespread allegations of  mass murder, rape and forced deportation of Rohingya.

Thousands were killed and at least 700 000 forced to flee into neighboring Bangladesh.

The court now has to decide whether to impose legally binding measures to protect the Rohingya.

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She says the allegations from the West African state a re incomplete and misleading.

ends intro

Aung San Suu Kyi didn’t have to appear at the International Court of Justice.

Indeed she’s risking what remains of her reputation doing so.

She tells the court that Burmese soldiers might have used disproportionate force in dealing with the complex Rohingya crisis.

But she insists a regime that has investigated, prosecuted and punished soldiers and officers guilty of wrongdoing could not be guilty of genocide.

And she insists appropriate action will be taken against civilians guilty of violence.

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Liberian President George Weah, who succeeded Johnson Sirleaf thanks the United States for help in probing the missing money.

Charles Sirleaf, who was deputy governor of Liberia’s central bank, is one of five officials, including the bank’s ex-head Milton Weeks, who’ve been charged.

This follows the 16 billion Liberian dollars – about 1,4 billion rand – in new bank notes that went missing between 2016 and last year.

Most of it has since been found in the central bank vaults.

The court in Monrovia heard Sirleaf had allegedly ordered printing of the money and pockets some of the proceeds. 

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The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate was the first elected African woman president.

Nelson Mandela said the Elders would bring courage where there is fear; agreement where there is conflict;  and hope where there is despair.

Former Irish President Mary Robinson, who currently heads the group, says Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will adequately fulfill this role.

Robinson, a former UN human rights chief,  also announced the elevation of Jordanian diplomat Zain Raad al Hussein, who was a successor in the UN job, and former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos – another Nobel Peace Price laureate – to the elders.  

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Ghana’s President Nana Akufo Addo and other former presidents praised the first sub Saharan to become the world’s top diplomat.

It was a mixture of pomp and ceremony and warm family emotion in Accra today as Kofi Annan was finally laid to rest.

The man, who devoted  his career to the United Nations and  gave his life to making peace, was sent on his final journey by his wife Nane who said he was an inspiration to the world.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was hailed as a special father and husband and an outstanding human being 

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Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein says the de facto Myanmar leader should have resigned rather than try to excuse the genocide of the Rohingya minority by Burmese  generals.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein was one of the millions of admirers of Aung San Suu Kyi for enduring imprisonment by the military clique running Myanmar.

How she’s become notorious as the woman who refused to speak out against the military campaign against the Muslim minority.

Hussein says she was in a position to do something. Rather than try to defend it, she could have  stayed quiet, he said. Better still she could have resigned.

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