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Jan 5 (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it was troubled by comments from Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who last week called on citizens of the small African country to stone gay people. The comments escalated a crackdown on sexual minorities in a nation where LGBT people already face social ostracism and jail terms of up to two years if convicted of same-sex offences. "The United States is deeply troubled by President Ndayishimiye's remarks targeting certain vulnerable and marginalized Burundians," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. "We call on all of Burundi's leaders to...

BUJUMBURA, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye has called on citizens to stone gay people, escalating a crackdown on sexual minorities in a country where LGBT people already face social ostracism and jail terms of up to two years if convicted of same-sex offences. "If you want to attract a curse to the country, accept homosexuality," Ndayishimiye said in a question and answer session with journalists and the public held in Burundi's east on Friday. "I even think that these people, if we find them in Burundi, it is better to lead them to a stadium and stone...

JOHANNESBURG — Some South Africa hospital wards are jammed with patients infected with the omicron coronavirus variant as President Cyril Ramaphosa urged South Africans on Monday to get vaccinated. In the past week, cases have reached more than 16,000, up dramatically from 2,300 last Monday, according to South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases. The NICD says the increase in cases in such a short period of time is “unprecedented” in the trajectory of the pandemic, now in its fourth phase in the country. “Unfortunately, we’re seeing a more than doubling of hospital admissions each day,” said Ian Sanne, an...

Eritrea and Burundi along with North Korea are the only countries that have yet to roll out COVID-19 vaccination campaign. This was revealed by WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyseus in his October 13, 2021 coronavirus briefing. He bemoaned the increasing lack of vaccines which according to him impacted a number of African countries stressing his call for more access to jabs. "As you know, 56 countries who were effectively excluded from the global vaccine marketplace were not able to reach the target of vaccinating 10% of their populations by the end of September - and most of them in Africa.

With the rise in false Coronavirus cases, the Tanzanian President John Magufuli growing suspicious of the World Health Organization (WHO), decided to investigate the claims himself. He sent the WHO samples of a goat, a papaya and a quail for testing. After all 3 samples came COVID-19 positive, the President is reported to have kicked out the WHO from the country. UPDATE: Days after Tanzanian move, now Burundi kicks out WHO Coronavirus Team from the country for interference in internal matters. Meanwhile, in yet another African nation Nigeria, Bill Gates has been caught bribing forced Coronavirus program. Just couple of...

Though betting odds had a 20 percent chance that Donald Trump would use his brief prime-time Oval Office address to declare a national emergency at the Mexican-U.S. border, he did not. Instead, he dedicated his time to a hodge-podge of lurid descriptions of violence juxtaposed to a plea for humanitarian aid. In no way does that mean the issue is settled, and a national emergency declaration remains very much in the mix as one way to break the logjam, appeal to the Republican base, reopen the government, and, oh, trigger a legal crisis. Just Wednesday, Trump claimed an “absolute right”...

WASHINGTON — D.C. police say that a robotics team from Burundi competing in the FIRST Global Challenge in D.C. is missing. According to authorities, the six members of the team were last seen near Constitution Hall around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18. The organizers for the competition said the adult mentor of the team was unable to find the group of six students. The organization’s president contacted police and filed the proper reports. “Security of the students is of paramount importance to FIRST Global,” the organization said in a statement. “FIRST Global ensures that all students get to their...

Police have received reports that two of the Burundi teenagers gone missing after an international robotics competition were seen crossing the border into Canada. The search for all the teens is ongoing, but police have no indication of foul play in their disappearance, Metropolitan Police spokeswoman Aquita Brown said. The teens seen crossing into Canada were 16-year-old Don Ingabire and 17-year-old Audrey Mwamikazi, Brown said.

THE good Samaritans who took onto their farm over 100 refugees displaced by this year’s xenophobic violence, now claim they have been threatened with murder by the same people they had set out to help. Besides property being destroyed, the ­family who took in the immigrants have also been accused of not helping them to be ­relocated back home or to another country, driving a chasm between them. Owners of Hope Farm in Cato Ridge, ­Andrew and Rae Wartnaby, were yesterday forced to evacuate their 10 children from their farm house in fear that they would be attacked or used...

U.S. Department of State U.S. is gravely concerned by the political and security situation in ‪#‎Burundi‬ and condemns the killing in Bujumbura yesterday of Welly Nzitonda, the son of human rights activist Pierre Claver Mbonimpa. We extend our deepest condolences to Pierre Mbonimpa, whose son-in-law was murdered in October, and who himself has been jailed and shot in recent months. Burundi: Killing of Welly Nzitonda U.S. Departmen

United Nations officials have received new disturbing allegations that peacekeepers in the Central African Republic sexually abused three young women -- the latest claims targeting the scandal-tainted UN mission. UN spokeswoman Vannina Maestracci told reporters on Wednesday that the events took place in recent weeks.. These new allegations concern a report that three young females were raped by three members of a MINUSCA military contingent.. One of the alleged victims is a minor. Maestracci declined to name the nationality of the troops, but sources said they were from the Democratic Republic of Congo. ... UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — President Obama asserted on Tuesday that he could win a third term if allowed by the Constitution, but said he was looking forward to life after the presidency, when he will be able to take a walk and spend more time with his family. As he wrapped up what may be his final trip to Africa while in office, Mr. Obama took aim at some of the continent’s gerontocracy and called on long-entrenched leaders to step down, declaring that “nobody should be president for life.” But it led to an off-the-cuff riff about his own improved...

Celebrations have broken out in Burundi's capital Bujumbura over reports of a coup against the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza. The developments came after an army officer reportedly announced on Wednesday that Nkurunziza and his government had been dismissed. Major-General Godefroid Niyombare, who was fired by Nkurunziza as intelligence chief in February, made the announcement at a military barracks, reports said. He was surrounded by several other senior officers from the army and police, Reuters news agency reported. "Regarding President Nkurunziza's arrogance and defiance of the international community which advised him to respect the constitution and Arusha peace agreement, the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow on Monday where the issue of Middle East peace talks will be raised, Russian authorities announced Thursday. “The two leaders will hold talks concerning key aspects of Russian-Palestinian relations and their future, with particular attention on the trade, economy and humanitarian sectors,” the Kremlin said in a statement according to AFP. There will also be “an exchange of ideas on the process of Israeli-Palestinian talks and other problematic regional situations,” the statement continued, adding that North Africa would also be on the agenda. …

By Ignatius Ssuuna Bujumbura — More than a week after he disappeared from a Bujumbura prison, Hussein Radjabu, a former rebel commander and powerful politician who enjoys significant popular support, has finally spoken. "I am planning to work with all Burundians [to bring about] a better politics that brings everybody on board, so that we have a better country," he told the Swahili service of Voice of America, putting paid to rumours that he might have been assassinated. His location was not disclosed. Rajdabu's 1 March jailbreak, which was well organised with outside assistance, adds to the uncertainty and tension...

"In our petition we rely, among other sources, on an Amnesty International report that was published in 1995... "There was tension in Rwanda as early as January of 1994. Several of the world's most powerful states imposed international arms control regulations and on May 17 1994 there was a UN embargo. Israel breached the embargo, as did Russia, Belgium, South Africa, France, Spain and others. Many of the planes that transported the shipments were British. The last license to export arms was issued by the Israeli Ministry of Defense in October 1993, about half a year before the massacres began....

Dozens of people were injured tonight when a man ploughed his white van into a Christmas market crowd while screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’, Five people were left seriously hurt when the vehicle drove into the pedestrianised Place Royale area of Nantes in France. Within seconds of running down as many people as he could, the driver stabbed himself nine times. It is the third incident of its kind in as many days in the country which have been linked to Islamic terrorism. The man, who is said to be aged 44 but otherwise unidentified, was tonight under armed guard in the...

Three elderly Italian nuns were sexually assaulted and murdered in twin attacks in their convent in the capital of Burundi, police said today as a hunt was launched for their killers. Police initially reported that two nuns were stabbed to death yesterday afternoon. The killer then battered one of the two with a rock, before fleeing the convent. Italian authorities named the first two killed as Olga Raschietti, 83, and Lucia Pulici, 75, both Roman Catholic nuns. But in the early hours of today morning, another nun in the same convent was killed, her body beaten and head hacked off....

Breaking on Fox. Headline only DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL ORDERS US MILITARY TO TRANSPORT BURUNDIAN TROOPS TO CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC AMID CONFLICT

WINDHOEK (AFP) – Southern African nations on Saturday expressed concern at the growing number of Rwandan troops on the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo and said it hoped an invasion was not imminent. A statement from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional body said it was concerned "at the deployment of Rwandan troops along the common border" and "expressed the hope that Rwanda is not contemplating to invade". ... The UN accuses Rwanda of backing the M23, a charge the country has adamantly denied. The rebels in turn have accused the Congolese army of joining forces against...