Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Tuesday that he would not be attending a summit of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta on April 24, where the crisis in army-ruled Myanmar is set to be discussed.
Prayuth said ’’Thailand would be represented by Deputy Prime Minister Don Pramudwinai’’, who is also foreign minister, at the meeting of ASEAN leaders at the bloc’s Jakarta headquarters.
Olusola Akintonde/Reuters
The Russian government has launched an exhibition of the first human space mission in Zambia.
The exhibition dubbed “The 60th Anniversary of the First Manned Space Flight, Yuri Gagarin” was launched by the Russia Centre for Science and Culture, with the support of the Russian Embassy in Zambia in partnership with the National Museums Board, according to a press release from the embassy.
The exhibition, which started on April 12, at the Lusaka Museum in the Zambian capital, will run for a month to help people familiarize themselves with the unique historical photos and video materials concerning Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space as well as modern filming of Russian cosmonauts from the International Space Station.
The exhibition also features paintings by Zambian and Russian schoolchildren on the topic, with the exhibition expected to take place later in other cities, including Livingstone and Ndola after Lusaka.
Sixty years ago, on April 12, 1961, astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, making a new chapter in the history of space exploration.
Edited by Olajumoke Adeleke
France was aware that a genocide was being prepared in Rwanda ahead of the 1994 killings and the French government bore a significant responsibility for enabling it, the Rwandan government said in a report published on its website on Monday.
Between April and July of 1994, some 800,000 people were slaughtered, mainly from the ethnic Tutsi minority, but some Hutus were also affected.
“The message of the Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister today is a key step in getting our two countries closer,” a French presidential advisor said on Monday in response to the Rwandan report.
Ever since the genocide, critics of France’s role have said that then-President Francois Mitterrand failed to prevent the massacres or even supported the Hutu-led government that orchestrated the killings.
The Rwandan report was drafted by Robert F. Muse and the Washington, D.C., law firm Levy Firestone Muse LLP, which was hired by Rwanda to investigate France’s role in connection with the genocide.
The report comes on the heels of a similar report by French commission released in March which said France had been blinded by its colonial attitude to Africa to events leading up to the genocide and consequently bore “serious and overwhelming” responsibility.
The commission cleared France of complicity in the genocide.
The Rwandan report said while in the end, the responsibility lay in those who actually carried out the genocide, and the French government helped establish the institutions they eventually used to carry out the killings.
“Ultimately, this report cannot be the final word on the French government’s role in Rwanda. That word will arrive after the French government makes public all of its documents and allows all of its officials to speak freely,” the report said.
Early this month, France said it will open the Rwanda archives of former French President Francois Mitterrand, as part of an effort to better understand the nation’s role in the African country during the genocide.
Edited by Olajumoke Adeleke
Chad’s long-time leader, Idriss Deby has secured almost 80% of the votes in provisional results following the presidential election.
It puts him on track for a sixth consecutive term, extending his 30 years in power.
“Our candidate Idriss Deby Itno won the first round of the presidential election. We see this as a double victory because he also managed to expel the terrorists from our territory. We want peace, nothing but peace. May the people remain calm, for as long as our Marshal (Deby) lives we will live in security,” said a supporter of Mr Deby.
There have been celebrations in the capital, N’Djamena, but opposition leaders earlier boycotted the election.
Mr Deby’s campaign manager said the president would have liked to celebrate with his supporters, but was engaged in fighting insurgents with his troops.
The Chadian military said they repulsed advancing rebels at the weekend, killing more than 300.
Olawunmi Sadiq
COVID-19 has worsened Tuberculosis (TB) cases in Nigeria as about 60 per cent of patients go unnoticed and untreated.
Read Also: WTD: Nigeria recorded 15% increase in TB case notifications in 2020
The Director, National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme(NTBLCP), Mrs Uko Itohowo, said this on Monday in a virtual media seminar with newsmen in Ilorin.
She said that according to the 2020 World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Nigeria is ranked first in leading cases of TB in Africa and sixth in the world.
“Currently, TB kills 18 Nigerians every hour, with a record number of 47 Nigerians developing active TB every hour, seven of which are children,” she said.
Itohowo observed that all attention were being placed on COVID-19 to the detriment of TB, which is equally a deadly disease.She said that although TB is a deadly disease yet with proper treatment it could be cured.
“The inability of tuberculosis patients to access medication during the COVID-19 lockdown worsened the spread of tuberculosis in Nigeria.
“Thus, about 150,000 persons died of tuberculosis in Nigeria in 2019 alone according to a World Health Organisation report,” she said.
Itohowo listed symptoms of tuberculosis to include fever, loss of weight and protracted cough.She said that with early diagnosis, TB could be cured within six months, adding that treatment of tuberculosis is free at designated hospitals in the country.
“TB is not spread through shaking someone’s hand, sharing food, touching bed linens or toilet seats, or sharing toothbrushes.
“TB is also not contracted through witchcraft, but airborne,” she explained.
Itohowo therefore appealed to media practitioners to assist in sensitising the public about the causes, prevention and treatment of the disease.
MTO/Vanguard
Filmmakers in Nigeria have re-emphasised the need to bring morality and sanity to the Entertainment Industry.
The emphases were made in Lagos, during the unveiling of Gospel Ministainment Movement International GMMI and Music Album.
One of Nigeria’s Filmmakers, Dr. Henry Obidi, said that the entertainment industry has been characterised with all kinds of immoral acts that was polluting the mind of young audience.
The Filmmaker explained that the dilapidating moral values in the industry made him to set up the GMMI, a platform which he said would help to build and change the mindset of young talents.
“As Christians, we are using that platform to sanitize the industry. We have seen that the entertainment industry generally is dilapidating in terms of moralistic values and the only way to change that is by ridding on that platform of morality and then changing the mindset of people,” he said.
A veteran Actor, Anthony Monjaro urged the upcoming artists to be focused and practice constantly, saying that they can do very well without going the wrong way.
He said, “The commonality among people who do well is not how crazy or loud you are, is about the work you put into your craft. The only way you can achieve success is to be good at what you do. This is gotten through constant practice, learning and growing.”
Establishment of Religious Entertainment
Earlier, the Parish Priest of St. Augustin Catholic Church Lagos, Father Livinus Orakwe said that establishing more religious entertainment and giving more support to the gospel music in the country would do a lot in bringing sanity to the entertainment industry.
He urged the youths to put their trust in God alongside hard work.
“if we establish religious entertainment, it will help the youths to know what is right and not the wrong ones that the music out there are presenting. It’s now as if for any artist to do well, you must smoke weed, join Illuminati or any kind of fraternity, or God father. But, it is not like that. You can uplift yourself through hard work and God,” Reverend Father Orakwe said.
Highlights of the event were the unveiling of Next Edutainment Generation Vision Institute of Arts and Communication, audition for twenty local and international movies and series and the unveiling of GMM music album.
The event gathered actors from Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe amongst other African Countries.
Confidence Okwuchi
Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has called on the African Union to lead talks on a process that would lead to a free and fair elections in the country.
The President said all stakeholders would participate in the talks for the future of the country’s democracy.
President Farmajo will be visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, who is the AU chairperson.
Mr Farmajo last week approved an extension of his term in office by two years as voted by parliament.
The AU, however, condemned the extension.
Elections in Somalia have been delayed because of disagreements among regional and federal governments.
Olawunmi Sadiq
The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging for a fair and equitable sharing of global resources as it is working with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to expand worldwide vaccine production as only one percent of the 100 million doses administered last week went to lowest-income countries.
Read Also: World Health Day: WHO urges countries to build healthier World Post-COVID-19
This was disclosed by Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to the WHO director-general on organizational change, at a press conference. He said close to “99 million doses of vaccines last week went into high- and upper-middle-income and some low- and middle-income countries, but only one percent of that went to the lowest-income countries.
“The world has the means to bring the global COVID-19 pandemic under control in the coming months,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Aylward said it will “take weeks and months” to increase vaccine supplies and “in the meantime, we’ve got to take some urgent and important decisions about how we are going to use the vaccines that exist today.”
New COVID-19 infections worldwide have increased for the eighth week running, with a record 5.2 million cases reported last week and an alarming growth rate in young people, the WHO said on Monday.
Deaths also rose for the fifth straight week, pushing the global death toll to over three million, Tedros said.
The pandemic has been gathering pace recently, according to WHO’s numbers. “It took nine months to reach one million deaths; four months to reach two million, and three months to reach three million,” the WHO chief said.
Meanwhile, infections and hospitalizations among people aged 25 to 59 are increasing at an alarming rate, he said, possibly as a result of highly transmissible variants and increased social mixing among younger adults.
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa has stressed the need for all Nigerians to embrace the fight against corruption, saying that the EFCC alone cannot win the war.
He stated this while receiving members of a civil society organisation, Civil Society Coalition for Transparency and Good Governance, at the Commission’s headquarters, Abuja.
According to the EFCC Chairman “EFCC belongs to all Nigerians and it is not for anybody.
“We realised long ago that the work of the EFCC is not something that it can do alone. Civil Society Organizations and Individuals are all stakeholders, because Nigeria is the only country we have.”
Partner with Civil Organisations
He assured that the EFCC would partner with civil society organisations to ensure that “the mandate of the Commission and what we stand for, which is ensuring good governance, is imbibed and the country is rid of corruption.”
Vice President of the Civil Society Coalition for Transparency and Good Governance, Nse Victor Udeh, lamented the negative impact of corruption on the country.
He said if the country had functional health, educational, aviation, road and other infrastructure, “we will have less to worry about.”
Mr Udeh stated that, apart from scarce resources, corruption was responsible for the failure of public infrastructures.
He pledged the Coalition’s support to the EFCC assuring that “We as civil society are offering ourselves as those who will continue to project the message of ‘say no to corruption’ in whatever form”.
Confidence Okwuchi
