Headline

Six African Leaders Travel For Peace Mission In Russia, Ukraine Revealed

Published

11 months ago

May 16, 2023

Six African leaders plan to travel to Russia and Ukraine “as soon as is possible” to help find a resolution to the war, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have “agreed to receive the mission and the African heads of state, in both Moscow and Kyiv,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa said he had held “separate telephone calls” with Putin and Zelensky over the weekend, where he presented an initiative drawn up by Zambia, Senegal, the Republic of Congo, Uganda, Egypt and South Africa.

“I agreed with both President Putin and President Zelensky to commence with preparations for engagements with the African heads of state,” Ramaphosa said.

“We’re hoping we will have intensive discussions,” he said, speaking at a press conference in Cape Town during a state visit by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

READ Russia’s Mercenary Group, Wagner To Leave Bakhmut Over Shortage Of Ammunition

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the African Union (AU) have been briefed on the initiative and welcomed it, Ramaphosa added.

Ramaphosa did not give a specific timeline for the visit or other details, saying only that the conflict had been “devastating” and Africa “is also suffering a great deal” from it.

African countries have been badly hit by rising prices of grain and by the impact to world trade.

The announcement came a day after Ramaphosa said South Africa had been under “extraordinary pressure” to pick sides in the conflict, following accusations from the United States that Pretoria supplied weapons to Moscow — a move that would break with its professed neutrality.

– ‘Cautious support’ –

The mission will be the latest in a flurry of so-far unsuccessful diplomatic efforts to still the war.

A Chinese special envoy was expected to arrive in Kyiv for a two-day visit on Tuesday to promote Beijing-led peace negotiations.

Last week Guterres told a Spanish newspaper that peace negotiations were “not possible at this moment” with both sides “convinced that they can win.”

But Ramaphosa said the African initiative had met with “cautious support” in Washington and a number of European capitals visited by “facilitators” tasked with presenting the plan.

The effort could help Pretoria rehabilitate its image as a neutral player and mediator, following accusations that it has drifted towards Russia.

The commander of South Africa’s ground forces was in Moscow to discuss military cooperation on Monday, in the latest of a series of incidents that critics cite as evidence of a tilt towards the Kremlin.

Last week, the US envoy to Pretoria said that the United States believed weapons and ammunition had been laden onto a Russian freighter that docked at a Cape Town naval base in December.

On Tuesday, South Africa’s defence minister, Thandi Modise, denied the accusation in an interview with local newspaper the Mail & Guardian.

“Everybody now sees the spook called South Africa. I can tell you that categorically, we did not send fokol, not even a piece of Chappies to Russia,” she said referring to a local popular bubble-gum brand and using an Afrikaans expletive meaning “nothing at all”.

On Monday, Ramaphosa said South Africa would not be drawn “into a contest between global powers” despite having faced “extraordinary pressure” to do so.

South Africa has refused to condemn the conflict in Ukraine, which has largely isolated Moscow on the international stage, saying it wants to stay neutral.

In a veiled criticism of that stance on Tuesday, Singapore’s Lee said condemning Russia’s invasion was a matter of principle.

“One country cannot invade another with impunity…a clear disapproval has to be given,” he told the press conference in Cape Town, flanked by Ramaphosa.

“We remain friends with Russia but we cannot approve of what has been done”.

AFP

Headline

Israeli Drone Shot Down Over Lebanon – IDF

Published

1 hour ago

April 23, 2024

Editor

The Israeli Defense Forces, IDF, on Monday said an Israeli drone was shot down over Lebanon on Sunday night.

Writing on Telegram, the IDF said a surface-to-air missile was launched at the drone that was operating in Lebanese airspace, adding that the drone was hit and had landed in Lebanon.

It added that fighter jets struck the missile launch site.

Fighting broke out with Lebanon on Sunday, with the Israeli army announcing that two shells had been fired in the direction of the village of Rosh Hanikra in northern Israel on the Mediterranean Sea.

The Israeli Army attacked the locations from which the shots were fired and fighter jets had also attacked terror infrastructure north-east of Nabatieh, it said.

Previously, fighter jets had also fired on targets belonging to the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.

Both Hezbollah and the military arm of Palestinian militant organisation Hamas claimed responsibility for attacks on Israel on Sunday.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war in October, deaths and injuries have resulted from daily firing on the border between Lebanon and Israel.

Headline

VIDEO: First Female Transgender Mosque Opens In Bangladesh

Published

14 hours ago

April 22, 2024

Editor

The world’s first female transgender mosque has reportedly opened in Bangladesh.

In the video shared by DW, some of the worshippers who transitioned from being males to females were seen observing the Muslim prayers.

It was further gathered that the land where the mosque was built, was donated by the government. The transgender Muslims expressed excitement over the development, adding that they are happy they will live and be buried like every other person.

Watch the video below…

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Lindaikejiblog (@lindaikejiblogofficial)

Headline

US Man Bags Multiple Deaths Sentence After Paying Mother $2,500 To Rape 5-year-old Daugher[PHOTOS]

Published

14 hours ago

April 22, 2024

Editor

…mother faces 20 years prison for child trafficking

A Georgia man, Jeremy Williams, has been given four death sentences for paying a mother, Kristen Siple, $2,500 to rape her 5-year-old daughter, Kamarie Holland, before murdering the child.

The horrific details of the case sparked widespread outrage.

The emotional trial saw jurors reportedly shed tears upon viewing videos of Williams’ actions.

Williams was convicted of paying Kristen Siple $2,500 to rape and sodomize her daughter.

He filmed the sexual assault and then killed little Kamarie Holland.

On Dec. 13, 2021, the girl was snatched from her Columbus, Georgia home.

Williams took her to an abandoned ramshackle home where he once lived across the state line in Phenix City, Alabama, and raped, tortured and strangled the child to death.

Siple initially claimed she woke up that day to discover her daughter missing and the front door open.

However, last month, she confessed to selling her daughter to Williams for an hour to sate his sickening desires.

The mum now faces 20 years in prison for sex trafficking.

“If there’s ever been somebody that’s deserving of the death penalty, it’s Jeremy Williams,” Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor told reporters.

“He’s another type of evil that we in society just don’t need walking around.”

According to reports, at points during the trial, jurors were sobbing as they watched bodycam footage of cops finding Kamarie’s body in the filthy basement.

They also had to endure videos of the little girl being raped.

Williams is a serial child abuser. He is also a suspect in the brutal murder of an Alabama toddler.

In 2009, he was acquitted of lowering a little boy, aged three, into a bowl of boiling water.

His ex-wife called him a “soulless” man who was “no longer worth her tears.”.

A woman who was four when she was raped by Williams called him a “monster.”

As the child killer heard the four death sentences pronounced, he was utterly without emotion.

“You don’t deserve life yourself,” Kamarie’s father, Corey Holland, told him at the sentencing. “We don’t have Kamarie and you don’t deserve to see your kids or life.”

The little girl’s sister added: “I don’t understand why someone would hurt her – she was so sweet and caring.”

Williams was also sentenced to life for the production of obscene material of a child and human trafficking, 20 years for conspiracy of human trafficking, and 10 years for abuse of a corpse.

“There’s no reason that baby should be in the ground. I want to remember her, not this joker. Jeremy is not somebody I want to remember in life,” DA Rick Chancey said.