Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Sri Lanka.
Today's three stories you should know.
Ethiopia
Longtime Proximities readers know well how brutal the war in Ethiopia has been for the last 17 months. And, today, yet more confirmation in a horrific report from rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The report - 221 pages long and based on 427 interviews and other research - painstakingly documents a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Tigrayan ethnic minority. “We will erase you from this land,” one interviewee recalls being told by government-allied forces.
More from Amnesty and HRW here.
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso’s former president Blaise Compaoré has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara in 1987. Sankara was killed alongside 12 of his colleagues when a hit squad attacked a meeting of the ruling National Revolutionary Council. Compaoré ruled the country for 27 years before being toppled after public protests erupted in 2014. Sankara, a leftist often referred to as Africa’s Che Guevara, remains an icon for many across the continent.
More from Africa News here.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is digging in and refusing to step down despite furious protests over the country’s unprecedented economic crisis. Minister of Highways Johnston Fernando told parliament that Rajapaksa had no plans to resign, adding: “We will face this. We have the strength to face this. We are not afraid.”
More from AP here.