At least 64 people were killed and 180 injured in an Ethiopian air strike on a market in the war-torn Tigray region, a local health officer told AFP Thursday.

"The air strike was in the market area, so many, many people were injured," said Mulu Atsbaha, an advisor to the Tigray regional administration on maternal and child health. 

The strike on Tuesday in Togoga town also left 180 injured, Mulu added. He said the toll had been gathered from residents of Togoga town, 30km north-west of the regional capital Mekele, and "confirmed with local leaders". 

Ethiopia's army spokesperson said Thursday that the military carried out the attack on Togoga, but said rebel fighters were the target.

"We do not accept that this operation targeted civilians," Colonel Getnet Adane told AFP, insisting that those injured or killed were fighters "in civilian clothes".

But survivors and health workers described aerial explosions striking a busy market at the peak of trading, killing and injuring dozens, including children.

The United Nations has called for an urgent investigation into the strike.

The attack came as vote counting was underway following Monday's national elections in Ethiopia. However, the conflict in Tigray meant no vote was held there, and the region has seen an upsurge in fighting in recent days.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to Tigray in November to oust the dissident regional leadership, promising a swift victory. News24

By FLEVIAN MUTIE

The sound of siren is heard from afar, getting louder as it draws close by. The urgency to rush grows every second, but the drivers in the front sit in their vehicles, stiff as stones, and unshaken, as the siren continues to fill the air, spreading through the neighborhood.  Lights do not turn, and traffic doesn’t open, eventually the ambulance runs through the rough pavement, in a struggle to reach the hospital in the soonest possible. Some drivers also pull out of the road in an attempt to evade the snarl up, and the result is a traffic gridlock all the way, that ends up blocking everything, including the ambulance.

Will the patient survive? The patient may have been in a comma or badly injured, and may not make it to the hospital, simply due to negligence, where a driver somewhere did not give way, and ended up delaying the ambulance more than expected. It is said that a little courtesy goes a very long way.

Courtesy is a very viable ingredient in our everyday lives. Like common sense, courtesy is vital to our daily lives in our society. However, it seems rare. Lack of courtesy prevails where rudeness, incivility and impoliteness dominate. Courtesy simply means treating others how you would like them to do unto you, and mostly not expecting anything in return.

With the road traffic increasing day by day, ambulance drivers face a tough task everyday of ensuring that patients get to the designated hospitals, and in the right time. Motorists, not just in Kenya or Africa, but all over the world, are advised to pave way for any emergency vehicle, either an ambulance, fire brigades, among other emergency service providers, because whenever it is seen, and especially with a siren and flashing lights, it means that a life is at stake, therefore, please give way. But this happens with very few drivers as everyone is always on the rush, even when traffic is at a standstill.

Dr Tim Kiruhi, a University Vice Chancellor says that nothing is ever lost through courtesy. “This is the cheapest of all the pleasures and it costs nothing as well, but it conveys a lot and sends a very big gesture. Courtesy pleases both those who give and those who receive, and thus, just like mercy, consequently, one gets to connect to a bigger network of humanity at a deeper and personalized level as they expand their knowledge and insights of humanity.” He says.

Kiruhi adds that on the unfortunate, Kenya’s current road transport system is worrying because the prevailing road traffic anarchy causes crashes that directly affect both the income and the economy, as a very huge chunk of money is lost through these traffic snarl-ups. He adds that  despite brimming with huge growth potential, Kenya has registered slow progress mainly due to lack of courtesy, sharing of the little resources that we have, in terms of infrastructure, water and electricity, among others, so that we can all thrive and expand together. 

He further states that in some western countries, motorists must give way to emergency vehicles by moving to either sides of the road to pave way for the ambulance upon hearing the siren. As a researcher, I discovered that over 18,000 patients transported in ambulances die annually in East Africa, with Kenya having the majority. “If only other vehicles gave way, we would be counting survivors, and not patients who have succumbed to conditions, because their lives could be saved if ambulances could reach hospitals faster than they do.” He says.

The NTSA Director General, Francis Meja, recently passed a law where all drivers should pave way for emergency vehicles. “All offenders will have their licenses revoked and will remain suspended and may even face charges in court due to the same. Even when an emergency vehicle, especially an ambulance doesn’t have a casualty on board, there may be a patient somewhere they are going to carry, the bottom line is that the refusal of drivers to stop or give way to an emergency vehicle lowers the chances of survival of a patient, either through a fire or critical illness, and the life may be lost, simply because the ambulance couldn’t reach them in the right time, so by giving way, we are saving lives. They should not drive fast before the emergency vehicle or trail it, it is unlawful. ” Says Meja.

Fredrick Gitau, a Nairobi resident says he drives to work daily, and he is faced with the traffic menace every day upon hitting on the road.  “With the courtesy call dictating that we give way to one another, the issue at hand is the Nairobi’s infrastructure. Some roads are so narrow that you cannot even pull out of the road to give way to anyone. The most ambitious project right now would be expanding the roads especially to ease such congestion and also ensure that emergency vehicles get to their designated destinations in time.  

 “Courtesy is a silver lining that subdues the dark clouds of civilization, and it’s the best part of refinement in many ways. It is an art of heroic beauty in the vast gallery of man's cruelty and baseness. I would like to call on fellow drivers to exercise both caution and courtesy, and also call on the Kenya government to continue with the launch and the implementation of the BRT system that flopped and halted, and by so doing we will be talking of problems half-solved.” Gitau says.

A lesbian who was raped by her pastor to “heal” her of being gay has spoken out about her experience ahead of the government consultation on a conversion therapy ban.

Angela Paterson is now 49 years old and living openly as a lesbian, but told the i that she’ll “never forget” her horrific experiences of conversion therapy as a vulnerable teenager.

Paterson joined Lancing Tabernacle Church in West Sussex, which at the time was led by reverend Max Donald, when she was 14.

When she was 19, in 1990, she became homeless. Donald was aware that the teenager was vulnerable, with a history of sexual abuse, and asked her to move in with him and his wife.

Paterson said knew she was a lesbian, and believed what her evangelical church taught her – that being gay meant going straight to hell. Donald initially sent her to a counsellor for conversion therapy, but when that was ineffective, he embarked on four years of abuse in his mission to “heal” her.

The abuse began gradually, Paterson explained: “I’d be in bed and he would come into my room with a cup of coffee, sit on the bed and on the odd occasion touch my hair and say, ‘We really want to look after you.’ Then we would be in the lounge and he would just grab my hand.

“I was confused but I also thought, ‘This is a pastor, someone I can trust.’ Then I was at the fridge one night and he grabbed me and kissed me on the lips. I was really taken aback but he was trying to reassure me, [saying], ‘It’s OK, I just care about you.'”

The pastor told her that he could “heal” her of being a lesbian, and the abuse soon turned into rape as a form of conversion therapy.

Donald would tell her that the rape was “OK by God”, and she added: “As far as I was concerned, he was closer to God than anybody else… I thought it might work. I was a broken person when I moved there. So I stayed.”

Finally, at the age of 23, Paterson confided in the wife of a youth leader, and while they originally took her away from the pastor to a residential evangelical house, they soon sent her back. Once she returned, she was forced to “confess” to having an “adulterous relationship” with the pastor in front of the entire congregation.

Donald later also confessed “adultery” and left the church, and he passed away 2010.

In the years since she escaped the abuse, Paterson has tried to speak to various religious organisations about her experience, but has been dismissed or ignored, which she said has had a “huge effect on my wellbeing” and deterred her from going to the police.

“It’s another way of systematically shutting people down,” she added. “It’s so messed up and so patriarchal.”

In a statement to the i, Lancing Tabernacle Church said it was “completely unaware” of Paterson’s allegations, but insisted they would treat such claims “very seriously indeed”.

Now, Paterson has decided to publicly speak out about her experience ahead of a government consultation on conversion therapy which will “ensure that the ban can address the practice while protecting the medical profession; defending freedom of speech; and upholding religious freedom”.

Paterson insisted that any form of conversion therapy, from rape to prayer, causes huge “damage”, and that any religious exemptions “would still leave it wide open to abuses happening”.

She desperately wants to use her experience as evidence for the consultation, insisting she would speak to MPs “in a heartbeat”, and urged the government: “Get some people in a room who have had experiences of this and deeply listen to them.”

Anyone who has been effected by rape or sexual abuse can contact the Rape Crisis hotline on 08088029999 in the UK, or the RAINN helpline on 800.656.4673 in the US.

Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS) can also be contacted on 08088010340. Yahoo News

The government has closed a Muslim secondary school in Sagana, Kirinyaga County, and sent over 100 students home in a fresh crackdown on unregistered institutions.

Deputy County Commissioner Moses Ivuto said the director of the institution, Tahfidh-ul-Quran Academy Secondary School, was also arrested in the operation.

Mr. Ivuto warned those operating without following directives from the Ministry of Education that the law would catch up to them.

“Most of these institutions do not meet the minimum standards required and we will investigate this school director further,” said the Deputy County commissioner.

Ndia sub-county Director of Education Kamemba Kamande said the school director will be arraigned in court and charged for operating an unregistered school, further for going against the government’s COVID-19 guidelines.

The school boss is presently being held at the Baricho Police Station in Ndia, Kirinyaga West. By Johnson Muriithi, Citizen