Day: February 20, 2022

ADDIS ABABA— Germany is providing assistance to the tune of 20 million Euro via the United Nations in order to mitigate the suffering from the ongoing severe drought in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

Following a historic drought, the United Nations estimates that around 13 million people are at risk from hunger.

Ethiopia is experiencing a prolonged drought after three consecutive failed rainy seasons since late 2020 affecting 6.8 million people living in Oromia, SNNP, Southwest and Somali regional state, several areas in southern and southeastern Ethiopia, including in the regions of Somali (10 zones), Oromia (8 zones), Southwest (1 zone) and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples – SNNP (7 zones).

People living in these same areas have barely managed to recuperate from the severe drought in 2017 to witness again such harsh conditions, the first signs of which started appearing towards the end of 2020.

In Somalia, an estimated 1.4 million people could be displaced due to the current drought and 7.7 million, half the population, is in need of humanitarian assistance.

Scarcely any rain has fallen in several regions in the Horn of Africa since late 2020.

Germany is providing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with 20 million euro to ensure that people in areas of particular risk from hunger can receive swift assistance. These funds are to be used, among other things, to provide more than 50,000 people in Somalia with feed for their livestock.

In Ethiopia, 26 dried up watering holes are to be restored. In Kenya, 15,000 families are to receive humanitarian cash transfers. In parts of the three countries, precipitation has decreased by up to 70 percent. Some regions have even suffered their lowest rainfall of all time.

Nomadic herders and stockbreeders are facing increasing difficulties. Countless families have lost their sole source of income. As the lack of rain also causes pastureland to dry up, nomadic herders and their animals are increasingly turning to arable land.

Agriculturally-viable land is decreasing. Wells and irrigation systems are drying up. New conflicts are arising as a result of the competition for the shrinking number of fields, grazing land and watering holes. The consequences of armed conflicts in Ethiopia and Somalia as well as a locust plague in 2020 have aggravated the situation further.

“This funding demonstrates the German Government’s fundamental approach to humanitarian assistance. Its aim is to provide help as fast and as anticipatory as possible in order to avoid or minimize damage. The German Government has expanded its humanitarian assistance in Africa in the last few years. In 2021, it made available a total of 564 million Euro for assistance on the African continent,” a statement from the German embassy in Addis Abeba said.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

The United States’ yearly counter-terrorism training program for African forces began on Sunday in Ivory Coast at a time of upheaval in which Islamist fighters control large areas, coups are on the rise and French forces are winding down.

The training program, known as Flintlock, will bring together more than 400 soldiers from across West Africa to bolster the skills of forces, some of which are under regular attack by armed groups linked to al Qaida and Islamic State.

Those not present included forces from Guinea and two countries worst-hit by Islamist violence, Mali and Burkina Faso. Military juntas have snatched power in those three countries since 2020, raising concerns about a return to West Africa’s post-colonial reputation as a “coup belt.”

Central to this year’s training is coordination between different forces fighting the same enemy.

“A main focus of Flintlock is information sharing. If we can’t communicate, we can’t work together,” said Admiral Jamie Sands, Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, at the opening ceremony.

Islamist militants roam across large areas of the Sahel, the arid band of terrain south of the Sahara Desert. Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have been overrun by attacks since 2015 that have killed thousands and uprooted more than 2 million people. Security experts say insurgents have infiltrated coastal countries including Benin and Ivory Coast.

The groups ghost across poorly-policed borders, confounding a mosaic of local and international forces who have spent billions of dollars trying eliminate the threat.

France has led the fight against the militants since 2013, but popular opposition to its intervention has grown. Last week it said it would leave Mali, moving instead to Niger.

Diplomats fear the exit of 2,400 French troops from Mali – the epicenter of the violence – could destabilize the region further.

Source: Voice of America

Sudanese security forces on Sunday fired tear gas at protesters demonstrating against last year’s military coup, an AFP correspondent said, as a United Nations human rights expert arrived in the country.

Thousands rallied in the capital Khartoum, carrying the Sudanese flags and posters of people killed during anti-coup demonstrations in recent months.

Security forces fired tear gas and wounded several protesters who were heading toward the presidential palace in central Khartoum, the correspondent said.

“We are ready to protest all year,” said one demonstrator, 24-year-old Thoyaba Ahmed.

Regular protests have rocked the northeast African country since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan led a military takeover in October, sparking international condemnation.

The move derailed a transition painstakingly negotiated between military and civilian leaders following the 2019 ouster of president Omar al-Bashir.

“We want to rectify our country’s situation to have a good future,” demonstrator Wadah Khaled told AFP.

At least 81 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in a violent crackdown on the protests, according to an independent medics group.

“We need to make sacrifices to resolve the country’s issues,” 25-year-old demonstrator Arij Salah said.

U.N. human rights expert Adama Dieng, meanwhile, is visiting Sudan until Thursday, on a trip initially planned for last month but postponed at the request of Sudanese authorities.

“Dieng will meet with senior Sudanese government officials, representatives of civil society organizations, human rights defenders, heads of U.N. entities, and diplomats,” the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement this week.

Separately Sunday, dozens rallied outside a court complex in Khartoum to protest against the trial of several Bashir-era figures, an AFP correspondent said.

Among those on trial is former foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour, who faces charges over plotting a coup in 2020.

Ghandour’s family said last month that he had begun a hunger strike in prison, along with several ex-regime officials.

Source: Voice of America