Day: October 17, 2022

GENEVA, 17 October (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — Nearly a hundred experts from Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda gather in Mombasa, Kenya, from 18 to 19 October for a two-day regional workshop to identify concrete ways to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention in Eastern African countries.

Officials from the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa, Regional Coordination Office for United Nations Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), the European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa (IGAD) will also attend the event.

The workshop is organized by the Office for Disarmament Affairs through the Implementation Support Unit for the Biological Weapons Convention, in collaboration with the Government of Kenya through the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation.

The Biological Weapons Convention, which opened for signature on 10 April 1972 and entered into force on 26 March 1975, was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.  With 184 States Parties, the Biological Weapons Convention has established a strong norm against biological weapons, while also facilitating assistance, international cooperation and capacity-building on matters such as biological science and technology, as well as preparedness and response to deliberate biological threats.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the vulnerability of modern societies to large-scale disease outbreaks and the need to proactively address biothreats and enhance national frameworks on biosafety, biosecurity and non-proliferation of biological weapons.  The universalization and effective implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention in Africa is a key aspect for comprehensively addressing biological risks and threats on the continent at the national and regional levels.

The workshop is part of a four-year project on “Supporting Universalization and Effective Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention in Africa” and funded through generous financial support by the Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction.

Source: United Nations

DAKAR – Above-average rainfall and devastating flooding across West and Central Africa has affected five million people in 19 countries across the region, claiming hundreds of lives, upending livelihoods, displacing tens of thousands from their homes and decimating over a million hectares of cropland – in a region already in the grips of an unprecedented hunger crisis. This climate-related disaster is one of the deadliest the region has seen in years and is likely to deepen the already worrisome hunger situation for millions.

The floods hit West Africa as world leaders prepare to meet on the climate crisis at COP27 in Egypt and highlight the urgent need to help communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis adapt, expand solutions that address loss and damage incurred during climate-related disasters, and invest in climate action in fragile contexts.

“Families in West Africa have already been pushed to the limit in the wake of conflict, the socio-economic fallout from the pandemic, and skyrocketing food prices. These floods act as a misery multiplier and are the final straw for communities already struggling to keep their heads above water,” said Chris Nikoi, the UN World Food Programme (WFP)’s Regional Director for Western Africa.

“WFP is on the ground helping flood-hit families get back on their feet by providing an immediate response package, while also helping to build community resilience to future shocks and pave a pathway out of this catastrophic situation,” Nikoi added.

The short-term meteorological forecasts indicate above average seasonal rainfall across the Western Africa region (except southern coastal areas), with a risk of flooding affecting people and further driving up humanitarian needs. A confluence of calamities already left 43 million people facing crisis and emergency (IPC/CH phases 3+4) levels of food insecurity during the June-August lean season.

In response, WFP is on the ground providing a three-month emergency assistance package targeting 427,000 flood-hit women, men and children in critically affected countries including the Central African Republic, Chad, the Gambia, Nigeria, Sao Tome & Principe, and Sierra Leone. WFP also provides post-flood response mainly targeting smallholder farmers whose crops have been destroyed.

WFP’s emergency food assistance is provided in the form of food and cash disbursements helping affected families meet their basic food and nutrition needs at a time when food prices are skyrocketing, already pushing basic meals out of reach for vulnerable families.

In many countries across the region, food prices are still on the rise compared to the 5-year average. Maize prices, for example, rose by 106%, 78%, 42% respectively in Ghana, Niger and Nigeria. In Burkina Faso, sorghum prices increased by 85%. In Mauritania, wheat is up by 49%, while in Sierra Leone, imported rice is up by a staggering 87%. The spiralling food, fuel and fertilizer prices not only aggravate the hunger crisis but also foment socio-economic tensions – as governments struggle to respond to the crisis due to heavy debt burdens and limited fiscal space.

In addition to responding to the immediate needs of flood-hit communities, WFP is implementing an Anticipatory Action programme that helps build the capacity of governments and partners. This includes setting up early warning systems to better prepare for climate extremes when they take place and providing funding opportunities to avert or mitigate the impacts of imminent extreme weather events. In August, WFP activated its Anticipatory Action in Niger targeting 200,000 at-risk people with early warning messages and advisory information.

“Strengthening resilience and promoting climate adaptation is an essential part of anticipating climate hazards, restoring degraded ecosystems, and protecting vulnerable communities against the impact of climate extremes,” Nikoi noted.

In arid lands across the Sahel, WFP’s focus is on building local resilience to the cascading effects of the climate crisis, by promoting farming techniques that help restore degraded lands and ecosystems. WFP supports communities in building rainwater catchment systems and other sustainable water storage options that allow farmers to plant fruits and vegetables even after the riverbeds dry up.

WFP also implements a climate risk insurance scheme that improves African governments’ management of climate risks. In 2022, WFP disbursed US$ 9.4 million from the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Replica for the implementation of an early response plan in Mauritania, Mali, and Burkina Faso following the 2021 drought.

To ensure that WFP’s flood-response programme can effectively assist affected communities, WFP requires US$ 15 million through March 2023.

Source: United Nations

Relentless drought in China, East Africa, the U.S. West and northern Mexico, devastating floods in Pakistan and Kentucky, scorching heat waves in Europe and the Pacific Northwest, destructive cyclones in southern Africa and intense hurricanes in the U.S. and Central America make up just some of the recent extreme weather events that scientists have long predicted would be more intense with a warming climate.

“With just over one degree of warming since pre-industrial times, we are already seeing more extreme weather patterns,” said Elizabeth Robinson, director of the Grantham Research Institute in London.

Scientists have been tracking precisely how much the climate has already changed due to human activity. Temperatures around the world have been inching upwards.

The average global temperature today, which tends to be compared to estimates for the pre-industrial era that kickstarted the mass burning of fossil fuels, has shot up between 0.9 and 1.2 degrees Celsius (1.6 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1850, in large part due to human activity, according to estimates in the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Most of that warming has happened from 1975 onwards, at a rate of 0.15 Celsius (0.27 Fahrenheit) to 0.2 Celsius (0.36 Fahrenheit) per decade.

Most people are living in areas that have heated up more than the global average, “partly that is urbanization — people move into cities, which are urban heat islands — and partly populations growing,” Robinson said. Urban areas, packed with plenty of heat-absorbing infrastructure like roads and buildings and less cooling tree cover, become “islands” of warmer weather.

Sea levels, which have swelled due to both warming, expanding oceans and the melting of ice over land, have also been jumping up more rapidly. In the twentieth century, seas were rising by about 1.4 millimeters (0.06 inches) a year, but that’s doubled to 3.6 millimeters a year (0.14 inches) in the past fifteen years, data suggests. Seas have risen by about 21 to 24 centimeters (8 to 9 inches) so far since 1880 on average, according to estimates, with the IPCC suggesting this will likely be up to 43 to 84 centimeters (17 to 33 inches) by 2100.

While the climate and global temperatures have fluctuated throughout the Earth’s history, it is the rate of change that is most alarming to researchers. Fossil fuels — made up of ancient decomposing plants and animals deep in the earth — have been dug up at extraordinary rates. Scientists are now starting to pinpoint “details about rates and magnitudes and timing of changes” as well as the varying impact on regions, said Brown University climate scientist Kim Cobb.

With the planet already facing the effects of climate change, adapting to hazards is one major way humans can limit the damage. Weather-related disaster deaths are generally trending lower globally as forecasts, preparedness and resilience improves, scientists say.

“The extent to which people are harmed by an extreme weather event is strongly influenced by government policies,” Robinson said, but added that “there are limits to adaptation.”

Source: Voice of America

The United States is expanding its fight against al-Qaida’s affiliate in Somalia, adding a new, expansive round of sanctions to drone strikes and military advice from U.S. forces on the ground.

The Treasury Department Monday unveiled sanctions targeting four senior al-Shabab leaders as well as five operatives, all said to be key players in a network charged with raising money, recruiting fighters and procuring weapons.

According to the U.S., the smuggling network took in money from a variety of sources, including non-governmental organizations, helping al-Shabab generate an estimated $100 million per year, helping to grow the terror group’s size and capabilities.

A report earlier this year by the Mogadishu-based security think tank, the Hiraal Institute — subsequently affirmed by intelligence estimates shared by United Nations member states — indicates about a quarter of that money, or some $24 million, is spent on weapons alone.

Treasury named one of the key leaders as Abdullahi Jeeri, al-Shabab’s chief of weapons procurement.

Treasury said Jeeri has been active as recent as late last year, often getting weapons from local sellers and international suppliers based out of Yemen. U.S. officials also said Jeeri is responsible for collecting payments levied against various Somali businesses. The U.S. says Jeeri is a member of al-Shabab’s Shura (Consultative) Council, the group’s second highest administrative body after the Tanfid (Executive) Council.

A former Al-Shabab official who defected from the group but could not be named for security reasons described Jeeri as the group’s commander of logistics.

“He controls all the weapons, sending them to the frontlines, storing them,” he said, adding Jeeri is connected to weapons smugglers in the Horn of Africa.

Another sanctioned al-Shabab official, Khalif Adale, reportedly answers directly to the terror group’s emir, Ahmed Diriye, and served as the point of contact for organizations forced to pay off the group.

Adale is one of the first Somali businessmen who openly joined the group early on. People who know him say that by using his business connections, he used to import uniforms, communications equipment and GPS devices for the group.

The U.S. Treasury also sanctioned Abdikarim Hussein Gagaale, a deputy finance official, and Hassan Afgoye, a key negotiator responsible for overseeing various racketeering efforts. Gagaale previously served as the group’s military commander in the Hiran and Galgudud regions of central Somalia. He was also a top operational militant officer.

Afgoye previously served as head of the group’s financial department, which resulted the United States putting a $5 million bounty on his head.

He is currently said to be head of financial investigation for al-Shabab, an office that accounts for how al-Shabab spends. The U.S. State Department calls him “critical to the group’s continuing operations.”

“Treasury is focused on identifying and disrupting al-Shabab’s illicit networks operating in Eastern Africa,” Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

“We will continue to take action against the weapons smuggling and fundraising activities of al-Shabab and other al-Qaida affiliates,” he added.

Horn of Africa regional analyst Matt Bryden says targeting al-Shabab’s finances is a significant strategy.

“The most important thing about it is that it demonstrates that the United States government and presumably the Somali federal government are demonstrating a commitment to a whole-of-government approach to fighting al-Shabab,” he said.

“This is a clear sign that the battle against al-Shabab is no longer simply going to be fought militarily on the ground, but that it’s going to involve attacks on al-Shabab financial networks.”

Bryden said although the impact of the sanctions may not necessarily hurt al-Shabab members, it’s still a warning to those who are dealing with the group.

“Obviously sanctioning people, members of al-Shabab who are in Somalia [who] don’t have foreign bank accounts, don’t travel, is not going to have an impact, but it’s a very important international signal, and it’s also a signal to Somali businesspeople and political people who actually do business with them,” he said.

The U.S. sanctions follow recent moves by the Somali government to curtail al-Shabab’s fundraising and militant operations, part of what Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has described as an “all-out war” on the terror group.

This past Saturday, Somalia’s government warned businesses to stop paying off al-Shabab, saying there would be stiff penalties for anyone succumbing to the group’s extortion efforts.

“Any merchant who obeys instructions issued by the terrorists, and pays them income, will never be allowed to do business in Somalia again,” the ministry of commerce and industry said in a letter to traders.

Last week, the government in Mogadishu won support from neighboring Ethiopia to end a partial arms embargo on Somalia to allow its forces to better take on al-Shabab.

And the Somali government has also announced a crackdown against media outlets that publish information considered to be favorable to the terror group.

Somalia’s recent counteroffensive against al-Shabab has been making some gains, according to government officials who say that as of earlier this month they have retaken more than 40 localities from the group.

Those gains follow a U.S. decision this past May to deploy a few hundred troops to Somalia to help advise Somali forces in their fight against the terror group.

In addition, the U.S. has carried out a handful of airstrikes in support of Somali government forces over the past several months, with estimates suggesting dozens of al-Shabab fighters have been killed.

But despite the recent airstrikes, al-Shabab has since claimed some of those areas are back under its control. And recent intelligence estimates suggest al-Shabab is still a force to be reckoned with.

One assessment, shared in July by the United Nations terrorism monitoring team, said al-Shabab commands between 7,000 and 12,000 fighters, up considerably from earlier estimates.

Other assessments suggest al-Shabab has also become more influential within al-Qaida, due in part to its help funding core al-Qaida activities.

This past July, the outgoing commander of U.S. forces in Africa warned of an increasingly aggressive al-Shabab, saying in response to a question from VOA that a series of incursions by al-Shabab in Ethiopia were not a “one-off.”

“It’s only been less than a year ago that al-Shabab emir [Ahmed] Diriye called for an increased emphasis on external attacks and increased emphasis on attacking Western targets in the Horn of Africa,” General Stephen Townsend said at the time. “This is a response.”

Source: Voice of America