The spokesman for the rebel Tigrayan forces in northern Ethiopia says they have handed over their heavy weapons in line with the ceasefire agreement signed in South Africa in November.
Getachew Reda wrote on Twitter that the transfer had been confirmed by an African Union monitoring and verification team.
Tigray TV released footage of the handover of heavy weapons from the TDF to the ENDF. Supervised by the AU. Seen are: At least 24 D-30 122mm guns Multiple heavy mortars 3 Zis-3 76mm guns 2 D-44 85mm anti-tank guns 5 Urals+Zu-23 2 cars with Type 63 rockets 8+ T-72 1 T-62 2 Type 89 pic.twitter.com/4qWRz0toQz
Families wept and kissed the tarmac at the main airport in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region as they reunited after being kept apart by war for more than 18 months.
The emotional scenes followed the resumption of commercial flights between the federal capital Addis Ababa and the regional capital Mekelle.
The city, which has a population of around 500,000, was largely cut off from the rest of the world during a brutal two-year war that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, and displaced millions of others.
The government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) finally signed a peace accord last month, opening the way for passenger flights to resume.
TPLF-controlled Tigrai TV showed footage of passengers dropping to their knees and kissing the tarmac at the airport in Mekelle.
There were also emotional scenes at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport, as people flew in from Tigray.
As telephone services had also been cut, some people had no contact with their relatives in Tigray for more than 18 months, and were anxiously waiting to find out whether they were still at home and safe.
They included 47-year-old Kahssay Hailu, who had been stranded in Addis Ababa since she came to the city to be with her daughter, as she prepared for her exams.
“I lived here, separated from my husband and child whom I love,” Mrs Kahssay told Reuters news agency, as she waited at the airport in Addis Ababa to catch her flight to Mekelle.
“When I heard of the news [of flights resuming], I fell to the ground and cried,” she added.
Another woman, 67-year-old Nigsti Hailemariam, said she had arrived in Addis Ababa in 2020 to help her pregnant daughter give birth.
“I came here to see my daughter who was giving birth. My plan was to stay just two weeks and then everything was shut down suddenly. It has been more than a year-and-a-half. I’m very happy that peace is returning, and excited that I am finally going home,” she told Reuters.
The war started after a massive fall-out between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the TPLF-controlled regional government.
Mr Abiy accused Tigrayan forces of attacking military bases and trying to overthrow him.
He responded by ordering air strikes, and sending troops to Tigray to dislodge the TPLF from power in the region.
The African Union (AU) brokered a deal between the two sides last month to end hostilities and to restore basic services in Tigray.
Holding war criminals accountable in Ethiopia is the only way to guarantee lasting peace in the country.
In early November, the international community welcomed almost unanimously the peace agreement between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed in Pretoria. But while the deal is a positive step, a statement of intent to silence the guns, some hard questions remain.
In particular, the issue of accountability for the litany of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Tigray remains largely unaddressed. Since the start of the conflict in November 2020, over 500,000 have died in the fighting or from famine and lack of health care. More than 5 million have been put under siege and deliberately starved; tens of thousands have been sexually assaulted; and well over 2 million have been displaced due to fighting and ethnic cleansing.
Yet, the peace deal does little for the victims of the violence who want justice. Its provisions on accountability for criminal atrocities are too loosely formulated. The agreement mentions that the Ethiopian government will adopt “a comprehensive national transitional justice policy aimed at accountability, ascertaining the truth, redress for victims, reconciliation, and healing, consistent with the Constitution [of Ethiopia] and the African Union Transitional Justice Policy Framework”.
This statement is too general and open to interpretation and gives enough space to the Ethiopian government to dodge responsibility and never really initiate a transitional justice process that will hold war criminals accountable.
There have already been early signs that there is no political will to seek accountability. One just has to look at the struggle of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE), which was tasked with investigating atrocity crimes in the war in Tigray. The commission has been undermined systematically from the very start.
When ICHREE was created, the Ethiopian government sought to prevent it from getting funding. It failed, but the budget allocated to the commission was still not enough to ensure it functions properly.
When ICHREE started work, it reported suffering from “time and staffing constraints”, as six positions within its secretariate were cut. Worse still, it did not have the full cooperation of the local authorities and was denied access to sites of alleged atrocities in Ethiopia. It even complained that its requests to other UN entities for “documents and materials of interest [were] largely deflected, or responded to after an inordinate delay”.
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT), comprised of members of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), was also slow to share its internal database, the ICHREE reported.
The commission has faced all these attempts to undermine its work despite the fact that it is investigating alleged crimes by all sides of the conflict and not just the government’s forces and their allies. And its report released in September reflects that.
It states that “the Commission has reasonable grounds to believe that members of the [Ethiopian National Defence Forces] committed the following war crimes: violence to life and person, in particular murder; outrages on human dignity, in particular humiliating or degrading treatment; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population and civilian objects; pillage; rape; sexual slavery; sexual violence; and intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. The Commission has reasonable grounds to believe that Tigrayan forces committed the same war crimes, with the exception of sexual slavery and starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, regardless of the scale of violations.”
The report further states that the Ethiopian army and its allies have “committed widespread acts of rape and sexual violence against Tigrayan women and girls. In some instances, the attackers expressed an intent to render the victims infertile and used dehumanising language that suggested an intent to destroy the Tigrayan ethnicity. Tigrayan Forces have also committed acts of rape and sexual violence, albeit on a smaller scale.”
At a September meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, representatives of the commission concluded: “the horrific and dehumanising acts of violence committed during the conflict…seem to go beyond mere intent to kill and, instead, reflect a desire to destroy.”
In light of these findings, it is not surprising that the Ethiopian government is afraid of the ICHREE inquiry and that is why it will not and cannot lead an accountability process for war atrocity crimes using the Ethiopian legal system.
However, the accountability process is being undermined not only by Addis Ababa, but also by regional players. The three African members of the UN Security Council – Kenya, Gabon and Ghana (also known as the A3) – have consistently blocked Security Council action on the conflict in Tigray.
Yet, it is not in their interest or in the interest of the African Union to do so. Justice and accountability are directly tied to peace in Ethiopia and hence stability in the region. That is why, the A3 and the African Union need to support this investigation.
There are a number of steps that need to be taken to guarantee a fair accountability process in Ethiopia.
First, the ICREE should be supported with all the necessary funding and mandate extensions to carry out its work of investigating and documenting atrocities in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government has to be pressured into giving access to sites of interest and cooperating with the investigation.
Second, the International Criminal Court should be involved in the accountability process. Ethiopia is not a state party to the Rome Statute, but the UN Security Council could and should refer the case to the ICC. Russia and China could block this move, as they have done in the past with resolutions the Ethiopian government has opposed.
If this happens, there is still a way to get ICC involved – if the authorities in Addis Ababa accept its jurisdiction under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute. That of course would only happen under major international pressure.
Third, the African Union could spearhead the accountability process by setting up a hybrid tribunal in another African country. It did that for the prosecution of former Chadian President Hissène Habré, who stood trial in Senegal in 2015. This would ensure adherence to international fair trial standards and deflect pressure to maintain impunity for war criminals.
Accountability and justice are powerful tools to prevent the repetition of atrocities and conflicts in the future. Properly investigating atrocities and then starting an accountability process is the only way to guarantee lasting peace in Ethiopia. The Pretoria peace deal will not hold long without these steps.
Already, there are signs that peace is being undermined. Abductions and killings of Tigrayan civilians continue and violence in other parts of the country has not come to a halt. A successful transitional justice process in Tigray would not only solidify peace but also pave the wave for such processes in other parts of the country that have been in conflict and seen mass killings, such as Oromia.
Victims of the war in Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia have already suffered immensely. They must not be robbed of their rights to justice and redress.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
In an effort to persuade the world that Kiev needs to be free so it can export grain to nations that depend on its agricultural output, a vessel filled with donated Ukrainian wheat has docked in Djibouti on its route to Ethiopia.
The Ukrainian embassy in Ethiopia confirmed the arrival of the shipment in the port of Doraleh. A second freighter with 30,000 tons of wheat is currently at the Ukrainian harbour of Chornomorsk and should set off towards Ethiopia in a matter of days.
Both shipments will have to be shipped by land to reach Ethiopia fro the port.
A third ship with 25,000 tons of wheat is also set to sail soon, but this time to Somalia, a country being threatened with famine. All in all, Ukraine has plans to send 60 loads of grain to countries at the greatest risk of famine, including CongoKenya, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.
Global food markets have been in turmoil since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February, since the fighting meant much of Ukraine’s harvest couldn’t be shipped from its ports. Ukraine is a key producer of critical crops like wheat and sunflower seeds, much of which is purchased by African countries or taken by global aid programmes.
Aside from simply donating the food to needy lands, Ukraine is trying to build a consensus among nations that have been hesitant to criticize Russia, to show them that it is in their interests to condemn the attack and back Ukraine.
Germany helped finance the shipment with a $14 million investment. German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir has noted that 1.6 million people in the Horn of Africa can be fed for a month with the aid, which will be distributed by the UN’s World Food Programme.
The capital of the northern Tigray state, Mekelle, has power again thanks to Ethiopia. Federal troops fought rebels there during a two-year civil war that just ended last month.
Residents in the city are now enjoying full resumption of electricity after supply was disconnected for more than a year, sources in the city told the BBC.
“Electricity has been everywhere in the city since yesterday (Tuesday),” said a resident.
The state-affiliated Fana broadcast quoted a spokesman of the state-owned Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) as saying that power had been restored after repair on a high-voltage line.
State-run telecommunications firm Ethio Telecom has also restored services in Shire town and surrounding areas.
Families living abroad have told the BBC how they finally managed to call their loved ones after two years.
Power and telecommunication services were disrupted after war broke out in the Tigray region in November 2020.
Ethiopia has restored power to Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray state. It should be recalled that during the two-year civil war that ended last month, Federal troops fought rebels there.
According to city sources, after being without electricity for more than a year, local residents are finally resuming full use of it.
“Electricity has been everywhere in the city since yesterday (Tuesday),” said a resident.
A spokesman for the government-owned Ethiopian Electric Electricity (EEP) was quoted by the state-affiliated Fana broadcast as saying that power had been restored following repair on a high-voltage line.
Ethiopia’s Minister of Energy Dr. Ing. Sultan Woli
Services in Shire town and the surrounding areas have also been restored by state-run telecommunications company Ethio Telecom.
Foreign-based families have revealed to newsmen how, after two years, they were finally able to call their loved ones.
After fighting broke out in the Tigray region in November 2020, power and telecommunications services were suspended. Meanwhile, a month after a truce was reached to put an end to the two-year fighting in the northern Tigray region, the rebels’ top commander reports that more than half of their fighters had left the frontlines in Ethiopia.
“We have accomplished 65% disengagement of our army,” Tadesse Wereda, commander-in-chief of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front said in a video posted on the TPLF’s Facebook page late on Saturday.
“Our army left the front lines and moved to the place prepared for them to camp,” he said.
A month after a cease-fire was reached, the World Health Organization claims it can only assist a “tiny percentage” of individuals in need in the Ethiopianarea of Tigray.
It claimed that it lacked unrestricted access to provide medical aid.
The federal administration is meeting with Tigrayan fighters to discuss disarmament as they begin to leave the front lines.
Aid workers say Eritrean troops and Ethiopian regional militias are continuing to kill and abuse civilians in Tigray.
The region was almost completely cut off from the rest of the world during the two-year war.
There is “no timeline” for restoring internet access to Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region, a senior governmentofficial said Tuesday.
The restoration of Tigray’s internet service will be carried alongside the resumption of its phone and electricity services, though no date has been set for those goals, Ethiopia’s Minister for Innovation and Technology Belete Molla said.
He was speaking at the U.N.’s annual Internet Governance Forum being held this week in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
“The government of Ethiopia is designing a package that is not only about internet resumption but the resumption of everything, because this is what we need as a people, as a government,” Belete said of the internet shutdown in Tigray. “There is no timeline.”
Tigray, home to more than 5 million people, has been mostly without internet, telecommunications, and banking since war broke out between federal government troops and forces led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in November 2020.
A ceasefire deal signed between the warring sides in South Africa earlier this month commits the government to restore Tigray’s basic services, but the communications blackout has not yet been lifted.
Renewed fighting in August halted aid deliveries to Tigray, which is in the throes of a humanitarian crisis. Aid has now started reaching the region, but the World Food Program said last week that access to parts of Tigray remains “constrained.”
With the Tigray blackout still in place, the U.N.’s decision to hold its flagship event on internet access in Ethiopia has drawn criticism.
This year’s conference aims to build steps towards “universal, affordable, and meaningful connectivity,”, especially in Africa where 60% of the continent’s 3 billion people are offline.
Ethiopia has shut down the internet at least 22 times since 2016, according to internet rights group Access Now. The blackout affecting Tigray “is the world’s longest uninterrupted shutdown,” said Brett Solomon, Access Now’s executive director.
Aid workers and rights groups say the communications blackout has hampered the delivery of aid to Tigray and fueled human rights abuses by fostering a culture of impunity among armed actors. U.N. investigators have accused all sides of abuses, including killings, rape, and torture.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the internet forum on Tuesday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared to defend the shutdown in Tigray, saying the internet has “supported the spread of disinformation as Ethiopia dealt with an armed rebellion in the northern part of the country.”
There is “no timeline” for restoring internet access to Ethiopia’s embattled Tigrayregion, a senior government official said Tuesday.
The restoration of Tigray’s internet service will be carried alongside the resumption of its phone and electricity services, though no date has been set for those goals, Ethiopia’s Minister for Innovation and Technology Belete Molla said.
He was speaking at the U.N.’s annual Internet Governance Forum being held this week in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
“The government of Ethiopia is designing a package that is not only about internet resumption but the resumption of everything, because this is what we need as a people, as a government,” Belete said of the internet shutdown in Tigray. “There is no timeline.”
Tigray, home to more than 5 million people, has been mostly without internet, telecommunications, and banking since war broke out between federal government troops and forces led by the TigrayPeople’s Liberation Front in November 2020.
A ceasefire deal signed between the warring sides in South Africa earlier this month commits the government to restore Tigray’s basic services, but the communications blackout has not yet been lifted.
Renewed fighting in August halted aid deliveries to Tigray, which is in the throes of a humanitarian crisis. Aid has now started reaching the region, but the World Food Program said last week that access to parts of Tigray remains “constrained.”
With the Tigray blackout still in place, the U.N.’s decision to hold its flagship event on internet access in Ethiopia has drawn criticism.
This year’s conference aims to build steps towards “universal, affordable, and meaningful connectivity,”, especially in Africa where 60% of the continent’s 3 billion people are offline.
Ethiopia has shut down the internet at least 22 times since 2016, according to internet rights group Access Now. The blackout affecting Tigray “is the world’s longest uninterrupted shutdown,” said Brett Solomon, Access Now’s executive director.
Aid workers and rights groups say the communications blackout has hampered the delivery of aid to Tigray and fueled human rights abuses by fostering a culture of impunity among armed actors. U.N. investigators have accused all sides of abuses, including killings, rape, and torture.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the internet forum on Tuesday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared to defend the shutdown in Tigray, saying the internet has “supported the spread of disinformation as Ethiopia dealt with an armed rebellion in the northern part of the country.”
Even though all four road corridors are now open, access to some parts of Tigray remainsrestricted, according to the World Food Programme.
Even as a ceasefire takes hold in war-torn northern Ethiopia, aid deliveries into Tigray are “not matching the needs” of the region, according to the UN food agency.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners “need access to all parts of the region to deliver food and nutrition assistance to 2.3 million vulnerable people,” according to a statement issued by the WFP on Friday.
Restoring intervention deliveries to Tigray was a key component of a November 2 agreement to end a two-year war that has killed untold numbers of people and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
The WFP said all four road corridors into Tigray had reopened since the ceasefire and humanitarian flights were flying into main cities, allowing a significant increase in aid supplies to reach the region.
However, it added that “access into some parts of eastern and central zones of Tigray remain constrained – affecting up to 170,000 mothers and children in need of food assistance.”
Aid into the region ground to a halt in late August when fighting resumed between the Ethiopian government and its allies, and fighters loyal to Tigray’s rebellious authorities.
Even before the suspension of aid, the UN had warned many in Tigrayalready faced starvation, with some 90 percent of its six million people dependent on food assistance.
The region was isolated from the world for more than a year and faced severe shortages of medicines and limited access to electricity, banking and communications.
Since November 15 when road access improved, WFP said nearly 100 trucks had transported 2,400 metric tonnes of food and 100,000 litres (26,417 gallons) of fuel into the region.
Humanitarian flights carrying passengers to Mekele, the regional capital, have resumed for the first time since August, after receiving government approval. Aid charters into Shire, a northern city, also commenced for the first time ever.
It said an estimated 13.6 million people across Tigray and its neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar were dependent on humanitarian aid as a result of the war, which broke out in November 2020.
Tigray’s authorities had been resisting central rule for months when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused their leadership of attacking federal army camps and sent troops into the region.
The two partiessigned a peace deal in South Africa on November 2 that agreed to unfettered aid into Tigray.
Ethiopian distance runner Tirunesh Dibaba made history at the 2008 Beijing Olympics when she became the first woman to win gold in both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races. She defended her gold medal title in the 10,000 metres at the 2012 London Olympics, becoming the first woman to win the event at two consecutive Olympics.
She was inspired by a family of runners. In fact, she and her sisters have been amazing in the field of distance running. The Dibaba sisters — Tirunesh, Genzebe, Anna, and Melat — are the only siblings in recorded history to hold concurrent world records, and they are a fiercely competitive family from a humble background.
They were raised in a round mud hut in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, without electricity. Their parents were subsistence farmers who grew wheat, barley and teff. As a matter of fact, the Dibaba siblings are seven in all, and all of them run. Tirunesh, however, is the most decorated, having three Olympic gold medals. She had wanted to enroll in school but opted for the Corrections (Prisons Police) sports club.
At age 15, she debuted internationally on Ethiopia’s junior squad at the 2001 world cross-country championships, where she placed fifth.
She continued with junior-level silver medals in cross-country and on the track in 2002. She won the world junior cross-country title in 2003, set a 5,000-metre junior world record and won gold in the 5,000 metres at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) world track and field championships, making her the youngest-ever world champion in her sport.
Her sister, Genzebe, is not doing badly in sports. Ejegayehu, who is their older sister, is also an Olympian who won silver from Athens. Their cousin, Derartu Tulu, was the first Black Africanwoman to win Olympic gold in the 1992 games. She won another Olympic gold medal in Sydney in 2000.
“It’s not a stretch to say they are the world’s fastest family”, Ato Boldon, NBC’s track analyst, told Vogue in 2016. The sisters have remained a household name in Ethiopia, a country that has produced some of the world’s greatest runners, alongside Kenya.
The mother of the Dibaba sisters told Vogue that the siblings are successful thanks to the environment they were raised in, especially the ready supply of milk they get from the family cows. According to Vogue, author David Epstein has said that much of Ethiopia and Kenya lies in an altitude “sweet spot” high enough to cause physiological changes but not so high that the air is too thin for hard training.
The runners’ feat is also attributed to their diet — especially teff rich in iron and calcium — and their “small lightweight frame”. The Dibaba sisters have the body type good for sports, analysts say. Boldon said in 2016 that if one compares the sisters to a car, they would be a Ford Focus with a Ferrari engine.
The Dibabas are good at sports but they don’t really like watching sports. They prefer movies, especially Amharic films, said Tirunesh, who in 2008 married fellow track-and-field Olympic medalist Sileshi Sihine in a nationally televised wedding ceremony.
And just like other successful athletes, the Dibabas have invested their monies back into their communities. The sisters, alongside their in-laws, are real estate moguls owning several buildings in Addis Ababa. Still, the sisters continue to shine brightly in the sports world.
Ethiopia, which made global headlines in 2019 when it launched an ambitious campaign to plant 20 billion trees by the end of this year, says that goal has already been exceeded – and its arboreal mission is set to continue.
But in a country battling drought, conflict and a rising population, it is unclear how effective and successful the mass tree-planting has been.
Supporters of the Green Legacy Initiative (GLI), championed by the country’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, say it has restored greenery, tackled climate change and improved local livelihoods.
It has certainly raised awareness about deforestation and garnered mass engagement, with 20 million Ethiopians reportedly taking part.
How many survived?
The government-backed GLI Technical Committee puts the average survival rate of seedlings at 83.4% in 2019 and 79% in 2020.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The Green Legacy Initiative is Prime Minister Abiy’s pet project
However, those figures may not be reliable, warns James Mayers from the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED), a London-based think tank.
He told the BBC that the GLI had yet to introduce a formal process for the trees post-planting.
“It’s only been a few years and trees take a long time to grow. Survival in the long-term is what matters,” he said.
Around the world, similar initiatives have struggled. A study by a group of scientists, published this week by a Royal Society journal, shows that half of all trees planted in reforestation projects in Asia do not survive for more than five years.
But Adefires Worku, who co-ordinates the GLI Technical Committee, has faith in their figures, collected from local communities.
“We’re hoping to get these verified by independent international bodies,” he told the BBC.
Types count
Ethiopia is home to Africa’s second-largest population and implementing a countrywide tree-planting operation has not been a simple task.
Image source, ReutersImage caption, The planting of native trees is often recommended by forestry experts
A variety of seedlings were used, including agroforestry trees and fruit trees, like avocado and papaya.
“Putting the right species, in the right places, for the right purposes is essential,” says forestry expert Lars Graudal from the Kenya-based World Agroforestry Centre, which provides training to the local nurseries in Ethiopia that supply the GLI with seeds.
The GLI did come in for criticism for poor planning in its first year of operation.
Some farmers were only given one day’s notice to attend sites and trees were planted in rocky and unsuitable conditions, according to a joint report by IIED and Ethiopia-based Echnoserve Consulting.
It said eucalyptus trees, for example, were “reportedly being planted in areas that could damage the environment”.
Eucalyptus trees grow fast and produce more timber and were therefore favoured by some farmers. However, they require a lot of water and can drain soil of vital nutrients, making it harder to grow other crops.
Agroforestry organisations around the world prefer the use of indigenous trees. Essentially, they should be either native, or non-invasive, meaning they benefit the biodiversity of the area.
Exotic trees like eucalyptus can have benefits, but need to be thoughtfully planted and managed.
The GLI has made an effort to introduce more indigenous species like bamboo in recent years.
But exact progress is difficult to measure, as official statistics on the number of exotic versus native trees planted is still not available – though this is something the GLI Technical Committee says it is working on as part of its next analysis.
“Diversification cannot be achieved overnight,” Mr Graudal told the BBC, stressing that it would be wrong to focus on the negatives.
“It takes time to get this right. But that should not prevent people from taking action. Ethiopia is building up its resource base to use more native species.”
Tom Skirrow, from the charity Tree Aid, says it is important to plant trees that provide actual value, like timber or food, for a local community. This gives farmers an incentive and encourages long-term management.
Another issue that has caused complication for the GLI is the drought – the region’s worst in more than 40 years. Some areas have not seen rainfall for more two years affecting the survival of seedlings.
Beyond that, foresters have had to think carefully about planting drought-resistant trees.
“We need to grow trees that are right, not only for today – but also for tomorrow’s climate conditions,” Mr Skirrow told the BBC.
While using the wrong type of trees can be detrimental to already stretched water supplies, the right ones can lead to long-term gains.
‘Rainmakers’
Jens Kanstrup, a senior adviser at Denmark-based Forests of the World, says re-establishing tree cover helps to maintain humidity.
“At the end of the dry season, communities in agroforestry areas will find that the soil is humid and thriving. Those living in open fields will be completely dried out,” he told the BBC.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, Trees need to be planted to help, not hinder, farmers
If the right trees are planted they can also increase rainfall in the long-term, says Mr Graudal, citing an Australian study which showed the benefits for water supplies of restoring greenery.
The brutal two-year war in Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, has affected the tree-planting scheme.
A peace deal was recently signed, but the GLI has no data for Tigray since 2021 – as the region was blockaded for much of the conflict.
Mr Adefires, who was assigned to launch the GLI in Tigray, remains hopeful.
“Tigray was home to many successful landscape restoration activities, even before the GLI,” he said.
“If the deal goes through, I’ll be the first man to return to Tigray and check on our nurseries.”
The Great Green Wall
The GLI also forms part of another ambitious scheme – the pan-African Great Green Wall project.
The initiative was launched in 2007 by the African Union, with the aim of creating an 8,000km (nearly 5,000-mile) tree barrier stretching from Senegal to Djibouti by 2030, to halt the southward spread of the Sahara desert.
Despite receiving mass-funding from foreign donors, it has struggled to achieve quick success. By 2017 best estimates suggested it had only reached 15% of its target – the worst put it at 4%.
According to the UN, the aim of the Green Wall project has now changed from planting a giant structure to creating a “mosaic of restoration projects across the continent”.
To this end, Ethiopia has now made the largest pledge, promising to produce five billion seeds over 58 districts.
Tree Aid, which works with both the Green Wall and the GLI, say both projects show high-level political backing must work alongside low-level community engagement for long-term success.
“There are many pitfalls with mass tree-planting. But we need to come together to support ambitious projects like the GLI,” says Mr Skirrow.
“We must share learnings, learn from our failings and improve together.”
Sudan, Ethiopia, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Tunisia, Mali, Mozambique, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Eritrea, Algeria, Sudan, Benin, Rwanda, Chad, Kenya, and Libya are just a few of the many African nations that have been identified as among the thirty (30) nations in the world that are most at risk from the effects of climate change.
According to reports, these nations are experiencing the negative effects of climate change, including food crises, ocean acidification from rising CO2 levels, droughts, flood risks, storms, melting glaciers, rising sea levels that affect low-lying areas and coastal cities, declining crop yields, especially in tropical regions, and water shortages.
These negative effects are leading to the destruction of tropical forests, forest fires, Malnutrition and heat stress, spread of vector-borne disease e.g., malaria, dengue fever etc., Physical displacement of populations and risks of mass migrations, Damage to ecosystems and species extinction, Sudden shifts in weather patterns and many more problems that are confronting humanity and the environment.
Thus, international economist and a member of tralac Advisory Board who is also a former Chief Economist at the Word Trade Center, Patrick Low has challenged African countries to seize the opportunity of the ongoing COP 27 in Egypt to concentrate on Green Growth to improve competitiveness and enhance access in big markets.
Addressing the 2022 tralac Annual Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, Patrick Low who currently serves as a fellow of the Asia Global Institute emphasized that there is the need for a clear and united African position to addressing the climate issues affecting the continent considering the fact that Africa’s population will double by 2050.
Patrick Low distinguished between two main approaches to tackling climate change issues; namely abatement and adaptation where abatement which is also referred to also mitigation seeks to reduce emissions while adaptation refers to preparing the environment to sustain a given level of global warming. He however advised Africa to focus on the sustained growth trajectory relying on particularly the current integrated continental trading under AfCFTA.
“Africa’s challenge is not abatement, but rather mapping out a sustainable growth trajectory. Green growth will improve competitiveness and enhance access in big markets,” he advised.
The Geneva-based consultant on trade and trade-related matters also charged the continent to Support the development of a negotiated carbon price among major emitters and a market for carbon credits particularly when all the major emitters are not necessarily part of the top-tier list of countries that face the worse threats from climate change.
“It is in all countries’ interest to act maximally, especially the major emitters on abatement and the richer countries also with finance for adaptation around the world,” he recommended.
Patrick Low encouraged Africans to continue pushing for countries particularly big emitters of CO2 to fulfill their commitment to climate change financing in order to have funds tackle the adaptation approach of handling climate change.
“Keep up the pressure on financing, remind RoW that Africa is an important carbon sink,” the international economist advocated.
He added that adaptation is about reducing the impact of global warming and big emitters can pursue meaningful abatement policies, but this is less true of small emitters who are the most vulnerable to climate change with disparate income and development levels, vulnerabilities afflicting dozens of countries powerless to address them, even though everyone can play the appropriate part and therefore a Unified Africa can team with other parts of the world to corporate on the levels of addressing all climate change issues.
Ethiopia’s Government Communication Service Minister Legese Tulu has said that all forces fighting in the Tigray region who are not part of the federal army will withdraw
as soon as the Tigrayan rebels disarm.
Amhara and Afar regional forces, as well as Eritrean troops, have been fighting alongside the federal forces in the two-year war against the rebels of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
The government and the TPLF signed a peace agreement on 2 November in Pretoria, South Africa, to end the war in the north of the country, and the army and rebel commanders also signed a cessation of hostilities agreement in Nairobi, Kenya, on 12 November.
Meanwhile, an opposition party in Tigray region, Baytona Tigray, has rejected the peace agreement, saying the TPLF does not represent the Tigray people.
Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, told parliament on Tuesday that the ceasefire agreement between his government and forces in Tigray would be implemented ‘honestly’.
The two sides signed a further deal in Kenya on Saturday on the full implementation of the truce reached between the warring sides some 2 weeks ago in South Africa.
‘We took the first step. We have discussed, agreed, and signed. We must keep our word by making our promise to peace a reality,’ he said.
No gain from war
Abiy said there was no such thing as a good war or a bad peace, and that war was always bad even if you were winning.
The prime minister added that the agreement was necessary to ensure that peace in the northern Tigray region would be sustainable.
It is hoped it will bring an end to the brutal two-year conflict which has left thousands dead, millions displaced, and hundreds of thousands facing famine.
Almost two weeks since the signing of the ceasefire, international aid is yet to reach those in need in the region. Under the agreement signed on Saturday, both sides have pledged to allow aid workers into the region unhindered.
Old grievances
The origins of the conflict are complex. Prime Minister Abiy came to power in April 2018, pledging a raft of political and economic reforms in Ethiopia after almost three decades of government dominated by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
But in November 2020 he sent troops in to topple the TPLF in their regional stronghold after accusing it of attacking federal army camps.
While this new agreement does not address the deeper political tensions that contributed to the conflict, it’s hoped that the truce will hold, and lead to durable and inclusive peace and political stability in the country, for all Ethiopians.
Aid to Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region has yet to resume, despite a recent truce, according to international humanitarian agencies, despite the US urging Addis Abeba to honour the agreement and allow assistance.
The federal government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that controls Tigray, signed a ceasefire agreement on November 2 and pledged to work with humanitarian organisations to expedite the provision of aid.
But it did not commit to a specific timeline and it has denied blocking aid.
On Friday, Ethiopia’s chief negotiator said essential services were being restored and humanitarian aid was flowing into the region of some 5.5 million people, half of them in severe need of food after the two-year conflict.
The two sides are currently negotiating the implementation of that agreement, including the resumption of aid deliveries.
International aid agencies say they have been blocked from sending assistance into Tigray for much of the conflict.
Three officials at international humanitarian organisations said despite the truce, their convoys were still waiting for permission from authorities to cross into the area.
The US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs urged a swift resolution.
“Vulnerable Ethiopians in Tigray, Afar, and Amhara need aid now,” it said on Twitter, referring to the neighbouring regions affected by the war. “Waiting urgently for actions to respect and implement the agreement.”
It also quoted the Ethiopian government’s lead negotiator, Redwan Hussein, as saying during continuing talks in Nairobi that aid would flow unhindered “by week’s end”.
“Aid is flowing like no other times,” he said on Twitter, adding that 35 trucks with food and three trucks with medicine had arrived in the northern city of Shire and services were being reconnected.
Another official familiar with the humanitarian situation said, however, Redwan may have been talking about Ethiopian trucks, while international agencies could not move freely.
Redwan did not respond to a request for comment.
Ethiopia’s National Disaster Risk Management Commission, which coordinates Ethiopian aid, said it would provide an update later on Friday.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ethiopia did not respond to a request for comment.
Against this backdrop, the African Union-mediated talks between Ethiopia’s government and representatives from Tigray continued in Nairobi on Friday, with military commanders trying to work out details of the disarmament of Tigray forces. The resumption of aid deliveries was also on the agenda.
Observers have expressed concerns about when Eritrean and other forces that were not party to the ceasefire will withdraw. Eritrea’s government has said nothing about whether it would withdraw its troops and abide by the ceasefire agreement.
A new round of talks began on Monday between Ethiopia’s government and Tigrayregional representatives to work out military and other details of last week’s signing of a “permanent” cessation of hostilities in a two-year conflict thought to have killed hundreds of thousands of people.
The meetings in Kenya involved the military commanders of both sides along with the lead political negotiators.
Discussed were expected to focus on how to monitor the deal, disarming Tigray forces and the resumption of humanitarian aid access and basic services to Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, which has been cut off for months.
“Maybe by the end of this week or the middle of next week” trucks of humanitarian aid will be allowed to go in, the Ethiopian government’s lead negotiator Redwan Hussein told journalists.
Tigray’s lead negotiator Getachew Reda said the delivery of aid would increase confidence in the talks.
He also reiterated that military leaders have the responsibility to ensure the implementation of the deal.
“It is for them (military leaders) to figure out how effectively to carry out the deal and to make sure that we continue to hold our fire and of course silence the guns forever,” Reda said.
Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who’s facilitating the talks in Nairobi, said he was fully confident that warring parties would be able to reach a resolution. .
“These brothers who know each other well will be able to work and formulate together the best way to bring a permanent cessation, and resolution to the problem that has confronted our brothers and sisters, our mothers and children from Ethiopia in a peaceful way,” he said.
Others who were facilitating and attending the talks included African Union envoy and former Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo and Nigerian, South African and Kenyan military officers.
The United States and the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development were listed as observers.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says he has achieved “100%” of what his government demanded in a deal signed Wednesday with rebel authorities in the Tigray region to end two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia.
The agreement, reached in Pretoria where the two parties have been discussing since 25 October under the aegis of the African Union, provides for an immediate cessation of hostilities, disarmament of rebel forces and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
“In the negotiations in South Africa, 100% of the ideas proposed by Ethiopia were accepted,” Abiy Ahmed boasted on Thursday before a crowd of supporters in Arba Minch, in the south of the country.
“Among the victories achieved (in the agreement), Ethiopia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity have been accepted by both parties,” he said, as well as the principle of “one-armed force in a given country.
The agreement has not been published but a joint statement read publicly by the delegations reveals its main features. The agreement includes the disarmament of the rebel authorities’ forces in Tigray.
But it does not specify the modalities and does not address the future of the forces of the country’s regional states or the presence on Ethiopian soil of the army of neighbouring Eritrea, which has provided crucial assistance to the Ethiopian army in Tigray.
The press does not have access to northern Ethiopia and communications are haphazard, making it impossible to know whether the ceasefire is being respected.
The toll of the conflict, marked by countless cases of abuse and largely behind closed doors, is unknown, but the International Crisis Group (ICG) and Amnesty International (AI) describe it as “one of the deadliest in the world”.
The conflict began on 4 November 2020 when Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army to arrest Tigrayan executive leaders who had been challenging his authority for several months and whom he accused of attacking a federal military base.
The war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in northern Ethiopia, displacing more than two million Ethiopians and plunging hundreds of thousands into near-famine conditions, according to the UN.
Hanna Tetteh, one-time Minister of Foreign Affairs was part of the high-profile team that mediated peace between Ethiopia’s federal government and rebels in the northern Tigray region.
Talks ended in South Africa on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at African Union-led talks led by former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and AU mediator, Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Nigerian president.
“Life is a gift to be cherished,” Madam Tetteh, who is UN Under Secretary General & Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, was quoted to have said after the agreement was signed.
The deal was reached almost two years to the day that conflict broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, a permanent cessation of hostilities is signed between the two sides was hosted by the South African government.
Analysts are now keeping an eye on how the implementation phase of the deal will play out.
Hanna Tetteh has previously served at Special Rep of UN Chief at the UN Office to the AU – between 2019 and 2022. She was Foreign Minister under the John Dramani Mahama government that spanned Jan 2013 -Jan 2017.
Ethiopia‘s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says there is “heavy foreign interference” in the continuing talks between the gov ernment and Tigray administration but remains hopeful a peace pact will be reached.
Speaking to the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Mr Abiy said Ethiopians can solve their matters despite international pressure for a ceasefire.
“Of course, if there are lots of interventions from left and right, it’s very difficult,” Mr Abiy said.
“Ethiopians should understand we can solve our own issues by ourselves.”
He also confirmed the federal army’s capture of the Tigray towns of Shire, Axum and Adwa last month from the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
“We are trying to convince TPLF to respect the law of the land, to respect the constitution and to act as one state in Ethiopia,” he said.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat on Monday said “there was no date limitation” on the talks, according to the AFP. news agency.
The negotiations, which began on 25 October in South Africa, continued on Monday although they were initially expected to end on Sunday.
Peace talks to end Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict have begun in South Africa.
It is the highest-level effort yet to end two years of fighting that has killed thousands of people.
The talks are taking place under the auspices of the African Union.
“The peace talks, which have been convened to find a peaceful and sustainable solution to the devastating conflict in the Tigray region started today, 25th October, and will end on 30th October.
As a country committed to the African Union’s objectives of silencing the guns, South Africa is ready to serve as a host and provide assistance to the peace talks”, said Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson for the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa.
Former Nigerian presidentand AU envoy Olusegun Obasanjo and former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta are facilitating the talks with the encouragement of the United States special envoy, MIke Hammer.
The talks are scheduled to last until Sunday.
Over the past few days, Ethiopian and allied forces from Eritrea have made progress in urban areas in the Tigray region.
Ethiopia’s warring parties are expected to begin talks today as part of efforts to end a brutal civil war.
This war has been raging for two years.
The talks, sponsored by the African Union, will enable representatives from the government and rebel forces from the besieged northern region of Tigray meet in South Africa.
Violence returned to the region in August, shattering a five-month truce.
Fighting has escalated in Tigray with government troops and their Eritrean allies controlling key areas deep in the region.
The war has had devastating impacts with tens of thousands believed to have been killed, while millions have been left without food and access to basic services.
War crimes have been alleged and atrocities reported.
Tigrayan forces said their delegation had arrived in South Africa and their priorities include immediate cessation of hostilities, resumption of humanitarian aid and the withdrawal of Eritrean troops – something echoed by the international community.
The government said it’s committed to peace but vowed to continue with an offensive to control airports in the region.
The talks initially might not address all the details – but they sure have ignited hope for a long-suffering country.
Ethiopia says its soldiers have seized three towns in the northern Tigray region from forces it has been fighting in the 23-month civil war.
It has promised to take “maximum care” to protect civilians from harm.
The news comes as diplomats grow increasingly worried about the impact of the war on citizens.
The loss of the strategic city of Shire, with its airport and road links to the regional capital, comes as a significant blow to Tigrayan forces.
Alamata and Korem are the two other towns now claimed by Ethiopian federal troops.
This is the latest escalation in the conflict with the Ethiopian government, whose troops are being bolstered by Eritrean allies.
Ethiopia on Tuesday promised to work with humanitarian agencies to bring vital aid to all parts of Tigray now under its control, but many analysts are sceptical because similar promises have been made and broken in the past.
Most of Tigray has been under a virtual blockade by the federal government since June 2021, when Tigrayan forces recaptured much of the region.
Shire is one of Tigray’s biggest cities with some 100,000 residents.
Reporters on the ground in the regional capital, Mekelle, say there was a mix of anger and shock over the news of the loss of Shire.
Residents are glued to radio sets and discussing the information on street corners, while others are preparing food to support the Tigrayan Defence Forces and also stocking up for themselves as a precaution.
One woman said “we will not give up defending ourselves from those who are coming to humiliate us”. Another feared for her sister living in Shire, saying “they [the federal forces] will kill her”.
Thousands of residents are already leaving Shire, despite the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) insisting that the loss of control to federal troops is only temporary.
Many of the people leaving had previously been forced to flee their homes in other parts of Tigray, and had come to Shire where they were living in makeshift camps in schools and university campuses.
The TPLF have said they are locked in a “life and death struggle” and called on all Tigrayans to keep fighting, but have also sought to play down developments saying “during war movement out of areas is natural”.
The war has left a humanitarian disaster in its wake.
The UN says that currently 5.4 million people – around three-quarters of Tigray’s population – need some kind of food aid as the fighting has disrupted supplies.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said on Monday that the situation in Tigray was “spiralling out of control” and hostilities must end immediately, and the African Union has called for the same.
But the violence shows no sign of ending and attempts to start peace negotiations – though welcomed by both sides – have not yet borne fruit.
Diplomats have been warning of a civilian bloodbath if more TPLF forces are pushed out of other towns and cities.
Within less than 100km (62 miles) from Shire are two other major cities – the historic Axum and Adwa.
Emboldened by its gains, the federal government could head for Axum and Adwa, which would then give them access to the main highway leading to Mekelle.
In August, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed alleged that planes carrying weapons were landing at night in Shire – presumably to support Tigrayan forces. Mr Abiy did not specify where the flights were coming from.
In a statement on Monday, the government’s communication office accused Tigrayan forces of colluding with unnamed “hostile” foreign actors in violating Ethiopia’s airspace as a justification for the decision to control airports.
Fighting began in November 2020, when federal Ethiopian forces tried to wrest control of the region from the TPLF.
The African Union (AU) on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire in Tigray, where violence is escalating, with rebels in the northern Ethiopian region saying they were “ready to respect it.
The town of Shire, in northwestern Tigray, has been bombed for several days in a joint offensive by Ethiopianand Eritrean troops against Tigrayan rebels that have resulted in several civilian casualties.
A member of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an NGO providing disaster relief, was killed and another wounded in one of these attacks on Friday, which left two other civilians dead, according to the IRC.
After UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about the escalating violence, AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat called for “an immediate and unconditional cease-fire.”
“The chairperson urges the parties to reiterate their commitment to dialogue in accordance with their agreement for direct talks to be convened in South Africa,” he added in a statement.
In response, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels said they were “ready to respect” such a pause in the fighting.
“We are ready to respect an immediate cessation of hostilities. We also call on the international community to force the Eritrean army to withdraw from Tigray, to take steps towards an immediate cessation of hostilities and to put pressure on the Ethiopian government to come to the negotiating table,” said the TPLF.
– Negotiations postponed –
Shortly before, the U.S. Department of State’s Africa desk had said on Twitter that “the priority” was to “achieve an immediate cessation of hostilities.
The Ethiopian government says it intends to seize control of airports and other federal facilities in the Tigray area “to protect Ethiopia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
In a statement, it stated that this was necessary to preserve its airspace, which had been “violated by hostile foreign actors supporting the TPLF [rebel fighters].”
It said the government would also be able to expedite humanitarian aid to the people in the region affected by the ongoing war.
The statement signals fighting could go on despite calls for de-escalation – even as it expressed commitment to resolve the crisis through an African Union-led process.
“We believe that there is a need for a comprehensive andnegotiated settlement that would bring about durable peace,” the statement added.
The government’s remarks follow a call by the AU for the warring parties to recommit to peace talks.
Tigrayan forces said on Sunday in response to the AU call that they were “ready to abide by an immediate cessation of hostilities”.
They also called on the global community “to compel the Eritrean army to withdraw from Tigray”. Eritrea, an ally of the Ethiopian government, has been aiding its neighbour in the fight against the Tigray forces.
On Monday, the Ethiopian government pledged to avoid urban combats and provide humanitarian access in areas that the government controls.
However, several international voices have sounded alarm bells that cities like the Shire have been bombarded and civilians killed, including at least one humanitarian worker.
The African Union (AU) on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire in Tigray, where violence is escalating, with rebels in the northern Ethiopian region saying they were “ready to respect it.
A member of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an NGO providing disaster relief, was killed and another wounded in one of these attacks on Friday, which left two other civilians dead, according to the IRC.
After UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about the escalating violence, AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat called for “an immediate and unconditional cease-fire.”
“The chairperson urges the parties to reiterate their commitment to dialogue in accordance with their agreement for direct talks to be convened in South Africa,” he added in a statement.
“We are ready to respect an immediate cessation of hostilities. We also call on the international community to force the Eritrean army to withdraw from Tigray, to take steps towards an immediate cessation of hostilities and to put pressure on the Ethiopian government to come to the negotiating table,” said the TPLF.
Shortly before, the U.S. Department of State’s Africa desk had said on Twitter that “the priority” was to “achieve an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Former President John Dramani Mahama is in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, for the 10th Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa.
He was received at the Bahur Dar airport by the President of Amhara Region, Dr yilkal kefal Amhara and officials of the Tana Secretariat.
The three-day Forum is on the theme “Managing security threats: building resilience for the Africa we want”.
The former Ghanaian leader is the Chairperson of the Tana Forum and will present a report on the State of Peace and Security in Africa for 2021.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is expected to officially open the Forum, with the President of Sudan, the Vice President of Uganda, a number of former presidents and prime ministers and officials of the African Union in attendance.
Over one hundred participants are attending the Forum in person, with others joining the virtual session.
In a message to participants, President Mahama said the world is experiencing a host of challenges, adding that, “our continent, Africa, and the world must address ongoing socioeconomic, political, and security challenges head-on.”
“The African continent is mired by unconstitutional changes of government, intra-state conflict, and terrorism that continue to punctuate our peace and security spheres. Our continent has witnessed six ‘successful’ coups, and two attempted coups in the last two years alone. Authoritarian entrenchment seems almost a hallmark not only in Africa but around the globe”, he added.
The Tana Forum is an initiative in response to the African Union’s Tripoli Declaration of August 2009 for “African-led solutions” and to peace and security as a collective “intellectual challenge”.
The annual Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa was initiated by the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) of the Addis Ababa University (AAU) and the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The Forum brings African leaders, decision-makers, and stakeholders to engage and explore African-led security solutions.
Members of the Tana Board are H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn, former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, H.E. Dr. Joyce Banda, former President, Republic of Malawi, H.E. Catherine Samba-Panza, former President, Central African Republic Central African Republic, and H.E. Michelle Ndiaye, Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission.
The others are Amb. Lakhdar Brahimi, former Algerian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Amb. Soad M. Shalaby, Director-General, Egyptian African Centre for Women (EACW), Mr. Alain Foka, Journalist, Radio France International, France and Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, Former Director and Chief Executive Officer, Kenya School of Laws.
Residents of a district in Ethiopia’s Amhara regionthat government forces have recently retaken have accused fighters from the Tigray region of mistreatment, including extrajudicial killings.
Tigrayan forces occupied theRaya Kobo district for five weeks.
Residents told the BBC that people suspected of belonging to a pro-government militia were targeted.
All sides of the conflict in northern Ethiopia have previously been accused of violating international human rights.
A joint investigation done last year by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the UN Human Rights Office said there could also be evidence of war crimes.
Extra-judicial executions, torture, rape, and attacks against refugees and displaced people were documented.
A lack of basic medicine is killing patients in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which is the epicentre of a 23-month civil war and is under blockade. Both sides have agreed to peace talks in South Africa, and a doctor pleads for the humanitarian crisis to be one of the first issues addressed.
Dr Fasika Amdeslasie speaks in a matter-of-fact voice, but what he has to say is devastating.
“We have a lack of anaesthesia drugs, lack of intravenous fluids, lack of antibiotics and so you see complications arising [with] the patients and you see them dying helplessly – your arms folded,” the surgeon says on a WhatsApp call using a rare satellite internet connection from the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle.
The patients are helpless but the doctors are too.
Nevertheless, there is barely a hint of emotion as Dr Fasika, who works at Mekelle’s main Ayder Hospital, relates the impact of the conflictin Tigray on the region’s health service.
For most of the past two years Tigray has been isolated from the rest of the world.
Fighting started in November 2020 when federal Ethiopian forces tried to wrest control of the region from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). An effective blockade began when the TPLF mounted a counter-offensive and recaptured much of Tigray in June 2021.
Image source, AFPImage caption, Tigrayan troops were welcomed back to Mekelle in June 2021 but that is when the region was cut off from the rest of the world
Deliveries ground to a halt, banking services stopped and telephone connections were largely cut making it almost impossible to phone anyone up. The UN says that currently 5.4 million people – around three-quarters of Tigray’s population – need some kind of food aid as the fighting has disrupted supplies.
The sick are not exempt, even though they are not directly involved in the conflict.
Some drugs and other vital equipment have come through the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross – but their arrival has been sporadic and supplies stopped completely when fighting resumed in August, ending a five-month humanitarian ceasefire.
“We don’t have medicine for our patients, we don’t have surgical materials to do surgery, we don’t have vaccines to vaccinate children, we don’t have insulin to give to diabetic patients,” Dr Fasika tells the BBC’s Newsday programme, listing the impact the last 16 months have had.
“So all kinds of patients are suffering. We are telling them to return home without treatment.”
Drugs to treat cancer patients have not been available at all and they cannot get radiotherapy as the equipment for that is in the federal capital, Addis Ababa. Travelling there is impossible.
“Basically cancer patients are doomed to die,” says the 41 year old, who was once the dean of the medical school.
‘Patients do not have time’
Medics have also had to watch those suffering from kidney failure deteriorate as supplies for dialysis have only come through intermittently.
“The last arrival was June and there has been a complete blockage since August and now this week we are running out of materials for the 25 patients we have,” according to Dr Fasika.
He says that 90 kidney patients have died “in front of the doctors” and he wonders what will happen to the 25 who remain.
Regarding diagnosis, the hospital laboratory lacks the chemical reagents vital for the tests, meaning that often doctors cannot tell what is wrong with patients.
Added to this, the unreliable electricity supply and the absence of fuel for the generators means that the hospital can go days without power.
Fasika Amdeslasie
I have run out of emotion because it is a living reality, I am just describing what I face daily”
Throughout the grim catalogue of what he and his fellow medics are dealing with, Dr Faseka’s even voice does not reveal the weight of what he is describing.
“I have run out of emotion because it is a living reality, I am just describing what I face daily.
“We are protecting ourselves emotionally. We will not know how much burden we are carrying until we are relieved. Otherwise it’s a natural defence mechanism not to think about it – you don’t dwell there and you do what you have to do.”
But the doctors and nurses themselves are also having to deal with the fact that, as federal employees, they have not been paid since May last year. Dr Fasika gets sent money from friends and family abroad, but this comes at a price as money changers charge a high commission for having to smuggle the cash into Tigray.
“This hospital is my life,” Dr Fasika says, explaining what motivates him despite the difficult conditions.
“Professionalism calls you. If you can go and talk to patients and counsel them and do what you can, then that’s the most important thing. Not only me but all the professionals here.”
When it comes to possible peace talks between the federal government and the TPLF, Dr Fasika shies away from getting involved in the politics.
But he is worried that as the talks are a political process they will be drawn out as the different sides debate the details.
“The talks may take time, but our lives, the children’s lives and the patients’ lives may not have that time. So I wish they do things on the humanitarian situation first.
“Humanitarian law has to be respected. Why does it fail in Tigray when it is not failing in Ukraine? Is it because we are not important people?”
Olusegun Obasanjo, a delegate of the AU and a former president of Nigeria, was supposed to lead the negotiations in South Africa.
The African Union-led peace talks proposed for this weekend to try to end a two-year conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have been delayed for logistical reasons, two diplomatic sources told Reuters news agency on Friday.
Ethiopia’s government and rival Tigray regional forces said on Wednesday that they accepted the AU’s invitation to talks in South Africa, which would be the first formal negotiations between the two sides since war broke out in November 2020.
The conflict in Africa’s second most populous nation has killed thousands of civilians and uprooted millions.
The diplomatic sources, who asked not to be named, said the postponement was related to organising logistics and that a new date had not yet been scheduled.
Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu; Redwan Hussein, the national security adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed; Getachew Reda, a spokesperson for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF); and Ebba Kalondo, an AU spokesperson, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The negotiations will be led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the AU’s high representative for the Horn of Africa, supported by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, according to one of the AU’s invitation letters seen by Reuters.
Kenyan President William Ruto met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday to discuss bilateral cooperation and deepen the economic and strategic ties between the two countries on regional issues.
This is President Ruto’s first visit to Ethiopia after being elected.
It is to be recalled that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had taken part in the inauguration ceremony of President William Ruto in Nairobi on September 13/2022.
Ethiopia and Kenya are countries that have long-standing friendship and cooperation based on mutual benefit.
The visit also comes amid the ongoing war between Ethiopian troops and the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF).
Talks about the ongoing Tigray conflict are expected to take centre stage in the meeting between the two leaders.
Earlier on, President Ruto had affirmed that his administration would play an active role in spearheading the peace talks between the region.
Already, the African Union has organized high-level talks in South Africa on the protracted conflict, with Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta set to be part of the mediators.
Both sides in the two-year long civil war in northern Ethiopia have now agreed to attend peace talks this weekend in South Africa following an invitation by the African Union.
Tigrayan rebelsconfirmed they would take part after the Addis Ababa government confirmed its participation earlier on Wednesday.
The Tigray rebels have however raised some questions about the invited participants, observers, guarantors and the role of the international community.
“Considering we were not consulted prior to the issuance of this invitation, we need clarification to some of the following issues to establish an auspicious start for the peace talks,” said a statement signed by Tigrayan leader Debretsion Gebremichael.
The ECOWASmediator for Burkina Faso has ended his visit to the country following last Friday’s coup, the second in eight months.
Mahamadou Issoufou met with the country’s new strongman Captain Ibrahim Traoré.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, the ECOWAS mediator reaffirmed his commitment to the Burkinabe people.
“We will report on our mission to the current president of ECOWAS and to the heads of state. But I can already assure you that ECOWAS will remain at the side of the Burkinabe people.
…We will continue to accompany the Burkinabe people in this very difficult ordeal they are going through”, said Mahamadou Issoufou, ECOWAS mediator for Burkina Faso.
During the meeting, the new leader of Burkina Faso promised to keep the commitments made in July by the previous leadership regarding the organisation of elections and a return of civilians to power by July 2024 at the latest.
The Ethiopian governmentannounced on Wednesday that it had accepted an invitation from the African Union (AU) to hold peace talks with rebels in the northern region of Tigray, without specifying a date or location.
“The African Union has sent an invitation for peace talks. The government of Ethiopia has accepted this invitation, in line with our principled position regarding the peaceful resolution of the conflict and the need for talks without preconditions,” Redwan Hussein, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s National Security Advisor, said in a tweet.
In a statement, the Ethiopian Government Communication Service (GCS) said the AU had communicated in its invitation the date and venue of the talks but gave no details.
Asked by AFP about the invitation, the rebel authorities in Tigray, which is in conflict with the Ethiopian federal government, did not immediately respond.
“We will communicate the details at the appropriate time, in consultation with the parties,” said Ebba Kalondo, spokesman for AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki.
If Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the **Tigray People’s Liberation Front,** attends the proposed talks between Tigray and Ethiopia, it will be the most significant effort ever to end the war between the two countries.
No details of the participants have been released yet, including whether neighboring Eritrea has been invited. The tiger rebels have always said they would refuse to allow Asmara to attend any talks.
A diplomatic source told AFP that the AU had set up a troika of mediators, consisting of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo (the organization’s special envoy to the Horn of Africa) and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, as well as former South African Vice President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
After a five-month truce that raised hopes for peace negotiations, fighting resumed on August 24 in northern Ethiopia between tigrayan rebels and the federal Ethiopian army, backed by forces from the Tigray border regions and Eritrea.
U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer returned to the region on October 3, after a previous visit in September, to “achieve an immediate cessation of hostilities in northern Ethiopia and support the launch of peace talks under the auspices of the African Union,” according to a State Department statement.
According to Ambassador Albert Muchanga, the African Union’s commissioner for economic development, trade, tourism, industry, and minerals, the continent’s abundant mineral resources continue to be a key factor in the structural change of the continent.
He said that 50% of Africa’s income and 70% of its exports are derived from the sale of oil, gas, and minerals.
Ambassador Muchanga stated this during the Launch of the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) Phase II and the Second Forum on Mining, taking place at the African Union Headquarters, in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.
“However, despite the enormous potential of the continent’s mineral industry, most African countries have historically been unable to fully benefit from their natural wealth as we have remained producers and exporters of mineral raw materials, a low rank in the global value chain.
“And there are major threats that may hinder Member States’ abilities to fully reap the benefits of the mineral wealth endowment.”
He said for a start, Africa had a disproportionate dependence on extractives exports, which waas major vulnerability as it exposed the continent to the boom and bust cycles associated with commodity prices as well as illicit financial flows. The illicit financial flows from Africa now hover around US$90 billion annually.
Africa hosts 6 per cent of global reserves of copper, 53 per cent of cobalt, 25 per cent of bauxite, 21 per cent of graphite, 46 per cent of manganese, 35 per cent of chromite, 79 per cent of phosphate rock, 91per cent of platinum group metals.
“We can add to the foregoing: hydrogen, water, wind and solar power.
“When one looks at production, Africa accounts for a greater share of current production of many of these minerals, including 70 per cent of cobalt. Lithium is mined in Zimbabwe and Mali, while Namibia, Ghana and the DRC also have them. Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are mined in Angola and Burundi as well.”
Mr Muchanga said Africa was part of the global value-chains for green minerals; however, that role was concentrated at the first phase of the value chain, exploration and extraction.
“The task ahead is to move towards value addition and the Africa Commodity Strategy will assist in this regard.
“In line with our commitment towards the green transition, the Department of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals (ETTIM) will organize a side event on the margins of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt next month under the theme: “Decarbonizing African Industry”.
“I also invite you all to the AU Summit on Industrialization and Economic Diversification to be held in Niamey, Niger from 20-25 November, 2022.”
On mining, he said there was urgency to ensure that the roadmap envisioned in the Africa Mining Vision with a central theme of “Transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development” was implemented effectively and fully.
“This is because AMV is a continental vision for managing the continent’s mineral resources for the benefit of Africans.
“In this vision, minerals are considered a key driver of industrialization and transformation of our economic structures. These are critical to the continent’s long-term inclusive growth and sustainable development.”
He said the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) was established as the specialized agency of the African Union to implement the African Mining Vision (AMV) as well as the minerals segment of the Africa Commodity Strategy.
The first phase of the AMDC was launched in 2013 as a five-year flagship project housed in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). As a project, it provided strategic support and coordination for the implementation of the AMV and its Action Plan adopted in 2009.
In 2018, the Assembly of the African Union Heads of State and Government decided that the Republic of Guinea would host the African Minerals Development Centre as a specialized agency of the African Union.
In February 2019, the AMDC was officially handed over to the African Union by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa to start the process of transferring it to Conakry, Guinea as a specialized agency of the Union.
The Host Agreement between the African Union and the Government of the Republic of Guinea was signed in 2021.
Since May 2022, the AMDC is being supported through the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme (Phase II), initiated by the Secretariat of the Organization for African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and we are most grateful for this support.
Financing came from the European Commission with UNDP as the implementing agency.
As highlighted in the AMDC Business Plan, the AMV’s value proposition of exploiting minerals for sustainable development throughout the value chain calls for a major shift in the conceptual methods and institutional arrangements adopted to-date regarding the minerals sector.
In the envisaged changes, greater importance is given to improving internal governance, building capacities, capturing the more lucrative links in the value chain such as manufacturing and the related support services such as research and development which is critical to boosting innovation in the mineral value chain.
He called on all of you to accelerate the signing and ratifications of the AMV Statutes to enable the AMDC to become a full-fledged Specialized Agency of the AU.
He also called for regional and continental value chains, to develop reliable and resilient supply chains within the African Continental Free Trade Area, using the lever of intra-African trade in finished and intermediate goods.
“Second, Africa will have to reposition herself as a reliable supply base to the rest of the world, not in the historical mode of supplier of basic raw materials but supplier of either finished or intermediate goods that place Africa higher in the global value chains.
“Minerals, and in particular, the AMDC, will play critical roles in both cases.
“As we do so, let us also recall that some regions of the world have come up with the concept of Critical Raw Materials. These are raw materials they will always require to make their industries run. Let us engage these countries to agree on how we can mutually benefit from international trade in minerals.”
He said the overall goal of the African Forum on Mining was to defined as a strategic way forward for minerals development that would contribute to the energy transition, and hoped that the Forum will come up with actions required to transition the mineral industries across Africa towards net zero emissions of carbon dioxide and digitalization.
“Achieving that will strategically position the African continent in the global energy transition. In this connection, I applaud the initiative of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to jointly develop electric car batteries. We encourage other African countries to also promote the development of regional and continental value chains to position the African Continental Free Trade Area increase intra-African trade flows.
“It is also my expectation that the Forum will galvanize efforts towards enhanced domestication of the Africa Mining Vision with its core thematic areas. In this connection, I invite you all to come up with practical measures on how the continent can optimize benefits from the minerals sector through realignment of policies, legal and regulatory frameworks, taking into consideration new imperatives such as de-carbonization.”
Commissioner of African Union for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals has stated that Africa’s vast mineral wealth remains an important driver for the continent’s structural transformation.
This, Ambassador Albert Muchanga, added was enshrined in Agenda 2063, as it represented 30 per cent of the mineral deposits in the world.
He said Africa’s exports of oil, gas and minerals account for 70 per cent of their exports and 50 per cent of their revenue.
Ambassador Muchanga stated this during the Launch of the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) Phase II and the Second Forum on Mining, taking place at the African Union Headquarters, in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.
He said the mineral wealth positioned Africa to play a central role in the energy transition agenda in the dangerous era of climate change.
“However, despite the enormous potential of the continent’s mineral industry, most African countries have historically been unable to fully benefit from their natural wealth as we have remained producers and exporters of mineral raw materials, a low rank in the global value chain.
“And there are major threats that may hinder Member States’ abilities to fully reap the benefits of the mineral wealth endowment”.
He said for a start, Africa had a disproportionate dependence on extractives exports, which waas major vulnerability as it exposed the continent to the boom and bust cycles associated with commodity prices as well as illicit financial flows. The illicit financial flows from Africa now hover around US$90 billion annually.
Africa hosts 6 per cent of global reserves of copper, 53 per cent of cobalt, 25 per cent of bauxite, 21 per cent of graphite, 46 per cent of manganese, 35 per cent of chromite, 79 per cent of phosphate rock, 91per cent of platinum group metals.
“We can add to the foregoing: hydrogen, water, wind and solar power.
“When one looks at production, Africa accounts for a greater share of current production of many of these minerals, including 70 per cent of cobalt. Lithium is mined in Zimbabwe and Mali, while Namibia, Ghana and the DRC also have them. Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are mined in Angola and Burundi as well.
Mr Muchanga said Africa was part of the global value-chains for green minerals; however, that role was concentrated at the first phase of the value chain, exploration and extraction.
“The task ahead is to move towards value addition and the Africa Commodity Strategy will assist in this regard.
“In line with our commitment towards the green transition, the Department of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals (ETTIM) will organize a side event on the margins of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt next month under the theme: “Decarbonizing African Industry”.
“I also invite you all to the AU Summit on Industrialization and Economic Diversification to be held in Niamey, Niger from 20-25 November, 2022”.
On mining, he said there was urgency to ensure that the roadmap envisioned in the Africa Mining Vision with a central theme of “Transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development” was implemented effectively and fully.
“This is because AMV is a continental vision for managing the continent’s mineral resources for the benefit of Africans.
“In this vision, minerals are considered a key driver of industrialization and transformation of our economic structures. These are critical to the continent’s long-term inclusive growth and sustainable development.
He said the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) was established as the specialized agency of the African Union to implement the African Mining Vision (AMV) as well as the minerals segment of the Africa Commodity Strategy.
The first phase of the AMDC was launched in 2013 as a five-year flagship project housed in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). As a project, it provided strategic support and coordination for the implementation of the AMV and its Action Plan adopted in 2009.
In 2018, the Assembly of the African Union Heads of State and Government decided that the Republic of Guinea would host the African Minerals Development Centre as a specialized agency of the African Union.
In February 2019, the AMDC was officially handed over to the African Union by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa to start the process of transferring it to Conakry, Guinea as a specialized agency of the Union.
The Host Agreement between the African Union and the Government of the Republic of Guinea was signed in 2021.
Since May 2022, the AMDC is being supported through the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme (Phase II), initiated by the Secretariat of the Organization for African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and we are most grateful for this support.
Financing came from the European Commission with UNDP as the implementing agency.
As highlighted in the AMDC Business Plan, the AMV’s value proposition of exploiting minerals for sustainable development throughout the value chain calls for a major shift in the conceptual methods and institutional arrangements adopted to-date regarding the minerals sector.
In the envisaged changes, greater importance is given to improving internal governance, building capacities, capturing the more lucrative links in the value chain such as manufacturing and the related support services such as research and development which is critical to boosting innovation in the mineral value chain.
He called on all of you to accelerate the signing and ratifications of the AMV Statutes to enable the AMDC to become a full-fledged Specialized Agency of the AU.
He also called for regional and continental value chains, to develop reliable and resilient supply chains within the African Continental Free Trade Area, using the lever of intra-African trade in finished and intermediate goods.
“Second, Africa will have to reposition herself as a reliable supply base to the rest of the world, not in the historical mode of supplier of basic raw materials but supplier of either finished or intermediate goods that place Africa higher in the global value chains.
“Minerals, and in particular, the AMDC, will play critical roles in both cases.
“As we do so, let us also recall that some regions of the world have come up with the concept of Critical Raw Materials. These are raw materials they will always require to make their industries run. Let us engage these countries to agree on how we can mutually benefit from international trade in minerals”.
He said the overall goal of the African Forum on Mining was to defined as a strategic way forward for minerals development that would contribute to the energy transition, and hoped that the Forum will come up with actions required to transition the mineral industries across Africa towards net zero emissions of carbon dioxide and digitalization.
“Achieving that will strategically position the African continent in the global energy transition. In this connection, I applaud the initiative of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to jointly develop electric car batteries. We encourage other African countries to also promote the development of regional and continental value chains to position the African Continental Free Trade Area increase intra-African trade flows.
“It is also my expectation that the Forum will galvanize efforts towards enhanced domestication of the Africa Mining Vision with its core thematic areas. In this connection, I invite you all to come up with practical measures on how the continent can optimize benefits from the minerals sector through realignment of policies, legal and regulatory frameworks, taking into consideration new imperatives such as de-carbonization”.
The rebel authorities in Tigraysay they have withdrawn their troops from areas they occupied in the neighbouring Amhara region to the south to face a joint offensive by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces further north.
After a five-month truce, fighting resumed at the end of August between the Ethiopian federal government – backed by forces and militias from the Amhara region – and the Tigrayan rebels.
The Asmara regime, a sworn enemy of the Tigray rebel leaders, is also lending a hand to the Ethiopian troops, as it did during the first phase of the conflict, which began in November 2020, during which Eritrean troops were accused of multiple cases of abuse.
“A change in the location and direction (of our forces) was deemed necessary to deal with the joint invasion forces… On the southern front, we have therefore evacuated the areas of the Amhara region where we had entered,” said the “central command” of the rebel forces in Tigray in a statement issued late Sunday.
The decision was implemented over the past three days, it said, assuring that “although the enemy has multiplied attempts to control this front, it has not succeeded in changing the situation and has only aggravated its defeat.
The fighting areas are closed to journalists and it was not immediately possible to independently verify the claims of the Tigrayan rebels.
A surgeon at the main hospital in the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region says that the 23-month civil war has led to patients dying needlessly because of a lack of medicines and treatments.
“We don’t have medicines for our patients, we don’t have surgical materials… we don’t have vaccines… we don’t have insulin,” Dr Fasika Amdeslasie told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
Tigray has been cut off for most of the conflict which has seen forces from Tigray clashing with Ethiopian federal troops and their allies since November 2020.
Some medicine has got through, thanks to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Health Organization, but the supply has been sporadic, Dr Fasika said.
He added that diabetic patients are dying because of a lack of insulin and kidney patients may also die because dialysis treatment cannot continue.
On top of this, Dr Fasika says that the staff at the hospital have not been paid for 17 months.
“We are trying to save those who we can… but it’s difficult now to save those who can be saved,” he concluded.
Some of the 42,000 Arema fans flung bottles and other missiles at players and officials and at least five police vehicles were toppled and set alight outside the stadium.
Riot police trying to stop the violence fired tear gas in the stadium, triggering panic in the crowd and sparking the crush as they stampeded for the exits.
Most of the 125 people who died were trampled or suffocated.
Image:Arema FC players and officials pray for the victims
Police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said in a news conference: “I ensure that investigation on this case will be conducted thoroughly and seriously.”
President Widodo has ordered a suspension of the Indonesian premier league until safety is re-evaluated and security is tightened.
The nation’s football association has also banned Arema from hosting any matches for the rest of the season.
Human rights group Amnesty International has urged the Indonesian governmentto investigate the use of tear gas at the stadium and ensure that those found in violation are tried in open court.
Police are still questioning witnesses and analysing footage from 32 security cameras inside and outside the stadium and nine mobile phones owned by the victims, as part of the investigation to identify suspects.
The 18 officers responsible for firing tear gas as well as security managers are also under investigation.
‘A tragedy beyond comprehension’
FIFA, which has no control over domestic games, has previously advised against using tear gas at stadiums.
Hooliganism is rife in Indonesian football, with fanaticismoften spilling over into violence.
Prior to the stampede on Saturday, 78 people have died in game-related incidents over the past 28 years, according to data from Indonesian watchdog Save Our Soccer.
Fresh air strikes against Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region killed at least six people on Tuesday, an aid worker told the BBC, with rebel forces accusing neighbouring Eritrea of carrying out the attack.
The Eritrean government, whose troops previously fought alongside Ethiopian soldiers in the region, has not responded to the accusation.
Tuesday’s attack targeted Adi-Daero town, located near the Eritrean border, the aid worker said.
He added that he saw people injured in the attack being taken to hospital by an ambulance.
The Tigrayan authorities say the air strikes were carried out “repeatedly” on Tuesday and destroyed residential houses.
The regional media run by the Tigray authoritiesaired footage of the devastation caused by the alleged attack.
The BBC is unable to verify the events. All means of communication have been cut off in the region and journalists have been denied access to the region.
However the BBC has analysed satellite images showing a major military build-up around Shiraro, a border town the Tigray forces had reportedly lost a few weeks ago.
The satellite images taken this month show troops and heavy artilleries positioned along the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Before the pandemic, several sub-Saharan African economies saw record-breaking growth.
For instance, over the past 20 years, Ethiopia and Rwanda have experienced among of the fastest growth rates in the world, with annual growth rates averaging over 7.5%.
Due to a lack of income data at the sub-national level, it is less evident if the benefits of economic expansion have been distributed fairly throughout regions within nations.
We used satellite-recorded images of the earth’s evening lights as a stand-in for economic activity to gauge the extent to which sub-Saharan Africa’s excellent growth performance expanded across sub-national regions. The information demonstrates that, at least up to 2010, African nations made great strides toward reducing regional income inequality (differences in output per capita across regions of a country).
When compared to other regions of the world, where inequality either increased or convergence was slower, this stands out sharply.
Taking a closer look at the factors that affect regional inequality, we found that progress was largely due to improvements in basic infrastructure, which helped lagging regions converge faster to national levels. Night lights per capita increased several-fold in the poorest regions, with the biggest gains in oil exporters and frontier markets such as Ghana and Kenya.
However, not all lagging regions saw improvement. Fragile and conflict-affected states made little-to-no progress in reducing regional inequality. And even in countries that experienced decades of growth, progress stalled after 2010, with regional inequalities having likely widened post-pandemic.
Access to clean water, electricity and cellphone services, for example, is two to four times lower in lagging regions compared to leading ones, in part because public expenditure per capita is so much lower. Similarly, the share of residents who have completed primary and secondary education is two to three times lower in lagging regions.
In countries where access to public services is generally low and distribution very unequal, the gap is even larger. In Burkina Faso, for instance, access to electricity is nearly 20 times higher in leading regions.
Key drivers
What are the key drivers that helped reduce regional inequality in the past few decades? We find that there are four major factors that supported this improvement:
• Macroeconomic stability: Inequality tends to increase in countries with high, persistent inflation by eroding the purchasing power of consumers, reducing government spending in real terms and disincentivising private investment.
• Trade openness: Easier access to global markets supports convergence by increasing the value of a country’s resources such as raw materials, which are more abundantly available in lagging regions. It also brings more workers into urban centres, which could in turn lead to a decline in income per capita of more urbanised regions if infrastructure development and the overall increase in economic activity in city centres are unable to keep up.
• Strong institutions and political stability: Weak institutions impede the capacity of governments to provide services and civil wars destroy public infrastructure, raising the likelihood that regions are left behind.
• Well-targeted investments: We used mineral discoveries as a proxy for analysing the impact of investments on regional inequality and found that progress depended on the location. Investments that occur outside of the capital cities are the most likely to have impact by creating jobs and promoting economic activity in lagging regions.
Way forward
What can policy makers do to address these inequalities? Sub-Saharan Africa countries would need to pursue a broad-based policy framework anchored around three main pillars:
• Well-designed redistributive fiscal policy with a clear investment strategy to assist underserved regions,
• Macroeconomic stability to foster inclusive growth, and
• Building institutions to ensure political stability and equitable public service delivery.
Governments also need to invest in building local administrative capacity to collect and analyse data. Only 12 sub-Saharan African countries publish their public budget allocations at the sub-national level. Having this data more readily available would provide a more accurate picture of disparities across regions, helping policy makers better target policies.
“Flying debris from the strike injured a driver contracted by WFP and caused minor damage to a WFP fleet truck,” the spokesperson is quoted to have told the Reuters news agency.
The lorry was delivering food to internally displaced people in Tigray, Reuters reports.
A spokesman for the rebel TPLF Getachew Reda termed the incident “an outrageous crime.”
Several previous air strikes have been reported by the Tigray rebels since fresh confrontations erupted on 24 August – which have not been acknowledged by federal authorities.
Childhood diseases such as measles, tetanus and polio are on the rise in Ethiopia‘s Tigray region after vaccination rates declined amid the ongoing war in the region, according to regional health officials.
Data from the Tigray Health Bureau shows that the percentage of children in the region receiving routine vaccines has fallen below 10% this year.
“Infants and children are denied access to life saving medicines and supplies including access to vaccination leading to witnessed major outbreak of measles, pertussis and diarrheal disease, meningitis, neonatal tetanus and polio,” the bureau said in a letter this month to the global vaccine alliance Gavi.
The regional health bureau is blaming the decline in vaccination supply on the ongoing conflict in the region, power outages that have disrupted vaccine cold chains, and the inability of people in rural areas to reach health facilities.
Measles outbreaks have been reported in 10 out of 35 districts in the region. There have been 25 neonatal tetanus cases reported in 2022 from zero in 2018.
Ayder Hospital reports that that one person has been killed following an air strike in the capital city of Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray.
The biggest hospital in the region revealed that the deceased is a sexagenarian.
The 60-year-old man was brought in on Friday morning after a drone attack around Desta Hotel in Mekelle city.
The Friday strike is the latest since fighting between Tigrayan forces and federal government and forces its allies resumed a month ago shattering a five-month truce.
More than a dozen people have died to date with at least five air strikes hitting the city so far, including the Friday one.
There have been no comment from the Ethiopian authorities regarding the strikes.
The reported deployment of Eritrean forces into the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, according to the European Union, will only help to intensify the conflict.
“The EU urges once again all parties to forget about any military solution and join efforts for the benefit of their populations,” said Josep Borrell, EU’s foreign affairs and security policy chief.
It comes amid a reported full-scale offensive by Eritrean troops along the Eritrea-Tigray border.
The Tigrayan forces spokesman, Getachew Reda,said the Eritreans were fighting alongside Ethiopian federal forces and regional militia.
But neither the Eritrean nor the Ethiopian governments have spoken about the reported entry of Eritrean forces.
An American envoy on Tuesdaycondemned the fighting, noting that the US was aware of Eritrean troops crossing into Tigray.
Eritrea has been allied with Ethiopian government soldiers in their almost two-year-long war against Tigrayan rebels.
Thousands of people have been killed and millions have been displaced in the conflict.
The Ethiopian government has rejected a report by a UN commission, describing it as “incomplete, incoherent and unsubstantiated” and intended to demonise Ethiopia.
The UN-backed commission on Tuesday highlighted what it called credible information of large-scale killings committed by Ethiopia’s national defence force.
“The government regrets the hasty, substandard, and agenda-driven pathway the [International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia], chose to discharge its responsibility”
It added that the report was “a manifestly political statement issued under the guise of an investigation report”.
The government defended itself saying it had brought perpetrators of human rights violations to justice.
Both the federal government and the rebel Tigray forces have accused each other of human rights violations as the war in the northern region of Tigray rages.
The Ethiopian government has rejected finding in a report by a UN commission, highlighting what it called credible information of large-scale killings committed by Ethiopia‘s national defence force.
The Ethiopian government has described the report as “incomplete, incoherent and unsubstantiated” and intended to demonise Ethiopia.
“The government regrets the hasty, substandard, and agenda-driven pathway the [International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia], chose to discharge its responsibility”
It added that the report was “a manifestly political statement issued under the guise of an investigation report”.
The government defended itself saying it had brought perpetrators of human rights violations to justice.
Both the federal government and the rebel Tigray forces have accused each other of human rights violations as the war in the northern region of Tigray rages.
Reservists up to the age of 55 have been called up, they said.
Eritrea has compulsory, decades-long military service, which has been widely criticized by human-rights groups, but analysts say the latest mobilization efforts are linked to the civil war in northern Ethiopia – a conflict that recently flared up again after five months of relative peace.
The Eritrean government has not commented on the report.
Witnesses told BBC News Tigrinya that mobilization notices were distributed on Thursday in the capital, the second-largest city, Keren, the western town of Tessenai, and other areas.
They called on reservists to report to their respective head offices, while also advising that they should carry their own supplies, including blankets and water containers.
Mothers, children and wives were crying as they bid farewell to their sons, fathers, brothers, and husbands, sources told the BBC.
Those who do not heed the call-up have been warned of severe consequences, but some are reportedly ignoring it.
Eritrea has been fighting alongside Ethiopia’s central government troops since the civil war broke out in Tigray in late 2020.
Several human rights organisations have accused Eritrean soldiers of committing atrocities in Ethiopia, but these claims have been denied by Eritrean officials.
The US has imposed sanctions on the Eritrean Defence Forces and the ruling PFDJ party in response to their involvement in the conflict.
President Isaias Afwerki has ruled Eritrea since the country broke away from Ethiopia in 1993, but between 1998-2000 the two nations fought a brutal and costly war over a contested border area.
A 20-year military stalemate ensued until Abiy Ahmed became Ethiopia’s prime minister in 2018. The peace deal won Mr Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize a year later.
IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS Image caption, President Isaias Afwerki (left) welcomed Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to Asmara in 2018
The two leaders later united against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a common foe, whose elites dominated Ethiopia for three decades before Mr Abiy came to power.
The Ethiopian government accuses TPLF leaders, who control the northern Tigray region, of plotting to destabilise the country, while Mr Isaias sees them as a sworn enemy.
Eritrea is isolated diplomatically and is a highly militarised state which controls almost all aspects of people’s lives.
The repression has led to many young people fleeing the country.
During Mr Isaias’ rule, apart from fighting Ethiopia, Eritrea found itself at war with all its neighbors at some point – Yemen in 1995, Sudan in 1996, and Djibouti in 2008.
There is a military mobilisation under way in Eritrea, according to reports.
Reservists up to the age of 55 have been recalled to replenish the army.
On Thursday, Asmara residents were issued notices and taken within hours to front lines along the country’s shared border with Ethiopia’s Tigray region, sources told BBC Tigrinya.
Reservists in many other parts of the country have also been told to report to their respective head offices.
Recently, roundups have been intensified in many areas including Asmara. Security forces are stopping people to check if they are exempted from military conscription.
Some reservists were told to bring their own supplies such as blankets and water containers, sources say.
There were scenes of mothers, children and wives crying as they bid farewell to their sons, fathers, brothers and husbands.
The latest mobilisation has created fears that the conflict in neighbouring Ethiopia’s Tigray region might escalate further.
Fighting between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces resumed last month after five months of a humanitarian truce.
Tigray leaders have accused Eritrea of joining forces with Ethiopian troops in the western parts of their shared border.
Both Ethiopian and Eritrean authorities have not responded to requests for comments – but Eritrean authorities had accused the Tigray forces of planning to attack them.
Eritrean forces fought alongside the Ethiopian government army against Tigrayan forces in the initial phase of the war. They were accused of atrocities – which Eritrean officials denied.
The US has put sanctions on the Eritrean Defence Forces and the ruling PFDJ organisation in response to their involvement in the Ethiopian conflict.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government of Ethiopia are once again at war. The path toward discussions is at best unclear.
The southern boundaries of Tigray, where it borders the neighboring Amhara state at the town of Kobo, are where the first bullets were fired, according to both sides, early on August 24. Each team holds the other accountable for those shots.
What is clear – from information obtained from Western diplomats – is that the Ethiopian National Defence Force and its allied Amhara militia, known as the Fano, had mobilized a huge force to that location over prior weeks.
Meanwhile, mass conscription by the TPLF had swelled its ranks and it had devoted much of its resources to training and rearming, although it has denied forced recruitment.
Tensions were building. And yet, just a few weeks ago there was optimism that peace talks might soon be underway.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had authorized his deputy, Demeke Mekonnen, to head a peace committee, which began work in July.
Even before that, Mr Abiy had reportedly sent senior officials to secretly meet the TPLF.
In sessions in the Seychelles and Djibouti, it appears that an agreement was reached that Ethiopian forces would lift their blockade of Tigray, that Eritrea would withdraw the troops it had sent to support the government, and that the two sides would open full talks in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, hosted by President Uhuru Kenyatta. The first agenda item would be a permanent ceasefire.
Behind the scenes, the US was strongly backing these talks and was working in partnership with Kenya.
Nearly five million people are in need of aid in Tigray
Visiting the Tigrayan capital Mekelle on 2 August, US Special Envoy Mike Hammer and envoys of the European Union and United Nations called for “a swift restoration of electricity, telecom, banking, and other basic services”, and “unfettered humanitarian access”, hinting that Mr Abiy had agreed to do these things.
However, the African Union envoy, Olusegun Obasanjo, remained silent on the siege. Briefing the envoys, Gen Obasanjo insisted that he was the sole mediator and surprised them by proposing to invite Ethiopia’s ally, Eritrea, to the talks.
The TPLF accuses the government of reneging on its commitments. The government doesn’t admit that any meetings took place. International envoys are also staying silent on exactly why the talks broke down.
The TPLF is unimpressed by international praise for a five-month “humanitarian truce”, which allowed the World Food Programme (WFP) to resume operations in Tigray, albeit on a limited scale.
It insists that Addis Ababa’s continued blockade amounts to using hunger as a weapon of war and that the aid operations were pitifully insufficient.
The WFP says it was reaching “tens of thousands” of people. That was a start, but far short of the 4.8 million in need.
In an open letter to international leaders on the eve of the fighting, TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael said: “We are fast approaching the point at which we face death whichever way we turn. Our choice is only whether we perish by starvation or whether we die fighting for our rights and our dignity.”
Mass starvation is decimating the Tigrayans. No one knows how many have perished but an investigation by a Belgian-led academic team earlier this year estimated that as many as 500,000 Tigrayans had died of hunger and related causes since the war began in November 2020 following a massive fall-out between the TPLF-controlled regional government and Mr Abiy’s federal administration.
With the sole exception of a French TV crew from the channel ARTE, there’s been no foreign news correspondent in Tigray since the TPLF regained control of most of the region in June 2021.
In the short term, the humanitarian disaster can only deepen. Those limited aid operations are now at a halt. The first meager crops won’t be harvested for more than a month and fighting will cause further devastation.
The Ethiopian air force bombed Mekelle last week, hitting a kindergarten and killing seven, including three children, according to medical staff. The government denied the account and insisted it targeted military sites only. A second air strike was reported on Mekelle on Tuesday night.
IMAGE SOURCE,TIGRAI TV/REUTERS
Image caption,
Tigrayans say an air strike caused civilian casualties when it hit a kindergarten
The Tigrayans requisitioned 12 tankers of fuel from the UN, drawing irate condemnation from senior humanitarian officials.
The TPLF said they had loaned the UN fuel some months ago and were only reclaiming it, but the manner and timing of their act suggests it was not for delivering routine services, as their spokesman claimed.
The Ethiopian air force claimed to have shot down a plane bringing arms to Tigray from Sudanese airspace. The TPLF denied it.
On the morning of 1 September, the TPLF claimed that Eritrean artillery began a barrage of shells, while Ethiopian ground forces poised for a ground attack across the border. The Eritrean government has, characteristically, remained silent.
Through the fog of war, the news filtering out is that the battle for Kobo was huge. Tigrayan sources report a decisive victory against a massive force of 20 divisions, in which an enormous arsenal was captured. There’s no independent confirmation of this.
The Ethiopian government denies that it has suffered losses. It has also instructed the media to “carefully manage their reporting and access to information in times of crisis in order to reflect the country’s national interest”.
It said it had evacuated Kobo, and reports from the city of Woldia, 50km (30 miles) to the south, indicate that the army is nowhere to be seen.
So far, the TPLF has not moved its forces south, saying that it has no intention of repeating last year’s advance that reached within 200 km of the capital. In fact its spokesman made a point of denying reports that it had captured Woldia.
The World Health Organization (WHO) boss, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, has revealed he is unable to send money to his “starving” relatives in Ethiopia‘s war-torn Tigray region.
“I have many relatives there. I want to send them money. I cannot send them money,” he said in a press conference.
“I don’t know even who is dead or who is alive,” he continued.
Since the war began in 2020, the region has been cut off from the outside world, with no electricity or phones.
Ethiopia’s government has been accused of imposing an aid blockade on the region which impeded crucial deliveries – something it blamed on the fighting.
Tens of thousands of civilians have died and millions are in urgent need of food aid. The World Food Programme says that almost half of Tigray’s 5.5m population are in “severe” need of food.
Fighting resumed this week after months of calm following a truce agreed in March between Tigrayan forces and the Ethiopian government to allow aid to get through.
It is not the first time Dr Tedros, a former Ethiopian health minister, has spoken about the war. On Wednesday he said the situation was worse than that in Ukraine and suggested that racism was behind the difference in the global response.
“I can tell you that the humanitarian crisis in Tigray is more than Ukraine, without any exaggeration. And I said it many months ago, maybe the reason is the colour of the skin of the people in Tigray.”
In 2020 he denied an Ethiopian general’s accusations that he had helped procure weapons for the Tigray rebels. “There have been reports suggesting I am taking sides in this situation. This is not true,” he tweeted at the time.
Other Tigrayans have had the same difficulties as Dr Tedros in contacting their relatives.
An economist and researcher who lives abroad, Kibrom Abay, said sending money to Tigray was extremely difficult and costly, which he blames on the suspension of financial services in the region.
“The fact that I cannot help my starving parents, who used to rely on remittances from me, is extremely painful,” he said.
One person living in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa told the BBC they had found someone who would deliver money to Tigray for a 20% commission.
“The plan was to get it to them in a week. It has been more than a month and my family could not receive it… I don’t know about their current status. I could not get in touch with them.”
Others cannot even find brokers to send money to their families because of the lack of transport.
These middlemen sometimes charge around 40%, or even more, to travel to Tigray and bordering areas on foot to hand-deliver money. One of them recently told the BBC their work was done based on “trust”. Some have also used the same methods to send essential medicines.
Fighting is reported to be continuing on Friday, with Tigrayan forces saying the government had conducted air strikes in the region’s capital, Mekelle.
Television affiliated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) showed images of a destroyed building and said civilians, including children, were killed in the strikes, but the reports cannot be independently verified.
A statement released by the government’s communications office urged people in Tigray to stay away from “areas where TPLF’s military equipment and training facilities are located”. The statement didn’t address the accusations of air strikes but it seems to suggest aerial attacks are imminent.
The TPLF blames the Ethiopian army for the outbreak of fighting, while the government blames the Tigrayans.
TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda told the BBC’s Newsday programme that heavy fighting was still going on and that the people of Tigray were suffering.
“We have people who are starving because of the siege imposed on us by the authorities in Addis Ababa and their partners in crime. We have people who desperately need humanitarian aid,” Mr Getachew said.
“It would be foolhardy for us to start a war when in actual fact our people are in need of humanitarian aid.”
Residents of Kobo, a city approximately 15 miles (25 km) from some of the reported fighting, told the BBC they could still hear the sound of heavy weapons.
“The community is confused and some are fleeing to the nearby city. But most of them are alongside the federal defence force and the Amhara special force to face what is coming,” a man said.
The Tigray war broke out in Ethiopia’s northernmost region in November 2020 – later spreading south to the Amhara and Afar regions.
Thousands were killed, over two million people fled their homes and some 700,000 people were left living in “famine-like conditions”, US officials said.
