Africa

By Dak Buoth

‘‘Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph''. Haile Selassie.

The fundamental principles of peace, love and unity are natural and international. There is nothing better than Peace, Love and Unity of the people. United people can never be defeated.

At the onset of the South Sudanese independence struggles for freedom, the Ethiopians people and their successive regimes had been at the forefront in our pursuit for peace, justice and liberty. In the era of King Haile Selassie, President, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister, Haile Mariam Desalegn, and now Prime Minister, Dr Abiy Ahmed, the contribution of the Ethiopian people and their governments had never been missing in our journey to where we are as a nation.

The proactive role of the Ethiopian people toward the advancement and achievement of our political independence is known, and it doesn't need to be narrated at length. In Latin, they say ‘Res ipsa liquotur', which means ‘the thing speaks for itself'. Actually, President Colonel Mengistu did trained and supplied the SPLM/SPLA with military weapons when the rest were issuing empty political rhetoric.

In December 2013, when South Sudan plunged into a civil war that saw the SPLM regime descended on the Nuer nationality, killing over 20,000 people in two weeks, Ethiopian government under Prime Haile Mariam Desalegn with among other IGAD leaders swiftly intervened and called for peace talks in Addis Ababa. That peace talk emanated to the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS) which later collapsed after the brutal battle in State House alias J1 in July 2016.

Equally, in 2018, when Dr Abiy Ahmed ascended to the helm of the leadership as Prime Minister of Ethiopia, he took it upon himself to demand Dr Riek Machar's release from South Africa to join the peace mediations which later resulted to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS). It was this Peace Accord that gave birth to the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity.

These friendly gestures by our Ethiopian neighbours ought to be reciprocated by South Sudanese people and their Administration through positive interventions. However, it is a shame for the South Sudan government to maintain pin-drop silence while Ethiopia is undergoing a civil war. It is our individual and collective responsibility to preach peace and harmony.

The call for peace in our East African region and the world is not a preserve of a few. In view of the foregoing, I stand in solidarity with Ethiopian people and especially the Tigray community. In the unlikely event that the government is fighting its people, the presumption is that the people are right and the government is wrong. Thus, i condemn the Federal Government of Ethiopia for launching a military offensive against the Tigray people and children.

From our experiences in Sudan and South Sudan, the government can never and will never be right in the war against its citizenry. So far hundreds of people have died and thousands more are displaced in this conflict that started on 4th November 2020. I believe only Nuer who once faced brutality in the hand of rogue regimes can understand what the Tigrayans are going through in this war.

On 15th December 2013, when South Sudan government conducted military operations against the Nuer people in Juba and across the country in the pretext of weeding out opposition leaders like Dr Riek Machar, lives had never been the same for our people. Many of our people have been disposed of and impoverished. As of now much, Nuer Youths are dying in the Mediterranean Sea as they cross to Europe in search of greener pasture.

In this regard, we would never wish that situation to any community on this continent and the world at large. In this regard, the South Sudan government should join regional and International call for dialogue between Tigray forces and Ethiopian Federal Government to end the bloodshed and widespread displacement of civilians. How can our government keep quiet when there is an ongoing conflict that threatens the seat of the African Union (AU)?

The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Dr Abiy Ahmed must accept dialogue unconditionally failure to which he should surrender the Nobel Peace Prize that he given a year ago. He cannot call and champion peace negotiation in other countries and reject the peaceful settlement of the dispute in his own country. This is war, and there is no big and small war. All wars kill and destroy lives and properties. The Ethiopians have died in big numbers in this war. Abiy must open window for talks; allow humanitarian access to Tigrayan region, and he should also restore internet and telecommunication so that affected people can call and receive humanitarian assistance.

Finally, the Eritrean President, Isaias Afwerki must tread carefully in this conflict. He should not act like President Yoweri Museveni who fought alongside South Sudan government in 2014, going to an extent of using cluster bombs in Bor, Jonglei State. No leader in the region should take a side in this war except peaceful intervention only.

The Writer is the Chairman of Liech Community Association in Kenya; the views expressed here are his own, and he can be reached for comments via eligodakb@yahoo.com

November 24, 2020 (GADAREF) - Heath and university officials in the eastern Sudan border state of Gadaref are exerting efforts to contain diseases and epidemics, in the refugee camps after the massive arrival of Ethiopian fleeing the war between the federal army and Tigray region forces.

Over 45,000 Ethiopian have reached the Sudanese territory following the eruption of fighting in the Tigray region bordering Sudan. The humanitarian agencies expect that their number would be doubled in light of the continuing military escalation.

For her part, the Director-General of the Gadaref State Ministry of Health, Amira Hashim al-Gaddal, confirmed that there were cases of AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis, as well as diabetes and blood pressure, among the refugees along with a large number of pregnant women.

Al-Gaddal further pointed to the high percentage of people infected with AIDS in the Ethiopian regions adjacent to the state of Gedaref compared to the Sudanese regions.

"The matter needs measures between the Federal Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization," she added.

The health official called for the establishment of isolation centres in refugee camps for the COVID-19 pandemic, and she expected an increase in HIV cases in the state of Gedaref.

She warned of the possible transmission and spread of epidemics, due to the interaction between the refugees and the residents and called on the UNHCR and aid groups to provide the needed health care for those who arrive in the camps.

Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopian Prime Minister refused international calls to end the fighting saying that his forces are carrying out an internal law enforcement operation.

The University of Gadaref announced a plan to coordinate efforts and conduct a survey in the refugee camps to reduce the negative impact of refugees' displacement and to curb the spread of diseases and epidemics.

Secretary-General of Gadaref University Mutaz Abdel Rahim Abu Aqlah told the Sudan Tribune Tuesday that the plans were developed to facilitate humanitarian activities of local, regional and international organizations through the Colleges of Community Development and Medicine following the increasing number of Ethiopian refugees.

He pointed out that they have provided donors and aid groups with many technical studies and scientific researches as the Institute of Endemic Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine successfully conducted a number of researches on Klazar and other diseases. He also indicated that the coronavirus testing laboratory works efficiently.

(ST)

Some ethnic Tigrayans complain of harassment and discrimination - an allegation the government denies.

Two senior UN officials welcomed on Tuesday the war crimes conviction and life sentencing of an armed combatant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

The Desert Locust crisis which struck the greater Horn of Africa region earlier this year threatening food supplies for millions, could re-escalate as recent strong winds carried mature swarmlets from southern Somalia into eastern and northeastern Kenya, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Tuesday.

The “broad political consensus” reached in September that ended a two-year stalemate in Somalia must be “preserved and indeed deepened”, the country’s UN envoy told the Security Council on Monday. 

The Somali government retrains defectors from the al-Shabab militant group as barbers, drivers, mechanics and tailors.

War veteran and ex-minister Debretsion Gebremichael now leads the struggle against the government.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the African Union’s (AU) appointment of three high-level envoys to help resolve the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, calling it an "initiative for peace.”

Three consequences of the ongoing crisis in Tigray.

The COVID-19 crisis was impacting Africa “well before the pandemic spread across the continent”, the UN chief said on Friday, marking Africa Industrialization Day, arriving at a point when many economies were expanding and “poverty was in decline”.   

Manipulated and false images with no relation to the crisis in Ethiopia are being shared online.

In a briefing to journalists on Thursday, a senior UN humanitarian official in Sudan recounted moving testimony from refugees who are crossing the border from Ethiopia in their thousands, fleeing fighting in Tigray province.

Following years of political instability and conflict, Libya is making substantial progress on the path to peace, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Thursday. 

Senior UN officials have conducted a two-day mission to southeastern Sudan, where some 30,000 Ethiopians have found refuge after fleeing ongoing fighting between national and regional forces in Tigray province, the world body reported on Wednesday. 

Over 1,000 people have been killed and more than 400 abducted in the past six months in intercommunal violence in South Sudan, amid fears that tensions may worsen with the onset of the dry season, the UN envoy for the country has said. 

An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus disease in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is over, the government announced on Wednesday, after a five-month response supported by the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO), and other partners.   

During her visit to Ghana on Monday, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed met with young people living with HIV and disabilities in the capital, Accra.   

Some 10,000 health workers will be trained to support mothers and newborns in Africa through a partnership between the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, and Laerdal Global Health, the non-profit arm of a Norwegian company that provides innovative training, educational and therapy solutions for emergency medical care and patient safety.

A conflict in the Tigray region is threatening to destabilise East Africa. This is why.