Day: June 10, 2021

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Sudanese Protest Lifting of Fuel Subsidies

Sudanese protesters burned tires in part of the capital, Khartoum, Wednesday night, after the government lifted all subsidies on gasoline and diesel.

Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim announced Tuesday that prices will be determined by the cost of importing and transporting gas and diesel, along with taxes and profit margins.

The new fuel prices are in line with import costs, said a Finance Ministry statement.

Under the new pricing system, fuel will increase from about 35 cents to nearly 70 cents per liter, while the price of diesel will more than double.

Sudan has been moving to implement financial reforms monitored by the International Monetary Fund in hopes of turning around its economy and attracting foreign financing.

Freelance reporter Amira Saleh said the higher prices will negatively affect her work and family.

“The salary of an ordinary Sudanese employee is not enough to cover all the needs and therefore, with this increase on fuel, the situation is going to be worse,” Saleh told VOA’s “South Sudan in Focus” show.

Amu Adil, who works as an electronic technician in Khartoum’s Jabra neighborhood, said the fuel price hike will lead to higher prices for other basic commodities, which will make life difficult for ordinary citizens.

“Fuel is connected to all sorts of lives. Traders will charge any single cost of transportation they paid during the process of transporting goods. They will be forced to put that cost on the commodities and ordinary [citizens] will be the ones paying for the cost,” Adil told “South Sudan in Focus.”

Hajir al-Sir al-Awad, a third-year business administration student at the International University of Africa in Khartoum, said that lifting fuel subsidies at a time when the country faces serious economic challenges is a bad decision.

“Whenever there is an increase on the fuel, the public transport fees will be increased as well. Not only this, but I expect everything to increase. The decision will definitely affect me as a student and my family. They will be forced to look for other sources of income to allow me go to college,” he said.

The government will continue to subsidize cooking gas or furnace oil, and wheat this year, although there are frequent shortages of those commodities.

Source: Voice of America

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US Again Condemns Nigeria’s Twitter Ban

The U.S. has condemned Nigeria’s continuing ban of Twitter in the country, saying the action “has no place in a democracy.”

“Freedom of expression and access to information both online and offline are foundational to prosperous and secure democratic societies,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday in a statement calling for the African nation to reverse its Twitter suspension.

He said the U.S. “condemns the ongoing suspension of Twitter by the Nigerian government and subsequent threats to arrest and prosecute Nigerians who use Twitter. The United States is likewise concerned that the Nigerian National Broadcasting Commission ordered all television and radio broadcasters to cease using Twitter.”

The U.S. had joined the European Union, Britain, Ireland and Canada last weekend in criticizing the Nigerian action. The Abuja government indefinitely banned Twitter after the U.S. social media company deleted a tweet from President Muhammadu Buhari’s account for violating its rules.

Tweet about unrest

Buhari’s tweet referred to the country’s civil war four decades ago in a warning about recent unrest, referring to “those misbehaving” in violence in the southeastern part of the country. Officials there blame the prohibited separatist group IPOB for attacks on police and election offices.

“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” the president had posted on Twitter.

Buhari’s office denied the Twitter suspension was a response to the removal of that post.

“There has been a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real-world violent consequences,” presidency spokesperson Garba Shehu said in a statement.

Shehu said the removal of Buhari’s tweet was “disappointing” and that “major tech companies must be alive to their responsibilities.”

Twitter said it was working to restore the social media network in Nigeria, but government officials warned they would prosecute violators.

Source: Voice of America

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Seminar to nationals in Johannesburg

The Eritrean Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa and Southern African countries, Mr. Saleh Omar conducted seminar to nationals residing in Johannesburg and its environs.

At the seminar, Ambassador Saleh gave extensive briefing on the objective situation in the homeland and the region.

Indicating that the Eritrean Government is tirelessly working for mutual peace, cooperation and development in the Horn of Africa, Ambassador Saleh said that despite all the challenges Eritrea will emerge victorious in all its efforts.

Ambassador Saleh went on to say that the colorful celebrations the Eritrean people all over the world conducted in connection with the 30th Independence Day anniversary attest to their unity and love of country and called for its sustainability.

The celebrations have also significant contribution in portraying the true image of Eritrea and in exposing the lies and defamations being perpetrated against Eritrea, Ambassador Saleh added.

Ambassador Saleh Omar also gave answers to questions raised by the participants.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

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Reuters) : U.S. pushes U.N. Security Council to publicly address Ethiopia’s Tigray

(Reuters) -U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Thursday pushed for the U.N. Security Council to meet publicly on Ethiopia’s conflict-torn Tigray region, where hundreds of thousands of people are suffering from famine.

“What are we afraid of? What are we trying to hide? The Security Council’s failure is unacceptable. We have addressed other emergent crises with public meetings. But not with this one,” Thomas-Greenfield told a U.S. and European Union virtual event on Tigray.

Western council members have been pitted against Russia and China, countries that diplomats say question whether the 15-member body, charged with maintaining international peace and security, should be involved in the crisis in Tigray.

“I ask those who refuse to address this issue publicly: Do African lives not matter?” she said, repeating publicly a question she had asked her council colleagues privately in April.

About 350,000 people in Tigray region are suffering “catastrophic” food shortages, according to an analysis by U.N. agencies and aid groups released on Thursday. U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said: “There is famine now in Tigray.”

The Ethiopian government disputed the analysis, saying food shortages are not severe and aid is being delivered.

Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told a news conference the government was providing food aid and help to farmers in Tigray.

“They (diplomats) are comparing it with the 1984, 1985 famine in Ethiopia,” he said. “That is not going to happen.”

The Security Council has been briefed at least five times privately since fighting began in November between Ethiopia’s federal government troops and Tigray’s former ruling party. In April it issued a public statement of concern about the humanitarian situation.

The Security Council is expected to meet on Tuesday on Tigray, at the request of Ireland, but diplomats said it was likely to again be a closed meeting.

The violence in Tigray has killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 2 million from their homes in the mountainous region. Troops from neighboring Eritrea also entered the conflict to support the Ethiopian government.

Reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Howard Goller

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online

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160 Million of World’s Children Forced to Work During Pandemic, UN Says

A new report finds 160 million children or nearly one child in ten is involved in child labor globally, an increase of 8.4 million since 2016. A joint report by the International Labor Organization and UN Children’s Fund warns the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening an already alarming situation. The report is being launched in advance of the World Day Against Child Labor on June 12.

This is the first increase recorded in absolute numbers since the International Labor Organization began tracking the extent of child labor globally 20 years ago. The data show nearly half of these children or 79 million are involved in hazardous work, 6.5 million more than in 2016.

Hazardous work is considered as among the worst forms of child labor. It is dangerous, harmful to a child’s physical and mental health, and could result in death. The ILO reports 70% of children work in agriculture, most on family farms, 20% in services, including domestic work, and 10% in industry.

The picture that emerges from this study varies by region. The report finds child labor is continuing to decrease in Asia and the Pacific, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, child labor has risen substantially in Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

ILO Director General, Guy Ryder, says in Africa as a whole, 20 million more children are in child labor today than they were four years ago. Of those, he says 16.6 million are in sub-Saharan Africa.

“So, if you look at that in percentage terms, it means that almost one in five African children are in child labor, one in four in the sub-Saharan sub region. They are losing out on their education. They are working at a young age. They are working too many hours. They often are working in hazardous occupations,” he said.

Executive Director of UNICEF Henrietta Fore expresses concern at the alarming rise in younger children who are toiling in child labor. She says half of all children in child labor around the world are aged 5 to 11 years.

She says the COVID-19 pandemic is making this terrible situation even worse.

“Faced with job losses and rising poverty, families are forced to make heartbreaking decisions. We estimate that nine million more children could be pushed into child labor by the end of next year, a number that could rise as high as 46 million if social protection coverage falls victim to countries’ austerity measures,” she said.

To reverse the upward trend in child labor, the ILO and UNICEF are calling for adequate social protection for all, including universal child benefits and for quality education and increased spending in getting children back to school.

They say decent work for adults must be promoted so children do not have to be sent out to work to help support their families.

Source: Voice of America