Day: June 16, 2021

French forces in Mali have captured a man they describe as a “high-ranking fighter of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara” (EIGS), the French military said Wednesday.

Dadi Ould Chouaib, also known as Abou Dardar, was arrested June 11 in the flashpoint “tri-border” region between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, the site of frequent attacks by extremist groups, the military said in a statement.

He was carrying “an automatic weapon, a night vision telescope, a combat vest, a telephone and a radio,” but surrendered without resistance.

He was located during a helicopter sweep as part of a joint mission between troops from France’s Barkhane operation and Nigerien forces.

Niger’s army said in a statement late Wednesday that the joint operation, launched June 8, had led to a clash Tuesday with “armed terrorists” that left a Nigerien dead and “12 terrorists neutralized.”

The term “neutralized” means “killed” in West African military contexts.

Dardar was formerly a member of the al-Qaida-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), many of whose fighters had joined EIGS.

First arrested in 2014, he was handed over to Malian authorities.

But he was one of around 200 prisoners released in October 2020 in exchange for four hostages, including French aid worker Sophie Petronin.

Dardar is suspected to have been one of the armed men who mutilated three people at a market in Tin Hama in northern Mali on May 2, cutting off their hands and feet, according to local sources.

According to the United Nations’ Mali mission, MINUSMA, the armed men were suspected of belonging to EIGS.

Dardar’s arrest will come as welcome news for France, after President Emmanuel Macron promised in February to step up efforts to “decapitate” extremist groups in the Sahel region.

France, the former colonial power in all three “tri-border” countries, is pursuing a strategy of targeting the leaders of militant groups.

Its military presence in the semiarid Sahel, Operation Barkhane, recently called for the elimination of a high-ranking fighter of the al-Qaida group in the Islamic Maghreb, an adversary of EIGS in the area.

Baye Ag Bakabo was responsible for the kidnapping and death of two French RFI journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, who were killed in northern Mali in 2013.

Macron recently announced that France will wind down its 5,100-strong Barkhane force, which has battled extremist groups in the Sahel for eight years.

He said earlier this month that he sees France’s future presence as being part of the so-called Takuba international task force in the Sahel, in which “hundreds” of French soldiers would form the “backbone.”

It would mean the closure of French bases and the use of special forces who would be focused on anti-terror operations and military training, he said.

But Macron’s plans have fueled fears that certain areas of the Sahel, in particular northern Mali, will pass completely into the hands of extremist groups, as local authorities appear unable to restore their grip on the region.

Source: Voice of America

Nigeria’s female activists were on the front lines in last year’s mass protests against police brutality but say they do not always get the same recognition as their male counterparts.

From her homemade office, Nigerian activist Aisha Yesufu sets up her mobile device and records the day’s episode of her take on issues bedeviling the country.

She reaches thousands of online listeners every week to address issues of inequality, injustice, bad governance and sometimes, improved conditions in Nigeria.

Yesufu, 47, started participating in protests as a school student nearly three decades ago — but she says it has not been easy.

“I’m not that typical person you’ll see coming out to make demands — ‘Here I am. I’m a Muslim. I’m a woman. I wear hijab.’” she said. “And then it’s like, typically, you’re not supposed to speak as a Muslim. That’s how a lot of people look at it.”

In 2014, Yesufu gained prominence for co-founding the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, a group that raised global awareness demanding the release of 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria.

Last October, she took part in the End SARS protests, which targeted police brutality in the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

A viral picture of her kneeling with her clenched fist into the air, while heavily armed police officials charged toward protesters, became the movement’s symbol. But she says she feared for her life.

“The police were shooting at me. I literally thought I was going to die,” she said. “The only thing I said to God was, ‘God, please let it be a clean thing. Let whoever’s bullet is going to touch me, let it be straight to the heart. Let me fall dead, because I wouldn’t want to be on the floor in pain while some policemen and women will be standing over me and gloating.’”

Yesufu’s resilience over the years has inspired many other women in Nigeria.

During the End SARS protests, many women organized and led street demonstrations.

Among them, 22-year-old Rinu Oduala, who led protests in Lagos.

“I am constantly reminded that as a female growing up in Nigeria, I only need to be seen and not heard,” Oduala said. “So, I fight each day to use my voice and platform to talk about issues affecting my society.”

Nigerian culture, like many others in Africa, is highly patriarchal. But Vivian Bellonwu, founder of Social Action Nigeria, says things are changing gradually due to increasing levels of women’s education.

“It better exposes us to the rights and wrongs that have been going on,” Bellonwu said. “Not just that it exposes us, it also gives a kind of confidence that impossibilities do not exist and that conventions can always be challenged.”

Last month, Nigeria’s women’s affairs minister moved for a constitutional review that would give women up to 35% representation in public offices. The current figure is just 7%.

Bellonwu said it will take a major change before women are perceived as equals in Nigeria, something she said will not happen soon.

Source: Voice of America

NEW YORK, June 15 (Reuters) – Eritrean troops in Ethiopia’s Tigray region are expected to “definitely leave soon,” Ethiopia’s U.N. envoy said after a top U.N. official told the Security Council on Tuesday that Eritrea’s soldiers were using starvation as a weapon of war.

Outgoing U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock told the 15-member council in a private briefing that “no one should be surprised to see a rerun” of a devastating 1984 famine if violence in Tigray does not stop and Eritrean troops do not withdraw.

“Rape is being used systematically to terrorize and brutalize women and girls. Eritrean soldiers are using starvation as a weapon of war. Displaced people are being rounded up, beaten and threatened,” Lowcock told the council, according to diplomats who attended the meeting.

Eritrea’s U.N. mission in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lowcock’s allegation. Eritrea said in April that it had agreed to start withdrawing its troops from Tigray. read more

In April, Eritrea’s U.N. ambassador, Sophia Tesfamariam, rejected allegations of sexual violence and starvation by Eritrean troops as false and “outrageous.”

Ethiopia’s U.N. ambassador, Taye Atske Selassie Amde, who took part in the council discussion, said the Eritrean withdrawal “is a matter of sorting out some technical and procedural issues.”

“Our expectation is that they will definitely leave soon,” he told reporters after the council briefing.

Lowcock briefed the Security Council just days after an analysis by U.N. agencies and aid groups found that more than 350,000 people in Tigray are suffering famine conditions – the worst catastrophic food crisis in a decade. read more

Ethiopia’s government has disputed the analysis. Amde also said Ethiopia’s government had granted unfettered aid access to Tigray and was grateful for international humanitarian help.

The informal council meeting on Tuesday, requested by Ireland, was its sixth private discussion of the crisis since fighting broke out in November between Ethiopia’s federal government troops and Tigray’s former ruling party. Eritrean troops entered the conflict to support the Ethiopian government.

“All evidence now points towards an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe,” Ireland’s U.N. ambassador, Geraldine Byrne Nason, said in a statement. “People in Tigray are starving and we cannot delay … we have to ensure that no more lives are lost.”

Amde said the situation in Tigray did not warrant the Security Council’s attention.

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

The violence in Tigray has killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 2 million from their homes in the mountainous region. In April, the Security Council issued a statement of concern about the humanitarian situation.

“It is not drought or locusts causing this hunger, but the decisions of those in power. That means those in power can also end the suffering,” British U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward told reporters after Tuesday’s briefing.

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online

On 15 June 2021, UN Security Council members held an in-person informal interactive dialogue (IID) on the humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock and WFP Executive Director David Beasley were invited to brief the members. Representatives of the Ethiopian Government were also invited to participate. Eritrea was not invited, and rightfully so, as this was purely a matter on internal affairs in Ethiopia.

However, the Statements and media accounts of the meeting illustrate that the occasion was used or conceived as another opportunity to rehash unsubstantiated allegations against Eritrea. For the record, the Eritrean Mission to the United Nations wishes to emphasize the following salient points:

1. Eritrea objects to the unfortunate and opaque methodology used in this instance where Eritrea was discussed although this was not clearly placed and announced on the agenda, and while Eritrea was not given the opportunity to put forth its perspectives and views on the matters raised;

2. Eritrea has never hindered humanitarian access in the Tigray region. Eritrea has never used “food as a weapon of war’, not even in the dark days of the struggle or during 1998-2000 war with Ethiopia. This is a well-known fact. The unfounded accusations peddled by certain forces against Eritrea these days are indeed driven to advance other political ends. As Ambassador Sophia Tesfamariam, Eritrea’s Permanent representative to the United Nations stated in her 16 April 2021 letter to the Security Council:

“…We are indeed appalled by attempts to blame those who were forced to resort to legitimate measures of self-defence that other countries would have done under similar circumstances. The allegations of rape and other crimes lodged against Eritrean soldiers is not just outrageous, but also a vicious attack on the culture and history of our people….”

3. Eritrea rejects the remarks made by the outgoing Humanitarian Chief who has repeated unsubstantiated allegations he has been making since the crisis began. As it may be recalled, Eritrea had submitted a complaint to the UNSG in protest of the biased conduct of the OCHA Chief which compromised his mandate and status as an international Civil Servant. The Ambassador stated in her 28 April 2021 letter to the Secretary General that:

“…Mr. Mark Lowcock, who heads the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, continues to be deeply embroiled in a subtle political advocacy campaign in support of the defunct TPLF group which is the sole culpable party in unleashing the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. In this respect and despite claiming to be a humanitarian agency, OCHA has carried out an unprecedented political campaign against Eritrea by advancing distorted information in the international arena…”

4. The circumstances surrounding the informal meeting yesterday also raise profound questions of motive and intent of certain powers. Eritrea understands that the meeting was brought forward in order to give a platform to the outgoing OCHA Chief who has an axe to grind against Eritrea for reasons known to him alone.

In conclusion, Eritrea rejects the relentless and gratuitous campaign of apportioning blame on it in order to downplay the high crimes of the defunct TPLF group. And in these crucial times, stoking further conflict and destabilization through unwarranted interferences and acts of intimidation in violation of international law and the sovereignty of the countries in the region is unacceptable, under any guise.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

CAIRO — Ethiopia recently made fiery remarks that further fueled tensions with Egypt over the controversial dam Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile.

On June 2, Dina Mufti, spokesperson for the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said his country is determined to build military bases in the Red Sea. Speaking at a press conference held in Addis Ababa, he added, “Various countries (which he did not name) are showing an interest in controlling the Red Sea region by establishing more military bases than ever before.”

Mufti said his country is planning to build military bases at a time when “worrying” changes are happening in the Horn of Africa.

This comes as Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan have not made any progress in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) talks, the last round of which was held in January.

Although Cairo has not made any official comments on Mufti’s statements, the latter have ignited criticism in the local media.

In this vein, Maj. Gen. Mohamed al-Shahawy, adviser to the army’s Command and Staff College, told Al-Monitor, “Ethiopia is a landlocked country, which means that it does not have direct access to the Red Sea. The repeated statements (about the Red Sea) are designed to preoccupy Ethiopia’s public opinion, cover up for the [Ethiopian] economic crisis and divert attention from the Tigray war.”

After Eritrea gained independence in 1911 after three decades of war with Ethiopia, Addis Ababa lost direct access to the Red Sea.

“Talk about setting up Ethiopian military bases in the Red Sea comes in response to the military agreements Egypt signed with a number of Nile Basin countries and the joint military exercises conducted with Sudan recently,” Shahawy said.

He believes these military agreements Egypt signed would force Ethiopia to sign a binding and legal agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD.

Egypt signed a number of military agreements with African countries, especially those close to the Nile Basin region and most recently a defense cooperation agreement signed on May 26 with Kenya.

In March, Egypt signed a defense agreement with Sudan; it signed a memorandum of understanding on the exchange of intel with Uganda in April. Also, the Egyptian and Burundian militaries signed in the same month a military cooperation agreement focusing on training and joint exercises.

Hani Raslan, head of the Nile Basin Studies Unit at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, “The Ethiopian officials reiterate every now and then their intention to establish military bases (in the region) after they decided to re-establish the Ethiopian navy, which necessitates a seaport and a military naval base.”

In June 2018, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pledged to rebuild the country’s navy that was dissolved in 1996.

During French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Addis Ababa in March 2019, the two countries signed a defense cooperation agreement to develop the Ethiopian navy and train Ethiopian sailors in France.

Raslan believes “an understanding with a country bordering the Red Sea, including Eritrea, is required in order for Ethiopia to build a military base in the Red Sea.”

In December 2019, Ethiopia’s Capital magazine revealed an agreement to establish an Ethiopian naval base in Djibouti, after previous proposals to build it in Sudan or Eritrea allegedly fell through.

Mohammad Hassan, an expert focusing on military affairs at the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, “The timing of the Ethiopian statements on the military base carries several indications. Ethiopian generals are well aware that Ethiopia is a landlocked country.” He added, “Egypt succeeded in politically encircling Ethiopia from all axes by signing security, military and economic cooperation agreements with Sudan, Djibouti, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. As a result, Addis Ababa was isolated from its regional surroundings in the search for a way out of this crisis.”

Shahawy said Egypt insists on its principle that the Nile waters are a red line and that it is a life or death matter regardless of the circumstances.

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online