Day: September 15, 2021

DJIBOUTI— Ismail Omar Guelleh, the Djiboutian president has been reported ill but the Minister of Foreign Affairs says it is as a result of fatigue and not as bad as it is being made to seem.

“President Ismail Omar Guelleh is fine. All informations circulating about his health situation is far from the reality. His is having a few days off and undergoing medical check up due to lack of rest for he did not leave the country during the whole summer,” Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssef tweeted.

“President Guelleh is going to resume his work in a few days time : there is no particular worry to have,” he added in a follow-up tweet.

The 74-year-old has been in office since 1999, making him one of the longest-serving presidents on the continent.

He won re-election for a fifth consecutive term in office during the last presidential in April 2021 by winning by more than 98% of the vote.

He was largely expected to win given that his main opponent was a largely unknown businessman, Zakaria Ismail Farah.

This time around it is most likely his last chance to be head of state before becoming ineligible — as per an age limit based on a 2010 constitutional reform.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Authors of the Cluster Munition Monitor 2021 report say great progress toward the elimination of these lethal weapons has been made since the Cluster Ban Treaty came into force in 2010.

The Monitor finds there has been no new use of cluster munitions by any of the 110 states that has joined the treaty, nor by the 13 states that have signed but not yet ratified it.

The report says the remaining problems lie with countries that remain outside the convention.

The most notable use of cluster munitions last year was by non-member states Armenia and Azerbaijan during their war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Monitor records 107 casualties from cluster munition attacks in Azerbaijan, the most in any country last year.

Syria has continuously used cluster munitions since 2012.

Human Rights Watch arms advocacy director Mary Wareham says use of the weapons in 2020 was greatly reduced compared to previous years.

She says another visible example of the treaty’s success is in the destruction of stockpiles.

“We know that at least 1.5 million cluster munitions and more than 178 million submunitions have been destroyed from stocks today,” said Wareham. “That goes to show that this convention is truly lifesaving because every single one of those explosive submunitions could take a life or a limb.”

Globally, the monitor has recorded at least 360 new cluster munition casualties in 2020, caused either from attacks or explosive remnants. The editor of the Monitor, Loren Persi, says children are the main victims of these weapons, which kill and maim civilians indiscriminately.

“Almost half of all casualties, 44 percent are children. About a quarter of casualties were women and girls,” said Persi. “But what we found in 2020 was that women and girls were far less likely to survive their incident with cluster munitions. This is something of concern that we will have to look into as more data becomes available.”

The report says many of the 16 countries outside the convention reserve the right to keep making cluster munitions, even though they currently are not doing so.

Authors of the report say they are concerned that China and Russia are actively researching, testing, and developing new types of cluster munitions.

China, Russia and the United States have not joined the convention. The three countries are among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Source: Voice of America

France’s president announced the death of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara’s leader late Wednesday, calling Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi’s killing “a major success” for the French military after more than eight years fighting extremists in the Sahel.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that al-Sahrawi “was neutralized by French forces” but gave no further details. It was not announced where al-Sahrawi was killed, though the Islamic State group is active along the border between Mali and Niger.

“The nation is thinking tonight of all its heroes who died for France in the Sahel in the Serval and Barkhane operations, of the bereaved families, of all of its wounded,” Macron tweeted. “Their sacrifice is not in vain.”

Rumors of the militant leader’s death had circulated for weeks in Mali, though authorities in the region had not confirmed it. It was not immediately possible to independently verify the claim or to know how the remains had been identified.

“This is a decisive blow against this terrorist group,” French Defense Minister Florence Parly tweeted. “Our fight continues.”

Al-Sahrawi had claimed responsibility for a 2017 attack in Niger that killed four U.S. military personnel and four people with Niger’s military. His group also has abducted foreigners in the Sahel and is believed to still be holding American Jeffrey Woodke, who was abducted from his home in Niger in 2016.

The extremist leader was born in the disputed territory of Western Sahara and later joined the Polisario Front. After spending time in Algeria, he made his way to northern Mali where he became an important figure in the group known as MUJAO that controlled the major northern town of Gao in 2012.

A French-led military operation the following year ousted Islamic extremists from power in Gao and other northern cities, though those elements later regrouped and again carried out attacks.

The Malian group MUJAO was loyal to the regional al-Qaida affiliate. But in 2015, al-Sahrawi released an audio message pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

The French military has been fighting Islamic extremists in the Sahel region where France was once the colonial power since the 2013 intervention in northern Mali. It recently announced, though, that it would be reducing its military presence in the region, with plans to withdraw 2,000 troops by early next year.

News of al-Sahrawi’s death comes as France’s global fight against the Islamic State organization is making headlines in Paris. The key defendant in the 2015 Paris attacks trial said Wednesday that those coordinated killings were in retaliation for French airstrikes on the Islamic State group, calling the deaths of 130 innocent people “nothing personal” as he acknowledged his role for the first time.

Source: Voice of America

Expanding at 1660 sq. kilometers, HaiKota is the sub-zone located in the Gash-Barka region which possesses rich natural habitat in the western lowlands. Here is a translated short interview Hadas Eritrea conducted with the Administrator of the sub-zone, Mr. Shekedin Salh regarding the socio-economic development of the sub-zone over the years.

• Mr. Shekedin, what can you tell us about the Sub-zone of HaiKota?

Being one of the 16 subzones of the Gash-Barka region, Hai¬Kota is surrounded by the sub-zones of Tessennai on the west, Gogne on the east, Laelay-Gash on the south, and Forto-Sawa on the north. It’s populated with 11,658 families extended in 12 administration areas scattered over 93 villages where most of its community relay on agriculture, cattle herding, and commercial activities. This Sub-zone extends 1660 square kilometers of vast areas with different topography including mountainous valleys, rivers, and ridges alongside its richness in diverse trees, domes¬tic and wild animals. As a mat¬ter of fact, the large River Gash flows through the sub-zone. Our sub-zone includes around 50 farming plantations that culti¬vates vegetables, fruits, and cash crops. Also, we have a vast area of enclosure preserved for wild¬life and forestry.

With a lowland climate, this sub-zone possesses a good weath¬er, where we consider the hottest season is the spring season for us.

• How do assess the Health Care Services in the sub-zone?

Before the independence, the community here used to face many problems in accessing health services. That is history now. Our sub-zone has three health clinics, a Health Center and a new Community Hospital which is ready to start giving service at any moment now. Even though the area covers some remote parts, with the rigorous aware¬ness campaigns accomplished in the last several years, inhabitants of the sub-zone frequently visit these health facilities. Hence out-standing achievements have been registered in the health sector and especially in mother and child care and prenatal and neonatal care.

• How about potable water and transportation services?

Services that provide clean wa¬ter have been established in ev¬ery administration areas. Most of these water services run through solar power that signifies the po¬tential of solar energy in this sub-zone in which not only to use in water projects but also in other sectors.

Speaking of the transportation service, before independence the inhabitants of these areas were having so many problems. But now roads connecting the dif¬ferent administration areas have been constructed that help the socio-economic of these areas to boost.

• What about Education?

Similar to the health services, almost there were a number of schools in the sub-zone before Independence. However after In¬dependence, we have 21 schools; five preschools, six Elementary, eight Elementary and junior, two junior and high school, and a high school. In addition, our sub-zone provides education for students who didn’t get to go to Scholl early, students aged from 9 to 15 to get the opportunity they lost when they were young. Not only that, adult education has regis¬tered satisfactory results in our sub-zone.

Enrollment of students at all levels is now satisfying. But still, we are conducting awareness-raising campaigns in adult educa¬tion and female participation.

• What are the measures your administration takes in preser¬vation of forestry and wild ani¬mals?

HaiKota includes various green areas across it, and we have a strict preservation policy. The second vast area of the enclosure is located in our sub-zone. Preserv¬ing these forestry areas should be every individual’s work, and we conduct awareness-raising campaigns, seminars and engage every village to participate in af¬forestation activities.

The Sub-zone is also rich with domestic animals such as; cat¬tle’s and especially camels. And I mentioned, we have an enclosure place for wild animals especially for elephants on the edges of Riv¬er Gash. Different wild animals inhabit this sub-zone with di¬versified species of birds.

• What makes HaiKota sub-zone remarkable?

Here in the sub-zone, we have some of the country’s biggest fac¬tories and institutions; Banatom-banana and tomato processing factory, Foam factory, Crops and Livestock Corporation, fish farm¬ing dam… etc are located here. Those factories and institutions employ many nationals from the sub-zone and thus, are great input in the economy. This can be one of the few things that can make this sub-zone stand out. On top of all this, one of the pioneers of the Eritrean armed struggle, Ha¬mid Idris Awate is from this place and his monument stands here in HaiKota.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea