Day: September 16, 2021

UNITED NATIONS— UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will host a closed-door meeting of world leaders Monday on the sidelines of the General

Assembly in New York to boost climate commitments.

The roundtable comes less than six weeks before a major United Nations climate meeting, COP26, in Glasgow, aimed at ensuring the world meets its goal of holding century-end warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“UNGA is the last big moment in the international calendar ahead of COP26,” Britain’s UN ambassador Barbara Woodward said in a statement. “Climate change will be the UK’s top priority.”

Woodward said Britain would press countries to “cut emissions, particularly phasing out coal, and revitalising and protecting nature.”

A senior UN official said Wednesday that over the past two years, leaders had conducted climate discussions at the G7 and G20, but there had not been a forum for leading economies to speak with the hardest-hit countries.

Asked why the meeting was closed-door, he said: “It’s not intended in any fashion to be a meeting in the shadows,” but a way to facilitate frank dialogue “rather than pre-prepared statements or reverting to established positions.”

The meeting will include leaders from the G20, as well as developing and small island nations, and will be partly in-person, partly virtual.

It’s not yet known who or how many will attend, including, crucially, whether the leaders of the world’s top two polluters — Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden — will take part.

Guterres has laid out three climate priorities. First, the UN is asking countries to strengthen their commitments to reach net zero emissions by 2050 under the 2015 Paris agreement.

Second, it wants developed countries to fulfill a promise to raise a $100-billion climate action fund.

Third, it wants a “significant breakthrough” on financing for adaptation projects for hard-hit nations, to protect them against events such as droughts, floods and sea-level rise. The UN wants adaptation finance to account for 50 percent of all climate finance.

Last month, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the Earth’s average global temperature will reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels around 2030, a decade earlier than projected three years ago.

With only 1.1 degrees Celsius of warming so far, an unbroken cascade of deadly weather disasters bulked up by climate change swept the world this summer, from asphalt-melting heatwaves in Canada to rainstorms turning

China’s city streets into rivers.

This month, record-breaking rainfall from Hurricane Ida devastated New York and New Jersey, killing almost 50 people.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

UNITED NATIONS— The Security Council encouraged Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to resume negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.

In a presidential statement, the council encouraged the three stakeholders to resume talks at the invitation of the chairperson of the African Union (AU) to finalize expeditiously the text of mutually acceptable and binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam, “within a reasonable time frame.”

The Security Council called on the three countries to take forward the AU-led negotiation process in a constructive and cooperative manner.

The council also encouraged observers that have been invited to attend the AU-led negotiations and any other observers that the three countries may consensually decide to jointly invite, to continue supporting the negotiations with a view to facilitating the resolution of outstanding technical and legal issues.

It underscored that this statement does not set out any principles or precedent in any other transboundary water disputes.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

TRIPOLI— The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that 345 illegal migrants were rescued and returned to Libya in two separate operations.

The UN refugee agency tweeted, “32 persons were disembarked today at Azzawiya Refinery point (western Libya) and 313 others were returned to Tripoli last night after being rescued/intercepted at sea.”

“UNHCR & IRC were present during both disembarkations to provide urgent medical aid and humanitarian assistance to all survivors,” it said.

Libya has been suffering insecurity and chaos since the fall of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, making the North African country a preferred point of departure for illegal migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores.

So far this year, 23,601 illegal migrants have been rescued, while hundreds of others have died and gone missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

UNITED NATIONS— The Security Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution to approve a “technical rollover” for the mandate of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to allow more time for negotiations on a longer-term mandate renewal.

Resolution 2595, which was unanimously adopted by the 15-member council, decides to extend the mandate of UNSMIL till Sept 30, 2021.

The Security Council originally scheduled a vote for Tuesday on a draft resolution that would have extended UNSMIL’s mandate for a year, till Sept. 15, 2022. The vote had to be delayed till Wednesday, the day when the current mandate expires. The council then had to vote on a new draft resolution for a technical rollover.

The major differences among council members were on the restructuring of UNSMIL to its original leadership position of one special representative based in Tripoli, as well as language on the withdrawal of foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya, according to diplomats.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Eritrean refugees caught up in the months-long war in Ethiopia have suffered abuses including executions and rape that amount to “clear war crimes,” Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

A new report from the U.S.-based rights watchdog details the role of both Eritrean soldiers and rebel fighters from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region in extensive carnage marked by forced repatriations and large-scale destruction at two refugee camps.

“The horrific killings, rapes and looting against Eritrean refugees in Tigray are clear war crimes,” said Laetitia Bader, HRW’s Horn of Africa director.

“For years, Tigray was a haven for Eritrean refugees fleeing abuse, but many now feel they are no longer safe,” she added.

Northern Ethiopia erupted in conflict last November when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray to topple the regional ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or the TPLF, a move he said came in response to attacks on federal army camps.

Before fighting broke out Tigray was home to 92,000 Eritrean refugees, including 19,200 in the Hitsats and Shimelba camps, according to Ethiopia’s Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA).

Although Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a brutal border war in 1998-2000 that left tens of thousands dead, Abiy initiated a rapprochement with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, and Asmara has lent him military backing in Tigray.

Eritrean and Tigrayan forces first clashed near Hitsats about two weeks after the conflict began.

HRW said Thursday it had received “credible reports” that Eritrean troops killed 31 people in Hitsats town, and that the true toll was “likely significantly higher.”

AFP has previously documented how, once fighting reached Hitsats camp, pro-TPLF militia targeted refugees in reprisal killings, shooting dead nine young Eritrean men outside a church.

When the Eritreans gained control of the camp, they are believed to have transported 17 injured refugees to Eritrea for treatment, the HRW report said.

However, most of those evacuees remain unaccounted for, along with 20-30 others who were detained, “including refugee committee members and perceived opposition members, two of them women,” it said.

The Tigrayan forces regained control of the area in early December and began robbing, detaining, raping and attacking refugees with weapons including a grenade, potentially killing dozens, HRW said.

Eritrean forces returned the following month and forced those still in the camps to evacuate, and satellite imagery indicates Hitsats was largely destroyed soon after, the watchdog added.

Missing refugees

Thousands of refugees formerly in Hitsats and Shamella remain unaccounted for, while hundreds had little choice but to return to Eritrea in what HRW described as “coerced repatriations.”

Others ended up in two camps in southern Tigray, Mai Aini and Adi Harush, which came under TPLF control in July.

ARRA, Ethiopia’s refugee body, has accused the TPLF of deploying heavy artillery in both those camps, looting vehicles and warehouses and preventing refugees from leaving — creating what is “tantamount to a hostage situation.”

The TPLF has dismissed such allegations and vowed to ensure the refugees’ protection.

Ethiopian officials are trying to expedite the relocation of refugees out of southern Tigray to a 90-hectare site in the neighboring Amhara region.

Yet the TPLF launched an offensive into Amhara in July, and the region has been hit hard by recent fighting.

HRW said Thursday that all parties to the conflict should grant freedom of movement to the refugees, as well as expanded access to aid.

Source: Voice of America

Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo, has suspended the powers of Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble in the latest power struggle between the two leaders.

In taking action Thursday, Farmajo accused the prime minister of making rush decisions and not having good working relations with the president’s office.

Citing Articles 87 and 90 of Somalia’s provisional constitution, Farmajo said Roble, who also served as chief minister, violated the constitution. There has been no immediate comment from Roble.

The decree from the president’s office further halted Robles’ powers of hiring and firing pending the completion of the country’s ongoing election process. Long-delayed presidential elections are set for November.

The men are also at odds over the firing Monday of former National Intelligence and Security Agency Director Fahad Yassin. He was dismissed in connection with the investigation into the disappearance of female spy Ikran Tahlil Farah back in June.

NISA said Farah was abducted and killed by the armed group al-Shabab. But in a new twist, the militants strongly denied involvement.

According to constitutional experts, the ongoing power struggle between the two men is also sparked by the way their roles are designated in the constitution.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed Monday visited Mogadishu and appealed to both men to put their differences aside so they can focus on the already delayed polls.

Source: Voice of America