Month: February 2023

Like almost all conflicts, the one that was raging in northern Ethio­pia during the past two years was fought both on the ground and along the information front. Within the latter battle, a recurring, ever-present element was disinforma­tion. In fact, disinformation re­mained central and dominant since the very beginning of the conflict. At the same time that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) initiated the conflict with its un­provoked November 2020 attack on Ethiopia’s northern command outposts, the group’s supporters coordinated to launch the #Tigray­Genocide hashtag campaign.

Today, even while the large-scale conflict in northern Ethiopia is pur­portedly over, the disinformation and blatant falsehoods continue to swirl. Now they aim to character­ize Eritrea as a scheming “spoiler” and hope to portray it as innately disappointed or ill at ease with the potential for peace. In addition to being extremely dangerous and highly irresponsible, these claims are completely misguided and far from the truth.

Peace is cherished

Eritrea deeply treasures genuine, lasting peace, particularly because the country has experienced nu­merous difficulties and been on the frontlines of externally-imposed wars and instability. To be certain, over the decades, war has never been the country’s desire or pref­erence. Far from it. Instead, the country has regularly been forced to take up arms in order to attain its freedom, defend its territorial sov­ereignty, and maintain its indepen­dence. Having sacrificed so much, borne a tremendously heavy bur­den, and paid extremely high costs in blood and treasure as a result of war, Eritrea isn’t against peace – it cherishes and values it.

Contrary to the claims of detrac­tors accusing the country of desta­bilization and labeling it a “spoil­er”, there is no threat to Eritrea from lasting peace in Ethiopia. The opposite is true. It does not see or approach the regional situation in the Horn as a zero-sum game or opportunity to gain benefits at oth­ers’ expense. Rather, it has regular­ly articulated that the fates of the countries of the region are closely-linked and intertwined; the estab­lishment and maintenance of peace and stability in one have positive spillover effects and will allow others to reach greater heights. Eritrea’s proactive efforts to insti­tutionalize initiatives toward re­gional peace, cooperation, and in­tegration alongside other countries across the region are demonstrative of this outlook and approach.

In 2018, the powerful winds of change, optimism, and hope swept across the region. Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a much-celebrated agreement on peace and coopera­tion. The agreement was met with unreserved elation and euphoria by the peoples of the two coun­tries, offering scenes and memo­ries never to be forgotten. It also augured great hope and aspiration for a new positive chapter in the region, characterized by mutual goodwill, friendship, progress, and cooperation across numerous areas and sectors. The establishment of enduring peace now will help to al­low the various provisions of that historic agreement to be pursued with greater vigor and dynamism.

Of course, peace, which includes the complete disarmament of the TPLF, will also have profound security im­plications for Eritrea. In 1998, the TPLF, then at the helm of power in Ethiopia, launched an aggressive expansionary war against Eritrea. Despite having agreed to peace with Eritrea over two decades ago, the TPLF went on to militarily oc­cupy Eritrean territories, regularly made calls for the overthrow of the Eritrean government, and boldly proclaimed its intentions to carry out “military action to oust the re­gime in Eritrea.” More recently, as part of the war it launched in No­vember 2020, the TPLF planned to invade Eritrea to carry out “re­gime change” and incorporate large swathes of sovereign Eritrean territory into the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. It shelled numerous Eritrean villages near the border, kidnapped civilians, and indis­criminately launched missiles at heavily-populated cities, including Asmara, Eritrea’s capital.

Accordingly, the removal of a longstanding regional scourge and existential threat can only be re­garded as a positive development for the region.

Peace offers great promise

Having withstood decades of war and foreign aggression, peace additionally provides great prom­ise for Eritrea. Lasting, genuine peace and stability will offer a vi­tal boost to its economy, encour­age foreign investment, and allow the country to singularly focus its attention and resources from occupation of its sovereign lands; resultant and intermittent military; and, national security threats to promoting socioeconomic devel­opment and nation-building.

Despite its relatively small size, the country is blessed with vast potential and an abundance of resources. Peace will allow it to leverage its huge comparative ad­vantages, including its extractive industry, blue economy, tourism sector, and locational/geostrategic endowments, among others.

Here, it is useful to recall how after winning its independence in 1991, with minimal foreign aid or external influence, Eritrea embarked upon the monumen­tal task of reconstructing and re­building its war-shattered country and economy. Despite the sheer scale of the challenge, the early signs were promising and the pe­riod was marked by high levels of optimism. Numerous schools, hospitals, dams, and other critical infrastructure were rehabilitated or constructed, access to water, tele­communications, education, and healthcare were improved, and a large-scale demobilization of the country’s armed liberation forces was begun. Additionally, from 1993 to 1998 (when the TPLF launched its war of aggression), some economic diversification was achieved, inflation was kept rela­tively low, and the nation’s gross domestic product grew at an aver­age annual rate of 11 percent.

While only a snapshot of the period, this does suggest that with the conditions of lasting peace and stability, there is considerable po­tential – and ability – in Eritrea for significant socioeconomic growth and sustainable development. Ul­timately, if genuine, lasting peace can help the country to fulfill this significant potential, it can only be most welcome.

Those that gained most from conflict remain against true peace

The past several years and even decades of conflict and instabil­ity inflicted a great toll on Eritrea and much of the wider region. At the same time, however, some par­ties benefited greatly – financially, politically, or in terms of accruing power and influence. Today, as then, it is them, and not Eritrea, that are against a genuine, enduring peace that would put the hopes, as­pirations, and interests of the peo­ple of the region front and center.

 

Source: Eritrea – Ministry of Information

Ethiopia is the third largest refugee hosting country in Africa, generously sheltering over 880,000 refugees, mainly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan. The majority are women and children who need special care and attention.

 

UNHCR is a key partner in the government-led Inter-Agency response to the plight of IDPs, leading the Protection and co-leading the Camp Coordination & Camp Management (CCCM) Clusters. UNHCR is also active in the Shelter/NFI, Logistics and Health Clusters.

 

UNHCR is supporting people affected by conflict & the worst drought in 40 years. It’s also helping the government & communities to build resilience against natural hazards, such as recurrent droughts and flooding.

 

KEY INDICATORS

 

2.5M IDPs reached with protection & multifaceted assistance in 2022.

 

180,000 refugees are attending pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary education.

 

50,000 IDPs in Northern Ethiopia assisted to voluntarily return home.

 

18% of all camp-based refugees have access to alternative cooking energy.

 

Operational Context

 

Conflict, drought, inflation, and high food prices have had a cumulative devastating humanitarian impact across the country, driving millions into displacement. According to the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) latest Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), there were 2.73 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 1.88 million returning IDPs in the country, all of them requiring urgent humanitarian support and solutions1 . The two-year conflict in Northern Ethiopia has been the major cause of displacement and has put more than 9 million people in Tigray,

Afar and Amhara regions in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. While new displacements continue in several parts of Ethiopia, UNHCR is encouraged by the AU-led peace agreement between the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) which has ended active combat in Northern Ethiopia and led to the gradual restoration of services and humanitarian operations in Tigray. In the Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ (SNNP) and Somali regions, UNHCR is responding to the humanitarian needs of IDPs and host communities that have been impacted by the worst drought to hit the regions in 40 years.

 

Notwithstanding its internal challenges, Ethiopia is home to over 880,000 refugees and is providing protection and services to those in need. The country is also creating conditions for self-reliance and inclusion of refugees in national development plans and services, such as health and education. UNHCR is working with government partners, development actors, international financial institutions, donor countries, the private sector and others to engage in long-term socio-economic investments in refugee-hosting areas, benefitting both refugees and the communities hosting them.

 

 

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

By Afarin Dadkhah and Samuel Otieno in Tunaydbah, Sudan | 03 February 2023

 

The smoky aroma of coffee permeates the air as Freweyni Tadese, 48, roasts beans over a charcoal stove. With a wooden pestle and mortar, she then grinds the darkened beans into a fine ground which she carefully pours into a Jebena, a traditional clay coffee-pot she carried with her when she fled Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

 

“Back at home, coffee is highly regarded and we grow it ourselves. We all have it in our homes,” says Freweyni, adding that every cup reminds her of home.

 

Soon, the coffee pot sizzles and Freweyni pours the dark liquid from a height into traditional handleless mugs without stopping until all the cups are filled. Her traditional methods of coffee-making have been passed down through generations.

 

“This first round is called awel,” she says, adding that awel is the strongest of the three rounds she’ll brew from her freshly ground coffee. She serves each cup with a small dish of popcorn.

 

As she works, she describes her life back home in Tigray where she sold homemade fruit popsicles from her own shop. The business allowed her to provide a comfortable life for her family while bringing joy and sweetness to her community.

 

“We were at peace, everyone was happy,” says Freweyni. “With the income from the popsicle shop, I could send my kids to school, even to university.”

 

But everything changed overnight when conflict broke out in the Tigray region in November 2020, eventually forcing approximately 60,000 men, women and children to cross the border into Sudan and displacing millions of others within Ethiopia.

 

As the fighting came close to her home in December 2020, Freweyni and her four children left everything behind and fled on foot towards Sudan. They walked for two straight days before crossing the border to safety.

 

“We had no money, no clothes and were starving,” she says.

 

It was not the first time that Freweyni had been forced to flee. She was a young child when she first came to Sudan as a refugee with her family in the mid-1980s, fleeing the civil war and devastating famine in Ethiopia.

 

Later, she lived and worked in Eritrea for 16 years before she was forced to flee again when war broke out between Ethiopia and Eritrea in the late 1990s. She eventually found her way home, this time to Humera, Tigray, where she re-established her life and set up her business, not knowing that she would have to leave it all behind once more.

 

Now safely settled with her family in the Tunaydbah refugee camp in Gedaref State, eastern Sudan, Freweyni has managed to set up a small coffee shop driven by her love of coffee and memories of home.

 

 

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Headlines:

 

WHO Executive Board: This week and next week, global health leaders are convening at WHO’s Executive Board to discuss global public health policy, including on the global effort to eradicate polio. In his opening address, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that no wild poliovirus cases had been reported anywhere since September 2022, and commended support for this effort globally, including through the pledging of US$2.6 billion to the effort in October. The ongoing proceedings can be viewed here.

 

Gearing up to stop polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2023: In October 2022, the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for Afghanistan and Pakistan met in Muscat, Oman, to conduct a thorough review of ongoing polio eradication efforts in the remaining polio endemic countries. During the 6-day meeting they also provided strategic technical guidance on steering efforts towards successful interruption of the poliovirus in both countries in 2023. Read more…

 

Syria takes steps to advance polio transition while strengthening essential health priorities: “The main goal of this mission is to ensure that the polio essential functions are well preserved,” — Dr Rana Hajjeh, Director of Programme Management at WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. Read more…

 

Summary of new polioviruses this week:

 

Pakistan: one WPV1 positive environmental sample

Central African Republic: one cVDPV2 case

Chad: seven cVDPV2 cases and one positive environmental sample

Indonesia: one cVDPV2 case

Nigeria: one cVDPV2 case

Somalia: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample

Yemen: one cVDPV2 case

 

Source: Global Polio Eradication Initiative

Massawa, 03 February 2023 – Ms. Zeineb Omar, Chairperson of the Holidays Coordinating Committee in the Northern Red Sea Region, indicated that the 33^rd anniversary of Fenkil Operation will be commemorated from 10 to 12 February under the theme “Fenkil-Resolute Commitment”.

Ms. Zeineb further noted that the commemoration event will be highlighted by children’s carnival, children’s village, exhibition, general knowledge and sports competitions as well as community gatherings and others.

Ms. Zeineb also said that the event will also feature a tour to historical sites and seminars as well as a half-marathon competition in which athletes from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will take part.

Indicating that the 33^rd anniversary of Operation Fenkil is being commemorated at an important period in the history of the country, Ms. Zeineb called on all concerned institutions and visitors to strengthen participation in the commemoration event.

 

Source: Eritrea – Ministry of Information