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There is No Place Like Home

He is the late Ermias Dawit Asghedom aka Nipsey Hussle’s father- Dawit Asghedom. As a father who has raised such a successful son in a foreign country, we have conducted an interview regarding how demanding it is to raise children abroad who have strong attachment with their home country.

• Welcome back Mr. Dawit. You have come on a holiday season. So how does it feel to spend holidays here in Eritrea with your people?

First, I would like to thank you for inviting me. It always feels good to be home. However, this time I’m here in my home country after a long time because of many reasons, covid-19 being among them. So it feels great to be here again after around three years. Most of all, when you come back home you get the time to rest unlike our lives in the US. During the past three years, a lot of things have changed including the addition of a new baby to the family. My niece’s baby, he is two years old now. So everything feels beautiful now that I’m home.

• In many occasions, it has been said that Eritrean nationals abroad have formed a fourth front for Eritrea’s development and resilience. Can you please tell us about the nationals living abroad and their activities?

Eritreans in the diaspora have been struggling for a very long time with their personal lives. However, their country is always on the picture. All over the world, they work to give what is required of them. For instance, in the mainstream media, there is misinformation about Eritrea. They say all the bad things they can to make Eritreans look bad. Hearing such fabricated information really hurts when you actually know what exactly the truth is and such things encouraged us to organize ourselves and fight against those biased information. We go to higher offices to tell what the true story is. To tackle all those things aimed at destroying us, we are very well organized and working so hard.

• As a parent who has raised his children abroad, what do you believe is the secret of teaching them about their people and culture? Because I remember, in his interview our beloved Nipsey Hussle mentioned that he felt like the blank spot in his life was filled when he made his way back home.

There are many people who deserve the credit for my success in teaching my boys about their people and culture. Of course I did my best and so has their mother, but their grandparents, my friends and the community as a whole have played their role. As for me, there is one thing I consider as the secret for my kids to be like this. I left my country when I was young. However, I have always had a strong sense of nationalism and that made me an active member in the social, political and other matters regarding Eritrea. When they were kids, I used to take them to the Eritrean community, cultural shows, and wedding ceremonies. Their young age made them grab a lot from such events and gatherings and they were well acquainted with the culture and their people. They loved it. For them, it was something unique in comparison with what was in their surrounding in the US. The mother of my kids was also fond of the culture which was a big help. In 2005, when I brought them here for almost three months, we visited places like Massawa. They saw the cultural activities themselves and they tasted the food. They loved it because they experienced it in its original place. I took them to Sawa to show them how the youth are working hard to build their country and how the national service is so important. Back then, everyone was friendly and welcoming and they felt the sense of belongingness here in Eritrea. When we got here, they met their cousins and the rest of the family. They had such a quality time with their own people. That trip left an impression on them and that’s when they started to fall in love with their country . Among my kids, Ermias used to love reading books. So I used to give him articles and books that helped him to know about the history of Eritrea, the armed struggle of the Eritrean people and all the hardships that was experienced to bring independence. When we went back to the US, they were filled with love and they made their way back home in 2018 again. So the fact that they grew up with the Eritrean community in America, reading histories about their country and most of all visiting their homeland was the secret I believe.

• Nipsey Hussle had some projects before he died. So as one of his fans, I wonder what happened to those projects.

Surprisingly, I realized that he made a lot of influence on many people after he died. The message he was sending through his works was a big deal for many people. On the streets, the people came out of their windows and gave us love by tapping on their chest. The streets were full of pictures of Ermias. He has always been bent to help others. There are a lot of examples but I will tell you two stories for now. One day, I went to his burial place to drop a flower. There were a lot of people who came there for the same reason. They gave me some moment with my son and distanced themselves from me. After I finished, an Asian guy approached me and told me a story. “I was once learning to be a physician and suddenly gave up and was thinking of quitting”. Then someone gave him a book about Nipsey and his album for him to read and listen to his songs. He then said, “When I read the books and heard his songs, I was filled with hope and got the courage to stand up again. Life is like a marathon and it is full of bumps. However, you should never give up was Nipsey’s message”. Now he graduated and became what he wanted to be. Another story is, I was invited to a restaurant to have a dinner with a friend. A mother with her little boy was there to celebrate her son’s birthday. When he saw me, he told his mom that taking a picture with me would be the best birthday gift ever. So she came and asked if her son could take a picture with me. I asked the kid what exactly he knows about Nipsey and gave me a short and interesting answer, “He is my motivator. Not only to be a rapper, but in everything”. His story makes you feel as if he is still alive. This and all therefore encourages you to push more on what he has been doing before his death because at some point you can feel how much space he has got in people’s hearts. We are doing the things he has always wanted to do to keep his legacy. There were some songs he sang but was not able to release them. Now they are already released. The clothing business is doing well too. We are thinking of opening a new store within six months. We will soon do some projects here in Eritrea. We have already started working on Nipsey’s documentary and it is going to be about his life and where his homeland is.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

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UN Grants $150 Million in Aid for 13 Underfunded Crises

GENEVA — The United Nations is allocating $150 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to support seriously underfunded humanitarian operations in 13 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.

Topping the list of underfunded crises are Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan. These countries will receive between $20- and $25 million each to help them implement life-saving humanitarian operations.

International support for Syria has all but dissipated after more than a decade of conflict. Some 13 million refugees and internally displaced Syrians are living in a state of destitution, with little recourse to basic relief.

The DRC is one of the longest and most complex humanitarian crises. Millions of people are suffering from conflict, displacement, epidemics, and acute hunger.

The United Nations warns the humanitarian crisis in Sudan is deepening, as political instability grows and the country contends with flooding, rising food prices and disease outbreaks.

Jens Laerke, the spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, says the distribution of funds made by Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths is the largest ever. He says it beats last year’s $135 million by $15 million.

“This announcement of funding will help the prioritization of life-saving projects to respond to for example food security, nutrition, health, and protection needs. More detailed strategies are expected from these countries later this month,” he said.

Other recipient countries include Myanmar, where the U.N. is providing aid to some three million people suffering from conflict, COVID-19, and a failing economy. U.N. aid also will go to Burkina Faso, Chad, and Niger, three countries in Africa’s central Sahel that are struggling with mass displacement because of armed attacks.

Laerke says these countries as well as six others in dire straits in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, including Haiti and Honduras, will receive between $5- and $12 million each from the U.N. fund to help them tackle their emergency needs.

“These allocations happen twice a year to countries selected because of their low level of funding, severity of humanitarian needs, and vulnerability,” he said. “These countries have just entered a new cycle of humanitarian fundraising and program implementation on the back of underfunded appeals from last year, all below 50 percent covered at year’s end.”

Humanitarian needs are growing across the world. The United Nations says it expects at least 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2022 and it will require $41 billion to assist the most vulnerable.

Afghanistan is the world’s largest humanitarian appeal. The U.N. recently launched a record $4.5 billion appeal to assist 22 million Afghans, more than half the country’s population.

Source: Voice of America

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Mali’s Ousted President Keita Dies at 76

BAMAKO — Former Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was ousted by the military in 2020 after a turbulent seven-year rule, has died, officials said on Sunday. He was 76.

Known by his initials IBK, Keita ran the West African country from September 2013 to August 2020, when Islamist insurgents overran large areas, draining his popularity.

Disputed legislative elections, rumors of corruption, and a sputtering economy also fueled public anger and drew tens of thousands of people onto the streets of the capital Bamako demanding his resignation in 2020.

He was eventually forced out by a military coup, the leaders of which still rule Mali despite strong international objections.

“Very saddened to learn of the death of former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita,” tweeted Mali’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdoulaye Diop. “It is with great emotion that I bow before his memory.”

The cause of death was not yet clear. A former advisor said he died at home in Bamako.

Keita, who frequently traveled abroad for medical attention, was detained and put under house arrest during the coup but restrictions were lifted amid pressure from the West African political bloc ECOWAS.

Known for his white flowing robes and a tendency to slur his words, Keita won a resounding election victory in 2013. He vowed to take on the corruption that eroded support for his predecessor Amadou Toumani Toure, also toppled in a coup.

He had a reputation for firmness forged as a prime minister in the 1990s when he took a hard line with striking trade unions. But his tenure was marred from the start by a security crisis in which al Qaeda-linked jihadists swept across the desert north.

French forces had intervened in January 2013 to drive back the insurgents who had hijacked an ethnic Tuareg rebellion. But the groups bounced back. In the nine years since, they have killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians and in some areas created their own systems of government.

Attacks by jihadists stoked ethnic clashes between rival herding and farming communities, claiming hundreds more lives and underscoring the government’s lack of control.

Allegations of corruption dogged Keita’s presidency from the start.

In 2014, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund froze nearly $70 million in financing after the IMF expressed concern over the purchase of a $40 million presidential jet and a separate loan for military supplies.

Source: Voice of America

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Cameroon Begins Mass COVID-19 Tests to Encourage Football Turnout

YAOUNDE — Cameroon launched a massive campaign Sunday for fans to be tested and vaccinated against COVID-19 to fill stadiums in the ongoing Africa Football Cup of Nations the country is hosting. Cameroon and African football officials say only 2,000 supporters turn out for matches at 20,000- to 60,000-seat stadiums because of COVID-19 restrictions and separatist threats.

This is the deafening noise of vuvuzelas from thousands of football fans outside Yaoundé’s 42,000-seat Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium. The vuvuzela is a long horn blown by fans to support their teams at matches.

Among the fans is Sylvie Dinyuy, a 21-year-old university student. Dinyuy says COVID-19 restrictions imposed by organizers of the Africa Football Cup of Nations make it impossible for her and her peers to get into the stadium to support African Football.

“I have been blocked because I have not done my COVID-19 test and I have not been vaccinated. I would have loved to watch the Morocco Comoros match at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium. Morocco is my favorite team,” she said.

Dinyuy and football fans outside the stadium say but for COVID-19, thousands of people would have been present in stadiums to support African men’s soccer as they did when Cameroon hosted women’s AFCON in 2016.

In 2016, the Confederation of African Football congratulated Cameroon for the massive turnout of fans when the central African state hosted the women’s AFCON.

This year, the confederation said only fans who show proof that they have received COVID-19 vaccines and proof of negative COVID-19 test results no more than 24 hours old will be allowed into stadiums.

Cameroon says spectator turnout at stadiums since AFCON began on

January 9 in Cameroon is very sparse. The government says a maximum of 3,000 fans and supporters turned out in the 20,000-seat stadiums in Limbe and Bafoussam. More than 10,000 supporters turned out at the 32.000-seat stadium in Garoua, a northern commercial city. Fewer than 15,000 watched matches at the 60,000-seat Japoma stadium in Douala, Cameroon’s commercial hub.

Cameroonian football officials say strict COVID-19 measures make it impossible for fans to have access to the stadiums.

Bafoussam hosts pool B AFCON matches. Augustine Awah Fonka is governor of Cameroon’s West region, where Bafoussam is located. Awa said on Sunday he launched a campaign for people to get COVID-19 tests and vaccines so they could have access to the stadium.

“During the first match, they did not know certain entry conditions,” he said. “This time around, everybody is sensitized, and everybody is mobilized and prepared to watch these great encounters. Tickets are already available at the various sales points, so the populations are invited to go there and obtain their tickets.”

Awah said, as an incentive, the government is providing free transportation to stadiums for people who are vaccinated and show proof of negative COVID-19 test results. He said Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute on Saturday asked workers and students who meet conditions to leave their offices and schools by 2 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. to attend matches. He says the permission given by Ngute for workers and students to leave their offices early ends on February 6, when AFCON is expected to end.

Before the tournament began on January 9, Cameroon said thousands of fans were rushing to get their vaccines but that vaccine hesitancy in the country is still quite high.

The Public Health Ministry says 4,000 people all over Cameroon have received the vaccine since AFCON started, and that number is too low to bring out a massive fan turnout.

The ministry says fewer than 5% of its targeted 16 million people have been vaccinated. Cameroon has about 26 million people.

In addition, separatists have vowed to disrupt the games in Buea and Limbe, both English-speaking towns hosting football fans, players and match officials for group matches for teams from Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, and Tunisia.

Last Week, Cameroon reported that only about 300 supporters and fans turned out at the 20,000-seat Limbe stadium during matches. Limbe is hosting football fans, players and match officials for group matches for teams from Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, and Tunisia.

The military said separatists increased attempts to infiltrate Limbe and disrupt the games. It says separatists frustrated over their inability to disrupt AFCON matches in Limbe have attacked civilians in neighboring towns, including Buea.

However, the government says troops will protect all civilians threatened by separatists over attending matches.

The government says civilians should turn out en masse for COVID-19 tests and vaccinations so they can watch matches and that civilians in English-speaking towns should help the military by reporting intruders who want to see stadiums empty.

Source: Voice of America

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Government Spokesperson, Former Journalist Injured in Somalia Bombing

A suicide bomber in the Somali capital has injured government spokesman and former journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu.

Witnesses told VOA Somali that a suicide bomber ran toward Moalimuu’s vehicle in central Mogadishu and detonated an explosive vest.

Moalimuu sustained injuries to the hand and leg from shrapnel from the device.

The Somali militant group al-Shabab immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Moalimuu has survived at least three previous al-Shabab attacks, and tweeted “It was a lucky escape” after surviving one in 2016.

Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble has condemned the “odious terrorist attack” that targeted Moalimuu. Roble said Moalimuu is in stable condition and wished him a quick recovery.

Moalimuu is a former journalist for the BBC Somali Service. He also led the Federation of Somali Journalists a national union of professional journalists in Somalia, before joining the government.

A person-borne homemade bomb, used increasingly in recent months by al-Shabab, targeted Moalimuu, according to security sources.

On November 20, a similar device killed journalist and director of Somali government radio Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled “Abdiaziz Africa” in Mogadishu. Today’s attack appeared to use the same technique.

Source: Voice of America

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Le U.S. Institute of Peace ouvre les candidatures pour l’édition 2022 du Women Building Peace Award

Ce prix annuel récompense les femmes issues de pays touchés par des conflits et qui luttent pour la paix.

WASHINGTON, 14 janvier 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Le U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) annonce l’ouverture des candidatures pour l’édition 2022 du Women Building Peace Award. Ce prix annuel prestigieux rend hommage aux femmes qui amènent la paix dans les pays touchés par des conflits violents.

La période de mises en candidature prendra fin le 14 février 2022. La lauréate sera reconnue lors d’une cérémonie organisée par l’USIP en octobre 2022.

D’innombrables femmes risquent leur vie pour instaurer la paix dans leurs communautés, dirigeant des mouvements pour la justice et l’inclusion, bien que leurs efforts soient souvent ignorés. L’USIP est déterminé à en faire davantage pour soutenir et célébrer ces femmes et leur impact en tant qu’agentes de paix. L’institut invite les organisations et les personnes du monde entier à reconnaître les femmes exceptionnelles qui ont consacré leur vie à la paix et à leur rendre hommage.

L’USIP encourage fortement les mises en candidature de femmes qui n’ont jamais été reconnues pour leur action de consolidation de la paix. Les candidatures seront examinées en fonction des critères suivants :

  • Engagement pour la paix : une femme montrant un engagement en faveur de la paix par ses actions pour la prévention ou la résolution de conflits de façon non violente dans un pays ou une région fragile ou touché par des conflits.
  • Leadership exceptionnel : une femme qui incarne un leadership exceptionnel par sa vision et le caractère novateur de son approche, et qui a gagné le respect des autres de par les efforts qu’elle déploie en faveur de la paix.
  • Praticien exceptionnel : une femme, intervenante en consolidation de la paix, qui travaille avec les membres des communautés locales, nationales ou internationales de manière inclusive et participative.
  • Incidence importante : une femme dont l’action en faveur de la paix a donné des résultats tangibles.

La lauréate de l’édition 2022 sera désignée par le Women Building Peace Council, un groupe d’éminents experts qui conseillent l’USIP sur les questions de genre et de consolidation de la paix.

Josephine Ekiru , du Kenya, et Rita Lopidia, du Sud-Soudan, sont des lauréates des éditions précédentes du Women Building Peace Award. L’USIP a désigné 19 finalistes du prix depuis sa création en 2019.

Pour en savoir plus sur le prix et pour proposer la candidature d’une artisante de la paix, veuillez consulter le site www.usip.org/womenbuildingpeace.

Pour en savoir plus sur l’USIP, veuillez consulter le site Web suivant : https://www.usip.org/about.

Logo : https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1274028/United_States_Institute_of_Peace_Logo.jpg

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Mali Gives Airlines 72 Hours to Confirm Service

BAMAKO, MALI — After several airlines discontinued service to Mali due to new regional sanctions, the country’s government has responded with its own economic threat.

Mali’s military government Friday gave airlines 72 hours, starting Jan. 15, to confirm their service to Mali with the country’s National Civil Aviation Agency or lose their time slots.

In a statement, Transport Minister Madina Sissoko, said that if airlines did not respond by the 72-hour deadline, “their time slots will be allocated to other airlines.”

Regional airlines such as Air Cote d’Ivoire and Air Burkina, the national carriers of Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, halted service to Mali after Economic Community of West African States sanctions were imposed following a special summit January 9 in Accra, Ghana.

The bloc, known as ECOWAS, had threatened sanctions if Mali’s military government did not hold elections next month as previously agreed. Mali’s leaders last month announced a plan to hold the next presidential elections in 2026.

The sanctions include border closures between Mali and ECOWAS countries and the blockage of transport of goods between the countries, except for such essentials as food and medicine.

France’s national carrier, Air France, also halted flights to Mali this week, according to a Wednesday statement from the Malian Transport Ministry, after France backed the ECOWAS sanctions.

Source: Voice of America