Author: eradmin

Thousands of Ethiopians gathered in the nation’s capital Sunday to protest outside pressure on the government over its brutal war in Tigray.

Protesters at the rally in Addis Ababa carried banners that criticized the United States and others in the international community who are voicing concern over atrocities in Tigray, where Ethiopian forces are hunting down the region’s ousted and now-fugitive leaders. Troops from neighboring Eritrea are fighting in Tigray on the side of Ethiopian government forces, in defiance of international calls for their withdrawal.

But the protesters in Addis Ababa carried placards that read: “Ethiopian young people denounce the western intervention.” Others said Ethiopia’s sovereignty was at stake.

The U.S. said last week it has started restricting visas for government and military officials of Ethiopia and Eritrea, who are seen as undermining efforts to resolve the fighting in Tigray, home to an estimated 6 million of Ethiopia’s 110 million people. Besides the visa restrictions, Washington is imposing wide-ranging restrictions on economic and security assistance to Ethiopia.

Testifying on Capitol Hill last week, Robert Godec, the U.S. acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs, said Ethiopia is now at a turning point and, unless it reverses course, could face further measures such as Magnitsky Act sanctions that can include asset freezes.

Atrocities including brutal gang-rapes, extrajudicial killings and forced evictions have been part of the violence in Tigray, according to victims, witnesses, local authorities and aid groups. Thousands of people are estimated to have died.

The Ethiopian government called U.S. actions “misguided” and “regrettable.”

“The Ethiopian government will not be deterred by this unfortunate decision of the U.S. administration,” said the statement tweeted by the ministry of foreign affairs.

“If such a resolve to meddle in our internal affairs and undermining the century-old bilateral ties continues unabated, the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia will be forced to reassess its relations with the United States, which might have implications beyond our bilateral relationship,” said the statement.

The crisis began in November after Ethiopia accused former leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, of ordering an attack on an Ethiopian army base in the region.

Troops sent by Ethiopia’s leader, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, quickly ousted the TPLF from major cities and towns, but guerrilla fighting is still reported across Tigray.

More than 2 million people have been displaced by the war.

Source: Voice of America

West African leaders suspended Mali from their regional bloc Sunday over what they said amounted to a coup last week, Ghana’s foreign minister said after an emergency meeting to address the political crisis in Mali.

The 15-nation bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, “is worried about the security implications for West Africa because of the continued insecurity brought about by the political upheavals in that country,” Ghana Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said.

At the end of their summit, the heads of state of the ECOWAS member nations demanded that Malian authorities immediately release former transitional President Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, who are being kept under house arrest.

In their statement, the leaders condemned the arrests by Mali’s military, which they said violated mediation steps agreed to last September, a month after a coup led by the same man who has now again taken power in Mali, Col. Assimi Goita.

ECOWAS also called for a new civilian prime minister to be nominated immediately and a new inclusive government to be formed as well as a transition of power leading to February 2022 elections. A monitoring mechanism will be put in place to assure this, they added.

In addition, the statement said, the head of the transition government, the vice president and the prime minister should not under any circumstances be candidates in the planned February 27 presidential election.

ECOWAS urged all international partners, including the African Union, the United Nations and the European Union, to continue to support the successful implementation of the transition in Mali.

The heads of state expressed “strong and deep concerns over the present crisis in Mali, which is coming halfway to the end of the agreed transition period, in the context of the security challenges related to incessant terrorist attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic with its dire socio-economic impacts,” the statement said.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo opened the summit Sunday in Accra, saying ECOWAS must “remain resolute in supporting the people of Mali to find a peaceful solution, and restore democracy and stability in the country.”

Mali’s constitutional court on Friday named Goita as the West African nation’s government leader days after he seized power by deposing the president and prime minister and forced their resignations.

Their arrests last Monday by the military took place hours after a new cabinet was named that left out two major military leaders. The court said Friday that Goita would take the responsibilities of the interim president “to lead the transition process to its conclusion.”

The deposed interim president and prime minister had been appointed following the August 2020 coup led by Goita. That coup, against then-President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, led to mediations by ECOWAS and Nigeria’s former leader, Goodluck Jonathan. The transitional government was set up with Goita as transitional vice president. Elections were to be held in February and March 2022.

After taking power, Goita assured that the elections would still be held, though it wasn’t clear what part the military would play in the government.

The international community, including the African Union, has condemned the power grab. The U.N. Security Council has said the resignations of N’Daw and Ouane were coerced. The U.S. has already pulled its security force support and other bodies, including the EU and France, are threatening sanctions.

Goita has justified his actions by saying there was discord within the transitional government and that he wasn’t consulted, per the transitional charter, when the new cabinet was chosen.

Akufo-Addo said Sunday that ECOWAS was committed “to the peaceful transition in Mali, with the basic goal of restoring democratic government, and working for the stability of Mali and of our region.”

He acknowledged that a May 14 dissolution of the government by the transitional prime minister was worrying and the reappointment of the new, broad-based government on May 24 hours before the arrests “generated considerable tension between various groups, particularly the military, as the former ministers for defense and security were not reappointed.”

Goita attended the summit after being named transitional president by the court. Presidents Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea Bissau, Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast, Adama Barrow of The Gambia and Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria were also in attendance, along with presidents from Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo and Liberia.

The heads of state called for the immediate implementation of all the decisions made Sunday. Jonathan is expected to return to Mali within the week to “engage stakeholders on these decisions.”

Source: Voice of America

Foro sub-zone has been a site of many up-and-coming development initiatives, and one of the most significant successes registered in the sub-zone has been in education.

Thirty years ago, apart from some adult literacy campaigns that were carried out by the EPLF, there was literally no school to talk about. But today there are schools in 14 out of the 15 administrative areas of the sub-zone. In addition to kindergartens, the sub-zone has 34 schools, including primary and secondary, that enroll 4,000 students, 33% of whom are girls.

To make education accessible to all citizens, schools have been built in remote parts of the sub-zone. This is a major achievement but the enrolment of students has not yet reached the desired level. Mr. Osman Arefa, the administrator of the Foro sub-zone, said, “Although a promising outcome has been registered, the nomadic life continues to be the main challenge limiting the number of students attending schools relative to the availability of schools.”

Mr. Osman added that some students have not been able to go to junior schools due to the lack of such facilities in their vicinity. As an interim solution, the administration of the sub-zone is considering building boarding schools in areas where such problems prevail. The resettlement of communities living in scattered villages needs to be done rigorously to make social services easily accessible in the sub-zone.

A literacy program for adults was introduced with the opening of new schools in different parts of the sub-zone. Currently, there are 42 centers of adult education that are operated by the Ministry of Education.

The provision of healthcare services in the sub-zone is also commendable. Healthcare facilities in Foro, Robrobia, Erafayle, and Lehazien and newly constructed healthcare centers in Emule and Mahfide are giving effective services. The scattered nature of the villages and some highly mountainous places pose a challenge for the effective and easy delivery of health care. These places are reached through foot medics whose typical services include immunization, diagnosis, and public health awareness campaigns.

Mr. Mehari Kalab, the administrator of health facilities in the sub-zone, said that people who live in the sub-zone are aware of the benefits of healthcare services and collaborate with healthcare workers. He said maternity service has improved with more mothers now attending prenatal and postnatal services. He stressed, “As a result of years of hard work, the sub-zone has been able to make a significant reduction in the incidences of common diseases and death rates during childbirth.”

Mr. Mehari added that the role of healthcare professionals in raising awareness of people about various healthcare issues is so crucial that the sub-zone has shown encouraging results in the eradication of FGM and other harmful practices that affect women’s health. Health workers regularly travel to the remote parts of the sub-zone to give vaccinations, which resulted in 98% immunization coverage in 2020.

Transport has been one of the areas where major developments have been seen in the sub-zone. The newly constructed strategic Egila-Foro road has connected the villages that were scattered in the mountains and paved a way for improved access to different kinds of social services. With the opening of the road, people’s lives have been transformed.

Local communities are getting regular transportation services along the Massawa-Assab and Foro-Adi-Keyih routes. Other commercially strategic roads serving the people include Foro- Zula, Foro-Malka, Foro-Aligede, and Foro-Robrobia roads. Moreover, people in areas along the Massawa-Foro and Adi- Keyih-Omarkabre routes get regular transportation service while the other areas are served once a week on market days. Foro sub-zone has an extensive coastal area and many of its inhabitants make a living using the resources of the sea. Mr. Osman said that although they have abundant sea resources, they haven’t yet been able to exploit them to the maximum level. This is partly because the fishermen do not get good prices for their fish at the town market and the people’s eating habit doesn’t favor seafood. Mr. Osman advises residents of the sub-zone, particularly those who live around the coastal areas, to make maximum use of the marine resources. He added that their administration needs to do more to help the local communities become beneficiaries of locally available resources.

The water around Foro has high salinity due to its close proximity to the coast and affects residents of Kumhule, Mahfid, Arebto, Ruba- Hadas, Dnango, Gebgeb-Wasana, and some parts of Ayromale and Malka administrative areas. To address the challenge clean water from wells dug in remote areas is distributed at the center of the administration through water pipes. In the villages atop high mountains, water is stored in water tanks collected from a chain of water canals. This secures clean water for the inhabitants for some months and saves them the trouble of walking long hours to fetch water.

Foro sub-zone has a total of 8,300 hectares of fertile farmland which is cultivated using the rivers that flow towards Zula during the rainy season of the highlands and lowlands. And through soil and water conservation activities to enrich underground water and the construction of micro-dams and water tanks, so much has been done to make water available sustainably. Farmers in the Foro sub-zone grow maize, sorghum fruits, and vegetables.

Foro sub-zone, home to Adulis and Erafayle’s hot springs, is one of the ten sub-zones of the Northern Red Sea region. It borders Massawa to the North, Gelalo sub-zone to the Southeast, Ghinda’e sub-zone to the Northwest, and the Southern region to the West. The total area of the sub-zone is 2,770 square km that are grouped into 15 administrative areas. The population of the sub-zone is 44,000, most of whom, 89%, earn their living by farming and raising animals while 11% live on fishing and trade. The sub-zone is home to five ethnic groups: Saho, Tigre, Afar, Tigrinya, and Rashayda.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

Late last month, an extremely insightful commentary article written by Ann FitzGerald and Hugh Segal, titled, Ethiopia: A New Proxy Battlespace? Explained how “the conflict in Ethiopia’s northern state of Tigray is being fought on two interconnected fronts. The first is physical and on the ground, while the second is a dangerous information campaign projected via social media…”

In terms of the first battleground, theTPLF’s dangerous military objectives were successfully foiled early on saving the region the chaos and turmoil that would have ensued otherwise.Regarding the second battleground, having gravely miscalculated and seen all of its military aims successfully thwarted, the TPLF, along with its vast network of influential, well-remunerated supporters and sympathizers, continues to work overtime to unremittingly churn out one lie after another. This is all conducted with the basic goal of capturing public sympathies, attracting global attention, and drawing some sort of external intervention to rescue it. The latest of the lies was “reported” by the Daily Telegraph news outlet last week, preposterously claiming that Ethiopian and Eritrean forces had utilized “white phosphorous”.

First, it is a basic matter of fact that Eritrea has never developed and does not possess any chemical, or biological weapons or their means of delivery. Additionally, in fundamental contrast to what was explicitly claimed in the Daily Telegraph’s report, Eritrea is actually party to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and Their Destruction (1992), and for years has been a member and active participant of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Second, it is worth noting that the allegations raised against Eritrea do not align in any way whatsoever with its long-established military doctrine or practices. Specifically, recall that even during the height of large and highly destructive military battles, first during its struggle for freedom and then later to protect its sovereignty and basic existence as an independent state, Eritrea never contemplated, let alone resorted to, using white phosphorus or any other biological, chemical, or other prohibited weapons.

Third, beyond these significant factors, the evidence forwarded in support of the claims made is flimsy and weak. According to the so-called “Sagan standard,” which illustrates a core principle of the scientific method and skepticism and can be used to determine the validity of a claim, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Today, knowing all that we do of how “precise” or “accurate” this format or approach to gathering evidence has been throughout the duration of the conflict in the Tigray Region, one can only be expected to have grave concerns and serious doubts about the credibility of any of the Daily Telegraph’s claims.

Last, of course, there is also the unfortunate fact that the Daily Telegraph (and the recent story’s authors) also has a troubling history of making specious allegations based on the dubious evidence targeting Eritrea. Over the past several months, for example, the Western news outlet and one of the story’s main authors were the sources and disseminators of sordid claims about sexual violence perpetrated by Eritrean soldiers. These sadistic allegations, like so many others, were not only completely unsubstantiated and totally at odds with the country’s proud social, cultural, and military traditions or history, but they also went entirely against simple logic and reality. (For instance, they raised hysterical claims that Eritreans were seeking to spread HIV among the population in Tigray, even though HIV prevalence and infection rates in Eritrea are infinitesimal and far lower than in those Tigray Region.)

Overall, it ought to be crystal clear to any reasonable, objective observer that the TPLF having utterly failed to accomplish any of its military aims when it launched a reckless, callous attack last November, the last vestiges of the group, along with their network of influential supporters and sympathizers, have raised the scope and intensity of their frantic, shrill propaganda campaign, hoping to inflame public opinion against the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments, tug at public heartstrings and arouse emotions, and find some sort of external lifeline or rescue.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

Eritrean nationals in Australia and France celebrated the 30th Independence Day anniversary with patriotic zeal under the theme “Resilient-As Ever”.

The celebratory event the nationals conducted in the Australian cities of Melbourne and Perth was highlighted with various programs including speeches by friends of Eritrea, narration by youth that participated in the war to safeguard the national sovereignty, as well as cultural and artistic performances among others.

Explaining on the heroic feat the Eritrean people demonstrated in the liberation struggle and safeguarding the national sovereignty, Mr. Mehari Tekeste, General Consul of Eritrea in Australia, said that the colorful Independence Day celebrations attest to the unity and love of the country of the Eritrean people.

Mr. Kidane Ginbot, chairman of the Holidays Organizing Committee, on his part, indicated that the Eritrean people emerged victorious against all external hostilities and conspiracies and called for reinforced participation and contribution in the implementation of the national development programs.

In the same vein, Eritrean nationals in Paris, Nantes, Rennes, Angers, Vannes, Marseille, and Metz celebrated the 30th Independence Day anniversary featuring various programs.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea