Category: Politics

Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) dismissed today the report disseminated by some media outlets about attack on Dabat refugee camp in North Gondar Zone of Amhara Regional State.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs Director General Tesfahun Gobezay recalled that Eritrean refugees, who had been living peacefully in four camps in Tigray region before the conflict, were attacked repeatedly by the terrorist group TPLF.

To prevent attacks on Eritrean refugees, the government worked hard to ensure safety of the refugees by moving them to the temporary shelters built in Maitsebri and Dabat, he added.

According to him, the refugees near Dabat town have subsequently been hosted with love by the community.

The director general stressed that the reports disseminated by some international media outlets about attack on an Eritrean refugee camp in Dabat is incorrect and far from the truth.

The agency has filed complaint to the organization that gave the wrong information to BBC Amharic, which was later exaggerated by the Deutsche Welle ( DW) that reported the death of one person.

The incident occurred following group to group conflict among the refugees; and distorting this fact to mislead the international community is unacceptable, Tesfahun underlined.

Although details of the incident are under investigation, he said nobody was killed. Five people were injured and three of them were immediately treated and returned to the camp, while two are undergoing treatment.

Ethiopia is a country that has a reputation for accepting refugees, participating in joint projects, providing vital services and banking services.

At present, it is hosting more than 900,000 refugees from primarily South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, and other countries in 25 camps.

The country has ratified international treaties relating to refugees and makes integral part of the law of land and is party to the OAU convention governing the specific aspects of refugee problems in Africa.

Source: Ethiopia News agency

Former President Barack Obama “pivoted” towards Africa, his predecessor Donald Trump away from it, and current U.S. leader Joe Biden has had his hands full with the pandemic at home and now the war in Ukraine.

But in an address to lawmakers on Capitol Hill last week, the commander for U.S. forces in Africa pointed to China’s dominance in a region vital to America’s security and economic growth, and warned that Washington ignores Africa at its peril.

“China’s heavy investment in Africa as its ‘second continent,’ and heavy-handed pursuit of its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, is fueling Chinese economic growth, outpacing the U.S., and allowing it to exploit opportunities to their benefit,” AFRICOM Commander General Stephen Townsend told the House Committee on Appropriations, echoing comments he made last month to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Townsend’s remarks come amid a burst of Chinese diplomacy with the continent. Foreign Minister Wang Yi — who has visited three countries in Africa this year — met with seven African counterparts in March alone. Last month, President Xi Jinping had what was billed as a “productive” telephone call with Cyril Ramaphosa, the leader of the region’s most developed economy, South Africa.

There’s been speculation that China may simply be trying to shore up support for its position on the Ukraine crisis, with Townsend noting: “Our African partners face choices to strengthen the U.S. and allied-led open, rules-based international order or succumb to the raw power transactional pressure campaigns of global competitors.”

Deborah Brautigam, director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, told VOA that China is trying to create a “non-aligned” axis as “Beijing does not want the Ukraine war to become a new Cold War with countries forced to choose between the U.S. and Russia.”

But China’s interest in Africa long predates the war in Ukraine.

Townsend noted the region is home to rare earth metals used for mobile phones, hybrid vehicles, and missile guidance systems, and stressed that “the winners and losers of the 21st century global economy may be determined by whether these resources are available in an open and transparent marketplace or are inaccessible due to predatory practices of competitors.”

West Africa base worries?

The continent also occupies a key geostrategic location. Townsend expressed concern that China — which already has a naval base at the mouth of the Red Sea in Djibouti — is looking at setting up another on the Atlantic coast. That, he said, would “almost certainly require the [Defense] department to consider shifts to U.S. naval force posture and pose increased risk to freedom of navigation and U.S. ability to act.”

Brautigam says she doubts it is in China’s interest to “carve out a threat posture in the Atlantic.”

She told VOA that “with continued terrorism and instability in Nigeria, Cameroon and other parts of the Gulf of Guinea, that area has become the world’s hotspot for piracy.” For China, as the world’s largest trading nation, “that’s reason enough to want an outpost to protect Chinese citizens and economic interests in the Gulf of Guinea.”

An op-ed in China’s state-affiliated Global Times in January appeared to echo this line of reasoning, noting that compared to hundreds of U.S. bases around the world, China only has one and its need for any more would purely be to “ensure local security and interests.”

Another piece in the paper insisted: “China is the most cautious and restrained in terms of overseas military base deployment, as China does not have a desire to project military power globally to support the strategic competition of major powers.”

“Nevertheless, as China’s overseas interests continue to expand, there will be an increasing need for the Chinese PLA Navy to defend the national interests in more distant regions, inevitably demanding footholds in some distant waters,” it read.

While China plays down any ambitions to build a West Africa base, a State Department spokesperson told VOA: “It is widely understood that they are working to establish a network of military installations. … Certain potential steps involving PRC-basing activity would raise security concerns for the United States.”

Debt trap accusations

As the two superpowers vie for influence in Africa, Beijing is regularly accused by the West of providing “debt trap” loans to countries on the continent and of working with some of the region’s less savory leaders.

Government mouthpieces like the Global Times and Xinhua reject those allegations, with one op-ed in March countering: “While China offers financial supports and affordable proposals to local economies to build up economic strength to weather challenges, some developed countries have only offered aid with political strings attached.”

And, in a recent interview with a Kenyan newspaper, The East African, China’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa Xue Bing blamed instability in that region on Western foreign intervention. “China will send out engineers and students. We don’t send out weapons. We don’t impose our views on others in the name of democracy or human rights,” he told the newspaper.

Asked if China has already outplayed America on the continent, the State Department spokesperson said: “The United States does not want to limit African partnerships with other countries. The United States wants to make African partnerships with the United States even stronger.”

But Brautigam said that aside from foreign aid, China is a bigger economic player on the continent than the U.S. in every area, adding: “It’s not clear that Washington has pivoted to Africa beyond rhetoric.”

Source: Voice of America

Monica Kariuki is about ready to give up on farming. What is driving her off her about 40,000 square feet (10 acres) of land outside Nairobi isn’t bad weather, pests or blight — the traditional agricultural curses — but fertilizer: It costs too much.

Despite thousands of miles separating her from the battlefields of Ukraine, Kariuki and her cabbage, corn and spinach farm are indirect victims of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The war has pushed up the price of natural gas, a key ingredient in fertilizer, and has led to severe sanctions against Russia, a major exporter of fertilizer.

Kariuki used to spend 20,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $175, to fertilize her entire farm. Now, she would need to spend five times as much. Continuing to work the land, she said, would yield nothing but losses.

“I cannot continue with the farming business. I am quitting farming to try something else,” she said.

Higher fertilizer prices are making the world’s food supply more expensive and less abundant, as farmers skimp on nutrients for their crops and get lower yields. While the ripples will be felt by grocery shoppers in wealthy countries, the squeeze on food supplies will land hardest on families in poorer countries. It could hardly come at a worse time: The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said last week that its world food-price index in March reached the highest level since it started in 1990.

The fertilizer crunch threatens to further limit worldwide food supplies, already constrained by the disruption of crucial grain shipments from Ukraine and Russia. The loss of those affordable supplies of wheat, barley and other grains raises the prospect of food shortages and political instability in Middle Eastern, African and some Asian countries where millions rely on subsidized bread and cheap noodles. “Food prices will skyrocket because farmers will have to make profit, so what happens to consumers?” said Uche Anyanwu, an agricultural expert at the University of Nigeria.

The aid group Action Aid warns that families in the Horn of Africa are already being driven “to the brink of survival.”

The U.N. says Russia is the world’s No. 1 exporter of nitrogen fertilizer and No. 2 in phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. Its ally Belarus, also contending with Western sanctions, is another major fertilizer producer.

Many developing countries — including Mongolia, Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Mexico and Guatemala — rely on Russia for at least a fifth of their imports.

The conflict also has driven up the already-exorbitant price of natural gas, used to make nitrogen fertilizer. The result: European energy prices are so high that some fertilizer companies “have closed their businesses and stopped operating their plants,” said David Laborde, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

For corn and cabbage farmer Jackson Koeth, 55, of Eldoret in western Kenya, the conflict in Ukraine was distant and puzzling until he had to decide whether to go ahead with the planting season. Fertilizer prices had doubled from last year.

Koeth said he decided to keep planting but only on half the acreage of years past. Yet he doubts he can make a profit with fertilizer so costly.

Greek farmer Dimitris Filis, who grows olives, oranges and lemons, said “you have to search to find” ammonia nitrate and that the cost of fertilizing a 10-hectare (25-acre) olive grove has doubled to 560 euros ($310). While selling his wares at an Athens farm market, he said most farmers plan to skip fertilizing their olive and orange groves this year.

“Many people will not use fertilizers at all, and this as a result, lowers the quality of the production and the production itself, and slowly, slowly at one point, they won’t be able to farm their land because there will be no income,” Filis said.

In China, the price of potash — potassium-rich salt used as fertilizer — is up 86% from a year earlier. Nitrogen fertilizer prices have climbed 39% and phosphorus fertilizer is up 10%.

In the eastern Chinese city of Tai’an, the manager of a 35-family cooperative that raises wheat and corn said fertilizer prices have jumped 40% since the start of the year.

“We can hardly make any money,” said the manager, who would give only his surname, Zhao.

Terry Farms, which grows produce on about 90,000 000 square feet (2,100 acres) largely in Ventura, California, has seen prices of some fertilizer formulations double; others are up 20%. Shifting fertilizers is risky, Vice President William Terry said, because cheaper versions might not give “the crop what it needs as a food source.”

As the growing season approaches in Maine, potato farmers are grappling with a 70% to 100% increase in fertilizer prices from last year, depending on the blend.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty expensive crop, no matter what you’re putting in the ground, from fertilizer to fuel, labor, electrical and everything else,” said Donald Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board.

In Prudentopolis, a town in Brazil’s Parana state, farmer Edimilson Rickli showed off a warehouse that would normally be packed with fertilizer bags but has only enough to last a few more weeks. He’s worried that, with the war in Ukraine showing no sign of letting up, he’ll have to go without fertilizer when he plants wheat, barley and oats next month.

“The question is: Where Brazil is going to buy more fertilizer from?” he said. “We have to find other markets.”

Other countries are hoping to help fill the gaps. Nigeria, for example, opened Africa’s largest fertilizer factory last month, and the $2.5 billion plant has already shipped fertilizer to the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.

India, meanwhile, is seeking more fertilizer imports from Israel, Oman, Canada and Saudi Arabia to make up for lost shipments from Russia and Belarus.

“If the supply shortage gets worse, we will produce less,” said Kishor Rungta of the nonprofit Fertiliser Association of India. “That’s why we need to look for options to get more fertilizers in the country.”

Agricultural firms are providing support for farmers, especially in Africa where poverty often limits access to vital farm inputs. In Kenya, Apollo Agriculture is helping farmers get fertilizer and access to finance.

“Some farmers are skipping the planting season and others are going into some other ventures such as buying goats to cope,” said Benjamin Njenga, co-founder of the firm. “So, these support services go a long way for them.”

Governments are helping, too. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month that it was issuing $250 million in grants to support U.S. fertilizer production. The Swiss government has released part of its nitrogen fertilizer reserves.

Still, there’s no easy answer to the double whammy of higher fertilizer prices and limited supplies. The next 12 to 18 months, food researcher LaBorde said, “will be difficult.”

The market already was “super, super tight” before the war, said Kathy Mathers of the Fertilizer Institute trade group.

“Unfortunately, in many cases, growers are just happy to get fertilizer at all,” she said.

Source: Voice of America

Senior Eritrean delegation composed of Mr. Osman Saleh, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Presidential Adviser Mr. Yemane Gebreab is on working visit to the Republic of Sudan.

The Eritrean delegation delivered message of President Isaias Afwerki to General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, President of the Republic of Sudan.

In his message President Isaias underscored Eritrea’s hope that Sudan, with President Al Burhan’s leadership, will overcome the serious political, economic and security challenges it has been facing.

President Al Burhan on his part, thanked President Isaias for his support and stated that despite domestic and external difficulties, the situation was moving in a positive trajectory.

The Eritrean delegation also met and held extensive discussions in Khartoum with Gen. Mohammad Hamdan Daglo, Vice President of Sudan, and Dr. Jibril Ibrahim, Minister of Finance, focusing on enhancement of bilateral relations of partnership and cooperation as well as regional developments.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

Eritrean nationals in the UK and Northern Ireland as well as “Tsinat Group” in Germany expressed conviction to strengthen participation and contribution in the national affairs.

The nationals also contributed 73 thousand 210 Pounds and 57 thousand Euros in support of the activities of Eritrean communities.

Accordingly, nationals residing in West London contributed 38 thousand 450 Pounds, nationals in Manchester 12 thousand 960 Pounds, nationals in Leicester 4 thousand 400 Pounds, nationals in Nottingham 8 thousand 800 Pounds, nationals in Sheffield 8 thousand 600 Pounds and “Tsinat Group” in Germany contributed 57 thousand Euros.

“Tsinat Group” comprises youth from different ages and conducts awareness raising programs with a view the Eritrean youth in Germany comprehend their history and identity.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

The Southern Region administration held activity assessment meeting of 2021 on 6 April in Mendefera city.

According to the report presented by Mr. Habteab Tesfatsion, Governor of the region, in 2021 commendable activities have been implemented including water and soil conservation, renovation of roads and micro-dams, as well as planting tree seedlings with a view to redress the environment.

Indicating that coordinated activities have been conducted on the part of Government and PFDJ institutions to implement the charted-out development programs amid the restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Habteab said that successful activities have been exerted to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Pointing out that with the ample distribution of rainfall in the rainy season agricultural production has increased by 25% compared to the of last season, Mr. Habteab said that 319 dams and micro-dams in the region have collected enough water and will have significant contribution in the development of irrigation farming.

Mr. Habteab went on to say that as part of the effort to ensure potable water supply, potable water projects have been put in place in the administrative areas of Adi-Felesti, Kisad-Daero, Adewhi, Geza-Dingur, Senafe, Adi-Setah, Adi-Hargets, and micro-dams have been constructed in five sub-zones of the region.

Mr. Habteab also commended the residents for the contribution they extended in support of families of martyrs and to the development of teaching-learning process.

The participants on their part conducted extensive discussion on the report presented and adopted various recommendations.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

The Regional Assembly of the Southern Region held its 20th regular meeting on 7 April in Mendefera under the theme “Ever Ready to Ensure Integrity and Peace of Country”.

Indicating that building strong national economy, ensuring social justice, as well as guaranteeing national security and stability are among the major tasks, Mr. Wolday Gebre, chairman of the regional assembly, called on the public to strengthen participation in the national affairs.

Mr. Wolday commending the training programs that the regional administration organized to members of the Construction Development and Internal Revenue with a view to enable them provide efficient and timely service to the public, called for organizing similar programs to members of the other sectors.

Pointing out that strong effort has been exerted on agricultural infrastructure programs, construction development, potable water supply as well as other social service provisions, Mr. Habteab Tesfatsion, Governor of the region, called on members of the assembly to reinforce participation in the effort to develop educational facilities.

Members of the assembly on their part conducted extensive discussion on the report presented and adopted various recommendations including for strong measures to halt under age marriages, establishing regional museum, providing timely information to farmers and encourage them apply crops rotation, as well as for conducting sustainable awareness raising programs with a view to inspire the public strengthen participation in controlling crimes and ensure peace in their areas.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea