Category: Politics

“She gave me the strength and courage to get where I am now.” “She is not a teacher but more like a friend to all of us.” “She is a strong woman but yet sympathetic.” “She has always been by our side, especially during the hard times.” “She is not only a teacher but a demonstrative mother”. “She jokes around but yet leaves you with essential tips for life.” These are some of the words of her former students and colleagues at the University of Asmara. I bet you may be wondering who this person is. Please read on.

• I would like to thank you for agreeing to do this interview. Sister Thomas, please introduce yourself?

My name is Sister Thomas Johnston. I was born in 1938 from a working class family. I have a lot of Irish blood in my veins as my mother’s father and mother were of Irish origin. That way I am catholic. Being a nun was never on my mind as I had the dream of becoming a musi¬cian. But God has his own plans. I became a nun after my experi¬ence of being a music teacher at the age of 20. Six years later I set my foot in Eritrea which current¬ly is the country I’m living in.

• How do you characterize your stay in Eritrea?

I came when I was 26 years old in 1964. Now I’m leaving at the age of 82 in 2021. I have lived all this time, at the time of struggle and hardships, along with the people. I literally tried to live the life of the Eritrean people. So I can’t deny the fact that I’m also Eritrean. I started my career at Asmara University which was a difficult duty for me. The rea¬son for that was I was a student myself when I was giving les-sons and teaching the students. But I especially characterize my stay here by the resilience that I found in the people. They passed through difficult times to enjoy their happy lives now. I was in Eritrea when the people were suffering. I’m living proof. I witnessed the good and bad times with the people. This is the special characteristic of the people and I got the opportunity to grab that from them.

• We all go through good and bad times in our lives. Tell us about the happy moments that you remember during your stay in Eritrea?

The inauguration of Asmara Uni¬versity is one of the happiest mo¬ments during my stay here. The other was the first graduation cer¬emony, which was held in 1969. However, nothing can be compared to the moments when Er¬itrean fighters made their way to Asmara. On May 24, 1991, I was literally rejoicing and dancing with the people as if it was the in¬dependence of my own country. That day I felt the freedom and was too happy to handle it. Then I made my presence in the air¬port when the first flight attendants started their job in 1993. Another memorable mo¬ment was my time with the people of Afabet. You have no idea how beau¬tiful my time with them was.

• So tell us about your stay in Afa¬bet?

I stayed in Afabet from 1996 till 2012. I really had a good time in Afabet. The people have got a lot of space in my heart indeed. I was so happy among them feel¬ing like I’m one of them. They are simple people, in a good way. They are kind and lovable. The unique thing that you can get in every Eritrean is there with them too. I’m Christian while major¬ity of the people there are Mus¬lim. They warmly allowed me to blend just like any Eritrean and made me part of their society. I consider this a national treasure that you can never find in any other country. That alone was good enough to make me fall for their charms and warmth. Let me tell you this. I once wore a scarf which they call “shash”. That specific shash (white with black stripes) is only worn by men. The women there saw me wear¬ing that specific shash and were surprised and told me that it is supposed to be for men. I liked it and tried to explain my self by telling them that I’m also a man because I’m a nun. They simply laughed and allowed me to have it my way because they noticed that I loved that specific scarf. The more I started to spend time with the people the more I fell in love with them.

• You must have enjoyed your time there. Any moments that saddened you?

I have been in Eritrea for the past 56 years. This means I was there when their history was made; so, of course, there were a lot of sad moments that broke my heart and other moments that shocked me. To tell you some, back then my students used to love school and studying. Their ambi¬tion for education and knowledge was really incredible, motivating me to teach them more and more. They attended classes regularly and were always busy studying despite the war and chaos that was going around. There was this specific moment that really broke my heart and that was when a stu¬dent showed up in my office after class alone. They would come and whisper, “Sister, I’m leaving my bike here in the university” or they would go like this, “Sister, you might not see me tomorrow.” Those moments were very hard to endure. You couldn’t hold back your sadness to see such kids leaving their studies and going to the front for they were too des¬perate to bring freedom and live a peaceful life. At moments like that, you really can’t be neutral because you are already attached to them.

• Those must be some of the moments that made you sad. How about the shocking part?

It was on February 1, 1975. The previous day we went to Massa¬wa as we had some work to do there. It was a one-night trip. We came back with one of the Las¬salle brothers. As we entered that around the world, rural areas and remote, hard-to-reach populations frequently have worse social-, economic-, education-, and health-related outcomes and are frequently underserved, overlooked, and undervalued. Unfortunately, they remain almost forgotten and basically an afterthought.

Moreover, social justice is also reflected in the fact that the recently opened schools will offer lessons to students in accordance with the country’s mother tongue policy, which sees education made available in the various languages used across Eritrea. Accordingly, this will help to allow the local communities to preserve their rich heritage and culture, and also means more equitable access for all ethnolinguistic groups and improved enrolment, retention, and comprehension. Ultimately, these schools and policies will help to ensure that more children, irrespective of background, distinction, or status, have the opportunity to enroll in education, become literate, maximize their potential, and transform their lives.

Asmara we heard shooting and he drove me to the university where I used to stay. That night I had already arranged an extra evening class for the students and not more than 15 students were waiting for me in the university while some of them had already left. They waited for me there till I arrived. I couldn’t send them back to their homes as the shooting was overwhelming the city. So, I took out a mat and we all stayed the night in one classroom sleeping on the mat, not knowing the worst was yet to come in the morning. The next morning we woke up and the shooting had already ceased. How¬ever, it started again in a frightening way and we could feel that the shooting was getting closer and closer. Suddenly, some soldiers from the enemy [Ethiopian army] came to the classroom with their weapons and all and ordered us to bring the shabia soldiers who were attacking from the roof of the university with a sniper or we take the fall. I then noticed that the university was surrounded by soldiers. We didn’t even know that there were soldiers with snipers right above us. They searched and searched but couldn’t find them. Finally, they let us off the hook in the evening hours. That mo¬ment, being surrounded by soldiers with their guns aiming at you, was really terri¬fying. It was a bit dangerous for me and I went to Sidamo, an Ethiopian province. But I made my way back to Eritrea after a couple of months. That’s what I learned from Eritreans–resilience. In 1976, we started classes again.

• What a story! Any final thoughts?

To have lived my life in Eritrea is simply a gift that God himself gave to me. I can’t deny the fact that I’m Scottish but I can’t deny that I am Eritrean, too. I spent many years here. Spending my youth and my lat¬er ages with warm people, Eritreans at that is really a big deal for me. Looking at those who once were your students as successful adults and many of them with families also brings me satisfaction. Finally, I am glad I brought joy by taking my life journey with such kind and courteous people. It indeed is making me sad to leave now after spend¬ing those beautiful years with the people.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

On the cover page of its 17th edition, the Defense Ministry’s magazine quoted President Isaias Afwerki as saying: “There are two things we need to achieve through hard work … we need to create wealth and distribute wealth.” The development pilot projects at Logo and Misilam dams, like other development projects nationwide, are good illustrations of how Eritreans intend to create and distribute wealth. Definitely

Many dams have been built over the years in the country to serve as hubs of social transformation. As we have seen in previous editions of #UnderstandingEritrea, the construction of Logo and Misilam dams has resulted in the empowerment of communities who live in villages around the dams. The communities now have access to potable water and have made a transition from traditional to modern farming and animal breeding, all of which have raised their standards of living.

“Creating and distributing wealth” is the mantra guiding the future development path of the nation. But who generates the wealth? The youth, of course! The Government of Eritrea’s scheme of national development heavily relies on its human resource, and the overwhelming majority of the Eritrean population is made up of the youth. With access to free education from primary school all the way to higher education, it is not difficult to imagine the prospects of Eritrea as a nation that is endowed with a lot of educated and skilled youth, who work in a variety of capacities as prime movers of change. During our visit to the Logo and Misilam development projects, we saw firsthand young college graduates and trainees on-site engage in activities that contribute to the social transformation of Eritrea.

For example, the Logo Dam plant has five metal workshops that cater to the construction and assembly of water tanks nationwide. Each unit, composed of hundreds of welders, covers specific geographic areas, allowing the four units to deploy their workforce to different locations simultaneously.

Mr. Semere Tareke, the supervisor whom we met in Metal Workshop 1, said the unit was formed in March 2015 with 80 students from the 27th round in Sawa, who were given intensive vocational training in metal works. Since then the unit has been recruiting every year graduates from the vocational school in Sawa. They leave their trademark in the work they have done even far from the Logo Dam area where they began as amateurs before they became skilled professionals who contribute immensely to Eritrea’s national development.

Mr. Semere told us that some members of the unit who had been his students at the project have become trainers while others have become experts in making and installing water tanks in other parts of the country. He says that he is gratified to see his former students leave the unit after having learned important skills. He expressed his appreciation for their enthusiasm and endurance working in the open air under a scorching sun.

Mr. Semere is currently supervising the training and performance of 180 students who joined his unit not long ago. So far his unit has overseen the development of 600 young Eritreans who engage in metal works. They all learned while being extremely productive. In fact, works related to water distribution operated by the youth from Metal Workshop 1 have been deployed from Adi Halo to Adi Ke, Gherghera, Laguyen, Aitiabir, and others. In Asmara, their water tanks can be seen at the hills in Arbaete Asmara and Mai Chehot. The youth from Metal Workshop 1 has also worked at infrastructures for water distribution systems in the Northern and Southern Red Sea regions, including Gahtelay, Massawa, Assab, Wia, and Laite.

The workshop at Metal Workshop 5 is slightly different from the other four as it includes wood, plastic, and designing works. It is the most recent establishment in the Logo project and has 556 students and college graduates, equipped with the latest technologies.

Logo and Misilam projects have become youth training centers and hubs for social transformation. As we’ve seen in previous editions of #Understanding Eritrea, we have witnessed the youth working hard everywhere we went. At the community farms, we met agronomists who assist farmers in making the transition from traditional to small-scale commercial farming, and as part of the awareness-raising campaigns, we have seen college graduates travel village to village to teach the communities public health and modern farming. We have also seen how the youth made solar farms and generate power to be supplied to villages. At Misilam dairy project, we met veterinarians and animal science graduates working hard to multiply imported cattle breed by thousands so that they could be given to farmers all over the country and boost milk production.

Overall, in the journey we made to “understand Eritrea,” we have come to realize that after building dams and collecting water, one of the grand goals of the Eritrean government is empowering the youth by creating opportunities for learning and developing skills to assist the nation reach its development goals that put the peoples’ interest first. Indeed, there is no question that by arming the youth with the needed knowledge and skills Eritrea is poised to multiply its potential to generate and evenly disseminate wealth.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

African countries should participate in the manufacturing and vaccine clinical trials to stop perpetual myths against western countries for allegedly using Africans as guinea pigs.

Prof. Walter Jaoko, the Director Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative (KAVI), Institute of Clinical Research, sounded the call to Africa pointing out that he was against hoarding of vaccines, including those against Covid-19 that has caused mayhem globally. Prof. Jaoko said this was immoral and unjust to the African countries.

“It was high time we established a regional block like EAC, ECOWAS, SADC among others from where vaccine manufacturing and trials can be done,” he explained.

The Don observed that this way, countries in the respective regions could leverage on each other’s strength to establish such centers, which required colossal resources, thus rendering them to have minimal contribution or determine to an extent what goes on elsewhere in the global arena.

He stated that such regional manufacturing and vaccine testing centers could make dealing with diseases such as whooping cough, polio, measles and Covid-19 or any other future pandemic much easier to handle in a more coordinated manner.

Speaking during a webinar: Africa Science Media Center (AfriSMC) press briefing, Prof. Jaoko said that so far, 2.1 billion doses of Covid-19 have been given out globally by last week including Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Sinovac and Covexin.

He singled out Tanzania, North Korea, Haiti, Chad and Eritrea but pointed out that there was unfair distribution of the vaccines with the United States, Canada and UK having the highest doses of the vaccines.

“As a result of this poor distribution, some of the countries above have up to 15 pc of their population already vaccinated against various variants of the Covid 19. On the other hand, Africa as a whole has less than 2 pc of its entire population having received the jab”, he explained.

However, he added, Seychelles is leading the continent having vaccinated 70 per cent of its population using the multiple vaccines as opposed to sticking to one type, depending on what was readily available in the market at the time.

Not all has been lost in Africa, considering that Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa have also been mentioned as the better countries in terms of those vaccinated against Covid-19 but the numbers are still very low.

“To fully get protected from Covid-19, the public should know that this kicks off two weeks after one gets the second dose of the vaccine. In Germany, UK and France there is no further use of face masks as hotels, cinema halls, theatres are now open”, he stated.

Prof. Jaoko told participants that when the Covid-19 viruses multiply, then if you have several mutations you end up with a variant of Covid-19 which may be a little bit more difficult to manage.

“Consequently, this leads to more infections and types of variants,” he said.

However, he added, as the world continues to fight the deadly Coronavirus, the emergence of new variants of the SARS- CoV-2 there are only 4 variants of the Covid 19 including (B.1.1.7) –UK, (B.1.351) –South Africa which form part of the four variants of concern which have been labeled with the first Greek letters– Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta.

The Don cautioned that vaccines are a critical tool against Covid 19 and so if we hope to go back to normal life then the global community must act in a more coordinated manner, without leaving any country behind in terms of fighting the pandemic and others like it in future.

Source: Kenya News Agency

(ENA) Ethiopians and Eritreans made rallies at the State Capitol Square in Colorado State to call on the international community to have a clear picture of the situation in Tigray, and detach itself from encouraging the supporters of the criminal group.

Representatives from both communities lauded the Ethiopia-Eritrea peace accord that ended the 27 years of divisive policies of the TPLF that separated people by deliberately fabricating and exaggerating various fault lines.

The demonstrators have also condemned the treasonous act of TPLF against the Ethiopian Defense Force, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Besides the communities of two countries, the Ethiopian American Civic Council, Friends of Ethiopia, and other Ethiopian rights organizations, including Ethiopians living in Denver and neighboring cities have organized the rally.

Source: Ethiopia News agency

WASHINGTON – In September 2019, Simon Marks moved to Ethiopia, drawn by the rapid changes following its shift in leadership and declaration of peace with neighboring Eritrea after a war and decades of tensions. 

Since then, he has reported on the widespread optimism after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power and won the Nobel Peace Prize, and the human cost of the war in Tigray.

But on May 20, Ethiopia expelled Marks from the country. The freelancer, who reports for The New York Times and Voice of America, among others, is the latest casualty in what many journalists and rights groups say is a limited tolerance for critical reporting on the Tigray conflict.

Since November, the Ethiopian government has been fighting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, a regional political party that led the country’s ruling coalition for nearly 30 years. The war has displaced tens of thousands of people and left millions in need of humanitarian aid, the United Nations says. 

Journalists and human rights groups have alleged serious abuses: mass killings, gang rapes, violence. Victims’ accounts predominately blame federal Ethiopian soldiers, the Amhara regional militias and Eritrean forces fighting in the region. The U.N. human rights chief has said that “serious violations of international law” may have been committed by Ethiopia, Eritrea and the TPLF.  

From the start of the Tigray conflict, Ethiopia’s government sought to limit information. Media access was restricted, and journalists covering the conflict were arrested. At least seven have been detained since November, and local media say they have been threatened, beaten or questioned over their reporting. The region was also hit with an internet and communications blackout.

At this “huge moment” in Ethiopia’s history, Marks said, “the country benefits from having as many professional journalists there as possible.”

“So, I felt sad that it had come to this and that everything I’ve been doing is so politicized,” he added. “And that the government in the end took a decision that I believe is just not in their interests in the long term.”

The deputy director general of the Ethiopian Broadcast Authority, Yonatan Tesfaye Regassa, did not reply to VOA’s request for comment.

Ethiopia’s prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to VOA’s email requesting comment. In a response sent after publication, Billene Seyoum, a spokesperson for the office, did not directly respond to questions about Marks’ case or claims by journalists saying they had to leave because of intimidation and cannot report freely. Billene said media arrests, license revocations and registrations did not fall under the prime minister’s office and referred VOA to the media regulator.

At a June 3 briefing, Billene said that “claims of stifled media spaces are unfounded.”

Marks said he began to feel government pressure while reporting on protests in 2020 following the killing of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular singer from Ethiopia’s Oromo region. More than 100 people were killed in the protests, which led to mass arrests.

The journalist was later prevented from traveling to the Tigray region to cover the September regional elections that the central government had declared illegal. Ethiopia postponed national and regional elections because of the pandemic.

When the war started, Marks traveled to the regional capital, Mekelle, to speak with civilians being affected, including witnesses to the November Mai-Kadra massacre, which the U.N. said could be considered a war crime.

A Reuters investigation published Monday said the incident involved two attacks: one against Tigrayans, and the other against Amharas. It resulted in at least 767 dead.

Through interviews with witnesses, Marks was able to dispute the government’s claim that only Amharas were killed. Marks believes this reporting, along with his coverage of other violence and abuses, put him at odds with authorities.  

In March, his media accreditation was revoked, and the media regulator accused Marks of “fake news,” according to reports at the time.

“The government opinion seems to be that if a reporter writes sympathetic stories about the victims of violence in war, then he or she must be partisan to one side of the conflict,” Marks said.

“It’s normal to sympathize with mothers and babies with no food, or a mother who is unable to lactate because she has no nutrition. Or simply people who have had their family members slaughtered by soldiers,” he said. “The unfortunate aspect is that mine and other people’s reporting has become highly politicized by reporting on atrocities or human rights abuses.”

When he was finally expelled, he wasn’t given a specific reason, Marks said. He had just received a call to attend an immigration meeting that he “didn’t get a good feeling about.”

At that meeting, an immigration official told the journalist he needed to leave that day. “That was a done deal. There was no room for negotiation,” Marks said. He was flown to Brussels.

Ethiopia’s ambassador to the U.S. did not respond to VOA’s request for comment sent via messaging app.

Restrictions return 

Early in his leadership, Prime Minister Abiy was praised for improving conditions for the media, releasing several journalists and promising to amend a controversial anti-terror law that had been used to jail critics.

Up to that point, the country had a poor press freedom record, with high numbers detained and a repressive media environment.

But rights groups have pointed out that when Abiy faced protests or unrest, he fell back to the same past patterns of arrests and censorship.

In 2020, the government adopted a new version of the anti-terror legislation, despite criticism from human rights and free speech advocates.

Muthoki Mumo, the sub-Saharan Africa representative for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said earlier optimism has been tempered by a return to old ways.

“What we’ve seen,” Mumo said, “is a steady erosion of some of the (progress) made in early 2018.”

“The legislative commitments, the commitments to make legislative reforms were still there,” she said. “But then suddenly we started seeing a regression to old styles, old tools of dealing with the media, censoring the media essentially.”

The pressure from the government has driven some local journalists to publish stories without bylines or even to flee. One of those is freelance reporter Lucy Kassa.

In February, armed men, who refused to identify themselves, entered Lucy’s home, confiscated her computer and accused her of having links to the TPLF.

Lucy had just filed a story for the Los Angeles Times that included accounts from rape survivors who said their attackers were Eritrean soldiers.

At that time, the Ethiopian government was denying the presence of Eritrean soldiers.

Fearing for her safety, Lucy left the country, but even now she doesn’t feel safe.

“Even those of us who flee the country, we are still operating under fear because the supporters of the government have become as dangerous as the government itself,” she said. Lucy asked that her current location not be identified because she fears retaliation.

The journalist said she and others are being harassed online and threatened on social media by people accusing them of being TPLF sympathizers, anti-government, fake news and propaganda.

All local journalists work in an uncertain environment, but Tigrayan media come under extra scrutiny, Lucy said.

“Whether you like it or not, you will be defined by your ethnic background. For Tigrayans, for those who come from Tigrayan ethnic background, the pressure is much worse,” she said.

Lucy said the men who came into her home tried to link her ethnicity to her reporting, saying that because she is Tigrayan, she supports the TPLF.

Marks also said reporting deemed sympathetic to Tigrayans could lead to accusations of bias.

“All of a sudden it makes you a TPLF sympathizer, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.

The freelancer added that local reporters risk tougher consequences, including imprisonment.

‘Grave message’

The erosion of media rights has “accelerated” over the past six months, with arrests of journalists or media workers who help foreign media “and intimidation coming from that regulator,” said Mumo, of CPJ.

“It does send one very grave and cohesive message of ‘be careful of what you’re reporting,’” Mumo said.

Marks’ expulsion has had an impact on foreign and local journalists, she said, adding that it sends a message: If this can happen to a foreign correspondent, “what could potentially happen to me?”

It also makes independent journalism harder.

It’s much more difficult to report on a country when you’re not there to see people’s faces, to interview them, to speak with sources in a safe manner, particularly in the context of internet shutdowns,” she told VOA.

Marks says the experiences of local journalists make his being expelled relative.

“Many others take much bigger risks than I take, especially the local reporters,” he told VOA. “Many have called me since I’ve been deported to say they are fearful that they can no longer really do their job.”

The impact, Marks said, will be a lack of information for those who need it.

“The spillover effects from something like this, which are going to hurt in the end, is the public’s right to know and hold their leaders accountable,” he said.

Editor’s note: Paragraph 10 of this story has been updated to include a response from the prime minister’s office, received after publication.

Source: Voice of America

US President Joe Biden has set a new tone in the policy towards Africa as compared to that of his predecessor, Donald Trump. It was significant that the Biden’s first speech in his capacity as US President on an international forum was delivered virtually on February 5, 2021, at the 34th African Union Summit. Biden remarked, “This past year has shown us how interconnected our world is and how our fates are bound up together.

That’s why my administration is committing to rebuilding our partnership around the world and re-engaging the international institutions like the African Union. We must all work together to advance our shared vision of a better future; a future of growing trade and investment that advances prosperity for all our nations; a future that advances lives and peace and security for all our citizens; a future committed to investing in our democratic institutions and promoting the human rights of all people: women and girls, LGBTQ individuals, people with disabilities, and people of every ethnic background, religion and heritage”. “United States stands ready now to be your partner, in solidarity, support and mutual respect.

We believe in the nations of Africa, in the continent-wide spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation. And through the challenges ahead, although there is no doubt that our nations, our people, the African Union – we’re up to this task”, Biden said while concluding his speech. Biden’ speech reaffirmed commitment to multilateralism. The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, welcomed the message and said that the African Union looks forward to “resetting the strategic AU-USA partnership.”

On his first day in office, Biden repealed the Trump administration’s ban on travellers from Muslim-majority and African countries, including Libya, Somalia, Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania. Revoking the ban, the President said in a statement, “The United States was built on a foundation of religious freedom and tolerance, a principle enshrined in the United States Constitution.

Nevertheless, the previous administration enacted a number of Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations that prevented certain individuals from entering the United States — first from primarily Muslim countries, and later, from largely African countries. Those actions are a stain on our national conscience and are inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all”.

Two regions in Africa pose a major policy challenge for Biden – the Horn of Africa and the Sahel. As regard’s Biden’s policy in the Horn of Africa, a major decision has been taken by appointing Jeffrey Feltman, a former senior Department of State official, as Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa on April 23. This signals the US intention of assuming an active role in the region. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said that Feltman’s appointment “underscores the Administration’s commitment to lead an international diplomatic effort to address the interlinked political, security, and humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa.” “At a moment of profound change for this strategic region, high-level U.S. engagement is vital to mitigate the risks posed by escalating conflict while providing support to once-in-a-generation opportunities for reform,” he added.

On Eritrea and Ethiopia, the US has taken a hard stance by holding their troops accountable for the humanitarian crisis in Tigray and announcing a visa restriction policy and imposing wide-ranging restrictions on economic and security assistance. In Somalia, the Biden administration has continued with Trump’s policy of withdrawing the US troops from the country. The Biden administration has also issued order that drone strikes outside three long time war zones must be approved by the White House.

As regards the US policies in the Sahel countries which include Mali, Niger, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Chad, security analysts contend that Biden needs to be more active in light of the threat that Islamic militancy in the region poses.

In March 2020, the United States created a Special Envoy for Africa’s Sahel region to counter rising violence from groups linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State which are expanding their foothold. Security analysts have stressed on upgrading the Sahel Envoy post to the status of a US Presidential Envoy who would report directly to Biden. Mali, which is under a second coup in a 9-month period, poses a major challenge for the US policy in Sahel. The United States of America is mulling sanctions on Mali over the detention of civilian leaders of Mali’s transition government. Ned Price, the US Department of State Spokesperson said, “A democratic, civilian-led government presents the best opportunity to achieve security and prosperity in Mali and the wider Sahel region.

The Malian transition government’s commitment to a civilian-led transition and democratic elections in 2022 set the stage for Mali’s continued engagement with international partners to advance democracy, human rights, peace, and security effort”.

In the Sahel, the US also needs to step up its counter-terrorism operations. Currently, the US dominant strategy is to provide weapons and training to partner countries’ security forces instead of deploying US troops to fight violent extremist group. Biden also needs a rethink on this strategy.

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Eritrea’s foreign minister blamed U.S. administrations that supported the Tigray People’s Liberation Movement for the last 20 years for the current war in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region, saying that blaming Eritrea for the fighting was unfounded.

Osman Saleh, in a letter to the U.N. Security Council circulated Monday, accused President Joe Biden’s administration of “stoking further conflict and destabilization” through interference and intimidation in the region. “The apparent objective of these acts is to resuscitate the remnants of the TPLF regime,” he said.

The TPLF led the coalition that ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed rose to power in 2018. Abiy alienated the TPLF in part by trying to make peace with its archenemy, Eritrea, then sent Ethiopian government troops into the region in November.

Thousands are estimated to have been killed in the war that has sent a third of the region’s 6 million people fleeing. The government forces are now allied with soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, who are blamed for many atrocities.

Saleh’s letter makes no mention of Eritrean troops in Tigray, despite international calls for them to withdraw.

Multiple witnesses, survivors of rape, officials and aid workers said Eritrean soldiers have been spotted far from the border, sometimes clad in faded Ethiopian army fatigues, and controlling key roads and access to some communities.

The Ethiopian government considers TPLF fighters to be terrorists who have defied Abiy’s authority. But recent atrocities appear to have increased support for the TPLF.

The Eritrean foreign minister accused the TPLF of conducting a disinformation campaign to camouflage its illicit schemes to arm itself and topple Abiy’s government and he urged the Security Council “to take appropriate measures to redress the injustice.”

Saleh also criticized the U.S. State Department’s recent announcement on visa restrictions for current or former Eritrean and Ethiopian government and military officials, saying it was only the latest in a string of “unilateral acts of intimidation and interference.”

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online