
Zimbabwe: MDC Alliance Students’ Council – Press Statement on Douglas Mwonzora’s derogatory utterances on polytechnics (11.08.2021)



It is just like Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and his comrades doesn’t want to be responsible for their own actions. We know they project all evil at the Tigrayan population and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). That’s what they do and what they need to do justify the continued warfare in Tigray and beyond.
The state did yesterday “call to arms” and all eligible citizens to fight this war. The Office of the Prime Minister released a statement saying so. So, that the current day civilians can continue the heroic past of the predecessor and get rid of TPLF, once and for all. Which is resounding alike the Amhara Regional State and their leadership. There is no difference in the rhetoric or methodology between them.
The Ethiopian Current Issues – Fact Check Agency or whatever it is. Can have their voice and opinion. However, it is their own statement saying so. It wasn’t the foreign press that made up the headlines and stories about Ethiopia. No, the OPM and his allies made it all up by themselves and published it for the whole world to see.
This wasn’t like a secret memo, letter or talk between two trusted friends. It wasn’t a leaked cable or a call. No, this was a Press Release and what it directly stated, which the foreign press and outlets described to the people.
Maybe Abiy felt it backfired. As his wordings and the rhetoric, shines of desperation and hopelessness. Since this war has hit a nerve and the Tigray Defence Force (TDF) is winning ground. The TDF and its allies showing strength and restraint. While evidence and witnesses is telling media of what horrific tales the Tripartite Alliance has done over the recent months. Which the Fact Checking Agency and the State calls “fake” and “false”. While we are supposed to eat of their hands and swallow their lies.
Well, the truth is already out. A government that has lied about everything. Even has to fact-check it’s own press release. That says a lot about the mismanaged and a bummer of a war. Where people are dying of a man-made famine and weaponizing aid. Where the state has targeted one group and justify the atrocities in Tigray. They are even trying to pin other actions made by the state army and regional special forces on the TDF. That is what the state does. Therefore, the idea that the foreign press is supposed to write puff-pieces is insane.
The press release yesterday speaks of itself and it cannot be changed. They maybe not like the sentiment and how the International media interpret it. However, they cannot be mind-readers and expect people to follow the same paradigm and understanding as the one who published it. That is just being narrow-minded and very very foolish. Just like expect some to go haywire of this text and others to applause it. Because, that’s the world we live in and the OPM and the Fact Check Agency has to understand this too.
“Now is the right time for all capable Ethiopians who are of age to join the Defence Force, Special Forces and militias and show your patriotism” (OPM, 10.08.2021). How else are the world supposed to understand this message? Are the youths and all civilians not called up? “All capable” is a broad statement and implies everyone who is over 18 and able to conscript either to the ENDF, Special Forces or a militia. That says it all…
What else did the PM and Prosperity Party think when they did this call and war-cry? Did they expect salutes and hallow speeches? That is how it looks like… when the Fact Checking Agency has issues with the headlines of the international press. Maybe, the OPM and the PP should have worded it differently, if they meant something else.
They need to get other codes and other phrases if they want it to mean something else. However, they just want to interpreted as a plea for war and more soldiers. Since they want to look peaceful and supreme. However, that is so far from the truth. We all know that the ENDF and everyone on the PM side is losing ground. That’s why he is seeking whatever he can get with a pulse. In a hope to turn around and finally gain ground again. Nevertheless, at this very moment… that seems hopeless. Just like the whole “Operation Law Enforcement” have become.
The PM cannot run, he cannot hide and the truth of his war-crimes and his allies massacres are out. The blood is on his hands, the victims and executions are done on his orders and he cannot rewrite that. The deaths and destruction will not be a triumphant way to victory. Alas, it is a road to more murder and devastation. It seems like the PM never leans and burns more bridges as the days goes by.
He should have sound advice and people who can guide him ahead. However, we all know that he has dropped those and only has “yes-men” and empty suits around him. He is surrounded by extremist and apologists for the bloodshed and the genocidal war. That’s why we are here and he cannot handle the bad press. Peace.

Somalia is vulnerable to extreme climatic conditions, including repeated cycles of drought, seasonal floods, and tropical cyclones.
NAIROBI, Kenya, August 11, 2021 – The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned that Somalia is on the cusp of a humanitarian catastrophe. One in 4 people face high levels of acute food insecurity and more than 800,000 children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition unless they receive treatment and food assistance immediately.
In addition to food insecurity, Somalia’s humanitarian situation continues to worsen due to multiple threats, including the outbreak of diseases such as Acute Watery Diarrhoea, measles, malaria and COVID-19.
Mohammed Mukhier, IFRC’s Regional Director for Africa said:
“Somalia is one of the riskiest places on earth to live right now. The country is a catalogue of catastrophes. Climate-related disasters, conflict and COVID-19 have coalesced into a major humanitarian crisis for millions of people. We can’t keep talking about this, we must reduce suffering now.”
Somalia is vulnerable to extreme climatic conditions, including repeated cycles of drought, seasonal floods, and tropical cyclones. The country has also been grappling with the impact of desert locusts. People regularly experience loss of livelihoods, food insecurity, malnutrition, and a scarcity of clean water. Seventy per cent of the country’s population lives in poverty, and 40 per cent is estimated to be living in extreme poverty.
The socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 are likely to lead to worsening nutrition outcomes among vulnerable groups—including poor households in urban areas and internally displaced people, many of whom live in crowded, unhygienic conditions and makeshifts shelters in the context of increasing food prices and reduced employment and income-earning opportunities.
The IFRC, Somali Red Crescent Society and other partners continue to provide support to vulnerable communities. However, the resources are unable to keep pace with needs.
Mukhier said: “We are doing our best to contribute to the reduction of hunger and disease. But, frankly speaking, available assistance remains a drop in the ocean, given the scale of suffering.”
To address some of the many unmet needs, the IFRC is seeking 8.7 million Swiss francs to support the Somali Red Crescent Society to deliver humanitarian assistance to 563,808 people in Somaliland and Puntland over 18 months. This emergency appeal will enable the IFRC and the Somali Red Crescent Society to step up the response operation with a focus on livelihood and basic needs support, health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, protection, gender and inclusion, as well as helping communities to prepare for other disasters.
On 15 May 2021, the IFRC released 451,800 Swiss francs from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to help the Somali Red Crescent Society provide more than 120,000 people in Puntland and Somaliland with health and nutrition support. The Somali Red Crescent Society has unparalleled access to remote and hard-to-reach families, including those living on mountains or nomadic communities. Its integrated health care programme, with its network of static and mobile health clinics, is a key provider of health services.
In a country with many nomadic and displaced people, it is challenging to reach communities with consistent health care: mobile clinics are one of the primary strategies to fill those gaps. The Red Crescent mobile teams are uniquely positioned to reach patients in areas that lack vehicle or ambulance services.







“Breaking: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said he will resign from office on Tuesday, succumbing to a ballooning sexual harassment scandal that fueled an astonishing reversal of fortune for one of the nation’s best-known leaders” (NYT Metro, 10.08.2021).
No other than Democratic Party elected New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo is now resigning. As the cases of sexual harassment is piling up on him and the evidence has been collected. The savvy politician and wise-guy character of a man has to do the right thing. Which he actually did and stepped down from office.
The Governor Cuomo seemed long to be the future of the Democratic Party. That he could grow out of the shadow of others and have more finesse. However, he has done shady things back home and not only held great press conferences in the middle of the pandemic.
No, this man has used “slave-labour” tactics to produce antibacterial sanitizers for the local government. By using prisoners to make it, makeshift to ensure there was enough and he has also withheld and juiced the stats on the deaths in the care-homes of the state. This has all made it look better, than it already was.
This in combination with the countless of woman, which he touched, fondled and used his power to harass. Which is wrong on all grounds and is unjustified of anyone. There stories needs to be told and the systemic act of it, which makes gross.
There is no way the Governor could ride the storm. As the New York lawmakers was calling for his impeachment and process to get rid of him. The only thing making sense was to step-down and leave. He had to do this, because there was nothing to salvage.
He is now a creep and a serial womanizer, who has lost his reputation and has no ways to return. The acts against these was wrong and it had to cost. This was no “MeeToo” scandal, but a justified investigation into sexual harassment, which the state itself had produced and proven before their press conference as well. So, it is not mere allegations and possible “hearsay”. No, they have looked into and got proof of it.
This means the State Prosecutors have worked on this for a long while and collected “intel” on it. They have gotten affidavits, evidence and co-ordinated this in a manner, which they know they can sell it to a jury and a judge. It is likely that they did this with caution, as they are targeting the governor in this.
Cuomo looked so promising, a man of hope and as a proper politician in the middle of a crisis. His resilience and drive to fix it. Made it seem like a likeable and strict personality, which could weather a storm. However, that was for the cameras and what happened behind closed doors wasn’t that jolly. It was distasteful and disgraceful.
Governor Cuomo spoiled his chance and got high on his own supply. He thought he could use his office to get “additional” perks, which wasn’t true. The governor did things without their consent and is the reason why he fell.
Now, there is need for a new election and elect a new Governor in New York. You can wonder who wants to step-up to the plate. Whoever that might be, it got to be someone credible and just. Not another creep and womanizer, because then we’re going into the same trap as before. Peace.

UN agencies continue to sound the alarm over the growing “humanitarian catastrophe” in northern Ethiopia, sparked by the conflict in the Tigray region, now in its ninth month.
NEW YORK, United States of America, August 10, 2021 – A recent escalation in fighting in Afar and other neighbouring regions, has been disastrous for children, said Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a statement on Monday.
Displaced people killed
UNICEF was extremely alarmed by the reported killing last Thursday of over 200 people, including more than 100 children, in attacks on displaced families sheltering at a health facility and a school in Afar.
Ms. Fore added that crucial food supplies were also reportedly destroyed in an area that is already seeing emergency levels of malnutrition and food insecurity.
“The intensification of fighting in Afar and other areas neighbouring Tigray, is disastrous for children. It follows months of armed conflict across Tigray that have placed some 400,000 people, including at least 160,000 children, in famine-like conditions,” she said.
Humanitarian ceasefire needed
Some four million people are in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity in Tigray and the adjoining regions of Afar and Amhara.
The recent fighting has displaced an additional 100,000 people, thus adding to the two million who have already fled their homes.
UNICEF further estimates that the number of children in Tigray suffering from life-threatening malnutrition will increase 10-fold over the next 12 months.
“The humanitarian catastrophe spreading across northern Ethiopia is being driven by armed conflict and can only be resolved by the parties to the conflict,” said Ms. Fore.
“UNICEF calls on all parties to end the fighting, and to implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Above all, we call on all parties to do everything in their power to protect children from harm.”
Delivering amid conflict
Despite numerous challenges, the World Food Programme (WFP) delivered food to more than a million people in the northwest and parts of southern Tigray during June and July.
However, WFP only reached half of the people it planned to assist, including communities on the verge of famine, due to severe shortages of food, cash, fuel and functioning telecommunications equipment.
WFP reported that more than 175 trucks arrived in the Tigray region during the first week of this month, including 90 carrying lifesaving food aid. Another 90 trucks are expected to arrive in the coming days.
However, with 5.2 million people needing food assistance, representing roughly 90 per cent of the population, WFP and partners require at least 100 trucks to be arriving daily to support them.
A dire warning
Michael Dunford, WFP’s Corporate Response Director for Tigray, also appealed for a ceasefire so that food and other emergency supplies can be delivered before it is too late.
“People in Tigray are suffering due to lack of humanitarian support over the past month – we need to reach them now before they fall into famine,” he warned.
“Others in neighbouring regions are also falling deeper into hunger as a result of the conflict and WFP is working with the Government to reach communities in Afar and Amhara with life-saving food as soon as possible,” he added.




