Ethiopia: Tigray – Eritrean General is the first to be sanctioned and Shabait refutes it

We have wondered when this would arrive and it’s finally here. The U.S. Department of Treasury and the U.S. Department of State has reacted and done something in reaction to the spiralling conflict in Tigray region of Ethiopia. It has been ongoing since November 2020 and no one has been touched or moved. This is the first individual who is targeted and its a Eritrean General. Which is striking, as they are one of the alliance members, but not alone.

The U.S. has taken the “invading” entity and the “foreign advisory” to the conflict. While not taking the Generals from the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF), Amhara Regional Special Forces, Amhara Para-Military Group “Fano” or any high ranking official within the ruling party Prosperity Party. That says it all, but it is also a signal… that for the U.S. anyone is fair game, but it is striking never the less.

The U.S. is now validating what many has said, but both the Ethiopian and Eritrean agencies has blatantly denied. They have both retorted and said it didn’t happen. While testimonies from witnesses and refugees has told what happened in the months of the terror and these stories will not be forgotten. Now, they are carved in stone and they are issued in orders. Which are damning to not only Eritrea, but Ethiopian allies who has done this in collaboration with the EDF in Tigray region.

Here is what U.S. Department of Treasury says:

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned General Filipos Woldeyohannes (Filipos), the Chief of Staff of the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF), for being a leader or official of an entity that is engaged in serious human rights abuse committed during the ongoing conflict in Tigray” (…) “General Filipos is the Chief of Staff of the EDF. In this role, he commands all of the EDF forces that have been operating in Ethiopia. The EDF are responsible for massacres, looting, and sexual assaults. EDF troops have raped, tortured, and executed civilians; they have also destroyed property and ransacked businesses. The EDF have purposely shot civilians in the street and carried out systematic house-to-house searches, executing men and boys, and have forcibly evicted Tigrayan families from their residences and taken over their houses and property” (U.S. Department of the Treasury – ‘Treasury Sanctions Eritrean Military Leader in Connection with Serious Human Rights Abuse in Tigray’ 23.08.2021).

Shabait answer:

The US Administration has leveled unacceptable accusations against Eritrea announcing associated measures that it will take against the Chief of Staff of Eritrea’s Defense Forces under what it terms the “Global Magnitsky Act”. The Government of Eritrea rejects, both in letter and spirit, the utterly baseless allegations and blackmail directed against it” (…) “In the face of the repetitive and unwarranted accusations, Eritrea cannot remain silent. In the circumstances, Eritrea calls on the US Administration to bring the case to an independent adjudication if it indeed has facts to prove its false allegations” (Shabait – ‘Eritrea deplores US unlawful Acts’ 23.08.2021).

As usual the Shabait is calling things baseless, but not answering with any proof or explaining why its so. That is what it normally does with everything. They blackball and name-call, but never proves anything. While the U.S. is coming with substantial claims, which can easily be linked to reports, articles and videos online. These can prove the allegations, which the Shabait will not accept.

That’s why we know the Eritrean government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Shabait) is playing a victim. A victim who is always targeted and an outcast of the USA. That is just what they does, because they have nothing substantial to bring to the table. They don’t want to prove their innocence and reveal the truth. The truth and the insufferable acts made in Tigray. Is something the EDF and the Eritrean government cannot run away from. Neither can anyone else of the Tripartite Alliance who invaded and launched the “Medemer Terror” upon civilians and citizens of Tigray. While they targeted the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and says everyone could possibly be a “terrorist”.

That is what the EDF has participated in and these crimes needs to be answered. The massacres, he rapes and the injustice served on innocent civilians. That one Eritrean General is sanctioned by the US is good. However, that will not stop the warfare or the current state of the conflict. Only be a signal of what is possibly to come.

The Shabait, anyone else in-charge in Asmara or for that matter in Addis Ababa will not like this. The Prosperity Party and the ENDF should be prepared. Because, this is just the first of many. Since, they will find more evidence and pin more on several of military commanders involved in it. The Tigray conflict have the Tripartite Alliance and the EDF is only one part of it. There will be others to implicate there. Also, the ones who has done harm and done ills from the Tigray Defence Force (TDF). Therefore, the U.S. Department of Treasury is only beginning.

However, this is a sign to come. We have awaited this to happen and the day is finally here. Peace.

Ethiopia: Tigray External Affairs Office – Briefing from the National Government of Tigray (23.08.2021)

Opinion: The NRM Shields their own [and the COVID-19 Lockdown scandal of 2020 is now water under the bridge]

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) is very forgiving to their own crooks. The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda office was in-charge of the procurement for relief food during the first lockdown in 2020 for the urban areas.

What is striking is that the officials secured deals, which ended in a loss of USD $528,000 in inflated in the prices of food. The ones implicated and arrested for these schemes was the Permanent Secretary Christine Guwatudde Kintu, accounting officer Joel Wanjala, assistant procurement commissioner Fred Lutimba and Martin Owor, the head of COVID-19 relief management.

Today, the Director of Public Prosecution has discontinued the case against them. Even when it is evident they acted fraudulent and massively public wastage of funds. The OPM Food Relief last year was a giant scheme of embezzlement and misuse of office. That’s why there was no tenders and no procurement protocol for in the food relief. It was all brotherly conduct and already using connects. That was the initial drive and this is why they inflated the prices on it.

This is why we know the state isn’t interested in fighting corruption or graft, when people like these are off the hook. The state is not going against the OPM and the ones involved. In the end… and they are able to walk.

That is the story here… and that should what the world needs to know. This isn’t the first or the last time people who is connected gets away from scandals. There been several who been in office and high ranking officials who can steal, embezzle and grand corruption. Still, they can walk to the Parliament, State House and now in the OPM without any consequences. The ones charged and detained on corruption is small-fishes. That’s why the ones sentenced in the Courts is teachers and headmasters eating of funds for ghost-workers and students.

The DPP is now giving way and letting them off the hook. The NRM has done this to others and this is Modus Operandi (M.O) by now. The President and the ones who is in the inner-circle can get away with murder and we know this. It just happened to be with COVID-19 Funds and Relief Food. The OPM wasn’t long time ago inflate refugee numbers to get more donor funds. Therefore, this is what they do to eat and does it deliberately. Therefore, the OPM needs to scheme to run it’s operation.

This isn’t shocking, but it’s a part of a pattern. Peace.

Ethiopia: The newest OCHA Situation Reports is showing little to no progress in Tigray region …

The warfare and escalation of conflicts across the Ethiopian republic is costing the civilians and the citizens. As the state is has recently issued for every individual citizen of eligible age to participate and conscript to the army, special forces and even militias to beat the Tigray Defence Force (TDF).

The state is clearly not winning or doing well on the battlefield. The OCHA Ethiopia is showing no signs of betterment, as it is still 5,2 millions in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Tigray Region alone. That is not counting the people internally displaced in Amhara region or in Afar region as well. As there is also army movements within Oromia region by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).

What is striking and says a lot about the current time in the region is this: “The situation in Tigray, and the spillover of the conflict to neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, is very dynamic and

unpredictable. While humanitarian access within Tigray has significantly improved, with an estimated 75 per cent of the area now accessible, humanitarian actors are unable to fully capitalize on this due to the limited flow and availability of humanitarian supplies and enablers to support the response” (OCHA, 13.08.2021).

It shows some progress, as the accessible areas is becoming greater. Still, the authorities are making it hectic and worse for the humanitarian organizations. Since the last OCHA situation report, the authorities has already suspended several of organizations from operating the Republic. Therefore, it is not like with accessibility enough within the region. It is also the outside pressure on them before arriving in Tigray.

Which is stated here: “Physical access into Tigray via the only road access through Afar Region (Semera-Abala corridor) is partially restricted due to insecurity, extended delays with clearances by concerned authorities, and intense search procedures at checkpoints” (OCHA, 13.08.2021).

As it stands, the humanitarian organizations are working directly with the Regional Government of Tigray, as it states here: “The de-facto authorities are engaging with partners to rapidly scale up response to address the dire humanitarian needs in the region. However, stock levels are currently low, and there are still huge challenges to bring in supplies from outside the region” (OCHA, 13.08.2021).

This statement will bring fire to the Addis Ababa and the Prosperity Party regime under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali. As no one is supposed to associate with the “enemy” which it wants to “weed” out. Therefore, this sort of sentence can bring fire to the flame and the UN Organizations will be targeted by the authorities and their messaging like they have done with the suspended organizations and Amnesty Internation during the conflict.

So, we can easily see there are hurdles and the man-made famine isn’t resolved. The authorities are blocking, checkpoints and excessive searches of the convoys going into Tigray. Plus the parts of regions, which it doesn’t have access to is… because the front-lines of war and constraining communications and barriers to entry there like in Northern Tigray and around the surrounding areas of Tekeze river. Therefore, the total estimations and amount of humanitarian needs are not known.

We just have to wonder how many innocent civilians who has been casualties and touched by the this conflict. As there are so many unknown and armies combatting in it. The Tripartite Alliance and the state have to take responsibility for their invasion and amounts of massacres. In combination with the weaponization of the famine. Which only hurt more livess in the region. Peace.

Somalia: Three million face starvation and disease, warns IFRC, as it calls for swift action (11.08.2021)

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.

Tigray: Intensified fighting across borders ‘disastrous’ for children (10.08.2021)

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.

Sudan: Ethiopian refugees face increasingly difficult conditions as more people flee their homes (09.08.2021)

Ethiopian refugees in the camps in south-east Sudan face increasingly dire living conditions.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, August 9, 2021 – As fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and other areas in the north of the country forces more people to flee their homes, Ethiopian refugees in the camps in south-east Sudan face increasingly dire living conditions. Food, clean water, shelter and sanitation are desperately insufficient, and an increasing number of people suffer from malnutrition and diseases like malaria and hepatitis E. The onset of the rainy season worsened the situation and some refugees are choosing to undertake dangerous migration routes or move to other areas of the country.

“Everyone is just trying to make their life better, but youth are in a bad situation and they’re turning to drugs and alcohol. They’re starting to have psychological problems. There are also all the children separated from their families who are here alone,” said Daniel, a 23-year-old student living in Um Rakouba camp.

Besides the harsh living conditions, thousands of refugees are unable to contact their family members with telecommunication networks in many areas of the Tigray region down. Many people suffer trauma and emotional distress, following months of not knowing if they will be reunited with their spouses and children.

Since the beginning of the Tigray crisis, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated nearly 22,200 successful phone calls between refugees and their families. However, it registered over 20,000 unsuccessful phone calls in the same period, meaning that thousands of people could not receive news from home.

“Months go by without any news from family members for far too many people,” said Maria Carolina Aissa, the head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Kassala. “It is heartbreaking to see how people struggle to maintain dignity and hope in these circumstances.”

About ICRC’s work for refugees in Sudan:

• The ICRC supports the Sudan Red Crescent Society (SRCS) in Gedaref and Kassala to help refugees maintain contact with their families. The SRCS works in Um Rakouba and Tunaydba Ethiopian refugee camps, in Shargrab camp for Ertirean refugees, as well as in two transit sites, where the SRCS and the ICRC trained 38 host community and refugee community volunteers.

• The ICRC collected 228 tracing requests for family members inside the camps and received 20 cases from abroad through national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. It resolved 6 cases and registered 58 unaccompanied minors. In total, approximately 60 – 70% of the total Tigrayan refugee population in eastern Sudan has benefitted from phone calls or tracing services.

• The ICRC has been supporting Doka Rural Hospital, rehabilitating infrastructure, providing medical supplies, personal protection equipment and training for the staff. It donated more than four tons of medical supplies to the hospital, that provides services to more than 40,000 members of the host community and to over 18,000 refugees in Um Rakouba camp.

Ethiopia: WFP Delivers Food to Another 1 million People in Tigray During June and July but is Only Reaching Half of Those it Should Be (09.08.2021)

WFP aims to reach 2.1 million people with emergency food assistance from August onwards and needs at least 6,000 metric tons of food each week to do so

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, August 9, 2021 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) delivered food to over a million people in the north-west and parts of southern Tigray in June and July under the second round of distributions, despite numerous challenges. But severe shortages of food, cash, fuel and functioning telecommunications equipment mean WFP has only reached half of those it planned to reach, including communities on the verge of famine.

WFP aims to reach 2.1 million people with emergency food assistance from August onwards and needs at least 6,000 metric tons of food each week to do so. Due to insecurity and operational constraints, it has been unable to bring these quantities into Tigray in recent weeks.

More than 175 trucks arrived in the Tigray region, via the Abala corridor, during the first week of August. This included 90 trucks loaded with over 5,000 metric tons of life-saving food. An additional 90 trucks are expected to arrive in the coming days to further replenish stocks of food, fuel, nutrition, health, WASH and shelter items in the region.

But with 5.2 million people in the region (90% of the Tigray population) in need of humanitarian food assistance – WFP and partners require at least 100 trucks to be arriving daily to meet the vast needs.

“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. WFP is calling for all parties to agree to a ceasefire and guarantee an unimpeded flow of humanitarian supplies into Tigray, so that we can deliver lifesaving food and other emergency supplies safely before it’s too late,” said Michael Dunford, WFP’s Corporate Response Director for Tigray.

“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,” added Dunford.

The June IPC results indicate that up to 400,000 people will be facing famine-like conditions by September due to conflict, lack of market access, missed planting season and insufficient humanitarian support. To date, WFP has reached 2 million people with emergency food assistance across Eastern, Southern and Northwestern zones of Tigray.

The agricultural planting season has been missed in many parts of Tigray and estimates show -only 25% to 50% of the normal cereal production will be available this year. As a result, people in Tigray are expected to rely on food assistance up to the next year’s harvest season in October 2022.

Preliminary nutrition screening data shows Global Acute Malnourishment (GAM) rates near 30% for children under five years old and up to 80% for pregnant and breastfeeding women. UNICEF estimates 100,000 children in the region could die from complications of severe malnourishment. To date WFP has reached more than 400,000 vulnerable mothers and children with nutritionally fortified food, including 120,000 in July across 43 districts.

An additional 300,000 people are facing emergency levels of hunger in neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, where over 250,000 people have been displaced due to continued conflict. WFP plans to support up to 80,000 people in Afar, working closely with the regional Disaster Risk Management Bureau and the federal National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC).

WFP also plans to work with the NDRMC to provide relief food in Amhara region.

There have been 3 United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) flights carrying 143 humanitarian staff to and from Tigray, but these flights need to be operating at least twice a week to rotate humanitarian passengers in and out of the region.

Across Ethiopia, WFP aims to reach 11.9 million people in 2021 with food, nutrition and cash support and delivering activities to boost communities’ self-reliance and food security.

WFP needs US$79 million to continue to scale up its response in Tigray to save lives and livelihoods to the end of the year. For all activities under its Country Strategic Plan, WFP has a funding shortfall of US$288 million. Additional funding is vital to allow WFP to keep saving and changing lives in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia: Statement of the Government of Tigrayan the Worsening Humanitarian Crisis (08.08.2021)

South Sudan: Thousands of people suffering the impact of flooding (06.08.2021)