US Ambassador Stephen Schwartz letter to H.E. Mr. Adbikarim Hussein Guled on the Electoral Process in the Galmudug (20.11.2016)

guled-letter-20-11-2016

Zimbabwe: #ThisFlag we are living in a Police State (19.11.2016)

thisflag-police-state-19-11-2016

Zimbabwe: Activists ‘abducted’ as police foil planned anti-Mugabe protests (Youtube-Clip)

“At least six Zimbabwe activists were “abducted” and some of them beaten up as a heavy police presence in Harare prevented planned protests on Friday against President Robert Mugabe’s government. Sylvanos Mudzvova, one of the protest movement leaders, told AFP that fellow activist Patson Dzamara and two others were admitted to hospital after being abducted by unidentified men who dragged them out of their cars” (CCTV Africa, 2016)

Zimbabwe: Effects of drought linger in rural areas, aggravate urban vulnerability (17.11.2016)

maize

Harare, 17 November 2016El Niño-induced drought has led to a serious surge in food insecurity and hunger affecting 40 million people across the southern Africa region. Zimbabwe, one of the countries most affected, is in the midst of the worst drought in 25 years that is projected to affect 5.2 million people including 1.1 million urban dwellers during the first quarter of 2017.

Addressing some 150 participants at the 4 th national multi-stakeholders consultative meeting jointly convened by the Office of the President and Cabinet and the UN System in Zimbabwe today in Harare, the UN Resident Coordinator Bishow Parajuli said, “As we approach the peak hunger period of the lean season, inadequate funding to the humanitarian response plan will not only curtail the ongoing relief efforts to increase assistance to the most vulnerable in the rural settlements and scale-up assistance in urban areas but also risks reversing the gains made in the development and humanitarian areas thus far.”

Of the $352 million being sought under the Humanitarian Response Plan (April 2016-March 2017), nearly $212 million has been committed, with the current funding gap at $140 million. The committed financial and in kind relief support has allowed the UN and NGOs to reach approximately 1.7 million vulnerable people in over 42 districts with food, cash, agricultural inputs and other lifesaving relief assistance.

The committed resource includes the recently announced additional £40 million by DFID.

Announcing the additional boost which brings the total contribution by the Government of the UK to £55.6 million, Annabel Gerry Head of DFID Zimbabwe said, “The additional support from DFID will provide mobile cash payments to 360,000 vulnerable people up until end of March 2017; cover the cost of screening of 160,000 children for malnutrition; and the cost of treatment for over 12,000 children.”

The ongoing relief response has also been made possible by the generous contributions from USAID, EU-ECHO, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and Denmark. The BRICS nations and others have also supported the relief efforts, including bilateral contributions from China, India and Brazil.

Expressing deep gratitude and appreciation for the generous support from donors, the UN Resident Coordinator said, “sectors such as water, hygiene, and sanitation; education; and protection remain severely underfunded, threatening the country’s hard-won development gains made in these areas over the years.”

The fourth national multi-stakeholder consultative meeting underlined the importance of the drought response to be consistently guided by the universal humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.

Senior Principal Director, Office of the President and Cabinet, Mr. O. E. M. Hove said, “Government has made all efforts to import and set a buffer stock of maize to ensure that no citizen starves irrespective of one’s political or other affiliations.” Mr. Hove appreciated the generous support from humanitarian and development partners that are complementing Government’s efforts in response to the prevailing humanitarian challenges and called on all partners to stay the course.

Noting the need to continue and increase joint response to the pressing effects of the worst drought, stakeholders agreed to recalibrate their efforts towards resilience-building, provision of quality social services and protection programmes to ensure strong linkages and eventual transition of those affected by drought to recovery, medium and long-term sustainable development.

Reiterating on the call to planning for the future with focus on building resilience, Mr. Hove said, “to this end the Government of Zimbabwe is implementing a special programme to ensure food security targeting to produce at least two million metric tonnes of maize grain on 400,000ha of which 200,000ha will be irrigated.”

Today’s national multi-stakeholders consultative meeting follows two successful Provincial Drought Response Consultative meetings held in Bulawayo and Harare at the end of September and beginning of November, respectively. The provincial meetings allowed partners to adopt harmonized relief response approach across the Government, UN and NGOs managed assistance for improved targeting, registration, distribution, monitoring and accountability.

Media Contact: Sirak Gebrehiwot, UN Communications Specialist, E-mail: sirak.gebrehiwot@one.un.org;

Cell #: +263 772 198 036

Opinion: Leaked Memo shows that PM May and her Cabinet has a true disregard for the Brexit!

may-on-brexit

There are some days that just have to grow upon you, as the news we’re coming on the matter, Davis Davis, the Member of Parliament who was named and appointed to be the Brexit Minister of Davis Michael Davis. As long as you have loudmouth Foreign Secretary for the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, another Brexiteer who hasn’t delivered anything that matter on the Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty or anything else.

So the Conservative Party under Prime Minister Theresa May has a Cabinet that doesn’t even consider the Brexit vote and the public wish to leave the European Union. Something the backbenchers of the Conservative Party didn’t fight for anyway. Except for the ones who renegaded against the than PM David Cameron.

So the months has gone, and September there we’re even reports that Brexit Minister Davis Davis we’re living the life of lavish MP, but not acting upon the election that offered him the job in the government.

So he has been a ghost and undetermined person. As shown with the words of the leaked memo yesterday: “The divisions within the Cabinet are between the three Brexiteers on one side and Philip Hammond/Greg Clark on the other side. The Prime Minister is rapidly acquiring the reputation of drawing in decisions and details to settle matters herself – which is unlikely to be sustainable. Overall, it appears best to judge who is winning the debate by assuming that the noisiest individuals have lost the intra-Government debate and are stirring up external supporters” (SkyNews, 2016).

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The PM May has to sort out her house and make sure the dishes is washed inside the kitchen before the food is served. Brexiteers hasn’t seemed to pushed hard if the dishes are just staying dirty and not worked on. And the PM May doesn’t seem interested in change the state of affairs, because she want to steer the ship herself without listening to the cabinet, that will be a good leader, but a selfish one it seem.

“Individual Departments have been busily developing their projects to implement Brexit, resulting in well over 500 projects, which are beyond the capacity and capability of Government to execute quickly. One Department estimates that it needs a 40% increase in staff to cope with its Brexit projects. In other words, every Department has developed a “bottom up” plan of what the impact of Brexit could be – and its plan to cope with the “worst case”. Although necessary, this falls considerably short of having a “Government plan for Brexit” because it has no prioritisation and no link to the overall negotiation strategy” (SkyNews, 2016).

So there is no distinctive negotiation strategy for the Brexit, as the Prime Minister Theresa May already proven to be selfish and wanting to take the decisions on her own, instead of listening to the ones she has appointed for her cabinet. This proves the little value the PM has in her own as she doesn’t care for listening to Secretary for Brexit Davis or anybody else.

brexit-united-kingdom-uk-and-european-union-eu-export-and-import-total

Departments are struggling to come up to speed on the potential Brexit effects on industry. This is due to starting from a relatively low base of insight and also due to fragmentation – Treasury “owning” financial services, DH-BEIS both covering life sciences, DCMS for telecoms, BEIS most other industries, DIT building parallel capability focused on trade etc” (SkyNews, 2016).

Another one of the nonsense that the Departments are not focused or working together to know the effects of an actual leaves the European Union and the trading with the Member States of the EU. How the Departments are effected by Brexit that should be checked and made sure by the Ministers and through the back-channels to make sure the Industry are getting a good as possible place with their trade. Instead of finding out the real potential of the industrial production and the needed changes that might be there after the actual Brexit.

“Industry has two unpleasant realisations – first, that the Government’s priority remains its political survival, not the economy – second, that there will be no clear economic-Brexit strategy any time soon because it is being developed on a case-by-case basis as specific decisions are forced on Government” (SkyNews, 2016).

So another statement showing the disgraceful attempt of silencing internal movement of the Brexit; they didn’t show any clear economic-Brexit strategy, but the decisions are not made as there is apparently no will for the Cabinet and Conservative Party Government and the PM May. That shows the disrespect the Government that been made after the PM David Cameron showed grace and stepped down. Because he had no real plan to leave the Union he had cooperated so well with during his years in Cabinet and in Parliament.

Peace.

Reference:

Sky News – ‘Leaked memo shows Government’s lack of Brexit plans’ (15.11.2016) link: http://news.sky.com/story/leaked-memo-shows-governments-lack-of-brexit-plans-10658063/revision/1479197701

Thousands of Somali children displaced and out of school due to Galkayo fighting (15.11.2016)

puntland-forces

All schools in the town of Galkayo have been closed, affecting more than 20,000 children and young People.

MOGADISHU, Somalia, November 15, 2016 – More than 90,000 people, including at least 20,000 children who were in school, have been displaced by fighting between factions in the Galkayo region of Central Somalia, which began a month ago.

UNICEF Somalia is gravely concerned about thousands of Somali children who are missing school due to the weeks of fighting. All schools in the town of Galkayo have been closed, affecting more than 20,000 children and young people. Teachers have been injured, four schools in Galkayo were damaged, and five schools outside the town are closed as they are now used to house some of the displaced. Any schools still functioning are severely overcrowded.

UNICEF and partners are setting up safe temporary learning spaces for the displaced children to allow them to continue their education and are working to ensure that the teachers receive their incentive allowances.

“This is a very serious situation for the children of Galkayo and is bound to have a major impact on their education and their lives,” said Steven Lauwerier, UNICEF Somalia Representative.

“We must ensure that there are places for children to learn in a safe environment either in temporary spaces or in schools outside town. The children must be given catch up classes and their schools must be protected from further damage.”

Many of the displaced children who have fled Galkayo are particularly vulnerable, as a large number were already displaced from their original homes and were living in settlements. UNICEF and its partners are also concerned with the continuing physical and emotional stress the forced displacement and fighting may put children and their families under.

A child’s right to an education is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Somalia in October 2015.

IMF Executive Board Removes Remedial Measures Applied to Zimbabwe (15.11.2016)

Zim Money Billion

This follows Zimbabwe’s full settlement of all of its overdue financial obligations to the PRGT of SDR 78.3 million (about US$107.9 million) on October 20, 2016.

WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, November 15, 2016 – The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved today, on a lapse of time basis,[1] the removal of the remedial measures applied to Zimbabwe that had been in place because of the member’s overdue financial obligations to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), effective November 14, 2016. These measures are: (i) declaration of noncooperation with the IMF (see Press Release No. 02/28); (ii) the suspension of technical assistance (which had already been partially lifted, see Press release No. 09/152 and Press Release No. 12/405); and (iii) the removal of Zimbabwe from the list of PRGT-eligible countries (see Press Release No. 01/40).

This follows Zimbabwe’s full settlement of all of its overdue financial obligations to the PRGT of SDR 78.3 million (about US$107.9 million) on October 20, 2016 (see Statement by IMF on Zimbabwe). Zimbabwe had been in continuous arrears to the PRGT since February 2001 and was the only case of protracted arrears to the PRGT. Zimbabwe is now current on all of its financial obligations to the IMF.

Notwithstanding the settlement of overdue financial obligations to the PRGT and the removal of remedial measures, consideration of any future request for IMF financing would also require Zimbabwe to comply with other applicable IMF policies, including to: (i) resolve its arrears to multilateral creditors (including the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, and other multilateral institutions), bilateral official creditors, and external private creditors (if any); and (ii) implement strong fiscal adjustment and structural reforms to restore fiscal and debt sustainability and foster private sector development.

Useful link:

Key Questions on Zimbabwe

[1]The Executive Board takes decisions under its lapse of time procedure when it is agreed by the Board that a proposal can be considered without convening formal discussions.

Horrendous bleak situation right now in East Africa/Horn of Africa: Genocide Warnings, Army used against Civilians, Opposition harassed and a surge of refugees between the nations (November 14.2016)

East-Africa

That there is civil-war like activity in Ogaden and Amhara regions in Ethiopia, that there continues internal skirmishes between Burundian security forces and civilians, that the Rwandan Opposition are silenced, In the Democratic Republic of Congo as there guerrillas fighting and killing while the FARDC and MONUSCO doesn’t act against civilians in North and South Kivu; As there are internal fighting between Somaliland, Galdumug, Al-Shabaab and AMISOM. This is all happening as we flick between the channels on the telly.

There we are discussing who’s the next racial biased brother Donald J. Trump thinking of hiring to his executive branch staff at the White House. This is happening while there continue bloodbath, there been genocide warnings for Burundi in October 2016 and South Sudan November 2016. South Sudan are skirmishes happening in Yei State, South Kordofan, West Bahr El Ghazal between SPLM/A and SPLM/A-IO, which is President Kiir and former FVP Machar. There are battles still in Darfur as the Khartoum regime under President Omar Al-Bashir are attacking the SPLM-N and other rebels who fight themselves in the past, but has no written an agreement while the Khartoum has said they will continue to fight them.

Rice in Market

These are killings of civilians in with the mind of staying in power. It is happening with bullets that imported and exported from the rich nations, through back-channels that none of us want to discuss, because it implicates the nations of peace are involved in profits of the death of civilians. This is happening as we go to buy bread at the supermarket, markets for selling cassava and rice are blown to bits, water-sources are getting scarce as these nations are hurt by droughts and dire need of secure agricultural productions, but that is not happening while the big-men are explicitly doing what they can to kill each other for POWER.

The innocent is dying at rapid speed. The livelihoods are dwindling away because the Presidents and Government together with rebels are destroying the nations in their reach of staying with titles, businesses and feeding their elites of the donor funds. This is the situation in Ethiopia, Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Adjumani Refugee Camp

We cannot let this happening while the fleeing civilians are going from one bad situation into another. If the Somalis think of fleeing to Ethiopia, they get into new trouble and Kenyan Government are busy deporting them to PoC sites inside Somalia. If you’re fleeing Ethiopia you have to cross the South Sudan and Sudan. Where the battles between the rivals continue and are bloody. The place of refuge right now is Northern Uganda, the war-torn parts that has had a decade of peace, but the locals are not getting land, but the refugees and businessmen. The reality is that the Government doesn’t have funds to allocate the Refugee camps in Adjumani where the UNICEF organization is lacking funds for support.

Together with the issues of Burundian refugees in Rwanda and Tanzania; the Burundian ones are safe in Tanzania, but still the UN operations doesn’t have the sufficient funds as there are more worry of what the Rwandese authorities do, as they want to send them away because the Burundian Authorities are claiming that Rwandese Government are training rebels to coup d’état against President Nkurunziza.

While the pulling out of ICC happens from Burundi, the Kenyan pulling troops from the UMISS, Ugandan negotiations in dialogue between the parties in Burundi and South Sudan; while the shallow relationships is to see how they all can grind monies out of the international community. The African Union complains to the European Union on payments for the soldiers, while the Ugandan and Burundian government eats of these funds, while the soldiers themselves thieving ammunition and gas to supply themselves with needed salaries.

All of this is happening while the Ethiopian Government has pulled out battalions out of certain areas in Somalia, as Kenyan have a strong force and feeling the pinch for being involved in the internal squabbles between Al-Shabaab, Government and Local-Government in war-torn nation. As Djibouti tries to live in peace, but get trained guerrillas from Eritrea and has built a railroad from Ethiopia so that the coastal state has giant ally on the Horn of Africa.

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So the civil wars, the skirmishes from governments towards civilians shouldn’t be happening without anyone doing something about it. The Ethiopian, Burundian, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and South Sudan are now all involved in similar business. The Troika of South Sudan is inactive and like a donor-friendly buddy to Kiir Government, but not certainly acting upon the violence and crimes against humanity. The Sudan government might be under sanctions and has issues with ICC charged President Bashir. Still, they are able to continue to fight civilians in the Darfur Region. The Somali Government feels more powerless as they are donor-friendly and need foreign support for basic operations, while the Al-Shabaab takes stake in every other region, as the Puntland, Galdumug and Somaliland has become more independent and making agreement on their own. As Somaliland have signed giant port-agreement to secure funding of the Civilian Government; also so they can function as nation on their own, though not respected as one from the international community.

This is just the beginning, and it’s not wonderful, it’s bleak… the warnings of GENOCIDE should worry the world in Burundi and South Sudan. But, the current silence, the mediocre attention and no-worries attitude. Is making me shiver and making me worried about the state of affairs in our time!

IGAD Plus

That there are such current state of affairs, the diplomatic works must be in tatters, the African Union is pointless, the East African Community is a Men’s Club for the Presidents, European Union are stooges for big-business, IGAD are Ethiopian skeleton for peaceful operations and the United Nations are powerless with no-mandate or real army to act upon the human rights violations or crimes against humanity if they are occurring.

It’s a reason why these nations want to withdraw from the Roman Statute if they can and still get donor-aid because the armies, laws and regulations of the civilians are massive breaches of international laws. The Geneva Conventions, the UN Charters and the other ones these Nations have signed into.

While the worst is having knowledge of the dying civilians in South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Burundi and Somalia as we speak, the silence and indifference… time to act; time for change and time get it on the agenda. Peace.

Burundi : “risque imminent de génocide” (Youtube-Clip)

“Le Burundi vient de quitter la CPI. On constate une évolution effrayante… Il parait qu’au Burundi, toutes les conditions sont là pour que soit mis en place un nettoyage ethnique par les autorités, il y a même un risque imminent de génocide.” (InternationalesTV, 2016).

President appeals for aid in the drought-stricken parts of Somalia (14.11.2016)

somaliland-drought

The president announced that the drought situation is very critical due to the delayed seasonal rains, drought has struck parts of Somalia, worst affected are Puntland and north western Somalia of Somaliland.

MOGADISHU, Somalia, November 14, 2016 –  HE Hassan Sheik Mohamud, the president of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), has appealed to Somali pubic and the international community to urgently help Somali people affected by the drought in parts of the country.

“I appeal to the Somali people, wherever they are all over the world to help and stand shoulder to shoulder with their suffering Somali people who lack food and water due to the drought in the country. The government will also take an important part. The Gu’ season has passed without rains with earlier rainy seasons failing. So, the Somali people need to help one another and help their brothers and sisterswith food and water.” said the president of the FGS, HE Hassan Sheik Mohamud.

The president has also appealed to the international community to aid the situation urgently as it is time for action.

“I also appeal to the international community to immediately come to the aid of the Somali people in the affected areas before the situation gets worsened, it is time that an actual interference is made and aid is delivered very urgently in particular drought stricken areas of the country.” The president has appealed.

The president said that the drought has widely affected the country, but some areas are worse than others. “the drought is everywhere but in particular the drought hardly hitthe north western and North Eastern regions of Somalia of Somaliland and Puntland, where many livestock have already been lost, with people starting dying, in both areas the drought is very critical” said HE Hassan Sheik Mohamud, the president the FGS.

The president announced that the drought situation is very critical due to the delayed seasonal rains, drought has struck parts of Somalia, worst affected are Puntland and north western Somalia of Somaliland.

Somali people all over the world had previously taken part in collecting donations to help Somali people affected by droughts and the Somali president expects the same donations by Somali people reaching out to their Somali brothers and sisters worst affected by droughts repeatedly hitting Somalia due to lack of seasonal rains. In addition, the international community should also take their part. The government will make every effort to ensure it contributes to the aid.