Day: January 6, 2022

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China to Appoint Horn of Africa Special Envoy

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has announced that Beijing will soon appoint a special envoy for the Horn of Africa. Wang’s announcement during a visit to Kenya on Thursday comes as the U.S. envoy to the Horn heads to Ethiopia, which has been struggling with over a year of war. The region has also seen setbacks from a coup in Sudan and an election stand-off in Somalia.

The visiting Chinese top diplomat said his country will appoint a special envoy to lead the peace process in the Horn of Africa.

Speaking in the coastal Kenyan city of Mombasa, Wang said his country will support the people of the Horn of Africa in finding peace.

He said it was important to have a consultation on equal footing and to put the destiny of this region firmly in its own people’s hands. He suggested countries in the region might convene a conference on the peace of the Horn of Africa. He added that in order to discuss this matter in depth, to share political consensus and to coordinate actions, China will appoint a special envoy to provide the necessary support for this process.

The plan to appoint a special envoy for a war-torn region is seen as part of China’s ambitious plan to play a role in the region’s politics and security.

The announcement comes as U.S. special envoy for the region Jeffrey Feltman is expected to visit Ethiopia in a renewed effort to end that country’s conflict.

China is among the countries suspected of supplying military hardware to the Ethiopian government, including drones.

Nasong’o Muliro, an international relations lecturer at the Technical University in Kenya, said China is turning from economic issues to military matters.

“Special representatives are not purely for trade. They do a lot of peace and security matters… But once China starts flexing its military power and having bases, then we may go to proxy wars,” Muliro said.

The U.S. Department of Defense, in its annual report to Congress on China’s military activities, said Beijing wants to establish military bases in Kenya and Tanzania, a claim denied by China.

Ethiopia is facing political instability after the government launched an offensive against rebels in the Tigray region in November 2020. The conflict has led to millions of people being displaced and tens of thousands dead. The 14-month-old war threatens to split the country.

Kenya’s Foreign Minister Raychelle Omamo said Wang and Kenyan officials also discussed trade issues during the foreign minister’s two-day visit.

“We signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) and the establishment of a working group will look into the issues of tariff and non-tariff barriers to Kenya-China trade and to fast-track and increase exports from Kenya to China. Both sides also concluded and signed two protocols to facilitate bilateral trade, particularly in the export of avocados and aquatic products from Kenya to China,” Omamo said.

The Chinese delegation visited the Kipevu oil terminal in Mombasa, which cost $400 million to build.

Chinese money accounts for 67% of Kenya’s external debt, and many Kenyans fear the country may lose control of key facilities like the Mombasa port if Kenya fails to repay the loans.

Source: Voice of America

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Ethiopia Dismisses Accusations of Abusing Repatriated Tigrayans from Saudi Arabia

Ethiopia’s government has dismissed a Human Rights Watch report that says authorities illegally detained, abused, and caused the forced disappearance of thousands of ethnic Tigrayans repatriated from Saudi Arabia.

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday lashed out at the Human Rights Watch report that accuses the state of targeting ethnic Tigrayans recently repatriated from Saudi Arabia.

The rights group’s report accused authorities of detaining, abusing, and causing thousands of Tigrayans to effectively vanish in a sweep against illegal migrants.

Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti called the report unsubstantiated and an irresponsible move that aimed to discredit the government’s efforts to help citizens returned by Saudi authorities.

“We have repatriated more than 40,000 Ethiopians from Saudi Arabia in just a couple of months regardless of which ethnic group that they belong to,” Mufit said, according to a transcript of the briefing.

Ethiopia in January 2021 announced it had agreed with Saudi Arabia to repatriate 40,000 of its citizens detained in the country at a rate of 1,000 per day.

Human Rights Watch’s report Wednesday said 40% of returnees from November 2020 to June 2021 were Tigrayan.

The report said from June to July Saudi Arabia deported more than 30,000 Ethiopian citizens just as authorities were targeting ethnic Tigrayans.

The group’s refugee and migrant rights researcher Nadia Hardman said the Tigrayan returnees were detained in various parts of Ethiopia, beaten, and subjected to forced labor.

“Ethiopian authorities are persecuting Tigrayans deported from Saudi Arabia by wrongfully detaining and forcibly disappearing them,” Hardman said. “Saudi Arabia should stop contributing to this abuse by ending the forced return of Tigrayans to Ethiopia and allowing them to seek asylum or resettlement in third countries.”

The rights group also called on Ethiopian authorities to immediately release detained migrants and to stop profiling ethnic Tigrayans.

The report was based on interviews Human Rights Watch conducted with 23 alleged victims of the abuse.

Since the war broke out in November 2020 between Ethiopian federal authorities and those in the Tigray region, the government has denied discriminating against or targeting ethnic Tigrayans.

But reports from inside Ethiopia indicate authorities have subjected ethnic Tigrayans to arbitrary detentions, dismissal from official positions, and travel restrictions.

Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu told the Reuters news agency there were no ethnic-based prison facilities or places for deportees from other countries.

But he acknowledged many Ethiopians were detained on suspicion of aiding what he called terrorists, the Ethiopian government’s term for the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front. The TPLF have long ruled the Tigray region and ran the federal government for three decades until they were ousted from power in 2018.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mufti on Thursday said Ethiopia plans to send a committee of officials, religious leaders, and other stakeholders to Saudi Arabia to discuss measures for its citizens who remain in detention.

Source: Voice of America

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Three Protesters Shot Dead in Sudan Anti-Military Rallies

Security forces shot dead three protesters and fired tear gas in Sudan on Thursday as crowds thronged Khartoum and other cities in more anti-military rallies, medics and other witnesses said.

At least 60 people have died and many more have been wounded in crackdowns on demonstrations since a coup in October that interrupted efforts to bring about democratic change, according to a group of medics aligned with the protest movement.

The people killed Thursday were all protesters and died from shots fired by security personnel during rallies in the cities of Omdurman and Bahri, across the River Nile from Khartoum, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said.

Protesters again tried to reach the presidential palace in the capital to keep up pressure on the military, whose coup halted a power-sharing arrangement negotiated after the 2019 overthrow of Omar al-Bashir.

There was no immediate comment from authorities, who have justified the coup as a “correction” needed to stabilize the transition. They have said peaceful protests are permitted and those responsible for causing casualties will be held to account.

In Omdurman, where several protesters have been killed in the past week, a protester said that security forces fired live rounds and tear gas and ran over several protesters with armored vehicles.

“There was incredible violence today. The situation in Omdurman has become very difficult. Our friends have died. This situation can’t please God,” he said, asking not to be named as some protesters have been arrested in recent days.

Khartoum State’s health ministry said that security forces raided Arbaeen Hospital in Omdurman, attacking medical staff and injuring protesters, and that the forces besieged Khartoum Teaching Hospital and fired tear gas inside it.

In Bahri, a witness saw forces use heavy tear gas and stun grenades, with some canisters landing on houses and a school as protesters were prevented from reaching the bridge to Khartoum.

As in previous demonstrations, mobile phone and internet services were largely cut from late morning, Reuters journalists and Netblocks, an internet blockage observatory, said.

Most bridges connecting Khartoum with Bahri and Omdurman were closed. Images of protests in other cities including Gadarif, Kosti and Madani were posted on social media.

Kept back from palace

The Forces of Freedom and Change coalition, which had been sharing power with the military before the coup, called on the U.N. Security Council to investigate what it described as intentional killings and raids of hospitals.

In Khartoum, protesters tried to reach the presidential palace, but security forces advanced toward them, firing frequent volleys of tear gas, a witness told Reuters.

Some protesters wore gas masks, while many wore medical masks and other face coverings, and several brought hard hats and gloves in order to throw back tear gas canisters.

Protesters barricaded roads with rocks, bricks and branches as they marched toward downtown Khartoum and security forces approached from more than one side.

Motorcycles and rickshaws could be seen taking away injured protesters.

The protests, the first of several rounds of demonstrations planned for this month, came four days after Abdalla Hamdok resigned as prime minister.

Hamdok became prime minister in 2019 and oversaw major economic reforms before being deposed in the coup and returning in a failed bid to salvage the power-sharing arrangement.

“We came out today to get those people out. We don’t want them running our country,” said Mazin, a protester living in Khartoum, referring to the military.

Hamdok’s return and resignation did not matter, he said, adding, “We are going to continue regardless.”

Source: Voice of America