Category: Key Issues

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has visited war-weakened Burkina Faso to show solidarity with people who continue to welcome the displaced, despite grappling with their own insecurity, and said the world isn’t doing enough to help.

“The humanitarian crisis in the Sahel seems to me to be totally neglected. It is treated as being of little geopolitical importance,” Jolie told the Associated Press. “There’s a bias in the way we think about which countries and which people matter.”

While Burkina Faso has been battling a five-year Islamic insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State that’s killed thousands and displaced more than one million people, it is also hosting more than 22,000 refugees, the majority Malian.

As Special Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Jolie marked World Refugee Day on Sunday in Burkina Faso’s Goudoubo refugee camp in the Sahel, where she finished a two-day visit. She spoke with the camp’s Malian refugees and internally displaced people in the nation’s hard-hit Center-North and Sahel regions.

After 20 years of work with the U.N. refugee agency, Jolie told the AP the increasing displacement meant the world was on a “terrifying trajectory towards instability”, and that governments had to do something about the conflicts driving the vast numbers of refugees.

“Compared to when I began working with UNHCR twenty years ago, it seems like governments have largely given up on diplomacy … countries which have the least are doing the most to support the refugees,” she said.

“The truth is we are not doing half of what we could and should … to enable refugees to return home, or to support host countries, like Burkina Faso, coping for years with a fraction of the humanitarian aid needed to provide basic support and protection,” Jolie said.

Malians began fleeing to Burkina Faso in 2012 after their lives were upended by an Islamic insurgency, where it took a French-led military intervention to regain power in several major towns. The fighting has since spread across the border to Burkina Faso, creating the fastest growing displacement crisis in the world. Last month Burkina Faso experienced its deadliest attack in years, when gunmen killed at least 132 civilians in Solhan village in the Sahel’s Yagha province, displacing thousands.

The increasing attacks are stretching the U.N.’s ability to respond to displaced people within the country as well as the refugees it’s hosting.

“Funding levels for the response are critically low and with growing numbers of people forced to flee … the gap is widening,” UNHCR representative in Burkina Faso Abdouraouf Gnon-Konde told the AP.

The attacks are also exacerbating problems for refugees who came to the country seeking security.

“We insisted on staying (in Burkina Faso), (but) we stay with fear. We are too scared,” said Fadimata Mohamed Ali Wallet, a Malian refugee living in the camp. “Today there is not a country where there isn’t a problem. This (terrorism) problem covers all of Africa,” she said.

Source: Voice of America

Malawi’s government Tuesday announced a goal to eliminate malaria, a leading cause of death in the country, by 2030. The mosquito-spread parasitic disease accounts for about 15% of Malawi’s hospital admissions.

Speaking during a televised launch of a nationwide anti-malaria initiative known as ‘Zero Malaria Starts with Me’ campaign, President Lazarus Chakwera said statistics on malaria infection in the country are worrying.

He said malaria contributed about 36% of all out-patient department cases and 15% of all hospital admissions in Malawi.

“This creates a lot of work for our health workers and pressure on drugs in our public health facilities. And additionally, malaria remains the leading cause of death in Malawi claiming six lives every day,” said Chakwera.

President Chakwera said last year, Malawi registered 6.9 million malaria cases – more than a third of the total population — and lost 2,500 lives because of the disease. It killed more Malawians than any other disease, including COVID-19.

The Malawi leader said his administration is committed to do whatever it takes to create a malaria-free country.

“And admittedly this commitment cannot be government’s alone. Malaria is a collective problem that demands collective strategy,” said Chakwera. “By collective strategy I am referring to private sector players and development partners who need to put money where their mouth is and join their resources to ours so we finance this fight together.”

Chakwera announced what he called ‘ten commandments’ which would help in preventing and cure the disease.

These include, clearing all breeding grounds for mosquitoes, timely taking of prescribed malaria medication and sleeping under a mosquito net.

“My administration will distribute 9,258,645 mosquito nets in 25 districts, and also indoor residual spraying in the districts of Nkhata-bay, Nkhota-kota, Balaka and Mangochi,” said Chakwera. “Currently only 55% of Malawians sleep under mosquito nets, and we need to get to a 100% to prevail.”

The initiative is part of the global campaign to end Malaria by 2030.

The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, launched in 2005, is among the financiers of the campaign.

The program’s team leader in Malawi, Monica Batista, explained how malaria personally affected her.

“When I first started working for malaria, it was not a personal issue for me,” said Batista . “That all changed just six months ago when I lost a dear friend to malaria. Now the fight against malaria is personal for me. I understand what it feels like to lose a loved one to this preventable disease.”

She said the U.S. government has for the past 15 years contributed about $270 million towards malaria prevention and control activities in Malawi.

“The strides we have made against malaria, though significant, are delicate and incomplete,” said Batista. “To defeat malaria, we will need a more concerted effort among the private sector, the public sector and civil society together as a whole.”

She said the launch of Zero Malaria Starts with Me campaign serves as a call to action.

Source: Voice of America

When the polls were supposed to close Monday in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, election workers said turnout was better than expected, and voting had been conducted safely. 

But crowds of people still queued, and closing time was extended for hours. Election organizers said logistical problems such as missing poll workers or ballots and bad weather were to blame.

Many people waited all day to cast their ballot in Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s first electoral contest. The vote is widely expected to solidify his rule, despite the beleaguered Tigray region’s nonparticipation and the postponement of several other regions’ votes for security reasons.

“This is, maybe not the last, but a very important chance to transform to democracy,” said Yeshiwas Assefa, chair of Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice, the main opposition party.

The ruling Prosperity Party is widely expected to win the election, but Assefa said the new parliament could be the most diverse in Ethiopian history, with opposition candidates expected to win some seats.

But his office counted more than 200 election irregularity complaints Monday, ranging from missing ballots to observers being intimidated at the polls.

Eden Hagos, a 27-year-old receptionist, arrived at the polls at 3 a.m. to line up to vote. By 6 p.m., she was exhausted and hungry, and unsure how much longer she could wait.

“It was supposed to be my first time voting, and I was so excited,” she said, in a crowded, wet garden where hundreds of people still queued Monday evening. “But now, I’m angry.”

Ruling party support

As the sun went down, some other voters said they would wait as long as it took.

Ayalew Gebremichael, a 43-year-old fitness instructor, said in previous elections, opposition parties were repressed, and voters were pressured.

“This is different,” he said as the line snaked around a building. “It is more free and fair than the others.”

Up a small hill and closer to the ballot boxes, Masho Ayele, 27, and a mother of two, wore a black coronavirus face mask and a pink knit hat. She had been at the polls since 6 a.m. to vote but said she planned to wait all night if necessary.

“In my opinion,” she said, “this election is going to change my life.”

Ayele said she supports the prime minister and believes the country is already getting stronger under his rule. The election itself, she said, is evidence the country is growing more free, with poll workers telling voters to choose as they wish.

“In the past elections, they told me who to vote for, and I was scared,” she explained. “I did what they said.”

Conflict in Tigray

But there will be no voting at all in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray, which has been at war with the federal government for more than seven months.

The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced roughly 2 million. Civilians across the region have reported human rights abuses, like mass killings and rapes. The United Nations says 350,000 people are in danger of starving in a famine that is already under way.

At a traditional coffee shop in Addis Ababa, Habenyom Mekonen, a businessman from Tigray, said as a long-term resident, he can vote in the capital, but he refused to register.

“There is no party that represents us,” he explained.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) won local elections in Tigray last year in a ballot the federal government said was illegal. Then, after tensions deepened and war broke out, the government declared the TPLF a terrorist organization, making members ineligible to run, even if there was an election in Tigray.

Several other areas are postponing their votes until September, also because of conflicts, and in some cases, missing ballots.

Also missing are European Union observers who declined to attend after being denied permits to use their equipment in Ethiopia.

Analysts say if this election does, in fact, produce a more diverse government, achieving an enduring pluralistic democracy will take time.

“There are politicians who really believe in the electoral process,” said Kiya Tsegaye, a lawyer and political analyst. “There are also politicians who believe they can cling to power through shortcuts.”

Source: Voice of America

The Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) under the auspices of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has embarked on preliminary preparations for a Target Review for the Government of Kenya on the ‘Big Four’ Agenda.

A team drawn from the Continental APRM is in Mombasa in a sensitisation meeting with NEPAD/APRM Kenya for the Target Review.

Kenya will be reviewed in the ‘Big Four’ Agendas which include, Affordable housing, expansion of manufacturing and quality jobs, food security and nutrition and affordable healthcare for all.

The implementation of the Big Four Agenda aims at directing investments to the projects and policies that will accelerate economic growth and transform lives by creating jobs, enabling Kenyans to meet their basic needs, improve health standards, improve living conditions, lower cost of living, and reduce poverty and inequality under the agriculture, manufacturing, health and housing sectors.

In an interview with the media in Mombasa, Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD/APRM Kenya, Ambassador Dr. Samori Okwiya, commended the government for various development projects undertaken.

Okwiya commended the government for the milestone in implanting the agenda.

“The APRM targeted review mission will be assessing governance of our Big Four Agenda. In addition, Kenya would like its Targeted Review to also cover some of the cross-cutting governance issues that we believe are critical and can provide useful lessons for the entire APRM fraternity. These include the fight against corruption, diversity management, youth unemployment as well as gender inequality,” said Dr. Okwiya.

Okwiya also underscored the importance of good governance structures in the country and the government’s firm commitment to the APRM initiatives including the ongoing National Governance report which he said is soon to be submitted.

Besides the targeted review, Kenya is also implementing the County Peer Review Mechanism (CPRM) which aims at cascading APRM good governance principles to the subnational units in line with the APRM’s decisions taken in 2019.

“The mechanism will foster democracy and strengthen efficient service delivery at all levels of government,” he added.

The CEO said that following the review, the Country will be provided with important data after the Targeted Review that will help improve governance as well as highlighting strengths and challenges that the Country is experiencing during the implementation phase.

Speaking at the Mombasa Continental Hotel on Tuesday, APRM Chief Executive Officer, Professor Eddy Maloka, applauded President Uhuru Kenyatta for allowing the Country to be reviewed by fellow African Heads of States in 2017, saying he has shown good examples of principles of good governance.

Namibia, Djibouti, Zambia and Sierra Leone have had their countries undergo a Targeted Review. Other states expected are Uganda, Ghana and Senegal.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Arab League foreign ministers met Tuesday in Qatar, focusing on efforts to resolve the Nile River dam conflict between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. Egypt’s Foreign Minister said Cairo is seeking a diplomatic, not a military, solution to its dispute with Ethiopia over the filling of the dam, set to begin next month.

Arab League head Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdel Rahman bin Jassem al Thani talked to journalists Tuesday after Arab League foreign ministers met in Doha.

They said the group is calling on the U.N. Security Council to take up the water dispute between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

The league is trying to prevent a conflict when Ethiopia begins to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam again next month despite the absence of a water-use agreement with Egypt and Sudan.

Mediation efforts by the African Union have not made any tangible progress and both Egypt and Sudan have expressed concern that their national security will be adversely affected if Ethiopia proceeds with filling the dam.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told Arab media Monday that Cairo is still trying to exhaust all diplomatic channels with Ethiopia before resorting to other means.

He said Egypt is trying to reach a solution within the current negotiating framework, but if it fails and there is damage or a threat to the lives of Egyptians or Sudanese, then both countries have a responsibility to defend and protect their people.

Sudan’s Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas told a press conference Monday in Khartoum his country would approve the filling of the dam if Ethiopia enters into a binding agreement with both Sudan and Egypt.

He said Sudan is ready to accept a step-by-step agreement with Ethiopia if it will sign an accord including everything that has been agreed upon until now, including a guarantee that negotiations will continue within a finite period of time.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who repeatedly has insisted the filling of the dam will continue, as scheduled, at the start of July, said recently his country was not trying to use the dam to pressure its neighbors.

He said the dam is a sign of Ethiopia’s independence and through it, “we affirm that we have no behind-the-scenes colonialist project to use against our neighbors.” He added that Ethiopia is a “proud, independent country, and will continue to be so, forever.”

Egyptian political analyst Said Sadek told VOA that Ethiopia’s ruling party has been using the dam negotiations for “internal political considerations,” including uniting disparate ethnic factions within the country and rallying support ahead of upcoming elections.

He also believes Egyptian leaders will exhaust diplomatic means before taking more forceful action.

“Egypt is hesitant to jump into a war before fulfilling all the diplomatic channels so that anything that is done, at least we have legitimate international coverage, or we went through the channels of solving international problems peacefully and we failed,” Sadek said.

Paul Sullivan, a professor at the U.S. National Defense University in Washington, told VOA, “This is a very delicate and treacherous moment for negotiations,” and the situation could become “inflamed” if Ethiopia tries to fill the dam too quickly, causing water shortages in Egypt and Sudan.

“The situation is coming to a head, and what happens in the next few weeks could determine a lot,” he added.

Source: Voice of America