#President of the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia

[zvaigzdelasas]

International recognition has been a long-sought goal for Somaliland, a region in northern Somalia that has enjoyed de facto independence since 1991. But the groundbreaking agreement has created shockwaves in the region and fury in Somalia, which views it as a hostile violation of Somalia’s sovereignty.[...]

While Somaliland insists that recognition has already been agreed upon and settled, Addis Ababa has been reluctant to firmly address the matter of statehood. In a published communique, the government said it had yet to formally recognise Somaliland. But social media posts by Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Mesganu Arga this week appear to support Somaliland’s interpretation of the deal.

The ambiguity of the messaging continues to fuel speculation. A draft of the agreement has yet to be published, but all indications suggest that it would all but nullify a 2018 tripartite treaty cementing ties between Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, details of which were similarly never made public.[...]

Domestically, conflict with Faro militiamen in Amhara and unrest in Oromia has weakened key support bases for Abiy. Failure to make payments on Ethiopia’s eurobonds at the end of 2023 has also heightened pressure on the prime minister.[...]

There are also domestic woes in Somaliland, which has known relative stability for decades. The enclave is struggling with an uprising by local clan militia who pushed its forces out of the disputed town of Las Anod in August.[...]

Diplomatic ties between them date back to the 1980s when Ethiopia supported Somaliland rebel fighters who helped win its de facto independence in 1991, the same year Ethiopia became landlocked after Eritrea’s successful war of independence. Ethiopia continued to use Eritrea’s Red Sea ports until the two states severed ties and fought a 1998-2000 border war, which killed 70,000 people. Since then, Ethiopia has used Djibouti’s port as its main trade conduit, but the billions Djibouti is believed to charge Ethiopia annually in port fees has had it exploring alternatives in Sudan, Somaliland and Kenya since the mid-2000s.

Agreements between Ethiopia and Somaliland over the use of its Berbera port date as far back as 2005, but issues including logistics and potential harm to relations with Mogadishu have prevented Addis Ababa from implementing a wholesale shift from Djibouti. In 2017, Ethiopia acquired shares in Berbera port as part of a deal involving Emirati logistics management company DP World to expand the port and turn it into a lucrative trade gateway catering to the needs of 119 million Ethiopians. At the time, Somalia denounced the deal as illegal. Ethiopia did not follow through on commitments and eventually lost its stake by 2022.[...]

After Somali independence in 1960 and until the end of the Cold War, the status of Ethiopia’s Somali region, its second largest by area, has been hotly contested between the two countries. The region, also known as Ogaden, is home to ethnic Somalis, who make up about 7 percent of Ethiopia’s population. It has witnessed numerous conflicts. One was the Ogaden War from 1977 to 1978, which killed tens of thousands of people before Ethiopia, with the assistance of Soviet military advisers and Cuban troops, reasserted dominance over the land.

Under the governments of Ethiopia’s Mengistu Hailemariam and Somali President Siad Barre [supported during the war by the US], both countries supported rebel factions in each other’s countries, which would go on to weaken and eventually lead to the overthrow of both leaders by 1991.

Somalia has never regained the stability it knew during the Barre era. [...] A considerable segment of Ethiopian troops has been part of the African Union peacekeeping mission mandated to fight the rebels in Somalia. Their semi-permanent presence in the country since 2006 has fuelled further resentment.[...]

“It’s possible that the UAE, which has cordial relations with both Ethiopia and Somaliland, may have encouraged the parties to proceed with the deal,”[...]

Meanwhile, Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip has had a ripple effect, including most recently, Houthi rebel attacks on ships in the Red Sea, impacting the strategic Bad al-Mandeb Strait [just off Somaliland's coast]

4 Jan 24

[humanrightsupdates]

This week, Ethiopian authorities dropped all charges and released Abdi Mohamoud Omar, also known as “Abdi Illey,” the former president of Ethiopia’s Somali region, after serving more than five years in prison. The action is a setback to ending impunity for crimes involving senior officials.

State media reported that Ethiopia’s Ministry of Justice took the action for the “sake of public interest.”

Federal officials initially arrested Abdi Illey in 2018 for “violations of human rights and inciting ethnic and religious conflict in the Somali region,” and charged him in 2019 for his role during his last days in office, when Somali youth groups loyal to him and Somali regional special forces, called the “Liyu police,” attacked non-Somali groups. The charges also covered the destruction of churches and property in the Somali regional capital of Jigjiga.

But the authorities never brought charges against Abdi Illey for crimes during his decade of abusive rule.

As regional security chief in 2006, and president from 2010-2018, Abdi Illey oversaw and commanded the Liyu police. Human Rights Watch documented that the Liyu police frequently committed serious rights abuses against civilians throughout the Somali region during counterinsurgency campaigns, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and rape, as well as reprisals against local communities. (Human Rights Watch)

[swldx]

Voice of America 0340 14 Nov 2024

6080Khz 0328 14 NOV 2024 - VOICE OF AMERICA (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) in ENGLISH from MOPENG HILL. SINPO = 35333. English, "Daybreak Africa" in progress. @0328z trailer for "Africa in Brief" and another music program. @0330z "WorldWide News Update" anchored by Joe Ramsey. § U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returned triumphantly to Washington on Wednesday, pledging a smooth transition of power in January as he met for two hours at the White House with his longtime political rival, President Joe Biden. Trump also met with Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives. Republicans hold a narrow majority in the chamber in the current Congress and are nearing a slight majority control in the Congress set to be sworn in Jan. 3, but the outcome of more than a dozen House elections remains uncertain. § A man who worked for the U.S. government has been charged with leaking classified information assessing Israel's earlier plans to attack Iran, according to court papers filed Wednesday. The man, identified as Asif William Rahman, was arrested by the FBI this week in Cambodia and was due to make his first court appearance in Guam. § Voters in Somaliland flocked to the polls on Wednesday to choose a president at a time when the breakaway Somali region sees international recognition within reach after three decades of de facto self-rule. Somaliland, which occupies a strategic location at the juncture of the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, declared independence from the Mogadishu government in 1991. It has not been recognised by any country, restricting access to international finance and the ability of its six million people to travel. The presidential candidates differ on domestic issues, but both have expressed support for the pact with Ethiopia. Mohamed A. Mohamoud, Somaliland's representative to Kenya, told reporters that the government would finalise the deal after the election, regardless of who wins. § The decline in U.S. drug overdose deaths appears to have continued this year, giving experts hope the nation is seeing sustained improvement in the persistent epidemic. There were about 97,000 overdose deaths in the 12-month period that ended June 30, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. That's down 14% from the estimated 113,000 for the previous 12-month period. @0335z "International Edition" begins, anchored by male announcer. MLA 30 amplified loop (powered w/8 AA rechargeable batteries ~10.8vdc), JRC NRD-535D. 100kW, beamAz 350°, bearing 84°. Received at Plymouth, MN, United States, 14087KM from transmitter at Mopeng Hill. Local time: 2128.

[saxafimedianetwork]

United Kingdom Shows Strong Sympathy For The Affected In Hargeisa’s Waaheen Market Fire

In what appears to be the highest tribute the PM @BorisJohnson has yet made to the people of #Somaliland & their resilience in the face of adversity, the PM showed hope that people will overcome this disaster as they did more awesome challenges before. #HargeisaMarketFire

(more…)

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 4/6/21

by Kyle Anzalone

Great Power

The US is calling on Russia to explain why it moved troops inside of Russia’s borders. [Link]

Ukraine’s President says the only way to end the country’s civil war is by moving towards NATO membership. [Link]

Western powers are looking to deploy short and medium-range missiles within striking distance of Russian air defense systems. Russia says it will take countermeasures if the missiles are deployed. [Link]

The US moves an aircraft carrier into the South China Sea as China and the Philippines argue over a disputed reef. [Link]

Afghanistan

Peace talks in Afghanistan will consider 25 different proposals from various groups. [Link]

At least 48 people were killed during fighting in southern Afghanistan over the weekend. [Link]

Middle East

Israeli forces murder a Palestinian man who was driving towards a checkpoint. The soldiers claim they feared for their lives. The man’s wife – who was in the car when the soldiers killed her husband – says he was not trying to harm anyone. [Link]

Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany are holding indirect talks between the US and Iran. [Link]

Turkey arrested ten admirals for signing a letter in support of the Montreux Convention. The convention limits the ships that can enter the Black Sea through the existing straits. Turkey is planning to build a canal and it claims the canal will not be subject to the agreement. [Link]

Two months ago, Biden said he would be ending US support for offensive Saudi operations in Yemen. However, two months later Saudi is continuing to wage the war and the US is still supporting the blockade. [Link]

Africa

Al-Shabaab carried out attacks on two Somali Army bases. Shortly after the attacks, ten people were killed by a suicide bomber in Mogadishu. [Link]

Ethiopia says Eritrean forces have started to withdraw from Tigray. [Link]

The State Department is looking into alleged atrocities that occurred in Tigray. [Link]

Militants killed four UN Peacekeepers in northern Mali. About 20 of the attackers were also killed. [Link]

At least four members of the Burkina Faso security forces were killed in an ambush. [Link]

Gunmen attacked a prison in Nigeria, freeing over 1,800 people. [Link]

At least 40 people were killed in ethnic clashes in Sudan. Clashes between these groups killed over 100 earlier this year. [Link]

Read More

[rasackyousof]

KACAAN | There was no choice.

Half a century ago, on 21st October, 1969, following the death of former Somali president, the Somali National Army took over power filling a political and institutional vacuum brought about by internal turmoil, incompetence and a corrupt government.

The October revolution was the beginning of a new era, which many consider the golden age of the modern Somali nation, the end of which was, nevertheless, disastrous.

The Mastermind

The October revolution (better known as The KACAAN) was engineered and led by Major General Mohamed Siad Barre.

Barre was born in Shiilaabo, in what is now the Somali State of Ethopia, in about 1910. S. Barre travelled to Lugh and Mogadishu in the then Somalia Italiana for what formal schooling he had and later joined the Corpo Zaptie, Polizia Africana Italiana.

After British Commonwealth forces overran the Italian colony early in 1941, S. Barre went on a course run by the King's African Rifles at Kabetti, in Kenya, and thereafter was employed in the special branch of the British Colonial Police, which took control of the Corpo Zaptie. This experience was his introduction to political intrigue, at which he proved adept. He rose to the highest rank then possible for an indigenous Somali.

In 1949, when Italy was granted United Nations Trusteeship over Somalia to prepare for independence after 10 years, S. Barre was awarded a two-year scholarship to the Carabinieri Police College in Italy, and thereafter he attended courses in politics and administration in Mogadishu. He was the first Somali to be commissioned as a full police officer.

When Somalia's own police force was formed, S. Barre had won accelerated promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General of Police. Barre opted for the Somali National Army on its formation in April 1960. He was one of its deputy commanders and was promoted to succeed the Commander-in-Chief when the latter died in 1965.

The Revolution

On 15 October 1969, Somalia's second president, H.E. Abdirashid Ali Sharmake, was assassinated in the town of Las-Anod in northern Somalia by a policeman whilst touring a drought-stricken area.

In a stark breach of the constitution of the newly founded State, several members of the parliament recommended that a candidate belonging to the same sub-clan as the assassinated president should inherit the post. It was agreed that Haji Muse Boqor, a Mogadishu businessman and close relative of the late president, be elected. As a result of the rampant corruption and vote-buying culture prevalent at the time, a bidding war was initiated where corrupt candidates were bidding on the price of the presidency. Not surprisingly, Haji Muse Bogor was leading the group (with a payment approximated at £4,000, according to some). A deal was struck and the parliament was set to vote for the fixed candidate in exchange for promised bribe, promising a continuation of the status quo.

The days following the assassination of the president were a clear demonstration of incompetence and a total chaos, diminishing the support and the trust the public had in the venal government. The ineptitude and endemic corruption practices not only aggravated the majority of the Somali population but the armed forces as well. It became clear that the nation was in a dire need of salvation.

In the early morning of 21 October 1969, the date which was set for the parliament to convene and present the presidency to the agreed candidate, Haji Muse Boqor, Somalia’s military intervened and seized all the strategic points in the capital and the main streets, immediately arresting all the members of parliament, several politicians linked to tribal chiefs or foreign interests and the lobbyists.

On 24 October, in a broadcasted speech, General S. Barre explained the reason behind the take-over:

"I would like to state clearly the reason for the take-over of the country by Armed Forces. I want our people to know that everything is going on as usual and that no problems have arisen as a result of the Revolution. The entire country is in the hands of the National Army and the Police Force. Intervention by Armed Forces was inevitable. It was no longer possible to ignore the evil things like corruption, bribery, nepotism, theft of public funds, injustice and disrespect to our religion and the laws of the country. The laws were thrust aside and people did whatever they wanted. No group or family can live happily if they do not respect their laws and regulations. There will be no development or any sort of progress for a nation if the laws of the country are forgotten. The corruption has culminated in the assassination of prominent leaders of the country. Somalia was on the point of collapse, not economically and politically alone, but disaster threatened historically and nationally as well. If we look back on recent events in the country, we will see how a peaceful land was changing to violence. Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the late president, was assassinated by a simple soldier who did not know him and who had no quarrel with him. We will not give a chance to wrong doers and law breakers.

We will abolish bribery, nepotism and tribalism. Tribalism was the only way in which foreigners got their chance of dividing our people. We will close all roads used by colonialists to enter our country and into our affairs. We will build up a great Somali nation, strongly united and welded together to live in peace. We will make sure the people respect the Islamic religion, if necessary, by all the force and strength we have. We will make Somalia a respected country in its internal and external policies. I would like to ask all Somalis to come out and build their nation, a strong nation, to use all their efforts, energy, wealth and brains in developing their country. At all costs avoid begging. The Imperialists, who always want to see people in hunger, disease and ignorance, will oppose us in order that we may beg them. They will spread many types of lies to try to misinterpret our noble aims and objectives.

They will try to persuade the world, and even other African states, to believe their lies. Apart from these lies, they will call us many evil names. They are, at present, collecting arms, money and many other necessary things for them to work against us. We are very happy and thankful to see the unity of the Armed Forces and the Somali population. The nation has given us true support for which we are very grateful. Nothing will harm us if we go on supporting each other for the sake of our country and nation. Lets us join hands in crushing the enemy of our land." - Barre, 1969

Notable Achievements

The Supreme Revolutionary Council established large-scale public works programs and successfully implemented an urban and rural literacy campaign, which helped dramatically increase the literacy rate. In addition to a nationalization program of industry and land, the new regime's foreign policy placed an emphasis on Somalia's traditional and religious links with the Arab world, eventually joining the Arab League (AL) in 1974. That same year, General Barre also served as chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU).

One of the principal objectives of the revolutionary regime was the adoption of a standard national writing system. Shortly after coming to power, Barre introduced the Somali language (Af Soomaali) as the official language of education, and selected the modified Latin script developed by the Somali linguist Shire Jama Ahmed as the nation's standard orthography. In 1972, all government employees were ordered to learn to read and write Somali within six months. The reason given for this was to decrease a growing rift between those who spoke the colonial languages, and those who didn't.

The Downfall

Part of Barre's time in power was characterized by oppressive dictatorial rule, including persecution, jailing and torture of political opponents and dissidents.

By the mid-1980s, more resistance movements supported by Ethiopia's communist Derg administration had sprung up across the country. Barre responded by ordering punitive measures against the clans he perceived as locally supporting the guerillas, especially in the northern regions. The clampdown included bombing of cities, with the northwestern administrative center of Hargeisa, a Somali National Movement (SNM) stronghold, among the targeted areas in 1988. The bombardment was led by General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan, Barre's son-in-law, and resulted in the deaths of many civillians in the north.

Other Ethiopian-backed rebels who fought Barre's regime include; SSDF, USC and SPM, all of which were clan-based rebellion.

Eventually, the rebels, who lacked a shared post-Barre vision for the country, succeeded in ousting Barre and forced him out of the capital, throwing the country into chaos and civil war.

Barre's regime came to an end on 26th January, 1991.

My Note

Even though the Somali people have grown widely apart and portions of our history may be considered as contentious, and sometimes polarising, we should preserve every bit of our history, celebrate the positive, learn from the negative and use it to build a better future for the generations to come.

[rightsinexile]

News on Countries of Origin

Africa

DRC unrest sparks concerns about regional refugee crisis

BURKINA FASO: Hundreds of thousands flee escalating violence, humanitarian crisis grows 

BURUNDI: Political violence increases ahead of next year’s elections

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: UN assists thousands of Congolese returning home from Angola to relative security in Kasai 

ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia mourns dead after ethnic violence breaks out

Uptick in church burnings raises alarm in Ethiopia

Ethiopia deploys troops to calm days of deadly unrest

NIGERIA: Thousands missing in Nigeria after a decade of conflict

SOMALIA

As drought compounds security woes, Somalis flee to Ethiopia

World in Progress: Somalia's climate refugees (audio)

UGANDA: Attacks on LGBT+ Ugandans rising after minister proposes death for gay sex

Americas

CHILE: Chilean Protesters Report Sexual Assault by Military and Riot Police

Asia

AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan struggles to find housing for returning refugees

CHINA

China toughens ban on Tibetan religious activity

China continues to seperate Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim children from their families

Human rights lawyers estimate 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans have been killed for their organs since 2001

INDIA: Arbitrary detentions and beatings in Jammu and Kashmir continue

MYANMAR

UN: Unsafe for Rohingya refugees to return to Myanmar, systematic persecution continues

Military atrocities “relentless and ruthless” in Myanmar’s northern Shan state

Myanmar army suspected of torching of Rakhine village

UN experts concerned by incommunicado detention and torture of ethnic Rakhine men and boys

Myanmar detains Rohingya Muslims for attempting to travel from Rakhine State

SRI LANKA: Hundreds of Sri Lankan asylum seekers try new routes across Indian Ocean 

Middle East

EGYPT

AI: Torture of activist Alaa Abdel Fattah illustrates use of extreme brutality to crush dissent

Largest wave of mass arrests in Egypt since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power

IRAN: Revolutionary Court sentences journalists and activists to up to 18 years in jail after peaceful worker protests

IRAQ 

Dozens of Iraqi journalists blacklisted on social networks, endangering their safety

Iraqi security forces use excessive and lethal force to disperse Karbala protests

LIBYA: No justice against long list of serious abuses well beyond torture and arbitrary detention

SYRIA

UN Inquiry finds escalating violence against civilians during eighth year of war 

Renewed Turkish assault leaves families stranded at Iraq border

New humanitarian crisis in northern Syria disrupts semblance of stability 

LGBTQ+ resettled Syrian refugees face family discrimination on coming out

YEMEN: In pictures: Living through the Yemen war as an IDP

[somalipride5-blog]

Somali Region (Ogaden)

Somali regional state is considered as one of the most peaceful and politically stable in Ethiopia since the new president come to power but the question many ask is what are the chances that this hard earn stability pattern will last? Most of the people are very worried of the continues EPRDF interference and manipulation of our internal regional issues at a time the leaders are expected to…

[stillevann]

The 10 Most Dangerous Places to Be a Christian

January 16, 2019 by Lindy Lowry in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Stories of Persecution

The Christian persecution we read about in Scripture and history books is not a thing of the past. It still exists. Today, in the 21st century, we are living in a time when persecution against Christian believers is the highest in modern history. According to Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List—an in-depth investigative report focusing on global Christian persecution—persecution is increasing at an alarming rate. Below, we look at the world’s 10 most dangerous places to be a Christian—countries where saying “yes” to following Jesus is truly a life-or-death decision.

1. North Korea Ranks No. 1 for 18th Consecutive Year on World Watch List

For three generations, everything in this isolated country has focused on idolizing the leading Kim family. Christians are seen as hostile elements in society that must be eradicated. There was hope that new diplomatic efforts in 2018—including the 2018 Winter Olympics—would mean a lessening of pressure and violence against Christians. But so far that has not been the case. In fact, reports indicate that local authorities are increasing incentives for anyone who exposes a Christian in their community. If Christians are discovered, not only are they deported to labor camps or even killed on the spot, their families to the fourth generation share their fate as well. Communal worship is non-existent. Daring to meet other Christians for worship is a risky feat that must be done in utmost secrecy. Yet Open Doors estimates the number of Christians in North Korea to be 300,000 strong—believers who are defying the unjust regime and following Jesus.

2. Afghanistan—Where Christianity Is Not Permitted to Exist

Photo credit: IMB.ORG

Afghanistan is once again a close second behind North Korea on the 2019 World Watch List. An Islamic state by constitution, the country does not permit any faith other than Islam to exist. To convert to a faith outside Islam is tantamount to treason because it’s seen as a betrayal of family, tribe and country. Very often, there is only one possible outcome for exposed and caught Christians: death. In Afghanistan converts are considered literally insane to leave Islam. As a result, some may end up in a psychiatric hospital and have their homes destroyed. In addition to communal pressure, the security situation continues to deteriorate due to the influx of foreign militants who have pledged allegiance to ISIS. And the radical Islamic Taliban have also increased in strength; at least half of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces are either ruled or contested by the Taliban. Afghan Christians (mostly those with a Muslim background) are in hiding as much as possible.

Watch the 2019 World Watch List video

3.Christians Are High-Value Targets in Somalia

Estimates suggest that 99 percent of Somalis are Muslims, and any minority religions are heavily persecuted. The Christian community is small and under constant threat of attack. In fact, persecution of Christians almost always involves violence. Additionally, in many rural areas, Islamic militant groups like al-Shabab are de facto rulers who regard Christians with a Muslim background as high-value targets—often killed on the spot when discovered. In recent years, the situation appears to have worsened. Islamic militants have intensified their hunt for people who are Christian and in a position of leadership. An attempt to reopen a church in Hargeisa, Somaliland, failed; the government was forced to shut it down due to pressure from the local Islamic population. In the World Watch List 2019 reporting period, Christians in Somalia remained so vulnerable to attacks by Islamic militants that in the interests of security, Open Doors could publish no specific examples of persecution.

4.Believers in Libya Face Deadly Violence

After the ouster of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Libya plunged into chaos and anarchy, which has enabled various Islamic militant groups to control parts of the country. Libyan converts to Christianity face abuse and violence for their decision to follow Christ. The country is also home to many migrant workers who have been attacked, sexually assaulted and detained, which can be even worse if your Christian faith is discovered. Libyan Christians with a Muslim background face extremely violent and intense pressure from their family and the wider community to renounce their faith. Believers from other parts of the continent are also targeted by various Islamic militant groups and organized criminal groups. Few will forget the horrifying video of Egyptian workers martyred by ISIS militants on the coast of Libya. The level of violence against Christians in Libya is very high, and Christians in Libya are subjected to violent, inhumane and degrading treatment.

5.Christians in Pakistan Live With Open Discrimination and Constant Threat of Mob Attacks

Under Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws, Christians continue to live in daily fear they will be accused of blasphemy—which can carry a death sentence. The most well-known example of these laws is the case of Asia Bibi. After sitting on death row for more than 10 years, the Christian wife and mother was acquitted of blasphemy charges in October however her life is still in grave danger from radical Islamists that have gained increasing political power in the world’s sixth-largest country. For that reason, the new ruling government must maintain good diplomatic relationships with some radical groups. Christians are largely regarded as second-class citizens, and conversion to Christianity from Islam carries a great deal of risk. An estimated 700 girls and women abducted each year are often raped and then forcefully married to Muslim men in the community, usually resulting in forced conversions. While traditional, historical churches have relative freedom for worship, they are heavily monitored and have regularly been targeted for bomb attacks (for example, the Quetta attack in December 2017 on Bethel Memorial Methodist Church). In Pakistan, all Christians suffer from institutionalized discrimination. Occupations seen as low, dirty and derogatory are officially reserved for Christians. Many Christians are very poor, and some are victims of bonded labor. On the other hand, many Christians belong to Pakistan’s middle class; however, this does not save them from being marginalized or persecuted.

6.Christian Converts in Sudan Targeted for Persecution

Sudan has been ruled as an Islamic state by the authoritarian government of President al-Bashir since 1989. Under his charge, the country offers limited rights for religious minorities and places heavy restrictions on freedom of speech or press. The last year has been difficult for Christians in many ways. There have been arrests; many churches have been demolished and others are on an official list awaiting demolition. And many Christians are attacked indiscriminately in areas like the Nuba Mountains where there is an ongoing conflict between government forces and rebel groups. Christian converts from Islam are especially targeted for persecution. So to keep from being discovered, converts will often refrain from raising their children as Christians because this might attract the attention of the government and community leaders (since children might inadvertently reveal their parents’ faith).

7.Christians Imprisoned in Shipping Containers in Eritrea

Since 1993, President Afwerki has overseen an authoritarian brutal regime that rests on massive human rights violations. During the 2019 World Watch List reporting period, government security forces conducted many house-to-house raids and imprisoned hundreds of Christians in inhumane conditions, including small shipping containers in scorching heat. Protestants, in particular, face serious problems in accessing community resources, especially social services provided by the State. Christians from non-traditional church groups, such as evangelicals, face the harshest persecution. In 2018, Eritrea embraced an end to hostility with both Ethiopia and Somalia. How that agreement will play out for the situation of Christians remains to be seen. This extreme pressure and state-sanctioned violence are forcing some Christians to flee Eritrea–often called “Africa’s North Korea”–and seek asylum.

8.Believers in Yemen Especially Vulnerable in Civil War and Famine

An ongoing civil war in Yemen has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent memory, making an already difficult nation for Christians to live in even harder. The chaos of war has enabled radical groups to take control over some regions of Yemen, and they have increased persecution of Christians. Even private worship is risky in some parts of the country. Christians are suffering from the general humanitarian crisis in the country, but Yemeni Christians are additionally vulnerable since emergency relief is mostly distributed through Islamic organizations and local mosques, which are allegedly discriminating against all who are not considered to be pious Muslims. Converts to Christianity from Islam face additional persecution from family and society. In Yemen, the small church is composed mostly of Yemeni Christians with a Muslim background who must live their faith in secret. They face persecution from the authorities (including detention and interrogation), their families, and radical Islamic groups who threaten converts with death if they don’t denounce Christ and re-convert.

9.Illegal to Convert, Illegal to Preach in Iran

In this gateway to the Middle East, Christians are forbidden from sharing their faith with non-Christians. Therefore, church services in Persian, the national language, are not allowed. Converts from Islam undergo persecution from the government; if they attend an underground house church, they face the constant threat of arrest. Iranian society is governed by Islamic law, which means the rights and job possibilities for Christians are heavily restricted. The government sees them as an attempt by Western countries to undermine Islam and the Islamic regime of Iran. Leaders of groups of Christian converts have been arrested, prosecuted and have received long prison sentences for “crimes against the national security.” In December, to crack down on Christians sharing their faith, Iranian police arrested 100 Christians in one week, making a blatant statement to both Christians and Muslims. Iran is also infamous for its prisons and inhumane treatment of Christians in places like Evin Prison where well-known house church pastor Yousef Nardarkhani is serving a 10-year sentence.

10.Unprecedented Christian Persecution in India

In the world’s second most populous country, Christians saw unprecedented persecution on numerous fronts from both the State and general Hindu society. For the first time, India enters the top 10 on the World Watch List, jumping one spot from No. 11 in 2017. Home to more than a billion people, even an incremental rise in persecution yields an exponential impact. Since the current ruling party took power in 2014, Hindu extremists have fueled a crackdown on Christian house churches and have attacked believers with impunity—believing that to be Indian is to be Hindu. So any other faith is viewed as non-Indian. In rural areas, Christians were told that one church would be closed down every week because they have been “destroying” local tradition and culture by “luring” others to convert to Christianity. And it is common for Christians to be cut off from local water supplies and be denied access to government-subsidized groceries. In India, saying “yes” to Jesus has become a risky decision that costs you and your family greatly.

To read more about these countries and the remaining 40 countries on Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List, click here to see the list and download the full report. To help you pray with these believers, Open Doors has a mobile prayer app that alerts you to prayer requests from believers. Learn more about it and sign up to get regular updates delivered to your phone.

[zvaigzdelasas]

Chinese foreign ministers have traditionally marked the new year by visiting the African continent. Wang Yi’s 2022 African tour begins with Eritrea against the backdrop of the US strategy in the Horn of Africa to gain control of the strategically vital Red Sea that connects the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal.

Eritrea and China are close friends. China was a supporter of the Eritrean liberation movement since the 1970s. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, the veteran revolutionary who led the independence movement, received military training in China.

More recently, Eritrea was one of the 54 countries backing Beijing’s Hong Kong policy (against 39 voicing concern in a rival Western bloc) at the UN General Assembly in October 2020.

Last November, Eritrea signed a memorandum of understanding with China to join the Belt and Road Initiative. Neighboring Djibouti is already a major participant in the BRI. So is Sudan along the Red Sea coastline.

Central to regional cohesion in the Horn of Africa is the relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It has been a conflict-ridden, troubled relationship, but China, which also has close ties with Ethiopia, is well placed to mediate reconciliation.[...]

the politico-military axis between Ethiopia and Eritrea to take on the TPLF proved to be the decisive factor. China encouraged the rapprochement between Addis Ababa and Asmara.

In effect, the two leaderships understood that they have a congruence of interests in thwarting the TPLF, which is an American proxy to destabilize their countries and trigger regime changes.

Washington is mighty displeased that China’s influence in Djibouti is on the rise and resents that the Marxist Eritrean regime of Isaias Afwerki keeps the US at arm’s length.

The Horn of Africa is of great strategic importance, and Ethiopia sits at its heart. Destabilize Ethiopia and impact the whole region; install a dictatorial expansionist ethnocentric regime (TPLF); sow division and poison the atmosphere of mutual understanding and cooperation that is being built within the region – this is the neocolonial agenda. [...]

The widespread revulsion among Africans all over the continent is palpable over the US using its TPLF proxy to destabilize Ethiopia. Their collective cry is “No more” – no more colonialism, no more sanctions, no more disinformation, no more lies by CNN, BBC, etc. The cry resonates widely among the Ethiopians, Eritreans, Sudanese, Somalis, Kenyans and friends of Ethiopia.

The paradox is, Ethiopia now has a democratically elected government after decades of thuggery under the TPLF that ruled with an iron fist for more than 30 years with US backing [...]

In geopolitical terms, Washington would see many advantages in the destabilization of Ethiopia as it would trigger a multi-vector regional conflagration, as happens when multi-ethnic nations unravel – such as the former Yugoslavia or today’s India or Russia.

And neighboring countries would be inevitably sucked into ethnic wars such as Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya – and even Egypt and Persian Gulf states.

The fact that the UAE, Turkey and Iran – improbable allies – are supporting Abiy’s desperate effort to preserve Ethiopia’s sovereignty and national cohesion and helped boost his military campaign to ward off another attempt by the US-backed TPLF to capture power speaks volumes.

In this matrix, while the US aims to dominate the hugely strategic Horn of Africa, “Plan B” will be to be the spoiler by throwing the region into turmoil so that China is also a loser. The point is, the Western world has no answer to China’s BRI.

China and Ethiopia have a strong political affinity and deep economic bonds, and Ethiopia is one of China’s top five investment destinations on the African continent. Beyond investment, relations extend to trade, infrastructure finance and other areas. Economic engagement with China has provided Ethiopia with many opportunities.

Curiously, even prior to the advent of the BRI, China was already a major financier of Ethiopia’s infrastructure. Chinese investment in the manufacturing sector – incidentally, one of the Abiy government’s focus areas currently – has contributed to the country’s economic transformation and diversification and to job creation. [...]

Simply put, if there is mayhem in Ethiopia, the locomotive of China’s BRI in the vast regions of the Horn of Africa and East Africa can potentially be slowed down, if not derailed. That is the least the US can do, faced with the grim prospect that it has no alternative offer to make to the African nations to counter the BRI.

If the BRI locomotive chugs along unimpeded, the entire Western neocolonial project in Africa in the 21st century is threatened with extinction.

The existential angst shows in the Joe Biden administration’s announcement on New Year’s Eve terminating Ethiopia’s access to the US duty-free trade program under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) “amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia.”

7 Jan 22

[mattkennard]

In the Valley of Death: Somaliland’s Forgotten Genocide

Published: The Nation (22 October 2018) w/ Ismail Einashe

On a hot and humid June afternoon, a group of boys wearing FC Barcelona jerseys kicked around a soccer ball in the Malko-Durduro, a dry seasonal river on the outskirts of Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway territory of Somaliland. At first glance, the flat, red earth of the riverbed made for a typical improvised pitch in this arid region. But recent heavy rains had exposed what had earned the area its moniker, the Valley of Death. Around them, human bones protruded from the ground. But these kids had grown up playing soccer surrounded by skeletal remains; they hardly noticed them.

Between 1987 and 1989, the regime of Somali dictator Siad Barre massacred an estimated 200,000 members of the Isaaq tribe, the largest clan group in the northwest part of Somalia. At the time, some Isaaqs were fighting for independence, and to eliminate the threat, Barre tried to exterminate all of them. Experts now say there are more than 200 mass graves in Somaliland, most of them in the Valley of Death.  

This year marks the 30th anniversary of what is often called the “Hargeisa Holocaust,” when about 90 percent of the city was destroyed and tens of thousands of Isaaqs were killed. Yet there are no major plans to mark the horrors in Somaliland, or anywhere else for that matter. In the past, a few international organizations have recognized the bloodletting. A 2001 UN report investigating the attacks against the Isaaqs concluded, “the crime of genocide was conceived, planned and perpetrated by the Somalia Government against the Isaaq people of northern Somalia.” But the events have been mostly forgotten; the boys playing soccer did not know the story behind the bones.

Even in Hargeisa, many people don’t realize the extent of US support during the genocide. No American has ever apologized for what happened in Somaliland; there has been no internationally backed Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and no one has been criminally punished. There is little funding to investigate—let alone prosecute—the perpetrators. And some of the Somali genocidaires now have close ties to the US-backed government in Mogadishu of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo.

COLD WAR PROXY

The country of Somalia was formed in 1960, when British Somaliland gained its independence from Britain and joined with its much larger neighbor to east and south, Italian Somaliland. Nine years later, General Siad Barre took over in a bloodless coup and steered the young country toward the Soviet Union. Somalia was strategically placed along Africa’s longest coastline, and the Soviets welcomed a new proxy in the Horn of Africa.  

This all changed in 1977 when Barre invaded the Somali-majority Ogaden region of southeastern Ethiopia. Previously Ethiopia had been aligned with the US, but after the Derg military junta seized power in 1974, the Soviets had begun supporting Somalia’s communist neighbor. Forced to choose between allies, the Soviets sided with the Derg junta, and sent arms and military advisers . Cuba’s Fidel Castro provided an additional 13,000 troops, and Ethiopia repelled the Somali army in 1978.

Livid at the Soviet support for Ethiopia, Barre switched sides, allying himself with the US. In January 1981, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger visited the presidential palace in Mogadishu, hoping to further strengthen US-Somalia ties. Barre had criticized President Jimmy Carter for not backing his country against the Soviets. But now Kissinger was convincing President Ronald Reagan to view Somalia as a crucial theater for US-Soviet confrontation. A year later, Barre made the trip to Washington, DC, to meet with Reagan in the Oval Office. Grainy footage of the encounter shows Barre asking Reagan for help. “Somalia is not afraid of any other country in the region, but it cannot cope with a superpower like the Soviet Union,” he told Reagan.  

Barre said the United States agreed to help Somalia, because it “is also in its own interest.” In the 1983 budget, Reagan requested $91 million in military and economic assistance for Somalia, plus another $18 million in food aid for refugees. That year Somalia’s entire GDP was less than $750 million.

Around this time, Paul Manafort, a lobbyist who would become the chairman of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, took on the Barre government as a client. In 1980 Manafort founded the lobbying company, Black, Manafort and Stone, which had close ties to the Reagan White House and later the George HW Bush administration. Riva Levinson, who worked with Manafort in the 1980s, has said she asked at the time, “Are we sure we want this guy as a client?” Manafort sounded agitated: “We all know Barre is a bad guy, Riva. We just have to make sure he’s our bad guy.”

Manafort did PR for Barre even as he was massacring the Isaaqs. Levinson said Manafort sent her to Somalia to have Barre sign a contract for $1 million. “Our assignment would then be to clean up Siad Barre’s international reputation, which needed plenty of soap,” she wrote in The Washington Post in 2017.

With Manafort’s PR work and the country’s anti-Soviet Union alignment, the US was happy to turn a blind eye to Barre’s abuses. By 1988, the US had given his government hundreds of millions dollars of military and economic aid, and Barre had become entirely dependent on US support.

THE GENOCIDE AND THE US

Barre had long targeted and discriminated against the Isaaq tribe, and so in 1981 in London, Isaaq dissidents formed the Somali National Movement (SNM) to overthrow Barre’s rule in the north of the country. Barre responded to this insurgency with a ruthless military campaign. In 1988, Amnesty International reported the Barre regime used ”widespread arbitrary arrests, ill treatment and summary executions” and torture of those suspected of collaborating with the SNM. They found that those who opposed the Barre regime were gathered, bound, and taken to places like the Valley of Death where they were shot and buried in unmarked graves.

One of the most brutal parts of the genocidal campaign was the destruction of Hargeisa, the largest city in northern Somalia. In May of 1988, Barre’s regime sent in fighter jets to level the city. The destruction of Hargeisa was so total that it earned the nickname “the Dresden of Africa.” Bombing missions and ground troops attacks killed more than 40,000 people. Burao, the third largest city in Somalia at the time and the second principal city in northern Somalia, was razed. The relentless violence against Isaaq civilians in 1988 resulted in the world’s largest refugee crisis. More than 300,000 refugees fled to Ethiopia, most of them arriving in the small border town of Harta Sheikh in Ethiopia, which became the largest refugee camp from 1988 until it closed in 2004.  

Saad Ali Shire, Somaliland’s current foreign minister, told us, “In 1988, when the government started bombarding Hargeisa and other towns in Somaliland, the Americans were of course friends of the Siad Barre regime … for strategic reasons. … And they gave Siad Barre arms—arms were unloaded in Berbera port—and it was reported by Amnesty International and other human-rights organizations at the time.”

He paused and then said, “The US was not directly involved in the inhuman treatment of the people of Somaliland, but, like many other allies of the regime then, of course their hand was there.” The US mission to Somalia did not return a request for comment.

The US knew what was going on and maintained its support. A cable released by Wikleaks from that period and sent by the US embassy in Mogadishu noted: “Many displaced persons (i.e. Isaaqs) would have returned home long ago had they not been deterred from doing so by … government forces.” The cable continued: “Isaaqs, suffering from thirst, hunger, disease, and abominable camp conditions, were demanding to go home.” There was no discussion of cutting support for Barre as the genocide unfolded.

But as the US ramped up its bombing campaigns in Iraq and the Cold War ended, the US eventually decided to redirect its resources from Barre’s government to the Middle East. Without US support, the government of Somalia collapsed.

Around that time, on May 18, 1991, the SNM declared the northwest bit of Somalia independent and established the Somaliland Republic. The international community still does not recognize Somaliland as a sovereign country, but it has all the trappings of a nation-state—a Constitution, a president, a currency, and even biometric passports.

THE HUMAN CONSEQUENCES

Three tumultuous decades later, the genocide still haunts survivors. Somaliland has one main tribute to the victims: In the middle of a traffic island in Hargeisa, the rusting shell of a MiG fighter jet shot down by the SMN sits perched on top of a wall with murals of mass slaughter. The central figure in one painting is a man with blood spurting out of his limbs after his arms and legs have been chopped off.

For survivors like Yusuf Mire the trauma depicted on the murals is still fresh. During a crackdown in 1988 by Barre’s forces in the city of Burao, Somali troops hacked off his left arm, and abducted and killed his family.

Mire has dedicated his life to uncovering the truth of what happened in the Valley of Death. He works with survivors and families of the disappeared, helping those who, like him, had loved ones that never returned from Barre’s killing fields. Mire told us that the US is simply not interested in digging up the past or funding forensic investigations in Somaliland. Given the US role, he said they’d prefer to prop up the government in Mogadishu and for the truth to remain buried.

Ismail Abdi is another survivor who works with vulnerable children in Somaliland for a British humanitarian NGO based in Hargeisa. As a young teen, Abdi ended up at the Hargeisa Orphanage. Then, in May 1988, from the orphanage window, he watched Barre’s military personnel execute a family; he still remembers the screams of dying children. Abdi sent us a photo taken by a Dutch woman who had worked at the Hargeisa Orphanage in 1988. The photo, which Abdi asked us not publish, showed the bodies of a woman and her children covered in blood.

We met him in the garden of a swanky hotel in the center of Hargeisa; men sat nearby on plastic chairs eating goat curry and drinking mango juice. Abdi lamented that young people now do not know what happened, and said he wants “justice for our people.” Abdi said he wants the evidence he has collected  about this one family to be used to bring those responsible to justice. But like most Somalilanders, he does not have the money to pursue those responsible in the courts either internationally or in Somaliland, a country that does not officially exist.

But there is an organization Abdi is hoping can help bring those responsible to justice. In the mid-1990s, Somaliland’s first president, Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, established the Somaliland War Crimes Investigations Commission to find and unearth the mass graves, offer proper burials to victims, and bring judicial action against those responsible for the killings. The US government has offered no help.

Without international support, the Commission is woefully underfunded, according to the Khadar Ahmed, the Commission’s chairman. It lacks the necessary resources to properly investigate or collect the evidence needed to bring about prosecutions.

The Commission usually gets tip offs from locals about the mass-grave locations after rains expose new bones. Then staff members place piles of stones with red marks on them adjacent to the graves to alert the community. The Commission is tasked with investigating these graves, but with such tight budgets, graves are identified but few are ever dug up. Since it was founded, the Commission has exhumed 11 mass graves and reburied 318 skeletons, including a recent ones in Hargeisa and another in Berbera.

Ahmed said he’s upset that the US and other western powers have taken so little interest in the genocide: “As Somaliland Republic we are expecting to hear from the UN to establish a tribunal like Rwanda.” But their requests have been met with silence. Ahmed said that many of the killers are now hiding in plain sight in the US, Kenya, Canada, and elsewhere. Because it’s not a recognized state, Somaliland does not have the power to push for a UN-backed war-crimes tribunal, like in Yugoslavia or Sierra Leone.

As time passes, evidence gets lost. In the Valley of Death, rainfall reveals new skeletons, but it also erodes and washes away the bones. Thankfully, while the US government has not provided any support, the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) has stepped in, and introduced the Commission to the Peruvian forensic anthropology team Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense (EPAF), led by Franco Mora. Since 2012, EPAF has been excavating the mass graves in the Valley of Death and other parts of Somaliland, identifying and recovering as many bodies as possible. They are also helping the Commission provide proper burials. “Our work is only humanitarian; we try to recover and identify the disappeared and to bury them with dignity,” Mora told us.

Ahmed said that the Commission has to pay the EPAF to dig up the graves, but complained that the Somaliland government can only afford to do this, at most, twice a year. With an estimated 200 sites, “we don’t have the capacity to carry out the work ourselves,” he said.

The Commission hopes the remains unearthed by the EPAF team can be used not only to get a better idea of what happened, but also as evidence to convict or hold genocidaires accountable. But this will be tough. Mora said his team is only, “recording the injuries and establishing the most probable cause of death.” He said to establish a legal case you would need not only information retrieved from the bodies and graves, but also historical information and documentation, which is nearly nonexistent because so many government records were destroyed during the war. The only reliable documents about the Barre regime’s genocidal campaign are held by countries like the US or international human-rights groups.

There have been a few successes holding perpetrators accountable, but to expand beyond the handful of cases requires funding and for the US to release more of its records. In 2012, the CJA helped a group of Somalis living in Virginia secure a $21 million judgment in a US federal court against Mohamed Ali Samantar, who served as prime minister under Barre. The court ruled that he was responsible for planning the torture and killings of Isaaq clansmen.

In 2016, a CNN investigation publicized another Somali who arrived in the US after allegedly participating in the genocide. Yusuf Abdi Ali stands accused of war crimes while a colonel in Barre’s regime during in the 1980s. He was head of the Somali army’s Fifth Brigade, which is said to have tortured clan members and burned down villages. For 20 years, he had lived near Washington, DC, and worked as a security guard at Dulles Airport (he was suspended after his identity was revealed).

The CJA brought a lawsuit against him in 2004. The CJA is representing Farhan Warfaa, who was nearly killed by Ali during an interrogation in 1987. In a 2016 ruling, the Fourth Circuit dismissed Warfaa’s claims of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but upheld claims of torture and attempted extrajudicial killing. In June 2017, the Supreme Court allowed for the CJA to continue pursuing Warfaa’s claims under the US Torture Victim Protection Act.

But the US government has not been as keen as the CJA to help. Ali’s background had been revealed as far back as 1992 when Canadian broadcaster CBC News uncovered that he had worked as a security guard in Toronto after fleeing Somalia in 1991. Despite this, US authorities did not prevent him from settling in the US. The US authorities knew his record, but allowed him to settle in the US, get a job at Dulles airport, and live a suburban American life.

Of course not all the Somali perpetrators headed to the US. Last year, General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan was filmed watching Farmajo’s presidential inauguration in Mogadishu, apparently as a guest. Morgan, known as the “butcher of Hargeisa,” has lived freely in Kenya since the collapse of the Barre government in 1991. Many Somalilanders hold him responsible for carrying out the Isaaq genocide; in 1988, he’s reported to have ordered his troops “to kill all but the crows.” Yet he still gets invited to political events in Mogadishu.

One thing Somalilanders are adamant about is that no one involved with the Somali government in 1988 can claim they didn’t know. “I think everybody was aware of what was happening,” Saad, the foreign minister, told us. “Perhaps they didn’t have the full picture of what was happening, but the fact that the Siad Barre regime was undemocratic and brutal and murdering many civilians was well-known. … But sometimes superpowers look the other way.”

Somaliland is now asking for the US to pay attention to these crimes that they funded. The people of Somaliland say they need help to reckon with the bloody history that remains buried underneath their feet.

[saxafimedianetwork]

TukTuk Driver Returns $7400 To Sick Woman After She Left It In Passenger's Seat

A young #Somali #TukTuk driver has been #celebrated for his #honesty after returning $7400 to a sick #woman who misplaced it in his ride. He had dropped off a mother and son at a #hospital in #Jigjija, #Ethiopia, where they had gone to seek #medical attention. #Somaliland

Continue reading

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 3/5/21

by Kyle Anzalone

US News

NY Governor Cuomo’s advisors changed Covid numbers to make it appear the governor wasn’t responsible for killing as many nursing homes residents as he did. [Link]

Biden extends an executive order naming Venezuela as a threat. [Link]

Myanmar

The US blocked Myanmar’s military from withdrawing $1 billion held at the FED. [Link]

YouTube removed five channels run by the Myanmar state and military. [Link]

Middle East

Vice President Kamala Harris says the US opposes the ICC investigation into war crimes in Palestine. [Link]

Israel is updating its plans to strike Iran. [Link]

Elliot Abrams praises Biden’s Iran policy. [Link]

Africa

Al-Shabaab stormed a prison in Somalia. Seven Somali soldiers were killed and 400 inmates freed. [Link]

The US and UN demand the Eritrean military leave Tigray, Ethiopia. [Link]

Read More

[berberanews]

President of the Somali State of Ethiopia outlines issues agreed upon by Somaliland

President of the Somali State of Ethiopia outlines issues agreed upon by Somaliland

Ethiopia(Berberanews)-President of the Somali Regional State of #Ethiopia Mr. Mustafe Muhumed Omar, who is on a visit to #Somaliland, spoke about the consensus reached between the two sides. The President concluded his two-day visit to Somaliland by posting a message on Facebook thanking the President of Somaliland. “We thank President Muse Bihi Abdi of Somaliland and the Government and people of…

[saglaniluu]

Today’s battlefield report from Amhara and Afar – EU statement about Addis Ababa

Today’s battlefield report from Amhara & Afar – EU statement about Addis Ababa Ethiopia orders emergency as Tigray forces threaten capital • FRANCE 24 English Today’s battlefield report from Amhara & Afar | EU statement about Addis Ababa ear of uprising in Addis Ababa – Somali region’s President – Kenya TPLF Ethiopia Ethiopia declares state…Today’s battlefield report from Amhara and Afar – EU…

[newstfionline]

Friday, September 24, 2021

Travel in Canada is a prize for the vaccinated and vigilant (AP) Americans wanting to experience Canada’s vibrant autumn or its winter landscapes can do so again. But getting here means jumping through hoops before you go. Those hoops? To get into Canada as a tourist you must be fully vaccinated. You must have a PCR-variety COVID test taken no more than 72 hours in advance, with results ready to present at the border if driving or at the airport of departure before you can board. You have to pre-register with the Canadian government and get a code. You must present the basics of a backup quarantine plan in advance, in case you are randomly tested again upon arrival and found to be positive. You can’t be like the man from Atlanta whom border guards were talking about when I crossed. He’d pulled up a few nights earlier, unvaccinated, no test, no pre-registration and no hope of getting into Canada, more than 16 hours from home.

COVID-19 creates dire US shortage of teachers, school staff (AP) One desperate California school district is sending flyers home in students’ lunchboxes, telling parents it’s “now hiring.” Elsewhere, principals are filling in as crossing guards, teachers are being offered signing bonuses and schools are moving back to online learning. Now that schools have welcomed students back to classrooms, they face a new challenge: a shortage of teachers and staff the likes of which some districts say they have never seen. Public schools have struggled for years with teacher shortages, particularly in math, science, special education and languages. But the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the problem. The stress of teaching in the COVID-19 era has triggered a spike in retirements and resignations. Schools also need to hire staffers like tutors and special aides to make up for learning losses and more teachers to run online school for those not ready to return.

Sad perspective (Vanity Fair/NextDraft) In 2020, more than 5,100 kids under 18 were shot ... and more than 1,300 died. And yet, you’ve heard less about all of those deaths combined than the killing of Gabrielle Petito. Petito was a social media star and the pieces of her case are rolling out in real time. It’s understandable why internet users became obsessed. More worrisome is the way that what’s popular on social media drives what makes headlines. Every editor knows the endless and exhaustive coverage of a single murder case, in a country where murder is the national pastime, is beyond absurd. But they just can’t stop themselves.

After fence-mending Biden-Macron call, French envoy to return to U.S. (Reuters) The U.S. and French presidents moved to mend ties on Wednesday, with France agreeing to send its ambassador back to Washington and the White House saying it had erred in cutting a deal for Australia to buy U.S. instead of French submarines without consulting Paris. In a joint statement issued after U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone, the two leaders agreed to launch in-depth consultations to rebuild trust, and to meet in Europe at the end of October. The call, which was requested by Washington, was an attempt to mend fences after France accused the United States of stabbing it in the back when Australia ditched a $40-billion contract for conventional French submarines, and opted for nuclear-powered submarines to be built with U.S. and British technology instead.

Pope jokes he is ‘still alive’ despite some bishops wishing him dead (Washington Post) Pope Francis has a message for his haters: “Still alive. Even though some people wanted me dead.” Hundreds of Italians cheered for him under a Rome hospital balcony this summer. But not everybody was happy that he made it out of colon surgery, the pontiff has quipped. In his eight-year tenure, Francis’s more liberal overtones than the popes before him—from his invitation of LGBT advocates to the Vatican to his calls to welcome refugees—have stirred tensions with conservatives, and drew pushback. The post-op papal joke about bishops wishing him ill marked a frank acknowledgment of the forces within the church who are at odds with him. In answering questions about the challenges the church faces—and the divisions within—one detractor Francis mentioned was “a large Catholic television that constantly gossips” about him. Still, the pontiff said, “I just go forward without entering into their world of ideas and fantasies.”

Ambush in Ukraine (Washington Post) A top Ukrainian presidential aide, Serhiy Shefir, narrowly survived assassination when one or more attackers opened fire on his car with a barrage of at least 18 bullets Wednesday. The attack took place on a forested stretch of road near Lesnyky village, outside Kyiv, the country’s capital. President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in New York, announced he would return to Kyiv after addressing the United Nations General Assembly later Wednesday. Police are pursuing three main lines of investigation—that Shefir was attacked because of his state duties, that it was an attempt to put pressure on the country’s top leadership or that it was an effort to destabilize the political situation in the country.

Tensions grow as US, allies deepen Indo-Pacific involvement (AP) With increasingly strong talk in support of Taiwan, a new deal to supply Australia with nuclear submarines, and the launch of a European strategy for greater engagement in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. and its allies are becoming growingly assertive in their approach toward a rising China. China has bristled at the moves, and the growing tensions between Beijing and Washington prompted U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the weekend to implore President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to repair their “completely dysfunctional” relationship, warning they risk dividing the world. As the U.N. General Assembly opened Tuesday, both leaders chose calming language. But the underlying issues have not changed, with China building up its military outposts as it presses its maritime claims over critical sea lanes, and the U.S. and its allies growing louder in their support of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, and deepening military cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

Myanmar junta abducting children of people targeted for arrest, says UN expert (Guardian) Myanmar’s military junta is systematically abducting the relatives of people it is seeking to arrest, including children as young as 20 weeks old, according the UN special rapporteur for the country. Tom Andrews told the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday that conditions in the country had continued to deteriorate. His speech was followed by the release of a report by the UN Human Rights Office on Thursday, which warned of a “human rights catastrophe” and said abuses perpetrated since the coup may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The military and its forces have killed more than 1,100 people, according to the UN report. It details systematic, targeted killings by the junta, including the use of semi-automatic rifles and snipers against pro-democracy protesters. Weapons designed for military confrontation, such as grenade launchers and artillery shells, have also been used against protesters and fired into residential areas, it said.

Mideast in shambles, but the world has moved on for now (AP) There was a time not long ago when uprisings and wars in the Arab world topped the agenda at the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York. With most of those conflicts in a stalemate, the world’s focus has shifted to more daunting global challenges such as the still raging coronavirus pandemic and climate change, as well as new crises in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. But the situation in the Middle East has deteriorated significantly in more countries and in more ways in the last two years. Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen are teetering on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe, with skyrocketing poverty and an economic implosion that threatens to throw the region into even deeper turmoil. “The region’s been crowded out by other global crises, but there’s also a sense of Western hopelessness after so many years of crisis,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Cinema returns to Somalia after decades of shut-downs and strife (Reuters) Dozens of Somalis posed for selfies and chattered excitedly in rows of red, plush seats as they waited for the start of their country’s first movie screening in three decades. After the overthrow of president Siad Barre in 1991, clan-based warlords blasted each other with anti-aircraft guns and fought over the National Theatre, which they used as a base. The building was hit so many times that the roof collapsed a year into the conflict. Islamist militants who seized control in 2006 took over the building. They banned all forms of public entertainment—from concerts to football matches—that they considered sinful. African Union peacekeeping troops clawed back control of the capital in 2011 and the new Western-backed Somali government reopened the venue the following year. But just three weeks after that, a suicide bomber from the Islamist al Shabaab insurgency struck during a ceremony, killing six people. The building reopened again in 2020. Mogadishu resident Hassan Abdulahi Mohamed remembered spending half a Somali shilling on a movie ticket and one shilling on snacks at the theatre in the 1960s. “Last time I watched films in the cinema, it was 1991,” he said.

Books (Pew Research Center) A new study from Pew Research Center found 23 percent of Americans said they hadn’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, including print, digital and audiobooks. An interesting component is that younger adults—with TikTok and their awful attention spans—were in fact considerably more likely to have read one book than older respondents, with 28 percent of those 50 and up forgoing books compared to just 19 percent of those 18 to 49. Overall, 23 percent didn’t read a book, 5 percent read one, 25 percent read two to five books, 15 percent read six to 10 books, 11 percent read 11 to 20 books and 18 percent of people said they read more than 20 books.

Shifting Sands (Hakai Magazine) Two studies looking at how islands in the Federated States of Micronesia and the Gilbert Islands have changed amid sea level rise found that among 175 sparsely populated or uninhabited islands, while lots of them have shrunk, lots of them have also expanded since the 1940s. Micronesia increased its land area by approximately 3 percent since the ‘40s and the Gilberts are 2.45 percent larger. It clarifies the simplistic idea that all islands are all just going to be sucked under amid sea level rise, which is true in many cases but misses the reality that the complex relationship between tides and waves and surges makes things more complicated to forecast than “water go up, island sinks down.”