Month: September 2021

Eritrean refugees caught up in the months-long war in Ethiopia have suffered abuses including executions and rape that amount to “clear war crimes,” Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

A new report from the U.S.-based rights watchdog details the role of both Eritrean soldiers and rebel fighters from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region in extensive carnage marked by forced repatriations and large-scale destruction at two refugee camps.

“The horrific killings, rapes and looting against Eritrean refugees in Tigray are clear war crimes,” said Laetitia Bader, HRW’s Horn of Africa director.

“For years, Tigray was a haven for Eritrean refugees fleeing abuse, but many now feel they are no longer safe,” she added.

Northern Ethiopia erupted in conflict last November when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray to topple the regional ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or the TPLF, a move he said came in response to attacks on federal army camps.

Before fighting broke out Tigray was home to 92,000 Eritrean refugees, including 19,200 in the Hitsats and Shimelba camps, according to Ethiopia’s Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA).

Although Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a brutal border war in 1998-2000 that left tens of thousands dead, Abiy initiated a rapprochement with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, and Asmara has lent him military backing in Tigray.

Eritrean and Tigrayan forces first clashed near Hitsats about two weeks after the conflict began.

HRW said Thursday it had received “credible reports” that Eritrean troops killed 31 people in Hitsats town, and that the true toll was “likely significantly higher.”

AFP has previously documented how, once fighting reached Hitsats camp, pro-TPLF militia targeted refugees in reprisal killings, shooting dead nine young Eritrean men outside a church.

When the Eritreans gained control of the camp, they are believed to have transported 17 injured refugees to Eritrea for treatment, the HRW report said.

However, most of those evacuees remain unaccounted for, along with 20-30 others who were detained, “including refugee committee members and perceived opposition members, two of them women,” it said.

The Tigrayan forces regained control of the area in early December and began robbing, detaining, raping and attacking refugees with weapons including a grenade, potentially killing dozens, HRW said.

Eritrean forces returned the following month and forced those still in the camps to evacuate, and satellite imagery indicates Hitsats was largely destroyed soon after, the watchdog added.

Missing refugees

Thousands of refugees formerly in Hitsats and Shamella remain unaccounted for, while hundreds had little choice but to return to Eritrea in what HRW described as “coerced repatriations.”

Others ended up in two camps in southern Tigray, Mai Aini and Adi Harush, which came under TPLF control in July.

ARRA, Ethiopia’s refugee body, has accused the TPLF of deploying heavy artillery in both those camps, looting vehicles and warehouses and preventing refugees from leaving — creating what is “tantamount to a hostage situation.”

The TPLF has dismissed such allegations and vowed to ensure the refugees’ protection.

Ethiopian officials are trying to expedite the relocation of refugees out of southern Tigray to a 90-hectare site in the neighboring Amhara region.

Yet the TPLF launched an offensive into Amhara in July, and the region has been hit hard by recent fighting.

HRW said Thursday that all parties to the conflict should grant freedom of movement to the refugees, as well as expanded access to aid. 
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France’s president announced the death of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara’s leader late Wednesday, calling Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi’s killing “a major success” for the French military after more than eight years fighting extremists in the Sahel.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that al-Sahrawi “was neutralized by French forces” but gave no further details. It was not announced where al-Sahrawi was killed, though the Islamic State group is active along the border between Mali and Niger.

“The nation is thinking tonight of all its heroes who died for France in the Sahel in the Serval and Barkhane operations, of the bereaved families, of all of its wounded,” Macron tweeted. “Their sacrifice is not in vain.”

Rumors of the militant leader’s death had circulated for weeks in Mali, though authorities in the region had not confirmed it. It was not immediately possible to independently verify the claim or to know how the remains had been identified.

“This is a decisive blow against this terrorist group,” French Defense Minister Florence Parly tweeted. “Our fight continues.”

Al-Sahrawi had claimed responsibility for a 2017 attack in Niger that killed four U.S. military personnel and four people with Niger’s military. His group also has abducted foreigners in the Sahel and is believed to still be holding American Jeffrey Woodke, who was abducted from his home in Niger in 2016.

The extremist leader was born in the disputed territory of Western Sahara and later joined the Polisario Front. After spending time in Algeria, he made his way to northern Mali where he became an important figure in the group known as MUJAO that controlled the major northern town of Gao in 2012.

A French-led military operation the following year ousted Islamic extremists from power in Gao and other northern cities, though those elements later regrouped and again carried out attacks.

The Malian group MUJAO was loyal to the regional al-Qaida affiliate. But in 2015, al-Sahrawi released an audio message pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

The French military has been fighting Islamic extremists in the Sahel region where France was once the colonial power since the 2013 intervention in northern Mali. It recently announced, though, that it would be reducing its military presence in the region, with plans to withdraw 2,000 troops by early next year.

News of al-Sahrawi’s death comes as France’s global fight against the Islamic State organization is making headlines in Paris. The key defendant in the 2015 Paris attacks trial said Wednesday that those coordinated killings were in retaliation for French airstrikes on the Islamic State group, calling the deaths of 130 innocent people “nothing personal” as he acknowledged his role for the first time. 
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The United Nations is withdrawing 450 Gabonese peacekeepers from its mission in Central African Republic following allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse, Gabon’s government said Wednesday. “Following the numerous cases of allegations of exploitation and sexual abuse being processed, the United Nations today decided to withdraw the Gabonese contingent from MINUSCA,” the statement said, referring to the mission there.Gabon’s defense ministry said it had opened an investigation into the allegations. “If they are proven, their perpetrators will be brought before military courts and tried with extreme rigor,” Gabon’s defense ministry warned.The U.N mission in Central African Republic was deployed in 2014 to end insecurity stemming from inter-religious and intercommunal fighting that erupted in 2013. The mission still has more than 10,000 personnel in the country.The U.N. mission there has faced allegations of sexual exploitation by peacekeepers from other countries in the past as well. 
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Tanzania’s first female president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, this week named a woman as defense minister — the latest in a number of appointments of women to top government posts.The appointment came as part of the second Cabinet reshuffle Hassan has made since the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli, earlier this year.At the swearing-in of Stergomena Tax as Tanzania’s first female defense and national service minister, Hassan said she made the choice to shatter the myth that women cannot serve in such a position.“I have decided to break the longtime myth that in the Defense Ministry there should be a man with muscles. The minister’s job in that office is not to carry guns or artillery,” Hassan said, adding that Tax’s main duty will be to coordinate and manage the administration of policies at the ministry.   Gender activists have welcomed the appointment but said more needs to be done to address the country’s gender equality gap.  Anna Henga, who heads the Legal and Human Rights Center, says there must be an amendment of laws such as the marriage act and the education act, laws that put women in low decision positions. She added that the government should also allocate money through the Health Ministry to educate people that women can also be leaders.   Analysts say an increase in the political representation of women at the national level does not automatically lead to women having more power in daily life, especially in highly stratified societies.   Sociologist Nasor Kitunda says gender should be irrelevant.“I think this tries to show that there is a direction in gender equality though I’m not a believer in gender. The primary criteria should be someone’s performance and their ability to implement those responsibilities,” Kitunda said.  For Tanzanian human rights activist Aika Peter, appointing more women leaders is positive but there must be a rotation to allow others to show their leadership skills. “We really need to see new faces in these positions — when you see the same people being recycled every day it gives the impression there are people who are so good at this job, there are no others who can be good at it,” Peters said.  Tax’s appointment brings the number of women who hold ministerial positions in Hassan’s government to eight.    
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High-level African officials met virtually this week to discuss the challenges Africa faces in trying to manage a growing population amid climate change. The conference was aimed at identifying ways African governments can manage these pressures to minimize or avoid conflict.Africa generates about 3% percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the lowest of any continent. But it’s more vulnerable than any other region in the world, since Africans depend so heavily on their natural environment for food, water and medicine.Speaking at a virtual conference Tuesday on climate, conflict and demographics in Africa, Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said African governments need to keep the climate in mind as they try to boost their economies.“Our first obligation for us and for African countries must always be to ensure the well-being of our people through access to development services, including electricity, health care, education, safe jobs and a safe environment, including access to clean cooking fuels. We must prioritize solutions that align the development and climate agenda, and that is absolutely important,” said Osinbajo.The Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, based in Brussels, says that in 2019, Africa recorded 56 extreme weather events compared to 45 in the previous year.The extreme weather patterns affected the lives of 16.6 million people in 29 countries. At least 13 million of them were from five countries: Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.West Africa had fewer weather-related catastrophes but is feeling the effects of global warming just the same.Ghana environment minister Kwaku Afriyie explains how climate change has impacted agricultural lands in the country.”The harsh and deteriorating climate conditions in northern Ghana undoubtedly energized region-growing food insecurity and seasonal north-to-south migration. And besides, increasing of floods and protracted drought lead to displacement of people.  Statistics show that over the last few years, there has been a new internal displacement which has occurred in Ghana due to climate-induced disasters and even beyond our borders,” he said.The U.N. special representative to the African Union, Hannah Tetteh, said the continent needs to improve cross-border information-sharing and cooperation to handle climate-related crises.“The challenge has not been that we haven’t developed yet these structures. The challenge has been we have not utilized them yet effectively, and that goes to issues of national sovereignty and the unwillingness of member states to have others, as it were, take an active interest and maybe recommend the things that need to be done in order to respond to a particular crisis. And if we recognize we are all in this together, then that certainly has to change,” she said. As for specific suggestions, Osinbajo suggested governments encourage greater use of natural gas and plant more trees to maintain forests that can soak up carbon dioxide and prevent it from warming the atmosphere.
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