Day: September 14, 2022

On Sunday, Ethiopians marked “Enkutatash,” the new year holiday. However, renewed fighting in the country’s two-year long civil war meant a curfew was in place in some areas close to the conflict, putting a damper on celebrations.

“Enkutatash,” which roughly translates to “gift of jewels,” marks the end of the rainy season and the first month of Ethiopia’s calendar. It is 2015 in Ethiopia and people celebrated their new year — a time of new beginnings, for many.

Not least in Kombolcha, about 120 kilometers from where fighting in Ethiopia’s civil war erupted again just three weeks ago, after a five-month cease-fire. Most people VOA spoke to said they hope peace will return to the country soon. Yet they still fear fighting could resume in the town.

Due to the nearby clashes, a curfew has been imposed, which cut short the celebrations. Elyas Abate is a local resident at St. George Church in Dessie.

He says the church services that usually take place at night can’t happen like they usually do. People have to follow the law, so the services end early and the worshippers have to go back home early to meet the curfew.

A couple of hours before the curfew comes into effect, the streets are still busy. Afterward, empty. Police stop those who fail to observe the new rules. Kedir Seifu is a butcher at a shop and runs a food outlet attached to a local bar.

“Because of the curfew, everyone goes home early, around 7 p.m. By 8 p.m., people’s movements have stopped. Our business has declined as we are not serving dinner, it’s really not going as well as before,” he says.

Kombolcha was overrun by Tigrayan forces last year, before they were driven back by the government and its allies, including Amhara militia and Amhara regional forces.

When fighting erupted nearby in recent weeks, there was a run on the banks, as people tried to flee the town, one local resident, Dessiye Asres, says.

There were long lines of people waiting to pull their money out of the Commercial Bank Asres noted and that most of them were from the occupied and nearby towns further north, adding that they pulled out their money for food, accommodation and for transport, either to stay here or go south to the next town.

In a statement on Ethiopia’s New Year’s Day, the Tigray External Affairs Office said on Sunday that it had appointed a team to negotiate peace and said it would agree to mediation by the African Union, which had been a major sticking point between the two sides in the conflict. However, on Tuesday, there were reports of government airstrikes hitting a business campus in the Tigray region’s capital, Mekelle.

Before the airstrikes, VOA asked a monk and religious leader, Melake Selam Komos or Aba Samuel, what aspirations the community had for the new year. He responded they still hold out hope for a return to peace.

He says religious leaders hope to fill the people with brighter hope and preach the words of God. He admits there are still problems in Komboulcha, but in the new year, God will make everything better. “Only God can help us,” he adds.

Ethiopia’s civil war has been going on for nearly two years. Belgium’s Ghent University estimates up to half a million have already died due to fighting, starvation and lack of medical attention.

Source: Voice of America

Russia has spent at least $300 million to sway both politics and policy in more than two dozen countries since 2014, according to a newly declassified review by U.S. intelligence agencies that warns the Kremlin is not done with plans to pay for influence.

The money, funneled to political parties and candidates across at least four continents through various front companies, is likely “just the tip of the iceberg” with the U.S. and its allies scrambling to track down additional, illicit contributions.

“These are minimum figures,” said a senior U.S. administration official who spoke to reporters Tuesday on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the intelligence.

VOA has emailed the Russian Embassy in Washington seeking comment.

“Russia likely has transferred additional funds covertly in cases that have gone undetected,” the official added, cautioning that the war in Ukraine could well spur Moscow to increase its efforts to finance political parties and candidates to “undermine international sanctions and maintain its influence around the world.”

The U.S. intelligence review, completed over the past several months, concluded Russian efforts increased dramatically starting in 2014, spreading from Europe to Africa and the Americas.

A U.S. official familiar with the intelligence but not authorized to speak on the record said countries swept up in the Russian covert funding efforts include Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, Belgium and Madagascar.

In at least one case, Russia used cutouts, or intermediaries, to transfer money to far-right nationalist parties.

As a first step, the U.S. officials said, the State Department has issued a cable to 110 countries sharing the findings and will review steps countries can take to counter Russia’s efforts.

Additionally, U.S. intelligence officials are privately briefing select countries whose elections and political processes have been specifically targeted by the Russian campaign.

The U.S. intelligence review did not specifically look at Russian activity in the United States, but with the country’s midterm elections set to take place in less than two months, officials cautioned that not even Washington is immune.

“There’s no question that we have this vulnerability as well, and that Russian covert political influence poses a major challenge,” the first official said.

While the warning — and the data — from U.S. officials about Russia’s attempt to meddle with the internal politics of other countries is new, the concerns are not.

Some U.S. officials began saying as far back as late 2014 that Russia, under President Vladimir Putin, was playing a dangerous game by engaging with and encouraging nationalist groups across Europe.

By 2018, Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service and other Western intelligence agencies were also sounding the alarm.

“We have detected a network of politicians, journalists, diplomats, businesspeople who are actually Russian influence agents and who are doing what they are told to do,” Mikk Marran, Estonia’s spy chief, told an audience at Aspen Security Forum at the time.

Specifically, Estonia’s intelligence agency warned that the Kremlin was perfecting its playbook across Europe, seeking out fringe political groups, both on the far-right and the far-left, and offering money, advice or business opportunities designed to help the groups and their candidates get a foothold.

“Politicians that have been in the margins of local politics some years ago are actually right now in national parliaments or national governments,” Marran said at the time. “They have made some bad investments, but they have also made some very good investments.”

Researchers say that Russia has expanded its outreach from Eastern Europe and the Baltics into Western Europe, Africa and beyond.

At the same time, Russia’s options for funneling money and other aid to political groups and candidates also grew to include Russian expatriates and oligarchs, shell companies, foundations, think tanks, adoption agencies and charities.

“They’re opportunistic,” Josh Rudolph, a senior fellow for malign finance at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, an election security advocacy group, told VOA, arguing that covert political funding appears to be one of three legs — along with cyberattacks and social media influence campaigns — of Russia’s election meddling strategy.

“They seem to do it when they think they have a shot, when it’s a close election,” he said.

And whether an individual effort on behalf of a particular party or candidate succeeds or fails may not matter.

“It is essentially impossible to measure precisely the impact,” Rudolph said, echoing the sentiment of some U.S. officials. “The point is that they are trying and putting significant resources into it in closely contested elections.”

That effort includes targeting the U.S.

A 2020 bipartisan report by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee concluded Moscow used a complex web of operatives and active measures to ensnare members of former President Donald Trump’s campaign, in some cases, leaving the incoming administration open to manipulation.

A report issued that same month by Rudolph and the Alliance for Securing Democracy concluded that, even then, the U.S. had become the most frequent target.

That report also found Russia was not alone, and that China and a handful of other countries had also begun copying the Russian tactics.

“You certainly see them in Taiwan and Hong Kong but then also in the developed democracies of Australia and New Zealand,” Rudolph told VOA. “Increasingly, they’ve kind of dabbled with going further afield, whether it’s the Czech Republic or Chad or Kenya, or in some limited cases, funding ads or media operations that influence the United States.”

VOA has emailed the Chinese Embassy in Washington seeking comment.

And while the recipients of the covert funding may plead ignorance, researchers and U.S. officials believe most have at least some level of awareness.

“It is clear that the parties in question are interested in having that funding,” the senior U.S. administration official said of those benefiting from Russian money. “Clearly, those parties believe their effectiveness will be enhanced the more funds they have.”

           

Source: Voice of America

U.S. special envoy on climate John Kerry has pledged U.S. support to help Nigeria mitigate the effects of climate change, saying Africa’s most populous nation would benefit from a $12 billion fund for climate action.

Kerry began a two-nation West Africa visit Monday in the Nigerian capital, where he met with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. In Abuja on Tuesday, Kerry met with top government officials including ministers of environment, petroleum resources and agriculture, and signed the Clean Energy Demand Initiative.

He said the agreement allows the U.S government to assist Nigeria in developing technologies for cleaner fuel sources, including gas, wind and solar energy.

“Nigeria is a very important, if not one of the most important, countries in terms of the direction of dealing with climate for all of Africa, because Nigeria is a major producer of gas and oil and how Nigeria approaches the climate crisis will send a message to the rest of the continent, will help set the direction of our dealing with the climate crisis,” Kerry said.

But Abba Ali Yarima, co-founder of the Green Panthers Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for those affected by climate change, said the gesture was long overdue.

Africa is a continent of 55 countries, but its carbon emissions account for no more than 3.8 percent compared to the global north, Yarima said. “We believe there should be reparations by all these developed countries who have emitted more carbon gases than we did here in Africa. Even the $12 billion is quite small.”

Nigerian authorities have been making efforts to address climate change issues.

In November of last year, authorities passed a climate change bill targeting net zero emissions by 2060. Last month, authorities launched an energy transition plan focused on greater use of solar power and doubling natural gas generation.

However, Yarima worries any funds given by the U.S. will be mismanaged or stolen.

“I’m also looking at other aspects of accountability when it comes to Nigeria,” Yarima said. “We’re still battling with corruption and how we’re very good with policy papers but not very good when it comes to implementation. So I’m just scared with this huge amount of money, I suggest there should be a mechanism in place that will help checkmate how this money is going to be spent.”

Kerry, a former U.S. secretary of state, said the world needs to cut carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030.

He will complete his visit in Senegal, where he’ll be attending the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).

Source: Voice of America

With monkeypox cases subsiding in Europe and parts of North America, many scientists say now is the time to prioritize stopping the virus in Africa.

In July, the U.N. health agency designated monkeypox as a global emergency and appealed to the world to support African countries so that the catastrophic vaccine inequity that plagued the outbreak of COVID-19 wouldn’t be repeated.

But the global spike of attention has had little impact on the continent. No rich countries have shared vaccines or treatments with Africa, and some experts fear interest may soon evaporate.

“Nothing has changed for us here. The focus is all on monkeypox in the West,” said Placide Mbala, a virologist who directs the global health research department at Congo’s Institute of Biomedical Research.

“The countries in Africa where monkeypox is endemic are still in the same situation we have always been, with weak resources for surveillance, diagnostics and even the care of patients,” he said.

Rich countries hoard vaccine

Monkeypox has sickened people in parts of West and Central Africa since the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the disease triggered unusual outbreaks in Europe and North America that public health officials even thought to use vaccines. As rich countries rushed to buy nearly all the world’s supply of the most advanced shot against monkeypox, the World Health Organization said in June that it would create a vaccine-sharing mechanism to help needy countries get doses.

So far, that hasn’t happened.

“Africa is still not benefiting from either monkeypox vaccines or the antiviral treatments,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Africa director, adding that only small amounts have been available for research purposes. Since 2000, Africa has reported about 1,000 to 2,000 suspected monkeypox cases every year. So far this year, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified about 3,000 suspected infections, including more than 100 deaths.

In recent weeks, monkeypox cases globally have fallen by more than a quarter, including by 55% in Europe, according to WHO.

Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, head of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, said the lack of help for Africa was reminiscent of the inequity seen during COVID-19.

“Everybody looked after their (own) problem and left everybody else,” he said. Adetifa lamented that monkeypox outbreaks in Africa never got the international attention that might have prevented the virus from spreading globally.

Rich countries have stretched their vaccine supplies by using a fifth of the regular dose, but none have expressed interest in helping Africa. WHO’s regional office for the Americas recently announced it had struck a deal to obtain 100,000 monkeypox doses that will start being delivered to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean within weeks. But no similar agreements have been reached for Africa.

“I would very much like to have vaccines to offer to my patients or anything that could just reduce their stay in the hospital,” said Dr. Dimie Ogoina, a professor of medicine at Niger Delta University in Nigeria and a member of WHO’s monkeypox emergency committee.

Since WHO declared monkeypox a global emergency, Nigeria has seen the disease continue to spread, with few significant interventions.

“We still do not have the funds to do all the studies that we need,” Ogoina said.

Research into the animals that carry monkeypox and spread it to humans in Africa is piecemeal and lacks coordination, said Mbala, of Congo’s Institute of Biomedical Research.

Last week, the White House said it was optimistic about a recent drop in monkeypox cases in the U.S., saying authorities had administered more than 460,000 doses of the vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic.

Cases drop in U.S.

The U.S. has about 35% of the world’s more than 56,000 monkeypox cases but nearly 80% of the world’s supply of the vaccine, according to a recent analysis by the advocacy group Public Citizen.

The U.S. hasn’t announced any monkeypox vaccine donations for Africa, but the White House did make a recent request to Congress for $600 million in global aid.

Even if rich countries start sharing monkeypox tools with Africa soon, they shouldn’t be applauded, other experts said.

“It should not be the case that countries only decide to share leftover vaccines when the epidemic is declining in their countries,” said Piero Olliaro, a professor of infectious diseases of poverty at Oxford University. “It is exactly the same scenario as COVID, and it is still completely unethical.”

Olliaro, who recently returned to the U.K. from a trip to Central African Republic to work on monkeypox, said WHO’s emergency declaration appeared to offer “no tangible benefits in Africa.”

In Nigeria’s Lagos state, which includes the country’s largest city and is hard hit by monkeypox, some people are calling for the government to urgently do more.

“You can’t tell me that the situation wouldn’t have improved without a vaccine,” said Temitayo Lawal, 29, an economist.

“If there is no need for vaccines, why are we now seeing the U.S. and all these countries using them?” he asked. “Our government needs to acquire doses as well.”

Source: Voice of America