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CARICOM brought its call for reparations to the United Nations, urging accountability for historical injustices against the Black community.
Abiy's government and the regional one run by the Tigray People's Liberation Front each consider the other illegitimate.
\t There was no immediate word from the three AU envoys, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano and former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe. AU spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo did not say whether they can meet with TPLF leaders, something Abiy's office has rejected.
\"``Not possible,'' senior Ethiopian official Redwan Hussein said in a message to the AP. ``\"Above all, TPLF leadership is still at large.'' He called reports that the TPLF had appointed an envoy to discuss an immediate cease-fire with the international community ``masquerading.''
\t Fighting reportedly remained well outside the Tigray capital of Mekele, a densely populated city of a half-million people who have been warned by the Ethiopian government that they will be shown ``no mercy'' if they don't distance themselves from the region's leaders.
\t Tigray has been almost entirely cut off from the outside world since Nov. 4, when Abiy announced a military offensive in response to a TPLF attack on a federal army base.
That makes it difficult to verify claims about the fighting, but humanitarians have said at least hundreds of people have been killed.
\t The fighting threatens to destabilize Ethiopia, which has been described as the linchpin of the strategic Horn of Africa.
\t With transport links cut, food and other supplies are running out in Tigray, home to 6 million people, and the United Nations has asked for immediate and unimpeded access for aid.
AP
The Ethiopian army has blocked one of the main roads leading to its border with Sudan, preventing Ethiopians fleeing the war in Tigray from reaching the neighboring country, according to refugees who arrived Thursday at the Lugdi border crossing in eastern Sudan.
\"The Ethiopian army has cut the road leading to the Sudanese border at the locality of Humera (20 km from the border) and those seeking to reach Sudan must avoid the main road and pass through the fields without being seen by soldiers,\" Tesfai Burhano, who had just arrived in Lugdi, told AFP.
On Thursday, the border post was empty and no Ethiopian soldiers were visible. An AFP reporter saw about ten refugees crossing the border while he was there.
The number of Ethiopian refugees fleeing to Sudan has dropped significantly over the past week, according to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). On Wednesday, the UN agency counted 718 arrivals, compared to 3,813 on November 21.
Communications are cut in Tigray, making it difficult to verify some claims.
A Sudanese security official confirmed the drop in refugee arrivals to AFP, without giving any explanation.
Aid given to 'liberated areas'
The United Nations on Thursday said Tigray region was experiencing 'critical shortages' of food, fuel, and cash.
But Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's office said on Thursday that the federal government had begun distributing food and other relief items in areas controlled by the national army.
“This humanitarian assistance will now be further reinforced with the opening of a humanitarian access route to be managed under the auspices of the Ministry of Peace”, said a statement from Abiy's office.
According to the UNHCR, 42,651 refugees have arrived in Sudan since the start of the deadly conflict in Tigray, 70% of them via Hamdayit, in the Sudanese province of Kassala, the rest via Gadarif.
Battle for Mekelle
Reports said heavy battles raged Thursday for control of Mekelle, capital of Tigray state. Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the region's governing had reportedly mobilized and armed thousands of men.
The Tigray region of northern Ethiopia has been the scene of fierce fighting since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation there on November 4, accusing leaders of the Tigray People's Liberation Front of seeking to destabilize the federal government and of attacking two Ethiopian military bases in the region, which the Tigrayan authorities deny.
AFP
[IPS] New York -- Wealthier countries struggling to contain the widening COVID-19 pandemic amid protests over lockdowns and restrictions risk ignoring an even greater danger out there - a looming global food emergency.
(AP)- Iran’s supreme leader today demanded the “definitive punishment” of those behind the killing of a scientist who led Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear programme, as the Islamic Republic blamed Israel for a...
Shortages have become ‘’very critical’’ in Ethiopia’s embattled northern region of Tigray, the United Nations says. The region of 6 million people is still sealed off as it faces threats by Ethiopian federal forces.
Martin Plaut is a writer and an expert on Ethiopia. He says what is ‘’ much more likely is that the Tigrayans will head for the hills in the mountains, it's an extremely rough terrain.’’
‘’If he has a quick victory then perhaps he will be able to establish control. Much more likely is that the Tigrayans will head for the hills in the mountains, it's an extremely rough terrain. And they know it very well, they spent 20 years fighting the previous government, which they overthrew in 1991. In the same time they don't control the skies. The skies are held by the jets of the Ethiopian Air force and also, the Tigrayans are said to be under attack from the United Arab Emirates who have drones based in neighboring Eritrea, and they are said to be using these drones against key targets’’, he said.
Plaut noted that the trappings of Tigrayans in the fight is compounding an already dire situation.
‘’The BBC reported seeing Ethiopian federal troops now preventing people from crossing the river into Sudan. Which is why the numbers have dropped substantially from about 6.000 a day to about 700 a day. So people are being trapped in the fighting, and that is making their situation even worse. Once they get across the river of course they can get substantial aid and assistance. And the international community is moving heaven and earth to make that happen’’, Plaut added.
More than a million people are now displaced. Fuel and cash are running out. The Tigrayan capital, Mekele cannot be accessed by the UN World Food Program over travel blockages.
Communications links remain severed with the Tigray region since the deadly conflict broke out on November 4. Human Rights Watch is warning that ``actions that deliberately impede relief supplies'' violate international humanitarian law.
[UN News] Hunger is on the rise in southern Madagascar due to consecutive years of drought, affecting half the region's population, or 1.5 million people, and forcing most families to eat insects, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Friday.
[IPS] Kuala Lumpur and Sydney -- The World Bank has been leading other multilateral development banks (MDBs) and international financial institutions to press developing country governments to 'de-risk' infrastructure and other private, especially foreign investments.
December 1 marks the thirtieth anniversary of Idriss Deby's rule over Chad.
Coming to power after a coup against Hissene Habre, Deby quickly retired his army uniform to become a politician.
In 2016, Habré was convicted of war crimes by a specially-created international tribunal in Senegal.
Survivor in a complex region
Governing a country located in a chronically unstable region, the 68-year-old leader has exhibited spectacular resilience, surviving coups, rebel attacks and foreign invasions.
Using his powerful Zaghawa tribe and the loyal support of his ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement party, Deby has managed to survive central Africa's complex geopolitics, where tribes and militias control resources such as water, land and minerals.
He's been accused of running a one-party state, even though questionable elections have been held from time to time.
During elections or protests, N'Djamena has been accused of cutting off the internet.
A war veteran, Deby has instigated conflict, even encouraged it to his advantage - carefully juggling crises in Sudan, Libya, and the Central African Republic. With a powerful army, he's seen as an important force for stability in central Africa, the Lake Chad region, and the Sahel.
Chad has so far been spared much of the militant violence that has rocked Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Deby's forces have also been credited for dealing Nigerian terror group Boko Haram a blow.
Poverty despite oil revenues
He has managed to keep former colonial master France, the US and China close, often relying on Paris for military support and on Beijing for the country's financial needs.
His opponents have accused him of squandering the country's oil revenues on buying influence,and buying weapons while his countrymen live in poverty.
According to the United Nations, Chad has one of the highest levels of hunger in the world - with 66.2 percent of its population of 15.5 million living in severe poverty.
The country ranks 187th out of 189 countries on the 2019 Human Development Index.
Analysis - Fighting between the Ethiopian army and Tigray forces has arrived near the region's biggest city, home to half a million residents. Addis Ababa should pause hostilities, all sides should minimise harm to civilians and the AU should step up efforts to avert further bloodshed.
The Um Raquba refugee camp in eastern Sudan once housed Ethiopians fleeing famine, but now life has flooded back into the isolated camp as refugees seek safe haven from the Tigray conflict.
\"A month ago, this was just a piece of desert, but now it's turned back into a town,\" camp director Abdel Basset Abdel Ghani told AFP.
The sound of hammering and digging rings out as people build temporary huts, while elsewhere children take lessons in makeshift classrooms.
Young people kick a football around in the dust while others line up to refill containers of water.
More than 44,000 refugees have crossed into Sudan since fighting broke out in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region on November 4, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
The rapidly growing Um Raquba refugee camp, located some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the border, once housed refugees who fled Ethiopia's 1983-85 famine that killed more than a million people.
It was closed 20 years ago but reopened for a second time earlier this month.
Tasfai Burhani and his wife, who arrived Thursday from the Hamdayit transit centre in neighbouring Kassala province, are among those building a hut for themselves.
\"For now, we'll live here. After that, we'll see,\" said the farmer, aged around 20.
- Rapid expansion -
Authorities have assigned them a 200 square metre (over 2,100 square feet) area and have provided them with rudimentary materials and tools to make the wicker shelters.
Others less inclined to build the structures themselves or who are convinced their stay will be brief have opted for white tents distributed by UNHCR.
Um Raquba is Sudan's only official refugee settlement.
Other camps near the border are transit centres where new arrivals are registered before being directed towards Um Raquba.
The camp now houses almost 9,700 people, according to the UN refugee agency.
Some 2,100 huts have been set up since the settlement was reopened this month, camp director Abdel Ghani said.
Toilets have been put in place across the camp and UN children's agency UNICEF has installed water tanks.
\"Luckily the region has a lot of (underground) water, even though the infrastructure is poor,\" Abdel Ghani said.
He said the camp can accommodate \"20,000 people, but the number of arrivals here is constantly going up.\"
An additional 3,000 huts are planned to fill the gap in demand, he added.
- Makeshift schools -
Shelters were initially concentrated in the middle of Um Raquba, but now extend for a radius of up to a kilometre, AFP correspondents said.
At the centre of the settlement, international organisations have opened offices that people visit in the hope of receiving aid.
Small vegetable stands have sprung up too, and while some refugees prefer to prepare their food themselves with ingredients distributed by the United Nations, most queue up three times a day for meals from the World Food Programme's tents.
Sitting on the ground in one hut, around 50 young children were excited to be back at school after the trauma of fleeing conflict
[Botswana Daily News] Gaborone -- President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has called for an integrated and coordinated regional approach to effectively deal with imminent threats.
On November 6, after a speech by Donald Trump in which he baselessly claimed the 2020US presidential election was fraudulent, ABC journalist Leigh Sales critici...
[Botswana Daily News] Hukuntsi -- United Nations (UN) resident coordinator, Mr Ziachou Choundry, has urged nations to step up the protection of women and children.
[GroundUp] Progressive policies linked to drop in new infections in Southern Africa
… 2019.
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The first of three properties being transformed into shelters for women in abusive relationships is now ready to accept clients.Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia 'Babsy' Grange made the announcement in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
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[Nyasa Times] Chairperson for Parliamentary Health Committee, Dr. Mathews Ngwale says he will table the the controversial Termination of Pregnancy Billduring the February, 2021 Parliamentary Sitting with hope that legislators will give a nod to the bill.
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