New US Ambassador to Ethiopia

 Source: President Biden appointed on 3 January 2023 Ervin Massinga as the new ambassador to Ethiopia.  He served most recently as principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs in the State Department and has served at embassies in Sudan, Guinea, and Cote d’Ivoire, among others

Controversy Surrounding East African Oil Pipeline

 Source: The Pulitzer Center published on 30 December 2022 an article titled “Fear and Oil in Uganda” by Sophie Neiman.

The plan to build the 900 mile long East African Crude Oil Pipeline from Lake Albert in Uganda to the Tanzanian coast has stirred controversy among the people it will affect along the way.  The French company TotalEnergies holds a 62 percent share in the project, the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation an 8 percent share, and the remainder held by the Ugandan and Tanzanian governments.  

Turkiye, Somalia discuss judicial cooperation 

Source: middle East Monitor, Friday January 6, 2023

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag speaks during an exclusive interview in Ankara, Turkiye on November 8, 2022 [Arda Küçükkaya/Anadolu Agency]
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag yesterday met his Somali counterpart, Hassan Moalim, in the Turkish capital Ankara to discuss mutual judicial cooperation.
During the meeting, Bozdag praised what he described as the “efforts of the Somali authorities” to end the activities of Turkish terrorist organisations on its soil.
He told reporters that the Somali authorities had handed the management of schools belonging to these groups to the Turkish government.
The Turkish minister pointed out that his country would sign new agreements with Somalia in the fields of “human rights and justice.”
Moalim said he had visited prison institutions in Turkiye and received information about their system, stressing that he had spoken with Turkish officials about the “importance of historical relations, common heritage, support provided by Ankara to Mogadishu, as well as ways to develop cooperation.”

World’s ‘most wanted people smuggler’ arrested in Sudan 

Sourcfe: Aljazeera, Friday January 6, 2023

UAE says it played key role in operation to detain Eritrean national Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, wanted by Interpol.
Habtemariam is believed to have smuggled and trafficked thousands of victims [Pablo Tosco/AP Photo]
An Eritrean fugitive accused of being “the world’s most wanted” people smuggler has been arrested in Sudan in coordination with UAE authorities, Interpol announced.
Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam has been accused of being a smuggling kingpin, running a camp in Libya where hundreds of East African migrants seeking passage to Europe were allegedly kidnapped, raped and extorted.
Habtemariam, the subject of two Interpol red notices by Ethiopia and the Netherlands, was arrested on January 1 by Sudanese police in coordination with UAE authorities, UAE interior ministry official Saeed Abdullah al-Suwaidi told reporters on Thursday.
The Eritrean, on Interpol’s radar since 2019, earned a reputation for “particularly cruel and violent treatment of migrants”, Interpol said.
“We have now shut down one of the most important trafficking routes into Europe, which illegally moved thousands of migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, through Libya and into Europe,” al-Suwaidi said in a statement.
Habtemariam’s arrest followed a joint UAE and Interpol investigation, beginning last year, that tracked illicit financial transactions made by his brother, according to al-Suwaidi.
The Eritrean will now face trial in the UAE for money laundering, and authorities will review the possibility of his extradition after the case is closed in the UAE, Suwaidi added. https://www.youtube.com/embed/4j8a_mebGNQ 
Habtemariam was arrested in Ethiopia in 2020 but escaped custody after one year, and was later sentenced in absentia to life in prison.
He operated warehouses including in the Libyan town of Bani Walid and was known for extorting and torturing victims.
‘Horrific exploitation’
Habtemariam had worked with another infamous human smuggler, Tewelde Goitom, who was notorious for the number of captive women he allegedly raped, according to victims Al Jazeera previously spoke to.
Habtemariam’s arrest will deal “a significant blow to a major smuggling route towards Europe and protect thousands more from being exploited at the hands of the crime group”, Interpol said.
Al-Suwaidi said the arrest was “just the beginning” of hunting down the rest of Habtemariam’s network, and the UAE is discussing with Interpol the possibility of launching another investigation into a major human trafficker.
“The UAE will continue to deploy our full operational capabilities to protect vulnerable communities from this horrific exploitation,” he said.
Stephen Kavanagh, a director at Interpol, said Habtemariam was the “most wanted” criminal including in Ethiopia and the Netherlands.
The arrest “is a testament to the Interpol network, and what can be achieved when countries work together”, Kavanagh said, thanking Ethiopia, the Netherlands, the UAE and Sudan for playing a “crucial role”.
The body said more arrests are expected as part of continuing investigations, and as coordination continues with several member states.

Somalia, UAE strike security deal in push to mend fences 

Source: Midle East Monitor, Friday January 6, 2023

Somali Defence Minister, Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur and his counterpart, Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Bowardi [Twitter/@dhoorebbc]

Somalia and the UAE have signed an agreement to bolster military and security ties, along with cooperation in anti-terrorism efforts, as the two countries work to improve strained relations, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The deal was inked on Wednesday evening in Abu Dhabi by Somali Defence Minister, Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur and his counterpart, Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Bowardi.

The agreement will enhance “institutional capacity-building of Somalia’s security forces and support ongoing efforts to eradicate Al-Shabaab from Somalia,” Nur said in a statement.

The Al-Shabaab terror group is an Al-Qaeda affiliate that has claimed thousands of lives in a deadly campaign against the Somali government and international forces since at least 2007.

Somalia’s President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has declared “all-out war” against the group as it continues to mount violent attacks in the country.

On Wednesday, Al-Shabaab carried out twin suicide bombings in the central Somali town of Mahas, killing at least 35 people and wounding more than 70.

The UAE remains a “strategic partner in Somalia’s peace-building and state-building efforts,” Nur added.

A UAE Defence Ministry statement said talks in Abu Dhabi also focused on efforts to protect common interests.

Bilateral ties between the countries have been lukewarm for several years, particularly over Somali allegations of UAE’s interference in its internal politics.

Relations plummeted during ex-President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s tenure, with the Somali Parliament going as far as banning Emirati state-owned ports operator, DP World, declaring it a threat to Somalia’s sovereignty.

UAE, in response, closed a military facility and a hospital in Mogadishu, while also disbanding its military training mission.

President Mohamud, who led Somalia from 2012 to 2017 and started his second tenure last May, has made mending diplomatic relations with UAE a top foreign policy priority.

Reasons for Cease Fire in Ethiopia

 Source: The International Crisis Group recently posted a 5 minute video titled “What Led Ethiopia and Tigray to Agree to a Cease Fire?” with Will Davison.  

Davison comments on the reasons why Tigray Defense Forces agreed to accept a cease fire with central government forces

2022 was the year of drought 

Source: NBC, Sunday January 1, 2023By Denise Chow
It was a year characterized by extreme drought.
From North America to Africa to Europe to Asia, huge swaths of the planet were parched in 2022. Lakes and rivers in several countries shrank to extreme lows and dry conditions threatened crops and fueled destructive wildfires across the globe.
As the world warms, climate change will exacerbate drought conditions on the planet. Research has shown that global warming worsens drought by enhancing evaporation, depleting reservoirs and drying out soils and other vegetation.
Here’s what drought this year looked like on four of the hardest-hit continents.
Asia
The world’s largest continent provided a dire blueprint in 2022 of the consequences of drought and extreme heat in a warming world.
In March, an early heat wave gripped India and Pakistan, causing at least 90 deaths as temperatures in some spots soared as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit. The scorching conditions ignited forest fires in India and fueled the rapid melting of glaciers in northern Pakistan, which led to catastrophic flooding and even wiped out a bridge in the country’s Hunza Valley. A study released in May by the World Weather Attribution group found that the punishing heat in India and Pakistan was 30 times more likely due to climate change. Over the summer, prolonged heat waves in China created severe drought conditions for many parts of the country. Sections of the Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia, reached record low levels in August, with some areas almost completely drying up. Some 400 million people in China depend on the Yangtze River for drinking water and to irrigate rice, wheat and other crops, according to the Nature Conservancy. The waterway is also a major source of hydropower for the country and plays a key role in shipping and global supply chain management.

Dongshuimen Bridge in Chongqing, China, on July 17, 2018, left, and August 18, 2022. (Imaginechina via AP Images; VCG via Getty Images)

In the country’s southwestern Sichuan province, the most extreme heat wave and drought in six decades caused water flow to the region’s hydropower reservoirs to plummet in late August, prompting the provincial government to warn of “particularly severe” power outages, the South China Morning Post reported.

Poyang Lake in Jiangxi, China on Aug. 8, 2021 and Aug. 22, 2022. (Planet Labs PBC)
The following  month, September, officials in the central Chinese province of Jiangxi declared a water supply “red alert” for the first time as Poyang Lake’s water levels fell dramatically due to drought. The freshwater lake is the country’s largest and is normally a flood outlet for the Yangtze River.
Drought conditions gripped central China over the summer months, with the Jiangxi province experiencing 60% less precipitation from July to September compared to the same time last year, according to the Jiangxi Water Monitoring Center.
In Anhui province, which neighbors Jiangxi, water levels at 10 reservoirs fell below “dead pool” status, when the reservoir is so low that water cannot flow downstream from the dam.
Africa
The effects of extreme heat and drought were also dire for parts of Africa in 2022.
The Horn of Africa, which encompasses the easternmost part of the continent, experienced its longest drought in 40 years in 2022, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The region experienced drier than average conditions as it suffered through its fifth consecutive failed rainy season. Humanitarian organizations warned that the prolonged drought is exacerbating food insecurity issues for more than 50 million people in the region.

A woman waters goats from a shallow well dug into a dry riverbed at Eliye springs on the western shore of Lake Turkana in Kenya (Tony Karumba / AFP via Getty Images file )
Parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia were among the hardest hit by drought this year. Guleid Artan, director of the WMO’s climate center for East Africa said in August that the three countries are “on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe” because of rainfall deficits and ongoing drought.
The United Nations said severe drought and food shortages are likely to persist, which could lead to famine in parts of the Horn of Africa.

A woman seen carrying her water container filled with water (Donwilson Odhiambo / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images file )
​​“Unfortunately, we have not yet seen the worst of this crisis,” Michael Dunford, the U.N. World Food Program’s regional director for eastern Africa, said in a Nov. 28 statement. “If you think 2022 is bad, beware of what is coming in 2023.”
In a report released in October, the United Nations and the Red Cross said certain regions of Africa and Asia will become uninhabitable within decades because of extreme heat.
“The impacts would include large-scale suffering and loss of life, population movements and further entrenched inequality. These impacts are already emerging,” the organizations jointly wrote.

The carcass of an adult elephant, which died during the drought, at the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy in Samburu, Kenya (Luis Tato / AFP via Getty Images file )
Europe
Elsewhere in the world, conditions were similarly parched this past summer.
A preliminary report released in August by the European Commission found that Europe’s 2022 droughts were the worst in at least 500 years. Many regions were under drought since the beginning of the year, made worse by drier-than-usual conditions over the summer and a series of heat waves from June through October.
In August, almost two-thirds of the European continent was under either drought warning or alert conditions, according to the report. Low rainfall over the summer months and persistent dry conditions added stress to summer crops in parts of Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Hungary.

A boat moored on dry waters on the river Po in Ficarolo, Italy, on July 30, 2022. (Nicola Ciancaglini / Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images file )
In Italy, rivers and lakes dried up over the summer. Large sections of the country’s longest river, the River Po, ran completely dry, forcing officials in July to declare a state of emergency in five northern regions.
Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake, also shrank to near-historic lows over the summer. Water from the lake was diverted to local rivers to help farmers across the parched north of the country, leaving Lake Garda 12.6 inches above the water table, which approached the lowest levels recorded in 2003 and 2007.
Waterways elsewhere in Europe were similarly impacted by drought and extreme heat. In August, Serbia’s Danube River shrank to one of its lowest levels in almost a century. The Loire River in France also fell to historically low levels over the summer amid record drought in the country.
North America
Parts of North America, such as the western United States, remained in the grips of severe drought this year. Dry conditions fueled dangerous wildfires in Arizona, Colorado, California, Oregon and Washington state.
A study published in February in the journal Nature Climate Change found that ongoing “megadrought” conditions in the southwestern U.S., which have persisted for the past 22 years, are the worst since at least 800 A.D. 
Lake Powell on Aug. 16 2017 and Aug. 6, 2022. (Earth Observatory )
Key reservoirs in the country shrank to alarming lows in 2022. In June, water levels at Lake Mead, which was created on the Colorado River on the Arizona-Nevada border, dropped to the lowest levels since the lake was filled in the 1930s. The historic low water levels carry enormous implications for water supply and the production of hydroelectric power for millions of people across Arizona, California, Nevada and parts of Mexico.

Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the U.S., was similarly affected by intense drought, with its water dropping to the lowest levels since it was filled in the mid-1960s, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Water intake towers at the Hoover Dam in Las Vegas, on June 6, 1979, left, and on Aug. 19, 2022. (Santi Visalli; Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
Lake Mead’s declining water levels also had unexpected consequences: In May, two sets of human remains were discovered as a result of the reservoir’s receding shoreline.

Eritrean soldiers leaving parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray – witnesses 

Source: Aljazeera, Saturday December 31, 2022

Eritrean soldiers, who fought in support of Ethiopia’s federal government during its two-year civil war in the northern Tigray region, are pulling out of two big towns and headed towards the border, witnesses and an Ethiopian official told the Reuters news agency.

Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told Reuters on Friday he could neither confirm nor deny the information. Another Ethiopian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Eritrean troops were withdrawing from Axum and Shire.

Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigrayan forces, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The withdrawals from Shire and Axum follow a November 2 ceasefire signed by Ethiopia’s government and Tigray regional forces that require the removal of foreign troops from Tigray.

Eritrea, however, was not a party to the deal, and its troops’ ongoing presence in big Tigrayan population centres has raised questions about the durability of the accord.

It was not immediately clear if the Eritrean troops were leaving Tigray entirely or just pulling back from certain towns.

Three aid workers in Axum and Shire said they saw several trucks and dozens of cars packed with Eritrean soldiers on Thursday leaving towards the border town of Sheraro. One of the aid workers said the soldiers were waving goodbye.

One of the aid workers said all of the Eritrean soldiers had left Shire, but another said that a significant number had remained behind. It was not immediately clear what explained the discrepancy.

Tigray residents have accused the Eritrean soldiers of continuing to loot, arrest, and kill civilians after the ceasefire.

Eritrean authorities have not directly responded to the allegations.

During the war, Eritrean troops were accused by residents and human rights groups of various cases of abuse, including the killing of hundreds of civilians in Axum during a 24-hour period in November 2020. Eritrea rejected the accusations.

Eritrea considers the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which leads Tigrayan forces, its enemy. Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a border war between 1998 and 2000 when the TPLF dominated the federal government.

After a slow start, Ethiopia’s government and Tigrayan authorities have taken several steps in the past week to implement the peace deal.

On Thursday, representatives from both sides met in Tigray’s capital Mekelle to set up a monitoring team to assess the enforcement of the agreement.

Federal police also entered Mekelle in accordance with the truce, state-owned Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights and Ethio Telecom reconnected its services to the capital and 27 other towns.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Pele: The player who united a nation 

Source: BBC, By Katy Watson
BBC South America correspondent, São Paulo
Friday December 30, 2022

Brazil fans showed their support for Pelé during the Fifa World Cup in Qatar

Outside the Albert Einstein hospital in São Paulo, fans started gathering when they heard the news of Pele passing. Some were dressed in the number 10 shirt Pele wore when playing for Santos. Outside a banner had been draped that read “Eternal King Pele”.

This is a moment that Brazilians had been expecting for some time but also dreading. In recent weeks, Pele’s daughter Kely Nascimento had taken to Instagram to keep his fans updated about his condition – every post or story fervently followed for any news of “O Rei” (“The King” in Portuguese).

When news eventually came of his passing, it was still a big moment. The hospital issued a statement confirming his death from multiple organ failure connected to his colon cancer but it was more than just a medical bulletin – it also said that the hospital shared the suffering felt by the family and everyone over the loss of “our beloved King of football”.

That is a mark of just how important he was for Brazilians – while Pele was of course a footballing legend the world over, for people here, he was so much more.

President-elect, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is due to be sworn in on Sunday, said he had had the privilege of seeing Pele play, although he added it wasn’t merely “playing”, it was a “show”.

“Few Brazilians took the name of our country as far as he did,” he said in a tweet, adding that there was never another number 10 like him.

For every Brazilian, Pele meant something. The older generations remembered him as a player, the younger Brazilians were told about his phenomenal skills – but he united people in this footballing nation.

This is a country that defines itself by football. During the World Cup, Brazilians are given leave to watch their national team. Pele was cheering them on from his hospital bed, wishing them well. And so his death coming after the tournament he won three times is even more poignant.

These past few weeks, Brazilians have had time to reflect on his life, knowing that his condition was worsening. Even people with no interest in football refer to him as the King.

He was a footballer that stayed very Brazilian, playing for Santos for many years rather than playing for clubs abroad. In fact, president Janio Quadros in 1961 even declared him a national treasure, which meant for years he couldn’t be “exported” to play for clubs abroad, such was his hero status and importance for national pride.

In a country where racism and classism are still so dominant, Pele, a black footballer from a poor background, was an incredible success story. He rarely talked about racism, a stance that he was at times criticised for. But he always championed the power of football to bring the nation together, to give opportunities to even the poorest Brazilians.

Pele was also known to keep his head down when it came to politics. Again, many felt that was a weak position given his huge influence – and of course the turbulent politics that he lived through – including a dictatorship. But in a country that has once again become increasingly divided when it comes to politics, this silence also allowed him to transcend politics, to be loved and respected universally as the King of all Brazilians, both on and off the field.

The greatest footballer of all time has now gone, but his memory here in Brazil will remain forever.

Mejla

Lena Mellin

Source: Aftonbladet, 2022-12-30, Håll tummarna för att 2023 blir bättre

Kenya ships food donation to South Sudan amid fighting, EVELYNE MUSAMBIDecember 24, 2022

Source: AP, NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s President William Ruto has expressed concern over the fighting in neighboring South Sudan and airlifted a donation of food stuffs to those affected.

South Sudan’s northern Upper Nile and Jonglei states are experiencing renewed fighting between rival armed militias

Somalia, Djibouti celebrate launch of Somali Language Academy 

Source: Hiiraan Online, Thursday December 29, 2022

Mogadishu (HOL) – Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and his counterpart, Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh, attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Intergovernmental Somali Language Academy in Mogadishu.
President Mohamud said the centre would be instrumental in preserving the Somali language and culture.
“The Somali language is the common thread that binds the Somali people together. It is the sole record that contains knowledge of culture, history, and tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation. It is what distinguishes us from other nations throughout the world.”
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud thanked President Ismail Omar Guelleh and the government of Djibouti for their role in implementing this project.
Other leaders in attendance included the Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia, Hamse Abdi Barre, Kenya’s Minister of Defense, Aden Barre Duale, and Ministers and MPs from the Federal Government of Somalia.

Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict: Flights resume between Addis Ababa and Mekelle 

Source: BBC, Friday December 30, 2022

The war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region devastated the lives of many people

Families wept and kissed the tarmac at the main airport in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region as they reunited after being kept apart by war for more than 18 months.

The emotional scenes followed the resumption of commercial flights between the federal capital Addis Ababa and the regional capital Mekelle.

The city, which has a population of around 500,000, was largely cut off from the rest of the world during a brutal two-year war that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, and displaced millions of others.

The government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) finally signed a peace accord last month, opening the way for passenger flights to resume.

TPLF-controlled Tigrai TV showed footage of passengers dropping to their knees and kissing the tarmac at the airport in Mekelle.

There were also emotional scenes at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport, as people flew in from Tigray.

As telephone services had also been cut, some people had no contact with their relatives in Tigray for more than 18 months, and were anxiously waiting to find out whether they were still at home and safe.

They included 47-year-old Kahssay Hailu, who had been stranded in Addis Ababa since she came to the city to be with her daughter, as she prepared for her exams.

“I lived here, separated from my husband and child whom I love,” Mrs Kahssay told Reuters news agency, as she waited at the airport in Addis Ababa to catch her flight to Mekelle.

“When I heard of the news [of flights resuming], I fell to the ground and cried,” she added.

Another woman, 67-year-old Nigsti Hailemariam, said she had arrived in Addis Ababa in 2020 to help her pregnant daughter give birth.

“I came here to see my daughter who was giving birth. My plan was to stay just two weeks and then everything was shut down suddenly. It has been more than a year-and-a-half. I’m very happy that peace is returning, and excited that I am finally going home,” she told Reuters.

The war started after a massive fall-out between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the TPLF-controlled regional government.

Mr Abiy accused Tigrayan forces of attacking military bases and trying to overthrow him.

He responded by ordering air strikes, and sending troops to Tigray to dislodge the TPLF from power in the region.

The African Union (AU) brokered a deal between the two sides last month to end hostilities and to restore basic services in Tigray.

Somalia’s defector rehabilitation centers face financial uncertainty 

Source: VOA, Harun Maruf
Friday December 30, 2022

WASHINGTON — As Somalia security forces dislodge al-Shabab from new territories in the central regions, the United Nations agency running al-Shabab defector rehabilitation centers says it has not received funding to continue its work.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which implements donor support for the centers in Mogadishu, Baidoa and Kismayo, said it does not have funding for the new year.

“At the moment, IOM has no funding to continue to support the program,” Frantz Celestin, IOM Somalia chief of mission, told VOA Somali.

The agency has recently informed Somali authorities that funding for the multimillion-dollar project could stop in the new year unless the Somali government and donors reach a deal on the future operations of the program.

“If we don’t get the funding between now and 31st December, we will not be in a position to continue to support the program,” Celestin said in a written response to VOA Somali.

“Our support will cease on 31st December 2022.”

The move is not a permanent cessation but a pause until there is an agreement with the government on a way forward, he emphasized.

Known as the National Program for the Treatment and Handling of Disengaged Combatants, the defector project started more than a decade ago and has helped rehabilitate and reintegrate thousands of al-Shabab defectors.

More than 450 defectors are currently benefiting from the program, according to a source familiar with the center. The defectors include men and women who left al-Shabab. Defectors spend up to one year in the centers before they are reintegrated into the community.

Celestin says additional funding is contingent upon an agreement between the donors and the Somali government.

“As has been the case since 2012, the donors are committed to supporting the program, but they would like to see a path to government ownership of the program. I believe this is what’s under discussion,” he told VOA.

The project’s main donors are the United Kingdom and Germany. A spokesperson for the British embassy and the German embassy in Somalia said the two countries have supported the program for many years.

“The program aims to establish a safe pathway for low-risk combatants and associated women to disengage from non-state armed groups and sustainably reintegrate into their communities,” the spokesperson said.

The U.K. and German embassies said they intend to continue the financial support for the program in 2023-24 but indicated they wanted to see the Somali government take over the project.

“To ensure it is sustainable in the long term, ownership will be transitioned to the government of Somalia,” the spokesperson said.

“We are contributing to the design of the transition and are planning to support its implementation once a plan has been confirmed. Discussions remain ongoing.”

VOA Somali reached out to the Somali Internal Security Ministry, the lead government agency in charge of the program. Officials at the ministry declined to be interviewed for this story.

The program’s funding crisis comes at a crucial time as the Somali government and local forces are pushing al-Shabab from large areas of the countryside. Officials believe if the current operations continue the pressure, there will be more defections, which will make the role of the rehabilitation centers even more crucial.

A military source, who asked not to be named because he doesn’t have permission to discuss the topic, said they have recently confirmed 17 al-Shabab militants who surrendered in Middle Shabelle region.

Former Minister of Internal Security Abdullahi Mohamed Nor, who handed over the post in August, says the program is particularly important during this period because of the ongoing operations against al-Shabab.

“At this time, more centers need to be opened and their capacity increased,” Nor said.

He said the centers need to offer psychological counseling support to the defectors who, he said, are “a hundred percent traumatized” because of the violence.

Nor said thousands have graduated from the program and left the centers to reintegrate.

“In Mogadishu for instance, there is always one hundred people in the center, at a minimum,” he said.

He said he supports bringing the program under the control of the Somali government.

“I would like the Somali government to take over responsibility completely because these are sensitive centers, undertaking sensitive work,” he said.

He acknowledged the role of the donors in supporting the program but said it’s right for Somalia to take over.

Source: Mowliid Haji Abdi · Följ23 december kl. 00:15  · Soomaaliya shidaal ma ku jiraa, inteese qaadan kartaa in lagu soo saaro?Soomaaliya shidaal ma ku jiraa, intee qaadan kartaa in lagu soo saaro? Maxaase hortaa… Visa mer0:35 / 30:00GillaKommenteraDela

Lawyer Abdirahman Haariye och 1,1 tn andra ·64 kommentarer ·33 tn visningar

Somali Troops Trickle Back from Eritrea

 Source: Reuters published on 21 December 2022 an article titled “Somalia Repatriates Troops from Eritrea after Protests over Recruitment.”  

The previous Somali government sent an estimated 5,000 young men to Eritrea for military training under questionable circumstances.  President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was elected in May 2022, has been trying to get them back to Somalia.  A small number reportedly recently returned home.

AU Monitoring Team to Oversea Ethiopian Peace Deal

 Source: The Voice of America published on 23 December 2022 an article titled “Ethiopia, Tigray Rebels Agree to African Union Monitoring Team” by Mohammed Yusuf.

Ethiopian central government officials and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front have agreed to establish a joint monitoring team to oversee the peace agreement.  The two sides discussed ways to implement disarmament of the Tigrayan forces and negotiate the withdrawal of Eritrean forces from Tigray Region.  

EU Calls on Eritrean Troops to Leave Ethiopia

 Source: The Council of the European Union published on 22 December 2022 a press release titled “Ethiopia: Statement by the High Representative on Behalf of the EU.”

The statement expressed support for the Ethiopian peace deal and called “for an immediate and complete withdrawal of Eritrean troops from Ethiopia.”

Ethiopia, Tigray rebels agree to African Union monitoring team 

Source: VOA, Monday December 26, 2022

NAIROBI — Kenya’s former president, Uhuru Kenyatta, will travel to Ethiopia’s Tigray region to oversee monitoring of last month’s peace deal. Ethiopian federal and Tigray region officials agreed late Thursday at talks in Nairobi to grant the African Union full access to the region to oversee an end to the two-year conflict.

Ethiopian military leadership and representatives of the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front have agreed to establish a joint monitoring team to oversee the peace agreement signed in November.

The agreement, signed in South Africa, ended two years of fighting between the federal government and TPLF that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.

Former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who is also part of the mediating team, said Thursday the warring factions have agreed to have a body monitor the peace deal.

“They have all concurred and agreed to give the monitoring and verification team of the African Union full access, full 360-degree viewpoint to ensure all the elements of the agreements are actually going to be implemented,” Kenyatta said.

The mediators, who met peace negotiators in Nairobi this week, expressed confidence in normalcy returning to the Tigray region and peace in Ethiopia.

Professor Chacha Nyaigoti Chacha, an expert in diplomacy and international relations, said the African Union must play its role in solving conflicts in the continent.

“The problem with the African Union is that sometimes the resolutions and determination of this nature have not been followed with tangible results in the field,” Chacha said. “But we are hoping this time round the warring parties will be able to appreciate the fact that they need very urgently to have a solution to the problems.”

The war between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray rebel group broke out in November 2020 and spread to the Amhara and Afar regions.

The peace deal has brought some relief to the suffering population in the north of the country.

Ethiopian leaders have been meeting to discuss ways of carrying out the disarmament of rebels in Tigray and neighboring regions and negotiate the withdrawal of Eritrean forces who assisted the Ethiopian army.

Kenyatta said his team and African Union representatives will visit Tigray’s capital to check on the progress of the peace agreement.

“They have been negotiating for the last two days but we agreed that the true statement that they need to make would be the statement they make when we are in Mekelle in the next few days observing and verifying the actions because documents are one thing, what we want now is the deliverables and this is why we are heading to Mekele,” Kenyatta said.

There was no immediate word on when Kenyatta will go to Tigray.

Chacha said the Kenyatta team’s visit will help solve the outstanding issues in the peace deal.

“The actions of visiting will give them firsthand information and knowledge about the situation on the ground and when the situation on the ground is clearly understood, then the parties concerned, including the mediators, can understand and appreciate the way they will approach the resolution in order for them to create an atmosphere that can bring about peace,” Chacha said.

Some of the peace deal’s provisions have already been implemented, including humanitarian aid and the restoration of banking and telecommunications services.

Scientists find two new minerals in the 15000 kg, 9th largest meteorite to hit Earth 

Source: TN Science Desk
Monday December 26, 2022

A team of researchers has discovered at least two new minerals that have never before been seen on Earth in a 15 tonne meteorite found in Somalia — the ninth largest meteorite ever found.

“Whenever you find a new mineral, it means that the actual geological conditions, the chemistry of the rock, was different than what’s been found before,” says Chris Herd, a professor in the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and curator of the University of Alberta’s Meteorite Collection. “That’s what makes this exciting: In this particular meteorite you have two officially described minerals that are new to science.”advertisementsThe two minerals found came from a single 70 gram slice that was sent to the U of A for classification, and there already appears to be a potential third mineral under consideration. If researchers were to obtain more samples from the massive meteorite, there’s a chance that even more might be found, Herd notes.

The two newly discovered minerals have been named elaliite and elkinstantonite. The first receives its name from the meteorite itself, dubbed the “El Ali” meteorite because it was found in near the town of El Ali, in the Hiiraan region of Somalia. Herd named the second mineral after Lindy Elkins-Tanton, vice president of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative, professor at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and principal investigator of NASA’s upcoming Psyche mission.

“Lindy has done a lot of work on how the cores of planets form, how these iron nickel cores form, and the closest analogue we have are iron meteorites. So it made sense to name a mineral after her and recognize her contributions to science,” Herd explains.

In collaboration with researchers at UCLA and the California Institute of Technology, Herd classified the El Ali meteorite as an “Iron, IAB complex” meteorite, one of over 350 in that particular category.

As Herd was analyzing the meteorite to classify it, he saw something that caught his attention. He brought in the expertise of Andrew Locock, head of the U of A’s Electron Microprobe Laboratory, who has been involved in other new mineral descriptions including Heamanite-(Ce).

“The very first day he did some analyses, he said, ‘You’ve got at least two new minerals in there,’” says Herd. “That was phenomenal. Most of the time it takes a lot more work than that to say there’s a new mineral.”

Locock’s rapid identification was possible because the two minerals had been synthetically created before, so he was able to match the composition of the newly discovered natural minerals with their human-made counterparts.

Researchers are continuing to examine the minerals to determine what they can tell us about the conditions in the meteorite when it formed.

“That’s my expertise — how you tease out the geologic processes and the geologic history of the asteroid this rock was once part of,” says Herd. “I never thought I’d be involved in describing brand new minerals just by virtue of working on a meteorite.”

Herd also notes that any new mineral discoveries could possibly yield exciting new uses down the line.
“Whenever there’s a new material that’s known, material scientists are interested too because of the potential uses in a wide range of things in society.”

While the future of the meteorite remains uncertain, Herd says the researchers have received news that it appears to have been moved to China in search of a potential buyer. It remains to be seen whether additional samples will be available for scientific purposes.