Musings From Abroad

UNHCR warns refugees from Somaliland moving into already troubled Ethiopia

Published

2 years ago

March 9, 2023

The United Nation and Ethiopian refugee agencies have announced that about 100,000 people fleeing fighting in Somaliland, have taken refuge in a month in a remote area of Ethiopia already suffering from severe drought.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 98,000 people have arrived in three Ethiopia woredas (districts) bordering Somaliland since February 6. The commissioner cited Citing authorities in the Doolo administrative zone, part of Ethiopia’s Somali region and located at the southeastern tip of the country, more than 1,300 km off the bad road from Addis Ababa.

An Ethiopian government agency said at a press conference in Addis Ababa with Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR representative in Ethiopia said the figures will be corroborated with the registration that has started, Tesfahun Gobezay, director general of the Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS).

The latest figures available on Monday show that “29,000 refugees have already been registered and the numbers are increasing”, he said, adding that the refugees were “mainly women and children”.

If their number is confirmed, the arrival of these refugees will swell by 40% of the population of the three woredas concerned, about 236,000 people who are already suffering severely from the drought affecting their region and more broadly part of the Horn of Africa.

“It is an area lacking infrastructure and with little socio-economic development, which has been struggling with a drought for four years,” Tesfahun recalled. However, its inhabitants, “affected by the drought and various challenges, were the first to help” the refugees, “even before we arrived, they hosted them in their homes and shared their little food.

Shelter, food, water, medical aid: the needs are numerous and “quite urgent”, underlined Mr. Dian Balde, considering it “very important that our support does not only take into account the refugees but also their hosts”.

Moreover, the refugees “tell us: ‘we want to go home’. They are not people who want to remain refugees (…) They are therefore also calling for finding ways, solutions to the current problem (in Somaliland) so that people can return home,” he insisted.

Somaliland is Somalia’s self-declared independent region, formerly a British territory, Somaliland unilaterally declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, when the country was plunging into chaos from which it has not yet emerged.

Musings From Abroad

Swiss company Mercuria partners Zambia’s IDC in new metals trading firm

Published

2 days ago

December 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to a statement released by Swiss commodities trader, Mercuria, on Thursday, it has established a metals trading arm with Zambia, the second-largest producer of copper in Africa.

The trading unit is jointly owned by Mercuria and an arm of Zambia’s Industrial Development Company (IDC), and its purpose is to allow Zambia to engage directly in the minerals trading market.

The joint venture “envisages the establishment of a vehicle to market and trade Zambian copper by mutual leverage,” according to a statement from Cornwell Muleya, the CEO of IDC.

The southern African nation wants to increase copper output to roughly 3 million metric tonnes within the next ten years, and in 2023, it produced roughly 698,000 tonnes of copper, down from 763,000 metric tonnes the year before.

In June, the Zambian government announced that it would establish a minerals trading unit.

Investors including First Quantum Minerals and Barrick Gold are ramping up production, with output set to receive a further boost once Vedanta Resources’ Konkola Copper Mines restart activity.

“Our joint venture with IDC marks a significant milestone for Zambia as it positions itself more strategically in the global minerals market,” Kostas Bintas, Mercuria’s global head of metals and minerals, said in the statement.

Musings From Abroad

Blinken to reveal UN Sudan funding additions

Published

3 days ago

December 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Additional financing for humanitarian aid to Sudan and initiatives to strengthen civil society in the nation, where a conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions, will be announced by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the United Nations on Thursday.

Blinken will make many announcements when he leads a UN Security Council meeting on Sudan on Thursday, which will centre on humanitarian aid and civilian protection, Deputy U.S. Representative to the UN Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday.

According to Price, the announcements would include more money for humanitarian help, initiatives to strengthen civil society, and the return of democracy.

“Sudan, unfortunately, has risked becoming a forgotten conflict,” Price said.

“So part of the reason the secretary … opted to convene a signature event on this very topic is to make sure it remains in the spotlight,” Price said.

For almost 18 months, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and Sudan’s army have been engaged in combat, resulting in a severe humanitarian crisis that has forced over 12 million people from their homes and made it difficult for U.N. organisations to provide aid.

A power struggle between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces preceded a planned shift to civilian administration, which sparked the conflict in April 2023.

Although the army declined to join this year’s U.S.-mediated peace negotiations in Geneva, the warring parties did pledge to increase assistance access, which prevented any movement towards a ceasefire.

Price stated that before President Joe Biden’s term ends next month, the United States would keep collaborating with allies to enhance humanitarian access in Sudan and eventually end hostilities.

“We are going to leave nothing on the field in our efforts to work with allies, with partners, with the Sudanese stakeholders themselves, on the issues that matter most – humanitarian access, the provision of humanitarian assistance, ultimately, the process by which we can work to get to a cessation of hostilities, which is most urgently needed,” he said.