Herders in Ethiopia forced to give up their nomadic existence

Herders in Ethiopia forced to give up their nomadic existence
Children walk at a school in the camp for internally displaced people of Farburo in the village of Adlale, near the city of Gode, Ethiopia, on January 11, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 30 January 2023

Herders in Ethiopia forced to give up their nomadic existence

Herders in Ethiopia forced to give up their nomadic existence
  • Drought has plunged 12 million people into ‘acute food insecurity’ in Ethiopia, UN says

KELAFO: Mohammed Hassan Gureh has made up his mind: He’s going to sell the last of his goats and leave his village to find a new life.

Like many herders in the east of Ethiopia, he has been forced to give up his nomadic existence after seeing his livestock decimated by drought.

The 32-year-old says he can no longer bear seeing his animals die. Out of a herd of 250 goats, only 35 are left.

And in his village of El Gel, in a corner of the Somali region of Ethiopia not far from the border with Somalia, two-thirds of the animals have been wiped out.

Gureh, like other nomadic herders across the Horn of Africa, has been waiting desperately for more than two years for rains that have not come.

The last five rainy seasons since the end of 2020 have failed, triggering the worst drought in four decades in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. And the next rainy season, from March to May, is also expected to be below average.

According to the UN, drought has plunged 12 million people into “acute food insecurity” in Ethiopia alone, where a deadly conflict has also ravaged the north of the country.

More than 4.5 million livestock have died since 2021 and another 30 million “weakened and emaciated” animals are at risk, the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said in a January 18 report.

Gureh waited and prayed, but he has had to face the grim reality. “There is no sign of improvement. I think the drought will continue and get worse over time.” So he has decided to sell his goats before it is too late.

With the small amount of money he’ll make from a sale, he plans to leave El Gel and head to the nearby town of K’elafo, hoping he will finally be able to support his wife, his four children, his blind father and his crippled mother.

His plans are vague: He will probably try to eke out a living as a small-time trader selling charcoal, firewood or incense.

“I also want to start adult education and develop my skills in order to find employment opportunities,” he says.

“It’s a very difficult decision to move from a life as a goatherd to a new way of life that I don’t know ... But I have no other option.”


Tear gas, arrests as Kenya opposition stages protests

Tear gas, arrests as Kenya opposition stages protests
Updated 21 sec ago

Tear gas, arrests as Kenya opposition stages protests

Tear gas, arrests as Kenya opposition stages protests
  • Kenyans are suffering from surging prices for basic necessities, as well as a sharp drop in the shilling against the US dollar
  • Many businesses in Nairobi were shut ahead of the demonstrations, with some employers telling their staff to work from home
NAIROBI: Kenyan riot police fired tear gas and water cannon Monday against demonstrators joining a day of action called by the opposition to protest a punishing cost-of-living crisis.
Running battles erupted between stone-throwing demonstrators and police in parts of Nairobi and at least one other city, in the first major unrest since President William Ruto became president last year, correspondents said.
Ruto’s government has vowed to take a tough stance over the protests, which opposition leader Raila Odinga insisted would go ahead despite not receiving police authorization.
“I want Kenyans to come out in large numbers and show the displeasure of what is happening in our country,” Odinga, who narrowly lost last year’s election to Ruto, told supporters on Sunday.
Police used tear gas against protesters gathered at a site near government offices in the heart of the capital Nairobi, where the major rally was scheduled to take place, and several other areas of the city.
“We came here peacefully but they tear gassed us,” said Charles Oduor, 21, who joined the large crowds in downtown Nairobi.
“They lie to us everyday. Where is the cheap maize flour they promised? Where are the jobs for the youth they promised? All they do is hire their friends.”
Kenyans are suffering from surging prices for basic necessities, as well as a sharp drop in the shilling against the US dollar and a record drought that has left millions hungry.
Odinga said he had called the rallies to protest the “skyrocketing” cost of living but also the “stolen” election last August.
In Nairobi’s biggest slum Kibera, a bastion of Odinga support, people also set tires ablaze while police used water cannon to disperse protesters.
Demonstrators and police also clashed in the lakeside city of Kisumu in western Kenya, another Odinga stronghold.
“Our victory was stolen and we are determined to get it back, we can’t sit back and watch as life becomes more difficult by the day. We want Raila in State House,” said Kevin Ojwang in Kisumu.
Nairobi police chief Adamson Bungei said on Sunday that police received requests to hold two demonstrations only late Saturday and early Sunday, when normally three days’ notice is required.
“For public safety, neither has been granted,” he said.
Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki warned on Sunday that anyone inciting public disorder or disturbing the peace would be prosecuted.
Many businesses in Nairobi were shut ahead of the demonstrations, with some employers telling their staff to work from home.
“We are here trying to fight for our rights. Life is so hard. If you see, these young men and women, we don’t have jobs, people are losing their jobs. So that’s why we’re talking about our rights,” said shoeshiner Henry Juma, 26.
Odinga, the leader of the Azimio la Umoja party, who described Monday as a “day of destiny,” continues to claim that Ruto’s August election win was fraudulent and denounces his government as illegitimate.
According to official results, Odinga — who was making his fifth bid for the presidency — lost to Ruto by around 233,000 votes, one of the slenderest margins in Kenya’s history.
The Supreme Court dismissed his appeals, with its judges giving a unanimous ruling in favor of Ruto, finding there was no evidence for Odinga’s accusations.
Ruto has declared that he would not be intimidated by the demonstrations, saying: “You are not going to threaten us with ultimatums and chaos and impunity.”
“We will not allow that,” he said, calling on Odinga to act in a “legal and constitutional manner.”

Kremlin tells officials to stop using iPhones – Kommersant newspaper

Kremlin tells officials to stop using iPhones – Kommersant newspaper
Updated 34 min 11 sec ago

Kremlin tells officials to stop using iPhones – Kommersant newspaper

Kremlin tells officials to stop using iPhones – Kommersant newspaper
  • ‘It’s all over for the iPhone: either throw it away or give it to the children’
  • The Kremlin may provide other devices with different operating systems to replace the iPhones

MOSCOW: Russia’s presidential administration has told officials to stop using Apple iPhones because of concerns the devices are vulnerable to Western intelligence agencies, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday.
At a Kremlin-organized seminar for officials involved in domestic politics, Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy head of the presidential administration, told officials to change their phones by April 1, Kommersant said, citing unidentified sources.
“It’s all over for the iPhone: either throw it away or give it to the children,” Kommersant quoted one of the participants of the meeting as saying. “Everyone will have to do it in March.”
The Kremlin may provide other devices with different operating systems to replace the iPhones, Kommersant said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could not confirm the report, but that smartphones could not be used for official purposes anyway.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Vladimir Putin has always said he has no smartphone, though Peskov has said Putin does use the Internet from time to time.
Shortly after Russia sent its troops into Ukraine last year, US and British spies claimed a scoop by uncovering — and going public with — intelligence that Putin was planning to invade. It is unclear how the spies obtained such intelligence.


Thailand dissolves parliament for election

Thailand dissolves parliament for election
Updated 20 March 2023

Thailand dissolves parliament for election

Thailand dissolves parliament for election
  • An election must be held 45 to 60 days after the house dissolution, which takes effect immediately

BANGKOK: Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn has endorsed a decree to dissolve parliament, according to an announcement in the Royal Gazette on Monday, paving the way for elections in May.
An election must be held 45 to 60 days after the house dissolution, which takes effect immediately.
“This is a return of political decision-making power to the people swiftly to continue democratic government with the King as head of state,” said the decree published on Monday.
An election date has yet to be announced but deputy prime minister Wissanu Krea-ngam earlier in the day said it would likely be held on May 14, if the house were dissolved on Monday.
Thailand’s election is expected to showcase a long-running political battle between the billionaire Shinawatra family and the country’s conservative pro-military establishment.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter and niece respectively of ousted former premiers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra, is the frontrunner to be prime minister in opinion surveys, with her support jumping 10 points to 38.2 percent in a poll released at the weekend.
The poll by the National Institute of Development Administration put Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has been in power since a 2014 coup against the Pheu Thai government, in third place with 15.65 percent.
Paetongtarn on Friday said she was confident of winning the election by a landslide, with the aim of averting any political maneuvering against her party, which has previously been removed from office by judicial rulings and military coups.


China says ICC should avoid ‘double standards’ after Putin warrant

China says ICC should avoid ‘double standards’ after Putin warrant
Updated 20 March 2023

China says ICC should avoid ‘double standards’ after Putin warrant

China says ICC should avoid ‘double standards’ after Putin warrant
  • China is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the UN treaty which governs the court
  • Moscow has dismissed the International Criminal Court orders as ‘void’

BEIJING: China on Monday called on the International Criminal Court to avoid what it called “double standards” and respect immunity for heads of state, after the tribunal issued an arrest warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges.
The court should “uphold an objective and impartial stance” and “respect the immunity of heads of state from jurisdiction under international law,” foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular briefing.
Wang also urged the court to “avoid politicization and double standards,” stressing the solution to the Ukraine conflict remained “dialogue and negotiation.”
China is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the UN treaty which governs the court.
The International Criminal Court on Friday announced an arrest warrant for Putin on the accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.
Moscow has dismissed the orders as “void,” and with Russia not a party to the ICC it is unclear if or how Putin could ever be extradited to face charge.
The warrant came just days before a visit to Russia by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a trip he described as a “journey of friendship, cooperation and peace.”
Xi is due to land in Moscow on Monday, holding talks with Putin and signing an accord before heading back to Beijing on Wednesday.
“The two sides will practice genuine multilateralism, promote democracy in international relations, build a multipolar world, improve global governance and contribute to world development and progress,” Wang told the Monday briefing.


US, Philippines to announce new sites for American military as soon as possible

US, Philippines to announce new sites for American military as soon as possible
Updated 20 March 2023

US, Philippines to announce new sites for American military as soon as possible

US, Philippines to announce new sites for American military as soon as possible
  • Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last month granted the United States access to four additional military bases

BASA AIR BASE, Philippines: The United States and Philippines will announce new sites as soon as possible for an expanded Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which gives the Western power access to military bases in the Southeast Asian country.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr last month granted the United States access to four military bases, on top of five existing locations under the 2014 EDCA, which comes amid China’s increasing assertiveness toward the South China Sea and self-ruled Taiwan.
Speaking at the Basa Air Base in Manila, one of the existing EDCA sites, visiting US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the defense agreements between the two countries were “not focused on any particular issue.”
EDCA allows US access to Philippine bases for joint training, pre-positioning of equipment and building of facilities such as runways, fuel storage and military housing, but it is not a permanent presence.
While the Philippines has yet to formally identify the sites, a former military chief has publicly said the United States had asked for access to bases in Isabela, Zambales and Cagayan, all on the island of Luzon, facing north toward Taiwan, and on Palawan in the southwest, near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
Leaders of local governments at the potential EDCA sites have backed the government’s decision to allow the United States greater access to the bases, Philippines’ defense chief, Carlito Galvez, said in a joint news conference with Kendall.
Galvez and Kendall were leading a groundbreaking ceremony for the rehabilitation of the Basa Air Base’s runway.
“Today’s event is a physical manifestation of our Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, a key pillar of the US-Philippine alliance,” Kendall said in a speech, adding it built on a seven-decade-old Mutual Defense Treaty that applied anywhere in the South China Sea.
“We are at an inflection point in history and our cooperation will help ensure we stay on the path to peace and stability,” he added.
The runway rehabilitation is part of $82 million the United States has allocated for infrastructure investments at the existing five EDCA sites.
“Moving forward we hope the USwill consider more EDCA projects,” Galvez said.