The pastoralists of Ethiopia’s Somali region make a living raising cattle, camels and goats in an arid and drought-prone land. They are forced to move constantly in search of pasture and watering holes for their animals. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

By William Lloyd-George
SOMALI REGION, Ethiopia, Jun 30 2014 (IPS)

The pastoralists of Somali region make their living raising cattle, camels and goats. In the arid and drought-prone region, they are forced to move from place to place in search of pasture and watering holes for their animals.

As a result of the communities’ lifestyle, formal education has never been an option and the youth are normally educated by the elders.

While mobile services have existed in several forms for decades in Somali region, in recent years the regional government together with various NGOs have led an initiative to substantially increase these services across the region. In order to improve the lives of pastoralists communities, mobile health, education and veterinarian services have been created to travel to where these people live.

Camels wait for treatment from the Liyu police veterinarian teams outside Bulali town in Ethiopia’s Somali region. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

By William Lloyd-George
SOMALI REGION, Ethiopia, Jun 30 2014 (IPS)

When he was a young boy, 20-year-old Abdi, who comes from a small pastoralist community in Ethiopia’s Somali Region, “knew about school, reading and writing but did not expect this is something we would ever get close to.”

Abdi couldn’t attend school because he comes from a nomadic people, who are constantly moving from place to place.

His small pastoralist community has temporarily set up camp here, outside the town of Shilabo close to the Ethiopian-Somali border. It lies 425 kilometres away from the bustling activity of Jijga, the capital of Ethiopia’s Somali Region.

As the sun rises over the arid landscape, women in brightly-coloured traditional clothes light up the small villages, men in Somali sarongs pull lines of camels up the road, and the smell of stoves being heated for early breakfast blows through the hot air.

A few years before, the journey to get here would have been a bumpy and dusty one and would have taken days but the new road makes it easier to reach this once cut-off destination. This will be complimented soon by the opening of the Kebri Dahar international airport, built by the regional government.

An elder leads us through the community’s settlement. Each family has a few small domes constructed with twigs and cloth secured with small fences made out of bush branches. It is a world away from the fast-developing cities of Somali Region, where investment is being channeled into shopping centres, hotels, large abattoirs and new housing.

On the edge of the settlement, one of the structures is seemingly packed full of people. Inside, children crouch on the floor, clutching notepads and pencils. Standing over them is their teacher, Fassah, a wiry man who points to Somali letters on the blackboard.

Fassah is one of the many teachers working with pastoralist communities across the Ethiopia’s Somali Region who travels with the pastoralists. He points to Somali letters on a blackboard. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

“Without these classes the community would find it difficult to learn how to read and write. It opens doors for them,” Fassah tells IPS during breaktime. He is one of the many teachers working with pastoralist communities across the region who travels whenever and wherever the pastoralists go.

It’s only now as a 20-year-old after he’s learned his letters, that Abdi can even entertain the thought of furthering his education.

“Now we can even go to Jijiga university,” he tells IPS as he stands outside the structure that serves as a school.

“Our parents never dreamed of such education, now we can learn so much and help our community,” Abdi says.

Abdi, 20 (right), standing outside his class with a friend. His pastoralist community, situated here outside the town of Shilabo in Somali Region, Ethiopia, has a teacher who now travels with them. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

Somali National Regional State, or Zone 5, accounts for more than 20 percent of Ethiopia and shares a porous 1,600 km border with war-ravaged Somalia. The population of the region is believed to be more than five million, with pastoralists counting for more than 80 percent.

Owing to the climate and vegetation variations, mobility is a necessary response to survive. Many experts see pastoralism as a sophisticated land use system and although pastoralists only account for 15 percent of the entire Ethiopian population of about 92 million, it is believed they contribute 40 percent of the nation’s agricultural gross domestic product.

The pastoralists of Somali region make their living raising cattle, camels and goats. In the arid and drought-prone region, they are forced to move from place to place in search of pasture and watering holes for their animals.

As a result of the communities’ lifestyle, formal education has never been an option and the youth are usually educated by the elders.

While mobile services have existed in several forms for decades in Somali region, in recent years the regional government together with various NGOs have led an initiative to substantially increase these services across the region. In order to improve the lives of pastoralists communities, mobile health, education and veterinarian services have been created to travel to where these communities live.

The government mobile education system, though, allows pastoralist children to be educated on the move and once they complete a certain level they can join the national high schools and later universities.

As the class finishes, the kids, accustomed to the heat, play games in the burning sun and the elder leads us over to an acacia tree where hundreds of goats enjoy the shade. Mahmud, part of the government’s mobile veterinarian team set up to treat the pastoralists’ animals, sprays a blue disinfectant on a goat’s wound.

“If we did not have the mobile veterinarian teams, we would have to take our animals far to get to the cities and depending on the illness they might die before we get there,” Jamal, the owner of these goats, tells IPS. “Our animals are significantly more healthy as a result of the mobile veterinarian teams, they help us a lot.”

The vets bring with them vaccinations and medicine for skin disease and other infections. In recent years, increasing sedenterisation and market orientation is encouraging more rearing of cattle and sheep by the pastoralists, making the services of veterinarians a necessity.

In a nearby community, outside one of the shelters, a small queue has formed. Inside a female health worker sits on a mat, medicine sprawled out in front of her as she attends to a patient.

A mobile doctor writes up her notes. She is part of a Mobile Health and Nutrition Team, one of 51 across the Ethiopia’s Somali Region, funded and supported by United Nations Children’s Fund and other NGOs. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

The health worker is part of a Mobile Health and Nutrition Team, one of 51 across the region, put in place by the government but funded and supported by United Nations Children’s Fund and other NGOs, to provide a health and nutrition safety net to the most vulnerable communities in inaccessible areas. It is part of an effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and a drive to get basic services to even the most cut-off communities.

The team provides both preventative and curative services, with a focus on young children and pregnant women. The care provided includes vaccinations, water purification chemicals, monitoring and treatment of child malnutrition, and providing iron supplements, tetanus shots and other neonatal support for pregnant and nursing mothers. They are also responsible for referring emergency cases to the local hospitals.

On the way back to Jijiga, we pass through Gudhis town, previously a hostpot for fighting between government forces and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), rebels fighting for secession from Ethiopia. Residents in the town say it is now peaceful and the regional government believe their Liyu Police force has managed to substantially weaken the ONLF since its creation in 2008.

While the Liyu Police were primarily created to fight the ONLF, regional government officials say they are now being transformed into a force for development and put to work on projects around the region.

“Development is key to peace in the region, without it there will be no security,” the Somali Regional President Abdi Mohamoud Omar tells IPS. “This is why we want the Liyu to be a force for development, build wells, roads and help the people of this region. When we have development and security, the anti-peace elements fade away.”

The Liyu Police veterinarian team treating camels in Ethiopia’s Somali region. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

Efforts to transform the force are seemingly underway. On the way out of the town we come across Liyu police who are clearing the way for a road to link the town with the highway. In our last stop we visit Bulali, a town very well-known in Somali culture for its historic festivals. As the sun sets over the picturesque little oasis-like settlement, hundreds of camels stand around in what is a mighty river in wet season.

We pass a water well, which the Liyu Police helped build and which will now bring water to dozens of communities.

“My father was killed by a lion while trying to find water,” Abdulahi, a camel herder, tells IPS as he stands over the well. “It is emotional to now have water in this area, knowing what our people have gone through to get water in the past.”

Members of the Liyu police mobile veterinarian team, former active combatants, now trained up to move around treating livestock, stand in white lab coats, sinking huge needles of vaccination into moaning camels. They give the medicine to treat skin disease and the local camel herders say it has dramatically increased the camels’ health.

“We were always wandering, trying to find water and food, sometimes we did not have the capacity to see a vet, let alone a doctor for ourselves,” Abdulahi says as he gets ready to prepare his camels for nightfall. “These mobile teams really changed our lives, giving us access to services we never thought we would have.”

An attack in Somali capital Mogadishu suspected to have been carried out by Al-Shabaab. Credit: Omar Faruq/IPS

By William Lloyd-George
ADDIS ABABA , Sep 28 2013 (IPS)

Strong action now expected against the al-Shabaab group may well end up strengthening the group rather than weakening it, local people fear. The extremist group is suspected of involvement in the attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi.

In the new round of confrontation expected, many people fear they will suffer most. “As always when these attacks happen, we are the ones who end up suffering,” a 23-year-old student who gave his name only as Mohammed told IPS on phone from Somali capital Mogadishu. “When the politicians and armies fight, our suffering is pushed aside.”

The Islamist group had been on the back foot in Somalia for some time. It faced dwindling support in recent years from an increasing disenfranchised diaspora and from a Somali population growing increasingly tired of violence.“The attack shows that Shabaab under Godane is a force to be reckoned with and a staunch ally of al-Qaeda.”

Several signs have emerged of a weakening of the group. In recent months, al-Shabaab was kicked out of Bakara Market and Kismayo port in Somalia. These were two strategic locations for the group, and huge sources of their income.

Despite an increase in the murder of journalists and bombings in the capital, a serious attack on the national courts and on the UNDP compound in Mogadishu, many analysts had been pointing to a diminishing al-Shabaab. The Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) had been heralded for bringing in a new era of stability for Somalia which saw diaspora returning and restoration of a certain degree of normality.

“Support for al-Shabaab in Somalia is low,” Ahmed Soliman, Somalia expert at the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) told IPS. “Their insurgent tactics targeting innocent civilians gain little support from Somalis who suffer from their actions or Kenyan ethnic-Somalis, who have to endure the negative consequences of being associated with this violence.”

But, he said, “there is a minority at home and abroad who will be emboldened by this attack and who may seek to support the efforts of al-Shabaab.”

The attack on Westgate could seek to draw strength from its growing weakness. The group could capitalise on the reasons for its origin.

Following the U.S-backed invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia and an African force in 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that had been dominant in ruling Somalia was driven out of the capital. A youth wing of the ICU took up arms against the “invaders”. The group, known as al-Shabaab, or ‘the youth’, continues to fight foreign forces.

After Ethiopia sent in significant forces against it in 2011 to bolster Kenyan and African Union troops, al-Shabaab has faced several strategic setbacks. These led to infighting between leaders of the group. It is believed that some leaders were concerned that others were becoming too involved with the global jihadist movement and al-Qaeda.

Al-Shabab leader Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, known as Godane, took over supreme leadership this summer, knocking out the more moderate leaders. He has frequently voiced his loyalty to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

“The attack shows that Shabaab under Godane is a force to be reckoned with and a staunch ally of al-Qaeda,” Stig Jarle Hansen, author of ‘Al-Shabaab in Somalia’ and an expert on Somalia told IPS. “This strengthens al-Shabaab in their own eyes, and strengthens Godane, as well as the organisation in the eyes of Al-Qaeda. But it could hurt their Kenyan networks as Kenya intensify their prosecutions against Somalis residing in Kenya.”

According to Hansen, Al-Shabaab may have attempted to take advantage of the Somali people’s increasing hostility towards Kenya’s support of the Ogadeni clan which dominates Juba state. The state has seen a strong move to secede from Somalia with Kenyan support.

According to Hansen, the attack may also increase support for Godane by “demonstrating an ability to act, and to stop some al-Shabaab leaders who were thinking of leaving from doing so.”

The attack may on the other hand increase financial and political support from the international community for military campaigns against al-Shabaab especially from the U.S. and from European countries, Hansen said. But he warned that “this creates a highly predatory police and army that enables al-Shabaab to score propaganda victories. It also creates a highly corrupt force that al-Shabaab can easily bribe.”

Somalia expert Alula Iyasu said that the government in Mogadishu needs to be careful how it responds.

“While the law and order aspect is critical, the worst thing Mogadishu can make is to think, like the Bush administration did, that terrorism is the work of a finite number of bad people and if you arrest or kill all, the problem goes away. Not the case,” Iyasu told IPS.

“This episode in Nairobi should push Mogadishu and its donors to do more on job creation, schools and other services.”

The Westgate attack will serve as a warning that al-Shabaab, despite recent setbacks, is able to launch more terrorist attacks and to do so beyond Somalia’s borders. Now that the group has shown a stronger alliance with al-Qaeda, many diplomats are concerned Westgate might just be the beginning of a spate of attacks.

“Western and African Union countries will need to analyse the internal dynamics of al-Shabaab more closely, and how it has recently evolved and reorganised after being removed from Mogadishu and Kismayo,” Soliman from Chatham house tells IPS. “I would fully expect intensified efforts to target Godane and the leadership of al Shabaab.”

Foreign aid workers are increasingly becoming targets of corrupt officials within the Somali government and the Islamist extremist group Al-Shabaab.

“The government is laden with corrupt officials and allied clan militias that are determined to use them [aid workers] for their own interests,” political analyst Hassan Abukar told IPS. “Kidnapping foreign aid workers has become a way to extract cash from NGOs. Al-Shabaab is mistrustful of the NGOs for fear of losing control in the way aid is administered and [mistakenly believes] that these relief agencies are spying on the terror group.”

Abukar’s comments come as international and independent aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders (MSF), announced this week that it was pulling out of Somalia after over two decades of delivering aid and healthcare there. The murder and harassment of their staff has made it increasingly impossible for the organisation to operate, Dr. Unni Karunakara, MSF’s international president, told reporters at a press briefing in Kenya on Aug. 14. “With the government unable to prevent attacks on themselves, attacks on aid organisations and their workers are not unsurprising.” -- Ahmed Soliman from Chatham House

MSF, which was one of the very few providers of essential healthcare in the Horn of Africa nation, has persevered to provide aid through a civil war, in-fighting among local clans, and piracy. But it will immediately stop all operations. MSF has been operating in the country since 1991, and treated approximately 50,000 people a month.

“The final straw was the realisation that authorities, armed actors and community leaders were actively supporting or tacitly approving the attacks, the abductions, the killings against our staff,” Karunakara said.

Karunakara explained that in some cases, the actors MSF had negotiated safe passage with had played a role in the abuse of MSF staff, either through direct involvement or tacit approval. “Because of their actions, hundreds of thousands of Somalis will now be effectively cut off from medical humanitarian aid,” said Karunakara.

In total, 16 MSF members have been killed, and MSF says they have experienced dozens of attacks on their staff, ambulances, and medical facilities since 1991.

MSF’s departure from Somalia comes at a time when Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government is trying to change the country’s image after years of civil war and famine. Many analysts believe MSF’s departure will be a huge blow to recent efforts to bring foreign aid and investment to the country.

“The departure of MSF shows the incapacity of the new government to manage local security,” Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle, head of the Centre for Research and Dialogue in Mogadishu, told IPS.

“The MSF withdrawal also comes at a time when the Somali government is trying to change the image of the country from a transitional to permanent government and on the eve of Somalia’s new deal conference to be held in Brussels mid-September where world leaders are expected to pledge millions of dollars to the new government.”

MSF’s departure shows that although the African Union Mission in Somalia and an independent Ethiopian force have driven Al-Shabaab out of the country’s main cities, the extremist group is still able to perpetrate wide-scale violence.

Analysts say there has been a notable change in Al-Shabaab’s tactics as they renew their assault on the capital. Several government institutions and airports have been attacked or bombed and government officials, district commissioners and civil servants have been assassinated.

Recently, the extremist group attacked the Turkish embassy in Mogadishu on Jul. 27, killing three people. And on Jun. 17, the United Nations compound in the city was also attacked. Fifteen were killed in the attack.

“In this context, with the government unable to prevent attacks on themselves, attacks on aid organisations and their workers are not unsurprising,” Ahmed Soliman from Chatham House, an independent policy institute based in London told IPS. “MSF would like civilian authorities to take the conviction of those who perpetrate such acts of violence more seriously. The government can certainly reinforce this message and work towards this goal.”

MSF is not the only organisation to withdraw staff. In recent weeks, owing to the increase in violence, most international organisations have withdrawn their non-essential staff from Somalia. While violence is known to increase during Ramadan and abate afterwards, Abukar believes that it is unlikely to reduce “because of the new dynamics of Al-Shabaab factions that are killing each other for control of territories.”

Evidence of Al-Shabaab’s infighting and the defection of Al-Shabaab’s veteran militant Islamist, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys in July, could be a signal that more violence could be on the way.

Previously revered as a statesman for the group, Aweys was forced to hand himself over to government forces, giving power over to Afghan-trained leader Ahmed Abdi Godane.

Analysts expect that this will fuel more fighting, as this faction is more hardline and determined to achieve an Islamic state. The faction will also want to prove it remains a formidable force in light of the defections.

“The emergence of tribal militias loyal to the federal government, which are vying for power, the widespread of political assassinations that are never prosecuted, and the increasing inability of the government to expand its will and control beyond Mogadishu [means that violence will not abate],” Abukar said.

“As the latest U.N. Monitoring Group report on Somalia has pointed out, the Somali government cannot control a territory without international support.”

While Al-Shabaab fights within its ranks and MSF departs, with fears that more NGO’s may follow, the biggest concerns will be for the Somali people who are now cut off from much-needed medical care.

“Unfortunately the Somali people will pay the highest cost. Much of the Somali population has never known the country without war or famine. Already receiving far less help than is needed, many will no longer find the healthcare they require,” said Karunakara. “In several places, MSF has been effectively the only organisation providing quality medical care.”

On Jul. 14 several hundred opposition protestors gathered in northern town of Gondar to and called on the government to stop exploiting the antiterrorism law and release those whom the law has been used to imprison. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

By William Lloyd-George
GONDAR, Ethiopia, Jul 19 2013 (IPS)

Since the violence that ensued after the ruling party won Ethiopia’s 2005 elections, this East African nation has seen little in the way of political dissent. That is, until the last few months.

Since June, the country has witnessed protests in three of its major cities. Despite the significance of these protests, observers disagree over how much they signal a rebirth for the country’s opposition movement and the government’s tolerance of it.

“Until the recent protests, most had lost faith in the democratisation process and opposition parties,” Hallelujah Lulie, a political analyst from the Ethiopia-based Institute for Security Studies told IPS.

When the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front won another term of office in 2005, thousands of protestors took to the streets in protest, as the party has been in power since 1991.

The crackdown led to the arrest of several opposition party politicians, with many others being forced to flee the country and give up politics.“We need legislative change in order for proper liberalisation where opposition groups are free to operate without arrests and other harassment.” -- Hallelujah Lulie, political analyst

“Recent opposition activities, however, show that people are beginning to recognise the opposition again, which could be a big boost for the domestic opposition parties,” said Hallelujah.

On Jun. 2 a new opposition group, the Blue Party, organised mass protests in the country’s capital, Addis Ababa. Thousands marched down one of the city’s main avenues, calling for the release of political prisoners and journalists and the reform of government policies.

The protest was given permission, and no arrests were made during, before, or after the demonstration, leading some to believe that the government had become more tolerant towards opposition activities.

“While there have been no arrests so far, we have credible information that the government is plotting to break up our movement and label us as terrorists. We have seen no change in the government or a willingness to engage in dialogue with us,” Yilkal Getnet, chairman of the Blue Party, told IPS.

Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s office, told IPS that opposition parties have always been allowed to protest peacefully, but they would not negotiate with the protestors, as there are proper legal channels to address issues that the opposition politicians had not exhausted.

“Despite a lack of response from the government, we believe that the opposition movement will continue to gain momentum and are deeply encouraged by the (recent) protests,” said Yilkal.

On Jul. 14, the major opposition party, the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), organised protests in two major cities, Gondar and Dessie, in north and north-central Ethiopia, respectively. It was part of a campaign ‘One Million Voices for Freedom’, which sought to get one million signatures on a petition with demands similar to those of the Blue Party.

In Gondar, protestors marched through the capital and called on the government to stop exploiting the anti-terrorism law and release those whom the law has been used to imprison, including political prisoners and journalists.  At the march’s peak, hundreds could be seen, at its lowest, dozens.

“Numbers do not matter right now, it is just very symbolic that the recent protests took place out of Addis, as most the activism is in Addis where it is easier to mobilise supporters,” said Hallelujah. “It shows that the opposition movement could be on the path to regaining popular recognition and trust again.”

Hallelujah believes the protests could be a sign that the opposition is emerging again, he argued that they still face huge challenges that could hinder their chances of success. He said that it is hard for opposition parties to increase their membership freely, to raise funds and even to rent a hall for party meetings.

“They are still operating in a very tight and unfriendly environment,” said Hallelujah. “We need legislative change in order for proper liberalisation where opposition groups are free to operate without arrests and other harassment.”

In the run-up to the protests in Gondar, UDJ party leaders say they faced extreme harassment by the regional state authorities. According to the UDJ, on Jul. 13 local police surrounded the office and would not let their members out all day. Only at the last minute an unofficial deal was reached with the local commander to hold the protest, or so claim party members. Also, over 10 members of their group were arrested for distributing leaflets to the general public in the days leading up to the protest.

Peering through rusty metal bars at Gondar’s Police Station 3, a simple mud hut structure, Amedemakryam Ezra, a UDJ party member, said he was arrested two weeks ago for distributing leaflets.

“They beat my legs so bad, I could not even walk for a week,” Amedemakryam told IPS from the prison. “We have not been allowed out of this cell since. It’s horrible.”

Before he could finish his sentence, another party member who was also arrested for distributing leaflets appeared. Maru Ashagere, a hairdresser, told IPS that the local authorities went to his parents’ chicken farm and said they would poison all the chickens as punishment for their son’s political activities.

“This kind of harassment makes it very difficult for us to operate but we will struggle through none the less to achieve our goals,” Asrat Tassie, Secretary-General of UDJ, told IPS at the police station.  “Despite all this, we were able to go on with our protest and mobilise the people.”

Not only were party members harassed, but some Gondar residents told IPS they were too scared to join the protests due to threats made throughout the city.

While some might have not have joined out of fear, it appears that many around Gondar did not join because of a lack of faith in the UDJ and the opposition movement. Several residents told IPS that they did not trust the UDJ or believe that it could find real solutions.

“If they can show us real policies to replace the ruling parties, then maybe more for us would join,” said Tesfaye, 34, a local shopkeeper. “They just shout against the government but don’t offer a decent alternative, or solutions to the problems. That is not helpful to anyone.”

(*This story, which moved on Jul. 18, 2013, made reference to a violent quashing of protests after Ethiopia’s 2005 elections. The headline referring to the ascendance of opposition political parties has been changed.)

At a June 2, 2013 protest in Addis Ababa, the first major anti-government rally in Ethiopia since 2005, thousands turned out, calling for the release of political prisoners. Credit: William Lloyd George/IPS

By William Lloyd-George
ADDIS ABABA , Jun 6 2013 (IPS)

Despite speculation that the first anti-government protest in eight years, which was held this week in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, might signal new levels of political tolerance by the government, leaders of the political party that organised the protest say this cannot be further from the truth.

“There has been no change since (the rule of late Prime Minister) Meles (Zenawi). They are still totalitarian dictators who rule this country like control freaks,” Yilkal Getnet, chairman of the opposition Blue Party, told IPS at the party’s headquarters in Addis Ababa.

“The government did not want to give us permission, but it was down to the timing and strategic planning and leadership of the Blue Party that we were able to break the silence, challenge the system and open the door for public expression.”

Yilkal explained that his party had told the government they would organise a demonstration during the African Union’s (AU) 50th anniversary summit, which took place here from May 25 to 27, if they were not granted permission to hold a protest after the event.

“We told them, if you don’t give us permission, we will do it anyway. You can do whatever you want, you can kill us, you can arrest us, you can take whatever measures you want. This is our constitutional right, this is the very fundamental right of all Ethiopians,” said Yilkal.

At the Jun. 2 protest, the first major anti-government rally since 2005, thousands turned out, chanting “freedom” and calling for the release of political prisoners.

The Blue Party also demanded the release of journalists, reformation of government policies in order to combat high unemployment and an end to state interference in religious affairs. They also asked the government to pay compensation to communities displaced by development.“Ethiopians need to determine their own destiny based on their own aspirations, and dreams, not as a collective, but as individuals. It is not up to the government to control everything, that's why we believe in liberal democracy.” -- Yilkal Getnet

According to rights watchdog Amnesty International’s Annual Report 2012, Ethiopia has long “used criminal charges and accusations of terrorism to silence dissent.” And a number of journalists and political opposition members have been arrested and charged with various offences, including terrorism and treason.

“Repressive legislation effectively prevented human rights organisations from functioning. Large tracts of land were leased to foreign companies, leading to large-scale displacement of local populations. Construction continued on a dam which could affect the lives of half a million people,” the report stated.

The fact that this week’s protest was allowed to take place without any police interference has left some analysts speculating that it could be the sign of a more lenient stance towards political opposition in this Horn of Africa nation.

However, according to Hallelujah Lulie, a political analyst from the Institute for Security Studies Ethiopia, it is too early to tell whether this is a sign of a changing attitude within the government.

“It is possible that this is the beginning of liberalisation and a development in the post Meles-era,” Hallelujah told IPS. “At the moment, though, it is too early to tell. We will have to wait to see how the government treats future attempts by the Blue Party to hold protests and opposition activities.”

“The issues are not that different than previous protests, but the timing is extremely significant. Nothing has happened for eight years, there has been no political rally since the 2005 elections,” said Hallelujah. “It is not certain that the government will continue to allow protests, but the Blue Party has broken through into the political sphere at a time when all the NGOs, civil society and the media are the weakest they have ever been.”

Following the 2005 announcement that the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) had won another term of office, thousands of protestors took to the streets to voice their discontent with the election results and the government’s continued rule.

The EPRDF has been in government since 1991 and during the 2005 elections it appeared as if the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces would win. Riots took place in protest as pro-government supporters and police battled with the anti-government protestors. Countless demonstrators were arrested and since then little public dissent has emerged.

Many of the leaders of the Blue Party emerged from the 2005 protests. Yilkal, who graduated as an engineer, was a youth activist at the time, supporting another opposition party. He said the government put him in a military concentration camp for three months, and then in prison for a further three months.

“It was a very difficult time for us,” Yilkal said. “We were tortured, it was extremely hot, and we were interrogated every day, and asked endless questions we had no idea how to answer.”

However, Getachew Reda, spokesman for Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, said demonstrations have always been allowed in Ethiopia and permission for them is not necessary. Instead, a notification must be given to the local authorities, so they can organise the logistics needed for the protests to take place, he said.

“It was very cynical to demand to protest during the AU 50th anniversary when we needed all our security to focus on the AU celebrations,” Getachew told IPS.

The official said there was a misunderstanding that protests here were banned. He claimed they were only restricted for one month during the 2005 elections.

He also said the government would not consider the demands of the Blue Party. “We will never consider these outrageous demands, they have to give the courts a chance first and should exhaust all legal avenues before shouting in the streets,” Getachew said.

Whether the momentum of the Jun. 2 protest can continue is yet to be seen. In the eyes of many Ethiopians, disenfranchised by years of infighting within opposition parties, political and media oppression and rights abuses, the Blue Party is yet another group destined for failure.

“We’ve seen it before, people come and shout against the government but they end up destroying themselves,” said Almas, a 57-year-old shopkeeper who watched the protestors pass her little shop on Jun. 2. “The government is making its best efforts to develop this country, the protestors should work with them to bring this country forward.”

But Yilkal said the government should not dominate every aspect of Ethiopian life: “Ethiopians need to determine their own destiny based on their own aspirations, and dreams, not as a collective, but as individuals. It is not up to the government to control everything, that’s why we believe in liberal democracy.”

Somali government forces march during an army day parade in Mogadishu, Somalia. The country’s armed forces are not strong enough to control the threat of the Islamism extremist group Al-Shabaab and are propped up by Ethiopian troops and African Union peace-keepers. Credit: Abdurrahman Warsameh/IPS

By William Lloyd-George
ADDIS ABABA , May 17 2013 (IPS)

Despite comments by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn suggesting the pending withdrawal of his country’s troops from Somalia, many experts have voiced doubts that Ethiopia will pull out of Somalia before it is capable of handling its security without assistance.

“Ethiopia has a big interest in Somalia and will remain, keeping its eyes wide open there for some time,” Abel Abate, from the state-funded think tank the Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development, told IPS.

“One purpose is to avoid the threat posed by the Islamist Al-Shabaab group, which sees Ethiopia as an enemy. And secondly, to show the world that it has made a significant contribution to peace and stability in the region.”

Somalia is still recovering from nearly two decades of war, and large parts of the Horn of Africa nation have been under siege by the extremist Al-Shabaab. The Somali transitional federal government, which is propped up by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and regional troops, barely has control over the country’s capital Mogadishu.“Ethiopia wanted ... to show the world that it is the maker or breaker of Somalia.” -- Abel Abate

While African countries have sent troops to Somalia under AMISOM, Ethiopia’s troops, which have been in the country since 2011, do not operate under the AU mission.

Last year, with the help of regional forces, the Somali government was able to recapture some key points in the country, including the port of Merca and the city of Jowhar, the biggest town under Al-Shabaab control, situated 70 km and 90 km from Mogadishu respectively.

However, in mid-March, Ethiopia pulled its troops from the southern town of Hudur without warning AMISOM. Following the withdrawal, Al-Shabaab immediately took control of the town in its first major military success since it retreated from Mogadishu in August 2011.

“Ethiopia pulled out from certain places in Somalia in order to send a signal to the international community that unless you support us, we will not shoulder all of Somalia’s problems,” Abate said.

“Ethiopia wanted to put pressure on the agencies and countries which have been supporting AMISOM but not Ethiopia, and to show the world that it is the maker or breaker of Somalia.”

Meanwhile, an Ethiopian government representative told IPS that the lack of international support for Somalia has made it difficult for this country to withdraw troops.

“Ever since we intervened in Somalia our initial plan was to hand it over to AMISOM and Somali forces,” Ethiopian government spokesperson Dina Mufti told IPS.

“However, we feel that international support has been lagging, not only for AMISOM, but for the whole Somali project, which has made it difficult for us to withdraw while these forces are too weak to take over.”

Dina hoped that a recent conference in London on May 7, where over 50 countries and organisations met to discuss how best to aid Somalia, might change this. However, he stopped short of saying it would be a game changer.

“One thing is for sure, we remain fully committed to supporting Somalia,” Dina said. But he could not say if Ethiopia would wait until AMISOM and the Somali army took over key strongholds before pulling out. “That I can’t say.”

Unlike AMISOM forces in Somalia, which are funded by the AU, Ethiopia pays for their operations themselves. This is believed to be one of the biggest contributing factors to Ethiopia’s frustration.

“Hailemariam has … tried to put pressure on the international community to put more resources into the issue, so Ethiopia can pull out gradually,” Kjetil Tronvoll from the Oslo-based International Law and Policy Institute told IPS.

“I do not think they will pull out prematurely, I think they might regroup some of their forces, but I don’t think they will just leave it open for Al-Shabaab to regroup and resurface and stay in that area currently controlled by Ethiopia.”

Tronvoll said he believed that Ethiopia would use its presence in Somalia as a bargaining chip for its agenda.

“If they feel as though they are losing influence in Mogadishu … or if they feel as though they are being pushed out, or not being consulted enough, they can use a withdrawal as a threat,” said Tronvoll. “They could say, we back you up on the ground, and if our concerns are not listened to in your policy development, then these are the repercussions you can expect.”

While it is seemingly unlikely that Ethiopia will immediately withdraw its troops, contradictory statements made last month by members of the Ethiopian government did result in confusion.

On Apr. 23, Hailemariam told parliament that AMISOM was taking too long to replace Ethiopian troops and that the main focus should be to accelerate their withdrawal.

However, the next day the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Ethiopia would not withdraw troops until AMISOM and the Somali army were ready to take over.

But it is uncertain how much longer this will take.

According to Hassan Rafiki, an expert consultant at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies working with the government of Somalia, AMISOM is not as aggressive as it was in the initial stages.

“The troops have now found room to breathe from Al-Shabaab and the mission is, therefore, not encouraged or enthusiastic to replace the Ethiopian troops,” Rafiki told IPS.

“Somalia is now becoming a money machine for troop-contributing countries in the region, who wish to train new recruits for their armed forces, instead of their initial intention to help the Somali government and people.”

Another concern is the lack of AMISOM resources. “In its current capacity of little over 17,000 (troops), AMISOM is over-stretched. It won’t be able to fill the vacuum left by Ethiopia unless its troop levels are increased,” Abdi Aynte, director of Mogadishu’s first think-tank the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, told IPS.

“Ethiopia must understand that it’s in its best interest to shift course and work with the Somali people and their government to reestablish strong state institutions,” said Aynte. “A stable, democratic Somalia is the best possible neighbour that Ethiopia could ask for in the world’s toughest region.”

Several Ethiopian publications are coming together to set up a ‘press council’ with the hope of easing restrictions on the media in Ethiopia.

The journalists suggested the idea of the council at a May 3 meeting held at the behest of the Ministry of Information to discuss media reforms in the country.

“The meeting was the first time we have had such a direct and open dialogue with the government over press issues,” Getachew Worku, editor of the independent publication Ethio Mihidar, told IPS. “We have to welcome this development as a positive step to ease press restrictions.”

The press council will be formed by editors of government and independent publications. The purpose of the council is to hold discussions about press restrictions and foster direct and frequent dialogue with the government over such issues.

Worku said there were still many obstacles for the press to operate freely in Ethiopia. He said, for example, that he could not use government printing houses and was forced to use private companies to print his newspaper.

Newspapers in Ethiopia are an important source of news for people like these young men on a street in Addis Ababa. Credit: Terje S. Skjerdal/CC BY 2.0

“This really increases our costs and makes it very difficult for us to operate,” Worku said. “This is unfair considering the government publications can operate at much lower costs and avoid going bankrupt.”

Worku also said a major problem in Ethiopia was the arbitrary distribution of publication licences. “Although it is easy to write about fashion and entertainment, it is very difficult to write about politics,” he told IPS. “If you want to write about politics, it is much harder to obtain a license and there is far more pressure from the authorities.”

Since he launched his publication, Worku said, the authorities have frequently visited his office demanding information regarding his accounts, and he hopes that the meeting and the new council will be able to reduce some of these obstacles.

“This is one of the most mature and useful consultations we have had with the media,” Shimeles Kemal from the Ministry of Information told IPS. “The media brought up many important criticisms of themselves, and also of the government, which we will consider with due weight and respond to in a serious manner as we continue to engage with the media.”

Despite the government’s promises, some journalists are less hopeful it will bring about any change. Independent journalist Anania Sorri told IPS he believed that the government agreed to the meeting and council merely to distract the media from aspirations for real change.

“It is hard to believe the government is genuine about its desire for press freedom,” Sorri said. “Just look at the current situation journalists are facing.”

Sorri’s close friend Reeyot Alemu, winner of this year’s World Press Freedom Prize, is in prison. She was initially sentenced to 14 years after being found guilty of planning terrorist attacks, laundering money and working with terrorist organisations. On appeal, two charges were dropped and her sentence was reduced to five years.

Sorri told IPS that Alemu has health complications, including a breast tumour, gastritis, and sinusitis. And recently, prison officials threatened her with solitary confinement if she leaked information about prison conditions to visitors.

International organisations have long criticised the Ethiopian government for its treatment of the independent media. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that seven journalists are currently in detention in Ethiopia, and that more reporters have fled Ethiopia than any other country, putting the total at 79 between August 2001 and May 2011.

In response to critics, the government has accused many of the journalists it imprisons of crossing a line between journalism and illegal activities. State officials have accused critics of over-simplifying things and failing to understand the real situation on the ground.

One of the most controversial cases is that of prominent blogger and government critic Eskinder Nega. Just last week his appeal was rejected and his 18-year sentence was upheld.

Nega was arrested in September 2011 and charged with plotting an Arab Spring revolution through his writings and a speech he gave at a conference organised by opposition groups. Just before his arrest he had published a piece calling for the government to respect freedom of assembly and to end torture in prisons.

“Because there is no judicial independence, no justice can be found in the courts in politically motivated prosecutions, as shown by the recent Supreme Court decision to uphold an 18-year sentence for Eskinder Nega,” Leslie Lefkow, Ethiopia expert at Human Rights Watch, told IPS.

“The impact of this multi-pronged campaign is that access to news and information remains very restricted for all Ethiopians, and the level of self-censorship and fear of government surveillance is extraordinarily high.”

However, in the case of Nega, one local analyst said he deserved to be punished as he had incited violence and created ethnic tensions in the past. Daniel Berhane, a prominent Ethiopian blogger, told IPS that journalists like Nega were aligned with political parties.

He stated that, “the three newspapers that Eskinder Nega published until 2005 – Askual, Menelik and Satenaw – were characterised by yellow journalism and serious ethical flaws.”

Local journalists say that before widespread anti-government protests following the 2005 national elections, the media climate was free. After the protests, though, the government clamped down on independent media publications as well as civil society groups and any opposition.

Then the government introduced anti-terrorism laws, which have been used to charge journalists who have had any contact with opposition groups or journalists in exile, who according to the government have ties with terrorist outfits.

Several Muslim journalists have also been charged under the anti-terrorism law, after reporting on Muslim protests early this year. Also, newspapers aligned with opposition groups have repeatedly been shut down as the government pressures publishing houses not to print their papers, opposition politicians told IPS.

After the recent meeting with the government about the future press council, attendees told IPS that the government officials said they were tired of arresting media representatives – giving cause for hope that the situation might soon change.

But while journalists try to form the press council and hope the meeting will ease many of the restrictions, it appears the situation remains far from ideal, as journalists remain behind bars and independent reporters face myriad difficulties.

“Press freedom is a luxury for us; the government says we are a developmental democracy state but actually we are just a developmental state,” Sorri told IPS. “They want the development, but just the material part. They want to put food in our mouths, but they don’t want to hear anything come out of our mouths.”

Yasir Arman, the secretary general of the Sudan People's Liberation Front-North (SPLM-N), which has formed an alliance with other rebel groups in Sudan, and call themselves the Sudan Revolutionary Front. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

By William Lloyd-George
ADDIS ABABA , May 3 2013 (IPS)

A rebel coalition in Sudan has declared war on the government less than a week after it attacked Sudanese forces. “Now there is a fully-fledged war in the new south of the north,” Yasir Arman, a leader of one of the armed groups in the alliance, told IPS, adding that the rebels now control a southern stretch of the country.

Rebel activity had previously been restricted to southern and eastern Sudan. But the Apr. 27 attack by the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) in North Kordofan, which is 482 km from Sudan’s capital Khartoum, was the first full-on offensive to be launched in central Sudan.

“Now we are fighting under one command, and we have one unified political leadership,” Arman, the secretary general of the Sudan People’s Liberation Front-North (SPLM-N), said in an interview at a hotel in neighbouring Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

The SRF is made up of insurgent groups from Sudan’s western region of Darfur, including the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the two main factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement. The SPLM-N, which is also part of the SRF, is from South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, in south Sudan.

Previously, the groups had fought relatively independently, with the Darfuri rebels’ desire for an Islamist state being a main obstacle to forming an alliance. When the JEM gave in to the SPLM-N’s offer to create a secular state in Sudan, once President Omar al-Bashir is deposed, the alliance was formed in November 2011, and it has seemingly grown in strength ever since.

The SRF’s core aims are for the formation of a new transitional government of national unity, the end to the marginalisation of the peripheries, and the installation of a decentralised federal system based on a secular constitution. They have also stressed the need for land rights and support for pastoralists.

On Jan. 5, the SRF reached out to opposition parties and civil society groups, and signed a “New Dawn Charter” in Kampala, Uganda, which calls for an inclusive transition.

“We believe that the international community’s response should be to look for a new mechanism to end the wars in Sudan. Not by piecemeal solutions. If the National Congress Party (Sudan’s ruling party) is allowed to continue its policies, then Sudan will never have stability. Stability lies in having a new blueprint which will address the core issues of Sudan,” Arman said.

Following South Sudan’s secession in July 2011, South Kordofan was left as part of Sudan, but an agreement was reached to allow the residents to vote for their future.

SPLM-N soldiers clean weapons they say they took from government forces. Credit: Jared Ferrie/IPS

However, the SPLM-N took up arms in July 2011, following what they deemed to be a fraudulent election to choose a state governor and state assembly for South Kordofan in May 2011. They alleged that the Sudanese government rigged the vote in order to appoint their chosen candidate, Ahmed Haroun, as South Kordofan’s regional leader.

At the time of his interview with IPS, Arman and an SPLM-N negotiating team were in Addis Ababa for talks between the rebel group and the Sudanese government, which quickly ended in deadlock. According to Arman, Khartoum is not interested in finding an overall solution to the conflicts but instead is looking to co-opt the various groups individually into working under the regime’s system – a system they reject.

“They don’t have a strategic plan to find peace, they just want to offer us jobs and work under this constitution,” said Arman. “We don’t want this. We are not job seekers, we want an inclusive transition which includes all parts of society, for a new constitution.”

But a report released in February by the international anti-conflict NGO International Crisis Group stated: “The SRF’s creation is challenging the international players’ inability (or reluctance) to address Sudan’s crises as a whole. Most diplomats continue to pursue piecemeal, localised, quick (and often still-born) fixes.”

The report also argued, however, that the SRF could provide a great opportunity to broaden local negotiations to the national level and finally address the root causes of Sudan’s conflicts. It explained that if negotiations only partially address political marginalisation of the peripheries, calls for self-determination may well increase.

The main obstacle to achieving peace, said Arman, was a lack of will by Sudan’s government to engage all the rebels as a whole and address the real root causes of the conflicts. Until either side backs down, or a middle ground is found, it appears that war will continue to rage between the two sides.

Arman said that SRF troops are still in North Kordofan and are preparing for more attacks in the area.

“I believe the balance of forces now means that our troops will have more gain on the ground in the coming two weeks. The government is preparing, and pulling their troops from all over Sudan; we are also preparing,” said Arman.

“We are bringing reinforcements into North Kordofan and now Khartoum must know the SRF is the new force to reckon with.”

According to James Copnall, Sudan expert and author of  “A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts: Sudan and South Sudan’s Bitter and Incomplete Divorce”, the location of the recent attack is significant as it took place on the road between Al Obaid, the capital of North Kordofan state, and Sudan’s capital Khartoum.

“It seems likely it was chosen as a target to send a threatening message to Khartoum about the rebels’ capacities,” Copnall told IPS.

“This sort of attack, on the road to the capital, is intended to demonstrate to many people that the war is not necessarily just confined to the peripheries.”

“The SRF’s objective is to broaden the war, and this is clearly the point of the Northern Kordofan attack. One key question is whether they will be able to sustain fighting in several areas at once. That goes for the Sudanese Armed Forces too, which are undoubtedly stretched thin.”

Similar sentiments were echoed by Jonah Leff from the Small Arms Survey, a research project that provides impartial information about all aspects of small arms.

“I don’t doubt that the SRF has the capability to reach Khartoum, but I doubt very much that they would have the might to sustain a fight against Khartoum’s comparatively strong security apparatus,” Leff told IPS.

But with a new front in North Kordofan, NGOs are worried civilian residents of this state will now bear the brunt of the government’s crackdown on the SRF resistance.

A five-star hotel being built on Jijiga's main road in Somali Region. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

By William Lloyd-George
JIJIGA, Ethiopia, Apr 3 2013 (IPS)

For over two decades Somali Region, in eastern Ethiopia, has been devastated by a grueling insurgency. Trapped in a time warp, it has been forgotten and underdeveloped. But in the last few years, thanks to the increased security here, a five-star hotel, eco-tourism ventures and even a large abattoir are being built by the former diaspora community.

This comes after the regional government encouraged people to return and support development in this Horn of Africa nation through global campaigns conducted in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.

“For years, I just thought it was too dangerous to return,” Zara Wale Abas, who had settled in Denmark, told IPS. “When the region’s vice president came and showed us the development going on, I was really surprised and wanted to return and check it out for myself.”

For many who remember Jijiga as a forgotten, war-torn region, photos of new hospitals, roads, schools and bridges – though still very few in number – have inspired many to take what they felt to be a brave step: to return home to see the development for themselves. In the last two years, over 300 people have returned, part- and full-time, to work on various projects.

In 2011, Abas came to Jijiga and ended up building an eco-tourist hotel, which she hopes will attract the diaspora and tourists. “It might still be just a few people who have returned but considering the insecurity the region endured for so long, this is a huge step for our people.”

According to Axmed Maxamad Shugri, head of the government’s Regional Diaspora Office, which assists those returning, the main reason for so many staying away from the region for so long is the misinformation spread by the Ogaden National Liberation Front or ONLF.

“The ONLF tell the diaspora that Somali Region is a war zone,” he told IPS. “For years no one even thought about coming back, so it really is significant that people are starting to. It is just the beginning and we need everyone to come back to help the region develop.”

“For a while I did not think I could even come here myself, but ... I discovered there was a chance to do something and I have been very encouraged by our progress so far,” surgeon Dr. Mahad Musse, who grew up and studied in Finland.
The ONLF is largely made up of Ogaden people, a Somali clan that has fought for an independent state here since the 1991 fall from power of Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. The ONLF is now in peace talks with the Ethiopian government. But after it took up arms, what followed was nearly two decades of a bloody insurgency, with civilians often being targeted by both sides.

As a result, various aid agencies were restricted from working in the region, where the residents endured several devastating droughts. Many of the five million people who inhabit the region live simple pastoralist lives, and the lack of peace and water severely disrupted their fragile existence.

But a regional police force or state militia, the Liyu Police, which is made up of soldiers from the local communities, has managed to severely decrease the ONLF’s strength in recent years, according to the regional government. In the face of criticism by activists for human rights abuses, Liyu leaders told IPS they are making efforts to reform the force.

Ahmed Haybe Mohamoud, a businessman who lived in Frankfurt, Germany for the last 30 years and moved back recently, told IPS: “For years the insurgency was too strong (for me) to even consider coming back and living in peace. But now the major cities are protected and I feel it is the right time to invest in the region and help my people.”

Mohamoud has pooled together investment from his extended family, who have sought asylum across the world, and is building Jijiga’s first five-star hotel.

The same sentiment was shared by another recently-returned investor, Jamal Arab. He and his family sought asylum in the state of Minnesota in the United States, where he worked in a manufacturing company until recently.

In Fafan, a village 30 kilometres away from Jijiga, Arab and four other investors are building a huge abattoir.

“This will bring a decent income to many people in the region,” Arab told IPS. “As well as increasing the amount of meat being bought and exported from the region, we will also be hiring a huge number of staff.”

Arab added that nothing would have been possible without the new road which runs through the village, connecting it with Jijiga and major cities close to Ethiopia’s capital.

Through the centre of Jijiga runs a wide modern highway, fitted with tall efficient streetlights. Building projects are dotted all the way along it, through the length of the city. Shopping centres, five-star hotels, and new restaurants are being planned, with construction having started on many.

The city now has a new hospital and a university, and regional government officials say it is a new beginning for the region.

“Now you can see we are booming, the region is safe, it is time for everyone to come back, invest in their home, and help their people,” Abdullahi Yusuf Werar, the region’s vice president, told IPS.

It’s not only investors who are moving back. A number of people have returned to begin setting up NGOs, or to bring other skills to the region, which they acquired abroad.

Dr. Mahad Musse, who grew up and studied surgery in Finland, has come back to set up a surgery clinic in Jijiga.

“This, and one other hospital in Addis, will be the only two places offering this quality of surgery,” Musse told IPS. “For a while I did not think I could even come here myself, but after speaking to many people who had recently come back, I discovered there was a chance to do something and I have been very encouraged by our progress so far.”

The region, however, remains impoverished. Drought is expected again this year, which would have lasting effects for people in the region. While most of the recent developments might benefit those in the cities, the vast majority of the five million people who populate the region still live far from water sources, and have no electricity.

The rebels may have been pushed out of the cities and now operate in smaller numbers, but they remain present throughout the region. The momentum of development will depend on the dedication of the regional government, the skills of the diaspora, and the willingness of the ONLF and the Ethiopian government to find peace before the region can really develop in a way that will benefit all.

One local professor, who did not wish to be named, told IPS: “There is still a long way to go, but just to have the diaspora coming back is a huge boost for the region’s residents who have long felt forgotten.”

M23 rebels near Sake, Eastern DR Congo. The rebel group withdrew from Goma on Saturday, Dec. 1. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

By William Lloyd-George
GOMA, DR Congo, Dec 1 2012 (IPS)

Lined up along a dirt path that meanders its way up into the lush war-torn mountains surrounding the small town of Sake, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, hundreds of young rebel soldiers sat on the road banks in the baking sun.

As villagers causally walked past, the battle-hardened rebels clutched their weapons. Some held machine-guns, others grenade launchers, a few even had spears, symbolic of their warrior like reputation. Their tired faces and faded fatigues served as evidence of the gruelling seven-month insurgency they had waged against the Congolese government since April this year.

The sound of car engines in the distant brought all the men abruptly to their feet. A four-car convoy zoomed past, each vehicle packed with heavily armed rebels. General Mekenga, the leader of M23, stood out. “We are going to withdraw within the next 48 hours,” he announced. “We will leave Goma at 10am on Saturday.” Goma, 25 kilometres away, is the second-largest city in the DRC, and since Nov. 20 has been held by the rebels.

Despite the rebel leader’s assurances of a swift departure, which was agreed with regional leaders in Kampala, Uganda, many are concerned the withdrawal will not go as smoothly as hoped. 

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC, MONUSCO, has a store at the airport full of weapons and ammunition left by the FARDC, the acronym for the Congolese army, which the U.N. agency plans to return to them. This has infuriated the M23 leadership, who want to take the arsenal with them.

Government police arrive on a boat at the Goma port in eastern DRC as U.N. peacekeepers watch on. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

However just before 11am on Saturday Dec. 1, trucks packed with M23 rebels drove out of Goma.

Military hardware has been seen being transported to their headquarters in Runshura north of Goma. Five trucks packed with countless weapons were parked outside one of the M23 headquarters in Goma, the former FARDC headquarters. On Friday, hundreds of government police were allowed to arrive at the city’s port and enter to the city to provide security during the handover period.

The withdrawal marked the end of over a weeklong occupancy of Goma. The M23, named after a peace agreement in Mar. 23, 2009 between leaders of a former rebel group, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), started their recent insurgency in April this year. The rebel leaders said the government did not stick to the agreements made and claim to fight against the corruption and bad governance of the Congolese government.

The M23’s claims have been met with scepticism by many. Residents of Goma told IPS that they believed the main driving force behind the recent rebellion was Rwanda. The same allegations have been made by the U.N., which said that the government in Kigali is supporting them financially, logistically and with weapons. There have been unconfirmed sightings of Rwanda Defence Forces assisting M23 units on the ground. Rwanda has long desired the resource-rich state of Kivu, which is home to countless gold and coltan mines.

Another theory is that Kigali increased attempts to arrest ICC indited CNDP leader Bosco “Terminator” Ntaganda which led him to desert the Congolese army. While M23 leaders have vehemently denied any involvement with Ntaganda, it is believed that he was the catalyst for the desertion of leaders from the CNDP, and for the M23 subsequently being formed.

Since the M23 took power in Goma, many residents reported feeling an increase in security around town. “Although it was a war zone in the beginning, it definitely felt safer than before M23 began to rule,” Robert Minuni, 32, a local engineer, told IPS. “No one knows what the M23 would have started to do, but just for a few days there was no kidnapping, no looting, no killings.”

Before the M23 took over the city, the rebels and the FARDC were playing dirty tricks, impersonating the other to ruin the other’s public image. A bomb in a market; a grenade thrown into hairdresser; and the kidnapping of a famous musician were a few of the horrors inflicted on the city while the two sides vied for public support, or, to simply discredit the other.

As a result many are fearful of the M23’s departure. Standing on a mountain in Karuba near the frontline, a group of villagers told IPS they did not want M23 to leave.

“I am not sure which group is better but I can say one thing, for the first time in a long time nothing has been stolen from us,” said Nelson, who goes by one name. “We really do not want the M23 to leave.”

All the villagers gathered around nodded their heads in agreement. “We do not want the FARDC here, they only cause problems and rob from the people,” said another villager wishing to remain anonymous.

Not everyone, though, is so supportive of the M23 including soldiers currently in their ranks. Speaking to IPS in Goma, one young soldier who had been working for M23 for a  couple of months said he was not sure they would do much better. “All armed groups are the same in Congo,” he said. “It is just for money; which ever side wins I’ll join, most the groups are like this.”

Local human rights groups have accused the M23 of executions, rapes and harassment for anyone seen to be an enemy of the group. The possibility of a power vacuum has further increased fears. And for the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons who have been forced out of their homes by the conflict and forced to languish in terrible conditions the M23 are seen as a root of the problems, not a solution.

“We do not want the rebels, they only cause more problems and grief for us,” said one young man who shared a tiny straw shelter with five children and his wife. “Like everyone here, we just want peace.”

Lukmanu Whumbi, a farmer in Northern Ghana, points to fields of rice grown using the right inputs and techniques. A concern repeatedly voiced by AU parliamentarians is the issue of the continent’s over-dependence on food aid and imports.Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

By William Lloyd-George
JOHANNESBURG, Nov 30 2012 (IPS)

For decades food security and self-sufficiency in Africa have been seen as a distant dream. The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, however, hopes to make it a reality, and while it may have begun with a slow start, its coordinators are confident it will produce more positive results in the coming years.

The programme is implemented through the African Union’s (AU) Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA), which was set up to improve food security, achieve sustainable development and improve livelihoods on the continent.

While nearly 80 percent of people in Africa live in rural areas and depend on farming for their food and income, a concern repeatedly voiced by AU parliamentarians is the issue of the continent’s over-dependence on food aid and imports.

Egyptian MP Moussa Hozen Elsayed said his country imported 70 percent of their food products and voiced his concern about the lack of regional cooperation between African countries regarding food trade.

“By importing so much food we are really decreasing the region’s food security,” Elsayed told IPS, explaining that he hoped CAADP would be strengthened in the coming years to solve the problem.

“We really need to make sure that countries in the region are looking for products from each other before importing from outside the continent.”

Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture’s director Dr. Abebe Haile Gabriel told IPS that this was one of CAADP’s main goals.

“We want to improve food security by increasing regional cooperation – there is no need to import food products from Europe or Latin America when your next door neighbour has products which need buying,” he said.

Although the first African country only signed the CAADP Compact in 2009, the programme has advanced greatly in the last three years. Now 30 AU member states have signed the compacts, which require them to devote at least 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture.

Under the programme, countries draw up comprehensive investment plans that include the four CAADP pillars: sustainable land and water management; improved market access and integration; increased food supplies and reduced hunger; and research, technology generation and dissemination.

One of the key beliefs behind CAADP’s framework is that regional integration and trade between countries will improve food security. As a result, substantial efforts have been made to improve regional infrastructure for trade and more are expected in coming years.

During a meeting that ended on Nov. 21 in Johannesburg, Gabriel had told AU parliamentarians that over 45 billion dollars were spent by African countries importing food, which drains much of the continent’s foreign currency. He argued that this showed that Africa had not taken advantage of its comparative advantage, which is food production.

“We are working towards making sure inter-African trade is really boosted, and therefore Africa takes advantage of the growing demand by increasing African production and productivity to meet it,” said Gabriel.

Some countries have responded better than others to CAADP’s proposed framework. Rwanda, Ethiopia and Mozambique have been heralded for their progress and efforts to alleviate hunger and food insecurity.

Mozambique, although it only became an active CAADP member in 2011, has begun a system of distributing part of its budget to every district for agriculturally-led development.

“It is important to underline that CAADP was launched in Maputo, Mozambique in 2003, so it is in the spirit of all Mozambicans,” Franciso Ussene Mucanheia, director of the Rural and Agriculture Committee in Mozambique, told IPS.

“All the pillars and visions of CAADP are key to the policies the Mozambican government has put in place to capitalise agricultural developments and we are already starting to see the benefits.”

It appears other member states are increasingly taking CAADP seriously. Twenty-three countries have developed detailed national agriculture and food security investment plans and 11 of these countries have received additional funds from the Global Food and Agriculture Security Program created to support food security programmes in line with CAADP.

Seven of the member states are also “first wave” countries under the Grow Africa initiative, which is designed to bring international private sector investment to their agricultural supply chain.

In collaboration with the World Economic Forum, the idea is to encourage governments to partner with businesses with support from international organisations to invest in their own country, and their own agricultural system. So far over 30 billion dollars has been raised, which has allowed for financial models for specific value chains.

While many African countries have a lot to catch up with in order to be in line with CAADP’s goals, it is clear that many of the member states are waking up to the importance of the programme. It might already have been 10 years next year since CAADP was initiated but it appears the story might have just begun.

“For us the dividends of aligning national policies and strategies along the principles of CAADP are yet to come,” said Gabriel. “We are very much looking forward to seeing more pronounced development in the future as the investments which are just starting now begin to yield results.”

Many were hoping that recent peace talks between the Ethiopian government and Ogaden rebels would signal an end to the gruelling 18-year-old conflict. The latest round of talks, however, dashed all dreams of peace between the two sides.

Things have taken a turn for the worse. Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) founder and foreign secretary Abdirahman Mahdi told IPS that he currently cannot see a way for the talks to continue.

Ogaden is a territory in the southeast of the Somali Region in Ethiopia. And ONLF intellectuals have fought for an independent state there since the 1991 fall from power of Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.

However, peace talks between the ONLF and the Ethiopian government abruptly ended in a stalemate during the Oct. 15 to 17 discussions. Addis Ababa’s negotiating team asked the ONLF to accept Ethiopia’s constitution before the talks could continue. The ONLF refused, arguing that this was a breach of modalities agreed to in the first talks. As usual, each side blames the other. 

“We need to begin by creating a dialogue – it is as if they had made a premeditated decision to abort the talks,” Mahdi said. “There is no use beginning by demanding we agree to the constitution; this has always been our major point of contention.”

While talks have been going on since March, the first official round took place from Sept. 6 to 7. It was also the first high-level negotiation involving Ethiopia’s Defence Minister Siraj Fegessa and Mahdi. It was mediated by Kenyan Defence Minister Yusef Huji.

After the talks optimism was seemingly high on both sides. Government spokesman Dina Mufti said: “It is a positive first step.”

And Mahdi said: “This could be the beginning of a useful process.”

But since then Mahdi has told Ethiopia’s negotiating team that the constitution should be chosen by the people and should not depend on one political party.

“Governments cannot just force the people to accept a constitution, they must hold a referendum,” he said.

It was the constitution that set off the conflict between the ONLF and the present government in 1994. While the ONLF had joined forces with many of the Ethiopian government’s current leaders to defeat Mariam, things quickly turned sour.

Finally seeing an opportunity for self-determination, the ONLF called for a referendum to be held for succession. The Ethiopian government refused. Once again the ONFL took up arms.

The ONLF claims to fight for self-determination for the people who occupy what is now called Somali Region due to its large population of ethnic Somalis. It is one of nine ethnically-based administrative regions in the country and has long suffered from poor development and the ONLF alleges that the government has committed countless human rights abuses there.

“At the moment we are being marginalised, denied our basic rights. They are insulting our people by forcing an administration on us, which we did not elect. A lot of things are happening, our people are being killed, there is no press freedom, a humanitarian embargo is in place,” said Mahdi.

The talks between the ONLF and the government were initiated by the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi (1995-2012), who was keen to find an end to the conflict, and approached former South African President Thabo Mbeki (1999-2008) before starting the peace talks.

Analysts say the main reasons for the recent breakdown of the talks include a lack of clear leadership, and divisions over what to do.

According to Ethiopian political analyst Jawar Mohammed, the Ethiopian government is divided over how they wish to deal with the ONLF. One group wants to wipe them out with military force, while another group, which is more exposed to the international community, is keen to find a peaceful solution.

But while analysts are pointing fingers at divisions in the ruling political coaltition, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, the Ethiopian government appears to be blaming the failure of the talks on divisions in the ONLF.

“The peace talks failed after the ONLF group refused to accept and respect the constitution of Ethiopia and work within the constitutional framework,” read a government statement.

Mahdi dismissed these accusations. “This is just baseless propaganda; the main problem is they cannot come to a united decision on how to proceed with the talks,” said Mahdi.

Officials say the Kenyan government is frustrated with the latest developments. Holding the talks outside of Ethiopia, in Nairobi, was heralded as a big step forward. The Kenyan government has its own vested interests in the success of the talks.

“Al-Shabaab (al-Qaeda’s Somalia-based terrorist cell) has constantly been a concern for Kenya’s security; (the Kenyan government) will be keen to sever the ONLF’s links with al-Shabaab,” Abel Abate, a researcher at a state-funded think-tank, the Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development, told IPS.

Ogaden expert Tobias Hagmann, an associate professor at Roskilde University in Denmark, told IPS that despite Kenya’s desire to find a solution, the country has little leverage over Ethiopia, which could explain the recent breakdown. “It is like a little brother trying to influence the big brother,” he said.

Analysts are divided over whether the talks will resume. Abate believes that the ONLF is desperate to find a solution and will end up accepting the constitution. He argues that the group has been severely weakened militarily in recent years and has lost international support and funding.

But Mahdi dismissed these claims, arguing that “the ONLF is the strongest it has ever been.”

Emilio Manfredi, Ethiopia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said there is little chance of the talks achieving anything.

“Interests are too divided and the Ethiopian government is yet to really know who is in charge,” he told IPS. “At the same time the ONLF needs to work out how close it can get to accepting the 1994 constitution without losing all legitimacy.”

With the talks looking to be a complete failure, many are concerned about increased fighting and human rights abuses in the region.

“We may see a surge of violence as the ONLF needs to remain politically relevant in the eyes of Ethiopia and the international community. In response, the Ethiopian government is also expected to launch a major military offensive,” another expert on Ogaden, associate professor Kjetil Tronvoll at the University of Oslo, told IPS.

An international humanitarian aid worker operating in the region told IPS on condition of anonymity that ultimately the losers in the failed negations would be the local people.

“As usual it is the local populations who will suffer. Both armed groups are likely to increase human rights abuses, and the government will continue to prevent aid from reaching the region.”

It was tough for Hassan Toure to decide to stay in his small town on the outskirts of Kidal, in northern Mali. The government troops had withdrawn on Mar. 30, and several armed groups, including militias and bandits, were operating in the region.

Child combatants had been seen in the ranks of the Tuareg rebels in Mali. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

“I wanted to leave for my children’s sake,” says Toure, speaking over the phone to IPS, and withholding his real name because he fears reprisals. “But my shop is the only thing I own, and I couldn’t let it be looted and destroyed by the thugs.”

Toure regrets the decision now.

He says that he tried to prevent his children from going outside at all, “but they’re at that age.” On Mar. 29, he says, his eldest son, 15, never came home, and is still missing.

“Other kids in the neighbourhood say he went with some armed men,” says Toure. “I cannot sleep. I am so worried about what might happen to him with those men.”

While Toure’s story, like most reports from the north of Mali, is difficult to confirm, his fears could be very real.

According to Corinne Dufka, a senior West Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW) who conducted a 10-day fact- finding mission to Mali in April, all the witnesses her organisation interviewed had reported seeing child soldiers in the rebel ranks.

Child combatants had been seen in the ranks of the Tuareg rebels, namely the Movement for the National Liberation of Azawaad (MNLA).

According to a HRW report titled “Mali – War Crimes by Northern Rebels”, released on Apr. 30, “many (children) were described as carrying military assault rifles and wearing fatigues that some people said were falling off their bodies.”

“The presence of children within the ranks of armed groups in northern Mali is a very disturbing development,” says Dufka.

“Commanders of these groups should immediately cease their recruitment of anyone under 18, release all the children from their forces, and work with child protection agencies to return them to their homes where they belong.”

Witnesses told HRW that child combatants appeared to be between 15 and 17 years old; however, some appeared to be as young as 12. Teachers from the region also told HRW that they recognised some of their students in the MNLA’s ranks.

Tuareg rebels, under several different names, have been fighting against the Malian state since its independence in 1960. Due to the political instability in Bamako where a Mar. 22 coup d’état toppled the government of President Amadou Toumani Touré, and an influx of weapons from Libya, the rebels managed to sweep across the north of Mali and announce a new state, Azawad, on Apr. 6.

This may have been slightly premature. Reports suggest that they are far from being in control of the situation and are competing with several Islamist groups in the region.

One group, Ansar Dine, led by former Tuareg rebel leader Iyad Ag Ghali, has expressed his group’s desire to apply Sharia law in the region. Ansar Dine does not want independence, but rather to establish an Islamic state.

Witnesses told HRW that they have seen fewer child soldiers in their ranks, but were concerned about Ansar Dine’s new wave of recruitment in the northern Malian regions of Gao, Dire and Niafounke in mid-April. It is reported that children have already been recruited and trained by Ansar Dine in camps outside of Gao.

Adding to concerns about the future of northern Mali are growing reports of foreign Islamist groups increasingly operating in the region. While they have long had a presence in the region, it is only recently they have been able to take advantage of the power vacuum and openly move around.

According to reports, the Nigerian Islamist group, Boko Haram, as well the regional Al-Qaeda group, the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, and its offshoot, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), are all currently present in the north of Mali. They are also reported to be using child soldiers.

On Apr. 6, armed men stormed the Algerian consulate in Gao, kidnapping the consul and six staff members. According to an MNLA source, Boko Haram and MUJAO members had kidnapped them.

When the MNLA tried to rescue the diplomats, the joint Boko Haram-MUJAO force sent five young boys aged between 10 to12, with explosives strapped to their chests, to deter them.

The source says that the MNLA were told that if they did not leave, the young boys would blow everyone up. In response, the MNLA withdrew.

In addition to the inclusion of children in rebel ranks, HRW has reported numerous incidents of young girls being abducted and sexually abused. Witnesses say the MNLA has been taking girls as young as 12 to abandoned buildings and repeatedly raping them over the course of several days.

“We’re very concerned about what appears to be a drastic increase in the targeting and sexual abuse of women and girls by armed groups in the north,” says Dufka.

The vulnerability of women in the north is increased by the lack of medical care, non-existent rule of law, and limited humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that since January 2012, at least 284,000 people have fled their homes as a result of the armed conflict in the north. Of this number, about 107,000 are believed to be internally displaced, while the rest have fled to neighbouring countries, notably Niger, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Mauritania.

Since January, various groups of Tuareg rebels in Mali have come together in an attempt to administer a new northern state called Azawad.

Malian rebels do not have the support of most ethnic groups in the north of the country. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

While this was announced on Apr. 6, the rebel grouping’s control of the region remains questionable, and the roots behind the conflict, complex.

After the colonial French departed in 1960, the region was carved up and the Tuareg nomadic communities were placed into several different countries.

According to Professor Jeremy Keenan, the French felt close to the Tuareg and not the southern ethnicities in Mali, due to their matriarchal society, similar class structures, monogamous nature and a romantic notion that the French had of the Taureg people.

“The French patronised them, it made certain Tuareg clans feel superior,” says Keenan.

When Mali gained independence, Tuareg communities in the north suddenly found themselves under the rule of the southern tribes, whom some Tuareg clans believed to be inferior.

“Their world was turned upside down and they didn’t like it,” explains Keenan. “They felt as though they had done pretty badly out of the colonial shift.”

Unhappy with the new setup, a handful of Tuareg led a small rebellion in 1963. This started when Alladi Ag Alla, a Tuareg rebel, attacked two policemen as they travelled on camel across a remote desert.

The Malian army responded, crushing the rebellion within a year. Soon afterwards, severe drought hit the region from 1969 to 1974 and from 1982 to 1984, and forced thousands of Tuareg to flee to neighbouring countries in search of work and food.

But in 1990, hundreds of Tuaregs returned under the leadership of Iyad Ag Ghali, now the leader of the Islamist faction, Ansar Dine, which is currently calling for Sharia law to be implemented in Mali.

After an initial attack on a small police camp, conflict raged until 1992 when the rebels entered into talks with the Malian government.

The resultant National Pact, which was signed in 1992, fractured the movement. While some Tuareg leaders were keen to negotiate with the government, others took a hard-line approach. Those who disapproved of their comrades’ desire to compromise fled to neighbouring countries. And most of the rebel leaders who remained were given special positions in the state military.

Despite peace agreements, rebels said that the Malian government did not fulfil their promises and anger simmered away. This was until 2006 when a new rebellion broke out after insurgents attacked Malian army installations, only to stop again after ceasefire talks brokered by Algeria.

The result of the talks, the Algiers Accords, promised the Tuareg rebels greater autonomy, economic development, and the protection of Tuareg culture. But the agreement broke down again.

However, one Tuareg rebel leader, Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, refused to negotiate. When the Algiers Accords were being worked out, he was still attacking the Malian army. But in 2009, he was finally pushed out of Mali and found refuge in Libya.

There he teamed up with several former revolutionary commanders who had left Mali after the 1990 rebellion. They included Mohammed Ag Najim, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad’s (MNLA) current chief of staff. Once again plans began, to launch another rebellion, one that would be stronger than ever before.

As anti-Muammar Gaddafi protests began in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, Ag Bahanga made plans to travel back to Mali with a handful of leaders to restart their rebellion.

The group returned to Mali in October 2011, and was followed by hundreds of Tuareg mercenaries, who were once hired by both Gaddafi and the Libyan National Transitional Council, and who were armed with stolen Libyan weapons. This was the beginning of the latest conflict.

According to MNLA spokesman Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, few of his people were loyal to Gaddafi, and they never forgot the atrocities committed against the Tuareg people in Mali.

“We would attack a police force and they would respond by attacking any Tuareg they could find,” explains Acharatoumane.

The most notable perpetrators of war crimes were members of Ganda Koy, a Songhai militia funded by the Malian army, which allegedly committed several massacres against unarmed Tuareg civilians.

While some MNLA commanders do have grounds for complaint against the Malian government, and genuine dreams for the creation of a Tuareg state, observers are sceptical of how much public support they have in the region. They are also not convinced that the concept of Tuareg nationalism is embraced by all.

According to West Africa expert Tommy Miles, the MNLA do not have the support of most ethnic groups in the north, who see the rhetoric of the movement as another way for noble Tuaregs to dominate their communities.

Milesargues rather than being a national liberation struggle, “northern Mali now looks like the locus of an armed political struggle between rival local Tuareg leaders, which has cascaded into a general collapse of the social order.”

Miles explains this by pointing to the dominance of the Ifghoas clan members in the rebellions. Few other Tuareg clans are interested in the desire for an independent state.

According to Keenan, in order to understand the true reasons motivating the Islamist groups operating in the north, one has to look at their links with the Algerian regime and the drug trade.

“These are the two elephants in the room,” explains Keenan. “Algeria’s secret service, the Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité (DRS), has operatives in all these groups in the region.”

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, through proxy drug smugglers, make vast amounts of money out of the drug trade. Like many other groups in the region, they have a major vested interest to be in the north of Mali, where they can control the transportation of cocaine.

“In addition to several other agendas, the DRS wants to keep instability in the region in order to secure the drug trade,” Keenan says, adding that the DRS is also trying to keep the Islamist groups off Algerian soil and in the north of Mali where they can use operatives to control the situation.

Several anti-MNLA groups are emerging and there is a growth in the number of foreign Islamist groups operating in the region. As the conflict becomes increasingly complex and fractured, the MNLA’s history of grievances becomes more distant. As clans, factions and Islamist groups take up guns for their own interests, the region edges closer to all-out civil war.

It was the middle of the day when Tabisou, 72, suddenly saw people from her town of Amderamboukane in Mali fleeing for their lives. Her family had no time to pack their things; the fighting had already begun.

Several of the children in Abala camp are visibly malnourished, and NGO workers are concerned about potential epidemics. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

“Everything I have worked for over my whole life was lost. Just like that,” says the elderly woman who comes from a family of farmers as she sits in a United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) tent at the Abala refugee camp, 85 kilometres from the Mali-Niger border. “We had to leave all our animals and food.”

Tabisou is one of nearly 270,000 refugees who have had to flee their homes since January, when conflict erupted in northern Mali. That had begun after hundreds of Tuareg mercenaries, formerly hired by slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to fight alongside him, returned to Mali after he was toppled, with heavy weapons, to restart their own five-decade-old rebellion.

The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) claims to fight against the marginalisation and oppression of the Tuareg people in northern Mali. The Tuareg are a Berber people of the desert and traditionally are nomadic and have long complained that the Malian government has marginalised them.

Tabisou does not care much for the MNLA’s grievances. “I am an old lady, and have many grandchildren,” she says pointing to the gaunt and dirtied children’s faces gathered around her in the tent. “The rebels do not care about us, they treated us very badly.”

Tabisou claims the rebels came into her home, waved guns in her face, and asked all the children to line up outside. “I thought they were going to kill us, luckily two of the rebels told the others to calm down.”

According to UNHCR representative Mariata Sandouno most of the refugees have fled due to fear of the various armed groups.

“Most of them said that they fled out of fear, also due to ongoing looting by bandits, and the withdrawal of the national army has made them feel insecure,” explains Sandouno. The army withdrew from Amderamboukane in January when the rebels seized control of the town of 3,000 people.

“Also some refugees said it was a very confusing scenario as they were not able to distinguish which of the groups armed men belonged to.”

The refugees come from the Haussa, Tuareg and Songhai ethnic groups. According to Ibrahim Ag Abdil, a 30 year-old pastoralist, few of the people in the camp support the MNLA’s cause. The MNLA is an umbrella term given to groups of armed Tuaregs who have come together with the declared goal of administrating an independent state, Azawad.

“Mali is already a very poor country, we have to rely on the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe for aid,” he explains. “The MNLA are just making more divisions. How can we survive as two countries, when we are barely surviving as one?”

Ag Abdil says the MNLA stole all the motorbikes belonging to civilians in his town of Amderamboukane. After the MNLA left, he says, bandits entered the city and looted all the shops and homes.

“We don’t know if there is even anything left,” he tells IPS. “The MNLA are not protecting civilians’ possessions, they are just attacking towns, leaving them, and then the place is empty for bandits to come and steal.”

Next to him, Ajawa, 72, nods his head. “They say they fight for all the Tuaregs but in fact they only fight for a few, many Tuaregs don’t support them,” he says. “Now we’re stuck in this camp. It is painful to see my people begging for handouts, and our children not able to go to school.”

When the MNLA arrived in Amderamboukane, the citizens fled the eastern Malian town and walked two months to find refuge in Niger. When these refugees first arrived, they stayed in a makeshift camp at Sinegodar, 10 km from the border.

“We were always worrying about warmth at night, and food during the day,” says Salima, 19. Several of the children in Abala camp are visibly malnourished, and NGO workers are concerned about potential epidemics.

There are currently 6,286 refugees at Abala camp out of an estimated 26,500 who have fled to Niger. The rest are in Burkino Faso and Mauritania, while there are over 80,000 internally displaced inside Mali. UNHCR will soon open more refugee camps in Mangaize and Ayorou, both towns in Niger.

According to Antonio Jose Canhandula, head of UNHCR’s emergency team, the biggest concern for the agency at the moment is that the refugees are entering a food crisis in Niger.

“These refugees are coming into a food crisis in Niger, which will aggravate the situation here,” says Canhandula. “They are nomadic people, coming with cattle and other animals, so we are trying to adapt to their needs and minimise the burden on the host community, who are already facing a famine and water shortage.”

UNHCR reports that there are currently 300 urban refugees in Niamey. Most of the refugees coming through Niamey are government members who have travelled from Gao in Mali. They are seeking assistance to return to Bamako, Mali’s capital, and reunite with their families, collect salaries or just show they have not abandoned their jobs since the Mar. 22 coup that overthrew the government. There are also reports of military staff fleeing to Niamey in order to return to Bamako.

Increasing numbers of Malian women are being raped by Tuareg rebels and armed groups that have swept across the north of Mali since the beginning of year, expelling all government troops from the region.

Increasing numbers of Malian women are being raped by Tuareg rebels and armed groups that have swept across the north of Mali since January. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

According to Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, who is currently on a mission in Mali, there have been reports of rape and sexual violence taking place in towns and villages across the region.

“We’re very concerned about what appears to be a drastic increase in the targeting and sexual abuse of women and girls by armed groups in the north,” Dufka told IPS.

“Since rebel groups consolidated their control of the northern territory they call the Azawad, Human Rights Watch has documented several cases of rape and many others cases in which girls and women have been abducted from their homes, towns and villages, and very likely sexually abused.”

Dufka reports that most of the abuses have been, “perpetrated by rebels from the MNLA and to a lesser extent Arab militias allied to them.”

The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) is an umbrella term given to groups of armed Tuaregs who have come together with the declared goal of administrating an independent state, Azawad.

Since the colonial French left the region in 1960, there have been several Tuareg rebellions against the Malian government. Previous uprisings ended in negotiations and the appointment of rebel leaders to state positions.

However, the rebels say the Malian government has failed to stick to promises made in negotiations, and continue to demand an independent state.

This time, armed with a heavy arsenal of weapons left over from previous rebellions, and additional arms coming from Libya over the last few years, the MNLA have made unprecedented advances. This was made easier by the coup in Bamako and the subsequent withdrawal of state military in the north.

Commenting on the allegations made by Human Rights Watch, MNLA spokesman Moussa ag Assarid, currently in the Malian city of Gao, denied MNLA men were involved in the sexual violence. “These men are not MNLA, but are other men around,” says Ag Assarid speaking over the phone from Gao. He admitted, however, that “We cannot control all the people in Azawad.”

Although the MNLA declared an independent state on Apr 6, residents in the region say the rebel movement does not really seem to be in control. “One day, one armed group will come into town, then the next day it will be another; we feel very unsafe,” one resident in Gao who preferred to remain anonymous told IPS over the phone.

Since the conflict began, several armed Islamist groups have emerged in the region, adding to concerns for the future of women’s rights.

One group, Ansar Dine, led by Iyad Ag Ghali, a prominent leader in previous Tuareg uprisings, has begun attempting to enforce Sharia law in the north. Soon after entering Timbuktu, Ag Ghali announced the group’s beliefs on the radio.

“Misfortune is due to people’s lack of faith in God, and because they have abandoned the practice of Sharia, because we have changed our way of life under the influence of whites,” he said.

While Ag Ghali is estimated to only have around 300 men in his ranks, his influence goes far and wide. Many MNLA commanders are still loyal to him from previous rebellions, as are drug smugglers, and other Islamist groups in the region.

Since Ansar Dine announced Sharia law, there have been unconfirmed reports of Ag Gali travelling with leaders from AQIM, the regional Al Qaeda group. It is also believed that Nigeria’s extremist group, Boko Haram, and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa have been operating in the region.

As residents report foreigners increasingly being spotted in the Islamists ranks, fears grow that Ag Ghali’s goal of creating an Islamic state could be closer to being achieved. Many Malian women, who have enjoyed freedom and relative equality compared to women in other countries in the region, are concerned this freedom could soon be a thing of the past.

“Since these groups have arrived, we hardly go outside, we are terrified what will happen if we forget to do something they have told us to do,” a 40-year-old market vendor in Timbuktu, who also wished to remain anonymous, told IPS.

“I have been working in the market all my life, it is how I feed my children, how can I just stop now? Even if they allow me to work, I am not used to sitting in the baking heat all day covered head to toe.”

It is reported that Ansar Dine and other Islamist groups have been going door-to-door ordering women to wear veils and respect Islamic law. They have been going to hairdressers and ripping down photos of unveiled women, shutting down brothels and prohibiting the sale of alcoholic drinks.

While there have not been any reports of women being punished by Ansar Dine for failing to adhere to Sharia law, women in the region are growing increasingly fearful of the possibility that they will start being punished if the Islamist group gains more control.

Food, electricity and infrastructure have also been severely affected by the conflict. In many cities food and water are running low, and it has been difficult for civilians to receive humanitarian aid.

“The vulnerability of women in the north is increased by the lack of medical care, non-existent rule of law institutions, and limited humanitarian assistance which could mitigate their suffering and deter further abuse,” says Dufka.

Sitting outside her small shop, high in the mountains in the Tacueyó indigenous reserve in southwest Colombia, Liliana Alarco tries to hold back tears as she recalls the day her young son was injured.

A member of the "indigenous guard" in Tacueyó stands besides a cross that commemorates the adolescents killed at an insurgent training camp in March. Credit: William Lloyd George/IPS

When the military installed a base close to their village in Buenavista, in Colombia’s southwestern Cauca province, she says her family knew something bad was bound to happen.

“We lived there peacefully for many years, but when the military came they were fighting with the guerrillas nearly everyday,” she tells IPS.

Then one day, as her 13-year-old boy was walking home from school, fighting broke out between the leftwing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and government soldiers. Her son was caught in the middle as the two sides exchanged gun and mortar fire. Suddenly, a large bomb exploded, and her son was hit in the stomach by shrapnel.

“It was terrible, his entire digestive system was destroyed,” she says, adding that he was in a coma for a month. Eventually, they managed to raise the money to get him the treatment he needed, which saved his life. But while his health may be better, the trauma remains, says Alarco.

“He does not sleep at night, he cannot stand the sight of soldiers and he is always scared,” she says. Following the incident, she moved her family to Tacueyó in hope of escaping the intense fighting. For some time now she and her sons have lived in relative peace. Soon, though, this is expected to change.

On Jul. 15, an extra 500 special “high mountain” troops were deployed to the Tacueyó region to step up the hunt for FARC chief Alfonso Cano, who the government believes is based in the rugged Andes mountains in that area.

The special forces were added to the nearly 15,000 troops already deployed in that area of the north of Cauca province.

For Alarco and the civilians who inhabit the steep mountain slopes around Tacueyó, the increase in troops is a major concern. While many voiced grievances about living close to FARC territory, it is an increase in fighting that worries them most. Like Alarco’s son, the local indigenous population is often caught in the crossfire.

A fear for any indigenous town when troops are posted nearby is the potential for an urban attack by the guerrillas.

Tacueyó, San Francisco and Toribío are three indigenous reserves in the north of Cauca, home to some 28,000 people, more than 90 percent of whom are Nasa Indians.

On Saturday Jul. 9, Sara Muñoz and her three children were at the only bank in Toribío, a small town close to Tacueyó. “We were just waiting in line, when we were thrown to the floor and heard loud explosions. We were trapped under the roof for hours,” Muñoz tells IPS.

FARC rebels had stormed the town on a busy market day. A grenade was thrown at the bank, but most of the impact came from a car bomb detonated outside the police station.

While the fortress-like police station escaped with a few scratches on its thick walls, nearly 500 surrounding houses were damaged or destroyed.

Muñoz’s house, next to the police station, was completely destroyed by the blast. Her father, 65-year-old butcher Jesús Muñoz who was helping her brother in the packed market, was hit in the head by shrapnel and killed instantly. He was one of four people who died in the blast – three civilians and one police officer. In addition, 122 people were injured.

Sitting in her mother’s home surrounded by her young children, Muñoz tells IPS how terrified they were. Her eldest watched his grandfather die. “We don’t know what we will do now. We don’t want to stay here, it’s not safe, we want to leave,” she said. “Many innocent and good people are being caught up in a conflict we have nothing to do with.”

The FARC took up arms in 1964 in this very region.

Fed up with the suffering and innocent bloodshed, indigenous leaders have called for the complete demilitarisation of their land. They are demanding that both the FARC and the army leave their territory, and have also urged the government of conservative President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC to start peace talks.

“The new high altitude troops are coming without our permission. We know the effects this will have – they will turn our territory into a war zone, which will inevitably affect the civilian population,” says José Miller Correa, governor of the indigenous council in the Tacueyó reserve.

“So we the indigenous people will come together and drive them all off our land. Not just the military but also the guerrillas,” he adds.

Another concern for the indigenous leaders is the number of people fleeing their territory due to the violence. They are losing many young people, who either go to the cities to find work or are coerced into joining the FARC at a young age.

Sitting outside his home halfway up a mountain on the outskirts of Tacueyó, Juan (not his real name) tells IPS how he was recruited to the ranks of the guerrillas at the age of 13. “They would constantly call on me and ask me to come to training and tell me I would be a man if I did,” he says.

Then one night in March, he was called by a FARC contact to come to a training session. In the middle of the night, the government forces bombed the area, killing 16 of the 40 or so young people there.

According to the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN), at least four of the victims were minors, who were “supposedly combatants.”

ACIN also stated in its communiqué that two civilians went missing there, and their bodies later showed up in the morgue in the city of Cali, the capital of the neighbouring province of Valle del Cauca, “reported as guerrillas killed in the army operation.”

It is widely alleged here that the FARC contact who invited Juan and the others to the training session was actually a demobilised insurgent who had been paid by the military to set up the operation.

“They paid him to let them kill us, so they could pretend we were all real full-time guerrillas, and they would get reward money,” adds Juan. “I am scared to see more military of any type in this area.”

As the army steps up its offensive, parents and social workers in the reserve are worried that the FARC will increase its efforts to recruit children. Many are also concerned about the possibility of a repeat of what happened in March.

For the people of Tacueyó, it is a terrifying time. While the indigenous leaders attempt to drive out all armed groups, the government is bringing in more soldiers. As fighting inevitably increases, the local native people will be the ones who suffer the most as the conflict rages throughout their mountainous region in the coming months.

Those who have already experienced first hand what happens when fighting erupts are bracing themselves for more suffering.

“He’s only just started going back to school after his injury,” Alarco says about her son. “It’s a horrible life when you are always worrying what will happen the next time your boy walks home.”