In January 2022, the first part of the Czech “tied financial donation” for Ethiopia was installed in the Abebech Gobena Hospital in Addis Ababa. Czech companies Linet, TSE, SMT and MZ Liberec provided medical equipment for modern delivery and neonatal ICU rooms. The representatives of MZ Liberec conducted the installation and training of the personnel at the hospital.
The Abebech Gobena Hospital, named after the founder and manager of one of the oldest Ethiopian orphanages, who is also known as the Mother Theresa of Africa, is one of the biggest hospitals in the Ethiopian capital and focuses on maternal and child healthcare.
The hospital was established after the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in order to strengthen the capacities of the Ethiopian healthcare system. The supply of bedhead units, birthing beds, children’s beds, infant radiator warmers, transport infant incubators and electro coagulators that forms part of the Czech official development aid was highly welcomed by the personnel of the hospital and by the representatives of the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia, who appraised the high quality of the provided products. (Africa news room)
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Ethiopia listed as hunger hotspot by FAO, WFP
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) warned that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 20 countries (including one region) – called hunger hotspots – during the outlook period from February to May 2022.
Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen remain at the highest alert level. In their last available assessments, these countries all had parts of populations identified or projected to experience starvation and death (Catastrophe, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification [IPC] Phase 5), requiring the most urgent attention.
The lack of updated assessment data for Ethiopia is also a major concern. Acute food insecurity levels are likely to have increased and could rise further beyond the Emergency and Catastrophic levels (IPC Phase 4 and 5) already identified in the last report.
These included a projection of famine-like conditions for 401,000 people for July to September 2021 in the Tigray region. A risk that famine would occur in Tigray region by the end of 2021 was identified by the IPC Famine Review Committee, conditional on the conflict worsening, humanitarian access shrinking and private sector and supply lines becoming non-functional. (Relief web)
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Foreign Ministry warned over locally-hired staff tasks in Turkish, Ethiopian embassies
The Chancellor of Justice, Tuomas Pöysti has warned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over its practice of asking locally-hired staff to perform tasks that should by law be reserved for civil servants hired in Finland. The Ministry claimed the practice was due to a lack of staff. Workers in an employment relationship are in a different legal position to officials hired by the state, under Finnish law.
The decision relates to a complaint received about the Finnish embassies in Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa and Turkish capital, Ankara. The complainant claims to have been employed as a local hire and sat in on interviews and DNA sample taking in 2018 and 2019.
The complaint states that the practice was a long-standing and established practice among Finnish embassies. The complainant said that in Ankara, rights to be in the country were investigated by a Turkish citizen, who was not a double citizen.
The Ministry blamed staff shortage in its statement to the Chancellor of Justice, stating that there were not enough officials to conduct these tasks without causing unreasonable delays to the processing of visas.
For that reason, locally-hired Finnish staffs were used to deal with these tasks. The ministry claims that they were, however, given appropriate training to handle their duties, and were supervised properly while conducting them. (YLE NEWS)
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Ethiopia prevented from delivering statement at UN agency meeting
The government of Ethiopia said it was denied the opportunity to deliver a statement at a meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday. In a statement, the permanent mission of Ethiopia to the United Nations in Geneva said it regrets the decision.
“Ethiopia regrets that it was not allowed to deliver a statement on the 24th of January 2022 at the 150 session the Executive Board of the WHO. Such mistreatment against a member country is unacceptable,” the statement seen by Sudan’s Post read in part.
The statement accused the WHO director, Tedros Adhanom (PhD), an Ethiopian national, of standing behind the decision to deny Ethiopia of delivering its statement at the meeting.
“Dr. Tedros hails from Ethiopia. Ethiopia nominated him for the post of Director General of the WHO. It mobilized Africans and other friendly countries to support him. As soon as the conflict was triggered by the TPLF, he showed his true colors,” the statement reads.
“He chose his political affiliation to TPLF over his country. In the process, he betrayed his oath of office as a Director General of the WHO,” the statement added.
“One thing should be clear. Ethiopia’s complaint does not refer to the work of WHO nor to the performance of the staff.
“It is directed to the misconduct of the Director General of WHO and the desecration at his professional and legal responsibility.”(SUDAN’s post)
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Horn Brief
Saudi tourist killed by elephant in Uganda’s National Park
A traveler was trampled to death by an elephant at Uganda‘s Murchison Falls National Park, while passing through the park to Arua town in West Nile.
A statement issued by Bashir Hangi Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) Communications Manager read in part:
“We regret to inform the public that one person has been killed by an elephant in Murchison Falls National Park. The unfortunate incident happened today at around 11:00am. The deceased Ayman Sayed Elshahany, a Saudi Arabian national, together with his three colleagues was traveling in a Toyota station wagon from the neighboring Masindi town, transiting through the park to Arua City in West Nile. They stopped along the way and the deceased went out of car. An elephant charged him killing him on the spot. We are saddened by this incident, and we convey our deepest sympathies to the deceased’s family and friends.”
The unfortunate incident was reported to Pakwach Police and UWA is working closely with the police to ensure that this matter is investigated fully. The park authorities appealed to the public, especially those transiting through protected areas to take precaution and avoid putting themselves in harm’s way. (ETN Uganda)
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Sudan deputy leader meets Ethiopia’s defense minister
Sudan’s second most powerful leader met with Ethiopia’s defense minister on a rare visit to Addis Ababa by an official from Khartoum amid border tensions, according to officials.
Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, widely known as Hemeti, who is deputy chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, will be in Ethiopia for two days to meet “several Ethiopian officials,” Sudan’s state news agency SUNA reported.
He was met at Addis Ababa airport on Saturday by Ethiopian Defense Minister Abraham Belay, a statement from Sudan’s ruling council said.
He was also welcomed by senior officials from Ethiopia’ government and intelligence services, it added. Daglo is head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a much-feared and powerful paramilitary unit that is accused of atrocities in the western region of Darfur.
There have been sporadic deadly clashes between the two sides in recent years. Al-Fashaqa also borders Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region, and tens of thousands of Ethiopian refugees have crossed into Sudan fleeing the fighting.
Sudan, along with Egypt, is also locked in a bitter dispute over Ethiopia’s mega-dam on the Blue Nile. The two downstream countries, dependent on the river for most of their water, see Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam as an existential threat. Both Khartoum and Addis Ababa are mired in crises. (Aljazeera)
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Somalia lifts terrorist tag on ONLF movement
The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) announced on Sunday it no longer categorizes an Ethiopian freedom movement as a terrorist organization, rescinding a decision made more than four years ago.
Mogadishu now says Ethiopia’s Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), labelled as a terrorist group since 2017, is no longer seen as such, in a move likely to improve ties between Ethiopia’s Somali region and Somalia.
The cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble in Mogadishu, said the decision was effective immediately, cancelling the tag first issued on September 6, 2017 by the then cabinet.
“Such recognition of ONLF as a terrorist entity is hereby abolished, considering the earlier decision as illegal,” the government stated, referring to the Council of Ministers hitherto chaired by former Prime Minister, Hassan Ali Khaire.
Sunday’s FGS’s resolution stated that the extradition of Abdikarim Sheikh Muse alias Qalbidhagah, a senior ONLF official, who was handed over to the Ethiopian authorities on August 28, 2017, was a breach of terms of Somalia’s provisional constitution, especially its fourth article and the provisions of the Somalia penal code. (The East African)
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Emirates airlines to resume flights to five African countries
Travelers from Kenya and Tanzania will be allowed entry into Dubai from Saturday after the United Arabs Emirates (UAE) lifted a ban it had imposed on all inbound and transit passenger flights since last year.
On Thursday, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) director-general, Gilbert Kibe told the Business Daily that the ban on Kenya was lifted on Wednesday night, offering a major relief to hundreds of travelers between the two destinations.
UAE barred entry of flights from Kenya on December 20, 2021, after establishing that travelers from Nairobi were testing positive for Covid-19 on arrival in the Middle East country despite presenting negative test results.
However, the ban did not affect cargo flights by carriers like Kenya Airways (KQ) and Emirates Airlines.
“United Arabs Emirates has lifted a suspension it had imposed on Kenyan flights,” said Kibe, without giving more details.
On top of the two countries, Rwanda’s national carrier, RwandAir, has resumed passenger flights to Dubai. It will resume flying from Rwanda’s capital Kigali, Uganda, Cameroon, Ghana, Burundi, and Zambia to Dubai. The announcement comes three weeks after the flights were suspended to limit the spread of Covid-19 in the wake of the new Omicron variant. (The East African)
