My brothers and sisters are dying: Inside the killing fields in Ethiopia’s Afar Triangle region
There is only one referral hospital in Ethiopia’s north-eastern Afar region, and its doctors are overwhelmed. Patients have been arriving with bullet wounds and blast injuries in recent weeks. A lack of beds means many end up on bare mattresses on the ground. “We don’t know who died and who...
Billionaire Elon Musk’s acquisition of huge stake in Twitter has ratcheted up hopes and fears over free speech
Elon Musk is one of the tech sector’s most inscrutable individuals – as evidenced by his recent decision to become Twitter’s largest shareholder. On Tuesday, four weeks after he bought a 9.2 per cent stake in the social networking platform through the purchase of nearly 73.5 million shares at a...
Theatre of hybrid warfare: Why Africa is rapidly gaining reputation as new ‘Wild West’ of the world
Africa is rapidly becoming a theatre for hybrid threats. Allegations of state-backed information campaigns designed to ramp up divisions in Mali and cyber-attacks on humanitarian relief organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are examples. The use of drones as weapons in the Horn of Africa,...
Dogs of War: Mercenaries cited as major threat to Africa’s regions rich with natural resources
The use of Private Military Companies (PMCs) is now on the increase in Africa, with countries or regions with the vast treasures of natural resources. The use of PMCs is complicated from a legal standpoint. Put simply, if PMC employees are not used as combatants, then they are by definition...
How rich nations are switching from diplomacy to mercenary use to entrench economic, political dominance in Africa
In Frederick Forsyth’s 1974 novel, The Dogs of War, a band of mercenaries slips into a small, fictional African nation at the direction of a Western tycoon bent on deposing the nation’s dictator to exploit valuable platinum. The novel, and the 1980 movie based upon it, tells a violent tale...
Racism or selective amnesia? Ukraine’s aid bonanza questioned amid fears it’s coming at expense of crises in Middle East and Africa
While many people and humanitarian organizations laud the amazing generosity towards Ukraine and its people, some observers are asking why only now, why only for Ukrainians, why not for Ethiopians, for Syrians, for Iraqis, for Palestinians – and claim that it is racism driving the disparity. “Those critiques ...
‘Ukraine humanitarian response will suck up financial and human resources from other crises facing unprecedented funding shortages
As near-record levels of funding fill the coffers of the Ukrainian aid response, humanitarian insiders worry that resources may be diverted from other crises that are receiving scant attention and remain badly underfunded – from Afghanistan to Yemen to the Horn of Africa. Numerous factors are contributing to the unusually...
Ethiopian hunger: Given the severity of the food situation, my wife is asking me to return so we can die in same place
Funding shortages are hindering the humanitarian response to a severe drought in southeastern Ethiopia as international donors and the federal government focus their resources on the 16-month conflict affecting Tigray and other northern regions. There have been significant delays in launching crucial animal vaccination and fodder distributions for vulnerable livestock...
Why before total solar eclipse temperature drops, birds and insects sing and ambient light becomes otherworldly
In the final moments before a total solar eclipse, the temperature drops, birds and insects sing, and the ambient light becomes otherworldly. Daytime morphs into a 360-degree dusk, and where the sun once hung, a blackhole punches through the sky wreathed by a white ethereal glow. That glow is the...