Somalia: UN Secretary General Sounds Alarm

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has "sounded the alarm" and called for "massive international support" to help Somalia.

Mr. Guterres spoke on Tuesday during his solidarity rally in Mogadishu, the capital .

The country, which is threatened by a historic and potentially very deadly drought and weakened by an Islamist insurrection, is in the middle of the month of Ramadan.

According to a study published in March by the Somali Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and the UN agency Unicef**, between 18,100 and 34,200 people could die from the consequences of the drought in Somalia during the first six months. of this year.**

“I am also here to sound the alarm on the need for massive international support: massive international support because of the humanitarian difficulties the country is facing, massive humanitarian support linked to the strengthening of security capacities in Somalia and massive humanitarian support for the stabilization and development of the country ,” he said during a joint press conference with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud.

The latter welcomed this visit, which “testifies that the United Nations is fully committed to supporting our plans for state building and stabilization of the country”.

The UN Secretary General had already visited Somalia in March 2017. Today Somalia is facing a disastrous drought, the worst in four decades after five consecutive failed rainy seasons in some of its regions as well as in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Ethiopia: post-protest restrictions imposed in Amhara

In the aftermath of the 5th consecutive day of protests against the Ethiopian government, restrictions were imposed on Monday in three major cities in the Amhara region, including Gondar, the region's most populous city.

It is now forbidden for motorized tricycles to circulate at night and bars and nightclubs must close at 9:00 p.m. Any strike is also prohibited and any meeting must be reported to the authorities.

Last week the government announced the dismantling of regional paramilitary forces in Ethiopia. A decision which was met with strong opposition in the Amhara region which organized major demonstrations in the towns and villages of the region.

The government plans to integrate them into the army or the federal police and promote national unity.

Called “special forces” in Ethiopia, these unconstitutional units had been deployed by regional states to protect their borders and fight rebels.

Other restrictions include a ban on carrying a weapon or any object that can serve as a weapon – " knife, machete or iron bar"  in particular -, detonating firecrackers and fireworks, or improperly wearing any military clothing.

Members of the _"special forces"_ are also ordered to assemble in designated places.

The restrictions are enacted by the military "command posts" of each city, suggesting that security there is now entrusted to the federal army.

The IMF will lend 261 million dollars to Burundi

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced in a statement on Monday that it had reached an agreement with the Burundian government to set up a $261 million aid program to help the country "sustaining economic recovery in the face of shocks" .

The agreement must now be validated by the Fund's Board of Directors.

The aid program extends over 40 months and operates within the framework of the extended credit facility, for a total amount of 200.2 million special drawing rights (or SDRs, the unit of account of the Fund corresponding to a basket of the five major world currencies).

"This is the first program for the IMF (in Burundi) since 2015. It aims to support a policy of reforms aimed at restoring external sustainability and debt sustainability while allowing economic recovery in the face of shocks" which are are succeeded, explained the head of the mission, Mame Astou Diouf , quoted in a press release.

Burundi had made a request for aid from the IMF at the beginning of October, when it was facing a reduction in its foreign exchange reserves, between inflationary pressure and the consequences of the war in Ukraine .

The central African country faced political tensions in early September, with President Evariste Ndayishimiye denouncing attempts at a "coup" and appointing his former interior minister, Gervais Ndirakobuca , as prime minister on September 7.

He has been benefiting for a little over a year again from economic aid from the European Union (EU), which had been suspended from 2016 to sanction the violence caused by a previous political crisis, even if the aid directly to the population had been maintained.

The United States itself lifted its sanctions, for the same reasons, in November 2021.