AU – EU Sixth Summit: Building the new post-pandemic partnership on migration and mobility

Original article posted at: https://blogs.eui.eu/migrationpolicycentre/au-eu-sixth-summit-building-the-new-post-pandemic-partnership-on-migration-and-mobility/ The Sixth Summit of the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) held with much fanfare from 17 to 18 February 2022 has concluded with the declaration of A Joint Vision for 2030. The two bodies renewed their partnership to build a common future, as close partners and neighbours with ...

PEACE AND SECURITY AS DRIVERS OF STABILITY,
DEVELOPMENT AND SAFE MIGRATION

In early 2020, as COVID-19 was beginning to spread globally, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for a global ceasefire, calling on all warring parties to “silence guns” and focus on fighting a pandemic that had left no country untouched. The Secretary-General’s words recognized that despite an ongoing global health crisis, insecurity, violence and conflict ...

Joint UN, Ethiopia Atrocities Report: Poison Fruit of Poisonous Tree

The joint United Nations (UN) and Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) investigation is like a ham omelette: the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. In this investigation, the UN only reluctantly became involved in demonstrating its efforts in investigating atrocity crimes, while the EHRC was committed to defending the government of Ethiopia – ...

There is need for a truly independent probe into Ethiopia abuses

A pig and a chicken open a breakfast restaurant together, and their speciality is bacon and eggs. What’s the difference between the chicken and the pig? The chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. For the chicken, it’s just an easy day’s work to lay a few eggs. But for the pig, it’s a ...

Has the Pandemic Become an Excuse for Curbing Visitors from the Global South?

Original article at: https://www.henleyglobal.com/publications/global-mobility-report/2021-q4/global-mobility-trends/has-pandemic-become-excuse-curbing-visitors-global-south Restrictive policies introduced to contain the spread of Covid-19 may now be conveniently applied to contain mobility from the global south to the global north. These Covid-19-related restrictions should have been reviewed pari passu with vaccination and infection rates, and with other mechanisms employed to slow down the spread of the virus. However, in ...

Global rivalry in the Red Sea : a ‘geopolitical’ European Union should encourage cooperation in the Red Sea region

In 2018, the Council of the European Union adopted conclusions on the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, finding that there was ‘renewed geopolitical competition on both shores of the Red Sea’. The EU further stressed that ‘at stake are the preservation of the security of the Bab el Mandeb maritime route through which ...

TRANSFORMATIONS IN ETHIOPIA: FROM ARMED STRUGGLE TO THE POLITICS OF COALITION

On 26 December 2019 a new party was formed in Ethiopia. The Prosperity Party (PP) is reportedly a merger of three constituent parties – the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM) – of the ruling, now defunct, Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Left out of ...

Elections? What elections? Abiy is Counting on a Military Victory

Original article at: https://www.theelephant.info/op-eds/2021/08/02/elections-what-elections-abiy-is-counting-on-a-military-victory/ Abiy Ahmed’s legitimacy hangs on conjuring up an improbable military victory in the total war he has declared on the people of Tigray. Selected by the ruling party and later appointed by the Ethiopian parliament in 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was expected to deliver the long hoped for post-EPRDF (Ethiopian ...

Ethiopia’s election will not bring peace

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed seeks legitimacy for his power grab with a win in a deeply flawed election. Asked by Al Jazeera’s anchor Riz Khan back in May 2008 when Eritrea would have elections, President Isaias Afwerki quipped “what elections?” With his answer, he clearly declared before the international community his intention to rule the ...

Solidarity, Not Competition, Is Key to Overcoming Inequity

Original article at: https://www.henleyglobal.com/publications/global-mobility-report/2021-q3/global-mobility-trends/solidarity-not-competition-key-overcoming-inequity As wealthy nations rush to vaccinate their populations, many developing countries face desperately low supply levels of Covid-19 vaccines. Africa, which accounts for 16.7% of the world’s population, has received only 1% of the total vaccine doses administered globally. The power asymmetry between developed and developing countries has once again manifested itself as nations such ...