Tag: AFRICA

Concrete barriers used against sea-level rises are seen along the coastline in Alexandria, Egypt.

The Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation has launched a climate adaptation project on the North Coast and the Nile Delta to counter sea-level rises, the impact of weather hazards on low-lying coastal areas, and seawater intrusion. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

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Horn of Africa could face “unprecedented” food insecurity in 2023, WFP warns

The Horn of Africa could face “unprecedented food unavailability problems” in 2023 due to ongoing drought and food supply shortages caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, David Beasley Executive Director of the UN World Food Program (WFP) has warned.

“The drought situation in the Somali region of Ethiopia is desperate and extraordinary,” Beasley said during a briefing on Thursday after his visit to drought stricken Gode district in Ethiopia’s Somali region.

The region has been hit by several years of conflict, climate change and recently affected by the impacts of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine conflict which cut food supply to Africa and the entire world, the WFP chief said.

Highlighting that Russia and Ukraine supply about 13 percent of wheat, 20 percent of maize, 76 percent of sunflower oil to the world, Beasley said the conflict has pushed the number of African people suffering from food shortages to 325 million from 276 million before the conflict began some months ago.

“WFP’s operational cost has increased by additional 70 million U.S. dollars every month after the Russia-Ukraine (conflict) broke out, which resulted in increase in fuel, fertilizer and shipping prices,” he said, noting that the situation forced WFP to cut food ration to four million people.

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“Whenever a sanction is put in place, the international community should make certain that it does not hurt the rest of the world,” Beasley said, as he called for the opening up of ports for the sake of food and fertilizer supply to the needy.

In a statement it released during the briefing, WFP said an estimated 7.4 million people wake up hungry every day in southern and south eastern Ethiopia as the country grapples with the most severe drought since 1981.

More seek support

The Horn of Africa drought has thrust at least 18.4 million people, including more than 7.1 million acutely malnourished children, into severe food insecurity, UN humanitarians said on Monday.

“From northern Ethiopia, we and our partners are continuing to provide humanitarian aid across Tigray, Afar, and Amhara,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, referring to the trio of northern regions. Most drought victims are in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

Looking to the future, humanitarians said the latest forecasts point to a concrete risk of a fifth failed rainy season later this year.

Relief reached more than 900,000 people since June 1, the office said. Between April, when aid delivery by road convoys resumed, and last week, humanitarians delivered more than 65,000 tons of food aid in Tigray. Hostilities in the northernmost Tigray region extended into its neighbors of Afar and Amhara at times, severely interrupting deliveries.

One-third of people targeted for aid received food aid in the current round of distributions which began in October, OCHA said. Fuel supplies also continue to be limited, significantly impacting getting food to people who need it.

Humanitarians deliver Tigray aid, including water and sanitation, shelter and nutrition, by convoys and air, the office said. In Amhara, food relief reached more than 10 million people since late December and in Afar more than 992,000 people since late February.

“Some areas near the border between Amhara and Tigray remain hard to reach,” OCHA said. “We continue to call for unfettered access for aid workers to reach all men, women and children in need across northern Ethiopia.”

The office said that the devastating drought affecting the Horn of Africa has caused severe food insecurity and malnutrition to rise precipitously in many parts of Kenya.

There are now 4.1 million people in Kenya facing crisis – or emergency – level food insecurity, up from 3.5 million just a few months ago, OCHA said. There are more severely food insecure people in Kenya than during both the droughts of 2010-2011 and 2016-2017.

Malnutrition increases at an alarming rate, the office said. At least 942,000 children under the age of five and some 134,000 pregnant or lactating women urgently need treatment.

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“Our humanitarian colleagues continue to call for an urgent and immediate increase in funding,” OCHA said. “Without additional resources we and our partners will be forced to make impossible choices.”

“We face a real and imminent threat of large-scale loss of life,” the humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Adam Abdelmoula, said last week.

Humanitarians are calling for 180.7 million U.S. dollars to respond to the highest priority needs in Kenya.

The UN announced that about 100 people were killed in tribal clashes over the past week in Sudan’s West Darfur province…reports Asian Lite News

The fighting grew out of a land dispute between Arab and African tribes in the town of Kulbus in West Darfur, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said.

It added that local Arab militias attacked multiple villages in the area, forcing thousands to flee, reports Xinhua news agency.

Volker Perthes, head of the UN Integrated Transitional Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), condemned the recent tribal clashes.

“I’m appalled, again, by the violence in Kulbus, West Darfur, with so many deaths,” said Perthes on his Twitter account on Monday.

“The cycle of violence in Darfur is unacceptable and highlights root causes that must be addressed,” he added.

The UN envoy called on community leaders, authorities, and armed groups to de-escalate and ensure the protection of civilians.

Sudan’s Darfur region has been witnessing a civil war since 2003 during the rule of former President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted from power in April 2019.

ALSO READ:18.4 mn people experiences acute food insecurity in Horn of Africa

The previous transitional government in Sudan sought to end the armed conflict in the Darfur region through an agreement reached on October 3, 2020, but some armed groups have not yet signed it.

For years, efforts failed to end the tribal conflicts, which have become a nagging concern for the local population and the authorities of the troubled region.

Many factors, including disturbances, tribes’ access to weapons, and lack of effective governance in many parts of the Darfur region, have contributed to the growing violence in the region.

The deal is aiming to boost natural gas exports to Europe. The deal will allow more supplies of gas from Israel via Egypt, which has facilities to liquefy it for shipment by sea

Egypt, the European Union (EU) and Israel signed a trilateral deal here on Wednesday to boost the export of Israeli natural gas to Europe via Egypt in a bid to reduce the bloc’s dependence on supply from Russia.

The signing of this agreement is “a special moment,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a press conference alongside the Egyptian and Israel energy ministers in Cairo.

The deal will allow more supplies of gas from Israel via Egypt, which has facilities to liquify it for shipment by sea.

“With this agreement, we will work on the stable delivery of natural gas to the EU from the East Mediterranean region,” she tweeted shortly after the ministerial meeting of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EastMed), where the deal was reached.

“This will contribute to our EU energy security, and we are building infrastructure fit for renewables — the energy of the future,” she noted.

Russia constitutes nearly 45 percent of the EU’s gas imports in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency.

Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla said the deal is an important step to boost relations between Egypt, Israel and the EU, and will foster cooperation among EastMed members and partners.

EastMed is an international organization formed by Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, France and Israel in 2019 and headquartered in Cairo.

Meanwhile, Israeli Minister of Energy Karine Elharrar said the partnership between Egypt and Israel “ensures natural gas security for our European partners, helping to face the current energy crisis.”

This deal “sends a message that the EastMed plays a pivotal role in securing energy to Europe,” she said, noting geopolitical developments in east Europe have highly impacted the energy industry, necessitating collaboration.

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After achieving self-sufficiency in natural gas in 2018, Egypt is working to take up a role as a regional energy hub by strengthening regional cooperation and carrying out several gas discoveries.

In November 2021, Egypt announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel to increase natural gas supplies from Israel to Egypt for re-export.

Egypt’s revenues from liquified natural gas export reached 3.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 from 600 million dollars a year earlier.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will promote the use of local currencies in order to boost trade amongst African countries

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on Tuesday said it will promote the use of local currencies in order to boost trade amongst African countries.

Prudence Sebahizi, the Chief Technical Advisor at the AfCFTA Secretariat told journalists in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya that currently most intra-Africa trade is settled using the U.S. dollars.

“With the use of local currencies, the number of financial transactions will increase while the time it takes to make payments will reduce thereby boosting trade amongst African states,” Sebahizi said during the EABC-Trade Mark East Africa regional private sector consultative meeting on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), Xinhua reported.

Trading under AfCFTA which commenced in January 2021 aims at creating the largest free trade area in the world in terms of the number of participating countries with a combined population of about 1.3 billion. So far 43 countries out of 55 African countries have ratified the continental trade pact.

Sebahizi said that the trading bloc has partnered with the African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) to establish the pan African payment system to facilitate the use of local currencies in intra-Africa trade.

He revealed that piloting for the use of local currencies for trade amongst African countries began with six countries in West Africa.

“The pilot test worked well and in total 20 African countries have made commitments to join the pan African payment system in order to facilitate the use of local currencies,” he added.

Sebahizi observed that use of local currencies for trading will also encourage small and medium size enterprises to engage in intra-Africa trade.

“Most small firms are not familiar with international financial systems that rely on foreign currencies. The use of local currencies for intra-Africa trade will allow small companies to make payments and receive payments in their domestic currencies,” he said.

War hits East Africa

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is hurting the performance of East Africa’s business community due to the rising prices of key commodities, the regional apex lobby said.

John Bosco Kalisa, the chief executive officer of the East African Business Council (EABC), told journalists in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that the crisis has disrupted global supply chains and has been devastating given the substantial amount of products that are imported from the two nations.

“The financial performance of businesses has been negatively affected given that we are net importers of wheat and edible oils from Russia and Ukraine which are key inputs for businesses,” Kalisa said during the EABC-Trade Mark East Africa regional private sector consultative meeting on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA).

He observed that the transmission mechanism of the impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis has manifested in the form of skyrocketing prices of most household and commercial goods.

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“The conflict has also impacted the level of trade, investment flows into the East African region as potential investors adopt a wait and see approach,” he said. He urged governments in the region to implement duty waivers to counter the rising costs of imports.

As a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the EABC is mapping out products from the two countries that can be manufactured or grown locally in order to cushion domestic businesses.

While saying that the conflict has led to the rising cost of basic goods, which means that households have less disposable income to spend on local businesses, Kalisa added that businesses in the region dependent on imports from Russia and Ukraine are seeking alternative sources countries for their imports in order to maintain business continuity.