by Martin Plaut

February 9

Author

1.    Martin Plaut

Senior Research Fellow, Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study

Source: The Conversation

A squadron of UAE Mirage fighter planes such as this one at the Dubai Airshow are stationed in Eritrea for Yemeni operations. Reuters/Caren Firouz

Relations between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula go back centuries, with trade playing a key component in binding their people together. Religion has also played a part. The expansion of Wahhabism – the interpretation of Islam propagated by Saudi Arabia – has been funded by the massive oil wealth of the kingdom.

Mosques, Koranic schools and Imams have been provided with support over many years. Gradually this authoritarian form of Islam began to take hold in the Horn. While some embraced it, others didn’t.

Somalia is an example. While most Somalis practised a moderate form of Suffi Islam, the Islamic fundamentalists of al-Shabaab didn’t. Soon after taking control of parts of central and southern Somalia in 2009 they began imposing a much more severe form of the faith. Mosques were destroyed and the shrines of revered Suffi leaders were desecrated.

The export of faith has been followed by arms. Today the Saudis and their allies in the United Arab Emirates are exerting increasing military influence in the region.

But Saudi Arabia and other Arabian gulf states aren’t the only Muslim countries that have sought influence in the region. Iran, for example, has also been an active player. In the case of Eritrea, a struggle for influence between Riyadh and Tehran has played out over the past few years. This has also been true in neighbouring Somaliland and the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland.

These are troubled times in the Horn of Africa. The instability that’s resulted from Islamic fundamentalism, of which al-Shabaab are the best known proponents, have left the region open to outside influences. The French have traditionally had a base in Djibouti, but they have now been joined by the Americans and the Chinese.

The growing Arab military, political and religious influence is only the latest example of an external force taking hold in the region.

New powerful forces in the region

The Eritreans had been close to Iran and supported their Houthi allies in the Yemeni conflict. This was of deep concern to the Saudis, who are locked in conflict with Tehran. This is a battle for influence that pits Iranian Shias against Saudi Sunnis. Eritrea is just one of the fields on which it’s being played out.

As a US cable leaked to Wikileaks put it in 2010,

The Saudi ambassador to Eritrea is concerned about Iranian influence, says Iran has supplied materiel to the Eritrean navy, and recently ran into an Iranian delegation visiting Asmara. He claims Yemeni Houthi rebels were present in Eritrea in 2009 (but is not sure if they still are), and reported that the Isaias regime this week arrested six Eritrean employees of the Saudi embassy.

Since then Eritrea has switched sides. Eritrean President, Isaias Afwerki paid a state visit to Saudi Arabia in April 2015. Not long afterwards Eritrea signed a 30-year lease on the port of Assab with the Saudis and their allies in the Emirates. The port has become a base from which to prosecute the war in Yemen. The United Nations reported that 400 Eritrean troops were now in Yemen supporting the Saudi alliance.

The United Arab Emirates has constructed a major base in Assab – complete with tanks, helicopters and barracks. In November 2016 it was reported that a squadron of nine UAE Mirage fighter planes were deployed to Eritrea from where they could attack Houthi targets on the other side of the Red Sea. In return the Gulf states agreed to modernise Asmara International Airport, increase fuel supplies to Eritrea and provide President Isaias with further funding.

Since then the United Arab Emirates has announced its intention to increase its military presence in the Horn. In January it signed an agreement to manage the Somaliland port of Berbera for 30 years. It also sought permission to have a naval base, Somaliland foreign minister Sa’ad Ali Shire told reporters.

It’s true that the United Arab Emirates has submitted a formal request seeking permission to open a military base in Somaliland

The UAE are also active in the neighbouring Puntland. They have been paying for and training anti-piracy forces for years, while also financing and training its intelligence services.

They are a powerful force in the region, projecting an Arab influence as far as Madagascar and the Seychelles. It’s not surprising that the United Arab Emirates was labelled “Little Sparta” by General James Mattis – now President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defence.

Ethiopian concerns

These are worrying times for the Ethiopian foreign ministry. Once the dominant force in the region, its influence over the Horn is now in question.

To its north the Eritreans remain implacable foes, as they have been since the border war of 1998-2000 that left these neighbours in a cold no-war, no-peace confrontation.

Addis Ababa is concerned that Eritrea’s hand has become stronger in recent years. Its mining sector is looking increasingly attractive with Canadian based firms now joined by Australian and Chinese companies.

Asmara’s role in the ongoing war in Yemen has allowed Eritrea to escape diplomatic isolation. The government in Asmara is now benefiting from funds and weapons, despite UN sanctions designed to prevent this from taking place.

To Ethiopia’s west lies Sudan, which is also now involved in the war in Yemen, providing troops to the Saudi and United Arab Emirates backed government. These ties are said to have been cemented after the Saudis pumped a billion dollars into the Sudanese central bank. In return the Sudanese turned their backs on their former Iranian allies.

To Ethiopia’s east the situation in Somalia is also of concern. No Ethiopian minister can forget the invasion of the Ogaden under President Siad Barre in 1977, when Somalia attempted to re-capture the lands lost to their neighbours during the expansionist policies of Emperor Menelik II in the nineteenth century. Siad Barre may be long gone but Ethiopian policy since the invasion has been to keep Somalia as weak and fragmented as possible.

Ethiopia has intervened repeatedly in Somalia to hold al-Shabaab at bay as well as to maintain the security of its eastern region. Addis Ababa’s policy of encouraging the inherent fragmentary tendencies of the Somalis has paid dividends: the country is now a federation of states and regions. Some of these only nominally recognise the authority of the government in Mogadishu. Somaliland, in the north is close to being recognised as an independent nation. Others, like Jubaland along the Kenyan border, are under Nairobi’s influence.

January 8, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Sunday said it has intercepted the smuggling of 1500 illegal migrants on the Sudanese-Libyan border during the last seven months.

SRF field commander Mohamed Hamdan (Hametti) speaks in a press conference in Khartoum on Wednesday May 14, 2014 (ST)

Sudan is considered as a country of origin and transit for the illegal migration and human trafficking. Thousands of people from Eritrea and Ethiopia are monthly crossing the border into the Sudanese territories on their way to Europe through Libya or Egypt.

In June 2016, hundreds of RSF elements have been deployed in the remote desert of the Northern State shortly after complaint by the governor of drug and human trafficking by the criminal networks.

On Sunday, 115 illegal immigrants captured by the SRF at Sudan’s northern border have arrived in Khartoum.

Speaking at a press conference in Khartoum Sunday, SRF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo, (aka Hametti), said the victims would be handed over to the Ministry of Interior.

He pointed that Sudan is amongst countries who fight ruthlessly against human trafficking, illegal migration, arms smuggling and terrorism, saying the SRF troops were deployed along the borders with all neighboring countries.

Dagolo added that the SRF is making large efforts to combat human trafficking and illegal migration especially as the operations are being conducted in rough terrain within the desert, saying several of his men were killed and injured during these operations.

He demanded the international community to lift the sanctions imposed on Sudan in order to allow it to combat human trafficking, pointing to the adverse impact of sanctions on all segments of the Sudanese society.

Sudan has been under US economic sanctions since 1997 and remains on the US list of state sponsors of terror.

Washington admitted Sudan’s cooperation in the anti-terror war but now points that it wouldn’t remove Sudan from the list of states sponsor of terrorism or left economic sanctions before the end of armed conflicts in Darfur region and Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

Last year, the European Union granted a €100m development package to address the root causes of irregular migration in Sudan. The financial support came after pledge by the Sudanese government to cooperate with Brussels to stop human trafficking to Europe.

In January 2014, the Sudanese parliament approved an anti-human trafficking law which punishes those involved with human trafficking with up to 20 years imprisonment.

The RSF, which is widely known as the Janjaweed militias, were originally mobilized by the Sudanese government to quell the insurgency that broke out in Sudan’s western region of Darfur in 2003.

The militia was reactivated and restructured again in August 2013 under the command of NISS to fight the alliance of rebel groups from Darfur region, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states following joint attacks in North and South Kordofan in April 2013.

Source=http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article61334

Eritrean women taking a photo in Ramat Gan. FLASH 90 PHOTO

From 2009 to the end of September 2016, 1,856 Eritreans made refugee claims in Canada, but in recent months, a small number of them made those claims after travelling here from Israel.

JIAS (Jewish Immigrant Aid Services) Toronto has helped facilitate the immigration of a small number of the refugees, who are coming under private sponsorships. Lia Kisel, language and settlement director at JIAS, said that as a sponsorship agreement holder, JIAS has received government approval to sponsor refugees and provide settlement services once they are in Canada.

“We have submitted applications for a couple of Eritrean families currently in Israel, as well as for other Eritrean and Ethiopian families not in Israel,” she said. “These families have been referred to our agency by NGOs in Canada and overseas.”

READ: JIAS CAN’T HELP REFUGEES UNLESS CANADA ISSUES EMERGENCY DIRECTIVE 

Kisel said the Eritreans are considered refugees from Eritrea, not Israel, as they retain refugee status, even though they found safety in Israel. “Refugees retain their status when a durable solution, such as being able to successfully settle and integrate, is not found in their countries of residence.”

Daniel Schild was on a recent El Al flight from Israel to Canada with a sizable group of Eritreans on board. He struck up a conversation with one family.

“The father was dressed in his best, a sports jacket with unfortunately a bad tear in the seam and a red bow tie. The mother was seated one row back. Her hair was beautifully braided and their toddler daughter – clearly born in Israel – also had cute braids. The father told me he has lived in Israel for seven years and communicated with the little girl exclusively in Hebrew. He told me that they began their application to come to Canada 18 months ago and suggested that they had people he knew in Canada but was very vague as to whom,” Schild said.

“The family was destined for Edmonton, and [another family] told me they were going to Regina. They had a precocious toddler son. They called him what sounded like Moshe, but spoke to him in their native tongue,” he added.

“I told them that except for the weather, Canada was the best country in the world, and I definitely felt a feeling of happiness mixed with uncertainty coming from them.”

According to Canadian government statistics, 383 Eritreans made refugee claims from January to September 2016, up from 290 in all of 2015.

READ: HUNDREDS OF JEWS FORM ‘RINGS OF PEACE’ AT TORONTO MOSQUES

Eritrea, located in east Africa, is an oppressive dictatorship that has imposed indefinite military service, denies basic freedom and which routinely tortures dissidents. Thousands of Eritreans have fled the country, and many have tried to make their way to Europe through Libya. Over the years, some reached Israel via Sudan and Egypt. In Sinai, they risked kidnapping by Bedouins who held them for ransom, routinely torturing and raping their victims.

In 2013, Israel completed a 140-mile- long fence on its Sinai border to prevent what the government termed “infiltrators” from entering the country.

According to Israeli data, as of June 2016, there were 42,147 asylum-seekers in the country, including 31,000 from Eritrea and more than 8,000 from Sudan. Israel has granted them “temporary group protection.” Although they’re in Israel legally, only four out of 2,408 applicants were granted refugee status, or 0.4 per cent. In Canada in 2016, the acceptance rate was 82 per cent.

Eritreans have become a polarizing issue in Israel. Some argue that given Jews’ experience as refugees, Israel should be more welcoming. Others say some could pose a security risk and they contribute to crime, and without entry limits, they’d pose a demographic challenge.

They’ve been offered $3,500 and a ticket to a third country that will accept them. More than 6,000 Eritreans have left Israel, most of them to third countries like Uganda and Rwanda, with which Israel has secret agreements. However, some reports indicate they’re not safe in those countries.

A spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said Canada and Israel have no specific agreements to resettle refugees from Eritrea via Israel. In 2016, almost all those Canada resettled fell under the private sponsorship program.

Source=http://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/jias-facilitating-immigration-eritrea-refugees-via-israel

by Martin Plaut

Today (Wednesday) the UN Security Council will be warned that European plans to hold refugees in Australian style off-shore detention centres could leave asylum seekers in real danger.

At their summit in Malta last Friday Europe's leaders issued a statement saying that they are “seeking to ensure adequate reception capacities and conditions in Libya for migrants, together with the UNHCR and IOM.”

But holding refugees in Libyan detention centres would leave them vulnerable to what the UN warned are "unimaginable" abuses including sexual violence and torture.

The European plan would mean working closely with the Libyan coastguards, who are accused of being complict in these abuses (see below).

The Security Council has been sent a statement by  Zainab Bangura, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, warning about the situation faced by migrants face sexual violence in Libya's official and unofficial detention centres.

Libyan coastguards collaborate in "unimaginable" human rights abuses

Ms Bangura warned that the detention centres were places in which the Islamist group, ISIL inflicted “systematic sexual violence”on those who are held.

This reflects the findings of last December's UN report which citied “unimaginable” human rights violations and abuses of migrants in Libyan detention centres.

Below is a UN summary of the report, which can be read in full here.

The report, published jointly by UNSMIL and the UN Human Rights Office, is based on information gathered in Libya and from interviews with migrants who had arrived in Italy from Libya, among other sources.

Migrants are held in detention centres mostly run by the Department for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM), where there is “no formal registration, no legal process, and no access to lawyers or judicial authorities,” the report states.

Places of detention are severely overcrowded, with insufficient food and clean water. With no access to toilets, detainees are often forced to defecate and urinate in their cells. Malnutrition, acute diarrhoea, respiratory problems and infectious diseases, including scabies and chickenpox, are common.

Smugglers and traffickers also hold migrants in “connection houses”, on farms and in warehouses and apartments, where they are forced to work to earn money for their onward transport.

“We are called animals and are treated as animals,” a 16-year-old boy from Eritrea told UNSMIL. “They beat us with what falls into their hands…it can be a rock, a stick, a brick,” a child migrant interviewed in Italy said.

The report also notes that DCIM and the Libyan Coast Guard are subject to pressure from the armed groups that have proliferated since 2011.  UNSMIL has received reports that some State employees and local officials have participated in the smuggling and trafficking process.

The report also details accounts of armed men, allegedly from the Libyan Coast Guard, intercepting migrant boats and abusing migrants. Migrants brought back to shore describe being beaten, robbed and taken to detention centres.

“Libya must acknowledge that migrants are being abused,” said Mr. Kobler. “But addressing migration is not only Libya’s responsibility. Countries of origin and destination beyond Libya also need to play their part.” He added: “I welcome the life-saving efforts currently being made by many in the Mediterranean.”

Among the report’s recommendations to Libya are:  immediately release the most vulnerable migrants, with a view to urgently ending all arbitrary detentions; reduce the number of detention centres; ensure women are held separately from men; improve conditions of detention and protect detainees from torture and all other forms of abuse; and, in the medium-term, decriminalize irregular migration and adopt an asylum law.

The report also recommends that countries of destination beyond Libya continue search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. Training and support for Libyan institutions that engage with migrants, including the Libyan Coast Guard, should be accompanied by comprehensive efforts to stop arbitrary detention of migrants and improve their treatment in detention.

“These are people who, for a range of reasons, feel compelled to leave their own countries and embark on these desperate and precarious journeys. The report lays bare the suffering endured by these migrants who have experienced unimaginable abuse and, in some cases, fallen victim to the despicable trade in human lives,” said High Commissioner Zeid.

“The report serves to deepen our compassion and strengthen our resolve that the rights of migrants should be fully protected and respected, whatever their status.” 

by Martin Plaut

It’s that time of the year again. The Eritrean military has issued its annual demand that civilians go on refresher courses as part of their training in the reserve militia, known as the 4^th division.

This force consists of people who were exempted from indefinite National Service for a variety of reasons.

Posters have gone up around Asmara.

The one above, from Geza banda, was photographed by the Freedom Friday (Arbi Harnet) resistance network. It calls for women of the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd battalions, previously considered unfit for duty because of their health, to enlist in the training.

So too are retired pensioners. All are told to report to the military training centre by Monday 1^st of February at 6pm.

But its just not happening.

According to reports this weekend the number of people who reported is far lower than anticipated by the authorities.

This is particularly true in the case of women. So the authorities to extended the deadline for reporting by a week, while circulating warnings that anyone who does not report will lose their government coupons for buying essential goods in government shops.

People in rural areas are particularly bitter about these annual calls since they coincide with the harvest season. Farmers busy bringing in their crops resent losing their harvest while they undertake military refresher courses.

Overflowing jails

Meanwhile, its reported that Eritrean prisons are so overcrowded that they have had to implement a shift system to cope with the unprecedented numbers of prisoners.

This is particularly true of Adi Abeto military prison on the outskirts of Asmara. Prison governors have decided to send some prisoners home for three days in a week.

As a result some serve their sentence at the start of the week and others in the second half of the week.

Many observers are saddened by the fact that at the time when countries in the region are registering unprecedented economic growth the regime in Eritrea seems to focus on imprisoning an unprecedented number of its citizens.

According to sources inside Asmara, January 2017 saw a sharp rise in the number of middle level officials who are being jailed in various ministries, as well as the arrest of officers in the police and army. High ranking officials and officers have not been included.

Those arrested have been accused of passing information to opposition forces outside the country or that they are conducting an ‘unclear’ mobilisation. Police and prison officers who have also been incarcerated are accused of ‘corruption’.