Day: February 19, 2023

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — The African Union insisted Sunday it had a “zero tolerance” policy toward unconstitutional change as it maintained its suspension of four military-ruled countries.

The Sahel states of Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali as well as Sudan were sanctioned by the Pan-African body after coups in recent years, but the AU said Sunday it was ready to help them return to democratic rule.

“The assembly reaffirmed zero tolerance against unconstitutional change (of government),” said the AU’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Bankole Adeoye.

“The Commission is ready to support these member states to return to constitutional order, the idea is that democracy must take root and must be promoted and protected,” he told a news conference on the final day of the weekend AU summit in Addis Ababa.

“It is necessary to reemphasize that the AU remains intolerant to any undemocratic means to political power,” he added.

The regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc also said it has maintained sanctions on the three Sahel countries.

West African leaders met on the sidelines of the AU summit to review the measures and discuss the progress in restoring civilian rule in the three states.

“The Authority of Heads of State and Governments decided to maintain the existing sanctions on all three countries,” the bloc said in a statement signed Saturday but shared on Sunday.

ECOWAS has also decided to impose travel bans on government officials and senior leaders in those countries, it added.

Sanctions in spotlight

Fearing contagion in a region notorious for military takeovers, ECOWAS imposed tough trade and economic sanctions against Mali, but lesser punishments against Guinea and Burkina Faso.

All three countries are under pressure by ECOWAS to return swiftly to civilian rule by 2024 for Mali and Burkina and a year later for Guinea.

Juntas seized power in Mali and Burkina Faso amid anger at the military over the toll from a jihadi insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and forced millions from their homes.

The coup in Guinea had different causes, being rooted in public anger against then President Alpha Conde over a lurch toward authoritarianism.

Sudan has been gripped by deepening political and economic turmoil since the coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in 2021 that derailed a short-lived transition to civilian rule following the ouster of Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

In an address to the summit Saturday, AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said the Pan-African bloc needed to look at new strategies to counter the backsliding of democracy.

“Sanctions imposed on member states following unconstitutional changes of government… do not seem to produce the expected results,” he said.

“It seems necessary to reconsider the system of resistance to the unconstitutional changes in order to make it more effective.”

Source: Voice of America

ADDIS ABABA, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday said multiple inter-linked challenges are confronting the world with Africa facing major challenges.

“I recently addressed the UN General Assembly on the multiple, inter-linked challenges confronting our world – greater than any in our lifetimes,” Guterres said while addressing the 36th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Summit on Saturday in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

Guterres said the dysfunctional and unfair global financial system that is failing developing countries and the deep inequalities as well as the less availability of resources to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic were among the major challenges to Africa.

He said a cost-of-living crisis – exacerbated by the consequences of the Ukraine crisis and climate chaos, is putting communities and lives at risk and displacing millions.

Guterres stressed the need for developing nations to have a far greater voice in global institutions including the UN Security Council. “They (developing nations) should have a far greater voice in global institutions – including financial institutions. The Security Council, the Bretton Woods system are typical examples where Africa is dramatically under-represented.”

According to Guterres, multilateral development banks should transform their business model and accept a new approach to attract greater flows of private capital into the African continent.

Guterres said even though African countries are least responsible for ongoing climate crises, the people on the continent are feeling the most devastating impacts of climate change. “The brutal injustice of climate change is on full display with every flood, drought, famine and heat wave endured on this continent,” he said.

Source: Nam News Network

KHARTOUM — The head of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group accused of widespread human rights abuses, said on Sunday he was committed to intergrating the force into a reformed national armed forces.

RSF commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, joined Sudan’s leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in a coup in 2021 that ended a ruling partnership between the military and pro-democracy groups and plunged the country into political and economic turmoil.

The RSF is Sudan’s largest paramilitary group. It emerged from the “janjaweed” militias accused of atrocities during the early 2000s conflict in Darfur.

They are also accused by human rights groups of killing scores of protesters since the military overthrow of Omar al-Bashir in 2019. Dagalo, who is known as Hemedti, has denied most of these claims, blaming infiltrators, while allowing the prosecution of some soldiers.

Pro-democracy groups and army leaders have called for the RSF to be integrated into the main military and for the formation of a single army.

The military leadership has reached an initial agreement with political groups, with discussions going on to formalise a new political settlement and create a new government.

But in a speech on Thursday, Burhan said the army would only support the deal as long as it provided for the integration of the RSF.

On Sunday, Dagalo defended the RSF’s legitimacy.

“We are committed to the principle of a single military formed according to agreed upon timelines, and we are sincerely committed to being involved in security and military reform,” he said in a speech.

The framework agreement, signed in December, recognises the RSF as a force alongside the military, police, and general intelligence. It assigns the head of state as its highest commander and also calls for its integration.

“The Sudanese military is a historic institution, and it will not be captured by any party,” Dagalo said. “We are part of it and we will not spare any effort to defend it from anyone who abuses or belittles it.”

He also warned against any interference by Islamists who lost control of the country in 2019 with the overthrow of Bashir.

Source: Voice of America