Abu Dhabi – WAM
The UAE has sent a fifth plane carrying 30.3 tons of foodstuffs to Mekele in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, benefiting more than 7,100 people, including 5,700 women and children.
The plane comes within the direct relief air bridge to meet the increasing needs of the population and work to improve their living conditions by providing assistance of all kinds.
“The UAE always seeks to provide all possible support to enhance the relief response and meet the urgent needs in the Tigray region, especially in such circumstances that require solidarity and cooperation in all its forms,” said Mohammed Salem Al Rashidi, the UAE’s ambassador to Ethiopia.
It is noteworthy that the UAE has sent 9 aircraft carrying 344.2 tons, benefiting more than 81,000 people, including 65,000 women and children. It also pledged, during this year 2022, to provide 85 million US dollars to support relief operations in Ethiopia in cooperation with international organizations.
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Ethiopia
Saqr Ghobash discusses parliamentary relations with Ethiopia and Jordan
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Rabat (Union)
H.E. Saqr Ghobash, Speaker of the Federal National Council, met with H.E. Agegenho Tash’ar, President of the Federal Council of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, on the sidelines of the eleventh conference of the Association of Senates, Shura Councils and Similar Councils in Africa and the Arab World, which concluded yesterday in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.
The meeting witnessed a discussion of ways to enhance bilateral relations and issues of common interest, and to enhance them at various levels, in a manner that reflects the vision and orientations of the leaderships of the two countries and the two friendly peoples on various issues of common concern, in order to achieve the approach of the UAE and its keenness to strengthen communication, cooperation and establish partnerships with various countries and peoples of the world.
The meeting was attended by Maryam bin Thaniah, Sabreen Al Yamahi and Saeed Al Abedi, members of the Federal National Council, Dr. Omar Abdul Rahman Al Nuaimi, Secretary-General of the Council, in addition to the presence of Al Asri Saeed Ahmed Al Dhaheri, UAE Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco.
His Excellency Saqr Ghobash, Speaker of the Federal National Council, met with His Excellency Faisal Al Fayez, Speaker of the Senate of the sisterly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the sidelines of the conference. During the meeting, they discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations of cooperation and issues of common concern at various levels, reflecting the vision and directions of the leaderships of the two countries and two brotherly peoples. .
His Excellency Al Fayez affirmed that Jordan’s leadership, government and people stand with the UAE in the face of any attempts to tamper with its security and stability, indicating that the UAE and the Arab Gulf states in general constitute the strategic depth of Jordan and vice versa, so Jordan is keen to support the UAE in all its positions.
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Saqr Ghobash meets with the Speaker of the Ethiopian Parliament
Friendship Committee group
On the other hand, Dr. Tariq Humaid Al Tayer, Chairman of the Committee on Friendship with the Parliaments of Latin American and North American Countries in the Federal National Council, discussed during his meeting with Edith Graciela Benitez, Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of the Common Market of South America and a member of the Senate of the Republic of Paraguay, ways to enhance parliamentary relations between the Council. Federal National and Senate of Paraguay.
Permanent Committee on Women
The eleventh conference of the Association of Senates, Shura Councils, and Similar Councils in Africa and the Arab World approved the proposal submitted by the UAE Parliamentary Division, related to the establishment of a permanent committee on women. In its final statement, the conference condemned all forms of terrorism that the Arab and African regions are exposed to, and strongly condemned the cross-border attacks launched by the terrorist Houthi group, including the attacks on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia that target civilians and civilian infrastructure, praising Security Council resolution (2624). / 2022) Considering the Houthi group as a “terrorist group” and banning the continued supply of arms to Yemen. The conference renewed its full and unconditional support for Yemen’s unity and territorial sovereignty.
Sudan: Generating electricity from the Renaissance Dam is incompatible with the spirit of cooperation
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Khartoum (agencies)
Sudan condemned all unilateral measures by Ethiopia to launch electricity production at the Renaissance Dam.
On Sunday, Ethiopia officially started producing electricity from the Renaissance Dam, which it is building on the Blue Nile, in what Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed described as “the birth of a new era.”
The official spokesman for the Sudanese negotiating team in this file, Omar Kamel, considered that the measures taken by Ethiopia “contradict the spirit of cooperation and constitute a fundamental breach of Ethiopia’s international legal obligations, as well as what was agreed upon between the three countries in the Declaration of Principles.” “Sudan affirms its position rejecting all unilateral measures regarding filling and operating the dam,” he said.
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The debate scheduled for Sunday followingnoon at the African Union’s annual summit on Israel’s accreditation to the organization as an observer has been “suspended”. If the 55 member countries of the AU are strongly divided on this question, they have on the other hand spoken with the same voice to condemn “unequivocally” the coups d’etat which have occurred recently on the continent.
During its annual summit, the African Union (AU) chose, on Sunday February 6, not to display its dissensions by adjourning the debate on the highly sensitive subject of Israel’s accreditation to the organization as an observer.
A source of heated debate among the 55 member states, the subject was “suspended” and the debate scheduled for Sunday followingnoon postponed, avoiding an unprecedented crisis within the pan-African consensus-building organization.
The decision to accredit Israel, taken in July by Moussa Faki Mahamat, the president of the African Union Commission, divides the organization.
Several Member States, including South Africa and Algeria, were indignant at this, considering that this choice goes once morest the statements of the organization supporting the Palestinian Territories.
A committee will be created
The two countries lobbied to put this topic on the summit agenda. A debate was scheduled for Sunday followingnoon but it was “suspended”, diplomatic sources told AFP. A committee will be created “to study the question”.
This committee will include South Africa and Algeria, but also Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which support Moussa Faki Mahamat’s decision, as well as Cameroon and Nigeria, according to the diplomats interviewed.
This postponement avoids the possibility of a vote which, according to many analysts, might have caused a split unprecedented in the history of the AU, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
In a speech on Saturday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh called on African leaders to withdraw Israel’s accreditation.
Moussa Faki Mahamat had defended his choice and called for a “serene debate”. He assured that the AU’s commitment to the Palestinians’ “quest for independence” was “unchanging and can only continue to grow stronger”. But the accreditation of Israel can constitute, according to him, “an instrument at the service of peace”.
Coups condemned “unequivocally”
African leaders, on the other hand, spoke with one voice in “unequivocally” condemning the recent “wave” of coups on the continent.
The putsches that have rocked the continent in the past year – the last in Burkina Faso, two weeks ago – was an inevitable topic for the AU’s annual summit.
>> To see: “At the summit of the African Union, Macky Sall castigates the coups in West Africa”
During the meeting of the Peace and Security Council, “every African leader in the assembly condemned unequivocally (…) the wave of unconstitutional changes of government”, said its leader, Bankole Adeoye. The AU “will not tolerate any military coup in any form”, he added, recalling that all countries that have experienced putsches have been suspended.
“At no time in the history of the African Union have we had four countries suspended in 12 months: Mali, Guinea, the Sudan and Burkina Faso,” he added.
In a speech delivered on Saturday, Moussa Faki Mahamat also spoke of the “disastrous wave” of coups and underlined “known causal links” with terrorism.
>> To read also: “Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso … the temptation of the coup in West Africa”
AU’s delicate position on the conflict in Tigray
It is unclear whether the summit, most of whose sessions were held behind closed doors, addressed the issue of the war raging in the host country.
Northern Ethiopia has been ravaged for 15 months by a conflict between pro-government forces and rebels of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has left thousands dead and, according to the UN, led hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of starvation.
Bankole Adeoye assured that “all conflict situations were on the summit’s agenda”.
The AU, whose headquarters are in the Ethiopian capital, finds itself in a particularly delicate position on this conflict. Moussa Faki Mahamat waited until last August – nine months following the start of the fighting – to appoint former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as special envoy to secure a ceasefire.
Ethiopia also continued to sit on the AU Peace and Security Council during the conflict. However, she was not reappointed this week for a new term, diplomats said.
Bankole Adeoye said on Sunday it was “not true” that the AU was slow to react. “It was impossible for the AU not to get involved in such a situation, precisely given its situation in Ethiopia,” he said, stressing the role of “quiet diplomacy, shuttle diplomacy, which cannot generally not be reported”.
Olusegun Obasanjo is due to visit the war-affected areas this week, he said.
With AFP