Politics

“People ‘killed like chickens’ as ethnic tensions continue in Africa’s second most populous country”, the Guardian, June 19, 2022.

I had hoped that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will have the courage, wisdom, moral aptitude, and competence to transition Ethiopia from ethnic maladministration to that of representative governance underpinned by the rule of law and buffeted by strong national institutions. 

The last head of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, the idealistic leader who accepted the end of communism, arrived in Berlin in November 1999 on a private visit to mark the 10^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In one of the speeches he gave at the occasion, Gorbachev’s voice was full of sadness.

Our brothers and sisters of the Republic of Kenya go to the polls in three months’ time on August 9, which coincides with the birthday of the mother of my son Matthew Acemah. In anticipation of the victory of my preferred presidential candidate in Kenya’s elections, I have purchased t two bottles of vintage champagne to celebrate two events on that momentous day.

On April 26, 2022, unknown terrorists or some anti-Ethiopia entity bombed and killed at least 20 people in the ancient city of Gondar and caused outrage. This is a city I love. This is the city where I attended high school. I remember this ancient city as a hub of diversity. Jews, Christians, and Muslims respected, acknowledged one another, and lived side by side peacefully for centuries. Most modern enterprises were owned by non-Gondaries.

Upon initiating debates about Swedish NATO membership, skepticism spread. In Sweden, we had just got a new government and a new Prime Minister, and the omicron variant of COVID-19 threatened Christmas celebrations. Four weeks later on January 1^st, 2022, Foreign Minister Ann Linde responded in a parliamentary debate by reiterating previous positions on dialogue with the population within the Social Democrats party. She also talked about opportunities for in-depth cooperation with NATO debates. Well, the NATO issue is now being debated extensively within the Swedish Social Democratic Party, at dinner tables and intensively throughout the country.

I had argued that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s repeated reference and attribution to and use of the historically flawed geopolitical and regional boundary term “Western Tigray”. Such a narrative is a “de-facto” recognition of the contested claim of the right by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to incorporate forcibly annexed Amhara lands into Greater Tigray. Tragically for Ethiopia, this policy will reinforce violence and cause more bloodshed.

In Uganda, there have been widespread allegations of arbitrary detention and torture of members of the opposition. As a human rights expert who has been monitoring  the situation, it is imperative that I share my insights into domestic laws and what they say in relation to detention of civilians by security forces in Uganda.

On March 4, 2022, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board was briefed on “the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, and on possible fast-tracked financial assistance for affected countries.” There is no doubt that costs to human life and the damage to the economy in Ukraine are massive. More than two million Ukrainians have fled their homeland. Equally important is the effect of the underappreciated, and unprecedented coordinated sanctions on Russia by the West.