PRESS STATEMENT
DATED AND ISSUED ON THE 21ST DAY OF MARCH 2021
CIVIL SOCIETY REFERENCE GROUP CALLS ON THE GOVERNMENT OF KENYA TO MAKE FULL USE OF ITS CURRENT POSITIONS AS CHAIR OF THE AFRICAN UNION PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL, THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY AND NON-PERMANENT MEMBERSHIP OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO MOBILIZE SUPPORT AND INTERVENE IN THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA AND THE TIGRAY PEOPLE’S LIBERATION FRONT
The Civil Society Reference Groups (CSRG) calls on H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta to utilize Kenya’s current positions as the Chairperson of the Peace and Security of the African Union, the East African Community and non-permanent member of the UN Peace and Security Council to mobilize support across the region and the world and intervene in the raging conflict between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and its State of Tigray that has been ongoing since November 2020.
It does not always happen that a country finds herself occupying such an advantageous position as Kenya in the geopolitical landscape yet Kenya is yet to flex her muscle and be seen to be intervening in the crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray that has now sucked in neighbouring Eritrea and Sudan.
Like the internal war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in which neighbouring countries like Uganda and Rwanda found themselves drawn into, what started as internal conflict in the Tigray State between the regional Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Federal Government of Ethiopia seems to have already drawn in Eritrea, with the Sudan also steadily staking a claim in a disputed border point with Ethiopia.
Already, the conflict has led to loss of life and limb, with thousands displaced and social amenities like schools and hospitals reportedly vandalized and rendered derelict.
The war is also incurring its toll on Kenya. With the Federal Government of Ethiopia distracted by the conflict, and unable to sustain its watch over the Al-Shabaab as one of the countries that contributed soldiers to AMISOM, Kenya is likely to experience more incursions of the ragtag militia group along its shared border with Somalia.
Persistent migration of swarms of locusts to Kenya from Ethiopia is another indication that the Federal Government of Ethiopia could be paying too much attention to the internal conflict with the Tigray State at the expense of investing in joint efforts to eradicate the plague.
Had Ethiopia been doing its part to interrupt the life cycle of the locusts, the outbreak in Kenya would not have been as voracious and persistent as it seems to be. But because the country is distracted by the internal conflict, Kenya will continue to experience persistent waves of locust invasion.
The threat of the worst ever locust invasion in 70 years to peace and security in Kenya and indeed the entire East and Horn of Africa Region is already being felt in the internecine conflicts over grazing land and water between Isiolo and Wajir and other neighbouring counties of Marsabit, Mandera and Garissa.
The situation has been exacerbated by the effects of climate change that has made weather patterns so unpredictable for the pastoralist communities that unless the conflict in Tigray is stopped and all the countries affected by the menace pay undivided attention to the plague, the ensuing drought and famine will not only decimate livestock as the primary source of livelihood for local communities but become a threat to human life as well.
The humanitarian and human rights crisis that the conflict in the Tigray region continues to cause is unacceptable, and those charged with leadership positions and the responsibility to address them like Kenya can no longer pander to the outdated policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of a member State to the African Union.
Addis Ababa is the seat of the African Union, and as such owes it to Africa to lead by example and avoid fanning conflict with such humanitarian consequences and human rights violations as reports from the conflict seem to show.
As an umbrella organization of local, national and international civil society formations in Kenya that believes in and champions for the right to freedoms of association, assembly and expression, the CSRG, therefore, calls on Kenya to rise up to the occasion based on its positions of responsibility in the East African region, in Africa and globally at the UN Peace and Security Council and not only intervene but be seen to be intervening in the conflict pitting the Federal Government of Ethiopia and its Tigray State.
Everything that ought to be done to stop the conflict in Tigray, including the possibility of imposing sanctions on the two warring parties so that they do not continue to access the arms being used to main in the military combat, killing in the process innocent civilians.
Signed by:
Suba Churchill
Presiding Convener
Civil Society Reference Group
Believe me, soon you will see a swarm of comments from sick and disturbed Amharas, crying sovereignty, sovereignty, interference, etc. These people are so sick, that the enjoy the death, rape and all other types of inhuman atrocities on their own cousins the Tigrians. They have become inhumanised and sadists.
A self serving call for the corrupt Kilimanjaro Mafia to come to the rescue of Ethiopia’s internal conflict is only a gimmick intended to whitewash the image of the mafiosos in Nairobi. The Crisis Group could have done better if it had placed its priorities on the home front instead of peddling a cheap propaganda junk to help coverup the activities of the criminal bands in Kenya. But that would be a tall call to expect from the intelectual parasites who chose western tinted glasses and betrayed the continent in droves and succeeded in transforming it into a living hell unseen even during the colonial years. For now, let this so-called Crisis Group learn how to manage its own internal crises and refrain from this healthier-than-thow scam and leave it to the A.U., the E.U., and the U.N. to intervene and bring about some resolution to the unfortunate crisis in Ethiopia. The African nightmare has no end and pretty soon multiple crises will be ushered to celebrate the death and mayhem that the zombie “Presidents for Life “ have never failed in providing the “African Sadistic Show” to the world on a timely fashion. “Cry Freedom”?
“and leave it to the A.U., the E.U., and the U.N. to intervene and bring about some resolution to the unfortunate crisis in Ethiopia”.
Sensible suggestion. Been tried repeatedly though ( for the last four months ). In the spirit of the sensible suggestion of yours, I add ‘ Let the obstacle ( Abiy ) be removed so peace reigns in our Ethiopia and the rest of the East African Arena ‘.
Don’t you agree?
Certainly! The delusional king-wanna-be psychopath should be be removed from any position of political power by any means necessary before the total disintegration of the country. By the same token, the scum bugs and brigands that formed the core leadership of the TPLF who designed and set the crises in motion should be referred to the International Criminal Court for the crimes they have committed during their reign of terror that lasted for 27 years. The “Amara” elitist and their foot soldiers should better take note and learn from their past destructive history and refrain from their old and self defeating “ZERAF-ZERAF” mantra. Their empty efforts to be a dominant force in the body politics of president day Ethiopia is a pipe dream. Peace!
To bring all scum bugs responsible for this mess to a court of law, let us stop the war and come all at a reconciliation democratic round table. Agreed?
Kenya has much more at stack than described above in the on-going unjust war waged by puppet Abiy and his strings holders – the so-called Amara elites on Tigre region.
As is well known, Kenya has addressed very well the inequality that existed in the north district frontier ( NFD – English colonial period name ). The Somali ethnicities that are indigenous there live in harmony with their other brothern Kenyans now. These is an achievement the Kenyan gov’t realized after spending long time good policy and lots of the national-wealth and it is applauded by all democratic people of the world. These is a huge step forward for all the world, particularly in the volatile East Africa Arena where it sets an example to follow and and should be incouraged and continued.
On the other hand what Abiy and his cronies ( Isias and the Amhara militia ) are doing here is an opposite of what Kenya has done! It is a disintegration of a country – Ethiopia – for the sole purpose of making one ethnicity (Amara) the superior of all; an ethnicity that colonized the rest of Ethiopians for hundreds of years; an ethnicity that chose to have a common amnesia about the past; an ethnicity that is using the full power of the knowledge and related accumulated vast wealth resulting from the vast educational opportunities ( endowed by the western countries for all Ethiopians ) they usurped for a very long time!
Ethiopian-Somalis – kins of the Kenyan Somalis – were among the long marginalized peoples of Ethiopia. They got their first status as equal Ethiopians during the reign of TPLF led rule. Their common desire now is to correct and improve the federal status – with the tons of short comings – they gained then and live with their other Ethiopian brotherns in peace and harmony in a UNITED FEDERAL ETHIOPIA!
Abiy wants other wise. He is moving earth and sky to return all past marginalized people, including the Somali-Ethiopians, to their prior colonization.
In spite of the huge military force and the honed divide and rule tactics ( Somali tribalism ) used by those he put in power, the Somali-Ethiopians will never accept to lose the glimpse of the freedom they gained - at the cost of their existance. Hence, no argument about the instability in this region too!
And no argument about the negative effects effect this instability will have on the Somali-Kenyans – the father or the offspring of the Somali-Ethiopian!
The on-going unjust war in Ethiopia is a key ingredient for Kenya’s’ security and well being. I am sure, guys at the helm of Kenya gov’t see matters as such and will act accordingly.
A Somali Ethiopian
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