Human Rights & Public Liberties

Human Rights & Public Liberties

Newsletter
Published on: 13 Jan, 2021

The IGAD & The Humanitarian Issues

Published on: 20 December, 2020

Heads of State from the East African regional bloc IGAD meet in Djibouti today, Sunday, for an emergency summit to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

Hundreds have been killed and around 1M displaced since Addis began an offensive against Tigrayan forces on November 4.

The UN is struggling to get aid into the region, despite an agreement with the government in Addis Ababa to provide access.

More than 50,000 refugees have crossed into Sudan, and Sudanese and Ethiopian forces clashed inside Sudanese territory TUES, leaving four Sudanese soldiers dead.

IGAD’s current chair, Sudanese PM Abdalla Hamdok, met Ethiopia’s PM Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa on December 14.

Abiy has previously rejected Hamdok’s plea for negotiations.

Kenya’s stand-off with Somalia is also on the IGAD agenda. Somalia this week severed diplomatic ties with Kenya, expelling Kenyan diplomats and recalling its own.

The federal government in Mogadishu accuses Kenya of meddling in its business.

The two are allies in the struggle against armed group Al Shabab but have a long history of frosty relations.

IGAD – the Intergovernmental Authority on Development – has eight members: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea,

Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda.