Investors are spooked. The country’s $1 billion of Eurobonds maturing in 2024 have declined 4% this month. A gauge tracking developing-nation dollar-denominated debt rose 2% in the month through Tuesday.
Category: Resource
REGIONAL ECONOMIC OUTLOOK SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 2020 OCT INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND A Difficult Road to Recovery
Ethiopia’s economic growth predicted prior to the war by the IMF for the year 2021 was at 0% per chart in report on page 29
The Conversation: Nobel peace prize: hunger is a weapon of war but the World Food Programme can’t build peace on its own
By awarding the 2020 Nobel peace prize to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), the Nobel committee said that it wanted to “turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger”. Among its reasons for awarding the prize were WFP’s “efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict”.
Hunger has been used as a weapon of war for many years, but the issue has recently risen to prominence because of the increased risk of mass starvation in today’s conflicts.
SCIRP: Survival after Sexual Violence and Genocide: Trauma and Healing for Yazidi Women in Northern Iraq: Survival after Sexual Violence and Genocide: Trauma and Healing for Yazidi Women in Northern Iraq
In August 2014, the Yazidi community of Sinjar, in the Nineveh Governorate of Northern Iraq, was brutally targeted by the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for annihilation through murder, torture, and the systematic and premeditated use of rape and sexual slavery of Yazidi women. In 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that ISIS was committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against Yazidis. Methods: Using current international literature, which includes reviews, qualitative interviews of survivors, and reports from medical and humanitarian actors, this paper explores the short and potentially long-term physical and mental health consequences of the extreme physical and sexual violence and atrocities perpetrated against Yazidi women. Results: Yazidi women survivors of kidnapping, sex slavery, and rape experienced significant levels of physical ailments, chronic pain, and mental health conditions. All women reported feelings of guilt, stress, insomnia, and severe flashbacks. The incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ranged from 42% to 90%. Sixty-seven percent suffered from a somatoform disorder, 53% had depression, 39% experienced anxiety, and 28% suffered from dissociation. Conclusions: Sexual violence against women is a common tool systematically employed during wars and genocide. In recent ISIS attacks, intentional perpetration of mass rapes of women and execution of men was a strategy to destroy an entire population. PTSD and depression are common after traumatic stress. For disaster responders and humanitarian workers, training and education to understand, try to prevent, and plan for interventions when gender-based violence and sexual exploitation occurs must become a mandatory part of emergency preparedness.
Is Ethiopia sliding backwards under Abiy Ahmed?
Lencho Bati, an adviser to the office of the Ethiopian prime minister is asked about Abiy Ahmed’s controversial handling of protests and ask why the Nobel laureate is so media-shy.
Rep. Ilhan Omar Statement on the Situation in Ethiopia
MINNEAPOLIS—Rep. Ilhan Omar released the following statement on the ongoing situation in Ethiopia.
“My first trip abroad as a Member of Congress was to Ethiopia. I am also entering my second term as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the subcommittee with jurisdiction over Africa and human rights. This year, I am honored to be chosen as the Vice Chair of the subcommittee. The situation in Ethiopia is deeply alarming on many levels, and I have been following it extremely closely.
“I am deeply alarmed by the situation of the Oromo political prisoners, including Bekele Gerba and other leaders who are on hunger strike. The denial of access to medical treatment is a significant violation of their human rights and is only making the serious crises facing Ethiopia worse. The Ethiopian Government must treat these prisoners according to internationally recognized standards of human rights, due process, and human dignity.
“The ongoing conflict in Tigray has led to a catastrophic humanitarian and human rights situation. By some estimates, hundreds of thousands are facing starvation. Tens of thousands have left the country as refugees. Reports come in daily of new atrocities, including allegations of massacres in churches and villages, rape, and the physical destruction of refugee camps. Their whereabouts and condition are unknown.
“Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed must allow unfettered humanitarian access, and unfettered access to independent human rights investigators in Tigray so we can get a full accounting of the atrocities that have been reported. He must also lift the communications blockade to allow NGOs and other humanitarian organizations to be in touch with their staff on the ground, and to allow people living in Tigray – including many of my own constituents – to finally speak to their families.
ResearchGate: Rwandan Genocide – The Trauma of Women Who Were Raped
Throughout history, rape has been used as a weapon of war and genocide in conflict zones. In the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi population, systematic sexual molestation, mutilation and rape of Tutsi women and girls were used as a tool to terrorize and annihilate the ethnic Tutsis. The aim of this study is twofold: to investigate (1) the trauma experienced by women who were raped and (2) the trauma of children born as a result of rape during the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis and its aftermath. A questionnaire was completed by 341 members of the Rwandan diaspora, over 20 years of age (166 males, 175 females), who are living in Finland and Belgium. Of the women, 18 (10.3%) had been exposed to rape, and 9 individuals (2.6%) were born as a result of rape. The findings indicate that the women who had been raped experienced a much more severe trauma than the children who were born as a result of rape.
Taylor and Francis – Journal: Trauma inflicted by genocide: Experiences of the Rwandan Diaspora in Finland
The study investigated the trauma inflicted by the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath among Rwandans who nowadays reside in the Diaspora in Finland, their ways of coping with their trauma, and whether they thought reconciliation possible. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through interviews of 40 Rwandans, 20 males (mean age 37.6 years, SD 16.4 years) and 20 females (mean age 47.6 years, SD 14.9 years), selected representatively from 14 different locations of Finland. It was found that 57.5% of the respondents had lost one or more family member during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. In this sample, 72.5% reported being traumatized, and of these, 37.5% extremely traumatized. Fifty percent reported having sleeping problems often, and of these, 22.5% very often. Seventy-five percent reported having bad dreams at least sometimes, 30% of these often, and 20% very often. Thirty percent of women and 5% of men reported having been raped. Of these, 15% of the women became pregnant due to the rape, and 10% were contaminated with HIV/AIDS. Ten percent of the respondents were born as a result of rape. Although 50% reported living peacefully with other Rwandans, 35% considered reconciliation difficult or extremely difficult. In conclusion, the Rwandan Diaspora living in Finland were severely traumatized by the genocide, and still, 22 years later, reconciliation appears difficult.
Peter Gill: Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid
The Ethiopian famine of 25 years ago was the greatest humanitarian disaster of the late 20th century, killing more than 600,000 people before the world took notice. Peter Gill was the first journalist to reach the epicenter of the famine in 1984 and he returned at the time of Live Aid to research the definitive account of the disaster, A Year in the Death of Africa.
Now, in Famine and Foreigners, Gill returns to Ethiopia to piece together the real story of the last 25 years, drawing on interviews with leading Ethiopians and with an army of foreign aid officials. He conducted extensive interviews with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the leading development economists, Joseph E. Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs. Most important of all, Gill has traveled throughout the country and interviewed scores of Ethiopia’s dignified but still hungry farmers. What stands out in these pages are the graphic encounters with these Ethiopians–the supposed beneficiaries of western aid–who still struggle on the knife-edge of existence. What also emerges is the often tense relationship between official aid-givers and recipients–whether in the area of economic reform or the modern demands for “governance” and political change. Twenty five years on, we can say that we did feed the world. But did we change the face of poverty, did we close the gap between rich and poor, did we fulfill the promise of “development?”
Edward Kissi: The Politics of Famine in U.S. Relations with Ethiopia, 1950-1970
Given the conversation view that the imperial Ethiopian government knew very little about events in rural Ethiopia and was usually misinformed by its officials about famine, what was the contribution of U.S.-Ethiopia relations, especially the security dimensions Of that relationship, in shaping the ideology and politics of famine in Ethiopia?
