Day: July 26, 2021

Authorities in Sudan say at least 3,000 Ethiopian refugees fled into Sudan this week, after the war in Ethiopia's Tigray region spread to the neighboring Amhara region. VOA speaks to a refugee camp director and a political analyst about the significance of the influx in this report from Khartoum.

Sudanese authorities reported thousands of Ethiopian refugees crossing the border this week. In a phone interview with VOA, the head of the Al-Qadarif Emergency Committee handling refugee camps, Alfatih Mogadam, said the registered number of the new asylum seekers is 1,058.

Mogadam says the camps will struggle to absorb so many refugees, and he asked the Sudanese government and aid groups to quickly intervene.

The majority of the new refugees fled from Ethiopia’s Amharic region, bordering war-torn Tigray, and the conflicted Alfashga region between Sudan and Ethiopia.

The war erupted in Ethiopia last November between the federal government in Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused Tigrayan troops of attacking federal military camps.

The war in Ethiopia has caused a devastating humanitarian crisis mostly in the Tigray region.

Humanitarian aid agencies like the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) say more than 5 million people in the Tigray region are in urgent need of food aid. About 60,000 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan and are camping in the eastern cities bordering Ethiopia.

Sudanese analysts like Ahmed Abdelghani warn the influx from the Amhara region might lead to tension between Amharans and Tigrayans in the camps.

Abdelghani says it is challenging because of the previous disputes between the two ethnic groups, with the Amharic group supporting the federal government of Ethiopia in its war against the Tigrayan people.

He adds that receiving the new refugees in the same camps may cost Sudan a lot if the government did not conduct security procedures to avoid any breakdown between the battling groups.

The conflict in the Tigray region has worsened the already-troubled relationship between Sudan and Ethiopia.

The countries have engaged in a years-long dispute about Ethiopia’s massive hydroelectric GERD dam, which Sudan and Egypt fear will cut off their access to adequate water from the Nile River.

The Ethiopia government announced updated plans Tuesday for electricity generation from the dam, after the second-phase filling of the dam ended this month.

Source: Voice of America

KILIFI, KENYA - Cryptocurrencies make headlines for shaking up the financial world, but they are also gaining ground in less developed countries. In Kenya, an American economist, who introduced blockchain technology for low-income urban customers, has extended the cashless system to the countryside.

On a lush green farm in Kilifi on Kenya’s tropical Indian Ocean coast, 26-year-old farmer Emmanuel Kahindi is harvesting tomatoes and other vegetables. He is using Kenya’s cryptocurrency, Sarafu, to sell his vegetables, and to buy supplies without having to use any cash.

Sarafu helped me a lot, he said, especially because it makes me save my money, my Kenyan currency. He said he uses Sarafu to purchase things for the garden like seeds and fertilizer.

Sarafu coins work like vouchers that can be exchanged for goods or services of other users of the currency. Anyone with a Kenyan mobile phone line can enroll. Users are given 50 Sarafu for free. After that, they earn coins by selling a product or service to another user.

Sarafu is what’s known as a community inclusion currency, or CIC, allowing people to give or take credit without having to deposit Kenyan shillings or other currency in a bank.

It was created by Will Ruddick, an American economist through his Kenyan nonprofit, Grassroots Economics. He recently introduced it to rural areas like Kilifi.

“I think that’s where there is the most chronic lack of national currency. So, I think what’s happening, we’re filling a gap. People say look, the national ledger system, the national currency it is not available for us. We can’t measure our trade in this thing,” said Ruddick.

Kahindi moved with his harvest to a nearby restaurant in Kilifi. There he offers his vegetables for selling and gets Sarafu in a return. The owner is Giataari Mwang and he said he is happy with it.

“Sarafu is good because it allows us to get our farm produce straight from local neighborhood farms and put it on our plate and serve it to our customers and they are able to pay us with Sarafu,” he said.

Bitange Ndemo is a senior lecturer at the University of Nairobi. He said such community-focused cryptocurrencies have a potential to expand beyond Kenya and in other parts of Africa.

He said that cryptocurrencies give communities an option to monetize resources in a way that they cannot do with cash, pointing at the cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a potential example.

“Nothing stops them from a cobalt coin based on the reserves they have in terms of cobalt. The country then can then raise sufficient resources to develop the country,” said Ndemo.

In Kenya, the coins will be based on the agriculture production across the nation and here in Kilifi.

For Emmanuel, it is time to relax after work. He is now seated in the restaurant and is using Sarafu to enjoy a well-deserved meal.

Source: Voice of America

KAMPALA, UGANDA - Ugandan authorities have detained weightlifter Julius Sekitoleko after he disappeared last week from the Olympic Games in Japan. His case is odd, as Sekitoleko did not qualify for the Ugandan Olympic team, and no one can explain why he was flown to Tokyo.

Ugandan authorities say they will likely grant bail to the 20-year-old weightlifter after he spent four days in detention but that he still may face charges.

Sekitoleko was deported to Uganda last week, after he was arrested by police in Japan’s Mie Prefecture. Police went looking for him after he disappeared from the Ugandan Olympic team’s training camp in Izumisano, in Osaka, Japan.

Sekitoleko competes in the elite category of 56 and 57 kilograms and has previously represented Uganda in tournaments in Kenya, Morocco and Australia. He did not qualify for this year’s Olympics.

Charles Twiine, spokesperson for Uganda’s Criminal Investigations Department, told journalists Monday that an investigation was launched to determine why Sekitoleko was flown to Japan with his coach.

“What is visibly clear here, is that there’s a probable fraud of airlifting a person with full knowledge that he had not qualified. To go and participate well knowing he is not going to participate. Now the fundamental question is, was he part of the fraud as a conspirator and it’s the reason why we are having him,” Twiine said.

The athlete’s wife, Desire Nampeewo, who is five months pregnant, told VOA she hoped that the government would “rehabilitate” her husband. Nampeewo said she was surprised that officials want to charge him instead.

She said life has not been easy for the athlete as he he isn’t financially stable, his life has been a struggle, he sleeps on the floor and doesn’t have enough food suitable for an athlete. She said he really wanted to participate but lost his mind when he was told he didn’t qualify and started wandering unconsciously. She said he even wanted to kill himself.

Mark Namanya, a Ugandan sports analyst, says the athlete’s disappearance from the training camp is not a new thing. He argues that many athletes who represent Uganda at the highest level come from very deprived backgrounds and see tournaments as a way out.

“It’s an opportunity for them to start a new life. I was in Australia three years ago. Uganda sent, I think it’s biggest team to the Commonwealth Games and five athletes vanished. I can tell you with certainty that Sekitoleko’s case is neither the first nor the last,” Namanya said.

It is not clear what charges may be filed against Sekitoleko.

Investigating officers say they continue to record statements from the Olympic Committee and will wait for officials currently in Japan to return to explain why Sekitoleko was allowed to travel.

Source: Voice of America