Category: Politics

Today in Geneva, the United States announced more than $200 million in additional assistance to respond to humanitarian needs in the Horn of Africa, including from the devastating drought and to address the needs of refugees, internally displaced persons, and conflict-affected population in the region. This assistance, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of State will help save lives in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, where more than 20 million people are projected to need emergency food assistance this year following two years of inadequate rainfall in a region dependent on agriculture and livestock to survive.

In Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, people are struggling to meet basic food, water, agriculture, and livestock needs amid the unprecedented drought. This additional assistance, which will support United Nations and non-governmental organization partners, will help meet immediate humanitarian needs by providing lifesaving emergency food and nutrition assistance, health care and medical supplies, access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene support, and livelihood support to diversify household income sources and help keep livestock healthy. The United States is the largest single-country donor of humanitarian assistance in the Horn of Africa, providing more than $361 million across the region since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2022.

Compounding the dire situation, the war in Ukraine will continue to have a substantial impact on global food security, including in the Horn of Africa, through a reduction of Ukrainian agricultural exports combined with already high prices for food, fertilizer, and fuel. In the absence of additional and sustained resources to the drought response from other donors, millions of people across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia will likely experience dire humanitarian outcomes as drought conditions worsen. We call on all donors–governments, foundations, and the private sector–to provide additional support to help meet the critical funding gaps in the emergency response that will save lives.

Source: US Agency for International Development

Executive Summary

INTRODUCTION

Evaluation features

Country strategic plan (CSP) evaluations are the primary instrument for providing accountability and meeting learning needs in accordance with the expectations of the Board and WFP management. They provide evidence of WFP’s strategic positioning and results to inform the design of the next generation of CSPs and potentially contribute to the design of United Nations sustainable development cooperation frameworks.

The evaluation of the Zimbabwe CSP for 2017?2021 covered WFP interventions between 2015 and 2020 to assess continuity from the previous programme cycle, the extent to which the CSP introduced strategic shifts and the implications of such shifts for performance and results. The users of the evaluation are the WFP country office and its internal and external stakeholders, including beneficiaries.

The evaluation adopted a mixed-methods approach and a concurrent triangulation design, drawing on multiple sources of evidence, including documentary evidence, performance data, budget data and key informant interviews. Due to travel restrictions related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, most of the data was collected remotely, in November and December 2020, although the Zimbabwe-based evaluation team member visited project sites. Findings, conclusions and recommendations were discussed with stakeholders during two online workshops in April 2021.

Context

Zimbabwe is a landlocked, resource-rich, low-income, food-deficit country with a population of 14.9 million that is predominantly rural (68 percent) and young (62 percent under the age of 25).

Zimbabwe was hit by several major disasters during the CSP period and as a result has some of the highest levels of food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa. In 10 of the last 11 years, over 1 million people in rural areas have been assessed as requiring food assistance (Figure 1).

Source: World Food Programme

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC), won 19 out of the 28 national assembly seats contested in the parliamentary by-election held Saturday, state-run ZBC-TV reported Sunday night.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ruling ZANU-PF scored nine seats, said the report.

The opposition consolidated its grip in urban areas, while ZANU-PF consolidated its power base in rural areas.

ZANU-PF, which has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, retained all the parliamentary seats it won in the 2018 general election.

The party also made inroads in some traditional opposition strongholds by snatching two parliamentary seats won by the opposition in 2018, further strengthening its dominance in the national assembly.

ZANU-PF had already controlled the national assembly with a two-thirds majority after winning 145 of the available 210 seats in the 2018 elections.

Together with the parliamentary by-election, a by-election for local government representatives in 122 local jurisdictions were also held.

The highly contested by-elections were seen as a rehearsal for next year’s elections.

Source: Nam News Network

THE HAGUE— Chadian authorities on Monday handed over to the International Criminal Court a former Central African Republic militia leader accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Hague-based court said.

Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka is suspected of crimes committed in 2013 and 2014 “in Bangui and other locations in the Central African Republic,” the ICC said in a statement.

One of the poorest countries in the world, the CAR spiralled into conflict in 2013 when president Francois Bozize was ousted by a rebel coalition called the Seleka, drawn largely from the Muslim minority.

The coup triggered a sectarian bloodbath between the Seleka and “anti-Balaka” forces, who were mainly Christian or animist.

Mokom was the leader of an “anti-Balaka” group.

In 2019, he became the country’s minister for disarmament and demobilisation.

The ICC has “found reasonable grounds” to suspect that Mokom, in his capacity as a “National Coordinator of Operations of the Anti-Balaka”, was responsible for crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, persecution and “enforced disappearance”, the court said in its statement.

On the war crimes front, he is suspected of, among other things, “intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population” and an attack against humanitarian assistance personnel as well as enlisting fighters as young as 15.

“Mr Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka was surrendered to the International Criminal Court by the authorities of the Republic of Chad on account of an ICC warrant of arrest issued under seal on 10 December 2018,” the court said.

Late Monday the court tweeted that Mokom had arrived at the ICC Detention Centre in The Hague.

“The initial appearance of Mr Mokom … will take place in due course,” it said in its statement.

The ICC, which sits in The Hague, was created in 2002 to try individuals prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity or acts of genocide.

Two former anti-Balaka leaders, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona and Alfred Yekatom, are already on trial at the ICC.

An alleged Seleka leader will go on trial at the ICC in September to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Responding to the brutal killing of one supporter of political opposition and the injury of more than a dozen others at a Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) rally in Kwekwe, Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa, said:

This assault bears all the hallmarks of a pre-meditated attack that aims to intimidate political opposition and block access to their constituents

“This assault bears all the hallmarks of a pre-meditated attack that aims to intimidate political opposition and block access to their constituents ahead of the upcoming by-elections in March.

“The government’s rhetoric has done much to incite such ferocious violence and unfortunately little to ensure the free exercise of the rights to freedom of assembly and association.

Zimbabwean authorities must immediately end the culture of politically-motivated violence by refraining from issuing inflammatory statements that may incite violence

“The Zimbabwean authorities must immediately end the culture of politically-motivated violence by refraining from issuing inflammatory statements that may incite violence and they must ensure an impartial, independent and transparent investigation into this attack. The perpetrators must be brought to justice.”

Background

On 27 February, a machete-wielding gang appeared at Mbizo 4 shopping centre in Kwekwe, where the CCC was holding a political rally.

The gang’s efforts to prevent people from attending the rally soon turned violent. Mboneni Ncube, a 30-year-old man and supporter of the CCC, died after being stabbed, while at least 22 others were seriously injured.

The gang allegedly used not only machetes but also beer bottles, iron bars, spears and bricks to attack supporters while Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the CCC, was giving a speech.

On 26 February, Zimbabwe’s Vice President, Constantino Chiwenga, sent a warning to the CCC, saying the ruling ZANU-PF party would “crush the party like lice”.

Source: Amnesty International