An African Union Commission and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) workshop called to validate the African Road Safety Action Plan for the Decade 2021-2030 by experts, on Thursday called on African policymakers to support the UN campaign launched at the beginning of the 6th UN Global Road Safety Week to make 30 km/h streets the norm for cities worldwide.
The campaign stresses that low speed streets save lives and are the heart of any community. 30 km/h (20 mph) speed limits where people and traffic mix make for streets that are safe, healthy, green and liveable, in other words, streets for life.
The 6th UN Global Road Safety Week is calling on policymakers to act for low speed streets worldwide, limiting speeds to where people walk, live and play. The campaign stresses that 30 km/h streets protect all who use them, but especially the most vulnerable, like pedestrians, cyclists, children and older people and people with disabilities, preventing road traffic deaths and promoting physical activity.
Besides promoting safe walking and cycling, 30 km/h streets are vital in efforts to shift to zero-carbon mobility, reducing car dependency and harmful vehicle emissions that contribute to climate change. To protect the environment, people need safe, low-speed streets that encourage sustainable transport choices, the campaign adds.
African policymakers urged to make 30 km/h streets the norm to save lives
Smothering facts, manufacturing lies: Ethiopia’s Crucifixion
By the Queen of Sheba
On the night of November 3, 2020, the treasonous TPLF cabal forces heinously and cowardly attacked the Ethiopian Federal Army base of the Northern Command-the biggest, most formidable and well-equipped and staffed army command in the country-while in their sleep. As they attacked 200 sites and bases-in a superbly coordinated manner-they massacred thousands in a barbaric way-slitting throats, slashing guts, and cutting off breasts of women soldiers. In an attempt to decimate the surrendered soldiers en masse, they chased them with heavy trucks, mowing them with well-placed machine guns as they run for their lives.
The cabal also sent missiles into major neighboring cities in the country. Moreover, in a failed effort to internationalize the conflict, they also bombed Eritrea.
When the fortunes of the coup went south, the retreating and marauding cabal forces turned on civilians going on a killing spree in My-Kadra, systematically hunting and killing Amharas, roaming house to house. In that tragic day of infamy, over 1,000 civilians-mostly young Amhara laborers working on farms-were slaughtered by crazed Tigrayan militia and special forces.
The defeated cabal also went about destroying schools, bridges, roads, airports-and hospitals. It also looted banks, offices, depots and camps. And more.
These are all the uncontested facts grudgingly admitted by UN organizations, the former administration of the US State Department-and the leaders of the cabals themselves.
The humiliated and brutalized, but highly spirited, National Defence forces-swiftly reorganized and crashed the mutinous cabal-which boasted some 200,000 militia and special forces and commandeered a massive cache of arms from the National Defence. It only took the National Defence forces and the allied regional militias just two weeks to obliterate them into oblivion which surprised the whole world-but deeply and painfully stunned the cabal’s corps-supporters, sympathizers, friends, allies and beneficiaries.
As the misfortunes of the mutinous debacle hit home fast and hard, the cabal’s machinery run full steam on the public relations assault igniting a social media frenzy-well-oiled by the looted blood money which has been siphoned off from the nation for nearly thirty years-estimated at some 30 billion USD.
Manufacturing Stories, Outrage
Bogus stories had to be manufactured-featuring massacres, mass rapes, mass starvations, ethnic cleansing, genocide and now chemical attacks in Tigray-and shared in a systematically coordinated manner with major and small media houses, think tanks, NGOs, governments, multilateral and bilateral agencies. In one stunning case a major media house featured a bogus priest who pretended to be in Tigray giving eye-witness testimony on fabricated massacres there-while sitting in Boston. The story never got retracted even after it was proven fake.
The major media houses BBC, CNN, Aljazeera, Deutsche Welle and many others became unwitting, indifferent and sinister players in airing fabricated and over-inflated stories. In another shocking episode, which yet again desecrated the sanctity of journalism, the CNN reporter who claimed a massacre of 800 priests in Axum took a journey there-but to find nothing of that sort. Instead she had to manufacture a different story-and outrage-standing on a purported grave site-appearing to be more distraught than the purported family member standing behind her. The highly anticipated Axum report fell flat as it climaxes with an unarmed soldier casually running out of the hospital-as if soldiers were barred from accessing hospital services or visit their loved ones there.
Well, we may need to sympathize with the ‘famous’ reporter as presenting the facts would tantamount to contradicting herself-and undermining her credibility. But then, the weakness may lie in the CNN editorial office which sent her to validate a story herself manufactured earlier with the cabal’s operators-sitting thousands of miles away.
What is deeply regrettable-and more so painful-is that those journalists, public officials, and opinion makers whom we have respected and admired-and shaped our thinking and perspectives-have either got duped by the fake narratives being relentlessly spewed by the cabal’s machinery or they themselves became such sources motivated by the attractive remuneration. While one sympathizes with the gullible, but cannot help wonder why and how some of these people turned frontline mercenaries for the cabal-at the expense of their credibility earned over their life time. Well may be, wealth is more appealing than medals of public opinion.
Since the conflict broke out, the New York Times, one of the most respectable papers, has also mangled stories, cited bogus accounts, and misrepresented facts on Ethiopia-a number of times. But it never retracted them, even when presented with uncontested, and verifiable, evidence. In its latest piece, on 21 May 2021, it carried a story-following the removal of its reporter from the country-misleading readers by stating Andargachew Tsege, one of the most prominent Ethiopian opposition figures as an “adviser to Mr. Abiy”. Alas, the Times may not be encumbered by correcting these glaring errors.
Villain as a Victim
Ethiopia has been under serious stress with numerous conflicts, killings and displacements around the country. Entire cities, towns and villages have been razed to the ground. Hundreds have been killed and displaced. Virtually none of these get coverage on the media, except Tigray. Most journalists who drive through these affected areas witness these tragic scenes; but they shockingly and shamefully ignore them.
Journalism, as a profession, is screaming in pain in the highlands, valleys and villages in Ethiopia-and also, we fully realize now, in Africa and other ‘weak’ countries. We are witnessing journalism-and journalists-deployed not for fact-seeking purposes, but, we learned painfully, as a tool for a conspiratorial end.
The Ethiopian case is beyond curious. The perpetrators-both internal and external-do not seem to care about shame, disgrace or humiliation. Lies, fake news, and bogus evidences are relentlessly deployed to disinform and misinform the public. Of recent, Ethiopia has been crucified on the altar of international public opinion treated as a villain-when it is a victim of vicious and treasonous attack which could have had a monumental social, economic and political upheavals.
The US, the UN and other western powers rudely subscribe on a laundry list of actions and inactions for the country without qualms. They have now dared into instructing the sovereign nation of 110 million people where, when and which forces to dispatch around the country in its pursuit of peace, security and order. We heard of a proposed US Senate sanction against Ethiopia-for only doing what any self-respecting government must do in thwarting a putsch-comparable to the one attempted on the US capitol some months ago. Alas, what is good for the goose is not good for the gander.
In Conclusion
It is notable that while Africa and others continue to contend with the new form of colonialism, i.e. neocolonialism, Ethiopia is now grappling with a degenerate, crude and ugly form of colonialism-which it has fought for centuries and triumphed gallantly.
To be sure, Tigray is a ruse. If not Tigray, it would be Afar. If not Afar, it would be Somalis. We have already seen some signals in Benshangul-Gumuz and Oromia. The gullible might think that the external forces are doing the bidding in their interest. They should be firmly reminded that these forces only have their own selfish interest-and thinking otherwise would be foolish at best and dangerous at its worst.
Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, to mention a few, provide abundant lessons for resolutely defending our country which now faces a barrage of attacks unprecedented in its history as it is striving to peaceful and genuine transition-and social and economic transformation.
The time for wishing for the best is over. The time for action has arrived.
And every citizen is a force to reckon with.
The Queen of Sheba may be reached at QueenOfSheba2020@outlook.com | Twitter: @TheQueenofSheb5
ETHIOPIA & THE HORN II
How can unity of purpose come to fruition in a world of uncompromising identity politics? This is the real challenge facing Africa. The Horn is probably more prone to this malaise than many of the other regions on the continent. Here is the dilemma. On one hand, there is the realization that Africa’s fate is doomed unless Africans forge broad and meaningful alliance against the reigning polarizing globalization (not excluding wars, etc.) On the other hand, this Pan African sentiment (easily said than done) is confronting the formidable primordial forces of identity politics that work against the unifying drive. How is one to reconcile this? So far and outside of the usual empty rhetoric, (the AU vision, etc.) Africans and their leaders have conspicuously failed to articulate and implement durable strategies that can pacify the elemental sentiment of kinship to allow diverse, yet cohesive, political entities to take deep root!
The so-called REC’s (Regional Economic Cooperation, like COMESA, ECOWAS, etc.), which were initiated by the formal states to serve as building blocks of continental unity, might not stand the first serious brawls, especially if these incursions are instigated by hyper-ethnicized sheeple (human mass.) This top down concoction is almost exclusively focused on the mercantilist logic of exchange and accumulation, which in turn is based on the ideology of greed, sanctified by the modern world system. Put together, such schemes, mostly pushed by the narrative of the metropolis, do not consider the real issue of identity politics that obtains on the African ground. Countries that looked relatively homogenous like Somalia, Libya, etc., have succumbed to identity politics of much lesser intensity than what we are currently facing in the broader Horn. Imagine if this ontological conviction takes over the imagination of the sheeplet (the youth) in a seriously diverse country like Ethiopia! With some luck, the Horn can potentially avoid such nightmares if its collective leadership genuinely focuses on issues that are common to all and sundry. Unfortunately, after the demise of the socialisms, USSR, et al, and the ascendance of neoliberalism, critical thinking was sacrificed on the altar of the accumulation god. Would be articulators, revolutionaries, humanists, etc., in general, those who used to be genuinely concerned about the welfare and liberation of collective humanity, were systemically marginalized/ignored/disregarded, both by the global power that be, as well as their minions in the peripheries. The result; countries in Africa are mostly run by zombies with hardly any knowledge about the workings of the modern world system. The modern world system is sustained by systemically leveraging racism, religion, ethnicity, sexism, etc. all across the globe!
Be that as it may, the Horn has to tackle its myriad problems intelligently/creatively, by hook or a crook; if anything, at least to avoid the worst possible outcomes that can easily lead to utter chaos and regional instability! To those well disposed, Ethiopia can still exert a ‘pulling effect’ on the other countries of the Horn. Ethiopia has a large area inhabited by several clans of the Somali ethnic groups that is adjoined by Somalia (Ogaden). In the North, Ethiopia has a large area inhabited by the Tigreans, adjoining Eritrea (Tigray). Ethiopia has a large area inhabited by the Afaris, adjoining Djibouti and Eritrea (Afar). Again, Ethiopia has a large area inhabited by the Nour, Dinka, etc. adjoining South Sudan (Gambella). Ditto Beneshangul and Borena. It is only Ethiopia that has, within its political jurisdiction, all the diverse nations and nationalities of the Horn, however defined! On the other hand, the other Horn countries lack such a full spectrum ethnic mix. For example, Eritrea doesn’t have Somalis or even Oromos in any significant number. By the same token, Somalia doesn’t have noticeable number of Tigryans in its territory, etc., etc. This wide encapsulation of (Ethiopia’s) diversity is an asset in its own right and can help build confidence amongst the peoples of the Horn. Obviously, this reality is a two-sided sword. Handled properly and wisely, Ethiopia’s composition can help bring the peoples of the Horn together and might also serve as a rudimentary template for potential consolidations elsewhere in Africa. Absent capable leadership to handle the growing unbridled primordial instincts, proliferating disturbances can destabilize the region as well as the far away lands of the Middle East, Europe, etc.!
We admit, quality leadership has proved difficult to come by, almost everywhere. Shallow demagogues with psychopathic streak always craving for power, continue to brainwash and goad the gullible African sheeple into heinous acts, which are only intended to serve the interests of the criminally inclined. The African Sheeple has to start interrogating some of its elite whose loyalty to the continent/people is suspect. A number of these characters are only interested in collecting crumbs from their foreign masters for massively undermining their poor sheeples and states, in all possible ways! In the absence of committed indigenous leadership with sufficient caliber or what Gramsci, (the radical philosopher early 20th century) labeled ‘organic intellectuals’, our future remains, at best, precarious! When ethnic affiliation overrides long honed collective values, there isn’t much one can do. For instance, when next to kin is engaged in atrocities/genocide against members of another ethnic group, the rational and decent thing to do is to bring the culprit to justice. But when his clan is out in force to protect him from justice, the time tested collective civilized existence is going to be undermined severely! Enlightened leadership, based on common human values must take the lead if we are to survive, let alone flourish!
To be fair, capitalist modernity to which all African nation states have pledged alliance to, is failing them left and right. Critical discourses that challenge the prevailing polarization are no more encouraged or even allowed by the status quo! The Horn will not get very far if it adheres to the existing unsustainable nature-destroying paradigm that passes for ‘development.’ We will try to interrogate the prevailing economic narrative that dominates social thoughts, particularly as it pertains to the Horn’s future, in our next installment. In the mean time, we should remind ourselves that we could always learn from history, with a view to employ the various lessons in our endeavor. Here is a statement from one of the unifiers/consolidators of 19th century Europe. “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” Otto von Bismarck. Good Day!
Ethiopia’s second vaccine shot dilemma
As the global shortage of oxford AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine deepens, the Ministry of Health has started effort to obtain 3 million more doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccine that could boost the sagging campaign to vaccination. Moreover, the Ministry of Health is considering continuing the use up of their stock of AstraZeneca COVAX vaccines as first doses on as many people as possible.
On March7, 2021, the country had received 2.2 million doses from 7.6 million quota of COVID vaccine made by AstraZeneca PLC – a British–Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Company supplied by the Serum Institute of India. But as the COVID-19 crisis in India spiraled, India restricted the export of vaccines as it grapples with a devastating resurgence of the disease. Through the COVAX facility the country was planning to receive its entire 7.6 million doses of vaccine until the end of April, 2021.
So far around 1.6 million people have received the first shot of the vaccine in Ethiopia, which leaves the country with less shots going into the second shot phase.
The WHO has repeatedly advised countries to use up their stock of COVAX vaccines as first doses on as many people as possible, rather than saving half of them for second dose.
Dr. Muluken Desta, an Advisor to the Ministry of Health and coordinator at the national COVID vaccination program, said it will be difficult to give the second shot for those who received the first shoot since the vaccine is distributed even to the sub strain health institutions including woredas and kebels. Several divisions had administered all the AstraZeneca vaccines they received, expecting new deliveries in order to give people their second dose.
However, as he said to meet its need the government is considering several options to cope with the global problem. The first option is waiting for rich countries to share their vaccine to the COVAX facility.
On May 15 on press conference, Dr Tedros Adhanom, Director General of the World Health Organization urged rich countries to share COVID 19 vaccine doses to COVAX instead of giving shots to children. “Rich countries should reconsider and donate vaccine to COVAX since in some countries the vaccine is not enough to immunize health workers.”
As Muluken said the other option is supporting India to tackle the challenge of the pandemic and as soon as possible. As he said, the government is expecting to restart receiving the vaccines until mid-June based on its contract with the facility.
As its third option, the government is talking with the African CDC and the COVAX facility itself to procure additional vaccines. As Muluken said, the government is trying to procure 3 million doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccine through the facility and also the Ministry is talking with the Russian Embassy in Addis Ababa to get the Russian Sputnik 5 vaccine after checking it through the Ethiopian Food and Drugs Authority (EFDA) since the Russian Vaccine is not approved by the WHO COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.
Dr. John Nkengasong, Director at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommended during a press conference on Thursday that if countries don’t receive doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines in time to give people their second doses, they should revaccinate those who received first doses of AstraZeneca vaccine with a second, single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was listed for emergency use by WHO on 12 March 2021.
As Muluken said, even if it takes long time, the interval time between the two shots will give time to import the second shots, perhaps the batch of AstraZeneca will expire in July which has to be used before the date.
China has also donated to Ethiopia 300,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Sinopharm.
