South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit, centre, attends the IGAD summit in State House Entebbe, in Entebbe, Uganda, January 18, 2024
THE African Union (AU) has called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan and a constructive dialogue between the country’s warring factions. Thursday’s call was joined by the European Union and the United Nations amid concerns that the fighting could destabilise an already volatile region.
The AU, EU and US also called for an end to tension between Somalia and Ethiopia over an agreement signed between Ethiopia and Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region. This comes as the Tigray region of Ethiopia teeters on the brink of a catastrophic famine.
AU, EU and US representatives, who spoke in Kampala, Uganda, after the meeting of an east African regional bloc, said that the two crises were threatening regional stability in the Horn of Africa.
Sudan’s military and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been fighting for control of the country since April. Long-standing tensions erupted into street battles in the capital and other areas, including the western Darfur region.
According the AU, the EU and the United Nations, the fighting has displaced seven million people and kept 19 million children out of school. UN envoy for Sudan Ramtane Lamtane said the first step should be an enforceable ceasefire that can be closely monitored.
"Guns must be silenced,” he said, adding that the war endangers the “stability of the entire region and beyond.
Annette Weber, EU special envoy for the Horn of Africa, said the two crises have a common link to the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Houthi-led government has carried out missile attacks on shipping.
Appearing to be speaking on behalf of the United States as well as the continent’s former colonial rulers, Ms Weber called for a collective response by Horn of Africa countries to the crisis.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s war-scarred Tigray region is on the verge of a catastrophic famine comparable to the 1984-85 disaster that led to the organisation of global fundraising concert Live Aid, according to officials there.
Although the federal government has denied that there is a famine, there have been acute food shortages since the onset of the Tigray war in November 2020.The brutal two-year conflict left a staggering 600,000 people dead.
Famine is now widespread across at least 12 districts in Tigray, with around 225 people recorded as having already died of starvation in the last few months.Tigray’s President Getachew K Reda says at least 90 per cent of people could perish. He is urging both the international community and the Ethiopian government to intervene in Tigray to save lives. By Roger McKenzie, Morning Star