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UN Envoy Warns Against Return of War in Ethiopia

UNHCR Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Mohammed Abdi Affey speaks with Asharq Al-Awsat in the interview (Saad al-Anzi)
UNHCR Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Mohammed Abdi Affey speaks with Asharq Al-Awsat in the interview (Saad al-Anzi)
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UN Envoy Warns Against Return of War in Ethiopia

UNHCR Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Mohammed Abdi Affey speaks with Asharq Al-Awsat in the interview (Saad al-Anzi)
UNHCR Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Mohammed Abdi Affey speaks with Asharq Al-Awsat in the interview (Saad al-Anzi)

UNHCR Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Mohammed Abdi Affey has warned the Ethiopian parties against a return to fighting between the government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), saying any such move could cause a humanitarian catastrophe.

Affey announced there were 103 million displaced persons and refugees, including 25 million in Africa, stressing the urgent need for $40 million in aid to help the displaced and Somali refugees.

During an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, the UN official stressed the need to end the war, warning that it would create the worst humanitarian disaster in the region.

Affey hoped international partners would follow the lead of Saudi Arabia in the generous partnership to save the tragic humanitarian situation, describing the Kingdom as the “best partner in humanitarian aid globally.”

He called on the international community to play an influential role in ending the war in Ukraine and the countries of the Horn of Africa.

Saudi Arabia is at the forefront of humanitarian work:

Affey, who is visiting Riyadh, discussed supporting and assisting displaced persons and refugees with officials of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, Assistant State Minister for African Affairs Sami al-Saleh, the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation, and the President of the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah.

The world currently has 103 million displaced persons and refugees, 25 million in Africa, said the UN official.

He pointed out that Sudan hosts more than one million refugees from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Chad, Somalia, Central Africa, and Eritrea.

He extended his gratitude to Saudi Arabia for its influential partnership and substantial efforts, noting the support of Saudi institutions that provide a suitable environment for the refugees.

Somali and Ukrainian tragedy:

Affey noted that he discussed with Saudi officials the possible solutions to the current situation in the Horn of Africa as the biggest tragic humanitarian challenge facing the region, especially in Somalia.

The situation in Somalia creates pressure on the international organization, with more than 200,000 refugees and displaced persons fleeing to neighboring countries during the past three years.

He asserted that the situation calls for concerted international efforts and humanitarian initiatives, such as Saudi Arabia’s, to alleviate human suffering in the region and Somalia.

Affey said the “tragic situation” that resulted from the Russian-Ukrainian war increased the international agency's urgent need for more financial support.

He called on international partners to provide support to face global humanitarian challenges during the next few months and relieve the enormous pressure that the international organization is suffering from due to the tragic humanitarian conditions and the ongoing refugee wave in many parts of the world, including the Horn of Africa.

The consequences of the ongoing conflict in the Horn of Africa:

The UN official stressed that one of the challenges currently facing the international agency included the raging conflict in the Horn of Africa.

He noted that 65,000 refugees arrived from Ethiopia in Sudan, and more than two million displaced persons and refugees fled South Sudan to neighboring countries, announcing that UNHCR is working on several projects and agreements with the governments of Sudan and South Sudan.

The UN official stressed the need to implement the relevant clause in the Juba Peace Agreement, signed by the Sudanese parties.

The agency is currently working with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Sudanese government to find long-term solutions, including sustainable development projects that alleviate the tragic humanitarian conditions of the refugees inside and outside Sudan and South Sudan.

The African Union plays a significant role in sponsoring the Juba Peace Agreement, said Affey, adding that the UNHCR is delighted to achieve positive results to correct the humanitarian situation in the region.

He lauded the efforts of the Ethiopian parties to stop the war and prioritize dialogue to confront the humanitarian conditions of refugees and displaced persons in Ethiopia and neighboring countries.

Somalia needs $40 billion to deal with the tragic situation amid a lack of support and aid provided to the government.

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Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.