SITUATION REPORT – HORN OF AFRICA No. 458, 29 June 2023

Situation in Sudan (per 29 June)

• Air strikes and anti-aircraft fires were reported around Khartoum yesterday.
•  Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Hemedti declared a two-day unilateral truce to start on Tuesday for the RSF, to honour the Muslim Eid festivity. The truce was announced in an audio address.
• The RSF leader expressed concern over allegations of human rights violations committed by RSF troops against civilians, including by RSF forces.
• The human rights violations against civilians are against “RSF law”, stated Hemedti.
• In response to the allegations, Hemedti announced the establishment of field courts. These courts are headed by Major General Esam Saleh Fidhel. 
• The RSF field courts are mandated to carry out investigations into the claims of offences which are allegedly committed by RSF troops.
• Women’s organisations urge for women and girls to be protected from violence in the conflict between the RSF and Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).
• The letter is addressed to Lana Nusseibeh, who is the UAE Ambassador and current Security Council President, and was signed by 41 women’s organisations from Africa.
• The letter calls upon the UAE to take concrete steps to address the dire situation in Sudan.
• 125 detainees, including 44 wounded men, who had been held captive by RSF were released and transported to Wad Madani with support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It remains unknown where the RSF held their detainees. 
• About 2.5 million people have been displaced of whom early 2 million people are internally displaced in Sudan since the start of the conflict.
• Prior to the start of the conflict on 15 April, 16.2 million people, or 34 percent of the population in Sudan, was food insecure, says the World Food Programme (WFP) in an assessment.
• The areas of West Darfur (56%); West Kordofan (56%); Blue Nile (50 %); Red Sea (49%); and North Darfur (47%) experienced the highest prevalence of food insecurity, says WFP.
• Following the outbreak of conflict, a dramatic deterioration of food security is observed due to large-scale displacement of local populations, severe damage to critical infrastructure, the breakdown of economic activities, cessation of trade, and erosion of livelihoods. 
• The conflict affects the supply and demand side prompting food prices to increase and exacerbating food insecurity.
• Peace-making efforts should be exclusively focused on strengthening the civil society forces in Sudan, states Shranath Shrinivasan in an opinion peace, claiming that traditional diplomatic efforts focused on the warring parties have failed in Sudan.

Refugee Situation (per 29 June)

• The Refugee and Return Service (RRS) of Ethiopia has stopped issuing birth certificates to newborn babies to Eritrean refugees in (parts of) Ethiopia.
• It is unclear whether the service was stopped everywhere in Ethiopia or particularly in Tigray due to the war in Tigray.
• The lack of documentation is creating difficulties for family reunification. In some instances reunification of families requires mothers to leave their (undocumented) babies behind. This would seem to be in contravention with international law.
• The RRS has not yet responded to the questions asked on the procedure, why this happened and how it is mitigated.

Situation in Tigray (per 29 June)

• Over 700 hunger-related deaths were recorded across 7 administrative zones of Tigray in the recent weeks amid the food aid suspension.  
• At least 27 people including 11 children have died of hunger in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp in Abiy Adi, Tigray.
• Farmers’ lives and their livelihoods are continuously endangered by the remaining explosives and landmines spread across the land in Tigray. About 726 square kilometres of land is still contaminated. 

Situation in Ethiopia (per 29 June)

• Health facilities and water systems are destroyed in Oromia due to the ongoing conflict and violence.
• Most of the 42 existing health facilities in Begi (Oromia) have been looted or damaged. This is a district of 100,000 inhabitants, who no longer can access (urgent) medical services.
• Tigrayans arrested throughout Ethiopia, including those that served in the Ethiopian National Defense Force, remain in prisons within Ethiopia, states a transcript obtained of a meeting between US senators and Special Envoy Mike Hammer on 11 May 2023.
• Individuals from Tigrayan origin taken from Addis Ababa during the Tigray war to Afar and to other places seem to have disappeared and there whereabout being unclear, without any attention being given to their fate, the transcript reads.

International Situation ( 29 June)

• The case of the Eritrean Tewolde Goitom, nicknamed Walid, an alleged human trafficker at the apex of a human trafficking organisation operating in Libya and trafficking Eritrean refugees was discussed in a preliminary hearing held in Zwolle, The Netherlands on Tuesday.
• The court heard from the prosecution that The Netherlands has requested the extradition of Walid’s collaborator, Kidane, who is currently held in the UAE.
• The next hearing in the case will be held on 18 September 13:30. The case is expected to run into 2025. 
• The Troika on Sudan and South Sudan, composed of USA, UK and Norway, has condemned violence and ongoing conflict in Sudan and called for coordinated pressure from the international community to facilitate immediate ceasefire and protection of civilians. 
• The Troika members also urged for the South Sudanese transitional government to uphold the commitment towards peace agreement implementation without any further delays.