Addis Abeba: The Executive Committee of Afar People’s Party (APP) issued a statement today in Semera City, the capital of Afar regional state, calling on the federal government to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the region and to protect civilians from killings by discharging its constitutional responsibilities.
The party also slammed both the government and Tigrayan authorities for what it said was “competition for power” and blamed both for creating instability and chaos in Afar regional state that resulted in deaths, casualties, trauma, displacements and destruction of properties.
APP accused the federal government of failing to protect the people of Afar from what it said was ongoing atrocities and held it accountable for all the problems; the party also vowed that the people of Afar would defend their sovereignty from state and non-state “invading forces’ at its own disposal. It cautioned the government to exercise its constitutional obligations in guaranteeing protection for the people.
Misappropriation of relief funds had further exacerbated efforts to mitigate crisis, according to APP, and there is pervasive insecurity and shortage of water, food and medication.
The statement further stated the alarming events in the region, including the high cost of living, excessive corruption, mismanagement, unfair wealth accumulation, money laundering and a host of other unlawful activities and blamed the regional state development of backtracking on development.
A wide array of human rights violations were occurring in the region, the party said, further emphasizing that women have been raped, civilians left for dead while children are separated from their families. It also highlighted the severe damage on essential civilians infrastructure.
Misappropriation of relief funds had further exacerbated efforts to mitigate crisis, according to APP, and there is pervasive insecurity and shortage of water, food and medication.
The party said its leadership visited the Guyeh and Afdera camps and witnessed the worrying state of displaced civilian pastoralists.
For the second time, APP also expressed its reservations over the National Dialogue Commission of not meeting minimum requirements and not being inclusive of all actors, including armed groups operating across the country. It underscored that if the current format of the processes continue, it would be a waste of time and energy. Subsequently, the party urged that there should be a concerted effort to fix the shortcomings and act genuinely to solve the multiple crisis the country is currently facing. It expressed again that it would be challenging to participate in the national dialogue unless such preconditions were fulfilled. AS