Mowlid Hassan (left) and Abdimalik Shuriye (right) pose at the Somali Student Association spring kickoff event on Jan. 29.
University of Minnesota students reflect on concerns of safety and peace as tensions rise between Somalia and Ethiopia.
Tensions between the two countries rose after Somaliland, a neighboring territory, signed an agreement with Ethiopia to lease a part of its coastline to the landlocked nation for the next 50 years. East African University students voiced concerns about how the tensions are impacting themselves, their friends and family.
Somaliland was a former British colony until 1960 when it joined Somalia. It was an unstable union between the two and in 1991, Somaliland broke away with intentions to become an independent, sovereign nation and started a civil war.
Some University students have family and friends in Somalia affected by these conflicts, making this subject personal.
Mowlid Hassan, the committee chair of the Somali Student Association, is worried about his family’s safety. His uncle lived in Las Ahanov, Somalia, one of the regions where the conflict started before moving south to Bohol, where his dad lives.
“It’s affecting me in the sense of thinking about my family’s safety,” Hassan said. “Hopefully things get better.”
Freda Payne, the co-president of the African Student Association, said her friends are worried about being perceived the wrong way. Payne has friends from both Ethiopia and Somalia and is worried about how the conflict could create tensions here.
“It’s not affecting them day-to-day but it’s like, if they consider going back to their own countries they’re more worried of how they’re going to be perceived by others,” Payne said.
For Ethiopia, the agreement is vital to its economic stability because it is a landlocked nation and gives them access to the ocean. In return, Somaliland hopes Ethiopia will recognize them as a sovereign state, not just a separate region in Somalia.
Abdimalik Shuriye, the board historian of the Somali Student Association at the University, said protests are happening in all three areas because of sovereignty disputes and lack of communication.
“It would be like if another country was dealing with Minnesota instead of dealing with the United States,” Shuriye said.
President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said this agreement bypasses their federal government and threatens their nation’s integrity, reported Al Jazeera news.
Mohamud said Somalia is prepared to go to war with Ethiopia and has declared the agreement void, reported The Guardian. Ethiopia and Somalia have had ongoing tensions after their conflict in 1977-78 about a disputed region.
Hassan points out the majority of Somalia’s population is young and feeling the effects of the past generation’s actions.
“Most of the Somalis on Earth are younger than the age of 30, meaning they didn’t even know the start of the civil war,” Hassan said. “It’s something that affects them that the past generation has done.”
It is unlikely Somalia will initiate an attack, though the agreement could increase longstanding tensions, according to The Guardian. East African students hope the two nations will focus on peace moving forward.
“People need to focus on peace,” Shuriye said. “I feel like it’s just gonna hopefully all come out peacefully.” By Katrina Bailey & Alexandria DeYoe, Minnesota Daily
Al-Burhan (R) in a meeting with the military command in Omdurman on February 7, 2024
February 8, 2024 (OMDURMAN) – Lt Gen Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, head of the Transitional Sovereign Council and the army commander in chief, visited the Omdurman military command on Wednesday evening to assess ongoing operations.
During his visit, al-Burhan met with Lieutenant General Yasir al-Atta, a member of the ruling Sovereign Council and his military assistant as well as the command members.
A statement released early Thursday morning confirmed that al-Burhan received updates from the Mobile Command on operational progress. He also toured military and civilian sites and interacted with citizens.
Al-Burhan emphasized the Armed Forces’ dedication to supporting families of fallen soldiers, missing individuals, and injured personnel, both military and civilian, said the military media.
He declared the unity of the armed forces and the people in “eradicating the rebel militia and its mercenaries.”
The military media, also, released a silent video showing al-Burhan meeting senior military officials.
This visit comes as preparations intensify for new military actions in Khartoum State.
Sudanese forces have recently regained control of Omdurman, though elements of the Rapid Support Forces remain entrenched in the besieged radio and television building. (ST)
Kevin Kinyanjui Kangethe who allegedly killed a girlfriend in the US is handcuffed at a Milimani court on January 31, 2024. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]
Kevin Kang’ethe, the man accused of murdering his girlfriend and later dumping her body in a car at an airport in Boston, US, has escaped from Muthaiga Police Station in Nairobi under unclear circumstances.
Police say Kang’ethe who was to be extradited to the U.S. to face first-degree murder charges escaped custody on Wednesday, February 7 at around 7:30 pm and later managed to jump onto a waiting matatu.
“He was talking to his lawyer at the station and within a few minutes, managed to escape by boarding a matatu that had parked at the stage meters away from the police station entry,” a junior officer at the station revealed to The Standard.
The incident has been confirmed by Nairobi Police boss Adamson Bungei who also visited the station and ordered the arrest of the four officers who were on duty when the incident occurred.
“We have the four officers in custody plus the suspect’s lawyer; we will brief the press later today on the developments,” Bungei stated.
Kang’ethe who had been on the run for three months before his arrest, was held at the station awaiting a ruling on whether Kenya will extradite him to the US to face the murder charges of Margaret Mbitu who was brutally killed on October 31, 2023. By Mate Tongola and Kamore Maina , The Standard
The African Development Bank (AfDB) will provide $540 million in support to Nigeria for agricultural development.
AfDB spokesperson Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka said in a press release that the bank will allocate the funds to seven states to initiate the development of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs).
Oyelaran-Oyeyinka noted that the SAPZs project aims to transform rural areas into economic hubs by harnessing their commercial agriculture and food processing potential.
Noting that the primary objective of the AfDB is to support inclusive and sustainable agricultural-industrial development in Nigeria, Oyelaran-Oyeyinka said the funding will assist the country in combating food insecurity. *Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul, Anadolu Agency
Acare company serving NHS patients has been charging migrant workers from Africa thousands of pounds to work in the UK when the cost of a visa is only a few hundred pounds, the Guardian has learned.
Care workers from Zimbabwe were told to pay the sums to Gloriavd Health Care Ltd in return for arranging social care jobs in and around Leeds and Bath.
They also claimed they were given far less paid work than they had been led to expect, were housed in overcrowded rooms and faced a threat that their conduct could be reported to the Home Office, leading them to fear deportation if they complained.
One woman alleged she sold her home in rural South Africa to pay £6,500 in fees to the company operated by Gloria Van Dunem only to find she and her colleagues had so little work they had to rely on food banks.
“She took all that I had,” said Winnet Mushaninga, 40, a qualified care worker from Zimbabwe who has been living near Durban. “The trauma and suffering was too much. We paid a lot of money. It’s just painful.”
The allegations come after the Home Office added care workers to the UK’s shortage occupation list in 2022 to help fill 165,000 vacancies in care homes and domiciliary care. There has been rising concern about the exploitation of the immigration route by some social care and employment agencies.
Mushaninga told the Guardian she was recruited directly from Africa by Gloriavd and understood the fee would cover the cost of the visa and the certificate of sponsorship as well as two months’ accommodation and access to a full-time job. The Guardian has seen evidence of bank transfers on her behalf to the company’s bank account totalling £5,500.
But on arrival in Britain last April, Mushaninga alleged she had to live squeezed four to a room with mattresses on the floor, earned just £20 a day, and ended up feeding herself from a church food bank.
The Home Office charges no more than £551 for a visa for care workers and the cost of a sponsor licence for a small company to bring in foreign care workers is £536.
Gloriavd Health Care Ltd was set up by Gloria Van Dunem in 2020 and is registered with the Care Quality Commission, which rates it as “requires improvement”. The NHS Integrated Care Board in Leeds said it has awarded the firm two consecutive contracts making it an approved provider to deliver care in people’s homes.
Mushaninga is among several care workers in Yorkshire being supported by the Leeds branch of Acorn, a community union that is running a Carers Fight Back campaign “not only to win back justice, compensation and job security for our members that have worked for Gloriavd, but for every worker across the UK that is experiencing this injustice,” said Rohan Prasad-Weitz, branch secretary.
Van Dunem’s lawyer told the Guardian “she did not accept money from care workers in exchange for facilitating their relocation to the UK”.
“No money was taken by our client for the immigration skill charge and for assigning certificates of sponsorship from the employees,” the lawyer said, adding they had seen evidence that the matters put to their client were “wholly inaccurate” and lacked “any basis in truth”.
In correspondence seen by the Guardian, Van Dunem apparently told another worker she needed to pay £2,900 and she required no less than half of that “before we would be able to issue the sponsorship visa, the official job offer and all other supporting documentation”.
An offer of employment letter from Van Dunem, also seen by the Guardian, said “you will be working 39.0 a week and salary will be £20,480 gross per annum … Accommodation and maintenance will be provided”.
Mushaninga alleged that on arrival, she found she was only allocated two hours of paid work a day over four 30-minute visits spread out from 7am to 8.30pm – no more than £100 a week.
She claims that she and her fellow care workers would wait for hours for their next appointments in parks and bus stations.
On occasion they got soaked in the rain. They didn’t have a car so travelled by bus between appointments. “We ended up going to food banks”.
Shelly Roe, the granddaughter of another client, told the Guardian “there were quite a few red flags” about the care workers the agency sent out to her grandfather’s home in a Leeds suburb.
“They were walking,” she recalled. “They said they had driving licences but they didn’t drive. They were catching buses. But they were polite, well-trusted and very good.”
Mushaninga said she challenged Van Dunem about the quality of the accommodation saying it was not appropriate for adult living. But “she would say: ‘I will just call the Home Office and they will deport you back home.’ She knew I had nowhere to stay back home, so she knew I would keep quiet.”
A WhatsApp message to workers from Van Dunem’s number seen by the Guardian stated: “As per Monday, Gloriavd will be starting reporting to the home office every activity for all workers. I will [be] reporting shift cancel, working for another company …holidays, absence, not attending training, company trying to reach out for work not responding, refusing to assign documents such as tenancy agreements”.
The range of issues appears to extend beyond what the Home Office tells visa sponsors they need to report. Guidance lists reporting duties including when a worker is absent without permission for more than 10 consecutive working days or is absent without pay or on reduced pay for more than four weeks in a year. It says the Home Office does not need to know if a sponsored worker temporarily leaves the UK, for example, on holiday.
Van Dunem’s lawyer said: “Our client being a sponsor licensee has record-keeping and reporting duties,” and “matters such as working for another company, holidays, absences, and unauthorised absences are within the purview of reporting duties under certain circumstances.”
“In some instances, employers may report their sponsored migrant’s circumstances to the Home Office as part of best practice,” the lawyer said and that “should not be construed as a threat of deportation”.
Another Zimbabwean, Benedict Musavengan, 36, told the Guardian he came to work for Gloriavd in January 2023 after paying £1,700 in fees. He said he was assigned only a few hours and was accommodated four to a room in a flat above a takeaway in Beeston, which didn’t have heating.
He was not able to provide documentary evidence for his claims, but said: “It was so, so cold. There was no cooking stove. There was no washing machine. There was no work for us.”
“The way she treated me hurt me a lot,” he said. “It put me in a bad place. My family was expecting me to send something to them. I have a wife and kids … My hope was to work for five years, create something back home so I could sustain myself and my family.” By Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent, Guardian
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