Day: November 13, 2022

Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. It is estimated that environmental factors take the lives of around 13 million people every year. Global warming is influencing weather patterns, causing heat waves, heavy rainfall and droughts.

The Greater Horn of Africa is facing an unprecedented, acute hunger and health crisis driven by climate change, and compounded by conflict and economic shocks. Forty-seven million people in that region are now experiencing high levels of malnutrition or worse – up from 31 million – and more will go hungry as the drought affecting parts of the Region is expected to continue. Malnourished people become more easily sick, and sick people become more easily malnourished.

Climate change is also a major aggravating factor for infectious diseases like cholera and dengue fever. Disease outbreaks are surging in the Greater Horn of Africa, escalating the health emergency. The impact of outbreaks of infectious diseases during emergencies is multiplied, especially when combined with low vaccination coverage and poor access to health services.

WHO and partners are on the ground, ensuring access to basic health services, providing treatment for severe malnutrition, and helping countries detect, prevent and respond to disease outbreaks.

Source: World Health Organization

This sentiment resonated in dozens of pavilions and conference rooms in Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday, as COP27 turned its attention to the vital issue of adaptation, agriculture and food systems in the context of climate change.

“We need to help rural populations build their resilience to extreme weather events and adapt to a changing climate. If not, we just go from one crisis to the next. Small farmers work hard to produce food for us in harsh conditions,” said Sabrina Dhowre Elba, Goodwill Ambassador for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), during a press conference.

As a Somali woman, Dhowre Elba indicated that this problem was personal: when COP27 began, her country had experienced four consecutive unsuccessful rainy seasons, a climate event not seen in 40 years.

“I cannot sit idly by while mothers, families and farmers suffer in the Horn of Africa, which is experiencing the most severe drought in its recent history,” he explained, urging developed countries to mobilize political will and investment.

“Trillions of dollars have been made available to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. The same is needed for climate change. The same is needed for support of sustainable agriculture. It is crucial for well-being and everyone’s food security,” he added.

Funds for adaptation must be delivered

Dina Saleh, IFAD’s regional director, warned that failing to help rural populations adapt could have dangerous consequences, leading to more poverty, migration and conflict.

“That is why today we are calling on world leaders from developed nations to honor their commitment to provide $100 billion a year in climate finance to developing nations and channel half of that amount to climate adaptation.” he underlined, recalling that this commitment was assumed thirteen years ago and has not yet materialized.

Saleh pointed out that there is a “narrow window” to help the rural poor survive and protect their communities, and that crop yields could be reduced by up to 50% by the end of the century.

“The choice is between adapting or starving,” he said, calling for COP27 to translate into action, credibility and justice for the invisible and the silent.

The importance of investing in innovation

While the agriculture and food sector is deeply affected by climate change, it also contributes about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, from production to consumption, said Zitouni Ould-Dada, deputy director of the FAO Climate and Environment Division , urging the transformation of agri-food systems.

“We cannot continue with the current model of producing food and then degrading the soil, reducing biodiversity, affecting the environment. No. The model to follow must be sustainable,” he said.

The expert argued that if the right decisions are made, agriculture can be an important part of the solution to combat the climate crisis by sequestering carbon in soil and plants, and promoting adaptation and resilience.

“We cannot produce the food to feed a growing population with the current model, with the threat of climate change. We cannot,” he insisted.

The first thing the world should address, he added, is food waste, responsible for 8% of global gas emissions.

“We have about 828 million people who go hungry every day. And yet, we throw away a third of the food we produce for human consumption. We need to change our mentality, our production model, so as not to lose and waste food” , he stressed.

He added that in terms of solutions, harnessing the power of innovation is crucial to reducing emissions, helping to adapt agriculture to a changing climate and making it more resilient to adversities not only caused by climate change, but also by pandemics or wars. .

“Innovation in the broadest sense, like precision agriculture, where you have drip irrigation combined with renewable energy so that you have efficiency. But innovation that taps into the traditional knowledge of small farmers is also important, because it’s happening all the time.” Ould-Dada emphasized.

Civil society calls for financial and economic transformation

UN representatives were not the only ones to highlight the need for countries to invest in transformation and deliver on their pledge to finance climate action.

A massive protest led by a coalition of environmental, women’s, indigenous, youth and trade union organizations took to the roads between the COP27 pavilions.

“The right to territories, the right to resources, human rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, loss and damage must be in all the negotiating texts… the 1.5ºC limit increase is not negotiable, that’s what we stand for here,” said Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, a Chadian environmentalist and advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals .

The activist stated that her people are dying from floods and droughts, while some indigenous communities in the Pacific are losing their land.

“We want to have justice. Justice for our people, for our economies for losses and damages. We are losing our culture, our identity, our life, and that is not paid for, but climate financing must be delivered,” he shouted in the midst of hundreds of protesters.

Source: UN News Service

Bayt al-Maqdis, one of the media interfaces of Al-Qaeda, published on October 17, 2022, a new book entitled “Fighting is Now: Messages of War to the Mujahidin in Sudan.”

“These are messages of war that I send to the Mujahideen in Sudan, because it is a legitimate obligation for us to fight for the sake of the religion so that the word of unbelievers is lowered to the depths, and the word of Allah is exalted to the heights,” said the author, Sheikh Abu Hudhayfa Al-Sudani, in the introduction to his publication, which is focused on Sudan.

Why does it matter?

The publication incited jihad against the Sudanese government, and the establishment of combat jihadist formations, that would declare war on “the tyrannical regime and puppet government in Khartoum.”

What is the basis of his call?

Abu Hudhayfa al-Sudani claims that “monotheism is the whole religion, and it is a comprehensive system of life, but it is only achievable through fighting for the sake of Allah, to take over the rule from the tyrants who altered God’s law and return it to the people of monotheism.

Proposed mechanisms

The author called on the jihadists in Sudan to “comply with the minimum duty that they cannot shirk, which is the acquisition of arms, the storage of sufficient ammunition, training and preparation until God authorizes the emergence of the ‘blessed group’ under whose banner they fight.”

Who is Abu Hudhayfa?

According to available data, Abu Hudhayfa Al-Sudani embraced the jihadist ideology a long time ago, before joining al-Qaeda international terrorist network in Afghanistan under the leadership of “Osama bin Laden”.

Abu Hudhayfa travelled several times between Arabian and Middle Eastern countries to carry out terrorist attacks. He flew north to Iraq and Pakistan, and then returned back to Khartoum where he was detained and extradited to Saudi Arabia, where he had been sentenced to prison.

A decade later, after his release, he left for Syria and joined one of al-Qaeda’s groups there.

Al-Sudani’s latest book “Fighting is Now” is the 4th one in his series, following his books: “On the Edge of the Sword, “Thoughts of a Prisoner” and “The Forgotten Prince.”

A new approach

“Fighting is now” diagnoses the needs of the organization in Sudan by studying the situation on the ground, and concludes that:

There is a need for a strategic and smart mindset.

designing a conflict strategy.

Studying the military and political abilities of (the Mujahideen) and their capabilities.

The writer shows his optimism for action, as he points out that “Sudan has met the objective conditions for a successful guerrilla war since it is a vast country with diverse terrain and climates of mountains, forests, deserts, that allow movement and manoeuvre easier”.

The author proposes three practical methods to manage guerilla tactics in preparation for advanced stages:

Hit and run phase.

Balancing phase

Decisiveness and empowerment phase.

“Each stage has its corresponding military, political and media tools and the appropriate formations and structure in structure and organization,” he says. Abu Hudhayfa wrote.

According to his vision, it is necessary to establish rear bases in the mountains and forests, with urban groups that operate within cities in the form of cluster cells that carry out special attacks and missions under the command of an intelligent leader.

Why al-Qaeda has no presence in Sudan?

The author asserts: “Jihad requires a vanguard organization, an entity that unites the (jihadists), uses their capabilities and coordinates their efforts, to be the spearhead when fighting the enemy.”

Such a statement means that there is no al–Qaeda-affiliated group in Sudan, so the organization seeks to recruit Sudanese and establish a presence strong presence in the country particularly after the failure of an attempt by the Somali al-Shabab to control territory in Ethiopia last July before to move to Sudan.

The ousted Islamist regime in Khartoum hosted Osama bin Laden, and Carlos the jackal and turned the country into a safe haven for Islamist groups in the early 90s. However, under international pressure, the al-Bashir government had to review its policies and ended this embarrassing relationship.

U.S. intelligence officials confirmed that Sudan has provided accurate, important, useful, and current information about the terrorist groups. The latter also avoided started to avoid Khartoum.

“In Sudan, there is no al-Qaeda or ISIS organization like the case in Iraq, Somalia and Yemen”, said a private source and a researcher in the organizational and strategic thought of terrorist movements, who spoke to Sudan Tribune under the cover of anonymity.

” Sudanese extremist groups at home have remained inconsistent and not connected to each other. They only migrated and joined the Organization abroad,” the source added.

Political analysts point out that terrorist organizations take advantage of the political instability, or the collapse of the state or the army, such as what happened in Mali, Libya or Somalia.

“In Sudan, the state is still cohesive, and the military and intelligence can combat any expansion of such organizations”, said Osama Elias, a political analyst.

Unsuitable environment for terror groups

The prevailing patterns of religiosity in Sudan prevent the emergence and spread of terrorist organizations on its territory, no matter how severe the political and security crises, believe researchers.

“These jihadist groups have no social or ideological incubator here, as the Sudanese religious mood tends to Sufi religiosity and derives its culture from it,” said a researcher in Islamic Thought and Professor at Sudanese Universities Mohammed Almajzoub Saleh.

“Moreover, the general intellectual space in which Islamist movements take place in Sudan is characterized by a belief in freedom and tends to prioritize dialogue. So, such (extremist) calls will not find an intellectual incubator for them in Sudan,” Saleh added.

Moody criticism

Religious extremism experts say that jihadist groups issue moody judgments that are not based on fixed criteria, pointing out that in his recent book Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani celebrated the statement of the Union of Scholars, Imams and Preachers against the Burhan – al-Hilu agreement on the separation of religion from the state, despite his strong disagreement with them. In the same vein, he attacked the same Islamist current, saying: “Those delusional members of the so-called broad Islamic current did not understand the essence of the Islamic State. They are a current that lost its compass.”

For his part, Mohamed Majzoub stresses that this is the rule in extremist organizations. “They begin with the takfir – declaring a Muslim a disbeliever – and enmity with those around them. This is the nature of the extremist discourse.”Al-Majzoub adds that there is another dimension to the emergence of these jihadist movements. He adds that Sudan’s political turmoil is not enough to pave the way for the spread of terrorist organizations, according to Abu Hudhaifa’s vision. He goes on to say that these organizations are not a product of internal conditions, but rather a creation of external hands, but in the end, they remain a strange phenomenon separate from Sudanese society with all its religious tolerance and Sufi sects.

Source: Sudan Tribune