Protests erupt in Brazil after supermarket security guards beat Black man to death

Issued on: 21/11/2020 - 

Brazilian police clash with demonstrators outside a Carrefour supermarket, where a black man was beaten to death by security guards, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on November 20, 2020. © Silvio Avila, AFP

Text by:NEWS WIRES|

Video by:Erin Ogunkeye

The death of a black man beaten by white security guards at a supermarket sparked protests across Brazil Friday as the country celebrated Black Consciousness Day.

A video of Thursday night's incident in the southern city of Porto Alegre captured on a witness's mobile phone was broadcast on social networks and Brazilian media.

As the clip went viral, around 1,000 protesters in Sao Paulo marched to a branch of the French-owned Carrefour supermarket chain and stoned the glass storefront before storming the premises, trashing and burning goods, according to an AFP photographer on the scene.

"Carrefour's hands are dirty with black blood," read one banner held up by demonstrators.

Carrefour de Sao Paulo
pic.twitter.com/jYpp23b67l— Rene Silva (@eurenesilva) November 20, 2020

Police in Porto Alegre used tear gas and flash bang grenades to disperse a protest that had formed in front of the supermarket where the death occurred, according to local television


Protests also broke out in the capital Brasilia, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, where a crowd picketed a Carrefour supermarket to prevent customers from reaching the checkouts.

"Carrefour can close, it has killed our brother, it will not work!" chanted dozens of young people carrying banners and masks with the slogan "Black Lives Matter".

The video on social media shows 40-year-old welder Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas repeatedly being punched in the face and head by a security guard while he is being restrained by another at the supermarket.

A woman stands beside them, filming with her mobile phone.

The military police in Rio Grande do Sul state said the man had threatened a female worker at the supermarket, who called security.

Silveira Freitas lost consciousness during the assault and died on the spot as medics tried to revive him.

'Could not breathe'

A friend of the victim who witnessed the beating told G1 news that as the security guards were hitting him, Silveira Freitas "screamed that he could not breathe," a scene reminiscent of the death of George Floyd, a black man who suffocated beneath the knee of a white US police in Minneapolis last May.

That killing sparked massive protests across the United States.

#USCitizens: Demonstrations against the Carrefour store chain have been reported throughout Brazil after a man was killed by security guards at a Carrefour in Porto Alegre. For your safety, avoid Carrefour locations while protests are ongoing. Monitor local media for updates. pic.twitter.com/qi1VhbgN8z— Embaixada EUA Brasil (@EmbaixadaEUA) November 21, 2020

Both the supermarket security guards were arrested. One of them was identified as a member of the military police who worked part-time at the supermarket.

In a statement, Carrefour's Brazilian subsidiary deplored the "brutal death" of Silveira Freitas and promised to take "appropriate measures to hold accountable those involved in this criminal case."

Carrefour said it would cut ties with the security company that employed the guards.

In a series of tweets in Portuguese, the French head of Carrefour, Alexandre Bompard, expressed his condolences and said the images posted on social media were "unacceptable."

Em primeiro lugar, gostaria de expressar meus profundos sentimentos, após a morte do senhor João Alberto Silveira Freitas. As imagens postadas nas redes sociais são insuportáveis.— Alexandre Bompard (@bompard) November 20, 2020

"Internal measures have immediately been implemented by the Carrefour Group Brazil, principally on the question of security company contracts. These measures are insufficient. My values, and the values of Carrefour, do not allow for racism and violence," he wrote, calling for a complete review of employee training, diversity and intolerance.

Structural racism

The killing sparked outrage on social networks and overshadowed Brazil's Black Consciousness Day, a holiday in several states.

"From one November 20 to another, and every day, the racist structure of this country brings us brutality as a rule," social activist Raull Santiago said on Twitter.

"It seems that we have no way out... not even on Black Consciousness Day," Brazil international footballer Richarlison said.

"In fact, what conscience? They killed a black man, beaten in front of the cameras. They beat him and filmed. Decency and shame have been lost to violence and hatred," the Everton player said on Twitter.

In Brazil, the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery -- in 1888 -- around 55 percent of the population of 212 million identifies as black or mixed-race.

Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro had not commented directly on the death late Friday, but tweeted that the country's problems "go beyond racial issues" and that the "great evil" of Brazil continues to be "moral, social and political corruption."

- O Brasil tem uma cultura diversa, única entre as nações. Somos um povo miscigenado. Brancos, negros, pardos e índios compõem o corpo e o espírito de um povo rico e maravilhoso. Em uma única família brasileira podemos contemplar uma diversidade maior do que países inteiros.— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) November 21, 2020

"As president, I am colorblind: everyone is the same color. There is no one color [of skin] better than the others. There are good men and bad men," added Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro's vice president Hamilton Mourao called the killing "regrettable."

Mourao said it was the work of "a security agent unprepared for the work" and denied that it was a racist act.

"For me, in Brazil, there is no racism. That is something that they want to import here to Brazil. That does not exist here," said Mourao.

Philosopher Djamila Ribeiro, one of the most influential voices in the fight against racism in Brazil, told AFP that "the naturalization and justification of the death of black people as a result of violence is present in political, legal, business and media discourses."

(AFP)

Rape, abuses in palm oil fields linked to top beauty brands


By MARGIE MASON and ROBIN McDOWELL today

SUMATRA, Indonesia (AP) — With his hand clamped tightly over her mouth, she could not scream, the 16-year-old girl recalls – and no one was around to hear her anyway. She describes how her boss raped her amid the tall trees on an Indonesian palm oil plantation that feeds into some of the world’s best-known cosmetic brands. He then put an ax to her throat and warned her: Do not tell.

At another plantation, a woman named Ola complains of fevers, coughing and nose bleeds after years of spraying dangerous pesticides with no protective gear. Making just $2 a day, with no health benefits, she can’t afford to see a doctor.

Hundreds of miles away, Ita, a young wife, mourns the two babies she lost in the third trimester. She regularly lugged loads several times her weight throughout both pregnancies, fearing she would be fired if she did not.

These are the invisible women of the palm oil industry, among the millions of daughters, mothers and grandmothers who toil on vast plantations across Indonesia and neighboring Malaysia, which together produce 85 percent of the world’s most versatile vegetable oil.

Palm oil is found in everything from potato chips and pills to pet food, and also ends up in the supply chains of some of the biggest names in the $530 billion beauty business, including L’Oréal, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Avon and Johnson & Johnson, helping women around the world feel pampered and beautiful.


This combination of November 2020 photos shows the hands of five generations of women from a family that has worked on the same palm oil plantation since the early 1900s, ranging in age from 6 to 102. They each hold products made by iconic Western companies that source palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia. (AP Photo)



The Associated Press conducted the first comprehensive investigation focusing on the brutal treatment of women in the production of palm oil, including the hidden scourge of sexual abuse, ranging from verbal harassment and threats to rape. It’s part of a larger in-depth look at the industry that exposed widespread abuses in the two countries, including human trafficking, child labor and outright slavery.

Women are burdened with some of the industry’s most difficult and dangerous jobs, spending hours waist-deep in water tainted by chemical runoff and carrying loads so heavy that, over time, their wombs can collapse and protrude. Many are hired by subcontractors on a day-to-day basis without benefits, performing the same jobs for the same companies for years – even decades. They often work without pay to help their husbands meet otherwise impossible daily quotas.

“Almost every plantation has problems related to labor,” said Hotler Parsaoran of the Indonesian nonprofit group Sawit Watch, which has conducted extensive investigations into abuses in the palm oil sector. “But the conditions of female workers are far worse than men.”

Parsaoran said it’s the responsibility of governments, growers, big multinational buyers and banks that help finance plantation expansion to tackle issues related to palm oil, which is listed under more than 200 ingredient names and contained in nearly three out of four personal-care products – everything from mascara and bubble bath to anti-wrinkle creams.

The AP interviewed more than three dozen women and girls from at least 12 companies across Indonesia and Malaysia. Because previous reports have resulted in retaliation against workers, they are being identified only by partial names or nicknames. They met with female AP reporters secretly within their barracks or at hotels, coffee shops or churches, sometimes late at night, usually with no men present so they could speak openly.

A casual worker removes floating aquatic plants from a canal in a palm oil plantation in Sumatra, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

Female workers carry heavy loads of fertilizer at a palm oil plantation in Sumatra, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)


The Malaysian government said it had received no reports about rapes on plantations, but Indonesia acknowledged physical and sexual abuse appears to be a growing problem, with most victims afraid to speak out. Still, the AP was able to corroborate a number of the women’s stories by reviewing police reports, legal documents, complaints filed with union representatives and local media accounts.

Reporters also interviewed nearly 200 other workers, activists, government officials and lawyers, including some who helped trapped girls and women escape, who confirmed that abuses regularly occur.

___

This story was funded in part by the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at CUNY’s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism

FEATURE LONG READ

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE https://tinyurl.com/y3ywj8j6

TRIFECTA

After malaria and covid, British man survives cobra bite in India

Issued on: 21/11/2020 -

An Indian snake-catcher extracts venom from a cobra. Snake bites are common in rural areas ARUN SANKAR AFP/File

New Delhi (AFP)

A British charity worker who survived coronavirus, dengue and malaria was recovering after a potentially deadly snake bite in western India's Rajasthan state.

Ian Jones was bitten by an Indian cobra in rural Jodhpur district of the desert state and admitted to hospital in Jodhpur city, about 350 kilometres (220 miles) from the regional capital Jaipur.

"Jones came to us last week after a snake bite in a village in the region. Initially it was suspected that he is also Covid-19 positive (for the second time) but he tested negative for that," doctor Abhishek Tater, who treated him at the local Medipulse Hospital, told AFP on Saturday.

"While with us, he was conscious and had snake bite symptoms including blurring of vision and difficulty to walk, but these are generally transient symptoms," Tater added.

Jones was discharged earlier in the week. "We feel that there won't be any long term effects. If he hasn't already improved, he'd do so within next few days," the doctor added.

He said snake bites were not uncommon in the rural parts of the region.

"Dad is a fighter, during his time out in India he had already suffered from malaria and dengue fever before Covid-19," his son, Seb Jones, said in a statement on a GoFundMe page set up to help pay his medical bills and travel back to the Isle of Wight in southern England.

"He had not been able to travel home due to the pandemic and as a family we understood his desire to continue to support the many people who relied on him," he added.

Jones works with traditional craftsmen in Rajasthan and through his charity-backed social enterprise, Sabirian, helps import their goods into Britain to help them escape poverty.

© 2020 AFP

Remains of two victims of 79 AD volcanic eruption unearthed at Pompeii



Issued on: 21/11/2020 - 

The remains of the two men, believed to have been a master and servant 

Handout POMPEI ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK/AFP

Pompeii (Italy) (AFP)

The remains of two victims of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago have been unearthed at a grand villa on the fringes of Pompeii, officials at the archaeological site said Saturday.

"Two skeletons of individuals caught in the fury of the eruption have been found," the officials at the Italian site near Naples said in a statement.

The researchers believe the figures are those of a young slave and a richer older man, around 40 and presumed to be his owner, based on the vestiges of clothing and their physical appearance.

The ruined city of Pompeii was submerged in ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It is now Italy's second-most visited tourist attraction after Rome's Colosseum, receiving nearly 4 million visits last year.

The massive site that spreads over 44-hectares (110-acres) is what remains of one of one the richest cities in the Roman empire. Layers of ash buried many buildings and objects in a nearly pristine state, including curled-up corpses of victims.

After the latest human remains were uncovered, the bones were analysed and then plaster was poured in, a technique invented by Giuseppe Fiorelli in 1867.

This creates a plaster cast which shows the shapes of the bodies of the two victims, in a supine position, where they fell.

The two skeletons were found, during ongoing excavations at Civita Giuliana, around 700 metres northwest of Pompeii, at a villa overlooking the Bay of Naples where previously a stable and the remains of three harnessed horses had been found.

The two bodies were found in a side room of the "cryptoporticus" a corridor below the villa where the could have gone to seek shelter.

While excavations continue at the Pompeii site, tourism has stopped due to coronavirus measures.

© 2020 AFP

 

ALBERTA Contact tracing is broken and it’s the canary in the coal mine Your weekly update on Alberta politics for November 17, 2020 on the web at theprogressreport.ca/progress_report_242 Dr. Hinshaw told us on November 5th that contact tracers would now only be contacting people in “high priority settings.” Only the close contacts of health care workers, minors, and individuals who live or work within communal facilities (like long term care homes) would be notified that they had been exposed to COVID-19 and that they should self-quarantine. People sick with COVID in a non-priority setting were now expected to now do all of this on their own.  Alberta’s team of contact tracers had worked diligently since March to do the epidemiological shoe-leather investigative work of finding out who COVID infected people had been in contact with and where, logging that information and contacting those people. Keeping track of who has COVID and where they’ve spread it has been the primary tactic used by every country and jurisdiction that has had any success against this bug.  Yet an incredible 86 per cent of reported cases between Nov. 6 and 12 had an unknown source of suspected transmission. In Alberta, we’re flying blind. One contact tracer we spoke with even told us he was working on two-week old files.  On Nov. 12 Tyler Shandro said that Alberta has posted 425 new positions to the contact tracing team. There are 22 positions posted on the Alberta Health Services careers website that have “COVID-19 contact tracing” in the job description. Even if 400 some contact tracers were hired tomorrow it would still take 3-5 weeks at minimum for them to get their police checks completed, get their training and be on the phones.  “AHS and Shandro don’t want to admit that this has taken a toll on us, the contact tracers. We get threats, we get treated terribly,” said a contact tracer who wishes to remain anonymous.  The ratio of good to bad calls is about 80/20. “But the 20 per cent sometimes take it very personally.” “There is so much hostility to the government here it’s not like Jason Kenney is making calls. He wouldn’t last 5 minutes on the phone,” said the contact tracer.   That’s just the manual side. On the digital side of things, the Premier continues to refuse the federal COVID tracking app, and is stubbornly keeping the province on its own proprietary version – a version that hasn’t been working since he hastily dumped a pile of money on consultants to avoid collaborating with hated foe Justin Trudeau months ago. The Globe and Mail just revealed that the province’s app, ABTraceTogether, has identified only 70 close contacts in 19 cases since it launched in May. This means the app traced contacts in about 0.05 per cent of cases since it launched.  I’ll leave you with the words of Dr. Carrie Kollias, a Canadian doctor living in Melbourne, Australia, a place that’s nearly eradicated COVID-19 after a successful lockdown. “Once you have overwhelmed contact tracing capabilities, the horse has bolted from the barn.” It doesn’t have to be like this. Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, China have all done a far better job at containing COVID than we have. But on all sides it seems our Premier is constrained by problems of his own making – ideologically the conservatives refuse any of the real policy measures, like paid sick leave or a circuit breaker lockdown, that would help. Working with the federal government would require cooperating with Trudeau, and Kenney can’t have that, and most importantly, he has just too much of an ego to admit that his administration’s approach has been lazy and negligent. Thanks to that negligence we’re entering a terrifying phase in the pandemic. COVID is still here, it’s spreading faster than ever, our hospital capacity is being overwhelmed and our best tool, contact tracing, is broken.  Sundries Good news though! Jason Kenney’s government has cut thousands, nay hundreds of thousands of red tapes. Congratulations to the red tape cutting team, you never stopped cutting. This is a very important metric that is not at all made up.  Alberta ICU admissions could double in 2 weeks, leaked AHS email says.  Shades of Colour sent an open letter to the Hope Mission about a very important issue that we republished, The latest UCP anti-labour bill means a crueler world for sick and injured workers and even more power for the boss, writes Ryan Wright for The Progress Report. Arguments that the chief medical officer of health is being held back by Kenney aren’t right: Dr. Hinshaw has an incredible amount of power to curb the spread of COVID. She is choosing not to use it.  Thanks to a new bill passed by the UCP we can now depend on your ability to be farmed for plasma by literal blood sucking corporations in order to survive.  That's all for this week. Please share our newsletter with any friends or family who better information about what's going on in Alberta that what you'll usually get.    http://www.progressalberta.ca/

 

Producers need immediate action on BC’s meat processing crisis   The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a meat processing crisis in BC. Abattoirs are critical for small-scale livestock producers, but provincial policy and regulatory structures currently prevent them from meeting the high demand for local, sustainable, and niche meat products. The critical shortfall in abattoir and cut/wrap capacity is making it impossible for farmers to provide consumers with the meat they want, even in these times of heightened concern about food sovereignty. Today, Monday, November 16, the National Farmers Union (NFU) submitted its report, “A vibrant small-scale meat industry for British Columbians: NFU recommendations to BC Ministry of Agriculture”, in response to the BC Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) Intentions Paper on “Rural Slaughter Modernization.” The NFU outlines the current crisis and proposes a path forward. Over 13 organizations have joined with the NFU in urging the Ministry to take immediate and meaningful action to ensure a vibrant and resilient meat sector in BC. The BC Chamber of Commerce, David Suzuki, BC Farmers Markets, FarmFolk CityFolk, Small-Scale Meat Producers Association, and several food policy councils were among those to sign onto a letter endorsing the NFU report. “Resolving the meat-processing crisis in BC will determine whether I can pursue livestock farming in the long-term. As a young farmer, it is very encouraging to see the MoA tackling this complex situation. I hope that the MoA will immediately take meaningful action,” said Freya Kellet (23), NFU BC Climate Coordinator. “Many producers are unable to harvest their animals this fall and this puts their direct-to-consumer business model at risk. Farmers, agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders are telling me that a place-based meat system is integral to the food security of British Columbians, rural economic and community development, animal welfare, COVID-19 recovery, as well as for mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis.” When COVID-19 spread in Canada’s big processing plants, it exposed the vulnerability of a concentrated meat industry and disrupted the national beef and hog market for producers and consumers. At the same time, consumer demand for local meat greatly increased. Although COVID-19 has created an unprecedented opportunity for many farmers and ranchers in BC to grow their business, and contribute to their local economies and food security, these opportunities will be lost without access to slaughter and processing services in all regions. “We hope this issue will be a central focus in the upcoming Ministerial mandate, and that concrete details and timelines will follow. NFU members and the many organizations and people who have signed-on to our letter, are willing to step forward to participate in task forces, committees, and other engagement processes to ensure that the voices of farmers are heard and that any modernization leads to a more resilient, climate-friendly, financially-prosperous meat sector in BC.” concluded Kellet.   Organizations/People in Support: FarmFolk CityFolk David Suzuki BC Chamber of Commerce BC Association of Farmers Markets Small-Scale Meat Producers Association Certified Organic Associations of BC BC Goat Association Kent Mullinx, Director, Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, Kwantlen Polytechnic University Vancouver Farmers’ Markets Kamloops Food Policy Council Central Kootenay Food Policy Council Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable South Island Prosperity Partnership

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M
Amazon opens online pharmacy, shaking up another industry

By JOSEPH PISANI and TOM MURPHY

FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2020 file photo, an Amazon logo appears on an Amazon delivery van, in Boston. Amazon opened an online pharmacy Tuesday, Nov. 17 giving shoppers the chance to buy their medication and order refills on their phones and computers and have it delivered to their doorsteps in a couple of days. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Now at Amazon.com: insulin and inhalers.

The retail colossus opened an online pharmacy Tuesday that allows customers to order medication or prescription refills, and have them delivered to their front door in a couple of days.

The potential impact of Amazon’s arrival in the pharmaceutical space rippled through that sector immediately. The stocks of CVS Health Corp., Walgreens and Rite Aid all tumbled Tuesday.

The big chains rely on their pharmacies for a steady flow of shoppers who may also grab a snack or shampoo or groceries on the way out. All have upped online services and touted their abilities to deliver prescriptions and other goods as the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed more consumers to stay home. But Amazon.com has mastered these things, and its online store is infinitely larger, with millions of loyal shoppers already buying books, TVs and just about anything else.

“The news represents a disruption to the system and competitive threat that will likely shift scripts away from the retail channel,” analysts at Citi Research said in a note.

Amazon has a history of disruption. Launched in 1995 as an online book store, it pushed other booksellers to sell online. But those that couldn’t keep up went out of business, like the Borders bookstore chain, which disappeared in 2011.

Its purchase of Whole Foods three years ago sent supermarket stocks spiraling, but many have been able to hold their own against Amazon, offering home delivery and curbside pickup of groceries.




Amazon has also become a threat to shipping companies, delivering more than half of its own packages itself. Vans stamped with the Amazon logo have become as common a sight as the UPS truck.

The company said its online pharmacy will offer commonly prescribed medications in the U.S., including creams, pills, as well as medications that need to stay refrigerated, like insulin. Shoppers have to set up a profile on Amazon’s website and have their doctors send prescriptions there. It won’t ship medications that have a high risk of being abused, like some opioids.

Most insurance is accepted, Amazon said. But Prime members who don’t have insurance can also buy generic or brand name drugs from Amazon for a discount. They can also get discounts at 50,000 physical pharmacies around the country at Costco, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and other stores.

Health economist Craig Garthwaite sees several reasons Amazon may become an attractive option for patients looking to fill prescriptions.

The retailer is a known entity that many people already use. It may be able to make price shopping for prescriptions more pleasant, and it might be competitive on the pricing of generic drugs, said Garthwaite, who teaches at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Amazon’s prescription business could be appealing to the uninsured or people who have plans that make them pay a high deductible first before their coverage starts, added John Boylan, an analyst who covers Walgreens for Edward Jones.

He said Amazon’s move will mostly affect smaller drugstores that don’t have either the retail giant’s purchasing power or deals that major drugstore chains have with insurers to funnel patients to their stores for prescriptions.

Amazon has eyed the health care industry for some time. Two years ago, it spent $750 million to buy online pharmacy PillPack, which organizes medication in packets by what time and day they need to be taken.

Separately, it also has formed a venture named Haven with JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway to focus on improving the care their employees receive and managing the expense.

CVS and Walgreens, which had opened thousands of drugstores nationwide to get closer to customers, have been been trying to adjust to the rise of online shopping by offering same-day deliveries in many markets.

Walgreens also has a partnership with FedEx for a delivery service that takes a day or two. Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina told analysts in July that the company has seen “unprecedented demand” for both home delivery and online services as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded earlier this year.

Both companies also are providing more care and helping customers monitor chronic conditions like diabetes with services that can’t be delivered by competitors such as Amazon.

CVS Health also operates one of the nation’s largest health insurers — Aetna — and a big pharmacy benefit management, or PBM, business that runs prescription drug plans. Spokesman T.J. Crawford said in a statement that new pharmacy competition is no surprise, but he noted that CVS Health has evolved into “so much more” than a corner drugstore.

Amazon may continue to evolve as well, said the economist Garthwaite.

“We could think of this one day as the first step toward Amazon becoming a PBM,” he said.

Shares of CVS closed Tuesday nearly 10% lower and Walgreens shed nearly 9%. Rite Aid Corp.’s stock plunged more than 16%, while Amazon’s shares finished slightly higher.

NATO chief warns of high price if troops leave Afghanistan

TRUMPS AMERICA HAS NO ALLIES

By LORNE COOK

FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 11, 2020 file photo, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a ceremony marking the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, at NATO headquarters in Brussels. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020 that the military organization could pay a heavy price for leaving Afghanistan too early, after a U.S. official said President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw a significant number of American troops from the conflict-ravaged country in coming weeks. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, Pool, File)


BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO could pay a heavy price for leaving Afghanistan too early, its chief warned Tuesday after a U.S. official said President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw a significant number of American troops from the conflict-ravaged country in the coming weeks.

NATO has fewer than 12,000 troops from dozens of nations in Afghanistan helping to train and advise the country’s national security forces. More than half are not U.S. troops, but the 30-nation alliance relies heavily on the United States for transport, air support, logistics and other assistance. It’s unlikely that NATO could even wind down its operation without U.S. help.

“We now face a difficult decision. We have been in Afghanistan for almost 20 years, and no NATO ally wants to stay any longer than necessary. But at the same time, the price for leaving too soon or in an uncoordinated way could be very high,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement Tuesday.

He said Afghanistan still “risks becoming once again a platform for international terrorists to plan and organize attacks on our homelands. And ISIS (Islamic State) could rebuild in Afghanistan the terror caliphate it lost in Syria and Iraq.”

The U.S. decision comes just days after Trump installed a new slate of loyalists in top Pentagon positions who share his frustration with the continued troop presence in war zones. The expected plans would cut U.S. troop numbers almost in half by Jan. 15, leaving 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials said military leaders were told over the weekend about the planned withdrawal and that an executive order is in the works but has not yet been delivered to commanders.

NATO took charge of the international security effort in Afghanistan in 2003, two years after a U.S-led coalition ousted the Taliban for harboring former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. In 2014, it began to train and advise Afghan security forces, but has gradually pulled troops out in line with a U.S.-brokered peace deal.

Stoltenberg said that “even with further U.S. reductions, NATO will continue its mission to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces. We are also committed to funding them through 2024.”

NATO’s security operation in Afghanistan is its biggest and most ambitious undertaking ever. It was launched after the military alliance activated its mutual defense clause — known as Article 5 — for the first time, mobilizing all the allies in support of the United States in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

“Hundreds of thousands of troops from Europe and beyond have stood shoulder to shoulder with American troops in Afghanistan, and over 1,000 of them have paid the ultimate price,” Stoltenberg said.

“We went into Afghanistan together. And when the time is right, we should leave together in a coordinated and orderly way. I count on all NATO allies to live up to this commitment, for our own security,” he said.

The United States is by far NATO’s biggest and most influential ally. It spends more on defense than all the other countries combined. But Trump’s term in office has marked a particularly tumultuous time for the organization. He has routinely berated other leaders for not spending enough on defense, and has pulled out of security agreements that European allies and Canada consider important for their security, such as the Iran nuclear deal and the Open Skies aerial surveillance pact.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last year that NATO was suffering from “brain death,” in part due to a lack of U.S. leadership.

Stoltenberg has refrained from publicly criticizing Trump or his decisions since Trump came to power in 2016.

US Public health programs see surge in students amid pandemic

By MICHELLE R. SMITH and KATHY YOUNG

1 of 6 PHOTOS

University of Illinois student Sarah Keeley poses for a portrait on the college campus in Urbana, Ill., Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. As the coronavirus was emerging in the news in January, Keeley was working as a medical scribe and considering what to do with her biology degree. In August, she began studying to become an epidemiologist. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — As the novel coronavirus emerged in the news in January, Sarah Keeley was working as a medical scribe and considering what to do with her biology degree.

By February, as the disease crept across the U.S., Keeley found her calling: a career in public health. “This is something that’s going to be necessary,” Keeley remembered thinking. “This is something I can do. This is something I’m interested in.”

In August, Keeley began studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to become an epidemiologist.

Public health programs in the United States have seen a surge in enrollment as the coronavirus has swept through the country, killing more than 247,000 people. As state and local public health departments struggle with unprecedented challenges — slashed budgets, surging demand, staff departures and even threats to workers’ safety —- a new generation is entering the field.

Kelsie Campbell, a student at Florida International University in Miami, poses for a photo on campus, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. When Campbell, who is part Jamaican and part British, heard in both the British and American media that Black and ethnic minorities were being disproportionately hurt by the pandemic, she wanted to focus on why. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)


Among the more than 100 schools and public health programs that use the common application — a single admissions application form that students can send to multiple schools — there was a 20% increase in applications to master’s in public health programs for the current academic year, to nearly 40,000, according to the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health.



COVID-19 is driving a surge of new students to pursue a public health degree, even as the pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to those in the profession, including overwhelming demand and threats to workers’ safety. (Nov. 17)

Some programs are seeing even bigger jumps. Applications to Brown University’s small master’s in public health program rose 75%, according to Annie Gjelsvik, a professor and director of the program.

Demand was so high as the pandemic hit full force in the spring that Brown extended its application deadline by over a month. Seventy students ultimately matriculated this fall, up from 41 last year.

“People interested in public health are interested in solving complex problems,” Gjelsvik said. “The COVID pandemic is a complex issue that’s in the forefront every day.”

It’s too early to say whether the jump in interest in public health programs is specific to that field or reflects a broader surge of interest in graduate programs in general, according to those who track graduate school admissions. Factors such as pandemic-related deferrals and disruptions in international student admissions make it difficult to compare programs across the board.

Magnolia E. Hernández, an assistant dean at Florida International University’s Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, said new student enrollments in its master’s in public health program grew 63% from last year. The school has especially seen an uptick in interest among Black students, from 21% of newly admitted students last fall to 26.8% this year.

Kelsie Campbell is one of them. She’s part Jamaican and part British. When she heard in both the British and American media that Black and ethnic minorities were being disproportionately hurt by the pandemic, she wanted to focus on why.

“Why is the Black community being impacted disproportionately by the pandemic? Why is that happening?” Campbell asked. “I want to be able to come to you and say, ‘This is happening. These are the numbers and this is what we’re going to do.’”

The biochemistry major at Florida International said she plans to explore that when she begins her MPH program at Stempel College in the spring. She said she hopes to eventually put her public health degree to work helping her own community.

“There’s power in having people from your community in high places, somebody to fight for you, somebody to be your voice,” she said.

Public health students are already working on the front lines of the nation’s pandemic response in many locations. Students at Brown’s public health program, for example, are crunching infection data and tracing the spread of the disease for the Rhode Island Department of Health.

Some students who had planned to work in public health shifted their focus as they watched the devastation of COVID-19 in their communities. In college, Emilie Saksvig, 23, double-majored in civil engineering and public health. She was supposed to start working this year as a Peace Corps volunteer to help with water infrastructure in Kenya. She had dreamed of working overseas on global public health.

The pandemic forced her to cancel those plans, and she decided instead to pursue a master’s degree in public health at Emory University.

“The pandemic has made it so that it is apparent that the United States needs a lot of help, too,” she said. “It changed the direction of where I wanted to go.”





These students are entering a field that faced serious challenges even before the pandemic exposed the strains on the underfunded patchwork of state and local public health departments. An analysis by The Associated Press and Kaiser Health News found that since 2010, per capita spending for state public health departments has dropped by 16%, and for local health departments by 18%. At least 38,000 state and local public health jobs have disappeared since the 2008 recession.

And the workforce is aging: Forty-two percent of governmental public health workers are over 50, according to the de Beaumont Foundation, and the field has high turnover. Before the pandemic, nearly half of public health workers said they planned to retire or leave their organizations for other reasons in the next five years. Poor pay topped the list of reasons. Some public health workers are paid so little that they qualify for public aid.

Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, which advocates for public health, said government public health jobs need to be a “destination job” for top graduates of public health schools.

“If we aren’t going after the best and the brightest, it means that the best and the brightest aren’t protecting our nation from those threats that can, clearly, not only devastate from a human perspective, but from an economic perspective,” Castrucci said.

The pandemic put that already stressed public health workforce in the middle of what became a pitched political battle over how to contain the disease. As public health officials recommended closing businesses and requiring people to wear masks, many, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top virus expert, faced threats and political reprisals, AP and KHN found. Many were pushed out of their jobs. An ongoing count by AP/KHN has found that more than 100 public health leaders in dozens of states have retired, quit or been fired since April.

Those threats have had the effect of crystallizing for students the importance of their work, said Patricia Pittman, a professor of health policy and management at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

“Our students have been both indignant and also energized by what it means to become a public health professional,” Pittman said. “Indignant because many of the local and the national leaders who are trying to make recommendations around public health practices were being mistreated. And proud because they know that they are going to be part of that frontline public health workforce that has not always gotten the respect that it deserves.”

Saksvig compared public health workers to law enforcement in the way they both have responsibility for enforcing rules that can alter people’s lives.

“I feel like before the coronavirus, a lot of people didn’t really pay attention to public health,” she said. “Especially now when something like a pandemic is happening, public health people are just on the forefront of everything.”

___

KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber and KHN senior correspondent Anna Maria Barry-Jester contributed to this report.

___

This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and Kaiser Health News, which is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

BACKGROUNDER UPDATES

Ethiopia's spiraling conflict threatens regional stability

The Ethiopian government's armed conflict in semi-autonomous Tigray threatens the future of federalism in the country. With violence spilling into Eritrea, there's a potential for a security vacuum in the Horn of Africa.



Mass forced migration to Sudan is becoming a reality due to the ongoing violence in Tigray

Deadly fighting between Ethiopian federal forces and the regional government of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has already claimed hundreds of military and civilian lives, according to the scarce reports coming from the region.

Internationally, there are fears that the conflict, which is quickly escalating into a civil war, will threaten regional security in the Horn of Africa.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a military operation against the TPLF on November 4, accusing the Tigray militia of attacking a government military base.

Read more: The dangers behind Ethiopia's Tigray conflict

Meanwhile, Ethiopia's defense minister, Dr Kenna Yadeta, remained bullish about the government's ability to quickly end the violence.

"All the TPLF's actions testify to their high level of frustration.They have no more strength, capability and time to intensify wars in the region. The Tigray junta has only a very short time left to be captured," according to Kenna Yadeta, who was appointed defense minister in August 2020 as part of a major — and controversial — cabinet reshuffle by Ahmed.

"We can achieve a crushing victory any day from now," Yadeta told DW.

Read more: Ethiopia: PM Abiy Ahmed reshuffles cabinet amid Tigray fighting

Refugees have been flowing into Sudan to avoid fighting in the Tigray region
Regional stability under threat

The victory may come at a severe cost to stability in the Horn of Africa, though.

To win it, there is a danger that the federal government's focus on Tigray could weaken its involvement in backing the government in Ethiopia's western neighbor, Somalia, against al-Shabab militants.

Ethiopia has already withdrawn about 600 soldiers from Somalia's western border. However they were not part of the African Union's Mission in Somalia (Amisom), which Ethiopia also supports. 


"Now, this is going to severely affect the efforts of the African Union mission that's currently involved in stabilizing Somalia and ensuring there is a functional government, and organize the elections in the next few months,” said Hassan Khannenje of the Nairobi-based think-tank the Horn Institute.

The huge numbers of refugees likely to cross the borders of an already volatile region and the likely proliferation of light weapons and small arms could lead to a "catastrophe," according to Khannenje. 


Refugees have fled the fighting in Ethiopia and have descended on the Sudanese town of al-Fashqua

"If Ethiopia goes, then there goes the Horn of Africa region. And that's something they should worry everybody, both regionally and internationally," Khannenje told DW. 

Read more: Ethiopia has 'entered into war' with Tigray region


THE GRAND ETHIOPIAN RENAISSANCE DAM: A NEVER-ENDING SAGA
A concrete colossus
At 145 meters high and almost two kilometers long, the Grand Renaissance Dam is expected to become Ethiopia's biggest source of electricity. As Africa's largest hydroelectric power dam, it will produce more than 15,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity, beginning in 2022. It will source water from Africa's longest river, the Blue Nile. PHOTOS12345678

Conflict spills over into Eritrea

Also complicating the Ethiopian government's conflict with the TPLF is the involvement of Ethiopia's northern neighbor, Eritrea, which borders Tigray.

Over the weekend, multiple rockets — fired from Ethiopia's Tigray region — hit the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

The TPLF's leader, Debretsion Gebremichael, said his troops fought Eritrean forces "on several fronts" for the past few days. He accused Eritrea of providing military support to the Ethiopian government and sending troops across the border, allegations that Eritrea denied.

TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael

"Asmara has been accused of allowing the Ethiopian Air Force to use its base in undertaking strikes," said Hassan Khannenje, from Nairobi-based think tank, The Horn Institute.

"And so, the TPLF sees Eritrea as a fair target because of its alliance or perceived alliance currently with Abiy Ahmed's government in Addis Ababa." 

Tigrayan forces and leaders were instrumental in bringing peace and relative prosperity to Ethiopia as part of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) by removing the brutal Derg military regime from power in 1991.

However, under its rule, Eritrea seceded in 1993, and the 1998–2000 war between Ethiopia and Eritrea followed.

When Abiy Ahmed swept to power in 2018, he made it a priority to normalize relations and make peace with Eritrea — a feat that won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. 

The TPLF's resentment stems from a sense of being sidelined by Abiy's government when he formed a new coalition government — known as the Prosperity Party — which excluded the TPLF. Abiy's overtures to Eritrea are also seen as a betrayal. 

Read more: Abiy Ahmed: Ethiopia's first Nobel laureate

Thousands marched against a war in Ethiopia's Tigray region
'No more brother wars'

But many Eritreans want peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Over the weekend, hundreds of Eritrean refugees in the Tigray city of Mekelle protested against the war between Tigrayan and Ethiopian government forces.

They demanded both sides end the conflict immediately and strike up dialogue.

The demonstrators also demanded a solution for the growing refugee crisis, saying military violence threatened refugee camps in western Tigray.

"The war is unnecessary. We know war. It's destructive. War between brothers is the worst. People have been persecuted and killed. The Eritreans here are against the war. It's enough!" said one male demonstrator. 

Protests against the war have started in Tigray

"It's very sad that people speaking the same language and sharing the same language are fighting," another protester told DW on condition of anonymity. 

Others fear Eritreans living in Tigray could also become targets.

"Since we've been in Ethiopia, especially Tigray, we have found shelter and live like every other citizen," a protestor told DW. "This war doesn't just affect civilian life, it also affects us, the refugees."
Regional rivals launch military exercise

Perhaps worryingly from an Ethiopian perspective, and further complicating matters, regional rivals Sudan and Egypt started joint military exercises over the weekend.

Both countries are in dispute with Ethiopia, over its Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.

Sudan and Egypt both claim the structure will adversely affect their water supply. 

The exercises include planning and running combat activities, as well as commando groups conducting search and rescue missions, according to an Egyptian defense ministry statement.

AUDIOS AND VIDEOS ON THE TOPIC

'This is becoming a disaster' – Samuel Getachew reports

UN: Aid workers have trouble getting supplies into Ethiopian conflict zone 

Ethiopia's Tigray conflict: What's behind the fighting?

Issued on: 17/11/2020 - 

By:Eve IRVINE

In recent weeks, the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia has become a bloody battlefield. Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has launched a military offensive in the region, accusing the Tigray ruling party of trying to destabilise the democracy he wanted to build. Already, the fighting has forced more than 20,000 people to flee their homes for neighbouring Sudan. Adem Abebe, an advisor and commentator on the African Union, gives us his perspective on the situation and on the danger of it spreading beyond Ethiopia's borders and destabilising the wider region.

Peace was swift in Ethiopia under Abiy. 

War was, too.
By CARA ANNA

1 of 11 PHOTOS
FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, file photo, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, center, arrives for the opening session of the 33rd African Union (AU) Summit at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ahmed left Ethiopians breathless when he became the prime minister in 2018, introducing a wave of political reforms in the long-repressive country and announcing a shocking peace with enemy Eritrea. Now, Abiy is waging war in the defiant Tigray region.

(AP Photo/File)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Abiy Ahmed left Ethiopians breathless when he became the prime minister in 2018, introducing a wave of political reforms in the long-repressive country and announcing a shocking peace with enemy Eritrea.

The young prime minister was cheered as he toured Ethiopia in his feverish first days, including when he visited the powerful Tigray region, whose leaders had dominated the national ruling coalition for decades. The international community, dazzled, showered Abiy with praise. Not even two years after taking power, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Now — a year later — Abiy is waging war in Tigray, accusing its forces of a deadly attack on a military base after what he said was a series of provocations. His shine is threatening to wear off as his country’s long-brewing troubles explode onto the world stage, and he rejects international pressure for dialogue.

Abiy contends there’s no one to talk to, asserting that the Tigray regional leaders are criminals who recently held an election his government called illegal and that their actions have threatened Ethiopia’s sovereignty.

Well over 25,000 refugees have fled the fighting into Sudan, bringing word of vicious attacks by armed forces and even rival ethnic groups.

Abiy on Tuesday vowed a “final and crucial” military offensive as he tries to hold together a nation of 110 million people with scores of ethnic groups, some of which might try to defy him as the Tigray leaders have.

“If Tigray is not solved somehow, I don’t think the situation of the country will be solved,” Mekonnen Gebreslasie Gebrehiwot, who leads an association of ethnic Tigrayans, told The Associated Press from his home in Belgium.

On Tuesday, the Nobel committee said in a statement that it is “deeply concerned” about the situation in Ethiopia, and it called for all parties involved to “end the escalating violence.” The United States, the African Union, Pope Francis and the United Nations secretary-general all have expressed their deep concern and urged a peaceful resolution.

But there is no clear path back to peace in a region that’s seen little of it. “This conflict dashes our hopes for the region,” prominent Horn of Africa citizens wrote in a letter circulated late last week.

For much of the world, Abiy’s transformation from peacemaker to war-wager was as swift as his rise to power.

But for months, human rights groups had warned that Abiy’s administration was beginning to embrace the repressive ways of the past, including locking up critics and shutting off the internet.

Even as the Nobel committee awarded Abiy last year, it defended its choice. “No doubt some people will think this year’s prize is being awarded too early,” it said, noting “troubling examples” of ethnic violence. But it believed “it is now that Abiy Ahmed’s efforts deserve recognition and need encouragement.”

For many, Abiy represented a welcome break from the past when he rose to power in one of Africa’s most powerful countries, a key U.S. security ally in the strategic Horn of Africa.

His government welcomed opposition figures home from exile, and released others from prison, including some who had been sentenced to death. He swept through the region, brokering peace, and toured the United States to excited diaspora crowds.

He was seen by many as a unifier, the son of a Christian and Muslim and of mixed ethnic heritage. He surprised Ethiopians by apologizing for the government’s past abuses. He appeared to be drawing from his painful past.

In his Nobel address, the former soldier recalled his fighting experience on the Eritrean border two decades ago. “War is the epitome of hell for all involved,” he said.

But for some, it was hard to miss a warning amid his calls for unity in Ethiopia, where some ethnic groups have pushed hard for more autonomy, sometimes with violence.

Speaking specifically to his countrymen from the Nobel lectern, Abiy said: “The evangelists of hate and division are wreaking havoc in our society using social media. They are preaching the gospel of revenge and retribution.”

He added that Ethiopia and Eritrea made peace because they were the “victims of a common enemy,” which was poverty.

But now Tigray regional leaders assert that Ethiopia and Eritrea have instead found a common enemy in them.

Terrible accounts have begun to emerge from shaken refugees. “These people are coming with knives and sticks, wanting to attack citizens. And behind them is the Ethiopian army with tanks,” said one refugee, Thimon Abrah. “And we’re here, waiting, for any sort of solution.”

Abiy on Monday said his government would welcome, protect and reintegrate those who have fled. But those fleeing are wary of any promises from his government, which they say attacked them. The government has repeatedly denied that.

For Ethiopians at home and in the diaspora, there is anger, sadness and suspicion as the United Nations warns of alarming rhetoric and the targeting of ethnic groups.

Abiy has vowed to limit the conflict to combatants. But he also rejects compromise, promising that the fighting will only end once the region’s leaders from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front are arrested and their arsenal destroyed.

“Abiy overreached,” Tsedale Lemma, the editor of the Addis Standard newspaper, wrote last week in The New York Times, calling the prime minister’s sidelining of the region’s leadership his first “cardinal mistake.”

But the official overseeing the new state of emergency in Tigray defended the prime minister’s unyielding stance.

“He faces the very threat to his own nation,” Redwan Hussein told reporters late last week. “The only thing he has to do is to defend it. So if there is a second Nobel Peace Prize, then he has to win it again because he is still salvaging his country.”

Full Coverage: Ethiopia

MORE STORIES:
– Ethiopia's PM vows 'final and crucial' offensive in Tigray
– UN: Over 25,300 fleeing Ethiopia fighting have reached Sudan
– Ethiopia’s Tigray leader confirms firing missiles at Eritrea

Ethiopia: African leaders seek mediation as conflict escalates

African leaders are trying to alleviate tensions in Tigray as Ethiopia said it had seized another town. But Addis Ababa said mediation was a long way off and denied suggestions it had targeted civilian locations.



Leaders from across Africa attempted Monday to initiate some form of reconciliation in Ethiopia's escalating internal conflict, two days after rocket strikes on Eritrea's capital.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni held talks with Ethiopia's Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen in Gulu, northern Uganda. He said discussions "focused on the peace and security issues affecting Ethiopia currently. Being one of the oldest countries that was not colonized in Africa, Ethiopia is the pride of the continent."

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday left for the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to mediate in the crisis, his spokesman said.

Watch video 01:42 Ethiopia crisis: Tigray missiles target Eritrean capital

What is the background to the conflict?

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared on November 4 he had ordered military operations in its northern Tigray region in a dramatic escalation of a long-running feud with the local ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

On Monday, Ethiopia said it had captured another town. Defense Minister Dr Kenna Yadeta told DW: "All their [TPLF's] actions testify to their high level of frustration. They have no more strength, capability and time to intensify wars in the region."

He also accused the TPLF of giving out misinformation. "They claimed to have shot down air force jets, and to have won over about ten thousand government forces. It turned out a lie, as they were known to lie during their rule over the past 27 years."

"We [the Government of Ethiopia] can achieve a crushing victory any day from now," he concluded.

Meanwhile, TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael called on the United Nations and African Union to condemn Ethiopia's troops, accusing them of using of high-tech weaponry, such as drones, to carry out attacks.

Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed so far in the conflict, some in atrocities as documented last week by Amnesty International.

More than 25,000 Ethiopians have fled into neighboring Sudan as a result of the conflict, according to Sudanese officials.

The conflict could jeopardize the recent opening up of Ethiopia's economy, antagonize ethnic tensions elsewhere, and tarnish the reputation of Prime Minister Abiy who only last year won a Nobel Peace Prize for a peace pact with Eritrea.

jsi/rt (AFP, Reuters)

Ethiopia's Abiy vows 'final' phase in Tigray conflict

Ethiopia's prime minister has said government troops will launch a major offensive in the Tigray region after a surrender deadline elapsed. His remarks came after the army carried out airstrikes on the regional capital


Ethiopian government troops will soon launch a "final and crucial" offensive in the country's northern Tigray region after security forces there failed to respond to a deadline to surrender, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Tuesday.

"The three-day deadline given for Tigray special forces and the greedy junta to surrender themselves has expired today," Abiy said in a statement. "Now the deadline has expired so that the final and crucial law enforcement operation will be conducted in the coming days," he added.

Fighting between the Addis Ababa administration and the Tigray region began in early November after Abiy ordered soldiers to put down an uprising by the region's ruling political party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). The party is now classed as a rebel group by the government.

Ethiopia aim to end the final operation within seven days, Ethiopian Defense Minister Kenea Yadeta told DW. He said the operation will end once the TPLF is "under control" and "willing to surrender."

"It is not a matter of victory, but a matter of ensuring the rule of law and bringing this group to the court of law," Yadeta said in an interview with DW News.

Read more: The dangers behind Ethiopia's Tigray conflict

TPLF forces have fired rockets at airports in Ethiopia's Amhara region and the Eritrean capital

Long-running tensions

Since taking office in 2018, Abiy — who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his work to improve relations with neighboring Eritrea — has been at loggerheads with the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for a long time. Among other things, he has purged Tigray elites from government and state institutions amid differences fueled by ethnic tensions.

In particular, the Ethiopian government was angered after the TPLF held a local election in September in defiance of Addis Ababa. In its turn, the regional government in Tigray considers the federal government illegal, saying its mandate has expired after national elections were postponed until next year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ongoing conflict has already resulted in the massacre of "scores, and likely hundreds" of civilians in Tigray, according to rights group Amnesty International. Some 25,000 have fled to Sudan.

Abiy won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize — but the Nobel Committee has said it is now 'deeply concerned'

'Surgical' strikes

Abiy's remarks come after the Ethiopian army on Monday carried out fresh airstrikes on the regional capital of Mekele. A government statement on Tuesday said "precision-led and surgical air operations" had targeted "specific critical TPLF targets."

Ethiopia has denied reports of there being civilian casualties.

The UN has warned that the conflict could "spiral totally out of control" with disastrous consequences for the Horn of Africa.

The Ethiopian government has thus far been unwilling to accept external mediation. Defense Minister Yadeta insisted that the conflict in Tigray is "an internal affair."

"It doesn't need external institutions to intervene in Ethiopian sovereignty," Yadeta told DW. 

The TPLF has accused Ethiopia of enlisting Eritrean soldiers to help in the conflict, which Ethiopia also denies.

Abiy has so far rejected all appeals by the international community to resolve the conflict with dialogue.

Watch video
Thousands flee violence in northern Ethiopia

tj/msh (AFP, Reuters)