from ADANE BIKILA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Ethiopia Bureau
ADDIS ABABA, (CAJ News) – A SECURITY think-tank has predicted protests and gatherings around Africa in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Gaza-based armed groups.
These are forecast for mid-October following the conflict that peaked last Saturday after the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, launched an assault on Israeli positions.
This prompted retaliatory attacks by Israel. The situation had escalated into war by Monday, this week.
Crisis24 has forecast that in Africa, gatherings and protests were to occur most likely in capitals or other major cities.
In these areas, Mosques, public squares, city centers, Palestinian diplomatic offices, Muslim communities and Israeli embassies or consulates were likely gathering locations.
Officials in impacted locations are likely to deploy security personnel to monitor gatherings.
Crisis24 however ruled out significant violence but localised road travel delays were likely near any protest that materialised.
“Demonstrators could march along roadways,” it stated.
It advised members of the public to exercise caution near protests and protest sites as well as heed the instructions of officials and plan for localised road travel delays should protests occur.
The African Union (AU) and some of member states have expressed concern at the conflict in that part of the Middle East.
They advocate for a non-aligned stance on conflict but the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, opined the denial of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, particularly of an independent and sovereign State, was the main cause of the permanent Israeli-Palestinian tension.
He appealed to both parties to put an end to military hostilities and to return, without conditions, to the negotiating table to implement the principle of two States living side by side, to safeguard the interests of the Palestinian people and Israeli people.
“The Chairperson further calls on the international community, and the major world powers in particular, to assume their responsibilities to impose peace and guarantee the rights of the two peoples,” Mahamat’s spokesperson stated from Addis Ababa.
South Africa has called for the immediate cessation of violence, restraint and peace between Israel and Palestine.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said the conflict-prone region was in desperate need of a credible peace process that delivers on the calls of a “plethora” of previous United Nations (UN) resolutions for a two-state solution and a just and comprehensive peace between Israel and Palestine.
South Africa is advocating for a deal that produces a viable, contiguous Palestinian State, existing side-by-side in peace with Israel, within the 1967 internationally recognised borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“No real and lasting peace in Israel, Palestine, and the region is possible in the absence of a just and comprehensive resolution of the conflict,” DIRCO stated.
“Israelis, Palestinians, and the region do not stand to gain anything from escalated tensions, increased violence, growing instability, and a continued and protracted violent conflict.”
It is estimated some 800 people have been killed from the latest outbreak of conflict.
– CAJ News